Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Completely Conspicuous 574: Bigmouth Strikes Again

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1986. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Recorded in the backyard of CompCon HQ

- Phil's #5: Solid effort from the Pretenders, which was basically just Chrissie Hynde at this point

- Jay's #5: Metallica hits their high point

- Neighborhood dogs start chiming in

- Phil is a big fan of Ratt n' Roll

- Phil's #4: The debut of the Van Hagar era

- Eddie fully embraces synths, poppier sound

- Didn't realize until recently that the riff of "Best of Both Worlds" is identical to Kool and the Gang's "Celebration"

- Jay's #4: David Lee Roth's out VH's VH

- The best Dave solo album

- Phil's #3 and Jay's #2: R.E.M. starts embracing power chords

- Jay's #3: John Lydon teams up with studio musicians to create a classic

- Steve Vai, Ginger Baker and others show up

- Phil's #1: The Smiths in the middle of a strong run of albums

- Johnny Marr elevates this album

- Phil's #2 and Jay's #1: Husker Du's last great record

- First major label album featured more pop hooks

- Grant Hart and Bob Mould each bringing in great songs

- Favorite songs: "Bigmouth Strikes Again" (Phil), "Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely" (Jay)

- Check out my Spotify playlist "Hits of the Year," which collects all the favorite songs we picked from 1970 onward

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.

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Completely Conspicuous 573: It's Tricky

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1986. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Recorded in the backyard of CompCon HQ

- Jay was 18 going on 19 in '86, Phil was 16 going on 17

- Nine of the top 10 selling albums of '86 came out the year before

- Older artists make comebacks

- Pop and hair metal were big

- Boston finally released its third album

- Phil's non-top 5s: Talking Heads, Smithereens, Prince, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, XTC, Bad Brains, Gene Loves Jezebel, Love and Rockets, World Party, Dead Milkmen, B-52s, Luka Bloom, Feelies, Joe Jackson, Pet Shop Boys, Sonic Youth, Rolling Stones, Dylan, Steve Earle, DLR

- Jay's non-top 5s: David & David, Peter Gabriel, Iron Maiden

- 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.