S6 – Ep 12 | 1983 Album Picks, Power Ballad Either/Or & Music Trends Talk

Craig and Kevin head into 1983 this week, spotlighting two albums that hit very different corners of the rock spectrum.

Kevin kicks things off with Fastway’s self-titled debut, a hard-hitting blend of bluesy riffs and arena-ready energy that helped define early ‘80s hard rock. Craig follows with Killing Joke’s Fire Dances, a darker, atmospheric release that leans into post-punk textures while still packing serious punch.

From there, Kevin takes control with a special Either/Or: Power Ballad Edition, throwing out a lineup of emotional heavyweights and forcing Craig to make the call — one matchup at a time until a final winner emerges.

To close things out, the guys shift into a laid-back but thought-provoking discussion sparked by a recent hang at some Atlanta breweries:

• Are the ‘90s making a comeback?
• Why are some major artists from the past getting overlooked today?

From hard rock to post-punk to power ballads and music culture — this episode covers a wide range of sounds and perspectives.

📱 Subscribe and/or follow us on your favorite streaming platform
 📩 Got a favorite 1983 album or a power ballad we should’ve included? Send it our way! - schizomusicpod@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Schizophrenic music is a signal syndicate production.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Alright, welcome into the schizophrenic music podcast. I'm Craig. He's Kevin. And we are officially Schizo Music Pod. We're gonna talk some music today. Uh have a beer? You think we'll have a beer, Kevin?

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Sure. I think so. We can do that.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Let's do that real quick. Um if you want. What you got?

SPEAKER_02 0:40

I got something that I haven't had before. I know I haven't had it on here. Sweet. And that is a wildly, I would say orange. Yeah. Which is a hazy IPA.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Never seen that one before. Very cool. I have, I may have shared this with you by a text. I have an urban south holy roller hazy IPA. Hazy juicy. Uh, I got this at Publix. So maybe that'll pop up in your neck. It's pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

I got this, I think, at Kroger or Publix, one of the two.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

I think this is based out of so for those of you who don't know, Wild Leap is amazing. Yeah, so when we go to the beach, a lot of times we'll stop by Wild Leap if we have time. Because it's on the way.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Yeah. In Carrollton, right? Carolton? We're we're gonna stumble all over.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

It's in my hand. Hold on.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Lagrange. Lagrange. Yeah, I don't know why. Come on, think Z Z top. I don't know. I I forget every time I think States Pro, but yeah, Lagrange. That's actually where that's where our boy Don grew up. He grew up in Lagrange. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Okay. We're on top of things tonight. Yeah. Well, this is an orange, it's a juicy, hazy IPA that combines our favorite citrus flavored hops, scissors forward hops like Sabro, H okay, all these hops. Nice. It tastes like the unhimmable fruit, unwow, unrhymable fruit. Okay, I'm sorry. This sounds like the unrhymable fruit. I can't read either. Aren't you glad we didn't say banana? There you go.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Nice. This is a soft and juicy IPA for all of us caught between uh great interactions and bad behavior. I like it. Way to go. Urban South. All right, ready?

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Yes, certainly.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Here we go, right in front of the mic. I mean, it's right there by the mic.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

It's right there. Yep. You ready? Three, yep, two, one. I mean, that's right there.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

If it didn't catch that, then all right. So, um, all apologies for missing last week. That was on me. I was messaging back and forth with Kevin. We were about ready to podcast, and I've been trying for two hours to clean my computer up because something happened. I basically had to just completely reboot. Um, cheers. Um, had to do a hard reset, so I had to pretty hazy everything off my computer. Ended up being no big deal though. I was able to fix that pretty quick. Yeah. Uh the next day it took me a couple hours, back up and running, no problem. Still have some things I got to download, but that's all right. Um, we are going to first start off with our continuation of our journey of 1960 to present, or at least last year. These are albums that we think are overlooked or underrated, or both. Um this week we are featuring 1983. Um, so start with that. I think Kevin might have some things for me, and we're just gonna chat about some stuff. Definitely. Got some good, good, good conversation going. Kevin, as the host, I have to defer to you, man. You want to you want to kick off 1983 with your album?

SPEAKER_02 4:04

1983. Yeah, I was looking for '83, and I have I I could go with a lot of different albums. There's a lot of good 80s, you know, 83, a lot of good metal albums that were released in that year. And I was like, oh, can I do this one? Can I do that? And I I waffled until like just a few minutes ago. I didn't know which one I was gonna pick.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

I love it.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

But there's this album. I may have talked about it before. If I did, you know, forgive me because it's it's a great album. I think it's a fantastic album. They the band, this was their debut, they followed it up with a couple more, at least one more that was really good, and then that then they well, at least they have a couple more, a few more after it. But this one, hands down, is the is the best one, I think, and just blew it out there. It was originally formed by two guys that had just left other bands. One guy just left this band called Motorhead, and another guy just left UFO, and so basically they took their names and combined it together. We got Fast Eddie Clark and Pete Way from UFO. Yep. Pete left before the album was even that he was never he started, they started it, but this album was even wasn't even a Pete Way thing. But we're talking about this right here, Fast Way Killer album debut album by Fast Way, just an excellent, excellent album. Right here. There was like, who was the doesn't even have a bass player listed on here, so probably might have been Pete, but he was no longer in the band. So uh, and the guy uh David King was a vocalist, and uh excellent. And they did another one after this called All Fired Up, and then they had they did the trick-or-treat movie, yeah. The one that had that that was that was really cool, and I was like, Oh man, that's great. Did that had another one after that, I think Dog Eat Dog or something like that. But they kind of just never, you know, I don't think they ever went to the next level, and I don't think they're really remembered as they should be. There's some just some solid, solid albums, and like I said, Fast Eddy Clark, who we lost not too long ago. Excellent guitar player, just great with riffs and just uh good stuff, and that is a great album. Good stuff. So I highly recommend if you like that. There, like I said, I can name a bunch of different metal albums that year that were excellent as well. I almost picked that zebra album, which is their debut as well. Yep, if you like that, little little Zeppelin-esque good stuff. I'll go on on and on for other uh for other ones, but we got Fast Way debut, self-titled album. Great up big.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

My introduction was trick or treat. Love that movie. Introduce me to the band. Uh, a good album, good soundtrack, really good soundtrack. It's not as good as first album. First album's killer. So highly recommend that. That is their album to buy for sure. Okay. Mine, you know, I was jock jostling back and forth between like really two or three albums, but it came down to this one uh because it was a band that uh I haven't featured yet. I almost featured them, I think we've done 1985. Uh 1985 was pretty a big year. So uh their album in 1985 is their best album, in my opinion. Really put them on the map, too. They had the biggest single for that album. But this album in particular in '83, to me, is where that sound started to come together. Uh, for me personally, the stuff that I like from them the most that's a band called Killing Joke. And the album is called Fire Dances. Uh, it's their fourth album. So their first album came out in '80. Um, they had an album in '81, they had an album in '82. Their self-titled debut is another one of those debut albums that's seen as their best album. Uh, this band kind of came fully formed. So as much as I love Fire Dances, and then 85 was nighttime. That's the album that had the song 80s. 80s was their huge hit, um, huge single. Um, but a lot of people look at that first album as like their signature is just unlike anything. It was it was kind of industrial before industrial even existed. Um, they had a bassist for those first three albums, too. Youth, uh, widely regarded as uh a fantastic bassist. He is, he's since uh it's been a while, but he's since rejoined the band, and him and Jazz Coleman, the lead singer, still there, and their drummer. So the original drummer, original lead singer, and uh their bassist are now playing together. They're a completely different band now. They are extremely heavy. They're one of those bands that their sound hasn't been tempered, it's been amplified. It's hard to believe a band from 1980 could sound heavier in 2015 when they put out their last album. Uh, they're still around, but I mean, I remember listening to uh their self-titling album in 2003, that one called Absolute Descent in 2010, and I'm like, wow, I mean, it's heavy. This album, Fire Dances, is definitely more post-punk. Um, like I said, different lineup, it's my favorite lineup. So you have Jazz Coleman on lead vocals, you have uh Kevin Jordy Walker on guitar, you have Paul Raven on bass, that's his first album, and then you have uh Paul Ferguson on drums. Uh it it's just awesome, it's very propulsive. The drums are very, very prominent, um, kind of tribal-esque, which I love. Um and very stop go kind of type stuff, very, very tight. Uh, I love Jordy's guitar playing. Yeah, super tight band. Uh, to me, this was them at their absolute best. Uh, there's a series of songs, really. The last song, well, not the I'd say the second to the last song on Saturday, Frenzy to Harlequin, Feast of Blaze, and Song and Dance. Most people go to Dominator, but I would go to those four songs, they're just so good. Um, it can be abrasive at times. It's not definitely the easiest listen. Um, but within some of that kind of just post-punk guitar, there's a lot of melody there, a lot of rhythm. I just love this band. They did make it better with nighttime. Nighttime is incredible, um, much more polished. Um, I would say this too. There's a song that is included on the bonus tracks of a CD reissue, and it's the very first bonus track called Me or You. If they put that on the album, it would be the best song. It is incredible. I don't know. Um, not doing this in much justice, but I I just love this band. And uh yeah, discover them with nighttime, and then went back to this one. And these are really two of the only albums that I think I must own from from Killing Joke, but I like all their stuff. But it's funny, it's just interesting to me. We'll talk about this a little bit later about bands that uh you know over time have evolved and completely changed and and gone in different directions. They've stayed kind of the same, and it's hard to believe that the most recent album they've released is heavier than their first album. And their first album for 1980 was really heavy in a different way, not in a metal way, but in an right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:38

That's I have that. I that's the only one I have by them, but that's definitely not yeah, it's heavy, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Yeah, it's it you wouldn't more industrial kind of you wouldn't know that this is a band that formed in 1980. You would have thought that that was a band that probably formed in the early aughts or something, or just just just came out. So love this band. Looking for it on vinyl. I haven't been able to see it find a copy yet, but killing joke, fire dances, love that album. All right, good stuff. All right, you said you had something for me, so hit me with it.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Well, I was gonna do a gun to your head with this a while back, and then but I decided not to do the gun to your head. I decided to maybe do an either or and then I started writing some down. It was last week I was gonna give it to you, and then we but then I was like, man, so I didn't know where to go with this. I hope that I that I can remember where each one of these comes from. It might go on for a second. I'll try not to make this too long. Yeah, it's very serious. Now, when you come in the end, this is it, this is an either or and one stays, and then we crown the the winner at the very end. And I gotta go in a certain order because I know that there are certain songs that that you will that you'll pick, and then they'll just run the game run the you know you know run the whole thing. So these are very serious songs, so you have to pick the best one. I remember you by skid row, yeah. Or still loving you by scorpions.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

I mean, I gotta go skid row. I remember you.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

I remember you or Heaven by Warren.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

I remember you. Heaven wasn't a bad song. I actually liked heaven. I gotta go Remember.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

There's no theme going on yet. You're not detecting what this is yet. Okay. So some of the greatest songs of all time is what is what is actually what this list is. Uh I remember you. Or Sister Christian by Night Ranger.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

Sister Christian from Night Ranger.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

Sister Christian from Night Ranger, Sister Christian or Home Sweet Home by Motley Crewe.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

It's a damn good song. Oh, it's tough. I'm gonna stick with Sister Christian.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Now are you a fan of the power ballad? Of the the slow the ballad by the 80s metal band.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

So far, there's not a single song you've listed that I didn't like for sure. You know, wasn't a huge warrant fan, but Heaven was a good song.

