• 6 Artists Whose Sound Doesn't Match The Place They Came From: Thin Lizzy, CCR, and more

    With many artists, there’s absolutely no mystery as to where they hail from. The Beach Boys are quite obviously from Southern California, and Bruce Springsteen has made a career out of being a New Jersey native (at least, he might be). These six artists, however, sound as if they came from one place, but are actually from somewhere else entirely.

  • Six Lead Vocalists Who Don't Write Their Own Lyrics: Ozzy Osbourne, Roger Daltrey, and more

    It's totally reasonable to assume that each member of a band writes his or her own parts: the guitarist writes the guitar parts, the bassist writes bass lines, and the vocalist writes the lyrics. However, there are some rare cases where someone in the band other than the vocalist writes the lyrics. Here are six examples of bands whose vocalists don't write their own lyrics.

  • 8 Albums Missing from Rolling Stone's Best of '94: Morrissey, Pulp and more

    Rolling Stone recently wrote a list of the 40 best alternative albums of 1994, and while they included a ton of excellent albums (Parklife, Weezer’s Blue Album, Dookie), I also noticed that a ton of classics were missing as well (and replaced by Korn and Bush, for some reason). Here are eight great albums from 1994 that Rolling Stone must have simply forgotten to add to their list.

  • 6 Artists Whose Second Band Was Superior: Jimmy Page, Ian MacKaye, and more

    When a musician is kicked out of a high-profile band, or if that band breaks up, they can usually be expected to start another band soon afterwards. While these bands are rarely better than the old ones (see: Wings, Big Audio Dynamite), sometimes the new band is actually better. Here are six artists whose second band was better than their first.

  • 6 Bands That Began as Solo Projects: Grizzly Bear, Foo Fighters, and more

    Unless they're singing folk songs like Bob Dylan, solo artists are rarely "solo" in the most literal sense of the word, typically employing a backing band to play along with them on record and during concerts. However, just as some artists leave their bands in pursuit of a solo career, some solo artists feel more comfortable playing music within a band environment. Here are six great bands that began as solo projects for one of the members.

  • 5 Reasons Why "Illmatic" is the Greatest Rap Album Ever

    I hold the very uncontroversial opinion that Illmatic, the debut album by Queens rapper Nas, is the greatest rap album ever made. In celebration of Illmatic’s 20th birthday today, here a couple of reasons why it’s truly the greatest ever, just in case you’re unconvinced (or if you’ve never heard it before).

  • Eight Totally Bizarre Guitar Solos: Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, and more

    The most renowned guitar solos in rock history are soaring and highly melodic, like David Gilmour’s ethereal passages in “Comfortably Numb,” or the epic guitar duel between Don Felder and Joe Walsh at the end of “Hotel California”. These eight solos listed here are way too strange to ever get such recognition, but they’re definitely worth checking out anyway.

  • Seven Albums Hated by the People Who Made Them: R.E.M., the Beatles, and more

    Musicians have a very unusual relationship with the songs they write. Just like an actor doesn't sit around watching his or her own movies all day (hopefully), a musician doesn't listen to their own albums very often, for various reasons. They could simply be tired of hearing the songs, or maybe they're self-conscious, but sometimes an artist genuinely dislikes their own work. Here are seven albums aren't very well liked by the people who made them.
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