Episode 152: Country Stuff
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Transcript
Transcript
Are you a northern redneck? Perhaps. Do you like country stuff? We'll find out.
On this episode of Time Crisis we talk about the 4th of July, Aaron Lewis,
Stained, BTS, and new music from Walker Hayes. This is Time Crisis with Ezra Koenig.
Time Crisis, back again. What's up Jake? Not much, it's bright and early. We're
doing this one early. I'm an undisclosed different time zone.
But, well, okay. I guess if I said what I was gonna say would disclose where you
are. I'll just say this, it's early for us, it's not early for you. It's TC time
for you. I'm in Mountain Time. You're one hour ahead. I'm one hour ahead. I'm in the
MT. Which is the coolest time zone as discussed. The greatest time zone. Jake,
how was your 4th of July? Pretty good, pretty uneventful to be honest. Let's see,
what did I even do? Yeah, we're way past 4th of July. We're actually closer now to
Bastille Day. I don't know if you guys celebrate that. What is that again? Wait,
Seinfeld, do you celebrate Bastille Day given that you come from a Francophone
land? I do not celebrate Bastille Day. I was just looking it up actually. I also
don't know a lot about it to be honest with you. Nick, not a Bastille Day guy?
Not in my house. Are you a Bastille Day guy? It begs the question. You know, it's
We're off to a rip-roaring start here guys. We are hot out of the gates today. It's kind of
weird when we're not in the same times and I'm bringing that mountain energy.
Right. You guys are on that Pacific. Well, you know sometimes there's like a
fact that you really don't know that much about but you just like remember it.
It's a little bit in the same zone as knowing that the first podcast was a
Grateful Dead song. You know, you come out hot with that and people are like, wow,
this guy knows some facts and then they sinks in. They say, well, what does that
mean? You say, I don't really know but it's true. I know that July 14th is
Bastille Day. Sometime in my childhood or school or something, I just
remember that because it has something to do with the French Revolution. The
Bastille was stormed. Whatever the Bastille was, they stormed it and I just
think I remembered, okay, so that's like a big Independence Day-esque celebration
in France and it's 10 days after the 4th of July. So, I always remember that July
14th is Bastille Day and I think, Seinfeld, do they have fireworks on
Bastille Day? Well, I'm on the Wikipedia page and there the main image is the
Eiffel Tower with fireworks all around it. So, there you have it folks. These are
two of the major July fireworks based holidays in the Western world. If you're
a fireworks head, you could like party on July 4th in the States somewhere and
then go to France. Ooh. Catch that show at the Eiffel on the 14th. I'm sure there
actually are like wealthy fireworks heads. People who are into like city
sanctioned firework shows. Well, and also they have to be Independence themed. Like
somebody's just talking like, "Oh, do you ever go down at Disney World? They really
have a hell of a firework show every night." And it's like, no, it's got no heart.
It has to actually reference some type of political violence. That's the reason
why we set off the fireworks. Full disclosure, I'm a fireworks head that I'm
actually in France. I came out here for Bastille Day. I caught as
many shows as I could in the Los Angeles area for the 4th. Then I drove
cross-country and got on the fast boat to France.
♪ Money just changed everything. I wonder how life without it would go. ♪
♪ From the concrete, who knew that a flower would grow? ♪
♪ Looking down from the top and it's crowded below. ♪
♪ My 15 minutes started an hour ago. Truth over fame. ♪
♪ You know I respect the blatant sh*t. When I hear him talking, I just don't know ♪
♪ what to make of it. Haters so familiar to me, I'm slowly embracing it. ♪
♪ Doesn't come natural, bear with me, it could take a bit. Yeah. ♪
♪ And my dreams are who I'm racing with, but you can see I'm pacing it so that ♪
♪ I'm always chasing it. Wayne put me right here, that's who I get the paper with. ♪
♪ I hope that my success never alters our relationship. Yeah. ♪
♪ This life is something I would die for. October's on, but it's looking like July 4th. ♪
♪ I just wish they let you try it first. This time I'm really going off. Fireworks. ♪
♪ Oh, today it begins. I've missed them before, but won't miss them again. ♪
♪ I keep having those same dreams, and I think that I just realized what it means. ♪
♪ All I see is fireworks. All I see is fireworks. Every night is fireworks. ♪
♪ All I see is fireworks. All I see is fireworks. Taking off like fireworks. Taking off like oh. ♪
Okay, but Jake, back to this 4th of July.
Yeah.
Oh wait, you know what? I think the last episode was basically on- did it air on the 4th of July?
Oh yeah, it was a Sunday.
We really sh*t the bed on that one. Zero reference.
Oh yeah.
The last episode had zero reference to the 4th of July.
Okay, so did you get up to anything? Grilling?
Yeah, now I'm remembering. We took Lizzie to our friend Morgan's house.
Uh-huh. I heard about this.
He was barbecuing, and there was like a ton of kids there.
Like all of a sudden, as soon as we've had a daughter, like you just gravitate towards the people that also have kids.
And then she usually gets really cranky and wants to go to sleep at 6.30.
So it's like you go there at 4, and at 6 o'clock she had a major meltdown.
So we bailed.
Oh, you didn't make it to the fireworks.
Oh no. But you know what? I don't care about fireworks. I don't like them. They're boring.
You're straight up anti-fireworks?
I'm anti. So then we got home, put her to bed, and then we were watching-
Speaking of France, we were watching some episodes of the show The Bureau.
There were fireworks going on outside in our neighborhood. There's a ton of them always.
We walked outside in the middle of them, you know, when it was dark at 8 or 9 o'clock, and watched them for like 15 seconds.
And then we were both like, "Okay, I'm good."
Very kind of Larry David, kind of like, "Yeah, eh. They're boring."
I feel like if you're right underneath fireworks, they can be kind of exciting.
My memories of driving to a football field or something as a kid and really feeling underneath it.
Yeah, when you're a kid.
Kind of exciting.
Yeah.
All right, so nothing particularly patriotic.
I'm just a jaded, tired adult. I don't have room in my heart for sincere excitement around fireworks.
Well, you sound like almost the polar opposite of Aaron Lewis.
(laughs)
That is true. It seems like the 4th is his favorite holiday. Did that song come out on the 4th?
Well, this is... Okay, it came out on the 2nd. So, that was my rough transition into something I wanted to talk about.
Because even though at some point on this show, we moved the top 5 from the top 5 songs on iTunes to the top 5 songs on Apple Music.
And it made sense at the time. I'm starting to wonder if it's a mistake because there's a lot of weird energy still hanging out on iTunes.
What's the difference? Is iTunes just a store where you buy stuff?
iTunes is like the old school MP3 store.
Right.
Which clearly some people still use.
Right.
That might have been one of the dominant forms of digital music consumption 10, 15 years ago.
But, you know, these days, the average person, they're streaming it. They're streaming it on Apple Music.
You don't need that physical release.
(laughs)
Don't always need the physical release, depending on what it is.
But sometimes you want a middle ground between the physical release and just streaming it once.
So, I still look at the iTunes store and I just know - I looked over there and I was like,
"This is a different universe than a lot of what we're getting on the top 5 Apple Music."
I mean, probably a smaller group of people, different audience.
But I saw this song was up there at number 1.
And I saw the name was Aaron Lewis.
And at first, I'm thinking, "Is that the guy from Stained?"
It's like ringing a vague, a soft bell in my head.
And I see the song as I'm the only one and some kind of American flag on the cover of the single.
So, I was like, "What is this?"
And then I checked the song out and I said, "Okay, this is basically a conservative country song
from the guy from Stained who looms large."
And I don't think we've talked about enough on the show.
I'm sure at some point we've talked about the huge Stained hit.
"It's been a while."
One of the most legendary lines of the past 30 years.
Infrequently sung in conversation.
Like if you haven't seen someone in a while,
"Hey man, haven't seen you in a minute."
And the other guy goes, "Been a while."
Exactly.
I've definitely done that.
Yeah, I definitely associate that with you.
And it's also like for rock guys like us, of course, we know it.
But a lot of people, even if they were around back then,
they may not be totally familiar with that song.
And I find it hard if I hear the phrase, if somebody just says, "Oh, it's been a while."
To not go, "It's been a while."
But every once in a while, you'll just get somebody to be like,
"Just picture you don't actually know what that song is."
Like, it's very possible like Rashida has no idea what that song is.
You know, just like, "Oh yeah, I'd love to do that. It's been a while."
I'm just like, "It's been a while."
What? Hit him with a zero context, "It's been a while."
It's like your own version of Tourette's or something.
You can't help it.
I can't stop quoting Stained.
Just like in the most inappropriate moments.
True life. I can't quit.
I can't stop singing Stained.
In class, professors just like, "It's great to finally not be on Zoom anymore, guys.
It's nice to see all you. It's been a while."
I'm just like back at the lecture hall, "It's been a while!"
Excuse me?
Just like sitting on a park bench by yourself
and you can kind of hear what the people across the way are talking about
and you hear one of them use the phrase, "It's been a while!"
You're like, "Oh my God, were you listening to us?"
"Not really. I just heard that phrase."
"Oh, why did you say it that way?"
"Jesus Christ, get away from us, officer."
I have a medical compulsion to sing that if I hear that phrase.
That'd be a really hardcore Mandela effect too.
I'm sure most TC heads are familiar with the concept of the Mandela effect.
A lot of people have these memories, often associated with pop culture,
that the historical record doesn't back up.
So there's many people out there who swore that Nelson Mandela died in prison.
Whereas the historical record tells us that Nelson Mandela was freed from prison
and became the president of South Africa.
So they call it the Mandela effect.
A lot of people get together and say, "I remember it that way too."
"What's up with that? Maybe we've got some kind of multiverse thing happening."
But I'm imagining one where millions of people around the world
remember a song from the late '90s, early 2000s called "It's Been A While"
and every time they hear the phrase, they go, "It's been a while."
But the historical record shows no evidence that there was ever a song called "It's Been A While"
or that there was ever a band called "Stained."
Somehow, tens of millions of people around the world have this shared memory.
That would be the Mandela effect version.
Yeah, or there would be a real glitch in the multiverse.
That's my pitch for a Black Mirror episode.
It's just like, "Thanks for your submission."
I don't think you totally understand what Black Mirror is about.
It's usually about technology.
It'd be like, "Music is a technology, sir."
"Mr. Brooker, music is a technology."
It'd be like a weirdo version of that movie "Yesterday."
Yeah.
Where the whole world has forgotten the Beatles catalog except for one dude.
But this is a reverse where somehow the whole world starts going, "It's been a while."
There's only one dude who doesn't remember the "Stained" song and he's very confused.
Yeah.
I like the idea of going to the creators of Black Mirror
and pitching them a lot of time crisis weirdo ideas.
Yeah, "Juice Island."
Didn't we have a whole thing once that was like, "Members of One Direction."
It was like a movie.
"Members of One Direction were working on Nantucket or something."
Yeah.
Can I get a number crunch?
That sounds very familiar, but yeah.
Let me crunch some numbers here.
Just rolling up super serious for a big pitch meeting for Black Mirror.
And they're just like, "All right, guys. What you got?"
And we just start hitting them with "Juice Island."
Just the most boneheaded DC stuff.
And he's like, "Guys, you really don't understand what Black Mirror is about."
And we're like, "We get it, man. It's about a kind of alternate reality.
It's about technology. Music is a technology.
And it's about something that's not quite right."
"Oh, yeah. We get it, man. We put a lot of thought into these ideas."
He's like, "That's not okay, but no, it's got to be about computers or some sh*t."
"No, man. We thought about that. No, no, no. We're one step ahead of you."
"Guacamole technology."
[Laughter]
We should make our own Black Mirror.
Okay. Our own Black Mirror is called Green Mirror.
And it's all kind of horror stories involving guacamole technology.
How about that?
There we go.
Niall Horan from One Direction's attempt to capture the tones of the early '80s Don Henley
sparks a fantasy movie called New Directions
about a recently widowed Jake running a hardware store in Nantucket.
He finds true camaraderie with the '70s palette-obsessed former Direction members of One Direction.
Wow.
