Snap, Crackle, POP! with Alec Cumming

About Snap, Crackle, POP! with Alec Cumming

A show dedicated to unapologetically intelligent & melodic pop music that oft includes adventure, ambition, angst, bass shenanigans, bravura, catchiness, cynicism, curiosity, dancability, deft dynamics, economy, forward momentum, glee, grace, hubris, irreverance, irony, love, maximalism, melancholy, minimalism, modesty, naïveté, overreaching, passion, prettiness, proselytizing, protest, questioning, repetition, ribaldry, sarcasm, sexiness, sincerity, specificity, swoon-worthiness, temerity, understanding, vagueness, wisdom, wit and maybe more than a little nostalgia.

Publisher

Alec Cumming, WPKN

Category

music · music

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

6 May 2018

Latest episode

19 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

75 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   19 Oct 2026

   This Might Be a Happy New Year! (with John Flansburg of They Might Be Giants)

   This is a VERY SPECIAL SUPERSIZED EDITION of SNAP CRACKLE POP! On Monday, October 19th 2026, I aired a 2-hour version of a show I had originally aired on WPKN in December 2022, when John Flansburg of They Might Be Giants called in for an interview to help promote his band's New Years Eve gig... in 2022. Fast forward (almost) four years, and I'm noticing that They Might Be Giants will be BACK at New Haven's College Street Music Hall on December 31, 2026! So I decided to replay the 2022 interview on Monday, with my exhortations to have listeners email in for a ticket giveaway. But - check THIS out - now I'm uploading the show, I decided to add in more than a half-hour MORE music and MORE John Flansburg that I had leftover from the 2022 interview! So this is pretty substantial... I hope you enjoy! Thank you, John. I LOVE THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS. Wu-Tang (The World Is To Dig, 2026) 13 [excerpt] (Miscellaneous T, 1991) Boat Of Car (They Might Be Giants, 1986) Number Three (They Might Be Giants, 1986) We’re The Replacements (Miscellaneous T, 1991) Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head (They Might Be Giants, 1986) Don’t Let’s Start (They Might Be Giants, 1986) Snowball in Hell (Lincoln, 1988) Piece of Dirt (Lincoln, 1988) Ana Ng (Lincoln, 1988) Your Racist Friend (Flood, 1990) Older (Long Tall Weekend, 1999) I Palindrome I (Apollo 18, 1992) Fingertips (Apollo 18, 1992) Meet James Ensor (John Henry, 1994) Laughing – Pere Ubu (The Modern Dance, 1977) Boots – The Residents (Meet The Residents, 1974) I Should Be Allowed To Think (John Henry, 1994) S-E-X-X-Y (Factory Showroom, 1996) I Can Hear You (Factory Showroom, 1996) James K. Polk (Factory Showroom, 1996) Doctor Worm (Severe Tire Damage, 1998) Mink Car (Mink Car, 2001) No! (No!, 2002) Fibber Island (No!, 2002) Boss Of Me (Mink Car, 2001) Flying V (Here Come the ABCs, 2005) Violin (No!, 2002) Twisting (Flood, 1990) Here In Higglytown (Here Come the ABCs, 2005) Another First Kiss (Mink Car, 2001) Cloissoné (Join Us, 2011) All Alone (They Got Lost, 2002) Memo to Human Resources (The Spine, 2005) Wicked Little Critta (Mink Car, 2001) Can’t Keep Johnny Down (Join Us, 2011) You’re on Fire (Nanobots, 2013) The Communists Have the Music (My Murdered Remains, 2018) Moonbean Rays (Book, 2021) Overnight Sensation (The World Is To Dig, 2026) They Might Be Giants (Flood, 1990) Birdhouse In Your Soul (Flood, 1990)

2. 

   21 Sept 2026

   Snap Crackle POP! is Getting Things Done!

   I actually edited out a lot of the complaining I've been doing lately about my laptop and being flustered about being flustered, but you can still hear me bitching at the beginning, and I HAVE TO STOP. It's time to Get Things Done! Inspired by the new Joe McGinty/Paige Siegwardt jam and the stunning new Tom Waits cover by Eddie Skuller, I'm moving forward with a (sassy) New Attitude! Or something like that. Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In – The 5th Dimension Toledo – Elvis Costello Corner Of My Eye – The Lemon Twigs Rosy, Won't You Please Come Home – The Kinks Yours Forever – Bishop Briggs feat. Matt Maeson Charles Atlas/I Can't Reach You – The Who You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone – The Beach Boys Mom, I’m Going Back to Therapy – Julia Cumming Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town – Kenny Rogers & The First Edition Angel On Your Shoulder – Dave Alvin Border Radio – The Blasters I'm Shakin' – Little Willie John Someday, Someway – Marshall Crenshaw The Magic Number – De La Soul Answer Me, My Love – Swamp Dogg Buffalo Stance – Neneh Cherry Get Things Done! – Joe McGinty feat. Paige Siegwardt and The Joe McGinty 7 Wendy – Joe McGinty & Jesse Malin Air on a G String – Baby Steps House Where Nobody Lives – Eddie Skuller Rock On – Eddie Skuller Didn't Want to Have to Do It – Ralfi Pagan Coconut Grove – The Lovin' Spoonful September Song (live) – Rufus Wainwright Mezcal Moth (live) – Ward White

3. 

   7 Sept 2026

   A Labor (Day) of Love

   On September 3rd 2018, I had a 3-hour 4-7 afternoon on-air shift at WPKN. It was Labor Day, and before the show I put out a "hive mind" request on Facebook for recommenmdations on songs that would be, well, good to play on Labor Day, about Labor, as this holiday is particularly distant from its reason for being - it's almost completely only thought of the "summer is over, back to school/work" holiday. I got over 400 replies! When I got to the (old) WPKN Studios at the University of Bridgeport, the AC was not working, and boy did I complain. 🙄 I edited out of most of the whiny complaining part for today's show. Now it's September 7, 2026 (zoom!) and it's once again a Labor Day and a Monday, the day on which I now have a weekly two-hour "drive time" 7-9am morning show. I decided to resuscitate, as it were, the 2018 show and songs, with a tiny bit of updated VO and "rewind" sound effects. So I did, and here's what today's show sounded like, with a little "thank you" coda at the end. Minimum Wage – They Might Be Giants Get a Job – The Silhouettes Working in The Coal Mine – Lee Dorsey Big Boss Man – Jimmy Reed Chain Gang – Sam Cooke Back On the Chain Gang – The Pretenders 9 to 5 – Dolly Parton Car Wash – Rose Royce A Day in the Life of a Working Man – David Ruffin I've Been Working – Van Morison Bus Rider – Guess Who Working Too Hard – The Beat Millworker – Bette Midler Allentown – Billy Joel 5 O’Clock World – The Vogues Matthew & Son – Cat Stevens I Just Got My Pay – The Beach Boys Government Center – Jonathan Richman & The Rubinoos Manic Monday (extended version) – The Bangles Don't Worry About the Government (live) – Talking Heads The Good Thing – Talking Heads Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now – The Smiths There Is Power in a Union – Billy Bragg Take Stuff from Work – King Missile (feat. John S. Hall) Workingman's Blues #2 – Bob Dylan VDT – Tom Juravich Sick Day – Fountains of Wayne It’s Not My Place (In the 9 to 5 world) – The Ramones Career Opportunities – The Clash Clampdown – The Clash Shipbuilding – Robert Wyatt Unemployment – JJ Cale Welcome to the Working Week – Elvis Costello Thank you for all the song recommendations via Facebook! Mark Sagarin, Bill Holdship, Patrick Trettenero, Daniel Martin Baker, Marice Elizabeth, Larry Stockel, Jimmy Howland, Daniel Martin Baker, John S. Hall, Jeff Samet, David Belgrave, Jhh Lowengard, Darren DeVivo, Bruce Bernstein, Howard Wuelfing and Norm Wallerstein (RIP) (Artwork pictured: "Workers on the Cathedral of Learning" by Harry W. Scheuch, born Elizabeth, NJ 1906, died Pittsburgh, PA 1978.)

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