Best Discord And Rhyme Podcasts (2026)

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169: Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) 3:01:40

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15d ago3:01:40

3:01:40

It feels like there shouldn't be anything left to say about The Dark Side of the Moon. It's one of the best-selling albums of all time, and it's consistently rated as one of the greatest albums of all time by critics. If you tune into a classic rock station for more than a couple of hours, chances are better than 50/50 that you'll hear a track or t…

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Bonus: Thank You for the Music, Vol. 2 2:01:32

1M ago2:01:32

2:01:32

The gang sits down by the fire to discuss a second round of the songs that made them love music. This year's batch covers an astonishing amount of ground, including movie soundtracks, jazz, funk, girl groups, folk, prog (of course), hip-hop, musicals, dub reggae, power pop — and even a hymn! Trevor Jones - Main Title (from The Last of the Mohicans)…

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168: Badfinger - Straight Up (1971) 1:48:55

1M ago1:48:55

1:48:55

Of all the casualties of the Beatles’ Apple label, Badfinger is the most tragic. They had a very promising start, helped along by the Beatles and their associates, but a combination of bad management and personal tragedy stopped them from being as successful as they should have been. However, for a brief period everything worked out exactly right, …

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167: Ween - Chocolate and Cheese (1994) 2:22:49

2M ago2:22:49

2:22:49

Buenas tardes, amigos, and happy Hallo-Ween, my good friends. It took us way, way too long to get the bright idea to devote our annual All Hallow’s Eve episode to the Brothers Ween, but now that we have, it seems appropriate to discuss 1994’s Chocolate and Cheese, an album where Deaner and Gener try on a whole bunch of different musical costumes. W…

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166: Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend (1991) 2:06:08

3M ago2:06:08

2:06:08

Power pop legend Matthew Sweet has had a rough go of it lately, suffering a debilitating stroke last year while setting out on tour, and it’s possible that he may never play music again. So today’s episode is both a bittersweet tribute to his career and a joyous celebration of his music, which is exactly the emotional tightrope that his 1991 cult c…

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165: Creedence Clearwater Revival - Willy and the Poor Boys (1969) 1:55:42

5M ago1:55:42

1:55:42

Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 1969 album Willy and the Poor Boys sounds like something out of 1965, or even 1865 - but definitely not the heavy, psychedelic late 1960s. But even though CCR’s music feels like it's outside of time - or maybe because of it - it became the soundtrack of a generation. Ben, Amanda, and Rich make the case that Willy and …

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164b: Prince - Sign o' the Times, Disc 2 (1987) 2:00:19

5M ago2:00:19

2:00:19

Shut up, already. Damn! Prince was one of the most interesting popular artists of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and Sign o’ the Times from 1987 was the culmination of one of the most interesting periods in a career full of interesting periods. After various circumstances caused him to abandon a double album (Dream Factory), and other circ…

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164a: Prince - Sign o' the Times, Disc 1 (1987) 2:09:42

6M ago2:09:42

2:09:42

Shut up, already. Damn! Prince was one of the most interesting popular artists of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and Sign o’ the Times from 1987 was the culmination of one of the most interesting periods in a career full of interesting periods. After various circumstances caused him to abandon a double album (Dream Factory), and other circ…

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July 2025 Status Update (No, We're Not Ending the Show) 1:57

6M ago1:57

1:57

A quick State of the Podcast update and info on our release schedule for the rest of this year. Do not fret, we're not ending the podcast! We've just hit a scheduling logjam and need to slow down a bit in order to keep as cool as we can.By Discord and Rhyme

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Bonus: Discord and Cryme - Murder Ballads 58:38

6M ago58:38

58:38

Amanda has been fascinated with murder ballads for many years, so in this episode she's telling you (and Ben and Mike) all about them! This isn't an exhaustive overview of the genre, just the backstories behind a few great songs. From a couple of murdered girls in 18th-century England to a stolen hat in 20th-century America, these tragic stories ha…

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163: The Moody Blues - The Present (1983) 2:11:56

