The Album Concept Hour

We have Rockford, IL's own The Bitter Ends and we're wrapping up 199 episodes of the podcast (before starting fresh on 200) with truly one of the greatest concepts to grace this podcast, Frances the Mute! From the beautiful, but tragic story, to the inspiration that created it, to the scorching riffs and prog trumpets (to the decoded version of the album that combines the single Frances th...

I had a really awesome description for this episode but Spotify's new uploader deleted everything. I don't know exactly what I said but it was moving and concise. You have to believe me... Links: The Suburbs short film by Spike Jonze: https://vimeo.com/58296738?share=copy

In his most personal album yet, Usher took his rocket blasting into the stars and poured some nas in the tank. This album put him on the map for good and solidified him as our generation's R Kelly (without all the weird pdfile/pee stuff). This is the kind of thing that Millenials were bumping and grinding to, and for good reason. Listen along with us to see how many of these tracks really are...

We've raved over DAMN. We dick-rided To Pimp a Butterfly. Now it's time to really glaze, because it is the summer of "Not Like Us" and we're going back to long before the beef began. It's time for the origin story for Drake v Kendrick with the album that put them together in a track, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City. Before Kendrick turned into the literal Boogie Man of Haters, the...

Move over Swifties, it's time for brat girl summer. OUR DISCORD: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/2stA2P7pTC⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/flyoverstatepark⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ EVERYTHING ELSE: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/FlyoverStatePark⁠⁠⁠⁠

We're 194 episodes into this show and as we draw closer to the 200th, we thought we'd get to the ACTUAL first concept album (by most accounts): Woody Guthrie's 1940 song collection called Dust Bowl Ballads. This collection came out in 2-three disc 78 rpm records with one song per side. With autobiographical elements as well as story elements of John Steinbeck's 1939 epic "Grap...

In 1974, in the wake of the release of their magnum opus, Red, Robert Fripp made the decree "King Crimson is completely over. For ever and ever." And he meant it... for a time. For the next few years, he left the music industry completely to focus on himself and his spirituality, but he wouldn't be out for long. In the late 70s into 1980, Fripp was pulled back into the fold, laying d...

On September 9th, 1999 (or 9-9-99), Thomas Bangalter and and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo became robots. After a night of working on a track, their sampler crashed and exploded. After some quick surgery to treat their injuries, they came out as robots. After realizing their track had been erased from the incident, they started to toil away on "Discovery" to try and regain what humanity th...

Alrighty y'all, this episode is going to get DARK. We've talked about heroin as a subject matter in many songs for many bands, but today we get INTO it. Coming from an era glorifying the sex, drugs, and rock and roll style, Alice in Chains and their grunge cohorts recontextualized the lifestyle to be more of a cautionary tale than something to aspire to. In Dirt, we get the entire journey...

Last time on the pod we discussed Erykah's left brain album and today we have it's counterpart in her right brain album, New Amerykah Pt. 2, that arrived two years after New Amerykah Pt. 1. While it continues to have mixes from some of the best underground producers in the game, this one gets a little more personal. In "Return of the Ankh", she dissects all of her relationships--...

Today we're talking about none other than the First Lady of Neo Soul. If you've ever wondered how hip hop of the 2010s got so groovy, look no further than New Amerykah. With her eclectic style and taste in music, she brings us everything from 70s funk to 90s R&B and everything in-between. After a several year hiatus due to writer's block, Erykah, with the help of some of hip-hops b...

What if Scott Pilgrim's garage rock band Sex Bob-Omb was real...? Well, it might sound like our guests for this episode, The Stinkeyes!!! What if we had that band on our podcast??? Fortunately for you we do! Today we're joined by Emily, Jordan, and Haley from The Stinkeyes to discuss an incredibly influential cult classic, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, and it's garage rock/folk punk/soul...

Today, the concept... is revenge. Not just any revenge. A revenge that would go on to define the entire Thrash Metal genre. It's Dave Mustaine versus Metallica... Part ONE: Megadeth. With friend and Megadeth superfan, Nate Maney Megadeth "Behind the Music": ⁠⁠https://youtu.be/R3l4kZk2GXc?si=iBcP7FFCx8xfP1HY Icons: Dave Mustaine of Megadeth: https://youtu.be/O6URPndg9cg?si=BJMsFL0B_1C...

