If you don’t notice a few key episodes of this podcast, you might be impressed. The main host Brian Hiatt is a skilled, well researched interviewer who, while he favors the softball question, also has an unusual level of ability to appear sincere and thoughtful rather than merely buttering up the guests. Reading the magazine/website version of Rolling Stone, it is often impossible to take seriously due to a sense that the writers don’t truly BELIEVE what they’re saying (like saying U2’s new music in the 2010s is a masterpiece, that kinda thing), but Brian Hiatt almost fixes that issue with the podcast— he really makes you believe he loves music. Instead of the magazine’s tendency to hype up anything involving (in nearly all cases, long past prime) “classic rock” figureheads, with an added bit of insincere and desperate, chart-hopping poptimism, the podcast’s mix of poptimism and classic rock worship feels more earnest because it tends to concentrate on music in both categories that is actually good, and not merely lucrative. There are of course exceptions to this— sometimes mediocre albums or songs simply have so much commercial success that they will get the royal treatment— but the podcast attempts to make up for it with lists covering lesser known artists in many genres, and often brings in younger critics who aren’t afraid to contradict Hiatt. (Though, we do also get graced with the frequent presence of the insufferable guest Rob Sheffield, a writer who loves the sound of his own voice but rarely uses it to say anything an AI couldn’t.) Unfortunately, the racism for which the magazine’s founder Jann Wenner is famous does make appearances. The podcast chooses to dedicate an entire episode to hyping up the “innovations” of Grimes in the field of AI, despite the fact Grimes did not even bother to make herself available for an interview (sending her manager instead). Grimes is of course, an indie pop artist who was influential about a decade ago, but her recent work has been more in the field of white-nationalist politics than music (she had not released any music for years at the time of her episode) and she’s been vocal in explaining that her embrace of AI is connected to her belief in the ideas of far-right accelerationism. Grimes has used her twitter/x and instagram to promote the racist philosopher Curtis Yarvin aka Moldbug (who endorses a return to feudalism and slavery) and several scientists and activists involved in the eugenics movement (such as Simone and Malcolm Collins, and Richard Spencer associate Razib Khan). This is not even scratching the surface— she has also lent her support to a neo fascist magazine, Palladium, founded by an actual holocaust denier (attending fundraising galas for them two years in a row, even doing a cover story). And much, much more. She has even “jokingly” made fun of the Holocaust herself. (Note, Grimes is not, in any way, Jewish.) Now, you can argue maybe Rolling Stone is just taking an “apolitical” interest in Grimes, disregarding her history of white-power hate speech and even outright anti-Semitism because of the “importance” of her recent AI experiments (despite having been beaten to the punch a decade ago on AI by the work of Holly Herndon). This becomes untenable though, when you notice another episode from not long before the Grimes one— a hit piece against Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, in which the hack Andy Greene (like Sheffield, one of RS’s least talented contributors) concocts a ridiculous narrative that Waters is anti-Semitic simply because he opposes the war in Ukraine (opposed by 99% of the world), and the brutal occupation of Palestinians by the Israeli military (also opposed by 99% of the world— including by nearly all American Jews under age 50). By attempting to silence or even “cancel” the anti-racist, pro-peace activist Waters (who only seems “radical” because all the rest of his boomer generation sold out those ‘60s ideals long ago, proving their peace-and-love was just a get-rich-quick scheme), Rolling Stone podcast proves their lack of editorial independence from Penske Media Corporation, the huge company who owns them. Penske also owns Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Indiewire, even Artforum. They’ve gone mask off over the past year, using these publications to advance a far right political dogma about the evils of unions (Hollywood Reporter and Variety were full of pro-corporate, scab propaganda during the writers/actors strikes). Another key plank in their ideology is fealty to the Likud Party of Israel. Any attempt, no matter how timid, to express dissent with the ideology of genocide toward Palestinians, can result in firing from a Penske publication (as seen when they fired the editor of Artforum for merely calling for a ceasefire). No amount of interviewing skill or even surprisingly decent taste can make up for this podcast’s cowardice in going along with Penske’s genocidal political requirements. It is unconscionable to pretend Roger Waters is antisemitic because of his support of human rights, while then elevating a literal open fascist and anti-Semite such as Grimes.

I just listened to the episode regarding the four new Beatles movies. Great show and just like one of the hosts expressed, I hated the film “Yesterday” too!!!

I stumbled across this podcast & thoroughly enjoyed the Nirvana episode- makes me want to read the books! Thank you for such a thoughtful review of this band, their impact & band members. Fantastic!

Look forward to this pod like I used to anticipate the next Rolling Stone magazine to hit my door step. Latest episodes on 30th Anniversary of Nirvana’s “In Utero” so good! Three terrific interviews. Thanks.

I appreciate music discussion but i can’t stand the recent diatribes for sections of the Jason Aldean and Oliver Anthony discussions. Americans love Americana music from time to time and they shouldn’t be mocked for it.

