DISGRACELAND

By Jake Brennan

What's DISGRACELAND about?

Disgraceland is the world’s first and only rock and roll true-crime podcast. Each episode explores a different theme through the perspective of the legendary misdeeds and alleged criminal connections of the most notorious and beloved rock stars.

Season 1 starts with the exploits of Jerry Lee Lewis, Beck, Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls and those legendary heathens, The Rolling Stones. We finish our season with episodes on crimes surrounding the likes of Johnny Cash, Per Ohlin, The Clash and maybe even the freshly disgraced, R. Kelly.

Our first season is a limited, bi-weekly, eight episode run spanning from September 12 - November 14th. We will return with season two in February, 2018.

Keep an eye on www.disgracelandpod.com and @disgracelandpod.

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LAST EPISODE

BADLANDS Season 2: Sportsla...

09.22.2021

BADLANDS Season 2: Sportsland is all about the shocking rise and fall of sports legends. Beginning September 22, 2021, listen each week for wild stories about Mike Tyson, Oscar Pistorius, Aaron Hernandez, Evel Knievel, Tonya Harding, Pete Rose, Sonny Liston, ...

DISGRACELAND episodes:

09.22.2021 BADLANDS Season 2: Sportsland Trailer BADLANDS Season 2: Sportsland is all about the shocking rise and fall of sports legends. Beginning September 22, 2021, listen each week for wild stories about Mike Tyson, Oscar Pistorius, Aaron Hernandez, Evel Knievel, Tonya Harding, Pete Rose, Sonny Liston, ...
09.16.2021 Disgraceland Presents: Blood on the Tracks Season 2, Chapter 1: John Lennon and Yoko Ono John Lennon’s second wife and creative muse, Yoko Ono, recalls their time as one of the most simultaneously beloved and feared couples of 1970s New York City. Yoko’s tales include drug busts, government surveillance, robbery, extortion, fear, and paranoia. All ...
09.07.2021 John Lennon (Pt. 1): “John Lennon, I’m Going To Kill You, You Phony Bastard” (Best of Disgraceland Season 2) John Lennon was a walking contradiction: a violent pacifist and a creative genius marred by creative inconsistency. Just as he was getting his groove back, he was gunned down by Mark David Chapman, a self-loathing narcissist who was obsessed with ...
07.27.2021 After Party 23 - John Stamos Interview (Bonus Episode) John Stamos has a new music and true crime podcast and it's frickin' awesome. I got to ask him some questions over zoom about his new show, The Grand Scheme: Snatching Sinatra, a 10 episode story about that time Frank ...
06.15.2021 Disgraceland Season 8 Preview Season 8 of the award-winning music and true crime podcast launches June 15, 2021. Listen to the Season 8 preview to hear a list of the episode subjects and a sneak peek of some of the episodes. See Privacy Policy ...
05.18.2021 The Notorious B.I.G. Pt. 1: Dealing Crack on the Corner, Spitting Beef and Creating One of the Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time This is Part 1 of a two-part Disgraceland episode on The Notorious B.I.G. To hear Part 2 now, for free, visit amazon.com/disgraceland. The Notorious B.I.G. entered adulthood as a crack dealer and left this world as one of the most ...
04.13.2021 Oasis Pt. 1: Hooliganism, Hedonism, Rock Star Anthems and the “Greatest Rock ‘N’ Roll Band on the Planet" Few bands have come from as little and made as much of themselves as Oasis. Along the way they were wildly entertaining — unlike anything England or the United States had ever seen — and fully committed to the life ...
03.02.2021 The Beatles Pt. 1: Stoned with Dylan, Dosed with Acid, Outrunning Knife Wielding Maniacs and Driving the World to the Brink with Beatlemania This is Part 1 of a two-part Disgraceland episode on The Beatles. To hear Part 2 now, for free, visit amazon.com/disgraceland. The Beatles caused fans to enter into manic states, literally. People died because of it. The band swallowed more ...
01.26.2021 Tupac Shakur Pt. 1: 1960s Radicalism Gives Way to Socially Conscious Rap, a Charismatic Screen Star, and Deadly Violence This is Part 1 of a two-part Disgraceland episode on Tupac Shakur. To hear Part 2 now, for free, visit amazon.com/disgraceland. Tupac Shakur was many things. He was a supremely talented MC and was wildly charismatic in front of the ...
12.21.2020 Where Is Disgraceland? (Bonus Episode) This is a bonus episode of Disgraceland. To hear this week's episode, for free, visit amazon.com/disgraceland. Want to know where Disgraceland is? Literally? Figuratively? Then listen to this. From the where to listen to the award-winning music and true crime ...
11.24.2020 Chuck Berry: Systemic Racism, Sexual Depravity and the Invention of Rock ‘N’ Roll Chuck Berry was imprisoned numerous times. He was a victim of violent systemic racism and accused of horrific acts of sexual depravity. He also invented rock ‘n’ roll. Chuck Berry was as complex a character as he was influential as ...
11.10.2020 Selena: Tejano, Deception, and the Death of the Madonna of Mexico Selena Quintanilla Pérez ushered in the Golden Age of Tejano music in Texas with a meteoric rise up the charts and into the hearts of her fans. Her fans saw her as more than just a pop star — she ...
11.03.2020 Special Re-release - The Grateful Dead (Part Two): The Ballad of Pigpen and Old, Weird America - an Origin Story Bootlegging whiskey, acid tests, grass, and songs about murder. The origins of the Grateful Dead are fascinating and not what most people think. Born out of the tradition of “old, weird America”; bluegrass, jug band music and deadly folk tales, ...
10.27.2020 The Misfits: Robbing Graves, Night of the Living Dead and the Teenagers from Mars The Misfits were truly unique. Scary. Violent. Angry. Nihilistic. These words can easily describe not only their music, but also the band as people, particularly frontman Glenn Danzig. Rumored to have been arrested for grave robbery, locked up abroad and ...
10.20.2020 Special Re-Release - The Grateful Dead (Part One): Freedom is just another word for… The Grateful Dead became one of the most influential bands of all time and propelled themselves with improvisation, LSD and an ethos of “freedom." Through drug busts and CIA surveillance, they thrived and created one of the largest, most fervent ...
10.13.2020 The Grateful Dead Pt. 2: The Ballad of Pigpen and Old, Weird America—an Origin Story Bootlegging whiskey, acid tests, grass, and songs about murder. The origins of the Grateful Dead are fascinating and not what most people think. Born out of the tradition of “old, weird America”; bluegrass, jug band music and deadly folk tales, ...
09.29.2020 Chet Baker: Heroin, Romance, Missing Teeth and the James Dean of Jazz Chet Baker, with his natural talent, unique voice and beautiful looks was known as “the James Dean of Jazz.” He was also a savage junkie and part time criminal. A one of a kind musician, his soft singing style and ...
09.15.2020 Ice-T: Crip Rhymes, a Cop Killer, Thieving Jewels and Inventing Gangsta Rap Ice-T stoked the wrath of the President of the United States, led the life of a successful jewel thief, ran with one of LA’s most notorious street gangs, the Crips, and was a soldier in the US Army. Along the ...
06.30.2020 The Rolling Stones Pt. 2: Swinging London, Stolen Jewels, the Mars Bar Myth, and Busted at Redlands The Establishment strikes back in this second installment of the Rolling Stones time in Swinging London. UK pop star Donovan is busted, a precursor to the Stones Redlands bust. Mick Jagger is in jail looking at hard time. The tabloids ...
06.23.2020 Rolling Stones Pt. 1: Swinging London, a Prison Break, East End Gangsters and the Anti-Beatles London was swinging. Keith Richards was in jail. The Kray Twins were menacing about. Brian Jones was on too much LSD. Aristocrats were tripping over themselves to hang out with the Rolling Stones. England was smitten. The London Establishment was ...
06.09.2020 Prince: Control, Ecstasy, Dark Funk and Fentanyl Few pop artists achieved the dizzying creative and career highs that Prince did. An artist who famously stayed away from drugs and most anything that would cause him to lose control, Prince was aided in his legendary musical output by ...
05.26.2020 Studio 54: Disco Decadence, a Dead Body and Bags of Cash In the late seventies, Studio 54 was the place to be for musicians and celebrities alike. John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and others all famously hung out at the notorious club where hedonism was part of the ...
05.19.2020 Jake Brennan Interprets Dave Grohl’s Foo Fighters’ Tour Rider in His Commencement Speech to 2020 Graduates. It’s the Commencement Speech WE ALL Need Right Now Did you or a loved one just graduate and miss out on a commencement and graduation speech? Or do you just love great advice rooted in an undeniably effective rock ’n’ roll ethos? Either way, you need to hear DISGRACELAND’s ...
