It’s only a few seconds into Control that Janet Jackson signals she’s done taking a backseat: This is a story about control Control of what I say Control of what I do And this time, I’m gonna do it my way (My way) I hope you enjoy this as much…

When Led Zeppelin dropped their towering self-titled debut album less than two weeks into 1969, their sound immediately stood out as one of the most fully realized in rock music. From the opening riff and drum hits on “Good Times Bad Times,” it was clear that there would be no…

In October 1988, following the release of the egomaniacal victory lap that was the live/studio album hybrid Rattle and Hum, it was clear that U2 had become victims of their own meteoric success. It was a far cry from their early days, where the band’s post-punk roots birthed raw, thundering…

There are great albums, records that define and ultimately transcend the specific moment in time during which they were released. …

By the time he was shot and killed by his father on April 1, 1984-one day shy of his 45th birthday-Marvin Gaye stood as one of R&B’s inarguable titans. After cracking the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1963 with “Pride and Joy,” he quickly became one of Motown’s…

It’s the underlying sense of fatalism oozing into every crack and crevice of 1999, Prince’s 1982 synth-heavy masterpiece, that may have aged the best. …

There are few more impressive pieces of calculated 21st-century pop music myth-making than Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/LoveSounds. The album, Timberlake’s second, produced a half-dozen singles, all of which garnered heavy mainstream radio airplay, back when that statement carried actual weight. That level of marketplace saturation enabled Timberlake to stage the third…

It’s February 12, 2017. Standing in the middle of Staples Center in Los Angeles, under the brightest network broadcasting lights at the music industry’s disposal, is Chance the Rapper, cradling the statue for Best Rap Album in his hands. Visibly stunned, he gazes out into the audience, searching for words. …

It begins with a mixture of cheers, screams, and what could easily be mistaken for police whistles. Then, an air raid siren blankets the aural landscape before Richard Griffin, better known as Professor Griff, puts the crowd at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on notice. “Armageddon, it been in effect…