The Grammy's Review

In this episode, the hosts discuss the recent Grammy Awards, focusing on Gojira's win for best metal performance and their groundbreaking performance at the Olympics. They explore the significance of the Grammys in the music industry, the unique sound of Gojira, and the impact of AI on music production. The conversation also touches on notable Grammy winners, the Beatles' new release, and the current landscape of popular music, including Taylor Swift's absence from the awards. Personal updates and future aspirations are shared, culminating in a lively discussion about Nirvana's legacy and recent performances.

Takeaways

Gojira's Grammy win highlights their growing influence in metal.
The Grammys serve as a popularity contest rather than a true measure of talent.
Gojira's Olympic performance was a pivotal moment for the band.
AI technology is reshaping music production and reviving old tracks.
The Beatles' new song showcases the potential of AI in music.
Taylor Swift's absence from the Grammys reflects the competitive nature of the industry.
Understanding the difference between record of the year and album of the year is crucial.
Nirvana's legacy continues to resonate through new performances.
Violet Grohl's performance is reminiscent of Kurt Cobain's style.
Personal goals, like running a marathon, can inspire and motivate.

Mandatory Music is proudly hosted and produced by Michael Heide and Sebastian Kwapich

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Thanks for listening and keep on rocking

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Personal Updates
• 2:52 The Significance of the Grammy's
• 5:41 Gojira's Grammy win and Performance
• 8:36 Gojira's Unique Musical Style
• 11:34 The Impact of Gojira's Performance
• 14:07 Other Grammy Highlights and Notable Wins
• 17:19 The Role of AI in Music Production
• 18:23 Insights from the Beatles 'Get Back" Doc
• 21:13 Understanding Grammy Categories
• 23:38 The Impact of New Artists in Music
• 25:43 Exploring Unique Musical Tastes
• 27:16 Nirvana's Legacy and Recent Performance
• 28:59 Running Aspirations and Personal Goals
• 31:04 Celebrating Milestones and Birthdays

Transcript

Michael (00:00)

Sebastian (00:01)

All right, we are back this week for mandatory music. The Grammys were last night, so we're gonna talk about that today. More specifically, we're talking about Gojira and their Grammy win yesterday as best metal performance. But first, Mikey, how are you? How are you doing? How's your shoulder? How's your ailments?

Michael (00:07)

They sure were.

Hell yeah.

I'm wonderful sir. Whatever. It's,

don't know. just, I'm at this point I'm just a gimpy old man and I'm trying and I'm actually, there's a live stream of a lottery I entered for a ridiculous trail race that I'm hoping to get into. And it's going on right now.

Sebastian (00:27)

Yeah.

So if Mike just

all of a sudden starts cheering randomly, just know that he got entered into the lottery for this race.

Michael (00:42)

Yeah. So

this, this race is no joke. It's a lot of climbing. It's a lot of kilometers and it's, yeah, I can do it. It's just a question of how much is it going to suck at the time? But, no other than that, I'm good. I have, you know, I've got some shoulder and back issues going on, but I think that's what it is. Whatever. don't know. It's called age and I think it's just like, told you earlier, it started on one side of my back. Now it's migrated the other. It'll once then after this has got nowhere else to go. So it just go away.

Sebastian (00:46)

I believe in you, sir. Yeah.

It's all cold age.

Michael (01:10)

That's the way I'm looking at it and trying to exercise, push through it, the whole shmiel, but,

Sebastian (01:10)

Yeah, there you go.

Yeah, do the typical

guy thing and just ignore it until it goes away, right?

Michael (01:18)

I'm trying, dude, I'm trying. You know,

like you said, the Grammys were last night. I did not watch much. My kids were invested in the Grammys, weirdly. Sure, yes.

Sebastian (01:26)

Well, I have a question for you about the Grammy specifically.

So the Oscars carry a lot of weight for movies, for film. Do you think the Grammys carry the same weight musically for artists or is it just like one of those things that just people show up and it doesn't really matter if you win a Grammy or not? Like it's not really gonna have that much effect on your career if you win a Grammy or not.

Michael (01:37)

Yeah, absolutely they do.

Sebastian (01:54)

Because if you win an Oscar as an actor, your substantial pay rate is massively increased. But musically, do people even care if you've won a Grammy or not?

Michael (01:58)

your life changes.

without a doubt.

Well,

I think the answer is yes and no. think the no part comes from anyone that's usually up for a Grammy is already well into the music business and have a successful career.

Sebastian (02:19)

So

my comment for that would be the Grammys is more of a popularity concept, yeah, than who deserves to win. More or less, sometimes it's the person that deserves to win, yeah.

