Join highly undisciplined music obsessive and award-winning podcaster SJ through his musical journey. Based upon a personal project to listen to nearly every studio album released each year, starting with 1979, he reviews every high and low for your listening pleasure. Each episode, he reviews shifting trends and influences and his essential albums each year—all catalogued into huge playlists. He's done the dirty work of listening to the good, bad, and ugly so you can have the best bits all to yourself. Come to laugh, learn, and argue!
Welcome to 2003!
This year gave us a limited number of Essentials, but they were some of the most profound of the entire decade. Why was 2003 the year of so many iconic hit albums? I have no idea!
We saw breakthroughs in the Rock, Metal, Pop, Rap, R&B, and J-Pop spaces this year, giving other artists all kinds of potential inspiration on where to take these genres next.
Let's go on the journey together to really figure out what all this inspiration means and where it might lead us into the rest of the decade!
Link to the Essential List! (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/04wQfPBFjWaeOp2ZGmSs6g?si=e9dbdb13ccaa496c&pt=89ab1909a9e59c2bae1b9b08cf6a1993)
Link to the Big List! (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3LZLNTrtKZYKBZ8e308zyc?si=c6343a5682c24a8b&pt=4365956d727b085d21d620418af84057)
21 Oct 2025
S3E4 - 2002 (Slowly Turning the Page)
Welcome to 2002!
We are officially beginning to fully leave behind the vibe of the 90s and step in to what so many in the listening world consider to be quintessential music of the new millennium! On tap for today's episode both the east and west are pushing boundaries with their own varieties of genre alchemy, giving audiences more to love, more to explore, and more to question as the future of music.
A limited quantity of Essential Albums and Conspicuous absences in today's episode, we still dive deep on many of them.
Come enjoy as we explore a beginning of UK Garage, Japanese Popular Rap, KPop and J-R&B's official bridge moment, and early signs that Rock is on the verge of its next great shift.
Link to the Essential List! (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3PIWcM7WKyJvQLmX3ubepi?si=ac605a15ed324c16&pt=23c4ab3d0191fdd0cb3a81410225b199)
Link to the Big List! (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1spCiOyK56UVXEYTAaq6A5?si=d3aa58622f384c87&pt=d370bdd35598ce94c9fb7c3a1846f9e5)
7 Oct 2025
S3E3 - 2001 (What is Pop, really?)
Welcome to 2001!
The decade feels like it's fully in swing now, giving us about a thousand million ways to define what Pop music is this year. We have Neo Power Pop, Electro-Pop, Avant-Pop, Indie Pop, Garage Pop, Neo Synth Pop, Neo Dream Pop, Neo Jangle Pop...the list goes on and on and on!
While we try not to drown in all these delightful, artful hooks, we stumble in to fertile ground across the Rock and Metal spaces, R&B, and Rap; and even get a lucky video game soundtrack in the mix this year. We hit just about every genre in some way, if you can believe it!
The 2000s alchemy is already cooking, so let's see what this year dishes out!
Link to the Essential List! (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/74uaLP2DmAWCo9tshmHovc?si=3586c2c78c3e40b4&pt=9b2fdbe93d3eabf79d28595e1c410ddf)
Link to the Big List! (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0div2sEiky9IIy5h5XLgdm?si=347f4d3592124bc2&pt=4a72942d02761deb8ba912b043600fa8)
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
285
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
11 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
20 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 54 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
62
Social presence
0
YouTube
64
Engagement
51
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