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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 3, 2026
STORY · Pop
Dawn of Chromatica: Gaga Handed the Keys to the Underground
Five years ago, Lady Gaga released Dawn of Chromatica. The remix album handed her polished dance-pop to hyperpop and underground club artists like Arca and Charli XCX.
4 min read
Cover of “Dawn of Chromatica” by Lady Gaga. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Rock
Janis Martin: Who Told RCA She Could Out-Sing Their King?
When RCA signed Janis Martin in the mid-1950s, the label already had Elvis Presley. But a Virginia teenager who wrote her own songs and led her own band forced them to pay attention anyway.
4 min read
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4 min read
STORY · Classical
Morton Feldman: The Dry Cleaner Who Stretched Time
Morton Feldman, the dry cleaner who composed at night, died on September 3, 1987, leaving behind music that dismantled every assumption about listening.
5 min read
Rob Bogaerts for Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
5 min read
STORY · Pop
EunB: How a TV Regular Became K-Pop's Haunting Loss
EunB spent eighteen months as a recording artist with Ladies' Code before a 2014 highway crash ended her life and fractured the promising K-pop group.
4 min read
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4 min read
STORY · Pop
Katyna Ranieri: The Voice That Brought Mondo Cane to the Oscars
Katyna Ranieri sang for Fellini and became the first Italian female singer to perform at the Oscars. Her career was a chain of collisions between Italian pop elegance and global pop culture.
5 min read
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5 min read
STORY · Folk
Who Was Johnny Rebel Behind the Racist Songs?
A twelve-year-old boy unwraps a guitar in Moss Bluff, Louisiana, and no one in the room could have guessed that this gift would one day provide the soundtrack f…
3 min read
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3 min read
September 2, 2026
STORY · Alternative
The Genesis Album That Killed a 48-Year Chart Streak
After Phil Collins walked away in 1996, Genesis hired a new singer and cut their fifteenth studio album — then cancelled two U.S. tours when the seats stayed empty.
4 min read
Cover of “Calling All Stations” by Genesis. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Jazz
Miles Davis: When the Sextet Broke the Key
When pianist Red Garland missed a Columbia session in 1958, Miles Davis covered both trumpet and piano. The resulting album Milestones turned jazz's harmonic rules inside out.
3 min read
Cover of “Milestones” by Miles Davis. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
3 min read
STORY · Metal
Where Death Wore a Party Hat
A nude figure rendered in early-2000s CGI, mid-cavort, frozen forever on the cover of an Iron Maiden album. The decision so baffled the artist who painted the r…
3 min read
Cover of “Dance of Death” by Iron Maiden. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
3 min read
STORY · Metal
Sepultura: How Chaos A.D. Changed Metal
Thirty-three years ago, on September 2, 1993, Sepultura released Chaos A.D. — the album where the Brazilians deliberately walked away from the thrash metal orthodoxy they had helped define.
5 min read
Cover of “Chaos A.D.” by Sepultura. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
5 min read
STORY · Pop
Madilyn Bailey: The CNA Who Chose Covers Over Scrubs
Before a hundred million YouTube views, Madilyn Bailey was a certified nursing assistant. That contrast became the engine behind a career that refused to wait for permission.
4 min read
Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
4 min read
STORY · Alternative
How Suede Made Britpop's Brightest Rebound
Thirty years ago this week, Suede released Coming Up. The album answered Bernard Butler's departure with five top-ten singles and a number one chart position.
4 min read
Cover of “Coming Up” by Suede. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Alternative
Nine Inch Nails: How Hesitation Marks Ended the Silence
On September 3, 2013, Nine Inch Nails released Hesitation Marks. The album ended a five-year silence and brought Trent Reznor back to a major label with a sound no one expected.
4 min read
Cover of “Hesitation Marks” by Nine Inch Nails. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Alternative
Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables: 46 Years of Burning Chrome
Dead Kennedys released their debut album on September 2, 1980. Its cover showed six burning police cruisers from the White Night riot, and 46 years later the photograph still burns.
4 min read
Cover of “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables” by Dead Kennedys. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
September 1, 2026
STORY · Folk
57 Years Since Nick Drake Sat in a Half-Circle of Strings
In 1968, Nick Drake climbed onto a stool inside Sound Techniques studio and recorded his debut live. Fifty-seven years later, Five Leaves Left still sounds like a secret someone forgot to lock away.
4 min read
Cover of “Five Leaves Left” by Nick Drake. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Rock
Rush: A Farewell to Kings, Cut on a Welsh Farm
Forty-nine years ago this week, Rush released A Farewell to Kings. Recorded on a Welsh farm, it gave the Canadian trio their first UK Top 40 entry and an 11-minute opener.
4 min read
Cover of “A Farewell to Kings” by Rush. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Pop
Kylie Minogue: The Remix Series That Escaped Japan
In 1998 Mushroom Records brought Kylie Minogue's Japanese-exclusive Greatest Remix Hits to Australia. The reissue turned a collector's secret into a four-volume document of the PWL years.
4 min read
Cover of “Greatest Remix Hits 1” by Kylie Minogue. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
4 min read
STORY · Pop
How Let's Dance Left David Bowie With Nothing to Say
Forty-two years ago, David Bowie released Tonight — a number one album written in a creative vacuum that still puzzles anyone tracing his chameleonic path.
5 min read
Cover of “Tonight” by David Bowie. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
5 min read
STORY · Rock
How Bill Kaulitz Fronted a Rock Band Without Music Training
Bill Kaulitz never learned to read sheet music or master keyboards. His raw instinct and twin bond with Tom made Tokio Hotel one of Germany's most recognizable pop-rock exports.
4 min read
livepict.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
4 min read
STORY · Pop
Jungkook: From Busan’s Shores to a Billion Spotify Streams
Jeon Jung-kook, born in Busan in 1997, became the first Korean soloist to simultaneously top Billboard's Hot 100, Global 200, and Global Excl. U.S. charts.
5 min read
K-POPIT 케이팝잇, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
5 min read
STORY · Pop
Yvonne De Carlo: The Dancer Who Became a Monster
A major Hollywood producer once crowned her "the most beautiful girl in the world," yet the role that immortalized her demanded a long black wig shot with a whi…
5 min read
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5 min read
STORY · Jazz
Art Pepper: The Sound of a Razor’s Edge
Art Pepper was born into chaos on September 1, 1925. He turned the Central Avenue club district into his classroom before emerging as the defining alto voice of West Coast jazz.
4 min read
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4 min read
STORY · Pop
Gloria Estefan: The Voice That Walked Away from a Broken Neck
Gloria Estefan was at the peak of her career when a semi-truck snapped her spine in 1990. She returned to the stage less than a year later, walking.
4 min read
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4 min read
August 31, 2026
STORY · Alternative
The Black Hat and the Garage: Debbie Gibson at 56
Debbie Gibson, born on August 31, 1970, wrote, produced, and performed a Billboard Hot 100 number one single entirely alone before she could legally drive.
4 min read
Kevin Paul, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
4 min read
STORY · Rock
The Unconscious Theft That Rewrote Vinyl Sleeves
On August 31, 1976, a U.S. district court ruled that George Harrison's 'My Sweet Lord' was guilty of subconscious plagiarism, permanently altering the fine print on the back of record jackets.
4 min read
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4 min read
STORY · Rock
Van Morrison: The 81-Year-Old Knight Who Won't Rehearse
George Ivan Morrison was born in Belfast on August 31, 1945. He grew up to fuse raw garage rock with complex jazz improvisation, creating a body of work that resists easy categorization.
5 min read
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STORY · Rock
Dylan in a White Suit: The 57-Year-Old Comeback
On August 31, 1969, Bob Dylan returned to the stage at the Isle of Wight Festival in a white suit, ending three years of silence before 150,000 people.
5 min read
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August 30, 2026
STORY · Rock
The Single That Launched Apple Records Wasn't a Product
Paul McCartney wrote 'Hey Jude' as a consolation for a five-year-old Julian Lennon. The seven-minute single became the first release on Apple Records in August 1968.
4 min read
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4 min read
STORY · Alternative
The Breeders' Last Splash: 15 Songs, 39 Minutes, 33 Years
On August 30, 1993, The Breeders released Last Splash on 4AD. The 39-minute, 15-song album yanked the band out of the Pixies' shadow and into a sun-bleached spotlight all their own.
5 min read
Cover of “Last Splash” by The Breeders. Source: Cover Art Archive (coverartarchive.org)
5 min read
STORY · Rock
When a Beatle Had Too Many Songs for the Beatles
George Harrison released All Things Must Pass on November 27, 1970. It turned years of rejected Beatles material into rock's first triple album by a solo artist.
4 min read
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