Michael (02:23)

You nailed it. Yes, it is. Absolutely. Yeah. Cause, I, I, yeah, absolutely. But sometimes

it propels. just say there's a category of absolute heavyweights of, you know, the Swifties, Beyonce's, whatever, all in this category. Well, exactly. And you, I don't think this is going to do much for Gojira to be perfectly honest.

Sebastian (02:39)

Well, the metal category,

I'm really, So.

Michael (02:49)

Cause they're huge already, right? They are not quite an arena level act. No, they're yeah, they're gigantic in Europe and they play big places here too. But.

Sebastian (02:52)

in France, not really in North America, but yeah, they're probably much more. Yeah.

Well, they

were up against Judas Priest and Metallica. And if Metallica won, you know, we're big Metallica fans, I probably, but here's the thing, I, screaming suicide.

Michael (03:06)

Yes. What's that gonna do? What song were they nominated for?

God. But then, yeah, then they shouldn't have won.

Sebastian (03:15)

But if you ask Mike and I, well, if you ask me, and I'm pretty sure Mike will agree with me, Metallica doesn't deserve to win. Not for best metal performance. So when they say best metal performance, are they actually, is it the song or is it a specific performance that they're looking at?

Michael (03:31)

Yes. I think it's, I bet you it's probably performance because look at what the, like the, the, the opening ceremonies, the Olympics did that was polarizing when the Gojira song was playing, it was all the stuff in the building, the heads coming off the whole thing. It was all about that performance. Cause you didn't tell me if Gojira goes on tour, they're playing this song. No, because there's just, you think they're going to have to pump in the vocals though. That the pump in all the.

Sebastian (03:32)

So.

Yeah.

they will be. guarantee you they will play this.

I mean, they yeah, unless she goes on tour with them, but. Yeah.

Michael (04:00)

all the opera stuff or just play it off. I doubt that whoever,

whoever I'm pardon my ignorance, but I don't even know who it was, but.

Sebastian (04:08)

Okay,

let's just real quick. There's a song that Gojira performed at the Olympics in the summer that was the first time a metal band has ever performed at the Olympics. So that's like an iconic thing. It's called Mea Culpa. And it's a remake of a French Revolution song from years ago, I guess, called Acaiira, Acaiira or whatever however you pronounce it, because don't skewer me for mispronouncing it.

Michael (04:17)

Yeah, it's huge. Yep.

the French Revolution.

Yeah.

Yeah,

but you are European, so you're okay to screw it up. I can't screw it up.

Sebastian (04:36)

Yeah, okay, perfect. Yeah

So it's Gojira Band that did the metal version of the song and the vocalist is Marina Viotti and the composer for this was Victor Lamassan I think I probably said that completely wrong, but Yeah, could have told you 100 % that Gojira was gonna win for best metal performance. It's just Yeah

Michael (04:55)

No, you got it, buddy. It's all good.

Though there's no doubt. think,

you know, like sure the Judas Priest song, is it, Crown of Thorns or Crown of Horns, my bad, Crown of Horns. Really good song. But does anybody know that Judas Priest A put out a record last year? I'm talking in, in sort of in pop culture, or you have this iconic moment where the whole world is watching the opening ceremonies and you're basically.

Sebastian (05:06)

Crown of horns, crown of horns, yeah.

Yep.

I don't think so. Yeah.

Michael (05:26)

fake decapitating like all the wives and all that stuff.

Sebastian (05:29)

Well,

so the interesting thing about because I watched it live at work when it was happening, the opening ceremonies and it was probably the best part of the opening ceremonies is when Gojira played. Everybody was at attention.

Michael (05:42)

You know, I

got to agree because I watched most of it and I was not, wasn't bored because it's the opening ceremonies. It's a spectacle to behold, but the Gojira thing was like, Oh wow, here we go. I'm like, finally. Yeah. It's not just pop stars and you know,

Sebastian (05:53)

Yeah, let's go. is, this is something gonna, this is going to shake everything up. So, so to speak, right.

Well, they didn't play it safe, which you have to kind of respect. And I know we're going back to the Olympics, happened in the summer last year, but they didn't.

Michael (06:03)

They did not.

But I think that's the biggest part

of this song is talking about that performance of the Olympics. think that's the biggest thing, right? Is that's what got them the Grammy. That's what got the worldwide attention of them, of really, of that's huge.

Sebastian (06:18)

Yeah. So they

played, okay, so if anyone's been living under a rock and wasn't aware of what happened in the Olympics, so normally when you do the opening ceremonies, the teams come in, walk around the track, basically. They didn't do that in Paris. What they did is they did it on the River Thames. I believe it was the River Thames. Somebody can, instead of walking around the track, they sent all of the teams, all the countries on a barge through the river. Yeah. then so Gojira was playing,

Michael (06:36)

Yeah, I believe so.

It's amazing.

