Completely Conspicuous 320: Dumb After All

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss whether the world is getting dumber. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").



Show notes:
- Guy got fired after calling in sick and then posting video on YouTube
- Another guy made it with a cow and had a buddy film it
- Reality TV rewards dumbasses
- It's a lazy Buzzfeed world
- Beard transplants? Really?
- Pre-ripped jeans
- There's still good rock music out there
- In praise of Mark Knopfler
- Bravo, dude who came up with Shit My Dad Says
- Medical bills are obscene
- Selling your old junk
- The bottom fell out of the sports card market
- We fall for stupid memes designed to rile people up
- Outrage culture
- We're all dumb

Music:
Johnny Foreigner - Stop Talking About Ghosts
Spray Paint - Spock Fingers
Pampers - Guts

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 Bandcamp.
The Spray Paint and Pampers songs were recorded live on the Cherry Blossom Clinic on WFMU. Download the songs for free at Free Music Archive. 

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 319: Dumbing Down

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss whether the world is getting dumber. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").


Show notes:
- There are studies that claim humans are getting dumber
- Our IQs are supposedly dropping
- We rely on smartphones for a lot of information
- We're cramming so much info in our heads
- Smart TV: True Detective did it right
- Disney Channel sitcoms hark back to hacky TV crap of the '70s
- Movie industry favors bigger, louder, dumber
- Sometimes it's good to watch dumb stuff
- Anonymous online comments are a prime source for idiocy
- Wasting time online is so easy
- People are so self-involved
- Reality TV is a haven for dummies
- People will do anything to get on TV
- The Onion keeps fooling people
- Beauty pageants
- Our ability to self-incriminate
- To be continued

Music:
Cloud Nothings - I'm Not Part of Me
Eagulls - Possessed
The So So Glos - Lost Weekend

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

The Cloud Nothings song is on the album Here and Nowhere Else on Carpark Records. The Eagulls song is on the band's self-titled album on Partisan Records. The So So Glos song is on the album Blowout on Votiv Records. Download all three songs for free at NPR.org.

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 318: Lost and Found

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we examine music from a couple of forgotten artists from the 1970s. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").



Show notes:
- Recorded in late January at More Lost Time world HQ
- Edward Bear's prom song
- They were better when they stuck to guitar rock
- Band radically changed their sound
- Ric breaks out a 1971 single by Tom Hartman, formerly of the Aerovons
- Hartman and band when to England because of the Beatles
- Strong resemblance to Sloan's Navy Blues sound
- Ric's tips for finding good vinyl at flea markets
- Aerovons had a serious Beatles fixation
- Very McCartney-esque
- Produced by none other than Mike Post
- Ebay's a good way to get rare vinyl

Music:
Ovlov - Moth Rock
Palehound - Holiest
Baked - Danelectroladyland

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

The Ovlov song is on the album am. The Palehound song is on the Kitchen 7-inch. The Baked song is on the EP S/T Cassette. Download all three songs for free (in exchange for your email address) as part of Exploding in Sound's EIS Sampler 2013-2014 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 317: Too Much to Bear

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we look at the career of an obscure 1970s Canadian band that had a huge hit and then disappeared. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").


Show notes:
- Recorded in late January at More Lost Time world HQ
- What the hell is Edward Bear?
- Named after character in Winnie the Pooh
- Their one big hit, "Last Song," is instantly recognizable
- Sounds like a studio act
- No high or low end in '70s AM pop hits
- Manilow had great timing
- Second single from that album hit top 40
- Singer Larry Evoy was the one constant member of the band
- Opened for Led Zeppelin in '69
- First album had a psychedelic "acid rock" sound
- Geddy Lee's mellower uncle
- Going for a Canned Heat/Steve Miller Band/Doors vibe
- Endless jamming
- Early Edward Bear ain't half bad
- Opportunistic band, like The Police
- Riding whatever music wave was trending
- To be continued

Music:
Protomartyr - Come & See
The Collected Fictions - It Don't Matter Much
Cloud Nothings - Didn't You

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

The Protomartyr song is on the album Under Color of Official Right on Hardly Art. Download the song for free at Stereogum.

The song by The Collected Fictions is on the band's self-titled EP. Download the EP for free (in exchange for your email address) at Bandcamp.
The Cloud Nothings song was released as a single in 2010. Download it for free at Epitonic.

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 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.