Tape Spaghetti

Beethoven died in 1827. Chopin died in 1849. Liszt died in 1886. But, apparently, that didn’t stop any of 'em from writing new music.

In the 1960s, an unassuming British widow named Rosemary Brown alleged Liszt appeared beside her piano and began guiding her hands through compositions she’d never heard before.

Soon it became a party. Beethoven. Chopin. Bach. Brahms. The afterlife’s greatest supergroup had found itself a living transcriber.

On this episode of Tape Spaghetti, we kick off spooky season with the strange story of the woman who claimed she could communicate with history’s greatest, extremely dead, composers, and backed it up with reams of sheet music.

It's easy enough to dismiss as a hoax, but serious musicologists could not make sense of how Brown, who was not an accomplished pianist or composer, could write music with eerily impressive similarities to that of the classical legends she claimed to communicate with.

Was Rosemary Brown secretly way more talented than anyone realized? Was something phantasmagorical happening?

And did Franz Liszt ever eat a banana? We don't know... but we're here to talk about it.

What happens when the biggest band in the world starts asking engineers to do things recording equipment was never designed to do? Things get weird. But, did the Beatles really revolutionize the gear and recording techniques that changed the game?

On this episode of Tape Spaghetti, Scott & Blake peek into the studio during the Beatles' most experimental years to explore the tricks, hacks, accidents, and genuine innovations that helped reshape recorded music.

We’re talking artificial double tracking, tape loops, backwards guitars, Varispeed, Leslie speakers, overloaded consoles, synchronized tape machines, direct bass recording, and even a giant loudspeaker rewired to work as a microphone, all with a singular pursuit in mind: to record sounds that didn’t quite exist yet.

Along the way, the guys bust some persistent Beatles myths and discover that plenty of their supposed “inventions” had actually been tried before. But that hardly makes the real story less impressive.

Because the Beatles’ greatest studio innovation may not have been inventing new technology. It was persistently asking some very smart engineers “okay... but can you make it do this?”

By 1970, Elvis Presley had fame, money, guns, wicked karate skills, a collection of police badges, and the ability to get almost anything else he wanted. Then he decided he needed federal credentials. What followed was an absolutely bonkers few days.

On this episode of Tape Spaghetti, Elvis storms out after a family argument, writes Richard Nixon a six-page letter, crisscrosses the country on commercial flights, and shows up unannounced at the White House dressed like…well, full-fledged 1970 Elvis. He offers his services to become a “federal agent at large" in order to fight against drugs, communism, hippies, and, for some reason, the Beatles.

The resulting Oval Office photo became iconic, but the story behind it is so much stranger than most people know. Here's what happens when the federal government has trouble telling the King "no."

In the early '90s, bands like My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Slowdive, and Lush transformed walls of distortion, oceans of reverb, and enough guitar pedals to bankrupt a small nation into Britain’s hottest new sound. Shoegaze had arrived, and seemed to be ushering in a new era of music out of England.

Then the press turned on them, Britpop arrived, and suddenly being called a “shoegazer” was practically an insult.

On this episode of Tape Spaghetti, Scott & Blake trace shoegaze from its unlikely origins and Loveless-era peak through its brutal fall from favor and its even more unlikely resurrection.

How did a genre once mocked as boring and self-indulgent become a massive influence on generations of musicians to follow? For a style built around musicians staring at the floor, shoegaze has had one seriously wild ride.

No Lead Belly, no Beatles? Sounds like clickbait, but the musical family tree makes a surprisingly convincing case.

On this episode of Tape Spaghetti, Scott and Blake wrap up the incredible story of Huddy Ledbetter and trace how a former prisoner from the Louisiana-Texas border became one of modern music’s most essential ancestors.

After getting out of the "Alcatraz of the South," Angola Prison, Lead Belly became folklorist John Lomax's wingman. Before long, he was the main attraction, marketed to audiences as a dangerous, knife-wielding ex-con with a guitar.

The messy partnership with Lomax didn't last, but Lead Belly sure did. He became an elder statesman to the emerging American folk movement, recorded everything from blues and cowboy songs to topical protest music, and passed along songs that traveled much farther than he ever could.

