Stories behind the music legends you love
If you still don't know who BTS is...we got you.
Before listening to this episode of Slate's Hit Parade, I would have never connected the musical stylings of Ace of Base with those of 70s Swedish pop band ABBA. But when you go behind the music, these two bands may have been decades apart; but still had a lot on common.
Host Chris Molanphy takes listeners through a brief history of the "Swedish Hit Factory" and how it largely influenced North American Pop. We learn how artists like ABBA and Ace of Base eventually paved the way for Max Martin, the Swedish producer responsible for many of the pop songs we know and love today.
This episode of Hit Parade not only taught me about the origins of my favourite pop songs, had also me dancing in my seat!
-Kelsey Cueva, Associate Producer, Podcast Playlist.
Podcasts featured this week:
The Kitchen Sisters Present: "In 1983 Prince hired L.A. based sound technician, Susan Rogers, one of the few women in the industry, to upgrade his home recording studio as he began work on Purple Rain. In the 4 years they worked together, Prince recorded at least a song a day and they worked together for 24 hours...36 hours...96 hours at a stretch! So much time spent layering and perfecting his music and his hot funky sound."
If you want to hear more from Susan Rogers, check out Tom Power's interview on q here.
Popcast: The rise of K-Pop in North America has been rapid. Now that K-pop is experiencing such success on its own terms, the questions it faces are changing. Should K-pop acts release English-language music? To what degree should they focus on collaborations with non-Korean artists?
Aria Code: In Verdi's Rigoletto, Gilda falls in love for the first time but is too naive to see how deceitful her new beau is. In Act I she expresses this love in a show stopping aria. Host Rhiannon Giddens and her guests discuss how Gilda's infatuation rings true to people today, and recall that familiar feeling of first love.
Geeks and Beats: Hosts Alan Cross & Michael Hainsworth look at the history of music in video games.
Hit Parade: How an introverted Swedish producer shaped the sound of North American Pop and the surprising role broken English had in making some of the most memorable lyrics of the 80s and 90s.
I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats: In this episode, PJ Vogt of Reply All stops by to talk with Joseph and John about story building and music production.
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