Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

Brandon Flowers 15.09.2026 1ч 12мин

Brandon Flowers’ new album, Thrasher, is a beautifully written ode to the Southwest where he grew up. It’s a deeply personal record, shining a light on the people close to him, the lives they’ve lived, and the difficulties they’ve navigated between his childhood in Henderson, Nevada, and Payson, Utah. It also explores some of the dead ends Brandon himself might have easily gone down had he not found another path. Of course, that path led to extraordinary success with the Killers and a sound Brandon describes as a mix of Britpop and British post-punk. But the music that surrounded him growing up was country. His dad and his neighbors played Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and other country greats. It was a sound Brandon never quite left behind, and one he developed a deeper connection to over the years. So for Thrasher, he went to Nashville’s legendary RCA Studio A, where he recorded with some of the great musicians in the genre: Charlie McCoy, who played on Bob Dylan’s legendary Nashville sessions; Bruce Bouton, who has played pedal steel with Garth Brooks from the very beginning of his career; and David Rawlings, Gillian Welch’s longtime collaborator. On today’s episode, Brandon Flowers talks about making Thrasher, what it felt like to finally unlock the door that country music had been holding open for him his whole life, and the stories the album carries with it: the family members, the memories, and the particular texture of growing up Mormon and working-class in the American West. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Brandon Flowers HERE.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tom Morello 08.09.2026 1ч

Tom Morello arrived in Los Angeles from Libertyville, Illinois, in the mid-1980s with a Harvard political science degree in his pocket and a guitar slung across his back, determined to become the next great guitarist on the scene. Instead, he found himself locked out of the glam-rock world that had taken over the Sunset Strip. By day, he worked as a secretary to a state senator; by night, he played clubs, searching for a way in. Then, in 1991, Morello co-founded Rage Against the Machine with Zack de la Rocha—and everything changed. The band fused hip-hop, punk, metal, and politics into something entirely new, becoming one of the biggest rock bands of the 1990s. Rage has been on and off over the past 25 years, but Morello has rarely stood still. He formed Audioslave, recorded folk protest songs as The Nightwatchman, toured as a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, and collaborated with artists ranging from Chuck D and B-Real to Johnny Cash. Now, for the first time in his decades-long career, Morello has made a true solo album. Everyone Gets Everything They Want combines high-energy rock with social consciousness—and features his 15-year-old son, Roman, as a collaborator throughout. On today’s episode, Justin Richmond talks with Tom Morello about making Everyone Gets Everything They Want and the long road that led him there. Morello tells the story of his early years in Los Angeles, the divide between the Eastside and the Sunset Strip, his time with the E Street Band, and much more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Porter 01.09.2026 1ч 3мин

David Porter's story goes well beyond writing songs and releasing albums for Stax Records. His recent memoir, The Soul Man, tells how he and his partner Isaac Hayes helped invent a sound rich and enduring enough to define American music from the 1960s to today. Together they wrote and produced hits for Sam & Dave, Johnnie Taylor, and dozens of other artists, and in the process built what became known as the Stax sound, a sound Porter still describes as the pursuit of pure emotional connection. Porter grew up on a dead-end street in Memphis that also produced Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire and members of the Bar-Kays. He started out singing in church before eventually singing and producing music for Stax. He never learned to read music. None of the great names at Stax did. Instead, they built songs by ear, in the room, together, a process Porter calls “head arrangements,” and it became the foundation for some of the greatest songs in the history of R&B. Today, Bruce Headlam sits down with David Porter to talk about how he and Isaac Hayes built a signature sound to set themselves apart from Motown, Burt Bacharach and Hal David. He also recalls the writing session that turned a bathroom joke into Sam & Dave's "Hold On, I'm Coming," and the incredible story of how Otis Redding went from an artist's personal driver to a Stax superstar. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from David Porter HERE.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Travis Barker 25.08.2026 59мин

