Best Mark Blankenship Podcasts (2024)

1
Weird Al vs. Everybody Episode 23: "Word Crimes" 23:16

4d ago23:16

23:16

"Blurred Lines," the sound of the summer of 2013, is compared (unfavorably) with a cold sore in today's episode, which pits Robin Thicke, TI, and Pharrell against Weird Al's screed against bad grammar and usage errors. Despairing of Shazam, continuing to die on the hill of "irregardless," and the tyranny of younger siblings over the #oldladywalk pl…

1
Weird Al vs. Everybody Episode 21: "Smells Like Nirvana" 28:53

11d ago28:53

28:53

Thirty years after the death of frontman Kurt Cobain, Nirvana and their music still feel very close. Does that have anything to do with Weird Al's equally "defining" parody, a track that let Al "sell out" again after the disastrous UHF experience...with a band at the bleeding edge of the sell-out conversation? The shroud of tragedy, the performance…

1
Weird Al vs. Everybody Episode 19: "Rye Or The Kaiser" 27:40

18d ago27:40

27:40

It's an all-time training-montage banger vs. Weird Al's vision for Rocky XIII in today's episode, as we drop Wiki factoids, contemplate an all-depressing-follow-up-hits season, digress at length on Live's legal battles, and wonder when in Reagan's presidency the Me Decade became sentient. Greetings from the Sly Stallone industrial complex; get that…

1
Weird Al vs. Everybody Episode 17: "Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies" 16:11

26d ago16:11

16:11

You can't always control what people do with your art once it's out in the world -- something Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits may have learned the hard way with both the original "Money For Nothing" AND Weird Al's re-imagining of the song via a dream sequence in UHF. Essential references versus essential songs, 20th-century TV's preoccupation with yo…

1
Weird Al vs. Everybody Episode 15: "Lasagna" 30:28

1M ago30:28

30:28

It's that Airbnb pasta-taxonomy poster in pop-song form: "Lasagna," Weird Al's take on Los Lobos's take on Ritchie Valens's take on the Mexican folk song Sarah and her classmates dutifully droned during first-period Spanish. Before we cast our votes (and yours!), we talk about the restaurant from Big, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Dr. Melfi's ex-husband…

1
Weird Al vs. Everybody Episode 13: "Jurassic Park" 20:31

1M ago20:31

20:31

Late-sixties melodrama meets early-nineties blockbuster in today's episode, as we contemplate who left the Barney cake out in the rain while comparing Richard Harris's "MacArthur Park" and Weird Al's "Jurassic Park." Claymation, foiled cantatae, The Odyssey, Godspell, and songs for when the coffee's kickin' in, plus the YouTube-comments bingo card …

1
Weird Al vs. Everybody Episode 11: "I Think I'm A Clone Now" 22:34

2M ago22:34

22:34

The unique legacy of Tommy James and the Shondells adds another chapter today, as Weird Al contends with Tiffany's smash cover of "I Think We're Alone Now." We're discussing Jersey-girl aspirational fashion, budge sound that's a feature and not a bug, and that person you could know becoming that person everyone does know. Take a break from sewing p…

1
Weird Al vs. Everybody Episode 9: "I Lost On Jeopardy" 17:49

2M ago17:49

17:49

Can Weird Al inch ahead in the season standings with "I Lost On Jeopardy," his parody of the Greg Kihn Band's "Jeopardy"? We're talking early adopters, terrible album-title puns we admire, second careers, cheap-but-creepy videos, and how MB's personal Jeopardy! journey deepens his appreciation of this Yankovic joint. Tell 'em what they've won, Don …

1
Weird Al vs. Everybody Episode 7: "Gump" 23:59

2M ago23:59

23:59

This week's match-up pits The Presidents of the United States of America's "Lump" against Weird Al's "Gump"...but is it really a face-off if the original is two thirds of the way towards being the parody? What is the age of Al-wakening? What's the difference between "unserious" and "unpretentious"? Are butt-adjacent references the Yankovic equivale…

1
Weird Al vs. Everybody Episode 5: "Fat" 21:20

3M ago21:20

21:20

"What if we just........didn't." That's one of the questions confronting us as WE confront an out-of-character entry in the Weird Al songbook: "Fat." The problems don't start there; there's the cheap-sounding and turgidly self-serious original, "Bad"; by problematic artist Michael Jackson; the risible video by MJ, and the shortcutsy cruelty from WA…

