No one buys albums anymore, goes the music industry truism. And yet, for all that the format’s commercial viability may or may not be on the wane, sitting and listening to a great album from start to finish is one of the greatest pleasures that music can bring. Flavorwire recently got to thinking about how one might build a record collection if you really only did buy one record a year. So here’s the result of our thought exercise: 50 albums you really should own, one a year from 1963 until the present… Read More
Nirvana
The Most Distinctive Singing Voices of the 1990s
We’re big fans of Suede here at Flavorpill central, and as such we’re delighted to report that their new album Bloodsports is better than we dared to hop for — in fact, it’s the best thing they’ve made since Coming Up, which is pretty impressive considering how utterly dry Brett Anderson’s well of ideas seemed to have run on their last couple of albums. And best of all, Anderson still sounds great; his voice is rich as ever, and listening to the album got us thinking about what a distinctive vocalist he is. His was one of the most recognizable voices of the 1990s, and as such we thought we’d round up some of the others to go with him. … Read More
The Most Controversial Music Videos of All Time
An exhibition opening April 3 at New York’s Museum of the Moving Image will celebrate music videos as an art form at the “forefront of creative technology, its role in pushing the boundaries of innovative production, its important role as an experimental sandbox for filmmakers, and its lasting effects on popular culture globally.” This news got us thinking about the boldest images from music videos — those works that helped break the barriers of censorship and became the most controversial of all time. Click through to see ten music videos (many of them NSFW) that pushed the envelope and made… Read More
Celebrate Kurt Cobain’s Birthday With the Weirdest Nirvana Merch on Etsy
There are plenty of bands that inspire devotion in their fans, but only a select few for whom that devotion spills over into obsessive weirdness. Today would have been Kurt Cobain’s 46th birthday, and while Cobain himself is long dead, his image lives on — in fact, it’s more ubiquitous than ever, adorning T-shirts, posters, and other, more unusual objects the world over. Much of this stuff is produced by fans, and the advent of Etsy means that these fans have a platform for selling this stuff to the world at large — and boy, have they ever grasped the chance. In celebration of the man’s birthday, then, we’ve collected some of the cheesiest/kitschiest/most bewildering Cobain paraphernalia we could find — so if you’ve ever wanted Nirvana cuff links or matryoshka dolls, look no further. … Read More
Pictures of Kurt Cobain Looking Happy
[Editor's note: In celebration of the holidays, we're spending the next two Tuesdays by counting down the top 12 Flavorwire features of 2012. This post, at #10, was originally published February 19th.] Tomorrow would have been the 45th birthday of legendary grunge hero Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide at age 27 to the despair of the world at large. Though we know there were many times in his life when he was a happy, goofy guy, he very publicly struggled with depression, addiction, and illness, and when you think of Cobain, you tend to think of a doleful guy barely looking out from behind his matted blond locks. So, to celebrate the good times in Cobain’s life, we’ve collected a series of photographs with family, friends, and bandmates, where the guy just looks really happy. Because that’s how we’d like to remember him. Click through to see Kurt Cobain smile a whole lot, and if we’ve missed your favorite photo, direct us to it in the comments! … Read More
Famous Moments in Music History as 8-Bit GIFs
Musician Joshua Carrafa’s epic Tumblr project Music History In Gifs is nothing short of amazing… if you like music, GIFs, and bit art. We’re literally torn between which amazing animated moment to spotlight here. The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show? Prince’s famous transformation into a symbol? The Nirvana Nevermind baby? Metallica vs. Napster? Tupac against the world? See our favorite GIFs in the slideshow below! … Read More
10 Gloriously Anarchic Music Moments from Live TV
We’re not generally given to bouts of nostalgia here, but when Dangerous Minds unearthed a video yesterday of Philly punk icons The Dead Milkmen making an unlikely appearance on Club MTV, it got us thinking about the days when music TV used to be live and thus all sorts of whacked-out things could happen. Those days are largely gone, sadly, outside of various late-night shows — the general decline of live TV, along with a series of high-profile controversies, means that networks like to have a whole lot more control over what goes to air today. Still, we’ll always have the memories, and in celebration of the ongoing experiment in riding by the seat of one’s pants that music TV used to be, here are ten of our favorite moments in gloriously shambolic televisual anarchy. As ever, let us know if you have any to add. … Read More
The Morning's Top 5 Pop Culture Stories
1. NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel and his production team have been freed after spending five days in captivity in Syria. While the identities of the kidnappers and their motives are unknown, it appears that they were loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad. Watch his account of the ordeal here.
2. Cecilia Gimenez, the artist behind that infamous “Beast Jesus” restoration that broke the Internet earlier this year, has sold one of her original oil paintings on eBay for $1,400. [via ArtsBeat] … Read More
The Morning's Top 5 Pop Culture Stories
1. Over a year later, a new inquest is being held into Amy Winehouse’s death because the assistant deputy coroner who oversaw the original examination lacked proper qualifications. [via ArtsBeat]
2. Odd Future has been accused of brutally attacking a 17-year-old fan who hopped on stage during a show in San Antonio. According to TMZ, the teen “suffered lacerations on his head, scratches, and burns to his body,” as well as two seizures, and now plans to sue the group. … Read More
14 Bands Major Labels Thought Would Be the Next Nirvana
When Nirvana moved from Sub Pop to DGC Records in 1990, the major label hoped they could achieve the sort of success attained by the other former indie band that helped pave the way for the Seattle rockers to sign to a major, Sonic Youth. By 1992, Nevermind had replaced Michael Jackson at #1 on the Billboard album charts, and really did change everything that came after it. It also sent major labels combing through the underground in an attempt to try and catch lightning in a bottle for a second time, and saw some of the strangest bands ever signed to big money deals. … Read More
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