DISGRACELAND
Disgraceland is the award winning music podcast hosted by Jake Brennan that explores the alleged true crime antics and criminal connections of musicians we love like Jerry Lee Lewis, the Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift, David Bowie, Cardi B, the Grateful Dead, Amy Winehouse, Bob Marley, and more. Disgraceland is a scripted, single voice narrative storytelling podcast that melds true crime, music history, mystery, and misadventure. Disgraceland is not a journalistic podcast. It is an entertainment podcast inspired by true events. Certain dialogue and scenes are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes as they are in most scripted entertainment based on true events. Sources and credits for each episode are available at disgracelandpod.com. Full scripted episodes are released every Tuesday. Bonus “After Party” episodes are released every Thursday. Disgraceland is available wherever you get your podcasts.
Episodes
March 23, 2023 • 42 min
Spring is here and Jake is listening to his all-time springtime records. Peter Tosh and Keith Richards are out on YouTube @disgracelandpod. And a dedicated Disgo comes through with our first submission for the Recommendations Part theme music! Leave your own messages for Jake to respond to at 617-906-6638 and come join the After Party.
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March 22, 2023 • 45 min
Madonna always knew her life would be art. She rose through the late 70s New York scene reinventing pop iconography and feminism alike. But whether it was Toronto police threatening her for indecency, her short-fuse husband, Hollywood bros exploiting her charisma, or far worse, Madonna learned quick: the world doesn’t know what to do with a truly free woman.
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March 22, 2023 • 44 min
Iggy Pop pushed rock further than anyone before him, committing to live acts of sex, sickness, and rumored suicide on stage. From his cocaine fueled bromance with David Bowie, to his search for inspiration in the voodoo rituals of Haiti, Iggy Pop never just crossed the line between art and madness. He bled all over it, and danced on the stains.
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March 21, 2023 • 45 min
Motown Records is one of the most successful musical industry endeavors of all time. The music and the megastars Motown produced, like Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, and the Jackson 5, defined a generation. But that success is marred by rumors – rumors that the record label and its innovative owner were controlled by the "black hand" of the white American mob.
To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at...
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March 21, 2023 • 49 min
Led Zeppelin were the biggest band on the planet. The great white shark of the seventies. They defined excess. The designed the avatar for the heavy metal rock star; themselves. Along the way there were violent brawls, car crashes, lots of cocaine, alcohol, satanic sexual rituals and a very freaked out David Bowie.
To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at www.disgracelandpod.com.
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March 20, 2023 • 43 min
Part two of the N.W.A story finds the group dead center in America’s crosshairs, due in part to their own violent behavior, and at a crossroads creatively. Death Row’s Suge Knight, Public Enemy’s Chuck D., and a young hustler from the east coast all ride shotgun to Dre, E, Cube, Yella and Ren as the group finds itself having predicted yet another one of America’s darkest moments.
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March 20, 2023 • 45 min
N.W.A, the self proclaimed “most dangerous group in America,” were seen as violent, thuggish, profanity-spewing criminals, but they had nothing on those who were sworn to serve and protect them in South Central Los Angeles. The group’s hard hitting beats and reality rhymes launched a “gangsta rap” trend in music that still thrives today, and their album Straight Outta Compton predicted one of the most notoriously violent events in ...
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March 18, 2023 • 40 min
Gun fights, heroin trafficking, burglaries, kidnapping threats, intra-band infidelity and the greatest rock ‘n’ roll record ever made, Exile on Main St. The Rolling Stones created this album as fugitives––tax fugitives––exiled from their homeland to the French Riviera and desperate to keep their career afloat after a near decade of scandal and near financial ruin amidst a cast of colorful characters including Gram Parsons, Anita Pa...
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March 17, 2023 • 37 min
Cardi B is one of the biggest artists on the planet and one of the most successful female hip hop artists of all time. She is accused of two counts of felony assault stemming from a fight in a Queens strip club. Her public brawl with rival Nicki Minaj is well documented as is her rise from the Bronx to superstardom via strip clubs and reality television. It’s the stuff of legend, as is her big personality and unique form of feminis...
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March 17, 2023 • 42 min
Slick Rick has one of the most iconic voices in hip hip history. His style is completely his own, and his success owes as much to his delivery as it does to his hustle. Slick Rick worked hard to get to the top, and once he made it he was nearly cut down by drugs and violence - violence inflicted upon him by someone from his inner circle. Listen to hear how Slick Rick fought back and continued his flow.
