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Accidental Legends

Dirk Smith & Matthew Brent

Before they were iconic, they were underrated. Join us as we uncover the true stories behind the '70s and '80s pop culture that weren't expected to succeed. We'll explore the classic movies, chart-topping songs, and binge-worthy TV shows that were dismissed, doubted, or almost abandoned—and yet, against all odds, became legends.

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28 episodes
weekly
Avg 48 min
English

Episodes 28

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S2 · E36
Tuesday · 1 hr 3 min
Episode 36: Cheers
How does a television show go from practically nobody watching to becoming one of the most beloved sitcoms in history? When Cheers premiered in 1982, the odds were stacked against it. NBC was struggling, the ratings were terrible, and a sitcom about...
- Transcript
S2 · E35
October 13 · 45 min
Episode 35: REO Speedwagon
Jason and Dee at the Surely You Can’t Be Serious podcast threw down the gauntlet, Accidental Legends picked it up, and this REO Speedwagon episode was born.You know the songs. You probably know every word. But what happened before REO became a...
- Transcript
S2 · E34
September 29 · 36 min
Episode 34 The Legend of Zelda
What happens when Nintendo follows one of the simplest, most immediately understandable video games ever made with something that seems determined to leave players completely lost? This week on Accidental Legends, Matthew and Dirk head back to the...
- Transcript
S2 · E33
September 22 · 35 min
Episode 33: Holding Her and Loving You
What happens when a song captures a situation so messy, so human, that listeners hear themselves in it decades later? This week on Accidental Legends, Matthew and Dirk dig into Earl Thomas Conley’s “Holding Her and Loving You,” a country classic built...
- Transcript
S2 · E32
September 15 · 55 min
Episode 32: Clue
In 1985, Hollywood tried something that sounded either brilliant or completely insane: turn the classic board game Clue into a feature film. Then they made the mystery even stranger by sending different endings to different theaters.It didn’t exactly...
- Transcript
S2 · E31
September 8 · 37 min
Episode 31: Don't Pay The Ferryman
Before Chris de Burgh became internationally associated with one unforgettable ballad, there was another song—darker, stranger, and built around a story that sounded more like a supernatural thriller than a pop single. In this episode of Accidental...
- Transcript
S2 · E30
September 1 · 1 hr 7 min
Episode 30: Dirty Dancing
Dirty Dancing was never supposed to become a classic. It was a small movie with a modest budget, an uncertain future, and plenty of reasons for Hollywood to say no. But audiences had other plans. In this episode of Accidental Legends, Matthew and...
- Transcript
S2 · E29
August 25 · 38 min
Episode 29: Amie
How does a song sit quietly for years, survive a failed album campaign, outlive the lineup that recorded it, and then become an all time classic? In this episode of Accidental Legends, Matthew and Dirk trace the unlikely rise of Pure Prairie League’s...
- Transcript
S2 · E28
August 18 · 33 min
Episode 28: Faster Pussycat Kill Kill! Part 2
In Part Two of Accidental Legends’ dive into Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Matthew and Dirk pick up the story of Russ Meyer’s outrageous 1965 cult film and the strange path it took from exploitation obscurity to pop-culture immortality. The...
- Transcript
S2 · E27
August 11 · 39 min
Episode 27: Faster Pussycat Kill Kill Part 1
In this episode of Accidental Legends, Matthew and Dirk dive into the strange, outrageous world of Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Russ Meyer’s 1965 cult classic that bombed in its original release before becoming one of exploitation cinema’s most...
- Transcript
S2 · E26
August 4 · 41 min
Episode 26: Don't Stop Believing Part 2
In this part 2 of Accidental Legends, Matt and Dirk uncover how Journey’s *Don't Stop Beliving" defied convention to become one of the most beloved songs in music history. Long before it became a stadium anthem and karaoke staple, the song broke...
- Transcript
S2 · E25
July 28 · 43 min
Episode 25: Don't Stop Believing Part 1
This Accidental Legend will be a two part series. Matt and Dirk begin unraveling the unbelievable chain of events that transformed Journey from a struggling jazz fusion-rock band into one of the biggest arena rock acts in history. But before the...
- Transcript
July 21 · 1 hr 4 min
Episode 24: The Godfather
What happens when a movie nobody believed in becomes one of the greatest films ever made? In this episode of Accidental Legends, Matthew and Dirk explore the improbable story behind The Godfather. From Mario Puzo writing the novel simply to pay off...
- Transcript
S2 · E23
July 14 · 1 hr 1 min
Episode 23: Glory
Welcome back to Cul-de-Sac Studios! In this episode of Accidental Legends, hosts Matthew and Dirk unpack the 1989 cinematic masterpiece, Glory. While it didn't smash commercial box office records upon its release, this powerful historical drama...
- Transcript
S2 · E22
July 7 · 59 min
Episode 22: This Is Spinal Tap
How did a movie with no script, a fake band, and zero studio backing become one of the most legendary comedies ever made? In this episode of Accidental Legends, hosts Dirk and Matthew dive into the chaotic 1984 release of This Is Spinal Tap. They...
- Transcript
S2 · E21
June 30 · 1 hr 1 min
Episode 21: He Stopped Loving Her Today
In 1979, country star George Jones was bankrupt, living out of his car, and battling severe addiction. Behind the microphones in CBS Studio B in Nashville, he was also losing a war against a single three-minute track—a song he absolutely detested and...
- Transcript
S2 · E20
June 23 · 39 min
Episode 20: Tetris
Welcome back to Accidental Legends, the show where we dive into the stories behind the things that were never supposed to make it, yet somehow became unstoppable. Imagine a video game with no story, no characters, and no ending—just seven simple...
- Transcript
S2 · E19
June 16 · 44 min
Episode 19: Sultans of Swing
Imagine a struggling musician wandering into a deserted pub on a rainy night in South London. The band on stage plays not for the crowd, but for the love of music itself. This is the essence of Dire Straits' iconic song "Sultans of Swing," which...
- Transcript
S2 · E18
June 9 · 54 min
Episode 18: I Want My MTV!
In this episode of Accidental Legends, we rewind to the early 1980s to explore the chaotic, high-stakes birth of MTV—an audacious experiment that television executives and advertising agencies confidently predicted would end in total disaster. Dive...
- Transcript
S2 · E17
June 2 · 46 min
Episode 17: Judy Del Rey
Think back to the very first fantasy or sci-fi book that completely consumed your imagination. You stared at the cover, lost in another world, before you even read the first page. But have you ever wondered why that book existed in the first place?...
- Transcript

Showing 1–20 of 28 episodes