Billie Holiday ascended from the rough and tumble streets of Baltimore and Harlem, through reform school, brothels, and Welfare Island, right to the top of the music game. Her childhood fascination with “whorehouse music” filled a void in her lost innocence, but she soon found a second stabilizer: Heroin. Just when her sensational “Strange Fruit” brought her to Columbia Records, her dependency on hard drugs landed her behind bars. Her mesmerizing voice ensnared listeners unlike any other jazz singer of her day, but in the end, it was narcotics that eventually ensnared Billie Holiday and sealed her fate.
This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to some listeners and includes descriptions of sexual assault.
To see the full list of contributors see the show notes at www.disgracelandpod.com.
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Billie Holiday: Heroin Hounds, ‘Whorehouse Music,’ and the Queen of Jazz

Disgraceland is the award-winning music podcast hosted by Jake Brennan that explores the alleged true crime antics and criminal connections of musicians we love like Jerry Lee Lewis, the Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift, David Bowie, Cardi B, the Grateful Dead, Amy Winehouse, Bob Marley, and more. Disgraceland is a scripted, single voice narrative storytelling podcast that melds true crime, music history, mystery, and misadventure. Disgraceland is not a journalistic podcast. It is an entertainment podcast inspired by true events. Certain dialogue and scenes are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes as they are in most scripted entertainment based on true events. Sources and credits for each episode are available at disgracelandpod.com. Full scripted episodes are released every Tuesday. Bonus “After Party” episodes are released every Thursday. Disgraceland is available wherever you get your podcasts.
To listen to Disgraceland ad free and get access to a monthly exclusive episode, weekly bonus content and more, become a Disgraceland All Access member at disgracelandpod.com/membership.

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Public Enemy were revolutionaries – both in their message and their music. In the 1980s and 1990s, they elevated hip-hop to an art form. They did this with Chuck D's booming voice, Flavor Flav's comic levity, and the auditory assault of the Bomb Squad's production. But with that revolution came scandal. Their hype man allegedly tried to shoot his neighbor while high on crack cocaine. Their so-called "Minister of Information" was so controversial that his words alone nearly derailed the group's success. They performed at a prison – after just releasing a song about a prison break. And in the summer of 1989, Public Enemy released a song that was so powerful, it put them in the middle of the cultural zeitgeist at the very moment that it seemed they were splintering apart.
To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at www.disgracelandpod.com.
To listen to Disgraceland ad free and get access to a monthly exclusive episode, weekly bonus content and more, become a Disgraceland All Access member at disgracelandpod.com/membership.
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Public Enemy: Revolution, Scandal, and a Message Louder than a Bomb

Marvin Gaye was born into a God-fearing home to a sweet, wholesome mother and crossdressing, philandering, pentecostal preacher father who ruled his children with an iron fist. Despite his tense upbringing, Marvin Gaye found his calling—music—and used it as his ticket out of his repressive home life. He chased away his shame and followed his muse to the top of the charts; through a sea of cocaine and sex, becoming one of the biggest and most gifted entertainers of all time before sinking into addiction and depression and ultimately winding up back at home with his parents. This was a move that would prove to be more devastating than any of his volatile sexual relationships and more deadly than any drug he’d ever taken.
To see the complete list of contributors, visit disgracelandpod.com
This episode was originally published on September 25, 2018.
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REWIND - Marvin Gaye: Father, Father There’s Far Too Many of Us Dying

This week in the After Party, Jake talks actors committing fully, this week's DISGRACELAND episode on Heath Ledger, and of course your emails, texts, DMS, and voicemails. What are your top five favorite fight scenes? What is your favorite Heath Ledger performance? Is Heath one of the best actors of the early 2000s? Do you believe Debbie Harry about encountering Ted Bundy? Drop a line at 617-906-6638, disgracelandpod@gmail.com, or on socials @disgracelandpod, and come join the After Party.
To hear an extended version of the After Party with insight into the paparazzi's setup of Heath Ledger in an L.A. hotel room, and more from the DISGRACELAND community, become a Disgraceland All Access member at disgracelandpod.com/membership.
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Bonus Episode: Fantastic Fight Scenes, Predatory Paparazzi, and Goon versus Slapshot

Heath Ledger’s preparation for and disappearance into his movie roles is legendary, and it’s what helped him play repressed cowboys, junkies, and maniacal clowns equally well. His research led him to junkies who taught him how to properly shoot up using a stolen prosthetic arm and fake blood, and to a personal diary full of cut-and-paste madness. The paparazzi, however, mocked Heath’s method, and took their public quarrel with him to duplicitous lengths.
To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at www.disgracelandpod.com. To listen to Disgraceland ad free and get access to a monthly exclusive episode, weekly bonus content and more, become a Disgraceland All Access member at disgracelandpod.com/membership.
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Heath Ledger: Cowboys, Junkies, and Maniacal Clowns

Sniffing glue, hooking for drug money, hurling rocks at the Beatles, and writing infectious sunshiny melodies about their grimy reality, the Ramones were what the world needed in 1976. As rock ‘n’ roll was getting bloated with excessive experimentation and unfortunate forays into disco, four cretins from Queens stripped it all away to two-minute three-chord anthems with hard, fast backbeats and buzzing guitars. They adopted the same surname to solidify their brotherhood, and they lived like brothers and fought like brothers to the very bitter end. Listen to hear how the Ramones saved rock ‘n’ roll.
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This episode was originally published on February 16, 2021.
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Billie Holiday: Heroin Hounds, ‘Whorehouse Music,’ and the Queen of Jazz

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