cry baby pod

About cry baby pod

Scholars of popular music talk about their research and what's been making them cry lately. dandipiero.substack.com (https://dandipiero.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Dan DiPiero

Category

music · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

1 Aug 2025

Latest episode

26 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

16 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   26 Oct 2026

   15 | Why Are The Girls Fighting? With Dr. Jenessa Williams

   Show Notes Dr. Jenessa Williams is a music journalist, media academic, and Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow at the University of Leeds. We talk about her research into popular music fandoms, fan studies methodologies, the state of music criticism, and MORE. Timestamps 00:00: Intro 2:00: What Dr. Williams is doing (current research) 7:05: Her book project (recently completed research) 11:05: Approaches to digital ethnography 16:25: (De-stigmatizing) Fan Studies 21:50: Academia, music journalism, and celebrity culture 35:30: Substack and platform affordances 41:45: Grab-bag question and recent publications 44:08: What’s been making guest cry - Podcast Soundtrack (https://dipiero.bandcamp.com/album/cry-babies-2) - References Jenessa’s Substack (https://jenessawilliams.substack.com/) Williams, Jenessa. 2026. “Commodifying the ‘Sad Girl’: Fantagonism, Parasociality and Social Media Dehumanisation of Female Singer-Songwriters.” In (https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/bloomsbury-handbook-of-gender-in-popular-music-industries-9798765132098/)The Bloomsbury Handbook of Gender in Popular Music Industries (https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/bloomsbury-handbook-of-gender-in-popular-music-industries-9798765132098/). Bloomsbury. (https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/bloomsbury-handbook-of-gender-in-popular-music-industries-9798765132098/) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dandipiero.substack.com (https://dandipiero.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

2. 

   12 Oct 2026

   14 | Many Music Theories with Lydia Bangura

   Show Notes For this episode, my guest is the one and only Lydia Bangura: vocalist, PhD candidate in Music Theory at the University of Michigan, and host of the tremendous podcast Her Music Academia (https://www.hermusicacademia.com/podcast). We talk about the many purposes of (and tensions in) public humanities work; her research on Florence Price’s Black feminist praxis; her polemical view of Beyoncé’s cultural legacy; and more. Timestamps 00:00: Intro 1:36: Her Music Academia and the “public humanities” 21:26: Dissertation on Florence Price and Black feminism 39:40: Performance and analysis in music theory 50:52: Beyoncé’s “popular feminism” 1:13:41: What’s been making guest cry -Podcast Soundtrack (https://dipiero.bandcamp.com/album/cry-babies-2) - References NB: Lydia briefly mentions the controversy surrounding Dr. Phil Ewell’s 2019 Society for Music Theory Plenary lecture, which called out the white supremacist structures of the discipline and exploded into mainstream consciousness. For his account of that ordeal—and the ongoing theoretical work that came out of it—see his book On Music Theory (linked below). Lydia Bangura’s Website (https://www.hermusicacademia.com/) Philip Ewell’s website (https://www.philipewell.com/) Megan Lavengood’s website (https://meganlavengood.com/) Note Doctors Podcast (https://open.spotify.com/show/0vkRL3Xhfiq5bSnewNWsip) Banet-Weiser, Sarah. 2018. (https://www.dukeupress.edu/empowered)Empowered: Popular Feminism and Popular Misogyny. (https://www.dukeupress.edu/empowered)Duke University Press. (https://www.dukeupress.edu/empowered) Cook, Nicholas. 2014. (https://academic.oup.com/book/11853)Beyond the Score: Music as Performance. (https://academic.oup.com/book/11853)Oxford University Press. (https://academic.oup.com/book/11853) Gates Jr., Henry Lewis. 1988/2014. (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-signifying-monkey-9780195136470?cc=us&lang=en&)The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African American Literary Criticism. (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-signifying-monkey-9780195136470?cc=us&lang=en&)Oxford University Press. (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-signifying-monkey-9780195136470?cc=us&lang=en&) Ewell, Philip. 2023. (https://press.umich.edu/Books/O/On-Music-Theory-and-Making-Music-More-Welcoming-for-Everyone2)On Music Theory, and Making Music More Welcoming for Everyone (https://press.umich.edu/Books/O/On-Music-Theory-and-Making-Music-More-Welcoming-for-Everyone2). University of Michigan Press. (https://press.umich.edu/Books/O/On-Music-Theory-and-Making-Music-More-Welcoming-for-Everyone2) Leong, Daphne. 2020. (https://academic.oup.com/book/31978)Performing Knowledge: Twentieth-Century Music in Analysis and Performance (https://academic.oup.com/book/31978). Oxford University Press. (https://academic.oup.com/book/31978) Lordi, Emily. 2017. “Surviving the Hustle: Beyoncé’s Performance of Work.” (https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/blackcamera.9.issue-1)Black Camera (https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/blackcamera.9.issue-1) 9 (1): 131–145. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/blackcamera.9.issue-1) Royster, Francesca. 2022. (https://bookshop.org/a/109837/9781477326497)Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions (https://bookshop.org/a/109837/9781477326497). University of Texas Press. (https://bookshop.org/a/109837/9781477326497) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dandipiero.substack.com (https://dandipiero.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

3. 

   28 Sept 2026

   13 | Jukeboxes and Listening Technologies with Dr. Sarah Lindmark

   Welcome back to cry baby poddddd The first episode of season two features my good friend and colleague Sarah Lindmark, Assistant Professor of the Practice at Boston College. Our conversation focuses on her research into jukebox technology and the ways it informed the prehistory of electronic dance music djs. We also talk about listening technologies more broadly, the status of live performance, and the cathartic force of Ke$ha’s recent tour. Timestamps 00:00 Intro 2:53: Ke$ha in Boston and live performance in 2026 10:20: iPod Classic and generational listening 15:10: The Jukebox: technology and history 24:53: Jukeboxes and dance club culture 39:16: Jukebox mechanics and technician ethnography 1:05:53: What’s been making guest cry — Podcast Soundtrack (https://dipiero.bandcamp.com/album/cry-babies-2) — References New York Jukebox (https://www.nyjuke.com/) Stearns, Marshall. 1994. (https://bookshop.org/a/109837/9780306805530)Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacular Dance (https://bookshop.org/a/109837/9780306805530). Da Capo. (https://bookshop.org/a/109837/9780306805530) Wells, Christi Jay. 2021. (https://bookshop.org/a/109837/9780197559284)Between Beats: The Jazz Tradition and Black Vernacular Dance (https://bookshop.org/a/109837/9780197559284). Oxford University Press. (https://bookshop.org/a/109837/9780197559284) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dandipiero.substack.com (https://dandipiero.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

4. 

   30 Mar 2026

   12 | Queer Appalachia and Strange Americana with Dr. Jacob Kopcienski

   Show Notes Today’s show focuses on queer and leftist americana music, as well as associated fandoms across the broader Appalachian region of the United States. Dr. Jacob Kopcienski, Assistant Professor of Musicology at Appalachian State University, is our guide through the complexities of place, politics, and identity across this cultural and geographic zone. Their work engages ethnographic and archival research with popular music and media studies, which gives us a ton to talk about. Throughout, we explore how depression, queerness, and community manifest in regionally specific ways, molded around—but also against—their circumstances. Content Warning: Suicide, drug addiction, depression and mental health struggles Timestamps 00:00 Intro 3:15 Guest Intro 10:15 (Regionally-specific) depression in popular music 19:25 Aesthetic dimensions of queer americana 32:48 Queerness and class 37:15 Methods 46:18 (Western) North Carolina, drag performance, and climate change 1:02:15 What’s making guest cry Music Discussed (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2seRWPmqebseirPF7l5W1B?si=6LbSOo4cTRmW4LFomhon9A) References * Mutual Aid in Boone, Western North Carolina, and Appalachia (https://docs.google.com/document/d/13gPvZC7fgbVQotxAMQh9SiRsw3ClpWvzuVSbw5-wEp8/edit?tab=t.0) * Drag Call for Proposals (https://forms.gle/HXggRNEkXZutwN417) Enriquez, Sophia. 2020. “‘ (https://online.ucpress.edu/jpms/article/32/2/63/110769/Penned-Against-the-Wall-Migration-Narratives)Penned Against the Wall’: (https://online.ucpress.edu/jpms/article/32/2/63/110769/Penned-Against-the-Wall-Migration-Narratives)Migration Narratives, Cultural Resonances, and Latinx Experiences in Appalachian Music.” (https://online.ucpress.edu/jpms/article/32/2/63/110769/Penned-Against-the-Wall-Migration-Narratives)Journal of Popular Music Studies (https://online.ucpress.edu/jpms/article/32/2/63/110769/Penned-Against-the-Wall-Migration-Narratives)32 (2): 63–76. (https://online.ucpress.edu/jpms/article/32/2/63/110769/Penned-Against-the-Wall-Migration-Narratives) Johnson, E. Patrick. 2010. “‘Quare’ studies, or (almost) everything I know about queer studies I learned from my grandmother.” (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10462930128119) Text and Performance Quarterly (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10462930128119) 21 (1): 1–25. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10462930128119) Mahon, Maureen. 2020. (https://www.dukeupress.edu/black-diamond-queens)Black Diamond Queens: African American Women and Rock and Roll (https://www.dukeupress.edu/black-diamond-queens). Duke University Press. (https://www.dukeupress.edu/black-diamond-queens) Murchison, Gayle. 2018. “Let’s Flip It! Quare EmancipationsBlack Queer Traditions, Afrofuturisms, Janelle Monáe to Labelle.” (https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/17/article/705630/pdf)Women and Music (https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/17/article/705630/pdf) 22: 79–90. (https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/17/article/705630/pdf) Rosyter, Francesca. 2022. (https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477326510/)Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions (https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477326510/). University of Texas Press. (https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477326510/) Stoever, Jennifer Lynn. 2016. (http://Race and the Cultural Politics of Listening)The Sonic Color Line: Race and the Cultural Politics of Listening (http://Race and the Cultural Politics of Listening). New York University Press. (http://Race and the Cultural Politics of Listening) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dandipiero.substack.com (https://dandipiero.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

