blues

How ska paved the way for punk... and took over the world along the way

“We’re the Interrupters! We’re from Los Angeles, California!” the young guitarist announces over a fanfare, as the camera pulls back and reveals a four-piece band, plus a singer, and a crush of throbbing humanity in a tiny space. “And this first song is a protest song, but it’s also a unity song. Because there’s no […]

10 times different artists collaborated to make inspiring music

September 1963: A young R&B combo called the Rolling Stones are rehearsing, preparing for a recording session. Their manager, former Beatles publicist Andrew Loog Oldham, was tearing his hair out. They were about to record their second single, a follow-up to their modestly successful remake of Chuck Berry’s “Come On.” But they had one problem: […]

These 10 bands prove that Cleveland was one of punk’s earliest capitals

Alternative Press’ native home of Cleveland, Ohio, stands alongside New York City and London as one of punk’s birthplaces. Yet, few outside of U.K. music journalist Jon Savage, in his crucial ‘70s punk history England’s Dreaming, acknowledge this. But how could Cleveland—a torched-and-trashed post-industrial landscape by the ‘70s, famed for the Cuyahoga River being so […]

10 women who made the ’90s one of the most memorable decades of music

Among all the music that the ‘90s brought us, there’s one common denominator—kick-ass women vocalists. From the emergence of grunge to the golden age of hip-hop settling in its place, the ‘90s proved to be a decade where artists expressed the exasperations of womanhood with all of their might. As women lead singers began to […]

These 11 singers steered the course of punk and hardcore in the ’80s

The idea of compiling a list of the greatest punk singers of the ‘80s might seem a bit odd. After all, this was when hardcore rose and quickly dominated all things punk. And let’s face it: Hardcore vocalists are more noted for bellowing than actual singing, per se. Not that late ‘70s punk harbored many […]

20 books written by or about women musicians to add to your reading list

When searching a bookstore for music memoirs, it’s likely that the shelves are packed with men such as Kurt Cobain, Johnny Cash and Keith Richards. While it may seem that there are fewer books written by or about women musicians, they are growing in numbers. Women in the music industry refuse to be silenced, and, […]

Viola Davis makes history with SAG Awards win for role as Ma Rainey

Viola Davis has taken home the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role at the SAG Awards for her moving performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. She is now the first Black actor to ever win this category twice.  This year, Davis was up against Carey Mulligan for Promising Young Woman, Vanessa […]

10 alternative albums by women that have influenced music since the '90s

As some of our favorite pop-punk bands continue to show us, we have a lot to thank 1990s alternative music for. Not only did the mainstream explosion set the foundations for the genre collective as we know it, but it put quite a number of women on the forefront. While the gender distribution across the alternative genre […]

Evol Walks burn bright in new music video—watch

Evol Walks may channel the heart and soul of the blues with their track “The Fire,” but they’re red hot in the music video, teaming up with AP to share the new visuals. The third track off their second EP, Our Time Is Now, the band are looking to release a video for every song […]