Double Elvis Productions
500 episodes listed below
Host Jake Brennan traces the crimes and scandals behind musicians from Elvis to Taylor Swift.
Disgraceland treats pop, punk, hip-hop, and rock history like a police file with a record collection nearby. Episodes move from Beastie Boys backlash and Grace Jones danger to Taylor Swift stalking, Patti Smith's New York, and Fleetwood Mac's combustive rise.
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Disgraceland is built around single-artist or single-band narrative episodes, each running roughly 35-42 minutes, in which host Jake Brennan narrates a musician's story with an emphasis on crime, exploitation, scandal, or death. Recent subjects include Elvis Presley and manager Colonel Tom Parker, INXS and Michael Hutchence, Public Enemy and Chuck D, Taylor Swift's stalking and masters disputes, and Grace Jones's 1989 Jamaican drug arrest. The show is entirely solo-hosted with no interview guests, though band members, producers, and label executives are described in detail as characters within each story. Interspersed with full episodes are shorter 'bonus' or 'after-party' installments where Brennan answers listener mail, takes call-in tangents about music trivia and travel, previews upcoming episodes, and cross-promotes companion shows like 'This Film Should Be Played Loud' and 'Hollywoodland.' Recurring themes include managers and labels profiting off artists, home invasions and stalking of famous musicians, drug arrests, letter bombs and death threats, and posthumous reinterpretation of an artist's public image. Some bonus episodes shift into a comedy or op-ed tone, such as one proposing an alternative Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The show is produced by Double Elvis Productions and distributes through the Exactly Right Network. Production is narrative and research-driven, drawing on memoirs, court records, and news coverage rather than original interviews. New full episodes are typically paired with a shorter bonus episode covering listener questions and tangents. Listeners drawn to true crime, rock and pop music history, and long-running musician-biography formats are the core audience.
Made for: Listeners who enjoy true crime and rock/pop music history told as artist-by-artist biographical deep dives.
What sets it apart: Fuses solo-narrated artist biography with true-crime storytelling in single-subject episodes, plus a listener-mail bonus 'after-party' format.
DISGRACELAND is an award-winning music and true crime podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. Jerry Lee Lewis's 5th wife? Dead. Sid and Nancy? Both dead. Why? Because musicians are insane, and insane things happen to them. Why did we lose Amy Winehouse at 27? Was Debbie Harry really abducted by Ted Bundy as she claims? Is Patti Smith not just the "Godmother of Punk", but also the "Original True Crime Girl"? What really happened the night of the Jay Z nightclub stabbing? What do the Diddy indictments truly reveal? All these stories and more, on artists...
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Disgraceland connects music history to crime and scandal through detailed narratives that keep artists, consequences, and cultural context in view.
Disgraceland treats notoriety as part of music history, tracing how crime, danger, scandal, and public myth gather around major artists. The host builds narrated stories from telling specifics: the Beastie Boys' early misogyny and the thefts inspired by a Volkswagen badge, Patti…
A stolen Volkswagen badge becomes cultural evidence; suddenly your music trivia has a police file.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A sharp Beastie Boys episode where a joke necklace, stolen VW badges, and UK tabloid panic collide.
Disgraceland takes on the Beastie Boys with real affection and a useful amount of discomfort. The episode frames the band as more than a chaos myth: hardcore roots, License to Ill mania, the misogyny the group later had to face, and the absurd UK moment when Mike D's Volkswagen…
A loose Disgraceland bonus about Hall of Fame gripes, unlikely covers, and the obsessive side of music history.
Disgraceland's after-party bonus keeps things loose, turning irritation with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame into a listener-driven excuse to argue about music history, taste, and who gets remembered.
A stylish Grace Jones episode where Warm Leatherette, Jamaican dread, and home-invasion menace sharpen the same myth.
Grace Jones gets the full Disgraceland treatment here: an eighties icon, actor, model, and musical force caught in stories of arrest, alleged set-up, and a home invasion.
A tense Taylor Swift rewind about stalking, early label bets, and the drive behind her rise.
Disgraceland frames Taylor Swift's superstardom as something darker than spectacle: hitmaking shadowed by the constant threat of being recognized, followed, and targeted.
A brisk Disgraceland after-party of Patti Smith, Chelsea Hotel grime, Grace Jones anticipation, listener lore, and music-book rabbit holes.
Disgraceland's after-party bonus episode is a scrappy bridge between main installments, built around a big show announcement, a return to Patti Smith and the Chelsea Hotel, a Grace Jones tease, listener calls, messages, and the usual Rosie detours.
A dark, street-level Patti Smith story where crime, survival, and poetry push toward rock and roll.
