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In 1979, Earth, Wind & Fire released "After The Love Has Gone". On their I Am album, Bill Champlin, David Foster, and Ja...
10/04/2026

In 1979, Earth, Wind & Fire released "After The Love Has Gone". On their I Am album, Bill Champlin, David Foster, and Jay Graydon are the writers of the heartbreaking tune.

"After The Love Has Gone" says, "Something happened along the way / What used to be happy was sad / Something happened along the way / And yesterday was all we had / And oh, after the love has gone / How could you lead me on / And not let me stay around / Oh oh oh, after the love has gone / What used to be right is wrong / Can love that's lost be found."

One of two songs on I Am that Earth, Wind & Fire's Maurice White didn't write for the record, "After The Love Has Gone" wasn't written for the group. Instead, Champlin wrote it, hoping to record it himself.

In addition to Champlin's lengthy run as part of Chicago, he also had a solo career. When he wrote "After The Love Has Gone", he had every intention of including it on one of his own albums,

The genesis of the song begins with Foster, who had Jaye P. Morgan in mind for an early iteration of "After The Love Has Gone". He was reportedly playing what he already had of the song for Graydon, but forgot some of the words, using the lyrics "after the love has gone" as a filler. They enlisted Champlin to help with the lyrics, who finished the words. Excited, he also recorded a few different versions of the song for himself.

It may have remained a Champlin hit, except for Foster's work with Earth, Wind & Fire.

"David was also writing with Maurice White for Earth, Wind & Fire for the I Am album," Graydon recalls to Songfacts. "He played the song for Maurice, and Maurice loved it. David called me and says, 'Hey, man. Earth, Wind & Fire wants to record it, but I don't want to tell Champlin that it's gonna have to get pulled off his record. Will you do it?' I said, 'I sure will.'"

"I called Bill, and I said, 'Bill, here's the story,'" Graydon continues. "And he says, 'I'm not an idiot, man.' I said, 'I'm glad you say you're not an idiot. Because they say this thing's gonna be a single for sure. And this could be big.' Needless to say, that song still generates good money. It's unbelievable."

Earth, Wind & Fire's Verdine White later says "After The Love Has Gone" was one of their hardest songs to record. The group earned its first Grammy Award for this song.

Jon Bon Jovi and his eponymous band have contributed some of the most iconic classic rock anthems of the 1980s, includin...
10/04/2026

Jon Bon Jovi and his eponymous band have contributed some of the most iconic classic rock anthems of the 1980s, including "Runaway", "Livin' On A Prayer", and "You Give Love A Bad Name". Countless artists, frontmen or otherwise, wish they could have just one enduring single like the ones Bon Jovi boasts. But that doesn't make the rock singer immune from wishing he wrote other world-famous songs—and wishing the world could forget others he worked on.

During a 2024 installment of The Guardian's "Honest Playlist" series, the Bon Jovi frontman pulled back the curtain to his personal music taste. He admitted that he wished he could have written the "lyrics and melody" to Don Henley's "The Boys Of Summer". "I ran into Don last week, put my arm around him after he had just sung that song, and said, 'I really wish I'd written that.'"

To be fair to Bon Jovi, he's not the only one who felt that way. As fate would have it, the song's original composer, Mike Campbell, first tried to pitch the song to his Heartbreakers bandleader, Tom Petty. Petty refused, after which Campbell gave it to Henley—a decision Petty would kick himself for after hearing "Boys Of Summer" on the radio for the first time.

When you have as prolific a career as Bon Jovi, not every album cut will be a winner. There will be some stinkers here and there, some of which the band can quietly omit from their live performances, and some others that the band plays because the audience still enjoys them. But during his interview with The Guardian, frontman Jon Bon Jovi revealed that the one song he simply can't stomach is from his early days as a recording studio gopher.

Bon Jovi got his start in the music industry as an underling at his cousin's recording studio in Manhattan. One day, producer Meco Menardo was in the studio working on a Star Wars Christmas album. He needed the voice of a young boy for the track "R2-D2 We Wish You A Merry Christmas". Since Bon Jovi was around—and eager for opportunities outside of floor-sweeping and errand-running—he volunteered to record the vocal part.

"People have only just recently rediscovered I was the singer," Bon Jovi told The Guardian. "Now it gets played to me all the time."

The 80s developed a distinct musical identity from all that came before that decade. Several specific sounds were distin...
10/04/2026

The 80s developed a distinct musical identity from all that came before that decade. Several specific sounds were distinctly distinguished during that time period. Musicians and producers returned so much to these sounds that they almost became cliched.

Perhaps no sound epitomized the decade like the drum sound made most popular by Phil Collins. He utilized it on a hit single in 1981, ensuring that many more would copy his success.

Gated reverb is the technical term for what Phil Collins utilized to great effect on both his solo records and his work with Genesis. While other artists and producers started to bring this explosive drum sound to light in the late 70s, Collins boosted it to the mainstream with the 1981 single "In The Air Tonight".

But how did Collins arrive at the sound? He was helping his former Genesis bandmate Peter Gabriel on his third solo album, which was self-titled like the first two. Collins was playing drums, and Hugh Padgham was in the control room producing.

At one point, Padgham opened up a talkback channel to speak to Collins. Collins didn't know it at the time and started playing the drums. Padgham and everyone in the control room heard an explosion unlike any other drum sound they'd previously experienced come through the talk-back monitor. If they could harness it, they'd have something special.

Padgham had an engineer create a new channel on the board by which that particular drum sound could be recorded. He also took it one step further. To create an effect by which the drum sound would come booming out but then quickly cut off, he added an aural "gate." Hence, the term "gated reverb."

Gabriel used it on the song "Intruder", which led off that album. Note that you don't hear any cymbals in the song. That's because the principals realized that the cymbals created distortion when the gated reverb effect was attempted.

When Gabriel's album was released, he was still more of a cult artist than the pop star he'd become. Phil Collins, meanwhile, was just starting to come into his own as the lead singer of Genesis in Gabriel's absence. And he was also thinking about a solo project to get some of the tortured feelings about his divorce off his chest.

When Collins made the album Face Value, he brought along Hugh Padgham to help him produce it. The pair wanted to utilize the fantastic sound they'd recently discovered. Only they wanted to make sure to use it in moderation.

"In The Air Tonight", written by Collins as a kind of allegory about his feelings of mistrust and hurt in the wake of his separation, seemed like the perfect track for the strategy. It was moody, featuring cold, eerie synthesizers as Collins sang a bluesy melody.

Most of the song goes by at a low boil. But as Collins moves into the chorus late in the song, the gated reverb effect is used as he pounds away at his kit. The release of all the tension that had been building up makes for an indelible musical moment.

"In The Air Tonight" turned into a somewhat unlikely hit single, considering Collins was far from a high-profile star at the time. It was the first time that many folks had ever heard the gated reverb drum sound. Thanks to how skillfully it was deployed, it would be far from the last.

Eventually, Van Morrison became one of the most distinctive solo artists in the entire world. But first, he made his bon...
10/04/2026

Eventually, Van Morrison became one of the most distinctive solo artists in the entire world. But first, he made his bones as the lead singer of a group. Them emerged in the mid-60s and brought a jolt of improvisational energy to the beat music scene.

In 1965, Them scored on both shores with “Here Comes The Night”, a song that combined light pop with driving rock. Not long after its success, Morrison was on his way to solo stardom.

Them didn’t have a ton of experience when they started out. They came from Ireland, which wasn’t exactly a haven for successful rock bands. But in Van Morrison, who wasn’t even out of his teens when the band formed in 1964, they boasted an extraordinary vocal talent.

Morrison pulled together Them on the spot when he needed players for a gig at an Irish hotel. The band developed a style, somewhat unusual for the times, of playing a blues-rock riff for well past the length of the typical rock song. Those extended jams prompted Morrison to wail his way through a series of ad-libs.

Soon, the band nabbed a record deal at Decca Records. Early songs “Baby Please Don’t Go” and “Gloria” captured the manic energy of their live shows. But they needed to prove they could do something more pop-oriented. “Here Comes The Night” was the vehicle they used to make that happen.

Bert Berns wrote “Here Comes The Night” and also produced it. They cut the song in late 1964. In this case, the band sacrificed the spontaneity that they showed on stage for a little bit more finesse.

But they had to wait a bit to release it because the British chanteuse Lulu got to it first. That single didn’t make much of a dent, allowing Them to release it in 1965. Their version featured Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame helping out on rhythm guitar. It reached No. 24 in the US and just missed the top spot in the UK.

Perhaps taking their cue from their mercurial lead singer, Them didn’t have the stuff to play the pop music game for long. But that wasn’t an issue for Morrison, who was already getting courted by industry bigwigs to start the solo career that would make him a legend.

“Here Comes The Night” features a grinding chorus, one where Morrison sings the refrain with a combination of power and anguish. The verses feature a tripping melody, sung by Morrison in a playful manner that we don’t usually associate with him. Those verses tell a tale of a narrator who can’t get over his ex moving on with someone new.

“His arms around her like it used to be with me,” Morrison sings. “Whoa, it makes me want to die.” In the second verse, he wonders why it bothers him so much: “Why can’t I accept the fact that she’s chosen him?” The last verse reveals that maybe she’s not worth the anguish. “I could see her closing her eyes and tellin’ him lies,” Morrison sings. “Exactly like she told me too.”

With “Here Comes The Night”, Van Morrison showed early on that he could move in more of a pop direction with his vocals. That malleability came in handy a few years later with the massive single “Brown-Eyed Girl.” But then he was onto a much more elusive type of musical magic from there.

Wynonna Judd is set to release her first solo album in a decade, The Hard Truth, on October 2. The album is punctuated b...
10/03/2026

Wynonna Judd is set to release her first solo album in a decade, The Hard Truth, on October 2. The album is punctuated by the death of her mother and collaborator, Naomi Judd. Ahead of the album’s release, Judd spoke about how that tragic loss affected her.

Four years ago, news broke that Naomi Judd committed su***de, shocking the country world. Her daughter has delivered many tributes over the years and has now decided to discuss the harder edges of her relationship with her mother in this record.

“I have forgiven her as much as possible. You don’t forget,” Judd shared in an interview with PEOPLE shortly before the album’s release.

On top of the tragic sudden loss, Judd reveals that her mother kept the identity of her biological father from her for 30 years. “I’ve wondered a million times why she didn’t tell me,” she continued. “I carry a great deal of anger about that at times. And then other times I totally accept it. It’s part of my story. It’s what helps us write good songs.” Judd tackles the topic on her new album with the ballad “Girl Who Could Sing.”

According to the country star, this album is rife with hard-to-hear truths about her mother that likely wouldn’t sit well with her if she were still alive.

Kenny Chesney goes big for his tours. During a recent appearance on The Bobby Bones Show, the country star revealed that...
10/03/2026

Kenny Chesney goes big for his tours. During a recent appearance on The Bobby Bones Show, the country star revealed that he rents out a stadium before kicking off his treks.

“For the last several years, we’ve opened our tour in Tampa, and we’re gonna do that again next summer,” he said. “We’ll be there for a week before the first show, in the stadium. [We rent the stadium] for a week.”

Despite the expense of the endeavor, Chesney insisted that renting out the stadium is “the only way to do it.”

“There’s so many moving parts that goes into it,” he explained. “You can’t simulate that in a really small space, or even in a really big rehearsal space. You have to go and set everything up to see how it looks, and if something’s not right, you gotta fix it.”

For Chesney, all the preparation is worth it to the crowd’s reaction to his sets.

“You have the energy of the crowd, you have the energy of the of the sound system and the band, and all of a sudden we’re there,” he said. “When those two things meet, it’s an amazing experience and it’s an addiction that I can’t explain.”

Chesney’s latest interview came on the heels of the release of his latest album, Silver Sands Marina. The country star gave fans in Nashville a little taste of what they can expect from his tour next year with an album release show at The Pinnacle.

“Three years in the making, a lot of songs listened to, even recorded, to get to this moment, these stories and emotions, and I wanted to give it all directly to the people who’ve loved and lived this music with me,” Chesney said in a press release. “There is so much good happening, we should all experience it together. Man, did we! And it’s awesome to hear the reactions people are having.”

Chesney will get more of that next year when he sets off on The Vibe Room Tour. Eric Church, Sheryl Crow, and Greylan James will be joining Chesney on the trek, which will kick off on April 24 in Tampa, Florida.

Tracey Ullman has enjoyed a fantastic career as one of the most versatile comedic actresses of her generation. And she j...
10/03/2026

Tracey Ullman has enjoyed a fantastic career as one of the most versatile comedic actresses of her generation. And she just keeps rolling along. Most recently, she popped up in the newest season of Ted Lasso.

Back in 1983, however, Ullman was a virtual unknown in the United States when she made a foray into music for the first time. This made it all the more shocking when she showed up with one of The Beatles in a video.

By 1983, Tracey Ullman had established herself as a major television star in her native Great Britain. Even back then, she was showing off her chops as a sketch comic of rare talent. Her ability to sink into different costumes and accents and come away with fully formed characters set her apart from the pack.

That year, Ullman was approached while at the hairdresser’s shop by the wife of the label head at Stiff Records. Since Ullman had shown her singing ability in her sketch comedy work, the woman asked if she wanted to make an album.

Ullman jumped at the chance. Her debut album, You Broke My Heart In 17 Places, appeared in 1983 and immediately soared in Great Britain. That included a Top 5 position for lead single “Breakaway”. The second single, however, was the one that introduced her to US audiences, who were surprised to see her in such famous company in the video.

British singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl wrote and recorded the first version of “They Don’t Know” in 1979. Since she belonged to the same label as the actress, she helped out when Ullman did the cover version of the ebullient pop song. MacColl assisted in arranging the harmonies and even hit the “Baby” high note in the song since Ullman couldn’t quite reach that register.

In the video, Ullman shows off some of her comedic skills. She spends the early part of the clip primping for a date, then bounces around a bowling alley. Later, she’s seen in frumpy housewife attire in a supermarket pushing a child around in a shopping cart.

At no point does her character seem despondent; however, instead leaning into the optimism in the lyrics about having someone by her side unbeknownst to the rest of the world. At the end of the video, she’s seen in a car with none other than Paul McCartney, playing the paramour who’d been hidden up to that point.

Considering Ullman hadn’t made her television debut in America yet, fans in the US were seeing her for the first time in the video. Many wondered how this unknown scored such an illustrious cameo appearance in the video.

Not long before Ullman filmed the video for “They Don’t Know”, she landed a minor role in the film Give My Regards To Broad Street. That film, which ended up getting its release in 1984, starred and featured music from Paul McCartney. Paul also did much of the creative work behind the scenes on that film. Since she already had that working relationship with Macca, Ullman felt emboldened to ask him to be in her video.

A few years later, Ullman secured her own variety show (The Tracey Ullman Show) on American television. Thanks to Paul McCartney, US audiences knew this wonderful talent well by then.

Willie Nelson faced a brutal health battle in 2022. In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, the country music legend...
10/03/2026

Willie Nelson faced a brutal health battle in 2022. In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, the country music legend recalled his “terrible” fight with SARS-CoV-2.

A true icon, Rod Stewart recently announced he was retiring from touring.All good things must come to an end. And for St...
10/03/2026

A true icon, Rod Stewart recently announced he was retiring from touring.

All good things must come to an end. And for Stewart, that run included thousands of performances across six decades. Truly amazed by what he accomplished over the years, it seemed that he would entertain fans one last time when he kicks off his farewell tour next April.

Bono got a special gift from Dolly Parton before her death. In an interview with Rolling Stone, the U2 frontman revealed...
10/03/2026

Bono got a special gift from Dolly Parton before her death. In an interview with Rolling Stone, the U2 frontman revealed that Parton’s last-ever recording appears on his band’s forthcoming album, Carnaval de Luz, which is due out Nov. 13.

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