Like Whatever
Join Heather and Nicole as we discuss all things Gen-X with personal nostalgia, current events, and an advocacy for the rights of all humans. From music to movies to television and so much more, revisit the generational trauma we all experienced as we talk about it all. Take a break from today and travel back to the long hot summer days of the 80s and 90s. Come on slackers, fuck around and find out with us!
Like Whatever
What A One-Derfilled Podcast
A year goes by fast when you build a ritual around friendship. We clink mimosas, raid the bagel plate, and trace the thread that brought us here: a weekly hour that forces life to slow down long enough to talk, laugh, and actually catch up. From a pink Hello Kitty diary found in a move to the choice to delete hundreds of photos, we explore what memory means to Gen X now—what we keep, what we toss, and why patience felt different when film took two weeks to develop.
Then we turn up the volume. One hit wonders are our birthday cake, and we slice into the songs that still light us up: Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy (with that stealth Taylor Swift writing credit), Matthew Sweet’s Girlfriend and a hard detour into artist health care, Carl Douglas’s Kung Fu Fighting and its B-side origin, Dexys Midnight Runners dethroning Billie Jean with Come On Eileen, Ray Parker Jr.’s Ghostbusters and the Huey Lewis lawsuit, EMF’s Unbelievable with its Andrew Dice Clay sample, Boys Don’t Cry’s I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Buckner & Garcia’s Pac-Man Fever, and Len’s Steal My Sunshine riding a disco loop into summer. It’s trivia, chart stories, lawsuits, rave field notes, and the strange alchemy of a chorus that outlives a career.
We chew on tech, too. One of us uses AI to spitball titles and scripts; the other side-eye squints at synthetic charm. We share a hiring heads-up about AI-written resumes getting flagged and talk about where tools help creativity and where they flatten voice. In true Gen X fashion, we make room for both skepticism and utility, then pivot to MTV’s shrinking music footprint, the club nights that shifted from goth to industrial to rave, and why some hooks never get old.
Thanks for riding with us for fifty-two straight weeks. If you smiled, sang, or argued with your speakers, hit follow, share the show with a friend, and drop us a note with your favorite one hit wonder or favorite episode. Your picks might soundtrack year two.
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Two best friends talking fast. We're missing to our case, we're having a blast. Seeing these dreams, clicking on screens, it was all bad. Like whatever. Never never never.
SPEAKER_04:Welcome to Like Whatever, a podcast for, by, and about Gen X. I'm Nicole, and this is my BFFF Heather. Hello. Hello. Hello. So today or this week. Yes. Um, it's a very special week. Yes. It's our anniversary of this here podcast.
SPEAKER_06:It is. We're having mimosas. We are. You can't see because I don't have video up.
SPEAKER_04:We have bagels and cream cheese and mimosas, and we toasted each other. We did.
SPEAKER_06:Yep. That's crazy, right?
SPEAKER_04:It's so crazy.
SPEAKER_06:She did not want to do this.
SPEAKER_04:I did not.
SPEAKER_06:I made her.
SPEAKER_04:Well, the funny thing is, neither of us are sharers. No, I feel like. Um, and that was always my thing thinking about people doing podcasts was like, you gotta talk way too much about yourself when you do that. Like, I am not sharing this with the world. But it just flows, and like I don't regret anything I've said. Yeah. I don't regret sharing.
SPEAKER_06:It it's I get to see you once a week. It's that, and that is exactly when you're on all those pages and they're like, oh, tell me why you do your podcast. And I'm just usually like, because life is so busy all the time. And over the last 30 years, I mean, we've gone lengths of time where we have yeah, haven't seen each other. I mean, we still talk to each other, but this way we see each other once a week. Yep, we talk, it's and it's it's just fun.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and that's one of the really cool things that's come out of it for me, too, is I I've known you 30 years, but I've gotten to know you better. Yeah, like I actually know what goes on in your life on a day-to-day basis, and you know, kind of as to where usually you're catching up or you're bitching about your husband, not you, but I mean that's what girlfriends do when they get together. You just blah blah blah, and but this way we get to actually know what's going on with each other, and that's been awesome because we do we've always lived about an hour and a half, two hours away from each other, so yeah, it's never been convenient to just pop in and have lunch or anything, so yeah, it's been schedules and yes, you know, kids and stuff, so yes, and this is something we've committed to, and it's funny, I kind of had a realization as we were talking therapy before we started this, per our usual. Um, but I'm in a phase right now where I'm trying to kind of find myself as a 52-year-old, um, and trying to develop some habits and some hobbies and stuff. And uh for weeks I've been discussing this with my therapist, and I really just last week was like, duh, you have a hobby, you have a podcast, and it is a little time consuming, but I could definitely invest more time into it and try to make it stronger and bigger, which is my commitment to our second year.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, now that we got the the year under the belt, I feel like it's time we can yeah, it's time to I have a little idea.
SPEAKER_04:We'll see. I haven't actually looked at it yet, but um, I moved recently and I found my diary from when I was probably 12, 13. Oh wow. Um, it's uh pink Hello Kitty plastic cover. Um, and I use like the purple gel pens in it. Um I have not opened it and read a word, but I'm thinking about adding a Nicole's diary segment to that to the podcast. So yeah, I'll have to look and see if there's actually anything worthwhile in there.
SPEAKER_06:I bet it's I bet it's all worthwhile.
SPEAKER_04:Uh yeah, I bet it's gonna be a lot embarrassing. But like I said, yeah. I'm um, like I said, I'm enjoying sharing stuff about myself.
SPEAKER_06:I'm sure if we rooted around in this door that we block up every week, there's something in there. Although I don't know. I think I got rid of most of my stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:I went through a cleansing stage at some point. And now she doesn't have anything. I got I literally got rid of everything. Like everything. And there's no there's no pictures of me prior to 2009, 2010. I've just moved 175 times in my life and along the way. Oh, it's so funny because everybody is like, I can't believe you threw pictures away. And I don't have kids, and who who is gonna you know what's gonna happen to those pictures? They're gonna get thrown in the trash eventually. Like who's gonna look at them when I'm old?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I I actually just yesterday I had a little spare time and no internet access, but I had my phone. So I just started going through and deleting um pictures off my phone. And it was so not like me to delete the kids. Like I would if it was like we were at the pool and there were like 15 photos, I'd look to see if there were one or two that I wanted to keep, but I'm just erasing everything. Like I just trashed everything. Yeah. Pictures of my cats.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. I mean, nobody's gonna look at the shit. Last Easter. Who cares? Like nobody cares about my no I I don't have a legacy to leave, so nobody's gonna give a shit.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and the ones that are the pictures that are important I have and I'll keep, but I mean pictures are so such not a big deal anymore.
SPEAKER_06:I I mean for real.
SPEAKER_04:It used to be you got 24 and you that was it. Yeah. You had to hope a quarter of those were not worth anything.
SPEAKER_06:When you when you got them back, you had to hoop. You had to send them away, and it took like two weeks to get them back. Yeah. I didn't remember when it got well because we didn't have photo max or photo were they photo maxes? The little box photo mat? Yeah, photo mat. Um we didn't have them here. Oh, we had one in Milford. Did you? Mm-hmm. We didn't have them here. Yep. Um, but my aunt, when we would go visit them in Pennsylvania, they had them. And that was exciting.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, there was one right in the center of the Milford Plaza.
SPEAKER_05:Oh. Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Yep. So and then when you would find a roll of film that you had no idea what it was, like that was really fun. That was fun. I we had so much more patience back then though.
unknown:I know.
SPEAKER_06:Because you didn't have any choice. Everything is just like right now, right now, right now, right now. Mm-hmm. Right now. I need it for right now. Yes, yes. You know, I guess that's technology. Mm-hmm. So anyway, it's been a year. Yes. And we have what it we this is gonna be what, 52? Mm-hmm. That's how many weeks are in the year.
SPEAKER_04:Oh yeah. If you look at our thing, it says 53, but that's because we had um a trailer in there.
SPEAKER_06:Cheating. Yeah, um, yeah, so we were gonna, but that takes a lot more work than Heather really wanted to do.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, that's why. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Was gonna do like full clips, but then okay, so here's a little secret. Once I'm done editing it, I never listen to it again.
SPEAKER_03:Once I'm done speaking it, I never hear it again.
SPEAKER_06:I don't. I don't listen to it again. I have no idea what is on any of the episodes that we have done. I know. So, in order for me to do a clip show, which I mean, I guess is okay. And I might still do one just uh as an aside, but maybe. Maybe, but then I have to go, I don't know. It seems like a lot more work than I want to do. It is a lot, yeah. If they want to know what we said, they can go back and go back on it.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Then on the other side, like if we have a clip one, that's like only like a half an hour. Then you can put it up as a anyway.
SPEAKER_01:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_06:I don't know. But then I have to go back and listen to all of them. Or at least go back and read the transcripts. And then half the time, I don't remember. I know we have funny shit on there, but I don't know. Yeah. I'd have to like, I don't have that kind of time. I don't have 52, probably 55 hours. I do, but I don't want to. So you're not getting a clip show. Lucky you. You're getting a brand new one. Maybe in year three you'll get a clip show.
SPEAKER_04:Maybe. If we ever start making money and can back up.
SPEAKER_06:I can hire someone and get some better uh equipment or I tried to bribe AI this morning into going through all the episodes and picking good clips because I was like, isn't that the whole fucking point of AI? Yeah, no, I even sent it like all of it. Like, here's the website with all of our episodes. And it was like, I can't do that. And I'm like, what the what the fuck could are you doing?
SPEAKER_04:It's like I don't have 55 hours to uh right.
SPEAKER_06:You got nothing else to do. You sit in this thing all day long with nothing to do. It still freaks me out that you use AI. I know.
SPEAKER_04:And I watch like CBS Mornings, which with Gail and Nate and Tony, uh, they're my favorite, and they are constantly talking about AI. Really, a lot of it is, you know, how parents can protect their kids, and but all these romantic relationships that are happening and yeah, that's weird, and all of the um it's only complimentary, and it That is true. They feel like it um just tells you what you want to hear. And they said that they asked like the same thing of three different AIs and they got different answers for all of them, like so. I don't know. I mean, I'm glad that you love it, and I'm glad other people love it, but I'm I'm scared of it.
SPEAKER_06:I uh here's why I like it. Um mainly I use it as a spitball. I spitball with it. Yes, like I have here's what I'm thinking, and then I put that in here's what I was thinking, and it'll say, Here is the list of things, and then I'm like, uh, it's usually it's for the title and for like some of the like today we're gonna be doing um a promo and two commercials. Um it'll do a script for that, no problem. And the thing about it is though, then I'm like, oh, I don't like that, and then we go back and forth. And it is really actually like talking to somebody else that uh is in your own head, I guess. So it's like me talking to me. So we both have the same idea.
SPEAKER_04:See, you think that's cool. I think it's creepy.
SPEAKER_06:And I usually hate robots, so I don't know.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I mean, my my therapist loves it. Um, when I'm trying to think of a way to word something that I want to say to somebody or something, she'll be like, just go on chat P T P T whatever it is, and and she'll punch it in and she'll say what it said. And I'm like, okay, thanks.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, I don't use chat GBT. I have um mine came with one Gemini uh because I'm a Samsung user. Um and I like it. Um and another thing about it is as even if the whole computer shuts down, because as we know, I'm not good about remembering to plug things in, um it just it because it's been working with you this whole time, it knows, so I can just come in and be like, oh well, this episode is on XYZ, and I'll be like, oh hey, and then I'll be like, Well, I was thinking like this, but make it punny, and then we'll and I'm like, eh, I don't like that. And so that's that's what I use it. That's what I use it for. I use it as like a spitballing that makes sense.
SPEAKER_04:I did learn today on um watching the news that uh employers are really starting to flag um note to everyone looking for a job. They're starting to flag resumes and cover letters created by AI. Yeah, they said they can spot them from a mile away.
SPEAKER_06:It is it is easy to spot.
SPEAKER_04:And they said that you know it in that situation you need they need some personal stuff. Like it doesn't seem it doesn't feel um authentic. So watch out for that if you're applying for a job.
SPEAKER_06:Well, I can also see that like when we when I do a script with it for something, because when you put in like what you want the name of it to be, it'll say, you know, uh of course if I put this is what I was thinking. And a lot of times I'll do it. Um there was an episode that I wanted to name something, and I wasn't sure if it would be a copyright issue. So I'd ask it and it would say it's iffy. Right. So you might want to go with and then it would send out something. So it's good for that. Um I was going somewhere with that, and now I don't remember.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, college is also um when you're writing your college letters, um, they they trash that stuff too. So just a word to the wise. I know where I was going with it.
SPEAKER_06:It'll when it when you when you spit out like when I it'll say, like, oh yeah, do you want me to make a script for, you know, like if the episode is whatever last week's episode was the peanuts. Oh yeah, the peanuts. Then it would be like, would you like to come up with like a TikTok thing and it'll give you a script for a TikTok, or like, do you want to do a fake ad for and it'll come. The only issue with it is is like imagine the most ridiculously stupid gen X nonsense. Like it just throws it all at the wall, like it just puts everything in there, and that's something we specifically try to avoid. It will throw like it's just everything. But yeah, I did use it for the two commercials that are gonna be in this, and one of them fucking hilarious. It is, it's awesome.
SPEAKER_04:I love it.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, I loved it.
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SPEAKER_06:No shaking, no stirring, just pop the top and enjoy. Use code Like Whatever Pod for 15% off. Gardenstate distillery.com because sometimes you just want a proper cocktail in your hand. And we're not here to judge. So, anyway, who's gonna do the the beginning this time? You are. Is it because it's my week?
SPEAKER_04:It is, but next week's your week too. Damn it. I'm never gonna do it. You and your bright ideas to combo it.
SPEAKER_06:No, such a pie hole. So, yeah, this week is a combo. And so I'll just say, let's fuck around and find out about one hit wonders for our one-year anniversary. When we decided to do this, I we did not tell each other what our songs are. Correct. So this is gonna be a surprise to everyone, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And I doubt we picked the same songs. I tried not to. Based on our music tastes, I would say we probably didn't.
SPEAKER_06:I know, but watch, we'll both have the same fucking songs.
SPEAKER_04:I bet. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:It'll be all five exactly the same.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. So we figured one year anniversary, one hit wonders, a combo script between the two of us. Um, yeah, I'm pretty excited. And this was actually a very challenging script to research because you know, you just Google like one hit wonders of Gen X, one hit wonders of the 80s, one hit wonders of the 90s, and it's like, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh my god. Oh yeah, what's a one-hit wonder? So I really I tried to with mine. What I did was I picked songs that I really truly loved back when they came out. I never grew tired of hearing them on the radio. I had them on a mixtape that I listened to over and over, and I still to this day, when I hear it, it makes me happy to hear it. So those were the songs I tried to go with.
SPEAKER_06:Before we I did want to say one more thing because um, so I we were just talking about this before, and I was so excited. I have not listened to terrestrial radio. I couldn't even I got Sirius Satellite Radio the day after Sirius Satellite Radio was a thing. Like I have had satellite radio forever. Um just because I'm a loser and it's hard for me to find my music on things, so um, but I am using a car that does not have the ability to have any of this. So I've had to listen to terrestrial radio the last week and a half. And A, I won a gift certificate on a radio station already, because that's the kind of nerd I am. It's your thing, man. I fucking love it.
SPEAKER_04:I you can win a radio contest like nobody else is.
SPEAKER_06:I forget how much fun that is to do. Um so I have a gift certificate.
SPEAKER_04:We weren't called Depache Mood once because you won tickets on a radio show.
SPEAKER_06:So on my way to school when I was in uh I guess a I guess senior year, I started driving junior year. Yeah. So either junior or senior year. Anyway, the one radio station would do a trivia question right as I was pulling into the school parking lot. And we had a um payphone in the lunchroom by the back door where we would come in. So I would we would as we were pulling in the parking lot, they would be doing the trivia question, and then I would run in the building.
