Episode 206: Trad Crisis
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Transcript
Time Crisis.
On this week's episode,
we dig in to new music
from the Foo Fighters
and the Rolling Stones.
Plus,
we get into some old favorites
from Steve Forbert
and Andrew Gold.
Is rock played out?
You'll see on
Time Crisis
with Ezra Koenig.
Passed me by all of those great romances
You were a felt rubbing me of my rightful chances
My picture clear, everything seemed so easy
And so I dealt you the blow when the bus had to go
Now it's different, I want you to know
One of us is crying, one of us is lying
Keep an eye on me babe
Time Crisis back again, Thanksgiving weekend
What's up fellas?
It's a big weekend, everyone's feasting, hanging out with family and friends
We thought it'd be a great time to dive into the careers
of two relatively obscure one-hit wonders from the 70s
It's TC
It's TC baby, we're doing something nice and cozy for Thanksgiving
Struggle up
There might be some TC families who are gathered around listening to this episode live
Maybe a TC couple going for an autumnal drive
Somewhere where the leaves change colors
I mean Thanksgiving is a great holiday, it's one of the best
You're a Thanksgiving fan right, Jake?
Oh yeah, big time, I agree, one of the best
I can see a TC Friendsgiving
Oh I would love it
Oh for sure, get the whole crew together
Alright, enough beating around the bush, people have been already talking about
They've had their Thanksgiving meals, they've seen their families
Let's get into the good stuff
Jake, you picked a song to start us off today
Steve Forbert
This is a guy, I feel like I've been seeing his name my whole life
I feel like I've been seeing, I've seen his records a lot
When I used to be really into like, you know, buying used records
Crate digging?
Yeah, when I was crate digging
There was, I know this is totally off, but I feel like I would see
Yeah, I know I've seen this face before
He has a very interesting face
Everybody look up the Steve Forbert Alive on Arrival album
Honestly, it's weird, you know, you know there's like
You see these weird things online sometimes
It's like, have you seen this man?
Many people have seen him in dreams
Many people have seen this man in their sleep paralysis
Yeah, he does have a bizarre face
I mean, I'm looking at the Jackrabbit Slim cover as well
You know, you guys don't think he looks exactly like
A bizarro Lou Reed?
A little bit, a tiny bit
I could see it
But Steve Forbert, yeah, I feel like I'd always see Steve Forbert albums
When I'd be crate digging
A lot of like Dan Fogelberg
But I know Dan Fogelberg is actually like a major artist
Yeah, a different scene too
I think Dan Fogelberg is like straight up soft rock
Wait, so did you used to have a vinyl collection?
Because I always think of you as like, not a record collector
I went so hard in my younger years that I'm still like kind of recovering
And now everybody has like a nice vinyl setup at home
And I'm kind of behind the times
But do you have records?
I've never seen like a record collection
I have thousands of records
Where are they?
No, I think I gave most of them away actually
Okay, here's the thing
I may have told this story before, but it's Thanksgiving weekend
We can retell some stories
That's what Thanksgiving weekend's all about
Retelling the same stories
The same story you've heard for decades
I was always pretty into records
And my parents, they had their records, you know, well into the 90s
In the dining room
And the record player was there
So I learned a lot from like digging through their records
And looking at them
And they were very present
They weren't like out in the garage or anything
They were in the household
We've discussed your dad's record collection quite a few times
And ended with Run DMC
Yeah
And then when I started getting into records myself
A lot of it was kind of, you know, driving around New Jersey
With my boy Andre and friend of the show Wes Miles
You know, our crew, because we were all into the same stuff
So we would do a lot of, you know, going to thrift stores
And going to yard sales
We're kind of obsessed with yard sales
And, you know, at that point you go to, you know
When would this have been?
'98, '99?
You go to a New Jersey yard sale
You'd have all these, yeah, how, it's funny to think now
How old these people have been
You might probably have, like, people who are, like, 50 or 60
And they had all this, like, cool stuff from the 60s and 70s
They were getting rid of
Their old books, their old records
You know, maybe they were building their CD collection
And so you'd find good stuff
And I was just, like, into buying records
I'd go to Montclair, New Jersey
Had a thriving used records scene
Multiple stores
But then here's where it got crazy
Is that one day, me and the boys roll up to a yard sale
I believe this is in Montclair, New Jersey
And this guy just had a couple thousand records
Boxes on boxes
And we're looking through and seeing if we can find anything good
And then the guy says, "Is that your guy's car?"
It was my friend's car
And we're like, "Yeah"
And he's like, "You think you could fit all these records in there?"
And we're like, "Oh, I don't know"
And he's like, "If you can, they're yours"
And we were so hyped
And I ended up, I think we first took them to my house
Everybody picked them over
But I ended up keeping the bulk of them
And I'm sure this guy was just psyched to get rid of it
Because it was, like, 90% crap
I think this guy was-
Dan Fogelberg?
Well, I don't think-
Dan Fogelberg's not crap
I don't want to diss him
But a lot of it seemed to have come from the collection of a radio station
Because I remember I'd even sometimes pull out, like, a 1978 RCA Records press release
From some, like, really random band
There was some cool stuff in there
But a lot of the records were the dregs of the big labels' 70s and 80s releases
So it's, like, just stuff you never heard of
Atlanta Rhythm Section?
There might be stuff like that
Atlanta Rhythm Section has a couple of songs with-
It's hard to think of, like, truly obscure bands from the 70s that, like-
The reason we know obscure bands from the 70s now is that they have a few good songs
It's hard to think of the ones that are just, like, truly, like, "What is this?"
Okay, wait, I just found one
Because I could picture the cover so well
It's a band called Blue Steel
And the album is called No More Lonely Nights
Do you think I've heard of that?
Yeah, have you heard of Blue Steel?
Because the album cover is, like, a knight in shining armor in a castle
With, like, kind of looking lonely
With his legs up on, like, a feast table
Okay, so this is an example of just something that-
A band that I-
Alright, Blue Steel is a band
I don't recognize that cover, actually
See, I'm just saying, this is the kind of random stuff you'd find
And I remember at the time, we were all, like, really into, like, punk
You know, I've talked about this-
Sure
This is the era where, like, I'd go with Andre to go see television at Irving Plaza
Like, late 90s, rediscovering all this, like, cool punk stuff
So I remember also just, like, looking through all these, like, late 70s, early 80s releases
To be like, "Is there anything cool, punk, or new wave about this?"
And then just always being so disappointed by the music
I'm not dissing Blue Steel
I don't remember what-
I just remember the record as, like, a typical random record I had
And you would throw all these records on?
You, like, tried them all out?
I don't think I tried them all out
I mean, I had a period where I was kind of interested in, like, looking for samples
Oh, funny
But-
So-
And there was cool stuff, but the-
But, you know-
And then just, like, a million 50s and 60s records, like, Herb Alpert, Whipped Cream
Uh-huh
So anyway, I had all these records
Only recently did I start to actually get rid of them
A lot of them were in my parents' house, in the closet of my childhood bedroom
And it was difficult to get rid of them
But yeah, I had a lot of records
And then I would buy some
I have some, like-
I have some interesting, um, rare Karaj Rock compilations
The kind of stuff you can't find on-
Rare?
Rare compilations is a funny pairing of words
Because they were such limited releases, I have a rare compilation I used to listen to of
New Jersey garage bands, and they're all from the 60s
That sounds amazing
Yeah, I gotta dig that up
Wait, so did you end up with the Steve Forbert album, Jackrabbit Slims?
I'm pretty sure I had a Steve Forbert album
I don't know if I listened to it
I know this album cover totally well
I think I did have this record
I thought of this song because, um, last week we were listening to
J. Giles Band, and you were talking about like
"This is just some good, solid, feel-good East Coast rock"
Yeah
And I had this Steve Forbert song called "Romeo's Tune"
Which came out in December of 1979 on a playlist
I think I probably heard it on, like, Sirius Radio
Like, Sirius Radio deep cuts, or like deep, you know, vinyl cuts or whatever
There's so many, like, stations that kind of just play, like,
the more offbeat, kind of, 70s stuff
Yeah
And I was like, "What is- this is good"
It kind of has, like, a little bit of Springsteen, a little bit of Billy Joel
A little bit of, uh, you know, I don't know, Dire Straits
But he's got, like, a really nice voice
And it's got a great kind of feel to it
And, um, so I added it to, like, a playlist
And I'm- sometimes I just throw on "Romeo's Tune"
And then Nick was saying before the show that-
friend of the show, Michael Schmeling
This is one of his, like, favorite songs
Okay
It's something that he's put on, I feel like, since I've known him 20 years
It would make its way to, like, Nick CDs or playlists constantly
But only the- only this song
I don't know any other songs by him
But for about 20 years I've heard this
It sounds like this is far and away Steve Forbert's biggest hit
It reached- oh, this is also from 1979
Same year as "Blue Steel" and "No More Lonely Nights"
All right, let's listen to "Romeo's Tune" by Steve Forbert
Buckle up, guys
Yeah
The music of '79
Yeah, the '70s pop rock
This does have an East Coast flavor
It's East Coast, dude
East Coast summer, here we go
Can you kind of hear this in a Noah Baumbach movie?
