The Daily Whatever Show, Nov 3: Metallica, Meathead, and the Politics of Everything with Lisa | We Are The Third Estate

This Monday morning my voice was hanging on by a thread — the price of a Halloween dance party where I went full Jessica Rabbit (minus the dress that arrived the next day, grumble grumble). Lawrence teased me for sounding “sultry,” which was generous. But honestly, losing my voice felt like a metaphor for the week — because our conversation with

Lisa | We Are The Third Estate

was all about finding yours, especially when culture and politics collide.

Lisa joined us to talk about her latest Substack essay on Metallica and how the band’s 1988 album …And Justice for All opened her eyes to the politics pulsing through music. She described growing up Sand realizing her metalhead awakening at 13 wasn’t just about riffs — it was her first political education. “I was a lyrics person,” she said. “Even before I knew what they meant, I felt what they were saying.”

My Civics Education As A Metalhead, Then As A Punker (Part One)

From there, we spiraled into the deep end — Reaganomics, the death of civics classes, and how Reagan’s defunding of state hospitals echoes through today’s homelessness crisis. Lisa made the case that the right recognized “culture is politics” decades ago, while the left naively thought facts and logic would win hearts. “We’re living with that mistake,” she said.

It struck a chord. As a Gen Xer raising kids in the era of epic college tuition and “pull-yourself-up” punditry, I told Lisa and Lawrence how much I’d assumed progress was permanent, that rights only moved forward. I was wrong. Lisa nodded. “Even people who mean well,” she said, “don’t see how different the world is now. They’re living in a system built for a prosperity that’s gone.”

By the end, we’d gone from Metallica to Meathead, from Reagan to the Powell Memo, from bad religion to, um, Bad Religion. Lisa’s point was clear: every song, story, and symbol is political whether we admit it or not. And as she reminded us, “The first step is connecting — because we’re going to need each other.”

Thank you

Melissa Corrigan, she/her

,

Jason Odell

,

The Bathrobe Guy (Robes) 👘

,

Caro Henry

,

Polly Walker Blakemore

, and many others for tuning in. We love you all, mean it!

Please join us at 10am ET each weekday as we’ve got a helluva lineup this week, continuing tomorrow morning with GenX photographer

Jason Odell

. Check it out!