Slate Culture Feed

Four decades ago, Paul Simon broke out of a middle-age slump with a collaborative project few saw coming. Join Chris Molanphy as he explores the musical brilliance, polarizing legacy—and of course, the chart history—of 1986’s Graceland.

Captivated by a borrowed mixtape of South African music, Simon defied a UN cultural boycott and traveled to apartheid-era South Africa to collaborate and record with Ladysmith Black Mambazo and other musicians. The result was polarizing, critically beloved and, eventually, a chart smash. Graceland also set a new precedent for aging pop stars.

For an even deeper dive on the controversies behind the album, check out Ashley Kahn’s new book Days of Miracle and Wonder: Paul Simon and the Trials and Triumphs of Graceland. And for more on the anti-apartheid movement in pop, listen to Hit Parade’s episode on the rise and fall of the charity megasingle.

Get more Hit Parade with Slate Plus! Join for bonus episodes of "The Bridge" and ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe directly from the Hit Parade show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/hitparadeplus to get access wherever you listen.
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Since Bram Stoker’s Dracula was first published in 1897 it has inspired hundreds, if not thousands, of other fictional vampires. But none are quite as strange as that found in the frigid climes of Iceland. There, just a few years after Dracula was first printed, emerged a so-called translation that diverged so radically from Stoker’s that it introduced new characters, new scenes, and new themes—and yet seemed to have been published with Stoker’s blessing. People have since spent years trying to figure out how exactly this Nordic Dracula came to be—and who its true author is. It all makes for a seasonally appropriate literary mystery—one full of doppelgängers, supervillains, plot twists, and vampires who just refuse to die.
In this episode, you’ll hear from Ásgeir Jónsson, literary enthusiast and Governor of the Central Bank of Iceland; Helen Zaltzman, host of The Allusionist podcast; Icelandic publishing scholar Kristján B. Jónasson; publisher Rickard Berghorn; and Benjamin Mier-Cruz, Assistant Professor of Scandinavian Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Thank you to Birna Anna Björnsdóttir, Hans Corneel de Roos, Ingmar Söhrman, Bjarni Bjarnason, and Benjamin Frisch.
This episode was written by Willa Paskin and produced by Max Freedman. Our show is also produced by Alesandra Tejeda and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.
If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.
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You may have thought we knew everything there was to know about Elizabeth Holmes. The Theranos founder who was found guilty of defrauding investors sparked books, documentaries, and even a TV show—but nothing like this. Nathan Fielder’s You Can See Everything is ostensibly another exploration of Holmes, but ends up being about so much more. On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay and joined by Slate senior writer Scaachi Koul to discuss the internet’s divided reaction to the project, and how Fielder’s own internet history contributes to the overwhelming response.

This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay.
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For this episode, we asked for your stories about medication side effects. You told us about the weird, from sleep-eating to compulsive spending. You told us about making trade-off calculations: Is an improved mood worth a decreased sex drive? And we heard about the loneliness of living with side effects that alter your quality of life when you have a condition that depends on lifelong treatment.
Podcast production by Zoe Azulay
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And if you’re new to the show, welcome. We’re so glad you’re here. Find us and follow us on Instagram and you can find Anna’s newsletter at annasale.substack.com. Our email address, where you can reach us with voice memos and pitches is, deathsexmoney@slate.com.
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The “tradwives” are retreating. Nara Smith went on Call Her Daddy to renounce any association with the term, and has been in the middle of a full-on rebrand as the promotes her new cookbook. Other figureheads, like Hannah Neeleman aka Ballerina Farm, are taking a step back to put their business first. Meanwhile, the actual former tradwives are suffering. On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by author and Culture Study host Anne Helen Petersen to talk about why these women are making such public shifts, and what happens when the word “tradwife” loses all meaning.

This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay.
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