In Service Of: Music News

In a huge week for music news, In Service Of host and veteran music journalist Steve Baltin talks about Coachella weekend one, the inductees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2026 class and the first new Tom Waits song in 8 years. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey and Steve Balton and welcome to inservice up man,
I don't even know what it is. Well, I didn't
know where to start this week. There's so much happening
with the Rock Hall inductees Coachella last weekend, but the
song of the year, the month, the decade, the century

(00:27):
just came out this week. And if you're an actual
music fan and not a fucking influencer who went to
Coachella just to be there for a fucking brand, then
you understand the importance of this. This week saw Tom
Waite's first single in eight years. He teamed with Massive
Attack for Boots to the Ground. This is like, if

(00:48):
you're an actual music fan and as I say, not
someone who wants to hang around a fucking Revolve party,
you understand this is one of the most important songs
of the I mean, this is Tom's. This is a
Rock and All Hall of Famer, my vote for great
songwriter of all time, my favorite at least I don't
know about the greatest, but you know, one of the

(01:11):
most influential artists in the world and artist who has
been covered by Bruce Springsteen, Rod Stewart, Therah Moones, the Eagles,
Bet Midler, on and on and on and on. The
artists who worship his music. Sammy Hagar Jon bon Jovi
asked me about him. Every great songwriter in history will

(01:35):
tell you they swear by Tom Waits. And this is
teaming with the trip hop pioneers. Massive Attack is the
first song in eight years, so we'll start with that.
And I tell you I could not think of the
right word there because I'm just too excited about it.
Go and listen to it right now. You will hear that.

(01:59):
It is just fucking brilliant, as was movie set at Coachella,
as I told all of my friends it would be,
you know. And I'm so happy for Moby that he
became one of the most viral artists to come out
of Weekend one of Coachella, along with Jacob Lost, who

(02:20):
I admit I was not familiar with before last weekend,
but holy fuck, that guy's voice and his performance and
Mobi is one of the ones keeping the flag alive
for the old Coachella. He was there year one, nineteen
ninety nine, and twenty seven years later he delivered one
of the biggest, most talked about sets of the weekend,

(02:44):
and again this was no surprise to anybody familiar with him.
Movie's nineteen ninety five album Everything Is Wrong gets my
vote for the greatest electronic album of all time. It's
one of my favorite albums of the nineties. It is
an absolute brilliant record from start to finish, beautiful moving,
will make you cry, will make you dance, will make

(03:06):
you laugh, will make you everything. It was one of
those records that runs a complete gambet of emotions, and
thirty one years later still holds up so well. So
no surprise that Mobe, along with other veterans like David Byrne,
you know, where some of those talked about artists from

(03:26):
this year's Coachella, And if you're going Weekend two or
you did not see the YouTube streams, I definitely, you know,
encourage you to check those out as well, you know,
and again, it's so nice to see other artists coming
out of Coachella. And you know, for the one hundred

(03:46):
thousand people who went to see Beaver, I'm sure you
had a great time and it was totally worth it.
But it's so nice that at a festival at Coachella
it could celebrate both the old and the new, and
that you can be there to see Beaver and you
could be there to see someone who was there. You'ar
fucking one. And speaking of year one, how about nine
Inche Noise, the combination of nine and Snails and Boys Noise,

(04:10):
who also have a record out today called Halo thirty eight. So,
you know, a very successful Coachella in terms of the
mixing of the old and the new crowd. Fuck them
but whatever, And now onto the other news of the week,
the rock hall, where I also see lots of people
bitching about that. You know, I actually saw some idiot

(04:34):
posts on social media. Who the fuck is Iron Maiden?
If you don't know who Iron Maiden is fifty years
into their career, then don't listen to music like just
No Hollow of You. That name is an iconic song,
number the Beast and iconic album. Great to see them
get in. Also great to see Shade get in, to

