Sylvester's 'You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)' is a definitive LGBTQ+ anthem

Why Robyn's 'Dancing on My Own' became an anthem

Robyn's "Dancing on My Own," was a low-key hit when it was released in 2010, but it's become an anthem in the time since then, influencing artists like Lorde and Charli xcx and inspiring an iconic scene on HBO's "Girls." This article breaks down why that is, studying the song's beats per minute, which match humans' typical walking pace, and the queer experience reflected in its lyrics.

Musician Gladys Bentley defied gender norms during the Harlem Renaissance

The singer and pianist was known for performing in a white tuxedo, something out of the ordinary for a woman in the 1920s and '30s. She was also openly gay at a time when homosexuality was still widely considered taboo. In the late '50s, she claimed she'd undergone a medical treatment to awaken her "womanliness," which scholars believe was a reaction to the retrenched homophobic attitudes of the McCarthy Era.

How Eurovision became a part of queer culture

Academic Matt Weaver analyzes how the Eurovision Song Contest's camp aesthetics, inclusive mission, and international stage have attracted a sizeable gay following and how that audience is sometimes at odds with the political positions of the contest's competing nations.

'Streets of Philadelphia' won an Academy Award in 1994

The song was written for “Philadelphia,” a 1993 film starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, and narrates the emotional journey of Hanks’ character, a gay man who’s fired after his employer learns that he has AIDS. The song won the Oscar for best original song the following year.

Hear Marvin Gaye’s soulful take on the national anthem

Gaye’s sultry take on “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game illustrates the song’s malleability. The famous Motown star turns the anthem into a slow jam in the style of his hit “Sexual Healing,” released the previous year.

Grandmaster Flash’s ‘The Message’ set the template for hip-hop composition

This 1982 single is one of the most recognizable beats in hip-hop history, thanks to some inspiration from popular disco and new wave records. The song’s bigger contribution, though, is that it pushed lyrics front and center, turning the rapper from a party-rocking master of ceremonies into a truth-telling MC.

Adam Sandler's 'Chanukah Song' remains significant to the holiday

Adam Sandler’s ’90s SNL bit, “The Chanukah Song,” charmed Gentiles and Jews alike with ridiculous rhymes and catchy chords. Author Nathan Rabin says it also served the important purpose of making Jewish kids feel as special as their Christmas-celebrating classmates.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

'Defying Gravity,' from 'Wicked,' references 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'

The melody in a crucial part of the song uses the first seven notes of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," an intentional reference that composer Stephen Schwartz calls an "easter egg" that acknowledges the influence of the 1939 film.

Is the love song dying?

This visual essay, compiled using 65 years of industry data, is an entertaining trip through the history of pop music, exploring whether or not music has grown less romantic. But, at its heart, this isn't about the Billboard charts—it's about the many different ways we define romance.

'9 to 5' was Dolly Parton's first No. 1 pop hit

1977’s “Here You Come Again” reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, but “9 to 5,” the 1980 song for a film of the same name (starring Parton alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin) was the first to reach the top.

'You will never feel proud of your work if you find no joy within it; your best work is always joyful work.'

- Stevie Wonder (1950-present)

A professor explores the 21st-century impact of Gilbert and Sullivan

Willard Spiegelmanis, a former English professor at Southern Methodist University, details his childhood love for musical theater legends Gilbert and Sullivan, known for operettas like "The Pirates of Penzance" and "The Mikado," and profiles the theater companies keeping their shows alive.

Biz Markie's "Alone Again" changed the laws for sampling

Before 1991, there was no established legal standard for the gray area of sampling. That changed when Gilbert O-Sullivan sued Biz Markie for using his song "Alone Again (Naturally)." After the case, labels were required to clear all samples, and artists were discouraged from creating sample-heavy music.

Two-spirit relationships and identities

Queer relationships and transgender people aren’t new. Even though gay marriage has been legalized fairly recently in Western countries, people all over the world have engaged in relationships beyond heterosexuality throughout the centuries. Although contemporary tribes have various views around homosexuality, there are numerous examples of queer relationships within indigenous traditions across what is now called the Americas.

'Saturday Night Fever,' the 1977 film that introduced disco to the mainstream, was based on a fabricated magazine story.

Magic Johnson's announcing he had HIV changed public perception of the disease

When Lakers superstar Magic Johnson announced he had HIV in 1991, the disease was highly misunderstood. Commissioner David Stern had behind-the-scenes conversations with Johnson about publicly handling his eventual announcement, leading to the start of the condition's destigmatization.

