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Jailhouse Rock (1957).

How Has Music Changed Since the 1950s?

A statistical analysis of how music composition evolved over time.
The Branch Davidian compound, Mount Carmel, Waco, Texas.

I Will Give Thee Madonna

Kevin Cook and Jeff Guinn on David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and the 1993 siege of Waco.
Parental advisory sticker warning of explicit content.
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Who Gets to Regulate #*%&? Free Speech in Popular Culture

When speech offends, who decides where boundaries should be drawn?
The Go-Go's on July 30, 1981. From left, Kathy Valentine, Charlotte Caffey, Jane Wiedlin, Belinda Carlisle, and Gina Schock.

We Got the Beat

How The Go-Go’s emerged from the LA punk scene in the late ’70s to become the first and only female band to have a number one album.
A drawing of a family tree of white rappers connecting Eminem and Macklemore.

A Brief Cultural History of the White Rapper

Why do they exist? Where did they come from? Can they be defended? The most pressing questions, answered.
Bruce Springsteen performing live onstage during the Born In the U.S.A. tour.

Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska and Born in the U.S.A. Captured Two Sides of Reagan’s America

Springsteen's albums offer a tragic-romantic view of the working class in Reagan-era America.
Willie Mae Thornton

'Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters' Explores the Legacy of the Black Musician Who Made 'Hound Dog' a Hit

Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton lived an unapologetic life that transcended genres and gender norms beyond her bluesy hit song and the “Elvis moment.”
Collage of a shirtless performer and a cutaway image of an egg.

My Generation

Anthem for a forgotten cohort.
A mural of a Black musician wearing a pinstripe suit, hat, and playing guitar.

The Devil, the Delta, and the City

In search of the mythical blues—and their real urban origins.
A picture of the author as a teenager with his parents, in his bedroom decorated with rock music posters.

My Dad and Kurt Cobain

When my father moved to Taiwan, a fax machine and a shared love of music bridged an ocean.
A line of people holding each others' shoulders as they walk with their eyes closed on a sidewalk in front of a building.

Ukraine Yesterday & Tomorrow

Ukraine didn’t become an epicenter of world history all of a sudden; it became an epicenter again.
Crowd at Black Flag concert

The Unraveling of SST Records

Jim Ruland’s book on the legendary punk label helps explain why we lack a meaningful counterculture today.
Image of a 1970's band invoking the imagery of the Lost Cause and the Confederacy.

Whistlin' D ----.

Why songs of the southland are really northern.
A photo of Fontella Bass repeated as if it's a frame in a filmstrip.

Can't You See That I'm Lonely?

“Rescue Me,” on repeat.
John Coltrane performing

‘It Didn’t Adhere to Any of the Rules’: The Fascinating History of Free Jazz

In the documentary "Fire Music," the hostile reaction that met the unusual genre soon turns into deep appreciation and a lasting influence.
Man giving speech to White Citizens' Council
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Before the Anti-CRT Activists, There Were White Citizens’ Councils

Banning such teaching isn’t colorblind; it would erase Black people from history and maintain White cultural dominance.
Photographer Leni Sinclair in a crowd filming an event.

When Detroit Was Revolutionary

In the 1960s and 1970s, photographer Leni Sinclair stood at the center of a local scene where political and cultural ferment merged.
A series of photographs of Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell’s Youthful Artistry

A new release records the musician’s early metamorphosis—unmoored, broke, living for a time in an attic—when her lodestar was her big, strange, unwieldy talent.
Black and white photo montage of the cover of We're Not Here to Entertain, with a punk rock singer and Ronald Reagan, superimposed on a background of Minor Threat playing on stage.
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Remember Punk Rock? Probably Not...: The Real Culture War of 1980's America

When most people hear the word “punk,” they think of drug addled, nasty behavior. The truth is, it was driven by a visceral hatred for the president.

The Misconception About Baby Boomers and the Sixties

Other than being alive during the 1960s, the baby boomers had almost nothing to do with the era's social and political upheaval.
Maybelle and Helen Carter.

For Women Musicians, Maybelle Carter Set the Standard and Broke the Mold

One of the most indispensable guitarists of all time, Carter was a quiet revolutionary.
Steve Dahl beside the dumpster full of records collected for Disco Demolition Night

Disco Demolition: The Night They Tried to Crush Black Music

When a DJ called on listeners to destroy disco records in a Chicago stadium, things turned nasty.

The Vietnam War: A History in Song

The ‘First Television War’ was also documented in over 5,000 songs.

How Auto-Tune Revolutionized the Sound of Popular Music

An in-depth history of the most important pop innovation of the last 20 years, from Cher’s “Believe” to Kanye West to Migos.

“It Was Us Against Those Guys”: The Women Who Transformed Rolling Stone in the Mid-70s

How one 28-year-old feminist bluffed her way into running a copy department and made rock journalism a legitimate endeavor.

Why Did American Music Festivals Almost Disappear in the 1970s and ’80s?

In a few short years, American festivals went from cultural phenomena to endangered species.

My Dad Painted the Cover for Jethro Tull's 'Aqualung,' and It's Haunted Him Ever Since

His quest to receive proper compensation illuminates the struggle for artists’ rights.

A Garage Sale Find of Rare Beatles Photos Took a Collector on a Magical Mystery Tour

In search of the photographer who captured the Beatles' final concert on film.
Banthe Bombers protest photograph by Richard Avedon.

Richard Avedon and James Baldwin’s Joint Examination of American Identity

Their 1964 collaboration, "Nothing Personal," brought together aspects of American life and culture through photographs and text.

Joni Mitchell: Fear of a Female Genius

One of the greatest living artists in popular music still isn’t properly recognized.

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