Come hang out for an evening down the virtual bar while your mates Kit Power and James Murphy talk some Bollocks. Running through the entirety of the album, that was definitively NOT made by Bruce Springsteen, they analyse and discuss the songs, finding much to love and some, appropriately, to hate. You’ll have a blast.
Holly and James, your preferred podcast pals, kick into their pop music movie series with this slice of shitty-school-sploitation that rocketed Bill Haley up to the stars. Using his rendition of Rock Around the Clock to open and close proceedings, the film is less a cheerful teen pleaser than a serious look at the failing state of an inner city New York school and the man (Glenn Ford) tough enough to get through to these damn kids, including the magnetic Sydney Poitier and brilliant Vic Morrow (later sadly helicopter murdered by John Landis on the set of the Twilight Zone movie).
Holly and James talk about the movie after a newsreel segment including a furious Holly talking about Chapell Roan’s abuse, a jubilant look at Sean Combs’ incarceration, and sending Kris Kristofferson to pop Valhalla.
They analyse the film’s politics, look at the story of teddy boys incited to mad carnage by the raw, pumping sounds of Bill Haley and admire Poitier’s performance, and the psychological hold that Freud had on child-rearing for so long.
For an in-depth look at Haley’s most famous recording, we recommend Andrew Hickey.
Next up will be a traditional run down of the top 5 songs in the British charts, and then things get a bit fab up in here, with A Hard Day’s Night, the 1964 film about a reliable British public transport system. …
Your popcast pals are back to talk Taste, Backbone, Smiles, Anger, and Hot To Go by Chappell Roan. With Sabrina Carpenter suggestively taking about kissing, Stormzy hooking up with Chase ‘n’ Status to bring some of that old school grime feel to old school drum and bass for a great piece of gym music, Oasis being back, and fans being crazy, we’ve got a classic slice of Pop Could Never Save Us for you to race into your ears. Does most of that seem like youth centered gobbledydook? Don’t worry, friend. We got you. That’s what we’re here for. Let’s hang out.
With the release of the incendiary biopic of the radical Northern Irish hip hop group, Kneecap, Holly & James take a brief look at Hibernian rap, the slow choking of non-English languages, party drugs, and the Tumblr brain that will never let its owner be.
They also spend twenty minutes trying hard to be fair about the Oasis reunion that had been announced on the day of recording, but struggle as that band is the Gothic return of the unkillable 1990s and everything that has made Britain what it now is. Where was I when you were getting high? I was there, mate. I was with you, I brought the stuff. You’re worrying me, we’ve been together all day.
Songs extracted in this episode include:
The Shiznit – Snoop Doggy Dogg
The Beat That My Heart Skipped – Scroobius Pip
AI (Save Yourself) – Kid Bookie
Salt Coast – Kae Tempest
Punk’s Dead – Soft Play
Equal Rights – The Lonely Island
Salonika – Lankum
Belfast Brigade – Christy Moore
Better Way to Live – Kneecap feat. Grian Chatten
Guilty Conscience – Kneecap
Fuck RTE – TPM
Death to the Landlord – Meryl Streek
Forgive the Cnts – Jinx Lennon feat. Miss Paula Flynn
Holly and James are back and can you guess, guess, guess the song they talk about most this time out?
Taking in another diverse set of the highest ranking new entries in the UK Charts, your favourite popcasters catch you up on the wheelings and dealings of up to the minute modern culture and the fact that it might actually still be getting slightly better in some ways.
Hear! Holly find fascinating depths in an apparently entirely superficial song with Charli XCX & Billie Eilish. Listen! As a resentful James is forced to begrudgingly concede that the track succeeded in playing him like a xylophone.
Also: take the chance to check in with Chappell Roan’s song about compulsory heterosexuality, Myles Smith’s filling some silence for a time, Dasha’s musical theatre take on country ‘n’ western, and the obligatory dance entry.
With! Added ‘NSYNC and Bruce Springsteen, cuddling up, as they always should have been like two Marvel superheroes on an adventure to wring everything possible out of flatlining IP, in the retro entries.
“If you stream this podcast, your life will be better.”
In which James and Kit are joined by drummer (in Kit’s new band, no less) friend of the show and lifelong Bruce fan John Busvine, to discuss The Boss’s seminal 1978 studio album Darkness On The Edge Of Town. For John, it’s a conversation over 30 years in the making, and it’s a privilege to get his perspective on an album that’s formed part of the soundtrack of his life.
The epic return of the only popcast you should be streaming with the little discussed Taylor Swift and her massive filmed concert. Find out what the fuss is all about and power up your ability to maintain a conversation with your normie colleagues. What will your buddies, Holly and James, have to say? Download and find out! …
We Learned More From A Three Minute Record returns for our second episode proper, tackling Springsteen’s sophomore album The Wild The Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle. Very special guest Andrew Matey brings in sight and passion, and Kit and James reflect on the joys of exploring a work you don’t know very well from an artist you admire. Learn which fan favourite/classic will get each podcast member kicked out of The Boss Club for not liking, who Andrew considers to be the secret weapon of the first two records, and whther or not Kit will remember which numbered street is under idsucssion this time. Enjoy. We did 🙂
After El Sandifer’s considered, brilliant review of the latest episode and before we get to hear her upcoming brilliant podcast, you can keep yourself going with this: the only episode of Pex Lives certified to murder Henry Kissenger. You’re also now able to sate your previously unquenchable hunger to learn what your old buddies Kevin ‘n’ James thought about the newest Doctor Who. Listen now. We’re back and we’re always different, always the same…