Picks of the week
Famously … On Trial
BBC Sounds, episodes weekly
TV favourite Stacey Dooley teams up with comedian Larry Dean to revisit celebrity court cases and put them on retrial. First up, it’s Pamela Anderson and the stolen sex tape scandal, which was both illegal and served with a big old dose of 90s sexism. Dooley, as ever, is thoughtful and sharp, but there’s still room for fun, moreish celebrity gossip. Listen out for its sister series, too – Famously … In Love unpicks the biggest romances and affairs. Hollie Richardson
The Youth Development Center
Widely available, episodes weekly
Jason Moon investigates one of the biggest youth detention scandals in US history, where more than 1,000 people came forward to expose misconduct in New Hampshire’s YDC. Former inhabitants recount harrowing stories of horrific abuse, such as the promise of a trip to see their parents in return for sexual favours. Hannah Verdier
Life in Seven Songs
Widely available, episodes every other Tuesday
The San Francisco Standard’s Sophie Bearman challenges guests to sum up their lives in seven songs, starting with the city’s first Black female mayor, London Breed. With her love for Beyoncé and ability to do the rap from New Edition’s Candy Girl, Breed is a likable interviewee with an inspiring success story. HV
Was Justice Served?
Widely available, episodes weekly
Jen Baldwin and David Wilson boast that they’ll be looking at gory, heartbreaking and sensational cases in this new podcast, which is true-crime catnip. In the opening case, historian David Olusoga brings sensitivity when he tells the story of his great-great-grandfather, who was convicted of murder in the 1890s, and the impact it had on his family. HV
Origin Stories
Apple Podcasts, all episodes available now
Dotty, Matt Wilkinson and Rebecca Judd encourage a range of music-makers to open up about their early days in this Apple Music podcast. Blossoms, Young T & Bugsey, and Becky Hill are among those featured, with the latter a ball of warmth, sweetly crediting her big brother with creating “the monster raver that I am”. HV
There’s a podcast for that
This week, Hannah Verdier chooses five of the best podcasts on clubbing, from a history of rave to queer takes on the lure of the dancefloor
The History of the World’s Greatest Nightclubs
Paris Hilton knows a thing or two about clubbing and she’s on executive producing duties for this podcast full of big hitters. Host Ultra Naté takes listeners on a world tour with a whole lot of social history that puts the party times into context. Key moments include Madonna performing for the first time at Danceteria in New York, Frankie Knuckles setting the musical agenda in Chicago, and 22 hours of partying at Space in Ibiza. The UK gets a look-in too, with The Hacienda and Trade at Turnmills bringing joy to an economically depressed and repressed time in history.
Memories from the Dancefloor
Damian Kerlin’s series about the forgotten history of LGBTQ+ clubs is told by the people who lived through the liveliest of nights. From London’s Heaven to Birmingham’s Nightingale Club, there are plenty of stories to tell about overcoming prejudice, the quest to create another Studio 54, and living life to the full while HIV hit the community. Kerlin heads to Wales for his second season, bringing out the sweetest stories of women who banded together to hold discos just for them, and men who found romantic encounters in smoky pubs – soundtracked by Elvis Presley on the jukebox.
Speed of Sound
Disco may have been brought down by the haters, but the scene was good while it lasted – and after a few years out of fashion it never went away. Host Steve Greenberg offers a forensic examination of the songs – and that legendary horse - that filled the dancefloor of Studio 54, including Van McCoy’s The Hustle, Donna Summer’s Love to Love You Baby and Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive. Greenberg is the man who discovered the three-headed boyband Hanson, so he knows a thing or two about music, and here he goes beyond the well-told stories to offer a comprehensive history.
Ecstasy: The Battle of Rave
If the best times of your life were on a dancefloor between 1987 and 1990, just hearing the snatches of music in this BBC pod (Frankie Knuckles’ Your Love, The Sun Rising by The Beloved and New Order’s Bizarre Love Triangle) will give you a trip back in time. Although Happy Mondays’ Sean Ryder and Hacienda DJ Graeme Park are in attendance, the most enthusiastic testimonies come from the everyday ravers who danced and dabbled in MDMA to escape their humdrum lives. As one says with a good dose of realism: “It was a beautiful time as well as being the beginning of my downfall.”
Sounds Gay
When Sarah Esocoff got a message saying: “A Brooklyn Transcore show is the best fucking night out you’ll ever have”, she had to investigate. That’s how she ended up in the centre of a trans moshpit where she finds bands wearing cat ears, a whole lot of cathartic screaming, and people of all ages loving a good night out that involves pushing each other around. As anyone who’s ever ventured into the pit knows, apart from the fact that it looks terrifying to people who don’t like shaking floorboards, it works pretty much the same as any dancefloor: a place to let go where someone will pick you up if you fall.
Why not try …
Malcolm Gladwell fans assemble: the king of popular science is back with Medal of Honor, a new series about heroic human feats.
“From bisexual bison to all-whale orgies”, explore the untold queer history of the natural world in A Field Guide to Gay Animals.
Noted choreographer Akram Khan interviews top artists, dancers and more about the joy of movement in Move To Live.
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