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Miami Heat Or Oklahoma City Thunder?

The Game, Bow Wow, Chris Carrabba and others reveal their picks for the 2012 NBA Finals

GRAMMYs/Dec 3, 2014 - 05:06 am

Heat! Thunder!

No, we're not talking about a hell-spawned weather phenomenon, but rather the 2012 NBA Finals, which pits the Miami Heat against the Oklahoma City Thunder beginning tonight with game one. In the wake of a near-disastrous 2011–2012 season shortened by a lockout dispute, professional basketball fans are looking forward to one of the most exciting NBA Finals matchups in recent memory.

Of course, sports and music stars have always had an affinity for one another, so we asked several musicians and artists for their NBA Finals predictions and a brief summary of how they see the series panning out. The artist predictions are in, but first some background on the teams.

The big drama surrounding this year's finals centers on Miami Heat small forward LeBron James. A three-time Most Valuable Player, James is always a groomsman, but never a groom — he's reached the finals before, but has never won. James will now face tremendous pressure to win a championship and silence his critics.

Expectations aren't quite as high for the Thunder. Formed in 2008 from the ashes of the late, great Seattle SuperSonics, the Thunder continue their remarkable ascent. Though shooting guard James Harden and point guard Russell Westbrook have contributed greatly to their team's rapid rise, it is three-time NBA scoring champion and All-Star Kevin Durant who raises the stakes. If the Thunder win the finals, sports experts will surely crown Durant the NBA's greatest active player, a situation that could be problematic for the Heat's James.

Without further ado, let's see where the musical sports experts stand on either side of the court.

Artist: The Game (aka Jayceon Terrell Taylor)
Position: Rapper/songwriter
Favorite NBA team: Los Angeles Lakers
2012 NBA Finals prediction: Oklahoma City Thunder in six games

"The Thunder [have] got [the] complete package. I feel they have an answer to everything the Heat has got, plus more. To me, Kevin Durant is the best player in the NBA today. He can score at-will. He's got a jumper, a three-point shot [and] he can post up. LeBron is a beast, but I don't think he's a better complete player than Durant."

Artist: Chris Carrabba (Dashboard Confessional)
Position: Singer/songwriter
Favorite NBA team: Miami Heat
2012 NBA Finals prediction: Miami Heat in six games

"I'm [going to] go with the Heat because of this seemingly new attitude from LeBron James. If he can stay as aggressive and focused as he was in the last few games of the semifinals … then I call six games. I don't really remember a series like this where you had the No. 1 and No. 2 players going head-to-head. You know that James and Durant are going to elevate each other's play. You might see Durant playing at a defensive level that he hasn't before."

Artist: Bow Wow (aka Shad Gregory Moss)
Position: Rapper/actor
Favorite NBA team: No preference ("I just love great basketball.")
2012 NBA Finals prediction: Miami Heat in six games

"This is LeBron's third time to the finals, and the third time should be the charm. He has a veteran mindset to the point that he should know how to get it. He and the rest of [the] Heat are tired of the media scrutiny, and LeBron knows what's at stake. He cannot lose to a 23-year-old Kevin Durant. You've got two of the top NBA players who are both signed to the same sports apparel company, which is Nike, so it should get kind of interesting."

Artist: Anthony Hamilton
Position: Singer/songwriter
Favorite NBA team: Charlotte Bobcats
2012 NBA Finals prediction: Miami Heat in six games

"I don't think it's going to be a blowout. I love both teams, but [I want] Miami to win it. I think LeBron's mentality has changed. He's not really concerned about all the judgment that's against him. He's really focused now. Kevin Durant is very versatile … and he's going to bring his A-game, but I take Miami."

Artist: Jermaine Paul
Position: Singer
Favorite team: New York Knicks
2012 NBA Finals prediction: Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games

"I think Kevin Durant brings the best out of LeBron, but I think Durant is going to pull it off. I'm just a fan of Durant — the way he carries himself [and] the way he plays the game. I think it's going to be a matchup problem with the Heat when it comes to [the Thunder's] James Harden. As far as scoring, I think Harden is going to be [the] big difference maker."

