Let’s bring these albums back together
Rediscover Gen X Rock Together: Vote, Suggest, and Defend Your Favorite Albums in 2026
Dig Me Out exists for one reason: to tell the story that only you remember.
The albums that shaped you before they became footnotes. The bands you defended before everyone else caught up—and then the ones everyone else forgot. The records that were everywhere in your world but nowhere in the official history. We dig into why they matter, who made them, and what we collectively lost when they slipped out of the conversation.
You know something everyone else forgot: that rock music isn’t a straight line from the biggest hit to the next big thing. It’s a web. A ecosystem. A conversation between dozens of sounds and stories, most of them happening quietly, far from the spotlight. And the real story—your story—lives in those margins.
Last year, you told us to broaden our view. You didn’t just want us to rescue 2000s albums or 70s deep cuts in isolation. You wanted the full picture: how the heavy rock of the 70s led somewhere. Where the 80s metal explosion came from. Why alternative mattered in the 90s. What happened next in the 00s. The complete arc of Gen X rock. All of it.
So we’re expanding.
You wanted forgotten 2000s rock brought back from the digital grave. So we dug into Source Tags & Codes by ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, A Certain Trigger by Maximo Park, An Eye for a Brow and a Tooth for a Pick by Ground Components, and Bruises You Can Touch by Speedstar—four albums that were there, weren’t they? But nobody was talking about them anymore. Now they are.
You wanted to understand the 70s heavy rock that MTV buried. We rescued Volcanic Rock by Buffalo, I’m Stranded by The Saints, Captain Beyond by Captain Beyond, and Pluto by Pluto. The DNA of everything that came next.
And you asked the question that nobody else was brave enough to ask: Did the arena rock giants of the 70s and 80s actually deserve to be exiled in the 90s? We investigated Heart, Styx, Foreigner, and Billy Squier across four “Surviving the 90s” episodes. To understand them. To ask: What made these artists matter? What changed? What got lost when the world moved on? Did they adapt or die?
That’s the job we’re doing here. Rescuing stories. Giving fresh perspective to what time tried to bury.
In 2026, we’re going further.
Dig Me Out: 70s & 80s Metal digs into two decades of heavy music nobody tells you about anymore. From Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin laying the blueprint in the 70s to metal’s explosion into MTV’s main stage in the 1980s. The genres that shaped everything.
And “Surviving the 90s” is moving to the 70s & 80s Metal podcast in 2026. Subscribe now. The next artist we put on trial might be the one you’ve been defending in your head for 30 years.
Dig Me Out: 90s & 00s Rock explores the complete alternative revolution—not just the winners, but the entire ecosystem it created. The alternative rock revolution. The backlash. The post-grunge confusion. The garage rock revival that said “no.” The genres that answered back. The full conversation.
And now we want you to drive the mission even deeper.
💿 Got an album you’ve been defending?
Drop it in the hopper. Heavy 70s. 80s Metal. 90s & 00s Rock. The one you love that nobody remembers. The one that got away. Send it to us. This is how forgotten albums get rescued.
✅ Want to vote on which rescues happen first?
Become a paid Substack subscriber. Our community votes on which albums we dig into. You don’t just listen—you decide what stories matter.
🎤 Ready to tell the story yourself?
Join our Board of Directors on Patreon. Hand-pick one or two albums from any decade, and come on the podcast to explain why they matter. Become the voice that brings them back.
This is what building a community of music lovers actually looks like. Not gatekeeping. No algorithms.
The story of Gen X rock is the story of what mattered, what we lost, and what deserves a second look. You lived it. You know it. Now help us tell it.
What album are you going to rescue?