Slate Culture Feed

In this monthly mini-episode of Hit Parade, host Chris Molanphy is joined by Aisha Harris, culture editor for The New York Times’ Opinion section. Aisha and Chris discuss the Janet Jackson album Rhythm Nation 1814, the topic of the  most recent full-length episode of Hit Parade. Aisha tells Chris about her early Jackson fandom, picks her all-time favorite Janet songs, and offers her opinion on the relevancy and influence of Janet’s sound today. Plus, Chris gives an inside scoop on the song template that Jackson’s longtime producers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, used to generate multiple chart-topping hits. Chris quizzes a Slate Plus listener with some music trivia, and the contestant turns the tables with a chance to stump Chris with a trivia question of his own. While this episode is available to all listeners, our trivia round is open only to Slate Plus members. If you are a member—or once you become a member—enter as a contestant here. Want your question featured in an upcoming show? Email a voice memo to hitparade@slate.com. Podcast production by Asha Saluja.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Julia Turner, Stephen Metcalf, and Dana Stevens discuss the film Joker, Transparent's musical finale episode, and the question of Gwyneth Paltrow with critic Wesley Morris. Producer's Note: You’ve probably noticed that this feed now features a lot of Slate culture podcasts beyond just our show. We’ve heard that some of you would prefer to get just the Culture Gabfest in your feed. If that’s you, Slate has created a new feed that should meet your needs. You can find it by searching for “Culture Gabfest” in Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin are joined by Slate’s Joshua Keating to talk about the NBA’s China kerfuffle. ESPN’s Sam Miller also joins to discuss the baseball playoffs and David Epstein assesses Alberto Salazar’s doping suspension and the world track and field championships in Qatar. NBA and China (02:02): How Daryl Morey’s tweet about the Hong Kong protests instigated an international incident and what the NBA should do about it. MLB playoffs (17:29): Does the Nationals’ bullpen strategy make sense? Can anyone beat the Astros? Salazar and Qatar (35:42): Why the legendary track coach got suspended, and what to make of the hot and poorly attended world track and field championships. Afterballs (55:26): Stefan on carrying jockstraps and Josh on a DVR patent war. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes of shows like Dear Prudence and Slow Burn. Sign up now to listen and support our work.In the early 1990's Bart Simpson became a breakout star while also becoming a target in the culture war, culminating in president George HW Bush speaking out against The Simpsons as an example of a degenerate American family. Today on Decoder Ring we try and figure out why the H-E double hockey sticks people were so worked up about Bart Simpson by examining the great underachiever t-shirt controversy, bootleg Bart merchandise, the rise of the religious right, and more.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Betsy Mayotte knows that the student loan system is overcomplicated⁠—she worked inside of it for 20 years. Now she's tackling borrowers' problems, one email at a time. Explore more than 4,000 of your stories about student loans, find out where you fit in the student loan landscape and get resources for dealing with your debt at deathsexmoney.org/studentloans.Subscribe to our newsletter at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter and we'll send you weekly audio picks, behind the scenes updates and letters from our listener inbox. Follow the show on Twitter @deathsexmoney and Facebook at facebook.com/deathsexmoney.Email us any time at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stephen Metcalf and Dana Stevens discuss the new Judy Garland biopic Judy with Slate's Sam Adams, Netflix's Unbelievable with Slate's Inkoo Kang, and welcome Simon Doonan back to the show to discuss his new book about the art and history of drag. In Slate Plus, more from the conversation with Simon Doonan.This episode is brought to you by Everlane. Check out your personalized collection today at everlane.com/culture.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stefan Fatsis and Josh Levin are joined by Slate’s Allison Benedikt to answer your questions about youth sports. Topics covered include whether and how to teach your kids how to talk trash, how to balance sports time with family leisure time, and whether it’s ethical to watch football if you don’t want your child to play football. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the mid-1980s, Janet Jackson broke away from her world-famous, hit-making family and, with her Control album, rebooted both her career and pop style in the New Jack Swing era. The challenge was following it up—and Jackson and her producers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, didn’t make it easy on themselves.In 1989, they produced an ambitious album with a portentous title: Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814. But what could have been Control, Part 2 instead was a visionary LP that reinvented the socially conscious album from the era of Marvin Gaye for the ’90s, and envisioned what pop would eventually sound like in the 21st century. Rhythm Nation was a smash, generating more hits—and bigger hits—than any album in history. In fact, if Jackson and her label hadn’t pulled their punches with one final radio single, she could have set an all-time Billboard chart record that would have overshadowed any of the Jackson family’s historic achievements.Podcast production by Chris Berube.HostChris MolanphyFollow @cmolanphy on Twitter / https://www.twitter.com/cmolanphy  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hundreds of you told us about feeling duped, overwhelmed, and ashamed of your student debt. But we also heard stories about how some of you took back control. Here's how you did it.Explore more than 4,000 of your stories about student loans, find out where you fit in the student loan landscape and get resources for dealing with your debt at deathsexmoney.org/studentloans.This week's newsletter includes updates on some of the people featured in today's episode. Subscribe at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter and we'll send you weekly audio picks, behind the scenes updates and letters from our listener inbox. Follow the show on Twitter @deathsexmoney and Facebook at facebook.com/deathsexmoney.Email us any time at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More Americans are taking out more student loan debt and taking longer to pay it back. But we don't often talk about the impact that it has on our lives. Explore more than 4,000 of your stories about student loans, find out where you fit in the student loan landscape and get resources for dealing with your debt at deathsexmoney.org/studentloans.This week's newsletter includes updates on some of the people featured in today's episode. Subscribe at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter and we'll send you weekly audio picks, behind the scenes updates and letters from our listener inbox. Follow the show on Twitter @deathsexmoney and Facebook at facebook.com/deathsexmoney.Email us any time at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.