September 18, 2025 • 47 mins
The new Earl Sweatshirt album has our two hosts perplexed. They get that it's not for them, but then who is it for? Plus, the 10 best duets ever and an Extended Playlist featuring a song that's certified AWESOME.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Live Laugh Love by Earl Sweatshirt.
The top 10 duets as our EP 10. And as always, the extended
playlist. Right now an extended play.
It's extended play. Renewing your passion 5 songs at
(00:22):
a time. I'm E, I'm Tank and we.
I went to a concert last night. You did without you?
Yeah, I invited you after the fact.
All right? I was invited first.
Tickets. Tickets were purchased.
I was not part of the initial purchase.
It was, it was going to trickle down eventually and make it to
you. Just like Reaganomics.
It didn't. Very true.
(00:43):
But serendipity, as it turns out, I am.
I'm. I'm playing through it today.
I got a virus coming on. Oh, and I would not have been
able to. Well, OK, yes, I could have.
I wouldn't have died, but it wasnot a great night to go on
anyway. OK, all right, fine.
Thanks for bailing me out. I feel pretty bad about that
because I it's because not it's not something that Tank would
like, maybe wanted to see. It was something he would have
(01:05):
definitely gone to, which was Tom Kiefer of Cinderella and
L.A. Guns.
And it was at the Royal Oak Music Theatre in Royal Oak, MI,
which you know, on the ticket apps when you open up your like
the day of the show, you get a, a notification or like, don't
forget to use your mobile pass, right.
And I'm looking like, Oh yeah, where is this concert?
(01:27):
I bought the ticket so long ago,I didn't remember where it was
and I saw Royal Oak Music Theater.
I'm like that seats like 1000 people.
That seems they might. I'm going to, I'm going to look
that up. How is Tom Kiefer, formerly of
Cinderella and LA Gunn's going to fill that place?
Well, first I'll put some respect on his name.
Well, I mean to start there. Well, I mean, I will, but I'll
(01:48):
get into that. I'll tell you how Kick ass
American rock'n'roll. That's how that's true.
Spoiler alert, it was kick ass American rock'n'roll, but just I
I would expect to see them at a much smaller venue.
So the long and short of it is Ijust I'm thinking, I haven't
even talked about this yet. L.A.
Guns. I only knew the songs Never
Enough. And Ballad of Jane, the only one
(02:08):
I know. I guess Sex Action is another
one. That's what?
Yeah, I didn't know that either.But our buddy that went with us,
he's like, you don't know Sex Action?
I'm like, I do, but I don't knowthe song. 17117 hundred.
So wait. Yeah.
So there was not 1700 people. By his own math, Tom Kiefer can
sell 1000 tickets. Oh, that's true.
He's just half full. That's true.
(02:29):
That's true. Whatever it was, I was looking
at the size of anyway. Me too.
So L.A. Guns had very little
expectations, but I'm like, yeah, it's probably going to be
fine. I'm guessing that it's one or
two members of the original L.A.Guns line up right.
And that's the case. That's the crazy thing about all
these bands, and you can see whyit happened, is because over the
years, once grunge killed that genre of music and they could,
(02:53):
and they stopped, they went fromplaying arenas and festivals to
like little clubs. A bunch of them probably said,
fuck this, I'm getting a job to get a day job.
And so the so Tom Kiefer, it's just him, just the lead singer.
I think he was the principal songwriter.
I think he did most things in Cinderella.
I think so, yeah. I remember they had a lead
guitarist who I think just recently died.
Like right now there's a Cinderella bassist.
(03:13):
He's like an active. Watch for the podcast God damn
it. I wrote those songs, but I.
Remember, they had a a a lead guitarist, and Kiefer often just
took the solos anyway in the videos and on the albums and
stuff. So anyway, yeah, so L.A.
Guns, the long and short of it is there is one guy, I mean,
it's a Tracy Guns. It's Tracy Guns, who for a while
(03:34):
wasn't in L.A. Guns.
He there was a band touring as L.A.
Guns and he was a Tracy Guns experience or so shot.
But you know what? The Guns and Roses thing, right,
Yes, yeah, a founding member, right.
He was in it. Yeah.
So he shredded, for lack of a better word.
He could play like he was like, the solos were really good.
The sound was terrible. They did.
(03:54):
The other guys didn't agree withme.
I thought the sound was really bad.
The drums were up way too high. All the rhythm guitars were way
too low. Well, I think you have a better
ear for it by now than they do. I would think so, yeah.
If you're watching, I'm talking about you.
But then And I was, I feel like I was redeemed by to myself, I
guess when Tom Kiefer came on, they sounded fucking awesome.
So whether it was they change the mix, they have different
(04:16):
sound engineers per band if they.
Oh yeah, right. OK, So which by the way,
underrated science that people don't take into account is for
sure, especially the larger the venue.
Yes. So like, 'cause I know for I was
watching a documentary and by the way, we are on this is the
fourth or fifth episode. I haven't talked about Metallica
until now. You've mentioned them but not
(04:37):
gone into it, but this is like 5episodes in it.
This is an improvement. But they have, they have a sound
guy that they play stadium. So yeah, he literally before the
show, he walks around both concourses because they're like,
every section you have to take into account what the mix sounds
like in that section. It's crazy.
So I mean, again, the differencebetween bands that pay
attention. Yeah, Yeah.
Versus just slapping the speakers up there and for sure,
(04:58):
for sure, Yeah. So anyway, L.A.
Guns played. So the lead singer is not the
original lead singer who I didn't know his name or it
didn't really matter to me. You're, I guess you're going to
see Tracy Goss. I don't know.
You're going to hear a couple songs that, you know, the lead
singer was British. Oh, in L.A.
Guns. And I thought that that seems a
stupid thing to get worked up about, but it was weird.
(05:20):
That is weird. And he was also the least into
it out of all the performers on stage.
Rhythm guitarist is climbing on the amps.
Bassist is like doing all sorts of rock poses, right?
Little kicks. Tracy Guns is tearing it up.
And this guy, if he's not singing, he kind of meanders off
stage a little bit and kind of just hangs out and has a drink.
(05:41):
Yeah, I didn't like it. They couldn't find a better guy.
I don't how many guys still singlike that is the other thing.
I was, but there's got to be an elegant tribute band with
somewhere, probably in Alabama, you would think.
The other thing is he couldn't hit the the notes in Never
Enough. The only song I really cared to
hear. And then I went and listened to
it when I got back last night. No, this morning, 'cause we got
back pretty late last night. I don't know how that guy hit
(06:05):
that note. There was some high ass notes.
I mean, it's, it's hair, right? I mean, they got to call Joy
Belladonna. Oh shit, right.
Available. Yeah.
And then so that, So that was fine, fine.
OK. They had great merch.
They had great 80s, like 90s, you know, Hard Rock merch.
It was just like skulls and snakes and fire and all that
shell, all the cool shit you would expect.
(06:27):
Tom Kiefer had almost no merch, which you wouldn't bought anyway
because it just said Tom Kiefer on it and not Cinderella, which
is, is that your uncle or some printer?
It's kind of his own T-shirt. He also had the backdrop.
Was Hashtag Tom Kiefer Band or Hashtag Kiefer band really big?
I'm like, how long have you had that?
They got to stop doing that. By the way, the whole QR code on
(06:47):
the backdrop, it's not clever and no one cares.
No, I don't like it. No one cares.
It's so on Rock'n'roll and no one fucking cares.
Like the fact that you're playing a small venue can only
charge 30 bucks in the 1st placemeans my investment in you is
limited. Not enough to fucking scan
something and buy something online, right?
Right. But yeah, as I alluded to
(07:10):
earlier, the Tom Kiefer band, Kiefer band, whatever you want
to call it, they kicked ass and they did something.
So they sounded great. I think Tom Kiefer's like had
major vocal issues twice, at least once in his career where
like he couldn't he he was maybenever going to sing again.
You would never know. He did all the he's got huge
range from the really high highsto like a more of a not
(07:31):
baritone, but lower tone, super energetic.
The the stage was full of people.
I mean, there were a lot like Parliament Funkadelic, so a lot
Pepsi Collins shows up, some guyin a diaper wanders on stage.
No, it was Mighty Bosstones fucking guy.
Skank guy comes out dancing. No, they had two background
(07:52):
female background singers. I guess one of them was married
to Kiefer. But yeah, keyboard player,
multi, like two or three guitar players.
I mean, it was a lot of people, but they sounded great.
They sounded great. Yeah.
And the other notable thing for our group, and, and I don't
know, you can share with us in the comments if you had a good
experience with like these sort of legacy bands, if you want to
call them. I thought they killed the
setlist like in a good way, a good way.
(08:15):
Like he killed it in that they came out and everyone's cheering
going nuts, right? Because here comes the like,
this is what we were waiting for.
And he plays a new song, but thenew song sounded so much like
the old songs. And it was like, I'm tolerant of
it right now. It's the one slot in the set
list where you get you get a pass.
Yeah, because everyone's just fired up to hear something.
(08:35):
But then you got to hit the second one.
And that's what he did. Yeah.
See, that's, that's smart. I mean, and throughout the and
the other, he played, I think 3 new new songs.
I don't know how how new any of them were.
He never said. He never stopped and said,
here's a new one for you, right?Don't.
And any legacy acts currently watching like L.A.
(08:57):
Guns, right? Cuz sorry about what I said
earlier, but don't tell people you're gonna play a new song,
right? Because they're gonna go take a
piss or they're gonna go get a beer.
Yeah. And he didn't do it.
He would just go from a awesome song that you totally knew into
like the new song and they sounded similar enough or just
put all the new ones in the middle and just had a sense of
humor about it. Be like, all right, it's time
for a piss break. Sure.
(09:17):
This is the new stuff. Sure, yeah, but I think 13 of
the of 17 songs were Cinderella songs.
He never said the word Cinderella so I'm guessing
there's some bad blood there. Somebody owns a copyright, but
it reminded me of how many fucking kick ass songs
Cinderella has. There is a lot.
And they closed. Their encore was with a little
help from my friends, the Joe Cocker version.
(09:40):
Okay, which was awesome. Yeah, it was awesome.
Everyone singing along, everyone's arm in arm, swaying
back and forth, including the people on stage.
It was like really moving. It was really, really good.
I wonder who in Cinderella is holding up?
I mean, there's money to be made, right?
Like what? Who's not?
You know what I mean? Like, who's holding out, not
allowing him to use Cinderella? I mean, do they hate, do these
(10:02):
bands hate each other that much?I think they must.
Like, didn't wasn't there QueensReich?
Well, that was a thing too, right?
It's like the Geoff Tate Band and Queens Reich were two
separate things. And get it together.
Do it for the people. Yeah, for us.
For the people, anyway, I wouldn't.
I don't know if I would have noticed that Cinderella was any
different because they sounded great.
Because we don't fucking care. Like, other than him, it's like
(10:23):
any four jabronis up there. Yeah.
So. All right.
Good times. Yeah.
Sad you couldn't make it. Yeah.
Well, me too, largely due to thewhole invite issue.
All right, so moving on. Yeah.
The album today is by Earl's Sweatshirt.
Yes. The album is called Live Laugh
Love, and we are going to let you know who needs to listen to
(10:45):
it. This is my introduction to.
So I knew of Earl's Sweatshirt and it just in writing whenever
it comes to OOG street cred backpack type, I knew it.
I just never bothered to go intoSpotify and pop it in.
And so I knew nothing of him going into this, but I had
(11:07):
probably very high expectations.OK yeah, cuz the name is it's
it's out there a lot just a lot of St. cred right, which is
everything in this kind of music, not just hip hop, but
especially this kind of like nerdy underground kind of hip
hop yeah super passionate fans yeah that's true so and you know
and whether it's one of the jewels or more specifically LP
or to some extent Dell, you knowDell and Deltron, that sort of
(11:30):
stuff. I I'm in that space.
I never made it over there. Yeah.
So you've never even heard his voice?
No. Wow.
OK. He could sound like Tiny Tim for
all. This is going to be a great
take. I'm looking forward to this.
OK, so I will. I'll put a pin in it there
because I've got some things to say.
But what is your intro? I'll also say that I knew very
little. I knew the the main facts.
(11:52):
I think most people who are likekind of tuned into that world,
but no is that he was in odd future with Tyler and Frank
Ocean and Vince Staples and all those guys, right?
And he was like 16 when he was with them and he was like one of
the I mean, they're all standouts.
They're all have these crazy careers.
But he was really young and I knew the vague story that he got
shipped off to Somalia by his parents.
(12:13):
He got sent to boarding school in the middle of him being
successful. And Tyler used to they they had
a free Earl chance at concerts while he was gone.
I didn't know what that was all about.
I didn't really care. How's the music?
Every time I would put him on, Iwould end up being nonplussed
and then just completely forgetting about it.
And so I knew, I knew the only things I really knew about him
(12:36):
is his flow was slow, very slow,that he likes weed a lot and
that and that was really it. That's all I really knew coming
in. So I knew the facts.
But that's why this was a good exercise.
Yes. That doesn't mean it was my
favorite album that I've ever listened to.
No. So the the first song, GSW
(12:59):
versus is that is that like Golden State Warriors versus
Sacramento? It is.
OK. Yeah.
So it's not good. And it reminded me of Dayla
Orgy. Oh, OK.
There's like sex sounds are there.
I'm pretty sure I didn't listen to it in the cans, so I don't.
No, I mean, it's, I mean, maybe I'm misinterpreting the sound.
Anyway, it doesn't matter. That would just make it in poor
(13:21):
taste on top of being bad to have sex sound like actual you
mean like I think it's like to me it sounded like Yeah, and I
thought that's what he was talking about too.
Things like getting biz. OK, enough that I put de la orgy
is a so sure. Later I was on one sure.
Or it's like trumpets and I justyou know, it's all you hear.
(13:43):
Yeah, but then, you know, so then I keep going and a few
songs in I I don't like that hisflow is completely disconnected
from the beat. I know it's rough.
I don't get it. I don't either.
I struggle with it because sometimes it circles around
almost. It's almost like the beat is
lapping him, it's going so fast,and it eventually is going to
(14:06):
catch up with him. Also, he's maintaining very
often, but not always an internal rhyme pattern.
That's his pattern that does notmatch with the beat.
Sometimes there's no pattern, right?
It's just really, it's like spoken word poetry.
Exactly right. And he's not even trying to, for
instance, have a line in the song be as many syllables as the
(14:29):
next one and he's just playing with shit.
So, I mean, because I one of my favorite visual tools, I watch a
lot of drum videos. Yeah, I watch those sometimes
for reasons I don't quite understand, but sometimes they
have this thing that's super helpful.
It's a imagine a they have a geometric shape.
Sometimes there's always a circle on the outside and then
(14:50):
inside there's a square, maybe ahexagon, maybe an Octagon, and a
little ball moves around it and it shows where it meets up.
Oh, that's cool. So you can have like a 5 fourths
pattern and it's like just just just just cool.
And it shows where the four and the five meet up.
Oh, that's neat. So I think you need, if he's
doing that, yeah, maybe I would enjoy it more if that was
included. Right.
(15:10):
But that's a problem in hip hop.It it is.
I mean, it's got to be to someone's taste and and that
that's one of my biggest takeaways from this is it has to
be it has to be people like he'sgot the reputation.
People like this style. I struggle with it.
So I've got a theory on that. You think it's an industry
plant. No good, though.
(15:32):
I'm going to come back to that. But so live.
I don't know what track it is 466.
It's terrible. Oh yeah.
So that's, I mean, I almost wanted to put that one on our
play because we take one of these songs, we put them on a
playlist at the end of the show.Because he goes from like you
can decipher him and he's enunciating fairly well to full
blown like he had an aneurysm inthe middle of it to the point
(15:55):
where he's just fully slurring, which by the end. 3 heads over
the bar, scoping the mouth so far and John Shea out of the
house. Only the alarm flushes down the
layer the lamp. I always got our hands some
relationships so baby don't flipup.
I always only play the warehouseand hit some browers and fix the
(16:19):
browers and twitch. I don't know my head kept the
crown in the next one and she's the man.
She's truthfully just uses the step stool.
Time to the kids. Pray God give more refugees.
Some assistance for making sense.
I cut off the stamp. I sort of death.
I don't care why I don't. Yeah, I don't.
I don't. You can explain to me.
Oh, well, This is why I don't care.
Yeah. It's like if I'm eating and the
(16:41):
chef comes over and takes a shiton my sandwich and they go,
well, you see what he's doing isI don't care.
He shit on my sandwich. I mean, I think it's a little
more nuanced. No, it's like he's not trying
Earl Sweatshirt shit on my sandwich.
I mean, what I to your point is,I think that's something you got
we got to talk about. I'm sure you want to talk about
(17:01):
too, which is it's brings up theclassic art versus entertainment
argument and that or or the blurry line between it and if
he's saying my choice is to slur, slur my speech in certain
parts of the song. If my choice, if my choice is to
be off beat, that is a fine choice.
(17:23):
That doesn't mean that we have to like it.
True right and that I struggle with that the whole time because
I don't want to because I'm doneof the days and this is not what
we do anymore is really just shit.
This group sucks. This person sucks.
I don't get how anyone likes them unless they're a piece of
shit person. And it's like it's country like
Morgan Wallin, right? Exactly.
Yet I'm like, when would I ever listen to it?
(17:46):
So that OK, so which again, we're building up to the, the
point that I'm yeah right. OK.
Then after that, it's funny because I took these in order as
I'm listening to it's like in heavy metal, AKA Ejectoceto is
even worse than that. Like it just, I stopped taking
notes at a certain point. So then my next note, I think by
now I'm like 9 songs in. I'm like, this actually feels
(18:08):
kind of insulting. Like, there's no way much effort
was put into this. No, with what you said, there's
a pretty good chance that I missed a lot of that, right?
That maybe there's, you know, Quat trains or whatever.
Like, yeah, I'm sure there's things I missed.
Don't care, right? Because again, it's not my
fucking job, right? I'm trying to listen to music
and enjoy it. I don't need to have to get out
(18:29):
graph paper to enjoy the music I'm listening to amazing point.
We and we were clearly like on the same vibe here, because what
I found myself doing to even tryto give it a fair go and to
enjoy it was I what I did. I I looked at the lyrics first,
okay, without even while I wasn't listening to it.
So I'm like, what is he actuallysaying?
(18:49):
Because there's a lot of couplets.
Like what's going on in this couplet is not has nothing to do
with the next one. It's a lot of word painting and
different. There might be 15 different
ideas in a given song. So like he may have one again,
couplet about his family, about his kid, and that does come up
more than a few times, but then the rest of the song is not
really about any of that shit. So I so I did that.
(19:11):
So I so the song like well done.OK, so I, I, I got out genius.
I looked at some of the annotations, but mostly I just
wanted to do it myself and so that I analyzed the rhyme
scheme. OK, Holy shit, holy shit, it's
amazing. It's it's technically very, very
impressive. So so here's one and well done.
(19:32):
He never going to get a rise outof a real one tough like rye or
spelt Orion sized heavyweight titles on the belt son flying in
on the wide eye of the maelstromwild side that I hail from.
OK, this is doom level. There are so many internal
rhymes and I'm, you know, I was doing the one line for the first
rhyme 2 lines for the second rhyme internal cross.
(19:53):
A rhyme starts up here. It ends 3 or 4 lines later.
It's incredibly impressive and Ididn't enjoy the song right.
So it was I was torn this whole time thinking God damn this guys
talented and I watched I'm ranting home in here, but I had
watched the podcast podcast interview with him and my
overall impression about him was.
(20:15):
One, he doesn't give a shit whenanybody thinks he's going to do
what he wants no matter what. And he he's like a genius level
intellect that has seems to haveproblems connecting with the
world because he sees it in a certain way.
Probably why he gets high. Like why why these songs sound
like that's another thing I wrote down.
I don't smoke enough weed to understand this right.
(20:36):
The pace, all of it. So yeah, his credentials, no
dispute. The beats I thought were kind of
throwaway. There wasn't much there.
It could have been an instrumental album, a full of
that shit and none of them wouldhave stuck out to me.
But as far as being able to enjoy it, it was rough.
It was rough. Like I my my final note is like,
(20:57):
again, using the chefs, no fecesinvolved this time.
It's like super fancy food that chefs make.
Oh, sure. So you could go into like a
Michelin star restaurant and they could say this is infused
with essence of this and reduction of that.
Whatever. It's like I didn't enjoy eating
it. Yeah, right.
So other chefs can sit on and jerk each other off at how
creative and great of a culinarymasterpiece it was.
(21:18):
I just I can I have a sandwich, right, Not shit on right,
Please, please, Earl. But like it's like, OK, but at
what point does the so it's 100%.
I agree with you. And, and I knew again, I the one
thing that I, this whole journeywe've been on of how I view
critics and consensus about certain artists is clearly I'm
(21:41):
the one missing it. And that's fine.
And I kind of saw that here. But there's something to be said
for like, let's look at Eminem as an example.
Oh, interesting. There's something to be said.
And this is another second Metallica reference.
If you go through the comments on a Metallica song and anything
on YouTube or anywhere in any kind of media, it's half this is
the best thing ever. And it's half bitter men who
(22:04):
play instruments who are like fucking Kirk Hammett still can't
play a guitar. Like this is lazy ass fucking
arpeggios or you know, this chromatic scale or like layoff
the wah pedal. Kurt, no one cares.
No one cares, right? So there's technical and then
there's making something people want to hear.
Absolutely. There are a lot of artists that
(22:25):
can do this and a lot of artiststhat can do this, and extremely
few that can do this. And they end up being the
greatest of all time. The Metallica is the M&M's,
right? Radiohead.
Exactly. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah. So it's like that is the
extremely rare. So whenever someone is just
this, I'm not that impressed. I know because you could sit
and, OK, I get technically, but like, to me, that's no more
worthy than someone who can makehooky, catchy songs that has
(22:48):
nothing else. It's very interesting.
Like, so in the same way, like, yeah, I'm not going to buy a
Steve Vai album even though he can fucking shred on guitar,
right? I don't care.
Like, it's not. Yes, OK.
I don't think I can tell the difference between, like, right.
I thought Tom Kiefer shredded onguitar, Right.
I bet Steve Vai is considered a better guitarist, but I wouldn't
know. And so that's what you think.
(23:08):
Like, who's just the whole pointof music?
Yeah. And that's what I wrote down.
Not sure who this is for, but itisn't me, which is troubling in
the sense that as two people whoare again, if you do a a bell
curve of hip hop knowledge and experience, despite our
pigmentation, we're in the eighty 90th percentile.
That's true. We listen to a lot of hip hop.
(23:29):
We know a lot about hip hop. So who is it?
So which brings me to my phone falling on the floor brings me
to my theory. So I true to form, so after I
wait until after I I do this to look at any reviews, 03 next
reviews and I don't look at them.
Yeah. So I go to Pitchfork.
OK, 8.58.5 that's new music. This is a this is a 24 minute
(23:54):
long album in 11 songs, by the way.
So, so here's what I think happened.
English teachers. I was an English teacher.
I know Jesus Christ, just revenge for the Kiefer incident,
okay, no, but they will tell you.
I think there are some people that, again, music critics.
Yeah, there's certain art art. I know where you're going, where
(24:18):
the only way the only thing thatmakes them feel smarter than
everyone else is I get it and you don't.
Yeah, it's like a weird form of gatekeeping.
I think that's what this is. I think it's a normal person
listens to them, goes this just isn't very good and they go no,
no, no, because you don't get it.
Because I am smart and I get this.
I think that's, I think Earl's sweatshirt is for people who
(24:39):
want to feel smarter than you. Interesting.
Because again, when when do you,we talk about this all the time.
When would I listen to this? What am I jamming this at the
beach? No, no, you're getting high in
the basement, I guess. Yeah, but I don't get high in
the basement. So it doesn't doesn't connect.
No, I get high while I'm driving, primarily.
It's high right now. I mean, just.
(25:00):
Yeah, in the basement, ironically.
Right. To your point, if I were to play
this album without saying a wordabout it to my wife, even, she'd
be like, what the fuck are you listening to?
Yeah. And I respect her opinion about
music enough to be like, I understand where she's coming
from, and I can't defend it. Right.
(25:20):
Like, it's not out of the realm of possibility that I always do
this whenever something is critically acclaimed.
This is a test I do every time II hit play and I go, what if
someone told me this is their buddy who made some music?
OK, OK, sure. And I would.
And if I can go. Yeah, it sounds like it because
this is terrible. Yeah.
Yeah. I instantly void any positive
feedback. OK, Good music on its own.
(25:41):
The answer should be, wow, he's really talented.
I didn't know that Steve could do that.
Right. Right.
But you listen to this and go, Yeah, this sounds like the guy
who works at the gas station whosmokes weed all the time.
He put some some stock beats offPond 5 or something.
And it's like, here's my hip hopalbum, which again, I know I'm
missing it, right? I know the art is there.
(26:02):
I just don't care. And if I don't care, who does,
who does, right? That's a that's a a completely
valid question, I think, becauseI am the gatekeeper of what is
good. That's right.
I mean, if he was saying something that was profound, so.
So that's the other side of it too, right?
OK, so you can be like a great lyricist and have talent for
(26:24):
rhymes and cadence and whatever,all those things.
A way to turn metaphors right Turns the phrases, but what's
the content? What what am I learning?
Is it confessional? So I'm learning about someone
who I don't know about the hip hop for me often I've said this
for a million years. I've said this forever that the
reason why I like hip hop so much is because it's the stories
(26:45):
are so unlike my own life, rightand it's fascinating like why
watch? I can I know what my life is
like it's fucking boring hip hopis not boring say what you will.
This was kind of boring and, andagain with the Eminem reference
of like, he'll do these same things but make it entertaining
and interesting to the listener.You don't need to, you don't
need to graph it, right. That to me is more interesting
(27:08):
and more talent, like, yeah, I can do this, but also in a way
that people can actually understand.
Yeah, yeah. So not to make it so esoteric
that you're you're playing to anaudience of one, right, Right.
Yeah. And that's, I want to be clear
about that too. Like that's what we're sort of
critiquing, if anything. Sure.
Is the esoteric net not his flow, whatever he chooses to to
(27:29):
flow the way he flows. And just like the slow tempo and
the slurring, I actually don't have a problem with that.
If that's your art, that's your art, right?
Fucking go for it, right. But enough other pieces need to
be there, right? So yeah, I went back my last
notice, I did go back and listento his older stuff, which made
this sound more intentional, notjust lazy.
So I took back the lazy thing. Like, no, this is just what he
(27:51):
does. But for the purposes what we're
doing here, even if it's good inan unorthodox acquired taste
sort of way, I can't really say that you need to go out your way
to listen to it if you're not already a fan.
Yeah, I agree, which brings me to my rating, which is why we do
the ratings this way. We're not doing one through 10
good versus bad, right? I mean, we're implying it.
I think so. But our new rating system is
(28:11):
it's only one of four things. It's everyone needs to listen to
it. Fans of the genre, fans of the
artist or no one. I give this a hearty fans of the
artist. Okay, if this is what you dig,
I'm sure you'll love it. And and the reception for what I
read online seems to be that continuation of, you know,
whatever is previous. Sure, great.
But even if you're a hip hop fan, I can't really say you got
to hear this, OK, because you'llbe just as confused as we are.
(28:34):
OK, yeah, that's fair. I would put a qualified fans of
the genre on it with a big, big old asterisk in that because I'm
thinking of me. I'm glad I listened to this
once. Exactly right now I know now I
don't and I won't listen to it again.
I did the same thing. I went back and listened to the
bits and pieces of his first couple albums.
You're right, it's a departure. He was way more on time and
(28:55):
right and all that kind of his delivery was different.
I'm glad I did it. So now I know if if if I can
now, if I read a review, I'm educated about it.
If they say exactly this guy comes from the Earl Sweatshirt
camp of this or whatever, or they say if you like girls,
sweatshirt, you're like this person.
I'll go well, I probably won't like that person and I don't
have to listen to it. Pass Exactly.
So, yeah, fans. So if you, if you are a hip hop
(29:17):
fan and you don't know Earl's sweatshirt, which I think our
audience, I mean, I'm going to put this online in like a clip
and people are like, of course we fucking know Earl Sweatshirt.
The only people who comment are these kind of snobs we're
talking about right now. Come on, regular extended family
like comment if you, if you likehip hop, but you don't know Earl
Sweatshirt, give it a listen. Just sure.
(29:39):
I'd, I'd love to hear what otherpeople think.
I'd love to be told that I'm missing it.
I know I am. I think, and I think that's the
take away. We know we're missing something.
That's fine. We don't need to find it.
I don't have time to find it. Yeah, yeah.
So there you have it. That's what we think about that
album. What do you think?
Please let us know in the comments.
If I haven't mentioned it already, please like and
(30:00):
subscribe, please. Now it's time for the EP 10,
where we do a top ten list basically.
That's basically, but it's EP 10.
It's right because EP with E&T, right.
We really, yeah, we kind of missed a Brandy opportunity
there probably yeah, probably best.
Anyway today we are counting down the top 10 duets.
Yes, period. Really.
(30:22):
We talked about it earlier. We're going to put a time frame
on it. Our job is not to go back and re
legislate the greatest duets of all time from from the first
duet that ever like the 1920s. We're not going to do it baby
nailed. Thank you.
We're gonna go from basically when we were around when we were
born. Yeah.
(30:43):
So 1980, kind of same rules as the EP 100.
Yeah, more or less, yes. And if you haven't seen, if
you're unfamiliar with the EP 100, we counted down the top 100
albums of our lifetime, 100 all the way to 1 in 10 episode
bunches. And it's way better than the
other shit online. It's pretty impressive.
I'm very proud of what we did. Me too.
I'm linking to it up there. You can watch the top ten.
(31:05):
Yeah, I don't give a shit. Yeah, I pay the same, which is
to say not at all. Okay, top 10 duets coming in at
#10. And I was, this was really fun
to do because we're reminding ourselves of all these songs, a
lot of them from our childhood that were really good #10 It's
only Love by Tina Turner and Brian Adams.
(31:25):
Killer riff. This sets you up for the rest of
the list, for sure. It's pretty esoteric.
It gives you an idea. But.
But, but yet you'll know all. Yeah, I think it's, I'm pretty
comfortable and happy about the fact that about at least five of
these, you're going to go, oh, yeah, And you're going to put
pull up on your phone. Yes, Well, we were doing that to
each other. You're going to rock out to
these on your next try. That's right.
Speaking of rocking out #9 #9 I figured it was coming Candy by
(31:50):
Iggy Pop and Kate Pearson from the B52's.
Probably the weirdest one on thelist.
It's weird and it's fucking awesome.
Iggy Pop. This is not what Iggy Pop
sounds. Well, he sounds like everything.
He pretty much tries it all right.
In the 80s he was doing also like, but this is not fucking
stooges Iggy Pop. This is a pop song.
Like he performed it on the Arsenio Hall Show.
I saw a video moment. So this out, that's how pop it
(32:10):
is. It's great.
It's got a great melody. Highly recommend.
That brings us to #8 which is byMick Jagger and David Bowie.
Not the last time David Bowie will appear on this list.
No. And the name of the song is
Dancing on the Street, Dancing in the streets.
And if you haven't, I mean, you've seen the video.
I mean, this was, it had to be the most in rotation video 8485,
(32:33):
whatever the fuck this was. You know, they're popping in and
out of buildings doing some awkward.
And there is a epic video and the person who made these has
done a bunch of them where they they say like what it sounded
like without the music. And it's just nothing but
awkward sounds and noises and shuffling of just it's like a
it's like a Foley artist to go on math.
(32:53):
That video alone is worth watching this whole episode.
Yeah. I mean, that gives you a sense
of the 80s in one in 3 1/2 minutes.
Yes, right. OK #7 is say say say by Paul
McCartney and Michael Jackson. Yep.
I love that video. Yeah, cuz it's the, I don't
think I even knew the trope of the travelling salesperson who's
(33:14):
like selling a tonic. It's like snake oil or whatever,
right? And he gets the whole town and
then they have to beat it out oftown.
Everyone discovers. Yeah.
Nice word choice, by the way. What's that?
Beat it out of town. Beat it out of town.
I mean, and talk about, I mean, people knew it at the time, but
just in the arc of history, 2 Titans of music bridging
generations. Fucking Beatles and Michael
(33:35):
Jackson. It's crazy.
Yeah. Number six, an Oscar winner,
believe it or not, Falling Slowly by Glenn Hansard and
Marquette or Glova. Yeah, it's from the movie once.
They won a fucking Oscar for thesong, so it must be a pretty
good duet. Good for them.
I, I highly, I think I've recommended on this show before
to see the movie once. It's like an indie film love
story. It's starring the two musicians
(33:57):
who then. Yeah.
Anyway, fantastic #5 don't let the sun go down on me.
Maybe you have to be our age to remember that particular duet,
because it wasn't originally a duet.
That's right. It was originally just Elton
John. So it was Elton and George
Michael, but at Live Aid. Or not at Live Aid, but live.
OK live. Yeah.
Got George Michael was so good. Yeah, one of these days we're
(34:17):
going to do a most underrated artist of all time thing.
He's got to be in there. God damn.
He was good. Dude could sing.
Yeah. Had a knack for songwriting.
But yeah, I I mean, I can still hear him say, ladies and
gentlemen, Mr. Elton John. And then the crowd loses their
shit. Yeah.
He's does it two or three times or maybe twice.
Yeah, that's a great it's. And I didn't know that song
before that. That was one of those.
(34:38):
It did a great service to music fans because I wasn't familiar
with the Elton John version. And then I ended up loving the
song. So that is number 5.
Don't let the sun go down on me.I want to get this.
Yeah. Recorded.
OK, I'm calling it now. Goodbye, yellow.
Brick Road. OK, in the next two to three
years will be covered and be a massive hit.
The song Goodbye yellow. Calling it now.
OK, it's due. Who do you think it'll be?
(35:01):
A don't know. OK.
I'm just saying it's I have I got a funny Spidey sense.
And Elton probably I don't know how much longer he's going to
live, so I don't know how old heis.
I'm just saying watch for it andthen come back when it happens.
And 2025. OK, good song.
Anyway, sorry. I will also link.
I think I might be out of links for this episode, but I will
also link to our episode where we reviewed Goodbye Yellow Brick
(35:22):
Road. You only get so many.
So yeah, a little inside maybe there might not.
And if it's not, it'll be an extended scrolling.
That's right. Which is our newsletter, which
you can only get if you sign up for our Patreon.
Do you want it? You want it.
Do you want to taste it? You do you want it?
OK, Come on. Join.
Yeah. Be the first.
Yeah. To join our Patriot.
Yeah. We'll just show up at your house
and talk to you about music right at #4 Fairy Tale of New
(35:46):
York by The Pogues and Kirsty McCall.
We've talked about this one before in our holiday music
episode. I think holiday or not, it's one
of the most. That's why it's on this list.
Incredible duets of all time. I would call it a romp.
It is a romp from the traditional Irish
instrumentation to the banter back and forth, which, I mean,
(36:07):
that's banter, right? Cussing each other out.
Is this one with some regrettable word choices?
Oh, absolutely, yes. Which you can find a censored
version of. Yeah, we do not endorse the
language or terminology used in this song.
Do not. I don't think anyone involved
with the project does anything. Like, I don't think anyone's
like, oh, man, get over it, snowflakes.
You should play the. You play that word.
Yeah. If you don't know it, please.
Yeah. Check it out.
Yeah #3 close my eyes forever. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
(36:31):
Oh my God, yes. Yeah.
So, I mean, peak 80s. It just worked so well together.
They did. Yeah.
Like it was like, not one of these weak ass like, yeah, kind
of singing in harmony. It was like they were both just
going balls out. And it worked.
You know what else works about it is Ozzie's up here and lead
us down here for, like, the pitch.
Yeah. Ozzie's carrying the high stuff
and lead us. That's true.
(36:51):
Yeah. It's really cool.
You don't ever hear that. Yeah.
So by the way, funny side note on balls out, I have a friend,
someone in my my sphere, and we were chatting and she was pretty
pumped up about something and pretty excited.
And she, we're texting and she texts.
She goes, yeah, when, when I start, I'm going to go balls in.
(37:13):
I don't know what that would look like.
Painful. Painful for everyone, for
everyone involved. And as you can imagine, it's
been 2 weeks now. I have not stopped saying that's
all I would ever say, right? Yeah.
That is part of the lexicon now.Exactly.
Balls and so good #2 Phil Collins and Philip Bailey.
(37:34):
Easy lover. Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind and
Fire fans, right? Yeah.
Holy shit. If you don't know this song,
this was a throwback. I hadn't thought of this song in
25 years. To iconic drum parts.
Yeah. Against.
I'm sure. Right.
Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah.
Great riff. Yes.
God, yeah. Let me move over.
(37:54):
George Michael. Not Philip Bailey.
No, no, no. He could stay where he is, but
as far as duets go, like what? Another great thing about this
besides the quality of the song is Philip Bailey's and he is so
high. The contrast of the vocal styles
is really great, like a traditional soul R&B singer and
then Phil Collins. And and I think this is unique
(38:16):
in that the instrumentation, again, it's it's not Radiohead,
but that the instrumentation is strong.
It is normally when you do a duet, it's an afterthought.
That's true. It's just it's a generic stock
whatever. It's pretty rare that you have a
good novel song that's true witha duet on top.
Very true. And number number one and #1
Under Pressure, David Bowie had Freddie Mercury had to be.
(38:37):
Is it Freddie Mercury? Is it Queen and David Bowie?
I think it's Queen and David Bowie.
I think so because I think it shows up on all there because
Queen's probably doing the instrumentation.
Probably, Yeah. OK, Yeah.
But for our purposes, close enough.
Yeah. I mean, how much there is there
to say about Under Pressure? It's a great song.
I mean, so novel. The topic itself is really
novel. It's timeless.
(38:58):
It is timeless, as proven by Vanilla Ice.
Yes. Which were you?
I think we were both on the samepage where we didn't know the
song until Vanilla Ice. I think that's a lot of people.
Yeah. Yeah.
It's kind of embarrassing, but whatever.
But in a way, we kind of do it. Yeah.
It kind of worked out for everyone involved.
Yeah. Fantastic song.
Yeah. I got no complaints about that
being number one. I better not because I put it.
(39:18):
We put it on our own. Yeah, we did.
It's right there. What are some duets that we
missed? We.
I mean, we talked about a lot ofthem beforehand.
We whittled it down to 10. Let us know the comments, which
one we missed, if you would reorder them.
You do the work because we did it once, we ain't doing it
again. You do it.
That brings us to the extended playlist where we give you 5
(39:39):
songs, count 5 for you to pack up a little bucket, take to your
audio device of choice and plug it in and listen to it and go,
God damn, some good songs. That's right.
I will link to the playlist below for both Spotify and
YouTube. And remember, if you are a
member of our Patreon, you get an overextended playlist of 10
songs. 10. That's double.
(40:00):
It's double. Yeah.
But the idea here is it's just five songs.
We got a playlist for it. You just fucking go in and hit
play and you'll be some nostalgia, some old stuff and
then some new stuff you didn't know about.
Absolutely. And you'll be like, hey, I'm
glad. I'm glad I did that.
Yeah. And so.
We're going to start off with, I'll tell you where we're going
to start off with, OK. We will start with a song from
the Earl Sweatshirt album, whichwe collectively there's a song
(40:23):
called Crisco. It's.
Behind me Pops is kind of janky.His replacement beat the failure
out me, made me violent, hated fighting.
I know I can't take no loss. My anger bottom Mama say his
face they look like yours is on the flow.
Go out and scrape them off and mop him like a.
Chore. It ain't no way around it.
They knew she. Was off when I was staying
silent and stayed inside. I'm saying sorry for the pain.
(40:43):
I 'cause God know my heart and that I'm out here trying to
change the course. I'm working on it.
Peeling layers off in a live sauce.
Kind of. Which I mean, I, I think it's
maybe the the most approachable.It's a good entry point for the
album if there is one and the N word is censored.
Is it in this song and no other songs on the album?
(41:06):
So it's, I mean, it's definitelymore accessible.
You know, if you if you have thethe explicit thing turned off
and you're streaming its choice,you'll still this will make it
through. Well, there you go.
Yeah, it'll like Crisco helps get things through.
Sure. All right, so that's the only
one from that album, cuz album not that great.
Yeah, but our wild cards, which are pretty well tied into that
(41:30):
vibe, that ethos. I selected Doomsday by MF Doom.
What is MF you silly? I like to take men's to the end
for two milli. That's the Audio Daily Double.
Rappers. Need to fall off just the same
in the trouble yo watch your ownback him and go out alone black
and stay in the zone Turn H2O tocognac on doomsday ever since
the wound till I'm back when my brother went that's what my
(41:52):
tumor say right above my government doomer lake either
unmarked or ain't grade hey who's.
I wrote this one in BCDCO section.
If you don't believe me, go get bags and check them.
Cell number 17 up under the top bunk.
I say this not to be mean. What's bad?
Like a pop junk? Pop the trunk on seaside from
punk. Leave them left scraped.
God forbid if ain't no escape. Blame a left tape definition
(42:13):
super villain. A killer who loved children, One
who was well skilled in destruction as well as building
or city something. MF Doom.
The reason I I chose it is I think he's what Earl Sweatshirt
is. I'm not say supposed to be.
He's his own thing, Yeah, but I think the MF Doom is a more, to
me, it's more palatable version of the same thing.
I would agree. The word play, the the different
patterns and everything, but in a way that's a little more
(42:34):
pleasant to the ear. And Doomsday is a good early
example of his work. So we're going to put it in
there for you to check out. Easevold Card Choice is by Aesop
Rock. It's a song called Road Work
Rapping. Big Boss bulldozer told that
pilot debris to move over, push around rocks.
You can push around weight. You should call a bulldozer if
there's something in the way. Front loader, cousin of the
(42:56):
Dozer. Bucket on the front dump and
rubble on the shoulder on the road or see him for a highway
off ramp till a couple tree trunks free up a log jam back at
the front loader of a glorious backhoe, the long.
Arm stretch out and pull the earth back home.
Dig a transfer the plumbing and electric or dig yourself a pond
and put some fishy little friends in her.
Skip the pond and start thinkingmajor.
(43:18):
That homemade lake? That excavator out of concrete
mix around a dump truck? That's a work site.
Thumbs up, vehicles. They move back dirt around build
a road where there is in the. Road construction vehicles dig a
(43:46):
hole. When there is in a hole, a plane
will get a worker to the top of any building.
Which I was. I texted him because I listened
to it this morning. I text him.
I'm like, God damn you. It is so catchy, it's so goofy
and stupid and it blew my mind to find out minutes ago that
it's brand new. Yes, it's not just some old ASAP
Rob song. It's if you gave an autistic 5
(44:08):
year old who's into construction, yes, a notebook
and said write a song, it would sound a lot like this yes, but
awesome. But that's and that's the key.
It's awesome. It's awesome it came up.
So this is what happened. I was either listening.
It wasn't Earl Sweatshirt, it was another hit.
Oh, it's clips. I listened.
We were we recently reviewed theclips album.
I'll put a link down here. I think I'm long past links I
(44:28):
might be able to put on YouTube,but I listened to the whole
clips album and then Spotify does a thing where it starts
playing things like this and it played this song.
I get because ace ASAP rock and like right because like backpack
E type. Maybe maybe maybe because of
tile or something like that, butI'm listening to it.
I'm like, what the fuck is goingon?
No, it's a song for children. It's a children's song yeah, but
(44:51):
it's catchy as shit. I I send a text immediately to
like my friends with kids. I'm like, I hope your kids into
trucks, cuz this song fucking they are now no, So that's I
think easily the class of this playlist yeah, and then two more
to round out the five, both fromour duets, EP10.
Well, one actually. From the list 1 Inspired by from
the list. Easy Lover.
(45:14):
I'm gonna leave you. Leave you when they save you.
Better forget it. Oh, you'll regret it now.
We'll never change it. So leave it.
Leave it. Get up quick.
Caste and believe in this lonelyway.
(45:38):
You'll never know. You get a hold on you.
Before you know it, you'll be onyour.
Knees, Philip Bailey, Phil Collins, All the fills and the
(46:00):
drum fills. All the fills you could possibly
want. Awesome fucking song.
I don't need to justify it. No fuck you.
Listen to it. Jeez.
Yeah. And then one more that almost
made the list. Your bedside manner really needs
some work. They do what they signed up for.
Ebony and Ivory A Yeah, a classic goodbye.
(46:24):
In. Everyone.
We learn to live. We learn to give.
Each other what we need to survive together a life.
(47:00):
I think it fixed race relations.I think it did.
I think ever look back? I don't think it was Obama.
Obama didn't get no, no, we didn't need Obama.
We didn't need MLK. That's all we needed.
So there it is. There's the extended playlist.
It'll be neatly packaged for youto go listen to with a couple
clicks. But that's going to wrap up this
episode. Yeah.
This is a blast. It was.
We enjoyed making it for you. Yeah.
(47:21):
Go listen to some road work rapping.
Absolutely. And construction vehicles, they
move that dirt around. OK, Sorry.
