Teaser // Death Grips: THE MONEY STORE

Summary

Jokermen Podcast: Death Grips – THE MONEY STORE (Teaser)

Date: May 21, 2026
Hosts: Jokermen
Episode Theme:
A reflective and conversational deep-dive teasing the Jokermen’s Patreon series on Death Grips, specifically centered around their pivotal 2012 album The Money Store. The hosts contextualize The Money Store within the broader music landscape of 2012, muse on fandoms, and examine Death Grips’ enduring place at the intersection of meme culture, experimental hip-hop, and critical acclaim.

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Main Theme & Purpose

• Main Theme: Exploring why Death Grips’ The Money Store is the band’s most culturally enduring work, and setting the scene for a broader Death Grips series.
• Purpose: To situate The Money Store within the critical landscape of the early 2010s and tease the upcoming Patreon-exclusive series, discussing fandom, genre labels, and the evolution of critical music taste.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. On Music Fandoms and Death Grips’ Unique Audience

• The hosts compare Death Grips fans to those of classic acts covered in previous series: Bob Dylan, Beach Boys, Billy Joel.
  • Host: “Look at some of the fandoms that we’ve gone through here on this program. The Bob Dylan fans, the Beach Boys fans, God forbid, the Billy Joel fans.” [00:28]
• Death Grips’ fandom, notably in the Money Store era, had a heavy “meme page” presence—fans who engaged more as part of a subcultural joke than for the music itself.
• Over time, Death Grips have “shook off” those superficial fans by persistently releasing challenging music, leaving a more invested core audience.
  • Co-host: “People who had a superficial relationship with Death Grips as like a thing kind of fall away. The Money Store...is kind of the avatar maybe of that in the sense that it’s like the core meme version of the group spun out from this.” [02:19]

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2. 2012 in Context: Year-End Lists and Indie Culture

• The hosts reminisce about indie/alternative culture circa 2012, with The Money Store landing at #9 on Pitchfork’s Top 10.
  • Host: “I remember this was, you know, this is 2012, and this was all across, like the year end lists in 2012. And I was way too busy doing...whatever sort of indie alt boy bullshit in 2012 I was up to.” [02:43]
• The Money Store’s critical peers included Grizzly Bear, Chromatics, Beach House, Grimes, Swans, Tame Impala, Fiona Apple, Frank Ocean, and Kendrick Lamar.
  • Host (reading Pitchfork’s list): “Number 9, The Money Store by Death Grips. Number 8, Kill for Love, Chromatics...Number 2 is Channel Orange, Frank Ocean, and number one is Good Kid, Mad City Kendrick. That’s what makes Death Grips...interesting.” [03:51–06:00]
• Noted shift: the indie scene was moving away from guitar-driven music, with “intricate boundary pushing rap” (Kendrick, Frank Ocean) in ascendance.

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3. Death Grips’ Genre Fluidity and Relationships to Scene and Industry

• Death Grips sit at the crossroads of indie rap, experimental electronic, punk, and industrial.
  • Host: "...they have some more kind of interesting or novel or dangerous or unexpected notes in their musical stew that come from more experimental electronic music...certainly hardcore punk rock music." [06:04]
• Questioning the “industrial hip-hop” label. Mixed feelings on its accuracy:
  • Co-host: “Well, industrial hip hop or industrial rap is kind of a term that gets used...when it comes to Death Grips.” [06:40]
  • Host: “Anytime I hear the word industrial, I always just think of Nine Inch Nails. And this doesn’t sound like Nine Inch Nails to me.” [07:00]
  • Co-host: “They actually have way more in common with Nine Inch Nails than most other groups. But they were going to tour with them that time and then they bailed.” [07:05]
  • Memorable moment: anecdote about Trent Reznor’s reaction to Death Grips dropping out of a tour (“I don’t know why I thought those guys could keep it...” [07:14])

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4. The Money Store’s Cultural Status vs. Later Death Grips Albums

• The Money Store is the album known to non-fans; it’s “culturally significant” beyond Death Grips’ core audience due to its context.
  • Host: “...if there is a Death Grips album that kind of exists in the cultural memory as greater than just Death Grips...it makes sense that it’s The Money Store, given what else is happening surrounding it in the, you know, the cool music community of 2012.” [09:25]
• No Love Deep Web (also 2012) didn’t get the same critical attention, possibly due to its “cover” and timing.
  • Host: “No Love Deep Web also came out in 2012, and that did not get quite as much love in the critical community.” [09:03]
• The long tail of Money Store demonstrates Death Grips’ ability to “engage deeply or not at all”—the band’s divisive and boundary-pushing nature is part of their enduring intrigue.

