This Is A Disaster

What do you get when you go on a quest for high-fidelity portable audio, but forget to bring the design sensibilities?  Neil Young's Toblerone Player... I mean, Pono Player.  Is that triangular prism in your pocket, or are you just pretending to hear the difference?  FLAC, MP3, too much money, too little product.   Leigh's song pick:: Piece of Crap by Neil Young https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovu...

In the late 18th century, the Netherlands really had it out for Iceland.  Maybe it was all the red-hot magma, acid rain, and sulfur-filled air, courtesy of the Laki craters?  Fire, brimstone, a Dutch hate-boner, and a fire priest.   John's song pick:: Mars by Gustav Holst https://open.spotify.com/track/6azDDykaIBHmZQFEFTKycC   Peter's song pick:: Burning Worlds of Excrement by Svartidaudi https://...

Why teach a class about 1930s German's descent into fascism when you can just show the whole school how it's done?  Not-so-secret salutes, rigorous discipline, a nation-wide underground, and a magnificent leader...   Peter's song pick:: Neuropunk Boostergang by Expander https://expander.bandcamp.com/track/neuropunk-boostergang   If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave a review ! Tell...

Leaning into "... and the music they make us listen to" from our tagline, Leigh and Peter discuss where universally panned albums went wrong.  In this inaugural edition, we talk about what happens when you seemingly pull two artists out of a hat and mash them together.  "I am the table". Lou Reed, Metallica, and Lulu.   Listen to the album: https://open.spotify.com/album/3FgLMfp5o2h2rAny7S6h57?si=...

In a time after hair metal was king, Great White were still carrying the flame... unfortunately, it was right into a venue filled with highly flammable material and no sprinkler system.  Made up words, pyrotechnics, heavy black smoke, and a reason to never go to a live show again...   Leigh's song pick:: You Fucked Up by Ween https://open.spotify.com/track/0gnvI2vSWIacE3hgLbuWtn   If you like what...

A new feature is born!  With our shift to one major disaster a month (in addition to regularly scheduled Tragedy Tuesdays), we'll be trying out new features to take the place of the second major disaster.  Don't think of it as losing a disaster, so much as gaining new content.  This time: Ruinous Rewind with Peter and Gerri.  Can Peter retell the Plague of Athens in 10 minutes?  Will Gerri have ne...

For a music scene that generated such awesome bands, the Norwegian black metal community sure were a bunch of miscreants.  Church burning, stabbing, blast beats, stabbing, the dark circle, and stabbing.   Leigh's song pick:: Kathaarian Life Code by Darkthrone https://open.spotify.com/track/5gTMAY6YiojUKbOjhO1JeJ   If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave a review ! Tell your friends!...

The Great Chicago Fire wasn't the worst fire ever to hit the United States.  It wasn't the worst fire in 1871.  It wasn't even the worst fire in October of 1871... The second episode in our October of Sorrow features one of the gnarliest fires yet, and maybe even a "darkbar".  Human torches, flaming logs, and hell on Earth.   Peter's song pick:: Chronicles of Annihilation by Our Place Of Worship I...

Things got a bit hairy in Salem in 1692... let's just say it wasn't a good time to be feeding urine cakes to dogs and cracking eggs into Venus glasses.  Oomancy, divination, possession, the 17th-century legal system, and a dark prophecy...   Peter's song pick:: Arcanae Manifestia by Aevangelist https://open.spotify.com/track/1GzGkAytLKlLgh9g3GleKX?si=g92ywjMBS0-sFGQ2rK05iw   SHIRTS!  Pre-order for...

In the late 1970s, two friends got straight-As in fruit-eating and crystal meth.  Luckily for the trajectory of punk rock, they turned their talents to music, gave up their real names for punk alter egos, and began wreaking havoc on stages across Los Angeles.  Cast your mind back to a time when The Germs weren't just responsible for a global pandemic...   Leigh's song pick:: Lexicon Devil by The G...

When the going gets good, Marvel got weird.  Forget Iron Man and Thor, it's time for Nightmask and Star Brand!  Sorry, you've never heard of them?  Maybe sticking to what works is the best way after all.  Come take a ride into Jim Shooter's mind as he steered the Marvel ship into some really strange places...   Leigh's song pick:: Tarred and Feathered by Cardiacs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV...

In the time it takes you to read this, the city of Tangshan shook apart in 1976. Peter tells Leigh about one of the most devastating of Earth's ancient disasters, with a truly staggering death toll. Earthquakes, seismology, Richter, and toeing the party line...   Leigh's song pick:: Auf Wiedersehen by Cheap Trick https://open.spotify.com/track/4lGF1MDPkeWbOSROAxXTFS   Peter's song pick:: Tarpit Ca...

