Discord and Rhyme: An Album Podcast

This week, we don our lederhosen and celebrate the return of our compilation series dissecting "Weird Al" Yankovic's polka medleys, on which he rounded up and lovingly lampooned the chart music of the day. Originally released on his 1996 album Bad Hair Day, "The Alternative Polka" was Al's attempt to catalog the emerging radio format of alternative rock, though the artists in this batch cover so much stylistic ground as to suggest that maybe, just maybe, the whole "alternative" label was just a marketing gimmick. Whether it's a real genre or not, we've finally reached the radio hits our hosts grew up listening to, which makes for a fun discussion with a healthy dose of '90s nostalgia.

Tracks:

Beck - Loser

Stone Temple Pilots - Sex Type Thing

Sheryl Crow - All I Wanna Do

Nine Inch Nails - Closer

R.E.M. - Bang and Blame

Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know

Other clips:

Beck - The New Pollution

Beck - Soul Suckin' Jerk

Beck - Get Real Paid

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Wanna B Ur Lovr

Stone Temple Pilots - Plush

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Syndicated Inc.

Michael Jackson and Sheryl Crow - I Just Can't Stop Loving You

Sheryl Crow - All Kinds of People

Sheryl Crow - If It Makes You Happy

Sheryl Crow - Soak Up the Sun

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Germs

Nine Inch Nails - Terrible Lie

David Bowie - I'm Afraid of Americans (Nine Inch Nails remix)

R.E.M. - Crush with Eyeliner

Talking Heads - The Lady Don't Mind

"Weird Al" Yankovic - We All Have Cell Phones (live)

Alanis Morissette - Too Hot

Alanis Morissette - No Return

By the late 60s, Harry Nilsson’s songs had a way of showing up everywhere, from TV and movies to other people’s hit records. However, it was 1971’s Nilsson Schmilsson that finally scored him a bona fide hit album, spawning three hit singles and a Grammy win. The record holds the unique status of being Harry’s most focused and disciplined album while still featuring an idiosyncratic range of styles including hard rock, power ballads, and oddball novelties. All of these genres are effortlessly held together with one of the best voices in the business. Join Dan, Amanda, and Rich as they put the lime in the coconut and discuss the man, the legend, and the group himself. 

Cohosts: Dan Watkins, Rich Bunnell, Amanda Rodgers

Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/174-harry-nilsson-nilsson-schmilsson-1971

Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod

Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

It's time for a release from the Patreon vault! In this one, originally released in October 2025, we're talking about one of the best percussion instruments: handclaps! From the doomiest metal to the sunniest pop, handclaps add an interesting new layer to anything. 

P.S. Mike is aware that he mixed up the two singers on Napalm Death’s Scum: Justin Broadrick sings on the first side and Lee Dorrian sings on the second. In his defense, they both sound exactly the same.

P.P.S. Turns out it was Rich who noticed the Moody Blues similarity.

P.P.P.S. Buy Ben's book!! https://www.amazon.com/Come-Safari-Me-Listening-Beach-ebook/dp/B0FTJGDK79

The songs:

Lafayette Afro Rock Band - Conga

Cathedral - Midnight Mountain

The Rolling Stones - Carol

Laufey - Lover Girl

Steve Reich - Clapping Music

Fitz and the Tantrums - HandClap

Outkast - Hey Ya!

Tortoise - Seneca

The Bay City Rollers - Saturday Night

Taylor Swift - Shake It Off

Miles Davis - Black Satin

The Beach Boys - I Do

Cohosts: Mike DeFabio, Ben Marlin, Amanda Rodgers

Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod

Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

Our annual listener Q&A is coming up next month, and this year, we want to know the albums and artists we haven't featured yet on the show that you want us to cover! Send your submissions to discordpod (at) gmail (dot) com by the end of May. We won't be able to discuss everything you send in, but we promise to make it interesting.

Ready for action, nip it in the bud, we’re never relaxin’, this podcast is everlasting! In this episode, Rich has somethin’ to say about OutKast, the Atlanta duo consisting of Antwon “Big Boi” Patton and André “3000” Benjamin, who conquered hip-hop in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s before quietly parting ways. The most fascinating characteristic of OutKast is the duality between Big Boi’s extroverted, in-your-face gangsta persona and Andre’s introverted, quiet philosopher poet persona, a contrast they thoroughly explore on their 1998 album Aquemini, whose title is a portmanteau of their astrological signs. The duo emerged from Atlanta at a time when Southern hip-hop was struggling to be taken seriously amid the dominant West Coast/East Coast narrative, and on this album OutKast proudly make an argument for themselves as masters of the genre with music that’s both overwhelmingly colorful and layered with history and cultural subtext, all in a way that’s distinctly Southern. So if you’ve been on the fence about getting into hip-hop, Aquemini may be the album that helps you get the hump up out your back now.

Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Mike DeFabio, Amanda Rodgers

Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/173-outkast-aquemini-1998

Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod

Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod