E60 Cars, VH-1, and Brass in Pocket

Picture this: It's Christmas Eve 1984, and outside your home sits an unexpected gift—a 1971 Buick Skylark, your first car! As we travel back to that exhilarating moment, you'll feel the thrill of youthful freedom as I recount installing a pricey stereo system and turning the Skylark into a mobile hub of adventure and camaraderie. 

Next, we discuss Def Leppard drummer, Rick Allen's horrific car crash 40 years ago and how his determination and an electronic drum kit has kept him rocking all these years.

But that's not all. We take a step back to the birth of VH1 on January 1, 1985. Reflect with me on the first ten music videos that hit the airwaves and the quirky stories behind them, including Burt Bacharach's unexpected role in one of the classics. Relive the glory days of music television, laugh at Stevie Wonder's looped love song story, and cherish the unforgettable moments from beloved VH1 shows such as "Pop-Up Video" and "Behind the Music."

As the journey progresses, we'll revisit the comical chaos of the Y2K scare, the Snoop Dogg Bowl, and a legendary Ramones concert with Amy Carter. Reflect on the legacy of bands like The Zombies and The Pretenders while uncovering intriguing connections like those of Chrissie Hynde. 

"Music in My Shoes" where music and memories intertwine.

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:24

He's got the feeling in his toe-toe.

Speaker 2 0:30

He's got the feeling and it's out there growing. Hey everybody, this is Jim Boge, and you're listening to Music In my Shoes. That was Vic Thrill kicking off episode 60. As always, I'm thrilled to be here with you. Let's learn something new or remember something old.

Speaker 2 0:50

So, jimmy, back on Christmas Eve 1984, 40 years ago, there's this car parked in front of my house. And to say, growing up on Long Island, that we were territorial is probably an understatement. Like if people parked in front of your house because there everybody parks on the road. I live in a subdivision now there's no parking on the street. Okay, you've got to ask for permission to do that. But in New York everybody's parking on the street and someone comes and they park in front of your house. You just get crazy, like who is that and why do they think they can park in front of my house? And I'm not saying it's right, I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just saying it is. It's the way it is. It's just the way it is.

Speaker 2 1:44

So it's Christmas Eve and someone's got this junky old car parked in front of our house. My mother's parked behind it. They were nice enough, because sometimes they take up both the spots, because they kind of park in the middle and it's like what is going on here. So we end up eating dinner. My girlfriend at the time comes over. We're celebrating Christmas Eve. We got cheese and crackers. I love cheese and crackers. If you have any holiday, I'm going to do something. There will be cheese and crackers, chips and dip and pretzels.

Speaker 2 2:22

That's definitely going to be part of what I'm doing.

Speaker 1 2:24

We have that in common except and pretzels. That's definitely going to be part of what I'm doing. We have that in common except the pretzels, maybe not as much as something like Chex Mix for me.

Speaker 2 2:30

Oh, that's not bad, but I'm a salty snack person.

Speaker 2 2:32

There you go. So after dinner my parents ask me if I want to open up a gift. I'm like, okay, let's do it. So it's this tiny little gift and it's wrapped up. And I'm like, okay, let's do it. So it's this tiny little gift and it's wrapped up and I'm trying to figure out what it could be and I honestly have no idea. I get it open and it's a key on a chain, but it's a GM key and that's General Motors for you out there that don't know, because now there's a lot of cars that are keyless.

Speaker 1 3:05

I remember those keys too the GM key, the square one went to the ignition and the roundish one went to the door.

Speaker 2 3:12

That is correct. Yeah, so it's not a key to the car that I've been sharing with my mom, which was a 1968 Ford Mustang. So immediately I'm like what? My father opens the front door and says it's the key to the junky old car parked in front of my house.

Speaker 1 3:35

Did he describe it that way, or did he?

Speaker 2 3:37

I do remember him saying junky in the sentence you know All right. So I'm definitely embarrassed and I apologize immediately. But then I'm like done. I quickly go outside to look at the car. It's a 1971 Buick Skylark. Again, this is Christmas Eve 1984.

Speaker 2 3:57

That is a boat, by the way it is. It's long and it's wide. You know the trunk was awesome. I mean you could fit anything you could possibly think of in that trunk. So it starts sinking in that this was my car, like I'm not going to have to share, I'm not going to have to. Hey, can I get it on Friday night, can I? You know, this is mine and that was really awesome.