Disgraceland frames Patti Smith's rise through the true crime and street danger orbiting her early life: the Lindbergh kidnapping in her mother's imagination, Genet and Burroughs as outlaw models, the Manson murders, the .44 caliber killings, and the grime around Central Park,…
Disgraceland turns listener calls about overlooked women in rock into a loose, fan-driven music-history hang with a sharp Joan Jett detour.
Disgraceland's After Party hands the floor to listeners making their case for women in rock history who deserve more attention, with Nina Hagen, Wendy O. Williams, and Joan Jett all coming up in the calls.
A sharp Chrissie Hynde origin story where London punk danger and instability push toward the Pretenders' first spark.
Chrissie Hynde's Pretenders origin story comes through as a London punk survival story, told from the shop floors, borrowed rooms, and volatile scene politics around King's Road.
True stories of scams, aliases, frauds, and lives built on lies.
Payne Lindsey and Tenderfoot TV revisit the Atlanta Child Murders and the wider Monster franchise.
Karina Longworth narrates the Manson murders as a story about Hollywood's collapsing 1960s dream.
iO Tillett Wright investigates her mother's boyfriend's unsolved 1982 East Village murder.
A wilderness hoax, a trusting BC town, and the brothers who fooled it.
A mystery about love, access, and letting go.
The joke grows teeth.
The after party opens with a gripe.
Grace Jones gets framed in the Eighties.
Fame becomes a locked-door problem.
The after party gets loud.
Patti Smith walks through crime's long shadow.
This episode explores the wild and criminal stories surrounding the band Fleetwood Mac, including drug use, arrests, and interpersonal drama.
This episode explores the tumultuous history of Fleetwood Mac, focusing on the creation of their album Rumors amid personal conflicts and drug-fueled excess.
A bonus episode of Disgraceland previewing a Patti Smith episode and discussing music memoirs.
A behind-the-scenes preview of Disgraceland, explaining the show's concept of true crime stories about musicians.
A special behind-the-scenes episode introducing the concept of Disgraceland, a podcast blending music and true crime.
This episode explores the wild and tragic life of Bobby Brown, including his rise to fame, personal scandals, and bizarre stories like cocaine chicken and encounters with ghosts.
This episode explores the wild and scandalous life of Bobby Brown, including his arrest, alleged ghost encounter, and infamous cocaine chicken incident.
This episode begins with a lengthy advertisement for Quince linen pants before presumably transitioning into a true crime story about a musician.
A bonus episode of Disgraceland discussing Britpop music and true crime stories, including attempted kidnappings of British musicians.
This episode explores the life of rock star Pete Doherty, focusing on his involvement in a mysterious death case involving actor Mark Blanco in 2006.
This episode explores the tumultuous life of rock star Pete Doherty, covering his career with The Libertines, relationships with Kate Moss, drug addiction, and a mysterious death.
This episode recounts the criminal exploits and bad behavior of outlaw country musician Waylon Jennings, including his drug use and arrest.
This episode recounts the criminal and reckless exploits of outlaw country musician Waylon Jennings, including a plane crash, drug use, and a DEA arrest.
Bonus-episode housekeeping with bite.
This bonus episode discusses underrated female rock stars like Chrissy Hine from The Pretenders, previews an upcoming episode on the Libertines and Pete Doherty, and analyzes Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees with inductee predictions.
This episode tells the story of Chrissie Hynde's early days with The Pretenders, including an unprovoked attack and her survival amidst chaos.
Chrissie Hynde is not famous yet.
Bonnie poses with a gun.
Serge Gainsbourg wants trouble.
A bonus episode previewing a full episode on Townes Van Zandt, discussing the worst people in the world's music tastes and musician misconduct.
A bonus episode of Disgraceland discussing the music listened to by the worst people in history, previewing an episode on Townes Van Zandt.
This episode tells the story of songwriter Townes Van Zandt, who lived in pain and sacrificed everything for his art, similar to his idol Hank Williams.
This episode tells the story of songwriter Townes Van Zandt, his struggles, and his death on the same day as Hank Williams.
A prison van rolls into the getaway.
This episode explores the chaotic and controversial history of hip-hop group Public Enemy, including legal troubles, internal conflicts, and their cultural impact.
Discos, this is the after party.
The promos nearly eat the room.
New York City.
Danger gets the first shot.
This episode tells the story of Mia Zapata, lead singer of The Gits, who was murdered in 1993, exploring her life and the circumstances of her death.
This episode tells the story of Mia Zapata and the band The Gits, exploring the dark side of the grunge scene and a murder case.
This bonus episode discusses Lady Gaga conspiracies, Kanye West's apology, and a David Bowie-Kanye West conspiracy.
This episode explores conspiracy theories surrounding Lady Gaga, including the Lena Morgana murder and Illuminati claims, examining facts and evidence behind the rumors.
This episode explores the wild conspiracy theories surrounding Lady Gaga, including claims she murdered her friend Lena Morgana and is controlled by the Illuminati.