Episode #182 | 06.25.24

Bobby Brown: Cocaine Chicken, Horny Ghosts, and His Perogative

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In this episode

Bobby Brown thrust and gyrated his way to the top of the charts with Don’t Be Cruel, one of the biggest records of the late 1980s and an album that brought hip-hop’s hard-knock sensibilities to R&B. But fame did not change the Boston bad boy. At the height of his superstardom, Bobby Brown was arrested onstage for violating a lewd act law. He claimed to have a sexual encounter with a ghost at his lavish Atlanta mansion. And his party-hard ways may have been the reason why Mike Tyson shockingly lost a fight and thus lost his undefeated heavyweight title.

This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to some listeners, including domestic violence and police brutality.

Sources

Every Little Step: My Story, by Bobby Brown with Nick Chiles

Bobby Brown Holds a Garden Party (NY Times)

Bobby Brown Brings A New Attitude to Pop (NY Times)

Bobby Brown's Uneasy Passage (Rolling Stone)

Bobby Brown 1989 Interview

'I was the GM of Pornography' (Washington Post)

The Scarface of Sex: The Millionaire Playboy Who Murdered His Way to the Top of Porn (Daily Beast)

Whitney Houston: Bobby Brown Was Jealous of My Success (Oprah Winfrey Show)

Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown Interview Meltdown

Credits

Hosted by Jake Brennan.

Written by Zeth Lundy.

Copy edited by James Sullivan.

Scored and mixed by Matt Tahaney.

Additional music and score elements by Ryan Spraker.

DISGRACELAND theme song, “Crenshaw Space Boogie,” written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava, and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.

*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak