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PODCAST

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music

A podcast that takes a look at the development of alternative music in the 80"s with a focus on post-punk, electronic, dark wave, goth, synth, industrial, and indie genres. The podcast episodes feature stories, background, and discussions of artists, contributors, music, themes, and events of the early alternative era. The title of our podcast is based on the alternative song from 1988 by The Church, "Under the Milky Way".

music music history

All Episodes

30:05

Tears for Fears - From Hurting to the Big Chair

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/06/15

The Hurting, the 1983 debut album from Tears for Fears,was an intriguing and introspective album that focused on dark subjects such as child abuse, psychological trauma, and depression. This subject matter hit very close to home for the duo of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith of Tears for Fears, having dealt with these issues as part of their childhood. This album would hit number 1 on the UK album charts and produce three top five singles.Tears for Fears followed with an album that would be

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23:29

Lene Lovich - Finding a Lucky Number

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/06/08

In 1978, Lene Lovich signed with Stiff Records after years of art schools and travelling Europe , and she found her music career with the song, "Lucky Number". This song would reach number 3 on the UK singles chart and would help define the growing new wave genre.Lene Lovich created a sound that mixed post-punk and new wave styles with international music, along with a quirky style to influence many artists that followed.This episode tells the story of the early years of Lene Lovich's

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25:55

Ride - From Nowhere to Leave Them All Behind

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/06/01

The 1990 debut studio album, Nowhere, from the Oxford, England band Ride is considered one of the top shoegaze albums ever made. The music mixed bits of neo-psychedelia and indie rock with the shoegaze sound to creating this unique album. The band followed with their second album, Going Blank Again, and the lead single, the shoegaze classic, "Leave Them All Behind". This episode tells the story of Ride, the music of the legendary debut album, the band moving into album number two, and the

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19:10

Christian Death - American Gothic

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/05/29

Christian Death rose from the Los Angeles punk rock scene in 1979 to become one of the founding bands of American gothic rock and death rock. Initially led by Rozz Williams, the band would create the landmark debut album in 1982, Only Theatre of Pain. Valor Kand would join Williams in the band for the second and third albums before eventually become the band's leader after the departure of Williams in 1985.This episode discusses the development of the group, the creation of American gothic

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29:57

The Undertones - Teenage Kicks from Derry

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/05/25

The Undertones rose from the time of the Troubles in Derry, Northern Ireland to go on to be one of the biggest and most successful bands from Northern Ireland. The band's music developed from punk rock roots focused on teenage angst, growing up, love and heartbreak. The band’s first single was “Teenage Kicks”, a song that legendary DJ John Peel would say was his all-time favorite after playing it on his radio show, helping boost The Undertones career.This episode is the story of the band

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18:37

Mission of Burma - Signals from Boston

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/05/22

The Boston based post-punk band, Mission of Burma, was together for only four years during their initial run, but they had a lasting impact on music. One of the few releases from the band during these years was the landmark 1981 EP Signals, Calls, and Marches, which would be very influential to the future of alternative rock and indie rock. This episode discusses the band and their music during the incredible run from formation in 1979 until disbanding in 1983.

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20:33

Talking Heads 2 - Speaking in Tongues

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/05/18

After taking a couple of years off from recording as Talking Heads, the band returned to the studio for the 1983 album, Speaking in Tongues. This fifth studio album from the band would be the commercial breakthrough and the album would be followed by a tour that resulted in the critically acclaimed documentary, Stop Making Sense.This episode will talk about the band's members getting back to record Speaking in Tongues after some side projects, the music of the album, and the documentary

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17:15

Throbbing Gristle - Industrial Music for Industrial...

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/05/15

The English music and visual arts group Throbbing Gristle began in 1975 creating music which often contained harsh, mechanical, transgressive, and provocative sounds and themes. This was the start of what would be known as industrial music. This episode discusses the origins of the group, the creation of their music, and their three studio albums prior to their break-up of 1981.

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23:18

Visage - New Romantics

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/05/11

When they formed in London in 1978, Visage was a collective of musicians that would take an approach to music and style linking to the burgeoning New Romantic fashion and music movement of the early 1980s. Midge Ure, one of the founding members of Visage, would be part of the band's first two albums, both of which were commercially successful. During Ure's time with Visage, their music would be a key link between the electronic sounds of bands that came before them and the fashion-conscious

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18:55

Gene Loves Jezebel - Separated Twins

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/05/08

Welsh identical twin brothers, Jay and Michael Aston, formed the band Gene Loves Jezebel. From their post-punk and gothic rock debut album in 1983, the band would achieve commercial success by the third and fourth albums blending their music and their distinctive vocals with a more alternative rock approach. However, the relationship between the twins become strained leading to a separation that would result in two versions of the band going forward.This episode discusses the music of Gene

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29:19

Sonic Youth - Evolving from No Wave

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/05/04

Starting in 1981, Sonic Youth pushed boundaries as part of American experimental no wave scene to redefine what noise meant in terms of music. The band would combine innovative guitar tunings, dissonance, and feedback with hardcore punk and avant-garde music as part of the New York no wave scene.The music of Sonic Youth began evolving from these early years taking a more conventional approach as the band become a prominent member of American noise rock.This episode tells the story of the

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22:14

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Ballads and Beyond

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/05/01

In 1989, Nick Cave would experience some life changes and with those changes, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds would take their music in a new direction. By the end of the 1990’s, the band would achieve worldwide mainstream success with piano-driven ballads, most notably with the albums, Murder Ballads and The Boatman’s Call.This episode tells the story of the band and Nick Cave through their five albums of the 90's.

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28:16

The Cure - Disintegration, The Album

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/04/27

When Disintegration was released in May of 1989, the album signified a return to The Cure's darker and gloomier days of their early years. The eighth studio album from the band includes classic singles like "Lovesong", "Pictures of You", and "Lullaby", but also other emotionally intense songs like "Prayers for Rain", "Plainsong", and the title track. All of this has led to Disintegration being considered an alternative music masterpiece.This episode for The Cure tells the story behind the

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23:40

The Cramps - The Perfect Halloween Party Band

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/04/23

The Cramps took various music styles including punk rock, rockabilly, surf and garage rock, along with campy humor, sex, and horror/sci-fi film imagery to become the progenitor of what would be called psychobilly music. Led by the husband and wife duo, Lux Interior and Poison Ivy Rorshach, this American group grew from the New York punk scene of the late 70's to become an iconic band, and the perfect party band for Halloween.This episode (from Halloween 2024) tells the story of Lux Interior

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29:28

Happy Mondays - The Madchester Sound

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/04/20

Happy Mondays became one of the pioneering artists of the Madchester scene fusing indie rock, funk, psychedelia and acid house music to create a unique sound associated with this rave club cultural movement.The band's second studio album, Bummed of 1988, and the follow-up, Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches of 1990, were two signature albums of the Madchester era.This episode tells the story of the early years of Happy Mondays from their formation through the music of the band's first three

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18:27

Flesh for Lulu - The Legacy of Nick Marsh

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/04/16

Flesh for Lulu was born London in late 1982 when lead singer and guitarist Nick Marsh met future drummer James Mitchell. Over the years, the band would build off of their post-punk roots to create music of various influences before breaking up in 1992. Flesh for Lulu came close to mainstream success in 1987 with the college radio hit, "I Go Crazy", but was never able to capitalize on this opportunity.Following various other projects and a couple of brief returns of Flesh for Lulu, Nick

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23:49

Buzzcocks - The Music and the Birth of "Indie"

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/04/13

The impact Buzzcocks had on music was beyond what Pete Shelley could have imagined when he started the band with Howard Devoto in 1976. Beyond organizing a legendary concert in Manchester that would kickstart the journey of a number of incredible bands, and combining punk rock with elements of pop to become a successful and influential artist, they would release their debut EP on their own independent label in 1977. The success of this self-release led to other punk and post-punk bands

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20:16

Shriekback - The Infusion of Funk

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/04/09

The English band Shriekback was formed in 1981 by three musicians from post-punk backgrounds. Barry Andrews (formerly of XTC) , Dave Allen (previously with Gang of Four) , and Carl Marsh (from Out on Blue Six) would start this band and create a funk-infused music that would evolve over the years through various styles while maintaining their signature clever and unusual lyrics. This episode discusses the work and albums of Shriekback through their albums of the 1980's.(R.I.P Dave Allen

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22:12

Mazzy Star - From Opal to Hope

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/04/06

Mazzy Star, behind the sultry vocals of Hope Sandoval, became one of the legendary bands of 90’s alternative rock with the iconic song, "Fade Into You".The precursor to Mazzy Starr was the band Opal, led by the guitar work and production of David Roback. Opal would add Hope Sandoval as a new lead singer in 1988 and rename themselves Mazzy Star. Behind the creative duo of Roback and Sandoval, this band would go on to record three studio albums in the 90's developing their dreamy, ethereal,

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23:10

Simple Minds 2 - A Dream Through Rain and Time

Inside the Milky Way - A Look at Early Alternative Music ·

2025/04/01

In 1982, Simple Minds released the album, New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84), and with this album the band would begin to solidify the path to worldwide success through next two albums, Sparkle in the Rain and Once Upon a Time. This episode tells the story of the band from 1982 to 1985 which includes these three classic albums, the development of their sound from the early year more experimental post-punk, and the beginning of the chart success they would see throughout the 80's. An earlier

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62 results

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