Milk Crates and Turntables. A Music Discussion Podcast

Ep. 201 - 201 Episodes And Still Loud

• Scott McLean • Episode 201

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We mark 201 episodes with a fast, loud tour through the songs and stories that stick: the 20th century’s most played tracks, 1984’s turning points, and a fresh fight over who gets paid when the stream never stops. Along the way we defend underloved albums, roast flimsy takes, and remind ourselves why legacy matters.

• EDM nostalgia and a quick reset after tech chaos
• 20th century most played list breakdown and debates
• Sinatra’s jab at Morrison dismissed as noise
• The Police royalty case and streaming vs sales
• 1984’s pivot points via Springsteen, Rat, and Metallica
• Why long intros vanished in the streaming economy
• Follow-up albums that buckled under big predecessors
• U2 October defended against lazy criticism
• Live chat banter and a Patriots-flavored send-off

If you like the show, share it. If you didn’t like it, well, thanks for watching and listening for an hour and two minutes and 37 seconds


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Scott McLean:

What's up, everybody? Little EDM tonight. Electronic dance music. Love this shit. This is a a 90s classic. Clubhead. Let me change it up a little bit. A lot of people a lot of my friends don't listen to this stuff. Maybe the listeners, the watchers, they do. Good stuff. Good stuff. It says Robert Miles. The name of the song is Children. Go listen to it. Go download it. Give them your money. And I'm sure again, as I say every week, YouTube will hit me with a copyright. They'll try to block that part out. Unfortunately, I don't get a strike against my channel, so I can continue. So what's up, everybody? Welcome to the podcast. You know the name, I'm not gonna say streaming live right now over everything. Let me see something here. Let me open this up a little more. See that? See how it doesn't? Mmm. Just messing with the screen for those. I'll round it off a little bit. There we go. Yeah. You know, I just dawned on me. Hold on one second. Had to hit my cough mite, my cough button. Last episode, last week, was episode 200. 200. Like, wow. To me, that's crazy. 200 episodes. What do you and I didn't even have like I didn't make a big deal of it. Like, I actually didn't even realize it. Don't mind for the people that uh that are viewing, don't mind my my background. This uh the the uh KOFB studio is getting a kind of a redesign in the near future. Tomorrow is phase one, so I had to get some stuff ready. I had to move some stuff. But yep, getting a new uh 2026, doing a little bit of changes to the studio. Why not? Right? Can only make the year better. Any any year is better than last year in my life, in my book. So, yeah, so uh no Jack tonight. He's oh, I'll do it, I'll do it, I'll do it. And then all of a sudden it turned into uh hey, I can't make it tonight. So there you go. Um but he's like, I might be able to pop on at the end of the episode. Well, yeah, okay. I'll fucking hold my breath for that one. But the show goes on as it always does, and this week I will be doing, you know, I I picked these um well, this is episode 201, by the way. 201 episodes. Yeah, I went back and I listened, um I listened to the earlier episodes, and it's fucking cringe. It's really cringe. I didn't know what I was doing. Jack didn't know what he was doing. That's normal. But but we did it. I did it. I did it. I will take full credit for that. I pressed through and uh episode 201 tonight. Yeah. That's a lot. Think of that. 201 episodes of a podcast. I gotta be in at least a top fucking 10 percentile of podcasters to have 200 episodes. That's like a legacy for my grandchildren. And my great-grandchildren, because this shit doesn't go away. It's always gonna be there. And and the people that listen to it all the time, the people that watch it all the time, it's probably like, yeah, yeah, just a but think about that. Two hundred and one episodes of anything. Two hundred and one of anything is a lot. So I will pat myself on the on the back for pushing through to two hundred and one episodes, and there's no end of sight. Oh, wait a minute, I just got a uh a text. Let me look at this text. Uh thinking this one for the okay. One of the veterans I work with. So yeah, two hundred and one episodes. That it's just it's fucking amazing to me to look back. And again, if you go back and listen, like there's such a big change between like we'll just say episode one through fifty, and then fifty-one through a hundred, then a hundred and one through a hundred and fifty, then a hundred and fifty-one to two hundred and one now. Fucking such there's been a lot of changes, a lot of things. My boy Jim Harris. What's up, buddy? There you go. Good evening, Miss McLean. Good evening, Mr. Harris. Mr. Harris is live from the infamous villages in Florida. The Villages. Lots of stories from that place. Uh, maybe I'll have them on the podcast to tell a few one of these days. You know what? I hope my laptop doesn't die. Oh, there it is. It's charging. Um so yeah, tonight let me jump in to so I I I I I picked these episodes, I picked these uh let me see. Here we go. Share. So I I pick these articles based, I don't read them. I I think I I look for ones that irritate me. I want to read them. So let's go. Kirk Hammond looks back at his early years