Josh Gwynn is an audio producer, pop culture critic and co-host/lead producer of Back Issue. You can follow Back Issue here. You can follow Josh on Twitter here. Or on Instagram here.

How did you get introduced to the audio space? Have you always loved it, before podcasting?
I was living in New York, working 5 million jobs and going to grad school at the New School for Media Management. I would have never thought podcasting was a space for me - not as a listener nor as a producer. I really thought that it was (only) a space full of cis white dudes talking about B2B marketing or something? I didn’t know any of the content that existed in the audio space related to how I walked through the world or experienced culture. BUT! Then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere seemingly to me, shows like The Read and Code Switch and Another Round started coming out and I was like, “OH! There are people who look like me, who talk like ME and MY friends in this space.” The saying that “You can’t be what you can’t see” was really true in my case. This is why people have spent years in this industry yelling and pushing and actively trying to open up space for voices that we don’t usually center: black, indigenous, disabled, trans voices. While representation isn’t the entire fight (we still have to push for representation in decision making positions within the industry and open up spaces for us to build our own tables), it’s a very important part of giving folks who would have never even given themselves permission to enter the audio industry the signal old trends might begin to shift.

How did the show come to be? How did you get hooked up with Tracy Clayton?
I grew up really as a student of pop culture. I was obsessed with television (it might have been because I was only allowed to watch it on weekends). I was obsessed with movies. I was OBSESSED with music. One time, I wanted to boost my grade in a college Spanish course and my professor told me I had to write a paper, 5 pages, double-spaced on whatever I wanted. I wrote about the Latin Pop Explosion of 1999.

Tracy and I worked on what felt like a 1000 shows at Pineapple Street Studios including 2 seasons of Strong Black Legends, season 2 of Going Through It by Mailchimp and it became increasingly clear that with every show we worked on, that we shared a part of our brains. We had SO many of the same pop culture references, so many of the same memories in terms of the cultural zeitgeist. It became so that we could literally talk in code.

I had the idea for a show that revisited formative pop culture moments, moments that didn’t get glossy write-ups in publications like The New Yorker but stuck with us and our community. I pitched it as an intern but it wasn’t until Tracy and I started working together so regularly that we were like - we should do this together. We brainstormed a bunch of the moments that stuck out to us and Back Issue was born.

Back Issue is about so many things, but nostalgia is a big one. Why is that such a rich topic to dip into?
It has been said over and over again but 2020 fucking sucks. It’s an awful year for so many reasons. TOO many reasons. I remember at the beginning of the pandemic in the States, a lot of folks in my social circles were beginning to binge shows like Tiger King. I wanted to watch too, so that I didn’t miss out on any of the conversations happening on social media but the longer I watched, the more the emotional stakes of media I was consuming for the first time became TOO much. With the world burning outside my window, I wasn’t in the mental space to be prepared for jump scares, to get acquainted with characters I’d never met before, to sit on the edge of my seat with the thrill of good writing, honestly. My first thought was, “Ok. Maybe I should try Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli films. I’d always wanted to watch them and never had time to, so maybe now is the time. Maybe animation will calm me down?” I watched Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Kiki’s Delivery Service, My Neighbor, Tortoro and the rest of them. But after a while, as brilliant as I think the majority of those films are, it still was too much. I retreated into things I had watched as a child: Robin Williams and Rufio in Hook, Brandy and Countess Vaughn in Moesha, America’s Next Top Model, old music videos.

I think, especially right now, there is a huge pressure on black folks in the States to have their heads on a swivel, to be constantly aware of every news item, to constantly be on the lookout. James Baldwin said, “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a state of rage almost, almost all the time.” and Solange told us that, “There’s a lot to be mad about.” I dare you to tell me either of them was lying.

However, to be constantly on edge isn’t possible or healthy. We need rest. We need to be able to relax. We cannot be at our best without caring for ourselves and I really think of Nostalgia as a form of harm reduction, as a balm. In a world we have no control over, it is ok to go back to things and times where you felt good. Where you felt safe.

Also, pop culture is FUN. I think I remember fun but

Fun is a good within itself. Being joyous is a form of revolution, especially in a culture and country where it feels like you and your community are constantly under attack.

What do you say to people who say that Tyra Banks and #JusticeForGlitter etc are silly and frivolous and low-brow?
I think a lot of times, pop culture topics are seen as trivial or low-brow. Why? I think there are a lot of factors. I think interest in pop culture is usually gendered as femme and in our society, that isn’t as authoritative. I think that Black-American culture is so heavily demonized and admired, at the same time, within American culture (and globally, honestly) that interest in it is seen as not serious.

There, though, are REASONS that this stuff sticks with us. There’s a reason that meme culture exists. There’s a reason that you and your friends quote certain movies back and forth. And with Back Issue, Tracy and I get the space to explore these issues with our listeners, with the care and thoroughness that these subjects deserve.

What do you hope the show does for people?
If you look outside and I’m gesturing *~generally~* outside my window, the world right now is full of chaos. It’s really hard to maintain a sense of well-being in a world where you can controls so few things. Working on Back Issue, for me, has given me a balm, a salve for the new cycle, for the injustice that we witness everyday and for the general state of unrest in our culture. As I said before, I think, especially as Black Americans, there is so much pressure to be constantly tapped in to the news and into the timeline in order to feel like you’re participating and showing up in a way that a politically active, aware citizen does. We HAVE to be aware of where threats are coming from in order to be prepared to fight them.

However, in order to protect yourself, in order to truly be at your best, you need breaks. You need times where you can decompress. I know, for sure, that I need that time. Working on Back Issue has given me the space to reflect back to moments in which I felt good and bask in them. It’s giving me a space to take myself back to moments where I couldn’t stop laughing or looking at someone or something in awe. We say on the show that nostalgia is more than just a feeling. It’s an armor you can use to get through tough times. It’s harm reduction. It’s just FUN and I don’t think fun always has to be justified! I hope that the show gives listeners the same sort of hideaway, escapist safe space that it’s given me while making it.

Should podcasters read their Apple Podcast reviews?
To each their own, I guess. My producer brain always wants to take in as much information as possible but I’ve learned that it’s probably not best if ~ I ~ do because I see one super critical piece of feedback with nothing productive I can take away from it and I’ll ruminate on it forever.

Thanks, Josh!