Trippin'

What makes a perfect road trip song? That depends on countless factors and combinations, it's really its own sort of equation. And while we don't go through all the possibilities, we do talk about a couple of our favorite tracks for trippin', and we hope you'll share yours on Instagram.

SONGS:

Ana Tijoux: 1977 (2010)

Steely Dan: Reelin’ In the Years (1972)

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:

Breaking Bad  - Shotgun - 1977 Clip 1 (Jesse and Mike)

Breaking Bad Shotgun - 1977 Clip 2 (Walt)

Broad City - Abby’s and Ivana’s Divergent Days  - 1977

Roland Shaw and His Orchestra: From Russia with Love (1966)

Matt Monro: From Russia with Love (1963)

Anita Tijoux: Despabílate 

Words Like Hails of Bullets (Norient)

For Ana Tijoux, Hip Hop is Home (The Harvard Gazette)

NPR Tiny Desk (2024) 

Makiza: La Rosa de los Vientos (1999)

Dhakabraka: Sonnet (2020)

Deep Cuts Lost & Found Podcast

The origins of Steely Dan (Entertainment Weekly)

America's Finest Maybe‐Rock Non‐Band (NYT)

Steely Dan’s Induction into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame

Footnote to Statement:

Toxic Confidence is Everywhere (NYT)

Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!

If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.

And email us at stereothematica@gmail.com! We will write back! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Hi, I'm Christina. And I'm Christine.

SPEAKER_03 0:06

Welcome to Stereo Thematica.

SPEAKER_02 0:08

Music is how we connect with the world and with each other. When I moved to Texas, Christina and I started a weekly game. One theme, two songs.

SPEAKER_03 0:15

That game grew into deeper conversations about each other and about the music that shapes us.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Each week we share our pics, swap stories, and dig into tracks you might love or never expect.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Hey Christina. Have you been tripping lately? Tripping? What's that mean? Road tripping, of course.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Oh my god, everyone's gonna be like, they're unwell. Listener, we are.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

We are actually any kind of tripping. I know you've been doing a lot of that lately.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Yeah, not a road trip, but I've taken two airplane trips lately, which woof, it is it's not the time to travel. Oh yeah, that's right. The the TSA nightmare. I haven't had a problem because I have TSA pre-check. So you don't so with that, I've I also have that. I just haven't traveled in a while, but but yeah, so honestly, when I was leaving LaGuardia, because I went to I went to Nashville, zero problems. That was for work, and then I went to New York City 30 minutes. It was longer than it has ever been for me, I guess, in a long time because of my pre-check, but 30 minutes was not too bad. Yeah, no, flight travel sucks.

SPEAKER_03 1:28

I hate flying. I know ever just everything about it. I hate the bathroom situation, it's probably the worst. Just you know, you drink a lot of water because you don't want to be to high plane, yes, yeah. I always get an aisle seat, and then you get squished in the bathroom. It's like it's hard to not touch things, and especially if you're tall or it's not a good situation, sitting next to strangers, hearing people breathe.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

No, and then when they want to talk to you, which they always want to talk to me.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

I never get that because I'm wearing the noise-canceling headphones and I got my like head in a book immediately.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

Yeah, good call. I don't ever try to make eye contact with anyone, I really don't, but I do, and this is my fatal flaw. I try to help people like with their drinks and their snacks and whatever. I'll I'll be like handing them their drink, and then I'm like, I actually stopped recently because I'm like, people get weird about that too.

SPEAKER_03 2:24

No, but it does open the door for conversation.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Yeah, it does. And I my favorite person is like if you're gonna talk on the plane, yeah, wait until we land. Huh.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

So wait, you go a whole like five-hour trip and then start talking.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

They do. I won't. They do, not you, you know, no, never. But yeah, that's that's honestly the most polite thing you could do. If you're gonna be a talker, wait until you land because then you're like, I'll see you never. Talkers aren't gonna do that though. No, talkers are not gonna do that.

SPEAKER_03 2:52

They're gonna start from the beginning and they don't want to stop throughout all five hours of it.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

100%.