5. 

   16 Mar 2026

   11 | Everything That There Is with Dr. Macon Holt

   Hello cry babies! Today’s episode is all about the role of popular music in a capitalist hellscape! How has our situation changed since the postmodern turn? What are we to make of popular music in the era of capitalist realism and depressive hedonia? What if it turns out we’re all watching Infinite Jest in small chunks without realizing it? How can we meet enough of our needs to be able to launch a revolution? We’re getting into the critical theory of it all with Dr. Macon Holt. Content Warning: suicide, genocide, depression Timestamps 00:00: intro 4:24: guest intro and book project 23:10: what the fuck is going on? (workshops) 37:25: Labubu as an index of desire 48:12: what’s making guest cry References * Macon’s Book (https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/pop-music-and-hip-ennui-9781501346668/) * Lacan’s graph of desire (https://medium.com/@umbertocrisanti/the-graph-of-desire-without-making-your-head-spin-and-a-music-game-for-you-a81d911357b1) * Lacan’s math (https://nosubject.com/List_of_Algebraic_Symbols) * Passive/Aggressive (https://soundcloud.com/thelakeradio/sets/passive-aggressive) * Super Time Books (https://supertimebooks.com/) Fisher, Mark. 2009. (https://files.libcom.org/files/[Mark_Fisher]_Capitalist_Realism_Is_There_no_Alte(BookZZ.org).pdf)Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? (https://files.libcom.org/files/[Mark_Fisher]_Capitalist_Realism_Is_There_no_Alte(BookZZ.org).pdf)Zer0 Books. (https://files.libcom.org/files/[Mark_Fisher]_Capitalist_Realism_Is_There_no_Alte(BookZZ.org).pdf) Hebdige, Dick. 1979. (https://www.erikclabaugh.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/181899847-Subculture.pdf)Subculture: The Meaning of a Style (https://www.erikclabaugh.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/181899847-Subculture.pdf). Routledge. (https://www.erikclabaugh.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/181899847-Subculture.pdf) Holt, Macon. 2019. (https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/pop-music-and-hip-ennui-9781501346675/)Pop Music and Hip Ennui: A Sonic Fiction of Capitalist Realism (https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/pop-music-and-hip-ennui-9781501346675/). Bloomsbury. (https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/pop-music-and-hip-ennui-9781501346675/) Holt, Macon. 2020. “The Entertainment.” In (https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/bloomsbury-handbook-of-the-anthropology-of-sound-9781501335419/)The Bloomsbury Handbook of the Anthropology of Sound (https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/bloomsbury-handbook-of-the-anthropology-of-sound-9781501335419/), edited by Holger Schulze. Bloomsbury. (https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/bloomsbury-handbook-of-the-anthropology-of-sound-9781501335419/) Mooney, Gavin. 2012. “Neoliberalism is bad for our health.” (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22993960/)International journal of health services: planning, administration, evaluation (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22993960/), 42( 3): 383–401. https://doi.org/10.2190/HS.42.3.b (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22993960/) Wallace, David Foster. 1996. (https://bookshop.org/p/books/infinite-jest-30th-anniversary-edition-david-foster-wallace/6549eeba4077763d?ean=9780316602921&next=t)Infinite Jest (https://bookshop.org/p/books/infinite-jest-30th-anniversary-edition-david-foster-wallace/6549eeba4077763d?ean=9780316602921&next=t). Little, Brown and Company. (https://bookshop.org/p/books/infinite-jest-30th-anniversary-edition-david-foster-wallace/6549eeba4077763d?ean=9780316602921&next=t) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dandipiero.substack.com (https://dandipiero.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

6. 

