Discovering the ‘harrowing chic’ of the the Velvet Underground’s first album

Janis Joplin ‘lives more in one song than a lot of people do in one lifetime’; Jimi Hendrix wipes his nose with the Confederate flag

Lester Bangs recalled his “erection of the heart” when he said goodbye to the King

The Voice covered many aspects of Aretha Franklin’s remarkable career, and below we reprint a pair of reviews separated by two decades

Use whatever pronoun you like. Rapper Mykki Blanco doesn’t want your approval.

In 1987 Greg Tate, Guy Trebay, and Stanley Crouch argued over the meaning of the face in Michael Jackson’s mirror

"Suicide, especially one as violent as Cobain's, is the loudest possible invocation of silence; it's a perfectly clear way of turning your life into a mystery."