SPEAKER_03 2:58

Oh, that's why road trips are better.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

Oh my god, I was just gonna say road trips are the superior way to travel. Yeah, longer, but you're so in control. You're the control is the best of everything, including the music.

SPEAKER_03 3:13

Yes, which is the best part. And the snacks. Yes, snacks. Bathrooms, I mean, I guess it's better than an airplane bathroom. You just what we have. What? Oh, you got one of those buckies.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

Have you used it? Oh, of course. I love buckies, very controversial, but the bathrooms are clean. Okay, and they have good food.

SPEAKER_03 3:34

Oh, that's not okay. I thought that was a device.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

I totally wow. I thought you meant what you thought a bucky was. A device. Tell explain it to me. A urination device. Wow, like where you can stand up and like a jar of some sort or a bag.

SPEAKER_03 3:50

I don't know. You send me how offline you are. You made it sound like, oh, we don't have to worry about finding bathrooms because we have that's so unhinged.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

I literally I'm obsessed. Is a Bucky a uh like a restaurant gas station? It is a gas station chain. It started in Texas. They're known for their like huge, huge, they have so many gas pumps and then they have really clean bathrooms, but they also they like serve breakfast tacos and tacos and like barbecue and all kinds of stuff. It is like, I think, well, I'll say the controversy is that they're like very Republican. Oh, but I will say the food is good, they pay their workers seemingly well, and the bathrooms are clean.

SPEAKER_03 4:36

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

But back to the road trip playlist.

SPEAKER_03 4:38

Yeah. So yes, what are you doing? Are you doing playlists? Are you shuffling? Are you listening to the radio? What's going on?

SPEAKER_02 4:44

You know I love the radio, but I love a playlist. I like to make a playlist. And like I don't, I actually don't think I've done this since I I have not, I know this. I haven't made a road trip playlist since 2020 when Andrew and I drove to Colorado. And I made a special Colorado playlist, and I was really excited about it at the time.

SPEAKER_03 5:04

Okay, you went to Colorado again then in like 2020. Yeah, we did a lot.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

Yeah, last year we spent our month in Colorado.

SPEAKER_03 5:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

And that was awesome.

SPEAKER_03 5:14

What did you use for a playlist? The same playlist?

SPEAKER_02 5:17

Maybe I probably did recycle it. And it's funny to look back on it like with a five-year span. Yeah. What about you? When's the last time you made a road trip?

SPEAKER_03 5:26

I mean, honestly, the last road trip was 2023. It was in Spain. We did not drive to Spain. We we flew into Madrid, took the train from Madrid to Galicia, and then Galicia to Basque Country. We drove. And it was right after my dad died. We had already planned the trip, but it was just like a couple months after. So I happened to have had made an um all Spanish, you know, playlist because that's what I knew. And I will all about the themes. And then I remember like at a certain point, I just started bawling when the um Catalan Romani singer Pret came on. My dad loved him, so I I'm sure we'll address that song in a future episode. So I don't want to say too much about it. But yeah, music makes the trip for sure.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

It really does. Yeah. And it's like it can be a memorable part of the road trip too.

SPEAKER_03 6:21

Yeah, for sure. Like, like I have that memory of when I started to break down listening to that song, and then and then the song that comes on after, and what brings you out of that. It's it's special, for sure. But yeah, like like any playlist, so many factors are involved, like for example, who you're with, where you're going, why you're going there, your current state of mind, the state of the world, how long the trip is. These are all things I consider when I make a list for a trip. And and you know, we've talked about this before. I think it was on our longest song episode, and and maybe even our instrumental song episode. But um, you know, I I do love instrumental music, but I can't handle it for road trips. Oh, interesting. No, and I think you can because obviously softbook, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

No, I feel like that one for me, like, unless I'm wide awake, maybe at the beginning of a trip, but definitely not in the middle. Like, I would be so afraid to fall asleep.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

Oh, see, and I don't fall asleep when I'm driving.

SPEAKER_03 7:27

Oh, wow. I don't fall asleep ever.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

But uh especially especially not when I'm driving. Okay, that's that's a really interesting because I've never thought about you know, having an instrumental song being a deficit for a road trip.

SPEAKER_03 7:41

Yeah. No, for me, like the most important thing for the music that is on a road trip playlist is sing along ability. Oh yep. Especially when you're by yourself. You should trademark that. Yeah, sing along ability. Yeah, I think so. Okay, yeah. I just feel like it keeps you engaged, it gives you something to do. I also prefer the shorter songs. Um, you know, I don't want anything too hypnotic. Like, do you have any sort of I mean, obviously you're not afraid of falling asleep since you don't fall asleep, but no, I I just I'm not a super good driver personally.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

I don't like to drive. I get really locked in when I'm driving. Like it's kind of hard for me to like. I I'm just so like I'm sitting up in front of my like steering wheel, like holding it. If I'm on a road trip usually, if I'm just like tooling around, like that's usually when you're on the highway, I get freaked out.

SPEAKER_03 8:31

Uh, highway freeway.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

Highway freeway. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But you don't have any other ir like irrational fears while driving. Probably like I would get really afraid of, you know, when they have those um like pylons or whatever they are, that the that those scare me a lot, especially if you're driving like next to one of those in an 18-wheeler.

SPEAKER_03 8:49

Oh god, yeah. No, I this this happens a lot. Like if someone gets too close to me, I can imagine the entire accident just happening. Uh for sure.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Well, this has taken a good time. Well, anyway.

SPEAKER_03 9:03

So uh before I get any deeper into my fears, I should probably just get to my pick. Yes. For of course the theme is tripping, and I meant that to be road trippin'. So my pick is 1977 or 1977, and that is by the Chilean French hip-hop artist Anna Tijou. Had you heard this before?

SPEAKER_02 9:43

No. And I listened to it again today to try to remind myself like, have I heard the song before? And I definitely would have remembered it. So no, I don't think I'd ever heard it before you shared it with me.

SPEAKER_03 9:53

Oh, I love that. But that opening we just played, we haven't even heard her singing or rapping yet, but it just like gets me every time the melodrama before the vocals come on. We're hearing this clip. It's you can barely hear it, but it's a Spanish dub of a National Geographic documentary called Ultimate Snake, The Death Squeeze. And I think he's talking about the serpents evolving and what makes them different from other venomous snakes is the mark they leave behind, which of course is appropriate because 1977 is the year of the snake, which Anatizou is, and she definitely left a mark on me and a lot of other people. The song is all about her life, at least her first 33 years. The song came out in 2010. The opening is indeed cinematic. It's sampling the Roland Shaw and his orchestras from Russia with Love. And this particular version was not in the Bond movie of the same name. It's actually a cover of the original from the film, which was sung by Matt Monroe. And they're both really cool. And of course, we will share those in the show notes. But okay, so did you like get why I would share this song for this theme?

SPEAKER_02 11:12

Like, do you feel the road trip vibes? Actually, I just was thinking it's kind of a trippy song. Like it's a little bit like you know, I don't want to say trip hop because it's not that maybe, but it's like the little bit of like the record scratching and like kind of jumping. So it's almost like it's more to me, it felt very like trippy rather than road trip.

SPEAKER_03 11:34

So well, maybe there's a little punning there going on. Okay, I think so. Yeah, tell me probably. I mean, I am wearing my KXLU mushroom t-shirt today. Oh, which I I don't think you could see. No, but anyway, so yeah, I just like I think there was a little bit of that double engendre, but I just really wanted to share the song. And I do feel like it's the perfect fit for a road trip. Yeah. And that might actually be because of how I learned about it. The first time I heard the song was on Breaking Bad in 2011. Something tells me you weren't into watching Breaking Bad.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

I have never seen an episode of Breaking Bad. You know how I don't like to be stressed. You know, and that's actually kind of more of a recent thing, like I'd say within the last like five, six years.

SPEAKER_03 12:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:24

Because I do remember when Breaking Bad had come out. Like you said, 2011. Yeah. It was so popular, you couldn't get away from it.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

Yeah. I mean, we we watched it in real time and loved it. I mean, the music, so many iconic scenes set to like the perfect music. Oh, yeah. In this TV show.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

I I never would have guessed that the there being like a good music element, but I guess it makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

Oh yes, big time. And this song was one of them. Actually, another one that I I remember even posting about it on Facebook. Well yeah, back in the day. Oh my god, cute. It was Going Down, which is another song we will talk about in a future episode. So I don't want to Yeah, but it was such a perfect montage set to Going Down. Okay, cute. So anyway, okay, so it was season four, episode five, titled Shotgun. And the song plays during a montage where Mike and Jesse, don't worry, characters, they're driving around collecting payments for drugs. And then the second part of the song picks up with Walt cooking meth alone in the lab. And psychologically, there's just so much going on in the scene, but suffice it to say, for the purpose of our podcast, the intensity is prominent and it's captured by the music. Or the holy demon girl with a nasty gaze. Now, I I know, yeah, all right. I know I said singability was important, and it is, but I cannot sing this song effortlessly.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

I I mean I've never even heard encabronada.

SPEAKER_03 14:26

Yeah, no, I know. It's so it's crazy. But you know what's almost as important as singability is the art of trying to master a song on a road trip, especially if you're by yourself.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 14:38

And this one is such a challenge. I mean, her her flow is so smooth and she makes it sound like it would be an easy song to sing. But like when I try to articulate the words, as you just saw, it's a jumbled mess.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

That was a tough line.

SPEAKER_03 14:52

Yeah, it was a really tough line, but she says it like nothing. Oh, it's so good. But speech deficits notwithstanding. I am the person who will replay a song a thousand times to get the flow. Nice. And and you know what that does. It makes a road trip go by faster when you're just like obsessively like rewind, re-wind. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

I wouldn't, I I actually hadn't pegged you to do that. So this is an interesting bit to learn about you. I did that with Kung Nam style. Okay, and I did know that you knew the words to that song, but now this makes sense that you're like driving to work, just like repeat, repeat, repeat.

SPEAKER_03 15:35

Well, I don't do that all the time. I do it especially when I have longer drives, like a solo road trip or when I was driving to Riverside a lot. But I'm not the only one who became obsessed with the song after breaking bad because it pretty quickly got international recognition and drew a lot of people, of course, to YouTube and Reddit to talk about how transcendent the song was for that montage. And I get chills every time I watch it. I've been re-watching it a lot, just prepping for this episode. And I want to shout out the music supervisor Thomas Golobich for his magic on the show and so many others. Now he does the music for Pluribus. Not sure if he's responsible for the Pleuribus edit of the Ukrainian band Dhaka Braka Sonnet, but it's so special. Have you seen Pluribus?

SPEAKER_02 16:26

I did watch it, oddly enough. I it was another one of those, um so it's so funny because sometimes I'll like purposefully not watch things because they're too popular. And this was one that I was starting to have FOMO about. Yeah, yeah. And I really liked it. Also, there was a crungbin scene with in Pluribus, which I was really I I even perked up and I was like, it's Kungbin!

SPEAKER_03 16:47

I know it's so like that's the thing. This guy, he he knows the music. The music was really good in Plurbus. No, for sure. He's playing some really good stuff in there. Yeah. Well, you know, I did a deep dive of sorts when I'm curious about somebody and the music supervisor. He's got a music podcast. It's cool. Yeah, I just started listening to it. I I've already heard a few episodes. I mean, this is just as of yesterday. I've listened to it. Oh neat. It's called Deep Cuts, Lost and Found. And it's it's him with like, I think three other friends from high school, and they're just talking about like the music they loved. And they go like year by year, they start around like the 70s, but I don't know, it's just it's so fun to see. And they actually have a protest song episode. We also have a protest song episode. And yeah, they they have great taste in music. And oh my god, I want to check that out. We'll we'll put that in our show notes too. Cool. So um, back to 1977, that turned up again a few years later on Broad City in their Divergent Days episode. The album, also named 1977, was nominated for Grammy in 2011 for Best Rock, Urban, or Alternative Album. And Radiohead's Tom York listed the song as a favorite on the band's website. Interesting. Yeah. Uh of course, what really gives the song its force is Anna Tijou. She was born in Lille, France, to Chilean parents who were living in exile after the Pinochet dictatorship. Back in 2016, the Harvard Gazette interviewed Tijou about her life and music, and she said, for children of immigrants in France, hip-hop became a sort of land for those of us who felt landless. Anna and her family moved back to Chile in the early 90s after the end of the military dictatorship. And while 1977 was Tijou's second solo album, her first released in the US, she'd been rapping with another Chilean hip-hop group, Makiza, from like the late 90s to early 2000s. And they've got a really great song called La Rosa de los Fientos. Have you heard this? We'll share it. It's so good. I don't think so. Yeah, it's check it. We'll we'll share it. Um, but in that same Harvard Gazette piece, Tiju talked about hip-hop saving her when she returned to Chile. But that success from that band came so fast, and I think it was just like too overwhelming. So she returned to France, and she actually worked as a nanny, a secretary, and a janitor, all to avoid singing.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 19:26

