Artwork for For The Record episode on The Rolling Stones' 'Sticky Fingers'

The Rolling Stones in 1972

 

Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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For The Record: Inside The Wild Ride Behind The Rolling Stones' 'Sticky Fingers' At 50

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'Sticky Fingers,' the Rolling Stones' chart-topping 1971 album, is an essential and dangerous rock and roll project that marked a rebirth for the iconic band
Jim Beaugez
GRAMMYs
May 16, 2021 - 3:58 pm

The succession of high-profile drug busts and tragedies that shadowed the Rolling Stones in the late 1960s came to a head with the 1971 release of the band's 11th U.S. album, Sticky Fingers.

Recorded amid the disastrous Altamont concert aftermath and between famously debauched concert tours of the U.S. and Europe, Sticky Fingers is every bit as raw as the band's lives were at the time. The smoky barroom swagger of "Sway," the twitchy riffs and raspy vocals of "Bitch," and the grooving yet grimy "Brown Sugar" reflect just how wild the rock and roll ride had become for the band.

A drug bust in 1967 that ensnared Mick Jagger and Keith Richards was a prelude to the years that followed. Rolling Stones co-founder Brian Jones drowned in his swimming pool two years later, less than a month after the Stones fired him for excessive drug use, which had led to dwindling involvement with the group; he barely showed up to sessions for Let It Bleed, the band's 10th U.S. album, which was released in the months following his death.

Eager for a fresh start and desperate for cash, the Stones played a now-legendary concert at Hyde Park in London and hit the U.S. for their first tour in two years during the latter half of 1969. Chaos followed the band, culminating in a free concert at the Altamont Speedway in the hills between Livermore and Tracy, California. Billed as a sort of West Coast Woodstock, with a lineup featuring Jefferson Airplane, Santana and the Grateful Dead, the concert instead punctuated the end of the hippie peace-and-love era.

Clashes between members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, which was hired as concert security at the event, and audience members created an atmosphere so charged, the Grateful Dead chose not to perform, even though they had helped organize the event. One biker assaulted Jefferson Airplane singer Marty Balin while others took aim at concertgoers like Meredith Hunter, who was stabbed to death in front of the stage during the Stones' performance.

The tragedy followed the triumph of the first recording sessions for Sticky Fingers, which had begun four days earlier at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Florence, Alabama.

Inside The Rolling Stones' 'Sticky Fingers' At 50

Opened earlier that year by a group of session musicians known as the Swampers, who had backed Aretha Franklin on "Respect," the studio was hungry for its first hit. With the Rolling Stones, they got two: "Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses," the album's two singles, were tracked at Muscle Shoals, alongside a faithful cover of Mississippi Fred McDowell's "You Gotta Move," between December 2-4.

"Brown Sugar" has the distinction of being one of the most controversial songs to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked in May 1971. Musically, the song is a Stones master class that builds on a signature Richards guitar riff. By the time Bobby Keys blows his climactic saxophone solo, the guitars are playing off each other, percussion and piano are clanging away underneath, and Jagger is howling his head off.

The song's lyrics, however, are another matter. Although Marsha Hunt, a British actress of African descent, with whom Jagger fathered a child in 1970, is credited as the muse behind "Brown Sugar," the song is rife with allusions and outright explicit references to slavery, sex and drugs that were indefensible even half a century ago. In a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone, Jagger called the lyrics "a mishmash" that combines "all the nasty subjects in one go." He appears to have cooled on his lyrical concept over the years, though; in the same interview, he said he "never would write that song now."

At the other end of the spectrum, the country-tinged "Wild Horses" and the album-closing ballad "Moonlight Mile" show a more introspective Jagger, wistful and longing on the former and road-weary on the latter. Acoustic guitars provide the foundation for both songs, as well as "Dead Flowers" and "Sister Morphine," while tremulous guitars and ascending horns accent the otherwise sparse, pleading soul of "I Got the Blues."

Read: Pink Floyd's 'The Wall': For The Record

Sticky Fingers also marked several key personnel changes in the Rolling Stones universe. The ouster and subsequent death of Brian Jones led them to hire guitarist Mick Taylor, of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, who refueled the band's energy.

