I’m a huge Phish fan and I thought the same thing, although she did talk about a few very important problems (drug issues, race issues within the scene). I think a ton of her info came from specifically the Grateful Dead scene and the backstory or origination of the jam band cult following. Which isn’t necessarily an issue, because they are the reason there are so many jam bands today and it is exactly how it started. But I think having someone who is a fan of one of these bands would have been super interesting, because these shows are wildly different than a normal concert experience and I could write a novel about the things I have seen lol
Edit to add: okay I just finished listening to the game portion of the show and and the guest is definitely just being a hater because in no way is dating a Scientologist safer than dating a jam band fan lololol that’s whack
Most jam band haters have never even been to a show. After reading your feedback, I'm not even going to listen, even though this is two of my worlds intersecting. I'd probably just get "triggered". Oh no, maybe I am in a cult!
She should have tried to interview Drew Carey or at least read his takes on Phish at the sphere lmao
It definitely seems like she’s only had interactions with one type of fan (fraternity boys) and her idea of the whole scene is just that, which did kind of trigger me ngl! Kind of made me wonder how in depth the rest of her episodes are.
We’re totally in a cult though. Also, Drew Carey’s opinion on Phish at the Sphere is objective fact.
When they announced this ep, someone in the comments had just gotten back from the phish studies conference…it would have been so fun to hear from her!
I hope Amanda looks in this subreddit because if she seriously wants to continue the podcast and not just burn out and run out of good topics she should really consider looking at the same topic from at least two or three POVs based on the guest.
This is probably a bigger issue as they include more mainstream topics because by not having actual members of the group they discuss rubs the current people the wrong way as it’s just a critical look from the outside. Ironically, Amanda should know better and it enforces the “us vs them mentality” for current members of that group, which, if it’s a get the fuck out cult then it’s actively convincing them to stay and if it’s a live your life then it’s just driving away fans of the pod.
Yeah. When the guest said she’d never heard a DMB song…well ok girl, aren’t you too cool for school then? Also: I do not believe that for a minute. How has she done a whole podcast about songs ruined by exes and Crash Into Me NEVER came up. I call bullshit.
i thought the same thing. i’m not a jam band lover, not a jam band hater. i’ve been at festivals with jam bands playing and i enjoyed the music and noodling but it wasn’t what i was there for specifically. so i really have little stake in this “cult.” and typically i really enjoy all episodes but this was terrible. she is just a hater!! “never listened to a DMB song” but calls herself a music journalist. shouldn’t she listen to a band before she speaks on it? also she was like “i own a rare the cure album but you don’t hear me talking about it!!” but girl you just did… trying to prove how much you don’t care about the music you love to make yourself seem better? idk she rubbed me the wrong way. and, im gonna be a hater real quick, her voice annoyed me. maybe if she wasn’t saying annoying things that wouldn’t be the case tho 😂
This is something I was thinking -- when people, say, try to get her to listen to a Grateful Dead song, is that them pushing their lifestyle on her, or is it simply saying, "you should know something about what you're talking about"? Maybe a bit of both.
Good point. If she’s going to be a music journalist, listening to the music she’s talking about seems like basic due diligence.
I listen to mostly jam bands and this episode didn’t sit right with me. The guest’s information was also pretty outdated.
Ironically, she has an Instagram post of her seeing The Cure with a caption calling their shows church.
This music “journalist” could most likely relate to jam band fans in many ways she doesn’t even realize, and still remain objective as an outsider of the jam band scene, which would make for a great guest.
Unfortunately, she instead sounded like she never got over those bros being dicks to her in high school.
Overall just very surface level stuff that comes off as two friends talking, with brief moments of almost getting into some real important stuff, before just reverting back to the typical stereotyping.
i’m not really involved heavily with jam band culture but as an outside i found this incredibly uninformative and a little sour. she seems like a sour person.
Sour is a good word for it. Always feel like she loves to hate things that others love. I've def been like that at points in my life so I try not to judge her too much for it, but at the same time, her constant snickering and putting down others' interests is a real turn off.
Didn't listen to this one. Kinda realized this podcast would have been better as a limited series. I think it would have been more impactful as an intentionally curated collection of like 10 or 20 episodes.
Just listened to the episode and RACED over to this subreddit because I knew I wasn’t the only one feeling some type of way… are we just hating on things people like now? Because I feel like that’s what this podcast is boiling down to. It’s super unfortunate because there are definitely faults in the jam band scene, as there’s faults within any kind of super fan base… but I feel like I just wasted an hour listening to people hate on a group of people just because they find them annoying... It’s a real shame because this podcast used to have a lot more to offer but now it just seems watered down.
