The Velvet Underground put a spike in the status quo. They sang candidly about heroin, speed, and S&M. Their members included drug dealers and junkies. Their stage show was so perverted that it offended even the most liberal of peacenik hippies. Their benefactor and so-called manager, Andy Warhol, was nearly killed in an assassination attempt that shocked th ... Show More
Today
N.W.A Pt. 2: Beatdowns, Band Beef, Death Row and LA on Fire
Part two of the N.W.A story finds the group dead center in America’s crosshairs, due in part to their own violent behavior, and at a crossroads creatively. Death Row’s Suge Knight, Public Enemy’s Chuck D., and a young hustler from the east coast all ride shotgun to Dre, E, Cube, ... Show More
40m 12s
Yesterday
N.W.A Pt. 1: Street Hustle, Reality Rap and Culture-Shifting Violence
N.W.A, the self proclaimed “most dangerous group in America,” were seen as violent, thuggish, profanity-spewing criminals, but they had nothing on those who were sworn to serve and protect them in South Central Los Angeles. The group’s hard hitting beats and reality rhymes launch ... Show More
41m 47s
Jan 22
Bonus Episode: Grammy Snubs, Righting the NWA Wrong, Wild Award Show Buggery, and More
The Grammy are most interesting when they mess up—snubbing NWA, the Grateful Dead, Metallica and others. We get into all of it plus some extra awards show hijinks in the exclusive All Access section, and as always Jake takes your voicemails, text, emails, and more. For more wild ... Show More
41m 11s
Jul 2025
Australia's Gangster King of Sin: Abe Saffron
Abe Saffron rose from wartime wheeler-dealing to become the king of Sydney’s underworld, a man whose appetite for sex, money and scandal was unmatched by any other Aussie gangster in the swinging Sixties. Saffron paid everybody off, brought Sinatra to Sydney, and hosted Sinatra. ... Show More
1h 1m
Apr 2025
559. The Rolling Stones: Satanic Majesties of Sixties Rebellion (Part 2)
"We're not worried about petty morals." What happened to the Rolling Stones in 1967 to see them on the brink of imprisonment and mass censure, while at the height of their success, with fame, fortune, mansions, world tours, and best selling albums to their names? Was Brian Jones, ... Show More
1h 8m
Apr 2025
558. The Rolling Stones: Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll (Part 1)
What are the origins of Britain’s original bad boys, The Rolling Stones? Where did they all come from and how did they meet? What was it about the 1960s, with its air of sexual liberation, newly elected Labour government, and rising youth culture that allowed them to burst onto t ... Show More
1h 8m
Feb 2025
This Moment in Music History for 02-27-2025
On February 27th, 1967, a groundbreaking album was released that would forever change the landscape of rock music: "The Velvet Underground & Nico" by The Velvet Underground. Produced by the legendary Andy Warhol, this debut album was a daring exploration of taboo subjects such as ... Show More
2m 3s
Oct 2024
Ep491 - Stephen Pearcy | Sex, Drugs, RATT and Roll: My Life in Rock
<p>Stephen Pearcy, lead singer and frontman of the rock band RATT, visits Google to discuss his book "Sex, Drugs, RATT and Roll: My Life in Rock."</p> <p>Women. Spandex. Drugs. Hair spray.</p> <p>Welcome to heavy metal rock 'n' roll, circa 1980, when all you needed was the right ... Show More
40m 31s
Apr 2025
The 'Ndrangheta's Notorious Kidnapping Gang Wars
Today the ‘Ndrangheta, Calabria’s clan-based Mafia, is one of the world’s richest and most powerful drug trafficking organizations, worth an estimated $55 billion. But it wasn’t always like that. From the 1960s, as European politics went mad, the group glommed onto a new fad taki ... Show More
48m 23s
Feb 2025
I Fought the Law: The Death of Bobby Fuller
In 1966, Bobby Fuller was a rising rockstar. His eponymous band and their song "I Fought the Law" was climbing the charts when he suddenly died. As is the case with many rockstars, theories about his death abound. Was his death really an accident or suicide, or could it have been ... Show More
37m 1s
Nov 2017
How Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner built and lost a rock and roll empire (Joe Hagan, author, "Sticky Fingers")
Author Joe Hagan talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about his new book, "Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine." In the book, Hagan traces Wenner's rise as an eccentric, spendy and sometimes barbaric media mogul and how Rolling Stone became the ... Show More
1 h