SPEAKER_01:Well, she didn't actually run.
SPEAKER_06:No, I didn't. And I would I would call and I I won, let's see, my first CD. I got off of that. Um I I would used to I called so fucking much to a lot. Actually, one of my Facebook friends is one of the DJs from one of the that used to do the 80s on one of the radio stations because I listened to it and I would call in so much. Yeah, anyway.
SPEAKER_04:So Yeah, I used to win albums. It was I mean, back then it was really cool because I was a teenager, but now in hindsight, like I would win and I'd have to drive to Georgetown. Yeah, which was like half an hour from home, and you'd walk in all excited, and they'd just pull out a box of like old albums and be like, Here, pick one. That was your prize.
SPEAKER_06:That's actually how I got Bon Jovi Slippery When Wet, which was my first CD, and I did not have a CD player. And I had to get one. Like I had to my uncle had one and he ended up giving it to me because I didn't have but they did. They opened, they it was like a big vat. And he was like, just pick one.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And I believe that DJ is dead. Oh, yeah. I got um I got a Taylor Dane album once. So that reminded me because today, on my way here, it was um live at one and one o'clock, and they played You Give Love a Bad Name by Bon Jovi. And I had to scream. And then I had to go to the drive-thru of the Duncan.
SPEAKER_04:Did you serenate the uh I didn't.
SPEAKER_06:I had to turn it down, but I was like, hurry up.
unknown:I'm not done.
SPEAKER_06:The best part is coming. So, yeah. Okay. Do you want me to go first or are you gonna go first? It's up to you. I'll go first because this first one I have is I did it, and then I was like, I don't know if I really want to do this song. And then I found one of the coolest um fun facts. Fun facts that I don't know if you know. Okay.
SPEAKER_04:Should we for did you write down your um references?
SPEAKER_06:I didn't because I totally forgot.
SPEAKER_04:All right, so um, I'll do mine real quick before we start. Um, songfacts.com, rollingstone.com, screen rant.com, and storytell.com. Jeez. I have they used all the same ones.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:I have no idea what I used. Just Googled and whatever was the first one terrible.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_06:Our first one. Are you ready? I'm ready. I can't wait for you to hear the fun fact at the end of this. Right said Fred, I'm too sexy. Oh too sexy. So prior to forming Right Said Fred, their Fairbrass brothers had been playing music since the mid-70s as part of a band called the Actors. The brothers had toured with Suicide and supported Joy Division at the Factory Club in Manchester. I was surprised by that. Yeah. But I can't wait. I am so fucking excited to be here. The Fairbrass brothers formed the group in 89 with Richard on the aid vocals and bass and Fred on guitar. Uh Richard was employed as a session bassist for artists including Boy George, Mick Jagger, and David Bowie, and appeared as the bass guitarist in Bowie's short film Jazzin' for Blue Jean. In 87, Fred appeared as a guitarist in the Bob Dylan vehicle Hearts of Fire. Um, the group was named after the novelty song, Right Said Fred, which was a hit single for singer and actor Bernard Cribbins in 1962. The Fairbrass brothers were originally accompanied by drummer Ray Weston and guitarist Dan Krause. Weston left in 90 to join the group Wishbone Ash, and Cruz left the next year. Rob Myanzoli joined in 1990 and remained with the group until 1997. In 1991, the group released its debut single and best-known song I'm Too Sexy on the independent London-based record label Tug Records. The Fairbrass brothers have stated that the song lyrics are centered on certain users of the gym they owned in London, who they claimed had no shame. A lot of models used our gym, so we thought it was time to start poking fun of them. The song was a considerable hit in the United Kingdom, spending six weeks at number two on the charts behind Brian Adams, Everything I Do, I Do For You. Robin Hood? Yes. Remember when we were tortured with that forever? Pretty sure it was a prom theme one year. It was not. So maybe it was. The song earned the band a nomination for an Ivor Novelli Award. I'm Too Sexy has subsequently been used in over 40 television shows and movies, including My Wife and Kids, The Simpsons, The West Wing, and East Enders. In 1992, Heavenly Records released an EP that featured the label's axe covering Rate Said Fred's song for charity. The Fred EP includes Saint Etienne performing I'm Too Sexy, The Rocking Birds, and Flowered Up. Here's my fun fact. Brace yourself.
SPEAKER_04:Okay.
SPEAKER_06:In August of 2017, Richard and Fred were credited as songwriters on the Taylor Swift single, Look What You Made Me Do, alongside Jack Antinoff and Swift herself. The song's chorus is an interpel interpolate interpolation of the famous chorus from I'm Too Sexy.
SPEAKER_04:That boom is amazing. No. I mean, of course I know that song, but now I'm gonna have to go back and listen to it, knowing that funny fact. I know. I love how you tied Taylor Swift in.
SPEAKER_06:I you are welcome. Look at how See, that's 33 years of friendship.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. It's so funny because when I was in therapy this week, um my um uh therapist was making me think of ways that I am doing self-care. Right. And I was like, Well, I listen to Taylor Swift every time I'm in the car. She was like, That counts. And now I get to write Taylor Swift in my notes.
unknown:That's funny.
SPEAKER_04:So big on the little um Swift inserts there.
SPEAKER_06:I know, I know my Swifties.
SPEAKER_04:That's amazing. I really had no idea of that.
SPEAKER_06:Um also might if it gets into the um the transcripts, the word Taylor Swift. Oh yeah, um I'm too sexy about it.
SPEAKER_04:I'm too sexy, not I'm not too sexy for Taylor Swift. She's too sexy for everybody. Um I also have a fun fact about that song. Okay, and it's very Gen X. And I don't know if you ever knew this or if you remember, but in our one of our past lives, uh-huh, you and I, uh, we had the same mother-in-law. Yes, and she had a sister who had three sons. Yes. So the youngest one uh went to the MTV spring break in is it Miami? Oh sure. Um and remember they would have the um lip syncing contests? Yes. He and his some of his friends did I'm too sexy, and they won a year supply of Pepsi. Oh, did not know that. Yep, yep, yep. A little little family history there on learn something new on your very first song. I know about people that you've known for really top this now.
SPEAKER_06:I know, maybe I should have done that one last. No, no, no, no. So fucking excited was a great way to start it. Because when I was doing it, I was like, the first song that popped into my head was I'm too sexy, because I just fucking love that song. And then when I Googled it, I was like, oh, I don't know. Because like they did do a lot with like Joy Division and all that, and I was like, uh, and then when I saw that, I was like, done. Sign me up.
SPEAKER_04:So there you got your sign. All right, so my first song might be my favorite one, hit wonder, and then I have no idea why. I've just always fucking loved this song so much. Okay, hit me. Girlfriend by Matthew Sweet. I don't think I know that. I think I do, probably, but oh yeah. There we go. There we go.
SPEAKER_06:The magic of editing. Yeah, I know that song. We had to do a pause, but I do know that song.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I knew she did. All right, so Sweet recorded this song in 1990 as he was going through a brutal divorce. Around the same time, he met someone new giving girlfriend layers of emotional turmoil. The song finds him making an offer to a potential love interest. Um he's her good friend, but if she'll be he'll be her good friend if she'll be his girlfriend. Um, at the end of the song, he gets a little possessive. I'm never gonna set you free. Uh I mean. Yeah, stalker songs are everywhere, kind of a thing back then. This was Matthew Sweet's breakout single, but it nearly got binned along with the rest of the album. Born in Nebraska in 1964, Sweet attended the University of Georgia, located in the musical hat bed of Athens, Georgia, home of REM. Yes. In 1983, he joined a band called Okay, Oh OK, which included Michael Stipe's sister, Linda. This led to more musical connections and a gig playing with the Golden Palominos. Columbia Records signed him and released his first album, Inside, in 1986. Uh, he followed the he followed with Earth on AM Records in 1989. His acclaim didn't translate to album sales, and AM dropped him instead of releasing his girlfriend album. Around the same time, his home was flooded, trashing his guitars and record collections. That sucks. Yeah, he's had a pretty bum life. Um he was considering a career change when Zoo Records signed him and released the album in 1991. Their risk paid off. The album sold over 500,000 copies in America and established Suite as a national act. He never went full rock star, but had a very successful career and continued to show up in high-profile collaborations, including a series of albums with Susanna Hoffs, uh, starting with Under the Covers Volume 1 in 2006. Huh. The Akron Ohio Akron Ohio guitarist Robert Quine played on this track. Quine has appeared on albums by many acclaimed rockers, including Lou Reed, Tom Waits, and Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Yeah, never heard of them. Uh the album cover is a photo of the movie star Tuesday Weld, which Sweet selected because it looked cool.
unknown:I agree.