Leaves his chain-smokers-listening daughter in charge of the store while he goes on a world tour with the lads.
[Laughter]
Charlie Brooker.
Charlie Brooker, what do you think, man?
[Laughter]
Okay, guys.
Have you ever seen an episode of Black Mirror?
Yes, sir. Absolutely.
Black Mirror, they did that whole movie that took place in the '80s.
What was that called about the video game developers?
Bandersnatch.
Bandersnatch.
Mr. Brooker, we know you got a soft spot for the 1980s,
and so we really cooked something up,
and we're going to dip a little bit into the tasteful palette of the '70s, too.
Okay, maybe it's not—we just got to start our own show, Green Mirror.
It's mostly stories about kind of what-ifs about musicians.
Wait, Green Mirror isn't mostly about guacamole technology?
The first episode was about guacamole technology gone wrong,
and then the rest of them just tend to be about what if Don Henley went solo a few years earlier.
A little more oddball.
Yeah.
It's on right after Gentle—
That's so menacing.
It's on right after Gentle Jesters.
It's like, yeah, it's a kind vibe Black Mirror.
It's the slowest two hours on TV.
Gentle Jesters into Green Mirror.
[Laughter]
The whole family can watch it.
I like this movie.
I just—I do like this meeting with him where we're like, you know, we know.
We know the show well.
We're just saying, what if technology isn't so bad?
Right.
It's not good.
It's just not so bad.
That's our Black Mirror.
We think that would make an interesting show.
Sort of a centrist, like a centrist Black Mirror.
[Laughter]
It's agnostic.
We're not taking a hard line on technology.
It's really what our version of the show is.
It's nuanced.
Yeah, or just like get an interview with Charlie Brooker and just come in like really aggressive.
Just being like, so your whole show is about this kind of skepticism about where technology is taking us.
Are you aware, sir, that the word technology could refer to basically anything?
Even something as simple as making guacamole?
He's like, yes.
Well, defend yourself.
And he's like, I'm talking about modern kind of digital technology, information technology.
All right.
Fair point.
It's amazing how often that movie Yesterday comes up in conversation when—I don't know if any of us have seen it.
I haven't.
I watched it on a plane.
It's a very durable concept.
They could also make—how about this for a streaming service?
Yesterday the series, every episode's about a different artist.
[Laughter]
You get into like season four and it's like, dude wakes up and the world's forgotten about the catalog of Boston.
Yeah, a lot of the episodes are just a very confused person just trying to figure out if they can actually do anything with it.
Or just like a super—somebody who knows nothing about music, like super tone deaf, and they just like wake up in a world where like—
I'm just trying to think of just like some really just kind of like solid but like not particularly beloved like one hit wonder.
Yeah, like how long would it take them to figure that out even?
It could be like years.
Oh, Gautier?
Gautier is an interesting fellow because I don't think he ever followed up that album.
So that makes him a hall of famer in my eyes.
I respect the slow pace.
It wouldn't be fair to call him a one hit wonder.
I don't know, what's like a big one hit wonder from like—
Dancing in the Moonlight by King Harvest.
Yeah, okay, perfect.
Dancing in the Moonlight by King Harvest, although there was a massive version of it in the UK in the 90s, did not cross over in the US at all.
So in a way, this Britpop band called Toploader kind of already did it.
Huh, I never heard that.
Throw on Toploader.
For Gen X English people, this is like one of the biggest songs of their youth.
Really?
So this band is a one hit wonder with a cover, which I respect.
What a funny trailer. The whole trailer is the guy wakes up and this song.
Never happened.
An English guy wakes up and Toploader—the original did happen, but Toploader didn't cover it in the 90s.
That's even deeper.
He has this deep feeling that English people would freak out for a new version of Dancing in the Moonlight.
But he keeps telling people about Dancing in the Moonlight and they're like, "No, no, it did come out."
And he's like, "No, no, no."
No, but the Toploader version never came out.
You'd have to have the scene where he's been in this new reality for six months.
He's in a coffee shop and they're playing the King Harvest version.
And he goes, "It's been a while since I've heard this song."
But, you know, I really love the 90s Top Sider version.
And then someone's like, "What's that? What do you mean? That's the reveal."
And then he's like, "Well, you know, it was covered in the 90s. I've never heard that."
Then he starts asking everyone.
Wait, wait, you're kidding me.
Wait, Seinfeld, can you tell me the Toploader version of Dancing in the Moonlight, how high did that chart?
Toploader? That's a weird name.
Have you ever heard of the band, Jake?
No, I had no idea this existed.
It peaked at number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
It went to 13?
That's deep.
Wait, wait, you're looking at the Toploader version?
No, I'm looking at the King Harvest. My bad. Sorry, guys.
Seinfeld's already living in a world where Toploader's cover never happened.
I think this is a little slower than the original.
Okay, you know what, Seinfeld? I found it, don't worry.
All right.
It peaked at number 19 on the UK Singles Chart, so it wasn't number one.
It's been certified three times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, so that's a big hit.
What year was it?
It was actually 2000. It's not 90. Almost 90. It was February 2000.
And then also, if you could pull out a triple platinum hit out of your pocket,
obviously, you could make some money, but it's just one song.
Are you going to dedicate your whole life to recreating that one hit?
Also, it would be many years after the Toploader hit actually happened.
You're supposing that if the show is set in 2021,
and this guy discovers that Toploader never happened,
that he could somehow turn dancing in the moonlight into a massive hit.
A massive hit now.
The whole point of the Beatles movie is that those songs are timeless.
Yeah, that's a good song.
Right, Jake, you wake up tomorrow, and the Space Hog song, In the Meantime, never came out.
Great song.
But you wake up tomorrow, and you find out that that song never came out.
It would probably take you probably a decade to find out that that song had never come out.
Right.
You quietly slipped onto a different timeline, and you didn't even know.
Right.
That's what the Mandela effect is, actually.
I might not ever find out, because I do hear that song occasionally,
and when I do, I'm delighted, because it's a great song.
But if I never heard it again...
You'd never look it up on Apple Music, for example.
It would never occur to me to look it up.
Maybe one day you're doing Jake's 90s alt-rock radio phase,
and you're like, "Where's that Space Hog song at?"
And it's like, "Huh, I guess they're not on Apple Music. It's not streaming."
And then you go to Wikipedia, or you look for it on YouTube.
You're like, "Not on YouTube either. I guess it must be a copyright thing."
And then you're just like, "When did that come out?"
And you type Space Hog into Wikipedia.
Nothing. Now you're sweating.
You're getting that weird pit in your stomach.
And then you call your brother, "Dave, remember Space Hog?"
"Remember Space Hog?"
"No. Remember that song, 'Doon Doon Doon'?"
"In the meantime?"
"Dave, I know it's probably been a while, but do you remember Space Hog?"
"No, you just started calling every rock dude you know in your phone book."
You know what's funny? I would have no idea when I slipped onto that alternate timeline.
It might have happened yesterday, or it might have happened 10 years ago.
That's really insidious. This is perfect for Green Mirror.
I have a version.
Hold on. Real quick. Then part two.
Once you calm down, you realize that the multiverse theory is real, whatever.
And you're like, "Whatever. Everything else is business as usual. I'm not going to sweat it."
But now you're saying to yourself, "That was a great song.
What are you going to do with it in 2021?
Are you going to just throw it on the next Mountain Bruise EP?"
Are you going to be like, "I'm putting that on the next Mountain Bruise EP."
Or are you going to be like, "I'm really going to work this one.
I'm going to hire a radio team because I know."
The funny thing is that in the movie, he's a songwriter and he remembers all the Beatles songs.
We all remember the Beatles songs.
I remember the Space Hog song, but I don't remember it that well.
I remember he just goes, "And when the birdland knows where."
I don't remember any of the lyrics.
It's built around a sample.
It's a Penguin Cafe Orchestra sample of a dial tone that goes, "Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun."
Ezra clearly knows the song better.
I have a different scenario of how this movie comes about.
It's essentially what we're doing here.
And this is very Green Mirror because we're already connected.
Because we're all separated, we're connected on FaceTime.
We're having the radio show.
We're talking about yesterday.
And then Ezra says, "Like the Space Hog song."
We all go, "What are you talking about?"
And you're like, "You know the Space Hog song."
In the meantime, we're like, "We don't know what you're talking about."
And you're like, "Matt, pull it up.
Matt, we don't know what you're talking about.
There's no Space Hog song called 'Ain't No Man.'"
And not seeing it.
And then you have to make a decision at this moment.
"Oh, sorry. Had a brain fart. That isn't a song."
And you make the decision now that Vampire Weekend can put out in the meantime.
You have a moment where no one knows the song.
And you're like, "Oh, I have this thing that is mine."
And now you actually do have to then also contend with the fact
that you've slipped into an alternate timeline
where things are going but that song doesn't exist.
You are still in a band that has a huge platform.
You're a songwriter. You do know the music.
I'm sitting there with Arielle who wouldn't remember the song
either if it doesn't exist in this timeline.
And I'm playing it for him.
And he's just like, "It sounds like a little '90s, dude."
And I'll be like, "Uh, okay. Good call. That's true.
Goodyear, man. That's what I was referencing.
Guilty as charged. I was going for a bit of a '90s thing.
But yeah, let's just freshen it up for 2021."
And I'll just be like, "I mean, yeah. What'd you have in mind?"
And I'll be like, "Um, yeah. I wonder if what I could--
Okay, we got to listen to it now."
And then, of course, the movie's called In the Meantime.
Do you remember any of the lyrics?
♪ And when the time comes ♪
He says, "And when the--"
Because the chorus is essentially no words. It's--
♪ Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ♪
Yeah.
I think he's singing a word, though. Maybe not.
♪
I think I'd know what to do with this
if I slipped onto an alternate timeline.
I could make this work in 2021.
♪
♪ Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ♪
That intro was sick.
♪ Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ♪
The "bam-bam" was pretty nice.
♪ Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ♪
♪ In the end, we shall achieve in time ♪
♪ The thing they call Dubai ♪
[laughter]
♪ When all the stars will shine for me ♪
This is some real yarl. I think these guys are English.
Really? I think they're American.
They are English.
Oh.
♪ Maybe in the meantime we'll see ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ We'll out the old, we'll be on the new ♪
Wait, he's singing something, though.
♪ Where lands are green and skies are blue ♪
Skies are blue.
Lands are green.
An English rock band formed in New York City.
What? Okay.
♪ Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ♪
♪ When I cry for me, I cry for you ♪
♪ When tears of old will be dry ♪
♪ Or all the days have still come ♪
♪ Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ♪
♪ And if I ever say I'd never play ♪
I love the bass player in this band.
Oh, yeah. Great bass.
♪ Maybe in the meantime, something's on ♪
♪ We'll out the old, we'll be on the new ♪
It's "We love the all, the all of you, where lands are green and skies are blue."
"When all in all, we're just like you."
"We love the all of you."
Yeah, this song rules.
Yeah, this is like-- I was always waiting for this song to come on the radio.
Yeah.
♪ That sound fine, so I see it's school time ♪
♪ Give my love to the future, I'm a human kind ♪
♪ Okay, okay, that's not okay ♪
This part's real, like, "I am the Eggman."
Yeah, yeah, totally. This part's very English.
♪ I've been to find more future love ♪
♪ Dream that I'm still divine ♪
♪ But in the meantime ♪
♪ We'll out the old, we'll be on ♪
♪ We love the all, we're just like you ♪
Yeah, I feel like that guitar riff is super '90s.
It sort of splits the difference.
It reminds me of, like, Mountain Mouse a little bit, but also Corgan.
It really splits the difference.
It's got, let's say, ballsy or classic rock, pumpkin vibe.
Tone, yeah.
♪ We'll out the old, we'll be on ♪
♪ We love the old, we're just like you ♪
And the award for Best Picture goes to "In the Meantime."
Yeah! Hell yeah!
And the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Rock Song goes to
"In the Meantime" by Vampire Weekend.
And I'm just like, oh man, I didn't want to think.
Our manager, all our families, the whole TC crew, Space Hog.
Just be like, what the f*** did he say? Space Hog?
And then there's one other person on Earth who remembers the song,
and they're watching it, and they're just like,
"You piece of s***."
I mean, but what was I supposed to do?
Space Hog doesn't exist on that timeline.
"We'll out the old, we'll be on"
"We love the old, we're just like you"
Nobody remembers the movie
Nobody remembers the movie yesterday, except for
Nobody remembers the movie yesterday, except for just one random dude
Just one random dude from small town anywhere
Just one random dude from small town anywhere USA. And he's like, "I have a great idea"
Just one random dude from small town anywhere USA. And he's like, "I have a great idea"
Just one random dude from small town anywhere USA. And he's like, "I have a great idea"
Just one random dude from small town anywhere USA. And he's like, "I have a great idea"
Just one random dude from small town anywhere USA. And he's like, "I have a great idea"
Just one random dude from small town anywhere USA. And he's like, "I have a great idea"
Just one random dude from small town anywhere USA. And he's like, "I have a great idea"
Just one random dude from small town anywhere USA. And he's like, "I have a great idea"
Just one random dude from small town anywhere USA. And he's like, "I have a great idea"
Just one random dude from small town anywhere USA. And he's like, "I have a great idea"
Just one random dude from small town anywhere USA. And he's like, "I have a great idea"
Just one random dude from small town anywhere USA. And he's like, "I have a great idea"
You were made to go out and get her
The minute you let her under your skin
Then you begin to make it better
And anytime you feel the pain
Hate you'd refrain
Don't carry the world
Up on your shoulder
For well you know that it's a fool
Who plays it cool
By making his world
A little colder
Na na na na na
Okay, one last idea. How about this?
A documentary that's about a guy, not in a different timeline, in our timeline.
It's straight up a documentary. And it's about a...
Maybe you get like somebody kind of well known.
You know, some like decently successful person.
Like Seth Rogen or something.
Okay.
Somebody who could get a meeting with whoever they want.
You know, go to all the studio heads and Netflix and whatever.
Yeah.
It's like a 20 minute documentary where he just goes and pitches the movie "Yesterday".
But they remember the movie "Yesterday".
But then he'll be like, "I've never heard of that. That didn't happen."
It's a little bit like a "Gentle Jesters" segment.
Where I'm in the coffee shop.
Oh yeah, yeah. What am I...
And I'm like, "God, Bob Dylan's the best, right?"
Okay. You know what it is?
This is the celebrity version, right?
When we tried bringing in celebrities to do something.
Exactly. This is a "Gentle Jesters" episode where we get Paul McCartney on.
And basically the whole bit is that we send Paul McCartney to meetings with powerful, highly weird executives.
And Paul pitches them.
He's sitting there with like the head of Amazon or whatever.
And Paul's like, "All right. So the idea..."
Oh God, I can't do it at all.
I'm just going to do an American accent.
"All right. So here's the idea, man.
Imagine a world where all of our beloved songs don't exist.
There's only one guy, young fella.
He's the only one who remembers our music.
And he uses our songs to become a superstar.
But he was a songwriter, so he has to wrestle with his own feelings of self-worth."
And the guy's like, "Oh, Paul. That sounds like the movie 'Yesterday'."
No. Never in a million years.
Never in a million years.
This is a brilliant idea.
Because if it's Paul McCartney, they'll never ever say it.
They'll never correct him.
They'll be so excited to be in a room with Paul McCartney that when he starts walking through...
And the more they are like, "Oh, interesting idea,"
knowing full well it's a movie, and they'll wait for him to leave being like,
"Did he have a stroke? What's going on?"
He has to keep walking through the beats, basically, of the movie's thing.
And so I've sort of beaded it out already.
So it's like he wakes up and just...
They'll never stop him.
They'll be too embarrassed.
So he'll get to just walk through the whole movie and go,
"So, are we looking at a green light?"
We're really excited here, Paul.
Okay. That's perfect for gentle gestures.
It's actually so painful to think about that moment that it's almost too not gentle.
That could become a go-to gentle gestures segment
is that we get various classic rock legends.
Yeah, maybe the next episode, it's Bruce Springsteen also pitching "Yesterday,"
except he's actually pitching it about the Beatles.
They're like, "Wait, Bruce, do you mean the movie 'Yesterday' but with your songs?"
"No, no, no. This has nothing to do with my songs.
This is about a world where the Beatles never existed."
"Okay, Bruce."
"And what's 'Yesterday'?"
I mean, that's rich.
You could have Bruce Willis pitching "Die Hard."
I mean, you could...
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, you could...
Harrison Ford pitching "The Fugitive."
Just whatever.
I mean, it's endless.
The only criterion is you have to be very famous and over 65.
Yeah, old.
Retirement age.
So this is almost like a new series for the gentle gestures prank network.
We're kind of building out.
If it really takes off, we could spin it off to be its own show.
Its own channel.
Like, own.
We're definitely going to have Gigi TV one of these days.
Is this going to circle back to Aaron Lewis?
Oh, yeah, of course.
Aaron Lewis wakes up in a reality where it's been a while.
It was not a huge hit.
Aaron Lewis wakes up and is the only person he remembers in the meantime.
Well, it's not really my aesthetic.
Aaron Lewis is like, "I'm not into that '70s David Bowie crap."
Sorry, I can't stop thinking about just the most awkward ones possible.
Okay, yeah, so it's time to get back to Aaron Lewis.
Let's get back on "track," quote unquote.
So Aaron Lewis, you probably know him from the amazing "Stayin'" song,
"It's Been Awhile."
Can we hear that?
Yeah, let's start with that before we get to his "4th of July" song.
So this is '96, '97?
I think later. What year is this?
This is off their first record, right?
Or maybe not. No, it's not. Later.
2001.
2001, okay.
Pre or post 9/11?
July of 2001, I'm guessing.
I need an actual date on this.
March 27, 2001.
Okay.
While we listen, can I just pitch one more of these Sir Paul Gentilchester things?
I just think there's a moment where some exec sort of has the gumption to be like,
"I'm so sorry, but this is a movie."
And he's just like, "Bullsh*t."
Paul McCartney's like, "What the f*ck are you talking about?"
And he's like, "No, no, come around to my side of the desk."
And he pulls up the trailer to "Yesterday."
And they're sitting there watching.
So it's Paul McCartney with this Warner Brothers executive watching the trailer.
And just Paul McCartney gets so angry.
Like, he's just like, "I'm lawyer-ing."
"I never clear this."
And the guy's like, "Oh my god, I was just trying to sort of help."
And he's like, "I'm lawyer-ing up."
Like, just really pushes it.
Gets a little aggressive, like the way you've never seen Paul McCartney.
I mean, it's all a bit.
So ultimately be gentle.
The guy's like, "No, no, no, it's sorry."
And he just starts getting like sweating.
You know what I mean?
He's just getting red face.
We're asking a lot of Sir Paul on the acting front, but I think he's ready for it.
I think he could do it.
And then I think it's super funny when he comes out.
And he's just like, "Oh, you've been gestured."
We actually never came up with our, "You've been punked."
Have we?
Like, we don't have the thing.
What's the expose?
You've been gently gestured.
You've been gently gestured.
That's like our producer tag.
You've been gently gestured.
Matt reminds us, I think you had a whisper.
It's just like, "Gentle gestures."
I think you had a whisper.
But I like it being, "You've been."
I like the action.
You've been gently gestured.
You've been gently gestured.
I've got to say, the song sounds pretty good to me.
It's more tasteful than I thought it would be.
Yeah, it's funny how that works.
I remember when it was a hit, I was just like...
Did you hate it?
I hated it so much back in '01.
I was just like, "God, I hate the direction that alt-rock radio's gone with this kind of just really heavy, super serious..."
I mean, I liked Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, who were heavy and super serious.
Yeah, they're the predecessors for this.
Yeah.
They were like protégés of Limp Bizkit?
Well, we'll get into that.
Because, yeah, when Ezra sent the Fourth of July song to The Thread a few weeks ago, it really opened a whole discussion up on Stained and Aaron...
What's his name? Aaron Lewis?
Aaron Lewis.
And yeah, did some serious Wikipedia stuff.
But I remember in that article, it was fascinating that they toured with Limp Bizkit, and Fred Durst was apparently very disturbed by their first album cover.
Because it was satanic?
Yeah, just in that way that heavy bands in the '80s and '90s would just be like...
I don't know, just have a bloody doll or a bunch of crosses or just kind of "dark" subject matter in this really cartoonish way.
And Durst seemed to take it super seriously.
I don't know if Durst was Christian or what the story was.
Limp Bizkit was heavy, but they weren't really devilish.
Right.
Was that car horn honking?
Yeah, that's me, sorry. I mean, it's not my car, but there's an alarm going off.
Oh, damn. It's all good. Leave it in.
So Fred Durst thought that Stained was maybe a little bit devilish.
I find that so hard to believe. You would think a guy like Fred Durst knows that none of those bands are actually devilish.
It's very strange. I mean...
Well, hold on. This is becoming a straight up Stained episode. This is a Yesterday Meets Stained episode.
So let's talk about the actual origins of Stained and Aaron Lewis as we build up to the big reveal of Aaron Lewis's Fourth of July song.
Born in Springfield, Vermont in '72.
That's a real Gen Xer.
That's the heart of Gen X, really. His parents apparently were like hippies who were living in a log cabin in Vermont.
So picture that. Oh, actually, this kind of reminds me in a weird way.
I'd sent to the thread earlier today that I discovered that Tucker Carlson was born in the Mission District of San Francisco in 1969.
Again, just a weird, like, not what you expect. He kind of went the opposite direction of the ethos of the time and place he was born.
Tucker Carlson literally was a baby like a few doors down from the Grateful Dead, who he became a big fan of.
Yeah, he is a deadhead. But like, you know, on this show, we're obsessed with 1969 California.
The gap opened. Also in San Francisco.
That's true. That's funny, actually.
Whoa, that's also pretty deep. Oh, God. I mean, at this point in the show's history, we just have so many like rich veins we can go down.
Like I can imagine us doing like a solid 45 on the CIA, like dosing baby Tucker Carlson in 1969 San Francisco as part of the MKUltra experiments to create a right wing news
anchor.
But anyway, we won't go down that route. Save that for another show.
Yeah, save it for another show. So Aaron Lewis, I don't know how he politically identifies, but you know, his music and his solo career kind of leans conservative.
Maybe you could say right wing. So it's interesting that he was born in Vermont to hippie parents.
Right. I would say since the Trump era has started, he's full Trump train. He wears a MAGA hat.
Oh, he wears a MAGA hat. OK. I don't know what his deal was like, you know, 15 years.
I'm looking at a photo of him where he's wearing an impeach Biden hat.
OK. In 2020, Lewis said of his political views, I'm sure that some stained fans don't feel the same way as I do.
The way I look at it is if I offend you with my point of view, then good. You need to you need something to snap you out of your slumber.
Slumber. Kind of poetic word there. Yeah. Kind of a delicate word.
Listen, man, you're in like a gentle slumber of deception.
Wake up, mother. You're slumbering. You're brainwashed by the liberal media, man.
You're in a deep slumber. Well, he's a wordsmith. He's a poet. He can't help it.
And my point that I'll be making on today's show is that he is a good songwriter.
So his parents were hippies born in Vermont. Obviously, he's been on quite a journey in his 49 years on Earth.
Yeah. So he was raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, which is like southern Massachusetts near the Connecticut border.
That's where the Basketball Hall of Fame is. And the band started in Springfield, Massachusetts, which is a weird place for a band to start.
Like he met like all the guys from Stained are from Springfield. What is that alarm going off?
This car alarm is. Pre-recorded internet radio, folks. You know how it is. There's only so much we can do.
So Stained started out covering Korn, Rage Against the Machine, Pearl Jam, Tool and Alice in Chains. Sounds about right.
And then started putting out records. Fred Durst co-produced their first album.
They toured with Limp Bizkit and then It's Been A While propelled them to the top of the charts.
The album that It's Been A While is on, which is their third album, debuted at number one on Billboard's top 200 album charts,
selling 716,000 copies in its first week, which is insane by modern standards.
So they're a big fat band, did their thing for a while, lineup changes.
And then around 2014, they went on hiatus and Aaron Lewis wanted to play solo shows.
