A (Mostly) 80s Music Podcast: What Difference Does It Make?

Gary Kemp is clearly a busy man. He's got his podcast, The Rockonteurs, with fellow musician Guy Pratt, his tour with Nick Mason’s (Pink Floyd) band Saucerful of Secrets, and acting with his brother Martin Kemp in their most recent mockumentary, The Kemps: All Gold.  He’s also added a new album to his discography, This Destination. The album finds Gary in a reflective mood, looking back on life wi...

Jason Narducy is living his musical dream. He plays songs with the artists that helped frame his musical taste. It all started at the tender age of ten, playing in his punk band, Verböten. This year, he will tour with Michael Shannon to perform R.E.M.'s 'Fables of the Reconstruction' and more. It will be followed immediately by a tour playing alongside Bob Mould to support his latest album, Here W...

Happy Valentine's Day! We here at What Difference Does It Make love love songs, and so does Annie Zaleski. So much so, that she wrote a book about some of her favorite love songs, entitled We Found Love, Song by Song: The Stories Behind 100 Romantic Hits. Annie joins the podcast to talk about her favorite songs, from Fred Astaire and Frank Sinatra, to Adele and Usher. Simply put, if you love love,...

Friend of the show, Craig Rosen, joins us for a record-setting fifth time. On this occasion, we look at songs 90 to 81 on the 1988 KROQ year-end chart. What do we learn? Craig's English teacher embarrassed him in the high school halls, he is still freaked out just by thinking of The Exorcist display at a local theatre, and as always, all roads lead to REM. Of course there's also great 80s music to...

And so it begins, as we take a look at the top 106.7 songs played in 1988 on radio station KROQ in Los Angeles. Upcoming episodes will feature ten songs and a special guest, but for this episode, we will examine the bottom seven songs, 106.7 to 101, based on the station's year-end playlist. It's an eclectic group, and a nice entry into the type of music explored on The World Famous KROQ. Learn mor...

It was the year of debuts, from The Wonder Years to Roseanne toYo! MTV Raps. The Grammys finally recognized the significance of Rap and Heavy Metal, but (spoiler alert) failed to recognize the true innovators in each genre. It was also the year we believed two completely different looking men could be Twins and three womanizing bachelors could raise an infant. What would Brian Boitano do, besides...

Rob B and Nick Hallam, collectively known as Stereo MC’s, have been releasing music since the mid-1980s when they co-founded the Gee Street recording studio and record label. They had massive hits in the 90s with "Elevate My Mind", "Step It Up”, and "Connected". They then focused on their studio work, creating re-mixes for artists like Madonna, U2, and The Jungle Brothers. They now have their own...

Back in 2020, we had the opportunity to chat with Kathy Valentine of The Go-Go's. She had just released her rock n’ roll memoir, All I Ever Wanted. Since then, the Go-Go's have released their official documentary, and they were finally inducted into the Rock Hall. Since January 7 is Kathy's birthday, we wanted to recognize one of our favorite Capricorns by revisiting what previously was a two-part...

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. Holly finds a couple Hanukkah songs favorites via friend of the show, JC Douglas. We talk "Baby, It's Cold Outside" which leads into the film Little Mermaid and Holly reveals a shocking truth. Dave talks up the Phil Spector Christmas and we bring up the Die Hard controversy. And of course, what is an 80s Christmas podcast without talk of "Do They Kn...

It's been quite a year here at What Difference Does It Make. I mean, just look at the cover photo of us at an intimate rehearsal with Neil Finn from Crowded House, and you know we had a memorable year. While we didn't have Neil on the podcast, we did manage to get some of our other favorite musicians and music nerds to talk about 80s music and more. We've condensed some of our favorite clips from...

If you know the Earth, Wind & Fire songs September and Boogie Wonderland, The Pointer Sisters Neutron Dance or I'll Be There For You, aka the opening theme from Friends, then you're familiar with some of the songwriting work of Allee Willis. But that's only half the story. Director Alexis Spraic and Producer Prudence Fenton join the What Difference Does It Make Podcast to tell us about The World A...

Mindy Smith made quite an impression on Dolly Parton with her take on Dolly's iconic song, "Jolene". She followed that up with her beautiful debut album, One Moment More. Now twenty years into her career, she releases another gorgeous album entitled "Quiet Town". Mindy joins us in the virtual studio to talk about her inspirations and ideas behind the music. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

Robert Hilburn, former LA Times Music Editor/Critic, has become one of the preeminent music biographers for the singer-songwriter. Known for his deep dives into the lives of legendary artists, Robert has penned insightful biographies on Johnny Cash and Paul Simon. Now, he joins us to discuss his latest work, A Few Words In Defense Of Our Country: The Biography Of Randy Newman. We’ll explore Newman...