Yeah. And then I think she met her husband in France too. But um, then some three years later, she went back to Chile for good. So again, the lyrics of 1977 start with the birth symbolism, then they move through her childhood, her family's exile from Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship, her upbringing in France, and her return to Chile when she became a part of the hip-hop scene. And what I really love about the song is that it doesn't present identity as the binary. It's like it's not either or fixed or invented. Rather, it's this thing that's faded and created. And that's another reason it works, I think, as a road trip song, because it's as much as where you've been is where you're headed. And speaking of where you're headed, where are you taking us, Christina?

SPEAKER_02 20:18

Uh, love that. Love learning about Anna Tijou. I did not know anything about her really, but I want to learn more about her now. And on my road trip, I will admit, I'm so excited. I already mentioned to you that I don't like driving, but I do really think if you're in the right headspace, road trips can be so fun. And I especially remember being younger, you know, when you I don't know if you were this way, but I couldn't wait to get my driver's license.

SPEAKER_03 20:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

Like I really could not wait. Like I was dreaming of what car I would buy and whatever. And like, spoiler, I couldn't afford to buy a car like for the longest time. But when I was in high school, I remember getting really excited to make mixed CDs for road trips. So, like you said, like this was pre-playlist, it was burning a CD, and it probably said like X Tina's Awesome Road Trip Jams 2004 or something like that on it. I bet I could actually find one. I I'm gonna go look in like boxes of crap. But it felt so exciting to pick the music and then have a captive audience to listen to it. Yeah. So I guess it probably makes a lot of sense why I went on to have a radio show and now a music podcast. But another fun thing about a road trip is you could share new music with your friends on a road trip. And if they liked it, I mean, that was all the more special. So in high school, I had two best friends, Meggie and Matt, who used to like really razz me about listening to indie music, although I don't think we called it that back then. This would have been like 2004, five, six. But then months later, they'd be like, Oh, MG, I love this new band. That I had often shared with them previously. So this isn't bragging. It's more me laughing. Eh, maybe, maybe. But I am laughing at myself about how I used to be so like, see, I told you. Used to? Used to. Yeah, used to. But Matt and I even got into a fight about who liked the all-American rejects first. And this was like our freshman year of high school, which is so funny because what like a nerdy band now.

SPEAKER_04 22:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

Cute. But anyway, so this is my road trip story. The summer after my freshman year of college, I went on a road trip of sorts with Maggie and Matt to Galveston Beach. And for context, it's only like a 45-minute drive from Houston, or rather Sugarland, where we were probably all hanging out. And I had either brought my mixed CD or probably maybe an iPod to listen to. I don't know if I even had an iPod then, but some sort of music way to control the music. And uh on the drive home, we were feeling so happy and giddy, and that feeling of being 19 years old and just being absolutely carefree hanging out with my two best friends, which is like oh my god, what a special feeling. I just want to pause and take a moment for like, oh, nine, if there's any 19-year-olds listening to this, like, and also it's so different now.

SPEAKER_03 23:17

Anyway, no, I love I love doing this. I'm I'm like luxuriating in this experience.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

I feel like I'm there with you. Oh, so cute. But I had a summer job at a hair salon and they kept like cutting and dyeing my hair for fun. So I'm sure I also had like a super weird haircut. And maybe we had snuck like a Bud Light Lime or two from somewhere to nurse over the course of like however many hours we were at the beach. And at some point on the drive home, Steely Dance, Reeling in the Years, came on, and me and Meggie just lost it. Like, absolutely like fist bumping, headbanging, cruising on the freeway, blasting that song. Whether you like Steely Dan or not, you have to admit that the opening absolutely rips. Since I have an inkling about your feelings about this, Dan, let's just hear it, Christine, and then I'll tell you why you're wrong.