And then he basically became, I guess, like a country singer. It actually makes a lot of sense.
It's not like he fully abandoned the vibe of Stained. In his solo career, it's country, but it's kind of dark and he sounds like himself.
So, I don't know. He said in a 2011 interview that he was introduced to country music as a child by his grandfather,
but his interest was rekindled when he toured with Kid Rock.
Oh yeah, hell yeah.
Just like Kid Rock, who made an interesting transition from kind of hard rock to country.
Aaron Lewis kind of following in his footsteps, and I think he's been fairly successful.
I mean, both those guys are, it's the transition from hard rock to country, but it's really,
they're basically doing the same thing with just a little country window dressing.
And I guess as America became more polarized, they had to, and I mean, I've said some version of this before,
that there was something about alternative rock used to be this kind of consensus music,
at least for a certain type of white dude. It was like this middle ground where the different polarities could meet.
Yeah, Pearl Jam and the Chili Peppers rule.
Yeah, or like, you love Soundgarden? Hey man, I don't know if you're from Alabama, California, Connecticut.
I don't know if you voted for Bill Clinton or George H.W. Bush, but you're alright with me, man,
because you got good taste in hard rock. That's what it was like back then.
Totally.
Yeah, consensus bands. But then as America became more polarized, enter the Trump era,
there's no consensus kind of music like that. So if you're a right winger, you probably gravitate a little more
towards country because obviously there's country of all political persuasions,
but there's something about that move where you are kind of like saying, I'm on this side.
Yeah, American flags, pickup trucks.
Yeah, if you're going for that type of country. I'm sure some people do.
They'll make like an alt-country kind of liberal Willie Nelson, smoke weed kind of album,
but yeah, this is a different thing. And maybe it also just has to do with like watching the bottom fall out.
Hearing that rock was played out, dawg. He heard it loud and clear.
Stand-up I'm sure was doing fine, but you know, maybe he realized, man, we sold 716,000 albums in a week once.
I want to try something different. I did my thing with rock music. Let's try something different.
We can go through some of his solo career, but we might as well start with his 4th of July song now called,
Am I the Only One? So I assume that this song is probably not getting like a ton of support
at the streaming services, but it was briefly number one on the iTunes music store.
So clearly it's resonating with some group of people. And I listened to it and just a warning to our listeners.
This is a conservative country song, but it's interesting to listen to it.
I think we certainly get a window into how Aaron Lewis is feeling about the state of the nation
and probably what quite a few other people are feeling given the relative success of the song.
And I was, even though I don't agree with the political message of the song,
I was struck by the fact that he is a very competent songwriter, but let's listen to it.
Also just to give people a sense of what his music sounds like now.
And of course him dropping this right around the 4th of July was kind of like a call to arms.
Am I the only one here tonight?
Shaking my head and thinking something ain't right.
Is it just me? Am I losing my mind?
Am I standing on the edge of the end of time?
Am I the only one? Tell me I'm not.
Who thinks of taking all the good we got and turning it back?
Hell, I'll be damned. I think I'm turning into my old man.
But your old man was a hippie. Big question.
Am I the only one willing to bleed?
Or take a bullet for being free?
Screaming "What the fuck" in my TV for telling me,
Yeah, you're telling me that I'm the only one willing to fight.
He's got an ear for melody. He really does.
Yeah. I heard the song once and I remember almost the entire thing.
Burning on the ground, another statue coming down in a town near you.
Watching the threads of old glory come undone.
Wait, pause it for a sec.
So the first two verses are pretty good.
Am I the only one here tonight? Shaking my head, thinking something's not right.
And then he's talking about standing on the edge of the end of time.
That's something everyone can relate to, you know?
That first verse could be a Mountain Bruce song.
Absolutely.
Yeah, just sort of like end of history kind of vibes of like, where are we headed?
Right, that's a general feeling a lot of people have.
Something's not right.
And then the next verse is great too.
Am I the only one?
And it's turning bad. Hell, I'll be damned.
I think I'm turning into my old man.
Again, totally universal.
Like, as you get older, maybe you get a little crankier.
Maybe you look at what's happening with younger people with greater skepticism.
It's classic.
Yeah.
You turn into your parents.
Things annoy you that you never dreamed would annoy you.
It doesn't have to be political.
Just like, God, why are the neighbors making so much noise? Whatever.
Yeah, why is that car alarm going off?
And then he gets to the chorus.
It turns on the chorus.
That's when you understand.
Am I the only one willing to bleed or take a bullet for being free?
It's like, dude.
Well, it's also so zero to a hundred.
What?
I thought we were just talking about the end of history, man.
And getting old.
I just thought we were talking about aging and weird vibes.
Now you're willing to take a bullet?
And also, dude, you're not serving in the military.
What are you talking about?
I love the screaming "what the f***" at my TV.
It totally reminds me of that Will Ferrell bit.
There's a movie where he's singing in a wedding band.
And he's like, "I really need you tonight."
That's not Will Ferrell.
"I really f***ing need you." Who is that?
That's the Dan band in Wedding Crashers.
Okay.
Right? Or no, no.
What are those movies?
No, it's in a Will Ferrell movie.
And it's the band where the wedding singer just adds "f***" into the songs.
"I f***ing need you tonight."
[Laughter]
The way he crams that "f***" into this chorus is like...
Well, also, one thing I'll say.
I'm praising him as a songwriter because I do think he's a talented songwriter
with an ear for melody and a way with words.
And I'm willing to believe he has other songs that go a little bit deeper.
But it's like, this is just totally polarized America where you don't have to...
I'd be interested to hear a song where he really lays it out,
what his problem is.
Like more specifically, you mean?
Yeah, because sometimes the world seems so polarized.
Somebody might say, "Well, I think this aspect..."
You know, you never know.
Right-wingers, left-wingers.
Somebody could say, "No, I don't like this whole surveillance state thing
that we don't have any privacy."
A left-winger might say, "You know what, Aaron? I agree with you, man.
We're not so different."
So it'd be one thing if he went through all of his specific issues
with modern culture.
But when you write a song that basically is just like,
"Am I the only one who thinks s*** is f***ed up? Am I right?"
You're basically just saying, "If you're on Team MAGA,
I'm just here to tell you I agree with you."
You're not getting into it, what actually unites them.
The ideology, you're just like, "Something's f***ed up,
and we all agree with it."
And it's like, "All right, so what is it?"
You're going to take a bullet for some vague thing?
Who's shooting the bullet?
But again, he knows that you get people fired up
with that kind of language.
And again, it is a smart conceit, I guess, for a song.
When you say some s*** like, "Am I the only one?"
Because I watched the lyric video on YouTube,
so you can imagine that because the song's called
"Am I the only one?"
and that's the question that he asks throughout,
"Am I the only one?"
you can imagine what all the YouTube comments were.
"Absolutely not, Aaron. You are far from the only one.
I'm with you here, brother."
"You're not alone, brother."
"You're not alone, brother.
You're definitely not the only one."
See, to me, I immediately applied that TC logic to the song,
and I was sort of like...
That rigorous TC logic?
Why are you asking this question, even rhetorically?
Obviously, you're not the only one.
Right.
You're representing a viewpoint that half the country feels,
more or less.
Do you not follow politics?
Do you watch Fox News?
Let's get into the next verse.
Yeah, yeah.
♪ Am I the only one? ♪
♪ Not brainwashed? ♪
♪ Making my way through the land of the lost ♪
♪ Who sees it as it is ♪
♪ And worries 'bout his kids ♪
♪ As they try to undo one thing ♪
It's almost like a Mr. Show, David Cross or something.
Yeah.
I do appreciate him just dropping a "f*** him to s***"
Wait, he just did another one.
He did another one.
Wait, back it up, back it up.
♪ I'm the only one ♪
♪ Who can't take no more screaming ♪
♪ If you don't like it, there's a f***ing door ♪
♪ This ain't the freedom we've been fighting for ♪
♪ Here with something more ♪
He really has an ear for melody.
♪ This ain't the freedom we ♪
♪ This ain't the freedom we were fighting for ♪
♪ Here with something more ♪
He keeps climbing.
It's quite memorable.
He keeps climbing and this song really does have peaks and valleys.
Again, I imagine most of our listeners do not agree with the political message, but the-
Ezra respects the craft.
I respect the craft.
And when he hits the-
And also, I do think this is some interesting s*** to know what's going on.
This is what the dude from "Stained" is up to now.
We're learning something.
But yeah, even when he hits the-
♪ If you don't like it, here's the f***ing door ♪
It might make you laugh.
It might make you cry.
But either way, it pops out.
You know, the song has like contours.
Maybe one day I'll run into Aaron Lewis somewhere in rural Massachusetts and we could chop it up a little bit.
I'd love to pick his brand, but I'm sure he's got plenty to say.
I was picturing you guys sitting at the same Grammy's table.
[laughter]
Remember?
Didn't you sit at a table with the Florida Georgia like that?
Yeah, with Florida Georgia line.
Not that much of a stretch.
Yeah, I didn't get to talk to those guys.
Those guys are gentle jesters for sure.
Well, actually, I heard something about them recently.
Who was I talking to?
Man, who the f*** was I talking to? I can't remember.
[laughter]
Just gonna start driving like really aggressive f***s throughout this show.
F-bombs.
I was talking to somebody and I said, "Oh, what's up with Florida Georgia line?"
I like those guys. I really like their manager who I got to talk to.
And maybe I'm speaking out of turn.
I hope this wasn't a country music insider who told me this and I wasn't supposed to say anything.
Although I don't really know any country music insiders, so I imagine it's just a random person.
Just probably read it in Us Weekly.
But they said that they heard that Florida and Georgia were going through a tense period because of politics.
Oh, wow.
Maybe Georgia went blue like the state did and maybe Florida went red and they're just having a tough time with that.
Although I would say, you know what fellas? Just lean into it.
You could gently jest with each other on stage.
Yeah, sounds rich.
Maybe each of you goes to a different side of the stage and is just like,
"If you love the Democratic Party, make some f***ing noise!"
And then Florida's like, "Alright, alright, alright."
[laughter]
Now my Republicans, can we beat that?
Kind of McConaughey.
And then, yeah, just like total vaudeville.
Georgia's just like shaking his head, "No, no, no."
And Florida comes out like, "Now if you really love the Republicans, make some noise!"
And then Georgia's, you know, they get a response. Anyway, I hope they work it out.
Well, they've come out with a song called "Undivided."
Okay, so maybe this was just out there. This was out there in the culture.
Let's hit that next.
Yeah, and this is pretty recent. They definitely are politically different,
but they've said that they will not let it get between them.
Alright, let's keep going with this, Aaron Lewis.
I just wanted to say one line that jumped out to me.
And this is where I would appreciate, maybe next Fourth of July he'll drop a song
that gets a little more into his deep political philosophy.
But when you say some s*** like, "If you don't like it, there's the f***ing door!"
Which he did deliver really well.
But when you say, "If you don't like it, there's the f***ing door!"
It's also like, "Well, come on, Aaron. You're the one who doesn't like it."
You know what I mean, man? I'm with you.
If somebody wanted to say, "I only want to live in a country with chill people,"
I understand that sensibility. I would love to be in a world with more chill people,
people who appreciate kind vibes, people who have a chill worldview.
I don't think that corresponds to any end of the political spectrum.
But again, you're the one who's very fired up and angry.
So that gets into this weird philosophical question.
What is America?
So the people who you think don't like America, well, you also don't like America.
What are we talking about?
I mean, maybe move to Canada, Aaron.
I mean, you were born pretty close to there, sir. Up in Vermont, you know?
Okay, let's get—what else? Oh, all right. We got some really good s*** left in this song, actually.
Yeah, yeah. Let's keep going.
Am I the only one willing to fight
For my love of the red and white and the blue?
Burning on the ground, another statue coming down in a town near
Who cares about the statues? I know.
He doesn't care about the statues.
He doesn't care about the statues.
Name ten Confederate generals.
This also struck me as so weird for someone that's not even from the South.
Right.
Although he has a song called "Northern Red Knight."
This is the bridge that made me give it up and say, "This man is a talented songwriter."
