Nirvana | Nevermind (album) The Accidental Revolution On January 11, 1992, Nevermind knocked Michael Jackson’s Dangerous from #1 on the Billboard 200, a result nobody at the label saw coming, least of all the band that made it. On January 11, 1992, a record that nobody expected to matter very much climbed to number one […]
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Royel Otis | Artist Feature The Sexy Sword Royel Otis have a billion streams but are best known for two covers, a paradox that says more about them than any hit single could, and one that keeps getting stranger the closer you look. Here’s a fun exercise. Name the two biggest Royel Otis moments. Not
Royel Otis Got Famous Playing Other People’s Songs Read More »
Foster the People | Pumped Up Kicks The Slap in the Face “Pumped Up Kicks” is a first-person monologue from a kid plotting murder. It went Diamond, hit a billion streams, and most people were dancing to it before they caught a single word. “It took people a while to let the lyrics get into
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Semisonic | Closing Time Last Call for Meaning Everyone knows “Closing Time” as the universal bar-closing anthem, but its songwriter hid a second meaning so personal that his own bandmates didn’t know for 15 years. You know the moment. It’s 2 AM. The house lights snap on, ugly and fluorescent, and suddenly everyone in the
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Third Eye Blind | Semi-Charmed Life The Brightest Dark Song A song about crystal meth addiction became one of the most beloved pop anthems of the ’90s. Nearly three decades later, people are still finding out they were tricked, and the deception runs deeper than just the lyrics. Here’s something that happens on TikTok roughly
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Ramones | Ramones (debut album) Twenty Minutes, Twenty Songs Sire Records president Seymour Stein was home sick when the Ramones played their showcase, so he booked a rehearsal room the next day. They ripped through twenty songs in twenty minutes and he signed them on the spot, to make the $6,400 album that blew apart
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The Killers | Mr. Brightside Still Here, Still Loud In 2017, 110,000 Michigan fans sang the chorus of ‘Mr. Brightside’ a cappella in the rain when the PA cut out, a song assembled almost entirely from accidents, now one of the most enduring singles in chart history. October 2017, Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor. It’s raining.
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