Completely Conspicuous

Categories

moving
rock talk
Nick Lorenzen
Fucked Up
Footlocker discount code
Soccer Mom
Heartless Bastards
Damien Jurado
Gross Magic
hockey
fandom
rock and/or roll
Budget
Twerps
Screaming Trees
Delta Spirit
five years
unsung albums
Stephen Malkmus
Robert Pollard
Roadside Graves
The Church
online privacy
career shifts
journalism
The Dirtbombs
The Kills
PJ Harvey
Mogwai
Wire
East River Pipe
Destroyer
Walter Schreifels
No Age
Teenage Fanclub
Mixology
Mondo Generator
athletic gear
LCD Soundsystem
Silversun Pickups
ChkChkChk
The Dead Weather
Everyone Everywhere
Midlake
The Whigs
Quasi
Dinosaur Jr.
Elliott Smith
Jason Collett
The Apples in Stereo
guilty pleasures
The King Khan and BBQ Show
Great Northern
Deer Tick
Canada
Metric
Spiral Stairs
Almighty Defenders
Completely Conspicuous
Rick Johnson
Warrior Soul
Andrew Bird
movies
Sunset Rubdown
The Dears
Sonic Youth
Jarvis Cocker
The Pink Mountaintops
Eric Convey
Shearwater
Pavement
Swan Lake
RCRD LBL
The Secret Machines
Frightened Rabbit
Volcano Suns
Deltron 3030
Juliana Hatfield
IODA Promonet
Ladyhawk
Podsafe Music Network
The Zambonis
Sub Pop Records
Joseph Arthur
The Constantines
Panthers
British Sea Power
Ween
Flight of the Conchords
Controller.Controller
El-P
Stars
The Shods
Frank Black
The Nice Device
Dios Malos
Riverboat Gamblers
TV On the Radio
general

Archives

2024
March
February
January

2023
December
November
September
August
July
June
April
March
February
January

2022
December
November
October
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2021
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
April
March
February
January

2020
December
November
October
September
July
June
May
April
March
February

2019
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
March
February
January

2018
December
November
October
August
July
June
March
February
January

2017
December
November
October
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2016
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2015
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2014
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2013
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2012
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2011
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2010
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2009
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2008
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2007
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March

March 2016
S M T W T F S
     
    1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31

Syndication

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite indie rock of 2016.

Show notes:

- We are not Moviefone

- Rough year for musician deaths

- Trump's top 3 albums

- A return to protest music?

- Clicky Clicky HQ is fully Alexa-ized

- The kids love the vinyl (well, the hipsters do, anyway)

- Albums are back, sort of

- Crowdfunding albums is becoming more prevalent

- Breitling's bubbling under albums: A Giant Dog, Thin Lips, Bent Shapes, Yr Poetry, Pinegrove, Horse Jumper of Love, Guillermo Sexo, California Snow Story

- Kumar's: Used Cassettes, Savages, Dino Jr., Radiohead, Split Single, Preoccupations, Descendents, Johnny Foreigner, Terry Malts, Hallelujah the Hills, Kristin Hersh, I Don't Cares, Nick Cave, Gord Downie, PJ Harvey

- Downie teamed with comics artist Jeff Lemire on combo album/graphic novel

- Breitling's #10

- Cold Pumas back with a hot new release

- Kumar's #10

- Possibly the last Tragically Hip album

- Different sound courtesy of producers Kevin Drew and Dave Hamelin

- Breitling's #9

- Boston's Strange Passage reminds of early Ride

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_452_122716.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 6:33pm EDT

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1990.

Show notes:

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- Jay's #3 album of 1990

- Public Enemy was controversial

- Homophobia was pervasive back then, especially in hip hop

- PE scared white America

- Brian's #3

- They Might Be Giants was in the middle of a classic run of albums

- Song-a-Day Hotline

- Jay's #2

- After a decade of weirdness, Neil Young re-established himself as a rock icon

- Took Sonic Youth and Social D on the road

- Brian's #1 and Jay's #5

- Kim Deal and Tanya Donelly teamed up

- Deal stepped out of Black Francis' shadow

- Brian's #2

- Pixies release their surfiest album

- When 3/4 of Pixies crossed paths with some interesting neighbors

- Jay's #1

- Jane's Addiction's tour de force

- Scored an accidental video and radio hit with "Been Caught Stealing"

- Starts out fast and punchy, ends with side 2 of long, epic songs

- Perry Farrell's transition from out-of-control rock freak to hippie uncle

- One more year to go: 1991

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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_451_122316.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 9:05am EDT

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1990.

Show notes:

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- Albums that just missed our top 5 of the year

- Alice in Chains inspired a ton of copycat acts

- World Party paid homage to many influences

- Brian was a big Pantera fan in high school

- Social Distortion's classic era

- Living Colour came into their own with second album

- Warren Zevon teamed up with the non-Stipe members of R.E.M. to do a covers album

- Elektra comp Rubaiyat featured unlikely covers

- Mark Lanegan's first solo album established his dark bluesy side

- Ride was on the crest of the shoegaze wave

- Brian's #5

- Ween established their eclectic reputation

- The strange journey of Sim Cain

- Jay's #4

- Fugazi at the peak of their powers

- Brian's #4

- Primus at their least jokey

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_450_122016.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 8:24pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1990.

