Throughout the 1960s, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles were engaged in a friendly rivalry. Despite being amicable in person, they were in competition for record sales, cultural influence and aesthetic credibility. Despite their enormous popularity, however, not even the most ardent fans of either band would have expected that such a competition would still…

There’s a scene in The Simpsons episode, Lisa The Simpson (1998), where Lisa is watching a jazz violinist’s performance and a man is criticising it. “You have to listen to the notes she doesn’t play,” Lisa says in the music’s defence. “I can do that at home,” the man drily replies. The scene is meant…

The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the few remaining examples of event TV – and UK audiences lap it up. With 8.9 million viewers in 2022, Britain formed the largest audience of all Eurovision markets. And this time around, there’s even a bit of hope for those cheering on the home talent. Although it’s…

It is January 2003 – many years before I began researching popular music professionally – and I’m flicking around the music channels on TV. Disillusioned by the usual paint by numbers chart fodder and ready to call it a day, I chance upon the video for a new song called In Da Club by a…

With its eye-catching animations, it would be easy to dismiss Spotify Wrapped – which gives users a roundup of their most listened-to music of the last year – as just another example of the festive feed fodder that engulfs social media every Christmas. But there’s something more sinister in Spotify’s playful graphics – and I’m…

It’s safe to say the new princess of pop has the music world at her feet. But a peek behind the scenes suggests that she is the latest example of a female face fronting a male-dominated industry. Before going any further, though, I need to address the elephant in the room. I’m writing about gender…

I still remember a time when cassette was king – when the ultimate Christmas present was a pack of blank tapes, and recording your favourite songs from the radio without the interference of the DJ’s voice was a skill to be proud of. Then, of course, there was the mixtape. Lovingly compiled over weeks, dubbed…