A (Mostly) 80s Music Podcast: What Difference Does It Make?

Latest Episodes:

One To One: John & Yoko Apr 11, 2025

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Sam Rice-Edwards, co-director and editor for the rock documentary One to One: John & Yoko, joins the podcast. The film centers around the One to One benefit concert for the Willowbrook State School in New York, an institution for special needs children. Sam shares with us some of the details about how he and co-director Kevin Macdonald were able to sort through tens of thousands of hours of previously unseen archival footage to create a fully realized documentary on the lives of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the early 70s.

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Squirrel Nut Zippers Go Back O' Town Apr 04, 2025

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Jimbo Mathus, frontman for the Squirrel Nut Zippers, joins the podcast to reminisce about his music origins, and how he landed in Chapel Hill, leading to the massive success of the band. Squirrel Nut Zippers continue to tour with their own unique brand of Americana music with their Jazz From The Back O' Town show.

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Stuck On The 80s Cruise Mar 21, 2025

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Christopher Cross might sing of sailing away, but does he feel that way about cruises? Man on the scene, Dave Sloan steps onto The 80s Cruise with his guests Steve Spears and Brad Williams, from the Stuck In The 80s podcast, to discuss how they became involved in this 80s lifestyle. They also offer us their unique take on songs #80 to #71 from the KROQ 1988 year-end countdown.

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The Music Discovery Of WXPN's Bruce Warren Mar 07, 2025

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Bruce Warren's title on LinkedIn may say he's "Chief of a lot less Stuff at WXPN”, but we think he's just being modest. For more than 30 years, Bruce has helped shape the sound of one of the most influential public radio stations today, 88.5 WXPN in Philadelphia. He is also a producer and one of the people that helped create the widely popular syndicated radio show, World Cafe. Bruce is ready to move on to his next adventure, as he slowly steps away from his duties at the station. We discuss his love of music while looking at songs 90-81 from the KROQ 1988 year-end playlist.

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Geoffrey Himes Explains The Ins And Outs Of Country Music Feb 28, 2025

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You might be familiar with Outlaw Country, but now there's a new subgenre of American country music. Author Geoffrey Himes' latest book, In-Law Country: How Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash, and Their Circle Fashioned a New Kind of Country Music, 1968-1985. Geoffrey joins the podcast to explain this extraordinary music that, much like Outlaw Country, managed to create hits outside the traditional sound coming out of Nashville.

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Gary Kemp Brings Us To This Destination Feb 21, 2025

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Gary Kemp is clearly a busy man. He's got his podcast, The Rockonteurs, with fellow musician Guy Pratt, his tour with Nick Mason’s (Pink Floyd) band Saucerful of Secrets, and acting with his brother Martin Kemp in their most recent mockumentary, The Kemps: All Gold. He’s also added a new album to his discography, This Destination. The album finds Gary in a reflective mood, looking back on life with his family and band mates. Does this mean he wants to reform his 80s band, Spandau Ballet? We talk about it all as Gary joins us on What Difference Does It Make?: A (Mostly) 80s Music Podcast.

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True Fables Of Jason Narducy Feb 14, 2025

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Jason Narducy is living his musical dream. He plays songs with the artists that helped frame his musical taste. It all started at the tender age of ten, playing in his punk band, Verböten. This year, he will tour with Michael Shannon to perform R.E.M.'s 'Fables of the Reconstruction' and more. It will be followed immediately by a tour playing alongside Bob Mould to support his latest album, Here We Go Crazy. You can also catch Jason performing with Superchunk and Sunny Day Real Estate, and last year, he reunited with Verböten. Somehow we caught him in a rare spot, at his home in Evanston, to talk with us about his true fables of life on the road with his musical heroes.

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We Found Love With Annie Zaleski Feb 07, 2025

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Happy Valentine's Day! We here at What Difference Does It Make love love songs, and so does Annie Zaleski. So much so, that she wrote a book about some of her favorite love songs, entitled We Found Love, Song by Song: The Stories Behind 100 Romantic Hits. Annie joins the podcast to talk about her favorite songs, from Fred Astaire and Frank Sinatra, to Adele and Usher. Simply put, if you love love, you will love this episode.

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The KROQ 1988 Countdown With Craig Rosen Jan 31, 2025

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Friend of the show, Craig Rosen, joins us for a record-setting fifth time. On this occasion, we look at songs 90 to 81 on the 1988 KROQ year-end chart. What do we learn? Craig's English teacher embarrassed him in the high school halls, he is still freaked out just by thinking of The Exorcist display at a local theatre, and as always, all roads lead to REM. Of course there's also great 80s music to discuss. Time may have forgotten some of these songs, but not us!

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KROQ 1988 Countdown Begins Jan 24, 2025

Show notes

And so it begins, as we take a look at the top 106.7 songs played in 1988 on radio station KROQ in Los Angeles. Upcoming episodes will feature ten songs and a special guest, but for this episode, we will examine the bottom seven songs, 106.7 to 101, based on the station's year-end playlist. It's an eclectic group, and a nice entry into the type of music explored on The World Famous KROQ.

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