1
Weird Al vs. Everybody Episode 3: "Bedrock Anthem" 22:30

3M ago22:30

22:30

Grab a tube sock for your privates: it's time to pit the Red Hot Chili Peppers against Weird Al! Before Mark makes the pun that drives our listenership numbers off a cliff, we're discussing the omnipresent Chilis hits "Under The Bridge" and "Give It Away"; how many songs Weird Al might have tried to fit his Flintstones joke set into before settling…

1
Weird Al vs. Everybody Episode 1: "Amish Paradise" 23:11

3M ago23:11

23:11

Welcome to the Weird Al vs. Everybody season of MASTAS! We're looking at a couple dozen Weird Al Yankovic songs and the originals that inspired him, and choosing a winner in each match-up -- starting with Coolio homage "Amish Paradise"! Before we get into self-serious videos for movies we think might be fake, cultural appropriation of pre-tech soci…

1
Do Call It A Comeback, Episode 12: Answer Songs 50:14

5M ago50:14

50:14

The competition is over, but the discussion of comeback songs isn't -- and today's is about comebacks in the answer/clapback sense. Seven "answer" songs come under the MASTAScope, as well as the frequency with which Neil Young is told to shut it, Bavaria's unexpected move to Ireland, the Judy Cycle opera we need to see, and pop songs that have beco…

1
Do Call It A Comeback, Episode 11: The Championship 25:04

5M ago25:04

25:04

It's time to declare a winner -- the definitive pop-music comeback song -- but the road to the final result is a twisty one. "Believe" and "Walk This Way" each crystallize the concept of the comeback, but in different ways, so to help us choose, we're watching videos, discussing the synecdoche of Cher, rummaging through a bin of PhD-thesis topics, …

1
Do Call It A Comeback, Episode 10: The Final 4 34:17

5M ago34:17

34:17

The semifinal round is, while somewhat predictable, still full of ups and downs, including Spelling Bee's interest in our works and days, the way Adam Lambert takes and gives meaning, how far is far enough for a song we actively dislike, Latin-phrase drag names, scary puppets, and reader comments! Sorry about the sweaty-Reagan reference; distract y…

1
Do Call It A Comeback, Episode 9: The Elite 8 47:22

6M ago47:22

47:22

We're down to eight great comeback songs; which ones will join the Do Call It A Comeback season's Final Four? We're quoting Wayne's World, we're putting things in plaid place out of eight, we're remembering upsetting Beatles gifts, we're adding salt to temp tracks, and we're wondering why it so often seemed like nobody cared about Laura Branigan's …

1
Do Call It A Comeback, Episode 8: The Sweet 16 1:16:30

6M ago1:16:30

1:16:30

The Sweet 16 is here, along with the return to numbered rankings...and the unkindest cuts of all, plus another Auto-Tune justice conversation, myriad matrices, Tracy Chapman's post-nineties Flintstones car, 92.5% of Cher's butt, unpleasant flashbacks to the sophomore dance, and the long wait for a muffin basket from Nick Rhodes. Quick, before anoth…

1
Do Call It A Comeback, Episode 7: Footnotes and Odd Lots 54:00

6M ago54:00

54:00

We're taking a quick break before the emotional press of the Sweet 16 to talk about a handful of "off-label" comebacks: award-winners, kids' songs, comebacks only we noticed, and more. We wonder whether it's possible to have been too big to truly come all the way back; we contemplate a truly catastrophic remix of self-loathing; and we bemoan sad co…

1
Do Call It A Comeback, Episode 6: Round Of 32 B 1:00:30

6M ago1:00:30

1:00:30

Mark's spreadsheet of history has spoken: we're choosing the rest of the Do Call It A Comeback season's Sweet 16 this week! From the top of the pallet of improbable late-'80s comeback songs, we're surveying the joyful geeky dance of Robin Gibb, the 20 percent of our income we owe to Duran Duran, the most tiresomely groovy Ben & Jerry's flavors, Can…

1
Do Call It A Comeback, Episode 5: Round Of 32 A 1:00:30

6M ago1:00:30

1:00:30

The Round Of 32 is underway! After a brief chat about our head-vs.-heart processes in this round, we descend into the valley of the shadow of twos: struggling to come up with the word "metamorphosis," confronting the history of Auto-Tune, measuring levels of exposure to Britpop, and planning a community-college class on interpretive dance. Everybod…

