Curated playlist
Polydor Records artists
- Jimi HendrixJimi Hendrix's first guitar was a one-string ukulele found in the garbage. He learned by ear to Elvis songs.
- John LennonJohn Lennon was ordered to leave the United States in 1973. His anti-war activities had alarmed President Nixon.
- Deep PurpleDeep Purple began as a plan for a band that rotated like a carnival roundabout.
- George MichaelGeorge Michael refused to appear in his own music videos, so five supermodels lip-synced in his place.
- Siouxsie and the BansheesSiouxsie and the Banshees first played with Sid Vicious on drums. It was a 20-minute improvisation in 1976.
- James BrownJames Brown pointed out band members' wrong notes with hand signals.
- Paul McCartneyPaul McCartney traded a trumpet for a guitar and wrote his first song on it. His father had given him the trumpet.
- Eagles (band)The Eagles, an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971, spent the 31st of July 1980 promising to beat each other up. The trouble began before the concert in Long Beach, California. Guitarist Don Felder said 'You're welcome - I…
- Yoko OnoYoko Ono hung a magnifying glass atop a white ladder in a London gallery. Climbers read one tiny word: YES.
- The WhoThe Who played the Valley, the home ground of Charlton Athletic, on the 31st of May 1976. The Guinness Book of Records listed that show as the world's loudest concert, at over 120 dB. The English rock band had formed in London in 1964. Its…
- 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…
- Eric ClaptonEric Clapton got the nickname Slowhand from a broken guitar string. Fans clapped slowly while he replaced it.
- RayeAt the 2024 Brit Awards, the British singer-songwriter Raye won six trophies in one night, more than any artist had ever taken home from a single ceremony. One of them made her the first woman to be named Songwriter of the Year. Raye was…
- Juice WrldIn 2020, the rapper Juice Wrld was streamed on Spotify more than 5.9 billion times, which made him the fourth most streamed artist in the world. He had died the year before. The name is pronounced "juice world", and it belonged to a young…
- Kurtis BlowIn 1979, Harlem's Kurtis Blow became the first rapper signed by a major label.
- Bryan AdamsIn 1990, Bryan Adams sat down with two collaborators, Robert John "Mutt" Lange and Michael Kamen, and finished a song in a single 45-minute session. The song was "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You," and it went on to reach number one in at…
- MorrisseySteven Patrick Morrissey, known to the world as Morrissey, once led a tour of Manchester for the Oxford Road Show in 1985. Late in that tour he reached the secondary school he had attended. He described it in harsh terms and closed with a…