Artist: Andy Hull (Manchester Orchestra)
Position: Singer/songwriter
Favorite NBA team: No preference
2012 NBA Finals prediction: Oklahoma City Thunder is six games

"This is definitely my ideal finals [series]. I think Kevin Durant [against] LeBron James is pretty much the best matchup you could have in the finals. It's just the kind of basketball and competition that I like, which is generally fast-paced. If either one of these teams wins, I'm happy … but I think it will be the Thunder. I've watched both teams play a lot, and the Heat just doesn't have the bench. It'll be interesting to see what happens if LeBron doesn't win."

Artist: Blair Taylor (Speakers)
Position: Singer/Producer
Favorite NBA team: Los Angeles Lakers
2012 NBA Finals prediction: Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games

"Both teams are playing smarter and a lot harder. Ball movement, consistency … everything is on point. But straight up — I don't like LeBron. I've got to go with the Thunder. [Oklahoma City] has just brought it out. It's going to be a real tough matchup. I feel like the series is going to go back and forth, and home court advantage is going to play a really big part, but I'm taking [Oklahoma City]."

Artist: Joe Deninzon (Stratospheerius)
Position: Singer/violinist/songwriter
Favorite NBA team: Cleveland Cavaliers
2012 NBA Finals prediction: Miami Heat in six games

"The Thunder will put up a fight. They're an up-and-coming team and they're definitely going to be on the map for a long time to come, but the Heat is my guess. As a sports fan growing up in Cleveland — and getting used to having your heart repeatedly broken and ground into a fine powder — I, as well as most of my fellow Clevelanders, have a deep, deep hatred for LeBron James. It would be nice if the Heat had their a**es handed to them. Do I get prize for this?"

The artists have weighed in with their predictions and it looks like the odds are split straight down the middle — four picks for each team. Who do you think will reign supreme in the 2012 NBA Finals? Leave us a comment below.

(Bruce Britt is an award-winning journalist and essayist whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, Billboard and other publications. He lives in Los Angeles.)

GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016
Kendrick Lamar

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

video

GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016

Upon winning the GRAMMY for Best Rap Album for 'To Pimp a Butterfly,' Kendrick Lamar thanked those that helped him get to the stage, and the artists that blazed the trail for him.

GRAMMYs/Oct 13, 2023 - 06:01 pm

Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly. Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

Looking for more GRAMMYs news? The 2024 GRAMMY nominations are here!

He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly.

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube. This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle. This is for Illmatic, this is for Nas. We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

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On 'The Valley Of Vision,' Manchester Orchestra Channel Loss Through Vistas Of Space
Manchester Orchestra

Photo: Shervin Lainez

interview

On 'The Valley Of Vision,' Manchester Orchestra Channel Loss Through Vistas Of Space

On the eve of a co-headlining North American tour with Jimmy Eat World, Manchester Orchestra's Andy Hull opened up to GRAMMY.com about everything that went into their new project 'The Valley of Vision' — from grief and VR, to aural Easter eggs.

GRAMMYs/Jul 10, 2023 - 08:05 pm

"The fire in the rearview is smaller the further we get," Andy Hull sings near the end of his band Manchester Orchestra's new project What a way to sum up the march of time in the wake of staggering loss — the inferno burns as bright as ever, but you've pushed yourself past it.

Of course, music about grief is manifold, but Manchester Orchestra's dispatch in this department feels more believable than many.

The Valley of Vision, which arrived in April, is a brisk 25-minute project, but it's capacious and majestic, implying a vast panorama of feeling through sheer negative space. Electric guitar fuzz, prevalent in their past work, has been dialed back to almost zero; tunes like "Capital Karma," "Quietly" and the aforementioned closer "Rear View" seem to hover in orbit. 

"I wouldn't say it's a light listen, but it is certainly supposed to feel like you're floating and in this place of calmness and acceptance and meditation," Hull tells GRAMMY.com. "This was like, How do we still have the same dynamics of our band, but really take away everything we've used before?"

Manchester Orchestra may have consciously stripped back elements of their sound, but they've augmented their approach in other arenas.

Specifically, they released a full-length film to accompany The Valley of Vision, directed by Isaac Dietz. In the stunning film, indoor scenes and natural scenery commingle in dramatic shots, making thunderous statements in and of themselves; the camera lingers for gravitas.

Let the Valley of Vision film whet your thirst for the Manchester Orchestra live experience proper; they're headed on a North American co-headlining tour with Jimmy Eat World that begins on July 11 and stretches into late August.

Read on for an interview with Hull about the genesis of The Valley of Vision — which was named for a Puritan prayer book of anonymous origin — and how the project is a "bridge to where we're going next as a band."

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Tell me how you became aware of VR as a viable storytelling tool, and decided to incorporate it into your artistic expressions with Manchester Orchestra.

Probably like everybody else, we were in a studio and somebody brought one in. We were shooting aliens and getting sick to our stomachs, not having our balance and trying to sort it out.

The initial idea, though, came during [our previous album, 2021's]  The Million Masks of God. I felt everybody was so starved to have an event, and something to do, and needed to be taken out of reality, in a sense. So, I had this idea that maybe we'll have a cool visualizer for that album. That people can go into record stores and experience it and not have any distractions.

Obviously, that wasn't a great idea — to be sharing headsets during that period of time — so we shelved it and gave it more time to incubate. It became a bigger story as we started working on The Valley of Vision. I made friends with Isaac Deitz, and he and I both wanted to make a movie that was connected with an album.

The more [Deitz] got into it and started to figure out how to do it, and the tricks that we could do, it ended up just being a really cool 2D film, just because it's shot with this really interesting camera.

I'm a huge fan of technology in general, in any form. I think all musical instruments are a form of technology, so it's a love/hate thing. So, I was trying to find an interesting way that people could hear the record.

The film looks stunning even on YouTube. Can you tell me how you executed it on a storytelling, aesthetic and technical level?

Well, it was definitely the mission to make something that didn't have a hyper-narrative to it, but still had something that was flowing through it. Because you run the risk of the movie distracting from the music, or the music distracting from the movie.

The discussions were like, "Is this a story, and are there people in it?" And the more we thought about it, it was like, We also don't just want it to be a screensaver. We want it to be something a little bit more intense and deep than that.

So, what you're seeing is really interesting. Why it looks so different is the frame rate, first of all, but [also] what this camera is able to capture as far as width, and the information that it can take and then present on screen is just larger and wider than a typical 2D camera.

The reason we love Isaac is because he really cares about what he does in a deep way. That dude just basically took off for a year and found the weirdest spots across the country and started filming at all hours of the night.

He started to put together, essentially, the story, that's about family. It's represented in a series of really interesting-looking trees.

What were the locations involved?

There's a couple in Colorado, there's a couple in Oklahoma. A lot of it's in Georgia, in our backyard. If you're ever been to Georgia, it's an incredibly green state. When you fly in, you're flying into the forest, so we thought it would be cool to nod to the forests of George as well.

To rewind a little bit, can you tell me how the specter of grief came into your lives via your guitarst Robert McDowell's father.

Rob's dad is not just Rob's dad; he's a really, really big, impactful figure in my life — in all of our lives. He supported our band from day one. 

When I was playing coffee shops for four hours for 20 bucks, he was the guy who would encourage me on my breaks: "That song's really cool, and you should try doing more of that." I'd never tell him that I was covering a Damian Jurado song; I just acted like that s— was mine. But he recognized that I had something, or felt that I had something.

Robert and I have been making records since Rob was 13 and I was 16, and he had a studio in his basement. So, when he died of cancer at such a young age, and after such a long battle, it was impossible not to write about it. It was also impossible to write about it in a lot of ways, so it was a really delicate thing.

What a pivot point for the band. He was foundational from the beginning.

I've been writing about Robert's dad since [2017's] A Black Mile to the Surface, because he was sick for such a long time. Narratively, the album is connected to The Million Masks and The Black Mile; all three are part of the story, and the story's not done yet.

How did this resonate with the title of the Puritan prayer book you found?

This book that the album is titled off is called The Valley of Vision. It's this book of prayers my mom gave me for Christmas one year, and I kind of thumbed through it here or there. 

