762 articles
Lou Gramm
Lou Gramm, born Louis Andrew Grammatico in 1950, is an American rock singer best known as the original lead vocalist of Foreigner and for solo hits like "Midnight Blue."
Lounge music
Lounge music: relaxed easy listening genre from 1950s US cocktail culture, tied to exotica and space age pop (bachelor pad music), revived in the 1990s as electronic downtempo (Cafe del Mar, Thievery Corporation, Air).
Love Gun
Love Gun is Kiss's sixth studio album, released June 30, 1977 on Casablanca, produced by Eddie Kramer at the Record Plant; first Kiss album with lead vocals from all four members and last with Peter Criss on every track.
Love It to Death
Love It to Death: 1971 third album by the Alice Cooper band, released March 9, 1971 on Straight/Warner Bros., produced by Jack Richardson and Bob Ezrin. First commercial breakthrough, with "I'm Eighteen" peaking at No. 21 on the Hot 100; album reached No. 35 on the Billboard 200.
Lovedrive
Lovedrive, the Scorpions' sixth studio album (1979, Harvest/EMI, Mercury), their commercial breakthrough after Uli Jon Roth's exit, featuring new guitarist Matthias Jabs and Michael Schenker on five tracks, peaking at US #55 and UK #36.
Lulu (Lou Reed and Metallica album)
Lulu (2011) is a ten-song collaborative concept album by Lou Reed and Metallica, based on Frank Wedekind's Lulu Plays, recorded in San Rafael and released October 31, 2011.
Machina/The Machines of God
Machina/The Machines of God is The Smashing Pumpkins' fifth studio album, released February 29, 2000 on Virgin. A Flood-produced concept album about rock star Zero becoming Glass, it was the original lineup's last record, paired with the free internet release Machina II, and reissued in 2025.
Machine Head (album)
Machine Head (album) is Deep Purple's 1972 sixth studio album, recorded in Montreux after a fire destroyed the Montreux Casino. It reached #1 in the UK and #7 on the Billboard 200, selling two million US copies and launching "Smoke on the Water".
Maidcore
Maidcore (maid rock) is an underground internet music aesthetic and scene started in 2013 by Russian artist Yakui The Maid using Nijiura maid personas; coined in 2014, it blends post-rock, post-metal and electronic sounds and is not a confined genre.
Mainstream Rock (chart)
Billboard's Mainstream Rock (chart), now Mainstream Rock Airplay, weekly ranks the most-played songs on U.S. mainstream rock radio via Mediabase detections and Luminate data; begun March 21, 1981, all-time leader Shinedown.
Making Movies
Making Movies is a 1980 studio album by British rock band Dire Straits, produced by Jimmy Iovine and Mark Knopfler, that reached number 4 in the UK.
Mambo (music)
Mambo is a Cuban dance music genre of the 1940s-1950s, born from danzón and son, popularized internationally by Pérez Prado's big bands and New York's Palladium Ballroom, and later absorbed into salsa.
Mandopop
Mandopop (华语流行音乐), Mandarin-language Chinese pop, rooted in 1920s Shanghai shidaiqu and modernized by Taiwan from the 1980s; dominant in Chinese-speaking Asia and now tied to China's fourth-largest recorded music market.
Mannie Fresh
Mannie Fresh (Byron O. Thomas, born 1969), New Orleans producer and DJ; in-house producer of Cash Money Records and half of Big Tymers with Birdman; produced Juvenile's "Back That Azz Up," "Bling Bling," and "Still Fly."
Mashup (music)
Mashup (music), also called bootleg or bastard pop, is a song made by overlaying one track's vocals on another's instrumental. Origins range from Freelance Hellraiser's 2001 "Stroke of Genius" to the Evolution Control Committee's 1993 Public Enemy/Herb Alpert mix; unlicensed sampling has never qualified for US or EU copyright exceptions.
Math rock
Math rock: a rhythmically complex style of indie rock and post-hardcore with odd time signatures and angular guitars, emerging in late 1980s US underground scenes around Slint and Don Caballero.
Mechanical Animals
Mechanical Animals is Marilyn Manson's third studio album, released September 15, 1998 on Nothing/Interscope. A glam-rock concept album built on the Omega alien persona, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, The Smashing Pumpkins' 1995 double album (28 songs, Virgin Records), debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, earned seven Grammy nominations, and was RIAA Diamond certified.
Merengue music
Merengue music, Dominican national dance music in 2/4 built on accordion, tambora, and güira; merengue típico (perico ripiao) arose in the Cibao, was nationalized in the 1940s, and joined UNESCO's heritage list in 2016.
Metal Machine Music
Metal Machine Music: Lou Reed's 1975 RCA double album of pure guitar feedback, 64 minutes with no songs or vocals, initially panned and withdrawn, later a noise-music touchstone.
Metalcore
Metalcore: fusion genre of heavy metal and hardcore punk, rooted in 1980s US crossover hardcore, defined by breakdowns and screamed vocals; melodic second wave (Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying) and modern electronic strands distinguish it.
Metronomy
Metronomy: English electropop/indie rock band formed 1999 in Totnes, Devon by Joseph Mount; Mercury-nominated The English Riviera (2011), albums through Small World (2022) and 2025's Greatest Hits.
Michael Stipe
Michael Stipe (John Michael Stipe, born 1960, Decatur, Georgia) is the American singer, songwriter, and photographer who led R.E.M. from 1980 to 2011; known for opaque early lyrics, hits like Losing My Religion, and a debut solo album due May 2027.
Middle of the road (radio format)
Middle of the road (MOR) is a commercial radio format of melodic, nonrock adult pop standards with news and personality hosting, dominant on AM in the 1960s-1970s, later renamed nostalgia and adult standards, distinct from but closely tied to adult contemporary.
Midwest emo
Midwest emo, also called second-wave emo, is a 1990s Midwestern US emo subgenre with twinkly arpeggiated guitars, strained vocals and math-rock interplay; key bands Cap'n Jazz, American Football, The Promise Ring; revived in the 2010s.
Milosh
Milosh is the alias of Canadian singer-producer Michael Milosh of Toronto, known for downtempo solo albums (You Make Me Feel, Meme, III, Jetlag) and for fronting the Rhye project, whose 2013 debut Woman reached number 55 on the Billboard 200.
Minimoog
Minimoog Model D: monophonic analog synthesizer released by R.A. Moog in 1970, first shipped November 19, 1970; three oscillators, 44 keys, 24 dB/octave ladder filter; reissued 2016 and 2022; Behringer clone.
Mixed-gender band
Mixed-gender band: a musical group with both male and female members, also called mixed-sex or co-ed band. Rare in rock and metal (about 3-6% of radio acts), more common in folk, Latino, and dance genres.
Monster (Kiss album)
Monster (2012) is Kiss's twentieth and, to date, final studio album, produced by Paul Stanley with Greg Collins, recorded to analog tape via CLASP, led by the single "Hell or Hallelujah", and supported by the Monster World Tour.
Moog synthesizer
The Moog synthesizer is a family of electronic instruments introduced by Bob Moog in 1964, whose 1968 Switched-On Bach became the first million-selling classical album.