762 articles
Avant-garde metal
Avant-garde metal, also called experimental metal, is a heavy metal style using unconventional instruments, song structures, and outside genres like jazz and classical; bands include Arcturus, Mr. Bungle, and Imperial Triumphant.
Avant-pop
Avant-pop, also known as avant-garde pop, is music that balances avant-garde traits with practices drawn from popular music, a term also used for radical American fiction.
Baba O'Riley
Baba O'Riley, often mislabeled "Teenage Wasteland," is The Who's 1971 Who's Next opener by Pete Townshend, from the Lifehouse project, titled for Meher Baba and Terry Riley, with its famous intro played on a Lowrey organ, not a synthesizer.
Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)
Back to Life (However Do You Want Me) is a 1989 Soul II Soul single featuring Caron Wheeler, produced by Jazzie B and Nellee Hooper; UK number one for four weeks, US Billboard number four, Grammy-winning, recorded at Brittania Row, Islington.
Bad Company (album)
Bad Company is the 1974 debut album by the British hard rock band Bad Company, first release on Led Zeppelin's Swan Song label, recorded at Headley Grange, a US No. 1 featuring "Can't Get Enough".
Baduizm
Baduizm is Erykah Badu's debut album (Kedar/Universal, February 11, 1997), a jazz-, soul-, and hip-hop-infused record that defined neo-soul, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, went triple platinum, and won two Grammys including Best R&B Album.
Bakersfield sound
The Bakersfield sound is a raw, electric-guitar-driven country subgenre from Bakersfield, California, honky-tonks, defined by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard as a reaction against the polished Nashville Sound.
Balance (Van Halen album)
Balance (1995) is Van Halen's tenth studio album, the fourth and final with singer Sammy Hagar. Produced by Bruce Fairbairn, it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, went triple Platinum, and was followed by Hagar's 1996 exit.
Ballbreaker
Ballbreaker is the thirteenth studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released in September 1995 and produced by Rick Rubin, marking Phil Rudd's return on drums.
Baroque pop
Baroque pop, also called baroque rock, is a mid-1960s pop/rock style fusing rock songwriting with classical instrumentation such as harpsichord, strings, horns, and oboe; pioneered by the Left Banke, the Beach Boys, Phil Spector, and Burt Bacharach, later revived as 1990s chamber pop.
Bat Out of Hell
Bat Out of Hell, Meat Loaf's 1977 debut album written by Jim Steinman and produced by Todd Rundgren, rejected by most labels, sold tens of millions and spawned two sequels and a musical.
Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell
Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, also called Bat Out of Hell II, is Meat Loaf's 1993 comeback album with Jim Steinman songs, led by "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)", a No. 1 hit in the US and UK.
Beat music
Beat music, also British beat or Merseybeat, is an early-1960s UK rock genre from Liverpool blending rock & roll, R&B, and skiffle; the Beatles' Merseybeat sound led the British Invasion.
Beatlemania
Beatlemania is the term for the intense fan frenzy surrounding The Beatles. It was popularized by the British press in October 1963 and became a worldwide phenomenon.
Ben E. King
Ben E. King (Benjamin Earl Nelson, 1938–2015) was an American soul and R&B singer, lead vocalist of the Drifters on "There Goes My Baby" and solo star of "Stand By Me" and "Spanish Harlem".
Berlin (Lou Reed album)
Berlin (1973) is Lou Reed's third album, a Bob Ezrin-produced rock opera about Caroline and Jim's doomed relationship, a commercial and critical flop that later became acclaimed.
Bert McCracken
Bert McCracken (Robert Edward McCracken, b. 1982, Orem, Utah) is lead singer and lyricist of rock band The Used, formed 2001; platinum 2002 debut, The Canyon, Robbietheused solo project, 25th-anniversary tour.
Bhangra (music)
Bhangra (music): popular music genre born from the Punjabi folk harvest dance, reinvented in Britain from the late 1970s by fusing dhol beats, tumbi, and Punjabi lyrics with reggae, hip-hop, and pop; known for the chaal rhythm and Punjabi MC's 1998 hit 'Mundian To Bach Ke'.
Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong is the American lead singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter of Green Day, the punk-pop trio behind Dookie (1994, over 20 million copies) and the rock opera American Idiot (2004), later adapted for Broadway; Dookie entered the National Recording Registry in 2024.
Billion Dollar Babies
Billion Dollar Babies is Alice Cooper's sixth studio album (Warner Bros., February 25, 1973), produced by Bob Ezrin; it hit No. 1 in the US and UK, went RIAA platinum, and features Donovan on the title track. Also the name of a 1977 band and a 2023 Cabbage Patch Kids documentary.
Billy Corgan
Billy Corgan (William Patrick Corgan, born 1967, Chicago) is the Smashing Pumpkins' singer, guitarist, and songwriter; also Zwan founder, NWA owner, Madame Zuzu's cofounder, and podcast host.
Billy Paul
Billy Paul (Paul Williams, 1934-2016) was a Philadelphia jazz and soul singer whose 1972 Grammy-winning No. 1 hit "Me and Mrs. Jones" made him a defining voice of Philadelphia International Records' Philly soul sound.
Billy Squier
Billy Squier (William Haislip Squier, born 1950, Wellesley, Massachusetts) is an American arena rock singer-guitarist whose 1981 album Don't Say No and hit "The Stroke" made him an early-1980s star; "The Big Beat" became hip-hop's most sampled song.
Black and Blue
Black and Blue is the Rolling Stones' 1976 thirteenth studio album. It was produced by the Glimmer Twins and featured guest guitarists Ronnie Wood, Harvey Mandel, and Wayne Perkins.
Black Holes and Revelations
Black Holes and Revelations is Muse's fourth studio album (2006, Warner Bros.), co-produced with Rich Costey. It debuted at UK No. 1 with 115,144 first-week copies, went double platinum, hit US No. 9, and spawned Supermassive Black Hole, Starlight, and Knights of Cydonia.
Black Messiah (album)
Black Messiah is the third studio album by D'Angelo, credited to D'Angelo and the Vanguard, released December 15, 2014 on RCA, 14 years after Voodoo, rushed out after the Ferguson protests, recorded fully on analogue tape, and met with a 95 Metascore.
Black metal
Black metal: extreme metal subgenre named after Venom's 1982 album; first wave (Venom, Bathory, Mercyful Fate, Celtic Frost), Norwegian second wave 1990–1994 with Mayhem, Burzum, church burnings, corpse paint, tremolo riffs, blast beats.
Black MIDI
Black MIDI is a music genre of MIDI files packed with millions of notes, so dense the score looks black. Originating in Japan around 2009 on Nico Nico Douga with Touhou arrangements, it spread via YouTube; composers are called blackers. Distinct from the English band black midi.
Black Pumas
Black Pumas: Austin, Texas psychedelic soul duo of singer Eric Burton and guitarist-producer Adrian Quesada. Debut album 2019 on ATO; seven Grammy nominations including Best New Artist (2020); second album Chronicles of a Diamond (2023).
Blog rock
Blog rock: early-2000s indie rock microgenre promoted through MP3 blogs, also called blog-rock. Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, Voxtrot; peaked mid-2000s with the Hype Machine, faded by decade's end.