Totally
Yeah, this could be on the "Squid and the Whale" soundtrack
It's also hard to explain, but this is so perfectly 1979
Yes
A guy that was real into "Blood on the Tracks"
And you know what else? Some Elvis Costello
Oh, good call
A big Dylan head
His Wikipedia page basically says he's from Mississippi
And moved to New York in '76, '77 to be a part of the punk scene
And he was probably reading about CBGBs in Cream magazine in Mississippi in 1976
And he was like, "I'm going"
He was born in '54
And it seems like the rest of his career was pretty folky
He identifies as a folky guy
Well, that makes sense
I hear this as a guy that was into Dylan, into the mid-70s Bruce records, into Billy Joel
He had moved to New York with a big dream to make it
And he did
I mean, this is a classic song
It was "Reach Number 11" in 1980
I like his voice
Yeah
Hey, hey, meet me in the middle of the night
Let me hear you say everything's all right
Let me smell the morning air
But I know what you mean about perfectly 1979
Yeah, those drums
I also thought of it because we were talking about J. Giles last episode
And just that specific palette of early
I guess for us when we talk about this East Coast, '70s rock
One thing that connects Bruce, this song, and that '70s J. Giles we're listening to
Is that, is like the busy piano
Yeah
Pretty Billy Joel too
You know, even like a touch of SNL band
Oh, for sure
You can totally picture like some of the session guys that are like
Played SNL last night
Oh, Steve Forber wants us to do a Sunday afternoon session
All right
All right guys, new song called "Romeo's Tune"
All right, all right
Yeah, I love that
Shout out to Steve Forber
Was that song familiar to you at all?
No, I don't know it, but the vibe was familiar
I think I could imagine these guys like Steve Forber, Elvis Costello
They ultimately, they love traditional songwriting
And they love folk music and Dylan and country
But they like rock and roll
So like when punk got going, they enjoyed the minimalist production
And the sound and the energy
And then also, you know, like you said
A great call with Dire Straits
Because Dire Straits has always been such a weird band
Because they were like, they came out at the same time as punk
So they were, almost had a punk energy
Breaking out with "Sultans of Swing"
Like throw "Sultans of Swing" on
I think that's '78
I think also Dire Straits and Talking Heads did a tour together early on
Interesting
In the '70s
And you can picture that
Because I don't hear any sort of new way, any punk edge at all with Dire Straits
No punk edge, but it's like, it is minimalist, simple rock music
Except the guitar is so next level
I mean the drums, it's like, I don't know
You could picture 1978, like you're a kid listening to the radio
And they play "Roxanne" by The Police
And then they play "Sultans of Swing"
And you're kind of like, all right
New way
Yeah, no, I could see that
When I guess we're talking about like punk
I'm picturing Steve Forbert going to CBGBs in 1977
And seeing like, yeah, like the New York Dolls or whoever
Playing some like, truly like
I just like seeing the Ramones
Yeah, that would be amazing
And that's like a totally different universe
It's totally different
But you know how also even Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Were a little bit like punk adjacent when they came out?
Right
I think there's something that all these guys have
I don't know what the, what we call this genre
But it's like classic rock dudes
But they came out in the late 70s
So their music's a little more streamlined
Yeah
I know Steve Forbert probably didn't edit his own Wikipedia
But I think there's something very interesting about
He didn't go to New York to play in punk
It says he went out there to experience the punk scene
There's something about like
It's almost like Dylan would do that
And that's what I think you're saying
He's not playing it
He's just like taking it in
You want to absorb the energy
It's just sort of more of an alternative
Like an adjacent
And he's, yeah, I just want to experience the energy
I understand that
Like, yeah, if you're like a young person who's not growing
If you, he's growing up in Mississippi
It's like, and he has like musical ambitions
And he's like, where do I go?
Like, how do I like find a channel?
And he's not like, oh, I'm a punk
I'm going to go do this
But I do see what you're saying with Irish Straights
You could see them being like, oh, this is cool
It's very poignant, I'm thinking about Steve
Like, it's almost like you're a young artist
And like you moved to New York or LA
And you don't really understand what's going on there
You've heard it, you've seen media depictions of these cultural capitals
And you kind of just move there all naive
And you're like, oh, punk's like the new thing
I'm going to move there and like go to CBGB
Hang out and meet people
But actually he's like a traditionalist
He's like a, he's a folk guy
He's a, he likes Billy Joel
And he's seen the Ramones
And it's too nihilistic and loud for him
And it's hot punk, cool funk
Even if it's old junk, it's still rock and roll to me
Nice
But you throw on Irish Straights, Romeo and Juliet
Well done
I wonder if Irish Straights were clocking Steve Forbert
And they heard his 1979 hit Romeo's tune
And then a year or two later, they drop their Romeo and Juliet
They were like, that was just a little too punk for us
Yeah, let's trip back a little bit
But this is such a funny song too
Because it's like this beautiful, you know, acoustic picking
Yeah, it's a great song
And yet there still is something new wave about it
Yeah
I love to strut with Romeo
Sing the streets of Serenade
Laying everybody low
God, Bob Dylan was influential
Yeah
I almost like have a little trouble with Irish Straights
Because it's just like, dude, you're just doing Dylan
It's so obvious
It's like, I don't know
I just, I just, I've all, I can't fully get into Irish Straights
I feel like people really into Irish Straights, they love the guitar playing
Yeah, exactly
You shouldn't come around here singing up at people like that
Anyway, what you gonna do about it
But you got respect for this song
Oh, I love it
I like a lot of Irish Straights songs
I like like So Far Away and like
Yeah
But Dylan recognized Knopfler as a real one
And he got him to produce and play all over Infidels
Yeah, I think he's on like Slow Train Coming too
I think he's on that
Oh, even earlier?
I think so, I could be wrong about that
He's definitely ripping on Joker, man
Big time
Late 70s, early 80s
Traditionalist dudes trying to make it in a new wave world
Is this genre
I think we're gonna do about nine episodes of Time Crisis on this world
We need to come up with a better name for this
This genre, it's like, it's a little like softer and more sophisticated
But it's not Yacht Rock
It's got more edge than Yacht Rock
Soft wave
Soft wave? I like that
Soft bang
Trad wave?
Trad wave
But that almost has like, feels like, I don't know
Too much picking or something, I don't know
These guys pick
Yeah, but these are old guys
Yeah, but that's like new guys trying to be old
These are old guys trying to be new
Oh, Romeo, yeah
You know, I used to have a scene with him
They're not that old
They're like 24
No, no, no, but it's people that have been in or around
And they're trying to figure out how to re-transition
And not old
Yeah
But you know, there's a paradigm shift
Yeah, Elvis Costello is always interesting to me
And that Elvis Costello, that's a classic artist I got into via my dad's records
Because he had the first three Elvis records
I got really deep into them
And it was always interesting to me, like his first album
He's kind of associated with punk
But then the most famous song on that first album is "Alison"
Like, throw in "Alison"
"Alison" is totally like a huge part of this wave
Trad wave
Yeah, trad wave
Yeah, Elvis Costello is one of those dudes that I really wanted to get into
And I felt like I needed to
Oh, it's so funny to be seeing you after so long, girl
And I love his hits
But like, I remember trying to listen to that first record, "My Name Is True"
Yeah
A lot
And I was just like, I can't, I couldn't, I just couldn't get there
You like "Alison"?
Oh, of course
I mean, this is incredible
I'm not gonna get too sentimental
I remember just like, really trying to listen to "My Name Is True" all the way through
And I just like, I couldn't do it
I mean, like, did you go deep on "My Name Is True"?
Like, is that an album you know front to back?
Let me check
I have to look at it to know how well I know it
Brutal harmony, sorry guys
I know this world is killing you, oh, Alison
Yeah, I know this album pretty well
My name is true
You know, I have like a two and a half year old daughter
And like, so I've met a lot of parents of other kids
And like, this is one mom I've met named Alison
And I, every time I'm around her, I just have to make sure I'm not
I just, I want to just go, "Alison"
I haven't done it yet, I haven't done it
But like
Holding back
I'm holding back
And then like, later that day, I'll just be like, walk around the house going like, "Alison"
I can't stop you from talking when I hear the silly things that you say
I think somebody better put out the big light
'Cause I can't
You know "Less Than Zero"?
Maybe if I heard it
You throw on "Less Than Zero"
Oh, Alison
I always really liked this song
Is this song "My Name is True"?
Yeah
I think Elvis Costello, "Trad Wave" is really a great, that's a great genre
I don't know if they all fit in this, but it describes it perfectly
Yeah, and I think it all started around '77
Nick Lowe's in that
Yep
Graham Parker
Oh yeah
Turn up the TV, no one, less than will suspect even
Your mother won't detect it, so your father won't know
They think that I got no respect, but everything means
Less than zero
Hit, hit
A little bit of throwback
Well, yeah, I mean, obviously it's "Trad Wave"
I mean, what's a...
All right, speaking of "Trad Wave"
So what's the first Tom Petty album?
What was his first hit?
"Damn the Torpedoes"
Is it "Refugee"?
I think so
Matt's saying no
No, okay, hold on
First Tom Petty hit
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' first album came out in '76
Oh, "Breakdown" and "American Girl"
So throw in "Breakdown"
The first Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' single, "Breakdown"
That was kind of their first hit
The first single, he's using that weird voice
It's okay if you...
See, this sounds like Fleetwood Mac to me
I do want to say thematically Tom Petty is "Trad Wave"
Sound-wise or not, thematically, he's "Trad"
To me, this is total "Trad Wave"
This is like...
It does sound like Fleetwood Mac
But it's a tiny bit more aggressive
♪ It's all right if you love me ♪
♪ It's all right if you don't ♪
♪ Don't ♪
♪ I'm not afraid of you running away, honey ♪
♪ I get the feeling you won't ♪
I like how he kind of like...
Eases into his normal voice
And then he's back into this weird character
♪ Your eyes give you away, away ♪
But isn't the idea that he's even doing a character
Partly make it "Trad Wave"?
He's like doing something
♪ Baby, breakdown ♪
Now he's out of it
Yeah
Yeah, this is like a touch...
It's a touch more aggressive than Fleetwood Mac
♪ Breakdown, out of the near ♪
♪ Can you see ♪
♪ Breakdown, it's all right ♪
All right, well, let's listen to "American Girl" then
The next single after "Breakdown"
Yeah, those backing vocals are like the Eagles
But they're like less lush
This is "Trad Wave"
Yeah, this is part of "Strokes"
Yeah
Yeah, you can say this laid the groundwork for
That "Strokes" song that sounds exactly like this
25 years before the "Strokes"
Are the "Strokes" neo-Trad Wave?
