single stories

50 years ago this week, Aretha Franklin made her debut on the Billboard R&B Singles chart with a Burt Bacharach & Hal David composition that Bacharach himself didn’t exactly love when Dionne Warwick recorded it. That’s not to say that...

35 years ago this week, Spandau Ballet released the single that would go on to become the second biggest hit of their career, and if we have to tell you what song it sits behind, then we can only presume...

30 years ago today, Jane’s Addiction released their first full-length studio album, NOTHING’S SHOCKING. While Billboard did an outstanding job of detailing the origins and making of the LP in a new oral history of the album, we thought we’d...

Feeling nostalgic for the 2000s? If you aren’t, then you must not have seen the thousands of ads that CNN has been offering up lately to promote its new miniseries about the decade. On the other hand, if you’ve found...

24 years ago this week, The Notorious B.I.G. released the first single from his debut studio album, kicking off his career in – no pun intended – a big way. Credited to Christopher Wallace (a.k.a. Biggie), Hunter McIntosh, Sean Combs...

17 years ago this week, Michelle Branch released the opening track from her debut Maverick Records album as a single, resulting in a top-20 hit for the singer-songwriter. “Everywhere,” like the rest of the songs on THE SPIRIT ROOM, is...

In the midst of a flurry of stories and new releases last week, we neglected to wish Arlo Guthrie a happy birthday – it was on July 10, just in case you want to mark it on next year’s calendar...

49 years ago today, David Bowie released a single which – even with the size and breadth of his discography over the course of his life and times as a recording artist – remains one of the signature moments of...

57 years ago today, The Drifters released their first single to feature Charlie Thomas on vocals, a Doc Pomus / Mort Shuman composition which was a big hit for the group and an even bigger hit for a completely different...