Completely Conspicuous 566: Bastards of Young

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we count down our favorite albums of 1985. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Recorded IN PERSON at CompCon world HQ for the first time since February 2020

- Phil and Jay's #5: R.E.M. follows up two classic albums with a quirky effort

- Band gradually grew in popularity

- Phil and Jay's #4: The Cult hits the right combination of goth and hard rock

- Ian Astbury's lyrics were appropriately cryptic

- Phil's #3: An out-of-left-field pick with the Dead Milkmen's debut

- "Bitchin' Camaro" was the "hit"

- Jay's #3: Pete Townshend's solo peak

- He's mainly focused on Who tours since then

- Phil's #2: Talking Heads delve into Americana

- Surprisingly, their best-selling studio album

- Jay's #2: Husker Du continues their hot streak

- First of two releases in '85

- Robert Palmer covered "New Day Rising"

- Phil's #1: Conflicted about picking the Smiths thanks to Moz being a d-bag

- Phil was an early fan, at least among his peers

- Jay's #1: The Replacements keep getting better with each album

- The band kept self-sabotaging through their entire career

- Favorite songs: "Bastards of Young" (Jay), "Barbarism Begins at Home" (Phil)

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 565: We Are the World

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the music of 1985. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Recorded IN PERSON at CompCon world HQ for the first time since February 2020

- We were scheduled to record a podcast the weekend that everything shut down last year

- In '85, Jay was 17 going on 18 and Phil was 15 going on 16

- Jay: Finished high school, started college

- The year of rock charity

- We are the World featured a disinterested Dylan

- Dylan starred in the movie Hearts of Fire a few years later

- Live Aid was a huge event on both sides of the Atlantic

- Also, Farm Aid, Sun City and Hear 'N Aid

- DLR left Van Halen

- The PMRC hearings led to those Parental Advisory stickers that told kids where the good stuff was

- Lots of pop on the singles chart

- Phil belted out "Easy Lover" under hypnosis

- Phil's favorite non-top 5 albums: Hoodoo Gurus, INXS, Tears For Fears, Dire Straits, Jesus and Mary Chain, Tom Waits, The Cure, Husker Du, The Pogues, U2, Prince, Sting, Tom Petty, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Del Fuegos, Til Tuesday, Waterboys, Meat Puppets, The Indestructible Beat of Soweto

- Jay's non-top 5s: Robert Palmer, Fine Young Cannibals, Camper Van Beethoven, Big Audio Dynamite, Rush, Robert Plant

- 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 445: Reeling in the Years, 1985 (Part 3)

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1985. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output
- Jay's #5
- Brian: "I'm a major label sellout guy" when it comes to R.E.M.
- R.E.M. started getting rock radio airplay in '85
- When MTV News was a thing
- The evolution of Stipe
- Brian's #2
- The Pogues: A love 'em or hate 'em band
- Shane McGowan has teeth now
- Jay's #2
- Two great Husker Du albums in '85
- New Day Rising gets the edge over Flip Your Wig
- Rock concert business was focused on arenas in '85
- Indie rock acts had to forge their own way
- Brian's #1 and Jay's #5
- Camper Van Beethoven's interesting debut mixed a lot of styles
- Jay forgot about the Replacements
- Trouble Boys, the Replacements bio, is excellent
- Mats reunion may not be over
- Jay's #1
- Pete Townshend's last great work
- Ambitious project about the London projects where he grew up
- Since then, he's focused on Who tours and licensing
- McCartney can't stop/won't stop
- Next up: 1990

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 444: Reeling in the Years, 1985 (Part 2)

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1985. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output
- Bands that formed in '85: Bevis Frond, Big Dipper, Crowded House, Guns 'N Roses, Hootie and the Blowfish, Jane's Addiction, Radiohead
- Bands that split up: Minutemen, Hanoi Rocks, Kajagoogoo
- Brian's bubbling under albums: Prince, Minutemen, Jonathan Richman, Angst, Big Audio Dynamite
- The importance of Mick Jones
- Jay: Smiths, INXS, Cure, Dinosaur Jr., Rush, Jesus and Mary Chain
- Brian's #5
- Beat Happening specialized in lo-fi pop
- Brian's #4
- Not the best Talking Heads album, but a decent one
- Jay's #4
- The Cult established their goth sound
- 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 443: Reeling in the Years, 1985 (Part 1)

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1985. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output
- 1985: Jay graduated from high school, started college in the fall
- Jay was 17 going on 18, Brian turned 3
- Jay: Listened to a lot of AOR, hard rock, metal
- Started getting into U2
- The year of rock charity
- Undercurrent of college rock
- MTV was growing
- Style over substance
- Strange collection of songs on the Hot 100
- A lot of songs released in '84 carried over to '85 charts
- Hard rock and metal albums were selling well: Ratt, Dokken, Twisted Sister
- Indie rock's influence wouldn't be felt for a few more years
- The launch of VH1
- PMRC hearings put spotlight on explicit lyrics
- Warning labels had the opposite of intended effect
- DLR left Van Halen in '85: Did he jump or was he pushed?
- DLR's book is fascinating and insane
- Rock bios are a mixed bag
- 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.