Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin

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Bob Pittman Jul 30, 2025

Show notes

Bob Pittman is the former CEO of MTV Networks and co-founder of MTV. Beginning his career in media at age 15 as an on-air radio announcer, he went on to play a central role in launching MTV in 1981, targeting a youth audience with music video programming. Throughout his career, Pittman has held executive positions at several prominent companies, including AOL Networks, Six Flags Theme Parks, Quantum Media, and Time Warner Enterprises. He currently serves as the CEO of iHeartMedia, overseeing 863 radio stations in 160 cities across the United States and operating on an annual revenue of over $3.5 billion.

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Ian Astbury Jul 23, 2025

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Ian Astbury is the longtime frontman and founding member of The Cult. He began his music career in 1980, initially gaining recognition with the post-punk group Southern Death Cult. The band later evolved into The Cult, with guitarist Billy Duffy, bassist Jamie Stewart, and drummer Raymond Taylor Smith. Known for their blend of post-punk, gothic rock, and hard rock, The Cult released several successful albums throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including Love, Electric, and Sonic Temple, featuring hits such as “She Sells Sanctuary,” “Love Removal Machine,” and “Fire Woman.” Astbury continues to lead The Cult in the present day, most recently fronting the band on their 2025 North American tour, which features music from both The Cult and their earlier incarnation.

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Alex Spiro Jul 16, 2025

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Alex Spiro is a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and one of the most prominent trial lawyers in the United States. A Harvard Law School graduate, he serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Investigations, Government Enforcement & White Collar Defense Practice. Spiro has represented a wide range of high-profile clients—including Elon Musk and New York City Mayor Eric Adams—and has served as lead counsel in over 50 trials across federal and state courts. A former Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, he has also contributed to legal education as a faculty member of Harvard’s Trial Advocacy Program, a lecturer at Harvard Law School, and Chairman of the Board for the Fair Punishment Project, a Harvard criminal justice initiative.

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Chris Carter, X Files Jul 09, 2025

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Chris Carter is a television writer, producer, and director best known as the creator of science fiction series The X-Files. He began his screenwriting career at Walt Disney Studios in 1985 before moving to Twentieth Century Fox Television. There, he developed The X-Files, which ran for 11 seasons and earned him multiple Golden Globe Awards, Emmy Award nominations, and a Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting. Carter has created additional series through his production company, Ten Thirteen Productions, including Millennium, Harsh Realm, The Lone Gunmen, as well as two film adaptations of The X-Files.

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Urs Fischer Jul 02, 2025

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Urs Fischer is a contemporary artist renowned for his experimental and highly unpredictable practice of sculpture, installation, painting, and photography. He often uses unconventional materials, such as wax, bread, and everyday objects, which he employs to explore themes of transformation, impermanence, and creative destruction, allowing his works to transform or decay over time. Fischer’s work, influenced by movements like Surrealism and Pop Art, is marked by a dynamic interplay between construction and deconstruction, permanence and ephemerality, inviting audiences to reconsider the boundaries of art and the fleeting nature of existence. Fischer has held major solo exhibitions at institutions such as Kunsthaus Zürich, the New Museum in New York, Palazzo Grassi in Venice, MOCA in Los Angeles, and galleries including Sadie Coles HQ in London and Gagosian locations worldwide—most recently at Gagosian Gstaad in Switzerland.

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Tobias Lütke Jun 25, 2025

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Tobias Lütke is the founder and CEO of Shopify, an e-commerce platform that enables businesses to sell products online and in person. Channeling his background as a self-taught programmer, he built Shopify out of a need for e-commerce solutions while running an online snowboard shop. Under Lütke’s leadership, the company, founded in 2006, opened its platform to third-party developers in 2009, went public in 2015, and has grown to support millions of merchants worldwide. Beyond tech, Lütke is also a racing enthusiast, currently competing in the 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship as a full-season driver for Era Motorsport.

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Dan Reynolds Jun 18, 2025

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Dan Reynolds is the lead vocalist and founding member of Imagine Dragons. Alongside guitarist Wayne Sermon, he founded the pop rock band in 2008, releasing their debut album, Night Visions, in 2012. From the album, hit single “Radioactive” won a Grammy for Best Rock Performance and achieved RIAA Diamond Status. As the frontman of Imagine Dragons, Reynolds has led the band through a string of Platinum and multi-Platinum albums, including Smoke + Mirrors, Evolve, and Origins. In recognition of his songwriting talent, he received the Songwriters Hall of Fame Hal David Starlight Award in 2014. Outside of music, Reynolds founded the LOVELOUD Foundation to support and uplift LGBTQ+ youth through music.

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Gwyneth Paltrow Jun 11, 2025

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Gwyneth Paltrow is an Academy Award-winning actress and wellness entrepreneur. Spanning a career over three decades, she is celebrated for her performances in critically acclaimed films such as Shakespeare in Love, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and also in her recurring role as Pepper Potts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Beyond acting, Paltrow is the founder and CEO of lifestyle brand Goop, and she has authored bestselling cookbooks including It’s All Goodand It’s All Easy.

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Jack Clark Jun 04, 2025

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Jack Clark is the co-founder of Anthropic, an AI research company focused on building reliable and interpretable artificial intelligence systems. Before Anthropic, he was a policy director at OpenAI, where he shaped strategy, communications, and policy. With a background that spans journalism at Bloomberg, policy leadership, and deep involvement in AI governance, Clark has built a reputation for his expertise in AI safety, co-authoring influential research papers and launching the widely-read Import AI newsletter. At Anthropic, Clark guides the company’s work on creating safer and more understandable AI systems, while also engaging in discussions around AI ethics and regulation.

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Benedikt Taschen May 28, 2025

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Benedikt Taschen is a publisher, contemporary art collector, and founder of TASCHEN, one of the world’s most successful international publishing houses. Starting from a comic book store in Cologne, Germany at age 18, he built a global brand by making visually striking, high-quality books accessible to a wider audience. Under Taschen’s leadership, the illustrated publications celebrate a wide range of themes, spanning art, architecture, design, film, photography, pop culture, and lifestyle. Benedikt Taschen has published works ranging from affordable art books to ambitious collector’s editions, including Helmut Newton’s SUMO and the monumental Muhammad Ali tribute GOAT – Greatest of All Time. Today, TASCHEN has twelve stores worldwide, including Beverly Hills, New York, Brussels, and Paris.

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