Slate Culture Gabfester Julia Turner says the ideal summer bop has tempo but also swag—and she still likes “Blurred Lines.” Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music Overcast TuneIn RSS Feed For questions about subscriptions or your Slate Plus feed, check our FAQ. Please enable javascript to get your Slate [...] Read more

When did America decide that every year there’d be one hot-weather hit to rule them all? (And why isn’t it “Espresso”?) View Transcript View Transcript   Advertisement   Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music Overcast TuneIn RSS Feed For questions about subscriptions or your Slate Plus feed, check our [...] Read more

Author and critic Gavin Edwards studied “We Are the World” minute by minute and affirms the vital role Quincy Jones played in its existence. Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music Overcast TuneIn RSS Feed For questions about subscriptions or your Slate Plus feed, check our FAQ. Please enable javascript [...] Read more

Quincy Jones was a legend even before he met Michael Jackson. He redefined what a producer could achieve, from “It’s My Party” to “We Are the World.” View Transcript View Transcript   Advertisement   Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music Overcast TuneIn RSS Feed For questions about subscriptions or [...] Read more

New York Times critic Lindsay Zoladz says girl groups may fade into history, but we can still playlist our favorite bops. In this mini-episode of Hit Parade, host Chris Molanphy is joined by New York Times pop critic Lindsay Zoladz, writer of the paper’s music twice-weekly newsletter The Amplifier. Six years ago, when Lindsay was [...] Read more

What is a girl group? In the ’60s, harmonizing ladies saved rock & roll. In the ’90s, sisters with voices gave pop some TLC. Girl groups have long been underestimated—even by the producers and managers who created them. For women listeners, girl groups narrated profound emotions and expressed personal freedom—even when the singers were not [...] Read more

Boy-band expert Maria Sherman says fans should own their fandom and not internalize anti–boy band denigration. In this mini-episode of Hit Parade, host Chris Molanphy is joined by critic and author Maria Sherman, author of Larger Than Life: A History of Boy Bands from NKOTB to BTS, who learned to stop worrying and embrace her [...] Read more

What is a boy band? The history of cute guys playing pop—sometimes, even their own instruments—is long and rich. When you hear “boy band,” what do you picture? Five guys with precision dance moves? Songs crafted by the Top 40 pop machine? Svengalis pulling the puppet strings? Hordes of screaming girls? As it turns out, [...] Read more

Slate’s Carl Wilson says covers and interpolations are as valid as originals—even Bob Dylan borrowed all the time. In this mini-episode of Hit Parade, host Chris Molanphy is joined by Slate chief music critic Carl Wilson, who discusses cover songs and why his 2018 predication of a comeback for covers didn’t quite pan out. Carl [...] Read more

A smash remake of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” has reminded us of the power of cover songs. But why are hit covers so rare today? Cover songs once had a simple playbook: Artists would faithfully rerecord a song—note for note and word for word. They might modernize the instrumentation. If they were feeling radical, they’d [...] Read more