   1 Mar 2026

   10 | Preprogrammed with Dr. Amy Skjerseth

   Show Notes My guest today is Dr. Amy Skjerseth, Assistant Professor of Popular Music at UC Riverside. Amy is one of the most prolific and prodigious thinkers I know, and she provides us with an entire reading list throughout the course of this episode. From Tina Turner to anti-ICE whistles, we’re talking sound, media, technology, and disciplinarity. Get hip! Timestamps: 00:00: Intro 1:13: Guest Intro and Popular Music Studies 9:39: Sound Studies 16:39: Preprogrammed 36:01: Yoko Ono and the Feminist Wall of Sound 50:17: Host’s training and the question of interdisciplinarity 58:38 What’s making guest cry Music Discussed (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/17CAOBcFU6JN0yoouXJYNV?si=eaL4w5uSRwukU4-Onq_xnw) References Alexander, Neta. 2025. (https://www.dukeupress.edu/interface-frictions)Interface Frictions: How Digital Debility Reshapes Our Bodies. (https://www.dukeupress.edu/interface-frictions)Duke University Press. (https://www.dukeupress.edu/interface-frictions) Atkinson, Niall. 2016. (https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-07119-0.html)The Noisy Renaissance: Sound, Architecture, and Florentine Urban Life (https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-07119-0.html). Penn State University Press. (https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-07119-0.html) Corbin, Alain. 1998. (https://cup.columbia.edu/book/village-bells/9780231104500/)Village Bells: The Culture of the Senses in the Nineteenth-Century French Countryside (https://cup.columbia.edu/book/village-bells/9780231104500/). Columbia University Press. (https://cup.columbia.edu/book/village-bells/9780231104500/) Echols, Alice. 2010. (https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393338911)Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture. (https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393338911)W. W. Norton and Company. (https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393338911) Field, Allyson Nadia. 2026. (https://www.ucpress.edu/books/acts-of-love/hardcover)Acts of Love: Black Performance and the Kiss That Changed Film History (https://www.ucpress.edu/books/acts-of-love/hardcover). University of California Press. (https://www.ucpress.edu/books/acts-of-love/hardcover) Gordon, Theodore. 2025. The Composer’s Black Box: Making Music in Cybernetic America. University of California Press. (https://www.ucpress.edu/books/the-composers-black-box/paper) Hartman, Saidiya (works). (https://saidiyahartman.com/books/) Miller, Karl Hagstrom. 2010. (https://www.dukeupress.edu/segregating-sound)Segregating Sound: Inventing Folk and Pop Music in the Age of Jim Crow. (https://www.dukeupress.edu/segregating-sound)Duke University Press. (https://www.dukeupress.edu/segregating-sound) Ono, Yoko. 2000. (https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Grapefruit/Yoko-Ono/9780743201100)Grapefruit (https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Grapefruit/Yoko-Ono/9780743201100): (https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Grapefruit/Yoko-Ono/9780743201100)A Book of Instructions and Drawings by Yoko Ono (https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Grapefruit/Yoko-Ono/9780743201100). Simon & Schuster. (https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Grapefruit/Yoko-Ono/9780743201100) Skjerseth, Amy with Catherine Provenzano. 2025. “ Instrumental Presets: The Visible Past of Music Technology.” Popular Music Books in Process Series, April 23. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGdvYClpVLQ) Spiers, Aurore. 2026. (https://www.ucpress.edu/books/archiving-the-past/hardcover)Archiving the Past: Women’s Film History in France, 1927–1978 (https://www.ucpress.edu/books/archiving-the-past/hardcover). University of California Press. (https://www.ucpress.edu/books/archiving-the-past/hardcover) Sterne, Jonathan. (https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-audible-past)The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction (https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-audible-past). Duke University Press, 2003. (https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-audible-past) Sounding Out! (https://soundstudiesblog.com/)(blog) (https://soundstudiesblog.com/) Thompson, Emily. 2004. (https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262701068/the-soundscape-of-modernity/)The Soundscape of Modernity: Architectural Acoustics and the Culture of Listening in America, 1900–1933 (https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262701068/the-soundscape-of-modernity/). MIT Press. (https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262701068/the-soundscape-of-modernity/) Wilson, Carl. 2014. (https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/lets-talk-about-love-9781623563288/)Let’s Talk About Love: Why Other People Have Such Bad Taste. (https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/lets-talk-about-love-9781623563288/) Bloomsbury. (https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/lets-talk-about-love-9781623563288/) Yale French Studies volume. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/i347886) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dandipiero.substack.com (https://dandipiero.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

7. 

