By the mid-80s, Prince was a global superstar thanks to the worldwide success of 1984’s Purple Rain.  So when he started work on his follow-up — eventually released on March 31, 1987 as the double-LP Sign O' the Times — it came amidst a creative tsunami that saw two more classic albums with his longtime band the Revolution (1985’s Around The World in A Day and the following year’s Parade),...

The year 2000 looms large in pop culture history: the Y2k non-scare, the Seinfeld "Newmannium" episode, the "In the Year 2000" sketch from Conan O'Brien's original late-night show, the Hulu series PEN15. And just like, say, the grunge-defined 1991, the year immediately conjures specific sounds: gleaming teen-pop, earnest radio rock, the Neptunes and Timbaland. There's never a bad time to revisit this...

"It's dark," says Chino Moreno. "It's a trip." Not a bad off-the-cuff summary of Deftones' ninth LP, Ohms, which amplifies the art-metal band's signature dynamic extremes: Frank Delgado's shadowy synth atmospherics are more prominent in the mix, and Stephen Carpenter's detuned riffs scorch the terrain beneath them. But Moreno isn't describing the album — instead, he's marveling at the post-apocalyptic...