Podcast Review: Broken Record

Broken Record by Malcolm Gladwell, Rick Rubin, and Bruce Headlam

I’m a pretty big fan of the author Malcolm Gladwell.  If you’re not familiar with his works, he’s the author of several NY Times best sellers including Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, and most recently, Talking to Strangers.  A couple of years ago, he began producing a podcast (which we’ll cover at another time), and then somehow, he evolved into this latest project called Broken Record.  

We’re all music fans at some level, and while our passion for music usually peaks in our teens and twenties, some people’s passion just keeps going strong.  Enter Malcolm Gladwell. Like me, he’s also in his mid 40’s, but when you hear him on this podcast, he effuses the same teen infatuation with music as your own teen does… with their friends, of course.  

Broken Record isn’t so much about anything in particular about music, except for he and his partner – the world famous producer of the Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash… and Slayer – Rick Rubin’s LOVE for the stories… behind the music.  Each episode, they interview someone completely unrelated to the artist the week before. Why is this unique? Because we typically follow and listen to music within a genre, or style. Broken Record ‘breaks’ that mold, and I am taken on a journey somewhere I never would have ended up on my own. 

One reason for that is that their collective clout (not ego) allows them access to some pretty epic scenes, and artists open up for them and perform for them in the most private, intimate spaces that you and I just don’t have access to.  

It’s genuinely a music lover’s treat to follow Malcolm, Rick, and I shouldn’t leave out the former NY Times editor Bruce Headlam, on their merry journeys to recording studios, front porches, living room couches, and everywhere in between for the stories that made the music.  

Check it out!