7M ago2:11:56

2:11:56

You might think we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel by choosing The Present for our annual Moody Blues episode, but that’s not true at all. Even though the band themselves hated it, and it’s quite polarizing among Moody Blues fans, all of us here at Discord and Rhyme think it’s terrific. As with Long Distance Voyager, you need to be prepared fo…

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162: Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R (2000) 1:54:20

7M ago1:54:20

1:54:20

Discord & Rhyme kicks June off with a feel good hit of the summer. Join Dan, Mike, and Rich for a ride through Queens of the Stone Age’s 2000 sophomore release Rated R, an album that seemed like a refreshing antithesis of mainstream rock trends at the turn of the millennium. Building off the desert rock DNA of Josh Homme’s previous band Kyuss and i…

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161: Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters (1973) 1:21:05

8M ago1:21:05

1:21:05

Whether you’re a fan of ‘60s jazz, ‘70s funk, ‘80s electro, or things inspired by any of the above (or you just watched a lot of Sesame Street growing up), the music of Herbie Hancock has probably affected your life in some way. So Mike thought it was time to take us all on a good old fashioned head hunt. 1973’s Head Hunters redefined the course of…

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160: Nick Drake - Bryter Layter (1971) 1:49:42

8M ago1:49:42

1:49:42

Nick Drake was an outstanding artist: a gifted songwriter, a wonderful singer, and one of the greatest guitarists you’ll ever hear. But his personality was entirely unsuited to the world of popular music, and his art didn’t gain the popularity it deserves until decades after his death. Ever since he unwittingly helped Volkswagen sell cars in 1999, …

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159: Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral (1994) 2:47:43

8M ago2:47:43

2:47:43

In this episode, Phil takes Discord & Rhyme further down the spiral with an album that is a harrowing descent into one man’s decaying psyche. If that sounds like a blast, you’re in good company with the millions of people who bought Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral in 1994. It’s one of the bleakest, most pitch-dark albums to ever achieve massiv…

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Seven Thousand Million Questions (Listener Q&A VII) 2:35:33

9M ago2:35:33

2:35:33

Rich, Ben, and John answer a super-sized mailbag of listener questions, with subjects including jukebox musicals, James Bond themes, songs that give them the happy chills, sample-based hip-hop producers, the usual suite of Moody Blues questions, and a philosophical discussion on how we all listen to music and how this has changed as we've gotten ol…

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158: The Doors - The Doors (1967) 2:14:26

9M ago2:14:26

2:14:26

Everyone has an opinion about the Doors - whether you think they’re transgressive and mind-blowing, or you find them silly and overrated, or - like Ben - you just think they made some killer music. With invaluable help from Amanda, Dan, and Mike, Ben makes the case that the Doors’ 1967 self-titled debut album contains more killer music than many pe…

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157: Midnight Oil - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (1982) 2:01:08

10M ago2:01:08

2:01:08

It’s taken us nearly seven years, but the time has come. Midnight Oil, one of Australia's quintessential bands, is probably best known for its tireless political activism as expressed through hits like "Beds Are Burning" and "Blue Sky Mine," as well as the on-stage acrobatics of their 6′4″ frontman, Peter Garrett. But behind the sloganeering and ag…

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156: Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1996) 1:59:52

10M ago1:59:52

1:59:52

Discord & Rhyme continues its slow walk through the world of Post-Rock with an examination of the 1996 album Millions Now Living Will Never Die by the Chicago-based group Tortoise. John has been fascinated by the concept of Post-Rock for many years (even if many of the acts associated with it, Tortoise included, rejected it as a useful descriptor),…

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155: Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden (1988) 1:51:10

11M ago1:51:10

1:51:10

If you only know Talk Talk for their ‘80s night staple “It’s My Life,” you might well wonder what an experimental weirdo like Mike is doing hosting an episode about them. However, if you know a little more about their strange and fascinating career trajectory, it makes perfect sense. The sparse, atmospheric Spirit of Eden couldn’t be more different…

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Emergency Bonus Episode: Beatles Covers, Pt. III 1:18:03