Speaker 2 4:26

You know, really, really awesome. So probably a few months later I get the stereo installed in it and it was about $800 stereo, that's a lot of money In 1985, a ton of money $800.

Speaker 1 4:43

Stereo in a $900 car.

Speaker 2 4:47

I think it might have been an $800 car. You're not far off and it was. You know, back then you would buy like the equalizer and the booster. So you hit that and all of a sudden it was like you know, and you know, all new speakers and it was fantastic. But what I did is that I had them install the old speaker coverings that would be in the back, you know, not the back seat, but you know, between the windshield excuse me, the back window and the seat. I had them put the originals back on so that you didn't see what the brand name was. And then I bought from them for a couple of dollars, the stereo cover, so it looked like it was just an AM FM stereo thing and you put it right over the front of your car stereo.

Speaker 1 5:38

Oh, I never seen that.

Speaker 2 5:40

Yes, and I would leave the windows down because people would walk out and be like there's nothing in here, because I literally had nothing in the car except the stereo. That really was all that was there yeah so it was a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 5:56

I mean, I remember driving that car around and one song that comes to mind quickly is um, I will dare by Replacements, I would just drive around the town with that crank so loud and even you know, in the months of, you know, february, march and April, where it's cold out, everybody could hear that song. You know it was just coming right out of the car.

Speaker 1 6:22

It was a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 6:22

I can picture it yeah, and it seemed like. You know, I was one of the few of my friends that had a car and everybody would drive with me. Monday morning I'd find all these jackets and coats, hats, and nobody would know where they came from, but yet they were there and it would get to the point where I just started wearing people's coats or sweatshirts that would say a school name or something. Nobody ever claimed them, no one ever said, hey, I'm missing something. No one ever said, hey, that's my sweatshirt that you're wearing. It was just crazy how that never really happened. So December 1st 1984, new York becomes the first state to enact a mandatory seatbelt law. Okay, so that meant drivers and passenger now have to wear a seatbelt.

Speaker 1 7:14

That's amazing, it was that late.

Speaker 2 7:16

It's amazing that they were the first state, that late, to make that a rule. Yeah, you know, there's a 30-day grace period and I think it went into effect. I don't know if it was December 31st or midnight January 1st, but I remember there being a, you know, a 30-day rule. No, a 30-day grace period, and what I end up doing is I want to see if the seatbelt works, like I've never used a seatbelt before. So, like you know and it sounds funny, doesn't?

Speaker 1 7:53

it. It does because, you know, even though it wasn't the law, I still wore a seatbelt because it was there and it's safe. You didn't, no, no.

Speaker 2 8:04

So this is I mean seriously I know it sounds funny saying this today it was a two-piece seatbelt. So today, all of them are what do they call them? Three-point seatbelts? Right, because you pull it over and it goes over your chest, over your lap and it will go into one buckle.

Speaker 1 8:23

Yeah, these were just lap belts, right.

Speaker 2 8:25

It was a lap belt but it had the second part over the door and then you would take that off and it had a second buckle that you would put it into. So I'm like I can't even get the belt off the door, Like I can't figure out how the pins and how it works I'm not joking, Like I'm doing all this and I remember struggling with it to get it, you know, like unhinged from over the door, the lap part. Yes, I could figure that out pretty quickly, but it was this other part, it would get stuck too.

Speaker 1 8:57

I'm remembering now, Like if you pulled too hard it wouldn't go. Yeah.

Speaker 2 9:02

It would. So I finally get it going. I got it on and then I took it off and only to find, you know, 13 years of dust and dirt that was now across my shirt in the faint shape of a seatbelt.

Speaker 1 9:24

Oh, wow. Someone else's dust and dirt too.

Speaker 2 9:27

Someone else's, it wasn't mine, because I had just, you know, got in the car, you know, a month earlier, not a month a week earlier. So I don't think that seatbelt had ever been used. By the way that I had a struggle and by the way that dirt stain and it was a nice shirt, I remember saying I can't believe this. This is absolutely crazy. You know, another thing with the car, the windshield wipers went out one time and it was raining and I ended up taking some hangers.

Speaker 2 9:58

You know, back then they were all the wire hangers with the little cardboard thing at the bottom and I took them and I put two hangers together and I was able to. Cars were different. You could open up the hood and kind of look at things and see some things, but the windshield wiper motor you could see where it was turning. It had gotten stripped, so I took one of the ends of the hanger and put it on and then what I would be able to do as I'm driving every once in a while just go, you know, with my arm and pull the wiper over, just enough to be able to see. Until I got it fixed. It was absolutely insane.

Speaker 1 10:43

It's pretty clever.

Speaker 2 10:44

But it was my car, the junkie car, it was mine.

Speaker 1 10:47

Yeah, I had a similar car.

Speaker 2 10:49

Did you really?

Speaker 1 10:50

Well, yeah, I mean I had a similar car, did you really? Well, yeah, I mean I had an Oldsmobile Omega Okay, but it was newer than that. But then I also had a 68 Pontiac Bonneville convertible later. That was a big boat like that.

Speaker 2 11:05

I had a 68 GTO convertible.

Speaker 1 11:08

Okay, yeah, same line, just a little smaller.

Speaker 2 11:10

A friend of mine had the Bonneville and we would meet up at a place we'll talk about, you know, in a future show. We'd meet up behind this deli and whoever was around would jump in and we would drive down to the beach. We'd kind of do this like on a Friday night, you know, after a long week, and go down and just have some fun. But that's funny that you bring that up. So again, this is December 31st 1984, where I'm trying out the seatbelt.

Speaker 2 11:46

Rick Allen is driving his Corvette on a winding country road over in England and in multiple interviews over the years he talks about coming up to another car and as he went to pass it it sped up. And it's country roads so you can't just like gun it and pass, and it's kind of like a cat and mouse game. And finally he got you know, his temper got the best of him and he decided he's going to pass the car. So he's driving too fast. A curve comes up, the car hits a stone wall, flips over and he's ejected through the open sunroof of the Corvette. He's ejected through the open sunroof of the Corvette. Now he's on the ground on the other side of this wall, but his arm is still in the Corvette, having been ripped off at the shoulder during the crash. So there were a couple of nurses One was driving by and stopped, another lived close and one was bandaging him up. The other one was going to get the arm and put it in a like a I don't know a bucket of ice, a box of ice, something like that.

Speaker 2 13:00

Doctors reattached his arm, but after infection started they had to amputate it Right, and they thought that it was going to be able to be a success. He was going to be able to use it, but once that infection came there was no hope. I believe his right arm was broken in several places. I mean he was, you know, pretty banged up in this crash, besides losing his arm, losing his arm, eventually he's able to drum again using an electronic drum kit that let him use his left foot to create the sounds that previously he used to play with his left hand. And then he played his first live show in August of 1986 and is still the drummer for Def Leppard. I just think that's a cool story, not the part about losing your arm, but the part about making sure you did everything possible to continue doing something that you love. He was 21, I think, at the time of that crash.

Speaker 1 14:04

Yeah. You know, and for the band too, to keep him in the band. I'm sure there's a slight drawback to having somebody that's playing, you know, that different kit and everything. But they cared about each other and they wanted him to still be in the band and he rose to the occasion.

Nostalgia for VH1 and Music Shows

Speaker 2 14:24

Yeah, and you're a hundred percent correct, they wanted him in the band, and I think that's what's important. You know, a lot of times people just decide they don't want someone in the band, and I think that's what's important. You know, a lot of times people just decide they don't want someone in a band, for whatever the reason is, and quickly push them to the side. They didn't do that with Rick Allen. They wanted him there. They were visiting him in the hospital, you know, the day that it happened, or the next day, you know as soon as they could get there and I think that's pretty cool, I really do. It is so the day after his horrific crash. Vh1 launched on January 1st 1985. At the time, a sister station to MTV, vh1 was also known as Video Hits 1. Do you remember when they called it Video Hits 1? Yeah, and it was, you know, kind of aimed at an older audience, right, I think many people know that Video Killed a Radio Star was the first videoH1 video.

Speaker 1 15:35

Yeah.

Speaker 2 15:36

The second video was Missing you by Diana Ross, which I actually like. This song it's a ballad. I think it's a good song. It's a tribute to Marvin Gaye, who was shot and killed by his father on April 1st of 1984. Third video played You've Lost that Love and Feeling by Hall and Oates Right. Number four Nobody Told Me, by John Lennon which John Lennon actually had written that for Ringo Starr, but when John was killed, but when John was killed, ringo decided he wasn't going to use it and they used the demo and Jack Douglas did some work with it and they actually released it as a song and it ended up being the fourth song played on VH1. Number five Shaking you by Olivia Newton-John. I couldn't tell you one thing about that song. No, not at all Nothing. And the same for number six. After all, al Jarreau does not ring a bell.

