Decoder Ring
Decoder Ring is the show about cracking cultural mysteries. In each episode, host Willa Paskin takes a cultural question, object, or habit; examines its history; and tries to figure out what it means and why it matters.
Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen.
26
Selling Out (Encore)
How we all became sellouts.
47 min
27
Calling Dick Tracy! It’s Warren Beatty Again
Why is Oscar-winner Warren Beatty still playing comic book detective Dick Tracy, 30 years later?
42 min
28
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie… Will He Want a We...
How a popular children’s book got caught up in the culture wars.
33 min
29
Chuck E. Cheese Pizza War (Encore)
In the 1980s, two restaurant chains duked it out to become the preeminent robot pizza arcade.
45 min
30
The Hysteria Over Mass Hysteria
It’s all in your head. Or is it?
33 min
31
Standing Up for Sitting Down
Sitting has, once again, stepped into the spotlight as a kind of villain.
35 min
32
The Secret Life of Lawn Ornaments
Gnomes, flamingos, and lawn jockeys—every garden decoration has a message for us.
44 min
33
Stuffed Animals Gone Wild
American kids and parents can’t get enough of creatures that make teddy bears seem impossibly quaint.
36 min
34
Sex, Lies, and Hockey Pucks
How a salacious rumor about the Vancouver Canucks has haunted one woman for 30 years.
33 min
35
Captain Planet to the Rescue
In 1990, the environmental superhero Captain Planet swooped onto TV screens.
39 min
36
Why Are We Still Using Fat Suits?
The fat suit is so much more than prosthetics. It’s an embodiment of all our cultural hang-ups about fatness.
32 min
37
How the Jalapeño Lost Its Heat
For more than a century, Americans have been obsessed with Mexican food – and changed it.
29 min
38
From ‘The Last Archive’: Building an Automatic ...
53 min
39
Making Real Music for a Fake Band
The Broadway show ‘Stereophonic’ on how to construct the sound of the ’70s.
37 min
40
Can the “Bookazine” Save Magazines?
Why is there a magazine all about Robert Redford in the CVS checkout lane?
33 min
41
Andrew Wyeth's Secret Nudes (Encore)
Why did America’s favorite artist hide 240 pieces of artwork from his wife?
50 min
42
Why Stylists Rule the Red Carpet
Avery Trufelman and Melissa Rivers on what the fashion police hath wrought.
38 min
43
The Gen X Soda That Was Just "OK"
Thirty years ago, OK Soda arrived in select stores and offered up a fizzy irony.
39 min
44
Why Do So Many Coffee Shops Look the Same?
Algorithms are shaping our world, even down to latte art.
29 min
45
2024 Teaser
1 min
46
The Forgotten Video Game About Slavery
In 1992, the company behind The Oregon Trail tried to simulate Black history. It did not go well.
43 min
47
The Dating Manual Unlike Any Other
The Rules became a controversial bestseller and sparked instant debate. But was the advice any good?
33 min
48
Mailbag: The Recorder, Limos, and “Baby on Boar...
We answer your questions about the ubiquitous musical instrument, ‘80s automotive luxury, and more.
36 min
49
When Art Pranksters Invaded Melrose Place
In the mid-1990s, an artist collective smuggled its provocative work onto the set of the hit TV show.
37 min
50
The Fast Decline of the Slow Dance
The rise and fall of an awkward rite of passage.
41 min