Adios Season 1, Howdy Season 2!

This week the Indie 500 spins Screaming Trees' Dust from NME's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. We're joined by music journalist and author Gillian G. Gaar, a longtime writer for The Rocket, Seattle's legendary free music paper, and a contributor to Mojo, Rolling Stone and Goldmine. Her new book, Grunge: The Story of the Music That Redefined Rock (Quarto), is out October 13, 2026. Gillian takes us inside The Rocket's offices in the years before grunge exploded. That was a Seattle of chainsaw-cut exit doors, punk shows at Elks lodges, and a 1984 poster that declared the local scene "found dead." She explains why Deep Six and Sub Pop 100 make 1986 the starting line, and how Jack Endino's cheap Reciprocal Recording became the scene's sound. She also looks at how Sub Pop's hype turned into self-fulfilling prophecy, and why Seattle bands helped each other instead of competing. From there we cover the pressure that money and major labels brought, the losses of the early '90s, the Soundgarden and Alice in Chains reunions, and the Pacific Northwest bands history skipped over. We also discuss why grunge may have been the last great organic music movement. Catch Gillian at Elliott Bay Book Company on Capitol Hill on October 14 (free, all ages), and later next month October 24th at her event in Aberdeen at Unplugged at The Music Project Chapters 0:37 Intro: Gillian G. Gaar and The Rocket 1:46 Who was G3? Writing for Backlash 6:24 Getting hired at The Rocket (thanks, Kate Bush) 10:32 Seattle's punk scene in 1979 13:57 "Seattle Scene Found Dead": the 1984 poster 16:15 Why 1986? Deep Six and Sub Pop 100 18:28 "A Bunch of Noises, All Distinct" 24:03 Why Seattle cooperated instead of competed 25:43 Black Flag, Big Black and touring punk 26:52 Jack Endino and Reciprocal Recording 28:39 Sub Pop, hype and "world domination" 34:11 Women and diversity in the early scene 40:44 When Nevermind hit #1 43:48 How money changed the scene 47:58 Grunge's "jump the shark" moment 52:30 "The best of times and the worst of times" 56:34 Grunge on the NME 500 list 59:13 The last organic music movement 62:23 Instant oatmeal trivia and the bucking spitting mummy cat 65:23 Collecting grunge memorabilia 69:55 Reunions: Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, Mad Season 72:40 Overlooked Seattle records 78:32 The Indie 500 time machine 82:43 Book events and where to find Gillian

#244 Wild Beasts - Smother The Indie 500 Podcast is back from a long summer hiatus, and Season 3 opens with Wild Beasts' 2011 album Smother, sitting at #244 on NME's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Neither host had heard it before this week — no Limbo Panto, no Two Dancers, no Hayden Thorpe falsetto — which makes this a genuine first-listen deep dive into one of the strangest, most committed art-pop records British indie produced in the 2010s. We start with a Season 3 warm-up: 90s guilty pleasures, top three each. Eurodance obsessions (Alice DJ's "Better Off Alone," Culture Beat's "Mr. Vain"), George Michael's "Freedom! '90," Madonna's "Like a Prayer," The Cardigans' "Lovefool," and the strange true story of Stardust's "Music Sounds Better with You" — the one-off Paris side project that turned down $3 million from Virgin and quietly became the prototype for Daft Punk's Discovery. Then the band history: two 16-year-olds at Queen Katherine School in Kendal, Cumbria, naming themselves after the Fauvist painters because there was nothing else to do; the move to Leeds; Tom Fleming joining on bass and bringing the baritone that makes the two-voice Wild Beasts sound work; Bad Sneakers Records, the signing to Domino, Limbo Panto, and the Mercury-nominated breakthrough Two Dancers. Our World Context segment plants Smother in May 9, 2011: Katy Perry's "E.T." at #1 in the US, LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" all over the UK, Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party rising out of post-recession anger, the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, the royal wedding, the bin Laden raid, the debut of Minecraft and Angry Birds, and Rebecca Black's "Friday" inventing the modern viral pile-on. The making of section covers the East London basement demos, the retreat to Bryn Derwen studio in Snowdonia, producer Richard Formby as unofficial fifth member and tiebreaker, and a recording philosophy built on subtraction, improvisation, and one-take crudeness — including a piece of "Albatross" tracked into a MacBook mic at 3 a.m. Plus Thorpe on intimacy, lust, and lyrics as self-discovery, and the near-unanimous 2011 press: NME 9/10, Pitchfork 8.2, a UK #17 chart peak. Then the honest verdict — a divisive falsetto, an acquired taste, and two hosts who land on real respect for a record they may not revisit — with time for "Bed of Nails," "Plaything," "Loop the Loop," "Burning," and the closing stretch of "End Come Too Soon," and an argument that Smother is secretly the best 80s throwback of 2011. The Eye of Agamotto hits #244 across the multiverse: Kanye's 808s & Heartbreak, Pavement, Dazed and Confused, Twister, and J.G. Ballard's High Rise. We spin the wheel for next week and land on De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising — plus an upcoming interview with grunge author Gillian Gaar. Rate, review, and subscribe. Questions to [email protected].

The IFP boys drop everything they’re doing to address a moment in the recent news that may be the most IFP thing to ever happen.*recorded prior to passing of Dolly Parton r.i.p.*

#63 Joni Mitchell - Blue Joni Mitchell's Blue album review and music history deep dive — Episode 37 of our indie music podcast covering NME's Top 500 albums. We take on Blue, Joni Mitchell's 36-minute tour de force of poetry and unconventional guitar tunings, a landmark feminist album and a consensus classic on nearly every "greatest albums of all time" list. This episode continues where our recent interview with music journalist Annie Zaleski left off — with the added bonus of finally avoiding the "two old dads talking about a landmark feminist album" problem. Inside this episode: the history of Blue, a look at Joni Mitchell as an artist and the era she was recording in, and why her songwriting and open-tuned guitar work still influences indie folk and singer-songwriters decades later. As always, we follow the rabbit down the hole — this time into color-themed music festivals, video game speedrunning, the "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" ad campaign, and the abolition of the shilling, the sixpence, and the farthing. If you're searching for a Blue album review, Joni Mitchell music history, or an in-depth breakdown of one of the most acclaimed folk albums of all time, this episode's for you. Rate, review, and subscribe to get notified on new episodes — we're working through NME's Top 500 Albums list one deep dive at a time.

Description: "In preparation for our deep dive into Joni Mitchell's landmark album Blue, we sit down with New York Times bestselling author Annie Zaleski for a wide-ranging conversation on Joni Mitchell's music history and trailblazing impact on pop music. This indie music podcast interview covers Joni Mitchell's influence as a songwriter, her open-tuned guitar innovations, and the long shadow she's cast over generations of artists. Annie Zaleski is an acclaimed music journalist and author — find her at anniez.com or on Instagram @anniezaleskiauthor. Her new book, a deep dive into the catalog of Dolly Parton, arrives August 2026 and is available for pre-order now. This conversation sets the stage for our full album review of Blue — a consensus masterpiece and one of the most influential feminist albums in music history. If you're searching for Joni Mitchell music history or context on her impact on pop music, this episode's for you. Rate, review, and subscribe for more indie music history, artist interviews, and album deep dives from NME's Top 500 Albums list.