100 - 300 samples. That's how many songs, give or take, that went into the production of Beastie Boys' sophomore opus, "Paul's Boutique". After getting run through the music industry, sold as frat rap, and having a less than fly time in New York after their brush with success. After a few years, they escaped New York, saved by The Dust Brothers out in LA. The rest, is hip hop...

Courtney Love. A woman plagued by tragedy and misogyny, tabloid and conspiracy. She has been called a lot things over the years, some by friends, many by the media. She has had beefs with the likes of Trent Reznor, Billy Corgan, Gwen Stefani, and Tori Amos, to name a few. However, one thing is certain. She is a force to be reckoned with. Today we're discussing the album that came out less than...

Today we talk about the GOAT of sports video games. In 1999, a man by the name of Hawk cashed in all of his clout for one game that would change the landscape of games forever... and its music. We're talking about the soundtrack that introduced a generation to bands like Dead Kennedys, Primus, The Vandals, and Goldfinger, to name a few. This soundtrack, and the rest of the soundtracks in the s...

From music becoming illegal to sexual expression becoming illegal, Joe has quite the dystopian adventure. After plooking Sy Borg too hard, he ends up in jail and is forced to create music in his own mind to save himself from becoming a drone for this new "orderly" society. "The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you have load or unload, go to the White Zone. You'll...

"Our criminal institutions are full of little creeps like you Who do wrong things And many of them were driven to these crimes By a horrible force called MUSIC! Our studies have shown that this horrible force Is so dangerous to society at large That laws are being drawn up at this very moment To stop it - forever! Cruel and inhuman punishments are being carefully described In tiny paragraphs...

From deep in the depths of Madison, comes a frontman. A frontman of untold power and an unrelenting voice. He has slain wolves and man alike and now he's here to... well now he's here to have a very chill and normal conversation about their newest album "The Offering"!!! Join us and Fang VonWrathenstein (or Ty Christian for the normies) as he tells us what this album is all about!!!!!!!!!! Links:...

We're back at it again with a another absolutely stuffed Fat Wreck Chords compilation, but this time, we have only one contributor: NOFX!! We discuss all 47 tracks in one action packed podcast episode and you're not going to want to miss it!!!! And of course, we could not have done this without DAN from ALL NEW, ALL DIFFERENT, NUMBER ONE COMICS!!!!! Links: All New, All Different, Number On...

We have a very special Christmas gift for you this year... Not only is it the return of Andy Merrill AKA Brak and other things--it's a Christmas Novelty Song celebration!!! Andy is one of the biggest fans of novelty music around and he has brought some classics to the table, including the likes of Allan Sherman, Stan Freburg, Tom Lehrer, and even some tunes performed by Andy HIMSELF!!! He play...

Ok, so it's Brad... back from LA... Jumbo's Fun Room didn't work out and now I'm in the doghouse... Jon and Dave picked the album after they found out that I was coming back as host, so... you can only guess who the unwelcome guest is... Anyway, this is a really cool hip hop zombie apocalypse album by an amazing team in the twin cities. Hope you enjoy it. Links: An Unwelcome Guest...

What's up everyone it's Nate here with our first episode of "The Concept", a rebranding of The Album Concept Hour, now with more personality and introducing our new correspondent Sam Bronn! Brad left us high and dry by staying out in LA, so now I can finally really start to clean up this disaster that he created. In keeping with the spirit of the album we're covering today we...

After 4 years of doing the podcast, Brad has finally hit the big time. That's right, he's out making a star out of himself in LA, Hollywood, California... or... at least that's what he keeps telling me. It's me, Nate Maney, the new host of the podcast... How's it goin? Anyway, I keep getting the sense that he's in some sort of trouble out west, but his wig is too big for me...

You've heard of the Monster Mash. You've seen Nightmare Before Christmas 1000 times. Your parents forced you to watch the "Thriller" music video. These are things we expect every Halloween. And like clockwork, every year they come back into the spotlight. Every year, the same playlist of the same Halloween songs and tropes. BUT NO MORE!! We've put together some of the spookie...