Teenage Fanclub emerged from the fertile Scottish rock scene of the late 80s as a fully formed power pop band and went on to lead a long, prolific, and often surprising career; from beating out Nirvana to land the top spot on SPIN's best albums of 1991 list to teaming up with De La Soul for a song on the legendary Judgment Night soundtrack to being anointed Liam Gallagher's second favorite band (after Oasis of course) and so much more. Joining Yasi to discuss his number ONE favorite band is Deat...
Dec 15, 2022•4 hr 12 min•Season 2Ep. 34
Brian Fallon and Yasi wrap up their journey through the long legacy of The Clash, picking up in 1979 with the release of the iconic London Calling, straight on through Sandinista!, Combat Rock and the end of an era. Follow Brian Fallon on Twitter and Instagram , follow The Gaslight Anthem on Twitter and Instagram Some of the books we consulted while working on this episode, if you want to read along: Redemption Song Passion Is A Fashion A Riot Of Our Own Learn more about your ad choices. Visit p...
Dec 08, 2022•2 hr 12 min•Season 2Ep. 33
The Clash were the undeniable breakout stars of the explosive UK punk rock scene. The Gaslight Anthem frontman Brian Fallon joins us as we dig deep into the history of the only band that matters. Yasi and Brian discuss the 101ers, Joe Strummer's many name changes, almost Sex Pistol Mick Jones and legendary Clash manager Bernie Rhodes. Follow Brian Fallon on Twitter and Instagram , follow The Gaslight Anthem on Twitter and Instagram Some of the books we consulted while working on this episode, if...
Dec 01, 2022•3 hr 26 min•Season 2Ep. 32
Producer Dylan returns to join Yasi in another dive into the listener mailbag! Questions include guilty pleasures, if we ever hear from the bands we talk about and how we find new music to love. Speaking of, here’s a list of some bands we recommend in this episode: Crushed Luster Narrowhead Temple of Angels Gel Momma Fleshwater Blondshell Gradient AZ Power Fime Wild Pink Soul Blind Teenage Wrist Superbloom Superheaven Money Cloakroom You can subscribe to Producer Dylan’s newsletter HERE and Prod...
Nov 17, 2022•1 hr 22 min•Season 2Ep. 31
Emerging from Seattle’s early 90s grunge landscape, Sunny Day Real Estate became legends of an emerging midwestern emo sound that began to redefine the boundaries of the genre. Meeting us there in the blue where the words are not is writer and podcaster Ian Cohen. Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @en_cohen and listen to his podcast Indiecast @Indiecast1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Nov 10, 2022•3 hr 33 min•Season 2Ep. 30
Rolling Stone writer and author Rob Sheffield joins us to dissect the long, storied history of the legendary Big Star, a band with a handful of records and an indelible legacy that reaches beyond the decades of their origin. Follow Rob Sheffield on Twitter @robsheff Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oct 27, 2022•4 hr 52 min•Season 2Ep. 31
The Offspring were one in a wave of southern California bands that ushered in a renewed interest in punk rock to the ears of the masses, becoming one of the best-selling punk rock bands of all time and here to help us come out and play is SPIN Editorial Director, Daniel Kohn. Follow Daniel Kohn on Twitter at @danielkohn . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Oct 20, 2022•3 hr 23 min•Season 2Ep. 30
Third Eye Blind may have doot-doot-dooted their way to late 90s radio ubiquity, but there’s so much more to the story. Chris Black returns for a reconsideration of the earworm songwriting and complex lore of the singular Stephen Jenkins. Follow Chris Black on Twitter at @donetodeath . Subscribe to How Long Gone on Spotify Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Oct 13, 2022•3 hr 23 min•Season 2Ep. 29
Rob Harvilla and Yasi continue their epic trek through the Smashing Pumpkins story post-1993’s Siamese Dream, in which the Pumpkins transcend 1990s alt rock cultishness into rock phenom status with their opus double-album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Follow Rob Harvilla at @harvilla on Twitter and listen to his The Ringer podcast, 60 Songs That Explain the 90s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Oct 06, 2022•3 hr 12 min•Season 2Ep. 28
Rob Harvilla joins us for the noble effort of explaining The Smashing Pumpkins, one of the most commercially successful and musically impactful rock bands of the 1990s. Yasi and Rob cover the first half of the band’s breakthrough career and comb through the origin story of Billy Corgan’s emergent and unusual celebrity. Follow Rob Harvilla at @harvilla on Twitter and listen to his The Ringer podcast, 60 Songs That Explain the 90s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoic...
