Bonus Episode: Rob and Joe on "Record Store Society"

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Valentine's Day. You know just what to get that
special someone because you know just what makes them tick.
So head on over to pro flowers dot com to
get fresh this Valentine's Day and get off through February
gifts for your special someone with promo code Crush fifteen.
See website for details. After thirty years, it's time to
return to the halls of West Beverly High and hang
out at the peach pit. On the podcast nine O

(00:21):
two one o MG, visit Jenny Garth and Tory Spelling
for a rewatch of the hit series Beverly Hills nine
O two one oh. From the very beginning, we get
to tell the fans all of the behind the scenes
stories to actually happen, so they know what happened on
camera obviously, but we can tell them all the good
stuff that happened off camera. Listen to nine O two
one O MG on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

(00:43):
or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey lead the listeners
take here. Last season on leathal Lit, you might remember
I came to Hollow Falls on a mission clearing my
aunt Best's name and making sure justice was finally served.
But I hadn't counted on a rash of new murders
tearing apart the town. My mission put myself and my

(01:06):
friends in danger, though it wasn't all bad. I'm going
to be real. If you tig I like you, But
now all signs point to a new serial killer in
Hollow Falls. If this game is just starting, you better
believe I'm gonna win. I'm tig Torres, and this is

(01:27):
Lethal Lit. Catch up on season one of the hit
murder mystery podcast Lethal Lit, a tig Torre's mystery out now,
and then tune in for all new thrills in season two,
dropping weekly starting February nine. Subscribe now to never miss
an episode. Listen to Leave the Lit on the I
Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

(01:51):
Welcome to Record Store Society, a production of I Heart Radio.
It seems extreme as a kid, but I also got
to see a lot of very odd music videos because
in particularly would lean towards things that um weren't possibly
normally played on MTV, v H one, munch music, et cetera.

(02:12):
They were exclusively played in this on demand realm because
people couldn't find it anywhere else, and so so it
was all very niche, all all that stuff. Oh hey, hi,
welcome to our record store. I'm Seth and this is
where Terror would normally be, but she's outsick today, so
you know, just me today. But feel free to look
around and I'll get off this phone call in a second,

(02:35):
and uh, just give me a shot if you need anything,
all right, thanks. So anyway, anyway, the box was like
this very strange music channel that was on my local television.
So I'm not sure if it's an experience that everyone
holds or just something that I have in my own memory.
It was it was an odd thing, but I presume
other people have this same memory. And oh heyy look
it's Robert and Joe. Hello Robert, Hello Joe. Hey, how

(02:58):
you doing do so well? I'm here. Let me have
this phone call real quick. Um, Robert and Joe came in. Uh,
Rob Lamb, Joe McCormick. I work with them. I'm a
producer on their UM on their their very popular podcast,
stuff to Blow your mind. Um that that that's that's
my side hustle, and I'm not here working at this
record store. But but anyway, I'm hanging up on you.
Thank you, for calling. Uh so long. Goodbye, Seth. I'm sorry,

(03:22):
I'm not here to chat. I need to buy a
copy of the original motion picture soundtrack to Batman Forever.
I'm trying to rack my brain. What was on Batman Forever?
That was that the Smashing Pumpkins YouTube? Um had YouTube
had a seal Kiss seal track Pumpkins on Batman and Robin.

(03:43):
Perhaps I think you're right about that, Yes, yes, but
but yeah, Batman Forever had a surprisingly good soundtrack. It
had flaming lips and a bunch of weird stuff you
wouldn't expect. You're right, it was um um playing in
that scene where the Riddler is putting his machinery together. Yeah, no, though,
that's ah, that's a fine soundtrack. And you know, kiss me,

(04:06):
through me, kill me, kiss me, throw me, kiss me,
kill me through whatever order that is, I will not remember.
But um uh no. But but speaking of soundtracks, you're
actually here on a good day, um uh despite the
fact that Terror is not here. I had prepared around
of our high fidelity game where I was gonna do
top five music videos. Now, the both of you, Robert

(04:28):
and Joe, we were just talking about this on your podcast.
Um gosh, I guess that was earlier today. What a
wild day. But would you like to uh no longer
talking about bizarre music videos like we did on your show,
stuff to blow your mind. But today we're gonna talk
about top five music videos period. Are you guys up
for that? Yeah? No, fair warning, there will be a

(04:51):
fair amount of crossover because it's when you talk of
at least when I think about good music videos, they
often end up being at least a little bit bizarre. Yeah,
fair enough. I have to admit that I cannot do
the thing where I say, like all time top five anything.
I used to be good at that when I was
in like high school and early college. Something changed in

(05:12):
my brain, and so I'm sorry to do this. I
have to give the disclaimer that, like, I cannot pretend
I'm listing my top five of anything at any time.
These are just like five music videos I was able
to think of when I was getting ready to come
here that I really like. So that's the best I
can do. I hope it's acceptable, Seth. And also I
hope you I hope you take used laser discs because

(05:34):
I have some here. I do you know why I
take use laser discs. Yeahs as both of you know,
I I manufacture records, you know, like that's that's part
of like my my thing that I do, like in
my life. If you get yourself a record lathe and
a diamond tipped stylists for your record lathe, you can
cut records into the undersides of laser discs and it's

(05:56):
tons of fun. Wow. Yeah, I've never heard of that.
I had no idea that was a thing. No, if
you can google this, my friend Mike Dixon just recently
did this for a band and it's, um it's a
good way for um up cycling dead media that no one,
you know, no one wants most laser discs, but you
can turn them into playable records if you just uh

(06:17):
you know, emboss the grooves. Actually, I guess you're cutting
the grooves into the underside of the plastic and it's
a reduced, re used, recycle. You know. That's amazing. Well,
now I know if I was in a band, I
would want to have my records only made on used
copies of Demolition Man on laser disc It's it's it's
a good way to do it a fun thing too
that you can do is you can um have a

(06:39):
CD right and because c ds encode their data from
the middle of the disc to the outside, if you
turn it over, a records play from the outside to
the inside, so you can fill up the data on
the inside and start cutting grooves on the outside of
the CD, and then it's it's it can do double purpose.
I can still function as a digital copy of your music,

(07:01):
but on the underside of the c D you can
turn it into a record and and and cut it
right there. And let's still it'll still play as long
as they don't overlap, because then you ruin both. I
think the main thing about laser disc for me, like
I never had one. I think I think I watched
a laser disc once. But uh, since it was so
much more popular in Japan, there were a lot of

(07:23):
films that you would get bootlegs of back in the
day on like VHS, and it would come to you
via Japanese laser disc of whatever ever film you were
trying to get. Yeah, I've heard that, Like in particular,
I've heard how the the most original version of Star
Wars that you can get is usually from the imported

(07:43):
UH laser disc copy, because that is you know something
that a collector had somewhere, but in the American market,
we've spent too much time remaking and redoing and polishing
and upgrading and special editionizing. Oh yeah, that makes sense.
But anyway, let's get into our top fives, and Joe,
don't worry. These are subjective as hell like. Whatever your

(08:03):
first thought is, that's usually your best thought, because if
it's standing out in your mind, it's probably pretty favorite
to you. So subjective as hell is perfectly okay, okay, wicked. Well,
I hope you enjoy my stupid answers. I look forward
to them. Uh My number five. The year was two thousand.
The song is Bombs over Bagdad by Outcast, directed by

(08:24):
Dave Myers. Uh well, I think one of the things
I like best about this music video is that it
is frantic as hell like the Yeah, the frantic pace
of the video and the frantic pace of the song

(08:46):
are perfectly matched, and and the visuals tie into the
music just in like a hand in glove situation. For me,
are both of you familiar with this video? I am.
I love this one. I remember the thing that really
excited my memory about it is I think it starts
off with um with Andrea three thousand running over a
field of purple grass being chased by children and remembering

(09:10):
that right yeah, yea, yeah, that's how it starts. Yeah, yeah,
why purple grass and purple trees to right. Yeah. I
think pretty much all the colors were slightly subverted, Like
the colors of the streets were slightly off, the color
of the sky was slightly off. Everything was just not
quite what it should be. And and um, I think
part of this was that so when um, when Big
Boy and andre three thousand were making this song, their

(09:32):
big goal was like, we want to subvert the expectations
of what it like the typical hip hop formula is,
you know, like they made it much faster, like instead
of like the standard hundter and twenty beats per minute,
I think the song is like a hundred and fifty
five something like that, So like it's just faster period.
But then in addition to that, you know, um, there
there's a bunch of like these like coral like gospel

(09:53):
things coming in, which is unconventional. There's like these like
Hendrix in Hendrix Jimmy Hendrix, so I guess Hendrix and yeah,
and Drixian guitars, you know, just kind of like shredding
all throughout it. Um, it's there's like some classical stuff
in there. It's it's, it's, it's. It's an odd mix
of influences. And I think because they were subverting expectations

(10:13):
with the song, I think the the Dave Meyers guy,
the guy that directed it, I think he wanted to
subvert the established expectations for hip hop music videos because
a lot of the elements are still in there. There's
still performance elements, there's still you know the at the time,
what was very traditional was like you know, girls on
like a strip pole or something. There was also um,

(10:34):
fancy cars. But in every time that those traditional elements appear,
they're slightly stranger. So like, for example, um, the colors,
like you mentioned, um, the uses of the things, like
I believe the women are like wearing the odd masks,
kind of like a what's it called? What's that video?
We were just talking about it back on stuff to

