Discord and Rhyme: An Album Podcast

Episode 2 of our Wrecking Crew series features one of the best pop songs of all time followed by one of the worst, with some okay ones in between! Try not to get too excited as we discuss how these incredible musicians could work with just about anything.  Today's tracks:  The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man The Fifth Dimension - Stoned Soul Picnic The Routers - Let's Go (Pony) Nino Tempo & April Stevens - Deep Purple Ritchie Valens - Donna The "Let's Go" montage:  Bay City Rollers - Saturday Night Ramones - Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio? John Fogerty - Centerfield Slade - Give Us a Goal The Cars - Let's Go Hoodoo Gurus - Like Wow - Wipeout! Will Ferrell and Molly Shannon - Dog Show The Seatbelts - Doggy Dog England FanChants - England (Clap) Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, John McFerrin, Amanda Rodgers Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod https://kennethkraylie.bandcamp.com/https://casinos.bandcamp.com/https://thehectorcollectors.bandcamp.com/

GoddammitbabyyouknowIain'tlyintoyouThisIsDiscordAndRhyyyymeYEEEEEAAAAHHHHWWWW!!! Van Halen was a cultural phenomenon in the late 1970s and early 1980s until David Lee Roth split with the band, and they’re one of the first bands that John had any real opinions on in his journey of getting into rock music. With this album, the band largely redefined the boundaries of what an electric guitar could do in a rock context, but they also found a way to make this boundary-pushing fun and light on its feet in a way that largely helped shape rock music for the next decade. About half of this album is radio staples, but the other half has some real gems as well, so come listen to John lead a discussion (with Rich and Mike) about a great album from what was, for a few years, an absolutely great band. Cohosts: John McFerrin, Mike DeFabio, Rich Bunnell Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/171-van-halen-van-halen-1978 Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

This Is Comp is back! We're reviving our compilation series with a great one: The Wrecking Crew!, released in 2015 as a soundtrack to the excellent documentary film of the same name. The songs on this comp cover a huge range of genre and quality, but the session musicians are always top-notch. From weird crossover country to Mexican folk to one of the finest pop songs ever recorded, we had a ton of fun with this first batch of songs and we're thrilled to be back. Cohosts: Ben Marlin, Amanda Rodgers, Sean RodgersSongs: The Ronettes - Be My BabyThe Moments - Walk Right InGary Lewis and the Playboys - This Diamond RingJewel Akens - The Birds and the BeesRitchie Valens - La BambaShelley Fabares - Johnny AngelThe "Be My Baby" montage:   Daryl Hall & John Oates - The Last TimeBat for Lashes - What's a Girl to Do?The Afghan Whigs - AlgiersThe Jesus and Mary Chain - Just Like HoneyClinic - I.P.C. Subeditors Dictate Our YouthThe Magnetic Fields - CandyDeerhunter - Vox HumanaBilly Joel - Say Goodbye to HollywoodCamera Obscura - Eighties FanThe Barracudas - (I Wish It Could Be) 1965 AgainJohnny Boy - You Are the Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You DeserveThe Clash - The Card Cheat  Links: The Wrecking Crew! liner notes on DiscogsLesley Gore on the T.A.M.I. Show 

It … is happening … again! This week, Producer Mike rings in 2026 with NorCal producer DJ Shadow’s 1996 masterpiece Endtroducing….., whose release was a watershed moment for the art of instrumental hip-hop. It’s in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first album to be composed entirely out of sampled sounds, but focusing on the technical achievement seriously undersells the depths of Shadow’s artistry. This is lively, organic music, with compositions that feel like sculptures crafted from the clay of music history, and the entire 21st-century DJing movement stands on the foundation of what Shadow accomplished here. Mike himself is a composer of sample-based music (including our awesome theme song) and a long-time admirer of Shadow’s work, and he’s invited Rich and returning special guest Shivam Bhatt to deconstruct an album that builds a mighty head of steam out of a grain of salt.Cohosts: Mike DeFabio, Rich Bunnell, Shivam BhattComplete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/170-dj-shadow-endtroducing-1996Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpodSupport the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

It feels like there shouldn't be anything left to say about The Dark Side of the Moon. It's one of the best-selling albums of all time, and it's consistently rated as one of the greatest albums of all time by critics. If you tune into a classic rock station for more than a couple of hours, chances are better than 50/50 that you'll hear a track or three from it get played. It's so common to hear tracks from here out of context that it's become easy to forget that these tracks, when heard in order from start to finish, constitute one of the most stunningly coherent artistic statements of the album era, and that makes it an album that Discord & Rhyme had to cover in depth at some point. Join Amanda, Mike, Rich, and John as they discuss the 1973 classic that transformed Pink Floyd from a niche-famous British prog-adjacent band into one of the most famous bands in the world. Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Mike DeFabio, John McFerrin, Amanda RodgersComplete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/169-pink-floyd-the-dark-side-of-the-moon-1973Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpodSupport the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

