Curated playlist

American music video directors

Martin ScorseseMartin Scorsese's love of movies began because asthma kept him out of games.
Lady GagaLady Gaga's name may have come from a phone typo. Producer Rob Fusari said autocorrect turned "Radio Ga Ga" into "Lady".
Taylor SwiftEvery record label in Nashville turned Taylor Swift away when she was 11. She kept going and began writing songs.
Kanye WestKanye West recorded "Through the Wire" with his jaw still wired shut. A 2002 car accident had shattered it.
David LynchDavid Lynch began as a painter who just wanted his canvases to move. That wish led him to film.
BeyoncéOn the 13th of December 2013, Beyoncé released a complete album on the iTunes Store with no warning and no promotion. Within six days it had sold one million digital copies, a record for any album on iTunes at the time. The artist behind…
Bruno MarsBruno Mars was five years old when he wet himself on a Honolulu stage in the middle of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love." His parents wondered whether they were making a mistake by putting him in front of crowds. He never…
Dr. DreDr. Dre's G-funk had live musicians replay funk melodies instead of sampling them. It debuted on The Chronic.
Paul Thomas AndersonPaul Thomas Anderson, the American filmmaker known by his initials PTA, earned a C+ on his very first film school assignment. The task at New York University was simple: write a single page of screenplay. Anderson handed in a page from…
Tyler, the CreatorAt the age of seven, Tyler Gregory Okonma, known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, was already making albums that did not exist. He pulled the covers out of CD cases and made new ones for imaginary records, each with a tracklist and…
David FincherDirector David Fincher demanded 99 takes from Rooney Mara for a single scene in The Social Network.
Mariah CareyMariah Carey handed her demo tape to a record boss at a party in December 1988. He turned his car around.
Sean CombsSean Combs founded Bad Boy Records, which launched the Notorious B.I.G. He was later sentenced to four years in prison.
Kendrick LamarKendrick Lamar won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2018, the first for a piece outside classical and jazz.
Snoop DoggSnoop Dogg bought Death Row Records, the label that launched his career, in February 2022. It took nearly three decades.
Joaquin PhoenixJoaquin Phoenix had just flipped his car on a winding canyon road in Hollywood when a voice at the window told him to relax. It was the 26th of January 2006. Gasoline was leaking into the cabin. A shaken Phoenix answered, "I'm fine. I am…
Jack WhiteJack White, born John Anthony Gillis on the 9th of July 1975, once came close to becoming a Catholic priest. He described the moment to Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes in 2005. A seminary in Wisconsin had accepted him. Then, at the last second,…
Lana Del ReyLana Del Rey was born Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, and for years she performed under names that almost nobody remembers. One of them was Sparkle Jump Rope Queen. Another was May Jailer. These were the stage identities of a young American…
Rian JohnsonRian Johnson shot his debut film, Brick, at his old high school. It cost roughly $450,000 and grossed nearly $4 million.
Trent ReznorTrent Reznor once worked at Right Track Studio in Cleveland as an assistant engineer and janitor. Studio owner Bart Koster remembered his employee this way: "He is so focused in everything he does. When that guy waxed the floor, it looked…
Dave GrohlDave Grohl, born David Eric Grohl on the 14th of January 1969, once sat at number one on the modern rock charts for 17 of 18 consecutive weeks. The run stretched from the 26th of October 2002 to the 1st of March 2003. He managed it as a…
John SingletonAt 24, John Singleton became the first African American nominated for the Best Director Oscar.
Usher (musician)Usher, the American singer, songwriter, dancer and actor, drew 123 million viewers within the United States to his Super Bowl LVIII halftime show in 2024. Very few performers ever stand in front of a crowd that size. Fewer still get there…
Jared LetoOn the 9th of November 2023, Jared Leto became the first person to legally scale the Empire State Building. He climbed it to promote a worldwide concert run called the Seasons Tour. Few actors would hang from a skyscraper to sell tickets,…
Chris BrownChris Brown, born Christopher Maurice Brown, has sold more than 140 million records worldwide. That total places him among the best-selling music artists in the world. Across his career he has collected 219 awards from 566 nominations, and…
R. KellyBeneath the Chicago "L" tracks, at the Jackson stop on the Red Line in the Loop, a young school dropout named Robert Kelly sang for passing commuters. Decades later, as R. Kelly, he had sold more than 75 million albums and singles…
Lenny KravitzLenny Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance four years in a row, from 1999 to 2002. That run broke the record for wins in the category. It also set a record for consecutive wins in one category by a male…
Ice CubeIce Cube, born O'Shea Jackson, started writing raps in ninth grade because a friend challenged him in typewriting class. The friend, nicknamed Kiddo, lost the contest. The class was at George Washington Preparatory High School in Los…
Diane KeatonDiane Keaton was born Diane Hall, but she gave up that surname before her career took off, because another actress was already registered under it. She chose her mother's maiden name instead. The new name would be credited in films across…
Kid CudiKid Cudi was born Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi in Cleveland on the 30th of January 1984. One day, while he was working at the BAPE store in New York, Kanye West came in and bought a few jackets. Cudi had forgotten to remove a security sensor…
Olivia WildeOlivia Wilde was 19 years old in 2003 when she married in secret on a school bus, with only a pair of witnesses present. The ceremony took place in Washington, Virginia. She said later that the bus was the one place where the couple could…
ASAP RockyASAP Rocky became a radio name in August 2011, when his single "Peso" leaked online. Within weeks, Hot 97, a high-profile New York station, was playing it. The song helped push cloud rap, a style of hip hop, into mainstream attention. The…
Michael Lindsay-HoggAt 16, Michael Lindsay-Hogg heard his mother deny in great detail that Orson Welles was his father.
Shia LaBeoufShia LaBeouf, the American actor and filmmaker born in 1986, walked the red carpet at the Berlin Film Festival on the 9th of February 2014 in a tuxedo with a brown paper bag over his head. Across the bag were written the words "I am not…