Episodes

For our final episode of 2025, we asked our Patrons to send in their favorite - and unlikely - musical collaborations. As usual, they did NOT disappoint! Songs discussed in this episode: Wanted Man (Take 1) - Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash; Living Doll - Cliff Richard and The Young Ones; Mama - My Chemical Romance w/Liza Minnelli; Perfect Day - Lou Reed & Luciano Pavarotti; Don't Give Up - Willie Nelson & Sinéad O'Connor; Mad John - The Small Faces; Peace On Earth / Little Drummer Boy - Bing Crosby & ...

When Grammy-nominated Louisiana Zydeco musician Corey Ledet offered to discuss Bruno Mars' multi-platinum third album '24K Magic', TRGMH host and part-time music snob Rob braced himself for a painful week. But Mars' tight, 9-song attempt to capture the sound of the 80s/90s R&B, funk and New Jack Swing he listened and danced to during his childhood - the same music Ledet listened to as a teen growing up in Houston, TX. - quickly won him over. Seriously, if this record doesn't make you feel a LITT...

Detroit-born artist Josh Hight - now based in Lewes, East Sussex - brings us The Cure and their enigmatic third record, 'Faith'. For this 1981 release, Robert Smith and co. reached deep down into their souls and produced an album of dark, melancholically bleak-yet-beautiful music. Songs discussed in this episode: Primary (The Cure cover) - The Dandy Warhols; Atrocity Exhibition - Joy Division; Plainsong - The Cure; In His Wake - PINES; Facing - IRONS; I Was Only Fifteen - PINES; The Holy Hour, ...

Poet/Songwriter Sara Mae Henke (The Noisy) brings us Japanese Breakfast and their 2021 album, 'Jubilee'. The third release by musician/author Michelle Zauner, it's a gloriously joyful slab of indie pop with a side-helping of catharsis. Songs discussed in this episode: Neckline (Deluxe Version), Twos, Tony Soprano - The Noisy; Chamomile - Larlene; Tropical Jinx - Little Big League; Everybody Wants To Love You, Paprika, Be Sweet - Japanese Breakfast; Nightshade - The Noisy; Kokomo, IN, Winter In ...

Renowned producer/engineer Larry Crane (Sleater-Kinney, The Decemberists, The Go-Betweens, Elliott Smith...as well as editor and founder of Tape Op Magazine) brings us Wire and their groundbreaking, highly influential third album '154'. A favorite of a diverse array of artists including Robert Pollard, Johnny Marr and Michael Stipe to name a few, this heady slab of post-punk vignettes rewards repeated listenings. Songs discussed in this episode: The 15th (Wire cover) - Mike Watt; Curl Up and Dy...

One of our favorite returning guests, Miami drag icon Shelley Novak (aka Tommy Strangie), joins us to once again explore his life-long obsession with all things Chrissie Hynde as we discuss The Pretenders and their third studio album, 1984s 'Learning To Crawl'. "Now come on, baby Get in the road..." Songs discussed in this episode: Absent Minded Me - Chrissie Hynde; Tommy Strangie - The Boas; Cuban Slide, Middle Of The Road - The Pretenders; Long Long Time - Linda Ronstadt; Back On The Chain Gan...

Named after the back seat of his family's car where he recorded the vocals to his early albums, Will Toledo's solo-project-cum-band Car Seat Headrest went from Bandcamp indie-darlings to headlining Coachella in a relatively short time. This week's guest, musician/songwriter Brendan Wright (Tiberius), brings us CSH's transitional 2014 release - and final one before signing to Matador - 'How To Leave Town'. Brimming with both existential doubt and unbridled wanderlust, the record works as a dark, ...

This week, we Zoomed all the way over to the medieval wine country of Romagna, Italy to discuss The Flaming Lips and their beloved 2002 release: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots with musician/artist Lucas Ward (The Silver Snails) "All we have is now All we've ever had is now All we have is now All we'll ever have is now" Songs discussed in this episode: Do You Realize (Flaming Lips cover) - Willie Nelson; No Name #3 - Elliott Smith; Evanessence, Galen's Song - The Silver Snails; Race For The Priz...

