60 Songs That Explain the '90s

Rob Harvilla does not just talk about songs from the 1990s. He builds entire worlds around them. Each episode picks a single track and uses it as a launchpad for a sprawling, funny, deeply researched story about why that song mattered, what was happening in culture when it dropped, and how it sounds to our ears now. Harvilla is a music critic for The Ringer, and his writing background shows in the way he structures episodes. The introductions have become legendary among listeners for their wild, looping, seemingly unrelated tangents that somehow circle back to the point. An episode about Buddy Holly by Weezer might start with a story about a Blockbuster Video membership card. You go along for the ride because the payoff is always there. The show started with the 90s and has since expanded into the 2000s. Recent episodes have covered Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes and other early-millennium touchstones. Episodes run long, often past 90 minutes, and Harvilla regularly brings in fellow music writers and cultural critics as guests. With 167 episodes, a 4.6-star rating from over a thousand Apple Podcasts reviews, and a loyal audience that treats each new drop like an event, this is one of the most distinctive music podcasts going. If you grew up in the 90s or early 2000s, it will hit you right in the memory banks.