500songs (Andrew Hickey)

[Satchmo Distel]

The depth of this series is incredible and I doubt that anyone except him could do it:

https://500songs.com/podcast/

Any criticisms?

[SteveDave]

I fucking love it and have paid £10 a year to get the extra podcasts.

I was a bit confused why he chose "White Light/White Heat" for the Velvet Underground when you could argue that "Heroin" is the more "important" song of theirs. I'm also sad that it looks like it'll be the only song of theirs to be featured.

The next one is about the Grateful Deazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[dontpaintyourteeth]

oh good this thread is unreadable on phones now

also the grateful dead are good

[SteveDave]

OK doobie smoker

[Pete23]

I was a bit confused why he chose "White Light/White Heat" for the Velvet Underground when you could argue that "Heroin" is the more "important" song of theirs.

I thought he only covered singles? Agree with the podcast praise, I've learnt so much. Shame he's had to reduce the frequency but each one's a gem.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

An absolutely brilliant podcast, Andrew's dedicated deep-dive research and storytelling prowess are second to none. It's right up there with Cocaine & Rhinestones as one of the best music history pods.

And yeah, I couldn't give a fuck about the Grateful Dead either, SteveDave, but of course I'll listen to that episode anyway. Andrew will weave an interesting story, you don't have to actually like the artist he's talking about (I know you know that, obvs).

Christ, I even enjoyed his Zappa episode.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I thought he only covered singles?

I think that's the criteria, yeah. He could've covered Sunday Morning or All Tomorrow's Parties, but it must be so difficult trying to fit everything in chronological order.

[SteveDave]

Christ, I even enjoyed his Zappa episode.

I think that's the only one I abandoned partway through. Everything about that man makes my shit itch.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I think that's the only one I abandoned partway through. Everything about that man makes my shit itch.

I can't stand him either, but I still found it quite interesting.

[SteveDave]

The next one about the bloody Grateful Dead isn't finished but is currently 3 hours long. Or as they call it half a song. Amiright lads?

[dontpaintyourteeth]

not really, no

[SteveDave]

For all the work and stress he's put himself through for this episode, I'm never going to listen to it. The Greatful Dead are a terminal diarrhoea band.

[Satchmo Distel]

You should listen for the cultural context, I think, and how it will tie in with the other trends.

But I worry that his OCD is causing him to go into far too much sociological depth than is needed for this project.

[ajsmith2]

I've only listened to the Waterloo Sunset episode, and it was fantastic, EXCEPT it really annoyed me how Hickey inserted his pet theory that Ray Davies wife Rasa effectively co-wrote all The Kinks classic late material as he'd previously postulated in this article:

https://andrewhickey.info/2018/01/28/did-a-teenage-girl-make-the-kinks-great

I don't largely agree with this theory but it's an interesting basis for the article; the problem comes when he then inserted this theory as if it's an established fact into an episode that's part of his authoritative series on the history of pop music that a lot of casual and non fans will be hearing for the first time and taking as gospel. And it's the fact that the rest of the episode is so meticulously well researched (I'm a Kinks obsessive, and I learned new stuff from it) that makes jamming his pet theory in even more glaring. I mean, you wouldn't do a podcast on The Beatles for beginners and devote a huge swathe of it to Paul Is Dead stuff would you? Anyway, rant over, my one experience with the pod did rattle my cage that way, and the OP did ask for criticisms so there's mine.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

I love grateful dead
Might listen grateful dead

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Andrew is obviously a fan of the Dead, otherwise he wouldn't have spent so much time stressing over the episode.

I couldn't give a solitary shit about 'em, but of course I'll listen anyway. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, he even managed to interest me in an episode about Frank fucking Zappa.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I've only listened to the Waterloo Sunset episode, and it was fantastic, EXCEPT it really annoyed me how Hickey inserted his pet theory that Ray Davies wife Rasa effectively co-wrote all The Kinks classic late material as he'd previously postulated in this article:

https://andrewhickey.info/2018/01/28/did-a-teenage-girl-make-the-kinks-great

I don't largely agree with this theory but it's an interesting basis for the article; the problem comes when he then inserted this theory as if it's an established fact into an episode that's part of his authoritative series on the history of pop music that a lot of casual and non fans will be hearing for the first time and taking as gospel. And it's the fact that the rest of the episode is so meticulously well researched (I'm a Kinks obsessive, and I learned new stuff from it) that makes jamming his pet theory in even more glaring. I mean, you wouldn't do a podcast on The Beatles for beginners and devote a huge swathe of it to Paul Is Dead stuff would you? Anyway, rant over, my one experience with the pod did rattle my cage that way, and the OP did ask for criticisms so there's mine.

Andrew is great, but I agree with all of this. Rasa played a significant role in those imperial phase Kinks records, and I find Andrew's theory quite convincing to a certain extent.

However, his insistence that Ray's writing "fell off a cliff" after 1973 doesn't hold water. His work did become more strident and bitter, broadly speaking, but he was still capable of writing beautiful melodies and lyrics. 

[Egyptian Feast]

Thanks for alerting me to this. I needed some methadone for CM droughts and this seems like it will fill the holes nicely. So far I've only sampled the episode on The Turtles' 'Happy Together', as I've been bingeing Flo & Eddie recently, but that was enough to get me interested.

[Pete23]

Grateful Dead is out. It's a bit, err, experimental? Lots of allusions to Vonnegut, Sturgeon etc. He's obviously having a lot of fun and it does settle down - might actually read better than it comes across as a podcast at times. But the meat of thing is the usual great history you'd expect and it's half the length of a typical Chart Music podcast (i.e. very long). I'm about two thirds through it, and couldn't give a fig about the band (there's been nothing in the clips he's played that have made me want to investigate further), but it's very interesting. Have nothing but admiration for the amount of effort he puts into these.

[SteveDave]

I went on a walk to Kings Cross (via some record/charity shops) on Saturday so listened to about 2 hours of it and I'll go any further.

The next one's about Cream. Sweet Jesus.

The Band and Aretha Franklin are after that though.

[Egyptian Feast]

I'm really enjoying this. I went back to the beginning and listened to the first five, then jumped forward to catch up with this year's episodes, so just finished the episode on Love and the bonus on The Buckinghams. I was amused and slightly horrified to find out the title of Forever Changes was inspired by Arthur Lee's kiss-off to a girlfriend he was dumping. Imagining him thinking smugly to himself "that was dead good, must write that down" as she cried her eyes out.

I hadn't heard of 'Susan' or The Buckinghams before, so gave the track a listen beforehand, chuckled at the terrible lyrics and was totally unprepared for the sudden turn into avant-garde nightmare music, but as it turned out, not as surprised as The Buckinghams themselves were. Love it. Reminded me a little of the initially gorgeous then utterly fucking terrifying final track on of Montreal's Paralytic Stalks.

[SteveDave]

Woah! Andrew's been interviewed by Rick Rubin for his podcast. I'm very interested to hear that. It'll be an amazing boost for "500 Songs"

[Crabwalk]

Hope Andrew's able to cope with all the shit he'll get from dickheads.

[Johnboy]

yes, loving this pod, lovely detail

[centristmelt]

This is an amazing discovery - what year do you think he'll be going up to?

[SteveDave]

This is an amazing discovery - what year do you think he'll be going up to?

He's said 1999. Which means he's going to end with "Smooth" by Santana feat. Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20.

[Johnboy]

Hope Andrew's able to cope with all the shit he'll get from dickheads.

Yes, I noticed on The Word magazine forum some very off remarks about his delivery which really annoyed me, anything slightly out of the ordinary gets criticised and remarked upon so easily online with no regard for how he would react. pissed me off

[SteveDave]

Your boy Hickey can't help himself. The latest episode about Cream is 3 hours long. According to his Patreon email:

This is another *long* one. It was originally planned to be only a ninety-minute episode, but then last month a book came out which completely changed the focus of the episode, as you'll hear in the last half hour or so of it. I originally planned to do all the stuff on Cream that you hear, plus half an hour or so on Robert Johnson, but it turned out I had to say more. A *lot* more. About Robert Johnson, the history of the blues, and who gets to tell what stories.

On Twitter dot com last night he said he went to see PP Arnold and said she

talked about her late-sixties album that was recently finally issued. "Produced by Barry Gibb [huge roar from audience] and Eric Clapton [silence]".

[dontpaintyourteeth]

If that means he's going to lay into Clapton I might have to listen to it

[Egyptian Feast]

That story about the two blues scholars and Robert Johnson's sister at the end of the Cream episode had me raging. Absolutely despicable cuntery, from people who professed to be devotees of the man's music. Scum.

I was looking forward to the bit in the main story when Hendrix came to London and made Clapton feel like a dunce, my favourite period of Slowhand's career, and it didn't disappoint. [Nelson Muntz]Ha-ha![/Nelson Muntz]

The bonus episode on Tiny Tim was fascinating too. Still so grateful for the recommendation.