ooooh! it's all around you... the summer, i mean! and nothing says summer quite like a ridiculous classic rock radio countdown. we decided to do our own this memorial day weekend by coming up with the TOP 20 WORST CLASSIC ROCK SONGS OF ALL TIME. we're pretty proud of the result! but you... you're gonna hate it. you'll probably be ready to take the jack and emily ship to the shore and throw away the oar FOREVURRRRR by the end of this one, that's how goddamn explosive (like a real bronx cheer!) some of these takes are. but hey

no wussy babies allowed, it's real rock and roll and we summarize a month's worth of shows-- from the hook-laden indie mastery of ALVVAYS (complete with crap audience) to the mindblowing soundscapes of the legendary KRAFTWERK, with a little thing we're calling SCOTTISH TWEEKEND smack dab in the middle (i.e. concerts by power pop stalwarts BELLE AND SEBASTIAN and TEENAGE FANCLUB). please use this episode carefully, but also play at maximum volume.

what makes 1994 the best year in music history? hmm... how about "illmatic," released 30 years to the day that we recorded the episode? how does that grab you? not impressed? okay... well then what about "parklife" by blur and "definitely maybe" by oasis? how you like those, eh? still holding out, i see. fair enough... but have you considered "the downward spiral"? "grace"? "ready to die"? "bee thousand"? well... fucking have you, man? oh okay i see you're more of a hella mega tour guy. well guess what? freaking the blue album and "dookie" came out in 1994! take that, hella mega tour guy... this is our first in a possible series celebrating the wealth of treasures that 1994 has to offer, from gangster rap to indie rock; from funny good times to some of the most emotionally gripping music ever made; from justin to kelly. if you get past the ridiculous first five minutes i promise you this is one of the best episodes

but also we're in new york too! we're travelling 2 both the west and east coasts this episode: the former via a recap of our epic california road trip, the latter via a discussion of the strokes and "meet me in the bathroom" (the film, book, and song). this one is sprawling and a little shaggy (not unlike the wilds of LOS ANGELES) but its got the goods, man, including discussions of uhhh... the weather... and also elliott smith, "friday" and "straight outta compton," the beach boys, the yeah yeah yeahs, ryan dumb adams, people who pick george harrison as their favorite beatle, michelle branch, jim morrison falling asleep while standing up and going head first into a toilet, the ramones, and of course the red hot chili fucking peppers! ERRATA: it is o'shea jackson jr, the son of ice cube, who plays ice cube in "straight outta compton"; corey hawkins, of no relation to dr dre, plays dr dre. it is important to get this stuff right, EMILY

the second part of our end-of-2023/start-of-2024 discussion! YOU'LL GET CAUGHT UP IN this wide ranging conversation about freaking everybody-- SZA, taylor swift, andre 3000, jessie ware, ANOHNI, wednesday, jaimie branch, lydia loveless, victoria monet, etc etc etc

we stand at a weird crossroads thing where three streets meet: past street, present street, and future street. deep in the PAST, we see the resolutions and predictions we made at the start of 2023, spotify wrapped, and maybe a massive rant about the streaming economy. here in the PRESENT, we live amidst the ghosts of some of the best albums released in the past twelve months, and some of the best shows we've seen (like err shania twain). and there in the FUTURE... well you'll have to wait until part two of this double episode! it's the best of the year (2023) and a look at possible things to come! including convos about: caroline polachek, beyonce, belle and sebastian, IDLES, weyes blood, the beatles, the walkmen, and more

a splendid time is guaranteed for all as we recount our night at sgt peppercorn's marathon, america's only beatles tribute act that plays the entirety of the band's discography in chronological order. we show our gratitude toward the fab four as well as their intrepid interpreters, and riff on so many beatle related things-- their enduring appeal to the youth, the difficulty of playing their songs, the ongoing mystery of "old brown shoe," the controversial (to... us) release of "now and then," the religious qualities of beatle fandom, ringo's mastery of social media, and more! rollllllllll upppppppp read more about sgt peppercorn here (and feel free to donate! we did!): https://peppercornmarathon.com

and his hair was perfect. DUT! mwahahahaha it's SHOCKTOBER, boys and ghouls! so we're going back to the brackets to determine what the best halloween song is. it's one of our longest episodes ever and it's got us weighing in on all kinds of SPOOKTACULAR PHENOMENA, from jay-z's GOAT verse on "monster" to the questionable quality of "ghostbusters" (the film) (the song rules). 32 beasts enter the arena but only one makes it out... UNDEAD!!! check out the bracket playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4XdoM1A0y2HAAXMgv8rpGY?si=90c8e83bf1bc44ce

can you feel the love tonight? well, fucking can you? because we celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary by talking about the BIG THINGS that all relationships must contend with... namely, what music fans couldn't you have a relationship with? and what song should you walk down the aisle to? and what's the deal with james carville and his republican wife? it might be a crazy conversation, but it's our conversation. and we reference a ton of artists, too, not limited to: elton john, celine dion, ed sheeran, taylor swift, paul mccartney, jimi hendrix, elvis presley, train, whitney houston, bob dylan, and jason fucking mraz

the summer of shows continues as we recap our excursion to dayton for GUIDED BY VOICES' 40th anniversary show, as well as the mysterious materialization of one WEYES BLOOD in columbus. throw the switch, it's rock n roll time! also: built to spill, wednesday, heartless bastards, and a heartless jimmy buffett tribute by us, some bastards