Tag: Pearl Jam

Songs Featured in ‘The Last of Us’ Have Enjoyed a Huge Upswing in Streams

March 15, 2023

On Sunday night, the post-apocalyptic drama The Last of Us wrapped up a thrilling first season that saw Joel and Ellie set off on a cross-country trek in a world devastated by a fungal outbreak. And as the show took fans on an emotional rollercoaster ride, it punctuated those highs and lows with a gripping soundtrack featuring the likes of Linda Ronstadt, Depeche Mode, and Pearl Jam.

Following the finale, we took a closer look at the listening trends around the music featured in each of the nine episodes. And similar to fans of shows such as Stranger Things and Euphoria, people couldn’t get enough of The Last Of Us soundtrack. 

Linda Ronstadt delivers The Last of Us’ standout musical moment—of many

Depeche Mode’s “Never Let Me Down Again,” which played out a startling ending to Episode 1, saw more than a 520% lift in global streams after the episode aired. But fans everywhere were left in awe following the season’s third episode, which featured Nick Offerman’s character Bill performing an acoustic cover of Linda Ronstadt’s “Long Long Time.” On January 29 between 11 p.m. and midnight ET, U.S. streams of the song increased 4,900% after the episode aired.

A few other songs also struck a chord throughout the season. Pearl Jam’s “All or None” saw its global Spotify streams increase by more than 5,000% in the 24 hours after it was featured in Episode 7. And Etta James’ “I Got You Babe” saw a 440% increase in global Spotify streams after it was included in the same episode.

“Alone and Forsaken” by Hank Williams and the Drifting Cowboys saw its global Spotify streams grow by more than 660%, while Lotte Kestner’s “True Faith” received a 640% bump globally in the 24 hours after Episode 4 aired. 

Fans love The Last of Us Official Playlist

In addition to seeking out The Last of Us’ soundtrack hits individually, fans have flocked to our playlist for the show. Since its release on January 31, The Last of Us Official Playlist has generated more than 1.6 million streams globally. 

Can’t get enough of The Last of Us? Check out HBO’s The Last of Us Podcast or the Ringer’s Prestige TV podcast episode featuring show creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann. 

 

Celebrity Trainer and Fitness Podcast Host Don Saladino Spills His Favorite Workout Songs, Podcasts, and Tips

January 7, 2020

If you’ve seen any of the Captain America, Avengers, or Wolverine movies, you’ve likely noticed Don Saladino’s handiwork. The celebrity trainer and entrepreneur works on strength, conditioning, and overall wellness with television and movie stars—from Ryan Reynolds to Blake Lively and Emily Blunt—to help them improve their performance physiques.

Don was a fitness trainer for more than twenty years, but since 2000 he’s been a business owner, brand strategist, and entrepreneur as well. At this point, training is the easy part. He also hosts two fitness podcasts and is a self-proclaimed music buff who tailors what’s playing to his clientele. For example, he knows to blast Pearl Jam when John Krasinski comes in for a workout, and recommends Led Zeppelin for actor Billy Crudup’s reps. For Don’s own workouts, he likes to stream Metallica albums from beginning to end. (He also says one can’t go wrong with ’90s grunge.)

We asked Don (between reps) to make a podcast playlist for us and grabbed a few music and workout tips from him as well—just in time to help you stick with your New Year’s fitness resolution.

How have you seen music help people during workouts?

I’ve educated myself in the last 20 years on fitness, anatomy, and kinesiology (the study of body movement) from the best doctors and coaches. But part of what I do, as important as that is, is play good music. Music’s a big driving force to a workout. Not everyone comes in having a good day, but music is the one thing you can throw at someone where, no matter how bad their day is, you can almost hit that reset button and get them to put a smile on their face, get into a little bit of a groove, and develop a little bit of a rhythm. Once a person starts picking up that energy and momentum, you can really accomplish something.

This year, Spotify’s data showed that health and fitness podcast listening increased 145% in the past year on our platform. Why do you think people are turning to podcasts to get information about health and fitness?

First off, I think listening to podcasts is a great way to fill time. I have an hour commute every morning on the train, and podcasts are an educational, entertaining way to be able to fill that. It’s so easy now with our phones and wireless headphones to just connect anywhere and become a smarter person. We’re also more aware of time management. If I’m on the train two hours a day, man, that’s 10 hours a week where I can listen to a different author or a different podcast or get educated on a different area. That’s really doing a lot of good self-help stuff for me.

Plus, we’re in a much more health-conscious society now. I mean, it is amazing. Twenty, 30 years ago, we weren’t paying attention to organic farming. We weren’t paying attention to how crops were being made or how important the purity of olive oil is—everyone just thought olive oil was healthy. (The other day I listened to a great podcast about olive oil, so it’s on my mind.) So the combination of downtime and connectivity, wanting to be educated, and the move towards health-consciousness all factor in.

Tell us about the podcasts you host—Reps for Muscle and Fitness and D&D Fitness Radio Podcast—what can listeners get out of these? What sort of episodes did you include on your podcast playlist?

Muscle and Fitness magazine brought me in to help elevate the educational platform for their listeners. We really wanted to go out there and not only just get fitness people talking about sets and reps, but we wanted to get the best nutritionists, the best doctors, talking about wellness as well. There are so many skeptics out there about gluten free or about intermittent fasting or about the ketogenic tide.

When you listen to the full podcast playlist, you’ll get points of view from well-educated experts like nutritionists, doctors, and trainers, as well as a level of entertainment from celebrities like Randy Couture, Zach Levi, and Liev Schreiber.

What are three wellness tips that anyone at any fitness level can incorporate into their New Year’s wellness resolution?

Sleep is number one. When we don’t fall into that realm of that seven to nine hours of good quality sleep at night, it impacts our entire body, including hormone function. If your hormone function is off, you’re not going to have a high level of energy, and you’re also not going to be able to burn an appropriate amount of fat. Your strength level is not going to be optimal and everything with your training’s going to drop.

Hydration is number two. Drink half your body weight in ounces of water. That’s going to set you up for proper digestion, better hormone function, better sleep, better energy, and a better way to metabolize foods.

Then, I think from an exercise standpoint, stop thinking that you need to spend 60 to 90 minutes a day at the gym. If you’re someone who hates the gym, but you can get in there for 15 minutes, just aim to break a sweat for 10-15 minutes a day. That is enough.

One bonus tip is to always fact-check—whether you’re listening to a fitness podcast or hiring a new coach, make sure the credentials are good and you’re getting accurate information about your health and workout.

Finally—for a question that takes us out of the gym—what is your go-to karaoke song?

“Faithfully” by Journey. I think it’s the hardest karaoke song to sing on the planet. My son’s a very good singer and I challenged him to sing it. He’s got a much better voice than I do and he’s almost nailing it right now. He’s 11. I’m trying to see if he can do a much better job than I did. We’ve been having a great time with it. I challenge anyone—if you can hit that song on all notes, you’ve got it together.

Take a listen to Don’s fitness-filled podcast playlist below for expert takes on wellness and working out.

How Counting Crows’ Sleeper Debut Album Helped Define a New Era of ‘90s Rock

September 18, 2019

In 1993, Bay Area folk-rockers Counting Crows released their epochal first album, August and Everything After, but it didn’t land on the charts until the following January. Looking back 25 years later, the remarkable thing is not that the Crows took so long to gain traction, but that they cracked the top of the charts that grunge acts like Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, and Pearl Jam had dominated for so long.

Fronted by the dreadlocked and endearingly nerdy Adam Duritz, Counting Crows couldn’t have been further removed from the primal roar of Generation Grunge. While most of the era’s big bands sounded like they’d stolen the Black Sabbath and Black Flag records from their older siblings’ collections, the Crows seemed like they’d gone straight for their parents’ classic-rock stash. References to Bob Dylan, The Band, The Byrds, and Van Morrison were tossed around repeatedly when music critics started reaching for comparisons. And while the Crows were just as enamored with and influenced by more contemporary bands like R.E.M., the boomer-friendly analogies weren’t entirely off-base. It’s tough not to call to mind Van Morrison’s “Brown-Eyed Girl,” when Duritz lays into that sha-la-la refrain on the album’s first single, “Mr. Jones.” 

Despite the album coming out in September, that single wasn’t released until December, making the Crows’ success a slow burn. Of course, once “Mr. Jones” was released, that Morrison-esque hook helped drive the tune all the way to No. 5. And by the time ’94 rolled around, the momentum propelled August and Everything After high into the charts too, where it reached No. 4 and eventually turned platinum seven times over.

Photos by Danny Clinch

Ironically, the very song that made the Crows bona fide rock stars is a wary examination of some musicians’ motivation for seeking stardom. But that coincidence probably made it go down easy in the irony-intensive ’90s. Plus, a major part of the band’s appeal right from the get-go was Duritz’s tendency to skeptically view the world like a giant Rubik’s Cube that he confronted colorblind. He plowed the hypersensitive-artist furrow for all it was worth, and it worked because it wasn’t a put-on.

The second single from the album, “Round Here,” is loaded with dramatic atmosphere and vivid storytelling, coming off like a moodier, folkier answer to Springsteen‘s “Thunder Road.” It wasn’t as ubiquitous a hit as its predecessor, but when the band played it on Saturday Night Live in ’94, the simultaneously hypnotic and jittery tale of a woman who “has trouble acting normal when she’s nervous” let an even larger number of the Crows’ fellow misfits know somebody was speaking their language.

Other artists were paying attention too, and over the next few years, Counting Crows’ success—built largely on their milestone debut—helped carve a path through the dense forest of grunge for other groups to follow. Would bands like Train, The Wallflowers, or even Hootie & The Blowfish become as big as they did in the mid-to-late ’90s had the twinkling arpeggios, male sensitivity, and classic-rock redux vibes of August and Everything After not made for such a monster hit? Maybe, but it sure seems a lot less likely. Someone had to get people past grunge, and Counting Crows, with their tendency towards emotional processing and pathological over-thinking, ended up being the new era’s perfect shepherd. 

Hear the album that influenced an entire wing of ‘90s rock.