Milk Crates and Turntables. A Music Discussion Podcast
Milk Crates and Turntables is a Music Discussion Podcast. Each week Scott chooses a different music topic and discuss and debate the good, the bad and the ugly side of that particular topic. Maybe you'll agree or maybe you'll disagree. Listen in and find out.
Milk Crates and Turntables. A Music Discussion Podcast
Ep. 188 - The Cars, Covers, And The Sound Of The Seventies
We riff through The Cars’ catalog, defend Ben Orr’s legacy, and stress why Candy O and Panorama still reward deep listens. We test a stack of California Dreamin’ covers, revisit 60s pillars like CCR and Hendrix, and salvage “forgotten” 70s and 80s bands with fresh ears. We end by crowning a 1975 opening line that still shocks and make the case for separating art from the artist.
• dual-frontman chemistry in The Cars and why Ben Orr’s vocals anchor the biggest hits
• Candy O’s shift from the debut and Panorama’s darker edge
• Drive and Heartbeat City as commercial peak vs fan favorites
• CCR’s Fortunate Son and Hendrix’s Watchtower as era-defining statements
• California Dreamin’ cover shootout and what makes a good cover
• Blood, Sweat & Tears, Ten Years After, Mountain, ELP re-evaluated
• 1975 standouts and the power of a perfect opening line
• separating music from artist politics to preserve memory
I won’t be here next Thursday. I will be on the Icon of the Seas somewhere in the Western Caribbean. Jealous? I’ll see you in a couple of weeks
If you like this podcast SHARE it. If you have any ideas or suggestions for the show you can email us at: milkcratesandturntables@gmail.com
Picture this, I'm a bag of dicks. Put me to your lips. What's up, bitches? Bunch of baby bear in his shit. Give me lip. I'ma send you to the yard. Get a stick, make a switch. I gotta end the real quick. I am crap. I ain't lying. Kick a lion in the crap. My hip hop out of the shelf. If your mama own a booty, give your dog and fuck your beard. We the best. We will cut a front face in your chest, little witch. I'm a bitch in the refresh, I'm a bit checking. What's up, everybody?
SPEAKER_00:It's welcome to the podcast. You know the name, I'm not gonna say it's streaming like right now.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you wanna hear what nobody speaks, nobody get it.
SPEAKER_00:I fucking love this game. It's gonna get taken down a little bit. I know the the white people are complaining I'm already the funniest plane with proof quicker than the youngest, nobody speaks. DJ Shadow Charlie Brown peppermint pepper. Yeah. You don't know nothing about that. I don't wanna know anything about that music sucks. Yeah, blah, blah, blah. I hear it all the time from you white people. That music sucks. Yeah, well, so I can't say that. You my audience. I have to be nice. You can't I can't believe you like that music. What the where are you from? You're not from, but shut the fuck up. Yeah, so what's up? I'm a little turbo out right now. Oh, yeah, Vets Connection podcast. Check it out. That's my veterans podcast. I do a lot of stuff with veterans, and you got this other side. One man, one mic foundation. Yep. Scan. Go give me money. Every nonprofit needs money. I need money for my nonprofit to help the veterans. One man, one mic foundation. All seriousness, we do great work with veterans. Very unique work. So this is my plug. So what's up, everybody? Let me uh check something out. Always gotta check something out. They're in the live stream. You gotta check it out. You gotta make sure you're playing. You gotta make sure you're plugged in. I'm live. Okay. And I I'm assuming people can hear me because no one said I can't hear you. Let's see. I'm live. Okay. Okay. I'm assuming people can hear me because no one said I can't hear you. Yeah, well, of course. That's so I I can hear you. So I'm live.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Now we know you're live. I know you're live. I'm live. I'm assuming people can hear me because no one said I can hear you. Why are you repeating yourself? Of course. That's so I I can hear you. Yeah. So I'm live. So what? We know you're live. I know you're live. I know you're live too. What's going on here? Why are you repeating yourself? Where are all these voices coming from? I can hear you. Yeah. So yeah, I can hear you too. We know you're live. I know you're live. I know you're live too. And I know you're live too. Not like two live crew. Where are all these voices coming from?
unknown:I can hear you.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah, I can hear you too. Yeah. I know you're live. Yeah. And I know you're live too. Okay. All right, enough of that. I like this better. I'm in a weird mood tonight.
SPEAKER_01:Nobody speaks. Nobody gets choked. Yeah. Nobody speaks. Nobody gets choked.
