Christina Aguilera - Bionic with Dave of Battlemode

Explicit content warning

05/13/25 • 149 min

Feeling futuristic? Horny and confused? Are your circuits overloaded with indie electro-clash posturing, fembot fantasies, and the desperate clang of a pop star perpetually trying to reboot her identity to decidedly mixed results? This week, we plug into Bionic, Christina Aguilera’s glittery, glitchy, seemingly cursed attempt at beating Lady Gaga in the art pop culture wars of the early 2010s.

Joining us on this cybernetic misadventure is Boston musician and unrivaled electro pop diva Dave of Battlemode, as we unravel the tangled wires of Xtina’s identity crisis, complete with MIA-mimicking monotone choruses, Switch-pop dumbed down dubstep beats, and an inexplicable string of Sia-penned coffeehouse ballads. We dig into the cultural wasteland of 2010, when pop was plastic, femme-powerment was market-tested, and a newly married mom wanted all of us to know how much she wanted you to licky licky yum yum on her Woohoo. Bop, flop, whichever way you slice it....we wish it would STOP. Part of the Pantheon podcast network.

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Previous Episode

The Defiant - If I'm Really Being Honest with Dicky Stock and Tom Saunders

How are you feeling, Stoppies? A little aggrieved? A tad perturbed? Are you ready to get REAL about your DEFIANT opinions on the woke mind virus, how doctors are evil pill pushers, and why Jon Stewart doesn't send you cute little videos on your birthday anymore? This week we cover the precipitous fall of once beloved Cookie Monster-voiced ska dad Dicky Barrett of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, who threw away the cushiest career in showbiz to become an RFK Jr. sycophant and conspiracy huckster. His new band, The Defiant, is the saddest supergroup of MAGA-pilled castaways whose only requirement for joining is presumably that they got kicked out of their previous elder punk bands for having one too many brain worms. Joining us to mourn our fallen soldier is comedian Dicky Stock and musician Tom Saunders, who can both boast membership in high school ska bands and shared suburban legacies with our dear hosts Heather and Mike. We go way off the rails for this one, and extremely heavy on the Massachusetts regional in jokes - who knew Dicky had so many absurdly specific stories about being punched out in green rooms with local hardcore legends? Apologies in advance, but hey, we're just being HONEST.

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Next Episode

The Worst of Queen

Howdy folks, we're back back back again with another WRETCH-rospective of a classic and beloved act, documenting and dissecting the 10 worst Queen tracks ever recorded. We're not gonna lie Stoppies, this was a tough one - not because their catalogue is overripe with audio atrocities but because with Freddie Mercury on vocals, Brian May on guitar, and Roger Taylor on drums (sorry to the oft-forgotten John Deacon on bass) it was hard to find TRULY awful tracks. However Mike did manage to dredge up some musical muck including misguided biblical retellings, reluctant talk box synth guitars and scat rap vaudeville singalongs about suicide. Enjoy!*

*enjoyment not guaranteed.

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