This week Angie Burian and I revisit the incredibly urgent “Separate Ways” by karaoke anthem kings Journey.
We dissect the infamous music video (named 13th worst by MTV), and its cocaine-fueled, sleeve-adjusting, invisible-intrument-playing stars.
Also: why this feels like stepdad rock, dad-centric mustache phobias, early experiments in music video technology, and strong feelings about Steve Perry’s hair from keyboardist Jonathan Kane
This week we’re revisiting the CD single Michael Muñoz’s estranged grandma gave him as a peace offering: Ricky Martin’s Livin’ La Vida Loca. We’ve got trumpets upon trumpets, deceptively emo lyrics, and a fun drunk driving accident.
Plus: Barbara Walters forcibly outing the singer on TV in 2000, Separate covers of the song performed by two entirely different anthropomorphic mice, and a serious conversation with Dad about Fastball’s “The Way.”
This week, first-time guest Tony Boswell details his childhood love of Cypress Hill’s orchestra-filled crossover hit, “Rock Superstar,” and how rap rock in general was a way to connect with both sides of his multicultural family.
We dissect the spooky, goofy music video which seems to be at complete odds with the message of the lyrics, Cypress Hill channeling their superstardom into a lucrative free-weed racket, and a plethora of late 90’s artifacts, including evil jacks in the box, jesters, 8 balls, and the mysteriously ubiquitous Stüssy S.
Also: scaring away extended family members and potential stepdads with Van Halen and Slipknot, ghost congas, and monkey grease.
This week Matt Booth and I "back-muse" Teenage Dirtbag, the self-produced, nakedly sensitive, “comfortably pathetic” song I ended up kind of loving. Matt remembers using these lyrics to experiment with cussing, and I remember how weird the song sounded to me as a kid.
We cover the violent DJ scribbling, superfluous (and completely inaudible) percussion instruments, “controversy” over the singer’s middle name, the teen-movie music video, the bizarre wikipedia/history of the band, an archived bio from their y2k webpage, and ironic sex.
Good music: Blink-182's new-ish single (with Matt Skiba) "Bored to Death"
This week Michael Muñoz returns to dissect childhood favorite “Slide” by the Gru Gru Dolls and its long-winded promises, half-assed marriage proposal, and very aggressive statements about abortion. We run down the ultra-literal music video, Johnny Goo’s terrible, “tattooable” quotes, and also just his terrible tattoos.
Plus: Now That’s What I Call Music Vs. Kidz Bop Vs. Jock Jams, the record for most Simpsons references in one episode, and a dispatch from an Alien Ant Farm show.
Good music: O’Brother’s “Endless Light” and Autolux’s “Pussy’s Dead”
This week we have a first for the show: a song by fart-comedy legend Adam Sandler called “Steve Polychronopolous.” My guest Leigh shares her storied personal history with the comedian, including the time his jokes grounded her for a year.
We also discuss a few of the eight-minute, one-note sketches found on this album, the merits of Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore, and the inexplicable hold he has on talented actors and comedians. How was there a clean version of this song? How is Will Forte in Ridiculous 6? Why do sharks exist?
Good music: Flight of the Conchords’ “Hurt Feelings” and Mastodon/Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s “Linoleum Knife”
This week Travis Duscay returns for our “spiritual” sequel to the Woodstock ’94 episode: Woodstock ’99!
We revisit the festival that qualified as an EPA Superfund site and was described by Kurt Loder as a “concentration camp” to analyze Creed and Robby Krieger's butt-rocking interpretation of Riders on the Storm, as well as the band's christ-channeling, sex-shaming, mid-tempo slog, "What's This Life For."
Also: An Adam Baldwin/Mel Gibson/Simpsons Conspiracy Theory, Travis’ dad buying him a Phish album for his birthday, and misunderstandings of satirical news articles
This week we have a very special episode: our unofficial Awful Band Spotlight on AFI. Devyn Trujillo (voted “most goth” by the AFI message boards) and Travis Duscay (voted “most frequent guest” by me) help turn what was supposed to be an episode on “Love Like Winter” into something much bigger.
We cover the many voices of Davey Havok, the Duchovny-esque lyrics on this track, and Devyn remembers knowing, even at 12, that the band’s credibility had been damaged by Sing The Sorrow. Also: insufferable AFI fans, making life-long friends on their message board, camping out overnight to see the band, Sing The Sorrow-era press releases, and Warped Tour stories from both sides of the railing.
This week we're working through Anney, aka Booty Rising's complicated relationship with the Avril Lavinge song by the same name.
She recounts living a double life, calling Avril a poser in AOL chatrooms but listening to her in secret, and we examine the mean-natured pranks in this video. (possibly directed at America herself??)
Also: a throat-clogging secret regarding Alien Ant Farm, a digital necronomicon, and "unflattering" butt pix.
Episode 50! Two brand new guests join me to confess their middle school love of edgy pop punk(?) band Good Charlotte and the very 80's "Girls & Boys." One remembers this being her perception of "hardcore" music, while the other grew too cool for the mainstream popularity that the group achieved.
