Shows
How We Heard ItHere's why 2025 didn't totally suck2025 won't be remembered as the year for love, peace and harmony.
War and military attacks were happening everywhere - from the Ukraine to the Middle East to Venezuela to Nigeria. Natural disasters like wildfires and floods swept the U.S. And not only did we lose beloved celebrities like Diane Keaton, Robert Redford and Ozzy Osbourne, other popular figures - from Rob and Michele Reiner to Charlie Kirk to Melissa and Mark Hortman - died in devastating ways that shocked the world.
Political differences polarized Americans with increasing intensity, AI made us increasingly unsure what...
2025-12-271h 19How We Heard ItWhat does your music collection say about you?Everyone with a physical music collection - you know, stuff you can hold in your hands like albums and compact discs - has had to decide how to store it all.
Organized fans often arrange their collections alphabetically and/or chronologically and/or by popularity. Less organized fans find it harder to keep up with what they have and find what they want when they want it.
For veteran music journalists like Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell, who have each amassed thousands of albums and CDs over the decades, organizing their collections has been a...
2025-12-201h 19How We Heard ItThese strange songs came out of nowhere!You never see them coming, and yet they never stop coming.
From the beginning of popular music to today, offbeat songs just keep pushing into our consciousness. As much as we’re conditioned to respond to formula-based songs that fit into established genres, the outliers just keep catching our attention and burrowing into our brains.
Over the decades, there’s been a singing nun and chanting monks, weird mini-musicals from the likes of Queen and Paul McCartney, unlikely foreign-language acts promoting red balloons, taxi drivers and whatever “Gangnam Style” was. Unconventional instruments, animals (including the performe...
2025-12-131h 30How We Heard ItHere’s our (satirical?) gift list for your favorite performers!Snappy holidays, y’all!
The snarky Santas of “How We Heard It” have been making a list of what the biggest names in modern music should get for their behavior this year.
We’re not talking about golf clubs and spa days. Instead, these are intangible gifts the artists need, even if they don’t realize it.
Your hosts bounce from sarcasm to sincerity as they distribute their tidings on naughty and nice performers from across genres and age groups, including young pop stars like Benson Boone and Olivia Rodrigo, country artists such as Morgan...
2025-12-061h 22How We Heard ItNeed to cheer up, calm down or blow off steam? Try these songs!Feeling out of sorts?
Join the crowd.
We're full-tilt into holiday season and most of us might be feeling the blues ... or feeling chaotic ... or feeling like we're about to go off on someone. Or all of the above.
We all have our go-to therapy songs that help us get through a rough patch. But sometimes our sonic medicine can't get the job done.
Never fear! In this episode of "How We Heard It," your hosts have a collection of songs that can change your mood.
You've maybe forgotten...
2025-11-291h 22How We Heard ItThis podcast topic took unexpected turns!Your hosts of the "How We Heard It" podcast usually have a general goal in mind when they pick a topic ... but when they came up with this idea, they had no clue what they were in for: "Hey, let's dig through our music collections and just see what we find."
Keep in mind that these guys have each amassed thousands of albums and compact discs (and even some 8-track tapes for Wayne), accumulated over decades thanks in great part to record companies sending the guys an avalanche of free music, hoping for reviews.
Amazingly...
2025-11-221h 26How We Heard ItControversial singers! ... And why we'll never have another Dolly PartonSeems like every day another performer has said the wrong thing or done the wrong thing. And if we like them, that's just more spice in the sauce. And if we don't, we just hate them even more.
But the controversy wheel just keeps on spinning, regardless of how you feel. It could be a manufactured scandal, like a diss track, or something out of control, like an act of violence. Sometimes it's hard to know if it was planned or not - you know, like when one singer pulls the top off another singer during the...
2025-11-151h 20How We Heard ItSweet, sour and salty: great songs about giving thanksThe United States may have an official day of gratitude every November with Thanksgiving, but for many of us, most every day could be a day of appreciation.
A sincere "thank you" is rewarding for everyone: It feels good to say it and it feels good to hear it.
However, appreciation can be complicated and "thank you" may come with a twist. Sometimes we're grateful (in hindsight, at least) for the lessons we've learned from difficult people. Sometimes we feel generalized happiness for family and/or friends. Sometimes we're just thankful to no one in...
2025-11-081h 24How We Heard ItSometimes words just get in the wayWhen we're listening to music, most of us tend to focus on the singer. And why not? Singers spell it out for us. They give us a human voice, and the words, to understand the meaning of songs.
But we don't always need someone holding our hand and walking us through a song. Sometimes the lyrics are trite and the vocals are lame.
With instrumentals, you get to choose your own adventure. You can feel the music and define the meaning to suit yourself. Without all those words getting in the way, you can be...
2025-11-011h 24How We Heard ItMusic's biggest feuds - from the vicious to the absurd!Face it, everyone loves a good fight. And musicians and singers are always adding an extra layer to their entertainment value - intentionally or accidentally - by engaging in battles with their peers.
Some of these feuds are exaggerated and some are underplayed. Some have an obvious bad guy while in others it seems like both parties should share the blame. Some seem to be about nothing, and others seem to be about everything.
It seemed like the stakes couldn't have been higher than they were in the recent Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar feud ... that...
2025-10-251h 24How We Heard ItWhat's gotten into everybody? We're possessed!Summer's done, and now we're hurtling toward the darkest, coldest days of the year. So forgive us if we aren't feeling ourselves.
It's as if an evil force has taken over our souls. ... Could this be what it feels like to be possessed?
In the spirit of the season, this episode of "How We Heard It" explores the phenomenon of possession as portrayed in the movies. Your hosts - veteran entertainment journalists and horror-movie aficionados Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell - compare notes on one of the most lucrative subgenres in the film industry. (John...
2025-10-181h 23How We Heard ItThese cover songs might blow your mind!Cover songs often aren't what they should be. Many are pale and pointless facsimiles of the original songs, and others even take off into some new direction for no reason whatsoever.
Rude.
So this week the "How We Heard It" guys let their imaginations run wild, freewheeling through music history (from 60-odd years ago to today), mixing and matching some of the most popular songs of all time to an expansive variety of distinctive artists, old and new.
They make inspired choices as they spitball ideas, conjuring some songs you just know would...
2025-10-111h 18How We Heard ItMore guilty pleasures and shameless infatuations!When "How We Heard It" was just a few weeks old in the summer of 2024, we posted an episode about guilty pleasures, featuring your veteran entertainment critics/hosts Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell confessing their love for art that other critics frown on - including Wayne's love of sunshine pop and westerns and Chuck's love of exotica and techno music.
Some 15 months and 65 shows later, the guilty-pleasures episode remains one of the three most-listened-to episodes of "How We Heard It." So Wayne and Chuck - plus their engineer, songwriter/musician John T. Baker - decided to revisit...
2025-10-041h 19How We Heard ItThese albums changed who we areIn modern times, our society is partially shaped by widely praised albums, brilliantly executed works of art that reflect, or even reshape, the direction of our culture.
But the effect of music on individuals is more nuanced, and broad generalizations don't always apply.
A life-changing album could come from anywhere if the timing is right, such as the beginning or end of a relationship or maybe the last year of high school or college or after a cross-country move or the death of a loved one.
Even mediocre albums can seem life-altering if...
2025-09-271h 23How We Heard ItSongs about fall: the sweet, the sad and the strangeThey were supposed to do a straightforward episode about autumn songs, but this week the hosts of "How We Heard It" found themselves in lively debate from the get-go.
When is fall? When the kids go back to school in August? Is it the autumnal equinox in September? Maybe when the leaves turn in October?
Your host Chuck Campbell doesn't like much of anything about fall - colder, darker days make him gloomy, sleepy and unproductive. Yet his counterparts, Wayne Bledsoe and John Baker, are invigorated by the cooler days and natural beauty of the...
2025-09-201h 21How We Heard ItHere are the best men singers from the past 60+ yearsLast week the "How We Heard It" hosts came up with a list of the greatest women singers in modern music, debating Janis Joplin vs. Whitney Houston and Karen Carpenter vs. Barbra Streisand while also finding endless praise for everyone from Aretha Franklin to Linda Ronstadt to Annie Lennox to Billie Eilish.
This week, "How We Heard It" pivots to men singers, going back in time to crooners like Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby and country legends like Hank Williams and George Jones.
From there, the hosts come forward, breezing through classic singer-songwriters like Jim...
2025-09-131h 21How We Heard ItThese are the best women singers in modern musicSingers often make or break a song. The exceptional ones can lift a bland arrangement into the stratosphere and the mundane ones can sink a great arrangement like a torpedo.
This week the "How We Heard It" guys take a look at women vocalists (men singers will come next week), from the clear-voiced vocalists with perfect enunciation to soul singers who use a ragged edge to add personality. Some are belters, some practically whisper, some float into the atmosphere, and some are Bjork.
But the differences between artists are pronounced, even in the sub-categories. Find...
2025-09-061h 17How We Heard ItSongs about friends: They'll have your back and stab it, tooFriends are our chosen family, the people we can sometimes count on when everyone else has turned their backs on us.
But friendships vary. They can be a lifelong commitment or they can end tomorrow without warning. Or they can mysteriously fade away from benign neglect.
Friends have inspired numerous songwriters over the years - the ride-or-die friends who will help you hide the body as well as the duplicitous friends who will steal your lover.
On this episode of "How We Heard It," your hosts explore funny, heartfelt, angry, inspiring and pained...
2025-08-301h 16How We Heard ItMusicians use these secret tricks to win your loveWhy do we love our favorite songs?