Travis Barker grew up in Fontana, California, and was gifted his first drum kit at the age of four from his mother, who made him promise before she died that he would never stop playing. This was just before he started high school and though he spent his early years dabbling with skateboarding and other interests, he always came back to the drums. After graduating, he moved to Laguna Beach and spent his mornings collecting garbage and his nights playing gigs with punk bands until a touring slot with the Aquabats put him on the same bill as Blink-182, and through happenstance, in the band. What followed was one of the great runs in pop-punk history. Enema of the State and Take Off Your Pants and Jacket sold over 35 million copies worldwide, and Barker’s drumming redefined what a punk or alternative drummer could sound like in the mainstream. On today’s episode, Justin Richmond sits down with Travis Barker to discuss his dedication to his craft, his love of the Misfits and Ramones; and how nightly jams with Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt of Green Day led to the Blink side project Box Car Racer. Travis Barker’s documentary “Love Louder Than Fear” is streaming now on Hulu/Disney+ You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Travis Barker HERE.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Interpol's Daniel Kessler 18.08.2026 54мин

Daniel Kessler grew up between London, Paris, and Washington, D.C., listening to his older brother’s early UK rock records. He picked up guitar as a teenager, the same day he quit skateboarding, and after moving to New York in the late ’90s, he set out to find musicians serious enough to start a band. In 1997, that band became Interpol and when their debut Turn on the Bright Lights came out in 2002, it helped define a new wave of New York indie bands, alongside the Strokes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and topped Pitchfork’s year-end list. More than two decades later, Kessler remains the musical architect of Interpol, writing the foundation of the band’s songs, often alone on a classical guitar before bringing them to his bandmates. The band has now made eight albums together, and their latest, This Mirror Weighs a Ton, is their first record made in New York in more than a decade. Produced by Andrew Wyatt, it expands Interpol’s familiar sound with more experimental textures—and features Kessler singing for the first time since Turn on the Bright Lights. On today’s episode, Leah Rose talks with Daniel Kessler about making the new album, the early days when Interpol played to almost nobody, a chance encounter with David Bowie before a show at Hammerstein Ballroom, and the creative routines—guitar, coffee, and films—that have kept him writing for nearly three decades. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Daniel Kessler & Interpol HERE.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alabama Shakes' Brittany Howard 11.08.2026 59мин

Brittany Howard has never been the type to do things quietly. Whether it was fronting Alabama Shakes with a voice that could fill a room and level it in the same breath, or striking out on her own with two solo records that pulled her sound in wilder and more personal directions, she's spent the last decade refusing to stay in one place for long. Now she's back with her bandmates—Zac Cockrell and Heath Fogg— for a new Alabama Shakes album, I Must Be Dreaming, their first in 11 years. And on today's episode, Brittany sits down with Justin Richmond to talk about what it took to get the band back together after a long break and what the new album sounds like on the other side of it. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Brittany Howard and The Alabama Shakes HERE.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wu-Tang v. Shaolin | From Revisionist History: The Staten Island Problem 04.08.2026 33мин

In Revisionist History's new season The Staten Island Problem, senior producer Ben Naddaff-Hafrey investigates the story of what was, at the time, the biggest secession movement in the U.S. since the Civil War. The Staten Island Problem reconstructs the battle for New York City amidst the turbulent early 1990s—the rise of Rudy Giuliani, the peak of the homicide rate, young Donald Trump, and the first Black mayor of New York—all through the prism of the city’s Forgotten Borough. At the height of the secession movement, the Wu-Tang Clan formed on Staten Island. Here’s a tour of early 1990s hip-hop and the hidden history of the group. Find more episodes of Revisionist History: The Staten Island Problem wherever you get podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Harvey Mason Jr. 28.07.2026 56мин

Harvey Mason Jr. grew up steeped in music. His father, Harvey Mason Sr., was half of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters rhythm section and played on countless sessions through the '70s and '80s. After a brief detour through college basketball, Harvey Mason Jr. built his own life in music, starting where a lot of careers do: writing jingles. From there he assembled a production and songwriting résumé that includes Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber, and Beyoncé, along with film work spanning Dreamgirls, Straight Outta Compton, Pitch Perfect, and the recent Michael Jackson biopic. Then, in January 2020, his path took an unexpected turn. The Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammy Awards, installed him as interim and eventually full-time CEO. He stepped into the job at a moment of institutional crisis and set about remaking it from the inside: expanding membership, eliminating secret voting committees, and pushing the organization to be more diverse, transparent, and reflective of modern music. On today's episode, Justin Richmond sits down with Harvey Mason Jr. to trace that arc, from ASU to jingle sessions to the studio where Michael Jackson made Invincible, and on to running one of the music industry's most powerful institutions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Daveed Diggs on the Need for Artistic Expression | From Who's With Me? with W. Kamau Bell 21.07.2026 1ч 18мин

