THE 50 BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARIES OF ALL TIME

Music has always played an important part in cinema since the very beginning of the industry. The early films were silent but were accompanied by a pianist or even, in some large cities, a small orchestra in theaters. When recorded, synchronized sound began in 1927, it was a game-charger for the movies and the first sound feature film released, "The Jazz Singer" was, not surprisingly, a musical.

Over time, documentaries were made about music and the gifted artists who created these sounds. In recent years, this has exploded with a large number of movies about musicians, well-known, obscure or forgotten, in all genres have been filling cinemas and streaming channels.

Vulture has put together a list of fifty of what they consider to be the best music documentaries of all time. First putting these selections together in 2015, they have updated this listing to include recent releases. These movies (which include a few concert films) are all important and fascinating documents. There are films which deeply explore what has made many of these popular musicians so vital; highlight professionals who had assisted singers and musicians with their careers and reveal talented artists who never had a real opportunity to shine in their lifetime yet remain highly influential.

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The 50 Best Music Documentaries of All-Time

THE MOST ANTICIPATED ALBUMS OF 2022

Live music seemed like it was on the verge of fully returning, with many artists planning major tours to begin in 2022. But this new COVID variant is creating a serious disruption, causing everyone to re-think and possibly delay those plans of bringing together large crowds of music fans. Hopefully this will be a short setback and by summer (at the latest) we will be able to be reunited together to hear music performed live by our favorite artists.

And even though we might not be able to go to a concert at this immediate moment, we can still look forward to some new music. Vulture runs down all of the (fairly) confirmed music releases planned through spring and some of the most highly anticipated albums that (hopefully) we will see in 2022. Those with actual release dates include The Weeknd (dropping this weekend), Cat Power, Years and Years, Charli XCX, Dolly Parton and Jack White with two albums(!!). And a round-up listing of potential new music by artists who have been teasing us for a while; Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Cardi B, Lizzo, Frank Ocean, Rihanna and the long-awaited debut albums from Normani and Saweetie.

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The Most Anticipated Music of 2022

2021 SUMMER NEW MUSIC PREVIEW

With the pandemic finally moving behind us and the ability to reconnect with other people, face to maskless face, on the horizon, music will be playing an important part of the upcoming hot weather season. And what will be the ultimate song of the summer? That is the big question and Vulture has created a guide on what new music we will be listening to and what we can possibly (hopefully) expect to hear. The list is separated by upcoming releases that have been confirmed (Billie Eilish, Prince, BTS,  Lana Del Rey) and potentially coming soon (the usual suspects, Adele, Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar and Drake) . And there is a listing of all of the live music festivals (remember those??) happening throughout the summer.

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56 Albums We Can’t Wait to Hear This Summer

THE RETURN OF DANCE MUSIC

There is no doubt that 2020 was a very challenging year. But thankfully we had music to help soothe us throughout these turbulent last twelve months. One of the highlights was the resurgence of dance music which has always brought joy and comfort during difficult times. This music was certainly important during the AIDS crisis and it's not surprising that dance is the direction that people gravitated towards this year, even though you couldn't get anywhere near a dance floor.

There were several great albums released; Lady Gaga's "Chromatica", Jessie Ware's "What's Your Pleasure", Dua Lipa's "Future Nostalgia", Charli XCX's quarantine-created album, "how i’m feeling now" and Kylie Minogue's aptly titled, "Disco" to name just a few that unabashedly made dance a central part of their sound. 

Vulture has assembled twenty-one of the best dance songs from 2020 that looked back on classic disco for inspiration and delivered fresh, reflective sounds that briefly assisted in helping us forget about all of the troubles happening in the world.

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The Best Dance and Disco Songs of 2020

32 ANTICIPATED ALBUMS IN 2020

Now that we are into the new year, it's time to look at some of the upcoming new music that is expected in 2020. In the first few weeks, we had new albums from Halsey, Selena Gomez and a posthumous release from Mac Miller. And Vulture has done a rundown of other artists who are supposed to release some long-awaited new music throughout the year. This includes some big names who have been promising something for awhile yet nothing has materialized to date. This includes Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar, The Dixie Chicks, SZA, Adele and Rihanna to name just a few.

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32 Anticipated New Albums in 2020

MTV VIDEO OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS RANKED

As the music video has lost most of its luster and relevance, the MTV Video Music Awards have generally done pretty much the same. At one time, the show was the place to go for water-cooler moments (do people still actually chat by water dispensers?) and incredible live performances by the hottest artists of the day. Now, it seems to struggle to get popular musicians to attend and the ones that do hardly create memorable musical moments. And while MTV claimed to have something “special” planned to honor Aretha Franklin during this year’s show, the best they came up with was to have Madonna go onstage and tell this long-winded story (which ended up having very little to do with the Queen of Soul. And I won’t even get in to what the singer was wearing) before presenting the Video of the Year Award, then it’s quite clear that the VMA’s glory days are long gone.

Vulture has decided to look back at all of the previous thirty-four winners of MTV’s Video of The Year Award and ranked them from worst to best. Looking over this list, I’m kinda shocked by some of these actual winners of this prize. Many of these videos were barely impressive when they won and have hardly stood up to the test of time (yes, I’m taking about you “Money For Nothing”).

Anyway, Click below for the entire list but I have included my personal favorites here:

Every VMA Video of The Year Award Ranked