What’s that...? You thought Led Zeppelin’s appeal was to do with Robert Plant’s soaring vocals and bodacious hair? Well. You clearly haven’t listened to their lyrics backwards. Come with us—if you dare—into the Haunted House of Rock Music [cue thunder crashes and villain laughter]. We’re piling into Marty McFly’s DeLorean time machine and traveling back to 1989 to watch Hell’s Bells: The Dangers of Rock ‘n’ Roll. It’s what’s playing in the background at a Halloween party thrown by the Satanic Panic, a new moral majority, parental advisory labels on “porn rock,” and general fears about teenagers enjoying themselves. Mike gets groovy with a Sandi Patty deep cut and a Grateful Dead jam session, while Merinda stands by the punch bowl muttering surly critiques about failures in textual analysis. What do our fears (and the ways we try to manage them) say about us? What do code-cracking and spreading conspiracy theories have in common? And what makes metaphors a trick for some and a treat for others? We have lotsa thoughts and zero jump scares. Listen and lurch!

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Production assistance from the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama.

Theme music produced with Udio.

Why would Tarzan leave Manhattan for Brentwood, TN? Find out as we take a tour of the Remnant Fellowship Church by way of the HBO/Max documentary The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin. Conversational topics include but are not limited to: 1980s diet culture, patriarchy in conservative American Protestantism, gender politics and anti-fat bias, and what gets normalized when religious groups are said to warp/twist/exploit a certain text or tradition. Mike drops some personal lore about parenting workshops, Merinda explains why she doesn’t like an exceptionalism narrative, and both agree that it’s annoying when gawking at big hair stands in for critiquing capitalist tax codes. PSA: Individual experiences are always wrapped up in and reflective of structural realities, everybody. Cult favorites include the amazing Aubrey Gordon. Less explicitly, we seem also to love accidental segues and a lack of transitions! Join us and follow wherever you listen to things.

Follow us on all the socials at @cultfavoritepod.

Production assistance from the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama.

Theme music produced with Udio

This week, we get a first-person account of the Buddhafield from someone who had been a member of the group for 22 years. Ballet, speedos, fruit carving, 80s-era disillusionment, and Rosemary’s Baby all make appearances. Mike questions reality, Merinda gets mad at the filmmaker’s mother, and we both think about different kinds/degrees of performance. Is confrontation a passable substitute for closure? Is “charisma” just patriarchy with a facelift? Join us as we discuss Holy Hell. And keep sending us feedback and film recs! We love hearing from you.

Links:

Christopher Breu, In Defense of Sex: Nonbinary Embodiment and Desire https://www.fordhampress.com/9781531508777/in-defense-of-sex/

Follow us on Instagram and X at @cultfavoritepod.

Production assistance from the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama.

Theme music produced with Udio.