The gang sits down by the fire to discuss a second round of the songs that made them love music. This year's batch covers an astonishing amount of ground, including movie soundtracks, jazz, funk, girl groups, folk, prog (of course), hip-hop, musicals, dub reggae, power pop — and even a hymn! Trevor Jones - Main Title (from The Last of the Mohicans) Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder James Brown - Papa's Got a Brand New Bag (Parts 1 & 2) The Flirtations - Nothing But a Heartache Sufjan Stevens - Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing The Byrds - Gunga Din Yes - Close to the Edge Pete Rock & CL Smooth - They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.) Antonio Banderas & Madonna - Oh, What a Circus (from Evita) Van Der Graaf Generator - Childlike Faith in Childhood's End King Tubby - Invasion Sloan - Penpals Spotify playlist of the songs in this episode: open.spotify.com/playlist/1YDBKhf61tJ0d8Xdj3jiJ1Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Mike DeFabio, John McFerrin, Amanda RodgersDiscord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpodSupport the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

Of all the casualties of the Beatles’ Apple label, Badfinger is the most tragic. They had a very promising start, helped along by the Beatles and their associates, but a combination of bad management and personal tragedy stopped them from being as successful as they should have been. However, for a brief period everything worked out exactly right, and Badfinger came up with an album that deserves to be ranked among the all-time classics. From power pop to boogie rock and various points in between, Straight Up is a no-skips album that deserves your attention, so listen up. Cohosts: Amanda Rodgers, Mike DeFabio, Ben MarlinComplete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/168-badfinger-straight-up-1971Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpodSupport the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

Buenas tardes, amigos, and happy Hallo-Ween, my good friends. It took us way, way too long to get the bright idea to devote our annual All Hallow’s Eve episode to the Brothers Ween, but now that we have, it seems appropriate to discuss 1994’s Chocolate and Cheese, an album where Deaner and Gener try on a whole bunch of different musical costumes. While C&C isn’t their major-label debut, it’s the first album they produced in a major-label fashion, and the songs cover a lot of stylistic ground, including Tom Jones Vegas rockabilly lounge, kaleidoscopic Prince psychedelia, a sweeping Morricone murder ballad, smooth Philly soul, and a few songs that completely defy categorization. While this album is often ranked behind powerhouse Ween classics like The Mollusk and Quebec, many of its songs have gone on to become live standards, and there’s an argument to be made that it formed the bedrock of the band’s musical legacy. So join John, Mike, Phil, and Rich as they make a return pilgrimage to the shrine of the mighty Boognish, and remember: don’t believe the florist when he tells you that the roses are free.Cohosts: Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/167-ween-chocolate-and-cheese-1995Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpodSupport the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

Power pop legend Matthew Sweet has had a rough go of it lately, suffering a debilitating stroke last year while setting out on tour, and it’s possible that he may never play music again. So today’s episode is both a bittersweet tribute to his career and a joyous celebration of his music, which is exactly the emotional tightrope that his 1991 cult classic Girlfriend walks from start to finish. Sweet recorded this album during the interim between going through a painful divorce and meeting his now-wife, and while his lyrics aren’t strictly autobiographical, the album’s 15 songs run the gamut from desperate yearning (“Don’t Go,” “You Don’t Love Me”) to pure ebullience (“I’ve Been Waiting,” “Girlfriend”). And it’s all topped off with crisp, direct production that evoked Crazy Horse and the Beatles’ Revolver during a period when many rock albums were soaked in reverb and drained of personality. So kick back as Rich, Phil, and returning guest Libby Cudmore deconstruct and consume an album that’s perfect in so many ways.Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Phil Maddox, Libby CudmoreComplete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/166-matthew-sweet-girlfriend-1991Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpodSupport the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 1969 album Willy and the Poor Boys sounds like something out of 1965, or even 1865 - but definitely not the heavy, psychedelic late 1960s. But even though CCR’s music feels like it's outside of time - or maybe because of it - it became the soundtrack of a generation. Ben, Amanda, and Rich make the case that Willy and the Poor Boys should be pulled down from the cultural wallpaper and appreciated as the fresh, crackling music it still is. Cohosts: Ben Marlin, Rich Bunnell, Amanda RodgersComplete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/165-creedence-clearwater-revival-willy-and-the-poor-boys-1969Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpodSupport the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod