Doomsday's Neverending Appeal
Hollywood is depicting the end of the world in movies like 2012 and The Road, and the upcoming Denzel Washington vehicle The Book of Eli. Today: how musicians tackle the apocalypse, from pop to...
View ArticleA Car Born From Music?
All this talk about the new Ford Taurus, and how its look comes from the design team listening to a music playlist, has gotten me thinking back to my old Fords – a Taurus from 1994 and a Torino from...
View ArticleFred Plotkin’s Playlist for a Musical Thanksgiving
Fred Plotkin's Playlist•Perfect music for stirring, especially turkey gravy:Mozart Rondo alla Turca, the 3rd movement of piano sonata #11 K. 331 [Amazon]•Music that evokes gratitude (even if you don’t...
View ArticleThe Hunger Games: Dystopian Soundtrack
The much-anticipated sci-fi movie “The Hunger Games” comes out in theaters today, but the soundtrack to the film has been selling like gangbusters since Tuesday. Music journalist Joe Levy gives us his...
View ArticleSongs of our Summers
Music is full of summer songs. “Summer In The City” by the Lovin’ Spoonful; “In the Summertime” by the otherwise forgotten Mungo Jerry; George Gershwin’s “Summertime” – the list goes on and gets bigger...
View ArticleIndependence Day Playlist
After heartbreak, history is probably the most well-worn topic for singers and songwriters. But while the Civil War and the Great War have been sung to the ends of the earth, the American Revolution...
View ArticleRevolutionary Pop Playlist
For July 4th this year, we're putting together a Revolutionary pop playlist - and we're going to be historically correct.The Washington Post's pop music critic Chris Richards and Barnard College...
View ArticleAmelia Earhart: Audio Expedition
It was 75 years ago that Amelia Earhart disappeared while attempting to fly around the world. Now, there’s an expedition underway to try to solve, finally, the mystery of what happened to her. The...
View ArticleAmelia Earhart: Queen Of The Air
75 years ago, Amelia Earhart disappeared while attempting to fly around the world. Now, there’s an expedition underway to try to solve, finally, the mystery of what happened to her. Over the years...
View ArticleAlex Winston: Rolling Stones Top 5
Back in 2010, indie rocker Alex Winston released a chilling version of the Rolling Stones' "Play With Fire." This year marks the iconic British band's 50th year - so during her recent visit to the...
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WNYC's Summer Listening Recommendations
For the past week or so, I've been bombarding WNYC staff members' inboxes to find out what they're listening to this summer - and why they'd recommend it to a friend. That friend, it turns out, is you...
View ArticleOldies of the Future
If, forty years from now, we were listening to an oldies station - playing the "turn of the century hits" (that's 21st century) - what music from the '90s, '00s and '10s would we hear? And what would...
View ArticleHearing Music for the First Time
"I can hear music for the first time ever, what should I listen to?" is the headline of a Reddit post that caught my attention today. A Reddit user named deafstoryteller writes, "I was born profoundly...
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Hot Pants: A Short, Happy and Musical Career
In the first months of 1971, hot pants (as the B-52s later put it) burned, sizzled, and just plain exploded. They were on the runways, in shopping malls, and the pages of McCall's Needlework and Crafts...
View ArticleSpooky Songs, Italian Hip Hop From Jovanotti, And New Tunes For Boomers
Today on Soundcheck, KCRW's Anne Litt shares some creepy and unexpected songs just in time for Halloween. Then, blogger Val Haller talks about Val's List, her Web site that matches up yesterday's...
View ArticleA Surprising And Spooky Halloween Playlist
The leaves are turning, the temperature is dropping, and soon you'll be dodging the undead as they stalk down the street. Halloween is around the corner and when we think of Halloween songs, we tend to...
View ArticleHappy Halloween, From Soundcheck
You may have noticed that Soundcheck has been a little less active than normal this week, and that's because we've been unable to get to our offices both during and immediately after Hurricane Sandy....
View ArticleA December Holiday Playlist (No, Not That Holiday)
Today, Dec. 5, is the day Congress repealed Prohibition back in 1933. To celebrate, John Schaeferrecently spent some time with Colin Spoelman of Kings County Distillery, sipping whiskey and playing...
View ArticleWe Wish You A Creepy Christmas
Last week, we asked our listeners to tell us about the holiday classics that cross the line from cute to creepy. We heard from people who were disturbed by the message of infidelity in "I Saw Mommy...
View ArticleApocalypse Now? Our 'End Of The World' Special
Well, here we are: 12-21-2012. You know, the day on which the world should end, according to some widely debunked theories about the Mayan calendar. So in these end times (just in case those theories...
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