SPEAKER_02 14:40

Okay, couple in here. You I I try to not okay. Sister Christian or see I try I close your eyes forever by Ozzy Osborne and Lita Ford.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

That's good. I gotta go Sister Christian though.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

Sister Christian or Fly to the Angels by Slaughter.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

It would be sacrilegious for me to, but that's that's probably the thing. I love that song. I think Mark Slaughter's voice on that song is so good. I gotta surprise you, I'm gonna go fly to the angels from Slaughter.

SPEAKER_02 15:29

Fly to the Angels, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_03 15:34

Fly to the Angels. Or is this love by Whitesang?

SPEAKER_01 15:45

I mean, if you're talking about like a power ballad with the impact, Fly to the Angels has more impact, but is this love is classic? Absolute classic. That's something you can listen to now and not feel like it's that dated.

SPEAKER_03 16:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

I'm still sticking with Fly to the Angels. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

Fly to the Angels or When the Children Cry by White Lion. Oh, that's great.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Man, I've been digging some White Lion. If you go back and listen to their lyrics too, man, that you know, Mike had something to say. Mike had some he he wrote some good lyrics.

SPEAKER_02 16:25

I mean, that's a definitely a very that's a like an anti-war absolut song.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

I I'm you know, I'm going with White Lion. I'm going with the children cry. White Lion. Yeah, okay. I I tell you, man, I went and listened to Main Attraction the other day, which is not one of their better-rated albums. That's a great album. I love White Line.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

When the children cry. I'm not going in any kind of order that I made here, so that's my problem. Uh When the Children Cry or Alone Again Doc and Dick.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Stick with uh When the Children Cry.

SPEAKER_02 17:06

When the Children Cry or High Enough by Damn Yankees.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

That's the first one. I was never really a huge fan of that band, man. I I know I should have been, but no offense, I gotta stick with uh White Line.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

So I just I saw Night Ranger like two weeks ago at a free concert, which was actually pretty pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

But absolutely, yeah, I love love me some Night Ranger.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

It was cool, and uh they actually played two damn Yankees songs, did they? Because Jack Blades, of course, was in Damn Yankees, so I mean, so they played high enough and uh uh coming of age, so that I mean that was kind of cool. Nice, so anyway. So, all right, so when the children cry, or every rose has its thorn.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

I know that was a bigger song and it was a good song. Once again, wasn't a huge poison fan, but a good ballad's a good ballad, that's a great ballad. But when the children cry, white lines.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

When the children cry, or House of Pain by Faster Pussycat. It's a great song.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Uh I love me some, and that's their album too. I know that self-titled album's great, but wake me when it's over. I'm telling you, I know you weren't a huge fan of Faster Pussycat, but that album is fantastic. Um I'm still sticking with White Line, man, when the children cry.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Now, everyone that's listening to this, go and listen to all these songs. Just because they're just make it make yourself a playlist. This one just because I had to have it, but uh maybe not metal, but just one of those songs. When the children cry or when I'm with you, which was Sheriff.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

Oh my god, I forgot about that. That's a great song. Man, that talk about a blast from the past. I want to go with them just because nobody knows who they are, but I mean, nope. When the children cry.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

That was I just man, that was such a good song. When I'm with you, right? Yeah, sheriff. Oh, you know, anyway.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Uh don't get don't get him singing now. Hey guys, Kevin can sing.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

All right. When the children cry or never say goodbye by Bon Jovi.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

When the children cry. That's a great song.

SPEAKER_02 19:41

There's some great lines in Never Say Goodbye, though. Let's listen to that song. For sure. You're like, remember when I lost the keys and you lost more than that.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Anyways, so another great lyrical song.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

When the children cry or more than words by extreme.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

I iconic. Absolutely iconic. Um I surprise you. When the children cry.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

But that's impressive. That's okay.

