The Five Best Music Podcasts Of 2022

 
Why are so many terrific music podcasts available to tickle the inner ear of listeners? A major reason is that each music genre is the master of its own domain. Hip-hop, jazz, pop, country, easy listening and more all construct their own universe around the music. Clothes, culture, language, and morality spring forth from the notes on sheet music. Therefore, each genre can offer listeners its curated music and interviews with artists in that genre via a podcast.

For example, hosted by Elliott Wilson and Brian 'B.Dot' Miller, Rap Radar is the home of some of hip-hop’s most revealing interviews. Both Wilson and Miller are true journalists who do an immense amount of research, know how to listen, and are driven to get the answers to the questions hip-hop fans want to know. 

Therefore, this list of only five of the best music podcasts leaves out many deserving music podcasts. However, year-end lists are a time-honored tradition and certainly a surefire way to incite anger in readers whose favorite music podcast is not on the list.

So apologies up front, and here goes: (If this was on YouTube, you'd see that my fingers are crossed and I'm wearing kevlar.)

Sing For Science

My first choice is a science podcast with music. I know, but hear me out.
Sing For Science is a science and music podcast produced with Talkhouse where musicians talk to scientists about science as it connects to their most famous songs. Created and hosted by New York musician Matt Whyte, the podcast's goal is to increase science literacy for as many people as possible by reaching a variety of different musicians' fan bases. 

Listeners come to the show through their love of music and leave with a new piece of knowledge about science and the scientific process. Science literacy and respect for expertise are perhaps more vital now, more than ever before. The show's chief tenet is that a more science and scientific process literate society can only contribute towards greater support for more fair, evidence-based policy in government.

In the most recent episode entitled “Dead Bodies Everywhere: Postmortem Biology and The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers,” Sing For Science host, creator and musician Matt Whyte puts legendary metalhead and Korn frontman Jonathan Davis in conversation with best-selling pop science writer Mary Roach (Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers), to discuss mortuary science and demystify the macabre. 

Think of it as Beyonce meets Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

Switched On Pop
Switched on Pop launched in 2014, quickly growing a devoted audience before joining Vox in 2019, where it moved from a biweekly to a weekly schedule and more than tripled its downloads.

Switched On Pop is hosted by musicologist Nate Sloan and songwriter Charlie Harding.

Harding is a music journalist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. He is the executive producer and co-host of Switched on Pop and the co-author of Switched on Pop: How Popular Music Works and Why it Matters, published by Oxford University Press in 2019, and nominated for a 2021 PROSE Award for Excellence in Humanities by the Association of American Publishers.

Nate Sloan is an assistant professor of musicology at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, and the co-author of Switched on Pop: How Popular Music Works and Why it Matters, published by Oxford University Press in 2019, and nominated for a 2021 PROSE Award for Excellence in Humanities by the Association of American Publishers.

Besides the strong chemistry between Harding and Sloan -- sometimes funny, sometimes sarcastic, and other times competitive -- the podcast is an "under the hood" look at the music world. "Must-listen" episodes this year include:

-Kate Bush's "Running Up The Hill" from Netflix's Stranger Things, a 36-year old hit that was resurrected.

-Why do new Christmas songs fail? Why do they?

-The long legacy of the song "Hound Dog" via Big Mama Thornton, Elvis, and DojaCat. How such a famous cover song is interpreted so differently by well-known artists.

My favorite episode this year is "Invasion of the Vibe Snatchers" -- Why do so many chart-topping songs sound the same? Amen, brother. 

Harding and Sloan travel far and wide to analyze music. My favorite of all-time is their four-part series in September 2020 on Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Just a masterpiece of music history and interpretation.


Slate's Hit Parade
Who has the most number one songs of all time on the Billboard 100 chart? The Beatles, of course, with 20. What is the best performing song of all time on the charts? The Twist by Chubby Checker in 1961. And the song that spent the most weeks at number one on the Billboard chart? Well, it’s tie – Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee with Justin Bieber on Depacito in 2017 and Mariah Carey and Boys II Men on One Sweet Day in 1995 into 1996. Both songs spent an amazing 16 weeks at number one.

Now, if any of this knowledge of popular songs and artists holds any interest for you then Slate’s Hit Parade podcast should be number one on your playlist. The podcast is hosted by Chris Molanphy, a chart analyst and pop critic, who writes about the intersection of culture and commerce in popular music.

Besides hosting the podcast for Slate, Molanphy writes its “Why Is This Song No. 1?” series. His writing has also appeared in Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Vulture, NPR Music’s The Record, and Billboard. Molanphy is also a frequent guest on National Public Radio. 

Molanphy is the perfect deejay – if you will – for the podcast. His “made for audio” voice is crisp, authoritative, passionate and brewing with the aural magic of a master storyteller. And he can weave some stories. For example, in episode 21, Molanphy explains how Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) was a group of California boys who ironically found success with a Louisiana bayou sound. During the late 60s and early 70s, CCR compiled a record of both considerable and dubious achievement – the artist with the most number two hits without a number one single.

Hit Parade isn’t just a musical walk down memory lane for baby boomers who are still convinced that Paul McCartney is indeed dead. Molanphy’s deep dive into the song charts includes an episode on the growth of hip-hop and rap music and how it has morphed over the years. 

 Molanphy and Hit Parade don’t just spit out pearls of music trivia. The show covers trends, directional switchbacks, and the shifting tides of the audience, who truly determine the direction of popular music.

For example, in episode 11, Molanphy discusses the rise of Brittany Spears and the powerhouse Swedish song factory represented by Max Martin. Instead of just focusing on Spears’ rise to celebrity via Star Search and the Mickey Mouse Club, Molanphy takes the listener back to ABBA in the 70s, the Swedish supergroup whose complex melodies were the genesis of U.S. teen pop at the turn of the century.

In fascinating detail, Molanphy explains the connective tissue between ABBA successors, Roxette (Frida from ABBA) and Ace of Base who worked with Swedish songwriter and uber-producer Denniz Pop, who spawned Max Martin (AKA Martin Sandberg). Martin wrote massive hits for Spears (Baby, One More Time) The Backstreet Boys (I want it that way) and NSYNC (It’s gonna be me).

This year, Molanphy tackled the complicated legacy of Billy Joel -- copycat supreme or cool water that flows freely between music genres. A recent episode, Give Up The Funk, will force you to tap your feet or play air drums as you listen to the genesis of today's hip-hop and yesterday's disco. Artists such as George Clinton, Curtis Mayfield, Earth Wind and Fire, and Kool & The Gang built the groove that still underscores music today.

Hit Parade, which only began in the Spring of 2017, is a podcast cleverly built for several audiences. For pop music nerds who can tell you that Shania Twain’s 1997 album Come On Over is the fourth highest selling album of all time. For people who attend trivia nights for more than the $2 beers, it’s the challenge of answering music trivia questions. For casual music listeners, it’s the storytelling prowess of Chris Molanphy, the host. And for popular culture observers, it’s the linkage between politics, economics, race and popular music preferences that makes the podcast a terrific listen.

A History Of Rock in 500 Songs

Andrew Hickey presents a history of rock music from 1938 to 1999, looking at five hundred songs that shaped the genre.

Creator and host, Brit Andrew Hickey is in familiar territory here. He is the author of several books about popular music, including ones on the Beach Boys, the California music scene in the 60s and 70s, and The Monkees. 

Hickey recently released White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane as song # 158, so he has a long way to go. If you want a thumbnail sketch of popular music, its iconic songs and influential artists, this podcast is not for you. Hickey immerses you in each song and the artist that recorded the tune. Episodes can run for longer than two hours. Hickey doesn't skim, he dives deep, and it shows.

For example, in song # 144 by The Monkees, Hickey discusses the origin of the group, the biography of the four members, and their impact on popular music. Hickey fascinates us with small details. On the night of The Beatles first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show -- February 9, 1964, Monkees band member Davy Jones played The Artful Dodger from the Broadway cast of Oliver on the same show as the Beatles's first U.S. appearance. 

Hickey dives into the subtle anti-war message in the song, "Last Train To Clarksville" and details the melodic similarity of the song to the classic country song, Night Train To Memphis" by Roy Acuff.

Did you know that Buffalo Springfield were once called Buffalo Fish? Or Pink Floyd was called The Tea Set? 

Hickey isn't just a nugget full of music trivia, he's an incisive analyst of music, its melodic DNA, and its cultural relevance.

 My favorite episodes this year include: Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys, Respect by Aretha Franklin, For What It's Worth by Buffalo Springfield, and I Was made To Love Her by Stevie Wonder.

Hickey, with his throaty, monochromatic voice, is a master storyteller, who weaves multiple story lines into a larger tale of how music affects society and how social upheaval affects music.

Noble Champions

 In podcasting, Philadelphia's own Santigold (aka Santi White), is now hosting a podcast from Talkhouse called Noble Champions. Even though the podcast is new, consider it the "rookie of the year" winner. 

Santigold once described her music as, "spanning punk rock, hip-hop, and dance music," and her genre bending talent may be a major reason why she's been a force in the music business for more than 14 years.

In the second episode of Noble Champions, Santigold was joined by longtime friends Questlove, Angela Yee and Tunde Adebimpe to try to tackle the question, "What exactly is Black Music?"

They discuss what happens when Black artists step out of the genre box, as well as the bigger impact of caging in music and those who make it. They also geek out on Bad Brains, Fela Kuti, Nina Simone, The Last Poets and more.

The podcast's title is inspired by Wassily Kandinsky, who was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstraction in western art. Kandinsky once said that periods during which art has no noble champions are ones of retrogression. Santigold and "fellow champions" try to make sense out of our world, and push culture forward.

In a recent episode of Noble Champions, out via Talkhouse, Santigold welcomed friends and fellow artists Olivia Wilde and Rebecca Walker to the podcast. Together they shared their experiences as mothers who are creatives, discussing the challenges and constant balancing of the two roles, how to tend to the needs of your children while also making space for yourself, as well as the concept of working mothers "having it all," as they ask the big question of whether they can thrive in their art, careers and mothering to the extent they all aspire to. 

 

It's a revelatory and captivating conversation that spans 45 minutes, with Wilde reflecting on the effects of the pandemic and the ways in which women may unknowingly participate in perpetuating parts of the patriarchy, while Walker talks about being the child of another creative mother - author Alice Walker (The Color Purple) - and much more.

If you haven't heard it yet, each weekly installment of Noble Champions has been related to a song from Santigold's new album Spirituals. Today's inspiration comes from "My Horror," and follows previous episodes with Questlove, Angela Yee & Tunde Adebimpe on Black Music, plus Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) & Sanford Biggers on the relationship between art and spirit. 

 

The rest of this first season will include artists, activists and progressive thinkers like Idris Elba and many more, in an effort to "expand your mind, feed your soul and push culture forward."

 

Noble Champions is music entwined with culture, spirituality, and race.

Photo by Vlad Bagacian