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His full name was Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, but almost everyone called him “Iz” or “Bruddah Iz” (“Bruddah” being pidgin for “Brother”). A gentle giant who...
The Smiths made quite an impression when their first album was released in 1984, bringing great guitars back to the synth-drenched New Wave era.
While largely seen as a novelty hit, "Don't Worry Be Happy" was an undeniable smash, eventually winning Grammys for Song of the Year, Record...
Recording The Pretenders' second post-classic-lineup album took multiple studios in multiple countries, but Bob Clearmountain and Bruce Lampcov captured the collection's biggest hit in...
It's one of the most haunting openings of any debut album. Soft, almost mournful piano and bass set up a slow rhythmic foundation. Then...
Written in the same creative cycle as songs for 'True Stories,' "Road To Nowhere" marked a return to Americana for the group
Blue Oyster Cult talks about recording "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," keeping the vibe of the original demo...and that SNL "More Cowbell" skit.
Engineer Ken Scott talks in detail about the recording of Lou Reed’s 1973 hit “Walk on the Wild Side”
Cover-band mates cum pop stars: As old as rock itself, this dream, born from endless hours spent woodshedding hits of the day, can come...
The Tommy James classic came just in time for the singer, who needed to follow-up a fluke hit as fast as possible.
The tale of Lola the showgirl may be tragic, but it's also a disco classic; here's how the dark and the light were mixed...
Bow Wow Wow's cover of "I Want Candy" centers around the Burundi Beat and explosive bass, but the secret ingredient behind its guitar...
"Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ was so simple and went down so quickly, it was effortless," says producer Chris Hughes.
Sinéad O’Connor took a forgotten album track by The Family—that just happened to be written by Prince—and turned it into one of the biggest...
Early one summer morning in 1983, a 32-year-old John Mellencamp, dba John Cougar, drove himself home to Bloomington, Ind., from the Indianapolis airport.
Conceived during a night of "assisted insomnia," Elvis Costello's "Pump It Up" has become a signature song for the artist, with its erudite wordplay...
Sometimes the rock 'n' roll myth of using music to get out of a dead-end life actually comes to pass—much as it did for...
Potent to this day, the sonic assault of Public Enemy's "Fight The Power" mirrored the frustration and energy of its lyrics.
Painstakingly built in the studio—except for the lyrics, written nearly on the fly—En Vogue's "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" is an RnB...
It's fortunate that most creative people are extremely confident in their visions and fight for their beliefs. Many hits would not see the light...
At the dawn of the 1970s, David Crosby was on top of the rock world, as 'If I Could Only Remember My Name' and...
The story behind Phil Collins' classic "In The Air Tonight" and arguably the most famous drum fill of all-time.
Legendary engineer Elliot Scheiner and others look back at capturing Van Morrison's most famous album, Moondance.
Only an artist with the confidence and musical genius of Paul McCartney could write a song with 12 sections and make it a hit.
"Lou Adler said it best when he said to me, ‘Bones, it's not a ham sandwich and a cheese sandwich; it's a ham and...
The 5th Dimension's smash hit that ended up being the best-selling single of 1969 was taken from two songs at opposite ends of the...
Take a deep dive into The River, and how 16 months of sessions resulted in Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band's classic.
Well-respected as a songwriter for hire, Kim Carnes hit it big with someone else's song...which originally sounded like a beer-barrel polka until Val Garay...
Stewart Copeland and Hugh Padgham recall the turmoil and frustration that led to capturing the Police's classic.
While it started as a songwriting exercise inspired by Alice Cooper, "Psycho Killer" became the New Wave standard-bearers' calling card.
Between that brooding, melancholy, impossibly romantic voice and languorous guitar, how could "Wicked Game" not become a hit?
Legendary engineer Larry Levine was so crucial to Herb Alpert's era-defining "A Taste of Honey" that it literally wouldn't have been recorded if not...
Tom Dowd recalls recording "Sunshine Of Your Love" as an exercise in "protecting" Ginger Baker's drums from Eric Clapton's Marshall stacks.
'Night Moves' was a good move for Bob Seger—both the Number One single and the title track of his album released in 1976.
When's the last time you heard Kool & The Gang's triumphal, anthemic, R&B smash "Celebration"? At your cousin's wedding last summer?
For the mix of the track "London Calling," Strummer described an image of the London fog swirling off the river Thames...
Written while on vacation in Bermuda and recorded on a terrible console, the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" became a disco classic.
Though many American rock fans are familiar with T. Rex's "Bang A Gong (Get It On)," which made it to Number Ten in the...
The first time I saw Heart perform, in 1975, they were second or third on the bill at a show headlined by the recently...
"The Tide Is High" may be a cover of The Paragons, but the song is now firmly Blondie's own; here's how it came to...