SPEAKER_00:All right. Alright. DJ Shadow, run the jewels. Nobody speak. Yes, what's up, everybody? Like I said, welcome to the show. You know the name, I'm not going to say it. Streaming live right now over everything. As usual. I don't even go down the list anymore. I don't even know what episode this is. Yeah, I really don't think I've published last week's episode, to tell you the truth. I've just been busy. I got shit going on. I got shit to do. Right? All right, let's get right into it. As you know, this is the newest format, the newest iteration of Milk Crates and Turntables, where I just see the title of an article, a music article. I don't read it. I don't have anything to do with it. I just said that might sound interesting. Or it might not, which is another reason why I would get it, why I would pull it out. But uh, if my mouse decides it wants to work, I can start this show officially. Okay. What's that mean? DoorDash. What's the first one? What do we got? Let's see. All right. Five classic tracks from the cars you should know. Now, if you grew up in Boston, like I did in the 70s in the 80s. Wait, 70s is when we realized there was world, there was a world. Uh the 80s was insanity. Uh, then you know the cause, and you pretty much should know up until some of their later albums, you should probably know most of their music. So let's see. Let's see what this uh this this article, and and I I have lost a lot of faith in uh in these journalists. This uh is by Bill Cop from uh Goldmine, the music collector's magazine. Okay. Let's say uh it says in honor of the 40th anniversary of the release of the car's greatest hits. Wait a minute. Wait the fuck a minute. Why would you celebrate a fucking anniversary for a greatest hits album? Like which greatest hits album? I'm sure they already have three, right? In honor of the 40th anniversary of the release of the car's greatest hits, why would you even celebrate the release of the greatest hits? Fucking celebrate the the albums that made the greatest hits. But see, this is what I mean, people. This is what I mean. Fucking these people that write, I won't even call them music journalists. All right, here we go. Uh the Cars were at the forefront of the American New Wave movement during this 19 debuting in 1978. The Boston-based group combined the best qualities of power pop, stripped down rock, and intelligent use of synthesizers for a winning style that earned the band more than a dozen top 40 hits, five multi-platinum albums in the U.S., as well as a significant chart success abroad. Uh, the band broke up in 1988, but reunited twice, once in 2011 for a reunion album, the well-received move like this and tour, and again briefly in 2018 for their induction into the Rock and Hall of Fame. Neither of those reunions included, I'm throwing this in unfortunately, uh, bassist vocalist Benjamin Orr, who died in 2000. I always, you know what? When he died, I didn't think much of it because I was so used to seeing him, and it was kind of like the cars to me at a point were kind of overplayed. So I didn't really pay much attention to it, but then I realized later on that what a significant star he was, what a significant rock star he was. And he he, you know, everyone has Rico Kasich is the face of the band. But I think this is this is a little more of a case of, you know, you have uh uh uh uh two people in the band that write songs, that sing songs, and uh it's it's kind of like Fleetwood Mac. You know, you have Christine McVee fans, right? There's a lot of people. I am a big Christine McVee fan. I think I liked her songs better than Stevie Nix's songs, right? And you can't dispute me. You can't you can't debate me on that because she had some great songs, not maybe as many, but nonetheless, she had great songs. Benjamin Orr sang some of the biggest cars hits. And, you know, we just kind of we just used to see it all the time. So, you know, when he passed, and then but you know, this is what this stuff does. You get to appreciate it later and appreciate him, and you know, better late than never. Uh the car's legacy is well established and enduring. While leading uh while leader Rick O'Kasic died in 2019, recent news comes that a cache of songs written but never completed will now form the basis of a new car's release. That project is slated to include the three surviving members of the group, lead guitarist Elliot Eason, drummer David Robinson, and keyboardist Greg Hawks, in honor of the 40th, the 40-year anniversary of the release of the car's greatest heads. Whoopty fucking do. Uh, here are five standout tracks and hit singles from the band. Just what I needed, right? Okay. That's it. Yeah. That is just one of many great songs off that album. Some people, it's their favorite song. This is the thing about this, right? This car's first album, the second album, Candy O, were pretty much both perfect out perfect albums. They had uh they had a lot going on. Like every fucking song on the album was good, which is what I call a perfect album. Ah, the Cars roared out the gate with their self-titled debut album released in June '78. That was a great summer, by the way, when that album was released. The cars spawned no less than five hits, reaching number 18 in Billboard's album charts, and eventually earning the six-time platinum designation. Yeah. Sung by Ben Orr. There you go. And an exemplar of the band's style. Just what I needed is a taut, catchy single that establishes the band's signature sound. I don't mind you coming here. Yeah, I'm not gonna do it. I won't do that to you. Let's go from Candy O. Candio is my favorite cars album. People people get on me about that. But I it's my favorite. I think just like Van Halen 2, I like Van Halen 2 better than Van Halen 1. I don't know why. I I there's a lot of bands out there. Their second album is an album that I like better than the first album. But in this case, I I loved Candy O. I love the fact that the cars they changed it up. And I I always love when bands do that. That was a big thing that U2 did. No two albums other than uh How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and All You Can Take With You. Uh they could have been a double album. And I love those two albums. Those are the last two great U2 albums. But uh Candy O was a big kind of departure from their first album, as was Van Halen 2 from Van Halen 1. Uh, the cars definitely dodged oh gate. It means I gotta let someone in the gate. Lucky I had my phone on. Although I just I don't know who I just let in, but that's okay. They know where to find me. Uh, let's see. Uh Candy O, the 1979 album, yielded three songs, two of which charted. The album centerpiece is the propulsive let's go, like just what I needed, and many cars hits. The song was written by Rick O'Kasick, but featured lead vocals from Orr. Let's go hit number 14 on the Billboard's chart. At least you know, Rick O'Kasick, you you gotta give the guy credit. He he uh he would write these songs, but he knew that these were good Ben Orr songs. He wrote songs for himself, but he also knew this would be good for Ben to sing. And that's a team player right there. I don't know what their relationship was. I I didn't hear it was bad. Um I never heard that unless you know if you if you're watching or listening and uh you you you've heard of anything. I I think they got along, but um yeah, he would write songs and say, This is this is good for you. And and Rico Kesick had a number of hits too, uh sing a number of hits. Let me see. Touch and go. Touch and go is a good song. Panorama, again, I like the album. It wasn't my favorite album. This is when I started to kind of, you know, being a Boston kid, I started to get a little burned out. Like the band Boston, I got really burned out from them, and it took me decades to re-find it and reappreciate it. Um, but Touch and Go is a that's a pretty good song, too. Uh 1980s Panorama featured a darker sound, yep, and the album was met with more muted commercial success than its predecessors. Those first two, and that's the problem. So you you get that they talk about the sophomore slump. This was a junior slump. Uh, but in the car's world, muted success still meant platinum record, that's right, and top 40 single in Touch and Go. MTV didn't hurt either. Composed and sung by Rico Kasich, the record's two other singles, failed to chart, but bigger success was just around the corner because then this monster came along in 1981. Shake it up. Shake it up. Shake it up was a major breakthrough without altering this style in any significant way. The cars placed four of the album's five singles on the charts. Cruiser, Since You're Gone, and Victim of Love. Since you're gone. That's a good time. All land on the U.S. rock singles charts, but the album's peppy little track soared to number two spot on that chart and number four place on Billboard 200. Shake It Up went in double platinum, too. Yeah. And we get Drive. That's you know, that's the song. Right, that's their 80s song. That's you know Drive the Mo uh from 1984's Heartbeat City. The momentum continued with the car's fifth LP, 1984's Heartbeat City. The album eventually went four times platinum, with a staggering seven singles released from its ten tracks. Jesus Christ. Uh the Benjamin Orr sung ballad, Drive, showed a different side of the band's musical character and ended up being the car's most commercially successful song worldwide. Drive went top ten in more than a dozen countries. Yeah. There you go. And that's the if you're watching, that's the chick right there. That's I think she ended up marrying Rick O'Kasick, this one right here. Elena something. That you know, if you want to hear a weird story, go do some research about when uh his relationship with her when he was sick, uh, and then when he died, he left nothing to the family to his family. I I'm almost sure that he left like nothing to they were divorced, but he didn't leave anything to his kids either, supposedly. Just kind of weird. But and I I shouldn't say that because every family dynamic is different. I don't know. Yeah, I I can't speculate, so I shouldn't say that. But it's it's not. It's not the norm, right? Not the norm. All right, back to the show. There we go. What do we get in the comments? Dave Phillips, King of the 45s, says hello, Scott. Bob Kirkman, what's the topic tonight? Well, you should have been listening. It's me, it's music news, all right? Uh, let me see. Dave Phillips, King of the 45s. I saw the cars at the rat many months, many moons ago. Wow, okay. Uh, you selling shoes. Uh, where does drive fit in? Well, I don't know when you asked that question, but drive is that's their biggest hit. That's where it fits in. It's not my favorite car song. I I don't know if a true cars fan uh would say that's their favorite song. It's a great song. Um I you know what? I can't really I don't care. It's my show. Let me see what we got here. Let me pull up. Let's do a little car's retrospective here. So I can get, I don't know. I think my record for copyright infringement on YouTube is 27. I was with Mark and Lou, and we went on a tangent of songs. So let's see. Let's pull up the 40th anniversary of the Cas Greatest Hits. Uh, let me see. Caz. No, not the movie soundtrack. Caz Greatest Hits. There we go. Complete greatest hits, Cas Greatest Hits playlist. See, that's what you gotta watch when on Spotify. They'll say Cas Greatest Hits, but it's a playlist. Alright, here we go. The complete greatest hits. So let's go through, let's go through a few. Here we go. Turn this up. Alright, we heard just what I needed. Name this tune, right? You know it. Play the game by yourself. Okay. All right. Play the game. All right. I think you know it. If you're a Cars fan. Yeah. All right, right here. I fucking love this song. This might be my favorite Cars song. And it is the last song, I believe, on the first album. I believe it's the last song. This is such a fucking great song, which goes to show you how good the other songs are that this one never gets played on the radio, never really gets its due, I think. I just don't think it does. Let's see. Nope. Such a great fucking Ben Orr song, too. This is better than Drive. It's all I can do. This is this is my favorite car song. That's it. That's it.
SPEAKER_04:One, two, three times.
SPEAKER_00:This is it. This is the song. I don't even have to go through the rest of them. It's fucking my favorite card song. How many times have I said that now? I wish I could play the whole thing, but YouTube will definitely screw me on this. Ah, it's such a fucking great song, isn't it? I know you know it is.
SPEAKER_04:I can't put my pride.
SPEAKER_00:Such a fucking great song. Alright.
SPEAKER_04:It's all I can do.
