Now that the Brian Wilson era is mercifully over🙏

Jokermen is the best music podcast. Why? I don’t know. But the music is good. And also the hosts being a similar age to me is probably why it’s engaging.

I started listening because I like hearing about all things Brian Wilson. At first I thought this show was a worthy source-they do have some good guests and that does bring some of their broadcasts a serving of gravitas. However, these two gentleman know little about music itself. While all opinions are subjective, and I chose to listen to theirs, they regularly misrepresent basic musical tenants and speak so authoritatively that one might actually believe that they know of what they speak. I understand that any broadcaster needs to have an opinion, they base theirs based on conjecture. There’s plenty of Beach Boy rumors and tales, but when one speaks on certain subjects it would be best to rely on facts rather than apocryphal rhetoric. I personally get upset when they judge people they don’t know, based off of stories they’ve heard, without having any reliable, factual, material on which they can report. I’m glad Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys are getting a thorough examination, but I’m increasingly convinced that these two are not the best adjudicators of this body of work.

Really enjoyed the insights on creating for yourself first versus creating to please an audience

Wherein two dolts confuse loudmouthed narcissism with critical discourse. Not particularly skilled orators, these hosts take vaguely contrarian opinions and hold them with tremendous sanctimony; they seem to believe that there’s only one correct way to experience art. It’s amusing for self-styled freethinkers to brand their views as a “mindset,” a mob mentality - the lack of self awareness is painful. The Jokermen exemplify the late capitalism yuppie hipsterdom with their nasty, cynical gatekeeping and snobbery. You know the kind: where they choose to ridicule the enthusiasm of somebody else because what that person likes doesn’t fit their own perception of what is cool. A dangerous mindset which rules many roosts of white middle class boys, an often applied survival kit for the person who was bullied in school, themselves becoming taste-bullies. You won’t learn anything new or hear anything insightful here. The Jokermen are retchingly typical of that part of the world where being a parasite goes for legitimacy, the predators and carrion feeders of journalism who Dylan & Reed satirised, despised and loathed without mercy. 🙏🏽

Put it on

why would people pay for this content? Ill-informed pretentious hipster snobs. just walk into any record store and you could overhear the same trite obnixious blather. Snarky Wikipedia

Found this pod looking for root beer podcasts. I love it! But can we get rid of all the music talk?

It was my understanding that there would be no Billy Joel.

Think I picked the wrong episode. Some of the dumbest takes on Paul Simon ever uttered. Embarrassing stuff.

Hey, little Jokermen sit here on my lap. I got things that I gotta tell you. No more Dylan. Put away your Cale tapes. You rough Newman days are through.

It’s good podcast; put it on.

He sits behind the microphone. He speaks in such a manly tone.

Love listening to this with my sweetie baby!

irreverent and insightful discussion of music that deserves more attention than it’s gotten, highlighted by evan’s spot on impressions and ian’s pitch perfect radio/podcaster voice. plus just a fun hangout vibe. highly recommended!

These guys give me life. Such a generous approach to music history and analysis. Love it. It’s good music (podcast).

Thank you, thank you Amen.

These guys are smart, engaging, and committed to their craft and chosen artists. As a 64 y/o who’s been listening to Dylan for many, many years, I appreciate the Jokermen’s knowledge , sincerity, and unique insights.

the jokermen are teaching us how to love. don’t you dare miss it.

Literally one of the only good podcasts

I was feeling let down and frankly cheated, but then they perfectly ranked Lou Reed’s 50 best songs.

i want to start honkin down the gosh darn highway already

Great project, deep diving one artists work, one album at a time. Love the close reading of the music. The tangents and detours are satisfying and color the broader story. Learned a lot about Bob, Lou, John, Van, Mark, Don, Walt, Scott. Looking forward to The Beach Boys odyssey and all the left turns that includes. Everyone knows the classic records, but these are classic *artists* and looking at their projects holistically is excellent.

Title says it all.

That’s all you need to know

Theirs is a greatness to behold. These guys are the last surviving progeny, the last of the late-era-loving world of Bob and Lou.

I do love the Jokerman mindset. Five stars because I always look forward to the show. The fellas do a fine job contextualizing and deeply listening to under-appreciated records from geniuses. Always fun and interesting. The show seems like an exercise in rock genius fundamentalist apologetics at times (some songs defended/celebrated, particularly some Lou songs, are inexcusably bad!) but I thank the Jokermen for inspiring me to revisit some records I previously paid scant attention to. Fine work! Looking forward to Wilson/Beach Boys.

If you think you like Bob Dylan or Lou Reed, there’s a good chance you’ve only heard about 15% of their music. The Jokermen mindset is about what is popular isn’t always the best and makes the case that an artist is an artist for life, not just 5 years in 60s. As two guys who grew up in the Pitchfork era, it’s refreshing to hear new ears go through these discographies without the preconditioned views of Rolling Stone (or even pitchfork, thank god). I got two of my boomer uncles into it and one left me a voicemail of signing Jokerman to me for my birthday. Great stuff. Three stars!

Interesting points guys

It’s great! Three stars.

