Music Defender

Our intrepid Music Defender crew rallies around a brand-new concept from Kalli – defending originals versus cover songs (or vice versa). Michael, Joe, Kalli, and special guests Ari and Mat make their cases on this epic double episode. Calling on the Defendherd to debate, laugh, & learn!

Our intrepid Music Defender crew rallies around a brand-new concept from Kalli – defending cover songs versus originals (and vice-versa). Michael, Joe, Kalli, and special guests Ari and Mat make their cases on this epic double episode of Music Defender. Calling on the Defendherd to debate, laugh, & learn!

Arriving right in the midst of grunge's peak, a hip hop explosion, and edgy alternative rock like Weezer and GBV, the smooth and unoffensive South Carolina group Hootie and the Blowfish were perfectly positioned to become a cultural punching bag. When the unassuming group notched one of the top-selling albums of all time, the criticism only louder and harsher into a deafening roar. In this Mini Defender episode, onetime Hootie hater Joe re-evaluates his opinion.

These two legendary bands came out of the gate at the same time as part of a British Invasion that still resonates today, 60 years later. They both sold countless millions of albums, but took decidedly different paths over the subsequent decades: one to the Village Green and the other to Exile. Guest defender Ari Vais joins the show to make the case that it is The Kinks – not the Rolling Stones – who are in fact the world's greatest rock and roll band.

In this episode of Music Defender, Joe tries to explain what's great about a non-rocking, slickly produced, soft-Eighties, Keith Moon-less Who. Good luck, say Michael and Kalli, while co-host Max is still studying the American Dream in Germany.

To their fans, Greta Van Fleet are brilliantly carrying the mantle of '70s arena rock into a new era. To their detractors, of which there are many and they are passionate, they are the embodiment of everything wrong in music today. Derivative to a fault and built for algorithms. In this episode, Joe makes the case for their Van Awesomeness.

The Stone Roses were one of the biggest bands in British pop music history, but their second (and final) release "Second Coming" was widely regarded as a massive disappointment. Michael makes the case that it was, in fact, the second coming of awesomeness.

They are one of the biggest groups ever, with hit songs spanning 20-plus years, a Super Bowl appearance, scads of film and TV credits, and armfuls of Grammys. And yet, there is no doubt that people just love to hate Coldplay. Kalli sets out to bring some much needed love for the artistry of Chris Martin and Co.

We're debuting a new spin on the tried and true Music Defender formula – the "Mini Defender." All you love about Music Defender in 10 minutes or less. For this one, Joe makes the case for the forgotten 1985 supergroup The Firm. Were they super ... or superbly bland and cynically corporate?

Of all the Rolling Stones' albums, perhaps none is more disliked or apt to be forgotten than 1986's "Dirty Work." Joe tries to make the case for this neon-clad LP and its crisp Steve Lillywhite production.

The Beach Boys are known for their sunny surf hits, stadium-filling live shows, the groundbreaking album "Pet Sounds," and the many trials and tribulations of genius bandleader Brian Wilson. What they are not known for is the synth-driven 1977 LP "The Beach Boys Love You." On this episode of Music Defender, Michael sets out to change that.

Music Defender welcomes its first guest defender, Matty Conaghan, who takes on the formidable task of defending Creed's "Human Clay." It's an album that guest contributor Damon Lockett calls "Wal-Mart Alice In Chains," and the rest of the MD crew put up strong resistance to the idea that there is anything to redeem at all. Can Matty make the case and take us all higher as we look at "Human Clay" from the vantage point of 2021?

It was considered an experimental album – but many Weezer fans and music critics just thought it sucked, placing it near the bottom of the band's album rankings. In this episode of Music Defender, Kalli explains why the Red Album deserve another spin.

After the massive success of "Gish," "Siamese Dream," and "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness," Smashing Pumpkins released the (relatively speaking) critical and commercial flop "Adore." Co-host Max makes the case that this under-appreciated Pumpkin is fact the ripest in the patch.

There are few bands whose public perception has swung so severely from adoration to simmering hatred as '90s pop-jam band Spin Doctors. Music Defender co-host Joe builds his patchouli-scented the defense on this episode.

On this episode of Music Defender, Max makes the case for Leonard Cohen's 1977 underappreciated, Phil Spector-produced album "Death of a Ladies Man."

Join us as Michael defends Paul McCartney's solo output (in its various incarnations) between 1969 and 1979. Can he prove Macca was superior to John? (Or George or Ringo, if you favor the Quiet One or the Comical One.) It's always a good time for a Beatle Battle!

Kalli makes the case for the awesomeness of "Stadium Arcadium," an album that's often bashed by early-era RHCP fans and purists for being overly long, dated, and scattered.

They had one of the top-selling debuts of all time, but that couldn't spare them from legions of critics who considered them corporate rock, emotionless radio fodder, and not even a real band. Our co-host Joe explains why, to the contrary, Boston may be one of the greatest American rock bands ever.

On this episode of Music Defender, Max makes the case for Meat Loaf's much maligned '70s mega-theatrical album "Bat Out of Hell." (2020 Onloch LLC all rights reserved.)