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Podcast / Song vs. Song

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Song vs. Song is a music podcast hosted by Todd Nathanson (Todd in the Shadows) and Alina Morgan. Each episode has them comparing two commonly-themed songs within the same era with the winner being chosen by a vote on Patreon.

Songs Reviewed By Song vs. Song

    Regular Episodes 

This podcast provides examples of:

  • Abandoned Catchphrase: Beginning with "Seether" vs. "Cannonball", Alina would end the sales pitch for the show's Patreon with "and that's not just a deal, it's a Kim Deal", in reference to Kim Deal, a member of the Breeders who performed "Cannonball". This catchphrase was repeated in the next few episodes but was quickly abandoned. It made a one off reappearance in "Teen Age Riot" vs. "Where Is My Mind?" due to Kim Deal being a member of Pixies.
  • Christmas Episode:
  • Cultural Posturing: Downplayed, as Alina has said that being from New Jersey is not a huge part of her life outside the musical sphere, but she can generally be relied upon to stick up for a New Jersey act whenever they're being discussed on the show.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Some match-ups are particularly one-sided; while the hosts originally tried to avoid it, Todd eventually "gave up" and matched songs regardless of whether or not both sides had a fair chance of victory. (A few Dark Horse Victories have slipped through anyway.) Some of the winners by the biggest margins are "Superstition" (vs. "Shining Star"), "Another One Bites the Dust" (vs. "Eye of the Tiger") and "Hollaback Girl", though in the latter case it's generally seen as a repudiation of the other candidate, "My Humps".
  • Election Day Episode: "Celebration" vs. "All Night Long" was recorded and released in response to the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election.
  • Halloween Episode: For Halloween 2020 they did the themes from "Ghostbusters" vs. "Men in Black".
  • One-Hit Wonder: "She's So High" vs. "Teenage Dirtbag" is so far the only battle of the one-hit wonders on the show, although "Ice Ice Baby" vs. "U Can't Touch This", "867-5309 (Jenny)" vs. "Centerfold", "Wild Thing" vs. "Louie Louie", "Stay (I Missed You)" vs. "Torn", "Jump" vs. "Jump Around" and "Whip It" vs "Cars" are all borderline cases.
  • Once per Episode:
    • Towards the end of the episode, the hosts discuss three (later four) hypothetical questions relating to the songs, partly for fun, but also to try and narrow down their choices in matchups where one or the other remains undecided as to which they prefer:
      • If one of the two songs were to be deleted from history, which would you save? This relates to the historical impact of the songs.
      • If you could be a fly on the wall and witness the entire process of the song being composed and recorded, soup to nuts, including the music video in some instances, which would you pick? This often relates to which song has more unique elements or a more interesting story behind it.
      • If William Shatner were to record a cover of only one of the two songs, which would you pick? This mostly started as a way of invoking Shatner's infamous style of delivery for humour, but also allows reflection on the lyrics; they tend to favour songs whose lyrics better suit Shatner's actorly delivery.
      • At some point Alina added a fourth question: Which song would Megan Thee Stallion listen to to get ready for a night of "hot girl shit?"
    • Alina has referenced the fact that she says "How dare you!" and "In the year of our lord 20##" an average of once per episode.
  • Popularity Polynomialinvoked: This is discussed in a couple episodes featuring acts that were big in the '60s like The Beach Boys and Tina Turner, where Todd talks about how these bands and artists' hitmaking status dried up in the '70s, only for them to get at least one major hit in the next decade thanks to Boomer nostalgia.
  • Self-Deprecation: While both hosts are willing to make themselves the butt of a joke, Alina is more likely to mock her own snobbish and hipster-y musical tastes, a contrarian streak to her opinions, and generally miserable childhood over the course of a given episode.
  • Special Guest: Todd and Alina are often joined by a third guest contributor, usually someone with more personal knowledge or attachment to one or both of the acts being discussed on the episode.
    • Billboard magazine editor Andrew Unterberger appears on "Lollipop"/"Whatever You Like", "Stairway to Heaven"/"Free Bird", "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken"/"Another Sunny Day", and "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang"/"Gangsta's Paradise".
    • "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)"/"Bye Bye Bye" features screenwriter C. Robert Cargill.
    • Country music Youtuber Grady Smith comes in on "Dirt Road Anthem"/"Cruise" to fill in for Alina's relative lack of experience in country music.
    • The bonus episode on Rocky Horror Picture Show features Michael Keene, for a similar reason to the above.
    • Lindsay Ellis on the "Freak on a Leash"/"Nookie" episode to bring some lived-in experience to the proceedings.
    • Alina's wife, Raven, on "Seether"/"Cannonball" for similar reasons.
    • Spectrum Pulse appears as the special guest for the "In da Club"/"Hot in Herre", "Good 4 U"/"Happier Than Ever", and "As It Was"/"Anti-Hero" episodes.
    • The Rap Critic is featured in the "Rockstar"/"Rockstar", "Woo-Hah!! Got You All in Check"/"The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" and "Low"/"Get Low" episodes.
    • Angelina Meehan (Lindsay Ellis' former writer and editor, and her replacement as the host of Musicalsplaining), is featured on "Cornflake Girl"/"Human Behaviour", "Solsbury Hill"/"Wuthering Heights" and "Piano Man"/"Tiny Dancer".
    • Navah Wolfe for the Eurovision 2022 special.
    • Mic The Snare appears on "Get Lucky"/"Uptown Funk", "Fix You"/"Chasing Cars", and "Santa Tell Me"/"Underneath the Tree".
    • Crash Thompson is featured in "Flowers"/"Vampire".
  • Third Time's The Charm: The show has generally not repeated acts (Aside from having two separate Beatles vs Rolling Stones matchups), although certain musicians pop up on repeat due to appearing in multiple acts. The duo notes in the 2021 Christmas episode that Paul McCartney is their first person to show up three different matchups (as part of The Beatles, part of Wings, and a solo act).
  • Waxing Lyrical: Pretty much inevitable.

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