as Metallica the guitarist. How about let's start off with this one. This one's easy. The USA's ten most played songs of the 20th century. Ten most played songs of the 20th century. Okay. Well, let's see what this one holds. Let's see if I can pull it up. Is it coming up? It's not coming up. Alright, I know what I gotta do. Let's get rid of this. Kill this. Oh, there I am again. Oh well now it'll now it won't come up. It's not coming up. What am I doing wrong here? Why is this always like this? Why is this always like this? That went away. Why is this why, why, why, why, why? Bear with me, people. Bear with me. Whoa, there we go. Do not ask me how I fucking just did this. There we go. Alright, we're back on track. We're back on track. Fucking A. Episode 201. Starting off just like episode one. Me not knowing what the fuck I'm doing. Thank you very much. Alright, what are the USA's 10 most played songs of the 20th century? Start guessing in start guessing. Maybe you get some right. I know. So let's let's do this together. Maybe American Pie, right? American Pie has to be there. Um which Beatles song? Which Beatles song do you think made made the 10 most played songs of the 20th century? We'll say uh uh Let It Be. What do you think? Let It Be? Uh What else? I I don't know if they would put a Rolling Stones song on there. I don't know. I could go on, but let's go. Nobody swoons for love songs, quite like the States. The stats are out there to prove it. Fact the strikes are hard to hold some American optimism. Nation young enough to not have dashed hopes ingrained in the spiritual constitution. As Stephen Fry said of the difference between European and American culture, if you go to an American bookshop, by far the biggest section is self-help and improvement. That's true. We're all fucked up. I'll never do those self-help books. Fuck that. The idea that life is refinable and that you can learn a technique for anything. It's absolutely unbelievable. Sense. I don't know what this has to do with music. What makes us bet blah, blah, blah. Just get to the fucking list. Where's the list? Here we go. Ten most played songs. So they just basically gave you a lot of bullshit. You've lost that loving feeling is the number one song played in the 20th century. Number two, never my love by the association. Number three, yesterday. I should have, yeah, yesterday. By the Beatles. Number four, Benny King's Stand By Me. Uh Frankie Valley, can't take my eyes off of you, is number five. Wow. Sitting on the dock of the bay, Otis Redding, number six. Mrs. Robinson, Simon and Garfunkel, number seven. Number eight, Baby I Need You Loving by the Four Tops. That's a surprise. Wow. Number nine, Rhythm of the Rain by the Cascades. And number 10, Georgia on My Mind by Ray Charles. There you go. There you go. I go down these rabbit holes. Sometimes there's stories in these underneath the stories. A pathetic song ended John Lennon's love for Bob Dylan. I stopped listening. I don't really care for fucking either one of them. So that's I'm not talking about, I'm not going to do that. Ah, let's see. People like the fucking like Led Zappa. Did I just see something with Led? The singer Robert Plant described as the last echo of the blues, blah, blah, blah. Musician Frank Zappa had the most fun playing with. I don't never liked Frank Zappa, never got it. Hit song that pained John Mellencamp. A terrible record to make. No, I'm not going to tell it. See, I'm afraid to even fucking go out of this because I might not get it back. I might not get it back. Let me see. Rolling Stones song that saved Brian Wilson's life. What I needed. Frank Sinatra wanted to take out Jim Morrison. We ought to let the guy have an accident. Well, all right, I gotta read that one. Why would Frank Sinatra want to kill? Oh, you can't say that word. Unalive Jim Morrison. I can't say the K-word because YouTube will fucking censor it. You have to say unalived. As beloved as Jim Morrison and the Doors have always been as a front man of band combination, there were certainly a number of fierce detractors from the band while they were active in the 60s and 70s. There was always a sense of arrogance bravado while Morrison's on stage presence. Understandably, having such a confrontational way of performing was something that was always bound to both attract people and Simon Sangers simultaneously, rub a few the wrong way. On top of this, there were the facts that the Doors made meandering psychedelic music, which was a relatively new idea at the time when the band emerged as a self-titled debut album, one of the greatest debuts of all time. Those were inclined to look something new and progressive, lap this up equally. So where do we get into uh liberal attitude? Much was considered to be a genius, poetry. I want to get to where Frank Sinatra wants to fucking unalive Jim Morrison. When the band made their television debut on the Ed Sullivan show in 1967, the infamous Light My Fire, right? Uh couldn't have been less appropriate with its sprawling runtime being on one number one stumbling block and a very suggestive reference to the taboo subjects of sex and drugs where it's something Sullivan himself wasn't entirely comfortable. Uh even a protest, uh he even protested to Morrison prior to the performance that he retracted the line, girl, we couldn't get much higher. He chose to ignore that request, causing Sullivan