single stories

60 years ago today, the late LaVern Baker recorded the song that would become the biggest chart hit of her career. Written by Fred Jacobsen and Al Julia, “I Cried a Tear” was a song unlike just about anything Baker...

50 years ago this week, Aretha Franklin made her debut on the Billboard R&B Singles chart with a Burt Bacharach & Hal David composition that Bacharach himself didn’t exactly love when Dionne Warwick recorded it. That’s not to say that...

35 years ago this week, Spandau Ballet released the single that would go on to become the second biggest hit of their career, and if we have to tell you what song it sits behind, then we can only presume...

30 years ago today, Jane’s Addiction released their first full-length studio album, NOTHING’S SHOCKING. While Billboard did an outstanding job of detailing the origins and making of the LP in a new oral history of the album, we thought we’d...

Feeling nostalgic for the 2000s? If you aren’t, then you must not have seen the thousands of ads that CNN has been offering up lately to promote its new miniseries about the decade. On the other hand, if you’ve found...

24 years ago this week, The Notorious B.I.G. released the first single from his debut studio album, kicking off his career in – no pun intended – a big way. Credited to Christopher Wallace (a.k.a. Biggie), Hunter McIntosh, Sean Combs...

17 years ago this week, Michelle Branch released the opening track from her debut Maverick Records album as a single, resulting in a top-20 hit for the singer-songwriter. “Everywhere,” like the rest of the songs on THE SPIRIT ROOM, is...

It's probably the most famous song associated with the Thanksgiving holiday (with all due respect to Adam Sandler): Arlo Guthrie's timeless "Alice's Restaurant Massacree," better known as simply "Alice's Restaurant." The origins of the song, which lasts for a still-startling...

49 years ago today, David Bowie released a single which – even with the size and breadth of his discography over the course of his life and times as a recording artist – remains one of the signature moments of...