(10:55):
blow your mind? Um, what come to Daddy? Come to Daddy,
kind of like come to Daddy strippers, you know, And
I guess it's kind of like window liquor that other affect.
Twin video where it's like you see an attractive woman
scantily clad and it's pretty much I don't want to
I hate to say it's standard for a music video,
but unfortunately the time it kind of was the objectification
of women. But they're subverting the beautiful woman trope by

(11:18):
putting them in a strange, perhaps unattractive mask. And then
he's kind of, you know, sometimes as h as the
guy from A X twin, which is very strange. Weren't
they also, like in the latter part of the video,
I'm trying to remember this. Don't they end up in
like inside a giant windowless bus or something. There's definitely
a bus at some point for sure. Again, I can't

(11:40):
I can confirm I've been I say, I've never seen
this video before somehow, I mean, I'm very familiar with
the song, but I just wasn't watching music videos at
this time, I guess. And um so this is my
first time going through it. And yes, they do appear
to be and something that is either like Willy Wonka's
um uh tractor trailer rig or some sort of like

(12:00):
psychedelic time tunnel and yeah, it's but I I love
everything about this video in particular how closely it matches
the energy of the song, and the song is just
one of my favorites, so so it goes hand in hand.
And I think Dave Myers did an excellent job of
matching the energy of Outcast but giving it kind of
like this odd psychedelic edge as well. It's um, it's

(12:24):
nothing but fun, really solid pick I agree, thank you?
Uh my number four years. The song is Ashes to
Ashes and it's by David Bowie, directed by David Mallett
and David Bowie. That's true, Thank god, thank you? Do

(12:48):
you guys mark with this one? I don't know if
I do so. I was thinking about David Bowie videos
before we came in here, and I really do like
some of the ones I've seen. I don't think I
know this one, but most of the ones I could
think of are just very straightforward like singing performance type videos,
the old more you know, promotional video style, where like

(13:08):
modern Love is great but nothing weird happens, and it
is just David Bowie singing the song into a microphone
and it's great. Yeah. Little Drummer Boy is just you know, yeah,
I love that one. Um, but I know you're absolutely right,
And I think a reason for that is that, A
I think David Bowie was definitely making videos before MTV
even existed. And B I think he actually established a

(13:31):
lot of the tropes that became standard for music videos,
and in fact, I think he did a lot of
them in this music video. So um, this was at
the time the most expensive music video ever made, costing
two d and fifty thousand pounds, so I mean in money,
that's that's a lot of money. And and they added
this like complexity and the high production values and like

(13:55):
I guess, a sense of mystery and strangeness to it.
And so because of that it was very well beloved,
very um, very much a favorite amongst people. But I
think more than that actually established what was to come
in music videos, this idea that it could basically just
be a little art film, you know, because I think
most people will will accept the fact that like a strange,

(14:16):
unpredictable art film can be a music video these days,
and I think David Bowie is one of the folks
who established that. Yeah, I had never seen this one
before that. I think I've seen some of the images
like Bowie and the clown, uh get up the mine
kind of cost him. Um, but I don't think i'd
watched any of any of this video per se. And yeah,

(14:36):
it's got a lot of cool imagery in it. I
like the exploding kitchen, electric chair, I like the clown
and the bulldozer, and then the one where he has
tubes on him like he's been incorporated into an organic spaceship. Yeah,
if I remember correctly, And um, I'm sure you know
there are many interpretations of this that when he's like
in the spaceship all tied up to all the tubes,

(14:56):
that's supposed to be major Tom. It's supposed to be
like a continuation of his character from Space Oddity, and
like how how he's changed over the years. Now, Bowie
actually had a video. Again, this is before there was
anything called a music video, but he did have some
kind of video for Space Oddity, didn't This would have
been in the late sixties, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think
it would have been early seventies technically. But the only

(15:20):
way I remember David Bowie's timeline in my head is because, um,
he you know, his real name is David Jones, but
by the time he started getting popular, he had to
change his name because Davy Jones of the Monkeys had
already established himself. So whatever I think about David Bowie's beginnings,
I have to think about Davy Jones first and go Okay,

(15:40):
Davy Jones is established as the Monkeys. David Bowie comes
immediately after, you know. And it was additionally humiliating because
he had been rejected when he auditioned for the Monkeys.
I know you're being facetious, but I'd like to see that.
I would very much like to see that audition. All right.
My number three, uh the year is the song is

(16:05):
sugar Water and it's by Cheebo Matto, directed by Michelle Gondry. Alright,
to remind myself because I know I've seen most, if
not all, of his videos, but he was the one.

(16:28):
Uh So we we talked actually on stuff to blow
your mind about how great Michelle Gondry is. I mean,
I actually had to establish little rules for myself so
I didn't get um to one dimensional Like if I
wanted to, I think I could do top five Michelle
Gondry videos because they're all so creative and so interesting,
like even when it's for a song. I don't particularly

(16:49):
like Michelle Gondry can make some amazing video work out
of it. So yeah, I could have done Top five
York videos directed by Michelle Gondry if I wanted to,
but just to make it slightly more interesting, I only
let myself use each director once on here, and I
believe Sugar Water is my favorite Michelle Gondry video. Um.

(17:10):
Uh so, so you guys have seen this one before, right?
I don't think I have, But I don't remember this
one much, and probably because the main gimmick going on here,
um is that it is filmed in duo vision, or
at least that's what they called it back in with
the film Wicked Wicked, which had a similar gimmick where

(17:30):
you have something going on in one half of the
screen and something going on the other half of the
screen and eventually they converge. Only in this one it's
not a victim and a serial killer. And it's also, um,
it's all one shot, which is always like a fun
trick that any director can do, and part of it
is backwards and that's to me, I think the most
interesting part is that, so in the duo vision that

(17:51):
you speak of, you're seeing both scenes happening at the
same time. One is playing forward, one is playing backwards,
and in the middle they do meet. They they they
they kind of pass each other and then they continue
and then then you see kind of the explanation of
why the things happened in once half of the screen
while the other half continues. And um, it's just fun.

(18:13):
It's a lot, a lot of fun. Um. I I
guess the simplicity, with the creativity and the execution with
just like the interests that I get when I watch it,
because there's so much too absorb when you're watching two
single shot videos happening simultaneously, one in reverse, one playing straightforward,
pass each other and meet in the middle, and like,

(18:35):
it's it's a palindrome. It's it's a video palindrome. And um,
Michelle Gander is just so creative and so smart and
he doesn't need a huge budget. He just has ideas.
And I also read that, um, they only had to
do this ten times to get it right, which is
actually pretty impressive to me because it's a lot of
complex stuff. There's points where they're like writing things on windows,

(18:57):
but it's only half a sentence in the other set,
half like ends up on the other window in the
other video. At the other time and like pouring sugar
over your head while the other woman is like taking
a shower. So there's like that kind of like echo
of reality. Anyway, I love this video. If I could
only include one, uh Michelle Gandry video that this is

(19:19):
my favorite. This is my favorite of them. Now you
mentioned the idea of they only had to do it
ten times, and that makes me think about something. I
bet if you could get good production information, you can
make a ranked list of music videos by how many
takes it required of the same thing. Because I remember
this being like one of the facts that would come
on like pop up video about that Spice Girls music video.

(19:43):
You know that if you want to be my lover.
One of the among all of the many weird and
pervy little comments that would come in the pop up
bubbles on the screen, one was about how many takes
it required, because it was like it was at least
supposed to look like a one shot thing. Right. Well,
I guess it's inevitable to his music videos because you
often see this convergence of of a of a very

(20:06):
serious either up and coming or established director and then
some sort of hot act that probably has like next
to no acting experience, and so that's just a recipe
for days and days of takes. Fully agree, And um,
I think it also kind of contributed too for some
reason when we started pretending that musicians were actors in

(20:28):
actual films. I'm sure there's some sort of overlap there because, um,
you know what, but in the olden days, like I'm
talking about, like you know, like the Buzby Berkeley, you know,
like fred Astaire era, they were putting musicians in movies too.
So maybe I'm way off about that. Maybe people just
love musicians. Yeah, some of them take to it really well.
Uh some clearly just don't have the spark, but uh,

(20:50):
some like Frank Sinatra, I do not like his music,
but he I think he's like better in movies than
he is as a singer. To me, Yeah, yeah, I
guess that something like like um, the original Oceans eleven
for example, he is a fun actor. Actually, same thing.
I can say the same thing about um Dean Martin,
and I can actually say the same thing about Bing

(21:11):
Crosby as well. I gotta think against either of their music,
but I think I enjoyed them as actors far more
often than I sit down and listen to their music.
So huh yeah, there's something about that, and some others
make the transition pretty well, like, uh, you know, Debbie
Harry is a good actress. I agree. What what was
the anthology film that she was in which she plays
like the witch They're just gonna eat the children? Oh,

(21:31):
I don't know, Wait was that in? That? Wasn't the
Tales from the Dark Side movie? Was it? And end?
The I think that was the the anthology structure for it?
That was the bookend is that the kids are telling
the stories in order to prevent the witch from eating them. Yeah,
it's like sort of like a Shaherazade kind of situation.

(21:52):
Yeah and uh yeah yeah anyway, No, I agree, Debbie
Harry is a good actor. Wait, so, Seth, this brings
up suestion that you probably have a better answer for.
I was thinking about this last night. Uh, what are
music videos for? Like, like in the music industry do
they exist? Because there there are. They primarily thought of

(22:15):
as a kind of promotional media, like a commercial for
the music itself to get people to go buy the
album or I guess now stream the album, or is
there there's some other reasoning behind why they were created?
I mean, I know, from an artistic point of view,
it seems like they're often a sort of playground for
up and coming film directors to experiment with new techniques,

(22:37):
it seems like. But from a money angle, like is
it just a commercial for music? I think that's definitely
what it became. But if you go further back in time,
pre MTV, the actual reason I think why it began,
why the music video really began, was that if you
had a band and you wanted to book them on
whatever the Tonight show or you know and wait, Ed McMahon,

(23:01):
no, no no, no, who's the other Ed guy? Um? Ed? Ed,
Ed Begley Sullivan, Thank you, Ed Sullivan last, thinking of
if you were trying to put you guys never watch
TV with your grandparents. Come on, no, I I know
that name from from a track on one of Rocky
Ericson's albums where he's taking uh. He's at a radio

(23:21):
station in Austin getting call ins, and some caller asks
him it says like, Rocky, I want to talk to
you about your depravity, and he responds, you want me
to shoot you? And Ed Sullivan at the same time,
but but but picture and Ed Sullivan performance Okay, if
you were a band that was either in a completely

(23:41):
different country, or perhaps on tour, or perhaps just uninterested,
you would shoot a music video that you would send
to Ed Sullivan and that would be played in your
stead of a live performance. And so, for example, the
Beatles in particular did this a number of times. If
you think about all of the really old Beatles music videos,
the ones obviously predated MTV, those were created as a

(24:03):
substitute for the band playing live on the show. They
would just show that video in their stead. So so
so I definitely think that's how it started, was like
kind of like a placeholder for your live band during
a late night talk show. But I think ultimately it
became a television commercial. That's what I think it ultimately became.
And as long as they were investing that kind of
time and resources, et cetera, you might as well make

(24:26):
it good. You might as well make it fun and creative,
and hopefully that will bring even more attention to your product,
which is selling. You know, this little piece of wax
but number two two thousand nineteen anima by Tom York,
directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. We mentioned this one briefly

(24:56):
when we were talking on stuff to blow your mind.
It's so good it and it's actually three songs, uh,
it's It's not the News, Traffic and don Corus and
these are the three songs from the album Anema. So
they just call the whole short film Anema. It's a
fifteen minute short film and I really really love it. It
It went direct to Netflix, which I guess is how

(25:17):
they got such amazing funding and visuals out of this um.
It was actually choreographed by Dabian jal A, who also
did all the choreography for Suspiria, so it's got that
same vibe. Did you guys see that new Suspiria, the
one that the thing for I I loved it. I
love both Suspirias definitely. I I want one of the

(25:39):
things I really love about the New Suspiria, because yeah,
I agree the old one is very good. But one
thing I love about the new one is they actually
included like dancing for this ballet company that the original
had like no dancing whatsoever, which was an odd choice,
but it worked. It worked that the new one, just
the choreography alone is absolutely stunning, Like if if they're

(25:59):
just those segments were pulled out and shown it would
be an interesting film, but um uh yeah, same choreographer
and um it basically turned this into like a surreal
Buster Keaton short with Tom York like playing like that confused, befuddled, silent,
you know hero, just kind of wandering through all these
strange images and scenes and it's it's wonderful. Um. If

(26:21):
anyone out there has a Netflix account and hasn't watched
an Ema, I can't recommend it high enough. Name's got
to be confusing for a tool head like rob here right, Yeah,
there's no what's the name of that letter with the
A and the ear smushed together? Oh? I don't know
the word for it neither, but that letter, the A
smashed together letter, None of those just straight A. N

(26:42):
I am A you know, just anima. It might be
anima anyway. Okay, yeah, I know, I gotta admit I
don't know this one. Wait is this Tom York solo
or radiohead Tom York's solo? Yes, okay, it's this is
very new. This came out two nineteen. It's very very good. Yeah.
I have to say I haven't seen this and I
haven't listened to it. I think i've listened to all
of Tom Yorks so they're solo material, and UM love

(27:04):
it quite a bit. In fact, I would say of
the more recent releases, I'm more of a Tom York
fan than a Radiohead fan. Yeah, I mean, the great
thing about Tom York solo is he doesn't have to
feel bad about not including the other instruments, like like
when he's when he's making a Radiohead album, he has
to be like, oh, and is gonna be over there

(27:25):
looking sad if I don't give up a guitar part,
so all right that you come in with a guitar
solo Like when he's making solo music, he can just
focus on, Hey, you know I'm here. It's more electronic
when it's just Tom York, because I think my favorite
Radiohead songs are the ones that have more of an
all electronic air to them. Oh yeah like that. The
whole Kid Amnesiac era is just such a treat for

(27:47):
Radiohead fans. I love it, but um, yes, for everyone
in the record store listening to us, and for both
of you, I highly recommend. I'm gonna call it anima
whatever it is. The Tom York Paul Thomas Anderson short
film I mean, it's Paul Thomas Anderson. He's to me
at least one of our best living directors. So I
can't recommend high enough. But there's one I recommend more.

(28:08):
It's my number one. The year's two thousand two. The
song is Lost, caused by Beck, and it's directed by
the Hammer and Tongs Collective, which is Garth Jennings and
Nick Oldsmith. I also don't know this one. I'm playing

(28:33):
it now though I'm looking at it nice um. This
one basically it's uh, there's a giant effigy of Beck, enormous,
and it's falling slowly from the sky and in tune
with the music. While it's playing in slow motion, little
explosions and fireworks and puppetry and just transformations are happening,

(28:54):
and just to watch it is is a treat. And
because of its style and it's kind of like low
fine this and it's kind of creativity. I thought this
was a Michelle Gondry video for the longest time, just
because it kind of fits within his wheelhouse of the
kind of thing he would do. But then years later
I realized it was a Hammer and Tongs. Um he
might do a Beck video, didn't Oh, yes he did.

(29:15):
He did a couple. Um, I think a deadweight the one.
Uh yeah yeah, but I think and I think he
did cell phones dead as well. Anyway, um, hammer and Tongs.
You might know the best They made the Hitchhiker's Guide,
did the Galaxy movie, the Newer one. Okay, that's their thing,
and they have a rich history of incredible music videos.
Another big one they did was at least big for me,

(29:37):
was Coffee and TV. That Blur music video. There's a
little milk carton dancing around. There's a lot of good ones.
But anyway, so the video is this giant effigy of
Beck slowly falling from this guy, exploding and transforming in
time with the music. And to me, the most impressive
part about this I I have the DVD that has
all their music videos and hasn't making up stuff. They

(29:57):
actually did this. They actually built to this giant effigy
of Beck, lifted up on a crane, dropped it from
the sky while it was exploding, and filmed it and
then played it back in slow motion. Now for for
it to be this good, because if you watch it,
everything is happening at just the right time, at just
the right moment and all that. Hey, I'm sure they

(30:18):
did this multiple times and picked the right moments for
editing back and forth. But b I'm sure there was
some overlays and stuff like that. But but however they
did it. I saw them dropping that giant back, so
they did it for real in real life. And it's
just a very impressive thing to look at. And um,
that's my number one. I highly recommend it, and that

(30:40):
concludes my list. Everybody, it has a kind of NASA
launch or NASA landing quality to it, like this is
it's not just a like a wicker man flaming to
the ground. It has all these things popping out of it,
like like elements that seem like they need to be
deployed at a certain time in order for you know,
maximum to be achieved. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, ladies and gentlemen,

(31:07):
we have back. Um but yeah, yeah, that that concludes
my list, and let's let's move on to the next one.
I'm going to uh put my records away, Robert, you're
going next, So you go around the store, gather up
your records. We'll take a nice little coffee break. We'll
come back continue our captain. This Valentine's Day. You know

(31:34):
just what to get that special someone because you know
what makes them tick. Their favorite bouquet of roses in
a box of chopp roses in a scented a teddy
Bear roses, and a teddy Bear. Yeah, a teddy Bear.
get fresh this Valentine's Day and get fifteen percent off

(31:54):
That's Crush fifteen and pro flowers dot com for off
through February fourt on Flowers gifts and more for val
Wyn's Day. See website for details. Do you love movies
or maybe just the need us some recommendations on what
new movies to watch next time you sit down in
front of the TV. Well, I have the podcast for you. Hey,
this is Mike d from Movie Mix Movie Podcast, your

(32:14):
go to source for all things movies and no matter
the genre what you're into, whether it be comedies, romance,
actions sized by horror, superhero movies, I cover it all.
I'm no critic, I'm just a guy who loves movies.
Each episode explores a different movie topic, plus spoiler free
reviews on the latest new movies in theaters and on streaming,

(32:35):
and yes, they're always spoiler free, so you don't have
to worry about anything getting ruined for you. Plus interviews
with actors, directors, and writers covering the behind the scenes
of your favorite movies. I also keep you in the
note with all the latest movie news and movie trailers.
Listen to new episodes of Movie Mix Movie Podcast every
Monday on the Nashville Podcast Network, Available on the I

(32:55):
Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hi.
I'm Glory Adam, host of Well Read Black Girl. Each week,
I sit in close conversation with one of my favorite
authors of color and share stories about how they found
their voice, hone their craft, and navigated the publishing world,

(33:18):
and composed some of the most beautiful and meaningful words
I've ever read. We journey together through the cultural moment
where art, culture and literature collide and pay homage to
the women whose books we grew up reading. And of
course I check in with members of the Well Read
Black Girl book Club. It's a literary kickback you never

(33:41):
knew you needed, and you're all invited to join the club.
So tell your friends to tell their friends, so we
can be friends who love books. Listen to well Read
Black Girl on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, we are back. Um.

