THE SUPER BADASS LABOR DAY MIX-TAPE SHOW!!!!
So, after last week’s show (where-in we discuss the objectively god awful “Live Through This”), Ryan, Kevin, and Myself were having a well-deserved post-show beer (look, this shit is hard…not like lifting a car over your head hard, more like convincing your nephew that there’s no more “rest of the candy” hard) and we decided to do something special for our Labor Day show. Kevin wisely pointed out that no-one would even hear the show until like 10 days after Labor Day, but I didn’t see any reason to act like it didn’t even happen (yeah, apparently Kevin is spearheading a “War on Grilling Out”…where’s your outrage Bill O’Reilly?). After all, we could just tell everybody what the deal was. Eventually, I won this argument. We settled in to discuss the format.
Several weeks ago we had begun entertaining the idea of a companion show. Well, not really a companion show, rather a Chester the Terrier to our Spike the Bulldog. The idea basically would be where we normally talked about an entire album for an hour plus, we instead would talk for 10 minutes about a particular song (and/or its accompanying video). We would call this “A Few Minutes With”. And what better way to introduce this new segment dedicated to brevity than to have our Labor Day show devote itself IN ITS ENTIRETY to “A Few Minutes With”.
So we each picked 2 songs and spent an hour talking about those 6 songs…and videos…and the after- hours party Ryan attended the night before. I’ll turn it over to the other guys so they can tell you about their picks:
Tracy Ullman–“They Don’t Know”
The impulse to dredge up Tracy
Ullman’s brilliant cover of Kirsty MacColl’s (lesser-known) “They
Don’t Know” came from some dusty corner of my childhood. Murky
memories of MTV back when it played music, mixed with a sense of awe
that a comedian (comedienne?, let me know, Joan Rivers. Oh, wait.) who
spawned the Simpsons upon the world could have (seemingly) casually,
unleashed this gem unto the world. And then moved on from music. Oh,
and Paul McCartney shows up in the video. You know, just ’cause.Radiohead–“Paranoid Android”
Man, hard to impart my awe at
discovering that Radiohead were capable of much, much more than
“Creep.” As much as I loved their previous record “The Bends”, I still
wasn’t completely convinced that these lads would have staying power.
I stand corrected. The entirety of “OK Computer” is an indisputable
masterpiece, and this is its crowning achievement. Unless you ask
Shane’s and my good friend “Big Daddy,” circa 1998.
Flesh For Lulu–“I Go Crazy”
Break out your studded Billy Idol faux
cowboy boots and your Batman undershirt and saddle up for one of the
pivotal tracks from John Hughes’ 1980s heyday. We marvel at the “Miami
Vice” references, the edgy posturing of a band that enjoyed a modest
peak, and how some songs from certain eras will always bear the
hallmarks of those certain eras. This, dear listener, is one of those
songs.Spacehog–“In The Meantime”
We ponder a world that makes it
possible for a New York-by-way-of-Leeds professional rat catcher to
form a band with other Leedians (Leedites? That doesn’t seem right)
and how, occasionally, songs that constitute the one high point of a
band sound, upon first listen, like the very best a band can offer. In
the case of this track, this was Spacehog’s swing for the fences, and
they ended up on some big tour undercards because of it. Shane
considers this lyrical genius, while Ryan recalls his Google search
reply: “you searched for Spacehog. Did you mean Space Hog?” Ponder
that for awhile.
Extreme–“More Than Words”
Really, all I have to say about this song I
said in the show. My idea was to pick two hits from the same musical
era that were as diametrically opposed to each other as I could think
of. So with that in mind, my other choice of song was:
Sir Mix-A-Lot-“Baby Got Back”
I think I succeeded in striking that
balance.
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Tracy Ullman
Radiohead
Flesh For Lulu
Spacehog
Extreme
Sir Mix-A-Lot