Taylor stepped into the role fully on Sticky Fingers, providing nuances like the chiming harmonics on "Wild Horses" and setting the jam-band template with his extended guitar solo on the seven-minute "Can You Hear Me Knocking" over a single-chord vamp. He played all the guitars on "Moonlight Mile" after an increasingly unreliable Richards failed to show up to sessions at Stargroves, Jagger's English countryside home, and often nodded off while high on heroin when he did. Taylor would have to step up more in the coming years as his bandmate's habit grew.

The end of the group's relationship with record label executive Allen Klein and his ABKCO label also gave lift to the band and began the modern era of the Rolling Stones. Sticky Fingers was the first album released on Rolling Stones Records, which debuted the iconic lips-and-tongue logo, designed by John Pasche.

Despite landing right in the middle of what many fans consider their golden era—the four-album run from 1968-1972 that also included Beggar's Banquet, Let It Bleed and Exile on Main St.—Sticky Fingers marked a rebirth for the Rolling Stones; the album's legacy and impact would continue to evolve in the decades to come.

Sticky Fingers reentered the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 in 2015 following a massive reissue campaign. The Deluxe reissue includes alternate takes, such as "Brown Sugar" recorded with Eric Clapton on guitar and an extended version of "Bitch," alongside live tracks recorded in 1971. The Super Deluxe reissue adds a bonus 13-song live recording from a gig at the University of Leeds that same year.

And while the band members' personal habits veered further off the rails in the Exile on Main St. period and throughout the '70s, "the Rolling Stones" as a corporation grew into a recording, touring, promotion, and merchandising machine. By the end of the decade, the Rolling Stones were a stadium act—and they haven't turned back since.

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Artwork for For The Record episode on Red Hot Chili Peppers' 'Stadium Arcadium'

Red Hot Chili Peppers at the 49th GRAMMY Awards in 2007

 

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For The Record: Inside Red Hot Chili Peppers' Masterpiece 'Stadium Arcadium' At 15

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Released in 2006, 'Stadium Arcadium,' Red Hot Chili Peppers' four-time GRAMMY-winning masterpiece, is an ambitious project from one of the most daring rock bands of their generation.
Jordan Blum
GRAMMYs
May 9, 2021 - 10:07 am

By the mid-2000s, Red Hot Chili Peppers (RHCP) were deservedly enjoying the most commercially and creatively successful period of their 20-year career. After all, they'd triumphed over their tumultuous and tragic early years—which, however, musically venerated and influential, included multiple lineup changes and bouts with drug abuse—to achieve massive artistic and mainstream prosperity via Californication (1999) and By the Way (2002).

Admittedly, not all fans were pleased with the group substituting some of their beloved, raucous playing and risqué subject matter with more accessible approaches; yet, it's hard to deny that both albums were significant for their high quality and myriad industry accolades as well as for how they embodied the band's mostly shared sense of healing and growth. (This was particularly true for guitarist/backing vocalist John Frusciante, who'd conquered his heroin addiction and rejoined the group with newfound confidence and ingenuity in 1998).

Feeling immensely prolific and capable, the Chili Peppers, following the two-year tour for By the Way, reteamed with Rick Rubin, who produced their previous four albums, in September 2004 to embark on their most ambitious and diverse project thus far: Stadium Arcadium.

Recorded at The Mansion in Los Angeles, where the group also laid down Blood Sugar Sex Magik in 1991, Stadium Arcadium, a 28-song double album, incorporated virtually every style the quartet had ever done. Naturally, that flexibility and inventiveness led to some of the most extensive songwriting and captivating arrangements they'd ever made. As a result, Stadium Arcadium is best viewed as an incredibly rewarding and varied tribute to the group's history.

Red Hot Chili Peppers' 'Stadium Arcadium' At 15

Of course, double albums had been a popular music tradition for decades: Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde (1966), Pink Floyd's The Wall (1979), 2Pac's All Eyez On Me (1996)—the list goes on. It was almost inevitable that the Chili Peppers would issue one, too. (In fact, they'd intended to release Stadium Arcadium as a trilogy, dropping six months apart, before deciding to put out everything at once, the band told NME in 2006.)

In his July 2006 interview with Total Guitar, Frusciante revealed they had no reservations about attempting such a feat, either: "We don't just make music … for our own pleasure; we make music for our audience. We write 28 songs that we think are top-notch, that's what we want to give to the public … We're putting out what we believe is worthy." To his credit, every track on Stadium Arcadium earns its place and contributes to the greater whole.