SPEAKER_00:Alright, gotta move on. We know that one. This is a good one. This is a good one. We know that one. Know that one. Some of these songs are literally, I can name that song in one note. Right? I can name that song in one note. This is it. This is one of them. All you have to do is you know it, right? You know that. I'm not the one. Not my favorite car song. Nah.
unknown:I'm not the one.
SPEAKER_00:Nah. That's another one of those songs. You know it right away. Here we go. We know that one. Magic's an okay song. That's another good. Why can't I have you? Very. Tonight she comes. Tonight she comes.
SPEAKER_04:Blo tonight.
SPEAKER_00:She comes? That's kind of I don't know. That's a little. I don't know. Tonight she comes. And then that could be misconstrued, also. You are the girl. That's their greatest hits album. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I I still have to go through. I mean, that's such a great intro, too. Such a great song. Fuck me. Yeah. All right. Let me let me pull up my next article. Let's uh all right. Let's let's again, I see I only see the title, so bear with me if you don't uh agree with any of this. Let me bring it over here, pull it up on the screen. There was a time I would never do this. I'd be like, oh fuck, I'm not messing with all this. I'll screw up my show. But I I put in the time I'm working. All right, four songs from the 60s, boomers, that influenced your music taste as a kid. These super cool and mega famous songs from the 60s were quite influential. We'll be the judge of that. Easy guy. Easy. In rock pop and psychedelia. And if you were a young kid growing up in the 60s, Dave Phillips was 30 in 1964. So Dave Phillips, king of the fives, king of the 45s. Nah, he was 30 in like 69. I'm only kidding. I don't want to make him that old. Dave Phillips, King of the 45s. 1969. He turned 30. How's Nom, Dave? How was Nom?
SPEAKER_02:None of your fucking business.
SPEAKER_00:At least one of these songs probably had a hand in what your music taste look like today. We'll be the judge of that. Let's take a look, shall we? Fortunate Son by Credence Clearwater Revival. Okay. It's a great song. Might be slightly overplayed. It starts to fall into that category. Maybe overplayed. A few songs have become as closely associated with their respective eras as CCR's famous Roots Rock protest song, Fortunate Sun, released in 69. This clear and loud criticism of the Vietnam War isn't just brave, but it's defiance. But it's not also a genuinely amazing song on a musical level. John Fogarty really is one of the best songwriters of his generation, and I don't think anybody watching and listening to this show will disagree with that. Let's go to the next one. All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix. As long as it's not All Along the Watchtower by Bob Dylan. And I know Bob Dylan, he wrote the song first. Did you know that? Yeah, yeah. And I also know the fucking Prince Romantic Monday. All right, asshole. Shut the fuck up. Why are you so hostile tonight? I'm just not sick of your shit. There's people out there that do that. Well, I couldn't leave Jimi Hendrix off this list. And while all along the watchtowers, here we go. Is really a Bob Dylan tune that Hendrix covered. See, see, fucking see. You see? Fuck. These people. Like they say it like it's the fucking first time anyone's ever heard it. If you're talking to fucking people that fucking grew up in the 60s, asshole, they already know this. Know your fucking audience. Know your readers, asshole. Fucking hate that. He absolutely transformed the song to into a completely different work. Oh, really? Oh, you're so observant. I never knew that. Wow, I'm so glad I read this article written by uh M Casalena. Oh, M, she is on her game. Like this, this Gen Z just knows her shit, people. She knows her shit. Did you ever did you know that Bob Dylan wrote and sang all along what you well M just told you, didn't she? Shut the fuck up, M. If you love psychedelic rock, this cover song might have pushed you in that direction. I don't know. I should probably read these articles first to fucking save my blood pressure. Okay. All right. Moving on. What do we got next? California Dreaming. Fucking love that song. Nobody can cover that song either. I don't care who the fuck they are. Nobody, nobody should even ever attempt to. And I'm not a big mamas and papas fan. Trust that. I'm not a fan of the genre of that genre of music. But I'm gonna pull up California Dreaming. And let's just see who tried to cover it. Okay. Let's do that. Ah now. Oh boy. Alright, here's the original. Here's the original. Right? It's fucking great intro, too.
SPEAKER_04:All the leaves are all leaves of Christ.
SPEAKER_00:I want to, I just want to listen to the whole fucking song. It's such a fucking great song. Alright, now we got California Dreaming covered by Jose Feliciano. He's a guitar player, so he better get that part right. Come on, Jose. Bring it.
SPEAKER_05:Come on, don't all the leaves around and the sky.
SPEAKER_00:Wait a minute. Wait a minute now. Wait a minute.
SPEAKER_05:I went for a walk.
SPEAKER_00:Fucking Jose. Alright, buddy. Alright, buddy. Alright, you won me over. You won me over. Jose's winning. You know, he does, he does uh uh the cover of um The Doors Light My Fire. And I dare you to go listen to that. If you haven't listened to that in a long time, I might pull it up. Uh he does a fucking amazing cover of Light My Fire. It's it's it's so from the Doors version, it's just as good. It's just as good. All right, let's see. We got Bobby Womack. And if you're not, if you don't know who Bobby Womack is, fucking go look him up and then come back next week and tell me. But let's see, this this would be in this is gonna be interesting. No, Bobby.
