Ongoing History of New Music

Something occurred to me the other day: did the person who came up with the term “one-hit wonder” ever come up with anything else that good? I looked it up… the Oxford English Dictionary traces its origin to about 1914, when baseball was starting to become America’s pastime… it was given to pitchers who held the opposing team to just one hit. We do know that when Ramon Monzant was pitching for the San Francisco Giants in 1956, he was given that nickname…to be called a “one-hit wonder” was very high praise. But around the same time, “one-hit wonder” migrated over to the music world and acquired a pejorative ring…in musical terms, a one-hit wonder was an artist who could manage one and only one big song…everything else they might have done was a flop, a stiff, a failure, and was ignored. Billboard magazine began to incorporate the phenomenon of the one-hit wonder when it came to its charts…their definition was an artist who released just one song to reach the top 40, the realm of “hits” on the singles charts. But that’s pretty narrow and really only considers songs and artists for that one chart…what about all the other non-top 40 artists who achieved fame for one and just one song? The more I went down this rabbit hole, the more intrigued I became…was there a way to look at the history of alternative music to determine the biggest one-hit wonders of all time? There just might be…and after going through a lot of numbers and statistics, I may have cracked it…But I’m going to let you be the judge…This is part one of the 50 biggest all-time alt-rock one-hit wonders of the last 50 years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A dive into nine striking alt-rock reinterpretations of well-known songs. Stories cover unexpected legal battles, viral fan campaigns, and powerful late-career reinventions. Hear how tempo, arrangement, and context transform originals into fresh, sometimes darker or quieter versions.

This week, we're going deep into the Ongoing History of New Music vault to talk about "Definitions". Often in the music world, we hear terms discussed...but where did they come from, and what do they mean? What do "New Rock" and "Alternative" mean? What's a "Major Label" or "Indie"? "Boutique" and "Vanity"? Got that covered too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blink‑182’s story has always been chaotic, inspirational, and a little unbelievable...and the last decade has been no exception. We thought this would be a good time to revisit the band’s evolving saga since our original 2017 trilogy on their rise, fall, and rise again. A lot has happened: lineup changes, personal crises, UFO hunting, bestselling side projects, a Grammy nomination, a global pandemic, and even a life‑threatening illness that ultimately brought them back together. We pick up the trail with the Matt Skiba era and the unexpected resurgence brought on by the "California" album. From there, we follow the band through creative experiments, personal struggles...including Mark Hoppus’s battle with stage‑4 lymphoma...and the emotional reunion that brought Tom DeLonge back into the fold. The result? A renewed Blink‑182, a triumphant Coachella comeback, and their 2023 album "One More Time". It’s a story of fractures, forgiveness, survival, and one of the most resilient bands in modern punk history. Blink‑182 is well into their fourth decade...so how much longer can they run? If history is any clue, never count them out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A fast tour of music video history from glam spectacles and Spike Jonze’s low‑budget breakthroughs to alt‑rock’s anti‑gloss stance. It covers MTV’s fragmentation, the shift to reality TV, and how YouTube and smartphones rewired distribution. The summary looks at viral, meme‑driven clips, DIY creativity like OK Go, and the global boom of K‑pop and borderless micro‑scenes.

A deep dive into how music videos became central to pop culture and reshaped visual storytelling. Traces early experiments from film-backed soundies to the first modern promos. Charts MTV's creation, its global influence, and how videos drove fashion, politics, and racial conversations. Looks at landmark high-budget clips and who funded the music video boom.

Music is not only a powerful motivating tool, but it’s also a way to get a message out to a vast number of people…and when things hit the fan, music can be used to let the powers-that-be know that we see what you’re doing, and we are not happy about it…We wish to protest. Protest songs help coalesce thoughts and feelings about things like social, political, and labour injustice…they help rally people to a cause and sometimes inspire action against oppressors or those who seek to abrogate rights, keep people down, and try to gain power by spreading lies and propaganda.  Sometimes they call out specific people, organizations, and issues…in other cases, they’re couched in metaphors and stories…but make no mistake: this music is “us” and “them” and the “them” needs to be addressed.  This kind of music has never gone away and is still very much with us…despite that, a lot of people ask, “Whatever happened to protest songs?” Nothing…they’re right here…and they’ve always been right in front of us…let me explain…this is a brief history of protest music, part 2. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A sonic tour of how music has carried political anger and empathy across eras. Short histories range from spirituals and labor anthems to civil rights, Vietnam-era protest and early rap roots. Punk, feminism and anti-apartheid activism get spotlighted along with the Sun City campaign. The episode previews where protest music heads next.

A tight look at Ian Curtis and the rise of Joy Division after his death. The story tracks the band’s early struggles, creative breakthroughs, and the eerie production that shaped their sound. It covers Curtis’s health, personal crises, and the making of Unknown Pleasures and Closer. The piece ends by tracing the band’s visual legacy and lasting influence on post-punk and related scenes.

A deep dive into the origins and philosophy of post‑rock and why it resists easy definition. Profiles of seminal bands from Slint and Mogwai to Sigur Rós and Explosions in the Sky. Exploration of regional styles from Tokyo to Scandinavia and how the sound blends with shoegaze, math rock, ambient and post‑metal. Suggestions for where to keep listening.