Hello, Cleveland! This week, Producer Mike continues his quest to make Discord & Rhyme more metal by turning it up to 11 with an episode on England’s loudest band, Spinal Tap. The fictional Spinal Tap consists of guitarists David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel, bassist Derek Smalls, and a series of cursed drummers, whose misadventures are chronicled in the 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap. The real Spinal Tap consists of Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer, three exceptionally gifted comedians who know what makes metal tick and are very smart at playing dumb. And that extends to the movie’s soundtrack, whose songs walk the line between sophisticated songwriting and sounding like they could conceivably have been written by three boneheads. Because why waste good music on a brain?
Read More
George Harrison was heading toward his creative peak in the late 1960s, but famously had a difficult time getting the other Beatles interested in recording his songs. So when they broke up in 1970, George got a massive group of musicians together and recorded his entire backlog to release all at once. All Things Must Pass was the first ever triple album by a single artist, and (apart from Apple Jam) is a tightly focused, intense, cathartic listening experience unmatched in popular music. In this episode, Amanda, Ben, and Mike do their best to dissect this extremely dense album and prove that George Harrison was a brilliant musician and deserves the highest respect.
Read More
In the early 1970s, Jonathan Richman assembled a band that recorded a groundbreaking set of songs fusing garage-rock sensibilities with his own entirely unique worldview. Unfortunately, before The Modern Lovers managed to complete a proper album, Richman’s musical interests drifted into an entirely different direction, ultimately leading to the dissolution of this version of the band. The collection of recordings that finally saw release as 1976’s The Modern Lovers stands as a snapshot of a band at a specific moment in time and has served as an endless source of inspiration for punk and indie artists ever since. Take a spin past the Stop and Shop and join us with the radio on for a chat about this groundbreaking classic.
Read More
In the early 1970s, Jonathan Richman assembled a band that recorded a groundbreaking set of songs fusing garage-rock sensibilities with his own entirely unique worldview. Unfortunately, before The Modern Lovers managed to complete a proper album, Richman’s musical interests drifted into an entirely different direction, ultimately leading to the dissolution of this version of the band. The collection of recordings that finally saw release as 1976’s The Modern Lovers stands as a snapshot of a band at a specific moment in time and has served as an endless source of inspiration for punk and indie artists ever since. Take a spin past the Stop and Shop and join us with the radio on for a chat about this groundbreaking classic.
Read More
For our annual Moody Blues episode, we’re traveling back to the beginning (sort of) and finally discussing Days of Future Passed. Although the band themselves dismissed this idea, this album is clearly one of the starting points of progressive rock, and it’s certainly one of the earliest concept albums. It’s unique not just in the Moody Blues’ discography but in all of popular music, and we had a fantastic time discussing all the reasons why it’s still so beautiful, moving, effective, and entertaining 57 years after it was first released.
Read More
Get ready for some classic Americana, brought to you by four Canadians (and one American), discussed by four Americans (including one living in Canada). Because Neil Young and Joni Mitchell weren't enough, Ben goes back to the frozen north for the Band's 1968 debut album, Music From Big Pink. Ben discusses why he loves the Band and Music From Big Pink, joined by Amanda, Dan, and Mike.
Read More
R.E.M. spent the decade after Murmur growing steadily more successful, their popularity cresting with the 1991 #1 album Out of Time and its inescapable hit single “Losing My Religion.” But instead of going on an exhausting world tour like most bands would, R.E.M. went right back into the studio and recorded Automatic for the People, an album that defies rock star excess at nearly every turn. You probably know “Everybody Hurts” and “Man on the Moon,” which are still radio standards to this day, and with good reason. But even those songs were much more downcast and introspective than one would expect from a band at the height of their popularity. Automatic for the People is the sound of R.E.M. entering their thirties and taking stock of their place in both music and the world, and though it may take some time to sink in, John, Phil, Rich, and special guest Jeff Blehar all consider it one of their best albums. So join us for part 2 of a band that cannot be contained by one episode, and calluswhenyoutrytowakeherup.
Read More
We’ve held off on R.E.M. for a while, because the Athens, Ga., quartet is just such a heavyweight in the rock canon. They’re so huge, in fact, that they merit two episodes: one for the mumbly, Byrdsy alt-rock troubadours of the ‘80s, and one for the slightly less mumbly arena rock titans of the ‘90s and onward. We’re starting off with their 1983 debut Murmur, which fueled the rise of college radio with songs that were strangely out of time (so to speak) with the trends of the ‘80s. The compositions on Murmur are so hazy and oblique that they almost resist analysis, and that’s before you even consider Michael Stipe’s lyrics. But John, Mike, Phil, and Ben are willing to give it their best shot, so join them as they embark on a long-delayed pilgrimage west of the fields to discuss one of this podcast’s favorite bands.
Read More
Peter Gabriel is a favorite artist of many of us here at Discord & Rhyme, but we’ve saved him for our own 138th Episode Spectacular. Peter Gabriel III (aka Melt, so called because half of Gabriel’s face on the album cover looks like a melting candle) isn’t just John’s favorite Peter Gabriel album; it’s an album that made him reconsider (in a favorable light) the entirety of popular music in the 1980s and the concept of using the production studio to create entirely new sounds, and John leads a very enthusiastic discussion on an album that we love very much. Join John, Amanda, Rich, and Mike as we gush over an album that transformed solo Peter Gabriel into something greater than “the guy who used to sing for Genesis”; a dark noisy hellscape frontier of an album full of burglars, assassins, and not one cymbal anywhere.
Read More
Hear that? There goes the siren that warns of the air raid – or maybe that’s just Bruce Dickinson’s voice. This week, Mike continues his quest to make Discord & Rhyme more metal with the album Powerslave by Iron Maiden. In the popular consciousness, Maiden are known for their goofy album covers and hits like “Bring Your Daughter … to the Slaughter.” But if you dig just a little deeper, they were vanguards of the new wave of British heavy metal, with a seven-album run in the ‘80s that ranks among the greatest winning streaks of the album era, metal or otherwise. Powerslave is arguably their peak, boasting some of their greatest compositions and brainiest lyrics, with subjects running the gamut from The Prisoner to the military-industrial complex to the dawn of British Romanticism. But most importantly, it rocks, and Mike has invited Phil, John, and Rich to discuss eight amazing songs that will put you at a losfer words.
Read More
