We are without Kousin Ray, who is “on assignment,” this week. Because it was “random topic week,” Kousin Marvin picked both Alice in Chains EPs, Sap (1992) and Jar of Flies (1994) for the Kousins to imbibe on, listening party style.

A call from Eugene B Sims and two from a new caller, Dave From Winston-Salem.

All three Kousins gave their “Now Listenings.”

What are your thoughts on the two AIC EPs?

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

For the KISS retrospective, and because tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, the Kousins decided to do a collective top 10 of their favorite KISS songs with the word “Love” in the title. 27 songs in the KISS Katalog had that word. There were 16 total votes.

The song rankings are real numbers given numeric values and then averaged out—the higher the value, the higher the overall ranking.  “1” equals 10. “2” equals 9. And so on.

Each Kousin gave a “Now Listening.”

Calls from Jim From Irwin, Nick From California, Jem From Alabama, and Bruno From Rainy South Africa.

What is your KISS “love” song ranking?

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 1986, 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 1986 (in their opinion).

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

Alice Cooper – Constrictor

Calls from Jim From Irwin and Jem From Alabama.

What would you have graded these albums?

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

Keeping with the 1986 theme, and with Kousin Ray out doing “mandatory fun,” the remaining Kousins threw a listening party for Cinderella’s 1986 debut, Night Songs. One Kousin admitted it wasn’t his thing, but did he dislike it? One Kousin absolutely loves it. One thinks it’s pretty cool.

All three Kousins gave “Now Listenings.”

Calls from Jim From Irwin, Jem From Alabama, and Bruno from South Africa, Where-Once-Again-It-Is-So-Hot-If-He-Goes-Outside-Barefooted-(Which Is His Wont)-He-Has-To-Hop-Around-Like-A-Leprechaun…

What are your thoughts on Night Songs? Do you have any faves?

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

The Kousins all said the same thing, “When I listen to Ozzy, I love it. But, it’s just not a go-to for me.” That may not have been verbatim, but you get the gist. The Kousins decided to compile a list of their own Top 10 Ozzy songs and were tallied into a collective Top 10. The albums that had the ranked songs were Blizzard of Ozz (1980), Diary of a Madman (1981), Bark at the Moon (1983), The Ultimate Sin (1986), No Rest for the Wicked (1988), and No More Tears (1991). It wasn’t a conscious choice to stay within those boundaries; it was just where the cards fell. This was extra special because of Ozzy’s recent induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist (his second after the Sabbath induction).

All four Kousins gave “Now Listenings.”

Calls from Jim From Irwin and Bruno From South Africa Where It’s So Hot You Can’t Stand To Go Outside.

What would your Ozzy Top 10 be?

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

It’s a combo/co-production episode of both Asylum AND I Remember Now: The Queensrÿche Podcast. In this episode, it’s some Queensrÿche on Queensrÿche gladiators. Kousin Ray (of both podcasts) defends the 1986 Queensrÿche classic, Rage For Order. In the other corner is “Communal” Steve Wright of IRN, who is defending the 1990 classic Empire.

To reiterate the rules: After a coin flip, the winner can either go first or defer their pick. The first selector chooses their “gladiator” or song for battle. After a short listen, the opponent chooses the song (or gladiator) to battle the round’s opening song. The other three Kousins then vote for the winner. The two pickers can also change their vote if they choose to. Whichever song has the most votes… wins. If there’s a tie, well, we’ll give that away, there wasn’t.

No “Now Listenings” since this episode had so many songs.

Calls from Jim From Irwin, Communal Steve, Bruno From Sweltering South Africa, and Jem From Alabama.

Would you defend Rage or Empire?

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

Also, check out Ray and Steve on the I Remember Now: The Queensrÿche Podcast and on X.

Dateline – The Asylum. The Year… 1986.

1984 was a banger. 1985 was a letdown(ish). However, 1986 brought back the hard rock (and all music) scene to kick-ass levels.

There are some landmark albums from 1986. Some 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 1986 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 Nick Provenzano from Northern California, Jem From Alabama, and Jim From Irwin.

What was your favorite albums from 1986? What was going on with you in 1986?

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

The Kousins are rockin’ ’round the Christmas Tree in this episode. Being the last Asylum episode of 2024, the Kousins talk about Christmas tunes, each giving two Xmas-based “Now Listenings” and a skimming of A Twisted Christmas (2006) from Twisted Sister.

Calls from Jem From Alabama, Jim From Irwin, Bruno From Sweltering South Africa, Eugene B Sims, and another call from Uncle Steve of Uncle Steve’s Mega Maiden Podcast.

What are your favorite Xmas songs, heavy or otherwise?

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

Due to some technical difficulties (of which Kousin Tim is sparing you details), Kousin Tim had to pass off production duties to Kousin Gary. The Kousins thought it was time for another “Mount Rushmore” topic and this time it was lead guitarists. We may get to rhythm guitarists in the future, but for now, the spotlight takers, the shredders, the tappers… lead guitarists. Each Kousin went through their four picks with some accompanying music and why they thought they should be on the Rushmore list.

Calls from Jim From Irwin, Jem From Alabama, Nick Provenzano, and long-lost Uncle Steve of the Mega Maiden Zone podcast.

Each Kousin gave a “Now Listening.”

Who would be on your Mount Rushmore of lead guitarists?

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

It started with Bruno From Sunny South Africa talking about an album that was a “bottom three” album or “top five” or whatever. Arbitrary rankings without context is hard. So, Kousin Tim called on all the “Asylum Inmates” to submit their own KISS Album Rankings. Unbeknownst to any of them, Kousin Tim didn’t really have a plan for the rankings, not unlike a dog chasing a car – what to do once you catch it? So, the Kousins decided to do a comparison and cumulative ranking based on the submissions by Jim From Irwin, Jem From Alabama, Nick Provenzano, Steve from Podder Than Hell/I Remember Now, Bruno, and Eugene B Sims. Kousin Marvin, Kousin Gary, and Kousin Ray didn’t know what any of the others had submitted. So, after the Inmates’ subs were tallied, Kousin Tim brought back the 2021 rankings from the Kousins and factored them in, as well. That gave a cumulative score of a total of 10 KISS fans. Out of 100, that’s 10%, so it’s a pretty good representation.

The albums ranked were: All studio albums from KISS (debut) through Monster, all four solo albums, all four “Alive” (Alive!, Alive II, Alive III, Alive IV – Symphony), Double Platinum, Killers, Smashes Thrashes & Hits, and Unplugged.

Calls by Jem From Alabama and Bruno From Sunny South Africa.

“Now Listenings” and “Let Me Know.”

How would you rank the 32 albums that the whole Asylum Family’s standings?

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