A sound doesn't define the alternative rock of the '90s so much as a sneer and a searing, blatant refusal to repeat the new wave and hair-metal inclinations of the Reagan years. It's epitomized in Nirv …

Occasionally, through some convergence of timing, observation, and sheer nerve, a comedian comes along with a bit so inspired it hits a universal funny bone like it's never been hit before. These are 2 …

There are places on the planet where, secluded from the rest of the world, a spontaneous combination of timing and environment produce something rare and wonderful. Nearly a century ago, one of those p …

Here's where we drill deep down to the soul of the Delta blues. Deep Cuts throws a rare spotlight on the ladies - Mattie Delaney, who, guitar in hand, takes us on a guided tour of the hard-times "Talla …

The scene was ripped straight out of a Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney script from the '40s: "Let's get dressed up and put on a show!" Proving that genders, like any other rules, were made to be bent …

One great New York group deserves another, as punk godfathers the New York Dolls lift the spoken-word intro from the Shangri-Las' "Give Him a Great Big Kiss" to open their rough-and-tumble "Looking For …

By 1957, the raw elements that merged to form rock 'n' roll had refined, producing some of the music's finest moments. Doo-wop had gone from street-corner serenade to studio-session high art. And Elvis …

Chicano rock of the '50s and '60s, like Ritchie Valens's "La Bamba" and ? and the Mysterians' "96 Tears" formed a significant part of the early rock canon. Santana's early output was at the core of the …

"The Nashville Sound" was going strong as the 1960s begin, yet one of its standard bearers, Patsy Cline ("Crazy," "I Fall to Pieces") would live only three years into the decade before her untimely dea …