SPEAKER_04:Weld, who started her career in the 1950s, is known for her roles in Pretty Poison in 1968 and Looking for Mr. Goodbar in 1972. I have heard of Looking for Mr. Good Bar. Yes. Um, Sweet released an alternate uh version of this song on his 1992 album Good Friend, Another Take on Girlfriend. The video was directed by Roman Coppola and is mainly comprised of scenes from the 1982 anime film Space Adventure Cobra. The lyrics to this and other songs on the album were the framework for a musical called Girlfriend Stage. By the Berkeley Repertory Uh Theater in 2010. Set in Sweet's home state of Nebraska. The play is about two gay teens coming to terms with their sexuality. I wanted the album to be really universal, Sweet told the LA Times regarding its use in the production. The songs were very personal to me, but it makes me proud and makes me glad that other people could relate to it. That somebody who is gay could relate. That's fantastic. For Sweet, 2024 was shaping up to be a reset after several years off the road after the pandemic. The man who almost single-handedly kept Power Pop alive had put together a new band and played shows in the spring. He was in the early stages of prepping his album since 2021. In the fall, he started another round of gigs, this time opening for Hansen, whom he's known, whom he's known and worked with for more than 20 years, and doing his own separate shows. I really felt very positive about it, he says. I was doing two hour-long acoustic shows, playing songs from all during my career. Then, last October 12th, Sweet and his crew, uh his small acoustic band, his road manager, arrived at their hotel in Toronto. His tour with Hansen was into its second week, and Sweet had just driven up from the previous stop in Baltimore. As they were checking in, the singer who had turned 60 the week before felt a sensation he'd never experienced before. The first thing I felt was really cool, like cold sweat, he says. And I remember saying to one of my band members, feel my arm, it's freezing cold, something wasn't right. Uh-oh. Slumping into a chair behind the front desk, Sweet began hearing what he calls this kind of tinnitus, more like white noise, and that became really, really, really loud in both my ears. And that's the last thing I remember until I was in an ambulance and I heard a guy say, Sir, you've had a stroke. In the months since that diagnosis, Sweet has had to cope with more than canceled performances, first in Canada, then in his home state, and now at his house, he's had to relearn how to walk, talk, and play any sort of instrument. He's learned that a stroke can impact other parts of the body and that recovery can be slow and painstaking. Since he didn't have insurance at the time of his stroke, he's also become a representation of artists who can't always afford it and count on touring to pay their bills. It was really a drag because the touring went so amazingly well in the first part of the year, sweet says now. And then bang, I had a stroke and it was all over. So yeah. I wasn't expecting it to be that much of a bummer.
SPEAKER_06:But it's a great, it's a great time to, you know, input a little political nonsense that you all need to remember that you are one bad thing away from being completely homeless. No matter how much money you have in your bank, something like this can happen to anybody. And I know from personal experience how fast medical bills go through the roof. Yes. And I can also tell you that you have to pay them before insurance pays. And sometimes you get a really big bill from 20 years ago. That's$500,000.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I remember that. That was nuts.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, and you know, yeah. It's sometimes it takes a while for the insurance to kick in if you even have it.
SPEAKER_04:Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And I don't want to go on a tangent, but I hope that a lot of Americans are not going to lose theirs anytime soon because that's no reason why we cannot have universal health care in this country that is supposed to be. There is a reason why.
SPEAKER_04:It's because the rich won't get richer if we do that.
SPEAKER_06:Other than that reason, there is no reason. It's always about the mummy. We could all have health care like every other civilized country on the planet. What do I know?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. So if you don't have insurance and you're gonna have a major medical issue, be on vacation in Canada when it happens because you'll be covered. Yep.
SPEAKER_03:Citizen or not? Look at that. Oh, I know.
SPEAKER_06:I know. God damn it.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. All right. What's next? Hopefully it's not something that's depressing. I don't think so.
SPEAKER_06:Okay. So my second one is Kung Fu Fighting. It's a disco song by Jamaican British vocalist Carl Douglas, written by Douglas and produced by British Indian music Bidoo. It was released in 1974, the year I was born. The first single from his debut album, Kung Fu Fighting and Other Great Love Songs. Yeah. It's on the cusp of uh Chopsaki film craze and rose to the top of the British, Australian, Canadian, and American charts.
SPEAKER_04:That's funny because back then Grasshopper, like those what was his name? Oh, I can see his face. I know. Fuck.
unknown:Jackie Jan.
SPEAKER_04:Was it Daniel? No. I'll look it up.
SPEAKER_06:Um it received a gold certification and popularized disco music. It eventually went on to sell 11 million records worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time. The song uses the Oriental Rift, which is probably problematic. Yeah. A short musical phrase that is used to signify the Chinese culture. Kung Fu Fighting was rated number 100 in VH1's 100 greatest one-hit wonders, and number one in the UK channel for top 10 one-hit wonders in 2000. Oh David Carradine.
unknown:Oh.
SPEAKER_04:Okay. I knew when I heard it I was gonna be like.
SPEAKER_06:Um in 2000, oh 2006, uh, the BBC's Channel 4. No, the UK's Channel 4 did the same 50 Greatest One-Hit Wonders poll, and he performed the song live. The song was covered using different lyrics by CeeLo Green and with Jack Black and the Vamps for the first and third film of the Kung Fu Panda franchise. The song was originally meant to be a B side to I Want to Give You My Everything. But they originally hired Douglas to sing, I want to give you my everything, but needed something to record for the B side, and asked Douglas if he had any lyrics that could they could use. Douglas showed several out, of which Bidu chose the one that would later be called Kung Fu Fighting and worked out a melody for it without taking it too seriously. After more than two hours recording the A side and then time for a break, there were only 10 minutes of studio time remaining due to a three-hour time constraint for the entire session. So only two ticks of Kung Fu Fighting were recorded. Wow.
SPEAKER_03:He's like us.
SPEAKER_06:Uh huh. Kung Fu Fighting was the B side, so I went over the top on the hus and the ha's and the chopping sounds. It was a B side. Who was gonna listen? After hearing both songs, Rob and Blancheflower of Pi Records insisted that Kung Fu Fighting be the A side instead. Following its release, the song did not receive any air radio airplay for the first five weeks and sold poorly, but the song began gaining popularity in dance clubs, eventually entering the UK singles chart at number 42 and reaching the top on the 21st of September in 1974. Leave it to the disco. Yes. Uh it was released in the U.S. where it quickly topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The single went on to sell 11 million records worldwide. At the Amusement and Musical Operators Association Jukebox Awards in 1975. The song was awarded Jukebox Soul Record of the Year for being the year's highest-earning soul music song played on Jukebox Machines in the United States.
SPEAKER_04:Wow.
SPEAKER_06:And the song was featured in the 1981 film This is Elvis. Also, fun story. So um, you know my cousin. This he played this as his mother sundance, and they had a whole little choreographed. He made my poor aunt do that. The whole thing. That's hilarious.
SPEAKER_04:I love that because I used to uh choreograph stuff and make my friends dance. Well, he made his mother good. Well, he and I have something in common. Besides our love for the eagles. Yes.
SPEAKER_06:And and my aunt's food. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_04:All right. So my next one is seriously one of my favorite songs of all time. Um, Come On Eileen by Dexie's Midnight Runners. Yeah. God, it's such a good song. Um, so Dexies Midnight Runners were an English pop rock band primarily active in the 80s, eventually reforming under the shortened name Dexies. Their biggest moment in the spotlight came with the release of their second studio album in 1982 entitled To Rye.
SPEAKER_05:Too Rye Rye.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, right. More specifically, the LP's second single, Come on Eileen, which topped the charts in both the United States and the UK. This came at a pivotal point for the fluctuating group, whose founding members, guitarist and vocalist Kevin Archer and Bacon Rowland, had previously been growing more at odds with each other. Archer, feelings frustrated by Rolland's erratic behavior as group leader, wound up departing Dexies to form another musical endeavor entitled The Blue Ox Babes in 1981. After Come on Eileen became a hit on multiple continents, Archer insinuated, though never publicly, that Roland had stolen the buildup to come on Eileen from a demo tape of a song Archer had previously shown Roland. He also claimed Roland had taken the Celtic folk rock aesthetic of Dexies LP Touraye from the Blue Oxwaves. While Roland was later, would later confess to lifting the style of Come on Eileen from Archer, he ultimately walked back these comments saying he was in a dark place. Roland did admit he was inspired by the sound of Archer's tape, but everything else about Come on Eileen is original. Despite infighting in Dexie's Midnight Runners and a lineup that kept changing, Come on Eileen was still a triumph. Not only was the track a massive success, but the song did so so well that when it became a number one smash in 1983, it managed to take the spot from Michael Jackson's iconic Billy Jean. Shit. Not a one-hit wonder. No. Uh come on Aileen is also a rarity for its time, as a prevailing amount of number one hits in the 80s were made with electric pianos and synthesized synthesizers. Dexies went in the opposite direction in their sound, which featured brass instruments, fiddles, and a soulful sense of Celtic folk rock that wasn't like anything on the radio back then. After several attempts to revive the band following the 1987 breakup, Roland was able to reboot Dexies Midnight Runners in the early 2000s, renaming them the Dexies. While the group never again reached the heights of Come on Eileen and its success in the US, charting a few other songs in the UK, the song remains classic rock royalty. In that sense, this has kept the story of Dexies Midnight Runners alive and continues to expose the sound of the group to newer generations as time goes on. That may seem like a lot to place on Come on Eileen, but as any diehard music fan will tell you, that's the power that lies within a single song. I love that song. I just love that song. And I used to have a neighbor and um what was a couple and they had two kids and they would have birthday parties, and um the wife's parents would come down from Jersey and her mom's name was Eileen. And I was like, oh, and they were huge, like rock fans, like they're in their 60s, probably, and they still go to concerts, like all kinds of rock concerts, and they're even into some really heavy stuff. Um but I was like, man, you're so lucky. She's like, I know. I wish come on, Eileen was named after me.
SPEAKER_06:I want to have a song named after me.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, because I would totally claim that if my name was Eileen.
SPEAKER_06:Sure, there's gotta be a Nicole song out there somewhere.
SPEAKER_03:Um I don't think I've ever found one.
SPEAKER_06:I'm gonna look I'm gonna look after I do my number my my number. That'd be stupid country or something. Probably. Or some weird German.
SPEAKER_04:Well, I am German, so maybe some weird like German club. Oh, if it's like a rave song, I'd be down with that.
SPEAKER_06:Oh god. I can't I cannot, I cannot do rave. Cannot somebody posted uh on one of the Facebook pages, somebody posted a picture of like 1990s, and they were all ready, they were all ready to go to a rave, and under it was like what's missing, and they didn't have pacifiers, so it was obvious.
SPEAKER_04:I was gonna say it's either pacifiers or pacifiers.
SPEAKER_06:Oh, the whistles, and I said, well, everybody else said pacifiers, and I was like, don't forget the whistle. Everybody was like, Oh my god, you're fucking whistle.
SPEAKER_04:I thought a whistle before I thought of pacifiers. Oh god. Tweet, tweet, tweet, to-weet, tweet.
SPEAKER_06:Not a fan, not a fan.
SPEAKER_04:Remember that raver kid that we had that came to the club?
SPEAKER_06:Yes.
SPEAKER_04:Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_06:What did we call him?
SPEAKER_04:Christine and I had a I remember that you had a nickname for him.
unknown:God damn it.
SPEAKER_06:And he wore a ladybug backpack, and we named the ladybug Queenie. Ravemaster D.
SPEAKER_04:Because his name was Dwayne. Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_06:Shit, I haven't thought about Ravemaster D in a really long time.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, what a great memory.
SPEAKER_06:He's probably dead.
SPEAKER_04:No doubt. Yeah. Or living off the grid somewhere. Well, it was funny.
SPEAKER_06:So the club we went to was um up until a certain time, it was all goth, uh depeche mode, and just all the, you know, the saddest songs you could possibly think of. And dance too. Um more see all of that. And then a lot of ministry. Then it would switch over to the more industrial. I you would see it start switching over to the industrial. So that's amazing. Nine inch nails, ministry, and then once we would get into the then it would start moving into the rave. But you would see the ravers start showing up, and then you would see the goth kids moving out. So it would be like and it was like literally the mosh pit is what brought like a hurricane of goth and rave, and then the goths would go out in the and that was our cue to go because I couldn't take there. Are some rave songs that I don't mind, but I mean, for the most part, it's just like it's just so repetitive.
SPEAKER_04:I know we were my roommate and I were watching um Only Murders in the Building last night because the new episode came out this week, and uh in a scene they played O Fortuna. And do you remember I had that album and it was the operatic rave version, and I could not get enough of that song.
SPEAKER_06:So I do, I am not gonna lie, I do have a couple rave songs in my playlist. Um I can't remember what they're called right now. Or hold on. Old Glory isn't just a t-shirt, it's a declaration. Sarcasm, subculture of surviving the 90s with your mixtape and dignity mostly intact. From Bandees to cult classics, their graphic gear lets you wear your weird loud and proud.
SPEAKER_04:Use code Like WhateverPod for 15% off at oldglory.com. Your identity isn't minimalistic, it's a collage of movie quotes, angst, and questionable fashion choices. And old glory gets it.
SPEAKER_06:We just had to take a little rave break.
SPEAKER_04:We did. We danced a little.
SPEAKER_06:I wish we could play music for you guys, but we can't have that kind of money, so yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Um and I wish we could still dance to that, but we would need that health insurance if we did.
SPEAKER_06:We we had to to chair it.
SPEAKER_04:We chair danced.
SPEAKER_06:We moshed.
SPEAKER_04:I still think I hurt my back.
SPEAKER_06:We had some ministries, Michaela, Lord's the acid. We had it all there for a little bit. We did, we did. So good times. We're gonna bring it down a notch.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, not really, because this is pretty definitely listening to Erasure on the way home. No, one of those songs triggered me. Fucking erasure.
SPEAKER_06:I love erasure and pet shop boys. Oh, I love pet shop boys. Okay, so my next one is very timely to this time of year. And it's from a movie, and we literally just watched this movie two days ago, which is what made me put it on here. Who are you gonna call? Ghostbusters!
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, what man, that's a great movie.
SPEAKER_06:I know. We watched actually Ghostbusters 2, and it's terrible. Um Ghostbusters is a song written by American musician Ray Parker Jr. as a theme to the 1984 film Ghostbusters. Bobby Brown has one in Ghostbusters Dose. Oh, I am a Bobby Brown fan. Uh, it's in it's included on the soundtrack. Debuted at number 68 in June of 84. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in August, staying there for three weeks. It's Parker's only number one on that chart, and at number two on the UK singles chart in September, staying there for three weeks. The song re-entered the UK Top 75 in November of 2008 at number 49, and again on November 5th, 2021, at number 38. The song was nominated at the 57th Academy Award for Best Original Song, but lost to Stevie Wonders, I Just Called to Say I Love You. A lawsuit accusing Parker of basing the song's melody on Huey Lewis and the news song I Want a New Drug resulted in Lewis receiving a settlement, which I found out he continues to make all the money off of that song. I think I do remember that. Um Parker was approached by the film's producer to create a theme song, although the only he only had a few days to do so. Parker had been specifically instructed to include the film's title in the lyrics but struggled to find a way to do so. However, when watching television late at night, Parker saw a cheap commercial for a local service that reminded him that the film had a similar commercial featured for the fictional business. This inspired him to include the phrase, Who you gonna call? which allows the crowd to respond with Ghostbusters, sparing him from needing to sing the phrase. Lindsay Buckingham, on his interview disc, Words and Music, stated that he was approached to write the Ghostbusters theme based on his successful contribution to National Lampoons Vacation, Holiday Road. He declined the opportunity as he did not want to be known as a soundtrack artist. Glenn Hughes and Pat Thrall also submitted a demo that was ultimately rejected. The Hughes and Thrall version was later rewritten and used as the track Dance or Die for the 87 film Dragnet. The theme is estimated to have added 20 million to the film's box office gross. The music video for the song was directed by Ivan Reitman, who also directed the Ghostbusters film and produced by Jeffrey Abelson. It featured a young woman played by actress Cindy Harrell, who is haunted by a ghost portrayed by Parker, roaming a nearly all-black house interior with vibrant neon designs outlining the sparse architecture and industrial features. Until the woman finally calls the service. Ghostbusters. Um it was number one on MTV and features cameos by celebrities Chevy Chase, Irene Kara, John Candy, Melissa Gilbert, Ollie E. Brown, Jeffrey Tambor, George Went, Al Franken, Danny DeVito, Carly Simon, Peter Falk, and Terry Garr.
SPEAKER_04:Um, I had forgotten all that stuff about it.
SPEAKER_06:The video concludes with Parker and the stars of the film in full Ghostbusters costume dancing down the street of New York City. Remember that part. Times Square was closed in order to film the scene, although a sizable crowd may still be seen in the background. The Ghostbusters also performed the same dance in the closing credits to the real Ghostbusters, the cartoon spinoff. I fucking love that cartoon. As well as the trailer for the 2009 Ghostbuster video game. So the lawsuit, because I had forgotten about the lawsuit, shortly shortly after the film's release, Huey Lewis sued Ray Parker Jr. for plagiarism, alleging that Parker had copied the melody from Lewis's 1983 song I Want a New Drug. The case was settled out of court in 1985 for an undeclose undisclosed sum and confidentiality agreement that prohibited discussion of the case. According to Parker, there were several lawsuits at the time because when you sell that many records, I think everybody wants to say they wrote the song. Parker later sued Lewis for breaching the confidentiality agreement in 2001's episode of VH1's Behind the Music by reasserting that Parker stole the song. Regarding his case against Lewis, Parker said, I got a lot of money out of that. Lewis said it was at least 30,000 in an interview with Dutch Television. In a 2004 article for Premier Magazine, filmmakers admitted to using the song I Want a New Drug as a temporary background music in many scenes. They also noted that they had offered to hire Huey Lewis and the news to write the main theme, but the band had declined. The filmmaker then gave Phil footage with Lewis's song in the background to Parker to aid him in writing the theme song.
SPEAKER_04:Scandal. I love it. I love Huey Lewis Scandal. So Ghostbusters. Yeah, I yeah, that was a really great movie, but it kind of blows my mind that that song stayed was like at number one.
unknown:I know.
SPEAKER_04:Can you imagine like real musicians making like real songs faint like? Are you fucking kidding me? We did love our uh movie theme songs back then though.
SPEAKER_06:So wait till you see what my last song is. Oh that's how I know you don't have that.
SPEAKER_04:Oh all right. I'm probably gonna get a lot of hate for this one, uh oh, but I can't help it. I love it. Hey Mickey. Yeah, yeah, you made the face, I think a lot of people are gonna make, but I have always loved that song. I've always loved the video, I just love it, and I never grew tired of it, which is crazy because it's been whew. All right. So the song Hey Mickey is a playful and flirtatious love song about a girl's infatuation with a boy named Mickey. The song starts off with the girl expressing her admiration for Mickey and how he blows her mind with his fine looks and charming personality. She describes meeting him and being immediately drawn to him because of his unique style and physical appearance. As the song progresses, the girl really reveals that she is so smitten with Mickey that she is willing to waste her time on him and ignore all other men. She sees no one else and is essentially blinded by Mickey's charm. She admits that even when he lies to her, she believes him because she is so infatuated with him. What we are learning here is that um the song is exactly what it says. I mean, there is no secret surprise behind it. Um although the next line is the song takes a surprising turn towards the end when the girl discovers that Mickey is gay. Despite this revelation, she finds still finds him attractive and continues to express her love for him. The catchy chorus is repeated throughout the song and serves as a testament to the girl's feelings for Mickey. Overall, Hey Mickey is a light-hearted and fun song about young love and the whirlwind emotions that come along with it. The lyrics showcase the girl's obsession with Mickey and her willingness to overlook any flaws or mistakes he may have because of her deep affection for him. That's it. I didn't want to go too much into well, for one thing, there's not too much to go into. For another, I know a lot of people hate that song. I think it was probably the cheerleader dance moves in the video that caught me. Sometimes a music video can make me love a song.
SPEAKER_06:So I have a that song because my grandfather's name was Mickey. Mm-hmm. Well, that's what everybody called him. Um, so that song makes me think of him. But other than that, and just only because I was what? Ten. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And and I'll I'll be the first to admit it's a pretty obnoxious song, but I don't know. I just love it. I mean, they play the death out of it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:That's part of the problem. To this day. Yeah. Because I was gonna do well. I'm not gonna say, because I don't know if you have it on there. Okay. There was one that I was gonna do when I was like, that song is I love it. But I mean, they literally play it on every 80s hour ever.
SPEAKER_04:Well, we're six songs in and we haven't picked the same song. I know yet.
SPEAKER_06:And I know you didn't pick this one. Unbelievable is a song written and performed by British band EMF. Oh.
SPEAKER_04:I did look at that one. Did you? I really, really did. I love that one. It's got uh who does the O? I'll tell you on a second.
SPEAKER_06:Okay, I know who it is. Originally appearing on their debut album, Schubert Dip, it was released as a single in the UK in October of 1990, peaking at number three on the UK singles chart in December of 90. It was the 30th best-selling single of 1990 in the UK and top 10 hit in Belgian, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden. In the U.S., Unbelievable hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and Cashbox Top 100 in 91. The song was produced by Ralph Jessard and contains samples of U.S. comedian Andrew Dice Clay and perform performance poet Gline Kane. An accompanying music video was directed by Josh Taft, depicting the band performing on stage. Ian Dench, the band's guitarist and primary songwriter, has stated that the melody of the song came into his head as he was riding his bicycle while thinking of a recent girlfriend who had dumped him. Dench had learned to play classical guitar and also loved the blues. The guitar riff in the song goes from blues mode to flamenco mode, like two conflicting sides of his life. And he said in an interview with The Guardian, singer James Atkins has suggested incorporating influences from Chicago House and Detroit Techno, but Dench went for crossover indie dance music. The band made a four-track demo and were invited to London by the record labels. Instead, the band suggested that the label representatives witness the bands perform live, the band performed live, in the forest of Dean. Staff from Virgin Island and EMI wanted to sign them and EMI won. The O sample comes from a recording of U.S. comedian Andrew Dice Clay released on Def Jam. The band therefore needed to speak to the Def Jam office in order to clear the sample. They were flown to Los Angeles for a meeting with EMI. During the trip, Dench happened to see Rick Rubin, founder of Def Jam in a bar. Dench spoke to Rubin about clearing the sample, to which Rubin responded, Fax my office in the morning, and he cleared the sample free. Contrary to reported claims, including from the band themselves in the liner notes and elsewhere. The chopped-up phrase, What the was that? Featured prominently in the chorus and throughout was not sampled from a Black Panther rally speech, but rather a syncopated section of the spoken word song Silly Shit by Gyllen Kane from his 1970 album, The Blue Gorilla. Unbelievable was released in uh October 22nd, 1990, as the first single from the band's debut album. The band drew inspiration from American hip-hop for their fashion style using their first advanced to buy popper jackets, like those worn by the members of East 17. In 2018, Bill Lamb from About.com noted that the song mixed intoxicating rhythms, sweet high vocals from Lead Simmer, lead singer James Akin, and rousing shout outs to storm to the top of the pop charts. In his review of Schubert Dip, all music editor Alex Henderson described the song as so insanely infectious, infectious, remarking its dizzying infectiousness. Oh my god, I can't tell.
SPEAKER_04:It's all that champagne.
SPEAKER_06:I know. Upon the release. I usually I'm usually good with the whiskey.
SPEAKER_04:But whiskey's much easier.
SPEAKER_06:Oh, it's fake whiskey. Maybe it's the orange juice. You know, I'm gonna be paying for that tomorrow. Upon the release. Oh, I just said, oh no. But upon the release, JD Consodyne from the Baltimore Sun felt the group's material appeals as much to the brain as the body, so that songs such as Unbelievable end up danceable, hummable, and utterly irresistible. Larry Flick from Billboard magazine declared it as a insinuating Manchester-influenced rave. Scratchy, neopsychedelic guitar riffs nicely contrast, tracks hip-hop groove, promising extensive exposure here at both club and radio levels. John Earls of Classic Pop called it mighty. Annette Petrusso from the Michigan Daily stated that the boys from the Forest of Dean have created an undeniably perfect pop song with the ultra simple, ultra catchy, and ultra overplayed unbelievable. Writing it's their first and it's crunchier than the breakfast cereal. Sex flavored bass, hoppity drums, unfettered guitar, and a shouting sample that might be stupid old Andrew Toyce Clay. Unbelievable entered the top 10. The music video was produced to promote the single, directed by American music video director Josh Taft. Features the band performing on stage, received heavy rotation on MTV Europe. Uh was awarded one of BMI's pop awards in 92, honoring the songwriters, composers, and music publishers of the song. It was ranked number 31 on VH1's Greatest One Hit Wonders in 2002, number 98 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s in 2007. Number 12 on the biggest songs of the summer 90s. And in 2020, Cleveland.com listed it as number 41 in their ranking of the best Billboard Hot Number One Songs of the 90s. In 2004, Billboard magazine ranked it number 52 in their 100 greatest jock jams of all time. Wow. Naming it Andrew Dice Clay's Greatest Contribution to Polite Society.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, what the fuck? Was that yeah, that's an awesome song.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. It's one of those you don't really get tired of.
SPEAKER_06:Like that song reminds me of the summer, apparently of 1990. Driving down Ocean City through Ocean City in my car. Trying to be um at a curfew. Because my parents were lame. Yeah, I did too. And in the summer, there's a boardwalk here where all the kids go. And it is 10 miles. And it's not just a straight 10 miles, it is 10 miles of lights at literally every intersection. Literally. It will take you. In the summertime, it can take you uh an hour to get those 10 miles. And I had to make it home by midnight. And I in a Lincoln lights were in a Lincoln Continental.
SPEAKER_04:Yes. Kind of hard to miss. Blairing that. All right. This next one is a song that I haven't thought about probably since my childhood. Uh, but when I saw it, I was just like, oh my god. I used to make my Barbies. I would make music videos to the song with my Barbies.
SPEAKER_06:That's fucking hilarious.
SPEAKER_04:Yes. Uh, so the song is I Wanna Be a Cowboy. I was gonna die. I fucking love that cry. Man, I had not thought of that song in years. Um, so it featured Heidi Leah. Um, I think it's Leah. It's L E A. If it was Leah, it would be L-E-E. So it's not my fault if it's not Leah. All right. Uh it explores the desire for adventure, escapism, and the aspirations of living a rugged and wild lifestyle. The lyrics depict a per depict a person yearning to embody the archetype of a cowboy and their cowgirl companion. In the verses, the protagonist Heather's dancing.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_04:Um, oh, hold on, my thing just went really fast. Um Dance break. Uh in the verses, the protagonist imagines himself, themselves riding on the range wearing a hat, boots, and dusty saddle. The mention of their horse trigger adds to the imagery of a classic cowboy paying homage to the famous horse of the Lone Ranger. The repeated stuttering in the lyrics can be seen as playful or charming, adding a touch of character to the song. You see, I stuttered through that sentence. Good. That was intentional. Um the chorus reflects the protagonist's longing for a cowgirl to join them in their cowboy fantasy. This desire for companionship suggests a romanticized view of the cowboy lifestyle, aspiring to have a partner to share their adventure with. Um the repetition of the chorus emphasizes the protagonist's strong desire to manifest their cowboy identity. In verse two, a woman's voice is introduced, expressing her admiration and support for her man, Ted. Um, every time I hear the name Ted, I know you've had to have seen um Pineapple Express.
SPEAKER_06:Yes.
SPEAKER_04:And he was the one hanging out with the dirty cop Rosie Press. Hi, Ted. Um, the mention of camping on the prairie and hair being messy and dirty portraits or portrays the realities of the cowboy lifestyle. This contrasts with the romanticized version of cowboys and highlights the idea that even in reality, things can be challenging and untidy. The protagonist's desire to look like a hero with a six gun at his side and chewing tobacco reflects the cultural imagery associated with cowboys. This further emphasizes the fantasy and escapism inherent in their desire. The mention of Indians on the war path represents the conflicts and dangers that cowboys historically faced, emphasizing the excitement and adrenaline-inducing aspects of the cowboy life. The outro uh reiterates the protagonist's name is Ted, and humorously adds a reminder that one day they will eventually pass away, adding a light-hearted twist to the song. Overall, I want to be a cowboy reflects the longing for adventure romance and the desire to embody the iconic cowboy persona. It explores the idea of escapism and allure, stepping into a wild and rugged lifestyle, even if the realm, even if only in the realm of imagination. Um so and scene. Once again, two songs in a row. I uh pick songs that just literally mean what they say. I mean, but it was a great song. It is a great song. Oh man, so good.
SPEAKER_06:They do play it a lot. Do they? Yeah, I heard it a couple a few times on those I love the oh and actually this reminded me. Did you see that MTV is ending? No. What? They just announced it. People are sick of pregnant teen and cheating.
SPEAKER_04:I forget how they stated it, but it was it was like they end their uh I bet it's TLC that put them out of business. They outcrap TV'd them.
SPEAKER_06:Um to end MTV makes a heartbreaking move to end five music channels. Uh we'll shut down MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, so just actually all of the ones who still play videos and music. Yep. So they're gonna keep their regular stupid MTV. All the ridiculousness is on MTV, and I love that show.
SPEAKER_06:MTV Music, the flagship music video destination. MTV 80s, home to beloved retro hits and nostalgic favors.
SPEAKER_04:I had that channel for a while at one point. I had some server that I had that and it was amazing.
SPEAKER_06:Uh yeah. I we have a bunch of weird music channels that play. I don't know.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I I've had those weird music channels too, but I had those offset MTV channels, and they were really, really awesome.
SPEAKER_06:But that was just I think we have a BH1 too that plays pop-up video. Oh no. Fucking love pop-up video. I can watch pop-up video forever. Okay, my last one.
SPEAKER_01:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_06:Okay, so this one is because I had this album and I probably pay played this song a hundred million times. Ooh. Uh-huh. And uh I had the album album. Um, because this was before I had the ability to have cassettes. Mm-hmm. Um, Pac-Man Fever is a 1981 novelty song.
SPEAKER_04:How did I not know you were gonna do that song?
SPEAKER_06:By Buckner and Garcia, capitalizing on the video game craze of the early 80s. The song referencing the arcade game Pac-Man peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in March of 82. This same month, it was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for over 1 million units shipped to retailers. The single sold 1.2 million copies by the end of 82 and 2.5 million copies in total as of 2008. BH1 ranked it as number 98 on their 100 greatest hit wonders of the 80s. A follow-up release in May of 82, do the Donkey Kong, another novelty song referencing Nintendo's Donkey Kong, just missed the Bill Bart chart, ranking number 103. This song was featured in the South Park episode, Splatty Tomato, as well as the Family Guy episode, The D in Apartment 23, both aired in 2017. The song is also referenced in the Simpsons episode, A Tale of Two Springfields. Sheet music for the song shows Common Time with a moderate tempo of 138 beats per minute. Buckner and Garcia were in the Atlanta area in 1981 recording TV jingles and other low-profile studio work. Uh, they were eating at a restaurant down the road in Marietta, and they saw other diners swarming around a brand new Pac-Man machine. The duo had never heard of the game before, but they waited their turn and played it too, and ended up playing for two hours straight. With a line behind them. After that, they decided to write a novelty song about the game. Their manager shopped the song at radio stations nationwide, but no one wanted to play it. However, when they shopped it locally, WSTR in Atlanta decided to play it for fun on their show one morning. The station was bombarded with calls from listeners who begged to hear it again and again. This got the attention of CBS Records as well as other stations across the country, and the single hit number nine on the Billboard Heart charts in '82. Wow. In 1998, the duo were asked to record an unplugged version of Pac-Man Fever exclusively exclusively for the syndicated radio show Retro Rewind. In 1999, a re-recorded version of the album was released independently by Buckner and Garcia, which was released commercially through K-Tel in 2002. However, Buckner and Garcia could not obtain the original master recording from Sony Music Entertainment, so the duo was forced to record new performances of the song and recreate a lot of the sound effects, either digitally or musically. In honor of the release of the 2015 film Pixels, Jerry Buckner and Danny Jones with Jace Hall took the vocals from Gary Garcia's master recording and created a new version called Pac-Man Fever Eat Em Up. The song was released on the compilation Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes number four and Squeeze Box the Complete Works of Al Yankovic. And that album that I had had the Donkey Kong on it. It had Pac-Man Fever. It had um a Space Invader song. It had um Berserk song. But though the second song, the first song was Pac-Man Fever. The second song was Froger. The fucking Froger song. Awesome. It's awesome. I don't know where you can get it. I have not heard it since that record went away. Um, but if you ever, it's it's like Frogger takes one step at a time. The way that he moves has no reason or rhyme. It's a fucking amazing song. And I looked for the name of that album and I could not find it. But I know it had the Donkey Kongs on, and and I know it had a berserk song because my dad's favorite video game is Berserk. But yeah, Pac-Man Paper.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. It's driving me crazy. And I love that you said Dr. Demento because I have a script in process for him. Yes. It's God, that show was amazing. Um, yeah, that acoustic Pac-Man paper. That's what I got out of that.
SPEAKER_06:I love I love that. I now I gotta find it all.
SPEAKER_04:It's like Johnny Cash singing nine inch nail songs.
SPEAKER_06:Everybody fucking loves that.
unknown:I don't.
SPEAKER_06:I'm sorry, Johnny, I don't. Yeah. And I know that Trent said it's Johnny's song now, but I don't know, I don't like it. Yeah. I get it. I get it.
SPEAKER_04:It's very it shows the beauty and the lyrics of the songs when they do it that way. But the song is meant to make you angry, not feel pretty.
unknown:I don't know.
SPEAKER_06:I mean, I get it because Johnny Cash lived it. And he lived it. He knows that the I okay.
SPEAKER_04:Yep, yep. Sorry, I didn't I didn't realize. I did a nerve. Sorry.
SPEAKER_06:Get my ass kicked by what is the Swifty version of Johnny Cash's Cashies?
SPEAKER_04:Oh Lord, I almost said blackies because he's the man in black. That is so inappropriate. A little bit. Yeah. Um, anyway. All right, so I have two more songs, but I only did the one extra just in case I needed it. So this will be my last song. Okay. Another song that as I started with the theme, I love this song. I never grew tired of it, and I love hearing it nowadays, Steal My Sunshine by Len. Heather's so disappointed. No, I thought it's fine. I well, you don't like happy peppy songs. I do not. No. I like Pac-Man Fever. Yeah, but you love Pac-Man. All right.
SPEAKER_06:I love a good video game.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Never. I mean, I played Atari, but all right. Uh, so this breezy but rather trippy tune is built on a sample of the disco hit More More More by the Andrea True Connection. There is no Len in Len. The name comes from one of their friends. The group started out as the Toronto brother and sister duo of Mark and Sharon Costanzo. They released two albums in the alternative rock vein before adding three members for their 1999 album You Can't Stop the Bum Rush. Steal My Sunshine was written by Mark Costanzo with Greg Diamond, uh, who wrote More More More. Also getting a songwriter credit. Lynn had a minor UK hit with the follow-up Cryptic Souls Crew, but in America and Canada, are a prototypical one-hit wonder. Uh Mark Costanzo told Stereo Gum the song story of the song. I was at an outdoor electronic music festival up north like a rave.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And I just got caught up in the night. The song is about how I felt, and then it was exaggerated by the fact that I'm sitting in the middle of a field looking at the stars about a thousand feet away from the stage, watching everybody dance at 3 a.m. And I wrote part of it on my leg and a lot of it on a napkin. I would imagine there were some illegal substances involved in that as well.
SPEAKER_01:No. Get out.
SPEAKER_04:And then we were hanging out at Brendan, uh, Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scenes Place. And Brendan ended up playing that uh Andrea True Connection record, and I just sampled it right then. I looped it and I just tied the two together. Steal My Sunshine first appeared in March 1999 on the soundtrack of the movie Go, starring Katie Holmes. Uh, it was included on Lim's album You Can't Stop the Bum Rush in May and released as a single in July. It's a very summer song, but it didn't become a hit until early winter, charting at number nine in America on November 13th. Lim were given a$150,000 budget for the music video. They spent so much of it on alcohol that they broke the hotel service elevator trying to load it up all delicacy. Wow. Now that does sound like us. Not anymore. But we did we have a we have a hotel story we are probably never gonna share. Um that was a bad night. All the way around. I'm still angry at our friend for that. On the 2011 Parks and Recreation episode, Camping, Amy Polar's character plays the song while struggling to come up with the big idea uh to follow up her successful harvest festival. I'm listening to Steal My Sunshine by Lynn, she says, a one-hit wonder just like me. Uh the song was also used in Cold Case, Mr. Robot, South Park, and Future Man. And that's it for One Hit Wonders. That's it for our one hit wonders on our one year anniversary. One year versary. Good. We're so proud of us.
SPEAKER_06:Me too.
SPEAKER_04:Not only did we make the year, but we were consistent. Like we released an episode every week, no excuses, and it's not like every week was just like, hey, just show up and do it. Like we've we've had our conflicts and things come up.
SPEAKER_06:Issues here and issues there.
SPEAKER_04:But we've made sure to make it work and that it comes out on Friday, and the the champagne is getting to me, and I can't stop belching right now. I'm trying not to be gross.
SPEAKER_06:I know because we still have two commercials to oh lord.
SPEAKER_04:I know it. Well, at least one of them's an alcohol commercial. Maybe the belching will come back.
SPEAKER_06:But you already heard it because I would have already put it in. I hope you liked it. It's very fucking funny. It is well, that was awesome. What a great what a great one year anniversary that was. It's so crazy. I know. I still can't believe it. Um, so we've gone on for an hour and a half almost.
SPEAKER_04:So I will say we should have done a long one. That's good.
SPEAKER_06:Um, thank you to everyone who has listened to us over the year. Yeah, thank you so much. We do appreciate it. Um, we have had fun. We have. We hope you have had fun. Uh you can like, share, rate, review. Please. Tell your friends to like, share, rate, review. Please. You can find us where you listen to the podcasts. You can follow us on all the socials at like whatever bottle. You can send an email stating what your favorite one hit wonder is. Or I'm giving you a choice this week. Oh. Or what episode is your favorite. Because that would be fun.
SPEAKER_04:I would love to hear some feedback on that.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. So let us know. Send that email to likewhateverpod at gmail.com or don't like whatever. Whatever. Bye.
SPEAKER_00:We'll say you bad is by whatever.
