The Bridge: Pub Rock, Power Pop and New Wave
Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine breaks down the scenes and sounds that led to—and flowed out of—punk.
[This edition of my Hit Parade—“The Bridge” bonus series is available to Slate Plus subscribers only. A link to the episode show page is below. To sign up for Plus—and tell Slate that Hit Parade sent you!—visit slate.com/hitparadeplus.]
In this mini-episode of Hit Parade, host Chris Molanphy is joined by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Senior Editor at Xperi, whose database of music information is available at Allmusic.com. In his quarter-century with Allmusic, Tom has written thousands of record reviews and biographies. Chris and Tom expand on the latest full-length episode about the so-called Angry Young Men of punk/new wave. These movements were preceded by smaller scenes and sounds of the early ’70s like Pub Rock and Power Pop, which actually had little in common other than their back-to-basic, no-frills rock ethos.
Next, Chris quizzes a Slate Plus listener with some music trivia, gives her a chance to turn the tables with a question of her own, and previews next month’s full-length episode. Slate Plus members can sign up for a chance to be our trivia contestant on a future episode here.
Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.