The eponymous guitarist will forever be remembered as a legend of hard rock, but his band emerged at a time when purveyors of the genre were increasingly being presented with slightly softer contours.
A killer Eddie Van Halen solo has an air of rawness and immediacy, but what made the late pyrotechnic guitarist iconic was his ability to balance spontaneity with carefully-honed precision.
The links between hip-hop and the prison system are on display in laws and lyrics stretching back decades. If you're caught between these two American institutions, it might look like a trap.
Great Scott, the gritty little club in Boston's Allston neighborhood, will not reopen after the pandemic. This oral history dives into the club's 44-year-long legacy.
This year's Tiny Desk Contest attracted plenty of talent, including standout entrant Mama Haze, aka California songwriter Meaghan Maples. Her song "On Your Side" was written during a time of healing.
In 1965, two young fans heard the jazz giant play at a San Francisco club and had a religious epiphany. Their church is an idiosyncratic and joyful blend of devotion to the divine — and to jazz.
As jazz experienced an awakening in the late '60s and early '70s , a record label from Oakland was at the forefront of capturing it. Now, those records are finally returning.
The 2019 video game presents a world where shiny synth-pop is the key to unbreaking your own heart. One unthinkable year later, its comforts are more welcome than ever.
Freeman Vines is an African American luthier who creates what have been called "contemporary art sculptures hidden as guitars" out of old wood, some of it from a tree used for a lynching.
Since Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was first released in 1999, kids who played – and listened to – the game have grown into successful artists in their own right.
Independent music venues continue to be among the businesses hardest hit by the global pandemic. The corporate behemoths of concert promotion, however, can weather the storm.