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5. Cultural Shifts in Taste & Critical Discourse

• The hosts pinpoint 2012 as a “transitional” year before the “poptimism” wave (mid-late 2010s), with critical lists increasingly dominated by major pop acts.
  • Host: “...it’s also not yet what is going to be happening in 2017...when the poptimism wave has really fully crested. And these lists are dominated by...the Beyoncés and the Taylor Swifts.” [07:45]
• Rise of critical respect for innovative rap (Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar) is linked to The Money Store’s success with “guys like us reading websites.”
• Self-aware banter about the “white guy who loves To Pimp a Butterfly” critical trope.
  • Co-host: “You know the trope of like white guys who are like, I, yeah, I love rap music and I like To Pimp a Butterfly, which is like, I, I do like...” [08:32]
• The hosts joke about how 2016 never really ended: “In some ways, it will finally become 2017 when Donald Trump finally expires. But until then, we’re just, you know, it’s the long 2016.” [10:11–10:24]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On meme fandoms fading out:
  “People who had a superficial relationship with Death Grips as like a thing kind of fall away. The Money Store...is kind of the avatar maybe of that in the sense that it’s like the core meme version of the group spun out from this.” — Co-host [02:19]

• On experimental music influences:
  “They have some more kind of interesting or novel or dangerous or unexpected notes in their musical stew that come from more experimental electronic music...certainly hardcore punk rock music.” — Host [06:04]

• On “industrial hip hop” as label:
  “Anytime I hear the word industrial, I always just think of Nine Inch Nails. And this doesn’t sound like Nine Inch Nails to me.” — Host [07:00]

• Trent Reznor tour drama:
  “Trent Reznor was like, I don’t know why I thought those guys could keep it to. Which was kind of like, well, I don’t know if that’s really fair, but it probably was disappointing.” — Co-host [07:14]

• 2016 never ended:
  “In some ways, it will finally become 2017 when Donald Trump finally expires. But until then, we’re just, you know, it’s the long 2016.” — Host [10:11–10:24]

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Important Timestamps

• 00:28: Comparing Death Grips fandom to Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel
• 01:09–02:19: Discussion of meme fandom and how it faded
• 03:51–06:00: 2012 Pitchfork Top 10 rundown; The Money Store’s context
• 06:04–07:14: Genre labels (industrial, punk, hip-hop), Nine Inch Nails tour anecdote
• 09:03–09:25: Why The Money Store lingers while No Love Deep Web does not
• 10:11–10:24: “The long 2016” and the state of cultural time

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Summary

This teaser episode provides a sharp, self-aware exploration of Death Grips’ The Money Store as both cultural artifact and enduring touchstone. Jokermen use wit and introspection to contextualize the album’s critical success, meme-laden fandom, and ongoing relevance—promising a nuanced, historically enriched Patreon series for those who want more than just the memes.

Transcript

[Host]

Jokerman podcast is brought to you by Distrokid and their new direct to fan tool. Allowing any artist to sell merch. Distrokid Direct allows artists to create a merch store in minutes without any upfront costs or any technical skills or know how they'll take care of all the logistics and the nitty gritty. And as with distribution through Distrokid, they never take a cut of the proceeds. You, the artist, keep 100% of your earnings. Once again, that's Distrokid Direct. Open a store [e-mail] direct. I have come to certainly at this point not bother myself too much about like fandoms and like the other types of people who listen to the music and like the music that I like. Because I mean, look at some of the fandoms that we've gone through here on this program. The Bob Dylan fans, the Beach Boys fans, God forbid, the Billy Joel fans.

[Co-host]

The Beach Boys fans are like, not so bad. Actually.

[Host]

They're not so bad, but they're like, I don't know, there's a real like, you know, kind of get the feeling

[Co-host]

like they mostly listen to the Beach Boys, like the people who are really in. In that deep. Like they've got like, you know, multiple copies of every album because of different pressings. I guess I would say, like broadly, it's a fandom that I think over time has kind of been seen as disreputable to a degree anyway, and I think less so as they went on. But there was like a critical mass moment where the, the Death Grips fandom was like so full of like mid tier meme page people making little jokes out of every single aspect of the group. And of course that's part of the fun. But I think that maybe there's a moment where it felt like there was more people in it for as like a meme interest than interested earnestly in the music. I do think that that's changed over time. Like, I think that actually they sort of shook off some of that by being persistent and continuing to put out records that you're either engaging with them deeply or not. And the people who are really interested, like the core stays, while maybe people who had a superficial relationship with Death Grips as like a thing kind of fall away. The money story. To this day, it's kind of the avatar maybe of that in the sense that it's like the core meme version of the group spun out from this.

[Host]

Yeah, I'm fortunate in that I didn't really get involved in any of this stuff. I honestly came to Death Grips late, like a couple years after the Money Store came out. Because I remember this was, you know, this is 2012, and this was all across, like the year end list lists in 2012. And I was way too busy doing, you know, whatever sort of indie alt boy bullshit in 2012 I was up to. I couldn't even wrap my head around what was going on here. I didn't, like, listen to it and decide, oh, this isn't for me. I just, like, completely opted out of it.

[Co-host]

Well, what albums came out in 2012? Like, what. What's the Pitchfork top albums? Because this was also still Pitchfork's world at this point.

[Host]

All right, you had Mac DeMarco 2. Sure. You had the first dive album.

[Co-host]

Crystal Castles.

[Host]

Crystal Castles 3.

[Co-host]

The third Crystal Castles album.

[Host]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Co-host]

The Mets album.

[Host]

The first Mets album album. Yeah. That was all right.

[Co-host]

Hot chip in our heads.

[Host]

Purity Ring. Remember Purity Ring?

[Co-host]

Yeah. Actress, rip. That's interesting that that was.

[Host]

Mature themes.

[Co-host]

Yeah, mature themes.

[Host]

Great record. Definitely cloud nothing. Sure. All right, here's your top 10, Pitchfork. This is just good to contextualize things here. Number 10, 2012 Shields by Grizzly Bear. Wow, great album. Underrated. Grizzly Bear album, sort of forgotten. Number nine, the Money Store by Death Grips. Number eight, Kill for Love. Chromatics. Remember when everyone was really into Chromatics? Yeah. Never the Johnny, you know, like Italo disco thing.

[Co-host]

Yeah, I missed that. Passed me by.

[Host]

Yeah. I wanted to get into that and it never really clicked for me. Number seven, Bloom by Beach House. Good record, good band. Number six. Oh, of course. This is one, I bet. Visions by Grimes. That's one, I'm very proud to say. I called this bullshit from day one. Still will end soon.

[Co-host]

But that's a good one.

[Host]

No, no, no. It's always been. What are you talking about? It's the astronaut meme. Always has been. Shit. Pure shit.

[Co-host]

That's not true. I mean, that' like the album.

[Host]

It's the famous. It's the one that she got famous for. And I'm glad to say that I never listened to it and never will.

[Co-host]

You never listen to it and you hate it?

[Host]

Well, I mean, I listened to a few of the songs enough to know I had no business with this. And I've been proven historically correct on that.

[Co-host]

I believe that Grimes had a fall from grace, but I think there was grace to fall from. I think that first record is good stuff. It's not actually her first.

[Host]

I mean, it's the first, like, major Label record or whatever. Put it out on 4id. Anyways, this is not the Grimes cast. Here's another one for you. The Seer by Swans. Number five.

[Co-host]

Never cared for Swans.

[Host]

Never even bothered with on that one. Number four, Lonerism by Tame Impala. We know what happened to them. Number three, the Idler Wheel, Fiona Apple. I'm sure it's good. Never listen to it. And then, interestingly, your top two on the Pitchfork list, and I think this actually does sort of dovetail with this point in time being kind of the transitional year in rock music, underground, indie, whatever. Number two is Channel Orange, Frank Ocean, and number one is Good Kid, Mad City Kendrick. That's what makes Death Grips. I almost said Death Grips.

[Co-host]

Death Grips.

[Host]

We'll get to that.

[Co-host]

Yeah, that's later.

[Host]

I think that's what makes this interesting is that Death Grips kind of exist at this nexus point, particularly for people like the Pitchfork crowd, which you and I obviously were in 2012, where it's got the hip hop influence of things. Certainly they are a rap group ostensibly, but at the same time they have some more kind of interesting or novel or dangerous or unexpected notes in their musical stew that come from more experimental electronic music. Experimental music, Electronic music. Certainly hardcore punk rock music.

[Co-host]

Well, industrial hip hop or industrial rap is kind of a term that gets used to pretty sincerely and often when it comes to Death Grips.

[Host]

I don't know what that means, to be honest, but I'm not a huge fan of it. I guess.

[Co-host]

I guess I get it too. And I don't know. Industrial.

[Host]

Anytime I hear the word industrial, I always just think of Nine Inch Nails. And this doesn't sound like Nine Inch Nails to me.

[Co-host]

Well, they actually have way more in common with Nine Inch Nails than most other groups. But they were going to tour with them that time and then they bailed.

[Host]

Oh, I remember that.

[Co-host]

Trent Reznor was like, I don't know why I thought those guys could keep it to. Which was kind of like, well, I don't know if that's really fair, but it probably was disappointing.

[Host]

Anyways, I think that list is interesting just as a sampling of this sort of confused and muddled period of time in recent rock, indie, rock, indie music, whatever kind of history. Because that group of bands and acts is clearly not what it was like circa 2009, 2010.

[Co-host]

That's like wolf Parade.

[Host]

Wolf Parade's even a little bit earlier than that. Wolf Brayd's like 2005, 2006. But it's also not yet what is going to be happening in 2017, 16, 17, 18, when the poptimism wave has really fully crested. And these lists are dominated by whoever, the Beyonce's and the Taylor Swifts.

[Co-host]

But there is this thing of Kendrick's rise that's representative of a kind of vibe shift toward putting thoughtful and intricate boundary pushing rap music at the critical forefront. You know, giving that the. The place of honor.

[Host]

This sector of the critical world at least, which is, you know, guys like us reading websites.

[Co-host]

Yeah, well, you know the trope of like white guys who are like, I, yeah, I love rap music and I like to pimp a butterfly, which is like, I, I do like to pipette.

[Host]

It's a good record.

[Co-host]

But yeah, it's an interesting list to just like dwell on to look at because mostly not guitar music.

[Host]

And I think it explains really why if there is a Death Grips album, it's the album that came out this year, or at least the first album that came out this year. Because I think no Love Deep Web also came out in 2012, and that did not get quite as much love in the critical community. No love beginning?

[Co-host]

No, it got some love.

[Host]

Well, but it's not on that list. I think it was. I think this came out. I think Money store was like mid-2012. And then I think no Love Deep

[Co-host]

web was like October 1st.

[Host]

October 1st, yeah.

[Co-host]

Wow. And it didn't make the list.

[Host]

The COVID of that album might have something to do with its critical positioning.

[Co-host]

A lot of things about it.

[Host]

Yeah. Anyways, I say this all just to get to the point I'm trying to make, which is like, I think it makes sense that if there is a Death Grips album that kind of exists in the cultural memory as greater than just Death Grips is more significant to people who aren't Death Grips listeners and fans. It makes sense that it's the Money Store, given what else is happening surrounding it in the, you know, the cool music community of 2012. You know, all those words in four sets of quotation marks. But our question here today in 2016, 2026, excuse me, is 2016. I knew there was a six in there somewhere. Question here.

[Co-host]

That's so crazy. Still thinking it's 2016.

[Host]

I mean, I do kind of think it is still 2016 in some senses. In some ways, it will finally become 2017 when Donald Trump finally expires. But until then, we're just, you know,

[Co-host]

it's the long 2016.

[Host]

That's right. One year after another brother.