#MusicHistory
Music | Music
Top 50 Best-Selling Artists of All Time | Mental Floss
Who are America’s all-time favorite musicians and bands? When it comes to the best-selling artists of all time, The Beatles still rule—yes, even a half-century after their breakup.
Music | Music
How Stevie Wonder Lost His Sight
Despite being blind since infancy, the “My Cherie Amour” and “Superstition” singer paved a career filled with 25 Grammy awards and social justice work.
Music | Music
CRITICAL MASS: Gone for 50 years — The Rolling Stones was Brian Jones' band
You might dispute that. You might point out that little Keith Richards and Michael Jagger rode tricycles together until Jagger's family moved the five miles from Dartford to Wilmington, Kent in 1954.
Music | Music
The 35 Best-Selling Albums in American History
Given the tens of millions of copies each of these albums have sold, you're almost guaranteed to have at least one of them in your collection.
Music | Music
By Any Means: A Brief History of Black Flag (Part 1: 1976-1980)
Part 1 of a 2 part essay going through the history of Black Flag along with my personal efforts to make a documentary film about the band. PART 2: 1980-1986 ...
Music | Music
12 Soulful Facts About Aretha Franklin | Mental Floss
The documentary of Queen of Soul's legendary gospel album, 'Amazing Grace,' has finally been released—nearly 50 years after it was recorded.
Music | Music
How we made Booker T and the MGs' Green Onions
‘It was originally called Funky Onions – but to laced-up, deep-south America, that sounded like a cuss word, so we had to retitle it’
Music | Music
A Thousand People In The Street: 'For What It's Worth' Captured Youth In Revolt
Though often associated with the Vietnam War, Buffalo Springfield's signature song was inspired by a confrontation back home, which erupted on a few famous blocks in Los Angeles.
Music | Music
The forgotten story of Pure Hell, America’s first black punk band
The four-piece lived with the New York Dolls and played with Sid Vicious, but they’ve been largely written out of cultural history
Music | Music
Rolling Stones' Keith Richards Fends Off Stage Invader with Telecaster in 1981
The Rolling Stones, awhile back, uploaded this video, which you can check out above, to their YouTube channel.It features a (very) jumpy 1981 performance of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" at Hampton Coliseum in Virginia. As the video's de
Music | Music
A Brief History of Rock Musicians Who Went Electronic
Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus recently announced that he’d be going electronic on his next solo record. It’s a weird move, but from Neil Young to Eric Clapton, it’s not without precedent.
Music | Music
Chip Kinman and the Return of the Dils -
Founder tackles the shocking regroup in the wake of his beloved brother’s death
Music | Music
The Beatles’ White Album at 50: When They Was Fab
Dominic Green on a half-century of the marvelous, mixed-up mess that may be the Beatles’ greatest album.
Music | Music
How Geoff Emerick Helped the Beatles Reinvent Music
The crucial collaborator in the Beatles’ glory years helped them find endless new ways to change the way music sounded
Music | Music
A Brief History of Willie Nelson and Frank Sinatra’s Bromance
Ahead of Nelson’s tribute LP to his favorite singer, watch a series of surreal space travel PSAs they recorded in the early Eighties
Entertainment | ENTERTAINMENT
The Secret Jewish History Of Aretha Franklin – The Forward
Aretha Franklin, who has died at 76, was known as the "Queen of Soul" — and many Jewish artists helped her get that royal title.
Music | Music
The Beatles‘ ‘Revolver’: The Most Ambitious Pop Music Committed To Vinyl
Upon its release in August 1966, The Beatles' 'Revolver' was the most ambitious pop music committed to vinyl and introduced us all to psychedelic music.
Music | Music News
How we made Steppenwolf's Born to Be Wild
It soundtracked the counterculture in Easy Rider – and ended up being played on the moon and Mars
Music | Music
Five myths about the Beatles - The Washington Post
Why did producer George Martin actually take on the band? As punishment.
Music | Vinyl Records!
First ever vinyl release being reissued for its 70th anniversary
.In 1948, a performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in e minor by the Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of New York became the first album pressed to vinyl.
Music | Music
How David Bowie Invented Ziggy Stardust
An excerpt from the new book 'Strange Stars' explores how classic sci-fi and the works of William Burroughs fueled Bowie's iconic alter ego
Music | Music
The Most Valuable Vinyl Records on Earth | Digital Trends
From rare Beatles originals to one-off test pressings, these are some of the most expensive vinyl records on earth — the kind of discs that make plaid-clad record collectors and average listeners alike green with envy, worth everything from a nice used
Music | Music
The Sad Story of Elvis Presley's Senior Prom | Mental Floss
Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.
