GENERAL MUSIC

What makes a musical note different from any other sound? How can you tell if you have perfect pitch? Why do 10 violins sound only twice as loud as one? Do your Bob Dylan albums sound better on CD or vinyl? Learn More

When Serge Gainsbourg died in 1991, France went into mourning: François Mitterand himself proclaimed him "our Baudelaire, our Apollinaire." Learn More

The artists of the Firehouse Kustom Rockart Company, aka Chuck Sperry and Ron Donovan, have created posters for numerous major rock bands (Pavement, Pearl Jam, the Beastie Boys, Hole, and the Rolling Stones). Learn More

What happened to Paul Nelson? In the '60s, he pioneered rock & roll criticism with a first-person style of writing that would later be popularized by the likes of Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer as "New Journalism." As co-founding editor of The Little Sandy Review and managing editor of Sing Out!, he'd already established himself, to use his friend Bob Dylan's words, as "a folk-music scholar"; but when Dylan went electric in 1965, Nelson went with him. Learn More

In Generation Ecstasy, Simon Reynolds takes the reader on a guided tour of this end-of-the-millenium phenomenon, telling the story of rave culture and techno music as an insider who has dosed up and blissed out. Learn More

Sharp as broken glass, smooth as a polished skull, dark as the other side of the moon -- this is the art of Brian Ewing, one of the leading-edge visual voices of graphic pop surrealism and the exploding rock-poster scene. Learn More

"Ziggy Stardust," "Changes," Under Pressure," "Let's Dance," "Fame," "Heroes," and of course, "Starman." These are the classic songs of David Bowie, the artist whose personas are indelibly etched in our pop consciousness alongside his music. He wrote and recorded with everyone from Iggy Pop to Freddie Mercury to John Lennon, sold 136 million albums, has one of the truly great voices, and influenced bands as wide-ranging as Nirvana and Franz Ferdinand. Learn More

Legendary and iconic singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper offers a poignant account of the journey that led her to become an international superstar—from her years growing up in Queens, New York, to the making of enduring hits like “Time After Time,” “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” and “True Colors,” to becoming an actress, a mother, an outspoken activist, and maintaining a music career that has lasted more than thirty years. Learn More

Every album cover tells a story. Some hint at the profound—spiritual, supernatural, or chemical explorations—or speak of the mundane—war, sex, comedy. Some are by far more interesting than the music itself. Learn More