But an interesting thing about these Puritan prayers: it's uncredited; we don't know who wrote them. But it is the destruction of ego and the falling on your face and I need help. I'm asking for help. I'm not ashamed to say that I need help. It just felt like, Man, that's exactly sort of what this is saying.

Rob's my best friend; he understands how I process things. So, it was making this record actively while his dad's dying, and then his dad did pass. His dad is on the cover of A Million Masks. That is his silhouette, walking into the great beyond.

Andy Hull - Manchester Orchestra

*Manchester Orchestra. Photo: Shervin Lainez*

Take me through the next part of the story.

So, that happens in 2019. We make that record, and continue to work on it throughout the next year.

I don't want to say in any way that it is easier, but I think that the way you look at grief after time is different than the raw emotion that it is immediately. There was a bit of a calmness — still incredibly sad, but like I said, less of a raw nerve and more kind of acceptance of it. We watched Rob go through that, and all of us just figured out what that looks like.

I think this record represents that in tone, lyrics and storytelling. It really serves as a bridge to where we're going next as a band. It was essential for us to make this album in order to start making other stuff after it.

**As a musician myself, I know that no artistic work can be boiled down to just one theme or feeling — in this case, grief. Music has to be a salable thing, with a quick bite of a concept. So what else was floating around in the ether that you guys picked up on?**

Musically, it was about trying to continue to do the wrong thing, and put things where we wouldn't normally put them. 

Try things we normally wouldn't try. Delete things that we normally would think are important in a song, and then start basing a song around maybe the seventh idea that we added onto something and deleting the first six and starting over from that sense.

Thematically, it was a really healing process. It felt really rewarding to put something out into the world that has been, as far as I can tell, really well-received by folks.

Manchester's always dealt in these themes, and sometimes the ending isn't always happy or tied up in a bow. But it did feel really great to commit to like, No, man, let's put something into the world that deals with this stuff that everybody [deals with]

We are not the only people who deal with these themes, but hopefully that could help some folks. A lot of time, music's medicine. So, for us, it was medicine — the creation of it. We hope that that same feeling of medicinal value for the soul, heart —or whatever it is — is translated to the listener.

What foundational albums give you that sense of refuge?

My favorite songwriter of all time is John K. Samson, who was the lead singer of a band called the Weakerthans. He has two solo albums that do that for me. They make me cry, just the way he says a sentence describing an abandoned army surplus store, and that kind of feeling. 

I love words. So that would be not really genre-wise, but that's always one for me.

Music-wise, it was definitely a record that was influenced by newer, interesting, sort of off the wall hip hop records, kind of focusing in on substance and drums that weren't really normal for us to use.

I really try not to listen to a lot of music that sounds like anything we are doing while we're making something. It's especially hard when something comes out from someone I really love; I have to wait until I'm done making it in order to listen to it, because I don't want to start stealing from it, because I know I would. Or, I don't want it to change my direction of what I'm going for sonically.

The Valley of Vision feels soothing and panoramic, like a big hug. Aurally, how did you want it to leap out of the speakers and impact the listener?

It's about openness, I think. When you write things and record things, you leave a ton of space. It's a hard thing to do instinctually, because in my youth, it was like, Well, how does it get bigger? You just add more stuff to it; you turn it up. You think that's what loudness is.

So, this was like, How do we still have the same dynamics of our band, but really take away everything we've used before? There is not a distorted electric guitar on this record other than maybe one time — that's on "Quietly," and a little bit at the end of "Rear View."

When it's so open like that, and your foundation is vibey immediately, then you can really nerd out and start to just place things like tiny little Easter eggs everywhere. It's definitely a headphones album where there are just things that are popping up everywhere. I love records like that.

**Such as?

I love the
Kid As and Yankee Hotel Foxtrots and Grandaddy's Someday* and *Sophtware Slump
records. Just these interesting albums that have great songs, but also just a ton of wacky, weird stuff going on.

I love what you said: it's a big hug. That's what we were going for — not making it too muddy, and letting the song speak for itself.

"Rear View," the last track on the record — that was a folk song that was written and a dropped tuned acoustic and had a folk swing to it. We loved that song, but it just was boring, just the way that I was playing.

It was just a live take, and we sat on it forever and tried to change the guitar out, and tried to do this, and tried to do that.

Finally, it was stumbling upon a Prophet patch on the keys. Then, we deleted everything else that we had done, started from scratch with that vocal, and started building a cinematic scene around it.

While a good magician never reveals their secrets, you mentioned those Easter eggs, which I live for. Anything you'd like to shout out that might not be immediately perceptible?

There's a really cool moment where my son, River, is yelling in "The Way." 

I haven't seen anybody pick this up yet, but it's the same yell from a song called "No Rule" that we released last year. There's this call and response from my son yelling, and then an immediate, loud, thunderous voice responds to him. It's actually our drummer, Tim [Very]. There's stuff like that everywhere.

Back to Robert's father: you lost a pivotal figure as Manchester Orchestra is about to turn 20. That's bound to kick up some feelings.

That's insane. I don't know how that happened.

I just feel really, really grateful that I am still deeply engaged and trying to get better and don't feel we've really scratched the surface of what we can achieve and do. I'm really, really fortunate that the band is so tight as they are now, and every member is deeply trusting of each other and open.

When you have people who are talented and good at their jobs and also take that ego and put it aside — myself included — it's the thing I wish we would've learned from day one. 

But you can't learn it until you fail at it. You don't have to be right. Let's all work in service of the song and the album not in service of ourselves or our ideas. Who cares whose idea it is? It really doesn't matter as long as it's right for the song. So, I feel great about that.

As long as I'm around, I want to be working on a Manchester record the week before I move on to the next thing, as far as life and dying. I want this to be a long, long story that we're telling with this band — and feeling that's possible is really exciting.

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10 Pop-Punk Albums Turning 20 In 2023: Fall Out Boy, Blink-182, The Ataris & More
Less Than Jake in 2003

Photo: Nigel Crane/Redferns

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10 Pop-Punk Albums Turning 20 In 2023: Fall Out Boy, Blink-182, The Ataris & More

Twenty years ago, artists within and around pop-punk released some of the genre's most seminal records. GRAMMY.com reflects on 10 of the catchiest and most resonant albums from 2003.

GRAMMYs/Jun 21, 2023 - 04:48 pm

There appeared to be something in the pop-punk waters in 2003. Barely a month went by without a bunch of angsty white guys sporting skinny jeans, button ups and choppy bangs releasing a career landmark. 

For some, 2003 saw the debut album that introduced their talents to the world. For others, it was the long deserved mainstream breakthrough after years of toiling on the punk circuit. And for one particular band, their 2003 release was the chance to show they could offer more than toilet humor. But all no doubt benefited from the commercial resurgence of the genre spearheaded a year previously by the likes of Good Charlotte, Simple Plan and Jimmy Eat World.  Here's a look at 10 albums released in 2003 now old enough to throw themselves head first into a mosh pit.  

Fall Out Boy – Take This to Your Grave 

Fall Out Boy were still only on the cusp of adulthood when they recorded debut Take This to Your Grave in conditions producer Sean O'Keefe would compare with going to war. That mix of youthful exuberance and constant creative tension, however, would produce a genuine game-changer. 

Drawing upon their love of pop culture and sardonic sense of humor, the quartet tackled typical adolescent themes of alienation, disillusionment and unrequited love like few of their peers had done before. Take This to Your Grave fused  the heavy riffs and unclean vocals of the band's Chicago hardcore beginnings with pop-punk melodies into  a self-described softcore sound. The album was the beginning of Fall Out Boy's prolific catalog and essentially set the blueprint for every regular Warped Tour act that followed. 

Dashboard Confessional – A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar

Thrust into the limelight via a well-received "MTV Unplugged" session and surprise win at the VMAs, cult favorites Dashboard Confessional had to deal with a new weight of expectation for their third album. 

Those who'd meticulously pored over Chris Carrabba's previous musical diary entries may have been worried when the one-man-band hired a permanent trio of backing musicians as well as hotshot producer Gil Norton (Pixies, Foo Fighters). Yet as its earnest title hints at, A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar largely sticks to the compelling stream-of-consciousness heartbreak and dynamic quiet/loud emo-rock that turned the frontman into the burgeoning scene's ultimate poster boy.  

