Completely Conspicuous

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1995.

Show notes:

- Recorded live from Brian's back porch in Ringwood, NJ

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- Brian's #2

- Rentals' debut is on par with Weezer's best

- Brian's #3 and Jay's #2

- Jay: Saw Foo Fighters' first tour, opening for Mike Watt

- Foo debut came out of nowhere

- Grohl released a solo album a few years earlier

- First two Foo albums are standouts

- The problem with Audioslave

- Gord Downie goes out doing what he loves

- Radiohead's The Bends just missed both our lists

- Brian's #1 and Jay's #3

- Mike Watt called in every favor he could

- GBV's Alien Lanes dropped out of Jay's top 5

- Chock full o' good songs

- Jay's #1

- PJ Harvey expands her sound beyond guitar rock

- Next up: 1985

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 1995.

Show notes:

- Recorded live from Brian's back porch in Ringwood, NJ

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- Brian's bubbling under albums: ODB, Morphine, Boss Hog, Hum

- Brian Salvatore: Humbuster

- Jay's bubbling under: Rancid, Mad Season, Elastica, Matthew Sweet, Yo La Tengo

- Brian: White Zombie, No Doubt, Oasis, Presidents of the USA, Smashing Pumpkins, Goo Goo Dolls, Flaming Lips, Bowie, Sleater-Kinney

- Jay: Urge Overkill, Chris Whitley, Helium, Garbage, Bjork, Wilco, Neil Young, Jawbreaker

- Brian's #5

- Rancid blasts through an excellent album

- Jay's #5

- One of the two Rocket from the Crypt albums released in '95

- Melding horns with punk guitars

- Brian's #4

- Kim Deal's non-Breeders band

- "The most GBV-sounding Breeders record"

- Josephine Baker was not in the Breeders

- Jay's #4

- Pavement's post-breakthrough record

- The original title didn't cut it

- 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 1995.

Show notes:

- Recorded live from Brian's back porch in Ringwood, NJ

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- Baby Ben hanging out

- In 1995, we were on to the second-generation grunge bands

- Bands were copying Bush and Stone Temple Pilots

- Brian was 12-13, Jay was 27-28

- Jerry Garcia died

- More '95 deaths: Eazy E, Shannon Hoon

- Back then, you checked out music based on a review

- Blind Melon's rise and fall

- Beatles released new song

- Bill Berry had a brain aneurysm during an R.E.M. show

- Van Halen released their last Hagar album

- Superhero movies in the '90s

- Singles charts had a lot of R&B, some jam rock

- Jay tells his Trey Anastasio story again

- Cursing Greg Ginn

- Jay: Listened to Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness for first time in 20 years

- Formed in '95: Blonde Redhead, N SYNC, Pedro the Lion, Eels, Sleater-Kinney

- Broke up in '95: Grateful Dead, Bronski Beat, Dire Straits, Drive Like Jehu, Oingo Boingo, Kyuss, Sugar

- 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 Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the first half of 2016.

Show notes:

- Kumar's #4 and Breitling's #3

- Hallelujah the Hills releases another fine album

- Kumar's #3

- Third in Bob Mould's kickass trilogy

- Don't wait on a Husker Du reunion, Mould's current band is the real deal

- Indie rockers in their 50s are still bringing the heat

- The problem with being U2

- Breitling's #2

- The Car Seat Headrest kids are playing the rock

- Kumar's #2

- Possibly Iggy's last rock record

- Breitling's and Kumar's #1

- Bowie's last album, released three days before he died

- A consistent electronic sound

- Breitling: Looking forward to new Johnny Foreigner, Eros and the Eschaton, Urusei Yatsura comp, reissues from Rocketship and the Lilys

- Kumar: Anticipating new albums from Teenage Fanclub, Dinosaur Jr. and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

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.

I celebrate a decade of podcasting with part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the first half of 2016.

Show notes:

- Kumar: Thin Lips, Woods (formerly Meneguar) on list of bubbling-under albums

- Breitling's #10 (list is in no particular order)

- Pinegrove blends emo and alt-country

- Kumar's #10

- Savages brings the heat

- Breitling's #9

- Nothing comes into its own with the loud rock

- Kumar's #9 and Breitling's #8

- A Giant Dog plays hard rock with an indie twist

- Kumar's #8

- Welcome return of Paul Westerberg, teamed with Juliana Hatfield

- Breitling's #7

- Thin Lips is Superchunk-descended

- Kumar's #7

- Possibly the last Tragically Hip album; was produced by Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew

- Breitling's #6

- Bent Shapes are Boston's premier indie pop act

- Kumar's #6

- Parquet Courts continues to make interesting records

- Breitling's #5

- DIIV's double album is full of beautiful dream pop

- Kumar's #5

- Black Mountain adds more synths to stoner rock sound

- Breitling's #4

- Johnny Foreigner's sound evolves

- 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 Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the first half of 2016.

Show notes:

- Biggest trend so far: Death

- A whole generation of musicians is in senior citizen territory

- Ticketmaster settlement is as useless as TM normally is

- "Stairway to Heaven" lawsuit ended the right way

- Breitling plays law-talking guy

- Tidal tries to start its own bidding war

- Ultimate strategy is to get paid and get out

- The free tier for streaming services will eventually go away

- Bandcamp's iffy stats

- Breitling's not-quite-top-10: New Dog, Horse Jumper of Love, Guillermo Sexo, Gold Muse, California Snow Story, Yr Poetry

- Kumar's bubbling under list: Radiohead, Ty Segall, Modern Baseball, Future of the Left, Halfsour, Used Cassettes

- 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 Phillion as we discuss the difficulties of avoiding cynicism.

Show notes:

- Check out Matt's new book Like a Comet: The Indestructibles Book 4

- People are desperate for fame

- Matt auditioned for season 2 of The Real World

- The savvy of Boston Rob

- Chewbacca Mom is pushing it

- Trump tapped into a vein of discontent

- He's got a way with nicknames

- We've got issues

- Fat, but not happy

- It's not a bad thing to be cynical

- Changing your Twitter icon or FB profile pic is pointless

- David Cameron and the pig's head

- Sinking to meme level

- The Internet never forgets

- Power + opportunity = Bad life choices

- We're going to remain cynical

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 Phillion as we discuss the difficulties of avoiding cynicism.

Show notes:

- Check out Matt's new book Like a Comet: The Indestructibles Book 4

- It's hard not to be cynical these days

- Politics are infuriating in general

- Soccer hooligans can spread joy, too

- Getting cynicism drummed into you as a young reporter

- Kids, don't go into journalism

- NIMBY remains a strong force

- Matt made the mistake of going to back to newspapers a few years ago

- Facts, schmacts

- Saying something stupid won't tank your campaign anymore

- Tapping into frustrated and angry voters

- Blindly loyal political supporters

- Stupid can win

- People are tired of hearing from so-called experts

- Jay: Reality TV makes me cynical

- The Duggars had a show because they had 19 kids

- Some people find The Bachelor fascinating

- So many kids these days have the drive to become famous

- The abnormal lives of huge celebrities

- Tom Cruise can't relate to normal people

- 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 Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1981.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- Brian's #3

- Prince starts pushing the envelope

- Prince in the '80s was nearly untouchable

- Jay's #3

- A childhood favorite

- Moving Pictures encapsulated everything Rush had been working toward

- Side 1 was killer

- Brian's #2

- Kraftwerk ran with robotic sounds

- A version is touring again

- Jay's #2

- The Police start to become a commercial success

- Stewart Copeland's drumming was revolutionary for the time

- Should Brian drop big coin to see Sting and Peter Gabriel live?

- Brian's #1

- Damaged is close to the definitive Black Flag album

- Jay's #1

- Van Halen's creative peak

- Angrier sounding

- Next up: 1995

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 1981.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- Elvis Costello released two albums in '81

- Solo albums from Phil Collins, Debbie Harry, Ronnie Wood, Peter Cetera, Lindsay Buckingham

- Bands formed: The Alarm, Anthrax, Metallica, Bangles, Beastie Boys, Butthole Surfers, Run DMC, Sonic Youth

- Broke up: Bay City Rollers, Steely Dan, Wings, Buzzcocks

- Bubbling under albums

- Brian: Ramones, Kinks

- Jay: Phil Collins, The Who, Tom Petty, Billy Squier

- A few years later, Squier kills his career with "Rock Me Tonite" video

- Brian: Lounge Lizards debut, Tom Tom Club, Replacements, Pretenders

- That time Brian pissed off Lurie on Twitter

- Jay: Gun Club, Black Sabbath, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Gang of Four

- Brian's #5

- Byrne and Eno basically invent sampling

- Jay's #5

- The Stones bounce back with odds and sods collection that hits big

- The last time they weren't considered a nostalgia act

- 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.