Stereothematica
Welcome to Stereothematica, a podcast where two women geek out over music.
When Christina moved from LA to Texas, Christine suggested a weekly challenge to stay in touch: pick a song that fits a chosen theme. This game opened them to new perspectives on each other while deepening their own understanding of the music that shapes their lives. Each week Christina and Christine recreate the magic of their song exchange on a broader scale, deconstructing their thematic picks, providing personal anecdotes and historical insights, and sharing transformative tracks rarely spotlighted on the Billboard Hot 100.
Stereothematica
Say Less
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
This week, we share songs we really like... that is, until the singing starts. And brace yourself for a twist!
SONGS:
Yes: Heart of the Sunrise (1971)
The Boomtown Rats: I Don’t Like Mondays (1979)
RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:
Say Less Meaning (The Idioms)
At the Movies - Deep Cuts Lost & Found Podcast
Buffalo 66 - Heart of the Sunrise Scene (1998)
Yes - Fragile - Classic Music Review (Altrockchick.com, 2026)
Heart of the Sunrise (Songfacts)
Yes World Discography - Fragile
First Listen - Heart of the Sunrise
Yes Fragile Documentary (Rael's Prog Rock Documentaries)
The Story Behind Yes’ Remake of Simon & Garfunkel's America (American Songwriter)
LCD Soundsystem: Tired (Live - ending with Heart of the Sunrise, 2011)
Lizzo: Boys (Live - starting with Heart of the Sunrise, 2022)
Other Yes Favorites
Survival (Yesterdays, 1969)
Time and a Word (Time and a Word, 1970) - One of Rush’s Geddy Lee’s all-time faves.
Then (Time and a Word, 1970 - at 2:30, hearing the origins of “Heart of the Sunrise”)
A Venture (The Yes Album, 1971)
Roundabout (Fragile, 1971)
America (Written by Paul Simon, 1968) (Close to the Edge, 1972) - Possible recitation: Angine de Poitrine's Mata Zyklek
And You and I (Close to the Edge, 1972) - Possible recitation: Pescado Rabioso's Cantata de Puentes Amarillos - even the album’s green cover is similar
Least Favorite
Yes: Owner of Lonely Heart (1983 - Only Yes song to reach #1 on Billboard Hot 100)
Do They Know It’s Christmas? (YouTube)
Cleveland Elementary School shooting (Wikipedia)
‘I Don’t Like Mondays’: The harrowing story behind the 1979 smash hit and Bob Geldof’s big regret (Far Out Magazine)
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!
I'm Christine. And I'm Christina. In 2024, I moved to Texas from LA. And to keep in touch, Christine and I started a weekly game where we each pick a song that fits a chosen theme.
SPEAKER_04This game deepened our understanding of each other and the songs that shape us, inspiring the podcast you're listening to now. Each week we share our pics, swap stories, and dig into tracks you might love and a lot of the time have never heard of.
SPEAKER_03Welcome to Stereothematica, your favorite atypical music podcast.
SPEAKER_04Hey Christina. Oh hi, Christine. Did you know that I only recently learned that say less is something the kids say and that it essentially means that you agree? Did you know this?
SPEAKER_03I did know this, and this only furthers a theory that's circulating that I'm not from this planet.
SPEAKER_04I am not. I said it loud and clear. I'm from Pulowski.
SPEAKER_03Don't you work with a lot of Gen Z? Don't they be like, say less?
SPEAKER_04Well, you know what? That's what I I that's why it was a surprise to me. It was actually Thomas who told me this. And yeah, I've I've never heard this one. I've heard other things like TDLR, like actually not just writing it, but saying it. Saying it out.
SPEAKER_03That's kind of cool. I actually liked it. You like it? Okay. T T L D R too long didn't read TLDR. Yeah. See, the thing with those that they don't roll off the tongue, it's hard for me to remember which way which way the letters go.
SPEAKER_04I could see that.
SPEAKER_03Like I would say T R D L.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Mess it up. Well, like and now I'm a hundred years old.
