Episode 44: Post-Punk
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Transcript
Time Crisis, back in Los Angeles.
I reconnect with Jake as we talk about Bernie Madoff and the Grateful Dead.
We also answer listener emails and educate ourselves about the origins of 5-hour energy drink.
All this, plus we count down the top 5 hits of 1967 and 2017.
This is...
Time Crisis with Ezra King.
Beats 1.
Time Crisis, back in LA.
Here with my LA co-host, Jake Longstrap.
What's up, dude?
Not much, man.
Jake, you just asked me an interesting question before the mics got turned on.
Uh, have you done 5-hour energy drinks?
Tried or done?
Well, you phrased it as "have you done," which makes it sound like heroin.
Have you done 5-hour energy?
Have you ever done A&W cream soda?
Oh yeah.
5-hour energy was kind of--it doesn't really feel like a beverage.
Yeah.
Like, Red Bull feels like an energy drink.
5-hour energy feels like a mild drug.
Yeah, like a shot of something.
Right, because it's packaged in that funky little thing.
I think I took one down once, but I've probably--you know, in my life, I've probably had like 43 Red Bulls.
That's a fair amount.
A thousand servings of Coke, easily.
Coca-Cola.
Oh yeah.
More than that, man.
Pepsi, a.k.a. Brad's drink, maybe like 11 times.
No, no, hold on.
Let's back up.
On the Coca-Cola, when you were a kid, how many Cokes were you drinking?
There was none in the household.
Okay.
So at home--so I probably didn't actually sip on a Coke until I was like 7 or 8 years old over at somebody else's house.
Right.
And then, yeah.
Okay, so teen years, you're going pretty light.
You're going like maybe, what, 20 Cokes a year?
It's hard to say.
50?
Like one a week when you're a teenager, like in high school?
Like you guys were like stopping by the deli, you get a Coke?
No, because when we would go to the deli, I would always get a peach Snapple.
Oh, dude, Snapple.
I was super into Snapple when I was in high school.
They advertise on the Yankee games.
Made from the best stuff on earth.
Remember that Snapple was branded as like a New York beverage?
Totally.
Because there was that lady, Wendy, who was like a real New Yorker.
Yeah, I was so into Snapple.
You know what's crazy?
Okay, 770 AM, WABC in New York had the Yankee games on, and they would advertise Snapple continuously.
And they would advertise for a new radio show hosted by a guy named Rush Limbaugh.
Wow.
I remember just like fourth inning break, be like, "WABC New York, Rush Limbaugh!"
And I would just be like, I remember that name was just in my consciousness when I was like 11.
I'm just like, "Who is Rush Limbaugh?"
Limbaugh. Such a funny name.
Anyway, back to Snapple.
Oh, no, back to your...
Okay, let's dial it all the way back.
Annual Coke consumption circa 1998.
Lifetime count.
Servings.
And occasionally you don't finish the can, obviously, but we're counting that.
We're counting Diet Coke, Cherry Coke.
Maybe a thousand isn't a bad guess.
A lot of movie theater Cokes.
Have you ever bought like a six pack of soda just to keep at home?
I mean, when I was younger, for sure.
I used to buy 24 packs of Mountain Dew.
Oh, why?
When I was in college, man.
That was your fuel?
Me and my friend Jason Anderson would take the bus from our college campus in Portland to the Fred Meyer,
which is like the Vons of the Pacific Northwest.
We'd each buy a cube.
A cube meaning a 24 pack of...
Yeah, a cube. Mountain Dew cube.
Circa 1996 and then get back on the bus with room temperature cubes.
Yeah.
And then we each had these mini fridges in our dorm rooms and we'd fill each fridge with Mountain Dews.
And then reconvene in a few hours and just hang out and play guitar and drink Mountain Dew.
It's really making me nostalgic.
Not exactly a Chick magnet scene.
These are the kind of experiences that kids today are missing out on.
We would drink Mountain Dew like it was beer.
We would slam like four Mountain Dews.
Oh, you wouldn't get like a stomachache?
Probably. Yeah, kind of.
You're 18. You're just like, "What?" It just goes right through you.
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
♪ Oh, what's the jam in brandy? ♪
♪ Well, the glass of pretty handy ♪
♪ Oh, I try to walk a straight line ♪
♪ Not sour mass and cheap wine ♪
♪ So join me for a drink, boys ♪
♪ We're gonna make a big noise ♪
♪ So don't worry 'bout tomorrow ♪
♪ Take it today ♪
♪ Put down all the chips ♪
♪ We'll get hell to pay ♪
♪ Have a drink on me ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
Five Hour Energy has always been such a creepy brand to me.
'Cause Five Hour Energy, it's like, you know,
like when you go to sometimes like a bodega or a truck stop
and they sell kind of like weird, like, sex drugs?
Right. Like, yeah, like in the bathroom.
Yeah, or sometimes like right at the counter,
just like, trucker Viagra or something.
And it's called like, sometimes it's like,
has this like faux Asian aesthetic, like tiger style.
Okay. Take two of these and I don't know.
Five Hour Energy just reminds me of that.
Yeah, no, for sure. And yet it's like a massive thing.
I wonder who owns Five Hour Energy.
I think, well, we should look into that.
I think it's like the amount that it's served in.
It's like three ounces.
That to me is like the weird part.
So it's like condensed. It's almost like a syrup.
Like if someone drank Red Bull in concentrate form.
Okay, so Five Hour Energy.
Wait, wait, hold on.
Let me guess the year that it was introduced to the market.
So Jake, what's your guess?
I'm going to say '02.
That's a great guess.
Thank you.
It actually launched in 2003.
Okay, I'm glad we looked this up.
Cause you know, sometimes the feel good immigrant story,
I've mixed feelings about it.
Cause I always love,
because we're all descended from immigrants.
I always love to hear about an immigrant coming to America and making it big.
Which we've discussed on this show many times.
Right, because that's always this go-to thing.
Like we talked about that, the Budweiser commercial.
Right.
That kind of dramatized a guy coming from Germany.
Richard Montanez.
Right. The janitor who created Flamin' Hot Cheetos.
I love an immigrant who makes good.
Now that said, this is kind of like the crisis of liberalism is like,
you know, got to have open borders.
I believe in that.
But at the same time,
often the stories that we celebrate of immigrants who came and made it in America,
it's never like this person left a war-torn place,
and now they help in America their child start working at the UN
to make sure that people don't suffer.
The stories we always celebrate are like,
they came from poverty in another country.
Not even necessarily poverty, but somebody came from another country.
And this has been true forever, going back hundreds of years.
It's like America is a place where you can come and make your dreams come true.
And the dream that they always talk about is not like making the world a better place.
It's always like making cold hard cash, building a brand.
So anyway, I'm very happy to see that 5-Hour Energy Drink
is produced by Innovation Ventures, LLC.
Great name.
Which is a great name, Innovation Ventures.
And the CEO is named Manoj Bhargava.
He was born in Lucknow in India in 1953.
And then at the age of 14, 1967, moved with his family to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
So kind of opposite of Fresh Prince.
And while he moved there, his dad went to the Wharton School of Business.
Sick.
At University of Pennsylvania.
With?
With Donald Trump, probably.
Actually, that might have been the same time.
Yeah, I think Trump was like late 60s.
Trump was 70, so he probably graduated college in like 70.
That was this guy's dad, but then he won a math scholarship
to an elite private academy called the Hill School.
And after he graduated, he went to Princeton.
That's a cool story.
Yeah, coming generation.
That's what you want to hear.
Yeah, that's quick.
That's quick.
And then anyway, so then he starts Innovation Ventures, LLC,
and he launches 5-Hour Energy in 2003.
So he was like 50 at that point.
He was born in '53?
Yeah, he was 50.
Interesting.
And then in less than 10 years,
5-Hour Energy had grown to an estimated $1 billion market cap.
Wow.
Now this guy's a billionaire.
A 5-Hour Energy.
Here's what's cool about him.
In 2015, he pledged to give 99% of his wealth to philanthropic causes.
Dope.
Shout out to you, Manoj Bhargava.
♪ Running from an op and I shoot at op ♪
♪ And I'm on the block ♪
♪ And I'm on the block in New York, up in Le Roi ♪
♪ Hiding in my sock, hiding in my sock ♪
♪ Selling every rock ♪
♪ In New York, up in Le Roi, hiding in my sock ♪
♪ Used to sell every rock ♪
♪ Running from the cop, shooting at the op ♪
- Yo, Pierre, you wanna come in?
♪ Shooting at the op ♪
♪ 'Cause I run that block ♪
♪ Give me top, in my drop ♪
♪ I think I'm gonna flop when I drop ♪
♪ I think I'm gonna flop when I drop ♪
♪ I think I'm gonna flop when I drop ♪
♪ I think I'm gonna cash, I think I'm gonna pay ♪
♪ Nigga, you know your bitch is on her day ♪
♪ All these niggas sound like cash, sound like cash ♪
♪ I'm soaked, damn, I thought I told you ♪
♪ Shooting like a soldier, like I'm from Illinois ♪
♪ All these suckas, get home ♪
♪ Bones, big, bank, never fold ♪
♪ Sippin' at, feel that shit, it's slow ♪
♪ Shippin', I'm sexy like a clod ♪
♪ I'm Lennon, young Cardi Glo ♪
♪ Designer, it's on, call it dirty laundry ♪
♪ All these bullies want young Cardi, young Cardi ♪
♪ Hey, young Cardi, young Cardi ♪
♪ Young Cardi, young Cardi ♪
♪ Yo, I leave up in the Luce, I leave up in the Luce ♪
♪ All them hoes got the different ring ♪
♪ And they say rockin' that ring ♪
♪ Rich, rich, cash Cardi, bitch, even rich ♪
♪ You gotta reach, suckin' on the, suckin' on the ♪
♪ Get that hoe, tell him, told him 'bout some kicks ♪
♪ Then I run my 10, hop up in the world ♪
♪ Blocky in the world, blocky in the world ♪
♪ And I'm cocky, when it go on the dotty ♪
♪ She don't wanna plot me, it can't stop me ♪
♪ I'm riding in the Mize, this ain't me, my mind's off ♪
♪ Hold that natural dodge, live it like an Oz ♪
♪ Walked in with a shunt, then I look like Shuntz ♪
♪ Then I look like Carti, then I be young Carti ♪
♪ Cardi spend a hundred on a break up watch ♪
♪ Bitch, that's filthy ♪
♪ In New York, I'm in the Rock, hiding in my socks ♪
♪ Runnin' from my opp, and I shoot that opp ♪
♪ And I'm on the block, hello, and I'm on the block ♪
♪ In New York, I'm in the Rock, hiding in my socks ♪
♪ Hiding in my socks, selling every rock ♪
♪ In New York, I'm in the Rock, hiding in my socks ♪
♪ You say sell every rock, runnin' from the cop ♪
♪ Shootin' at the opp ♪
- You're listening to
(rap music)
- Time Crisis.
- On Beat One.
- It's maybe not a big surprise
that Manoj Bhargava is giving away so much of his wealth
because a lot of people don't know this about him.
He's a practicing Buddhist.
He's a Buddhist monk.
- Wow.
Did not see that coming.
- So he initially wanted to call Five Hour Energy Drink
a focus drink.
When you think of Red Bull, Red Bull gives you wings.
So what, what are you gonna do with those wings?
You can go skateboarding?
- You're gonna add some vodka to that and--
- You're gonna add some vodka and like pump your fist
and be rowdy on the dance floor?
- At the EDM show.
- At the EDM concert?
- EDM show.
Hey, I'm going out to the EDM club.
- Red Bull makes people more aggressive at clubs.
Not like before where it was just cocaine.
- Well, it's called Red Bull.
- It's macho, it's angry.
So anyway, he wasn't interested in that energy side.
He wanted to call it a focus drink.
I wonder if that has something to do with his
being a Buddhist monk.
- Probably.
So the FDA was like--
- But the FDA said, no, you can't call it a focus drink.
- Oh, that's, they're being too vibe controlling.
- Also just imagine if it was called Five Hour Focus.
It'd be cool.
- Yeah.
- And actually he--
- God, that's such a better name.
I feel bad for the guy now.
- The more I read about this guy--
- He's like shoehorned into making this--
- The more I read about this guy, the more I like him.
So even though this guy's a billionaire--
- Think about this, a Buddhist capitalist vibe.
Let's, anyway.
- Okay, yeah, there might--
- No, that's interesting.
That's an interesting--
- Yeah, no, no.
- Very contemporary fusion of contradictory ethos.
Buddhist capitalist.
Like, are there other Buddhist capitalists?
- It's seemingly contradictory.
- Like Moby?
Is Moby a Buddhist capitalist?
- I mean, I feel like a lot of the Silicon Valley guys,
yo, Steve, Steve Jobs.
- Oh yeah, dude.
- He was always on some,
I don't know if he identified it as a Buddhist,
but anyway, Bhargava still spends one hour a day
in his basement practicing silent meditation.
So like imagine how busy this billionaire guy
running innovation ventures,
he's under so much pressure to innovate,
but he still takes that one hour.
'Cause a lot of these Silicon Valley guys,
they're taking 10 minutes
and feeling really proud of themselves,
but he's a real deal Buddhist monk.
- Can you imagine his email chain within that hour?
He goes back to it and it's just like crushed.
- Right.
- His secretary, his assistant is just like,
listen, you're gonna have to wait.
He doesn't push meditation for any,
yeah, he's getting like a call
from like his major distributor in Boston,
just being like, what, put Bhargava on the phone now.
Sir, he's in the basement meditating.
Oh, what are you kidding me?
(laughing)
You go wake him up, shake him,
whatever you gotta do, I want you to talk to him now.
Good for him.
- What is he, a Buddhist?
Actually, yeah.
- Actually, he's a Buddhist monk, sir.
- Oh.
Okay.
All right.
- Well, tell him to call me back.
(ominous music)
(rapping in foreign language)
(rapping in foreign language)
(rapping in foreign language)
- When you say you're a Buddhist,
it's kind of like saying you're a communist.
- Right.
- Because everybody's like, oh, if you're so whatever,
which they tend not to do as much
when you say you're Jewish or Christian or Muslim.
Well, actually, I take that back.
There's people say a lot of crazy stuff.
But, you know, I think when people say you're Buddhist,
they're like, oh yeah, so what if I punch you in the face?
You're gonna like--
- It's all good, bro.
- It's all good, bro.
Oh, what, so that means like you treat all people equal
or something?
That means you have no earthly desires, man.
That's what it is.
And you know, like, and also, I think partially
because obviously some people are raised Buddhist.
Your parents might be Buddhist, but also Buddhism is a,
you don't have to be born into it
because in some ways it's a philosophy.
That's what I understood it--
- Yeah, right.
- From one of my Buddhist teachers in my life.
- Was George Harrison into Buddhism?
- He, well, he was definitely into Hare Krishna.
- Is that like a lateral move?
I don't know how that relates to Buddhism.
- Well, I think they're interrelated in that
Hare Krishna's related to Hinduism.
Hinduism and Buddhism both come from India
'cause Siddhartha was an Indian prince.
Many of the world's great religion, you know,
India's like a major cradle of civilization.
So of course there's, Hinduism and Buddhism are interrelated
and have similar ideas, I think,
about reality and things like that.
So anyway, because Bhargava is a capitalist Buddhist,
of course people are gonna raise questions.
And this journalist unearthed some details
that he describes as sounding un-Buddhist.
Let's see, maybe he's being unfair.
So apparently Bhargava is fond of comparing himself
to Matt Damon's character in "Good Will Hunting"
and refers to himself as the richest Indian in America
and hasn't been shy about taking out the competition,
filing 91 lawsuits.
Is that un-Buddhist?
- Lawsuits against five-hour energy ripoffs?
- I assume so.
- That seems like an industry that would be rife
for that kind of thing too, right?
- Yeah, 'cause it's so shady. - Like the weird gas station.
Yeah.
- It would be interesting just to get this dude's take.
Like, yeah, those questions.
How does your Buddhist practice inform your business?
- Right.
- Do you ever get into philosophical quandaries?
- Do you see inherent contradictions
between American capitalism and being a practicing Buddhist?
- We could ask this of a lot of people.
You and I both watched the "Madoff" movie recently.
- Oh yeah, man.
That's an amazing story.
- Do you feel like any of what you did
contradicted the rules of your Jewish faith?
Probably.
Think so.
Thou shalt not steal.
Brutal film.
- Yeah, I mean, I'm listening to this
long-form audio documentary about him too.
I forget what it's called, but people can find it.
And that's going into much greater detail.
And so I felt like the film, which I really enjoyed,
also left a lot on the table.
- Right.
- In particular, this long-form audio documentary
is putting forward this theory
that a lot of his major investors,
who were experienced with Wall Street investing,
had to know what was up.
There's no way that just one human on earth
could produce these sorts of results.
- Right.
- So they had him over a barrel in a sense,
'cause they'd be like, they're theorizing
that there was an unspoken vibe of basically like,
I'm gonna give you $200 million
and I want 400 million back in a year.
And if you don't deliver, I'm turning you in.
- So like the smart guys,
without ever having to say anything,
they could just look at those numbers, know they're fake,
and they could essentially be like,
I'm investing 200 mil with you,
but the difference between me
and that poor schmuck who invested his life savings
is that that guy's gonna leave it with you for 20 years.
- Right.
- And meanwhile, while you're stealing
all these people's money,
I'm gonna be the guy who cashes out.
- Yep.
- When people started cashing out,
you had to cover the losses.
- Yep.
- So if you're somebody who cashed out at the right time--
- Yeah, if you're just cruising along in like 2004.
- I hope those people had to pay back
some of their ill-gotten gains.
- I haven't gotten to that part of the documentary yet,
but I think that's real hard to prove.
There's no way to prove that they were essentially in on it
and had him over a barrel.
- But even so, they could be like,
hey guys, your gains?
- Yeah.
- Just to inform you, man, those gains are ill-gotten.
- I mean, guys, I know you wanna just abscond
with the bread or whatever, but.
- For what?
If you abscond with bread.
- Turns out Bob Weir was heavily invested in Bernie Madoff.
♪ Purple the quasar ♪
♪ His plans was jingling, the door was ajar ♪
♪ His buckle was silver, his manner was bold ♪
♪ I asked him to come on in out of the cold ♪
♪ His brain was boiling, his reason was spent ♪
♪ Nothing is borrowed, nothing is lent ♪
♪ I asked him for mercy, gave me a gun ♪
♪ Now and again, these things just got to be done ♪
♪ Abraham and Isaac sitting on a bench ♪
♪ You get right to work if you had any sense ♪
♪ You know the one thing we need ♪
♪ Is a left-hand monkey wrench ♪
♪ Indian come in with his eyes on the floor ♪
♪ Said you ain't got a hinge, you can't close the door ♪
♪ Moses stood up a full six foot and 10 ♪
♪ He said you can't close the door ♪
♪ When the walls caved in ♪
♪ Asked him for water, he poured him some wine ♪
♪ Finished the bottle and broke it to mine ♪
♪ You get what you come for, you're ready to go ♪
♪ And it's more than 10,000 a cup for the show ♪
♪ Abraham and Isaac digging in the ground ♪
♪ Running through the wind with a polarly spin ♪
♪ Oh, we'll water where you can't ever tell ♪
- Time Crisis on Beat One.
- Is the capitalistic side of the Grateful Dead at all?
Is it at odds with their ethos?
- Funny you say that, 'cause I just watched that documentary.
- How's that?
- Great, it's called The Long Strange Trip.
It's a four hour documentary.
- The Dead are really having a moment.
How does that make you feel as a long time Dead fan?
- It's cool, man.
- Now that everybody and their mother,
all the rappers are wearing vintage Grateful Dead tees.
- Really? - Do you like that?
Yeah, it's cool.
- It's like, I mean, well, first of all,
they always had amazing merch.
- Merch. - Yeah.
Their graphic design was so on point.
Their logos, the font choices, so legit.
- Yeah, great branding.
- Great branding before there was self-conscious branding
in the way that we think of it.
- Right.
- Okay, so their first record came out 50 years ago.
- So the, oh, that's-- - '67.
- This is the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead.
- Yeah, and the doc goes from 65 to 95.
- Yeah.
- When Jerry died, which I love.
The doc ends when Jerry died,
'cause I was worried that the last hour would be like,
you know, like John Mayer, like Trey from Phish,
just like stuff I don't need.
- Episode two, enter Mayer.
- Yeah, it's just like 20 minutes.
- Another four hours on-- - Fare thee well
from Chicago from two summers ago.
- Right. - We don't need that.
- Yeah. - So it ends with 95.
But anyway, back to this larger theme
of did capitalism swallow the dead?
- Yeah. - It kinda did.
Well, it swallowed Jerry.
Like you see the band in the beginning of the film
as like, you know, it's a local San Francisco band.
- Yeah. - Psychedelic band.
Very adventurous.
All kinds of left turns.
And they're just sort of like an idiosyncratic band
that's organically growing and changing.
- Yeah.
- And Jerry isn't necessarily this like guru icon.
You know, it's just like he's the front guy,
but like it's a full band.
And then you see it sort of,
as they get into the later 70s, into the 80s,
and they become this stadium rock band.
And like their band sort of evolved with that industry.
'Cause like in the late 60s,
they're like stadium rock infrastructure.
- They were pioneers of the large scale concert.
- And like they devised the whole wall of sound system
that they were touring with.
- It's pretty interesting to think that the Grateful Dead,
because they were pioneers of kind of touring
and large concerts,
ultimately the Grateful Dead played to larger crowds
than the Beatles ever did.
- Oh yeah.
And weirdly, they also were like
very technologically innovative.
- Yeah.
- Because like, and they actually cover this in the doc,
in the shows from the 60s,
there was just like these giant,
like basically the speakers that you would see
at like a racetrack.
- Yeah.
- Just like a giant round speaker.
Looked like a giant bullhorn.
That's what a PA was in 1965.
- Almost sounded horrible.
- And then by 75, they had like a 300 speaker system
that they had to assemble and disassemble
and then load into three different semi trucks
after every show.
- Right.
- And so they like kind of invented stadium rock
as like a high tech spectacle.
- Yeah.
- And then so they get into the 80s
and it's becoming about like the party,
the drugs, like for the crowd.
- Right, the parking lot scene.
- The parking lot scene gets huge.
Jerry's like just hooked on heroin.
Like it's brutal.
You see him, as the doc goes,
you see him getting fatter and grayer
and like he's singing these songs about death,
like broke down palace and stuff.
And there's just like this sea of people around him.
So you see him sort of get swallowed
by the like industry that the dead became.
And then it's really interesting.
There's a point in the doc where they're like,
they're interviewing Phil Lesch and Bob Ware
and they're like,
"We knew Jerry wasn't doing real well,
"but we had 50 people working for us
"and we had 50 people whose paychecks we were writing
"and whose mortgages we were paying.
"So we felt like if we stopped,
"those people depended on us.
"So what were we supposed to do?"
Like anyway, and so they're like,
"We thought Jerry would pull through
"and kind of like get clean."
There's amazing footage of Jerry Garcia scuba diving
in 1993 in Hawaii 'cause he was like obsessed
with scuba diving.
- Well, yeah, no, I mean that's an interesting comparison
'cause you're saying like,
- Yeah. - Here's this guy
and especially when you watch him
in his later dead concert,
it's like Jerry never moved that much
and towards the end, he's literally just like a statue.
Still shredding.
- Oh my God. - Still tasty licks,
but he's just like a statue.
So here's this guy.
- Never lost a step in that way.
- But here's this guy who literally,
at the end of the day, is kind of like a guitar nerd.
You can imagine that when he's at home,
he's just like, he's doing the same thing.
- There's great footage of him like at home
in the early '90s with his kids
and like the TV is on, like Jeopardy is on
and he's just like shredding on a mandolin.
Like (imitates guitar shredding)
(laughing)
- It's just like
- I love that. - He has a huge grin on his face.
I gotta say the thing, Jerry, as addicted to heroin
and as like poor as his health was towards the end,
in interviews, he was always super articulate,
super charismatic.
- Yeah, and you always came across as like a sweet guy
and yeah, a sense of humor.
I'm saying, so this guy, the crowds get bigger and bigger
to the point that this guy is literally surrounded
by tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands of people.
This thing that he started is so much bigger than him now.
- Yeah. - He in a sense
has been dehumanized as he's become an icon.
- Yep. - 'Cause the process
of becoming an icon also involves a bit of dehumanization.
- And he hated that. - And he didn't like it
and he was the one, he was Papa Bear,
it was so much more about Jerry.
You can imagine that a guy like that,
it's interesting that his passion, his escape would be
to go underwater, kind of solo.
- Yep.
- Alone with the animals, alone with your,
it's like the opposite of being on stage
with like RFK in front of a full stadium.
- Yeah, Scuba, that was his escape.
♪ Every night ♪
♪ He hear a crude ♪
♪ Russian lullaby ♪
♪ Just a plain ear ♪
♪ Little tune ♪
♪ Baby starts to cry ♪
♪ Rockabye my baby ♪
♪ Somewhere, yeah, maybe ♪
♪ A landed street ♪
♪ For you and me ♪
♪ And a Russian lullaby ♪
- Man, RIP Jerry.
- It's a really great movie.
It's a sad film, but it's like a great film.
You see the whole arc of their career,
the whole ascent and like the changing of America
between the mid 60s and the mid 90s.
- Yeah, I like "The Grateful Dead."
- It's a deep American story.
- I really like "The Dead" and I often think about how
they're very inspiring to musicians and bands
and you know, as long as I've been doing it,
we talk about "The Grateful Dead."
I hear other people talk about "The Grateful Dead,"
but it's always been interesting that,
I was starting to think like,
I hear so many people talk about "The Grateful Dead"
and I don't know if they're really
musically influenced by them.
And I think the main reason why bands look up
to "The Grateful Dead" so much is because
that's kind of the dream is that you could unhitch
from a cultural moment and do your own thing.
And even if your record stops selling,
you don't have any hits, you know, it's 1979.
The Clash is like the coolest band and like ELO,
you know, there's like these,
and now there's the big bands.
So you're neither cool nor big on the charts
and yet what are you doing?
It's like--
- You're playing at 12,000 people in Oklahoma.
- Right, that's what all bands kind of dream of
is that you could, so in a way,
even though they're part of this capitalist machine,
they also kind of represent some type of escape from it.
That like, you could unhitch from all like the local scene
and the rivalries and the competition and stuff
and that's the dream.
It's like your crew out there,
doesn't matter how you chart,
doesn't matter what the critics say,
you're out there playing
and the shows get bigger and bigger.
That's what everybody dreams of, I think.
- They're like America's greatest cult band.
- Yeah, exactly.
- Second, maybe only to Insane Clown Posse.
- I mean, in a way.
- ICP, man.
- In a way.
- I mean, I thought of ICP when you described that,
like that's their own scene.
- Yeah, when imagine--
- Forget the critics.
- Insane Clown Posse started like what,
in the 90s or something, you know?
- Yeah, like mid 90s Detroit.
- They have like a yearly massive festival.
Their fans care about them as deeply
as any of these other people's.
Yeah, that's kind of the dream
and they make a living and they support their families
and crew like--
- Eventually, there'll be some like super reverent ICP doc.
- Yeah, you know, who was it Gandhi said,
first they laugh at you, then--
- Then you get elected president?
- Yeah, then you get elected president.
But first they laugh at you, you got something popping.
People are gonna ridicule you at first.
When there's something different
and it's making some waves, people will make fun of it
until they can no longer make fun of it.
And they have to be like, okay, now we're getting serious.
It's kind of like ICP is a joke, ha ha.
Look at these like dudes in the Midwest,
drinking Faygo, painting their face, ha ha.
And then it gets kind of big and you're like, huh,
this sucks because then you've got to fight it.
And then eventually you just got to give in
and be like, these guys are doing their thing,
they're not hurting anybody.
- As long as Shaggy doesn't run for press.
♪ St. Stephen with a rose ♪
♪ In and out of the garden he goes ♪
♪ Country garland in the wind and the rain ♪
♪ Wherever he goes the people all complain ♪
♪ Stephen Roseberg in his time ♪
♪ Well he may and he may decline ♪
♪ Get it, Matt, it doesn't now ♪
♪ Stephen would pass if he only knew how ♪
♪ Wish you well with the golden bell ♪
♪ Bucket hanging clear to hell ♪
♪ Hell out, rain tweaks now and then ♪
♪ Stephen fill it up and lower down ♪
♪ And lower down again ♪
♪ Lady finger dipped in moonlight ♪
♪ Writing what for across the morning sky ♪
♪ Sunlight's black tears ♪
♪ Dawn with answer ♪
♪ Darkness drugs and bids the day goodbye ♪
♪ Steeding at Rome ♪
♪ Shop and mandrel ♪
♪ What a lot of feeding matters ♪
♪ Who'd have spun ♪
♪ Several seasons ♪
♪ With their treasons ♪
♪ Grab the babe and scarlet covers ♪
♪ Call it your own ♪
♪ Did he doubt or did he try ♪
♪ Answers are plenty in the body and mind ♪
♪ Talk about your plenty and talk about your ills ♪
♪ One man gathers what another man spills ♪
♪ Time crisis ♪
- All right, Jake, so you have become
the de facto keeper of the fan emails.
- Yep.
People find me online somehow.
- People find you online.
Apparently it's not that hard to find your email.
But we're starting to get a decent volume fairly regularly.
- Yeah.
- We get some great emails and we appreciate all of them.
Unfortunately, sometimes we get it
and we're not taping for a while, we kind of forget.
But today we wanna dig into the mailbag
and connect with the Time Crisis family.
So here's an email from Anna Koppelman.
The subject reads as follows,
"Urgent, my boyfriend came out as a Chainsmokers fan."
Her email reads as follows,
"Hey Jake, Ezra and the rest of the Crisis crew.
"First, I wanna say that your show gives me so much joy.
"Not to be an overly dramatic fangirl,
"but it's kind of the only thing
"that gets me through the fact
"that some of my close-minded high school classmates
"like Brad's drink more than Coke."
- That is tough.
- Ooh, that's brutal.
You remember that, like in high school?
- That's across the bear.
- Yeah, like once you get to college,
you don't have to hang out with those Brad's drink people.
But you know, sometimes you go to high school
in a small town, a lot of people drinking Brad's drink,
you're stuck.
You kind of just gotta grin and bear it 'til graduation.
Anyway, she says, "I could wax poetic
"about you guys all day,
"but I think I should get to the point
"because I'm in need of dire help.
"I've been dating a guy for around three months.
"He's smart, funny, kind, and caring.
"But today I found out that he's a fan of the Chainsmokers
"and that he likes the song Closer.
"Does this mean I have to break up with him?
"If I don't, how am I supposed to proceed
"in such a relationship?
"I'd really appreciate the advice here.
"Thanks for everything.
"Best, Anna."
- Wow.
- Well, you know, first things first,
there's a bit of a divide in the Time Crisis family
because when I hear that anybody
is dating a Chainsmokers fan, I say congratulations.
- Job well done.
- Job well done.
I consider that the icing on the cake.
Whereas Jake, you've been a lot tougher on the Smokers.
- Not a fan, particularly.
- Not a fan.
- I don't think Anna should break up with this guy
if he is smart, funny, kind, and caring.
I don't think Anna really is even asking us
for a real opinion.
I think it's a pretty tongue-in-cheek email.
- I will.
- It's a sweet email.
I'm glad she wrote it.
- It's a sweet email.
- If she broke up with him because of that,
well, no matter how old you are.
- Well, she says she's in high school.
- She's smart, funny, kind, and caring.
- We'd have to meet the guy, I think.
Should we find Anna's boyfriend out to LA?
- Okay, how am I supposed to proceed in such a relationship?
Just don't talk about the Chainsmokers.
- Okay, but it does bring up an interesting question.
- Here we go.
- We talk so much about the Chainsmokers on this show
because they're such a huge part of American culture.
When we look back on 2016, 2017,
when the dust has settled,
these years are gonna be defined by Trump,
the Chainsmokers, and I don't know.
- Kanye?
- Not even.
Maybe Kim.
- Trump and the Chainsmokers.
- Instagram.
- Oh, no, hold on.
Drake, Meekin.
Okay.
- No, but the Chainsmokers more than anybody.
- That's right, 'cause they had a song in the top 10
every week of the past year.
- They were massive.
So my question is, despite how big they are,
they're a massive, huge part of our culture,
I personally have never met anybody
who identifies as a Chainsmokers fan.
Now, people know that my primary job
is working in the music industry,
which is full of liberal elites,
and those people turn their noses up at the Chainsmokers.
And I'll always be like, "Come on, guys.
"Is that song really that bad?"
A lot of people that I'm surrounded by,
they're like, "Yeah, it is."
They hate on these guys.
- Also, you're hanging with people over the age of 25.
- For the most part.
- You're not hanging with a lot of 17-year-olds.
Or are you?
- I question if, I don't think the average Chainsmokers fan
is a high school student, actually.
- Really?
- Yeah, because think about it.
- Like what age?
- I don't know.
I remember once I went to a fun concert,
and the average age was 29.
- Tonight!
- I think, okay, also, just picture
when you were in high school,
and there's some big pop artists.
- Like Weezer.
- No, no, pop.
Weezer was not the Chainsmokers of their day.
- Like Backstreet Boys?
- No, Chainsmokers aren't like that.
- Yeah, there's no analog,
there's no '90s analog to the Chainsmokers.
- I'm just saying, I think when you go see
the Chainsmokers in Vegas, you're getting a lot of dads.
- That's weird.
- Especially in our modern culture, where--
- Dads?
- You know, everybody reads Harry Potter,
everybody listens to the same music.
- Everyone's just a 14-year-old.
- I pictured a lot of 14-year-olds,
their dads are like, I'm on a business trip in Vegas,
and I'm gonna go see the Chainsmokers.
- Oh, my cousin.
- Like your cousin.
- Who's like 45.
- And who did he see in Vegas?
- Maroon 5.
- Exactly.
So picture like your cousin, or like a dad,
who's on a trip, and they go see Maroon 5,
and then they tell their like 15-year-old son or daughter,
"Oh, and here's something pretty cool,
"your old dad saw Maroon 5 out in Vegas, man.
"Those guys killed it."
And then the 15-year-old's like, "Oh, my God."
Don't you think that probably happens with the Chainsmokers?
- So you think the dad's going to the Chainsmokers show
just to get crad with the kid?
- No, because the dad feels like it's cool.
Okay, my point is, I just don't know any Chainsmokers fans,
and if I had to imagine the average Chainsmokers fan,
I'm picturing a 25-year-old dude,
oh, man, actually, I don't know.
- Working at like a T-Mobile store?
- Well, sometimes with the bigot,
these really big pop artists who make massive hits,
they don't have fans in the traditional sense,
like Ariana Grande, who was in the news recently.
- Yeah.
- You know, people were talking a lot
about how dedicated her fan base is,
and they have a name that's like the Arianators
or something, Arianators.
They're dedicated to her, they follow her every move,
they go to the shows.
Chainsmokers have had bigger hits than Ariana Grande,
and yet I don't think they have, numerically,
the type of fan base, you know what I mean?
'Cause they don't inspire that type of fandom.
I'm just saying, I don't know,
I just don't think there's a lot
of like hardcore Chainsmokers fans.
So I wonder with Anna's boyfriend,
is this dude like, did she go over to his,
he's like finally comes, she comes over to his house,
is in his room, and he's got a Chainsmokers poster
and the T-shirt and stuff,
or is it more like Closer came on the radio
and she was like, "Oh my God, I hate this song,
"turn it off," and he was like, "I like it, I'm a fan."
That seems like a little more likely.
- Yeah.
- If this dude's a diehard Chainsmokers like head,
that does strike me as weird.
- Yup.
