BONUS: Best Song of 1978 PREVIEW

01/06/25 • 4 min

Great Pop Culture Debate host Eric Rezsnyak explains how we created the bracket for our Patreon-sponsored episode devoted to the Best Song of 1978, as well as walks you through the Round 1 match-ups. The main episode will release on Tuesday, January 7, wherever you listen to podcasts.

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CREDITS:

Intro/outro music: "Dance to My Tune" by Marc Torch

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Make sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any upcoming episodes:

https://www.greatpopculturedebate.com/subscribe

And if you love pop culture, sign up for our weekly newsletter to keep up on all the new movies, music, and TV shows dropping every week!

CREDITS:

Intro/outro music: "Dance to My Tune" by Marc Torch

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

Best Holiday Novelty or Parody Song

Most holiday pop songs tend to be joyful, energetic, or heartwarming, summoning nostalgia for the season and evoking what top scientists have defined as “feeling that gingerbread feeling.” But the holiday music canon is also peppered with bizarre little tunes that play up the ridiculous traditions we largely take for granted, or mock the treacly emotionalism of Christmas. While we have covered many of the more serious songs in the Christmas canon, this year the Great Pop Culture Debate is turning its attention to the intentionally absurd, the deliberately offputting as it debates the Best Novelty or Parody Holiday Song.

Songs discussed: “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas,” “The Chipmunk Song,” “The Chanukah Song,” “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” “Dominick the Donkey,” “The 12 Pains of Christmas,” “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” “Nuttin’ for Christmas,” “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth,” “Christmas at Ground Zero,” “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” etc.

Join host Eric Rezsnyak and GPCD panelists Andrea Guerrero, Derek Mekita, and Jonny Minogue as they discuss 16 of the silliest holiday songs of all time.

Play along at home by finding the listener bracket here. Make a copy for yourself, fill it out, and see if your picks match up with ours!

For more exclusive content, including the warm-up in which we discuss additional parody and novelty songs we were bummed didn’t make the bracket, become a Patreon supporter of the podcast today.

Want to play along at home?

Download the Listener Bracket and see if your picks match up with ours!

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Episode Credits

Host: Eric Rezsnyak

Panel: Andrea Guerrero, Derek Mekita, Jonny Minogue

Producer: Curtis Creekmore

Editor: Eric Rezsnyak

Theme Music: “Dance to My Tune” by Marc Torch

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Next Episode

Best Song of 1978

The late 1970s were a fascinating time for music. Where else could you have country songs, heavy rock, disco, r'n'b, electro-pop, jazz, and even novelty songs top the charts? Only the 70s, baby! Now, as we hurtle toward 50 years after their release, the Great Pop Culture Debate wants to determine the Best Songs of 1978. Songs discussed: “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor, “Le Freak” by CHIC, “Just the Way You Are” by Billy Joel, “Fat Bottomed Girls” by Queen, “I’m Every Woman” by Chaka Khan, “One Way Or Another” by Blondie, “I Wanna Be Sedated” by Ramones, “Roxanne” by The Police, “Stayin’ Alive” by Bee Gees, “Copacabana” by Barry Manilow, “Take a Chance On Me” by ABBA, “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions” by Queen, “Heart of Glass” by Blondie, “Rock Lobster” by The B-52’s, “Big Shot” by Billy Joel, “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire.

Note that while some of these songs were released in 1977, they were all on the Billboard Top 100 for the 1978 end-of-year charts.

Join host Eric Rezsnyak, Patreon sponsor Derek Mekita, GPCD panelist Karissa Kloss, and special guest panelist Beth D’Imperio as they discuss 16 of the greatest songs from the late 1970s.

Play along at home by finding the listener bracket here. Make a copy for yourself, fill it out, and see if your picks match up with ours!

For more exclusive content, including the warm-up in which we discuss additional songs that were popular in 1978 we were bummed didn’t make the bracket, become a Patreon supporter of the podcast today.

Need more reasons to become a Patreon supporter? Check out our Top 10 reasons here!