Unsung Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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Unsung Podcast

Music

Frequency: 1 episode/46d. Total Eps: 458

If there was a definitive discography of classic albums, what should be in it? Hosts Mark Fraser and Chris Cusack, plus the occasional guest, discuss and dissect perceived classic albums to decide which albums would make this list. We also interview amazing artists, do genre deep dives and throw a journalistic lens on musical topics you might not know much about.

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🇬🇧 Great Britain - music
27/08/2026
#89

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What Does the Explosive Reaction to King Tut's and DF Concerts Tell Us About the Growing Sense of Injustice in Grassroots Music?

Episode 387

Monday, August 10, 2026 • Duration 01:47:34

If you've been tuned into the news around the Scottish grassroots music scene at any point in the last few weeks, you'll likely have seen there's been a bit of controversy brewing around King Tut's Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow and their owners, DF Concerts.

Following a piece published in The Bell, where numerous people spoke out about the poor terms that King Tut's offers to emerging artists, various corners of social media were ablaze with righteous fury. It prompted DF to threaten to take The Bell to court, and also saw The Herald get in on the action. So we think it's fair to say that this is a blaze that might be threatening to run amok.

The terms that King Tut's offers has been something of a known issue in the Scottish music community for a number of years, and whilst there are certainly reasons for small artists to be aggrieved (reasons which we share), the matter is not quite as clear cut as The Bell article would have you think.

On this week's episode we draw from our own experiences as musicians and promoters to try to give a more complete picture of the issue. We also do a wee exercise where we map out whether putting on gigs yourself is more cost effective, using examples of the rates offered by many venues in Glasgow to paint a picture of what the costs of running a show yourself actually are.

Which ultimately leads us to ask a few questions: is what King Tut's offer fair? Is it just better to put on gigs yourself? And if King Tut's parent company, DF Concerts, used their corporate backing to pay artists more, what might be the outcome of that on the wider grassroots scene as a whole?

If you like this episode please consider subscribing to our Patreon at www.patreon.com/unsungpod

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IN SESSION: An Interview with the Lord of the Logos, Christophe Szpajdel

Episode 386

Monday, June 15, 2026 • Duration 01:10:57

You might think you don't know Christophe Szpajdel's work. You almost certainly do. The Emperor logo. The Metallica Mankind clip. The Rihanna lettering that went a hundred feet high at the MTV VMAs. If you've spent any time near heavy music, his hand has been on things you've stared at without knowing his name.

This week we sit down with the man known as Lord of the Logos — Belgian-born, Devon-based, currently on shift at the Co-op — to talk about a career that has produced somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 logos, and counting. We get into his early years doodling in school notebooks in Liège, the Art Nouveau obsession that underpins everything, and how a chance encounter on the Tube ended with his work displayed at one of the biggest awards shows on the planet for £500 — a fee he only learned was for Rihanna after he'd already quoted it.

We cover the Emperor logo that defined his reputation, the Metallica commission that required him to draw at Heathrow five hours before a flight to Japan, and the Foo Fighters Christmas jumper that was a mutilation of his work, and what he did about it. We also discuss the readability question that divides the scene, the three-month creative block triggered by a South Korean band, his forestry degree and why nature sits at the centre of everything he makes, and the political stance on Ukraine that has cost him ten logos in one go.

The question running through all of it: how does someone this prolific stay original?

Highlights

00:00 Intro

01:00 Meet Christophe Szpajdel — Lord of the Logos

04:00 Logo Count and the Goal of 20,000 by 2030

06:00 The Process Explained

09:00 The Unsung Logo and Chris's Tattoo

10:00 Background: Belgium, Poland, Ukraine, Devon

11:00 The Co-op Day Job and Why It Works

13:00 Side Projects: Murals and the Polish Calendar

17:00 Musical Influences: Kiss, Motörhead, Celtic Frost

The Life and Times of Charles Bradley - 377

Episode 377

Monday, November 3, 2025 • Duration 58:53

Charles Bradley’s cover of Black Sabbath’s Changes is one that both hosts of this podcast believe could well be the definitive version of the song. And we say that having done three episodes on Black Sabbath — an odyssey that gave us both a newfound appreciation for one of, if not the, most important metal bands to have ever existed.

Changes itself is a great song, but this emotional reworking casts an entirely new light on its meaning and power. That, in turn, led us to dive into the work — and world — of Charles Bradley.

Much was (rightly) made of Bradley when the then 62-year-old “Screaming Eagle of Soul” burst into public consciousness in 2011 with his debut album No Time for Dreaming. He was met with widespread critical acclaim, and the record proved a major success for his label, Daptone Records. From there, he went from strength to strength, releasing two more albums before his untimely death in 2016 from stomach cancer.

A former James Brown impersonator, Bradley’s life was one of tremendous hardship, which ultimately saw him achieve his greatest dream. He burned brightly and briefly, and his final record, Changes — named after the excellent Sabbath cover nestled within — is a remarkable work to bow out with.

In this episode, we talk all about his life, through the lens of the 2011 documentary Charles Bradley: Soul of America, before discussing some of our favourite soul covers of rock songs.

If you enjoyed this episode, do take some time to check out our Patreon, where you can get early access to episode (with no ads), bonus content and much more.

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The Unsung History of R.E.M. (Side C) - 296

Episode 296

Monday, February 19, 2024 • Duration 01:08:28

R.E.M. never really chased superstardom, and yet they found themselves thrust into it in the mid-90s. Last week we ended by talking about Green and Out of Time. In part three we chat about Automatic for the People and Monster, before diving into the records they made after drummer and founding member Bill Berry left: Up, Reveal, Around the Sun, Accelerate and Collapse Into Now. This episode's the longest of all four parts precisely because we cover so much ground. We try to give each album a fair hearing before we circle back to Chris' choice of New Adventures in Hi-Fi in part four/Side D.

