Unsung Podcast

This week we're throwing back to June 2018, when this pod was only six months old. Things were simpler - the research was less onerous, episodes were shorter (this would easily be a two parter these days), Dave was still part of the crew and the world wasn't ending...

Godspeed You! Black Emperor don't really do brevity. They do epic, sweeping, often joyous, always elaborate, suites of music that are designed to move you. They're thorough, crafting songs with painstaking attention to detail.
In keeping with the spirit of the band, we thought we'd do the same, so we present to your our longest episode yet. But trust us when we say that it's probably up there with our most interesting listens.
We dive deep into the band's back catalogue, stopping along the way to talk about the politics of the band and yes, we do offer a take on some thorny subjects. With this band it's something that can often be inseparable from the way their music, and image, is presented, so it had to happen.
The Foo Fighters Nexus also returns (jingle pending) and Chris has a full on GY!BE superfan nerdgasm, while Weaver whacks his politics degree on the table and Mark takes issue with the label "post-rock".
This is a fun and captivating listen.
We understand that the title of "best Godspeed album" is a contentious one, so we're intrigued to see if people agree with our decision to include this in our canon Unsung classics.

You may be shocked to hear that musicians sometimes lie about who they are. Some may say this is not shocking at all - it's almost a tradition. But there's a meaningful difference between Ziggy Stardust and a band from North Dakota claiming to be a Chinese black metal act to game the press.
In this episode we try to map that difference. We spend a healthy portion of time on what we're not talking about - aliases, concept bands, anonymity for anonymity's sake - before getting into the genuinely murky territory of bands that have used fabricated identities for commercial advantage. We cover the fake Zombies that toured America simultaneously in 1969, The Masked Marauders and the elaborate Rolling Stone prank that accidentally became a real album, Silibil n Brains, Dundee rappers who got signed to Island Records on the strength of their American accents, before discussing Ghost Bath, the project that brought this whole phenomenon into focus for us.
Along the way we also get into AI-generated music, Milli Vanilli (and why what they did is arguably less dishonest than what plenty of current pop stars do routinely, and a genuinely unresolved case involving a supposedly Iraqi black metal band that may or may not have put its members in real danger.
The question running through all of it: does context change how we hear music? And if it does — what does that say about us?
Highlights:

00:00 Introduction
01:24 Catfish and Hoax Bands Explained
02:11 Patreon
05:10 Famous Death Hoaxes
05:42 Mystique Versus Scams
09:02 Not Aliases or Roleplay
10:43 Anonymity and Masks
13:23 Fake Touring Lineups
19:03 Concept Bands and Bits
24:28 AI Bands and Deception
27:54 Outright Music Scams
30:13 Milli Vanilli Then and Now
30:53 Pop Star Fraud Culture
33:39 Mask Marauders Hoax
35:20 Orion Elvis Impostor
38:50 Platinum Weird Backstory
40:25 Syllable American Rap Ruse
43:38 Jana Mystery Metal Band
46:06 Velvet Cocoon Troll Scam
48:36 Ghost Bath Identity Debate
54:40 Context and Cultural Relativism
58:10 Ghost Bath Fallout and Ethics
01:02:53 Outro

WELCOME BACK TO FROM THE VAULT. That's right, on our off weeks we'll be pulling an episode from our extensive vault that we love and we think is somewhat relevant to goings on in the modern era.
And our latest episode is about Pashka by Shortparis. An episode which has been through into sharp relevance by the recent death of singer Nikolai Komyagin, who passed away in mysterious circumstances on Feb 20th 2026.
We hope you enjoy.

This week we’re joined by American artist and academic Rebecca Yurivna to talk about the Russian band Shortparis.
Shortparis is a Russian experimental rock band hailing from the city of St. Petersburg. The band was formed in 2012 and musically, the band are quite difficult to catagorise. They take in elements of post-punk, electronic, and avant-garde music with traditional Russian folk melodies and lyrics. Their sound is quite unique, and is characterized by intense vocals, complex instrumentation, and a theatrical stage presence.
More recent albums are almost exclusively sung in Russian, with the occasional lapse into English and French peppered throughout their career.
Chris is fairly new to this band, as are Mark and Rebecca, so it was fun to get under their skin. We also chat about their political stance, which until the recent Russo-Ukrainian war, was somewhat ambiguous in their music. This often contrasts with their videos, which are more overt in their pro-LGBT+, almost anti-Russian stance. Indeed, they’ve become quite outspoken critics of Russia snice the war.
In this episode we go through all of their records whilst also touching on the political situation in Russia today, and take a quick look at some other protest music that has cropped up in Russia since the war.
Check out Rebecca’s music here, and give her a wee follow on Instagram here. It was great to have her on the show. Hopefully we can link up again soon!
Let us know what you think of Shortparis on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

You may be shocked to hear that Green Day have a lot of songs. Some may say, in fact, that they have too MANY songs, because there does come a point where they all just blend into on another.

