DISGRACELAND
You know the myths. You’ve seen the biopics. But if you’re the kind of music fan who craves the rest of the story—the stuff they buried or cleaned up for streaming and theaters—this is your podcast. DISGRACELAND is the award-winning show that reveals the deeply human, highly dramatic, true crime–fueled chaos behind legendary musicians like Amy Winehouse, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sean “Diddy” Combs, the Grateful Dead, Blondie, and more. While we dig into the dark side, we do so with reverence for the artists—and an understanding of the extreme highs, lows, and personal costs that come with f...
Episodes
Brian Wilson: Love and Mercy, Murder, Theft, and Manipulation
Brian Wilson was the quiet one. The genius in the bathrobe. The ghost at the piano bench. He wrote Pet Sounds, rewrote pop music history, and was nearly destroyed for it. This is the story of how mercy, murder, theft, and family fractured t…
The Beach Boys Pt. 2: Endless Bummer, Hollywood Paranoia, Onstage Fist Fights, Incest, and Cocaine
In the aftermath of the Manson Family murders, Hollywood was gripped with fear. Various investigations stitched together a deluded White Album-inspired explanation of the killing spree. But Dennis Wilson knew the truth—that he had made a te…
The Beach Boys Pt. 1: Endless Summer, LSD, Orgies, Charles Manson and a Steve McQueen Man-Crush
In the summer of 1968, the Beach Boys’ drummer Dennis Wilson invited a hippie guru and his grungy harem to squat in his Pacific Palisades home. Dennis was the handsome California surfer that his brother Brian wrote all those hit songs about…
Gram Parsons: A Stolen Body, Heroin, More Rolling Stones and Cosmic American Music
Gram Parsons is one of the most influential musicians in rock ‘n’ roll that you’ve maybe never heard of. He created a form of music that has been copied by everyone from the Eagles to Ryan Adams. He directly influenced the Rolling Stones’ g…
Bonus Episode: Compton, Conspiracies, and Mercy
This week in the After Party, Jake takes a look at the important musical history of Compton. Plus, your voicemails, DMs, and emails on subjects ranging from mercy to Lemmy to Frankie Goes to Hollywood(?). On Tuesday, we're bringing our epi…
Kendrick Lamar: The Streets, the Studio, and the Struggle for Mercy
Before Kendrick Lamar became one of the greatest lyricists of his generation, he was K.Dot—a kid from Compton with a front-row seat to trauma, loyalty, violence, and survival. This is the story of good kid, m.A.A.d city and the real-life ev…
Willie Nelson (Pt 2): Grifters, Con Men, Thieves, and the Reinvention of the Outlaw
Willie Nelson left Nashville and reinvented himself in Austin, Texas as the ultimate outsider. It was a metamorphosis from freak flag flier to mainstream mainstay that is rife with tales of drug smuggling, arson, and international run-ins w…
Willie Nelson (Pt 1): A Shootout, a House Fire, and the Ballad of the Red-Headed Stranger
Broke and depressed, Willie Nelson almost joined the 27 Club on a snowy Nashville street late one night – before he’d even sold a single song. He drank, smoked, and cheated his way through multiple marriages. He was nearly beaten to death b…
Bonus Episode: 80s Metalheads, Life-changing Concerts, and Ozzy Osbourne
This week in the After Party, Jake looks into some of the rumors and conjecture surrounding the death of Ozzy Osbourne. Plus, we hear from you about your concert going experiences! On Tuesday, we're bringing our episode on Kendrick Lamar, a…
Motörhead: Speed, Sex, and Revenge
Motörhead influenced some of the most important acts in heavy metal and punk rock history. Led by the inimitable Lemmy Kilmister, they invented a sound and a style that didn’t exist before the original trio went into the recording studio fo…
David Bowie: The occult, cocaine, orgies, arrests, exorcisms, a weird flirtation with fascism and a dead body.
