Completely Conspicuous

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1984. I've also got music from Nancy, Benjamin Shaw and The Men. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Check out Brian's comics podcast The Hour Cosmic - 1984: Brian was 2, Jay was 16 - A pivotal year for college/indie rock - Husker Du, R.E.M., Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Replacements - Aerosmith reformed, Yes bounced back - Classic lineup of Deep Purple reunited - The '80s wank guitar movement started with Yngwie Malmsteen - Early days of hip hop, thrash - Hair metal was emerging as a commercial force: Ratt, Twisted Sister, Dokken, Whitesnake, Bon Jovi - Van Halen's 1984 was huge - Eddie VH embraced synths - The beginning of the end of the Roth era of VH - MTV was a bigger hitmaker than radio - The middle of a bad stretch for Paul McCartney - Older artists rebounded: Kool and the Gang, Chicago, Stevie Wonder - Miami Vice incorporated MTV-style techniques - The video as movie trailer - Death of Marvin Gaye - Billy Squ

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss whether the world is getting dumber. I've also got music from Johnny Foreigner, Spray Paint and Pampers. Show notes: - Guy got fired after calling in sick and then posting video on YouTube - Another guy made it with a cow and had a buddy film it - Reality TV rewards dumbasses - It's a lazy Buzzfeed world - Beard transplants? Really? - Pre-ripped jeans - There's still good rock music out there - In praise of Mark Knopfler - Bravo, dude who came up with Shit My Dad Says - Medical bills are obscene - Selling your old junk - The bottom fell out of the sports card market - We fall for stupid memes designed to rile people up - Outrage culture - We're all dumb   Music: Johnny Foreigner - Stop Talking About Ghosts Spray Paint - Spock Fingers Pampers - Guts   Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review! The Johnny Foreigner song is on the album You Can Do Better on Alcopop! Records. Downloa

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss whether the world is getting dumber. I've also got music from Cloud Nothings, Eagulls and The So So Glos. Show notes: - There are studies that claim humans are getting dumber - Our IQs are supposedly dropping - We rely on smartphones for a lot of information - We're cramming so much info in our heads - Smart TV: True Detective did it right - Disney Channel sitcoms hark back to hacky TV crap of the '70s - Movie industry favors bigger, louder, dumber - Sometimes it's good to watch dumb stuff - Anonymous online comments are a prime source for idiocy - Wasting time online is so easy - People are so self-involved - Reality TV is a haven for dummies - People will do anything to get on TV - The Onion keeps fooling people - Beauty pageants - Our ability to self-incriminate Music: Cloud Nothings - I'm Not Part of Me Eagulls - Possessed The So So Glos - Lost Weekend   Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we examine music from a couple of forgotten artists from the 1970s. I've also got music from Ovlov, Palehound and Baked. Show notes: - Recorded in late January at More Lost Time world HQ - Edward Bear's prom song - They were better when they stuck to guitar rock - Band radically changed their sound - Ric breaks out a 1971 single by Tom Hartman, formerly of the Aerovons - Hartman and band when to England because of the Beatles - Strong resemblance to Sloan's Navy Blues sound - Ric's tips for finding good vinyl at flea markets - Aerovons had a serious Beatles fixation - Very McCartney-esque - Produced by none other than Mike Post - Ebay's a good way to get rare vinyl   Music: Ovlov - Moth Rock Palehound - Holiest Baked - Danelectroladyland   Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review! The Ovlov song is on the album am. The Palehound song is on the Kitchen 7-inch. The Baked song is on the EP S/T Casse

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we look at the career of an obscure 1970s Canadian band that had a huge hit and then disappeared. I've also got music from Protomartyr, The Collected Fictions and Cloud Nothings. Show notes: - Recorded in late January at More Lost Time world HQ - What the hell is Edward Bear? - Named after character in Winnie the Pooh - Their one big hit, "Last Song," is instantly recognizable - Sounds like a studio act - No high or low end in '70s AM pop hits - Manilow had great timing - Second single from that album hit top 40 - Singer Larry Evoy was the one constant member of the band - Opened for Led Zeppelin in '69 - First album had a psychedelic "acid rock" sound - Geddy Lee's mellower uncle - Going for a Canned Heat/Steve Miller Band/Doors vibe - Endless jamming - Early Edward Bear ain't half bad - Opportunistic band, like The Police - Riding whatever music wave was trending - To be continued   Music: Protomartyr - Come & See The Collected Fictions - It Don't Matte