We may think it's simply because we love the singer's voice or the guitars or the fact that it's got a good beat and you can dance to it.
But often we love songs for reasons we may not understand and can't articulate. They just make us feel a certain way.
Musicians know how the brain processes sound and triggers emotions, and they employ tricks that win you over even when you don't realize what's happening.
Perhaps it's their unconventional use of major and...
2025-08-231h 15How We Heard ItOn second thought, these acts don't suckHave you ever dismissed a band or singer as mediocre (or worse) only to later realize they were amazing and you misjudged them?
It can be a blow to the ego to miss the genius that others hear - especially if you're a professional music critic or musician. But this week, your "How We Heard It" hosts put their pride aside and confess to overlooking some of the most-respected names in popular music.
They explain how they underestimated the artists and what finally happened to bring them around to the truth. Believe it or not...
2025-08-161h 21How We Heard ItThese teen movies make us laugh, squirm and cringeThe teen years can be some of the most tumultuous in our lives - at least internally. Subtle moments can feel glorious, or tragic, while we might not even notice the major events unfolding all around us.
The magic of being a teenager, when your life can feel out of control if your crush doesn't even look your way, is captured again and again in movies, from comedies to horror and all the drama in between. And why not? What better time to go through a coming-of-age story than when a serial killer is on the loose?
2025-08-091h 21How We Heard ItDeath sucks: Here are artists we lost too soonIt's not unusual for beloved singers and musicians to continue performing well beyond the age most of us plan to retire, and you can find them still packing arenas when they're in their 70s, 80s and even 90s.
On the flipside, even the brightest stars can suddenly blink out. They fall out of favor at the drop of a hat, they burn out and quit the business, and, tragically, they sometimes die young.
This week on "How We Heard It," your hosts take a look at great performers who had everything going for them until...
2025-08-021h 21How We Heard ItMusic's greatest duets: when two is better than oneGreat duets have surfaced throughout the history of popular music, evoking a magic that one voice simply can't convey by itself.
Duets between Bruno Mars and Rose ("APT.") as well as Kendrick Lamar and SZA ("Luther") have commanded the top of the charts in the past year, and you'll turn up other smash duets no matter how far you go back in time - Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus (2019), Lady Gaga and Beyonce (2009), Nelly Furtado and Timbaland (2009), Brandy and Monica (1998), Michael and Janet Jackson (1995) ...
Keep going and you'll find everything from Tom Petty...
2025-07-261h 22How We Heard ItMusic for travelers - and escapists!It can be hard to understand how one song casts a spell on your soul when so many others pass you by. It could be the melody or overall construction of the song, or maybe it's the message of the lyrics that grabs you.
But sometimes the magic is just a matter of location, location, location.
If you've ever been captivated by a song when you were away from home, be it an overnighter in another city or a protracted international journey, chances are you were simply open to something new (or even hearing a...
2025-07-191h 23How We Heard ItThese are the most underrated - and overrated - actors!Ever wonder why you hardly ever see one actor who always lights up the screen while you can't get away from another one who always leaves you cold?
So do we.
This week, the hosts of "How We Heard It" look at a galaxy of stars - from the old guard like Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Bradley Cooper and Sandra Bullock to new breakouts like Timothee Chalamet, Mikey Madison, Austin Butler and Jacob Elordi.
Are we ready for some of these old stars to fade away? Are the new stars living up to...
2025-07-121h 27How We Heard ItFantastic band names! (also: racy, gross and boring ones)Our first impression of a new musical group often comes from their name, which can be creative or shocking or forgettable.
We've all learned that a band's name typically doesn't reflect the kind of music they play - sometimes it's even the opposite of how you would expect them to sound. And over time, you'll come to love a great band with an unfortunate name or reject a blah group with a clever name.
But that initial reaction can go a long way to helping (or preventing) a band to reach a potential audience. Does...
2025-07-051h 16How We Heard It'Hold me closer, Tony Danza' and other misheard lyricsFunny thing about lyrics: They aren't always what you think they are.
Whether you hear them the wrong way or someone else heard them the wrong way and passed that misinterpretation on to you, you're often singing along to a different set of lyrics than your favorite singer.
What's more, AI and other lyrics you find on Google get them wrong, too.
But "How We Heard It" is here to help, whether you're wondering about the guy Jimi Hendrix is going to kiss, why there's a girl with colitis going by, how many...
2025-06-281h 24How We Heard ItSurprises we've learned about you, and ourselves, in year oneWe've made a full trip around the sun since "How We Heard It" debuted in June of 2024, so for episode No. 52 of the weekly show, your hosts are looking at what worked and what didn't - for the audiences and for themselves - in the first year.
They recap what episodes drew the biggest audiences (some shows are more surprising than others) and where the audiences are coming from (some places are more surprising than others) as well as a look back at how the audience is getting to the podcast and how the social media channels...
