Slate Archives - Page 5 of 28

How three British post-punkers named Joe, Graham, and Elvis helped “write the book” on New Wave. View Transcript Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Stitcher Overcast TuneIn RSS Feed For questions about subscriptions or your Slate Plus feed, check our FAQ. Please enable javascript to get your [...] Read more

Slate Why Is This Song No. 1?

How Taylor Swift Achieved the Unthinkable

4 November 20229 November 2022

The Beatles’ record once seemed unbeatable, and then Swift doubled it. But this unprecedented debut was planned weeks in advance. You may have heard that, this week, one artist—a notorious cat-lover with an increasingly foul mouth—has locked down the entire Top 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Before I dissect how this happened, gather ’round the [...] Read more

Slate Why Is This Song No. 1?

America’s New No. 1 Song Is Both a Big Step Forward and a Total Throwback

29 October 20229 November 2022

Sam Smith and Kim Petras both make history atop the Hot 100, but “Unholy” is not without precedent. From the summer of 1978 through the summer of 1979, singer-songwriter Sylvester James Jr., known by the mononym Sylvester, scored three consecutive Top 40 hits on Billboard’s Hot 100: “Dance (Disco Heat)” (No. 19), the hi-NRG landmark [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

The Bridge: Chi-Town, Soul Town

28 October 20229 November 2022

Chicago music expert Ayana Contreras says the Great Migration made the Midwest funkier and more soulful. Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Stitcher Overcast TuneIn RSS Feed For questions about subscriptions or your Slate Plus feed, check our FAQ. Please enable javascript to get your Slate Plus [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

Hit Parade: Give Up the Funk Edition

14 October 20229 November 2022

In the ’70s, funk tore the roof off the charts, and taught a generation what it meant to get on the One. View Transcript View Transcript Advertisement Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Stitcher Overcast TuneIn RSS Feed For questions about subscriptions or your Slate Plus feed, [...] Read more

Slate Why Is This Song No. 1?

America’s No. 1 Song Is a Truly Improbable Smash

8 October 20229 November 2022

Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit” is a chart-topping hit that’s queer in every sense of the word. Consider, for a moment, the fate of Shuggie Otis, the shoulda-been music legend of the 1970s. The multiracial Los Angeles–based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist was compared to the likes of Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. Otis spent years working on [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

The Bridge: Lost Hits vs. Legacy Hits

30 September 20221 October 2022

Radio analyst Sean Ross says the airwaves are the ultimate arbiter of which hits endure—or disappear. Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Stitcher Overcast TuneIn RSS Feed For questions about subscriptions or your Slate Plus feed, check our FAQ. Please enable javascript to get your Slate Plus [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

Hit Parade: At Last, My Legacy Has Come Along Edition

16 September 20221 October 2022

What is a “legacy hit”? A chart flop back in the day that’s now a classic—from “Tiny Dancer” to “What I Like About You.” Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Stitcher Overcast TuneIn RSS Feed For questions about subscriptions or your Slate Plus feed, check our FAQ. [...] Read more

Hit Parade Slate

Hit Parade (encore): Still Billy Joel to Me Edition

26 August 202226 August 2022

The so-called Piano Man often avoided the ivories, turning a range of styles and genres into Billy Joel music. Listen & Subscribe Choose your preferred player: Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Stitcher Overcast TuneIn RSS Feed For questions about subscriptions or your Slate Plus feed, check our FAQ. Please enable javascript [...] Read more

Slate Why Is This Song No. 1?

How Beyoncé Finally Got Her First No. 1 in 14 Years

13 August 202221 August 2022

Beyoncé may run the world, but she hasn’t always ruled the charts. In November 2019, with a little over a month left to go before the start of the ’20s, I dropped an episode of my Hit Parade podcast commemorating the ’10s as the decade was passing into history. I walked through the acts, singles, [...] Read more