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we dissect the disaster that was Van Halen III. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Check out Brian's comics podcast The Hour Cosmic - Jumping into an 8-minute epic snoozer - Rumors that the VH brothers had jammed with Ozzy around this time - Nuno Bettencourt has been touring with Rihanna - Jay happens to have issue of Guitar World from '98 nearby - The joys of the Columbia House Record Club - Michael Anthony's MIA for most of the album - Eddie compared his singing voice to Roger Waters meets Tom Waits - DLR says they're working on new VH album for mid-2015 - Brian: VH III was bad in a different way than expected - Jay: Almost an Adult Contemporary sound - Jay: Also haven't heard anything from VH's Balance, the last Hagar album - Record sales from the '90s were ridiculous; nearly everything sold well - Bizarre cover of Balance was actually PhotoShopped pic of Wolfgang VH - Putting shitty albums in your iTunes - The latest VH album was what Ae

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we dissect the disaster that was Van Halen III. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Check out Brian's comics podcast The Hour Cosmic - An addendum to our look at 1998 - VH III featuring Gary Cherone on lead vocals - Jay hasn't heard the album, Brian's heard it twice - Last VH album with Michael Anthony - Many long songs - Produced by TV theme composer Mike Post - Pleasant acoustic instrumental to start album - Mission statement: We will wuss you - Cherone sounds a lot like Hagar - Brian: "Without You" not as bad as I remember - Eddie needed an editor - Tough position for Cherone to be in - EVH played some bass on album - Restrained drum sound from Alex VH - Songs drag on way too long - The "go get a beer" song - Extreme acquitted themselves well at Freddie Mercury tribute concert - Mike Post produced artists like Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton - Severe lack of kickassery - Jay saw both Van Hagar and DLR in the summer of '86 - Brian saw Pixies rec

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1998. I've also got music from Screaming Maldini, Brawlers and Grass is Green. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Check out Brian's comics podcast The Hour Cosmic - Brian's #3 - Sean Lennon was considered the poor man's Beck - Yuka Honda was married to Lennon, now married to Nels Cline - Jay's #3 - Totally slept on QOTSA in '98 - Homme's first post-Kyuss band - The greatness of Them Crooked Vultures - Brian and Jay have same #2 - Frank Black got dropped by a major label - First album by major arist commercially released online - Jay: Pete Townshend made some great solo albums in early '80s - Brian's #1 - Billy Bragg and Wilco covering Woody Guthrie - Jay's #1 - Sloan has four talented songwriters - Paul Stanley's stage raps - The end of The Best Show on WFMU - Mourning a great radio experience - Next up: 1984 Music: Screaming Maldini - Soweto Brawlers - Instagram Famous Grass is Green - Vacation 2.0 Completely Co

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1998. I've also got music from Built to Spill, Guillermo Sexo and Bill Janovitz. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Check out Brian's comics podcast The Hour Cosmic - Remember Blues Brothers 2000? - Goo Goo Dolls went Hollywood - Brian: QOTSA released its debut - Rob Halford came out; first prominent metal dude to do so - In retrospect, '80s heavy metal was steeped in gayness - Bubbling under albums - Jay: Fugazi, GVSB, RFTC - Brian: Elliott Smith, The Catholics, Flin Flon, Tortoise, The Lounge Lizards - Jay: Pearl Jam, Neutral Milk Hotel, Pulp, Beasties, Tragically Hip, Cat Power - Brian's #5 album - Hello Nasty is the last classic Beasties album - Jay's #5 and Brian's #4 - Beck does a 180 from Odelay - Later Beck material rehashes older sounds - Jay's #4 - Afghan Whigs fully embrace soul and R&B - Greg Dulli can do no wrong - 1965 was the last Whigs album...until this year - To be continued Music: Built to Sp

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1998. I've also got music from Johnny Foreigner, Fuzz and The Dismemberment Plan. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Check out Brian's comics podcast The Hour Cosmic - The Pixies' ongoing bass situation - Brian: Zwan was underrated - Pixies have become the butt of jokes - In 1998, Jay was 30, Brian was 16 - We both had just started dating the women we would marry - In '98, being eclectic became cool - JK: Was getting into more funk and soul - Big year for pop - TRL started in '98 - Lots of one-hit wonders: Eagle Eye Cherry, Chumbawumba, New Radicals - The New Radicals featured former child actress in band - JK: Saw Fastball open for Matthew Sweet in a tiny pub in Portland, Maine - Semisonic's drummer wrote book about the record industry - The MP3 revolution began in '98 with MP3.com - MP3.com got sued by the labels before Napster - BS: Beginning of Latin influence and the height of the short-lived swing dance craze

