What song do you wish you could go back in time and give to your 16-year-old self?

🟢 Listen to the Spotify playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6yfsIeyiKMZP9HUOQXzube?si=8c39fed4dc5e45a8

This week, we're building a playlist for the teenagers we used to be: songs we somehow missed when we were young, along with newer music we think our teenage selves needed to hear.

We talk about discovering The Replacements years too late, whether Jess's teenage self would have actually appreciated Neko Case, the strange pressure of high school romance, sitting alone in your bedroom with headphones on, and the music that might have made growing up feel a little less confusing. And we confront an important question: would our teenage selves really have loved these songs, or are we just projecting our current tastes backward?

Our picks include Cat Power, Jets to Brazil, 10,000 Maniacs, The Replacements, Neko Case and Burial, plus a bonus round where we choose a song to give to each other's 16-year-old selves.

What song or band would you go back and give to your teenage self? And do you think they would actually listen to you?

Songs on the playlist:

🎧 Liquid Swords - GZA

🎧 Walkabout - The Slits

🎧 Answering Machine - The Replacements

🎧 Like the Weather - 10,000 Maniacs

🎧 Sea Anemone - Jets to Brazil

🎧 An Ice Age - Neko Case

🎧 Naked if I want to - Cat Power

🎧 Imitation of Christ - The Pschedelic Furs

🎧1952 Vincent Black Lightning - Richard Thompson

🎧 Come Down to Us - Burial

🎧 Listen to Play Record

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PlayRecordPodcast

🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033DtFWQBaLPMiNYgykjdD?si=9c33ee347d174619

🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/play-record-podcast/id6783468122

🎙️ Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/63224d90-334e-4339-a7f8-bdcc7ddabe9f/play-record-podcast

📱 Follow Play Record

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playrecordpod/

🎤 About Play Record

Play Record is a music podcast hosted by Jess and Tyler, where every episode starts with a theme and turns into stories, debates, nostalgia, and the songs that shaped our lives.

Whether we're talking about mixtapes, guilty pleasures, forgotten albums, heartbreak songs, or the perfect soundtrack for a night swim, every episode celebrates the memories behind the music.

❤️ If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and leave a comment. We'd love to hear your picks!

🎵 What's on your playlist?#MusicPodcast #90sMusic #GenX #Mixtapes #MusicLovers

🎙️ Are We Too Old to Discover New Music?

There was a time when discovering new music meant mixtapes from friends, trusted radio DJs, flipping through Spin or Rolling Stone, or taking a chance on an entire album because you liked one song. Now we have Spotify algorithms, Shazam, YouTube, social media, and a seemingly endless supply of music at our fingertips.

But does having access to more music actually mean we're discovering more of it?

In this episode, we talk about how our relationship with new music (and new to us) has changed as we've gotten older, why 30 seems to be the dreaded age when people supposedly stop seeking out new artists, and the very different ways we find music now. We also share some of our favorite recent discoveries and how we found them, from Spotify autoplay and Shazam to friends, concert apps, music magazines, and random YouTube rabbit holes.

How do you discover new music now? And what's the best artist or song you've discovered lately? Let us know in the comments!

Tori Amos has been making music for more than three decades. So why do we still compare every new Tori Amos record to Little Earthquakes, Under the Pink, and Boys for Pele?

For this edition of What’s on the Turntable, Jess brings Tori Amos’s new album In Times of Dragons, a record about power, patriarchy, aging, change, and finding a way forward in a world that can feel increasingly threatening.

We talk about the story behind the album, Jess’s favorite tracks “Shush” and “23 Peaks,” the apparent Courtney Love olive branch hidden in one of the songs, and Tori’s evolution as both a songwriter and live performer.

We also get into Pitchfork’s review of the album and a bigger question: Is it fair to judge an artist in their 60s against the music they made in their 20s? Sometimes being a fan means accepting that the artist you fell in love with isn’t that person anymore. Maybe that’s the point.

💬 What do you want from an artist you’ve followed for decades? Do you want them to evolve, or is there a part of you that still wants another version of the album that made you love them?

Link to the Pitchfork article mentioned: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/tori-amos-in-times-of-dragons/⏱️

Chapters:

00:36 The story behind In Times of Dragons

02:01 “Shush” & the Courtney Love connection

04:01 Is In Times of Dragons a hopeful album?

05:09 “23 Peaks” & accepting change06:11 The problem with Pitchfork’s review

09:01 Should we compare artists to their earlier work?

10:35 Learning to accept Tori Amos’ evolution12:41 How Tori has changed her live shows

17:21 In Times of Dragons vinyl & artwork

18:32 Still a Tori fan from the ’90s?

Follow Play Record📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playrecordpod/

🎤 About Play RecordPlay Record is a music podcast hosted by Jess and Tyler, where every episode starts with music and turns into stories, debates, nostalgia, and the songs that shaped our lives.

Whether we're talking about mixtapes, guilty pleasures, forgotten albums, heartbreak songs, or what's currently spinning on our turntable, every episode celebrates the memories and stories behind the music.

❤️ If you enjoyed this video, be sure to like, subscribe, and leave a comment. We'd love to hear what you're listening to.

#ToriAmos #InTimesOfDragons #PlayRecordPodcast #EWF #ITOD #earswithfeet

Have you ever heard a song you've loved for years...only to realize it means something completely different now?

In this episode of Play Record, we're talking about the songs that changed because we changed. Some took on new meaning after growing older. Others hit harder because of life experiences, relationships, parenthood, or simply paying closer attention to the lyrics.

From Cat Stevens and David Bowie to Rod Stewart, Pulp, Against Me!, and New Order, we share the songs that stopped us in our tracks years later, and why they feel completely different today.

