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. 202 - Snorting Cupcakes, Skipping “Imagine,” And Other Honest Music Takes
We riff on how 1969 quietly engineered the 70s, why certain “boomer graduation” songs feel like revisionist history, and what Steely Dan actually meant. We also rank rock films that defined the look of music and spotlight four classics written at lightning speed.
• Led Zeppelin, Allman Brothers, and Elton John’s early signals for the 70s
• A myth check on graduation anthems and late boomer memory
• Reunions, Facebook, and why nostalgia gets messy
• Steely Dan’s Rikki as a literal phone number
• Rock films that shaped music’s visual language
• Songs written fast: Dylan, Bowie, Elton, Guns N’ Roses
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What's up, everybody? This will be another YouTube. Copyright hit. As usual. Check some stuff here. By the way, this is the greatest video ever made. The Prodigy. Smack my bitch up. As I always say, you can find the uncut version. The edited unedited version. Crazy. Crazy. My greatest twist in video history. Back to my desktop. Yeah. There you go. The project. Yeah. So what's going on, everybody? Welcome to the podcast. You know the name, I'm not gonna say it, so we've been live over everything. Blah blah blah blah blah. Episode 202. 202 episodes. That still blows my mind. Yeah. I don't know why my why is that cutting out like that? Is this too low? I don't know. Somebody made a comment last week uh after my 201st episode. They said uh 201 episodes, and you still have technical difficulties. I have to take the hit on that one. They were right. Yeah, so episode 202. Do some music news. I think you know the routine by now. I look for articles. I just judge them on the title. You get first reaction when I read them. Uh some are good, some aren't good. We'll see. We shall see. Let's see what I came up with today. Let's turn this off. Again, this will all get this this part will get muted by YouTube, but I don't care at this point. 202 episodes, I don't give a shit. So uh yeah, what do we got? Da-da-da. I guess everything's up and running, so let me get right into it. I should not have technical difficulties this week, but you never know. So let's get into it. Here we go. Three rock and roll debut albums from 1969 that set the stage for the 70s. Now that's a pretty bold headline. Sets the stage because the 70s was a great decade. It was the greatest decade of music ever. It will never be repeated. So this says, uh, let me see. There is certainly a culture crossover between the 60s and the 70s, but while they have their similarities, they also have their differences when it comes to rock and roll, that's for sure. The 1970s introduced the masses to hardcore, harder sound, a wider array of subgenres, and ultimately furthered the progression of the genre away from formulas and structures of the 1960s. I always found it strange. I I think the the late baby boomers look at sixties music and we think of the doors and the Rolling Stones, and but if you go back to the early 60s, it still sounded like the 50s. Like there's a lot of bleed over into the early 60s. It's not until the mid-60s that really rock and roll, like as we know it today, classic rock, really took over. So what do we got? To a certain degree, the shift started in 69, and these three debut albums from that year helped set the stage for the next decade. What do we got? Night, it's see Led Zeppelin out in 69. That that also always seems weird to me because they've they're they're a 70s band, right? Uh Led Zeppelin's self-titled album. And Led Zeppelin won. Uh is a masterpiece. Hypothetically, if they quit right after the release of that album, there's a good chance they still would be considered one of the greatest bands of all time. That's a good point. When the album dropped, Zeppelin, in a way, said, We have the vehicle to go to the future. Y'all want to get in? Leadless to say, the masses got in. And they did. There's no doubt. Not only is the album classic, the album cover is also classic. So uh released in January 1969, this album broke them into the industry. Most bands and artists don't do so after the first try. But these guys with the prophetic sound, stolen sound, some might argue, uh, did. Following its release, the debut album went on to peak at number 10 on the Billboard 200. And that tells you something right there, right? Allman Brothers band by the Allman Brothers. My brother Colin, God rest his soul. Uh, a large majority of people attributed the introduction of Southern Rock to Leonard Skinned debut album. While that album was incredibly successful and further solidified the genre's place on the national stage, the Allman Brothers band debut album predates Skinned's by four years. Thus, these guys deserve a little more credit for laying down the 1970s Southern Rock blueprint. I think Lynage Skinned was more Southern, though. I think they represented more of a Southern sound. And plus they had the the rebel flag and they really like owned it. The Almond Brothers were just a cool fucking band. Right? They had the sound, of course. But I think they were more fine, finely tuned than Leonard Skinned, who were amazing musicians for a bunch of guys that got together that never really played instruments before. But I think, yeah, the Allman Brothers should get more credit for the for breaking in. Uh Almond Brothers band's debut album had a very modest chart showing as it only peaked at number 188 on the Billboard 200. However, the contents of the album were earth-shattering and inspired bands such as Skinnard, Fish, The Black Crows, and many more. Some of the notable tracks on the album include Whipping Post and Dreams. Yes. Now, this is something interesting. Elton John's Empty Sky. That is like a very untalked-about album. Like when you mention Elton John albums, this is never mentioned. This album is never mentioned. His debut album is never mentioned. Elton John partially owned the pop rock genre in the 70s. He did, before he was the world's favorite piano player. He released his debut album, Empty Sky, in 1969. It wasn't released in the United States until 75. And no one still nobody really talks about it. But in the United Kingdom, it was however. It was. However, it didn't garner any notable success on the charts. Even though John's debut album didn't perform incredibly well, its mere presence foreshadowed what was to come in his career and the careers of people like him. Without this album, Elaine for the likes of Billy Joel, Queen, Fleetwood Mac might not have existed. I can't comment on that because I've never listened to this album. I don't even own this album. Really, so I have no comment on that, but you know, it's Elton John, and he did partially own the 70s. Let's get back to here. What do we got next? Pull this up. Let's stick to the 70s. This should run smoother than last week. Let's get out of this.
