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If an instrumental tops the charts, it’s probably an earworm: “Tequila.” “Wipeout.” “Dueling Banjos.” “The Hustle.” “Feels So Good.” “Chariots of Fire.” “Axel F.” You can probably whistle or hum several of those from memory. But do you remember the artists? All were one-hit wonders. By and large, instrumental hits throughout chart history were flukes.But there were exceptions: a trumpet player from Los Angeles who pretended to be Latin, made up a fake mariachi band, put sexy models on his album covers and topped the charts almost as much as the Beatles. Or, a try-hard, perm-headed soprano saxophone player from Seattle, who turned holding his breath while playing dizzying runs of notes into an athletic feat.How do songs without words become hits? Why were Herb Alpert and Kenny G so good at it? Why did instrumentals fall off the charts after the ’80s—and who is bringing them back? (Hint: think oontz-oontz-oontz.) Join Chris Molanphy as he throws away the lyric sheet and explains how a catchy melody can be worth a thousand words.Podcast production by Kevin Bendis. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the second Republican presidential primary debate; the next federal case against Senator Bob Menendez, and the latest lawsuit of United States v. Big Tech. Join us for Political Gabfest Live in Madison, Wisconsin on October 25!Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Dan Balz for The Washington Post: “Republican debate brings chaos, attacks and a slog for second place”G. Elliott Morris for 538: “How outlier polls happen – and what to do with them”Nicole Hong for The New York Times: “Gold Bullion and Halal Meat: Inside the Menendez Investigation”John Dickerson for CBS News Prime Time: “FTC chair Lina Khan discusses need for regulations on big business”Lina M. Khan in The Yale Law Journal: “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox”Lisa Mascaro and Stephen Groves for AP: “House Speaker McCarthy is back to square one as the Senate pushes ahead to avert a federal shutdown”John Dickerson and Kris Van Cleave for CBS News: “How a government shutdown could cause chaos at airports”Here are this week’s chatters:Emily: Mary Harris for This American Life: Act One of The Call; Slate’s podcast What Next hosted by Mary Harris; Never Use Alone Inc. National Overdose Prevention Lifeline; Dr. Alison Block for the Post-Roe America series of The Nocturnists podcast; and Slate’s podcast Amicus hosted by Dahlia Lithwick: “SCOTUS Is Not Done With Guns and Abortion”John: Michael Schneider for Variety: “CNN and Now-Canceled ‘Vice News Tonight’ Lead News & Documentary Night 1 Winners List” and John Dickerson for CBS News Prime Time: “How to stay safe online, according to CISA”David: Jonathan O’Callaghan for Nature: “This is what Earth’s continents will look like in 250 million years”Listener chatter from Kevin McEvilly: Adam Frank and Marcelo Gleiser in The New York Times: “The Story of Our Universe May Be Starting to Unravel”For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily, John, and David discuss the possible shutdown of the U.S. government.In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Zadie Smith about her book, The Fraud: A Novel.In the next Gabfest Reads, David talks with Kristi Coulter about her book, Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career.Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com or X us @SlateGabfest. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)Podcast production by Jared Downing and Cheyna RothResearch by Julie Huygen Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode: Zak Rosen, Jamilah Lemieux, and Elizabeth Newcamp help a listener who’s struggling with a very outgoing kid who can’t seem to understand stranger danger. How can the listener help their child be more aware, without causing fear — and what should they do when a stranger is a little too friendly in return? We also go over our week in triumphs and fails — and then, if you stick around for Slate Plus, we talk about no-gift birthday parties… and whether we’re tempted to ignore other parents’ rules.Join us on Facebook and email us at momanddad@slate.com to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. You can also call our phone line: (646) 357-9318. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Mom and Dad are Fighting. Sign up now at slate.com/momanddadplus to help support our work.Podcast produced by Rosemary Belson and Maura Currie. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why is everyone—on the left and the right—suddenly touting the benefits of a married two-parent family? And what is it about this institution that appeals to a certain class of politicians and pundits as means to address American poverty, even as it loses popularity?We consider the public meltdown over lower marriage rates and the renewed interest in ending no-fault divorce. Guest: Rebecca Traister, author of All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation and writer-at-large for New York magazine. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Madeline Ducharme, Anna Phillips, Paige Osburn, and Rob Gunther. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anna and Ellen Burstyn check in 9 years after they first spoke. Ellen talks about the relationships that make up her life in this moment, her dog, and finding novelty in the everyday.You can listen to the original interview here. Did you know we have a weekly email newsletter for the Death, Sex & Money community? Every Wednesday we send out a note from Anna, fascinating listener letters from our inbox, and updates from the show. Sign up at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter, and follow the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.Got a story to share? Email us at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Dana and Stephen are once again joined by Kat Chow, author of the memoir Seeing Ghosts. The panel begins by jumping into the ring with Cassandro, the oddly conflict-adverse biopic about the lucha libre superstar and exótico gay icon, Saúl Armendáriz, who is played terrifically by Gael García Bernal in a provocative, tour-de-force performance. Then, the trio wades into comedian–and future Daily Show host hopeful–Hasan Minhaj’s thorny web of lies with Slate staff writer, Nitish Pahwa, who detailed the devastating impact of Minhaj’s many falsehoods in his essay, “Hasan Minhaj Meant Something to Brown Americans. Was It All an Act?” Finally, the three react to “The 40 Greatest Stand-Alone TV Episodes of All Time,” written by the Slate Staff, a massive labor of love and fun thought experiment that spans The Sopranos, Atlanta, The Larry Sanders Show, Black Mirror, and High Maintenance. In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel discusses the impact the last few years have had on their lives, inspired by Katy Schneider’s essay for The Cut, “The Pandemic Skip.”Email us at culturefest@slate.com. Endorsements:Dana: Dana sent this to everyone she knows–family, friends, etc. It’s a new interview with Martin Scorsese, written by Zach Baron for GQ entitled “Martin Scorsese: ‘I Have To Find Out Who The Hell I Am.’” In addition to films and moviemaking (his latest, Killers of the Flower Moon, is set to be released in October), the legendary director, now 80, also speaks candidly about life, its inevitable end, and his own mortality. It’s a dream of an interview and absolutely sublime. Kat: Small Things Like These, a beautifully written historical fiction novel by Claire Keegan about the horrific conditions women and children endured at Magdalene Laundries in Ireland. Stephen: “Quantum poetics,” an essay in Aeon written by William Egginton, a professor of humanities at James Hopkins University. In it, Egginton describes the ways Argentine short story author, Jorge Luis Borges, and German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg “converged on the notion that language both enables and interferes with our grasp of reality.” Outro music: “Forbidden Love” by OTEPodcast production by Cameron Drews. Production assistance by Kat Hong. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows. You’ll also be supporting the work we do here on the Culture Gabfest. Sign up now at Slate.com/cultureplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Everybody loves pandas—and China knows it. As we say goodbye to the National Zoo’s pandas, we look back at 50 years of “panda diplomacy” and consider its uncertain future.Guest: E. Elena Songster, author of Panda Nation: The Construction and Conservation of China’s Modern Icon and professor of environmental history of modern China at St. Mary’s College of California.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Madeline Ducharme, Anna Phillips, Paige Osburn, and Rob Gunther. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s episode, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton are joined by Daisy Rosario to discuss the hottest show of the summer: Suits. The USA Network procedural follows a magnetic cast of law firm employees who bend the system, fire off quips in court and essentially, wear suits. Suits isn’t the most buzzy or exciting series out there, so how did a show that ended in 2019 experience a resurgence four years later? Since hitting Netflix in June, Suits has been the most-streamed title for 10 weeks and counting, and the conversation has been boiling over onto TikTok, Twitter and even AO3. So how did Suits become the show of the summer and does a certain paralegal-turned-royal have anything to do with it?This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After five long months, the WGA and major Hollywood studios have reached a tentative agreement to end the strike—well, that one anyway. Who won what and where do the actors stand?Guest: Michael Schulman, staff writer at The New Yorker.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stefan Fatsis is joined by writer and podcaster Spencer Hall to talk about a busy weekend in college football. The Ringer's Ben Lindbergh discusses Major League Baseball’s playoff races, and the future of Shohei Ohtani. Finally, Slate’s Nadira Goffe and Defector’s Dan McQuade assess the budding Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce relationship, and a new documentary about Kelce’s brother, Jason.College football (2:30): Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes finally lost, and badly.MLB (20:20): Are the Atlanta Braves the best offensive team in baseball history?Kelce (39:30): Will the Swifties take over the NFL? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.