Mama Said – Slash on the solos, a No. 2 single
On 2 April 1991, Lenny Kravitz released Mama Said on Virgin, a second album sharpened by Slash on guitar and crowned by It Ain't Over 'til It's Over at No. 2 on the Hot 100.
Erasure – A Little Respect
Erasure’s A Little Respect (The Innocents, 1988): Clarke/Bell, Stephen Hague, Section 28 context, UK No. 14.
Iggy Pop – The Stooges scream that outlived the band
James Osterberg became Iggy Pop with The Stooges in late-60s Detroit, then rebuilt the voice in Berlin with Bowie on The Idiot and Lust for Life.
Afterlife Interview with Leonard Cohen
Riffs and Beats finds Leonard Cohen on a snowy Montreal night, fedora tipped, guitar nearby, treating the afterlife like another careful draft.
Genesis – Mama
In August 1983 Genesis opened their self-titled album campaign with Mama: Mike Rutherford's distorted Linn LM-1, Phil Collins's Grandmaster Flash-inspired laugh, and a UK number four that remains their biggest home hit.
Love Symbol – Glyph, New Power Generation, half a hit machine
On 13 October 1992 Paisley Park and Warner Bros. released the Love Symbol album, Prince’s second full collaboration with the New Power Generation after Diamonds and Pearls.
Serge Gainsbourg – La Javanaise
In the summer of 1962, after an evening at Juliette Gréco's, Serge Gainsbourg came back the next night with La Javanaise.
Sparks – Odd brothers who kept rewriting the hook
In 1970s Los Angeles and then London, Ron and Russell Mael turned stiff comedy and high melodies into a pop career that refused to age into nostalgia.
Sade – The Sweetest Taboo
The Sweetest Taboo, lead single from Promise, was cut at the Power Plant in 1985 from a drum-machine idea that the band then played live, glasses and all.
Which band holds the World Record for the loudest rock concert in history?
Manowar hit 139 dB in Hanover in 2008, the measurement most often cited as the loudest rock concert on record.