(04:57):
see the legend of Shade continue to grow. Is one
of the most fascinating artists in the history of music.
She doesn't do anything, She doesn't put out music, she
doesn't to her She just lives her life, and yet
new generations continue to understand that the music she put
out is well not only is it the greatest baby

(05:17):
making music of all time. It's beautiful, it's soulful, it's real.
There's a reason, you know, I was having an argument
with a friend about which songs from this generation, and
I will not pick on any single artist, so I
won't say which artists so I was talking about will
be remembered in twenty years. There is a reason that
you know, cha Da continues to not do anything and

(05:39):
new generations continue to love her music, continue to make
babies to it, continue to swear about her music. It's real.
And you know, I saw other people bitching about Wu
Tank Plan getting in the Wu Tang clan. Whereas rock
and roll, as anybody who ever lived, it doesn't matter
what the music is, it was the attitude, it was
the vibe. I actually have no complaints with the main

(06:03):
inductees this year. The only complaint that I have this
year with the Rock Hall, which I actually told them,
is this year is the centennial of John Coltrane and
Miles Davis. Miles Davis is in the Rock Hall as
an early influence. However, John Coltrane, who directly was responsible.
According to Phil Wesh, who told me that without Coltrane

(06:24):
there would be no grateful dead who influenced the Doors,
who influenced Santana, who influenced Flea, who influenced you two,
who is one of the most beloved artists in the
history of music. How the fuck is John Coltrane not
in the rock hall? Get it fucking together, okay, I mean,

(06:47):
I have no complaints to any of the individual artists
that are in early influence, but come on, man, I
mean again, without him, there's like pretty much half of
half the greatest rock bands in history don't exist, and
they'll I'll tell you that. So that was my one
can play with it. I love that. I also seeing
Graham Parsons get in there, such a huge influence on

(07:08):
Americana and everything like that, you know, I mean, without him,
there's no Americana. A hugely influential figure and a very
beloved songwriter and artist. So there was a lot of
happening in music this week, A lot great happening in
music this week. I asked this of Springsteen last week, which was,
as expected, mind blowing. And you know, he continues to

(07:31):
be such an interesting figure in the sense of, like
where everybody else wants to shy away from speaking out,
He'll just take on the weight to the world and
continue to put on the best shows in the history
of music. I would say my favorite two performers Springsteen
and then after him, Prints, because they really embraced the
feelings of the whole crowd when they were watching. They

(07:54):
took on the weight of what everyone was feeling and
you know, deliberate with passion, with music, with joy. So
so much happening in music in this last week. Again,
check out the Tom Waite. Check Tom Waits in Massive Attack,
I apologize because you'd never want a slight massive Attack

(08:16):
or one of the great bands in British chip hop history.
You also have to check out Moby set from Coachella.
It was mind blowing nine inch noise nine inch noise
as well. So much to enjoy in music this week,
so much to embrace and whatever you did. You know,

(08:36):
there's great music to check out. And we're now at
the beginning of festival season, so there's so many great
sets coming up. And again the success of Moby and
Jacob Lusk of Subtronics, which is said everybody else was
talking about of David Byrne, just reminds you whatever festival
you go to, this year. Sure you're there for the

(08:57):
headliners and check them out. You not miss the undercart
and getting the opportunity to experience new music because again,
you know, years ago, you would have seen Wu Tang
on a festival. You would have seen Iron Maiden on
a festival. Weird. One of the weirdest shows. I ever
saw Foreigner, Lover Boy, Scorpions and Iron Maiden together at

(09:18):
Anaheim Stadium here in California. So you would have seen well,
I don't know if you ever saw Shot on a festival.
She always did thinks her own way. You would have
seen Phil Collins on a festival. You would have seen
Oasis on festivals. So chances are some of the bands
that you go to see now will be getting into

(09:38):
the rock hall in twenty years, you know, and hopefully
twenty years from now John Coltran and who shaved all
the rock music will be in there. Cool it's Steve Paulton,
Thanks so much and seeing next week.