1
Do Call It A Comeback, Episode 4: The Last 15 1:12:20

7M ago1:12:20

1:12:20

The last 15 songs have entered the comeback fray, along with Nickelodeon dominance, stinky vocals in classic songs, what Clive Davis is drinking while he waits for artists at a crossroads, perfect blends of horniness and intelligence, and what happens when you drop John Belushi's Joe Cocker imitation in a vat of AI. Should Bob Dylan live in a sagua…

1
Do Call It A Comeback, Episode 3: The NEXT Next 15 1:24:00

7M ago1:24:00

1:24:00

It's the second half of the first round, and some of our toughest choices yet, as we struggle with how comebacks used to look in a monoculture; human Razzie Awards; the comeback-osity of an "X featuring Y" track; why J. Lo never seems to be having fun; weird H.W. Bush presidency detritus; returns from '70s banishment; and what exactly we have to do…

1
Do Call It A Comeback, Episode 2: The Next 15 1:16:25

7M ago1:16:25

1:16:25

The next 15 songs in our definitive-comeback-song season storm the booth! Sometimes the song is coming back to the podcast from a previous season; sometimes our lunch is coming back on us thanks to cynical bongo glurge; and sometimes we're wondering if there's a portrait of Jeff Lynne in an attic somewhere? Execrable album-only tracks, the supergro…

1
Do Call It A Comeback, Episode 1: The First 15 1:34:08

7M ago1:34:08

1:34:08

What is the most representative comeback song in pop history? Our Do Call It A Comeback season will find out...and we have been here for years, thinking about the philosophical definition of a comeback, great creative leaps forward, when B-plus vocals lead to A-plus artistry, the middle-school melodrama of '70s supergroups, savvy collaborations, an…

1
First-Name Basis, Single No. 2: Jock Jams 39:45

9M ago39:45

39:45

It was a winding road from our #FirstNameBasis finale to our favorite jock jams, but we hope y'all ARE ready for this contemplation of sporty hype tracks -- as well as county fairs, Snuffy Smith, Yankee Stadium's unpredictable PA loyalties, which song is the ur-JJ, the apparent international exchange program at work in early JJ albums, early-'90s r…

1
First-Name Basis, Episode 7: The Top 10 52:01

10M ago52:01

52:01

Whoooo's number ooooone? (BA BA BAAAAAA!) That's not a spoiler, by the way, so you'll have to listen to our First-Name Basis finale to find out which name song is the most iconic of all time -- and also what SDB's grandma called farts, differing sources of iconicity, listener testimony from an Eileen, which song has a reliable narrator, and when th…

1
First-Name Basis, Episode 6: The Top 20 1:10:41

10M ago1:10:41

1:10:41

The rankings only get more challenging as the First-Name Basis season confronts its Top 20 -- as well as iconic pop numbers, Jersey "law," unholy mash-ups of finalist songs, the cease-and-desist letter SDB should expect any moment now from Laura Branigan's estate, and your co-hosts ranking themselves 21st at remembering to play all the clips. Liza,…

1
First-Name Basis, Episode 5: Multi-Name Songs 1:00:00

10M ago1:00:00

1:00:00

Welcome to the intermission of our First-Name Basis season -- in which we're contemplating important songs with more than one name in them, and ranking them, too! And while this ep is dropping in the middle of the season, we actually recorded it first, so if it seems like we're working through our metrics for what's iconic when it comes to name son…

1
First-Name Basis, Episode 4: The Last 10 47:23

10M ago47:23

47:23

We're finishing out the Top 40 in our First-Name Basis season with an all-timer set of 10 songs: all three of the songs your co-hosts and their husbands picked to win the whole season, and the diabetic garbage that's been torturing SDB for decades. We're also discussing mall anchor restaurants, the peak period of cinema-storyline videos, enduring b…

1
First-Name Basis, Episode 3: The Third 10 55:22

10M ago55:22

55:22

"Mark and Sarah: why ya buggin'?" Why aren't we buggin' in the third ep of our First-Name Basis season: the weird fade-out during Barry Manilow's "Mandy"-ending glory note, "Mary"-song vote-splitting, SEO retitling, cheerleader moxie, the all-killer-no-filler pop charts of 1984, and Reality Bites as a crystal ball into adulthood. We're also craving…

1
First-Name Basis, Episode 2: The Next 10 44:01

11M ago44:01

44:01

The second batch of 10 songs is raising tough questions for our First-Name Basis season, like: Does difficult subject matter preclude a song from moving on? How can you tell if a songwriter has never lived in NYC...and how drunk WERE the Kingsmen? Would Rick Springfield REALLY just pine for some lady? We also fondly remember You Can't Do That On Te…

