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Today · November 4, 2026
STORY · Rock
How Explosions in the Sky Made Beauty in a Basement
Explosions in the Sky recorded their third album, The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place, in a Midland, Texas basement in three days. It came out on November 4, 2003.
3 min read
Cover of “The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place” by Explosions in the Sky. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
3 min read
STORY · Alternative
Why Did Ryan Adams Make Rock n Roll?
Ryan Adams recorded Rock n Roll in two weeks at Stratosphere Sound after Lost Highway refused to release Love Is Hell. The album arrived on November 4, 2003.
3 min read
Cover of “Rock n Roll” by Ryan Adams. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
3 min read
STORY · Metal
Why Did Edward the Great Divide Iron Maiden Fans?
Edward the Great, Iron Maiden's third compilation, arrived on November 4, 2002. It drew only on recordings from 1982 to 2002, skipping the Paul Di'Anno era entirely.
3 min read
Cover of “Edward the Great” by Iron Maiden. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
3 min read
STORY · Rock
How a-ha Turned a Strange Song Into Their UK Comeback
A Norwegian band records an album across five cities, then hands its most crucial track to a Swedish hitmaker to be rebuilt almost beyond recognition. That was …
3 min read
Yaffa Phillips, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, modified: re-encoded
3 min read
STORY · Metal
Why Did Dark Tranquillity's Atoma Survive Losing Two Founders?
Dark Tranquillity released Atoma on Century Media Records on November 4, 2016, with a new bassist and a founding guitarist already on the way out.
3 min read
Andreas Lawen, Fotandi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons, modified: re-encoded
3 min read
November 3, 2026
STORY · Alternative
How Alanis Morissette Followed Jagged Little Pill
Marilyn Manson's former label Nothing Records released the album in 1998. The record followed a tour that left the singer with post-traumatic stress disorder.
4 min read
Cover of “Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie” by Alanis Morissette. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Rock
Why Did ABBA Call Their Album Super Trouper?
ABBA's seventh album Super Trouper arrived on Polar Music on November 3, 1980. Its title came from a stage spotlight after a planned London shoot fell through.
4 min read
Cover of “Super Trouper” by ABBA. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Rock
Why Did Bob Dylan Go Back to the Garage?
Bob Dylan had already recorded a whole album of covers with a full band in Chicago, but he shelved it. The sessions had a producer, a studio, and finished songs…
4 min read
Cover of “Good as I Been to You” by Bob Dylan. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Pop
Maroon 5: How Red Pill Blues Remade the Band
Maroon 5 released Red Pill Blues on November 3, 2017, as a seven-piece for the first and last time. The guest-heavy tracklist later produced the band's longest-running hit.
4 min read
Cover of “Red Pill Blues” by Maroon 5. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Hip-Hop
How Kool Moe Dee Ran Over LL Cool J
Kool Moe Dee released How Ya Like Me Now on Jive Records in November 1987, with a cover showing a Jeep crushing LL Cool J's red kangol hat.
4 min read
Cover of “How Ya Like Me Now” by Kool Moe Dee. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Rock
Katie Melua: How a School Show Sparked a Jazz-Blues Hit
Katie Melua's performance of Faraway Voice at the BRIT School caught Mike Batt's attention. That led to her debut album Call Off the Search on Dramatico in November 2003.
4 min read
Cover of “Call Off the Search” by Katie Melua. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Metal
How Beast in Black Transformed a Manga Obsession into Metal
Beast in Black released their debut album Berserker in November 2017 through Nuclear Blast. Guitarist Anton Kabanen wrote, produced and mixed the record around Kentaro Miura's manga Berserk.
3 min read
Cover of “Berserker” by Beast in Black. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
3 min read
STORY · Alternative
Why Did Razorlight's Slipway Fires Divide Everyone?
Razorlight's third album Slipway Fires reached number 4 in the UK but scored just 52 on Metacritic, leaving critics and fans with very different verdicts.
4 min read
Cover of “Slipway Fires” by Razorlight. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Metal
Why Did We Came as Romans Call Their Debut To Plant a Seed?
We Came as Romans released To Plant a Seed on November 3, 2009, a ten-track debut on Equal Records that carried the band onto several Billboard charts.
3 min read
Cover of “To Plant a Seed” by We Came as Romans. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
3 min read
STORY · Rock
Why Did Beck Sue His Own Label Over Mutations?
Beck recorded Mutations as a quiet acoustic album for Bong Load Records, but Geffen took the record back and released it on DGC on November 3, 1998.
4 min read
Cover of “Mutations” by Beck. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Alternative
How Anathema's A Natural Disaster Changed Everything
Anathema released A Natural Disaster in the UK on November 3, 2003, moving from doom metal to alternative and progressive rock on Music for Nations.
3 min read
Cover of “A Natural Disaster” by Anathema. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
3 min read
STORY · Rock
Why Did Nick Cave Love Your Funeral... My Trial So Much?
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds released Your Funeral... My Trial on November 3, 1986, a double EP recorded in West Berlin and London with Flood and Tony Cohen.
4 min read
AI-generated illustration
4 min read
STORY · Soul
Why Did Diana Ross Rush Out Everything Is Everything?
Motown released Diana Ross's second solo album, Everything Is Everything, on November 3, 1970. The rush shaped both its covers and its chart run.
4 min read
Cover of “Everything Is Everything” by Diana Ross. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Metal
How Nile Created an Album for Those the Gods Despise
Nile released Those Whom the Gods Detest on November 3, 2009, a sixth album built around Karl Sanders's idea of rejecting every god at once.
4 min read
Cover of “Those Whom the Gods Detest” by Nile. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Soul
Why Did Grace Jones Wait 19 Years for Hurricane?
Grace Jones released Hurricane on Wall of Sound in November 2008, her first album of new material in 19 years. She made it with Brian Eno and the Compass Point Allstars.
4 min read
Cover of “Hurricane” by Grace Jones. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Metal
How Triumph's Rock & Roll Machine Crossed the Border
Triumph's second album, Rock & Roll Machine, was recorded at Phase One Studios in Toronto and released on Attic Records on November 3, 1977.
3 min read
Cover of “Rock & Roll Machine” by Triumph. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
3 min read
STORY · Pop
Why Did Sam Smith Make The Thrill of It All So Personal?
Sam Smith followed a 12-million-selling debut with The Thrill of It All, released on Capitol Records on November 3, 2017. The album was built as a personal record rather than a pop sequel.
4 min read
Cover of “The Thrill of It All” by Sam Smith. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Metal
I's Between Two Worlds at 20
I's only album, Between Two Worlds, arrived on Nuclear Blast on November 3, 2006, with Abbath writing the music and Demonaz writing every lyric.
3 min read
AI-generated illustration
3 min read
November 2, 2026
STORY · Rock
The Voice That Refused to Be Forgotten
Eva Callahan, a little-known Washington club singer, died of melanoma on November 2, 1996 — and within four years her voice was topping the UK chart.
4 min read
AI-generated illustration
4 min read
STORY · Alternative
Why Did Foo Fighters Record Their Grammy Winner in a Basement?
Dave Grohl recorded There Is Nothing Left to Lose in his own Alexandria basement with Taylor Hawkins and Nate Mendel. The album won Foo Fighters their first Grammy.
4 min read
Cover of “There Is Nothing Left to Lose” by Foo Fighters. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Electronic
Why No Tourists Still Feels Like a Farewell
A London bus rolls across the cover of No Tourists, heading toward the Dalston club where The Prodigy played their first show in 1990. The route is number 7, an…
3 min read
Cover of “No Tourists” by The Prodigy. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
3 min read
STORY · Pop
How Rosalía Nearly Went Broke Making El Mal Querer
Rosalía built El Mal Querer largely in a Barcelona apartment and nearly ran out of money doing it. The album, released on Columbia Records in November 2018, went on to win six Latin Grammys.
4 min read
Cover of “El Mal Querer” by Rosalía. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Rock
Why Did George Harrison Open His 1974 Tour With an Instrumental?
George Harrison opened his 1974 North American tour with the instrumental "Hari's on Tour (Express)" as laryngitis left his voice badly damaged.
4 min read
AI-generated illustration
4 min read
STORY · Folk
Why Did Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette Unite?
Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette released Honky Tonk Angels on Columbia Records in 1993. The joint album featured a Patsy Cline duet pulled from the archives.
4 min read
AI-generated illustration
4 min read
STORY · Metal
How Did Therapy? Sneak Nurse Into the UK Charts?
Therapy? released Nurse on A&M Records in November 1992, a major-label debut built from farmhouse demos, a cello and LSD-warning samples that still reached number 38 in the UK.
4 min read
Cover of “Nurse” by Therapy?. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read