Kenneth Partridge

Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" is both a song people love to hate and a song people love to love. Musicologist Nate Sloan has some ideas as to why the song is so polarizing.

Shortly before 11 p.m. on Monday, December 8, 1980, John Lennon was gunned down in front of his New York City apartment building by an obsessed fan. This is the story of the days leading up to that tragedy.

Each December, "Baby, It’s Cold Outside"—a ’40s-era American standard that some modern listeners hear as a depiction of sexual misconduct—invites a barrage of controversies, radio bans, and think pieces.

Over the course of his illustrious career, George Michael gave the world many gifts. One that keeps on giving is “Last Christmas,” the 1984 holiday classic by Wham!, Michael's pop duo with Andrew Ridgeley.

Equal parts happy accident and technological triumph, “Blue Monday” is a supremely weird and brilliant song that continues to pack dance floors and transfix listeners 40 years after its original release. 

Rednex's fiddle-fueled '90s hit “Cotton Eye Joe” was a reworking of an old American folk song that do-si-doed all the way to No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Though Exposé's name is not nearly as recognizable as TLC, Destiny's Child, or The Bangles, the 1980s hitmakers are the only girl group since The Supremes to score seven consecutive Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

For better or worse, British singer-songwriter James Blunt has never been able to escape his signature song, the 2004 smash “You’re Beautiful,” a seemingly romantic ballad that masks a much darker meaning.