Music Features : NPR

Miley Cyrus' 'Wrecking Ball' Is No. 1, But Is It A Real Hit?

Katy Perry (left) and Miley Cyrus at the Pre-Grammy Gala in February. Lester Cohen/WireImage hide caption

toggle caption

Lester Cohen/WireImage

Miley Cyrus' 'Wrecking Ball' Is No. 1, But Is It A Real Hit?

September 30, 2013 • Based on the data, Katy Perry's "Roar" feels like a culture-dominating No. 1 hit, while "Wrecking Ball" feels a bit like a trollgaze meme. But on a chart with a history of one-off, faddish but surprisingly enduring No. 1 hits, Cyrus' song is part of a long tradition.

Drake at 106 & Park on Monday. Bennett Raglin/BET/Getty Images for BET hide caption

toggle caption

Bennett Raglin/BET/Getty Images for BET

Review

Drizzy Sings The Blues

September 28, 2013 • What keeps Drake at the forefront of the pack is his profound insistence on blues feeling — what most critics choose to minimize as his "sadness."

The Choice Is Yours: 10 Great Rap Release Dates Of The 1990s

On September 29, 1998, Outkast's Aquemini came out the same day as A Tribe Called Quest's The Love Movement, Brand Nubian's The Foundation and Jay-Z's Vol. 2, Hard Knock Life. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption

Courtesy of the artist

The Record

The Choice Is Yours: 10 Great Rap Release Dates Of The 1990s

September 25, 2013 • The money that flowed through the music business in the '90s and the quality of the music released then helped to create a fat spectrum of hip-hop music.

Drake performing in Paris last April. David Wolff - Patrick/Redferns via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

David Wolff - Patrick/Redferns via Getty Images

The Record

Drake And Pop Music's Good Girl Problem

September 18, 2013 • In unstable times likes ours, and on both "Blurred Lines" and "Hold On, We're Going Home," the good girl's temptation or redemption resurfaces as a theme.

'90s Nostalgia Revisited: 6 Musicians We Miss

P.M. Dawn, sometime in the '90s. Mick Hutson/Redferns hide caption

toggle caption

Mick Hutson/Redferns

The Record

'90s Nostalgia Revisited: 6 Musicians We Miss

September 13, 2013 • We all know what's most often excavated: Nirvana's roar, Biggie's cool murmur, the futuristic sigh of Aaliyah. But there's more to the decade than those obvious landmarks.

'90s Nostalgia Revisited: 6 Musicians We Miss

Listen · 5:07 5:07

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/221834402/221993500" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Taking Back 'Funkytown': Songwriters Prepare For A Custody Battle

Members of the disco group Lipps, Inc., including Steven Greenberg (far left), pose for a portrait in 1978. Greenberg, who wrote the group's hit "Funkytown," is seeking to reclaim the song's full copyright from Universal Music Group. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

The Record

Taking Back 'Funkytown': Songwriters Prepare For A Custody Battle

September 12, 2013 • Steven Greenberg of the disco group Lipps, Inc. joins Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Loretta Lynn among artists currently trying to reclaim ownership of their work from labels, per a 1976 revision of copyright law. But the record industry is expected to put up a legal fight to retain the rights.

Taking Back 'Funkytown': Songwriters Prepare For A Custody Battle

Listen · 5:34 5:34

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/221750447/221821898" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

What Does A Song That Costs $5 Sound Like?

Cookie Marenco records musicians on a small remote recording console live at the California Audio Show in August. She'll demonstrate the quality of DSD to the audience by playing back her recording. How close will it sound to the live performance? Very close, according to people present. Cindy Carpien hide caption

toggle caption

Cindy Carpien

The Record

What Does A Song That Costs $5 Sound Like?

September 11, 2013 • The label run by engineer Cookie Marenco sells super high-definition downloads — a development even she thought impossible 15 years ago. The downloads may be expensive, but she says, the sound is superior to current popular audio formats like MP3.

What Does A Song That Costs $5 Sound Like?

Listen · 7:47 7:47

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/219727031/221277830" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Federal Drug Case Ensnares The Home Of Hyphy

Andre Hicks, who performed under the name Mac Dre, on the cover of his album What's Really Going On? Courtesy of Strictly Business Records hide caption

toggle caption

Courtesy of Strictly Business Records

The Record

Federal Drug Case Ensnares The Home Of Hyphy

September 9, 2013 • An ecstasy sting implicates associates of Thizz Entertainment, the record label of Bay Area rapper Mac Dre.

Innovation And Time-Honored Ways Meet On Nashville Stages

Eddie Stubbs (left), DJ at Nashville's WSM, and Alan Jackson onstage at The Station Inn last Tuesday. Bill Thorup/Courtesy of Universal Nashville hide caption

toggle caption

Bill Thorup/Courtesy of Universal Nashville

The Record

Innovation And Time-Honored Ways Meet On Nashville Stages

September 5, 2013 • Three Nashville shows remind me that country is a genre of music that's constantly changing, even if it's deceptively homespun.

On June 15, the day that Pandora became a publicly traded company, traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange wore the company's insignia. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The Record

Can Streaming Services Make Money?

August 29, 2013 • Pandora, Rdio and Spotify are changing the way we listen to music, but all have money issues. Apple and Google join the fray this year; Jimmy Iovine is launching a service tied to Beats by Dr. Dre.

Can Streaming Services Make Money?

Listen · 5:30 5:30

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/214901688/216926478" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Goodie Mob Puts Crossover Acceptance On The Line

Goodie Mob (from left to right, Big Gipp, T-Mo, Cee Lo Green and Khujo) at a Dodgers game the day the group's first album in 14 years was released. Noel Vasquez/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Noel Vasquez/Getty Images

Review

The Record

Goodie Mob Puts Crossover Acceptance On The Line

August 29, 2013 • That Goodie Mob doesn't aspire to be like anyone else is the gift and the curse of its new album, Age Against the Machine.

Nine Inch Nails And Earl Sweatshirt Explore Darkness

Trent Reznor (left) of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, which puts its seventh album, Hesitation Marks, out next Tuesday. Rapper Earl Sweatshirt (right) released his major label debut on Tuesday. Courtesy of the artists hide caption

toggle caption

Courtesy of the artists

The Record

Nine Inch Nails And Earl Sweatshirt Explore Darkness

August 28, 2013 • Two new albums, by the veteran industrial rock group Nine Inch Nails and the young rapper Earl Sweatshirt, offer distinct visions of anxiety and isolation. One is confrontational and cathartic, the other sly, inward and static.

The hook in Vanilla Ice's song "Ice Ice Baby" was based on a passage from "Under Pressure" by David Bowie and Queen, but the rapper denied the similarity at first. Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

The Record

Haven't I Heard This Song Before?

August 23, 2013 • A pinch of melody, a dash of groove. Pop music is built on making a song sound just new enough to be intriguing. So what happens when one song sounds a little too familiar?

Haven't I Heard This Song Before?

Listen · 2:56 2:56

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/214870015/214909752" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Jerry "Swamp Dogg" Williams, Jr. Charles Hughes quotes the songwriter and performer as saying, "Everything I write and sing comes out country, and that's why I have to take so much time in arrangements and instrumentation, because — if not — I'd just be cutting a bunch of country records with black people. And we know that black people are not makin' it in country." Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images