Sep 29, 2022•3 hr 11 min•Season 2Ep. 27
Bandsplain is back babe and we are now part of The Ringer Podcast Network. New episodes start Thursday September 29th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sep 22, 2022•30 sec
Bad Brains were one of the most influential hardcore bands of all time, from inventing moshing to being groundbreaking black punks who injected hardcore with a Rastafarian philosophy and reggae influence. Though they were “banned in DC,” they built the foundation for hardcore and the history of punk to come. Photographer and unofficial mayor of LA Atiba Jefferson brings his lifelong fandom to the table as he and Yasi chart the history of Bad Brains. Follow Atiba Jefferson on Instagram at @atibap...
Jun 02, 2022•2 hr 52 min•Season 2Ep. 25
Ann Powers returns for part 2 of PJ Harvey, covering the next period of Harvey’s prolific career—from To Bring You My Love on—which was punctuated by confident creative expansions, big-hitting collaborations, flirtations with pop success, and continued artistic investigations into riveting subjects. Follow Ann Powers on Twitter at @annkpowers, and find her latest book, Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul in American Music wherever fine books are sold. Learn more about your a...
May 26, 2022•3 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 24
For Yasi’s birthday, she can have a two-part PJ Harvey episode as a treat. Ann Powers of NPR Music is welcomed back to Bandsplain to dissect the lauded work and cinematic life of Polly Jean Harvey, who Ann calls “the artiest rock star of the late 20th century” and a vector for deep discussions on gender, sexuality, mysticism, myth-making, and art. Follow Ann Powers on Twitter at @annkpowers, and find her latest book, Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul in American Music wher...
May 19, 2022•3 hr 44 min•Season 2Ep. 23
Neutral Milk Hotel released only two studio albums in the mid-to-late 90s, On Avery Island and In An Aeroplane Over the Sea , but they’ve since been consecrated as quintessential indie rock classics. Emerging from the Elephant 6 musical collective, bandleader Jeff Mangum led this eccentric musical experiment that left much mystery, and a large cult following, in its wake. This week, Wall Street Journal’s rock and pop music critic and former editor-in-chief of Pitchfork Mark Richardson joins Yasi...
May 12, 2022•3 hr 36 min•Season 2Ep. 22
In the mid-70s, four not-so-typical teenage girls came barreling into the nascent UK punk scene. The Slits split in the early 80s, but their impact on punk was profound and foundational. Zoë Howe, author of Typical Girls, the Story of the Slits, joins Yasi to talk about the revolution of the Slits. Follow Zoë Howe on Twitter @ladyzoe2dots, and check out her book, Typical Girls, the Story of the Slits, on her website, zoehowe.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoic...
May 05, 2022•4 hr 25 min•Season 2Ep. 21
Primus, led by bass-slappin’ virtuoso Les Claypool, emerged from the Bay Area’s funk-punk-metal hybrid scene of the late 80s and 90s, to become a textbook cult band—you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. Music journalist Christopher Weingarten makes the case for the true cult fandom of Primus and the oddball, arty genius of Les Claypool. Follow Christopher Weingarten on Twitter @1000TimesYes and pick up his 33 ⅓ book on Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Learn more about you...
Apr 28, 2022•3 hr 23 min•Season 2Ep. 20
Operation Ivy was likely your favorite band’s favorite band, and Corbett Redford, director of the documentary Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk, tells us why. These teenage pioneers of ska-inflected punk were a flagship band of Berkeley’s 924 Gilman scene in the mid 1980s, releasing only one full length that galvanized a scene and several generations of future punks. Follow Corbett Redford on Twitter at @CorbettRedford and check out Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk . Learn mor...
Apr 21, 2022•2 hr 36 min•Season 2Ep. 19
Pitchfork’s Quinn Moreland joins us to explain the reverberations of Jenny Lewis’s reign as the queen of 2000s indie rock with her band of Los Angeles darlings, Rilo Kiley. Follow Quinn Moreland on Twitter at @quinnmoreland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 14, 2022•3 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 18
We’re back with Cole Cuchna, host of Dissect and Key Notes , for Part 2 of Radiohead, starting from their revolutionary 2000 album Kid A through their continuing evolution both as a band and as individual artists. Steven Hyden, author of This Isn’t Happening: Radiohead’s Kid A and the Beginning of the 21st Century, also joins us for an examination of Kid A’s impact on music criticism and the album’s context within rock music history. Follow Cole Cuchna on Twitter at @dissectpodcast and check out...
Apr 07, 2022•3 hr 34 min•Season 2Ep. 17
Cole Cuchna, host of Dissect and Key Notes , brings his keyboard to Bandsplain for Part 1 of our deep dive into the history, music theory, and immense, innovative impact Radiohead has had on music at large. Covering their first era, Cole and Yasi take us through the band’s Oxford origins, to how they grappled with and later defied Creep’s one-hit-wonder status, all the way up to their groundbreaking work on OK Computer. Stay tuned next week for Part 2 of Radiohead. Follow Cole Cuchna on Twitter ...
