Music Raygun

The next in our ongoing series of instrument-focused shows, the drums episode has been a long time coming. This one features music lessons from greats like Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, Sheila E, Charli Persip and guitar-famous drummer J. Mascis. There are also great performances by Tony Thompson, John Bonham, Questlove, Karen Carpenter and even Stevie Wonder. Plus: the most sampled drum break in music...

Kirk and Paul talk about the announced Bee Gees biopic. Hot "Don't @ Me" takes about John Mayer and Prince. And Kirk defends his two-win streak in the never-ending music trivia quiz.

Take a trip back in time to look at some cool music videos from 1989, 1990 and 1991. Kirk supplies R&B and pop from Chuckii Booker, Jane Child, Mint Condition and more. Paul brings music by Beat Happening, Sonic Youth, and a nostalgic clip from cable TV's legendary "Night Flight." Enjoy these 12 gracious melodies from the cusp years between the '80s and '90s. To see the videos featured in this epi...

The new Morris Day memoir. Bands with "star" in their names, ranked. A long rant about Halloween music. And the music trivia quiz goes on.

Every 10 episodes, we throw away the "themed shows" premise of our podcast and dive into the grab bag. For the seventh installment, you'll find music from one half of the "Miami Vice" duo (not the half you're thinking of), the strangest song on the famous "C86" tape, Bob Welch's deeply discomfiting on-camera kissing, and more weird stuff like that. To see the videos featured in this episode, visit...

Paul recounts a mild rock 'n' roll adventure in West Hollywood. Kirk learned something about the Blues Brothers. "Don't @ Me" deals with roads in old towns and devils in Georgia. Paul defends a three-game winning streak in the music trivia quiz.

Let's not beat around the bush: People love to make fun of Florida. But not us. We're here to celebrate the Sunshine State and some of the countless bands and musicians who came from there. There's Southern rock and Flordia hip-hop in equal measure, plus a few unexpected surprises. You can almost smell the swamp gas and coke sweat. To see the videos featured in this episode, visit musicraygun.com/...

After a tidal wave of corrections and clarifications, Kirk and Paul wade into controversial waters about Gladys Knight's band and R.E.M., respectively. Then Paul tries to stretch his two-win trivia quiz streak into a hat trick.

Long before he became best friends with the Clintons and starting spending his days on a yacht in Mallorca with his idle rich friends, David Geffen was a kid in LA who wanted to run a music label that put artists first. That label was Asylum Records. Launched in 1971, Asylum was for a few golden years the home of fantastic, legendary artists like Judee Sill, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, Tom Wait...

Paul talks about a paperback book Kirk found on the street and gave to him. "Don't @ Me" has hot takes about Lana Del Rey vs. Ann Powers, and the legacy of Paul Abdul's debut album. Paul tries again to build a winning streak in the trivia contest, and Kirk tries again to stop him.

This one's called "Your Grandmother Should Know" because each clip features music from either the 1930s or the 1940s. That era of music history is definitely neither Paul's nor Kirk's area of expertise, but after they do some digging into the past, the episode turns out to be a lot of fun. To see the videos featured in this episode, visit musicraygun.com/playlists.

Kirk promotes a new music comedy show, not because he's involved in it (he's not) and not because it's sponsoring the show (it's not), but just because it's so good. Paul follows up on a Roger Miller tune that turned up on a previous miniepisode. On "Don't @ Me," Paul talks about band T-shirts on babies, and Kirk has an opinion about a Sophie B. Hawkins song. After that, it's the return of "Prince...

Thirty-three years ago, two young men named Jeff Krulik and John Heyn drove to the parking lot outside the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, to interview a crowd of teen and 20-something tailgaters about to see a Judas Priest concert. The 17-minute film they came away with became a legendary rock-and-roll document. We're talking about "Heavy Metal Parking Lot." Hell yeah. We're ready to rock....

Kirk corrects a few of his recent gaffes; patron saint of "Music Raygun" Uncle Marc checks in with thoughts about guitars; "Don't @ Me" addresses whose the boy actually was between Brandy and Monica, and what happens when Joe Strummer raps; and the trivia quiz that counts is back in effect as Kirk tries to extend his two-game winning streak.

Let's tie a bow on "Music Raygun" season five. It's been six months already, which means we're closing out another season by looking back on the season's episode themes to take one more bite of those apples. It's a B-sides episode, sweet pals. This one features bonus clips from "Teen Angst," "Girl Groups," "Philadelphia," "Piano," "Todd Rundgren," "Smooth Jazz," "Def Jam Recordings," "San Francisc...

Kirk is on assignment, but Katie Willert is on hand to talk about Motown recording artist Gene Van Buren and Vice's recent "Guide to Getting into Roxy Music." There's also an expo mission of our music trivia quiz.

A few episodes of "Music Raygun" have had musical instruments as their themes, namely saxophone, bass and piano. Well, there are only a few instruments left to cover as long as we're talking about your basic rock band, so here's one about the bedrock of the genre: the guitar. We're talking about Link Wray, George Benson, J. Mascis, Wendy Melvoin, Kevin Shields, Robert Quine and plenty more. To see...

Uncle Marc writes in, hot takes about Marvin Gaye and a bad product's good jingle, and Kirk tries to build a streak in the music trivia quiz. All that plus a new segment: "Prince Tweets 2 U."

Isabel Nelson is back for another dance episode and we've got ballet comedy, a dancing teenage Kelly Ripa, Fred Astaire and Barrie Chase doing "word jazz," Spain by way of Bollywood, more clips from the movie "Fast Forward," basketball a la Lawrence Welk, classic "SYTYCD," a Japanese hip-hop dance squad, Toni Basil and the Lockers, and Beyonce and the Bugaboos. Is that enough for you?? To see the...

Kirk knows what Robert Smith was really about, special guest isabel Nelson grades Phil Collins' helpfulness, Paul defends history's most dunked-on rapper. Then "Trading Card Corner" is back with NKOTB facts. And the music trivia quiz will have you on the edge of your seat even though it's only an expo mission.

Just like "Music Raygun" is a collaboration between Paul and Kirk, all the video clips on this episode feature musicians singing or otherwise working together. These duets span the 1960s, '70s, '80s and '90s. One of them has Michael Jackson, and no, it's not a duet with one of his siblings or Paul McCartney. To see the videos featured in this episode, visit musicraygun.com/playlists.

Paul talks about seeing the Elton John biopic "Rocketman" with fellow "Walk Hard" fan Katie Willert. Hot takes about the songs "Yesterday" and "What's Up?" fly. Paul corrects a terrible mistake he made when discussing Vampire Weekend in a past miniepisode. And the music trivia quiz is turning into a real slugfest.

The music of San Francisco is a lot more than the fabled San Francisco sound. The city's given the world its share of punk, new wave, light rock, disco, power pop and R&B. Grace Slick and her band show up here too, but without the psychedelia. To see the videos featured in this episode, visit musicraygun.com/playlists.

Kirk returns to his minepisode chair to weigh in on Paul's music selections in the previous miniepisode. Kirk stans lo-fi hip-hop beats. Also, there's a new "Don't @ Me," and one of these jabronis tries to get a streak going in the music trivia quiz. CHILLHOP/LO-FI HIP-HOP ChilledCow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHW1oY26kxQ ChillhopMusic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bebuiaSKtU4

Every 10th episode of "Music Raygun" is a "grab bag" with no specific topic discussed. But for this grab bag episode, there's a theme: summer. What does that mean? Songs about summer, songs Kirk and Paul remember from particular summers, or just songs that "feel" like summer to them. So celebrate summertime with two people who don't particularly even like summer, but love summer music. It's the su...