archive

Today’s most popular music

Marcyliena Morgan (Harvard) and Dione Bennett (LMU): Hip-Hop and the Global Imprint of a Black Cultural Form. Unlike other hip-hop fans around the world, young Cubans had little access to the latest trends in American rap, so they had to look inward for inspiration. In comparison to other genres rap music stands out for the intensity and graphic nature of its lyrical objectification, exploitation, and victimization of women. Seriously, Bro: Frat Rap needs to stop. We live in an increasingly "me, me, me" society, and the lyrics in today's most popular music can't help reflecting it. How heavy metal is keeping us sane: Dark and disturbing, the music is honest about human nature. LCD Soundsystem: How a chubby "old" guy became king of the hipsters. Cassette owners of the world, rise up, for tapes have become trendy — even though they were never particularly trendy before. Ten years after the White Stripes "saved" it, rock is again in crisis: The death and revival of rock is an old trope — a trope that itself is undergoing a revival this very moment. A history of Christian rock: Well, sort of — more accurately, the musings of one music fan who was weaned on the stuff. Sniffing Glue: Meghan O’Gieblyn on a childhood in Christian pop. Defenders of the Faith: We live in the golden age of all-female tribute bands, from Sheagles and Blonde Jovi to AC/DShe and Cheap Chick. Hail Yankovic, or how I learned to stop worrying and love being weird. Devo's crisis of late capitalism: How the pioneers of irony sold out without selling out. From McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, what your favorite ’80s band says about you. A review of Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past by Simon Reynolds (and more and more). Does it matter if there’s no such thing as a No. 1 song anymore?