DISGRACELAND

DISGRACELAND

You know the myths. You’ve seen the biopics. But if you’re the kind of music fan who craves the rest of the story—the stuff they buried or cleaned up for streaming and theaters—this is your podcast. DISGRACELAND is the award-winning show that reveals the deeply human, highly dramatic, true crime–fueled chaos behind legendary musicians like Amy Winehouse, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sean “Diddy” Combs, the Grateful Dead, Blondie, and more. While we dig into the dark side, we do so with reverence for the artists—and an understanding of the extreme highs, lows, and personal costs that come with fame and making great art. This is music history like you’ve never heard it—edge-of-your-seat stories exploding with drama and the kind of information that’ll make you dangerous at dinner parties. New, fully scripted and sound-designed episodes drop every Tuesday. On Thursdays, we hand the mic to you—and feature listener voicemails, texts, and emails in our interactive bonus episodes. And on Fridays, we revisit the wildest stories from our 250+ episode archive with “Rewind” drops that’ll transport you back into music history’s most entertaining moments. DISGRACELAND is not a journalistic podcast—it’s an entertainment podcast inspired by true events. Certain dialogue and scenes are occasionally fictionalized for dramatic effect, as is common in scripted entertainment based on real stories. Sources and credits for each episode are available at www.disgracelandpod.com. To hear every episode ad-free––and get access to exclusive exclusive, bonus, and behind the scenes content––the stories they don't want you to hear—become a Disgraceland All Access member at www.disgracelandpod.com/membership.