to indefinitely bar them. We all know that story. May have turned OneWord fan into a mortal enemy through this, but it wasn't the drug-fueled antics of the attitude of Morrison that irked others. Here we go. One of the most high-profile detractors was none other than Frank Sinatra, who thought he was being mimicked by Morrison in his performances. What? Morrison has always openly acknowledged that Sinatra's liberally swung vocal style was a major influence for the way he stumbled over his words on songs such as Light My Fire. But even though he was lovingly trying to pay tribute to one of the great vocalists whose work he had grown up listening to, Sinatra wasn't so impressed with his impersonation of his style. When asked what he thought of the track, Sinatra bluntly declared his truth stating, We ought to let the guy have an accident. He said that today, right? Oh Lord. Clearly unaware of the significance of why Morrison had opted to sing in this manner, Sinatra remained steadfast in his opposition to him and his band. And even though Morrison had intended for it to be seen as a loving tribute to an icon, Sinatra evidently didn't want any level of association with him. Okay. So that's really a fucking non-story. The fuck? Really? Alright, I'm just gonna get out of this because it's gonna cause me fucking a headache again, but uh, let's go. Let's let's go. Let me go to another story. Yeah. There we go. This has been an ongoing battle for a while. Let's see. Ad scene, media. No, it's probably not gonna fucking work. Screen. Yeah. Look at that. It fucking works. Look at that. So this was not my fault, people. This was not my fault. Uh, let's see. Police royalties case reaches London's high court. We all know that they, if you don't, they have been battling over uh uh how Stuart Copeland and uh Andy Sumner got paid. Sting has now paid$800,000 to Summers and Copeland, which really in the big picture to them isn't really a lot of money. The police royalties case has hit the high court in London, and Sting has admitted that since his two ex-bandmates launched legal proceedings last year, he has paid Andy Summers and Stuart Copeland$800,000. The guitarist and drummer filed a case last year, alleging they owed more than$2 million. They by Sting. They were owed two million by Sting and his publishing company from download sales and streaming of police's back catalog. The case revolves around the agreements made during the band's lifespan in the late 70s and early 80s. Summers and Copeland contend that the trio made an oral agreement to share income, which was later formalized into written contracts. This meant that when one member wrote a song, the other two would share a percentage, usually 15%, of what was often termed an arrangers fee. Sting was the band's main songwriter, but the other two often made significant contributions to his songs. Summer's guitar line on Every Breath You Take, one of the most played songs of all time, but it wasn't on the top 10 most played songs in the USA, motherfucker. Just thought I'd throw that in there. Uh, lest us forget being a prime example. The band's agreement stayed in place throughout the era of physical sales. The problem seems to have cropped up since the advent of downloads and streaming. Sting's lawyers are contending that streaming counts as public performance and not a sale. And in any case, the agreement only covered royalties from manufacture of from the manufacture of records. Now let me stop right here. Sting probably worth a couple hundred million dollars, right? This is just a matter of fucking principle for this guy. Like this is a matter of, he could give them two million dollars and not even blink. Fucking wouldn't miss a step, but this is this is like a matter of principle for him because he's a dick, anyways. Um Sting's lawyers are contending streaming counts as public performance, not a sale in any case. The agreement only covers royalties from the manufacturer of records. Summers and Copeland's legal teams are arguing that the language of the band's agreements, uh, last made in 1997 and 2016 should be interpreted in light of the changes to the record industry, in which streaming has largely replaced physical artifacts as the main way of delivering music to consumers. None of the band members was in court today. Shouldn't that be were in court? None of the band members was in court today. How about none of the band members were in court today? I don't know. I run into this all the time. Maybe I'm wrong with that one. Correct me if I'm wrong. Uh, for the start of the preliminary preliminary hearing, in the court papers, Summers and Copeland say they have ignored. Acknowledged recent payment of$870,000. So that must be$870,000 each from Steng, but have noted that no interest has been added to what was regarded as historic underpayment. So now they're like, okay, motherfucker, you want to be petty? We want interest. Unbelievable. Unfucking believable. I don't know. I don't know. Because they're all worth a lot of money. They're all worth a lot of money. But I guess you can't just give money away. If you think you're owed it, you're owed it. If Dave Phillips, King of the 45s, owes me$10, I'm going to fucking get that$10. It's a matter of principle. Even during their lifetime, the police were a notoriously fractious group. They split up in 1986, though they performed for a lucrative world tour in 2008, a reunion which, given the ill feelings still evident between the three members, is unlikely to be repeated. Yeah. Oh, there you go. They're fighting millionaires fighting over money. First world problems, as they say, right? All right, let's see. What do we got on the next one? Yeah. We could go with uh three songs from 1984 that forever changed rock history. This should be, these better be some good fucking songs. 