It usually takes a disaster to change regulations... case in point British Airtours Flight 28M and the Boeing 737.  Ultra-narrow aisles?  Armrests that don't raise up?  Seats in front of the emergency exits?  Yup, this all seems fine.  An inferno, design flaws, and Terminator is better than Robocop.   Peter's song pick:: Ohms by Deftones https://open.spotify.com/track/6mfrK1kvsOjiiH64Ier962   Brit...

What?  An episode on a Friday??  We come to you to talk Skittles and announce the winner of our first-ever draw!   Our sincerest thanks to everyone that participated, and we'll do more soon.   If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave a review ! Also, tell your friends! Tell your enemies too, we're not picky.   Become a patron, get exclusive content, help us make more disasters! www.pa...

Nuclear Norm comes back to finish what he started, this time telling us about why some people distrust science, and why they might never change their mind. Petitions, angry fictitious coal miners, reverse-cherry-picking data, and a whole lot of climate denial.   Norm's song pick:: The American Dream by Walls of Jericho https://open.spotify.com/track/2H2gDrojHBPjq9sucp94rs   Leigh's song pick:: Gre...

It's all fun and games until Steven Spielberg brings you his precious property to turn into a video game.  In the early 1980s, Atari was unstoppable... but the little brown extraterrestrial did his best.  A crazy short development time, a waning interest in video games, and the worst game ever made (according to some).   Leigh's song pick:: The Working Hour by Tears for Fears https://open.spotify....

Our special guest drops by for a two-part series about the slow-burn disaster happening all around us.  What's a greenhouse gas?  Are we in an ice age?  Will the poles melt and send us spinning off into outer space?  You never know what could happen when Nuclear Norm is around...   Norm's song pick:: Backroads by Lonely The Brave https://open.spotify.com/track/33dunxmWFO2n1a2sjD1wGD?si=FukIhYt9REm...

In 1958, Los Alamos National Laboratory was buzzing with new and exciting ways to eradicate humanity and leave the Earth a desolate, radioactive wasteland. Turns out we've been nuking ourselves willingly for over a century... unless you're Cecil Kelley, in which case the radiation was far less voluntary. Plutonium, critical mass, and excursion event, and an alarmingly quick end...   Peter's song p...

When you're known as the meanest tub-bassist around, you're bound to attract all kinds.  Sometimes it's a self-proclaimed Harmonica Jesus who stumbles into being the head of a cult.  Charles Manson made having a "family" a la mode, so maybe it was bound to happen?  Bank robbery, arguing hippies, blue grass music, and harmonica... so much harmonica...   Leigh's song pick:: Jug Band Music by Jim Kwe...

In 1969, the Woodstock festival became the stuff of legends.  In 1999, the Woodstock festival became infamous.  In 2019, the Woodstock festival became... nothing.  With fifty years of colossal brand recognition, how could Woodstock 50 NOT be a massive success?  A master class in not paying your bills, and not getting the permit...   Leigh's song pick:: The Ground Below by Run The Jewels https://op...

What's so cool about Patreon anyway?  Here's a free bonus episode from our series of micro disasters that come out every two weeks!   What's the worst thing that has ever happened as a consequence of you flushing a toilet?  Peter brings you something to think about next time you think you're having a crappy day.   There's a new bonus episode every second Saturday!  Head over to our Patreon to chec...

There's gotta be a better way to go east than going east, or at least that's what Franklin thought when he set sail for the fabled Northwest Passage.  Maybe if you're going to risk life and limb on an expedition, don't take a ship called "The Terror" along for the ride.  Erebus, The Terror, Lord Franklin, silk slippers, hundreds of kilometers over ice and snow, and not a whole lot of hope... The F...

We're not going to get into the specifics, but if you combine ammonium nitrate and some other nasty things on a repurposed warship, you've got a floating time bomb.  Nobody told the spectators in the Port of Texas City on April 16th, 1947 though... Munitions, flying anchors, the mob, the Texas City Disaster.   Peter's song pick:: Summer Wind by Frank Sinatra https://open.spotify.com/track/5ZXHIeyn...

John Romero went from arcade wizard, to programming prodigy, to visionary responsible in large part for classic games like Doom, Doom 2, and Quake.  Unfortunately, there's only really one way to go when you're at the top...  id Software, an Ion Storm, a Deus Ex, a too-expensive-and-impractical office, and one big sword.  Daikatana.   Masters of Doom by David Kushner https://www.amazon.ca/Masters-D...

Let's get it on: Marvin Gaye was a landmark soul and R&B artists, but his life didn't mirror the carefree coolness of his music.  The perils of drug use, living in destructive environments, and arming your aggressor... even if it's your father.  Sexual healing, bringing your mouth to a gunfight, and why exercise is better than cocaine.   Leigh's song pick:: Nightshift by The Commodores https://ope...