LYRICS FOR LUNCH

This week, we take a look at the making of Billie Eilish’s Oscar-winning “What Was I Made For?” AKA “Barbie’s heart song” — commissioned by Greta Gerwig for the billion dollar blockbuster that takes aim at patriarchy, glass ceilings, and unattainable beauty standards…? Sublime!

In December of 1967, before the release of their biggest hit in the United States, The Zombies called it quits. Seeing a money-making opportunity, two shady promoters from Michigan created not one, but two (!!!) imposter bands calling themselves The Zombies and put them on the road. This week, Aviv and Lindsay dive into the insane true story, and ask how could this have happened in the sixties, and then somehow again in the 1980s.

Pop artist Andy Warhol famously quipped, "In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes." This week, we meet the so-called Warhol Superstars — the gritty and glamorous entourage depicted in Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side," the poetic and unlikely Top 40 breakthrough that gave voice to people outcasted from mainstream society and immortalized them forever in song. 

This week we’re hot on the trail of the bizarre conspiracy theory claiming Canadian pop-punkster Avril Lavigne was replaced by a body double shortly after the success of her first album, Let Go. Is there any merit to this mystery? Let’s just say it’s complicated. Join us this week as we go way down the rabbit hole on the aledged replacement of the Real Avril.

What do the Avengers, The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-haired Men, and the Traveling Wilburys have in common? They're all part of our first ever Lyrics for Lunch trivia episode! Have fun, and may the odds be ever in your favor <3

This is the story of Luke Combs, a mediocre man with a guitar, riding the coattails of Tracy Chapman, a queer woman of color. Or is it? While the latter has 4 multi-platinum albums and 4 Grammys in her own right, she’s making headlines once again as the first Black woman to win a Country Music Association (CMA) award … prompting us to ask the questions: What is still very wrong with the country music industrial complex? And what does Nelson Mandela have to do with it?

Between 1975 and 1982, a blood-thirsty gang of murderers terrorized a section of Northern Ireland. Nearly 30 years later, the Decemberists told the tale on their notable fourth album, The Crane Wife. But did they get the story right? And was it ever theirs to tell at all? We’ve got the whole story, this week on Lyrics for Lunch.

In honor of Taylor’s boyfriend heading to the Superbowl next week, we’re revisiting our All Too Well (10 Minute Version) episode where we examined all things Swiftie and some of TayTay’s less favorably remembered loves…. Enjoy!

You'd be hard pressed to ignore that something is going on with Taylor Swift this week. The release of her re-recorded 2012 album Red (Taylor's Version) sent Swiftie's on a tizzy of epic proportions. And in classic Swift "Style," Queen Tay did not disappoint: surprise dropping a short film, a new music video directed by Blake Lively, and in the time between recording this episode and uploading it, a #sadgirlautumn version of "All Too Well" featuring The National's Aaron Dessner. But why is Taylor re-recording her first 6 albums in the first place? And why is everyone so worried about the mental health of notorious scarf thief Jake Gyllenhaal? We've got the whole scoop — plus the inside story from our special guest, musician Elayna Harrison, one of the lucky few Swiftie's invited to the secret All Too Well film premier. I think it’s safe to say we Need to Calm Down.

This year on New Year’s Eve, Green Day, one of the best selling rock bands in history, changed the lyrics to their 2004 Anti-Bush anthem, American Idiot, to take a shot at the MAGA crowd. This week, Lindsay and Aviv dive deep into the band’s history, ideology, and recording style to determine when, if ever, Green Day jumped the shark.