Top Songs
Sturgill Simpson Finds the Blue Skies on “Jupiter’s Faerie” and More Songs of the Week
Plus, other standout tunes from Wishy, Merce Lemon, Michael Kiwanuka, The Beaches, and more. Sturgill Simpson Finds Blue Skies on “Jupiter’s Faerie” and More Songs of the Week Jonah Krueger and Consequence Staff
RUSH’s 10 Best Songs
The Canadian legends' greatest tracks run the gamut from from radio-ready singles to complex prog masterpieces. RUSH’s 10 Best Songs Jon Hadusek and Jordan Blum
Kings of Leon’s 10 Best Songs
This article was originally published in 2013 and has been updated. You can draw a line in the sand of many musicians’ careers, a turning point where their sound changed completely. It’s a shift that usually gains a stadium of new fans while losing a club of old ones. Enter Kings of Leon and 2008’s Only by the Night. The album’s FM-friendly singles, “Sex on Fire” and “Use Somebody,” catapulted the Nashville family into sports arenas and festivals everywhere — yet the divide between fans grew far and wide. They returned in late 2010 with the polarizing Come Around Sundown, and while many longtime fans were slightly underwhelmed, it saw the band reach a new pinnacle of success, headlining Coachella and making their second appearance on Saturday Night Live. This proved to be a ...
R.E.M.’s 20 Best Songs
This article was originally published in 2017, but we’re dusting it off for Michael Stipe’s birthday on January 4th. If you’re at all like me, you probably associate certain bands with specific moods. In other words, you turn to these bands when they fit your state of mind, match how your day went, or just seem to sound how you feel. R.E.M. has never been one of those bands for me, though. No matter my mood, mindset, or emotion, there’s an R.E.M. album or sound that suits me. “I have lived a full life,” Michael Stipe once sang, and I think that’s how we felt about the band when they parted ways in 2011. To look back at their catalog then or now is to see a band that have lived a full life — and life to the fullest — leaving few stones of the band experience unflipped or unskipped. Advertis...
Halsey’s 10 Best Songs
There aren’t many self-release success stories quite like that of Halsey. When her original song “Ghost” was released to SoundCloud back in 2014, it instantly began to gain attention. With her very first release, Halsey was already on the map. In the years since, Halsey has become a reliable source of honest lyricism, innovative and creative concept albums, music video and film direction, and a deeply personal form of artistry. Over four full albums — from Badlands to If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power — Halsey has played with genre and self-mythology, constructing and deconstructing narratives as they see fit. It’s hard to narrow down their discography, so diverse in genre, to just ten songs, but we set out to give it a try. Advertisement Check out our list of ten favorite ...
Rage Against the Machine’s 10 Best Songs
When four Los Angeles punks formed a new band in 1991 called Rage Against the Machine, they likely weren’t expecting to become one of the most influential acts of the decade and beyond. But Tom Morello, Brad Wilk, Tim Commerford, and Zack de la Rocha stumbled upon a sound that… Please click the link below to read the full article. Rage Against the Machine’s 10 Best Songs Paolo Ragusa and Consequence Staff [flexi-common-toolbar] [flexi-form class=”flexi_form_style” title=”Submit to Flexi” name=”my_form” ajax=”true”][flexi-form-tag type=”post_title” class=”fl-input” title=”Title” value=”” required=”true”][flexi-form-tag type=”category” title=”Select...
Rage Against the Machine’s 10 Best Songs
When four Los Angeles punks formed a new band in 1991 called Rage Against the Machine, they likely weren’t expecting to become one of the most influential acts of the decade and beyond. But Tom Morello, Brad Wilk, Tim Commerford, and Zack de la Rocha stumbled upon a sound that was so vibrant, visceral, and urgent, that 30 years later, it’s easy to see why they are so revered. Sure, RATM’s novel sound is highlighted by funk rock, swampy riffs, and rousing grooves, but it’s their values and ideology that continue to make this band relevant. Zack de la Rocha’s fierce and prescient meditations on oppression, power imbalances, our country’s treatment of immigrants and people of color, and a capitalist system that pits us against each other are still important today. At the same time, Tom Morell...
