May 15, 2020 • 10 mins
In this episode of Commencement: Speeches for the Class of 2020, Jake Brennan, host and creator of the hit music and true crime podcast Disgraceland, encourages graduating students to embrace their inner rockstar while bringing their unique skills, intellect, and hustle to the table in whatever their next steps are.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Commencement Speeches for the Class of is a production of
I Heart Radio. Class of Parents, Faculty, Rising graduates, Welcome
to commencement. You made it. This year is a little different,
(00:23):
a difficult time to graduate because the traditional graduation day
has been put on hold, So we're bringing it to
you wherever you are, because this is still your day,
your moment. And now put your hands together. It's time
to be inspired. This year's commencement speaker the one and
only Jake Brennan M Hello two graduates. Wow does this suck? Right?
(00:57):
You spent four years studying, partying during the childish behavior
and gross living habits of your roommate and you don't
even get a graduation party or a commencement. What you
get instead are podcasts from quote unquote famous people like myself.
First of all, I'm not famous, but I am a
podcaster and the podcast is pretty damn successful and most
definitely the best podcast you're ever gonna hear, So check
(01:19):
that out if you haven't already. It's called disgrace Land,
and it's about super entertaining rock stars and the true
crimes they've either committed or been involved with, and in
general outlandish narcissistic, childish behavior, which if you've been doing
anything right over the last four years, you probably have
some experience with yourself. But now that's all over. Now
it's time to join the quote unquote real world, and
(01:40):
congrats you get to do so in the worst economic crisis.
It's a great depression, So good luck with that. Instead,
you should just party like a rock star right with
your parents, who I assume you're now at home with
so again. Sooner or later, though, you're going to be
allowed to venture out into the workforce, and you're gonna
need tips on how to best navigate the complex world
to being a professional and having a career. And who
(02:02):
better to give you those tips than me, a college
dropout who makes a living writing and speaking about mostly
other college dropouts. So I thought, rather than trying to
come off as some serious minded intellectual who has all
the answers, I do what's served me best in my
career and go with my gut and break off some
wisdom for you from my area of expertise the music industry,
(02:26):
specifically wisdom from another dropout, a high school dropout. No
Less Food Fighters frontman and Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. But
I'm not going to go through days highly quotable past
and mine inspiration quotes like some middle aged yoga instructor
with a brand new Instagram account. I'm gonna interpret for
you the food Fighters tour Rider in an effort to
give practical examples on how to succeed in your career
(02:48):
like a rock star. If you follow every one of
these instructions laid out by the Food Fighters and interpreted
by me, then you too will be a success in life,
just like Dave Grohl, just like me. Jake Brennan, don't
this up. Your life depends on it. I almost forgot
what's a tour rider, you ask? A tour rider is
a list of items demands really, that rock stars sent
(03:10):
to the promoters who hire them to perform at their venues.
The rider's list of demands must be met by the promoters.
Everything on the list must be provided to the rock
stars in order for them to perform. Think of it
as a hostage note. If these following things aren't given us,
we're not gonna grace you with our presence and our
rock star performance. As a matter of business for the band,
it's a practical document that helps them turn out better performances.
(03:33):
As music loving fans of rock stars, well we can
get our eyes on a band's tour rider. It gives
us unique insight into who our favorite rock stars are
as people. Okay, here goes the first note on the
food fighters tour writers says the following in all caps
at the very top of the document. Please have all
signs visibly posted from crew entrance to catering prior to
(03:54):
our arrival. Fat roadies have to eat immediately so they
can begin there, aren't you with seventy and any minute
work day interpretation? Okay, this is a couple of things.
First of all, it says, don't take yourselves too seriously.
Rock and roll is serious business, as I'm sure whatever
the hell it is you're going to pursue as a
career is. But that doesn't mean you have to take
yourself and your job completely seriously at all times. Second,
(04:19):
in this simple instruction, Dave Grohl at the top of
the rider, before demanding anything for himself or his bandmates,
is insisting that his crew, the laborers, the little people,
are taking care of. What can we glean from this
It's simple. When you are sent to a management position,
in your career. Take care of the laborers and they
in turn will take care of you. Okay. The next
(04:42):
it I'm worth noting on Dave and the Food's Tour
Writer is the following. Under the heading crew in Banned Meals,
it says the following breakfast menu to be set up
no later than thirty minutes prior to load in for
people one USA Today and one local newspaper. Selection of
hot breakfast, selection of cereals on open, do not recycle
from last night's d O show, selection of breads and
(05:03):
a toaster, large fresh fruit bowl, etcetera, etcetera, coffee, juice, water,
blah blah blah. Okay. Like our first instruction from Mr Girl,
this bit says numerous things. First of all, it says,
make sure to eat a good breakfast. You're no longer
in college sleeping off a hangover and waking up at
noon to hit the quad for hacky sack or whatever.
