Will Hodge (Unplugged Revisited)

Haha, right?! I counted it out using my back pills this morning just to make sure!

O Brother, Where Aren’t Thou?: The Two-Decade Cultural Impact of ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ - No Depression The year 2000 was an absolutely dizzying time to be a music fan. Intricately constructed boy bands and hyper-objectified teen divas ruled radio, MTV, and record sales, with the top two best-selling al...

With the recent news of next year’s 25th anniversary vinyl reissue of the ‘O Brother’ soundtrack, I wanted to re-share my chat with national treasure T Bone Burnett that I did for @nodepression.bsky.social back around the 20th anniversary. What a legend!
nodepression.org/o-brother-wh...

For real, dude! Here’s the link to pre-order: super7.com/products/a-t...

I highly recommend their stuff!! I’ve gotten their figures of Run-DMC, Johnny Cash, Grandmaster Flash, and a few others. They seriously rule!

Letters to Cleo’s ‘OK Christmas’ EP is a wonderfully buzzy way to kick off the day. It’s got holiday covers of The Kinks, Elvis Presley, and Boston’s own The Dogmatics, while @kayhanley.bsky.social somehow sounds even more phenomenal than usual. Highly recommended for a cranked-to-11 Christmas!

On a De La-adjacent related note, if you want some Tribe figures to “Scenario”-style compliment @austinmccoy.bsky.social’s new De La book on your shelves, Super7 just announced these today!

Man, @officialsuper7.bsky.social’s done it again!! (A) Will be ordering and (B) I can only hope this leads to another Tribe set featuring 20+ figures of everyone that was in the “Scenario” music video.

Seasonal shot/chaser: following New Edition with Boyz II Men (which will undoubtedly be followed by the Fresh Prince episode where the guys show up to sing at Nicky’s christening - shout-out to Nicie Taylor!) Let it snow, indeed! ❄️

“Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, Mike, and Ralph too, Give all the love that we feel to you”

Monday morning jingle jams from ‘All For Love’-era New Edition just always hits!

People are savoring an unearthed 1994 MTV interview with people who just bought CDs at Tower Records ​"Man, I miss the excitement of buying a CD in a store and jamming out to it song by song on the drive home."

I wrote about the nostalgia trip of watching customers exit Tower Records with freshly purchased CDs in 1994. www.good.is/mtv-news-cds...

Have you plugged in to this week’s new episode? I’ve got a batch of MTV Unplugged Beatles Covers from the likes of Annie Lennox, Blackstreet, Hall & Oates, Phil Collins, Slaughter, and more. Plus, a little bit of Paul’s Beatles tunes from his ‘91 episode!
Link: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/u...

As a 1980s born-and-bred Atlantan who grew up with the baby blue Braves unis, $1 (post-first-inning) upper deck cheap seats, and that gorgeous view of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium driving into the city from the southside - I FEEL THIS IN MY BONES 😂

'MTV Unplugged' debuted on the network 36 years ago on November 26, 1989 | Let us know what YOUR favorite 'Unplugged' album is + check out how our readers rank them here: album.ink/UnpluggedPoll

NEW EPISODE! In honor of The Beatles Anthology 30th anniversary - here’s a collection of MTV Unplugged Beatles Covers from artists like Annie Lennox, Blackstreet, Hall & Oates, Phil Collins, and more! Plus Paul’s Beatles tunes from his ‘91 Unplugged!

Link: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/u...

a woman singing into a microphone while a man looks on ALT: a woman singing into a microphone while a man looks on

SO GOOD! It’s a shame she never got her own MTV Unplugged after showing up hard on the Uptown Records and Jay-Z episodes. She was scheduled for her own Unplugged in 2007 (announced and everything) but it fell through. I think she would tear a full Unplugged up!

This is our fifth Chicago Christmas season but the first one that has graced us with the combo of getting to decorate the tree with this going on in the backyard. I guess Mariah finally got my Christmas letters!

YouTube video by Saturday Night Live Cinder and Sarah - Saturday Night Live

Though I should say, Ana Gasteyer and Sarah McLachlan doing “Basted in Blood” still rules 😂
youtu.be/dFid15XOwPo?...

I write about this a few years ago for the No Depression roots music journal. There’s actually some great Thanksgiving-based songs in the roots music community but they’re of course more niche than striving for the pop canon. I think the holiday’s historical-cultural source material is to blame.

Can confirm this book RULES and is such an enjoyable read! It’s incredibly well-written and hits like a warm blanket of awesomeness.

Me to @lizzslockeroom.bsky.social’s account every other day 😂

The Thanksgiving elves delivered the goods just in time for the holidays! The ‘95 Anthology was such an exciting moment in my teenage music journey and I’m supremely excited to finally have this collection on vinyl. (Flawless shipping condition on a 12LP set so super kudos there as well)!

One last shameless bump before Record Store Day Black Friday! Don’t miss my MTV Unplugged Record Store Black Friday retrospective. Come for the R.E.M. and Pearl Jam rhapsodizing, stay for this year’s addition of a-ha to the mix!
Link: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/u...

Yes!! Did this just come in? My galley’s in the mail and I’m hoping to dive into it this week. Beyond stoked for this one!!

Saturday morning happy place: Grading undergrad papers and sonically pre-gaming for Wednesday’s Stranger Things drop.

We’re only a week away from Record Store Day Black Friday! Check out my MTV Unplugged RSD Retrospective chronicling every MTV Unplugged album that’s been released or reissued for Record Store Day over the years - R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Soul Asylum, and more!
Link: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/u...

I have no idea about the film itself but this soundtrack looks bananas amazing: The Bird and the Bee, St. Vincent, Jeff Tweedy covering The Band, Weyes Blood, and more. Sharon Van Etten’s beautiful cover of The Pretenders’ “2000 Miles” is out now and it absolutely rules. High hopes for this one!

Something good comes along, then it’s gone: Farewell, Todd Snider. When I moved to East Nashville in 2012, legend had it that if you wanted to find Todd Snider, all you had to do was go to Drifter’s BBQ in Five Points, and he’d be there at the bar. Nashville always h...

Wrote about Todd Snider, East Nashville and how the more things change, the more they change.

www.dontrocktheinbox.com/something-go...

So sad about Todd Snider’s passing. Fell in love with his songwriting voice via “Talkin’ Seattle Grunge Rock Blues” back in ‘94 and fell deeper down the well seeing him a half dozen times when I lived in Nashville. Spinning “The Ghost of Johnny Cash” a few extra times in his honor today.

Pre-coffee vinyl vibes 💚

And a Saturday morning superstar!

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That Baseball Project one was shaping up so cool as well. Linda was such a phenomenal chat. Oh what could’ve been!