Kousins Marvin and Ray were both out, so that left Kousins Tim and Gary on their own. However, the shimmering light known as Christy came and sat in, and offered her perspective on this week’s topic. Speaking of which, circumstances over the last month have kept the Kousins from talking about the 40th anniversary of Live-Aid. The discussion was on the event, who watched it (which was 95% of the televisions in the world except for Kousins you know and love), the aftermath, the performances, and much more. We thank Christy for being our maiden in the tower.

There were calls from The Bringdowns, Bruno From South Africa, Communal Steve, and Jem From Alabama.

What are your memories of Live-Aid?

Let us know by calling the TLDNetwork (KUZZ Army) hotline and leaving a message for the Kousins at 336-422-NUMB (6862).

A few weeks ago, Kousin Tim committed to a deep dive into Dio-era Black Sabbath albums; at least the first two. That said, Kousin Tim discusses Heaven & Hell (1980) and Mob Rules (1981) with his thoughts – and, believe it or not, he has a lot to say – about his feelings and what he may like or dislike, not only about these albums, but he discusses Ozzy Sabbath and Dio solo stuff, too. This Friday is also the 44th anniversary of the launch of MTV. So, there was a discussion about the once-music-laden channel that now only stands for Miscellaneous Television.

There were calls from Jim From Irwin, Jem From Alabama, and a message from Bruno From Extraordinarily Cold South Africa.

What are your thoughts on Heaven & Hell and Mob Rules?

Let us know by calling the TLDNetwork (KUZZ Army) hotline and leaving a message for the Kousins at 336-422-NUMB (6862).

This week, the music world is mourning the passing of John Osbourne, better known to his friends, you, and us as Ozzy. We say music world. Not just the metal world. Not just the hard rock world. Celebrities, musicians, artists, influencers, and everyday joes from ALL walks of life, genres, backgrounds, and origins are mourning our beloved Ozzy. We won’t discuss it extensively here in the show notes, as we feel it was adequately conveyed by our listeners who called in, our own thoughts and memories, and more.

Thanks to Eugene B Sims, Jem From Alabama, Jim From Irwin, Nick Provenzano, and Bruno for calling (or writing in).

What is your most excellent Ozzy memory? Or, your favorite Ozzy song, either solo or with Black Sabbath?

Let us know by calling the TLDNetwork (KUZZ Army) hotline and leaving a message for the Kousins at 336-422-NUMB (6862).

A few weeks ago, the Kousins did a retrospective of music (and other pop-culture things) from 1988, which focused on the hard rock genre. Then, three weeks ago, the grades came in for 1988. Well, a lot of feedback/backlash/tongue lashes later, it was decided some of the most iconic albums of that year had been left off. So, this week, is “Part Deux,” grading 13 more albums that came out that year.

The Kousins will be visiting other years. But before we all move on, it was time to grade the top hard rock albums of 1988 (in their opinion).

The albums that were graded (from A+ to D-) were (in no particular order):

Poison- Open Up and Say Ahh!

Calls from Jim From Irwin and Ze German

Do you prefer this list to the last one? How does it stack up?

Let us know by calling the TLDNetwork (KUZZ Army) hotline and leaving a message for the Kousins at 336-422-NUMB (6862).

So, the final show for Ozzy and Black Sabbath was this past weekend. Kousin Gary streamed the whole show, carrying his laptop with him everywhere he went. He provided a comprehensive recap of the event, including the artists, surprises, and the spectacle. The Kousins talked about issues that the online world spouted off about, and the pluses and minuses. There’s even a small comparison between the Black Sabbath Farewell and the KISS Farewell.

After that, the Kousins presented their Collective Top 10 (okay, 13) Sabbath songs, which were picked from the whole career of Black Sabbath.

Calls from Jim From Irwin and Jem From Alabama, as well as a message from Bruno From Sunny (we hope) South Africa.

What would your Top 10 Sabbath songs be from any era?

Let us know by calling the TLDNetwork (KUZZ Army) hotline and leaving a message for the Kousins at 336-422-NUMB (6862).