Yellowcard – Ocean Avenue 

Seemingly unconcerned with any sellout accusations, Yellowcard relocated from Florida to Los Angeles in 2000, a move which eventually paid off when they landed a deal with Capitol Records. Boasting several songs inspired by their Jacksonville hometown, including the Top 40 title track described by Billboard as the soundtrack to "thousands of overnight camp romances," their fourth studio album suggested the band were keen to show they hadn't entirely abandoned their roots. 

Ocean Avenue doesn't deviate too much from their intriguing previous template, either, with Sean Mackin once again proving electric violins and power punk can make for surprisingly harmonious bedfellows. But ruminations on growing older ("Twentythree") and fatherhood ("Life of a Salesman") also hinted that the ever-changing outfit had matured during their time in the bright lights.  

Less Than Jake – Anthem

Spawning only their second Top 40 single ("The Science of Selling Yourself Short") and charting at a career high of No.45, Anthem remains legendary skate punks Less Than Jake's commercial peak. The band's fifth album is full of energetic cautionary tales, both fitting in with and warning the thriving pop-punk scene.  

That shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise considering it features a collaboration with Billy Bragg, a Cheap Trick cover and the production talents of Rob Cavallo (the man behind Green Day's monster-selling Dookie). Gainesville's finest also demote their famous horn section to bit-players, although the fast and furious "Best Wishes to Your Black Lung" proved they could still be integral to the band’s sound.  

Alkaline Trio – Good Mourning

You could always rely on doom merchants Alkaline Trio to put the warped in Warped Tour. And Good Mourning — their first album with now-longtime drummer Derek Grant — didn't disappoint. 

The ironically-titled opener "This Could Be Love" is a macabre guide on how to commit the perfect crime of passion ("Step one, slit my throat/Step two, play in my blood"), while "Fatally Yours" boasts a twisted one-liner about a vengeful car-crashing ex ("You told me that you missed me, but you meant with the grill and hood"). The Chicagoans balance all the sadomasochism and misery with surging punk hooks that owe more to the Ramones than the genre’s umpteenth revival.  

The Ataris – So Long, Astoria 

Inspired by punk hero Richard Hell’s theory that "memories are better than life," the Ataris'  breakthrough was largely an emotive exercise in nostalgia. "Summer '79" and "In This Diary" both draw upon frontman Kris Roe's happy Indiana childhood — the album's title actually references favorite film The Goonies. The record is also littered with phrases which appear to have been written for high school graduation speeches ("All You Can Ever Learn Is What You Already Know") and there's even an effective cover of rock's ultimate coming-of-age anthem, Don Henley's "Boys of Summer." 

All the reminiscing worked wonders as So Long, Astoria became the pop-punks' first, and indeed last, Top 40 entry.  

Brand New – Deja Entendu 

Brand New named their second studio effort after the French for "heard before" as a pre-emptive measure against their critics. This would suggest that Deja Entendu mines the same brand of pop-punk and teenage angst as their 2001 debut, yet it's actually a marked departure.

Deja Entendu combines elements of post-hardcore, alternative rock and emo with mature themes of love and death and more film references than a Quentin Tarantino box set: titles include the Home Alone-quoting "Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don't" and "Jaws Theme Swimming." It's little wonder that major label Interscope subsequently came calling.  

AFI – Sing the Sorrow 

After five albums of self-produced gothic-tinged hardcore punk, Californian outfit AFI suddenly appeared to make a concerted bid for the mainstream. They leapt from indie label Nitro to major Dreamworks and unleashed their rage inward instead of against the world, hired Butch Vig (the man who guided Nirvana's Nevermind to blockbuster success), and incorporated choirs, string sections and even spoken word.  

Their distinctly Bay Area sound became a multi-layered affair with radio-friendly sheen, and catapulted the scene stalwarts to mainstream success. Sing the Sorrow went all the way to No. 5 on the Billboard 200, but impressively still sounds resolutely AFI.  

Saves the Day – In Reverie  

Saves the Day found themselves mercilessly dumped by Interscope within weeks of their fourth album's release. Yet, without any major support, the 12-track In Reverie charted at a career high of No. 26. 

