Poetic Wax: Music History Hidden in the Grooves

Conflict and creativity. Connection and chaos. Love and hate. These all defined Blonde Redhead in their early days, and the themes continue to drive them after more than three decades. This is the story of how three foreigners on the streets of New York City to create one of the most fascinating bands in modern alternative and indie rock. This is the story behind Blonde Redhead's debut self-titled album. 👉 Subscribe to the Poetic Wax YouTube Channel

Before the Dawn Heals Us by M83 was a big departure from the band's first two records. We know M83 as a synth-heavy electronic pop outfit centered around Anthony Gonzalez, made famous the world over by the GRAMMY nominated 2011 hit "Midnight City," but back in 2004 they were more known for electronic-based shoegaze. The departure of Nicholas Fromageau changed everything. This is the story of how M83's "Before The Dawn heals Us" was made. 👉 Subscribe to the Poetic Wax YouTube Channel

How and why did David Bowie, one of the most iconic musicians of all time, create such an embarrassing song? And why does it keep rearing its head? This is the story of Bowie's 1967 single "The Laughing Gnome," how it returned with a vengeance in 1973, and how it caused mischief in 1990. This episode contains a clip called "Requiem for a Laughing Gnome" which was recorded for Comic Relief in 1999. For the full effect of the clip, including humorous textual commentary from the original video, you can see it on the video version of the episode. 👉 Subscribe to the Poetic Wax YouTube Channel

On David Bowie's "Hunky Dory" is a track titled "Andy Warhol" which Bowie wrote about the pop art icon, whom he admired. But what did Warhol think of it? Not much... so goes this week's episode of Poetic Wax. Today, host Andy Fenstermaker pulls out his copy of the album, dives into the lead up to "Hunky Dory," the history of the song, and the time he went to The Factory and played it for the artist himself. This episode is pulled from before I had a fancier microphone and before I officially launched this series as a podcast, back when Poetic Wax was just an occasional series on my YouTube Channel. But, as my next episode calls out this one, I figured I should post it here for reference. Stay tuned as I dig into David Bowie's Greatest Embarrassment in the next episode of Poetic Wax...