SPEAKER_03 20:24

When the children cry or The Ballad of Jane.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

Which of course Ellie Guns. Ellie Guns.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

Yeah, off of my favorite album from them. Although they put out some great albums the last several years. Love Ellie Guns, another album, another band I feel like has not deteriorated one bit since they got their lead singer and Tracy Guns together. Um God knows I listen to that more, but the more I think about when the children cry, I can't go. I'm sticking with it. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

There's some that I'm trying to hold off because I Okay, when the children cry or carry by Europe.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

Man, you know, I was never a huge Europe fan, so I'm gonna stick with uh why line. No disrespect to him, just never a huge fan.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

I saw them live about and it feels like it was last year, but it's probably eight years ago now. And they were really good in concert. They had they've released some albums like in the you know 2000s, 2010s that were actually pretty good.

SPEAKER_03 21:35

Yeah? Alright. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

When the children cry or Love Is On the Way Saigon Kick.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Yeah. That's a great song. Is that off the lizard? Yes. Yeah. Yeah, that's a great album. When the children cry.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

When the children cry or to be with you, Mr. Big.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

Um great song, not one of my favorite Mr. Big song. I like their stuff that was a little bit groovier, a little bit funkier. I'm gonna go with uh stick with White Land.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

When the children cry, I'm gonna consider this, I would consider this, it's almost not in the same category, but Silent Lucidity.

SPEAKER_03 22:31

The Queen's right. I'm gonna go with Silent Lucidity. Silent lucidity.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Now lyrically, nothing tops when the children cry. And I'm very proud that it went as far as it went because it makes me realize makes me realize I need to go back and listen to that album, all their albums. But um, yeah, man, silent lucidity.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

I was gonna stop this at 10, but I just couldn't stop. I got kept on going. And there's something that I did not put on here that I like like I could, but okay, we're almost there. Silent Lucidity, or I mean, I'm gonna circle when the children cry because that was special. Uh Silent Lucity or Don't Close Your Eyes.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

That's what I was waiting for. Don't close your eyes from kicks. Sidebar, I and I wish that he had not Steve retired, and so uh they are no more, sadly. But I've seen him three times now, and uh the the last time we saw him in Charlotte was hilarious because and I think he said this every time, but he's like, We gotta play this song, and he goes, Little do we know being a hard rock band, that best damn song we'd have is a fucking ballad. He goes, So I gotta play it, and it just so happens that I still like this song. So here we go.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

Yeah, it's uh that song rules absolutely of course we're talking about the band Kicks, which I'm kind of sad that I actually never had a chance to see kicks live, so that's a bummer, but and now I know they're almost almost.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

The side story was Kevin was gonna go with us, but COVID hit. Literally, it was the day before lockdown. It was uh St. Patty's Day in Charlotte, and literally the day the after everything shut down.

SPEAKER_02 24:26

All right, so don't close your eyes. We have like two more. Okay. Don't close your eyes by kicks. Make sure I'm not missing any. Or nobody's Fool by Cinderella.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Oh nobody's Fool. Damn it. Yeah, I'm gonna go Nobody's Fool, man. That is one of those songs that I mean, dude, night songs got me into that band, their debut album from Cinderella. Holy mackerel. I gotta go to Nobody's Fool. I didn't think you'd be able to tell. I was been literally waiting for Don't Close Your Eyes, and then you throw that out there, and I'm like, well, we got one more. Nobody's fool.