In this episode we explore this phenomenon, and it is exclusively (in our view) an issue that plagues the latter half of their career. We cover everything from American Idiot to Saviors, and whilst not all of these albums are afflicted in such a way, it definitely seems to become more prevalent as we more closer to the present era.

We also ask a crucial question - is Green Day punk? The answer is probably not quite what you expect, but we do debate the finer points. Suggesting that perhaps they could be Schrodinger's punx...

All this leads us to trying to answer the real question - is Insomniac Green Day's unsung classic?

Let's find out.

Highlights:

00:00 Intro

01:53 Car Album Debate

05:07 Legacy Act Question

09:31 Setting Up American Idiot

10:24 American Idiot Phenomenon

14:22 Stadium Band Status

23:08 Broadway And 21st Century

31:15 Uno, Dos, Tre And Rehab

35:38 Revolution Radio To Father Of All

37:38 Father of All Reappraisal

39:03 Critics vs Short Runtime

39:49 Side Projects and Salty Pretzel

43:18 2020 Output and Pandemic Era

44:18 Saviors and Derivative Sounds

48:42 Compression and Phone Listening

52:49 Is Green Day Punk?

01:00:28 Defining Punk and Yardsticks

01:19:59 Insomniac Context and Backlash

01:21:21 Critics and Rawness

01:22:22 Sales and Fan Backlash

01:24:01 Honest Bridge Album

01:26:28 Opening Tracks and Tone

01:30:29 Singles and Track Picks

01:32:56 Production and Gear Talk

01:39:54 Songwriting and Label Control

01:53:48 Closing Tracks and Verdict

01:59:22 Wrap Up and Goodbyes

Could it be done? Is it possible to call anything Green Day have ever released both unsung AND (crucially, because there's a fair bit of 'meh' in their catalogue) good? Well folks, this week and next we're going to do our very best to find out. And we're joined by our good friend Rick Bruce from Coffin Mulch and Moonshine Docks.

Our contention? That their fourth album, Insomniac, is an unsung classic. This is all relative of course--in the 90s and 00s they sold bucket loads of records. How many people had copies of their records knocking about in their car footwells before 2010? Probably millions.

And it hasn't stopped. They're still pulling down millions of streams per month. Objectively, they are huge. And somewhat less objectively, they're probably the biggest punk band ever, and certainly one of the biggest bands on earth.

I mean, Insomniac itself isn't even their lowest selling record. And in this episode, we don't even get to it! It's a two parter after all.

No, in this episode we talk about everything from the 1000 Hours EP right up to, and including, Warning. With a brief detour into Pinhead Gunpowder too. We'll tackle Insomniac itself in our next episode--as is our way.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction
02:08 Green Day at the Super Bowl
04:47 Is It Even Possible for Green Day to be Unsung?!
05:23 Support us on Patreon
06:53 Mark's Album-a-Day Project, Power Pop Rabbit Holes & Mic Banter
08:45 Green Day 101: Origins, Pop-Punk Blueprint & Gilman Street
10:51 Influences Deep Dive: Hüsker Dü, Replacements, Costello, Op Ivy & More
15:21 Which Album Is Unsung? Debating Kerplunk, Nimrod & Insomniac
20:27 Early Timeline: Sweet Children, 1,000 Hours EP & 39/Smooth Era
22:40 Scene Discipline vs Scottish Modesty: Getting Good on Purpose
33:03 Kerplunk Breakthrough, Major-Label Controversy & Setting Up Dookie
35:27 How I First Bought Dookie (and Why It Wasn't a 5/5 Yet)
37:03 1994: The Year Pop-Punk Exploded (Offspring, NOFX, Weezer & More)
38:04 Green Day's Mainstream Breakthrough: MTV, Grammys, and the Blink-182 Ripple Effect
43:56 Insomniac (1995): Darker, Faster, Burnout After Fame
46:55 Nimrod (1997): 'Good Riddance' and the Genre-Hopping Era
51:38 Seeing Green Day Live: Glasgow Shows, Merch Regrets, and Peak Memories
53:17 Do Novelty Songs Ruin Pop-Punk? The Big Debate (Descendents, The Offspring, Blink)
59:50 Warning (2000): Polished Pivot, Chasing Hits—or Underrated Growth?
01:09:12 From Warning to American Idiot: The Stolen 'Cigarettes & Valentines' Sessions
01:12:12 On the Cusp of American Idiot (Wrap-Up & Next Part Tease)