The Great Song Podcast

Pop Episodes

Aug. 2, 2019

Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel) - Episode 401

The boys are back in town! …is not the song we’re kicking off Season Four with. No no, we’ve gone VERY big for the premiere of this new season, with a trilogy of episodes we’re calling the Genesis Family Tree! Starting here …
Aug. 2, 2019

Invisible Touch (Genesis) Album Listen - Episode 402

Part 2 of the Genesis Family Tree is a full-album listen through the album that changed the game for Genesis and catapulted them into the pop music spotlight. Sit back and enjoy all the incredible yumminess that is “Invisibl…
Aug. 2, 2019

The Living Years (Mike + The Mechanics) - Episode 403

The Genesis Family Tree closes out the first week of Season Four with one of the greatest songs of the 1980s, courtesty of Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford’s side project, Mike + the Mechanics! In this episode: - All the fe…
May 10, 2019

You Can Call Me Al (Paul Simon) - Episode 319

Two episodes left in Season 3, and we have no quit! Going hard right up to the end, this week with the super-fun, walking around downtown with your hands in your pockets, not a care in the world pop ditty "You Can Call Me Al…
April 19, 2019

Easy (The Commodores) - Episode 316

It's Easter week, and with a wink and a nod to that most holy day we celebrate one of the great lines in pop history: "I'm easy like Sunday morning." Roll your windows down and feel the breeze as you cruise through Tuskeegee…
April 12, 2019

Money for Nothing (Dire Straits) - Episode 315

An instant classic episode about one of the biggest, most enduring rock hits of the 1980's. Remember that weird old homophobe who used to hang out at Sears? Well Mark Knopfler does, and he wrote a song about him! In this epi…
April 5, 2019

Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper) - Episode 314

The Unusual One herself, standout pop legend Cyndi Lauper is the topic this week, and we will celebrate her beautiful weirdness with a song that is unclassifiable except to say that it’s stinking awesome. In this episode: - …
March 29, 2019

Centerfield (John Fogerty) - Episode 313

Baseball season is here, and we feel like celebrating! We're ready to put on the cleats and the eye-black, hit the turf and, well, probably pop up to the shortstop, but still. Baseball is back! Get the season started right w…
March 22, 2019

Rivalry Week 2 - We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Taylor Swift) - Episode 312

We're back at each other's throats again this week over country-turned-pop princess Taylor Swift. In this episode: - JP relies on Ad Hominem attacks to keep himself from being swayed -Max Martin is a modern pop monster, and…
March 15, 2019

Rivalry Week 1 - Iris (Goo Goo Dolls) - Episode 311

On this pod, the rule of thumb is "celebrate." But in an unprecedented move, this week we're covering a song that one of us hates! Rivalry Week 1 sees the huge hit for Goo Goo Dolls from the soundtrack to the movie City of A…
March 8, 2019

Higher Love (Steve Winwood) - Episode 310

BRAAAAAANG me some 80's square-tie-wearing pop! One of the most talented guys in pop music, Steve Winwood's been making hits since he was 15! He's played with the biggest names in the industry, and fashioned a Hall of Fame c…
Feb. 15, 2019

I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) - Whitney Houston - Episode 307

The height of 80's fun pop (and maybe the single most catchy tune we've covered yet) comes to us in the form of Whitney Houston's smash hit. Rob and JP continue the show's Black History Month celebration with one of the all-…
Feb. 1, 2019

Midnight Train to Georgia (Gladys Knight & the Pips) - Episode 305

Let's Pip it up! The pod is celebrating Black History Month and kicking it off with this classic ear worm from Gladys and the lads. In this episode: - The original title of this song was what now? - Fat-back bass - Pips, p…
Jan. 18, 2019

You Make My Dreams (Hall and Oates) - Episode 303

Bop along and get ready for the feel-good earworm of 1981, Hall and Oates' "You Make My Dreams." In this episode: - A Philadelphia gang fight - What is blue-eyed soul, and is it racist? - a cover version that’s so bad we nee…
Jan. 11, 2019

(Everything I Do) I Do It For You (Bryan Adams) - Episode 302

There's no love like your love! Grab some arrows and impress your favorite maiden with Bryan Adams' 1991 classic ballad. Also in this episode, we learn a LOT we didn't know about Shania Twain and we accuse Bryan Adams of pus…