Steely Dan fail upwards into rock stardom and Chic write songs to get past the world’s doormen.

Pardon us for going long but on this episode; we examine a total of five entries from the 1,001 Albums You Must (supposedly) Hear Before You Die.

First, we dig into the early days of your dad’s favorite band, Steely Dan. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen met in the weed-stenched dorms of Bard College, tried to sell their songs in the Brill Building and somehow convinced the label they failed to impress as songwriters to sign their band. This begat a discography of musically complex, pulp-inspired, slyly sour — or perhaps melancholy — jazz-rock albums. We consider the first three, Can’t Buy a Thrill, Countdown to Ecstasy and Pretzel Logic.

Then it’s another band that’s more or less two people. After an insane childhood, perpetually beret-capped guitarist Nile Rodgers met bassist Bernard Edwards. With some inspiration from Roxy Music, they donned designer clothes and presented an image of urban sophistication while writing damn good simple songs as the core of Chic. We’re talking about two albums from their prime, C'est Chic and Risqué, which have songs that defined the disco era and eventually became timeless.

Questions pondered:

• How did the cohesive musical evolution of the 1960s lead to the stylistic clashes of the ’70s?
• Was Steely Dan fandom once a stand-in for the anxieties of American fatherhood?
• What is chugging and was it the key to Chic’s success?
• Why do Donald Fagen and Walter Becker make us look up so many words?
• Was it really necessary to blow up a crate of disco records after a baseball game at Comiskey Park in Chicago on July 12, 1979?

Our logo is by Kelsey Byers. Our theme song is "Stuff that Sounds like This" by Women's Basketball, used courtesy of Brian LaRue.

https://linktr.ee/listenordiepodcast

On this bonus episode, Nick talks to Adam Bernard, music writer and author of One Hit Wondering: The Stories of 40 One Hit Wonders + Other Tales From The Crates. It's a compilation of columns on artists overlooked even by the standards of one-hit wonders. Get ready to remember and reevaluate Jennifer Paige, Chumbawamba, OMC, Meredith Brooks, Len, the Cardigans and others.

Questions pondered:
Did the '90s major label gold rush propel bands into one-hit wonderdom?
Is a band a one-hit wonder if no one remembers their other big hit?
How did Chumbawamba doggedly maintain their integrity?
Is one-hit wonder a prerogative term?
Was Tones and I, of "Dance Monkey" fame, the last one-hit wonder, ever?

Adam's blog is at: https://adambernard.blogspot.com/
You can buy his book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H42BDSSV
As well as this other book: https://www.amazon.com/ChemBro-Embracing-Beastmode-Beat-Cancer/dp/1947381369

Our logo is by Kelsey Byers. Our theme song is "Stuff that Sounds like This" by Women's Basketball, used courtesy of Brian LaRue.

https://linktr.ee/listenordiepodcast

No one's keeping it real this month; Outkast keeps it surreal and X-Ray Spex are ART... I.... FICIAL!!!

On this episode of album deep dives, we check out the band that broke the mold of punk rock just as that mold was set. X-Ray Spex, lead by the wonderfully pseudonymous Poly Styrene, had acute social perceptiveness, a saxophonist and the wardrobes of 40-somethings at a dinner party. Their debut album, 1978's Germfree Adolescents, is a loud cry from a consumer generation that a plasticized, exploitative society tried to subdue.

Then it's another boundary pusher. The only thing East Coast and West Coast rappers agreed on in the '90s was the the South was deficient. Atlanta's Outkast defied them, with a firm "it's like this though" at an awards show and with a hard-hitting, crowd-pleasing hybrid of rock, funk and rap. They reached new heights on 2000's Stankonia, which had a few immortal songs and several creative ways to declare oneself really good at sex. At the heart of it is the eruptive synergy of André 3000 and Big Boi, two men with very different personalities.

Questions pondered:
Is Prince a cool hip-hop influence? How about Kate Bush?

Why does punk rock get burdened by deeply stupid fan behavior?

How many pop culture references are stuffed into "So Fresh, So Clean?"

What was each person thinking in that famous photo of six punk or punk-adjacent frontwomen?

Don't everybody like the smell of gasoline?

Our logo is by Kelsey Byers. Our theme song is "Stuff that Sounds like This" by Women's Basketball, used courtesy of Brian LaRue.

https://linktr.ee/listenordiepodcast