Every year, once list fatigue has started to pass, I start to see culture writers of various beats share and discuss their favorite stories of the year. In one way, it’s a niche circle taking stock of where their shrinking industry is headed; in another, it’s a way to spread the stories that made them say, “damn I wish I’d thought of that.” When writers and editors say that, you know it’s a piece worth your time.
We already gave you the year’s best cultural commentary, but I found myself wanting to shine a light on some of the pieces that stayed with me long after the tab left my browser.
Tech, Biz + The Charts
Why the Summer Music Festival Bubble Is About to Burst — Wondering Sound — Grayson Haver Currin
I Know You Got Soul: The Trouble With Billboard’s R&B and Hip-Hop Charts — Pitchfork — Chris Molanphy
The Shazam Effect — The Atlantic — Derek Thompson
How Young Thug Got Trapped By A $15,000 Advance From A Major Label — BuzzFeed — Naomi Zeichner
Race + Class
Top 40 In A Summer Of Discontent — NPR — Ann Powers
Revisiting ‘Ready to Die’: Biggie’s Brooklyn, Then and Now — Wondering Sound — Judnick Mayard
Questlove On How Hip-Hop Failed Black America — Vulture — Questlove
Angaleena Presley and Nadine Hubbs’s Case Against Country-Music Classism — Wondering Sound — Jewly Hight
Gender + Sexuality
Ordinary Machines: Pretty When You Cry — Pitchfork — Lindsay Zoladz
The Booty Myth — Cuepoint/Medium — Evelyn McDonnell
Shady XLII: Eminem in 2014 — Grantland — Molly Lambert
Social Anxiety: Sam Smith and the Complicated Matter of “Normalizing” Gayness — The Fader — Jessica Robertson
These Hoes Ain’t Heard: On the Women Who Remixed “Loyal” — The Hairpin — Emma Carmichael
Sleater-Kinney: Start Together box set — Pitchfork — Jenn Pelly
Harry Styles: Boy of the Year of the Girl — Rolling Stone — Rob Sheffield
Bygone Eras
Hunting for the Source of the World’s Most Beguiling Folk Music — The New York Times Magazine — Amanda Petrusich
Real People: Chic in the ’80s — Red Bull Music Academy — Michaelangelo Matos
Who Can I Be Now? How David Bowie Spent 1974 — NPR — Jem Aswad
The Definitive, One-Size-Fits-All, Accept-No-Substitutes, Massively Comprehensive Guide to the Life and Times of KISS — Grantland — Chuck Klosterman
Profiles
Jason Molina’s Long Dark Blues — The Chicago Reader — Max Blau
Nicki Minaj: The Real Her — Complex — Lauren Nostro
50 Cent Is My Life Coach — GQ — Zach Baron
Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme Is Our Last Real Rock Star — LA Weekly — Steve Appleford
The Bulletproof Altar of St. Vincent — The Village Voice — Devon Maloney
Fun Stuff
Beatlemaniacs, Beliebers, Directioners — Why Do They Scream? — The Washington Post — Chris Richards
Celebrating 10,000 Years of Arcade Fire — Hazlitt — Zachary Lipez
20 Essential K-Pop Songs — Pitchfork — Jakob Dorof
Allow us to add: Flavorwire’s 2014 music section highlight reel
‘Nothing Has Changed’: Searching for a Self in David Bowie’s 50 Years of Transformation
“How Are Things on the East Coast?”: A One-Act Play About Interpol
Perfume Genius Wants To Be Your Gay Icon
Iggy Azalea, Andrew W.K., and the Paradox of Authenticity in Pop Music
Secrets For Sale: Bob Dylan’s ‘Basement Tapes’ Maintain Their Mystery Despite Complete Release
20 Years of Weezer’s ‘Blue Album’: 11 Musicians Dissect It Track By Track
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra and What Political Music Means in the 21st Century
2014: The Year Music Actually Did Something About Its Tech Skepticism