Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips speaks to NPR's Arun Rath about his band's new album, With A Little Help From My Fwends. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

itoggle caption Courtesy of the artist

Music Interviews

Messing With Perfection: Why The Flaming Lips Took On 'Sgt. Pepper'

October 25, 2014 • Wayne Coyne says his band was dying to take The Beatles' masterpiece apart and see how it works.

Listen Loading… 6:59

The Beatles' "Hey Jude" concludes with one of pop music's most epic fade-outs. Vimeo hide caption

itoggle caption Vimeo

Music News

The Rise And Fall Of The Fade-Out

September 17, 2014 • A slow fade, rather than a hard stop, used to be the popular way to end a pop song. NPR's Robert Siegel speaks with Slate reporter William Weir about the fade-out's history and recent decline.

Listen Loading… 4:52

The Beatles with George Martin in January 1967 at Abbey Road Studios in London. Apple Corps Lt/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

itoggle caption Apple Corps Lt/Courtesy of the artist

The Record

All Together Now: The Beatles Are (Back) In Mono

September 9, 2014 • The latest reissue project in the never-ending celebration of the most famous catalog in rock 'n' roll goes back to the beginning. Does listening to The Beatles in mono make sense in 2014?

September 1984, Dubrovnik, Croatia --- Small children cover their ears as they stand next to a sousaphone player during a concert played by the Dubrovnik Saturday Band in Dubrovnik, Croatia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Jonathan Blair/Corbis

All Songs Considered

The Worst Songs Of All Time?

February 11, 2014 • Carrie Brownstein returns to All Songs Considered to chat with hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton and NPR Music's Stephen Thompson about relentless earworms, annoying novelty songs and other songs they think of as quite possibly the worst of all time.

Listen Loading… 1:01:13

The former Washington Coliseum in Washington, D.C.

Jim Tuttle/NPR

The Picture Show

Long Exposures Of A Creepy Garage (Also, The Beatles!)

February 8, 2014 • Now a humble parking lot, the Washington Coliseum has seen a lot in its day — including a historic night in music.

Listen Loading… 7:59

Ed Sullivan smiles while standing with The Beatles on the set of his variety show on Feb. 9, 1964. Express Newspapers/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Express Newspapers/Getty Images

The Record

The Beatles' Yearlong Journey To 'The Ed Sullivan Show'

February 7, 2014 • Even as they reached the Top 10 in Britain, appeared on TV and had young women swooning by the thousands across the pond, their first singles in the U.S. were released on tiny independent labels and went nowhere. What went wrong, and finally right, in the leadup to the night of Feb. 7, 1964.

Listen Loading… 8:10

Members of The Beatles play in the snow outside Washington, D.C.'s Coliseum where they were scheduled to perform before a sell-out audience in 1964. Central Press/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Central Press/Getty Images