To see the full list of contr...
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March 16, 2023 • 40 min
Rocka Rolla Disgos. It's been a wild week. Jake is riding high off a win for the show at the Ambies in Vegas, a trip to Maine, and yes, your listener messages. Not to mention Mick Jagger assassination attempts, All Quiet's Oscar wins, and the greatness of 90s movies. Hit up 617-906-6638 to join the after party and hear from Jake yourself.
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March 15, 2023 • 38 min
Johnny Cash took no shit. Was a total original. Could maneuver that big baritone around a ballad or a rave up like nobody’s business. He also burned down a national forest, crashed cars, overdosed, was arrested for drug trafficking, and was obsessed with June Carter. Their love affair is one for the ages. Through it all, Johnny maintained his sense of empathy and his big heart. His story is unlike any other. Listen to Disgraceland ...
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March 15, 2023 • 46 min
Rehab, arrests, fights, hitting on Prince Harry, dramatic stage breakdowns, slagging off the press, Amy Winehouse was a rockstar’s rockstar and she was also one of the greatest musical talents of the past 20 years. Her voice was unlike any other. She modernized jazz. She gave weight to pop. When she was inspired, she was untouchable. Driven by her muse, haunted by her addictions, and harassed endlessly by the paparazzi, Amy Winehou...
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Otis Redding was nearly shot by James Brown while performing at an after hours club. He played sweet soul music to crowds of KKK sympathizers. He took the stage in his hometown despite a threat on his life. But as the former VP of Stax Records once said, Otis was an overcomer. He overcame danger, violence, and fear, in order to focus his sights on unprecedented commercial success. But in his great quest to jump from R&B to pop, Oti...
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March 13, 2023 • 46 min
XXXTentacion was one of Generation Z’s most talented hip hop stars but his ascent was marked by violence and drama; beatdowns, beefs (what’s up, Drake?) and abuse. XXXTentacion’s music quickly rose from Soundcloud to the top of the charts due in part to the relative loneliness and alienation he repped in his lyrics, sentiments his audience quickly latched onto. XXXTentacion’s connection to his audience was (and still is even in dea...
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March 13, 2023 • 47 min
The Grateful Dead became one of the most influential bands of all time and propelled themselves with improvisation, LSD and an ethos of “freedom”. Through drug busts and CIA surveillance, they thrived and created one of the largest, most fervent and commercially consequential fan bases of all time. Freedom, LSD and improvised blues in the key of bummed the fuck out on this episode of Disgraceland.
For a full list of contributors, s...
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March 10, 2023 • 47 min
Ike Turner very well may have invented rock ‘n’ roll; Tina Turner is one of the most electrifying entertainers to ever take the stage. Together, the pair ascended to icon status through the music they made together. But the couple’s road to the top was anything but smooth. It was rough and violent. Ike Turner, for all of his talent as a musician, was abusive and heavily addicted to cocaine, and in the end did everything he could to...
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March 10, 2023 • 37 min
Snoop Dogg, (AKA Calvin Broadus) has worn many hats: inmate, pimp, Martha Stewart’s BFF. In 1994, Snoop was the biggest name in hip hop, yet his career was about to be derailed just as it was taking off due to the murder of Philip Woldemariam, a murder that Snoop was being charged with. The streets that made Snoop, the streets he came up on and that infiltrated the raps he made and the smooth style he patented, were the very same s...
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The After Party celebrates the Lynyrd Skynyrd episode, provoking the question: how does Jake decide which episodes deserve two parts or even their own series? In other corners of the party, a listener reviews Rocka Rolla lager, the new Disgraceland partnership with Orono Brewing. Jake reviews Chris Rock. And a very special phone book reading from Hill Valley, California.
Join the party: leave Jake a message at 617-966-6038
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March 8, 2023 • 38 min
Grunge, grief, the Grateful Dead and a “teenage whore.” Part 2 of the Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love story picks up with Courtney’s ascent and the couple’s heroin hazed pregnancy. An escape from rehab and a punk as f*ck group hug for Gen X.
This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to some listeners, including suicide. If you’re thinking about suicide or are worried about a friend or loved one, call the Suicide Prevention ...
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