Rolling Stone Picks 50 Songs for 50 States to Mark America’s 250th Birthday
Updated
Updated · Rolling Stone · Jul 3
Rolling Stone Picks 50 Songs for 50 States to Mark America’s 250th Birthday
2 articles · Updated · Rolling Stone · Jul 3
Summary
Rolling Stone published a 50-song, 50-state list to celebrate the U.S. semiquincentennial, pairing each state with one track chosen by its editors.
The selections mix homegrown artists with songs that mention, depict or strongly evoke a state, spanning rock, hip-hop, country and pop across decades of American music.
California landed Tupac and Dr. Dre’s “California Love,” Texas got Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ’Em,” Minnesota got Prince’s “Purple Rain,” and New York got Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind.”
The feature is framed as a playlist-style “love letter” to the U.S., using state-by-state song picks to mark the country’s 250th anniversary.