11M ago1:18:03

1:18:03

Due to some technical difficulties, we had to push back our Talk Talk episode, so to fix the hole in our schedule we are talking about the Beatles again! We've discussed covers of Beatles songs before, but there are millions of them so there will always be more to talk about. We're covering a lot of sonic ground in this episode, with a few songs we…

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154: Elton John - Honky Chateau (1972) 2:21:27

12M ago2:21:27

2:21:27

We all know that Elton John is a top-tier singles artist, but he is also a top-tier albums artist. His run of nine albums from Empty Sky in 1969 through Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy in 1975 may very well be unmatched in modern music history. It was really hard to pick one to talk about on Discord & Rhyme, but we settled on Honky Chat…

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153: Pixies - Doolittle (1989) 2:21:17

1y ago2:21:17

2:21:17

Well, sit right down, my wicked son, and let us tell you a story, about the subject of this year’s Discord & Rhyme holiday episode: the Pixies! (Or technically, just Pixies.) Hailing from Boston, the alternative rock quartet dealt with mounting intra-band tension with little to nothing to show for it financially, leading bandleader Charles Thompson…

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152: Caravan - In the Land of Grey and Pink (1971) 1:53:03

1y ago1:53:03

1:53:03

Discord & Rhyme are taking a trip to Canterbury, England - UNESCO World Heritage Site, home of the Canterbury Cathedral, and birthplace of prog-rock legends Caravan. Springing forth from the rich Canterbury scene, Caravan created a style of progressive rock that managed to be complex while retaining a real sense of warmth. The group is not particul…

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Bonus: Thank You for the Music 1:56:22

1y ago1:56:22

1:56:22

We're departing from our usual format for this episode. Everybody needed a pick-me-up, so instead of discussing an album, we're talking about songs: specifically, the ones that make us love music. Some of these are the songs we loved as little kids that built our musical foundations, and some of them are illustrations of specific things we adore. W…

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151: John Carpenter - Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998 (2017) 2:26:42

1y ago2:26:42

2:26:42

Discord & Rhyme goes to the movies! This Halloween we're ringing in spooky season by exploring the work of filmmaker and musician John Carpenter. Best known for introducing the world to Michael Myers with the horror classic Halloween, Carpenter has built a solid filmography as a director while also providing his own distinctive musical vision with …

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150: Metallica - Ride the Lightning (1984) and Master of Puppets (1986) 3:40:01

1y ago3:40:01

3:40:01

Mike’s ongoing quest to make Discord & Rhyme more metal inevitably meant we would have to tackle the band so synonymous with metal they put it in their name, and Metallica’s incredible mid-80s prime inevitably meant we would need to tackle two of their albums in the same episode. Ride the Lightning of 1984 and Master of Puppets of 1986 are largely …

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149: A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory (1991) 2:39:18

1+ y ago2:39:18

2:39:18

Here we go, yo! It's been a while since this podcast has covered either a hip-hop album or a jazz album — so this week, we're doing both at once! A Tribe Called Quest formed in the late ‘80s in the New York City neighborhood of St. Albans, Queens, which was home to some of the giants of jazz, blues, and funk, and was a hotbed of musical activity in…

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148: Jeff Beck - Truth (1968) 1:53:20

1+ y ago1:53:20

1:53:20

Jeff Beck had shown off his guitar genius with several fiery mid-1960s hit singles by the Yardbirds; he’d even scored some UK top-30 hits as an unlikely singing star. But all that was prologue to Truth, his 1968 solo debut album. Joined by future Rolling Stone Ron Wood and a then-unknown Rod Stewart, Beck laid down a standout batch of electric blue…

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147: The Mamas and the Papas - If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (1966) 2:18:16

1+ y ago2:18:16

2:18:16

Before they were flattened into part of the public’s collective generic memory of the 1960s, and before an astonishing level of in-fighting and tragedy turned the group’s story into one of the best VH1: Behind the Music episodes, The Mamas and the Papas released one of the best debut albums of the 1960s. It produced three massive hits you’ve heard …

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146: Spinal Tap - This Is Spinal Tap (1984) 1:47:04

