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Austin McCoy returns to think about how being a fearful child shaped his appreciation of his parents' music, as well as how reflecting on these early exposures makes him think about the role of context in music appreciation.

Check out the full songs on this YouTube playlist.

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In this episode, historian Katherine Rye Jewell and historian Austin McCoy use their parents' record collections to interrogate the personal meanings of various music formats—from vinyl to cassettes to CDs—and their influence on their musical sensibilities . They discuss the role of mixtapes in hip hop and punk cultures, their significance in creating connections within underground scenes, and their transformation into digital playlists. The conversation highlights how their parents' music collections influenced their tastes, and how mixtapes served as a medium for artistic and emotional expression. The episode also explores the historical context of mixtape culture, its evolution, and its commercial aspects. Jewel and McCoy reflect on the emotional bonds forged through these music formats, encouraging listeners to share their own mixtape experiences.

This is part I of our conversation with Austin McCoy, and check out our collectively created playlist.

Also quoted in this episode:

Diamond, Michael, and Adam Horovitz. Beastie Boys Book. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2018.

Masters, Marc. High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2023.

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In this episode, historian Dave Hitchcock, a Senior Lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University, discusses how his expertise in vagrancy and poverty in early modern England and British Atlantic world use of music, such as broadside ballads, set up his exploration of themes of poverty and homelessness across musical expression. He contextualizes songs reflecting modern urban poverty and illuminates underlying common themes that include individual versus structural explanations of poverty.

For the extended playlist on Spotify, visit https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0sSBtpIEob9cr99jzL1aiS?si=7a186db4bd3d4c7b.

The songs featured in this episode are available as a YouTube playlist.