The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers

One of the most sampled hip hop acts in history, New York-based EPMD earned the respect of musicians the world over including our guest comedian Joe DeRosa. For guest playlists, new music influenced by this album, and full show notes, go to The500podcast.com. Join the movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alice Cooper’s lifelong manager Shep Gordon share stories from inside the studio as the band’s third album Love It To Death represents a pivotal point in the legendary entertainer’s career. For guest playlists, new music influenced by this album, and full show notes, go to The500podcast.com. Join the movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Character comedian Frankie Quinones gets in touch with his East LA roots via the blues rock sounds of the 1984 sophomore Los Lobos album How Will the Wolf Survive? For guest playlists, new music influenced by this album, and full show notes, go to The500podcast.com. Join the movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Comedian Roy Wood Jr. bears witness to the cold-blooded rhythm and blues of Marvin Gaye's musical reckoning of his divorce in the form of the 1978 album Here, My Dear. For guest playlists, new music influenced by this album, and full show notes, go to The500podcast.com. Join the movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SNL alum Brooks Wheelan reveals his zealous love for all things My Morning Jacket, especially their 2005 psychedelic rock triumph Z. For guest playlists, new music influenced by this album, and full show notes, go to The500podcast.com. Join the movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Radio legend Ron Bennington reminisces about growing up in an era defined by roots rock albums like Elton John’s 1970 release Tumbleweed Connection. For guest playlists, new music influenced by this album, and full show notes, go to The500podcast.com. Join the movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Comedian Erik Griffin raises some interesting questions about the integrity of the timeless soul classics included in The Drifters’ 1968 compilation Golden Hits. For guest playlists, new music influenced by this album, and full show notes, go to The500podcast.com. Join the movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Comedian JessiMae Peluso fully embodies the fearless but feminine grunge rock of Hole’s 1994 album Live Through This. For guest playlists, new music influenced by this album, and full show notes, go to The500podcast.com. Join the movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With former Sex Pistols front man Johnny Rotten at the helm, you’d think P.I.L.’s 1979 release Metal Box would be a slam dunk for anti-establishment types the world over, but that is not the case for punk rock-loving comedian Kyle Kinane. For guest playlists, new music influenced by this album, and full show notes, go to The500podcast.com. Join the movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the Premiere episode of The 500 as a Spotify Original, Comedy icon Bobby Lee runs wild with R.E.M.’s 1987 album Document revealing the hilarious highs and lows of his life and career as well as his passion for alternative music at the 2019 Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. For guest playlists, new music influenced by this album, and full show notes, go to The500podcast.com. Join the movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s a time for happy songs, sunshine and general good cheer. And then there comes a time when it’s best to sit and stare pensively out a dirty window at bleak, rain-soaked landscapes and ponder the meaning of human existence in an uncaring universe. Krystina Hutchinson has had plenty of both; enough to know that sometimes it feels good to feel bad. After all, unrelenting self-reflection and brutal honesty are hallmarks of her stand-up, as well as the key ingredients in making her podcast, Guys We Fucked, one of the most successful and widely respected of all time. And what better theme music is there to those moments of dark ruminations on love and misery than the soulless soul music of Echo and the Bunnymen’s 1981 sophomore release Heaven Up Here? The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, and fan blogs about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by Echo & The Bunnymen: ‘Medio Litro’ by Cosmonauts (Listen on Spotify) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some artists speak for a generation. Some albums perfectly encapsulate a moment in time that, while perfect in that context, may seem out of place in any other time. English heavy metal icons Def Leppard’s contributions to the pantheon of rock are undeniable. But along the road to glorious immortality, there can often be a few questionable deviations. Without those somewhat dubious digressions, though, there would no opportunities for master comedians like Big Jay Oakerson and Randy & Jason Sklar to hilariously unpack the mullet-sporting, ripped jeans-wearing cheese of the 1987 album Hysteria, as they did for the first ever live episode at the 2019 Moontower Comedy Festival in Austin, Texas. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, and fan blogs about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by Def Leppard: ‘Panic Attack’ by The Glorious Sons (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s a reason they call romantics hopeless, and it’s because while love can raise you up to dizzying heights of euphoria, it’ll also send you slamming into the ground with the speed of freight train and zero explanation. There aren’t many people in the world who know this better than comedian Tony Sam, host of the podcast Legally Insane and ‘Food: Fact or Fiction?’ on the Cooking Channel. He’s had his heart ripped out more than a few times, enough so to know he isn’t always free from blame when things go bad. But through it all, the lo-fi indie pop of the Magnetic Fields has helped him find some understanding through the curious chaos of intimacy, with their incredible 1999 three-volume release 69 Love Songs acting as something of a guidebook. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, and fan blogs about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by Magnetic Fields: ‘Dog Inside a Car’ by Fell Runner (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Music can remind us of many things: a time in our lives we were happy or a place we never wanted to leave, a fleeting moment we can't return to a lover we can't forget. For comedian Kelsey Cook, few bands held such an important space in her head and heart as Coldplay, who came into their own just as she was navigating the fraught path towards womanhood. The post-Britpop of those gentle piano rockers' 2002 sophomore album A Rush of Blood to the Head provided Kelsey with no small amount of comfort as she maneuvered through turbulent relationships and the uncertainty of adult life, ultimately bringing her to the success of appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Comedy Central's This is Not Happening, and the launch of her own podcast, Self-Helpless. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, and fan blogs about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by Coldplay: Luke Sital-Singh "Lover" (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Little Steven hated the idea. One of the most raw albums Bruce Springsteen ever produced sets the scene for actor and comedian Jay Mohr to bare his soul discussing his own roller coaster ride following his heart to the bottom and back up again. The roots between these two prolific entertainers intertwine at a much deeper level than merely their shared home state of New Jersey. Saved by the Bell, the Boss takes a faint break from blue collar dreams to tell the story of straddling the fence in a relationship that shouldn't be saved despite pure poetry in the 1987 album Tunnel of Love. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, and fan blogs about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by Bruce Springsteen: Gaslight Anthem "National Anthem" (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's a counterculture deep dive with the voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers Charley Steiner sharing his lesser known, but no less intense passion for music through the lens of the 1965 debut self-titled album by The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Emboldened by Jack Keroac's On The Road, the radio deejay-turned-sports broadcaster recalls leaving the country for the first time with the destination set for a small blues club in Montreal to watch Chicago's first integrated electro-funk-blues-rock-jazz fusion outfit making music history in more ways than one. And just like 23 year-old Paul Butterfield adopted the sounds from a previous generation, Steiner confides he would practice announcing baseball games in his basement with the TV on silent, dreaming that one day, he'd be so fortunate as to follow in Vin Scully's footsteps only to realize the feat in his Gump-ian life of seemingly endless serendipity. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, and fan blogs about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by The Paul Butterfield Blues Band: Durand Jones & The Indications "Morning In America" (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They say all good things must come to an end, and for the golden era of hip hop, there is no exception. Tastes change and styles are rewritten, remixed and repurposed. But no one can deny that for a brief moment in time, The Fugees captured lightning in a bottle through the equal parts true-to-life storytelling, vicious wordplay and heart wrenching musicality in their second and, ultimately, final studio album: 1996’s The Score. Few appreciate that more than comedian, actor and podcaster Andrew Santino. His love of the supergroup’s creativity and uncompromising vision has helped him blaze his own path, leading to appearances on Showtime’s I’m Dying Up Here and the film The Disaster Artist, as well as the creation of his widely successful podcast Whiskey Ginger. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, and fan blogs about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by The Fugees: The Internet "Girl" (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russell Peters has been many things in his life. Breakdancer, DJ, very nearly a chef, and groundbreaking comedian beloved by people all over the world; he's done it all. But no matter where his many interests and achievements have taken him, he's never forgotten his roots as a lonely Anglo-Indian kid growing up in the Toronto suburbs, just catching wind of the strange new music called hip hop that emanated from across the border in New York in the early 80's. Essential to the era was LL Cool J, whose debut album Radio smashed onto the scene in 1985, showing eager young minds like Russell's the possibilities of a new genre and the success that could come from not just belief in your own greatness but also taking risks on things no one else had ever done. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, and fan blogs about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by L.L. Cool J: Lute "Still Slummin'" (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hope can be hard to come by, faith sometimes falters, and love might be fleeting. But as the tender guitar tones and soulful harmonies found in the brighter tracks of Richard and Linda Thompson's 1974 folk rock masterpiece I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight suggest, all three of those qualities are an essential balance to the heartbreaking pain that life has to offer. Comedian, actor and musical savant Avery Pearson is no stranger to both joy and sadness. And it is his ability to accept both the good and the bad with an unceasing zest for living that makes him perhaps the most qualified of all to pick apart an album that, while having little success in its day, is nearly unmatched in its equal share of exuberant musicality and woeful lyricism. After all, it's Avery's boundless positivity that has drawn audiences to his performances in Showtime’s Masters of Sex, USA’s Suits, and on stage in his own monthly comedy showcase at the Hollywood Improv, 'The 88 Show with Avery Pearson.' The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by Richard and Linda Thompson: David Ramirez "Watching From A Distance" (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bursting through the English pop scene with WHAM!, 24 year-old George Michael went solo in 1987 with the release of the Grammy award-winning album Faith producing seven singles including I Want Your Sex, Father Figure, and the title track finding its inspiration from Elvis and porn, it is decided. When actor Nia Renee Hill first heard Faith in the late '80's she couldn't help but be inspired by the rebellious truth inherent in breaking free from conventional norms. Hearing the call to pursue a full-time career in film, she moved to New York working in casting for MTV and on TV shows including Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn where she met her husband Bill Burr. With a ton of hard work and a renewed self-belief, she rediscovered her love of acting recently making appearances on Santa Clarita Diet, Crashing on HBO, and F is for Family on Netflix. Hear her regularly on The MM Podcast. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by George Michael: January Jane "Take The Lions On" (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a world of sickening brightness, the best way to stick out is to go dark. That’s why when Christina Pazsitzky was growing up in the San Fernando valley, she sought out the eerily romantic weirdness of the 80’s blossoming goth culture. It’s been many years since Christina donned all black and danced the reckless dance of the lonely to the morose crooning of androgynous new wave. Now she’s a wife, mother of two and a wildly successful stand-up comedian, with two Netflix specials to her credit: Mother Inferior and The Degenerates, and her own podcast: Your Mom’s House. But no matter what, there’ll always be a part of her that’s still that twelve-year-old girl smoking cigarettes, listening to The Smiths’ 1984 debut alt rock classic self-titled debut, knowing full well how alone we all really are. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by The Smiths: Flora Cash "They Own This Town" (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When life is bleak and times are tough, there's often no choice but to look for an escape through whatever means are available. For Felipe Esparza, who immigrated from Mexico as a child and grew up poor in a crime-ridden neighborhood of east LA, that escape came in the form of watching the likes of Richard Pryor and George Carlin tell jokes and fantasizing of one day following in their footsteps. After many years and no small number of barriers to overcome, that fantasy became reality: Esparza eventually won NBC's Last Comic Standing competition and has gone on to appear in television shows such as Superstore and The Eric Andre Show, as well as launch his own podcast What's Up Fool. All the while, he has managed to stay positive by keeping in mind how far he's come and drowning out the darkness of the world with a soundtrack to his life that includes the beautifully eclectic, multilingual Latin stylings of Manu Chao's 2001international hit record Proxima Estacion: Esperanza. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by Manu Chao: Victizzle "Oshé Gan Gan" (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Words have power, and if you know how to wield that power in just the right way, you can take the world by storm. That’s why comedians and musicians both can have such lasting impacts, more so than many other forms of creative expression. For a founding member of the new-wave movement like Elvis Costello, the ability to emit dark, brutal honesty through otherwise bright and cheerful wordplay is what made albums like his 1979 post-punk release Armed Forces such a sensation. It proved so powerful that even though comedian Dana Gould didn’t discover it until a few years later, its clever lyricism shaped his notion of how important it is to assemble your ideas in just the right way. After all, a way with words is what launched Dana into a career that has led to four comedy albums, roles on The Ben Stiller Show and Stan Against Evil, and a seven-year term as a writer on The Simpsons. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by Elvis Costello: All Day Sucker "Quality Problems" (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every so often the universe sees fit to gift a person with the ability to keep others desperately clinging to their every word, so enthralled with the details of even the simplest anecdote that all sense of time and purpose are lost, and all that matters to the eager audience is what happens next. It's even less common that two talented orators cross baths in such a brief and spectacular way as comedian and storyteller Bert Kreischer and rapper Notorious B.I.G. For one brief second in 1997, the two shared the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Notorious B.I.G. had been murdered just weeks after the release of Life After Death, a double-album rife with tales of the opulence and violence of the New York City drug trade. Bert was being named America's top partier, and would go onto release two comedy special, host two television shows, produce his own podcast Bertcast. Now, nearly 25 years later, Bert reveals just how important that shared moment and Biggie's music was to him. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, links to new music inspired by this week's album, go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by Notorious B.I.G.: Benny the Butcher - "97 Hov" Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Producer, director and actor Peter Billingsley puts the nearly 40 years of boozing, brawling and broken spirits of outlaw country legend Merle Haggard's career-spanning retrospective collection Down Every Road into perspective for the modern era. Much like with the story of America, a look back on the life of outlaw country legend Merle Haggard reveals as much pain and hardship as it does hope and inspiration. But without the harsh realities of growing up poor and spending time in prison to shape him, the world might find itself sorely lacking the hard-bitten truths and forlorn beauty of that classic Bakersfield Sound he spent nearly forty years shaping with his music, to which the 1994 release of roughly 100 songs from every period of his career Down Every Road is an eternal testament. The same might be said of one of Merle's biggest fans: director, producer and actor Peter Billingsley, whose humble beginnings in yogurt commercials and after school specials led him to not only star in one of the most beloved holiday films of all time, A Christmas Story, but also helped bring to life hit movies and televisions series such as The Break Up, Sullivan & Son, and F is for Family. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by Merle Haggard: Mick Fury "Front Porch of America"(YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two veritable rebels sustain us in this supremely honest conversation about love and relationships. While stand-up comic Jenny Zigrino bares all on her appearances on Conan and Comedy Central, Loretta Lynn lambasts her long-time husband for every wrongdoing in the book in this, her Greatest Hits album, a classic in the eyes of pioneers looking for historical footholds. For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries and audiobooks about the music, go to The500Podcast.com. New Music influenced by Loretta Lynn: “A Dream Without Pain” by Nicole Atkins (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. #FleeceArmy #KingofFleece #The500Podcast The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good luck trying to pin a label on Baron Vaughn, because he is an artist who has built a career out of defying expectations. Learning from an early age that humor can be both a weapon and a shield, he has carved out a unique identity for himself through his eclectic stand up comedy albums, performances in Netflix's Grace & Frankie and Mystery Science Theater 3000, and creating the series The New Negroes for Comedy Central. Vaughn takes an unflinching look at the world's expectations of what it means to be black in America. But in reaching the position he is in today, much is owed to the groundbreaking work of the creative forces that came before him, including psychedelic funk godfathers Funkadelic, who shattered genre stereotypes while also getting people to shake their asses to the drug-fueled grooves of their 1971 release, Maggot Brain. For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries and audiobooks about the music, go to The500Podcast.com. New Music influenced by Funkadelic: “El Moran” by Mascaras (bandcamp) “Bay City Blues” by Jack McCue / Idle Hands (Soundcloud) Join. The. Movement. #FleeceArmy #KingofFleece #The500Podcast The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The world can be a cold, hard place that suffers no fools and shows now mercy to those in suffering. Few artists have ever been able to capture the dark underbelly of America the way that hip-hop giants the Wu Tang Clan have. And among the supergroup, Raekwon stands out as a master of lyrical storytelling and mindboggling wordplay, to which his 1995 debut solo album Only Built for Cuban Linx is an eternal testament. So densely crafted with harrowing true-to-life tales of the New York drug trade, it only seemed fitting that this album be deconstructed by none other than Ron Funches. Ron is known for his bright, positively jovial persona, having quickly positioned himself as one of the fastest rising stars in comedy, with