Show notes:

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- Things are getting weird

- The Decline of Western Civilization docs are fascinating

- In 1990, Jay was 22-23 and Brian was 8

- The '90s were still kicking off

- Pivotal events were still yet to happen

- Stevie Ray Vaughan died young

- 2 Live Crew came to prominence

- Oh, Milli Vanilli

- Disposable pop seemed to fade for a while

- Hammer and Vanilla Ice

- Madonna: Publicity generator

- Metal was tailing off after a strong decade

- Hip hop was getting stronger

- New Jack Swing was the thing

- Alternative rock was paving the way for Nirvana's breakthrough

- Pop charts were topped by the likes of Wilson Phillips and Roxette

- Sinead O' Connor's wild year

- Bands formed: Bikini Kill, Cracker, Body Count, Spin Doctors

- What about Tool?

- Broke up: Death of Samantha, Game Theory, Starship

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_449_121416.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 6:43am EDT

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the aftermath of the election.

Show notes:

- Check out Matt's book Like a Comet: The Indestructibles Book 4

- Keeping friends after the election

- It's getting personal

- The canary in the coal mine

- Reading things that you know will annoy you

- Forced lefty

- Giving up on the presidency

- Don't encourage the Kardashians

- Romney's changed, man

- Matt's next book is changing because of the election

- Forget art forged from pain, we'll take mindless pop

- Social media as free therapy

- The Electoral College's relevance

- Changing demographics

 

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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_448_112916.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 8:12pm EDT

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the aftermath of the election.

Show notes:

- Check out Matt's book Like a Comet: The Indestructibles Book 4

- Jay: Not moving to Canada

- None of those celebs is leaving the country

- Enthusiastic votes for Trump

- Parallels to Brexit

- Plenty of protests when Obama was elected

- Scandals didn't hurt Trump

- Clinton was a very Republican-safe candidate

- Covering politics for a newspaper can change you

- When Matt was dissed by the new Lt. Gov.

- Oh, Gary Hart

- Politicians and sex

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_447_112216.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 6:44pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the aftermath of the election.

Show notes:

- Check out Matt's book Like a Comet: The Indestructibles Book 4

- Thought this was going to be a very different show

- Didn't expect a Trump victory

- Social media was raw the day after the election

- Family and friend disagreements

- You can't change anybody's mind on social media

- Friendships are ending over the election

- Hiding or unfriending people

- Plenty of blame to go around

- People don't fact check things before passing them along

- Thanksgiving could be disastrous this year

- Many people may avoid it altogether

- A whole group of people got left behind and Trump tapped into that

- A deplorable soundbite

- Promising everything

- We're insulated in Massachusetts

- Oh, Florida

- Dealing with post-election feelings

- Racist and dumb is quite the combination

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_446_111616.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:14am EDT

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1985.

Show notes:

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- Jay's #5

- Brian: "I'm a major label sellout guy" when it comes to R.E.M.

- R.E.M. started getting rock radio airplay in '85

- When MTV News was a thing

- The evolution of Stipe

- Brian's #2

- The Pogues: A love 'em or hate 'em band

- Shane McGowan has teeth now

- Jay's #2

- Two great Husker Du albums in '85

- New Day Rising gets the edge over Flip Your Wig

- Rock concert business was focused on arenas in '85

- Indie rock acts had to forge their own way

- Brian's #1 and Jay's #5

- Camper Van Beethoven's interesting debut mixed a lot of styles

- Jay forgot about the Replacements

- Trouble Boys, the Replacements bio, is excellent

- Mats reunion may not be over

- Jay's #1

- Pete Townshend's last great work

- Ambitious project about the London projects where he grew up

- Since then, he's focused on Who tours and licensing

- McCartney can't stop/won't stop

- Next up: 1990

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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_445_110816.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:24pm EDT

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1985.

Show notes:

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- Bands that formed in '85: Bevis Frond, Big Dipper, Crowded House, Guns 'N Roses, Hootie and the Blowfish, Jane's Addiction, Radiohead

- Bands that split up: Minutemen, Hanoi Rocks, Kajagoogoo

- Brian's bubbling under albums: Prince, Minutemen, Jonathan Richman, Angst, Big Audio Dynamite

- The importance of Mick Jones

- Jay: Smiths, INXS, Cure, Dinosaur Jr., Rush, Jesus and Mary Chain

- Brian's #5

- Beat Happening specialized in lo-fi pop

- Brian's #4

- Not the best Talking Heads album, but a decent one

- Jay's #4

- The Cult established their goth sound

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_444_110116.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:23pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1985.

Show notes:

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- 1985: Jay graduated from high school, started college in the fall

- Jay was 17 going on 18, Brian turned 3

- Jay: Listened to a lot of AOR, hard rock, metal

- Started getting into U2

- The year of rock charity

- Undercurrent of college rock

- MTV was growing

- Style over substance

- Strange collection of songs on the Hot 100

- A lot of songs released in '84 carried over to '85 charts

- Hard rock and metal albums were selling well: Ratt, Dokken, Twisted Sister

- Indie rock's influence wouldn't be felt for a few more years

- The launch of VH1

- PMRC hearings put spotlight on explicit lyrics

- Warning labels had the opposite of intended effect

- DLR left Van Halen in '85: Did he jump or was he pushed?

- DLR's book is fascinating and insane

- Rock bios are a mixed bag

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_443_102516.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 8:32pm EDT

Part 2 of my conversation with author Greg Renoff as we discuss the rise and fall of the guitar hero.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Buy Greg's book Van Halen Rising at Amazon or get a signed copy from the Van Halen Store

- Flash guitar in the '80s: VH, Motley Crue, Ratt, Quiet Riot

- Ratt was once replaced on a bill by Molly Hatchet

- Billy Squier's downfall

- Molly Hatchet unsuccessfully tried to pull a "ZZ Top"

- The hair metal bubble burst

- The '80s shredder trend

- Fast forwarding to the solos

- Oh, Vinnie Vincent

- Looking for the new Warrant

- The influence of Guitar Hero

- Learning about Slash

- We need guitars

 

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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_442_101916.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:13am EDT

This week, it's part 1 of my conversation with author Greg Renoff as we discuss the rise and fall of the guitar hero.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Buy Greg's book Van Halen Rising at Amazon or get a signed copy from the Van Halen Store

- Greg: As a kid, started playing stepfather's old acoustic guitar

- An uncle got him into Hendrix, Clapton, Leslie West

- Jay: First guitar hero was Jimmy Page

- Zeppelin II was the gateway

- Greg: Realized early that I'd never be able to play like Eddie VH

- Jay: Played guitar on and off over the years, never seriously

- Childhood friend plays in a Journey cover band

- Greg: Guitar was a good way to blow off steam

- Big band Hendrix?

- Jay: Other early favorites were Pete Townshend and Dave Davies

- The evolution of Clapton

- Early '70s were marked by great players like Iommi, Blackmore and Michael Schenker

- Jay: Got into Sabbath and Ozzy in the early '80s

- Gary Moore was an underrated guitar monster

- Building your music collection via music clubs

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_441_101116.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 8:27pm EDT

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Wardlaw as we discuss the decline of rock radio.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Matt's podcast Lost Together

- Van Cherone: Matt defends Van Halen III

- Eddie VH's lack of new material

- Buy Greg Renoff's great book Van Halen Rising

- Eddie sounds good again

- Age is becoming a factor

- Jay: Saw both DLR and VH in 1986

- The MTV effect

- Early '80s video production values

- Videos pushed songs to greater success

- In defense of "We Built This City"

- Videos boosted careers of artists like ZZ Top, the Cars and Huey Lewis

- Rock stations added non-music programming

- Satellite radio is nice, but not a must-have

- Matt uses Apple Music

- Bands aren't making much money from streaming

- The money is in touring and merch, not albums

- Home taping didn't kill the music industry

 

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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_440_100416.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 5:59pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Wardlaw as we discuss the decline of rock radio.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Matt's podcast Lost Together

- Matt first got into radio as a kid in Odessa, TX

- Jay: Started listening to AM rock stations in Toronto in late '70s

- Matt later moved to Cleveland area, heard a lot of Canadian bands on radio there

- The enduring popularity of Trooper's "Raise a Little Hell"

- The thrill of the chase: hunting for B-sides and imports

- Learned about music via radio and magazines

- Countless hours in record stores

- In Boston, the rock stations have dwindled

- Cleveland's WMMS has gone part talk, part classic rock

- Curated radio experience is becoming more rare

- Jay: Listen to combo of podcasts, college radio and online stations

- Matt had a metal show for several years

- Classic rock acts can't get new stuff played anymore

- Playing new material live vs. "the hits"

- Billy Joel stopped making new music in early '90s

- Touring is where the money is for classic rock acts

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_439_092816.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:35pm EDT

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss fantasy sports.

Show notes:

- No interest in daily fantasy sports

- Big ad blitz when daily fantasy leagues hit the scene

- The kids love the gambling

- Sports gambling is much easier now

- Vegas now has an NHL franchise

- The Super Bowl is more spectacle than game

- "I call him Gamblor"

- Senior citizens take buses to casinos

- Playing in multiple leagues is no guarantee of winning money

- When the commissioner is dishonest

- Like pickup sports, you want to have fun with friends in fantasy leagues

- The single worst pick in fantasy hockey history

- Let's hear it for Lichtenstein

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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_438_092016.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 6:35pm EDT

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss fantasy sports.

Show notes:

- Jay: Renewed interest in baseball in the past year

- Watching sports without cable TV can be tricky

- Head-to-head format can be tough

- Paying attention to statistical details

- When fantasy leagues go bad

- Our fantasy hockey league fell apart because of money

- The problem with having people you don't know in the league

- We had our draft, started the season and then shut it down

- Hockey can be tough because it's harder to find people who really know the game

- Jay: Work football league got rid of kickers

- So many sources of draft information

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_437_091316.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 9:07pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss fantasy sports.

