Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs iHeartPodcasts

Even before Beyoncé kicked off her solo career, it was clear that she was a legend-in-the-making. As the de facto leader of Destiny's Child, she was a guiding light for the girl group and helped shepherd them to stardom in both the pop and R&B spaces. The group was at their height (and still very much together) as she launched her solo career, first with "Work It Out" for the Austin Powers in Goldmember soundtrack but with more gusto on "Crazy in Love.

"Crazy in Love" served as the lead single for Beyoncé's debut solo album Dangerously in Love. The song was written in two hours and became a Number One hit the same week Dangerously in Love topped the albums chart. Beyoncé has developed significantly as an artist since then with her last two albums, Renaissance and Cowboy Carter, being prime examples of how she’s still growing and finding new ways to master her artistry even two decades after the world first got a taste of who Beyoncé was on her own.

On this week’s episode hosts Rob Sheffield and Brittany Spanos discuss Beyoncé's career trajectory and how the superstar ended up being the youngest artist with the most entries on the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time List. Later in the episode, they are joined by their Rolling Stone colleague Mankaprr Conteh to dig into the star's artistry and appreciation for Black music history, which she continues to embed in all her work.
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Kate Bush has always been a fiercely original art-pop icon. But with “Running Up That Hill,” she achieved a new kind of feat. “Running Up That Hill” was a massive Top Ten hit, dominating U.S. radio all over the summer of 2022—even though it was a song she released back in 1985. Her classic synth-goth anthem sounded ahead of its time in the Eighties, but only Kate Bush could make it a song that STILL sounds ahead of its time nearly 40 years later.

In this week’s episode of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs, hosts Brittany Spanos and Rob Sheffield discuss the long, incredible legacy of Kate Bush and “Running Up That Hill.” They’re joined by their brilliant Rolling Stone colleague Julyssa Lopez, a Kate Bush expert and longtime hardcore fan, to discuss why “Running Up That Hill” speaks to our moment.
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Taylor Swift knows a thing or two about swerving when her listeners and detractors least expect it, but nothing could prepare anyone for her total abandonment of country music on her 2014 album 1989. Sure, she had teased some Max Martin-assisted pop hits on her previous album Red, but 1989 was a total 180 from the country starlet's past, trading her teardrop-soaked guitar for sassier synths instead.

On this week's episode of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs, hosts Rob Sheffield and Brittany Spanos discuss the crown jewel of the 1989 album, "Blank Space".  While lead single "Shake It Off" was an empowering kiss-off to the haters, its follow up was an unexpected satirization of Swift's public image at the time as a "maneater" for her romances with famous men and ensuing songs about their times spent together.

Swift fits back against sexist criticism of her writing "too many break-up songs" and her dating habits with this ferociously catchy track that highlights her sense of humor and wit, all while helping break free a bit more from her "girl next door" image. Later in this episode our hosts are joined by their colleague and Rolling Stone Music Now host Brian Hiatt to dig into just how big of a risk her pop pivot had been, as well as explore what makes this song so great and how it shifted Swift's sound and lyricism for the better.
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On this episode of our 500 Greatest Songs podcast, we dive into the unique chemistry Missy Elliot and Timbaland have had throughout their careers. In the Nineties, Missy and Timbaland were just a pair of kids from Virginia — but they ended up changing the sound of hip-hop and pop forever. The two geniuses would collaborate on production for their friends and eventually on Missy Elliott's own successful string of albums and major hits. The most inventive of them remains to be "Get Ur Freak On," the lead single off 2001's Miss E...So Addictive.

This week Brittany and Rob dig into everything that makes "Get Ur Freak On" so iconic: the experimental production that fuses dancehall with bhangra, Missy's inventive wordplay, the surprise samples and of course that inimitable creative chemistry she shares with Timbaland. The pair also celebrate the impact the two have had on music since they burst on the scene, whether it’s their reinvention of Aaliyah's career, the trippy, avant-garde music videos for Missy's own hits, or Timbaland's world-shifting touch on pop music in the aughts. Later, Sheffield has a conversation with the so addictive Miss E herself, delving into her early musical partnership with Timbaland, their creative process, and the making of her debut album 'Super Duper Fly.'
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This week our hosts Brittany and Rob look at one of the longest, craziest stories in pop music: the never-ending saga of “Hound Dog.” Big Mama Thornton came out with this massive R&B belter in 1952 and was the first hit from the legendary writing team of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller. The song comes in at #318 on the list, and instantly became a cultural phenomenon, inspiring countless cover versions, answer songs, rewrites and sequels in blues, pop, and country. The most notable was Elvis Presley’s version of Hound Dog” in 1956, but he wasn’t covering Big Mama Thornton’s song – these were two very different tunes with the same title, and the only thing they had in common was the opening line, “You ain’t nothing but a hound dog.”

In this episode, Brittany and Rob dive deep into the secret history of “Hound Dog” and why time has simplified the story to being between Big Mama and Elvis. Rolling Stone senior writer Angie Martoccio also joins us to look at the song and its complex cultural afterlife. Together we celebrate the greatness of Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, and the incredible power of her “Hound Dog”. For a song that’s continued to change constantly throughout the past 70 years after it first became a hit, there’s really no other story in music history like this one. From Jimi Hendrix to Doja Cat, we look at how “Hound Dog” keeps on inspiring sequels and likely will for the rest of history.
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This week our hosts Brittany Spanos and Rob Sheffield look at an Eighties dance-floor classic, from one of the all-time biggest pop legends: Madonna’s “Into The Groove.” It wasn’t Madonna’s first single (that was “Everybody”) or her first hit (that would be “Holiday”), but “Into The Groove” is the one that instantly evokes Madonna in her raw, gritty early days. It’s a cheap, fast, in-your-face disco anthem that hits as hard as punk rock, from the hungry young Madonna, aiming to sum up the whole history of dance music in one song. “Into The Groove” is still the song at the heart of her lifelong bond with the club scene and the dance community. It’s the one that where she sings right into your ear: “You can dance, for inspiration.”

For this episode Brittany and Rob are joined by one of the most brilliant music writers around, Suzy Exposito, a longtime journalist for Rolling Stone and the L.A. Times. They break down the song’s impact on club culture, including the goth world (the dancing boy in the music video became an iconic goth figure in himself!). They’ll also seek to answer the questions of why we’re all so obsessed with this song? Why does it loom so large over Madonna’s other hits? Why is it the gateway drug that hooks so many generations of Madonna fans? Take a listen to find out!
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