SPEAKER_02 25:08

Will nobody's Fool make it. Nobody's Fool or band that you don't like very much. Love Song by Tesla.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Ah, I do love that song. I'm sticking with Cinderella. Cinderella. I'm sticking with Cinderella. That would have gone wire to wire for sure. That's it. And it's so funny. I was like, he's gonna throw out don't don't skip, don't close your eyes, don't skip it. That's gonna be my song. Just let and then you threw that out. I'm like, damn, I forgot how to forget. That's that's a killer song, man. These are I'm telling you, this is a lost, this is a lost art.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

You know, I was feeling that the other day, yeah. The good 80s ballad, man, 80s, early 90s. I mean, you just can't beat some of those songs, and people like think it. I know it gets lumped into this. Oh, it's you know, not serious. Oh, every band had to have you know, put one ballad on every album, or that type of thing, and it got you know, people get bad mouth and things like that. But oh, there was some just some good stuff.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

Some of these two were like uh love songs.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

Put Steelheart on there.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

Oh, Steelheart for sure. Um, and some of them were really, really bad. Like, you know, how like but the songs you're bringing up, like some of the bands dug deep, like and and sang about stuff that I don't think they wouldn't ordinarily sung about. Now, that's what I love about literally literally go back and listen to Mike Tramp's lyrics for White Line. I'm telling you, that guy had something to say with every song, every song was cool, but it never sounded preachy. It never I'm telling you, they're one of the most underrated bands of that era.

SPEAKER_02 27:01

I mean, the Vrata as a guitar player. I mean, if you look at some of these lists, I'm surprised he he showed not surprised that because he's excellent, but he shows up on like greatest guitar lists, like at the top in top 10, top five, and stuff, because he was incredible. But I think they never got like you know the recognition, they were like a you know pair band, whatever you want to say.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

I think pride, main attraction. Uh what's the other one? Uh big game, big game pride. Uh um I'm telling you, that main attraction album is really good, and that's after their prime. I get it. But I mean, just for pride and big game alone, those two albums, telling you, um, they were so different, they were very different. They they they didn't really kind of fit, but they found a way to kind of fit in with the the rest of everybody, even though they sounded very different. So um, and I gotta say, I was never a huge, huge slaughter fan, but Fly to the Angels is just one of those songs. It just I like those songs, Sword. That's what I loved about Steve's vocals and Don't Close Your Eyes is just so powerful. Yeah, I'm very I'm very nostalgic for for that stuff, um, for particular bands. And then there's some stuff that, like, uh more than words, I could see somebody kind of getting tired of, but I think that's actually it went through a phase where it was super cheesy, and I think now it's like people are starting to come back to it and realize how truly brilliant that song was because nothing was like that at the time. Nobody was doing a guy singing and another guy playing guitar, you know?

SPEAKER_02 28:41

So right. Yeah, I left a few off, but you know, ahead of her heartbreak, winger. Uh yeah, for sure. Uh did Britney Fox have a ballad?

SPEAKER_01 28:58

I'm sure they did. I was I don't think they were they didn't really have any their ballads weren't big on the radio.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

Heal Hard, of course I never let you go, which was like that. He hit that note was just like, okay, enough's enough. I guess this is uh fly hi, Michelle. That's a that's a yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

Uh I love enough's enough, you know how I feel about them. That first that album, the second album, Strength, oh, so good. Animal Animals with Human Intelligence, excellent. I mean, they're a great band, great band. I they're underrated. And the first album wasn't even their wasn't their best album. Strength is amazing. Um, the other one I was thinking of too, that nobody thinks of. I don't rem know if you remember this band. Uh, the band called Mind Funk. Do you remember really? Do you remember Mindfunk? I remember them, but Mind Funk had a song that was so cool. So they were one of those groove kind of red hot chili peppers, kind of a you know, soulful metal band. Uh groove metal, we'll call them. Um God, I can't remember the name of the song, but I just that song is so good, and the guitar playing is so I remember listening to it thinking these guys are different because it didn't sound it was more soulful. It sounded like something you would hear more in the 70s than you would hear, you know, in the 80s or 90s. Really good stuff. Mind funk, great song.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

Mind funk. Was it sugar ain't so sweet, sister blue? Sister blue thing.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

Sister blue. Cue that up for later. I'm telling you, that song absolutely if you want to play it right now, remind yourself of it. So good. That's funny.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

The band now, I'm thinking, oh man, the bands that they're said they're similar, like Warrior Soul. Oh, Love Warriors, Love Hate, which uh yeah, blackout in the red room.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Uh okay.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

