A (Mostly) 80s Music Podcast: What Difference Does It Make?

Dave Sloan and Holly Cantos - 80s Music Podcast

Dave and Holly, your 80s music aficionados, talk to the artists and music industry insiders that made it the greatest decade for music.

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310 episodes
Updated Friday

Episodes310

Newest first

Apr 18, 2025 · 1 hr 1 min
Paul Rappaport Glides Over Hollywood
It's good to be Paul Rappaport. As the head of Rock Promotion at Columbia Records, Paul rubbed shoulders with the likes of The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and Alice In Chains. It was Paul's creativity and enthusiasm that contributed to his success in getting his artists' music played on the radio. It's all documented in his book, Gliders Over Hollywood: Airships, Airplay And The Art Of Rock Promotion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 11, 2025 · 41 min
One To One: John & Yoko
Sam Rice-Edwards, co-director and editor for the rock documentary One to One: John & Yoko, joins the podcast. The film centers around the One to One benefit concert for the Willowbrook State School in New York, an institution for special needs children. Sam shares with us some of the details about how he and co-director Kevin Macdonald were able to sort through tens of thousands of hours of previously unseen archival footage to create a fully realized documentary on the lives of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the early 70s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 4, 2025 · 52 min
Squirrel Nut Zippers Go Back O' Town
Jimbo Mathus, frontman for the Squirrel Nut Zippers, joins the podcast to reminisce about his music origins, and how he landed in Chapel Hill, leading to the massive success of the band. Squirrel Nut Zippers continue to tour with their own unique brand of Americana music with their Jazz From The Back O' Town show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 21, 2025 · 1 hr 21 min
Stuck On The 80s Cruise
Christopher Cross might sing of sailing away, but does he feel that way about cruises? Man on the scene, Dave Sloan steps onto The 80s Cruise with his guests Steve Spears and Brad Williams, from the Stuck In The 80s podcast, to discuss how they became involved in this 80s lifestyle. They also offer us their unique take on songs #80 to #71 from the KROQ 1988 year-end countdown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 7, 2025 · 1 hr 7 min
The Music Discovery Of WXPN's Bruce Warren
Bruce Warren's title on LinkedIn may say he's "Chief of a lot less Stuff at WXPN”, but we think he's just being modest. For more than 30 years, Bruce has helped shape the sound of one of the most influential public radio stations today, 88.5 WXPN in Philadelphia. He is also a producer and one of the people that helped create the widely popular syndicated radio show, World Cafe. Bruce is ready to move on to his next adventure, as he slowly steps away from his duties at the station. We discuss his love of music while looking at songs 90-81 from the KROQ 1988 year-end playlist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 28, 2025 · 42 min
Geoffrey Himes Explains The Ins And Outs Of Country Music
You might be familiar with Outlaw Country, but now there's a new subgenre of American country music. Author Geoffrey Himes' latest book, In-Law Country: How Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash, and Their Circle Fashioned a New Kind of Country Music, 1968-1985. Geoffrey joins the podcast to explain this extraordinary music that, much like Outlaw Country, managed to create hits outside the traditional sound coming out of Nashville. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 21, 2025 · 48 min
Gary Kemp Brings Us To This Destination
Gary Kemp is clearly a busy man. He's got his podcast, The Rockonteurs, with fellow musician Guy Pratt, his tour with Nick Mason’s (Pink Floyd) band Saucerful of Secrets, and acting with his brother Martin Kemp in their most recent mockumentary, The Kemps: All Gold. He’s also added a new album to his discography, This Destination. The album finds Gary in a reflective mood, looking back on life with his family and band mates. Does this mean he wants to reform his 80s band, Spandau Ballet? We talk about it all as Gary joins us on What Difference Does It Make?: A (Mostly) 80s Music Podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 14, 2025 · 54 min
True Fables Of Jason Narducy
Jason Narducy is living his musical dream. He plays songs with the artists that helped frame his musical taste. It all started at the tender age of ten, playing in his punk band, Verböten. This year, he will tour with Michael Shannon to perform R.E.M.'s 'Fables of the Reconstruction' and more. It will be followed immediately by a tour playing alongside Bob Mould to support his latest album, Here We Go Crazy. You can also catch Jason performing with Superchunk and Sunny Day Real Estate, and last year, he reunited with Verböten. Somehow we caught him in a rare spot, at his home in Evanston, to talk with us about his true fables of life on the road with his musical heroes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 7, 2025 · 41 min
We Found Love With Annie Zaleski
Happy Valentine's Day! We here at What Difference Does It Make love love songs, and so does Annie Zaleski. So much so, that she wrote a book about some of her favorite love songs, entitled We Found Love, Song by Song: The Stories Behind 100 Romantic Hits. Annie joins the podcast to talk about her favorite songs, from Fred Astaire and Frank Sinatra, to Adele and Usher. Simply put, if you love love, you will love this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 31, 2025 · 53 min
The KROQ 1988 Countdown With Craig Rosen
Friend of the show, Craig Rosen, joins us for a record-setting fifth time. On this occasion, we look at songs 90 to 81 on the 1988 KROQ year-end chart. What do we learn? Craig's English teacher embarrassed him in the high school halls, he is still freaked out just by thinking of The Exorcist display at a local theatre, and as always, all roads lead to REM. Of course there's also great 80s music to discuss. Time may have forgotten some of these songs, but not us! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 24, 2025 · 33 min
