How Music Does That

The 1977 Line 11.08.2024 24:35 ↓

One film score changed everything.

The Haunting of Figure 8 24.07.2024 17:32 ↓

Schoolhouse Rock was always great. But the music from one particular episode has haunted us down the years.

How MUZAK Does That 13.02.2024 20:17 ↓

How did wall-to-wall music find its way into every public space? Meet General George Squier.

Riffing on Each Other 07.01.2024 23:45 ↓

How a few inaccurate jingles came to represent entire cultures.

Anatomy of an Earworm 14.12.2023 17:41 ↓

After a month at the mercy of an earworm, I found the cure. Then it all went wrong.

When the Music Doesn't Trust You 29.10.2023 31:19 ↓

The mark of a great film score is knowing when to shut up.

Unsung 15.10.2023 27:10 ↓

They are some of your favorite artists of all time. And you don't even know their names.

The King of Space-Age Pop! 30.09.2023 26:41 ↓

HOW MUSIC DOES THAT returns with a Mexican bandleader whose coloristic imagination defined the sound of the space age.

Clap When You Damn Well Please [Encore] 02.01.2022 26:55 ↓

The revolution starts right damn now.

The Bagpipe Incident on Which I Thought We Had Agreed Not to Dwell [Encore] 08.12.2021 19:37 ↓

30,000 people. 16 measures. One bad decision.

The Evolution of Cool [Encore] 28.11.2021 14:26 ↓

The quality of 'cool' in music has deep evolutionary roots in the brain.

Grooves [Encore] 11.11.2021 16:36 ↓

In Hungary, road plays you!

Beethoven Was Deaf [Encore] 28.10.2021 26:30 ↓

That's not the amazing part.

Silence [Encore] 29.09.2021 22:47 ↓

Sometimes the greatest moment in music is the one you don't hear.

Where Did We Put Vivaldi? [Encore] 15.09.2021 22:30 ↓

After greatness came one bad decision—and then, the forgetting.

Encore: Stop Practicing, You're Ruining EVERYTHING 01.09.2021 18:55 ↓

Sometimes it's supposed to hurt.

ENCORE: The Rage of the Third Sons (Carmina Burana) 19.08.2021 22:43 ↓

Eight hundred years ago, they left the church and found the world.

ENCORE: The Aging White Suburban Music Professor's Guide to Hip Hop 03.08.2021 21:54 ↓

Put on the good Dockers, Chad. We're going in.

ENCORE: The Bones of Yellow Brick Road 14.07.2021 20:43 ↓

Most covers stay on the surface. Sara Bareilles got down into the bones.

ENCORE: The Sweet Madness of Big Meters 30.06.2021 18:40 ↓

Let's have a wild time.

The Worst Song In The World 16.06.2021 17:26 ↓

It could be worse. Just kidding.

The Man Who Tried to Strangle Film Music in Its Crib 02.06.2021 21:18 ↓

Sternberg didn't like film music—until he needed it.

ENCORE: As White as Classical 26.05.2021 24:08 ↓

Classical music isn't that white by accident -- and it can't afford to stay that way.

When You Were Twelve 19.05.2021 12:45 ↓

If you love a song you don't really care about, see if it's from the year you were 12.

When Mind and Music Fall Apart 05.05.2021 38:17 ↓

Can music capture the experience of dementia?