Zel McCarthy is a contributing writer to GRAMMY.com
With her 1968 album, Switched On Bach, a collection of works by classical composer J.S. Bach performed on a Moog synthesizer, Wendy Carlos is widely credited with introducing electronic music to the world. The album won three GRAMMYs, including Best Classical Album, and inspired a generation to plug in. Though she would later come out as trans, trans identity was…
It's hard to imagine a more theatrical arrival to any event than Lady Gaga at the 53rd GRAMMY Awards on Feb. 13, 2011. Encased in a translucent ellipsoid, carried like a palanquin down the red carpet by a quartet of latex-clad models, Gaga herself was barely visible, but her presence was undeniable. Later that night, when she emerged from the…
In the year 2000, America was sharply divided. A new generation of singers had lip-synced and danced its way to the top of the charts and the front of the pop culture proscenium with material Auto-Tuned to Pro Tools perfection. The (mostly rock) music establishment loudly decried the new pop as artifice and asserted the integrity of music made with…
