Influential bassist Tony Levin speaks with NPR's Eric Deggans about Levin's work with the experimental rock band King Crimson.

Before social media, the film Purple Rain gave audiences a peek into Prince’s musical life. Band members say the true genesis of the title song was much less combative than the version presented in the film.

Little Richard: I Am Everything focuses on the star's roots in -- and struggle with -- his connection to queer culture. TV critic Eric Deggans says it's a masterpiece.

Tina Turner was a legendary performer who died this week at the age of 83. Some people think she didn't get the credit she truly deserved.

The HBO documentary struggles to define who the singer-songwriter actually was -- despite knitting together interviews with family members, archival clips and home movie footage.

Former MTV correspondent John Norris joins former MTV correspondent Alison Stewart to reflect on the legacy of the alternative news institution, along with NPR media critic Eric Deggans. And listeners call in to share their memories of the program and reflect on its closure.

The three-part docuseries tracks the rapper's rise, starting as an up-and-coming producer in Chicago.

The famously private music legend has the opportunity to open up in a two-part docuseries. But the show leaves many stories left untold.

A critic whose writing was nearly music itself, Greg Tate - who died this week at 64 - influenced generations of writers. His colleagues, peers and followers offer a guide to his essential works.

A new documentary looks at the "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show in a new light -- but doesn't definitively answer some important questions.

NPR television critic Eric Deggans says the media's unearthing of "troubling facts and circumstances" about the 13-year conservatorship was a factor that "pushed the legal system" to act.

Netflix's "Britney vs Spears" and Hulu's "Controlling Britney Spears" - released right before an important hearing on the singer's conservatorship - piece together how Spears lost control of her life.

Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, who died on Tuesday, played with a deceptively simple style that took some fans time to appreciate.

"Surviving R. Kelly" and "Framing Britney Spears" are among a growing list of documentary projects challenging audiences to reconsider old controversies with fresh eyes.

Aiming to make a record that fans would still listen to decades later, George Clinton and Funkadelic mixed R&B, psychedelic rock and a Black guitar hero's cry.

The Harlem Cultural Festival was filled with stars from soul, R&B, blues and jazz and drew more than 300,000 people. Questlove directs this breathtaking chronicle of Black culture in a pivotal moment.

For this kid from Gary, Van Halen redefined hard rock at a time when it really needed reinventing.

The Showtime documentary -- "Hitsville: The Making of Motown" -- tells the story of the most successful soul/R&B record label in music history from the viewpoint of Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson.

Curtis Mayfield's previous songs for The Impressions had often been broadly inspirational - but here, he aimed his pen directly at black listeners, pledging that better times were ahead.

Reliance on personal testimony is both the strength and weakness of HBO's "Leaving Neverland."

R&B star R. Kelly has maintained his career through accusations of soliciting underage girls for sex and sexual abuse. A new series on Lifetime will explore those accusations.

"This Little Light of Mine" is more than a children's song. For NPR's American Anthem series, a look at how the song was transformed by the nation's civil rights movement.

Born as a children's song, transformed by the civil rights movement into an anthem, "This Little Light of Mine" works by letting the singer control their own story.

NPR TV Critic Eric Deggans says the first episode reveals lots of reasons why the reboot was probably a bad idea - including a tarnished host in Ryan Seacrest. But there are also a couple of surprising arguments for why it just might work.

What can Bruce Springsteen's and Prince's personal photographers tell us about their subjects?