Mar 31, 2022•2 hr 41 min•Season 2Ep. 16
Once again, Yasi and Producer Dylan take a little breather from the 60 page Google Docs and 5 hour episodes to answer your burning questions, including: the making of Bandsplain, what bands we’re listening to now, and why we haven’t done Guided By Voices yet. Special shout out to our Gen Z listeners who called in, you are very cool. Check out the artists Yasi and Dylan recommended in this episode: Turnstile Enumclaw Big Thief Soccer Mommy Snail Mail SASAMI Girlpool Wednesday OVLOV Young Guv Fuck...
Mar 24, 2022•1 hr 26 min•Season 2Ep. 15
A major figure in the cool girl canon, Liz Phair broke through Chicago’s indie rock scene (and its politics) with her seminal 1993 debut, Exile in Guyville , setting her off on a fearlessly confessional path of continual, defiant self-reinvention. Writer Niko Stratis talks with Yasi about Liz Phair’s bold songwriting and boundary-pushing across the worlds of provincial indie rock and chart-topping pop. Follow Niko Stratis at @nikostratis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.co...
Mar 17, 2022•3 hr 49 min•Season 2Ep. 14
In honor of 3/11 day, we present to you: 311. Purveyors of positivity as well as amber-colored energies, 311’s extensive career gets a thorough and loving look from writer and known Excitable, Marty Sartini Garner. Follow Marty Sartini Garner at @mrrrty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mar 10, 2022•3 hr 36 min•Season 2Ep. 13
Songwriter laureate of Los Angeles Randy Newman gets explained by the Valley’s own Molly Lambert. Infinitely more prolific, and controversial, than his common image suggests as the “I Love LA” and Toy Story theme song guy, Molly takes Yasi on a tour of his extensive and complex oeuvre as Hollywood songman. Follow Molly Lambert at @mollylambert. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mar 03, 2022•2 hr 19 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Sublime, the ultimate legacy band for stoner kids everywhere, get explained by return guest Jeff Weiss. Jeff joins Yasi to make the case on how Sublime’s Long Beach heritage and their of-its-time infusions of ska, punk, rock, and reggae made them a ubiquitous Southern Californian musical export, even after singer Bradley Newell’s passing in 1996. Follow Jeff Weiss at @passionweiss and check out The LAnd magazine at @theLAndmagazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adch...
Feb 24, 2022•2 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 11
The Ringer’s Chris Ryan joins us for a long-awaited Bandsplain on one of Yasi’s all-time favorite bands: Pavement. Steeped in Californian suburban ennui, the casual, scruffy brilliance of Pavement pierced through the indie rock heyday of the post-grunge 90s to make them one of the most enduring rock bands from that moment. Follow Chris Ryan on Twitter at @ChrisRyan77 and check out his Ringer podcasts The Watch , The Rewatchables , Music Exists , and The Ringer NBA Show . Learn more about your ad...
Feb 17, 2022•3 hr 52 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Minutemen from San Pedro, CA were a band of childhood soulmates whose experimental sound, working class roots, and lucid politics made them all-timers in the history of punk. Joe Gross returns to highlight Minutemen’s DIY ethos of “jamming econo,” and the timeless influence they had on the whole of independent music that came after them. Follow Joe Gross on Twitter at @joegross and pick up his 33 ⅓ book on Fugazi’s In On the Killtaker wherever fine books are sold. Learn more about your ad choice...
Feb 10, 2022•2 hr 48 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Geoff Rickly from Thursday guides us through the extended universe of Trent Reznor, who took the pulse and grit of industrial music into the mainstream with NIИ’s 1989 debut, Pretty Hate Machine , and became one of rock’s darkest and most impactful innovators of the next few decades. Follow Geoff Rickly on Twitter at @GeoffRickly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Feb 03, 2022•3 hr 49 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Our Red Hot Chili Peppers Gen X-pert Joseph Patel, producer of Summer of Soul, returns to Bandsplain one of the Pep’s most influential, yet underappreciated, LA scene contemporaries: Fishbone. Their eclectic fusions of punk, funk, ska, metal, and soul earned these childhood friends from South Central a true cult following in the late 80s and early 90s, despite the industry racism and internal dysfunction that fumbled their mainstream potential. Follow Joseph Patel on Twitter at @jazzbeezy and wa...
Jan 27, 2022•2 hr 23 min•Season 2Ep. 7
