The Slate Culture Gift Guide

The Slate Culture Gift Guide

Author: Slate Podcasts November 12, 2025 Duration: 48:09

Hark, the holiday season is upon us—and with it, the most solemn of festive traditions: a gift guide! In this video and podcast special, Slate hosts Dana Stevens, Chris Molanphy, and Willa Paskin beam in from their collective hearths to deliver unto the internet their favorite gifts for culture lovers. In addition to sharing gifts, they also discuss the cultural artifact that is the “holiday gift guide,” and its history going back to the early 20th century, up to the modern day. See the entirety of the 1910 gift guide Our Special Holiday Gift-Book from Greenhut-Siegel Cooper, and Esquire’s ultra-mod gift guide from 1961. 

Check out our gift recommendations below: 

Dana Stevens’ Cozy Movie Night-In: 

Chris Molanphy’s Hit Parade Collection: 

Willa Paskin’s Fruit-Themed Trompe-l'œil Housewares:

The Slate Culture Gift Guide is produced for Slate Studios by Benjamin Frisch and Micah Phillips, with Meryl Bezrutczyk and Andrew Harding.


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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

Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
Podcast Episodes
Be My Baby-Baby-Baby Edition Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:21
Girl groups have long been underestimated—even by the producers and managers who created them.For women listeners, girl groups narrated profound emotions and expressed personal freedom—even when the singers were not so f…
Be My Baby-Baby-Baby Edition Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:22
Girl groups have long been underestimated—even by the producers and managers who created them.For women listeners, girl groups narrated profound emotions and expressed personal freedom—even when the singers were not so f…
We Want It That Way Edition Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:50
When you hear “boy band,” what do you picture? Five guys with precision dance moves? Songs crafted by the Top 40 pop machine? Svengalis pulling the puppet strings? Hordes of screaming girls?As it turns out, not all boy b…
We Want It That Way Edition Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:02
When you hear “boy band,” what do you picture? Five guys with precision dance moves? Songs crafted by the Top 40 pop machine? Svengalis pulling the puppet strings? Hordes of screaming girls?As it turns out, not all boy b…
Gotcha Covered Edition Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:19
Cover songs once had a simple playbook: Artists would faithfully rerecord a song—note for note and word for word. They might modernize the instrumentation. If they were feeling radical, they’d punch up the vocals a bit.N…
Gotcha Covered Edition Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:39
Cover songs once had a simple playbook: Artists would faithfully rerecord a song—note for note and word for word. They might modernize the instrumentation. If they were feeling radical, they’d punch up the vocals a bit.N…
Hello, Gorgeous Edition Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:45
Barbra Streisand: star of stage and screen. Oscar-winner, film director and TV producer. Culture warrior and meme generator.Yes, all that—but don’t get it twisted: Barbra’s legend rests in her catalog of hit songs—and th…
Hello, Gorgeous Edition Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:42
Barbra Streisand: star of stage and screen. Oscar-winner, film director and TV producer. Culture warrior and meme generator.Yes, all that—but don’t get it twisted: Barbra’s legend rests in her catalog of hit songs—and th…
And the Grammy Goes to… Edition Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:53
Do you watch the Grammy Awards every year and groan, or even yell at the screen? Hit Parade host Chris Molanphy sure does. But he has a weird hot take: The Grammys are better off not trying to be cool. They should reward…
And the Grammy Goes to… Edition Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:14
Do you watch the Grammy Awards every year and groan, or even yell at the screen? Hit Parade host Chris Molanphy sure does. But he has a weird hot take: The Grammys are better off not trying to be cool. They should reward…