Samuel Barber, one of the leading American composers of the twentieth century, is best known for his Adagio for Strings, but he created a large number of works in a variety of genres that are beloved by performers and audiences. For the celebration of the centenary of his birth, Stephen Eddins examines Barber's legacy and offers samples of some of his most memorable music.

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Let's get ready for the weekend with some wild & woolly American new wave from the late 70s/early 80s. I don't know about you but some days I feel like the B-52's are the best band of ever. It was super cool to find this video of them playing "Rock Lobster" live at what looks an amazing gig. Dig Fred's mustache - one of the best rockstaches you'll ever see. It was even cooler to find footage of them from 1978 playing "Dance This Mess Around" in a very sweaty looking Downtown Cafe in Atlanta. From there it seemed to make sense to jump to the Fleshtones and then Human Switchboard and Pylon. Have a swell weekend everyone!

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Think back to 1990, the year before the first Lollapalooza, the year hip-hop went pop via MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice -- a year where classic rockers still had such a stranglehold on the mainstream that Paul Simon could appear on Billboard's Modern Rock Singles chart. It could be said that this was a year of transitions, with rap's golden age starting to slowly wind down and alt-rock beginning to boil over, but looking back 20 years on, 1990 sure delivers a number of stone-cold classics, whether it's the Bomb Squad in full flight on Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet, the pristine pure pop of the La's, the shimmer and roar of Ride's Nowhere, Neil Young lumbering with Crazy Horse on Ragged Glory, the Breeders' glorious Pod, or Digital Underground's inspired funk fantasia Sex Packets -- and that's just a list of albums! AllMusic celebrates all this and much, much more in the 1990 edition of AllMusic Loves.

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