Let It Roll
"Let it Roll" is a podcast about the history of popular music from the 19th Century to the 21st. Proud part of Pantheon - the podcast network for music lovers.
Episodes
Hosts Nate Wilcox and Ed Legge continue their discussion of Michaelangelo Matos' "Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year" with a look at the dance club scene that produced Madonna, her work with DJ/producer Jellybean Benitez, the emergence of House music in Chicago, the HI-NRG scene in the gay clubs and the rapid evolution of electro into Latin freestyle.
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Hosts Nate Wilcox and Ed Legge continue their discussion of Michaelangelo Matos' "Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year" with a look at a historic year for indie rock, post-punk and hardcore groups like R.E.M., Big Black, Naked Raygun, Husker Du, Black Flag and the Meat Puppets plus the whole neo-American rock scene headed up by X, the Blasters, Los Lobos and more.
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May 1, 2026 • 41 mins
Hosts Nate Wilcox and Ed Legge continue their discussion of Michaelangelo Matos' "Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year" with a look at the rise of Prince through the early 80s and his massive triumph with the film and album "Purple Rain."
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April 29, 2026 • 42 mins
Hosts Nate Wilcox and Ed Legge continue their discussion of Michaelangelo Matos' "Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year" with a look at the biggest tour of 1984: The Jackson's Victory tour.
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April 27, 2026 • 43 mins
Hosts Nate Wilcox and Ed Legge continue their discussion of Michaelangelo Matos' "Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year" with a look at hip-hop in 1984 from the deluge of quickie exploitation movies, an attempt at a hip-hop Soul Train, the rise of Run-DMC and the meeting of Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin that resulted in Def Jam records.
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Hosts Nate Wilcox and Ed Legge continue their discussion of Michaelangelo Matos' "Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year" with a look at country music in 1984 from Willie Nelson's collaboration with Julio Iglesias to the rising new traditionalists Reba McEntire, George Strait and the Judds.
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April 22, 2026 • 40 mins
Hosts Nate Wilcox and Ed Legge continue their discussion of Michaelangelo Matos' "Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year" with a look at Island Record's success with Bob Marley's Legend compilation, the rise of reissue labels like Rhino Records and the quest for the "next Bob Marley."
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Hosts Nate Wilcox and Ed Legge continue their discussion of Michaelangelo Matos' "Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year" with a look at the musical movies of 1984: Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense, Flashdance, Footloose, This is Spinal Tap, Repo Man and more.
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April 17, 2026 • 41 mins
Hosts Nate Wilcox and Ed Legge continue their discussion of Michaelangelo Matos' "Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year" with a look at the incredibly glamorous 1984 Grammy awards when Michael Jackson reigned supreme (except for one surprise moment from Annie Lennox), Boy George gaffed, The Police were far away and Cyndi Lauper was primed for the next year's show.
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April 15, 2026 • 38 mins
Hosts Nate Wilcox and Ed Legge continue their discussion of Michaelangelo Matos' "Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year" with a look at the glam metal scene on Hollywood's Sunset Strip which was led by Van Halen, Motley Crue, & Quiet Riot as well as the international metal scene headed up by Def Leppard, Iron Maiden and the Scorpions.
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Hosts Nate Wilcox and Ed Legge continue their discussion of Michaelangelo Matos' "Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year" with a look at the so-called "second British invasion" of the early 1980s with a special focus in MTV's role in breaking acts like Culture Club, Eurythmics, Duran Duran and Kajagoogoo in the United States.
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Hosts Nate Wilcox and Ed Legge continue their discussion of Michaelangelo Matos' "Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year" with a look at the pair of music biz downturns that created the space for the new pop of 1984 to triumph: the early 80's record biz recession that followed the implosion of disco and the deeply moribund state of AOR Rock radio in the early 1980s.
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April 8, 2026 • 47 mins
Hosts Nate Wilcox and Ed Legge open their discussion of Michaelangelo Matos' book "Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year" with an overview of what made 1984 so special for pop music: Thriller, Purple Rain, Born in the USA, Like a Virgin, She's So Unusual and many many more beloved classics that all hit the radio at once and reinvigorated a moribund early 80's music scene.
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April 6, 2026 • 47 mins
Hosts Nate Wilcox, Eugene S. Robinson & Alexei Auld discuss the fan-funded "Extreme Metal" episode of the documentary series "Metal Evolution." The Puncholes wrap our look at metal evolution with a discussion of grindcore, death metal and black metal.
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April 3, 2026 • 48 mins
Hosts Nate Wilcox, Eugene S. Robinson & Alexei Auld discuss the "Progressive Metal" episode of VH1 documentary series "Metal Evolution." The Puncholes debate the history of progressive metal with a lot of contention about whether or not Tool represented a clean break with the previous prog metal tradition.
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April 1, 2026 • 50 mins
Hosts Nate Wilcox, Eugene S. Robinson & Alexei Auld discuss the "Power Metal" episode of VH1 documentary series "Metal Evolution."
The gang struggles to come to grips with Sam Dunn's definition of power metal, his belated coverage of German metal bands like the Scorpions and Accept, as well as discussing both first and second wave power metal bands from Manowar and Helloween to Blind Guardian and DragonForce.
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March 30, 2026 • 46 mins
Hosts Nate Wilcox, Eugene S. Robinson & Alexei Auld discuss the "Shock Rock" episode of VH1 documentary series "Metal Evolution." The gang grapples with the "shock rock" umbrella that Sam Dunn uses to discuss a wide range of acts that combined intense rock with the shock aesthetic of the Grand Guignol. Slipknot emerges as a surprise favorite of the Puncholes.
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March 27, 2026 • 52 mins
Hosts Nate Wilcox, Eugene S. Robinson & Alexei Auld discuss the "Nu Metal" episode of VH1 documentary series "Metal Evolution." Nate struggles to keep the team on track as long-held anti-Nu Metal biases threaten the attempted objectivity that's sacred to the Let It Roll approach.
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March 25, 2026 • 51 mins
Hosts Nate Wilcox, Eugene S. Robinson & Alexei Auld discuss the "Grunge" episode of VH1 documentary series "Metal Evolution." Nate and the team grapple with the meaning of grunge, its place in heavy metal history and our own tastes and biases.
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March 23, 2026 • 50 mins
Host Nate Wilcox returns with cohorts Eugene S. Robinson, lead singer of the art-punk band Oxbow and veteran entertainment attorney Alexei Auld to discuss Sam Dunn's sixth episode of "Metal Evolution" and the team debates the virtues of the various thrash bands of the era.
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