2000: Introduction / Peter Guralnick --
Ties that bind / Rosanne Cash --
Fela : king of the invisible art / Jay Babcock --
Fragile mind bent in a psychedelic era / Karen Schoemer --
Me, machine : the curious case of a man called Sean / Selwyn Seyfu Hinds --
Don't drink the brown water / David Moodie and Maureen Callahan --
Instant fan's inspired notes : you gotta listen / Lester Bangs --
Merle Haggard's twin oracles / Johnny Whiteside --
On song / Tony Scherman --
Meet the Shaggs / Susan Orlean. --
Madonna / Vince Aletti --
Sonny Rollins at sixty-eight / George W. Goodman --
Desperate man blues / Eddie Dean --
Joyful noise / Geoffrey Himes --
Steve Earle / Dave Hoekstra --
Bad teeth / Keven McAlester --
David Samuels / Hip-hop high / David Samuels --
Lost tycoons : the fall of the black empires / Arthur Kempton --
Songwriter / John Morthland --
Punk : undead / Motorbooty editors --
Sex, drugs, and fiddling / Rebecca Mead --
Politics of plagiarism / Jeff Stark --
Trust the song / Tom Piazza. --
Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn / David Hajdu --
Gone north / Robert Lloyd --
Money boss player / Nancy Jo Sales --
Lawsuit blues / Heather Heilman --
Unearthing the new Nashville's wax castoffs / Neil Strauss --
Prove it all night / J.R. Jones --
Old songs in new skins / Greil Marcus --
Who put the honky tonk in "honky tonk women?" / Alec Wilkinson --
Mr. K-Doe goes to Washington / Ben Sandmel --
Unbroken circle / Bill Friskics-Warren --
No hiding place / Dave Marsh and Daniel Wolff --
Baptism by Bruce / Jim Walsh.
2001: Introduction / by Nick Hornby --
The rock snob's dictionary / Steven Daly, David Kamp, and Bob Mack --
Third spud from the sun : Cameron Crowe then and now / Richard Meltzer --
I like it warm and fuzzy / Mike Doughty --
Guarding the borders of the Hip-hop nation / N.R. Kleinfield --
In the jungle / Rian Malan --
This wreckage was no accident : the complete Fun house sessions / Monica Kendrick --
Neil Young on a good day / Steve Erickson --
West Bank hard core / Lorraine Ali --
Northern light / Robert Gordon --
Invisible man : Eminem / Eric Boehlert --
The tao of Esteban / Gilbert Garcia --
The heavenly jukebox, Part 3 : they're playing our song / Charles C. Mann --
Napster nation / Carly Carioli --
Golden oldies / Lori Robertson --
Singer gets an eye for an eye / Jim DeRogatis --
Delta nights : a singer's love affair with loss / Bill Buford --
Hipsters and hoodlums / Nick Tosches --
Not a Go-betweens piece : a letter from Jonathan Lethem, on his favorite band / Jonathan Lethem --
Singing lead / Sarah Vowell --
Barbra's farewell : a city Verklempt / David Rakoff --
If I said you had a beautiful gross adjusted income would you hold it against me? / Robbie Fulks --
Disney dreams up the best radio station in 30 years / Metal Mike Saunders --
Johnny Cash won't back down / Anthony DeCurtis --
Sitting on top of the world / William Gay --
Seeing music : Django Reinhardt / Whitney Balliett --
Our lady of sorrows : Billie Holliday / Francis Davis --
Raising the stakes in punk rock : Sleater-Kinney / Greil Marcus.