Stuck In Thee Garage #149: October 28, 2016

With Halloween, you're either into it or you're not. It's a great pastime.This week, I played two hours of creepy songs worthy of the occasion.

The playlist from beyond the grave:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Primus - My Name is Mud
Toadies - Possum Kingdom/Rubberneck
Mark Lanegan - Where Did You Sleep Last Night/The Winding Sheet
The Night Marchers - Bad Bloods/See You in Magic
The Jesus Lizard - Monkey Trick/Goat
Faith No More - Cone of Shame/Sol Invictus
The Misfits - Horror Hotel/3 Hits from Hell
Red Fang - Blood Like Cream/Whales and Leeches
The Black Angels - River of Blood/Phosphene Dream
Peter Gabriel - Intruder/Melt
Big Chief - Your Days Are Numbered/Platinum Jive
The Fiery Furnaces - Cabaret of the Seven Devils/Widow City
At the Drive-In - A Devil Among the Tailors/In Casino Out
The Sonics - Strychnine/Here are the Sonics
The Beatles - Helter Skelter/The White Album
Big Black - I Can Be Killed/Lungs
Frank Black - The Creature Crawling/The Cult of Ray
The Flaming Lips - Lucifer Rising/In a Priest Driven Ambulance
Judas Priest - Devil's Child/Screaming for Vengeance
Queens of the Stone Age - Burn the Witch/Lullabies to Paralyze
Blue Oyster Cult - Tattoo Vampire/Agents of Fortune
Redd Kross - Dracula's Daughter/Researching the Blues
New York Dolls - Frankenstein/New York Dolls
Rollins Band - Burned Beyond Recognition/Live on the Henry Rollins Show
Monster Magnet - See You in Hell/Powertrip
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues/Abattoir Blues - The Lyre of Orpheus
Ty Segall Band - Death/Slaughterhouse
Entrance - Grim Reaper Blues/Prayer of Death
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman/Diary of a Madman

Completely Conspicuous 443: Reeling in the Years, 1985 (Part 1)

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1985. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output
- 1985: Jay graduated from high school, started college in the fall
- Jay was 17 going on 18, Brian turned 3
- Jay: Listened to a lot of AOR, hard rock, metal
- Started getting into U2
- The year of rock charity
- Undercurrent of college rock
- MTV was growing
- Style over substance
- Strange collection of songs on the Hot 100
- A lot of songs released in '84 carried over to '85 charts
- Hard rock and metal albums were selling well: Ratt, Dokken, Twisted Sister
- Indie rock's influence wouldn't be felt for a few more years
- The launch of VH1
- PMRC hearings put spotlight on explicit lyrics
- Warning labels had the opposite of intended effect
- DLR left Van Halen in '85: Did he jump or was he pushed?
- DLR's book is fascinating and insane
- Rock bios are a mixed bag
- To be continued

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

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.

Stuck In Thee Garage #148: October 21, 2016

Practice makes perfect, and that is certainly true in the world of rock music. Many artists don't quite hit their stride until a few albums in. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played music from fourth albums in hour 2. As you can hear, there's plenty of great selections.

Franky Four Fingers does not make an appearance, however.

The quadrotastic playlist:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Terry Malts - Used to Be/Lost at the Party
Pixies - Head Carrier/Head Carrier
Real Numbers - Just So Far Away/Wordless Wonder
Ablebody - The Sun, a Small Star/Adult Contemporaries
Tony Molina - No One Told He/Confront the Truth
Flock of Dimes - Minor Justice/If You See Me, Say Yes
Lucy Dacus - Strange Torpedo/No Burden
Drive-By Truckers - Ramon Casiano/American Band
Wilco - Locator/Schmilco
Teenage Fanclub - Hold On/Here
Car Seat Headrest - Not Just What I Needed/Teens of Denial
Fatal Jamz - Lead Singer/Pussy & Fame
Future Biff - Fresher Faces/I Crashed Your Car
Black Beach - Wallflower/Shallow Creatures
Faith No More - We Care a Lot (2016 Mix)/We Care a Lot (Deluxe Band Edition)
50FOOTWAVE - Ratted Out/Bath White
Thin Lips - Andy Weed/Riff Hard
Modern Baseball - What If.../Holy Ghost

Hour 2: Fourth album
Radiohead - Idioteque/Kid A
Kraftwerk - Autobahn (radio edit)/Autobahn
The Cure - The Hanging Garden/Pornography
David Bowie - Oh! You Pretty Things/Hunky Dory
Arctic Monkeys - Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair/Suck It and See
Beastie Boys - Get It Together/Ill Communication
The Cars - Victim of Love/Shake It Up
R.E.M. - Fall on Me/Lifes Rich Pageant
Talking Heads - Crosseyed and Painless/Remain in Light
Husker Du - Makes No Sense at All/Flip Your Wig
The Replacements - I'll Buy/Tim
The Afghan Whigs - Debonair/Gentlemen
Rocket From the Crypt - Young Livers/Scream, Dracula, Scream!
Superchunk - The First Part/Foolish
Sloan - She Says What She Means/Navy Blues

Completely Conspicuous 442: Mars Needs Guitars

Part 2 of my conversation with author Greg Renoff as we discuss the rise and fall of the guitar hero. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype
- Buy Greg's book Van Halen Rising at Amazon or get a signed copy from the Van Halen Store
- Flash guitar in the '80s: VH, Motley Crue, Ratt, Quiet Riot
- Ratt was once replaced on a bill by Molly Hatchet
- Billy Squier's downfall
- Molly Hatchet unsuccessfully tried to pull a "ZZ Top"
- The hair metal bubble burst
- The '80s shredder trend
- Fast forwarding to the solos
- Oh, Vinnie Vincent
- Looking for the new Warrant
- The influence of Guitar Hero
- Learning about Slash
- We need guitars

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

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.