1984, maybe not the greatest year in music, so I don't know why they picked 1984. Forever change rock history? I don't know about all that. I don't know about all that. So let's see what we got. This shit better be fucking good. And like I say, you know this if you watch and listen. I don't read these things. I see headlines, and I'm like, all right, motherfucker, this better be good. There we go. All right, three songs from 1984 that forever changed rock is now. 1984 was a good fucking year, by the way, in general for me. In 1984, Prince and Michael Jackson dominated the pop charts with rock guitars as classic rock bands like Van Halen and Foreigner recorded hit songs with synthesizers. Michael Jackson's guitarist was Van Halen, so uh making it seem as though the walls between genres were falling, blurring the lines between rock, pop, and even heavy metal. So let's look at three songs from 1984 that continued this evolution and forever changed rock history. I'm telling you, these better be fucking good songs. That's a bold statement. That's a very bold statement. The first from a frustrated songwriter, the second from a band with an early hair metal hit on the pop chart, and finally a lit-inspired heavy metal track introducing an intense subgenre to mainstream audiences. Now remember, people, this is 1984. What's your memory like? Well, there was a lot of cocaina going on, a lot of drinking, a lot more cocaine, a lot of more drinking, especially 1984. Just saying. I could say that now. Uh, that was then. This is now. Uh let's try this again. The first from a frustrated songwriter. Could be a lot of people. The second from a band with an early hair metal hit on the pop chart, and finally a lit-inspired heavy metal track introducing an intense subgenre to mainstream audiences. This is from 1984. So I don't know. I think I see the bottom one already. Dancing in the Dark. Yeah, that creeped up on the uh the bottom of the screen. Dancing in the Dark. Well, I guess. I let's see what how they say this changed rock history. Bruce Springsteen co-produced and managed John Landau. Wasn't sure they had an obvious hit single with Born in the USA. So Landau challenged Springsteen to write one. The song describes Springsteen's frustration at the time. He had nothing to say and no desire to say anything. Don't we wish that was the case today? Shut the fuck up, old man. And sing. Oh, these old fucking rock stars out there preaching now. It's like they got nothing to lose. They got their hundreds of millions. It's gonna go out and talk. But back then this motherfucker had nothing to say, did he? No. Should have been reversed. We should have had a fucking Benjamin Button scenario going on here. This motherfucker goes backwards. We would have all been better for it. But few songwriters have made isolation and despair sound and feel so hopeful. I don't think, I personally don't think he was the greatest lyricist. I don't think he's as great as people think he was. But, you know, today you can hear the influence of Springsteen's synth-driven Heartland Rock, the war on drugs, and Sam Fender, among others. No, the war on drugs, from what I listened, if you've never heard them, you don't know what I'm talking about. But the war on drugs, I think, was influenced by the Water Boys. That's just my professional opinion. You probably don't even know who the Waterboys are. But uh, they sang the song Hole of the Moon. That album is one of the greatest albums in my lifetime to me. It's a perfect album. Go listen to it. The Waterboys, Hole of the Moon, uh, and Sam Fender, among others. And Dancing in the Dark might be the greatest writer's block anthem of all time. That's a fucking cop out. That's bullshit. Writer's block anthem. Are you just creating fucking shit right there? You making shit up, Mr. Writer or Ms. Writer? Never heard of that fucking thing before. Okay. Writer's block anthem. If you look at the lyrics, they're not lighting the world on fire. If you look at the lyrics to that song, they're real fucking simple. There's nothing to them. I gotta give the E Street band the nod to making that song what it was. Maybe what it still is. I mean, I don't listen. If it comes on the radio, I don't ever listen to it. It has nothing to do with Springsteen's politics or anything. It's just a song that was good for its time. Um, and I've heard it way too much. And it's not one of those songs like like I recently had the epiphany of like uh a whole lot of love that kind of I reheard it one day, like we always hear these songs, and then the whole new appreciation begins for it. That's not happening with Dancing in the Dark. That's not happening. All right, let's get to the next one. So far, I think they're all for one on changing fucking history. Round and round by rat. I'll take that okay. That's a good fucking song. That's a good song. When Round and Round became a hit, it helped launch the Los Angeles glam medal scene. That's right. I always