Classic albums' full backstories told by musicians who love to nitpick the details, now with >1M downloads. We do all the research, help you better understand why you love the things you love, plus introduce you to new music and musical ideas you should care about. Want to sound informed, intelligent, and funny when talking about music, even the records you don't like? Want to laugh while you learn more about music production and music history? Then welcome to your new favorite weekly podcast.
Listen in the Podli app 🎧
Follow your favourite podcasts, listen offline and in the car with CarPlay and Android Auto, and always pick up where you left off. Free to try.
Oct 5, 2026 · 1:38:50
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Iron Butterfly formed in the psychedelic 60s and swapped out several members before…
Sep 28, 2026 · 1:34:33
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Bryan Adams was gigging successfully in the Vancouver scene at age 15 and he…
Sep 21, 2026 · 1:47:33
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Laura Nyro wrote songs her own way and eschewed commercial appeal at every turn…
Sep 14, 2026 · 1:37:31
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Dexy's Midnight Runners are a British national treasure that Americans think of as…
Sep 7, 2026 · 1:25:27
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Peter Tosh helped teach Bob Marley to play guitar but once they split he became the…
Aug 31, 2026 · 1:52:20
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. The partnership at the heart of Supertramp was just about to hit a breaking point -…
Aug 24, 2026 · 1:38:02
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Punk is stale - Wire is here to fix it. Art school aesthetics meets revolution…
Aug 17, 2026 · 1:38:31
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. John Mellencamp left his small, changed his name and had a hit in Australia before…
Aug 10, 2026 · 1:44:27
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Stone Temple Pilots burst out of the San Diego scene to become both commercially…
Aug 3, 2026 · 1:55:13
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. The Allman Brothers toured relentlessly for years building a fanbase one show at a…
Jul 27, 2026 · 1:45:56
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Cat Stevens was positioned as a pop star and had some monior success before a…
Jul 20, 2026 · 1:43:14
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Al Green worked the touring circuit for years before developing his signature…
Jul 13, 2026 · 1:41:27
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Counting Crows were a Bay Area band that made a demo tape and started a bidding war…
Jul 6, 2026 · 1:53:29
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Alice in Chains added some much needed heavy metal to the Seattle grunge scene while…
Jul 2, 2026 · 45:52
Welcome to 1001 Album Complaints: Song Battle - a bonus show where we pick 16 songs on a theme, write mean tweets about each one, tell some backstory, and argue about which song…
Jun 29, 2026 · 1:46:18
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Whitney Houston grew up in a family chock full of singing talent and seemed destined…
Jun 22, 2026 · 1:49:40
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Jay-Z had fame, fortune, and a growing portfolio of successful business ventures…
Jun 15, 2026 · 1:32:30
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Neil Young was fresh off the success of Deja Vu but still trying to define himself…
Jun 8, 2026 · 1:51:03
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. John Mayer is tall, handsome, and white. What else is there to say? Adam, Tom, Rob,…
Jun 1, 2026 · 1:41:25
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. George Michael used sheer force of will to make himself a pop star, then tore it all…
May 25, 2026 · 1:42:41
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Yo La Tengo are the indie band that just keeps going. With a married couple at its…
May 18, 2026 · 1:31:49
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. The Penguin Cafe was born of a fever dream - a place where strangely familiar music…
May 11, 2026 · 1:40:14
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Marty Robbins lived a frontier life with an outlaw father before discovering his…
May 4, 2026 · 1:47:05
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Primal Scream started as a jangle pop 60s band, then morphed into a 70s garage rock…
Apr 27, 2026 · 1:57:00
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Dave Brubeck was raised as a cattle rancher in Califronia's Central Valley before…
Apr 20, 2026 · 1:51:53
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Green Day had built a steady following on the Berkeley punk scene when they (gasp)…
Apr 13, 2026 · 1:52:45
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Queen was given the keys to the studio and knew they had one more shot at the big…
Apr 6, 2026 · 2:09:08
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. The Smashing Pumpkins spent months in the studio tinkering with novel guitar tones…
Mar 30, 2026 · 1:46:32
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. The Replacements cultivated a reckless rock and roll loser attitude and the…
Mar 23, 2026 · 1:58:35
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Eminem leaned into his own failings to win the crowds at local rap battles and…
Mar 18, 2026 · 1:40:19
Conan Neutron is the beating heart of American DIY music - buy his record , support his podcast Protonic Reversal , and see him live on tour RIGHT NOW…
Mar 16, 2026 · 1:44:07
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Pink Floyd decamp to France to record a make or break high-concept double album as…
Mar 9, 2026 · 1:34:46
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Pink Floyd were the biggest band in the world, but they hated themselves, their…
Mar 4, 2026 · 40:01
The first episode of our brand new 2025 #1 Hits Song Battles. Tweets for every song. Back stories and factoids! Listen to all 5 at: https://www.patreon.com/c/1001AlbumComplaints…
Mar 2, 2026 · 1:39:06
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Rocket from the Crypt was touted by some as "the next Nirvana", but John Reis (aka…
Feb 23, 2026 · 1:57:37
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Can emerged as the baby boomer generation of post-war Germany, horrified by the…
Feb 16, 2026 · 1:42:29
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Billy Joel was an underground success playing to small theaters around America when…
Feb 9, 2026 · 2:00:40
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Public Enemy set out to scare complacent suburban America with a deep knowledge of…
Feb 2, 2026 · 1:44:53
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Moby started as a New York City crate diver before taking some hard left turns in…
Jan 26, 2026 · 1:26:08
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Chic set out to make sophisticated and elegant dance music and took the disco world…
Jan 19, 2026 · 1:29:04
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Nick Drake released 3 relatively unheralded albums in his short lifetime and only…
Jan 12, 2026 · 1:31:57
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. The Stranglers started with a jazz drummer and an ice cream van, and somehow made it…
Jan 5, 2026 · 1:40:09
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Bad Brains revolutionized the DC punk scene by being consistently adversarial and…
Jan 1, 2026 · 1:19:57
Special bonus: we made an album - hear us, the musicians and producers tell the backstory - first of The Ghostbusters film that was our inspiration, and then of how we made Stay…
Dec 29, 2025 · 42:54
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected stories behind the making of your favorite albums. Happy (almost) New Year! In order to take a little break for the holidays we've…
Dec 22, 2025 · 1:41:26
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Taylor grew up on a Christmas tree farm and moved to Nashville to become a country…
Dec 15, 2025 · 1:19:19
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. The Jesus and Mary Chain started as warring brothers with a port-a-studio and ended…
Dec 8, 2025 · 1:29:03
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Meat Loaf met his soulmate Jim Steinman on stage in New York and the two set about…
Dec 1, 2025 · 1:55:51
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Tom Petty came up in the swamps of Florida playing tiny clubs and sock hops before…
Nov 24, 2025 · 1:41:00
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Queens of the Stone Age were birthed from a desert party culture deep in the…
Nov 17, 2025 · 1:28:12
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Dolly Parton worked her way up through the country music landscape by being a…
Nov 10, 2025 · 1:14:22
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Michael Viner was an idea man floating around LA for years before he landed on his…
Nov 3, 2025 · 1:20:47
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. k.d. lang came from the prairies of Canada with a mission to be the next Patsy…
Oct 27, 2025 · 1:56:43
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. The Police started as a punk band but quickly pivoted to something completely new…
Oct 20, 2025 · 1:21:20
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Tom Waits struggled to find his audience on his first two albums but had the…
Oct 13, 2025 · 1:44:07
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. The Cars had years to learn and perfect their pop rock craft before locking in a…
Oct 6, 2025 · 1:27:08
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Merle Haggard was in and out of prison several times before being discovered by…
Sep 29, 2025 · 1:38:08
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Blur were London's answer to the Madchester movement up north but grew into Brit-Pop…
Sep 22, 2025 · 1:41:28
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Paul McCartney was feeling left behind by his ex-bandmates' solo careers and dealing…
Sep 15, 2025 · 1:35:13
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Sonic Youth set out to reinvent rock music by merging avant garde art world ideas…
Sep 8, 2025 · 1:25:41
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Pantera transitioned from a glam metal band into the sludgy groove pioneers we know…
Sep 1, 2025 · 1:42:25
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Stephin Merritt set out to write a songbook's worth of material and record it in his…
Aug 25, 2025 · 1:33:09
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Television helped kick off the New York music scene of the 1970s by building the…
Aug 18, 2025 · 1:54:01
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. The Pogues were born out of the Irish diaspora in London and out of Shane McGowan's…
Aug 15, 2025 · 42:33
On our Patreon-only bonus show Song Battle - we pick 16 songs to enter a bracket competition, write tweets about each one while telling a short backstory about how they were…
Aug 11, 2025 · 1:26:08
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Isaac Hayes was a back-of-house songwriter who got thrust to the front of a…
Aug 4, 2025 · 1:31:22
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Blue Cheer were innovators of the noise and loudness approach to rock music in the…
Jul 28, 2025 · 1:28:48
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Brian Eno broke away from Roxy Music and began a prolific solo career both as a solo…
Jul 21, 2025 · 1:33:51
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Frank Zappa assembled the Mothers to make anti-authoritarian, anti-hippie,…
Jul 14, 2025 · 1:24:24
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Slayer was birthed from the bowels of hell (Orange Country, CA) and burst onto the…
Jul 7, 2025 · 1:36:44
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Lloyd Cole started the Commotions as a soul band in Glasgow but after some home…
Jun 30, 2025 · 1:27:41
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. The Offspring gigged for 10 years before their huge breakthrough success came in…
Jun 23, 2025 · 1:35:41
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. The Stones Roses were the "it" band for a brief period, but bad contracts and…
Jun 16, 2025 · 1:40:32
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Limp Bizkit went out of their way to make the world dislike them - as a strategy!…
Jun 9, 2025 · 1:17:16
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Digital Underground was the brainchild of Shock G, a multi-instrumentalist based in…
Jun 2, 2025 · 1:40:14
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Lana Del Rey is a prolific songwriter and dream pop goddess of the modern era who…
May 26, 2025 · 1:16:02
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Yes went through multiple lineups changes and their biggest hits before heading into…
May 19, 2025 · 1:26:25
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. De La Soul were still kids when they got a record deal and access to a full studio's…
May 12, 2025 · 1:35:00
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Abba had an impressive run of pop hits while touring the world non-stop in the…
May 5, 2025 · 1:27:11
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Santana formed as a collective in the swinging San Francisco 60s, and hit the big…
Apr 28, 2025 · 1:28:38
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Franz Ferdinand formed in Glasgow with the express purpose of making music that…
Apr 21, 2025 · 1:40:06
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Christina Aguilera went from pre-teen singing phenom to Disney channel star and then…
Apr 14, 2025 · 1:42:08
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Janis Joplin dreamed of being a famous blues singer and moved from Texas to San…
Apr 7, 2025 · 1:23:08
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Fugees took a big label advance and built a studio in their New Jersey basement so…
Mar 31, 2025 · 1:34:22
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Sex Pistols arose from a clothing store in London and rode a wave of controversy…
Mar 25, 2025 · 1:27:53
The Beverly Crushers themselves (Rob and Tom from 1001 Album Complaints) recount how a modern indie band makes and releases a record. Plus we answer listener submitted questions…
Mar 24, 2025 · 1:29:16
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. David Bowie finally locked in on a way to connect with the record buying public - by…
Mar 17, 2025 · 1:26:32
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. David Bowie wanted to be a star. It took a few tries but after changing his name and…
Mar 10, 2025 · 1:45:52
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Nine Inch Nails was born from the late night studio experiments of Trent Reznor, who…
Mar 7, 2025 · 47:50
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Song Battle is our Patreon-only bonus show where contestants select songs to compete…
Mar 3, 2025 · 1:32:38
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Harry Nilsson ping-ponged through the songwriter-for-hire business and got some very…
Feb 24, 2025 · 1:46:41
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Van Halen got their start on the Pasadena house party scene then became one of the…
Feb 17, 2025 · 1:30:51
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Aphex Twin was tinkering with sound and household electronics from an early age then…
Feb 10, 2025 · 1:57:08
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Muddy Waters was a sharecropper who became a blues superstar. The boys discuss…
Feb 3, 2025 · 1:26:43
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Def Leppard had tasted arena rock success with their breakthrough hit Pyromania but…
Jan 27, 2025 · 2:04:37
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Little Richard was a born performer from a young age, and by leaning into a larger…
Jan 20, 2025 · 1:27:57
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Teenage Fanclub came roaring out of the Glasgow C86 scene and were poised to take…
Jan 17, 2025 · 45:45
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. At the start of the new year we get together to discuss the past 12 months and the…
Jan 13, 2025 · 1:37:07
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Ryan Adams had a long and circuitous path to hipster songwriter celebrity via his…
Jan 6, 2025 · 1:40:18
Musicians recount the strange and unexpected story behind the making of your favorite albums. Johnny Cash had a hard scrabble life before finding success in country music songs…
Listen in the Podli app 🎧
Follow your favourite podcasts, listen offline and in the car with CarPlay and Android Auto, and always pick up where you left off. Free to try.
Your podcast? Get the Podli badge for your site
