Music

Over the course of a four-plus decade career as pop's premier parodist, "Weird Al" Yankovic has sold more than 12 million albums, earning five Grammys, four gold records, and six platinum. But this month, he's receiving the ultimater recognition of…

Thanksgiving week is upon us again, and you know what that means: it’s time to start thinking about some gift-giving. (Or maybe not! Things are tight all over, that’s undeniable, and if the holidays have always been overtly commercialized, they seem…

In Begin the Begin: R.E.M.'s Early Years (out now from Verse Chorus Press), author Robert Dean Lurie turns back the clock to the formative years of the wildly influential group, tracing their origins back to the fertile Athens, Georgia rock scene,…

The performance starts at 20:25, if you’d like to bookmark it – and to be clear, Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese is worth watching in its entirety, but the part we’re here to talk about begins at 20:25, Bob Dylan…

I love Prince. Who doesn’t? As an avowed Prince fan, I sure would love to own the black Taylor 612-CE acoustic guitar that he used on his 2004 Musicology tour, and good news: now I can buy it, thanks to “Rock Icons” from Julien’s Auctions, with…

The music industry has suffered from the splintering of the monoculture for years, but 2018 was especially slow in terms of hits from world-conquering pop stars. Nicki Minaj, Drake, and Cardi B all released albums, sure, but they served more as…

“Can’t mess with a 69-year-old broad!” announces Patti Smith in her new concert film Horses: Patti Smith and Her Band, and though it’s a follow-up to rather a devastating burn on an audience member who dares holler “take it off” when she futzes with…

The art of the album cover is a precise one; the artist must choose the photographer that puts across exactly the persona they wish to convey, entrusting them to work up a concept, style, and message that fits smoothly with the music inside. By the…

I mean seriously, just look at them. Here’s the clip for “Make Me Feel,” in which Monáe decides that the only way to top the absolute banger of a Prince riff she’s put on wax is to make the greatest Robert Palmer video he never made. Maybe there’s…

Radiohead has announced a swing of North American tour dates this summer, beginning in Chicago on July 7 and wrapping in Philly on August 1. The group did a handful of U.S. dates last spring; this summer’s shows will hit several cities they didn’t…

Janelle Monáe has been so busy starring in movies and classing up red carpets and generally being awesome that we hadn’t really noticed she hadn’t put out a new albums in… Jesus, five years. Luckily, she’s rectifying that, and doing so in her…

Frank Ocean sent out a truly lovely late-night valentine, surprise-releasing a moody and moving cover of the romantic standard “Moon River” on his Tumblr page late last night. Captioned simply “in the late nite,” the embedded YouTube link features…

All right, you’ve heard enough about it, the day has arrived – Kendrick Lamar’s much ballyhooed soundtrack to Black Panther is here, and is ready to stream on your service of choice. While the album only includes five songs credited to Kendrick…

One of the many, many exciting things about Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther – which, by the way, is currently sitting at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes after the first blast of rhapsodic reviews hit yesterday – is the Kendrick Lamar-crafted soundtrack, which…

One of the many mini-controversies of Sunday night’s Grammy Awards was the shafting of Lorde, who was the only female nominee for Album of the Year, and yet also the only of those nominees not invited to do a solo performance at the ceremony. The…

The 60th annual Grammy Awards were handed at last night at Madison Square Garden, and it turns out, they really like Bruno Mars. He took home the trophies for Album of the year (24K Magic), record of the year (the title track), and song of the year…

If you’re a film soundtrack nerd, you probably love composer David Shire, who created the scores for greats like The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, The Conversation, and parts of Saturday Night Fever. You may also know him as the guy who got fired…

English new wave icons Duran Duran released their first self-titled album in 1981, but it was “Girls on Film,” their third single, that caught the attention of the MTV generation thanks to its fetishistic music video and charismatic singer Simon Le…

Back in 2013, My Bloody Valentine released m b v, their first studio album in 22 years, and there was much rejoicing. (It was one of our picks for the year’s best records.) They toured it, to great acclaim, in North America and Europe, and then……

It’s music festival announcement season, and we now have the full slate for this year’s Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, coming up in June in Manchester, Tennessee. The 2018 headliners for the four-day festival are the Killers, Muse, and Eminem,…

Earlier this week, Justin Timberlake announced the February 2 release of his first studio album in five years (though he did record a handful of tracks for the Trolls soundtrack, and the less said about those, the better). It’s titled Man of the…

When Kendrick Lamar debuted his video for “LOVE.” just before Christmas, a few sharp-eyed viewers noted something interesting in the midst of its beach landscapes and intimate bedrooms – a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot of a film clapper, emblazoned…

This year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival line-up will include rising star Cardi B, the freshly (and surprisingly) relevant Eminem, and – in something of a rain-check gig – Beyoncé. The pop/soul superstar was slated to headline last…

Flavorwire is taking the final week of 2017 off, because God knows we need it. But all week, we’ll be reposting some of our favorite pieces from the year. Read them all here. “I don’t smoke anymore,” says Mike Hadreas — a.k.a. Perfume Genius — as…

Flavorwire is taking the final week of 2017 off, because God knows we need it. But all week, we’ll be reposting some of our favorite pieces from the year. Read them all here. In their current forms, MTV and Fiona Apple occupy such distant spheres…

Merry Christmas, and here’s a gift from Kendrick Lamar: he’s released a new video for “LOVE.” (featuring Zacari), from his bold and audacious record DAMN. The clip, directed by Dave Meyers and the little homies, is an exquisitely crafted portrait of…

While we’re all busy getting swoony over Guillermo del Toro’s award-nominated movie The Shape of Water, let’s enjoy this cover of a great Suicide track by the film’s star, Michael Shannon. Shannon happens to have a great voice and performs in the…

One of our favorite television holiday traditions was Darlene Love’s annual visit to David Letterman’s show – first Late Night on NBC, then The Late Show on CBS – to sing her Phil Spector-produced Christmas classic, “Christmas (Baby Please Come…

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced its inductees for 2018, and as is their way, it’s a combination of worthy additions, “about time!” picks, and head-scratchers. The Class of 2018 consists of Nina Simone, Bon Jovi, the Cars, Dire Straits,…

“It’s a bizarre one,” Jack White has promised of his next album, Boarding House Reach, and now he’s released a teaser video that, if nothing else, confirms that assessment. Titled “Servings and Portions from my Boarding House Reach,” it’s a wild…

Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme is facing a public outcry for kicking a photographer in the head during the band’s set at a Saturday night Christmas concert in Inglewood, California. The victim of Homme’s attack was Chelsea Lauren, a…

It was five long years ago than an off-the-cuff video of DMX improvising a decidedly DMX-y cover of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” during a radio visit went viral, so it’s sort of surprising it took this damn long to become an actual thing. But it…

Yes, it’s that time of the year when the news is all awards all the time, so on top of the winners of last night’s Gothams, we now have Emmy nominations to reckon with. The Recording Academy leaned heavily on hip-hop superstars this year, with Jay-Z…

The American Music Awards – aka the younger, hipper Grammys – were handed out last night, and boy they sure do like Bruno Mars, who took seven AMAs. Seven! Including Artist of the Year, Video of the Year, and Favorite Album! Hey uh, look, his stuff…

Throughout his too-short life, Prince was legendary not only for this talent, but for his productivity; he not only released a staggering 40 studio albums over the course of his 37-year career (including several multi-record sets), but left scores…

It’s been one year since the passing of beloved Montreal-born singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, and the Canadian artist is being honored with a mural on Crescent Street in his home city. The tribute comes from the non-profit organization MU, and is…

Wilco’s first two records, A.M. and Being There, remain classics in the alt.country subgenre, firmly establishing the group’s style and sound (or, at least, its initial iteration of them). It’s also been, respectively, 22 and 21 years since their…

