Music reviews and criticism

On Ice-T's 1991 classic O.

New York City in the 1970s was an urban nightmare: destitute, dirty, and dangerous.

By 1985 Tom Petty had already obtained legendary status.

By 1985 Tom Petty had already obtained legendary status.

In 1991, Metallica released their fifth studio album that would become known and beloved around the world as "e;The Black Album.

On Ice-T's 1991 classic O.

In 1973, the musical collective 24-Carat Black released an unheralded masterpiece on Stax Records-and then disappeared.

John Field is the most misunderstood composer in the history of classical music.

By 1976, Elton John was the best-selling recording artist and the highest-grossing touring act in the world.

Depeche Mode's 101 is, at first glance, a curious thing: a live double-album by a synth band.

This book celebrates Madvillainy as a representation of two genius musical minds melding to form one revered supervillain.

So much, popular and scholarly, has been written about the synthesizer, Bob Moog and his brand-name instrument, and even Wendy Carlos, the musician who made this instrument famous.

John Cale's enigmatic masterpiece, Paris 1919, appeared at a time when the artist and his world were changing forever.

Mehr als 5000 Songs wurden in der Zeit von 1960 bis 1990 hinter dem "Eisernen Vorhang" - vor allem in Ungarn, Polen und Ost-Deutschland - im Bereich Rock- und Popmusik produziert.

Two and a half decades on, Jawbreaker's 24 Hour Revenge Therapy (1993-94) is the rare album to have lost none of its original loyalty, affection, and reverence.

From male bisexuality to religion in pop, Little Richard spent the 1950s pioneering ideas that are still too challenging for the mainstream.

The Go-Go's debut album Beauty and the Beat was released on July 8, 1981.

Depeche Mode's 101 is, at first glance, a curious thing: a live double-album by a synth band.

When Twin Peaks debuted on the ABC network on the night of April 8, 1990, thirty-five million viewers tuned in to some of the most unusual television of their lives.

The iconic Black rock band Living Colour's Time's Up, released in 1990, was recorded in the aftermath of the spectacular critical and commercial success of their debut record Vivid.

In 1999, Modest Mouse struck out for Chicago to record their major-label debut for Epic Records.

Garth Brooks was the best-selling country artist of the 1990s.

Geechi Suede and Sonny Cheeba are Camp Lo.

On the night of Sunday, April 23, 1961 Judy Garland made history.

Voodoo, D'Angelo's much-anticipated 2000 release, set the standard for the musical cycle ordained as "e;neo-soul,"e; a label the singer and songwriter would reject more than a decade later.

This is the definitive chronicle of Ministry's 1988 industrial rock release, The Land of Rape and Honey, that details the zeitgeist where post-punk, metal, funk and straight-up noise converge.

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Contradicting assumptions that disco albums are shallow and packed with filler, Donna Summer's double album Once Upon A Time stands out as a piece that delivers on its promise of an immaculately crafted journey from start to finish.

Everyone wanted Madonna's 1992 album Erotica to be a scandal.

Babes in Toyland was one of the most influential and underrated bands of the 1990s.

Shelved for over 20 years, Sam Cooke's Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963, stands alongside Otis Redding's Live in Europe and James Brown's Live at the Apollo as one of the finest live soul albums ever made.

ESG were one of the first bands to sign to British indie label Factory Records, working with famed producer Martin Hannett on their early EPs.

Red Hot + Blue is a meditation on music's capacity to find us, transform us, and help us make sense of our historical moment.

The question of control for Black women is a costly one.

In a bar called The Bucket of Blood, a man shoots the bartender four times in the head.

In 1973, the musical collective 24-Carat Black released an unheralded masterpiece on Stax Records-and then disappeared.

With Universal Mother, Sinead O'Connor explores childhood trauma and her experiences as a woman, mother, target of scorn, and ultimate phoenix.

"e;Essential reading, plain and simple.

In a bar called The Bucket of Blood, a man shoots the bartender four times in the head.

More than 40 years after her death, the legend of Maria Callas, "e;La Divina Assoluta,"e; remains unsurpassed.

On the night of Sunday, April 23, 1961 Judy Garland made history.

The question of control for Black women is a costly one.

ESG were one of the first bands to sign to British indie label Factory Records, working with famed producer Martin Hannett on their early EPs.

When Twin Peaks debuted on the ABC network on the night of April 8, 1990, thirty-five million viewers tuned in to some of the most unusual television of their lives.

The apex of critical praise and commercial success is a metric achieved by a select few.

He is known as the Mark Twain of American songwriting, a man who transformed the everyday happenings of regular people into plainly profound statements on war, industrialization, religion, and the human condition.

The apex of critical praise and commercial success is a metric achieved by a select few.

Carole King's Tapestry is both an anthemic embodiment of second-wave feminism and an apotheosis of the Laurel Canyon singer-songwriter sound and scene.

A Classic Rock book of 2020"e;I had to leave town for a little while--"e; with these words, Elvis Presley truly came home to rock and roll.

As immediately believable as they were cartoonish, as much an inner city cipher as a suburban boys gang, the foursome that made up the Pharcyde were the most relatable MCs to ever pass the mic.