A Podcast Worth Listening To

Podcasts have become another celeb way to market their celebness and earn a few quid. There are exceptions on the digital airwaves but the vast and ever-increasing majority are basically rubbish.

When podcasts began there was an earnest rush by anyone with a microphone and some computer know-how to get on air and talk about their pet subject – music, history, football, rock-climbing… almost anything you could think of.

I remember listening to a small-town guy in the US who did a history show nearly every day – ten minutes of well-researched talk ranging from the Vietnam War to baseball. Great stuff and all the more enjoyable because he was podcasting for the love of it not for hoped-for fame or the prospect of big corporate advertising as is so much the case today.

For podcasts here, I am not talking about radio shows that are downloadable as is possible from BBC Sounds. This is radio output simply put on computer file to allow anyone to listen to it in their own time. All fantastic and a wonderful extension of the reach of radio. I love all the comedy shows and documentaries plus, of course, the absolutely unmissable In Our Time – Melvyn Bragg’s mission to educate the world and what a magnificent job he has done over the years too.

The podcasts I mean are the ones coming on stream almost by the thousands a day usually fronted by a B or C list celeb all seeking to grab a tiny ‘gap’ in the market and chat their way to cash and the next gig their agents can swing.

Former soap stars talking about ‘topical issues’, sport pundits going on and on about last week’s games, gurus helping their listeners make contact with their inner selves…

There are, of course, lots of podcasts out there that are very good. Politics, football, history, real-life crime and interview shows for example all have successful and extremely entertaining products.

But droves of others are simply being made so celebs can ‘have a podcast’ whatever the subject and try to get on the bandwagon to squeeze some more personal exposure and generate ad revenue. The actual podcast, its subject matter, seems almost beside the point.

A pet hate too is celebs, especially well-known journalists or TV presenters, voicing over the ads on their podcasts – as if they are personally in love with whatever they are talking about and not … er…being paid to talk up the lastest car or Air B’n B or some gadget.  Doing this they are staking their personal reputation on that brand and what if it becomes the next corporate pariah? Such ‘personal endorsements’ are not the same as TV ad voice overs – the podcaster is directly linking themselves to the paying product.

So, with all the daily dross, it’s great to hook every once in a while onto a podcast, not necessarily new, that is really worth the listen and harks back to the power and energy that the early podcasts had.

I’m a fan of most kinds of music but I grew up on pop and rock – my roots. So, Andrew Hickeys’ ‘A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs’ caught my eye recently and the podcast has now become an essential part of my listening life.

Andrew is currently up to 178 of his 500 – the latest show on June 23, 2025 is part two of ‘Who Knows Where the Time Goes’ by Fairport Convention (Sandy Denny’s famous song) – and every episode so far has been a gem.  Beautifully written and presented, they go into great detail about the lives and professional careers of so many of the people behind the record – the performers and the wealth of people bound up on the road to how the song came to be a milestone in the story of rock.

Each show is a mine of information – Andrew’s research covers and uses a wealth of material gleaned from many quarters – and there are lots of sound clips from music that paved the way to the making of the song in question.

You name them, the well-known rock giants are all there – Elvis, Otis Redding, The Beatles, Carole King, Motown stars and duos like The Righteous Brothers. But the podcasts go much further – blues and rockabilly greats, singer songwriters and all manner of greats from the past get into the 500.

Andrew started his 500 marathon back in 2018 with ‘Flying Home’ by the Benny Goodman Sextet, so he is not even half-way yet.

This is a great podcast totally worthy of the name and completely worth subscribing to. A far cry from so much of the podcast pap on offer.

Andrew Hickey’s ‘A History of Rock in 500 Songs’ - https://500songs.com/podcast/

Search for ‘A History of Rock in 500 Songs’ wherever you get your podcasts.