SPEAKER_03:And the sky is gray.
SPEAKER_00:No, no, doesn't catch me. You got the beach voice. Ah, they get a little mood thing going at the beginning. Daring to be different. No. No.
SPEAKER_04:All the leaves are brown.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, what the fuck?
SPEAKER_04:And the sky is grey.
SPEAKER_00:God damn, that's fucking bad. What the fuck is this? This is like a combination of Riders on the Storm and fucking California Dreaming. Riders on the Dreaming. That's horrible. See what I mean? Fuck. Okay, let's see. I I don't know. I this might not be a cover. Uh this song says California Dreaming, but it doesn't have the apostrophe at the end. It's a song by Freischwima. Let's see what Freisch Rima does with this song. If it's even the same song. It's different. It's different. I'm gonna give this girl a chance. Hold on. Wait a minute now. Wait, wait. I I I don't know. I might revisit that one.
SPEAKER_03:I like his favor.
SPEAKER_00:I I I love I love I I love female singers. So much better than male singers. I love female singers. There's such an eclectic sound. You know? I just I just love female singers. I might have to revisit that one. We'll see. Uh Eddie Hazel? Eddie Hazel? Eddie Hazel, if you don't know, was the guitar player for Parliament Funkadelic who was, who was better than Jimi Hendrix. Eddie Hazel had demons. Eddie Hazel has probably one of the greatest guitar solos in the history of music. Um yeah. Let's see what this is. This I'm I'm assuming this is going to be an instrumental.
SPEAKER_01:Little moody.
SPEAKER_00:He was a great guitar player, though. I kind of like this. I can dig this, I can dig it. Only because I know who Eddie Hazel is. I dig that. I dig this. Right? Come on, you gotta like that. Yeah, out there, you have to like that. That was that was pretty fun. I like that. Okay. I'm not even gonna go with California Love, because that's fucking Tupac, Mr. Fake Gangster Guy. Uh let's get one more. Let's see. Let me see. Song by uh sung by uh Barry McGuire. I don't know. Sia. She's she's a young, well, she was. She's a um, let's see. Let's see. This is it for all the money. All right, for all the money, this is it. Everything's on black. Oh Jesus. No, no, you lost craps. What the fuck? But I like that any and I like the the the uh yeah, I like the Fryswima. I like this girl. I also like I like house music too. I I like okay, I like Freyswima. I like hers. I like Eddie Hazel's version. I'm gonna actually download these. I'll put them in my and Jose Feliciano. Jose pulled it off, man. Not like that fucking when he did that sting tribute, he sang every breath you take. If you want to see a fucking shipwreck, go go YouTube that one. Jose Feliciano sting dedication. Oh boy. Oh boy. All right, on with the show. All right, we all know the Mamas and the Bobas. Where was I? Let's let's pick this up a little. Tomorrow Nevin Knows by the Beatles. I don't know if that's one of those songs. Let's see. Let's see. No, that's not one of those songs. But to Emma it was. And that's it. I think I hit five, right? What was it? Three. Four? Four. Okay. Enough of that. Back to the show. Let's see what's in the comments. What do we got? Uh, Dave Phillips. Let's go back to Dave Phillips. Uh, Dave Phillips says uh my favorite car song is Best Friends Girl. Then he said, fuck you, because they said he was 30 in 1969. Uh, my man Steve Stevens, the harmonizing in that song was a masterpiece, and I'm assuming that was uh California Dreaming. Queen Latifah covered it. I would never play that. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Uh King of Covers agrees, light my fire, cover by Jose. Yeah, it's epic. That's an epic cover. Uh Todd's big head Todd the wet sprocket, asshole. I'm here, entertain me. Hey, what did I miss? And uh, no, Dave Phillips, I will never play the Queen Latifa version of California Dreaming. I just I just won't do it. You do it. You do a show, you do a podcast. Not me, you. Uh-oh. Hold on. I don't want to fuck this up. Come on, here we go. All right, what's the next one on the list? These 11 bands were huge for a while. They're mostly forgotten now. Do you want to do that one or a kind of depressing the band was imploding, but they're united for one final masterpiece three decades later. Uh, was this grunge swan song? I'll go with 11 bands. I don't want to get all depressed about a band imploding. Let's see. Let's see how uh I agree. Fucking spam on all this shit. All right, here we go. Get rid of this, delete and screen. These eleven bands were huge for a while. They're mostly forgotten now. Once chart-topping giants, now ghosted by history. Eleven 70s and 80s bands who filled arenas, ruled radio, then quietly slipped from the memory. Let's let's uh let's dive in, shall we? Number 11. Oh no, that wasn't it. Number one, Blood, Sweat and Tears. True. 67 to 81, but nobody knew about them past like 74. 75. Uh Blood, Sweat and Tears. They were they were they were a great band. They had some great hits. Let's uh let's pull one up. Hold on. Hold on. It's all right. Take it easy. I know, I know. Blood, here we go. Let's see. Greatest hits. Uh let me see. And when I die, and when I'm gone, you got spinning wheel. Lisa, listen to me. Lucretia McEvil. Lucretia McEvil. Let me see what. I love you more than you'll ever know.
