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
August
July
June
May
April
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 2021
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 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.

Direct download: CompCon_561_033021.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 6:30pm EDT

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.

Direct download: CompCon_560_032321.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 6:18pm EDT

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.

Direct download: CompCon_559_031721.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 9:13pm EDT

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.

Direct download: CompCon_558_030921.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 6:10pm EDT

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.

Direct download: CompCon_557_030221.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 6:36pm EDT

1