Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia - The Bridge: Living in an Amish Paradise
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Slate Podcasts
4.2 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 14 February 2020
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this mini-episode of Hit Parade, host Chris Molanphy is joined by Nathan Rabin, podcaster and writer of two books about “Weird Al” Yankovic. They discuss the most recent full-length episode of Hit Parade, a history of novelty songs on the Billboard charts culminating with the oeuvre of the most successful parody musician ever. Nathan shares the history of his Al fandom and eventual book-length collaboration, and Chris and Nathan theorize about the secrets of Al’s success.
(Want to see Nathan Rabin talk about Weird Al in person? Join him in Los Angeles on Saturday, February 22, 2020, at 3:30 p.m. PST at Dynasty Typewriter—tickets here.)
Next, Chris quizzes a Slate Plus listener with some music trivia, and the contestant turns the tables with a chance to try to stump Chris with a question of his own. Then, Chris teases the upcoming full-length episode of Hit Parade, which will look at the record-breaking career of the late Whitney Houston—now a Rock Hall inductee.
While this episode is available to all listeners, our trivia round is open only to Slate Plus members. If you are a member—or once you become a member—enter as a contestant here.
Want your question featured in an upcoming show? Email a voice memo to hitparade@slate.com.
Podcast production by Asha Saluja.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening ad-free on Amazon Music. |
| 0:04.4 | Sometimes I feel like I need a vacation. |
| 0:14.4 | Sometimes I feel like I want to. |
| 0:17.0 | Hey, everybody. |
| 0:18.0 | This is Chris Malanfi, host of HIPPRI. Slate's podcast of Popchart History. Welcome to The Bridge. |
| 0:25.4 | I'd be a flintstone. Now I'll tell you why. |
| 0:35.3 | That's Bedrock Anthem by Weird Al Yankovic, a 1993 track from his album Alapalooza. |
| 0:44.4 | It is a rare Weird Al song that parodies not just one, but two songs by the same artist, |
| 0:52.6 | namely the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It starts with a riff on their |
| 0:57.2 | 1992 number two pop hit under the bridge, then segues into a reboot of the Chili's number one |
| 1:05.9 | alt-rock hit, Give It Away, all mashed up with lyrics about that classic cartoon about a Stone Age family, |
| 1:14.4 | The Flintstops. |
| 1:19.5 | And these mini episodes bridge our full-length monthly episodes. Give us a chance to catch up with listeners, and enjoy |
| 1:28.8 | some trivia. And I'm delighted to welcome this month's special guest. In the opening paragraph |
| 1:35.1 | of his new book, Nathan Rabin writes, about eight years ago, I received a direct message on |
| 1:41.9 | Twitter from my childhood hero, Weird Al Yankovic, that changed my life. |
| 1:47.9 | Al wrote that, of all the writers in the world, he had chosen me to tell his story, unquote. |
| 1:54.7 | That book, 2012's Weird Al, The Book, made Rabin one of the world's foremost Al experts. |
| 2:01.9 | And he's just released another book, The Weird Accordion to Al, that's winning raves from |
| 2:08.0 | Al fans worldwide. |
| 2:09.8 | Rabin is a former head writer of the AV Club, co-host of the Travolta Cage podcast, and the author |
| 2:16.1 | of six books, including both of his books about Yankovic. |
... |
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