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Daily stories about music and vinyl: albums, artists, labels. Read on the web or in the CrateCore app.
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September 27, 2026
STORY · Pop
Why Depeche Mode's A Broken Frame still haunts 44 years on
Released on September 27, 1982, A Broken Frame made Martin Gore Depeche Mode's sole songwriter. The band shelved it for nearly two decades before reviving a single track in 2006.
5 min read
Cover of “A Broken Frame” by Marsheaux. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
5 min read
STORY · Pop
Jovanotti: The Typo That Named a Chameleon
Lorenzo Cherubini, born in Rome in 1966, built his career as Jovanotti after a nightclub marquee misspelled his stage name. The typo turned into a chameleon identity.
4 min read
Gorup de Besanez, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, modified: re-encoded
4 min read
STORY · Pop
Alma: The Economist Who Sang France to Kyiv
Alma, born Alexandra Maquet in Lyon, traded a corporate career for Eurovision, singing 'Requiem' in Kyiv after years in management and finance.
4 min read
Mykola Swarnyk, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
4 min read
STORY
Andy Lau: From Tai Po Slums to Four Heavenly Kings
When his shift at the fire station ended, Lau Lai would come home to a cramped Diamond Hill tenement — not the sprawling land his own father had once owned. Tha…
3 min read
kacar, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, modified: re-encoded
3 min read
STORY · Pop
Why Ryan O'Shaughnessy Left Acting for Eurovision
Ryan O'Shaughnessy left Fair City for music, reaching Eurovision in 2018 with 'Together' after a decade of acting and a family legacy in the contest.
4 min read
Dewayne Barkley, EuroVisionary, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, modified: re-encoded
4 min read
STORY · Alternative
Why Does Pure Heroine Still Sound Like a Warning?
Lorde's debut album Pure Heroine, released on September 27, 2013, outsold nearly everything on American radio. Its sound felt like it belonged to no major label at all.
4 min read
Cover of “Pure Heroine” by Lorde. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Alternative
Meat Loaf: Why Bat Out of Hell Took Five Years to Escape
Meat Loaf, born Marvin Lee Aday in Dallas in 1947, turned a childhood of chaos into Bat Out of Hell. The album took five years to escape the industry's rejection.
4 min read
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4 min read
STORY · Rock
The Beach Boys on Ed Sullivan: How 'I Get Around' Hit #1
On September 27, 1964, The Beach Boys made their debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. They performed 'I Get Around' and 'Wendy' as America's answer to the British Invasion.
4 min read
ABC Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, modified: re-encoded
4 min read
STORY · Rock
Marty Balin: Why His Voice Still Defines San Francisco Psych
Marty Balin, co-founder of Jefferson Airplane, defined the San Francisco psych sound. His tenor carried the scene from The Matrix club to Woodstock and beyond.
3 min read
RCA Victor, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, modified: re-encoded
3 min read
September 26, 2026
STORY · Hip-Hop
Massive Attack Protection: Why Bristol Never Sounded Darker
Massive Attack released Protection on 26 September 1994. The second album pulled the curtains shut and let the night in, reshaping trip-hop with darker textures.
4 min read
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4 min read
STORY · Pop
Julie London: Why Her 1955 Debut Still Sounds Intimate
Julie London's 1955 debut 'Julie Is Her Name' introduced a whisper-quiet vocal style that defined intimate jazz. Her signature hit 'Cry Me a River' anchored the record.
4 min read
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4 min read
STORY · Rock
Bryan Ferry: Why Roxy Music's Frontman Still Defines Art Rock
Born on 26 September 1945, Bryan Ferry built Roxy Music into a band that treated pop as avant-garde collage. The same date marks Beatles, U2, and Pink Floyd milestones.
4 min read
Joyce11, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
4 min read
STORY · Alternative
U2-3: How a 1000-Copy EP Made Irish Vinyl History
In September 1979, U2 released their first record, the three-song EP U2-3, a thousand numbered copies that sold out instantly and made Irish vinyl history.
4 min read
Remy, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
4 min read
STORY · Alternative
James Blake: Why the Mercury Prize Years Still Define Him
A single piano note hangs in a London studio, then splits into four harmonized versions of itself. That was the moment James Blake stopped being a dubstep produ…
4 min read
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4 min read
STORY · Rock
Meat Loaf: Why Rocky Horror's Eddie Outlived the Flop
Meat Loaf's brief role as Eddie in the 1975 flop The Rocky Horror Picture Show launched a career that peaked with the best-selling album Bat Out of Hell.
