Y.M.C.A....an absolutely loony song. Yet also a generational anthem. And also, a red herring, because this episode is not actually about Y.M.C.A. This episode is actually about a shocking reveal that will change the future of this podcast and possibly the world. Goodbye, for now.  You can watch the video version of this episode HERE! Follow Punch Up The Jam on Twitter and Instagram Get the punch-ups for yourself and support the show on Patreon Note - as mentioned in the ep, we will keep...

Evan & Andrew are joined by Ena Da to discuss the detestable but also detestably catchy song Sugar. There are just so many problems. Not least, how do we understand "sugar" and "red velvet" in light of recent illuminations of Adam Levine's idea of romance? More fundamentally, is Maroon 5 even still a band? Or just five guys cosplaying as a rock band while they sing along to Mike Posner studio tracks? And why are they giving themselves out as wedding presents to unsuspecting Los...

Nepotism babies are so hot right now! But have they…always been?!? Evan & Andrew discuss the hottest nepotism baby of the 90s outside of Socks Clinton, Evan desperately and fruitlessly attempts to get Andrew to stop talking about Bob Dylan and start talking about  ̶J̶a̶k̶o̶b̶ ̶D̶y̶l̶a̶n̶  The Wallflowers instead. But the sonorous tones of the organ on ‘One Headlight’ keeps drawing Andrew back to Dylan the elder like moth to a flame. Andrew resorts to the only revenge available to him in...

How long is it? Every single kid knows exactly how many days are left until Christmas, every harried mom and dad knows how few shopping days are left until the 25th, yet Adam Duritz and The Counting Crows are out here acting like Einsteinian physics applies to the Gregorian Calendar. Can our intrepid and unabashedly festive hosts take the most heartbreaking song in the advent oeuvre and turn it into something that will go on your family's Christmas Eve playlist? Seems impossible! Guest: Pat...

Ever thought about how making a billion dollars would ruin your life? Maybe you pondered a lot of options (revolutionary coup, botched CoolSculpting, basic bitch drug cartel kidnapping), but you MIGHT have missed an obvious one if you haven’t read all the People mag listicles about Shania Twain’s divorce-slash-husband-swap! Long story short, do NOT hire someone to be your best friend and then leave them alone in a palatial Swiss chalet with your superproducer husband while you go on tour....

Have you ever felt like you were the only lonely person walking down a boulevard? Well we've got news for you. You're not alone. 90% of all humans have felt like they're the only one who can understand themselves before their brain finishes developing at age 25. Evan, Andrew, and Joanna Hausmann dive in to what makes Green Day the perfect band for the adolescent mind, why Boulevard of Broken Dreams is the musical equivalent of dogs playing poker, and if Green Day have sold out or...

Is it rude to name your band after an event in which your friends and colleagues died? Is it rude to fire your lead singer immediately after he shreds his vocal chords singing the biggest hit of the 1980s? Well, apparently you don't care about this sort of stuff if you're a true SURVIVOR, because you've got THE EYE OF THE TIGER! Evan and Andrew welcome back Arthur Meyer to Punch Up The Jam, who comes ready not only with a pitch-ready idea for the punch up, but with the dumbest yet most...

Can a song be TOO catchy? Can a song be improved by making it WORSE, unlike what we do every other week, which is making every song better? Can a song be so good that it drags its singer into a black-holey whirlpool of one-hit-wonderdom? Well, the answer to all of these questions is YES, specifically because of Iyaz’s 2009 banger “Replay.” Evan, Andrew, & Phil Jamesson brainstorm ways to improve it simply by making it worse while also shop talking about YouTube, the Ocean State Job Lot,...

Andrew, Evan, and nearly genetically identical guest Michael, discuss a dimension of our multiverse in which Bill Withers became a billionaire by having all his songs recorded by Aretha Franklin and Michael Jackson instead of singing them himself. But then they come to the immediate conclusion that that alternate universe is an entirely worse place for it, because we don’t have the privilege of hearing Bill Withers’ beautiful everyman voice, and also being a billionaire doesn’t even make Bill...

Grudgingly yet proudly acknowledging their middle-aged-ness, Evan and Andrew call in a ringer to shed some light on what the hell David Bowie is imagining when he thinks of Young Americans. Pimps? Hustlers? Richard Nixon?!? Had this guy even BEEN to America?!? Along the way, our hosts reminisce about their viral collaboration “It’s Corn,” Bruce Springsteen plagiarism, whether cocaine can make you a fascist*, and, for no discernible reason, revisit Andrew’s worst opinion. *yes. Guest: Julian...

A red-eye flight?!?! FROM Atlanta?!?! Well those travel...EAST! Evan & Andrew wax philosophical about why The Chicks' "Goodbye Earl" demonstrably takes place in France, whether they love music too much or hate music too much, and the dumbest arguments they've ever had about songwriting during their last audio-only episode before Punch Up The Jam's big move to audio AND video next week! Andrew calls his shot early for the Punch Up and performs our intrepid hosts' first ever LIVE Punch Up....

If you learn one thing from this song, it's that when anything goes wrong in your life, you simply must accuse others of being rude. How RUDE! You asked me to put a shirt on in the DMV?? Rude!! This is a huge hit that is completely upside down in its assessment of who exactly is being rude. Evan & Andrew are assisted in uprighting this song by prominent manners experts and comedy band The Wolves Of Glendale. An unassailable punch up is delivered. Important side discussions on the bad...

🎶I'd like to be🎶....punching up a song from the Fab Four! A scary prospect! And that's even before you get the tentacles involved. Obviously fans of the pod have been begging for a Beatles punch up for ages and we've just been too intimidated until now, tiptoeing through Lennon & McCartney solo work as prelude. But today WE'VE DONE IT. With the intrepid help of Beatlemaniac and Professional Reviewer Reilly Anspaugh, we got to the bottom of this song and the bottom of the ocean. Extensive...

duh nunu nununu nununu nunu nuh YEAH it's a new ep about this 90s classic! 'Shine' by Collective Soul was a huge hit, but it was only a demo! Don't give up on your dreams kids! Andrew & Evan unearth some surprising arcana about this band's success, but not before they get in some corrections about nudity, review this song's covers by Smashing Pumpkins and Dolly Parton, and imagining fictional covers by Paula Abdul and Bel Biv DeVoe. Andrew gets so sad and self-reflective he threatens to...

Andrew & Evan get scientific help from Shelby and EJ to philosophically probe Bruno Mars’ “Lazy Song,” asking: if you have the laziest day in the history of days, didn’t that, well, probably require some great amount of planning and effort on that part? And don’t you get additional marks off if you even thought about doing P90X, or any other thing from the year 2011?  Guests: Shelby Wolstein and EJ Marcus of Keeping Records podcast. Walk-in music: 'I'll Get Along' by Michael Kiwanuka;...

Evan and Andrew turn their gaze inward when Annie Rauwerda (Depths of Wikipedia) incisively declares that their entire podcast is built on a foundation of hating. Is it too late for Evan and Andrew to walk away from their office cooler of Haterade™️?? Or has Punch Up The Jam, and a career of reading YouTube comments hardened their hearts? The final boss of this challenge is Annie's confounding opinion that Cascada's 2007 hit "Everytime We Touch" is the "perfect song." As they fight this...

You want romance? How about a list of geriatric ailments? Oh, swoon! Yep, this song is probably the front runner for "most played as a wedding first dance", and it's in serious need of a punch up. Evan & Andrew, first of all, solve the mystery of 17 vs 70, and then go on to break open a series of other earth-shaking quandaries like, Does Ed Sheeran know about smizing? Did James Blunt prevent WWIII? And what do Marvin Gaye and Marilyn Manson have to do with this treacly ballad?  Walk-in...

Is Brandy getting played?? Is she in denial? And is this song yacht rock about old-timey pirates or a sea shanty about yacht rockers? One thing is for sure: issa bop. Andrew & Evan are joined by Jon Gabrus (Corked, Action Boyz, 101 Places to Party Before You Die) to break it down and punch it up. They discover why Jon wants to have his neck snapped, how to have sexual intercourse with the whole ocean, and exacerbate the long-running New Jersey / Long Island music feud.  Guest: Jon...

You know the rules, and so do I" Uh, what rules are you talking about there, Rick? Everything ok Rick? Why do you have that knife in your hand Rick? Do you usually keep that pair of leather gloves in your trench coat pocket? Did you really just bring me to this deserted warehouse to "Rick Roll" me Rick? Why...do you have that knife Rick? WHAT ARE THE RULES? RIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!!! RIIIIIIII ––– Walk-in music: 'Sleep Walk' by Santo & Johnny; 'What's Up?' by 4 Non Blondes. Follow Punch Up The...

Grab a bottle of Trader Joe's wine and tuck into this episode on your way to Hooters after not cuddling your girlfriend, after all, everyday can't be her birthday. It's just what this undeniable classic intended! Guest: Carl Tart of fellow Headgum podcast, XOXO, Gossip Kings. Walk-in music: 'The Hallelujah Chorus' by The Roches; 'Poontang' by The Undisputed Truth; 'Whiskey Drinkin' SOB' by Scroat Belly. Follow Punch Up The Jam on Twitter and Instagram Like the show? Rate Punch Up The Jam...

Punch Up The Jam has been nominated for Best Music Podcast in The People's Choice Podcast Awards! You can vote by "saving your nomination" after you sign up here. Voting closes Sunday, July 31st, so vote while you can! Evan is joined by Rachel Green and Kirsten O’Brien of Boss Bitches to settle the question at the heart of most modern utilitarian philosophy: If a song is the perfect song for Zumba, can it also be a terrible song? And if it WAS a terrible song, would J. Lo pull a lever to...

Is this song a fun romp or barbaric atrocity? Evan enlists horror movie experts Sammy Smart and Emily Gonzales (Too Scary; Didn't Watch) to dissect and dismember this terrifying and insane dance hit. Diversions include: trademark lawsuits in which the judge gets very cheeky, haircuts shaped like eyebrows, and the mullet of pants.  Guest: Sammy Smart & Emily Gonzalez of Too Scary; Didn't Watch. Walk-in music: 'Turtle Power' by Partners In Kryme; 'May I Have This Dance' by Francis and The...

This song was slandered as “The Worst Song of the 80s”. Why?? It rocks! But as Andrew and Evan get way way into, it also sucks in unique and exciting and dumb ways. An absolutely devastating ep, with crucial insights into: what is hoopla; pre-boomer boomer attitudes, why you always go back to the mamba, calling in favors at MTV, and what is the difference between the professional French farter Le Petomaine and Marcel Proust.  Walk-in music: 'Kites Are Fun' by The Free Design; 'Nocturne Opus...

Imagine a world that is in every possible respect different from our own. Yeah, just give it a whirl. It's easy if you TRY.  ...So says history's biggest imagination bully, John Lennon. We rip off the uplifting latex face mask of this song and bare the dark soul within: this song thinks it's better than you. Our very very prepared guest Arthur Meyer (The Tonight Show, The Onion) has some extremely helpful punch-up suggestions, and helps us roam through discussions of global resource scarcity,...