We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in music writing.
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Posted inHighlight, Quote Posts, Quotes, Science & Nature
‘Someone Took Care to Get it Right’: The Birds of the Seven Kingdoms
On the delightfully nerdy role of birds and bird calls in Game of Thrones.
Posted inNonfiction
Shelved: Van Morrison’s Contractual Obligation Album
This is the sound of not really trying.
Posted inNonfiction
The 25 Most Popular Longreads Exclusives of 2019
The original reporting, personal essays, columns, and collaborations that were our most-read stories of the year.
Posted inNonfiction
“What Do I Know To Be True?”: Emma Copley Eisenberg on Truth in Nonfiction, Writing Trauma, and The Dead Girl Newsroom
“We were interested in dead girls, but so interested in them that we were trying to do the opposite of what had been done before.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Culture, Essays & Criticism, Feature, Story
Funk Lessons in Sonic Solitude
“Joi’s recorded performances embodied all the funkiness my little soul had been waiting for.”
Posted inNonfiction
A Fresh Look at The Smashing Pumpkins’ 1998 Album Adore
Loved and loathed in equal measure, one thing critics can’t take from this influential 90s band is their willingness to evolve musically.
Posted inNonfiction
On Watching Boys Play Music
“With a drink in my hand and earplugs responsibly in place, I’m very aware that I’ve spent more than half my life essentially standing in the same spot: off to one side of the stage (close but not too close), eyes forward, shifting weight from foot to foot.”
Posted inNonfiction
The Enduring Myth of a Lost Live Iggy and the Stooges Album
In 1973, Columbia Records professionally recorded the infamous band for a planned concert record. Columbia never released it. Maybe they never recorded it.
Posted inUncategorized
Took You By Surprise: John and Paul’s Lost Reunion
Five years after the Beatles disbanded, a period fueled by intense acrimony, Lennon and McCartney set aside their differences and got back together one more time. Inside the rollicking atmosphere of that May 1974 recording session.
