Resource: Song Exploder
Recently, my friend Dan Massoth reached out to me to ask if I had heard of a wonderful podcast called Song Exploder. It reminded me of what a fabulous resource it might be for any music educator who incorporates popular music into their curriculum. The podcast is hosted by Hrishekesh Hirway and is absolutely wonderful. Song Exploder is a podcast where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. Each episode is produced and edited by host and creator Hrishikesh Hirway in Los Angeles. Using the individual stems from each recording that is featured on the podcast, Hirway asks artists to discuss the various songwriting decisions that went into creating their work. His guests cover a WIDE variety of genres, including The Flaming Lips, Green Day, Billie Eilish, U2, Metallica, Laufey, Lorde, Natalie Merchant, The Roots, Noah Kahan, and more. Here’s the full list of episodes.
As an example of what each episode sounds like, here is one of my favorites - featuring Robert Plant and Alison Krauss:
Because each episode is around 20 minutes in length, I think that it is an IDEAL resource to share in class. Have the students listen to the podcast and reflect on how the musicians featured in each episode discuss their songwriting process and decisions. In the Robert Plant & Alison Krauss episode is a perfect example of how Robert Plant, the lead singer of Led Zeppelin - one of the greatest rock bands of all time - decided to pivot from the world of hard rock into the world of country, bluegrass and roots music. I LOVE the story of how their partnership came to fruition and why it works.
Another favorite episode features members of Fleetwood Mac discussing their iconic song Go Your Own Way. Have a listen:
I may be showing my age and musical tastes by choosing music that I grew up with, but hearing these musicians talk about how they wrote their songs is absolutely fascinating to me. In this episode, Lindsey Buckingham talks through the process of how the song came to be - from his original demo tape to the experience of recording the song in Sausalito. One of my favorites stories in this episode is how Buckingham drew inspiration from Street Fighting Man by the Rolling Stones for the rhythmic feel. It’s also really interesting to hear him talk about the interpersonal relationships of the band during the process.
The best part of this podcast in my opinion is that it covers EVERY genre of music and I am sure that if you ask your students to name some of their favorite musical artists, you’ll find a few of them in the extensive list of episodes. This podcast started in 2014 so there is a DECADE of episodes to choose from. I strongly recommend subscribing to this podcast and looking at incorporating into your teaching. Obviously you’ll need to preview each episode before sharing it with your students as there is content that might not be suitable for your particular students, but I think that the vast majority of the episodes are classroom ready.
Do you use this resource with your students? Let me know what you think!