SPEAKER_04:Forever leave you.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Get the get some new funk going there. But this is probably was spinning wheels, maybe their biggest song, but this one. Yeah. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_02:I lost Pablo.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. This is this song's deceiving. It's deceiving. Starts off nice. Sounds all nice and moody.
SPEAKER_01:Oh shit.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. That was this whole The Horn section with Chicago. Blood Sweat and Tears. You make me so very happy. Alright. I think we're good with that. Blood, Sweat and Tears. Yeah, they were good. They were good. Let's see. What's the next one? Ten years after. Alvin Lee, Alvin Lee was one of the greatest guitar players ever. And never, ever, ever gets the credit. Never. Alvin Lee was a fucking great guitar player. And just again, he's never mentioned. Never. I'll bring up, I'll bring up the song that everybody knows. If you're not too familiar with them. It's uh, there we go. I I don't know how you could uh ever dispute this song. It's this is a great song. And this is, I mean, let's break it in. There we go. One of the greatest guitar solos in music history. That's a bad baby. Yeah. Definitely getting a copyright hit on this, but out of there tonight. Alright. Alright, Steve Stevens, if you're still out there, if you're still out there, do you remember at the up the Highlands, the Ignos, the basketball courts, do you remember that that was spray painted on the back of one of the backboards 10 years after? Yeah. I'll never forget that. It was spray painted in black ten years after. Yep, yep, yeah. The strange things that you remember. Uh, when Alvin Lee in 10 years after hit Woodstock stage in 69, they played with such blistering speed and intensity that they seemed destined for immortality. Lee's rapid-fire guitar runs on I'm Going Home made him a household name, briefly elevating him to the fastest guitarist alive status. The band's blues rock energy filled arenas in the early 70s and scored radio hits with Love Like a Man and I'd Love to Change the World. Yet the very virtuosity that made Lee famous began to seem like excess as the decade wore on. Blues Rock suddenly felt stodgy compared to Glam, Prague, and Punk. Despite their talent, 10 years after never quite defined an era, they reflected it. By the 80s, they were mostly forgotten. Their Woodstock moment, preserved on film, but rarely revisited on playlists. They're right. Absolutely right. So that that that kind of proved, I think it validates what I said. If at one point in time you're recognized as the fastest guitarist alive, that means you're playing so fast and so accurate. You're not just fucking making noise. He was accurate. Right? You have to be considered one of the greatest guitarists ever, but he's never on the fucking list. Not even in the top 20. Because 10 years after never really made it. So fuck everybody. Mountain. Okay. Okay. Uh Leslie West is a pussy. Number one. He was a big pussy. Saw a video of him crying one time. But Mississippi Queen is a fucking jam. So heavy, loud, and swaggering. Mountain were early pioneers of the hard rock sound that would later fuel heavy metal. Formed around guitarist Leslie West and Cream's producer bassist Felix Papalardi. They broke through with Mississippi Queen in 1970. A cowbell stomped cloud. Yeah, that's it. More cowbell of a barroom grit and arena power. West, a towering figure, both physically and musically, wielded a guitar tone so thick it made Clapton sound polite. This is a good guitar player, I'll give him that. He was great. Mountain played Woodstock technically at the post-festival show follow-up, toured relentlessly, and influenced generations of riff-heavy bands. But Papa Lidari's tragic death in 1983, shot by his wife in a bizarre domestic dispute, cast a shadow, and by then Mountain had long since peaked. Today they're mostly remembered as a one-song band, Mississippi Queen, alone uh cements their place in rock history. Emerson Lake of Palmer. Yeah, uh okay. Uh Mark Smith would heavily disagree with that, and most prog rock fans would disagree with this. They would say no, they are still relevant, they're still prominent, and they're still, you know, well, they they can't, with one of them dead, I think maybe two of them are dead. Uh few bands embody the excess and grandeur of prog rock like Emerson Lake of Palmer, combining Keith Emerson's Virtuoso Keyboards, Greg Blake's soaring voice, and Kyle Palmer's Thunderous drumming ELP filled stadiums in the early 70s and sold millions of albums. So this is the song, I believe, that defines uh to a generation. To a gener I I think this is the song um that defines them. Let's see. Maybe not, because I'm looking at it and they have they have some they have a bunch of good songs. There you go.
SPEAKER_02:Welcome back, my friends, too. That's it right there.
SPEAKER_00:Come inside, come inside. From the beginning. Takes a little build-up. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_04:But don't be uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00:And this one wanna be wanna be stop.
SPEAKER_01:Wanna be some magical market. So they they have a bunch of wanna be my this one, how's that?
