Stephen Thompson
Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)
In 1993, Thompson founded The Onion's entertainment section, The A.V. Club, which he edited until December 2004. In the years since, he has provided music-themed commentaries for NPR programs such as Weekend Edition, All Things Considered and Morning Edition, on which he earned the distinction of becoming the first member of the NPR Music staff ever to sing on an NPR newsmagazine. (Later, the magic of AutoTune transformed him from a 12th-rate David Archuleta into a fourth-rate Cher.) Thompson's entertainment writing has also run in Paste magazine, The Washington Post and The London Guardian.
During his tenure at The Onion, Thompson edited the 2002 book The Tenacity Of The Cockroach: Conversations With Entertainment's Most Enduring Outsiders (Crown) and copy-edited six best-selling comedy books. While there, he also coached The Onion's softball team to a sizzling 21-42 record, and was once outscored 72-0 in a span of 10 innings. Later in life, Thompson redeemed himself by teaming up with the small gaggle of fleet-footed twentysomethings who won the 2008 NPR Relay Race, a triumph he documents in a hard-hitting essay for the book This Is NPR: The First Forty Years (Chronicle).
A 1994 graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Thompson now lives in Silver Spring, Md., with his girlfriend, his daughter, their three cats and a room full of vintage arcade machines. (He also has a large adult son who has headed off to college but still calls once in a while.) Thompson's hobbies include watching reality television without shame, eating Pringles until his hand has involuntarily twisted itself into a gnarled claw, using the size of his Twitter following to assess his self-worth, touting the immutable moral superiority of the Green Bay Packers (who returned the favor by making a22-minute documentary about his life) and maintaining a fierce rivalry with all Midwestern states other than Wisconsin.
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Each week, the guests and hosts on Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. Today it's The Other Two, LuLaRich and a collection of movies starring Josephine Baker.
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Members of the NPR Music team this week have been previewing the new music out this year. Another member of the team spotlights two of the albums he's looking forward to hearing.
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NPR's Michel Martin talks with Aisha Harris, host of the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, and NPR Music's Stephen Thompson, about how the events of 2020 have forever changed the entertainment industry.
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From Sharon Jones to Amy Grant — and from Los Lobos to a fervent pair of hamsters — we revisit more than a decade's worth of seasonal Tiny Desk performances.
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Here are a few song recommendations to help you soothe your nerves.
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In the span of less than 10 minutes, the rock star's set worked in an Eddie Van Halen tribute, Beyoncé, The White Stripes, a Jack White solo song and Blind Willie Johnson.
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The guitarist, bandleader and songwriter Eddie Van Halen died on Tuesday. He was 65. NPR remembers his life and legacy.
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A film of the original Broadway cast performing Hamilton was scheduled to hit theaters on Oct. 15, 2021. Now it's coming to Disney+ 15 months ahead of schedule.
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Many musicians canceled tours and delayed album releases due to the pandemic. But some are now using home recording setups and streaming services to write and publish songs about the coronavirus.
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Schlesinger's creative tendrils extended into the catalogs of many other brilliant artists.