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Why Things Become Popular, with Chuck Klosterman

9/29/2026 • 88 min

What makes a hit a hit? Why do some bands make it while others fade into obscurity? Chuck Klosterman’s new book imagines an alternate history of 20th century music and uses it to explore why some things become popular and just how much culture depends on chance. Subscribe to our YouTube channel here:https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson If you… Play episode

The Single Smartest Case Against AI Doom
The Truth About Mississippi's Education "Miracle"
Why Experts Keep Getting the Economy So Wrong
What’s the Point of College?
The New Book That Scares Big Tech
AI Slop Is Breaking the Internet. Can We Save It?
Why Everything Is Going to Keep Getting More Expensive
Higher Education’s Age of ‘Insufferable Hypocrisy’
It May Be Time to Freak Out About AI
Why Americans Hate Data Centers
Why America Is Switching From Booze to Weed
"The End of Reading Is Here"
What Translator Emily Wilson Thinks of Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey'
Why 'The Odyssey' Is the West’s Greatest Story
A Philosopher’s One-Word Theory for Why the World Feels So Weird
How Israel Is Transforming American Politics
MEGAPOD: The Most Overrated American Who Ever Lived
A Surprising Theory About the Future of War
SpaceX, AI Bubble Fears, and The Age of the Trillion-Dollar, Zero-Profit C…
The Iran War Is Ending. Everybody Lost.
The Donald Trump Corruption Scandal Draft
The Most Exciting Month of Medical Breakthroughs in Years
Old-igarchy: How the Elderly Conquered American Power
How Modern Fatherhood Is Changing Men’s Brains
What 400,000 Essays Reveal About AI and Creativity
The Surprising Truth About America's Friendship Crisis
Why the NBA Feels Broken—and Why the League Can’t Fix It
The Men Who Think Toxic Feminism Destroyed America
Does Anybody Know How to Solve an American Debt Crisis?
The Global Fertility Crisis Is Worse Than You Think
The Case Against the AI Job Apocalypse
Why American Happiness Just Fell Off a Cliff
One of the Deadliest Cancers in America May Have Met Its Match
Why Too Much Freedom Is the Enemy of Success
Why the Iran War Is Tearing MAGA Apart
The Triple Crisis That’s Breaking Hollywood—and Changing the Future of Mov…
The Most Powerful and Dangerous AI Model Yet
The Whole World Is Fighting About Energy
‘The Job Market for Young People Is Brutal’
America's Religious Revival Is a Mirage
Is China the Winner of the Iran War?
Why We're Addicted to ‘Sh*tty Flow’
Anthropic Thinks AI Might Destroy the Economy. It's Building It Anyway.
America's Tax System Is Broken
The Casino-ification of America
"Yes, AI Is a Bubble. There Is No Question."
The Pill That Works Even When You Know It's Fake
The Economic Crisis of the Iran War Goes Far Beyond Oil
"American Democracy as We Know It Might Not Survive This Technology"

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