Because sometimes the lyrics don't change. We do.

👇 What song means something completely different to you now than it did when you first heard it?

🎙️ The Best Road Trips Aren't Really About the Destination

What makes the perfect road trip playlist, and who gets control of the music?

In this episode of Play Record, Jess and Tyler look back at the music that soundtracked their most memorable drives, from Tyler’s late-night trips across the desert between Southern California and Las Vegas to the scenic coastal drives they later took together through Monterey and along Highway 1.

They talk about the albums permanently tied to old relationships, the road-trip discovery that became inseparable from an exploding semi-truck, and the music that can make even the most boring stretch of highway feel cinematic.

Then, they settle some important road-trip debates: Are show tunes allowed? Can passengers skip songs? Is silence ever acceptable? Should you introduce everyone to an entire album they’ve never heard? And when is it okay to surrender control to the AI DJ?

What song has to be on your road trip playlist? And which of our road-trip rules do you completely disagree with? Let us know in the comments!

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 The giant CD books we kept in our cars

01:53 Music, driving, and road trips

02:15 What’s on the Turntable: Maggie Rogers’ Surrender

04:10 Albums connected to college and breakups

06:49 Why even great music gets monotonous

08:18 The screaming ranchera road trip

10:45 Our official road-trip music rules

15:15 Tyler’s road trip mix

18:36 Jess’s road trip mix

25:44 Musical Excursions: Tom Waits and Massive Attack

27:03 A toast to Taylor of Wool Needles Hands

📱 Follow Play Record

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playrecordpod/

🎤 About Play Record

Play Record is a music podcast hosted by Jess and Tyler, where every episode starts with a theme and turns into stories, debates, nostalgia, and the songs that shaped our lives.

Whether we're talking about mixtapes, guilty pleasures, forgotten albums, heartbreak songs, or the perfect road trip playlist, every episode celebrates the memories behind the music.

❤️ If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and leave a comment. We'd love to hear your road trip stories!

🎵 What's on your playlist?

#MusicPodcast #RoadTrip #RoadTripPlaylist #Mixtapes #MusicMemories #90sMusic #Playlists #Nostalgia #PlayRecord #MusicLovers

🎙️ *Did 90s Music Turn Us Into Slackers?*

Were 90s teenagers really slackers, or did the music just make it seem that way?

In this episode of Play Record, we explore how the music of the '90s shaped our generation. From grunge and ska to songs that made us feel rebellious, misunderstood, or nostalgic before we even knew what nostalgia was, we ask whether the soundtrack of our teenage years influenced how we saw ourselves and how the world saw us.

Along the way, we talk about the "slacker" stereotype, terrible music-inspired haircuts, why Gen X kids could be absolutely ruthless, and the songs we'd hand someone if they wanted to understand what it felt like to be sixteen in the '90s.So...did 90s music actually turn us into slackers? Or was it simply reflecting who we already were?

*What song best captures your teenage years? We'd love to hear your picks in the comments!*

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 Intro

00:43 What Song Defines Your Generation?

03:43 Were 90s Kids Really Slackers?

12:48 How Music Shaped Our Style

16:33 Teen Songs Then vs. Now

23:03 Jess's Mixtape Picks

33:04 Tyler's Mixtape Picks

38:48 Musical Excursions: 311 & Matchbox Twenty

43:12 Toast of the Week

45:40 Outro

🎶 Songs & Artists Mentioned (plus many more on the Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4FyRNfxRwI78WIrm2KnaE8?si=c83f0e54f4884460

• Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
• The Smashing Pumpkins – 1979
• Sonic Youth – Teenage Riot
• St. Vincent – Teenage Talk
• Nada Surf – Popular
• The Smiths – Hand in Glove
• Suicidal Tendencies – Institutionalized
• The Replacements – 16 Blue
• Say Anything – Yellow Cat (Slash) Red Cat
• X-Ray Spex – Germfree Adolescents
• Social Distortion – Story of My Life
• Tom Waits
• Fiona Apple
• Gwen Stefani / No Doubt
• Pearl Jam
• Matchbox Twenty
• 311

We were wrong about these songs, and we're not afraid to admit it.

In this episode of Play Record, we take up the question of what creates the cringe factor in certain songs, and what leads us to eventually say, "Actually, this is pretty great."

Tyler gets a little fired up about music snobbery and makes some recommendations about feral cats, and Jessica confronts her past self's interest in Limp Bizkit.

We also discuss one of our favorite music-related books of all time and provide our very own Cringe Mix.

You can listen to it here:

⁠https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6FLAHc6Ht9BzUvFjC9vxun?si=STaiJnSkSX2Ic2YWtnowPw&pi=Kz4GaKKlRKer1⁠

And if you'd like to watch us on YouTube, here's our channel:

⁠https://www.youtube.com/@PlayRecordPodcast⁠

What cringey, cheesy songs have you finally learned to love? We'd love to hear your picks.

What makes the perfect nighttime pool party mix?

In this episode of Play Record, we dive into the songs we put on the ultimate after-dark pool playlist. Not the loud, chaotic daytime pool party soundtrack, but the songs that hit just right when the sun goes down and the pool lights come on.

We share some of our favorite picks, debate what belongs on a nighttime pool mix, and explore the difference between songs that make you want to dance and songs that simply create the perfect summer atmosphere. Along the way, we talk about the music that captures that late-night feeling of floating under the stars and hanging out with friends. Be sure to subscribe and join the conversation!

Listen to the mix here:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1mN26wlh1xTuGRsp6rV9ji?si=65a0b3aa68d44bbc

What song would you add to a nighttime pool party playlist?