SPEAKER_00:Let's delete this.
Scott McLean:Let's see if this works. It's been so far so good.
SPEAKER_00:There we go.
Scott McLean:Disco. Look at that. I don't know what was going on last week, though. I can't tell you what was going on last week. But it was. And I didn't like it. Uh, eight radio hits from the 70s that played at every graduation and still make boomers emotional. Okay. See, I saw that headline at every graduation. Maybe older Boomers, maybe. I don't know. I haven't seen the songs. Uh, graduation music has a way of following people long after the caps are tossed and the chairs are folded away. For many boomers, a handful of 1970s radio hits still unlock vivid memories of hope, uncertainty, and the first real step into adulthood with just a few opening notes.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
Scott McLean:Graduation was a long time ago. For me, 1981. But it's been a it's been a great journey. A lot of ups and downs, but a great journey. Now let's see how these songs come up. Look at this. They got the old guy listening to the radio. Really? Is that us? Like for the viewers at home watching, is that really us? Like, this guy's it looks like he's reading a roadmap. He's got a baby boom box and he's got some headphones that don't really look like they're on his ears. This might be an AI picture, probably, because there's a generation of laziness going on. But why is he reading a roadmap? Like, I don't get any of this. That picture. That's that is not representative of my section of boomers. Uh, graduation music has a way of following people long after the caps are tossed and the chairs are folded away, blah, blah, blah. Um, graduation music has a strange kind of power that sneaks up on people a decade later. One chorus, one piano intro, one, and suddenly someone who has not thought about their high school gym for 40 years is right back there, emotionally undone. Remember how big a high school gym was when you're in high school? Then you go back and you look at it, you're like, this thing is small. At least ours was. The 1970s produced a set of songs that became unofficial soundtracks for endings and beginnings that were played over loudspeakers, scratchy vinyl systems, and later radio stations that understood exactly when to lean into nostalgia. What follows are eight of those songs and why they still hit so hard for boomers today. Lean on Me by Bill Withers. Okay, that's a song I'm kind of sick of. It's a great song, I know. Okay. Everybody loves it. Oh, it's such a good You know, my buddies and I that I was stationed with in the Philippines from 87 to 89, some were there from 86 to 88 or 89, some were there till 90. Um we get together, and it seems Boca likes, they like to come down to Boca. There's a lot going on here, there's a lot to do. And uh them motherfuckers love to sing this shit when they all get together. It's like, oh don't no, I'm not getting in on this. No. I'm not. I'm not like they all like, you know me. And most of these motherfuckers don't even know the words. But I get this reunion thing. Like, I I love the reunion. I I get, but I know it this this song kind of evokes that emotion in a lot of people. I I'm not one of them. Not this song. It's a great song. And then like in 87 when I went in the Air Force, Club Nouveau did a version of it. And it was pretty good. It was pretty good. It was different, it was faster. It was it was more upbeat, up tempo. It was more like a dance music, like dance club thing type thing. And uh, but yeah, if I if I never really hear this song again, maybe one of these days it'll be like rediscovered by me in my head, and I'll be like, well, you know something I really do like. Not right now. Uh released in 1972, Lean on Me became an instant emotional anchor for graduations because it said out loud what most people felt but could not articulate. The lyrics are simple, almost disarmingly so. And that is exactly why they work. Get out of this. In moments of transition, the brain looks for clarity, not complexity, and this song delivers reassurance without drama. Graduation is one of those few times in life where emotional honesty is socially acceptable in public. Yeah, we're a bunch of fucking emotional 17 and 18-year-olds. A prefrontal lobe hasn't even touched. We're idiots. We're all like, oh, this is great. And then we're done. See you later. Like, literally, that was it. Like, because we had no social media back then. And Facebook killed the uh class reunion, by the way. Killed the class reunion about 15 years ago. There's no surprises at class reunions anymore. That's one thing that these new generations will always lack. They'll never get to experience that. Your first high school reunion, and it's usually at the five-year mark. Some do it at 10. Uh, we did it at five and then 10, and it was it was very, very cool. It was really interesting. You could lie back then, you really could lie. Um, and I didn't have to. Um, but it was uh yeah, uh social media has killed the high school reunion. There's no more surprises, uh, which was one of the big things. So, what have you been doing? What do you get caught up in yada yada yada? So, what do we got? Number two, bridge over troubled water. This song feels less like a performance and more like a quiet promise. What the fuck? See, this is the shit I hate. I suppose bread would be on this fucking list, too. Bread. Fucking bread. When it was released in 1970, it immediately found its way into ceremonious ceremonies that needed gravity without despair. Without despair. This fucking song makes me want to slip my wrists. Just the way it's sung. Congratulation, Marks, the end of certainty, and the beginning. See, this is all that shit, that kumbaya shit. Everyone puts their arms around each other and they rock, and I didn't do any of that. No. Me and my friends didn't do that. No. No. But this this is just my lived experience. There's there's people out there that were very emotional about their high school graduations and all that. And I did know back then that uh that we were about to leave something that was very special. I did have that awareness in high school. That high school was the greatest time of your life. And the one year afterwards could be also, but uh, I did a lot of people wanted to get out. I was like, you might want to take your time. I did have that uh kind of forethought. Uh bridge over trouble water does not deny that struggle is coming. It's reassurance. It reassures listeners that support will exist when they need it most. Yeah, I'll just put this song on and I'll get that job. I'll get my job back that I just got fired from. Or I'll get that job on my 17th interview. I'll get it. I'm just gonna go listen to a bridge over troubled water and think of my high school graduation. Yeah, it slows people down, inviting reflection at a time when everything else feels rushed. Boomers