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Episodes

Oct. 22, 2019

Wyclef Jean Goes Back To School

Wyclef Jean, who's had solo hits and with the Fugees, and produced hits for Destiny's Child, Shakira, and Carlos Santana came back this year with a new project, "Wyclef Goes Back To School." Every song is a collaboration with...

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Oct. 15, 2019

Yola's Walk Through Fire

After years honing her craft in the UK Yola finally lands with her beautiful album, "Walk Through Fire." Produced by the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, the album combines classic country, soul and rock and roll. Bruce Headlam talk...

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Oct. 8, 2019

Tyler the Creator

Tyler, the Creator spent three days this summer in Italy with Rick Rubin. At the end of the three days they sat down to record a conversation about Tyler's new album, "Igor". They play through some tracks off the album and Ty...

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Oct. 1, 2019

Jack White & Brendan Benson of the Raconteurs

Jack White and Brendan Benson of the Raconteurs play through some songs off their new record, "Help Me Stranger" and talk with Malcolm Gladwell from Jack's Detroit home. Rick Rubin joins by phone. Jack talks through his theor...

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Sept. 17, 2019

Broken Record Season 3 ... Is Coming!

From Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell and Bruce Headlam: Conversations. Stories. Remembering old music. Discovering new music. Broken Record Season 3: Coming to your podcast feed on October 1st. Featuring: Jack White, Tyler, the ...

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Aug. 8, 2019

In a Metal Mood

A Broken Record/Revisionist History crossover episode on cultural appropriation. The case study is Taco Bell. Oh, and Pat Boone is involved. And so is our old friend, Dave Hill. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www...

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May 21, 2019

The Return of Vampire Weekend: Ezra Koenig with Ariel Rechtshaid

Vampire Weekend returned this month with their first record in six years, "Father of the Bride". And long before it sat on top of the Billboard album chart, the band's leader, Ezra Koenig and producer Ariel Rechtshaid stopped...

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May 14, 2019

J.S. Ondara: Knockin' on America's Door

Bruce Headlam discovered J.S. Ondara listening to his car radio late last year. And with a great showing at South By Southwest and a spot opening for Neil Young this summer, it seems like the rest of America is discovering h...

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May 7, 2019

Linda Perry

Linda Perry is one of the only women considered a go-to producer in the music industry. After finding success with her band 4 Non Blondes and their ubiquitous single, "What's Up?" (1992) Perry went on to write and produce for...

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April 30, 2019

T Bone Burnett: Perfection Is Second-Rate

T Bone Burnett helped launch the careers of Los Lobos, Counting Crows, Gillian Welch; revive the careers of Roy Orbison and Robert Plant; course-correct Elvis Costello’s career in the mid-eighties and just recently produced a...

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April 23, 2019

The Art of A Cappella with Pentatonix

Malcolm Gladwell, along with guest-host, Daisy Rosario, talks with the five members of Pentatonix from GSI Studios in NYC. The quintet, who got their start on YouTube, discuss their approach to arranging a cappella versions o...

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April 16, 2019

How To Write a Hit Song: The Love Junkies

Lori McKenna, Liz Rose and Hillary Lidnsey—known as the Love Junkies—write some of the best songs in Nashville today. Between the three of them, they've helped launch Taylor Swift, pushed Lady Gaga into country music—with her...

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April 9, 2019

Mary Gauthier

Mary Gauthier is one of the most unique songwriters in Nashville. Forgoing the city's often conventional pop sound, Gauthier's songs are unafraid to probe into what she calls "the extremely personal." Gauthier talks to Bruce ...

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April 2, 2019

David Byrne

Rick Rubin and Malcolm Gladwell talk with David Byrne (formerly of Talking Heads) about protest music: some of his favorite protest songs, the earliest ones he heard, how they affected his songwriting, and what makes them eff...

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March 26, 2019

Questlove Part 2

Questlove talks about how he got involved with D’Angelo’s Voodoo record, the evolution of his drumming style, how he approaches DJ’ing, and tells the best Obama story ever. Part 2 of 2. Learn more about your ad-choices at htt...

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March 26, 2019

Questlove Part 1

Questlove talks about how he got involved with D’Angelo’s Voodoo record, the evolution of his drumming style, how he approaches DJ’ing, and tells the best Obama story ever. Part 1 of 2. Learn more about your ad-choices at htt...

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March 14, 2019

Introducing Broken Record Season 2

From Malcolm Gladwell, Rick Rubin, and Bruce Headlam: Conversations. Arguments. Stories. Remembering old music. Discovering new music. Broken Record: Coming to your podcast feed on March 26th. Learn more about your ad-choices...

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Dec. 25, 2018

Tom Petty and the Creation of “Wildflowers”

For the season one finale of Broken Record, Malcolm Gladwell talks with Rick Rubin about Tom Petty, who died in October 2017 at the age of 66. Rubin and Petty worked together for two years on his beloved 1994 album “Wildflow...

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Dec. 18, 2018

Dave Hill and the Epistemology of Norwegian Black Metal

Malcolm Gladwell sits down with comedian, guitarist, and legendary metalhead Dave Hill, as he recounts how an email exchange between his alter ego Lance and a Norwegian black metal impresario named Saiitham (pronounced “satan...

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Dec. 11, 2018

Rosanne Cash

“She Remembers Everything” is the name of the latest Rosanne Cash album, the 14th of her amazing career. Rosanne and her husband and musical collaborator, John Leventhal, sit down with Broken Record’s Bruce Headlam to play so...

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Dec. 4, 2018

Nashville Revolution: Bobby Braddock, Don Schlitz, and Don Henry

Malcolm Gladwell talks to three songwriters who helped transform country music in the 1970s. Gone were cowboy hats, train whistles and church suppers. In came songs about desperation, loss, changes, and regret that changed ho...

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Nov. 27, 2018

Rufus Wainwright

Elton John has called Rufus Wainwright “the greatest songwriter in the world today.” Broken Record’s Bruce Headlam sits down with Rufus in Los Angeles, where Rufus performs breathtaking solo versions of his songs “Poses” and ...

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Nov. 20, 2018

Nile Rodgers and Chic

Nile Rodgers, the mastermind behind the disco band Chic and producer of artists like David Bowie, Daft Punk and Madonna, plays live with his band and talks about his life and long musical career in the very studio that was bu...

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Nov. 13, 2018

Rick Rubin

Our introductory episode is a conversation between Rick Rubin and Malcolm Gladwell, covering everything from Rick’s role in the very beginning of hip-hop to his role in introducing Johnny Cash to a new generation of writers, ...

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