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ABBA’s Arrival Proved Every Critic Wrong
ABBA | Arrival (album) Muzak to Masterpiece When Arrival came out in 1977, Rolling Stone called it Muzak and Christgau gave it a C. In 2024, the Library of…
Nobody Wanted “Toxic” (Then It Won Everything)
Britney Spears | Toxic Three Rejections and a Masterpiece Rolling Stone’s #9 song of the 21st century was turned down by Janet Jackson, Kylie Minogue, and nearly killed by…
The Song That Makes No Sense Changed Everything
Backstreet Boys | I Want It That Way The Riddle Everyone Knows Everyone knows the lyrics to “I Want It That Way.” Nobody knows what they mean, including the…
Taylor Swift Rewrote Shakespeare with a Key Change
Taylor Swift | Love Story Twenty Minutes on a Bedroom Floor A 17-year-old Taylor Swift got sent to her room after her parents vetoed a boyfriend, grabbed a guitar,…
Stevie Wonder Almost Quit. Then He Made History.
Stevie Wonder | Songs in the Key of Life The Cowboy Who Almost Left Stevie Wonder showed up to his record-breaking Motown contract signing dressed as a cowboy, just…
Prince Wrote a Country Song. It Became Purple Rain.
Prince | Purple Rain The Song That Scared Stevie Nicks Prince sent Stevie Nicks a ten-minute instrumental cassette hoping she’d write lyrics for it. She sent it back, saying…
The Police Were Falling Apart. Then Came the Riff.
The Police | Every Breath You Take The Most Dangerous Love Song “Every Breath You Take” is the most-played song in radio history and one of the most misunderstood,…
91 Mixes and They Picked Number Two
Michael Jackson | Billie Jean You Already Know This Song Bruce Swedien said you can identify “Billie Jean” from three or four drum hits. But a song that sounds…
The Accidental Song That Refused to Die
The Killers | Mr. Brightside Still Here, Still Loud In 2017, 110,000 Michigan fans sang the chorus of ‘Mr. Brightside’ a cappella in the rain when the PA cut…
The Banger Teddy Swims Wrote to Save His Own Life
Teddy Swims | The Door The Song That Won’t Leave “The Door” sounds like a celebration and reads like a survivor’s testimony, and that tension is exactly the point….
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Derrick
Daniel Rome
