@Jack Lehmann

The tracks you can’t get enough of lately, all in one place. Updated as you listen.

The songs you love. The more you use Apple Music, the better the mix. Refreshed every Tuesday.

Whether it’s a weekday morning or Saturday night, get going with this personalised set of upbeat music. Refreshed every Monday.

Songs to help you relax and unwind. Updated every Sunday.

Discover new music from artists we think you'll like. Refreshed every Friday.

Indie icons Blur became a legitimate pop phenomenon in the UK during the '90s, scoring hit after hit as they battled their rivals Oasis for dominance of the charts. On the trio of albums they released between 1993 and 1995, Blur defined the sound of Britpop by paying homage to their British rock predecessors. They borrowed the social commentary of The Kinks, the glam strut of Roxy Music, the punk energy of The Jam and the jangly hooks of The Smiths. But as the Britpop era faded, Blur grew more ambitious and far less predictable, exploring lo-fi rock, world music, electronics and more.

No matter how chirpy and upbeat Ball Park Music may sound, there’s usually something darker and more nuanced at play just under the surface. Take the Brisbane band’s 2011 breakthrough “It’s Nice to Be Alive”, which contrasts handclaps and its feel-good titular sentiment with some sneaky pokes at religion and pleas for romance. The song has remained a sing-along calling card for singer/guitarist Sam Cromack and company, getting voted in at No. 49 on triple j’s 2025 poll of the best 100 Australian songs. Yet, Ball Park Music have consistently stretched their sound beyond earworm indie-pop, adding unexpected heft to 2014’s brooding “She Only Loves Me When I’m There”. Cromack’s lyrical voice has lost none of its playful spikiness over the years, as he swears and quips his way through 2017’s “Exactly How You Are”—a stubborn celebration of acceptance and individuality—and chronicles the daunting weight of happiness over the quiet-to-loud catharsis of 2020’s “Cherub”. And on 2024’s “Please Don’t Move to Melbourne”, he riffs on the perennial exodus of Brisbanites to would-be greener pastures in what’s actually another clear-eyed love song in a catalogue crowded with them.

When rap-metal pioneers Rage Against the Machine arrived in 1991, they threatened to be one of the most destructive bands to penetrate America’s pop consciousness. The Los Angeles band’s mix of punk, funk, hip-hop and metal tapped into Gen X’s angst, and directed grunge’s moody introspection outward—putting fear into authority and fire into the hearts of kids desperate to seek the source of their malaise. Their politically fueled tracks soon caught the attention of Epic Records, who released their chart-topping 1992 self-titled debut, featuring the defiant track “Killing in the Name”. Drawing from the fiery polemics of hip-hop pioneers Public Enemy, vocalist Zack de la Rocha spit vitriol with a cocky charisma over Tom Morello’s squealing, squalling guitar. The quartet continued their momentum, minting alternative hits with 1996’s “Bulls on Parade”, 1999’s “Testify” and a rousing 2000 version of Afrika Bambaataa’s “Renegades of Funk”. But internal struggles would eventually undo the group, and they officially called it quits in 2000. Still, Rage’s message remained patently relevant—throughout George W. Bush’s presidency (the main impetus for the band’s 2007 reunion) and during Donald Trump’s first term (which brought them together again in 2019).

Billy Joel is a pop chameleon who grounds both his ballads and upbeat hits with unflinching storytelling. “Piano Man” was the sound of him translating his years as a struggling musician into a triumphant sing-along that no-one could resist, while “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” is virtually an entire musical theatre piece in one song, filled with memorable characters to boot. Joel's willingness over the years to take on everything from doo-wop to New Wave to R&B means that his catalogue runs deep with genre-jumping material, all of it graced with his lyrical finesse and powerful playing.