Lyndsey Parker

Editor-at-Large

Lyndsey Parker is an award-winning music journalist, host of the podcast/TV show “Totally '80s,” and co-author of legendary groupie Miss Mercy’s autobiography, Permanent Damage: Memoirs of an Outrageous Girl. She was Yahoo Entertainment’s longtime music editor and hosted SiriusXM’s “Volume West” alongside Chad Smith, Matt Pinfield, and Davey Havok. A pop culture expert, she’s a regular correspondent for AXS TV’s The Top Ten Revealed, the Grammy Museum, and Spectrum News; has written for NME, Mojo, Elle, Rolling Stone, Variety, and Los Angeles; and has appeared in documentaries like Netflix's The Show Must Go On: The Queen + Adam Lambert Story and A&E's I Want My MTV.

Latest from this author

Duran Duran's Original 'Rio' Girl, the Mona Lisa of the New Wave Age, Finally Found After 42 Years

An intrepid Instagrammer "spent $$$ and countless hours" in a hungry-like-the-wolf quest to hunt down the cover girl with the cherry ice cream smile.
Heavy Hardcore Parking Lot: Inaugural No Values Festival Brings the Chaos, In Good Ways and Bad

No Values was a day of punk-rock heaven and parking-lot hell, as 40,000 attendees descended upon the biggest punk/hardcore fest in U.S. history.
Mike Love on Unheard Singing Footage Filmed for Beach Boys Doc: 'We Were Mic'd and It Didn't Make the Cut'

'The Beach Boys' ends on a figurative high note with a "family reunion," but it could have ended on a literal high note with a singalong by all five surviving members.
How Cyndi Lauper Turned Original, Macho 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ Into Feminist Anthem: 'They Didn't Understand Who the Hell They Gave That To'

Cyndi Lauper's 'Let the Canary Sing' documentary is full of surprises, including the fun fact that her signature song was actually a cover of a 1979 hyper-masculine punk bop by Robert Hazard.
Adam Levine Announces Return to 'The Voice,' 5 Years After Mysterious Resignation: 'Team Adam Is Back!'

'The Voice's' prodigal son once vowed to leave the show "in perpetuity, for the rest of my life," but now he's had a change of heart.
Prince Protégé Liv Warfield Auditions for 'America's Got Talent': 'I Haven't Quit, and I Won't'

The fact that this powerhouse felt the need to audition for 'AGT' alongside a bunch of animal and novelty acts proves there is something very wrong with the music business.
TikTok Icon Chrissy Chlapecka Talks 'Girlie Pop' EP, 'Bimbo Feminism' & the Male Gaze: 'There's So Much Queerness Coded Into Hyper-Femininity'

The self-described "silly dumb girl saying these actually very smart things" is entering her pop-star era, and we are here for it.
Ben Platt on New Album, Finding His Soulmate, and Telling Love Stories From a ‘Super-Expressly Queer Perspective’

While making his Americana record 'Honeymind,' the actor/singer-songwriter “tried to imagine what ‘Graceland’ or ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water' might have sounded like if Paul Simon was a fellow homo.” And he succeeded.
Kylie Minogue and ‘Brand-New Best Friend’ Orville Peck Debut ‘Disco Country’ Banger at OUTLOUD Pride Fest

The Australian pop goddess performed the Diplo-assisted track "Midnight Ride" with Peck in West Hollywood, shortly before the city's mayor declared June 2 "Kylie Minogue Day."
Adam Lambert Live-Debuts Sex-Positive Songs 'Lube' and 'C--ty' at WeHo's OUTLOUD Pride Fest

As the former American Idol asserted in a pre-Pride press release, these sexy, sweaty tracks represent "a new chapter in my artistry where I refuse to edit or filter myself."
Darius Rucker Had It His Way: How His Bonkers Burger King Ad Cheddar-Paved the Way for His Country Career

Three years before he charted his first No. 1 country hit, a Nudie-suited Rucker tenderly crooned “Tendercrisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch” and frolicked with Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders in a 'Willy Wonka'-meets-'Hee Haw' wonderland.
How Bronski Beat's 'Smalltown Boy' Shifted Queer Culture in a Big Way: 'Everything Was Changing in 1984'

"Smalltown Boy" just sparked a new TikTok dance challenge, but 40 years ago, video director Bernard Rose's grim, groundbreaking depiction of suburban homophobia had a huge impact on '80s queer kids.
Brothers Osborne Don't Fear Backlash as They Guest-Star on 'RuPaul's Drag Race': 'You've Got to Stop Giving a S---'

It turns out one member of the superstar country music duo has dressed in drag himself... and it's "the straight one."
Singing Janitor Richard Goodall Cleans Up on 'AGT' With Shockingly Steve Perry-Esque Journey Cover

