Mark And Sarah Talk About Songs

Our finale finds us talking about actor/musicians with lasting pop careers: Oscar-winners (Jamie Foxx), Grammy-winners (Childish Gambino), former child stars (Hailee Steinfeld), and Jokers (Jared Leto). After discussing contemporary stank, the competent/memorable axis, music for coffee shops, and the R&B version of that Top Chef challenge where they have to elevate gas-station snacks, we talk about what we've learned about the drive to create art. Grab Ludacris and have a listen.

Intro and outro by David Gregory Byrne; special thanks to Amanda. For more information/to become a patron of the show, visit patreon.com/mastas.

SHOW NOTES

This week's crop of actor-musician hyphenates got their thespian starts in films of the 1980s: Corey Feldman, Keanu Reeves (Dogstar), Kevin Bacon (the Bacon Brothers), and Kiefer Sutherland. Copyright-compliant Gin Blossoms tracks and workout-cooldown music prompted thoughts about perfectly good outdoor-restaurant entertainment, the artistic practice that capitalism tries to stifle, and whether pretty boys want to be told they're smart (and vice versa). Strange things are afoot at the Circle MASTAS, so grab one of Kiefer's hats and have a listen.

Intro and outro by Andrew Byrne; special thanks to Amanda. For more information/to become a patron of the show, visit patreon.com/mastas.

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Do you love to laugh? Then fall down the ha-ha hole that is Pop Goes The Actor's third episode! This week, we're looking at comedians who tested the pop waters, including a Blues Brother, Eddie Murphy, Tracey Ullman, and Jack Black. Acting range, the cult of mid-'70s SNL, finding unexpected IQ points in a song you've heard a dozen times, and which instrument is the creme fraiche of blues tracks -- and much more. Someone here is from Jersey, so order your minimum two drinks and listen!

Intro and outro by Laura Barger and Jack Baldelli; special thanks to Amanda, and to Terri. For more information/to become a patron of the show, visit patreon.com/mastas.

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Oh yes it's ladies' night on the second episode of Pop Goes The Actor...but IS the feeling right? Sometimes! We wend our way through copyright-compliant bugle boys of Company Wonder Woman, the adorkable Zooey Deschanel, Shelley Fabares's evident terror, Marla Gibbs's appealing blood-thinner ad, and a track from Cybill Shepherd that puts the "no" back in "bossa nova." Throw that sax in a dumpster and join us for legitimate fun vs. snarky fun, the sexual politics of Camelot-era pop, and the timeline where Rosemary Clooney is good.

Intro and outro by David Gregory Byrne, and special thanks to Amanda. For more information/to become a patron of the show, visit patreon.com/mastas.

SHOW NOTES

Pop Goes The Actor: a mini-season about thespians who tried (and sometimes succeeded at!) being pop musicians. In our premiere episode, we're talking about Jeff Conaway (Taxi), Donny Most (Happy Days), Esther Rolle (Good Times), Ted Knight (The Mary Tyler Moore Show), and Lawrence Hilton Jacobs (Welcome Back, Kotter) -- as well as smorgasbords of grunting, when a stew has all the right ingredients and yet no taste, how long vaudeville literacy persisted, perceptions of the primetime monoculture, and all the places pop songs think we should be boinking. Grab a Tab and rotary-dial into our latest ep!

Intro and outro by David Gregory Byrne, and special thanks to Amanda. For more information/to become a patron of the show, visit patreon.com/mastas.

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1996's Romeo + Juliet seemed like a slam-dunk ending to our soundtrack mini-season...but we have regrets! Epcot industrial music, lazy versions of Shakespeare, the psychotic hormonal jangling of youth, Scandinavian cultural crimes, and the returns of Teddy Ruxpin AND No Middle Ground with Paul Quinn accompany our struggling to remember the Wallflowers, and to decide whether it's possible for a song to be disgusting. Sidle up to an aquarium and have a listen!

Intro and outro by Laura Barger and Jack Baldelli. For more information/to become a patron of the show, visit patreon.com/mastas!

SHOW NOTES

This episode is, we suppose, like a box of chocolates, because technically you don't know what you're going to get, but we can tell you we're talking about the ubiquitous Forrest Gump soundtrack. Remembering top-loader VCRs, #justiceforJenn, powering through overplay, how long sixties soul acts gave themselves to get drawers on the floor, and songs Muppets sing at you. What does it sound like when the Beach Boys sing a New Yorker article about pirates? Find out with our latest episode!

Intro and outro by Andrew Byrne; interstitial music by Classics IV. For more information/to become a patron of the show, visit patreon.com/mastas!

SHOW NOTES

The '90s Soundtrack Flashback season is bustin' surfboards with Pulp Fiction, 1994's omnipresent Quentin Tarantino joint. After talking about how the movie itself holds up (spoiler: really well!), we move on to fights with the Ventures, QT's trademark alternate timelines, how epic moments are inevitably punctuated by frump, at-the-bank audio wallpaper, and Peanuts-apron guy's moment of glory. C'est la vie, say the rankings, so have a listen!

Intro and outro by David Gregory Byrne; for more information/to become a patron of the show, visit patreon.com/mastas.

SHOW NOTES

Welcome to our '90s Soundtrack Flashback mini-season! We're ranking the soundtrack albums from four legendary 1990s movies, starting with grunge-adjacent rom-com Singles. We waded into the great plaid middle of this disc to talk about the insouciance of Cameron Crowe stories, when it's okay for grunge gods to laugh, the conversation between this genre and punk (and Zep), and "hard rock for the school bus." Grab a Crystal Pepsi and a flannel buttondown and join us!

Intro and outro by David Gregory Byrne; interstitial music by Alice In Chains. For more information/to become a patron of the show, visit patreon.com/mastas.

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"Blurred Lines," the sound of the summer of 2013, is compared (unfavorably) with a cold sore in today's episode, which pits Robin Thicke, TI, and Pharrell against Weird Al's screed against bad grammar and usage errors. Despairing of Shazam, continuing to die on the hill of "irregardless," and the tyranny of younger siblings over the #oldladywalk playlist...we're working through all of it, AND figuring out who's going to "win" the season. It would be a Class-Y felony to miss it, so listen now.

Our intro is by David Gregory Byrne, and our outro is by Aimee Mann. For more information/to become a patron of the show and hear all episodes of this season, visit patreon.com/mastas.

SHOW NOTES