It's also worth noting that making Stadium Arcadium was more congenial and collaborative than By the Way, due mostly to the repaired relationship between Frusciante and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea. Due to his melodic prowess and characteristically adaptable methods, Frusciante was often seen as the heart of the Chili Pepper's sound around this time. That was especially evident on By the Way, on which he desired to move further away from the edginess of the band's past and toward the harmonious arrangements of groups like the Beatles, the Beach Boys and his own fruitful solo discography. Consequently, Flea, who wanted to emphasize their prior funk and punk elements, felt somewhat uninvolved and unappreciated to the point that he contemplated quitting after the band finished their By the Way World Tour; the two worked out their differences by the time Stadium Arcadium got underway.

Speaking to Kerrang! in May 2006, Frusciante admitted, "It's more of a band now. I don't force my ideas on people as much as I did." Flea concurs, clarifying that creating Stadium Arcadium was a healthily democratic and communal process. In a 2007 chat with MTV News, vocalist Anthony Kiedis noted, "There was very little tension, very little anxiety, [and] very little weirdness going on … everyone felt more comfortable than ever bringing in their ideas."

Read: Nirvana's Era-Defining 'Nevermind': For The Record

Those creative peaks and compromises undoubtedly make Stadium Arcadium such an all-encompassing victory. In fact, it became the Chili Pepper's first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 and earned them four GRAMMY Awards at the 49th GRAMMY Awards in 2007: Best Rock Album, Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, and Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, the latter two for album opener "Dani California." (Producer Rick Rubin would also win the GRAMMY for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical that night.)

Fifteen years later, Stadium Arcadium endures as one of the quartet's most representative and striving projects. Divided into two parts—the engaging "Jupiter" and the comparatively esoteric "Mars"—it logically continues the contemporary rock templates and earworm songwriting of By the Way and Californication. Specifically, the ironically sunny elegy "Dani California," which centers on the same character from the title tracks off the aforementioned predecessors, is undeniably catchy and tightly composed, while "Snow (Hey Oh)" and "Stadium Arcadium" are lovingly poppy and symphonic. Later, the acoustic guitar strums and radiant harmonies of "Slow Cheetah," "Desecration Smile" and "Hey" border on folk rock, whereas "So Much I" is peak alternative rock smoothness.

Of course, the real brilliance of Stadium Arcadium is how it peppers (no pun intended) more modern flavors with comprehensive doses of wide-ranging nostalgia. In particular, tracks like "She's Only 18," "Animal Bar" and "Turn It Again" harken back to the heavier funk and metal motifs found on earlier RHCP albums such as Mother's Milk (1989) and One Hot Minute (1995). Similarly, songs like "Charlie," "Hump de Bump," "Warlocks" and "Readymade" recall the frisky funkiness of Freaky Styley (1985) and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987) via playful horns, resourceful percussion and Flea's trademark slap bass vigorousness. RHCP even recapture a bit of their early rap rock sound, a genre they helped define on albums like Blood Sugar Sex Magik, on "So Much I" and "Storm in a Teacup," among other tunes.

Although Kiedis, Flea, and drummer Chad Smith excel throughout the album's two-hour runtime, it's perhaps Frusciante who shows the most range and advancement throughout Stadium Arcadium. From start to finish, he implements some truly exploratory vocal and guitar techniques, retaining his recent minimalism while tapping into a newfound appreciation for double-tracked recording and the flashiness of Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai and the Mars Volta's Omar Rodríguez-López, the latter of whom he'd collaborate with throughout the decade. "We Believe" finds Frusciante employing angelic backing harmonies, quirky psychedelic licks and echoey progressive rock weirdness. His supplemental singing is also sublime on "Torture Me," "Stadium Arcadium" and "She Looks to Me." Meanwhile, he flexes his improvisational soloing skills on "Strip My Mind," "Wet Sand," "Hey" and closer "Death of a Martian" to conjure the emotional heft and fuzzy theatrics of Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmour, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.

Red Hot Chili Peppers have long been one of the most daring and diverse bands of their generation; each album and phase has its unique touch and deserves its own audience. Even so, Stadium Arcadium, an all-encompassing magnum opus, offers just about everything one could possibly want from a Chili Peppers record—and then some. It sees the quartet expanding upon their stylistic past while commemorating their newly restored bond; all the while, Stadium Arcadium amplifies the idiosyncratic essentialness of the Red Hot Chili Peppers as both a collective force and individually distinctive musicians.