No musical artist better personified the hedonism of the ’70s than David Bowie. He captivated the imaginations of music fans all over the world with a dizzying array of creative alter egos; Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust and the Thin White Duke …
Bonus Episode: Suspicious Deaths, Small-Town Myths, and the Record Store That Helped Make Me
This week in the After Party, we’re digging up the stories they didn’t want told. Jake throws back to a formative encounter with a record store burnout who unknowingly set him on the path to Disgraceland. Jake talks AC/DC, Bon Scott, and th…
The Temptations Pt 2: The Tammi Terrell Tragedy
When Motown singer Tammi Terrell died at the age of 24, Marvin Gaye was the only one from her label allowed at her funeral. The rest – especially her former boyfriend, the Tempations’ David Ruffin – were banned. So what happened between the…
The Temptations: Fame, Drugs, and Paranoia
The Temptations were one of Motown’s signature vocal groups, and they remain one of the most successful R&B acts of all time. But fame and drugs corrupted them from the beginning. Lineup changes were as frequent as their chart-topping hits.…
Britney Spears (Pt. 2): Lithium, Las Vegas, and a Long-Awaited Emancipation
Britney Spears’ 13-year conservatorship was an arrangement so strict and unfeeling that it left her without any control of her career, loopy on lithium, and completely silenced for the sake of seeing her sons and boyfriend. As Britney suffe…
Britney Spears (Pt. 1): Trauma Pop
No musician owned pop music quite like Britney Spears at the turn of the century. After graduating from Mississippi tween queen to full-fledged American superstar, her fame exploded at a time when tabloids circled celebrities like prey. 30 …
Bonus Episode: The Culture Changed Every Ten Years… Until It Didn’t
From the Beatles to Nirvana to Pulp Fiction and Friends, every decade used to bring a cultural reset—new sounds, new voices, new aesthetics that changed the way we dressed, talked, and thought. But for the past 25 years, that cycle stopped.…
Run-DMC (Pt. 2): Loyalty, Betrayal, and Who Shot Jay
Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay helped take hip-hop global, but behind the decks was a man under pressure – fiercely loyal yet financially strapped, and secretly entangled in a dangerous world he couldn’t spin his way out of. So when the music ind…
Run DMC Pt. 1: Innovation, Evolution and the Mysterious Death of Jam Master Jay
Run DMC is directly responsible for elevating hip hop to previously unimagined heights. They took rap music into an entirely different direction and helped mainstream the genre. They were beloved as musicians, innovators, and people – none …
Jay Z: Street hustle, a Nightclub Stabbing, a Near Drug Bust and the God MC
Jay Z’s career defies easy categorization. His artistry and business sense are as influenced by his past career as a drug dealer as they are anything else. Jay Z has reached unprecedented heights as an entertainer and an entrepreneur, and i…
Bonus Episode: Sanitized Biopics, California Wildfires, and Underrated Rock Stars
This week in the After Party, Jake looks further into the CASSM (Corporate Algorithmic Studio Storytelling Machine) and explores the reasons behind the sanitized versions of music history that are served up everywhere but in Disgraceland. …
Mark Lanegan: Kurt Cobain’s Drug Runner, Liam Gallagher’s Tormentor, and Matt Dillon’s Firestarter
Mark Lanegan was grunge’s darkest secret – a gravel-voiced hellraiser who ran dope for Kurt Cobain, scared Liam Gallagher into quitting Oasis, and nearly lost his arm (and his mind) chasing the next high. He brawled his way out of a dead-en…
Bonus Episode: Uncovering Grift, Country Punks, and RIP Ozzy
This week, Jake looks into some possible malfeasance related to the proceeds of a benefit concert for the victims of the LA fires and shares his thoughts on the passing of the legendary Ozzy Osbourne. Plus, your voicemails and DMs on the m…
Introducing: HOLLYWOODLAND…
…the Hollywood and true crime spinoff from the award winning music and true crime podcast, DISGRACELAND, and the newest expansion from the folks at Double Elvis. The most dramatic non-fiction stories ever heard come from the world of ente…
Waylon Jennings: Surviving Buddy Holly, the DEA, and Himself
Waylon Jennings’ musical career began with tragedy. On tour as the bass player for his friend Buddy Holly, Waylon gave up his seat on the tiny plane that, just hours later, crashed, killing Buddy and three others. That experience alone near…
Presenting Hollywoodland - Robin Williams: A Manic Mind at Breakneck Speed, an Addiction to Laughter, and the Devil’s Dandruff