- But I just like, it's cool, I like it,
it's not a bad song, and he's right about that.
- Okay Anna, so, slow your roll.
You're not gonna agree on everything with your boyfriend.
He loves House of Cards, you don't.
- What's the biggest cultural product
you and your girlfriend disagree on?
- Hmm, that's a good one.
Maybe Game of Thrones, I don't watch it.
I think it's garbage.
- And she likes it?
- Yeah, but she doesn't even really like,
she's not like ride or die for it.
- Yeah.
- Music is funnier too, to like--
- Well you love that show Designated Survivor
with Kiefer Sutherland.
- No, that's a solo journey.
- So you're watching that, and you're just like,
this is, wow, what a great show.
My love, will you please join me on the couch
for this week's episode of Designated Survivor?
And she's like, no, that show sucks, peace.
- No, she'll just sort of laugh at me.
- Okay, but that's your show.
- Yeah, yeah.
- I remember growing up that my mom would sometimes
be like, daddy's watching his show in the basement.
My dad would be like taking down a--
- Like NYPD Blue or something?
- No, I mean, I remember being a kid
and he watched Star Trek The Next Generation.
- Oh man.
- He was into that, and that was dad's show.
- Yeah, my folks are kind of like that too.
My mom's like, dad's watching his cop shows.
- Uh-huh.
- My dad will watch the crappiest cop shows.
My dad watches Blue Bloods.
- Oh, with Tom Selleck?
- Yeah.
- I bet that's good.
- It's like a straight up old school network cop show.
- I like when it's surprising, that's so heteronormative.
Dad likes cop shows.
- Yeah, yeah, my mom got real into The Good Wife.
Oh, these are shows I have not seen.
- These are grown folks shows.
- Yeah, yeah.
- You don't need to agree on everything.
In fact, in a relationship,
it's important to have space sometimes.
- Absolutely.
- You don't wanna watch every show together,
listen to every song together.
- I'm still thinking on the music stuff.
- Does your girlfriend like The Grateful Dead?
- Yeah, yeah, she's into The Dead.
I got her into The Dead.
- Does she like Guided By Voices?
- Yeah, she likes going to the shows with me,
I think GBV is a fun experience,
but I don't think she's throwing on GBV in her car.
- Right.
It's kinda cool when you meet somebody
who likes something that you don't like.
It's like, that's kinda more interesting in a way.
- Totally.
- Like when you meet somebody who likes the same thing as you
and you can just be like,
that becomes like an old school Chris Farley show,
just like, that was pretty cool, right?
- Yeah, that was cool.
- Remember when GBV released that album?
- Yeah.
- That was cool, right?
Whereas it's interesting when somebody's into something
that you really don't know about,
and it's kinda like, oh, that's cool,
what do you like about it?
Oh, that's cool, when did you get into it?
Oh, that's interesting, I don't know, that's cooler.
- Yeah.
- So actually, Anna, I think it's great,
and I hope that there's something that you like
that he doesn't like, just so that it's even.
So he'll teach you about chain smokers
and you can teach him about--
- Maybe be open, Anna, to the chain smokers.
Maybe he can introduce an angle to you
that you didn't see about them.
♪ I know it breaks your heart ♪
♪ Moved to the city and I broke down tiring ♪
♪ Four years, no calls ♪
♪ And now you're looking pretty in a hotel bar ♪
♪ And I can't stop ♪
♪ No, I can't stop ♪
♪ So baby, pull me closer ♪
♪ In the backseat of your Rover ♪
♪ That I know you can't afford ♪
♪ Bite that tattoo on your shoulder ♪
♪ Pull the sheets right off the corner ♪
♪ Of the mattress that you stole ♪
♪ From your roommate back in Boulder ♪
♪ We ain't ever getting older ♪
♪ We ain't ever getting older ♪
♪ We ain't ever getting older ♪
- Here's another email.
This one's from Ryan Campbell out in Kansas City.
The real deep time crisis heads know
that we put up a playlist recently.
And you made it, Jake.
- Oh, the Home Depot playlist.
- This was kind of a fantasy playlist
about what you would like to hear
when you go to Home Depot.
- If we got the gig to curate the playlist at Home Depot.
- And generally speaking,
as anyone who knows you would probably guess,
you wanted to hear a lot of the tasteful palette
of '70s rock.
- Yeah, but I was thinking about also a retail environment.
So I catered the playlist.
- Yeah, it was a lot of like,
kind of middle of the road dad rock.
- Right.
- So it was a little bit tongue in cheek,
but I also wanted to choose the best stuff
from that genre/palette.
- So Ryan from Kansas City is at least one person
who actually put that playlist to use.
He writes, "I had an occasion to go get some zip ties
and a staple gun."
- That's interesting.
- Love that combo.
- That sounds like a serial killer.
- Yeah, kind of zip ties.
- Zip ties and a staple gun.
- Yeah, that's a weird.
- He's like, okay, you know what he's doing?
- What?
- He's running a bunch of cable and extension cords
in his like room or like his basement.
- Oh, he's trying to make sure they're neat.
- Yeah.
- He's bundling the cords.
- He's gonna zip tie the cords and then staple gun
the little like plastic lip or whatever into the wall.
That's what he's doing.
- Ryan, let us know if that's true.
So yeah, he had an occasion to go get some zip ties
and a staple gun from Home Depot
and relish the opportunity to pump your custom made
playlist during my suburban errand.
I appreciate that there are still rock buffs out there
to do hard work like this.
BTW have been converted from a slightly casual listener
of the Grateful Dead to a heavy user thanks to you.
Ryan from Kansas City.
- Great email, Ryan.
- The rock buff community is dwindling.
- Time marches on.
- Time marches on, as it should.
But you know, there's still some out there
and that's cool, man.
You turned Ryan into a heavy Grateful Dead listener.
- What if that Home Depot was in Kansas City,
city limits or suburban?
- Well, he used the word suburban in there.
Well, you know what?
- Missouri?
- Well, or Kansas.
That's a big question.
- Ryan, you gotta get back to us.
- Well, 'cause you know, like a lot of these
Midwestern cities, I always notice this.
'Cause we both grew up in the New York metro area,
the tri-state area.
Me growing up in Jersey, you growing up in Connecticut.
- CT.
- When, because New York and especially what's often
referred to as the city, the island of Manhattan
is surrounded by water, of course.
When people ask where you're from,
in New York it's like this real thing.
Like people who grew up in the city.
You can't just be from Long Island or Jersey or whatever
and say, well, you know, I was in New York.
Whereas in other places, it's not such a big,
I think if you're from Kansas City or you know,
or like if you're from a kind of suburb of Houston,
these kind of larger sprawling cities
that aren't surrounded by a body of water,
it's cool, it's no big deal.
- Right.
You say you're from Galveston or you just
say you're from Houston, Houston Metro.
- No, well, Galveston is, is Galveston
part of the Houston Metro area?
- Oh, I thought it was.
- No, you're way off, Jake.
- Okay, my bad.
- Wow, man, I'm surprised.
♪ Galveston, oh, Galveston ♪
- Galveston's on the water.
- You're right.
- It's a seaside town.
- You're totally right.
- Now, I think you're allowed to be from a suburb
of Kansas City and say I'm from Kansas City.
- Yeah.
- I don't know, it's hard.
- I was just worried, I was just worried.
- New York's the biggest snobs.
- Yeah.
- It's hard to imagine that somebody who's from like
Kansas City would be like, oh, really?
You're from Kansas City?
I think you're from 20 minutes outside
the city limits, friend.
- I was just curious about the Home Depot,
like if there's Home Depots within city limits.
- Oh, there must be.
Well, I guess going to Home Depot is a suburban errand,
even if you do it in the--
- I wonder if Ryan was doing earbuds
in the Home Depot with the playlist.
♪ I'm a fool now that it's over ♪
♪ Can you guess my name ♪
♪ I make my money singing songs about you ♪
♪ It's my claim to fame ♪
♪ When they say it's over ♪
♪ It's not all over, there's still the pain ♪
♪ And I'd come running ♪
♪ I'd come running back to you again ♪
♪ Oh, I'd come running ♪
♪ I'd come running back to you again ♪
♪ If I said I was sorry ♪
♪ Would you still leave me ♪
♪ I never thought you'd go ♪
♪ 'Til you did ♪
♪ Believe me ♪
♪ When they say it's over ♪
♪ It's not all over completely ♪
♪ 'Cause I'd come running ♪
♪ I'd come running back to you again ♪
♪ Yes, I'd come running ♪
♪ I'd come running back to you again ♪
- Well, anyway, Jake, clearly your Home Depot playlist
has made some real waves in the Time Crisis community.
- Yeah, we've gotten a few other emails and tweets about it.
- People are appreciating it.
And the truth is, Time Crisis,
we haven't done a lot of playlists.
- Yep.
- 'Cause actually, they put up a playlist of every show,
the music we play, but you know,
that ends up being like a little random.
- So random, yeah.
- That's not as curated.
- Yeah.
- So Jake, you've actually been working on another playlist
for the Time Crisis community.
- I was inspired recently,
'cause I've been going to the gym a lot more these days,
the last few months.
And then my brother and I go to this kickboxing class
on Saturday mornings at this gym in Eagle Rock.
It's a group kickboxing class, very co-ed.
You know, it's like a room of like 20 people,
and there's a bunch of those hanging punching bags.
- Yeah.
- And you like lace up and you glove up,
and then you're just like punching bags,
you're kicking the bags.
- You're kicking.
- You're doing push-ups, you're doing lunges.
You know, it's just like a hardcore hour
with like the instructor with a wireless headset mic
just being like, "Okay guys."
It's fun, it's like a fun way to do like a Saturday morning
with your brother.
But so they're blasting tunes every Saturday.
- Does the instructor kind of DJ?
- Yeah, he makes a playlist.
- There's no DJ in the corner?
- No, no, no.
- Because that's not a joke.
- What, that's a thing?
- There are legitimately exercise classes all around America
where there's a DJ in the room.
- Wow, that's not a gym that I'm going to.
- So no DJ?
- No DJ, he's making a playlist.
- Okay, I hope he's getting paid extra for that.
- And each week is different.
You know, I remember one week it was sort of like
late 80s, early 90s, kind of like New Jack.
- Oh, cool.
- And then another week it'll be like--
- It's just like, "That girl is poison."
- Yeah.
- And you're just like kicking the bags.
- Yeah.
(grunting)
- Or like another week it was like,
kind of like 80s, just like power ballads.
It was like Phil Collins, like,
♪ I can feel it ♪
♪ Come on ♪
Like real slow, like kind of intense.
- Wow.
- I appreciate the risks he's taking.
So then anyway, I was talking with him
and talking with my brother
and we were joking around about like,
oh no, so then Chris Cornell died.
- Right.
- RIP.
- RIP.
- We were like, yo, are you going to play some Chris Cornell
like some Soundgarden?
He's like, I could.
What should I play?
And I was like, Rusty Cage, dude.
So he throws in Rusty Cage.
- Ooh, nice guitar tone.
- It got me thinking.
I was just like, okay, I'd love to make like a,
like a hard rock, not like Sabbath and Van Halen,
but like a kind of alternative music playlists.
- No metal.
- Not metal either.
Yeah, 'cause they play Metallica.
But then I was like,
I was like, it'd be interesting,
like a punk, post-punk and alternative.
I was thinking about Michael Azarad's book about,
like kind of 80s, independent.
- Yeah, like American Underground.
- Right.
- And I was thinking like, punk, post-punk and alternative.
There's like a nice continuum.
All the music's really aggressive.
It's not indie, 'cause indie's not really aggressive.
- Rarely.
- It's not up-tempo.
- Yeah.
- But like punk rock and post-punk,
and then like right into like Soundgarden
and even like the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
- Yeah.
- They were alternative before they were like
kind of corny mainstream,
the way they've been in the last like 15, 20 years.
- Yeah, they were hard.
- Like late 80s, early 90s.
So I made this punk, post-punk
and alternative workout playlist.
- Do you think it's gonna get played in the class?
- I could bring it in.
I should bring it in.
- Would you be embarrassed or proud
if at the beginning of the class he's like,
by the way guys, one of our regulars, Jake,
put together a playlist for today's class.
It's focusing on punk and post-punk.
Jake, raise your hand.
- I'd be--
- Thanks a lot, man.
- I'd be embarrassed.
- And he's like, let's do this.
- He puts on Soundgarden.
You just like see somebody grimace.
- Oh, I think people would be in.
But I would be embarrassed still.
- Would you actually prefer to work out to this music
than to Phil Collins?
- Maybe some days.
Not every day.
- Right.
But you like up-tempo?
- Yeah.
And yeah, this is very up-tempo.
It's very aggressive.
He's got a playlist.
- So what else do you put on it?
- What is it?
I think it's like 81 to like 92 or something.
My playlist is very up-tempo, very aggressive.
You're gonna love it.
- What's on here?
Fugazi.
(rock music)
- All right, I'm noticing, yeah,
so you like some crunchy, distorted guitars.
- Okay, making this playlist made me think about
early '90s alternative music.
- Yeah.
- And that there's like an inherent aggression
in that music.
'Cause I was like trying to like fit in
like some like pavement or like some like classic indie.
And I was like--
- Didn't make sense.
- Or even R.E.M.
- Right.
- I was like, oh, R.E.M. put out some great
kind of up-tempo numbers in the early '80s.
And it wasn't fitting.
- Yeah.
- And I was like, oh, that's indie.
- By the way, this, when it got,
I'm picturing them actually playing this in your class,
when it gets to this song is when like somebody
just like goes up to the instructor
and like whispers in his ear.
And he's like, all right, Jake,
thanks so much for the playlist.
We're gonna get back to my Phil Collins mix.
This is cool, though.
- Yeah, yeah.
- I like Fugazi.
- Okay, here's another classic.
Dead Kennedys.
- Oh, Holiday in Cambodia.
- No, no, no.
- Oh, California Browse.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
This is a weird song.
- Yeah.
- Jerry Brown is currently our governor.
- Yeah.
♪ I am governor of Jerry Brown ♪
♪ I are a smile that never frowns ♪
♪ Soon I will be president ♪
- Man, this type of music, like,
you don't hear it around much these days.
- No.
- I'm actually curious about that.
'Cause, like, remember when we were talking about GBV,
Gotta Buy Voices?
- Yeah.
- I'm kinda asking if any listeners are, like, actual fans,
or if any of them saw them at Coachella.
I'm just, like, curious.
Anybody listen to Time Crisis?
Do you still regularly listen to the harder side
of alternative rock, punk, post-punk?
Are you jamming Fugazi?
It's very youthful music,
but the youth of today don't seem to be--
- It's old.
- Yeah.
- Are you doing Bad Brains?
Are you doing Black Flag?
- I wonder.
- The kids are doing Nirvana and RHCP.
- Yeah, I mean, that's everything.
Did you put any Nirvana on the playlist?
- The last song is Nirvana, "Breed."
- Okay.
You don't wanna break 'em off
with "Smells Like Teen Spirit?"
- No, man.
(heavy metal music)
(heavy metal music)
- You just, like, bench press right now?
- This would be the part of the class, like,
and now, double time!
Push this (beep) out of that bag!
- That was almost like a drop.
- Yeah.
♪ I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care ♪
♪ I don't care, I don't care, I don't care ♪
- Power, people, give me power!
- We're almost there, guys.
You're gonna feel so good after this.
- Get you ready for the pool.
- Man.
What do you think Kurt would think about, like,
Nirvana being in a kickbox?
I mean, I even wonder,
back when you were, like, a young Nirvana fan, as a teen,
do you think he would've found the idea of you, like,
going to kickbox class on a Saturday morning funny?
- Oh, yeah.
I think it's funny now.
(laughing)
- Dude, speaking of funny.
- Oh.
- This, I just wanna say, like,
anybody who's under the age of, like, 25,
back in the '90s, like,
you couldn't escape this kind of music.
It's such a different atmosphere.
- Yeah.
- 'Cause even if you, like, were more into pop or hip hop,
this (beep) would just be on MTV, and, like,
I'm not dissing it, but I'm just like,
life has a different, like,
I'm definitely not saying for the better,
but life has a different flavor
when you're just, like, walking around,
and you're just like, "Downhill, round, round."
- Just heavy riffs.
- Yeah.
I guess it's kinda like how today
you can't go anywhere without hearing, like,
trap music and trap hi-hats.
- Right.
- Even if you don't know the song,
you just hear, like, the (imitates trap music)
- Right.
- And back in the '90s, like, "Downhill."
This is, like, what it sounded like.
I was so into this when I was 15, dude.
- This just makes me think of, like,
walking home from school, and, like,
some kid wanna, like,
try and get me to smoke a cigarette.
Or, like, be in somebody's older brother's room.
- Totally.
- That, like, smells really weird,
and it's, like, a CD tower.
- Oh, my God.
- Well, that's a hell of a playlist, Jake.
I encourage everybody to check it out, and--
- This one might not be quite the hit, though,
the Home Depot one was.
- Well, we'll see.
I mean, so--
- I think it's a great playlist.
I think, if you're working out in your garage or whatever,
going to the gym with earbuds,
give it a shot, man.
It's 43 minutes.
- That's a great length for a workout.
- Totally, dude.
It's all up-tempo, it's real high-energy.
And then you're gonna explore
the punk and post-punk underground
as it morphed into mainstream alternative music
in the early '90s.
You're going from the early '80s
into the early '90s. - You're on a journey.
- Oh, yeah, it's a journey.
It's not in chronological order.
I start with mainstream label alternative music,
Soundgarden, and I end with Chili Peppers and Nirvana.
But the whole middle part is all '80s.
- Right.
- Punk, post-punk. - So this playlist
is good for the body and the mind.
- Oh, yeah.
Very edifying.
Very edifying.
- Try it out.
Or, like, you know, I bet we probably have a lot of listeners
who favor the harder side of rock,
who probably go to exercise classes,
and maybe they don't like hearing Chain Smokers
in the exercise class, but you know what?
That's fine.
Don't be a dick about it.
Just go up to your teacher and say,
"Sir, madam, is it okay if during this class
"I pop some earbuds in?
"I will be watching you visually and following along,
"but I will be listening to Jake's
"punk and post-punk workout playlist."
If the teacher says yes, pop those earbuds in
and do your thing.
(upbeat rock music)
♪ Shoulda been, coulda been, woulda been dead ♪
♪ If I didn't get the message going to my head ♪
♪ I am what I am ♪
♪ Most mother fuckers don't give a damn ♪
♪ Oh baby, think you can ♪
♪ Be my girl, I'll be your man ♪
♪ Someone put a phone to my telephone ♪
♪ The little boy pick up and put my stunt on ♪
♪ Beware, take care ♪
♪ Most mother fuckers never call that still ♪
♪ Oh baby, please be there ♪
♪ So my kids could be my shit ♪
♪ Hit me, you can't hit me ♪
♪ Suck my kiss ♪
♪ Kiss me, people love me ♪
♪ Stick with me ♪
♪ This shit talking dirty ♪
♪ Give to me sweet, sacred bliss ♪
♪ That no one made to suck my kiss ♪
- So for anybody who wants to check out Jake's playlist,
just search Time Crisis on Apple Music.
You'll find all the Time Crisis playlists
and his will be prominently featured.
All right, Jake, man, you ready for the top five?
- Oh yeah.
- It's time for the top five on iTunes.
- So this week, we're gonna be looking at the top five
songs of today, as always,
but we're gonna be comparing them
to the top five songs of 1967.
Why?
Because 2017 is the 50th anniversary of 1967.
It's always like funny to talk about--
- Man.
- The anniversary of years.
- You know what's funny?
That Chili Peppers song--
- Yeah.
- Is the halfway point between '67 and right now.
'92 was 25 years ago.
- Oh my God, that's a trip.
1992 is the halfway point between our present and 1967.
So that means all the cultural changes between '67 and '92,
which for us now, looking backwards,
seems like a fully different world.
- Oh yeah.
- When I think back to '92, I'm like,
all right, what's changed?
Maybe the reason the '60s had this false sense of promise.
I mean a lot.
Yeah, now we got Apple Watches, Instagram, Uber Eats.
'92, I was still a little bit too young
to really have a zeitgeist consciousness.
- I was 15, dude.
- Okay, so you were old enough to have
a zeitgeist consciousness.
- I loved the summer of '92.
- Papa John's?
- No, I was working in the kitchen at a summer camp.
- Okay, food service though.
- Yeah, a lot of RHCP that summer.
A lot of Pearl Jam, a lot of Soundgarden.
- All right, well that's changed.
- Yep.
- '92, you had to walk around hearing guitars
and slap bass a lot.
- But it's funny that like Sgt. Pepper
was only 25 years old at that point.
It's so weird.
- Now it's 50.
Wow, '92 was the midpoint.
- Chili Peppers, the halfway point between
Hendrix and the Beatles and the Chainsmokers.
- That's wild, man.
So we're talking about 1967 'cause, you know,
50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead.
That's why they're out on touring.
Or not the Grateful Dead.
- Dead & Co.
- Dead & Co.
It's also recently was the 50th anniversary
of Sgt. Pepper.
- And the first Hendrix record, Are You Experienced?
- So people were talking about that a lot.
50th anniversary, like what does it mean?
- Paul McCartney was recently in the last--
- Oh yeah.
- Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
- I saw that image of him like as an old pirate
and I thought it was like some funny like Photoshop joke.
I can't believe he's actually in it.
- Yeah.
- He's like, I'll take the time.
I'll get up at like 5 a.m.
get hit the makeup chair.
And spend three hours in makeup to like
go be in this movie.
- I mean, life is weird, man.
You know, 50 years ago,
you're making one of the most influential albums
of all time.
25 years later, you're just jamming some RHCP,
raising your children.
Fast forward another 25,
you're acting alongside Johnny Depp.
Life is a strange journey.
So--
- You're acting alongside a fairly old Johnny Depp.
Twilight of his career.
- Oh man.
- Yeah man, so Summer of Love, huh?
- That was the Summer of Love.
- I also thought it would be funny
in terms of, you know, '67 being the like,
the height of like the baby boomer
coming into their own as a generation
and like evoking all this change
and then the final culmination of the baby boomers in power.
We end up with Trump in the office.
- Yeah, that's--
- Which is like the true disillusion.
It's like a Don Henley song on steroids.
It's like the baby boomer dream
is like fully rotten and like trashed.
- Yeah, can you imagine that?
That you're like growing up with some conservative
greatest generation parents.
- Right.
- In a racist household and maybe you're like,
you turn 18 in like 1965.
Things are changing.
Civil rights movement,
the first truly like mass protest against a war
and maybe you really have this feeling like,
wow, this is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
and you're right at that age
where you just became an adult.
You suddenly are pushing back against the government.
Imagine that that's the year you turned 18.
Your introduction to adulthood
is when all these things are happening.
That probably set up a precedent
where you're kind of believing,
wow, things can change very quickly.
I remember when I was a kid,
we didn't have Jimi Hendrix or Bob Dylan
and now all these things changed
and then the rest of your life,
depending on where your mind's at,
this is like the harshest vibe version.
So you start out on a high note at 18.
Things can change, dad.
Music can change, culture can change,
the way we treat each other can change.
We're entering a new era of consciousness.
Then by the early 70s,
Nixon is president,
Vietnam War is still kind of going on
and just like in this like petering out
in this kind of like brutal way.
The hippie stuff ends.
There's like a recession.
Everybody starts wearing kind of like weird orange
and brown colors.
- Just a general malaise, man.
- Just a general malaise.
Then the 80s, kind of the economy picks back up
but you got this like President Ronald Reagan
fighting like secret wars in Latin America.
Also at that point, culturally,
hippies are like a joke.
The idea of still being a hippie in the 80s
outside of maybe at a Grateful Dead show
is kind of laughable.
A lot of former hippies are now like becoming businessmen,
slicking their hair back.
You got Donald Trump running real estate in New York.
And then it's the 90s and you're kind of like,
kind of your last hope is like Bill Clinton.
- First boomer president.
- Right, you're finally like, okay, okay, this is good.
We're back on track.
Bill Clinton, we're gonna overlook all like the gnarly stuff.
Not reading the fine print on the crime bill
but you're just trying to feel good.
You're like 90s, things are back on track, man.
It's the end of history.
No more fighting with the Soviet Union.
Democracy won out.
Things are okay.
- War is over.
- Bill and Hillary in the White House, man.
They're jamming Fleetwood Mac at their campaign events.
This dude's playing saxophone.
Okay, finally.
You don't look at the fine print
because you don't wanna harsh your vibe,
but you're kind of like, nice.
This is, yeah.
- Although Jerry dies during Bill's first term.
That's a tough break.
- Jerry dies, but it's bittersweet
'cause you're like, man, Jerry's gone,
but we do finally have a boomer musician
in the White House, man.
That's pretty cool.
- It's not Neil Young, but it's pretty close.
- It's pretty close.
I would have preferred a guitarist or a drummer,
but sax is pretty cool, man.
And you have this feeling that,
okay, maybe things are back on track.
Back when I was 18 and the world was changing,
yes, it would have seemed improbable
that we'd have a cool saxophone playing dude.
And then the end of the 90s,
now this dude is fooling around with the intern.
- 50 year history here.
I love it.
- It's just like brutal.
- It ends with the Lewinsky, that's just rough.
- Right, and it's rough.
And the Republicans were being hypocrites about it,
but you don't feel like, it's just brutal.
And then back at the Iraq War,
protests on the street again.
- Another boomer president.
- Can't stop it.
Now we got the other side of the boomer's got George Bush.
Then Obama again, you're kind of like,
at this point, a little disillusioned,
but Obama is such a good guy breaking a racial barrier.
So many things to feel good about.
- And you're also like, this is the younger generation.
He's not a boomer.
You're like, he's like, okay, okay.
- So now you're like, okay.
Now you have this feeling,
okay, we didn't quite win this thing.
Our generation didn't quite win it,
but you know what?
We taught our children well, man.
And now we got an Obama.
- Teach your children well.
- And then of course,
just the brutal cycle of American history.
Obama is followed by Trump.
And in some ways it's kind of like--
- The last gasp of the boomers.
Unless Bernie wins in 2020.
- Not gonna happen, man.
It's brutal.
- Never say never, but yeah.
- Look, I think there's been so many positive developments,
but I understand why people get more and more nihilistic
as they get older,
because it kind of seems like for every gain
that we have in terms of human rights,
something else brutal happens,
where it's like you only get the human rights
in this kind of weird dehumanized capitalist package.
So anyway, if you came of age in 1967,
you have been on quite a journey.
- I remember when Obama won in '08
and calling my mom and she was like,
"Well, don't have your hopes up too high."
- Right.
- She's like, "I've been down this road before."
- Yeah.
No, understandable.
That's that real wisdom.
- So, woo, '67.
- I just wanna say something else.
- Yeah.
- You know what year I turned 18?
- 2002?
- 2002, so my expectations are very low.
- Wow.
- Just like post 9/11, invading Iraq.
- That's intense.
- George Bush.
That was my coming of age.
- I turned 18 in '95, a real benign era.
- Yeah, that's kind of a cool time to turn 18.
- That's real mellow.
- You entered adulthood with a cool sax playing president.
Okay, so what were people--
- Although Jerry was dead.
- Right, that's harsh.
Let's start with the number five song of 1967.
This song's called "The Happening."
- This week of '67.
- This week of '67.
- June '67.
- June '67.
So, the beginning of the summer of love.
This was on the radio, getting bought up in the stores.
"The Happening," I don't know this song.
It's by the Supremes, who of course I know.
But "The Happening," that's a pretty cool '60s title.
This is the theme to the Columbia Pictures film,
"The Happening."
- Yeah, that is the most '60s film title ever.
♪ In your life, look at me ♪
♪ I can see the reality ♪
♪ 'Cause when you shook me, took me out of my world ♪
♪ I woke up ♪
♪ Suddenly I just woke up ♪
♪ To a happening ♪
♪ When you find it, that you let the future be had ♪
♪ 'Cause when you've got a tender love ♪
♪ That you don't take care of ♪
♪ Then you better beware of ♪
♪ The happening ♪
- What is this song even about?
So this must have been around the time
when people started saying like,
oh, that's happening now.
- Yeah.
- Or there is a happening, that's a happening,
that's a pretty happening.
♪ There's something happening here ♪
♪ And it can happen to you ♪
- It can happen to me.
- This is kind of a benign take on,
♪ Take the detour ♪
♪ Yeah, run out of the world ♪
♪ And have a nice ♪
- Yeah, it's like the mainstream version of like,
something here is happening.
- Right.
- But you don't know what it is.
- The happening, that implies change.
- Yeah.
- Something new is happening.
That's what was in the air in 1967,
Diana Ross singing about the happening.
In 2017, we have Jake Paul singing a song called
It's Everyday Bro, featuring Team 10.
- Great title.
- I think before we listen to this--
- I love everything about that.
Jake Paul singing a song called what?
- It's Everyday Bro.
- It's Everyday Bro.
- Jake Paul would have been a good stage name for you.
- Oh yeah, dude.
- If I was your manager in like the 60s,
be like, Longstreth, what does that sound, perverted.
You're Jake Paul.
People love Paul McCartney, he's the cute bit,
you're Jake Paul.
- What line of work am I in there?
- You're like a crooner.
- Yeah.
- So Jake Paul is a Vine star/actor who portrays Dirk
on the Disney Channel comedy series Bizaardvark.
Sick name.
- Bizaardvark?
- Yeah man, you don't watch Bizaardvark?
- I got every season on DVD, bro.
- Bizaardvark.
- Is it like a zoo based show?
- I don't know, but I guess Jake is kind of a bad boy.
The song is featuring Team 10 and according to their
website, Team 10 is a squad of young, like-minded
individuals who teamed up together to take over Hollywood.
Paul's a member of the squad.
So this is kind of like a mission statement,
the same way that in 1967 you had a lot of young people
coming together to expand their consciousness with LSD
and marijuana and push back against the Vietnam War.
These days you have Team 10 doing something similar.
- They're taking over Hollywood.
- Yeah, but I assume it's for the good, for the global good.
- That's a solid mission statement.
- But also, just in case you're, 'cause I can already see
the gears turning and you're like, oh Jake Paul,
he doesn't stand for anything.
He's not brave like a Jimi Hendrix or something.
Well listen to this, man.
- Okay, I'm gonna go in open-minded, bro.
- Okay, good, 'cause listen to this.
On January 5th, Jake Paul hid in the bathroom
of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington,
D.C. after attending a social media event at the White House.
Paul was able to spend several hours hidden in the bathroom
before leaving in the early morning, unseen and unobserved.
Paul filmed the entire stunt for his YouTube channel.
The Secret Service tracked Paul down at his home in L.A.
and deemed him a non-threat.
- How did he leave undetected?
That seems insane.
- I mean, if you're just hanging in the bathroom
at the White House and then probably on your way,
I don't know, a lot of people come in and out
of the White House all the time.
- Then you just walk out the front door
at six in the morning?
- Yeah. - Are there just security
guards at the front door being like,
sir, can I help you? - I don't know, man.
I'm just saying, this guy's got cojones.
- No, no, big time, that's crazy.
- So anyway, this is his song.
And look, this is a big deal, honestly.
This is number five on the iTunes chart.
- Very big deal.
- I know it probably seems like he's got a leg up
being on Bizaardvark, but trust me,
there's a lot of actors on Disney Channel shows
who don't become Selena Gomez.
I mean, now I'm getting really excited to hear this song.
- You're dropping knowledge on me here.
- Here is Jake Paul, featuring Team 10.
It's every day, bro.
♪ Y'all, y'all can't handle this ♪
♪ Y'all don't know what's about to happen baby ♪
♪ Team 10, Los Angeles, Cali boy ♪
♪ But I'm from Ohio, the white boy ♪
♪ It's every day, bro, with the Disney Channel flow ♪
♪ Five mil on YouTube in six months ♪
♪ Never done before ♪
♪ Past all the competition, man, PewDiePie is next ♪
♪ Man, I'm popping all these checks ♪
♪ Got the brand new Rolex ♪
♪ And it met the Lambo too ♪
♪ And they're coming with the crew ♪
♪ This is Team 10 ♪
♪ Who the hell looks up in your head ♪
- He's a white boy from Ohio, he said.
- Just like Bob Pollard.
- Bob Pollard's nephew.
- Nephew.
♪ But you still hit my phone last night ♪
♪ It was 4.52 and I got the text approved ♪
♪ And all the recordings too ♪
♪ Don't make me tell them the truth ♪
- Have you heard that new song?
What's the dude, the actor dude that was on "The Night Ives"?
- Oh, like a British dude?
- Riz Ahmed?
- Yeah, yeah.
Have you heard his new song about birding?
- About, like?
- Birding, like watching birds.
- Oh, no, but I know he raps, he raps his hemes.
- It's hilarious, it's awesome.
- Really?
- Check it out.
- Very funny.
I thought of this, 'cause it's like,
♪ I said it's unredeemable ♪
- Deliberately amateurish,
the way this sort of seems that way,
but I can't tell.
- This is funny, 'cause I can't tell if it's,
it doesn't seem quite like a joke song.
- Yeah, but it seems like tongue in cheek.
- A lot of rap is tongue in cheek.
♪ You didn't know my name and now you want my fame ♪
♪ I'm blowing up, I'm only going up ♪
♪ Now I'm going up ♪
- Well, I love it.
What do you think, Jake?
- I think it's deliberately kind of bad.
He comes out of the top just being like,
"I'm a white boy from Ohio."
- Right, I assume that he's,
clearly he's a very savvy media influencer,
so I doubt he's trying to become a rapper.
If anything, I bet he--
- Or even like an artist, I don't think he's like--
- Yeah, clearly, I mean, look, right off the top,
he's talking about his ambitions as a YouTuber.
- Right.
- He says he's coming for PewDiePie,
who's one of the biggest YouTubers.
♪ It's everyday bro, I said it's everyday bro ♪
- Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.
Can we switch the language?
- Okay, man, that's a real big entry into the charts.
- Good for you.
- Shout out to you, Jake Paul.
- It's everyday, bro.
- Back to 1967, the number four song,
Engelbert Humperdinck, classic, with "Release Me."
- This is classic, that the top five
from this year is just completely square.
It's like '68.
Remember last year we did all those '68 countdowns?
- Everything's changing in the country,
but this is what's on the radio.
- My Neighborhood, like that whole riff.
♪ Please release me ♪
- This is an old song.
♪ Let me go ♪
- This song is already 20 years old when he covered it.
- Really?
- Yeah, this was written in 1949.
♪ I don't love you anymore ♪
- Well, this is Engelbert Humperdinck performing it.
♪ To waste our lives ♪
- Not a name I'm super familiar with,
but I know he does play gigs out
at like Morongo Casinos, though.
- Yeah, he's big.
His album was called Groovin'.
So Jake, you're gonna like this.
So this is like a pretty straightforward song.
"Release Me" and "Let Me Love Again."
Saying to an ex-lover, "Release me."
Journalist and author Peter Hitchens
has described Humperdinck's hugely successful version
as the real revolutionary anthem of the '60s,
far more influential than Bob Dylan.
Drawing a comparison between the song's lyrics
and the desire of the public to be released
from social conservatism that had prevailed
in society until the '60s.
So he's saying like, yeah, people could be listening
to some Bob Dylan, this and that,
but this was a song that the kid working
at the deli heard on the radio,
daydreaming about a new world.
"Release Me."
- That's really a stretch.
'Cause this is still aesthetically very conservative.
- Maybe aesthetics aren't everything, man.
- They kind of are.
- What about lyrics?
- Yeah, but it clearly is like talking to like a,
yeah, like a former girlfriend or something.
- Well, I guess what's interesting about this song--
- It sounds like a small-sheet country song.
- But "Release Me" and "Let Me Love Again."
