The Fairly KickAss Podcast

OMG! Over here, over here! It's another FKA Rewind, where we take an episode that we already posted and repost it for all of you non-Spotify folk! It's a chance for you to experience new (to you) content without having to move away from your pod provider of choice. And let's just call it what it is: we basically get a week off.
So without further ado's or adon't's, here is what we wrote when this episode initially posted, in March o...

Ass-Kickers, meet Sir Elton Hercules John. Sir Elton, Ass-Kickers.
Now that we're properly introduced, let's get to the music! And there is a TON of it.
You see, this is one of our One Song episodes, where we pick the best song of an artist's entire catalog. Thing is, this particular catalog is 31 FREAKING ALBUMS long. That's [counts on fingers] A LOT OF ALBUMS. But, faithful listeners, we don't shy away from a challenge here at Inte...

Ass-Kickers! We're back with a brand-new-old episode.
You see, back in December of last year, we did our first Top 5 Redraft. "What's that?", you all say on cue because I mailed each and every one of you cue cards before writing this, and let's not talk about the shipping costs, okay?
Anydangway, we took our Top 5 Songs to Ring in the New Year ep, originally posted in 2021, and put a fresh coat of paint on it. We took all the songs -...

Ass-Kickers! Welcome to the Rush episode for the Song of the Summer.
Ass-Kickers! Welcome to the Vibes episode for the Song of the Summer.
[cue that one gif from Road to El Dorado where Miguel and Tulio are all "Both! Both-both... both."]
Yep, we smashed the two episode types together. It's basically a Rush with more discussion... or is it a Vibes with more rankings? I mean, what even IS a "podcast" anyway? This is getting weird, as p...

Ass-Kickers! Thanks to technical difficulties, you get a reprieve.
Specifically, a reprieve from the same tired old May Reviews bit... you know the one, we're 5/12ths through the year so let's talk about 5/12ths of this, 5/12ths of that. Fun the first year? Sure! Fun the fifth year? Nah.
I (Zack, clearly) had this year's iteration 90% written - I just needed to update a few more things, slap the socials on, and out the door it went. ...

Ass-Kickers! There was a bit of news on the music front today. (Wednesday 5/28/2025, a date that was absolutely not backdated to account for an episode that was posted late, couldn't be us, nope.) Specifically, the record for the most RIAA Diamond Certifications by one artist was set. For reference, here's the qualification, according to Wikipedia:
500,000 units: Gold album1,000,000 units: Platinum album2,000,000+ (in increments of ...

More like "LATE-pril", amirite?
I'm rite, of course.
It's like May Something-or-Other-th. We get it. Sometimes things get weird! For example: the Eurovision Song Contest preview ep taking up residence before the reviews... as well as a couple other odds-and-ends. Thus: late reviews.
But! Better late than never, as they say in "the biz". Industry term.
Usual thing: new albums. Charting reviews...

Ass-Kickers! We're taking a trip across the pond.
It's time once again for the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest. For the uninitiated, the ESC is a yearly contest, by which many European countries (and Australia and part of Asia... it's a thing) bring their best musical acts (which may or may not be from that country... it's a thing) to compete for the title of the Eurovision Song Contest champion. For the already-initiated, douze point...

Kickers of Ass! I'd like to reintroduce all of you to the year 2009. The biggest news in the music industry was the passing of one Michael Jackson, and sitting here nearly 16 years later, it doesn't feel like it's been that long. On the other side of the spectrum, sometimes-singer and mostly-actor Patrick Swayze also passed away in 2009, which feels like it was way longer ago.
I don't at all mean to minimize how impactful both of th...

Ass-Kickers! We've been doing this for five years now (over five years, as I write this), and... wow. We never get the chance to toot our own horns, but we're going to - just this once - because, damn. We're proud of what we've been able to do, we're proud of all of the content that we've produced, and we're proud that we get to continue to do this - hopefully for another five years, and beyond.
We talk about all of it in this episo...

Ass-Kickers! It's time for another Coverlutions episode, and this time we're going a bit... melancholy. We talk about a bit of a downer jam, but one that is truly beautiful - that being the song Ain't No Sunshine, by the legendary Bill Withers.
For those of y'all who have no idea what a "Coverlutions" is, lemme back up a bit for ya: we take an oft-covered song, and the three hosts work to find great covers of the song. Traditional, ...

New ep who dis? [EDITOR'S NOTE: Okay, you can't keep saying that this podcast knows about "the youths" and then use old-ass references like that. Do better.]

What the helly? It's a new episode type, that's what!! [EDITOR'S NOTE: sigh]

We're calling this one SomeOnes. The premise is easy to learn, but takes a lifetime to master... or something. You see, each of us got a randomly-generated year, sometime within the last 50 years. Dan s...

Ass-Kickers! Happy April! Well, Happy March as it were, because yes, this is April, from where we sit right now, but the reviews are from March. Truthfully I'm just practicing the use of the HTML bold text tag. But I digress.
You know the drill by now: new albums, newly-charting top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Good and bad in both areas this time around. But if you know this drill (had to give the homie italics some love) then...

Ass-Kickers! This is a fittingly Ass-Kicking episode, as we're talking about our Top 5 Guitar Solos. Guitar Solos just kick ass! It's a whole thing.
You'll hear some songs that you expect, along with some unexpected songs from artists that you expect... and some unexpected artists altogether. But with 15 (or less?) songs between us, there were MANY that we didn't have time - or knowledge - to cover. Which means that burden, unfortun...

Ass-Kickers! If you didn't listen to last week's episode of the Fairly KickAss Podcast, STOP! Like, right in your tracks. Because this episode is Pt. 2, and you, Dearest Listener, need Pt. 1! So hit your handy-dandy "go back one episode" button in your podcastin' doodad, and check out the first part of our Deep Dive into the life and music of Tupac Shakur.
Back from Pt. 1? Good! Now listen to Pt. 2, and then tell us what you think!
B...

Ass-Kickers! We have a treat for you today, from all the way back in June of 2021. It's one of our Deep Dive segments, where we take a journey into the lives and times of different musicians. We've rewound a few old episodes in this series before - specifically our work-ups on Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and the Spice Girls. Adding to that is our two-parter on Tupac Shakur.
We cover his history, during the brief quarter-century that he wa...

Ass-Kickers! I'll level with you: 2025 has been one of the fastest, and slowest, years in recent memory. One of the fast parts is his here podcast; to wit, February reviews! Already!! The holiday season was just a week ago, I feel, and yet here we are. But, no matter how quickly we get here, we know what we have to do. And that, of course, is to review.
It's your usual dealio - new singles to the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 from...

For this episode of the Fairly KickAss Podcast, we'll start off with a video, which should help tie the room together.
Because, you see, this is one of our One Song episodes, where we tell you all about the very best song in an artist's catalog, the top of the heap, the cremday lahcrem. Only this one is a bit... different. Because, in honor of the 27th anniversary of The Big Lebowski this week, we will instead be giving you the ...

Ass-Kickers! We got a solo dolo for you today, with another one of our Unsung episodes, where we look at those folks in the music industry that are lesser known for their amazing accomplishments. For those who remember, it was the one you were supposed to see a few weeks ago. But hey, better late than never, right?
...right?

Well lemme say that this story is definitely one that should be told, late or otherwise. Because Bernard Purdi...