   15 Feb 2026

   9 | Cuban Reparto with Dr. Mike Levine

   Show Notes Welcome back! I said I was gonna do a solo episode but I don’t have the bandwidth right now. Instead we’re jumping back in with a wonderful episode about Cuban Reparto music with my guest Dr. Mike Levine (https://mikelevinemusic.me/), Assistant Professor of Musicology at Christopher Newport University. From production to consumption to distribution, we cover many of the most pertinent characteristics of this kind of Reggaeton-adjacent tradition, and get into the politics of censorship, gender, and place—among other things. Timestamps 00:00: Intro 3:05: Mike’s research interests in Cuba 5:20: Mike’s book (Pegao), the USB distribution network of Cuban popular music, and the question of political music 22:40: Reparto aesthetics 36:12: Global Reggaeton 41:37: Gender in Reparto 44:06: What’s making guest cy Music Discussed (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ZWjgZQOeoJecgq84Ic47m?si=qsql58pDSO-6txhnLU4IOw) References Díaz, Vanessa, and Petra R. Rivera-Rideau. 2026. P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance. Duke University Press. Levine, Mike. 2025. “Sneaking Across the Digital Divide: Usb Sticks and the Infrastructure of Independent Cuban Music.” In Independence in 21st-Century Popular Music: Cases from Beyond Anglo-America, edited by Shannon Garland, Pedro Belchior Nunes, and Pedro Roxo. Bloomsbury. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dandipiero.substack.com (https://dandipiero.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

8. 

   1 Jan 2026

   8 | Emo (Con) Special with Varun Chandrasekhar

   Show Notes On this episode I speak with Varun Chandrasekhar about all things emo, but perhaps most pertinently, the academic conference he’s organized around the music, to take place at Washington University in St. Louis on April 10th and 11th. Varun is a PhD candidate in Music Theory at WashU, where his dissertation focuses on reading Charles Mingus through the existential philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre. In our conversation, we discuss the EMO CON 2026—TO WHICH YOU MAY STILL SUBMIT ABSTRACTS—as well as 4th wave emo’s aesthetics and politics, neoliberal disillusionment, THE MIDWEST, music about being a bad person, and MORE. Timestamps 1:34: Emo Con/4th Wave Emo 24:30: JPMS article/Neoliberal (dis)identification 42:00 Silly Little Emo Band/Charles Mingus 49:30 What’s Making Guest Cry Music Discussed (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6yc7FEt9mGUXAhtrmEfrVN?si=x4qCmI8ZSlOBo8Az4zVfpQ) (two playlists, for the enthusiasts) References Chandrasekhar, Varun. Forthcoming. “‘When Things Don’t Get Better, No Things Don’t Get Better, Just Different’: Emo and Affect Under Neoliberalism.” Journal of Popular Music Studies. Chandrasekhar, Varun. 2025. “Jazz and Commitment: Sartre, Jazz, and Charles Mingus.” (https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jac/article-abstract/8/2/1/405610/Jazz-and-Commitment-Sartre-Jazz-and-Charles?redirectedFrom=fulltext)Jazz and Culture (https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jac/article-abstract/8/2/1/405610/Jazz-and-Commitment-Sartre-Jazz-and-Charles?redirectedFrom=fulltext) 8 (2): 1–27. (https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jac/article-abstract/8/2/1/405610/Jazz-and-Commitment-Sartre-Jazz-and-Charles?redirectedFrom=fulltext) Fathallah, Judith. 2020. Emo: How Fans Defined a Subculture. University of Iowa Press. Gabbard, Krin. 1995. “Signifyin(g) the Phallus: Mo’ Better Blues and Representations of the Jazz Trumpet.” In Representing Jazz, edited by Krin Gabbard. Duke University Press. Howie, Tyler and Matt Chiu. 2022. “Analytical Frameworks for Post(-Millennial) Punk: The “Twinkle” Schema in the Emo Revival.” (https://smt-pod.org/episodes/season01/e1.11/)SMT-Pod (https://smt-pod.org/episodes/season01/e1.11/) Podcast, Season 1 Episodes 11 and 12. https://smt-pod.org/episodes/season01/e1.11/. (https://smt-pod.org/episodes/season01/e1.11/) Peters, Sean. In Process. “Life in Plastic (It’s Fantastic): The Significance of the Cassette Tape to Punk Rock in Four Stories.” PhD dissertation, Cornell University. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dandipiero.substack.com (https://dandipiero.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

9. 

