Punk gave women a voice; changed the dynamic between audiences and performers and offered music fans a DIY smorgasbord. On its 40th anniversary, that’s worth celebrating.
Fifteen years ago, The Avalanches won four awards at the 15th Annual ARIA Music Awards. How has music changed in a decade and a half?
AAP Image/Dean Lewins
The Avalanches’ legendary first album, Since I Left You, was a modern classic, built from more than 3500 music samples. Sixteen years on, they’re finally releasing a second one - but will it resonate in an age when everyone samples?
Prince performs during the 2013 Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Steve Marcus/Reuters
For those on Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Artists, their life expectancy is on par with the people of Chad, the nation with the lowest life expectancy in the world.
Muhammad Ali pictured in Germany in 1976.
EPA/ISTVAN BAJZAT
The boxer’s death follows hard on the heels of David Bowie and Prince. The world is losing global icons and learning how to grieve using new and democratic tools.
Playing music is good for people at all stages in their lives – including the elderly.
Jeremy Brooks
Music is a universal human habit, but it’s particularly good for the elderly. From slowing cognitive decline to helping someone recover from a stroke, old age is a great time to pick up an instrument.
Women face serious barriers to reaching the upper echelons of classical composing and conducting.
Nicki Mannix
The rate of female composers working in Australia hasn’t risen in seven years. At one leading ensemble, 41 of 47 composers commissioned have been men. What’s going wrong, and how can it be fixed?
Many can identify with the phenomenon of feeling a thrill – followed by a chill – when listening to a particularly moving piece of music.
'Pink' via www.shutterstock.com
Leave had a 20 point lead over Remain in a recent YouGov poll – but this Brexit referendum concerned Britain’s membership of the Eurovision Song Contest, not Europe.
Lorde performs at the Austin City Limits music festival.
Wikimedia Commons/Ralph Aversen
Singers on The Voice last week spoke of the healing power of songwriting. And a new study has found that writing songs about their experience is helping people cope with acquired brain and spinal chord injuries.
Radiohead’s new album, a lush, complex soundscape, is beguiling, moving and politically urgent. But as always, their music rewards patience: a willingness to listen deeply, with an open mind.
Some of us can’t help moving to a beat.
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Why must women’s art be seen as autobiographical when we readily accept the idea of male auteurs spinning fictionalised yarns? In her much analysed video and album Lemonade, Beyoncé may be playing make believe.
Congo’s most famous musician Papa Wemba, performing at a concert in Kinshasa in 2004.
Reuters/ David Lewis
Popular African musician Papa Wemba, who died recently, has been close to the heartbeat of the continent’s music. His influence will continue long after his death.
Beyoncé and Jay Z’s marriage is the immediate focus of ‘Lemonade.’ But it’s also a tale of the black family in America.
Andrew Kelly/Reuters