Speaker 1 16:39

No, I don't know, I'd have to hear it, yeah.

Speaker 2 16:43

Number seven, Steppin' Out by Joe Jackson.

Speaker 1 16:45

Oh yeah cool.

Speaker 2 16:46

Number eight. I Just Called to Say I Love you, Stevie Wonder. That's one of those songs that they started playing that, and you cannot get that tune out of your head.

Speaker 1 16:54

Okay, so I was at the beach just a couple years ago and they had, you know, at like the little beach bar. They had a sound system with some music playing in the background and it was low enough that you didn't notice too much, but it was always there in the background. And then I realized after about 20 minutes that I just called to say I love you. It must have been on CD. They actually, you know it was like this was in the Caribbean and they were probably still playing a CD player and it was just skipping but you almost couldn't tell because it would skip back to another part of the song that sort of flowed and nobody noticed and it went on for so long nobody noticed, but jimmy jimmy noticed.

Speaker 1 17:42

Once I noticed oh, my lord I mean talk about getting stuck in your head oh yeah, that definitely got stuck in your head.

Speaker 2 17:48

I mean, I like the song, but I don't want to keep hearing it over and over like that.

Speaker 1 17:51

It keeps going back to New Year's Day, and then it gets back from Halloween back to New Year's Day.

Speaker 2 17:57

Oh nice. Number nine I Knew you when, by Linda Ronstadt, another song I don't know. And then finally, number ten. Always Something there to Remind Me, by Naked Eyes, so definitely.

Speaker 1 18:10

And an interesting thing about that song do you know who wrote that song?

Speaker 2 18:14

No, I don't.

Speaker 1 18:14

Burt Bacharach.

Speaker 2 18:15

Really.

Speaker 1 18:16

Yeah, and if you kind of listen to the melody it's got the signature kind of Burt's clever melodic style to it, Like the way that the verse goes. You can kind of hear the Burt in there.

Speaker 2 18:30

So was it a cover from a song he had done that someone had done earlier.

Speaker 1 18:36

I don't think. I think he just wrote it for them.

Speaker 2 18:39

Really. Yeah, I did not know that. I learned something new today on Music. In my Shoes I got to say Burt and I struggle saying his last name so I'm not going to say it. Okay, but the work he did with Dionne Warwick back in the day.

Speaker 2 18:55

You said Warwick but you won't say Bacharach. I know when I said it. I'm like why did you do that? There are words I struggle with, but some of the stuff that they did together was just absolutely fantastic. Some really really good music and that stuff that my parents had playing on the record player that I heard only because they played it. But, it still sticks with me all these years later.

Speaker 1 19:21

I just heard one of those songs the other day and I said to myself this has to be Backrack right. And I looked it up and it was her and him, yeah, and I can't remember what song it was.

Speaker 2 19:31

Now, it was a good song, I can tell you that. Yeah, so I got. To be honest, I didn't watch it much for the videos because it was for an older audience and I thought I was younger, so I was the MTV person. But I watched it for the shows that came later on in, like the 90s and 2000s.

Speaker 1 19:52

Oh, those were great.

Speaker 2 19:54

Pop-up video oh.

Speaker 1 19:55

I loved it.

Speaker 2 19:56

Oh, my Lord, have mercy. That was a great show Behind the music. Yeah, behind the music, but pop-up video. For those who don't know, they'd play a video and then they would have like this little bubble pop up and it would make this sound. And it would have like this little bubble pop up and it would make the sound and it would have like a little tidbit, or you know, yeah.

Speaker 1 20:16

Something about the song, like a little thought bubble thing would pop up and tell you things about the video. So you're watching the video, you're listening to the song, but you're also learning a little something.

Speaker 2 20:25

Right, and it could be where it was filmed, or where they got the props for it, or or who directed it, or um whatever, but it was always certain line meant what you know why they wrote it. Yeah, I love that show. That was really good.

Speaker 1 20:40

I still have the sound effect from that that I'll use every once in a while, Cause I do sound design for TV and stuff and if, if there's something that pops up, I've got a sound effect that I labeled pop-up video and I use that.

Speaker 2 20:55

Wait, let me think Pop-up video. Behind the music I again, I love anything that's telling you stories and telling you things behind the scenes, things that you don't normally know. Yeah, I loved it. What a fantastic show. And behind the music I have to be honest, behind the music I would watch that, even for a band or a musician that I didn't particularly listen to, I would watch them because that's how much I enjoyed the show. Right, really good show.

Speaker 1 21:28

But the ones about the big bands were also amazing. Like I remember, the Fleetwood Mac episode was really good, mm-hmm, you know just a little. I didn't know much about them other than their music and, man, there was a lot of drama.

Speaker 2 21:44

I think everything I know about the band Pantera I learned from behind the music. I'll be honest, mm-hmm. I learned enough that I can throw a few things out there on Pantera. There you go. Cool, the I Love series. Remember I love the 80s, I love the 90s.

Speaker 1 22:01

They had all these things. Were those the ones when they would cut to comedians, kind of giving quips about oh, here's a Furby. And then they start talking about it. Yes, I love that show too.

Speaker 2 22:10

I think like wasn't Lonnie Love on that, Was she? I think she might have been on that.

Speaker 1 22:15

She's on the game show I'm working on today.

Speaker 2 22:17

Is she really yeah, oh wow.

Speaker 1 22:19

Lonnie Love.

Speaker 2 22:25

Did you know she has a degree in electrical engineering? No, I did not.

Speaker 1 22:28

Yeah, she has like a podcaster and a comedian.

Speaker 2 22:32

There you go, the Surreal Life. The first two seasons of the Surreal Life were on the WB and I watched it there. I loved the show. But VH1 picked it up on season three and that's where they would take celebrities and they would take, you know, maybe six or seven celebrities and they put them in a house for five, six, seven weeks and show that they can't get along and show that everybody has their own thing that they want to do and so uh, mc Hammer, corey Feldman right.

Speaker 2 23:04

He was on there. I know that, uh, motley Crue, vince Neil, was on there oh yeah, jane Weedlin was on there. Who else was on there? Bobby Brady.

Speaker 1 23:17

Oh yeah, that's perfect yeah.

Speaker 2 23:19

And then he was not Bobby Brady. What's the middle one, peter Peter Brady, and then I think he met.

Speaker 1 23:25

That's Christopher Knight, right? I think that's it yeah.

Speaker 2 23:28

And I think he met someone that he ended up dating. I don't know if he married her. They ended up having their own tv show. That was a spinoff because of it. Ron Jeremy was on it.

Speaker 2 23:40

I mean, come on, everybody was on this show everybody yes, it was crazy, but that's really, you know most of the things I watch. They had one show I watched. It wasn't as good. It was called Bands Reunited and they tried to put bands back together. So they tried to get the Smiths. It didn't work. They tried to get Squeeze and since it was new people, they didn't know who these people were coming up to them and they're thinking almost like it's a scam. Oh right, squeeze said no because they had broken up, but they ended up getting back together a few years later. Yeah, romeo Void got back together. Abc.

Speaker 1 24:22

Because of the show. Because of the show, okay.

Speaker 2 24:24

ABC. A couple of the members got back together the English Beat. They didn't want to get back together together. The English Beat. They didn't want to get back together. Dave Wakeling did. But there were two guys that started Fine Young Cannibals and they didn't really want to have any part of it. So he just got some new musicians, had them come on the show, called themselves the English Beat and that was it the band's back together.

Speaker 2 24:45

The band's back together. Most people don't know with who the drummers and the guitarists and bass players are in bands. So moving on, December 31st 1999. Mm-hmm, Do you remember the Y2K bug?

Speaker 1 25:00

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 25:01

You say it like you knew it pretty close.

Speaker 1 25:04

I just saw the movie. Did you know there's a movie out, Y2K?

Speaker 2 25:06

I did not know there was a movie. They put a movie out now.

Speaker 1 25:10

Yeah.

Y2K Preppers and Unexpected Gifts

Speaker 2 25:11

Really? Yeah Well, some believe computers wouldn't be able to determine dates after December 31st 1999, because correct me if I'm wrong computers were only reading the last two digits of a year. When there's four digits for a year such as 1999, it was reading it as 99.

Speaker 1 25:34

Yeah, because when they first built the computers in the 70s or 80s they're like oh, you just need to put 82 as the year. Then they didn't think about oh, what happens when we go from 99 to zero?

Speaker 2 25:46

And then people thought it was going to go back to 1900 and that banks wouldn't be able to disperse money and that you wouldn't be able to buy groceries and all these different things. And I got to be honest, I knew a lot of people that were stockpiling food. Honest, I knew a lot of people that were stockpiling food money gas. I know a bunch of people that bought a lot of extra firearms because they thought that it was going to be pandemonium, that it was going to be chaos.