(34:12):
I've done my top five music videos of all time,
very subjective lists. My my other two guests here joining
us today. We got Robert Lamb and Joe McCormick the
Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast, Robert your top five
kick it off? All right? Well, I made two rules
for myself on this One no tool videos because I
already mentioned one on the other episode we did, and

(34:35):
I just kind of ultimately put those in their own category.
You know, I follow you. I felt the same way
about York. I feel like I could easily make just
top five videos of just York because all of her
videos are so beautiful and I'm a little said, we're
not gonna talk about skism, but what can we do?
You know? Uh? The other rule I made for myself
on this list is not to do any more or

(34:55):
less straight up performance videos, concert videos or things that
are close to him, even though I really love some
of those that because a lot of times they do
capture like the raw performance element, like, for instance, one
that I do really like, and I think Joe might
have made a joke about it. In the previous one
is the the early Nine inch Nails video for Pretty
Hate Machine, which is not an expensive video or not

(35:17):
expensive looking. I don't know how much it costs um
and it has some you know, wonderful, kind of amusing
cheap effects in it, but it has like a raw
emotional quality that I do like. Yeah, Nine inch Nails don't, don't.
They also have a pretty cool video that's just a
performance video for what's it called March of the Pigs,
the one rethrows the microphone stand on the ground. Yeah,

(35:38):
in that vein when it when it comes to videos
that are just the band performing, for me, it's kind
of hard to be Prince's video where it looks like
an orgy is about to break out on the stage,
But that's just Prince every day, like they just happened
to capture his real life. So here we go. This
is my number five. I went with one. It's actually

(36:01):
heartbreaking lee impossible to find right now, so I can't
even send you guys after the link. I think Joe
might have seen this one. I think I sent this
one to him a while back. But he might not
have looked at or maybe you forgot it. But the
track is called Timber Chainsaw Massacre. It's from two thousand
six and it's by Heckstatic and the director I believe

(36:31):
is Stuart Warren Hill of Hecstatic, and it is the
the Hecstatic song Timber, which is readily available, except it
is recreated using sound effects from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre,
The Shining and perhaps one other movie I'm I'm blanking,
but mainly Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Shining. So the

(36:52):
video then the video version, which I believe was created
for a two thousand six Halloween show like an audio
visual DJ set um it. It has clips from the film,
so it's a lot of these uh like chainsaw sounds
and then there's Jack Nicholson breaking through the door and
so the drumbeats are are are impounding through the door
with the hammer and then yeah, it's just it's it's

(37:14):
a very creative piece that Sadly the video was removed
on YouTube and I don't think they've uploaded it anywhere else,
so I don't know where I can tell anyone to
find it. Was this like a copyright claim situation. Oh,
I'm sure it was. Yeah, like probably just an auto
claim where it's like, well there's there's TCM in there,
they're shining in there, got to get it off. That's like. Um.
One of my favorite videos, which is not official by

(37:37):
any means, is if you take the Animal Collective song
water Curses through complete happenstance, it happens to match perfectly
every change, every movement, every dance move with Beyonce's single
Ladies just happens to just perfectly match up. So if
if you just overlay them, it's the most beautiful music
video you've ever seen. However, obviously, Beyonce's people have taken

(38:00):
down that video every single time, so you can't really
watch it. Just kind of like make it yourself or
hope you find it in a window before Team Beyonce
removes it from the Internet. But uh, but it sounds amazing.
You're you're saying, there's no real way to track this
down currently, not not right now, because I guess it. It
It kind of exists in that area of like everything
is terrible, you know, where they're they're creating what I

(38:22):
think is his legitimate art using these these elements of
other works, but um, you know it's going to fall
under the crosshairs of the of the copyright killbots that
are roaming the YouTube's. Wow. No, I'm very curious. I'm
gonna go check this out, or maybe I can find
like a Russian YouTube link or something. That's usually where
I find the uh, the most copy copyright infringed videos

(38:46):
is somewhere on Russian YouTube. I did not check Russian
YouTube for this one, so maybe they got it. I
try not to. It's it seems dangerous. It seems like
walking along a beach full of like syringes. It's like,
you know what, it's a beautiful beach, but don't know.
All right, here's my number four. This is the two
thousand song Sabrina by Einsters into New Boton. This would

(39:12):
be I wish this would be all this. This is
a wonderful video that is not listed on IMDb, so
I had to look it up. But it's directed by
John Hilcote of the Road and the Proposition. I think
he did an episode of Black Mirror and it is um.

(39:32):
I believe books Bargold of of Einsters into New Baton
is in it very briefly, but most of the video.
It takes place in this bleak um like restroom and
there's a minotaur having kind of an emotional breakdown in
front of a mirror. That's the entire video, I do

(39:54):
I remember. It's kind of like, um, it's kind of
pig like minotaur. Yeah. Is it putting on makeup at
some point or at one point? Yeah? Okay, wow, Yeah,
this is a good one. Yeah, because there's stuff in
the lyrics. It's actually an English language song, and there's
stuff about red and the color red, and so it
kind of fits symptomatically that it the minuteur is putting

(40:15):
on this makeup, but then you know, breaking down and weeping.
So it's it's somehow like a perfect video for this song.
Is it mostly um puppetry and like mask work or what? What?
What is the minutar made of practical makeup effects? I
believe there may or there may be some puppetry involved
in the actual production, but I'm not even sure like

(40:36):
what effects house was responsible for this. I had to
really search around to find the director of credit on
this because again it's not listed on IMDb. Wow. Wow, nice,
I'm gonna look this up. So far, you are too
for two with music videos I've never seen that I'm
definitely gonna go check out. Well, number three should be
one that I think everyone's seen. So here's my number three.

(40:57):
It is video or the track Bedtime Story by Madonna.
How can I explain how? Which is also I believe
it's Byork was one of the writers on this song,

(41:17):
if not the main writer. And the director was Mark Romanek,
who did a lot of cool videos. Oh weird, So
I know some Madonna videos but not this one. Uh.
The main one that comes to mind is the video
for uh, like a Prayer, which is like this was
that the one that the Vatican was mad about? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
yeah they tried to ban it, right, or like the

(41:38):
Catholic League or someone involved in the Catholic Church was
very very upset about the sacrilegiousness that they felt. Okay, Well,
which Bedtime Stories? You said? Bedtime Story definitely worth looking up.
It's on the official Madonna YouTube page, and it's a
big budget affair and it's about dreams. Like it begins

(42:00):
with her in this kind of like dream chamber and
then it like it sets to lucid dreaming and then
we go inside this just ever changing dream world. It's
full of just beautiful strange imagery like floating cubes, um
Sufi dancers, uh, fallen angels, there are people floating. It

(42:22):
has a just a wonderful, just fantastic vibe for it.
And and I there are other Bana videos that I
really admire as well, but this one is a real,
real visual odyssey. Every night I dream of cubes. Yeah,
they're cubes. Oh there's one segment where that is especially
evocative too, because it's like she's in this um, She's

(42:43):
in some sort of a pool and there are these
like monster heads, like one looks kind of like a
big bird skull and the others are I don't know,
dinosaurs or something, and they have enormous glass eyes and
they are in the pool with her, and it's just strange.
I love it. Like there's just every few seconds there's
something new and perplexing. There's you know, at one point

(43:07):
there two of her and they have mirror faces. There's
another section where her eyes are replaced by by mouths
and like one sect and they were like children watching
her as she floats down a hallway. It's just a
beautiful music video. This is another one UM we've mentioned before.
Um uh, the director's label DVD sets. This is one

(43:28):
that I'm very familiar with because Marc Romanic also had
a DVD in that collection. And um yeah, it just
feels mythical. It feels like there's some sort of like
ancient tome telling of these stories that you you've never heard,
but you're seeing like almost like the cliffs Notes versions
of them. It just feels like there's a there's a
very deep lore that you aren't quite up to date. One. Yeah,

(43:51):
the does does she kind of look like um Medusa
in some parts of this, Like her hair is done
in a kind of snake pattern, a bit like in
the scene where she's in the pool with the monster
head shere, her hair is very big. You know. She
has like multiple looks and costume changes in this one.
And there's one part where you see like a lady's
back and she has scars along her shoulder blades, where

(44:15):
I guess one is to assume that wings have been
uh surgically removed. Yeah, good pick. I think a lot
of I think a lot of people will will definitely
remember this one. I mean, like especially back in the
old days of music television. You know, um you know
from the peak of of of MTV. Kind of the
best part about it to me was that you had

(44:36):
no control over it, Like these videos just happened, Like
like I want to watch some music videos. You sat
down and watched your block of music videos, and maybe
two out of ten were ones that you actively wanted
to see, and the rest were just whatever was happening
at the time, which I actually thought was a pretty
positive thing ultimately, because you were forced to kind of
consume all of these other genres, all these other styles

(44:58):
of music that ultimately I think just kind of like
broadened all of our you know, uh knowledge, as well
as our appreciation for all all kinds of other groups
and styles of music. It was. I think it was
a wonderful thing. Now that you pick everything on your own,
I think there's a lot of benefits to that, But
unfortunately you do miss out on being force fed, you know,
Tan gentle art. Yeah. I may be remembering this wrong,

(45:22):
but I think there's an essay or a letter where T.
S Elliott writes about how it's important to have lots
of mediocre poets to read because because without having a
bunch of sort of middle tier poets, you wouldn't really
appreciate what great poetry was. That's a fair point. I
don't disagree. I don't disagree with that at all. Huh yeah,

(45:45):
I mean it's also kind of vain because he's like,
I'd like to really experience the high level that I'm
performing at, you need to go read those other people
as well. Then then come back and you'll see truly
how great. Yeah, I think that statement comes better if
it's not coming a great poet. It's just some guy
saying that it's a little less vain. Well, who knows.

(46:06):
That may have been while he was working on that
book about cats, right, Yes, very cool to Yes, all right,
here's my number two. It's video for Wild Boys by
Duran Duran, directed by Russell McKay. This is the one

(46:31):
that we we we already talked about this one, but
I just I couldn't do a list without including it
because it is just one of my all time favorites.
Amazing pick yeah, yeah, it's um. We we we talked about
this a lot. If anyone here in the record store
didn't hear it, listen to Stuff to Blow your Minds
Friday episode during Weird House Cinema and um We talked
a lot about this music video. We go, we go

(46:53):
deep into depth about who made it, why they made it.
It's it's it's scar on like the land Escape of
of music videos and the MTV air at the time.
But a big thing I remember is that when I
pictured Duran Duran, I think about like Rio, I picture
like Pastel dudes with like big you know, hair, sprayed hair,

(47:14):
just kind of like riding around on catamarans being like,
you know, fancy pop boys. That's what I picture. But
this really does, I guess, paint a fuller picture. It
shows like a larger segment of what Duran Duran truly is,
and like it helps them be not just a one dimensional,
you know, pop group. Though interestingly enough, Russell McKay also

(47:37):
directed the video for Rio. Wow, he's got he's got
some depth. I was gonna say this one is more
like his name is Morton Joe and he dances in
the sand. Where else Well, I guess I Morton Joe
could dance in the water if he wanted to, but
he's he's still living that sand life. I don't know.
I guess actually Wild Boys, it would be more like

(47:58):
his name is Lord Humonga, because, as I said in
the Stuff Blow Your Mind episode on this, it seems
very very Road Warrior influence to me in that the
members of the band are dressed up like Mad Max.
They've got the leather jacket, they've got the weird gloves situation.
They're even in a strange way. You know how later

(48:20):
on in his career, Mel Gibson would seem to have
this thing about being tortured in his movies, a weird
kind of sado massochistic thing that's even there, even though
I don't think that was a major part of his
movies at the time, or at least was you know,
thought of as characteristic of his movies. But they've got
the Duran Duran guys on, like the torture windmill and

(48:40):
crucified to the top of the car. I mean, it's, uh,
it's perfect Mad Max energy. There's this amazing artist. Um.
I'm actually gonna google him to make sure I get
his name right. Um. He has a very interesting name.
Let's see here. Yes, yes, I just pulled it up.
His name was Chris Burden, and um, he was an
amazing dude. Um, especially in art school. We would talk

(49:01):
about him in art history class. Because he did this
art project called Shoot where his thing was he got
shot in the art gallery. Someone took a gun and
intentionally and shot him and that was his art performance.
And it was really shot him, really shot him with
a real gun. And I believe they, you know, they
tried to not hurt him as much as possible. That
they hit him like like you know, in the arm

(49:23):
or something like that. But that was his performance. And
when you talk about like, you know, extreme movements in art,
that that he he always seems to be the like
like the furthest end of the spectrum of like, yeah,
this dude shot himself as art, you know, in a gallery.
And um, another piece he did, which gets talked talked
about less because it's less impressive than getting yourself shot

(49:46):
is Chris Burden did this thing where he had himself
crucified to a Volkswagen bug and literally crucified hands nails
on onto a Volkswagen. And um, so you're saying it's
the idea from the Boys video. Maybe it sounds like
they got that idea from the uh the nine inch

(50:06):
Nails video for Happiness and Slavery. Well, I'll say Chris
Burden was doing his art in the nineteen seventies. Mostly
they have both gotten their ideas from him. But but anyway,
whenever whenever we've talked about the being crucified to a
vehicle thing, I always think about Chris Burden and um,
and then that leads me to shoot his odd performance
of getting shot. But yeah, Wild Boys is such a

(50:28):
great video. I love how it's just they're just being bad.
They're being really wild boys. They're throwing the desks over.
They remember that part of the beginning. It was like
an airplane hangar full of school desks and they just
start knocking them over. It's like, this is what I
think about school. Tell with your school. Yeah, it's so good,
all right, I'll go ahead and bust out my number one.

(50:50):
This is just this is a just for me video perfection,
Like I didn't even have to think twice about what
my favorite is. And it is from is directed by
Neil rug who I think primary is like a you know,
a photographer, I think. But it is the music video
for Reach for the Dead by Boards of Canada, and

(51:19):
it is, Uh, it's just beautiful. It's just just perfect.
I love Boards of Canada. But I don't think I
realized they had any music videos. Yeah, a lot of
their music videos prior to this, or at least some
of the ones I'm familiar with, utilized pre existing footage.
Like there's there's one where the official music video is
the what is it? One? Got fat? The one about
the monkeys and bicycle safety, I just set to music.

(51:41):
Another one is of like a really impressive high altitude
parachute jump. But this one was an original footage shot
like in the California desert, and it just capture There
are no humans in it at all, it just captures.
Most of it is just capturing these empty spaces in
this this beautiful waste land. And then towards the end
of the music video, you take to the sky and

(52:04):
there's this just elegant like double sunset, double horizon situation
that then becomes kind of like the very reminiscent clearly
inspired by the like the the Stargate scene in two
thousand and one of Space Odyssey, and you travel towards
the sun through this this rectangle and then there's a

(52:28):
dawning of three sons in the sky and it's it's
just just beautiful. I've I've watched this one multiple times.
I distinctly remember when I got to see it for
the first time, and I've been anticipating it, and it's
just it's just beautiful. It's easily my favorite music video
of all time. I feel like you would really like
a re cut of the the original Star Wars movie

(52:48):
where Luke goes out and he sees the two Suns rising,
and instead of Luke's theme from the John Williams score,
it's it's that Boards of Canada song. Yeah, yeah, that
would be That would be good. It was at a
different tone. It wouldn't be quite as like Forlorn. It
would be more like adventurous. You know, what's the what's
the Boards of Canada video with the skydiving? Um, I

(53:09):
believe it's Dave and Cowboy, isn't it. Let me check.
I don't remember offhand. Um, yes it is Dave and Cowboy.
And that's that's a beautiful one too. It's great track,
just tremendous real world footage. So I highly recommend that
one as well. Man great stuff. Um. We we have
a really wonderful community of people who shopping this record

(53:30):
store on our discord. If you go to Record store
Society dot com, you can join up and um, we
uh always talk about the lists whenever we do them,
and I can't wait. I'm gonna post all these videos
on there because yeah, I'm gonna say at least three
of these that you just said, Robert, I've never seen
And that's that's fun. That's my favorite reason to do
all these lists is if you have anyone lists their

(53:52):
favorites of something, inevitably there will be something you've never
heard of and it's someone's favorite, So you know, it's good.
You don't even like, you know, separate the eat from
the chaff. It's it's great, you know. And uh and
saying that we got one more person to go. Uh see, Joe,
let's take a little another little coffee break. You go
through the record store, gather up your five choices, and uh,

(54:14):
we'll resume in just a second. This Valentine's Day, you
know just what to get that special someone because you
know just what makes them tick. So head on over
to pro flowers dot com to get fresh this Valentine's
Day and get off through February fourteenth on gifts for
your special someone with promo code crush fifteen. See website

(54:36):
for details. Hey, it's Chuck, Wicks from Love Country Talk
to Chuck, where we bring you what's really happening in
the country music family. We also if you love country.
Here's the deal. If you love country music, you can
be on the podcast. So if you're a fan country music, well,
you can call in anytime, like, oh, I want to
talk about this. Haul Cogan called in season one. He's like, Chuckster,

(54:57):
I love your podcast. I mean Jason Ald, Jimmy, Alan,
Carle Pierce, Laurena, Lena. So many huge stars have been
on Love Country Talk to Chuck. Season two is gonna
get even better. I'm gonna have the same big, giant,
huge stars, but I think it's time bring some people
in the studio right off the street. You love country music, fun,
come talk to Chuck. That's how cool we are. I'm

(55:19):
just saying it. I'm saying it out loud. Listen to
new episodes of Love Country Talk to Chuck every Monday
and Thursday on the Nashville Podcast Network, available on the
I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen
to podcasts. Conquer your New Year's resolution to be more
productive with the Before Breakfast podcast. In each bite sized
daily episode, time management and productivity expert Laura vander Camp

