Pulp Friction

We’re baaaack!

2023 is over, Rocky’s moved in to her new place, and she and Claire are breaking down the past year in music. There will be live changes! There will be bad opinions! Rocky will misremember the name of a Kesha album! Claire will mistakenly refer to Flyana Boss as one person! Slowthai!

Check out the full list of winners below, or listen to the episode if you don’t want it spoiled. Pulp Friction is available wherever pods are cast. Subscribe and share to support the show. Reach out to Rocky or [email protected] with any inquiries.

Pulp Friction is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Biggest Earworm: “Hollywood Baby” by 100 gecs

Best Comeback: Everything But the Girl

Best Experimental Album: SCARING THE HOES by JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown

Best Country Album: Strays II by Margo Price

Best Jazz Album: The Omnichord Real Book by Meshell Ndegeocello

Best Alt Album: Heavy Heavy by Young Fathers

Best R&B Album: Lahai by Sampha

Best R&B Song: “Good Good” by Usher, Summer Walker, and 21 Savage

Best Electronic/Dance Album: That! Feels Good! by Jessie Ware

Best Electronic/Dance Song: “Nothing Left to Lose” by Everything But the Girl

Best Rock Album: Black Rainbows by Corinne Bailey Rae

Best Rock Song: “Johnny johnny johnny” by underscores

Best Hip Hop Album: Welcome 2 Collegrove by 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne

Best Hip Hop Song: “Jenn’s Terrific Vacation” by Danny Brown feat. Kassa Overall

Best Pop Album: Desire, I Want to Turn Into You by Caroline Polachek

Best Pop Song: “One of Your Girls” by Troye Sivan

Producer of the Year: JPEGMAFIA

Songwriter of the Year: underscores

Breakout Artist: hemlocke springs

Song of the Year: “Jenn’s Terrific Vacation” by Danny Brown feat. Kassa Overall

Album of the Year: Wallsocket by underscores

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pulpfriction.substack.com/subscribe

It’s the last podcast of 2023, but Rocky (she/her) and Brig (she/he) couldn’t make it too easy on themselves. We covered Taylor Swift’s most seminal album to date, 1989, plus its recent rerecording. Is it as good as music journalists from roughly 2016-2019 said it was? How does Taylor’s version hold up with Max Martin on the ones and twos? Persons of interest include Mariska Hargitay, Welvin Da Great, and Henry Kissinger.

Pulp Friction is available wherever pods are cast. Subscribe and share to support the show. Reach out to Rocky or [email protected] with any inquiries. Stay tuned in January for the 2023 Pulpy Awards!

Pulp Friction is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pulpfriction.substack.com/subscribe

We all remember where we were when Fall Out Boy dropped their first-ever hip hop remix album, Make America Psycho Again. And if you don’t, Rocky, Sam, and Emily are here to jog your memory. The ill-fated album is a who’s who—and in some cases, a who’s that?—of 2015’s famous-but-not-too-famous rappers. Is it terrible? Take a wild guess. Persons of interest include two guys named Gabe, the extended Wilco family, and my mom who was studying spiders in the Amazon right before she died.

Pulp Friction is available wherever pods are cast. Subscribe and share to support the show. Reach out to Rocky or [email protected] with any inquiries.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pulpfriction.substack.com/subscribe

Halloween is over, but Hollywood is here to stay! This episode, Rocky takes a look at one of the most beloved and divisive Best Picture losers in recent memory, La La Land, with the help of Flop Soup’s own Cassandra Kyriazis! You hate it, Cassandra loves it, Rocky’s ambivalent about it, but hey… that’s showbiz, baby! Persons of interest include Channing Tatum, Max Martin, and Lyle, Lyle Crocodile.

Pulp Friction and Flop Soup are both available wherever pods are cast. Subscribe and share to support the show. Reach out to Rocky or [email protected] with any inquiries.

Pulp Friction is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pulpfriction.substack.com/subscribe

Who was Bobby “Boris” Pickett? How do you actually do the Monster Mash? Is Dracula a dad, or a daddy? We’ll try to answer all this and more as Rocky (she/her), Claire (she/her), and Nico (they/he) dive into the surprisingly rich text of “Monster Mash.” Persons of interest include Joe Manganiello, J Dilla, and Cloris Leachman.

Pulp Friction is available wherever pods are cast. Check out Claire’s band, The Death of James Dean, on Bandcamp. Subscribe and share to support the show. Reach out to Rocky or [email protected] with any inquiries.

Help civilians in Gaza survive by donating to trusted organizations like PCRF.

https://www.pcrf.net

https://www.map.org.uk

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pulpfriction.substack.com/subscribe

It’s time for the annual Pulp Friction Halloween specdracular! First up, it’s one of the great Halloween movie classics, Henry Selick’s Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. Join Rocky and Cody as they ask the hard questions like, “Are those Oogie’s biological children?” and, “What’s the racial vibe of Thanksgiving Town?” Persons of interest include Beetlejuice, Betty Boop, and Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Pulp Friction is available wherever pods are cast. Subscribe and share to support the show. Reach out to Rocky or [email protected] with any inquiries. Check out Cody’s new project, Rabbithole, on his Instagram.

Pulp Friction is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pulpfriction.substack.com/subscribe

Rocky (she/her) and Ruth (he/him) uncover a lost episode from the Pulp Friction archives, our first post-9/11 Pulpy Awards. Hear us cover all the hits and misses of 2001, from famous disasters to underappreciated gems. Did Reese Witherspoon deserve more recognition for Legally Blonde? Which racing movie did BT provide the better soundtrack for? Persons of interest include Bradley Cooper, Hugh Neutron, and Jean-Claude Valjean.

Pulp Friction is available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Google, and everywhere else pods are cast. Send inquiries and riddles to [email protected]. What year do you want to hear?

Pulp Friction is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pulpfriction.substack.com/subscribe

(Disclaimer: This is a comedy podcast. The Beatles did not kill JFK.)

Rocky, Sam and Leon are taking another stab at solving the Beatles’ riddle, and this time they’re covering their first foray into film—and maybe the best thing they ever did?—A Hard Day’s Night. Is it another insidious piece of Beatleganda, or an admission of guilt for their crimes? Persons of interest include running, jumping, and standing still.

This episode also sees us exhaust the last of our riddles for teens. If you’d like to have your own riddle read on the air, send it to [email protected].

Pulp Friction is made possible by listeners like you. To receive new episodes and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pulpfriction.substack.com/subscribe

That Eurodance you like is coming back in style! Rocky, Baph and Eddie are here to break down the little novelty song that could, “Planet of the Bass.” Who is DJ Crazy Times? WHERE is Ms. Biljana Electronica? How does it MEAN? Persons of interest include David Guetta, David Guetta, and David Guetta.

Pulp Friction is available wherever pods are cast. Subscribe and share to support the show. Reach out to Rocky or [email protected] with any inquiries.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pulpfriction.substack.com/subscribe

Two movies fifteen years in the making, from beloved filmmakers making massive creative leaps. Both are monster hits, particularly as a DIY double feature, but do they transcend their fraught subject matter? And more importantly, how many ways can Rocky pronounce “Baumbach” in two hours? Persons of interest include Sandra Bullock, Hobie Doyle, and the life-giving Diablo Cody.

Pulp Friction is available wherever pods are cast. Reach out to Rocky or [email protected] with any inquiries. Subscribe and share to support the show.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pulpfriction.substack.com/subscribe