“Pitchfork reviews have always been just as much about where and how music fits in the culture as they have been about the music itself.”
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For the Back Street Kids
“The voice of Ozzy Osbourne was unlike anything before it. It changed rock’n’roll, opened up the metal genre, and became the innate sound of alienation, darkness, and high gothic drama. John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats reflects on the loss of the singular frontman.”
The Evolution of the Hip-Hop Hunk
“One fan’s journey through rap’s pursuit of the female gaze, from LL Cool J to Tupac to Drake.”
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Featuring stories from Keri Blakinger, Zhengyang Wang, Marian Bull, Mark Synnott, and Clover Hope.
Untangling the Knotty Politics Behind Reggaeton’s Rise in Spain
“Once stigmatized as the music of immigrants, reggaeton now leads Spanish charts, spawning local artists and global stars. But not everyone is a fan.”
“Blurred Lines,” Harbinger of Doom
“How Robin Thicke, Pharrell, and T.I.’s cursed megahit predicted everything bad about the past decade in pop culture”
Trance Is Back—and It’s No Joke
“With Y2K aesthetics back in vogue, and post-pandemic clubbers jonesing for a hit of euphoria, the much-maligned genre is making a comeback.”
The Soundtrack of Our Lives: A Reading List on Pop ConcertsÂ
It’s been a huge year for live music, so let’s take a tour.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week we have stories from Christopher Johnston and Erin Quinlan, Dan McQuade, Crystal Wilkinson, Simon Akam, and Nicholson Baker.
40 Days in a Jungle and Our Top 5
“The skies were blue that day, and there was a light wind. For around half an hour all was well. But as the Cessna approached Caquetá, a Colombian department that contains one of the densest, wettest, most remote corners of the Amazon, something went wrong.” Pat yourselves on the back: you’ve made it through January. […]


