Bandsplain

That’s right listeners, you’re back taking a ride with your best friend. Our Heroes Yasi and Patrik return to hack their way through the second half of Depeche Mode’s monster career, in which they navigate fame, fortune and the 90s, as well as the spectre of Dave Gahan’s goatee. How did they survive it all? Listen to the opposite of silence to find out.  You can follow Patrik on Twitter @PatrikSan...

The story of how a few synth-curious teenagers became one of the most influential - and enduring - musical institutions of our time. In Part 1 of our wild two part ride, Yasi and her guest Patrik Sandberg follow the lads of Depeche Mode from their humble but ambitious Basildon beginnings as they develop their sound by way of a variety of powerful influences, including Daniel Miller of Mute Records...

Joy Division made a huge impact in a very short amount of time. The iconic Manchester outfit that would tragically have to turn the page and become New Order were formed quickly in the wake of a Sex Pistols show, and released some of their most prominent tracks after the passing of their lead singer, Ian Curtis. Anthony Anzaldo of the band Ceremony joins Yasi to explore this shooting star of a ban...

Hanif and Yasi continue on their voyage, picking up in the heart of the Cure’s discography. Did we leave you with your Head on the Door? Don’t Disintegrate. Our heroes pick up right where they left off and take you to present day. You can follow Hanif Abdurraqib on Twitter @NifMuhammad Listen to the accompanying playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/647QhOpb2HfJUhYiIF1KmD?si=87156fa1f52...

We're back babe and we're bringing you an epic two-parter on the Cure, with a Bandsplain favorite repeat guest, the renowned poet, critic, and author Hanif Abdurraqib joining us once again. The Cure are bigger than any one genre with a decades-spanning discography to match and you better believe we cover it all. Part 1 takes us from their humble beginnings in the distant London suburb of Crawley t...

Bandsplain returns with brand new episodes Thursday, March 9th.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To wrap out the year and our first season at The Ringer, we thought it would be fun to do our own cute little draft. So here it is, The 1992 Music Draft, in which Rob Harvilla and Chris Ryan join Yasi to decide what the best albums, rap songs, rock songs, pop songs, wild cards and music videos of 1992 were. The choices herein may shock even the most passionate of heads. You can follow Rob Harvilla...

Teenage Fanclub emerged from the fertile Scottish rock scene of the late 80s as a fully formed power pop band and went on to lead a long, prolific, and often surprising career; from beating out Nirvana to land the top spot on SPIN's best albums of 1991 list to teaming up with De La Soul for a song on the legendary Judgment Night soundtrack to being anointed Liam Gallagher's second favorite band (a...

Brian Fallon and Yasi wrap up their journey through the long legacy of The Clash, picking up in 1979 with the release of the iconic London Calling, straight on through Sandinista!, Combat Rock and the end of an era. Follow Brian Fallon on Twitter and Instagram, follow The Gaslight Anthem on Twitter and Instagram Some of the books we consulted while working on this episode, if you want to read alon...

The Clash were the undeniable breakout stars of the explosive UK punk rock scene. The Gaslight Anthem frontman Brian Fallon joins us as we dig deep into the history of the only band that matters. Yasi and Brian discuss the 101ers, Joe Strummer's many name changes, almost Sex Pistol Mick Jones and legendary Clash manager Bernie Rhodes. Follow Brian Fallon on Twitter and Instagram, follow The Gaslig...

Producer Dylan returns to join Yasi in another dive into the listener mailbag! Questions include guilty pleasures, if we ever hear from the bands we talk about and how we find new music to love. Speaking of, here’s a list of some bands we recommend in this episode: Crushed Luster Narrowhead Temple of Angels Gel Momma Fleshwater Blondshell Gradient AZ Power Fime Wild Pink Soul Blind Teenage Wrist S...

Emerging from Seattle’s early 90s grunge landscape, Sunny Day Real Estate became legends of an emerging midwestern emo sound that began to redefine the boundaries of the genre. Meeting us there in the blue where the words are not is writer and podcaster Ian Cohen. Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @en_cohen and listen to his podcast Indiecast @Indiecast1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastch...

Rolling Stone writer and author Rob Sheffield joins us to dissect the long, storied history of the legendary Big Star, a band with a handful of records and an indelible legacy that reaches beyond the decades of their origin.   Follow Rob Sheffield on Twitter @robsheff Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Offspring were one in a wave of southern California bands that ushered in a renewed interest in punk rock to the ears of the masses, becoming one of the best-selling punk rock bands of all time and here to help us come out and play is SPIN Editorial Director, Daniel Kohn. Follow Daniel Kohn on Twitter at @danielkohn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Third Eye Blind may have doot-doot-dooted their way to late 90s radio ubiquity, but there’s so much more to the story. Chris Black returns for a reconsideration of the earworm songwriting and complex lore of the singular Stephen Jenkins. Follow Chris Black on Twitter at @donetodeath. Subscribe to How Long Gone on Spotify  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rob Harvilla and Yasi continue their epic trek through the Smashing Pumpkins story post-1993’s Siamese Dream, in which the Pumpkins transcend 1990s alt rock cultishness into rock phenom status with their opus double-album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Follow Rob Harvilla at @harvilla on Twitter and listen to his The Ringer podcast, 60 Songs That Explain the 90s. Learn more about your ad...

Rob Harvilla joins us for the noble effort of explaining The Smashing Pumpkins, one of the most commercially successful and musically impactful rock bands of the 1990s. Yasi and Rob cover the first half of the band’s breakthrough career and comb through the origin story of Billy Corgan’s emergent and unusual celebrity. Follow Rob Harvilla at @harvilla on Twitter and listen to his The Ringer podcas...

Bandsplain is back babe and we are now part of The Ringer Podcast Network. New episodes start Thursday September 29th.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bad Brains were one of the most influential hardcore bands of all time, from inventing moshing to being groundbreaking black punks who injected hardcore with a Rastafarian philosophy and reggae influence. Though they were “banned in DC,” they built the foundation for hardcore and the history of punk to come. Photographer and unofficial mayor of LA Atiba Jefferson brings his lifelong fandom to the...

Ann Powers returns for part 2 of PJ Harvey, covering the next period of Harvey’s prolific career—from To Bring You My Love on—which was punctuated by confident creative expansions, big-hitting collaborations, flirtations with pop success, and continued artistic investigations into riveting subjects. Follow Ann Powers on Twitter at @annkpowers, and find her latest book, Good Booty: Love and Sex, Bl...

For Yasi’s birthday, she can have a two-part PJ Harvey episode as a treat. Ann Powers of NPR Music is welcomed back to Bandsplain to dissect the lauded work and cinematic life of Polly Jean Harvey, who Ann calls “the artiest rock star of the late 20th century” and a vector for deep discussions on gender, sexuality, mysticism, myth-making, and art. Follow Ann Powers on Twitter at @annkpowers, and f...

Neutral Milk Hotel released only two studio albums in the mid-to-late 90s, On Avery Island and In An Aeroplane Over the Sea, but they’ve since been consecrated as quintessential indie rock classics. Emerging from the Elephant 6 musical collective, bandleader Jeff Mangum led this eccentric musical experiment that left much mystery, and a large cult following, in its wake. This week, Wall Street Jou...

In the mid-70s, four not-so-typical teenage girls came barreling into the nascent UK punk scene. The Slits split in the early 80s, but their impact on punk was profound and foundational. Zoë Howe, author of Typical Girls, the Story of the Slits, joins Yasi to talk about the revolution of the Slits. Follow Zoë Howe on Twitter @ladyzoe2dots, and check out her book, Typical Girls, the Story of the Sl...

Primus, led by bass-slappin’ virtuoso Les Claypool, emerged from the Bay Area’s funk-punk-metal hybrid scene of the late 80s and 90s, to become a textbook cult band—you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. Music journalist Christopher Weingarten makes the case for the true cult fandom of Primus and the oddball, arty genius of Les Claypool. Follow Christopher Weingarten on Twitter @1000TimesYes and pick up...

Operation Ivy was likely your favorite band’s favorite band, and Corbett Redford, director of the documentary Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk, tells us why. These teenage pioneers of ska-inflected punk were a flagship band of Berkeley’s 924 Gilman scene in the mid 1980s, releasing only one full length that galvanized a scene and several generations of future punks. Follow Corbett Redfor...