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Lewandowski as we discuss his latest bold career move. I've also got music from She Sir, Protomartyr and Red Fang. Show notes: - Recorded at BGL HQ - Sometimes you like the people more than the job - BL stayed to raise his daughter for a while - Now situation is different - The time to restart is now - Is this all there is? - Pressure's on to succeed now - Trying to get disciplined - The Secret is good for finding parking spaces - Finding that elusive "dream job" - Acting is an interesting but difficult pursuit - Job misery can cause physical pain - Working overnights - The future is unwritten - BL: It's not exactly what I thought it would be Music: She Sir - Condensedindents Protomartyr - Scum, Rise! Red Fang - Behind the Light Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review! The She Sir song is on the album Go Guitars on Shelflife Records. Download the song for free at Largehearted Boy. The Proto

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Lewandowski as we discuss his latest bold career move. I've also got music from School of Seven Bells, Sadie Dupuis and Dead Stars. Show notes: - Recorded at BGL HQ - Momentous life decision - BL was working as a web guy at a Boston hospital - Commuted four hours each day - Didn't get promotion and decided to quit - BL: I just hated what I did - Haven't felt urgency to find something new - JK: Got a job right out of college and never stopped - Taking chances - BL: Played it safe early on and missed out on working on MTV's The Real World - Getting encouragement from friends not many kindred spirits - Layoffs are a different thing entirely - Going back to a job you left - The very brief heyday of CMGI - The ever-changing world of venue names - BL: Need to figure out next move by February - Commute is a huge factor - Cramming into crowded trains gets old fast - BL's been doing standup part-time the last few years - Hosting a standup show that's growing slo

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2013. I've also got music from Speedy Ortiz, Mudhoney and METZ. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky World HQ - JB's #1 - Speedy Ortiz jumped to Carpark Records - Sadie Dupuis is an actual poet - JK's #1 - Queens of the Stone Age went to interesting places on ...Like Clockwork - Matador's first #1 record - Favorite live shows - JB saw Lilys in a tiny venue - Whirr and Nothing at Great Scott made Breitling's brain shake - Krill, Speedy Ortiz record release shows - Saw Soccer Mom several times - JK: Golden Gurls, Soccer Mom and Reports at TT's - Clicky Clicky benefit was great - Saw Titus Andronicus twice - Obits and Pile at TT's - Just got ticket for Rocket From the Crypt reunion show in April - Mission of Burma and Reports at the Sinclair - JK: Vinyl continued to make comeback - JB: The reality of YouTube as a legit streaming music service - No sympathy for the record industry - We're in a pop-driven era - No

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2013. I've also got music from Los Campesinos!, Superchunk and Krill. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky World HQ - JK's #6 - New Bowie album was kept secret until it came out - Cover art's either brilliant or lazy...or both - JB's #5 - Los Campesinos! perserveres through lineup changes - JK's #5 - The Chunk keeps bringing the rock - Jon Wurster's the busiest guy in rock - R.I.P., The Best Show on WFMU - JB's #4 - The long-awaited MBV album - Getting the album was a chore - Kevin Shields took his time - JK's #4 - Strong leap forward for Speedy Ortiz - New EP on the way - Memories of Epitonic - JB's #3 - Veronica Falls' album sounds like a singles comp - JK's #3 - Back to Philly with Kurt Vile - Vile was a frequent guest on The Best Show - JK's #2 - Krill first released album on USB stick in ball of mozzarella - JB: My default setting is to hate everything - JK's #2 - Arctic Monkeys' sound has evolved - Wen

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2013. I've also got music from Guillermo Sexo, Calories and Savages. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky World HQ - Breitling's working on a new catchphrase - Zeppelin's on Spotify - Brought to you (not really) by Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale - When did year-end lists begin? - Breitling: Listen to Bandcamp and Soundcloud all day - Olive the dog nearly causes technical difficulties - JB's albums that just missed his top 10: It Hugs Back, Bent Shapes, Kal Marks, Slowdim - JK's bubbling under albums: Iceage, Diarrhea Planet, Deer Tick, Swearin', Mudhoney, YLT - JB's #10 - Joey Sweeney's second solo album - JK's #10 - Great return to form for Barrence Whitfield - JB's 9 - Guillermo Sexo album was picked up by Midriff Records - JK's #9 and JB's #8 are the same - Ovlov plays the hot rock - Exploding in Sound label had a monster year - Music scene in the Boston area is terrific right now - JK's #8 - Future of the Le

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1980. I've also got music from Shy Boys, Dog Day and PUP. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Jay's #3 - Bowie's last great album? - Jay: Tin Machine was an interesting experiment - Brian's #2 - Sandinista! is a bloated, but great, album - The Clash went to great lengths to keep price down - A little better than Extreme's triple album - A case study of success going to a band's 'head' - TV theme producer Mike Post produced VH III - Jay's #2 pick is Brian's #1 - Brian: "Once in a Lifetime" is one of the stranger smash hits of all time - Great albums created after a serious case of writer's block - Jay's #1 - Pretenders debut is flawless - Band only formed two years earlier - Half the band was dead within three years - Crappy recording techniques hadn't started yet in 1980 - Next up: 1998   Music: Shy Boys - Is This Who You Are Dog Day - Wasted PUP - Reservoir   Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1980. I've also got music from The Harmonica Lewinskies, Idiot Genes and Tame Impala. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Roller disco was once a thing - Brian: Mainstream American rock was in a slump - Just missed Brian's top 5: Queen's The Game - Lennon's Double Fantasy and McCartney II - The legend of Linda - Peter Gabriel's Melt, the debut of the Lounge Lizards - Jay: Blizzard of Ozz, Permanent Waves, Heaven and Hell, Empty Glass - Townshend's writing style had changed - Max Webster's Universal Juveniles - Band combined Rush and Zappa influences - 1980 was one of four years in Zappa's recording career he didn't release an album - Brian's #5 - Pretenders' debut was amazing - Jay's #5 - Back in Black was surprising given Bon Scott's death months earlier - The expanding umbrella of classic rock - Brian's #4 - Ozzy's solo debut reinvented his image - Singers who don't write lyrics - Jay's #4 - Jay: Melt is my favorit

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1980. I've also got music from Calories, Shearwater and Mark Kozelek. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Brian: 1980 was a much better year for music than our last choice, '87 - Jay: Was living in Toronto in '80 - Brian: Was -2 years old, but really dig the music of 1980 - Jay: New wave and post-punk really came into their own: B-52s, Talking Heads, U2, Pretenders - Brian: Arena rock bands like Queen and Rush took different paths - New sounds on the radio - Brian: Guitar rock was strong with VH, Ozzy, Sabbath, AC/DC - Poor Bob Daisley - New Wave of British Heavy Metal: Maiden, Leppard, Motorhead all influenced thrash scene that emerged a few years later - Worst musical moments: Wuss rock like Christopher Cross and Air Supply thrived - Brian: Blues Brothers movie came out - Put spotlight on music that was considered unhip at the time - Early hip-hop in the mainstream: Kurtis Blow, Blondie's "Rapture," Sugarhill Gang's

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we discuss a pair of 1970s hitmakers. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from Little Big League, Soft Focus, Idiot Genes and Wavves. Show notes: - Recorded at More Lost Time world HQ - "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" - Tony Orlando and Dawn got their own variety show - Telma Hopkins of Dawn went on to appear in several sitcoms - Renewed popularity during Gulf War - Actually about coming home from prison - Was "Knock Three Times" a swingers' anthem? - By the late '70s, Tony Orlando was forgotten - "He Don't Love You" was another big hit - In praise of KC and the Sunshine Band - Tales of KC's pratfall in Vegas - "Please Don't Go" was a major hit for KC - "I'm Your Boogie Man" was funky, great stuff - Learning about music as a kid in the '70s - Young Ric saw the Sex Pistols on Howard Cosell's "Saturday Night Live" - Good bands played on "Fridays" on ABC - Dick Clark was a brilliant businessman, not necessarily a music lover - Check out

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we discuss an unlikely number one single from 1973. I've also got the Bonehead of the Week and music from Pixies, Quasi, The Julie Ruin and Ghost Wave. Show notes: - Recorded at More Lost Time world HQ - Talking about Vicki Lawrence's "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" - We forgot to watch the movie - This was her only hit - Written by Bobby Russell - Lawrence was already a regular on The Carol Burnett Show - Later starred in Mama's Family and her own talk show - Very confusing story song about murder and infidelity - Song was offered to Cher but Sonny Bono nixed it - Later covered by Reba McEntire - Ric: Should've been an animated movie with animals - Revenge and death throughout - We're confused - Casey Kasem would've been annoyed - Bobby Russell had two top 40 songs of his own - "1432 Franklin Pike Circle Hero" hit #36 - Could've used an oompah band - Satire on suburban life - "Saturday Morning Confusioon" got up to #28 in 1971 - Merging Charlie Rich