When Jay-Z released 2013's Magna Carta ... Holy Grail, critics were particularly savage, as The Atlantic recounts. Pretentious, portentous "dad rap" written by a "bored first-class denizen on his fourth Bloody Mary ordering opulent, au courant, marvelously vapid beats out of a SkyMall catalog."
Read MoreHere are facts you might not have known about Mitch Hedberg, the amazing comedian we lost too soon.
Read MorePicking a band name isn't easy. Often, it takes a few tries to get it right, even for groups that have become iconic. And some of the original names of legendary bands are dumb, confusing, and downright terrible.
Read MoreThese are some of the craziest cases of mistaken arrest.
Read MoreWeezer has gone through a lot of ups and downs over the years, and there are probably a few twists and turns in their history that you've never heard of. Let's fix that and take a look at the untold truth of Weezer.
Read MorePretty sure you've heard that we humans only use 10 percent of our brains. You probably heard it from teachers or from movies. But, like many things school lied to you about, this is one fact that definitely doesn't stand up to actual science.
Read MoreSociety is indeed full of heroic figures like these. But when it comes to the total number of lives saved, there is one man who has all these others beat. That man is the American agricultural expert Norman Borlaug, who may have prevented over a billion deaths.
Read MoreHis mom has Canadian citizenship, which he therefore shares, so it was simply a good choice for him when thinking of the future. Canada was a gateway to Silicon Valley, full of "all the cool stuff." Musk did exactly that: He leveraged his education in Canada to move to the US and build a startup.
Read MoreBritish New Wave group Depeche Mode have been up for a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2017 and 2018, so why are they finally being inducted in 2020? The real reason Depeche Mode is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame might have to do with their heavy use of synths.
Read MoreDr. Phylis Canion, a rancher/nutrionist in Cuero County, caught sight of a bluish, hairless, dog-ish creature on her property in 2007 that supposedly sucked all the blood from her goats, chickens, and other livestock. Canion's story spread because of an episode of The Unexplained Files.
Read MoreBrockie's roommates found him unconscious at his home the night of March 23. They called the authorities, who pronounced Brockie dead; he was just 50 years old. The Associated Press later released the news that an autopsy revealed he had died of an accidental heroin overdose.
Read MoreFrom early Doobie Brothers hits like "China Grove" and "Listen to the Music" to the compositions of Michael McDonald, such as "Takin' It to the Streets" and "What a Fool Believes," their songs aren't simple "three-chord rock 'n' roll." He said the musicianship is "more subtle and more complicated."
Read MoreTragedy can strike at any time, even in moments of personal glory. Sadly, this was what happened to Nigerian soccer player Sam Okwaraji. Okwaraji, who played professional football for European clubs and represented Nigeria, tragically died during a World Cup qualifying match against Angola in 1989.
Read MoreHis biggest regret? "Not having been educated enough to protect himself from unscrupulous record executives." Calling himself "ignorant, illiterate really," he recalled, "I was so glad to be famous, but if I had my life to live over again, one of my greatest desires would be to be more educated."
Read MoreOne of the greatest singers of our time finally joined the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. NPR announced the Hall of Fame had inducted Whitney Houston, and while for many, there is no doubt she belongs there, others question why a pop and R&B star is on the roster. It's simply because she deserves it.
Read MoreFrancis Scott Key was so inspired by his experience during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812 that he wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner." Yet, the path taken by Key's words and the flag that inspired them has been long and unexpected. This is the history of The Star-Spangled Banner explained.
Read MoreLed Zeppelin, the influential rock band of the 1970s, consisted of members John Paul Jones, John Bonham, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant? But among the four members of Led Zeppelin, who was considered the least popular member? Reader polls suggest that the bassist is often overlooked.
Read MoreFans of T. Rex have been wondering why the glam rock pioneers haven't been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As Ultimate Classic Rock pointed out in October 2019, lead singer Marc Bolan is a member in spirit, simply due to the powerful influence he had on stars who made it in long ago.
Read MoreDrummer Peter "The Catman" Criss left KISS for the first time in 1980, revealing what Ultimate Classic Rock called the "first fissures in the original lineup." When asked why he'd left the band, Criss replied, "I wanted to do my own thing, my own music and 10 years in KISS was enough for me."
Read MoreFehn played with the band until 2019. He was the band's hard-pounding and wild percussionist. You probably wouldn't recognize his face, but his mask could be picked out from any lineup, with its elongated nose that made him look like a demonically possessed, Lovecraftian version of Pinocchio.
Read MoreAs recorded in a press conference posted on YouTube, vocalist Corey Taylor said of Gray, "He had the biggest heart of anyone I've ever known, and he had the greatest soul I've ever had the privilege to know. He was everything that was wonderful about this band and about this group of people."
Read MoreNine Inch Nails, including Trent Reznor and six of his bandmates, are being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on November 7, 2020. The real reason Nine Inch Nails are being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is because of their unparalleled contribution to industrial rock.
Read MoreEvery so often, viewers see Savage scared, mostly because of the higher possibility of dying during certain experiments. Mythbusters fans learned what Savage's biggest fear was in one of the show's episodes. It had nothing to do with explosions. Savage, it turns out, has an irrational fear of bees.
Read More"The first phone call said his son was sick," tour manager Richard Cole told Express. "And the second phone call, unfortunately, Karac had died in that time." Plant's son Karac was just five years old when he died of a stomach virus.
Read MoreIt seems like a band's bassist usually gets the short end of the fame stick. Queen's bassist, John Deacon, is no exception to that rule. A large part of that probably has to do with Deacon dropping out of the musical spotlight following Freddie Mercury's tragic death in 1991.
Read MoreIt might be strange to imagine such a nigh impervious-looking six-time WWE champion taken down by a respiratory ailment, but such are the dangers of asthma, and the silent suffering that Bautista endured during his career.
Read Morethey've had some serious success. According to Ace Showbiz, they've won a handful of different awards, ranging from Billboard Awards to MTV Music Awards and more, and have been nominated for more than you probably have the patience to read through. But music isn't the only thing.
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