music
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Rapper releases song, Spiritual, with the lyrics ‘Got my hands in the air / in despair, don’t shoot’, while Beyoncé published statement saying: ‘We don’t need sympathy. We need everyone to respect our lives’
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Growing up in three continents, this musician links the sounds he has experienced during his life to make a potent comment on the modern world
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It’s the season for songs of sunshine – but will our quiz leave you with the summertime blues?
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Deaths of man and woman at Scotland’s biggest music festival being treated as separate and unexplained
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In the 1980s, The Wag Club was the destination for cutting-edge kids and superstars alike, but changes to London are killing its nightlife, says the club’s founder
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Bass player who joined the band in 1978 says it is a ‘changed animal’ in the wake of the departure of other members
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Purple Rain-era lineup of the backing band will play at First Avenue in Minneapolis, the club featured in the movie’s concert sequences
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Rapper will pay between 74% and 92% of his $36m in debts after settlement reached, including $6m to the woman whose sex tape he leaked
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Toni Castells’ musings on the dawn of an era when human and artificial intelligence merge are a lame sequence of easy-listening ditties and awful texts
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Fine singing and playing make Garsington’s production a powerful experience but director Tim Albery has missed an opportunity to offer a sharper critique
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Many a critic has lamented the failure of the record-buying public to embrace Roísín Murphy’s unique pop vision – but this is clearly not mass-appeal stuff
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After the release of Wannabe on 8 July 1996, the Spice Girls briefly became the biggest band on the planet. So what did it mean to be a devoted fan of Ginger, Sporty, Posh and co?
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Festival danger Blaming the Swedish festival rapes on migrants isn't just wrong – it's dangerous
Alexandra PollardSwedish police withdrew their statement that a gang of migrants had assaulted women at a festival last weekend – but by then the damage was done -
video
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Paloma Faith tells Owen Jones that she thinks few musicians discuss politics because of the abuse directed at them on social media
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Led Zeppelin musicians Robert Plant and Jimmy Page have won a lawsuit brought by the estate of guitarist Randy Wolfe, which alleges that the introduction sequence of the famous hit Stairway to Heaven was copied from Taurus, by Wolfe’s band Spirit
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The footage, shot by an Australian woman, shows The Beatles getting their make-up done for the special The Music of Lennon & McCartney in November 1965
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Fans in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and the artist’s home city of Minneapolis pay tribute
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Eagles of Death Metal play live in Paris on Tuesday for first time since their gig at the Bataclan was the scene of a massacre in November’s terrorist attacks
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The singer wows the crowd at Levi’s Stadium with her performance of the US national anthem before kick-off
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Ringtones are evil. Islamic countries are fun. The internet is like 'a carjacking', where there are no boundaries. Prince on being pop's 'loving tyrant'
interviews
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The Scottish rock titans answered your questions, on everything from their cathartic lyrics to fighting duck-sized horses
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The musician and feminist activist, 47, on having pen pals, being the face of Riot Grrrl, and her fear of alligators
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Tegan and Sara’s relationship might be tumultuous but their music proved cathartic for many after the Orlando shootings. They explain why moving into pop has opened up new worlds
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The punk-poet genius behind Horses is finally fulfilling her wish to play Hyde Park next month. She talks about life as an outsider, New York’s scuzzy past and why she loves Peter Pan
quizzes
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After this year’s Grammy’s and ahead of the Brits, see how many of these famous speeches you can match to the probably sozzled winner as we plough into the heart of awards season
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With the rocktastic festivals taking place this weekend, it’s time to see how much you know about their history
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There’s more to boybands than One Direction. But do you know how many members Menudo had? Or in which paper Lou Pearlman advertised for the members of Backstreet Boys?
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We’ve cut out the faces of 12 axemen with distinctive guitars, so you have to identify the guitarist from their instrument …
in pictures
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From superstar cantors to Streisand and CBGB’s roster of rebels, Jews have played an influential part in the rise of popular music. The new exhibition Jukebox, Jewkbox! charts the highs of Yiddish theatre, punk politics and Israeli folk
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The vinyl revival continues. Founded in 1978, Music Matters Jazz is dedicated to re-releasing new pressings of historic Blue Note jazz titles. Each of the reissued albums is restored and remastered from the original analogue master tapes
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A new exhibition in London celebrates the cultural boom of the 60s, as captured by photographer Stanley Bielecki. Shooting Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and the Supremes, the Polish refugee who arrived in Britain after the second world war worked for titles including Pop Weekly, Teen Beat and Melody Maker
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Charlie peeing in the sink, Brian fixing his hair and Mick meeting Bo Diddley ... how did the band fill the long hours between stage-time on their 1965 and 1967 tours? Photographer Gered Mankowitz shares his album – and memories
you may have missed
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The blistering revenge of a superstar scorned, an anthem to the rise of gender fluidity... Observer and Guardian writers to pick the songs that most reflect the state of music – and the world – right now
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She was subjected to decades of vilification. Now everyone from Gaga to Sparks are lining up to pay tribute. How does the 83-year-old artist feel about the world catching up to the Yoko Ono sound?
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Why did these two men hang around Huddersfield railway station asking young people what they did today? Electronic duo Darkstar explain their most daring LP yet
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In 1969, Rolling Stone shocked the world with an issue about the rock ‘supergroupie’. A new book tells all
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Atlanta’s Young Thug is the gender-fluid, surrealist rapper who’s being anointed as hip-hop’s next titan. Don’t know what to make of him? You’re not the only one
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Back in Hong Kong, where they recorded their album The Magic Whip, Damon, Graham, Alex and Dave talk about falling out and making up, the state of British pop music and why 90s Britpop was a wasted opportunity
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Amy being alive meant there was hope for my heroin-addicted younger sister. When the singer died, my world caved in. What chance did we have now?
popular
Jazz Are we entering a new golden age?