The 1977 Line
One film score changed everything.
Aug 11, 2024•25 min•Ep. 68
How Music Does That
Music -- just vibrations in the air -- can make you feel heartbroken or elated, peaceful or stabby, inspired to save the whales or to invade Poland. This is HOW MUSIC DOES THAT.
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Click the website link to subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Episodes
The Haunting of Figure 8
Schoolhouse Rock was always great. But the music from one particular episode has haunted us down the years.
Jul 24, 2024•18 min•Season 2Ep. 67
How MUZAK Does That
How did wall-to-wall music find its way into every public space? Meet General George Squier.
Feb 13, 2024•20 min•Season 2Ep. 66
Riffing on Each Other
How a few inaccurate jingles came to represent entire cultures.
Jan 07, 2024•24 min
Anatomy of an Earworm
After a month at the mercy of an earworm, I found the cure. Then it all went wrong.
Dec 14, 2023•18 min•Season 2Ep. 64
When the Music Doesn't Trust You
The mark of a great film score is knowing when to shut up.
Oct 29, 2023•31 min•Season 2Ep. 63
Unsung
They are some of your favorite artists of all time. And you don't even know their names.
Oct 15, 2023•27 min•Season 2Ep. 62
The King of Space-Age Pop!
HOW MUSIC DOES THAT returns with a Mexican bandleader whose coloristic imagination defined the sound of the space age.
Sep 30, 2023•27 min•Ep. 61
Clap When You Damn Well Please [Encore]
The revolution starts right damn now.
Jan 02, 2022•27 min
The Bagpipe Incident on Which I Thought We Had Agreed Not to Dwell [Encore]
30,000 people. 16 measures. One bad decision.
Dec 08, 2021•20 min
The Evolution of Cool [Encore]
The quality of 'cool' in music has deep evolutionary roots in the brain.
Nov 28, 2021•14 min
Grooves [Encore]
In Hungary, road plays you!
Nov 11, 2021•17 min
Beethoven Was Deaf [Encore]
That's not the amazing part.
Oct 28, 2021•27 min
Silence [Encore]
Sometimes the greatest moment in music is the one you don't hear.
Sep 29, 2021•23 min
Where Did We Put Vivaldi? [Encore]
After greatness came one bad decision—and then, the forgetting.
Sep 15, 2021•23 min
Encore: Stop Practicing, You're Ruining EVERYTHING
Sometimes it's supposed to hurt.
Sep 01, 2021•19 min
ENCORE: The Rage of the Third Sons (Carmina Burana)
Eight hundred years ago, they left the church and found the world.
Aug 19, 2021•23 min
ENCORE: The Aging White Suburban Music Professor's Guide to Hip Hop
Put on the good Dockers, Chad. We're going in.
Aug 03, 2021•22 min
ENCORE: The Bones of Yellow Brick Road
Most covers stay on the surface. Sara Bareilles got down into the bones.
Jul 14, 2021•21 min
ENCORE: The Sweet Madness of Big Meters
Let's have a wild time.
Jun 30, 2021•19 min
The Worst Song In The World
It could be worse. Just kidding.
Jun 16, 2021•17 min
The Man Who Tried to Strangle Film Music in Its Crib
Sternberg didn't like film music—until he needed it.
Jun 02, 2021•21 min
ENCORE: As White as Classical
Classical music isn't that white by accident -- and it can't afford to stay that way.
May 26, 2021•24 min
When You Were Twelve
If you love a song you don't really care about, see if it's from the year you were 12.
May 19, 2021•13 min
When Mind and Music Fall Apart
Can music capture the experience of dementia?
May 05, 2021•38 min
Dickinson's Island, and Other Unholy Monsters
When I was a boy, I sat bored in church, trying to break a code.
Apr 21, 2021•15 min
The Unwiggled String
Children are taught to fear and avoid this sound. All the more reason to love it.
Apr 08, 2021•18 min
The Long Way Home in 'Hallelujah'
The lyrics are poetic and evocative. But let's talk about that long trip home.
Mar 23, 2021•23 min
Black Shanty
Sea shanties grew in black soil.
Feb 17, 2021•17 min
Where Did We Put Vivaldi?
Antonio Vivaldi was a very big deal -- and then he wasn't. But he had a plan.
Jan 17, 2021•23 min
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