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Artwork for For The Record episode on LeAnn Rimes' 'Blue'

LeAnn Rimes

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For The Record: How 'Blue' Made LeAnn Rimes A Global Pop Star

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Released in 1996, LeAnn Rimes' GRAMMY-winning breakthrough album 'Blue' introduced the artist as country music's next rising star and propelled her into global pop stardom
Jim Beaugez
GRAMMYs
Jul 9, 2021 - 6:55 pm

The biggest thing in country music in the spring of 1996 wasn't very "country" at all. Aside from a token fiddle flair here and a steel guitar slide there, the genre's most successful artists, including then-newcomers Shania Twain and Faith Hill, were essentially singing countrified pop songs.

Still, this wasn't the first time Nashville went all-in on pop: Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton both successfully crossed over from country to pop, and their 1983 soft rock duet "Islands in the Stream," which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, is an enduring example of crossover potential. But after Garth Brooks set the template for massive crossover success with No Fences, his smash 1990 album that supplemented his Okie twang with rock and pop arrangements, Nashville retooled its machine to pump out singers who could appeal to mainstream audiences.

All of which makes the summer 1996 breakout success of "Blue," a throwback to 1950s country and western sung by a then-13-year-old LeAnn Rimes, either a calculated move to stand out from the pack or a complete fluke. Twenty-five years later, history has proven neither perspective entirely true nor false.

How 'Blue' Made LeAnn Rimes A Global Pop Star

A Texan, by way of Mississippi, with a commanding voice, Rimes began performing at talent shows and in musical theater productions in Dallas at age 6 in the late '80s. She got her first taste of the big time in 1990 when she competed on the pre-"American Idol" national talent showcase, "Star Search," a move that elevated her profile on the Texas country music circuit. While Rimes caught the ears of many influential locals, Bill Mack, a Dallas radio disc jockey known as the "Midnight Cowboy" on WBAP-AM, heard something extra special in her voice.

Mack, a songwriter himself, still believed in an ill-fated song called "Blue," which he wrote way back in 1958. He recorded a version of the song that year in Wichita Falls, Texas, for the Starday label; Billboard described it as "a slow-tempo, relaxed item, with Mack's vocal backed by instrumentation featuring a honky tonk type piano" and called it "a flavorsome side."

Read: Carrie Underwood On Creating Her First Gospel Album, My Savior, Working With CeCe Winans, & Making "Legacy Music"

"Blue" earned local radio airplay, but it failed to find a wider audience. In an effort to amplify the song's reach, Mack hired a female singer to record a new version he could shop around. Then he hit on the notion that Patsy Cline might be the right singer for it and arranged to meet her backstage in San Antonio to pitch the song. He grabbed Roger Miller's guitar and played the song for her, Mack recalls in a GRAMMY Foundation Living History interview. "She said, 'Send that thing to me, I like it.'" Before she could record it, though, Cline died in a plane crash in 1963.

A few other singers took their shots with "Blue" over the years, but Mack knew he had a winner in Rimes. She subsequently recorded a version of the song at age 11 in 1993 for her 1994 independent release All That, which sold 15,000 copies locally and brought interest from Nashville's Curb Records. The label signed Rimes and released "Blue" as her first national single in May 1996, a little more than a month ahead of her album of the same name in July.

"Blue" was a breakout success, driven by Rimes' ability "to convey pain without betraying her tender age or inexperience," as critic Mike Joyce wrote in The Washington Post as the song was gaining popularity in August 1996.

Although "Blue" could have fallen into the novelty music trap, where songs that recall earlier musical styles often go, the song's classic country vibe wasn't a put-on; it was genuinely of the era, a forgotten tune rendered timeless by Rimes' soaring performance. But even Rimes herself, at 13, wasn't sure "Blue" was the right song to release from her 11-track debut album.

"I was very skeptical when 'Blue' was released as a single because it was very traditional, and I knew radio was gonna be hesitant to play it," Rimes told Texas Monthly in 1996. "They call it retro, but it's true country music and it's totally different from contemporary country, which has the pop feel."