Kind of
No, because the "Strokes"
They got rid of a lot of the textures of "Trad Wave"
Like organ, acoustic guitars
They took a bit from "Petty" of course
They used the drill
♪ I think she was an American girl ♪
♪ Raised up in provinces ♪
♪ She couldn't help thinking that there ♪
♪ Was a little more life somewhere else ♪
♪ After all, it was a great big world ♪
♪ With lots of places to run to ♪
No, but for the context that they emerged in
It was pretty "Trad"
Just to me, "Trad Wave"
You have to be open to having organ and acoustic
Okay, those are the rules
I don't make the rules, dude
You don't have to use them?
You don't have to use them
But you have to be open to them
♪ Make it last all night ♪
♪ She was an American girl ♪
So we're saying Tom Petty is "Trad Wave"
But Tusk is not "Trad Wave"
It's an older guy being influenced by "Trad Wave"
Yeah, exactly
♪ She put in the cars, roll back ♪
♪ At all four-forty-one ♪
♪ Like words crashing down the beach ♪
♪ There for what this room is ♪
The funny thing about Tusk is that Lindsay Buckingham's like
"Oh my god, there's this new thing happening"
It's called "Trad Wave"
I'm gonna try to write songs in that mode
And then Stevie Nicks is like
"No, I'm just gonna keep writing songs like it's 1973"
Right
I'm not interested
But it's funny, Lindsay Buckingham is only one year older than Tom Petty
But he kind of got famous a little bit earlier
Yeah
♪ She was an American girl ♪
Can you like dig into a little bit the difference between
like what "Trad Wave" and just nostalgia might be?
Wait, what?
Like the difference between like "Trad Wave" and just being nostalgic
Like nostalgia music
Well, nostalgia is an element of the newly found genre "Trad Wave"
But specifically "Trad Wave" is dudes making music in the punk and new wave era
who were a little too traditional to go all the way punk
So it's like, it's this classic rock music
Like obviously "American Girl"
The energy of the drums could be punk
But it's like just a little too soft to truly call it punk
Or Elvis Costello has like a punk attitude
And he'd had some like punky energetic songs
But you know, the fact that "Alison" is one of his first hits, very traditional
And then Steve Forbert, just like these really kind of
clean, minimalist, produced songs
I mean, yeah
And "Dire Straits" is like the epitome, it's like they're so weird
That they're just, they don't really fit in with the bands of that era
Even the fact that their first song, their first hit "Souls of Swing"
Is like about watching like a jazz band play
And he's like ripping these kind of finger-picked solos
I feel like our definition of "Trad Wave" is a little fuzzy
I feel like we were, you know, it's really, it's definitely like
Steve Forbert, Elvis Costello
I don't know if Petty's "Trad Wave"
I feel like this is gonna be an ongoing project
I know what you mean, but it's like
[Laughter]
Listeners weigh in
Yeah, what are we talking about?
We're kind of vague here
We're kind of vague here, but if you know, you know
It's classic rock that is post-punk
That is either deliberately or not, it's influenced by the cultural zeitgeists
And the technology of the era
And so if the police were making a record
Or Steve Forbert was making a record in 1973
It wouldn't sound the way it does when they made their records in the late 70s
There's that touch of punk new wave influence in the production
But ultimately, I think these are all guys who they liked old music
And then when punk and new wave started, they were kind of psyched
Because it's like, all right, back to some simple rock and roll
It's not progressive rock, it's not yacht rock
And they could do something kind of simple with those kind of late 70s drums
Honestly, it seems simple
Either it's people that are trying to transition into new wave
And can't totally let go
But new wave doesn't exist yet
No, or no, I understand
But there's probably a cultural sentiment, like the zeitgeist is changing
Well, also there were some people who used punk and new wave interchangeably
I think as early as like '76, '77
Just to refer to this new energetic youth music
Before there was like full-on synthy MTV new wave
Look, the question is, we all know there's something
That Steve Forbert, Dire Straits, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello
They're all spiritually connected
What is that connection?
And what do you call it?
That's what we're asking
So if you're still with your family on Thanksgiving
Gather your aunts and your uncles, your grandparents
Ask the kids
Kids say the darndest things
You never know, you might ask your little, you know
Precocious 11-year-old niece or nephew
Can you explain the spiritual connection between Petty Forbert, Costello, and Knopfler?
And I throw Billy Joel in there
Anthony's song "Movin' Out" I throw that in there
Yeah, maybe a touch of Billy Joel
I don't think he's quite in the inner circle of Tradwith
But there's something spiritually connected about these people
And I'm sure with time we could find more songs and albums
That were these, had that '79 sound
You know what it is?
I think, and I bet we can find out examples of this, right?
Like in every cultural shift
It's people that are open and want to move on
And they're forward-thinking
They don't want to let, totally let go of the past
You know, there's like a lot
I think that that's really the tie that binds
Or people that go, you know what?
I'm really
Are they radical centrists?
I think that there's a certain person that's really, that wants to
Walk through the door
But is also, hey guys, we don't need to let go of the past
You know, there was some good, there was some good sh*t there
Okay, here's, I don't get the sense that those artists are like
Hanging on to the past, I just
No, it's not hanging on
It's just an appreciation for, you know, as everyone's like, you know what?
Because I think that you get a new movement
And everyone goes, you know what?
Like, that's it
We draw the line there
We're doing something new
And there's a certain group, you'll go
Yeah, I'm into that, guys
But I also appreciate a certain kind of tone, melody
I want it, you know, let's not like, let's not forget
Like, there's still like a lot to offer
That's all I'm saying
And that feels like the artist you're talking about
You know what?
It's also the people who are not true believers
It's like, whenever you see footage of like, original punk shows
You have these images, mostly from the UK
Of like, just people like spitting on each other
And crazy punk rockers
And you see them going crazy at the front of the stage
But you gotta remember
That's only the front of the venue
The whole back half was filled with long-haired music critics
Who were kind of taking it all in and being like
This is quite interesting
You know what I mean?
Who didn't have mohawks
And who were like, 29, not 15
And picture, especially in New York at CBGBs or something
You might have had some like, real like, real OG punk rockers
But then you're just gonna have, you're gonna just have like
You know, people who lived uptown coming down and checking it out
You're gonna have like, Robert Criscow
And like, you know, those types of people
There would be like, a lot of people who didn't remotely look punk rock
Just kind of taking it all in
So to me, it's kind of like
Something explosive like punk happens
And you're gonna have people right at the center of it
And then you're gonna have these people adjacent to it
Who are not gonna throw away all their old records
Or pretend that, oh, like, pretend that this is year zero
You know, there's probably somebody who moved to New York
From the Midwest or the South, like Steve Forbert in 1977
And they were just like, I shaved my head
I threw out all my old clothes and I burned my old records
It was year zero
I fully reinvented myself
And then other people who are gonna stand in the back of the venue
And watch the Ramones or something and be like
Hey, that's far out, man
Anyway, you wanna go see Dylan at the Beacon Theater on Sunday?
You know, like a normal person
This is just normal people music
Wait, here's a song that maybe could be part of the conversation
From 1979
"My Sharona" by The Knack
It's just one of those songs that's like, it's not really punk
But of course, it's very influenced by the punk new wave energy
Throw in "My Sharona"
Oh, my little pretty one, my pretty one
When you gonna give me some tight Sharona?
Oh, you make my motor run, my motor run
Gun it, coming off of the line
My Sharona
Never gonna stop, give it up
Such a dirty mind, I always get it up
All the time, I'm in the hood, I ain't around
Yeah, for sure, definitely not punk
Yeah, whoa
My, my, my, my Sharona
Come a little closer, huh
I'll be a hunk
Close enough to look in my eyes
My Sharona
Keep it in a mystery
This is '79?
Yeah
Well, then to go fully like cyclical with the generations
Do you know the Ted Kennedy songs "Pull My Strings"?
Oh, yeah
Which is like a send up of "My Sharona"
Pull my strings and riffs
My, my, my, my Sharona
My, my, my, my Sharona
Yeah, like this is also just sounds like early The Kinks
It's got some punk energy, but it's not
Yeah
It's not that punk
Kinks wouldn't have gone
Ba-na-ba-ba
Yeah
But this part is great, yeah
This is a pretty Elvis-gustella
All right, let's move on from Trad Wave
Look, we tried
We tried to invent a new genre
We maybe didn't knock it out of the park
This is R&D
Research and development
Yeah, it's an ongoing convo
Late 70s, early 80s
It's a transitional time
Actually, throw in Romeo's tune, Steve Forbert, one more time
I just want to listen to it as we wrap up our Trad Wave segment
And just have him have all these thoughts, hear it again
Yes, Trad Wave
Meet me in the middle of the day
Let me hear you say everything's okay
Bring me southern kisses from your room
Meet me in the middle of the night
Let me hear you say everything's okay
This could almost be from like the early 70s
Almost like a James Taylor song
And yet it's just got a sprinkle
A sprinkle of that Trad Wave
That late 70s Trad Wave
It might be that drum sound
I don't know what it
Yeah, there's a lot of things
It's an ineffable zeitgeist
While further down behind the masquerade
The tears are there
I don't ask for all that much
I just want someone to care
That's right, girl
Meet me in the middle of the day
Let me hear you say everything's okay
Come on out beneath the shining sun
Meet me in the middle of the night
Let me hear you say everything's all right
Sneak on out beneath the stars and run
So moving on
Our next segment maybe isn't a million miles away from Trad Wave
We've been meaning to talk about this guy for a long time on Time Crisis
His name is Andrew Gold
And he has a very interesting career
And a lot of people don't know his name
He's not around anymore
He died in 2011
He was an American multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and record producer
Who influenced much of the Los Angeles-dominated pop/soft rock sound in the 1970s
So he played on all sorts of other people's records
He produced stuff
But here's what he's best known for as a solo artist
'77 he had a top 40 hit with "Lonely Boy"
And then in '78 he had "Thank You For Being A Friend"
And if you're anything like me
You know "Thank You For Being A Friend" as being the Golden Girls theme
But did you know that well before it was the Golden Girls theme
It was a single released by Andrew Gold
I would have sworn that it was, that that song was just
Written for the Golden Girls
It just seems like it
But actually no, it was like a minor hit single for one Andrew Gold in 1978
So let's throw it on
This is the original "Thank You For Being A Friend"
It reached number 25 on the charts in '78
Pretty good
♪ Thank you for being a friend ♪
♪ Traveled down a road and back again ♪
♪ Your heart is true, you're a pal and a kind of guy ♪
Yeah, this isn't Trad Wave
This has got a real slick West Coast, not Trad Wave vibe
♪ I'm not ashamed to say ♪
Yeah, this is Yacht Rock
♪ I hope it always will stay this way ♪
I would say
Yeah
♪ My hat is off for a start ♪
Yeah, I mean Yacht Rock's been so codified into the culture as like a
meme sort of, but yeah
We're trying to touch on something much more slippery
Yeah
♪ We threw a party, invited everyone you knew ♪
The drums are not a million miles away from Steve Forbert
That's Jeff Porcaro on drums, legendary
You know what's standing out on that Andrew Gold wiki?