An intriguing second collaboration with Elliott Smith producer Rob Schnepf, In Reverie shrouds its grisly lyrical imagery (talk of rotting flesh, bottles breaking on faces and veins tied up in knots) in a contrastingly peppy power pop. Saves the Day's sound was inspired by frontman Chris Conley's new-found love of the Beatles. Thankfully, the Princeton outfit bounced back to continue their own magical mystery tour.  

You know a band has got serious when they title an album eponymously. Inspired by all three members’ recent introductions to fatherhood and the experimentation of Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker's side project Box Car Racer, Blink-182's fifth album ditched the puerile lyrics and cartoonish punk that had dominated MTV. 

In their place were soul-searching meditations on failed romances, unexpected ventures into New Romanticism, post-hardcore and gothic pop, and even a guest appearance from the Cure's Robert Smith. Mark Hoppus revealed he wanted the public's reaction to be, "Wait a minute... that's Blink-182." As exemplified by career-best "I Miss You," the surprise was a pleasant one, too. 

Why 2002 Was The Year That Made Pop-Punk: Simple Plan, Good Charlotte & More On How "Messing Around And Being Ourselves" Became Mainstream

A Guide To Modern Funk For The Dance Floor: L'Imperatrice, Shiro Schwarz, Franc Moody, Say She She & Moniquea
Franc Moody

Photo: Rachel Kupfer 

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A Guide To Modern Funk For The Dance Floor: L'Imperatrice, Shiro Schwarz, Franc Moody, Say She She & Moniquea

James Brown changed the sound of popular music when he found the power of the one and unleashed the funk with "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag." Today, funk lives on in many forms, including these exciting bands from across the world.

GRAMMYs/Nov 25, 2022 - 04:23 pm

It's rare that a genre can be traced back to a single artist or group, but for funk, that was James Brown. The Godfather of Soul coined the phrase and style of playing known as "on the one," where the first downbeat is emphasized, instead of the typical second and fourth beats in pop, soul and other styles. As David Cheal eloquently explains, playing on the one "left space for phrases and riffs, often syncopated around the beat, creating an intricate, interlocking grid which could go on and on." You know a funky bassline when you hear it; its fat chords beg your body to get up and groove.

Brown's 1965 classic, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," became one of the first funk hits, and has been endlessly sampled and covered over the years, along with his other groovy tracks. Of course, many other funk acts followed in the '60s, and the genre thrived in the '70s and '80s as the disco craze came and went, and the originators of hip-hop and house music created new music from funk and disco's strong, flexible bones built for dancing.

Legendary funk bassist Bootsy Collins learned the power of the one from playing in Brown's band, and brought it to George Clinton, who created P-funk, an expansive, Afrofuturistic, psychedelic exploration of funk with his various bands and projects, including Parliament-Funkadelic. Both Collins and Clinton remain active and funkin', and have offered their timeless grooves to collabs with younger artists, including Kali Uchis, Silk Sonic, and Omar Apollo; and Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus, and Thundercat, respectively.

In the 1980s, electro-funk was born when artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Man Parrish, and Egyptian Lover began making futuristic beats with the Roland TR-808 drum machine — often with robotic vocals distorted through a talk box. A key distinguishing factor of electro-funk is a de-emphasis on vocals, with more phrases than choruses and verses. The sound influenced contemporaneous hip-hop, funk and electronica, along with acts around the globe, while current acts like Chromeo, DJ Stingray, and even Egyptian Lover himself keep electro-funk alive and well.

Today, funk lives in many places, with its heavy bass and syncopated grooves finding way into many nooks and crannies of music. There's nu-disco and boogie funk, nodding back to disco bands with soaring vocals and dance floor-designed instrumentation. G-funk continues to influence Los Angeles hip-hop, with innovative artists like Dam-Funk and Channel Tres bringing the funk and G-funk, into electro territory. Funk and disco-centered '70s revival is definitely having a moment, with acts like Ghost Funk Orchestra and Parcels, while its sparkly sprinklings can be heard in pop from Dua Lipa, Doja Cat, and, in full "Soul Train" character, Silk Sonic. There are also acts making dreamy, atmospheric music with a solid dose of funk, such as Khruangbin’s global sonic collage.

