For episode 3, season 3 of Song 2, we are this week heading into double-denim-ed poodle rock territory.

New Jersey bound we go as we lap up the monumental rock anthem You Give Love a Bad Name by Bon Jovi. This iconic track captured the hearts of many in 1986 when it was released as the lead single from their classic album Slippery When Wet, cementing its way into the foundations of rock and roll history.

The Clockworks released an under the radar classic in 2023... do they agree with the Song 2 theory?

For our second episode of Season 3 we are chatting with Sean Connelly of the exciting Irish band The Clockworks, whose debut album Exit Strategy, is a tightly woven collection of atmospheric indie rock tunes, that will find a much wider audience as more and more fans get onboard. Sean is, though, not joining our club, stating quite succinctly that the penultimate song on a record is easily the best. So, I am one-nil down and one week into the season. Let’s hear what Sean had to say…

Back with our first episode of season 3, we are kicking things off with the enormous smash (sorry) hit from The Offspring… Self Esteem.

The Offspring’s third album Smash remains one of the greatest ‘little band gone big’ stories ever. While it is true that Come Out And Play was the first time the mainstream media suffered whiplash in relation to The Offspring - the band Themistocles never undersell its importance - it was Self Esteem that received blanket coverage on MTV and catapulted a popular, but not yet huge punk band, to international stardom.

The third season of our (sometimes) chart-topping podcast is coming soon...

Season 3 is on its way. Why is that big news, well it isn’t if you think any other song other than the second one on a record is the best. We have guests including Poppy, P.O.D, Des Rocs, Shed Seven, Marika Hackman, Ill Peach, Porij, Chastity Belt, Torres, Gruff Rhys, Sprints, Mando Diao, Alkaline Trio, Staind, Vaccines and many more…

Season 2 of Song 2 comes to an end

We will back in Jan 2024 with a whole heap of new (and not so new) Song 2 offerings....

In this week’s, and this year’s last, episode of Song 2 we are again tripping up over the warped stairwell of intros

3 Feet High and Rising is the debut studio album by the American hip hop group De La Soul. Released on February 6, 1989, by Tommy Boy Records which also had Digital Underground and Naughty By Nature on their roster, it was the first of three collaborations with the producer Prince Paul, and remains the critical and commercial peak of both parties.

Santigold - one of the nicest people in music. FACT. Also, does not think her second track is the best one. FACT.

Sam Steen talks with the global star on track listing and her own song 2, Nothing.

“This is such a hard question…curse you”

Wednesday’s album Rat Saw Good is beginning to crop up on a number of end of year best of lists…it is a fantastic record full of feeling and texture and deserves such a positive response. I had the pleasure of catching up with Karly earlier this year, before the record was released and before the band performed a brilliant show at the Rotondes, Karly had this to say about the legitimacy of a Song 2 rule…

In this week’s episode, I hereby give my advance apologies for the fact you’ll be singing this one till the cows come home...

….and if they don’t return at curfew, I am sorry for that too. We are talking about Foreigner’s Cold As Ice… Now, I’ve checked lists, lots of them, and they say mostly the same thing, Juke Box Hero is Foreigner’s best song. It too, is a Song 2, but is taken from their fourth album, where as Cold As Ice is lifted from their eponymous debut, released a full 4 years earlier.

“For me, I want to make complete and solid bodies of work, not just a collection of songs, it’s not a mixtape…it’s a movie...”

This one has been on our mind for ever…..and I mean forever. We spoke with Loyle Carner a lifetime ago, and, if we are being thoroughly transparent, we let things pile up so high that we no longer saw this one an had feared it lost. Thankfully, due to a complicated and convoluted filing system I was able to dig it out and dust it off for you. One of the best original voices of a generation, here is Loyle Carner’s take on the importance of Song 2… or should that be Song 3.