Five seasons, countless guests and an awful lot of unexpected detours later, Song 2 is back for a sixth season on RTL Today Radio.
The idea remains beautifully simple; the opening track gets you through the door, but track two is where an album has to convince you to stay. So, is the second song secretly the most important position on a record?
Over the years, Stephen “Steps” Lowe has tested the theory against some fairly serious evidence. Blur, Björk, Dua Lipa, Linkin Park, Fontaines D.C., Pink Floyd, De La Soul, The Vaccines, Foals and countless others have supplied the songs, while artists including Alice Cooper, Billy Bragg, Gavin Rossdale, Pete Doherty, Chino Moreno, Tim Burgess, Skin, Biffy Clyro's James Johnston and E from Eels have weighed in on the argument themselves.
Some swear by tracklisting.
Some think Song 2 has a special job to do. Others think the whole theory is nonsense. All of which rather helps the podcast.
Now Season Six is ready to start the argument all over again. More classic albums, more brilliant second tracks, more artists explaining how records are actually put together, and probably considerably more evidence that there is no universally accepted answer. Because in the age of playlists, algorithms and shuffle, the bigger question may no longer simply be whether Song 2 is the most important track on an album, but whether where we put songs still matters at all.
Song 2, Season Six. Coming to RTL Today Radio and RTL Play.
The idea remains beautifully simple; the opening track gets you through the door, but track two is where an album has to convince you to stay. So, is the second song secretly the most important position on a record?
Over the years, Stephen “Steps” Lowe has tested the theory against some fairly serious evidence. Blur, Björk, Dua Lipa, Linkin Park, Fontaines D.C., Pink Floyd, De La Soul, The Vaccines, Foals and countless others have supplied the songs, while artists including Alice Cooper, Billy Bragg, Gavin Rossdale, Pete Doherty, Chino Moreno, Tim Burgess, Skin, Biffy Clyro's James Johnston and E from Eels have weighed in on the argument themselves.
Some swear by tracklisting.
Some think Song 2 has a special job to do. Others think the whole theory is nonsense. All of which rather helps the podcast.
Now Season Six is ready to start the argument all over again. More classic albums, more brilliant second tracks, more artists explaining how records are actually put together, and probably considerably more evidence that there is no universally accepted answer. Because in the age of playlists, algorithms and shuffle, the bigger question may no longer simply be whether Song 2 is the most important track on an album, but whether where we put songs still matters at all.
Song 2, Season Six. Coming to RTL Today Radio and RTL Play.
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