Jon O'Brien is a Recording Academy/GRAMMY.com contributor with bylines in Esquire, Billboard, Vulture, Vinyl Me, Please, i-D, The Guardian and Paste. He spends most of his spare time going to gigs, but he's also a soccer enthusiast, garage drummer, Icelandophile and carrot cake connoisseur. He lives in North West England with his partner and King Charles Spaniel.
Editor's Note: This article was originally published in 2023 but was updated in 2025 with the addition of four songs. If the holiday of trick or treating, pumpkin carving and decorating the yard with skeletons is your favorite of the year, then you'll no doubt already have a playlist stacked with creepy and kooky, mysterious and spooky bangers ready to…
25 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s as a writer, two more as a producer, at least 140 million record sales, five GRAMMY wins and 25 nominations. The stats speak for themselves: Max Martin is undeniably one of the most successful hitmakers in the history of pop. Still only in his mid-fifties, and with every other Billboard regular still clamoring for…
"It's not easy having a good time," claims mad scientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter shortly before The Rocky Horror Picture Show brings down the final curtain. Tell that to the millions of cinemagoers who've flocked to the cult classic over the past half-century. Indeed, since the film's release in 1975 (a stage production debuted the year prior at The Roxy Theater), its…
"My attitude is to try different things," Ed Sheeran remarked after throwing another musical curveball with 2014's x. "I don't really come from a generation where genres exist." That no doubt explains why the British singer/songwriter appears to have embraced practically every sound under the sun since his humble man-with-guitar beginnings. From grime to Gaelic folk, Afrobeats to acoustic balladry,…
The Pussycat Dolls undoubtedly have one of the most interesting origin stories for a world-conquering girl group. They were initially conceived in 1995 by choreographer and impresario Robin Antin as a neo-burlesque act performing early pop music standards. And during their residencies at famous L.A. hotspot The Viper Room and West Hollywood's The Roxy Theatre, they welcomed celebrities as varied…
Katy Perry became a runaway success thanks to her 2008 major label debut, One Of The Boys. The album scored her a No. 1 hit ("I Kissed A Girl") and two GRAMMY nods — but no one could have foreseen the world-conquering, record-breaking blockbuster that followed two years later. Indeed, 2010's Teenage Dream instantly launched the former Christian singer into…
"Right now in 2021, everyone's doing everything," Chris Martin remarked to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe while promoting Coldplay's ninth album, Music of the Spheres. "You can like Olivia Rodrigo as much as you like AC/DC and no one thinks that's weird. And that's musical utopia for me ... It's miraculous. So why would you want to stay in one box?"…
"I hope it's not that disposable," drummer Butch Vig once remarked, expressing concern that Garbage's eponymous debut album may reflect its title. "Of course, we have certainly left ourselves open for the ultimate one-word record review." The drummer, producer and all-round grunge overlord needn't have worried. Upon its August 1995 release, Garbage's melting pot of electronica, power pop and alternative…
"The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised." Yes, Oasis may have appeared to have joined the Smiths and the Jam on the list of bands who'd only reform once hell freezes over. However, last year, the Britpop legends announced — in typically cocksure style, obviously —…
Whether viewed via a cardboard sleeve, plastic jewel case, or online thumbnail, the album cover can be pivotal to the perception of the music it envelops. After all, long before a single note has been played, it essentially serves as a record's first taster. None more so than in the pre-streaming, crate-digging age when consumers had to venture into brick-and-mortar…
"Let's repeat the same process, but do it better," co-creator Jamie Hewlett reasoned about reviving Gorillaz for a second helping of virtual insanity, Demon Days. "Everyone thought it was a gimmick. If you do it again, it's no longer a gimmick, and if it works then we've proved a point." The motley crew of 2D, Noodle, Russel, and Murdoc subsequently…
Editor's Note: This article will be updated as new lineups are announced. We may only be in the middle of March, but the busy festival season is already well underway. Tempe's Innings Festival got the ball rolling in late February with a stellar lineup that included Beck, The Black Keys, and Gary Clark Jr. And Lauryn Hill, Toni Braxton, and…
Although she essentially retired from the spotlight during the pandemic, 2025 is fast becoming the year of Yoko Ono. The countercultural icon is the subject of both a new biography by longtime friend, writer David Sheff, and One to One: John and Yoko, a big screen documentary based on the titular 1972 benefit concert she staged with her other half.…
"I knew I wanted to make a song called Dancing On My Own," Scandinavia's most prominent synth-pop export Robyn told the BBC about her career-defining hit. "I just didn't know what it was going to be about." Ultimately, the first single from her Body Talk trilogy turned out to be a brilliantly messy tale of heartbreak, rejection and knowing self-destruction…
As Music's Biggest Night, the GRAMMYs honor the year's most masterful musical contributions — and oftentimes, that includes those from the movies. Of course, the GRAMMYs annually award four Categories dedicated to Hollywood: Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media, Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media (Includes Film And Television), Best Song Written For Visual Media, and Best Music Film. But…
With contributions to more than 150 soundtracks, five GRAMMYs, two Oscars, and collaborations with everyone from Ridley Scott to Ron Howard, Hans Zimmer could easily be considered king of the modern film score. The German composer first cut his teeth on the new wave scene, producing the likes of the Buggles and the Damned before lending his talents to the…
It's now been a quarter of a century since we raised our glasses to the millennium, a period defined by "Mickey Mouse Club" graduates, double denim and fears that a pesky computer virus was going to plunge us all back into the dark ages. Thankfully, the latter never happened, allowing the youth of today to mine the era's sounds and…
It's fair to say that we're in a golden age of music biopics. In the last few months alone, Angelina Jolie has portrayed legendary opera singer Maria Callas, (Maria), cult indie favorites Pavement have blurred the boundaries between documentary and fiction (Pavements), and Pharrell Williams' rise to fame has been told in animated Lego form (Brick by Brick). And let's…
As the inaugural winner of America's first modern singing competition, Kelly Clarkson once again had to enter uncharted waters for her second album. Sure, her "American Idol" victory parade single, "A Moment Like This," had broken a 38-year-record held by the Beatles when it made the biggest leap to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2002. And sure,…
Having professed his love for the Rolling Stones with numerous documentaries and concert films, Martin Scorsese switches his attention to their one-time fiercest rivals as the producer of Beatles '64. Out. Nov. 29, the Disney+ original centers on the year when the Beatles replicated their UK success on the other side of the Atlantic, with their iconic performance in front…