Sebastian (06:47)

on these little platforms attached to this building where Mary Antoinette was legitimately executed. And they're playing the French Revolution song and they did their metal version of it, basically. It's a short three minute song, very Gojira. Like when you hear it, it's like, you can hear this without even knowing who it is and go, yeah, that's Gojira.

Michael (06:54)

That's right. Yes.

he says, there's, yeah, that's cause you're eggs. don't need to hear

any vocals. It's like the opening, like two seconds, like, yep, that's cause you're.

Sebastian (07:12)

Well,

why don't we talk about that? What is the Gojira style of music?

Michael (07:17)

It goes, geez, it's a lot of double bass, lot of triplets. It's like the guitar, big time. I don't even know what this was dropped to. It's like they go below, they go down, they go down the rabbit hole and it's bassy and it's just.

Sebastian (07:18)

A lot of triplets.

Drop tuning.

Yeah, very bassy.

The guitar is very percussive sounding. It's all like, like that kind of sound. Yeah.

Michael (07:33)

Yeah, yes, that's the Gojira sound and it's unmistakable.

it's, you could say, well, you know, other bands, they all say this is their sound. no, it's the most unmistakable sounds like that's Gojira. And lots of newer bands try and emulate that, but they just, can't.

Sebastian (07:43)

Yep.

They do

this thing, Gojira, and this is very evident in this song, which I really like, but they do this low, very low open string, palm muted stuff. And then they'll like do this high squealy crunch somewhere like way up on the fretboard. You know, like a dissonant squeal somewhere like on the 12th fret, you know? So that's very like, it's like that in a lot of Gojira songs. It's like the staple thing, so to speak.

Michael (08:05)

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

Sebastian (08:17)

So.

Michael (08:17)

But it's, it's, it's, it's done in a way where, okay, we know this is Gojira, but it's not like, well, this sounds like something else or this, oh, they already wrote that song. They're just regurgitating something. It's, it gets, it's similar. Like it's like the open E like, you know, quickly, you know, picking the open E on the, on a guitar and, but you can do it 18 million different ways, but they just have it as this way that is their own.

Sebastian (08:26)

Yep. Yep.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's also the classic pairing of heavy metal music with opera, which is, I don't know why it works so well, the just the, what's the word I'm looking for? Thank you, of like the soft female vocal over this crunchy heavy like sound.

Michael (08:48)

It works so well.

Ducts to position. You're welcome.

Yeah. Well,

it's all that European metal that you and I both love. It's so much of that anyway. And Gojira is not really known for, not that this isn't their song anyway, but it's, they're not known for having the operatic stuff. Like the vocals are usually very growly and very aggressive, but the topics they talk about are about the environment.

Sebastian (09:05)

Yes. Yeah.

No.

Yeah.

Dude, you can, I don't know if you watched the video recently or not of it, but you can hear like the crowd is so amped up. Like you can hear them cheering. Like you can pick it up on the mics. Yeah.

Michael (09:32)

Yeah. Like they're, they're huge in France. They're like,

they're like, not, I wouldn't say not like pop stars, but they're as popular as like Beyonce in France. Like they are like, they play like TV. They play like good morning Paris or like whatever the equivalent is. And they like played like Amazonia on TV in the morning. It's like, okay. Like this is just, it's awesome. Like it's to see it reference to see metal represented like to the masses. Cause usually most of the stuff, especially what we listen to is not.

Sebastian (09:42)

Yeah, they're pretty big in France, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's nice.

Michael (10:03)

Besides Metallica, that's obvious, but.

Sebastian (10:05)

Yeah, I got to see

them once though, which was very fortunate because they opened for Metallica in the Hardwire tour. Didn't sound that great. It's nothing to do with the skill level of the band. It's just you're the opening band at BC Place, you know, and you're there. It's it's it's not going to you're not going to have your best EQ settings put in.

Michael (10:08)

Yes, they did.

They did the one time I didn't go.

No. Okay.

Right? And.

Did they, I was gonna say, did they

have the Metallica set up for like what some of the other bands, like when we saw them in August, like they had, used this, like Wolfie sounded really good. But again, I don't

Sebastian (10:39)

No, they used their own stuff, I think, because it

was it's not the Metallica didn't have a round stage for that tour. It was all on one side of the stadium because they had an entire video wall that ran across the stage with two huge pyro buckets on cauldrons. I guess you could call them on either side of the they were literal cauldrons because the flame was going so high. But yeah, so.

Michael (10:44)

true that. Okay. okay.

that's right. Yeah.

That's right.

And how

could we not have an episode of Not Talkable Motelga?

Sebastian (11:03)

Exactly, how can we not?

Michael (11:08)

But yeah, so I'll go dearly.

