Vinyl Maelstrom

Nigel Marsh has been hosting the 5 Of My Life podcast for many years now and in that time has interviewed all the great and the good, from prime ministers to rock stars, comedians to novelists, community workers to poets.

https://open.spotify.com/show/0SwVzJ5JWezUpuJoKUA1OU?si=af32aa090fd64575

One element of his show is guests picking out a track of their life - a song that, for whatever reason, means a great deal to them.

I asked Nigel to join me and pick out 10 musical highlights from over the years, and, after much ruthless shortlisting, he did just that. And, in an EXCLUSIVE, we discover what Nigel's own choice would be, were he to interview himself.

Here's a link to Nigel's list: 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0vH1JbXp3LzKLdP4EWLbmI?si=1d47e58cadf64f47

Be expertly briefed each week on a wide variety of intriguing musical topics.

La jour de gloire est arrivée. Things can only get better. It's time. Born in the USA. Keep on rockin' in the free world.

Can music change anything when it is used in political campaigns?

Come with us now as we travel through various countries and multiple songs and anthems which have been devised to sway the voter. Some have been written especially for the task, some have been repurposed and some have been deployed in the teeth of fierce opposition from the people who actually wrote them in the first place.

And don't forget to vote!

Be expertly briefed each week on a wide variety of intriguing musical topics.

A few weeks ago Richard Osman on the Rest Is Entertainment podcast pointed out that only 3 bands had had #1s this decade. This was in contrast to the end of the previous century when bands dominated the charts.

Why is this? Have all bands disappeared? (Spoiler alert: no.). Why have pop bands fallen off a cliff? On this episode we investigate this new phenomenon and uncover some fascinating theories.

Be expertly briefed each week on a wide variety of intriguing musical topics.

If you're not an Australian it can be hard to identify a distinctive Australian sound or movement. One candidate is the Aussie Pub Rock phenomenon which flourished in the 70s and 80s and out of which bands like AC/DC emerged.

One of Australia's leading copywriters joins me in the studio to explain its origins, the secret to its success and its eventual demise. A fascinating episode and one from which I personally learned a lot.

Join me, your host Ian Forth, and Michael on this episode to have your Aussie pub rock questions answered. 

Be expertly briefed each week on a wide variety of intriguing musical topics.

Some people say there's no such thing as guilty pleasures in music. You either like it or you don't. So, own it.

Still, would it have a name if it didn't exist? 

(Well, yes, it might. There are no unicorns, after all.)

This episode seeks to understand why some people do feel a sense of guilt when they listen to certain types of music and why that should be. We cover the history of the idea, subjectivity versus objectivity, musical canons, forms of identity and so much more. 

See where we end up, if anywhere.

Be expertly briefed each week on a wide variety of intriguing musical topics.

Some academic bod has analysed every US presidential election and worked out the Keys To Success. He claims to correctly predict every populist vote.

Can we do the same for musical success? We can have a go. This is my equivalent - The Ten Keys To Music Success. It's obligatory to say "You won't believe Number 7!", but in reality it's entirely credible.

See if you agree.

Be expertly briefed each week on a wide variety of intriguing musical topics.

This episode is the the second of a double header. Steve Pringle, author of the classic Fall analysis "You Must Get Them All", gave us his thoughts on why the group resonate so strongly for so many in Part One. Here, he suggests to a nominal newcomer to the group's work where to get started on The Fall's vast catalogue. A handful of representative tracks from across the four decades the band flourished to get a rounded idea of where their appeal lay.

I took the liberty of adding a few of my own choice of tracks and assembled a playlist which complements the episode. There are a couple of tracks chosen by Steve not available on Spotify (New Puritan and Leave The Capitol) but they should be accessible on Youtube. Here's that playlist - and thanks again to Steve for his expert views.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6li5EHzkgG3Yel86A85oGm?si=ff505d67af4743de

Be expertly briefed each week on a wide variety of intriguing musical topics.

If an author writes a book analysing every single, every album, every phase and every lineup change of a band, it might be a decent-sized tome.

In the case of The Fall, there's over 50 members, over 30 albums, over 500 songs and over 40 years to process. 

That is exactly what Steve Pringle undertook to carry out and he achieved his aim magnificently in his definitive 650 page chronicle on the group entitled "You Must Get Them All".

It was a pleasure to talk to Steve and drill down on what made the Fall the wonderful and frightening group that they were. This is the first of two podcasts with Steve and in the second he'll be revealing where to start for those new to the group and their work.

Be expertly briefed each week on a wide variety of intriguing musical topics.

Oasis are reforming for a reunion tour. Have you heard?

What marks out Oasis as so different from their contemporaries? It's hard to believe it's their musical sophistication or their profound lyrics. But something makes them incredibly popular.

We also take a look more broadly at why people get so misty-eyed about the 90s. Is it just harking back to a non-existent recent golden age, or is there something specific about the 90s themselves? Something to do with technology or society that was very different from now?

Join me, Ian Forth for an entirely reasonable discussion.

Be expertly briefed each week on a wide variety of intriguing musical topics.

On our previous show, Paul Burke proposed that punk was unimportant at the time, left no lasting musical legacy and the reason people still bang on about it is because the middle classes act as its gatekeeper in the media that we all read and watch.

In this riposte, while not dismissing all of Paul's points, I'll try to put punk in its cultural context and show how profound its influence has been, not just the music, but in design, a DIY spirit, female inclusivity and racial integration. 

And here's a compilation of 25 songs from the first flower of punk in '76 and '77. https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/vinyl-maelstrom/id1739501489?i=1000666490941

Be expertly briefed each week on a wide variety of intriguing musical topics.