But also--
- "Release Me."
- Yeah, maybe you're up in your bedroom listening
to Bob Dylan or the Beatles or Jimi Hendrix,
but this is like you're sitting in the living room
with grandma and grandpa, and this is playing.
You're gonna feel this a lot more viscerally.
♪ Release me ♪
♪ And let me love again ♪
- That writer was looking for a unique take.
- A hot take.
- And stretched her credibility with that call.
♪ Can you see ♪
- It's a good song.
- "Please Release Me, Let Me Love Again."
- Down with the song.
- Yeah.
Perhaps not--
- Not down with the team.
- You don't think that's the true revolutionary anthem
of the 1960s?
- I'm going on a limb here.
- What's the revolutionary anthem of the 20 teens?
Maybe it's too soon to say.
It might be it's "Everyday Bro."
- I was thinking "Body Like a Back Road."
- Perhaps.
The number four song on the charts right now
in 2017 on the iTunes charts is Zedd and Alessia Cara.
Zedd is a DJ, producer type, and Alessia Cara is a singer.
And this song is called "Stay."
I've been hearing this one around.
- Was this in the top five last week?
- Not, not, not, not, not--
- How was the New York show?
- It was tight, man.
You know, it's a very different flavor without you.
- I'm sure.
♪ Waiting for the time to pass you by ♪
- A little less rock.
♪ Hope the winds of change will change your mind ♪
- No references to "Got It By Voices" or "The Grateful Dead."
- Far from it.
- Zero.
- We mostly talked about "The Strokes," actually.
- Oh, oh, that book.
- Yeah, we had the journalist who wrote that book.
- Oh, you did?
- Yeah.
- Oh, I'm gonna go back and listen.
I actually ordered that book on Amazon today.
- Oh, really?
- Yeah.
- All of Vampire Weekend's in it, apparently.
- That's what I saw on Twitter.
♪ I could give a thousand reasons why ♪
♪ But you're gone when you know that ♪
♪ All you have to do is stay a minute ♪
♪ Just take your time ♪
♪ The clock is ticking ♪
- Oh, yeah.
- It's weird that that book goes to 2011, I thought.
It's like New York rock, like 2001 to 2011.
- She had a good reason, as I recall.
- I mean, I thought it was interesting.
This is a very easy song to talk over.
It's good though.
I mean this is like a classic 20 teens drop.
It's like a Cheatsmokers ripoff.
Yeah kind of.
Everything has been done under the sun.
Eh, I got nothing bad to say about that.
Good for them.
Product in the marketplace.
It's a successful product in the marketplace man.
Now this is funny.
Back to 1967.
So the number five song on the charts that week was "The Happening" by The Supremes.
Yep.
The number three song on the charts is called "I Got Rhythm" by The Happenings.
Wow.
Every year has its like word.
Clearly 1967 it was happening.
It's happening man.
It's happening.
So The Happenings.
God this top five sucks so far.
What is this song?
Well this is a cover of, you know the song, it's a Gershwin song.
Oh my god, another old song.
Yeah.
I've never heard this.
It's all schmaltz, 1967.
Yeah this sucks.
This already must have been like a throwback in 1967.
It's like a college like acapella group.
1967 was not popping on the radio.
Excuse me while I kiss the sky.
The number three song on the iTunes chart in 2017 is DJ Khaled.
Did we really listen to it?
I think we heard the song together.
Is this the one like on the one?
Yeah exactly.
We the best music.
I know he the best music.
DJ Khaled.
It's the hit of the summer right guys?
Imagine them recording this in like November being like oh yeah dude.
Summer 2017 this will be it.
This is it.
Did an algorithm write this song to be the song of the summer?
Perhaps.
You know what like this is not a bad song.
God this is the worst top five ever.
On both sides?
Yeah this is awful.
67 and.
It's just like.
Yeah no I'm glad you say that because sometimes.
Sometimes when the top five is not popping or you know.
It's always tough when people.
I think about this a lot because there are a lot of elements of our modern culture.
Not this song.
I mean this song is inoffensive but like because so many people hate on our modern culture.
They come from this vantage point of like but back in the day it was good.
And then people are like oh you're just like an old fogey.
Yeah yeah.
When I really think about it.
I don't think I'm quite an old fogey yet.
But I'm definitely not young anymore.
And I think when I see these conversations happen.
And people are like 2017 sucks.
1967 was good.
And then people say no man.
1967 was horrible.
Things are better now.
And I just always want to say they're both horrible.
Basically it's always been horrible.
I don't know you have to go back probably at least.
Are we talking about music right now?
No the world.
You're losing me here.
No the world.
67 put out some crucial records.
They just weren't in the top five.
No I'm just saying the world.
I just think the world has always been bad.
Well jeez man.
I think it's kind of a wash.
I'm pessimistic lately.
Well that's fair man.
It's hilarious to me.
This is the song of the summer this year.
I know.
Cool.
You know I have nothing against it.
There's so many talented people on that song.
Sure.
And it's not a bad song.
It just doesn't hit me the right way.
It's like.
I don't know.
Maybe if I was 14.
Maybe if Hillary won.
You'd be feeling it.
Yeah maybe.
Maybe if Bernie won you'd be feeling it.
I'm the one.
Oh whatever.
Yep.
That sums it up.
Why do we even.
You know what.
F*** this show.
Yeah why do we even listen to these songs man.
Who cares.
Everything sucks.
Time Crisis sucks.
Everything does suck.
Well hold on.
Music.
Time Crisis doesn't suck.
It's a glimmer of hope in a cruel world.
It's pretty good.
No but I think.
Time Crisis might suck.
I'm not even trying to say Time Crisis doesn't suck.
But as always on Time Crisis.
One thing that we come back to is that the world is horrible.
And it's not a good time.
And it's not a good time.
Sometimes the top five is horrible.
But it's a Sunday afternoon.
And we're here.
Just drinking some Modellos.
Talking.
And you're at home listening.
Probably drinking a Modello too.
Hanging out.
And that's what life is about.
Is human interaction and communication.
And whether you're talking directly to somebody.
Or you're listening to them on Apple Radio.
Those are the two choices you have in life.
But either way.
Whether times are good or bad.
Happy or sad.
That's what it's about.
Cracking a brew.
Driving to Home Depot with your stepdad.
Throwing on the Home Depot playlist.
Bonding over that dire straits.
That's a major breakthrough in a lot of people's relationship with their stepdad.
Is the first Home Depot trip.
Yep.
Jake, do you know that.
I like Rod Stewart.
You're not up on memes that much.
No.
Good for you.
You're not spending hours aimlessly looking at Instagram.
But one of the memes now.
Is, I don't even want to explain it that much.
But the meme is essentially.
Cracking open a cold one with the boys.
Yep.
That's the joke.
It's taking that phrase and that concept.
And doing various funny things with words and images.
There's nothing funny about that.
You don't know this is where the culture clash.
The generational divide.
I guess it depends what the visuals are right.
It can be applied to any meme format.
This is killer radio right now.
Cracking open a cold one with the boys.
But anyway, I just bring that up because you know what.
Why do memes come at a certain time.
Sometimes because something happens in the news.
Other times it's more mysterious.
And perhaps memes tell us more about our cultural moment.
Than the songs do these days.
Because these songs are real.
Our business as usual kind of just like.
Bragging.
So far we've had two bragging about your own success.
Classic American.
And we had one about a crumbling relationship.
Classic human nature.
But you know those are just standard American things.
But the memes.
Cracking open a cold one with the boys.
That makes sense to me.
2017.
Really that seems utterly timeless to me.
That's like a Springsteen song.
No but I'm saying why would that come back as a meme now.
Why in 2017.
I don't know man.
It's because the bonds of our society are weakening.
People are alienated from one another.
The country is at war with itself.
We got a horrible man in the White House.
We got people fighting on social media.
Fighting in real life.
We got violence.
We got hateful people.
There's something about that concept.
Of spending time with your friends.
And drinking alcoholic beverage.
That I think is like very human.
Seems more precious now.
Or seems more something to not take for granted or something.
Yeah I think we've realized how precious a sense of community can be.
Either that or people on the internet are just mean spirited dickheads just making fun of everything.
That seems slightly more likely.
Yeah and the tone is like so many layers of irony deep that you can't even parse it.
You're probably right man.
Okay finally we have like a pretty classic song.
Number two.
Number two of 67.
We finally got a classic song.
Here we go.
Okay.
Aretha.
Yeah.
You know Otis Redding wrote this song?
I didn't know that.
But Aretha added some fun stuff.
Otis Redding died in 67.
I wonder if you ever got to hear this version.
I don't know.
He might have died in like June of 67.
Man.
Plane crash.
Yeah.
Died in December.
So you heard it.
Oh wow.
Me and Marvin Gaye never crossed over.
About a week apart.
Did Sam Cooke die in 67 too?
64?
Wow.
Classic song.
I mean okay.
This is the first time you could say unabashedly it's a pop song with a simple message.
But clearly would have a larger cultural resonance.
Yeah.
1967.
The civil rights movement.
You have so many things changing.
The concept of respect very much in there.
Yeah applies to.
Women's rights movement.
Or she's singing to her man.
Well I'm saying like.
Already evokes larger sort of cultural currents.
Exactly.
For sure.
The song seems to be hers speaking to one person.
But clearly the idea of demanding respect in an era where there are a lot of institutions not giving people respect.
Now that is, I mean this is some classic in my neighborhood.
In my neighborhood.
The whole world's going crazy.
But in my neighborhood we get about one thing.
Respect.
The number two song.
Some might even say the respect of our day.
It's called believer.
I could you know.
I'm a believer.
I couldn't leave her if I tried.
No this is believer by Imagine Dragons.
I had a conversation this weekend with somebody who kept calling them imagination dragons.
I don't know I thought that was fun.
That is good.
And now at number two with believer.
Imagination Dragons.
Hey.
You like those drums?
By the way Jake this is the only successful rock band of our era.
Is this rock?
You hear those.
I mean is it not rock?
Yeah I don't.
It's pop.
It's got the tasteful palette of rock and roll.
Drums, guitar.
This is not rock right here.
But that's a guitar.
Maybe an acoustic guitar.
This is more like 21 Pilots.
21 Pilots is rock.
Hybrid.
No but because they have rap.
This is rock.
Not rock.
I'm not even trying to be like a purist about it.
I just, I would not classify this as rock.
Why you hear that kind of distorted guitar that came in?
Well I think they're like taking some of the like palette of rock.
Yeah.
Off the color wheel.
But I think this is just like hot music.
Well as a rock fan do you like hearing.
It's got a minor key though.
It's like weird.
Do you like hearing the tasteful palette of rock applied to a pop structure?
Theoretically yes.
Not in this case.
Alright man.
You in?
I'm a big Imagination Dragons fan.
Oh you're deep.
How's the full length?
We call ourselves Imagineers.
They've been big for a minute.
This is their second album.
Okay I think you might like this.
They're from Nevada.
Oh really?
Yeah.
They're British.
No they even have some kind of.
What town are they from?
I think they might be from Vegas.
Like they're kind of.
I think they have some connection to the Killers.
They're like a post-Killers Vegas band.
They're coming out of Tonopah.
Is that a town in Nevada?
Yeah.
Western Nevada.
But like surely you must like them a little more knowing that they're from Vegas.
That's cool.
Sure.
I don't know.
I mean the fact that they like.
I know but it's not like they just formed in Vegas.
These guys are like from Vegas.
That's cool.
I mean I don't feel one way or another about that.
That doesn't move the needle for me.
But come on.
Growing up in Vegas in the greater Vegas area.
It seems like an interesting place to grow up.
Yes.
But it doesn't make you.
That doesn't give you more cred as a band.
No but it's part of their journey and their story.
That would be true of any place that they came from.
Okay.
I got more for you.
The lead singer and the drummer met at Brigham Young University.
Now we're getting more interesting.
So Mormons.
Current Mormons.
Who knows that's their business but.
You know like.
I like a Utah based band.
That's a little more interesting.
Yeah.
Because then.
Then they started playing a lot in Provo.
And then they moved back to Vegas.