1+ y ago1:47:04

1:47:04

Hello, Cleveland! This week, Producer Mike continues his quest to make Discord & Rhyme more metal by turning it up to 11 with an episode on England’s loudest band, Spinal Tap. The fictional Spinal Tap consists of guitarists David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel, bassist Derek Smalls, and a series of cursed drummers, whose misadventures are chronicled …

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145: George Harrison - All Things Must Pass (1970) 3:14:11

1+ y ago3:14:11

3:14:11

George Harrison was reaching his creative peak in the late 1960s, but famously had a difficult time getting the other Beatles interested in recording his songs. So when they broke up in 1970, George got a massive group of musicians together and recorded his entire backlog to release all at once. All Things Must Pass was the first ever triple album …

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144: Green Day - Dookie (1994) 1:56:49

1+ y ago1:56:49

1:56:49

In 1994, Green Day introduced a whole new generation to punk rock with their major label debut, Dookie. There has been a lot of discourse over the years about whether or not Green Day are “real” punk rock, but Dookie has endured as a classic of ‘90s rock, containing numerous standards that have long-since been memorized by anyone reasonably fluent …

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Bonus: Won-Hit Oneders 1:30:44

1+ y ago1:30:44

1:30:44

It's time for our annual summer break, so we're letting an episode out of the Patreon vault in which Mike, Rich, and Amanda discussed some of our favorite one-hit wonders, as defined in our own heads. (Amanda is not sorry for the extremely corny title of this episode.) Make sure you listen until the end to hear Producer Mike's mashup masterpiece! T…

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143: The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers (1976) 1:37:14

1+ y ago1:37:14

1:37:14

In the early 1970s, Jonathan Richman assembled a band that recorded a groundbreaking set of songs fusing garage-rock sensibilities with his own entirely unique worldview. Unfortunately, before The Modern Lovers managed to complete a proper album, Richman’s musical interests drifted into an entirely different direction, ultimately leading to the dis…

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142: The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed (1967) 2:37:22

1+ y ago2:37:22

2:37:22

For our annual Moody Blues episode, we’re traveling back to the beginning (sort of) and finally discussing Days of Future Passed. Although the band themselves dismissed this idea, this album is clearly one of the starting points of progressive rock, and it’s certainly one of the earliest concept albums. It’s unique not just in the Moody Blues’ disc…

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141: The Band - Music from Big Pink (1968) 2:17:47

1+ y ago2:17:47

2:17:47

Get ready for some classic Americana, brought to you by four Canadians (and one American), discussed by four Americans (including one living in Canada). Because Neil Young and Joni Mitchell weren't enough, Ben goes back to the frozen north for the Band's 1968 debut album, Music From Big Pink. Ben discusses why he loves the Band and Music From Big P…

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140: R.E.M. - Automatic for the People (1992) 2:26:27

1+ y ago2:26:27

2:26:27

R.E.M. spent the decade after Murmur growing steadily more successful, their popularity cresting with the 1991 #1 album Out of Time and its inescapable hit single “Losing My Religion.” But instead of going on an exhausting world tour like most bands would, R.E.M. went right back into the studio and recorded Automatic for the People, an album that d…

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139: R.E.M. - Murmur (1983) 2:10:20

1+ y ago2:10:20

2:10:20

We’ve held off on R.E.M. for a while, because the Athens, Ga., quartet is just such a heavyweight in the rock canon. They’re so huge, in fact, that they merit two episodes: one for the mumbly, Byrdsy alt-rock troubadours of the ‘80s, and one for the slightly less mumbly arena rock titans of the ‘90s and onward. We’re starting off with their 1983 de…

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Six Thousand Million Questions (Listener Q&A #6) 1:33:29

1+ y ago1:33:29

1:33:29

Rich, Mike, and Amanda answer a bonanza of questions from listeners. Topics include retro prog, great live albums and not-so-great live shows, fantasy supergroups, synesthesia, our favorite recent releases, and no fewer than three questions about the Moody Blues. Listen through to the end for a special request to listeners! Clips: Peter Gabriel - S…

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138: Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (III) (1980) 2:37:46

