This One Goes to 11

This week we're abandoning our quest for perfection and searching for downright drivel. We've invited some of our friends to share with us the best worst song of all time. And with the help of former guest Colin O'Brien, we're picking a winner tournament-style. Check out a playlist of all the nominees on YouTube ! This episode is also available on our  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

Surprise! We're back with a bonus episode to wrap up season 10. And this week we're getting the "led" out and singing the praises of Michael McDonald as we share a couple perfect albums that came out before WE were born. Also the song that Michael is referencing in the episode is called "Sweet Freedom," and it was featured on the soundtrack to the 1986 American action c...

The day has finally arrived. We all knew it would happen eventually. Today we discuss the best selling album of all time - Michael Jackson’s THRILLER. Yes, the King of Pop’s magnum opus. And y’know what? It’s just as good as you remember. And making the case for Thriller’s perfection is one of our very favorite friends of the pod - Kishia Nixon! You might remember Kishia’s last appearance on the p...

It is known that on This One Goes to 11, we like to keep our harmonies TIGHT. No messing about on that score. And because of that dedication, we could not be more pleased to welcome back our dear friend Alexis Jaworski to make her case for the perfection of the positively legendary “Crosby, Stills & Nash” by, you guessed it, Crosby, Stills & Nash. Alexis has the soul of a poet with a riot...

Boys in bikinis? Girls in surfboards? And is that a narwhal we see? No, it's just musician and music journalist Evan Sawdey, back back back again to share another potentially perfect album with us. This week we're unpacking the queer subtext beneath the new wave party pop of The B-52's self-titled debut album. Also we're screaming out the names of iconic American girls, inscrutable...

Show this week's guest a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T. It's fan favorite Tai Verley! The last time we talked to Tai, we were in the throes of the pandemic, and our conversation about Prince's "Purple Rain" brought us some much-needed joy. This time? More of the same y'all. And we're talking about the Queen of Soul herself, Ms. Aretha Franklin. Check out Aretha performing &quo...

Season 10 grooves right along with the return of yet another dear friend-of-the-pod. This week it’s everyone’s favorite Brit Down Under - Joe Rivers! You might recall Joe’s first appearance on the pod, during which we got schooled on the late hyper-pop elder SOPHIE, it was a banger. Joe’s bringing disco heat this week in the form of “C’est Chic” by Chic.  You’ll certainly know this album’s tentpol...

This week things are getting electric. But also a little bit analog. Professor* Doug Morrell is schooling us on the history of the electric guitar and multi-track recording, as we discuss Les Paul and Mary Ford's recording of "How High the Moon." The last time Doug spoke with us, he brought his engineering brain to our conversation about Wendy Carlos and "Switched On Bach, so yo...

 O Tyler Riiiife… O Laurie Andersoooooon. O Mom and Dad… Our buddy Tyler Rife has brought his big ole hunk of a brain and beard back to the pod to extoll the virtues of avant garde artist/musician Laurie Anderson’s “Big Science”. And boy does he bring it! Tyler puts his full repertoire of analytical acumen to the task and it makes for one beautiful conversation. Full of sharp takes and passionate...

Music? We love it! And we loved talking shop with our newlywed friend Eric Matthew Richardson about Randy Newman's 1974 album Good Old Boys . FYI: If you think you're in for an hour-long conversation about jaunty tunes from the Toy Story franchise, you're in for a surprise. This one has real satirical bite and will make you think about the potential role of musicians and recording arti...

We’ve been talking about punk a lot this season, so it’s only fitting that we finally consider the Godmother herself - Patti Smith - and her hugely influential debut album, Horses. Returning guest Kristen Bonstein talks about seeing Gilda Radner’s Patti Smith impersonation on SNL, enjoying the Riot Grrrl music that Smith inspired, missing the final show at CBGB where Smith performed, and using thi...

Guess who’s back in the house. Or perhaps the supermarket. It’s our most frequent guest on the podcast - the inimitable Meg Williams - and she’s here to talk with us about “the only band that matters.” There’s a reason why The Clash’s 1979 album London Calling ends up on all of those “best of all time” lists (even if it is a bit on the long side). It’s when the band really started veering from the...

