Ongoing History of New Music

Students of classical music know that Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the most important and influential composers of all time…his use of instruments, four-part harmonies, and use of innovative structures in his material were all brilliant… When he was alive, he commanded plenty of respect…but after he died in March 1685, he was almost forgotten…the only reason we talk about him today is that there was a Bach revival in the 19th century…he became a retro hero in the world of classical music… No one knew anything about Robert Johnson when he was alive other than some myths and legends among hardcore fans of Delta Blues…but when his records were reissued in 1961, 23 years after he died, did his reputation explode… Charles Mingus was revered by fellow jazz artists…it was only after he passed away in 1979 that his influence on jazz was celebrated… We can also talk about posthumous praise for Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, and Elliott Smith…and although Tupac and Biggie were big stars when they were shot, they became even bigger stars in death… I’m going to add another name to this list: Ian Curtis and Joy Division…when Ian took his own life in May 1980, he and the band were so skint that he had to give his dog away because he and his wife couldn’t afford to feed him… Today, though, Ian and Joy Division are acknowledged as one of the most important and most influential post-punk bands ever…why?...what was the big deal about Joy Division? And why do they continue to be a big deal?...let’s examine this. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Part 2 of our deep dive into Post Rock, we explore the bands and ideas that have shaped this experimental and atmospheric approach to music. From Slint and Mogwai to Sigur Rós and Explosions in the Sky, we look at how these bands create something cinematic...emotional...and entirely unexpected. We also look at how post‑rock influences artists like Radiohead and Broken Social Scene, and why this musical philosophy continues to spread all across the globe. Prepare to discover new bands, new sounds, and a new way of thinking about what rock can be. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What exactly is "Post‑Rock"? In this first installment of a two‑part deep dive, we unpack one of the most misunderstood labels in modern music. From its origins in the 1960s to its evolving relationship with rock, ambient, jazz, and experimental traditions...Post-Rock has come to mean different things to different listeners. In part 1, we focus on where the term came from and what it was originally trying to describe. We explore ideas like: The cultural and musical context that gave rise to post‑rock Why the genre resists simple definitions Early artists and scenes that shaped its sound and philosophy How “using rock instruments for non‑rock purposes” became both a manifesto and a limitation Rather than treating post‑rock as a fixed style, we look at it as an idea...one that reflects broader shifts in how music moved away from verse‑chorus structures and toward texture, atmosphere, and long‑form composition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'll be honest and say that this is not a happy show…in fact, it’s probably the saddest episode of the year…then again, it’s an opportunity to pay tribute to the musicians we lost in 2025. They’re gone, but that’s the thing about being a musician…the songs they left behind will remain with us for many, many years.  I’m going to go through a list of deaths…this list isn’t comprehensive because we just don’t have the time to cover all the “RIP's” that happened...and because there are so many, I’ll probably miss a few, and for that, I apologize in advance. This is 2025 in memoriam, a tribute to rock stars who passed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On October 12, 1978, punk’s most infamous couple...Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols and Nancy Spungen...hit rock bottom at New York’s Chelsea Hotel. Nancy was found dead from a single stab wound in Room 100. Sid was charged with murder, but was he really the killer? Or was it someone else in their chaotic circle? This is “Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry”…and this time, it’s the wild story of the death of Nancy Spungen and the questions that still remain decades later…Was it a drug-fueled accident, a robbery gone wrong, or something darker? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are going to talk about drummers on this show…i just want you to know right from the start just in case you wanna roll your eyes and go “really? Do we have to?”   Yes, we have to…there have been countless stories told about great guitarists and singers and keyboardists…drummers?... Not so much, unless your name is Dave Grohl. And we will get to him.   So this was going to a profile of my favourite drummers in alt-rock…but then I got to thinking: how much do we know what about drummers play?... How many histories of the electric guitar have been written?... Monographs, coffee table books, books on collectible guitars…   Now think about the books written about keyboards…there’s about three linear feet of bookshelf in my office taken up just by books on the history of synthesizers…   But what about the drums today’s drummers play?...    No, I think it’s time that we not only talked about drummers but also drums…think about it: how did the modern drumkit come into being?...there’s a pretty standard sort of set-up…how did that come about?...why do we play drums the way we do?... And who should we thank for making drums into what they are today?...cymbals and foot pedals and snare…where did all that come from?...   See?...you’re curious now, aren’t you?...well, stand by…the history of the modern drumkit is coming up…this is stuff even most drummers don’t know… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I once had a conversation with someone about the craziest tours in the history of music…the usual names came up.   The who trashing hotel rooms…led zeppelin’s tours with their private jet, groupies, and tons of drugs…that time in Atlanta when Ozzy drank himself into oblivion, passed out in the wrong hotel room for 24 hours, and missed a show as a result.   