Tonight's Musical Guest, Today

Fingerless gloves. Intense eyeliner. Swoopy haircuts. Their look defined the height of the mid 2000s emo movement. But the music? That was something different it turns out. It's MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE week! Jon and Alex reflect on why they outright dismissed MCR at the height of their fame and explain that like many others they were idiots for doing so. Clip 1 illustrates that dynamic, as the ba...

It's a career arc that spanned genres, oceans, and mainstream musical movements that came and went. And at the center of it, an enigmatic frontman that refused to make anything easy. It's RADIOHEAD week! The guys give a quick upcoming concert report before Jon reveals a shocking secret about his relationship with the band of the week. The clip story begins with Radiohead as a fish out of...

The only podcast that matters. The only band that matters. Coming together finally. We return from our hiatus the only way we could. It's THE CLASH week! Alex and Jon welcome you back to the podcast that discusses the cultural memory and career arc of bands and artists through their late night tv show performances. Our return finds us analyzing one of the most significant and influential band...

After 2.5 years of discussing the cultural memory and career arc of bands and artists through their late night tv show performances, we're taking our first hiatus. And there was only one thing we could do to celebrate: talk about ska for over 3 hours. It's our GRAB BAG: SKA-TACULAR! And there was only one person that could pick it up with us: best friend of the show and creator of our th...

This is a band that defined early 2000s emo for so many (including us). And it turns out the band drama was even messier than their lyrics. It's TAKING BACK SUNDAY week! The guys have an important show announcement up top before reexamining their short-lived intense fandom with these Long Island heroes. It takes a while to get through the early rise and messy bitch drama of Tell All Your Frie...

Wake up! This LA by way of Armenia heavy metal/death metal/middle eastern/jazz fusion four-piece stunned mainstream culture at every turn. It's SYSTEM OF A DOWN week! We recap the rich and tragic familial history and musical origins of Serj Tankian and co. before jumping into 3 tv performances across the span of 3 years for SOAD's classic self-titled debut. That includes a pretty ridicul...

While coming up in the Portland post-punk scene, this singer/songwriter recorded a batch of lo-fi acoustic demos on a whim. What followed was a once-in-a-generation rise and fall fueled by some of the most beautiful songwriting of the past 30 years. It's ELLIOTT SMITH week! Returning to the show is pod-favorite and fellow Texan Rory Phillips (The Impossibles, Slowreader, The Stereo)! Rory and...

Do we stress you out? Our sweaters are on backwards and inside out this week to talk about an artist that took over the world in 1995. But what about before and after? It's ALANIS MORISSETTE week! Joining the show is past guest Courtney Denison and her husband/musical partner Sean Farrell of Boston pop punk band Bad Idea USA! We begin this week discussing Alanis' often forgotten teenage...

Founders of Seattle grunge, this sludgy hard rock outfit combined crazy technical prowess with hair-raising vocals. Led by a one-of-kind lead singer, they defined a movement that persists to this day. It's SOUNDGARDEN week! Jon and Alex deal with the fallout of being cancelled by the anti-Dave Grohl internet movement before tracking the twists of a band that mostly avoided TV appearances! Cli...

This artist melded 70s southern soul with 80s hip hop and earned a royal title for it in the process. Equal parts tough and diva, she took over the R&B world in 1992 and never left. It's MARY J. BLIGE week! Joining the show is journalist, author, and Mary superfan Craig Seymour! Luckily, Craig is prepared to school the guys on the immeasurable impact of Mary's early albums and the wa...

In the mid 70s, some arty weird kids in Athens, GA shared a volcano cocktail at a Chinese restaurant. That party took them to many others, armed with hugely influential guitar licks, beehive hairdo wigs, and dancing from another world. It's THE B-52s week! It's episode number 50 of TMGT, and the show kicks off with a performance on SNL that changed Dave Grohl's life. Jon insists on...

She emerged from the caves of Iceland with a singular voice and singular vision. As the ultimate blank check artist, she combined international textures with innovative electronic landscapes to both astound and baffle listeners. It's BJÖRK week! Björk leans into her Sugarcubes and London club influences early with quirky and catchy performances on Conan and Leno. A turmoil-filled run up to Ho...

Mix 1 part traditional irish folk, 2 parts punk, and 3 parts irish whiskey (just not the protestant kind): stir and drink well. Grab a Guinness and sing along: it's THE POGUES week! Joining the show is a long-time friend who played many a sweaty Boston punk show with Alex and Jon over the years, Kevin Bogart (Trophy Lungs, Better Sense)! Kevin and the guys discuss the upcoming New Warden/Trop...