Born 1951, Burbank, California
Yeah, the real Burbank boy
Died in LA in 2011
Born in Burbank
♪ Thank you for being a friend ♪
Born in Burbank sounds like a Tim Heidecker album
♪ I was born in Burbank ♪
♪ I'd surely buy you a Cadillac ♪
Yeah, his parents were in showbiz, no shocker there
If you're born in Burbank in '51, your parents were in showbiz
Yeah, some part of it
♪ I'm not ashamed to say ♪
♪ I hope it always will stay this way ♪
♪ My hat is off, won't you stand up and take a bow ♪
My hat is off
The energy of this song is incredible
♪ And when we both get older ♪
♪ With walking canes and hair of grey ♪
♪ Have no fear, even though it's hard to hear ♪
♪ I will stand with clothes and say ♪
♪ Thank you for being a friend ♪
♪ I wanna thank you ♪
I don't like this song
♪ For being a friend ♪
♪ I wanna thank you ♪
Did you like it as a theme song?
You're a fan of the Golden Girls version, right?
No, I mean, I'm not a Gigi head
♪ Let me tell you about a friend ♪
♪ I wanna thank you ♪
♪ Thank you for being a friend ♪
I mean, this is the most edgeless music
You don't like when he says, "My hat is off"
I don't
♪ And when they die ♪
Ooh
♪ And float away ♪
Well, this part's kind of tight
♪ Into the night ♪
It's kind of psychedelic
♪ The milky way ♪
Whoa
Dude, Andrew Gold was second engineer on Joni Mitchell's Blue album
Whoa, that's so deep
I mean, I love this idea of this part being used in the Golden Girls
Yeah
Blanche! Blanche! Blanche!
This part is a major influence on Tame Impala
Yeah
Tame Impala counts Andrew Gold as one of their primary influences
Specifically the bridge, and only bridge, of "Thank you for being a friend"
♪ Ba ba ba ba ba ba ♪
♪ Thank you for being a friend ♪
I think "Lonely Boy" is a lot better
Okay, let's throw in "Lonely Boy"
"Lonely Boy" is used in "Boogie Nights"
According to Gold, "Thank you for being a friend" was just a little throwaway thing
that took him, quote, "about an hour to write"
All the best songs are that way
But also what I love is
I believe it
I believe it
But also, an hour to write seems like, I don't know, sort of a long time
A little too long?
Exactly!
What took so long?
That's like 15 minutes
Where were you, Andrew?
♪ This is what we learned ♪
♪ We'll dress him up warmly and we'll send him to school ♪
♪ It'll teach him how to fight to be nobody's fool ♪
♪ Oh, oh, what a lonely boy ♪
♪ Oh, what a lonely boy ♪
This is like Julianne Moore doing coke off a glass coffee table
in slow-mo
See, I'm glad we're doing the Andrew Gold today
because even Andrew Gold is roughly around the same time as the Trad Wave
But you could tell he's not...
This has a slick, West Coast, non-punk flavor
He's not interested...
He's not going to Seabees
He's not interested in seeing the Ramones at Seabees
Steve Forbard is the Ramones compared to Andrew Gold
Oh, I'm...
And that's no knock on Andrew Gold
Steve Forbard is like the band Lightning Bolt compared to Andrew Gold
♪ Oh, oh, what a lonely boy ♪
And also it's the vocal delivery
I like this song
No, it's a great song
I like Andrew Gold
I like "Thank You For Being A Friend" too
But it's the vocal delivery is still so slick
Elvis Costello, Steve Forbard, Tom Petty
They're bringing like an edge
Yeah, no, Steve Forbard's got a lot of personality
♪
It's got a little bit of early Prince energy
Yeah, this is nasty
♪ Goodbye, mama ♪
♪ Goodbye, mama ♪
This is truly tasteless
♪ Goodbye, papa ♪
Goodbye, papa
♪ I'm pushing on through ♪
This must all be like LA Shredders
Who's on drums?
Mike Botts, best known for his work with 1970s soft rock band Bread
You know what's another song?
Wait, okay
I thought of another song that's right from this
I think it's from 1978
Do you know the Walter Egan song "Magnet and Steel"?
No
Okay
Is that like a well-known song?
Well, it's also featured prominently in Boogie Nights
I believe Stevie Nicks and Chrissy McVie sing backup on this song
So this is one of these records I like bought in a dollar bin, you know, 25 years ago
And it's definitely like a throwback
It's definitely not Tret
Oh, absolutely
You know from the first second
♪
You can-
Okay, it's very self-consciously a 50s throwback
♪ Now I told you so ♪
But it's-
♪ You oughta know ♪
It's got that late-
Boogie Nights when they're-
Yeah
No, no, what's the scene that they're using?
♪ It took some time for a feeling to grow ♪
These movies could help
These movies could really help people
I know they can
♪ But you're so close now I can't let you go ♪
♪
Yeah, this is Gold Wave, not Trad Wave
Yeah, this is more Burbank rock
Yeah
Dude, Burbank rock
♪
You know, I don't know how to put this into words
but I think the reason I asked about nostalgia was like this
This is like nostalgic but without any interest in entering the future
And the Trad Wave is this like liminal or like forward-leaning place
that's still using traditional stuff
I mean, I think this song like-
I think we all understand that this song is like self-consciously a throwback
No, I know, of course
Like he's doing like 50s thing in the late 70s
Absolutely, it's just when we talk about the Trad Wave
I think it is like there's people who are like
there's this way of leaning in to what's to come
but holding on and like appreciating some fun s*** about the past
Definitely
♪
♪ And it can't be wrong ♪
Or this almost- this almost kitsch, I guess
Yes
All right
Hold on, but we're not-
I love this song though
♪
♪ Show the way I feel ♪
Ezra, do you know this song?
Not really
Really?
I've seen Boogie Nights, but-
I've seen Boogie Nights
Don't get twisted, I've seen Boogie Nights
♪
Yeah, hold on, but hold on
We got to go back to Andrew Gold because-
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
There's a twist
There is a twist to the story
So Andrew Gold, we've listened to two of his best known songs as a solo artist
but there's a song that some of you might know that he released in the 90s
and it's wildly different
So maybe you've heard Lonely Boy
You've probably heard Thank You For Being A Friend
at least the Golden Girls version
But did you know that the same man, Andrew Gold, also wrote Spooky Scary Skeletons?
Depending how old you are, you may have heard it growing up
Maybe you've seen it
It kind of became a meme in the 2010s
because it's kind of this goofy song
but it's kind of become like a Halloween classic
The children love it
You hear it at Halloween
This is just something that he was doing later in life, making some children's music
In '96, he released an album called Halloween Howls Fun and Scary Music
and he created this song which, according to Rolling Stone,
is the official Halloween song of Generation Z
So check this out
Spooky Scary Skeletons
Dreadwave
Spooky Scary Skeletons
Send shivers down your spine
Shrieking skulls will shock your soul
Seal your doom tonight
Do you know this song, Jake?
I don't
Do you know it?
I heard it via my child
Same
You'll shake and shudder in surprise when you hear these zombies shriek
We're so sorry, skeletons
You gotta understand, Jake, this song is like
This is a pretty Paul McCartney here
Yeah, exactly
You can't hold Andrew Gold down
He's always gonna bring some music out
Oh yeah
He's going full like Ram era McCartney here
This song is like Monster Mash for the Zoomers
Really?
And they hear it on like TikTok and stuff?
Yeah, and then there's also there's a dance remix
Do we have that one, Matt?
God, that's so funny
But hold on, but Ezra, your child isn't
Check this out, this is a
But your child isn't listening to or watching TikTok
So where are they hearing this?
I've given my child unfettered access to TikTok essentially since birth
In this competitive media environment, you can never start them too young
I just think it's out there
Somebody else probably played it for him
Somebody probably threw on a Halloween playlist at school or at a friend's house
Wow, this episode might be like the worst music we've ever played on this show
And you know what's going to only get worse when we start
listening to the Grammy nominations for best rock song
I guess I like this as a late career move for Andrew Gold
Wait, do you have
Is there a band called the Fraternal Order of the All on Apple Music?
