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 a 22-minute documentary about his life) and maintaining a fierce rivalry with all Midwestern states other than Wisconsin.
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Here are a few song recommendations to help you soothe your nerves.
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The band gave fans a rousing preview of "Generation A" as part of Stephen Colbert's election-night special. -
In her first TV performance since 2015, the singer-songwriter performs "Talkin' Bout a Revolution," the opening song from her classic 1988 debut.
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Adele sang a bit in one sketch but left most of the music to H.E.R., who performed a new song called "Hold On."
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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. -
The guitarist, bandleader and songwriter Eddie Van Halen died on Tuesday. He was 65. NPR remembers his life and legacy.
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The namesake of rock band Van Halen dazzled a generation of guitar fans with his flashy solos and trademark finger tapping. -
It was Lady Gaga's night, BTS finally got its due, Keke Palmer impressively hosts and the lines between "live performances" and "music videos" were blurred like never before. -
Shortly before his death, Prine sat down, in his living room, with producer Dave Cobb to record one last plainspoken reflection. It's a deeply graceful look back at a life well lived.
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The cult singer-songwriter, who recorded as Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co., died in 2013. On Aug. 7, his label will release an album of unheard solo recordings.