SPEAKER_04I know. And then the band that you talked about a couple weeks ago, NRBQ. Oh yeah. Is that it? It is. Okay, cool.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Anyway, magnet. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that was a good one. But say less. I think it's a fun one.
SPEAKER_04I'm I'm getting to like it. It's funny. I I imagine like a lot of parents, especially, are like parroting their kids and saying less, but then they might like not get exactly what it means. And I would be probably one of those people. But despite what some people might think, say less is not something that Gen Z started. Of course, it is actually according to the idiom's website, the phrase developed within African American vernacular English, otherwise known as A-A-V-E, where it meant I understand no further explanation is necessary. So yeah. Of course, for this week's theme, I'm being literal. And I hope I was clear when I propose it to you. We are talking about songs you really like until the singing starts. Therefore, say less or even say nothing at all. Aside from today's pick, do you have any other songs you feel this way about?
SPEAKER_03No, and actually this was a hard theme for me because I think usually if a song has words and I don't like the way that they're sung, I don't like the song. Yeah. So I yeah, I I I will not lie, I struggled with this theme, even picking one song because it was not something that I could immediately be like, oh, okay, I got it. What about you? I mean, do you have a learning list?
SPEAKER_04I don't have a list, and I feel very similarly to you, except it was actually another song that made me think of this theme. It came on. I was listening to music and the band's Stage Fright, which is such a good song. And I'm talking about the band, the band not the band that we're talking about today, but but the band that scored with Bob Dylan featured in the last waltz blog. You you get it.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04But do you know the song Stage Fright?
SPEAKER_03No, and that's funny that you say that because I was trying to think of it as you mentioned it. How does it go?
SPEAKER_04It's oh god, I can't do it. Um, but it has a such a great opening with piano, and it's just like it feels like it's gonna be such a powerful song. And then Rick Denko comes on with the focus. He's usually, but not always, but yes, and um suddenly it feels like a cute song, like like something that would be on Sesame Street. And it's not that I start to hate it, but like it just loses its edge. So uh I'm just like yeah. But um, then I remembered an even better song when once the vocals came in, I was like, what the fuck? And before we get to that, let's listen to the nonverbal wizardry of the opening of Yes's Heart of the Sunrise. You've got Chris Squire as the overlord on the bass, Steve Howe shredding like a motherfucker, Bill Bruford with machine-like intensity on the drums, and Rick Wakeman doing some pretty groovy organ meistering. It makes me want to bang my head, nervously tap my foot, and play air guitar and air drums with Reckless Abandon. And I have been doing that for the past week and a half while driving on the 405 to and from work.
SPEAKER_03What a visual image. I love it.
SPEAKER_04I now, did you think someone hacked my phone when you got this song? Or is this just me being predictably unpredictable?
SPEAKER_03Well, you know, you are someone who is constantly surprising me. So this was one of those surprises, just because I never would have thought we would be talking about yes on this podcast.
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_03So I was surprised. I didn't think anyone hacked your phone. I was just like, what has she got up her sleeve?
SPEAKER_04Oh, good. Yeah. No, it's it's weird. Every once in a while, one of these songs comes to me, and I'm like, it it gets under my skin, and I just I just don't know what to do with myself, except like be, I don't know, like a 16-year-old boy.
SPEAKER_03Oh, perfect.
SPEAKER_04But I had completely forgotten about this song until I listened to the Deep Cuts Lost and Found podcast a few months ago.
SPEAKER_03Nice.
SPEAKER_04And and they were doing an episode on music and movies, and one of the guys, Chris, of course, like I feel like everyone in my orbit has some form of the name Christ. Um well, he shared this very song, which was featured in Vincent Gallo's 1998 film, Buffalo 66. I know you're not a Gallo fan. It's just that Gallo's scary.
SPEAKER_03He's like so scary looking.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and this is not even his most scary movie or creepy. Fair was that Brown Bunny? Oh, I've no no, never seen it. Okay, yeah, not suitable for work. So in in the movie, this the song comes on toward the end when Gallo's character enters a strip club and he's about to kill the kicker from the Buffalo Bills. Long story there. But the scene opens with Squire's bass solo, which begins immediately after what I just played, and it's so slow and sultry compared to what you've just heard. And it's it's kind of a perfect scene, but it gets really intense. So I kind of think the trauma of watching the movie blocked the song from my memory. But then they played it on the podcast, and they only played about three minutes of the 11-minute song, and the movie only played about two minutes of it, and so far it's all instrumental. So at this point in my life, I've only heard those first three minutes, and I'm loving every second of those three minutes. Actually, I'm I'm kind of curious. Did you feel the first three minutes?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean it's it's crazy because like when you pull the song up, you're like, oh my god, this is an 11-minute song. Like this could have maybe been on our long song episode. Yep. But yeah, I really enjoyed the instrumental parts.
SPEAKER_04Good, good.
SPEAKER_03And I will say, I don't want to get ahead of myself, but my favorite part is the last 30 seconds.
SPEAKER_04Oh, interesting.
SPEAKER_03Okay, yeah, cool. And that's not because it's ending or anything, it's just because it's another song. Yeah. It's very like, it's a it's a cool part. I don't know, I don't know how to describe it, but I was like kind of I almost I actually thought it was another song, and I checked my phone to make sure it hadn't like switched to the next song, and I saw it was still this one. I was like, oh, okay, cool.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, cool. So I'm loving every second of you know what we've heard. The first three minutes, it's just like you feel like you've been all taken on many different journeys, there's different movements, different time signatures. Very cool. And then at three minutes and 40 seconds, everything slows down and becomes quiet, and John Anderson's vocals enter.
SPEAKER_00Love comes to new follow. Sharp distance. How can the wind with its arms around me?
SPEAKER_04Lost all the way. And I think it's a completely different song, and I'm so disappointed, and I'm like, I guess this is prog rock. You know, I mentioned there's already been like a couple of signature changes in those first three minutes, so I'm trusting it, but those wistfuls like vocals just keep going on, and then the organ comes back with the drums and bass, and it gets kind of interesting again, but I don't care to hear more. I just want to listen to those first three minutes and 30 seconds over and over. So you did listen to the entire song. So I did you listen to it more than once? I'm curious.
SPEAKER_03I did actually. The first time you shared it with me, I listened to it and then I listened to it again today in preparation. Okay. But I'm curious, yeah, do you once once the vocals come on, do you just start the song back over?
SPEAKER_04Well, so okay, I was, I don't know, before I started prepping for this episode. So, like maybe the last few months I had been doing that. But, you know, I like to prepare thoroughly for the podcast. And yes, you do. I'm I'm listening to it, and I'm like, I'm just gonna listen to all of it. And dude, major plot twist here since we decided that this would be the theme. I've been listening to the song like very closely on a loop, and I'm starting to appreciate the vocals on the track. Okay, that is a plot twist. Yeah, no, and especially like as I listen to the other songs on the album and their other albums, like now it's a part of this this greater work, and I'm definitely appreciating like what this this piece, Heart of the Sunrise, is so yeah now. Um, before I talk a little bit about Yes, who by the way was formed in London in 1968, which I don't know, I was surprised about that. The the London.
SPEAKER_03Because you thought they might have been American.
SPEAKER_04They feel so American to me.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I don't disagree with you. Right. They feel like American, like of that same and I don't even know. Like, is Rush American? This is so embarrassing. I don't know anything about they're Canadian, but oh yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_04But yeah, I was I don't know, and and maybe because I'm thinking more of like 80s, yes, and that song Lonely Heart.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, owner of the Lonely Heart, which I don't even know is them until today.
SPEAKER_04No, and that's the thing, that's the only song I really associated with them, which is why the initial hatred or distrust maybe. But yeah, that and it's funny enough, that's like the only song that that ever reached number one on the Hot 100. But anyway, I want to acknowledge that we've previously discussed the self-indulgence of prog rock a little bit, you know, the long songs, the grandiosity, extended instrumentals, mystical lyrics. I think you like that though. Um, rock music trying to be symphonic.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04We've we've definitely called out rush. We kind of maybe even have here, I don't know. And we've been called out more importantly.
SPEAKER_03True.