2025-06-211h 23How We Heard ItMixtapes?! What were we thinking?Music fans have been making personal soundtracks for some 50 years, starting with the mixtape in the 1970s, then changing with technology to mixed discs in the 1990s (replacing cassette tapes with compact discs), then creating playlists in the 2000s for devices like iPods as well as streaming services like Spotify.
Typically, these homemade collections are just a way to put favorite and/or related songs together for consumption at particular times, such as parties, workouts, vacations or relaxation. And sometimes they're made for sharing - with friends or colleagues or a crush you're trying to impress.
2025-06-141h 25How We Heard ItThese blockbuster albums were unlike any otherThe music industry has always had its megastars akin to today's super-performers like Taylor Swift, Drake and Morgan Wallen.
However, there was a glorious decade from the early 1980s into the 1990s when the planets aligned and money gushed out to a select few artists who commandeered the industry. Major record labels, commercial radio, and MTV conspired to create a consumer hunger for physical products - vinyl, cassette and CD albums and singles, readily available at record stores and department stores at every mall and shopping center.
The artists behind these albums were mostly in...
2025-06-071h 22How We Heard ItAlbum covers inspire, shock and teaseYou don't get a second chance to make a first impression, so over the years music artists have relied on the visual cues of their album covers to help sell their product.
Sexy photos, dramatic images, optical illusions, striking colors and eye-catching fonts have all been used to grab attention, titillate and intrigue.
Album covers were vital in the vinyl heyday, but as consumers turned more and more to CDs and tapes, designers had to adapt to smaller canvases. And as the world migrated to digital consumption, an "album cover" became nothing more than a...
2025-05-311h 25How We Heard ItCheaters! These songs about them have us shookWhy do cheaters cheat?
Seems like there are as many reasons as there are songs about cheaters. They cheat simply because they're tempted or because they want revenge or because they're lonely or because they don't care or because they want a thrill or because they're addicted to sex or because they're drunk.
There are likewise numerous responses to being cheated on. Many are devastated or infuriated or sink into denial. But some see it as an opportunity - to leave someone they were over anyway or to retaliate by also cheating or maybe to...
2025-05-241h 19How We Heard ItHow do you want to be remembered?Are you a sweet soul? A deep thinker? A party animal?
All of the above?
In this episode of "How We Heard It," your hosts debate the criteria for creating a final playlist - for a celebration of life or just a celebration in general.
What kind of songs would you want played at your funeral? Wayne's given it a lot of thought, but Chuck and John? Not so much.
Join the guys as they get sweet and salty and poignant and goofy as they sort out songs that move their...
2025-05-171h 06How We Heard ItThese summer hits catch us at our happiestAnother summer is upon us, and with it comes a new wave of summer hits that we'll remember forever.
What is it about songs this time of year that makes them hit so much better?
For starters, summer is the most popular season - one with the longest days, the most vacations and the best weather for being outdoors (notwithstanding oppressive heat waves). We meet new people in summer, we go to new places in summer, we allow ourselves to chill out in summer, we fall in love in summer ... and we're just plain happier...
2025-05-101h 18How We Heard ItRemember these one-hit wonders? (We sure do, for better and worse.)One-hit wonders come from all directions, from serious artists who expected a long career of hit songs to novelty acts who never even expected that first one. But the end result is always the same: It's one and done for the performer.
In this episode of "How We Heard It," your hosts look at an array of their favorite and their most hated one-hit wonders over the years, ranging from before they were born to artists from the past few years who are projected to be one-hit wonders even though they're still just in their 20s.
2025-05-031h 21How We Heard ItGet your paws on these great songs about animals!This week "How We Heard It" is going to the dogs ... and cats and horses and any other critter you can think of.
When your hosts decided to explore songs about animals, they couldn't believe how many old and new gems they turned up, as well as some truly terrible songs.
Artists of every genre have found excuses to do songs about animals, and they've come up with just about everything. Songs about dogs alone run the gamut from daydreaming about your dog to losing your dog to wanting to be someone else's dog (don't...
2025-04-261h 17How We Heard ItThese songs will help you get over your exSongs do a great job of marking all the chapters of a relationship - titillation, infatuation, obsession ... followed by the comforting warmth of deep and abiding love ... (sometimes) followed by hurt, misunderstanding and betrayal ... followed by anger, separation and acceptance.
Yet once the breakup is over and done, we sometimes get stuck, unable to move forward or go back, awash in residual negative feelings that swallow us like quicksand.
You know as well as anyone you're only hurting yourself when you get like this, but your "How We Heard It" team is here to help.
2025-04-191h 18How We Heard ItWe never want to see these movies again!Your hosts at "How We Heard It" love movies just as much anyone, and like everyone else, they'll watch their favorite films again and again.
But there are some good movies - some great movies even - that they never intend to watch again.
In this week's episode they go through several acclaimed, or at least popular, films they won't be replaying, and they explain why. Their reasons are many and they often don't agree with each other, but at the end of the day, they're "fin" with these films.
Are there any...
2025-04-121h 20How We Heard ItThe highs and lows of drugs and alcohol in musicSongwriters in most every genre dabble in themes of alcohol and drug use - some of them just looking for a good time, some of them looking for a serious escape from their lives and some of them looking to feed an addiction.
On this episode of "How We Heard It," the guys take it all in, from the playful and silly party songs to the sobering cries for help from artists who are no longer with us.
If you or someone you care about is struggling with substance abuse, please seek the advice of...
2025-04-051h 21How We Heard ItWhy do these great mean songs feel so good?Forget about sappy love songs and happy party songs. Sometimes you've just got to rip somebody a new one, and you don't want to be nice about it.
The cathartic power of a mean song can't be underestimated, whether you just need to get something off your chest or you need to dig deep and drive someone completely out of your life.
So this week the hosts of "How We Heard It" are mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore. They've come up with their favorite mean songs for any situation...
2025-03-291h 08How We Heard ItHere are our favorite singers and bands from around the world!The whole world is full of great music, so this week the "How We Heard It" guys travel the globe to unveil some of the artists who have caught their attention - from Latin America to Asia to Europe to Africa.
Some sing in English, some don't. Some play contemporary popular music you might hear throughout the United States and Great Britain, others don't. And some of these acts you might already know - including performers you may not realize aren't from an English-speaking country.
Find out how and why some of these artists have...
2025-03-221h 27How We Heard ItMusic trends we hate!Music is in a constant state of change, keeping it in line with shifts in popular culture overall as genres rise and fall in popularity and technology trends change how music is made and how we listen to it.
They say change is good, and often that's the case, but veteran music critics Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell and their musician friend John Baker have been irritated and incensed by some of these changes - some of them were just temporary bumps in the road and some of them have been permanently irritating.
On this...
2025-03-151h 16How We Heard ItWhen terrible people make good artWe're constantly passing judgment on others, even if subconsciously - including when we're deciding what movie to watch or what music to hear. The words and actions of celebrities are met with our approval and our disdain, coloring our interest in their work.
It's no different for critics, who have to teach themselves to be fair and neutral when evaluating the work of performers. Or do they?
In this week's episode of "How We Heard It," veteran entertainment critics Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell talk about the process of separating the artist from the art...
2025-03-081h 18How We Heard ItWe react to reaction videos: the good, the bad and the WTFWhile searching and scrolling through music videos on YouTube, most of us have found ourselves watching videos of people watching the videos we came to see.
And they're commenting and reviewing these videos, pausing them and replaying parts, sometimes talking over them and sometimes talking more about each other than about the videos.
They typically claim to have never seen the music video before, and often to have never heard the song before. And some of them are obviously lying. Sometimes they don't know much of anything about their subject - and worse, sometimes they...
2025-03-011h 12How We Heard ItGod, it's brutal out hereAll the time they tried their best, is this the kind of thanks they get?
Veteran journalists Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe have made careers of keeping up with and analyzing music, and in this episode of "How We Heard It," they unload on the pitfalls - like slogging through terrible albums, dealing with pushback from disgruntled fans and shaking their heads at undeserving bands and singers who became improbably famous.
Joined by their engineer/musician friend John Baker, the guys talk about the value, or lack of value, of negative reviews, the impact of...
2025-02-221h 25How We Heard ItThese are the best comedians working today (plus some dead ones)Veteran entertainment writers (and friends) Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe and their engineer/musician friend John Baker love a good laugh. So on this episode of "How We Heard It," they check off a list of the best comedians in the business these days.
From the cleanest of the clean to the ones who constantly teeter on the line of getting cancelled, these comedians have all found their niches.
In addition to sharing some of their favorite jokes by these celebrities, Chuck and Wayne talk about behind the scenes dirt, share the struggles they've had...
2025-02-151h 15How We Heard ItHere are our favorite love songs!Most bands and singers do at least an occasional love song now and then, and love is the most common subject in popular music.
But good love songs can be hard to find - some of the best singers aren't quite convincing as they try to manipulate us with formulaic schlock, and hardly anything is worse than a bad love song.
So in this episode of "How We Heard It," veteran music critics Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe put their heads together to come up with a list of songs that actually capture the magic...
2025-02-081h 15How We Heard ItGreat short songs and why we love themNo offense to long songs, but sometimes you don't need to hear long intros, repetitive choruses, bridges, someone noodling around on a guitar and protracted outros.
This week on "How We Heard It," veteran music journalists (and friends) Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell celebrate the beauty of short songs - they hit fast, they hit hard, and then they let you get on with your day.
2025-02-011h 11How We Heard ItGrammy preview: Taylor Swift vs. Beyonce, or will someone else shine?Veteran music critics Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe have spent decades arguing with each other, publicly and privately, about who should (and who would) win the Grammy Awards.
On paper, the 2025 Grammys look like a showdown between the two biggest powerhouses of the day: Will pop music maverick Taylor Swift steamroll over the competition again to take home an unprecedented fifth Best New Album, or will Beyonce finally succeed by winning her first Best Album award (after four previous nominations) with her polarizing country album?
Or are the Grammy voters sufficiently exhausted by the Taylor...
2025-01-251h 17How We Heard ItHumor and music: the union we all needWith rare exceptions, humans love to laugh and they love music. We differ on what we find funny and what kind of music we like, but when comedy and music come together, it can be magical.
On this episode of "How We Heard It," the guys explore how humor has found its way into music, and vice versa, and how the two art forms are probably more united now than ever.
Also this episode, "How We Heard It" welcomes guest Sneaky Pete Rizzo, a scientist and professor emeritus from Texas A&M as well as...
2025-01-181h 17How We Heard ItThese great ballads are good for the soulOn this episode of "How We Heard It," the guys talk about some of the greatest ballads in classic and modern pop music.
Well, first they argue about what a ballad even is, but once they settle on a definition, they talk about how a performer's authenticity makes all the difference between a song that inspires you and a song that's just generic garbage.
If you've ever been moved by a song and you can't explain why, maybe this can help you figure it out!
2025-01-111h 16How We Heard ItHow Hollywood can fix the movie industryThe movie industry has buckled under intense challenges in recent years - including a devastating pandemic that shut down theaters for months, labor strikes that disrupted the production process and release schedules, a glut of streaming services that fragmented distribution ... and not least of all, a lack of innovative thinking at the top, where the same basic movies are constantly being greenlighted to lukewarm (or even cold) reception.
In this episode of "How We Heard It," veteran entertainment journalists and longtime movie fans Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell dissect where the film industry keeps getting it wrong...
2025-01-041h 11How We Heard ItBrace yourself, music is going to change againChange is inevitable.
When you live in the day-to-day world of popular music, you might not notice, but the music industry is endlessly changing. It's a revolving door of artists and a rise and fall of genres. Also, the recording process and delivery system for music is constantly pivoting, and the audiences themselves are cycling in and out as their wants and needs shift.
This week on "How We Heard It" we ring in the second half of the 2020s by looking at just how much has changed in music from decade to decade in...
2024-12-281h 27How We Heard ItWhen should songs be censored or banned?Songs can make you blush and songs can make you mad, but should they ever be banned?
Veteran music journalists Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell take a look at how and why artists have been censored and how others have avoided it. And no, it doesn't always make sense.
They also look at the fickle world of cancellation and how some artists get whacked while others get a pass. (Plus, sometimes artists even ban their own songs.)
One thing's for sure: History shows that whatever you think is OK by today's standards will...
2024-12-211h 17How We Heard ItWhen musicians lie to the media ... and when journalists don't know what's going onSometimes performers and journalists hit it off beautifully, and the result is a fun and breezy piece that engages and informs fans.
This episode of "How We Heard It" isn't about those stories. Instead, veteran entertainment journalists Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell share their experiences in which musicians lied about who they were as well as interviews that were beyond awkward - including the time when a woman cornered Wayne to talk about her multiple personality disorder and the time when Chuck sat down with a 1970s icon and their conversation got so weird they had to...
2024-12-141h 18How We Heard ItWhat's up with all the gibberish that singers use?If singers talked the way they sing, you might think they were having a stroke.
From The Beatles and Nat "King" Cole to The Police and Beck to Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter, singers have been making up words, started counting or spelling for no reason, and they've had weird bouts of repeating select words.
Sometimes they're avoiding censorship, sometimes it just inexplicably sounds right ... and sometimes, well, maybe they ARE having a stroke.
In this episode of "How We Heard It," Chuck and Wayne explore modern and classic songs featuring weird lyrics...
2024-12-071h 24How We Heard ItStop watching those stale Christmas shows!You might enjoy a couple of those old Christmas movies and TV shows that you watch every year, but let's face it: Most of that stuff is looking awfully dusty these days.
It's time for a reset.
In this episode of "How We Heard It," veteran entertainment journalists Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe catch you up on a bunch of more recent holiday movies and TV shows you may have missed - and also throw in some older fare that might have eluded you.
2024-11-301h 22How We Heard ItBest debut albums?The debut album is a monumental accomplishment for a music artist. It's an announcement that you've arrived, an introduction to your heart and soul that just anyone can explore.
But debut albums aren't always such a wonder for the listener. The artist might still be rough around the edges, the production might be shoddy, the songwriting might be clunky, and the artistic vision might be blurry.
It's no wonder that many performers don't hit stride until their third or fourth albums.
Yet sometimes an artist gets it just right with their very first...