was a rat guy. Motley Crue was okay. Then the other hairbands out, but I was always a rat guy. It's like with grunge, right? Yeah, the the the the holy trinity. You have uh uh Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and well, I guess Alice and Chains. Some will say Soundgarden. You can mix and match Soundgarden with any of them, but those are my three, I think. And uh I'm always all I loved both Nirvana and Pearl Jam, but I was always kind of an Alice and Chains guy. I just like their music better, but don't go see them now. They are not that, they have stopped being that fucking 20 years ago. So Alice and Chains and concert, don't you you're going to see a name, that's it. Uh they are fucking bad. It's not good. Like that guy, he can't sing those songs, but they keep them in the band. You can't replace Lane Staley, but I guess they gotta make a living, right? Uh, let's see. Though Rat wasn't the first hair metal band, the major label success of their debut, Out of the Cellar, which was based, I guess, Rat, Rats in the Cellar. They were influenced by Arosmith, the song Rats in the Cellar. This is an homage to that. If you didn't know that, well, that's what it is. Uh, which is a great Aerosmith song. Very underrated, underplayed uh uh Arosmith song, Rats in the Cellar. Um let me see. Created Cellar created commercial path for Martley Crue, Poison Warrant, and Guns N' Roses. Soon MTV was dominated by leather spandex, hair, and bad boy types singing pop melodies over heavy guitar riffs. Roundaround isn't a pop, those aren't pop riffs. I'll tell you that. Uh, pop melodies. Once the power ballads arrived, there seemed to be no end in sight until the next generation began forming bands in a rainy Seattle. Rat's defining song has since appeared in Stranger Things and a Geico commercial with the rat problem. So let me see something. Let me let me give give me your time again. I want to uh let me see. I I want to play something here. Yeah. Rats of the Stella. Rocks is a good, I mean, their first four albums are fucking unbelievable. Arrowsmith featuring Dream On, Get Your Wings, Toys in the Attic, Rocks. I mean, I don't, I think it's I don't know. Try to find a band that has four fucking albums in a row to start off that are that good. Maybe you too? No. I don't know. I don't think so. Led Zeppelin? Right? But they're all up in that fucking upper echelon. I think I it might be safe to say, I don't know. Maybe a little controversial comment right now. It might be safe to say that Arosmith's first four albums were better than, are better than the Rolling Stones' first four albums. Think of that one. Argue with me. Prove me wrong. Alright, what's this third song? Let's get to this third song. For who the For Whom the Bell Tolls, Metallica, there you go. And Metallica's Metallica. In the mid-80s, many rock bands sounded glossy synthesizers and slick production. Uh had rounded the corners with an emphasis on writing pop hooks. However, Metallica with an album called Ride the Lightning, had a little interest in following, didn't have it, had little interest in following such trends. They emerged from California's thrash metal scene and recorded complex arrangements at a breakneck pace. In a few years, Metallica would become one of the biggest bands in the world, but this track, inspired by Ernest Hemingway's 194 novel of the same name, along with Fade to Black, began the band's steady ascent towards sold-out stadiums. Moreover, it provided a blueprint for the slower classic rock tempos and melodic instincts that would help Metallica's black album become Blockbuster in the 1990s. So let's go into this. For who the bells, that's for all you people who haven't heard this, for whom the bell tolls. Here we go. I already got the copyright strike, so let's go with it. Metallica, for whom the bell tolls. We're talking 1984. This is very different. I'll go with this. The reason that uh bands today groups today don't really have long intros is because one of the reasons is because of streaming, streaming services. Excuse me. Did you know that bands don't get paid for a download unless the download goes 30 seconds or more? Now that intro for whom the bell tolls is like two minutes. This generation and this last generation don't want to wait for a fucking song. They don't want to they don't like the long intros. That's why you don't hear them anymore. These bands have conditioned kids to get these this quick instant gratification. Intros intro lasts, I don't know, 30 seconds, maybe less, and then they just start singing, right? Um you don't see these on the mainstream. Anyway. What do you think? 