When I started this blog back in the mid-2000s, blogging was in a growth mode. More people were doing it as WordPress, Blogger, or LiveJournal made it easy to set up site and let you write to your heart’s desire. Now? Most folks don’t bother with blogs because social media has replaced/displaced it.
Well, around the time that blogging was starting to become a thing (circa 2005-2006), so did a new way of using the internet to deliver audio content. I’m talking about podcasting, of course. Flash-forward 15 years later and podcasting is finally peaking with a variety of ‘casts that address, well, anything that people are passionate about. What makes it different now is that there’s money to be made — or at least the potential to make money. If podcasting didn’t make money, the company I work for wouldn’t have invested millions to build out their podcasting platform.
But for most podcasters, seeing a paycheck from their labors remains a bit elusive. So why do people spend time recording podcasts? Well, for similar reasons why people start blogs: because they are passionate about something and want to find a venue to express that passion.
One of my passions is music. Like many music-obsessed folks, I became a huge music fan from an early age. By high school, it was a full-blown addiction. And with most addictions that aren’t lethal, my music addiction is also reflected in some of the podcasts I listen to. Two that are fairly new are produced by people I know. One is from three former Popdose colleagues. Another is from a friend of mine I’ve known since high school. The third is from a guy whose music that I started getting into just recently (and by “recently” I mean about a year ago). Oh, and that guy is Steven Wilson. All the ‘casts are on Spotify. However, you don’t need an account to listen to them. Just click the links below the images and press play when you get to Spotify
First up!
This one is from my former Popdose colleagues Mike Heyliger, Jason Hare, and Jeff Giles. Jeff and Jason were also bloggy friends back in the day. Now, after some time away from working together, the three of them have this podcast that focuses on pop music from the late ’70s through the ’80s. Episodes include: Gloria Estefan, Hall & Oates, and Ray Parker, jr. They handle the topics with a lot of humor and knowledge about an artist’s catalog, so even if the bands or singers they spotlight aren’t your cup of tea, you’ll find their perspectives quite entertaining.
My friend Scott Birmingham is a movie critic in Reno. He’s been interviewing a lot of film folks for over a decade and is quite involved and passionate about films, filmmaking, and the movie business. However, in the music realm, Scott is a huge fan of Billy Joel — and has been since I’ve known him. For me, any enjoyment of Billy Joel’s music has been ruined by years of working in Adult Contemporary radio where his hits never went out of rotation. However, for those who weren’t prisoners of AC music for 13 years, Joel’s music means a lot to folks like Scott. He had a chance to chat with Billy Joel’s drummer, Liberty DeVitto. DeVitto’s book, LIBERTY: Life, Billy, and the Pursuit of Happiness, came out in July 2020 and is generally getting good reviews. When Scott was asking me about podcasting a few weeks ago, I urged him to reach out to Liberty to talk to him about his book and working with Billy Joel. Well, he got the interview! What I like about this conversation is Scott’s enthusiasm for Joel’s music comes through right from the get-go — and it’s clear Liberty felt that early on, too.
This podcast is hosted by Steven Wilson — most noted for the prog-rock band, Porcupine Tree. I started getting into their music about a year ago after being a casual listener to some of their records since 2002’s In Absentia. Well, after buying their first (proper) album Signify about a year ago, I really started getting into their music. I guess I should say getting into Steven Wilson’s music, since he kind of approaches his projects the way Prince did. Well, one of his side-projects is the pop group No-Man, which he founded with his childhood pal Tim Bowness. Both Wilson and Bowness are huge music fans who collect an amazing amount of recorded music. Their podcast focuses on a particular year in music whereby they spotlight a plethora of albums from a variety of genres. They tend to stay away from the obvious “hits” of that year, so for those looking for records that are below-the-radar, this ‘cast has plenty of suggestions. And while both sometimes come off as snobby, they aren’t so far up each other’s bums that they don’t take time to make fun of themselves. I often keep a list of their album selections so I can go back and listen to what they find great. Sometimes, I agree with their picks. Other times, I react like a certain record store owner in North England did when a young Wilson asked him about the quality of an artist’s music. That is to say, “Fucking shite.”