My friend W. Kamau Bell has a new show out, Who's With Me?. Known for having conversations about the issues that divide, enrage, and confuse us, Kamau sits down with someone he admires to give them their flowers, ask his most burning questions, and invite his guest to give him and his audience homework on how to make the world a better place. Daveed Diggs joins Kamau to discuss his hip-hop career, parenthood, breaking out with Hamilton, and pursuing creative projects with friends. Kamau gives Daveed his flowers for being intentional with the work he selects. From his rap group to his role in the final season of The Boys, to his new film Magic Hour, Daveed busts his ass with projects he believes in. Donate to Cool Hand Series at coolhandseries.org to support bringing the arts into the prison systems. Find new episodes of Who's With Me? with W. Kamau Bell on YouTube or wherever you get podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Melissa Auf der Maur 14.07.2026 52мин

Melissa Auf der Maur came of age in Montreal's bohemian art scene in the '80s and early '90s, at the very moment that alternative rock was becoming the defining sound of a generation. Through an unlikely chain of events, her band Tinker landed an opening slot for the Smashing Pumpkins, and Billy Corgan, sensing her natural talent on bass, recommended her to Courtney Love. What followed was a turbulent apprenticeship. Auf der Maur joined Hole for the Live Through This tour in 1994, just weeks after the deaths of Kurt Cobain and Hole's prior bassist, Kristen Pfaff. She later toured with the Smashing Pumpkins, released two solo albums, and has since built a life as a musician, photographer, and cultural curator, co-founding Basilica Hudson, a multidisciplinary arts center in New York's Hudson Valley. Melissa Auf der Maur's book, "Even the Good Girls Will Cry" is a bestseller, part rock memoir, part travel diary, and part psychedelic scrapbook. It's a vivid dispatch from the last analog decade that captures that era in all its messy, angsty glory. Auf der Maur writes with the tenderness of a true survivor: about the illness and death of her father, her past relationship with Dave Grohl, and her complicated, deeply human portrait of Courtney Love. Now she's following it with a companion photo book, "My 90's Rock Photographs," drawn from the remarkable archive she shot from inside one of the most photographed moments in music history. On today's episode, Justin Richmond talks to Melissa Auf der Maur about both projects - how her parents encouraged an unconventional life in the arts, how alternative music went mainstream, and how her relationship with Courtney Love has evolved over the years.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rewind: Johnny Marr 07.07.2026 1ч 18мин

Today we're revisiting a conversation with acclaimed British guitarist Johny Marr. Marr started playing guitar as a young teenager growing up in Manchester. When he turned 15 he dropped out of school and moved to London to join the band Sister Ray. A couple years later he would help form The Smiths with Morrissey, Mike Joyce, and Marr’s friend and bassist, Andy Rourke. After The Smiths broke up in 1987, Marr went on to collaborate with an array of different musicians and play in bands like The Pretenders, The The, and Modest Mouse. On today’s episode Justin Richmond talks to Johnny Marr about his exciting work scoring movies with Pharrell and Hans Zimmer. Marr also recalls the terror he felt performing live in front of stadiums full of fans with The Pretenders on U2’s Joshua Tree tour. And he talks about the time he bought a Fender Stratocaster while hanging out with Oasis’ Noel Gallager. That Strat has nine pickups and it eventually led to him writing one the best songs of his solo career. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite Johnny Marr songs HERE.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joe Jackson 30.06.2026 1ч 11мин

Joe Jackson showed up in the late '70s UK New Wave scene, all nervous energy and biting wit, with hits like "Is She Really Going Out with Him?" putting him in the same conversation as Elvis Costello and Squeeze. But where a lot of his peers stayed in their lane musically, Jackson kept moving: into the jump-blues swing of "Jumpin' Jive," into the sophisticated, Latin-tinged jazz of Night and Day, and then into classical composition, into a music-hall concept album framed around a fictional Edwardian performer named Max Champion. He's rarely made the same record twice, and that restlessness has probably cost him the kind of mainstream consistency that turns an artist into a household name. On today's episode, Justin Richmond sits down with Joe to talk about his new studio album Hope and Fury, digging into the songwriting on it and on older records, Joe's collaboration with his longtime and criminally underrated bassist Graham Maby, and why comedy is such an important part of Joe's artistic sensibility. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Joe Jackson HERE.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien 23.06.2026 1ч 18мин

Ed O'Brien has spent decades crafting some of the most textured, expansive guitar in modern rock. From the fragmented beauty of Kid A and Amnesiac to the experimental layers of The King of Limbs, with the more straightforward muscle of OK Computer somewhere in between, few players have done more to expand what the instrument can do in a rock context. In recent years, Ed has been building a parallel universe, one where he's at the center. It started with Earth in 2020, released under the moniker EOB. Now comes Blue Morpho, out under his full birth name, Ed O'Brien. The title isn't incidental: like the striking butterfly it references, Ed went through a genuine transformation over the six years it took to make this record, and the album reflects it. On today's Broken Record, Ed walks us through the journey, beginning in solitude, playing guitar figures purely for himself, then gradually moving toward collaboration, eventually pulling in a crew of talented friends to help bring the songs to life. He also talks about how his playing has evolved over time, what Brazil has meant to him musically, and which producer he wishes Radiohead had worked with back in the '90s. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Ed O'Brien HERE.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Earth, Wind & Fire 16.06.2026 53мин

Just before the premiere of Earth, Wind & Fire's new Questlove-directed documentary , the three OGs of the group stopped by Broken Record: vocalist Phillip Bailey, singer and percussionist Ralph Johnson, and bass player Verdine White. Host Justin Richmond will tell you straight up that talking about Earth, Wind & Fire's music feels a little beside the point. It exists on a level that resists explanation — spiritual, emotional, somewhere in the body before it reaches the brain. What the conversation reveals instead is the kind of people these three are: warm, grounded, and deeply committed to what they've built together. And maybe that's the whole answer. In this episode, they talk about Maurice White, founder and spiritual leader of the group and Verdine's brother. They listen to some music together. And Phillip finally spills on what "Reasons" is actually about. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Earth, Wind & Fire HERE.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The New Pornographers 09.06.2026 53мин

The New Pornographers have never been easy to pin down. Since forming in Vancouver in the late ’90s, the band became one of the defining acts of the Canadian indie rock explosion. They’re part of a scene that also produced Neko Case, Dan Bejar, and a generation of artists who seemed to operate entirely outside the commercial mainstream. Co-founders Carl Newman and Kathryn Calder have spent more than two decades making records that sound like they arrived fully formed: densely layered, relentlessly melodic, and somehow both euphoric and melancholy at the same time.Their latest album, The Former Site Of,  draws on a different kind of raw material. Part of it came from a friend’s terminal illness and the weight of watching someone you love reckon with time running out. Part of it came from something more unexpected: the last remaining payphone in New York City, which became a kind of anchor image for the record, a physical object standing in for everything we hold onto after it stops being useful.On today’s episode, Bruce Headlam sits down with Carl Newman and Kathryn Calder to talk about where their new album came from, what it’s like to make something beautiful out of grief, and how the Canadian music scene that shaped them still runs through everything they do.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mopreme Shakur 02.06.2026 1ч 10мин

Mopreme Shakur is 2Pac's half-brother, a rapper, filmmaker, and record producer living at the intersection of revolutionary politics and hip-hop. He's one of the only surviving members of Thug Life and Outlawz, raised alongside 2Pac in the tradition of Black liberation activism. And now, for the first time, he's telling his own story. His new book, This Thug's Life, is a book about brotherhood, survival, movement building, and the making of a legend. On today's episode Justin Richmond talks to Mopreme about growing up in a family steeped in activism, how he started his rap career with a classic appearance on "Feels Good" by Tony! Toni! Toné!, and what it was like to witness the evolution of 2Pac's career. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Mopreme Shakur HERE.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hardy 26.05.2026 45мин