Arguably one of the most important groups of the 1980s, St Paul Minnesota punk rock trio Hüsker Dü paved the way for 90s indie superstars Nirvana and a host of others while never quite reaching anything close to that level of success in their short 9-year existence. This week's guest, Reno, NV musician and writer Mark Earnest (Kanawha, Manchild), joins us to discuss their sixth - and final - studio release, Warehouse: Songs and Stories. A sprawling, sonic battlefield between dual songwriters Bob...

This week we're joined by Tate Brooks and Silas Lourenco Lang (two-thirds of the New Haven, CT band The Problem With Kids Today) as we unpack Jon Brion's long lost debut album, 'Meaningless'. Initially released independently by Brion in 2001 on his own "Straight to Cut-Out" label and sold through his website and CD Baby, it finally became more widely available in 2022 when it was re-released on Jealous Butcher Records. This collection of catchy power-pop tunes are a perfect representation of wha...

Returning guest, singer/songwriter Oscar Herrera (The Sleep of Reason, Black Tape for a Blue Girl), brings us Bauhaus and their 1980 debut full-length: 'In The Flat Field'. Often cited as a foundational release in the Goth-rock genre, there's no denying this darkly theatrical, often ferocious collection of songs STILL packs an unsettling punch. Happy pre-Halloween! Songs discussed in this episode: Dark Entries (Bauhaus cover) - Revolting Cocks (Feat. Gibby Haynes); I Have A Task - Oscar Herrera...

What is it about multiple voices singing a beautiful melody together that just GETS to us? For this special BONUS Episode, we asked our Patrons to send in a song with amazing vocal harmonies...that got them high! Caution: Ear-candy ahead... Songs discussed in this episode: You Still Believe In Me (Isolated vocals) - The Beach Boys; Live In Favor Of Tomorrow - The Lemon Twigs; Blue - The Jayhawks; Oh So Many Years - Billie Joe Armstrong & Norah Jones; A Good Feelin’ To Know - Poco; In The Court ...

Returning guests Allan & Barb Vest of Oklahoma City-based doubleVee bring us a record considered by many to be one of the key alternative rock albums of the 1980s, 'Doolittle' by Boston's Pixies. Released in 1989, this collection of 15 short-but-potent songs was a thrilling shot of adrenaline that laid the groundwork for much of the nineties indie-rock to follow. Songs discussed in this episode: Here Comes Your Man (Pixies cover) - Teenage Fanclub; Modern Times - doubleVee; Doe - The Breeders; ...

Hailing from Cork, Ireland, songwriters Cathal Coughlan and Sean O'Hagan formed the band Microdisney in 1980. After relocating to London in 1983, the band recorded six Peel Sessions for BBC Radio and released their debut album for Rough Trade called 'Everybody Is Fantastic'. This week's guest, musician, filmmaker, podcaster and radio host Alexei Shishkin, joins us to discuss the band and that record. The duo's combination of lushly orchestrated pop paired with wryly poetic, at times biting lyric...

Returning guest Garry Messick (American Doom Podcast) brings us Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians' 1991 release, 'Perspex Island'. His third album for A&M records, it's yet another sterling example of Hitchcock's quirkily original - but always charmingly catchy - songwriting. Songs discussed in this episode: She Doesn't Exist (Robyn Hitchcock cover) - Vic Chesnutt; American Doom Podcast Teaser - American Doom; Underwater Moonlight - The Soft Boys; Sitting Still - REM; My Wife and My Dead Wife -...

In November 1973, Rolling Stone record reviewer Stephen Davis infamously slagged Elton John's double album 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road', calling it - among other things: "a big fruity pie that simply doesn’t bake". Ahem. Now often regarded as Elton and lyricist Bernie Taupin's magnum opus, returning guest and music-biz veteran Ralph Cavallaro joins us as we unpack the record that recently ranked number 112 on Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Go figure. Songs di...