Episodes

January 2, 2026 45 mins
Hank Williams defined the genre we now call country with a guitar in one hand and a bottle of booze in the other. In between stints in the local drunk tank, he cultivated a knack for blue-collar blues that would spread far beyond the backwoods South Hank called home. His self-proclaimed “hillbilly music” logged him more than 30 hit songs and membership at the Grand Ole Opry, fulfilling Hank’s lifelong dream. But his frequent bouts ...
Mark as Played
From Ozzy to Tina to the Chili Peppers, hope springs anew each New Year’s and has led to some of the most dramatic stories of redemption from music history. We dig into these stories in this bonus episode as we gear up for a new year ourselves and of course, dive into your voicemails, texts, DMs and more. Happy New Year from Disgraceland! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.co...
Mark as Played
Skip James’s most famous lyric was “I’d Rather be the Devil” and he put his money where his mouth was. He is believed to have shot a man dead, spent time as a pimp and a bootlegger, and womanized up and down the United States. Skip may have eventually found religion, and even recognition as the last great bluesman to be discovered by white America, but all that devilish living–and a possible hex–would bring his lifestyle to a bruta...
Mark as Played
In 1960s London, for young guitar enthusiasts, believing that “Clapton is God” was practically the 11th Commandment. In 1970 he lent his big, sticky tone to yet another band: Derek and the Dominos. The group’s white-hot blues burned bright for barely more than a year, but their impact was massive. Guided by drug, alcohol and heartbreak free-fall, Eric Clapton created one of rock’s most recognizable guitar riffs, while drummer Jim G...
Mark as Played
December 27, 2025 40 mins
Lou Reed blurred the lines between fact and fiction when it came to his past. To him, it was all a walk on the wild side anyway. After exploring his life in Part 1 through his lyrics for the Velvet Underground songs “The Gift”, “Waiting For My Man”, “Heroin” and “The Murder Mystery”, Part 2 continues through the songs “Rock And Roll”, “Sweet Jane”, “Run, Run, Run”, “Venus In Furs”, and “I’ll Be Your Mirror,” because tall tales and ...
Mark as Played
December 26, 2025 37 mins
Lou Reed is one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll characters of all time, one known to lie and exaggerate his own mythology during interviews about his past. In this special 2-part episode, Lou’s origin story with the Velvet Underground runs straight through Manhattan transgressions, murder mysteries, drug abuse, and all the other crimes, criminals, and antisocial behavior depicted in Lou’s legendary lyrics. This episode was originall...
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This week in the After Party, Jake takes a look at all the disgraceful deeds committed by rock stars during the holiday season. Plus, your emails, calls, and DMs! In the exclusive portion of the After Party, Jake and Dr. Zeth Lundy further examine the Christmastime nightclub shooting that allegedly involved Diddy. You can become an All Access member today by visiting disgracelandpod.com. To learn more about listener data and o...
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Elvis Presley loved the Memphis singer Johnny Ace. Johnny died long before Elvis’ became the King of Rock ‘N’ Roll and the way in which Johnny Ace died was as tragic as it was violent. It involved a game of Russian roulette, a greedy and dubious rock ‘n’ roll impresario, BB King, Big Mama Thornton, Little Richard, and a killer conspiracy and music history myth in desperate need of busting. Buckle up for a Christmas story like no ot...
Mark as Played
We couldn't get enough of the podcast Fela Kuti: Fear No Man, so to celebrate the show's finale, we're sharing another episode. As you might remember, Fela Kuti: Fear No Man is Jad Abumrad's true tale of one of the great political awakenings in music. In this episode, we hear about Fela’s club, The Shrine. It was an oasis of freedom amidst a brutal dictatorship. Once inside – and on the dancefloor – the music intoxicated, enrapture...
Mark as Played
Mariah Carey once lived under constant surveillance in her own home. Her husband planted cameras and recording devices around their prison-like mansion to watch her every move. He hired armed guards to follow her everywhere but the bathroom – the same armed guards who nearly shot Mariah’s collaborators when she unexpectedly dipped for a 30-minute joy ride. Despite her record-breaking five-octave pipes, Mariah Carey didn’t didn’t ha...
Mark as Played
You guys love non-traditional Christmas songs so Jake took all of your favs and put them into a special Non Tradish Christmas Disgo Mix. From Sufjan Stevens to Dio to Prince, Paul Kelly, Shane MacGowan and a ton of others— you called, texted, dm’d and commented on Patreon with your favs and in this episode we unpack it all with your voicemails, texts, dms, emails, and one again a whole lotta (Christmas) Rosie. Plus Jake and Zeth lo...
Mark as Played
Shane MacGowan lived his life as an outsider. He was an Irishman living in England, a troublemaking jug-eared punk with rotten teeth and a voracious appetite for drugs and alcohol. And with his band, The Pogues, he created a powerful synthesis of the traditional music of his homeland and a modern punk attitude. It was this gift for melding the sacred with the profane that led to the creation of one of the finest and most unique Chr...
Mark as Played
John Lennon was a walking contradiction: a violent pacifist and a creative genius marred by creative inconsistency. Just as he was getting his groove back he was gunned down by Mark David Chapman, a self-loathing narcissist obsessed with his contradictory hero, as well as Lennon’s musical rival, Todd Rundgren and J.D. Salinger’s angsty Holden Caulfield from The Catcher In The Rye. Hear how all of these factors and more contributed ...
Mark as Played
John Lennon was a walking contradiction: a violent pacifist and a creative genius marred by creative inconsistency. Just as he was getting his groove back, he was gunned down by Mark David Chapman, a self-loathing narcissist who was obsessed with his contradictory hero, as well as with Lennon’s musical rival, Todd Rundgren and J.D. Salinger’s angsty, Holden Caulfield from The Catcher In The Rye. Hear how all of these factors and mo...
Mark as Played
This After Party features a very special announcement plus a look into the greatest Christmas moments from music history, your voicemails, texts, emails, and as always a whole lotta (Christmas) Rosie. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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December 9, 2025 41 mins
A gun-waving showdown with the Ramones. A death threat from the Genovese crime family. A terrorized Ronnie Spector locked inside a gilded cage. And a Christmas record crushed by one of the darkest days in American history. Listen to find out how producer Phil Spector created a joyful holiday masterpiece before fear and violence turned his quest for immortality into something far darker. Now that we're in the holiday season, we wan...
Mark as Played
Blondie got their start as part of New York’s fertile punk scene in the late ‘70s, a time of great musical innovation. Also a time of great fear. Violent crime had the five boroughs in a stranglehold. Muggers, rapists, thieves, criminal deviants of all stripes ran wild in the streets. Or so they said. True New Yorkers like Blondie were tough, jaded, immune to the fears foisted upon tourists. Blondie’s Debbie Harry, in particular, w...
Mark as Played
December 5, 2025 43 mins
Everyone thought Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge was a joke, until he proved them all wrong. This is the story of government control, aliens, an arrest, a plane crash, a cancer diagnosis, redemption, and (of course) anti-authority punk rock. Do you believe in Non-Human Intelligence? Have you had an experience with UFOs? Let Jake know and tell your story at 617-906-6638, disgracelandpod@gmail.com, or on socials @disgracelandpod. This epis...
Mark as Played
On the heels of the release of the excellent new documentary The Age of Disclosure, and our own recent mini and full episodes on Merle Haggard’s UFO obsession, we discuss the likelihood that rockstars from John Lennon to Tom DeLonge are part of the UAP disclosure theory. We also talk to Psychopedia’s Brooke Slater about Slayer and Jake’s Ed Gein heebie jeebies. For more great Disgraceland episodes, dive into our extensive archi...
Mark as Played
A cosmic-country dust-up with Gram Parsons. A months-long cocaine spiral. An alien obsession, and a bleak Christmas single that wouldn’t quit. Death threats, pistols, pardons, and “Pancho & Lefty.” Listen to find out how Merle Haggard survived another December and lived to rewrite country music. For the full list of contributors, visit ⁠⁠disgracelandpod.com⁠⁠ To listen to Disgraceland ad free and get access to exclusive content a...
Mark as Played

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