Pussy Riot has released a new song and video, unsubtly (but not inaccurately!) titled “Police State,” to mark both the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump’s election and the 100th anniversary of the conclusion of the Russian Revolution – events…

Bikini Kill’s Tobi Vail, Kathi Wilcox, and Kathleen Hanna appeared onstage together for the first time in 20 years over the weekend. The occasion was the conclusion of a three-night event at New York’s The Kitchen, celebrating the release of…

There are few ATMs in the music business like the holiday album. Make a good one – or hell, a passable one – and if you’re popular enough, it’s a perennial seller. And it’s not just old favorites like Elvis, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, and Johnny…

Last week, the music industry lost a legend: the great Fats Domino, whose 1950s singles for Imperial Records (including “Ain’t That A Shame,” “Blueberry Hill,” “Whole Lotta Loving,” and “I’m Walkin”) were among the most influential songs in the…

Taylor Swift dropped a new music video last night, for “…Ready For It?”, the second single and clip from her forthcoming reputation; in it, she seems to be asking if we’re ready for one more watch of the Scar-Jo Ghost In The Shell remake before the…

Yesterday, on-the-rise rapper Russ – whose debut album There’s Really a Wolf recently went gold – took a moment to tweet his 1.24 million followers a shout-out to Nicki Minaj: Minaj took the praise to heart, not only thanking Russ, but using his…

“Sometimes delirium is good,” singer Chrysta Bell tells me. The Twin Peaks actress and longtime David Lynch collaborator, who made two albums with the filmmaker (and wrote a song with him the first day they met), is talking about the hazy space…

The original lyric sheet for David Bowie’s “Starman” is going up for auction in Los Angeles next month, and – bonus – it’s a first draft, with earlier variations on the iconic 1972 song’s verses. For example, the eventual line “Some cat was layin’…

With less than a week until the season premiere on Netflix, a Spotify streaming playlist of the new Stranger Things season 2 soundtrack has arrived. “In Season 2 we’re introducing new styles of composition, while still revisiting old themes when…

Run the Jewels’ Killer Mike is an outspoken critic of mass incarceration, and last night he took his crusade to an unexpected location: an episode of South Park. This week’s episode, titled “Hummels and Heroin,” addresses both the criminal justice…

A few weeks back, Morrissey released the first single from his forthcoming LP Low in High School, which had perhaps the most Morrissey title imaginable: “Spent the Day in Bed.” Now he’s released the video for that single, in which the…

The great soul songstress Sharon Jones’s death last fall of pancreatic cancer was tragic if not shocking – after all, label Daptone Records had been open about her battle with pancreatic cancer, and it was documented earlier that year in Barbara…

Belle and Sebastian have released a new single, “I’ll Be Your Pilot,” and an exciting announcement along with it: a new trilogy of EPs, collectively titled How to Solve Our Human Problems. (Cover art for the trilogy is above.) The three EPs will be…

My Bloody Valentine have finally announced the release of two vinyl reissues they’ve been promising for some time. The band’s first two albums, Isn’t Anything and Loveless, will be analog-only cuts (no digital copies) and “mastered from analog tapes…

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has announced its 19 nominees for possible induction in 2018, which includes nine first-time nominees, two of which are eligible for the first time this year. Per the induction rules, artists first become eligible 25…

Hey, everything’s kind of garbage right now, and if you wanted to just wallow in despair day in and day out, who could blame you? But if you’d like just a few minutes of joy, here’s something: Paul Thomas Anderson has directed another Haim video.…

Tom Petty, the brilliant singer/songwriter and frontman of the wildly popular Heartbreakers, has died. A native of Gainesville, Florida, Petty and the Heartbreakers first came to national prominence in 1977, via their self-titled debut album and…

At least fifty people are dead, and over 400 injured, following a terrorist attack at a music festival in Las Vegas last night. It is the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. The gunfire began at approximately 10:08pm Sunday night at the Route…

