The Lost Idealism of Heartland Rock
The genre of Bob Seger and John Mellencamp reached across the ideological spectrum in a way that seems unimaginable today.
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Illustration by Nada Hayek Surrender to Steely Dan
How the insufferably perfectionist duo captured the hearts of a new generation of listeners
Nada Hayek The Trap
What it takes to make it in hip-hop’s new capital
Matt Williams Spotify Has Made All Music Into Background Music
Is the collapse of genre boundaries and the erosion of fervent musical loyalties a good thing?
Kelsey Dake Goodbye to the Goodfellas
In The Irishman, Martin Scorsese offers a stunning elegy for a distinctly American figure: the gangster.
Illustration: Simon Montag; Netflix The New Science of Building Baseball Superstars
“Sabermetrics” changed the national pastime. Now another technological revolution is transforming the game, for good or ill.
Golden Cosmos The Unknowable Joni Mitchell
Her music inspires a deep sense of intimacy, yet her fierce privacy is the key to her genius.
Jack Robinson / Hulton Archive / Getty The Songs Otis Redding Could Have Sung
A new singles collection highlights the staggering fact that one of the greatest singers ever likely died not in his prime, but before it.
Bobby Bland Was 'Two Steps From the Blues'—and Ahead of Everyone Else
The extraordinary songs of the singer who died Sunday at age 83 offer reminders of how complex the blues can be, and how shockingly new it once was.
How Kanye West's Yeezus Is Like Sgt. Pepper, or Kid A, or Riot Goin' On
It's the rare screw-the-public album the public, after some head-scratching, decides to like.