Iain Matthews’ 53rd-ish solo album is entitled "How Much Is Enough". He joins the podcast and we learn all about the start of his career, from selling shoes on Carnaby Street in mid-60s Swingin' London, to where he is today. It's a good insight into Iain's mindset about where he sees himself as a working musician/songwriter after nearly 60 years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.f...

We celebrate Punk For A Day Day on October 25 by recognizing one of our favorite Punks. One wouldn't blame Steve Diggle if he decided to pack up The Buzzcocks name after the death of vocalist Pete Shelley back in 2018. But Steve is carrying on, with the same fervor that powered the band back in Manchester, England in 1978.  When we talked back in 2022 The Buzzcock's latest album, Sonics In The Sou...

What does music documentarian Denny Tedesco do for an encore, after beautifully capturing the family of musicians known as The Wrecking Crew? How about find another family? That’s exactly what Denny did, with his latest film, entitled Immediate Family. You may not know the Immediate Family, or the names Danny Kortchmar, Waddy Wachtel, Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel, or Steve Postell, but you know the m...

Moon Unit Zappa has led quite a unique life. The daughter of Frank and Gail, she always called her parents by their first names. Moon was gifted a journal every year since she was five, and now she details many of the crazy stories in her book: Earth To Moon: A Memoir. She also shares some of her secrets on our podcast, including her fake name whenever this famed Valley Girl entered the Sherman Oa...

It's been quite a year for the brothers Jeff and Steven McDonald of Redd Kross. They’re currently in the middle of a tour in support of their eponymous double album, their oral history memoir, Now You're One Of Us: The Story Of Redd Kross comes out in October, and before the year is up, we’ll see the release of their documentary, Born Innocent. Somehow they boys found time to chat with us about th...

Robyn Hitchcock has had quite the musical career. So much so that two movies have been made about him: The documentary Robyn Hitchcock: Sex, Food, Death...and Insects, and the Jonathan Demme-directed performance film, Storefront Hitchcock. However, when Robyn decided to write his own story, he centered it on a particularly meaningful point in his life: When he was 14 years old. The memoir is 1967:...

Susan Seidelman has directed films with Meryl Streep, John Malkovich, and Madonna, but how does a humble girl from the suburbs of Philadelphia get to such a point? It's all documented in her new book, Desperately Seeking Something: A Memoir About Movies, Mothers, and Material Girls. Susan joins the podcast to talk about movies, music, mothers, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit mega...

Matt Pinfield would probably consider himself "just a music fan from New Jersey". But fans of his radio and club shows, as well as music artists like David Bowie and Depeche Mode immediately recognized the passion and knowledge that Matt possessed. This led to the distinction of being THE spokesperson for rock music fans when he first began hosting the Alternative Music show 120 Minutes on MTV in...

Music Journalist Lyndsey Parker is a fixture on the Los Angeles music scene. For more than two decades, she served as the Music Editor for Yahoo Entertainment, interviewing all our favorite music artists, including 80s icons like The Cure, Duran Duran, and Cyndi Lauper. You've seen her as a correspondent on AXS TV and Fox 11 News in Los Angeles, and as a moderator at the Grammy Museum. You can lea...

We first heard Swedish Egil at KROQ in Los Angeles, where for ten years he played his favorite dance, ska, and electronic music, introducing us to bands like New Order and Kraftwerk. From there, he became Music Director of MARS-FM, and introduced us to techno and rave artists like The Orb and Moby. And for the past three decades, Egil spearheaded Groove Radio, first in Los Angeles, then in syndica...

Alan Hunter was the first person we saw for the debut of MTV on August 1, 1981 (just don't remind Mark Goodman of this fact). Alan has maintained a passion for the 80s music that defined our youth. This, naturally, makes him the perfect guest for our podcast, as we discuss his career, his newfound love of cruises, and songs 40 to 31 from the KROQ 1987 year-end chart. Learn more about your ad choic...

Paige Stark is a multi-hyphenated artist. She's a Director-Writer-Actor-Producer, but she joins our podcast because we’re fans of her music. Her just- released EP is entitled Good At Love, and we get into all the interesting insights from the start of her career, her impressive list of friends, and the crazy story of how she became associated with Clementine Creevy from the band, Cherry Glazerr. S...