Nina Simone

From the joy of Summer of Soul to the absurdity of The Other Two, these were our favorite artist documentaries, concert films, and music-related shows to watch this year.

The Roots drummer discusses Summer of Soul, his new documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, and the ongoing fight to give Black musicians their rightful due.

Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Albert Ayler, the Velvet Underground, Eric Dolphy, Dusty Springfield, and the other artists who changed music forever

In conversations with artists including Chan Marshall, Maxwell, and Esperanza Spalding, and through examination of her most iconic songs, we look at the life of a true spellbinder

From 10cc to XTC, from London to Lagos, from 7” singles to side-long epics, and from punk to prog to ambient to disco, our list of the greatest songs from one of music’s greatest decades

From house to hip-hop, college rock to techno, bubblegum pop to post-punk, heavy metal to hardcore—here are our favorite tracks of the 1980s.

Ponytail's Jeremy Hyman, Ken Seeno, Molly Siegel, and Dustin Wong, whose diverse tastes result in a number of disparate song recommendations, nevertheless all seem to agree on the best two TV shows of the past few years. [Interview: Tyler Grisham]

Perfect songs are hard to find; here are 12 to start with.

Billie Holiday and Nina Simone: remixed and reimagined-- vocals from familiar songs are taken from their original context and dropped into a setting that is generally chilled downtempo, upbeat house, or something in the trip-hop/breakbeat vein.

Doin' it for themselves: Dani Siciliano sidesteps husband Matthew Herbert's house and embraces songcraft, and Georgia Anne Muldrow channels her rage into a nourishing groove.

We take a final look at our favorite songs of the 1960s, listing our individual top 10s and musing on a handful of tracks our writers believe should have made the final cut.

From James Brown to Etta James, Jimi Hendrix to Patsy Cline, here are the tracks that lit up the decade