Tape Spaghetti
by Blake Wyland & Scott Marquart
Latest episode
Wilco and the Spy Radio Mystery
Wilco and the Spy Radio Mystery
About this podcast
Welcome to Tape Spaghetti—where music history gets tangled. Hosts Blake Wyland and Scott Marquart dive into the wildest, weirdest, and most unexpected stories from the music industry. From legendary feuds to bizarre scandals, insane characters… and even murder! On this show we unravel the chaos behind the songs you love, the musicians you know, and stories that you need to hear.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 78 episodes
- Wilco and the Spy Radio Mystery · 53 min · Episode 79What do Wilco, Cold War espionage, and creepily cryptic radio messages have in common? ...Quite a bit, actually.For decades, mysterious shortwave radio broadcasts from "numbers…
- Frank Sinatra, Whiskey, and the Birth of the Concept Album · 58 min · Episode 77When you think of the first great concept albums, what comes to mind? Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band? Pet Sounds? The Dark Side of the Moon? Well, what if we told you the…
- Beethoven, Liszt & Chopin Wrote Music From Beyond the Grave? · 51 min · Episode 76Beethoven died in 1827. Chopin died in 1849. Liszt died in 1886. But, apparently, that didn’t stop any of 'em from writing new music. In the 1960s, an unassuming British widow…
- Did The Beatles Actually Revolutionize Recording? · 1 h 8 min · Episode 75What happens when the biggest band in the world starts asking engineers to do things recording equipment was never designed to do? Things get weird. But, did the Beatles really…
- Elvis Presley Tried to Become a Federal Agent · 1 h 1 minBy 1970, Elvis Presley had fame, money, guns, wicked karate skills, a collection of police badges, and the ability to get almost anything else he wanted. Then he decided he…
- Shoegaze: How My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive & Ride Lost the Battle and Won the War · 1 h 6 min · Episode 73In the early '90s, bands like My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Slowdive, and Lush transformed walls of distortion, oceans of reverb, and enough guitar pedals to bankrupt a small nation…
- Lead Belly Part 2: How Huddie Ledbetter Helped Create The Beatles & Inspired Nirvana · 57 minNo Lead Belly, no Beatles? Sounds like clickbait, but the musical family tree makes a surprisingly convincing case. On this episode of Tape Spaghetti, Scott and Blake wrap up…
- Lead Belly Part 1: Death, Prison & the Birth of a Legend · 51 min · Episode 71Long before Kurt Cobain's legendary performance of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” on MTV Unplugged, there was Lead Belly. Wandering folk hero. Convicted killer. Musical…
- The Tragic Life and Death of Marvin Gaye · 1 h 18 minMarvin Gaye made some of the most beautiful music ever recorded, but behind it was a life defined by a constant struggle for control. On this episode of Tape Spaghetti, Scott…
- Ringo Starr, Phil Collins & Kirk Hammett: The Replacements Who Changed Everything · 1 h 4 minGetting kicked out of a band is no fun at all. But what happens when losing the “wrong” person turns out to be exactly the right move? This week on Tape Spaghetti, Scott and…
- Paul Simon’s Graceland Problem · 1 h 19 minWhat happens when incredible music collides with impossible politics? In this episode of Tape Spaghetti, Scott and Blake dive into the tangled history of Paul Simon's Graceland…
- The Assassination Of John Lennon Makes Absolutely No Sense · 1 h 7 min · Episode 67Everyone knows John Lennon was murdered outside the Dakota on December 8, 1980. Far fewer know just how strange and unsettling the full story really is. In this episode of Tape…
- How The Beatles Fell Apart While Making The White Album · 1 h 5 min · Episode 66Unclear creative direction, bizarre experimentation, and a rudderless band of twenty-somethings. Sounds like the making of a half-baked album by a bunch of nobodies, right?…
- How Fake Music Is Bleeding Real Artists Dry · 53 min · Episode 65For better or worse, streaming changed the music business forever. But it also created an entirely new kind of crime. Or actually, a whole bunch of new kinds of crimes. This…
- How Country Music Tried to Destroy the *Dixie* Chicks · 55 minBefore they became the most controversial band in country music, the Dixie Chicks were absolutely unstoppable. In this episode of Tape Spaghetti, Scott and Blake unpack the…
- The $36 Song That Terrified the FBI (Mike Mitchell of The Kingsmen) · 33 min · Episode 63Before punk rock, before arena rock, and before garage rock was a thing, there was "Louie Louie." In this special episode of Tape Spaghetti, Blake shares his remarkable…
- Chuck Berry, Dick Clark & Rock ’n’ Roll’s Payola Scandal · 1 h 10 min · Episode 62Paranoid about the algorithm? Totally understandable. But, if you're yearning for the good ol' days when records zipped to the top of the charts on the strength of catchy tunes…
- Sugar Ray, Smash Mouth, and the One-Hit Wonders That Weren’t · 1 h 16 min · Episode 61Pop music simply wouldn't be the same without one-hit wonders, those flash in a pan artists who capture the listening public's imagination... for about 5 minutes. But, what about…
- Jim Sullivan Drove Into the Desert and Disappeared · 1 h 16 min · Episode 60A struggling musician drives into the New Mexico desert with a guitar, a trunk full of records, and dreams of making it in Nashville. He is never seen again. This week on Tape…
- The FBI vs. The Fugs · 1 h 6 min · Episode 59How obscene does your band need to be for the FBI to get involved? In this episode of Tape Spaghetti, Scott and Blake dig into the band that found out the hard way: The Fugs. A…
