The American accent in pop and rock music is ubiquitous. It has become the default accent for any aspiring artist to sing in, to the extent that it's virtually taken for granted and no one finds it odd.

But it is a bit odd. This episode attempts to unravel the question as to whether singing this way is physiological or sociological. In other words, is there something about the accent which uniquely lends itself to pop and rock; can you decide to sing in your own country's accent; do young singers feel the weight of cultural exceptions to sing this way; and is it all forms of singing or do other genres have an American accent issue also.

Join me for a medium-sized dive and an entirely reasonable debate

Short stories in songs and music in stories. An episode of two halves, which coincidentally is the name of one of the tracks mentioned.

In the first half, I choose ten of my favourite "short story songs" - tracks which form a more or less complete narrative. To give you a flavour, I also read out some sample lyrics from each. Then in the second half, a discussion on music in books, drama and even ads with the brilliant award-winning Melbourne crime novelist, Sarah Bailey.

"Why don't young people write protest songs any more? It's not like the 1960s when we cared about the world and weren't glued to a screen."

You might have heard this argument. Protest songs are usually thought to have disappeared or at the very least dwindled in their power and influence. But is that true?

A careful examination reveals a quite different story, of an art form that not only never went away but evolved into something less visible to many but still vibrant and compelling.

Join me, Ian Forth, on a quest to discover whatever happened to the protest song.

“It is not just that Kraftwerk invented the future of music; it is that a startling amount of the music you hear today, from the most obscure indie rock to the most mainstream pop to literally everything in between, bears the impression of their invention.

None of this is is meant to diminish The Beatles' leviathan achievements; it’s just to say that although the pop century has been dominated by the goliath shadow of Mount Beatle, they are no longer the most influential pop band in the Western world. Kraftwerk are.”

Is the journalist right? And what exactly were The Beatles' "leviathan achievements"? Join me to discuss who really is the most influential group in musical history.

Film aficionado James Hillhouse takes us through his choice of the ten maverick soundtracks which changed the movie rules for good.

Here's a link to a Spotify playlist you can put on while the episode is playing: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0t4H136MSakdexG78CO8Ip?si=b34ada315bfd4072

Join James and me to find out the reasons behind his choices.

Spotify. All the music, all of the time. That's got to be a good thing, right? Not everyone agrees. Join us for a discussion on the rights and wrongs of the world's most popular streaming platform.

A discussion on the Band Aid and Live Aid phenomena. They save thousands of lives in Ethiopia. So, case closed? As ever, it’s far more complex than that. Despite the best of intentions, we ask did Live Aid in the end do more harm than good.

Curious about jazz and blues but don't know where to begin? Join aficionado Tony Bishop, legendary jazz and blues singer and harmonica player on the London circuit, who will give you a whirlwind expert briefing to hold down your end of the coffee machine conversation.

What did The Kinks ever do for us?

The Beatles invented pop music as we know it and The Stones were the bad boys. But, like a middle child in the family struggling to fill a role, where does that leave The Kinks?

Comments under Youtube videos of songs from the 70s and 80s have a grim consistency. "Back when music was music" is the gist.

Walk down any high street in the world and you'll see someone wearing that t-shirt. The one with the wavy lines.

50 years ago the NME ran a Best Albums Of All Time poll. There were 3 female artists on it and zero female-only bands.

If you want to be expertly briefed next time you're chatting away round the famous water cooler, Vinyl Maelstrom is here to help.