My five is equivalent to the jokermen 3 system best music podcast be aware the bad reviews are from the same hater some weirdo with hurt feelings from Twitter Exceptional talk on Steely Dan Bob Dylan’s deep catalog VU and more The Never Ending podcast with Steven Hyden is even better!

I do recommend Jokermen and enjoyed the full Dylan discography binge, but this is by far the most I’ve had to mentally negotiate with hosts on any podcast. Just be aware, the random ice clinking and lip smacking do not go away, and it’s safest to fact check anything you hear worth repeating. Again, would recommend and 3 stars by their own rules.

Live by the three-star system, die by the three-star system.

Made me cry at work.

I enjoyed this pod for the last three years until they brought on an unapologetic fascist supporter (Ariel Pink) to talk about Steely Dan…it’s 2023 folks where are your heads? I’m over separating the art from the artist, the critic from the critique. If you keep company with pro-fascists, well… I burned all of my Ariel Pink records (which I’d been collecting since 2005) in a barrel fire after I heard him in an interview with “all gas no brakes” in 2020 when he said “things aren’t that bad right now.” Anyone associating with with someone like this during a fascist uprising, and a country reckoning with its racist tendencies is only enabling this kind of problematic behavior. Hold your friends and family accountable. Goodbye, I’ve unsubscribed.

I’ve gotten through the Desire episodes. If the mouth smacking noises before the start of nearly every sentence reduces as they progress, this will become 4/5 stars.

Great pod if you wanna go deep on Lou, Bob, the VU or just good music. They dig deep and keep it light. Real great stuff. For real heads.

I walk in eternity.

What a rip off to have half the content behind a paywall

Woman... Woe-man... Whoooa-man! She was a thief You gotta belief She stole my heart and my cat. Betty’s Judy, Josie and those hot Pussycats... Saturday morny... Girls of cartoo-ins... Won't leave me in ruins... I want to to be Betty's Barney. Hey Jane... Get me off this crazy thing... Called love.

I've been a huge Dylan fan since the early 90s, and own everything released under Dylan's name, but these guys got me to listen more closely and thoughtfully to a lot of Dylan stuff that I'd written off after an initial negative impression. I've been a huge Velvet Underground fan since 2000 but never ventured into Cale and Reed solo stuff for similar reasons, and Ian and Even have revealed some real gems in those catalogs for me. The humor and positivity they bring to every episode makes the journey fun even when the music maybe doesn't grab you. If you want pure magic start with the Purple Mountains episode.

I listened only to the Christopher Owens interview. Hey, to the guy doing the interview: your interviews could be much improved if you could try to check yourself and refrain from saying, "sure" and "right" after everything the subject says. It could be out of nervousness, or a desire to affirm Chris/keep him going with what he's saying, or just habit, but I found that it made the conversation very stilted. And it also made *me* feel a little anxious, to be honest, like you were rushing him or trying coax conversation out of him. I hope you don't take this too harshly; a lot of people have this habit! I interview people a lot for my job (qualitative researcher) and have to stay on top of myself so I don't do it!

Talks about “Zionism”, lauds Kanye. Edit :also, their merch is overpriced and just copies/pastes album titles. So unoriginal and boring; hard pass. They beg for good reviews also. They blast user comments that they dont agree with. Part of me pitties them, they are only like 20 years old. It’s evident from their inane patter. Maybe they’ll grow up one day, doubtful though. The Jokermen are a joke.

It is fun and funny to listen to those true Dylan fans discuss his oeuvre. You must tolerate the hosts’ lack of background Dylan knowledge (or Cale knowledge; uh, yeah, he plays the viola, which is pronounced…) and apparent allergy to deep research. Also, I regret to say that Evan can be intolerably pleased with his own cleverness and/or contrarian views. This show can sometimes sound like an only child, who’s been told by everyone how funny he is, pontificating at his younger, agreeable cousin.

I’m not into Dylan (no disrespect), so I jumped into this show for the John, Lou, VU stuff. But I can’t get into it. I tried. I think some of the pretentious affectations turn me off too much, but that’s what I get for trying to listen to a podcast about this kind of music. Bonus point for giving a spotlight on Girls/Chris Owens/Chet “JR” White.

My favorite music discovery service. They are as funny as they think they are

A very very great podcast about the best American songwriter has ever lived, I think Abraham Lincoln said that. Great dudes who really are funny that shine a light on unappreciated works of Bob, Lou, and John (hopefully Neil soon). I said that

What began as a massively fun and insightful survey of the GOAT Bobby D has now morphed into a greater investigation of the myriad musical mystery men riding Bob’s illustrious wake. There’s an intangible but mystical line drawn between Steely, Zevon, Cale/Reed, Van, Bejar and the other artists in this kingdom - these intelligent ciphers and shadow poets with deep catalogs full of endless room for debate. This podcast makes an effort to sanctify their purported “lesser” works, and to shine new lights on records long left for dead. Definitely one of the best music podcasts out there - a joy for true lovers of this loose “Dylanesque” genre. It would get 6 stars and a little gold record if they weren’t so mean to Zappa on Twitter.

I’m a huge Velvet & John & Lou fan and I appreciate that my voice feels heard every time the Jokermen say “I love rock songs” it’s just about all you need.

I love rock songs. If you love rocks songs, you’ll like this podcast.