There's a ton of samples of this, and it soon becomes clear that without Berry and dimming commercial appeal, that they were starting to become a little bit listless. Hope you enjoy getting stuck into it!

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The Unsung History of R.E.M. (Side B) - 295

Episode 295

Monday, February 12, 2024 • Duration 57:59

Welcome to part two of our R.E.M. series! Now that the context is out the way, we dive headlong into their discography. In Side B we talk about all the records the released on I.R.S., and also dispense some trivia about the band during the time on the label. We talk about Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Lifes Rich Pageant and Document, discussing our highlights, lowlights, and our overall impressions of the band's early output.

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The Unsung History of R.E.M. (Side A) - 294

Episode 294

Monday, February 12, 2024 • Duration 43:35

Welcome to part one of our short series on R.E.M. So, as fans of the show know, the general thrust of Unsung is that each week we choose a record by a band. That record is either a classic by an unsung artist, or an unsung classic by a well known (and we take a fairly liberal view on what "well known" actually means) artist.

The catalyst for this series is that Chris has chosen the album New Adventures in Hi-Fi by R.E.M. as an unsung classic. But before we even get to the album (coming next week in part four) we need to do our due diligence and take a quick glance over their entire discography.

And folks, for R.E.M., it's a big ol discography. With fifteen albums, there's a lot to wade through, which is why this is a series in four parts, as opposed to one episode.

But before we dive into the discography, we need to give context. So in episode one Chris talks about his affection for R.E.M., why he picked New Adventures in Hi-Fi, and we do a little bit of background on the band's pre-history. We also talk about our overall impressions of the band, what it was like to get to grips with the back catalogue. We also talk about Elizabeth Wurtzel's 1993 article "R.E.M. for The People", a key text for this series. In the next episode (dropping today RIGHT after this one) we dive into their discography. Stay tuned!

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Episode 293 - Town Hall: Xmas Leftovers

Episode 293

Monday, February 5, 2024 • Duration 49:47

We're back! In new surroundings (digitally). To kick off our tenure in our new home of Bleav we thought we'd get out some Christmas leftovers and reheat them for you. Long time fans of the show will know that every Xmas we answer questions from our lovely listeners. Well, we had a couple we didn't answer from the 2023 Xmas specials and it just so happens that they pertain to the podcast itself and its future. So we talk a little about what drives us, why we're still doing it, what things might look like going forward and also chuck in some silly shit too. Can't be too serious all the time. Particularly when we talk about how fucked the music industry is.

So sit back and relax with the first episode of the new era, and look forward to a bit more this week...

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Episode 292 - The (Belated) Xmas Xtravaganza 2023 (Side C)

Episode 292

Monday, January 15, 2024 • Duration 03:00:54

So here we are, the truly magnificent, slightly chaotic, overly long conclusion to our Xmas madness. It’s seen us well into January this year, which is maddening and funny.

We had so many questions this year. A ridiculous amount, frankly. But we couldn’t let the die hards down, and that meant doing each and every single one. Somehow, despite divvying them up equally across the three episodes, the final part of this trilogy comes in a whopping 3 hour episode.

Yes folks, bear witness to our first and hopefully last ever 3 hour episode. It was a chore, the edit was painful but it was also an immense amount of fun. This is probably actually our funniest episode ever. The hot takes are hotter than ever and the bantermobile has gone off the track and into some truly outlandish territory.

After all this we’re taking next week off. Mostly because we actually have a lot to do and a lot of research on a band with a huge back catalogue. A band you perhaps never thought we’d cover (it’s not Prince).

To keep you going we’ve created a playlist of our favorite albums of 2023. See ye in two weeks!

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Episode 291 - The (Belated) Xmas Xtravaganza 2023 (Side B)

Episode 291

Monday, January 8, 2024 • Duration 02:11:58

Christmas and New Year are very much in the rear view by this point, but due to our schedule having shifted due to ransomware attacks and COVID, we only managed to record parts two and three of our Xmas special last week.

Usually part two is where we really get cooking. The booze is starting to kick in, the takes are at a reasonable level of spice, and we’re still largely coherent. That is, of course, not the case this year. We start part two sober, but it’s still as fun as it usually is.

Because this is the part of the podcast schedule where we give back to you lot, we really take our time in answering your questions this year. That’s why this is a mega episode. It’s a lot of fun though. So grab something non-alcoholic (seriously, give your liver a break) and cosy up with this our new year’s treat.

OH YEAH: we also made a playlist of all our favourite Scottish bands right now. It’s not just the ones we mentioned in the episode, there’s a whole bunch more besides. Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4ZCFOr1YDagIqbsKpTB3lz?si=1b6f6edb4dcb4db9

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Episode 290 - The (Belated) Xmas Xtravaganza 2023 (Side A)

Episode 290

Monday, January 1, 2024 • Duration 01:46:46

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Due to COVID we recorded part one of our Xmas Xtravaganza remotely, so this is a relatively subdued affair both in terms of banter, hilarity and searing hot takes.

But we do get through a fucking TON of your questions, and that’s awesome. Thanks to every single person who sent us some in December. We’ve got two more episodes to record, which we’ll be doing TOMORROW (Jan 2nd) in person with copious amounts of alcohol.

Thanks for an excellent 2023. Let’s smash 2024 together, eh?

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Unsung Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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Unsung Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

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