Curated playlist

Grammy Award winners

Keef CowboyKeef Cowboy teased a friend who joined the Army by singing hip, hop, hip, hop. He is credited with the term hip hop.
Bob DylanAt a 1966 Manchester concert, Bob Dylan told his band to play loud after a heckler called him Judas.
ColdplayColdplay's first release was 500 copies of a self-financed EP. The band later grossed a billion dollars on one tour.
Pink FloydRoger Waters went to the High Court in 1985 to dissolve Pink Floyd. He called the band "a spent force creatively."
U2U2, the Irish rock band, began with a note pinned to a school notice board in Dublin in 1976. Larry Mullen Jr., then a 14-year-old pupil at Mount Temple Comprehensive School, was looking for musicians for a new band. The first practice…
Frank SinatraFrank Sinatra was dropped by his record label in 1952. A movie role then brought him back to the top.
John LennonJohn Lennon was ordered to leave the United States in 1973. His anti-war activities had alarmed President Nixon.
Martin ScorseseMartin Scorsese's love of movies began because asthma kept him out of games.
Woody AllenWoody Allen failed a film production course at New York University, then went on to direct Annie Hall.
MadonnaMadonna arrived in New York in 1978 with thirty-five dollars. It was her first plane ride and first taxi.
Benjamin BrittenAfter fire destroyed his concert hall in 1969, Benjamin Britten had it rebuilt within a year.
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.
MetallicaIn 1986, a tour bus overturned in Sweden and killed Metallica bassist Cliff Burton.
Orson WellesOrson Welles burned ten reels of his own Don Quixote film. He felt the 1969 Moon landings made its ending obsolete.
Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera closed on Broadway in 2023 after 13,981 performances.
Barack ObamaObama rejected a plan to bomb a compound in Pakistan and sent Navy SEALs instead. The 2011 raid killed Osama bin Laden.
Kanye WestKanye West recorded "Through the Wire" with his jaw still wired shut. A 2002 car accident had shattered it.
Steven SpielbergSteven Spielberg walked into Universal Studios without a pass, and the guard waved him in.
Martin Luther King Jr.Martin Luther King Jr. died at the age of 39, yet his autopsy showed the heart of a 60 year old, according to his biographer Taylor Branch. Branch attributed the damage to stress. The causes were many. King was jailed repeatedly, attacked…
Elton JohnElton John sang "Candle in the Wind 1997" live only once, at Princess Diana's funeral. He wrote it days before.
Whitney HoustonWhitney Houston sold more than 220 million records and carried a nickname that needed no first name: "the Voice". She was born in 1963 and died in 2012. In between, she became one of the most awarded performers in history. In 2023, Rolling…
Bruce SpringsteenBruce Springsteen threw the first acetate of his own album Born to Run into the swimming pool of his hotel in 1975. The record was being mastered while the band toured, and he was furious at what he heard. He briefly considered scrapping…
Janet JacksonJanet Jackson was seen at the 1983 American Music Awards wearing a hoop earring with a key attached to it. She has worn variations of that earring in music videos and live shows ever since. The pair she wore between 1987 and 1990 is now on…
The White StripesThe White Stripes, a rock duo from Detroit, Michigan, gave their first concert at a bar called the Gold Dollar on Bastille Day in 1997. Meg White had started learning the drums just two months earlier, and she struggled to keep the tempo…
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…
Young ThugYoung Thug was expelled in sixth grade for breaking a teacher's arm.
Led ZeppelinAtlantic Records signed Led Zeppelin without ever seeing them play. The November 1968 deal came with a $143,000 advance.
Nirvana (band)In January 1992, Nirvana knocked Michael Jackson's Dangerous off the top of the Billboard album charts.
AC/DCAC/DC is an Australian rock band, and its name began as a label on a household appliance. When Malcolm and Angus Young were hunting for a name, their sister Margaret pointed to a symbol printed on the AC adapter of her sewing machine.…
Kate WinsletKate Winslet pleaded for the part of Rose in James Cameron's Titanic while he still preferred Claire Danes and Gwyneth Paltrow. She told the director that she was Rose, and she could not see why he was seeing anyone else. The plea worked.…
Green DayGreen Day is an American rock band whose own lead singer once called its name "the worst band name in the world." Billie Joe Armstrong said so in 2001. The name came from Bay Area slang for an entire day given over to smoking marijuana.…
Prince (musician)Prince once changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol to protest his record label.
Marvin GayeMotown boss Berry Gordy refused to release Marvin Gaye's What's Going On.
Bill ClintonBill Clinton was born three months after his father died in a car crash.
Jimmy CarterJimmy Carter once was lowered into a crippled nuclear reactor for 90 seconds at a time. He later ran for president.
Fleetwood MacPeter Green picked the name Fleetwood Mac to lure bassist John McVie into his new band. McVie first refused.
Igor StravinskyIgor Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring caused a near-riot at its 1913 Paris premiere.
John GielgudJohn Gielgud was arrested months after being knighted. Backstage in Liverpool, he feared he could not face an audience.
Stephen ColbertAt a 2006 dinner, Stephen Colbert roasted President Bush to a cold room. His show's ratings jumped 37% the next week.
Rodgers and HammersteinRodgers and Hammerstein's first Broadway musical, in 1943, used no stars. Earlier ones typically centered on a star.
AdeleA friend posted Adele's three-song class demo on Myspace, and a record label phoned.
The MuppetsThe Muppets are an American ensemble of puppets, and Jim Henson told the story of their name two different ways. At first he claimed he coined the word as a blend of marionette and puppet. Later he denied it. The mystery suits a cast built…
Neil YoungIn April 2026, Neil Young announced a new studio album called Second Song, and three of its tracks were songs he had written in 1963. They had remained unreleased ever since. That detail suits a man who has spent his career refusing to…
Mel BrooksMel Brooks was 14 years old when he climbed onto a diving board at the Butler Lodge, a second-rate hotel in the Borscht Belt. He worked there as a pool-side tummler, an entertainer hired to keep the guests amused. On this day he wore a…
Duke EllingtonDuke Ellington wrote his first piece while working as a soda jerk, before he could read music.
Jack NicholsonJack Nicholson improvised one line in the 1980 horror film The Shining, and it was not in the script.
Jim HensonJim Henson made the first Kermit from a halved table tennis ball and his mother's old coat.
Judy GarlandMGM fired Judy Garland in 1950, and Bing Crosby invited her onto his radio show. The audience gave her an ovation.