Such insightful questions! I cried at the end.

Listening to these liberal city nerds try to break down Oliver Anthony’s song “Rich Men North of Richmond” is excruciating.

Definitely not feeling the episode on Rich Men North of Richmond. Y’all are trying so hard to say that MAGA is behind the song’s popularity without owning the fact that you’re saying it. Give the man, and his song the deserved props. It’s a populist anthem that resonates across demographics for a reason, the elite, the establishment, the men behind the curtain and their puppets in DC have been screwing us over for years and the People are tired of it! This song articulates what almost everyone is feeling.

The first interview with Shirley Manson was engrossing. Her respect , love, and adoration for Sinéad was expressed with such unfiltered eloquence and honesty. As much as I was captivated about the truths of Sinead’s life and art, I marveled at Manson’s expression. Brilliant. But then, to bring a male music writer to the discussion with no real personal connection other than an interview over 30 years ago? To bring him to the mic with no insights and to simply conjecture about Sinead’s mental illness he may or may not have witnessed?! Shame on allowing a distant male voice interpret Sinead’s experiences.

I’m listening to everything I can about Sinéad as I still am reeling from her death. Thank you for the interviews you did that added perspectives!

I wish I could unlisten to Brian Hiatt mansplaining Boygenius lyrics, but all I can do is leave this one star review.

Great guests…. Sometimes. A whole lot of pandering opinion sharing.

I was just listening to the Eras tour episode and y’all legit make a joke about her featuring Ice Spice on tour 😭 I can’t

What a fantastic, eclectic, deep discussion of music culture. Feeds my soul and mind.

Great episode. It’s cool to catch up with the giants of MTV News - Kurt, Tabitha, and John. Good behind the scenes information revisiting the 80s and 90s heyday.

Enjoy Brian’s work on this podcast….helps to keep this old-timer “in the loop” with today’s music scene!

Excellent podcast with experts with authentic experience and insights. Highly recommended.

Can’t wait for more!

For a show about music, from Rolling Stone, your production values need some work. Music excerpts are short and abrupt, with no fading in or under the conversation. Volume levels are all over the place. I enjoyed the current episode, More Terrible Albums by Great Artists, but I could barely hear the music excerpts. I’ve worked in public radio, and it isn’t difficult to edit voice and music in post-production. Hire someone with some audio experience and your podcast will sound 100 percent better.

This podcast is a lot of fun, and the content is right up my alley, but good god, please hire an editor. It sounds like you’re using an AI program like Descript to edit automatically and as a result, there are tons of glitches, cutting off lines mid sentence every few minutes, and even a bit about Pantera repeating minutes later. Get it together!

The pod today covering left turn albums for artists was so fun! There were a couple I thought you would bring up for sure, but overall a lot I had forgotten! They were quite spot on. I hope you guys do a part two and include John Mayer and his Born and Raised/Paradise Valley turn.

Beatles Revolver breakdown show was utterly fascinating! The very best!

Yes, this a one of the great music podcasts. No, not every host is equal. I have my favorites and less-favorites. But they cover so many genres--all with enthusiasm--and yet occasionally slag someone so you know they aren't fake and pretending to like every single artist and song. Who has better access to talent than RS? The big artists are willing to sit down with them. They do a real service particularly when it comes to the interviews.

Man, are they using some kind of software to cut pauses or gaps or a noise gate of some kind? It’s really jarring. Overlaps and cutoffs make it really hard to listen to. It’s great info but really tough to listen to. Smooth it out please.

I had to stop listening to episode on Revolver too much misinformation terrible show

I just really wish this podcast utilized someone adept in natural sounding editing, it’s really annoying to be taken out of the conversation with quick robotic level changes and weird speech transitions. Higher a good mixer/engineer, don’t just use descript.

I enjoyed your podcast and review but some corrections. Paul is playing bass on She Said She Said. It’s in the book that accompanies the box set and is specifically addressed. And on the song You’re Gonna Lose that Girl, Paul sings harmony with George while John sings lead. It’s even in the movie. Finally, in the book Paul says he was thinking of Pet Sounds when he wrote Here, There and Everywhere, and thinking of Marianne Faithful’s vocal style when he sang it.

One of the best Mariah interviews to date! I’ve been a fan since 1990 and heard most of the stories, but this interview had sooo much substance! Understanding her writing process and the stories behind the songs and lyrics - amazing! The breakdown story! This is a gem. Thank you.

I really enjoyed this episode and finding out a little bit about the final days of his life and how eager he was to complete his art, before his passing. I’ve always enjoyed Bowie’s music. The segment with Nile Rodgers was epic, he’s a great producer. For some reason artists seem to work with him only once, get a hit single and/or album and then they move on. Bowie did it as well, then there’s Madonna, Jeff Beck, Duran, Duran, Diana Ross and a few others. I never understood that. Anyway, great show.

Really wanted to like this. But Rob wants to be/tries to be Malcolm Gladwell so bad it’s unlistenable.

