Episodes

This week we take another swing of the hammer of the Gods with Led Zeppelin's 3rd release, Led Zeppelin III. Our guest Karen Haglof came up in the Minneapolis indie music scene in the late 70s, eventually moving to NYC and playing in several of no wave pioneer Rys Chatham's guitar ensembles and later with Band Of Susans, before taking a break to earn a medical degree and join the hematology / oncology department of New York University Hospital. Recently retired and back at music again, Karen fre...

Yes, Dot Hacker's lead vocalist Josh Klinghoffer played guitar with Red Hot Chili Peppers for 10 years - trigger warning for some - but before forming in 2008 all four members were already established musicians, recording and touring with an impressive list of respected artists including: Beck, Gnarls Barkley, PJ Harvey, The Butthole Surfers and Broken Bells amongst many others. This week's guest, musician/audio engineer Layla Moheimani, fell instantly under the spell of the band and their lush,...

German electronic band Kraftwerk's 1975 release 'Radio-Activity' is a bit of a forgotten middle-child, having come just after 'Autobahn' and just before 'Trans-Europe Express'. Returning guest Kevin Chanel makes the case that this highly experimental, avant-garde concept album deserves a second look. “When airwaves swing, distant voices sing” Songs discussed in this episode: Radioactivity (Kraftwerk cover) - The Divine Comedy; Trans-Europe Express - Kraftwerk; Commerciality - Mr Partridge; The B...

When this week's guest, musician/music historian Matthew Sabatella discovered Harry Smith's 'The Anthology Of American Folk Music' in the late 90s, it literally changed the direction of his own musical journey. This amazing collection of recordings made and issued from 1926 to 1933 by a variety of performers got under his skin, and eventually moved him to found Ballad of America, Inc., a nonprofit organization with a mission to preserve and celebrate music from America’s diverse cultural history...

For this special Patron-curated episode, we asked patrons of the podcast to send in a song they love, that 'got them high' and that they wanted to share with our listeners. You know when you're talking music with someone and you say "Have you heard this one song? You've gotta hear it...it will change your life!" Yeah, that. Songs discussed in this episode: Might - Love Canal; It's All Over Now Baby Blue - Link Wray; Hitting You - Loudon Wainwright III; Saving For A Rainy Day - David Stoughton; ...

This week, returning guest Joe Tunis (Carbon Records) brings us Dallas, TX band Bedhead and their stunning 1994 debut 'WhatFunLifeWas'. With a seemingly simple formula of guitars, bass, drums and often quiet, sing-speak vocals, the album explores existential questions and spiritual emptiness in a beautifully effective way. Songs discussed in this episode: Golden Brown (Stranglers cover) - Bedhead; Swimming In - Rock Candy; The Rest Of The Day (7" version), Liferaft - Bedhead; Ocean - The Velvet...

At the start of this blistering set, recorded live in Cologne Germany in 1992, saxophonist Maceo Parker declares it will be "2 percent jazz and 98 percent funky stuff." He does not disappoint. This week's guest, Chicago saxophonist Chris Greene (Chris Greene Quartet), joins us to discuss how Parker's 'Life On Planet Groove' got him high and helped inform his own musical journey. Turn it up! Songs discussed in this episode: Shake Everything You've Got (Live) - Maceo Parker; The Emperor Strikes B...

Music fan and Patron Rory Cox Zoomed-in all the way from Ljubljana Slovenia to discuss The Roots and their ninth studio album 'How I Got Over'. For this 2010 release, Questlove, Black Thought, Dice Raw and company concocted a diverse, slow-build mission statement on how to overcome. Songs discussed in this episode: A Peace Of Light, The Seed, Walk Alone - The Roots; Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.) - Monsters Of Folk; Dear God 2.0 - The Roots, Dear God - XTC; Radio Daze, Now Or Never - The Roots; Ho...

With only one official studio album to his name - 1994's Grace - there has always been an air of mystery and melancholy in the music of Jeff Buckley. Tragically drowning in 1997 at the age of 30, his was a unique talent still developing and expanding. Our guests this week, Kerry Jones and Kyle Alexander of the Portland, OR art rock band Death Doula, bring us his posthumous live release, 'Mystery White Boy'... "This is our last goodbye I hate to feel the love between us die But it's over, just he...

Author, radio host and songwriter Binnie Klein (WPKN Radio, In These Trees) brings us Joni Mitchell and her stunning 1972 release, 'For The Roses'. Searching for balance in her life after a tumultuous relationship with James Taylor - and trying to escape the craziness of Los Angeles - Joni trekked back up to the Canadian wilderness and wrote most of this, her 5th studio album, while in retreat: "You've got to shake your fists at lightning now You've got to roar like forest fire You've got to spr...

Once considered polar opposites, country music and rap have had a bit of a moment together as of late with artists like Jelly Roll & Post Malone and releases like Beyonce's Cowboy Carter hitting the charts. The thing is, Brooklyn, NY born bluegrass/hip-hop group Gangstagrass have been doing it since 2007. Returning guest, sociologist Alana Anton, brings us their latest release: 'The Blackest Thing On The Menu', and makes the case that these genres have more in common than record label marketers ...

Singer/songwriter Django Haskins (The Old Ceremony) is the one to FINALLY bring a Randy Newman record to TRGMH, 1999's 'Bad Love'. With equal doses of snide wit and honest emotion, Newman's slyly cynical 10th studio album is sure to get under your skin and fester for a while... Songs discussed in this episode: I Miss You (Unplugged), Short People, It's Money That I Love - Randy Newman; God's Comic - Elvis Costello; Shadows, Lonely Mayor, Too Big To Fail - The Old Ceremony; My Country, Shame, I'...