Speaker 1 26:21

Maybe I don't think the purge was out then, but I think they were thinking maybe it would be something similar to that.

Speaker 2 26:25

A lot of people were thinking it was going to be like that. And I know a guy that bought a few 55-gallon drums of kerosene and I'm like listen. Now that this is over and nothing changed, what are you going to do with all that kerosene? That's a lot of kerosene to be you know he's still going through it.

Speaker 1 26:42

I would think so, filling up a lamp like four ounces at a time.

Speaker 2 26:45

Yeah, Try not to burn down San Francisco you know, they called them preppers, right. Is that what they called?

Speaker 1 26:53

them Y2K preppers. I don't know they were prepared.

Speaker 2 26:56

All I know is that we had to work on January 1st 2000. And what I mean is I ran a facility and we had to be there, we all had to be there, and I don't know if it was seven in the morning or eight in the morning and we had to turn our computers on and make sure that we were able to do everything. And you know, we were there for like five minutes. Yep, everything turned on. You know, you're on a conference call with everyone and then it was over. And you know, obviously people knew that this was going to be an issue, so they worked on it for a number of years beforehand. You know, did some places have some issues? Yeah, but it was really minor. Tell the movie. What is the movie?

Speaker 1 27:40

It's like a horror comedy. Oh so it's as if Y2K really did happen and the machines take over and they're killing everybody. It's pretty fun. Kyle Mooney do you know him from old Saturday Night Live? Like 10 years ago he I think co-wrote and directed it.

Speaker 2 28:02

Oh, Maybe I'll check that out. What's it called Jimmy?

Speaker 1 28:06

It's called Y2K.

Speaker 2 28:07

All right. Well, we just talked a lot about New Year's Eve and New Year's Day on many a year here. So Y2K, Y3K, Y1K. This is music in my shoes, his music in my shoes. So back on episode 58, Beverly Hills Cop and the Road to Utopia, I talked about this Mumford Fizz Ed shirt that my mom had picked up for me.

Speaker 2 28:38

And I was like the coolest kid in town because I would wear it all the time and I think I mentioned, you know, somewhere along the line you know, it faded out. It got. Actually, I remember there being a tear underneath one of the armpits. I don't know what happened to the shirt somewhere along the line. Well, don't you know? Shortly after this episode, I get a package at my doorstep that I didn't even think was for me. I didn't even look at the name. My kids have been getting so many packages. I just take them and just throw them on a table and don't pay attention. Well, finally I realized it's got my name on it. I open up the package and it's a Mumford Fiz-Ed shirt that I got from our very own Jimmy Guthrie and I just wanted to say thank you. It really was like not expected. It was super cool and the fact that you got me something that you knew meant something to me. That was the best. I mean, if you had sent me a Beatles shirt, that would have been great, but anybody can do that.

Speaker 1 29:37

Yeah, no, it was great because you just mentioned it. I'm like I'm getting him that yeah.

Speaker 2 29:41

Yeah, I love it. I'm wearing the shirt today. It looks fantastic. Do I look like Eddie Murphy?

Speaker 1 29:49

Yeah, sure.

Speaker 2 29:50

Do I look like Eddie Murphy from the original or from Axel Folley? Axel F 2024?

Speaker 1 29:56

Maybe 2024.

Speaker 2 29:58

But I just want to say thank you, Jimmy. I do appreciate that.

Speaker 1 30:01

Well, I will go ahead and thank you because, as everybody out there knows, one of my favorite movies is Pulp Fiction and Jim got me a framed Pulp Fiction poster with Uma Thurman on it. It's fantastic. It's now in the hallway right outside my audio room here and it totally classes up the joint. It kind of gives a little street cred to the studio.

Speaker 2 30:27

I wasn't going to say that, but since you said it, I agree with you. It looks good out there. And again I saw that no intentions of getting you a gift, and I don't mean that in a mean way.

Speaker 1 30:38

No, I'm just not a very giftable person.

Speaker 2 30:40

I saw it and I'm like, oh, I got to get this. This, you know, immediately I've got to get this.

Speaker 1 30:45

So I appreciate it Very much appreciate it and you're welcome.

Speaker 2 30:51

So I talked about Snoop Dogg on nine episodes ago and I talked about I was going to be watching the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl, presented by Gin and Juice, by Dre and Snoop. I just love saying that that it's got to be the longest name of any bowl, but on TV the announcers they just called it the Snoop Dogg Bowl.

