Music Interviews | Bandwidth

Category: Music Interviews

"There's nothing quite like the music ... that I've been privileged to inhabit," Iggy Pop says. "And I try to bring it to the people."

Stooges On Screen: Iggy Pop And Jim Jarmusch On The New Film ‘Gimme Danger’

The two men join NPR’s Scott Simon to talk about Jarmusch’s new documentary on the band — and why its pioneering work has staying power.

Keith "Ebony" Holt performs in a Baltimore ballroom event as depicted in the video "Voguing for a Cause."

Strictly Ballroom: At Smithsonian, A Gay Black Counterculture Meets African Art

February 24, 1928 About 12:30 a.m., we visited this place and found approximately 5,000 people, colored and white, men attired…

"If you look back at photographs of yourself from many years back, you probably look at them and cringe a little bit. I'm in that same boat," Rick Astley says of his '80s music videos.

‘I’ve Had A Charmed, Amazing Life’: Rick Astley On ’80s Stardom And Making A New Hit

“I think most videos from the ’80s are pretty cheesy, to be honest,” Astley says. He speaks with NPR’s Michel Martin about his career, his new album — and yes, rickrolling.

M.I.A. Takes ‘AIM’ At A Global Message

The British rapper remains both successful and controversial, but she tells NPR’s David Greene she’s just trying to widen the conversation.

Watch NPR's new video documentary series about the creative process, Noteworthy. Our first episode focuses on psychedelic soul star Miguel.

Watch Miguel Get Creative In NPR Music’s New Documentary Series, ‘Noteworthy’

Our new video documentary series on the creative process kicks off with the Grammy-winning soul singer. Watch him break down the origins of “Come Through And Chill” and “Adorn” with host Jason King.

"I would imagine that [Morrissey] had just thrown some gladioli — gladioli was his favorite, favorite, favorite, flower of all time. I'm sure he had just done that. This is an early picture, one of my first pictures, probably from California '85, and I was really quite shy — you can see that I'm really quite behind the monitor. I like the photo because it shows the dynamic between Morrissey — the energy that he's giving to the crowd, and then Johnny [Marr] just being so super-cool."

‘There At A Special Time’ — A D.C. Punk On Her Teen Years Touring With The Smiths

It was 1985. Nalinee Darmrong was 17, and she had just graduated high school. Friends took her to see the legendary English rock band The Smiths at D.C.’s Warner Theatre — and the show literally changed her life.

"Art and music and culture should be accessible to everybody," says Sean Gray, founder of the website Is This Venue Acccessible?

How Sean Gray Is Making Concertgoing Less Stressful For People With Disabilities

Sean Gray sees barriers many people do not. Born with cerebral palsy, the Maryland native has been using a walker since he was…

Multimedia project Black Broadway on U archives the people and places that made D.C.'s U Street corridor a hub of black culture during the first half of the 20th century.

A Chat With The Creator Of ‘Black Broadway On U,’ A Trove Of D.C. Cultural History

On U Street in 2016, it’s easy to stumble across vestiges of the corridor’s African-American history. But that history is…

Abdu Ali: "[My music is] still very much black music and for my people."

Baltimore Performer Abdu Ali: ‘We’re All Dealing With Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome’

When the drums pound in Abdu Ali’s music, they travel straight to the head. “I blatantly confront racism and white…

Prince performs in New York in 1981, on tour behind his third album, Dirty Mind.

‘His Music Does The Talking’: Manager Owen Husney On Prince’s Legacy

“I saw who he was, and there was a mystery about him even then,” says Husney, who managed Prince at the very beginning of his career. The iconic musician died Thursday at 57.

Tarica June walks through Washington, D.C. in her video for "But Anyway," a song examining gentrification in her hometown.

A D.C. Rapper’s Love Song To A Gentrifying Hometown

Tarica June wrote “But Anyway” in response to quickening change in District. What she didn’t expect was the wave of positive feedback — especially from other gentrifying cities across the country.

Remembering A Country Legend: Merle Haggard On World Cafe

The “Okie from Muskogee” talks life, music and songwriting in this 2003 interview. Haggard died Wednesday morning.

Matt Saincome runs The Hard Times, a website that satirizes punk and hardcore culture.

D.C. Hardcore Is Funny, Or At Least The Hard Times Thinks So

Any dead-serious subculture becomes ripe for satire at some point, and if the success of The Hard Times is any…

Want to promote a good vibe at a show? Invite the women up front, says go-go vocalist Michelle Blackwell.

The Unspoken Rules, Norms And Secrets Of D.C.’s Go-Go Scene

Ask some music fans about D.C. concert audiences, and they’ll say our crowds suffer from paralysis of the feet. But as I reported recently in my story…

In his new book 'Every Song Ever,' Ben Ratliff looks at ways to find fascinating music without Spotify.

New York Times Critic Ben Ratliff Is Worried About Leaving Music Discovery Up To Robots

This year marks Ben Ratliff’s 20th as a music critic at the New York Times. He is probably best known…

Producer and author Ian Brennan: "How many pop records can you find in the [performers' native] language? It's almost always zero."

How The Music Industry Erases The World, According To Record Producer Ian Brennan

Ian Brennan is a Grammy-winning record producer who hears music die every day. With 30 years in the music business,…

Pusha T: ‘This Is What I Like To Make’

The Virginia Beach denizen spoke about the reverse troll he laid on Def Jam, what it’s like to go back and forth with Puffy, the fallacies of textbooks and the perils of ignoring the youth.

‘You Can’t Prepare Yourself’: A Conversation With Adele

The singer’s career has been a story in numbers, and not just the ones in her album titles. She discusses motherhood, stage fright, the Spice Girls and more in an extended chat with Ari Shapiro.

Singer-songwriter Carly Simon is known for the songs "You're So Vain" and "Let the River Run".

Carly Simon: ‘I’m Constantly Reemerging In My Life’

The woman behind “You’re So Vain” has stories for days about love and music. On the occasion of a new memoir, she joins NPR’s Scott Simon to unfold a few of them.

Logic: ‘Do Something For Yourself’

“I’m telling the fans what I’m trying to tell myself because nobody was telling me at the time,” says the rapper, who hails from Maryland.

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