5 min read
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5 min read
STORY · Rock
Abbey Road: The Beatles' Bittersweet Final Statement
Released 57 years ago via Apple Records, Abbey Road was the final album The Beatles recorded together. It arrived after John Lennon had already privately quit the band.
3 min read
Cover of “Abbey Road” by The Beatles. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
3 min read
STORY · Rock
Why Pink Floyd boxed their entire catalogue in 2011?
In 2011, Pink Floyd released Discovery, a box set containing every standard studio album from 1967 to 1994, spearheading the Why Pink Floyd...? reissue campaign.
4 min read
Cover of “Discovery” by Pink Floyd. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Metal
The 31-Year-Old AC/DC Album That Brought Back Phil Rudd
AC/DC's 1995 album Ballbreaker, which turns thirty-one this September, marked Phil Rudd's return. It ended an eight-year absence and a five-year studio silence.
5 min read
Cover of “Ballbreaker” by AC/DC. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
5 min read
STORY · Other
How Massive Attack turned a burning cover into Protection
Massive Attack's second album Protection arrived on 26 September 1994. Its cover shows the scorched remains of Blue Lines, a deliberate sequel that pushed trip hop into stranger territory.
4 min read
Cover of “Protection” by Massive Attack. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Alternative
Sonic Youth: Washing Machine at 31
Sonic Youth's ninth album, Washing Machine, released on September 26, 1995, through DGC Records. Thirty-one years later, it still sounds like a deliberate refusal to behave.
4 min read
Cover of “Washing Machine” by Sonic Youth. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Soul
Prince's Gold Standard That Warner Bros. Didn't Hear
Prince's 1995 album The Gold Experience, released under the Love Symbol, treated radio play as a suggestion. It still sounds like a transmission from a parallel pop universe.
5 min read
Cover of “The Gold Experience” by Prince. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
5 min read
STORY · Rock
Gal Costa: The Nickname That Remade Brazilian Music
Gal Costa, born Maria da Graça Costa Penna Burgos in 1945, carried a childhood nickname from Salvador into a career that defined Tropicália. Her voice shaped Brazilian popular music for decades.
4 min read
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4 min read
STORY · Rock
John Lennon: The Album Written During an 18-Month Separation
John Lennon's fourth solo album, Walls and Bridges, reached number one in 1974 while he lived apart from Yoko Ono during the Lost Weekend.
5 min read
Cover of “Walls and Bridges” by John Lennon. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
5 min read
STORY · Electronic
Mike Oldfield's Two-Faced Album Turns 21
Mike Oldfield's 2005 double-disc album Light + Shade split his music into nine tracks of quiet light and nine of shadow. It marked his first release for Mercury Records.
4 min read
Cover of “Light + Shade” by Mike Oldfield. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Rock
Grace for Drowning: Steven Wilson's Double Album Gamble
Steven Wilson's second solo album, Grace for Drowning, arrived as a double album in September 2011. It expanded the darker territory of Insurgentes across two discs.
3 min read
Cover of “Grace for Drowning” by Steven Wilson. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
3 min read
STORY · Jazz
Why did Nadia Boulanger refuse to teach George Gershwin?
In 1928, Nadia Boulanger refused to teach George Gershwin, fearing formal study would flatten the jazz impulse that made his music breathe.
3 min read
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3 min read
STORY · Jazz
Baden Powell Made Samba a Six-String Argument
In 1978, Baden Powell's Paris concert with Vinicius de Moraes and Tom Jobim turned samba into a six-string argument. The scene still resonates twenty-six years after his death.
4 min read
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4 min read
STORY · Pop
Why Olivia Newton-John owned both 1974 and 1981
Olivia Newton-John, born in 1948, topped country charts in 1974 and then got banned from radio for 'Physical' in 1981, mapping an era of pop music.
4 min read
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4 min read
STORY · Classical
Alfred Cortot: Learning Chopin From Chopin's Student
Born in Nyon on September 26, 1877, Alfred Cortot carried a direct pedagogical line from Chopin through his teacher Émile Decombes. He became a defining French pianist and influential editor.
4 min read
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4 min read
STORY · Rock
Abbey Road: How The Beatles' Last Sessions Held Together
In August 1969, The Beatles recorded their final sessions together. They turned Abbey Road into a disciplined, polished album made by a band quietly falling apart.
4 min read
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4 min read