SPEAKER_00:I don't know. This song reminds me of the moody blues that this fucking someone needs to be walking around with a fucking fucking fucking elf shoes and fucking hobbit hat and a fucking cane with fucking herbs. All this fucking hobbit shit. That's a Hobbit song. I don't care what Mark Smith says. Ooh, what a lucky man he was. Uh Quicksilver Messenger Service? Yeah, they I uh I mean, no. Quicksilver messenger service were once considered blah, blah, blah. Asia. They made a lot of money when the fucking millennial hit, when the year 2000 hit. That was the song. The final countdown. They made a boatload of money. Whoever wrote that fucking song. Excuse me. Humble Pie. Fronted by Small Faces veteran Steve Marriott. Let's see. Grand Funk Railroad. Yeah, they they were they were bigger than they weren't. That's right. That's right. Uh Poco. The Raspberries? Okay. They had, you know, go all the way. That was their hit. That was it. That was it. What else do we have? Uh I think that's it. Yeah, that's 10. All right. Let's get out of that one. How long are we? Oh, fucking. Alright, I'm already at 48 minutes. I'm gonna wrap this shit up. Well, then let's kid, let's see where there's any comments going on here. Let's see. Uh, light finger Perry Denovich, the AI, uh, Barry Maguire version of California Dream It had a mama and papa singing back up and replaced his vocals with Denny Daugherty's. Yeah, that's right. That's right. I looked at that and I knew there was something behind that because I had heard that story before. Yeah. You make me so very happy. Yeah, Chicago blew Blood, Sweat, and Tears away. Yeah, yeah, you know what? Blew them away, I don't know. I don't know. Um, they were definitely bigger than them. They were definitely more popular than them. But Blood, Sweat and Tears had their moment. Um, Dave Phillips, I saw Ten Years After many times back in the day. Alvin Lee is a great guitarist. Yes, enjoyed the show. And uh, let me see, Peridovich, uh, AI Lightfinger, Peridovich, Leslie West was over overrated. Yep, Hendrix overrated. Perry Lightfinger's overrated. Uh my man. My man. Uh yeah, what else? Let's get a quick one in. I don't know. Let's get a quick one in, then I'll cut it. I've done a live stream every night this week. I was doing some local politics stuff. Uh five. All right, let's do this one. And we will be the judge of this if my mouse decides it wants to work. Come on, fuck it.
unknown:Fuck it.
SPEAKER_00:Come on. Just as I'm about to finish this. There we go. Open sesame. There we go. Okay. Oh yeah, get rid of this. Delete that. Out of scene. Screen. All right, here we go. Five rock songs from 75 that sound even cooler today. We will be the judge of that. In the mid-1970s was a transitional time in the world of popular music. Soul music was hitting. It's the greatest decade in the history of music. There will never, ever, ever be a greater decade of music than the 70s. And we lived through it. Fuck you, Gen X, Gen Z. Well, Gen X is kind of, they're they fringe, the fringe Gen X's. The ones that were born right at the beginning of the Gen X thing, at the end of the baby boomer thing. Um, the mid-night seventy was a transition of a time in the world of property music. Soul music was hitting its stride with Stevie Wonder album and versus uh Inner Visions uh announcing his transformation from child star to pioneering mature artists, setting the template for the sound of the genre for years to come. Meanwhile, funk had a well and truly had well and truly arrived. Disco was becoming a major trend across the Western world, while jazz was increasingly being deployed to add complexity to mainstream songs by artists such as Quincy Jones and Lonnie Liston Smith. Rocket dominated the pop shots in one form or another in the 50s, culminating in Beatlemania in the 60s. But the mid-70s, the Beatles had long since split up and had been going in their own separate directions since 1970. At the same time, rock music in general was taking new forms with prog rock, metal, and a generation of bands later dubbed proto-punking the uh playing the groundwork, laying the groundwork. For more innovations in the later part of the decade, including seismic punk explosions. Uh, and despite 50 years of musical evolution taking uh having taken place since then, an astonishing amount of music from the era still stands the test of time and continues to inspire fresh generations of artists. Here are the five songs from 1975 that are even cooler today. This right here, this right here is, is, undoubtedly, hands down, stone cold lock. Greatest opening line in the history of music. Fucking mock it. Check it, put it in the bank, put it in a safe deposit box. This is the greatest opening line in the history of rock and roll. And you're here to witness it. Fuck it, Amen! Greatest opening line in the fucking history of music. You cannot fucking deny me on that one. Greatest opening line in the history of music. Just the way it just moves right in. It's fucking subtle and it punches you right in the face. Literally shocking to people. I posted that one time. I posted that one line. And okay, people, you want to fuck people up tonight on Facebook? Post that line. Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine. Watch the fucking responses you get. Oh boy. If they don't know the song, people will respond. They will respond. Now some have more friends than others, but you will get a fucking response. I'm guaranteeing that. Greatest opening line in the history of music. So yeah, Gloria, and this song has such a build. It builds to such a crescendo. Amazing song. I agree. We're starting off good. David Bowie fame. Off the best David Bowie album ever. I've said this fucking 500 times on this show. Go back and listen to Young Americans. Go back and listen to that album. His fucking best album. It's just his best album. It's got that blue-eyed soul thing going. It's a fucking great album. My favorite Bowie album by far. And fame is not my favorite song on that album. It's probably my fifth favorite song on that album. Young Americans is a fucking classic that stands time, stands the test of