There are many bands that play heavily with funk, creating lush grooves designed to get you moving. Read on for a taste of five current modern funk and nu-disco artists making band-led uptempo funk built for the dance floor. Be sure to press play on the Spotify playlist above, and check out GRAMMY.com's playlist on Apple Music, Amazon Music and Pandora.

Say She She

Aptly self-described as "discodelic soul," Brooklyn-based seven-piece Say She She make dreamy, operatic funk, led by singer-songwriters Nya Gazelle Brown, Piya Malik and Sabrina Mileo Cunningham. Their '70s girl group-inspired vocal harmonies echo, sooth and enchant as they cover poignant topics with feminist flair.

While they’ve been active in the New York scene for a few years, they’ve gained wider acclaim for the irresistible music they began releasing this year, including their debut album, Prism. Their 2022 debut single "Forget Me Not" is an ode to ground-breaking New York art collective Guerilla Girls, and "Norma" is their protest anthem in response to the news that Roe vs. Wade could be (and was) overturned. The band name is a nod to funk legend Nile Rodgers, from the "Le freak, c'est chi" exclamation in Chic's legendary tune "Le Freak."

Moniquea

Moniquea's unique voice oozes confidence, yet invites you in to dance with her to the super funky boogie rhythms. The Pasadena, California artist was raised on funk music; her mom was in a cover band that would play classics like Aretha Franklin’s "Get It Right" and Gladys Knight’s "Love Overboard." Moniquea released her first boogie funk track at 20 and, in 2011, met local producer XL Middelton — a bonafide purveyor of funk. She's been a star artist on his MoFunk Records ever since, and they've collabed on countless tracks, channeling West Coast energy with a heavy dose of G-funk, sunny lyrics and upbeat, roller disco-ready rhythms.

Her latest release is an upbeat nod to classic West Coast funk, produced by Middleton, and follows her February 2022 groovy, collab-filled album, On Repeat.

Shiro Schwarz

Shiro Schwarz is a Mexico City-based duo, consisting of Pammela Rojas and Rafael Marfil, who helped establish a modern funk scene in the richly creative Mexican metropolis. On "Electrify" — originally released in 2016 on Fat Beats Records and reissued in 2021 by MoFunk — Shiro Schwarz's vocals playfully contrast each other, floating over an insistent, upbeat bassline and an '80s throwback electro-funk rhythm with synth flourishes.

Their music manages to be both nostalgic and futuristic — and impossible to sit still to. 2021 single "Be Kind" is sweet, mellow and groovy, perfect chic lounge funk. Shiro Schwarz’s latest track, the joyfully nostalgic "Hey DJ," is a collab with funkstress Saucy Lady and U-Key.

L'Impératrice

L'Impératrice (the empress in French) are a six-piece Parisian group serving an infectiously joyful blend of French pop, nu-disco, funk and psychedelia. Flore Benguigui's vocals are light and dreamy, yet commanding of your attention, while lyrics have a feminist touch.

During their energetic live sets, L'Impératrice members Charles de Boisseguin and Hagni Gwon (keys), David Gaugué (bass), Achille Trocellier (guitar), and Tom Daveau (drums) deliver extended instrumental jam sessions to expand and connect their music. Gaugué emphasizes the thick funky bass, and Benguigui jumps around the stage while sounding like an angel. L’Impératrice’s latest album, 2021’s Tako Tsubo, is a sunny, playful French disco journey.

Franc Moody

Franc Moody's bio fittingly describes their music as "a soul funk and cosmic disco sound." The London outfit was birthed by friends Ned Franc and Jon Moody in the early 2010s, when they were living together and throwing parties in North London's warehouse scene. In 2017, the group grew to six members, including singer and multi-instrumentalist Amber-Simone.

Their music feels at home with other electro-pop bands like fellow Londoners Jungle and Aussie act Parcels. While much of it is upbeat and euphoric, Franc Moody also dips into the more chilled, dreamy realm, such as the vibey, sultry title track from their recently released Into the Ether.

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