A few weeks ago, we were supposed to have Stuart Hill on to talk about Matt Mullins & The Bringdowns (in which he’s the guitar player), but due to technical issues, that didn’t happen. We rescheduled with both Stuart AND Matt himself. Well, Stuart had another engagement he had to tend to, so Matt came solo. The Kousins and Matt did a listening party of the newest album from the group, called Learn From Letting Go. And, a first for the podcast, Matt actually played two of the songs live for us on the podcast. We hate that Stuart couldn’t make it, but we had a great time.

Calls from Bruno from Sunny South Africa, Jim From Irwin, and Jem From Alabama.

Have you heard the new Matt Mullins & The Bringdowns album? If not, why and what are you waiting for? If so, what did you think?

Let us know by calling the TLDNetwork (KUZZ Army) hotline and leaving a message for the Kousins at 336-422-NUMB (6862).

First, our producer apologizes for the lack of an episode last week. There it is; we’re done with it. No more mentions.

A few weeks ago, the Kousins did a retrospective of music (and other pop-culture things) from 1988, which focused on the hard rock genre (which can be found here). The Kousins will be visiting other years. But before we all move on, it was time to grade the top hard rock albums of 1988 (in their opinion).

The albums that were graded (from A+ to F) were (in no particular order):

Bon Jovi – New Jersey

Calls from Jim From Irwin, Jem From Alabama, Nick Provenzano, and Bruno From Sunny South Africa.

What would your grades be from the hard rock albums of 1988?

Let us know by calling the TLDNetwork (KUZZ Army) hotline and leaving a message for the Kousins at 336-422-NUMB (6862).

It’s KISS Throwback time! The assignment was to pick your top five tracks #5 on the 20 KISS studio albums.

To be clear, the #5s to choose from were:

Let Me Know, Let Me Go, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Rock Bottom, Flaming Youth, Baby Driver, Tomorrow & Tonight, Charisma, What Makes The World Go Round, Only You (using the original 1981 track listing from Music From ‘The Elder’), Danger, Gimme More, Lonely Is the Hunter, I’m Alive, Hell or High Water, Read My Body, God Gave Rock & Roll To You II, I Will Be There, We Are One, Stand, Shout Mercy.

Kousin Gary was out, but he still participated in this discussion.

Calls from Jim From Irwin, Dave From Winston-Salem, Bruno From Wintery South Africa.

What is your top #5s from the list above (and the bottom #5s if you’re so inclined)?

Let us know by calling the TLDNetwork (KUZZ Army) hotline and leaving a message for the Kousins at 336-422-NUMB (6862).

Continuing our 1988 theme, the year saw a months-long tour come to the USA and use the name Monsters of Rock. The show consisted of performances by openers Kingdom Come, Metallica, and Dokken, as well as headliners Scorpions and Van Halen.

What the Kousins did was find four songs from each act, put them in the order that they were played, and create a listening party. Along the way, Kousin Ray told stories about the show that came to Pittsburgh (Three Rivers Stadium) that he attended. He was battered, bruised, drunk, hungover, happy, sad, and more. All the Kousins gave some commentary on their thoughts, even Kousin Marvin who was all of 12-ish when it happened.

Calls from Jim From Irwin (or in this case, Beaver Falls, PA) and Bruno From South Africa.

Did you go to any of the tour stops? Did you want to?

Let us know by calling the TLDNetwork (KUZZ Army) hotline and leaving a message for the Kousins at 336-422-NUMB (6862).

Dateline – The Asylum. The Year… 1988.

1988 was still a good year for music. It was great not only in the hard rock but also in all music. We think it was pretty righteous. Some landmark albums came out that year, including Kousin Ray’s all-time fave, which happens to be Kousin Tim’s #2.

Some of those represent the biggest or perhaps most widely known in some artists’ careers. In addition to all the great music, not just hard rock but pop, alternative, and post-punk, the Kousins take on a snippet in time and talk about what 1988 meant to them. Not only is music on the menu for the Kousins, but they also talk about movies, television, sports, and even video games.

No “Now Listenings” because there was a lot of music to go through.

Calls from Bruno From Unwinterilylylyly South Africa, Jem From Alabama, and Jim From Irwin.

What were you doing in 1988? And what were you doing?

Let us know by calling the TLDNetwork (KUZZ Army) hotline and leaving a message for the Kousins at 336-422-NUMB (6862).