L7, the fast and furious L.A. grunge rock band of the mid-‘80s to late-‘90s, have released their first new song since 2001, and whaddaya know, it’s about Donald Trump. “Dispatch From Mar-A-Lago” is a wickedly funny and joyfully loud fantasy in which…

When Chance the Rapper was booked to appear on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night, he was planning to perform “Grown Ass Kid,” an outtake from his Coloring Book mixtape. But he was moved to debut a new song (with Daniel Caesar), written…

Björk has released “The Gate,” the first single from her forthcoming (and as-yet-untitled) new album. The emotionally heavy nearly-seven-minute track is “essentially a love song, but I say ‘love’ in a more transcendent way,” the Icelandic…

After biting our nails for months wondering how this whole Freddie Mercury/Queen biopic thing was going to pan out, we wound up catching our first look at the actor who has some rather large shoes to fill as the British singer with the four-octave…

Sam Smith, the singing-earnestly-with-his-eyes-closed troubadour who won the most inexplicable Oscar of our time (no small feat, that) a year and a half ago for his unlistenable James Bond theme “Writing’s On the Wall,” is back with his first…

You know that moment when you hear that they’re making a celebrity biopic, and you’re like, “Huh, I wonder who will play him/her?” And then after a while, you hear which celebrity they’re casting, and you have that moment when you’re like, “Hmmm, I…

Happy birthday to the late singer, mustache icon, and flamboyant rock god Freddie Mercury. Friends of the artist often described him as sensitive and kind, but the Queen frontman wasn’t shy about flaunting himself on stage and playing up to a…

In one of those snickering pop culture reappropriations that we sort of can’t believe took this long to happen, pop songstress Michelle Branch and Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney have remade America’s ‘70s soft-rock standby “A Horse With No Name”…

The MTV Video Music Awards were held last night in Inglewood, California, and while we’d love to tell you all about the highlights, lowlights, and controversies of the evening, MTV doesn’t like people to do too much of that fancy word-writin’, so…

“I think I’m dying/Yeah, ’cause I’m frail and I’m tired/And I constantly complain about the pain I’m in,” willowy 28-year-old Sydney-based musician Alex Cameron booms in the opening notes of his band’s — officially comprised of him and his alto…

Nick Broomfield and Rudi Dolezal’s moving new documentary Whitney: Can I Be Me opens at the end of the story of Whitney Houston, with chopper shots of the hotel where she died in 2012, and the 911 call reporting it. It’s a sharp, immediate reminder…

Once upon a time, when an artist wanted to prove their musical bona fides by performing stripped-down, acoustic versions of their hits, they went on a little program called MTV Unplugged, and they got a whole TV special (and, often, an album too)…

Wilco has never been a particularly political band, at least in terms of overt song content – but like a lot of Americans, they’ve had a bit of an awakening since November 9, and have become much more vocal in concerts and interviews. And now, the…

Brooklyn-based duo Low Fem’s first two songs, which Flavorwire is lucky enough to premiere (for they are, full disclosure, friends of Flavorwire), begin sweetly, unassumingly. In “I Will Be There,” the soft androgyny of lead singer Max Silver’s…

Moses Sumney hasn’t even released his first full album yet, but with his “Lamentations” EP, his championing by Solange, his track “Plastic”s’ prime spot on Insecure‘s Season 1 finale, or his more recent “Lonely World” ending an episode of Queen…

Following their 2014 album Shaking the Habitual, The Knife’s Karin Dreijer and Olof Dreijer announced that their band that’d brought so much danceable alienation to the world would be going quiet. And so they stuck to their unfortunate word, and…

Though reports of a Bruce Springsteen Broadway residency were circulating back in June, today the musical legend officially announced his 8-week stint at New York’s Walter Kerr Theater. He’ll be playing the theater five nights a week (Tues-Sat),…

As soon Lorde opened with the words “Poetry is no place for a heart that’s a whore,” the four-or-so people who recognized Martha Wainwright’s scathingly, vulnerably brilliant 2005 track “Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole” in those words whooped their…