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 from every genre and their true crimes, in our massive 260-plus story archive. The Dead, the Stones, Johnny, Willie, Frank, Kurt, Courtney, Gaga, Lana, Taylor, and too many to name.
DISGRACELAND is music history come to life through audio storytelling as you've never heard it before, with revealing facts: yes, assassins are the real reason the Beatles quit touring—reclaimed myths: no, Mama Cass didn't die from choking on a ham sandwich––and constant reckoning between art and artist––all told through the lens of true crime.
This is the podcast for the self-proclaimed "Disgos", the musically obsessed and the true crime heads; the outsiders, the independent thinkers who know that the best history is the history that gets buried. DISGRACELAND is where host Jake Brennan tells the stories they didn't want told. The kind you'll end up telling someone else. Get ready to uncover hidden truths and buckle up for truly edge-of-your-seat storytelling.
New, fully scripted, sound-designed episodes are released every Tuesday. Bonus chat-style episodes where Jake responds to voicemails, texts, and emails from Disgos hit on Thursdays, and "Rewind" episodes from our archive drop on Sundays.
DISGRACELAND is not a journalistic podcast. It's an entertainment podcast inspired by true events. Certain dialogue and scenes are dramatized, as is common in scripted entertainment based on real stories. Sources and credits for each episode are available at www.di
PodSkip has analyzed 3 episodes of DISGRACELAND, averaging 6.0 ads per episode (0% of runtime).
Michael Alig (Rewind): If a Club Kid Kills, Stuffs the Body in a Box and Tells The World About It Will Anyone Listen?
Oct 18, 2026
In March 1996, promoter Michael Alig, the "King of the Club Kids," after appearing on TV’s Geraldo and on the cover of New York magazine, bashed his friend and DJ Angel Melendez in the head with a…
Bonus: Tupac Murder Sentencing and Losing My Religion
Oct 15, 2026
For Tim Lambesis, life begins and ends with himself and his band, As I Lay Dying. We go into faith-based music and discuss the sentencing of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, closing a chapter on a 30 year…
As I Lay Dying: Are Phonies Running the Christian Metal Scene?
Oct 13, 2026
As I Lay Dying was one of the pillars of Christian metal when the genre crossed over to the mainstream in the 2000s. And then their frontman, Tim Lambesis, tried to hire a hitman to murder his wife…
Eminem (Rewind): Taking His Shot, Pulling a Glock, and Facing the Real Slim Shady
Oct 11, 2026
On a single Saturday in 2000, Marshall Mathers assaulted two separate men with a pistol and fought with his wife outside a nightclub, resulting in lawsuits and charges that hung over the completion…
Bonus: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Kurt & Courtney Conspiracies, and…Constipation?
Oct 08, 2026
In this week’s After Party, Jake discusses the spirited online response to our Nirvana episodes and wonders why Courtney Love continues to be the the target of vitriol and suspicion. We look at the…
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins: Was Screamin’ Jay Hawkins Murdered?
Oct 06, 2026
He was an operatic vocalist made famous by his song “I Put A Spell on You,” a song he performed throughout the conservative 1950s while jumping out of a coffin on stage. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins will…
Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love Pt. 2: Suicide Samurai
Oct 04, 2026
Grunge, grief, the Grateful Dead and a “teenage whore.” Part 2 of the Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love story picks up with Courtney’s ascent and the couple’s heroin-hazed pregnancy. An escape from rehab…
Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love Pt. 1: No Direction Home
Oct 04, 2026
Kurt Cobain is a celebrated and defiant icon of Generation X. His wife, Courtney Love, was once the most hated woman in America. Courtney, like Kurt, was unapologetic, fierce, determined, ambitious…
Bonus: Old Rockstars With No F*cks Left To Give
Oct 01, 2026
We go deeper into the claims Quincy Jones made later in his life, but we also discuss one of the most important music and entertainment figures of the 20th century. And as always, your voicemails…
Quincy Jones: True or False? His Wild Life and the Stories Behind His Wildest Claims
Sep 29, 2026
Quincy Jones brought truth through music. We heard what America really felt like in the albums he produced, and in the films he scored. At the end of his life he made wild claims; that Michael…
Lil’ Peep (Rewind): A new hip-hop and emo fusion; trap beats, tender lyrics, too much Xanax and an overdose that’s still mysterious.
Sep 27, 2026
Lil’ Peep was a once-in-a-generation talent. Poised to become a new Cobain, Bowie or Dylan, but whose life was cut short by an overdose that’s still mysterious. Depression, anxiety and a unique…
Bonus: Real “Emo” Notes from the Punk Rock Museum, DIY Recording, and More Bobby Fuller
Sep 24, 2026
Notes on the emotional impact from Jake’s trip to the Punk Rock Museum, Bobby Fuller and DIY recording recs, plus your voicemails, texts, dms, and emails on how Bobby died and more.See…
Bobby Fuller: Who Killed Bobby Fuller?
Sep 22, 2026
How did Bobby Fuller die? Ask four different people and you’ll get four different answers. Wikipedia will tell you that Bobby’s death was an “accident”. The LAPD will tell you Bobby committed…
Travis Scott and Astroworld: The Devil Went Down to Houston (Rewind)
Sep 20, 2026
Travis Scott’s 2021 Astroworld music festival turned out to be a deadly disaster. Was it greed? Satanism? Or was something even more mysterious and evil behind the events that took the lives of ten…
Bonus: Mysterious Crosby Cowboy, Robin Thicke Bank Robbery, and More
Sep 17, 2026
Surprise! David Crosby isn’t who we thought he was. Same goes for Robin Thicke apparently as well. Lil’ Wayne though? What about Wayne Coyne? All of this and more plus your voicemails, texts, DMs…
David Crosby: The Folk Singer Who Became an FBI Fugitive
Sep 15, 2026
The man who made sweet, soft, harmonious music with Stephen Stills and Neil Young was actually a crazy rock ‘n’ roll animal. Listen to hear how David Crosby wound up addicted, escaped authorities…
Blink-182: Tom Was Right. Aliens Exist. (Rewind)
Sep 13, 2026
Everyone thought Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge was a joke, until he proved them all wrong. This is the story of government control, aliens, an arrest, a plane crash, a cancer diagnosis, redemption, and (of…
Bonus Episode: Another Biopic Bites the Dust
Sep 10, 2026
What good is a Queen biopic if it reveals nothing real about Freddie Mercury? Are biopics just Marvel movies for music lovers? This and more, plus your voicemails, text, dms, and emails in this…
Queen: Will the Real Freddie Mercury Please Stand Up?
Sep 08, 2026
Queen is one of the biggest-selling bands in music history, and Bohemian Rhapsody is one of the highest-grossing biopics of all time. But did the movie give us a true portrait of Freddie Mercury – or…
Bonus Episode: Tupac Shakur Case Closed?
Sep 03, 2026
Finally! The mystery is over! We know who killed Tupac and why. Or do we? This and more, plus your voicemails, text, DMs, and emails in this week’s After Party bonus episode.See…
Special Episode: Reggie Watts and the Artists You Want to Hear in Disgraceland
Sep 01, 2026
A special look at the new artists we’re covering in the second half of 2026, along with a peek into the breaking Reggie Watts story, and how you can be directly involved in the choosing of…
Bonus Episode: A Tribute to Dolly Parton
Aug 27, 2026
Dolly Parton has passed away. Dolly Parton was a musical giant, an American songwriter worthy of a place on the same page in the music history books as Bob Dylan, Kurt Cobain, Johnny Cash, Taylor…
Alice Bag: The Punk Rock Scene That Soundtracked a Serial Killer
Aug 25, 2026
In 1977, punk rock took root in Los Angeles just as a prolific serial killer began to terrorize the city. For months, the bodies of young women were being discovered on hillsides – including one…
Bonus Episode: A Murder On Tour, Southern Bands and Brother Bands
Aug 20, 2026
The murder from Allman Brothers Band history that didn’t make it into our full episode, your take on the greatest southern bands, and more on this bonus episode of Disgraceland. For more great…
Bonus Episode: Addressing the Tila Tequila Rumor, Billy Corgan’s Shapeshifter, and a Glorious Rock ‘N’ Roll Jimmy Kimmel Performance.
Aug 13, 2026
I wanted to talk this week about Billy Corgan’s outrageous shapeshifting claim and how it relates to who he is as a musician, but the Internet had other plans. It was all about to go to sh*t until…
Smashing Pumpkins: Billy Corgan and the Shapeshifter
Aug 11, 2026
Bonus Episode: Tribute to Sick of it All’s Lou Koller, Plus More John Frusciante and River Phoenix
Aug 06, 2026
We pay tribute to Sick Of It All’s Lou Koller, dive deeper into the theories surrounding River Phoenix’s death and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ guitarist John Frusciante’s alleged involvement, and of…
Red Hot Chili Peppers’ John Frusciante and the Death of River Phoenix
Aug 04, 2026
Someone handed River Phoenix a deadly drink containing a liquid speedball. Some claim Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante handed it to him. This is the story of how River Phoenix really…
Bonus Episode: Extreme Music, Extremely Bad Things, and Always Doing the Right Thing
Jul 30, 2026
On this episode, Jake is stuck in Boston so guest host Dr. Lundy is talking about extreme music being blamed for extremely bad things, from Slipknot to Ozzy to Judas Priest.See…
Bonus Episode: My Summer Listening, Reading, Watching Recs And More
Jul 23, 2026
Disgos, the World Cup is over and rock ‘n’ roll lost, so now what? Well, here are my recommendations on how to pass time for the rest of your summer; my fav summer listening, reading, watching and…
