E797 - Paul Simon’s Graceland at 40: The Album That Changed Everything

Forty years ago, Paul Simon released one of the most unlikely blockbuster albums of the 1980s.

Graceland arrived on Aug. 25, 1986, blending Simon’s unmistakable songwriting with South African rhythms, zydeco, gospel harmonies and a completely new way of building songs. The result was an album that sounded unlike almost anything else on the radio — and somehow became one of the defining records of the decade.

In this episode of Stuck in the ’80s, we go track by track through Graceland, from “The Boy in the Bubble” and “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” to “You Can Call Me...