What makes an band a band? Is it the songwriter? The singer? The relationship between the band members?

This time, we go a bit close to home. The Replacement's are, arguably, one of the greatest acts of the 1980s, one of the greatest to emerge from the US punk scene that would eventually birth the Pixies, REM, and Nirvana. But, it all came crashing down with their last album, fuelled by professional regrets, personal losses, and the fatigue of substance abuse.

Is All Shook Down a The Replacements album? It features all four members of the line up of the time. The songs are penned by Westerberg. They have production hints ago-go that point toward the Replacements...

Yet, it was intended originally as Westerberg's first solo album. It has a long catalogue of session musicians (including Abraham Lincoln). It doesn't quite feel like The Replacements?

Andrew and Sam don't know. Anything.

### Riffs of the week #### Dr Sam's Riff - Roots Manuva - Join the Dots (1.25) #### Andrew's Riff - Slift - Ilion (8:16) ### Dr Sam's track choices 1. One Wink at a Time - The Replacements (0.30) 2. Attitude - The Replacements (1.15) 3. My Little Problem - The Replacements (1.15) 4. Sadly Beautiful - The Replacements (0.20) ### Andrew's track choices 1. Merry Go Round - The Replacements (2:30) 2. Sadly Beautiful - The Replacements (1:50) 3. Bent out of Shape - The Replacements (opening) 4. All shook down - The Replacements (1:50) 5. My Favourite Thing - The Replacements (1:03) **Andrew's notes** Merry Go Round video - Westerberg looking bored, Tommy yawning One wink at a time has nice sax throb Tracks have Westerberg mumbled intros like classic Matts Very meandering, doesn't grab me immediately Banjos? Fucking banjos? Surprising Paul lived to finish the album, he was smoking speedballs They got fired after wearing Petty's wife's dresses on stage. Sadly Beautiful has a Lovely viola in it played by John Cale! Bent out of shape opener sounds like we're back to classic Replacements, even down to the lyrics The title is a classic Matts switcheroo Very country, I think Westerberg chose Slim Dunlap because he was a country guitarist Westerberg sounds drunk Ocarina played by John Cale! I can hear a lot of influences from this album in current 6music style bands Ends reasonably well, but the last track sounds like Randy Newman The band went from hating music videos to winning an award for the 'when it began' single from this album Abe Lincoln gets a credit according to Wikipedia All replacements members only play on one track, so this is NOT a replacements album LETTERS Briggs recommendation Matt screaming at his headphones Email us - [email protected]

They said what? About who? Was that intentional? Why would they even allow to that to be released? All these questions, and more, arise when one actually starts to listen to lyrics. And, what do singers/vocalists/MCs know, hey? Do they actually think about what they say, or just whether it fits the music they're putting their noises to? Some lyricists have been lauded as poets operating in another medium – think Bob Dylan, Shane McGowan, Cliff Richards…

This week, Andrew and Sam show off their inability to double-guess the meaning and intention of singers. They always begin hopefully, but where will it lead them? To folly. As it always does.

So, join them as they investigate the depths of Insane Clown Posse, Thin Lizzy (although AC/DC by mistake at one point), RunDMC, and so on. Go on. Please.

### Riffs of the week

#### Dr Sam's Riff

- Ministry - New Religion (0.15)

#### Andrew's Riff

- Weird, but not illegal - Party Cannon (2:44)

### Dr Sam's track choices

1. Insane Clown Posse - Miracles (1.47)

2. Alice Cooper - Feed My Frankenstein (0.55)

3. Rancid - Last One to Die (opening)

4. Flat Earth Society - Vole Sperm Reverie (0.10)

### Andrew's track choices

1. Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak (opening)

2. RUN DMC - You Be Illin' (0:15)

3. Green Day - Basket Case (0:58)

4. Alanis Morissette - Ironic (0:24)

Email us - [email protected]

Field recording of a noise gig in Bury St Edmunds on Saturday 2nd March 2024. Recorded on location at The Rehearsal Rooms.

