Good morning. It's Saturday, March 28. Welcome to this week's Society & Culture newsletter. First time reading? Sign up here or click here to share with friends. |
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Our first topic today is Prince, whose album "Parade" celebrates its 40th anniversary Tuesday. We're honoring the musical great by exploring his life, his catalog, and his profound impact on popular culture. Then we're digging into Major League Baseball, which rang in another season this past week. Finally, we're exploring dystopian literature, the perennially popular form of fiction.
Want to get in touch? It's as simple as hitting "reply." I'm always looking for feedback on how we're doing or ideas you have for future topics. I'm also happy when a reader emails just to say "hi"!
—Kevin Kearney, 1440 Society & Culture Section Editor |
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A brief introduction to Prince
Prince was an American musician known for his inventive songwriting, sonic experimentation, and enigmatic persona. A virtuoso who played over a dozen instruments, wrote several hit songs for himself and others, and sold over 100 million albums, he's widely considered an innovative and essential figure in 20th-century popular music. (See a guide to Prince's catalog.)
His career began in Minneapolis in the 1970s, blending the city's diverse music scenes into an eclectic style that would later be called "the Minneapolis Sound." Through the early '80s, he scored several hits, including "Little Red Corvette" and "1999," though his major mainstream breakthrough arrived with 1984's "Purple Rain," a semiautobiographical feature film and accompanying album that became one of the bestselling albums of all time. (Watch the live recording of the title track.)
From the late '80s through the 2010s, Prince kept producing music at a rapid clip and became an example of artistic independence in the music industry. After his death from an accidental overdose in 2016, Prince's music reentered the charts, breaking a Billboard record.
... Explore everything else we learned about Prince.
Also, check out ...
> After Warner Bros signed him at 18, Prince wrote a song to thank them.
(More)
> Prince removed the bass from "When Doves Cry," which gave the song its unique sound. (Watch)
> Twenty songs Prince wrote for other artists, including Sinead O'Connor, the Bangles, and Kenny Rogers. (Watch)
> Prince joined an all-star tribute to George Harrison and left his peers flabbergasted. (Watch) |
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MLB, 101
Major League Baseball is the highest-level professional baseball organization in America, and the oldest professional sports league in the US, dating back to the Civil War. It generates the second-highest revenue among the Big Four US sports organizations and features the longest season in professional sports. (View the league's top 100 players of all time.)
The league has endured numerous controversies and changes: the freewheeling (and dangerous) 19th-century Deadball Era, Jackie Robinson's breaking of the color barrier in the mid-20th century, and the performance-enhancing controversies of the 1980s and 1990s. In 2023, MLB implemented rule changes to speed up the game, drawing renewed interest in the sport.
The 2026 season will be the first to use Automated Ball Strike technology—first tested in the minor leagues and in MLB's 2025 spring training and All-Star Game—that defines the strike zone rather than relying on individual umpires' interpretations of it. Instead of allowing ABS to determine every ball or strike, though, each team will now have a limited number of in-game challenges to umpires' calls, which will be settled by ABS.
... Explore everything else we learned about Major League Baseball.
Also, check out ...
> The remarkably short life span of an MLB ball. (Watch)
> A history of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," which was inspired by a billboard. (Watch)
> MLB teams travel with roughly 12,000 pounds of gear and luggage. (Watch)
> A crash course in identifying baseball's most popular pitches. (Watch) |
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A beginner's guide to dystopian literature
Dystopian literature is a literary genre focused on postapocalyptic, totalitarian, or otherwise oppressive societies. It is a form of speculative fiction in that its stories often take place in the future, though its writers often comment on the present.
The word "dystopia" is derived from the Greek for "bad place." It's an inversion of "utopia," a term popularized by Sir Thomas More in his 1516 book, "Utopia," a satirical work about a society free of want. The modern dystopian story does not just take place in an undesirable setting; it also features an oppressive power structure that claims to offer utopia, with one of the earliest examples being Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels."
The international conflicts of World War I and World War II inspired some of dystopian literature's most influential novels as writers encountered the utopian promises of fascism and communism. In the decades that followed, more writers would follow the example of those early novels, using the dystopian model to critique artificial intelligence, climate change, and more. (See an analysis of the form's 20th-century evolution.)
... Explore everything else we learned about dystopian literature.
Also, check out ...
> The letter Aldous Huxley, author of "Brave New World," wrote to his former student George Orwell after reading his novel "1984." (More)
> In 1992, social critic Neil Postman argued modern technology is dystopian. (Watch)
> Ray Bradbury, author of "Fahrenheit 451," on his dystopia of censorship. (Watch)
> The real-world locations of science fiction dystopias. (Read) |
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Beyond our weekly deep dives, we love finding great takes on the culture currently shaping our lives. Here are some of the best reactions, profiles, and think pieces we encountered this week.
> YouTube Face Has Infected the Internet
The Ringer | Nate Rogers. It's an image that's rampant across the web's premier video platform: open mouths, astonished eyes. It looks cheesy and cheap, yet its practitioners are some of YouTube's most popular personalities. Rogers digs into the history of the phenomenon to learn why it's had such staying power. (Read | More on YouTube)
> The Music Theory Behind a Lonesome Country Classic
Hearing Things | Andy Cush. Townes Van Zandt's "I'll Be Here in the Morning" might read like a clever inversion of a standard country music trope. But Cush, a musician in his own right, walks through the song's structure to show how its story is far more complicated than its lyrics suggest. (Read | More on country music)
> The Publishing World's First Major AI Scandal
Counter Craft | Lincoln Michel. Last week, Hachette canceled the publication of one of its titles after the author was accused of using AI, with the publisher citing its commitment to "original" work. Michel analyzes what this means for the larger literary world, predicting it won't be the last AI-related controversy. (Read)
> The 100 Greatest Cinemas in the World
TimeOut | Various. Sure, it's convenient to stream a movie at home, but we believe there's no better way to see a great film than at a great theater. This extensive list explores the best of the best, with profiles of a Pennsylvania drive-in, an Icelandic arthouse, and several other amazing venues. (Read)
> The Case for Eavesdropping
Inside Hook | Tanner Garrity. Some might consider it rude, but Garrity argues that listening in on those around you is not only enjoyable, but healthy. It's a short read, though it's a thought-provoking one that might make you a little more inclined to dial into the conversation a few tables over. (Read) |
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