Can you telling what to college in the nineties, But
(05:23):
I digress. It also says, by pointing out the need
for both the USA Today and a local newspaper, that
you need to stay inform and not just nationally, locally
if in whatever job You're lucky to land if it
requires you to travel. It is important to know not
only where you are, but what is going on wherever
you are. You've heard the expression know your place that
(05:45):
no d place, but you're in Okay. Moving on further down,
the rider in the lunch section, in addition to asking
for an assortment of healthy food options, says the following,
Every lunch should include a soup of the day. Please
try to make it a vegetarian selection, meat soups, make
roadies far okay. The obvious listen here is to eat healthy.
Got it. The writer then goes on to list out
(06:07):
the band and the crews preferred dinner and snack choices
for coming upon the daytime rider items, under which there
is a long list of items to help keep the
band entertained during their downtime before they hit the stage.
It calls for DVDs one action the other of the
promoter's choice, and specifically states no Jamie Kennedy and no
Martin Lawrence or sports titles. Interpretation. Be discerning with your time,
(06:31):
even your downtime. So much of your job is going
to be influenced by what you do and what you consume.
While you're not working and now, especially today, while there
are so many choices in content, you don't need to
be wasting your time on some bolt though I'm ride
or dive from Martin and my soda pop. Dave Girl
doesn't know what it is he's talking about when it
comes to Martin Lawrence. Then the writer requests quote unquote
(06:54):
magazines and specifically says, no rolling Stone or spin interpretation. Okay,
this is possibly the most important lesson you can take
from the Food Fighters Rider, and it is this the
critics sub lesson rock journalism is stupid. You're gonna have
haters in life who try to keep you down. Even
Dave Grohld does, and he knows better than to read that.
(07:16):
While he's chilling backstage with his fancy soups and fat Road,
he's getting ready to go rock the house. Further down
the Rider, we come upon the Food Fighter's request for
three tubs of ice, approximately seventy five pounds of ice
to keep the band's beers cold while they're on stage.
Solid request and seemingly not out of the ordinary, except
when you glance below, where they've included a recipe for
(07:38):
ice that says the following, get some water. Clean water
is preferred. Put it in trays or other fun molding implements,
store it at freezing for four hours, repeat as needed. Interpretation,
don't assume anything in your career. People are as stupid
as they are smart. You're going to encounter both, and
you're going to have to know how to deal with
both effectively in order to succeed in your job. Yes,
(08:01):
even something as simple as the making of ice may
need to be explained at some point. Finally, one of
the most important demands from Dave Girls Food Fighters is
actually from a different writer from earlier in their career,
but it is no less significant. It comes from the
section marked dressing room, and it says the following artists
shall not be required to share dressing room with any
(08:22):
other performer except Supergrass, Oasis or maybe led Zeppelin. Again,
so much to glean from this one simple sentence. Number one,
don't be afraid in your career to ask for what
you want. If you don't want to have to travel
to wherever the hell every second Thursday of the month
because it's an inefficient solution and you have a better
way of doing it, then don't be afraid to tell
(08:44):
your boss you have a better way, he or she
will respect you for it or fire you, in which
case you could blame Dave Grohl, not me. And number two,
be very particular in who you associate with in your career.
Dave Grohl's Dave role He was in Nirvana, Okay. He
doesn't need to be hanging out with your cousin Rick's
band who snuck onto the festival's bill because the promoter
old Ricks bookiees and bread. Nor does he need to
(09:05):
be trucking with Maroon five or some other lay mass band.
He's Dave Grohl and Supergrass if you weren't aware of
proper rock band as his Oasis and most certainly led Zeppelin,
and they are all worthy of Dave Grol's presence. Who
is worthy of your presence? Who are you going to
bless with your incredible skills and intellect and hustle. That's
(09:26):
how you have to look at going after the career
you want. You are a rock star. Whoever it is
that is going to be interviewing you is gonna be
lucky to have you show up every day and rock
their house. Know this, You are no less awesome or
worthy than Dave Girl or any of the food Fighters,
Dave Girl, I guarantee you would be the first one
to tell you that the world is ready for your set,
(09:47):
So go hit the stage and crush it. I'm Jake
Brennan and this is my commencement speech. Oh yeah, and
I host a podcast called this Graceland, which is totally
she should totally go right now for free. By searching
Disgrace same podcast wherever you get your podcast rock Corolla,
(10:18):
you can find the collection of incredible commencement addresses from
all your favorite speakers at the Commencement podcast on I
Heart Radio or wherever you listen to podcasts. M
Commencement Speeches for the Class of is a production of
I Heart Radio. Class of Parents, Faculty, Rising graduates, Welcome
to commencement. You made it. This year is a little different,
(00:23):
a difficult time to graduate because the traditional graduation day
has been put on hold, So we're bringing it to
you wherever you are, because this is still your day,
your moment. And now put your hands together. It's time
to be inspired. This year's commencement speaker the one and
only Jake Brennan M Hello two graduates. Wow does this suck? Right?
(00:57):
You spent four years studying, partying during the childish behavior
and gross living habits of your roommate and you don't
even get a graduation party or a commencement. What you
get instead are podcasts from quote unquote famous people like myself.
First of all, I'm not famous, but I am a
podcaster and the podcast is pretty damn successful and most
definitely the best podcast you're ever gonna hear, So check
(01:19):
that out if you haven't already. It's called disgrace Land,
and it's about super entertaining rock stars and the true
crimes they've either committed or been involved with, and in
general outlandish narcissistic, childish behavior, which if you've been doing
anything right over the last four years, you probably have
some experience with yourself. But now that's all over. Now
it's time to join the quote unquote real world, and
(01:40):
congrats you get to do so in the worst economic crisis.
It's a great depression, So good luck with that. Instead,
you should just party like a rock star right with
your parents, who I assume you're now at home with
so again. Sooner or later, though, you're going to be
allowed to venture out into the workforce, and you're gonna
need tips on how to best navigate the complex world
to being a professional and having a career. And who
(02:02):
better to give you those tips than me, a college
dropout who makes a living writing and speaking about mostly
other college dropouts. So I thought, rather than trying to
come off as some serious minded intellectual who has all
the answers, I do what's served me best in my
career and go with my gut and break off some
wisdom for you from my area of expertise the music industry,
(02:26):
specifically wisdom from another dropout, a high school dropout. No
Less Food Fighters frontman and Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. But
I'm not going to go through days highly quotable past
and mine inspiration quotes like some middle aged yoga instructor
with a brand new Instagram account. I'm gonna interpret for
you the food Fighters tour Rider in an effort to
give practical examples on how to succeed in your career
(02:48):
like a rock star. If you follow every one of
these instructions laid out by the Food Fighters and interpreted
by me, then you too will be a success in life,
just like Dave Grohl, just like me. Jake Brennan, don't
this up. Your life depends on it. I almost forgot
what's a tour rider, you ask? A tour rider is
a list of items demands really, that rock stars sent
(03:10):
to the promoters who hire them to perform at their venues.
The rider's list of demands must be met by the promoters.
Everything on the list must be provided to the rock
stars in order for them to perform. Think of it
as a hostage note. If these following things aren't given us,
we're not gonna grace you with our presence and our
rock star performance. As a matter of business for the band,
it's a practical document that helps them turn out better performances.
(03:33):
As music loving fans of rock stars, well we can
get our eyes on a band's tour rider. It gives
us unique insight into who our favorite rock stars are
as people. Okay, here goes the first note on the
food fighters tour writers says the following in all caps
at the very top of the document. Please have all
signs visibly posted from crew entrance to catering prior to
(03:54):
our arrival. Fat roadies have to eat immediately so they
can begin there, aren't you with seventy and any minute
work day interpretation? Okay, this is a couple of things.
First of all, it says, don't take yourselves too seriously.
Rock and roll is serious business, as I'm sure whatever
the hell it is you're going to pursue as a
career is. But that doesn't mean you have to take
yourself and your job completely seriously at all times. Second,
(04:19):
in this simple instruction, Dave Grohl at the top of
the rider, before demanding anything for himself or his bandmates,
is insisting that his crew, the laborers, the little people,
are taking care of. What can we glean from this
It's simple. When you are sent to a management position,
in your career. Take care of the laborers and they
in turn will take care of you. Okay. The next
(04:42):
it I'm worth noting on Dave and the Food's Tour
Writer is the following. Under the heading crew in Banned Meals,
it says the following breakfast menu to be set up
no later than thirty minutes prior to load in for
people one USA Today and one local newspaper. Selection of
hot breakfast, selection of cereals on open, do not recycle
from last night's d O show, selection of breads and
(05:03):
a toaster, large fresh fruit bowl, etcetera, etcetera, coffee, juice, water,
blah blah blah. Okay. Like our first instruction from Mr Girl,
this bit says numerous things. First of all, it says,
make sure to eat a good breakfast. You're no longer
in college sleeping off a hangover and waking up at
noon to hit the quad for hacky sack or whatever.
