The Soundtrack Series

Mo is the author of the revered novel Every Anxious Wave--which is the best of everything having to do with music and time travel. Not to worry, we cover all of this--what shows we'd go back and see, what moments in life we'd undo (or redo), and of course, 120 Minutes.

Isaac Oliver is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir (in other words--one of NPR's Best Books of 2015) Intimacy Idiot. So who better to talk to about music in our dating lives--when it's our best friend, when it's our armor, when it's the sorceress that summons the object of our desire. (And when it's the thing that makes us say ridiculous stuff like that.)

Aline Brosh McKenna is the co-creator of the musical smash Crazy Ex Girlfriend. So we talk about musicals--creating them, being in them, and the times you can't help but live your life by them.

Storyteller (and former talent agent) Sandi Marx talks about the time she was--then wasn't--Pat Benetar's ass double, and how sometimes giving up your dreams is the greatest thing ever.

Comedian Brooke Arnold tells us about her upbringing in a fundamentalist organization where music was forbidden, how she found music anyway, and what it's like to be years behind everyone else when it comes to knowing anything about The Beatles. Music in this Episode: Do-Re-Mi - Original Cast of The Sound of Music Beat It - Michael Jackson This Joy - Vernessa Mitchell Daydreams About Night Things - Ronnie Milsap Girl - Tori Amos Aneurysm - Nirvana Oh Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison Lazarus -...

Amy Hobby is an Academy Award nominated producer for her work on the documentary What Happened, Miss Simone. So yeah, I ask for a little "insider peek" at all the Oscars pregaming rituals, but then we really get into it--and talk what went into making this incredible film, what she learned (that we could all learn) from Nina Simone, and how important it was to let Nina tell the story of Nina.

Filmmaker Michael Feld visited every city Huey Lewis mentions in "The Heart of Rock and Roll" and made a video of it (both loved and hated by the Internet at large--but what isn't). So of course we talk about every little detail that goes into doing something like this, all to pay homage to one song and check the pulse of rock and roll throughout America.

Karaoke! Only harder! Talking live karaoke with Joe McGinty--renowned musician and the man behind piano karaoke at Sid Gold's Request Room in NYC--who tells us what it's like to be the guy who makes our rock n' roll dreams come true...if only for the length of one song.

Think of a band you love. Now think about what it would be like to actually join that band. This is what musician Jenny Harder did, when she went on tour with Gogol Bordello in late 2015. Music in this episode: We Are All Illegals - Outernational Oh Come On - The Julie Ruin Boys Wanna Be Her - Peaches Sally - Gogol Bordello Think Locally, Fuck Globally - Gogol Bordello The Passenger - Siouxsie and the Banshees Mind Your Own Business - Chicks on Speed Leeds United - Amanda Palmer Tryouts for...

You probably know someone who has been an extra in a movie or on TV, but do you know someone who does it for the Metropolitan Opera? Thinking you might not. Julia Wiedeman talks about her work as a supernumerary at the Met and the frustrations of gracing the most famous stage in the world, only to be invisible.

Nobody has a stack of records like this man right here. Dana talks to Daniel Sears about the art of collecting music and takes a tour through the rarest and most beautiful pile of vinyl. Plus, a little something we like to call "One Song"--where Daniel tells a holiday horror story, underscored by Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmastime. Of course. Music in This Episode: Sit on My Face Stevie Nix - The Rotters There’s no Business Like Show Business - Ethel Merman The Flying Saucer Song -...

The Demands. Nightlight. Amazing Man Band. Iridescent Dreams. The Benson Ashe. These are the most legendary bands you've never heard of--the ones that were started in high school. Through interviews with people whose band lasted one rehearsal, to people whose band ended up in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this is a look at the time in life where rock begins--the moment a group of high school friends are sitting around and one of them says, "let's start a band." Music in This Episode: Sit...

Aaron Wolfe, a writer and filmmaker once short-listed for an Academy Award for his film Record/Play, uses the Dinosaur Jr. version of Just Like Heaven to illustrate how he went from Goth kid, to popular kid, right back to Goth kid again. Plus, Dana says goodbye to Infinite Guest/American Public Media, and gives a little taste of what you can expect from the new Soundtrack Series podcast. It kicks off Oct. 20 with “I’m in a Band” — an audio documentary about the universal experience of being...

Deputy Editor for The Decider Tyler Coates talks a particularly bad breakup, and how, when you lean almost entirely on PJ Harvey or Liz Phair for comfort music it can be surprising when you find yourself putting your head on the shoulder of Taylor Swift. Plus, a million things Dana would rather associate with Eye of the Tiger than … you know who.

Comedian Giulia Rozzi (Tru TV, Chelsea Lately) tells us about the harsh realities of finally meeting the rock star you always had a crush on. Plus, Dana spends valuable time dissecting how and why she didn’t watch the VMAs, only to arrive at the conclusion that she’s just in her 30s.

Dennis Dunaway, bassist for Alice Cooper and 2011 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, tells us the story behind how they wrote “School’s Out,” which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame this year. Plus, Dana eulogizes Columbia House, and speaks to an expert about how he beat the “12 CDs for a penny” game.

Michael Feinstein considers him a mentor. Leona Helmsley threatened to break his fingers if he didn’t play in her hotel. Liberace owes his big break to him. And at 100 years old, he still plays every week at the Park Lane Hotel. Dana talks with Irving Fields, legendary musician, pianist and composer about how to find gigs in the 1930s, discovering Latin music, and the “Freebird” of piano bar requests.

Music journalist Amy Linden tells the story of her first interview with The Replacements in 1988–and how it came at a time when she was excited about being pregnant, and not at all excited about being married. Plus, Dana tries to figure out Rihanna’s video for ‘Bitch Better Have My Money.’

Trying to come out to your mom three times before it sticks. Losing a parent to AIDS. Hearing the heartbeat of the baby you’re giving a gay couple to adopt. Sharing a strange sexual encounter with a best friend. Getting punched in the face because you need to dance to Beyonce. Soundtrack Series celebrates Pride with seven of our favorite gay themed stories from over the years–and the best Pride playlist this side of Christopher Street.

Actor Brian Silliman (look for him on this season of Orange in the New Black) on how sports and musical theater do not mix — and the dent he has in his leg to prove it. Plus, Dana looks back on her high school graduation, and everything that went wrong during her rendition of the National Anthem.