Featuring

DS Happy Boi

Diacritical Mark

Frazer Merrick

Billy Whizz

Paul Blart Wet Dream

Hell is worth all that. Natural habitat. Just a rhyme without a reason.

I am the table.

This week, Sam beseeches Andrew consider Metallica as an act with depth behind their 125 million+ album sales. Sam was introduced to Metallica through his brother at the age of 10, and they became an essential touchstone to his musical experience. Andrew neglected metal until his 40s, when he had to slow down (or else), but could never quite get beyond the 1980s production of some of the classics of the genre.

So, join us as we try to get beyond the myths and hype of Metallica, and understand some of the base appeal in at least four of their albums (Ride the Lightening, Master of Puppets, … And Justice for All and the black album). Through 30-second snippets, we highlight the details perhaps glossed over, and perhaps reveal the best way to listen to Metallica: in 30-second snippets.

Sam takes all responsibility for Metallica choices, and he has more time for Load/Re-Load than Kill 'Em All. Oh, and hardly anything from the last 24 years is mentioned.

### Riffs of the week

#### Dr Sam's Riff

Laura Jane Grace - Hole In My Head

#### Andrew's Riff

The Lawrence Arms - Great Lakes/Great Escapes

### Dr Sam's track choices

Orion

Blackened

Master of Puppets

For Whom the Bell Tolls (S&M version)

Eye of the Beholder

Through the Never

Die Die My Darling

The Memory Remains

Dingdong! Hey now, what's that sound? IS that the sound of a 1956 Morris Minor through a midi sampler? This week, Andrew and Sam discuss SOUNDS. Zounds, batman. These sounds might range from your "oo, that's a lovely tone" sort of music-nerd appreciation sound to your "what on the fuck is that, then?" sort of music-nerd appreciation sound.

Along they way, they discuss said tones, the use of gravity to make music, and rototoms. God knows how they have the time in the life to do this sort of thing? Probably offloading their responsibilities to their other halves. Fuck the patriarchy.

They also spend a questionably long time just reading out the name of bands who are playing Finnish festivals this year. Good stuff. They do it to you in the earhole.

### Riffs of the week

#### Dr Sam's Riff

- Year of the Knife - Your Control (opening)

#### Andrew's Riff

- Necrowretch - Dii Mauri (3:10)

### Dr Sam's track choices

1. Charles Mingus - Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting (0.20 - from Blues & Roots album)

2. Bjork - Solstice (opening)

3. Matmos - Ultimate Care II Excerpt Three (0.20)

4. Sly & Robbie - Dub Glory - original (1.20)

### Andrew's track choices

1. Little Dragon - Rictual Union (opening)

2. Pom Poko - Danger Baby (0:40)

3. Deep Purple - Living Wreck (0:10)

4. Jon Hopkins - Open Eye Signal (3:10)

Email us - [email protected]

Music is frequently best when it is a communal experience. This is perhaps why we go and see bands perform live the exact version of a song we know from a record, it is why we pay good money to see this, and it is spoilt by the fuppers singing along over the vocalist. I did not pay to get in to hear you sing Born in the USA.

Except, frequently, in the best of experiences (for me), it is exactly what I paid for. It's what I want, its what I crave. It is what destroys the stage, more than any declaration by a punk band that the "stage is yours" only to be invaded by macho morons who think music should be expressed with a kick in the head. Fup you. No, the voice is ours: it is what breaks down the individualism of the modern age, it is what grounds us in the here and now: there is no past, no future, only our voices.

This week, Andrew and Sam explore the singalong. They take their fair time to get there, but they enjoy themselves in the process. And then they discover the joy of singing along not only to the vocals but riffs. RIFFS. Madness, hey.

### Riffs of the week

#### Dr Sam's Riff

- John Prine - Your Flag Decal Won't Get You into Heaven Anymore (opening)

#### Andrew's Riff

- Crowded House - Locked out (0:12)

### Dr Sam's track choices

1. Metallica - Master of Puppets (4.00)

2. Ursus Factory - Rakkauttasi tarviten (3.20)

3. Sick of it All - Scratch the Surface (0:05)

4. Against Me! - We Laugh at Danger (2.30)

### Andrew's track choices

1. Sex Pistols - Buddies (0:22)

2. Black Sabbath - War Pigs (1:50)

3. Red Flag 77 - How Low (0:55)

4. Against me! - Those Anarcho Punks Are Mysterious (1:10)

Email us - [email protected]

A few episodes ago we troubled your lugoles with some mildly profane chatter about which gigs we wish we could go back in time to attend for a second time. But what about legendary performances that you wish you could have been at regardless of decade, country, fiscal embarrassment or rank odour.

In this episode Andrew is joined by Jay Trenchart defy time, distance and some logic and reason as they delve through YouTube looking for the very bestest live clips in the world, ever.

### Riffs of the week

#### Jay's Riff

- Parquet Courts - Stoned And Starving (2:20)

#### Andrew's Riff

- Fat Dog - All The Same (1:25)

### Jay's track choices

1 - Koufar at Club Rectum (16:00)

https://youtu.be/T1_VkbeyDFE?si=3jHlf6b2hbLeovER&t=960

2 - Adam & The Ants - Physical (You're So) (Live in Manchester)

https://youtu.be/VusbSlufwmM?si=lKnvVredh1ZIH9r-&t=100

3 - Fucked Up Live on a Bridge at 2am (0:35)

https://youtu.be/TUVLm1V0pPs?si=Vi-yrjGF9m6ipBKz&t=35

4 - Bad Brains Live At CBGB's, New York City, NY 1982

https://youtu.be/WmfxWQkqLTg?si=ITLQjp__CXTmKXhg&t=1295

### Andrew's track choices

1 - Pentangle - Captured Live 1972 (9:39)

https://youtu.be/C3DFCXaqLrg?si=INKVGX-L-nAS5Z3V&t=579

2 - Rival Consoles Boiler Room x MUTEK MX Live Set (21:39)

https://youtu.be/v4gSk5GibB8?si=toWi8wQjC6JKUEeP&t=1299

3 - Crime In Stereo - Agent RR pt 1 (1:47)

https://youtu.be/RQoezd8xorI?si=85LkIeRq8Q8GClzX&t=107

4 - Coast Contra - Never Freesyle (3:05)

https://youtu.be/IdNxeepSpuk?si=rQsW51kO7UicIue5&t=185

Email us - [email protected]

All the best band names are taken, but dear, oh dear. Why on earth would they stick with that? This is the topic of this week's show, and that’s about it. The concern isn’t so much about the music but more just badly chosen band names.

Most seem like a bad pub idea moment. Others go way beyond that. Of course, there are the wilfully (and, to an extent, lazily) offensive: An_l C_nt, An_l Beard. But, then there’s also the bizarre, the stupid and the in-joke that’s gone on too long and taken too far. And then there’s all three.

So, once again, join Andrew and Sam as they explore some different nuances of the culture around music. This is what this podcast is really about culture around music and the loving relationship between two cis-straight white middle-class men from the UK. Big love.

### Riffs of the week

#### Dr Sam's Riff

- Thomas Ignatius - In germine (opening)

#### Andrew's Riff

- Archspire - Golden Mouth of Ruin (opening)

### Dr Sam's track choices

1. The Flying Burrito Brothers - Do Right Woman (2.03)

2. Dananananaykroyd - All Us Authors (0.15)

3. The Mr. T Experience - Book of Revelation (0.15)

4. Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Nootmare (opening)

### Andrew's track choices

1. ††† - Vivien (3:04)

2. Agriculture - Relier (4:45)

3. Prolapse - Killing the bland (1:36)

4. Seymour - Dizzy (2:49)

Email us - [email protected]