Books
Bruce Springsteen’s Brilliant DisguiseThe Boss discusses his depression, the E Street Band’s misogyny, and rock ’n’ roll’s racial difficulties in his new memoir.
Music
Why Do We Love Bad Singing?From Florence Foster Jenkins to William Hung to Rebecca Black, America has long been fascinated with failed crooners. But who decides what’s good, what’s good-bad, and what’s just bad?
Music
The Purple OneBlack or white, straight or gay, rock or R&B, male or female—Prince transcended every category.
Music
Unmastered, but Still Masterful Kendrick Lamar’s Untitled, Unmastered shows another side of hip-hop’s most electrifying performer.
Music
The G.O.O.D. NewsOn his miraculous, profane, gospel-influenced The Life of Pablo, Kanye West takes the long road to Damascus.
Music
He Could Be HeroesDavid Bowie’s true acolytes were the fans who embraced his multiple identities and transformed along with him.
The Music Club
The Music Club, 2015Entry 10: The year in comebacks. Plus: The one 2015 song I want to punch in the face.
Music
Twilight of the Tween IdolsOn their new albums, Justin Bieber, One Direction, and 5 Seconds of Summer perform the mandatory rites of passage to manhood. Who will take their places in pubescent hearts?
Music
The Impersonal Is PoliticalOn her new album, Joanna Newsom—like writer Elena Ferrante and country singer Iris DeMent—performs a vanishing act, in order to make her audience see her more clearly.
Culturebox
To See Which Way the Wind BlowsA new book explores what really happened the night Dylan went electric.
Music
Frank Ocean and the Wave of Anti-PopOn his new albums, the category-defying singer gives us what we need, though it may not be what we want.
Music
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love RadioheadForget whether they’re “the Last Great Rock Band.” They’re better when you stop taking them so seriously.
Music
Lemonade, the Aural AlbumBeyoncé’s new visual album is a spectacle to rival “Thriller.” But how is it as strictly music?
Culture Gabfest
Artwork That Brings On the WaterworksThe Culture Gabfest discusses what moves them to tears and what crying has to do with art.
The Music Club
The Music Club, 2015Entry 14: Why it’s not helpful to divide artists into heroes and villains.
The Music Club
The Music Club, 2015Entry 5: Let’s talk about the year’s best music on screen—and onstage.
Books
When He Was CruelElvis Costello’s memoir is most potent when it wrestles with the sins of the past—and his relationship with his bandleader father.
Music
Party Like It’s 1989Why are so many of 2015’s biggest pop stars channeling the sound of the 1980s?
Music
The Problem With “Country for People Who Don’t Like Country”Kacey Musgraves’ new album and America’s ongoing struggle to come to terms with Southern white, working-class identity.