The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers

Music can remind us of many things: a time in our lives we were happy or a place we never wanted to leave, a fleeting moment we can't return to a lover we can't forget. For comedian Kelsey Cook, few bands held such an important space in her head and heart as Coldplay, who came into their own just as she was navigating the fraught path towards womanhood. The post-Britpop of those gentle piano rockers' 2002 sophomore album A Rush of Blood to the Head provided Kelsey with no small amount of comfort as she maneuvered through turbulent relationships and the uncertainty of adult life, ultimately bringing her to the success of appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Comedy Central's This is Not Happening, and the launch of her own podcast, Self-Helpless.  The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, and fan blogs about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by Coldplay: Luke Sital-Singh "Lover" (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Little Steven hated the idea. One of the most raw albums Bruce Springsteen ever produced sets the scene for actor and comedian Jay Mohr to bare his soul discussing his own roller coaster ride following his heart to the bottom and back up again. The roots between these two prolific entertainers intertwine at a much deeper level than merely their shared home state of New Jersey. Saved by the Bell, the Boss takes a faint break from blue collar dreams to tell the story of straddling the fence in a relationship that shouldn't be saved despite pure poetry in the 1987 album Tunnel of Love. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, and fan blogs about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by Bruce Springsteen: Gaslight Anthem "National Anthem" (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's a counterculture deep dive with the voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers Charley Steiner sharing his lesser known, but no less intense passion for music through the lens of the 1965 debut self-titled album by The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Emboldened by Jack Keroac's On The Road, the radio deejay-turned-sports broadcaster recalls leaving the country for the first time with the destination set for a small blues club in Montreal to watch Chicago's first integrated electro-funk-blues-rock-jazz fusion outfit making music history in more ways than one. And just like 23 year-old Paul Butterfield adopted the sounds from a previous generation, Steiner confides he would practice announcing baseball games in his basement with the TV on silent, dreaming that one day, he'd be so fortunate as to follow in Vin Scully's footsteps only to realize the feat in his Gump-ian life of seemingly endless serendipity. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, and fan blogs about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by The Paul Butterfield Blues Band: Durand Jones & The Indications "Morning In America" (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They say all good things must come to an end, and for the golden era of hip hop, there is no exception. Tastes change and styles are rewritten, remixed and repurposed. But no one can deny that for a brief moment in time, The Fugees captured lightning in a bottle through the equal parts true-to-life storytelling, vicious wordplay and heart wrenching musicality in their second and, ultimately, final studio album: 1996’s The Score. Few appreciate that more than comedian, actor and podcaster Andrew Santino. His love of the supergroup’s creativity and uncompromising vision has helped him blaze his own path, leading to appearances on Showtime’s I’m Dying Up Here and the film The Disaster Artist, as well as the creation of his widely successful podcast Whiskey Ginger. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, and fan blogs about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by The Fugees: The Internet "Girl" (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russell Peters has been many things in his life. Breakdancer, DJ, very nearly a chef, and groundbreaking comedian beloved by people all over the world; he's done it all. But no matter where his many interests and achievements have taken him, he's never forgotten his roots as a lonely Anglo-Indian kid growing up in the Toronto suburbs, just catching wind of the strange new music called hip hop that emanated from across the border in New York in the early 80's. Essential to the era was LL Cool J, whose debut album Radio smashed onto the scene in 1985, showing eager young minds like Russell's the possibilities of a new genre and the success that could come from not just belief in your own greatness but also taking risks on things no one else had ever done. The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts. For show notes, guest playlists, and fan blogs about the music go to The500Podcast.com. New Artist/Song influenced by L.L. Cool J: Lute "Still Slummin'" (Spotify) (YouTube) Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hope can be hard to come by, faith sometimes falters, and love might be fleeting. But as the tender guitar tones and soulful harmonies found in the brighter tracks of Richard and Linda Thompson's 1974 folk rock masterpiece I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight suggest, all three of those qualities are an essential balance to the heartbreaking pain that life has to offer. Comedian, actor and musical savant Avery