What does it actually mean for a song to be a "hit"? In this episode, I sit down with music critic Jeff Giles — founder of Popdose, contributor to Ultimate Classic Rock and Diffuser FM, co-host of The Record Player, and the writer behind the "Old Music Friday" spotlight on Discord — to put the 1986 Billboard Hot 100 side by side with the chart as it stands today. It's a bigger gap than it looks: in 1986, "That's What Friends Are For" topped a year-end chart that mixed AC ballads, synth-pop, and rock because everyone was competing for the same radio airwaves and record store shelves. Right now, country artists are holding four of the top five spots on the Hot 100, and Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas" just logged its 19th week at #1 — numbers that would've been unthinkable by 1980s chart standards.

Jeff and I dig into where "repeat play" as a hit-making signal actually started (hint: it's a bar jukebox, not a radio station), whether that jukebox was ever measuring pure, uncurated taste, and why the "good old days" of Casey Kasem's countdown weren't quite the trustworthy democracy nostalgia remembers. I also share a story from my own time working in radio at KKIS, where a program director kept The Burns Sisters Band's "Listen to a Beat of a Heart" in rotation for reasons that had a lot more to do with personal charm than listener demand. We close out asking whether the last 40 years are really a story of decline — or just a story of the same old mechanisms wearing new clothes.

This episode is proudly sponsored by Steve Fox's Old School — classic soul and R&B brought to life with the timeless grooves, voices, and culture that shaped generations. Press play and experience a party in a box at stevefoxoldschool.com.

Folk-rock artist Allie Sandt returns to the Planet LP Podcast to talk about her debut album, In Pursuit of a Good Time. Known for blending folk, blues, jazz, and vintage rock into songs that feel both intimate and timeless, Allie opens up about the years-long journey behind the record — from songs that trace back to her time in the upstate New York indie circuit to new material written specifically for this project.

We dig into the stories behind some tracks, and Allie talks about self-producing the album and assembling the accomplished group of musicians who helped bring it to life (also documented in her behind-the-scenes YouTube mini-doc). She shares how listeners have responded to the record so far, and looks ahead to her upcoming tour plans — including an exciting run opening for British-Brazilian folk-pop and bossa nova singer-songwriter Liana Flores on the U.S. leg of her tour. We also get into her thoughts on breaking through in an era of endless new music releases.

As a Planet LP exclusive, Allie also performs a stripped-down acoustic version of "In Pursuit of a Good Time" — a highlight you won't want to miss.

This episode of Planet LP is brought to you by Steve Fox's Old School, celebrating classic soul and R&B with the timeless grooves, voices, and culture that shaped generations. Tune in and relive the hits at stevefoxoldschool.com.

Neneh Cherry was, for a brief but unforgettable stretch, one of the most influential voices in British pop — a punk-rock-raised, hip-hop-fluent artist who fused genres before it was fashionable, and who famously performed "Buffalo Stance" on Top of the Pops eight months pregnant. Her 2024 memoir, A Thousand Threads, was shortlisted for the 2025 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction, and on this episode, Ted shares his personal take on the book — one he first picked up at Powell's Books in Portland.

The verdict, right up front: a B minus.

What works, and works well, is the book's throughline about Cherry's mother, Monika "Moki" Karlsson — a Swedish textile artist who lived an unconventional, bohemian life with jazz musician Don Cherry, running what amounted to an artist colony out of an old schoolhouse. The memoir is, at its heart, a daughter's love letter to her mother, and that material is where the book comes alive.

What doesn't work, at least for a longtime fan of her music, is how little space the book gives to the records themselves — especially Homebrew, Cherry's excellent 1992 follow-up to her debut. Ted highlights the moment that best captures the problem: Cherry's collaboration with Michael Stipe of R.E.M. on the song "Trout" gets exactly one sentence in the entire book (page 218). The long-rumored backstory behind "Buddy X" — reportedly inspired by Lenny Kravitz's infidelity while touring together — goes unaddressed entirely.

Ted also touches on a pattern common to a lot of musician memoirs: artists who've told the story of their career a thousand times to press and interviewers end up skipping over it in their own books, in favor of the material they haven't already talked to death — usually family, identity, and personal struggle. That's very much the case here.

Is it worth reading? Yes — it's a compelling, honestly told story about growing up between cultures and finding identity through family. Just don't expect much insight into the music that made Neneh Cherry a household name.

Grade: B-

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This episode is sponsored by Steve Fox's Old School — commercial-free 90s R&B, hip hop, and classic soul, streaming 24/7 at stevefoxoldschool.com.