Canadian pop treasure Carly Rae Jepsen achieved peak cultural saturation in 2012 with the inescapable hit ‘Call Me Maybe’. ‘Call Me Maybe’ started as an acoustic song, but dressed up with some synth strings and endorsed by Justin Bieber, it was…
The 1960s were an exciting time for popular music, with new genres emerging and recording technology evolving constantly. I recently listed 10 awful 1960s songs, so it’s time to pick out some highlights. This list largely eschews the most acclaimed…
The 1960s were a great time for popular music. The development of recording technology allowed new sounds, and the decade saw the rise of Motown, the British Invasion, and psychedelia. Major artists like Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and The Rolling…
The 1990s are fondly remembered in hindsight, the decade of grunge, gangsta-rap, trip-hop, and Brit-pop. This list of the 10 best songs of the 1990s is more rock-oriented than I expected, given the diverse nature of the decade. Apart from…
It’s easy to look back at the 1990s with rose-coloured spectacles, assuming that the charts were dominated by respected and cutting-edge acts like Nirvana and Nas. But like every decade, plenty of less illustrious artists sold truckloads of records. This…
My list of the ten worst songs of the 1980s has received thousands of visitors over the last couple of weeks. I’ve received comments accusing me of hating the 1980s, so I thought that I’d set the record straight with…
When I was a teenager in the 1990s, the 1980s were often reviled as the decade that taste forgot. But I think this list is far less heinous than the 10 Worst Songs of the 1970s – the corporate vibes…
Hüsker Dü are among the embarrassment of riches to emerge from Minnesota in the 1980s – their state’s contemporaries include Prince, The Replacements, and Soul Asylum. The three-piece band played energetic and emotive music – they started playing hardcore punk…
The 1970s were a great time for albums – acts like David Bowie, Marvin Gaye, Joni Mitchell, and Led Zeppelin released a swathe of great records. Amongst all the great music, however, plenty of abominable songs also made it onto…
Alex Chilton was already a star when he joined forces with the band Icewater. Icewater’s members – singer/guitarist Chris Bell, bassist Andy Hummel, and drummer Jody Stephens – had been playing in Memphis garage-rock bands. Despite the city’s heritage of…
Neil Leslie Diamond is adored by mature women and ironically enjoyed by sports crowds singing ‘Sweet Caroline’. Indoctrinated at an early age, however, I appreciate him as a fascinating character. Diamond is part sequined stadium-filling entertainer and part introverted singer-songwriter.…
My first encounter with the music of Paul Westerberg was my sister’s copy of the Friends soundtrack. I wasn’t impressed – his rough-hewn vocals were out of place among slick alt-rock tracks from Hootie and the Blowfish, The Rembrandts, and…
As a young music fan, I was heavily reliant on Greatest Hits for my collection. I earned $3 for mowing the lawn and new albums cost $20, so compilations were a sure-fire way of getting bang for my buck. Compilations…
Even before she released her first solo album, New York’s Carole King had already enjoyed a prolific music career. She’d inspired Neil Sedaka’s ‘Oh! Carol’ and written a hit song for her daughters’ babysitter (Little Eva’s ‘Loco-motion’). The 1960s hits…
If you’re not from Australasia, chances are that you’re not familiar with Dave Dobbyn – he’s ubiquitous in New Zealand, but obscure everywhere else. When a panel selected the New Zealand’s best ever popular songs in 2001, five Dave Dobbyn…
The Byrds were one of the most significant American bands of the 1960s. They emerged out of the L.A. folk scene, featuring three singer-guitarists; James Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, and David Crosby. Their first single as The Byrds was their…
In the 1980s hair-metal and synth-infusions represented the mainstream of rock, and a scrappy rock ‘n roll band from Minneapolis was relegated to cult status. Shortly after The Replacements broke up, Nirvana took aspects of their sound to the mainstream,…
Jeff Tweedy was the junior partner in alt-country outfit Uncle Tupelo, playing bass and fronting the occasional song. When the group split, Tweedy formed Wilco with other Uncle Tupelo musicians – notably bassist John Stirratt, Wilco’s only other constant member.…
On New Year’s Eve 1974, Mick Fleetwood invited guitarist Lindsey Buckingham to join Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham insisted that his girlfriend Stevie Nicks was part of the package, and Fleetwood Mac’s tenth and most successful line-up was formed. The line-up of…
Despite releasing their first album in 1968, Creedence Clearwater Revival weren’t hippies. Frontman John Fogerty represents blue-collar America, addressing working-class issues like the Vietnam War, while there’s a heartland warmth to their swampy rock. The band sounded like they came…
Classically trained pianist Irmin Schmidt and music teacher Holger Czukay studied under Stockhausen. Both tuned into rock music as it progressed in the mid-1960s. Czukay’s student Michael Karoli played him The Beatles’ ‘I Am The Walrus’, while Schmidt discovered the…
Emmylou Harris was discovered by ex-Byrd Chris Hillman in a folk club. Hillman recommended her to country maverick Gram Parsons. Parsons featured Harris’ harmony vocals on songs like ‘Love Hurts’, and mentored her in country music. When Parsons passed away…
English sophisti-pop band Prefab Sprout date back to 1970s art-rock; leader Paddy McAloon was sent a rejection letter by Brian Eno’s record label in 1976. They didn’t release their debut album Swoon until 1984, by which time the lineup had…
Power pop legend Matthew Sweet was born in Nebraska, but moved to Athens, Georgia, to join the local alt-rock scene. In 1991 he recorded his commercial breakthrough Girlfriend, showcasing the brilliant lead guitar of Richard Lloyd and Robert Quine, as…
