Email AuthorChris Molanphy
Featured Entry
100 & Single: Three Rules To Define The Term "One-Hit Wonder" In 2012
September 10, 2012 in Sound of the City
You could hear the sigh of relief among pop fans a couple of weeks ago, when Carly Rae Jepsen's single with Owl City, "Good Time," broke into the Top 10...
Featured Entry
100 & Single: fun., Gotye, Carly Rae Jepsen, And The Era Of The Snowball Smash
August 14, 2012 in Sound of the City
If you're a pop fan, I'm going to guess you like at least one of the last three No. 1 songs in America. In many ways, 2012 has been an...
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100 & Single: The R&B/Hip-Hop Factor In The Music Business's Endless Slump
July 16, 2012 in Sound of the City
Usher's Looking 4 Myself, Frank Ocean's Channel Orange, and Chris Brown's wingdinged-out Fortune.Here are a few recent data points from chart bible Billboard and data provider Nielsen Soundscan as we...
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100 & Single: "Call Me Maybe," Justin Bieber, And Teenpop Idols' Ongoing Love-Hate Relationship With Radio
June 20, 2012 in Sound of the City
After three weeks of patiently waiting at No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100, Carly Rae Jepsen this week became the first solo female Canadian since Cline Dion to top America's...
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First Worsts: Remembering When Bon Jovi Gave "Hair Metal" A Bad Name
June 04, 2012 in Sound of the City
This month, to celebrate the Internet's unbridled love for wallowing in nostalgia and even greater relishing of talking about why certain cultural artifacts are horrible, Sound of the City presents...
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100 & Single: Answering Questions On Adam Lambert's Historic Chart-Topping Album
May 25, 2012 in Sound of the City
I've never been happier to be wrong about something. Two weeks ago, the last line of my column read: "Probably won't happen. But wouldn't it be fun if it did?" The...
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Donna Summer, R.I.P.
May 17, 2012 in Sound of the City
In the two-family house where I grew up in Bensonhurst, the two musical acts I heard most often, blasting from stereos at the top and bottom of the house, were...
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100 & Single: Buy An Adam Lambert Album, Strike A Tiny Blow For Gay Rights
May 07, 2012 in Sound of the City
About a year ago, the movie Bridesmaids opened in the U.S. and was the subject of a rather unusual awareness campaign. Female movie fans, largely independently of the film's producers, compelled...
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100 & Single: Gotye And fun. Help Alternative Rock Go Pop Once Again
April 19, 2012 in Sound of the City
Consider this six-pack of rock acts: Siouxsie and the Banshees, Big Audio Dynamite, the Psychedelic Furs, U2, R.E.M. and Julian Cope. My dream Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Not quite—it's...
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100 & Single: Madonna's Chart Transformation Into A Classic-Rock Act
April 03, 2012 in Sound of the City
Whatever you thought of her performance at this year's Super Bowl, Madonna's halftime appearance had the desired effect: It drummed up awareness for her first album in four years, the...
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100 & Single: fun., Gotye, M83, EDM, And The Beginning Of The Hot 100's Spotify Years
March 20, 2012 in Sound of the City
The top three songs on Spotify, March 20, 2012. "Young" is at No. 1 on the Hot 100; "Know" is at No. 5; and "Came" is at No. 4.How...
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100 & Single: Of Monkees, Michael, and "Maria"—The History Of The Chart-Dominating, Lifestyle-Accessory Album
March 06, 2012 in Sound of the City
Cassandra (Tia Carrere): You've heard it? Wayne (Mike Myers): Exqueeze me? Have I seen this one before? Frampton Comes Alive?! Everybody in the world has Frampton Comes Alive. If you...
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100 & Single: Remembering Whitney Houston's Reign As Queen Of The Pop Charts
February 13, 2012 in Sound of the City
Let's ignore the uncanny timing of Whitney Houston passing the night before the Grammys, a showcase for music royalty conceived to honor pop queens like her. A better measure of...
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Oddsmaking: Will Mumford & Sons Upset "Rolling In The Deep" In The Grammys' Record Of The Year Race?
February 10, 2012 in Sound of the City
Every year, when I get involved in Grammy debates with my cooler friends, I tell them the problem with the awards isn't that they reward mass-appeal schlock. If the National...
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100 & Single: Adele's Focus-Grouped Chart-Topper And The Demise Of The "Deep Cut"
January 30, 2012 in Sound of the City
Remember the album cut—the track deep on a disc that fans knew best, that only cool radio stations would play? Like so many cherished things from before the iTunes era,...
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100 & Single: LMFAO's Pair Of Chart-Toppers Suggest Stardom, Guarantee Nothing
January 03, 2012 in Sound of the City
The national star-making machinery only begins to take you seriously when you command the field more than once. Just like, say, GOP presidential candidates, pop acts can't chart one strong...
