The slang or vernacular of any subculture develops slowly and naturally over time. Not so with the words and phrases associated with the 1990s “grunge” music scene. BACKGROUND In the early 1990s, the biggest thing in rock music was grunge, a mixture of punk rock and dreary guitar riffs that shot bands like Nirvana and […]
Why 1987? That’s when the Bathroom Reader was born. Rad! Billboard’s top 5 singles of the year: “Walk like an Egyptian” (The Bangles) “Alone” (Heart) “Shake You Down” (Gregory Abbott) “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” (Whitney Houston) “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” (Starship) Notable one-hit wonders: Cars bassist Benjamin Orr, “Stay the Night” Bruce […]
Over a 30-year music career, Prince has has won seven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. He’s sold 100 million albums, starred in three movies, and written dozens of songs for other artists. But he’s also known for his eccentricity. For example…
Lots of acts go solo, but for every George Michael (of Wham!) success, there’s an Andrew Ridgeley (of Wham!) flop. But here are some singers who did so well that they left their formerly well-known bands in the dustbin of history.
Mapmakers pioneered the idea of “copyright traps”—inserting fake cities or landmarks and then seeing if they show up in rivals’ work to see if they’ve been ripped off. The idea exists throughout the world of “intellectual property,” even music. Joel Whitburn is the music world’s top chart historian. Using the charts published by Billboard Magazine, […]
Who wouldn’t want to be part of the sea of more than 60 faces on the cover of one of the most iconic albums ever made, and by the biggest band in history?
When the frontman leaves for a solo career, what’s a band to do? Form a new band. Talk Show Stone Temple Pilots were one of the most successful rock bands of the ‘90s, racking up hits like “Plush,” “Big Empty,” and “Interstate Love Song.” Along the way, lead singer Scott Weiland struggled with a heroin […]
Some trivia about the songs made famous in movies and on TV. The first movie soundtrack album commercially available was the one from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It was such a new concept in music that the album had to carry the very explanatory title, Songs from Walt Disney’s Snow White and the […]
A lot of songs, particularly country music songs, tell stories. That makes them great fodder for movies. As part of the 1970s fad surrounding truckers and CB radios, a song about a trucking convoy, “Convoy” went to #1 in 1975. Sung by C.W. McCall (the stage name of William Fries), the song was co-written by […]
During his younger years, Ian Kilmister he loved to play slot machines and would borrow money from friends and family to feed his addiction. He was known to utter things like “lemmy a fiver until Friday,” which is how he earned his nickname.
Hidden tracks can appear at the end of a CD, usually after a long gap of silence, and don’t appear on the track listing. They’re a fun surprise for listeners.
Kenny G is still a famous saxophonist, but he’s arguably more famous for his hair. Kenneth Gorelick grew up in Seattle and became infatuated with the saxophone after watching a musician play one on The Ed Sullivan Show. He started taking lessons when he was 10 years old and later tried out for his high […]
Musicians have to pay the bills, too, and before rock stardom arrives, many have made a quick buck writing TV or radio commercial jingles. Barry Manilow The soft rock superstar got his start backing up Bette Midler in the 1970s, but before that, he wrote dozens of commercial jingles that have gotten stuck in your […]
The Grammy for Best New Artist is famously “cursed.” It isn’t—for every Milli Vanilli, there’s a Beatles or Adele. But whatever became of these more obscure winners of the prize? Peter Nero (1962) While most winners of the award have been pop and rock singers, Nero was a pianist, pops conductor, and orchestral composer. While […]
That spooky instrument you hear in old horror and sci-fi movies? That’s a theremin, one of the strangest musical instruments ever created. The sound is familiar, even if the name isn’t. The warbling melody in the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations,” the electronic keening that underscores 1950s sci-fi movies—it’s a tone somewhere between a slide whistle […]
Today is the 35th anniversary of the assassination of John Lennon. But instead of dwelling on that tragedy, let’s take a look at Lennon’s wife and partner, conceptual artist Yoko Ono. In 1966, Ono mounted a show in the Indica Gallery in London. John Lennon opted to attend, and he got to get in early—VIPs […]
One of music’s biggest mysteries has finally been revealed. Carly Simon was one of the 1970s’ biggest pop stars. Her memoir Boys in the Trees just released, and to tease and promote it, she told People the answer to the one question they’ve been asking her for years that she’s never quite answered: the identity of […]
Many Americans bought their first record, cassette, or CD at a Tower Records. Uncle John’s dutiful blogger here bought a Monkees album at a Tower in Portland, Oregon, for example. The chain’s impact on the American music industry was huge. And now it’s gone. When Russell Solomon founded Tower in 1960, he was in his […]
