Starman to Blackstar Edition Part 1

Starman to Blackstar Edition Part 1

Author: Slate Podcasts January 17, 2026 Duration: 1:04:32
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
Music

Chameleon: That’s long been the word used to describe David Bowie, pop music’s shapeshifting extraterrestrial. He shifted personas, genres, and looks, emerging from swinging London with psychedelic folk before steamrolling through glam rock, disco, funk, new wave, alt-rock, and even jazz.


Less remarked was Bowie’s savvy about shifting through commercial phases—he wore pop stardom like a costume, too. He drifted in and out of the spotlight, and on and off the charts, before one final chart-topping farewell 10 years ago this month.


Join Chris Molanphy as he takes us from station to station across the chart career of David Bowie, on a journey from Starman to Blackstar.


Get more Hit Parade with Slate Plus! Join for monthly early-access episodes, bonus episodes of "The Bridge," and ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe directly from the Hit Parade show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/hitparadeplus to get access wherever you listen.


Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


What makes a song a smash? Talent? Luck? Timing? All that—and more. Chris Molanphy, pop-chart analyst and author of Slate’s “Why Is This Song No. 1?” series, tells tales from a half-century of chart history. Through storytelling, trivia and song snippets, Chris dissects how that song you love—or hate—dominated the airwaves, made its way to the top of the charts and shaped your memories forever. Get more Hit Parade with Slate Plus! Join for monthly early-access episodes, bonus episodes of "The Bridge," and ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe directly from the Hit Parade show page on...
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Official website RSS
instagramyoutube
Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
Podcast Episodes
Shake It Like a Polaroid Picture Edition Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:00
Talk about ’90s rap, and most music fans will throw around the word “gangsta” and talk about the East Coast–West Coast feud that tragically brought down Biggie and Tupac. But one rap group, OutKast, quite literally rose…
Lenny on Mars Edition Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:07
What do Lenny Kravitz, a hitmaker primarily in the ’90s and ’00s, and Bruno Mars, a 2010s–20s hitmaker, have in common? It turns out, a lot: Each man has a wide-ranging ethnic and musical background, with early exposure…
Lenny on Mars Edition Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:18
What do Lenny Kravitz, a hitmaker primarily in the ’90s and ’00s, and Bruno Mars, a 2010s–20s hitmaker, have in common? It turns out, a lot: Each man has a wide-ranging ethnic and musical background, with early exposure…
Yes We Can Can Edition Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:22
Today, the Pointer Sisters are mostly remembered for their flurry of ’80s hits, especially the “Excited” one about losing control and liking it. But their musical history is far more varied: jazz standards? Civil rights–…
Yes We Can Can Edition Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:34
Today, the Pointer Sisters are mostly remembered for their flurry of ’80s hits, especially the “Excited” one about losing control and liking it. But their musical history is far more varied: jazz standards? Civil rights–…
Champagne Supernova Edition Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:53
In the ’90s, U.K. rock was by Britons, for Britons. The music of the U.K. indie, Madchester and shoegaze scenes fused together into a new wave of guitar bands with punk energy, laddish lyrics and danceable grooves. They…
Champagne Supernova Edition Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:17
In the ’90s, U.K. rock was by Britons, for Britons. The music of the U.K. indie, Madchester and shoegaze scenes fused together into a new wave of guitar bands with punk energy, laddish lyrics and danceable grooves. They…
The British Are Charting Edition Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:58
Before 1964, British bands couldn’t get anywhere on the U.S. charts. Then suddenly, after a certain Fab Four broke, they were everywhere. By 1965, they had locked down our Top 10.In 1981, a new generation of U.K. acts ar…
The British Are Charting Edition Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:05:41
Before 1964, British bands couldn’t get anywhere on the U.S. charts. Then suddenly, after a certain Fab Four broke, they were everywhere. By 1965, they had locked down our Top 10.In 1981, a new generation of U.K. acts ar…
Raise Your Glass Edition Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:24
Alecia Moore was so fearless, they put an exclamation point in her name. Pink—a.k.a. P!nk—was full of bravado from the moment she broke at the turn of the millennium, singing a frothy style of teen pop&B. She was promote…

«1...45678910»