A (Mostly) 80s Music Podcast: What Difference Does It Make?

Simply put, Dan McGrath is a huge Depeche Mode fan, I mean his initials are DM. The Creative Director of No Sheet Music and soon to be member of the duo cover band "Master and Servant", that plays only music by duos, steps into our virtual studios. We discuss songs 20 to 11 based off radio station KROQ in Los Angeles' year end chart from 1984. We let Dan chose this ten song chunk because it not only contains two Depeche Mode songs, but also the song the What Difference Does It Make podcast team thinks should have been the number one song for that year.

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Many of you know Jose Perez Navarro as the original anchor of Contacto Deportivo or as the play by play announcer for World Cup games since 2002. What you may not know, is his career started in radio back in his hometown of Guadalajara, Mexico. He is particularly passionate about music from the 80s which is why we happily invited Jorge Perez Navarro into our virtual What Difference Does It Make studios. The original idea was to talk about songs 30 to 21 from the 1984 year end chart from radio station KROQ in Los Angeles. We manage to do that but we mainly touch on Jorge's love of Air Supply, Elton John and music from the late, great Jim Steinman.

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People listening to KROQ in the mid 80s got the good fortune to hear "Mega-mixes", a medley of songs from artists like Duran Duran and Pet Shop Boys that stretched out into one ten minute jam. The man responsible for these mixes is Christer Modig, aka Swedish Chris. Chris steps into our What Difference Does It Make virtual studios and discusses exactly how a high school kid from Sweden landed at KROQ in Los Angeles. In between stories, we discuss songs from the 1984 KROQ year end chart. This week we look at songs 40 to 31.

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Our favorite Los Angeles radio station is 885FM, so it was very cool to get Marc "Mookie" Kaczor into our virtual What Difference Does It Make studios. Mookie has turned us on to so many new artists that it was great to return the favor and introduce him to some of our favorites as we look at the songs KROQ played back in 1984. This week we focus in on songs 50 to 41 which covers everything from Prince to Killing Joke. Oh, and if you know Dave Grohl, please put him in touch with Mookie. He needs a favor.

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JC Douglas, steps into the What Difference Does It Make virtual studios to discuss songs 60 to 51 from the 1984 KROQ year end list. This ten song chunk of songs really encapsulates why the music was so influential to our burgeoning musical taste. In this episode, we cover artists from Lou Reed to The Time to R.E.M. and our titular song from The Smiths shows up as well. J.C. the "Hyperactive" Canadian can be heard afternoons on 89.9 The Wave in Halifax, Nova Scotia,

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We all miss the connection of live music, and that's why we're so happy a movie like Long Live Rock has been released. This rock documentary pays tribute to the many factors that explain our passion for rock music AND rock festivals. The film features many of the musicians, the people working behind the scenes, and of course, the fans. AreJay Hale, drummer for Halestorm, director Jonathan McHugh, and producer Gary Spivack step into the virtual What Difference Does It Make studio to discuss everything that went into making this film. They are passionate rock fans, one and all!

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Russ Borris, Music Director at WFUV in New York enters our virtual studios and immediately throws down some knowledge. 1) "Duran Duran is Life" 2) Flight of The Conchords are Hall & Oates 3) When it comes to Masters of The Universe, Leech is so much cooler than Moss Man. He also asks the important questions like, "What is the difference between an Alligator and a Crocodile and "Why was Poison a bigger band than Warrant?" The world may never know, but what we do know is that in-between all the shenanigans we manage to discuss songs 70 to 61 on the 1984 KROQ in Los Angeles year end chart.

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Kyle Meredith, Music Director at WFPK in Louisville and host of his own podcast Kyle Meredith with... is ready to step in the ring with Holly and Dave and offer up his opinion on the year that was 1984. In this episode we look at songs 80 to 71 from radio station KROQ in Los Angeles' year end chart. Kyle may have been a young child in the 80s but he has strong opinions on the music played during this time and because of his love of the decade, we welcome Kyle as an unofficial member of Gen X. The music countdown on the countdown can be heard on our music playlist page.

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Carmel Holt, creator and host of Sheroes Radio, steps into the virtual What Difference Does It Make studios. We dig into Carmel's musical origin's and lessons learned as Music Director at WDST in Woodstock and WFUV in New York. We also discuss why her intense love of music discovery led to her creation of Sheroes. Always the pro, she learned early on to "always prep" and so Carmel is ready to give her opinion on songs 90 to 81 from the 1984 KROQ in Los Angeles year end chart.

To hear all the songs discussed, check out our Spotify playlist. You can also find all songs at WDDIMPodcast.com on our playlist page.

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Big thanks to AKG for their support

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Dave knew he had found a new friend when he saw Joel ...clad in a Wilco t-shirt...at his daughter's soccer game. They bonded easily over music and sports. Dave was also happy to discover another good friend, in Joel's wife, Melissa Gould. She is warm, with a great sense of humor. While learning to live with his MS diagnosis, tragedy struck when Joel passed away in 2013 at the age of fifty. Melissa then found herself alone, a young widow with a young daughter. She chronicles her journey in her memoir, Widowish. While it is a heartbreaking story, Melissa uses her experience as a writer for TV and film to bring lightness and humor into her story. Widowish is beautifully crafted, and both Holly and Dave found that Melissa was a perfect guest for the What Difference Does It Make Podcast.

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