In 1976, ZZ Top tried to take the entire Texas experience on the road, which involved transporting real live animals to every gig…a buffalo escaped and managed to wreck nine rented limos that were parked at the gig.   Around the same time, there was the disastrous Sex Pistols tour of America…there were also stories about The Rolling Stones, Metallica, Van Halen, and all the usual suspects. But the conversation turned to the subject of the most depraved and dangerous tour of all time…who was responsible for that?... Motley Crue?...Marilyn Manson?...Oasis?   The debate when on for some time—until someone mentioned a road trip in 1993 that nearly killed every member of the group.   We’re not talking about any sort of violence…it was a tour featuring so much alcohol, so many drugs, and so much stupid behaviour that members suffered heart attacks, seizures, serious mental illness, and overdoses so serious that one member was clinically dead for two minutes.  That was a summary of something called “The Devotional Tour”…at the centre of it was Depeche Mode…it has gone down in rock history as “the most debauched rock tour ever”.   This is episode 37 of “Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry,” an inside look at the tour that nearly took down Depeche Mode forever…and it was all their fault. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is my annual data dump featuring music information you didn’t know you needed…over the last 12 months, I’ve collected this material on scraps of paper, post-it notes, on my iPhone’s “notes” app, and in various files on my computer…and these are the best 60 mind-blowing facts about music I can offer for 2025.  This is the 11th year that I’ve been doing this…maybe there’s a book in here somewhere…i don’t know…maybe…one day… Whatever…a lot of random information is about to come your way…do your best to ingest what you can…ready?....let’s go. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this third and final chapter of our look at Why Bowie Still Matters, we explore the last two decades of his life and the innovations that cemented his legacy. From pioneering digital music distribution and launching BowieNet, to creating “Bowie Bonds”...something that changed the music business...Bowie was always ahead of the curve. We revisit his late-career albums, his secret comeback with "The Next Day", and the farewell gift of "Blackstar". Plus, the stories behind his art, his influence on countless genres, and why his impact continues to grow even ten years after his passing. Bowie didn’t just make music...he reshaped culture...and this is Why Bowie Still Matters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Bowie wasn’t just a rock star...he was a cultural architect who reinvented music, fashion, and identity. In part 2 of "Why Bowie Still Matters", we explore Bowie’s groundbreaking mid-70s to early-80s era: from the cocaine-fueled chaos of Station to Station and the birth of the Thin White Duke, his "Berlin Trilogy" with Brian Eno that shaped post-punk and electronic music. And we’ll explore how albums like Low, Heroes, and Lodger influenced everyone from Joy Division to Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Radiohead and others. Meanwhile, Bowie’s constant creativity sparked movements like New Wave and the New Romantics. And then we reach Bowie’s bold reinvention...again... in the 90s with Tin Machine and Trent Reznor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been nearly a decade since David Bowie left us, and the world hasn’t really been the same since. In the first of a three part series, we explore why Bowie’s influence goes far beyond music...shaping fashion, art, technology, and even social movements. From his early days writing songs he would really rather forger about...to the birth of Ziggy Stardust...his role in shaping glam rock, gender expression, and even the evolution of punk. Bowie changed everything. David Bowie redefined what it meant to be a rock star...and this is why his legacy matters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If there’s an official mission statement for the kind of music we all love, it’s “sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll” …these are the three main food groups in this world… All three of these things affect the same portions of the brain:  the amygdala, the nucleus accumbens, and the cerebellum…. All of them are involved in the secretion and regulation of dopamine, the “feel-good” hormone…  Dopamine is a very addictive hormone…whenever our brains squirt it out, the body goes “this is good!  I want more!” …it happens when we hear a great song….it happens with certain drugs and alcohol, which is the basis of addiction…and it happens with an orgasm… Once you’re inside this bubble, you may find things rather permissive…as long as you’re producing, people will look the other way…there’s no one to tell you “no”…and it doesn’t take long for some people to get lost in this world, coming to believe that normal rules of polite society don’t apply….you’re special, meaning that you can do anything… That’s when your judgement starts to become suspect…and that’s when things start to get strange…how strange?...well… Welcome to a show all about rock’n’roll and weird tales of sex. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Going on tour is hard…you’re away from home for months at a time…there’s little sleep, bad food, too many drugs, a surfeit of alcohol, late nights, temptations into bad behavior, crazy people, and that bass player who refuses to wash his feet, probably because he’s on his phone moaning to his girlfriend about how miserable he is…   All that occupies about 22 hours of the day…the best times come when you’re at the venue…there’s the excitement of the lead-up, the after-show satisfaction, and in between, the gig itself…   But every show is different…a different city…a different place to sleep…vans, buses, and, if you’re lucky, airplanes…for that time on the road, your sanctuary becomes the dressing room, the one place over which you have some measure of control—if you know what you’re doing…   This brings me to the concert rider, the part of the contract with the promoter that specifies what an act has to be provided with before, during, and after a show…   Once the band arrives, the road manager is the point-person…he or she has to make sure the promoter adheres to the terms of the rider…   Most of the