Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

Michelle Zauner is the lead singer and creative force behind the indie, dream pop band, Japanese Breakfast. This year Zauner released a series of career-defining projects that propelled her band to widespread critical acclaim including her New York Times best-selling memoir, Crying In H Mart, and Japanese Breakfast's third and most ambitious album, Jubilee. On today’s episode Broken Record produce...

According to Time Magazine, singer Angelique Kidjo is “Africa’s premier diva.” Kidjo started out singing traditional music in her native Benin, West Africa when she was a teenager. In 1983, she escaped the conflict-riddled Benin for Paris, where she studied music and eventually signed her first record deal with Island Records. Kidjo has since released 16 albums and won four World Music Grammys. He...

Pastor T.L. Barrett has been known on Chicago’s South side as a religious and community leader for 50 years. But it wasn’t until recently that people started to uncover Barrett’s trove of gospel music. In the 1970s, Barrett began making recordings of the music performed in his church. These were sermons he’d turn into songs that sat around for years until rappers started sampling them in the last...

Today we are sharing an episode of Pushkin’s newest show, Backstage Pass, hosted by Eric Vetro, the voice coach to the stars. From Camila Cabello, to Shawn Mendes, to John Legend, Eric Vetro has guided your favorite singers during some of the most iconic moments of their musical lives. Today we'll hear Justin Richmond talk to Eric about his journey to becoming the most trusted celebrity voice coac...

If you’ve sung along to a power ballad in the last 30 years, chances are you’re already intimately familiar with Diane Warren’s songs. Some of her biggest hits include Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time,” Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me,” and Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing.”  Over the span of her 35 year-career, Diane Warren has penned hits for hip-hop, country, R&B, and adult co...

On her intimate new album Wary + Strange , Amythyst Kiah sings her heart out about losing her mom to suicide, and what it’s like being the only black person in the room at country gigs. She created the album with Phoebe Bridger’s producer, Tony Berg, and the result is a project expertly fuses Kiah’s love for ‘90s alt-rock with her old-time, country sensibility. Amythyst Kiah performs two of her ne...

Houston rapper Scarface is one of the most recognizable, respected voices in hip-hop. When he was just 17 years-old, Scarface was recruited to join Bushwik Bill and Willie D in the Geto Boys. The group was one of Rick Rubin’s earliest rap signings for his post Def Jam label, Def American. On today’s episode, Scarface and Rick reminisce about working together, and Face talks about how his recent ex...

Cristobal Tapia de Veer is the composer and musician behind Mike White’s HBO show, White Lotus . The sounds in the score range from percussive African and Latin American instruments to guttural human chants. On today’s episode Justin Richmond talks to de Veer about how he came up with White Lotus ’ striking soundscape. De Veer plays stems from the score and explains about how he initially set out...

Lindsey Buckingham’s signature finger-style guitar is perhaps as recognizable as the countless classic songs he wrote while he was in Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham is a self-taught guitar virtuoso and songwriter who famously joined Fleetwood Mac in the mid ‘70s with his then girlfriend, Stevie Nicks. The band had been around since ‘67 with various singers, guitarists and songwriters. The only constant...

Ringo Starr is one of the most iconic musicians living today. Famed drummer for The Beatles and a prolific songwriter in his own right, at 81, Ringo’s gearing up to release his latest EP, Change The World . Rick Rubin and Ringo recorded this interview on the day it was announced that Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts passed away. On today’s episode you’ll hear Ringo reminisce about partying wit...

John Hiatt is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter whose songs have been covered by a wide range of popular artists including Iggy Pop, Paula Abdul and Jimmy Buffet. Hiatt recorded his latest album,  Leftover Feelings , with the Jerry Douglas Band. Douglas, who’s a famed producer and session musician, has won 14 Grammys for his solo work and collaborations with a slew of successful musicians.  On t...

Henry Rollins speaks with Rick Rubin from Shangri-La pre-pandemic and in full Rollins fashion, the stories just poured out of him. Henry talks about the time he was christened a lead singer by H.R. from Bad Brains, the day he woke up and realized he was done writing music, and why he’ll never be the old guy on stage performing his greatest hits. Subscribe to Broken Record’s YouTube channel to hear...

Jaden Smith has proved to be much more than just the sum of his famous parents. At 23 he’s spent more than half of his life working as an actor, a musician, and an entrepreneur. Since the release of Jaden’s debut mixtape in 2012, he has gone on to put out three studio albums that loosely follow a semi-autobiographical character named Syre who chases sunsets after a painful breakup. Jaden’s latest...

