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The 13 Greatest Horror Directors of All Time

In honor of Halloween, here are 13 fascinating fright mavens who've made scary movies that much more meaningful.

                                      
Music
    
        The Top 10 Definitive Breakup Albums
    
Sean McCarthy

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Music
    
        The Cure: Ranking the Albums From 13 to 1
    
Chris Gerard

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        The 20 Best Episodes of 'Star Trek: The Original Series'
    
Paul Rowe

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20 Hits of the '80s You Might Not Have Known Are Covers

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The 80 Best Albums of 2015

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The 15 Best Americana Albums of 2015

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The Top 20 Punk Protest Songs for July 4th

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Even in the coronavirus-shortened record release schedule of 2020, the year has offered a mountainous feast of sublime music. The 50 best albums of 2020 so far are an eclectic and increasingly "woke" bunch.

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The 10 Best Hip-Hop Tracks of 1991

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The Most Memorable Albums of 1999 (Part 5)

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The Most Memorable Albums of 1999 (Part 2)

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Dancing in the Street: Our 25 Favorite Motown Singles

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10 Key Tracks From the British Synthpop Boom of 1980

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The 60 Best Albums of 2007

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The Best Jazz Albums of 2010

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PopMatters is moving to WordPress. We will publish a few essays daily while we develop the new site. We hope the beta will be up sometime late next week.

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PopMatters is moving to WordPress. We will publish a few essays daily while we develop the new site. We hope the beta will be up sometime late next week.

In honor of Halloween, here are 13 fascinating fright mavens who've made scary movies that much more meaningful.

With today's release of Tom Petty's Wildflowers & All the Rest (Deluxe Edition), we're revisiting Petty's 20 best songs.

It's one of the strangest pop microcosms in history: singles released exclusively from Greatest Hits compilations. We rounded 'em up and ranked 'em to find out what is truly the greatest Greatest Hit of all.

There were many hit cover versions in the '80s, some of well-known originals, and some that fans may be surprised are covers.

The 10 Best Snippets from the Solo Sonic Psychology of John Winston Ono Lennon.

Years after its conclusion, The Wire continues to top best-of-TV lists. With each season's unique story arc, each viewer is likely to have favorites.

Travel back five years ago when the release calendar was rife with stellar albums. 2015 offered such an embarrassment of musical riches, that we selected 80 albums as best of the year.

Music of all kinds are tending toward a consciously experimental direction. Maybe we’re finally getting through to them.

Here are 10 reasons to mourn the passing of one of England's most interesting directors, Sir Alan Parker.

From the old guard reaffirming its status to upstarts asserting their prowess, personal tales voiced by true artists connected on an emotional level in the best Americana music of 2015.

From a career filled with amazing highs and several cinematic lows, the late Robin Williams will always be the benchmark between stand-up skill and dramatic depth.

Whether you're at the beach, hanging out in the park, or stuck in a tiny flat, these 20 timeless summer classics are sure to make the summer sun shine a little bit brighter.

In honor of the band with the most U.F.O.s and robots, here are the ten best Flaming Lips songs based on all things science fiction. The psychedelic band's new LP, American Head, releases this September.

From massive hits to obscure, experimental pop compositions, Brian Wilson's music is always thoughtful, idiosyncratic, and as thrilling today as it was in the 1960s.

Like Aaron Sorkin, the veteran rock band U2 has been making ambitious, iconic art for decades—art that can be soaring but occasionally self-important. Sorkin and U2's work draws parallels in comfort and struggle.

While Kate Bush is a national treasure in the UK, American listeners don't know her as well. The following 12 songs capture her irrepressible spirit.

As punk music history verifies, American citizenry are not all shiny, happy people. These 20 songs reflect the other side of patriotism -- free speech brandished by the brave and uncouth.

Even in the coronavirus-shortened record release schedule of 2020, the year has offered a mountainous feast of sublime music. The 50 best albums of 2020 so far are an eclectic and increasingly "woke" bunch.

Here are 15 pivotal tracks from 1991 when dance music's potential to amaze seemed boundless.

1991's best hip-hop songs lean more towards beats production than the era's increasingly popular gangsta rap genre.

So much remarkable music was released in 1991 that it's difficult to choose just 20 memorable songs without a few omissions.

Part five of the Most Memorable Albums of 1999 is highlighted by the political rock of Rage Against the Machine and Joe Strummer, as well as major league hip-hop from Mos Def, Pharoahe Monch, Q-Tip, and Jay-Z.

Part four of the most "memorable" music of 1999 brings a superb sophomore turn from the Dixie Chicks while Garth Brooks goes kinda nuts. British rock stands proud with Muse, Gomez, and Supergrass and the schlocky, corporate rock of Creed rockets to the top of the US charts.

Part three of the Most Memorable Albums of 1999 sports the debuts of the White Stripes, Beyoncé, and Christina Aguilera and stellar electronic music from Basement Jaxx, the Chemical Brothers, and µ-Ziq.

PopMatters is 20 and to celebrate we are looking back at the popular music that defined the year of our birth. Part two covers the most memorable albums from March through June, highlighted by monster hits from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Moby, and Travis.

PopMatters is 20 this year -- until October when we are 21 -- and a 2009 special section celebrates the popular music that defined the year of our birth. Today we kick things off with albums from January through March, highlighted by Eminem's debut and stellar pop from XTC and Blur.

Detroit's Motown Records will forever be important as both a hit factory and an African American-owned label that achieved massive mainstream success and influence. We select our 25 favorite singles from the "Sound of Young America".

Serious science fiction often takes a backseat to the more pulpy, crowdpleasing genre entries. Here are 10 titles far better than any "dogfight in space" adventure.

New Orleans music is renowned for its piano players. Here's a dozen jams from great Crescent City keyboardists, past and present, and a little something extra.

It's 40 years since the first explosion of electronic songs revitalized the UK charts with futuristic subject matter, DIY aesthetics, and occasionally pompous lyrics. To celebrate, here's a chronological list of those Moog-infused tracks of 1980 that had the biggest impact.

From tech house to Radiohead and Americana to indie and everything in between, the 60 best albums of 2007 included many of the 2000s' best albums.

Tri Angle comes to an end as a label but begins as an important archive of electronic music. To celebrate these legendary 10 years of Tri Angle, here are 10 of their many essential releases.

Little Richard is remembered best for his groundbreaking run of 1950s hits, but the late "Tutti Frutti" belter sporadically recorded gems over his last 50 years.

Journey back 15 years ago, as 2005's best electronic albums are so emotionally involved and organically expressive that it's easy to forget they were created with advanced technology.

Jazz was working all the angles in 2010. Is there any other genre that has as much range -- from solo instruments to big bands, from instrumental to vocal, from European musicians to both North and South Americans, from truly pretty music to raucously avant-garde "noise"?

The best films of 2010 include a fake documentary, a comedy about Jihad, a vampire story NOT dealing with tacky tween romance, a haunting hillbilly noir, and an elegant tale about clones. Not necessarily the usual cinematic suspects.