05.12.2020 Nipsey Hussle: A Crenshaw Murder, Community Activism, Rollin 60s Crips, and Lost Potential Nipsey Hussle was more than just one of this generation’s most promising voices in hip hop. He was a social activist, a community leader and aspirational entrepreneur. His death was senseless and set off grief stricken testimonials from some of ...
04.29.2020 Ozzy Osbourne: The Prince of Darkness, Randy Rhoads’ Plane Crash and the Saving Grace of a Strong Woman Ozzy Osbourne, along with bandmates, Black Sabbath invented heavy metal and throughout Ozzy’s post-Sabbath solo career he would invent new, self destructive forms of sabotage. Arrested at an early age for breaking and entering, Ozzy Osbourne refused to conform to ...
04.14.2020 Run DMC: Innovation, Evolution and the Mysterious Death of Jam Master Jay Run DMC is directly responsible for elevating hip hop to previously unimagined heights. They took rap music into an entirely different direction and helped mainstream the genre. They were beloved as musicians, innovators and people. None more than their DJ, ...
04.07.2020 Joe Exotic: Tiger King, Budding Country Star, Confidence Man Extraordinaire Joe Exotic, the gun toting, mullet wearing, polyamorous subject of the hit Netflix series, Tiger King was more than just a murder-minded conman. He could sing! You saw those videos. We did too. As a singer, Joe’s voice belied the ...
04.01.2020 John Denver: A Folk Singer, a Sniper and America’s Darkest Day (This is a bonus April Fools’ episode of Disgraceland that is satire and not true crime.) John Denver was arguably one of, if not the biggest star of the seventies. His easy listening mainstream folk and his squeaky clean, environmentally ...
03.31.2020 Little Richard: Sex and the Duality of the King and Queen of Rock ‘N’ Roll Little Richard is the originator. Without him it’s hard to imagine the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Elton John or even Led Zeppelin. He blazed a trail through popular culture that previous to him did not exist. His music was completely original ...
03.24.2020 Jay Z: Street hustle, a Nightclub Stabbing, a Near Drug Bust and the God MC Jay Z’s career defies easy categorization. His artistry and business sense are as influenced by his past career as a drug dealer as they are anything else. Jay Z has reached unprecedented heights as an entertainer and an entrepreneur, and ...
03.17.2020 Guns N’ Roses Pt. 2: Real life Rocket Queen, Raging Press, Recovered Memories, and the Riverport Riot Post Appetite For Destruction, Guns N’ Roses embodied the word “dysfunction." As the band prepared for their follow up release, singer Axl Rose was losing a very public battle with the press while heroin and alcohol threatened to completely derail ...
03.10.2020 Guns N’ Roses Pt. 1: Brawling with Bowie, Juvenile Delinquency, Dealing Dope and Death at Donington Few hard rock bands lived the life portrayed in their songs as authentically as Guns N’ Roses. Singer, Axl Rose was driven by deep-seated demons that drove the creation of his band’s legendary debut album, Appetite For Destruction as well ...
01.30.2020 Wannabe Wise guys, Mobbed-Up Club Muscle, and the Night Jimi Hendrix Went Missing. Jimi Hendrix was missing and his mobbed up manager wasn’t about to let him stay that way. One night after a show in New York City, Jimi’s go-with-the-flow attitude got him in with the wrong crowd and into all kinds ...
01.27.2020 Jimi Hendrix and a Forgotten Heroin Stash, a Very Drunk Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin Saving the Day. Jimi Hendrix died mysteriously at the age of 27 and in addition to being the greatest guitar player on the planet, he was a busy guy. Busy trying to smuggle heroin across the Canadian border and busy trying to not ...
01.16.2020 Jake Presents: Episode 1 of Dear Young Rocker: STEAM In this first episode of Dear Young Rocker, the new podcast executive produced by Jake Brennan, we travel back to the early 2000’s, get to know young Chelsea and experience first hand her struggles with anxiety, problems with being a ...
12.20.2019 Introducing: Disorganized Crime: Smuggler's Daughter Host Rainbow Valentine discovers her artist mom and 'businessman' dad were deeply involved in the illegal drug trade and unknowingly spent her childhood among a massive pot distribution operation. As she talks with her father in intimate interviews, Rainbow Valentine ...
12.19.2019 The Beach Boys Pt. 2: Endless Bummer, Hollywood Paranoia, Onstage Fist Fights, Incest, and Cocaine In the aftermath of the Manson Family murders, Hollywood was gripped with fear. Various investigations stitched together a deluded White Album-inspired explanation of the killing spree. But Dennis Wilson knew the truth—that he had made a terrible, irreversible mistake and ...
12.17.2019 The Beach Boys Pt. 1: Endless Summer, LSD, Orgies, Charles Manson and a Steve McQueen Man-Crush In the summer of 1968, the Beach Boys’ drummer Dennis Wilson invited a hippie guru and his grungy harem to squat in his Pacific Palisades home. Dennis was the handsome California surfer that his brother Brian wrote all those hit ...
12.03.2019 The Rolling Stones at Altamont: Bikers, Blood, and the End of the '60s The Rolling Stones, the most dangerous band on the planet, envisioned their free concert at the Altamont speedway outside San Francisco as the triumphant capstone to their 1969 tour: a west coast Woodstock, and a celebration of free love and ...
11.26.2019 A$AP Rocky: Love Sex Dreams/LSD and Locked Up Overseas A$AP Rocky’s upbringing; Harlem, Riker’s, and his own instincts and sense of history informed his world view: A view that included not only a healthy respect for the healing powers of LSD, but also a healthy distaste for the political ...
11.12.2019 Whitney Houston: Cracks in the Mirror, Crack on the Mirror, and One Fateful Choice Whitney Houston was The Voice. A stunning beauty. An early MTV star and leading actress. But when she passed away in a hotel suite bath, the music industry gala downstairs that she was supposed to attend went on without her. ...
11.05.2019 Eminem: Taking His Shot, Pulling a Glock, and Facing the Real Slim Shady On a single Saturday in 2000, Marshall Mathers assaulted two separate men with a pistol and fought with his wife outside a nightclub, resulting in lawsuits and charges that hung over the completion of his original trilogy of albums. For ...
10.31.2019 Big Lurch: Hip Hop Cannibal (special Halloween re-release) Big Lurch didn’t just rap about standard hip-hop culture; he rapped about serial killers like Jeffrey Dahmer and horror movie villains like Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger, and in the process contributed to a sub-genre of hip-hop called “horrorcore.” He ...
10.22.2019 Madonna: Music as Sex and Sex as Power in the Reign of the Queen of Pop Madonna always knew her life would be art. She rose through the late 70s New York scene reinventing pop iconography and feminism alike. But whether it was Toronto police threatening her for indecency, her short-fuse husband, Hollywood bros exploiting her ...
10.15.2019 Iggy Pop: Mad Artistry, Mental Wards, and Gaping Chest Wounds Iggy Pop pushed rock further than anyone before him, committing to live acts of sex, sickness, and rumored suicide on stage. From his cocaine fueled bromance with David Bowie, to his search for inspiration in the voodoo rituals of Haiti, ...
10.08.2019 Motown Records: Pimps, Prostitutes, the Detroit Mafia and the Sound of Teenage America Motown Records is one of the most successful musical industry endeavors or all time. The music and the megastars Motown produced; Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and the Jackson 5 defined a generation. But that success is marred by ...
10.01.2019 Led Zeppelin: Dark Power, Cocaine, Backstage Brawls and Heavy Metal Magick Led Zeppelin were the biggest band on the planet. The great white shark of the seventies. They defined excess. The designed the avatar for the heavy metal rock star; themselves. Along the way there were violent brawls, car crashes, lots ...
09.26.2019 N.W.A Pt. 2: Beatdowns, Band Beef, Death Row and LA on Fire Part two of the N.W.A story finds the group dead center in America’s crosshairs, due in part to their own violent behavior, and at a crossroads creatively. Death Row’s Suge Knight, Public Enemy’s Chuck D., and a young hustler from ...
09.26.2019 N.W.A Pt. 1: Street Hustle, Reality Rap and Culture Shifting Violence N.W.A, the self proclaimed, “most dangerous group in America” were seen as violent, thuggish, profanity spewing criminals but they had nothing on those who were sworn to serve and protect them in South Central, Los Angeles. The group’s hard hitting ...
07.23.2019 The Rolling Stones: Fugitives in Exile Gun fights, heroin trafficking, burglaries, kidnapping threats, intra-band infidelity and the greatest rock ‘n’ roll record ever made, Exile on Main St. The Rolling Stones created this album as fugitives––tax fugitives––exiled from their homeland to the French Riviera and desperate ...

