The NPR 100 archive
Listen 'Guys and Dolls'
November 25, 2000 – This was Broadway's first and best show about Broadway — not its glamor, but its dark underbelly.
Listen NPR 100: Round Midnight
November 20, 2000 – Monk emerged as a great jazz innovator, among those responsible for the birth of bebop in the 40s.
Listen The Story Of Dave Brubeck's 'Take Five'
November 19, 2000 – Recorded by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, "Take Five" remains the best-selling jazz single of all time.
Listen 'Appalachian Spring'
November 13, 2000 – Copland most famous composition, and one that some critics call his best, was written for a ballet.
Listen 'Velvet Underground and Nico'
November 12, 2000 – Critics have marveled at how this album's influence is so vastly out of proportion with its sales.
Listen 'Like a Rolling Stone'
November 9, 2000 – Dylan's transformative electric hit was hard for DJs to play, but it quickly hit home with fans.
Listen 'Mood Indigo'
November 6, 2000 – Ellington's unique instrumentation on this standard is an example of his subtle sophistication.
Listen 'Great Balls Of Fire'
November 3, 2000 – Little Richard was fun, Elvis was cool, but Jerry Lee Lewis was frightening.
Listen Bernard Herrmann's Score to 'Psycho'
October 30, 2000 – Herrmann and Hitchcock collaborated on many films, but Psycho epitomizes the sound of horror music.
Listen 'Grand Canyon Suite'
October 29, 2000 – An itinerant pianist strapped gas cans to a jeep and drove across the desert, inspiring this music.
Listen 'Stand By Your Man'
October 28, 2000 – In August 1968, Tammy Wynette and Billy Sherrill recorded the song that would become her signature.
Listen The Story Of 'A Love Supreme'
October 23, 2000 – This work was Coltrane's spiritual declaration that his faith and musical devotion was intertwined.
Listen 'Mack the Knife'
October 22, 2000 – This jazz standard has its roots in a song from the 'Three Penny Opera' with less big pop appeal.
Listen 'Blowin' In The Wind' Still Asks The Hard Questions
October 21, 2000 – Originally written in 1962, Bob Dylan's civil rights anthem still hits hard 50 years later.
Listen 'King Porter Stomp'
October 16, 2000 – Morton was the was the first modern musician to use "riffs" as musical building blocks.