2024-11-231h 24How We Heard ItHere's some holiday music you'll like for a changeAs another Christmas rolls around, you might want to enjoy something more than the same stale songs you hear every year.
This episode Chuck and Wayne dig through a sleigh full of albums to find the right match for you, including more than a dozen newish albums you maybe didn't know about (from Sabrina Carpenter to electronica) as well as older music you may have missed.
Whether you prefer remakes of classic songs by new artists or new songs by classic artists, and whether you like your music lavishly produced or humorous and weird, they've...
2024-11-161h 15How We Heard ItBest breakup songs!There are breakups and there are BREAKUPS songs.
If you've ever been through a BREAKUP, and even if you haven't, you know nothing gets you through drama like the right breakup song.
But what is the right breakup song? Do you need a good cry or a good laugh ... or maybe a good scream?
In this episode of "How We Heard It," veteran music critics Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell sort through some of the best, and worst, songs to help you move on from a broken relationship. From classic rock and country...
2024-11-091h 08How We Heard ItWhy aren't they bigger?!? (Acts you may have missed)We all wonder how some performers made it big. We question their talent, their fans and the world in general when we see their enduring popularity, and frankly we've had enough of them.
On the flipside, we all know performers we think should be more popular than they are. Despite all that they bring to the table, they aren't getting the recognition they deserve.
On this episode of "How We Heard It," veteran music journalists Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe take a look at some unappreciated artists - who they are, why they're special and...
2024-11-021h 15How We Heard It'Nepo babies' in music: the good, the bad and the unexpectedHollywood is full of "nepo babies"- so much so that you might wonder if every famous actor today is the child of a famous actor or producer.
The same is true in the music industry, and you might be surprised who got a leg up on the competition thanks to mom and/or dad.
In this episode, veteran entertainment journalists Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe talk about the celebrity offspring of some of the biggest stars in music - ranging from the Beatles, Frank Sinatra to Hank Williams to Lenny Kravitz, Will Smith and...
2024-10-261h 29How We Heard ItHere are the cover songs that got it right (and wrong)You might be surprised to find out how many of your favorite hits are actually cover songs - from Aretha Franklin's "Respect" to Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U."
This week Wayne and Chuck dive into the powerful world of cover songs - who has done them (spoiler alert: almost everybody) and why they would do them. They talk about who out-"Hurt" NIN, who out-"Creeped" Radiohead and the very rare times other artists have bested the Beatles with their covers of songs by the Fab Four.
The guys also talk about how a song...
2024-10-191h 14How We Heard ItHow to use music to get what you needMusic can change your mood instantly. It can bring you joy or sorrow, and it can make you feel weird in ways you can't explain.
Music will make you remember someone you lost, it will remind you of places you've been, and it will conjure memories of the happiest and saddest times of your life. Sometimes even new songs will have a strange effect on you, bringing to mind thoughts you didn't know you had.
This week Chuck and Wayne talk about the power of music, how it can lift you and how it can...
2024-10-121h 18How We Heard ItSongs we never want to hear again!Veteran music journalists Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell have heard tons of terrible songs over the years.
These are the worst of the worst.
2024-10-051h 08How We Heard ItCreepy songs need love tooThere are love songs, breakup songs and party songs ... But on this episode, Wayne and Chuck spotlight disturbing music.
Whether or not these artists intended to chill their audiences, they somehow got under the skin of our not-so-fearless podcasters.
Listen if you dare.
2024-09-281h 18How We Heard ItHorrors! Have you missed these scary movies?!Fans of scary movies have their favorite go-to films, but let's be real: There are so many new ones constantly coming out that it's easy to miss some.
With that in mind, Chuck and Wayne share some of their favorites that may have slipped under your radar, some you might want to see again and some that hardly anyone has ever heard of.
They talk about everything from the mousy woman who has to take on the underworld to the princess who has sex with a catfish and from "'Mean Girls' in a slasher film"...
2024-09-211h 18How We Heard ItTaylor Swift vs. Beyonce again? Get ready for more Grammys dramaTaylor Swift has had another groundbreaking year in music, but are voters for the Grammy Awards feeling Taylor-Swift burnout?
Beyonce has won more Grammys than any artist, but never for Best Album. Will voters listen to Jay-Z and finally reward her in that category, or will they snub her once again?
What about Grammy darling Billie Eilish? Will voters avoid the whole Taylor Swift vs. Beyonce drama altogether and just give another Best Album win to Eilish?
And what about Eminem, who has never won for Best Album? He's not getting any younger...
2024-09-141h 16How We Heard ItHow MTV and YouTube changed culture foreverThe power of music videos was fully harnessed when MTV debuted in 1981, opening the world to new genres in popular music while diminishing the influence of record labels and the old guard performers.
Over the years, the public became less enamored by music videos and MTV switched focus to alternate programming. But eventually YouTube brought new power to music videos and gave consumers the opportunity to watch anything they wanted to see whenever they wanted to see it ... for free.