details are pretty mundane because they’re basically logistical…the times of the load-in and load-out…electrical requirements and the number of local electricians required to make them happen…how many forklifts and drivers are needed to move gear around…catering for the crew…parking for the tour buses…how merch sales are going to work…that kind of thing…   Where things get interesting are the artist’s requirements, the things they need backstage to ensure they’re in a good headspace to play a great show…mess up the rider and the promoter runs the risk of having a pouty, petulant, and otherwise pissed off performance…   And i get it…if you’re an artist and you don’t get what you need before a gig, then you’re going to feel disrespected…   Coming up with a list of requests that can be enforced night after night, venue after venue, city after city, and country after country is a delicate and essential thing…and let’s just say that some bands are better than others at this sort of thing…   Welcome to the wild work of the backstage rider… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why does music move us so deeply...even when we don’t hear it? From brain scans lighting up with musical memories to how songs can fight loneliness, boost productivity, and even repel mosquitoes, this episode dives into the strange science behind sound with another exploration into the medical mysteries of music. 🧠 Discover: Why music survives memory loss in Alzheimer’s How your taste in music shifts with the time of day What your favourite song might say about your personality The truth behind earworms (and how to get rid of them) How music affects taste, mood, and even hearing loss 📲 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts🔗 ajournalofmusicalthings.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are plenty of unexplained things in the world of music…these are things that we often don’t even question…why do we do these things?...what is this called that?...who came up with that idea? Let’s deal with some of that. This is another episode of something I call “The Rock Explainer”. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taj Khyber Rowland knows he’s not who people think he is but he can’t quite remember how his life went so off course. He decides to spool backwards, to his younger self. A daredevil seven year old Chellamuthu, living happily, but in abject poverty, with his large family in rural India. But when Chellamuthu disobeys his mother and goes to play at the bus station, he’s persuaded to board a bus with some bigger boys. He’s kidnapped. And there’s no going back. Contact: Facebook: ⁠⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠⁠ X (formerly Twitter): ⁠⁠@BlanchardTweets⁠⁠ Blanchard House website: ⁠⁠blanchard-house.com⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is about giving credit where credit is due. Specifically to musicians who were so far ahead of their time that the public and the industry just didn’t get it, and as a result, they were ignored, shunned, unrewarded, or otherwise omitted from music history. Most of these names might be new to you, but that’s not your fault…the music world just dropped the ball on these people… but that’s just wrong…they just happened to offer something when we weren’t quite ready for it…in other words, they peaked too soon…let me show you what I mean.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the second half at a look at the stories behind some of the most iconic album covers of all time…on part one, we looked at the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, Depeche Mode, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Beastie Boys, Alice In Chains, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Smashing Pumpkins, all in chronological order, ending in 1993.  Now we’re going to pick things up in 1994. This is part two of a show that looks at some of the most iconic-looking albums in history, along with some secret stories they contain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is going to be a very visual program, which may be a bit of a challenge because you’re either listening to this as a radio show or podcast…so i need to work with me on this…  Vinyl is back in a way that no one could have ever predicted…in countries like Canada, the US, the UK, Australia, and beyond, vinyl is once again outselling CDs…and a surprising number of people are buying vinyl even if they don’t have a turntable…  What’s the point of that? ...simple…vinyl is a tangible and physical manifestation and representation of the music…it is something you own, something that resides with you, and no matter what happens, it is yours…  Many fans stream the music while holding the vinyl in their hands…that’s the best of both worlds…the vinyl never gets damaged, but you get to hear the music just the same… And the attraction is the same as it ever was…liner notes, lyric sheets—and the artwork… For a while, we were in real danger of seeing the glories of album artwork disappear…first, it was shrunk down to cd-sized…then with sometime like iTunes, you got a little postage-same image…and with streaming, you get almost nothing when it comes to something that visually embodies all the blood, sweat, tears, talent, and inspiration that went into making that album…  So here on the radio (or the podcast), I’m going to ask you to conjure up images of these album covers in your mind…then you can go back to your vinyl library and take a look… We’re revisiting album artwork on this episode of “The Ongoing History of New Music” with a look at the stories behind some iconic covers…and after this, you may not look at some of your albums the same way again… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’ve always been fascinated with recording studios…the atmosphere, the equipment, the musical gear, the slight scent of ozone from all the electricity running through the circuits.  Yeah, you can make very good records at home, but there’s something special about recording a song or making an album in a professional recording studio… This time, I’ve compiled a list of some of the best-known Oasis songs, and we’re about to go deep into how they were created. When we’re done, you won’t listen to any of them the same way again. This is "In the Studio with Oasis" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices