February 2019 - Chris Molanphy

Creedence Clearwater Revival was an eternal chart bridesmaid—with a record number of No. 2s—and the No. 1s holding them back weren’t all classics. Listen to Episode 21 of Slate’s Hit Parade: <iframe src="https://player.megaphone.fm/SLT7769267473?light=true" frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" width="100%"></iframe> Get More Hit Parade Slate Plus members get extended, ad-free versions of our podcasts—and much more. Sign up today [...] Read more

Culturebox Slate

For the First Time Ever, the Grammys and the Critics Agreed

11 February 201912 February 2019

How did this happen?! And just how rare is this? We break it down. Last May, when Childish Gambino did the improbable and debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 with his satirical, superwoke art project “This Is America,” I wondered aloud what its legacy would be as a song. At the time, my [...] Read more

Slate Why Is This Song No. 1?

Why Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings” Is the Ultimate “Bop,” for Better or for Worse

4 February 201910 February 2019

Writing about popular music is lousy with obnoxious words. Indeed, there are so many—jangly, crunchy, seminal—that there is a whole book of them (and shamefully, I have used my share). Making things more complicated, much of this language is also subject to a generational divide—words coined by the young are understood to be off-limits to [...] Read more