Hit Parade or Shit Parade?: Recent Episodes
HPSP
Hit Parade or Shit Parade? Is a shockingly amateur, and amateurly shocking music podcast, in which the bungling loudmouth Axel and his musician/bookbinding colleague Morcom listen through an entire band’s discography, offering incoherent but sometimes amusing analysis and insight.
Morcom and I make a surprise return to bring in the new year. We dissect a variety of tracks, ranging from the 17th century to the approaching dawn of technological totalitarianism.
Morcom and I finish looking at The Smiths, and discuss the importance of track listing in making a great album, before launching into a major dispute over one of The Smiths’ most well-known and well-loved tracks. We spice things up by making weird, off-colour references to the Welsh and Ulster Unionism.
Morcom and I look at The Smiths’ first two albums. We blabber on about the Moors Murders, corporal punishment, and how incessantly irritating it is - or isn’t - to be told not to eat meat.
Morcom and I have a near-total disagreement throughout the entirety of an album, in an episode which nearly came to blows as we discussed issues such as the Armenian Genocide, and Morcom called John Dolmayan a racist.
Morcom and I take a trip back to the early 2000s, and the work of System of a Down. We make such controversial proclamations as ‘war is not very good’ and ‘neither are Linkin Park’.
Morcom and I pore over the discography of Nirvana, the countercultural vanguard of Generation X. Among other things, we confront such topics as rock n’ roll martyrdom and My Sharona.
Morcom and I ponder the decline and fall of The Clash. We delve into such pressing matters as the Vietnamese refugee crisis and the art of writing a song which goes with walking home drunk.
An interlude episode, in which Morcom and I dissect a few of The Clash’s singles. We cover such relevant topics as Eric Clapton’s racist ravings and the Anni di Piombo.
Second time of asking, Morcom and I cover the Clash’s first three albums, discussing such hot potatoes as whether chiropractors are real doctors, and whether Blink 182 are a real band.
Morcom and I discuss Radiohead’s second four albums. We cover bizarre Iraq War conspiracy theories, while Morcom makes the biggest climbdown since Diocletian abdicated the throne in 311.
Morcom and I discuss Radiohead’s first four albums. Along the way, we ponder existential misery, social alienation and the 1948 Presidential election.