Robin Williams’ manic mind moved at such a breakneck speed that cocaine had the opposite effect than it had on most other people: it slowed him down. Robin’s primary addiction, however, wasn’t cocaine. He was addicted to the dopamine rush o…
Bonus Episode: CASSM, Nikki Sixx, and the Gospel According to Jimmy Buffett
This week, Jake dives deeper into Nikki Sixx (Mötley Crüe, Part 2), calls out the Corporate Algorithmic Studio Storytelling Machine (CASSM), and explains why he’s suddenly obsessed with Jimmy Buffett. Plus: Jeff Buckley, Oasis, and your voi…
Motley Crue Pt. 2: The Ballad of Nikki Sixx – Dead, Doped Up, and Running Naked with a Loaded .357
He was broke, strung out, and cleaning up other people's puke. Then he got stiffed by a gangster with ties to the infamous Wonderland Murders. A few years later, he was dead on the floor – for the second time. This is the high-speed tale of…
Bonus Episode: The Greatest Band That Never Was
This week in the after party, Jake looks at the bands that could've been huge, but never were, and hears from you on the subject. Plus, Jake talks about the challenge of writing the upcoming Brian Wilson episode and dishes on his surprisin…
The Replacements: Stink Bombs, Broken Guitars, and Self-Sabotage
A teenage bass-playing f*ck-up prodigy. A big brother in an ill-fitting bodysuit on national television. A drummer playing chicken with the cops on his motorcycle. And one of the greatest singer-songwriters to ever pick up a guitar and stum…
Bonus Episode – The Verdict is in
This week in the after party, Jake hears from you about your favorite singer/songwriters and which artists are the most gangster. Plus, Jake gets into what he's reading. Oh, and also the Diddy verdict came in - so there's that. On Tuesday…
Frank Sinatra Pt 2: New Evidence, Secret Favors, and Three Dead Men. This is Frank Sinatra — Connected, Compromised, and Cornered
Frank Sinatra was never just a pop star. In this second chapter of his story, Frank isn’t merely brushing shoulders with gangsters—he’s one of them. Backed by new research and newly released secret intelligence files, this episode unpacks h…
Bonus Episode – True Crime Songs, Singer Songwriters, and the Worst Draft Pick in NBA History
This week in the after party, Jake is thinking about great singer songwriter albums - what is your favorite? Plus, we hear from you on your favorite true crime songs. On Tuesday, we're bringing you part 2 of our Frank Sinatra story. Jake w…
Bonus Episode – Concert Tragedies, Concussions, and Brian Wilson
This week in the after party, Jake reflects on the recent deaths of Sly Stone and Brian Wilson, and discusses concert tragedies. Plus, Jake talks baseball and dishes on his recent visit to a water park. And as always, he invites you to jo…
The Who Pt 2: A Crowd Crush, a Death Trap, and a Tragedy in Cincinnati
They came for the loudest rock band in the world. They got a death trap. In a freezing plaza outside Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum, thousands of Who fans surged forward to get a spot up close in the general admission crowd. But when the …
Introducing: Clues with Morgan Absher & Kaelyn Moore
Join hosts Morgan Absher and Kaelyn Moore as they take you deep into the world of the most notorious crimes ever — where a single clue can crack a case wide open. From shocking murders to serial killers, Clues dives into all the forensic de…
Bonus Episode – Obsessions, Earworms, and RIP Sly Stone
This week in the After Party, Jake goes down a rabbit hole as he thinks about great songs about obsession. What are some of your favorites? And speaking of songs and obsession, what is that 90s earworm Jake has stuck in his head? Plus we…
Bjork: The Package, the Fan, and a Deadly Obsession
A deranged fan. A deadly package. And one of the most innovative musicians on the planet. This is the true story of obsession, art, and attempted murder. This is Björk in Disgraceland. This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to …
Bonus Episode - Suffering Souls, Subversion, and More Great Girl Groups
This week in the After Party, Jake is thinking about the connection between psychopathy, artistry, and trauma. So many great artists are also undeniably damaged people. Is their trauma at the root of both their artistry and their disgracefu…
Marilyn Manson: A Car Crash, a Planned Murder, Nihilism, Abuse, and Inhumanity
Discover the controversial story behind Marilyn Manson, aka Brian Warner. Accused by multiple women of abuse—allegations he denies—what do his own revelations of past inhumanity reveal about him? And what can those admissions tell us about …