Completely Conspicuous

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1985.

Show notes:

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- Jay's #5

- Brian: "I'm a major label sellout guy" when it comes to R.E.M.

- R.E.M. started getting rock radio airplay in '85

- When MTV News was a thing

- The evolution of Stipe

- Brian's #2

- The Pogues: A love 'em or hate 'em band

- Shane McGowan has teeth now

- Jay's #2

- Two great Husker Du albums in '85

- New Day Rising gets the edge over Flip Your Wig

- Rock concert business was focused on arenas in '85

- Indie rock acts had to forge their own way

- Brian's #1 and Jay's #5

- Camper Van Beethoven's interesting debut mixed a lot of styles

- Jay forgot about the Replacements

- Trouble Boys, the Replacements bio, is excellent

- Mats reunion may not be over

- Jay's #1

- Pete Townshend's last great work

- Ambitious project about the London projects where he grew up

- Since then, he's focused on Who tours and licensing

- McCartney can't stop/won't stop

- Next up: 1990

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.

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1985.

Show notes:

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- Bands that formed in '85: Bevis Frond, Big Dipper, Crowded House, Guns 'N Roses, Hootie and the Blowfish, Jane's Addiction, Radiohead

- Bands that split up: Minutemen, Hanoi Rocks, Kajagoogoo

- Brian's bubbling under albums: Prince, Minutemen, Jonathan Richman, Angst, Big Audio Dynamite

- The importance of Mick Jones

- Jay: Smiths, INXS, Cure, Dinosaur Jr., Rush, Jesus and Mary Chain

- Brian's #5

- Beat Happening specialized in lo-fi pop

- Brian's #4

- Not the best Talking Heads album, but a decent one

- Jay's #4

- The Cult established their goth sound

- 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.

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1985.

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.

Part 2 of my conversation with author Greg Renoff as we discuss the rise and fall of the guitar hero.

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.

This week, it's part 1 of my conversation with author Greg Renoff as we discuss the rise and fall of the guitar hero.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Buy Greg's book Van Halen Rising at Amazon or get a signed copy from the Van Halen 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.

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Wardlaw as we discuss the decline of rock radio.

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.

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Wardlaw as we discuss the decline of rock radio.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Matt's podcast Lost Together

- Matt first got into radio as a kid in Odessa, TX

- Jay: Started listening to AM rock stations in Toronto in late '70s

- Matt later moved to Cleveland area, heard a lot of Canadian bands on radio there

- The enduring popularity of Trooper's "Raise a Little Hell"

- The thrill of the chase: hunting for B-sides and imports

- Learned about music via radio and magazines

- Countless hours in record stores

- In Boston, the rock stations have dwindled

- Cleveland's WMMS has gone part talk, part classic rock

- Curated radio experience is becoming more rare

- Jay: Listen to combo of podcasts, college radio and online stations

- Matt had a metal show for several years

- Classic rock acts can't get new stuff played anymore

- Playing new material live vs. "the hits"

- Billy Joel stopped making new music in early '90s

- Touring is where the money is for classic rock acts

- 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.

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss fantasy sports.

Show notes:

- No interest in daily fantasy sports

- Big ad blitz when daily fantasy leagues hit the scene

- The kids love the gambling

- Sports gambling is much easier now

- Vegas now has an NHL franchise

- The Super Bowl is more spectacle than game

- "I call him Gamblor"

- Senior citizens take buses to casinos

- Playing in multiple leagues is no guarantee of winning money

- When the commissioner is dishonest

- Like pickup sports, you want to have fun with friends in fantasy leagues

- The single worst pick in fantasy hockey history

- Let's hear it for Lichtenstein

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.

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss fantasy sports.

Show notes:

- Jay: Renewed interest in baseball in the past year

- Watching sports without cable TV can be tricky

- Head-to-head format can be tough

- Paying attention to statistical details

- When fantasy leagues go bad

- Our fantasy hockey league fell apart because of money

- The problem with having people you don't know in the league

- We had our draft, started the season and then shut it down

- Hockey can be tough because it's harder to find people who really know the game

- Jay: Work football league got rid of kickers

- So many sources of draft information

- 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.

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss fantasy sports.

Show notes:

- Fantasy sports is big business

- Rooting against your favorite team

- Phil: Got into fantasy baseball in early '90s

- Jay: Started a league in '91 with work friends

- Paid a service to compile stats reports

- So much more now to distract you from draft prep

- Started with AL-only league

- Early fantasy football league started decades earlier

- Jack Kerouac created his own fantasy baseball league with fictional players and teams

- Strat-O-Matic started in early '60s

- Cards and dice game, similar to D&D

- The joys of Mattel Intellivision

- Sports betting is popular

- Takes enjoyment out of the game

- The house always wins

- The fun of the fantasy draft

- Auction leagues require more involvement, longer draft

- 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.