I actually talked with the band a little bit. They're a four piece. The two brothers, Mario is the drummer, Duplantier, and Joe is the singer. And then I don't know the other two guys' names, because I've forgotten, because I am not, I'm not that good of a fan, I guess. I can't remember. I think Christian's one of them, but pardon my ignorance. I'm sure you're looking it up right now. Because, oh, okay. I'm not looking up anything right now, but.

Sebastian (11:12)

Yes.

I'm looking up other things, but that's fine. So

the name of the song, Mea Culpra, actually translates into it's not my fault. Basically, you know, kind of sort of that way or the other or another way of looking at it is making a mistake and going off my bad. That's how somebody kind of translated. that's my bad. That's my fault, basically.

Michael (11:34)

Yes.

interesting.

and

Interesting.

Sebastian (11:55)

So.

Michael (11:56)

Because they got a like, France got a lot of flack for this. Like

Sebastian (11:59)

Well, not

only that, there's a couple of things that happen with the whole Dionysus, you know, everyone thinking they're making fun of the Last Supper when it had nothing to do with the Last Supper, but

Michael (12:02)

Yeah.

Well,

that's the thing. most people knew, like you knew, I knew, like even when we were watching. Yes. No, it's nothing to do with it. It's just, you know, people raging on what they don't understand. it's, yeah, it's just that whole thing. But it's...

Sebastian (12:15)

Yes, the Greek god of wine and parties in there like that is a blasphemy of the Last Supper. Like that's not even related to the blasphemy.

Yeah.

It was,

I just remember watching it. was just like, you know, you're watching these, the Olympics, right? And you're just kind of like in this haze where everything's happening, you pay attention and then Gojira came on. And I know I've just said this, but like everyone's just standard attention. here we go. Like you've been waiting for this, right? And they, they killed it. They freaking crushed it. So, yeah, it's, it's, I can hear your dog barking in the background.

Michael (12:37)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, exactly.

I know. I'm

sorry. I'm so sorry. It's he's having a hissy fit because he, he's not getting out for a walk right now. And he just does that. I always say he's not my dog. It's my wife's dog. yes. But did you want to hit a couple other Grammy's things? Cause there's a couple other humongous.

Sebastian (12:56)

No, it's okay.

Aww.

Of course, yeah.

Yeah, we're not

gonna really talk too much about the song, this song. There's a lot of Grammy stuff to go over from yesterday. best rock album that went to the Rolling Stones.

Michael (13:22)

And how cool is that?

Sebastian (13:24)

That was whether like 80 set 80. Well, Keith Richards is 112 or something and the rest of the band is like.

Michael (13:26)

Yeah, like it just can't, yeah, they make Jaggers

204 and, but how cool, absolutely how cool is it that a band of their vintage can still put out music? We all know that we even said the Grammys is somewhat of a popularity contest, but for the stones to put it, the record they put out was really good. It it's actually good music and

Sebastian (13:36)

Yeah.

Michael (13:51)

For dudes 80 that are pushing 80 that have that kind of energy, I dare any other band to come out at that age and have that kind of energy and record such good music.

Sebastian (14:01)

So I just wanna highlight one thing here. there is no metal album category anymore in the Grammys. It's best metal performance. The metal album category falls under the rock album. So the description of the category itself, best rock album for albums containing greater than 70 % playing time of new rock, hard rock or metal recordings. None of the metal...

Michael (14:07)

Not really.

Mm-hmm.

Sebastian (14:23)

bands that were nominated for best performance were nominated in the rock category for their albums. So 72 Seasons wasn't nominated. The Judas Priest album wasn't nominated. I do, yes. So it was the Black Crows with Happiness Bastards, Fonte DC with Romance, Green Day with Saviors, Idols with Pang, Pearl Jam with Dark Matter, Rolling Stones obviously, and Jack White were the...

Michael (14:29)

Interesting.

What do you have the list of rock albums that what were it? Okay. Yeah.

Interesting.

Sebastian (14:51)

nominations

for that. So, and there's also an alternative music category, which has alternative music performance and album at the same time. So, so St. Vincent won both of those categories.

Michael (14:59)

interesting. Okay.

That's cause she's awesome, that's why. That woman, she's a force of nature. is, she's something else. She's awesome. She's an amazing musician. One thing I wanted to highlight was the Beatles. The Beatles released a song late in 2023. was a song they never...

Sebastian (15:08)

You

Yeah.

Yes.

How does that

even work? Like I don't understand how they could just release the song today.

Michael (15:25)

Well,

Okay, so back

in the nineties, they did this thing called the Beatles Anthology series. It was three long CDs of like outtakes, different versions, know, Strawberry Fields take 22, stuff like that. And they got three songs from Yoko that John had recorded in the later seventies of just like vocals and piano or just vocals or vocals and guitar. And they did two of them at the time. They did Free as a Bird and

Sebastian (15:37)

Yeah.

Michael (15:56)

boy. boy. another, they did another one. Pardon my, my God.

Sebastian (16:01)

I won't know the answer to this by the way, so.

Michael (16:02)

It'll

come to me, but they did a second one. my God, I'm so dumb. But then they did a third one. They didn't like the way it turned out. So they just shelved it. And then George Harrison passed away in 2002. And then like, well, I guess that's that. That song's never gonna see the light of day. But then what happened was the invention of my new best friend, AI. AI is amazing.

Sebastian (16:25)

Mike is such an AI homer, you guys have no idea.

Michael (16:30)

So what they were able to do is they put the song into AI. So John's vocals had like, they were muddled up with the piano. just, didn't sound good. They were able to strip all the tracks out and clean everything up. Even, George's guitar, all that stuff. So they had fresh stuff to work with. then Paul and George went in and finished a few things and then it was done. And like the song was done and the song is awesome. Like it's really good. Like it's like a.

Again, I'm like the Beatles. I love the Beatles. Not as much as I love the Beatles more than like AI, but AI is still cool. But the Beatles, the Beatles are amazing. And for them to come back, they haven't put a record out since 1970. They haven't recorded really as a four piece since like 1969. So that's just a couple of years ago. And for them to come out and win a Grammy, so cool, man. It's just, it's just the greatest. So that I wish I would have said, I don't know if Paul and Ringo were there. They must have been.

Sebastian (17:19)

Yeah, it's fascinating,

Michael (17:29)

But yeah, they just, but yeah, they used AI. it's just, that's sort of not the magic of it, but it's just another tool. If you have older music that doesn't sound good, you can clean it right up and just make it sound, make it sound.

Sebastian (17:29)

Yeah, I wasn't able to watch it, but...

Yeah. You put it into

an AI processor basically, and it would like extract what you're trying to go for basically. Yeah.

Michael (17:50)

Exactly. And I, and I think

a lot of that, especially with the Beatles, that documentary that came out, the, let it be, let it be or get back. It's called get back, man. My memory tonight is awful, man. I usually am, but I'm just.

Sebastian (17:58)

Good bit.

Mike's usually really good at these things. remembers these obscure

dates from like 14 years ago that nobody else on the planet will remember, but.

Michael (18:06)

Well, I still, think I remember all that stuff, but with

that Get Back documentary, it's 10 hours of studio footage and to most people, it would be boring as hell, but it was fascinating. A fascinating look into a band that, you you had these misconceptions of they were falling apart and they were, but what maybe you or I would, it is. Yeah, I was gonna land the plane eventually.

Sebastian (18:23)

Yeah. So this the song is called Now and Then, I believe, right from the Beatles. sorry. I.

Michael (18:30)

It's okay. but to see

a band fall apart in a way that I didn't think was normal, I figured they'd be fighting and yelling and swearing and I hate you and I hate this. And it's like, no, like, cause George left the band for like a week or two weeks or something. And he's like, okay, guys, I'm, I'm leaving now and okay, take care. That was it. It's like, what? Like George just left the band in the most like nonchalant, like English way you could. I'm like, wow, cool. But then he came back and then they just, it just showed them writing songs and like,

Sebastian (18:38)

Ha ha!

He left the band, man, he left the band.

Michael (18:59)

Hall would be playing all of a sudden, he'd just like, the chords of Let It Be would start playing and then he'd just like write the lyrics right there, like, wow, you're watching this like happen. Oh my God, are they ever? Yeah.

Sebastian (19:07)

Yeah, they're geniuses, man. All of the Beatles, they just write songs so fast. just

like, it just like, they don't have to put a lot of, shouldn't, I don't want to say they don't put a lot of thought into it. It just, the way the song just naturally manifests so quickly for them is something that is just mind boggling to me.

Michael (19:20)

Yeah.

Yeah.

it is. And.

Sebastian (19:26)

They just

said, oh, this we're going to write it like this. And then they just go with it and go with the feeling of what they feel like it should be. And then next thing you know, it's like a number one hit.

Michael (19:29)

Yeah. It's just.

Well, to have three alphas in one, I know this is turning into a Beatles episode, to, I am just fine with that. And to have three alphas that can write songs very well in one band is, and for it to work and coexist for over 10 years is mind boggling. but let's, let's move on from the Beatles.

Sebastian (19:36)

That's okay. I'm sure you're okay with that.

Yeah.

So Taylor Swift didn't get any nods, she? No, I don't think so either.

Michael (19:54)

She didn't win anything, I don't think.

But you know what? think that's okay. My daughter's a huge Swifty and she was mildly upset that somebody else kept winning all the awards and fair enough. But like I told her, said, Taylor's won everything over and over again. And it's okay for her not to win. Right? Cause somebody else wins and she's the first one up clapping, dancing, hooting and hollering and being a good sport, not being like Kanye West and going, Nope.

Sebastian (20:03)

Of course she was. Yeah.

It's OK for somebody else to win, right? Yeah.

Michael (20:26)

I don't think so. That's, that's mine. You don't know. Don't just don't do that. So whatever. Like, like you said, it's a popularity contest and, you know, there's some new artists, Sabrina carpenter won an award. I don't know what she won for. Yeah. My daughter, likes her too. I've never, I've never heard of.

Sebastian (20:33)

It is, yeah.

Yeah, that was nice for espresso. Well, the

big the big categories, I mean, the first one is record of the year, which is Kendrick Lamar. He's.

Michael (20:46)

Yes. Yeah. That

was cool that he won. He won like five.

Sebastian (20:52)

Yeah, album of the year was the Beyonce album, Cowboy Carter. I don't know how I feel about that. Apparently it's not as bad as, I don't know. It's just, it's an odd step for Beyonce, I think, but.

Michael (21:05)

It

It's

kind of shoehorning yourself into a genre that doesn't need you.

Sebastian (21:13)

That's a good way of putting it actually.

Michael (21:14)

Well, it is

like she did, like nobody asked for this. it's not like, you know, post Malone kind of goes country and that's okay because he, I don't want to say anything about, about Beyonce, but it's just, she's almost.

to, she's too big, right? At this point, just stay in your lane. Just stay in your lane and just write songs that you're passionate about and don't go on like a crusade saying I need to do country and blah, blah, blah, blah.

Sebastian (21:30)

Yeah.

Okay, so can you explain something to me? What's the difference between record of the year and album of the year?

Michael (21:45)

maybe.

Record of the year is the one song. Like, you know, back in the day when he would spin records, he'd spin the one song. That's right. That's it's just a single song. Kendrick won.

Sebastian (21:57)

Okay, so

then underneath that they have Song of the Year as well as a separate category as a third category. So...

Michael (22:01)

I don't know. mean, it's more awards, man. I don't know. Yeah,

I, so I think, maybe, well, what one song of the year?

Sebastian (22:10)

Not like us, Kendrick Lamar.

Michael (22:11)

Okay. What one record of the year.

Sebastian (22:14)

Record of the year, same thing.

Michael (22:16)

I have no idea. really don't know.

Sebastian (22:18)

Well, the

differential here is that the record of the year is awarded to the artist, album producers, recording engineers, and mixers and masters for that song. And then song of the year is the songwriter's award, basically. So it goes for the creation of the song instead of like the production element of it. So that's the difference is like one is a production quality award and the other is a songwriting award.

Michael (22:26)

Okay. Okay.

Okay, okay, there you go.

Yeah.

Okay,

interesting.

Sebastian (22:44)

So, and nor a lot of the times the same song wins both basically. Cause you can't have, I guess not, right? But.

Michael (22:49)

And so you can't have one without, it's like, well,

it's almost like saying the Oscars best picture and best director kind of go hand in hand because the director made the movie for the most part, right? Like for like, for them, like when a picture wins and the director doesn't, you're like, well, but, he made that into this. So how can he not be also the best director? It doesn't make any sense. It's like saying when Titanic wins best picture, you're not going to give the best director to James Cameron. Come on.

Sebastian (22:56)

Mm-hmm

That's a good analogy, actually. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's kind of a paired category, right?

Michael (23:20)

It's weird, it is,

but I don't understand directing a whole lot. I know there's lots of other pieces that go into it, but he is, it's his decision. it's his, any shot that anyone does, the AD said, okay, we're gonna shoot this. And he's like, yeah, you do that. Then nope, do it again. Because it's his show. Right? Doesn't make any sense.

Sebastian (23:25)

Yeah.

He's, it's his vision.

Yeah, it's it's it's you feel

like it should be one category like it should just encompass both but it doesn't. So yeah, that's that's interesting.

Michael (23:44)

It should, but it doesn't. I bought, every time

I watched the Oscars, I'm like, okay, well this, you know, best director is whoever, Steven Soderbergh. And then it's like, but that wasn't his movie. I just, just shake my head. like, I don't understand. It's above my head. It's above my pay grade, as they say. Yeah. But I,

Sebastian (23:59)

Yeah.

Yeah, so I mean the

rest are like fluff categories. They're not really interested in. used Sabrina Carter one for best solo, pop solo performance with Espresso. which I think was made more famous by SNL. I'm not sure if you watched that SNL skit with, yeah, it went super viral a couple months ago. Yeah. It was, yeah. If, if you know, you know, cause it was like probably the highest rated SNL skit of last year.

Michael (24:16)

I did not know I didn't see that one. Really? Really?

Okay.

can you

pull up the best new artist category? So I know chapel rhone, chapel rhone, she won that.

Sebastian (24:32)

Yes I can.

Yeah so the nominations were Benson Boone, Sabrina Carpenter, Dochi, I don't know how to pronounce the next one, Ray, Chapelle Rhone won, Shaboozy and Teddy Swims.

Michael (24:47)

Interesting.

Sebastian (24:47)

Uriah Nagbin, I guess.

Michael (24:50)

it's Karungaben. He's a, I believe he's English, I think. He's awesome. He's really cool.

Sebastian (24:55)

Listen,

listen guys, Sebastian here can't pronounce anything properly. Just get used to it. Yeah. Okay.

Michael (24:59)

No, seriously, look up, look at some of his music. He's really good. He's interesting. He did a song

with, with, Leon bridges, Leon bridges, blues guitar player kind of like in the pop blues. Really good. Like he's, he's cool, man. I think it's Karunga been, but I'm not sure what.

Sebastian (25:07)

Okay.

You know,

it's, just want to quickly say to the people listening to this podcast that Mike and I do not really follow popular stream of music taste. We kind of just explore really weird and off branch types of music. And so for us, we're like so far away from like, I cannot tell you the last time I turned on a radio station and listened to the radio. Like I just.

don't do that. Like I don't, I don't go to the billboard top 100. I don't do any of that kind of stuff. I just explore these weird recesses of Spotify and YouTube to try to find music. And I'm pretty sure Mike does the same thing. Oh, that's freaking scary. Some of the stuff that's on there. Like, why are you listening to Tibetan tribal music? Like what is, because it's cool. Yeah.

Michael (25:49)

No idea.

Yeah.

Right? You look at our recently played, you look at your recently played, you're like, I can't pronounce any of this. Like, what, like, what is this? Yep.

because it's good. I put on, I

can't even pronounce this. there's a lot of, abbreviations above letters, but it's in the same vein as wardrobe. No, they're really cool. There's they're pretty cool. but that's what we do. That's like, I don't listen to what's normal, but I guess maybe on a closing note, I guess they had the, like a fire aid for the, all the fires in LA. had a big concert and the survive and Dave girl, Chris Nova, Selig and Pat smear.

Sebastian (26:18)

Yeah.

That's our thing.

Yeah.

yes, yes, I saw that.

Michael (26:33)

reunited with a couple of different

singers. One of course was Violet Grohl, Dave's daughter, I believe was it Joan Jett did another one.

Sebastian (26:43)

Well, the

violet did all apologies, I believe.

Michael (26:47)

something like that, they played a bunch of songs. And they played some like deep cuts, territorial pissings and just like weird, like offbeat Nirvana songs, like yeah, do it.

Sebastian (26:49)

It was really good actually.

Yeah, you can, if you just, if you just Google violet growl, all apologies like that, she kills it in that song.

Michael (27:04)

She's got a great voice. She sings on a song

on the last, the newest Foo Fighters record. She is amazing.

Sebastian (27:10)

Yeah, big fan of that performance. Fire 8 LA benefit concert, was like four days ago, wasn't it? Or three days ago? Yeah.

Michael (27:13)

Yeah, so I think that's cool.

So no, yeah, something like that, yeah.

But nice to see Dave back on the drums after his recent transgressions about his personal life. And.

Sebastian (27:26)

Yeah, I haven't

seen him on a drum set in quite some time, hey?

Michael (27:28)

No,

and it's nice to see him, Chris and Pat together playing Nirvana songs. I think they all, obviously they all miss it and they'd love to, but you can't, how do you keep, can't, even if you decided, hey, we're gonna, no, you can't, you can't even call it, you couldn't even call it Nirvana. It'd be like, it would be like, I struggle with calling Pantera Pantera, but, cause it's really not, but it's kind of like it.

Sebastian (27:32)

Yeah.

Can't have a run without Kurt Cobain, man.

No.

I'm okay

with it as long as they don't start writing new music, I guess.

Michael (27:55)

I know.

There's a rumor. There's a rumor going around.

Sebastian (27:58)

And then I might also be okay with it.

Michael (28:01)

It depends if it's good or not, right? it's, but.

Sebastian (28:02)

Yeah.

Just to

quickly highlight the Violet role, it's absolutely amazing how close she sounds to Kurt Cobain when she's singing that song. It's like haunting. Like this is freaking, if you close your eyes, you think it's Kurt Cobain singing the song. It's so good. should, yeah, it's so good.

Michael (28:13)

I know, right? Yeah.

I'm going to have to listen to that because I have not heard that.

I will definitely do it. they're halfway through the lottery. have not, I have not had my name chosen yet.

Sebastian (28:30)

Everybody, please root for Mike to get in this lottery so he can run his brains off. Yeah.

