Museum of Pop Culture

4.6 (8K) · ARTS · UPDATED WEEKLY

The official podcast of the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle. Deep dives into music, film, sci-fi, fantasy, and the cultural artifacts that define generations.

6D AGO

The Sounds of Science Fiction: How Film Scores Created Our Idea of Space

Composer and MoPOP scholar Dr. K.J. Donnelly on how John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, and Vangelis built the sonic vocabulary of science fiction — and how the sounds we associate with outer space, robots, and aliens are completely artificial and entirely convincing.

13D AGO

Kurt Cobain's Guitar: What Objects Tell Us About Artists

The MoPOP collection includes several of Kurt Cobain's guitars. Curator Jacob McMurray on what these objects reveal about Cobain's playing, his relationship with equipment, and the strange power of touching something that was touched by genius.

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MoPOP After Dark: The Haunted Objects in Our Collection

An after-hours conversation about the objects in the MoPOP collection with the most unusual histories — items that have been reported to behave strangely, costumes worn by actors who died wearing them, and the guitar that has allegedly played itself. Genuinely spooky.

27D AGO

The Video Game as Art: From Pong to The Last of Us

Game designer and academic Dr. Celia Pearce traces the evolution of video games as a storytelling medium — from the primitive narratives of early arcade games to the cinematic complexity of contemporary titles. How did games become capable of making us cry?

34D AGO

Punk's Not Dead: How a 1977 British Subculture Became a Global Language

Music historian Simon Reynolds on punk rock's origin, its global spread, and why it keeps being rediscovered by each new generation. The episode examines why punk's aesthetic — the safety pins, the DIY ethic, the confrontational stance — speaks across time and culture.

41D AGO

The Matrix at 25: What the Wachowskis Were Really Saying

On the 25th anniversary of The Matrix, film scholars and the MoPOP curatorial team unpack the film's philosophical layers — Baudrillard's simulacra, Gnostic mythology, trans allegory, and the question of whether the machines are actually the good guys.

48D AGO

David Bowie's Many Selves: Identity, Performance, and the Art of Reinvention

Using MoPOP's extensive Bowie collection as a starting point, music critic Dr. Vivian Goldman examines how Bowie's serial reinventions — Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, The Thin White Duke — functioned as a philosophical argument about the nature of identity.

55D AGO

Horror at the Museum: Why We Love Being Scared

Psychology researcher Dr. Margee Kerr on the science of horror — why humans seek out fear, what happens in the brain during a horror film, and what makes some horror endure across generations while other horror becomes laughable within years.

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Hosts & Guests

Jacob McMurraySenior Curator, MoPOP

4.6

out of 5

8K Ratings

Pop culture taken seriously

This is exactly the kind of pop culture podcast I've been looking for — one that treats the subject with genuine intellectual rigor without being pretentious about it. The video game episode is a masterclass in how to write cultural history.

PopCulturePhD · Mar 3, 2026

Makes me want to visit Seattle immediately

Every episode makes me want to get on a plane to Seattle and spend a week at MoPOP. The depth of knowledge the curators bring to every topic is extraordinary. The Bowie episode especially deserves a much wider audience than it's getting.

MusicHistoryFan · Feb 17, 2026

An underrated gem

This show doesn't get nearly enough attention. The production quality is excellent, the topics are genuinely interesting, and the curatorial approach to popular culture is unique. The horror episode changed how I think about why I watch horror films.

PodcastDiscoverer · Feb 2, 2026

About

The Museum of Pop Culture podcast brings the Seattle institution's world-class curatorial expertise to audio. MoPOP is dedicated to the ideas and risk-taking that fuel contemporary pop culture. The podcast explores the stories behind the objects, artists, and moments that have defined popular culture — from the guitar Jimi Hendrix played at Woodstock to the original costumes from The Matrix, from punk rock's British origins to the evolution of video game storytelling. Hosted by MoPOP staff and featuring interviews with musicians, filmmakers, game designers, and cultural critics, it's an essential listen for anyone who takes pop culture seriously as a subject worthy of serious thought.