He recorded a psychedelic 60s tribute album
Greetings from Planet Love under the pseudonym the Fraternal Order of the All
Releasing it on his own label Q-Brain Records
Q-Brain
I want to hear Andrew Gold's 1990s tribute to the 1960s
Yeah, I'd love to hear that
Through the looking glass here
Not gonna lie if you told me this was Foxygen
I'd be like, yeah
Yeah, Foxygen, poor Steve
I saw Foxygen play at the Roxy in like 2013
Pretty good show
Nice
I mean, he's a consummate musician
Yeah, he's the best
Like, he's having some fun, but you can hear in his voicings
He knows his stuff
He's like, let me like try to do like a magical mystery kind of thing in 1996
Oh yeah, he knows McCartney inside and out
Beautiful Capricorn, what?
I feel like he had like a Mad Libs of like 1960s words, like Capricorn, Rainbow
Hold on, we need to listen to one more thing
First of all, I just want to-
That was rough
Yeah, it's a bit rough, but that was like some, you know, late-
He was just messing around
Yeah, no, I mean, respect
I mean, the thing about-
That's the-
Dude, that is the most obscure music maybe we've ever-
I've ever heard in my life
1990s Andrew Gold tribute to the 1960s
Like that's the true obscure stuff, man
I want to say, because in the first one, we were like, oh, he just probably brought in all of these
Hollywood, you know, session guys
This was a solo affair
Oh yeah
He's playing everything
He played everything
This is a-
He is all the instruments, all tracks
Dude, don't come at me with like your 70s Japanese psych rock
Let's talk, talk to me when you've like really explored the Andrew Gold 1990s,
like 1960s pastiche music that he recorded in his apartment in Burbank
I mean, the truth is, Jake, I imagine it's with semi-regularity
that you probably do meet a person, probably a dude,
who collects obscure psychedelic records
and you actually could hit them with like, I know a good one from, it's from '97
Like what?
Be like, yeah, the fraternal order of the all, greetings from planet love
They don't have a Wikipedia page, by the way
Check it out
It's that deep
The thing I like about Andrew Gold is just like,
I do think it's the true test of a songwriter when they can do stuff in different moods
and different genres
And I do think, we all agree, Lonely Boy is a great song
But even if that's the only Andrew Gold song you truly like,
you got to give it up for him that he wrote these two insanely different other songs,
Thank You For Being A Friend and Spooky Scary Skeletons,
that all had a life of their own in various ways
It's rare, you know?
For sure
If of course you got like your Billy Joel's, just like these hit makers,
but then, you know, somebody who is like a talented engineer, producer, something
They'd be lucky to have one of those things, let alone all three
That's the Gold Triple Crown
If you can make a legitimately solid song,
one that becomes the theme to a show,
and one that becomes a beloved holiday song for children,
that's Triple Gold
And very few people accomplish that
This guy's literally got boomers, Gen X, Gen Z, locked
Yeah, think about that for a second
He had a song in Boogie Nights made by a classic Gen Xer like Paul Thomas Anderson
And then he had a song for Golden Girls
I mean, they're the greatest generation
Those are people who are old in the 80s
I mean, he's really, he's spanning the decades
The last thing I would just want to check out, I've never actually heard this,
but he started a new wave band in the 80s called Wax,
and it was him teaming up with Graham Goldman from 10cc
Interesting
So, can we listen to Bridge to Your Heart by Wax?
In the US, they were known as Wax UK
Wow
Oh, this is sick
Yeah, a little bit of wham
I couldn't see
it
It's an incredible album cover
Which album?
This album, the Wax album cover, I couldn't even describe it if I wanted to
It's so well designed
Ezra
This is incredible
For the American English album cover
I love these album titles, Magnetic Heaven in American English
Oh yeah
American English is a tight
It's interesting, very cool collage
All right, this is solid
Okay, you know what?
And actually, now truly, this is the final thing we have to talk about with Andrew Gold
This guy's such a fascinating career
Apparently, Andrew Gold played guitar on the classic Bob Dylan song,
Every Grain of Sand off Shot of Love
You know that song, Jake?
Yeah
I guess this is Andrew Gold
Wow
For anybody who doesn't know, this is a beautiful Bob song
Some people don't like this album
This is the one with Brownsville Girl?
No, no, that's Knocked Out, Loaded
Oh yeah
I get those mid-80s ones confused
This was his final Christian record of the Christian trilogy
Oh, right, right, right, right, right, of course
This album is cool
But I think even for some people who don't like this album, this song stands out
Because it's just like a really pretty, deep ballad
And actually, I think Bob's been closing his shows with it lately
Really?
Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake
Well I can't, I know, behold this chain of events that I must break
I wonder if Andrew Gold and Bob even exchanged many words
Or Bob's just like, "I need a guitarist"
And he'd happen to be in the studio or something
Bob was in Burbank
Yeah, Bob in Burbank
I'm picturing Andrew Gold just never leaving the Burbank, LA area
It's not true, he spent a bunch of time in England
Oh, that's true, with Wax
Shout out to Andrew Gold
On this Thanksgiving weekend
On this Thanksgiving weekend, rest in peace
You had a very cool career
And I hope some TC heads who never heard his name before
Will remember the name Andrew Gold next time they hear any of these fascinating songs
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay
I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry maze
And every time I pass that way I always hear my name
Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand
I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintery light
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space
In the broken fear of innocence on each forgotten face
I hear the aging footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other times it's only me
Well, this has definitely been one of the more random episodes of Time Crisis, but maybe they're all pretty random, is the truth.
It weirdly makes sense to go from Steve Forbert to Andrew Gold to one of the famously random category in the Grammys, which is Best Rock Song.
And we've enjoyed talking about the nominees for Best Rock Song in the past.
Last year we went through it, and this year we're going to do it again, because the Grammys just released all their nominations.
Congratulations to all the nominees.
And at Time Crisis, we talk a lot about rock music, and we're going to go deep on the nominees for Best Rock Song.
And to be fair to the Grammys, rock is a strange category.
I don't think rock is played out anymore, dawg, by the way, as Jake was famously told.
Actually, I've got a question for you, Jake.
When were you eating burritos with a guy and he said, "Rock's played out, dawg." What year was that?
I'm going to guess 2013.
Ten years later. Anything that's super played out one year, ten years later, it can't be as played out.
That's just the nature.
True.
The pendulum swings.
The pendulum's got to swing.
So if 2013 was when rock was really feeling played out, you know, because also there's nothing new under the sun.
So rock gets played out, sure, but that's because people are more excited about pop and rap and whatever at that moment.
Understandably, I was there.
But then that stuff gets played out too.
You know?
I'm just having this Proustian reverie over here.
I'm just recollecting my having my like this day job I had in 2013 and my co-worker, Matt,
we're sitting at these outdoor picnic tables just crushing Chipotle burritos.
Talk about rock music.
And someone inevitably went, "So what's like the new stuff you guys are into?"
And I was like, "I don't know, war on drugs or something?" And then this guy Matt just wails into this bite of this chicken pre-dinner and goes, "Rock's played out, dog."
I can picture it so vividly.
It's about the way you say it. It's like in the movie, is he going to be played by Danny McBride?
Well, no, but he's more of like an art school guy, you know, like an art school Danny McBride kind of guy, if that makes any sense.
Rock's played out, dog.
It's the dog that gives me Danny McBride.
Just like, "Rock's played out, dog. I gotta burn you some CDs of some of the trap I've been listening to, man. It's gonna blow your freaking mind."
Choice nugs. Choice crime mob nugs.
I also just love the idea of, this is not Matt, but I'm now just picturing the Danny McBride version.
Just some dude who's like 37 and just telling his friend, "Rock's played out, dog. You gotta check out some of these TikTok remixes, man. This shit's fire. This shit's
on heat, man.
You gotta check out some of the new pop stuff, man. It's f*cking slaps, bro. Dubstep, trap, that's my sh*t."
A guy that's a little too old to be using the new slang.
Yeah.
I'm gonna make you a playlist of my favorite Diplo.
Actually, I think the dubstep is probably the most accurate.
There's definitely a dude who's maybe even like a hippie dude, because you know like some hippies got more into dubstep and they kind of left behind the jam scene?
Actually, that's news to me, but okay.
There's a kind of like druggy dubstep scene, and I can just like totally picture a dude who's just like, "You out here still listening to f*cking rock and roll, dog? That
sh*t's played out, man. It's all about dubstep."
That conversation definitely happened in 2013. A dude being like, "You out here still f*cking listening to guitar solos, bro? I'm gonna listen to dubstep, waiting
for the drop.
Man, you gotta come out with me sometime, bro. It's sick. You go see some of these DJs, you wait for the drop. When the drop hits, man, it's better than f*cking Eddie Van
Halen on 'Eruption,' man. That sh*t's so..."
I know that conversation happened.
"Yo, dog, chill on the guac."
Just like a dude digging into- grabbing chips and digging into his friend's guacamole that he didn't pay for.
He got a picture, just the context is Chipotle. It's a Chipotle lunch at work, and a bunch of guys in their late 30s, early 40s.
They've all split the guac.
I'm picturing this dude being kind of a dirtbag, too. It's just like, "Guac for the table? I'm good, bro. I'll just pay for my burrito."
Then he's just like, slamming at the table.
Just going off about, "Rock's played out, man."
You're like, "Well, what about 'War on Drugs?' I don't f*cking listen to any rock, dog. Check out some dubstep. Get with the future, man. I'll burn you some CDs."
That dude 100% existed in 2013.
Oh, yeah. I worked with him.
Okay, but I don't know what your guy was into, per se.
He might have just been astutely noting that rock was beginning to feel a bit played out, which it was, fair enough.
I don't think he was even that astute. I think it was pretty straight up.
Yeah, and that doesn't mean that he was excited about anything else.
That's also just like an aging person thing, being like, "Yeah, I don't know. This stuff I like is not popular anymore. What are you going to do?"
And that is the question. What are you going to do? Are you going to get really excited about dubstep?
No, man. You're going to listen to '70s Gene Clark records.
