This Year’s CMAs Depicted Country Music At A Crossroads
While we saw classic country performances by Nashville legends, more and more artists took the stage with songs that look, feel, and sound more like pop music.
What That ‘Star Is Born’ Booty Song Says About Commercial Art
An unexpected debate about ‘A Star Is Born’ has people discussing the relative quality of pop music.
Why Spotify’s Decision To Censor Artists Opens A Bottomless Rabbit Hole
Rock and roll has often been an enterprise in which adult men who disdained conventional morality sold fantasies of sexual rebellion to infatuated teenage girls.
Rolling Stone’s 50th Anniversary Is Also Its Time For An Obituary
In the wake of a somewhat unflattering Jann Wenner biography and two boneheaded exercises in journalism, Rolling Stone is mounting a full-court defense of its 50-year legacy.
5 Ways Taylor Swift Is A Capitalist Clairvoyant
With ‘Reputation,’ Taylor Swift has sold more albums in four days than any other album has sold the entire year. This is the free market at its finest.
In HBO’s ‘The Defiant Ones,’ Dre And Jimmy Sell Words That Don’t Match Their Lives
What you don’t get when you’re watching a documentary film like this are two facts: You’re not a genius, and you’re not that lucky.
Does This Study Signal The Death Of The Stradivarius Violin?
For centuries, we’ve mythologized the sound and quality of Stradivarius instruments. Now, a blind test shows that audiences prefer the sound of new violins.
How Nat Hentoff’s Love For Individualism Influenced His Jazz And Politics
Nat Hentoff was widely known as a muckraking journalist, a defender of free speech and the Bill of Rights but, most of all, as a passionate advocate for jazz.
Country Music Has Become A Huge Clichéd Joke
Long gone are the ballads of the common man. In their place, we’ve got lots of booze, driving on dirt roads, and objectifying lyrics about women.
Why Music Streaming Is Bad For Democracy
The ever-increasing popularity of streaming services like Spotify speaks volumes about the changing view in American society toward the meaning of ownership.
What Ice Cube Teaches Us About The American Dream
From school to college to the music industry to Hollywood, Ice Cube made the American dream his reality and went from gangsta rapper to role model.
David Bowie Is Dead; Long Live David Bowie
For some gut-level, intuitive reason, I have a stubborn suspicion that we’ll get to see Bowie again some day.
Although Bands Don’t Know It, Conservatism Is The True Home For Indie Music
The independent music scene is the most ideologically monolithic brand of entertainment on the market.
5 Things Taylor Swift Teaches Us About Capitalism
Whether on tour, on Twitter, or on Tumblr, the songstress shows it’s personal and it’s business.
With Lana Del Rey, ‘Ultraviolence’ Can Be Beautiful
Lana Del Rey is authentic, even if she never kissed a girl, liked it, and wrote a thumping pop anthem in response.
Inside the Music: ‘Live From Daryl’s House’
Daryl Hall’s show revives and refreshes music traditions, avoiding the pop idol and the autotune.