Real Life Rock Top 10: June 2020 — Part I
LARB presents the first part of the June installment of “Real Life Rock Top 10,” a monthly column by cultural critic Greil Marcus.
Music
"I don't care much about music. What I like is sounds." — Dizzy Gillespie
A Very Brief History of Authenticity in Hip-Hop
Felicia Angeja Viator on the complicated nature of "authenticity" in hip-hop
Dance Routines, Pandemic Routines: Ryan Heffington's "SWEATFEST"
Media Studies scholar Kristen Warner and dance scholar Clare Croft consider the queer, quarantied embodiments of Ryan Heffington's Instagram dance class.
Selena Gomez and the Perils of Confessional Pop
Does vulnerability in pop pay off?
Kim Gordon, Quarantined
Talking to a rock icon during a pandemic
Real Life Rock Top 10: May 2020
LARB presents the May installment of “Real Life Rock Top 10,” a monthly column by cultural critic Greil Marcus.
Giving Up the Goods: Mobb Deep’s “The Infamous” Turns 25
Oliver Wang revisits the antihero tales of crime and grime of the 1995 legacy-making album “The Infamous” by Mobb Deep on its 25th anniversary.
Dave Brubeck Unsquared: On Philip Clark’s New Biography
Dave Mandl takes five with “Dave Brubeck: A Life in Time” by Philip Clark.
American Tunes for Coronaviral Times: Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and John Prine
Pamela Thurschwell looks to songs by Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and John Prine to make sense of COVID-19.
Symphonies Silenced, Sonatas Streamed: The State of Classical Music During COVID-19
Melissa Chan considers the state of classical music in the age of coronavirus.
Real Life Rock Top 10: April 2020
LARB presents the April installment of “Real Life Rock Top 10,” a monthly column by cultural critic Greil Marcus.
The Death and Life of Blond Ambition: Madonna’s Entrancing Contradictions
Quinn Roberts explores the entrancing contradictions of Madonna’s legacy.
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