Completely Conspicuous 345: Reeling in the Years, 1996 (Part 1)

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1996. I've also got music from Whirr, Withered Hand and Super Medusa.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's comics podcast The Hour Cosmic

- In '96, Jay was 28 going on 29

- Brian: 13 going on 14

- Grunge was fading, pop was back in a big way

- Two versions of "The Macarena" were on top 100 singles chart

- Brian: At the time, didn't feel like a pop year

- Bush made an album with Steve Albini

- Lots of unsuccessful followups: Ugly Kid Joe, Kriss Kross

- Metallica's Load lived down to its name

- Strange year for Van Halen: Twister soundtrack, followed by greatest hits album with two DLR songs

- VH went through three singers in a matter of months

- Michael Anthony, Everyman

- We deconstructed VH III in eps 315 and 316

- Nickelback's first album came out in '96

- KISS reunited with original lineup

- Hip hop went mainstream

- New acts on the rise, like The Roots, Outkast, Wu Tang Clan

- Roots of nu metal

- The death of rock criticism with David Fricke in Rolling Stone giving U2's new album a five-star rating

- Rolling Stone typically hands out good reviews to old-school artists like U2, Dylan, Stones

- Last time U2 did anything interesting was 1997's Pop

- The U2 backlash is fierce

- To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

Music:

Whirr - Mumble

Withered Hand - Black Tambourine

Super Medusa - Doomed Boy

The Whirr song is on the album Sway on Graveface Records. Download the song for free for a limited time at Amazon MP3.

The Withered Hand song is on the album New Gods on Slumberland Records. Download the song for free as part of the Slumberland Records 25th Anniversary Sampler on Amazon MP3.

The Super Medusa song is on the EP of the same name, which is available for free download at Bandcamp.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.