By Nick & Cal
We take the worst bands you remember and give them way more attention than they deserve. Equal parts comedy and storytelling, Polishing Turds will change the way you look at pop music. Behind every
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The podcast currently has 64 episodes available.
We cover the bizarre story of heavy metal legends Iced Earth, whose lead member was involved in the January 6 Capitol Riot.
(Sorry about all the dog barking in the background lol)
Selected Sources:
Metal Injection article from 1/6/2021: https://metalinjection.net/politics/is-this-a-photo-of-iced-earths-jon-schaffer-raiding-the-capitol-building
"The Fall of Jon Schaffer" by J. Salmeron: https://promethean.substack.com/p/the-fall-of-jon-schaffer
"The Radicalization of Jon Schaffer" video by Metal Blast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfWkUsinRbU&t=1071s
2004 interview w/ Schaffer: https://bravewords.com/features/bw-bk-iced-earth-controversy-you-be-the-judge
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Imagine Dragons have become too popular for their own good; a worldwide backlash is only inevitable! Critics, musicians, and countless Twitter randos unite to take the piss out of this commercial rock behemoth. They are, to put it bluntly, the New Nickelback...
All this ridicule naturally hurts Dan Reynolds' feelings, and he responds to it the only way he know how: by making crappy music. Indeed, the songs that bubble up in the wake of Imagine Dragons' fall from grace are easily the most unbearable of their career. But through it all the boys learn some hard-won lessons, and Dan comes out in a better place than ever before. It's actually kinda heartwarming.
[Note: since this recording Cal wishes to express his apologies as he has realized that not ALL of Imagine Dragons' songs are in the same key!]
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In Part II of our series we take on Imagine Dragons at their biggest, their boldest, their most obnoxious stage. During the mid-2010s this "rock" band brought their thunderous stomp-clap earworms to every observable realm of the human experience. Whether you were simply trying to listen to the radio, watch a football game, or take a stroll through a shopping center you COULD NOT escape this band.
In this episode we try to parse out just what it is that made Imagine Dragons so commercially successful, and why that's so annoying to old geezers like us. On the flip side, we also talk about some of Imagine Dragons' charitable efforts including their support for Mormon LGBTQ+ youth.
We also, quite predictably, go off on random tangents about fast food and obscure PC games.
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Who are Imagine Dragons? Why has their music dominated every mall, stadium, and TV commercial for the past 10 years? Why do old fogies like us find their music so obnoxious??
Perhaps Imagine Dragons are the industry's final attempt to kill rock and roll. Or maybe their music is a sincere expression of their soul and just happens to sound like that. Either way, the only to find out is to dig in.
So get fired up, believers! Cal and Nick are going to dive into the story of the biggest rock band of the modern age; a tale that involves a few strange coincidences and quite a lot of religion...
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Live Aid - the 1985 worldwide charity extravaganza - has often been called the "greatest concert of all time." So why is it here getting the Polishing Turds treatment?
Well, there's more to Live Aid than the iconic Queen set from Bohemian Rhapsody. There's the disturbing, politically-charged famine that inspired the event in the first place. There's a famously inept reunion show from a legendary band backed by a globe-trotting Phil Collins. And of course, there's the lingering, thorny question of where exactly all that money went.
We discuss all of these things and more in this brief little minisode!
SELECTED SOURCE MATERIAL:
https://www.spin.com/2015/07/live-aid-the-terrible-truth-ethiopia-bob-geldof-feature/
https://web.archive.org/web/20180516155623/http://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/file%20uploads%20/peter_gill_famine_and_foreigners_ethiopia_sincebook4you.pdf
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/19/turn-down-band-aid-bob-geldof-africa-fuse-odg
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/07/14/rock-around-the-world/1f4ca02b-a8b2-4bd7-a94c-b60713b59a93/
[Also credit to Bob Geldof's 1986 autobiography Is That It?]
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It's a brand new millennium. The "Tubthumping" heyday is long gone and most people have forgotten Chumbawamba even existed. But that doesn't mean our quirky comrades are down for the count; on the contrary they're ready as ever to confront this modern tech dystopia with their trademark wit and biting social commentary, in addition to a rather liberal employment of accordions....
As always, inadvertent history lessons come with the territory of discussing this band, and in this episode you'll be treated to a number of delightful tidbits including the sinking of the HMS Glorious, the British traditions of fell running and pantomime theatre, and the controversy surrounding the use of a certain metal band's music to interrogate Iraqi prisoners.
Great SPIN article on the use of torture in music: https://www.spin.com/2006/11/music-torture-war-loud/
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At long last, it's TUBTHUMPING TIME!! After endless digressions through history, politics, and obscure music scenes we finally arrive at Chumbawamba's era-defining hit. What does "Tubthumping" mean? What inspired its composition? Which creepy pederast mogul pushed it onto pop radio? We're gonna tell you everything you wanted to know about this tune and then some!
This episode also includes a special theatrical contribution from the following voice actors. HUGE THANKS to the these talented humans:
Jeremy Isabella
Peter and Dasha Barnes
Peter Mackie
Jack Mackie
Kseniya Yorsh
Jason Dipietro
Anthony Howes
...stay tuned for Part IV!
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Our heroes continue their wayward march toward improbable fame, satiating their anarchic through dalliances with new genres of music, including dance, pop, reggae, and a mysterious unheard-of one which we apparently think exists.
And of course this being Chumbawamba, we've supplied the necessary historical context for each esoteric track. Topics of conversation in this episode will include Live Aid, Apartheid, a bitch slap in Parliament, hypocrisies in sampling law and beyond.
**Listening to this episode will automatically earn you credits toward a PoliSci degree!**
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(Okay FINE we'll tell the actual story of Chumbawamba and not a bunch of obscure noisy punk bands you've never heard of!)
Before they were pop superstars, they were a misbegotten collection of misfits from the post-industrial wasteland of Northern England. They lived collectively in a dilapidated squat house, sharing all food and money (and, occasionally, each other's bodies). They agitated for revolution and made allies with striking coal miners. And slowly but surely, they came to realize they were made for better things than the insular punk scene which had given them birth.
This is the story of the nascent days of Chumbawamba; a band even more beautifully ridiculous than their name suggests.
**SPECIAL THANKS TO THE ALMIGHTY TABOR MOUNTAIN!! BUY HIS NEW RECORD "TWIGLIGHT APOLOGIES" TODAY!!**
https://tabormountain.bandcamp.com/album/twilight-apologies
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In 1997 a smash-hit single called "Tubthumping" took the world by storm. Its authors were an eccentric eight-piece outfit from Leeds, England who kept insisting that they were anarchists. Media and fans alike were confused: what did this feel-good drinking song have to do with politics? And what were a bunch of radicals doing making pop music anyhow?
This is the story of Chumbawamba... sort of.
You see, to understand Chumbawamba's incongruous success as pop star anarchists, you have to know the backstory. Far from an overnight success, this band's roots stretched back 15 years earlier to a small but immensely important scene called anarcho-punk. This movement, spearheaded by the legendary underground group Crass, merged music and radical politics in a manner that was bolder and more aggressive than anyone had ever seen, so much so that even those in the upper echelons of the State began to get nervous!
In this episode we tell the incredible story of Crass and the 80s anarcho-punk movement that, however indirectly, led to one of the catchiest singalong anthems of the 90s.
Consider this a Prequel to our proper Chumbawamba series. But unlike the Star Wars prequels, this shit is just as good (if not better) than the real thing...
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email: [email protected]
The podcast currently has 64 episodes available.
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