(55:43):
teaches you how to make the most of your time,
both at work and at home. These are the practical
suggestions you need to get more done with your day.
Just as lifting weights keeps our body as strong as
we age, learning new skills is the mental equivalent of
pumping iron. Listen to before Breakfast wherever you get your podcasts. Okay,

(56:14):
we are back. We got one list left to go,
and that is Joe McCormick. Uh. Let's see here, Joe.
Now you've already pre warned us that this is a
very subjective list for you. Any other pre warnings you
should give us, Yeah, I'll just be mealy mouthed every
which way. In fact, not only can I not stand
by the fact that these are not my all times,
I also forgot to put them in an order, so

(56:36):
I'm gonna have to make up the numbering on the
fly here. That's fine, But but these are videos that
I very much love, and I think I want to
start by saying that I'm going to go in the
opposite direction as we went in um Our Stuff to
Plow your Mind episode on Weird music Videos, where we
focused on the truly bizarre were we in that one?
We talked about Herbie Hancock's Rocket, which is a tastic

(57:00):
music video, but of course it's just like throbbing mannequin
insanity and uh. And we talked about the the Mick
Jagger music video for hard Woman, which is an absolute
train wreck of the most bizarre kind. But here I
want to go into just extremely earnest emotional dancing that
is beautiful. So my first pick is the video for

(57:23):
Kate Bush running Up that Hill. I think the music
video for Wuthering Heights is probably better known, and I've
seen things where people recreate that video and that one

(57:44):
she's famously well. Actually, I think there are two different
versions of the Wuthering Heights video. One she's in a
red dress and just dancing among the trees and the
forest while she's singing. I guess she's out on the
moor right um. But this one is such a weirdly
earnest artifact. It's just really powerfully earnest song. It's the
sound of sincerely yearning for something impossible, and the video

(58:08):
is exactly like that, this incredibly powerful emotional ballet performance
with Kate Bush and this male dancer. A lot of
reaching gestures. I don't know if you guys have seen
this one, but I think it's really truly beautiful. This
is the one with she's wearing rad right. No, No,
that's the Weathering Heights video. Okay, that's the one where

(58:28):
people dress up like it and uh and reenacted. Yeah,
I have a friend who did that. I think. I
was actually in a park in London one time and
we saw tons of people in red dresses and we
were like, what's going on? They were recreating the Weathering
Heights video. That's fun. I have seen this video and
m One thing I love about Kate Bush basically just
artistically in general when it comes to her music and

(58:50):
her music videos and everything she does is she's incredibly
gimmick free, Like all she is is just quality and
and it's um it's a nice reminder for me per
personally because um, I really do like things that are
progressive and trying new things and experimental. And one thing
I've said many many times is I'll take creativity over
talent any day of the week. Like I just really

(59:12):
in general love it when people just do interesting things
like that's more interesting to me than anything. But everyone's
in other people like Kate Bush should come up. You're like, oh,
never mind. If you write a good song and you're
really good at performing it, that's all that matters. Like
talent wins period, Like that's that's the real key. And
and that's to me is like the magic trick of

(59:32):
music in general is that, um, you can explain why
certain artists are great, like by just using like a spreadsheet.
Kate Bush is just talented. You can't. You can't explain that,
it just is. So Yeah, there are a lot of
things in creativity where you can make like rules for success.
I used to say this about you know, like writing
fiction or something. You know that you shouldn't have a

(59:53):
character do this, or you shouldn't write a sentence like that.
But every kind of rule like that about art and entertainment,
it always comes with the caveat, which is unless it's
really good. You're just like, don't do this unless it's
just really good anyway. Yeah, Yeah, I had a creative
write writing a professor who who's talked about that, where
like people told him he can't do a civil war

(01:00:16):
novel about identical twins where one fights for the North
and one fights for the South. So that's exactly what
he wrote. He wrote a novel. I mean it would
work if it was great. Yeah, that that comes up.
Thomas Lennon and Ben Grants from the States and Red
nine one one. Uh, they wrote a book about how

(01:00:37):
to write screenplays because obviously they've had a lot of
success writing just like mainstream screenplays, things like um oh,
A Night of the Museum things like that, where they've
just made tons of money and you wouldn't expect that
they were the ones that wrote it because they have
such an irreverent, absurdist style of humor, you know. But um,
in this book, they were perpetually talking about how to
write a big mainstream blockbusters. They say things like, hey,

(01:01:00):
on this page, this is where the conflict happens. On
this page. All your characters need to be established on
this page. Obviously I'm talking about the screenplay. On this page,
this is where your third act starts. And then they
always covey at it with unless you're making art, then
it doesn't matter. Like if you're making art, then it
has no rules, so you don't need to read a
book to do that. This is how to make a mainstream,

(01:01:23):
big budget popular film. You know, they're talking about a
surgical procedure to remove a certain amount of money from
the public, how to sell x number of popcorn. Well, so,
thinking about this Kate Bush video raises a question for me,
which is, Um, when you're talking about really liking a
music video, how much are you supposed to try to

(01:01:46):
separate your enjoyment of the video from your enjoyment of
the song itself? You know, like, like how much does
this just because Running Up the Hill for me is
just like, you know, one of the best tracks ever
as this amazing be the underlying synth part, the vocals,
I mean, it's it's like a perfect song to me. Um.

(01:02:07):
And so of course, I mean I have to imagine,
like whatever was happening on the screen, as long as
it wasn't something bad, I would be enjoying the experience
of watching it. I think that this video is a
is a great video, even though it's very straightforward. It's
very simple. It's just like dancing mostly. Um. But yeah,
do you know what I mean? Like, can can you
take the your appreciation of the song itself out of

(01:02:30):
your understanding of what's happening in the video? Yeah? And
I'm sure they have to factor that in, like whoever's
directing the video has to think to themselves, am I
trying to match the song? Am I trying not to
distract from this song? Or am I trying to like
almost disguise the song? Like the song is not that good?
So I'm going to actually make a really good music
video to draw your attention in and perhaps you don't

(01:02:53):
have to even worry about the song. So yeah, I'm
sure it's a case by case basis. I would presume.
I think a better way to explore or that question,
which we obviously don't have time to do here, it
would be to look at examples of the best songs
that have the worst music videos to accompany them, you know.
I think that could be a different list for a
different day. But yeah, yeah, that's it's an interesting thought

(01:03:15):
for sure. Okay, Well, for my next pick, I guess
this is going to be my number four. I'm going
to come back to a subject we have already talked about.
I'm sorry this is going to overlap somewhat with you, Seth,
but I had to pick a Michelle Gondry B York
video of course. Uh for me, this was the video
for the B York song hyper Ballad, which I think
is off her album post Go to Well. Um, it

(01:03:47):
is hard to describe exactly what's going on in this video,
but I will try. York the artist is. It looks
like she's lying asleep, eyes closed on some kind of
forest floor. They were like leaves and pine straw and moss.
But it's also as if that forest floor is the
base of a kind of rotating coffin with a glass lid,

(01:04:11):
And so the glass lid over her sleeping body becomes
a sort of screen on which is projected a recording
of York Awake singing, and that overlays her sleeping face.
And then sometimes there's another layer of transparency or reflection,
where in the glass over her sleeping face you can

(01:04:33):
see machinery like circuit boards with blinking l ed s
that appear to be on the other side of the glass.
And so it's this very weird effect where you're confused
about like how many layers of things you're looking through
and where the transparency is and what's being reflected versus
what you're seeing through the glass, which is a wonderful
effect to create in a music video. Um, and I

(01:04:57):
think you're wrong, though, Joe. I think this is not
in a fact, I think this is what it's like
to look at Bjork in real life, without effects added
to remove her natural essence. I mean, yeah, it really
does feel that way. And also I would say maybe
it's not an effect. When we see York as a
sixteen bit video game character, she's like a sprite like
Sonic the Hedgehog, running around between antenna towers. And I

(01:05:22):
love the little animation. I mean I wonder how they
animated that, Like, did they actually create her as a
video game character with a running animation? That's what it
looks like, because that image always sticks in my mind
because well, and she's like always like she's like running
along to the beat too, like the little jog because
that moment always sticks out in my mind from this

(01:05:43):
music video. I always misremember this video as being for
her song Joka j O g A because that one too,
because but because I associate it with jogging, because that
little sprite jogging in the music video, which makes no sense.
But but but I fully agree. This is what my
favorite Buyork videos. Also, it's so good. The joke of

(01:06:03):
video is the one I think that's also Michelle Gandry
where it's like the map that's like changing and moving
around or is that one Bachelorette. Oh, no, you're right,
you know it's it's yeah, it's it's a three D
renderings of like the world, and it's like shifting and
breaking and cracking and fall Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's
the one. Bachelorette's the one where she's putting on a
play and then the play in a play puts on

(01:06:24):
a play, and then the play within the play puts
on a play and it's all based on like York's
book and like anyway, that one's that's wonderful too. We
could go all day with York. Michelle Gandry. Yeah, this
video is not as elaborate as some of the other
bu York videos. It's more elegant and simple, but I
like it for that, and I like how the visual
themes of the video really echo the auditory themes or