Yeah, because here's the thing about if you're into the taste of a palette of '70s rock, you can always slice that onion a tiny bit thinner and find the tiny...
Slice that garlic, dude. Goodfellas style, man. Paper thin. It just tastes like salt in olive oil.
Oh, you thought you understood the whole thing?
Well, we can just shave you off a translucent piece of garlic just to get even that tiny layer that you didn't know about.
Let me break off some Steve Forbert for you, bro, because... Oh, you don't know? Okay.
Basically, there's a fork in the road. At a certain point, you've already listened to all the big stuff, and you've got a choice.
Either you're going to be getting a Steve Forbert or you're going to get into dubstep. The choice is yours.
Or listening to people talk about politics on podcasts.
Oh, yeah. That's so harsh. Honestly, I don't keep up with contemporary music. I mostly listen to political podcasts.
I mean, welcome to middle age.
That's the realest thing.
Yeah.
Is that most people, when rock was played out, they tapped out.
Yep.
And it is full on Pod Save America.
There are three forks in the road. You can either get into Steve Forbert, Andrew Gold, Pod Save America, or dubstep.
I'm going Forbert.
I'm going Forbert. Forbert and Gold.
So dark. So dark.
I'm going Forbert, dude. Forbert full discography.
Honestly, I bet Steve Forbert, I bet there's a lot of good stuff in his whole discography.
He seems like the type of dude who'll have some songs.
I bet there is. I'll say these Grammy noms.
Okay. Time for the Grammy noms.
Rock is officially not played out anymore.
We're back.
We're back. Ten years later. I'm sorry. I'm not saying it's back back, but it's not played out anymore.
All right. Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song has been a category since 1992 and is awarded to the songwriters.
Right. The people wrote the song, not necessarily the performers.
Sting won the first award in 1992 for The Soul Cages.
Memorable.
You know, I think of rock music in 1992. I'm thinking Sting solo material.
It always takes a minute for them to catch up.
Yeah.
Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl and Pat Smear, the latter two being of the Foo Fighters, hold the record for most wins in this category.
All right. That sounds about right.
The Foo Fighters suck so bad.
Whoa.
I can't believe they've won even one Grammy.
They're the most mid band of all time.
They're just, I can't stand the Foo Fighters, man. They're probably my least favorite band of all time.
I like Nine Inch Nails more than the Foo Fighters.
Okay. Because at least Nine Inch Nails had at least a little bit of originality and some sort of like actually transgressive aesthetic.
Foo Fighters, bottom of the barrel.
Oh, man.
Man, Jake has turned on.
I'm two whiskeys deep, guys. It's a Wednesday night. I'm 46. I'm drinking whiskey.
And you hate the Foo Fighters.
I'm screaming into a laptop right now.
You know, I'm speaking my truth.
Wow. I mean, wait, Jake, I thought we discussed that you had a soft spot for like early Foo Fighters.
Okay. There's that one song.
Big Me.
Yeah. That song's cool.
Like it's kind of like a Lemonhead song or something.
When I talk about it.
It's like a little bit twee.
Yeah, it's a good song.
And then Dave Grohl grew that goatee and he just went like full like sports bar butt rock.
You don't like Everlong?
Is that the one that goes, "There goes my hero."
No.
Is that Everlong?
It's called, "There goes my hero."
Everybody, it's David Letterman's favorite song. It goes, "Everything will never be this good forever."
Oh, yeah. Brutal.
Wait, why is that David Letterman's favorite song?
I thought David Letterman was a Warren Zevon fan.
I thought it was like, "Oh, Letterman's got good taste. He's a Zevon head."
Yo, actually, by the way, I'm not just saying this.
David Letterman is like a trad wave guy.
He's trad wave comedy.
Yeah, he's right in that era.
Exactly. Because he came out like early 80s downtown New York, but he's got his kind of like Midwestern aw shucks, but like secretly dark comedy.
And slightly throwback-y, but with a wig.
Exactly. Because he would come out and be like, you know, from a...
He's always talking about like being from Indiana, but he's doing this weird New York City late night show.
I totally could see David Letterman really liking Steve Forbert.
I don't know why it's David Letterman's favorite song, but I seem to recall that when David Letterman had a heart surgery or something and he came back to do his show
again,
he like requested that the Foo Fighters do Everlong because it's his favorite song.
That's so dark.
Throw on Everlong.
Dude.
I thought everybody likes Everlong.
I already hate it.
Wow. People... Jake, I'm not kidding. People really like this song.
Oh, is this Bush?
I don't like major label alternative music from the 90s. Sorry. Except for Weezer.
Also, Foo Fighters would not be a band if Dave Grohl had not been in Nirvana. Foo Fighters would not be a big band.
It's sort of like Hillary Clinton would not have gotten the nomination in 2016 if she hadn't been married to Bill Clinton. It's the same thing.
Okay, but the difference is that Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election and Foo Fighters are the biggest rock band in the world.
Okay, you burned me there.
It breaks down my pride.
You got me there.
I just don't like these little mistakes of history that someone uses to have a big thing. I just don't like it.
I don't like the band Filter. I don't like Bush.
If our show was live, the phone lines would be lighting up right now.
Oh my God.
Jake doesn't like Prince and he doesn't like the Foo Fighters.
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
♪ ♪ ♪
♪ When I sing along with you ♪
♪ Everything could ever be this good forever ♪
♪ If anything could ever be this good again ♪
♪ The only thing I'll ever ask of you ♪
♪ You gotta promise not to stop when I say you will ♪
♪ She said ♪
I mean, I gotta say, this is strange. You almost died. You come out of surgery. You're kind of this legend.
Yeah, this is brutal.
And the thing I want played back for my return.
I don't believe that story. I don't believe that story.
I can't. I can't. I can't believe it.
He's not getting like Springsteen.
Alright, alright. I made it up. You got me, guys. I made it up.
No, you didn't. Did you really?
That's the most random thing I've ever heard.
David Letterman, his request as he survived the open-heart surgery was that the Foo Fighters play for him.
If you told me it was Howard Stern that requested this, 100% believe it.
That's a great call, Nick.
The Foo Fighters are the worst band of all time.
Oh my God.
I can't deal. I can't deal with the Foo Fighters, dude.
I'm so psyched to hear their new song from 2023.
It's going to be so fresh. Thank God the Grammy committee nominated it.
Wow, Jake just hatin'.
Okay, first of all, okay, I tricked you guys twice.
No, I didn't trick you at all. I didn't make that up.
As you guys were gaslighting me, I started to wonder if somehow what is...
As I was being gaslit by you guys, I started to wonder, wait, am I crazy?
And no, I found an article, David Letterman called Everlong my favorite song by my favorite band.
During his recovery from heart surgery in 2000, he said this was the song that got him through.
He loved it so much and it had such meaning in his life that he invited the Foo Fighters to perform it on the show five different times between 1997 and 2015, including two
of the most momentous and poignant shows.
In 2000 for Dave's first show back after his heart surgery and recovery.
And in 2015 for David Letterman's final show.
Psychotic behavior.
That's insane.
They played Everlong five times?
I also want to say, you know how on SNL they do like the five timers club if you hosted SNL five times you get a jacket?
First of all, a lot of people have hosted SNL five times. That's really not that interesting.
I think the only five timers club that matters is a band who's played the same song five times on Letterman.
And only one band has that honor.
They've invited Steve Martin back five times to do the same monologue he's done since 1975. That's crazy.
Everlong is a good song and it has a cool Michel Gondry video.
Do you think that Letterman's into other like 90s kind of alt rock? Is Dave Letterman low key like a Soundgarden head? Like he's like, oh dude, Spoon Man?
Spoon Man had been performed three times.
What a random band to latch on to.
Yeah, I don't know. I'm looking at David Letterman's favorite band music.
The only thing I've known about Letterman's musical taste is that he loves, he loved Warren Zevon.
And he had Warren Zevon on a lot.
And I think when, when maybe he had Zevon on for a whole week, maybe when Zevon was really in his last year.
Yeah, he loves Zevon and Foo Fighters.
Well, I'm with you on the first point, Dave, but geez Louise.
You guys don't listen to Stern, do you? Do you listen to Jake?
I have Sirius, but it's random that I listen to Stern. It's rarely.
I only have AM and FM.
He always, always talks about Train. Like Trains his favorite band.
Oh, he loves Train. Yeah.
Oh, he loves Train.
I remember that.
Maybe it's just some weird...
We got to do a Train episode.
We should do a Train episode.
Drops of Jupiter?
Through Stern. And then they do a great Sesame Street episode, by the way.
Train does?
Yeah, Trains on Sesame Street. They crush it. But there's something, I don't know.
I put Foo Fighters and Train in the same company.
Oh my God. You guys are being very harsh.
Foo Fighters are a more significant band than Train, but I prefer Train.
I mean...
All right, let's get to the damn Grammys.
We got to move on. We got to move on.
Let's move on. We haven't even... We got into one of the songs yet.
No, no, no. We got to do this.
We're going to bang out the nominees for best rock song.
I don't even want to listen to the Foo Fighters song now because Jake's coming in so hot.
All right. Well, we're starting off with...
Are you going to tell me you hate this band too, Jake? The Rolling Stones and their hit song "Angry"?
It's been well documented on the show. I love the Rolling Stones. And I love "Angry."
Do you love "Angry"?
No, I don't love it. But I'm down with it.
As we listen to songs, I just want you to keep this in mind.
The five artists in this category this year are the Rolling Stones, Olivia Rodrigo, Queens of the Stone Age, Boy Genius, and the Foo Fighters.
You got to love the diversity of rock music.
I feel like Queens of the Stone Age is nominated every year too.
Do you have an opinion on them?
I don't even know what they sound like.
I've heard them, but I find them utterly forgettable.
I'm very curious to hear the Olivia.
Olivia.
The Olivia. And I'm very curious to hear the Boy Genius.