I mean that's cool.
Yeah a lot of Provo based shows.
Yeah they've developed a following in Provo.
That's the imagination dragon story.
The number.
This show is very edifying.
Yeah.
The number one song.
Excuse me while I kiss the sky.
Nah.
That was a big song of the year.
But the number one song.
This is what was really big.
Not a lot of people were ready for Hendrix you know.
Yeah.
But like you had to be a pretty cool cat.
You had to really know what's happening.
To be in Hendrix.
The number one song was the Young Rascals.
Groovin.
Oh great song.
Sound effects.
Perfect for time crisis.
Yeah.
These guys are from Jersey.
This time they're probably going to like it.
So this was written by two members of the Young Rascals.
Felix Cavalieri and Eddie Brigatti.
Groovin was inspired by Cavalieri's then girlfriend.
He said of her, "I believe she was divinely sent for the purpose of inspiring my creativity."
Wow.
Weird thing to say man.
Actually, it makes me.
Do you think if you're somebody's girlfriend who is an artist and you said to them,
"Babe, I just wrote a song called Groovin.
I have a feeling it could possibly go on to be a defining song in 1967 and a number one hit single.
And I just want you to know, you inspired this song."
And she's like, "Oh babe, that's nice."
And he said, "Yes, in fact, I believe you were divinely sent for the purpose of inspiring my creativity."
Then you might be like, "Hm, I want to break up."
It's got a little edge to it.
That's so weird.
Yeah, that starts to take on like cult leader.
I mean, that's why a lot of people have a problem with the concept of the muse.
On one level, you're inspiring somebody's art.
That's kind of cool.
But on another level, you're kind of making somebody else into a vessel for your own--
Ego.
Ego, yeah.
To go full circle.
I think if somebody inspired a song, the appropriate thing to do would be like,
"You're great.
In some ways, you helped inspire this song.
Obviously, you are not a set of chord changes.
And words, but you're so cool.
I'm so thankful that I have you in my life.
You're a special human rather than--"
You were divinely sent here.
"The Lord our God created you for the sole purpose--"
For me.
"--of getting the young rascals their first number one hit."
Also, it's so funny to be like, "Babe."
The idea also just like that you're like--
That language, and that was the actual quote.
"I believe she was divinely sent for the purpose of inspiring my creativity."
Maybe he was on acid or something, and he had a weird vision.
But also to be like--
That's like a big sell.
"Babe, you were divinely sent for the purpose of inspiring my creativity."
And it's like, "Oh, my God.
What did you write?"
No pressure.
A symphony?
Did you write some epic song, seven-minute song?
Song cycle.
Yeah, did you write "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands," like a tribute to me
and saying how like who among them could even step to you?
Is that what the song about?
He's like, "No, it's called 'Groovin'."
You know, because--
You know like when you come over on Sunday afternoon,
we have sex at my parents' house?
That's pretty groovy, right?
It's just chill.
Makes me feel good.
You were divinely sent here.
Couldn't get away too soon.
You and me just endlessly groovin'.
We're just groovin'.
Endlessly groovin'.
I can't imagine anything that's better.
The world is ours whenever we're together.
There ain't a place I like to be instead of groovin'.
I guess at least he's saying there's nowhere I'd rather be than with you.
Down a crowded avenue.
You gotta be careful with the concept of a supreme being
because it kind of takes away agency from the other humans in your life.
You're not even saying, "Thank you, baby."
You're saying, "Thank you to the Lord our God for creating you for me."
That's just a funny idea of like attributing divine inspiration
to like the most banal things.
Like, "Hey, I just invented this new beverage."
I work at 7-Eleven.
You take ice, you put some food coloring and some flavoring in there.
Blend it real fine.
I'm calling it Slurpee.
But it was divinely inspired.
Well, yeah.
By you.
Well, that's the classic--
I mean, it's kind of--
Groovin' is like a great song, but it is kind of the Slurpee of like--
Well, yeah, it's like the classic thing like when you win the Super Bowl
and it's like, "I want to thank God."
Right, JC.
"I want to thank God for enacting your divine retribution
against the Denver Broncos.
Clearly I've done something in my life to please you,
and the Denver Broncos didn't."
Brutal.
The Groovin' of 2017 is "Despacito."
Remember this one, Jake?
No.
I guess it's kind of getting safe to say this is more the song of the summer
than "I'm the One."
This is the song of the summer, I think.
This is the--
Bieber's on this, right?
He's on the remix, which is what's breaking in America.
Is this the remix?
Yeah.
That's him, right?
This is the first time a Spanish-language song has topped the Top 100 charts
since "The Macarena" in '96.
Okay.
According to Luis Fonsi, Bieber wanted to record a remix version
after seeing how people reacted to "Despacito" in a Colombian club.
That's really hard for me to believe.
I don't want to be a hater, but when is Bieber in a Colombian club?
Well, I'll give him props if that's true.
[singing in Spanish]
That's a really bad song.
[singing in Spanish]
That must be tough for you, Jake, as an Eagles fan
who loves the tasteful palette of '70s rock.
Every time you hear the syllable "des," you're waiting for "sparado."
You're hoping, but it's "pacito."
[singing in Spanish]
"Mending fences"? What does he do?
"Riding fences."
What does that mean, "ride fences"?
I don't know.
Uh-oh.
"Mending fences" would not really work.
[singing in Spanish]
"Jumping fences."
[singing in Spanish]
"Jumping fences."
[singing in Spanish]
"Cutting holes through fences."
All right, Jake, what do you think won, '67 or 2017?
This was the worst top five of all time.
And I had high hopes going in.
Yeah, man, you thought '67 was going to be popping. It wasn't.
I guess I got to go '67.
Really?
I mean, it sucked, but "Respect" and "Groovin'"--
I like to define inspiration of "Groovin'."
Just 'cause of that tasteful palate?
I didn't have much on there for '17.
What about you, man?
"Despacito" is the only one of the top five that I'll admit is really, like--
I really, like, feel.
I was very happy we got to learn about Jake Paul and Team 10
in a song, "It's Every Day, Bro."
And I always think it's cool to see people disrupting the music industry.
'Cause back in the day, you didn't hear about YouTubers
getting up there on the iTunes charts.
So, you know, shout-out to him for that disruption.
But I don't know if I love the song.
I think they're both bad.
I think comparing them has given me a pessimistic view of world history.
You know who won? Rusty Cage.
Of Soundgarden?
Yeah.
Maybe that's a good note to end on,
'cause we didn't get to talk about Chris Cornell last week.
So, Jake, we had a few music industry deaths recently,
the most recent of which was Greg Allman.
Yeah.
I know you're a fan because at your birthday,
your last birthday,
you and members of your Grateful Dead cover band, Dick Picks,
got together to do some covers.
I sang "Eagle Song" with you guys.
Yeah, that was great.
And as I recall, you guys did an Allman Brothers song.
Yeah, we did "Blue Sky," which was written by Dickie Betts,
but, you know, classic Allman Brothers song.
Greg played on it.
Oh, yeah.
So you're an Allman Brothers fan.
Oh, yeah.
For people who don't know, they're kind of like the Grateful Dead.
They're just more Southern.
Yeah, in the sense that they were like--
They would jam.
Yeah, fully improvised.
For people interested, check out "Mountain Jam"
on the Eat a Peach album.
It's like a 25-minute jam.
It's beautiful.
And they would write songs that would draw from jazz, blues, country,
kind of how the dead would take all the classic American forms of music
and then, like, cobble them together to make their own sound.
The Allmans did that, too, just with a different aesthetic.
Instead of California hippie, it was like Southern hippie.
Right.
I love the Allman Brothers.
Yeah, beautiful.
So what's a good song to play as a tribute to Greg?
How about "Melissa"?
He wrote that one.
Beautiful song.
All right, great call.
Let's go out with Allman Brothers, Melissa, RIP Greg Allman,
and we'll see you in two weeks.
♪ Crossroads seem to come and go ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Gypsy glide from coast to coast ♪
♪ Knowing many loving none ♪
♪ Bearing sorrow, having fun ♪
♪ But back home you'll always run to sweet Melissa ♪
♪ Mm ♪
♪ Great train, each car looks the same ♪
♪ All the same ♪
♪ And no one knows the gypsy's name ♪
♪ No one hears his lonely sigh ♪
♪ There are no blankets where he lies ♪
♪ Loving deep the streams, the gypsy's mind ♪
♪ With sweet Melissa ♪
♪ Mm ♪
♪ Again the morning's come, again he's on the run ♪
♪ Sunbeams shining through his hair ♪
♪ Fear not to have a care ♪
♪ Pick up your gear and gypsy roll on ♪
♪ Roll on ♪
♪ Crossroads, will you ever let him go? ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ Will you hide the dead man's ghost? ♪
♪ All the many lies beneath the plain ♪
♪ Will his spirit float away? ♪
♪ But I know he won't stay without Melissa ♪
♪ Yes, I know that he won't stay without Melissa ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
Time Crisis with Ezra
Wait, hold on Jake, we can't leave yet.
Really?
'Cause this just in.
We got a piece of physical mail.
What?
I don't even know how this person figured out where to mail it to, but
something came for Time Crisis.
It's from Kenny in Costa Mesa, California.
And I really like this letter.
And I want to introduce Kenny
because he took the time to literally,
lined paper written by hand.
It's a long letter.
I just want to read the beginning.
In pencil with no cross outs.
Yeah, very few, no, no cross outs.
He had to recopy that.
So I just want to read the beginning of Kenny's letter.
"To whom it may concern from Time Crisis,
"first off, thank you so much for the Crisis Crew card.
"My card resides in my wallet.
"Now for anybody who doesn't know,
"True Crisis Heads got Crisis Crew cards
"designed by Seinfeld 2000.
"If you missed the boat, you got to keep your eyes peeled.
"Follow Time Crisis 2000 on Twitter.
"Now since I am now officially part of the Crisis Crew
"and follow the 11 core values,
"I would like to know what in the hell these values are.
"Seriously, please, if it's some weird stuff,
"I'd like to know along with many others.
"Fair enough."
Seinfeld 2000, you're going to have to--
Valid point.
Eventually reveal what the 11 core values are.
"Also, I would like to have an inquiry if that is all right.
"I feel there is no real youth opinions shared on the show,
"seeing as everyone in the studio is over 30."
40.
"In some cases, 40.
"I am 14.
"I go to middle school, currently 8th grade,
"and I feel I can reach valid teen discussion points
"in a factual manner.
"I go to school in a place where everyone is a clone
"of what is popular.
"I am cooler than that.
"Last year I was grunge.
"That's the only typical phase I've been through.
"I only wear cool stuff and listen to underground music.
"Some of the artists I listen to include Waves,
"Tame Impala, Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar, The Strokes,
"Rihanna, la la la, a lot of people.
"I like good music.
"Also, yeah, of course I like Vampire Weekend."
Okay, I'm sold.
I'm not going to read the whole letter, but Kenny,
you're right, man.
First of all, I'm very fascinated that you went through
a grunge phase.
- Yep, I want to hear more about that.
- In the year of our Lord, 2017.
I know Jake is going to appreciate that tasteful grunge palette.
And you're right, man.
We don't get enough youth opinion on this show.
And we compare a lot of years.
We should have Kenny call in.
- What was the phrase he used?
Valid youth viewpoint on a number of factual--
- He says he can reach valid teen discussion points
in a factual manner.
- That is a great phrase.
That's a well-written sentence.
- I like that, 'cause we need more facts.
- Valid teen discussion points in a factual manner.
- Kenny, you have piqued our curiosity big time.
I really think it's cool that you wrote us a real letter.
So, Kenny, we're gonna figure out a way
to get in touch with you.
Maybe tweet @TimeCrisis2000 to make it a little easier on us.
But, Kenny, we want you calling in, because,
shout out to you, we do want your teen opinion on this show.
So, hopefully we can get in touch with you
by the next episode.
- Send me an email.
- Or send Jake an email, Kenny.
Hopefully you're listening.
Okay, we'll see you in two weeks.
- "Time Crisis with Ezra King."
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
One.
(whooshing)
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