   8 Dec 2025

   7 | Big Feelings Special with Raechel Anne Jolie

   Show Notes For this special episode I’m sharing my conversation with Raechel Anne Jolie (https://raechelannejolie.com/), who joined me to discuss Big Feelings (https://press.umich.edu/Books/B/Big-Feelings2) back in October. If you’re a regular reader of cry baby, you’ll already know that Raechel is one of my favorite writers and people period; their award-winning memoir Rust Belt Femme (https://beltpublishing.com/products/rust-belt-femme) and popular newsletter radical love letters (https://raechelannejolie.substack.com/) are both required reading (so get on it). 😊This event was such a massive joy for me and I’m so glad I remembered to hit “record”—even if it was just on my phone. Timestamps no thank you! Music Discussed (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3TtxcU7k3R64UIEUed4wn1?si=poetIUbnQ-ucAZn68k9l7g) References Bayne, Martha. 2025. “Where Do We Go From Here?: The dream of the 90s is alive at Lilith Fair.” (https://marthabayne.substack.com/p/where-do-we-go-from-here)Range of Motion (https://marthabayne.substack.com/p/where-do-we-go-from-here), October 23. (https://marthabayne.substack.com/p/where-do-we-go-from-here) Bimm, Morgan. 2022. “Girl Music of the Indie Rock Persuasion: Amplifying Indie Through 2000s Girl Culture.” PhD Dissertation, York University. (https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/items/5b222d55-3e6d-41fc-ab94-a0067a2e7868) Jolie, Raechel Anne. 2024. “a form of time travel: on the I Saw the TV Glow soundtrack and nostalgic 90s movie music.” (https://raechelannejolie.substack.com/p/a-form-of-time-travel)radical love letters (https://raechelannejolie.substack.com/p/a-form-of-time-travel), June 15. (https://raechelannejolie.substack.com/p/a-form-of-time-travel) Stratis, Niko. 2025. (https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477331484/)The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman (https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477331484/). University of Texas Press. (https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477331484/) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dandipiero.substack.com (https://dandipiero.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

10. 

    23 Nov 2025

    6 | Resilient Pop and Alt (Right) Rock with Dr. Robin James

    Show Notes On this episode I speak with with the one and only Robin James (https://www.its-her-factory.com/), scholar, editor, author of five books so far, including several we talk about today—like The Future of Rock and Roll, The Sonic Episteme, as well as the forthcoming Good Vibes Only, 33 ⅓ on book The Breeders’ Last Splash and a second edition of Resilience and Melancholy, under contract with the University of Michigan Press. We take the temperature of the rock/pop divide, covering what’s happened to resilience discourse in pop music over the past decade, what’s happening to the notion of genre, the male loneliness epidemic, and much more. Timestamps 0:00 intro 4:27 Resilience and Melancholy (2nd edition!) 15:15 shifting gender norms and resilience narratives 24:22 vibes and post-genre listening (?) 30:00 gender and the evolution of cool 35:00 the manosphere and alt-rock masculinity 36:40 plus bad taste 42:00 plus alt-rock 50:00 what’s making guest cry 51:55 Inhailer Radio and DJing Music Discussed (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/24XtaukgTrEDco2LH7wXi8?si=GvA3zcJ3SHSskPoGcWdr4g) References Foege, Alec. 2008. Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio. Faber and Faber. James, Robin. 2015. Resilience & Melancholy: Pop Music, Feminism, Neoliberalism. Zer0 Books. James, Robin. 2017. “Is the post- in post-identity the post- in post-genre?” Popular Music 36, (1): 21-32. James, Robin. 2019. The Sonic Episteme: Acoustic Resonance, Neoliberalism, and Biopolitics. Duke University Press. James, Robin. 2020. “Music and Feminism in the 21st Century.” Music Research Annual 1: 1–25. James, Robin. 2023. The Future of Rock and Roll 97X WOXY and the Fight for True Independence. University of North Carolina Press. O’Reilly, Séamus. 2025. “Séamas O’Reilly: We need to stop lying about what makes lost boys such easy marks for cons.” Irish Examiner, 15 March. https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle-columnists/arid-41592826.html Sheth, Falguni A. 2009. Towards a Political Philosophy of Race. SUNY Press. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dandipiero.substack.com (https://dandipiero.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

11. 

