The Single File

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  The Single File A personal, firsthand account of Neutral Milk Hotel’s debut single

  As the band gets ready to reunite, Jason Heller looks back at its beginning.

  May 7, 2013 | 12:00am -

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  The Single File The Talking Heads’ eulogy for honky-tonks, Dairy Queens, and 7-Elevens

  A band, and the decade it defined, came to a haunting end with this song.

  April 2, 2013 | 12:00pm -

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  The Single File How “Wonderwall” made Oasis huge—and still haunts the Gallaghers

  The Britpop brawlers’ best-known song pined for salvation and connection.

  March 12, 2013 | 12:00pm -

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  The Single File Before Aretha Franklin was the Queen Of Soul, she took a trip to Soulville

  Franklin didn’t write “Soulville,” but she made it her own. And then made it her rallying cry.

  February 5, 2013 | 12:00am -

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  The Single File The uneven alchemy of Van Halen’s “Runnin’ With The Devil”

  It appeals to music geeks, dumbfucks, and anyone who can appreciate David Lee Roth as a god gone goofy.

  January 15, 2013 | 12:00pm -

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  The Single File How Townes Van Zandt’s “Lungs” veers from Platonic epistemology to magic realism

  This folk gem is full of morbid metaphor and fixated on the hidden nature of truth.

  December 4, 2012 | 10:00am -

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  The Single File Blue Öyster Cult’s “Veteran Of The Psychic Wars” is even bigger than the movie that inspired it

  Want to make an epic? Bring in Michael Moorcock.

  November 8, 2012 | 11:00am -

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  The Single File Del Shannon’s “Runaway” gave the singer a haunting, unstoppable hit

  Fitting despair onto a 45.

  October 16, 2012 | 12:00pm -

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  The Single File “We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful” finds Morrissey in a laughing mood 

  “Ha, ha, ha-ha-ha / Ha, ha-ha-ha / Ha, ha-ha-ha / Oh, HA-HA-HA-HA!” 

  September 12, 2012 | 11:00am -

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  The Single File How Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle” became the best song for a bad time 

  For a 2001 single, the band put heart on sleeve, to the delight of some and annoyance of others. 

  September 4, 2012 | 11:00am -

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  The Single File Why “Hook” by Blues Traveler is actually a pretty genius work of metafiction 

  It has to do with Pachelbel’s Canon. No, seriously. 

  August 7, 2012 | 11:00am -

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  The Single File How Elton John’s “The Bitch Is Back” said a lot without specifying anything

  But who’s the bitch?

  July 24, 2012 | 10:00am -

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  The Single File Prince gives the hard sell in “I Wanna Be Your Lover” 

  In 1979, the producer, arranger, composer, and performer revealed himself as precocious, ambitious, and so very horny. 

  July 3, 2012 | 12:00am -

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  The Single File Punks and squares alike get lampooned in The Dead Milkmen’s “Punk Rock Girl”

  The Dead Milkmen’s 1988 single toed the line between joke and not-joke, and between punk and not-punk—much like the band itself.

  June 5, 2012 | 10:00am -

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  The Single File Curtis Mayfield, “(Don’t Worry) If There’s A Hell Below, We’re All Going To Go” 

  In 1970, Curtis Mayfield stared down the end of the world and didn’t blink.

  May 1, 2012 | 10:00am -

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  The Single File Jet, "Are You Gonna Be My Girl"

  Sometimes there’s no resisting a big, dumb song no matter how derivative. 

  April 3, 2012 | 12:00pm -

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  The Single File Temple Of The Dog, “Hunger Strike”

  In 1991 members of two famous band crossed paths to honor a fallen friend.

  March 6, 2012 | 12:00pm -

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  The Single File The Single File: Kirsty MacColl, “My Affair” 

  Spotlighting a great song by a singer and songwriter who never got her due. 

  February 7, 2012 | 12:00pm -

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  The Single File Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, “American Girl”

  The enduring power of Tom Petty’s failed breakthrough.

  December 12, 2011 | 12:00pm -

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  The Single File Rush, “Subdivisions” 

  Rush looks back in anger at the place that made Neil Peart the man he became. 

  November 15, 2011 | 12:00pm -

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  The Single File Ice Cube, “It Was A Good Day” 

  Ice Cube’s biggest hit finds the rapper at his least fatalistic. Coincidence?  

  October 25, 2011 | 12:00pm -

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  The Single File Depeche Mode, “Everything Counts”

  New feature: What makes a great song great? First up: a Depeche Mode classic. 

  September 27, 2011 | 12:00am -