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Episode 006: Too Much Joy - Cereal Killers (1991)


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For our sixth episode, Jon brings for consideration Too Much Joy, an early and relatively obscure influence for a lot of cheeky pop-punk bands, and their 1991 major-label debut Cereal Killers. Over the course of our hour-long discussion, we talk about....

  • The surprising saga of how Newt Gingrich came to be a Too Much Joy fan... and then had to disavow them
  • Harrison's total shock at hearing KRS-One do a guest verse
  • The balance of humor and poignancy; how Too Much Joy recorded songs that were funny and embraced humor without being "a comedy band."
  • The Abbott & Costello routine that inspired "Susquehanna Hat Company"... and why Jon might have ruined the song by discussing it
  • The numerous ways that Too Much Joy is able to "have it both ways" in their songwriting
  • The impressively strange angles of some of these song lyrics
  • What's up with Ohio?
  • How the band's embrace of artifice and "fakeness" clashed against a genre that was beginning to crave "authenticity" in its performers
  • Jon and Harrison reveal their Key Tracks
  • The debut of our PLAY DISC Request Lottery! Donate to our Patreon at the $5 level or above to get a request on the list!
  • And a preview of our next episode, on Bowling For Soup and their 2005 album A Hangover You Don't Deserve
  • Come join us for an hour of thoughtful and good-humored commentary, and we'll catch you on the B-side!

    Starting this week, we've begun rolling dice for our PLAY DISC Request Lottery! Here's the link to the video of Jon rolling the dice, so you know we're honest. https://youtu.be/oOLnozgSJxA (The video is pretty low quality, but you can still see the dice, and that's all that matters). The spreadsheet Request Lottery picks and their associated numbers can be seen here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xOiYNZduLxz7L2CtNUPK1YOu63ni2XTWpcy1cdB6EQw/edit?usp=sharing You can get your request on this list by donating to our Patreon account at the $5 level or above.

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    PLAY DISCBy Jon Porobil & Harrison Porobil