Topic: Music

Music news, from stadium-filling icons to the artists shaping the charts this week, covering new releases, reissues and the interviews and anniversaries that put a record's story in context. It ranges across genres and eras, so a look back at how a soul classic or disco anthem came together sits alongside coverage of what's charting or making headlines right now.

Beyond the music itself, this is where the people and decisions behind it get examined: why a band turned down a big break, how a songwriter settled on a lyric overnight, or what a veteran musician makes of the industry and the world today. There's also room for the wider culture around music, from touring and nightlife to the health and social benefits some readers get from it.

Taken together, it's a mix of nostalgia and the present tense, useful for anyone who wants to understand not just what's playing now but the stories and decisions that shaped the music they already know.

  • Belmont University to House Johnny Cash’s Personal Archives

    Belmont University in Nashville is to become the permanent home of Johnny Cash’s personal archives, following an agreement between the late singer’s family, the John R. Cash Revocable Trust and the university. The collection will anchor a new Johnny Cash Learning Center within the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business’s upcoming building on…

  • 3 Rock Songs From the 1980s That Are as Visual as Any Painting

    An American Songwriter feature highlights three rock songs from the 1980s praised for their strong visual and imaginative qualities, arguing that their lyrics create pictures in listeners’ minds much like a painting would. The piece is part of an ongoing “The List” series exploring music through thematic groupings, this time focusing on evocative songwriting from…

  • 4 Forgotten Pop Hits From 1985 That Still Sound Fresh Today

    American Songwriter has revisited four pop hits from 1985 that reached the upper half of the Billboard Hot 100 but have since faded from wider recognition, arguing they deserve renewed attention. The retrospective highlights how varied that year’s pop landscape was, spanning synth-pop, new wave, AOR rock and dance-pop, and suggests these tracks hold up…

  • Victoria Monét Previews ‘Frequency of Love’ Album With New Song ‘Reach Out’

    Victoria Monét has announced her second studio album, *Frequency of Love*, due out on 2 October via Lovett Music/RCA Records, alongside its lead single “Reach Out.” The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter’s new release follows the success of *Jaguar II*, which earned her three Grammy Awards in 2024, including Best R&B Album and Best New Artist, and comes…

  • Union Pool fell for Greg Freeman… and vice versa! (pics, video)

    The article’s full text was unavailable because the page required JavaScript and cookies, so its contents cannot be summarised reliably. From the title alone, it appears to cover a Greg Freeman performance at Union Pool, including photographs and video. No further details about the event, date, set, audience response or context were provided in the…

  • “This performance honours Lemmy’s legacy.” Hollywood Vampires launch cover of Motörhead’s Ace Of Spades

    Hollywood Vampires, the supergroup fronted by Alice Cooper, have released a cover of Motörhead’s classic “Ace Of Spades” ahead of their European tour next month. Cooper said the tribute was intended to honour the legacy of Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister, describing him as “one of a kind” and calling the song one of the defining…

  • Noah Kahan, Aimee Mann, Dropkick Murphys Push For Ticket Price Caps on Resale in Massachusetts

    A coalition of 16 New England musicians, including Noah Kahan, Aimee Mann, The Pixies, Goose and Dropkick Murphys, have written an open letter urging Massachusetts lawmakers to pass a bill capping the prices at which scalpers can resell concert tickets. The artists argue that live performance “should not be a luxury” and that resellers who…

  • The K-Beauty Brand Used by BTS’ Jin Is Letting You Create Your Own Lip Mask

    Laneige, the K-beauty brand behind the viral Lip Sleeping Mask, has launched a customisation experience letting shoppers mix their own personalised lip mask blend. The tool, first introduced at the brand’s Seoul flagship store, is now available to US customers exclusively via Amazon, reflecting a wider push in the beauty industry towards personalised products. Customers…

  • The casting of ‘The Odyssey’ tells its own story

    The article text you provided doesn’t actually contain the story — it’s just website navigation boilerplate (menu items like “Music/Film/Travel/Art/News/Shop/Mailing List”) plus an unrelated tag “Cover Story | Yard Act” (Yard Act is a band, not connected to *The Odyssey*). The scrape appears to have failed to capture the actual piece. I attempted to fetch…

  • 4 Songs That Prove Billy Joel’s Songwriting Peaked Between 1977 and 1980

    An article from American Songwriter argues that Billy Joel’s finest songwriting came in the short but prolific period between 1977 and 1980, spanning the albums The Stranger and Glass Houses. The piece highlights how, despite a decades-long career encompassing thirteen studio albums and more than eighty singles, this narrow window produced some of his most…