By: Alix Lambert

He exhibited a controlled frenzy that shaped the hardcore punk movement.

By: Brian Berger

Nobody in American music did more with less.

By: Brian Berger

The tenor saxophonist’s tone was a marvel of fluid sincerity.

By: Lynn Peril

Pianos plink and glide, strings zigzag into space!

By: Franklin Bruno

His bulk and blokeishness made him the perfect frontman for Madness.

By: Brian Berger

He fused old-timey vernacular, post-Dylan poetics, and orchestral pop.

By: David Smay

Rock undreamt of in your petty philosophies.

By: David Smay

Beyond the jargon of authenticity, dissonance and dark places.

By: Patrick Cates

His sludgy, funky bass lines launched a metal revolution.

By: Mimi Lipson

His music and his life disguised joy as menace — and vice versa.

By: Matthew Battles

A legacy too big for prose.

By: Tim Carmody

He blends virtuoso musicianship with generational esoterica.

By: Joshua Glenn

Spaced out, but with the wink of awareness.

By: Joshua Glenn

“Everybody rappin’ but they don’t know how./You shoulda seen the boy rappin’ to the cow.”

By: Tom Nealon

The parataxic pyrotechnics of hip-hop’s Ishmael Reed.