“Rock Island Line” helped launch Britain’s skiffle craze, while “Goodnight Irene,” “Midnight Special,” “Cotton Fields,” and “In the Pines” eventually reached millions through the likes of Pete Seeger and CCR to Led Zeppelin and Nirvana.

Huddie Ledbetter is possibly the most influential artist of the 20th century, and more people need to know why.

Lets get into it!

Long before Kurt Cobain's legendary performance of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” on MTV Unplugged, there was Lead Belly.

Wandering folk hero. Convicted killer. Musical encyclopedia. A man so talented he supposedly sang his way out of prison...twice.

On this episode of Tape Spaghetti, Scott and Blake dig into the real Huddie Ledbetter and discover that the truth is every bit as fascinating as the mythology.

From rowdy Shreveport bars and a friendship with Blind Lemon Jefferson, to chain gangs, an assumed identity, a homicide conviction, and hard labor at Angola, Lead Belly lived a life almost impossible to summarize neatly.

Along the way, he mastered the booming 12-string style that became his signature and preserved songs that would eventually reach everyone from Creedence Clearwater Revival to Nirvana.

Then folklorists John and Alan Lomax arrived with a recording machine weighing hundreds of pounds, and helped transform an already remarkable musician into one of American music’s most enduring legends.

Marvin Gaye made some of the most beautiful music ever recorded, but behind it was a life defined by a constant struggle for control.

On this episode of Tape Spaghetti, Scott and Blake trace Gaye’s journey from an abusive childhood to the pinnacle of Motown, where Berry Gordy’s hit-making machine dictated everything from his sound to his image.

Gaye fought back with What’s Going On, staking his career on an album that Gordy didn't want released, and winning spectacularly. But hit records couldn't bring Gaye peace.

After a brutal divorce led to a scathingly personal record and millions of dollars in tax debt, Gaye rose from the ashes on the strength of "Sexual Healing," and he once again seemed to be on top of the world.

Then an unthinkable family dispute brought everything to a screeching, fatal halt.

Getting kicked out of a band is no fun at all. But what happens when losing the “wrong” person turns out to be exactly the right move?

This week on Tape Spaghetti, Scott and Blake dig into famous lineup changes that looked risky, unpopular, or downright catastrophic at the time, only to completely reshape music history.

The Beatles canned Pete Best and replaced him with Ringo Starr on the cusp of universal stardom. Not only did Genesis survive the loss of Peter Gabriel, they absolutely thrived with Phil Collins behind the mic. Dave Mustaine spent two turbulent years as Metallica's lead guitarist before his departure opened the door for Kirk Hammett, and the foundation of Megadeth.

Yep, these ruthless business decisions sparked the creative evolutions that changed pop music forever, and proved that sometimes the person who seems impossible to replace is anything but.

Here's how some key rock 'n' roll personnel changes actually made everything better... sometimes.

What happens when incredible music collides with impossible politics?

In this episode of Tape Spaghetti, Scott and Blake dive into the tangled history of Paul Simon's Graceland, tracing how one bootleg cassette led to a Grammy-winning masterpiece... and an international controversy.

When Simon laid his ears on some extremely jive hits from South Africa, it helped him break a wicked creative slump and create an all-timer album featuring some righteously amazing South African artists. Sounds groovy, right?

Well, it mostly was. Except, by ignoring a United Nations boycott and recording in apartheid South Africa, Simon ended up in the crosshairs of some serious criticism.

In a debate where every side believed they were doing the right thing, was Simon helping oppressed artists reach the world stage, or was he undermining a global effort to end decades of segregation?

Everyone knows John Lennon was murdered outside the Dakota on December 8, 1980. Far fewer know just how strange and unsettling the full story really is.

In this episode of Tape Spaghetti, Scott and Blake trace the events leading up to one of music's darkest days, exploring Mark David Chapman's obsession with The Catcher in the Rye, the bizarre patterns and coincidences he believed were shaping his destiny, and the psychological unraveling that culminated in a global tragedy.

Along the way, they revisit Lennon's quieter post-Beatles life in New York, the creation of Double Fantasy, the haunting autograph Lennon signed for Chapman just hours before the shooting, and the ripple effects that followed around the world.