Speaker 1 31:14

Oh, right it was great.

Musical Memories and Fun Stories

Speaker 2 31:15

So I did say I was going to watch it and I watched the last two quarters, saw a little bit of halftime in the last two quarters of the game and it set a record for that bowl. That bowl's been in existence in I believe it's Tucson Arizona for 10 years. They had 40,076 people that showed up to this game and you could tell when you saw it. You're like there's a lot of people at this game. Miami of Ohio 43, colorado State 17. Both school bands played Snoop Dogg songs during halftime where Snoop is kind of like directing them. That's fun.

Speaker 2 32:00

And he shows up in the TV booth. They said he was going to come to the booth with the announcers and talk and they said after when he was done. They said normally someone comes even if they want to be there. It's like 10 minutes tops. If they don't want to be there, it's whenever the first commercial comes they're gone. You know he spent two quarters up there announcing. He spent time talking about some of the players because he knew who they were and they got a kick out of how engaged he was. You know he's still coaching football 20-plus years of like a peewee league. It was really fun watching. It really was. He's the best Trophy presentation. He's sitting in a 1964 Chevy Impala convertible. What other car do you think he would be in as they come from the tunnel out onto the field? And he's got the trophy. It was a lot of fun and it was everything. I would hope it would be when Snoop Dogg is involved in it and I'm really glad that I watched it.

Speaker 1 33:05

I wish I'd watched that one.

Speaker 2 33:07

If you get a chance, actually go to YouTube and see if you can find some of the highlights. It's just fun, it really is. I read a story the other day on Monty Melnick's social media. Monty, the Ramones tour manager for over 2,000 shows, posted a picture of the Ramones and Amy Carter. Monty writes the Ramones and their special guest at Soundcheck before their show at Atlanta's Agora Ballroom April 1983.

Speaker 2 33:37

The daughter of former US President Jimmy Carter, amy Carter was a big Ramones fan but at 15 years old, too young to attend the show. Later that evening and I'm putting this in there when your father used to be the president of the United States yeah Band invited her for an extra long sound check, signed her a copy of the latest album, which was Subterranean Jungle, and they gave her a tour shirt. A few days later, the Ramones received a thank you note from her and I just thought that that was just super cool. Jimmy Carter died on December 29th 2024. It's really a cool story no matter what side of the aisle you're on, that she could go see the ramones because she wanted to see the ramones and she got to go to this soundcheck.

Speaker 1 34:28

That's really cool well, I'll add on to that story. Um, that show, that 1983 agora ballroom show, yeah, was my first concert I ever went to in my life. Really, yeah, I went to the Ramones with my older brother, john.

Speaker 2 34:43

Did you know that she had been at Soundcheck?

Speaker 1 34:45

No, never knew that.

Speaker 2 34:47

Wow, that's a pretty cool story.

Speaker 1 34:49

Yeah, it was unbelievable too. Such a great show. I was 13.

Speaker 2 34:55

But your parents weren't the former president of the United States?

Speaker 1 35:00

No, yeah, so she trumps me on that one.

Speaker 2 35:03

There you go. Let's revisit some music from the past. Jimmy, how does that sound Wonderful. The Zombie she's Not there. Peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, december 12th 1964. The last week it was on the charts was January 23rd. The last week it was on the charts was January 23, 1965. So if you go 60 years ago you're hearing she's Not there on the radio. That's a great song. I love that song, but it's too late to say you're sorry. How would I know? Why should I care? Please don't bother trying to find her. She's not there.

Speaker 2 35:46

Their song, tell Her no, entered the charts early January and peaked at number six on February 27th 1965. After the zombies broke up, rod Argent, the keyboard player, formed the band Argent, who had the rock classic Hold your Head Up. I love that song. Love that song.

Speaker 2 36:03

While it's not clear if the Pretenders debut album Pretenders, was released in December 79 or January 1980, what is clear is that it's an awesome album. The band at the time Chrissy Hine, lead vocals, rhythm guitar, martin Chambers, drums, pete Farndon, bass, james Honeyman, scott lead and rhythm guitars and keyboards on some songs Brass in Pocket okay, enters the Billboard Hot 100 on February 16, 1980, peaks at number 14, may 31, 1980, before dropping off the charts late July, when there was no MTV and there were channels that would show videos, whether it was late night or I know HBO would have like a video thing, was like a half hour video thing and all the you know you've mentioned some things that were on here in Atlanta. They were showing that video, so you would see that video a lot and then it was still in heavy rotation. When MTV first started they would still play that song.

Speaker 1 37:08

Right, because they didn't have anything else to play. That's why they played. All the British stuff is because they'd been making more music videos in Britain than they had in America.

Speaker 2 37:18

That is true, 100% true. And even though she was from Akron Ohio, she was over in Britain where she was with the British making the band Pretenders. A cover of the Kinks Stop your Sobbing peaked at number 65 on the Billboard charts July 5th of 80. Chrissy Hine met Ray Davies, vocals and guitar for the Kinks, and they ended up in a romantic relationship, with a daughter being born in 1983.

Speaker 1 37:47

Wait, ray Davies and Chrissy Hynde. Yes, I didn't know that.

Speaker 2 37:53

And right after their relationship broke up, she got together and married Jim Kerr of Simple Minds. Oh, yeah, yeah. So she has a daughter from Jim Kerr, simple Minds, and a daughter from Ray Davies. Ray Davies, amazing. Learned something new here on Music in my Shoes.

Speaker 1 38:11

And put a pin in that 1980 cover of a kink song that's going to come back around. I'm going to do that.

Speaker 2 38:19

Some great rock and roll songs on the album Precious Tattooed Love Boys, the Weight Kid, mystery Achievement. For anyone that thinks a female can't lead a band, can't rock a band, you need to listen to this album. Chrissy Hine kicks butt, takes names as you want it for more. That's how good of an album. This is more. That's how good of an album. This is in the 2020 version of rolling stone 500 greatest albums of all time. The record is ranked number 152 and that says a lot for an album. It really does, and you know, with it being the new year and saying a lot for something, it's time for a minute with jimmy. It's time for a minute with jimmy. Minute with jimmy. Minute with jimmy. It's time for a minute with Jimmy. Minute with Jimmy. Minute with.

Speaker 1 39:05

Jimmy. It's time for a minute with Jimmy, minute with Jimmy, minute with Jimmy. All right, today we're going to talk about the first pop album released in the 1980s. It's the Romantics self-titled album, released on January 4th 1980. That album was so ahead of its time in my opinion. It's such a great power pop record and to show that it's ahead of its time, it had the song what I Like About you on it, peaked at number 49 on the Billboard charts and then became like a huge hit five years later six years later, because it was used in Budweiser commercials. I remember being on spring break in the late 80s and that's the only song that you know. You'd hear that song on repeat, but it was actually released in 1980. My brother had a promo EP that you can't even find anything about online. That had what I Like About you when I Look in your Eyes, tell it to Carrie and a cover of the kinks. She's got everything. You know that song. She's got everything.

Speaker 2 40:11

No.

Speaker 1 40:12

Oh, I got a girl, so so good, she's got everything. Look it up.

Speaker 2 40:18

I'm going to have to look that up. That's pretty cool, so what I will add to that that is what I like about you is got to be one of the greatest dance songs. If you're young, okay, yeah, it's one of those songs you just go wild on. It's a little bit more difficult as you get older. But that's another song that I got to know from friends, older brothers and sisters, that they love that song and kind of like Todd Rundgren, who we talked about a few episodes ago that's how I got introduced to the Romantics, was through them and hearing this music that they love, and it is a great, great song. I love that song.

Speaker 1 41:02

Yeah, they wrote that song trying to do something that was along the lines of Wild Thing or Louie Louie, and they put the uh-huh in there because Chuck Berry had done that, and they put the harmonica solo in because all the older music they loved would have stuff like that the Beatles and they also loved the MC5. They were a Detroit band and the MC5 were kind of harder rocking and so that's where they came in.

Goodnight Message From Music Podcast

Speaker 2 41:37

That harmonica solo was fantastic. I mean that you know I talk about points of songs or an instrument or this or that that is as much a part of the song as anything else, and that solo is just everything For sure. Yeah, my name is Jimmy and, speaking of everything, unfortunately it's time to say goodnight to episode 60 of Music in my Shoes. I'd like to thank Jimmy Guthrie, show producer and owner of Arcade 160 Studios located right here in Atlanta, georgia, and Vic Thrill for our podcast music. This is Jim Boge, and I hope you learned something new or remembered something old. We'll meet again on our next episode. Until then, live life and keep the music playing. Thank you.