762 articles
Utaite (歌い手)
Utaite (歌い手) are Japanese internet singers who post cover performances (utattemita), born on Niconico after 2006–2007 with Hatsune Miku, tied to Vocaloid culture, largely anonymous, and known for crossovers like Ado's 2020 "Usseewa" debut.
Vallenato
Vallenato, also called música vallenata, is a Colombian Caribbean accordion genre from Valledupar with four airs (son, paseo, merengue, puya), played on accordion, caja, and guacharaca, and UNESCO-listed heritage since 2015.
Van Halen (album)
Van Halen (1978) is the American hard rock band's self-titled Warner Bros. debut, recorded largely live at Sunset Sound in about a week. Known for "Eruption" and two-handed tapping, it peaked at No. 117 but sold over 10 million US copies, earning RIAA Diamond certification.
Van Halen II
Van Halen II (1979) is Van Halen's second studio album, produced by Ted Templeman, recorded at Sunset Sound within a week, featuring "Dance the Night Away" (#15 US) and the acoustic "Spanish Fly."
Vaporwave
Vaporwave is an internet-born electronic microgenre of the early 2010s, sampling and slowing 1980s-1990s muzak, smooth jazz, and city pop; founded by Vektroid, Ferraro, and Lopatin, defined by Floral Shoppe, and tied to consumerist nostalgia aesthetics.
Viking metal
Viking metal: a heavy metal subgenre defined by Viking Age, Old Norse mythology, and Nordic nature themes rather than sound; founded by Sweden's Bathory (Blood Fire Death, 1988), later Enslaved and Amon Amarth; overlaps pagan, folk, and black metal.
Villains (Queens of the Stone Age album)
Villains, seventh studio album by Queens of the Stone Age, released 25 August 2017 on Matador; produced by Mark Ronson and Mark Rankin, nine tracks, 48 minutes, danceable funk-rock sound.
Virgin Killer
Virgin Killer is the fourth studio album by German hard rock band Scorpions, released October 9, 1976 on RCA. Known for its banned nude-child cover art, Dieter Dierks production, Uli Jon Roth songwriting, and being the band's first Gold album in Japan.
Virtual Studio Technology
Virtual Studio Technology (VST), Steinberg's 1996 audio plug-in interface, integrates software synths and effects into DAWs; current VST 3 (2008) is MIT-licensed, cross-platform, and competes with AU, AAX, and CLAP.
Voodoo Lounge
Voodoo Lounge is the Rolling Stones' 1994 studio album on Virgin Records, produced by Don Was and The Glimmer Twins, their first without Bill Wyman. It topped the UK chart, won the inaugural Grammy for Best Rock Album, and launched a US$370 million-grossing world tour.
Waiting for the Sun
Waiting for the Sun is the Doors' third studio album, released July 1968 on Elektra. Their first US number-one album, featuring "Hello, I Love You"; produced by Paul Rothchild, engineered by Bruce Botnick.
Wall of Sound
Wall of Sound, also called the Spector sound: a 1960s pop production style Phil Spector developed at Gold Star Studios with Larry Levine and the Wrecking Crew, layering doubled instruments in heavy echo, exemplified by "Be My Baby" and distinct from the Grateful Dead's live sound system of the same name.
Walter Becker
Walter Carl Becker (1950-2017), American guitarist, bassist, songwriter and producer who co-founded Steely Dan with Donald Fagen; co-wrote its 1972-1980 platinum catalog, solo albums 11 Tracks of Whack and Circus Money.
WAP (song)
WAP (song): 2020 explicit hip-hop single by Cardi B featuring Megan Thee Stallion, Atlantic/KSR, produced by Ayo & Keyz; debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with a then-record 93 million first-week US streams, topped the UK chart, and was RIAA-certified Diamond in August 2026.
Wasting Light
Wasting Light, Foo Fighters' seventh studio album (April 12, 2011, Roswell/RCA), recorded entirely to analog tape in Dave Grohl's Encino garage with producer Butch Vig; first Billboard 200 No. 1 for the band, six Grammy nominations, guests Bob Mould and Krist Novoselic.
Wayne Coyne
Wayne Coyne, born 1961 in Pittsburgh, is the Oklahoma City frontman and co-founder of psychedelic rock band The Flaming Lips, known for space-bubble crowd-surfing, three Grammys, and visual art including The King's Mouth installation.
We're Only in It for the Money
We're Only in It for the Money, the Mothers of Invention's third album (Verve, March 4, 1968), is Frank Zappa's satirical parody of Sgt. Pepper and 1967 hippie culture, an 18-song collage that reached No. 30 and joined the National Recording Registry in 2005.
Welcome to the Jungle
Welcome to the Jungle is a 1987 hard rock song by Guns N' Roses, the opening track and first US single from Appetite for Destruction, peaking at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and later ranked VH1's greatest hard rock song.
Wes Scantlin
Wes Scantlin (Wesley Reid Scantlin) is the American singer, guitarist, and songwriter who founded and remains the frontman of post-grunge band Puddle of Mudd, known for Come Clean (2001) and hits Control, Blurry, and She Hates Me.
Western music (North America)
Western music (North America) is the cowboy- and frontier-themed popular music tradition of the American West, distinct from but fused with country as "country and western"; its core forms include cowboy ballads, singing-cowboy songs, and western swing.
Wheels of Fire
Wheels of Fire is Cream's 1968 double album, half studio and half live, produced by Felix Pappalardi. It gave Cream a US number-one album, the first platinum double album, and the songs White Room and Crossroads.
When a Man Loves a Woman (song)
"When a Man Loves a Woman" is a Southern soul ballad recorded by Percy Sledge in 1966, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B chart.
White Light/White Heat
White Light/White Heat is the Velvet Underground's second album, released January 30, 1968 on Verve. Recorded in three days without Nico or Warhol, it closes with the 17-minute "Sister Ray" and peaked at Billboard number 199.
White power music
White power music, also called Rock Against Communism (RAC), hate rock, or White Noise, is racist far-right music that emerged in Britain in the late 1970s opposing Rock Against Racism, centered on Skrewdriver, and serves recruitment, fundraising, and networking for white supremacist movements.
Whitesnake (album)
The 1987 album Whitesnake transformed the British hard rock band into international superstars. It achieved double platinum status with hits like "Here I Go Again."
Who Are You
Who Are You is the Who's eighth studio album, released 18 August 1978; it hit No. 2 in the US, went double platinum, and was the last album with drummer Keith Moon, who died weeks later.
Who Do We Think We Are
Who Do We Think We Are is the seventh studio album by English rock band Deep Purple, released in January 1973 and known for "Woman from Tokyo."
Who Made Who
Who Made Who is AC/DC's 1986 Atlantic soundtrack album for Stephen King's film Maximum Overdrive, mixing three new tracks (title song, D.T., Chase the Ace) with earlier hits; it peaked at No. 33 US, No. 11 UK, and was RIAA-certified 5 million.
Who's Next
Who's Next is The Who's fifth studio album, released August 1971 on Track/Decca, salvaged from Pete Townshend's abandoned Lifehouse rock opera, re-recorded with Glyn Johns, the only Who album to top the UK chart, home of "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again."
Whodini
Whodini: Brooklyn hip-hop/electro trio formed in 1982 (Jalil Hutchins, John "Ecstasy" Fletcher, Grandmaster Dee); known for Escape (1984, platinum) with "Friends" and "Freaks Come Out at Night," first Fresh Fest tour, and early rap-R&B crossover.