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Nobody Knows What “Helicopter” Is About
Bloc Party | Helicopter The Song That Refuses Explanation Bloc Party’s “Helicopter” is built on paradox: a title disconnected from its lyrics, a political anthem that isn’t political, and…
The Last Song Recorded for So Made Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel | Sledgehammer The Taxi Was Waiting Peter Gabriel’s biggest hit was a last-minute jam recorded as the musicians were literally leaving the studio. It became his only…
“Everlong” Was Never Supposed to Exist
Foo Fighters | Everlong The Song That Wasn’t a Hit “Everlong” never charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and only peaked at #3 on Alternative Airplay. By any normal…
The Joke Guitar That Launched 2.7 Billion Streams
Arctic Monkeys | Do I Wanna Know? The Weight of a Riff Arctic Monkeys wrote the most-streamed rock song in history on a guitar Alex Turner bought as a…
The Eyes Were Hazel
Velvet Underground | Pale Blue Eyes A Sealed Envelope A reel-to-reel tape sealed in 1965 held the earliest recording of “Pale Blue Eyes”, and sat unopened for over fifty…
Daft Punk Built an Analog Temple. The Internet Worshipped It.
Daft Punk | Get Lucky The Paradox A 15-second TV teaser became a 10-hour YouTube loop, and a song built to reject the internet broke Spotify’s all-time streaming record,…
One Take to Change Guitar Music Forever
Television | Marquee Moon The Take Nobody Planned In the fall of 1976, Television recorded their ten-minute guitar epic in a single take at A&R Studios. The drummer thought…
Chris Martin Has Never Told the Truth About Yellow
Coldplay | Yellow A Letter and a Phone Book Jon M. Chu wrote a careful letter asking Coldplay to license ‘Yellow.’ Chris Martin got the title off a phone…
The Hit Kevin Parker Tried to Give Away
Tame Impala | The Less I Know The Better The Almost-Gift Kevin Parker tried to give his best song to Mark Ronson. Ronson sent it back, and it went…
She Called It a Scene. He Made It Immortal.
Dire Straits | Romeo and Juliet Through the Bars of a Rhyme Mark Knopfler admitted he couldn’t write a love song ‘the way it’s meant to be’, then wrote…
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Daniel Rome