This western Massachusetts trio combined elements of hardcore, folk, and guitar virtuosity to become unlikely godfathers of grunge. But in between classic 80s indie releases and 2000s reunion albums, lots of other stuff happened too. We discuss. It's DINOSAUR JR. week! Joining the show is the creator of the indie punk and rock publication see/saw and former Pitchfork News Editor Evan Minsker!...

Good genes. Industry access. A lack of initial meritocracy. These artists reaped the benefits and pitfalls of simply being the children of some of the most famous musicians of all time. It's NEPO BABIES week, grab bag style! We start off nepo week in style with Nancy Sinatra performing a stone-cold classic on Ed Sullivan in 1966 with an array of groovy back up dancers. Ziggy Marley leads a ne...

In the early 90s, two guys pretending to be brothers from New Hope, PA somehow snuck into the major label system making aggressively hard to listen to 4-track jams. And then went on to be one of the greatest cult acts of all time. It's WEEN week! We begin the show with a quick but illuminating 1991 clip from Dutch television. Pauly Shore is the only person that enjoys Push th' Little Dai...

Dubbed the World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band, they invaded America, its TV screens, and changed it all. It's an episode that would maybe even make Ed Sullivan proud. It's THE ROLLING STONES week! Joining the show is iconic drummer and the King of rock and roll weirdness, Jon Wurster (Shannon/Narducy & Friends, The Mountain Goats, ex-Superchunk)! Jon and the guys watch a pod-re...

CHILL! This rap-rock-metal-funk-reggae outfit was dominating the modern rock charts before the term nu-metal was coined. Armed with positivity, a turntable, and marijuana enthusiasm, they carried a mid 90s nation mourning the end of grunge. It's 311 week! We come clean up top about our varying levels of adoration for the band 311 before talking about them for 2 hours. The loveable lads from O...

His live TV debut on SNL has gone down as maybe the most famous moment in late night music history. But the decades that followed were just as surprising, rebellious, and at times baffling. It's ELVIS COSTELLO week! Joining the show is comedian, actor, and Elvis Costello historian Connor Ratliff (Dead Eyes, Tiny Dinos, The George Lucas Talk Show)! Connor does his best to walk the guys through...

We're following up Christmas day with the second most famous resurrection story of all time. Except this California band rose not just once, but twice from the ashes. It's RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS week! The clips this week surprisingly begin all the way back in 1984, with the first iteration of the band performing with the energy of 8th graders on Thicke of the Night. Clips on Arsenio and L...

Pounding robotic trance desert stoner rock. Is that enough adjectives to describe what is maybe the last great mainstream hard rock band of the 21st century? We find more to use. It's QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE week! For a band often described as "The Josh Homme Project", we find ways to discuss the careers of way too many musicians on the show this week. Early clips on Conan and Kilbo...

Remembered as schmaltzy elevator music, this sister-brother duo dominated the charts for much of the 1970s. Driven by the one-of-a-kind voice of Karen Carpenter and the orchestration of brother Dick, they epitomize the former power of television monoculture and the murky arc of cultural memory. It's THE CARPENTERS week! Almost unlike any other group covered on the show, the clips this week ar...

Garage Rock. Indie Sleaze. Electronic Dance Pop. This Brooklyn trio has done it all across a surprisingly long career, out lasting almost all of their early 2000s NYC contemporaries. It's YEAH YEAH YEAHS week! Joining the show this week is Boston-based musician Matt Ozelius! As drummers for him in recent years, Matt weighs in on the great debate over who is better behind the kit-Jon or Alex-b...

Inarguably the biggest and most successful band of the grunge era, they persisted while others could not. They fought the man at every turn, did it their way, and are an undeniable live juggernaut. It's PEARL JAM week! Joining the show as our second-ever returning guest is show promoter and pod-favorite Ryan Agate aka Ryan the Terrible! Back to back performances on SNL capture the big early m...

They're quietly one of the most successful bands of the 90s, selling over 50 million records over the course of their career. Dominating the softer side of alt-rock radio, they took over America out of nowhere as the biggest Irish band since U2. It's THE CRANBERRIES week! We begin this week with two very different performances of "Dreams" and "Linger" on the Irish lat...