time. So does fame. But the other songs on that album are fucking great. And it's not the Bowie you expect. It's not Ziggy Stardust. It's not Diamond Dogs. It's not Aladdin Sane. It's not the thin white dough. It's this is Blue-Eyed Soul Bowie. Yeah. Go listen to it. What do we have? Arrow Smith walks away and talk about overkill. Not in my book. This is not that song. This song does not sound cooler today. No. It sounds the same today. Does not does not sound even cooler today. That I disagree with. Alright, let's get, I think this is the last one. Let's see. What do we got? Born to run. Does not sound cooler today. See, now people have this thing with Bruce Ringstein. Right? I don't even I don't really have to get into it. Self-inflicted wound by his choice, but he's fucking 80. He doesn't care anymore. He's made his money. He, you know, he turned a lot of people off. He turned a lot of people off. It's it's it's hard to defend and it's hard to, you know, but hey, listen, it's it's his opinions, his politics. Why he they decide to go down that road, I I don't know. Just be a fucking rock star. Just be a rock star. But it was better back in the day because we didn't know their opinions. And we didn't care. Because they weren't talking about the opinions because they were told, keep your fucking opinions to yourself. Just make money. Make music, make money. That's it. That's all you're here for. Don't get up there and fucking start turning on the audience, turning off the audience. And just don't. But in today's world, they get to do that shit. And well, they people would if I said Bruce Springsteen born a run 10 years ago, 15 years, people are like, yeah, definitely, great. Now it's like, oh, him. Which is kind of fucking, it's kind of sad in a way. That it affects people like that. Uh I was I have some friends that I was stationed with in uh in Northern California, and we we got this little text group going. There's four of us. And uh someone brings up Bruce Springsteen in there, and uh they asked me, hey Mac, do you still listen to because that's what they called me in the military, Mac. Said, hey Mac, do you still listen to Bruce Springsteen? As a matter of fact, I was just listening to Tunnel of Love. Right? I still like the fucking music. Just like the music. Don't you don't have to like him. But if you liked his music before, don't not like his music be now. The music is the music. Think about where you were when you first heard Born to Run. Don't let his politics fucking take that away from you. Because you're robbing yourself. You're robbing yourself of moments in time where this song actually meant something to you. And we're not fucking spread. A lot of us are not spring chickens anymore. Fucking just like the song. Remember the song. Don't fucking care about him. You didn't care, you didn't know anything about him in 1979, 70, you know, in 80. You didn't care. Just like the song. Don't fucking run away from a song because you don't like the person. It's music, man. It's not like a movie where you gotta see fucking De Nero up on the screen, right? That's different. That is different. People, it's a visual. This is audio, man. You put the fucking headphones on, you put it the fucking, you put it on your in your car. Just listen to the music. Don't worry about his politics. I don't agree with his politics, but I'll listen to his music. I don't care. And cashmere, right? It's cashmere. There's nothing more he can say about that. Does it get cooler, though? Does cashmere get cooler? Is it cooler today than it was when it first came out? I don't think so. I don't. It's still a great song. When a great song is a great song, it's a great song. That's it. That's all there is to it. Right? Kashmir doesn't get any cooler. Although I, you know, you have those moments, and I've spoken on this recently a number of times, and it's like a whole lot of love, right? I just reheard it. Now that's a different thing. I've talked about this. When you rehear a song like 10, 15 years later, and you're like, oh, that's that's such a good song, that doesn't make it cooler. It doesn't make it cool, it just makes it you. Appreciate it more. So cashmere is just one of those songs, though. It doesn't get cooler because it will never not be cool, right? And uh let me see. So why these songs? I don't know. Doesn't matter. I'm done. I'm wrapping it up. I'm wrapping right at it right at an hour. Finished right at an hour. All right. Let me see. Uh Marie Martin said hello. Can't uh she can't. I guess that means Springsteen can't. Uh just don't let that. Like I said, I have a lot of good memories from Born to Run. I just like all that shit. And I'm not gonna let it uh get in my way. But my daughter is texting me. So this is great timing. Listen, everybody, you know I love you. I love you. I love you. You are the engine that runs this machine. Without you, well, I I'd be talking on this even if there was nobody listening. Because this is my church. This is my therapy. This is this really, I mean it. This is my church. Um I look forward to doing this every week. It it helps me with you know the stuff, the PTSD stuff and whatever. I can talk about that. Um this is my church, and you people are sitting right next to me, and I love that. I love you. I love talking about music. I love this release. I love this whole uh being able to just speak and say what's on your mind. It's very releasing, it's releasing. It's there's a lot to this, and I thank you guys for being a part of that. Uh if it wasn't for you, I don't know if I would have 190 episodes or whatever. But you here, I love you. I can't say that enough. I'm in a very loving mood now. Uh, don't get used to it though. No, I'm not that guy. I'm not that guy. I'm still a fucking alpha male. Don't forget that. So, with all that said, everybody, as I always say, uh doing this show for you to quote my favorite artist, Morrissey. The pleasure, the privilege is mine. I won't be here next Thursday. I will be on the icon of the seas somewhere in the Western Caribbean. Jealous? I think so. But I'll be thinking about you. So I'll see you in a couple of weeks.