KROQ 1988 Countdown Begins
And so it begins, as we take a look at the top 106.7 songs played in 1988 on radio station KROQ in Los Angeles. Upcoming episodes will feature ten songs and a special guest, but for this episode, we will examine the bottom seven songs, 106.7 to 101, based on the station's year-end playlist. It's an eclectic group, and a nice entry into the type of music explored on The World Famous KROQ. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 17, 2025 · 59 min
1988 Pop Culture
It was the year of debuts, from The Wonder Years to Roseanne toYo! MTV Raps. The Grammys finally recognized the significance of Rap and Heavy Metal, but (spoiler alert) failed to recognize the true innovators in each genre. It was also the year we believed two completely different looking men could be Twins and three womanizing bachelors could raise an infant. What would Brian Boitano do, besides win Gold at the Olympics? For more, you'll just have to tune in to our look back at the year 1988 in pop culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 10, 2025 · 45 min
Stereo MC's Get Connected
Rob B and Nick Hallam, collectively known as Stereo MC’s, have been releasing music since the mid-1980s when they co-founded the Gee Street recording studio and record label. They had massive hits in the 90s with "Elevate My Mind", "Step It Up”, and "Connected". They then focused on their studio work, creating re-mixes for artists like Madonna, U2, and The Jungle Brothers. They now have their own label, "connected", and have since become established in the ever-popular Afro House genre. Stereo MC's are now re-introducing themselves to a US audience with a brief tour, and the promise of new music, as well as stepping it up for a chat with the What Difference Does It Make podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 3, 2025 · 1 hr 12 min
The Go-Go's Kathy Valentine: All I Ever Wanted
Back in 2020, we had the opportunity to chat with Kathy Valentine of The Go-Go's. She had just released her rock n’ roll memoir, All I Ever Wanted. Since then, the Go-Go's have released their official documentary, and they were finally inducted into the Rock Hall. Since January 7 is Kathy's birthday, we wanted to recognize one of our favorite Capricorns by revisiting what previously was a two-parter, into one glorious podcast episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 13, 2024 · 1 hr 3 min
Christmas And Holiday 80s Music Favorites
It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. Holly finds a couple Hanukkah songs favorites via friend of the show, JC Douglas. We talk "Baby, It's Cold Outside" which leads into the film Little Mermaid and Holly reveals a shocking truth. Dave talks up the Phil Spector Christmas and we bring up the Die Hard controversy. And of course, what is an 80s Christmas podcast without talk of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" How many artists can you name that participated in the song? So do like Prince a
Dec 6, 2024 · 42 min
What Difference Does It Make Best Of 2024
It's been quite a year here at What Difference Does It Make. I mean, just look at the cover photo of us at an intimate rehearsal with Neil Finn from Crowded House, and you know we had a memorable year. While we didn't have Neil on the podcast, we did manage to get some of our other favorite musicians and music nerds to talk about 80s music and more. We've condensed some of our favorite clips from 2024 for a greatest hits episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 15, 2024 · 33 min
The World According To Allee Willis
If you know the Earth, Wind & Fire songs September and Boogie Wonderland, The Pointer Sisters Neutron Dance or I'll Be There For You, aka the opening theme from Friends, then you're familiar with some of the songwriting work of Allee Willis. But that's only half the story. Director Alexis Spraic and Producer Prudence Fenton join the What Difference Does It Make Podcast to tell us about The World According To Allee Willis, a documentary about the multi-layered life of a multi-layered personality. It's a fascinating documentary about a fascinating individual that personally documented most every moment of her life since 1978. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 8, 2024 · 52 min
Mindy Smith Needs A Quiet Town
Mindy Smith made quite an impression on Dolly Parton with her take on Dolly's iconic song, "Jolene". She followed that up with her beautiful debut album, One Moment More. Now twenty years into her career, she releases another gorgeous album entitled "Quiet Town". Mindy joins us in the virtual studio to talk about her inspirations and ideas behind the music. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 1, 2024 · 1 hr
Robert Hilburn Has Some Words In Defense Of Randy Newman
Robert Hilburn, former LA Times Music Editor/Critic, has become one of the preeminent music biographers for the singer-songwriter. Known for his deep dives into the lives of legendary artists, Robert has penned insightful biographies on Johnny Cash and Paul Simon. Now, he joins us to discuss his latest work, A Few Words In Defense Of Our Country: The Biography Of Randy Newman. We’ll explore Newman’s unique songwriting craft, as Robert shares some of his own unique stories along the way. Robert has been a favorite of ours since we first became music fans, so it’s a true honor to have him on the show. Let’s dive in! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 18, 2024 · 50 min
Iain Matthews Tells Us How Much Is Enough
Iain Matthews’ 53rd-ish solo album is entitled "How Much Is Enough". He joins the podcast and we learn all about the start of his career, from selling shoes on Carnaby Street in mid-60s Swingin' London, to where he is today. It's a good insight into Iain's mindset about where he sees himself as a working musician/songwriter after nearly 60 years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices