John Seabrook is a staff writer for The New Yorker. His most recent book The Song Machine does to the pop music industry what Upton Sinclair's The Jungle did for the meat packing industry. It tells the reader how their favorite product is really made.
Many of the top pop songs of the last 30 years or so were written by the same small group of people. Mostly men, and mostly Scandinavian. It's truly a fascinating tale of how the soundtracks of our lives have been very deliberately crafted by algorithms and mathematical precision (hooks every seven seconds etc.)
John talks to Billy about his experiences writing the book, ABBA's influence on The Sex Pistols, Telehealth, ISIS and their interest in pop music, stepping into the minds of song creators and much more.
Read more of John's work at:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/29/the-promise-and-the-peril-of-virtual-health-care
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/03/16/dressing-for-the-surveillance-age