Rap Song of the Week: Ice Spice Takes a Trip to “Bikini Bottom”
Rap Song of the Week breaks down all the hip-hop tracks you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Ice Spice follows her viral hit “Munch (Feelin U)” with “Bikini Bottom.” This summer, Bronx rapper Ice Spice turned New York drill (and TikTok) on its head with her viral hit, “Munch (Feelin U),” a playful track featuring the incredibly catchy hook, “You thought I was feeling you?/ That n***a a munch.” At the surface, she seemed to be rapping about using a guy for sex, but “munch” eventually became a catch-all term for someone who’s corny or a loser. Unsurprisingly, Drake (who would probably admit he’s a munch) gave Ice Spice a co-sign, and so did Cardi B. After that, the 22-year-old rapper showed she could hang on fellow Bronx breakout B-Lovee’s pos...
Blink-182’s 10 Best Songs
This feature originally ran in February 2015. We’re revisiting it in celebration of Blink-182’s upcoming reunion tour and new music. “What is it about 20-somethings?” asks the title of a New York Times Magazine article published in 2010. The subtext to that question is another question: “Why are people in their 20s finding it so hard to grow up?” The answers range from changing social mores to an uncertain job market, but maybe it’s even simpler than that. Maybe a new generation of so-called “millennials” is finally starting to understand a line they heard in a song back in 1999: “Nobody likes you when you’re 23.” If you’re a sociologist searching for Ground Zero — that time when the 20s shifted from a life stage of “emerging adulthood” to one of “prolonged adolescence” — an album called E...
Moby’s 10 Best Songs
This article originally ran in 2014, but we’re dusting it off for Moby’s birthday on September 11th. This week, Moby returns with his 15th studio album, Everything Was Beautiful, and Nothing Hurt, which takes its name from a quote that appears in the classic Kurt Vonnegut novel Slaughterhouse-Five. In celebration, we decided to re-open the Brooklyn-turned-Los Angeles composer’s exhaustive repertoire and carve out our top 10 favorite songs. What we stumbled upon was a list that we’ll be streaming again and again. Everywhere. Here are Moby’s 10 best songs. 10. “Raining Again” Album: Hotel (2005) The rare, oft-forgotten ambient side of Hotel trumps the actual disc that surfaced in 2005. Still, “Raining Again” still feels like a triumphant win for the pop-oriented DJ. It’s the slide guitar for...
Madonna’s Top 20 Songs
This article originally ran in 2014 and has been updated in honor of Madonna’s birthday on August 16th. Here’s a funny picture: In July 1983, metalheads and popsters all stormed into their closest Sam Goody, where they likely collided head first in the aisle at M whilst clamoring for Kill ‘Em All or Madonna. Parents scoffed at the time, but either party held the debut album to the future leader of their respective genres. Wild, huh? It’s almost like something out of a Far Side comic; the two most opposite musical forces, both then and today, essentially born as twins. Cowabunga. Of course, as history goes, Madonna’s self-titled debut didn’t exactly blow out the mall doors upon arrival. The album entered the Billboard 200 at No. 123, and it wasn’t until over a year later that it peaked… at ...
Kate Bush’s 10 Best Songs
This article originally ran in 2014 and has been updated in celebration of Kate Bush’s birthday on July 30th. Top Songs is a feature in which we definitively handpick the very best songs in an artist or band’s catalog. Sounds simple, right? Oh, if only. Considering the formidable back catalog of someone as musically gifted as Kate Bush, the inevitable dilemma is what to leave out of any top 10. With 10 studio albums and 33 singles to ponder, it’s a particularly tough ask. Advertisement Despite Bush’s status as a national treasure in the UK and considerable success around the world, her career has never really taken off in the US — until this year’s “Running Up That Hill” explosion, that is. Indeed, Bush’s genius is finally getting the recognition it deserves in the States (though this list...