You don't think that's going to get stuck in your head in a way.
So that's that on that. And we will see you next week
with a new episode. All right, See ya.
Live Laugh Love by Earl Sweatshirt.
The top 10 duets as our EP 10. And as always, the extended
playlist. Right now an extended play.
It's extended play. Renewing your passion 5 songs at
(00:22):
a time. I'm E, I'm Tank and we.
I went to a concert last night. You did without you?
Yeah, I invited you after the fact.
All right? I was invited first.
Tickets. Tickets were purchased.
I was not part of the initial purchase.
It was, it was going to trickle down eventually and make it to
you. Just like Reaganomics.
It didn't. Very true.
(00:43):
But serendipity, as it turns out, I am.
I'm. I'm playing through it today.
I got a virus coming on. Oh, and I would not have been
able to. Well, OK, yes, I could have.
I wouldn't have died, but it wasnot a great night to go on
anyway. OK, all right, fine.
Thanks for bailing me out. I feel pretty bad about that
because I it's because not it's not something that Tank would
like, maybe wanted to see. It was something he would have
(01:05):
definitely gone to, which was Tom Kiefer of Cinderella and
L.A. Guns.
And it was at the Royal Oak Music Theatre in Royal Oak, MI,
which you know, on the ticket apps when you open up your like
the day of the show, you get a, a notification or like, don't
forget to use your mobile pass, right.
And I'm looking like, Oh yeah, where is this concert?
(01:27):
I bought the ticket so long ago,I didn't remember where it was
and I saw Royal Oak Music Theater.
I'm like that seats like 1000 people.
That seems they might. I'm going to, I'm going to look
that up. How is Tom Kiefer, formerly of
Cinderella and LA Gunn's going to fill that place?
Well, first I'll put some respect on his name.
Well, I mean to start there. Well, I mean, I will, but I'll
(01:48):
get into that. I'll tell you how Kick ass
American rock'n'roll. That's how that's true.
Spoiler alert, it was kick ass American rock'n'roll, but just I
I would expect to see them at a much smaller venue.
So the long and short of it is Ijust I'm thinking, I haven't
even talked about this yet. L.A.
Guns. I only knew the songs Never
Enough. And Ballad of Jane, the only one
(02:08):
I know. I guess Sex Action is another
one. That's what?
Yeah, I didn't know that either.But our buddy that went with us,
he's like, you don't know Sex Action?
I'm like, I do, but I don't knowthe song. 17117 hundred.
So wait. Yeah.
So there was not 1700 people. By his own math, Tom Kiefer can
sell 1000 tickets. Oh, that's true.
He's just half full. That's true.
(02:29):
That's true. Whatever it was, I was looking
at the size of anyway. Me too.
So L.A. Guns had very little
expectations, but I'm like, yeah, it's probably going to be
fine. I'm guessing that it's one or
two members of the original L.A.Guns line up right.
And that's the case. That's the crazy thing about all
these bands, and you can see whyit happened, is because over the
years, once grunge killed that genre of music and they could,
(02:53):
and they stopped, they went fromplaying arenas and festivals to
like little clubs. A bunch of them probably said,
fuck this, I'm getting a job to get a day job.
And so the so Tom Kiefer, it's just him, just the lead singer.
I think he was the principal songwriter.
I think he did most things in Cinderella.
I think so, yeah. I remember they had a lead
guitarist who I think just recently died.
Like right now there's a Cinderella bassist.
(03:13):
He's like an active. Watch for the podcast God damn
it. I wrote those songs, but I.
Remember, they had a a a lead guitarist, and Kiefer often just
took the solos anyway in the videos and on the albums and
stuff. So anyway, yeah, so L.A.
Guns, the long and short of it is there is one guy, I mean,
it's a Tracy Guns. It's Tracy Guns, who for a while
(03:34):
wasn't in L.A. Guns.
He there was a band touring as L.A.
Guns and he was a Tracy Guns experience or so shot.
But you know what? The Guns and Roses thing, right,
Yes, yeah, a founding member, right.
He was in it. Yeah.
So he shredded, for lack of a better word.
He could play like he was like, the solos were really good.
The sound was terrible. They did.
(03:54):
The other guys didn't agree withme.
I thought the sound was really bad.
The drums were up way too high. All the rhythm guitars were way
too low. Well, I think you have a better
ear for it by now than they do. I would think so, yeah.
If you're watching, I'm talking about you.
But then And I was, I feel like I was redeemed by to myself, I
guess when Tom Kiefer came on, they sounded fucking awesome.
So whether it was they change the mix, they have different
(04:16):
sound engineers per band if they.
Oh yeah, right. OK, So which by the way,
underrated science that people don't take into account is for
sure, especially the larger the venue.
Yes. So like, 'cause I know for I was
watching a documentary and by the way, we are on this is the
fourth or fifth episode. I haven't talked about Metallica
until now. You've mentioned them but not
(04:37):
gone into it, but this is like 5episodes in it.
This is an improvement. But they have, they have a sound
guy that they play stadium. So yeah, he literally before the
show, he walks around both concourses because they're like,
every section you have to take into account what the mix sounds
like in that section. It's crazy.
So I mean, again, the differencebetween bands that pay
attention. Yeah, Yeah.
Versus just slapping the speakers up there and for sure,
(04:58):
for sure, Yeah. So anyway, L.A.
Guns played. So the lead singer is not the
original lead singer who I didn't know his name or it
didn't really matter to me. You're, I guess you're going to
see Tracy Goss. I don't know.
You're going to hear a couple songs that, you know, the lead
singer was British. Oh, in L.A.
Guns. And I thought that that seems a
stupid thing to get worked up about, but it was weird.
(05:20):
That is weird. And he was also the least into
it out of all the performers on stage.
Rhythm guitarist is climbing on the amps.
Bassist is like doing all sorts of rock poses, right?
Little kicks. Tracy Guns is tearing it up.
And this guy, if he's not singing, he kind of meanders off
stage a little bit and kind of just hangs out and has a drink.
(05:41):
Yeah, I didn't like it. They couldn't find a better guy.
I don't how many guys still singlike that is the other thing.
I was, but there's got to be an elegant tribute band with
somewhere, probably in Alabama, you would think.
The other thing is he couldn't hit the the notes in Never
Enough. The only song I really cared to
hear. And then I went and listened to
it when I got back last night. No, this morning, 'cause we got
back pretty late last night. I don't know how that guy hit
(06:05):
that note. There was some high ass notes.
I mean, it's, it's hair, right? I mean, they got to call Joy
Belladonna. Oh shit, right.
Available. Yeah.
And then so that, So that was fine, fine.
OK. They had great merch.
They had great 80s, like 90s, you know, Hard Rock merch.
It was just like skulls and snakes and fire and all that
shell, all the cool shit you would expect.
(06:27):
Tom Kiefer had almost no merch, which you wouldn't bought anyway
because it just said Tom Kiefer on it and not Cinderella, which
is, is that your uncle or some printer?
It's kind of his own T-shirt. He also had the backdrop.
Was Hashtag Tom Kiefer Band or Hashtag Kiefer band really big?
I'm like, how long have you had that?
They got to stop doing that. By the way, the whole QR code on
(06:47):
the backdrop, it's not clever and no one cares.
No, I don't like it. No one cares.
It's so on Rock'n'roll and no one fucking cares.
Like the fact that you're playing a small venue can only
charge 30 bucks in the 1st placemeans my investment in you is
limited. Not enough to fucking scan
something and buy something online, right?
Right. But yeah, as I alluded to
(07:10):
earlier, the Tom Kiefer band, Kiefer band, whatever you want
to call it, they kicked ass and they did something.
So they sounded great. I think Tom Kiefer's like had
major vocal issues twice, at least once in his career where
like he couldn't he he was maybenever going to sing again.
You would never know. He did all the he's got huge
range from the really high highsto like a more of a not
(07:31):
baritone, but lower tone, super energetic.
The the stage was full of people.
I mean, there were a lot like Parliament Funkadelic, so a lot
Pepsi Collins shows up, some guyin a diaper wanders on stage.
No, it was Mighty Bosstones fucking guy.
Skank guy comes out dancing. No, they had two background
(07:52):
female background singers. I guess one of them was married
to Kiefer. But yeah, keyboard player,
multi, like two or three guitar players.
I mean, it was a lot of people, but they sounded great.
They sounded great. Yeah.
And the other notable thing for our group, and, and I don't
know, you can share with us in the comments if you had a good
experience with like these sort of legacy bands, if you want to
call them. I thought they killed the
setlist like in a good way, a good way.
(08:15):
Like he killed it in that they came out and everyone's cheering
going nuts, right? Because here comes the like,
this is what we were waiting for.
And he plays a new song, but thenew song sounded so much like
the old songs. And it was like, I'm tolerant of
it right now. It's the one slot in the set
list where you get you get a pass.
Yeah, because everyone's just fired up to hear something.
(08:35):
But then you got to hit the second one.
And that's what he did. Yeah.
See, that's, that's smart. I mean, and throughout the and
the other, he played, I think 3 new new songs.
I don't know how how new any of them were.
He never said. He never stopped and said,
here's a new one for you, right?Don't.
And any legacy acts currently watching like L.A.
(08:57):
Guns, right? Cuz sorry about what I said
earlier, but don't tell people you're gonna play a new song,
right? Because they're gonna go take a
piss or they're gonna go get a beer.
Yeah. And he didn't do it.
He would just go from a awesome song that you totally knew into
like the new song and they sounded similar enough or just
put all the new ones in the middle and just had a sense of
humor about it. Be like, all right, it's time
for a piss break. Sure.
(09:17):
This is the new stuff. Sure, yeah, but I think 13 of
the of 17 songs were Cinderella songs.
He never said the word Cinderella so I'm guessing
there's some bad blood there. Somebody owns a copyright, but
it reminded me of how many fucking kick ass songs
Cinderella has. There is a lot.
And they closed. Their encore was with a little
help from my friends, the Joe Cocker version.
(09:40):
Okay, which was awesome. Yeah, it was awesome.
Everyone singing along, everyone's arm in arm, swaying
back and forth, including the people on stage.
It was like really moving. It was really, really good.
I wonder who in Cinderella is holding up?
I mean, there's money to be made, right?
Like what? Who's not?
You know what I mean? Like, who's holding out, not
allowing him to use Cinderella? I mean, do they hate, do these
(10:02):
bands hate each other that much?I think they must.
Like, didn't wasn't there QueensReich?
Well, that was a thing too, right?
It's like the Geoff Tate Band and Queens Reich were two
separate things. And get it together.
Do it for the people. Yeah, for us.
For the people, anyway, I wouldn't.
I don't know if I would have noticed that Cinderella was any
different because they sounded great.
Because we don't fucking care. Like, other than him, it's like
(10:23):
any four jabronis up there. Yeah.
So. All right.
Good times. Yeah.
Sad you couldn't make it. Yeah.
Well, me too, largely due to thewhole invite issue.
All right, so moving on. Yeah.
The album today is by Earl's Sweatshirt.
Yes. The album is called Live Laugh
Love, and we are going to let you know who needs to listen to
(10:45):
it. This is my introduction to.
So I knew of Earl's Sweatshirt and it just in writing whenever
it comes to OOG street cred backpack type, I knew it.
I just never bothered to go intoSpotify and pop it in.
And so I knew nothing of him going into this, but I had
(11:07):
probably very high expectations.OK yeah, cuz the name is it's
it's out there a lot just a lot of St. cred right, which is
everything in this kind of music, not just hip hop, but
especially this kind of like nerdy underground kind of hip
hop yeah super passionate fans yeah that's true so and you know
and whether it's one of the jewels or more specifically LP
or to some extent Dell, you knowDell and Deltron, that sort of
(11:30):
stuff. I I'm in that space.
I never made it over there. Yeah.
So you've never even heard his voice?
No. Wow.
OK. He could sound like Tiny Tim for
all. This is going to be a great
take. I'm looking forward to this.
OK, so I will. I'll put a pin in it there
because I've got some things to say.
But what is your intro? I'll also say that I knew very
little. I knew the the main facts.
(11:52):
I think most people who are likekind of tuned into that world,
but no is that he was in odd future with Tyler and Frank
Ocean and Vince Staples and all those guys, right?
And he was like 16 when he was with them and he was like one of
the I mean, they're all standouts.
They're all have these crazy careers.
But he was really young and I knew the vague story that he got
shipped off to Somalia by his parents.
(12:13):
He got sent to boarding school in the middle of him being
successful. And Tyler used to they they had
a free Earl chance at concerts while he was gone.
I didn't know what that was all about.
I didn't really care. How's the music?
Every time I would put him on, Iwould end up being nonplussed
and then just completely forgetting about it.
And so I knew, I knew the only things I really knew about him
(12:36):
is his flow was slow, very slow,that he likes weed a lot and
that and that was really it. That's all I really knew coming
in. So I knew the facts.
But that's why this was a good exercise.
Yes. That doesn't mean it was my
favorite album that I've ever listened to.
No. So the the first song, GSW
(12:59):
versus is that is that like Golden State Warriors versus
Sacramento? It is.
OK. Yeah.
So it's not good. And it reminded me of Dayla
Orgy. Oh, OK.
There's like sex sounds are there.
I'm pretty sure I didn't listen to it in the cans, so I don't.
No, I mean, it's, I mean, maybe I'm misinterpreting the sound.
Anyway, it doesn't matter. That would just make it in poor
(13:21):
taste on top of being bad to have sex sound like actual you
mean like I think it's like to me it sounded like Yeah, and I
thought that's what he was talking about too.
Things like getting biz. OK, enough that I put de la orgy
is a so sure. Later I was on one sure.
Or it's like trumpets and I justyou know, it's all you hear.
(13:43):
Yeah, but then, you know, so then I keep going and a few
songs in I I don't like that hisflow is completely disconnected
from the beat. I know it's rough.
I don't get it. I don't either.
I struggle with it because sometimes it circles around
almost. It's almost like the beat is
lapping him, it's going so fast,and it eventually is going to
(14:06):
catch up with him. Also, he's maintaining very
often, but not always an internal rhyme pattern.
That's his pattern that does notmatch with the beat.
Sometimes there's no pattern, right?
It's just really, it's like spoken word poetry.
Exactly right. And he's not even trying to, for
instance, have a line in the song be as many syllables as the
(14:29):
next one and he's just playing with shit.
So, I mean, because I one of my favorite visual tools, I watch a
lot of drum videos. Yeah, I watch those sometimes
for reasons I don't quite understand, but sometimes they
have this thing that's super helpful.
It's a imagine a they have a geometric shape.
Sometimes there's always a circle on the outside and then
(14:50):
inside there's a square, maybe ahexagon, maybe an Octagon, and a
little ball moves around it and it shows where it meets up.
Oh, that's cool. So you can have like a 5 fourths
pattern and it's like just just just just cool.
And it shows where the four and the five meet up.
Oh, that's neat. So I think you need, if he's
doing that, yeah, maybe I would enjoy it more if that was
included. Right.
(15:10):
But that's a problem in hip hop.It it is.
I mean, it's got to be to someone's taste and and that
that's one of my biggest takeaways from this is it has to
be it has to be people like he'sgot the reputation.
People like this style. I struggle with it.
So I've got a theory on that. You think it's an industry
plant. No good, though.
(15:32):
I'm going to come back to that. But so live.
I don't know what track it is 466.
It's terrible. Oh yeah.
So that's, I mean, I almost wanted to put that one on our
play because we take one of these songs, we put them on a
playlist at the end of the show.Because he goes from like you
can decipher him and he's enunciating fairly well to full
blown like he had an aneurysm inthe middle of it to the point
(15:55):
where he's just fully slurring, which by the end. 3 heads over
the bar, scoping the mouth so far and John Shea out of the
house. Only the alarm flushes down the
layer the lamp. I always got our hands some
relationships so baby don't flipup.
I always only play the warehouseand hit some browers and fix the
(16:19):
browers and twitch. I don't know my head kept the
crown in the next one and she's the man.
She's truthfully just uses the step stool.
Time to the kids. Pray God give more refugees.
Some assistance for making sense.
I cut off the stamp. I sort of death.
I don't care why I don't. Yeah, I don't.
I don't. You can explain to me.
Oh, well, This is why I don't care.
Yeah. It's like if I'm eating and the
(16:41):
chef comes over and takes a shiton my sandwich and they go,
well, you see what he's doing isI don't care.
He shit on my sandwich. I mean, I think it's a little
more nuanced. No, it's like he's not trying
Earl Sweatshirt shit on my sandwich.
I mean, what I to your point is,I think that's something you got
we got to talk about. I'm sure you want to talk about
(17:01):
too, which is it's brings up theclassic art versus entertainment
argument and that or or the blurry line between it and if
he's saying my choice is to slur, slur my speech in certain
parts of the song. If my choice, if my choice is to
be off beat, that is a fine choice.
(17:23):
That doesn't mean that we have to like it.
True right and that I struggle with that the whole time because
I don't want to because I'm doneof the days and this is not what
we do anymore is really just shit.
This group sucks. This person sucks.
I don't get how anyone likes them unless they're a piece of
shit person. And it's like it's country like
Morgan Wallin, right? Exactly.
Yet I'm like, when would I ever listen to it?
(17:46):
So that OK, so which again, we're building up to the, the
point that I'm yeah right. OK.
Then after that, it's funny because I took these in order as
I'm listening to it's like in heavy metal, AKA Ejectoceto is
even worse than that. Like it just, I stopped taking
notes at a certain point. So then my next note, I think by
now I'm like 9 songs in. I'm like, this actually feels
(18:08):
kind of insulting. Like, there's no way much effort
was put into this. No, with what you said, there's
a pretty good chance that I missed a lot of that, right?
That maybe there's, you know, Quat trains or whatever.
Like, yeah, I'm sure there's things I missed.
Don't care, right? Because again, it's not my
fucking job, right? I'm trying to listen to music
and enjoy it. I don't need to have to get out
(18:29):
graph paper to enjoy the music I'm listening to amazing point.
We and we were clearly like on the same vibe here, because what
I found myself doing to even tryto give it a fair go and to
enjoy it was I what I did. I I looked at the lyrics first,
okay, without even while I wasn't listening to it.
So I'm like, what is he actuallysaying?
(18:49):
Because there's a lot of couplets.
Like what's going on in this couplet is not has nothing to do
with the next one. It's a lot of word painting and
different. There might be 15 different
ideas in a given song. So like he may have one again,
couplet about his family, about his kid, and that does come up
more than a few times, but then the rest of the song is not
really about any of that shit. So I so I did that.
(19:11):
So I so the song like well done.OK, so I, I, I got out genius.
I looked at some of the annotations, but mostly I just
wanted to do it myself and so that I analyzed the rhyme
scheme. OK, Holy shit, holy shit, it's
amazing. It's it's technically very, very
impressive. So so here's one and well done.
(19:32):
He never going to get a rise outof a real one tough like rye or
spelt Orion sized heavyweight titles on the belt son flying in
on the wide eye of the maelstromwild side that I hail from.
OK, this is doom level. There are so many internal
rhymes and I'm, you know, I was doing the one line for the first
rhyme 2 lines for the second rhyme internal cross.
(19:53):
A rhyme starts up here. It ends 3 or 4 lines later.
It's incredibly impressive and Ididn't enjoy the song right.
So it was I was torn this whole time thinking God damn this guys
talented and I watched I'm ranting home in here, but I had
watched the podcast podcast interview with him and my
overall impression about him was.
(20:15):
One, he doesn't give a shit whenanybody thinks he's going to do
what he wants no matter what. And he he's like a genius level
intellect that has seems to haveproblems connecting with the
world because he sees it in a certain way.
Probably why he gets high. Like why why these songs sound
like that's another thing I wrote down.
I don't smoke enough weed to understand this right.
(20:36):
The pace, all of it. So yeah, his credentials, no
dispute. The beats I thought were kind of
throwaway. There wasn't much there.
It could have been an instrumental album, a full of
that shit and none of them wouldhave stuck out to me.
But as far as being able to enjoy it, it was rough.
It was rough. Like I my my final note is like,
(20:57):
again, using the chefs, no fecesinvolved this time.
It's like super fancy food that chefs make.
Oh, sure. So you could go into like a
Michelin star restaurant and they could say this is infused
with essence of this and reduction of that.
Whatever. It's like I didn't enjoy eating
it. Yeah, right.
So other chefs can sit on and jerk each other off at how
creative and great of a culinarymasterpiece it was.
(21:18):
I just I can I have a sandwich, right, Not shit on right,
Please, please, Earl. But like it's like, OK, but at
what point does the so it's 100%.
I agree with you. And, and I knew again, I the one
thing that I, this whole journeywe've been on of how I view
critics and consensus about certain artists is clearly I'm
(21:41):
the one missing it. And that's fine.
And I kind of saw that here. But there's something to be said
for like, let's look at Eminem as an example.
Oh, interesting. There's something to be said.
And this is another second Metallica reference.
If you go through the comments on a Metallica song and anything
on YouTube or anywhere in any kind of media, it's half this is
the best thing ever. And it's half bitter men who
(22:04):
play instruments who are like fucking Kirk Hammett still can't
play a guitar. Like this is lazy ass fucking
arpeggios or you know, this chromatic scale or like layoff
the wah pedal. Kurt, no one cares.
No one cares, right? So there's technical and then
there's making something people want to hear.
Absolutely. There are a lot of artists that
(22:25):
can do this and a lot of artiststhat can do this, and extremely
few that can do this. And they end up being the
greatest of all time. The Metallica is the M&M's,
right? Radiohead.
Exactly. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah. So it's like that is the
extremely rare. So whenever someone is just
this, I'm not that impressed. I know because you could sit
and, OK, I get technically, but like, to me, that's no more
worthy than someone who can makehooky, catchy songs that has
(22:48):
nothing else. It's very interesting.
Like, so in the same way, like, yeah, I'm not going to buy a
Steve Vai album even though he can fucking shred on guitar,
right? I don't care.
Like, it's not. Yes, OK.
I don't think I can tell the difference between, like, right.
I thought Tom Kiefer shredded onguitar, Right.
I bet Steve Vai is considered a better guitarist, but I wouldn't
know. And so that's what you think.
(23:08):
Like, who's just the whole pointof music?
Yeah. And that's what I wrote down.
Not sure who this is for, but itisn't me, which is troubling in
the sense that as two people whoare again, if you do a a bell
curve of hip hop knowledge and experience, despite our
pigmentation, we're in the eighty 90th percentile.
That's true. We listen to a lot of hip hop.
(23:29):
We know a lot about hip hop. So who is it?
So which brings me to my phone falling on the floor brings me
to my theory. So I true to form, so after I
wait until after I I do this to look at any reviews, 03 next
reviews and I don't look at them.
