Leonard Cohen
Update: Leonard Cohen has died at the age of 82.
Leonard Cohen (illustration by Andy Friedman)
FUV Essentials
So many variables determine what makes an artist or band “essential” — longevity, impact, influence, history. On-air and online, we celebrate the musicians who have shaped our cultural soundtrack for the past fifty years. Let’s love these FUV Essential artists while they’re here, and honor those who have departed too soon.
Steely Dan
[October 2019 update: The death of Steely Dan co-founder Walter Be
Steely Dan's Donald Fagen and Walter Becker (original photo by Danny Clinch, PR)
Van Morrison
FUV Essentials artist Van Morrison has a brand new album called Keep Me Singing, his 36th studio release. It marks another chapter in the five-decade career of this Northern Irish singer, songwriter, and soul man.
Nirvana
It's been 25 years since Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" erupted with volcanic rage on radios and MTV in the prehistoric, pre-internet Nineties, altering the trajectory of American music. The lead single from the band's second album, Nevermind, which was released on September 24, 1991, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" became the mainstream manifesto of grunge, Seattle's fiery, flannel-cloaked scene of rock 'n' roll angst, anger, isolation, and too many drugs.
Nirvana (illustration by Andy Friedman)
Aretha Franklin
[August 16, 2018 update: Aretha
Aretha Franklin (illlustration by Andy Friedman)
Wilco
Wilco (photo by Zoran Orlic, PR)
Led Zeppelin
Sorry, Led Zep fans. Even though the band marks its 50th anniversary in 2018, the likelihood of a band reunion this year—or any year—is pretty much nil. But from Robert Plant's expanded tour with the Sensational Shape Shifters to a March tribute show at Carnegie Hall to a new 368-page illustrated book, there are plenty of celebratory Led Zep-releated events on the horizon.
Led Zeppelin (illustration by Andy Friedman)
Patti Smith
Patti Smith, a poetic pugilist and rock 'n' roll revolutionary, has always had a profound understanding of American fury—and tenderness too.
Patti Smith (illustration by Andy Friedman)
Marvin Gaye
A brilliant, complex man and musician, Marvin Gaye released his nine-song conceptual suite, 'What's Going On,' 45 years ago in May 1971. Following a perfect storm of despair and determination, Gaye not only transformed his own career, but the trajectory of contemporary protest albums. He also gave black Americans an album that defined their concerns.
Marvin Gaye (illustration by Andy Friedman)
David Byrne and Talking Heads
The Talking Heads—David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison—will always be New York's envoys of its golden age of art punk, no wave, new wave and post punk, but they concurrently laid the foundations for the future of artists like Radiohead, Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem.
Talking Heads (illustration by Andy Friedman)
