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Neil Zlozower / Atlas Icons The Mad Genius of Eddie Van Halen
He boiled strings, cut vibrato bars in half, put the head of one guitar on the body of another—and created a sound that changed rock forever.
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Nigel Crane / Redfern The Polarizing Emo Record That Captured Teenage Angst
Oh, well imagine: Panic! at the Disco’s debut album is 15 years old, and young listeners still love it.
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Evans Richardson Sufjan Stevens’s Problem With America
The acclaimed singer was once famous for mythologizing the U.S. Now his “bossy and bitchy” new album expresses discomfort with the country.
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Big Hit Entertainment BTS’s ‘Dynamite’ Could Upend the Music Industry
The English-language single’s massive success is a career milestone for the South Korean pop group—and a reflection of America’s entertainment market.
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Deawnne Buckmire / Instagram / The Atlantic What Incarcerated Rappers Can Teach America
This year’s national reckoning over policing means that more people could stand to seriously listen to the music of young artists who have firsthand experience with the system.
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Langston Amadi How Pop Music’s Teenage Dream Ended
A decade ago, Katy Perry’s sound was ubiquitous. Today, it’s niche. How did a genre defined by popularity become unpopular?
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Parkwood Entertainment Beyoncé’s Search for Home Continues on Black Is King
The artist’s film for Disney+ returns to the themes of home and exile that animated her past two visual projects—and that hold special meaning for Black Americans.
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Beth Garrabrant Taylor Swift Is No Longer Living in the Present
Folklore, the singer’s surprise eighth album, gorgeously and empathetically challenges the public’s voyeurism.
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Michael Ochs Archives / Getty The Funkadelic Album That Predicted the Future
The legendary band could almost blend in with other acts during the counterculture of the ’70s. But today, the group looks like a pure phenomenon.
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Ryan Lowry / The New York Times / ... Pop Smoke Made the Soundtrack of a Lost Summer
The posthumous debut album of the Brooklyn rapper reverberates with the tragedy of his untimely death.
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Getty / The Atlantic Hip-Hop Won’t Stop Protecting Alleged Abusers
The industry has been proclaiming the importance of Black lives while continuing to ignore Black women.
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Getty / The Atlantic What Dixie Really Means
The band formerly known as the Dixie Chicks has changed its name in light of the growing rejection of racist symbols and phrases.
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Michael Ochs Archives / Getty What Bob Dylan Knows About This Moment
Rough and Rowdy Ways, the singer’s first album of original music in years, reminds an anxious nation that all things are eventually doomed.
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HBO What One Woman’s Shattered Career Reveals About the Music Industry
HBO Max’s On the Record details sexual-assault allegations against the rap mogul Russell Simmons—and homes in on the lives derailed by sexism.
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Atlantic Records Charli XCX Captures the Weird Intimacy of Quarantine
The pop star’s daring album How I’m Feeling Now tries to make online hedonism match the real thing.
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Thomas Rabsch / laif / Redux The Day the Live Concert Returns
I don’t know when it will be safe to sing arm in arm at the top of our lungs. But we will do it again, because we have to.
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Lalitree Darnielle A Strangely Comforting Quarantine Album
The Mountain Goats’ latest release is authentically a product of this pandemic, but it’s also nicely indifferent to it.
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BEATRICE DE GEA / The New York Times Fiona Apple’s Survival Guide to Isolation
Fetch the Bolt Cutters, the singer’s first album in eight years, argues that confinement can intensify one’s connection to the greater human whole.
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Mark Seliger / Trunk Archive Dave Grohl’s Pandemic Playlist
The Foo Fighters front man picks a song for your every quarantine mood.
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Reuters / Lindsey Wasson People Are Remembering What Music Is Really For
Listening that revolves around headphones, singular geniuses, aesthetic subcultures, and record-industry behemoths is not what’s generating heat right now.
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