Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
Slate Podcasts
8 Listeners
All episodes
Best episodes
Top 10 Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
What’s 1984 Got to Do with It Edition Part 2
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
09/27/24 • 63 min
A decade ago, Rolling Stone magazine called 1984 “Pop’s Greatest Year.” A bold statement...but a lot of critics agree. A confluence of factors—the comeback of dance music, the peak of MTV, the Second British Invasion, and the emergence of metal and hip-hop—made the radio a great place to be.
It was a year of fearless genre crossover...cinematic hits...veterans reinventing themselves...ballads that became standards...a newcomer named Madonna...and a movie star who called himself The Kid and made doves cry.
Join Chris Molanphy as he dissects eight reasons why 1984 was awesome for pop fans and walks through all 20 of the year’s No. 1 hits: from “Jump” to “Hello,” “Karma Chameleon” to “Caribbean Queen,” “Let’s Go Crazy” to “Like a Virgin.” This is what it sounds like when pop’s fly.
Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 Listener
The Everybody Say YEAH! Edition
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
03/29/19 • 68 min
When you think of Stevie Wonder’s legendary career, what chart-toppers come to mind? “Superstition,” right? Maybe “I Wish”? Okay, but what about the start of his career, on the Motown of the ’60s? You may not know that Wonder had only one Hot 100 No. 1 in his first decade—as “Little” Stevie Wonder—and it was truly exceptional, as in bizarre: a semi-improvised live recording of a “12 Year-Old Genius” refusing to leave a Chicago stage and say goodnight. Here’s the story of “Fingertips, Part 2,” and the years that launched a true pop icon. Wonder’s imperial run of classic, chart-topping, Grammy-dominating ’70s albums had their seeds in the joyous virtuosity, and fierce independence, on display in his very first hit.
Email: [email protected]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 Listener
1 Comment
1
Say a Little Prayer Edition Part 1
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
11/15/24 • 61 min
You know her honorific: Queen of Soul. And heavy is the head that wears the crown. In her lifetime, Aretha Franklin didn’t just want to be revered. She wanted hits. But Franklin made pop come to her, not the other way around.
When showtunes and standards didn’t work in the ’60s, Aretha switched to gritty R&B and gospel harmonies—and started topping the charts. When she recorded a live album in a church in the ’70s, it became her best-seller. When the MTV era changed the game in the ’80s, she did New Wave synthpop her way—and topped the charts again. In the ’90s, she tried house, hip-hop and New Jack Swing, scoring hits deep into her fifties.
Join Chris Molanphy as he explains how Aretha Franklin earned her regal title, one hit at a time. She won our respect by infusing the charts with a holy spirit and amazing grace—and she always remained a natural woman.
Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.
Disclosure in Podcast Description: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond’s yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond’s YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 Listener
We Want It That Way Edition Part 2
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
04/27/24 • 62 min
When you hear “boy band,” what do you picture? Five guys with precision dance moves? Songs crafted by the Top 40 pop machine? Svengalis pulling the puppet strings? Hordes of screaming girls?
As it turns out, not all boy bands fit these signifiers. (Well...except for the screaming girls—they are perennial.) There are boy bands that danced, and some that did not...boy bands that relied entirely on outside songwriters, and those that wrote big hits...boy bands assembled by managers or producers, and quite a few that launched on their own.
From Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers to New Kids on the Block, the Monkees to the Jonas Brothers, Boyz II Men to BTS, New Edition to One Direction, and...yeah, of course, Backstreet Boys and *N Sync, boy bands have had remarkable variety over the years. (In a sense, even a certain ’60s Fab Four started as a boy band.)
Join Chris Molanphy as he tries to define the ineffable quality of boy band–ness, walks through decades of shrieking, hair-pulling pop history, and reminds you that boy bands generated some of our greatest hits, from “I Want You Back” to “I Want It That Way,” “Bye Bye Bye” to “Dynamite.” Help him “bring the fire and set the night alight.”
Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 Listener
One and Done, Part 1
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
09/18/20 • 52 min
Hit Parade is back for non-Slate Plus listeners! Upcoming episodes will be split into two parts, released two weeks apart. For the full episode right now, sign up for Slate Plus and you'll also get The Bridge, our Trivia show and deep dive into our subjects. slate.com/hitparadeplus.
“One-hit wonder” is a popular term in our culture—and not just in music: sportscasters, Wall Street analysts and news anchors all use it. But what does “one-hit wonder” actually mean on the pop charts? Hit Parade host Chris Molanphy has thought a lot about this—and he has rules to determine who’s really a one-hit wonder. They might surprise you: Dexys Midnight Runners? They’re a one-hit wonder. Men Without Hats? Nope, not fair. Lou Reed? Yes. Marky Mark? No. In this episode, Chris breaks it all down, explaining why “Take on Me” is a pop classic but A-ha are still only one-hitters in America.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 Listener
1 Comment
1
The Invisible Miracle Sledgehammer Edition
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
05/31/19 • 84 min
When a band member leaves to go solo, usually it means the band’s best days are over. That’s what everybody thought when Peter Gabriel left Genesis in the ’70s. Except not only did the band survive—fronted by drummer-turned-singer Phil Collins, they got bigger. Then Collins went solo...except he didn’t ditch Genesis. In fact, his success made them bigger—one of the definitive pop bands of the 1980s, as Collins’s monstrous drum sound took over pop music. By mid-decade, current and former members of Genesis—even side projects from its guitarists—were all competing head-to-head on the Billboard charts. On Hit Parade, we explore the knotty family tree of Genesis, the unlikeliest group ever to become a Hot 100 juggernaut.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 Listener
1 Comment
1
The Bridge: Yacht Or Nyacht?
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
08/28/20 • 50 min
First, we have a few announcements about the future of Hit Parade—and it’s good news for both Slate Plus members and non-Plus listeners. While the economic challenges of COVID-19 certainly haven’t abated, Hit Parade has attracted enough new Plus members to allow us to take some episodes out from behind Slate’s paywall starting in September.
Starting next month, full-length Hit Parade episodes will debut in the middle of the month, not the end (our next full-length episode drops on Friday, September 18). If you are a Plus member, you’ll hear the whole show all at once, the day it drops. If you are not a Plus member, you will receive the first half of the episode mid-month, with ads, and you’ll have to wait a couple of weeks to hear the second half of the show, at month’s end. Finally, Hit Parade—“The Bridge” episodes will remain Plus-only.
IAgain, thanks to many of you who signed up for Slate Plus just to hear Hit Parade, and of course the thousands of longtime Plus members. We plan to keep giving you the bonus content you expect. And a hearty welcome back to non-Plus listeners—we hope you’ll consider joining Slate Plus in the future, but you can also support Hit Parade by spreading the word about our episodes. And to sign up for Slate Plus to support the show, head over to slate.com/hitparadeplus.
In this mini-episode of Hit Parade, host Chris Molanphy is joined by J.D. Ryznar, “Hollywood” Steve Huey, and Dave Lyons, creators of the web series Yacht Rock and follow-up podcast Beyond Yacht Rock. Not only did they invent the very term that inspired the latest episode of Hit Parade, they have kept the fire alive by refining what the genre means.
The Yacht Rockers and Chris discuss the enduring legacy of the term they created—from why the name stuck, to how it was perceived by the various artists whose music it defined. (Boz Scaggs is reportedly not happy.) They also reveal songs they’d re-rate against their signature Yachtski scale, songs commonly tagged Yacht that are actually “Nyacht,” and how they curate the boundaries of the genre. They even offer a Hit Parade–exclusive announcement about what’s next for their smooth creation.
Finally, Chris quizzes a Slate Plus listener with some music trivia, gives her a chance to turn the tables on him, and previews next month’s full-length episode.
Podcast production by Asha Saluja.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 Listener
Introducing Broken Record: "Norah Jones Begins Again"
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
01/03/25 • 82 min
To kick off the New Year, we're sharing a podcast that we think Hit Parade listeners are going to love: Broken Record. Check out this episode with singer/songwriter Norah Jones, co-hosted by Blue Note Records President Don Was. Norah has been with Blue Note Records since releasing her juggernaut 2002 debut album, Come Away With Me. In this conversation, Norah details her musical upbringing and what it was like striking it big with her debut album. She also performs for us, and talks about the musical freedom she's found as part of the Blue Note family.
Blue Note is one of the first and longest standing institutions of jazz music. Since its formation in 1939 the label has put out albums by Robert Glasper, Lee Morgan, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Gergory Porter, Bobby McFerrin, and many more.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 Listener
Raise Your Glass Edition Part 1
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
03/11/23 • 54 min
Alecia Moore was so fearless, they put an exclamation point in her name. Pink—a.k.a. P!nk—was full of bravado from the moment she broke at the turn of the millennium, singing a frothy style of teen pop&B. She was promoted as ethnically ambiguous and sold to white and Black audiences as a sassy Total Request Live starlet. She even joined an all-star remake of “Lady Marmalade.”
But Pink felt misrepresented, even Missundaztood—so she recorded an album by that name, fusing rock guitar, dance beats and filter-free lyrics. She called out shiftless boyfriends, other pop stars, even the president of her record label in the lyrics of her hits, becoming the pop fan’s rock star.
Join Chris Molanphy as he explains how Pink defined her own genre fusing punk attitude and soaring melodies into 21st-century self-empowerment music. She made herself into a rock star, simply by calling herself one. Who knew?
Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.
Make an impact this Women’s History Month by helping Macy’s on their mission to fund girls in STEM. Go to macys.com/purpose to learn more.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 Listener
The Bad Moon on the Rise Edition
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
02/28/19 • 63 min
In just a couple of years, Creedence Clearwater Revival generated one of the most amazing runs of hits in
American pop history: from “Proud Mary” to “Green River,” “Bad Moon Rising” to “Travelin’ Band.”
Reportedly, they even outsold the Beatles in America in 1969. But for all their success with those John
Fogerty–penned classics, CCR never held the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100. All of those hits were No. 2s: a
dubious Billboard chart record they hold to this day, for most No. 2s without a No. 1. True, it was the late ’60s,
and CCR had the bad luck to be competing with such chart titans as Paul Simon and Sly Stone...but
sometimes they were held back by No. 1 songs that are barely remembered today. In this episode of Hit
Parade, we break down the sequence of events that relegated CCR—a future first-ballot Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame band—to the charts’ permanent runner-up slot.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 Listener
1 Comment
1
Show more best episodes
Show more best episodes
FAQ
How many episodes does Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia have?
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia currently has 182 episodes available.
What topics does Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia cover?
The podcast is about Music, Music History, Podcasts and Music Commentary.
What is the most popular episode on Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia?
The episode title 'Hit Parade: The Fab Four Sweep Edition' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia?
The average episode length on Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia is 55 minutes.
How often are episodes of Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia released?
Episodes of Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia are typically released every 14 days, 1 hour.
When was the first episode of Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia?
The first episode of Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia was released on Apr 28, 2017.
Show more FAQ
Show more FAQ