Music Nerds Unite

Episode 17 continues our NCAA Tournament styled brackets to determine the greatest rock album of all time. This episode focuses on the 1990s.

Matchups for this episode:

(1) Radiohead "OK Computer" vs. (16) Megadeth "Hangar 18"

(2) Neutral Milk Hotel "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" vs. (15) Alice In Chains "Dirt"

(3) Nirvana "Nevermind" vs. (14) Soundgaren "Superunknown"

(4) My Bloody Valentine "Loveless" vs. (13) Pavement "Crooked Rain Crooked Rain"

(5) Pearl Jam "Ten" vs. (12) Nine Inch Nails "The Downward Spiral"

(6) Oasis "(What's The Story) Morning Glory?" vs. (11) Belle and Sebastian "If You're Feeling Sinister"

(7) Jeff Buckley "Grace" vs. (10) The Flaming Lips "The Soft Bulletin"

(8) Weezer "Weezer (i.e. The Blue Album)" vs. (9) Smashing Pumpkins "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness"

Notes for this episode:

We're still working out some issues with the audio clips, some of which (My Bloody Valentine and Pavement in particular) didn't come out as well as we'd hoped. 

Actually it was Stone Temple Pilots not the Smashing Pumpkins who were drinking champagne and saying "the Pavement guy would have a field day with this."

Episode 16 continues our NCAA Tournament styled brackets to determine the greatest rock album of all time. This episode focuses on the 1980s.

Matchups for this episode:

(1) Pixies "Doolittle" vs. (16) The Replacements "Tim" 

(2) The Clash "London Calling" vs. (15) Iron Maiden "The Number Of The Beast" 

(3) The Smiths "The Queen Is Dead" vs. (14) Metallica "Ride The Lightning" 

(4) Talking Heads "Remain In Light" vs. (13) Rush "Moving Pictures" 

(5) The Stone Roses "The Stones Roses" vs. (12) R.E.M. "Murmur" 

(6) The Cure "Disintegration" vs. (11) AC/DC "Back In Black" 

(7) U2 "The Joshua Tree" vs. (10) Paul Simon "Graceland" 

(8) Sonic Youth "Daydream Nation" vs. (9) Guns n' Roses "Appetite For Destruction" 

Episode 15 continues our NCAA Tournament styled brackets to determine the greatest rock album of all time. Episode 14 discussed the '60s matchups, so here we continue with the '70s.  Match ups for this episode:

Matchups for this episode:

(1) David Bowie "The Rise and Fall Of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars" vs. (16) Van Halen "Van Halen I"

(2) Led Zeppelin  "Led Zeppelin IV" vs. (15) Derek and the Dominos "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs"

(3) Pink Floyd "The Wall" vs. (14) Patti Smith Group "Horses"

(4) Fleetwood Mac "Rumours" vs. (13) Genesis "Selling England By The Pound"

(5) Joy Division "Unknown Pleasures" vs. (12) Yes "Close To The Edge"

(6) The Who "Who's Next" vs. (11) Neil Young "After The Gold Rush"

(7) Television "Marquee Moon" vs. (10) Black Sabbath "Paranoid"

(8) Bruce Springsteen "Born To Run" vs. (9) The Rolling Stones "Sticky Fingers"

Welcome Keith Floman and Larry Waldman who will join Scott on at least the next several episodes. Similar to the prior NCAA Tournament to determine the greatest rock artist of all time (episodes 1-8), we're doing another NCAA Tournament to  determine the greatest rock album of all-time. 

Matchups for this episode:

(1) The Beatles "Revolver" vs. (16) The Byrds "The Notorious Byrd Brothers"

(2) The Velvet Underground "The Velvet Underground & NIco" vs. (15) Creedence Clearwater Revival "Green River"

(3) The Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" vs. (14) The Stooges "The Stooges"

(4) Bob Dylan "Highway 61 Revisited" vs. (13) Cream "Disraeli Gears"

(5) King Crimson "In The Court Of The Crimson King" vs. (12) The Band "The Band"

(6) The Doors "The Doors" vs. (11) The Kinks "The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society"

(7) Van Morrison "Astral Weeks" vs. (10) The Zombies "Odessey and Oracle"

(8) Love "Forever Changes" vs. (9) Jimi Hendrix Experience "Electric Ladyland"

Episode 13 continues our NIT Tournament to determine the greatest rock music artist that didn’t make our original 64 “team” NCAA Tournament (see episodes 1-8).

Women rock match ups for this episode:

(1) Joni Mitchell (gets bye for first 2 rounds)

(2) Janis Joplin/Big Brother and the Holding Company (gets bye for first 2 rounds)

(3) Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship vs. (9) Patti Smith Group

(4) Blondie vs. (9) Sleater-Kinney

(5) Heart vs. (8) Kate Bush

(6) Pretenders vs. (7) Lucinda Williams

Final Four match ups for this episode: 

Grateful Dead vs. Judas Priest

Joy Division/New Order vs. Women's Winner

Notes for this episode:

Actually #3 should've been matched up against #10, and #4 against #9. My bad. 

The "title track" to the album Horses was actually part of a larger overall song called "Land" (Part I: "Horses" / Part II: "Land of a Thousand Dances" / Part III: "La Mer(de)"). 

