Completely Conspicuous

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1982.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's radio show Unsolicited Mixtape

- Recording industry was warning of the evils of home taping

- Jay: Would tape my records so I could listen to them on my Walkman

- Streaming is convenient

- '82 was a good year for both hard rock and synth pop

- Guess the chart toppers

- Bubbling under albums

- Brian: Prince, Captain Beefheart, James White

- Nebraska was an interesting departure for Springsteen

- XTC releases another great record

- Jay: Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Van Halen

- Rush enters their synth phase

- Pete Townshend released another solid solo effort

- Joe Jackson blew up with "Steppin' Out"

- Brian's #5

- Jim Jarmusch's band made a splash on the no wave scene

- Jay's #5

- R.E.M.'s hugely influential debut EP

- Brian's #4

- The worst Lounge Lizards album was still pretty good

- Jay's #4

- Brian's #3

- Not the best Clash album, but a decent effort

- 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 1982.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's radio show Unsolicited Mixtape

- Brian was born in '82

- "Ebony and Ivory" was the #1 song the week he was born

- Strange year for music

- The band Fear is better to talk about than listen to

- John Belushi's death

- SNL was a very different show at first

- Jay: Started watching SNL in '81-'82 when Eddie Murphy was blowing up

- The brilliance of SCTV

- Strange year for Ozzy

- First CDs were sold in Japan

- Big year for top 40

- Thriller was a monster hit

- The Who's "farewell" tour, sponsored by Schlitz

- The abrupt ending of "Young Turks"

- 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 Jay Breitling about whether songs have an expiration date.

Show notes:

- Critical writing about rock musicians is important and rare

- The corruptness of Rolling Stone reviews

- Songs that focus on obsolete technology

- Songs you like at first but grow to hate

- The problem with Red Hot Chili Peppers

- Goo Goo Dolls, Soul Asylum started strong but sucked later

- JK: U2 was once my favorite band, but not anymore

- The Strokes fizzled after a strong debut

- JK: Listen to a lot of top 40 thanks to kids

- Tidal and Pono

- Different relationship with music today

- Classic rock stations now include and overplay music from the '90s

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 whether songs have an expiration date.

Show notes:

- JK: After a bad breakup, couldn't listen to "Wild Horses" for years

- "Suite Judy Blue Eyes" as a torture device

- Classic rock and top 40 stations overplay certain songs to the point of no return

- Indie rock is only played on college radio for the most part (in Boston, anyway)

- Parody songs are often dated, although Weird Al endures

- In the '80s and '90s, you could get sick of songs both on radio and video

- Playlists were very tight

- Pop and rock music steers clear of social issues nowadays

- More focused on personal statements

- Ted Cruz loves country

- UK acts disavow David Cameron's fandom

- Looking back not so fondly at the hardcore scene

- 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.

This week, I talk to filmmaker Eric Green about the release of his documentary on the mid-'80s Boston music channel V66.

Show notes:

- We last spoke in 2012, when Eric was still working on Life on the V

- Previously appeared in episodes 231 and 232

- Movie's now out on DVD and in film festivals

- In 1985, MTV was still growing and smaller music video shows were on

- Two Boston radio veterans wanted V66 to be like a radio station

- Audiences who are unfamiliar with V66 have enjoyed the movie

- Long post-production process

- Cast and crew screening was in early 2014

- Founder John Garabedian quickly realized V66 couldn't just show videos

- Needed other programming to keep viewers

- Added wrestling, sports and lifestyle shows

- Original cut of movie was 2 hours

- Connecting to the Boston community

- Good response at festivals

- Developing other projects

- Great time for music documentaries

- Eric: It's as much a business story as a music story

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 my conversation with Bryan Hamill about how music discovery has evolved over the years.

Show notes:

- Recorded at a noisy pub in Cambridge, Mass.

- Check out Bryan's blog The Ash Gray Proclamation

- Pre-gaming prior to Swervedriver show

- Bryan used to find out about music from radio (WBCN, WFNX) and magazines

- The inevitable teenage metal phase

- Older brother introduced him to bands like the Neighborhoods and the Replacements

- Record reviews and tips from friends were important

- Boston rock scene was pivotal, then and now

- Worked in radio for several years

- Started blog 9 years ago to champion indie rock scene

- Scours Soundcloud, Twitter, Spotify for new music

- Major labels are less important now

- Nobody plays indie rock on radio other than college stations

- Bands make money through playing shows and selling merch

- Records sales are no longer a factor

- Tips from publicists and bands

- Bands don't have to compromise because chances of success are slight

- As a teen, found music by combing through stacks at record stores

- Boston still has great clubs to see new music

- Corporatization of radio is bad for everyone

- Rock is niche music now

- As a genre, rock is in a down cycle

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 about his upcoming book on the early days of Van Halen.

Show notes:

- Check out Greg's Van Halen Rising page

- Book is out Oct. 1

- Getting blurbs, reviews, photo permissions

- Publisher ECW Press released Neil Peart's books

- Book will feature previously unpublished photos

- Backyard parties were how the band grew

- New VH tour on the way

- Greg: Had an inkling it would happen

- Roth's solo career

- Greg: Became a VH fan because of "Jump"

- Roth stopped focusing on vocals after first few years

- New live album's shaky vocals

- Modern production techniques

- Is there a new studio album on the way?

- Next up for Greg: Possible work on unnamed artist's autobiography

- VH has a passionate fan base

- Afterword talks of the band's legacy

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 author Greg Renoff about his upcoming book about the early days of Van Halen.

Show notes:

- Check out Greg's Van Halen Rising page

- Book is out Oct. 1

- Greg's a college professor

- Fan of arena rock and guitar as a kid

- In grad school, wrote his disseration and a book about a traveling circus

- Many parallels to a rock tour

- Wanted to learn more about VH's beginnings

- Interviewed people around the scene starting in 2009

- Eventually talked to Michael Anthony, Ted Templeman, Donn Landee

- Started at the bottom and worked up

- Dug into the myths around VH's major label signing

- Eddie's beginnings on guitar

- VH hit a lot of dead ends along the way

- The first big tour really made the band

- The fine art of choosing opening acts

- Getting a book publisher isn't easy

- Putting together the book proposal

- Finished writing in summer 2014

- 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.

The latest installment of Driving with Kumar as I discuss the joys and travails of having pets.

Show notes:

- Driving to Ric Dube's to record for our web series Trust Fund Challenge

- We got a puppy almost two years ago

- As a kid in Canada, we got a German Shepherd puppy but she got too big for us and was adopted by someone else

- Got a smaller dog a year later

- Sammy moved with us to Washington state and New Hampshire

- We also got a black lab puppy, Caesar

- Tough junior prom was followed by bad news the next day

- Fighting off marauding pit bulls

- Sammy lived for another eight years

- I lived with a girlfriend who had a cat

- Didn't have any pets for the next 20 years

- New puppy, Charlie, lived downstairs for nine months before moving up with us

- The Poopsplosion

- A Very Charlie Christmas, aka Tree Scares Dog

- Getting drenched on walks

- Hard to work from home with Charlie here

- He sometimes snaps at us if he's cranky

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 1993.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's radio show Unsolicited Mixtape

- Brian's #3

- Frank Black's first solo effort was a sign of greatness to come

- Some songs were written for the Pixies

- Jay's #3

- PJ Harvey's blistering second album

- Brian's #2

- A "pretty perfect album" from the Lemonheads

- Reality Bites really does bite

- Jay's #2 and Brian's #1

- Nirvana followed up Nevermind with a raw, seething album

- Easy to read a lot into Cobain's state of mind at the time

- Jay's #1

- Jay's intro to the Afghan Whigs

- Already differentiating themselves from their peers

- Dulli's lyrics were really in your face

- Whither Rick McCollum?

- Next up: 1982

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.