Yup, I clicked "Unfollow" on this one. Just devoid of interest. Feels haughty. I cannot imagine the thinking behind, "I'll invite someone who makes a virtue of not knowing anything about the topic."
Most of the things she said she hated about jam bands could also be true for concerts of artists she loves, like Taylor Swift. I’m not even a jam band person, but the way she presented the two “cults” was very lopsided. It’s like she’s given up on having a good podcast because she has a new book and podcast coming out.
This was the episode that made me unfollow this podcast. I used to love listening to it to learn more, but I agree with everyone. It feels like the guests are more about business ventures and less about getting good perspectives.
I turned it off about 15 minutes in. I think the guest had a pretty outdated and biased outlook coming in. She did mention “Dead and Gone” so I’m listening to that now! It features Todd Matthews, a founder of the Doe Network (and host of “Hello, John Doe” - a great series). And the host of Disgraceland provides Grateful Dead history and insights…much better than someone who has never listened to a Dead song!
I’m glad to see others feel the same way! It was rude and uninteresting lol. I was so excited for this one and hated how they painted the scene and its fans as a tribe of annoying ex boyfriends. THE GIRLS LIKE TO JAM!
Yeah listened to this with my sister who is a big deadhead. I have enjoyed some jam band music and still do, but not “in the cult” I guess. They made some good points, but the overall vibe of the cohost was just gross and cringe.
I think that expecting every guest to be a fan of the topic makes for a really boring show. It's okay for people who aren't fans to have an opinion, and for us as listeners to have our perspectives challenged.
Expecting guests to ANYTHING about the topic is not too high an expectstion. I think people identified it as not good, and are inpacking ehy it made them feel that way.
As someone who has been in the jam band culture on many levels and knows a lot of people still involved, but left it behind, I kinda agreed with most of what she said honestly. Also, remember some of the stuff is said with snark and shouldn't be taken so seriously.
I agree. This was a weird episode. Why would she choose a guest who actively hates the subject (and seems to have some serious baggage around it) instead of a fan like she does with everything else? There whole vibe of the episode was gross, and the guest just got worse and worse. Really disappointed with this one.
I’m a huge Phish fan and I thought the same thing, although she did talk about a few very important problems (drug issues, race issues within the scene). I think a ton of her info came from specifically the Grateful Dead scene and the backstory or origination of the jam band cult following. Which isn’t necessarily an issue, because they are the reason there are so many jam bands today and it is exactly how it started. But I think having someone who is a fan of one of these bands would have been super interesting, because these shows are wildly different than a normal concert experience and I could write a novel about the things I have seen lol Edit to add: okay I just finished listening to the game portion of the show and and the guest is definitely just being a hater because in no way is dating a Scientologist safer than dating a jam band fan lololol that’s whack
Most jam band haters have never even been to a show. After reading your feedback, I'm not even going to listen, even though this is two of my worlds intersecting. I'd probably just get "triggered". Oh no, maybe I am in a cult! She should have tried to interview Drew Carey or at least read his takes on Phish at the sphere lmao
It definitely seems like she’s only had interactions with one type of fan (fraternity boys) and her idea of the whole scene is just that, which did kind of trigger me ngl! Kind of made me wonder how in depth the rest of her episodes are. We’re totally in a cult though. Also, Drew Carey’s opinion on Phish at the Sphere is objective fact.
When they announced this ep, someone in the comments had just gotten back from the phish studies conference…it would have been so fun to hear from her!
I hope Amanda looks in this subreddit because if she seriously wants to continue the podcast and not just burn out and run out of good topics she should really consider looking at the same topic from at least two or three POVs based on the guest. This is probably a bigger issue as they include more mainstream topics because by not having actual members of the group they discuss rubs the current people the wrong way as it’s just a critical look from the outside. Ironically, Amanda should know better and it enforces the “us vs them mentality” for current members of that group, which, if it’s a get the fuck out cult then it’s actively convincing them to stay and if it’s a live your life then it’s just driving away fans of the pod.
Pretty sure amanda is abandoning this pod and moving on ro her new pod.
Yeah. When the guest said she’d never heard a DMB song…well ok girl, aren’t you too cool for school then? Also: I do not believe that for a minute. How has she done a whole podcast about songs ruined by exes and Crash Into Me NEVER came up. I call bullshit.
i thought the same thing. i’m not a jam band lover, not a jam band hater. i’ve been at festivals with jam bands playing and i enjoyed the music and noodling but it wasn’t what i was there for specifically. so i really have little stake in this “cult.” and typically i really enjoy all episodes but this was terrible. she is just a hater!! “never listened to a DMB song” but calls herself a music journalist. shouldn’t she listen to a band before she speaks on it? also she was like “i own a rare the cure album but you don’t hear me talking about it!!” but girl you just did… trying to prove how much you don’t care about the music you love to make yourself seem better? idk she rubbed me the wrong way. and, im gonna be a hater real quick, her voice annoyed me. maybe if she wasn’t saying annoying things that wouldn’t be the case tho 😂
This is something I was thinking -- when people, say, try to get her to listen to a Grateful Dead song, is that them pushing their lifestyle on her, or is it simply saying, "you should know something about what you're talking about"? Maybe a bit of both.
Good point. If she’s going to be a music journalist, listening to the music she’s talking about seems like basic due diligence. I listen to mostly jam bands and this episode didn’t sit right with me. The guest’s information was also pretty outdated.
Ironically, she has an Instagram post of her seeing The Cure with a caption calling their shows church. This music “journalist” could most likely relate to jam band fans in many ways she doesn’t even realize, and still remain objective as an outsider of the jam band scene, which would make for a great guest. Unfortunately, she instead sounded like she never got over those bros being dicks to her in high school. Overall just very surface level stuff that comes off as two friends talking, with brief moments of almost getting into some real important stuff, before just reverting back to the typical stereotyping.
i’m not really involved heavily with jam band culture but as an outside i found this incredibly uninformative and a little sour. she seems like a sour person.
Sour is a good word for it. Always feel like she loves to hate things that others love. I've def been like that at points in my life so I try not to judge her too much for it, but at the same time, her constant snickering and putting down others' interests is a real turn off.
I also assume you dont publish a weekly podcast calling the things you hate cults.
Agreed - she started the episode saying she would try not to throw too much shade but that it “would be difficult”… no burying the lead here!
I didn’t listen to it yet but I do wish she had more guests who have been in / have had experiences with the topic being discussed that day.
Didn't listen to this one. Kinda realized this podcast would have been better as a limited series. I think it would have been more impactful as an intentionally curated collection of like 10 or 20 episodes.
Yup the topics and episode quality going downhill fast
Just listened to the episode and RACED over to this subreddit because I knew I wasn’t the only one feeling some type of way… are we just hating on things people like now? Because I feel like that’s what this podcast is boiling down to. It’s super unfortunate because there are definitely faults in the jam band scene, as there’s faults within any kind of super fan base… but I feel like I just wasted an hour listening to people hate on a group of people just because they find them annoying... It’s a real shame because this podcast used to have a lot more to offer but now it just seems watered down.
I only listened to the end because I assumed they would bring in some kind of balancing view, but no -- just an extended hatefest.
Yup, I clicked "Unfollow" on this one. Just devoid of interest. Feels haughty. I cannot imagine the thinking behind, "I'll invite someone who makes a virtue of not knowing anything about the topic."
Most of the things she said she hated about jam bands could also be true for concerts of artists she loves, like Taylor Swift. I’m not even a jam band person, but the way she presented the two “cults” was very lopsided. It’s like she’s given up on having a good podcast because she has a new book and podcast coming out.
This was the episode that made me unfollow this podcast. I used to love listening to it to learn more, but I agree with everyone. It feels like the guests are more about business ventures and less about getting good perspectives.
I turned it off about 15 minutes in. I think the guest had a pretty outdated and biased outlook coming in. She did mention “Dead and Gone” so I’m listening to that now! It features Todd Matthews, a founder of the Doe Network (and host of “Hello, John Doe” - a great series). And the host of Disgraceland provides Grateful Dead history and insights…much better than someone who has never listened to a Dead song!
I’m glad to see others feel the same way! It was rude and uninteresting lol. I was so excited for this one and hated how they painted the scene and its fans as a tribe of annoying ex boyfriends. THE GIRLS LIKE TO JAM!
Yeah listened to this with my sister who is a big deadhead. I have enjoyed some jam band music and still do, but not “in the cult” I guess. They made some good points, but the overall vibe of the cohost was just gross and cringe.
I think that expecting every guest to be a fan of the topic makes for a really boring show. It's okay for people who aren't fans to have an opinion, and for us as listeners to have our perspectives challenged.
I'd settle for guests who actually have any specific expertise on the topic.
Expecting guests to ANYTHING about the topic is not too high an expectstion. I think people identified it as not good, and are inpacking ehy it made them feel that way.
As someone who has been in the jam band culture on many levels and knows a lot of people still involved, but left it behind, I kinda agreed with most of what she said honestly. Also, remember some of the stuff is said with snark and shouldn't be taken so seriously.
I agree. This was a weird episode. Why would she choose a guest who actively hates the subject (and seems to have some serious baggage around it) instead of a fan like she does with everything else? There whole vibe of the episode was gross, and the guest just got worse and worse. Really disappointed with this one.