Biographer Geoff Edgers on what powered the Police, rock’s most combustible trio. In this Slate Plus exclusive, host Chris Molanphy sits down with author and music journalist Geoff Edgers to discuss his upcoming book on the Police—their meteoric rise and inevitable implosion. Drawing on lengthy interviews with each member and his own lifelong fandom, Edgers [...] Read more

From the schoolroom to sophisti-pop, Sting’s genre-bending career is packed with hits.     Walk into any store or flip on a radio, and you’ll probably hear the Police’s “Every Breath You Take” sooner or later. Thanks to that ubiquity, the swooning, menacing megahit’s songwriter—Sting—is a very wealthy man. Now, his former bandmates, Stewart Copeland [...] Read more

A chart-data scholar says No. 1 debuts need an extramusical X-factor. In this Slate Plus exclusive, host Chris Molanphy welcomes fellow chart scholar Chris Dalla Riva, author of the forthcoming Uncharted Territory: What Numbers Tell Us About the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves, for a deep dive into his analytical approach to tracking No. 1 [...] Read more

The odd alchemy that sends a brand-new song to the top of the charts.     In the rarefied world of smash pop singles, there are No. 1s—and there are No. 1 debuts. Entering Billboard’s Hot 100 at the top is one of the hardest tricks in music. In fact, it wasn’t possible in the [...] Read more

Skip to the content Slate Shop Games Newsletters Sign In Account Account Sign out   News & Politics Culture Technology Business Life Advice Podcasts Menu Menu News & Politics Culture Technology Business Life Advice Podcasts Search   Light Dark Auto Subscribe Slate Shop Games Newsletters Sign in Account Sign out Account A Delectable Blend of [...] Read more

The Kendrick-Drake feud made it all the way to the Super Bowl, but pop star beefs go back to the earliest days of wax. When Kendrick Lamar took the Super Bowl halftime stage in 2025 and had the stadium chanting along to “Not Like Us,” it was clear: Diss tracks had gone stratospheric. The Kendrick [...] Read more

Barry Walters, a scholar of LGBTQ music, says queer artists have long expressed their identities on a spectrum. In this Slate Plus exclusive, Hit Parade host Chris Molanphy welcomes music journalist Barry Walters, whose forthcoming book, Mighty Real, charts queer music history from 1969 to 2000. In this conversation about queerness in pop, Walters reflects [...] Read more

From Little Richard to Chappell Roan, queer artists have always been vanguards of pop, even when they have not been out. Little Richard was rock ‘n’ roll’s flamboyant architect. Lesley Gore sang that no one owned her. Sylvester was a gender-fluid icon who helped define disco. Freddie Mercury made rock operatic, and George Michael demanded [...] Read more