Nostalgia Trap

Where does American popular music come from, and what does the devil have to do with it? On Part One of a two-part series on music and the occult, Justin Farrar and I discuss Peter Bebergal’s excellent history Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll, as we explore the eerie mythology that haunts the origins of blues and rock. Some of the musicians and other figures mentioned in this episode include Robert Johnson, Clarence Ashley, Big Mama Thornton, Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Black Sabbath, Tommy Johnson, Skip James, Kurt Cobain, R.E.M., Harry Smith, The Geto Boys, and lots more.  For more episodes of Record Trap and access to the entire Nostalgia Trap universe, subscribe at patreon.com/nostalgiatrap. 

Our series on the life, work, and legacy of Noam Chomsky continues with a critical look at Chomsky’s signature intellectual work, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of Mass Media. This episode traces Chomsky’s development through the 1970s and 1980s, as he evolved into a fierce critic of state violence and corporate propaganda, while becoming a bit of a radical celebrity himself. Justin has plenty of ideas about how Chomsky’s media theories hold up in the era of social media, 8chan, and QAnon. Are our minds really under the control of a unified state power? How does a fractured media, controlled in part by the people themselves, manufacture consent? Subscribe to hear the whole episode and to access our massive library of bonus content: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

This week Yasmin and I watch two films, Working Girls (Lizzie Borden, 1986) and Working Girl (Mike Nichols, 1988), as we think about the intersection of sex, gender, labor, and capitalism. Is sex work any different from an office job? That depends: What brand of hyper-gendered humiliation are you willing to endure for money?   To listen to this episode, and access our entire library of bonus content, including Campus Trap w/ Ryan Boyd, Record Trap w/ Justin Farrar, and our latest trilogy on Noam Chomsky w/ Justin Rogers-Cooper, subscribe to Nostalgia Trap for just $5 a month: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap.

Ryan’s recent trip to Montreal gets us thinking about the connections between cities and college campuses, as we try to imagine more vibrant institutions than the crumbling ones we currently haunt. Of course, creating a better university would mean confronting the ways that capitalism structures higher education, and Ryan shares some ideas from his recent Substack piece about radical teaching practices that aim to decondition students from the hustle mindset and cultivate vibes of solidarity and compassion.  Subscribe to listen to the whole episode, along with all of our bonus content: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

In the first of a trilogy of episodes examining the life, work, and legacy of Noam Chomsky, Justin Rogers-Cooper joins us for a discussion of Chomsky’s younger years: the historical moment into which he was born, the people and ideas that surrounded him, and the formation of his political and intellectual values. In this episode we pay particular attention to the evolution of Chomsky’s attitudes about war, fascism, and the state, as we trace his development from academic all-star to public dissident, from prominent researcher and theorist in the field of linguistics to outspoken critic of American foreign policy and leading figure in the American left. Our series will continue on the Nostalgia Trap subscriber feed: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap. 

On our first episode after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, Yasmin Nair and I take a moment to consider the implications: What does this mean for a newly emboldened right? And how can the left find new strategies of resistance? We also watch a particularly brutal episode of Mad Men (S1E3, “The Marriage of Figaro”), which brings our abortion discussion back to the early 1960s and connects concepts of “privacy” to houses, neighborhoods, and bedrooms.  To listen to the whole episode, and access our massive library of bonus content, become a Nostalgia Trap subscriber for just $5 a month: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

Historian and writer Dan McClure returns to the Trap for a talk about his incredible new book Winter in America: A Cultural History of Neoliberalism, from the Sixties to the Reagan Revolution, which explores how the cruel economic principles we call “neoliberalism” found currency in popular culture in the years since the Vietnam War, delivering us into a nightmare world that protects capital and liquidates democracy. Check out Dan’s previous appearance on Nostalgia Trap. Subscribe to the Nostalgia Trap Patreon to access our entire library of bonus content: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

On the very first episode of Record Trap, Justin Farrar joins me to lay out our mission statement for the podcast: a regular series of conversations about music, counterculture, and radical politics. What better way to kick off this project than by talking about drugs and The Beatles? The world’s greatest rock band didn’t just put out classic albums; they also helped introduce a whole generation to the psychedelic experience through their playful artistic engagement with LSD, marijuana, and other tools of chemical adventure. We take a trip through the 1960s to explore how four lads from Liverpool journeyed to the outer reaches of their own minds and packaged the lessons for the masses. Subscribe to the Nostalgia Trap Patreon to access all our podcasts, including Record Trap w/ Justin Farrar, Gender Trap w/ Yasmin Nair, and Campus Trap w/ Ryan Boyd: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

What makes a great teacher? In an effort to avoid becoming completely blackpilled doomers, this week Ryan and I have a conversation about our favorite teachers, from kindergarten to grad school. We try to remember the things that made us want to become teachers ourselves, and wonder if the ideas and practices of our ancient heroes can help guide us through the dark waters of today’s campus. Check out Ryan’s website Subscribe to Ryan’s Substack  Subscribe to Nostalgia Trap to access all Campus Trap episodes, along with our entire bonus library  

Stories about the past form the ideological foundation of the American project. This week’s guest, Alicia Puglionesi, is a historian and writer whose work often focuses on “hauntings” – both real and imagined – in our collective history. Her latest book, In Whose Ruins: Power, Possession, and the Landscapes of American Empire, explores the fake narratives and mythologies created to justify land theft, genocide, and the endless extraction of natural resources for profit. In this conversation, she explains how fundamental elements like oil, water, and atomic power were harnessed by capital through processes of historical erasure and, above all, storytelling. Subscribe to the Nostalgia Trap Patreon page to access our whole universe of bonus content, including our newest podcasts Gender Trap w/ Yasmin Nair and Campus Trap w/ Ryan Boyd: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap