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Articles on Pop music

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Kasey Chambers was one of the six women who won awards at the ARIAs this year. Women had no nominations at all in Best Group, Dance, Adult Contemporary or Hard Rock/Heavy Metal. David Moir/AAP

The 2017 ARIA Awards are still off-key when it comes to gender

Why, in 2017, are women still falling behind in the ARIA awards: in nominations, winners, and performances?
Paddy McAlloon, in his more recent guise as a pop eccentric in dress as well as attitude. PR handout

Why pop needs its eccentric characters

The great eccentric characters of the past have given us great art, literature and music – and they should be welcomed today.
David Bowie performs on his 1974 Diamond Dogs world tour. Hunter Desportes/Flickr

My favourite album: David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs

David Bowie was the tasteful thief and practised faker, and his 1974 album Diamond Dogs borrowed from everything to create a sublime post-apocalyptic soundscape.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote Give Peace a Chance in a ‘bed-in’ in Montreal. Nationaal Archief/Wikimedia

Giving peace a chance? Music can drive us apart as much as it unites

Ahead of International Peace Day celebrity musicians like Yoko Ono have released music for peace. But the same qualities that bring us together around music can also inflame conflict, from the Yugoslav civil wars to Northern Ireland.
Beyoncé in the music video for Sorry, from Lemonade. Screenshot from Youtube

My favourite album: readers’ choice

From The Smiths to Kendrick Lamar, Conversation readers tell us their favourite albums.
Jarvis Cocker in the film clip for Common People. Screenshot from Youtube

My favourite album: Pulp’s Different Class

In Different Class, Pulp got fans singing and dancing to searing commentaries on class and privilege.
Shirley from Skyhooks in Countdown. ABC

Countdown - just nostalgia, or still breaking new ground?

Audiences of a certain age still gush about Countdown, the ABC’s music show that ran between 1974 and 1987. The ritual of sitting down to watch the ABC at 6pm on a Sunday (and maybe again for the Saturday…
Yothu Yindi performing in 2000. Their songs offered hope and strength to generations of Yolŋu people. Dean Lewins/AAP

My favourite album: Yothu Yindi’s Tribal Voice

The songs of Tribal Voice offered hope and strength to generations of Yolŋu people and gave audiences elsewhere a rare insight into the resolve and aspirations of Indigenous Australia.
The Beastie Boys in the music video for Sure Shot. Screenshot from Youtube

My favourite album: The Beastie Boys’ Ill Communication

The Beastie Boys’ Ill Communication closed out hip-hop’s Golden Age with a kaleidoscope of jazz-infused beats, bratty punk interludes and a deeper appreciation for storytelling.
St Vincent performing with Dave Grohl (at rear) after Nirvana was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York in 2014. Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Redefining the rock god – the new breed of electric guitar heroes

The airwaves were once dominated by rock gods delivering blistering guitar solos. Times have changed but a new crop of electric guitarists are strumming their way to glory.

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