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Next week I'll be writing about some of the worst hold music I've ever had to sit through. In researching the post, I discovered that in the U.K., Greensleeves is the most loathed hold music tune. This makes sense, as the song originates in their neck of
You know him as the man who sang "White Christmas" and co-starred in a slew of movies with Bob Hope. But here are some facts about Bing Crosby that might surprise you.
The musician is kind of like a modern-day Forrest Gump.
The Know Your Meme Blog has a great introduction to the history and technology behind Auto-Tune, the audio effect first introduced in 1997 and made popular when Cher's single "Believe" made heavy use of the effect in a way that was never intended -- empha
Two weeks ago I wrote about The Story of Pi, a semi-educational retro video that visually explains Pi. One commenter (lynn) pointed out a song I hadn't heard before, The Pi Song by Antoni Chan and Ken Ferrier. I present it below for your weekend edutain
On January 1, 1969, Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger wrote artist M.C. Escher a letter asking Escher to provide an image for the Stones' second volume of greatest hits, entitled Through The Past Darkly. Jagger was a big Escher fan, and addressed the l
Few things go together as well as bicycles and music. If you didn't already know that, there are plenty of people who will prove it to you.The
Did you know that Vincent van Gogh has inspired (at least) three great songs? The first I want to share with you is by Jonathan Richman with the Modern Lovers backing him up (iTunes link), and it's really sweet -- smart, funny, and even moderately educat
In some cities, driving a taxi is considered an important, valued, even elevated vocation. Sometimes those cabbies become famous.
[It is with sadness that we report Les Paul's death today, at the age of 94. I had the pleasure of meeting Les a couple times when I was playing guitar with Pat Martino. Pat and Les were good friends, and the three of us had drinks once when Les had his s
Cats and music go together like Romeo and Juliet, rest and relaxation, or green eggs and ham. No one really knows why, but there they
There's something exciting about unwrapping a new CD. The sense of anticipation, the smell of the packaging, the struggle with the sticky, impossible-to-open white anti-theft strip. But as music becomes increasingly electronic (in the downloadable sense o
Long-lost artworks by Leonardo da Vinci, Ludwig van Beethoven, and more have resurfaced in some unexpected ways.
On February 3, 1959, a plane crashed shortly after taking off from Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all four people aboard: pilot Roger Peterson and musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. The date became known as The Day the
Musicians have always taken inspiration from each other, but sometimes it's a little too on the nose.
As you settle down with family and friends this holiday season, be prepared: load up your iPhone (or iPod Touch) with applications to get through common holiday disasters. We've got a complete roundup here -- from fun photo moments to actual medical eme
In a stunning move, MTV has returned to its roots: actual music videos. But don't look for the videos on TV -- now they're online. MTV announced today that they've posted over 16,000 videos, "Unplugged" sessions, and concerts to their new MTV Music sit
Suzanne Vega's catchy tune has made her "Mother of the MP3" -- though it took a while. Vega wrote "Tom's Diner" as an a cappella song way back in 1982. By 1984 it has been released on an obscure folk compilation, and didn't appear on Vega's studio album
In 1983, Billy Bragg released "A New England," a young man's song that began with the lyrics: I was twenty-one years when I wrote this song I'm twenty-two now, but I won't be for long People ask me, "When will you grow up to be a man?" But all the girls
I started blogging for the _floss one year ago yesterday, so I thought I'd share my second blog post ever: Nerdcore Hip Hop Could Reign Supreme. In a somewhat surprising coincidence, it was announced yesterday that Nerdcore Rising will premiere at South
1. First Conductor Dies from
We've got McSweeney's in our "Sites We Like" sidebar (look to the right...), and it's full of buried gems. Today, let me urge you to read John Moe's Pop-Song Correspondences, a series of humorous pieces inspired by popular music. I have selected some sa
Checking out the Your Daily Awesome archives, I came across this gem: a recounting of various performers barred from Saturday Night Live. Interestingly, footage of many of the incidents in the article is now available on YouTube, apparently from fans' l
There are several reasons I loved working on the Saints and Sinners Issue. It's the only magazine I've ever seen with Madonna and Gandhi elbowing for cover space, it's the first issue we ever got the fantastic authors John Green and Michael Stusser to wri