762 articles
William Orbit
William Orbit (William Mark Wainwright, 1956–2026), English ambient-electronica producer behind Madonna's Ray of Light, Blur's 13, All Saints' Pure Shores, the Strange Cargo series and Pieces in a Modern Style.
Windmill scene
Windmill scene: experimental British rock wave (black midi, Black Country New Road, Squid, Shame, Goat Girl) centered on the 150-capacity Windmill pub in Brixton, South London, late 2010s; also called crank wave.
Witch house (genre)
Witch house: occult-themed dark electronic microgenre coined by Pictureplane in 2009, centered on Salem's slowed chopped-and-screwed hip-hop sound; also called drag, screwgaze, or haunted house.
Women in punk rock
Women in punk rock: female musicians and organizers in punk since the mid-1970s, from the Slits and the Go-Go's to riot grrrl, Bikini Kill, and Pussy Riot, with documented barriers of sexism and erasure from punk histories.
Work It (Missy Elliott song)
"Work It" is a 2002 hip hop single by Missy Elliott from Under Construction, produced by Timbaland, famous for its reversed chorus vocals, peaking at number 2 in the US and 6 in the UK, and winning the 2004 Grammy for Best Female Rap Solo Performance.
Yacht rock
Yacht rock: retrospective name for smooth, jazz- and R&B-inflected late-1970s/early-1980s Southern California soft rock (Steely Dan, Toto, Michael McDonald, Christopher Cross). Term coined in 2005 by the Channel 101 comedy web series; not about boats; peaked 1981-82, faded by 1985.
Yamaha DX7
Yamaha DX7, DX7 II successor, 1983 digital FM synthesizer with six operators, 32 algorithms, 16-voice polyphony, E.PIANO 1 preset on ~60% of 1986 US chart songs, about 160,000 built.
Yé-yé
Yé-yé (yéyé), from English "yeah", is a 1960s French pop genre adapted from Anglo-American hits, coined by Edgar Morin in Le Monde (1963); led by France Gall, Françoise Hardy, Sylvie Vartan, Johnny Hallyday, fading after May 1968.
Youth crew
Youth crew: late-1980s straight edge hardcore punk subgenre from the New York scene, named via Youth of Today's 'crew' lyrics; fast songs, gang vocals, posi-core ethos; bands Judge, Gorilla Biscuits, Bold; label Revelation Records.
Zenyatta Mondatta
Zenyatta Mondatta is a 1980 album by the Police, which debuted at number one in the UK and produced the hits "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da".
Zoomergaze
Zoomergaze is a loosely defined style of electronic music and nu-gaze, in which Generation Z musicians push the boundaries of shoegaze; the term crystallized in the early 2020s United States.
ZZ Top's First Album
ZZ Top's First Album is the 1971 debut LP by Texas blues-rock trio ZZ Top, recorded at Robin Hood Studios in Tyler and released on London Records, produced by Bill Ham, featuring "Brown Sugar" and "(Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree."