Bandsplain

Author and critic Ann Powers maps the pioneering path of one of pop music’s most inventive, mystical, and artistic trailblazers: Kate Bush. Follow Ann Powers on Twitter at @annkpowers, and find her latest book, Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul in American Music wherever fine books are sold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We dive into the DIY legacy and hardcore lineage of DC legends Fugazi with none other than writer, editor, and artist manager Brandon Stosuy. Follow Brandon Stosuy on Twitter at @brandonstosuy, and check out thecreativeindependent.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pitchfork associate editor Sam Sodomsky takes us on a bountiful journey through the smooth stylings, guitar virtuosity, and unavoidable boomer nostalgia of Dire Straits. Follow Sam Sodomsky on Twitter at @ssodomsky, find his writing at Pitchfork, and check out his podcast Late Era. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tracking their evolution from the Berkeley punk scene to rock stardom, and all of the sell-out discourse in between, Dan Ozzi joins us this week to talk about Green Day. Follow Dan Ozzi on Twitter at @danozzi and pre-order his book, Sellout: The Major Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore, out Oct. 26, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In honor of the 50th anniversary of her masterwork, Blue, author and critic Jessica Hopper comes on the show to demystify the groundbreaking genius of the one and only Joni Mitchell. Follow Jessica Hopper on Twitter at @missjesshop. Find her books, The First Collection of Criticism By A Living Female Rock Critic, Night Moves, and the upcoming No God But Herself: How Women Changed Music in 1975 (out fall 2022). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Do you ever get scared that when you do psychedelics, your brain will break and you’ll get stuck in that place forever and never be normal again? That’s what happened here. Our brains broke somewhere along the way researching for this Red Hot Chili Peppers episode, and we will never be the same again. Fuck it, FOUR* HOUR BANDSPLAIN. *Nearly. Featuring Rolling Stone staff writer Brittany Spanos (@ohheybrittany on Twitter) and writer and Sundance-winning producer of Questlove’s upcoming documentary Summer of Soul, Joseph Patel (@jazzbeezy on Twitter). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Suzy Exposito, music reporter for the LA Times, joins us to unpack the story and innovative musical style of Deftones, a band from Sacramento that never stopped evolving, through genres, trends, and even tragedy. Just don’t call them nü-metal. Find Suzy Exposito’s writing at the Los Angeles Times and follow her on Twitter at @HexPositive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alex Pappademas returns to explain Ween, America’s first and only band "sprouted from the demon-god Boognish," and the one-of-a-kind bond between Boognish’s earthly conduits, Gene and Dean Ween. Alex’s book on Steely Dan, Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, Babylon Sisters, and Other Soul Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan is out in 2022 on University of Texas, Austin Press. You can follow Alex at @pappademas on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

REM is your favorite band’s favorite band. They’ve influenced countless musicians and had an immeasurable impact on the following decades of indie rock. Veteran music journalist Caryn Rose takes us through the lifespan and wide-ranging impact of Athens, Georgia’s own REM. Follow Caryn Rose on Twitter @carynrose. Her upcoming book, Why Patti Smith Matters, is out on University of Texas Press in 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Counting Crows are an essential inclusion to the sensitive nineties male rocker canon, one that is very close to Yasi’s heart. Music critic and author Steven Hyden joins Yasi to count the ways they love the Crows and reimagine a context in which they should be reconsidered as good and cool. Follow Steven Hyden on Twitter @Steven_Hyden, check out his podcast Celebration Rock on Spotify, and find his books "Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me" and "Twilight of the Gods" wherever fine books are sold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jawbreaker is one of those highly mythologized bands, the kind that feel perfectly cast in the amber of cult band-om. Yasi dissects the lore, the albums, the break-up, and the ahead-of-their-time songwriting with Jawbreaker oral historian Leor Galil, featuring a very special guest appearance by Dear You producer Rob Cavallo. Follow Leor Galil on Twitter at @imLeor and find his collection of music writing, “Best of Leor Galil,” at store.chicagoreader.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Superproducer The-Dream, aka Terius Nash, was behind some of the 2000s biggest pop hits: Umbrella by Rihanna, Single Ladies by Beyonce, even Baby by Justin Beiber. What’s lesser known is the intensity of the cult following that his solo R&B output amassed around the late 2000s. The Ringer’s Rob Harvilla comes on the pod to explain The-Dream’s influence and dissect his “lascivious, pristine R&B sex jams” (his words). Follow Rob Harvilla at @harvilla on Twitter and listen to his The Ringer podcast, 60 Songs That Explain the 90s, only on Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Patron saint of Yasi’s heart and soul, Dave Matthews, finally gets the Bandsplain treatment. Yasi bros down with journalist Grayson Haver Currin on their shared fave, Dave Matthews Band, with special tributes to 90s rock radio’s most quintessential fandom. Follow Grayson Haver Currin on Twitter @currincy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Do waste your time on us, we’re already the voice inside your head with this mega-episode dedicated to Poway, California’s pop-punk pioneers, Blink 182. Our guide is Josiah Hughes, co-host of the prolific podcast Blink 155, which explored every single Blink 182 song in a 2 hour-plus episode. Follow Josiah Hughes, the Blink 182 expert and NOT the Christian TikTok influencer, on Twitter @josiahhughes and check out his podcast Blink 155 on Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lil' Kim set the blueprint for much of female rap today but her legacy is so often misunderstood. With author Clover Hope, we unpack her history, her body of work, her influence, and how she walked so WAP could slide. Follow Clover Hope on Twitter @clovito and find her book The Motherlode: 100+ Women Who Made Hip-Hop wherever books are sold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Juggalos may be the most cult fanbase of all time. With dedicated Juggalo and author Nathan Rabin, we dive into the beautifully twisted world of the Dark Carnival and the music of their truly fearless leaders, Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope of the one and only Insane Clown Posse. Follow Nathan Rabin on Twitter at @nathanrabin and discover his books and podcasts at nathanrabin.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So...what happens to the Replacements? Bob Mehr returns for the rest of the band’s story, and we hear about their indelible influence on the future of rock bands and those who love ‘em. Follow Bob Mehr on Twitter at @BobMehr and find Trouble Boys: the True Story of the Replacements wherever books are sold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Replacements are one of rock n’ roll’s greatest cult bands. Also: one of Yasi’s all-time favorites, which is why this gets the two part treatment (them’s the rules). Grammy award-winning journalist Bob Mehr, author of Trouble Boys: the True Story of the Replacements, leads us through the ‘Mats 101. Follow Bob Mehr on Twitter at @BobMehr and find Trouble Boys: the True Story of the Replacements wherever books are sold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Writer, musician, practicing witch, and Kool Keith megafan Meredith Graves brings us an absolute galaxy-brain analysis of the intergalactic rap legend. Follow Meredith Graves on Twitter at @gravesmeredith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Bandsplain’s very first crossover episode, we welcome self-proclaimed cultural polymath Chris Black of the elite bro-cast How Long Gone to explain 90s icons The Goo Goo Dolls. Follow Chris Black on Twitter at @donetodeath. Subscribe to How Long Gone on Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Writer Rob Mitchum takes Yasi deep into the world of one of the most dedicated, enduring, and (some may say) mysterious fandoms of all time: Phish Heads. Follow Rob Mitchum on Twitter at @robmitchum and subscribe to his Grateful Dead podcast, 36 From the Vault, on Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Poet, critic, and author Hanif Abdurraqib joins us this week for a thoughtful examination of the enduring fandom of emo-era breakouts My Chemical Romance. Follow Hanif on Twitter at @NifMuhammad. His fifth book, A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance is out March 30. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In tribute to the late MF DOOM, Yasi is joined by rapper, comedian, and podcaster Open Mike Eagle to explore the fantastical world of perhaps the most influential underground rapper of all time. You can follow Open Mike Eagle on Twitter at @Mike_Eagle and listen to him on Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yasi invites music journalist Alex Pappademas on the show to explain the sound, impact, and fandom of the world’s ultimate dad band: Steely Dan. Alex’s book on Steely Dan, Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, Babylon Sisters, and Other Soul Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan is out in 2022 on University of Texas, Austin Press. You can follow Alex at @pappademas on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bandsplain is a show where host Yasi Salek invites experts to explain cult bands and iconic artists - and why people love them - using a curated playlist to help you understand the hype. New episodes every Thursday, only on Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices