Slate staffers go head-to-head with Hit Parade host Chris Molanphy for the ultimate chart-trivia roundup. <audio title="Wednesday Night Live: Music Trivia" src="https://traffic.megaphone.fm/SLT7510393630.mp3" class="slate-megaphone__audio-player" tabindex="0" preload="metadata" controls></audio> <iframe title="Wednesday Night Live: Music Trivia" src="https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=SLT7510393630&amp;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. • Exclusive [...] Read more

How Yacht Rock, a genre invented in the ’00s, gave a name to the smooth West Coast music of the ’70s and ’80s. <audio title="What a Fool Believes Edition" src="https://traffic.megaphone.fm/SLT7307219829.mp3" class="slate-megaphone__audio-player" tabindex="0" preload="metadata" controls></audio> <iframe title="What a Fool Believes Edition" src="https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=SLT7307219829&amp;light=true" frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" width="100%"></iframe> In the late ’70s and early ’80s, a scene and [...] Read more

Chris Molanphy talks to critic Jessica Hopper about how the all-women ’90s festival beat the live-music odds. <audio title="The Bridge: Lilith’s Winding Road" src="https://traffic.megaphone.fm/SLT9370088005.mp3" class="slate-megaphone__audio-player" tabindex="0" preload="metadata" controls></audio> <iframe title="The Bridge: Lilith’s Winding Road" src="https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=SLT9370088005&amp;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. [...] Read more

Lilith Fair broke through music’s glass ceiling and affirmed women’s command of ’90s rock, pop and hip-hop. <audio title="Building a Herstory Edition" src="https://traffic.megaphone.fm/SLT2113673264.mp3" class="slate-megaphone__audio-player" tabindex="0" preload="metadata" controls></audio> <iframe title="Building a Herstory Edition" src="https://player.megaphone.fm/SLT2113673264?light=true" frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" width="100%"></iframe> For decades—literally since Woodstock—female musicians had battled music-industry perceptions that amassing too many of them, on the radio [...] Read more

Chris Molanphy talks to OutKast expert Regina Bradley about what they meant to Southern hip-hop. <audio title="The Bridge: Many Ways to be OutKasted" src="https://traffic.megaphone.fm/SLT6638412813.mp3" class="slate-megaphone__audio-player" tabindex="0" preload="metadata" controls></audio> <iframe title="The Bridge: Many Ways to be OutKasted" src="https://player.megaphone.fm/SLT6638412813?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 [...] Read more

How OutKast rose above the ’90s rap feud between East and West by redirecting the music South. <audio title="Shake It Like a Polaroid Picture Edition" src="https://traffic.megaphone.fm/SLT9382703054.mp3" class="slate-megaphone__audio-player" tabindex="0" preload="metadata" controls></audio> <iframe title="Shake It Like a Polaroid Picture Edition" src="https://player.megaphone.fm/SLT9382703054?light=true" frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" width="100%"></iframe> Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts TuneIn [...] Read more

Chris Molanphy talks to special musical guest Julian Velard about Billy Joel’s singular authenticity. <audio title="The Bridge: Piano Man, Everyman" src="https://traffic.megaphone.fm/SLT6234003215.mp3" class="slate-megaphone__audio-player" tabindex="0" preload="metadata" controls></audio> <iframe title="The Bridge: Piano Man, Everyman" src="https://player.megaphone.fm/SLT6234003215?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. • Exclusive episodes [...] Read more

The so-called Piano Man often avoided the ivories, turning a range of styles and genres into Billy Joel music. <audio title="Still Billy Joel to Me Edition" src="https://traffic.megaphone.fm/SLT9742275194.mp3" class="slate-megaphone__audio-player" tabindex="0" preload="metadata" controls></audio> <iframe title="Still Billy Joel to Me Edition" src="https://player.megaphone.fm/SLT9742275194?light=true" frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" width="100%"></iframe> So, sure—Billy Joel’s first Top 40 hit, way back in 1974, was [...] Read more

Chris Molanphy talks to guest Eduardo Cepeda about Latin music’s journey to the center of American pop. <audio title="The Bridge: Hits Don’t Lie" src="https://traffic.megaphone.fm/SLT1545811346.mp3" class="slate-megaphone__audio-player" tabindex="0" preload="metadata" controls></audio> <iframe title="The Bridge: Hits Don’t Lie" src="https://player.megaphone.fm/SLT1545811346?light=true" frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" width="100%"></iframe> In this mini-episode of Hit Parade, originally aired on Facebook as part of Slate Live’s Q-Tip [...] Read more

How Ricky, J.Lo and Shakira changed Latin crossover—taking America from “La Bamba” to “Despacito” <audio title="La Vida Loca Edición" src="https://traffic.megaphone.fm/SLT3162109488.mp3" class="slate-megaphone__audio-player" tabindex="0" preload="metadata" controls></audio> <iframe title="La Vida Loca Edición" src="https://player.megaphone.fm/SLT3162109488?light=true" frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" width="100%"></iframe> Hit Parade takes you back to the turn of the millennium when, for a couple of years, it seemed like a [...] Read more