Our Season 10 returning guest extravaganza rolls right along this week with our buddy Lindsay Teske! You might recall Lindsay's first appearance on the pod extolling the punk virtues of Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols by, ahem, Sex Pistols. She checks back in from London this week with what might seem at first like a radical departure from her wheelhouse - The Monkees'...

Reunited and it feels so good! Get ready to see a lot of familiar faces, because for our tenth season, we’ve asked some of our favorite guests to come back into our virtual living room to nominate an album that came out before they were born. This week Jess Winingham - who previously nominated Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours - has brought the 1976 self-titled album from Joan Armatrading. We talk about the...

This week we're paying tribute to Lavina Jadhwani. Rest in power, dear friend. Photo by Jess Maynard Photography. Theme music composed by Damien Figueras. This episode can also be accessed on our  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . Got a question, comment, or suggestion? E-mail us at thisonegoesto11podcast@gmail.com . And follo...

Looks like we made it…to the end of another year! So before we move on to season 10, we’re taking some time to reflect on the music that meant something to us in 2025. Spoiler alert: it didn’t all come out in 2025 (and some of it isn’t even music). Let us know what music stood out to you this year in the comments! And here are the links Tyler promises within the episode: Travis Holcombe's anno...

Season 9 finale! Weird Al! Colin O'Brien! Need I say more?? That's right, the Mayor of Christmas himself joins us today to close out our ninth season in style. Colin is a multi-hyphenate creative powerhouse based in St. Louis, MO and he is one of Tyler's oldest and best buddies. He brings a deadly precision to his case for "Permanent Record: Al in the Box", a three hour treas...

Tyler here. Catching our breath before our Season 9 finale! I'm checking in this week and introducing you to a new ongoing project I'm undertaking - The Colton Collection. My sister Lauren (our guest in Ep 106) and her husband Casey recently welcomed their first child into the world and, let me tell ya, this kid's simply the best. Our family is having a ball loving on young Colton and...

We’ve got school spirit, yes we do, we’ve got spirit, and so does Jamar Gilbert! That’s right, another old school chum joins us this week on the pod and we couldn’t be happier about it. Jamar is an artist of the highest order, a truly gifted actor, and a simply lovely human being in general. I hope each and every one of you gets the pleasure of getting to know this guy at a party some day. He’s th...

What a beautiful face we have found in this place - it's Josh Tyson's face, specifically! Josh is an actor and sometime musician based in NYC and he has joined us in all his effervescent glory this week to make his case for one of the ultimate nerdy white guy albums: Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over the Sea. In The Aeroplane... , with its jangling guitar, warbling vocals from...

It’s Scorpio season, and all Michael wanted for his birthday this year was the chance to nominate another album to join the pantheon. Well who are we to deny people their wishes? Especially in this economy. So this week Michael is nominating a downtempo classic from the early aughts - “Simple Things” by Zero 7 - and we’ve enlisted former guest and TTRPG enthusiast, The Bad Spot's own Matt Risb...

Don’t tell our moms, but we’ve got another stranger on the pod. (And a foreigner no less.) This week we’re talking to Rich Hammond - musician, mental health advocate, and author of the blog Record Reconstructor - about a shoegazey little gem from the early aughts: “Asleep in the Back” by the UK band Elbow. So it was really just an excuse for us to talk about ALL the amazing music coming out of the...

The leaves are fallin', the pumpkins are spicin', and we can't think of a better way to celebrate autumn than to finally welcome the one and only Lauren Robinson onto the pod! That's right, Tyler's one and only sister has brought us a little taste of the Northeast with Noah Kahan's megahit album "Stick Season (Forever)". We dive into Lauren's emo roots, her de...

You might say this week’s guest is one smooth operator. We’re talking to the ridiculously talented actor and playwright Paul Oakley Stovall. He’s taking us all the way back to the early days of VH1 with the second album from Sade, Promise . And before you start relegating this music to the aisles of CVS or to those late-night smooth jazz radio stations, you better listen to what Paul has to say. H...

This week's episode is alllllll vibes, baby! Like, it actually is all about "Vibras" by J Balvin. So it is LITERALLY all vibes. I'm not kidding. We welcome Tyler's dear friend Marcy Barbeau onto the pod this week to tell us exactly how and when to implement "Vibras", because she's an expert. Marcy and Tyler got their starts in the theatre together in high school...