SPEAKER_04My dear friend Christina with a K, who is a huge Rush fan, gave us some grief about our Rush shit talking. So I was curious what she thought about yes, given that yes is a big influence of Rush. So sure enough, she loved them. And she's loved them since high school and has even seen them twice. And I've known her since college, and I did not know this about her. But honestly, the more I listen, I totally get it. So yeah, I no longer think that prog rock is a dirty word. Like most musical genres, there's a spectrum. And after listening to Yes's first five albums, and when I say I've listened to them, like I've listened closely and I have found the songs that I love. And there are seven songs.
SPEAKER_03Oh my god.
SPEAKER_04And they're all linked in the show notes. So please, everyone, I want you to check out because I do think there might be some yes naysayers who might reconsider after hearing these picks. Do you count yourself as a naysayer or not even a sayer because you didn't know enough about yes to begin with?
SPEAKER_03I do just want to acknowledge how much I like yes naysayer.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, that was clever. Good job. Thank you. But I just like they've never really entered my consciousness. Like, literally, like I mentioned, I didn't know owner of a lonely heart was yes until today.
SPEAKER_05Wow.
SPEAKER_03And it's just kind of one of those bands that has eluded me. Yeah. Um, and I'm okay with that.
SPEAKER_04But no, it's funny.
SPEAKER_03This song, I mean, I like that you asked me to listen to this song, essentially, because I never would have. Yeah. And to me, it feels like a deep cut because you know, I'm not watching Buffalo 66 or whatever. But yeah, it's interesting.
SPEAKER_04Okay, cool. Yeah, it's funny because I would have thought that maybe like your parents would be listening to this, or it would somehow it would be in your orbit, but that's kind of like I don't think so.
SPEAKER_03They're probably gonna be mad when you sorry, your parents are too cool.
SPEAKER_04Too cool too.
SPEAKER_03I don't know though. Mom and dad, reach out. And they will.
SPEAKER_04Anyway, so so of the songs that I really enjoy, Heart of the Sunrise is still my favorite, at least at this moment. And it was the final track on Fragile, Yes's fourth studio album, which was released at the end of 1971. And Fragile was the first album with the classic Yes lineup of Anderson, Squire, Howe, Bruford, and Wakeman. Wakeman, fun fact, played on Bowie's hunky dory. Oh, and he was in another UK band called The Strobs. Anyway, he came with this like very expansive keyboard rig and just kind of like pushed them to this like more expansive level of musicianship, maybe. But anyway, the album features four full band pieces, including another favorite roundabout and the more radio-friendly long-distance runaround. I feel like that one. I mean, if you're a kid in the 70s like I was, that was something that was on the radio. But again, different times, so yeah, I don't expect you to know that one. But you probably, if you hear it, you would know it. Okay, yeah. Yeah, you would. But then they have these five short solo showcases, and you get the collective power of the band, plus these, you know, idiosyncratic like songs that the musicians wrote, and they're not completely solos, but it showcases like each of their talents. And at the end of Heart of the Sunrise, there's a pause, like 30-second pause or so, and then it's actually we have Heaven, which I believe was Jon Anderson's solo piece that comes on at the end.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Wait, so that part that I said I liked.
SPEAKER_04I think so, yes.
SPEAKER_03Okay, yeah. So it's a different song.
SPEAKER_04It's a different song on that album, yeah. Yeah, but it's a piece of that song. Okay. Yeah. Does that make sense? No. Really? Okay. Well, okay. So in this album, Fragile, they have like each of the the musicians has their own piece that they they write, and they're it's like it's some of it, it's not fully slowos, but they showcase their talents. And then the one that I can never remember the name of. I'm so bad. I can't, I just looked at the name, I can't remember it. Something about heaven? Yes. We have heaven is the third track on the first side of the album, and it's one minute and 39 seconds, written and performed almost entirely by John Anderson, but then it comes back at the end of Heart of the Sunrise.
SPEAKER_03Okay, I get it now.
SPEAKER_04I get it. I don't know why they picked that to tack on at the end.
SPEAKER_03They're just mystical.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I know. I mean, maybe the heaven aspect of it. Anderson has said Heart of the Sunrise is about being lost in London with the city's energy and confusion contrasting with the desire for peace and human connection. Squire cited King Crimson's 21st century schizoid man as the main influence. Do you know the song?
SPEAKER_03I feel like I've heard it, but I don't know it. It's so good. This is another one. Okay.
SPEAKER_04I feel like King Crimson is the next band that I'm gonna be obsessed with.
SPEAKER_03I was gonna say there was a time when we had talked about King Crimson, so then I was listening to some of their work. But yeah, it's not what I was expecting.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, no, Robert Fripp, the guitarist, we we talked about him because he did the solo, the guitar solo, in Babies on Fire in the Brighton. That's right. Yep. Yeah. So anyway, and then Bruford, who left Yes in 72 to join King Crimson as their drummer, said the band had found its real template with Heart of the Sunrise. So the more I listened to Yes, I know it's the drums that are locking me in, especially in their version of America. Both Anderson and Squire loved Simon and Garfunkel. And on their 72 album, Close to the Edge, they do a cover of America. And truly, it's like no other. And it reminds me of the Canadian band, Angine de Poitrine, their song, Mata Ziklek, who we will talk about in a future episode. So I don't want to like get ahead of myself there. Okay. I'm excited. Yeah. But but again, it has to do with that like locking in.
SPEAKER_03I know you love that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's very exciting to my brain. Anyway, I'm not saying I'm entering a new era here. Maybe I'm hinting at it though, but I'm definitely expanding my library. And who knows at this rate I might even get into rush.
SPEAKER_03Um I'm just saying, this is your midlife crisis, like the progress.
SPEAKER_04Right. It kind of feels like it.
SPEAKER_03I agree. And I want to see where it goes. You start like following some prog rock band around on a stadium tour around the country. Let's see. I mean stranger things have happened.
SPEAKER_04For sure. But I'm gonna stop here because there are so many rabbit holes that I'm afraid of going down, and I'm ready to say less and have you say a lot more about your pick. So take it away.
SPEAKER_03What a fun journey this has been already. And I'm gonna stay in a similar era as you, maybe unsurprisingly. And the song I chose was most likely put on a Spotify created playlist for me. Because I had never heard, well, I had heard of but never listened to the Boomtown Rats. Yeah. And I actually didn't know that was Bob Geldof's band. Now I am so concerned that I'm gonna say Geldorf. Listener, sometimes we write notes for our prep, and I had written Geldorf over and over, even though I know it's Geldof, but now it's in my head. It's almost like Gandalf. I know. Okay. But I was familiar with Geldof by name only because I know he was like a public figure. And then weirdly, like he had a daughter named Peaches Geldof, who had some like blog house notoriety in the early aughts. But I was like, who is she? Who is Bob Geldof? I don't know. So anyway, this song comes on, and I hear this very gripping and like theatrical opening that starts with like that twinkly and then very serious piano playing and some hand claps. And I'm like, oh my gosh, like something is about to be so good. And then you hear Bob's voice and just yikes. Like it sounds like he's really congested and just powering through so they can get the song recorded that day.
SPEAKER_05Oh.
SPEAKER_03And I know that's mean, but I recently had a sinus infection, and that was like all I could hear. Like, because I had that congested gun, and then I'm hearing him, you know? Yeah, yeah. But I did listen to some more of their songs, and it turns out he just sings like that. So I'm gonna give a quick sample. Here's I don't like Mondays by the Boomtown Rats. From their third studio album, The Fine Art of Surfacing.
SPEAKER_01Silicon Chip inside the head switched.
SPEAKER_03What do you think, Christine? Were or are you a Boomtown Rats fan?
SPEAKER_04You know, I was not, and I didn't realize this was Boomtown Rats. I knew who Bob Gildoff was. I knew who the Boomtown Rats were. It's funny because even just hearing the first like 25 seconds of the song, it's almost prog rocky. Like it's it's very like over the top and theatrical. So I'm definitely digging it. I'm not bothered by his voice though.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Interesting. Yeah. I do think for me it's like the combination of the voice, and I don't know. We'll talk more about the song, but the song, it is a little bit just on the nose. Like anyway.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And since I never listened to the Boomtown Rats, I had to do a bit of research when I was preparing for this. And like I'm curious what you think because I get strong Elvis Costello vibes.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely. In fact, I thought it was.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Yeah. I thought the song was.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Because it almost felt like, oh my gosh, you have such a huge crush on Elvis Costello, and you're like making a band after them. But even I could hear like also some Rick Springfield and Bruce Springsteen based on some of their other work. Maybe not necessarily this song, but some of their other songs. Yeah. And like, even though I love New Wave and Bruce, which are not in the same category, this band just wasn't really doing it for me.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03However, there was a fun song called Someone's Looking At You from the Same Album that has like very heavy Bowie vibes. So if you haven't heard that one, check it out. I'll link to it in our show notes because it does kind of just sound like, oh, they are hearing musicians that they like and maybe emulating that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04That's that's what I got a little bit of from bouncing around. Yep.
SPEAKER_03Maybe like kind of like our friend Shuggy.
SPEAKER_04Exactly. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, whatever. But yeah, I just this was not a band that I was like really wanting to go like on your yes pilgrimage. I was not about to do the same thing for the Boomtown Rats. But I do want to talk a little bit about the band before I get into the song and the inspiration. The band originated in Dublin in 1975. And while they're labeled New Wave, while I was researching this band, I stumbled across a new to me term Ted's or Teddy Boys. Is this something you're familiar with? Are they people that have a fetish for teddy bears? Such a good guess. So it's like I guess back in the like maybe kind of late 70s, like when punk was emerging. These well, the TEDs had been around for a while. I found a blog called Punk 77, which is really interesting. And according to Punk 77, TEDs or Teddy Boys quote, date back to the late 40s when, following the war, a generation of youngsters with money to burn appropriated Edwardian Teddy clothing style currently in fashion on Seville Row and cranked it up a notch, end quote. So this was like, I'm sure you've kind of seen it, like it was the very kind of, I don't want to say posh, but like the peg leg pants, like the special kind of loafers. They had these hairstyles that were called DA, which stands for ducks arse, because their hair was like done in a in a duck-ass kind of way.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Okay, I could see.
SPEAKER_03Which I'm obsessed with. But apparently the punks and the Teds were at odds with each other. And apparently the Teds did not like that the punks were kind of dressing weird or like they didn't like, I think some of the gender fluidity that was happening, the safety pins, things like that. And they also didn't like the music because the Teds really loved American rock music and were kind of idolizing, you know, maybe like the Elvis look or kind of even older than that, Buddy, think Buddy Holly, things like that. And I don't think the Boomtown Rats are either punk or Teds, but it's interesting that this rivalry kind of actually inspired violence between the two groups. And I only mention this because on that same Punk 77 blog I read about Bob Geldof, he was punched in the face during a set that the Boomtown Rats were playing. And I think it was because someone perceived them to be punk. They had this song where they like kind of say, kick, you know, kick your whoever's next to you, or whatever. And people did start kind of moshing and whatnot. So it's just like such an odd, this was totally new to me, the TEDs. So I was like, Oh, I know about punk, I know about new wave, I know about all this. So I was kind of excited to learn about a new thing. Uh, but I'll link to both of those articles so folks who are interested can dive in. But essentially, the Boomtown Rats, they did end up with two UK top 40 singles, Rat Trap, which was the first rock song by an Irish band to reach number one on the UK charts. And I don't like Mondays. And while they did have some other success, including Geldoff having a starring role in Pink Floyd's The Wall, and he co-wrote the charity song, Do They Know It's Christmas, which was performed by Band-Aid. I'm sure you remember.
SPEAKER_04Oh, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_03And as a former Christian, that song always annoyed me. Like, not everyone celebrates Christmas. And I am glad they raised 8 million pounds for the famine in Ethiopia. But I it feels so white savior to me.
SPEAKER_04Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03What do you remember from that time, like when it came out?