Watch Billy Joel deepfake himself in the 'Turn the Lights Back On' music video

Though deepfakes are often synonymous with manipulation and bad intentions, some artists have found creative uses for the technology. In this example, Billy Joel depicts himself in various eras of his career in keeping with the song's nostalgic message.

Liza Minnelli collaborated with My Chemical Romance on their album 'The Black Parade'

Featured on the song "Mama," Minnelli provided vocals for the emo rock group. The band's frontman explained that they wanted someone "motherly" and tough with a theatrical background.

A comprehensive state-by-state report of LGBTQ+ rights in America

The State Equality Index (SEI) is a comprehensive state-by-state report that provides a review of statewide laws and policies that affect LGBTQ+ people and their families. The SEI rates all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. in six areas of law. Each...

‘Hang On Sloopy,’ Ohio’s unofficial anthem

The McCoys' 1965 single "Hang On Sloopy" isn't technically about the Buckeye State, but it became a fan favorite after appearing in the Ohio State Marching Band repertoire.

Baz Luhrmann's 'Everybody's Free (to Wear Sunscreen)' is based on a fake graduation speech

The 1997 song, which was a chart-topping hit in Australia and appeared on the Billboard "Hot 100" in the US, is based on a fake commencement speech written by Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich. For a time, many people erroneously believed Kurt Vonnegut gave the speech at MIT's graduation ceremony.

Mardi Gras has inspired several songs

New Orleans is a historic music town—with deep-rooted jazz, R&B, and blues traditions, to name a few—so it's no surprise that its annual Carnival has led to more than a few Mardi Gras-themed songs through the decades. One of the most famous is Professor Longhair's 1959 track "Go to the Mardi Gras," an upbeat shuffle that's still played at parades today.

Prince's sexually explicit 1984 track 'Darling Nikki' attracted the ire of the Parents Music Resource Center, an advocacy group that inspired the Parental Advisory sticker, even though the song ends with a Christian message.

An early Sly and the Family Stone live recording was discovered in 2002

A live recording of the legendary funk band in 1967—shortly before their mainstream breakthrough—was found in 2002 by two of the band's unofficial archivists. However, the full recording, "The First Family: Live at Winchester Cathedral 1967," wasn't released until 2025.

Ironically, Prince's infamous 'Darling Nikki' ends with a Christian message

The Parents Music Resource Center targeted the "Purple Rain" cut as being a particularly dangerous example of sexually explicit music. The song ends with nearly 30 seconds of indecipherable backwards vocals. When they're reversed, however, you can hear a Christian message: "Hello, how are you? / Fine, fine, 'cause I know that the Lord is coming soon / Coming, coming soon." That might've surprised the members of the PMRC, but it wouldn't have surprised fans of Prince, who spoke often about being a Christian.

Before the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed was a workaday songwriter

His job at Pickwick Records, a label that churned out budget records for department stores, was to crank out generic pop fare. One of those songs was 1964’s “The Ostrich,” a dance song in the style of Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” and Little Eva’s “The Loco-Motion.”

'Jesus Christ Superstar' was an album before it was a musical

Written in the late '60s by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, who were hot on the heels of the successful "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," "Jesus Christ Superstar" was first recorded as an album in the style of other popular rock operas of the time, like The Who's "Tommy."

The distributor behind 'Rocky Horror' pulled the film from its scheduled national release, believing it would be a failure, though it eventually amassed a dedicated fanbase through midnight showings, a trend that continues over 50 years later.

Quincy Jones' 'Big Band Bossa Nova' helped introduce bossa nova—a jazz-influenced Brazilian genre—to the US

Watch a 1934 short film starring jazz legend Cab Calloway, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance's music scene

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

The Ramones' 'Pet Sematary,' the theme song for the Stephen King novel of the same name, was written while the band was admiring the writer's collection of horror memorabilia.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology

Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings are often assumed to be sexual, though the artist claimed she was simply interested in highlighting the beauty of flowers that most people neglect

When a Paris department store hesitated to sell Estée Lauder's perfume, she 'accidentally' broke a bottle, causing the smell to spread throughout the store and shoppers to start asking to buy the scent.

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

Fireworks make a loud booming sound after exploding due to air expanding faster than the speed of sound.

Salvador Dalí believed he was his own dead brother, who had died nine months before he was born

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.