All right. You know, "Angry," it sounds like the Stones.
Why is that nominated? Come on, guys.
Okay. The Olivia Rodrigo song is called "Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl."
Very intriguing title.
I have not checked out this new Olivia yet.
Yeah, I've heard some of the singles.
Still doing some of that grunge pop sound.
A little bit of that Elastica, Veruca Salt energy.
Yeah.
Okay.
Honestly, this actually makes a lot of sense next to "Angry" by the Rolling Stones.
How so?
Similar attitude.
I know, I know, I know, I know!
Don't be angry with me.
Olivia Rodrigo and Mick Jagger might be 60 years apart,
but there's some fundamental human experiences.
You know, it'd be interesting maybe if she sang the Rolling Stones album
and Mick sang her album.
Oh, yeah, this would sound sick with Mick kind of like talk-rapping.
And I could see Olivia Rodrigo.
Don't be angry with me.
Okay, well, all right. We get the picture.
I mean, Jake, if you had to choose between Stones and Rodrigo,
who are you going with?
I'm going Rodrigo.
Yeah, it's a little more full of life, as it should be.
Yeah, she's a youngster.
Mick is 80.
But I can't explain it. Those songs have something in common.
I can hear them back to back on the radio.
Okay, now here's Queens of the Stone Age with Emotion Sickness.
Oh, this album came out on Matador.
Yeah, the last couple of albums, too.
♪ I'm sick, I'm sick, I'm sick, I'm sick, I'm sick, I'm sick ♪
♪ I just can't shake ♪
♪ My fear of the flow ♪
I like Queens of the Stone Age.
I just don't understand what this band's big.
I don't think there are a million bands that sound like this.
It's just not particularly interesting songwriting,
kind of riffy rock.
This is the single? Are you kidding me?
This should be track 9 on your record.
This is not a single.
Wow.
Here we go.
This is what made you here.
♪ I don't know, I don't know ♪
♪ Baby, don't come for me ♪
♪ Baby, don't come for me ♪
♪ I don't know, I don't know ♪
I like this part.
Jake, do you know the Queens of the Stone Age early hits?
Like, "No One Knows"?
No. No.
Whoa, the chorus is way quieter than the verses.
I might be also totally drunk right now, so I guess.
[laughter]
♪ Don't know what killed me ♪
Wait, throw on "No One Knows" and see if Jake knows it.
♪ You stoned ♪
Yeah, I guess I-- I know this.
I like this.
I think this is "Grow on Drums."
♪ We get some rules to follow ♪
Okay.
I hate this.
The thing-- Jake, I think the thing that's going to sell you on Queens of the Stone Age
is you know they're from Palm Desert.
Yeah, I'm aware. I know they're a real desert band.
Palm Desert, which is like just outside Palm Springs.
♪ We get these pills to swallow ♪
What is this vibe? What am I supposed to do with this?
It's desert rock.
Ugh.
And Josh Homme was in a band called Kyas, K-Y-U-S-S, before.
Right.
That was like real stoner metal.
♪ No one knows ♪
Well, yeah, this part's good.
♪ Love me or let's go ♪
♪ Yeah, we go ♪
I mean, I like Soundgarden. I don't--
This is a pale imitation of Soundgarden. I'm sorry.
Wow.
No love for the food, not even everlong.
Not supporting the desert food.
I think Jake's anti-food Jason.
All right.
Like, totally.
Yeah, that music's bad. I'm sorry.
Now you're the Rock's played out dog guy.
Yeah, I mean, Rock is played out. I mean, damn.
Jake's in a dubstep.
I love Soundgarden.
I made his '70s Gene Clark albums and political podcasts.
Steve Forburn, "Pod Saves America," man, is what I need.
Jake, do you know who Boy Genius is?
I do.
Who is it?
It's Phoebe Bridgers, Julian something.
It's Phoebe Bridgers, Dave Grohl, and Josh Homme.
That's such a mean thing to do.
He just says, "Yeah, I know who they are. Okay. Who is it?"
That's just like full middle school.
Okay, name five songs.
No, no.
Prove it.
I know that he's played SNL. I have not watched it.
No, Jake, of course you're right.
It's Phoebe Bridgers, Julian Baker, and Lucy Dacus.
Right.
Look, I don't want to really throw this for Jake,
but they played with Dave Grohl last week.
Oh, he played on SNL?
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, not on SNL.
Who was it with?
Not on SNL.
When they performed at the Hollywood Bowl, Dave Grohl came out with them.
Oh, that's cool.
It's sort of based-- Yeah.
I mean, I started speaking of--
We were talking about Tom Petty earlier.
A few weeks ago, I finally checked out that Peter Bogdanovich, Tom Petty doc.
In the first five minutes, it was Dave Grohl in 2005 being like,
"No, he's one of the best songwriters of all time."
I was like, "I'm turning this off."
I got no love for Grohl.
I don't need to see him in a doc talking about Tom Petty being a good songwriter.
Wow.
I hate Bogdanovich.
Grohl's a beloved pillar of the rock community for a reason.
He's available.
Oh, good, because he's got a great energy, and he wrote Everlong.
Bad song.
And I don't-- I can't--
It makes me--
David Letterman must be so demented to be like,
"I'm emerging from my--
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
I want to hear.
I want to give you a scenario that I don't think is realistically
too far from some kind of reality.
Is that Richard Pictures is playing at the Old Town Pub in Pasadena.
Yeah.
Dave Grohl is there, because he's heard about Richard Pictures having a beer.
Not realistic.
It is absolutely realistic.
I'm telling you it's realistic.
It's absolutely not.
It's absolutely realistic.
I know it's realistic.
100%.
It's not remotely realistic.
No, it absolutely is.
There's no world in which Dave Grohl would be at the Old Town Pub in Pasadena.
That's just not true.
This is like a father at Max's school.
He is around, and he is down to clown.
And he has some couple of dads have been like, "We're into the dead.
The dead is sort of like--
maybe it's waning in cultural popularity."
But they're like, "Yeah, we want to go out to the Old Town Pub.
We heard there's this really fun, and he's going to go out, and he wants to--
Yeah, it's definitely not impossible.
It's not impossible, Jake."
And he says he wants--
Far from it.
And he's like, "I want to get on drums.
This would be fun."
Yeah, fine.
Get on drums.
I mean, what am I going to do?
Say no?
Because I talked [BLEEP] on you on an internet radio show nine years ago?
Who cares?
Yeah.
Nine years ago.
I don't like the Foo Fighters.
This isn't happening in a decade.
[LAUGHTER]
OK.
Well, this is weird.
All right.
It's 2032.
Do you think one member of Richard Pictures has any interest in the Foo Fighters or Dave Grohl?
Absolutely not.
If he's in-- yeah, he's a big celebrity.
If he wants to hop on drums, sure.
We'll have Dave Grohl play China Cat Sunflower.
Have him play way too loud.
Great.
That's fine.
What if he wanted to play Everlong in the style of The Grateful Dead?
Get off the stage, dude.
[LAUGHTER]
No, I'm sure he's a great hang, man.
That's why he's in all these dumb rock docs.
And he's-- this is like-- look, the guy-- I'm sure he's a sweetheart of a guy, great family man, et cetera.
I don't have a thing about him personally.
I just hate him as an artistic persona in the 21st century.
You just don't like the-- well, but that's not even true because you admire him as a drummer.
Yeah, I love his work at Nirvana.
Yeah, you just don't like the Foo's.
I don't like anything after Nirvana.
I wonder if Grohl has played with everybody on this list.
So we know he's obviously Foo Fighters.
He's played with Queens of the Stone Age.
He's played with Boy Genius.
Let's do a quick number crunch.
Has he ever performed with the Rolling Stones or Olivia Rodrigo?
He must have.
I think Olivia is the odd woman out.
Hold on.
Let's-- we got to check this out.
We'll see.
We'll see about that.
He's definitely sat-- like, Foo is probably open for the Stones, right?
It's got to-- it must have happened.
While you guys research that, we're going to listen to Boy Genius, Not Strong Enough.
Yeah, yeah.
[MUSIC - BOY GENIUS, "NOT STRONG ENOUGH"]
Black hole opened in the kitchen.
Every clock's a different time.
Jake, do you know which member of Boy Genius is singing?
No.
Rolling Stones have played with Dave Grohl.
He played on Bitch live at the Honda Theater in 2013.
OK.
Stones played the Fonda?
Wow.
No, the Honda Center.
Sorry.
I'm sorry.
The Honda.
The Honda Center in 2013, he played with-- OK.
So Grohl gets around.
Keith, we said the Honda, not the Fonda.
What, man?
We had the Honda.
What happened to Fonda?
No, we didn't say the Fonda.
Come to the--
I'm on Hollywood Boulevard.
Come to the Honda.
Who's singing?
Oh, are they--
Wait, maybe they're all singing.
Are they switching it up, like, the band?
OK, does this count, guys?
The Foo Fighters brought out Olivia Rodrigo to sing with them.
Yeah, that counts.
Dave Grohl.
So Grohl, he's performed with all five.
I mean, this guy gets around.
Yeah, they're taking turns singing.
This is Julian Baker.
The song is mid.
At best.
Wow.
Jake is unimpressed.
It sounds like a song.
I've heard it.
I like Jake at home, daughter sleeping in the other room,
a cup of whiskey's in, just turning up.
You're not making that up tonight, guys.
Yeah, the Jake studio guy versus the Jake home and just letting it hang out.
OK, wait.
All right.
We've heard enough.
So Jake, I'm getting the impression that of the first four,
your pick is still Olivia Rodrigo?
Yeah.
Her best rock song by a mile?
Kind of.
I was excited to hear the boy genius, but I just--
I don't know.
It sounded like an album cut, not a single.
It's really hard.
I find it's--
I can't judge stuff like that on first listen.
I've heard that song a few times, and now I hear it,
and I'm like, yeah, it's a single.
