Slate Archives - Page 3 of 18

Like any boy band alumnus, he first had to overcome radio’s bias against teen heartthrobs. Late summer is a great time for sleeper hits: songs that have been hanging around the charts for months and finally hit their stride. Four years ago, in August 2016, Sia’s “Cheap Thrills” reached No. 1 after knocking around the [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

Wednesday Night Live: Hit Parade Music Trivia

14 August 202014 August 2020

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&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

Slate Why Is This Song No. 1?

Why Taylor Swift Is Finally Back at No. 1

7 August 202017 October 2020

With Folklore, she figured out the streaming era—and she didn’t even have to turn herself into a rapper. Maybe it’s appropriate that, in the dead of August in a year when we mostly can’t leave the house, our No. 1 song has the counterintuitive title “Cardigan.” But then, Taylor Swift has long been the music [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

Hit Parade: What a Fool Believes Edition

31 July 202010 August 2020

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&light=true" frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" width="100%"></iframe> In the late ’70s and early ’80s, a scene and [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

The Bridge: Lilith’s Winding Road

17 July 20206 February 2021

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&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

Hit Parade Slate

Hit Parade: Building a Herstory Edition

30 June 202010 August 2020

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

Slate Why Is This Song No. 1?

The Song of the Pandemic Summer

12 June 202017 October 2020

Seven songs—six in a row—have spent only a week at No. 1. Which will prove the soundtrack for this turbulent season? Summer, hard as it may be to believe, has not been canceled. But nothing about the summer of 2020 in America feels—can feel, should feel—normal. Our country is currently navigating contradictory compulsions to both [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

The Bridge: Many Ways to be OutKasted

12 June 20206 February 2021

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

Hit Parade Slate

Hit Parade: Shake It Like a Polaroid Picture Edition

29 May 202014 June 2020

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

Hit Parade Slate

The Bridge: Piano Man, Everyman

15 May 20206 February 2021

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