Am I the only one who quit singing along
Every time they play a Springsteen song?
Which begs the question, was he ever a Springsteen fan?
Oh, yes. We gotta pause that.
I'm gonna sing now.
I mean, first of all, I was kind of like half watching the lyric video that
you can imagine that when we got to that bridge, that's when I was like sending to the TC thread.
Everybody needs to hear this.
'Cause everything about it is like, first of all, this very gentle Beatles-esque bridge.
Yeah, with like the cellos.
The ascending strings.
And again, a real panache for like peaks and valleys in a song.
He knew that this was like a true shots fired thing where he goes,
Am I the only one who quit singing along
Every time I hear a Springsteen song?
Gets so quiet. Music totally vanishes.
Like really, he wants you to sit with that.
I mean, I wonder if he's gonna become like president or something one day.
That just came to mind.
Like the same way that like Trump just had like the kind of like the gift of like public speaking.
He knew to get real quiet there.
Maybe that does resonate with a certain type of right winger
who loved Springsteen in the 80s and really is disheartened
that he's just like, well, full Democratic operative.
Although it's hilarious though, 'cause Springsteen's politics really haven't changed.
Right. Springsteen was never right wing.
Yeah. I mean, yeah, it'd be one thing to be like,
Oh man, I wish Bruce got out there for Bernie.
But obviously that's not where Aaron Lewis is coming from.
Yeah. Did Aaron Lewis love Springsteen?
I mean, I know a lot of country people love Springsteen because he's a great writer.
And he kind of, Springsteen had his, worked within the country idiom on many an occasion as well.
He's definitely got a deep love of the genre.
My guess he was not just based on the stained aesthetic.
He was not a Springsteen fan ever.
I could be totally wrong, but that's just a hunch.
I think he was into heavier music.
Well, that also begs the question, to what extent is he kind of playing a character here?
Like he just knows what's a good line.
Like he knew that, hell, I'll be damned.
I think I'm turning into my old man.
Meanwhile, his old man is like a full gentle jester,
like bald dude with like a gray ponytail pulled around the sides,
like a tie-dye shirt.
And yeah, Birkenstock saw the dead 70 times.
And he's just like, "Well, Dad, what'd you think of the new song?"
And he's like, "You know, Aaron, man, I really,
I feel that you've kind of portrayed me in kind of a strange way.
You seem really fired up about some weird stuff.
We need to see each other in person sometime, man."
So I think he's taking a little poetic license here
because there's a quote where he says, "I wrote this song because I'm sitting here
as a 49-year-old father of three watching a very small handful of people
destroy the country that was handed down to me by my forefathers,
the country that my grandfather and my uncles, they fought for,"
notably leaving out his dad, right?
So I think he's probably like, "Oh, my dad was this kind of black sheep
of the family."
And so it just doesn't sound as, you know, poetic to say,
you know, "Am I turning into my uncle?"
"Goddamn, I think I'm turning into my uncle."
"My uncle, man."
That's a better line, but that's--wow.
And then on the Springsteen side, I think that obviously
he's speaking solely about "Born in the USA," right?
Which I think has been the--I don't know what we're talking about here,
but it is like there's a whole--you know, obviously there's a whole group
that just never understood--you know, that's been the thing is
you never listen to the lyrics, but you're just saying--
But I think he's just referencing Bruce Springsteen playing
every Democratic event for the last 30 years,
and really wearing that on his sleeve.
And so it doesn't really--you know, it could be any Bruce Springsteen song.
It could be, you know--
But if you were singing along.
I'm saying if you're being like, "I can't sing along to a Bruce Springsteen song,"
I'm sure you're at a karaoke night.
Right.
It's "Born in the USA" comes, or you're at a baseball game,
and you're singing, and you're like, "I can't do it anymore, man."
-Yeah. -Not going live.
-Sure. -Maybe he loves "Born to Run."
And he's just like, "Mm, no more."
Do you think Bruce is aware of this song?
Yes.
I kind of do, too.
How does that cross his desk?
Someone's like, "Dude, check this out."
His legendary manager, John Landau--
He's famously super close with his manager, John Landau,
who was a rock journalist who became his manager after he saw him perform.
So I can see--I've always gotten the impression of those guys,
because I love all the documentaries that they put out
about their classic albums, like "Making of Born to Run,"
"Making of the River."
And you really get the impression that those guys are super close,
and they both were just deep, passionate students of rock music.
They're exactly the type of guys who probably spent hours
going through Bob Dylan's discography and pointing at key moments.
Right.
I always got that impression that they're kind of like on some
TC sh*t stars.
They're just like us.
So I could totally see John Landau being like, "All right, Bruce."
Yeah, almost on some political sh*t.
Bruce is just like--it's like some V*b sh*t.
Bruce is like, "All right, fill me in real quick."
And he's like, "All right, remember 'Stained'?"
"Uh, not sure."
And he's like, "It's been a while."
"Oh, yeah, yeah, I remember that song."
All right, so that dude went country, and he has this song,
and the bridge takes a shot at you.
I could see Bruce wanting to know that and being like, "Okay."
Maybe Bruce will write one of his famous story songs about Aaron Lewis,
a young Aaron Lewis reckoning with his parents' divorce.
That would rule.
Maybe even Bruce just randomly drives his motorcycle up to Massachusetts,
pops in on him, has a beer.
"Aaron, you really stopped singing along, man?"
"Well, Bruce, you know, I bit a poetic license.
I still enjoy your music."
"All right, well, you know, that kind of hurt my feelings, man."
"Well, I'm sorry, Bruce.
I think you're supporting people like Joe Biden ruining the country."
"Well, hold on a second.
Hold on there a second, Aaron."
[Aaron laughs]
"I don't know.
I mean, there's also a possibility that Aaron Lewis would be like,
'Bruce, at the end of the day, this is just wrestling, man.
You want to go play the liberal hero?
You do you, Bruce.
But I found my role, and it suits me.
We're the same, man."
"I didn't even vote."
"Yeah, I didn't even vote.
Bruce is like, 'Me neither, brother.'"
"I've never voted."
[Aaron laughs]
"Yeah, maybe it's just like game, recognized game."
"Guys, I just want--this is interesting.
So I'm looking at this article that says Aaron Lewis of Stain
lists his home for $3.5 million as his Massachusetts mansion.
But it's just an interesting description.
It's an interesting description of the house.
Stain frontman Aaron Lewis is selling his 14,000-square-foot mansion
in Massachusetts, which is absolutely enormous."
"Whoa!"
"I mean, that's absolutely enormous."
"Where in Mass?
Does it say what city?"
"In Worthington."
"Where the hell is that?
Rural?"
"It has to be.
I mean, that's absolutely an enormous footprint."
"That's crazy."
"I don't know how--you can't have that--enough children.
Three children, that's just too big."
"Well, he has three kids."
"Still.
I mean, that's just enormous."
"So full court, basketball court, indoor swimming pool."
"Well, he has other things.
We'll get there.
He sold it so he can move to Nashville to be closer to the country music scene.
Smart move.
His 12-acre estate in Worthington, Mass., is now on the market for $3.5.
Lewis bought the home in 2001 from Kevin Eastman,
the co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,
which I also think is cool that the co-creator of the Ninja Turtles
lives out in Worthington, Mass.
That's cool."
"Tight."
"Tight.
It sort of is interesting.
Both homeowners made use of the private fireproof vault
in the barn on the property."
And here's the quote from the listing agent.
"It has a bank vault on it that is probably four inches thick.
Eastman kept all the Ninja Turtle documents and videos down there."
[laughter]
"And when Aaron bought it, he started storing some of his guitars in the vault."
[laughter]
"The Ninja Turtle documents."
"Am I the only one who bought my house from the Ninja Turtles guy?
Deep vault full of my guitar.
Am I the only one living in a 16,000 square foot home in Worthington?"
"One hell of a carbon footprint."
I'm glad Aaron Lewis is thriving and has a large, reasonably beautiful home.
Yeah.
So let's listen to-- yeah, let's throw in the rest of "Am I the Only One."
"Am I the only one sitting here?
Still holding on, holding back my tears for the ones who stayed with the lives they gave.
God bless the USA.
I'm not the only one willing to fight."
Oh, he knows it's not the only one.
"For my love of the red and white and the blue.
Burning on the ground, another statue coming down in a town.
Watching the threads of old glory come undone."
Yeah, the statue line is such, like-- you just watch a lot of Fox News, dude.
Do you know what this makes me think of, kind of, is like--
it kind of makes me imagine, like-- do you know those, like--
those recent tragedy movies, like they did one about the Boston Marathon.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
That type of-- or the Deepwater Horizon movie.
Mark Wahlberg movies, in other words.
Mark Wahlberg movies.
So, like, a Mark Wahlberg one about the insurrection, the January 6th insurrection,
that's sensed, like, that's empathetic to the people who, like, stormed the Capitol.
Oh, sure, yeah.
And this is, like, some song that plays over, like, a montage of, kind of, the carnage
and the, like, the patriotic duty that these people, kind of--
I hope that movie gets made.
One thing that we haven't discussed yet, but happens throughout the song
that also really struck me, is the fact that it goes,
"Am I the only one willing to fight for my love of the red and white and the blue?"
[laughter]
But, again, I will say, I don't support the message, but I do--
I would also put that in the category of, like, talented songwriter.
Like, yes, it's a bit awkward, because, obviously, people don't say,
"The red and the white and the blue."
They say, "The red, white, and blue."
But he does deliver it confidently enough that you're, kind of, like,
"You know what? You made it work."
He had the right--
I can tell you, I didn't even hear it that way.
You didn't even think about that?
I thought he was doing--
No, because I thought he was doing--
It's, like, dramatic pause?
No, I thought he was doing a dramatic pause for the blue in, like,
a low-key Blue Lives Matter, like, talking about the police wing.
So, I actually--
Now that you say it, I'm like, "Oh, yeah, that is awkward,"
and he did it for the rhyme.
But when I heard it, that didn't cross my mind.
I was, like, literally, "The red, white, oh, and the blue."
Or, yeah, or maybe that crossed his mind.
He was like, "I can do this."
♪ For my love of the red and white ♪
Also, it's, like, a fake-out.
Like, you're listening, and you're just like,
"Damn, what country just has a red and white flag?
Oh, Canada."
[laughter]
"No, and the blue!"
"I was [bleep] with you!"
[laughter]
♪ My love of the red circle on the white ♪
But again, like, he didn't end up in a $3.5 million,
14,000-square-foot home for no reason.
I don't know if we want to dig into all of his music now.
Maybe we'll save that Florida Georgia Line undivided song
for a future episode.
I did just want to hear, just out of curiosity,
because I browsed his discography a little bit.
I didn't have time to listen to any of it
aside from this song.
But I did notice he had a song, maybe an album, too,
with the title "Northern Redneck."
And that actually--he's a smart guy.
He's obviously a smart guy because all, like,
the kind of obvious criticisms that were lobbing at him,
where we're just kind of like, "Man, you're a northerner, man.
You're born in hippie parents in Vermont,
grew up in Massachusetts, and now you're here doing, like,
some country thing? How do you explain that?"
I have a feeling that crossed his mind, too.
And he's like, "You know how I'll explain it?
I'm a g--damn northern redneck, and here's a song about it."
So I'm kind of curious to hear a little bit of "Northern Redneck"
just to see how he philosophically--
And obviously, northern rednecks are a thing.
- Oh, I was going to say, there's rednecks in every state.
I mean, that's a real-- - In fact, I bet there's probably
a lot of northern rednecks who are waiting for a song
called "Northern Redneck" just to be like,
"Thank you. These f--king internet radio show coastal elites
don't understand that we're northern rednecks."
♪ ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
Hell yeah.
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ ♪
- That's a real Wayland vibe so far. - Yeah.
♪ We grow tobacco and we drive trucks ♪
♪ We kill white-tails and green-haired ducks ♪
♪ We drive our four-wheelers down the main road ♪
♪ And bust out the sleds when it's cold ♪
♪ We got back roads and four-wheel drives ♪
♪ We got tailgates on a Friday night ♪
♪ And it's a half hour from our front door ♪
♪ To a Walmart or a grocery store ♪
[laughter]
♪ What y'all don't understand ♪
- Well, I didn't think he would go this country.