In a way, Rimes' instincts were correct: "Blue" peaked at No. 10 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, a remarkable feat but not exactly a smash hit. That honor went to the follow-up single, the more contemporary "One Way Ticket (Because I Can)," which remains her only No. 1 hit on that chart. Still, "Blue" did kick open the doors for Rimes, who would chart five total singles from Blue, including the Top 10 hit "The Light in Your Eyes" and "Hurt Me," a ballad that marries classic and contemporary touches. (Blue ultimately peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart in August 1996.)

Blue, both the six-times platinum album and its breakthrough title track, marked Rimes' official arrival to the global pop stage. At the 39th GRAMMY Awards, held in 1997, Rimes, then 14, became the youngest person to win a GRAMMY, a title she still holds today; that night, she won two GRAMMYs: Best New Artist and Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Blue," the song that started it all.

Rimes then swept the 1997 Academy of Country Music Awards, winning Top New Female Vocalist, Song of the Year and Single Record of the Year. She also became the youngest person to ever be nominated and win the Country Music Association Awards' Horizon Award, the best New Artist equivalent.

Curb capitalized on their new star: As songs from Blue still worked their way up the charts, the label issued the compilation Unchained Melody: The Early Years, in February 1997, which comprised her pre-fame independent recordings; the album topped the Billboard 200 chart the following month. Her cover of the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody" hit No. 3 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart in March 1997, while the Blue standout, "The Light in Your Eyes," peaked at No. 5 three months later.

LeAnn Rimes Wins Best New Artist

In the wake of Blue, Rimes cashed in on her country music credibility for crossover success on the level of Twain and Hill, who both landed mega pop hits in 1998—Twain's "You're Still the One" and Hill's "This Kiss" were both Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart—after flirting with the mainstream chart the previous year.

Rimes' big crossover came with the Diane-Warren-penned single "How Do I Live," a straightforward pop ballad that peaked at No. 2 during its 69 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, at the time the longest run in the chart's history, and placed at No. 1 on the Top 20 Billboard Hot 100 Hits of the 1990s.

To date, Rimes has sold more than 37 million records worldwide, with many of her albums and songs charting higher and crossing over more definitively into pop music. Still, "Blue" remains her signature song. And Rimes proved she still has the pipes to deliver the goods: On a 2011 rerecording of the song for the album of standards, Lady & Gentlemen, she croons with the depth of a thousand broken hearts.

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Artwork for For The Record episode on Beyoncé's '4'

Beyoncé

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For The Record: The Creative Rebirth Of Beyoncé On '4'

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For the 100th episode of our For The Record series, GRAMMY.com takes you inside Beyoncé's GRAMMY-winning, platinum-selling 2011 album, '4,' an ode to the classics that ignited a personal and creative rebirth for the singer and launched a new chapter
Bianca Gracie
GRAMMYs
Jun 27, 2021 - 4:27 pm

Just before the 2010s, streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora picked up where Napster rose and fell in the late '90s, driving the music industry toward a singles-driven market. Beyoncé's 4 album showed she was clearly not having it. In her 2013 HBO documentary, Life Is But A Dream, she targeted the then-burgeoning trend.

"It's a tough time for the music industry. I'm an artist that tours, I'm an artist that makes albums," she explained in an exasperated tone. "People don't make albums anymore, they just try to sell a bunch of quick singles and they burn out and they put out a new one. People don't even listen to a body of work anymore."

Before hip-hop dominated streaming in 2017, EDM and pop wore listeners out on sticky dance floors. Everyone wanted a piece of the mainstream radio pie, with songs like Usher's "OMG," Lady Gaga's "Poker Face," Rihanna's "Only Girl (In The World)," Jay-Z's and Alicia Keys' "Empire State of Mind," and the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" ruling Billboard's Top 40 chart before and during the new decade.

But rewind just a few years before the release of Beyoncé's 4, a time when she, too, was caught up in the same sonic whirlwind she seemingly resented. In 2008, Queen Bey was at the height of her career thanks to her mammoth third solo album I Am...Sasha Fierce.

The Creative Rebirth Of Beyoncé On '4'

She scored five GRAMMY wins at the 52nd GRAMMY Awards in 2010, including Song Of The Year for "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"), becoming the first woman artist to win six GRAMMYs in one night. "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)," "Halo," "If I Were A Boy," and "Sweet Dreams" were inescapable Top 10 singles. Beyoncé later doubled down on her mainstream presence by collaborating twice with Lady Gaga: "Video Phone" off Sasha Fierce and "Telephone" off Gaga's The Fame Monster. Bey's growing trendiness led to I Am... World Tour, her biggest and highest-grossing international trek at the time.

"After the last tour I was a bit overwhelmed and overworked," she explained in her 2011 Year of 4 documentary. "My mother was the person that preached to me and almost harassed me every day after I was doing the last world tour: 'You really need to live your life and open your eyes. You don't want to wake up with no memories and never really being able to see the world.'"

After the tour, Beyoncé announced a year-long hiatus to catch up on sleep and rethink her life's purpose. Her worldwide exploration of places like the Great Wall of China, the Egyptian pyramids and the Red Sea gave her insight, grounded her as a human, and eventually inspired 4, whose special title signifies the date of her marriage to Jay-Z, both their birthdays and her mother's birthday.

Released in June 2011, 4 is a 12-track refocus of Beyoncé's artistry on which she disregarded making music solely for mainstream appeal. The album's heightened maturity is reflective of three life changes. Two months prior to the album's release, the artist mutually severed management ties with her father Mathew Knowles, who'd guided her career even before the birth of Destiny's Child in the '90s. Around that time, according to Jay-Z, she became pregnant with Blue Ivy Carter during a Paris trip for the album's cover shoot. And along with being a new mother, she would soon enter her 30s.

Needless to say, Beyoncé was already "Drunk In Love" before the ubiquitous 2013 hit won two GRAMMYs three years later. And what better way to celebrate romance than with R&B? But instead of modernizing the sound as she did on previous albums, the artist opted to highlight the genre's traditional roots.

4 is more stripped-down compared to the gloss of I Am...Sasha Fierce, the liveliness of B'Day, and the contemporary radio-friendliness of Dangerously in Love. Instead, 4 is an ode to the classics. "Love On Top" resurrects the vibrancy of '80s R&B, a time when all-stars like the Jackson 5 and Whitney Houston upheld the heart of Motown's past. The song's retro appeal continues in its music video, with Beyoncé going full New Edition via boy band choreography.

Read: Inside The Visual World Of Beyoncé And Black Is King, Her "Love Letter" To Black Men

Nostalgia proved to be a winning formula: "Love On Top" won the GRAMMY for Best Traditional R&B Performance at the 55th GRAMMY Awards in 2013. The album then heads to '60s Philadelphia soul on "Rather Die Young," where Beyoncé uses the melodrama she picked up from her film roles in Dreamgirls and Cadillac Records to fuel the impassioned vocals and lyrics: "You're my James Dean / You make me feel like I'm 17," she whispers in the first chorus.

"Run The World (Girls)," the lead single off 4, was a total red herring. The female empowerment anthem, which samples Major Lazer's "Pon De Floor," doesn't indicate the album's time travel. (Diplo later pops in to co-produce "End of Time," a wildly addictive tribute to Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer, Fela Kuti).

The unapologetic mushiness of 4 is balanced by uptempos that remind you just why Beyoncé is a superstar. "Best Thing I Never Had," an unofficial sequel to the singer's 2006 GRAMMY-nominated anthem "Irreplaceable," finds her classily kicking a no-good man to the curb while trading Ne-Yo's pen for Babyface. The effervescent "Countdown" is wholly dedicated to her longtime boo, Jay-Z. Sampling Boyz II Men's 1991 hit "Uhh Ahh," the brass-heavy single shows off her signature rap-singing style first debuted with Destiny's Child: "Still love the way he talk, still love the way I sing / Still love the way he rock them black diamonds in that chain."

The '90s pop up on "Party," the laid-back groove dripping in "swagu" thanks to Kanye West's co-writing and co-producing credits. The album's version features Outkast's too-smooth André 3000, while the video features a then-rising J. Cole. 4 then heads back to the '80s for the bonus track "Schoolin' Life." Here, Beyoncé channels Prince as her playful vocals weave between an irresistibly funkified melody.

What makes 4 special is Beyoncé's vocal growth. There's the grit of "I Care," whose rawness cuts deep—"You see these tears falling down to my ears / I swear, you like when I'm in pain"—as she scats alongside the electric guitar solo; the infectious opening run on "Countdown"; the tenderness of "I Miss You," influenced by co-writer Frank Ocean; the emotionally unguarded "1+1," which riffs off Sam Cooke's 1960 classic "Wonderful World"; and the jaw-dropping four-key change on "Love on Top."

