The Bee Gees’ dominance of the charts in the disco era was above and beyond Chic, Giorgio Moroder, even Donna Summer. Their sound track to Saturday Night Fever sold thirty million copies. They were responsible for writing and producing eight of 1978’s number ones, something only Lennon and McCartney in 1963/64 could rival—and John and […]
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Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
David Bowie, 1947-2016
Here are six stories about the rock star who left a mark on music, fashion, and art.
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
David Bowie, 1947-2016
Here are six stories about the rock star who left a mark on music, fashion, and art.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Musical Genius Is a Gendered Idea
But really, what is a musician’s voice if not distinctive? Isn’t that… good? Entire pieces have been written about the voices of Bob Dylan and Tom Waits, so American and vital and wise in their manly scratchiness, like unshaved bristle and whiskey and dirt. Man voice make music good. Woman voice music bad: Too high. […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Wild Times of Billy Idol
Before there was pop-punk, there was Billy Idol. More than any other artist of his era, the man born William Broad brought the style and attitude of punk rock into the American mainstream, via massive hits including “White Wedding” and “Rebel Yell.” For this, he was both celebrated and vilified. Fans adored Idol’s bad-boy image […]
Posted inNonfiction
STAT: My Daughter’s MS Diagnosis and the Question My Doctors Couldn’t Answer
Is there a dietary treatment for multiple sclerosis? And if so, why is the medical establishment ignoring published academic research that started in the 1950s proving it?
Posted inPodcasts, Quotes
The Business of Merchandising Pop Music
Brian Epstein was the manager of a family-owned business called North End Music Stores in Liverpool, England. He began hearing a lot about a new group called The Beatles, who were playing at the Cavern Club. So he went to hear them, and one day, proposed a management contract. The four lads, which included drummer […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Islands in the Stream
The Bee Gees were pop music geniuses whose work in 1978 “accounted for 2 percent of the entire record industry’s profits.” Yet they were still underappreciated—and also still capable of making ill-conceived creative decisions.
Posted inNonfiction, Story
Come Hear My Song
A night at the San Joaquin Valley’s last historic honky-tonk.
