Completely Conspicuous 640: Rocking While the World's on Fire

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite concerts. Show notes: Cold weather running tips What makes a great concert? Small shows vs. stadiums Hard to pare down the list Limited to one show per artist Good idea for a sequel involving a time machine Phil leaned toward larger shows Didn't include: R.E.M., the Cure, Sleater-Kinney, Drive-By Truckers, Tedeschi Trucks Band Jay: Prefer the intimacy of club shows We were at the same shows before we knew each other Phil: First concert was Van Halen in 1986 Setlist.fm is a great resource MTV's Saturday Night concerts Jay's first show was a festival show in Kingston, NH with Cheap Trick, Ratt, Twisted Sister and Lita Ford in 1984 Jay: Not a fan of festival shows anymore Adventures in seeing Rush Jay: Didn't see R.E.M. when they played my college Other favorites: PJ Harvey, Hot Snakes, Lollapalooza '92, Afghan Whigs, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Drive-By Truckers, Alice in Chains/Screaming Trees, Peter Gabriel, White Stripes, Hold Steady, Mission of Burma, Gord Downie To be continued Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

31 Joulu 202444min

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2024. Show notes: Our top 10 albums of the year Shout out to Rock P's top 20 out of 10 countdown JB's #10: Triple album tribute album for Jesse Malin, an underrated songwriter JK's #10: J Mascis incorporates hot guitar solos into a mostly acoustic album JB's #9: Hot collection of bangers from Cloud Nothings JK's #9: Farewell set from Toronto noise rockers METZ JK's #8: Angry breakup album from Fake Fruit Coming up on the 5th birthday of Parcheesi Redux radio, SITG hit 11 this fall JB's #7: Retro '60s sounds from Sharp Pins JK's #7: Philly indie rockers return with in-your-face collection JB's #6: More great SF indie bubblegum pop from Lunchbox JK's #6: Power pop scorchers courtesy of Daniel Romano's Outfit Reminiscing about ER and One Tree Hill JB's #5: Peel Dream Magazine delivers peaceful indie pop JK's #5: Dublin indie rock act Fontaines D.C. with commercial breakthrough JB's #4: Dog Day with economical set of bangers JK's #4: Slacker alt-country with hott lead guitar by MJ Lenderman JB's #3: Another Slumberland slacker indie pop success with Neutrals JK's #3: Indie supergroup the Hard Quartet with Malkmus and Matt Sweeney JB's #2: The rare Johnny Foreigner album that isn't #1, but it's still pretty great JK's #2 and JB's #8: Triumphant return from the Cure after 16 years JB's #1: Chime School with the peak summer hang soundtrack JK's #1: A November release from Kim Deal is a terrific reflection on loss First solo album after 37 years in the music biz Looking forward to 2025 releases from Hallelujah the Hills, maybe more Johnny Foreigner, Horsegirl, Mogwai Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

24 Joulu 20241h 11min

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2024. Show notes: The 16th annual year in review First one was in 2009 Cybertrucks are dumb Self-driving cars are also dumb Taylor Swift just ended a monster tour Music is a dead-end business for most Spotify sucks Country music is huge Breitling: There are some good underground country artists A good year for Tracy Chapman Social media landscape is shifting Lots of big music deaths: Quincy Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Steve Albini, Paul Di'Anno, Greg Kihn, Karl Wallinger Getting out to some rock shows: Hallelujah the Hills, Nuggets tour, Gang of Four, Hoodoo Gurus, Sloan in Toronto Breitling's honorable mentions: The TV show The Bear, Bug Club's song "Quality Pints," Fontaines D.C.'s "Favourite," Tsunami box set, Spectres, Kal Marks Kumar's honorable mentions: Dale Crover, Buffalo Tom, Ekko Astral, Jack White, Ducks Ltd., Mary Timony, Los Campesinos To be continued Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

18 Joulu 202442min

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite instrumentals. Show notes: Phil's #8: A jazz-funk classic out of Scotland? Jay's #8: Powerful surf rock from the Pixies Phil's #7: The Commodores with an early funk workout Jay's #7: Dick Dale hit that was revived decades later in Pulp Fiction Song originated in the 1920s Phil's #6: Instrumental from Phish that evolved in the live setting Jay's #6: A sweeping song from Bowie's Berlin period Bowie switched genres and sounds with ease Phil's #5 and Jay's #3: A revolutionary moment for guitar heroics Edward Van Halen changed the game for rock guitar and hard rock Jay's #5: Hendrix blowing minds in the early morning hours at Woodstock Turning the national anthem into a protest song Phil's #4: Music mogul with a horn-driven dance song Sampled by Notorious B.I.G. Another horn-based song by Chuck Mangione went to #1 in '79 Jay's #4: Iconic full-band instrumental off Zep II Killer riff combined with Bonham's monstrous drumming Phil's #3: Elton John with the first part of a two-part suite Metallica did a great cover earlier this year Phil's #2: Tedeschi-Trunks Band with extended instrumental from experimental project Jay's #2: Concise, virtuosic classic from Rush's best album Phil's #1: Iconic song released by the Allman Brothers Band after the death of their ace guitarist Dickey Betts played song with two fingers as a tribute to Django Reinhardt Jay's #1 and Phil's #10: Epic, emotional guitar piece by Eddie Hazel of Funkadelic J Mascis did a great cover on Mike Watt's 1995 solo album Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