1
First-Name Basis, Episode 1: The First 10 55:10

11M ago55:10

55:10

Our First-Name Basis season is underway! Our mission: to identify the most iconic song associated with a first name. But how? It starts right here, as we look at the first 10 in our FNB Top 40 and decide which songs/names move on to the next round. Along the way, we make predictions, remember Just One Of The Guys and American Crime Story, stand too…

1
Record Of The Year Showdown, Episode 10: The Championship 30:35

1y ago30:35

30:35

The Record Of The Year Showdown comes down to this...and there's not a ton of surprises here, probably, but there IS the wall of history, the wisdom of (drunk, stoned New York City) crowds, shared musical language, the "Somebody" multiverse, and Sarah's zombie mom. So, you know: Monday. Everyone's a winner in the battle of head vs. heart as we crow…

1
Record Of The Year Showdown, Episode 9: The Final 4 46:27

1y ago46:27

46:27

Mark's shenanigans aside, we had an easier time ranking our semifinal group than we'd expected -- but we didn't necessarily expect to go on a sentimental journey with TLC, Sarah Palin's nephew LARP Jr., cutesy Aretha, braided beards, and an open invitation to Gotye to come on/edit the podcast. But a full moon and Sarah's all-covers clip choices put…

1
Record Of The Year Showdown, Episode 8: The Elite 8 49:33

1y ago49:33

49:33

"This'll be cinchy! [cut to: sobbing]" We thought we'd have a more straightforward time of our quarterfinal rankings, but alas, no. We did have a Whitney-koan reader mail, a visit from Katharine Hepburn, the aural equivalent of a sped-up Bob Ross episode, and music-minister shout-outs before Julio got the stretch and carted off four more beloved so…

1
Record Of The Year Showdown, Episode 7: The Sweet 16 58:30

1y ago58:30

58:30

More like the BITTER-sweet 16, the episode that forces hosts and listeners alike to make terrible choices, as well as rank things politically, salute album-cover pets of yore, choose which Adele hills to die on, pit Henry Mancini against Leonard Nimoy, mourn the consensus "blech," and dodge the ire of John Ramos whilst deploying Emilio Estevez fist…

1
Record Of The Year Showdown, Episode 6: Round Of 32, '91-'22 38:46

1y ago38:46

38:46

The Round Of 32 is a plot-heavy affair: Coldplay premonitions, beautiful German cheese, learning to love advisedly off-putting pop, and songs that grab you by the nip. As the decisions get more agonizing, Aunt Doreen punches Grampy Blankenship in the face, and we discover that the ghost in the machine is -- and will continue to be -- Whitney. Get r…

1
Record Of The Year Showdown, Episode 5: Round Of 32, '59-'90 57:58

1y ago57:58

57:58

The Round Of 32: where the choices get tougher and the cheeses get lonelier. We're writing Back To The Future/Babybel fan-fic, analyzing palimpsest layers, appreciating Bobby Darin's interpretive skills (and apologizing to Jerry Orbach), and wondering who's going to do a better job of seducing Sarah, Mrs. Robinson or Toto. What song is a red-wine d…

1
Record Of The Year Showdown, Episode 4: 2007-2022 1:21:42

1y ago1:21:42

1:21:42

It's the final section of our Record Of The Year Showdown Round Of 64! The Grammys get more of a clue, albeit seemingly by accident, here in the 21st century, and we're talking about that, plus the late Shows Of Note, editorial thrills in dinosaur/country-fiddle pairings, farts over a xylophone, our favorite generic bands, the schmaltz hinge point,…

1
Record Of The Year Showdown, Episode 3: 1991-2006 1:27:51

1y ago1:27:51

1:27:51

We're heading -- somewhat angrily! -- into the 21st century in our third Record Of The Year Showdown episode. Spanning 1991-2006 at the Grammys, our discussion also looks at early-nineties quality control lapses, celebrations of the dusty past, nestling in the Swiss-y holes of pop cheese, seventh-grade-dance melodrama, special categories for Whitne…

1
Record Of The Year Showdown, Episode 2: 1975-1990 1:36:19

1+ y ago1:36:19

1:36:19

The Record Of The Year Showdown enters the second "bracket" section with winners from 1975-1990, which means a lot of flashbacks to our America's Damp 40 season; theories about Billy Joel and Rufus Wainwright; Eagles/color-blindness test metaphors; underappreciated dad-bod pop stars; how a cult implicated Steve Winwood; and the necessity of special…