'America's Got Talent' Season 19 already has its first big viral moment and first judges' Golden Buzzer contestant: a man who never stopped believin', even after 'The Voice' rejected him.
All 4 No Doubt Members Reunite to Attend Rare L.A. Show by Ska Legends Madness

Just last month, No Doubt played the Madness version of Prince Buster's "One Step Beyond" during their triumphant Coachella set.
Vanessa Hudgens on Her Dream Coachella Duet, 'Spring Breakers,' and Life After 'High School': 'I Didn't Want to Keep Playing the Girl Next Door'

The 'Masked Singer' Goldfish isn't the weirdest role of Hudgens's career — nor is it even her most iconic outfit, since she's also known as the "Queen of Coachella" for her festival fashion.
And the Winner of 'The Masked Singer' Season 11 Is...

It all came down to the Gumball vs. the Goldfish, and once the masks were off, it turned out that they were actors who'd been co-stars before.
Why Seal Didn't Want to Release 'Kiss From a Rose': '3 Grammys and 8 Million Album Sales Later, I Finally Like It'

Thirty years after its release, Seal's unexpected, unintentional signature song remains his power, his pleasure, his pain.
Asher HaVon, the First Openly Queer 'Voice' Champ, and Coach Reba McEntire Talk Historic Win: 'I Pray Other LGBTQIA People Can Find Their Reba'

Asher — who only recently came out, felt "broken," and once questioned if he even "belonged" on 'The Voice' — opens up about how his coach made him feel "unstoppable," while ally Reba discusses her "love and respect" for her gay fans.
New Opry Inductee Lainey Wilson Recalls Early Days, Impersonating Hannah Montana: 'I'd Run Backstage and Put My Wig On'

"There was a time after I hung the wig up and I quit being Hannah Montana, I thought about picking it back up, because I was like, 'Man, I was killing it in high school!' And then I got to Nashville and tried to be myself and for years — for 13 years — and I was broke."
I Will Always Love Asher HaVon: Team Reba's Powerhouse Channels Dolly and Whitney on 'Most Important Night' of 'The Voice'

This was one the greatest finale performances in the history of 'The Voice,' and the producers had to slot it last, because no one could have followed it.
Wynonna on Whether She'd Join the 'American Idol' Panel: 'I'm a Judd, Not a Judge'

With sage advice to contestants like "get out there, spread your toes, squeeze your butt together, and sing from your toenails," Wynonna would make for must-see TV.
Fantasia Talks Sweet Success, 20 Years After 'American Idol' Win: 'There Were Times When They Kind of Counted Me Out'

Life hasn't always been a fairytale for the Season 3 winner, but now that she's experiencing the greatest successes of her career so far, Fantasia is finally getting her happy ending.
Katy Perry on How Her 'American Idol' Finale 'Biggest Skirt Ever' Featured 168 Contestants' Faces and Was Created in Just 'Days'

"It was just going to be a pretty skirt with a silver top, and I was like, 'No, let's do something. Let's make a moment. Let's pay homage to all the contestants.'"
And the Winner of 'American Idol' Season 22 Is...

It was Katy Perry's final night as an 'Idol' judge, but Season 22's finale was all about a certain other California Gurl.
Lisa Loeb on the Staying Power of Her 'Stay' Video, 30 Years Later

Loeb opens up about the "million takes" and scrapped band version of her Ethan Hawke-directed video, the story behind her little black dress (which wasn't actually black!), whether "Stay" really was filmed in one shot, and how her signature song strangely doesn't have a chorus.
With 'Enjoy Youth,' Bright Light Bright Light Gets His Groove Back: 'I'd Stopped Being in Love With Life'

Following a career-derailing pandemic, tough 40th birthday, and relentlessly bleak news cycle, electronic musician, DJ, and LGBTQ+ activist Rod Thomas is finally "having more fun making pop music than I did in my twenties" and "cultivating moments of joy" on his bop- and cameo-packed fifth album.
Thelma Houston Talks Giving Lenny Kravitz His Big Break and Giving Back to the LGBTQ+ Community

Long before Thelma Houston was the Clock on 'The Masked Singer,' Lenny Kravitz was Romeo Blue, making his recording debut on the diva's new-wavey 1984 album.
'Masked Singer' Shocker: Grammy-Winning Legend the Clock Is Stopped, Just One Week Before Finale

Toni Braxton, Gloria Gaynor, Jennifer Holliday, Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, and Dionne Warwick are among the legendary ladies of soul who, incredibly, did not win ‘The Masked Singer.’ Now we can add another diva to that list of shockers.
'The Voice's' Chance the Rapper Has No Chance: Coach Loses Entire Team on Mass Elimination Night

He once seemed like the one to beat, but now Chance will be the only coach sitting out next week, with no singers representing him in the Season 25 finals.

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