appearances in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Blackish, New Girl, and his own Comedy Central special, Giggle Fit, under his belt. For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries and audiobooks about the music, go to The500Podcast.com. New Music influenced by Raekwon: Armand Hammer – “No Days Off” on (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. #FleeceArmy #KingofFleece #The500Podcast The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Perception is reality, or so they say. But for an emotionally complex, yet inherently antagonistic public figure like Michael Rapaport, the image and persona people see from the outside doesn't fully plumb the depths of his character. Born in New York City, the actor/director is very much a product of his environment, ever ready to deal out bristling, sometimes caustic arguments, opinions and wordplay at a rapid fire rate, much like the gritty lyricists who laid the foundations of the hip-hop music he is so passionate about right in his own hometown. Still, there is more to Michael than a quippy tweet or profanity laden viral video might convey. He loves his children deeply, looks back on his Jewish heritage with great pride, and has a powerful affinity for the sexually incandescent, neo-soul vibrations of D'Angelo's instant classic from 2000, Voodoo. For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries and audiobooks about the music, go to The500Podcast.com. New Music influenced by D'Angelo: Dijon "Skin" (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. #FleeceArmy #KingofFleece #The500Podcast The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Actor Tom Everett Scott finds parallels to his own life in the small-town roots and overnight success of Steve Earle’s 1986 debut album Guitar Town. Every so often an artist comes along whose talent, brilliance and charm grab the public’s attention so quickly and so intensely that the person’s sudden elevation to celebrity shocks even them. Such is the case of Tom Everett Scott, who not long after graduating from theater school, was cast in his hero Tom Hank’s directorial debut That Thing You Do, which has since become a cult classic for music and movie lovers everywhere. Tom went on to star in several of the most iconic movies and television series of his generation, including American Werewolf in Paris, Dead Man on Campus and, most recently, truTV’s I’m Sorry. Never one to forget his small-town roots, the heartfelt blues rock longing and quiet country loneliness of Steve Earle’s debut album Guitar Town, also sharing in instant classic status when it was released in 1986, reminded Tom much of where he’s been and how he’s gotten to where he is now. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist / Song influenced by Steve Earle: Barrel Bones "Rebel Threat" (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Work hard on something you love for long enough and two things are bound to happen: you master it, and you stop caring about anything not directly related to how much you love that thing. If nothing else, that may be the most important lesson Karen Kilgariff has to offer. Starting out as a stand up in the early 1990's, she went on to become the head writer of The Rosie Show, The Ellen Degeneres Show, and The Pete Holmes Show. After battling addiction, anxiety, and insecurity, Karen has reached a point in her career where she is able to look beyond the stress and struggles of trying to make it, leaving her with zero fucks left to give and one of the most successful podcasts in existence, My Favorite Murder. That mindset makes Karen the best possible person to unpack the uncompromising political statements and savage criticisms of modern romance that make up Gang of Four’s influential 1979 release Entertainment! The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Song / Artist influenced by Gang of Four: Fever 333 - "Burn it" (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Music industry legend Matt Pinfield lets Josh pick over his encyclopedic brain in this epic discussion of the slightly obscure but sorely underrated 1972 Mott the Hoople release All the Young Dudes. Saying Matt Pinfield knows a lot about music may be the greatest understatement of the century. The former MTV VJ and alternative radio industry titan is not just a walking, talking encyclopedia of music fact and lore, his tastes have launched a thousand bands’ careers over the years. It all started with him parked in front of a record player, listening to a stack of albums as a child, fueling a burning passion to seek out new tunes. And looking back at an unpredictable career and a life filled with as much joy as heartbreak, it’s clear there is no one better equipped to pick apart the oft-overlooked and genius-inspired glam rock artistry of All the Young Dudes, the 1972 album from Mott the Hoople, who came too damn close to never releasing some of their best work ever. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Song / Artist influenced by Mott the Hoople: "Outta My Mind" by Des Rocs (feat. The Cobra) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are fans, there are superfans, and then there are people like Joe List. While Joe couldn’t tell one flannel-wearing gaggle of grunge rockers from another when he first bought Pearl Jam’s third studio album Vitalogy in 1994, no other band would ever strike as emotionally resonant a chord deep within him. Something about the heavy guitars, soaring vocals and lyrics heavily laden with meaning and story would drive Joe not only to seek out every B-side and obscure bit of trivia he could stand to commit to memory, but also to see Pearl Jam live in concert at least 40 times. As far as obsessions go, Joe’s love for these sons of Seattle could only ever be surpassed by his prodigious and prolific career in stand-up comedy, which has taken him to the finals of NBC’s Last Comic Standing and the second season of Netflix’s The Stand Ups. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries and audiobooks about the music, go to The500Podcast.com. New Song / Artist influenced by Pearl Jam: "Rock N Roll" by Welles (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everyone remembers the first album they ever bought for themselves. For comedy legend Wanda Sykes, it was Earth, Wind and Fire’s 1975 release That’s the Way of the World. And to that 11-year old version of herself, there was nothing else in the world quite like the invigorating funky riffs and uplifting, soulful lyrics of a band making their first dip into the mainstream. Little did she know then that she would be thinking back on those smooth, supple sounds nearly 45 years later and examining just how important their message of staying positive and looking to the future with hope would be in her life. Now, with multiple comedy albums, awards, and television and movie appearances to her credit, Wanda can look back fondly and remember that no matter what, she knew that the first step on her path to greatness was believing she could be whatever she truly wanted to be. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries and audiobooks about the music, go to The500Podcast.com. New Song / Artist influenced by Earth, Wind and Fire: "Beat 54 (All Good Now)" by Jungle (YouTube) & (Spotify) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cyndi Lauper's debut album title She's So Unusual is nothing short of the perfect descriptor for her looks, the sound of her voice, and the genre-bending compilation of tracks that won her Best New Artist at the 1984 Grammy's. Growing up, Big Jay Oakerson was drawn to her strangeness, and he was not alone. Gwen Stefani and Lady Gaga created careers out of replicating and building upon that oddball personality, letting their freak flags fly. This conversation was recorded in Montreal at Just For Laughs, July 2018. Jay and Josh go deep on some interesting topics including the heart palpitating music of the '80s, songs to cry to, hip hop figuring out how to entertain and put on a show by studying KISS, and Cyndi's imprint on the evolution of music itself. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Song / Artist influenced by Cyndi Lauper: "She's Kerosene" by The Interrupters (YouTube) & (Spotify) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No one ever really knows for sure where the course of their lives will take them, and punk rock icon-turned-stand up comedian Joe Sib is no different. Joe first fell in love with the harsh sounds and unconventional aesthetic of the punk scene while taking his first ride through a Northern California skate park at the dawn of the 1980's. From then on, he knew that no matter where life took him, that music and that world would define everything he wanted and beliefs for which he stood. Life would, in fact, take him in many strange directions, including being kicked out of the band Frontline, having his band Wax dropped from one major label only to be picked up by another, founding SideOneDummy Records, and performing stand up as an opener for Metallica's latest tour. No matter what, though, the caustic, grinding soundscapes like those of hardcore punk giants Hüsker Dü's 1985 album New Day Rising have always remained a constant in Joe's life, just as they have left an indelible mark on the many artists whose careers Joe has helped foster. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries and audiobooks about the music, go to The500Podcast.com. New Song / Artist influenced by Hüsker Dü: "Ollie Oxen Free" by Chill Parents (YouTube) & (Bandcamp) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1976, the face-painted, leather-clad all-stars of anthem rock band Kiss set the world on fire with their album Destroyer, and like most prepubescent boys of that era, Roastmaster General Jeff Ross found no refuge from the flames. While fate marked young Jeff's early adulthood with illness and the deaths of his parent, he was still able to sit up in his room in his family's New Jersey home, where the walls were lined with pictures of Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter, and dream of a life in which he revealed in their same theatrical glory and rock star lifestyle. For Jeff, there were no other bands that could fill him with such hope and possibility, and that hope turned into reality as he actually managed to make good on those dreams, leading him to become the star of Comedy Central's Celebrity Roasts and the host of the network's hit show Roast Battle. Jeff's ability to tear people to shreds while keeping them hysterically laughing has garnered him international renown, much like the blistering glam metal that has kept Kiss as a household name for decades. Show Notes & Guest Playlists can be found at The500Podcast.com. New Music influenced by KISS: "Stepdad" by Regan & Watkins featuring Pauly Shore Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of Josh's oldest friends in comedy Chris Porter joins The 500 to relive the glory days of jam sessions past and revel in the high octane blues rock glory that is ZZ Top's 1973 release Tres Hombres. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries and audiobooks about the music, go to The500Podcast.com. New Song / Artist influenced by ZZ Top: "Homesick" by Marcus King Band (YouTube) & (Spotify) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sinbad, currently starring in 'Rel' Sunday nights on FOX, discusses his love of playing music, compares Albert King bending a blue note to a sweet callback for a comic, and he shares an inside look into his alter ego 'Memphis Red'. Also, the true story of how Sinbad outed Hillary Clinton to The Washington Post and the call from Obama. Then, Sinbad's dog eats some of our equipment, but it was all worth it. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, documentaries and audiobooks about the music, go to The500Podcast.com. New Song / Artist influenced by Albert King: "Face In The Scene" by Black Joe Lewis (YouTube) & (Spotify) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To kick things off, we take a trip down memory lane - actually we take Richmond Road past Victory Boulevard - and Sal shares stories along the way about his groovy musical upbringing, delivering pizza to Wu-Tang Clan, and his meticulous dedication to preparing fresh playlists each night to set the mood while bartending. Turning our attention to Touch, Sal and Josh both agree Annie Lennox is the female David Bowie, pushing the edges of the pop genre, and doubling down on experimentation in Eurythmics' third album following up the worldwide hit song Sweet Dreams. This music represents the early 80's. It paves the way for video games and the next generation of androgynous superstars. Then, they leave a voicemail for Kenny Loggins. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, documentaries and audiobooks about the music, go to The500Podcast.com. New Song / Artist influenced by Eurythmics: "World's Crazy" by Róisín Murphy (YouTube) & (Spotify) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As twin brothers, Randy and Jason Sklar share identical genetic codes. Beyond that, they also share a keen understanding of the nature of songwriting, joke structure, and what it means to be an artist. Utilizing an almost telepathic connection to play their timing and delivery off of one another, the dynamic duo of post-modern humorists have had twice the impact on the world of comedy than any individual performer could hope for, having released four critically acclaimed comedy albums, two Comedy Central Half Hour Presents specials, and made appearances in countless shows on FX, HBO, and ESPN. They bring the bulk of their lifelong Wilco fandom and knowledge to bear in this episode, as is needed given the amount of backstory there is to cover behind the band's 2002 release Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, broadly considered one of the best albums of this first part of the 21st century. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, documentaries and audiobooks about the music, go to The500Podcast.com. New Song / Artist influenced by Wilco: “Less Than Positive” by Michael Nau (YouTube) & (Spotify) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gareth Reynolds joins The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers to dissect experimental indie band MGMT's breakout record. Youth, sexual exploration, the banality of modern life: these are all themes that have been explored in countless art forms; so much so that one might expect that MGMT's 2007 debut album Oracular Spectacular would have little to add to the conversation. But that expectation doesn't take into account how much that conversation might change when filtered through the brilliantly improvisational wit of Gareth Reynolds, who has made a career out of lampooning the equally minute and bizarre aspects of life through his writing on shows like Arrested Development and his own wildly successful podcast The Dollop. Locked in a room together with nothing but synth pop and psychedelic rock to sustain them, Gareth and Josh can barely contain themselves from laughing hysterically at the inconsistencies in the album's quality, the division of labor in the band, and the irony of a song about becoming famous being the ticket to stardom for two guys who never even wanted to form a band in the first place. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, documentaries and audiobooks about the music, go to The500Podcast.com. New Song / Artist influenced by MGMT: "Afterthought" by Slum Sociable (YouTube) & (Spotify) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fearless is the only way to describe the two women who dominate episode 495, as the hilarious Fortune Feimster relates the motivating power of her early struggles to the long road Bonnie Raitt had to travel to get the recognition she deserved, which didn’t come until well after the release of her sophomore album Give It Up. To hear guest playlists, new music influenced by these albums, and to check out the show notes, go to The500Podcast.com. Join. The. Movement. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. New Song / Artist influenced by Bonnie Raitt: "I Adore You" by Molly Burch (YouTube) & (Spotify) Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin Nealon joins Josh Adam Meyers to discuss Boz Scaggs' self-titled debut album. Every generation in history has produced creative minds that laid the groundwork for those who came after them, and as episode 496 of The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers shows, it’s not even clear to those trailblazers how their efforts will ripple outwards in time. While Saturday Night Live has produced dozens of wildly influential cast members, few alumni have crafted as humbly ubiquitous a presence in comedic television and movies as this week’s guest, Kevin Nealon. The same could be said of Boz Scaggs, whose soulful self-titled debut album which Kevin and Josh digest, was so different in style and execution from its contemporaries, and its staying power as a landmark of Americana wasn’t recognized until years after its release in 1969. New Song / Artist influenced by Boz Scaggs: "Little Finger'" by Lady God (Bandcamp) & (Spotify) For show notes & guest playlists, go to The500Podcast.com. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bill Burr joins Josh Adam Meyers on The 500 to breakdown The White Stripes' 2001 album White Blood Cells. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. New Artist / Song influenced by The White Stripes: Night Beats – “Her Cold, Cold Heart” on (Spotify) + (YouTube) To hear guest playlists, new music influenced by these albums, and to check out the show notes, go to The500Podcast.com. Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Comedian Jim Jefferies joins Josh Adam Meyers on The 500 Podcast to profess his love for The Stone Roses' self-titled debut album while Meyers explains how important Jefferies was to the birth of this show. They dive headfirst into late 80's London tackling atheism and spirituality, philosophy as it relates to what drives successful people, and the music of that time and place. They breakdown the artist, the sound, the lyrics, and the environment which produced this killer album. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. New Song / Artist influenced by The Stone Roses: "Talkin Straight" by Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever (Spotify) + (YouTube) For show notes & guest playlists, go to The500Podcast.com. Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Songs of heartbreak and loss abound in this episode of The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers, which centers around B.B. King's album Live in Cook County Jail, but this week's guest doesn't shy away from music that makes you want to cry into your beer or maybe even drive off a cliff. Comedian Ryan Sickler has seen his fair share of hardship, and like the prisoners who were there to witness this album's recording on the hottest day of 1971, he finds comfort in the shared misery these beautiful recordings extol. In fact, Ryan has managed to turn some of the tragedies in his life into solid gold material that he's been able to showcase on Viceland's Party Legends, Comedy Central's This is Not Happening, and his own storytelling podcast, The Crabfeast. Two of Baltimore's favorite sons, Ryan and Josh have almost as much fun talking about who they'd love to see perform for a crowd of screaming felons as they do dissecting the fascinating minutiae of B.B. King's life. Sickler's new album “Get a Hold of Yourself” drops everywhere #toozdee November 20, 2018. Pre-order now to get an instant download of the track, “The Dad Whistle”. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. New Song / Artist influenced by B.B. King: "Witness" by Benjamin Booker on (Spotify) + (YouTube) For show notes & credits, go to The500Podcast.com. Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Atlanta native Byron Bowers joins the debut episode of The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers. There aren't many people better suited to do a deep dive into the eclectic and boundary pushing sounds of Rolling Stone's choice for #500 out the 500 best albums of all time than comedian and actor Byron Bowers. Much like Outkast, the hip-hop duo that released this week's album, titled Aquemini, Bowers hails from Atlanta, Georgia. And as rappers Andre 3000 and Big Boi embody two ends of a broad cultural spectrum, Bowers has worked hard to balance both the gangster mindset and the avant garde aesthetic through his comedy, which has led him to appear on The Eric Andre Show on Adult Swim, the reboot of BET’s Comic View and Jimmy Kimmel Live. He also currently plays "Meldrick" in the Showtime series drama The CHI. Josh and Byron have been friends for nearly a decade, and in this episode they pick apart the deeper meanings of the album's versatile wordplay, as well as think back on just how hard Byron was twerking in an Atlanta nightclub circa 1998. New Song / Artist influenced by OutKast: "Liquor Sto'" by Earthgang on (Spotify) + (YouTube) For show notes & credits, go to The500Podcast.com. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 500 Podcast with Josh Adam Meyers counts down Rolling Stone Magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time with comedians, actors, and musicians. 500 albums, 500 episodes. The finale will be May 31, 2028. This is the only podcast where you know when it will end (in 9.61 years)… The first episode is the last and the last episode is the first. Josh Adam Meyers is the living Anthony Bourdain at the crossroads of comedy and music. He is the creator & host of the Comedy Central television series The Comedy Jam and The 500 Podcast is the first Music Album Book Club representing the next decade of his life’s work, talking to creatives about the greatest music of our lives. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices