BBC Radio 6 Music

Today marks 35 years since Hole released their debut album Pretty On The Inside.

Brash, stroppy, temperamental, angry, there’s a brilliant, unfiltered directness to Courtney Love and co.’s debut album.

Always frank, Love delved into personal, often challenging experiences for her candid lyrics, though with a strident, often brash delivery she attacks the sometimes uncomfortable subject matter from a position of strength.

Bolstered with sloppy punk guitar drones, Pretty On The Inside might not be an easy listen, but it is a truly compelling and engaging one.

Read about more albums that defined 1991 here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5gnPphr14ql179P7…

4 days ago | [YT] | 26

BBC Radio 6 Music

What's your favourite band T-Shirt? It's T-Shirt Day on 6 Music, a day where the listeners control the playlist with "requests from your chests"!

In other words, you wear your favourite tee, then send us a photo on social media by using the #TShirtDay hashtag and we’ll play a song by that artist.

You can see pictures of some of 6 Music's famous fans celebrating T-Shirt Day over the years below - featuring Louis Theroux, Brian Cox, Chrissie Hynde and Jeff Goldblum - and read this article for more: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/drd6bvTNw1QxZ2df…

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4 days ago | [YT] | 31

BBC Radio 6 Music

New to the 6 Music playlist this week...

• Ezra Collective - Jubilee Feeling
• Beck - Disappearing Act
• Gurriers - Nothing Happens Twice
• This Is Lorelei - Oh No Now My
• Yard Act - You're Gonna Need A Little Music
• Ibibio Sound Machine - Love
• Kareen Lomax - OFFLINE
• untitled - Tinted View

Have you added any of these to your playlists?

Check out the full list here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5JDPyPdDGs3yCLdt…

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 29

BBC Radio 6 Music

New to the 6 Music playlist this week...

• beabadoobee - Memories
• Mike D - Make It Stop
• Bloc Party - Pigwig
• corto.alto - NOBLEHILL (feat. Jacob Alon)
• Interpol - Wings On Fire
• JGrrey - bedbug (feat. Erick the Architect)
• Josh Caffé - Velvet Skin
• Twisted Teens - Florida Water Blues

Have you added any of these to your playlists?

Check out the full list here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5JDPyPdDGs3yCLdt…

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 19

BBC Radio 6 Music

This week, in tribute to the iconic Dolly Parton, we revisited the episode of Superfans all about Dolly's life and career. Did you know...

- Dolly recorded her first single at the age of 13
- Dolly's ancestry goes back to North Wales
- I Will Always Love You and Jolene were written at the same time
- Dolly’s theme park Dollywood is a sanctuary for people, musicians, the arts, and eagles
- Elvis Presley wanted to record I Will Always Love You but Dolly said no

If you want to hear more about these stories, read 7 things you may not know about Dolly Parton here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3DlnsxVXyWljCSJP…

Or listen to Dolly Parton's Superfans episode here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002wbcd

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 1,085

BBC Radio 6 Music

Today marks 35 years since Blur released their debut album Leisure.

Barely out of their teens, Blur’s first appearance on Top of the Pops in April 1991 introduced by Nicky Campbell (“A four letter word. From Colchester!”) was a bundle of fringes and nerves. Their second gloriously catchy single ‘There’s No Other Way’ had incredibly jumped into the top 10 from nowhere and Damon Albarn’s blue eyes stared into our living rooms for what would be the first of many visits.

The debut album Leisure, released a few months later, struggled to Number 7 in the charts. Albarn now unfairly calls it “awful”, and the simplistic lyrics (mostly ten different ways of saying “I love her” with plenty of ah-ahs to fill the gaps) hardly foreshadow the confident storytelling and imagery of their follow-ups. Yet ‘There’s No Other Way’ is still one of the best pop singles of the era, the hypnotic six minute ‘Sing’ rightfully one of the few tracks from the time that made the set lists and hits collections of their various reunions, and ‘Bang!’ is a terrific 1990/91 relic. Surprisingly, debut single 'She’s So High' holds up best, a nice bit of creepy psych-pop.

Read about more albums that defined 1991 here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5gnPphr14ql179P7…

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 146

BBC Radio 6 Music

New to the 6 Music playlist this week...

• Charli xcx - Camera
• Erykah Badu & The Alchemist - Witch Doctor
• Fontaines D.C. - Marianne
• John Glacier - Bond Girl
• Phoebe Bridgers - Bobby
• Way Dynamic - Officially

Have you added any of these to your playlists?

Check out the full list here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5JDPyPdDGs3yCLdt…

1 month ago | [YT] | 15

BBC Radio 6 Music

Foo Fighters joined 6 Music for a special edition of Artist in Residence: Access All Areas recently. The band sat down in the historic BBC Maida Vale Studios and talked about their writing process and their new album Your Favorite Toy. Here are some things we learned from the video...

1. Maida Vale was the first studio where Dave Grohl recorded with Nirvana

"I have been in this room before," Dave says. "It was the first place I ever recorded with Nirvana. I think I'd only been in the band for like three and a half weeks, and they needed a drummer to do this UK tour with L7. And so we came here. I think it was a John Peel session... we did two Vaseline songs that we wound up doing on tour."

2. The Foos' new album was recorded in a “tiny room” at Dave’s house

Your Favorite Toy, released in April, is their twelfth studio album and their first in three years. While their previous effort was made in a studio in LA, they stayed at home for this one. Quite literally, in Dave Grohl’s home: "[We] recorded this in that tiny room in my house. It was like we couldn't all fit in there at the same time," Dave says.

3. Dave doesn’t write vocal melodies until he’s at the mic

"It's funny when we record because Dave hasn’t put any of the vocals down on anything that we do, so you’re recording without a melody," Nate says. "So it’s always a surprise. You’ll finish the track like, ‘oh, this song could be great,’ and then at the last moment Dave puts the vocal on, then you really know where it’s where it’s going to be. So it's always kind of a surprise to see how it's going to play out."

4. No matter how bad a show goes, 'Everlong' always saves it

Foo Fighters are one of the most electrifying bands to witness live, but even they admit they can have an off night. When that happens, they say a handful of classics always come to the rescue.
"There are certain songs in the set that, if it's not a great show, will always get it going," says guitarist Chris Shiflett. "'Everlong' is always one of those songs. 'Best of You' is always one of those songs. And 'Pretender' is absolutely one of those songs."
“When we get to the last song, ‘Everlong’ - it never fails," says fellow guitarist Pat Smear, and Chris agrees: "They only remember how you walk out and how you walk off."

For more insights about the iconic band, watch the video below.

1 month ago | [YT] | 2

BBC Radio 6 Music

Today the shortlist for this year's Mercury Prize was announced! Which of the shortlisted albums have you enjoyed most?

In this week's Sidetracked episode, Nick Grimshaw reflects on the shortlist alongside nominated band Knats - find out who made the list and check out their deep dive here: https://youtu.be/YywlwSW-rSI

1 month ago | [YT] | 7

BBC Radio 6 Music

Today The Strokes’ Is This It turns 25!

Perhaps the biggest catalyst for post-millennium indie entering the mainstream, the New York garage-rock revivalists announced themselves in explosive fashion with their debut album back in July 2001.
The scrappy band, who'd formed around a teenage friendship between guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. and frontman Julian Casablancas, found fame quickly - within a year they'd gone from playing to a handful of friends in a rammed tent to gracing the Main Stage at Reading and Leeds.
The album was recorded with minimal studio polish - just "one microphone for the voice and one for the snare drum: everything minimal”. The band later said that they wanted it to sound "like your favourite blue jeans - not totally destroyed, but worn-in, comfortable".
It's arguable that no other record did more to lead the guitar revival that would define the indie scene for much of the next decade. The album's influence can be seen in the likes of Fontaines D.C., Wet Leg and even Arctic Monkeys, who opened their 2018 song Star Treatment with the lyric: "I just wanted to be one of the Strokes, now look at the mess you made me make".


Read about some of the other albums that defined 2001, all turning 25 this year, in our full article here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3j8sx8r752khNTlm…

What was your favourite album from 2001?

1 month ago | [YT] | 20