Discord and Rhyme: An Album Podcast

It's time to say goodbye to the Motown box set, which has given us some absolutely amazing music! Fittingly, we're closing it out with Stevie Wonder, but first we had to get through a bunch of Commodores songs. We also talked about Halloween candy, yacht rock, and whether carrots can feel pain, so it's a very typical Discord & Rhyme episode. The Commodores - Three Times a Lady Diana Ross - The...

Happy holidays from Discord & Rhyme! We got you a big enough umbrella, though you’ll probably still end up getting wet. To close off our fourth(!) calendar year as a podcast, Phil, Rich, John, and Mike have decided to sit around the fire and talk about an album we all know and love. When the Police recorded their final album, 1983’s Synchronicity, the trio of Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart C...

Back to Motown! Once again we have some unbelievably great songs on here, and some others that are okay at best. We hope you like the Commodores. Stevie Wonder - I Wish Marvin Gaye - Got to Give it Up (Pt. 1) Stevie Wonder - Sir Duke The Commodores - Easy High Inergy - You Can’t Turn Me Off (In the Middle of Turning Me On) The Commodores - Too Hot ta Trot Rick James - You and I Get early access to...

This week, the street-walking cheetahs of Discord and Rhyme take a stroll down the dark, sketchy alley that is Iggy and the Stooges’ 1973 classic Raw Power. Mostly ignored upon release, its primal, menacing energy would become a blueprint for countless punk and hard rock bands in the decades to come. In our discussion, we detail the drug-fueled, messy production of the record that yielded two radi...

At last, we're back in the Motor City! Put your speakers in the window and go on the roof and listen to the Miracles, as well as us talking about the triumphant return of Diana Ross, the inauspicious debut of the Commodores, and the most-used Motown song in pop culture history. The Miracles - Love Machine (Pt. 1) Diana Ross - Love Hangover Marvin Gaye - I Want You Commodores - Just to Be Close to...

Pearl Jam might have had the most ambiguous relationship with fame of any major rock band. In the early nineties, they were arguably the biggest rock band in the world, but the group gave few interviews, made no music videos, and were difficult to see live due to their ongoing refusal to work with Ticketmaster. 1994’s Vitalogy captures the band in the midst of this era - struggling with the pressu...

In this episode, we cover the (short) career of a great country singer (maybe?) who made a few albums’ worth of transcendent country music (except for all the little touches that aren’t country music). Gram Parsons was a polarizing figure, but Ben loves his 1974 opus Grievous Angel - made in collaboration with the golden-voiced Emmylou Harris - and Amanda and John dig it plenty. Along the way, the...

There is absolutely nothing Limahl-related in this episode, and it might be the best batch of songs in the whole comp. Coincidence? Tracey Ullman - They Don't Know Will Powers - Kissing With Confidence Genesis - That's All The Cure - The Lovecats Simple Minds - Waterfront Madness - The Sun and the Rain Culture Club - Victims Links: "They Don't Know" video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

This is Halloween, this is Halloween! But instead of pumpkins screaming in the dead of night, we’re throwing a Dead Man’s Party with the help of Danny Elfman and his punk-new wave-ska-pop-rock band, Oingo Boingo. This classic album from 1985 marks a transition from Oingo Boingo’s earlier yelping weirdness into a more mature and radio-friendly sound, but never fear - they’re still just as creepy an...

Sadly, Limahl and his mullet have left for good, but we still have Nick Beggs' mullet! There are also some non-Limahl bands in this batch, but they probably had mullets too. New Edition - Candy Girl Kajagoogoo - Big Apple Tina Turner - Let's Stay Together The Human League - (Keep Feeling) Fascination Howard Jones - New Song UB40 - Please Don't Make Me Cry Peabo Bryson & Roberta Flack - Tonight...

Of all the genre-flouting “alternative” bands scooped up by major labels in the mid-‘90s, Soul Coughing boasted arguably the most enduring listening power. Their second of three perfect albums, Irresistible Bliss, landed an unexpected hit with the aggressively funky depth charge “Super Bon Bon.” In this episode, Will enlists the help of Phil, Rich, and Amanda in figuring out whether there’s some m...

STILL this is what the UK calls music, in which Paul Young comes up on this podcast AGAIN. Also Limahl is back! Kajagoogoo - Too Shy Mike Oldfield - Moonlight Shadow Men at Work - Down Under Rock Steady Crew - (Hey You) The Rock Steady Crew Rod Stewart - Baby Jane Paul Young - Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home) Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Ben Marlin, Chris Willie Williams Opening credits music: Jef...