Lucinda Williams' poet father was named Miller Williams. 

Michael Bloomfield (not Bloomfeld) played on the first Janis solo album. Not sure how or why I pronounced his name so incorrectly as I am a big fan.  

James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon from The Pretenders died due to drugs, I should've mentioned. 

Big Brother's guitarist was Sam Andrew (no "s" at the end). 

Episode 12 continues our NIT Tournament to determine the greatest rock music artist that didn’t make our original 64 “team” NCAA Tournament (see episodes 1-8).

Alternative rock match ups for this episode:

(1) The Stooges/Iggy Pop (gets bye for first 2 rounds)

(2) Sonic Youth (gets bye for first 2 rounds)

(3) Elvis Costello vs. (10) Yo La Tengo

(4) Pixies vs. (9) The Replacements

(5) Joy Division/New Order vs. (8) Hüsker Dü

(6) Roxy Music vs. (7) Dinosaur Jr.

Notes for this episode:

Another Elvis Costello album we should've mentioned/recommended is King Of America. 

Ron Asheton switched to bass when James Williamson joined, not drums which were played by brother Scott Asheton. 

Expressway To Yr. Skull is also referred to as Madonna, Sean and Me. 

Episode 11 continues our NIT Tournament to determine the greatest rock music artist that didn’t make our original 64 “team” NCAA Tournament (see episodes 1-8).

Hard rock/heavy metal matchups for this episode:

(1) Deep Purple (gets bye for first 2 rounds)

(2) Judas Priest (gets bye for first 2 rounds)

(3) Motörhead vs. (10) Megadeth

(4) KISS vs. (9) Alice Cooper

(5) Ronnie James Dio (Rainbow/Black Sabbath/Dio) vs. (8) Ozzy Osbourne (solo career only)

(6) Thin Lizzy vs. (7) Tool.

Notes for this episode:

Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor was the drummer in Motörhead (we did not mention the last name Taylor).

The last huge rock release that was a major “event” was probably Radiohead’s In Rainbows in 2007.

Correction: Motörhead had only #1 album in the U.K. (the live No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith from ‘81) though Ace Of Spades (‘80) and Iron Fist (‘82) also cracked the top 10.

“Adrenaline run” should be “adrenaline rush” (you probably figured that one out already).

Simon Phillips not Simon Reynolds (a notable rock critic) drummed in Judas Priest, among his many other career credits.

Scott somehow forgot to mention his favorite Judas Priest album, 1978's Stained Class. Also 1979's Unleashed In The East is one of the great live albums. 

Episode 10 begins our NIT Tournament to determine the greatest rock music artist that didn’t make our original 64 “team” NCAA Tournament (see episodes 1-8).

Classic rock matchups for this episode:

(1) Eric Clapton solo + Derek and the Dominos (gets bye for first 2 rounds)

(2) Grateful Dead (gets bye for first 2 rounds)

(3) Santana vs. (10) Bob Seger

(4) Rod Stewart (also includes the early Jeff Beck Group + The Faces) vs. (9) ZZ Top

(5) Journey vs. (8) Lynyrd Sknyrd

(6) Steely Dan vs. (7) Chicago

Notes for this episode:

The great back-to-back songs on Live Bullet are "Travelin' Man" (not "Travelin' Band") and "Beautiful Loser." These songs were meant to be played together.

The great Rod Stewart song is "Mandolin Wind" not "Mandolin Rain" (that's a Bruce Hornsby song).

Neal Schon joined Santana on their excellent third album, the aptly titled Santana III, not their great fourth album which was called "Caravanserai." Also we mentioned "Moonflower" but we want to especially single out the gorgeous instrumental "Europa."

Scott blatantly cut off Matt a couple of times late in the episode for which he would like to belatedly apologize.

This one-off episode presents a 16-song bracket to determine the greatest rock song of the 1960s.

Honorable mentions (in no particular order):

The Turtles - "Happy Together"

The Moody Blues - "Nights In White Satin"

Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale

Van Morrison - "Brown Eyed Girl"

Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Proud Mary"

The Kingsmen - "Louie Louie"

Steppenwolf - "Born To Be Wild"

The Mamas and the Papas - "California Dreamin'"

The Monkees - "Daydream Believer"

The Rascals - "Good Lovin'"

And going more underground:

The Stooges - "1969" or "I Wanna Be Your Dog"

The Velvet Underground - "Heroin"

MC5 - "Kick Out The Jams"

Notes for this episode:

The first version of "The Sound Of Silence" was in 1964, the more famous version followed in 1966.

The Animals' version of "The House Of The Rising Sun" was in 1964, not 1965.

The famous Bob Dylan/The Band live performance of "Like A Rolling Stone" with the "Judas!" heckler was 1966 of course not 1965.

We failed to mention the single most famous thing about The Who's "My Generation," which of course is Roger Daltrey's stuttered vocals!

We also failed to mention how magnificent Carl Wilson's lead vocal is on "God Only Knows." It's probably his greatest vocal performance.

Jefferson Airplane was also at Altamont along with The Rolling Stones. In fact Marty Balin got knocked out cold by a Hell's Angel!