Music | Music
At 70, Smithsonian Folkways Is An Antidote To Music Algorithms
Smithsonian Folkways, known for its broad-based music catalog, wants to surprise you with sounds you didn't even know existed. The treasured American label turns 70 years old on May 1.
Entertainment | Entertainment
The Rise And Fall Of Tower Records |
“If you were cool, you were cool. If you were an asshole, then you got treated like an asshole.”
Music | Music
How the Rolling Stones went disco: Inside the making of “Miss You” - Salon.com
"Keith went mad, but it sounded great on the dance floor"
Music | Music
Sparkle Moore: The Mysterious Rockabilly Pioneer You've Never Heard Of | Mental Floss
Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.
Music | Music News
The Beatles' accountant 50 years on: 'They were scruffy boys who didn't want to pay tax'
In The Beatles’ 1966 song Taxman, George Harrison berates Harold Wilson’s proposed 95pc “supertax” on the UK’s highest earners.
Music | Music
Watch a Rare Video of Nirvana Rocking Out at Radio Shack in 1988
The band appeared at the Shack the day after they recorded their first studio demo.
Music | Music
Prince's Epic 'Purple Rain' Tour: An Oral History - Rolling Stone
Members of the Revolution look back on Prince's massive, awe-inspiring 'Purple Rain' tour in our exclusive oral history.
Music | Music News
The Secret History Of Aretha Franklin's "Respect"
50 years ago today, "Respect" became Aretha Franklin's first chart-topper. But when the song was first written by Otis Redding, it was no feminist anthem.
Music | Music
The History - Monterey International Pop Festival
The Big Idea The impetus behind the staging of the Monterey International Pop Festival evolved one night in 1967, at Mama Cass Elliot’s house. Paul McCartney, J
Entertainment | Trailers, Videos & Clips
History of the Eagles Trailer
The music made them...then tore them apart. Learn the real History of the Eagles, Saturday at 8pm on CNN.
Entertainment | Entertainment News!
Nancy Sinatra Talks “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” on the Eve of Its Golden Anniversary
The hit song that inspired a generation of women to “start walkin’” turns 50 tomorrow.
Music | Music
A young Frank Sinatra, dapper and rebellious from birth
Back when Ol' Blue Eyes was just Blue Eyes. On Dec. 12, 1915, Francis Albert Sinatra was born in a tenement in New Jersey, the son of Italian immigrants Natalina Garaventa and Antonino Sinatra. His delivery was rough, leaving him with a perforated eardrum and scarring on his neck, cheek and ear.
Music | Music
Black-And-White Photos Chronicle The Early Days Of Rhythm And Blues
It's not easy, as an artist, to make your primary subject a certain sound. For example, the sound of deep pain mixed with a flame of hope. Photographer Benny Joseph, however, made a career of it. Throughout the 1950s, '60s and '70s, the photographer chronicled the bourgeoning roots of the movement known as rhythm and blues.
Music | Music
Elvis Presley Artifacts Sold at Graceland Auction | Mental Floss
From handwritten notes to diamond rings to a jacket worn in the film 'Viva Las Vegas,' the items are part of royal rock and roll history.
Music | Music
Forever Changes is a stunning indictment of The Summer Of Love · Permanent Records · The A.V. Club
On a recent episode of the WTF podcast with Marc Maron, Paul Thomas Anderson mused on what he thought the central themes of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Inherent Vice were, and talked a bit about how he tried to translate them to the screen. Anderson can be evasive about the meaning behind his art—what artist isn’t, really?—but he touches on an intriguing idea
Music | Music
Jack Bruce: five songs that chart his journey through the 60s to Cream
Here are five performances tracing the late Jack Bruce’s journey from 19-year-old upright bass player to part of rock’s first supergroup
Miscellaneous | Interesting Links
Onetime Elvis Presley home in Palm Springs to be auctioned - LA Times
A Palm Springs home once owned by Elvis Presley, currently being marketed at $2.59 million, will be sold at auction Oct. 25.
Music | Music
See 30 Years Of Music Industry Change In One Handy GIF
Track 30 years of music industry evolution in 30 seconds.
Music | Music News
The Stories Behind 10 Johnny Cash Songs | Mental Floss
Here's what the Man in Black was singing about.
History | Historic Los Angeles
The Palomino: An Oral History - Los Angeles Magazine
The sign outside the squat rental hall reads Le Monge, an odd faux-French touch for a North Hollywood neighborhood that never had any pretensions, not even when music’s elite came cruising past the liquor stores and auto body shops lining this stretch of Lankershim Boulevard.
Music | Audio Equipment: SO Cool!
The history of the Walkman: 35 years of iconic music players
We take portable music for granted these days. Any commuter in any big city in the world is more likely than not to have a pair of earbuds or headphones on as they walk, bike, or ride to their...
