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Music
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The shared experience of music is sacredMerrill Garbus, frontwoman of the art-pop act, talks about white privilege, female producers and dance music -
Meet Shame, Britain's most exciting new bandThe shouty south Londoners write songs about politics, perverts, and their insecurities, and reject the laddism of the indie scene. But can they get big before they burn out?
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Why Rihanna will never get her greatest hitsUnless you’re a veteran like Vera Lynn, a career spanning compilation is unlikely to happen - and it’s all thanks to streaming -
Sigrid wins BBC Sound of 2018 pollThe influential survey of music industry insiders, who have previously backed the likes of Sam Smith and Ellie Goulding, get behind the Norwegian pop star as the artist most likely to be successful this year
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The singer who screamed a very American painWith her raw, anguished voice, Joplin – who would have been 75 this month – was a hippy icon. But on Piece of My Heart she became something darker still
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S Club 7 member puts Brit award up for sale on eBay‘There are bills to pay,’ says Paul Cattermole, whose gong for best newcomer from 2000 has seen bidding reach £66,000 with three days still to go
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Motörhead guitarist 'Fast' Eddie Clarke diesThe last surviving member of the British rock band’s best-known lineup died after contracting pneumonia
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Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conductor quits over abuse claimsCharles Dutoit’s position described as ‘untenable’ after six women accuse him of sexual assault
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The Hunna – identikit indie rockers are devoid of personalityThe fresh-faced foursome have amassed a sizeable fanbase via social media but, despite some catchy tracks and a committed crowd, have little originality
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Winter Sprinter 2018 – a place where wry, literate indie can feel at homeThe Surfing Magazines, Jessica’s Brother and former Weather Prophet Pete Astor got Fika Recordings’ four-day residency off to a shambolic but intriguing start
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The most unpronounceable band names everWhether it’s a marketing gimmick or a way to stop anyone ever talking about your band, musicians are rejecting random nouns in favour of punctuation and ancient languages
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India's upside-down rave sceneMagnetic Fields, a three-day festival in the Rajasthan desert, saw the country’s burgeoning dance scene go overground. But there are concerns that clubbing is a corporatised ‘rich person’s game’
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Video
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Is algorave the future of dance music?By building up tracks through the manipulation of programming code, algorave producers are among the underground’s most dextrous and daring. We head to Sheffield to meet those at the heart of the scene
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Exclusive Johnny Marr and Maxine Peake music video: The Priest
Watch Johnny Marr and Maxine Peake's music video The Priest, about a young homeless girl's experiences of life on the street
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Run the code: is algorave the future of dance music? – video
By building up tracks through the manipulation of programming code – and pairing them with visuals also made on the fly – algorave producers are among the underground's most dextrous and daring work. Iman Amrani heads to Sheffield to meet those at the heart of the scene
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Barack and Michelle Obama pay tribute to Diana Ross at 2017 American music awards - video
The former president and first lady congratulate Diana Ross before she accepts her lifetime achievement award at the American Music Awards
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Residente: Latin America's most successful rapper on race and Trump's America – video
Puerto Rican rapper, writer and film-maker Residente is one of the most successful Latino artists of his generation, winning 24 Latin Grammys as one half of internationally renowned group Calle 13. Now, his solo album has nine nominations
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Free improvisation: still the ultimate in underground music?
Pioneered in the 1950s by musicians breaking the rules of jazz and composition, free improvisation is still as difficult – and potentially transcendent – as it ever was. A Guardian documentary takes you inside its world
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The most talked-about man in music
His new album Channel Orange was rushed out a week early to rave reviews, then he made headlines worldwide by blogging about his sexuality. 'I wanted to wake up without this freakin' boulder on my chest,' he says in this Guardian exclusive
Interviews
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At the end, we all just sat and held his handWhen Glen Campbell was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, his daughter put her own career – and life – on hold. Now the country star’s back, downing pints and singing songs about smoking weed with Willie Nelson’s son
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How Steps staged pop’s most unlikely comebackThe return of Britain’s ‘naffest’ chart toppers put the fun back into today’s precision-tooled pop landscape
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I’ve loved all my jobs, even when I worked at Burger KingThe singer, actor and The Voice judge on singing into hairbrushes, popping bubblegum and her enduring love for Aretha Franklin
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I’ve been targeted since I was 17Five of his past six releases have made the Billboard chart, and the rapper shows no signs of easing his workload – even making videos from his hospital bed after being shot in broad daylight
Quizzes
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The house Elvis built turns 60: how much do you know about Graceland? – quizElvis Presley bought his Memphis mansion 60 years ago on Sunday. How well do you know the history of rock’n’roll’s White House?
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Were you paying attention? Classical music in 2016 – quizHow many of the classical world’s comings and goings, openings and closings, bouquets and brickbats do you remember from the past 12 months? Try our quiz
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How well do you know the Triple J Hottest 100? Try our infinite quizThis quiz features randomised questions dynamically generated from Hottest 100 data between 1993 and 2014
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How well do you know the life of Freddie Mercury? – quizIt’s the 25th anniversary of the death of the Queen frontman on 24 November – test your knowledge of his life and times
In pictures
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Prince in 1970s MinneapolisRobert Whitman was asked to take some promotional pictures of an unknown Minneapolis musician, Prince Rogers Nelson. They ended up being the first documents of one of pop music’s true geniuses
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The forgotten women of the 1980s indie boomA new book, Untypical Girls, documents the women who refused to be cowed in the male-dominated indie scene that flourished in the 1980s – from riot grrrls to shoegazers
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Brian Griffin's rock photographyBrian Griffin invented technical tricks to turn 80s pop into an edgy visual wonderland. From Iggy Pop to Kate Bush, he recalls the stories behind the shots
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Portraits from the undergroundLiz Ham started taking photos of women in the punk scene because she wanted to pay tribute to a diverse community that, in her experience, was welcoming, supportive and liberating
You may have missed
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Understanding Eminem in the age of TrumpMarshall Mathers became a megastar by partly tapping into the same disaffected white rage later mobilised by the ‘alt-right’. But the rapper has made it clear he doesn’t want to share fans with the president. With a new album out soon, can he prosper in an age of conscious protest?
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It rains and they shoot black peopleN.E.R.D are back with a politically charged new album featuring Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna, Ed Sheeran and cosmic synths
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Who will play the royal wedding?Prince Harry and Meghan Markle marry in May. Here are some suggestions of who could sing them down the aisle
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How Mongolia went wild for operaWhy are so many Mongolians winning international singing awards? To find out, Kate Molleson travelled 1,000 miles across the country to meet latest star Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar, drinking mare’s milk, sleeping in yurts and recording its vocal masters
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The unearthed history of Manchester club the RenoIn the 1970s, the Reno nightclub was a haven for mixed-race couples and weed smokers alike – plus Muhammad Ali. A new project is now literally digging up its past
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How we made Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)‘We put a cow in the video, to signify reality. It peed everywhere’
Brit awards nominations 2018 Dua Lipa beats Ed Sheeran with five