Do you remember a song so cheerful that it was impossible to hear it without smiling? In the summer of 1976, radios on both sides of the Atlantic were playing a duet that sounded like a party. One voice belonged to Elton John, the piano-playing superstar whose flamboyant costumes and endless run of hits had … Read more
Do you remember the summer of 1979, when one guitar riff seemed to be coming out of every car radio at once? It started with a stuttering drumbeat, then a guitar line that jabbed and danced, and then a voice singing about a girl whose name became the most famous name of the season. The … Read more
Picture a cinema in New York on a cold December night in 1977. Outside, the city is already in its Christmas mood. Inside, the audience is about to watch a film about a young man from Brooklyn who works in a paint store by day and lives for Saturday night, when he puts on a … Read more
Do you remember the first time you watched music instead of just listening to it? For many Americans, that moment came on a summer day in 1981, when a brand-new cable channel called MTV flickered onto television screens and promised twenty-four hours of music videos. The first video it played was not by a superstar. … Read more
Picture a baseball stadium in Chicago on a warm summer night in July 1979. The home team has just finished the first game of a doubleheader, and the crowd is in a cheerful, restless mood. Between the two games, the stadium has promised something unusual: a crate full of disco records, collected from fans at … Read more
Do you remember a wedding where the first dance seemed to stop time? For a whole generation of couples, the song playing in that moment was Endless Love. In the summer of 1981, two voices came together on the radio and sang a ballad so tender and so grand that it seemed to belong to … Read more
Picture a recording studio in Hollywood after midnight, in the last days of January 1985. The awards ceremony across town has just ended, and instead of going home to parties, dozens of the most famous singers in America are arriving at the same studio, one after another, in evening clothes. Inside, the lights are low, … Read more
Do you remember the first time you heard two voices fit together so perfectly that you could not imagine the song sung any other way? In the autumn of 1983, radios across America were playing a duet like that. One voice was warm and rough-edged, the voice of a storyteller who had spent years singing … Read more
Picture a summer Saturday afternoon in London, with a stadium crowd already on its feet hours before the biggest names are due to appear. On the other side of the Atlantic, another stadium crowd is gathering in Philadelphia, in the morning heat. Between them, a satellite link carries pictures and sound back and forth, so … Read more
Picture a living room late on a Friday night in the summer of 1981. The television is on, but the family is not watching a movie or a late-night talk show. On the screen, a countdown finishes, a rocket lifts off, and a short, strange, catchy song begins, with a video full of old radios … Read more