Can you telling what to college in the nineties, But
(05:23):
I digress. It also says, by pointing out the need
for both the USA Today and a local newspaper, that
you need to stay inform and not just nationally, locally
if in whatever job You're lucky to land if it
requires you to travel. It is important to know not
only where you are, but what is going on wherever
you are. You've heard the expression know your place that
(05:45):
no d place, but you're in Okay. Moving on further down,
the rider in the lunch section, in addition to asking
for an assortment of healthy food options, says the following,
Every lunch should include a soup of the day. Please
try to make it a vegetarian selection, meat soups, make
roadies far okay. The obvious listen here is to eat healthy.
Got it. The writer then goes on to list out
(06:07):
the band and the crews preferred dinner and snack choices
for coming upon the daytime rider items, under which there
is a long list of items to help keep the
band entertained during their downtime before they hit the stage.
It calls for DVDs one action the other of the
promoter's choice, and specifically states no Jamie Kennedy and no
Martin Lawrence or sports titles. Interpretation. Be discerning with your time,
(06:31):
even your downtime. So much of your job is going
to be influenced by what you do and what you consume.
While you're not working and now, especially today, while there
are so many choices in content, you don't need to
be wasting your time on some bolt though I'm ride
or dive from Martin and my soda pop. Dave Girl
doesn't know what it is he's talking about when it
comes to Martin Lawrence. Then the writer requests quote unquote
(06:54):
magazines and specifically says, no rolling Stone or spin interpretation. Okay,
this is possibly the most important lesson you can take
from the Food Fighters Rider, and it is this the
critics sub lesson rock journalism is stupid. You're gonna have
haters in life who try to keep you down. Even
Dave Grohld does, and he knows better than to read that.
(07:16):
While he's chilling backstage with his fancy soups and fat Road,
he's getting ready to go rock the house. Further down
the Rider, we come upon the Food Fighter's request for
three tubs of ice, approximately seventy five pounds of ice
to keep the band's beers cold while they're on stage.
Solid request and seemingly not out of the ordinary, except
when you glance below, where they've included a recipe for
(07:38):
ice that says the following, get some water. Clean water
is preferred. Put it in trays or other fun molding implements,
store it at freezing for four hours, repeat as needed. Interpretation,
don't assume anything in your career. People are as stupid
as they are smart. You're going to encounter both, and
you're going to have to know how to deal with
both effectively in order to succeed in your job. Yes,
(08:01):
even something as simple as the making of ice may
need to be explained at some point. Finally, one of
the most important demands from Dave Girls Food Fighters is
actually from a different writer from earlier in their career,
but it is no less significant. It comes from the
section marked dressing room, and it says the following artists
shall not be required to share dressing room with any
(08:22):
other performer except Supergrass, Oasis or maybe led Zeppelin. Again,
so much to glean from this one simple sentence. Number one,
don't be afraid in your career to ask for what
you want. If you don't want to have to travel
to wherever the hell every second Thursday of the month
because it's an inefficient solution and you have a better
way of doing it, then don't be afraid to tell
(08:44):
your boss you have a better way, he or she
will respect you for it or fire you, in which
case you could blame Dave Grohl, not me. And number two,
be very particular in who you associate with in your career.
Dave Grohl's Dave role He was in Nirvana, Okay. He
doesn't need to be hanging out with your cousin Rick's
band who snuck onto the festival's bill because the promoter
old Ricks bookiees and bread. Nor does he need to
(09:05):
be trucking with Maroon five or some other lay mass band.
He's Dave Grohl and Supergrass if you weren't aware of
proper rock band as his Oasis and most certainly led Zeppelin,
and they are all worthy of Dave Grol's presence. Who
is worthy of your presence? Who are you going to
bless with your incredible skills and intellect and hustle. That's
(09:26):
how you have to look at going after the career
you want. You are a rock star. Whoever it is
that is going to be interviewing you is gonna be
lucky to have you show up every day and rock
their house. Know this, You are no less awesome or
worthy than Dave Girl or any of the food Fighters,
Dave Girl, I guarantee you would be the first one
to tell you that the world is ready for your set,
(09:47):
So go hit the stage and crush it. I'm Jake
Brennan and this is my commencement speech. Oh yeah, and
I host a podcast called this Graceland, which is totally
she should totally go right now for free. By searching
Disgrace same podcast wherever you get your podcast rock Corolla,
(10:18):
you can find the collection of incredible commencement addresses from
all your favorite speakers at the Commencement podcast on I
Heart Radio or wherever you listen to podcasts. M
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com