graduating during a period of culture and political upheaval. Heard the song as a form of emotional stability. That's that's early boomers. That's not late boomers. We didn't even listen to this fucking song. This this is a whole different boomer. Like I am the last of the boomers, literally December of 1963, like two weeks prior, then the next year was moved into Gen X's. So this isn't my boomers. Decades later, it still carries the weight of everyone who helped them stay afloat when adulthood got complicated. Number three, You've Got a Friend by Carol King. You've got a friend released in 1971, became a graduation favorite because it normalized emotional reliance without weakness. Again, this is we weren't listening to this shit. We were listening to the doors, we were listening to the B-52s, we were listening to a lot of other different shit. Not this. At graduation, friendships are both celebrated. Excuse me, and quietly mourned. The song acknowledged that separation does not ease connection, which is a powerful message at any age. From a psychological standpoint, shared emotional experiences strengthen memory encoding. Hearing the song at a moment of collective vulnerability, I hate reading this shit, created a lasting association that resurfaces instantly years later. For boomers, this track is not just about friendship. It's about remembering the people who knew them before life shaped them into who they became. A lot of you motherfuckers became assholes, by the way. Yeah. A lot of you motherfuckers out there. I got a problem with you. A lot of you people like, oh, you know, then there's the motherfuckers. I'm looking, I'm just gonna say it. They probably won't hear this. I love this shit. I love this shit. Since we're on this topic, I love this shit. Fucking 20 years later, you're on Facebook and somebody friends you, they friend request you, and you look at it, you're like, this motherfucker? Now I know if you're out there and you're listening. And you're on Facebook, you all have had that one. This motherfucker? Like this motherfucker doesn't remember that I don't like this motherfucker. Like this motherfucker doesn't remember that they were a total fucking dick in high school. Like this motherfucker, and then they like where where were we ever friends? Like, where where were we ever friends in high school? Like, I okay, we went to the same parties together. I never liked you. And that could go for girls. Like, that's not just other guys. There's a lot of girls that suck too. And all of a sudden, they're all friends on Facebook. Like, really? Now, it could be up to me to be like, okay, be the bigger person, right? And most of the time I am. Most of but I don't forget. Like, I don't forget, you sucked in high school. Like, you sucked. You thought you were the queen shit, or you thought you were king shit, or whatever. You know? I don't forget. But 20, 30 years later. Yeah, I still hold a grudge. Okay. Fuck it. I don't care. But I'll be friends with them on Facebook. Like, I'm not not having a reunion with them. We all had that this motherfucker moment. Don't forget that. Let it be by the Beatles. Again, this is a whole different boomer generation. Let it be. Oh, I do like Let It Be. I like Let It Be. I do. A few songs capture acceptance as cleanly as Let It Be released in 1970. It became a graduation staple because it often comes. So you're telling me that there was a fucking playlist back then? All of these songs they're talking about were like this was a staple. Everybody loved this. It was a it was a it was a blah blah blah blah blah. Like, no, I don't who who was playing this shit. If if I walked into a fucking graduation party, all right, I'm telling you this. I'm telling you this. If I walk into a graduation party and motherfuckers, this is the playlist, fucking two middle fingers, and I'm out. See you later. Taking my fucking my my 12 pack somewhere else. I'll go fucking drink up the beach by myself with my Sony Walkman in a fucking mixtape before they were called mixtapes. Remember that? Fucking Gen Xers. All of a sudden they think, and then millennials, millennials think they invented like the mixtape. Get the fuck out of here. Fucking see this this article just got me fucking irritated. That's all it's doing. Uh, the message lands differently when you're young and when you were older, right? The song cuts through all of that by suggesting that not everything needs to be solved right now. Yeah, it does. We gotta fix this shit now. That message lands differently when you were young than when you were older. Boomers hearing this today are often responding to both memories at once. No, no, we're not. No, we're not. I um when I hear this song, I think of the album cover. I think of my brother rolling weed or cleaning his weed on this. I don't, you know, there's other thoughts that come to mind when I hear this song. Yeah. Let it seed, let it seed, let it seed, let it seed. Kids say they don't have to clean their weed. That's the thing. They don't have to. They go to a fucking store, it's all cleaned for them. Fucking kids. It also reminds them that learning to release control is an ongoing practice, not at one time lesson. Not a one-time lesson. Fuck it. Oh, here we go. Imagine. No, no, not gonna do it. Not reading this. Nope, most fucking overrated song in the history of music. What is it with all the Beatles songs? Imagine. I don't know, no, no, no, no. I'm not even gonna fucking read it. I never heard Imagine played at any fucking party I ever went to. That is the truth. That is the fucking God's honest truth. And I think you, you as a listener, should think about this. Have you ever been to a party, a fucking party, a graduation party at that, since we're talking about graduation? Have you ever been to a graduation party where they played Imagine? Think about it. It's a quick answer. No. No. If you're at a party where they play fucking Imagine, then you're also eating fucking cupcakes and drinking Coca-Cola. No, the parties I went to, you're snorting the white line off the fucking cupcake, and you're snorting the Coca-Cola too. Yeah. Those are the parties I went to. I didn't go to these parties where they play Imagine and Here Comes the Sun and You've Got a Friend and Bridge Over Troy. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. None of this, none of this shit. See, see. Here comes the sun at number six. I'm not fucking reading this. No. It often appeared at graduations as an exit song. What the fuck? Yeah. Okay, okay. That I can agree with. Not graduations. I've gone home many a fucking morning at five in the morning, and I'm here comes the sun. Yep. Because I've been up all night snorting that white line off the top of the cupcake. Yes, I did. Yes, I did. That'd be about, I don't know, a dozen and a half cupcakes. Yep. And I know I'm not alone. I know you motherfuckers listening. If you're a boomer, if you're a late generation boomer, you know what I'm talking about. Uh-huh. Yeah. Snorting cupcakes. There comes the sun. But then you go home. Oh, now we're going to get into it. Then you go home and that fucking crash. That's a that's a bad crash. Like when you come down off those, those, those white lines off the top of the cupcakes, and you feel fucking horrible. Oh my God, that's brutal. And you swear you'll never do it again. You swear I'll never I wasted my money. Oh my God, I'm never gonna do this again. Oh, what the fuck? Wasting, you know, I spent 60 bucks like back back then, 60 bucks was a lot of money, right? Bought a 60 bucks, never doing this again. Five o'clock Saturday afternoon rolls around, you're like, let's go. Let's buy some more cupcakes. Let's get some more cupcakes. Yeah, buddy. Let's just get this thing over with. We are family by Sister Sledge. Yeah, it's better than the other songs. Fucking better than the other songs, I'll tell you that. I listened to this song before I listened to all those other fucking songs. At least it's got a beat and you can dance to it. Not that we were dancing at parties either. That never happened either. Like, I don't know if I've never been to a party where people were fucking dancing. Not in the parties I went to. Nope. Nope. They were too busy snorting cupcakes. Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, what do we got here? By the late 70s, graduation ceremonies began uh to sound more celebratory. Released in 1979, we have family, brought warmth and collective joy into the spaces that had traditionally leaned solemn. Yeah, that's for fucking sure. Uh, this song reinforced the idea that connection does not disappear after school ends. Uh blah, blah, blah. It's it simply changes from uh form and context. For boomers entering workplaces and communities that were rapidly evolving. That message mattered. What the f who writes this shit? Uh, belonging in in bold, underlined uh letters uh is a core physiological need, especially during identity transitions. Oh, okay, okay. That's today you say that, like today that has double meaning right there. Especially during identity transitions. What the fuck? Anyway, anyway, okay. I have noticed this song often triggers smiles before tears. My Way by Frank Sinatra. No, no, no, no. Never heard it at a fucking graduation. Never heard it at a party. I heard it on Sunday morning with Sinatra at my house, but that's it. I'm not reading this. The bottom line, this fucking lineup of songs sucked. Okay. That's the bottom line. It says the bottom line, graduation songs work because they capture identity at the exact moment it begins to shift. No, the bottom line, this article sucked. That playlist sucked. All those songs pretty much suck. Except for We Are Family. That's still a pretty good song. Props to Sister Sledge. Okay. Oh, let's get rid of that fucking shit. Okay, let's get rid of this. Uh I need a break after that one. Let's look at uh let's look at some of the uh comments. Here we go. Um I don't know, the fucking echoing sacrifice. So it says OMOM24. Let's promote you. Yeah. Come in. Yeah, promote me to what? What unretired? Okay. Uh good evening, Scott. There's Pattyasi on your Vets Connection podcast. Robert S. Goffin is 43 years old. Thank you for that. I love that. He doesn't look 43, though. He does not. Dude, it looks like he's 27. That's on my other podcast, my veteran podcast. Vets Connection Podcast. Go listen to it. It's pretty interesting. I do some really good interviews. Uh, let me see. April says, uh so fun. Why would anyone lie though? I'm not sure. I was rambling. I who knows. All despair. Uh Dave Phillips, king of the 45, says, Hello, Scott. Had a blast in high school. I think we all had a blast in high school. That that's that, yeah. I think, well, you know, okay, okay. I'm gonna let's let's let's get into this. Let's get into this. When I got out of the Air Force, I went back to Winthrop, right? And I was working at Kathy's place. Now, Kathy's place was a gym. My brother's girlfriend, who has since passed away, uh, my brother also, so that's a whole nother fucking story. Uh, but she owned a gym in Winthrop and and she was paying me under the table. I went every morning at like 4:30, 5 o'clock, I'd open it for the morning workout people, and I'd be there until about noon, right? And I'd get paid under the table, and it was it was good. I was blah, blah, blah. It was before I I went into customs and border protection. But this one girl, this one woman, young woman, came in, and uh I didn't notice her at first when she came in and just does her workout, and and uh as she's leaving, she walks up to the counter and she goes, Scott McLean, and I'm not gonna say her name. I went, oh shit. Hey, how are you? How are you? Good, good, good. How are you? What have you been doing? You know, the the the usual things. I hadn't seen her probably since 1981, and this is now uh I get out of the Air Force in '97, right? So this is like, I don't know, nine 1997. I hadn't seen her. And uh, I don't know, something came up about high school because that's what we have in common, right? And uh she just looks at me, she says, I hated high school. High school was the worst time of my life, she said to me in a deadpan serious and I I don't know what to say to that. Like, I don't like like I I mean she she wasn't like one of the popular kids, and and then she looked at me and she said, But you were always nice to me. And I I I was like, Okay, yeah, thank you, thank you for that. She said, No, thank you. But that was really that's a true story. Uh so high school wasn't always great, and I knew I think we all have friends that might have that, you know. Um but she said, yeah, high school was the worst time of her life. But I was always nice to her. My brothers were always like that. My mom raised us right to be nice to people until we didn't have to be, and then we'd beat them up. So there's that. And there's people out there watching and listening that are witnesses to that. Some of you might have gotten beaten up by you know my brothers. And for that, I'm sorry, but not sorry, because you probably deserved it. Because I don't know. Anyway, I don't know where I went with that. All right, here we go. Uh Dave Phillips hated that song. Yeah. Uh April was 61. Yeah, I didn't listen to that shit either. This is when we were going down the list. Uh never. They probably played Pin the Tail and the Donkey too. Yeah, at those other parties. Uh, horizontal Mambo Baby. Uh, he looks like a baby. He he was great. Thank you, Patty, for that. Uh on the on the interview. All right, let's get to the next, let's get to the next article. Let me see what we got. Let me see what I want to pull up here. Oh this might be interesting. Oh, you know what? I want I I saw this. I want to, I want to, I want to I want to read this one first.
SPEAKER_00:I want to read this one first. Let's go over here. Get rid of this.
Scott McLean:This this this is this is this looked interesting to me. Screen. Here we go. See, last week none of this was working. It wasn't my fault. See? All right, here we go. The Staley Dan lyric, Donald Fagan thought nobody understood. Quote, take the lyrics more literally. Okay, here we go. And I I haven't read this, so this is curious. I'm curious about this. Uh, it's always been hard to get a handle on just what the hell Staley Dan is going on about in every one of their songs, which is true. They they they have a very unique writing style. I don't have to explain it. If you listen to them, you know what I mean. There may be some hidden meaning or grand story that Walter Becker and Donald Fagin went to tell, want to tell, but more often than not, it comes down to the fantastic solos on their records rather than them trying to become the jazz fusion answer to Bob Dylan. They still took their craft seriously, and Donald Fagin was convinced that everyone was listening to Ricky Don't Lose That Number wrong. Interesting. Then again, there shouldn't be any wrong or right way to listen to music. Some people might have different interpretations of how they see your music, and by the time you unleas your songs to the public, it's out of your hands as to what it's about. Staley Dan were never ones to be the cagey sort when they were writing lyrics. It's easy to see a picture every time Fagan opens his mouth, which makes for a great songwriter when you can put yourself in those uh situations or scenarios that the song is probably talking about. And usually the characters in these pictures were not exactly upstanding members of society. Kid Charlemagne comes to, yeah, right down there at the bottom that comes to mind. The first song they released, Do It Again, was the story of a man going back to his gambling ways, despite it being bad for him. And that may have blossomed into Kid Charlemagne, who's the kind of drug lord no one wants to get involved with, right? None of this could be considered uplifting stuff here. So when they decided to actually write something about real relationships, it threw everyone in the loop. Compared to everything else in the Dan's song catalog, Ricky Don't Lose That Numbers might be the number, blah, might be the most simplistic story they had ever written, just talking about Ricky trying everything he could to hold on to a relationship with this girl. That's not exactly how the rest of the world took it. Staley Dan are the guys that write about dark topics, after all. So that quote, number must mean something else. So for the first few months of the song received airplay, certain fans thought this was an allusion to drugs, with the number being slang for marijuana.
SPEAKER_00:Get this out of here.
Scott McLean:I'm getting all this fucking spam popping up. See, this is a problem. Okay. Fagan wasn't looking to go along with his fans, though. Telling class of rock stories, quote, the fact that this is that the fact hold on. Uh the fact that is that we the fact is that we were referring to a phone number. So I think people should take the lyrics more literally, and it'll be on the safe side. It's very, it's a very simple love song to a young lady. If people decided to take it at face value, there was already a sinister uh bent to it without the drugs. A sinister bent to it. Uh throughout the rest of the song, it becomes a little clearer that the guy is already from the wrong side of tracks. He spends his time living it up at a resort, and when he sees younger women in his sights, he's already looking to get her a number, possibly in the hopes of being the kind of disaffected lover that far too many people fall in with. So I never took it as that. I always took it as a phone number. I don't know. You you older boomers, uh, if you took it another way, let me know. That's I never looked at it. I know what a number was, but I I listened to the song a million times, and to this day, it's a phone number. Because we've all had those moments. Don't lose that number. Like back in the day, we didn't have cell phones, right? You have to write that shit down. And if you met a hot guy or a hot girl, um you want that number. Don't fucking lose it. Put it in your pocket. And how many times did you lose that number? That's a question. Did you ever lose a number and you're like, fuck. I did once. I did once. I remember. It's like, fuck. Anyway. Uh, there might be a sexual undercurrent to the song, but this is not meant to be the good kind of sexy. He may not have been looking for a fix like everyone thought, but if you s if you were to see this man in real life, you can imagine the faded aviator shades, the buttoned-down Hawaiian shirt, and receding hairline as he talks about being God's gift to women. Uh, whether he gets high at the end of the song or not, Ricky should be careful not to get drink, get a drink thrown in his face at some point. I I I don't see any of that in this song. It's funny. I mean, I can't, I can't contradict it. Like they said at the beginning, every song means something different to everybody. Or parts of a song. I never got this impression. Uh, part of the problem is that Stilly Dan trained their audience to suspect a tra a trapdoor under every chorus, even when even when the melody is smooth enough to pass for daytime radio, the narrators are really reliable on the details, are always a little too specific to be innocent. So when Fagan insists it is a phone number, he's not really ending the debate so much as moving into a different question. Namely, why this guy sounds like he's treating romance like a transaction. I I don't, again, I'm not seeing this. This is the Steely Dan trick at its sharpest. They can write something that looks like a straightforward plea and still make it feel faintly predatory. I'm gonna listen to this later on, and I I don't know. Maybe I'll look at it differently. I don't think so. I've heard the song enough. I think we've all heard the song enough that. Everybody has their own interpretation on. And if you're watching, type in the comments what you you if you've ever interpreted this song in any other way. Uh, like a smile that never reaches the eyes. Ricky, don't lose that number, does not need drug slang to be unsettling. Because the unease is already baked into the posture of the song. The way it leans in too close and keeps talking, even after the answer should probably be no. I don't see any of that. Yeah, I don't see I don't see any of that.