I mean, to me, it's like, am I in a Starbucks?
I don't know.
It just doesn't-- and I get it.
That's fine.
They're going for kind of like a Sunday morning brunch kind of aesthetic.
It's a little more rocking than that.
That's like an alternative rock song.
I mean, one thing I can say is that all four have been rock songs.
They all have guitars.
Very low bar.
Drums.
No, but I think what you're saying--
All right, Proof Fighters.
--is sometimes it's not the case, right?
That's what you're also saying, is that it is a low bar,
but it's not a bar that always hits clear.
Rock can mean so many different things,
and this is actually a fairly consistent batch of songs.
It'd be weird to just hear all four in a row.
We're the only radio show in the world that's ever played
all four of those songs in a row.
Let's see.
Maybe after all this [BLEEP] you've been talking, Jake,
there might be a Thanksgiving miracle, and you're
going to hear this Foo Fighters song, and it's going to blow you away,
and you're going to say, you know what?
That's my winner.
I mean, I'm open-minded.
Let's go.
All right, it's called Rescue.
[MUSIC - FOO FIGHTERS, "RESCUE"]
It came out of nowhere.
It came out of nowhere.
[LAUGHTER]
Jake hasn't said anything yet.
He's not hating.
I'm just laughing.
I can't even see--
honestly, I can't even see his face on the Zoom.
Jake, what's your face look like?
I'm just hanging out, man.
[MUSIC - FOO FIGHTERS, "RESCUE"]
I'm picturing Jake in his studio, big deadline,
painting a huge piece, playing this song.
Oh, yeah, I have heard this song before.
There's some surprising moments in this song.
[MUSIC - FOO FIGHTERS, "RESCUE"]
I like that chord.
[MUSIC - FOO FIGHTERS, "RESCUE"]
I'll just wait to be rescued tonight.
[MUSIC - FOO FIGHTERS, "RESCUE"]
I like this as a direction for the Foo Fighters.
Wait, how is this a--
is this a new direction for them?
Yeah, I would say this is like--
[MUSIC - FOO FIGHTERS, "RESCUE"]
How are you thinking?
What are these--
I don't know, that riff--
[MIMICS RIFF]
--things happening now?
This song has a little more--
is a few more twists and turns than you might expect.
How you feeling?
It's a little--
I mean, "prog" is such an overused word,
but it's just got more, like, contrasting sections.
[MUSIC - FOO FIGHTERS, "RESCUE"]
It's kind of more classic rock.
It's less 2000s rock and more classic rock.
I don't know about that, man.
You're really splitting hairs here.
I like this part with the harmony.
[MUSIC - FOO FIGHTERS, "RESCUE"]
Did he say, "We're all just waiting to be Rasputin"?
No, "rescued."
"Rescued."
Would you like it more if it was--
That's sick.
That would really be classic rock.
The name of the song is "Rescued."
Honestly, it's like, "We're all just waiting to be rescued."
It's like, OK, like--
I like that part where he goes,
"We're all free to some degree."
I like that, "some degree."
[MUSIC - FOO FIGHTERS, "RESCUED"]
I think the GBV version is "We're all waiting to be rescued."
Oh, for sure.
[MUSIC - FOO FIGHTERS, "RESCUED"]
(SINGING) We're all just waiting to be rescued tonight.
To be rescued tonight.
Rescue me tonight.
I don't know.
I like classic rock in this song, and I like this.
This song, "Rescued," comes on at the Jim Ezra.
Yeah.
Are you just pushing a little bit harder?
Absolutely.
[MUSIC - FOO FIGHTERS, "RESCUED"]
(SINGING) We're all free to some degree
to dance under the lights.
Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na.
Yeah, I guess my problem with the Foo's aesthetic
is that they're just going at--
they're at a 10 all the time.
They're just trying so hard.
Dave Grohl is playing drums so hard.
The amps are at an 11.
And it's just like, guys, chill out.
You just want more dynamics.
The songwriting might be kind of cool if you--
yeah, exactly-- had some dynamics, just took it down--
OK, so I just wanted to say--
--just took it down a notch.
All right.
OK, yeah, fair enough, fair enough.
But you didn't hate that song, I'm getting the impression.
You didn't hate that song.
Hate would be a strong--
I didn't like-- I really did not like it.
I strongly disliked it, but I didn't hate it.
I don't know if it was because of--
I think he's fatigued.
Maybe.
I don't know if it's because you--
this was via positive or negative emotions,
but I think you were the most engaged
with that song of all five.
It could have just been the timing of the show.
That you're just officially drunk now?
You're just hammered.
I'm happy, slightly hammered.
Slightly hammered.
We are just waiting to be Rasputin.
I am waiting to be Rasputin tonight.
I still go with--
I don't even know--
I don't remember what the Olivia Rodrigo even sounds like.
I mean, these songs all suck.
I can't pick one.
I mean, I'm going to go with the Stones.
I mean, no, I can't go with the Stones.
I can't go with the Stones.
You don't even remember the song?
I'm just going with the Stones.
I can't remember any of these songs.
All of them are so forgettable.
Wow.
I guess I'm going--
they're so bad.
No, I'm not--
We're doing late night--
we're doing late night crisis every time from now on.
This is great.
They're all so bad, they all lose.
There's no winner.
It's an unprecedented situation at the Grays.
We're all losers tonight.
Turns out rock is played out, dog.
As DaBaby introduces all of the rock albums.
LL Cool J says, and now to present best rock song, American painter and radio personality, Jake Longstreth.
Rock's played out, dog.
Rock's played out, dog.
It's rough stuff.
All right, well, you know, Jake, that's your opinion, and we appreciate your opinion.
I loved them all.
Of course you did.
I would like to give a Grammy to each.
You would not voluntarily throw on any of those songs.
Be real.
I'm a Steve Forbert guy.
Absolutely, man.
Romeo's tune, dude.
And the best rock song for 2023 goes to Steve Forbert, Romeo.
But I will tell you, I'm not kidding, and I do find something to like about all five of those songs.
Something to like, that is.
Can anybody find me somebody to like?
I'm telling you, over all of it, Spooky Scary Skeletons, EDM remix, without a doubt.
Late period Andrew Gold.
Easy.
Okay, but hold on.
Enough opinions, because we all know in the grand scheme of things, opinions don't matter.
Let's talk cold hard facts and Grammy gold.
This is my industry insider analysis.
I think the Foo's and the Stone's got a bit of a problem.
The Foo's, Stone's, and actually, throwing the Queen's, I think they're stealing votes from each other.
You're the old rock person.
You got warm feelings towards Dave Grohl, of course, known as one of the friendliest guys in rock music, a legend, a beloved guy who's been in two iconic bands.
Just a sweetheart of a guy.
And so a lot of people are going to want to vote for him, but some of them are going to be like, "Oh, but I mean, I got to vote for the Stone's."
So I think they're cannibalizing each other's votes, throwing Queen's to the Stone Age, and you might get the slightly more jaded rocker dude who's like, "You know
what? I like the Queen's song better."
So I don't know. Those three are taking votes away.
And then Olivia Rodrigo, I think she is beloved by the Grammys.
She probably already won some Grammys.
We don't even have to fact check that.
But either way, she's the type of person the Grammys tend to love.
Young, superstar out the gate.
It gives people a good feeling.
Like, "Whoa, we can still create superstars in this industry."
Grammy voters like that.
But somehow I think they might think, "I'll vote for her in a different category, not rock."
They think of her, even though her music incorporates rock for sure.
But when people talk about Olivia Rodrigo, they say pop star.
She's also the only solo artist in the category.
So anyway, for me, my Grammy gold industry insider analysis, I'm saying Boy Genius is taking home the trophy.
That's what I'm saying.
I get behind that.
I agree.
That's my prediction.
I think that's right.
I'm going to go Olivia.
That's my prediction.
That's my favorite song.
It's based on the title alone.
It's the only song title that's even remotely interesting.
Because you do not remember how it sounds, correct?
No, absolutely not.
Okay, but you know what?
You know what my second choice is after Boy Genius?
Is Foo Fighters.
Because I do think they could potentially withstand the Rolling Stones.
Maybe it'll be the Rolling Stones.
That would be the funniest vibe.
Rock and roll, baby.
Mix 80.
It's like 80.
Speaking of the Stones, we're going to go out on their 1981 album's side B.
Sorry, I'm drunk.
Let me say that again.
Speaking of the Stones, we're going to go out on side B of 1981's Tattoo You.
Side two, I think.
What did I say?
You could say side B.
You're right.
I guess it's side B.
Okay, yeah, side two.
Jake still has a vinyl collection.
He's on side B of the Rolling Stones.
I just like saying side two of Tattoo You.
Speaking of the Rolling Stones, we're going to go out on side two of 1981's Tattoo You.
My favorite Rolling Stones side.
Of all their albums.
We might not have time to play the whole side.
If not, we guarantee you at least 30 seconds of the first song on side two.
Worry about you.
Please enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend.
We'll see you next time.
Peace.
Sometime I wonder why
You do these things to me
Sometime I wonder
That you ain't never loved me
Sometime I still am late
Yeah, I haven't thought
Yes, I guess you know by now
That you ain't the only one
Yeah, baby
Ooh, some things that you promised me
I don't know
This is just my girl, this is love
Yeah, vanished like a dream
Baby, I wonder why
You do these things to me
Sometime I'm worried
Yeah, I just can't seem to find my way
Baby
Ooh, the nights are slipping
Just waiting on the sun
Just like you're burning that cigarette
It's your way, my love
Why don't you ever
I wonder why
Why you do these things to me
Baby
Ooh, I wonder
Now I find my way
So I find myself a girl someday
She'll be my bride
Yeah, I just can't seem to find my way
Ooh!
...♫...♪ ♪ ♪ ...♫...
Time Crisis with Ezra Koenig
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