(01:06:47):
I guess the music genre themes, because we see at
the same time she looks like she's lying on some
kind of forest floor or something, but we also see
all this electronic imagery, you know, the l e ed
s and stuff, and it seems to fit with the song,
which sounds to me like a kind of electronic folk. Yeah.
But also there's a part I wanted to point out
in this video that that always gets me where York's

(01:07:11):
eyes are closed of course for most of the video
because she is supposed to be sleeping, I think, but
there's a part where she starts to suddenly blink them
open along with the rhythm, and in watching it you
discover that it is a really creepy feeling to have
been staring at somebody's face for several minutes and then
they suddenly opened their eyes. You know. It's like in

(01:07:31):
rear window when the guy is suddenly looking back at you.
Yeah yeah yeah, Or you're you know, you're writing along
on a train and you're just happened to glance up
at the person across from you, like reading their book,
and then they raise their eyes and look you dead
in the eyes, and you're like, sorry, I haven't been
staring at you. I'm I'm, I'm, I'm. It's an odd situation. Yeah,
oh yeah, what's going on over here? That the whole

(01:07:52):
looking around game? Uh? And and plus uh, one more
thing before we move onto your next one. Um, I
have to mention probably my favorite Michelle Gondry video if
if it's not hyper ballot, because yper Ballot is very good,
it's for a Declare independence because I ever seen that one. Oh,
I'm not sure. Highly recommend it. It's um it's from
her Volta album and just Michelle Gondry and York are

(01:08:13):
a match made in heaven. They make some of the
best art period. But wait, wait, wait, wait, is that
the one where she's driving a war rig. She's a
giant vehicle. That one that that's that's the boo doo
doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo. Yeah.
I think it has a mouth with like teeth moving
independently no matter what, teeth are not supposed to move independently,

(01:08:37):
and that's really disturbing. Yeah, Declare Independence has like bizarre
string puppet bloom. Yeah, it's a very elaborate setup for
a very simple execution. It's it's it's it's it's nice.
It's a fun one anyway anyway, But but but but Joe, uh,
what was that was your number four? I guess so,
so how about number three for US? Okay, for number three.

(01:09:00):
I'm gonna go very mainstream, very not weird, but something
that is just undeniably infectiously happy. Uh. This is the
music video for Whitney Houston I Want to Dance with Somebody,

(01:09:24):
directed by Brian Grant. I think it was choreographed by
Arlene Phillips. And I cannot watch this without just beaming
from ear to ear. It is maybe the most joyful
thing I've ever seen committed to film. Yeah, if Tara
were here today, she would be on this. She is
a big Whitney fan, and especially this era of Whitney,

(01:09:44):
so uh but you're right, Uh, Whitney was like unparalleled
when it came to talent and execution, upset talent. She
she was a beast, you know. Yeah, uh you know.
We did an episode of Stuff to Pull Your Mind
not too long ago about Halo imagery, and I kept
thinking about that while I was watching this, because I

(01:10:05):
couldn't help but notice that in one of the main
recurring motifs in this video, Whitney Houston is lit from behind,
so she's literally glowing like the outer layers of her
hair a glowing with the light this intense, almost you know,
sun bright light from behind her and I don't know,
there's just so much that's great about it. It's got
a Wizard of Oz type theme where it starts in

(01:10:26):
black and white and she's just coming off stage from
some kind of performance, and then as we go into
her mind's eye and you know, seeing what she would
really like to be doing right now, which is apparently
dancing with somebody who loves her, we go into full
color and this like super bright colors. Um. The video
is very silly, like a lot of it is her

(01:10:47):
watching men dance in various ways around her, like and
sort of judging them on whether or not they're dancing well.
But it's it's just so good, perfectly eighties two actually
is it? Yeah, that's that's still in the eighties. That
hasn't crossed end of the nineties yet, has it. No,
this is e D I think it's eight seven. I
would guess. Yeah, there's that nice transition period around like

(01:11:09):
where like the eighties were still real strong even in
the nineties. Right, Yeah, Now, this is a good good
music video, good song, good music video. Nothing nothing nothing
bad about this I can say. I guess there's nothing
weird to talk about with it, really, except it's just
it's just pop music at its absolute best. Yeah. I
like the color scheme. It's very colorful. Okay, now I've

(01:11:32):
got a weird one. If you're ready for my number two,
go for it. Okay. This is going to be the
video for weird Al Dare to Be Stupid. Not only

(01:11:52):
a great parody of new wave music and of Devo.
Not just a parody of Devo. This is the best
Devo song. Let's say, I'm not sure I've seen this one,
so I'm pulling it up. Yeah, yep, there they are
in Devo gear. The song itself is one of my
favorite weird Al songs. It has gloriously strange and funny lyrics. Uh.

(01:12:12):
The opening line is put down your chainsaws and listen
to me. It's time for you to join in the fight.
It's time to let your babies grow up to be cowboys.
It's time to let the bedbugs bite. And I love
that the visuals in this video are extremely literal. So
when he says put down your chainsaw and listen to me,
it's a man watching TV and he puts down his chainsaw.

(01:12:33):
And then when it's it's time to let your babies
grow up to be cowboys. You see these adult men
were wearing child's cowboy costumes and uh, then you know
it's time to let the bedbugs by. You get plastic
bugs in a bed and it goes on like that.
There's a great part in the video where they they
do a rhythmic timing of sticking some ice cream cones

(01:12:53):
to their heads. Uh, it's just a home run. Now.
Is the song itself a parody track? Like, I'm watching
the video now, but I have the munic it's one
of these. Yes, it's one of those where it's not
a parody of a specific song, but a parody of
the style of a band, And so there's no one song,
but it is a parody of the style of new

(01:13:14):
wave music and Devo in particular, and it's such a
good parody that it could be a Devo song and
would be one of their best tracks, genuinely. There's there's
a scene in where there are a couple of grotesque
characters watching a television. Uh, it's just like a flash.
I think there's like just a lot of stuff in this. Yeah. Yeah,
it's it's a guy in the jam packs, for sure.

(01:13:35):
It's a guy in a shag room doing uh failed
headstand stuff. It's it looks pretty cool. Yeah, whatever I
think about Divo. Um. I've watched a lot of Futurama
in my life because Futurama for the longest time was
my default taking a nap show. So if I ever
wanted a nap, Futurama was just familiar enough but also

(01:13:55):
just interesting enough for me to take a nap to it.
So anyway, I've watched All the Future many times on
a loop, and one of my favorite jokes from Futurama was, um,
Divo in the Future has become a part of the
mutant world on living underneath the New New York and
the sewers. They're about to play a show and and
they're like, all right here, here we go. We're gonna
play a show for you guys. And some of the

(01:14:16):
audience goes play whipp It and they go no play.
The other one is they go into It's a beautiful world.
I love the fact that in the future and the
year three thousand whatever, Diva only have two songs, now
whip It and the other one, well, no, they should
play dare to be Stupid. That would be the cherry

(01:14:38):
on top. That would be good uh, yeah, no, great choice.
That did you say that was your number two? Yes? Okay.
So unfortunately with this last pick, I have to cheat,
but I have to cheat in order to be true
to myself because this last pick is not a music video.
But if I am going to attempt real all time favorites,

(01:14:58):
this is probably my favorite video recording of music ever,
and that is the Talking Heads the version of Born
Under Punches from their Live in Rome concert film from
nineteen eighty. Now, I think a lot more people probably

(01:15:26):
know stop making sense, which is I think undoubtedly a
better movie than Live in Rome. Live in Rome is
just sort of a concert film recording, but the version
of Born Under Punches from Live in Rome is just
flames under the skin. It is riveting. I cannot think
of any other recording of of a of a song

(01:15:47):
that is as powerful to me as this is. And
every time I watch it, I noticed different things. Of course,
you know the performance of the song itself. You can
just listen to the audio and it's it's that kind
of like power from on high. But every time I
look at it, I noticed interesting different little things going
on on stage. David Burns like sweaty hair and his

(01:16:08):
kind of like sunken eyes in this or or so
hypnotic to look at. I always get fixated on Tina
Weymouth's flexed bicep while she's playing the bassline. I keep
noticing how I'm like, wow, that is a crazy looking bicep. Well,
I don't know the song, so I'm watching it. I'm mute,
and um, yeah, I'm not getting much out of it.

(01:16:31):
So I think I think hearing it is is necessary. Yeah,
it is the Talking Heads, and probably David Byrne in particular. Um,
he's confoundingly charismatic. Like when you watch him perform, he's
like a magnet for your eyeballs. It's really difficult to
look away. And and um, I can't fully explain that again,
just kind of like we're talking about with Kate Bush,

(01:16:53):
where it's just like no, just quality like David David
Byrne is just you know, but I think it is
more than quality, because he does have a theatric kind
of element to him. He does, I presume, intentionally make
gestures that feel grand and a bit kind of Um,
I I guess I'll say they're mysterious. He makes like
mysterious gestures that feel kind of otherworldly, and I presume

(01:17:15):
he does that on purpose, right, Yeah, this performance is
born under punches, is it has exactly that mysterious quality,
you know, these little cryptic phrases like it's hard to
say what this song is about. But when he keeps
saying I'm a tumbler there there's something, uh, something really
powerful and strange being suggested there. I have no idea

(01:17:35):
what it is. Well, I think I'm assuming he's literally
when he was born, people began punching him, right, added
the womb. Um, I don't know what kind of a
doula it's present for that. But we were doing, um,
top five best concerts you've ever seen, actually, I believe
just last week and um, yeah this was my My

(01:17:57):
number five was seeing David Byrne when he play at
the Fox here not too long ago, and um it
was when he was doing his American Utopia tour before
it went to Broadway. Oh he is. He's just charismatic
as hell. He's just I don't know, he's so charming
and likable but also really talented, and he just makes
such interesting choices when he does things. He's he's a

(01:18:17):
great dude. You know, well, if if I were to
pick actual music videos, I mean, they do actually have
some good music videos. The video for Once in a
Lifetime also has extremely weird, funny and great dancing in it,
where David Byrne at one point I think he likes
sort of dances with his face down on the ground
but his butt up in the air and he's doing

(01:18:39):
some kind of weird wiggle. Now he's He's a fascinating dude.
I can't begin to dissect what makes David Byrne work,
but it definitely works well. You guys should absolutely check
out Born Under Punches from Live in Rome. You can
see a recording of this. There's always a recording of
it on YouTube every time I've checked, so so look
that up. It is it is the God power. Wow, man,

(01:19:03):
I I love this and great lists from both of
you because, uh, you know, I think from a greedy
sense one of the things I want from the lists
every time is just recommendations, you know, or is this
like I want you to tell me your favorite things
so they're mine now, you know you think that literal
way of like now I get to go listen to
this music. Now I get to go watch these music videos.

(01:19:23):
So both of you supplied me with some really cool stuff,
so I'm really grateful for that. And um yeah, Like
like I mentioned before, everyone here in this record store
who has uh listened to this conversation, check out not
only the most recent episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind,
because in it it's basically the first half of this
conversation before I came into work today at the record store,

(01:19:45):
but um, in general, just all your shows. Is there
anything particularly you guys want to say about Stuff to
Blow Your Mind? And I don't know how great it is.
It's been around for like a decade now, Yeah, let's
talk about how great our show is. Uh, Stuff to
Blow Your Mind is. Um. We we've really expanded in
the past few months. Traditionally, we are a I would
say an interdisciplinary science show. You know, the the core

(01:20:08):
theme of the show is science. We try to bring
most topics back to science in one way or another,
but we interface science with lots of different subject matter
like literature and mythology and history and stuff like that. Uh.
In the past few months, we've added new episodes where
we've gone to basically a daily publication schedule, so we
do listener mail on Mondays. We do core science and

(01:20:29):
culture episodes like we've always been doing on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Most Wednesdays, we do a short form episode that we've
been calling The Artifact that's just about basically anything we want,
but it's a more focused, you know, sub ten minute
kind of thing. And then on Friday's we do something
called Weird House Cinema, which is where we we look
at strange, offbeat, obscure, often trashy, sometimes be movies that

(01:20:55):
that have something in them that to to love and
to talk about. And then on Saturdays we do uh
we do a vault episode, which is like a rerun
rob did I leave anything out? Now? On the seventh
day we were at that. That's pretty much it. Oh yeah,
that's the current the current shape of the stuff to
blow your mind podcast feet and it's it's tons of fun,
you know, um that. Yeah, producing podcasts is my side

(01:21:17):
hustle when I'm not working here in this record store,
and um no, it's tons of fun. Been working with
you guys for uh, probably a couple of years now
at this point. I haven't done the math, but long time,
and it's been great. What what what a great wonderful show?
And thank you to both of you for coming into
our record store today and sharing your picks. And the
one last thing we do before we close up the

(01:21:37):
shop is we restock the employee recommendation shelf. Now, since
Tera is not here, I'm gonna rely on you guys
to help out with that. But here's my pick. Uh.
This album came out. It's called Shades and it's by
Good Sad, Happy Bad. So this album, um, it's it's

(01:22:05):
kind of a strange lineage, but I'll spell it out
real quick in case anyone recognized as part of it. So,
Mika Levi back in the day used to have a
band called Mika Chu in the Shapes. At a certain point,
she stopped calling herself Mika Chu and just started calling
herself by her real name, Mika Levi. And so her
band Mika Chu in the Shapes. I don't know if
he's related or not, but they changed the name of

(01:22:25):
that band into Good Sad, Happy Bad. And then for
some reason, Mika Levi decided she wasn't going to be
the lead singer of that band anymore. So, so then
that fell to the keyboardist rays A Cohn. And so anyway,
it's it's kind of a brand new band now despite
the fact that they've already been around and this is
like their fourth or fifth album, but just by by
little tweaks by Hey, you're not singing anymore, you're singing,

(01:22:48):
and no, we're not that band name anymore now we're
this band. So it's it's the exact same band that's
been around since like I don't know, the early two thousands,
but now it's also brand new, so it's it's just
a fun, odd situation that happened. But anyway, ultimately it's
really good. So that's that's the main reason to listen
to it. I'll say it again. The album title is Shades,
came out last year and it's by Good Sad, Happy Bad.

(01:23:12):
Uh Roberts, what do you want to throw up on
this wall? Anything He's related? Oh well, I would say,
just like a new release that I'm listening to right now.
I've only listened to it a couple of times, but
it's it's still in rotation is the new release from
DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill and Civil Assassin's Fame, released
under the moniker DJ Muggs the Black Goat, and it

(01:23:32):
is titled I believe I am saying this right. H
D s alsadendum. I have not finished, and it is
essentially a dark, instrumental hip hop album with occasional like

(01:23:54):
old horror film samples thrown in. Uh, So I still
if full of it's if it's like a body of water.
I haven't really plunged the depths of it yet, but
I've headed on in the background while I've been working,
and it's a lot of fun and it's out on
what is it sacred bones bones plural? I believe, but
label um question uh because there are references, of course

(01:24:19):
to the Black Goats in the title, and you said
there are clips. Is there anything from Black Philip from
the Vivage inside the inside the album anywhere, anything about
living Deliciously? I don't think so because they're like I said,
there's no lyrics. It's just some some samples here and there,
and I think they're all samples from older, maybe more
obscure horror films like Hammer. I wasn't able to really Yeah,

(01:24:41):
like Hammer stuff, you might be able to pinpoint some
of it, Seth, since you're you're more versed in the
Hammer than me. But uh, I think he did a
good job of picking things that that didn't instantly stand
out as being even like oh, that's Vincent Price, or
that's uh Peter Cushing or what have you? Fun great stuff. Yeah,
I'll definitely check that out. How about you, Joe, what
do you want to put on the shelf? Oh? I'm sorry.

(01:25:02):
I was not prepared for this. I was so I
was trying to think, what have I been listening to
that's new in the past couple of years, and too
literally anything? Okay, well, already I landed on something that
was new. This came out in and this was great. Uh.
It was a sort of release of home recordings by
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings called all the Good Times
Are Passed and Gone? Have you guys heard this? No?

(01:25:24):
No, no no, I I do love Gillian Welch, though we
got Yeah. So it's it is a record. It's a
bunch of their home recordings, mostly or maybe entirely of covers.

(01:25:44):
So there's a really good John Prine cover on there,
which was especially poignant this past year because John Prine
passed away. There's also a really good cover of Abandoned
Love by Bob Dylan, which I think is better than
Dylan's version and and uh a bunch of you know,
folk and Americana covers of that kind of I thought

(01:26:05):
it was really good, nice, absolutely love it. That'll set
up all of our customers to come across some new recommendations,
find some new music in their life. But for now,
we definitely need to close the store. We are up
too late. Thanks for coming in today, all you customers.
Special thanks to both Rob and Joe for coming down
from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. We really

(01:26:27):
appreciate it. And uh, that's it everyone. We're officially closed,
so happy trails until we meet again. Record Store Society
is hosted by Tara Davies and Seth Nicholas Johnson. If

(01:26:49):
you'd like to contact the show, you can send an
email to Record Store Society at I heart media dot com,
or you can find us on all your favorite social
media sides with the handle at record Store Society. Record
Store Society is production of I Heart Radio. For more
podcasts in my Heart Radio, was th Heart Radio, app,

(01:27:10):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
This Valentine's Day, you know just what to get that
special someone, because you know just what makes them tick.
get fresh this Valentine's Day and get off through February
See website for details. Hey, it's Amy Brown from Four

(01:27:30):
Things with Amy Brown on the Nashville Podcast Network, a
podcast where in each episode you're gonna get at least
four things that will hopefully contribute to your life in
a positive way. Guests come on like celebrities or therapists,
were doctors, or maybe even just my friends, and everyone
shares stories that may inspire, motivate, or sometimes just give
you a much needed laugh. We cover topics that range

(01:27:51):
from therapy to gratitude. Listen to Four Things with Amy
Brown on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or
wherever you listen to podcasts. Hi, everybody, I'm Rachel Banetta
and I have my very own podcast called Bench with Banetta.
You kidding me? I'm just here so I won't get fine.
Every week, I'm gonna be talking about all the things
I find fascinating about the NFL, and I'm doing something

(01:28:14):
that has never been done before. I'm opening my d
m s. D MS now open. Listen every Tuesday and
join me on the bench. Subscribe now and listen to
the Bench with Banetta podcast on the I Heart Radio app,
on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Stuff To Blow Your Mind News

Follow Us On

Hosts And Creators

Robert Lamb

Joe McCormick

Show Links

Popular Podcasts

United States of Kennedy

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Bonus Episode: Rob and Joe on "Record Store Society"