79: Roman Mars (Radiotopia & 99% Invisible) - What Punk Can Teach Us About Human Development

Roman Mars is a founder of the podcast company, Radiotopia and the host of the podcasts, 99% Invisible as well as What Trump Can Teach Us About Constitutional Law. While Mars is an established radio and podcast host, he is a student of the world - as both of his podcasts deal with him constantly learning and figuring out ways in which we all fall into the larger societal landscape. Mars also grew up as a punk - as we explore throughout the episode. This punk upbringing influenced not only the decisions he made for his own education, but also how he developed his personal ethics. This conversation also goes to show that punk isn’t JUST music, but goddamn, the music helps!

This conversation was sort of a dream come true - I’ve been listening to Roman and following his work for years, so to have a chat with him for an hour felt very surreal. It was also incredibly rewarding because I learned so much and am grateful for his willingness to hop onto my little DIY pod.

Also, at the very end of the episode, Roman lists a few albums y’all should check out in order to understand his early music influences and the albums that have stuck with him - I’ve comprised those and a couple others mentioned in the episode to this handy Spotify playlist if you’d like to dig into them!

MUSIC NOTE:
- This week you got to hear tunes from the new oldsoul album, “You Were Overwhelmed,” which came out earlier this month through Counter Intuitive Records and Chattbot Records.
- On this episode, you got to hear the tracks, “Time Moves,” “Left Wondering,” and “Like No Surprise.” You can check out the entire “You Were Overwhelmed,” album through all of the streaming platforms! You can even download the album on the CI bandcamp for a rate of “name your price,” so if money is tight, here’s your way to have a digital copy of your own! Also, snag a vinyl copy of the album as well!
- And if you’re new to the podcast, you might be interested in the conversation I had with Jess and Tom of oldsoul back in February of 2018 - here’s a link to that chat!