John Schaefer

In the days immediately after 9/11, our regular programming on WNYC 93.9 FM was suspended and we were doing wall-to-wall news coverage from NPR’s New York studio in midtown. I had been on the scene that Tuesday morning and was badly shaken by the events; and staying at home with nothing to do was definitely not helping me. So when NPR called to ask if I’d cover a live performance of the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré, and gather some sound from people at the church, I was relieved and grateful.

John Schaefer wishes he didn't have to listen to the start of today's show.

Steve Jobs is not a musician, or a record producer, or a composer. But he has profoundly changed the way we hear music, the way music is produced, the way music is marketed. The pro...

Everything John Schaefer knows about music he learned through cartoons.  Almost. 

Disney films often centered around music - to great effect.

Cartoon music is some of the earliest music we hear.

Stephen Coates really got into this Last Werewolf project.  Maybe a little too into it.  Taking Glen Duncan’s novel of the same name as his inspiration, he’s created not only one of my favorite records this year but also a playlist of werewolf songs.  Now, Soundcheck listeners may remember that we did a “Soundcheck Smackdown” on who has the better songs, vampires or zombies.  Read the listener comments, still posted on the webpage, to see some of the great and not-so-great songs inspired by the various flavors of Undead.  Note too, that even though they were not part of the debate, werewolves got a little love occasionally.  Now, with the full moon having just passed, it seems safe to unveil Stephen Coates’s list of 30 great werewolf songs, plus 1 poem. 

Amy Winehouse's death leaves us with a legacy of music that is tragically incomplete, and a legacy of self-destructive behavior that is now both tragically complete, and all too fam...

John Schaefer on the pitfalls of Bowie biographers

John Schaefer wonders where all the TV theme songs have gone.

John Schaefer wrestles with a list of truly original covers

Concert-going can be work - but worth it.

Remembering The Big Man - and one little photo

One solution to the ticket inflation problem...

Bohemian Rhapsody went from unintelligible to just plain weird.

Musician and poet Gil Scott-Heron, dubbed "the godfather of rap," died Friday in New York. How are you marking his death? Post your memories of Gil Scott-Heron, his music and his legacy.

John Schaefer disagrees, politely, with his guest.