For one of our first episodes back in 2018 (S1E3), we discussed 'Hunky Dory' by David Bowie with then co-host Barry Stock. Honestly, though, for our first 20 episodes or so we were still finding our way and weren't even playing any music clips at that point. So when this week's guest, musician David J (Bauhaus, Love and Rockets), suggested taking on Bowie's fourth studio album, we couldn't resist revisiting this stone cold classic with such a thoughtful, well-informed guest. Essential listening!...

New York City singer/songwriter Robert Scheffler joins us this week with an artist Rob somehow slept on all these years - Aimee Mann. Her second full-length, 1995's "I'm With Stupid", is the one that did it for Robert, and her deceptively biting songcraft and the record's dense, layered guitars made a true believer of your humble host. Songs discussed in this episode: Voices Carry ('Til Tuesday cover) - Gang Green; Always, Excuse The Mess, Basher - Robert Scheffler; Up The Junction - Squeeze; L...

For this special BONUS Episode, we asked our Patrons to send in a short song - less than 2 minutes - that got them high. As usual, they did NOT disappoint! Songs discussed in this episode: Fingertips - They Might Be Giants; Time: The Donut of the Heart - J Dilla; Just Another Soldier, Shit You Hear At Parties - Minutemen; Manifest - The Weakerthans; Game Of Pricks - Guided By Voices; Abra Cadavor - The Hives; Maybeline (Buddy Holly cover) - Social Distortion; Superstar-Watcher - Yo La Tengo; Sh...

This week's guest, musician Arad Evans (The Whimbrels, Glenn Branca's Ensemble, Heroes Of Toolik), chose to discuss a record by groundbreaking New York City band Television that's NOT 'Marquee Moon'! The bands follow-up to that classic album, 1978's 'Adventure', is sometimes overlooked, but the clever songwriting and magnificent dual-guitar orchestrations of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd prove that their iconic debut was no fluke. Days (Television cover) - Swervedriver; She Is The Leader - The...

Bob Dylan's fifth studio album - and his first to incorporate electric instrumentation - 1965's 'Bringing It All Back Home', marked a seismic shift in popular music that can still be felt today. This week's guest, Buffalo, NY-born singer-songwriter and rock-and-roll lifer Willie Nile, joins us to dissect this stunning game-changer of a record. Songs discussed in this episode: Subterranean Homesick Blues (Bob Dylan cover), Vagabond Moon, We Are We Are - Willie Nile; Blowin' In The Wind - Bob Dyl...

There's no getting around it, 'Magic and Loss', Lou Reed's sixteenth studio album released in 1992, is NOT a particularly easy listen. While often musically beautiful in an elegantly understated way, the themes of death and the relentless toll it can take on both the dying and ones who love them are both universal and at times uncomfortably personal. Returning guest, Canadian documentary filmmaker Alan Zweig, is here for all of it. “There's a bit of magic in everything And then some loss to even...

Musician, songwriter and producer Chris Stamey (The dB's, Big Star Quintet) FINALLY ushers Todd Rundgren into the TRGMH universe with the 1971 release: Runt. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren. This beautifully written, performed and produced collection of songs totally fit teenage Stamey's 'lonely guy in a room by yourself' vibe at the time, and remains to this day one of his favorites. Songs discussed in this episode: Be Nice To Me (Live, 1971) - Todd Rundgren; I'm In Love, From A Window, Before We ...

Returning guest Les Norris (Radiobaghdad) channels his 16-year-old self as he joins Rob to unpack Circle Jerks' 1985 release, 'Wonderful'. Keith Morris and company dialed down the tempos and leaned into the metal for this, their fourth studio album, but at the end of the day their killer riffs and biting - at times goofy - sense of humor won us over. Songs discussed in this episode: Fortunate Son (CCR cover) - Circle Jerks; Pillz - Radiobaghdad; Sears & Applebee's - Les Norris; Over The Mountai...