For this BONUS Patron-curated episode, we invited patrons of the podcast to send in their favorite political and/or protest songs. They came up with a surprisingly eclectic playlist of songs that will make you angry, fired-up and ready to (metaphorically) rumble! Fight The Power, indeed!! Songs discussed in this episode: War - Bob Marley (Live 1977 at The Rainbow, London); Happy New Year (Prince Can't Die Again) - Mac McCaughan; Haillie Sellasse, Up Your Ass - Propagandhi; Ignoreland - R.E.M.; ...

Throughout the late 80s and early 90s, Ministry were one of the most terrifyingly aggressive industrial acts around. But in 1983 Al Jourgensen introduced himself to the masses - and this week's guest, producer/musician Dave Trumfio (Chicago's Pulsars) - with the decidedly New Wave 'With Sympathy'. This is NOT your grandma's Ministry, unless your grandma is a moody goth kid singing snappy little synth-pop tunes in a faux-British accent. Enjoy! Songs discussed in this episode: Revenge (VJ Rob Edg...

California pop/punk royalty Descendents took a break in 1987, becoming All so singer Milo Aukerman could pursue a career in biochemistry. 1996 marked the return of Milo, and the release of their 5th studio album 'Everything Sucks'. This week Rob is joined by artist/drummer Woody Compton (Is This Tomorrow), as they both unleash their 12-year-old selves to unpack this hook-filled gem of a record. Songs discussed in this episode: When I Get Old (Descendents cover) - Filipps Firma; She's My Ex - Al...

Formed in 1979, Hawthorne California's Redd Kross are having quite the year. With a feature documentary - Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story directed by Andrew Reich - a fantastic new self-titled double album, and a new memoir by brothers Jeff & Steven McDonald and award winning journalist Dan Epstein: Now You’re One of Us: The Incredible Story of Redd Kross coming October 29th. Dan joins us to discuss the book and the Redd Kross record that first got him high: 1987s 'Neurotica'. "Come on, lose...

When this week's guest, Minneapolis-based writer and drummer David Jarnstrom, was tasked with choosing a record to discuss, he surprisingly went with something both relatively obscure AND near-and-dear to Rob's heart: the 1990 debut - and sole full-length record - by criminally unsung Miami pop-punk heroes Quit, 'Earlier Thoughts'. Go figure! Songs discussed in this episode: Intro - Quit:Live at Churchill's Pub Goodtastic Films Video Excerpt; Run It Out - Rad Owl; VANNEN, the friend - John Snod...

Back in March, 2021 when TRGMH was still a two-man operation, musician & human Bob Fay (Sebadoh, Deluxx, Folk Implosion) joined Rob and Barry to discuss The Frogs and their controversial 1989 cult classic 'It's Only Right and Natural'. That episode was never released. Until now... Songs discussed in this episode: Homos - The Frogs (Live at The Knitting Factory, Los Angeles CA 05-16-2003); Not Too Amused - Sebadoh; I'm Just A Bill - Deluxx Folk Implosion; I've Got Drugs (Out Of The Mist), I Don'...

This week's guest, producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Evan Taylor (Bernie Worrell Orchestra, Loantaka Records), brings us The Beach Boys' 21st studio album - and the last one under the group's name to be written and produced solely by troubled leader Brian Wilson - 'The Beach Boys Love You'. Released in 1977, this strange, at-times childlike collection of songs sounded like nothing else the band had done up until then. With raspier-than-usual vocals from the Wilson brothers and Bria...

British post-punk superstars Wire always seem to be ahead of their time, no matter what time they exist in. Returning guest Garry Messick (American Doom Podcast) brings us their twelfth studio album, 2011's mysteriously diverse, surprisingly melodic 'Red Barked Tree'. 34 years into their career at the time of its release, Colin Newman, Graham Lewis and Robert Grey STILL manage to make quite a racket, and it's a beautiful racket indeed... After Midnight - Wire (Live at The Roxy, London 1977); (T...

When Rickie Lee Jones burst onto the music scene in 1979, she was an immediate sensation. There was no one remotely like her. When week's guest - Minneapolis singer/songwriter Pamela McNeill - picked up Jones' debut on cassette at a truck stop, she was looking for some cool female-fronted music to pop into her Walkman for the long drives to gigs sitting shotgun. She got that, and more. Welcome to Coolsville... Songs discussed in this episode: Only Love Can Break Your Heart - Rickie Lee Jones; T...

Strap-in dear listeners, as we are joined by Yasuko Onuki and Ichiro Agata (Yako & Agata) of Japanese noise rock band Melt-Banana - and some creepy computer-generated translation software - for this BONUS episode discussing the soundtrack to Wim Wenders' 1987 film Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin) "Can you hear it? Can you see it? Can you look me in the eyes? It doesn't really matter anymore…” Songs discussed in this episode: Stopgap, Scar - Melt-Banana; Der Himmel Über Berlin (Sky Over B...

This week we dive into Glasgow Scotland's influential indie-pop purveyors The Pastels and their excellent EP/Singles compilation 'Truckload Of Trouble' with special guest, teacher and poet Josh Medsker. Songs discussed in this episode: Lonely Planet Boy (New York Dolls Cover) - The Pastels; The Horrors In The Museum - Rudimentary Peni; Nothing To Be Done - The Pastels; Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam - The Vaselines; What You Do To Me - Teenage Fanclub; What's Important - Beat Happening; Thank You...

Dagger Zine's Tim Hinely returns with a record that STILL gets him high after 37+ years. A turning point for D.C. Hardcore band Government Issue, their 1987 release 'You' saw the band moving in a more mature, melodic direction that proved to be a game-changer, and paved the way for many a post-hardcore band that followed in their footsteps. Songs discussed in this episode: Where You Live - Naked Raygun; Say Something - Government Issue; Wait For The Blackout - The Damned; Pacific 231 - Burning ...