Meshell Ndegeocello's album Ventriloquism is a collection of covers of R&B songs from the 1980s and '90s. Charlie Gross/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
The Fans : The Record Listeners connect with music in countless ways. Essays and interviews about why we love the music we love and questions about what our choices as fans mean.
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Brad Paisley performs at an inaugural ball for Barack Obama in January 2013. A few months later, Paisley's song "Accidental Racist" would make the country singer the focus of ridicule and satire. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption
Billy Corgan, performing in Den Bosch, Netherlands in February 18, 2008. Robin Utrecht/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
The futurist artist Luigi Russolo (left) with his noise machine, invented for futurist "symphonies," one of which was performed at the London Coliseum in June 1914. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption
Gord Downie Gordon Hawkins/Courtesy of Arts & Crafts hide caption
Martin Shkreli exits a Brooklyn courthouse after the jury issued a verdict in his case for securities fraud. Shkreli is selling a one-of-a-kind album from the Wu-Tang Clan he purchased in 2015. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption
People evacuating homes amidst the flooding in Houston, Texas on Aug. 27. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption
A paleoartistic interpretation of Lemmysuchus. Mark Witton/Courtesy of the Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London hide caption
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, holding up a small copy of the country's constitution, during a press conference on June 22, 2017. Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Joe Scarborough plays The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on February 21, 2017. CBS Photo Archive/CBS via Getty Images hide caption
A couple embraces at the Woodstock music festival. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images hide caption
Ariana Grande during the One Love Manchester Benefit Concert at Old Trafford Cricket Ground on June 4, 2017. Kevin Mazur/One Love Manchester/Getty Images for One Love Manchester hide caption
Memorial candles during a vigil on St Ann's Square in Manchester on May 29, 2017, one week after a bomb attack timed to the conclusion of a concert by Ariana Grande at the Manchester Arena. Grande and others will perform Sunday, June 4 to raise money for victims and their families. Jon Super/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
The Strokes backstage in San Francisco in October 2001, the month the band released its debut album, Is This It in the United States. Anthony Pidgeon/Getty Images hide caption
Snoop Dogg performs at the 2017 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Erika Goldring/Getty Images hide caption
The songs of the animated show Bob's Burgers are little jewels of character development and progressive ideals baked into catchy jingles filled with fart jokes. Fox hide caption
Incoming French president Emmanuel Macron, photographed in Berlin in January 2017. Sean Gallup/Getty Images hide caption
Gloria Gaynor performed in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress for its "Bilbiodiscotheque" retrospective on May 6, 2017. Shawn Miller/Shawn Miller hide caption
The travails of the Fyre Festival inspired a comedy script mocking it and its attendees. Lode Kuylenstierna / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm hide caption
Gorillaz latest album, Humanz, is out April 28. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Firefighters and medics near the site of the Ghost Ship underground arts venue in Oakland, Ca., after a fire claimed the lives of at least thirty-six people. The East Bay Times won a Pulitzer for its reporting around the tragedy. Anadolu Agency/Getty Images hide caption
Chuck Berry performs onstage at London's Rainbow Theatre in 1973. Fin Costello/Redferns hide caption
Mark Satlof pulls out some of his favorite records from his massive collection. Christopher Gregory for NPR hide caption
LSD tabs on tip of young man's tongue during Woodstock '94 in upstate New York. Mark Peterson/Corbis/Getty Images hide caption