Pearson is no stranger to both joy and sadness. And it is his ability to accept both the good and the bad with an unceasing zest for living that makes him perhaps the most qualified of all to pick apart an album that, while having little success in its day, is nearly unmatched in its equal share of exuberant musicality and woeful lyricism. After all, it's Avery's boundless positivity that has drawn audiences to his performances in Showtime’s Masters of Sex, USA’s Suits, and on stage in his own monthly comedy showcase at the Hollywood Improv, 'The 88 Show with Avery Pearson.'The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts.For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com.New Artist/Song influenced by Richard and Linda Thompson: David Ramirez "Watching From A Distance" (Spotify) (YouTube)Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bursting through the English pop scene with WHAM!, 24 year-old George Michael went solo in 1987 with the release of the Grammy award-winning album Faith producing seven singles including I Want Your Sex, Father Figure, and the title track finding its inspiration from Elvis and porn, it is decided. When actor Nia Renee Hill first heard Faith in the late '80's she couldn't help but be inspired by the rebellious truth inherent in breaking free from conventional norms. Hearing the call to pursue a full-time career in film, she moved to New York working in casting for MTV and on TV shows including Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn where she met her husband Bill Burr. With a ton of hard work and a renewed self-belief, she rediscovered her love of acting recently making appearances on Santa Clarita Diet, Crashing on HBO, and F is for Family on Netflix.Hear her regularly on The MM Podcast.The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts.For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com.New Artist/Song influenced by George Michael: January Jane "Take The Lions On" (Spotify) (YouTube)Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a world of sickening brightness, the best way to stick out is to go dark. That’s why when Christina Pazsitzky was growing up in the San Fernando valley, she sought out the eerily romantic weirdness of the 80’s blossoming goth culture. It’s been many years since Christina donned all black and danced the reckless dance of the lonely to the morose crooning of androgynous new wave. Now she’s a wife, mother of two and a wildly successful stand-up comedian, with two Netflix specials to her credit: Mother Inferior and The Degenerates, and her own podcast: Your Mom’s House. But no matter what, there’ll always be a part of her that’s still that twelve-year-old girl smoking cigarettes, listening to The Smiths’ 1984 debut alt rock classic self-titled debut, knowing full well how alone we all really are.The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts.For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com.New Artist/Song influenced by The Smiths: Flora Cash "They Own This Town" (Spotify) (YouTube)Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When life is bleak and times are tough, there's often no choice but to look for an escape through whatever means are available. For Felipe Esparza, who immigrated from Mexico as a child and grew up poor in a crime-ridden neighborhood of east LA, that escape came in the form of watching the likes of Richard Pryor and George Carlin tell jokes and fantasizing of one day following in their footsteps. After many years and no small number of barriers to overcome, that fantasy became reality: Esparza eventually won NBC's Last Comic Standing competition and has gone on to appear in television shows such as Superstore and The Eric Andre Show, as well as launch his own podcast What's Up Fool. All the while, he has managed to stay positive by keeping in mind how far he's come and drowning out the darkness of the world with a soundtrack to his life that includes the beautifully eclectic, multilingual Latin stylings of Manu Chao's 2001international hit record Proxima Estacion: Esperanza.The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts.For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com.New Artist/Song influenced by Manu Chao: Victizzle "Oshé Gan Gan" (Spotify) (YouTube)Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Words have power, and if you know how to wield that power in just the right way, you can take the world by storm. That’s why comedians and musicians both can have such lasting impacts, more so than many other forms of creative expression. For a founding member of the new-wave movement like Elvis Costello, the ability to emit dark, brutal honesty through otherwise bright and cheerful wordplay is what made albums like his 1979 post-punk release Armed Forces such a sensation. It proved so powerful that even though comedian Dana Gould didn’t discover it until a few years later, its clever lyricism shaped his notion of how important it is to assemble your ideas in just the right way. After all, a way with words is what launched Dana into a career that has led to four comedy albums, roles on The Ben Stiller Show and Stan Against Evil, and a seven-year term as a writer on The Simpsons.The 500 is a production of Native Creative Podcasts.For show notes, guest playlists, complimentary documentaries, and audiobooks about the music go to The500Podcast.com.New Artist/Song influenced by Elvis Costello: All Day Sucker "Quality Problems" (YouTube)Join. The. Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices