Completely Conspicuous 609: Right About Now

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1998. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• More of Phil's non-top 5s: Monster Magnet, R.E.M., Hole, Dave Matthews Band
• Jay's non-top 5s: Tragically Hip, Monster Magnet, Jerry Cantrell, Frank Black and the Catholics, Beastie Boys, Rocket From the Crypt, Rancid, Cat Power
  
• Phil tells of a magical mixtape service
• Phil's #5: Moe with a jazzy jam band album
• Phil says he's not a "Moe-ron"
• Not hating on Steely Dan
• Jay's #5: Silver Jews with downbeat indie rock classic
  
• Phil's #4 and Jay's #2: The debut from Queens of the Stone Age kicks serious ass, combining stoner rock with robotic grooves
• Jay's #4: Followed up Odelay with the experimental Mutations
• Phil's #3: A fun release from the Beastie Boys
• Jay's #3: R&B-influenced album from Afghan Whigs was last before they broke up
• Phil's #2: Phish's 7th album featured a "cow funk" sound
• Phil's #1: Big breakthrough from Fatboy Slim paved the way for DJ as frontman
• Jay's #1: Sloan with a '70s vibe, from arena rockers to sunny AM pop
• Favorite songs: "Praise You" (Phil), "She Says What She Means" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 608: Tubthumping

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1998. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• 1998 was 25 years ago!
• Jay turned 31, Phil turned 29
• The one-hit wonders were abundant
• Alt-rock was fading in popularity
• MTV was predominantly airing programming that wasn't videos
• MP3s became another way to share/steal music
• Paved the way for Napster and eventually the near-collapse of the music industry
• Pop was taking over: Britney, Backstreet Boys, N Sync
• Artists who started out great and then just sold out/sucked
• Phil's non-top 5's: PJ Harvey, Mercury Rev, Drive-By Truckers, Pearl Jam, Government Mule, Mark Lanegan, Jerry Cantrell, Tragically Hip, Neutral Milk Hotel 
• The Hip played at Woodstock '99 (correction: it was the weekend after JFK Jr.'s plane crash)
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 316: Fire in the Hole

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we dissect the disaster that was Van Halen III. Listen to the episode or download it directly (right click and "save as").



Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype
- Check out Brian's comics podcast The Hour Cosmic
- Jumping into an 8-minute epic snoozer
- Rumors that the VH brothers had jammed with Ozzy around this time
- Nuno Bettencourt has been touring with Rihanna
- Jay happens to have issue of Guitar World from '98 nearby
- The joys of the Columbia House Record Club
- Michael Anthony's MIA for most of the album
- Eddie compared his singing voice to Roger Waters meets Tom Waits
- DLR says they're working on new VH album for mid-2015
- Brian: VH III was bad in a different way than expected
- Jay: Almost an Adult Contemporary sound
- Jay: Also haven't heard anything from VH's Balance, the last Hagar album
- Record sales from the '90s were ridiculous; nearly everything sold well
- Bizarre cover of Balance was actually PhotoShopped pic of Wolfgang VH
- Putting shitty albums in your iTunes
- The latest VH album was what Aerosmith should do: make a '70s-sounding record
- The comics industry now is where music industry was before Napster
- WWE is getting creative about its content
- Netflix and others are changing the way we consume media
- iPods are being phased out

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 315: House of Pain

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we dissect the disaster that was Van Halen III. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").
 


Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype
- Check out Brian's comics podcast The Hour Cosmic
- An addendum to our look at 1998
- VH III featuring Gary Cherone on lead vocals
- Jay hasn't heard the album, Brian's heard it twice
- Last VH album with Michael Anthony
- Many long songs
- Produced by TV theme composer Mike Post
- Pleasant acoustic instrumental to start album
- Mission statement: We will wuss you
- Cherone sounds a lot like Hagar
- Brian: "Without You" not as bad as I remember
- Eddie needed an editor
- Tough position for Cherone to be in
- EVH played some bass on album
- Restrained drum sound from Alex VH
- Songs drag on way too long
- The "go get a beer" song
- Extreme acquitted themselves well at Freddie Mercury tribute concert
- Mike Post produced artists like Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton
- Severe lack of kickassery
- Jay saw both Van Hagar and DLR in the summer of '86
- Brian saw Pixies recently
- The greatness of Lindsay Buckingham
- To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 314: The Man Who Was Too Loud

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1998. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").


Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype
- Check out Brian's comics podcast The Hour Cosmic
- Brian's #3
- Sean Lennon was considered the poor man's Beck
- Yuka Honda was married to Lennon, now married to Nels Cline
- Jay's #3
- Totally slept on QOTSA in '98
- Homme's first post-Kyuss band
- The greatness of Them Crooked Vultures
- Brian and Jay have same #2
- Frank Black got dropped by a major label
- First album by major arist commercially released online
- Jay: Pete Townshend made some great solo albums in early '80s
- Brian's #1
- Billy Bragg and Wilco covering Woody Guthrie
- Jay's #1
- Sloan has four talented songwriters
- Paul Stanley's stage raps
- The end of The Best Show on WFMU
- Mourning a great radio experience
- Next up: 1984

Music:
Screaming Maldini - Soweto
Brawlers - Instagram Famous

Grass is Green - Vacation 2.0

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The Screaming Maldini song is a self-released single. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at Bandcamp.
The Brawlers song is on the EP I am a Worthless Piece of Shit on Alcopop! Records. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.

The Grass is Green song is on the album Vacation Vinny on Exploding in Sound Records. Download the song free at Amazon.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 313: Somethin' Hot

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1998. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").


Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype
- Check out Brian's comics podcast The Hour Cosmic
- Remember Blues Brothers 2000?
- Goo Goo Dolls went Hollywood
- Brian: QOTSA released its debut
- Rob Halford came out; first prominent metal dude to do so
- In retrospect, '80s heavy metal was steeped in gayness
- Bubbling under albums
- Jay: Fugazi, GVSB, RFTC
- Brian: Elliott Smith, The Catholics, Flin Flon, Tortoise, The Lounge Lizards
- Jay: Pearl Jam, Neutral Milk Hotel, Pulp, Beasties, Tragically Hip, Cat Power
- Brian's #5 album
- Hello Nasty is the last classic Beasties album
- Jay's #5 and Brian's #4
- Beck does a 180 from Odelay
- Later Beck material rehashes older sounds
- Jay's #4
- Afghan Whigs fully embrace soul and R&B
- Greg Dulli can do no wrong
- 1965 was the last Whigs album...until this year
- To be continued

Music:
Built to Spill - Jokerman
Guillermo Sexo - Color the Noise

Bill Janovitz - Matter

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The Built to Spill song is on the tribute album Bob Dylan in the '80s: Volume One on ATO Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at Stereogum.
The Guillermo Sexo song is a re-recording of an old track available for free at MobtownStudios.com.

The Bill Janovitz song is available for free download on Bandcamp.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 312: Dawn of a New Age

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1998. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype
-  Check out Brian's comics podcast The Hour Cosmic
- The Pixies' ongoing bass situation
- Brian: Zwan was underrated
- Pixies have become the butt of jokes
- In 1998, Jay was 30, Brian was 16
- We both had just started dating the women we would marry
- In '98, being eclectic became cool
- JK: Was getting into more funk and soul
- Big year for pop
- TRL started in '98
- Lots of one-hit wonders: Eagle Eye Cherry, Chumbawumba, New Radicals
- The New Radicals featured former child actress in band
- JK: Saw Fastball open for Matthew Sweet in a tiny pub in Portland, Maine
- Semisonic's drummer wrote book about the record industry
- The MP3 revolution began in '98 with MP3.com
- MP3.com got sued by the labels before Napster
- BS: Beginning of Latin influence and the height of the short-lived swing dance craze
- The Titanic soundtrack was huge
- Aerosmith had big hit with "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"
- Pop country was big: Shania Twain, Faith Hill
- Rap metal was a lowlight: Korn, Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock broke through
- Sugar Ray had a DJ named Homicide
- The year of Van Halen III: The Gary Cherone era
- Brian paid 8 cents for VH III
- To be continued

Music:
Johnny Foreigner - Le Sigh
Fuzz - Till the End of the Day

The Dismemberment Plan - The Ice of Boston

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The Johnny Foreigner song is on the album You Can Do Better on Alcopop! Records. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.
The Fuzz song is on the 7-inch single L.A.M.C. #10 on Famous Class Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at Bandcamp.
The Dismemberment Plan song is on the album The Dismemberment Plan is Terrified on DeSoto Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at Noisetrade.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.