The (Mostly) 80s Music Podcast: What Difference Does It Make?

The (Mostly) 80s Music Podcast: What Difference Does It Make?

Author: Dave Sloan and Holly Cantos Language: English Episodes: 100
For anyone who lived through it, or for those who just love the sounds that defined it, the 1980s were a musical lightning strike. The (Mostly) 80s Music Podcast: What Difference Does It Make? is a deep, personal excavation of that era, hosted by Dave Sloan and Holly Cantos. This isn't a simple nostalgia trip or a countdown of chart-toppers. Instead, Dave and Holly use their genuine expertise and passion to guide conversations with the very people who created the decade's soundtrack. You'll hear directly from the artists, producers, engineers, and label insiders, getting the stories behind the songs that you won't find in a standard biography. Each episode feels like an intimate backstage pass, uncovering the creative decisions, the industry shifts, and the personal anecdotes that explain why this music still resonates so powerfully today. The podcast thrives on specificity-maybe one week features a synth-pop pioneer explaining the gear behind their iconic sound, while another sits down with a session musician who played on a dozen classic albums. It’s a celebration of craft and context, asking and answering the question embedded in its title: what difference did these people and their work truly make? Listening feels like joining a detailed, enthusiastic conversation between friends who just happen to have incredible guests. The result is a richly layered portrait of a decade, built one fascinating story at a time.
Episodes
Harold Bronson  Reconnects With His Savage Young Winos [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:09
Harold Bronson may be best known as one of the co-founders of Rhino Records, but when he was a student at UCLA, he was in a band called Mogan David And His Winos. The band consisted of future New York Times best-selling…
St. Patrick's Day 80s Music Favorites [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:34
Let's play St. Patrick's Day music to recognize a number of our 80s music favorite artists from The Emerald Isle. While we have a hard time pronouncing names like Cathal McGarvey, Seamus Ennis and Liam Ó Maonlaí we certa…
Steven Blush Was Raised On Disco, Reggae, Hip-Hop, And Rock [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:16
Author Steven Blush has just completed his rock trilogy, When Rock Met Disco, When Rock Met Reggae, and the just-released When Rock Met Hip-Hop. Steven recalls times spent with Rick Rubin, The Beastie Boys, Run DMC, and…
Paul Rees Was Raised On Radio [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:42
Paul Rees was a young lad living in Scotland during the heyday of Album Oriented Rock (AOR). From a distance, Paul became a fan of American radio and the artists played on those stations, which led him to write the book…
Please Refer To Roddy Bottum As The Royal We [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:44
Roddy Bottum is one of the founders and keyboardist of the iconic band Faith No More. In his memoir, The Royal We, Roddy shares his coming-of-age and out-of-the-closet stories in a pre-tech-boom San Francisco. He joins o…
Valentine's Day 80s music favorites [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:02
We at What Difference Does It Make love love and what better way to say it, than with a song from the 80s? We discuss a number of our favorites that make us feel all warm inside. Happy Valentine's (and Gal-entine's) Day!…
Arielle Nissenblatt Podcasts On This And That [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:45
Arielle Nissenblatt, Founder and Head Curator of Earbuds Podcast Collective AND a 2026 Podcast Hall Of Fame Inductee, joins our podcast to share her origin story, and insights into the industry. She then steps out of her…
Andy Greene: Rolling Stone Magazine's Secret Weapon [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:10:46
Andy Greene, Senior Writer for Rolling Stone, has been with the storied magazine since 2004. Andy shares with us his origin story of how a shy, young boy from the suburbs of Cleveland finds his way to New York City to wr…
1989 KROQ Countdown [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:53
And so it begins again, as we start our look at the top 106.7 songs played on radio station KROQ in Los Angeles in 1989. Upcoming episodes will feature ten songs each and a special guest, but for this episode, we’ll look…
Pop Culture In 1989 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:29
The year 1989 was more than just the number...another summer...the sound of the funky drummer. It was the year we first fell in love with The Simpsons, the Game Boy, and The Arsenio Hall Show. It was also the year of ama…