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Marianne Faithfull

Music

Beyond the Rock 'N' Roll Myth: 10 Artists Whose Personal Lives Overshadowed Their Work

By Tom Hawking on

We’re delighted to see that Marianne Faithfull’s Broken English is getting the deluxe reissue treatment this week — it’s one of the great comeback records of all time, and also one that’s been somewhat overshadowed over the years by its creator’s oft-discussed personal life. We don’t have a great deal of use for rock ‘n’ roll mythology here at Flavorpill; it’s not that we’re anti-drug, but we’ve seen too many great musicians and artists killed by embracing the sex/drugs/rock ‘n’ roll cliché as if it were a prerequisite for credibility and/or creative fulfillment. It’s also frustrating when we see the personal lives of musicians overshadow their work, either because their lifestyle ultimately undermines their creative output, or because a slavering news media insists on focusing on the former at the expense of the latter. With that in mind, here’s a roundup of artists whose work we’d like to see rescued from the haze of their personal mythology. … Read More

Music

25 Photos of Glamorous Musicians Doing Regular Stuff

By Tom Hawking on

From a young Iggy Pop vacuuming his apartment to a costumed Lady Gaga making eggs, here’s a photo roundup of our most endearingly flamboyant musicians doing incongruously domestic… Read More

Music

Your Favorite Musicians’ Unexpected Favorite Records

By Tom Hawking on

You may have read recently that Mitt Romney Paul Ryan is the world’s most unlikely Rage Against the Machine fan, and the spectacular WTF-ness of his inexplicable declaration of fondness for left-wing agitrock will endure as one of the stranger moments of the 2012 campaign trail. The whole strange business also got us thinking: well, there are plenty of features around wherein artists have been asked to choose a selection of their favorite albums or songs. Surely there are some wacky choices in there? We got reading, and yep, there are some real winners to be found… so here’s a selection of such choices that we found particularly interesting — either selections we’d never heard of, or selections we just wouldn’t have expected. Who’d have thought that Bradford Cox was the only person in the world to like the second MGMT album, or that Frank Black was into weird faux-Greek music, or that both Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull were experts on reggae? Read on for more… … Read More

Music

The 30 Best Kiss-Offs in Musical History

By Tom Hawking on

Face it, we all like a good lyrical smackdown, and the art of the kiss-off line (or, indeed, entire kiss-off song) is one of the most time-honored and enduring in music. Good kiss-offs can take many forms — they can be subtle and sarcastic, or blunt and brutal, or just flat-out hilarious. Either way, there have been many, many good ones committed to tape over the years, and we’ve always had an ear for a biting turn of phrase — so we’re counting down 30 of the best after the jump. As ever, we’re open to suggestions, so let us know your favorites! … Read More

Celebrity

The Best of Courtney Love’s Recently Discovered YouTube Channel

By Judy Berman on

A few days ago, the ladies at Bust made a discovery for which we are very grateful: Courtney Love’s apparently legit YouTube channel, complete with authentically all-over-the-place commentary by the Hole frontwoman herself. Divided into such categories as “freak assed shit,” “kook girls,” “special meanings to me,” “my stuff kurt frances…,” and even “u2 and covers,” it — like her Etsy profile — serves as a suitably bizarre tour through Love’s preoccupations, from her love of Patti Smith to her hatred of Chelsea Handler. Even for those who can’t stand her, there’s a lot of fascinating, trashy-brilliant stuff in there. We’ve sifted through it and compiled the best clips we hadn’t seen before, after the jump. … Read More

Music

Rock ‘n’ Roll Muses Who Achieved Success in Their Own Right

By Jennifer Lewis on

There’s always that girl — the one in the songs, the one in the photographs, the one in the memoirs. The one who walks into a room and sets it aglow. She’ll tear up a rock ‘n’ roller’s heart, put it back together, and inspire the hell out of him, leaving her lasting mark on both his discography and biography. Yes, we’re talking muses, but not just any ol’ muses; we’re noting those who graduated from their tumultuous lives as expert inspirers to become successful in their own right. Check out some professors, artists, and cake shop proprietors after the jump. … Read More

Pop Culture

The Top 10 "It" Girls of the 1960s

By Courtney E. Smith on

Rudyard Kipling defined the idea of an “It” Girl, writing “It isn’t beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It’s just ‘It.’” By that measure, if you have “It” you never lose it. So, in celebration of the release of “It” Girl Marianne Faithfull’s new album Horses and High Heels, we offer Flavorpill’s 10 favorite 1960s “It” Girls. Between the fashion explosion that launched the age of the supermodel, the rise of Swinging London, and the lasting impression New Wave cinema had on commercial movies, there are dozens to choose from. Narrowing it down to only ten was hard, but the ones we’ve chosen have made a lasting impression and turned their “It” Girl status into legacies we still dissect. … Read More

Music

50 Essential Women-In-Music Albums, Part 4

By Brian Underwood on

Welcome back to our round up of the 50 greatest albums by women in music. We’re only one post away from revealing our complete list and this week’s selections are some of the most diverse. From the seminal recording of one of country music’s biggest stars to the hip hop artists that changed it all, the artists featured here are true greats. Just to recap our criteria one more time: No artist can appear more than once on our list, bands featured have to be unequivocally fronted by a woman, and every recording here must have made a significant contribution to music.

So, without further ado, here is the fourth installment (and check back next week for our final 10) of our list of the 50 most essential albums by female artists.… Read More