MODERN MUSICOLOGY

This week we turn our musical chronometer back 40 years to talk about the albums that were released in 1985! Because it was such a huge year, we're doing two shows, and in Part 1 we're tackling January - June. We share funny stories and fond memories relating to albums by Talking Heads, Dire Straits, Tears for Fears, Heart, the Hooters, Run-D.M.C., Megadeth, Marillion, the Smiths, and even Hoodoo Guru and Pseudo Echo (remember them...

July 13 is the 40th Anniversary of LIVE AID, one of the greatest rock festivals of all time! We each share our memories of watching it live on the day, the excitement that surrounded the event, and some of the stories behind bands that didn't appear for various reasons. Each of us has picked our five favorite performances / bands / moments to talk about at length, and we mention some of the lowlights as well (and yes, there were a ...

In nearly every case when you see a classic band in concert now, it's not the original line-up. Does that dampen your experience? Many legacy bands currently on the road are down to only one original member--and a few have none. Is it still the band if no one who started that band or wrote the iconic music is involved? Is there a key member whose absence has too great an impact? Rob and Alan discuss those questions and more in this...

We all can think of those artists or bands that we feel went just one album too far (and sometimes more!) and what might have been a great ending, capping off an iconic career, is undermined by a less-than-stellar follow-up. This week Anthony and Alan talk about some of the examples they came up with -- including Metallica, Weezer, Fleetwood Mac, Heart, Marillion, October Project, Asia, Judas Priest, Queen, Black Sabbath, and a who...

This week Rob and Alan chat with author Iain Key about his new book All the Young Punks: A People's History of the Clash, an oral history of one of the most seminal bands in modern music. Iain is well-known to Louder Than War regulars as the presenter of his own Indie Brunch show on Louder Than War Radio, and in his first foray as a published author, he indulges his fascination with his favourite Punk icons to great effect. In our ...

This week Alan unveils his ranking of the 15 best performances on the 50th Anniversary season of Saturday Night Live! It was a particularly good year for music, made even bigger by a special anniversary episode that included five musical performances in addition to the ones in the 20 regular season episodes. 

So who made the cut? You'll have to listen to find out! But here's a hint: the list features legends like Sir Paul McCartney...

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced the 2025 roster of inductees on April 27 at 8:30 pm during a live broadcast of American Idol. 15 minutes later, we recorded an episode analyzing the announcements! What you get in this episode is our immediate reaction in a raw, unrehearsed discussion. Rob and Alan are joined by our good buddy JM Tuffley (@tuffley or @jmtuffley) and we talk about the people who made it in this year, the on...

A year ago we interviewed filmmaker OLIVIA SERAFINI-SAULI on the completion of her film Endless Calls For Fame: The Story of the New Rising Sons. Since then, that film has found North American distribution and is now available on all major streaming platforms in a slightly reworked / updated format. We catch up with Olivia to learn about her journey over the past year -- clearing the rights to all the music, what went into getting ...

This week we set the controls of our Wayback Machine to the funky days of 1975 and celebrate the 50th anniversary of some iconic albums! It's a year of highs for a lot of bands we now think of as classic rock; it was a key year for funk and disco; the Philly Soul sound was very much in fashion; and it was a year of reinvention for some well-established acts. We talk about albums by Elton John, KISS, KC and the Sunshine Band, Queen,...

This week we're joined by author Daniel Rachel, whose book Too Much Too Young: The 2 Tone Records Story: Rude Boys, Racism, and the Soundtrack of a Generation, which transports us to the late 70s and the explosion of 2 Tone Records, the home of such recording artists as The Specials, The Selecter, Madness, The (English) Beat, The Bodysnatchers, and more. Our conversation goes beyond the music, though, and touches upon the socio-pol...

There are artists and bands who are very well known for their very loyal and ultra-supportive fanbase. Some of those include Elvis, the Beatles, the Grateful Dead, and Taylor Swift. But what about when that devotion maybe gets taken too far? Anthony leads us in a discussion about the extreme side of fandom, both the good and the bad. We talk about some of our very positive experiences in fandom as well as a few darker examples. How...

ALBUM COVER ART

Never judge a book by its cover, but sometimes you really can judge an album by its cover! This week on Modern Musicology we're talking about album covers! We each pick five of our favorite album covers and talk about the story behind them and why we love them so much. This is a recording of a LIVE show that we did on our YouTube Channel, so we include some comments that we got from viewers with some of their favori...

The Kinks was one of the most influential bands to come out of England in the 60s, with a career that lasted up through the late 90s. Their style and sound changed numerous times over the decades and they amassed a legion of dedicated fans. We talk with author / editor Chris Kocher about his new book, Thank You For The Days: Fans Of The Kinks Share 60 Years Of Stories, which celebrates the band's legacy and fans' special connection...

Rob and Alan compare notes on the fantastic new documentary, Ladies and Gentlemen: 50 Years of SNL Music, written, directed and produced by Questlove. This film covers the entire spectrum of Saturday Night Live's long history with music and performance, and includes lots of behind-the-scenes footage and commentary from cast members, crew members and performers. All the iconic, controversial moments are included, like performances b...

To celebrate the life, career, and birthday of DAVID BOWIE, we are devoting our first show of 2025 to a discussion of our favorite BOWIE covers! Since Bowie has been covered by so many artists in so many genres, our discussion runs the gamut from rock to classical to samba to metal to space. We cover songs by artists as diverse as Beck, Prince, Susanna Hoffs, Motorhead, Oasis, Philip Glass, Steve Hogarth, Seu Jorge, the Eurythmics,...

This week we chat with music legend ROBYN HITCHCOCK about his new memoir 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left and the accompanying album, 1967: Vacations in the Past, which take one year out of his life and describe how his circumstances and the music he was exposed to sha ped the course of his life and set the stage for his future career in music. He tells us about his formative years, the effect his parents had on him, the ...

This week we review the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2024 Induction Ceremony! We run through the entire show and share our reactions to every performer, some of the other inductees, and some of the presenters. What was our favorite performance of the night? What was the best acceptance speech? Who should have been inducted much sooner? Who was on stage this year that might be inducted next year? Check out the episode and find out! 

F...

This week we chat with author and science blogger Bethany Brookshire who shares her knowledge about how music works, its importance to community, and its impact on culture. We address questions like: How do our brains process music? How do vocal cords work? Why do we perceive dissonance differently? Why are some cultures thought of as more musical than others? How do tone deafness and rhythm deafness relate to each other? And the i...

Rolling Stone Magazine has released another of their infamous lists! This time they're naming their picks for the 101 Best Soundtracks of All Time! And we're joined by our amazing friend Julie Filipek to help us analyze their choices. We look at where they placed the titles on their list, talk about ones that should have been include, and of course ones that were included that we think have no business being there! And we bravely s...