♪ ♪
♪ It ain't all about a Southern man ♪
♪ 'Cause we got outlaws, we got dicks ♪
♪ We got honky-tonks out on these sticks ♪
♪ We love our whiskey and we love our homegrown ♪
♪ Damn, it's so good to be home ♪
♪ We wear a car heart, we don't wear suits ♪
♪ We wear square toes and Chippewa boots ♪
♪ And we all know where we come from ♪
♪ And we'll be right here when it's done ♪
♪ ♪
♪ What y'all don't understand ♪
♪ It ain't all about a Southern man ♪
♪ 'Cause we got family living down in these woods ♪
♪ We got pride and a sense of what's good ♪
♪ And we all got dirt on our hands ♪
♪ It's a song for the working man ♪
♪ Get up early and we work third shift ♪
♪ Pay our taxes and protect our kids ♪
♪ And we all got dirt on our hands ♪
♪ 'Cause there's rednecks north of the Mason-Dixon ♪
There we go.
He really waits for that payoff.
♪ There's rednecks north of the Mason-Dixon, yeah ♪
♪ ♪
Hmm. What you know about that?
[chuckles] What you know about that?
♪ I'm from the north, son, you're from the south ♪
♪ Straight out the trailer, fresh off the plow ♪
♪ You got your Chevy parked next to my Ford ♪
♪ And the colors flying high at your door ♪
♪ I got a shotgun, fill it with shells ♪
♪ You got a Bible, but I'll see you in hell ♪
[laughs]
♪ Ain't that different, son, you and me ♪
♪ Trying to make it in the land of the free ♪
This is a fun song.
I mean, he's--
♪ What y'all don't understand ♪
♪ It ain't all about a southern man ♪
♪ 'Cause we got family living out in these woods ♪
♪ We got pride in a set of what's good ♪
Wouldn't it be kind of cool if he wasn't MAGA?
Just imagine if there's a dude who's like,
"Hell yeah, I'm a northern redneck."
But he's not MAGA.
Where he's just like, "We're not that different, everybody."
Yeah, that goes down a lot easier than--
Yeah, that's a much more fun listen.
Yeah, 'cause if his point is just, like,
rural cultures share a lot in common,
that's even true globally in some ways.
People driving trucks, farming, hunting.
That is something that city people can't relate to.
♪ And it's a half-hour door to door ♪
♪ To the Walmart or the grocery store ♪
[laughs]
♪ I love that he cramps it ♪
♪ Grocery store, Walmart or the grocery store ♪
I mean, living 30 minutes from a grocery store is deep.
That is deep.
That's deep.
There are very few places where you can live 30 minutes,
but at least on the East Coast.
I only wish that he did some more state-specific shout-outs.
Oh, I know that would have been--
As a real New England guy, if he's like,
"If you're Vermont, redneck, make some noise!
"Connecticut, Rhode Island!
"Upstate New York!
"Deep backwoods of Maine!"
I'm surprised by just how country that was,
'cause am I the only one, musically,
if that was, like, a late-stained ballad or something,
you wouldn't be shocked.
Totally.
Northern redneck, that's some real country music.
Yeah, and I wonder, is Aaron Lewis, like,
playing a concert in Massachusetts somewhere,
and there's, like, just a bunch of people
just [bleep] yelling their hearts out
to the northern redneck?
You didn't think northern redneck sounded sort of
just a bit on the nose, like, musically, like,
LARPing almost?
Like, something about--
Well, I was-- I was recording.
No, but I'm saying that the actual Fourth of July
one sounds, to me, like country sounds.
-It's compassionate. -There actually aren't--
Yeah, and there aren't country artists putting out things
like northern redneck.
-It's almost like Charlie Daniels-y or something. -There are.
It seems like signifiers more.
I wonder if any country artists were like,
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on there, Aaron.
"You're not gonna take all the glory from us.
"Here's our comeback song.
It's called 'Southern Redneck.'"
[laughing]
And that's where you get to something, like,
with the accent, is,
why couldn't he have sung northern redneck
in a proud northern accent?
I gotta say it, it's Borgesian.
You're writing a song about how it's not all about
a southern man, and that northern rednecks are a thing, too,
because they also have a type of rural culture
that connects to country music,
but then you sing in this real southern accent,
'cause, I mean, or am I tripping?
Is there some part of, like, western Massachusetts
where people say "y'all"?
I don't think they're dropping "y'alls."
-Are there weird backwards parts of Connecticut? -There's probably, like,
-regional-- -Connecticut? -Yeah.
There's, like, I'm sure, like, a regional, like,
redneck-y accent.
I don't know what it is, but...
In Massachusetts?
There's conservative rural culture all over the country,
like you said, Jake. Upstate New York,
Connecticut, even New Jersey.
There's no such thing as a purely blue state
the same way there's no such thing as a purely red state.
And also you can make the case that there's
probably a lot of people who identify strongly
with all the things he listed
who actually don't care about politics at all.
-I'm sure there's many people who are like, -Oh, of course.
"Yeah, I'm into pickup trucks, hunting,
whitetail, whatever," and they're just like,
"So you must love Trump," and they'll just be like,
"Ah, man, no."
Who knows? That person presumably exists somewhere.
But yeah, the question is,
even if you're wearing Carhartt and driving a pickup truck,
that also could probably be a handful of, uh,
hipsters in New York and L.A. and San Francisco.
I could totally picture a dude,
head-to-toe Carhartt, ripping around, um,
Williamsburg with, like, a pickup truck.
-Just, like, rolling into Fox. -Although the hipster would have
like an '80s or '90s, like, small pickup truck.
They're not gonna be driving, like, an F-250.
[laughter]
Fresh off the lot.
Like an $80,000 pickup.
It is a good question.
Were there any country artists who heard Northern Redneck
and they were just like, "Yeah, this is cultural appropriation, dude."
'Cause wouldn't Northern Redneck be, like,
mayor of Easttown?
Like, it's the Western Mass accent.
Like, it's actually-- it's its own-- it's not Southern.
Or maybe that's just the weird Borghesean element,
that it's like, country music is sung in a Southern accent,
so even a Northern country song
that's about how-- that Southern people don't have
a unique claim to rural conservative identity
has to be sung in a Southern accent.
-Yeah, I mean, even if-- -It's a strange, strange rule.
Even if the Rolling Stones are doing a country song,
Mick will do his-- like, a weird Southern accent.
Like, yeah, on "Faraway Eyes."
Although-- but then you get to this thing, like--
I mean, I thought about it with some VW country-leaning songs.
I was very-- really trying not to go too country,
'cause it is-- you know, your voice wants to go there.
But I mean, when I think about, like, really, you know,
like Jerry, for instance, he would do the--
the Dead's country material,
kind of in his same iconic, unique Northern California Jerry voice.
Yeah, that's true.
Speaking of Aaron Lewis's number one enemy, Bruce Springsteen,
Bruce has always had an interesting thing where he's, like--
he does have this, like, all-American accent voice.
His singing voice has, like, a hint of, like, Southern-ness in it.
This all-American thing.
I mean, he's a fascinating dude, too, in terms of, like, place
that he obviously so identified with New Jersey.
But then, like, he did-- he could just make an album
called Nebraska and, you know, sing songs about other parts of the country
and just, like, went down really easy,
where New Jersey is definitely-- is so hyper-specific.
That's such an East Coast state.
It's got such a unique reputation and vibe.
It's not considered, like, an all-American place.
And yet he-- from New Jersey, he became an all-American dude.
What's funny is that he probably sings about New Jersey
less than a lot of other places,
less than, like, the mythical Heartland,
whether it's the Nebraska stuff
or whether it's the Ghosts of Tom Jode stuff,
which is all, like, songs in, like, Fresno and stuff.
Like, you know, like where The Grapes of Wrath was set.
But, like, I can't think of that many, like, specific New Jersey songs.
I mean, maybe some of the stuff on Born to Run, like,
he's going across the river to do a favor for a guy.
Or I guess there's Atlantic City. Duh.
Again, that's the exact type of conversation you could picture him
and John Lando having. Like, let's call this album Nebraska.
They're referencing, like, the movie Badlands,
which takes place in the Midwest, which is based on the real people.
And you can imagine them being like,
"Yeah, but you know what, man? We're going to have this song Atlantic City,"
which is, like, the closer-to-home version.
He's like, "Ooh, I like this. The album's called Nebraska,
but then you've got this song that takes place, like, down the Jersey Shore.
I like how this all comes together as a conceptual framework
for a kind of, like, dark album about America."
Yeah, it's funny. I think I talked on the show a few years ago
about how much I love the Bruce live playing the Tom Waits song,
"Jersey Girl," which a lot of people assume Bruce wrote
because it's about, you know, hanging out with the Jersey Girl.
But no, Tom Waits wrote it, and Bruce drops that in concert,
and of course people go nuts, but he didn't write that song.
I just had this thought. I've said this on the show before
about how I'm always so bemused by the fact that
Scarlet Begonias is, as far as I know,
the only Grateful Dead song set in Europe.
It's in the UK.
Grateful Dead, very all-American band,
one song that takes place in England.
I'm like, "Are there any Bruce Springsteen songs
that take place, like, outside of North America?"
I feel like he has some, like, late period, like, Mexico songs
that are about, like, drug cartels and stuff.
Well, definitely, yeah, on "Ghost of Tom Joad,"
there's drug cartel songs.
But, yeah, that's North America.
Could you picture, like, a Bruce Springsteen song in, like, France?
On, like, the plains of Siberia?
[laughs]
I don't know. That's a hell of a number crunch.
"In a crowded marketplace in old Mumbai."
Like, just, like...
You could apply that to...
You could almost apply that to anything.
"In old Mumbai."
"In old Mumbai town."
[laughs]
"In old Mumbai town."
Well, I guess I could picture, like, a Bruce song about, like,
a soldier in Afghanistan, maybe.
Yeah.
I think Seinfeld dropped off the call.
Can anybody just real quick do...
I don't know if this would turn up anything.
Bruce Springsteen songs set outside North America?
[laughs]
That's a...
That's not gonna be an autofilm.
I already did. It's too hard to find because you just get
European tours, you know? You just get tour stuff.
Right, right, right.
I've been trying to find... Yeah, I do think that...
Well, if the listeners know.
Maybe there's a listener who's super familiar with the last, like,
five albums, which I'm not that familiar with.
Well, and also, you know, Bruce is famously half Irish, half Italian.
A very classic East Coast combo.
And, I mean, I'm sure he's, like, a very...
He's a guy who's really interested in history.
Very intelligent, sensitive man.
I'm sure he probably was...
Has probably traveled through Italy and Ireland,
interested in, like, where his family came from.
Like, he seems like that type of dude.
But, like, did he ever write a song about it?
Yeah, I could see, like, a late period song about, like,
his great-grandfather riding a boat over from Ireland.
Right.
Going through, like, Ellis Island or something.
I could totally see that.
Maybe he set some rules for himself, where he's like,
it's all got to take...
Yeah, but even that song, like, takes place just, like,
20 miles out from the shores of the US.
No longer international waters.
I found these covered when I leave Berlin live.
What's that song?
Let's put... It's a song by Wiz Jones.
Not familiar?
Not familiar.
But, yeah, I think that that's the closest that seems like a song that...
Because it is. It's very funny.
It's like you can't even hear...
You know, unlike, like, Paul Simon or Dylan, you know,
or someone who you just, you know,
European or Middle Eastern places sort of roll off the tongue.
Even the idea of him saying, like, "Bombay."
Right.
It just doesn't feel right.
I just can't imagine.
"Beirut, where you gotta..."
Yeah, I don't know.
I'd love to hear it.
I'd love to hear Bruce turning his pen towards another part of the world.
But at the same time, maybe he, like,
he's found so many dimensions to sing about the, you know,
the state of affairs in the US, like, decades in.
He still finds new ways to kind of explore that territory.
So I bet somebody knows something.
So if you know any Bruce songs or even a moment in a song
that's clearly set outside North America, please let us know.
All right. Should we do the top five?
It's time for the top five on iTunes.
Am I the only one?
Winning to fight?
Thank you, Pete.
How about on the next Mountain Bruce EP, you just do, like, a rewrite
that more suits your sensibility, Jake?
Yeah. Am I the only one?
I'm not willing to fight.
It's just, am I the only one chillin' tonight?
Oh, I like that.
Could care less about the red and white and the blue.
No, that's not true.
I mean, I do care about the red, white, and blue, but...
I mean, it could be, like, isn't, like, a Budweiser can have red,
red, white, and blue on it?
That's a tight call.
Another Bud's going down.
How about a song where you're at a Fourth of July barbecue
with a lot of Stained and Aaron Lewis fans, and then people are like,
"Oh, hell yeah. You know what we're blasting at this barbecue?
Am I the only one?"
On repeat.
That's what Aaron wants us to do. On repeat.
But then you're the only kind of, like, apolitical or, like,
non-MAGA person there, and you're kind of like,
"Am I the only one who prefers the early material?"
Just like, "Am I the only one who kind of, like,
was a little more into it before, like, Aaron got super political
with MAGA hat and s***?
Am I the only one who respects the song craft
but doesn't really like the political message?"
"Am I the only one that prefers Northern Redneck?"
And let's face it, it's '70s tasteful palate exploration
that he went into there.
I mean, "Am I the only one that's missing the pedal steel on this song?"
Exactly. "Am I the only one who doesn't give a s***
about the statues coming down?" Like, come on.
All right, let's get in the top five.
It's time for the top five on iTunes.
We got the top five songs on the iTunes chart right now.
So, you know, you might notice some different flavors in here.
It's going to be a little bit different.
The number five song, already we're in a different universe.
The song is called "Smells Like Teen Spirit,"
but the artist is not Nirvana.
This is Malia J.
Malia J is a Hawaiian-born singer who has recorded covers
for a bunch of film and TV shows,
and this is in the opening credits of the Marvel film "Black Widow."
Maybe she's living in her tomorrow.
Or yesterday, sorry.
Maybe she's in a world where no one's ever made
"Smells Like Teen Spirit,"
and she went and pitched it to the MCU,
and it's like, "Oh, my God."
This song rules.
Load up on guns
And bring your friends
It's fun to lose
And to pretend
I mean, I can't believe we got a real yesterday moment.
This is good.
Right, it's perfect.
And selfish
Oh, no, I know
A dirty word
Hello, hello, hello, hello
Hello, hello, hello
With the lights out
It's less dangerous
Here we are now
Entertain us
I feel stupid
You're not meant to hear the lyrics to this song quite so clearly.
You know what I mean? You just want to hear, like, Kurt.
Yeah, I wonder what-- how this ties in, if at all,
thematically, to what's happening in the movie.
It's like-- is it just supposed to be, like, a melodramatic song?
I'm sure that's, like, Black Widow, like, flying through, like, glass,
and, like, coming up behind dudes and, like, slitting their necks
and just, like, slow motion sh*t.
Marvel Studios.
I mean, it could have been tight if they just made an original song
that interpolated or just sampled the "hello" part.
'Cause that's the real--
I mean, I'm--
That's the real dramatic part of this.
She's a good singer, but it's, like, yeah, clearly this is, like--
It is just kind of funny, just like that kind of stock action movie score.
Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.
The strings just sounds like from a sample pack that's just, like,
epic movie sounds.
All right, I've heard enough.
All right, good enough.
I guess Malia J, according to our notes,
she does a lot of these covers.
Like, for "Handmaid's Tale," she did "Buffalo Springfield"
for "What It's Worth."
For "Night Stalker," "The Hunt for a Serial Killer,"
she did "Bananorama," "Cruel Summer."
For "Riverdale," she did "Tears for Fears, Shout."
So I guess it's, like, a thing.
Okay, the number four song right now on the iTunes chart,
the Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber, "Stay."
I'm liking this.
Yeah, it's off to a good start.
Guys, Bruce Springsteen's "Galveston Bay"
takes place in Vietnam.
But it still has an American name.
Oh, yeah, Vietnam.
Right, Bruce has moments in Vietnam.
Totally.
Okay.
♪ I'll be f---ed up if you can't be right ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ I'll be f---ed up if you can't be right ♪
♪ I do the same thing I told you that I never would ♪
♪ Told you I'd change even when I know I never could ♪
♪ Know that I can't leave ♪
It's like a post-weekend '80s vibe.
I like the intro the most.
So the Kid LAROI is an Australian rapper and singer.
♪ Even when I knew I never could ♪
♪ Know that I can't lose ♪
♪ Find nobody else as good as you ♪
♪ I need you to stay, I need you to stay ♪
♪ When I'm away from you, I miss your touch ♪
♪ You're the reason I believe in love ♪
♪ It's been difficult for me to trust ♪
♪ And I'm afraid that I'm a f---ed up ♪
Every time I hear Bieber, I just keep thinking of Nick
hanging out with Bieber at the weird spa.
Oh, at the spa?
Talking about how Jesus is cool.
Yeah, classic story.
I now associate Nick with Bieber.
I am definitely like top five life moment.
Top five life moment.
All right.
Fun song.
We gotta get to number three real quick because
this is somebody, truly a legend,
one of the biggest artists of our era,
who's been gone for a while and came back.
Jake, do you know who I'm talking about?
A major, major artist.
He's been laying low for a couple years.
Like pop?
You could say he often works in a pop idiom.
But he definitely knows his way around rock music.
Is he over 40?
No, he's not over 40.
Ed Sheeran?
Ed Sheeran's back.
And for a guy like Ed Sheeran to go however long he went
a couple years without music is pretty deep.
This is his new single, Bad Habits.
It's already tearing up the charts.
Peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100.
Number one in the UK.
His 10th number one single in the UK, by the way.
Shout out to Ed.
Shout out to Ed.
Here's Hey Dude.
Let's check it out.
Here's Ed Sheeran with Hey Dude.
One, two, three.
Every time you come around, you know I can't say no
Every time the sun goes down, I let you take control
I can feel the paradise before my world implodes
And tonight had something wonderful
My bad habits lead to late nights
Ending alone, conversations with a stranger
I barely know
He wanted the song to surprise people, he said.
People think of him as the acoustic singer-songwriter
who does ballads.
But he wanted to drop a mad tune.
This is one of the mad tunes he made.
You know, I think he said this thing a second ago
about just like a post-weekend sound.
Yeah, this guy had a post-weekend too.
I think that I hadn't really put it all together,
but I think that that's it.
Like, I think there's a lot of this going on.
It's interesting he's doing it now.
Yeah.
My bad habits lead to you
My bad habits lead to you
Every pure intention ends
Yeah, it's a weekend mood.
It's like 80s pop weekend vibe.
Falling over everything
To reach the first time spark
Started on a neon light
And then it all got dark
I only know how to go too far
My bad habits lead to late nights
Ending alone, conversations with a stranger
I barely know, swearing this will be the last
But it probably won't
I got nothing left to lose or use
Oh, do my bad habits lead to white eyes
Staring at space and I know I lose control
I would love to hear a version of this without that
like really stiff EDM beat.
That's what takes me out of it.
I kind of like the verses before the drums drop.
Yeah, it's not bad.
It doesn't have the...
I mean, this is first listen, it's hard to say.
Yeah.
Just that "doot, doot, doot"
I'm just like, "Ugh."
It takes me out of it.
We took a long way round
Burned 'til the fun runs out
My bad habits lead to late nights
Ending alone, conversations with a stranger
I barely know, swearing this will be the last
But it probably won't
I got nothing left to lose or use
I barely know, swearing this will be the last
But it probably won't
I got nothing left to lose or use
I barely know, swearing this will be the last
But it probably won't
I'm still with a drummer, but just not that EDM beat.
I don't want to hear just like a stripped down
just voice and acoustic either.
You would like him to send you the stems?
I have very specific needs.
You want him to send you the stems and you'll remix it?
Essentially, yeah.
Program some different drums.
Just real quick, I want to understand
what this song's all about.
Because the beginning says,
"Every time you come around, you know I can't say no.
Every time the sun goes down, I let you take control.
I can feel the paradise before my world implodes.
And tonight had something wonderful.
My bad habits lead to late nights, ending alone.
Conversations with a stranger I barely know.
Swearing this will be the last, but it probably won't.
I got nothing left to lose or use or do."
Is this about like cheating?
I was going to say, is it about like drinking or drugs?
Oh, the bad habits are like addiction and ending up with...
Just partying too hard.
Because he loses control or, you know.
Or is it like, there's something interesting about this.
"My bad habits lead to late nights, ending alone."
So that kind of sounds like, just like the person
who's just like, doesn't want the party to end,
but also is like, by the end it's like,
birds are chirping, sun's out, everybody's like,
everybody's asleep and just like,
"Oh, am I really the only one who's going to just like,
crush another beer?
All right, I guess I'm the only one who likes to party."
"Am I the only one?
Am I the only one crushing a brew?
Sun's coming up, what about you?"
But he says, "My bad habits lead to late nights, ending alone."
And then says, "Conversations with a stranger I barely know."
So my interpretation of that is almost like,
it's not even like this is like some person
who's just like, living life too hard,
is like, cheating or like, you know,
having a series of like, meaningless one night stands
and, you know, abusing alcohol or whatever.
This almost sounds like somebody who just like,
parties too hard, ends up having some kind of like,
lightweight conversations with people they don't even know.
And then just like, yeah, this is just like,
kind of like a sad, dark story.
Just like, getting sh*t faced by yourself at the bar,
rolling up to the bar to some people you don't even know,
just being like, "Oh, what's up guys?"
And they're just like, "Yeah, um, not much."
And you're like, "All right, I'm going to keep partying at my place."
And then everybody's like, "Cool."
And then you end up alone.
That's kind of what it sounds like, it's sad.
Yeah, yeah. I think he's hammered.
I think he's like, outside the bar at like, 3 in the morning,
drunk, maybe a little coked up, maybe trying to bum a cigarette.
And just like, getting into some just innocuous conversations with people.
"Hey man, you listen to Aaron Lewis? No? Or you're missing out?"
"You probably listen to f*cking Bruce Springsteen or something."
"Um, anyway, just like, wanting to know the next person."
He does say, "My bad habits lead to you,"
but there's not much of like, a "you" in this song.
Well, maybe the "you" is booze.
Right.
I like the song a little more now.
Yeah. One day we should really go deep on Ed Sheeran,
because I do feel like there's a lot we probably don't know.
I mean, we just did like, a whole episode on Aaron Lewis and Stain,
so maybe next time we do like, honestly,
we pick half a dozen Ed Sheeran songs and really go to town.
I haven't seen the video, but I know he dresses up like the Joker in it.
Because I saw people talking about that he was entering his Joker phase.
Oh my god. Talk about play out.
I'm into that.
Oh Christ. Really?
I'm into it. I don't know why. I'm into it.
That's cool.
I think you also just got to keep in mind that like,
Ed Sheeran is like, such a thing.
You know, he's such a massive star.
So many hits. People have so many feelings about him,
because they either think of him like he said,
"Oh, he's the acoustic guitar guy," or whatever.
That for him to like, get Joker-fied is, I don't know,
it's like, interesting to me.
He's real wholesome.
He's wholesome and also he's like,
even if the Joker movie is like, a few years too late,
I think Ed Sheeran is such a massive center of gravity as a cultural figure,
that he's allowed to like, come to it a little bit later.
He can suck it into his orbit, you know?
I give him...
This is also me not having seen the video.
Just when somebody told me, you know,
Ed Sheeran dresses up like the Joker in his new video,
I was just like, "That rules."
Also, I just like the idea of Ed Sheeran just like,
sitting there and being like, two years after that movie came out,
just being like, "I want to dress like the f***ing Joker in my video."
Almost because it's a little played out,
I almost give him more credit for it.
Maybe I'll whistle a different tune when I see the video.
I mean, that's a very generous read. I love it.
This is a kind vibe show, folks.
Ezra's going to give it a generous read.
But look, I'm not going to name them,
but there's a lot of artists that if they did go Joker mode,
I would be like, "That's so played out."
I'm just saying, I give...
What if Eminem went Joker mode?
That wouldn't work for me.
Like, old-ass Eminem.
Like, 48-year-old Eminem with like...
Ed Sheeran going Joker mode, I'm intrigued for it.
Okay, how about this? Harry Styles goes Joker mode.
- Are you in? - Harry Styles goes Joker mode.
I'm less in. I respect him, but I'm less in
because I'd be like, "What is that supposed to mean?"
Like, Ed Sheeran announcing to the world,
"I'm going into my Joker phase,"
is surprising, intriguing, tantalizing.
Harry Styles going Joker mode would be a little like,
"Yeah, what's the point?"
I think there's a reason Harry Styles didn't go Joker mode.
- It wouldn't suit him. - Bieber.
Bieber, I wouldn't respect it.
He'd just be like, "Dude, you're confused. What are you doing?"
Yeah, Ed Sheeran going Joker mode.
I guess I'm also giving him credit that it's purposeful.
I'm starting to see what you're saying now.
He's one of the few that can pull it off.
- I guess if... - Pull it off!
You know what I mean? If Phil Collins went Joker mode,
- you'd respect it, right? - Now? Yeah.
Like a 70-year-old Phil Collins.
Putting on a new record.
It's Phil Collins' first record of new music in 22 years,
and he's coming out Joker mode.
No, but Phil Collins in '87 going Joker mode,
that would be before the Batman craze.
- Would be sick. - Mm-hmm.
The number two song, I'm gonna pick up the pace.
Our old friends BTS built a spill,
soul edition,
with new song, Permission to Dance.
- That's a funny title. - Lovely title.
It's the thought of being young
Oh, it's written by Ed Sheeran.
- Co-written with Ed Sheeran. - Yeah, yeah.
When it all seems like a swamp
Sing along to Elton John
Until that feeling we're just getting started
When the nights get colder
And the rhythm's got you falling behind
Just dream about that moment
When you look yourself right in the eye
I wanna dance to music
- I'm feeling this. - Yeah, this is fun.
Good chorus.
Let's break our plans and inches
Like we're golden and roaring
Like we're dancing fools
We don't need to worry
'Cause when we go, we know how to dance
Don't need to talk the talk
Just walk the walk tonight
'Cause we don't need permission to dance
- I'm way into this. - This is the first BTS
that's really excited me.
I think that's maybe because of Mr. Ed Sheeran.
That right vibe, yeah 'Cause there's no looking back
There ain't no one to prove
We don't got this on lock, yeah
This is an interesting event upcoming.
Global Citizen Live, a 24-hour special
that will be broadcast live from six continents
on September 26.
Ed Sheeran, The Weeknd, Billie Eilish,
Metallica, and Green Day
are just a few of the other performers.
God bless Metallica and Green Day.
Still slugging it out.
I love, like, BTS and Metallica
like sharing a bill.
That's really funny.
It's interesting in that
who's turning up just for Metallica
and then enjoying the rest of the music?
- Well-- - This sounds so bad.
It's a 24-hour special broadcast from six continents
so I bet Metallica'll probably just do a Metallica show somewhere
and they'll just, like, cut in.
- Yeah. - ♪ Na, na, na, na, na, na, na ♪
♪ We don't need permission to dance ♪
♪ Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, hey ♪
♪ Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na ♪
♪ Well, let me show you ♪
♪ That we can keep the fire alive ♪
♪ Mm-hmm ♪
♪ 'Cause it's not over ♪
♪ 'Til it's over, say it one more time ♪
♪ Say it ♪
♪ I wanna dance, the music's got me going ♪
♪ Nothing I can stop, I can move ♪
♪ Hey, yeah ♪
♪ Let's break our plans and live just like we're golden ♪
♪ Grow it like we're dancing fools ♪
♪ Like we're dancing fools ♪
♪ We don't need to worry ♪
♪ 'Cause when we want, we know how to let it ♪
♪ We know how to let it ♪
Okay, this is solid.
Shout-out to BTS. I love this song.
It's good energy.
Okay, the number one song on iTunes chart
is a country song by Walker Hayes
off of his Country Stuff EP.
Off an EP? Very cool.
It's an EP called "Get Very Mountain Bruised."
Country Stuff!
That's a Mountain Bruised title.
That's sick.
That's deeply bruised.
Yeah, Country Stuff.
And the song is called "Fancy Like."
♪
This song went viral on TikTok.
Nice.
♪
I'm interested in how many songs here are
because of them going viral on TikTok.
A lot.
♪ Poppin' entertainment ♪
♪ Take her to Wendy's ♪
Take her to Wendy's?
♪ She wanna dip it like them fries in her Frosty ♪
♪ But every now and then when I get paid ♪
♪ I gotta spoil my baby with an upgrade ♪
♪ Hey, hey, hey, hey ♪
♪ Yeah, we fancy like apple peas on a date night ♪
What is this?
Oh my God.
Did I write this?
Seriously.
♪ Two straws, one shot, girl, I got you ♪
♪ Boujee like Natty in the styrofoam ♪
♪ Squeak, squeakin' in the truck bed all the way home ♪
♪ Bap, bap, bap, my jam machine, my Dixie land the light ♪
♪ That's how we do, how we do ♪
♪ Fancy like ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
♪ Fancy like ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
This rules.
I like how it's kind of like, it sounds kind of homemade too.
♪ Don't need no Tesla to impress her ♪
♪ My girl is happy, rollin' on a Vespa ♪
♪ Don't need no mansion to get romancin' ♪
♪ She's super fine, double wide, slow dancin' ♪
♪ But every now and then when I get paid ♪
♪ I gotta spoil my baby with an upgrade ♪
♪ Hey, hey, hey, hey ♪
♪ Yeah, we fancy like apple peas on a date night ♪
♪ Got the beverage till you stay with the Oreo shake ♪
♪ Get some whipped cream on the top too ♪
♪ Two straws, one check, girl, I got you ♪
♪ Boujee like Natty in the styrofoam ♪
♪ Squeak, squeakin' in the truck bed all the way home ♪
You know what's cool?
On TikTok, like, a song can go viral
just from, like, the briefest moment,
you know, totally out of context.
This is the entire chorus is what went viral.
Oh, the whole chorus?
It's the whole dance.
It's a dance to the entire from "Apple Bees" on,
you know, through the frosted shake.
So it's like actually appreciation for the music.
Is he drinking Natty light out of a styrofoam cup?
I guess so.
Is that what's happening?
Boujee like that.
And this is kind of a classic country trope
where you kind of contrast concepts like fanciness
with whatever you do.
Yeah.
I talk about this song a lot.
My dad always played this country duet called
"We're Not the Jet Set, We're the Old Chevrolet Set."
Uh-huh.
That song opens with whoever it is.
I forget if it's the Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn
or something like that,
but they're singing to each other's thing
about how they fell in love in Paris
and they kissed by a fountain in Rome
and they had this magical night in Athens.
It has this kind of like real European opening,
like romantic vibe.
And then suddenly he goes,
"Rome, Georgia, Paris, Texas, and Athens, Tennessee."
And then it like kicks in where they're like,
"Oh, you thought we were talking about Europe."
That's kind of like the Bruce Springsteen role.
No Europe.
"You thought we were talking about Europe?"
No.
And then they go, "We're not the jet set,
we're the old Chevrolet set."
And then the whole thing is about like they got love
and they don't need all that fancy [bleep]
and here he's saying,
"Yeah, we fancy like Applebee's on a date night,
got that Bourbon Street steak with the Oreo shake,
and then we're bougie like Natty in the styrofoam."
Well, the funny thing is it's not like Applebee's is like dirt cheap.
He's not saying like we're fancy like Dollar Tree.
Two people getting like [bleep] faced on Applebee's
on a date night?
No, I think that's the point he's making.
I think they're like--
But then he says, "We're bougie like Natty in the styrofoam."
There's nothing--
Right, which--
That's not actually bougie.
Hunter thinks that's bougie.
I interpreted it as like Applebee's was like they're not fancy
and so like a big date night is going to Applebee's
and getting the Oreo shake with the steak,
which is also an insane thing to do as an adult male.
It's 2,000 calories.
The shake is or the steak?
The shake is 1,100 calories and the steak is 800 calories.
I mean--
Well, then you get the food, you get fries.
I mean that's--
And then fries and beers.
Also, it's funny, I got that Bourbon Street Steak
with Oreo shake, get some whipped cream on the top too,
and then the ad lib is, "Got to add that whipped cream."
A real working familiarity with the Applebee's menu.
Yeah, I guess there is something a tiny bit confusing about it
because for many people in America,
it would be fancy to go to Applebee's
because honestly this dinner sounds like it's going to--
For two people, I'm seeing the bill,
especially if you give a decent tip,
I think we're getting up to 80, 90 bucks, right?
Yeah, I mean what's that Bourbon Street Steak
at Applebee's run?
I'm going to guess like 18.99.
Can I get a number crunch, Nick?
The Oreo shake is going to run you like seven.
Yeah, and then--
It might be closer to like 70 bucks, but yeah, it's not--
No, but then two or three drinks each?
Like alcoholic drinks and fries?
I like the combination of like beers and a milkshake
at the same time.
No, but Applebee's is a full bar, man.
They might be--
$17.
For the Bourbon Street Steak?
For the Bourbon Street Steak.
I nailed that.
No pun intended, well done.
But you're getting some sides too, man.
You're getting the like jalapeno poppers.
No, I think actually this dinner is going to 100 easy.
Yeah, if you're drinking booze, definitely.
It's date night.
Maybe you're dumping a little whiskey into that shake.
Oh, yeah.
No, but at Applebee's, you could straight up be pounding like--
just--
you have vodkas, vodka on the rocks with all this sh*t.
It's getting sloppy.
Also, we should point out that the pre-chorus is about--
he basically is doing some classic country sh*t
that we don't need no champagne, pop, and entertainment.
I can take her to Wendy's.
Can't keep her off me.
She want to dip me like them fries in her Frosty.
So he's saying like we're not fancy.
And then he says in another verse, he says,
"I don't need no Tesla to impress her.
My girl's happy rolling on a Vespa."
All right, that's weird.
Is that-- like a Vespa is kind of chic in its own way.
Anyway, we don't need no mansion to get to romance.
And again, classic country sh*t.
We're not fancy people.
And then he says, "Our version of fancy is Applebee's on a date night."
That makes total sense.
For most people, $100 date night--
I mean, literally for like 95% of the country,
that's like a lot of money to spend on dinner.
So yes, that is fancy.
But then he says, "We're bougie like Natty and the Styrofoam."
I guess now he's just being silly.
Yeah.
Because for many people, $100 date night is fancy.
I would say most people.
But nobody thinks that Natty and the Styrofoam is--
so whatever.
He's a little all over the place, but we get the point.
And then he says, "Some Alabama jam, she my Dixieland delight."
I love that he named the album "Country Stuff."
Because he's just like, "Yeah, it's some country stuff.
I'm just riffing on the tropes of country music."
Just some country stuff.
That title really suggests that it's self-aware and funny
as opposed to Aaron Lewis.
I'm actually the son of hippies from Vermont.
Normally, I do more of a jam band thing.
But for this EP, I just called it "Country Stuff"
because I'm just doing country stuff.
Just listing a series of country tropes
that don't really reflect me or my life,
but I thought maybe other people would relate to it.
Well, good for you, Walker Hayes.
I'm a huge Ween fan.
[laughter]
And I guess also the song went viral on TikTok
because Walker Hayes posted a video
dancing with his whole family-- his wife and his daughter.
So that's kind of, I guess, a feel-good story.
I love it.
The title of this episode is "Country Stuff."
[laughter]
We ended real strong with that BTS and the Walker Hayes.
Oh, yeah, excellent.
I think we stick with the iTunes for a while.
Yeah, yeah, I like where this is taking us.
For the top five.
Let's keep going down that route.
All right, Seinfeld just vanished in the middle of this.
He had to go to a meeting.
Oh, he had to go to a meeting.
He's a working man.
Oh, yeah, he's a working man.
All right, great seeing everybody.
We'll be back in two weeks.
Time crisis.
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