SPEAKER_03 24:24

No, you're right. This absolutely rips. I don't even know what that means. So I think that's, I mean, I assume by context clues that that means that this is a very funny.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

It's so good.

SPEAKER_03 24:36

It it does kind of give you chills. And I, you know, it does the thing that I love, which it kind of makes you feel like you're in a movie. Oh my god, right? Yes. Um windows down, yeah. Beach air. Yeah. But I don't know much about Steely Dan. You know what? That's a it's a big gap for me. Okay, that's good. That's good.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

That's not what I was expecting you to say at all. So I kind of have to revise uh preconceived notion.

SPEAKER_03 25:01

I mean, the fact that I don't know much about Steely Dan probably is is confirming some of your preconceived notion.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

I mean, I don't want to get ahead of myself. So let me let me just say about this song, I think it's so good. I think the lyrics are incredible. I think the music and the chorus and everything are just like iconic. And it's just infectious. It's kind of one of those songs that you you hear it, like especially that opening, and it's like it gets in your veins. And like one of my favorite memories actually is during that road trip, as soon as the song ended, my friend Meggie, she like just turned to me, made eye contact, and without saying another word, hit the repeat button so that it would play again from the beginning. And I remember I was laughing so much because I was like, hell yeah, it was so appropriate to listen to it again. And that's what cracks me up about you like saying earlier that you would like listen to a song over and over and over again. Because, like for you, I I I totally love that feeling of you're just like, I'm in this groove. Like I'm I'm locked into this song in particular. Yep. But for us, I think it was like I'm not ready for this feeling to end.

SPEAKER_03 26:12

No.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

So, okay, who are Seely Dan? I actually can't believe this is the first time we've talked about them on the podcast. It is, right?

SPEAKER_03 26:19

No, it is. And and and if you asked me that, I'd be like, is Jackson Brown and Steely Dan? Funny.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

Okay, funny. Sorry, sorry. And here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna, I'm gonna turn this on its head. There's so much to say about Seely Dan that I simply won't be able to do them justice and the time constraints that Thomas imposes upon us. So I'm not going to do a deep dive. I'm not even going to struggle with it. I didn't do a little googling and I saw that there's a podcast called Stealin' in the Dan. Haven't listened to it, but 10 out of 10 name. Love that. I will probably listen to at least an episode just to give them a little love. But Steely Dan in a nutshell is one of the most important American bands in music history. Don't at me. Okay. Formed in 1971. Steely Dan is best known as a duo, Donald Fagan and Walter Becker. And while they started with a traditional band set up and perform live, they decided to stop performing live in 1974 and utilize session musicians for any albums that they're recorded in the studio. So mysterious. Apparently, the the fact that they stopped performing live in 74 is nuts because they still released a lot of great albums after that time. And did you know there was a rumor that Chevy Chase was in Steely Dan? No, I've never heard that one. He wasn't in the band, but he did play in a band with Fagan and Becker while they were all students at Bard College. Huh. So weird. I mean, Chevy went on to do his own thing, as we know, and now he's fallen out of grace with everyone. So whatever. But then Becker and Fagan went on to make rock music history. And as I said, won't be doing a deep dive. Plenty of Dan heads out there who are, you know, what what what else could we call this super fan of Steely Dan? I don't know. And this is a band that particularly this band, a lot of men I feel like have explained their importance to me in the most annoying way possible. Do you know what?

SPEAKER_03 28:24

Can you sense what I'm saying? I've had for sure. Except I didn't, I wouldn't have thought that for Steely Dan for some reason.

SPEAKER_02 28:31

Really? Yes. Can you think of any band that somebody's been like, let me explain to you why this is an important band? Rush. Oh, we can't get into it. We can't get into it.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

We're already on the on the outs with one of our listeners for shit talking rush. Sorry, Christadina.

SPEAKER_02 28:46

The other Christophina. But I don't like to have men explain music importance to me. No. I can concede that they're important. And I will share a few links to articles that I read about them, including an article from the New York Times archive from 1977, which is hilarious because it was transcribed with like AI or something, and a lot of the words are wrong. So because they took it from like they scanned in the paper copy, and it's like they call them a ruck band, R-U-C-K. I know. And I actually love that because I was reading it, not realizing there were grammatical errors. And I was like, not a rock band, but a ruck band. I was like, I wonder if this is a term that went out of favor after the 70s or something. I was like, oh no, it's just riddled with grammatical errors. So way to go, New York Times top-tier journalism. So in general, I think Steely Dan is excellent road trip music. If you take this album, Can't buy a Thrill, which came out in 1972, you've got bangers like Do It Again, Dirty Work, Only a Fool would say that, which I've had stuck in my head all day. It's so good.

SPEAKER_03 30:09

Okay, can you I actually legitimately want to hear that? Because I don't know how that goes. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

I heard it was you. Bernadena Pun. I don't know. I'll think I've heard that. Only a fool would say that. Oh God, it's so good. Please listen and just tell me. I will listen. Like it makes me want to smoke. Like that. I don't smoke cigarettes, but I could just walk walking around like only a fool. Okay, next time you're in town, we'll we'll do that. Okay. Always looking for an opportunity to LA right now. Just getting sorry. And yeah, that's just this album. A lot of bangers on this one. And I will just close by saying the importance of a road trip playlist is having a song for every mood. Agree or disagree? Absolutely. Okay. Yep. Excited to get on the road, something upbeat. Tired of conversing with your companions. Oh, yeah. Something mellow. Angry at the fools on the road who can't drive. I don't know what emotion you want there. What do you do? Maybe not a steely dance song. Probably. Maybe something to mellow you out. I don't know. Could be anything. But I will keep my Galveston road trip memory in a special place in my heart right there with reeling in the ears. Yeah. Excellent, excellent theme. This was very wise.

SPEAKER_03 31:25

I do love your road trip story so much. And I feel like I've just been on a trip. So fun.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

Love tripping with you, CZP.

SPEAKER_03 31:34

Indeed. Um but I think it is time actually. Oh, okay. Okay. I better, I better get out the soapbox here. In response to recent events, Stereo Thematica is issuing a statement on toxic confidence.

SPEAKER_02 31:50

When did we stop valuing uncertainty? When did I'm not sure, let me think about that. It become weakness instead of wisdom. But somewhere along the way, we traded thoughtful hesitation for unearned conviction.

SPEAKER_03 32:03

Confidence is essential. We need it to create, to speak up, to exist in a world that constantly questions our worth. It encourages growth and yes, even healthy self-doubt.

SPEAKER_02 32:14

But toxic confidence, that's a whole other beast. Footnote C show notes. It's the unwavering certainty of people who never question themselves, the loud voices drowning out the informed ones.

SPEAKER_03 32:26

It's the AI affirmed tech bros who've never been to therapy, never second guessed if they might have said the wrong thing. It's the person who's never read a book on the subject but has very strong opinions about it. It's the fucking president.

SPEAKER_02 32:42

We believe in the power of humility, of saying I don't know, of valuing expertise over volume, of understanding that confidence without competence is just noise.

SPEAKER_03 32:52

The solution isn't to eliminate confidence, but to pair it with curiosity, with willingness to be wrong, with respect for those who've actually done the work. Stereothematica embraces not knowing and yet always wanting to know more. And we hope you'll join us in this endeavor.

SPEAKER_02 33:09

Thank you for your support.

SPEAKER_03 33:11

And now, Christina, what's the hint for next episode?

SPEAKER_02 33:14

Optly enough, next week we're admitting to ignorance. Very appropriate.

SPEAKER_03 33:20

Thanks for listening to Stereothematica. If you're like what you're hearing, please consider rating, reviewing, sharing with a friend.

SPEAKER_02 33:27

And follow us on Instagram at Stereothematica, where you can share your favorite road trip songs. We've also got an ever growing playlist on Spotify, which is linked in our show notes.

SPEAKER_03 33:37

And visit stereothematica.com for more fun.