What does it really mean when people say "Tina Turner taught Mick Jagger how to dance"? Join Sasha Geffen as they welcome author Maureen Mahon and Nkeki Obi Melekwe, who stars as Tina in the Broadway musical, to break down Tina's strategic navi

Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Her Electric Guitar

Mar 2nd, 2022 30m 29s

Is the electric guitar really so masculine? Sasha Geffen unravels our misconceptions about how the electric guitar has been gendered since its creation, with a lens on today’s shredders like Willow, Brittany Howard, and St. Vincent -- but start

The Strange Currencies of R.E.M.

Feb 23rd, 2022 32m 19s

This episode unravels how such an unusual, musically different band like R.E.M. was able to enter the mainstream, and how queer desire was woven covertly throughout their music before lead singer Michael Stipe even came out. Stevie Knipe of the

The LaBelle Glam Revolution

Feb 16th, 2022 33m 31s

LaBelle, the musical trio of Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx, and Sarah Dash, inspired much of the queer, expressive freedom that defined glam rock in the mid-70s, and yet their story and music has essentially been erased from the genre’s history.

Judas, Joan and the Power of Metal

Feb 9th, 2022 37m 13s

Mainstream metal in the 1980s may appear very straight and masculine at first glance, but look a little further with host Sasha Geffen and uncover a history of queer plausible deniability and vocal and visual androgyny. Vic Creature of the doom

The Rise of Falsetto: From Little Richard to the Bee Gees

Feb 2nd, 2022 37m

Men have been singing in typically female vocal ranges for decades, and Sasha Geffen shows us how this “falsetto” technique has broken both vocal and gender norms throughout history. Estelle Caswell from Vox Media joins to share her love for R&

Sexy Cyborgs: Britney, Beyoncé and Beyond

Jan 26th, 2022 31m 17s

Robotic imagery, prominent in music since the turn of the millennium, confuses traditional expectations about gender and sexuality. But why? Sasha Geffen breaks it down with author Ann Powers, touching on everything from Beyonce’s cyber glove

Musical Shape-Shifting: The Many Pitches of Prince

Jan 19th, 2022 30m 36s

How do our ears gender vocal pitch, and what happens when artists intentionally play with this? Sasha Geffen introduces us to a long, dynamic history of how artists like Kanye West, Parliament Funkadelic and more have experimented with vocal pi

Trailer

Introducing Shattering Gleam: A Podcast About Music and Gender

Jan 12th, 2022 58s

Welcome to Shattering Gleam, a podcast hosted by music critic and author Sasha Geffen that highlights the stories of pop stars smashing the gender binary with their music.You can find Shattering Gleam on Apple Podcasts, the SXM App, Pandora, St

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