October 2022 - Chris Molanphy

Sam Smith and Kim Petras both make history atop the Hot 100, but “Unholy” is not without precedent. From the summer of 1978 through the summer of 1979, singer-songwriter Sylvester James Jr., known by the mononym Sylvester, scored three consecutive Top 40 hits on Billboard’s Hot 100: “Dance (Disco Heat)” (No. 19), the hi-NRG landmark [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

The Bridge: Chi-Town, Soul Town

28 October 20229 November 2022

Chicago music expert Ayana Contreras says the Great Migration made the Midwest funkier and more soulful. Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Stitcher Overcast TuneIn RSS Feed For questions about subscriptions or your Slate Plus feed, check our FAQ. Please enable javascript to get your Slate Plus [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

Hit Parade: Give Up the Funk Edition

14 October 20229 November 2022

In the ’70s, funk tore the roof off the charts, and taught a generation what it meant to get on the One. View Transcript View Transcript Advertisement Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Stitcher Overcast TuneIn RSS Feed For questions about subscriptions or your Slate Plus feed, [...] Read more

Slate Why Is This Song No. 1?

America’s No. 1 Song Is a Truly Improbable Smash

8 October 20229 November 2022

Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit” is a chart-topping hit that’s queer in every sense of the word. Consider, for a moment, the fate of Shuggie Otis, the shoulda-been music legend of the 1970s. The multiracial Los Angeles–based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist was compared to the likes of Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. Otis spent years working on [...] Read more