His sinuous fingers worked the vinyl like none before him. His nerves were a straight shot from his head to his hands without stopping anywhere along the way. The turntables were nearly another pair of hands. It's hard to say if he was first to scratch or cut -- there's been arguments on all sides. I

Cool, Layered, Pioneering, Rhythmic, Urban

The Eurythmics did not merely tap into the synthesized pop sounds of the 1980s -- they helped to define those sounds. They combined robotic beats with techno-oceanic undercurrents, sensual lyrics with savvy electric guitar riffs. The resulting sound seems, at least in retrospect, to capture the essen

80s synthpop, Cool, Expansive, Lush, Sensual

Hanif Kureishi was born in Bromley, Kent, in 1954, the son of a "Subcontinental" father (read: Pakistani) and an English mother. Growing up in the suburbs, he watched his father's obsessive efforts to write his way out of discrimination and obscurity -- efforts that went unrecognized outside the fami

Cool, Gritty, Post-colonial literature, Quirky, Urban

The electrifying artistic force that was Elvis Presley can't be contained in a single account. Variously thought of as the King, Elvis the Pelvis, a degenerate, and a teen icon, Presley was the living confluence of America's multiple cultures. Born to poor parents in Tupelo, Mississippi, he lived w

Charming, Cool, Lush, Masculine, Mythic, Oldies rock, Pioneering, Pop, Sexy