Get a Pop Music Education from Crap from the Past
For the last few years, I have been getting an education in music from a radio show that more people need to hear, Crap from the Past. Hosted by Ron “Boogiemonster” Gerber, this show has been running for over a quarter of a century. It focuses on all aspects of pop music from the mainstream to the obscure. Full songs are played and Gerber, with his decades of experience, always illuminates and educates.
Ron Gerber started Crap From The Past in 1992 while in grad school in Rochester, NY. The show has gone through numerous stations over the years before landing on KFAI/Minneapolis in 1998. That is still the home of the show and new shows air on Friday nights.
Gerber has a deep knowledge of radio and music production and has a passion for music from the Seventies and Eighties. This is right in my wheelhouse. I always thought I was well-versed in music from that time period, but time and again, I am proven wrong while listening to the show.
I started listening to the show on the Internet Archive and the Crap from the Past website. There you will find episodes of the show stretching back to the early nineties. It is a goldmine.
This is a radio show, but its format works very well as a podcast. Sadly, the show is not currently packaged as one. Luckily, since the show is on the Internet Archive. There is a way to turn any Internet Archive search into a Podcast Feed. So if you want to add Crap from the Past to your Podcasting app, just cut and paste the entire feed you see below here.
https://archive.org/advancedsearch.php?q=%22Crap+From+The+Past%22&fl%5B%5D=collection&sort%5B%5D=&sort%5B%5D=&sort%5B%5D=&rows=9999&page=1&callback=callback&save=yes&output=rssYes, geeky things like novelty music, weird mashups, and even Kids Stuff Records are well-represented on Crap from the Past, but you will also learn the not so subtle difference between the single release and album release of songs you have heard hundreds of time. Suddenly you have a greater appreciation for the artist AND the people behind the soundboards putting these songs together.
Listen to an Episode of Crap from the Past
If you want to dive deeper into Gerber’s world, a few years ago he released a great book. Between The Songs: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Radio Magic, or: Stuff I Learned from Hosting Crap From The Past for Twenty-Five Years is chock full of tips on recording, behind the scenes info about running a radio show, and obvious love for this music that Gerber has been championing for most of his life.
Podcasts about music can be challenging. Often they are just ABOUT a song or artist, and while they can be filled with interesting facts, they are missing out on a very important aspect, the music. For over 25 years, Ron Gerber has been teaching a masterclass in pop music. Not just giving you facts and dates, but playing the songs. So not only will you know something about a song, you will actually know the song. It is a great combo of education and entertainment. Very few shows bring that mix to the world. So give the show a listen, you will not be disappointed.
