lyrics — Bunk History

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Hip hop nightclub.

Golden-Era Rap Music and the Black Intellectual Tradition

In Hip hop’s “golden era,” the period from 1987 to 1994, rappers used their platforms to bring attention to issues plaguing poor and working-class Black communities.

by Antoine S. Johnson via Black Perspectives on August 15, 2023

Shadow of Jason Aldean performing on stage.

Jason Aldean's 'Small Town' Is Part of a Long Legacy with a Very Dark Side

The country song that pits idyllic country life against the corruption of the city is a well-worn trope. Aldean's song reveals the dark heart of the tradition.

by Amanda Marie Martinez via NPR on July 22, 2023

Hands placing silhouettes of witnesses onto a chart using tweezers.

An Offer You Can’t Refuse

How a mob statute metastasized.

by Piper French via The Drift on July 12, 2023

L: Current Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; R: Former Florida Gov. LeRoy Collins.

The Overlooked Origins of the War on Bud Light and Other “Woke” Companies

Starbucks and Anheuser-Busch are the latest corporate targets of tactics honed by segregationists post–Brown v. Board.

by Lawrence B. Glickman via Slate on July 5, 2023

Henderson Thigpen, Deanie Parker, Bobby Manuel, and Eddie Floyd, the songwriters of Stax.

The Secret Sound of Stax

The rediscovery of demos performed by the songwriters of the legendary Memphis recording studio reveals a hidden history of soul.

by Burkhard Bilger via The New Yorker on May 29, 2023

Car interior with Chuck Berry reflected in side view mirror.

An Anthropologist of Filth

On Chuck Berry.

by Ian Penman via Harper’s on May 4, 2023

Connie Converse playing a guitar

The Lost Music of Connie Converse

A writer of haunting, uncategorizable songs, she once seemed poised for runaway fame. But only decades after she disappeared has her music found an audience.

by Jeremy Lybarger via The New Republic on April 24, 2023

Four women looking away from the camera and smiling.

Fairytale

The Pointer Sisters, the Great Migration, and the soul of country.

by Carina del Valle Schorske via Oxford American on December 13, 2022

Image of four people with only their pants and shoes visible. The third person is holding a boombox.

On Atlanta’s Essential Role in the Making of American Hip-Hop

How the city's urban and suburban landscape shaped its alternating history of oppression and opportunity.

by Joe Coscarelli via Literary Hub on November 7, 2022

Black and white photo of Woody Guthrie holding a guitar labeled "this machine kills fascists"

I've Got Those Old Talking-Blues Blues Again

The Folkies and WWII, Part Two.

by William Hogeland via Hogeland's Bad History on October 13, 2022

Black and white photograph of Loretta Lynn holding a microphone

Personifying a Country Ideal, Loretta Lynn Tackled Sexism Through a Complicated Lens

The singer wasn't a feminist torchbearer, but her music amplified women's issues.

by Amanda Marie Martinez via NPR on October 9, 2022

Weird Al Yankovic, Lizzo, and Beyonce with their mouths covered by black bars indicating censorship.

The Surprising History of the Slur Beyoncé and Lizzo Both Cut From Their New Albums

How did the controversial term go from middle-school slang to verboten? The answer lies on the other side of the Atlantic.

by Ben Zimmer via Slate on August 3, 2022

Sheet music cover for "My Old Kentucky Home."

Emily Bingham on the Material Culture of White America’s Song to Itself: “My Old Kentucky Home”

A haunting exploration of “My Old Kentucky Home” reveals how a minstrel song rooted in slavery became a nostalgic American icon embedded in consumer culture.

by Emily Bingham via Literary Hub on May 16, 2022

A horse and jockey race by the crowd at the Kentucky Derby.

The Complicated Story Behind The Kentucky Derby’s Opening Song

Emily Bingham’s new book explores the roots of the Kentucky Derby’s anthem. It may not be pretty, but it’s important to know.

by Rebecca Gayle Howell via Washington Post on May 3, 2022

Advertisment for 1947 performance by singers and musicians Billie Holiday & Louis Armstrong

Did the Blues Originate in New Orleans?

Something unusual happened in New Orleans music around 1895. Was it the birth of the blues?

by Ted Gioia via The Honest Broker on April 18, 2022

Sheet music cover for Civil War marching song "The Bonnie Blue Flag," featuring two flags used by Confederate states.

We Are a Band of Brothers

Why are so many songs of the Confederacy indelibly inscribed in my Yankee memory?

by William Hogeland via Hogeland's Bad History on April 9, 2022

Man holding a poster of Malcolm X, African American Day Parade, 2010 in Harlem.

Malcolm X’s Gospel

A look into how Malcolm X employed gospel rhetoric to critique the mainstream civil rights movement for catering to white Christianity.

by Ellen McLarney via Black Perspectives on March 28, 2022

Nimrod and His Companions Venerating Fire, by Rudolf von Ems, c. 1400.

Enjoy My Flames

On heavy metal’s fascination with Roman emperors.

by Jeremy Swist via Lapham’s Quarterly on March 23, 2022

A "High Water" sign mirrored in front of a black and white portrait of two Black men standing in front of a boat on the water

Songs for a South Underwater

After the 1927 Great Flood, Black musicians from the Delta produced an outpour of songs testifying to the destruction. The same is true today.

by Sergio Lopez via Scalawag on February 11, 2022

Test launch of an ICBM, reminiscent of a star with a long tail in the night sky.

“Do You Hear What I Hear” Was Actually About the Cuban Missile Crisis

The holiday favorite is an allegorical prayer for peace.

by Reba A. Wissner via Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on December 22, 2021

Johnny Cash in front of a microphone.

Johnny Cash Is a Hero to Americans on the Left and Right. But His Music Took a Side.

Listen to Blood, Sweat and Tears again.

by Michael Stewart Foley via Slate on December 7, 2021

A photo of Fontella Bass repeated as if it's a frame in a filmstrip.

Can't You See That I'm Lonely?

“Rescue Me,” on repeat.

by David Ramsey via Oxford American on December 7, 2021

Marian Anderson looking downwards

Marian Anderson’s Bone-Chilling Rendition of “Crucifixion”

Her performances of the Black spiritual in the nineteen-thirties caused American and European audiences to fall silent in awe.

by Alex Ross via The New Yorker on October 19, 2021

Bob Dylan singing

Bob Dylan, Historian

In the six decades of his career, Bob Dylan has mined America’s past for images, characters, and events that speak to the nation’s turbulent present.

by Sean Wilentz via New York Review of Books on June 19, 2021

No Opening Day Without Von Tilzer!

The Jewish Tin Pan Alley composer who wrote ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ had never been to a ballgame.

by Robert Rockaway via Tablet on April 1, 2021

An illustration of an accordion being played.

The "Good Old Rebel" at the Heart of the Radical Right

How a satirical song mocking uneducated Confederates came to be embraced as an anthem of white Southern pride.

by Joseph M. Thompson via Southern Cultures on January 21, 2021

Carolers walking and carrying sheet music

The Forgotten Civil War History of Two of Our Favorite Christmas Carols

Over time, the historic roots of some holiday music have been forgotten.

by Christian McWhirter via Made By History on December 23, 2020

Vanilla Ice in front of an American flag

The Rise and Fall of Vanilla Ice, As Told by Vanilla Ice

Thirty years after "Ice Ice Baby," Robert Van Winkle is ready to talk about it all—his rise, his fall, and that infamous night on the balcony.

by Jeff Weiss via The Ringer on October 6, 2020

Guthrie Guitar Kills Fascists

Woody Guthrie's Communism and "This Land Is Your Land"

Was he or wasn't he a member of the Communist Party USA?

by Aaron J. Leonard via HNN on September 20, 2020

The five members of The Band in black and white

Is “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” Really a Pro-Confederate Anthem?

The answer may lie in the ear of the beholder.

by Jack Hamilton via Slate on August 13, 2020

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