Tangled Up in Bob Stories: A Dylan Reading List By Aaron Gilbreath Reading List Few musicians have generated as much music and as much study as this Nobel Prize winning singer-songwriter. Dylanology will last hundreds of years.
Shelved: The Misfits’ 12 Hits From Hell By Tom Maxwell Feature For a bunch of rock ‘n’ rollers creating the horror punk genre, the Misfits sure were sensitive.
Funk Lessons in Sonic Solitude By Longreads Feature “Joi’s recorded performances embodied all the funkiness my little soul had been waiting for.”
On Watching Boys Play Music By Eryn Loeb Feature “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.”
Shout Out to Myspace By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight The site that revolutionized how people released and listened to music has died multiple deaths since its 2003 debut, but it finally gets the eulogy it deserves.
The Messy Making of a Nearly Perfect Hip-Hop Album By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight Music as original as Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s sounds evergreen, but originality came with a high personal cost for its maker.
Welcome to Hive By Danielle Jackson Feature Hive is a new Longreads series about women and the music that has influenced them.
Shelved: Jeff Buckley’s Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk By Tom Maxwell Feature The posthumous Buckley industry began with this problematic album, proof that the people who control a musician’s estate don’t always have his music in mind.
Carly Rae Jepsen’s Exhilarating, Emotionally Intelligent Pop Music By rachelvoronacote Feature Although music often involves emotional expression, pop star Carly Rae Jepsen has built a career and a persona out of big, unguarded emotions, a range that could be called “too muchness,” which is just right for some of us.
Violence Girl By Longreads Feature How a young bilingual Latina became one of punk’s enduring icons and helped create a new musical universe.
Longreads Best of 2019: Music Writing By Longreads Reading List 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.
Wonderful Things: The Kid Creole and the Coconuts Story By Michael Gonzales Feature Combining island sounds with stylish clothes and an unforgettable stage presence, one of New York City’s most original bands helped influence 1980s pop culture, and they never sacrificed their unclassifiable artistic vision.
The Story of Salvador’s Banda Didá By Tari Ngangura Feature In a country with violent history and violent politics, Brazil’s first all-female, Afro-Brazilian percussion group drums and dances and changes lives.
In Praise of Del Amitri’s Album Waking Hours By Longreads Feature Some albums make it hard to separate the music from the experience of listening to it.
Stumbling Into Joy By Kate Hopper Feature The electric bass chose her, but it took 44 years to heed the call.
Why Lhasa de Sela Matters By Longreads Feature Raised in a school bus by itinerant hippie parents, with one foot in Mexico and one in the US, the singer blossomed into her true multicultural self in bilingual Montreal.
A Fresh Look at The Smashing Pumpkins’ 1998 Album Adore By Longreads Feature Loved and loathed in equal measure, one thing critics can’t take from this influential 90s band is their willingness to evolve musically.
Why Karen Carpenter Matters By Longreads Feature For one brown, queer Filipino-American, Karen Carpenters’ music anchored her to her musical family’s past while helping chart her path in their adopted Southern California.
Shelved: The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band’s “Brain Opera” By Tom Maxwell Feature What happens when you’re not different just for the sake of being different.
Remembering Daniel Johnston By Tom Maxwell Feature This outsider musician made music sound new again to everyone who listened.
The Story of Country Music’s Great Songwriting Duo By Longreads Feature Before they released “Wichita Lineman,” the greatest unfinished song of all time, Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb lived surprisingly parallel lives.
Shelved: Van Morrison’s Contractual Obligation Album By Tom Maxwell Feature This is the sound of not really trying.
Searching for The Sundays By David Obuchowski Feature When music writers are also music fans, they can walk a line between appreciative and intrusive.
Shelved: Jimi Hendrix’s Black Gold Suite By Tom Maxwell Feature The genius guitarist’s autobiographical, multi-song fantasy album sat in his drummer’s apartment for twenty years. Now in the care of the Hendrix estate, will it ever see the light of day?
Remembering João Gilberto By Tom Maxwell Feature Eccentricity was inseperable from this musical innovator’s artistic vision.
Tom Petty’s Problematic Album Southern Accents By Michael Washburn Feature In 1985, one of rock ‘n’ roll’s most beloved songwriters made a regrettable misstep with a narrow conception of Southern identity.
Shelved: Lee Hazlewood’s Cruisin’ For Surf Bunnies By Tom Maxwell Feature It’s no surprise that the legendary songwriter and producer dabbled in surf music. What’s surprising is why music this good remained unreleased for 50 years.
Manic Street Preachers’ Album The Holy Bible By Longreads Feature How a band seemingly out of step with its times outlasted so many of its indulgent, in-step contemporaries.
Those Limits Were Not Hindrances: An Interview with Megan Pugh By Aaron Gilbreath Feature How a writer worked hard to understand one of American music’s most mysterious performers while protecting his past, and art.
