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How Bob Dylan Took Flight
April 2, 2013 6:30 PM ET| Andy Greene
Even if you were among the handful of people who bought Bob Dylan's 1962 self-titled debut, you couldn't have predicted The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, the 1963 folkie touchstone where Dylan transformed American songwriting and blew the minds of everyone from his coffeehouse compatriots to the Beatles. The debut album was mainly folk covers, with two rather unmemorable originals; Dylan and producer John Hammond had cut the whole thing in just two days. The label brass at Columbia R... | More »
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How Public Enemy Made 'It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back'
March 26, 2013 5:37 PM ET| Rolling Stone
"I hated that record," said Public Enemy's Chuck D. Believe it or not, he's referring to "Bring the Noise," the frenetic first track of It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, the group's 1988 agit-rap masterpiece and breakthrough album. Public Enemy had recorded the song in October 1987 for the soundtrack of the forgettable Less Than Zero. When Chuck (a.k.a. Carlton Ridenhour) first heard the final version, he said, "I practically threw it out the window." He changed h... | More »
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How M.I.A. Made 'Kala'
March 19, 2013 12:39 PM ET| Jody Rosen
M.I.A.'s second album was a landmark: an agitprop dance record that restyled hip-hop as one big international block party, mixing up beatbox riddims, playground rhymes, left-field samples and gunshots. It was also, against all odds, a hit, which spawned a huge single and transformed M.I.A. from a cult heroine to an A-lister. Hits were the furthest thing from Maya Arulpragasam's mind, though, when she began work on Kala. "I don't know what people expected of me on my secon... | More »
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How the Beastie Boys Made Their Masterpiece
March 12, 2013 10:00 AM ET| Rolling Stone
Beastie Boys' 1986 debut, Licensed to Ill, made them famous. But their second album was their masterpiece. Paul's Boutique has often been called the Sgt. Pepper of hip-hop – a record that was mind-expanding in both text and texture. With help from L.A. production team the Dust Brothers, the Beasties sampled everyone from the Ramones to Mountain to the Funky 4+1 and stitched together song fragments in a way rarely seen before or since. In fact, the album may go down as the most... | More »
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How Nirvana Made 'Nevermind'
March 5, 2013 10:00 AM ET| Rolling Stone
Nirvana's second album shot up from the Northwest underground – the nascent grunge scene in Seattle – to blow hair metal off the map, kick Michael Jackson off the top of the Billboard album chart and turn the band into overnight stars. Though Nevermind's success would take a toll on Nirvana's tortured leader, Kurt Cobain, no album in recent history had such an overpowering impact on a generation – a nation of teens suddenly turned punk. Cobain's slashing ... | More »
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