On attention to craft in defiance of AI.
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The Dark and Stormy Tale of a ShantyTok Band
When a scraggly band of folk musicians arrived to tour the UK, residents of a small Welsh town were enamored—until they learned that the band’s leader ruled with an iron fist.
A Championship Season in Mariachi Country
“Every year along the Texas border, high school teams battle it out in one of the nation’s most intense championship rivalries. But they’re not playing football.”
Kate Bush, “Running Up That Hill,” and the End of Music Charts As We Knew Them
Thanks to season four of Stranger Things, Kate Bush’s song, “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” has topped the charts, 37 years after its release. Nate Rogers takes a look at how this happened, and what it means for the music industry, and especially older, legacy acts. Drenched in gated reverb and woozy […]
What Stories Offer, and What They Ask in Return
“Some thoughts demand to be pursued to their limits. We work with writers to help them go the distance, to satisfy their curiosity and yours.” The greatest appeal of Longreads is obvious; it’s right there in the name. But it’s worth considering, for a moment, what length enables in a story, and what those stories […]
We Got the Beat
How The Go-Go’s emerged from the Los Angeles punk scene in the late ’70s to become the first and only female band to have a number one album in Beauty and the Beat.
An Age of Wonder (and Our Top 5)
Parenting lessons at a science museum, Catholic anti-war raiders, R. O. Kwon, and our top 5 reads of the week.
We Failed Amy Winehouse
“Dead for over a decade, the iconic singer-songwriter has never gotten the same due as her male counterparts.”
600? Is That Even Possible?
We like to think Longreads furnishes more than simply emergency reading, and that’s certainly true this week.

