‘The Dylan Tapes’ Peeks Behind the Curtain at a Landmark Biography
Anthony Scaduto’s posthumously published The Dylan Tapes is an engrossing journey into the research process of one gifted writer as he profiled another.
music history
Paul Simon’s ‘Graceland’ and Everlasting Redemption
Thirty-five years later, the redemption narrative driving Paul Simon’s Graceland has expanded to excuse the morally questionable decisions he made in recording the album.
Questlove Drums Circles Around Music History
Circles are central to Questlove. He loves a circular connection and a sidelong glance. Circles overlap and connect in his artful book, Music Is History.
KPM Music Opens the Vault for the Crate Diggers Series and DJs and Producers Dig In
Damu the Fudgemunk, Deca, DJ Credit One, Jared Boxx, and EMI’s Peter Clarke take PopMatters along in their deep dig into KPM Music’s Crate Diggers series.
Orwellian Times: On Manic Street Preachers’ ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’
Manic Street Preachers’ The Ultra Vivid Lament is driven by George Orwell’s aim to make political writing into art.
The Unmentionable Whiteness of ‘Americanaland’
John Milward’s new history of Americana puts the mixed genre at the corner of country and rock while slighting race and the music’s Black roots and performers.
How the Beach Boys Went Political in the Early ’70s
For a brief period in the early ’70s, the Beach Boys went political and gained relevance in the tumult of the “Me Decade”. If only it had lasted.
U2’s Creative Fire from Inferno to Embers
U2 burned brightest from 1984’s The Unforgettable Fire to the ZooTv Tour’s end in 1993.
What Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ Did to Brian Eno and Giorgio Moroder (Excerpt)
In this excerpt from Thompson’s I Feel Love, which explores the far-reaching influence of song and singer, the disco groove moves Brian Eno and Giorgio Moroder.
Adam and the Ants ‘Ant Music’ from Subculture to Image Culture
Adam of Adam and the Ant’s original costume is in the Victoria and Albert Museum but you can get Ant-style highwayman and pirate costumes online if you want.
When the Satire Works and When it Doesn’t in Geto Boys Bio ‘Why Bushwick Bill Matters’
For a Geto Boys biography so concerned with Bushwick Bill’s status as a short person, Hughes’ book sure skirts the issue of embodiment.