2y ago2:37:46

2:37:46

Peter Gabriel is a favorite artist of many of us here at Discord & Rhyme, but we’ve saved him for our own 138th Episode Spectacular. Peter Gabriel III (aka Melt, so called because half of Gabriel’s face on the album cover looks like a melting candle) isn’t just John’s favorite Peter Gabriel album; it’s an album that made him reconsider (in a favora…

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137: Iron Maiden - Powerslave (1984) 2:07:00

2y ago2:07:00

2:07:00

Hear that? There goes the siren that warns of the air raid – or maybe that’s just Bruce Dickinson’s voice. This week, Mike continues his quest to make Discord & Rhyme more metal with the album Powerslave by Iron Maiden. In the popular consciousness, Maiden are known for their goofy album covers and hits like “Bring Your Daughter … to the Slaughter.…

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136: Kylie Minogue - X (2007) 2:13:08

2y ago2:13:08

2:13:08

Kylie Minogue had a big comeback last year with the Grammy-winning TikTok hit “Padam Padam,” so Rich decided that it was finally time to give the Discord & Rhyme treatment to one of his favorite divas. Kylie’s 2007 album X wasn’t just an artistic comeback, but a physical and emotional one, recorded in the wake of her grueling but successful treatme…

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135: The Dillards - Live!!!! Almost!!! (1964) 1:49:26

2y ago1:49:26

1:49:26

Amanda has been threatening to talk about bluegrass on the podcast for years, and we finally settled on the perfect album to start with: Live!!!! Almost!!! by the Dillards. Half a comedy album and half a virtuoso performance by expert musicians, it’s a fantastic introduction to the genre. It was recorded in front of an audience completely unfamilia…

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134: Uriah Heep - Demons and Wizards (1972) 1:24:09

2y ago1:24:09

1:24:09

Uriah Heep were never critical darlings, but for a brief period in the early seventies, they were making some absolutely killer fantasy-tinged rock. Phil has always had a soft spot for 1972’s Demons And Wizards, which is probably the best example of what could happen when this band was truly firing on all cylinders. He, along with Dan and Mike, mak…

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133: Rodgers and Hammerstein - Oklahoma! (1964) 2:08:22

2y ago2:08:22

2:08:22

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical Oklahoma! was a massive hit on Broadway in 1943. It changed musical theater forever and inspired a well-remembered 1955 film. Ben hasn't seen the musical or the film, and he doesn't know the plot or the names of the characters. But he loves the music. He and Rich and John dive into a 1964 studio recording of the Ok…

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132: Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970) 2:20:03

2y ago2:20:03

2:20:03

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were gifted musicians with a deep and complicated personal relationship, which makes them perfect subjects for a Discord & Rhyme holiday episode. Their magnum opus, Bridge Over Troubled Water, was a huge hit in 1970 and is still as beautiful, innovative, and occasionally silly as it ever was. Ben, Amanda, Rich, and John…

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131: Wire - Pink Flag (1977) 1:56:11

2y ago1:56:11

1:56:11

1 2 X U! As punk was just beginning to take off in the UK, Wire was already looking ahead, itching to push the genre toward artsier, more abstract frontiers. Their 1977 LP Pink Flag planted the seeds for post-punk and hardcore before most kids had even had a chance to spike their first mohawk. Boasting a dizzying 21 tracks at an economical 35 minut…

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130: The Dukes of Stratosphear - Chips from the Chocolate Fireball (1987) 2:18:20

2y ago2:18:20

2:18:20

It’s time for a psychedelic podcast extravaganza, five years and two recordings in the making! The album Chips from the Chocolate Fireball by XTC’s alter-egos the Dukes of Stratosphear was supposed to be our fifth episode, but technical difficulties turned the episode into a splendid cream bun. But Rich, Ben, and Mike are finally back for a second …

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129: Gentle Giant - Octopus (1972) 1:45:45

2y ago1:45:45

1:45:45

Gentle Giant comes up so often on Discord & Rhyme, especially considering how obscure they are outside the world of hardcore prog rock fandom, that it’s amazing we haven’t covered them yet. Many 1970s prog rock bands aspired to combine rock with classical (and jazz among other things), but unlike most of their contemporaries, Gentle Giant actually …