While the conversation is interesting, the jerky editing makes the whole podcast feel like two paranoids coming down from aderall yelling at each other from two separate rooms. Not a pleasant listening experience.

So grateful for this podcast.

Really wonderful podcast, I just wish they’d make a bit more effort on the production side. Too often these remind me of awful Zoom meetings at work where you have bad connections, too much background noise, people not speaking clearly, etc.

I’ve enjoyed listening to Rolling Stone music as someone who dabbles in song writing it often provokes new ideas for creativity. How thinking outside our comfort zone brings about satisfying magic 😜

programs and commentary with the likes of andy green and brian h, are inane. pathetic, brain clog yapp.

I enjoy the conversations very much. However, the production value is pretty bad. It sounds cheap. Voice levels, cut-ins to and from the ads, even the filler music.. all sound amateur. I enjoy reading Brittany Spanos’ writing and appreciate her perspective and input.. but Brittany, please work a little bit on your “radio speech” - every other phrase seems to be “I mean” Again, good content. Informative and entertaining. Bad production.

In response to comments about it should be just about the music, you obviously have no idea of what “music” “lyrics” are about. Keep it up rolling stone always a progressive view. And as far as Neil Young and GMOs, it’s not that things are GMOed, it is because Monsanto used the science to pollute and “kidnap” the gene pool of seeds to contaminate all that they “control” to use their product Roundup containing cancer and endocrine dysfunction glycophosphates into the food chain. I prefer my food without herbicides.

Not interested in the political takes. Stick to the music.

Would love to hear discussions on music - but what you will get here is nauseatingly smug, lock-step, left-wing, uneducated political comments from pseudo-experts in myopic sub-genres of trash. Did I mention smug?

How I love them They write the story of my youth!!!❤️❤️🌇🙈💯

Publicists must love you. Do you have backbone to like do your job and be critics? Or I guess I should assume we live in this amazing cultural moment where everything that is popular is also the best! My gosh how could we be so lucky!

I will listen to Rob Sheffield and Brittany Spanos talk pop music all day every day, but please fix Rob’s audio. He sounds like he’s recording with his mic under a pillow.

Rolling Stone,in all it’s entities i.e. magazine,podcasts,whatever,has sadly gone the way of other once great fonts of journalism like Vanity Fair ( AKA the reincarnation of National Lampoon or People Magazine with bigger words) in it’s quest for the younger,and much more stupid audiences,which ironically are not big readers lol..The mere fact they consistently rate Eric Clapton the best guitarist of all time tells the intelligent music afficianado to look elsewhere (NPR springs to mind) for serious music journalism

Every once in a while I’ll come back to this because of the subject matter. RS has access to so many musicians with actual talent. But I can’t suffer this group of pompous morons who have no real job or life experience and thus never developed the intellectual maturity to realize music is subjective and taste and opinions are developed through an infinite combination of complex individual experience. The music that you relate to doesn’t make you somehow worthy or superior. Instead, these fools nurture and laud their pointless points of view (to quote Billy Joel who these talentless hacks love to bash) like objective fact. Your opinions aren’t important. And they’re not true. I have a PhD and work in healthcare actually affecting people’s lives while conducting research to improve society. No, I’m not stupid because I enjoy Joel, Sanmy Hagar, or the Eagles. And yes my tastes are much broader, from Bach up to Autotune. But when creepers like Brian Hiatt use terms like ‘dad rock’ while gushing over teenage female pop sensations to desperately grasp at relevance all I can think is yes, I listen to dad rock and as a dad I’m smart enough to keep my children away slimy stilted adolescents who host this podcast.

Like many podcasts, you guys have started to try and sneak ads in mid-sentence into the content of the show. This is an act of desperation. This tells me you’re seeing the numbers, and listeners are ffd-ing thru them so you’ve resorted to desperation and trickery. It doesn’t work. I still skip every single one of them.

Brian Hiatt is cracking up all through the Eric Clapton Is a White Supremacist (paraphrase) episode exactly why ..? Hee hee hoo hoo- violence against black and brown people sure makes me laugh! Must be so nice to be white, eh.

sounds like a poorly put together confrence call between hipsters larping as journalist and an older music critic that's babysitting his junior members. Make sure to sprinkle in diversity. Many fan made podcasts provide better insights, anaylsis and overall production than whatever this is suppose to be.

Most of the episodes I’ve listened to don’t have even a few snippets of the music being discussed. Don’t know if it is a rights issue or just lazy podcasting.

Good podcast series but how can you talk about the greatest music videos of all time for an hour and barely mention the name of “Take on Me” by Aha? There are entire podcasts and documentaries about this iconic video. Big miss.

Awesome content, but it bewilders me that a podcast from THE music magazine doesn’t invest in a little acoustic treatment and basic vocal microphones. The host’s voice sounds like he’s in an empty room with only a laptop microphone, and the guests’ levels are all over the place. The amateur recording practices distract from the expert content.