Bullseye with Jesse Thorn Folgen

Every now and then, we bring you a special segment called The Song that Changed My Life - it's a chance for musicians we love to dish on the song that made them who they are today. This time: Stephen Malkmus, the former frontman of Pavement. The band's been called one of the best acts from the 90s. They recorded so many songs that capture the decade perfectly: Cut Your Hair. Range Life. Stereo. Malkmus has kept on since the band broke up in '99 - dropping 8 records between then and now. His latest is called Groove Denied and it's kind of a departure for him: a little less like The Fall, a little more like New Order or Kraftwerk. When we asked him about the song that changed his life, though. He didn't talk about any of those bands. Instead, he threw us kind of a curveball: Captain & Tennille.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle created an star in the brilliant new show PEN15, on Hulu. It's show about middle school. Or, I guess this is more accurate: it's about middle school you might have actually experienced. It's set in the year 2000 and it captures the era perfectly: N*SYNC songs, lip gloss, bebe tanks and all. But PEN15 digs deeper into what it means to be 12 or 13. It's a scary, weird, uncertain time. And nobody really knows what they're doing. It's a show about kids that definitely isn't for kids - sex and menstruation come up a bit, and we'll talk about that in this interview, too. Don't miss this one - just like their show, Maya and Anna are fascinating, hilarious and profoundly insightful.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

A heads up, first: There's some talk about sexual assault in this conversation. Nothing graphic, just some discussion of the use of it in comedy, in the abstract. If you're sensitive to these kinds of topics, we figured we'd give you a heads up. It's with Jon Iver Helgaker and Jonas Torgersen, creators of the hit show Norsemen. It's a sitcom about vikings, set around the year 790 AD. Throughout the series we see the villagers and vikings deal with daily life. The vikings pillage. The vikings fight among themselves. They sacrifice slaves. The jokes are great, absurd but delivered bone dry. And the violence is real, and their actions have real consequences. And at the heart of the show, modernity is closing in on them. New inventions. New norms. Pillaging towns doesn't pay like it used to. Jon and Jonas will give us a behind the scenes look at the show. Plus, they'll explain Taco Friday: the latest food craze in Norway.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy