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Part 2 of my conversation with Phil Stacey about choosing 10 artists to listen to for the rest of your life if you were stranded on a desert island.

Show notes:

• Bowie would pivot from one persona to another
• Phil: The Stones, but leaning heavily on the 1965-1981 period
• The Stones and the Who have so many compilations out
• In the Stones vs. Beatles argument, the Stones have the edge as a live band
• Jay: The Clash are one of the most important bands
• Not a huge catalog, but there's still plenty there
• The US Festival was the last gasp for the original lineup
• Phil: Repping for the Tedeschi Trucks Band
• Cover a wide range of styles and genres
• Jay: Another artist with a changing style and persona, PJ Harvey
• Not afraid to tackle new sounds
• Lots of great, interesting stuff to check out
• Jay: Would enjoy digging further into the Cure's catalog
• So much to delve into
• Output has slowed down since the '90s
• Phil: His one-time favorite band, U2
• Early material remains strong
• Hit or miss the last two decades
• U2's legacy has diminished because they hung around too long
• It's tough for legacy acts whose new material will always be compared to their classic stuff
• You won't hear recent music from legendary bands on the radio
• The fans want the hits
• Jay: R.E.M. has a lot of parallels to U2, except they stopped
• They had a dip in quality for a few albums, but stopped performing in 2011
• Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy have done a great job paying tribute to classic R.E.M. albums
• Reminding people how great the band was
• They haven't reformed other than a few impromptu songs
• Many bands are playing their classic albums front to back
• Bands like Sloan and Iron Maiden will alternate touring classic albums and new ones
• Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Celebrating TWENTY YEARS of podcasting with part 1 of my conversation with Phil Stacey about choosing 10 artists to listen to for the rest of your life if you were stranded on a desert island.

Show notes:

• Started this show in August 2006!
• Instead of Desert Island Discs, we each chose 10 artists that we'd be limited to hearing on a desert island
• Mixing up genres
• Jay: I ruled out a lot of classic rock acts that I've listened to all my life
• Limiting artists to music that came out under their name, not in other groups
• This magical island has killer WiFi
• Phil's honorable mentions: Bowie, Phish, Ella Fitzgerald, Drive-By Truckers, Tom Petty, Pearl Jam, Billie Holliday, Talking Heads, The Who, Joni Mitchell, Kinks, Pretenders, Nirvana, Sleater-Kinney
• Jay's HMs: Kinks, Pavement, Pixies, QOTSA, Afghan Whigs, Peter Gabriel, XTC, James Brown, PJ, Spoon, Superchunk, Tragically Hip, Yo La Tengo, Sloan, Elvis Costello
• Island picks
• Jay and Phil: Neil Young
• So much NY material out there
• Neil has a varied catalog of styles
• Phil: The Beatles, naturally
• Incredibly influential and wide-ranging catalog in a handful of years
• Jay: Going outside the box with Fugazi
• Total DIY operation, only charged $5 per concert and album
• Only played non-traditional venues like school gyms and small clubs
• Phil: Not a jazz aficionado, but John Coltrane makes the cut
• Drugs are bad, mmkay?
• Jay: Drive-By Truckers have close to 30 years of hard-driving rock, alt-country and everything in between
• Not much in the way of popular attention
• Phil: He loves the modern jam band stylings of Goose
• Jay and Phil: The massive legacy of Prince
• The best Super Bowl halftime performance
• Prince could do everything well
• Phil: The Grateful Dead built a huge following under the radar
• Survived decades of trends and change
• They're still popular 30 years after they stopped making music
• Jay: The collected works of Parliament-Funkadelic
• They were two different bands with a rotating roster that eventually merged
• Combined rock with funk and soul
• George Clinton and a cast of thousands
• Phil: The mighty Led Zeppelin
• Embraced different sounds
• There are still Zep albums that are underplayed
• Jay: Bowie's chameleonic career
• Is Madonna the most successful female artist of all time?
• Incredible string of great albums from the '70s to the '80s
• To be continued
• Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 3 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite American artists.

Show notes:

• Our favorite American artists since 2000
• Phil's honorable mentions: Black Keys, Dead & Co., Gary Clark Jr., Jack White, Kurt Vile, MJ Lenderman, My Morning Jacket, Parquet Courts, Raconteurs, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, St. Vincent, Them Crooked Vultures, Vampire Weekend, Waxahatchee, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Jay's honorable mentions: Walkmen, Neko Case, LCD Soundsystem, At the Drive-In, Stephen Malkmus, Speedy Ortiz, Jeff Rosenstock, Protomartyr, Outkast, the Strokes, Interpol, Titus Andronicus, Run the Jewels, Jason Isbell, Ty Segall, The Hold Steady
• Phil's #5: Billy Strings is bringing bluegrass to the mainstream
• Mixes in some rock touches
• Jay's #5: Indie rock stalwart Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
• Has also worked with Aimee Mann and Gang of Four
• Phil's #4: Young guitar hero turned Americana icon Jason Isbell
• Started with Drive-By Truckers and now is playing big theaters
• Jay's #4: The indie rock greatness of TV on the Radio
• Big emphasis on falsetto harmonies
• Phil's #3 and Jay's #2: The prolific and epic catalog of Drive-By Truckers
• Provided a different voice for Southern rock fans
• Jay's #3: The White Stripes provided a jolt for the rock scene in the early '00s
• Jack White has continued on after the Stripes split up
• "Seven Nation Army" might be the biggest song of the 2000s
• Phil's #2: The bluesy versatility of the Tedeschi Trucks Band
• Led by a married couple
• Phil's #1: Goose is the premier jam band going right now
• They incorporate a lot of diverse covers
• Jay's #1: The sinister hard rock excellence of Queens of the Stone Age
• The Josh Homme-led band has had many incarnations over the years
• Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite American artists.

Show notes:

• Jay's take after seeing Goose
• Took us a while to get into the show
• Phil's #6: Phish took over the jam band crown from the Dead
• Jay briefly met Trey Anastasio at UNH before they got famous
• Goose hasn't been accepted by the entire jam band audience
• Jay's #6: Originally had Van Halen ranked higher, but dropped them because of the Hagar years
• Combined Eddie VH's revolutionary guitar work with DLR's showmanship
• Eddie inspired a generation of guitarists and Dave inspired a generation of hard rock singers
• Phil's #5: Steely Dan spits in the face of being called "yacht rock"
• Went from a live act to a studio perfectionist act to a live act again
• Fagen and Becker were demanding taskmasters
• Jay's #5: The imperfect perfection of the Replacements
• They self-sabotaged whenever things were about to break for them
• Never got to see them live
• Phil's #4 and Jay's #3: The singular genius of Jimi Hendrix
• Hugely influential guitarist and performer
• Must have blown a lot of minds when he was around
• Jay's #4: Pixies were a major influence on the alternative rock sound that shaped the '90s
• The band's first stint (1986-93) was epic
• Introduced weirdness into indie rock
• Still touring behind their classic material but making new music as well
• Phil's #3 and Jay's #10: Talking Heads were art school kids who became big
• Part of the CBGB scene of the '70s that went in a lot of different directions
• Explored a lot of sounds and influences
• Phil's #2: The Allman Brothers Band invented and transcended Southern rock
• Persevered through deaths and changing trends
• Jay's #2: No arguing with the greatness of Prince
• Hundreds of hours of unreleased music
• Was super talented at multiple instruments
• Was Prince the best all-around musician of the 20th century?
• Phil's #1: Duh, it's the Dead
• Inspired an entire subculture
• There are literally hundreds of Dead cover bands
• Jay's #1: The pride of Athens, GA, R.E.M.
• Helped create the "college rock" scene that grew into alternative rock
• Blew up in the early '90s
• Distinct career phases
• Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy have been covering R.E.M. albums in their entirety the last three years
• To be continued
• Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite American artists.

Show notes:

• Recorded in the CompCon HQ backyard studio
• America's 250th birthday
• Looking at our favorite American singers and bands, pre-2000 and post-2000
• Starting off with our top 10 of bands who debuted pre-millennium
• Sticking to rock artists for the most part
• Phil's honorable mentions include: B-52s (toughest omission from top 10), Beach Boys, Beasties, Beck, JB, Cars, early Chicago, Doors, early Foos, Little Feat, Nirvana, Pixies, Linda Ronstadt, Seger, Sleater-Kinney, SRV, Stevie Wonder, VU, VH, Wilco
• Jay's HMs: Living Colour, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Run DMC, Beasties, Public Enemy, Dino Jr., the Cars, JB, Fugazi
• "Love Shack" overstayed its welcome
• "Good Vibrations" could be a perfect pop song
• Seger was obsessed with a certain topic
• Billy Joel's metal roots with Attila
• Mutt Lange's production methods were tedious
• Fugazi refused all offers to reunite
• Phil's # 9: Pearl Jam formed almost by accident after another band broke up
• Still doing their thing all these years later
• Jay's #9: Were only together for about 8 years, but Husker Du amassed a legendary catalog
• Sound evolved from speedy hardcore punk to more melodic sounds
• Phil's #8: Tom Petty was a late bloomer who was hard to categorize at first
• Took advantage of the advent of MTV with plenty of iconic videos
• Jay's #8: The Afghan Whigs were the first non-Seattle band signed by Sub Pop
• Quickly distinguished themselves from their peers by combining soul and R&B influences with indie rock
• Jay's #7: Nirvana was only around for a short time, but they had a seismic impact
• Nirvana merch is now a lifestyle brand
• Saw them a week before they taped MTV Unplugged in NYC
• Packed a lot into a brief period
• To be continued
• Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we count down our favorite music of 2026 so far.

Show notes:

• Breitling's #6: Kurt Vile's love letter to Philly
• KV writes songs about nothing and they're great
• Kumar's #6: Great album from Chicago's Ratboys
• Leading the wave of bands with sweet female vocals and rocking instrumentation
• Breitling's #5: 17-track compilation from the Laughing Chimes
• It's like a typewriter, retro and satisfying
• Kumar's #5: Hot indie rock from Philly's Gladie
• Led by former singer of Cayetana
• Breitling's #4: First new LP from Broken Social Scene in a decade
• Reembracing the combustible
• Freakin' Fanelli
• Bootlegs became readily available in the early '00s
• Kumar's #4: Montreal post-punk trio with an excellent release
• Political lyrics
• Breitling's #3: The Notwist returns with a sound that combines their different phases
• Back to basics
• Documentary captures their weirdness
• Kumar's #3: Austin synth-punk weirdos Drakulas return with gloriously fun release
• Featuring members of the Riverboat Gamblers and Rise Against
• Breitling's and Kumar's #2: We did it!
• Courtney Barnett with a triumphant album recorded in California
• Sings about everyday issues in her life
• Breitling's and Kumar's #1: We did it again!
• Alex Edkins of METZ with his second Weird Nightmare album
• Not as dark and heavy as METZ, but exciting and exhilarating
• Very hooky and uplifting
• Looking forward to new stuff from Kiwi Jr., Strange Pains, Johnny Foreigner, Afghan Whigs, The Cramps (archival release), The Fall, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Evil Island Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about the best music of 2026 so far.

Show notes:

• AI music is apparently a thing on streaming services
• Saxophone Colossus, mfer (RIP)
• Blue dot syndrome: Tours getting canceled because of poor ticket sales
• Who woulda thunk Kiefer Sutherland couldn't sell out concerts?
• Many artists are trying to fill venues that are too big
• We're going to a lot of concerts
• Why is beer so expensive at music venues?
• What is a walking class?
• The Osbourne family has licensed an Ozzy hologram for use in ads
• ABBA does a hologram show of them in their prime
• Maybe older bands should be replaced by holograms
• Car Seat Headrest remade their 2016 album, removed swear words and drug references
• Books are being updated with current references
• AI is used a lot to make pop and R&B music
• Young H-Dawg is into grunge now
• Breitling's honorable mentions: Crooked Fingers, Sleaford Mods, Stomptalk Modstone, Softjaw, Reds Pinks and Purples, Mclusky, Fugazi, Hedge
• Kumar's HMs: King Tuff, Bevis Frond, New Pornographers, Gord Downie and the Sadies, Damaged Bug, Sub*T, Ecca Vandal, Broken Social Scene
• Breitling's #10: Philly's Nothing with a different sound
• Influenced by the singer's neurological disorder
• Kumar's #10: Mclusky returns with a killer mini-album
• Recent spate of touring has made the band even better
• Breitling's #9: Lofi Legs may or may not have released an album this year
• The time is right for a slacker revolution
• Kumar's #9: Joyce Manor sings about getting older
• LA trio makes with the emo pop-punk
• Breitling's #8: Reunited original lineup of the Grownup Noise
• Band deserves more props
• Kumar's #8: Pure pop magic from the Lemon Twigs
• Reminiscent of Sharp Pins and Redd Kross
• Breitling's #7: Pittsburgh's Feeble Little Horse persevere without Ryan
• All killer, no filler
• Kumar's #7: Canadian artist Daniel Romano continues to bring the heat
• Split up songwriting duties for this album
• To be continued Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite guitar solos.

Show notes:

• Continuing our top 10
• Phil's #9: Trey Anastasio of Phish stretches out
• No studio version of the song
• Jay's #9: The concise awesomeness of Alex Lifeson
• A virtuoso in a band of virtuosos
• Phil's #8: Back to the jam with RIck Mitarotonda of Goose
• Another band that saves their best for the live setting
• Jay's #8: Another Matthew Sweet song, this time featuring Richard Lloyd on lead guitar
• Features a fake ending with even more soloing
• Phil's #7: Square dancing in gym class led Phil to this Beatles song
• George Harrison with a beautiful, heartfeld solo
• Great video, too
• Jay's #7: A ripping solo from J. Mascis from '93
• Video wasn't directed by Matt Dillon; he did the "Get Me" video
• Mascis has recorded a ton of great solos over the years
• Phil's #6: Eddie VH's magnum opus
• The instrumental that changed the face of hard rock
• Wasn't meant to be recorded at first
• Jay's #6: Less overplayed solo from Jimmy Page
• A lesser-known album from Zeppelin
• Phil's #5: Mick Taylor shines for the Stones
• The band started jamming at the end of the song and they kept recording
• Jay's #5: Robert Fripp with a ripper of a solo for Brian Eno
• Eno's first solo album after Roxy Music
• Phil's #4: The Allman Brothers' tribute to Django Reinhardt
• Three different solos
• Jay's #4: More Richard Lloyd along with Tom Verlaine on a 10-minute art-rock classic
• Kind of jam band adjacent
• Phil's #3: Neil Young with an epic love song
• Recording starts in the middle of a jam
• Jay's #3: Monster instrumental featuring Eddie Hazel's psychedelic playing
• Mike Watt does a cover with J. Mascis handling the guitar
• The interesting career of Prakash John
• Phil's #2 and Jay's #1: Hendrix blows minds with acid blues rock
• SRV does an incredible cover
• Jay's #2: Nasty riff and solo from Eddie VH
• One of Van Halen's darker songs
• Phil's #1: A Grateful Dead classic that highlights Jerry Garcia
• Cover of a Bonnie Dobson folk song
• Builds to a roaring crescendo

Completely Conspicuous is available wherever you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite guitar solos.

Show notes:

• Occasional chiming in from CC intern Lily
• Rolling Stone recently released a top 100 solos list
• Phil likes the long jammy solos
• Solos can go along with a riff or go off on crazy tangents
• Steely Dan used many guitarists
• Jay used to be into '80s speed guitar
• Vinnie Vincent went way over the top
• Charlie Sexton was a guitar prodigy who went on to play in Dylan's band
• The greatness of early Dire Straits
• Tough to narrow down our lists
• Appreciating Billy Idol
• Eagles bad, Joe Walsh good
• Terry Kath could rip
• So many great Jimmy Page solos
• The vast and weird catalog of Frank Zappa
• Billy Corgan has many excellent solos
• Kim Thayil was an unconventional soloist
• Bowie worked with many great guitarists: Mick Ronson, SRV, Belew, Earl Slick, Reeves Gabrels
• Townshend's solo on "I Can See for Miles" is simple but intense
• Fun weirdness from Focus on "Hocus Pocus"
• Phil's #10 is a tie
• Roger Hodgson of Supertramp was better known for playing keyboards
• Many hidden gems in the Who catalog
• Jay's #10: Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age
• Phil's not a fan of mosh pits
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through wherever you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we celebrate the return of the MLB season by counting down our favorite baseball hats.

Show notes:

• On to our top 10
• Phil's #10: Reaching back to the '50s with the Phillies
• Jay's #10: Mid-90s Mariners
• Good use of seafoam green
• '90s uniforms had a lot of bold colors: Teal, purple
• Phil's #9: The simplicity of the SF Giants hat
• Hat designs got pretty weird over the years
• Corduroy hats were a thing for a while
• Jay's #9: Classic A's green and yellow look
• Phil's #8: Dodgers' classic blue and white is another look that hasn't changed
• Bandwagon jumpers are inevitable
• Jay's #8: St. Louis Cardinals navy blue with red logo
• Had one that got ruined at Lollapallooza '93
• Phil's #7: The mid-70s Angels hat with the halo
• Lots of different looks for the Angels over the years
• Jay's #7: Phillies' hat from late '70s/early '80s
• Phil's #6: Sticking with Philly with the A's from the '30s
• Some hats are instant conversation pieces for middle-aged guys
• Jay's #6 and Phil's #4: Another classic look with the Tigers
• Ruining hats by working out in them
• Phil's #5: Kansas City A's with the kelly green
• Jay's #5: Brooklyn Dodgers with the classic B
• Jackie Robinson era
• Jay's #4: Can't go wrong with the Cubs "C" hat
• Some cool Cubs hats over the years
• Phil's #3: Iconic Red Sox blue hat
• Jay's #3: White Orioles hat with the cartoon bird
• Tried a more realistic bird in the '90s
• Phil's #2: The Braves' 70s hat with the lower case A
• Jay's #2: The Blue Jays' all-blue hat introduced in the late '80s
• Are middle-aged guys more likely to wear hats?
• Phil's #1: Orioles' mid-60s to mid-70s black hat with orange bill
• Jay's #1: Original Expos hat
• In Canada, Toronto fans hate the Canadiens but love the Expos
• Defunct but beloved team

Completely Conspicuous is available through wherever you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we celebrate the return of the MLB season by discussing our favorite baseball hats.

Show notes:

• We've both purchased many hats over the years
• Back in the '70s and '80s, you didn't have a lot of viewing choices for baseball games
• Baseball cards were a big factor in figuring out the hats and logos you liked
• Hats can fade, especially the dark blue ones
• When you just can't wear a Yankees hat
• Now there are so many alternate jerseys, hats, logos
• You can get hats in different colors and styles
• Old guys like us don't like flat-bill caps
• Other sports don't wear hats as part of the uniform, but you can get hats for their teams
• We often get hats of teams we have no affinity for
• Phil's honorable mentions: Black Sox-era White Sox, Boston/Milwaukee Braves, Cardinals from the '40s, Pirates pillbox hat from the '70s, Cleveland Chief Wahoo hat from the '50s
• Jay's honorable mentions: Reds, Brewers '70s hat with the glove logo, Royals, Expos all-blue hats in the '90s, Mariners '70s hat, Blue Jays original hat
• Phil: Seattle Pilots had a bad hat, with a touch of stolen valor
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through wherever you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we pick our favorite underrated albums.

Show notes:

• Jay's #6: The Spinanes with a decidedly not-grunge album on Sub Pop
• Female singer-songwriter teamed with kickass drummer
• Phil's #5: Power pop that never hit big from Boston's Gigolo Aunts
• Got a song on the Dumb and Dumber soundtrack
• Jay's #5: Another power pop gem from the Velvet Crush
• Saw them play in Austin in '94
• Phil's #4: B-52s avoid the sophomore slump and getting labeled as a novelty act
• Didn't hit as hard as the debut, but strong nonetheless
• Jay's #4: Late '80s/early '90s anthemic indie rock from O-Positive
• Influenced by R.E.M. and briefly on CBS
• Phil's #3: More Boston-area indie rock with Belly
• Tanya Donelly had a great rock pedigree, first playing with Throwing Muses and Breeders
• Jay's #3: Ex-Dumptruck guitarist Kevin Salem with Replacements/Tom Petty sound
• Released a couple of strong albums in the mid-90s before moving into production
• Phil's #2: U2's electronic departure that turned off a lot of their fans
• They were ahead of the game with the techno sounds
• Bad choice for lead single
• Jay's #2: Again with the power pop, this time from the Posies
• Band fell out of favor, Geffen refused to promote it
• Angry album that nobody heard
• Phil's #1: The Neil Young album where he was backed by Pearl Jam but couldn't publicize it
• "Godfather of grunge" with the biggest band at the time
• Did a brief tour of Europe, couldn't play here because of PJ's Ticketmaster litigation
• Jay's #1: Another major label flameout courtesy of Jawbreaker
• Punk act that faced sellout cries from fanbase, but label didn't like finished product and dropped them
• Great album that was a big influence on emo acts to come

Completely Conspicuous is available through wherever you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we pick our favorite underrated albums.

Show notes:

• First episode of the year!
• Recorded right after the gold medal men's hockey game
• What is underrated?
• A well-known artist's less popular release or lesser-known artists
• Phil: Neil Young has a few underrated albums among his vast catalog
• Other Phil honorable mentions: Big Star, Bob Mould, Best Coast, Kaiser Chiefs, Bettie Serveert, Built to Spill, Keith Richards, N. Mississippi All-Stars, Ben Folds Five, Until the End of the World soundtrack, Til Tuesday, Neko Case, Passengers, Big Head Todd, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Fela Kuti, Dead Milkmen, Shuggie Otis, Uncle Tupelo, Waterboys
• Jay's honorable mentions: Trail of Dead, Material Issue, Peter Gabriel, The Church, PiL, Afghan Whigs, QOTSA, Smashing Pumpkins, Blind Melon, Elliot Easton, Pearl Jam, Elvis Costello, Matthew Sweet
• Phil's #10: Cracker's debut album
• Lowery's first post-Camper Van Beethoven release
• Jay's #10: Keith Richards releases a stripped-down solo album
• Was pissed at Jagger, created the antithesis to his flashy style
• Phil's #9: Prince creates a new band in the early '90s
• No more Revolution, going for more of a hip hop sound
• Jay's #9: Only release from David + David
• Studio musicians who teamed up to release atmospheric story songs
• Phil's #8: Indie supergroup comprised of members of Sleater-Kinney and Helium
• Only released one album
• Jay's #8: Living Colour's third album was criminally overlooked
• Introduced industrial elements but was lost in the wave of grunge
• Phil's #7: Jerry Harrison goes solo
• More pop than what Talking Heads were doing
• Jay's #7: Sebadoh unleashes ripping indie rock masterpiece
• Contributions from two songwriters
• Phil's #6: Self-assured debut from Elastica
• Waited too long to release their next album
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through wherever you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2025.

Show notes:

• Counting down the rest of our favorite albums of the year
• Kumar's #8: Indie rock godfather Bob Mould is still pissed off and rocking
• Mould has also reunited his '90s band Sugar
• Kumar's #7: Triumphant return for Mclusky
• Falco and crew having fun ripping on various targets
• Breitling's #6: Superchunk keeps going with new drummer
• If you thought they were angry in 2018...
• Chock full of "banglociraptors"
• Kumar's #6: Straight outta Asheville with Wednesday's killer combo of alt-country, shoegaze and heavy guitar rippers
• Band features MJ Lenderman but it's Karly Hartzman's show
• Breitling's #5: Debut from Slumberland act The Cords
• Scottish indie jangle-pop banglociraptors
• Kumar's #5: Thrilling post punk from South London act Shame
• Returning to harder rocking sound of first few albums
• More albums are shorter nowadays
• Breitling's #4: Prolific Chicago psych-pop act Sharp Pins keeps bringing it
• Flashes of GBV and early Kinks
• Breitling's #3: Crutchfield sisters (Waxahatchee, Swearin') drop surprise release as Snocaps
• Again with the Lenderman, on drums this time
• Kumar's #3: PUP applies newfound maturity to pop-punk bangers
• Singing about adult stuff
• Breitling's #2: Mini-album from Peel Dream Magazine
• Autumnal-sounding leftovers from previous album recording session
• Kumar's #2: Sloan keeps bringing the heat with 14th release of diverse and rewarding power pop
• Four singer-songwriters keep the offerings varied and on point
• Breitling's #1 and Kumar's #4: Monumental four-album conceptual triumph from Hallelujah the Hills
• Lot of guest stars including Ezra Furman, Clint Conley, Sadie Dupuis, Patrick Stickles
• Staggering amount of excellence
• Kumar's #1 and Breitling's #7: NYC's Geese blows up with wide-ranging collection that grabs your attention
• Their club tour sold out immediately
• Frontman Cameron Winter leads a sound that ranges from Pavement to soul
• Looking forward to 2026 releases from: Notwist, Kiwi Jr., Courtney Barnett, Sleaford Mods, Crooked Fingers, Strange Pains
• Reunion shows next year from Silkworm, Superdrag Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2025.

Show notes:

• The 17th annual year in music review
• AI-generated music is lame
• Especially fake music that purports to be by real artists
• Spotify is a juggernaut that still sucks
• Checking out other services (Qobuz, Amazon)
• You don't get to own downloads via streaming services
• The kids love the K-pop
• Only a handful of artists make any money these days
• Oh yay, LIve Nation is going to get richer
• Ticketmaster is now a ticket reseller as well
• We're still seeing the live rock
• Breitling: Thumbs up for the Aimee Mann/Ted Leo Christmas show
• Saw Oasis in Mexico City
• We both saw Hallelujah the Hills
• Kumar: Saw Frank Black, Narducy/Shannon do R.E.M., Gang of Four with Ted Leo, Bob Mould, Greg Norton, Ducks Ltd., Pixies, the Who, Buffalo Tom
• Breitling's bubbling under music picks: Ava Luna, Lifeguard, Winter, Frankie Cosmos, Golden Apples, Lemonheads, Sister Ray Davies, Jeff Tweedy, Glimmer, Tiberius, Telephone Numbers
• Kumar's honorable mentions: Tweedy, The Convenience, Snocaps, Turnstile, The Hives, Viagra Boys, Pulp, Car Seat Headrest, Charm School, Horsegirl, Superchunk, Pile, The Beths, Tony Molina, Sharp Pins, They Are Gutting a Body of Water, Militarie Gun, Kestrels, Destroyer, Dean Wareham, Kinski, Ty Segall, Stereolab, Lunchbox, Cam Keiber, Husker Du and Replacements box sets
• Breitling's #10: Autocamper's debut asks a valid question
• Kumar's #10: Debut solo release from TV On the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe
• Breitling's #9: Energetic indie rock from Chicago's OK Cool
• Kumar's #9: Ripper out of nowhere from The Men
• Breitling's #8: Urgent EP about ancient Greece by Strange Passage
• Reunion tours with strange combinations
• Triumph is coming around next year
• To be continued
• Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we pick our favorite songs released in the 21st century.

Show notes:

• Phil's #6: Frenetic assault from Parquet Courts
• Definite late '70s post-punk influences
• Jay's #6: A bold move into electronic sounds by Radiohead
• Phil still doesn't get Radiohead
• Phil's #5: Slacker guitar hero vibes from Kurt Vile
• Stream-of-consciousness lyrical approach
• Jay's #5: Garage rock anthem that introduced the Hives to the world
• Punchy and super catchy, it took two years to hit in the U.S.
• The battle for car music supremacy
• Phil's #4: New Orleans vibe from Tedeschi Trucks Band
• Phil's intro to the band
• Jay's #4: A first single that will never be topped by Franz Ferdinand
• Catchy, danceable stomper comparing love to a sniper's duel
• Phil's #3: Goose brings jam band versatility to the masses
• Blew up since the pandemic and are now selling out Madison Square Garden
• Jay's #3: Queens of the Stone Age craft a perfect hard rock song
• The magic of the killer riff plus Dave Grohl's drumming
• Phil's #2: Ripper from Aussie Courtney Barnett
• Lyrics focus on everyday life
• Jay's #2: Indie rock classic from the Walkmen
• Emerged from the early '00s NYC scene
• Tension keeps building throughout
• The greatness of Joe Jackson
• Phil's #1: Epic and creepy classic from Death Cab for Cutie
• Song builds for 4 1/2 minutes before the vocals kick in
• Menacing bassline underlines the lyrics about obsession
• Jay's #1: TV On the Radio with a killer song from a killer album
• Intensity driven by Tunde Adebimpe's vocal delivery
• Also came up in NYC in the early '00s

Completely Conspicuous is available through wherever you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we pick our favorite songs released in the 21st century. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• We're a quarter through this century
• Phil: Thought this would be easy but came up with a long list
• What about a song grabs you?
• Jay: Original top 10 list was all songs from the 00s
• Songs that didn't make our top 10
• Phil: Tribe Called Quest, Vampire Weekend, Meatbodies, Wilco, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, TV On the Radio, Wet Leg, Franz Ferdinand, Michael Kiwanuka, MJ Lenderman, U2, Frances Forever, Patrick Sweeney, Mudcrutch, Sufjan Stevens, Shearwater, Jason Isbell, Songs: Ohia
• Jay: Radiohead, Bowie, At the Drive-In, Drive-By Truckers, Sloan, Sleater-Kinney, Death from Above 1979, Jay-Z, Hold Steady, Gord Downie, Tragically Hip, Living Colour, Outkast, Wild Flag, White Stripes, PJ Harvey, Parquet Courts, Spoon, M.I.A., Kaiser Chiefs
• Jay: Found out about a lot of new music from MP3 blogs in the early 00s
• Phil's #10: Spoon breaks through
• Song was a cover of a song by The Natural History
• Jay's #10: Last song from Bowie's iconic farewell album
• Love the album but it's hard to listen to because of the sadness
• Phil's #9: Mournful ballad from Mark Lanegan
• Jay: My favorite Lanegan song
• Mixing bubblegum and chewing tobacco is a bad idea
• A duet with Chris Goss of Masters of Reality
• Jay's #9: A fiery hip hop blast from Run the Jewels and Zach de la Rocha
• Waiting for their next album; last one was in 2020
• Phil's #7: Bluegrass turn from Billy Strings
• Strings is winning over a lot of fans of other genres
• Phil's #8: Protest song from Drive-By Truckers
• Band chronicles a lot of real-life injustices
• Jay's #8: Angry ripper from Superchunk
• Commentary on the political climate of 2018
• Sometimes fans don't like the message
• Jay's #7: White Stripes hit the mainstream
• Took a year for their third album to become a hit
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through wherever you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we pick our favorite songs by randomly selected artists.

Show notes:

• More of our favorites from artists picked out of a hat
• Phil: Pretenders
• Overcoming the deaths of half the band
• Jay: James Brown
• Love the '70s funk era
• Prince was able to replicate JB's dance moves in concert
• Phil: Parquet Courts
• Built a great catalog over the last 13 years or so
• Influenced by the late '70s NYC CBGB sound
• Jay: Beatles
• How do you pick a single Beatles song?
• Phil: Sleater-Kinney
• Powerful band
• Janet Weiss is a powerhouse drummer
• Jay: Led Zeppelin
• Favorite song depends on the day
• Phil: Prince
• He could play any style
• Jay: Hoodoo Gurus
• Saw them for the first time last year
• Caught the mid-80s college rock wave
• Phil: The Police
• Ghost in the Machine was one of the first albums Phil ever bought
• Early Police is untouchable
• Jay: The Clash
• Political rock that still holds true today
• Covered a lot of musical ground
• Phil: R.E.M.
• Was introduced to the band by his uncle
• People who jumped off the bandwagon after they went to a major are missing out
• Jay: Elvis Costello
• EC has been all over the map musically, but his lyrics are always on point
• Phil: Squeeze
• Difford and Tilbrook were great songwriters
• Amazing string of classic songs
• Jay: Joe Jackson
• Easy choice
• The first few albums were outstanding
• Musical chameleon

Completely Conspicuous is available wherever you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we pick our favorite songs by randomly selected artists.

Show notes:

• Phil's idea: Blind rankings
• We each pick 10 artist names out of a hat and name a favorite song for each
• Phil picks names from N-Z, Jay gets A-M
• No prep time for our answers
• Phil: Velvet Underground
• Plenty to choose from
• Trying not to choose popular songs
• Jay: B-52s
• They made the "no play list" at Jay's wedding
• Great catalog of bangers
• Phil: Talking Heads
• Band had different phases
• Mixed Afro rhythms, funk and skronky guitar from Adrian Belew
• New David Byrne album is good
• Jay: Living Colour
• Band played many different styles well
• They still bring the heat
• Phil: Neil Young
• A musical chameleon
• Amazing solo or with Crazy Horse (or other backing bands)
• Jay: Grateful Dead
• Easy choice
• Always had a favorite song by them
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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This week, I'm joined by fellow podcast pioneer Brian Salvatore as we discuss the first 20 years of podcasting.

Show notes:

• Brian: First heard about podcasts in 2004
• Started making the FrankBlack.net Podcast in 2006
• Jay: Got my first iPod in 2004 and then learned about podcasts
• Brian: The internet was so much better 20 years ago
• Great for digging into niche interests
• Jay and Brian met through the Frank Black podcast in 2010 and realized that Brian lived near Jay's brother-in-law
• Jay: The start of CompCon in 2006
• Always loved radio but never worked at the college station
• First few years were just me talking about pop culture
• Eventually started bringing on guests after a few years
• Podcasting got an early boost when Apple started a podcast directory
• Early podcasts I listened to were by Adam Curry, Ricky Gervais
• Marc Maron started his podcast in 2009 and is airing his last episode next week
• Now everybody's got a podcast
• Brian: Before podcasts, blogging was a thing
• Brian produces podcasts for other people in addition to his own
• Podcasting never became a career for us, just a hobby
• But some people have made lots of money from them
• Brian: Not much innovation in the podcast space lately
• Music podcasts were hampered by copyright issues
• Podcast networks started popping up
• Conan O'Brien created a great podcast after his TV talk show went away
• Podcasting is much more interesting than commercial radio these days
• Brian: Grew up loving radio, especially WFMU
• Jay: College radio is still good, but commercial radio blows
• DJs used to be dependable arbiters of taste
• Now everything's heavily formatted
• Jay: Been doing my own radio show on BFF.fm for the last 12 years
• Brian co-owns a sports podcast company
• People have trouble committing to a show once they start it
• Listening habits have changed
• Jay: Currently listen to WTF, The Best Show, sports shows about Toronto teams, The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers
• Brian: Election Profitmakers, Song Exploder, Never Not Funny, Conan, Indiecast, Who Cares About the Rock Hall?, Mets podcasts
• So much content to wade through
• Just like with music; it's much easier to release an album now but there's so much out there
• Tough to make it as a musician now
• Podcasts have gone beyond a niche thing
• Jay: I love listening to audio
• The value of playing songs people haven't heard a zillion times
• Every celebrity has a podcast
• Will podcasts go back to the indie days at some point?
• Jay: I do two podcasts for work
• The bubble will burst at some point
• AI could have a strange, negative effect
• Connections formed via podcasting
• Brian: Start a podcast, people

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about songs we hate to love.

Show notes:

• Our top 10 songs we hate to love in no particular order
• Phil: A song from the infamous Great White
• One of the many bands who tried to sound like Zeppelin
• Jay: Rupert Holmes somehow got cheesier than the "Pina Colada Song"
• Classic AM gold shizz
• Phil: A big hit for the Carpenters
• Originally written for a bank commercial
• Jay: Monster disco one-hit wonder from Patrick Hernandez
• Phil: Britney with an earworm
• Jay: Raspy pop smash from Kim Carnes
• Crossed over to MOR stations that our parents listened to
• Phil: Digging into the Jefferson Starship ballads
• Marty Balin got on the wrong side of the Hell's Angels at Altamont
• Jay: Phil Collins did a lot of soundtrack music in the '80s in addition to everything else
• A patented Collins Angry Ballad
• Phil digs that calypso beat in one of Lionel Richie's biggest hits
• Richie was one of the driving forces behind "We Are the World"
• Jay: A synth pop cover of "Lean On Me"
• Phil: Secretly loved the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack as a kid
• Yvonne Elliman sang backups on several Clapton albums
• Jay: Non-English hit by Falco
• Only German-language #1 song in America
• Phil: Frankie Valli's disco song in Grease
• Written by Barry Gibb, who was unstoppable in the late '70s
• Jay: Early '70s soft rock jam from Albert Hammond
• Phil: John Mayer's wuss rock moment
• More familiar with his work in Dead and Co.
• Jay: Rediscovered recently his love of Little River Band
• Australian purveyors of catchy dad rock
• Original members lost the rights to the band name
• Phil: Shout out to the Weather Girls
• Catchy and co-written by Paul Shaffer
• Jay: Another huge hit from the Queen of Disco, Donna Summer
• Phil: An apparently ironic love ballad from the Captain and Tennille
• Jay: Another hit from the Gibb family, this time younger brother Andy
• Too much cocaine, apparently

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about songs we hate to love.

Show notes:

• Surprised at how good the Who were in concert despite their advanced age
• Songs we hate to love, not necessarily guilty pleasures
• Things we were embarrassed to say we liked when we were in school
• Most of our picks were from when we were kids
• Jay: I liked hard rock and metal and would never admit I liked poppier stuff like Duran Duran
• Jay: In doing research, I discovered there was a "rock" version of the Lord's Prayer that was a minor hit in 1973
• Phil: ABBA wrote some pop classics
• When REO Speedwagon had that one huge album
• AOR was huge in the early '80s
• Jay: I loved KISS's disco song, but never got into the band
• Phil: Listened to a lot of Manilow as a kid
• Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" captured that swinging '60s vibe
• The pop goodness of the Association
• Phil: The band Boston has been played to death in these parts, but they had their moment
• Controversial choice: Phil likes the worst Genesis song
• Dumb song, dumb video
• When Eddie Murphy became a pop star
• Phil also likes Crazytown's hit
• Released at the height of nu metal/rap rock
• Jay: Begrudgingly liked Animotion's big hit
• First album Jay had as a kid was by Glen Campbell
• Campbell wasn't a typical country singer
• Jay: Got into some of Paul Simon's mid-70s solo work
• Getting into early Loverboy deep cuts
• Billy Joel wrote a lot of bad songs, but a few good ones
• Jay: Always a big fan of "Rump Shaker"
• ABC was good at the foppish synth pop
• Jay: I hate everything about Smash Mouth except their first single
• Totally dig one George Michael song above all others
• Late '70s pop blast from M
• Foreigner struck gold with catchy rock jams
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 3 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about concerts we'd like to go back in time to see.

Show notes:

• Jay: Bowie on the Ziggy Stardust tour in 1973
• Never saw Bowie
• Phil: Grateful Dead's famous Cornell show 5/8/77
• The Holy Grail for Deadheads
• Jay: Canadian art rock weirdos Max Webster in southern Ontario 8/9/79
• Band split up in 1981 as singer-guitarist Kim Mitchell went solo
• Opened for Rush in the U.S. in the mid- to late '70s
• Phil: The Stones at the Boston Garden, 1972
• Jagger and Richards were arrested in Providence and Boston mayor bailed them out in time for the Garden show
• Mick Taylor era was notable
• Jay: Van Halen at Oakland Arena in June 1981
• A few songs were captured on video; VH fans have hoped for more
• Phil: Zeppelin at Berkeley, Calif., September 1971
• Touring before their fourth album was released
• Playing some of their acoustic songs
• Jay: SST legends Husker Du at the Channel in Boston 9/30/84
• In the middle of a killer stretch of albums; this one was for Zen Arcade
• Two classic albums were released the next year
• Phil: Allman Brothers at the Fillmore East in 1971
• Original lineup including Duane Allman
• Jay and Phil: The Who live at University of Leeds on Valentine's Day 1970
• Played a show at Hull the following night
• We're going to see the Who at Fenway later this month
• Band was at the literal peak of their powers
• First release of Live at Leeds was only six songs
• Longer versions have come out; full set was 33 songs
• No video of this show unfortunately

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Celebrating 19 years of podcasting with part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about concerts we'd like to go back in time to see.

Show notes:

• On to our top 10 shows
• Phil's are in chronological order, Jay's in no particular order
• Phil: Neil Young and Pearl Jam on their short Euro tour, 8/26/95 in Dublin
• PJ standing in for Crazy Horse
• The Velvet Sundown, lame AI band
• Jay: The Clash from June 1980 at Hammersmith Palais
• 31 songs from throughout their career
• The Clash opened for the Who on the Schlitz Rocks America tour
• Apparently Schlitz was once a big name in beer
• Phil: Stevie Ray Vaughan on 9/21/85 at the Capitol Theatre
• Jay: PJ Harvey on the Rid of Me tour in '93
• Saw her on the next tour in '95
• Phil: Talking Heads on the Speaking in Tongues tour in Oct. 1983 in Billerica, Mass.
• Jay: I would've picked the 1980 tour with Adrian Belew on guitar
• Jay: Living Colour at TT the Bears in Cambridge, Mass. in the summer of '88
• Taped the show off the radio simulcast on WBCN
• Killer show before the band blew up the next year
• Phil: U2 on the War tour in March 1983
• Jay: Prince's Purple Rain tour at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse
• Prince was the biggest musician in the world at the time
• Phil: The Pretenders at the Paradise in Boston in 1980
• The band's original lineup was so good
• Jay: Went with a December 1981 Pretenders show in France
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about concerts we'd like to go back in time to see.

Show notes:

• We're taking advantage of time machine technology
• That time Zebra opened for their own Zep cover band
• We're listing specific shows
• So many great artists to choose from
• YouTube makes it easier to see a lot of shows you missed
• Honorable mentions
• Jay: Surprise show by the Stones at a small Toronto club in '77
• Two shows were turned into a live album decades later
• Phil: Bob Marley and the Wailers in London, Monterey Pop, Bowie on Diamond Dogs tour, Sleater-Kinney in Berkeley, James Brown at the Boston Garden in '68, Beatles in Hamburg or the rooftop set, Prince on Purple Rain tour, Phish in '98, Steely Dan in '74
• Jay: JB at the Soul Train studios in '73, the Police in '79, Iggy and the Stooges in '73, Zeppelin in '70, Mission of Burma's first farewell in '83, Drive Like Jehu in '94, Black Sabbath in '70, Iron Maiden in '81 with their original singer
• The Police jumped on the new wave bandwagon and brought energy and skill to it
• Sabbath's had interesting line items in their recording budget
• Shout out to CompCon intern Lily
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2025 so far.

Show notes:

• Counting down our favorite albums
• Breitling's #6: Dan Bejar with another well-done Destroyer album
• "Slacker Sinatra" singing about aging
• Kumar's #6: Striking solo effort from Tunde Adebimpe
• Breitling's #5: Shoegaze goodness from NJ's High
• Kumar's #5: Dax Riggs with fuzz-laden goth grunge
• Breitling's #4: Digging the Estonian dream pop from mariin k.
• Kumar's #3: Impressive 15th solo album from Bob Mould plays to his strengths
• Still kicking ass into his mid-60s
• Breitling's #3: Boston trio with a dumb name and a great album, (T-T)b
• Kumar's #2: Mclusky returns after 21 years with a razor-sharp ripper
• Breitling's #2 and Kumar's #4: Surprise return to thunderous form from The Men
• Kumar's #1: PUP's fifth album finds them exploring more mature themes while still kicking ass
• Breitling's #1 and Kumar's #7: The four-album magnum opus from Hallelujah the Hills exceeds expectations
• Many guest appearances among the 54 songs
• Looking forward to new releases from the Lemonheads, Sloan, Superchunk, Pile, Wednesday

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2025 so far.

Show notes:

• Drinking some Italian beer
• Rock is dead commercially
• Billboard album chart contains nearly no rock
• Fleetwood Mac's Rumours still riding high for some reason
• Festival cancellations: Bonnaroo, Boston Calling next year, Lollapalooza
• Too many festivals, high ticket prices
• Black Sabbath farewell show
• Lots of big rock deaths: Brian Wilson, Sly Stone, David Johansen, Marianne Faithfull, etc.
• We saw Hallelujah the Hills recently and it was glorious
• Kumar saw some shows: Frank Black, Shannon/Narducy, Gang of Four, Bob Mould
• Breitling will see Oasis in Mexico, as one does
• Who's the Who's drummer?
• Breitling's bubbling under albums: Whirr, Winter, Lunchbox, Pink Floyd reissue, Rough Francis, The Get Quick, Autocamper, Viagra Boys, Thalia Zedek Band
• Kumar's list: Kinski, Ty Segall, Civic, Cameron Keiber, Dean Wareham, Pulp, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, The Bug Club, Turnstile, The Tubs, Kestrels, Lifeguard, Hotline TNT
• Breitling's #10: An electronic collab between Mark Pritchard and Thom Yorke
• Kumar's #10: Sophomore release from Horsegirl explores mellower sounds
• So much music to listen to these days
• Breitling's #9: Ambient situation delivered by William Tyler
• Of Bills Frisell and Laswell
• Kumar's #9: Post-punk ripper from Charm School
• Kurt Loder is still with us
• Kumar's #8: Heavy Spoon influence on the new album from The Convenience
• Breitling's #7: Dean Wareham is still bringing it
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 4 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we crown the winner of a March Madness-style tournament featuring our favorite rock artists.

Show notes:

• Round 3 begins
• The Smiths vs. Led Zeppelin
• James Brown vs. Rush
• Rolling Stones vs. The Cure
• The Clash vs. The Police
• U2 vs. The Replacements
• The Who vs. Talking Heads
• Tom Petty vs. Neil Young
• The Beatles vs. David Bowie
• Round 4
• The Final Four
• The Championship

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 3 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we wrap up the second round of a March Madness-style tournament featuring our favorite rock artists.

Show notes:

• Round 2 forced some difficult choices
• The Smiths vs. Spoon
• Led Zeppelin vs. Prince
• James Brown vs. Queens of the Stone Age
• Rush vs. Allman Brothers Band
• Rolling Stones vs. Beastie Boys
• The Cure vs. The Afghan Whigs
• The Tragically Hip vs. The Clash
• The Police vs. Mark Lanegan
• Stevie Wonder vs. U2
• Sonic Youth vs. The Replacements
• The Who vs. Beck
• Talking Heads vs. Dinosaur Jr.
• Tom Petty vs. Pixies
• Neil Young vs. Steely Dan
• Van Halen vs. Beatles
• Pearl Jam vs. David Bowie
• Next: The final two rounds

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we wrap up the first round of a March Madness-style tournament featuring our favorite rock artists.

Show notes:

• Finishing up the rest of round 1
• Stevie Wonder vs. the Pretenders
• Talking Heads vs. U2
• St. Vincent vs. Sonic Youth
• Elvis Costello vs. the Replacements
• R.E.M. vs. the Who
• Beck vs. Dire Straits
• Jimi Hendrix vs. Jason Isbell
• Dinosaur Jr. vs. Foo Fighters
• Drive-By Truckers vs. Tom Petty
• Pixies vs. Fleetwood Mac
• Neil Young vs. Sleater-Kinney
• Steely Dan vs. Husker Du
• Van Halen vs. Blondie
• White Stripes vs. the Beatles
• J. Geils Band vs. Pearl Jam
• Nirvana vs. David Bowie
• Coming soon: Round 2, with more tough decisions

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we talk our way through a March Madness-style tournament of our favorite rock artists.

Show notes:

• We left out artists that we both didn't like: Grateful Dead, Black Sabbath, Radiohead, Joni Mitchell, Phish, Iron Maiden
• Also had to leave off a number of artists just for space considerations: Ramones, AC/DC, Feelies, Breeders, Camper Van Beethoven, etc.
• Some tough matchups in round 1 with randomized seeding
• The Smiths vs. PJ Harvey
• Spoon vs. Courtney Barnett
• Led Zeppelin vs. Bob Dylan
• The Cure vs. Prince
• Elton John vs. James Brown
• Pavement vs. Queens of the Stone Age
• Buffalo Tom vs. Rush
• Allman Brothers Band vs. Soundgarden
• The Kinks vs. The Rolling Stones
• Alice in Chains vs. Beastie Boys
• Bob Marley vs. The Cure
• Joe Jackson vs. The Afghan Whigs
• The Tragically Hip vs. Velvet Underground
• The Clash vs. Iggy Pop
• Stevie Ray Vaughan vs. The Police
• Sloan vs. Mark Lanegan
• To be continued with the rest of Round 1

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about bad songs from good artists.

Show notes:

• Songs we hate by artists we love
• Phil's #6: U2 makes a misstep
• Bono's talking tough
• Jay's #6: A #1 hit from Cheap Trick featuring outside songwriters
• The power ballad became huge for hard rock bands
• Phil's #5: AC/DC hits it big after losing their singer
• Jay's #5: When the biggest band tries to get weird
• Phil's #4: When GNR decided to cover Dylan
• They had lots of bad covers
• Jay's #4: When Aerosmith hit #1 with a soundtrack ballad
• Late-period Aerosmith is tough to take
• Phil's #3: The Smiths get preachy about animal rights
• Let's hear it for Bovine University
• Morrissey with ham-fisted lyrics about vegetarianism
• Jay's #3: R.E.M. had a couple of stinkers
• A version of the song ended up on Sesame Street
• Phil's #2: Punk rock upstarts go acoustic
• Green Day ended up becoming very mainstream
• Jay's #2: Bowie and Jagger with a very '80s abomination of a cover
• Video premiered during Live Aid
• Phil's #1: A definitive low for the Police at their most successful time
• Andy Summers wrote some bad songs every so often
• Jay's #1: Genesis with an all-timer of an offensive song
• The video alone is brutal
• Blame it on Mike Rutherford

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about bad songs from good artists.

Show notes:

• Songs we hate by artists we love
• Jay: Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" is so whiny it turned me off the band for a few years
• Songs you hate vs. songs you're sick of hearing
• Phil: Nirvana had some dumb songs
• Phil's dishonorable mentions: Songs from Bowie and Jagger, Beck, XTC, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, the Cars, Bob Seger
• Phil bashes the Brits
• Jay's dishonorable mentions: Songs by Soundgarden, Van Hagar, Rush, U2, Lou Reed
• Sammy Hagar's lyrics are...something
• Phil's #10: One of the Stones' bigger hits
• Jay's #10: Zeppelin goes honky tonk with meh results
• Phil's #9: Frat boy antics from the Beastie Boys
• Jay's #9: Andy Summers let his freak flag fly in the Police
• Phil's #8: The Dead goes disco with some rough lyrics
• The late '70s saw lots of rock acts try disco
• Jay's #8: Macca had some missteps, including his first teamup with MJ
• Phil's #7: The Beatles stumbled with an avant garde instrumental
• Maybe it was the drugs
• Jay's #7: Dee Dee Ramone tries rapping with hilariously bad results
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite concerts.

Show notes:

• Our top 10 concerts in no particular order
• Phil: Banged up and seeing his first Dead show in Foxborough in 1989
• The show is popular with Dead fans
• Jay: Caught Mike Watt backed by the Foo Fighters in their first Boston appearance in '95
• Phil: 12 days after that Dead show, saw the Who at the same venue
• A 3-hour show for the 20th anniversary of Tommy
• Jay: The one area appearance by Them Crooked Vultures in '09
• Supergroup with Josh Homme, Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones
• Phil: McCartney at Sullivan Stadium in 1990
• The tour book phenomenon
• Jay: Two shows in one night--The Amps followed by Mighty Mighty Bosstones
• Phil: U2 show on St. Patrick's Day '92 in Boston, Achtung Baby tour
• "Put it in H"
• Jay: Also a U2 show; September 1987 at the Boston Garden
• Phil: Dylan at Endicott College in October 1992
• Tickets purchased at a local jewelry store
• Dylan almost didn't play because a heater wasn't working on stage
• Jay: Electric performance from Nick Cave's band Grinderman at House of Blues
• Phil: Pearl Jam at the Orpheum in April 1994
• A few days after Cobain's death
• Jay: Front row at the Orpheum for Sugar, November 1994
• Bob Mould's last tour with Sugar
• Phil: Neil Young at the Wang Center in 2018 with Jay
• Neil was solo, telling stories between songs
• Gotta see some of these older artists while they're around
• Jay: Pearl Jam in April '92 at tiny club Axis
• Just before PJ blew up
• Phil: Dead & Co. at Fenway in summer '23
• $60 cheese pizza
• Jay: Last month seeing Sloan in Toronto with my daughter
• Played their first album front to back
• Only concert I've ever seen in Toronto
• Phil: Phish playing third show in three nights at Mansfield
• Jay: Ty Segall at the late lamented Great Scott in 2014
• So loud the floor was shaking
• Jay: No issues with seeing shows by myself
• Phil: Goose at MGM Fenway last year
• Played lots of covers, including the odd 36-minute jam
• Jay: First time seeing the Tragically Hip at the Paradise in April '91
• About 25 people there, but the band killed it
• Saw the band many times after that

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite concerts.

Show notes:

• Cold weather running tips
• What makes a great concert?
• Small shows vs. stadiums
• Hard to pare down the list
• Limited to one show per artist
• Good idea for a sequel involving a time machine
• Phil leaned toward larger shows
• Didn't include: R.E.M., the Cure, Sleater-Kinney, Drive-By Truckers, Tedeschi Trucks Band
• Jay: Prefer the intimacy of club shows
• We were at the same shows before we knew each other
• Phil: First concert was Van Halen in 1986
• Setlist.fm is a great resource
• MTV's Saturday Night concerts
• Jay's first show was a festival show in Kingston, NH with Cheap Trick, Ratt, Twisted Sister and Lita Ford in 1984
• Jay: Not a fan of festival shows anymore
• Adventures in seeing Rush
• Jay: Didn't see R.E.M. when they played my college
• Other favorites: PJ Harvey, Hot Snakes, Lollapalooza '92, Afghan Whigs, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Drive-By Truckers, Alice in Chains/Screaming Trees, Peter Gabriel, White Stripes, Hold Steady, Mission of Burma, Gord Downie
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2024.

Show notes:

• Our top 10 albums of the year
• Shout out to Rock P's top 20 out of 10 countdown
• JB's #10: Triple album tribute album for Jesse Malin, an underrated songwriter
• JK's #10: J Mascis incorporates hot guitar solos into a mostly acoustic album
• JB's #9: Hot collection of bangers from Cloud Nothings
• JK's #9: Farewell set from Toronto noise rockers METZ
• JK's #8: Angry breakup album from Fake Fruit
• Coming up on the 5th birthday of Parcheesi Redux radio, SITG hit 11 this fall
• JB's #7: Retro '60s sounds from Sharp Pins
• JK's #7: Philly indie rockers return with in-your-face collection
• JB's #6: More great SF indie bubblegum pop from Lunchbox
• JK's #6: Power pop scorchers courtesy of Daniel Romano's Outfit
• Reminiscing about ER and One Tree Hill
• JB's #5: Peel Dream Magazine delivers peaceful indie pop
• JK's #5: Dublin indie rock act Fontaines D.C. with commercial breakthrough
• JB's #4: Dog Day with economical set of bangers
• JK's #4: Slacker alt-country with hott lead guitar by MJ Lenderman
• JB's #3: Another Slumberland slacker indie pop success with Neutrals
• JK's #3: Indie supergroup the Hard Quartet with Malkmus and Matt Sweeney
• JB's #2: The rare Johnny Foreigner album that isn't #1, but it's still pretty great
• JK's #2 and JB's #8: Triumphant return from the Cure after 16 years
• JB's #1: Chime School with the peak summer hang soundtrack
• JK's #1: A November release from Kim Deal is a terrific reflection on loss
• First solo album after 37 years in the music biz
• Looking forward to 2025 releases from Hallelujah the Hills, maybe more Johnny Foreigner, Horsegirl, Mogwai

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2024.

Show notes:

• The 16th annual year in review
• First one was in 2009
• Cybertrucks are dumb
• Self-driving cars are also dumb
• Taylor Swift just ended a monster tour
• Music is a dead-end business for most
• Spotify sucks
• Country music is huge
• Breitling: There are some good underground country artists
• A good year for Tracy Chapman
• Social media landscape is shifting
• Lots of big music deaths: Quincy Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Steve Albini, Paul Di'Anno, Greg Kihn, Karl Wallinger
• Getting out to some rock shows: Hallelujah the Hills, Nuggets tour, Gang of Four, Hoodoo Gurus, Sloan in Toronto
• Breitling's honorable mentions: The TV show The Bear, Bug Club's song "Quality Pints," Fontaines D.C.'s "Favourite," Tsunami box set, Spectres, Kal Marks
• Kumar's honorable mentions: Dale Crover, Buffalo Tom, Ekko Astral, Jack White, Ducks Ltd., Mary Timony, Los Campesinos
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite instrumentals.

Show notes:

• Phil's #8: A jazz-funk classic out of Scotland?
• Jay's #8: Powerful surf rock from the Pixies
• Phil's #7: The Commodores with an early funk workout
• Jay's #7: Dick Dale hit that was revived decades later in Pulp Fiction
• Song originated in the 1920s
• Phil's #6: Instrumental from Phish that evolved in the live setting
• Jay's #6: A sweeping song from Bowie's Berlin period
• Bowie switched genres and sounds with ease
• Phil's #5 and Jay's #3: A revolutionary moment for guitar heroics
• Edward Van Halen changed the game for rock guitar and hard rock
• Jay's #5: Hendrix blowing minds in the early morning hours at Woodstock
• Turning the national anthem into a protest song
• Phil's #4: Music mogul with a horn-driven dance song
• Sampled by Notorious B.I.G.
• Another horn-based song by Chuck Mangione went to #1 in '79
• Jay's #4: Iconic full-band instrumental off Zep II
• Killer riff combined with Bonham's monstrous drumming
• Phil's #3: Elton John with the first part of a two-part suite
• Metallica did a great cover earlier this year
• Phil's #2: Tedeschi-Trunks Band with extended instrumental from experimental project
• Jay's #2: Concise, virtuosic classic from Rush's best album
• Phil's #1: Iconic song released by the Allman Brothers Band after the death of their ace guitarist
• Dickey Betts played song with two fingers as a tribute to Django Reinhardt
• Jay's #1 and Phil's #10: Epic, emotional guitar piece by Eddie Hazel of Funkadelic
• J Mascis did a great cover on Mike Watt's 1995 solo album

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite instrumentals.

Show notes:

• We're feeling goooood.
• What makes a good instrumental?
• Jay: I like the musicians in Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Not as many instrumentals made now as there used to be
• No jazz instrumentals included in our lists
• Phil's bubbling under picks: Booker T and the MGs, Bar-Kays, Meters, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, Hendrix, Zeppelin, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Santana, U2, Rush, Dick Dale, Beatles, Boston, TSOP, Bowie, Pink Floyd
• Jay's non-top 10 picks: Rush, Van Halen, Focus, ELO, Pink Floyd, the Who, Iron Maiden, Commodores, Fugazi, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet
• Alex VH's new book ignores Sammy Hagar
• Some great instrumentals are TV themes like Barney Miller
• Jay's #10: The Police with a mysterious guitar exercise
• Phil's #9: Majestic song from the Who's first rock opera
• Fans in the '60s didn't know what to expect when bands were melting their faces
• Jay's #9: Beastie Boys break out the funk
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite cover songs.

Show notes:

• Jay's #7: Ty Segall with a ripper of a Neil Young cover
• Phil's #6: The live version of a Linda Ronstadt classic
• Jay's #6: An indie rock all-star band playing covers the Beatles played in their early days
• Greg Dulli, Thurston Moore, Dave Grohl, Dave Pirner, Mike Mills and Don Fleming
• Phil's #5: Phish covering the Stones
• Phish does tons of covers
• Jay's #5: An unexpected '60s cover from Husker Du
• Phil's #4: Coltrane with a wild twist on a Rodgers and Hammerstein classic
• Jay's #4: Stripped down version of an English Beat hit by Pete Townshend
• Phil's #3: Rage Against the Machine's explosive take on a Springsteen folk song
• Jay: Forgot about Rollins and Bad Brains covering "Kick Out the Jams"
• Jay's #3: Dirtbombs with a smokin' garage punk remake of Stevie Wonder
• Jay's #2: Nirvana's Unplugged show featured several great covers
• Phil's #1: Epic length cover "Morning Dew" by the Dead
• Watching old videos from the '60s and '70s to guess how old the crowd members are now
• Jay's #1 and Phil's #2: Mind-blowing Who cover of little-know Mose Allison song
• Jay: Live at Leeds is the greatest live album
• All four members of the Who at the peak of their powers

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite cover songs.

Show notes:

• What makes a good cover?
• Be true to the song, but bring something of yourself to it
• Jagger and Bowie's cover of "Dancing in the Streets" is godawful
• In the '80s and '90s, used to get 45s or cassingles (or CD singles) to get B-sides
• Phil's honorable mention covers: U2, Courtney Barnett, Nirvana, Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, Etta James, Beatles, Stones, Bjork, Aretha, Pearl Jam, CSNY, Cowboy Junkies
• Nirvana's MTV Unplugged has several great covers
• Zeppelin covered a lot of songs on their early albums, with or without giving credit
• Jay's honorable mentions: The Clash, Hendrix, Pretenders, U2, Charles Bradley, Thin Lizzy, Bjork, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Living Colour, Soft Cell, Johnny Cash, PJ, Deep Purple, Urge Overkill, Violent Femmes, Anthrax, Breeders, Cheap Trick, Malkmus and Elastica, Iron Maiden, Queens of the Stone Age
• Phil's #10: Stevie Ray Vaughan takes on a guitar god's classic
• Jay's #10: Dinosaur Jr. makes a Cure song their own
• Phil's #9: Zeppelin's first album features a cover that was previously done by Joan Baez
• Judas Priest also covered a Baez song
• Jay's #9: A signature Blondie song was actually a cover
• Phil's #8: A timeless classic from the late '50s by the Flamingos
• Jay's #8: Sinead O'Connor made the definitive version of a Prince song
• Phil's #7: Faces with a powerful Temptations cover
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of the 2010s.

Show notes:

• Phil's 2016 #1: Drive-By Truckers with a political statement in a divided year
• Jay's 2016 #1: The final act of Bowie was a masterpiece
• Phil's 2017 #1: Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile join forces
• Jay's 2017: #1: Strong second act from the Afghan Whigs
• Phil's and Jay's 2018 #1: Cathartic blast of political anger from Superchunk
• Phil's 2019 #1: David Berman's final album as Purple Mountains
• Real talk about people dealing with tough issues
• Shocking deaths over the last decade
• Jay's 2019 #1: Sarcastic pop-punk excellence from Toronto's PUP
• Phil's 2020 #1: Jason Isbell deals with ghosts on his 7th album
• COVID memories
• Jay's 2020 #1: Topical protest hip hop from Run the Jewels

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of the 2010s. Also, happy 18th birthday to the show!

Show notes:

• Wrapping up our year-by-year look at rock music starting with 1970
• Each of us picking a favorite album for each year from 2011-2020
• Phil's 2011 #1: Bluesy collection from Tedeschi Trucks Band
• Susan Tedeschi grew up in New England
• Jay's 2011 #1: Concept album by Toronto's Fucked Up
• Phil's 2012 #1: Punchy punk rippers from Parquet Courts
• Neil Young and the art of the 15-minute song
• Jay's 2012 #1: Ty Segall Band with a heavy garage rock/psych sound
• Phil's 2013 #1: Laid-back slacker jams from Philly's Kurt Vile
• Jay's 2013 #1: An epic Queens of the Stone Age album written after a near-death experience
• Phil's 2014 #1: TV On the Radio's last album and first since bass player died
• Jay's 2014 #1: Expansive tour de force from Parquet Courts
• Phil's 2015 #1: Courtney Barnett combines conversational lyrics with hot guitar
• Jay's 2015 #1: Jeff Rosenstock delivers a pop-punk masterpiece
• On being the old guy at rock shows
• Next time: 2016-2020

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2024 so far.

Show notes:

• JB's #6 and JK's #7: Philly's Mannequin Pussy is a wide-ranging delight
• JK's 6: Excellent jangle rock from Toronto's Ducks Ltd.
• JB's #5 and JK's #3: J Mascis with a laid-back winner of a solo album
• Let us know if you want to be in the studio audience for the year-end wrapup
• JK's #5: A more electronic effort from St. Vincent
• The limited amount of media attention given to albums now
• How do current artists measure success?
• Remembering weird synth pop from the early '80s
• Fewer barriers to entry, but fewer ways to get your music in front of people
• JB's #4: Another great Slumberland release from Lunchbox, featuring folks from Hard Left
• JK's #4: First release in 14 years from NYC art rockers Les Savy Fav
• JB's #3: NH-based act combines post punk with many different genres
• JB's #2: Johnny Foreigner returns with EP previewing their upcoming album
• JK's #2: METZ adds catchiness to their noise rock
• JB's #1: Political swipe at gentrification from Neutrals
• Anticipated albums: Fontaines D.C., Sunset Rubdown, Johnny Foreigner, Chime School, Peel Dream Magazine, Jesus Lizard, Horse Jumper of Love, Los Campesinos, Osees
• JK's #1: Hot collection of power pop rippers from Daniel Romano's Outfit

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2024 so far.

Show notes:

• Crazy stuff going right as we started recording
• Concert tours getting canceled because of poor ticket sales (Black Keys, JLo)
• The phenomenon of Taylor Swift
• Vinyl is selling well, but half the people who buy it don't own a record player
• Another factor in the concert business struggles is the high price of tickets
• Apparently Gen Z loves dream pop
• Spotify accuses Hallelujah the Hills of gaming the system
• The Legend of Doo Doo Brown
• JB's honorable mentions: The Bret Tobias Set, Bug Club, Fontaines D.C., Ducks Ltd., Bedbug, Umbrellas, Torrey, Waxahatchee, Shellac, Buffalo Tom, Les Savy Fav, Pedro the Lion
• JK's honorable mentions: Cloud Nothings, Boeckner, Redd Kross, Mdou Moctar, IDLES, Plus/Minus, Bodega, Kim Gordon, DIIV
• JK's #10: Mary Timony's first solo album in 19 years
• JB's #9: Dope Yeti is the nexus of Beck, Dylan and GBV
• JK's #9: A quieter, more Americana-focused album from Buffalo Tom
• JB's #8: Strong modern shoegaze release from DIIV
• JK's #8: Second album from the Smile is an acceptable Radiohead substitute
• JB's #7: Cloud Nothings keep cranking out great albums
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2010.

Show notes:

• Black Keys cancel arena tour after way overestimating their popularity
• Phil's #5: Black Keys establish their popularity with poppier blues sound
• Phil's and Jay's #4: Superchunk returns after a nine-year break with an energetic pop-punk ripper
• Phil's #3: Lo-fi psych from Philly duo Reading Rainbow (now called Bleeding Rainbow)
• Jay's #3: Nick Cave returns with his harder rocking Grinderman project
• Phil's #2 and Jay's #5: More rock-oriented album from Drive-By Truckers
• Jay's #2: Politically-driven melodic punk from Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
• Phil's #1: Neil Young with a solo effort with a lot of guitar effects
• Jay's #1: Titus Andronicus with your typical epic Civil War-meets-modern-day NJ concept album
• Jay: Titus Andronicus is one of my favorite current bands
• Favorite songs: "Hitchhiker" (Phil), "Theme from Cheers" (Jay)
• Next time we get together, we'll sum up the decade of the 2010s

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2010.

Show notes:

• In 2010, Phil became a dad for the second time
• A little running talk
• Kesha had the #1 song in 2010 with "Tik Tok"
• Phil asking philosophical questions
• Phil's non-top 5s: Darker My Love, Best Coast, LCD Soundsystem, Foals, Ty Segall, Spoon, Wolf People, Vampire Weekend, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
• Jay's non-top 5s: Neil Young, Los Campesinos!, Arcade Fire, Black Mountain, Les Savy Fav
• When artists stop making good albums
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2009.

Show notes:

• Jay's non-top 5s: Arctic Monkeys, Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, Patterson Hood, Alice in Chains, Obits, Eels, Tragically Hip, Brendan Benson, Neko Case, Heaven and Hell
• Phil's #5: Yeah Yeah Yeahs make foray into dance rock
• Judas Priest makes good pump-up music
• Jay's #5: Trippy prog-metal from Mastodon
• Phil's #4: Neko Case is a force of nature
• Jay's #4: Art Brut with an entertaining collection of ripping artsy punk
• Phil's #3: Slow-burning solo excursion from Patterson Hood
• Jay's #3: Anthemic punk/classic rock mix from Japandroids
• Phil's #2: Phish returns after a 5-year break
• Jay's #2: Jarvis Cocker with the kickass Albini-recorded solo ripper
• Phil's and Jay's #1: Monster supergroup debut from Them Crooked Vultures
• Jay saw TCV in Boston on their only tour
• Always cool to see someone from Zeppelin play live
• Favorite songs: "Angela" (Jay), "Elephants" (Phil)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2009.

Show notes:

• In 2009, Phil had a newborn and was expecting another
• We had a global pandemic in '09 (H1N1 swine flu)
• Biggest selling album in the world was by Susan Boyle
• Black Eyed Peas had a big year
• U2 had an album out, but didn't make much of an impression on us
• Phil's non-top 5s: The Dead Weather, Son Volt, Wilco, Jason Isbell, Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam, A.C. Newman, Titus Andronicus, Deer Tick
• To smarm or not to smarm
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2008.

Show notes:

• Phil's #5: My Morning Jacket changes things up
• Jay's #5: Big space rock ripper from Black Mountain
• Phil's #4: Springsteen-inspired indie rock from the Gaslight Anthem
• Jay's #4: Stephen Malkmus gets jammy
• Phil's #3: Tom Petty's early band Mudcrutch gets back together
• Jay's #3: Sloan with an economical power pop release
• Phil's and Jay's #2: Dark, inspired record from the Gutter Twins
• Phil's #1: Brooding classic from Death Cab for Cutie
• Jay's #1: The Hold Steady hits an anthemic peak
• Craig Finn is an atypical yet terrific frontman
• Favorite songs: "Stay Positive" (Jay), "I Will Possess Your Heart" (Phil)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2008.

Show notes:

• In '08, Phil became a dad
• M.I.A. with the Clash fakeout intro
• Phil's non-top 5s: The Hold Steady, Stephen Malkmus, Vampire Weekend, TV on the Radio, the Raconteurs, Beck, R.E.M., JJ Grey and Mofro, Sloan, Drive-By Truckers, Black Keys
• The Kelly Gruber Effect
• The other Phil Stacey releases his debut album, as did Scarlett Johansson and Bronson Arroyo
• Jay's non-top 5s: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Black Angels, Foxboro Hot Tubs, Destroyer
• Green Day was punk until they weren't
• Phil: Hearing the Kinks for the first time
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2007.

Show notes:

• Phil's #5: Sharp alt-country debut from Deer Tick
• Jay's #5: Nick Cave rocks out with Grinderman
• Phil's #4: Compelling raunch rock from QOTSA
• Jay's #4: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists with another quality ripper
• Phil's #3: Soulful belter Sharon Jones with a great throwback
• Jay's #3: Radiohead's "pay what you want" experiment
• Labels were not happy that they took the risk
• Phil's #2: Dad-rock kings Wilco with a mellower affair
• Jay's #2: The original Dino Jr. lineup with their first album since '88
• Phil's and Jay's #1: Spoon breaks through with a classic
• The decline of rock as a popular genre
• Favorite songs: "Don't You Evah" (Jay), "Impossible Germany" (Phil)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2007.

Show notes:

• In 2007, Jay had a kid starting kindergarten; that kids graduates from college soon
• Zeppelin played two reunion shows
• Separating the music from artists' bad behavior
• Daughtry had the #1 selling album of '07
• Phil's non-top 5s: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, the National, St. Vincent, Jason Isbell, Okkervil River, Buffalo Tom, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Arctic Monkeys
• Let's hear it for Dad Rock
• On Madonna's career
• Discovering music through commercials or movies
• Music services
• Jay's non-top 5s: LCD Soundsystem, the Dears, Tim Armstrong, Black Francis, Thurston Moore, Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, Ray Davies, Beastie Boys
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2006.

Show notes:

• Jay's non-top 5s: The Black Angels, Mission of Burma, Twilight Singers, The Tragically Hip, Girl Talk, Iron Maiden, Lemonheads
• Phil's #5: Beck's last really good album, especially the first half
• Jay's #5: First solo release from Pulp's Jarvis Cocker
• Phil's #4: Last Drive-By Truckers album with Jason Isbell expands their world view
• Jay's #4: Expansive and excellent outing from TV On the Radio
• Phil's #3: Droney, psychedelic fuzz from the Black Angels
• Jay's #3: Yet another great one from the Hold Steady
• Phil's #2: Sharp debut from Jack White-led Raconteurs
• Jay's #2: Sweeping double album from Sloan, chock full o' power pop goodness
• Phil's #1: Guitar greatness from Doug Martsch and Built to Spill
• Jay's #1: Audacious debut from Arctic Monkeys
• Arctic Monkeys caught on with a whole new audience
• Favorite songs: "I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor" (Jay), "Goin' Against Your Mind" (Phil)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2006.

Show notes:

• First episode of the year
• In 2006, Jay had two little kids
• Phil was having fun
• When you don't know anybody playing the festival
• Top-selling album of the year was High School Musical soundtrack
• The Who released an album in 2006
• Phil's non-top 5s: Neko Case, Destroyer, the Hold Steady, the Walkmen, Dylan, Heartless Bastards, Tom Petty, Eagles of Death Metal, Black Keys, Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth, Pearl Jam, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Jay: Check out Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2023.

Show notes:

• We're in there like swimwear
• On to the top 10 lists
• Breitling's #10: Return to from by Fog Lake
• Breitling's #9: Frog's new release unexpectedly has received critical praise
• Kumar's #9: Another consistenly great album from Protomartyr
• Breitling's #8: Minimalist excellence from Colleen that tests Jay's French pronunciation skills
• Kumar's #8: After an 11-year absence, the Hives' formula de rock still kicks ass in 2023
• Breitling's #7 and Kumar's #10: Yo La Tengo still bringing the heat, opening the album with 7-minute feedback-laden ripper
• Kumar's #7 and Breitling's #6: Supergroup is actually super, Voltroning into a monster act
• Kumar's #6: Return of the rock with Queens of the Stone Age, chock full o' bangers from a super-tight band
• Breitling's #5: Philly represent with Golden Apples dropping indie pop/rock with the fuzz bass and some wooder ice
• Kumar's #5: SF's Pardoner brings an assortment of guitar sounds from the last 50 years to their latest slack masterpiece
• The '90s sound (and look) is still thriving
• Breitling's #4: More of the Philly goodness with Purling Hiss with the lo-fi hooky guitar rock
• Kumar's #4: Indie power-pop supergroup Eyelids delivers the super-catchy goods
• Breilting's #3: Bay Area shoegaze concern Blue Ocean returns with a weird and rewarding album
• Kumar's #3: Sharp, concise indie post-punk from Kansas-via-Boston act Sweeping Promises
• Breitling's #2: Ohio-based indie act Connections connects with melodic rockers; RIYL GBV, Feelies
• Kumar's #2: New Zealand post-punk that smashes through with punchy, catchy rippers
• Breitling's #1: Long-awaited reunion album from American shoegaze icons Drop Nineteens does not disappoint
• Kumar's #1: Going into Hellmode with Jeff Rosenstock, who has been consistently releasing excellent albums for the last several years; additional layers of maturity and depth make this release all the more satisfying

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2023.

Show notes:

• Recorded at Clicky Clicky HQ
• The 14th year of "Year in Music" episodes
• Taylor Swift is big, but not bigger than Starbucks
• Breitling making fun of Croz
• Perfect synergy: The Stones tour sponsored by AARP
• Hall v. Oates
• KISS passes the torch to digital avatars of themselves
• The "new" old Beatles song
• Check it out on the YouthTube
• Spotify blows
• The kids love the streaming and whatnot
• Check out Parcheesi Redux Tuesday and Thursday on Mixcloud
• Also check out Brad Searles' show The Almanac on the first Wednesday of every month
• Shout out to the Rollins Archive
• Breitling's honorable mentions: Ted Pauly, Everything But the Girl, Cupid and Psyche, Everasting and Zilla, Superchunk
• Kumar's honorable mentions: Pile, Model/Actriz, Yves Tumor, Fucked Up, Shame, PJ Harvey, Peter Gabriel, Marnie Stern, Replacements' "Tim" reissue, Breeders' Last Splash reissue, Feelies live album of VU covers
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2005.

Show notes:

• Jay's #5 and Phil's #4: New Pornographers with another all-star power pop classic
• Phil's #5: Early '70s singer-songwriter jams from Ryan Adams and the Cardinals
• Still in the era of artists putting out overlong albums
• Jay's #3: Spoon expands their sound, grows their popularity
• Phil's #3: A powerful R&B belter from Sharon Jones
• Jay's #2: Queens of the Stone Age with a punchy follow-up to a monster hit
• Phil's #2: Beck with an Odelay-esque release with a nod to Latin music
• Phil's #1 and Jay's #4: Sleater-Kinney drops a monster rock album
• Jay's #1: Another winner from The Hold Steady, blending big riffs and nerdy scenester tales
• Jay makes a Rush joke
• Favorite songs: "Jumpers" (Phil), "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2005.

Show notes:

• In 2005, Jay was dealing with tiny children while Phil was newly married
• Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Pink Floyd briefly reunited
• Jay: Listened to a lot of songs via MP3 blogs
• Jay's non-top 5s: White Stripes, Black Mountain, Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs, Wolf Parade, Against Me!
• Phil's non-top 5s: Sufjan Stevens, Son Volt, Bright Eyes, Neil Young, Trey Anastasio, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, Southern Culture on the Skids, North Mississippi All-Stars
• Random cocaine references
• Wilco with a good live album
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2004.

Show notes:

• Phil's #5: Arcade Fire with a rousing debut about suburbia
• Jay's #5: First album from Mission of Burma in 19 years kicks serious butt
• Phil's #4: The last U2 album Phil enjoyed
• Zebra once opened for their Zeppelin cover band
• Jay's #4 and Phil's #3: Drive-By Truckers unleash another powerful concept album about the South
• Phil's #2: Brian WIlson finally releases unreleased epic album Smile
• The Beach Boys went from "America's Beatles" to an oldies joke band
• Jay's #2: Another excellent album from Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
• Jay's #1: Debut from the Hold Steady combines '70s riffs with indie rock
• Phil's #1 and Jay's #3: Mark Lanegan with a world-weary masterpiece with a little help from his friends
• Favorite songs: "Hit the City" (Phil), "Positive Jam" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2004.

Show notes:

• In 2004, Jay became a father for the second time, was a diaper-changing machine
• Phil got married, saw the Red Sox and Patriots become champions
• Jay: Got an iPod, downloaded a ton of music
• Pixies reunited, Phish broke up
• Many bands take hiatuses
• The tale of Mr. Jimmy
• William Hung becomes famous
• Phil's non-top 5s: Wilco, Black Keys, Beastie Boys, Patterson Hood, Umphrey's McGee, the Killers, Green Day, Twilight Singers, Eagles of Death Metal, PJ Harvey, Franz Ferdinand, TV On the Radio, Tragically Hip
• Phil invents new words
• Green Day rejuvenates itself
• Jay's non-top 5s: The Walkmen, Death From Above 1979
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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          Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2003.

Show notes:

• Phil's #5: Raucous debut from NYC's Yeah Yeah Yeahs, featuring the electric Karen O
• Jay's #5: Radiohead combined electronic and guitar-driven sounds
• Radiohead albums kept leaking early on file-sharing networks
• Phil's #4: The Shins hone their super catchy pop sound
• Jay's #4: An indie rock gem from the Wrens that still awaits a follow-up
• 20 years of starts, stops, indecision and disagreements
• Phil's #3: My Morning Jacket combined indie rock, Southern rock, folk and jam band sounds
• MP3 blog bands abound
• Jay's #3: Another kickass release from Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
• Leo is one of the great unsung artists of our generation
• Is Springsteen overrated?
• Phil's #2: Drive-By Truckers add Jason Isbell and step up their game
• Jay's #2: A departure for Sloan, but one jam-packed with great songs
• The only Sloan album without an Andrew Scott song
• Phil's #1: The White Stripes expand their sound and totally blow up
• The Stripes made a lot of noise with minimal instrumentation
• Jay's #1: Greg Dulli's Twilight Singers unleash a classic album as a tribute to late friend
• Favorite songs: "The Hardest Button to Button" (Phil), "Teenage Wristband" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2003.

Show notes:

• In 2003, Jay had a toddler and found out another kid was on the way
• Started downloading a lot of music via blogs
• Jay saw Pat DiNizio, Gord Downie, Radiohead, Guster
• Phil got engaged, saw a lot of Red Sox games
• Coed softball struggles
• 50 Cent had the #1 song of the year
• A lot of number bands on the charts
• What's the deal with Kid Rock?
• Phil's non-top 5s: TV On the Radio, Warren Zevon, Jason Molina, Black Keys, Jet, Outkast, Ween, Lucinda Williams, Bowie
• Jay's non-top 5s: Gord Downie, Electric Six, Dizzee Rascal, Stephen Malkmus, Zeppelin
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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         Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2002.

Show notes:

• Phil's #5: Coldplay's second album turned them into superstars
• Jay's #5: Spoon returns to an indie and begins a long stretch of excellence
• Phil's and Jay's #4: Strong release from the Tragically Hip highlights their varied strengths
• Phil's #2: The last great Foo Fighters album caused a lot of turmoil for the band
• Jay's #3 and Phil's #1: Beck with another sad bastard folk-rock masterpiece
• Jay's #2: Killer debut from Interpol was part of the hot NYC scene of the early '00s
• It's hard for some bands to live up to a great first album
• Phil's #3 and Jay's #1: Queens of the Stone Age reaches new heights with help from Dave Grohl on drums
• Favorite songs: "No One Knows" (Jay), "End of the Day" (Phil)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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        Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2002.

Show notes:

• In 2002, Jay became a first-time dad and didn't get much sleep
• Jay turned 35, Phil turned 33
• Phil was newly single, met his current wife
• John Entwistle died the classic rock star death
• Napster officially called it quits after lawsuits
• Owning music is an outdated concept now
• Nickelback had the top song of the year
• Charts had a mixture of nu metal, hip hop and pop
• Phil's non-top 5 albums: Doves, Sleater-Kinney, Flaming Lips, Spoon, Trey Anastasio, Dave Matthews Band, Interpol, Black Keys, Sonic Youth, GBV, Tom Petty, Bowie
• Jay's non-top 5s: McLusky, Hot Snakes, Trail of Dead, Elvis Costello, Broken Social Scene
• We never saw a lot of the rock videos of this era
• This was the age of the MP3 blog
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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         Celebrating the podcast's 17th birthday by talking to Amanda Guest about the 10th birthday of the radio station she founded, BFF.fm.

Show notes:

• Amanda was last on the podcast 10 years ago talking about moving to SF and launching BFF.fm
• Plenty of surprises along the way
• She was a DJ at the Salem State College (now University) station for 18 years
• Commercial radio was already being automated in the mid-'90s
• Built a studio in the Secret Alley in SF
• A lot of the DJs at BFF now weren't alive when Amanda was DJing in the '90s
• Shorter attention spans: Newer DJs are doing one-hour shows
• Jay has been doing a show for BFF since the station started
• "Where's Koomdogg?"
• Building exposure through a crazy boat DJing gig
• Became a nonprofit in 2015
• Amanda was hired as the GM of the station, now doing it full-time
• Went from dues-based organization to nonprofit
• Allows BFF to fundraise and get grants
• Celebrating the station's 10th birthday with events throughout the city
• Amanda plans to stay involved but wants to retire at some point
• SF went into COVID lockdown early and stayed in it the longest
• Studio had to shut down so BFF enabled DJs to broadcast from home
• Found free space in the SF Ferry Building so were able to broadcast from there
• The future of radio won't get less corporate
• Not a lot of commercial stations for indie music, except for college stations
• Amanda: Big electronic music movement happening in SF
• Looking for new music
• The DJ as curator
• BFF has 120 shows on the schedule, most done live in the studio
• Different approaches to show construction
• Great achievements in song segues
• Jay: Coming up on 500 episodes of the radio show

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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        Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2001.

Show notes:

• Jay's non-top 5 albums: Von Bondies, Radiohead, Sloan, Frank Black & the Catholics, Guided By Voices, Fugazi
• The joy of shopping for imports
• Phil's #5: Great distillation of classic rock from Sweden's The Soundtrack of Our Lives
• Jay's #5: Indie folk-rock on first solo effort from Gord Downie includes spoken word
• Phil's #4 and Jay's #3: Breakthrough album from the White Stripes blew up several months after it came out
• Jay's #4: The Strokes led the return of guitar rock with a NYC-centric sound
• Highlighted in the book and documentary Meet Me in the Bathroom
• Phil's #3: Spoon with a strong release after getting dropped from a major
• Phil's #2: Another great album after getting dropped came from Wilco
• Phil's #1 and Jay's #2: A masterful double album about the duality of the Southern thang by Drive-By Truckers
• Jay's #1: Impressive release from Ted Leo & the Pharmacists showcased a melding of diverse rock styles
• Favorite songs: "Timorous Me" (Jay), "Ronnie and Neil" (Phil)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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       Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2001.

Show notes:

• In 2001, Jay found out he was going to be a dad and also went back to his old employer
• Jay turned 34, Phil turned 32
• Phil got divorced
• 9/11 was a defining generational moment
• Jay: Saw concerts by Radiohead, Gord Downie, Tragically Hip, PJ Harvey, Built to Spill, Buddy Guy
• Apple launched iTunes music store and the iPod
• Napster got sued into oblivion
• Pop was big but garage rock started getting popular
• Lifehouse had the #1 single of the year?
• Scott Stapp wrote a pump-up song for the Marlins
• Phil got recruited by a Scientologist
• Phil's non-top 5 albums: Gorillaz, R.E.M., DMB, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Fugazi, Stephen Malkmus, Pete Yorn, Ryan Adams, Bob Dylan
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                              Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the first half of 2023.

Show notes:

• Running down our favorite albums of the year so far
• Kumar's #10: Pile diversifies its sound
• Breitling's #9 and Kumar's #8: Yo La Tengo keeps on Yo La Tengoing
• Kumar's #9: Dangerous sounding debut from Model/Actriz
• Breitling's #8: Continued excellence from Protomartyr
• Kumar's #7: Excellent third release from Washer, giving off Meat Puppets vibe
• Another great act on Exploding In Sound
• Breitling's #7: Fog Lake returns with a compelling slowcore release; may or may not be Shady Canadians
• Breitling's #10 and Kumar's #6: Perennially pissed off hip hop from UK Grim
• Breitling's #6: Lo-fi folk rock stalwarts Hands and Knees return with a strong release
• Kumar's #5: Yves Tumor mixes shoegaze, alt-rock and funk into a powerful concoction
• Breitling's #5 and Kumar's #4: Legit supergroup Boygenius delivers the goods
• Breitling's #4: Bully with another excellent rock album
• Tom Cavanaugh tangent time
• Kumar's #3: Catchy hardcore from Fucked Up represents a more spontaneous recording process
• Breitling's #3: Quick collection of rippers from New Zealand's Guardian Singles
• Kumar's #2: UK act Shame pushes out of their post-punk comfort zone
• Breitling's #2: Going back to Philly with Purling Hiss, bringing hooks and attitude to the party
• Kumar's #1: Power pop awesomeness from the indie all-star band that is Eyelids
• Breitling's #1: Jangly indie pop straight outta Columbus with Connections
• Kurt Loder tangent
• Anticipated/newer albums: Drop Nineteens, Speedy Ortiz, Palehound, PJ Harvey, Queens of the Stone Age, Jason Isbell, Jeff Rosenstock, OSees, Blur

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                             Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the first half of 2023.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon HQ
• Concerts are back
• TicketMaster is still a mess
• Nobody's buying CDs
• The Beatles and AI
• Parcheesi Redux is in its third year
• Talking about the band Toronto and their hit "Your Daddy Don't Know," covered by the New Pornographers
• The kids are alright
• Rock music is still around, although it's a minor part of the music business
• Breitling's bubbling under albums: Everything But the Girl; Depeche Mode; Sharp Pins; OK Cool; Reds, Pinks and Purples; Pile; Squitch; Mui Zyu
• Jay's bubbling unders: The Hold Steady; The New Pornographers; Ron Gallo; Quasi; Mudhoney
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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       Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2000.

Show notes:

• Jay's non-top 5 picks: Hot Snakes, Rollins Band, Fu Manchu, Pearl Jam
• Phil's and Jay's #5: Diverse offering from the Tragically Hip
• Phil's and Jay's #4: More accessible effort about living in NYC by PJ Harvey
• Phil's #3: Bluesy debut album from North Mississippi All-Stars
• Jay's #3: Electrifying major-label debut from At the Drive-In
• Featured in Dan Ozzi's book Sellout about indie acts who sign with majors
• Phil's #2: Phish blends some different styles into their jam band formula
• Jay's #2: Queens of the Stone Age's second album takes a big leap onto the rock scene
• Phil's #1: U2 bounces back with a back-to-basics release
• Phil: Feeling down about what was once his favorite band
• How bands age
• The last really good U2 album
• Jay's #1: Radiohead totally reinvents their sound, embracing electronics
• Phil's not feeling it
• Favorite songs: "Optimistic" (Jay), "Stuck In a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" (Phil)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2000.

Show notes:

• In 2000, Jay got married
• Jay turned 33, Phil turned 31
• Jay: Went to SXSW, saw Modest Mouse, Fu Manchu, Bevis Frond
• Pivotal year for the dotcom boom
• Albums were leaking on Napster before they came out
• A better year than '99 in terms of stuff we liked
• Top 100 songs were predominantly pop
• Phil's non-top 5s: Ween, Sleater-Kinney, Outkast, White Stripes, Rage Against the Machine, Ryan Adams, New Pornographers, Doves, Neil Young, Steely Dan, the Hives
• Phil's out on runs scaring old ladies
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1999.

Show notes:

• Jay's non-top 5s: Frank Black and the Catholics, Sebadoh, Matthew Sweet, Piebald, Fu Manchu, Superchunk, Songs: Ohia, GBV
• Phil's #5: Third release from Rage Against the Machine continues their anti-capitalist bent
• Jay's #5: Flaming Lips complete their transformation into a different sound
• Phil's #4: Dave Grohl continues to fight Foo and get more commercial-sounding
• Jay's #4 and Phil's #3: Built to Spill with the triumphant peak of their terrific '90s run
• Jay's #3: The final Pavement album has only gotten better with age
• Phil's #2: Debut of Rilo Kiley was financed by Dave Foley of Kids in the Hall
• Jay's #2: Beck gets funky, continuing extreme genre shifts from album to album
• Phil's #1: Widespread Panic melds a lot of styles in a listener-friendly jam album
• Jay's #1: Back-to-back #1s from Sloan with a semi-autobiographical masterpiece
• Favorite songs: "Climb to Safety" (Phil); "Friendship" (Jay)

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The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1999.

Show notes:

• In '99, Jay turned 32, Phil turned 30
• Y2K was looming
• Phil got married, Jay got engaged
• Ireland on New Year's Eve
• Pop was on the upswing
• Nu metal and Woodstock 99
• Music sales were high, but MP3s were about to take a big bite
• Santana made a huge comeback
• Phil's non top 5 albums: Magnolia soundtrack, Sleater-Kinney, White Stripes, Wilco, Sheila Divine, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Moby, Red Hot Chili Peppers,
• The pickings were slim overall in '99
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1998.

Show notes:

• More of Phil's non-top 5s: Monster Magnet, R.E.M., Hole, Dave Matthews Band
• Jay's non-top 5s: Tragically Hip, Monster Magnet, Jerry Cantrell, Frank Black and the Catholics, Beastie Boys, Rocket From the Crypt, Rancid, Cat Power
• Phil tells of a magical mixtape service
• Phil's #5: Moe with a jazzy jam band album
• Phil says he's not a "Moe-ron"
• Not hating on Steely Dan
• Jay's #5: Silver Jews with downbeat indie rock classic
• Phil's #4 and Jay's #2: The debut from Queens of the Stone Age kicks serious ass, combining stoner rock with robotic grooves
• Jay's #4: Followed up Odelay with the experimental Mutations
• Phil's #3: A fun release from the Beastie Boys
• Jay's #3: R&B-influenced album from Afghan Whigs was last before they broke up
• Phil's #2: Phish's 7th album featured a "cow funk" sound
• Phil's #1: Big breakthrough from Fatboy Slim paved the way for DJ as frontman
• Jay's #1: Sloan with a '70s vibe, from arena rockers to sunny AM pop
• Favorite songs: "Praise You" (Phil), "She Says What She Means" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1998.

Show notes:

• 1998 was 25 years ago!
• Jay turned 31, Phil turned 29
• The one-hit wonders were abundant
• Alt-rock was fading in popularity
• MTV was predominantly airing programming that wasn't videos
• MP3s became another way to share/steal music
• Paved the way for Napster and eventually the near-collapse of the music industry
• Pop was taking over: Britney, Backstreet Boys, N Sync
• Artists who started out great and then just sold out/sucked
• Phil's non-top 5's: PJ Harvey, Mercury Rev, Drive-By Truckers, Pearl Jam, Government Mule, Mark Lanegan, Jerry Cantrell, Tragically Hip, Neutral Milk Hotel
• The Hip played at Woodstock '99 (correction: it was the weekend after JFK Jr.'s plane crash)
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1997.

Show notes:

• Jay's non-top 5 albums: Cornershop, Yo La Tengo, Elliott Smith, Chris Whitley, Portishead, Ween
• Phil's #5 and Jay's #4: Ben Folds Five's breakthrough with piano-driven snark
• Phil's #4: Third album from Sleater-Kinney features Janet Weiss' debut on drums
• Phil's #3: Elliott Smith's lo-fi folk got a boost from Good Will Hunting
• Jay's #3: Built to Spill with another of their epic '90s releases
• Phil's #2: Dylan makes a triumphant return
• When artists stop writing new material
• Jay's #2: A masterful release from Pavement
• Phil's #1 and Jay's #5; Second Foo Fighters album establishes Grohl and his band as a musical force
• Jay's #1: Radiohead reaches new heights on its third album
• How Jay learned to love Radiohead
• Favorite songs: "My Poor Brain" (Phil), "Karma Police" (Jay)

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The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1997.

Show notes:

• In '97, Jay hit the big 3-0, Phil turned 28
• Big year for partying
• Alt-rock one-hit wonders abounded: Marcy Playground, Third Eye Blind, Smash Mouth
• Boy bands, hip hop, female singer-songwriters
• Phil's "bubbling under" albums: U2, Led Zeppelin, Bjork, Bowie, Dinosaur Jr., Pavement, Guided By Voices, Whiskeytown, Steve Earle, Prodigy, Radiohead, David Byrne
• U2 lost the plot with "Pop"
• The interesting career of David Byrne
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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This week, I'm joined by guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the resurgence of role-playing games.

Show notes:

• Recorded in Salem, Mass.

• Last time we recorded for the show was two years ago

• Time is passing quickly

• Jay: Going into the office once a week now

• Matt: It was an extrovert's world for a long time

• Matt's still writing YA books

• Matt has been running Dungeons & Dragons games since pandemic started

• Unprepared for the number of people who wanted to jump in

• Matt: Didn't have enough friends to play in high school

• Was going to start doing it for corporate retreats when COVID hit

• A legal dispute over licensing with Hasbro

• Jay: Was a total comics nerd in high school

• D&D made a comeback thanks to Stranger Things

• A D&D movie is coming out with Chris Pine

• Tom Hanks starred in Mazes & Monsters, a "Satanic panic" movie about D&D

• Stopped buying comics when there were bills to pay

• Matt: Plenty of non-D&D role-playing games are popular

• Played Vampire: The Masquerade in the '90s

• Matt does a podcast called The Ravenfolly Institute that follows D&D campaigns as they happen

• Matt's super-productive in his spare time

• Working on an "adult" gritty fantasy book

• Book industry is in "dire need of reform"

• The first of Matt's books is getting an audiobook

• Struggling to get through Dune (the book)

• Matt's learning how to play a Dune role-playing game

• Listens to a lot of RPG podcasts; helps you learn the game

• D&D has had peaks and valleys of popularity since the mid-70s

• On its 5th edition; went back to older style but streamlined

• The stigma of being a nerd is gone now

• Board games in general have become popular again

• You get what you put into playing RPGs

• A lot of mystery-themed games

• Matt: Storytelling is storytelling, whether it's books or RPGs or podcasts

• Matt's the D&Dealer

• Gotta have the "math rocks"

• Also does sister podcast Characters & Class

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The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1996.

Show notes:

• Phil's #5: Cowboy Junkies score with their first album of originals

• Jay's #5: Sebadoh with a sprawling collection of rockers and ballads

• Phil's #4: Soundgarden's last album of the '90s turned away from their big hit

• Jay's #4: Frank Black with another album of quirky greatness

• Phil's #3: Phish with a fan-friendly studio release

• Jay's #3: Cinematic-sounding crime saga from the Afghan Whigs

• Phil's #2: Double album that was the breakthrough for Wilco

• Jay's #2: After a brief breakup, Sloan comes back with a power pop classic

• Phil's and Jay's #1: Beck blows up with a spectacular album that explores multiple genres

• Favorite songs: "New Pollution" (Phil), "G Turns to D" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1996.

Show notes:

• In '96, Jay turned 29, Phil turned 27

• Days of little to no responsibility other than work

• Adventures in sports gambling

• Tougher year to come up with top 5

• The Macarena was all the rage

• Phil's non-top 5s: Rage Against the Machine, Fiona Apple, Sleater-Kinney, Tragically Hip, Dave Matthews Band, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Moe, Tracy Bonham, Luscious Jackson, Sublime, Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, Tom Petty, Tori Amos, Cake, Silver Jews

• Rolling Stone lists are sheer clickbait

• Jay's non-top 5s: Soundgarden, Superdrag, Posies, D Generation, Weezer, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we count down our favorite music of 2022.

Show notes:

• On to our top 10

• Breitling's #10: Archers of Loaf returns with a different sounding release

• Kumar's #10: Fontaines D.C. evolves its sound

• Breitling's and Kumar's #9: Radiohead offshoot The Smile with an interesting return to early '00s sound

• Breitling's #8: Pleasant surprise album from Palm

• Breitling's #7: First Sub Pop album from Frankie Cosmos

• Bernice taking over the couch

• Breitling's #6: Shimmering pop brilliance from The Beths

• Kumar's #6: A nostalgic rocker from Oceanator

• Breitling's #5 and Kumar's #7: Horsegirl bursts out of nowhere with a lo-fi banger of a debut

• Kumar's #5: Another strong release from Toronto's Kiwi Jr.

• Breitling's #4 and Kumar's #8: Harking back to '85, band full of DC punk vets lands a massive post-hardcore statement

• Kumar's #4: Triumphant return by Titus Andronicus overcoming setbacks

• Breitling's #3: METZ side project Weird Nightmare is "peak Jay (Breitling)"

• Kumar's #3: Afghan Whigs combines old collaborations with new sounds

• Breitling's #2: A "modern shoegaze classic" from Helens

• Kumar's #2: Sloan delivers another classic power pop album that they developed during the pandemic

• Breitling's #1: Side project from Johnny Foreigner principals as Yr Poetry

• Kumar's #1: Smart-ass and cynical look at being in an band from PUP

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2022.

Show notes:

• Recorded at Clicky Clicky/Parcheesi Redux East HQ

• We've been doing this for 13 years!

• Kumar: Went to some more shows this year

• Breitling went to zero shows in 2022

• Things to look forward to in '23: The Cure returns, Drop Nineteens, Hallelujah the Hills' DECK project, Johnny Foreigner, Fucked Up, Blue Ocean, Peter Gabriel

• Kate Hudson is supposed to be releasing an album

• The varied talents of Fred Armisen

• In '22, the music industry continued to struggle

• Fewer revenue streams, fragmented audiences, content glut

• Diaper payola

• Even established acts can't sell new albums anymore

• Artists are selling directly to their audiences through Patreon, etc.

• Breitling's honorable mentions: Photon Band, Flyying Colours, Bitchin' Bajas, Kal Marks, Sun Airway, S.C.A.B., They Are Gutting a Body of Water, Kiwi Jr.

• Kumar's HMs: Kal Marks, Built to Spill, Wet Leg, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Alvvays, Superchunk, Spoon, Jon Spencer and the HitMakers, Archers of Loaf, Black Angels, OFF!

• Albums that came out early in the year feel like they came out much longer ago

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1995.

Show notes:

• Jay's non-top 5s: Mike Watt, Bjork, Guided By Voices, Boss Hog, Rancid, The Amps

• Phil's #5: Bjork's second album embraces the quirkiness

• Jay's #4: Jawbreaker's major label debut was a total bust, but it's really good

• "Selling out" was a big deal back then

• Phil's #3: The debut of Elastica was fully formed, but band disappeared a few years later

• Jay's #3: Pavement's followup to their big break was dismissed as too weird, but now is considered a classic

• Phil's #2: Neil Young teams up with Pearl Jam for strong release at the peak of PJ's fame

• Jay's #2: Horn-powered kickass blast of an album from Rocket From the Crypt

• Phil's #1 and Jay's #5: Dave Grohl emerges from Nirvana's shadow with first Foo Fighters album

• Jay's #1 and Phil's #4: PJ Harvey changes up her sound and goes theatrical and atmospheric

• Favorite songs: "Meet Ze Monsta" (Jay), "Alone + Easy Target" (Jay)

• Next: Best of 2022 with Jay Breitling

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1995.

Show notes:

• First show in quite a while

• In '95, Phil turned 26, Jay turned 28

• We both saw a lot of concerts that year

• Big deaths: Jerry Garcia, Eazy E, Shannon Hoon

• Musings on Cleveland, where the Rock Hall of Fame opened in '95

• Jay saw a doubleheader of a Bruins game and a Chris Whitley show

• Singles charts were leaning toward pop and lighter fare

• Is band loyalty still a thing?

• It's okay to not listen to every album in a band's catalog

• Phil's non-top 5 albums: Belly, Garbage, Alice in Chains, Mad Season, Phish, Elliott Smith, Radiohead, RHCP, Sonic Youth, Matthew Sweet, Pavement, Ben Folds Five, Morphine, No Doubt, Throwing Muses, Green Day, Natalie Merchant, Son Volt, Smashing Pumpkins

• It's a rare double album that can't be cut down to a single album

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1994.

Show notes:

• Jay's non-top 5s: Superchunk, Jeff Buckley, Drive Like Jehu, Rollins Band, Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Helmet, Pulp Fiction soundtrack, Mark Lanegan, Nirvana

• Phil's #5: Pearl Jam's third album gets a little adventurous and rough-edged

• Jay's #5: The Tragically Hip gets more atmospheric after more straight-ahead rockers

• Phil's #4: Debut album from Jeff Buckley showcases his vocal range and a flair for different styles

• Jay's #4: The super-prolific Guided By Voices brings lo-fi rock into the forefront

• Phil's #3: Nirvana reinvented the Unplugged format in a historic recording

• Jay's #3: No sophomore jinx for Pavement, who broke through in an indie rock way

• Phil's #2: Soundgarden breaks through to the mainstream

• Jay's #2: Frank Black does a Bob Pollard impression with a lot of short bursts of awesomeness on his second solo album

• Phil's #1: Green Day explodes into popular culture with a classic blast of snotty pop-punk

• Jay's #1: An abrupt shift in sound from Sloan that led to them getting dumped by Geffen and briefly breaking up...but it's amazing

• This was the peak of the '90s indie rock scene

• Favorite songs: "Longview" (Phil), "Coax Me" (Sloan)

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The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1994.

Show notes:

• Back after a two-month summer break

• In 1994, Jay turned 27, Phil turned 25

• Steely Dan was touring again

• Jay: Life improved in '94 on job and home front

• Jay: Saw a ton of shows including Pearl Jam, Afghan Whigs, Rollins Band, Cracker, Soundgarden, Buffalo Tom, Blues Explosion, Tragically Hip, Sugar

• Debating the merits of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones

• Phil's kids love the pop music

• Phil went to the infamous Green Day show at the Hatch Shell

• Top singles were all pop and hip hop, lots of ballads

• Big year for indie rock

• Grunge peaked and major labels started signing bands from non-Seattle locations like Chicago, San Diego, etc.

• Pearl Jam sued TicketMaster and tried to do a tour of non-TM venues, but it fizzled

• Cobain's death was a pivotal moment

• Woodstock '94 didn't get as much press as '99

• Other newsy events: Baseball strike, OJ Simpson chase, Eagles started charging $100 for concert tickets

• Phil's non-top 5 albums: Alice in Chains, R.E.M., Hole, Beastie Boys, Weezer, Phish, Sonic Youth, Meat Puppets, Sugar, Dinosaur Jr., Luscious Jackson, Beck, Liz Phair, Veruca Salt, Stone Roses, Jesus and Mary Chain, Portishead, Stone Temple Pilots, Dave Matthews Band, Tom Petty, Neil Young & Crazy Horse

• What is emo? Also, what is internet?

• Weezer started out strong, but now they're a parody of themselves

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about movie fandom.

Show notes:

• Recorded while driving to Tree House Brewery

• Watching scary movies as a kid

• The Shining still holds up

• Favorite directors: Kubrick, Scorsese, Tarantino

• Jay: After Hours is a fun movie; similar plot to Into the Night, which came out around the same time

• The current state of prestige TV is giving movies a run for their money

• Better Call Saul is the latest great show

• The early days of the pandemic led to watching lots of movies

• Great time to catch up on old favorites and things you missed

• The greatness of The Decline of Western Civilization, Part 2

• U2 was riding high until they released the movie Rattle and Hum

• Lots of movies filmed in our area

• Jay: After we had kids, didn't go to an adult movie in the theater for years

• Movie dates used to be a big deal when we were younger

• Don't do it that much anymore

• The movie viewing experience at home is much better than it used to be

• Phil hasn't been to a movie in a theater since the pandemic started

• Watching edited versions of movies on network TV

• We interact differently with movies today

• Movie recommendations: Jay recommends Prey, The Limey, Burn After Reading, No Country For Old Men, Something Wild, After Hours

• Phil recommends Bernie, I'm Thinking of Ending Things

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The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                                     Celebrating the show's 16th birthday with part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our love of movies.

Show notes:

• Recorded while driving to Tree House Brewery

• Phil remembers seeing "Bambi" in the theater and "Halloween" a little early

• The interesting career beginnings of Kurt Russell

• Jay: Watched a lot of Disney movies as a kid

• Drive-in theaters were fun

• Getting into James Bond movies

• Jay's early favorites: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Close Encounters

• Getting scolded during E.T.

• Date movies: Titanic was a weepy scene

• In recent years, Jay takes his daughters to MCU movies

• Sandler movies run the gamut

• Seeing an R-rated movie with a friend's family

• Watching adult content with your parents is seriously awkward

• Jay became a Mel Brooks fan as a pre-teen

• Watching old movies during the early days of the pandemic

• Eddie Murphy's '80s standup wouldn't fly today

• To be continued

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The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                                    Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1993.

Show notes:

• Jay's non-top 5s: Urge Overkill, Living Colour, Matthew Sweet, The Pursuit of Happiness, Paw, Fugazi

• Some good comps and soundtracks: No Alternative, Sweet Relief, Judgment Night

• Phil's #5: Belly with a strong debut

• Jay's #5: Dinosaur Jr. straddles the line between alt- and classic rock

• Jay's #4 and Phil's #3: Smashing Pumpkins break through on sophomore effort

• Jay's #3: Electrifying, raw second album from PJ Harvey

• Phil's #2: U2 takes an interesting left turn with Zooropa

• Jay's #2 and Phil's #4: Nirvana's abrasive followup to Nevermind

• Phil's #1: Liz Phair with an audacious debut out of nowhere

• Jay's #1: A dark look at modern romance from the Afghan Whigs

• Favorite songs: "Mesmerize" (Phil), "Debonair" (Jay)

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The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                                   Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1993.

Show notes:

• In 1993, Jay turned 26, Phil turned 24

• Jay moved to Middleton, Mass.

• Phil saw the Breeders, Belly, Lenny Kravitz

• Jay saw Nirvana and the Breeders, Midnight Oil, Lollapalooza

• Big year for hip hop

• Hair metal was dead

• Phil's non-top 5s: Pearl Jam, Lenny Kravitz, Breeders, PJ Harvey, Radiohead, Afghan Whigs, Uncle Tupelo, Frank Black, Juliana Hatfield, Morphine, Velvet Underground, Bjork, Cracker, Mazzy Star, Dinosaur Jr., Big Head Todd and the Monsters

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                            Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the first half of 2022.

Show notes:

• Recorded at Clicky Clicky World HQ

• Breitling's #5: Papercuts with a solid effort featuring gratuitious Mellotron

• Kumar's #5: Spoon serves up a quality dollop of Spoon

• Breitling's #4: Elvis Costello in his occasional rock mode

• Kumar's #4: The Smile fills the gap between Radiohead albums with a pretty damn good album

• Kumar's #3: Oceanator brings the heat with revved-up guitar attack and a Doofenshmirtzian name

• Kumar with the prog-rock contacts

• Breitling's #3: WEMA is a London-based Tanzanian electronic act playing hypnotic worldbeat

• Kumar's #2: Superchunk with a strong but restrained effort looking at life during a pandemic

• Breitling's #2: Debut EP from SF act Neutrals that pushes shorter indie rock songs into long songs

• Kumar's #1: Toronto punk-pop act PUP with a great concept album about a band named PUP breaking up

• Breitling's #1: Debut album from Chicago's Horsegirl is full of "wall-to-wall bangasauruses"

• Looking forward to new releases from Kiwi Jr., Built to Spill, Ty Segall, Sloan, Afghan Whigs

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                           Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the first half of 2022.

Show notes:

• Recorded at Clicky Clicky World HQ

• Breitling's laptop is acting up

• Concerts are mostly back

• Kate Bush sees a resurgence in popularity

• R.I.P., the iPod

• RL Mathews discovers the new stuff

• Breitling's honorable mentions: Graveyard Club, David West, Big Cream, Peaness, Golden Apples, Stomptalk Modstone, Pillow Queens, Pinchpoints, Flash Hits

• Kumar's HMs: Papercuts, Kurt Vile, Savak, Sasami, Kids on a Crime Spree, Yard Act, Adulkt Life, Mister Goblin, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Elvis Costello

• Good reissues from Pavement and the Flashing Lights

• Kumar's #10: Pink Mountaintops bring the psych/sludge/synth pop

• Breitling's #10: Lo Fi Legs, a musical band with a terrible name and good indie rock

• Kumar's #9: Dan Bejar brings a little more danceability to the latest Destroyer joint

• Kumar's #8: Jon Spencer's back with a fun record

• Breitling's #8: Spiritualized is worth repeat listening

• Kumar's #7: Wet Leg proves they're not a one-trick pony

• Breitling's #7: Tremendous release from Pet Fox, featuring doods from Ovlov and Palehound

• Breitling's #6: Yawners with the Spanish indie rock

• Kumar's #6: Moody change of pace from Fontaines D.C.

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1992.

Show notes:

• More of Phil's non top 5s: Soul Asylum, Screaming Trees, Kyuss, Jayhawks, Grateful Dead, Rage Against the Machine

• A few more from Jay: Helmet, Faith No More

• Phil interviewed hockey players who liked RATM

• Jay's #5 and Phil's #4: Buffalo Tom hones their craft with their third album

• Phil's #5: Neil Young turns down after a few years of extreme volume

• Jay's #4: Beastie Boys with a killer album distinguished by more instrumentation from the boys themselves

• Jay's #3: The Tragically Hip's best album gives off a distinctly Canadian vibe

• Phil's #3: The Singles soundtrack captured the Seattle sound

• Jay's #2: Pavement brings the slacker rock on their debut

• Phil's #2: R.E.M. at the peak of their commercial powers

• Jay's and Phil's #1: Bob Mould starts a new chapter with Sugar

• Favorite songs: "Hoover Dam" (Phil), "Summer Babe" (Jay)

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The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                                  Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1992.

Show notes:

• In 1992, Jay turned 25, Phil turned 23

• We both worked at local newspapers

• The so-called grunge explosion kicked into full gear

• Jay: Saw lots of great shows, including Lollapallooza, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Mudhoney

• "Bohemian Rhapsody" was back on the singles chart thanks to Wayne's World

• Metal was phasing out

• Keeping the band brand going

• Jay's non-top 5s: Afghan Whigs, Sloan, Rollins Band, Black Crowes

• Phil's non-top 5s: Luscious Jackson, Phish, Lemonheads, Cracker, PJ Harvey, Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Lou Reed, Sonic Youth, Bettie Serveert, Mudhoney

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1991.

Show notes:

• Phil's #5: The debut of an unknown band called Pearl Jam

• Album had a slow build, didn't really get big until spring '92

• Jay's #5: Smashing Pumpkins' debut is a guitar feast

• Phil's #4: Prince's last great album, according to Phil

• Jay's #4: Under-the-radar power pop genius from Scotland

• Gene Simmons sued over the album cover

• That time Simmons covered "Firestarter"

• Phil's #3: Lenny Kravitz peaks on this second album

• Phil's #2: U2 changes their image and sound

• Shifted from Americana to German electronic sounds

• Jay's #2: Soundgarden blasts into the stratosphere

• Pissing off old people

• Jay's #1: Matthew Sweet breaks through with a power pop classic

• Great guitarists guesting, including Robert Quine and Richard Lloyd

• Phil's #1 and Jay's #3: Nirvana's revolutionary sophomore effort

• Suffers from overexposure on classic rock stations now

• Favorite songs: "Divine Intervention" (Jay), "Breed" (Phil)

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The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                                 Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1991.

Show notes:

• In '91, Phil graduated from college; Jay worked at the Peabody Times newspaper

• A big year for rock, although a lot of the impact wasn't felt until the following year

• Seeds for alt-rock explosion had been sown in the previous few years

• Still a lot of classic rock, hair metal and pop on the charts

• Freddie Mercury died, Lollapallooza tour started

• Bryan Adams was in full balladeer mode

• The evolution of Marky Mark

• Clapton still sucks

• Neither of us was a fan of the Use Your Illusion albums

• Albums were way too long in the CD era

• Phil's non-top 5 albums: Temple of the Dog, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Mudhoney, Dinosaur Jr., Pixies, A Tribe Called Quest, My Bloody Valentine, Tragically Hip, Neil Young, Massive Attack, Primal Scream, R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers

• Jay's non-top 5s: Elvis Costello, Nation of Ulysses, Fishbone

• Rockit Records, R.I.P.

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                                Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1990.

Show notes:

• Our top 5 albums of '90

• Phil's #5: Jane's Addiction with a sprawling classic

• Jay's #5: Sophomore release from Living Colour explored a lot of different styles

• Phil's #4: Sinead O'Connor blows up with her second album

• Her SNL appearance in '92 caused serious controversy

• Sinead is alive and well

• Jay's #4: Kim Deal goes out on her own with the Breeders

• Phil's #3: Phish comes into their own with second album

• The jammier acts played the Northeast college scene in the late '80s/early '90s

• Jay's #3: Public Enemy blasts through with a strident, political album

• Phil's #2: Sonic Youth streamlines their sound on their major label debut

• Jay's #1: Fugazi continues sticking it to The Man on their first full-length album

• Phil's #1 and Jay's #2: Neil Young and Crazy Horse crank up the amps and embrace feedback

• Phil saw this tour with Sonic Youth and Social Distortion opening

• He might be making the best current music of his peers

• Favorite songs: "Fuckin' Up" (Phil), "Merchandise" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1990. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• Recorded in person at CompCon World HQ

• In '90, Jay turned 23 and Phil turned 21

• Phil's short career in foodservice

• Jay was a newspaper reporter in Peabody, Mass.

• Controversies over 2 Live Crew, Milli Vanilli and Madonna

• Lots of scenes happening: Alternative, New Jack Swing, Madchester, Seattle

• The era of the Jock Jam

• Albums that didn't make Phil's top 5: Uncle Tupelo, Allman Brothers, Pretenders, Living Colour, Breeders, Alice in Chains, Mother Love Bone, Pixies, World Party, Happy Mondays, Ride, Mazzy Star, Sundays, Cowboy Junkies, Replacements, INXS, Social Distortion, Bob Mould, Black Crowes

• Questions around the November Rain video (which came out in '91)

• Jay's non-top 5s: Afghan Whigs, Flaming Lips, Midnight Oil, Mark Lanegan, Robert Plant

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                               Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1989.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom during a blizzard

• Our top 5 albums of '89

• Phil's #5: Tom Petty finds renewed success with a solo album

-Jay's #5 and Phil's #4: Nirvana's sludgy debut hints at future success

• Jay's #4: The Beasties go sample crazy and blow up the sophomore slump

• Phil's #3: Phish with an auspicious debut

• Jay had a run-in with a pre-fame Trey Anastasio at the UNH newspaper

• Jay's #2: Bob Mould shifts gears in his solo debut and launches new phase in his career

• Phil's #2 and Jay's #1: Pixies follow up a stone cold classic with another one

• Phil's #1 and Jay's #3: Neil Young triumphs after a rough decade

• Favorite songs: "Hangin' on a Limb" (Phil), "Wave of Mutilation" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                              Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1989.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom during a blizzard

• In '89, Jay turned 22 and graduated from college, Phil turned 20

• Early seeds of Seattle and Manchester sound

• GNR became huge

• Milli Vanilli was enjoying some short-lived success

-Big year for pop

• Phil's non-top 5 albums: Bob Mould, The Cure, B-52s, Stone Roses, The Ocean Blue, XTC, De La Soul, Replacements, Joe Jackson, Galaxie 500, Fugazi, RHCP, Lenny Kravitz, Tragically Hip, Indigo Girls, Bonnie Raitt, Tin Machine, Lou Reed, Dylan, McCartney, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Stones, Grateful Dead

• George Jefferson, prog fan

• Phil saw Stones, Who, McCartney, the Dead, the Cure, B-52s; Jay saw R.E.M., Elvis Costello

• Jay: Faith No More, Soundgarden, Elvis Costello, Cult, Mudhoney, Buffalo Tom, Nine Inch Nails

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                             Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1988.

Show notes:

• Recorded while driving home from Trillium Brewing in Canton, Mass.

• Phil's #5: Sonic Youth focuses their sound

• Jay's #5: J. Mascis and Dino Jr. get more melodic while still delivering a heavy sound

• Phil's #4: U2's first controversial album still provides a lot of memorable moments, overshadowed by the movie

• Jay's #4 and Phil's #3: Living Colour's debut showed off their many talents

• Jay's #3: Debut from Toronto's The Pursuit of Happiness combined hard rock, neurotic singer and girl group backing vocals

• Phil's #2: R.E.M.'s last album before they became superstars

• Jay's #2: Public Enemy at the peak of their powers

• Phil's and Jay's #1: Los Pixies creates the template for the '90s alt-rock explosion

• Favorite songs: "Gigantic" (Phil), "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                            Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1988.

Show notes:

• Recorded while driving to Trillium Brewing in Canton, Mass.

• In 1988, Jay turned 21 and Phil turned 19

• Jay: 21st birthday was pretty rough

• Phil tells tales of good decision-making

• Jay's long, strange trip to the Monsters of Rock show: Long drive, short show

• Big year for pop artists on the charts

• Phil's Whitesnake story

• Big soundtracks: Cocktail, Dirty Dancing

• Phil's non-top 5 albums: Keith Richards, Mudhoney, Jerry Harrison, Jane's Addiction, Cowboy Junkies, Brian Wilson, Smithereens, Smiths, Pogues, Waterboys, Dinosaur Jr., Tracy Chapman, Public Enemy, Traveling Wilburys

• Jay's non-top 5s: Fishbone, Bobby Brown, Iron Maiden, Robert Plant, The Church, Metallica

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                           Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our top albums of 2021.

Show notes:

• Recorded at Clicky Clicky World HQ

• On to the top 10

• Breitling's #10: The Reds, Pinks and Purples with an ephemeral pop release on Slumberland

• Kumar's #10: Raw collection of rippers from Juliana Hatfield

• Breitling's #9 and Kumar's #8: Instant classic from Ovlov

• Kumar's #9: IDLES shifts gears with some stylistic changes

• Breitling's #8: Chime School with a quality jangle-rock album

• Breitling's #7: More Slumberland goodness from the Umbrellas

• Kumar's #7: St. Vincent digs into a late '70s vibe

• Breitling's #6: Toronto's Ducks Ltd. with an excellent Feelies-esque record

• Kumar's #5: Baltimore hardcore screamers Turnstile explores different sounds

• Breitling's #4 and Kumar's #2: Dino Jr. continues to kick ass

• Kumar's #4: Kiwi Jr. is another Toronto act working the '90s slacker rock vibe

• Breitling's #3: MBV-esque shoegaze from Fleeting Joys

• Kumar's #3: Parquet Courts moves into danceable Talking Heads territory

• Breitling's #2 and Kumar's #6: The War on Drugs fully embraces a mid-80s FM radio sound

• Breitling's #1: Blue Ocean with a shoegaze/post punk compilation of two EPs

• Kumar's #1 and Breitling's #5: More Bay Area-based slack-rock awesomeness with Pardoner

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                          Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2021.

Show notes:

• Recorded at Clicky Clicky World HQ

• Fully boostered podcast

• We've been to concerts

• Some shows have been postponed or canceled

• Physical media is disappearing

• Vinyl shortage

• We're still doing our Internet radio shows (Parcheesi Radio, Stuck In Thee Garage)

• Tiktok is becoming a way to break music

• What the f are NFTs?

• Our favorite music, starting with the ones that didn't make our top 5

• Breitling: Mogwai, Lilys reissue, Fievel Is Glauque, Spirit of the Beehive

• Kumar: Ducks Ltd., Courtney Barnett, Jeff Rosenstock, Black Country New Road, Dry Cleaning, Fiddlehead

• Breitling: Stomp Talk Modstone, Floating Points/Pharoah Sanders/London Sympathy Orchestra, Palberta, Kiwi Jr., Colleen, Fog Lake

• Kumar: Chubby and the Nuts, Mdou Moctar, The Bevis Frond, Sleaford Mods, Colleen Green, TV Priest, Bachelor, Shame

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                     Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we discuss rock stars and retirement.

Show notes:

• Recorded recently via Skype

• Will we see KISS JR.?

• Will bands bring in replacements after the original members are all retired/dead?

• Plenty of good cover bands out there who can probably outperform the originals

• The "officially licensed cover band"

• Hologram concerts are still trying to get off the ground

• Fan base is also getting older

• The big money these days is in hip hop, pop and country

• Meanwhile, revered indie artists like Lou Barlow are playing living room/backyard shows

• Who's going to stadium shows?

• We don't like large venues

• Bands like VH should release archival live shows like Neil Young

• Sammy Hagar's living the good life

• Bands that are outstaying their welcome

• When bands you like are disappointing

• Checking out Canadian classic rock radio

• Nobody in 1991 would have predicted Dave Grohl would be the face of rock n' roll 30 years later

• Will rock ever make a comeback?

• Might end up like jazz, blues, bluegrass

• Lots of interesting new rock coming out all the time

• Commercial rock radio is pointless

• It's easy to release albums, but tough to find an audience

• Brian: Spotify's new music algorithm works well

• Singers have a tougher time replicating their heyday

• Iggy Pop has aged gracefully, believe it or not

• We should take better care of artists

• So hard to make a living as a musician these days

• Jay: As a journalism major, I feel their pain

• The band Sloan has carved out a nice niche in Canada

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                    Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we discuss rock stars and retirement.

Show notes:

• Recorded recently via Skype

• David Lee Roth recently announced his retirement

• Should more aging rock stars retire?

• Robert Plant isn't trying to be the Golden God anymore

• Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford can still deliver high-energy metal performances

• Shut it down, Clapton

• Ozzy's been doing retirement tours for 30 years

• KISS keeps playing "final" tours

• DLR actually predicted his retirement in a 1991 video

• Jay: Never saw Dave play with VH

• VH changed the hard rock game

• Dave and Sammy are different kinds of clowns

• Dave only did a few solo albums after 1991

• DLR's image radically changed as his looks did

• Bands keep touring into their 70s and 80s

• Grant Hart looked pretty rough toward the end of his life, but kept touring

• Similar to athletes who don't know when to hang it up

• Ringo Starr has the right idea: Let the young guys do the heavy lifting

• Ozzy and Sharon have issues with writing credits

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                            Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1987.

Show notes:

• Recorded in the backyard of CompCon HQ

• Jay's non-top 5 albums: Terence Trent D'Arby, Pixies, The Cure, Prince (The Black Album), Sonic Youth, Def Leppard, Guns N' Roses

• It's easier to listen to bro-country or classic rock than look for new music these days

• Phil's #5: GNR's debut took a few years to really take off

• Jay's #5: The Cult goes for a hard rock sound

• Jay's #4 and Phil's #1: U2 with a massive mainstream breakthrough

• Phil's #3: The Cure with a killer double album

• Jay's #3: R.E.M.'s last album on IRS, embracing a big rock sound

• Phil's #2: The Grateful Dead go mainstream

• Jay's #2: The Replacements' last great album

• Jay's #1 and Phil's #4: Prince tries out many styles, makes social commentary

• Favorite songs: "One Tree Hill" (Phil), "Sign O' the Times" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                           Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1987.

Show notes:

• Recorded in the backyard of CompCon HQ

• In '87, Phil was 17 going on 18, Jay was 19 going on 20

• The Bangles had the #1 single of the year with "Walk Like An Egyptian"

• Another big year for movie soundtracks

• A lot of female pop artists hit big

• Jay: Concerts I saw included Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Motley Crue, Jon Butcher Axis and U2

• Phil: Saw INXS, U2 twice, Sting, Smithereens

• Bruce Willis released an album

• Starship churns out the crap

• Many bands changed their sound in the '80s to stay "relevant"

• Phil's non-top 5 albums: INXS, Hoodoo Gurus, the Smiths, Husker Du, Dinosaur Jr., Jane's Addiction, Midnight Oil, 10,000 Maniacs, George Harrison, Sinead O'Connor, Bowie, The Tragically Hip

• The meteoric rise and quick decline of INXS

• That time Husker Du went on the Joan Rivers Show

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                          Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1986.

Show notes:

• Recorded in the backyard of CompCon HQ

• Phil's #5: Solid effort from the Pretenders, which was basically just Chrissie Hynde at this point

• Jay's #5: Metallica hits their high point

• Neighborhood dogs start chiming in

• Phil is a big fan of Ratt n' Roll

• Phil's #4: The debut of the Van Hagar era

• Eddie fully embraces synths, poppier sound

• Didn't realize until recently that the riff of "Best of Both Worlds" is identical to Kool and the Gang's "Celebration"

• Jay's #4: David Lee Roth's out VH's VH

• The best Dave solo album

• Phil's #3 and Jay's #2: R.E.M. starts embracing power chords

• Jay's #3: John Lydon teams up with studio musicians to create a classic

• Steve Vai, Ginger Baker and others show up

• Phil's #1: The Smiths in the middle of a strong run of albums

• Johnny Marr elevates this album

• Phil's #2 and Jay's #1: Husker Du's last great record

• First major label album featured more pop hooks

• Grant Hart and Bob Mould each bringing in great songs

• Favorite songs: "Bigmouth Strikes Again" (Phil), "Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely" (Jay)

• Check out my Spotify playlist "Hits of the Year," which collects all the favorite songs we picked from 1970 onward

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                         Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1986.

Show notes:

• Recorded in the backyard of CompCon HQ

• Jay was 18 going on 19 in '86, Phil was 16 going on 17

• Nine of the top 10 selling albums of '86 came out the year before

• Older artists make comebacks

• Pop and hair metal were big

• Boston finally released its third album

• Phil's non-top 5s: Talking Heads, Smithereens, Prince, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, XTC, Bad Brains, Gene Loves Jezebel, Love and Rockets, World Party, Dead Milkmen, B-52s, Luka Bloom, Feelies, Joe Jackson, Pet Shop Boys, Sonic Youth, Rolling Stones, Dylan, Steve Earle, DLR

• Jay's non-top 5s: David & David, Peter Gabriel, Iron Maiden

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Celebrating the show's 15th birthday with a look back at some key moments over the years.

Show notes:

• Going the clip show route

• Episode 2: The early days

• Episode 72: The first guest, featuring Jay Breitling

• Episode 141: Talking about mixtapes, including recordings I made when I was 13-14

• Episode 146: Talking to Amanda Guest about college radio

• Episode 186: My visit to Seattle, which got off to a strange start

• Episode 253: Ric Dube and I break down "Smokin' In the Boys Room"

• Episode 315: Brian Salvatore and I torture ourselves by listening to Van Halen III

• Episode 494: Talking about drug-related concert experiences with Phil Stacey.

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about growing up as sports fans.

Show notes:

• Recorded on the way home from Tree House Brewing

• We still don't get esports

• Bands who sing songs about sports

• Weezer at the Winter Classic

• Short attention spans and sports

• Sports gambling is big business

• Super Bowl prop bets are popular

• Shohei Ohtani is the greatest baseball player we've seen in a long time

• Luck is a big factor in fantasy baseball

• The occasional Toronto championships

• Some people don't like sports

• Getting blown off by Rickey Henderson

• Jay: Both daughters played competitive sports

• Roped younger daughter into becoming a Leafs fan

• Watching your team lose sucks, but it's not the end of the world

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                        Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about growing up as sports fans.

Show notes:

• Recorded on the way to Tree House Brewing

• Phil: Grew up watching sports with his dad, playing sports with his brothers

• Watched a lot of tennis in the late '70s/early /80s

• Both read the sports page of the local paper

• Collecting sports cards was a big hobby

• Jay: Began watching hockey with dad, quickly became obsessed

• Played street hockey with the neighborhood kids

• Phil: We played outside with no supervision all day

• Now we don't let our kids go anywhere on their own

• Imagining you're a pro athlete

• Memories of church league hoops

• Jay: We played "foot hockey" (aka soccer with a tennis ball) every day at recess

• Street hockey got serious, playing teams from across town

• No fun playing sports against your boss

• Jay: Parents wouldn't let me play organized youth hockey

• Didn't play sports the first two years of high school because of multiple moves

• Good way to make friends

• Jay: Played a lot of sports after college

• Played soccer, hockey, golf, tennis

• It's no fun when people start acting like jerks

• Started getting involved with coaching youth sports when kids started playing

• Some parents take their kids' sports way too seriously

• Let your kids enjoy themselves

• Sports fans can be really dumb

• Going to games as a kid

• Baseball is a major sport, but it's getting tough to watch a whole game on TV

• The kids love the e-sports

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                         Part 3 of my in-person conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2021 so far.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon World HQ

• Still with the fan noise

• Kumar's #7: Sleaford Mods with perennially pissed off minimalist post-punk

• Breitling's #6: Multi-instrumentalist Colleen with hypnotic ambient album

• Kumar's #6: More IDLES-y post-punk from across the pond with TV Priest

• Breitling's #4: More Slumberland bedroom pop goodness from the Reds, Pinks and Purples

• Kumar's #5: St. Vincent goes for a late '70s Bowie vibe

• Kumar's #4: Jeff Rosenstock revisits his ska-punk roots with a remake of his 2020 album No Dream

• Breitling's #3: Blue Ocean with release combining two EPs of shoegaze

• Kumar's #3: Excellent guitar-heavy ripper from Juliana Hatfield

• Breitling's #2: Pardoner with a hot rock release reminiscent of Pavement and Parquet Courts

• Kumar's #1 and Breitling's #5: Kiwi Jr.'s second release of sardonic slacker rock

• Breitling's #1 and Kumar's #2: Dinosaur Jr. with a great collection of songs

• Let's go see rock shows!

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                        It's part 2 of my in-person conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2021 so far.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon World HQ

• Still with the fan noise

• Kumar's bubbling under picks (aka "Bubblahs"): Lots of cool UK post-punk (Black Country, New Road; Squid; Yard Act; Sleaford Mods; TV Priest,; Dry Cleaning), The Hold Steady, Mdou Moctar, Guardian Singles,Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, Teenage Fanclub, Iceage, McCartney, Ex-Hyena, Fridge Poetry, Glitterer, The Dirty Nil

• Breitling: We're living in Blade Runner/cyberpunk times

• Regional lingo

• Minor sax resurgence

• Difference of opinions on The Weeknd

• Breitling's #10: Stomp Talk Modstone with a collection of Chinese shoegaze

• Kumar's #10: An EP of lost songs from The Tragically Hip's 1991 Road Apples sessions

• Breitling's #9: Floating Points/Pharoah Sanders/London Symphony Orchestra with a cool collab

• Kumar's #9: Shame's second release is full of fun, fiery post-punk

• Breitling's #8: Fog Lake with a droning take on isolation

• Kumar's #8: Striking collab between Ellen Kempner of Palehound and Melina Duterte of Jay Som

• Breitling's #7: Palberta puts it all together

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                       It's part 1 of my in-person conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2021 so far.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon World HQ

• Apologies for the loudness of the fan! Pretend you're skydiving!

• First time together since December 2019

• Kumar: Check out Mdou Moctar, West African guitarist on Matador

• Rollins and his listening habits

• Breitling: Watching a lot of rock docs

• Concerts are coming back and we're going to some

• Oh great, the Eagles are touring again

• Plenty of reissues out; gotta make money somehow

• Streaming continues to be the main way to listen to music

• Remembering the days of the Walkman and then later MP3 players that held 8 songs

• Breitling's still producing a weekly radio show called Parcheesi Redux

• Internet radio shows and podcasts are filling the gap left by commercial radio's stagnancy

• I'm still doing my radio show Stuck In Thee Garage on BFF.fm

• Breitling's bubbling under picks: Lilys reissues, Mogwai, Fievel Is Glauque, Spirit of the Beehive

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                       Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we count down our favorite albums of 1985.

Show notes:

• Recorded IN PERSON at CompCon world HQ for the first time since February 2020

• Phil and Jay's #5: R.E.M. follows up two classic albums with a quirky effort

• Band gradually grew in popularity

• Phil and Jay's #4: The Cult hits the right combination of goth and hard rock

• Ian Astbury's lyrics were appropriately cryptic

• Phil's #3: An out-of-left-field pick with the Dead Milkmen's debut

• "Bitchin' Camaro" was the "hit"

• Jay's #3: Pete Townshend's solo peak

• He's mainly focused on Who tours since then

• Phil's #2: Talking Heads delve into Americana

• Surprisingly, their best-selling studio album

• Jay's #2: Husker Du continues their hot streak

• First of two releases in '85

• Robert Palmer covered "New Day Rising"

• Phil's #1: Conflicted about picking the Smiths thanks to Moz being a d-bag

• Phil was an early fan, at least among his peers

• Jay's #1: The Replacements keep getting better with each album

• The band kept self-sabotaging through their entire career

• Favorite songs: "Bastards of Young" (Jay), "Barbarism Begins at Home" (Phil)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                      Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the music of 1985.

Show notes:

• Recorded IN PERSON at CompCon world HQ for the first time since February 2020

• We were scheduled to record a podcast the weekend that everything shut down last year

• In '85, Jay was 17 going on 18 and Phil was 15 going on 16

• Jay: Finished high school, started college

• The year of rock charity

• We are the World featured a disinterested Dylan

• Dylan starred in the movie Hearts of Fire a few years later

• Live Aid was a huge event on both sides of the Atlantic

• Also, Farm Aid, Sun City and Hear 'N Aid

• DLR left Van Halen

• The PMRC hearings led to those Parental Advisory stickers that told kids where the good stuff was

• Lots of pop on the singles chart

• Phil belted out "Easy Lover" under hypnosis

• Phil's favorite non-top 5 albums: Hoodoo Gurus, INXS, Tears For Fears, Dire Straits, Jesus and Mary Chain, Tom Waits, The Cure, Husker Du, The Pogues, U2, Prince, Sting, Tom Petty, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Del Fuegos, Til Tuesday, Waterboys, Meat Puppets, The Indestructible Beat of Soweto

• Jay's non-top 5s: Robert Palmer, Fine Young Cannibals, Camper Van Beethoven, Big Audio Dynamite, Rush, Robert Plant

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                     Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the music of 1984.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Phil's #5: A strong return for the Pretenders

• Half the band died after the previous album

• Jay's #5 and Phil's #3: An interesting new direction for U2

• Moody, atmospheric production from Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois

• Phil's #4: Audacious debut by the Smiths

• Another influential college rock act

• Phil as the edgy alt-rock kid at freshman orientation

• When bands split up into two versions and keep touring

• Jay's #4: Another great record from the Replacements

• Paul Westerberg's songwriting continued to mature

• Jay's #3: An epic double concept album from Husker Du

• No fancy reissues for SST releases

• Phil's #2: A classic live album from a band that released a great one only a few years earlier

• The expanded version's better than the original

• Jay's #2: R.E.M. continues building their legacy with a second standout album

• A lot of fans jumped off the bandwagon after the next album

• Phil and Jay's #1: A tour de force from Prince

• All killer, no filler

• Favorite songs: "Life During Wartime" (Phil), "Purple Rain" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                    Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the music of 1984.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Phil was 14 going on 15, Jay was 16 going on 17 in '84

• Phil: Watched a lot of MTV

• "College rock" was emerging

• Music was drenched in synths

• Jay: Saw my first concerts

• Hair metal was making a splash

• Thrash metal was new and exciting

• Billy Squier's tough year

• Phil's non-top 5 albums: Bowie, Kinks, Deep Purple, Dio, Van Halen, Ratt, Springsteen, Los Lobos, Sade, Meat Puppets, Husker Du, Minutemen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Replacements, R.E.M., Run DMC

• Phil loves him some Ratt

• Jay's non-top 5s: Rush, Iron Maiden, The Cars, INXS

• Saw INXS a few years later at Radio City Music Hall

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                   Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the music of 1983.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Phil's #5: U2's second release of '83

• Captured the band's fiery live show

• Jay's #5: Iron Maiden continues its U.S. breakthrough

• Part of the mainstream acceptance of metal

• Phil's #4: The solo debut of Stevie Ray Vaughan

• SRV got a lot of comparisons to Hendrix

• Jay's #4 and Phil's #3: Talking Heads' highest-charting album

• Several songs were overshadowed by Stop Making Sense versions

-Jay's #2: Replacements start hitting their stride

• The start of a great run of albums

• Jay's #3 and Phil's #1: U2 busts out in the U.S.

• Phil: Still disappointed to miss them on this tour

• Phil's #2 and Jay's #1: R.E.M.'s studio debut was massively influential

• Jay: Saw them on Letterman making their network TV debut

• Favorite songs: "Surrender" (Phil), "Talk About the Passion" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                  Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the music of 1983.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Jay was 15, Phil was 13 in '83

• Jay: Moved to NH from WA halfway through the year

• Was pleasantly surprised by the variety of radio stations in Boston area

• First year CDs went on sale in the U.S.

• The U.S. Festival made a splash that summer

• KISS took off their makeup

• The Police had the #1 song of the year

• Some good pop songs among the top 100 singles

• Phil's non-top 5 albums: Quiet Riot, Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Billy Idol, Dio, Bowie, Huey Lewis, Yes, Neil Young, Madonna, the Fixx, the Police, ZZ Top, Rolling Stones, B-52s, Genesis

• Jay's extremely brief time in a band

• Jay's non-top 5s: Robert Plant, Metallica, Kinks, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ozzy Osbourne

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                   Part 2 of my conversation with guest Eric Green as we pay tribute to the cassette tape.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Eric with the Mr. Belvedere reference

• You had to be sneaky to tape record a concert

• Physical media holds its allure for fans of a certain age

• Never got into 8-track tapes

• Jay: Have a bunch of blank tapes, but haven't made a mixtape since 2000

• Eric: As a kid, made a mini-audio documentary about Van Halen on cassette

• Metallica started tapers' pit at their concerts

• Then a few years later, they led the charge against Napster

• Eric: Still purchase music on vinyl or CD, some MP3

• Don't listen to cassettes as often anymore, but will pop one in when the mood hits

• Bootlegs are the big thing he goes back to

• Jay: Wrote on my blog about the various mixtapes I made over the years

• Tapes definitely transport you to a different time

• Do greatest hits albums matter anymore?

• Reissues of great albums are popular

• Some bands like the Who or the Stones have a ridiculous number of hits comps and live albums

• Fond memories of the cutout bins

• Various cassette storage methods

• Jay: Got rid of the jewel cases for most of my CDs

• Sometimes vinyl and cassettes can sound bad

• Cassettes were great for comedy albums

• Jay: Had to get Eddie Murphy's Comedian album on tape so my mom wouldn't hear it

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                  Part 1 of my conversation with guest Eric Green as we pay tribute to the cassette tape.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Eric's first time on the show since '15

• R.I.P. to Lou Ottens, inventor of the cassette tape

• Eric: Got into music via cassettes in the '80s

• You could make your own mixes

• Jay: Would tape songs off the radio in late '70s/early '80s

• Jay: Currently have hundreds of tapes but nothing to play them on

• Tapes were cheaper than vinyl or CDs

• Fun memories of browsing in record stores

• Tapes were big for bootlegs

• Huge in the early days of hip hop (The Get Down is on Netflix)

• Home taping didn't ruin the music industry, MP3s did

• Guardians of the Galaxy helped popularize cassettes

• CDs were initially marketed as indestructible and perfect sounding

• Jay: Spent hours listening to tapes in the car or on a Walkman

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                 Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1982.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Phil's #5: Steely Dan singer goes solo

• Jazzy feel is a logical extension from Gaucho

• Jay's #5 and Phil's #3: R.E.M. makes its debut with iconic EP

• Influential on many bands who followed

• Different sounds coming out of the underground

• Phil's #4: His image has been tarnished, but Michael Jackson released a monster album

• Videos from this album broke a lot of ground

• Being mistaken from MJ

• Jay's #4: Peter Gabriel stays weird but starts breaking through in the U.S.

• Dark subject matter and interesting sonics

• Set himself up for huge commercial breakthrough in a few years

• Jay's #3: Mission of Burma's first full-length album

• Wasn't well-known, but very influential on alt-rock artists

• Played with U2 in Boston

• Jay's #2: Another influential debut release, this time from Bad Brains

• Ferocious live performers

• One of the great album covers of all time

• Phil's #1: A jazz-influenced masterpiece from Joe Jackson

• No guitar to be found

• Very cosmopolitan feel

• Phil's #2 and Jay's #1: Prince breaks through to the mainstream

• Prince didn't care what anybody thought about him

• In the middle of an incredible run of great albums

• When mixtape songs are taken too literally

• Favorite songs: "Breaking Us In Two" (Phil), "Delirious" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                                Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite music of 1982.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Callback to the CompCon eps looking at '82-2000 with Brian Salvatore a while back

• My lists changed since then

• In '82, Jay turned 15, Phil turned 13

• Jay: The only full year I spent in Washington state

• Jay: Was big into hard rock and metal, which I listened to on my Walkman

• John Belushi died; the woman who sold him the drugs had ties to the Band and Gordon Lightfoot

• Top single of the year was Olivia Newton-John's "Physical"

• Phil's non-top 5 picks: Pete Townshend, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Jerry Garcia, Lou Reed, The Who, Tom Petty, XTC, Talking Heads, Billy Squier, Genesis, Duran Duran, Rush, Dire Straits, Elvis Costello, Robert Plant, English Beat, The Clash, Men at Work, Stray Cats

• Senses Working Overtime was almost the name of this podcast

• The power of MTV to make or break artists back in the '80s

• Phil had a connection to Lee Rocker of the Stray Cats

• Jay's non-top 5's: Iron Maiden, Van Halen, Judas Priest, Misfits, Scorpions, Phil Collins, The Cure

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                 Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss life after close to a year in pandemic lockdown.

Show notes:

• Tough to not see friends

• Matt runs Dungeons & Dragons games via Zoom

• Surprising number of people are into D&D

• It's a good escape from the world

• Like a weekly therapy session

• Companies use D&D for corporate retreats

• Games have grown in popularity during the pandemic

• Jay: We started playing a family dominoes game every Saturday

• Jay: Played the board game Pandemic years ago

• The CDC's zombie announcement

• People will run toward the zombies

• Going to movies seems so far away

• Jay: Like going to concerts, don't love going to movies

• Tough time to be a theater actor

• Miss going to bars

• Will masks stick around after the pandemic ends?

• Toilet paper hoarders

• Matt ordered TP last April; it arrived in October

• Waiting for normalcy

• Matt: Look forward to seeing nieces and nephews again

• Want to do activities involving other humans

• We miss traveling

• Jay: Wasn't overly disappointed to not go to a June work conference in Phoenix

• Matt hated getting ready to go places, but liked it once he got there

• When you can't find parking during a pandemic

• Some people don't care about doing the right thing

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss life after close to a year in pandemic lockdown.

Show notes:

• Haven't talked for the show since November 2019

• Coming up on the first anniversary of everything getting locked down

• Matt was already used to working from home

• Matt writes YA superhero/fantasy books including The Indestructibles series

• Hasn't been able to go to fantasy or comics conventions

• Jay: Miss the interaction of being in the office

• Now used to the WFH life

• Strange to spend all day at home with your family

• Matt has been working remotely for over a decade

• Companies will probably do away with full offices at some point

• Matt: Working in an office forces you to plan for inefficiency

• WFH requires self-discipline

• Definitely tougher for folks with small kids

• Matt dealt with the challenges of ancient Wifi technology in 2010 in Ireland

• Employers will have to adjust post-COVID

• Commuting sucks and people aren't going to want to do it as much

• The lockdown wasn't good for Matt's writing focus

• Too much going on in the world

• Last March, we all assumed things would be back to normal soon

• Matt: Lost the full-time gig, now juggling multiple freelance jobs

• Doing photography shoots exposes you to lots of germs

• Masks let you be more anonymous than you once were

• Running with a mask is a little challenging

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                               Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1981.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Jay's #5 and Phil's #4: The Stones have a massive hit with a collection of outtakes

• Followed up with a massive stadium tour

• Jay's #4: Prince keeps getting better but not yet breaking through to the mainstream

• Pushing the envelope with explicit content

• Phil's #3: J. Geils Band's pop breakthrough

• Was "Centerfold" banned by WCOZ?

• Jay's #3: Fair Warning was my favorite Van Halen album

• Darker tone than other VH albums

• Phil's #5 and Jay's #2: Rush hits the sweet spot with Moving Pictures

• Side 1 is flawless

• Phil's #2: An underrated U2 record, even by U2 fanatics

• Got into it when it came out

• Phil's #1: The Police reach commercial success

• Hit their pop potential while maintaining their unique sound

• Jay's #1: Going out there with Mission of Burma's debut EP

• Hugely influential on scores of alt-rock bands who came later

• Favorite songs: "Demolition Man" (Phil), "That's When I Reach For My Revolver" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                              Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1981.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Jay turned 14, Phil turned 12 in '81

• Jay started the year in Canada, finished it in the U.S.

• No good radio station, listened to a lot of my own stuff

• Phil: Started buying my own music in '81

• Listened to a lot of Casey Kasem's American Top 40

• "Bette Davis Eyes" was the #1 single of the year

• REO Speedwagon had a big year

• K-Tel used to make big hits compilations

• Ozzy bit the head off a dove (and later a bat), horrifying moms across America

• MTV went on the air in August '81 (Jay didn't have it until '85)

• Stones' massive tour was sponsored by Jovan Musk

• When Jon Anderson of Yes teamed up with Vangelis

• Phil's not-top-5 albums: Foreigner, Loverboy, The Cars, The Who, Grateful Dead, Tom Petty, Go-Gos, The Kinks, ZZ Top, X, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Genesis, Phil Collins, Tom Tom Club, David Byrne, Grace Jones, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, Pretenders, Duran Duran, The Cure, Black Flag, Billy Squier, Prince, AC/DC

• Jay's not-top-5s: The Gun Club, Iron Maiden, Ozzy, Def Leppard, Sabbath, April Wine, Triumph, Rush's live album, Motley Crue, Rick James

• Anthony Michael Hall IS Mutt Lange (in a crappy Def Lep biopic)

• To be continued: Our top 5 albums

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                              Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1980.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Jay turned 13, Phil turned 11 in '80

• Phil's #5: The (English) Beat with a fun release

• Jay's #5: Ozzy comes back from the dead (career-wise, anyway)

• Album was later re-recorded to replace rhythm section's parts to avoid paying royalties; original version was restored

• Jay reps for the NWOBHM

• Phil's #4: Rush tempers its prog leanings with newer influences

• Jay's #4: Bowie wraps up a brilliant decade with another classic

• Phil's #3 and Jay's #2: Talking Heads embrace African sounds

• Adrian Belew boosts the sound with sick guitar work

• Jay's #3: Peter Gabriel continues with his impressive solo career

• Phil Collins debuts his gated drum sound on this album

• Phil's #1: U2's debut is filled with youthful exuberance, mistakes and great songs

• Immersing yourself in albums with your Walkman

• Jay's #1 and Phil's #2: Pretenders debut with a perfect combination of pop, punk and attitude

• Chrissie Hynde was a veteran of multiple scenes over decades before the Pretenders

• Pretenders peaked early

• Favorite songs: "A Day Without Me" (Phil), "Mystery Achievement" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                             Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1980.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Jay turned 13, Phil turned 11 in '80

• U.S. boycotted the Summer Olympics

• Major deaths: Lennon, Bonham, Bon Scott, Ian Curtis, Darby Crash

• Sony Walkman went on sale in the U.S.

• Solid Gold made its debut

• Blondie had the #1 single of the year with "Call Me"

• Disco was fading, new wave and hard rock was gaining prominence

• The never-opened Christopher Cross album

• A lot of good albums came out this year

• Phil's favorite non-top 5 albums: The Feelies, The Jam, Soft Boys, Elvis Costello, X, B-52s, The Clash, Joe Jackson, Devo, Dire Straits, Blondie, Loverboy (!), UB40, Genesis, Prince, Pete Townshend, J. Geils Band, Steely Dan, Bowie, VH,

• Jay was out of the music loop for 6 weeks in early '80 while in India

• "Have you seen Kumar's grades?"

• Jay's favorite non-top 5 albums: The Police, VH, X, Prince, Townshend, Feelies, Joy Division, Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Rush, Black Sabbath, Motorhead, The Beat, Squeeze, The Cure, Teenage Head, The Cars, John Lennon

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                            I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1979.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Jay turned 12, Phil turned 10 in '79

• "My Sharona" was the top song on the Billboard Hot 100, lots of disco

• Rod Stewart hit it big with "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy"

• New wave was getting attention

• A wealth of great albums

• Jay's favorite non-top 5 albums: The Knack, Graham Parker and the Rumour, Supertramp, AC/DC, Joe Jackson with two classic albums

• Phil's non-top 5 faves: Bob Marley, Blondie, Joy Division, Pink Floyd, Gang of Four, XTC, Michael Jackson, Neil Young, The Cars, The Police, The Kinks, Van Halen, Elvis Costello, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Prince, Talking Heads

• Phil's #5: Joe Jackson's killer debut is just packed with great, punchy songs

• Jay's #5: Pink Floyd with an epic concept album, their last great record

• Phil's #4 and Jay's #2: Neil Young ends an amazing run of albums with a killer (and heavy) record

• Jay's #4: Van Halen with a powerful sophomore album that expands their sound

• Phil's #3: Tom Petty's breakthrough record

• Jay's #3: Joe Jackson's second amazing record of '79

• Phil's #2 and Jay's #1: The Clash mixed a lot of styles on their masterpiece

• Phil's #1: Phil loves the B-52s, who exploded on the scene with an amazing debut

• Favorite songs: "The Guns of Brixton" (Jay), "Dance This Mess Around" (Phil)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                           I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1978.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Jay turned 11, Phil turned 9 in '78

• Big festivals, including Texxas Jam

• Lots of disco on the singles chart

• Phil's favorite non-top 5 albums: Ramones, Blondie, The Who, The Clash, Elvis Costello, Jerry Garcia Band, Bob Marley, Rolling Stones, The Jam, Devo, Bob Seger, AC/DC, Tom Petty, Little Feat, Big Star, Marvin Gaye, Springsteen, Warren Zevon, Cheap Trick

• WKRP in Cincinnati on DVD and music licensing (UPDATE: Turns out a bunch of the music was restored on a recent DVD set)

• Cheap Trick At Budokan is one of the greatest live albums ever

• Jay's favorite bubbling under albums: The Police, Rush, Dire Straits, The Who, Peter Gabriel

• Phil's #5: Neil Young revisits the laid-back sound of Harvest

• Phil's #4 and Jay's #4: Talking Heads explore a more danceable sound

• Phil's #3: Debut from The Police made a big splash

• The long journey of Andy Summers

• Jay's #3: Contrasting opinions on Some Girls, but has some great Stones songs

• Jay's #2: Elvis Costello and the Attractions with an angry classic

• Phil's #1 and Jay's #5: Debut from The Cars has no bad songs

• Phil's #2 and Jay's #1: A revolutionary debut from Van Halen

• Favorite songs: "You're All I've Got Tonight" (Phil), "Running With the Devil" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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It's part 2 of my Zoomtastic conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2020.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• On to our top 10

• Kumar's #10: Dan Bejar with another great cinematic Destroyer album

• Breitling's #9: A hooky rock record from Bully

• Kumar's #9: METZ with an accessible yet pummeling record

• Breitling's #8: Spectres with a disconcerting release

• Kumar's #8: Jeff Rosenstock has become a reliably excellent indie rock stalwart

• Breitling's #7: Hop Along's Frances Quinlan goes solo

• Reppin' for the new movie Sound of Metal

• Kumar's #7: Boston act Eldridge Rodriguez with a sweeping, epic album

• Dog walkin' time

• Breitling's #6: The Psychedelic Furs with the superb comeback album nobody expected

• Kumar's #6 and Breitling's #4: Sadie Dupuis (aka Sad13) branches out with a pop-driven release

• Breitling's #5: A true banger from IDLES

• Kumar's #5: The Coriky album is as close to a Fugazi reunion as we're gonna get

• Kumar's #4: Greg Dulli delivers a compelling solo release

• Breitling's #3: Fiona Apple unleashes a bold and uncompromising record

• Kumar's #3: A pissed-off Bob Mould with a timely blast of angry anthems

• Breitling's #2: Happyness with a quirky collection that echoes an Elliott Smith-Teenage Fanclub mashup

• Kumar's #2: Protomartyr predicts everything and continues to get better

• Breitling's #1: Phoebe Bridgers hits the big time with a masterpiece

• Kumar's #1 and Breitling's #10: Run the Jewels with a vicious, vital hip-hop record that captures the desperate vibe of 2020

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                      It's part 1 of my Zoomified conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2020.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• This podcast is not affiliated in any with MovieFone.

• The first time in nine years that we're not talking the year in rock in the same room

• No live shows after early March

• Breitling last saw Hallelujah the Hills at Great Scott last November, Kumar saw Drive-By Truckers at Somerville Theater in March

• Devastating economic impact on all the non-musicians who work to put concerts together

• If approved, Save Our Stages act would aid live venues

• Many independent Boston-area venues have already closed

• Great Scott may reopen in a new location

• No touring means no income for many smaller artists

• Streaming royalties need to be updated and increased

• The Breitlings enjoyed Strange Brew recently

• Plenty of livestreams, free, for charity and for profit

• Bandcamp Friday has been a good way to help out artists

• Online radio has been fun

• Breitling is doing a show with a couple of fellow Wesleyan DJs called Parcheesi Redux

• Parcheesi Redux Thursday (along with the other shows) is on Mixcloud

• Kumar's show, Stuck In Thee Garage, is in its 7th year on BFF.fm

• Great way to discover new music

• Our favorite music

• Breitling's picks from the midyear that didn't make his top 10: Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Soft Pink Truth, Gigi Masin, Peel Dream Magazine, Mandarina Duck, Destroyer

• Kumar's midyear picks that didn't make final top 10: Flat Worms, Dogleg, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Drakulas, Car Seat Headrest

• More Breitling on-the-bubble picks: Susie Derkins, Hum, Coriky, Mountain Goats, Milky Wimpshake, Somerset Thrower, Nothing, METZ, Bob Mould, The Brother Kite, Paper Birch

• More Kumar honorable mention picks: Psychedelic Furs, Kestrels, Fontaines D.C., Pearl Jam, Lo Tom, Disheveled Cuss, Emerald Comets/Ex-Hyena

• Next week: We count down our top 10 albums

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                          I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1977.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• A startling number of great releases in '77; a lot of terrific debuts

• Singles chart was topped by disco and pop: Rod Stewart, Andy Gibb, Streisand, KC and the Sunshine Band, Engelbert Humperdinck

• Jay's non-top 5 faves: Ramones had two albums, Sex Pistols, Johnny Thunders, the Damned, Richard Hell, Iggy Pop, Cheap Trick had two, Bowie had two, Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, Rush, Neil Young, The Clash, Wire, Max Webster

• Jay: My dad had disco mixtapes,

• This was recorded before Johnny Lydon said he had flea bites on his dong

• Phil's non-top 5 favorites: Grateful Dead, Television, Jackson Browne, Billy Joel, Elvis Costello, the Kinks, AC/DC, Dead Boys, Queen, Linda Ronstadt, Wire, Clapton

• The cover of Queen's News of the World scared young Phil; Kmart had a cleaned-up alternate cover

• Jay's #5: Peter Gabriel's solo debut went in new directions, combining art rock and new wave

• Phil's #5: A fiery, concise debut from the Clash (UK only)

• Jay's #4: Guitar rock meets post punk from Television

• Phil's #4: Bob Marley breaks through in the U.S.

• Jay's and Phil's #3: Talking Heads' debut didn't sound like anything else

• Jay's #2: Iggy Pop worked with Bowie in Berlin to produce an electronic-influenced sound

• Phil's #2: The ubiquitous Fleetwood Mac album is getting popular again

• Remains vital despite massive overplaying of certain songs

• Jay's #1: Elvis Costello burst on the scene with biting lyrics, catchy classics

• Phil's #1: The controversial Steely Dan with a jazzy, meticulous opus

• Favorite songs: "Watching the Detectives" (Jay), "Josie" (Phil)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                         I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1976.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• America was all about the Bicentennial in 1976

• Disco was picking up steam

• Arena rock and MOR was huge

• Phil's non-top 5 favorites: Eagles, Zeppelin, Steely Dan, Bowie, Zevon, J. Geils Band, Rolling Stones, Boz Scaggs, Joni Mitchell, Bob Marley, Burning Spear, Peter Tosh, Wings, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Seger, Modern Lovers

• Like a lot of '76 records, don't love a lot of them

• AC/DC re-released Dirty Deeds five years later in the U.S.

• Bob Seger liked the double entendres

• Jay's non-top 5 faves: Max Webster, Blondie, Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, Blue Oyster Cult, Queen, Stevie Wonder, Tom Petty

• Phil's #5: Jerry Garcia solo release spawned some Dead staples

• Jay's #5: Aerosmith continues their strong mid-70s run

• Phil's #4: Petty's stellar debut

• Jay's #4: Zeppelin releases a sprawling, epic album

• Phil's #3: Dylan's last great album for a while

• Jay's #3: Bowie releases yet another masterpiece

• Jay's #2: Rush doubles down with a sci-fi classic

• Phil's #2 and Jay's #1: The Ramones burst on the scene with an influential debut

• Phil's #1: Stevie Wonder with an epic double LP

• Favorite songs: "Beat on the Brat" (Jay), "Sir Duke" (Phil)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                        I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1975.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• RIP to EVH

• We both saw VH in 1986

• In '75, Phil turned 6, Jay turned 8

• "Love Will Keep Us Together" was the #1 song of the year

• Disco was starting to emerge

• The S.N.A.C.K. concert

• Phil's non-top 5: Parliament, Burning Spear, Patti Smith, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, Grateful Dead, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, Dylan and the Band

• Jay's non-top 5: AC/DC, Rush, The Who, Supertramp, Springsteen, McCartney/Wings

• Phil's #5: The Who tries some different sounds

• Jay's #5: Pink Floyd follows up a classic with another classic

• Phil's #4 and Jay's #3: Bowie moves into another phase

• Jay's #4: Queen breaks through with "Bohemian Rhapsody"

• Phil's #3 and Jay's #2: A gut-wrenching release from Neil Young

• Phil's 2: Dylan's 15th album is one of his best

• Phil and Jay's #1: A double album that highlights all the different facets of Zeppelin's sound

• Favorite songs: "Tonight's the Night" (Jay), "In the Light" (Phil)

• Things were happening

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                   I'm joined by guest Brian Salvatore as we remember the greatness of Eddie Van Halen.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Skype

• Last spoke in late March but feels a lot longer ago

• We've been fascinated by Van Halen's career, the good and the bad

• Eddie had dealt with cancer before

• Death still came as a shock

• Plenty of musician deaths this year: Neil Peart, Andy Gill, David Roback, Kenny Rogers, Bill Rieflin, Bill Withers, Adam Schlesinger, John Prine, Florian Schneider, Pete Way, Peter Green

• Eddie was iconic and eternally youthful

• Brian: First video I remember seeing was "Jump"

• Played on Letterman a few times

• Jay: Stopped listening to VH in '91 and didn't again for almost a decade

• The "Right Now" video was surprising

• Dropoff in quality after Roth left

• 2012's A Different Kind of Truth was a decent way to go out

• Hopefully there will finally be some archival VH releases

• Who buys greatest hits albums?

• Eddie's guest appearances

• Jay: First became aware of VH in 1980 when Women and Children First came out

• Eddie had been quiet for several years

• Roth was doing a Vegas residency and opening for KISS just before the pandemic shutdown

• Missing live music

• Plenty of livestreams to check out

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                       I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1974.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Phil finally got a haircut

• In '74, Phil turned 5, I turned 7

• Capt. and Tennille got married, Sonny and Cher got divorced

• "The Streak" was a big hit

• Phil: Looking back, liked more songs than albums in '74

• Not a long list of albums we liked

• Radio was the main source of how people discovered music at that time

• Phil's likes: Linda Ronstadt, Little Feat, Bob Marley, Lou Reed, Gram Parsons, Big Star, Van Morrison, Clapton

• Jay's likes: Rush's debut album, Genesis, The Who, Queen, Steely Dan, Aerosmith, Zappa

• The various, very different, phases of Genesis' sound

• Queen is more popular than ever

• Jay's #5: Supertramp's breakthrough

• Phil's #5: Another great Stevie Wonder album

• Jay's and Phil's #4: Neil Young with a mellow classic, powered by "honey slides"

• Jay's #3: Big Star with an underrated power pop gem

• Phil's #3 and Jay's #1: Bowie closing out his glam period with a bang

• Phil's #2: Steely Dan featured a ton of guest musicians

• Jay's #2: Lou Reed releases a killer live show

• Phil's #1: Joni Mitchell hits it big with a jazzier sound, with help from Cheech & Chong

• Backed by Tom Scott, who later was bandleader on both the Pat Sajak and Chevy Chase late night shows

• Favorite songs: "Raised on Robbery" (Phil), "Diamond Dogs" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                      I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1973.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" was big in '73

• Dark Side of the Moon spent 741 weeks on the Billboard albums chart

• Big singles from Jim Croce, Paul Simon, Roberta Flack, Stories, Joe Walsh, Stealers Wheel

• Jay's bubbling under albums: Wings, Queen, Lou Reed, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, John Lennon, Sabbath

• Marvin Gaye: Not a subtle man

• Phil's bubbling under: Bob Marley and the Wailers, ZZ Top, Grateful Dead, Gram Parsons, Rolling Stones, ELP, Iggy and the Stooges

• Jay's top albums: NY Dolls, Bowie, Pink Floyd, The Who, Led Zep

• Dark Side of the Moon has been so overplayed over the years, but still a great album

• Phil's top albums: Allman Brothers, Elton John, Bowie, The Who, Led Zep

• The ridiculous coincidences of HBO's Vinyl

• Quadrophenia is the last great Who album

• The underrated John Paul Jones

• Jay's favorite: Iggy and the Stooges with a blistering comeback

• Full of snarl and punk attitude

• Phil's favorite: Pink Floyd

• Favorite songs: Jay - "Search and Destroy"; Phil - "The Great Gig in the Sky"

• R.I.P., Chadwick Boseman, who was amazing in Get On Up, a 2014 biopic about James Brown

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                     I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1972.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Re-recording because of audio issues

• Missed the podcast's 14th birthday

• In '72, Phil turned 3, Jay turned 5

• Big tours going on: Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, McCartney

• Different concept of band longevity back then

• A lot of soft rock on the singles chart

• Phil's faves: Neil Young, Bowie, Elton, Stones, Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, War, Jackson Browne, Van Morrison, Lou Reed, Big Star, Stevie Wonder, Little Feat

• Pete Townshend's solo debut

• Jay's faves: Sabbath, Steely Dan, Stones, NY, Lou Reed, Big Star, T. Rex, Alice Cooper, Roxy Music, Bowie

• Favorite song from favorite album: "Jack Straw (live)" (Phil) and "Moonage Daydream" (Jay)

• Did audiences appreciate what they were seeing back then?