SPEAKER_00:Let's see. Does anybody in the comments say anything? Let me see.
Scott McLean:Uh phone number. Yeah, Dave Phillips, King of the 45s. Phone number. I don't I don't know why anyone would think it's it's otherwise. Okay. That was a good article. I like that. Okay, let's get into how about this? This is this is kind of a crossover. I like crossovers sometimes. Into movies. So we'll just bring in this. Let's bring this up over here. Pop this over here. Come on.
SPEAKER_00:Here we go. Let's get rid of that. Alright. See, I just did it. I did it. I I got it. Let's bring it up again. There we go.
Scott McLean:All right. Rock movies, the eleven greatest music films of all time ranked. First of all.
SPEAKER_00:Why do I keep getting all these? I just noticed in the YouTube request screen and connect section. Alright. Alright, alright, alright. I'll check all this later.
Scott McLean:Phone's blowing up. Rock movies, the 11 greatest music films of all time, ranked. Rock and cinema collided in unforgettable ways. From Beatlemania to Pink Floyd and Pompeii, which was really good. If you've never watched that, I remember watching that on the Star Channel. That was like the first cable TV movie channel, Star Channel, right? Then after like at 11 o'clock at night, they said they would show those movies. And I think they scrambled it or something like that. I don't know. These 11 films defined how rock looks and feels. After all, both thrive on spectacle, drama, and the ability to capture lightning in a bottle. When rock band stepped onto the big screen, whether in the raw immediacy of a live concert, the fly-on-the-wall intimacy of your diary, of a tour diary, or the kaleidoscopic excess of a rock opera, they gave audiences something bigger than music alone. Myth. From the Beatles' witty sprint through Beatlemania and a hard day's night to talking heads, hypnotic art rock performance and stop making sense, these films have become cultural landmarks as much as musical ones. Some, like The Last Waltz, provide a bittersweet farewell. Others, like Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii, create strange, timeless environments where music and image fuse into something otherworldly. And then there are the cautionary tales, Gimme Shelter, showing the dark collapse of the 60s dream, or Led Zeppelin's song remains the same, proving that rock excess could be both ridiculous and magnificent. These are 11 great uh the 11 greatest films to feature rock bands, movies that didn't just capture performance but expanded how we hear, see, remember, the legends of rock. Excuse me. Number 11, Song Remains the Same, right? Mid-70s Smorgisborg. Uh The Song Remains the Same may not rank with the greatest rock films, but it remains an essential, if flawed, document. It is kind of weird. Like the the I still never understood the gangster werewolf scene. I know you all know what I'm talking about. I don't I don't know where that came from. That was an acid trip or something. A werewolf in a fucking pinstripe suit with a Tommy gun. I didn't get it. Uh combining electrifying Madison Square Gardens perform Madison Square Garden performances with surreal fantasy sequences. Oh, it certainly was. It captures both the band's ferocious power and their indulgent access excess. Despite uneven editing and self-mythalizing, uh, it offers a fascinating snapshot of Zeppelin at their commercial zenith, larger than life, and determined to cast themselves as Rock Guards. It is a great soundtrack, though. I'll tell you that. It's a great soundtrack. Uh Bob Dylan Don't Look Back. D.A. Penny Penbaker's Don't Look Back is less a concert film than a cultural landmark following Bob Dylan's 1965 UK tour. Strips away the mystique and reveals his wit, arrogance, vulnerability, and creative intensity. The iconic cue card sequence in subterranean homesick blues become one of the most uh one of music's most uh music's first pop videos. More importantly, the film immortalized Dylan at uh the very moment he was reshaping songwriting folk culture in the wider counterculture culture movement. David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust, The Spiders from Mars. Uh Penbaker again. Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars captures David Bowie's otherworldly alter ego at its dazzling peak in sudden end. Filmed in the Hammers uh Hammersmith Odin. It documents Bowie's shocking announcement that it would be Ziggy's final show, stunning both fans and bandmates. With glam spectacle, rock charisma in the spiders, muscular playing, it preserves the moment. Bowie transcended rock theatrics, proving himself a master of reinvention and myth making in real time, which he was brilliant at that because he knew not to run it into the ground. Like you hit your apex, that's the time to quit. That's the time to move on. Don't start on the way down. You hit the apex, move on. Leave them guessing, leave them going, what the fuck? But in the end, it paid off for him. Let's see. The Who, Tommy. Ken Russell's 1975 adaption of The Who's 1969 rock opera, Tommy, is one of the wildest, most excessive uh film rock films ever made, a psychedelic, surrealist explosion of sound and vision, starring Roger Daltrey with cameos from Elton John Tina Turner and Jack Nicholson. It transformed Tommy into the delirious cinematic cinematic carnival. Though divisive, its audience secures its place. Its audacity secures its place in the pantheon of rock films as a gloriously unrestrained cultural artifact. What's the one scene you think about? What's the one scene you think about in Tommy? Uh when you hear the word the movie Tommy or you think about the movie Tommy, Uncle Ernie. Right? That I think that was his name. Keith Moon. Yeah. That was uh that was a bizarre sequence. Let's see, the Ramones, Rock and Roll High School, never saw it. I never really saw it, never liked the Ramones. Is a riotous slice of punk energy, perfectly capturing the Ramones mischievous spirit with an arch uh anarch anarchaic humor, gleeful rebellion, and nonstop rock and roll. The film embodies the band's ethos while providing a cult classic teen comedy. Though not traditional concert film, it immortalizes the Ramones' charisma and attitude, making it essential viewing for punk fans and anyone seeing the raw thrill of the late 70s. I don't, that's not a that's all right. It is all right. They say it is. Rolling Stones give me shelter. I think we all know that one. Uh stands as rock's as uh stands as one of Rock's most chilling documentaries, capturing the Rolling Stones in the year '69. You are still cultivating uh cultivating in the tragic Altamont free concert. The film shifts from exhilarating performance footage to harrowing chronicle of chaos, violence, and the dark side of counterculture dream. More than a concert film, it's a stock cultural document cementing its status as one of the most essential and haunting rock films ever made. Uh various Monterey Pop 1968, a third entry for director D.A. Pennebreak Pennebaker and perhaps his finest rock film, Monterey Pop, catches the birth of the modern festival era with luminous intimacy from Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar uh alight to Janice Joplin's pictured uh breakout performance. Yeah, that dude was a good he he he could sing that, Janice Joplin. He's he certainly could. Uh the film crystallizes the optimism of raw power and summer of love. Penn Baker's uh obtrusive camera style, let's the music breathe, making it not just a record uh of an event, but joyous time. I had uh one of my favorite albums was um what was it? Um Jimi Hendrix and no, I can't think of it because I I put myself on the spot. I'll remember it. Uh live at Monterey. Uh it's two, I don't know, I don't know who was on the other side. Uh, the band, The Last Waltz. Uh The Last Waltz stands as a towering achievement in rock cinema, capturing the band's Fanwell concert. Blah, blah, blah. Let's just keep going. Number three, Pink Floyd, live at Pompeii. Great movie, like really bizarre. Real, real, real Pink Floyd-ish. Very Pink Floyd-ish. Came out in 72. Uh, filmed in the empty, ancient amphitheater of Pompeii. The absence of an audience gives the performance an eerie, otherworldly intensity. The band, David Gilmour, Roger Wilders, blah, blah, blah, play extended, hypnotic versions of tracks like Echoes and One of These Days while atmospheric cinematography captures volcanic landscapes, crumbling ruins, and shifting light. And number two, talking head stop making sense. That was that, you know, that that whole thing with David Byrne, he was a brilliant performer. Still is a brilliant performer. Uh, the suit, the whole thing, it starts off regular, and then as the song goes on, as the show goes on, the suit gets bigger, right? Uh, let me see. Byrne famously appears alone on stage with the boombox, adding band members and layers song by song, cultivating full electrifying ensemble performance with dynamic camera work, shop editing, and Byrne's idiosyncratic stage performance or presence transforms a live show into cinematic experience from psycho killer to once in a lifetime start making sense as a template for how to make a concert film. And the Beatles Hot Days Night classic. Funny as hell. Funny movie, good movie, and let's get out of that. Okay. That wasn't a bad that wasn't a bad list. Uh, what do we got, Tommy? When did you learn how to read? I'm a good reader, Bob Dusset. I'm a good reader. Don't judge a book, buddy. I might look big and dumb, but I'm a good reader. I is. Uh, Big Head Todd the Witch Rocket. It's like, I don't know, 7.51. Getting ready. This has been a fast hour. I'm here entertaining me. A little late, motherfucker. A little late, big head Todd. Let's do one more thing. Let's do one more thing. Okay. This is how we do it. This is how we do it. So, what do we want? Three rock and roll debut albums from 69 that set the stairway. Well, I already read that one. Four famous classic rock songs that were written faster than you expected. I don't know about that. I think, well, that's the only one left. All right. I I did just enough. So here we go. Four classic rock songs that were written faster than you expected. Let's come over here. Let's get rid of this. Almost done here, people.
SPEAKER_00:What was that? Did that open up?
Scott McLean:See, right at the end. Okay, I'm gonna get rid of that. Now, let's get rid of this. I know what I did wrong. Okay, okay. I'm in a hurry to get this shit over with. That's what I'm doing. Screen. Four classic rock songs. This should be fast. This will be fast. Uh, four famous classic rock songs that were written faster than you expected. Many famous classic rock songs took a long time to create with lyrics that were revised several times in the music that came together over the course of multi, multiple sessions. Examples of these include The Beach Boys, Good Vibrations, The Beatles, A Day in the Life, and Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. On the other side of the coin, quite a few memorable tunes by well-known rock acts were written and recorded surprisingly quick. Sometimes inspiration strikes suddenly, and unforgettable lyrics and melodies will pour out in a burst of creative energy. Here are four such tunes, all of which are enduring classics that were composed quickly by some of the biggest names of rock history: All Along the Watchtower by Bob Dylan. Here we go. All Along the Watchtower features an enigmatic lyrics and uh features enigmatic lyrics involving a conversation between the Joker and the thief. The song, which includes biblical allusions, seems to be partly about Dylan's disdain for the financial aspect of the music business. Dylan discussed writing All Along the Watchtower in a 1995 interview with the Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper. The folk rock legend explained that the words and melody came to him at the same time. He added, it leaped out in a very short time. Dylan recorded All Along the Watchtower in Nashville in late 1967 with a group of respected local session musicians. The most famous of the version, as we all know, the better version, was recorded by Jimi Hendrix Experience, recorded in 1968. Became the band's highest charting U.S. single, reaching number 20 on the billboard. David Bowie, Life on Mars. Great song. Great song. Great song. Great song. Did I say it's a great song? Great song. Very original video, too. Love the video. In 2008, in a 2008 article, David wrote for the UK's Mail Mail on Sunday newspaper. He recalled that he wrote the lyrics and melody for Life on Mars in less than a day. It is repetitive. The song is repetitive, so I can see how it didn't really take that long to write. The song was so easy, being young and easy, Bowie said. A really beautiful day in a park, sitting on the steps of the bandstand. I took a walk to Beckham High Street to catch a bus to Lewisham to buy shoes and shirts, but couldn't get off the riff, couldn't get the riff off my head. Jumped off two stops into the ride, more or less loped back to the house up on South End Road. When he got to his home, David recalled I started working it out on the piano and had the whole lyric and melody finished by late afternoon. Nice. Life on Mars was released as a single in the UK in 1973 and reached the number three on the charts. Crocodile Rock by Elton John. I could I could see how this was written fast. It's a story. He basically tells a whole story, but it's repetitive. In an interview published in 1998, anthology book Classic Rock Stories, and reposted by the Far Out magazine website, Elton discussion discussed how quickly crocodile rock was composed. The music for it was written in less than a half hour, he said. I always wanted to write one song, a nostalgic song, a rock and roll song which captured the right sounds. Crocodile Rock was just a combination of so many songs, really. John also pointed out that he incorporated various influences into the tune, including The Diamonds, Little Darling, and Chuck Berry's O'Carol, and songs by the Beach Boys. He also admitted that the La La La La La section of Crocodile Rock was inspired by Pat Boone's 1962 hit, Speedy Gonzales. Crocodile Rock became John's first top of the hot 100. First song to top the hot 100, spending three weeks at number one in February 1973. And Sweet Child of Mine by Guns N' Roses. What began as Slash's guitar warm-up turned into a full song in a single afternoon. That's how Year of the Cat was written. The piano player used to do the opening piano keys as a warm-up. And Al Stewart heard it and was like, can we write a song about that? Using that ballad? The guy's like, yeah, sure. Well, that guy's rich. Al Stewart made a lot of money off it. Guns N' Roses' classic pop metal ballad, Sweet Child of Mine, helped launch the band into rock Super Saturn. The song, which was featured in the group's 1987 debut album, Appetite for Destruction, topped the Hot 100 for two weeks in September of '88. Slash explained in 2022 interview on Rock Radio Personality, Eddie Trunks podcast, that he came up with the main musical idea for Sweet Child of Mine very quickly. I was sitting around the house where guns used to live at one point in 1986. I guess it wasn't, I just came up with this riff, he called. It's just me messing around and putting notes together, like any riff you do. You're like, this is cool. Then you put the third note, then you put the third note and find a melody like that. Slash added, that's how it started. And then rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin started playing the chords behind it, and then frontman, Axel Rose, heard it and started it from there. According to the 2007 biography, Slash by Anthony Bozer, Rose finished writing the lyrics by the following day. They were inspired by his then girlfriend, Erin Everly, the daughter of Don Everly of the Everly brothers. The couple later married in 1990, but the marriage was annulled the following year. And that should do it. Look at that. Got it in under an hour. Well, that's it, people. Suzanne McPhail, hello. Uh Dave Phillips, have a good night. Todd Sogman, California Time. Some of us are still working. Well, good luck with that job. Uh well, that's it. That's it. Thanks. Episode 202. Good show. Got done just in time. Had just enough articles. Sometimes it works out like that. Last week it didn't really work out that good. It didn't start out good. It was a good episode. But uh, as I always say, thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. If you liked it, share it. It doesn't matter at this point. If you didn't like it, well, thanks for watching and listening for 59 minutes and 25 seconds. I appreciate that. And uh, like I always say, doing the show for you to quote my favorite artist Morrissey, who just canceled another concert. See, I'm undefeated with Morrissey. Every time I bought tickets to see him, he shows up. I was gonna go see him a few years ago in Boston. I didn't buy tickets, he didn't show up. He was playing down here in South Florida, which I always go see him. Something told me don't buy the tickets. He canceled. He canceled. Um, so I am still undefeated. I've seen Morrissey out three or four times. He showed up three or four times. And uh that's it. Like I said, uh doing the show for you to call my favorite artist Morrissey. The pleasure, the privilege is mine, and I will see you next week uh with a new episode. You guys are the best. You are the engine that runs this machine.
