Phil Spector (1939-2021)

You could hear Phil Spector's psychoses in his music, for better or worse. They resulted in more bombastic dreck than many 1960s hangers-on will ever admit (witness the freakish overrating of the Back to Mono box set). But they were also responsible for a solid hour or so of indelible music. His masterpiece remains The Crystals' "He's a Rebel," an end product of obsessive assholism. Listen to it as you remember Lana Clarkson and keep in mind the indignities inflicted upon Darlene Love, Ronnie Spector, Carol Connors, etc. And if you require an analysis of the relationship between Spector's murderous rage and his Wall of Sound, check out Vikram Jayanti's The Agony and Ecstasy of Phil Spector (2009), one of the finest music documentaries I've ever seen.