1
Record Of The Year Showdown, Episode 1: 1959-1974 1:07:51

1+ y ago1:07:51

1:07:51

Welcome to our Record Of The Year Showdown season! With listeners' help, we're going to find out which Grammy-winner for ROTY is the best of the 64 winners to date...or maybe just the least baffling and unconscionable. How are we doing this? It's sort of a bracket; we'll explain up top, and then we'll talk about cobwebby rocking chairs, how anyone …

1
Beats Around The Bush, Episode 07: Cringe-Hop Is Too Legit To Quit 49:30

1+ y ago49:30

49:30

We're wrapping up our second "embarrassing radio hip-hop" ep with Marky Mark, Vanilla Ice, MC Hammer, and two by Young MC. Different Wahlbergs for different times in one's bunk, Myra Cormier truthering, rap conceived by dudes named Kev to sell plastic toys, the drums you find in the dumpster behind KMart, and cheekbones that could cut ham -- it's a…

1
Beats Around The Bush, Episode 06: Cringe-Hop Wipes Out 58:01

1+ y ago58:01

58:01

We had so much to say about embarrassing radio hip-hop of the H.W. Bush era, we had to split our convo into two episodes! Here in the first one, we're confronting C+C Music Factory, the Fat/Beach Boys, Gerardo, Kris Kross, and the erstwhile Jesse Jaymes; we're wondering who's getting hit with a brick; we're asking who saw Disorderlies more times, a…

1
Beats Around The Bush, Episode 05: The Mystery Of Tone Loc 41:04

1+ y ago41:04

41:04

Tone Loc was everywhere; then, he wasn't -- or so it seemed. Did Anthony Terrell Smith really disappear, or did the nineties just make him less visible? What exactly is in a Fuzzy Navel? Why does his work keep stumbling into trans panic? And will MC Hammer ever see chart justice? With a little help from Robert Stack and LL Cool J, we're contemplati…

1
Beats Around The Bush, Episode 04: May The JVC Force Be With You 34:07

1+ y ago34:07

34:07

Sarah is obsessed with late-'80s Bronx/Central Islip outfit JVC Force! Mark...is also on this podcast! ...But seriously, folks: we're unpacking a handful of tracks from "Doin' Damage," peering into the 1990 divide, and pouring one out for our shortest episode. Wheel that seafood tower on over to our table and listen in. Our intro is J.V.C. F.O.R.C.…

1
Beats Around The Bush, Episode 03: Salt-N-Pepa Six-Pack 44:00

1+ y ago44:00

44:00

Salt-N-Pepa's here and they came to out-rap you -- but not in a mean way! Today we're talking about six Salt-N-Pepa hits across a handful of albums, the difference between '80s and '90s SNP, when #smarternotharder comes to hip-hop, and how talking "About Sex" sounded 30 years ago. Nobody's getting on OUR nerves in the third Beats Around The Bush ep…

1
Beats Around The Bush, Episode 02: Def Jef Jam 27:37

1+ y ago27:37

27:37

In our second Beats Around The Bush-isode, we're (re-?)introducing the world to the joyous, winking, horny turn-of-the-nineties sound of Jeffrey Fortson, aka Def Jef. We're also remembering Def Leppard, early Law & Order: Mothership, regrettable t-shirts of freshman year, and Gowanus Bob. Grab a lemon-lime bev and prepare to have your vision correc…

1
Beats Around The Bush, Episode 01: Hippie Hop Hooray 57:00

1+ y ago57:00

57:00

Welcome to our Beats Around The Bush season, in which we investigate the rap and hip-hop that brought us joy during/near the first Bush presidency, 1988-1993ish. After we try to explain our construction of this framework, we dig into our first BATB topic: "hippie hop," the relaxed/baked grooves of the time from artists like De La Soul, PM Dawn, Us3…

1
The Lilith Fair 40, Episode 08: The Final Ranking 1:08:36

1+ y ago1:08:36

1:08:36

Who is the Lilith Fairest of them all? At last, our answer -- but first, we look at last-comers Heather Nova, Jewel, Paula Cole, Des'ree, and Natalie Merchant. And we ask a few more questions, like which sophomore year lyrics belong to, high school or college; whether we feel truly confident in our Lilithosity metrics; who's our favorite liberal sc…

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