Sonic Subcultures cover art

Sonic Subcultures

Sonic Subcultures

By: The Media Resonance Network
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About this listen

Sonic Subcultures unpacks formative records to understand the cultural moments that emerge from popular music. Our first season looked at the Nu Metal resurgence, when a decades-old genre found new momentum with a younger generation. Our second season looks at then of our most formative records from across our lives to understand how personal taste is made and developed over time.The Media Resonance Network Music
Episodes
  • Season 2 Episode 2 - Arctic Monkeys' AM
    Jan 28 2026

    In this season of Sonic Subcultures, we ask ‘what makes a listener over time?’ By revisiting 10 formative records for our hosts, we trace the way personal taste can develop and evolve, and how lives intersect with cultural and subcultural moments through music.When AM dropped in 2103, the Arctic Monkeys traded scrappy Sheffield rock for leather jackets and American desert rock swag. The result? A record that didn’t just top the charts but branded itself into Tumblr dashboards and Gen Z nostalgia Playlists.

    In this episode, Marc Lajeunesse and Safa Hachi unpack how AM became its own aesthetic ecosystem. From Alex Turner’s “cool guy” act to the double-edged sword of sonic evolution.

    We ask: how do you grow as a band when every version of you becomes someone’s personality?

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    51 mins
  • Season 2 Episode 1 - Spice Girls' Spiceworld
    Jan 21 2026

    In this season of Sonic Subcultures, we ask ‘what makes a listener over time?’ By revisiting 10 formative records for our hosts, we trace the way personal taste can develop and evolve, and how lives intersect with cultural and subcultural moments through music.

    With choreographed personas and sleek marketing, the Spice Girls were pop icons built in the boardroom. But they also opened doors.

    In this episode, Marc Lajeunesse and Safa Hachi trace the blurred line between empowerment and performance, and how the Spice Girls helped reshape the pop landscape—for better or worse.

    We ask: when feminism becomes a product, who does it serve?

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    55 mins
  • Sonic Subcultures Episode 9 - Limp Bizkit's Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog Flavored Water and the Nu Metal Legacy
    May 9 2025

    We opened the season with Limp Bizkit’s Significant Other. Now, we close it with Chocolate Starfish. In just a year, the band went from rising stars to overexposed icons– cockier, louder and more self-aware than ever.


    In this season finale, Marc Lajeunesse and Safa Hachi reflect on Fred Durst’s transformation from cultural villain to ironic icon, the band’s unapologetic legacy and why Limp Bizkit’s blend of loud, messy rebellion might be exactly what this generation needs.


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    50 mins
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