The latest episode of Moshtalgia belches back to 1987, the year hard rock and heavy metal hit fever pitch, hairspray clouds thickened, and the east coast of Ireland's teenage metallers were fiddling with cassette decks and robbing Kerrang! Hosts Taylor and Bourney ditch the usual deep-dive into one album for a special 10-song showdown: five tracks each that defined the year for them. A demented, unhinged ramble packed with snark, nostalgia, vulgar asides, self-roasting, and those signature twin-mic facts delivered with full harmonised wailing and complaining. Best served with beer, a black-toothed grin, and zero fucks.
The lads kick off by painting 1987 as the perfect shhtorm: bigger riffs, bigger egos, bigger shoulder pads, and pricier tapes! Metallica's Master of Puppets still echoed, Bon Jovi rode the Slippery When Wet tsunami, Whitesnake made old Davey Coverdale the sex symbol du jour, and July dropped the double bombs of Guns N' Roses' raw, snotty Appetite for Destruction and Def Leppard's gleaming Hysteria. LPs crept to £9, CDs terrified wallets at £13.99, and Tommy Vance's Friday Rock Show kept Irish kids connected, if the weather and transmitter permitted. Gigs under a fiver, cider a quid, Walkman batteries the biggest worry. Spandex, eyeliner, biker boots, the whole lot.
The chaps reminisce about meeting in secondary school, '86 into '87, in art class mixing "stupid lads" with brainboxes, and how their friendship sparked the podcast decades later. Emotional? Briefly. Then straight to vulgar banter about hand-related Pamelas and relationships shorter than their 39-year bromance. Just can’t get rid of each other.
Taylor's picks lead off with Savatage's ‘Hall of the Mountain King.’ He recalls hearing it on a taped Friday Rock Show in a damp cellar amid a Lego town. The theatrical prog-metal beast, original, not a Grieg cover, rebirthed Savatage after near-breakup. John Oliva's gravel-to-falsetto roar, Chris Oliva's shredding gallop, fantasy lyrics about a mad king in a timeless lair. Malcolm Dome's 5Ks in Kerrang!, Metal Hammer's 7/7. Taylor geeks out on its epic pivot to conceptual prog, bridging Maiden storytelling with Queen grandeur. Sad note: Chris's 1993 death in a drunk-driving accident. Bourney ribs him ("Yoda vibes?"), but the passion sells it as fantasy metal peak.
Bourney counters with Suzanne Vega's ‘Luka,’ the jaunty-yet-devastating child-abuse narrative from Solitude Standing. It hit UK #23 but Ireland #11 ("a country full of abused lads"). Bourney ties it to radio plays in the car with his dad, among unspoken family tensions. Lyrics literal: bruises, excuses, "they only hit you until you start crying." Twist: Vega revealed in 2021 it drew from her own stepfather abuse. They riff on priests upstairs, poor families affording Lego as hush money, and the video kid later in The Sopranos. Bourney admits it stirred young social awareness amid Whitney and George Michael fluff.
Taylor's second: Metallica's ‘Crash Course in Brain Surgery’ from the Garage Days Re-Revisited EP (August '87). A raw tribute post-Cliff Burton's tragic death, introducing Jason Newsted amid hazing (spit included). Cover of Budgie's 1971 proto-heavy rocker; short, cryptic, riff-heavy. Taylor details Budgie's influence, Burke Shelley's passing, Lars Ulrich's obsession. The EP: therapy after tragedy, underground soul amid Hysteria polish. Bourney: "My father used to love to say that... “Ya Little Budgie!”.
Bourney's second: Pet Shop Boys' ‘Always on My Mind’ (Elvis cover, Christmas #1 '87). Camp, ironic, deadpan posh delivery over twinkling synths. Beat the Pogues' ‘Fairytale of New York.’ Taylor mocks the "big gay bar" feel; Bourney defends the emotional violation. Video: Neil in sexy funeral director coat, Chris sunglasses indoors. Accidental smash from an Elvis tribute special.
Taylor's third: Joe Satriani's ‘Surfing with the Alien’ (the title track from the all-instrumental platinum-seller). The baldy shredder's sci-fi odyssey; chromatic riffs, whammy dives, happy-accident harmoniser dissonance. Influenced Vai, Hammett; taught in his basement. Taylor: "instrumental in launching our failed musician careers." Bourney quips about “condoms in pubic hair”.
Bourney's third: T'Pau's ‘China in Your Hand.’ A seven-minute theatrical power ballad, Carol Decker's sky-cracking vocals, endless key changes. Inspired by a Frankenstein synopsis (sort of). #1 for five weeks. Bourney: slow-dance tongue attempts, Valkyrie hugs. They joke about her Klingon forehead and ridiculous endings among off-key wailing.
Taylor's fourth: Manowar's ‘Blow Your Speakers’ from Fighting the World. Pompous power-metal defiance: crank it till hardware dies. Joey DeMaio's volume obsession, Orson Welles narration, loincloths, toxic masculinity. Taylor scared as a kid but still went on to buy bullet belts. Bourney: "sincere... no piss-take like Tenacious D."
Bourney's fourth: Belinda Carlisle's ‘Heaven Is a Place on Earth.’ Pure joy bomb, #1 everywhere. Slight frame, big cheekbones on old Top of the Pops reruns. Bassline "ripped off" Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name" (Desmond Child to blame for everything back then). Bourney: the dopamine hits, and he’d want it played at his funeral.
Taylor's fifth (and final pop nod): Cutting Crew's ‘(I Just) Died in Your Arms.’ Slow-set trauma: first-kiss disaster, bitten lip, wrong name. Power ballad sheen, 830M+ streams. Bourney mocks the title's punctuation, and then guest Bruce Dickinson pops in from the pub next door to give his thruppence on the song’s ties to Iron Maiden keyboard stint of Tony Moore!
Bourney's fifth: Curiosity Killed the Cat's ‘Down to Earth.’ Finally, the ‘Cat is in the Moshtalgia bag! It was them or B-list rock glamsters Cinderella. We’re hit by a slinky sophisti-pop groove with Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot's beret swagger, and a sax solo longer than relationships. #3 UK, robbed by re-released ‘Stand by Me.’ Yacht-rock vibes, Andy Warhol video ties. Band's short flameout: boy-band marketing, drugs, and one marches off to the forests of Thailand to become a Buddhist monk.
They wrap with 1987 memories, and a thought of going back in a time-machine to their hometown, trapped in adult form but with their 13-year-old verbal retardation of the time, trying to chat up teenage obsessions, and in Taylor’s case, digitally molest an older girl who works in a pub… Dear oh dear. There’s a promise to excavate more 80s bodies in the future and that’s that! This is Moshtalgia. Purely absurd, snarky, heartfelt, vulgar. Just let it rock. 🤘🍺