15 disappointing follow-ups to great albums. I don't know. Where are we at right now? 41 minutes, okay. Alternative rock songs from 1992 that will take you back to high school. Well, that's not me, but this video unavailable. It's a video. What the fuck? Come on, man. Alright, let's go back up here. Alright. I guess we're doing the uh because I only I was working with a veteran before this, so I'm not really a hundred percent prepared, but I don't care. You don't care, we don't care. Alright, here we go. Fifteen disappointing follow-ups to great albums. Follow-ups to great albums, not debut albums. Get that right, right? There's a big difference there. Uh from creative overreach to studio meltdowns, 15 follow-up albums that buckled under the crushing weight of their predecessors' legacy. Can you think of any? There's a lot of uh you two. No, well, no, no. I mean, okay, so how long does it have to be? So the catalog could be fucking 12 albums, 13 albums, and then all of a sudden one just doesn't make it? I don't know. Because there's a lot of bands that have continuously successful albums. Uh, after delivering a cultural touchstone, a multi-platinum masterpiece, artists frequently find themselves paralyzed by the sophomore slump, or worse, the imperial phase hangover. Um why am I getting messages here? Wow. Over the grilling tour, the frantic intervention of record labels demanding a repeat of the pre- You know that is Culture Club. I can say culture club. Culture Club's first album is a good album. It was a really good album. It was very uh it was very unique. They had a different style. I like they they kind of incorporated that reggae sound with that pop sound. Uh they would they it was a great it was a very good album. Uh a lot of you probably won't listen to it, but trust me, it was it was a good album, again, unique, but then they got popular too fast, and the record labels just started pump out, pump out, pump out, and they pumped out garbage after that. They were all about image. That's what it was. They got paid, I guess, but so what do we got? Uh yes, tomato. Where is Mark Smith when you need him? Following the majestic high fidelity triumph of going for the one to uh tomato, going for the one, tomato is a sonic muddle beset by thin chirpy synthesizer. I'm not a big Yes fan. I like Yes, but I don't uh so I I can't even comment on this. Um I I I got nothing to say about this. I I guess the album sucks. Uh, The Rolling Stones, their Satanic Majesty's Request. This is interesting. Following the shop, RB infused between the buttons, the Stones took a hard turn into psychedelic whimsy. Critics and fans largely saw uh what is it? They're saying uh their satanic majesty's request as a desperate inferior imitation of Sergeant Pepper, which is probably right, which is probably right. And Sergeant Pepper was influenced by Pet Son, so they all play off each other. Um lacking the band's signature grit and Keith Richard's driving riffs, the album felt cluttered and aimless. Sound effects and indulgent jamming. While 2,000 like years from home is brilliant, the record mostly proved the stones were better as rockers than wizards. Didn't they do a whole thing? Didn't they do a whole fucking like uh a video shoot for that for that album? Wherever you like Fucking John Lennon and Yoko showed up and Bob Dylan was like they all went to this place and they were all dressed like fucking wizards and shit. I don't know. Uh Bob Dylan self-portrait, 1970. I got nothing to say. Nothing. I got nothing. I got nothing. Don't listen to him. I don't. I like a handful of songs. Fleetwood Mac Penguin 1973. So anything fucking Fleetwood Mac did before rumors. Does anybody listen to that? I've said this a hundred times. Drives Jack crazy. Thinking Mark Smith probably didn't agree with me. I don't know. But like anything before rumors, Fleetwood Mac doesn't matter. They don't even play those songs on the radio. So I got nothing. I got nothing here either. Nothing. The Doors, the Soft Parade, 1969. After the dark, tight, psychic rock of The Doors and Strange Days for their third album, The Doors pivoted to a polished Vegas style production. This shift toward a fuller orchestral sound, heavy with brass and string arrangements, largely buried Robbie Krieger's bluesy guitar and forced Jim Morrison into the role of traditional Kruna. Well, maybe that's what they wanted to do. Maybe that's what they wanted to do. Maybe they just it's always good for a band to don't sound the same. Because you're not going to make it past the fourth album. If you sound the same, that was one of U2's biggest uh uh upsides was they knew how to change their sound on almost every album until they got older. Then the shit started sounding the same. But like look at their first four albums, and and they all sound fucking different. They all sound different. What do you got? You have uh U2 Boy, U2 October, U2 War, and then U2 Unforgettable Fire. Look at I mean, those are four totally different albums. They were very scaled down back then, until Unforgettable Fire. Unforgettable Fire had big sound. All those songs are big, heavily produced, well-produced sounds. Uh, but maybe the Doors wanted to do that. I'm sure they weren't forced to do that. And after Soft Parade is considered one of their better albums, by the way. So uh while the title track retains some experimental merit, much of Soft Parade's songwriting felt uneven and distracted, plagued by Morrison's increasing detachment and the band's internal friction. Compared to the hypnotic primal intensity of their earlier work, this record lacked the dangerous poetic edge that had established them as a counterculture phenomenon. It felt less like a schematic, uh shamanic ritual and more like a high budget studio indulgence that momentarily dulled their sharp psychedelic teeth. So let me pull this up then. Let me see what we got. I'm gonna pull up because I don't know the track listing uh offhand. Soft parade. Let's see the songs, the the the album. All right, let's see what the so what we talk what what they're complaining about this song? Right? I don't know. This sounds like the doors to me.

SPEAKER_02:

That's a fucking cloud stuff.

Scott McLean:

This stuff, I mean, what are they talking about? Wild style. This is regular fucking doors music. Now these people sometimes these writers just fucking dig shit up or somebody told them. Somebody told them, oh, that's a bad album. So okay, I'll write about it. Let me see. When I was back there in secondary school, there was a person there who put forth the proposition that you could petition the Lord with prayer. Petition the Lord with prayer, petition the Lord with prayer.

SPEAKER_01:

You cannot petition the Lord with prayer.

Scott McLean:

That's good on that's good live. This is the doors. What the fuck is this person talking about, the idiot writer? Can you give me that's be fucking people? It's probably a fucking Gen Xer.

unknown:

Idiots.

Scott McLean:

Well, not a Gen Xer. Early early stage Gen X's are okay. Later Gen X's, different people. David Bowie Pinups. Now, I loved this album when I was a kid. I love this album. And Pinups was basically, he did a lot of covers, right? Bowie did a lot of covers. It's not one of his most popular albums, and I'll tell you, I'll say that it probably uh probably was a letdown. I think it might have actually been a kind of a filler album for him. But I'll tell you the song that I love. I fucking love this album. Um, I love this song. This is a uh, well, you tell me who this is a cover who this is a cover of a song. What band did this first? I actually like this version better.

SPEAKER_02:

Emily tries with this understanding.

Scott McLean:

See Emily play.

SPEAKER_02:

She's often inclined to borrow some of the good screen.

Scott McLean:

This is a gr I love this version of this song. Pick Floyd better. Yeah, this I think this actually was played on the radio, on FM radio.

SPEAKER_02:

Too long comp the only thing I ever got from you was so room.

Scott McLean:

