52 Core Relations: a year of rabbit holes

An abandoned railway platform. A disco bass line inside an early rap landmark. A drummer who connects Cream to Fela Kuti. Music history has more side doors than it first appears.

Choose two names that seem far apart. Each guide follows a short, sourced route between them, explains the important qualifications, and opens three more trails. Recommendations are editorial choices; factual connections have their own sources.

A new reveal every Thursday. Explore the whole collection whenever curiosity takes you.

• 01. Ella Fitzgerald and Metallica: one Apollo, 79 calendar years apart. — same venue, different decades

• 02. Slayer and Adele have a core relation. Four steps. Really. — behind the console

• 03. Coldplay’s guitar melody started with Kraftwerk’s synthesizers. — replayed melody

• 04. Black Sabbath and Duran Duran: dig under the sound, find the city. — same city, different worlds

• 05. Pearl Jam to qawwali: Eddie Vedder opens the tunnel. — across borders

• 06. ABBA and Led Zeppelin: four steps through a Stockholm studio. — studio walls

• 07. Nirvana’s debut single leads to a Dutch band from 1969. — song travels

• 08. The Chili Peppers’ bass player is on this Alanis classic. — session surprise

• 09. Joan Baez to Dua Lipa: the same festival site, 40 calendar years apart. — same venue, different decades

• 10. The Clash are hiding inside M.I.A.'s Paper Planes. — sample trail

• 11. Take Five and Bitches Brew meet behind the mixing desk. — behind the console

• 12. Björk’s old band and Sigur Rós share a starting city. — same city, different worlds

• 13. David Bowie to Daft Punk: follow Nile Rodgers, then change roles. — session surprise

• 14. The guests on Nirvana Unplugged brought their own underground history. — song travels

• 15. The Beatles and Billie Eilish: one bowl, 57 calendar years apart. — same venue, different decades

• 16. Soundgarden to Rage Against the Machine: four steps, one new band. — personnel tunnel

• 17. Madonna’s ticking dance-floor hit has an ABBA core. — sample trail

• 18. Blue and Tapestry were neighbors before they were classics. — studio walls

• 19. R.E.M. and the B-52’s began in the same Georgia city. — same city, different worlds

• 20. Peter Gabriel’s In Your Eyes has a Senegalese voice at its core. — across borders

• 21. Nirvana to Pixies in four steps, through the recording desk. — behind the console

• 22. Johnny Cash and Nine Inch Nails: three steps. Can you find them? — song travels

• 23. Willie Nelson to King Gizzard: 44 calendar years under the same rocks. — same venue, different decades

• 24. Two different kinds of Minneapolis rock grew from the same city. — same city, different worlds

• 25. An early rap landmark runs on a replayed disco bass line. — replayed melody

• 26. A Beatle played on a Foo Fighters album. On drums. — session surprise

• 27. Talking Heads to Benin: an album gets a new life. — song travels

• 28. Hendrix’s band and Bring Me the Horizon: one hall, 47 calendar years apart. — same venue, different decades

• 29. Doolittle and Everlong share a person behind the console. — behind the console

• 30. Prince to Sinéad O’Connor: follow the writing credit. — song travels

• 31. Cake and Deftones: very different sounds, one starting city. — same city, different worlds

• 32. The Beastie Boys’ pirate ship has Led Zeppelin drums below deck. — sample trail

• 33. Nirvana’s Nevermind producer is also behind Garbage’s drum kit. — behind the console

• 34. Billie Holiday and Buena Vista Social Club: 42 calendar years, one hall. — same venue, different decades

• 35. Portishead’s formation city is not the town in their name. — same city, different worlds

• 36. One familiar harmony on Graceland belongs to Linda Ronstadt. — across borders

• 37. Fleetwood Mac and Nirvana share more than a record-store shelf. — studio walls

• 38. Soundgarden to Pearl Jam: a drum credit opens the route. — personnel tunnel

• 39. A short Scottish EP opens another Nirvana tunnel. — song travels

• 40. Nina Simone and Prince: two very different chapters of Montreux. — festival time tunnel

• 41. This Kanye West sample is Nina Simone, not Billie Holiday’s recording. — sample trail

• 42. Foo Fighters to an emo landmark: follow the bass. — session surprise

• 43. A country album sits behind Whitney Houston’s defining ballad. — song travels

• 44. Foo Fighters and One Headlight meet at the keyboards. — session surprise

• 45. Respect had a life before Aretha transformed it. — song travels

• 46. Beastie Boys to Johnny Cash: the same producer, very different records. — behind the console

• 47. One musician was in both Nirvana and Soundgarden. It wasn’t a frontman. — personnel tunnel

• 48. That Nirvana Unplugged song has a 1970 Bowie trail. — song travels

• 49. Nirvana’s touring guitarist has an LA punk chapter. — session surprise

• 50. Nirvana’s final Unplugged song reaches much further back than grunge. — song travels

• 51. Cream to Fela Kuti: follow a drummer into Abbey Road. — across borders

• 52. Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Muddy Waters meet on an abandoned railway platform. — unexpected stages

Try your own connection in Find. Follow the credits, check the sources, and add what is missing.