Sound Opinions

Chicago Public Radio‘s Sound Opinions is probably one of the best radio shows out there. Described as “the world’s only rock ‘n’ roll talk show,” it mixes astute observations about the current state of music with fantastic interviews and musical performances. Over the past month or two, they’ve had on Anthony Bourdain, talked about unsung heroes, and had a live performance from the Swell Season. Frickin’ awesome, right? Yeah – it’s one of those podcasts that I eagerly await each and every week. I pimp it to just about everyone I know, and now it’s your turn to hear my spiel.

Hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot are music critics for the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, respectively. DeRogatis has edited two of my favorite books of rock criticism, Milk It! and Kill Your Idols, which take on the subjects of the 90s alt-rock explosion and the idea of writing negative reviews of sacred cows of the rock world like Sgt. Pepper. Seriously informative, funny, slightly off-kilter stuff.

Basically, the show comes off like an audio version of Siskel and Ebert (or Ebert and Roper and whomever the fuck that fat bastard’s got as a co-host this week), only entertaining and not annoying. They’re two of the best-informed, least-pandering hosts of all-time. They’ve got definite opinions, but they’re sound and well-reasoned (see what I did there with the play on words?), so they don’t come off as the denizens of High Fidelity‘s Championship Vinyl. Hit up their website, subscribe to the podcast, and you can thank me later.

Jim and Greg on Conan