Matt Fisher

In high school during the '80s, the 40-ounce ruled. Wine coolers may have gone down easier, but beverages were chosen as often for their cool factor as for their taste, and we quickly seized upon the 40-ounce's ghetto toughness and its unmistakable link to hip-hop. Before long, the stubby tank...

House music's throbbing beats, feel-good vibe and bare midriffs will never be mistaken for Rachmaninoff. But the genre's bad rep can actually be attributed to DJs and producers who pander to the lowest common denominator with a steady stream of 4/4 beats and whooshy atmospherics instead of pushing deeper rhythms...