Pet Shop Boys coined the term “imperial phase” to describe a pop star’s untouchable era. In the ’80s, Madonna lived it.   Advertisement   Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Spotify TuneIn RSS Feed For questions about subscriptions or your Slate Plus feed, check our FAQ. Please enable javascript to get your [...] Read more

Elijah Wald, whose book inspired the film A Complete Unknown, says the folk icon’s electrified surprise at Newport ‘65 had been gestating for years. In this mini-episode of Hit Parade, host Chris Molanphy welcomes musician, writer, and historian Elijah Wald. His book Dylan Goes Electric: Newport, Seeger, Dylan and the Night That Split the Sixties [...] Read more

A Complete Unknown depicts Bob Dylan’s ’60s cultural explosion—but his chart success came many years later.   Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Spotify TuneIn RSS Feed For questions about subscriptions or your Slate Plus feed, check our FAQ. Please enable javascript to get your Slate Plus feeds. All Slate Plus Podcasts [...] Read more

Our critics’ roundtable returns to recap the year in music—from Chappell to Charli, Kendrick to Doechii, Sabrina to Shaboozey. The Slate Music Club returns, in this special year-end edition of Hit Parade’s The Bridge! Ann Powers from NPR Music, Julianne Escobedo Shepherd of Hearing Things, and Slate’s Carl Wilson join host Chris Molanphy to discuss [...] Read more

How does advertising turn earworms and odd ditties into hits? You might be surprised at the bops that started as jingles.   That damned jingle! In that infernal commercial trying to sell you cars, sneakers, soda, gum! Can’t get it out of your head? Well, what if we made it longer, had a famous singer [...] Read more

Black-music scholar Emily Lordi says Aretha Franklin personified soul by bringing the church to the pop mainstream. In this mini-episode of Hit Parade, host Chris Molanphy is joined by Emily Lordi, an author, critic and Vanderbilt University professor who focuses on Black popular music and has written extensively on Aretha Franklin. In her book The [...] Read more

How Aretha Franklin became not only the Queen of Soul but a massive pop star, earning respect with amazing grace.   Advertisement   Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Spotify TuneIn RSS Feed For questions about subscriptions or your Slate Plus feed, check our FAQ. Please enable javascript to get your Slate [...] Read more

Critic and music historian Stephen Thomas Erlewine says U2 always carried themselves like rock stars, especially their frontman. 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 Plus feeds. [...] Read more