Sorrow. I can sing. Shut up. Shut up, I can sing. Uh, released this month after the uh the innovative Aladdin saying, like I said, I think this was a throw-in. This covers album felt like commercial placehold. I think they're right here. Uh while Bowie's glam rock interpretations of 60s London hits were stylish enough, they lacked the conceptual depth, depth, and distinctive songwriting voice that had blah blah blah blah. Okay. The Beach Boys smiley smile. Don't I don't think I've ever listened to that. Genesis, and then there were three. Again, not really, not really. Uh wasn't a Peter Gabriel fan, wasn't a Genesis with Peter Gabriel guy. What else do we got? Um Michael Jackson, Forever Michael in '75, Prince Around the World in a Day. I actually liked that album. I liked it. I think that was uh that had Raspberry Beret on it. Yeah. I I kind of liked it. Uh let's see. Yeah, uh Raspberry Beret. Yeah, yeah, they did. You two October mentioned it earlier. No, no, no, they're totally wrong here. October is a good fucking album. That was a good second album. I don't know what they're talking about. The best, well, I don't it's hard to say what the uh the best song in that album is, but I'll tell you this. This was the hit off the album. And if you're a U2 fan. What are they talking about? I don't know what they're talking about. Let's see, use two October. This is a good album. This song. I Fall Down. It's just a good album. This is a really good album. It is very eighties, though. This is very early eighties. I might have to listen to this again. I'm looking at the playlist. Good memories, though. October. This is one of those down songs. Alright, I can stop that. It's a good, it's a very good album. But the guy says, we feel a bit bad about this, as in no way is October a bad album. It's not. The follow-up to the explosive debut boy, though, was though hampered by the spiritual crisis and crucially the loss of Bono's lyric notebook. October felt uncharacteristically hesitant. How can you make that fucking determination if you only heard one album? Like they only had one album before this. And he's it's uncharacteristically hesitant and atmospheric, lacking the anthemic ringing guitar hooks that had made boy so vital. Shut the fuck up. Shut the fuck up. Jesus. What? One song, one one album, and then they're they're they're saying, oh, uh, October was this. Fucking idiots. Smashing Pumpkins Adore. Elton John Blue Moves. I wasn't really. Yeah. Let me see. Metallica St. Anger. See, a lot of people don't like St. Anger. I like St. Anger from Metallica. Jeth Rotel. I I don't care. I really don't care. So that's that for that. All right, we're coming up on an hour here. I wasted the first fucking 10 minutes being an idiot with technical difficulties, but I'm still here. Episode 201. Let me get to some of these uh let me get to some of these comments. Let me see. Let me pull them up on the screen. Hold on. Let me show them over here. Will they pop up? There we go. Let's see. I guess there's only the last few show up. So we had uh Jim Harris, good evening. Dave Phillips, that's well with young, Perry Dunovich. Uh Dave Phillips shut down and restart over. Didn't want to do that. Yesterday was the song he named. Uh something by George Harrison. Stairway to Heaven wasn't on the list, right? Imagine that. Uh let me see. April Bernard, I've read one self-help book called Seeds of Greatness back in the 70s. Lessons from juxtaposition to planting seeds in the garden to the seeds in life, and we plant. Is there an ending to that story? I don't know. Let's show it. Just maybe there's more. No, there isn't. I love you, April, but next time finish the story. Was it a good book, a bad book, good experience, bad experience? Evidently, she's only read one in the 70s, so how good could it have been? Frank Sinatra was jealous of Jim Marrsi. Let me see. Nice hoodie. Thank you, April. Big head Todd's Brock. G. I'm sorry I missed his I Am Hair Entertainme comment. Oh, wait a minute. Let's say. What's this? Acolydes Gaming 34. I noticed your channel has strong potential, but needs a bigger audience to level up. With the right growth strategy, you can earn up to$50 an hour on Kick. I help streamers gain 3,000 real followers,$1,000 live viewers, and active chat engagement. This puts you on the fast track to Kick Affiliate and partner interested. And partner, interested or partner, uh message me on Discord, Christopher at I don't give a fuck. I don't look for that shit. This is all organic, baby. 201 episodes of straight organic fucking growth. And we got a lot of downloads. By the way, you like my Patriots hoodie? Look at it. I don't know if you can see it. Got the Drake May hoodie. This thing's the bomb. With the old, let me pull it up over my head. Hold on. Everything's off. With the old Patriots logo on the hoodie. There you go. Fucking rockin' bay. Ready for the playoffs. Put my fucking glasses back on. Put my headphones back on. That was a disaster. The fuck. Ah, let me see. I'm a generous thing. Nice show. Thanks, Dave Phillips, King of the 45s. Your son was born in 84. Wow. Okay. What were you? 39 at that time? Dave Phillips? Were you 39 in 84? Dave Phillips is active tonight. I love that. I love that. Perry, uh, light fingers Perry Denovich, the AI. I read that he wanted Joey Ramon to sing that song. Uh let me see. Yep, yep, yep. My man Kevin Corker. He says, I love it. Drake, Drake May. May. Only New England fans get that. Drake, that's his nickname. Drake May, the quarterback for the New England Patriots. His nickname is Drake May. Dave Phillips says, fuck you. What? Okay, 35. I'm sorry. I made you a little older than you were. My boy Michael Vasilero, that's my man. That's my man. He loves the sweater. I'll have the sweetie on tomorrow morning when I talk to you, my friend, if you're still watching. It's a bit chilly here in Boca Raton. It's a bit chilly. The temperature right now, so we're talking Thursday night, uh, the 15th of January. And uh the temperature is in Boca Raton right now, 54 degrees. What? Feels like 44. What? What? Dave Phillips, fuck you again. Okay, Dave Phyllis. Let's see. Uh, Todd Sockman, are you ignoring your three listeners? No, I'm not. And it was five. Don't fucking shortchange me, asshole. Big head Todd the West Brocket. Uh, let me see. Michael Vasilero says, uh, blast this and a 1972 Chevy Chavelle. That's right. They don't you know why you don't see many of those around anymore? Just like you don't see charges. Dodge charges, like 72 charges. Because people fucking crashed them because they were so fast. Uh let me see, Kevin Corgham running blues was good. Dave Phillips, I was 28. Well, you were 28 in fucking in 1979. What are you talking about? Uh now we're caught up. Uh Dave Phillips is all caught up telling me to go fuck myself again. Again. Anyway, all right, I'm done here. I I started off in technical difficulties. People, it's good for the viewers because they get to watch me crash live. The listeners, I apologize if you're still listening. So, as I always say, uh if you like the show, share it. If you didn't like it, well, thanks for watching and listening for an hour and two minutes and 37 seconds. I appreciate that. And I will be back next week with episode 202. Fucking 202 episodes. You gotta give me fucking credit for that, if anything. You gotta give me 202 episodes I've done of this podcast. And before this, I did about 100 episodes of the King of Facebook. I'm like a professional here. I'm like, I kind of know what I'm doing at this point. Well, evidently not, because what happened at the beginning of the show. So, yeah. There's that. There's that. Uh if if this wasn't live, you'd never know it happened, but I love the fact that you got to see that happen. And I will be back next week. And before I go, fucking go, Patriots. Let's go! On our way to another Super Bowl, baby. That's it. Drake, Drake May, May, is taking us to the promised land, baby. Him and Mike Vrabel. Fuck the Eagles. I just had to say that. Fuck the Eagles from all my Philly friends. Fuck the Eagles. They're out. Done. Arsenal Vista. One and done. Fake champions, right, Dave Phillips, king of the 45s? I wouldn't ask Big Head Todd the West Brock, but he doesn't even know what a football looks like. So. Unless it's got a dumbbell around it. Speaking of dumbbells. All right, everybody. As I always say, thank you for watching. Thank you for listening. If you like it, share it. If you didn't like it, well, thanks for watching. Blah, blah, blah. And as I always say, to quote my favorite artist, Marcy, doing the show for you. The pleasure, the privilege is mine. Dave Phillips says Coffee with the King on Sunday morning needs to come back. I will do that. You know what? In 2026, Coffee with the King will return. You're not the first one. I've had a handful of people request Coffee with the King needs to come back on Sunday mornings. All right. All right. I promise you, Dave Phillips King from one king to another, my friend. Coffee with the King will be back on Sunday mornings. And Big Bubba and Dr. Pork Shop might also might actually come along with me. So we'll see how that turns out. That's always interesting. All right, everybody. I will see you with episode 202 next week. 202.

Head Shot

Scott McLean

Host