Michael (28:34)

Yeah. Run my brains off

and, actually, uh, I'm just excited to do it. Just, uh, just, it's on my bucket list of races and, I really want to, like I said, I have two others that I wanted. They're both 50 K and I want to do those if I don't get into this, but this is, uh, it's, it's, it's a big thing. It's also, it's going to tax the family a bit. Cause I'm going to have to be running an awful lot.

Sebastian (28:44)

Good for you, you should do it.

Yeah.

Michael (28:59)

And then the day of the race, my wife's also going to have to get up at like three o'clock in the morning and get me to the,

Sebastian (29:04)

Hey, this

is a support structure for you. She's gotta do it. Come on.

Michael (29:06)

Get me to the shuttle bus by 4 45

and then race starts at six and that's early. Cause when, okay, when do you eat breakfast? I can't eat at three o'clock in the morning or four, right? That's the thing. Like all these things. Oh, good God. I, I don't know. just, yeah. And I can, I can't eat when I run long distances either. So I really got to figure that out. Cause I'm going to have to start when I'm running for more, for a long time.

Sebastian (29:16)

that's tough. Yeah. Live on gel packs for the whole race, the whole day. Is that pure sugar that you're

Well,

the other problem with that too is like if you go carb heavy the night before, you're just gonna wake up hungry. Because of like the carb load, right? And then you're still gonna be hungry, you're gonna be starving in the morning, right? So, but then you still need those carbs. Like I don't understand how to...

Michael (29:36)

Yep. Yeah. Yep.

Yes, sir. I don't need carbs.

I need, I need the whole meal deal. So I'm going to start whatever it's, have to, but it's honestly, it's so bloody cold outside. thought I was a cold weather runner, but I, I'm not anymore. I I'm going to go find a treadmill probably tomorrow.

Sebastian (29:56)

You live in

the wrong area of the world for a cold, non-cold weather running there, It's like six months of the year.

Michael (29:59)

Yeah. Well, another one on my bucket list.

There's a marathon in Iceland I want to do. It takes you around a bunch of these dormant volcanoes. You have to like run up these volcanoes and.

Sebastian (30:07)

Bro,

I will 100 % go with you. I'm not gonna run. I'll just be in Iceland, but I'll go with you just to see Iceland.

Michael (30:09)

Done. No, absolutely. It's actually,

it's quite affordable to go to Iceland. It's, it's, it's actually, yeah, it's, you can fly to Iceland cheaper than you can fly to like Toronto. It's nuts. It is, it is. I looked up flights and I'm like, okay, so my plan for that is to do it when I'm 50.

Sebastian (30:16)

Yeah, is it? I don't know.

That's weird. That doesn't make sense to me.

Well, it's a couple of years from now. Two, two, two, two years, two and a half years pretty much.

Michael (30:34)

It's not that long, right?

Basically

two and a half years, and that's fine.

Sebastian (30:39)

Dude, I

stuttered because I couldn't realize that it was two and a half years. I'm like, Oh my God. Yeah.

Michael (30:42)

Right? And one

last thing before we go, it is my son's 16th birthday today and happy birthday to the most wonderful son anyone, a dad could ever, ever ask for. He is an amazing young man and he, don't know where he obviously got his brains from his mother because he didn't get it from me. But he's, he's driven. He's kind. He's empathetic. He's, he's just awesome.

Sebastian (30:47)

Happy birthday, Cooper!

He's amazing. Yeah.

the

He has

the best versions of both of you.

Michael (31:06)

Really does. He's, don't know what the parts he has in me yet. I'm trying to figure that out, but he's, but all joking aside, he is a wonderful kid and he's gonna get his learner's license in a couple of weeks. And I think that's cool. I think it's really neat. If you ever want to drive my car, the answer is no. Right. Pretty much no touchy. You leave it alone. But anyways, that is mandatory music for...

Sebastian (31:08)

So it's good.

He's a kid.

Good, good.

No, you drive mom's car, you're not driving my car. No, touchy touchy. Yeah.

Michael (31:33)

whatever day it is today, February 3rd, because it's my son's birthday. I should know that. And Mr. Steve, happy birthday, buddy. Cause it's also your birthday today. Old friend of ours from we've known him for 200 years and yeah, there you go. So it's his birthday today as well. So I wish him a happy birthday this morning. And, uh, yeah. So that is mandatory music. That's episode 46. Look at us. We're getting there. And here I thought that nine minutes in, we're to run out of stuff to talk about. We've been on the horn for, for 34 minutes.

Sebastian (31:35)

It's a Monday, I think, yeah.

Happy birthday Steve! that's right! My first roommate ever!

Nice nice.

We're getting there.

30 minutes,

that's the way it works.

Michael (32:03)

Right? 34 minutes now.

So, thanks everyone for listening and we will be back next week with something fun. Bye bye. Bye.

Sebastian (32:09)

Bye.