Minutemen from San Pedro, CA were a band of childhood soulmates whose experimental sound, working class roots, and lucid politics made them all-timers in the history of punk. Joe Gross returns to highlight Minutemen’s DIY ethos of “jamming econo,” and the timeless influence they had on the whole of independent music that came after them.

Follow Joe Gross on Twitter at @joegross and pick up his 33 ⅓ book on Fugazi’s In On the Killtaker wherever fine books are sold.

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Geoff Rickly from Thursday guides us through the extended universe of Trent Reznor, who took the pulse and grit of industrial music into the mainstream with NIИ’s 1989 debut, Pretty Hate Machine, and became one of rock’s darkest and most impactful innovators of the next few decades.

Follow Geoff Rickly on Twitter at @GeoffRickly.

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Our Red Hot Chili Peppers Gen X-pert Joseph Patel, producer of Summer of Soul, returns to Bandsplain one of the Pep’s most influential, yet underappreciated, LA scene contemporaries: Fishbone. Their eclectic fusions of punk, funk, ska, metal, and soul earned these childhood friends from South Central a true cult following in the late 80s and early 90s, despite the industry racism and internal dysfunction that fumbled their mainstream potential.

Follow Joseph Patel on Twitter at @jazzbeezy and watch his documentary Summer of Soul.

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Barry Johnson of Joyce Manor joins Yasi for a thorough investigation into Weezer, the early nineties major label breakouts who have served as a gateway rock band for many a preteen since. Barry and Yasi plumb the depths of one idiosyncratic frontman, Rivers Cuomo, while examining the transmutations of alt-rock from the nineties to the aughts, and Weezer’s robustly maintained fandom community who’ve stayed with them to this day.

Follow Barry Johnson on Twitter at @joycemanor.

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We’re back! At Bandsplain, all we wanna do is have some fun, and Yasi had the feeling she wasn’t the only one. So this week, friend of the show Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast joins us to make the case for Sheryl Crow. In 1986, Sheryl’s winding road began when she left small town Missouri for Hollywood, where she toured with Michael Jackson, scrapped her own debut album, and survived off trail mix until her breakthrough Tuesday Night Music Club put her on the map. Bethany and Yasi uncover the tragedies and successes of Sheryl’s story as she spent the next few decades navigating the underbelly of celebrity and the mess of music media while becoming one of the quintessential songwriters of her time.

Follow Bethany Cosentino on Twitter at @bestcoast.

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Bob Mehr returns to Bandsplain for an in-depth look at oft overlooked stalwarts of the 90s rock charts, Gin Blossoms. Looking at the history before a slew of hit singles brought the band into the realm of grocery store soundtrack ubiquity (Hey Jealousy, Found Out About You, Follow You Down), Bob leads us through their origins in Tempe, Arizona’s fruitful scene of the late 80s and the tragic story of songwriter Doug Hopkins to the admirable longevity of some of their best-crafted rock songs.

Content warning: this episode addresses suicide and substance abuse. 

Follow Bob Mehr on Twitter at @BobMehr and find Trouble Boys: the True Story of the Replacements wherever books are sold.

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From Lifter Puller’s scrappy Minneapolis origins to the Hold Steady’s reign as “America’s best bar band,” Yasi is joined by writer Darcie Wilder of Gawker to unpack this pair of critically beloved and certifiably cult bands who culled as much from Catholic symbolism and Springsteenian character studies as they did from the social milieu of the Brooklyn aughts zeitgeist. 

Follow Darcie Wilder on Twitter @333333333433333 and pick up her book, “literally show me a healthy person.”

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We’re coming at you from Zebulon in Los Angeles with our very first LIVE episode, where we’re blessed by the presence of Max Collins of Eve 6 as he discusses who he thinks is America’s greatest rock n’ roll band: Fountains of Wayne. 

Follow Max Collins on Twitter at @eve6. 

We’re off next week for Thanksgiving. See you back here on Thursday, December 2 for an all new episode of Bandsplain.

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Yasi is joined by journalist Natalie Weiner to unpack the four-decade reign of Reba, Queen of Country, from her humble Oklahoma rodeo origins all the way through her world domination as a multiplatinum-selling artist, award-winning star of screen and stage, and intrepid entrepreneur.

Follow Natalie Weiner on Twitter @natalieweiner and check out her podcast, Rebawatchables. 

Check out Reba’s podcast, Living & Learning with Reba McEntire, only on Spotify.

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Gina Arnold—author, academic, and architect of Yasi’s youth—graces us with her perspective on Pixies, the seminal cult indie rock band from Boston. 

Follow Gina Arnold on Twitter at @ginanarchy and check out her books Route 666: On the Road to Nirvana, the 33 ⅓ book on Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville, and Kiss This: Punk in the Present Tense.

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