1979 Archives – How Good It Is

Sep 21 2023 8 ep. 17 mins 1

1979 Archives – How Good It Is Podcast artwork

Each episode, I choose a song from the 50s through the 80s and dive into its history, the story behind the song and other items of interest. Find more stuff at www.howgooditis.com

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170: I Fought the Law

Sep 21 2023 15 mins

How many times now have I gone into the backstory with a song and learned that the person who wrote it says something akin to, "Yeah, I knocked that one off in about fifteen minutes." Oftentimes they also think that the song isn't going to amount to very much, which I find kind of funny. But it also supports a working theory I have that it's not always the song itself, but the way

160: Failing Upward, Vol 2

Aug 01 2022 10 mins

Pardon my allergies; I've sounded kind of rough for a week or so. There was a lot of throat-clearing to edit out of this one. I can't even blame the Southern Studio on this one; it's the direct result of spending too much time cutting the grass at home. (And THEN I can blame the Southern Studio a little bit, because I went there the next day and it certainly didn't help matter

151: More Obscure Christmas

Dec 24 2021 30 mins

Oh, I do enjoy breaking format once in awhile to do special episodes like this one. For this year's Christmas episode, I return to the songs that you don't seem to hear on the radio when the stations are playing All Christmas All The Time. You'd think that with the huge catalog of recordings to choose from (even if the list of songs is relatively limited), radio stations c

150: Rock Lobster

Dec 20 2021 13 mins

When the B-52s first hit the music scene, even their own reaction to the sound of their first album was "this is SO bleak!" because it was relatively unproduced. There was no reverb, no echo, no studio tricks filling out the gaps in the recording. And then they decided they liked it that way. Their first single, "Rock Lobster," was originally much faster. Then it was slowe

149: Musical Hookers

Nov 14 2021 14 mins

This whole episode came about because of a request by someone who wanted to hear the story behind a song. Unfortunately there wasn't a lot to it, but it got me thinking about other songs with similar subject matter. And now that I'm typing this, I realize that all the songs I discuss came from roughly the same period of time. What the hell was going on in the late 70s, anyway?

140: Cars

Mar 21 2021 11 mins

When I was in high school, there was a guy I knew named Phil. Phil and I shared an art class, a class I had to be talked into attending because I'd had a bad experience with an art class in the eighth grade. But I was told that the teacher was really good and kind of a cool guy, and sure enough he was. Mr. L, our art teacher, let us bring in our own music to listen to whil

Episode 108–Books on Vinyl

Mar 08 2020 20 mins

Last week's show was short, time-wise, and I promised I'd make up for it. And make up, I did, because this is one of my longer non-interview shows, clocking in at 20:30. If you listen to this show during your morning commute, you may have to circle the block a few times before going in to work. But it's so packed with stuff that I don't think you'll mind. This week we're l

Episode 91–Under the Covers, Part 5

Oct 06 2019 20 mins

Holy Moly! The show is back! For those of you who don't follow the show on Facebook or Twitter, I'll be posting the pictures here in another couple of days, outlining the New Studio Project. My return to the Podcast Zone was delayed a little bit by a faulty cable I needed to replace, plus I was getting into a weird funk. But fortunately I got a mental boot in the butt by Gr