Before Hardy was known as the breakout artist who pushed country music into hard rock territory, he was a self-proclaimed redneck from Philadelphia, Mississippi who studied songwriting at Middle Tennessee State University. Since moving to Nashville in 2013, he's written 22 number ones for artists like Morgan Wallen, Blake Shelton, and Dierks Bentley. In 2018, with the encouragement of producer Joey Moi and his label Big Loud, Hardy started writing songs for himself — and it paid off. He's now a five-time ACM Award winner and two-time CMA Award winner, joining the upper echelon of Big Loud artists that Moi has helped build, alongside Morgan Wallen and Florida Georgia Line. On today's episode, Leah Rose talks to Hardy about the craft of writing a song that sticks — including what he's learned from studying artists like Eminem. They also get into how AI is showing up in Nashville's writer's rooms, and why Hardy thinks bro country isn't going anywhere. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Hardy HERE.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From Robert Margouleff | Shaping Sounds: Stevie Wonder, DEVO, the Synth Revolution and My Life Behind the Music 21.05.2026 12мин

Recently, we had visionary music producer Robert Margouleff on the show and today we're sharing an excerpt from his new audiobook, Shaping Sounds: Stevie Wonder, DEVO, the Synth Revolution and My Life Behind the Music. In legendary studios like Electric Lady and the Record Plant, Margouleff became a pioneering producer and engineer for artists like Billy Preston, Jeff Beck, DEVO, The Isley Brothers, and David Sanborn. A true sonic innovator, he was an early adopter of immersive audio and surround sound, developing new mixing techniques for home theaters that brought some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters to life.  Here's a preview of the audiobook, where Margouleff talks about working with The Isley Brothers on their 3+3 album. If you want to hear more, check out Shaping Sounds: Stevie Wonder, DEVO, the Synth Revolution and My Life Behind the Music wherever you get audiobooks. You can use the code SOUNDS25 at pushkin.fm/shapingsounds to save 25% on the audiobook.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robert Margouleff and Mark Mothersbaugh 19.05.2026 1ч 4мин

Robert Margouleff is one of the most quietly consequential figures in modern music — a sonic architect who helped build some of the most innovative and enduring sounds of the last half century. Together with his partner Malcolm Cecil, Robert created TONTO, the world's largest analog synthesizer, and used it to co-produce a string of era-defining Stevie Wonder classics including Music Of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, and Fulfillingness' First Finale. He went on to work with Jeff Beck, The Isley Brothers, and a scrappy art-punk band from Akron, Ohio called DEVO — helping shape their early sound into something that felt like it arrived from another dimension entirely. You might remember Robert from his Broken Record interview a few years back. Now he's releasing an audiobook, Shaping Sounds: Stevie Wonder, DEVO, the Synth Revolution and My Life Behind the Music. It's a memoir about creativity, collaboration, and artistic courage, told by someone who was in the room when the future was being invented. On today's episode Justin Richmond sits down with Robert and Mark Mothersbaugh, the frontman of DEVO, composer, visual artist, and one of the most original creative minds of his generation. They recall working together to make DEVO's Freedom of Choice, and the glory days of recording at the Record Plant studios in Los Angeles in the '80s. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Robert Margouleff and Mark Mothersbaugh HERE. You can use the code SOUNDS25 at pushkin.fm/shapingsounds to save 25% on the audiobook.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Maya Hawke and Christian Lee Hutson - Live from SXSW 12.05.2026 41мин

Maya Hawke first became known to wide audiences as an actress — especially through her work in Stranger Things — but she's been quietly building a parallel life as a songwriter of genuine depth. Since her debut album Blush in 2020, she's released four records. Her latest, Maitreya Corso, arrives at a pivotal moment: the album follows her marriage to longtime musical collaborator Christian Lee Hutson, and centers on a fictional persona through who Hawke explores ego, ambition, and the strange labor of making something. Recorded in Woodstock and New York City late last year, it's co-produced by Hutson and Jonathan Low, with cover art drawn from watercolors Maya painted herself. On today's episode Justin Richmond sat down with Maya Hawke and her husband and co-producer Christian Lee Hutson live at SXSW to talk about the making of Maitreya Corso, and what it means to finally come together as partners in both life and work. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Maya Hawke and Christian Lee Hutson HERE.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.