Slate Culture Feed

The B-52’s and R.E.M. don’t sound all that much like each other. One group were avatars of kitsch, fusing punk, girl-group and garage rock—even Yoko Ono—into a retro-nuevo style all their own. The other group were mysterious, elliptical, often indecipherable, but they reinvented jangly guitar and classic-rock influences to make a new kind of New Wave. Together, this pair of distinctive bands helped make Athens, Georgia the epicenter of alternative cool in the ’80s and ’90s. In part one of this two-part episode of Hit Parade, we present the story of how the B-52’s and R.E.M. created a scene out of a college town—and became the most prominent queer-friendly, gender-fluid bands of their era. Email: hitparade@slate.com  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Miracle decided to try a dating app, and got a blast from the past.Subscribe to our weekly email newsletter, if you haven't already. Every Wednesday we send out podcast listening recommendations, fascinating letters from our inbox and updates from the show. Sign up at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter.And follow the show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Got a story to share? Email us any time at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin discuss the World Cup with Ken Early of the Irish Times, the fate of the DH and Major League Baseball expansion with Ben Lindbergh of the Ringer, and killing the NBA draft with Jay Caspian Kang of Vice News. World Cup (2:00): Ken Early joins for a conversation about Argentina’s fall from grace, England’s impressive play, and Neymar’s meltdowns.Baseball (20:20): Ben Lindbergh explains why likely expansion and realignment in MLB will lead to the welcome death of pitchers hitting.  NBA draft (38:27): Jay Caspian Kang talks about how replacing the NBA player draft with an open auction would end tanking and empower players. Afterballs (58:05): Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes of shows like Dear Prudence and Slow Burn. Sign up now to listen and support our work.Decoder Ring is a podcast about cracking cultural mysteries. Every month host Willa Paskin,Slate’s TV critic, takes on a cultural question, object, idea, or habit and speak with experts,historians and obsessives to try and figure out where it comes from, what it means and why it Matters.Today: The clown has existed in various forms for thousands of years, what changed and made us suspect and fear them? The modern birthday clown is a very recent invention, by going back into the history of clowns and clowning we see that clowns are far more complex and capable of far more expression than the kids entertainment of Bozo and Ronald McDonald. How those complex figures transformed into obligatorily sunny commercial mascots may also explain why they are increasingly seen as sinister today.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"You kind of learn what you're supposed to do. But nobody tells you anything." A conversation about what it means to be a man today, in partnership with FiveThirtyEight and SurveyMonkey.We're just starting this conversation about being a man, and we want you to be a part of it! Tell us your reactions to this episode on social media using the hashtag #ManhoodNow, or email us: deathsexmoney@wnyc.orgSubscribe to our weekly email newsletter, if you haven't already. Every Wednesday we send out podcast listening recommendations, fascinating letters from our inbox and updates from the show. Sign up at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter.And follow the show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Got a story to share? Email us any time at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin discuss the World Cup with Slate’s Nick Greene and Slate’s Jim Newell joins to talk about golf’s U.S. Open. Plus, an interview with BuzzFeed’s Ken Bensinger about his book on corruption in soccer, Red Card.  World Cup (2:20): Stefan, Josh, and Nick Greene discuss the start of the men’s World Cup in Russia, including exuberant Spanish-language goal calls, the World Cup debut of replay review, and whether American fans should root for archrival Mexico. U.S. Open (25:28): Stefan, Josh, and Jim Newell assess Brooks Koepka’s back-to-back wins at the U.S. Open, Phil Mickelson’s weird, possibly unethical putt, and everyone’s whining about the difficulty of the Shinnecock Hills course. Red Card (43:00): Stefan and Josh interview Ken Bensinger about how the U.S. got involved in investigating FIFA and what it was like to hang out at Sepp Blatter’s house. Afterballs (1:01:12):  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Bridge is back, and this time it's tackling some music trivia about the heyday of MTV, and some alt-rock favorites. Play along at home and quiz yourself by listening to The Bridge. If you’d like to be a contestant on an upcoming show, sign up for a Slate Plus membership, and then enter as a contestant here. You can also enter if you’re already a Slate Plus member. Want your question featured in an upcoming show? Email hitparade@slate.com.  Podcast production by T. J. Raphael Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Louis is at his wit's end with dating apps...so we called in reinforcements. Plus, some musings from Ceci.All summer, we're following a group of listeners as they date in real time around the country. We're calling this series Hot Dates—if you missed the introductory episode, go back and listen to it first. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin are joined by ESPN’s Dave McMenamin to talk about LeBron James' next stop; by Bruce Arena to discuss why the U.S. missed the World Cup; and by Slate's Jayson De Leon for a conversation about who to root for in Russia.LeBron's future (2:21): Nobody knows where the world's best player will end up. But where should he go? (Josh thinks New Orleans.)U.S. soccer (21:52): Former U.S. men's national team head coach Bruce Arena shares his thoughts on why Team USA missed the World Cup for the first time in 1986. Who to root for in the World Cup (39:28): Slate's Jayson De Leon stumps for Peru. How about Argentina? Perhaps Egypt?Afterballs(57:48):  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of our summer daters has had some big changes in his love life already.Subscribe to our weekly email newsletter, if you haven't already. Every Wednesday we send out podcast listening recommendations, fascinating letters from our inbox and updates from the show. Sign up at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter.And follow the show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Got a story to share? Email us any time at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.