    10 Nov 2025

    5 | Indie Rock and Girl Cultures with Dr. Morgan Bimm

    Show Notes Today’s ultra special guest is Dr. Morgan Bimm (https://morganbimm.com/), Assistant Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish NS and very dear friend. We talk about her dissertation on indie rock and girl cultures; her new project on playlists-as-method; the work of making friends in academia; and moooorrreeee. Timestamps 0:00 intro 4:00 dissertation project and origin stories 29:00 playlists and citational politics 45:30 low culture and pedagogy 53:30 how we met :’) 1:06: what’s making guest cry - Music Discussed (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1djdMvj0MckDPbrIpuMblu?si=OfkJT50fRA2Z35Irys0aLQ) - References Bannister, Matthew. 2006. White Boys, White Noise: Masculinities and 1980s Indie Guitar Rock. Routledge. Bimm, Morgan. 2022. “Girl Music of the Indie Rock Persuasion: Amplifying Indie Through 2000s Girl Culture.” PhD Dissertation, York University. DiPiero, Dan. 2025. Big Feelings: Queer and Feminist Indie Rock After Riot Grrrl. University of Michigan Press. Fonarow, Wendy. 2006. Empire of Dirt: The Aesthetics and Rituals of British Indie Music. Wesleyan University Press. Goodman, Lizzy. 2018. Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011. Harper Collins. Vesey, Alyx. 2021. “Selling Sonic Girlhood: Feminizing Indie Rock through Music Supervision on MTV’s Awkward.” JCMS: Journal of Cinema and Media Studies 60 (5): 217–242. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dandipiero.substack.com (https://dandipiero.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

12. 

    27 Oct 2025

    4 | Authorship—>Ownership with Dr. Patrick Nickleson

    Show Notes For the second episode in our unofficial “uhh is this even popular music” series, I speak with Dr. Patrick Nickleson about (early) minimalism, the damage musicology can do, and music’s role in consolidating property relations via copyright law—among other things! Patrick’s first book is The Names of Minimalism: Authorship, Art Music, and Historiography in Dispute (https://press.umich.edu/Books/T/The-Names-of-Minimalism2) (University of Michigan Press, 2023). He is also the editor of Tony Conrad’s What Music Did: The Story of Numerocracy in the West (https://press.umich.edu/Books/W/What-Music-Did2) (University of Michigan Press, 2026). Show Timeline Intro 0:00 Authorship and weirdness in musicology 5:24 Dispute among early minimalists 18:30 Tony Conrad and What Music Did 32:40 How Music Renders Property Under Colonial Copyright 41:35 What’s making guest cry 58:45 Show Playlist (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7BYIlgsbGjNnDF7NEJTYSr?si=ZbIqmhaIR6qQ0LyKHOrn8Q) Books Referenced Cachopo, João Pedro, Patrick Nickleson, and Chris Stover, eds. 2020. Rancière and Music. Edinburgh University Press. James, Robin. 2019. The Sonic Episteme: Acoustic Resonance, Neoliberalism, and Biopolitics. Duke University Press. Morrison, Matthew. 2024. Blacksound: Making Race and Popular Music in the United States. University of California Press. Rancière, Jacques. 1991. The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in Intellectual Emancipation, trans. Kristin Ross. Stanford University Press. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dandipiero.substack.com (https://dandipiero.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

13. 

    13 Oct 2025

    3 | Hardcore Softie with Dr. Evan Martin-Casler

    Show Notes On this episode my guest is Dr. Evan Martin-Casler, a Lecturer of Business Communication at the University of Arizona and lifelong punk practitioner. I asked him to share their expertise on all matters of contemporary hardcore, as well as to walk listeners through his analysis of metal subgenres like doom and sludge. Along the way we cover moshing, the disappearance of subcultures, friction as a counterweight to neoliberal acceleration, and the critical importance of—and desperation for—tenderness in our working lives. Finally, check out the book Evan's contributing to—What's Left of Metal? (https://www.revolpress.com/whats-left-of-metal-book) (https://www.revolpress.com/whats-left-of-metal-book)—coming out in fall 2026 on Revol Press. Sensitive Topics: (Kurt Cobain's) suicide; drug use Timestamps 00: Intro 4:00: Big Feelings hardcore 6:30: Disappearance of subculture? 13:00: Shifting mosh etiquette 16:00: Ethics and the role of violence at shows 25:00: Contemporary scenes in emo and hardcore 32:30: Feeling intensely 36:30: Slowness in doom and sludge 59:25: What’s making guest cry Music Discussed (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5HeZvW1pzzd48AkAi2ZE4a?si=JusrKLBMSXW_HJ-VIyDL0w) References Adeyemi, Kedi. 2022. Feels Right: Black Queer Women & the Politics of Partying in Chicago. Duke University Press. Benjamin, Walter. 1940. “Theses on the Philosophy of History.” Attali, Jacques. 2009. Noise: The Political Economy of Music. University of Minnesota Press. Debord, Guy. 1967. Society of the Spectacle. Critical Editions. Noys, Benjamin. 2010. The Persistence of the Negative: A Critique of Contemporary Continental Theory. Edinburgh University Press. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dandipiero.substack.com (https://dandipiero.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

14. 

    29 Sept 2025

    2 | Jazz Is Dead with Dr. AJ Kluth

    Show Notes I talk with Dr. AJ Kluth about the vibrant LA jazz scene, the Jazz is Dead phenomenon, and how this music helps us think about—and calls into question—the distinction between “jazz” and “popular music.” Timestamps 00: Intro 5:00: Jazz is Dead and White Zombie, Dr. Kluth’s book project 7:06: Musical genre in the scene 14:00 Race, necropolitics, genre play 20:30: Historical precedents for the sentiment that jazz is dead 29:00 Poetics of relation, ethics of jazz, and creolization 33:25: Methods and background 43:30 What’s making guest cry References Akker, Robin van den, Alison Gibbons, and Timotheus Vermeulen, eds. 2017. Metamodernism: Historicity, Affect, and Depth after Postmodernism (Radical Cultural Studies). Rowman & Littlefield. Bland, Edward O., director. 1959. The Cry of Jazz. KHTB Productions. Glissant, Edward. 1997. Poetics of Relation. University of Michigan Press. Mbembe, Achille. 2019. Necropolitics. Duke University Press. Payton, Nicholas. 2011. “On Why Jazz Isn’t Cool Anymore.” Personal Blog, November 27. https://nicholaspayton.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/on-why-jazz-isnt-cool-anymore/ (https://nicholaspayton.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/on-why-jazz-isnt-cool-anymore/). Savage, Roger W. H. 2010. Hermeneutics and Music Criticism. Routledge. Sharpe, Christina. 2016. In the Wake: On Blackness and Being. Duke University Press. Music Episode Playlist (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0HzNoRnotA1e2FUwg2WyFc?si=8hY6eGEsR9SgKvGC25cxwg) Anatole Muster at Montreux (https://youtu.be/syXV---oMpY?t=200) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dandipiero.substack.com (https://dandipiero.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

15. 

    15 Sept 2025

    1 | Music and the Media with Dr. Alyx Vesey

    Dr. Alyx Vesey stops by to chat about her training in media studies, her life in popular music, and her two major monograph projects, one on feminized music merchandise and another on the history VH1. We talk about what it means to study popular music from a media perspective, how books are like houses, and how to research a TV show that no one seems to remember. :,) Alyx’s book is Extending Play: The Feminization of Collaborative Music Merchandise in the Early Twenty-First Century (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/extending-play-9780190085643?cc=us&lang=en&) Sensitive Topics: gender-based harassment; death of a parent; death of a friend; cancer Show Timeline Intro: 0:00 Guest background and training: 2:07 Extending Play: 24:01 VH1 Project: 43:50 What’s been making guest cry: 58:56 References Hebdige, Dick. 1979. Subculture: The Meaning of a Style. Routledge. James, Robin. Resilience & Melancholy: Pop Music, Feminism, Neoliberalism. Zer0 Books. Levine, Elana. 2020. Her Stories: Daytime Soap Opera and US Television History. Duke University Press. McRobbie, Angela. 1989. Zoot Suits and Secondhand Dresses: Anthology of Fashion and Music. Red Globe Press. Palmer, Landon. 2020. Rock Star/Movie Star: Power and Performance in Cinematic Rock Stardom. Oxford University Press. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dandipiero.substack.com (https://dandipiero.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

16. 

    1 Aug 2025

    Pilot

    Hey pals, I’m doing this on my own so will you let me know if the levels sound shit thank yoouuuu :,) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dandipiero.substack.com (https://dandipiero.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

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