Tag: music history
Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too
Pondering “You Get What You Give,” the one-hit wonder recorded by a guy smart enough to realize that it would be a one-hit wonder. It’s a survival story.
Not The Name That You Call Me With
The year-end Tedium awards continue with an excellent, breathtaking feature on Elliott Smith’s high-school bands. Yes, multiple.
The 2021 Sparks Spectacular
As a new documentary on Sparks appears in theaters, let’s take a moment to celebrate the unique band's tremendous 50-year music career.
A Tailgate for the Ages
In less than 20 minutes, two filmmakers captured a magnificent moment in music history. Heavy Metal Parking Lot is turning 35, and we’re ready to celebrate.
The Other Q
The unusual state of affairs that may have helped to resurface a pop-music enigma left unsolved for nearly three decades.
They Might Be Trailblazers
One Brooklyn duo embraced a DIY aesthetic and technology to forge a successful musical career.
Life After Death Metal
For people who have spent their youth touring the world in death metal bands, trying to transition to normalcy is where things get tough.
Sunday Night Live
While Saturday Night Live might have had the laughs, its short-lived offshoot Sunday Night (aka Night Music) may have been the greatest music TV show ever made.
Moldy Oldie Marketing
How the music industry’s TV-driven direct marketing strategies revived vintage hits, salvaged floundering careers, and brought us Zamfir’s epic pan flute.
Rental Self-Own
How the music industry let the perfect solution to file-sharing fall through its fingers in the ’80s—or how record rentals bolstered Japan’s music industry.
The Great Novelty Songwriting Contest
The enduring role of the contests in the novelty songwriting world—a phenomenon that started with Dr. Demento and today reflects one of its late, great icons.
Moondog’s Long Howl
The deep influence of Louis “Moondog” Hardin, a cult musician known for dressing like a viking, making his own instruments, and composing without limits.
Bizarro Mash
Around the time of “The Monster Mash,” another icon of horror was getting in on the music game—and John Zacherle had his own take on the graveyard smash.
Doin’ The Mash
The history of the world’s favorite Halloween carol, Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s “The Monster Mash.” Here’s how a song about dead creatures came to life.
Unsettled
Ticketmaster pulled a fast one on the concert-going public by making it impossible to redeem free tickets in a class-action settlement. We should boycott.
Mystic Knights of the Movie Soundtrack
How Danny Elfman's Oingo Boingo permeated popular culture, especially in the early '80s, thanks in no small part to the rise of movie soundtracks.
New Wave Titans
How Oingo Boingo, which began as a theatre troupe, forged an endearing legacy and launched the career of one of the most popular film composers of our time.
A Beautiful Neighborhood
The story of Neighborhoods, one of the great unheralded albums of the private press era. Read the story of the album and its creator, a Portland jazz icon.
Ban The Box
The defining debate of the early compact disc era centered around the longbox, a wasteful form of packaging pushed by retailers and paper manufacturers.
Oh? Haven’t You Heard?
How a single novelty song capture the public imagination, influenced punk rock and became a cultural institution. Yes, bird is, in fact, the word.
Primitive Streaming Gods
Lessons from the music industry’s initial consumer-hostile reaction to the Napster saga. Going from $16 CDs to unlimited streaming is really hard.
The Wesley Willis WinAmp Connection
Pondering Wesley Willis’ greatest mainstream contribution—the inspiration for an audio file in the 20th century’s greatest digital musical player, WinAmp.
Moore R. Stevie Moore
Outsider rocker R. Stevie Moore has a lot of albums, new and old, and his collection is a bit daunting to dive into. This quick guide should help.
The Man With 400 Albums
The tale of R. Stevie Moore, perhaps the most prolific musician that the world has ever seen. So why haven't you heard of him?
Sing Your Heart Out
From 8-Track to Laserdisc to CD+G to ISDN lines to YouTube, the different technologies that made karaoke possible. (Alcohol helps, too.)
The Stammer Of Success
When 53-year-old John Larkin couldn't get past his stuttering, he wrote a song about it. Soon enough, Scatman John was Big in Japan—and everywhere else.
Countering the Counterculture
The New Creation, one of the earliest—and most unusual—examples of Christian rock, was brought to life by a mother-son team.
Let’s Be Frank
The story of Frank Sidebottom, a character with a giant head who obsessed over both pop music and his hometown of Timperley.
A Big Idea, Synthesized
Casio claimed it could fit the sounds of dozens of musical instruments into its keyboards. Maybe it wasn't totally true, but the Casiotone gave us a lot.