Still freshly into 2026, this WorkTape edition finds us taking the time to reflect on the music world’s most significant losses of 2025. Be it the near-simultaneous passing of Brian Wilson and Sly Stone to the unexpected deaths of artists like D’Angelo and Angie Stone, this episode has us moving through pioneers, innovators, and cultural connectors who shaped entire genres long before the year they left us. Rather than a roll call, this is a reflection on what these artists built, how their music still lives, and why their absence feels so heavy as a new year begins. Talk with you on the inside!

🎧 Episode Highlights:

• Was Brian Wilson’s creative mind closer to classical composition than traditional pop songwriting?
• Was Pet Sounds and the unrealized Smile The Beatles’ “why” behind their most ambitious creative phase?
• How integral was Sly Stone’s blend of funk, soul, psychedelia, and social consciousness for the whole of popular music?
• Was D’Angelo the clearest modern bridge between Prince, gospel, and neo-soul innovation?
• Did Roy Ayers covertly influence more modern hip-hop and R&B than most listeners realize?
• How did figures like Ozzy Osbourne, Rick Davies, and Ace Frehley redefine what longevity in rock could look like?
• Does losing so many innovators in one year force a reckoning with how musical legacy is remembered?