Completely Conspicuous 441: Holding Out for a Guitar Hero

This week, it's part 1 of my conversation with author Greg Renoff as we discuss the rise and fall of the guitar hero. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype
- Buy Greg's book Van Halen Rising at Amazon or get a signed copy from the Van Halen Rising Store
- Greg: As a kid, started playing stepfather's old acoustic guitar
- An uncle got him into Hendrix, Clapton, Leslie West
- Jay: First guitar hero was Jimmy Page
- Zeppelin II was the gateway
- Greg: Realized early that I'd never be able to play like Eddie VH
- Jay: Played guitar on and off over the years, never seriously
- Childhood friend plays in a Journey cover band
- Greg: Guitar was a good way to blow off steam
- Big band Hendrix?
- Jay: Other early favorites were Pete Townshend and Dave Davies
- The evolution of Clapton
- Early '70s were marked by great players like Iommi, Blackmore and Michael Schenker
- Jay: Got into Sabbath and Ozzy in the early '80s
- Gary Moore was an underrated guitar monster
- Building your music collection via music clubs
- To be continued

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

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.

Stuck In Thee Garage #147: October 7, 2016

Love means never having to say you're sorry...is one of the dumbest things ever said in a movie. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about being sorry in hour 2. None of them were as dumb as that line from "Love Story."

The Gilly-approved playlist:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Pixies - Baal's Back/Head Carrier
The Needy Sons - Chopped Down/Vis-a-Vis
Kestrels - No Alternative/Kestrels
Drive-By Truckers - Darkened Flags on the Cusp of Dawn/American Band
Morgan Delt - Some Sunsick Day/Phase Zero
American Wrestlers - Give Up/Goodbye Terrible Youth
Goat - Try My Robe/Requiem
Purling Hiss - Fever/High Bias
Living Colour - Regrets/Who Shot Ya
Cymbals Eat Guitars - Wish/Pretty Years
Fond Han - Shammed/Sham Cloud
J&L Defer - Hell/No Map
Bueno - Blown Out/Illuminate Your Room
Thee Oh Sees - Gelatinous Cube/A Weird Exits
Descendents - Days of Desperation/Hypercaffium Spazzinate
PUP - Doubts/The Dream is Over
Johnny Foreigner - I Can Show You the Way to Grand Central/Mono No Aware

Hour 2: Sorry
Weezer - Butterfly/Pinkerton
Big Star - Give Me Another Chance/#1 Record
The Posies - Apology/Dear 23
R.E.M. - So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)/Live on Rockpalast 10/2/85
The Waldos - Sorry/Rent Party
Husker Du - I Apologize/New Day Rising
The English Beat - Sorry/Special Beat Service
Pointed Sticks - Apologies/Part of the Noise
Lou Barlow - Don't Apologize/Goodnight Unknown
British Sea Power - Apologies to Insect Life/The Decline of British Sea Power
The I Don't Cares - Sorry for Tomorrow Night/Wild Stab
Bob Mould - I'm Sorry, Baby, But You Can't Stand in My Light Any More/Life and Times
The Hush Now - Sorry Sugar Well.../Sparkle Drive
Jessica Hernandez and the Deltas - Sorry I Stole Your Man/Secret Evil
Jeff Rosenstock - I'm Serious, I'm Sorry/We Cool?
Riverboat Gamblers - A Choppy, Yet Sincere Apology/Underneath the Owl
Guided by Voices - We Don't Apologize for the Human Race/Let's Go Eat the Factory
Velocity Girl - Sorry Again/Simpatico!

Completely Conspicuous 440: Radio Daze

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Wardlaw as we discuss the decline of rock radio. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype
- Check out Matt's podcast Lost Together
- Van Cherone: Matt defends Van Halen III
- Eddie VH's lack of new material
- Buy Greg Renoff's great book Van Halen Rising
- Eddie sounds good again
- Age is becoming a factor
- Jay: Saw both DLR and VH in 1986
- The MTV effect
- Early '80s video production values
- Videos pushed songs to greater success
- In defense of "We Built This City"
- Videos boosted careers of artists like ZZ Top, the Cars and Huey Lewis
- Rock stations added non-music programming
- Satellite radio is nice, but not a must-have
- Matt uses Apple Music
- Bands aren't making much money from streaming
- The money is in touring and merch, not albums
- Home taping didn't kill the music industry

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

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.