Older episodes

DISGRACELAND

What's DISGRACELAND about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

DISGRACELAND episodes:

BADLANDS Season 2: Sportsland Trailer

Disgraceland Presents: Blood on the Tracks Season 2, Chapter 1: John Lennon and Yoko Ono

John Lennon (Pt. 1): “John Lennon, I’m Going To Kill You, You Phony Bastard” (Best of Disgraceland Season 2)

After Party 23 - John Stamos Interview (Bonus Episode)

Disgraceland Season 8 Preview

The Notorious B.I.G. Pt. 1: Dealing Crack on the Corner, Spitting Beef and Creating One of the Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time

Oasis Pt. 1: Hooliganism, Hedonism, Rock Star Anthems and the “Greatest Rock ‘N’ Roll Band on the Planet"

The Beatles Pt. 1: Stoned with Dylan, Dosed with Acid, Outrunning Knife Wielding Maniacs and Driving the World to the Brink with Beatlemania

Tupac Shakur Pt. 1: 1960s Radicalism Gives Way to Socially Conscious Rap, a Charismatic Screen Star, and Deadly Violence

Where Is Disgraceland? (Bonus Episode)

Chuck Berry: Systemic Racism, Sexual Depravity and the Invention of Rock ‘N’ Roll

Selena: Tejano, Deception, and the Death of the Madonna of Mexico

Special Re-release - The Grateful Dead (Part Two): The Ballad of Pigpen and Old, Weird America - an Origin Story

The Misfits: Robbing Graves, Night of the Living Dead and the Teenagers from Mars

Special Re-Release - The Grateful Dead (Part One): Freedom is just another word for…

The Grateful Dead Pt. 2: The Ballad of Pigpen and Old, Weird America—an Origin Story

Chet Baker: Heroin, Romance, Missing Teeth and the James Dean of Jazz

Ice-T: Crip Rhymes, a Cop Killer, Thieving Jewels and Inventing Gangsta Rap

The Rolling Stones Pt. 2: Swinging London, Stolen Jewels, the Mars Bar Myth, and Busted at Redlands

Rolling Stones Pt. 1: Swinging London, a Prison Break, East End Gangsters and the Anti-Beatles

Prince: Control, Ecstasy, Dark Funk and Fentanyl

Studio 54: Disco Decadence, a Dead Body and Bags of Cash

Jake Brennan Interprets Dave Grohl’s Foo Fighters’ Tour Rider in His Commencement Speech to 2020 Graduates. It’s the Commencement Speech WE ALL Need Right Now

Nipsey Hussle: A Crenshaw Murder, Community Activism, Rollin 60s Crips, and Lost Potential

Ozzy Osbourne: The Prince of Darkness, Randy Rhoads’ Plane Crash and the Saving Grace of a Strong Woman

Run DMC: Innovation, Evolution and the Mysterious Death of Jam Master Jay

Joe Exotic: Tiger King, Budding Country Star, Confidence Man Extraordinaire

John Denver: A Folk Singer, a Sniper and America’s Darkest Day

Little Richard: Sex and the Duality of the King and Queen of Rock ‘N’ Roll

Jay Z: Street hustle, a Nightclub Stabbing, a Near Drug Bust and the God MC

Guns N’ Roses Pt. 2: Real life Rocket Queen, Raging Press, Recovered Memories, and the Riverport Riot

Guns N’ Roses Pt. 1: Brawling with Bowie, Juvenile Delinquency, Dealing Dope and Death at Donington

Wannabe Wise guys, Mobbed-Up Club Muscle, and the Night Jimi Hendrix Went Missing.

Jimi Hendrix and a Forgotten Heroin Stash, a Very Drunk Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin Saving the Day.

Jake Presents: Episode 1 of Dear Young Rocker: STEAM

Introducing: Disorganized Crime: Smuggler's Daughter

The Beach Boys Pt. 2: Endless Bummer, Hollywood Paranoia, Onstage Fist Fights, Incest, and Cocaine

The Beach Boys Pt. 1: Endless Summer, LSD, Orgies, Charles Manson and a Steve McQueen Man-Crush

The Rolling Stones at Altamont: Bikers, Blood, and the End of the '60s

A$AP Rocky: Love Sex Dreams/LSD and Locked Up Overseas

Whitney Houston: Cracks in the Mirror, Crack on the Mirror, and One Fateful Choice

Eminem: Taking His Shot, Pulling a Glock, and Facing the Real Slim Shady

Big Lurch: Hip Hop Cannibal (special Halloween re-release)

Madonna: Music as Sex and Sex as Power in the Reign of the Queen of Pop

Iggy Pop: Mad Artistry, Mental Wards, and Gaping Chest Wounds

Motown Records: Pimps, Prostitutes, the Detroit Mafia and the Sound of Teenage America

Led Zeppelin: Dark Power, Cocaine, Backstage Brawls and Heavy Metal Magick

N.W.A Pt. 2: Beatdowns, Band Beef, Death Row and LA on Fire

N.W.A Pt. 1: Street Hustle, Reality Rap and Culture Shifting Violence

The Rolling Stones: Fugitives in Exile

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