What you hear is
only half the story.
Each issue tells the story of one scene: who was there, where it happened, the records it produced and what they changed.
10 issues are free to read. The rest are 7 days free, then $5 a month.
Latest issue
SongsheetsNo. 050
C86 and Indie Pop
1983-1995
United Kingdom (Scotland, England)
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Issues
Each issue covers one movement: the people, the records, a timeline and the stories that connect them.
Timeline
Six decades of scenes on one line, so you can see what overlapped and who borrowed from whom.
Artists
Every artist in the archive, linked to each scene they were part of.
Cities
Detroit, Kingston, Manchester, Tokyo. The places scenes grew out of, and the artists who came from each.
Latest issues
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SongsheetsNo. 049
2 Tone
1979-1984
Coventry, West Midlands, England
Members
SongsheetsNo. 048
Dubstep
2001-2010
South London, UK
Members
SongsheetsNo. 047
Britpop
1992-1997
United Kingdom
Free to read
SongsheetsNo. 046
London Indie, 2002-07
2002-2007
London, UK
Members
SongsheetsNo. 045
Northern Soul
1963-1981
Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent, Wigan and the North of England
Members
Long reads
All 20 →- Detroit TechnoStrings of LifeDerrick May made his best-known record from cassettes in a one-bedroom apartment, and for months almost nobody who could have helped wanted it. Chicago's DJs played his records first, and Britain made "Strings" an anthem. The record and its city, 1981 to 1991.20 min read · Read aloud · Free
- 70s Dub ReggaeSome Tasty ReverbIn 1976 Junior Murvin's "Police and Thieves", made at Lee Perry's Black Ark studio in Kingston, was a reggae hit in London's clubs in a summer that ended in a riot at the Notting Hill Carnival. The Clash put a six-minute version on their first album, and in 1977 Perry shared the production credit on their single "Complete Control". At the time Perry and Murvin both spoke well of the cover. The lines quoted for them since, in which they condemn it, have no dated source.19 min read · Read aloud · Members
- Brazilian TropicáliaForbidden to ForbidOn 15 September 1968 an audience of students in São Paulo turned their backs on Caetano Veloso and pelted him with eggs. Three months later police came for him and Gilberto Gil, and nobody would tell them why. Tropicália's two leaders, from the booing at TUCA to the farewell concert in Salvador, 1968 to 1969.26 min read · Members
- Bristol Trip HopNo Don'tOne day in April 1997 the producer Neil Davidge was playing a harpsichord sound at Christchurch Studios in Bristol when Andrew Vowles of Massive Attack walked in and asked him to keep the riff. The band's three founders were already arguing over what their third album, Mezzanine, should be, and over the next year that song, "Teardrop", became the fight that kept two of them out of the same room. The record went straight to No 1 in Britain in the week after its release in April 1998. In July 1999 it was reported that Vowles had left the band.21 min read · Members
Free to read
No account needed. Start with any of these.
SongsheetsNo. 001
UK Post-Punk
1977-1984
United Kingdom
Free to read
SongsheetsNo. 002
Detroit Techno
1981-1995
Detroit/Belleville, Michigan, USA
Free to read
SongsheetsNo. 003
Japanese City Pop
1973-1989
Tokyo, Japan
Free to read
SongsheetsNo. 004
Riot Grrrl
1988-1996
Olympia, Washington & Washington, D.C., USA
Free to read
SongsheetsNo. 005
70s Dub Reggae
1968-1980
Kingston, Jamaica
Free to read
SongsheetsNo. 006
DC Hardcore
1979-1986
Washington, D.C., USA
Free to read
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