At last, we’re talking about the Decemberists, a band that has come up multiple times in other episodes! But instead of going for the more obvious choices like Picaresque or The Crane Wife, we decided on an album that we feel has been underappreciated (even by some of us). What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World may not sound quite like the Decemberists of yore, but their unique identity has...

The next batch of chart hits from 1983, sadly with no Limahl! KC and the Sunshine Band - Give It Up Malcolm McLaren - Double Dutch Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart Culture Club - Karma Chameleon Men Without Hats - The Safety Dance Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Jennifer Carman, Ben Marlin "Duck Rock" sonic essay, by Daniel Haaksman: https://soundcloud.com/daniel-haaksman/malcolm-mclaren...

The career of jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis from the late 1940s through his (temporary) retirement in 1975 largely doubles as a tour of every significant stylistic development in the jazz world during this time. By the late 1960s, after taking acoustic jazz as far as he believed it could go, Miles chose to immerse himself in the world of electric jazz fusion, and his 1970 album Bitches B...

As our UK listeners know, the Now That's What I Call Music! series started clear back in 1983, when a couple of major labels got together and decided to make some money by releasing a bunch of singles all at once. All of us born-and-bred Americans thought it would be fun to investigate the big chart hits from across the pond, so here's our next comp series! Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Amanda Rodgers, D...

In 2009, 25 years into their career, the Oklahoma-based eccentric alt-rock band The Flaming Lips released a dark, terrifying double-album that nobody could have expected when "She Don't Use Jelly" landed them a cameo on Beverly Hills 90210. Embryonic is an album that prompts strong love-it-or-hate-it reactions in listeners, and John (host), Rich, and Mike land among the album's lovers. J...

You might know Sam Phillips from those lovely "la la la"s on the Gilmore Girls soundtrack, or as Katya, the silent assassin in Die Hard: With a Vengeance. But she's also a fiercely talented songwriter with an encyclopedic knowledge of music and a literary lyrical sense. She first cut her teeth in the contemporary Christian music world (as Leslie Phillips, “the Christian Cyndi Lauper”) be...

In which we exceed the prescribed number of twos. Genesis - That's All Madonna - Open Your Heart The B-52's - 52 Girls Tool - Eulogy Heart - Alone Mark Knopfler & James Taylor - Sailing to Philadelphia Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Amanda Rodgers Get early access to bonus episodes on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod Discord & Rhyme merch: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Rich's blog post...

This week, we’re throwing away our hard-earned indie cred and dropping in a few more words from our sponsors than usual. We have some great new products to tell you about, and along the way, we will be discussing the 1967 classic The Who Sell Out. Conceptualized as a tribute to the UK pirate radio culture of the mid-60s, The Who go all-in on the concept (well, at least until they completely drop i...

The Track 2 journey continues! This time we're taking a detour through Indie Rock World. The Chap - Fun & Interesting Sleater-Kinney - Ironclad Pony Up! - The Truth About Cats and Dogs (Is That They Die) CHVRCHES - Leave a Trace Von Sudenfed - The Rhinohead Pet Shop Boys - This Must Be the Place I Waited Years to Leave Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Chris Willie Williams Rich's blog post explaining th...

We're taking a break after our giant Genesis episode, so we decided to share one of our Patreon bonus episodes with everybody: the one where we found another excuse to talk about the Beatles! So please enjoy this conversation about Beatles songs covered by other artists: the good, the bad, and the really, really weird. Cohosts: Mike DeFabio, John McFerrin, Amanda Rodgers Get more Patreon exclusive...

More of our favorite Track 2s! Tracks 2? Who knows. Songs in this episode: Motörhead - Love Me Like a Reptile The Byrds - Have You Seen Her Face? The Isley Brothers - Footsteps in the Dark Television - Venus Sly and the Family Stone - Chicken Ween - Flutes of Chi Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, John McFerrin Rich's blog post explaining this concept: https://discordpod.com/blog/2019/6/10/22-2s Opening theme...

What kind of band was Genesis - strange, artsy prog-rock masters, or catchy, commercial pop stars? In this very special episode of Discord and Rhyme, we brought in returning guest Jeff Blehar to help make the case that they did both equally well - and not only that, but the presence or absence of Peter Gabriel was not the main influence on their sound. They never truly lost their prog sensibilitie...

You might have noticed how we're always talking about a good track two - but what the hell does that mean? Rich and Mike are here with the extremely detailed answer to that question! Tracks included in this episode: Stereolab - Cybele's Reverie Radiohead - Pyramid Song Bruce Springsteen - Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out The Cure - Primary "Weird Al" Yankovic - Hardware Store My Bloody Valentine...