13 Marras 20241h 11min

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite instrumentals. Show notes: We're feeling goooood. What makes a good instrumental? Jay: I like the musicians in Red Hot Chili Peppers Not as many instrumentals made now as there used to be No jazz instrumentals included in our lists Phil's bubbling under picks: Booker T and the MGs, Bar-Kays, Meters, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, Hendrix, Zeppelin, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Santana, U2, Rush, Dick Dale, Beatles, Boston, TSOP, Bowie, Pink Floyd Jay's non-top 10 picks: Rush, Van Halen, Focus, ELO, Pink Floyd, the Who, Iron Maiden, Commodores, Fugazi, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet Alex VH's new book ignores Sammy Hagar Some great instrumentals are TV themes like Barney Miller Jay's #10: The Police with a mysterious guitar exercise Phil's #9: Majestic song from the Who's first rock opera Fans in the '60s didn't know what to expect when bands were melting their faces Jay's #9: Beastie Boys break out the funk To be continued Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

30 Loka 202444min

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite cover songs. Show notes: Jay's #7: Ty Segall with a ripper of a Neil Young cover Phil's #6: The live version of a Linda Ronstadt classic Jay's #6: An indie rock all-star band playing covers the Beatles played in their early days Greg Dulli, Thurston Moore, Dave Grohl, Dave Pirner, Mike Mills and Don Fleming Phil's #5: Phish covering the Stones Phish does tons of covers Jay's #5: An unexpected '60s cover from Husker Du Phil's #4: Coltrane with a wild twist on a Rodgers and Hammerstein classic Jay's #4: Stripped down version of an English Beat hit by Pete Townshend Phil's #3: Rage Against the Machine's explosive take on a Springsteen folk song Jay: Forgot about Rollins and Bad Brains covering "Kick Out the Jams" Jay's #3: Dirtbombs with a smokin' garage punk remake of Stevie Wonder Jay's #2: Nirvana's Unplugged show featured several great covers Phil's #1: Epic length cover "Morning Dew" by the Dead Watching old videos from the '60s and '70s to guess how old the crowd members are now Jay's #1 and Phil's #2: Mind-blowing Who cover of little-know Mose Allison song Jay: Live at Leeds is the greatest live album All four members of the Who at the peak of their powers Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

27 Elo 202452min

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite cover songs. Show notes: What makes a good cover? Be true to the song, but bring something of yourself to it Jagger and Bowie's cover of "Dancing in the Streets" is godawful In the '80s and '90s, used to get 45s or cassingles (or CD singles) to get B-sides Phil's honorable mention covers: U2, Courtney Barnett, Nirvana, Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, Etta James, Beatles, Stones, Bjork, Aretha, Pearl Jam, CSNY, Cowboy Junkies Nirvana's MTV Unplugged has several great covers Zeppelin covered a lot of songs on their early albums, with or without giving credit Jay's honorable mentions: The Clash, Hendrix, Pretenders, U2, Charles Bradley, Thin Lizzy, Bjork, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Living Colour, Soft Cell, Johnny Cash, PJ, Deep Purple, Urge Overkill, Violent Femmes, Anthrax, Breeders, Cheap Trick, Malkmus and Elastica, Iron Maiden, Queens of the Stone Age Phil's #10: Stevie Ray Vaughan takes on a guitar god's classic Jay's #10: Dinosaur Jr. makes a Cure song their own Phil's #9: Zeppelin's first album features a cover that was previously done by Joan Baez Judas Priest also covered a Baez song Jay's #9: A signature Blondie song was actually a cover Phil's #8: A timeless classic from the late '50s by the Flamingos Jay's #8: Sinead O'Connor made the definitive version of a Prince song Phil's #7: Faces with a powerful Temptations cover To be continued Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

20 Elo 20241h 4min

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of the 2010s. Show notes: Phil's 2016 #1: Drive-By Truckers with a political statement in a divided year Jay's 2016 #1: The final act of Bowie was a masterpiece Phil's 2017 #1: Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile join forces Jay's 2017: #1: Strong second act from the Afghan Whigs Phil's and Jay's 2018 #1: Cathartic blast of political anger from Superchunk Phil's 2019 #1: David Berman's final album as Purple Mountains Real talk about people dealing with tough issues Shocking deaths over the last decade Jay's 2019 #1: Sarcastic pop-punk excellence from Toronto's PUP Phil's 2020 #1: Jason Isbell deals with ghosts on his 7th album COVID memories Jay's 2020 #1: Topical protest hip hop from Run the Jewels Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

6 Elo 20241h 5min