Completely Conspicuous 124: Listen to What the Man Said

Special guest Jay Breitling joins me on the podcast to discuss misheard song lyrics. Listen to the show in streaming audio or download it directly (right click and "save as").

The show notes...

Topics:

- Easy to look up lyrics online nowadays, but many user-generated lyrics can be wrong

- Mondegreen is term for the mishearing of a lyric or phrase

- Kumar used to mishear Manfred Mann's "Blinded by the Light"

- Classic example is Hendrix's "Purple Haze" with misheard line "Excuse me while I kiss this guy"

- Kissthisguy.com is misheard lyrics site, not gay dating site

- Breitling: Nobody knew the lyrics of "Louie Louie"

- Kumar: Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"

- Teenage Kumar used to mishear a line in Eddie Money's "Shakin'"

- Kumar: Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music"

- In '70s, sometimes profanity was left in songs ("Who Are You," "Jet Airliner") played on radio

- Kumar: Just learned correct version of a line in Zeppelin's "Black Dog"

- Certain singers are hard to understand: Plant, Jagger, Stipe, guys in shoegaze bands

- Das Efx vocals purposely mimicked music

- Mumblemouthed singers: Vedder begat crappier imitators Weiland, Stapp

- Pearl Jam's "Yellow Ledbetter" is almost completely unintelligible

- Kumar: Thought PJ's "Rats" referenced Hakeem Olajuwon

- Kumar: Long misheard lines in "Rock the Casbah," "Everybody Wants Some"

- Billy Corgan's singing was hard to understand, but early Smashing Pumpkins rocked anyway

- Breitling: Bad Brains' "Pay to Cum" was 75 seconds long, 10 understandable words

- Kumar: The Knack's "My Sharona"

- Weird Al made his career on jokey lyrics

- Kumar: Stone Roses' "I Wanna Be Adored"

- Amy's co-worker thinks a Natalie Merchant song references dishpan hands

- Charles Kuralt's secret life

- Breitling: J. Geils Band's "Freeze Frame" was "Freeze Spray"

- J. Mascis was never big on enunciation

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

Dead Meadow - That Old Temple

The Shout Out Louds - Fall Hard

Everyone Everywhere - Raw Bar OBX 2002

Fol Chen - In Ruins

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

The show is sponsored by Budget, the country's premier car rental service with 900 locations. Go to Budget.com/CompCon and save 10% off any reservation or $30 off a weekly rental.

The Dead Meadow song is on the album Three Kings on Xemu Records. The song is courtesy of IODA Promonet:

Dead Meadow
"That Old Temple" (mp3)
from "Three Kings"
(Xemu Records)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
More On This Album

The Shout Out Louds song is on the album Work on Merge Records. Download the song for free at Insound.

The Everyone Everywhere song is on the band's self-titled album on Tiny Engines. Find out more at . The band is currently in the midst of a two-week blog tour in which it's giving away a song a day on a different blog. Download this song for free at Can You See the Sunset.

The Fol Chen song is on the album Part II: The New December on Asthmatic Kitty Records. Download the song for free at Stereogum.

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 blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous 123: Too Fast for Love

The podcast's back with another installment of Driving With Kumar as I discuss our love/hate relationship with fast food. Listen to the show in streaming audio or download it directly (right click and "save as").

The show notes...

Topics:

- KFC's Double Down sandwich is cartoonish gluttony

- Never ate much fast food as a young kid

- Only go to McDonald's on road trips

- Instant regret and shame

- Most fast food I eat is pizza

- Plenty of other examples of ridiculous fast food meals

- I enjoy occasional visits to rib joint

- Moderation is the key

- Exercise helps counter effects of fatty food

- Parents need to make sure kids are active

- Fast Food Nation was an eye-opening book

- Learning about how meat producers work can turn you off fast food

- Trend towards banning trans fats in restaurants

- Push to ban trans fats in the UK

- People should have the choice

- Encourage folks to be more active and eat healthier

- A ban might be going too far

- Public smoking ban has worked well

- We can't force people to be healthier

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

Deer Tick - 20 Miles

Blur - Fool's Day

The Futureheads - Struck Dumb

Brad - Runnin' for Cover

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

The show is sponsored by Eastbay/Footlocker.com, a leading supplier of athletic footwear, apparel and sports equipment. Save on gear from top brands such as Nike, Adidas, Asics and more using these codes: AFCOMP15 will get you 15% off any order at Eastbay.com, AFCOMP20 will get you 20% off any order of $75 or more at Eastbay.com and AFCOMPFL will get you 15% off any order at Footlocker.com.

The Deer Tick song is on the album The Black Dirt Sessions on Partisan Records. Download the song for free at Force Field PR.

The Blur song is the first song the band has recorded in seven years, made for Record Store Day. After the 7-inch single sold out, the band made the song available for free online.

The Futureheads song is on the album The Chaos on Dovecote Records. Download the song for free at Spinner.

The Brad song is on the album Best Friends? on Monkeywrench Records. Download the song for free from Brad's site.

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 blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous 122: Rock of Ages

More rock talk on the podcast this week with special guest Jay Breitling as we trace our rock roots. Listen to the show in streaming audio or download it directly (right click and "save as").

The show notes...

Topics:

- Breitling: John Lennon's death led to Beatles albums in house

- Older bro joined Columbia House Record Club: AC/DC, Rush, VH, Kinks

- Breitling's mom dug Sinatra, ELO, Winwood

- Sinatra made a concept album, Watertown

- Papa Breitling picked up Skynyrd hits comp

- Kumar: Dug War and Eric Burdon's "Spill the Wine" as a toddler

- Parents dug Sinatra, Neil Diamond, mid-70s easy listening

- Parents got into disco and so did I

- Eventually started listening to hard rock

- Traded hockey cards for Zep II and Rush's Fly By Night

- Breitling got into metal: VH, Leppard, Priest

- Breitling: Live video of VH's "Unchained" was the pinnacle, featuring flaming gong

- Kumar laments late arrival of MTV to his NH town (1985)

- Watched USA's "Night Flights" and NBC's "Friday Night Videos"

- Breitling moved on to alternative: Cure, Smiths

- Also started listening to Grateful Dead

- Breitling got into hardcore through high school band called Lost

- Listened to Fugazi, Helmet, Orange 9mm; then got into indie rock

- Kumar was high school metalhead: Maiden, Priest, Metallica

- In college, got into alternative: REM, Husker Du, Cure

- Post-college, turned onto Seattle scene: Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, Nirvana

- Regrets, I've had a few: Spin Doctors

- Bonehead of the Week

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

The show is sponsored by Budget, the country's premier car rental service with 900 locations. Go to Budget.com/CompCon and save 10% off any reservation or $30 off a weekly rental.

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 blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous 121: Bad to the Bone

The podcast's back with special guest Jay Breitling, who joins me as we continue our discussion of music as a torture device. Listen to the show in streaming audio or download it directly (right click and "save as").

The show notes...

Topics:

- Breitling: Bad covers by inappropriate people

- Case in point: Lenny Kravitz's "American Woman"

- Another: Big Mountain's cover of "Baby I Love Your Way"

- Watch out for white guys with dreads

- Kumar: Bob Seger's "Shakedown"

- Kenny Loggins was the patron saint of crappy '80s soundtrack hits

- The Bruce Hornsby button

- Dube: Arthur Lizie came up with the Beverly Hills Cop genre of music

- Footloose was the Rosetta Stone of Beverly Hills Cop music

- Breitling: Rockapella sucks

- Michael Winslow was the ultimate beatboxer

- Breitling: GNR's "Used to Love Her"

- Liked it, but heard it so many times he got sick of it

- Kumar: Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire"

- Breitling defends Christie Brinkley's honor

- Smash Mouth's "All Star" is evil and catchy

- Steve Miller's whole head sucks

- Beach Boys' "Kokomo" was doomed by the Stamos Factor

- Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" supersucked

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

- The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio

- Midlake - Acts of Man

- Jawbreaker - Gutless

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

The National's song is on the album High Violet on 4AD. Visit High Violet to download the song for free.

The Midlake song is on the album The Courage of Others on Bella Union Records. Download the song for free at Insound.

The Jawbreaker song is on the reissue of the album Unfun on Blackball Records. Download the song for free at Rolling Stone.

The show is sponsored by Eastbay/Footlocker.com, a leading supplier of athletic footwear, apparel and sports equipment. You can find gear from top brands such as Nike, Adidas and Asics. The promo code AFCOMP15 gets you 15% off any order at Eastbay.com; AFCOMP20 gets you 20% off any order of $75 or more at Eastbay.com; and AFCOMPFL gets you 15% off any order at Footlocker.com.

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 blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.