Show notes:

- Fantasy sports is big business

- Rooting against your favorite team

- Phil: Got into fantasy baseball in early '90s

- Jay: Started a league in '91 with work friends

- Paid a service to compile stats reports

- So much more now to distract you from draft prep

- Started with AL-only league

- Early fantasy football league started decades earlier

- Jack Kerouac created his own fantasy baseball league with fictional players and teams

- Strat-O-Matic started in early '60s

- Cards and dice game, similar to D&D

- The joys of Mattel Intellivision

- Sports betting is popular

- Takes enjoyment out of the game

- The house always wins

- The fun of the fantasy draft

- Auction leagues require more involvement, longer draft

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_436_090616.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 10:25pm EDT

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1995.

Show notes:

- Recorded live from Brian's back porch in Ringwood, NJ

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- Brian's #2

- Rentals' debut is on par with Weezer's best

- Brian's #3 and Jay's #2

- Jay: Saw Foo Fighters' first tour, opening for Mike Watt

- Foo debut came out of nowhere

- Grohl released a solo album a few years earlier

- First two Foo albums are standouts

- The problem with Audioslave

- Gord Downie goes out doing what he loves

- Radiohead's The Bends just missed both our lists

- Brian's #1 and Jay's #3

- Mike Watt called in every favor he could

- GBV's Alien Lanes dropped out of Jay's top 5

- Chock full o' good songs

- Jay's #1

- PJ Harvey expands her sound beyond guitar rock

- Next up: 1985

 

 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_435_083016.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 8:08pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1995.

Show notes:

- Recorded live from Brian's back porch in Ringwood, NJ

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- Brian's bubbling under albums: ODB, Morphine, Boss Hog, Hum

- Brian Salvatore: Humbuster

- Jay's bubbling under: Rancid, Mad Season, Elastica, Matthew Sweet, Yo La Tengo

- Brian: White Zombie, No Doubt, Oasis, Presidents of the USA, Smashing Pumpkins, Goo Goo Dolls, Flaming Lips, Bowie, Sleater-Kinney

- Jay: Urge Overkill, Chris Whitley, Helium, Garbage, Bjork, Wilco, Neil Young, Jawbreaker

- Brian's #5

- Rancid blasts through an excellent album

- Jay's #5

- One of the two Rocket from the Crypt albums released in '95

- Melding horns with punk guitars

- Brian's #4

- Kim Deal's non-Breeders band

- "The most GBV-sounding Breeders record"

- Josephine Baker was not in the Breeders

- Jay's #4

- Pavement's post-breakthrough record

- The original title didn't cut it

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_434_082316.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:15pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1995.

Show notes:

- Recorded live from Brian's back porch in Ringwood, NJ

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- Baby Ben hanging out

- In 1995, we were on to the second-generation grunge bands

- Bands were copying Bush and Stone Temple Pilots

- Brian was 12-13, Jay was 27-28

- Jerry Garcia died

- More '95 deaths: Eazy E, Shannon Hoon

- Back then, you checked out music based on a review

- Blind Melon's rise and fall

- Beatles released new song

- Bill Berry had a brain aneurysm during an R.E.M. show

- Van Halen released their last Hagar album

- Superhero movies in the '90s

- Singles charts had a lot of R&B, some jam rock

- Jay tells his Trey Anastasio story again

- Cursing Greg Ginn

- Jay: Listened to Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness for first time in 20 years

- Formed in '95: Blonde Redhead, N SYNC, Pedro the Lion, Eels, Sleater-Kinney

- Broke up in '95: Grateful Dead, Bronski Beat, Dire Straits, Drive Like Jehu, Oingo Boingo, Kyuss, Sugar

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_433_081716.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:19pm EDT

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the first half of 2016.

Show notes:

- Kumar's #4 and Breitling's #3

- Hallelujah the Hills releases another fine album

- Kumar's #3

- Third in Bob Mould's kickass trilogy

- Don't wait on a Husker Du reunion, Mould's current band is the real deal

- Indie rockers in their 50s are still bringing the heat

- The problem with being U2

- Breitling's #2

- The Car Seat Headrest kids are playing the rock

- Kumar's #2

- Possibly Iggy's last rock record

- Breitling's and Kumar's #1

- Bowie's last album, released three days before he died

- A consistent electronic sound

- Breitling: Looking forward to new Johnny Foreigner, Eros and the Eschaton, Urusei Yatsura comp, reissues from Rocketship and the Lilys

- Kumar: Anticipating new albums from Teenage Fanclub, Dinosaur Jr. and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

 
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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_432_080916.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 6:58pm EDT

I celebrate a decade of podcasting with part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the first half of 2016.

Show notes:

- Kumar: Thin Lips, Woods (formerly Meneguar) on list of bubbling-under albums

- Breitling's #10 (list is in no particular order)

- Pinegrove blends emo and alt-country

- Kumar's #10

- Savages brings the heat

- Breitling's #9

- Nothing comes into its own with the loud rock

- Kumar's #9 and Breitling's #8

- A Giant Dog plays hard rock with an indie twist

- Kumar's #8

- Welcome return of Paul Westerberg, teamed with Juliana Hatfield

- Breitling's #7

- Thin Lips is Superchunk-descended

- Kumar's #7

- Possibly the last Tragically Hip album; was produced by Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew

- Breitling's #6

- Bent Shapes are Boston's premier indie pop act

- Kumar's #6

- Parquet Courts continues to make interesting records

- Breitling's #5

- DIIV's double album is full of beautiful dream pop

- Kumar's #5

- Black Mountain adds more synths to stoner rock sound

- Breitling's #4

- Johnny Foreigner's sound evolves

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_431_080316.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:44pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the first half of 2016.

Show notes:

- Biggest trend so far: Death

- A whole generation of musicians is in senior citizen territory

- Ticketmaster settlement is as useless as TM normally is

- "Stairway to Heaven" lawsuit ended the right way

- Breitling plays law-talking guy

- Tidal tries to start its own bidding war

- Ultimate strategy is to get paid and get out

- The free tier for streaming services will eventually go away

- Bandcamp's iffy stats

- Breitling's not-quite-top-10: New Dog, Horse Jumper of Love, Guillermo Sexo, Gold Muse, California Snow Story, Yr Poetry

- Kumar's bubbling under list: Radiohead, Ty Segall, Modern Baseball, Future of the Left, Halfsour, Used Cassettes

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_430_072616.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 9:09pm EDT

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the difficulties of avoiding cynicism.

Show notes:

- Check out Matt's new book Like a Comet: The Indestructibles Book 4

- People are desperate for fame

- Matt auditioned for season 2 of The Real World

- The savvy of Boston Rob

- Chewbacca Mom is pushing it

- Trump tapped into a vein of discontent

- He's got a way with nicknames

- We've got issues

- Fat, but not happy

- It's not a bad thing to be cynical

- Changing your Twitter icon or FB profile pic is pointless

- David Cameron and the pig's head

- Sinking to meme level

- The Internet never forgets

- Power + opportunity = Bad life choices

- We're going to remain cynical

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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_429_071216.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 10:09pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the difficulties of avoiding cynicism.

Show notes:

- Check out Matt's new book Like a Comet: The Indestructibles Book 4

- It's hard not to be cynical these days

- Politics are infuriating in general

- Soccer hooligans can spread joy, too

- Getting cynicism drummed into you as a young reporter

- Kids, don't go into journalism

- NIMBY remains a strong force

- Matt made the mistake of going to back to newspapers a few years ago

- Facts, schmacts

- Saying something stupid won't tank your campaign anymore

- Tapping into frustrated and angry voters

- Blindly loyal political supporters

- Stupid can win

- People are tired of hearing from so-called experts

- Jay: Reality TV makes me cynical

- The Duggars had a show because they had 19 kids

- Some people find The Bachelor fascinating

- So many kids these days have the drive to become famous

- The abnormal lives of huge celebrities

- Tom Cruise can't relate to normal people

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_428_070516.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 3:28pm EDT

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1981.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- Brian's #3

- Prince starts pushing the envelope

- Prince in the '80s was nearly untouchable

- Jay's #3

- A childhood favorite

- Moving Pictures encapsulated everything Rush had been working toward

- Side 1 was killer

- Brian's #2

- Kraftwerk ran with robotic sounds

- A version is touring again

- Jay's #2

- The Police start to become a commercial success

- Stewart Copeland's drumming was revolutionary for the time

- Should Brian drop big coin to see Sting and Peter Gabriel live?

- Brian's #1

- Damaged is close to the definitive Black Flag album

- Jay's #1

- Van Halen's creative peak

- Angrier sounding

- Next up: 1995

 

 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_427_062116.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 9:19pm EDT

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1981.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- Elvis Costello released two albums in '81

- Solo albums from Phil Collins, Debbie Harry, Ronnie Wood, Peter Cetera, Lindsay Buckingham

- Bands formed: The Alarm, Anthrax, Metallica, Bangles, Beastie Boys, Butthole Surfers, Run DMC, Sonic Youth

- Broke up: Bay City Rollers, Steely Dan, Wings, Buzzcocks

- Bubbling under albums

- Brian: Ramones, Kinks

- Jay: Phil Collins, The Who, Tom Petty, Billy Squier

- A few years later, Squier kills his career with "Rock Me Tonite" video

- Brian: Lounge Lizards debut, Tom Tom Club, Replacements, Pretenders

- That time Brian pissed off Lurie on Twitter

- Jay: Gun Club, Black Sabbath, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Gang of Four

- Brian's #5

- Byrne and Eno basically invent sampling

- Jay's #5

- The Stones bounce back with odds and sods collection that hits big

- The last time they weren't considered a nostalgia act

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_426_061416.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 6:23pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1981.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output

- In 1981, Jay was 13 and Brian wasn't born yet

- Jay: Lived in Canada for most of the year, then moved to U.S.

- Listened to a lot of hard rock and AOR

- Toronto radio was cool but a few years from becoming heavily formatted

- A lot of solo albums

- Beginnings of indie rock

- Lots of soft rock on the charts

- The Stones had a resurgence in '81

- Old rockers were in their 30s and 40s then

- Death of Lennon hung over the music scene

- Hall and Oates left a strong legacy of pop hits

- The puzzling Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame selection process

- The strange popularity of Steve Miller

- "Under Pressure" has become bigger as years passed

- MTV's debut in August 1981

- USA Network premiered "Night Flight"

- REO Speedwagon's one breakout year

- Ozzy's comeback continues

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_425_060716.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 8:12pm EDT

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss how our musical tastes have changed over the years.

Show notes:

- Artists we missed at first but now love

- Phil's #2

- Dismissed Phish initially, focused on the Dead at first

- Jay's #2

- Got into Bob Mould and Sugar first, then backtracked

- Husker Du: Great catalog, bad production

- Phil's #1

- Overlooked because of constant radio play

- Classic rock stations don't play new music by classic artists

- Jay's #1

- Always a Bowie fan, but started really getting into him in the last few years

- Bands we never got into

- Phil's #3

- Never a big metal guy

- Metallica never did it for Phil

- Jay's #3

- Never understood popularity of Dave Matthews Band

- Phil's #2

- Respect the Boss but never got into him

- Don't compare him to Mellencamp

- Jay's #2

- STP seemed like they were ripping off other bands

- Phil thought Nine Inch Nails were dumb

- Phil's #1

- What's the big deal about Radiohead?

- Jay: Hated "Fake Plastic Trees"

- Jay's #1

- Van the Man never appealed to me

 

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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_424_051716.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 8:01pm EDT

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss how our musical tastes have changed over the years.

Show notes:

- Artists we just stopped listening to

- Phil's #1

- Smashing Pumpkins had a strong run in the '90s

- Corgan's pretentiousness ran its course

- Jay's #1

- Went back and forth, but finally stopped listening to the Doors in early '90s

- Phil: Morrison became a drunken buffoon

- Artists we missed first time around but discovered later

- Phil's #3

- Drive-by Truckers bring together different styles and sounds

- Jay's #3

- Huge body of work, but didn't start listening to Nick Cave until a decade ago

- Phil's #2

- Blues-rock from Tedeschi Trucks Band

- Jay's #2

- Bad Brains was an electrifying punk act

- Phil's #1

- Parquet Courts can play short punk songs and larger, artier stuff

- Jay's #1

- Knew about Velvet Underground for years, but really got into them in last 15 years

- Artists we missed at first but now love

- Phil's #3

- Checked out My Morning Jacket at the end of the '00s

- Jay's #3

- Always liked the Replacements but didn't become fanatic until last decade

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_423_051016.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 8:34pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss how our musical tastes have changed over the years.

Show notes:

- Revisionist band history

- Bands we once loved but now dislike

- Phil's #3

- Liz Phair got off to a strong start, disappointed afterward

- Jay's #3

- Huge artist I enjoyed as a kid

- Billy Joel stopped releasing new pop music in the '90s

- Phil's #2

- Love his first band, hate the solo stuff

- Sting's elevated the art of pretentious douchiness

- Jay's #2

- It's trendy to hate this band now

- Used to dig the Eagles

- Henley's personality turned me off the band

- Phil's #1

- Coldplay lost their way

- Jay's #1

- Red Hot Chili Peppers haven't aged well

- Liked them in my 20s, "but now they're just stupid"

- Bands you just stopped listening to

- Phil's #3

- Lenny Kravitz got too slick and repetitive

- Jay's #3

- Big fan of hard rock as a kid, but hair metal lost its appeal

- Phil's #2

- Boston-area rock fans grew up on Aerosmith

- After they reunited in mid-80s, quality went downhill

- Jay's #2

- Liked the band Live for a few years but just lost interest

- Singer got too full of himself

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_422_050316.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 9:24pm EDT

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the need for organization and tell old journalism stories.

Show notes:

- Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3

- Making a good first impression

- Journalism: A good profession for social misfits

- What to do when an ax-wielding maniac is on the loose

- "Your internship could have kids"

- Fun with newspaper interns

- Person-on-the-street interviews were challenging

- Expiration date for the newspaper biz

- Writing on deadline helps with time management

- Editors who can't write and vice versa

- Being a supervisor

- "Done is good."

 

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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_421_042616.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 6:49pm EDT

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the need for organization.

Show notes:

- Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3

- Always planning ahead to the next project

- Happiness is an empty inbox

- Jay: Preparing for a purge of office stuff

- How much is too much work?

- Matt doesn't need a calendar

- Organization via Google Calendar

- The art of the sticky note

- Business is moving away from email

- Working with people from across the globe

- Matt: Don't know how I could do more

- The newspaper life was a disorganized one

- Working way too many hours for tiny salary

- Learned how to write efficiently on deadline

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_420_041916.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 6:27pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the need for organization.

Show notes:

- Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3

- Organization is important when you're juggling a lot of responsibilities

- The challenge of working a full-time gig while also doing other jobs

- Prioritizing by deadlines

- Writing a book adds another big deadline

- Finding time for other activities when you have kids

- Doing plenty of unpaid work

- Organized to a point

- Sometimes the need for sleep takes over

- Matt: Watching TV's too passive

- "The People vs. OJ Simpson" was surprisingly good

- Old-school Internet problems

- Wasting time online

- Cubicle life

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_419_041316.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 6:46pm EDT

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1999.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's new podcast Input/Output

- Brian's #3

- Magnetic Fields play every style of music on 69 Love Songs

- Jay's #3

- Beck funks it up

- Beck stopped experimenting years ago

- Brian's #2

- Brian's favorite Pavement album, but not Jay's

- Band was falling apart

- Jay's #2

- Sloan's concept album...about themselves

- Brian's #1

- Sigur Ros sing in an unidentified language

- Loud, droning orchestral sound

- Jay's #1

- Built to Spill released some epic guitar jams

- Lamenting shows we missed

- Jay: Learned about Built to Spill via Napster

- Next up (in a few months): 1981

 

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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_418_040516.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:49pm EDT

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1999.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's new podcast Input/Output

- Brian's bubbling under picks: The Microphones, Tom Waits, Foo Fighters, Frank Black, The Roots, American Football

- Jay: Sheila Divine, Wilco, Matthew Sweet, Guided by Voices, White Stripes, Ben Folds Five, Sebadoh

- Wanted: A Bob Pollard curator

- Brian's #5

- Matt Sharp goes for a bigger rock sound

- Jay's #5

- The Lips go symphonic

- Big change from early guitar-driven stuff

- Brian's #4

- Wilco moves away from Americana sound

- Jay's #4

- Frank Black keeps cranking out winners

- Pixies are working on a new album

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_417_032916.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:19pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1999.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's new podcast Input/Output

- Brian was 16 going on 17 in '99, Jay was 31 going on 32

- The dawn of Napster

- Downloading music via dial-up was excruciatingly slow

- Most downloading was done on college campuses

- 1999 was the biggest sales year for the music industry

- Bowie was first major artist to release album online before retail

- eMusic over the years

- Amazon makes it easy to buy music now

- External CD burners, early MP3 players

- Brian's 1999 regrets: Primus teaming with Fred Durst, Lit, Rage Against the Machine, "ska residue," Stone Temple Pilots

- Jay's regrets: Lenny Kravitz, RHCP

- Jay: Got into stoner rock in '99 (Fu Manchu, Nebula)

- Woodstock '99 was a disaster

- Brian: Respect for "I Want it That Way"

- Cher had the #1 song of the year

- The movie Go is a good document of its time

- Santana scored big with guest-filled album

- Pop country was getting big

- The Cherone era of Van Halen ends

- The hills are alive with the sound of VH rumors

- Several prominent indie rock acts formed in '99

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_416_032216.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:31pm EDT

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Christian Douglass as we discuss presidential candidates, the '70s and regional differences.

Show notes:

- New England is not representative of the rest of the country

- Christian's ideal place to live: DC

- The '70s were a fascinating time in the U.S.

- Hip hop and punk grew out of mid-'70s NYC

- The Neshoba County Fair in Mississippi

- Lee Atwater, bluesman

- The momentum of Trump

- Last summer, Jeb Bush was a lead pipe cinch

- Christian: Used to go to CPAC every year

- What about Hillary?

- How does a president get anything done?

- Firmly on the fence

 

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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_415_031516.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 6:02pm EDT

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Christian Douglass as we discuss racism, political correctness and gentrification. You know, the lighter side of life.

Show notes:

- Political correctness on both sides of the aisle

- Literary archetypes reflect cultural fears

- The Trump Method: Repeat your point until people agree with you

- The Washington football team sticks to its guns

- Could All in the Family and Blazing Saddles come out today?

- No safe space for satire

- It's hard to talk about race these days

- Lamenting the closing of local rock clubs

- The upper crust and the townies

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_414_030816.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 8:36pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Christian Douglass as we discuss the differences between the North and the South.

Show notes:

- Christian grew up in Texas

- The tension between North and South is still around

- The Cuban Connection

- Ted Cruz's attempts at humor

- Batshit crazy election season

- The Trump effect

- It's still the economy, stupid

- A brown dude in New Hampshire

- Canada welcomed a generation of immigrants in the '70s and '80s

- Sri Lankan and Samoan street gangs

- Jay: Toronto was the most diverse place I've lived

- Christian: Was ignorant of the North as a kid

- The OJ Simpson miniseries is pretty fun

- Southern stereotypes are strong up North

- A formal level of ignorance

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_413_030116.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:57pm EDT

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1983.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's new podcast Input/Output

- Brian's #3

- Jonathan Richman forges his own path

- A great year for singles

- Jay's #3

- Metallica helped introduce thrash metal

- Brian's #2

- Post-Eno Talking Heads is still pretty damn good

- Jay's #2

- The Replacements start stretching out their sound

- Don't have high hopes for the GNR tour

- Whither Izzy Stradlin?

- Brian's #1

- Great debut for Violent Femmes

- Jay's #1

- Jay: First heard R.E.M. on their Letterman appearance

- Stipe was still in his shy phase

- Peter Buck's a busy guy

- A lot of beginnings in 1983

- Next up: 1999

 

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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_412_022316.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 8:57pm EDT

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1983.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's new podcast Input/Output

- Jay: Talking Heads, Robert Plant, Billy Idol, X, Motorhead, The Fixx, The Kinks

- Lemmy and Brian Robertson didn't get along

- "Come Dancing" is a great pop song

- Brian's #5

- First exposure to Bowie music

- Greg Dulli's great take on "Modern Love"

- Binging on Bowie

- Jay's #5

- The Police go out on top...and fighting

- The Sting and Peter Gabriel tour could be interesting...or bad

- Brian's #4

- The interesting story of Daniel Johnston

- Jay's #4

- The American breakthrough for U2

- Jay: U2 was my favorite band through some of the '80s

- Recent Paris concert was pretty good

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_411_021616.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:29pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1983.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's new podcast Input/Output

- In '83, Brian turned 1, Jay turned 16

- A lot of classic '80s singles came out in '83

- From Men at Work to Metallica

- Thriller loomed large

- Strange mix of hits on the top 100

- CDs were first sold in the U.S.

- The US Festival was a huge event

- Brian recommends the Eagles documentary

- The Strummer-Jones dynamic led to breakup of the Clash

- KISS took off the makeup

- Elton John had minor hits throughout the '80s

- Aerosmith was fading

- Brian: Stevie Ray Vaughan's debut

- Jay: Ronnie James Dio strikes out on his own while Sabbath forges on with Ian Gillan

- Brian: SST comp Blasting Concepts was a good intro to punk

- Dinosaur Jr.'s recent 30th anniversary shows

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_410_020916.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:42pm EDT

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss short attention spans.

Show notes:

- Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3

- Fear of wasting time or fear of missing out?

- Phone calls are rare and annoying

- Tinder = instantaneous hookups

- Jay: Thankful to have been in the dating Dark Ages

- Guys are born stupid

- Telephone hangups used to be way more dramatic

- How often do you just hang out with a friend and talk?

- Writing letters is a lost art

- Friends who aren't on social media are lost or forgotten

- How much faster can life get?

- We still slow down occasionally

- Nothing slows you down like a baby falling asleep on you

 

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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_409_020216.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:49pm EDT

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss short attention spans.

Show notes:

- Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3

- Spending too much time in front of screens

- Much harder to get through long articles nowadays

- How many words are worth $1?

- Looking at phone is how we kill time

- Smoking made Matt more social

- A generation of socially inept people

- Binge-watching TV requires more attention

- Longer network TV seasons seem so much longer now

- The Punisher is a tough character to get right

- Hell hath no fury like a nerd upset over something stupid

- Gotta pay attention when there are subtitles

- Anime moves too fast

- Audiences can't deal with slow scenes any more

- As a writer, Matt writes shorter chapters

- Short attention span applies to music listening

- Matt: If I had an iPhone as a kid, I would never have read a book

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_408_012616.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:39pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss short attention spans.

Show notes:

- Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3

- The inevitable joke

- MP: The more novels I write, the shorter my attention span gets

- Live-tweeting TV shows takes some effort

- Trace back to quick cuts in MTV videos of the early '80s

- Wireless Internet has sped up the attention decline

- Twitter mulls expanding character limit to 10,000

- The fine art of crafting an effective tweet

- News of Bowie's death spread fast on social media

- What a way to go out, leaving a great piece of art behind

- It's hard to sustain a long career these days

- How to teach your kids about music

- Dumbo doesn't hold up

- Matt: New Star Wars is an homage to the original, but much faster

- So much more dialog in TV shows now

- HBO's In Therapy was different because much of it was just two people talking

- Elmore Leonard mastered economical writing

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_407_011916.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:33pm EDT

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the first half of this decade (2010-14).

Show notes:

- JB's #5

- Dan Bejar's guilty pleasure

- JK's #5

- Band came out of left field

- JB's #4

- Dream pop classic

- JK's #4

- Comeback album from alt-rock legends

- JB's #3

- Cassette-only release

- JK's #3

- Prolific artist put it all together

- JB's #2

- Veteran hardcore guitar god goes folk rock

- JK's #2

- Sprawling punk rock concept album about the Civil War

- JB's #1

- An epic from a band just dropped by its label

- JK's #1

- First Matador act to hit #1 on album chart

 
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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_406_011216.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 6:45pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the first half of this decade (2010-14).

Show notes:

- Looking back

- Breitling: My top albums of the 2013 and 2014 didn't make this list

- JB's #10 and JK's #9

- "The purest distillation" of this band's sound

- JK's #10

- Harking back to '70s glam punk

- JB's #9

- New sound for indie rock stalwart

- JB's #8

- Lots of side projects spun off from this band

- JK's #8

- A super outing from an indie supergroup

- JB's #7

- Unclear whether another release is coming from this act

- JK's #7

- Top pick of 2011

- Turned Out a Punk is an interesting podcast

- JB's #6

- Breakthrough for excellent indie act

- JK's #6

- Television-Velvet Underground sound

- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_405_010516.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:48pm EDT

1