Angela H. was marching in a Black Lives Matter protest in Hollywood on June 2nd when her friends pointed out something surprising. They’d spotted a man in black gloves, sunglasses, and a hoodie nearby in the crowd — and he looked just like Harry Styles, a pop star Angela has …
Read More »Going Inside PJ Harvey's Powerful, Intimate Early Demos
When PJ Harvey started releasing records in the early Nineties, her raw lyrical depictions of sex and violence made people uncomfortable; it wasn’t often you heard a young, female artist (or a male one for that matter) sing something like “I’ll make it better/I’ll rub ’til it bleeds.” But Harvey …
Read More »Music at Home: Songs of Catharsis
In a 2017 interview on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, Metallica’s James Hetfield discussed what compels him to channel his darker emotions into songs. “What it is, is, if I can get it out of my head, it makes it better,” he said. “Better out than in.” That often goes for …
Read More »Harry Styles and Niall Horan: The Lost Interview
In the spring of 2012, I spent a few entertaining days hanging out with the five young members of a British boy band who were just breaking big in the United States. The guys from One Direction were unjaded, unguarded, totally charming, and a puppy pile of optimism and energy. …
Read More »Billy Joel Drummer Liberty DeVitto on His New Memoir, Making Peace With His Old Boss
When former Billy Joel drummer Liberty DeVitto started work on his new memoir Liberty: Life, Billy and the Pursuit of Happiness about 15 years ago, he was still angry. Joel had just fired him from his band after 30 years together, and DeVitto saw the book as a chance to …
Read More »Grateful Dead Roll Out Surprise 'Workingman's Dead' Studio Outtakes
On that late-winter-1970 day at Pacific High recording studio in San Francisco, Jerry Garcia wasn’t happy with what he was hearing. The Grateful Dead were trying to finish “New Speedway Boogie,” a song they’d played live only three times, and they were having trouble finding a groove. “Keep it nice …
Read More »Social Distancing With G-Eazy: Bob Dylan, Piano Lessons and New Music
G-Eazy has been more productive than most during quarantine. He had a few songs and videos under his belt that needed to be released, including “Moana” with Jack Harlow and “Angel Cry” with Devon Baldwin. In the first two months, he used the time to stretch his horizons and flex …
Read More »Song You Need to Know: Fontaines D.C., 'A Hero's Death'
Fontaines D.C. are a band of nice Irish lads with a knack for crisp, cutting guitars that bounce by like a fast-walking drunk guy knocking you off a sidewalk, and an endearingly affirmative view of life: “Dublin in the rain is mine/A pregnant city with a Catholic mind,” singer Grian …
Read More »Song You Need to Know: Fiona Apple, 'Ladies'
In the eight years since she released Idler Wheel, Fiona Apple has rehashed and distilled some of her earliest memories, all of which reckoned with her own identity as a woman and how she sees herself in relation to other women. The final product is the exquisitely noisy and brilliant …
Read More »Global Citizen CEO: Lady Gaga's Mother Helped Organize All-Star 'Together at Home' Benefit
On Saturday night, a multigenerational who’s who of hitmakers, including the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift, performed for an audience of more than 270 million across all platforms as part of Global Citizen‘s One World: Together at Home. The last two hours of the …
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