How We Heard It

Why do cheaters cheat? Seems like there are as many reasons as there are songs about cheaters. They cheat simply because they're tempted or because they want revenge or because they're lonely or because they don't care or because they want a thrill or because they're addicted to sex or because they're drunk. There are likewise numerous responses to being cheated on. Many are devastated or infuriat...

Are you a sweet soul? A deep thinker? A party animal? All of the above? In this episode of "How We Heard It," your hosts debate the criteria for creating a final playlist - for a celebration of life or just a celebration in general. What kind of songs would you want played at your funeral? Wayne's given it a lot of thought, but Chuck and John? Not so much. Join the guys as they get sweet and salty...

Another summer is upon us, and with it comes a new wave of summer hits that we'll remember forever. What is it about songs this time of year that makes them hit so much better? For starters, summer is the most popular season - one with the longest days, the most vacations and the best weather for being outdoors (notwithstanding oppressive heat waves). We meet new people in summer, we go to new pla...

One-hit wonders come from all directions, from serious artists who expected a long career of hit songs to novelty acts who never even expected that first one. But the end result is always the same: It's one and done for the performer. In this episode of "How We Heard It," your hosts look at an array of their favorite and their most hated one-hit wonders over the years, ranging from before they wer...

This week "How We Heard It" is going to the dogs ... and cats and horses and any other critter you can think of. When your hosts decided to explore songs about animals, they couldn't believe how many old and new gems they turned up, as well as some truly terrible songs. Artists of every genre have found excuses to do songs about animals, and they've come up with just about everything. Songs about...

Songs do a great job of marking all the chapters of a relationship - titillation, infatuation, obsession ... followed by the comforting warmth of deep and abiding love ... (sometimes) followed by hurt, misunderstanding and betrayal ... followed by anger, separation and acceptance. Yet once the breakup is over and done, we sometimes get stuck, unable to move forward or go back, awash in residual ne...

Your hosts at "How We Heard It" love movies just as much anyone, and like everyone else, they'll watch their favorite films again and again. But there are some good movies - some great movies even - that they never intend to watch again. In this week's episode they go through several acclaimed, or at least popular, films they won't be replaying, and they explain why. Their reasons are many and the...

Songwriters in most every genre dabble in themes of alcohol and drug use - some of them just looking for a good time, some of them looking for a serious escape from their lives and some of them looking to feed an addiction. On this episode of "How We Heard It," the guys take it all in, from the playful and silly party songs to the sobering cries for help from artists who are no longer with us. If...

Forget about sappy love songs and happy party songs. Sometimes you've just got to rip somebody a new one, and you don't want to be nice about it. The cathartic power of a mean song can't be underestimated, whether you just need to get something off your chest or you need to dig deep and drive someone completely out of your life. So this week the hosts of "How We Heard It" are mad as hell and they'...

The whole world is full of great music, so this week the "How We Heard It" guys travel the globe to unveil some of the artists who have caught their attention - from Latin America to Asia to Europe to Africa. Some sing in English, some don't. Some play contemporary popular music you might hear throughout the United States and Great Britain, others don't. And some of these acts you might already kn...

Music is in a constant state of change, keeping it in line with shifts in popular culture overall as genres rise and fall in popularity and technology trends change how music is made and how we listen to it. They say change is good, and often that's the case, but veteran music critics Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell and their musician friend John Baker have been irritated and incensed by some of...

We're constantly passing judgment on others, even if subconsciously - including when we're deciding what movie to watch or what music to hear. The words and actions of celebrities are met with our approval and our disdain, coloring our interest in their work. It's no different for critics, who have to teach themselves to be fair and neutral when evaluating the work of performers. Or do they? In th...

While searching and scrolling through music videos on YouTube, most of us have found ourselves watching videos of people watching the videos we came to see. And they're commenting and reviewing these videos, pausing them and replaying parts, sometimes talking over them and sometimes talking more about each other than about the videos. They typically claim to have never seen the music video before,...

All the time they tried their best, is this the kind of thanks they get? Veteran journalists Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe have made careers of keeping up with and analyzing music, and in this episode of "How We Heard It," they unload on the pitfalls - like slogging through terrible albums, dealing with pushback from disgruntled fans and shaking their heads at undeserving bands and singers who...

Veteran entertainment writers (and friends) Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe and their engineer/musician friend John Baker love a good laugh. So on this episode of "How We Heard It," they check off a list of the best comedians in the business these days. From the cleanest of the clean to the ones who constantly teeter on the line of getting cancelled, these comedians have all found their niches. I...

Most bands and singers do at least an occasional love song now and then, and love is the most common subject in popular music. But good love songs can be hard to find - some of the best singers aren't quite convincing as they try to manipulate us with formulaic schlock, and hardly anything is worse than a bad love song. So in this episode of "How We Heard It," veteran music critics Chuck Campbell...

No offense to long songs, but sometimes you don't need to hear long intros, repetitive choruses, bridges, someone noodling around on a guitar and protracted outros. This week on "How We Heard It," veteran music journalists (and friends) Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell celebrate the beauty of short songs - they hit fast, they hit hard, and then they let you get on with your day.

Veteran music critics Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe have spent decades arguing with each other, publicly and privately, about who should (and who would) win the Grammy Awards. On paper, the 2025 Grammys look like a showdown between the two biggest powerhouses of the day: Will pop music maverick Taylor Swift steamroll over the competition again to take home an unprecedented fifth Best New Album,...

With rare exceptions, humans love to laugh and they love music. We differ on what we find funny and what kind of music we like, but when comedy and music come together, it can be magical. On this episode of "How We Heard It," the guys explore how humor has found its way into music, and vice versa, and how the two art forms are probably more united now than ever. Also this episode, "How We Heard It...

On this episode of "How We Heard It," the guys talk about some of the greatest ballads in classic and modern pop music. Well, first they argue about what a ballad even is, but once they settle on a definition, they talk about how a performer's authenticity makes all the difference between a song that inspires you and a song that's just generic garbage. If you've ever been moved by a song and you c...

The movie industry has buckled under intense challenges in recent years - including a devastating pandemic that shut down theaters for months, labor strikes that disrupted the production process and release schedules, a glut of streaming services that fragmented distribution ... and not least of all, a lack of innovative thinking at the top, where the same basic movies are constantly being greenli...

Change is inevitable. When you live in the day-to-day world of popular music, you might not notice, but the music industry is endlessly changing. It's a revolving door of artists and a rise and fall of genres. Also, the recording process and delivery system for music is constantly pivoting, and the audiences themselves are cycling in and out as their wants and needs shift. This week on "How We Hea...

Songs can make you blush and songs can make you mad, but should they ever be banned? Veteran music journalists Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell take a look at how and why artists have been censored and how others have avoided it. And no, it doesn't always make sense. They also look at the fickle world of cancellation and how some artists get whacked while others get a pass. (Plus, sometimes artist...

Sometimes performers and journalists hit it off beautifully, and the result is a fun and breezy piece that engages and informs fans. This episode of "How We Heard It" isn't about those stories. Instead, veteran entertainment journalists Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell share their experiences in which musicians lied about who they were as well as interviews that were beyond awkward - including the...

If singers talked the way they sing, you might think they were having a stroke. From The Beatles and Nat "King" Cole to The Police and Beck to Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter, singers have been making up words, started counting or spelling for no reason, and they've had weird bouts of repeating select words. Sometimes they're avoiding censorship, sometimes it just inexplicably sounds right ......