SPEAKER_04I mean, okay, so so this is what 19 like 85, right? Or was it earlier? Yeah. I think I think it's around 80, let's just say mid eighties. But I don't honestly, I don't have vivid memories of of it the concert. I remember like live aid was a big deal, kind of like the other like various concerts that were raising money.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04I don't know, honestly, if I had like if I was as cynical about it as I am now. Like I doubt it. I was like what 12 years old.
SPEAKER_03Sure.
SPEAKER_04Well, I mean, I could be, but I I think that it's I truly I don't have much of a memory of how I felt about it at the time. I mean, definitely now I'm like, yeah, there's some shit there that probably needs examining, and and yeah, maybe don't do that again.
SPEAKER_03But it was funny to watch the video because it's like Bono and George Michael and Boy George, and they're all singing about like the Christmas. Yeah, and David Bowie too, right? I feel like Bowie. Yep. You know what? It's just like it was the time. Yep. It was a different time. Yep. But anyway, back to the song. Uh, if you're a true crime uh admirer, not admirer, no, if you are aware of and know about true crime, yeah. If you're a true crime sicko like me, um, you might be familiar with the premise for this song. So the quote, I don't like Mondays, comes from a tragic shooting that took place on Monday, January 29th, 1979, in San Diego. Brenda Spencer, who is a 16-year-old girl who lived in a house across the street from an elementary school, began shooting from her house at children who were waiting for the principal to open the gates to Grover Cleveland Elementary School. Yeah, it's so dark. She ended up killing the principal, Burton Rag, and the custodian Mike Sukar, as he tried to pull a student to safety. And eight children and a police officer were shot and injured. But I mean, the two people who died were the principal and the custodian. So, what does that have to do with the song? When asked why she committed the crime, Brenda said, I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day. Oh wow. Tragic. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And they can say no reason, no reason why we can do it.
SPEAKER_02Don't land and don't land.
SPEAKER_01The whole day down.
SPEAKER_03Geldoff had been in the US. He was actually in Atlanta on like, I think a college campus tour, or like, you know, a tour, and he read about the crime. And like many others, he was shocked by the senseless nature of the crime and the lack of remorse from the killer. Her flippant, I don't like Mondays, shocked the nation. And as it turned out, this was the first mass shooting at an elementary school. And while we're sadly much more used to seeing mass violence in schools today, I can't imagine what it was like back then to see this in the news. It must have really had a deep impact on him. And I am curious, Christine, considering you are from Southern California and might have been somewhat aware of this at the time. Do you remember when the shooting happened? I have no recollection of this at all.
SPEAKER_04Oh, yeah. I mean, it's, you know, you're a kid, you're the news is on, but then what am I doing? I'm not watching the news. So I don't know. I like truly, I I, you know, clearly I blocked trauma, but I it's possible I just was not aware of this.
SPEAKER_03And had you heard of this like before today? No shooting. Oh wow, interesting. I'm sheltered. No, I I think it might say more about the song. But yeah, speaking of which, the song did not make the top 40 in the US, but it still received extensive radio airplay outside of the San Diego area, despite the Spencer family's efforts to prevent it. Supposedly, Geldoff claims that Brenda Spencer wrote to him saying she's glad that he wrote the song because it made her famous. Oh wow. But Spencer actually denies ever contacting him. So it's TBD, what the truth is, but still it said that Geldoff regrets writing the song because of this letter. And who's to say maybe he should have said less after all? Oh, sick. Wow. Yes, I know.
SPEAKER_04Well, thank you for for that and and sharing a piece of California history that I was not at all familiar with and a song that I really I knew, I just didn't know was Bob Geldoff in the boomtown rap.
SPEAKER_03Or Bob Geldorf. Or Geldor. You never know.
SPEAKER_04There's gotta be one of those. Well, in keeping with the theme, my unsolicited advice for today, if I may just get to the point, and and I hope to follow it here, is to say less. It's okay not to have an opinion about something, it's okay not to have a fully formed thought. And it's okay to sit in silence and just be. Say less. I'm glad you agree, Christina. Advice over. So, what will you be delighting us with for our next episode?
SPEAKER_03Let's get quotidian.
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