Yeah. So I go to Pitchfork.
OK, 8.58.5 that's new music. This is a this is a 24 minute
(23:54):
long album in 11 songs, by the way.
So, so here's what I think happened.
English teachers. I was an English teacher.
I know Jesus Christ, just revenge for the Kiefer incident,
okay, no, but they will tell you.
I think there are some people that, again, music critics.
Yeah, there's certain art art. I know where you're going, where
(24:18):
the only way the only thing thatmakes them feel smarter than
everyone else is I get it and you don't.
Yeah, it's like a weird form of gatekeeping.
I think that's what this is. I think it's a normal person
listens to them, goes this just isn't very good and they go no,
no, no, because you don't get it.
Because I am smart and I get this.
I think that's, I think Earl's sweatshirt is for people who
(24:39):
want to feel smarter than you. Interesting.
Because again, when when do you,we talk about this all the time.
When would I listen to this? What am I jamming this at the
beach? No, no, you're getting high in
the basement, I guess. Yeah, but I don't get high in
the basement. So it doesn't doesn't connect.
No, I get high while I'm driving, primarily.
It's high right now. I mean, just.
(25:00):
Yeah, in the basement, ironically.
Right. To your point, if I were to play
this album without saying a wordabout it to my wife, even, she'd
be like, what the fuck are you listening to?
Yeah. And I respect her opinion about
music enough to be like, I understand where she's coming
from, and I can't defend it. Right.
(25:20):
Like, it's not out of the realm of possibility that I always do
this whenever something is critically acclaimed.
This is a test I do every time II hit play and I go, what if
someone told me this is their buddy who made some music?
OK, OK, sure. And I would.
And if I can go. Yeah, it sounds like it because
this is terrible. Yeah.
Yeah. I instantly void any positive
feedback. OK, Good music on its own.
(25:41):
The answer should be, wow, he's really talented.
I didn't know that Steve could do that.
Right. Right.
But you listen to this and go, Yeah, this sounds like the guy
who works at the gas station whosmokes weed all the time.
He put some some stock beats offPond 5 or something.
And it's like, here's my hip hopalbum, which again, I know I'm
missing it, right? I know the art is there.
(26:02):
I just don't care. And if I don't care, who does,
who does, right? That's a that's a a completely
valid question, I think, becauseI am the gatekeeper of what is
good. That's right.
I mean, if he was saying something that was profound, so.
So that's the other side of it too, right?
OK, so you can be like a great lyricist and have talent for
(26:24):
rhymes and cadence and whatever,all those things.
A way to turn metaphors right Turns the phrases, but what's
the content? What what am I learning?
Is it confessional? So I'm learning about someone
who I don't know about the hip hop for me often I've said this
for a million years. I've said this forever that the
reason why I like hip hop so much is because it's the stories
(26:45):
are so unlike my own life, rightand it's fascinating like why
watch? I can I know what my life is
like it's fucking boring hip hopis not boring say what you will.
This was kind of boring and, andagain with the Eminem reference
of like, he'll do these same things but make it entertaining
and interesting to the listener.You don't need to, you don't
need to graph it, right. That to me is more interesting
(27:08):
and more talent, like, yeah, I can do this, but also in a way
that people can actually understand.
Yeah, yeah. So not to make it so esoteric
that you're you're playing to anaudience of one, right, Right.
Yeah. And that's, I want to be clear
about that too. Like that's what we're sort of
critiquing, if anything. Sure.
Is the esoteric net not his flow, whatever he chooses to to
(27:29):
flow the way he flows. And just like the slow tempo and
the slurring, I actually don't have a problem with that.
If that's your art, that's your art, right?
Fucking go for it, right. But enough other pieces need to
be there, right? So yeah, I went back my last
notice, I did go back and listento his older stuff, which made
this sound more intentional, notjust lazy.
So I took back the lazy thing. Like, no, this is just what he
(27:51):
does. But for the purposes what we're
doing here, even if it's good inan unorthodox acquired taste
sort of way, I can't really say that you need to go out your way
to listen to it if you're not already a fan.
Yeah, I agree, which brings me to my rating, which is why we do
the ratings this way. We're not doing one through 10
good versus bad, right? I mean, we're implying it.
I think so. But our new rating system is
(28:11):
it's only one of four things. It's everyone needs to listen to
it. Fans of the genre, fans of the
artist or no one. I give this a hearty fans of the
artist. Okay, if this is what you dig,
I'm sure you'll love it. And and the reception for what I
read online seems to be that continuation of, you know,
whatever is previous. Sure, great.
But even if you're a hip hop fan, I can't really say you got
to hear this, OK, because you'llbe just as confused as we are.
(28:34):
OK, yeah, that's fair. I would put a qualified fans of
the genre on it with a big, big old asterisk in that because I'm
thinking of me. I'm glad I listened to this
once. Exactly right now I know now I
don't and I won't listen to it again.
I did the same thing. I went back and listened to the
bits and pieces of his first couple albums.
You're right, it's a departure. He was way more on time and
(28:55):
right and all that kind of his delivery was different.
I'm glad I did it. So now I know if if if I can
now, if I read a review, I'm educated about it.
If they say exactly this guy comes from the Earl Sweatshirt
camp of this or whatever, or they say if you like girls,
sweatshirt, you're like this person.
I'll go well, I probably won't like that person and I don't
have to listen to it. Pass Exactly.
So, yeah, fans. So if you, if you are a hip hop
(29:17):
fan and you don't know Earl's sweatshirt, which I think our
audience, I mean, I'm going to put this online in like a clip
and people are like, of course we fucking know Earl Sweatshirt.
The only people who comment are these kind of snobs we're
talking about right now. Come on, regular extended family
like comment if you, if you likehip hop, but you don't know Earl
Sweatshirt, give it a listen. Just sure.
(29:39):
I'd, I'd love to hear what otherpeople think.
I'd love to be told that I'm missing it.
I know I am. I think, and I think that's the
take away. We know we're missing something.
That's fine. We don't need to find it.
I don't have time to find it. Yeah, yeah.
So there you have it. That's what we think about that
album. What do you think?
Please let us know in the comments.
If I haven't mentioned it already, please like and
(30:00):
subscribe, please. Now it's time for the EP 10,
where we do a top ten list basically.
That's basically, but it's EP 10.
It's right because EP with E&T, right.
We really, yeah, we kind of missed a Brandy opportunity
there probably yeah, probably best.
Anyway today we are counting down the top 10 duets.
Yes, period. Really.
(30:22):
We talked about it earlier. We're going to put a time frame
on it. Our job is not to go back and re
legislate the greatest duets of all time from from the first
duet that ever like the 1920s. We're not going to do it baby
nailed. Thank you.
We're gonna go from basically when we were around when we were
born. Yeah.
(30:43):
So 1980, kind of same rules as the EP 100.
Yeah, more or less, yes. And if you haven't seen, if
you're unfamiliar with the EP 100, we counted down the top 100
albums of our lifetime, 100 all the way to 1 in 10 episode
bunches. And it's way better than the
other shit online. It's pretty impressive.
I'm very proud of what we did. Me too.
I'm linking to it up there. You can watch the top ten.
(31:05):
Yeah, I don't give a shit. Yeah, I pay the same, which is
to say not at all. Okay, top 10 duets coming in at
#10. And I was, this was really fun
to do because we're reminding ourselves of all these songs, a
lot of them from our childhood that were really good #10 It's
only Love by Tina Turner and Brian Adams.
(31:25):
Killer riff. This sets you up for the rest of
the list, for sure. It's pretty esoteric.
It gives you an idea. But.
But, but yet you'll know all. Yeah, I think it's, I'm pretty
comfortable and happy about the fact that about at least five of
these, you're going to go, oh, yeah, And you're going to put
pull up on your phone. Yes, Well, we were doing that to
each other. You're going to rock out to
these on your next try. That's right.
Speaking of rocking out #9 #9 I figured it was coming Candy by
(31:50):
Iggy Pop and Kate Pearson from the B52's.
Probably the weirdest one on thelist.
It's weird and it's fucking awesome.
Iggy Pop. This is not what Iggy Pop
sounds. Well, he sounds like everything.
He pretty much tries it all right.
In the 80s he was doing also like, but this is not fucking
stooges Iggy Pop. This is a pop song.
Like he performed it on the Arsenio Hall Show.
I saw a video moment. So this out, that's how pop it
(32:10):
is. It's great.
It's got a great melody. Highly recommend.
That brings us to #8 which is byMick Jagger and David Bowie.
Not the last time David Bowie will appear on this list.
No. And the name of the song is
Dancing on the Street, Dancing in the streets.
And if you haven't, I mean, you've seen the video.
I mean, this was, it had to be the most in rotation video 8485,
(32:33):
whatever the fuck this was. You know, they're popping in and
out of buildings doing some awkward.
And there is a epic video and the person who made these has
done a bunch of them where they they say like what it sounded
like without the music. And it's just nothing but
awkward sounds and noises and shuffling of just it's like a
it's like a Foley artist to go on math.
(32:53):
That video alone is worth watching this whole episode.
Yeah. I mean, that gives you a sense
of the 80s in one in 3 1/2 minutes.
Yes, right. OK #7 is say say say by Paul
McCartney and Michael Jackson. Yep.
I love that video. Yeah, cuz it's the, I don't
think I even knew the trope of the travelling salesperson who's
(33:14):
like selling a tonic. It's like snake oil or whatever,
right? And he gets the whole town and
then they have to beat it out oftown.
Everyone discovers. Yeah.
Nice word choice, by the way. What's that?
Beat it out of town. Beat it out of town.
I mean, and talk about, I mean, people knew it at the time, but
just in the arc of history, 2 Titans of music bridging
generations. Fucking Beatles and Michael
(33:35):
Jackson. It's crazy.
Yeah. Number six, an Oscar winner,
believe it or not, Falling Slowly by Glenn Hansard and
Marquette or Glova. Yeah, it's from the movie once.
They won a fucking Oscar for thesong, so it must be a pretty
good duet. Good for them.
I, I highly, I think I've recommended on this show before
to see the movie once. It's like an indie film love
story. It's starring the two musicians
(33:57):
who then. Yeah.
Anyway, fantastic #5 don't let the sun go down on me.
Maybe you have to be our age to remember that particular duet,
because it wasn't originally a duet.
That's right. It was originally just Elton
John. So it was Elton and George
Michael, but at Live Aid. Or not at Live Aid, but live.
OK live. Yeah.
Got George Michael was so good. Yeah, one of these days we're
(34:17):
going to do a most underrated artist of all time thing.
He's got to be in there. God damn.
He was good. Dude could sing.
Yeah. Had a knack for songwriting.
But yeah, I I mean, I can still hear him say, ladies and
gentlemen, Mr. Elton John. And then the crowd loses their
shit. Yeah.
He's does it two or three times or maybe twice.
Yeah, that's a great it's. And I didn't know that song
before that. That was one of those.
(34:38):
It did a great service to music fans because I wasn't familiar
with the Elton John version. And then I ended up loving the
song. So that is number 5.
Don't let the sun go down on me.I want to get this.
Yeah. Recorded.
OK, I'm calling it now. Goodbye, yellow.
Brick Road. OK, in the next two to three
years will be covered and be a massive hit.
The song Goodbye yellow. Calling it now.
OK, it's due. Who do you think it'll be?
(35:01):
A don't know. OK.
I'm just saying it's I have I got a funny Spidey sense.
And Elton probably I don't know how much longer he's going to
live, so I don't know how old heis.
I'm just saying watch for it andthen come back when it happens.
And 2025. OK, good song.
Anyway, sorry. I will also link.
I think I might be out of links for this episode, but I will
also link to our episode where we reviewed Goodbye Yellow Brick
(35:22):
Road. You only get so many.
So yeah, a little inside maybe there might not.
And if it's not, it'll be an extended scrolling.
That's right. Which is our newsletter, which
you can only get if you sign up for our Patreon.
Do you want it? You want it.
Do you want to taste it? You do you want it?
OK, Come on. Join.
Yeah. Be the first.
Yeah. To join our Patriot.
Yeah. We'll just show up at your house
and talk to you about music right at #4 Fairy Tale of New
(35:46):
York by The Pogues and Kirsty McCall.
We've talked about this one before in our holiday music
episode. I think holiday or not, it's one
of the most. That's why it's on this list.
Incredible duets of all time. I would call it a romp.
It is a romp from the traditional Irish
instrumentation to the banter back and forth, which, I mean,
(36:07):
that's banter, right? Cussing each other out.
Is this one with some regrettable word choices?
Oh, absolutely, yes. Which you can find a censored
version of. Yeah, we do not endorse the
language or terminology used in this song.
Do not. I don't think anyone involved
with the project does anything. Like, I don't think anyone's
like, oh, man, get over it, snowflakes.
You should play the. You play that word.
Yeah. If you don't know it, please.
Yeah. Check it out.
Yeah #3 close my eyes forever. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
(36:31):
Oh my God, yes. Yeah.
So, I mean, peak 80s. It just worked so well together.
They did. Yeah.
Like it was like, not one of these weak ass like, yeah, kind
of singing in harmony. It was like they were both just
going balls out. And it worked.
You know what else works about it is Ozzie's up here and lead
us down here for, like, the pitch.
Yeah. Ozzie's carrying the high stuff
and lead us. That's true.
(36:51):
Yeah. It's really cool.
You don't ever hear that. Yeah.
So by the way, funny side note on balls out, I have a friend,
someone in my my sphere, and we were chatting and she was pretty
pumped up about something and pretty excited.
And she, we're texting and she texts.
She goes, yeah, when, when I start, I'm going to go balls in.
(37:13):
I don't know what that would look like.
Painful. Painful for everyone, for
everyone involved. And as you can imagine, it's
been 2 weeks now. I have not stopped saying that's
all I would ever say, right? Yeah.
That is part of the lexicon now.Exactly.
Balls and so good #2 Phil Collins and Philip Bailey.
(37:34):
Easy lover. Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind and
Fire fans, right? Yeah.
Holy shit. If you don't know this song,
this was a throwback. I hadn't thought of this song in
25 years. To iconic drum parts.
Yeah. Against.
I'm sure. Right.
Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah.
Great riff. Yes.
God, yeah. Let me move over.
(37:54):
George Michael. Not Philip Bailey.
No, no, no. He could stay where he is, but
as far as duets go, like what? Another great thing about this
besides the quality of the song is Philip Bailey's and he is so
high. The contrast of the vocal styles
is really great, like a traditional soul R&B singer and
then Phil Collins. And and I think this is unique
(38:16):
in that the instrumentation, again, it's it's not Radiohead,
but that the instrumentation is strong.
It is normally when you do a duet, it's an afterthought.
That's true. It's just it's a generic stock
whatever. It's pretty rare that you have a
good novel song that's true witha duet on top.
Very true. And number number one and #1
Under Pressure, David Bowie had Freddie Mercury had to be.
(38:37):
Is it Freddie Mercury? Is it Queen and David Bowie?
I think it's Queen and David Bowie.
I think so because I think it shows up on all there because
Queen's probably doing the instrumentation.
Probably, Yeah. OK, Yeah.
But for our purposes, close enough.
Yeah. I mean, how much there is there
to say about Under Pressure? It's a great song.
I mean, so novel. The topic itself is really
novel. It's timeless.
(38:58):
It is timeless, as proven by Vanilla Ice.
Yes. Which were you?
I think we were both on the samepage where we didn't know the
song until Vanilla Ice. I think that's a lot of people.
Yeah. Yeah.
It's kind of embarrassing, but whatever.
But in a way, we kind of do it. Yeah.
It kind of worked out for everyone involved.
Yeah. Fantastic song.
Yeah. I got no complaints about that
being number one. I better not because I put it.
(39:18):
We put it on our own. Yeah, we did.
It's right there. What are some duets that we
missed? We.
I mean, we talked about a lot ofthem beforehand.
We whittled it down to 10. Let us know the comments, which
one we missed, if you would reorder them.
You do the work because we did it once, we ain't doing it
again. You do it.
That brings us to the extended playlist where we give you 5
(39:39):
songs, count 5 for you to pack up a little bucket, take to your
audio device of choice and plug it in and listen to it and go,
God damn, some good songs. That's right.
I will link to the playlist below for both Spotify and
YouTube. And remember, if you are a
member of our Patreon, you get an overextended playlist of 10
songs. 10. That's double.
(40:00):
It's double. Yeah.
But the idea here is it's just five songs.
We got a playlist for it. You just fucking go in and hit
play and you'll be some nostalgia, some old stuff and
then some new stuff you didn't know about.
Absolutely. And you'll be like, hey, I'm
glad. I'm glad I did that.
Yeah. And so.
We're going to start off with, I'll tell you where we're going
to start off with, OK. We will start with a song from
the Earl Sweatshirt album, whichwe collectively there's a song
(40:23):
called Crisco. It's.
Behind me Pops is kind of janky.His replacement beat the failure
out me, made me violent, hated fighting.
I know I can't take no loss. My anger bottom Mama say his
face they look like yours is on the flow.
Go out and scrape them off and mop him like a.
Chore. It ain't no way around it.
They knew she. Was off when I was staying
silent and stayed inside. I'm saying sorry for the pain.
(40:43):
I 'cause God know my heart and that I'm out here trying to
change the course. I'm working on it.
Peeling layers off in a live sauce.
Kind of. Which I mean, I, I think it's
maybe the the most approachable.It's a good entry point for the
album if there is one and the N word is censored.
Is it in this song and no other songs on the album?
(41:06):
So it's, I mean, it's definitelymore accessible.
You know, if you if you have thethe explicit thing turned off
and you're streaming its choice,you'll still this will make it
through. Well, there you go.
Yeah, it'll like Crisco helps get things through.
Sure. All right, so that's the only
one from that album, cuz album not that great.
Yeah, but our wild cards, which are pretty well tied into that
(41:30):
vibe, that ethos. I selected Doomsday by MF Doom.
What is MF you silly? I like to take men's to the end
for two milli. That's the Audio Daily Double.
Rappers. Need to fall off just the same
in the trouble yo watch your ownback him and go out alone black
and stay in the zone Turn H2O tocognac on doomsday ever since
the wound till I'm back when my brother went that's what my
(41:52):
tumor say right above my government doomer lake either
unmarked or ain't grade hey who's.
I wrote this one in BCDCO section.
If you don't believe me, go get bags and check them.
Cell number 17 up under the top bunk.
I say this not to be mean. What's bad?
Like a pop junk? Pop the trunk on seaside from
punk. Leave them left scraped.
God forbid if ain't no escape. Blame a left tape definition
(42:13):
super villain. A killer who loved children, One
who was well skilled in destruction as well as building
or city something. MF Doom.
The reason I I chose it is I think he's what Earl Sweatshirt
is. I'm not say supposed to be.
He's his own thing, Yeah, but I think the MF Doom is a more, to
me, it's more palatable version of the same thing.
I would agree. The word play, the the different
patterns and everything, but in a way that's a little more
(42:34):
pleasant to the ear. And Doomsday is a good early
example of his work. So we're going to put it in
there for you to check out. Easevold Card Choice is by Aesop
Rock. It's a song called Road Work
Rapping. Big Boss bulldozer told that
pilot debris to move over, push around rocks.
You can push around weight. You should call a bulldozer if
there's something in the way. Front loader, cousin of the
(42:56):
Dozer. Bucket on the front dump and
rubble on the shoulder on the road or see him for a highway
off ramp till a couple tree trunks free up a log jam back at
the front loader of a glorious backhoe, the long.
Arm stretch out and pull the earth back home.
Dig a transfer the plumbing and electric or dig yourself a pond
and put some fishy little friends in her.
Skip the pond and start thinkingmajor.
(43:18):
That homemade lake? That excavator out of concrete
mix around a dump truck? That's a work site.
Thumbs up, vehicles. They move back dirt around build
a road where there is in the. Road construction vehicles dig a
(43:46):
hole. When there is in a hole, a plane
will get a worker to the top of any building.
Which I was. I texted him because I listened
to it this morning. I text him.
I'm like, God damn you. It is so catchy, it's so goofy
and stupid and it blew my mind to find out minutes ago that
it's brand new. Yes, it's not just some old ASAP
Rob song. It's if you gave an autistic 5
(44:08):
year old who's into construction, yes, a notebook
and said write a song, it would sound a lot like this yes, but
awesome. But that's and that's the key.
It's awesome. It's awesome it came up.
So this is what happened. I was either listening.
It wasn't Earl Sweatshirt, it was another hit.
Oh, it's clips. I listened.
We were we recently reviewed theclips album.
I'll put a link down here. I think I'm long past links I
(44:28):
might be able to put on YouTube,but I listened to the whole
clips album and then Spotify does a thing where it starts
playing things like this and it played this song.
I get because ace ASAP rock and like right because like backpack
E type. Maybe maybe maybe because of
tile or something like that, butI'm listening to it.
I'm like, what the fuck is goingon?
No, it's a song for children. It's a children's song yeah, but
(44:51):
it's catchy as shit. I I send a text immediately to
like my friends with kids. I'm like, I hope your kids into
trucks, cuz this song fucking they are now no, So that's I
think easily the class of this playlist yeah, and then two more
to round out the five, both fromour duets, EP10.
Well, one actually. From the list 1 Inspired by from
the list. Easy Lover.
(45:14):
I'm gonna leave you. Leave you when they save you.
Better forget it. Oh, you'll regret it now.
We'll never change it. So leave it.
Leave it. Get up quick.
Caste and believe in this lonelyway.
(45:38):
You'll never know. You get a hold on you.
Before you know it, you'll be onyour.
Knees, Philip Bailey, Phil Collins, All the fills and the
(46:00):
drum fills. All the fills you could possibly
want. Awesome fucking song.
I don't need to justify it. No fuck you.
Listen to it. Jeez.
Yeah. And then one more that almost
made the list. Your bedside manner really needs
some work. They do what they signed up for.
Ebony and Ivory A Yeah, a classic goodbye.
(46:24):
In. Everyone.
We learn to live. We learn to give.
Each other what we need to survive together a life.
(47:00):
I think it fixed race relations.I think it did.
I think ever look back? I don't think it was Obama.
Obama didn't get no, no, we didn't need Obama.
We didn't need MLK. That's all we needed.
So there it is. There's the extended playlist.
It'll be neatly packaged for youto go listen to with a couple
clicks. But that's going to wrap up this
episode. Yeah.
This is a blast. It was.
We enjoyed making it for you. Yeah.
(47:21):
Go listen to some road work rapping.
Absolutely. And construction vehicles, they
move that dirt around. OK, Sorry.
You don't think that's going to get stuck in your head in a way.
So that's that on that. And we will see you next week
with a new episode. All right, See ya.
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