Also: celebrity crush protocol, unsuccessfully trying to spike your luscious hair with egg yolks, and tales of the bro-smashing chair of my philosophy department.
This week Aimee-Beth returns to dissect “Take A Picture” from Definite Industrial Rock band Filter. Are these the most soaring and pretentious lyrics ever written about a naked alcoholic terrorizing an airplane? Would this video be better with our modern mermaid-tail technology? What does Patrick’s dad think about his son now?
Also: Our twee-est Kimya Dawson impressions, #PolingRock, and a youtube comment takes us on an oddly specific tour through the 90’s
Good music in this episode: NIN’s “Perfect Drug” and Filter’s “Nice Shot”
This week Aimee-Beth Diamond returns to revisit inexplicably well-known band Alien Ant Farm and their single "Movies." We bask in the glory of living adjacent to these guys and argue about whether the singer's annoying stage presence and persistent vocal tic are a result of an overabundance or extreme lack of confidence.
Also: We do a tight 15 minutes on the singer's hair, fat bass guitar impressions, and Aimee remembers getting felt-up by a future christian.
Today we’re dissecting Ozzy’s “Dreamer,” a bland rehash of John Lennon’s “Imagine,” which somehow manages to be even cornier than the original. Add 11 year-olds in Maxim Magazine makeup, and you have this truly cringeworthy video.
I also vent the issues I have in general with Ozzy, including his Prince of Darkness moniker, his terrible ballads, and being the weakest link by default in one of my favorite bands: Black Sabbath.
Cahn returns to talk about witnessing the “atrocity” that was Metallica’s 1996 album, Load. We focus on the grunge-era chugger “Until It Sleeps,” the limitless GIF potential in its music video, and Cahn reveals far too much about his dad.
Is this what James meant when he said Lars and Kirk were “pretending to be gay”? Did Napster and Some Kind of Monster ruin the goodwill necessary to tolerate the stylistic choices on this album? Should Metallica be allowed to experiment with their sound? (No)
Today we're revisiting the triple-produced, lyrically incoherent, y2k teen movie staple "Right Now" by aging pop-punkers SR-71. Is the subject of this song clingy or controlling? Is the singer super cool or super pathetic? And did he ever recover from the PC Feminism of the 90's?
Also: The too-big-to-fail hair and makeup industry of the era, our favorite "Megedeath" albums, and another ridiculous HS newspaper story, but this time I'm the victim.
Today we’re revisiting the sex jokes, cool-guy one-liners, and the anti-psychology crusade of Dexter Holland in The Offspring’s She’s Got Issues. Zooey Deschanel has a completely different take on her character in the music video, we remember confrontations at Thrice and Mars Volta shows, and we reminisce about the issue of our high school newspaper that got Albert “311” Albanez and myself fired from the staff.
Awful Spotlight #4! We’re covering three videos from Scott Weiland’s eclectic career, hand-picked by my guest, a feral human raised by a family of Wildmen. We dance the Musty Queer to Weiland’s Bowie-inspired single “Barbarella,” feel confused on behalf of titular “Sour Girl” Sarah Michelle Gellar for her part in the Stone Temple Pilots video, and we “Slither” down a toilet in Prague to watch Velvet Revolver perform the same riff for 3+ minutes.
Today we enter new territory as we revisit two mesmerizing videos from late 90’s/early 2000's rap giants Birdman and Lil John. We’re talking platinum football fields, custom PT cruisers, 3/4 of the Kings of Comedy, ridiculously graphic lyrics, and I reassess my adolescent hatred of the Lil John club banger. Stuff we like: Kanye West’s Life of Pablo and Kendrick Lamar’s Untitled Unmastered.
You can find Michael Tesauro's piece about the terrorist attack in our hometown of San Bernardino at http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/12/16/my-hometown-crisis-before-terror-san-bernardino-attacks-column/77429758/
Listener response time! It’s a special episode today as I respond to the huge reaction you guys had to our Lit episode (still kind of surprised people remembered them). I’m reading emails, Instagram and Facebook comments with stories of angry letters to the Guitar World editor, Lit’s MTV Cribs episode, the band’s 2000 Spring Break performance, and Jeremy Popoff freaking out about negative Yelp reviews for The Slidebar.
Thanks for writing in! Continue to do so at AwfulPodcast@Gmail.com, Instagram & Twitter (@AwfulPodcast), and the Facebook page (facebook.com/AwfulPodcast)
Today I'm talking with Nick and Matt about another "truly Californian" band from Orange County (sorry). Mark McGrath knocks his four front teeth out and breakdances on broken glass, we examine the band's secret funk metal past, and co-writer and director McG is probably Eurotrash.
Good music dicussed on this episode: Royal Canoe's "Button Fumbla," David Bazan's "Wolves at the Door," Lee Ranaldo's "Ambulancer," and Thundercat's "Song for the Dead."