Growing up in a family full of musicians, Lukas Nelson was basically raised on stage. He started playing guitar in his dad Willie Nelson’s band when he was just 11 years-old. In 2008, Lukas formed his acclaimed band, Promise of the Real, who’ve also spent the last six years as Neil Young’s touring band. In 2017 Lukas was hired as Bradley Cooper's authenticity consultant for A Star Is Born . Lukas...

The Broken Record team has been revisiting some of our favorite episodes and releasing new extended cuts via PushNik, our Apple Podcasts subscription program. Today we’re giving you a taste of what those cuts sound like with the extended, ad-free cut of Rick Rubin's conversation with Brian Eno. This episode was recorded just before the debut of Eno’s Sonos radio station, The Lighthouse, where Eno’...

This week, we're presenting something fun from Malcolm Gladwell, co-founder of Pushkin. In a special series from his podcast, Revisionist History, Malcolm is launching a massive frontal assault on The Little Mermaid. You might wonder, "what's Malcolm doing? It's a children's classic!" But according to Malcolm, it's not a classic... It's a cinematic dumpster fire. And Revisionist History is devotin...

Over Jeff Goldblum's 50-year acting career, he’s played dozens of unforgettable roles. Off-camera, Jeff Goldblum is also a surprisingly dedicated Jazz pianist who has been playing in clubs and bars for over 30 years. He’s released two albums with his band the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. Their latest, I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This, features vocals from Gregory Porter, Fiona Apple, and Miley Cyrus....

Rick Nielsen is best known as Cheap Trick’s lead guitarist and main songwriter. In the late '70s, Cheap Trick helped popularize power pop with their songs “Surrender” and “I Want You To Want Me," which were precursors to the pop punk explosion in the '90s with bands like Green Day and Blink-182. In June, Cheap Trick released their 20th studio album, In Another World that's chock full of Rick Neils...

Mark Ronson's big break as a producer came from working with Amy Winehouse to find the perfect sound for her career defining album, Back To Black . Since then, Ronson has gone on to win an Oscar, a Golden Globe and seven Grammys for producing chart-topping hits for artists like Lady Gaga, Adele and Bruno Mars. Ronson’s sound is often associated with danceable, driving rhythm sections—which makes s...

BROCKHAMPTON's original members formed after posting on a Kanye West fan message board in 2010, and then started making music in The Woodlands, Texas. Since then, they’ve turned the idea of a boy band on its head. With as many as 14 members at times, BROCKHAMPTON's deconstructed the traditional pop star/rap ethos by being unapologetically inclusive of racial and sexual identities.  Today BROCKHAMP...

Archie Shepp is a tenor saxophonist and composer who's spent over half a century contributing to the evolution of Black music. Shepp has long fought for Black musicians to get their fair share of credit, recognition and recompense for their contributions to popular music. Shepp's been considered a leader of avant-garde jazz since the 60's. He's famously played alongside John Coltrane, Lee Morgan,...

Craig Finn, the lead singer and songwriter of The Hold Steady, is known for his vivid, literary-style songwriting. He often writes about characters going through an existential crisis. The Hold Steady released their eighth album, Open Door Policy , earlier this year. This time around, the Minneapolis-born Finn says his focus is on themes related to the trappings of technology and late-stage capita...

At Pushkin, we think of Juneteenth as an opportunity to reflect on the past and think about the future: How do we build a more just and equitable society? We strive to make podcasts that help answer that question, and in honor of Juneteenth, we’re highlighting two of them. In this episode, you'll hear previews of our new shows Be Antiracist and A Slight Change of Plans. We hope these episodes insp...

Moby may be one of the most highly recognizable dance-music artists of all time, but he’s also a talented multi-hyphenate whose unconventional 30-year career includes massive success as a producer and DJ, and notoriety as an animal rights activist. Moby’s latest project, Reprise , is a greatest hits album that revisits the highlights of his extensive catalogue. Recorded with the Budapest Art Orche...

Brian Eno’s 50-year career is teeming with innovation. He started out playing synths in the early ‘70s as a member of the UK glam-rock band Roxy Music and went on to create an entirely new musical genre—ambient music, and later he recorded a series of solo albums and eventually produced career-defining albums for a host of bands including U2, Devo and Coldplay. On today’s episode Rick Rubin talks...