"Strong enough to bear the children / Then get back to business," Beyoncé affirms on "Run The World (Girls)." It's the motto of the 4 era: The album is the artist's lowest-selling LP to date, but just as she reassures in Life Is But A Dream, that was never the point. She helped revitalize the album's art form while proving that women can balance their careers and motherhood, all while taking major risks. After parting ways with her father, Beyoncé founded Parkwood Entertainment, a Columbia Records imprint and management company, which helped bring 4 to life.

Of course, this is Beyoncé, so the accolades were still impressive: The platinum-selling 4 continued her hot streak of debuting atop the Billboard 200 chart. And along with "Love On Top" winning a GRAMMY, album single "Party" earned a GRAMMY nomination for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 54th GRAMMY Awards in 2012.

The album's vulnerability led to the world-stopping, industry-shifting surprise drop of Beyoncé in 2013 and the gripping Lemonade in 2016, both revealing more layers of heartache, overt sexuality, postpartum depression, socio-political injustices, feminism, trauma, infidelity, and forgiveness.

That continued intimacy worked in her favor tenfold: At the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show, Beyoncé made GRAMMY history when she became the performing artist with the most career GRAMMY wins with a total of 28, as well as the most nominated woman artist, counting 79 GRAMMY nominations overall. It all goes back to taking a chance on herself with 4, which further shaped a legacy that now matches the same legends she honored on this very album.

"There is room on this Earth for many queens. I have an authentic, God-given talent, drive and longevity that will always separate me from everyone else," she told Complex in 2011. "I've been fortunate to accomplish things that the younger generation of queens dream of accomplishing. I have no desire for anyone else's throne. I am very comfortable in the throne I've been building for the past 15 years."

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Artwork for For The Record episode on Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way'

Lady Gaga

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For The Record: The Liberating Joy Of Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' At 10

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Released in May 2011, 'Born This Way' is remarkable for its unrelenting reinvention of the woman we know as Lady Gaga. Nominated for three GRAMMYs, Mother Monster's third album gave the world an eternal gay pride anthem in "Born This Way."
Zel McCarthy
GRAMMYs
May 23, 2021 - 10:07 am

It's hard to imagine a more theatrical arrival to any event than Lady Gaga at the 53rd GRAMMY Awards on Feb. 13, 2011. Encased in a translucent ellipsoid, carried like a palanquin down the red carpet by a quartet of latex-clad models, Gaga herself was barely visible, but her presence was undeniable. Later that night, when she emerged from the egg-like container onto the GRAMMY stage, she wasn't simply performing her new single-she was introducing the world to a new era of her artistry.

Released on May 23, 2011, Born This Way was one of the most highly anticipated albums of the year; upon release, it sold more than 1 million copies in its first week, making Lady Gaga only the fifth female artist to reach that milestone. While eye-catching couture was de rigueur on her pre-release tour between February and May, the topic of her red carpet "vessel," as she called it, was still hot when she appeared on the "Late Show with David Letterman" on release night.

It was a symbol of her rebirth, she explained, deliberately facing the studio audience. "I believe that you can be reborn over and over again until you find that part of you that is the best you that you can be. I encourage everyone to do that."

She then cheekily turned to Letterman. "I wonder what would happen if I put you in an egg."

In some ways, the ease with which Gaga can flow from sincere expressions of depth to ribald humor is the essence of the artist. At once, she is both serious and facetious. It's how she can simultaneously convey absurdity and ferocity on the cover of Born This Way, which pictures her as an anthropomorphized motorcycle, or how she can take liberties with the German language on the song "Scheiße" without undermining a pining love song like "You and I."

If the biker babe aesthetic of the cover wasn't enough of a clue that Born This Way was here to rock, the album opens with the full-throttled aggression of the guitar-heavy "Marry The Night." In what would become one of her signature songs, Gaga declares herself a free spirit while simultaneously committing to a figurative union with darkness, in a vocal produced with radiant clarity by Fernando Garibay.

The sonic motif continues on the penultimate track, "You And I," the most surprising collaboration on the album. Known for producing albums by AC/DC and Def Leppard as well as Shania Twain, co-producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange delivers his pop-by-way-of-metal pedigree, which is uniquely suited for the moment, if only to remind listeners that the guitars on Born This Way aren't a fluke and neither are the hooks.