In this episode, Chuck and Wayne break down how videos revolutionized popular music and who...
2024-09-071h 17How We Heard It'Big stupid shirtless men' and other storiesThis week Chuck and Wayne talk about some random weird moments they've had, from chance meetings with celebrities to the singer who REALLY wanted to party.
Also, Chuck talks about the mistake he made that landed his work on "Late Night With David Letterman." It might make you feel better about your own bad day on the job.
2024-08-311h 19How We Heard ItThe gritty world of concerts, from Madonna to ToolMusic-journalist veterans Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell have been to their share of concerts, for better and worse, and in this episode of "How We Heard It" they share stories from the trenches.
Hear about Bob Dylan's brush with death in Knoxville, the crowd turning on the Beastie Boys in Orlando, Madonna's groundbreaking show in Miami and a bizarre night in Atlanta with the Sugarcubes.
Wayne and Chuck have been through it all - weed at Lynryd Skynyrd, depressing rudeness aimed at Stevie Nicks, joy at the B-52's and sex and/or fighting in...
2024-08-241h 19How We Heard ItSexy songs! When does music turn us on?Sex can be both primal and complicated, and sexy songs can be just as complex.
We break it down with songs and artists who can sell sex - and some who can't. Our choices might surprise you.
2024-08-171h 09How We Heard ItBehind the scenes with Dolly Parton, Liam Hemsworth, Kristen Stewart, Joan Jett, Randy Travis, Tanya Tucker and more!Veteran entertainment journalists Chuck Campbell and Wayne Bledsoe have done their share of interviews with a wide variety of celebrities over the years. In this episode of "How We Heard It" they share tales and quotes from interviews that they haven't made public before.
Sometimes funny, sometimes uncomfortable and sometimes a little bit of both, these include encounters with Tori Amos, Liam Hemsworth, Joan Jett, Taylor Lautner, Jay Leno, Sarah McLachlan, Bill Monroe, Ted Nugent, Dolly Parton, Joey Ramone, Ricky Skaggs, Kristen Stewart, Randy Travis, Tina Weymouth and more.
2024-08-101h 05How We Heard ItScore! How soundtracks bring music nerds and movie geeks togetherAlthough the movie industry and the music industry have both continuously morphed and transformed, the two have been teaming up for almost a century with soundtracks. The impact of good movies paired with good music has been unforgettable, from "The Graduate" and "Shaft" to "Barbie" and "Frozen."
What would a Disney animated movie be without a soundtrack? Songs for James Bond movies are sometimes more memorable than the films themselves. Plus, movies sometimes celebrate music genres, including disco, rap, alternative rock and country. Meanwhile, music for horror films can be key to the scares - just ask...
2024-08-031h 14How We Heard ItDon't take this the wrong wayThere's no one way to be a music critic, and this week veteran entertainment journalists Wayne and Chuck talk about how they each found their way in the field - what they got right, what they got wrong, how they changed as they went along and what they think of other critics.
They also talk about the best, worst and weirdest reactions they've gotten from readers. Find out why the drunk woman kept calling Wayne and why he would call readers out of the blue. Also, Chuck explains his reservations about going out for ice cream and...
2024-07-271h 12How We Heard ItGuilty pleasuresThis week veteran music journalists Wayne Bledsoe and Chuck Campbell open themselves up to judgment by confessing their guilty pleasures - types of entertainment that give them comfort and inspiration, even when it's not particularly cool to do so.
Hear how Chuck can magically transport himself from a traffic jam to a happy hour amongst the wildlife of a tropical island or how Wayne can find justice in a chaotic world ... and maybe ask yourself if you should even feel guilty for your happiness.
2024-07-201h 04How We Heard ItAre your music tastes a red flag?What makes music good or bad or somewhere in between? That's wildly subjective.
If you find something you enjoy, you should simply celebrate it and not worry about anyone validating your taste. That said, if you can't appreciate anything about a select few acts, Chuck and Wayne think it may reveal something about you that you probably shouldn't show.
2024-07-1354 minHow We Heard ItOverrated!Wayne and Chuck dismay each other as they reveal big-name artists they think are overrated. Listen as they try to suppress their shock and act like they're OK with one another's picks, though their friendship may never be the same.
And if you think they're both wrong, you're probably right.
2024-07-0659 minHow We Heard ItKicking it off with Taylor SwiftYou can't launch a new music podcast in 2024 without addressing Taylor Swift.
So veteran music journalist Wayne Bledsoe leads off the premiere episode of "How We Heard It" summarizing his early interviews with Swift, including their first conversation when she was just a teenager and had laser focus on her career with her first album.
Fellow veteran music journalist Chuck Campbell, Wayne's longtime friend, joins in as they talk about Swift's vision and how she has distinguished herself from singers in the past as well as her current peers ranging from Lady Gaga and Lana...
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