• Sometimes people have too much fun at shows

• Next time: 1973

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                     It's part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the year so far.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Breitling's #10 and Kumar's #8

• Jangly indie pop sounds from Australia

• The lack of touring is really hurting bands and fans

• Breitling's #9

• A Matmos side project, "a niche of a niche"

• Kumar's #10

• All-star post-punk act out of LA

• Kumar's #9

• The loud/loud dynamic

• Breitling's #8

• Solo album from singer of Hop Along

• Breitling's #7

• Ambient electronic from an Italian musician in his 60s

• Bandcamp Friday has been a big hit this year

• Kumar's #7

• New band from Ian MacKaye, Amy Farina and Joe Lally

• Harking back to Fugazi's sound

• Kumar's #6

• Texas-based act with members from the Riverboat Gamblers and Rise Against

• Breitling's #6

• Another great Slumberland release

• Breitling's #5

• Dream pop from the Ukraine

• Kumar's #5

• Indie rock stalwart continues evolving his sound

• Kumar's and Breitling's #4

• Another cinematic effort from Canuck genius

• Breitling's #3

• Powerful release overshadowed by the pandemic

• Breitling's #2 and Kumar's #1

• Political hip hop as an art form

• Never more timely

• Kumar's #3

• Atmospheric new release from an alt-rock OG

• Kumar's #2

• Striking record from Boston-based indie rock act

• Breitling's #1

• UK indie act "like Elliot Smith making a Teenage Fanclub record"

• Looking forward to new releases from Sam Prekop, Katie Day, Bob Mould, IDLES, Fontaines DC, Psychedelic Furs

• When will concerts happen again?

• Probably dependent on a vaccine

• Liability is a big factor in whether shows come back

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                    It's part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the year so far.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• R.I.P., Great Scott

• Big blow to Boston rock scene

• Venues, bars, restaurants are going out of business all over the country

• Breitling and college friends have resurrected their old radio shows on Mixcloud

• Parcheesi Redux is on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays

• Now 17 weeks in

• Music industry is at a standstill

• Touring has ceased altogether

• RATT's back, baby (thanks to Geico)

• Livestreams have become a thing

• There's no money in album sales anymore

• Breitling: Have been listening to more music this year

• Breitling's faves outside the top 10: Jesse Gallagher, Hum, Phoebe Bridgers, Katie Day

• Kumar's on the bubble picks: EOB, Jeff Rosenstock, Peel Dream Magazine, Porridge Radio, Savak

• Next time: On to our top 10

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                    I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1971.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• The disappointing ZZ Top Sixpack box set

• Early Bob Seger is good

• Started seeing more solo albums

• The rollercoaster ride of Doors fandom

• Jay's faves (not #1): Rolling Stones, McCartney, Marvin Gaye, Funkadelic, Sabbath, Lennon, Bowie, the Who

• When you've heard songs you love too many times

• Jay's #1

• Zeppelin's pinnacle

• Don't need to listen to it anymore

• Licensing songs to death

• Don't understand people who listen to the same music they did 30 years ago

• Country music is the new pop

• Phil's faves: Allman Brothers, Sly Stone, John Prine, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Joplin, CSNY, Elton, Traffic, Nick Drake

• Phil's been listening to a new album every day during quarantine

• Phil's #1

• The Stones were in the middle of a killer run

• A band that was greater than the sum of its parts

• A few more from Jay: T. Rex, Kinks, Yes

• Yes really stretched out in concert

• Genres are too restrictive

• You like what you like

• Duran Duran's great

• Discovering music through videogames

• Favorite song from favorite album: "Can't You Hear Me Knockin'" (Phil) and "When the Levee Breaks" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                   I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1970.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Phil's got some quality hockey hair going

• Going to go through our favorite albums of each year from 1970-2020, starting with '70

• We were both under the age of 3

• Pretty varied list of favorites from that year

• Popular music was splintering into many different genres

• FM radio was pretty freeform

• Radio was the main way to discover music back then

• Some interesting tour pairings

• Altamont was an abrupt end to the hippie era

• Big deaths in 1970: Hendrix and Joplin

• Phil's favorites (except #1): The Who, CSNY, Neil Young, Led Zep, Van Morrison, Derek & the Dominoes

• Jay: Not a Clapton fan

• Phil: Kinks, Beatles, George Harrison, McCartney, Miles Davis, Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Chicago, James Taylor, Elton, Stones

• Phil's #1

• The Dead's best studio album

• Jay: Deep Purple, Hendrix, Funkadelic, Black Sabbath, Stooges

• Some bands were releasing two studio albums a year

• Jay's #1

• The best live album ever

• The Who at their best

• In the midst of a great string of albums

• Favorite song from favorite album: "Candyman" (Phil) and "Young Man's Blues" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                  I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the final Grateful Dead studio album Built to Last.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• Built to Last released on Halloween 1989

• Jay had just graduated from college, Phil was a junior

• Jay: Don't remember this album even coming out

• Phil: It's not memorable

• Felt like band was going through the motions

• Brent Mydland dominated the album with four songs

• He was suffering from depression; died a year later

• Maybe Garcia and Weir didn't have enough good material

• Fall '89 Dead shows are considered the band's last great run of concerts

• Tried the same recording technique as previous album but it didn't work

• Garcia said Mydland's songs were better

• Final song is really bad

• Phil: They had enough material to record another album

• You can find version of them online

• Garcia started getting into drugs again

• Concert performances suffered

• Band members started doing other projects

• A couple of decent songs on this album

• Mydland songs seemed like they'd fit in a different genre

• Phil: He was good in concert

• The Dead didn't need another hit album

• Jay: At the end of this journey, have more of an appreciation for the Dead

• Definitely some bad records

• Can appreciate the live performances to a point

• Jay: I respect the fanaticism of Deadheads; not for me, but that's okay

• No more guilty pleasures; you like what you like

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                 I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead album In the Dark.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Zoom

• We originally planned to do this in early March, but then something happened

• In the Dark was released in July 1987, seven years after the last Dead studio album

• Phil had just graduated from high school, Jay was going into junior year of college

• The band had been playing the songs in concert for years

• Jerry Garcia had gone into a diabetic coma in '86

• Had to re-learn how to walk, talk, play guitar

• Band was renewed after his recovery

• CDs were just starting to get popular

• We both didn't get CD players until 1989

• First CDs: Phil's was 10,000 Maniacs, Jay's were Cult, the Who, Joe Jackson

• The Best of Steve Miller was a college staple in the '80s

• Recorded live in an empty theater

• "Touch of Grey" was all over MTV and rock radio that summer

• Very catchy single

• Phil: Album was breath of fresh air after two disappointing releases

• "Touch of Grey" resonated with Boomers as well as younger listeners

• New fans were known as "Touch heads" by veteran fans

• People were going to Dead shows for the scene, not the music

• Released videos for "Hell in a Bucket" and "Throwing Stones"

• The one clunker is sung by keyboardist Brent Mydland

• Jay: His vocals didn't seem to fit

• They ladled on the synths

• Phil: Mydland was good at harmonies

• Vocals sounded like Kenny Loggins or Bob Seger

• Phil: Listening to at least one album he hasn't heard every day

• "West LA Fadeaway" may have been inspired by Belushi

• Phil gives it a B+

• The success of "Touch of Grey" was so unexpected

• Next up: We talk about the last Dead studio album

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                   Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we discuss quarantine life.

Show notes:

• Recorded recently via Skype

• What's the first thing you'd do post-COVID?

• All the big movies got pushed back to later in the year or 2021

• Some movies are going straight to streaming

• When will we feel comfortable at crowded concerts again?

• If touring slows down, how will musicians survive?

• Artists may have to go directly to fans for support

• Lou Barlow started a subscription service

• Artists have done similar things for years: Rundgren, Prince

• Might see more music made by artists stuck at home

• Suddenly we have a lot of time to listen to records

• Jay: Daughter's into the Beatles now

• When you know songs you hate by heart

• Appreciating '70s-era McCartney

• Bad production really stands out on mix playlists

• Does anyone remember dynamics?

• Self-improvement activities to catch up on

• Brian: No time to do any of it so far

• Jay: Want to alphabetize my records

• No guilty pleasures: Making peace with disco

• Brian: Need to organize music room

• Jay: Hope to pick up the old guitar

• Bill Rieflin, R.I.P.

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                  Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we discuss quarantine life.

Show notes:

• Recorded last week via Skype

• Homeschooling is hard work

• A month in, the hoarding continues

• Brian's second-grader has a lot of schoolwork

• Brian was down in Florida to spend a few days at spring training

• Had planned to visit family in Arizona in March, but decided not to

• Virus moved quickly

• Brian saw Jonathan Richman concert in March

• Jay: Was supposed to fly to California for a conference in March, but it was canceled

• Had tickets to Archers of Loaf concert in mid-March that was canceled

• Jay: Working from home full-time

• Brian: Trying to find non-screen activities for the kids

• We're spending a lot of time with our families, which isn't a bad thing

• We've never had a situation like this where everything is shut down

• A lot of people are out of work or unable to work right now

• No sports to watch during one of the best times of year for sports

• Sports may come back without crowds in attendance

• When will things go back to normal?

• Kids' school sports, activities are on hold

• Touring musicians are losing a ton of money

• South Korea was able to shut everything down and come out on the other end

• One person can do a lot of damage

• Spring break idiots

• Adam Schlesinger, R.I.P. (this was recorded before he died)

• Washing our hands more than ever before

• Missing out on draft beer

• We're lucky to be able to work from home

• How will the economy bounce back?

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                     This week, I'm joined by author Greg Renoff as we discuss the new book he wrote with legendary rock producer Ted Templeman.

Show notes:

• Greg's first book was 2015's Van Halen Rising

• Five years later, people are still discovering it

• Wrote about the early years of VH from a fan's perspective

• The band filled a void when their debut came out

• That book led to Greg's new book, Ted Templeman: A Platinum Producer's Life in Music

• Templeman came to book signing for Van Halen Rising

• Greg later pitched the idea of a book about Templeman

• Book looks at his start as a musician and the albums he worked on as a producer

• Renoff wanted to add more structure to Templeman's recollections

• Book's out on ECW Press on April 21

• Took a few years to put together before the editing process

• Did a lot of interviews with Ted, exchanged many emails

• He didn't want to dwell on controversy too much

• Book starts with his childhood in Santa Cruz through the last album he worked on with the Doobie Brothers in 2010

• Didn't cover every album he worked on

• He was a talented musician in his younger days, as a jazz phenom and then a minor pop star

• Heavily influenced by Tito Puente

• Got into producing with the Doobies in '71, and later Captain Beefheart, Little Feat, Montrose

• Not in touch with the VH camp anymore, but appreciative of his work with them

• Worked with Van Morrison a few times

• Templeman was on TV with his pop group Harpers Bizarre, but he didn't see a future in performing

• Was interested in production and moved behind the scenes in 1970

• Nearly got out of the industry

• Started at the bottom listening to tape submissions

• Found the Doobie Brothers demo

• VH already had the harmony vocals, and Ted incorporated those (and provided some) on most of those albums

• By the time he got to VH, Ted was intent on finding bands a radio hit

• Worked with a wide range of artists from Carly Simon to the Bulletboys

• Sometimes he was brought in to finish projects that others had started

• Currently interested in streaming and following certain artists

• Initial book launch plans have changed because of COVID-19

• Hoping to do joint interviews eventually

• Greg plans to do another VH book

• Started work on it, but will get back to it once coronavirus restrictions are lifted

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                    This week on Quarantining With Kumar, I talk about how life has changed drastically in a short period of time because of COVID-19.

Show notes:

• Recorded while driving around to get some essentials

• Day 5 of self-quarantine, working from home

• The state of Massachusetts has pretty much closed all non-essential businesses

• We haven't experienced anything like this before (in my lifetime)

• Life after 9/11 was weird, but got back to normal fairly quickly

• Some states have implemented "shelter in place" rules

• Social distancing is the big buzzword

• Public gatherings are outlawed

• Spring breakers defied warnings

• Everything's getting canceled: Sports, trips, concerts

• We need to stay home to keep virus from spreading

• Most people I know are complying with the quarantine

• Musicians are doing livestreams instead of concerts

• Optimistic this will end soon, but it's hard to tell

• Watching out for older folks who are more susceptible to virus

• Some people are freaking out with conspiracy theories

• Got to ride this thing out

• Stay positive

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                   I talk to Phil Stacey and Dave Olson about baseball's cheating scandal while we drive to a rock concert.

Show notes:

• Recorded on the way to see the Drive-By Truckers in Somerville, MA

• Not the first cheating scandal in MLB, but this has a different feel

• Houston Astros accused of stealing signs on the way to 2017 World Series

• Every team cheats in some way or another

• "If you're not cheating, you're not trying"

• Corked bats, scuffed pitches

• Baseballs were juiced last year to generate interest

• The sport is fading in popularity

• Too slow for short attention spans of today's society

• Steroids in the late '90s were ignored in favor of home run records

• Did the punishment fit the crime?

• Astros were fined and lost draft picks, but could have been worse

• MLB didn't expect this to blow up; former Astro revealed it in an interview

• Public reaction has been loud

• Two other teams have fired their managers who had connections to Astros that season

• Did MLB and the teams coordinate these actions?

• MLB wants this to go away and it's not

• Other teams and players are upset about it

• A pitcher sued because Astros lit him up and he was out of the majors

• Astros are going to be booed mercilessly all season on the road

• We don't know how much the sign stealing helped them

• Houston will get some big TV ratings this season

• Brought to you by Google Maps

• Altuve was a heroic figure, now tarnished

• MMA and pro wrestling are resonating with a younger generation

• A lot of baseball teams struggle to fill the seats

• Young kids would rather watch eSports, where other people play video games

• Easier to cheat in baseball or basketball

• Astros intern figured out how to steal signs and convinced management to adopt it

• Astros players should expect to get hit by a lot of pitches this season

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                  Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we discuss rock stars and aging.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Skype

• '90s butt rock is alive and well in New Hampshire

• Marlins will soar, according to Scott Stapp

• Commercial rock radio is dying

• In the mid-80s, rock radio was thriving in the Boston area

• Brian has satellite radio

• GNR/Smashing Pumpkins touring this summer

• The evolution of Sugar Ray's sound

• Mark McGrath is always working

• The Cameo economy

• Talking to musicians

• The ubiquity of Henry Rollins

• The musician deaths have always been plentiful

• 10 years ago, we lost Jay Reatard, Teddy Pendergrass, Doug Fieger, Mark Linkous, Alex Chilton, Malcolm McLaren, Dio

• So many big names in rock are getting older

• Eagles have continued to tour without Glenn Frey

• Surviving members of Nirvana have reunited for charity shows

• Rush will never play another show

• R.E.M. has never performed together since their breakup

• More fun with Cameo

• Don't wait to see a band you like

• Jay: Trying to see bands I haven't seen before

• Making up for lost time with some bands

• Some bands sound better than ever: Dino Jr., Ween

• Ozzy's looking pretty rough these days

• Some artists you don't want to see anymore

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                 I'm joined by guest Brian Salvatore as we discuss rock stars and aging.

Show notes:

• Recorded via Skype

• Brian's first appearance on the show in two years

• The rock deaths keep on hitting us hard

• Neil Peart's recent death was surprising and shocking

• Brian: Not a big Rush fan, but respected them

• A couple of really good documentaries about the band

• Rush followed their own path

• Andy Gill of Gang of Four kept touring and recording right until he died

• Big deaths that impacted us

• Jay: Peart, Gord Downie, Bowie, Prince, Tom Petty

• As a kid, remember Randy Rhoads, Bonham, Bon Scott, Keith Moon

• Later, Cobain and Layne Staley

• Tortured artist syndrome

• Meanwhile, the Stones keep chugging along

• Brian: McCartney is still amazing live into his 70s

• Neither of us has seen the Stones live

• Brian: Regret not seeing classic acts at least once

• Prince played crazy long shows

• Getting harder to stay out super late

• "Farewell tours" tend to often be false alarms

• A little more urgency to see certain artists who are older

• A lot of reunion tours these days: Jawbreaker, Hot Snakes, Jawbox, Hoodoo Gurus

• Will young artists today have the same longevity as the older artists now?

• Touring's the only way to make money these days

• Not even worth it for older acts to release new material now

• Radio won't play new music from legendary acts

• Classic rock fans don't want to hear new music, they just want the hits

• You know what you're getting from a new AC/DC record

• Many bands continue on after members die

• Replacing iconic singers with unknowns

• Alice in Chains has recharged their career somewhat post-Staley

• Sublime's singer/leader died before their big album came out

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead album Go to Heaven.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• The Dead transitioning into a new decade, the '80s

• Cover may have given fans the wrong idea

• Short outing at only 38 minutes

• One of the least favorite studio albums among Dead fans

• Phil: A real mish-mash

• Contractual obligation: Third studio album in four years

• AOR was getting big

• The Godchauxs were gone

• Brent Mydland brings a smooth Michael McDonald vibe that is off-putting

• Grateful Dead keyboard players : Spinal Tap drummers

• Some Dead classics on this album: Alabama Getaway, Althea

• Didn't make another studio album for seven years

• Jay might go see Dead & Co. with Phil at some point

• Phil: This is their second-worst album

• Lost Sailor doesn't work

• Three straight Weir/Barlow songs

• Saint of Circumstance could be an '80s sitcom theme song

• Bob Weir loves the short shorts

• Hey, we used to wear them, too

• Mickey Hart eventually got into world music

• Mydland's Easy to Love You could have been a pop hit

• Album ends with a rave-up cover of Don't Ease Me In

• Phil: In defense of U2's Zooropa

• When we next convene, we'll talk about late '80s Dead

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                               I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead album Shakedown Street.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• First ep of the new decade

• Shakedown Street came out in '78

• Lots of musical stuff happening: Disco, punk, new wave, hard rock

• Disco wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to be

• Jay: No guilty pleasures: If you like it, you like it

• The Dead were coming off a triumphant '77

• This was a contractually obligated studio album

• Lots of influences thrown in: Funk, disco, African jazz, rock

• Met with savage reviews

• The version of "Good Lovin'" here pales in comparison to the live version, especially when Pigpen sang it

• The last album with Donna and Keith Godchaux

• Title track gets slagged as bad disco, but we dig it

• Shakedown Street is now the name of the merch area at Dead & Co. shows

• Pressure was on from Clive Davis for them to have hits

• This album was produced by Lowell George of Little Feat

• Seen as a disco album, but it's pretty diverse musically

• The Dead weren't a great studio band

• Mickey Hart stepped up with three songs

• Phil: "I Need a Miracle" might be the best song on the album

• "Stagger Lee" has an interesting history; versions were covered by many different artists

• Jay: The Nick Cave version is the best, and the most profane

• Album was scattered because of different influences plus substances

• "All New Minglewood Blues" is a pretty rockin' cover

• Dead appeared on SNL that year

• Ends with a Garcia-Hunter love ballad that works

• Jay: Liked about half the songs on the album

• Next: 1980's Go to Heaven

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                   It's part 3 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we count down our favorite albums of 2019.

Show notes:

• Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ

• Breitling's #4

• Former Boston act now relocated to Nashville

• Perfecting her sound

• Kumar's #4

• Introspective album that topped my midyear list

• Sweeping, synth-driven songs

• Breitling's #3

• Worthy follow-up to classic mid-'90s indie pop release

• Expansive and experimental

• Kumar's #3

• Return to rocking from for NJ punk stalwarts, produced by Bob Mould

• Surprisingly succinct from a band known for 8-minute epics

• Breitling's #2 and Kumar's #6

• Majestic final release from artist who tragically took his own life right after it came out

• Backed by the band Woods

• Kumar's #2

• Third release from Toronto punk-pop act

• Writing about frustrations of getting older

• Breitling's #1

• Recently released instant classic from Boston indie rock act

• Frontman Ryan Walsh wrote album after dealing with struggles writing his book about Astral Weeks

• Kumar's #1

• Veteran Canadian power pop act with another great release

• All-star team of musicians

• Darker feel than some of their other albums

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                  It's part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we count down our favorite albums of 2019.

Show notes:

• Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ

• The top 10

• Breitling's #10

• A surprising solo debut from a veteran rock legend

• Kumar's #9

• Raw shoegaze effort from Brooklyn act changing its sound

• Breitling's #9

• Electronic album with an analog feel released late in the year

• "Crust ambient"

• Kumar's #8

• Power pop-punk album about the aftermath of broken relationship

• Great album cover

• Breitling's #8 and Kumar's #10

• Strong release from shoegaze pioneers

• Trying some different things

• Breitling's #7

• Shoegaze duo from California that likes to take its time

• All killer, no filler

• Berniece's sleep aggression

• Kumar's #7

• Second release from indie legend's latest band

• Embracing '80s hard rock sound

• Breitling's #6

• Used to call this band the Steve Miller of indie rock

• Opinion has changed, especially with the latest release

• Sound is augmented by female singers

• Kumar and Breitling's #5

• Latest in an strong stretch of releases from this punk/alt-rock legend

• Sounds as good as he ever has

• Unusually upbeat

• Next: Our top 4 albums

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                 It's part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2019.

Show notes:

• Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ

• This program is not affiliated with Moviefone

• A decade of talking rock

• Near

• Breitling: Had time to listen to a lot more music this year

• The Billie Eilish vs. VH debate has been raging for a while

• Kids don't know or care about music from 10 years ago, let alone 35

• A lot of butthurt older music fans getting worked up for no reason

• Most kids have zero interest in classic rock

• Listen to what you want

• The "OK Boomer" phenomenon

• When music becomes something on in the background

• Breitling needs to see Idiocracy

• The albums that didn't make our top 10 lists

• Breitling: Floating Points, Rroxy More, Top Down Dialectic, Katie Dey, Max Richter

• Kumar: Mikal Cronin, Ty Segall, Mark Lanegan, Trinary System

• Mission of Burma's second act may be done

• Breitling: Juana Molina, Bedroom Eyes, Lubec, DIIV, Tullycraft, She Sir, Snowball II

• Kumar: Sleater-Kinney with a controversial new album; Janet Weiss pushed out of the band

• Breitling: Would have been better received under a different band name like Unicorn Butt

• Kumar: Pixies, Palehound, Kim Gordon, Pile, Black Mountain, Sebadoh, Fontaines DC, Telekinesis, Hold Steady, Desert Sessions, GBV, Wilco, Plague Vendor, Oh Sees, Nick Cave

• Breitling: Better Oblivion Community Center, Florist, Big Thief

• Next: Our top 10 albums

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the decade in TV and movies.

Show notes:

• Going over some of our favorites of the decade

• Jay: Haven't seen a lot of critical faves

• Both enjoyed Blackkklansman

• Toy Story 3 is the best of that series

• Matt: Beasts of the Southern Wild was a stunner

• In the Loop is profanely excellent

• Jay never saw Inside Out; Matt says it's borderline educational

• The traumatic sadness of Disney movies

• Don't ban offensive old movies

• Stereotypes in older movies stick out

• The series 24 was so over the top about torture and terrorists

• Writing for women's roles in the '80s was pretty awful

• Post-9/11 jingoism

• Good Sorkin: The Social Network

• Bad Sorkin: The Newsroom

• When older celebs are trending on Twitter

• Matt: In praise of Monsters

• Timothy Olyphant is great

• Matt needs to watch Justified

• Black Mirror is predicting everything

• The Americans is an excellent show

• Matt hasn't seen Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul

• Orphan Black features an amazing performance by Tatiana Maslany

• Bill Hader elevates himself from comic genius to dramatic auteur on Barry

• Russian Doll came out of the blue

• The People Vs. OJ Simpson was excellent, with a bizarre performance by John Travolta

• The sneaky genius of Legends of Tomorrow

• Dark on Netflix is a German show that is brilliantly out there

• Downton Abbey: Cultural phenomenon that doesn't make sense

• The Leftovers got better when it went beyond the book

• The Marvel shows on Netflix were surprisingly good (except for Iron Fist)

• The fight scenes in Daredevil were intense and creative

• So much content out there that it's impossible to see it all

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                               Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the decade in TV and movies.

Show notes:

• This decade has flown by

• 10 years ago, Matt was getting ready to move to Ireland

• Hard to rank the best movies and TV because there's so much we haven't seen

• Recording on the day that Disney+ launched

• Some bugs because of the huge demand on day 1

• Biggest change is the move to streaming content

• Binge-watching has become a huge trend

• Spoilers abound

• Jay: Don't read reviews until after I've watched something

• HBO's Watchmen series is pretty good

• So easy to fall behind on a show

• Shows switch to different streaming services

• We're so distracted that many people are doing multiple things while watching a show

• Short seasons are appealing because you can finish them quickly

• Rare to watch shows live

• Matt watched final season of LOST from Ireland, live with his family via a laptop

• Similarly, there's so much new music being released but a lot of it doesn't get heard

• Radio stations play a lot of the same music over and over

• More and more original programming on non-traditional outlets: PlayStation, Amazon Prime, Apple+

• So many streaming services available now

• The end goal is to replace your $200 cable bill with an equal amount spent on streaming services

• Jay: Cut the cord three years ago, went to all streaming

• You can't get everything

• Takes a long time to decide what to watch sometimes

• Sometimes we watch two different things while in the same room

• Seeing movies in a theater is great, but dealing with other people isn't

• Stay off social media if you don't want spoilers

• Jay: 10 years ago, I was watching late night talk shows every day

• Now, watch clips online the following day

• Jay: Haven't seen a Star Wars movie since 1983

• Something to be said for holding onto hard media

• Bringing back dead actors using AI

• Deep fakes are freaky and amazing

• Superhero movies became big moneymakers in the last decade

• The Shining happened because Kubrick was at a low spot and needed a hit

• The new Fantasy Island reboot is a horror movie

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                              I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead bootleg Cornell '77.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• Talking about Dead show recorded on 5/8/77 at Cornell University

• Phil: Listened to this hundreds of times

• Jay: Very impressed by the bootleg

• Phil: The show was so random

• Dead had taken some time off from touring from '74 to '76

• By spring of '77, band was firing on all cylinders

• Phil's parents wouldn't let 8-year-old Phil see the Dead on that tour

• A lot of live albums are unnecessary

• But a great live recording is transcendent

• Phil: Early Chicago with Terry Kath on guitar was a great live act

• The Dylan and the Dead live album was a dud

• Phil Lesh: The Heineken Years

• Clapton's MTV Unplugged album was awful

• Jay: Solo Clapton is terrible

• Phil doesn't like Thin Lizzy

• The Dead has 36-minute versions of songs on their bootlegs

• Phil has around 125 Dead boots

• Figuring out which songs flow well into others

• Phil: The version of "Morning Dew" on this bootleg is the best

• Plenty of snow at that show, inside and outside

• Love when bands change up the setlist every night

• When you get sick of songs you love

• Somehow we start talking about "The Day After"

• AC/DC's music is more complicated than you think

• Phil would set his time machine to 5/8/77

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                             I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's 1977 album Terrapin Station.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• The Dead's 9th studio album

• Band had signed with Clive Davis and Arista

• Album was produced by Keith Olsen, later known for slick AOR albums by Eddie Money, Rick Springfield, REO Speedwagon, Heart

• Phil: Would get a tattoo of the Terrapin cover

• Cover of "Dancing in the Streets" is pretty lame

• Live, the cover turns into a long jam (duh)

• Donna Godchaux was featured a lot on this record

• Side 2 is an side-long suite written by Hunter and Garcia

• Band didn't tour for this album after Mickey Hart got in a car accident

• The tour before this album was legendary for Dead fans

• Tried songs out live before they made it to studio recordings

• Side 1 closes out with a Donna G. song that sounds nothing like anything else the Dead has done

• The Godchaux marriage was splitting up while they were in the band

• Olsen erased Hart's drums on one song and replaced them with strings

• Lyrics on Terrapin Station are pretty dense

• Relatively short album for the Dead at 35 minutes

• Phil: These songs got better in the live setting

• Jay: A lot of filler on side 2

• Album feels like a contractual obligation

• Dead & Co. plays part of the title suite now

• Phil: Not a John Mayer fan, but he's a good guitarist

• Jay: Not a fan of this album

• Next: Cornell 5/8/77

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                                It's part 3 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we conclude our countdown of our favorite albums of the decade.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• Kumar's #3 of the decade: Parquet Courts cements their post-punk presence (2014)

• Impressive body of work with an art-rock vibe

• Breitling's #2: Johnny Foreigner's self-produced magnum opus (2011)

• Breitling was running a JF-themed blog for a while

• Kumar's #2: A punk explosion of political anger from Superchunk (2018)

• Still vital after all these years

• Breitling's #1: Post-punk legend Walter Schreifels' debut solo album (2010)

• Sincere folk rock with incredible hooks

• Kumar's #1: Bowie's final album was a masterpiece (2016)

• Recorded in secret with an unknown jazz band

• He thought he had more time, but died a few days after the album came out

• That's a decade

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                               It's part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the past decade.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• Breitling's top 10 aren't ranked in order

• JB's #10: 2014 compilation of singles by Cookies

• Experimental stuff, hooks galore

• JK's #10: Magnum opus by Titus Andronicus (2010)

• Sprawling album with lots of guest stars, loosely based on Civil War

• JB's #9: Breakout 2013 album from Speedy Ortiz

• Hot '90s indie rock sound

• JK's #9: Double album from Toronto's Fucked Up (2011)

• Sound of hardcore singer fronting Velocity Girl

• JB's #8: Dan Bejar brings the heat in 2011 with Destroyer

• Catchy '80s yacht rock vibe

• JK's 8: Jeff Rosenstock's post-election response (2018)

• Deals with disappointment and hitting your 30s

• JB's #7: Snowball II with an early '90s homage (2017)

• Produced by Kurt Heasley of Lilys

• JK's 7: Epic 2013 release from Queens of the Stone Age

• Near-death experience led to different lyrical approach

• JB's #6: The only War On Drugs worth fighting (2014)

• Adam Granduciel's mainstream breakthrough, attracting scorn from Mark Kozelek

• JK's #6: Arctic Monkeys continue evolving their sound (2013)

• Incorporated funk and hip hop beats into their indie rock

• JB's #5: Infinity Girl's debut for Topshelf (2015)

• Underappreciated shoegaze masterpiece

• JK's #5: Bob Mould's first album with Narducy and Wurster (2012)

• First of a strong stretch of ass-kickers, on par with his work with Sugar

• JB's #4: She Sir's 2014 release is painstakingly crafted

• Shimmering shoegaze

• JK's #4 and JB's #3: Courtney Barnett burst on the scene with strong 2015 debut

• Interesting lyrics combined with hot rock guitar

• To be continued: Our top picks

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                              It's part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the past decade.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• We did this 10 years ago, a little differently

• Ten years is a long time inside a car

• The shift from downloads to streaming

• Not everything is available from streaming services

• iTunes didn't die, it was just split up

• Music can also disappear from streaming services

• Original MP3 players only held a handful of songs

• The kids like the vinyl

• Concerts business has evolved: Bands are playing smaller venues

• Who the hell are the Chainsmokers?

• Bands we like can't fill hockey rinks

• Nobody's making money off albums

• It's all merch

• Vinyl and box sets are big bucks

• Lots of reissues

• Albums that didn't make our top 10

• Breitling: Releases from Lubec, Funeral Advantage, Hop Along, LCD Soundsystem

• Kumar: LCD Soundsystem, Grinderman, Arcade Fire, Wild Flag, Sloan, Destroyer, METZ, Savages, Speedy Ortiz, Kurt Vile, Ex Hex, Protomartyr, Run the Jewels, Ty Segall, The War on Drugs, Jeff Rosenstock, IDLES, Fucked Up, Sharon Van Etten, PUP

• To be continued: On to the top 10

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                             I'm joined by guest Steve Zisson as we discuss the new sci-fi short story anthology he compiled, A Punk Rock Future.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• Take 2 of our conversation after the first one didn't record

• A Punk Rock Future is available on Oct. 8

• Book mashes up Steve's love of punk rock and science fiction

• Inspired by other self-published sci-fi anthologies

• Steve and I go back to the late '80s when we were both newspaper reporters

• Later worked together at three different companies

• Zisson: Love for sci-fi started with the original Star Trek series

• Wrote sci-fi in his teens, but then went into journalism

• Jay: Realized that chemical engineering wasn't the path for me and decided to go into journalism

• Zisson: Got into music in the mid-'70s, including early incarnation of the Cars (R.I.P., Ric Ocasek)

• Was going to see bands like Queen, the Kinks, Roxy Music before checking out early punk acts

• Saw Ocasek and Ben Orr's pre-Cars band Cap'n Swing at a small club in Nahant, Mass.

• Then a year or so later, sees the Cars playing at UMass right before they hit it big

• Then would go see the Clash, the Jam, and local Boston punk acts like the Neighborhoods and DMZ

• Zisson got back into writing sci-fi around 2012

• Would dedicate time to write in his spare time

• Discovered a lot of great young writers

• Got a few stories published in well-known sci-fi journals and sites

• More ways to get published now, but more competition, too

• Used to be primarily U.S. writers, now more international

• Came up with the idea for the book after 2016 election

• Drew parallel to late '70s and talked to some writers about "a punk rock future" as an anthology idea

• Put the call out for stories and got over 400 submissions

• Started a Kickstarter to raise $5,000 to pay the authors selected

• Enlisted former Webnoize colleagues to help read the submissions

• With music now, there's so much out there, it's impossible to keep up

• The goal of the project was to get it done and showcase the authors

• One of the authors, Sarah Pinsker, has a new book out that's getting good buzz called A Song For a New Day

• A Punk Rock Future is available on Amazon and at indie bookstores

• Don't confuse Steve Zisson with Steve Zissou

• Next up: Get some more writing done

• Maybe do an anthology of really short stories, like an album of 2-minute songs

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                            I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's album Blues for Allah.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• The Dead's 7th studio album, came out in September 1975

• The band's highest-charting album until 1987

• Very non-commercial record

• Jay: The best thing about the album is the cover

• Moved in a much different direction from previous album

• Band had stopped touring after From the Mars Hotel

• Mickey Hart was back

• Also in 1975, Zeppelin had released Physical Graffiti, Talking Heads and Sex Pistols played their first shows, disco started hitting the charts

• Phil: Very sparse, subdued jazz-rock album

• Studio songs are blueprint, but they change after repeated live playings

• Dead fans were used to changing sounds

• The live show was the thing

• Commercial success was less important to the band and its fans

• Some songs on this album went on to become concert staples

• Not a lot of bands that have fans following them around the country: Phish, Afghan Whigs, Pearl Jam, Tragically Hip

• Album has a Middle Eastern feel; a few years later, they played in Egypt

• Jay: Liked the first few songs, then it started to meander

• Next album was live album Steal Your Face, which many fans didn't like

• Next we'll listen to Terrapin Station and Cornell '77

• Springsteen's live shows are long, but full of songs (as opposed to long jams)

• Phil just saw Apocalypse Now for the first time

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                           I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's album From the Mars Hotel.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ on the 13th birthday of the podcast

• The Dead's 7th studio album, came out in June 1974

• Watergate hearings were the big news story

• Beer was a lot cheaper back then

• In '74, there was a good variety of rock acts releasing important albums, plus funk

• Mars Hotel had some classic Dead songs

• Phil Lesh sang two songs, which was rare, and Bob Weir had one

• Garcia is in prime form on this record

• The Dead was touring with the "Wall of Sound," a massive "distortion-free" speaker setup

• Playing larger venues

• The cost was so high that they eventually quit touring for a few years

• Maybe the last great Dead studio album

• The Grateful Dead Movie was taken from the final shows of this tour

• Working out new songs in the live setting

• Rivalry between lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow

• The Dead would play with guest musicians from time to time including Pete Townshend, Branford Marsalis, Santana, Huey Lewis

• The Dead probably got some airplay on FM rock radio in the '70s

• Rock radio has changed a tremendous amount over the years; it's mostly corporate, formatted now

• College and online stations have the most freedom

• Second-tier album in the discography

• Pretty representative of the Dead's sound

• Next: Blues for Allah

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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Part 2 of my conversation with guest Gary Barth as we discuss the concertgoing experience.

Show notes:

• Recorded in Gary's car on the way to the show

• Driving before and briefly after an Iron Maiden concert at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, MA

• Jay: Big fan of club shows

• Like to get up close to the stage

• The downside of theater shows

• Some shows are made for big venues

• Getting your face melted by Ty Segall

• Demographics: We're the target market for Maiden, but often among the oldest when seeing newer acts

• If you were 30 when you saw Maiden during their early days, you're pushing 70 now

• Still weird to be "the old guy"

• No institutional knowledge of what came before

• Gary: Raised our kids on the Beatles

• Jay: My kids love Taylor Swift; at least she writes her own songs

• I listen to a lot of pop these days when I drive the girls around

• Making the kids listen to your music

• Gary: We played Beatles Rock Band a lot as a family

• Will we still go to rock shows as senior citizens?

• No such thing as guilty pleasures

• We both love the Bee Gees

• Jay: Traded the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack for a Zeppelin album

• Reconciled with my disco-loving childhood

• People who watch a show through their smart phones

• Making Gary self-conscious about phone use at concerts

• Artists who ban cellphone use at shows

• After the concert

• We paid extra to park in a lot to get out earlier

• High energy, over-the-top stage show

• Saw some people with toddlers

• Fun to go to a big show with friends

• Gary's next show: Raconteurs in September

• Jay's next show: Sleater-Kinney in October

• Gary plays about 20 shows a year

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                              Celebrating 13 years of podcasting with part 1 of my conversation with guest Gary Barth as we discuss the concertgoing experience...while we drive to a concert.

Show notes:

• Recorded in Gary's car on the way to the show

• Driving to an Iron Maiden concert at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, MA

• Gary's first concert: Huey Lewis and the News in 1985

• Huey's got rock cred

• All the big shows back in the '80s were at hockey rinks

• Many bands now play smaller theaters and clubs

• Jay: Used to go see arena shows only back then

• Arenas in Worcester, Portland, Providence

• Shows were cheaper back then, but we had less money

• People would get really wasted before concerts

• The guy who sat behind us and still missed the entire Maiden show

• Getting rides to concerts from parents

• Gary plays in a Grateful Dead cover band, Deadbeat

• Listening to some "nice hahd rawk"

• Jay's (very) short-lived high school band

• Jay: Liked a lot of metal and hard rock in high school, turned away from it in the '90s

• We both started listening to Maiden again in 2006

• Bands don't make money from selling albums anymore

• Saw Drive-By Truckers at the local theater in Beverly

• Go see Deadbeat at the Bull Run in Shirley, MA on 8/9

• Cover bands are doing pretty well these days

• Heavy Metal Cul de Sac

• Bands keep touring into their old age

• The Iron Maiden guys are all in their 60s but put on a high-energy show

• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                             It's part 3 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the year so far.

Show notes:

• Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ

• Breitling's #6

• Changing his take on "Steve Miller Band for millennials"

• Kumar's #6

• Band recently relocated to Nashville

• Breitling's #4

• Another accomplished Boston indie rock act continues to evolve its sound

• Kumar's #5

• Don't call it a comeback; fuzzy power pop from low-key indie rocker

• Breitling's #3

• Reissue of mid-'90s release from San Jose hardcore trio

• Definitely check out the reissue of Silkworm's In the West

• Kumar's #3

• Scrappy pop punk from Toronto band

• Breitling's #2

• Veteran act with inspired new release

• Kumar's #2 and Breitling's #5

• Inspired by '80s riff rock

• Breitling's #1 and Kumar's #4

• A triumph from a legendary rock god

• Possibly as good as anything from his previous bands

• Kumar's #1

• Out of left field for me, but a great sweeping folk pop record

• Female solo artist who has come into her own

• New albums coming from Titus Andronicus, Sleater-Kinney, Redd Kross, Purple Mountains, possibly Ava Luna

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                            It's part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the year so far.

Show notes:

• Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ

• Breitling's bubbling under albums: Purple Mountains, Katie Dey, Ava Luna, Coaches, Fennesz, William Basinski

• Kumar's not-quite top 10: Swervedriver, Piroshka, Cherry Glazerr, L7, Jenny Lewis, Flat Worms, Hash Redactor, Versing, Kiwi Jr., Business of Dreams

• Breitling's #10

• Veteran indie pop act from Seattle

• Kumar's #10

• Fuzzy power pop that's short and sweet

• Breitling's #9

• Shout out to Matt Graves

• Glittery guitar pop from Austin

• Kumar's #9

• Vital post-punk noise straight outta Dublin

• Breitling's #8

• Shoegaze from prolific LA band

• Kumar's #8

• Welcome return from indie rock veterans

• Breitling's #7

• Blistering EP from great Boston indie act

• Perry Farrell's face

• Kumar's #7

• Western Canadian stoner rock

• Next week: Our top 6 albums of the year so far

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                           I'm joined by guest Jay Breitling as we discuss the year in rock music so far.

Show notes:

• Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ

• Back for the attack

• Kumar: Just back from Philly

• Coming up in December: We pick our favorite music of the decade

• Apple is doing away with iTunes, but it's not that big a deal

• Some people are freaking out, but there are other options

• It was good for making playlists

• Kumar: Still need downloads to build radio show playlist

• People don't need to own music anymore

• Kumar: Use free versions of Spotify and YouTube to stream

• Somebody stole a bunch of Radiohead outtakes, band responds by putting it up for sale on Bandcamp

• Breitling's curb vinyl haul

• The Dio hologram tour is ongoing

• Our verdict: Stay home

• The festivals keep going

• The Woodstock 50 debacle

• Our verdict: Festivals suck

• Breitling may want to choke you

• Reality show people are annoying

• Ja Rule explains it all

• Both of us have gone to fewer concerts this year

• We like watching the rock videos on the YouTubes

• Whither Arsenio?

• Next week: Our favorite albums of the year so far

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                          I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's album Wake of the Flood.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• Jay: Knew nothing about this album until recently

• First album on the Dead's own label

• New phase for the Dead: No Mickey Hart, the Godchauxs arrive, Pigpen had died

• Shades of jazz fusion

• Three years after their last studio album, American Beauty

• Material was well-honed in concert before making it to studio recording

• Horns featured throughout

• Phil: Live versions of these songs are better

• Two big shows with Allman Brothers and the Band that summer

• The rise of Frampton

• Nobody cares about live albums anymore

• "Stella Blue" is a standout track

• On the merits and demerits of Rush

• Back when AOR stations would play album sides

• Pulled back on the country influence of previous two albums

• No immediate "hits"

• Touring is one of the few ways bands can make money nowadays

• Ultimately, not one of their best, but a piece of the puzzle

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                         I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's live triple album Europe '72.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• Triple album documenting the Dead's European tour

• Displays new Americana sound

• Mickey Hart's gone, Keith and Donna Godchaux join

• Full tour was documented on a 73-CD box set

• Letting it all hang out at an Oregon show

• Garcia and Weir released solo albums this year

• The Dead's influenced ranged wide, eventually including members of punk/indie acts like Black Flag and Meat Puppets

• Greg Ginn, noted Deadhead

• The greatness of "Jack Straw"

• Later covered by eventual guest keyboardist Bruce Hornsby

• Grateful Dead keyboardists : Spinal Tap drummers

• "A long f-ing album"

• Unrelated: The Dirtbombs rule

• "China Cat Sunflower" sounds very different here than the original

• This is Peak Dead

• The band captured the communal live experience and attracted a huge following

• When you party too hard before the show

• Pigpen's last hurrah

• "Morning Dew" is stretched out to 10+ minutes of apocalyptic jam

• Tangent: Janelle Monae is great

• Variety is important

• No more guilty pleasures

• Waaaaaaay off topic

• The strange career of Robert Palmer

• Phil: Europe '72 is like comfort food

• Next up: Wake of the Flood

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                        I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's album American Beauty.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• Cover art could also be read as "American Reality"

• Also released in 1970; recorded a few months after Workingman's Dead came out

• Even more countrified, Americana-sounding

• Mickey Hart was on his way out, less involvement

• Featured on Freaks and Geeks episode where Lindsay gets into the Dead

• Half the album features "hits": Box of Rain, Friend of the Devil, Sugar Magnolia, Ripple, Truckin'

• Very low-key record

• Play Ripple at Phil's funeral

• On 50th birthday playlists

• Phil's idea for a playlist: 5 songs from every year of his life, no repeat artists

• Around this time, the Dead started really growing their fanbase

• Dead fans started following them on tour

• A lot of guests, including David Grisman

• This album isn't as dark as the previous one

• Another fairly concise record

• The Dead played the old Boston Tea Party club (now House of Blues) on New Year's Eve 1969

• The sound on this album is more timeless than the original acid-rock

• Jay: Just say no to DMB

• Phil: More into the Dead's music than the scene

• Truckin' is autobiographical, all about touring and getting hassled by the Man

• Ends the album on an upbeat note, with some ripping lead guitar

• Next up: Europe '72

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                       I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's 1970 album Workingman's Dead.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• First show of the new year

• Workingman's Dead is the band's 4th studio album

• First of two releases in '70

• Recorded in nine days

• Stripped down sound, less psychedelic

• Garcia and Robert Hunter wrote the whole album

• Folk, country, Americana elements

• Rock was moving away from psychedelia, toward singer-songwriters and acoustic sounds

• Bookended by two of the band's biggest songs

• More of an emphasis on vocals like Crosby, Stills and Nash

• "Suite Judy Blue Eyes" as a torture device

• Phil: Prefer live Dead, but still break out the studio albums on occasion

• Warm sounding record

• "New Speedway Boogie" is about Altamont

• Recently covered by Courtney Barnett

• Hunter's solo releases are all over the place

• Jay: Only heard two songs before

• Fairly concise album; not much jamming

• Moved away from acid blues into a new direction

• "Easy Wind," sung by Pigpen, was the outlier

• Like the Entwistle song on a Who album

• "Casey Jones" evolved in an interesting way over the years

• Talking about cocaine

• Next up: American Beauty

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                   Part 3 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2018.

Show notes:

• Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ

• Featuring special guest/studio audience member Ric Dube

• On to our top 5 selections

• JK's #5

• An unexpectedly great album from a member of the Strokes

• JB's #5

• Weird shoegaze straight outta Philly

• JB's #4

• More excellent Philadelphia indie rock

• JK's #3

• Angry, angular UK rock act that has listened to the Fall

• JB's #3

• "I had difficulty finding fault with this record"

• Esteemed YoLa-ologist in the house

• YLT keeps doing its own thing

• JK's #2

• Another fine double album from an interesting Toronto act

• Where hardcore meets prog

• Lots of guest vocalists

• JB's #2

• Sweeping orchestral material, hot jams

• Bands still make videos for some reason

• Picking and choosing from the catalog

• JK's #1

• A political record released early in the year that still resonates

• Fiery live show to go with the album

• Countering a master of distraction

• The kids with the vaping and the pot smoking and the whatnot

• It's a strange time to be alive

• JB's #1 and JK's #4

• Bit of a grower

• A darker, moodier album than her previous work

• Terrific live performer

• Dube: Became a fan by complete accident

• Doobs recommends the Salad Boys

• New stuff on the horizon: Bob Mould, Pedro the Lion, Mike Krol, Swervedriver, Telekinesis

• Johnny Foreigner reunion seems unlikely

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                  Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2018.

Show notes:

• Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ

• Featuring special guest/studio audience member Ric Dube

• JB's #10/JK's #9

• On-again, off-again band led by Steve Hartlett

• Ah, the old "sweatpants-with-beers-stuffed-down-the-legs" deal

• Reminiscent of "Bug"-era Dino Jr.

• JK's #10

• Labelmates of Parquet Courts with similar sound

• The downside of "Music Limited"

• JB's #9

• Boston act traffics in "millennial mopery"

• Lo-fi, self-released effort

• Stickin' it to the Man with his Bandcamp URL

• JK's #8

• Released on 1/1/18

• Fueled by political frustration and anger

• A "fun protest album"

• JB's #8

• Brand new record from a UK supergroup

• Long-awaited followup to 2007 debut

• Rhythmically diverse look at British culture

• Whither Gorillaz?

• JK's #7

• The 12th studio album from power-pop masters

• Four songwriters who each wrote three songs

• Consistently great

• The fun of hunting down B-sides and rarities before artists started releasing compilations/reissues

• The ability to fall asleep on your feet while at a rock concert

• JB's #7

• A good record from a guitar wizard

• Less volume than his main gig

• "Relatively understated throughout"

• JK's #6

• An expansive effort from a prolific indie act

• Branching out their sound with more danceable songs

• Voicing political outrage

• JB's #6

• Venturing into jazzier realms

• Led by one of the more interesting guitarists of last 25 years

• Avant-rock/jazz; "it's not like Kenny G"

• Next: The top 5

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                 Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2018.

Show notes:

• Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ

• Featuring special guest/studio audience member Ric Dube

• The decline of rock's popularity

• Album sales are way down

• That time the Melvins hit the Top 200 albums chart

• Apple's going to work with the Amazon Echo soon

• Breitling pays for the Amazon Music "Talky Talky"

• The youths don't pay for physical media anymore

• Ric's family has Spotify, he has dedicated streaming of his own collection

• Modern country is doing big business, relatively speaking

• Pop music is doing well

• Most rock acts make money through touring, not albums

• The Stones are still touring

• Mick and Keith were considered "old" in their mid-30s

• Breitling: The year's music really picked up in the second half

• New Mary Lattimore release is enjoyable

• Ric: Enjoying Brian Eno's latest release, which is a $30 app

• Kumar: Honorable mentions include Tony Molina, Slaves, Thin Lips, Arthur Buck, Buffalo Tom, Joyce Manor, Swearin, Stove, Screaming Females

• Breitling: Master System, Palm, Superchunk, Frankie Cosmos, Kurt Vile

• Next: We count down our top 10 albums

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                      I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's first official live album, Live/Dead.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• Live/Dead was released in 1969

• There weren't a lot of live albums released then

• The band did it as a make-good to the label after some poor-selling albums

• Recorded at the Fillmore West

• Songs evolved in live setting

• At the time, it was unusual to play extended jams

• Music fans really focused on albums back in the heyday of vinyl

• The first thing you hear on the album is 23-minute "Dark Star"

• Now for the tuning section

• Phil: Have listened to 250-300 Dead bootlegs

• Bootleg tape trading was huge in the '70s and '80s

• Archive.org, Nugs.net have tons of Dead shows

• On a lot of '70s-era live albums, bands went in and re-recorded songs or parts of songs

• Some bands perfectly recreate their studio sound

• "Death Don't Have No Mercy" is reminiscent of Zeppelin's "Since I've Been Loving You"

• When this album came out, FM radio was in a very experimental place

• Some stations would play album sides or even entire records

• "St. Stephen" is a standout

• Jay: I've been impressed so far

• Phil explains the Dead to his kids

• Seeing a dude doing coke off his dashboard at a Dead show

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                     I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's third album, Aoxomoxoa.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• Aoxomoxoa was released in 1969

• A big year for rock music

• Tons of legendary albums came out: Zeppelin, Who, Beatles, Neil Young, Stooges, MC5, Stones

• First two Dead albums were commercial failures

• Went way over budget in studio, stuck to their guns

• Very experimental sound

• Robert Hunter contributed lyrics to most of the album

• Songs featured eccentric characters, way out lyrics

• Plenty of drugs were part of the process

• The old West, the devil, the rose were recurring themes

• First album ever recorded using 16-track technology

• Band spent $180k on the album

• Jay: A lot to like about this album

• "Dupree's Diamond Blues" sounds like a Kinks song

• "What's Become of the Baby" is 8 minutes of weirdness that should have been left off album

• When bands release unnecessary hits compilations

• There was a definite '60s resurgence in the mid-80s that led to growth in popularity of the Dead at colleges

• And then jam bands really caught on: Phish, Allman Brothers, Blues Traveler, Widespread Panic

• Iconic Dead skull and lightning bolt logo was released in '69

• Phil: Band was very good at mobilizing fanbase

• Dead merch is so unique and well-known

• The confounding popularity of "Africa"

• "China Cat Sunflower" is a Dead classic

• Some songs evolve in concert, some don't get played at all

• Aoxomoxoa sounds like the Dead

• Jay: Jams can be fun, but you don't necessarily want to put them on a record

• We'll listen to more live stuff vs. studio albums going forward

• Next up: Live/Dead

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                    I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's second album, 1968's Anthem of the Sun.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• Anthem of the Sun was recorded in 1967, released in '68

• Very experimental, similar to Zappa's song splicing in the '70s

• Studio and live performances mixed together

• An early concept album

• Songs would evolve through the years in performance

• Robert Hunter makes his first appearance as a lyricist on this album

• Producer grew frustrated with the band and left during the recording

• The sound of "thick air"

• Triple kazoo attack

• The Dead must have been a shock to fans of bubblegum pop

• Live, the Dead mixed up their shows every night

• This album sounds more jammy, like you would expect a Dead album to sound

• A lot of covers of bluegrass, country, jug bands, blues

• Pearl Jam adopted the Dead practice of releasing official bootlegs of shows

• The Dead used to do more audience banter, but recent incarnations of the group just play with minimal talking

• Anthem of the Sun was the next step in the evolution of the band's sound

• Next up: Aoxomoxoa

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                   I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we dig into the catalog of the Grateful Dead, starting with the band's 1967 debut.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• Other podcasts have focused on catalogs of U2, R.E.M., Phish, The Tragically Hip

• Looking at the Dead album by album

• Phil's a tie-dyed in the wool Deadhead, Jay has only superficial knowledge of the band

• Phil: Got into the Dead in the mid-'80s, saw them live in '89

• Attracted by the musicianship, lyrics

• Live is where the band really shines

• Every show was different

• The solo work from Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir was pivotal as well

• Songs would be played live years before it showed up on an album

• Band's biggest hit, "Touch of Grey," was first played live in '82 but became a single five years later

• Jay: More into hard rock, metal as a kid

• Got into alternative and punk

• Would hear some Dead songs on classic rock radio

• The tribute comp Deadicated introduced me to more Dead songs

• Self-titled debut has a different sound than the one they evolved into

• Recorded in four days

• Only got up to #73 on album charts

• Mostly covers of folk and jug band songs

• Band took a lot of speed during recording, which shows in the songs

• Garcia rips on guitar throughout

• Not too much jamming on record

• Psychedelic rock was starting to happen in general

• Live versions of these songs were much longer

• Most Dead shows were 2.5 to 3 hours

• Jay: Really liked "Cold Rain and Snow," "Viola Lee Blues"

• "Sitting on Top of the World" bears some resemblance to Allman Brothers

• Phil: Garcia was very prolific, always playing guitar

• Bob Weir gave up the short shorts for cargo pants

• John Mayer plays with Dead and Co. now

• Surviving Dead guys are in their 70s now

• Not your typical Dead album

• The band didn't like how it was recorded

• Next up: Anthem of the Sun

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                  Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our rock n' roll regrets.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• Jay: Gave away a bunch of vinyl in the '90s

• Price gouging vinyl-loving hipsters

• Looking for bargains

• Young entrepreneurship gone wrong

• Taping music off the radio

• In praise of Barooga Bandit

• Phil: Wish I'd seen shows at some historic venues

• Jay: Bands I once liked that I now regret liking

• There should be no guilty pleasures

• Coming to terms with disco

• Some early '90s radio staples now ring false

• Getting rides to concerts from parents

• Jay: Not going to club shows earlier

• Only went to hockey arenas and amphitheaters

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

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                                                 Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our rock n' roll regrets.

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon world HQ

• Phil: Bands I never got to see

• Missing artists before they died

• Sometimes it's for budgetary reasons

• Jay: Saw Neil Young last month for the first time

• The time Phil got dosed at a Cure show

• Phil: Not being old enough to see certain artists in their prime

• Following bands on tour

• Jay: Not sticking with the guitar

• Been playing on and off for decades

• Short-lived band experiences, including Bea Arthur's Revenge

• Phil: Giving away CDs and mixtapes

• Mixtapes can tell a lot about someone's personality

• Jay: Still have all my cassettes

• To be continued