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Even though Garibay, along with producer RedOne, had worked with Lady Gaga before, neither rehash their former glories here. Born This Way is remarkable for its unrelenting reinvention of the woman we know as Lady Gaga. A classic house and experimental techno enthusiast, Garibay is perhaps most audible in the album's decided turn away from Gaga's polished electro past toward a more raw, EDM-influenced future. Tracks like "Government Hooker" and "Heavy Metal Lover" play with Gaga's vocal as if she's inhabiting different skins, each reflecting various parts of herself and all creating soundtracks for stomping across strobe-lit dance floors.

On album closer "The Edge Of Glory," Garibay and Gaga deliver a benediction. "There ain't no reason you and me should be alone tonight," the song starts, implying the impending end of the LP isn't the end of our time with the singer. Before performing the song for Oprah in the final weeks of the host's daytime talk show, Gaga described how she wrote it at her piano as a tribute to her grandmother shortly before her passing. The rawness of her emotion is palpable as the song is both a celebration of life and a full-throated embrace of vulnerability. Even though E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons underscores Gaga's rock and roll daydreams with a record-defining run on the bridge, this ain't Gaga's "Thunder Road."

Instead, Born This Way is Lady Gaga's Ulysses. From her rebirth to her acceptance of mortality, the album is an epic journey of an artist as a young woman. At times, it comes across like a casual stream of consciousness by a pop star who knows how to conquer a dance floor and is laying claim to more. Elsewhere, she subtly reveals that she's actually always in total control. Just as James Joyce's novel once courted controversy, so, too, did Born This Way.

It's easy to forget how the overtly political title track was culturally polarizing only a decade ago. The song's message of self-empowerment through self-acceptance wasn't necessarily new on its own, not even when set to a high-energy dance beat. In fact, for decades, the combination of dance floor bangers with universally relatable lyrics had been embraced as unofficial gay anthems, signaling an unspoken but loudly sung message of validation and equality to LGBTQ+ audiences while carefully never disrupting the sensibilities of listeners intolerant of what was often described as a "lifestyle choice."

On "Born This Way," Lady Gaga, who is bisexual, is unequivocal: Not only are all people worthwhile, "no matter gay, straight, or bi," she sings on the track, but their sexuality is a birthright to be proud of. It's a succinct statement of love and visibility that's hard to dispute. As Oprah put it, "you encourage people to be comfortable being born the way they are, being born that way."

Just as it's hard to imagine a time before Lady Gaga was a household name, it's hard to remember that before 2011, LGBTQ+ rights weren't widely accepted or even openly discussed. For decades, artists had been discouraged by their managers and labels from taking similar stances, either in their music or in the press. Paralyzed by fears of alienating parts of their audiences or becoming targets of morality campaigns, pop artists were quiet at best when it came to issues of LGBTQ+ equality. With the forces of change moving quickly toward progress, thanks to a string of legal and legislative victories, "Born This Way"—as a credo and the first bona fide gay anthem that explicitly advocates for gay rights—arrived at the exact moment when Americans needed it.

In the hands of an artist without Lady Gaga's credibility, a song like "Born This Way" could have been dismissed as pandering or propaganda. In the three years between releasing her 2008 debut album, The Fame, and Born This Way, Gaga had already established herself as an ally to the LGBTQ+ community. For all her theatricality, as an artist who existed beyond the confines of concert stages, music videos and even music itself, Gaga routinely shattered the illusion of a fourth wall to connect with her audience. Her 24/7 commitment to being Lady Gaga created often-unfiltered content for emerging social media platforms, notably Twitter, where fans were eager to like, retweet and devour her every move. Whether she was walking the 10 feet from her hotel to a car or staying up all night with a bottle of wine to respond to tweets about her album on the eve of its release, Gaga made herself accessible, reachable and knowable. She also knew her fans.

As much as she expressed herself through her art, Lady Gaga was unapologetic about who that art was for. While the story of most fan bases speaks to the positioning of an artist in the market and the reception of their work by customers, the relationship between "Mother Monster" and her legion of "Little Monsters" became uniquely vital to her craft on Born This Way. Lady Gaga showed the world that her fans weren't simply there to respond to her work—they were actively inspiring it.

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