This isn't a metal thing, we're not going off on a metal uh tangent, but I you know that's an album that there's several, like, and they didn't have that wasn't a one-off album.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

They put out another one called Let's Rumble after that. That they didn't stop, but to me, that was an album that had one hit, and they just nothing, everything just kind of dropped off. But Blackout in a red room is excellent, absolute excellent. Even though apparently Jizzy Pearl's not the nicest guy on the planet, he's pretty much a punk, but killer album. Love that album. Um, I would even go with hey man, if you would go deeper, I would go winner's call from uh Badlands, too. I mean, it's that's another one that didn't get radio play, but um, all right, Kevin. Yes, sir. The listeners don't know. Um, was in town this past Saturday in Atlanta, supposed to visit family, and my family can't, my mom and my sister canceled on me. They weren't feeling good. I didn't have anything to do, so I reached out to a buddy of mine and grabbed something to eat with him and reached out to Kevin and said, Hey man, you available? And he goes, Actually, I am. Let's hang out. Which sadly enough, we used to do this all the time when we were closer by and stuff. We used to actually podcast in the same room. Um, so it was good to sync up with him. Couple things I noticed. So we hit up a couple of breweries, we had some fun, but the second brewery went to the first brewery we went to was Wild Heaven, second brewery we went to is Three Taverns. Uh both great. Three taverns is excellent. Um, we got to three taverns. One thing I noticed, and I've I've known this, but to hear it live with such a young group of because everybody there that was working there is young, so they got there to be some music. Kevin, the 90s are back.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

Sure. Everyone's yeah, you're right. Yep. 90s stuff. The whole everything, I think everything they played was from the 90s when when we were there for the we were only there for like what one beer, two beers, maybe one beer.

SPEAKER_04 33:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

But everything was the 90s. I mean, they're playing like sponge and they can't remember. You know, then you get like the I think they played Nirvana. I might have heard some Allison Chains or I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Yeah, they played with the typical grunge bands, but then you heard uh, like you said, Sponge, which was uh I love Sponge. I think they played maybe a uh it wasn't no doubt, they played a sublime song. Um, I mean it was just a girl, I think. Yeah, yeah. I can't remember if they did the what it wasn't their one of her bigger songs. It wasn't It's My Life, it wasn't the cover of It's My Life, was it? But I think they played something from them. I'm curious. So for those of you that don't know, Kevin is has been in a uh in a cover band for years that specializes primarily in 80s and 90s covers. Um you're playing out now for your audience, wherever you're playing, do you get a bigger response for 80s or 90s?

SPEAKER_02 34:14

Or does it kind of even uh depends on what like it depends on the crowd, right? If it's leaning a little bit sad to say, if it's leaning a little bit older, you know, there's probably more 80s, right? But then like we do play a good bit of 90s, and there's a like there's a lot I have friends and a lot of people that I that come out there like that just younger than me, maybe say 10 years younger than me, right? And like the 90s was their like for for us playing all those songs I just that we just talked about, the 80s. I mean the 80s that was my formative years and listening to metal and so on and so forth, right? Absolutely, yeah. 90s was like college and on, right? So that's a little bit different, but that 90s was their like high school and stuff like that, which was like that's this, you know, the stuff you're really into, and like there's certain bands that they just like it's they're it's it's funny or they go crazy for, you know, and then I find even like we played some places where like it's a really young crowd, like 20s or whatever, and like they were digging the 90s because it's almost like classic rock. I'm sorry, but it's like classic rock to them. Like we were playing like uh third eye blind or whatever, and they were like just thought it was third eye blind is having a second coming, right?

SPEAKER_01 35:40

Absolutely, like people are raving about them, and I'll say I appreciate third eye blind more now than I did back then, right? Right, because when I hear it, I was like, dude, Jenkins was uh hell of a songwriter, dude.

SPEAKER_02 35:55

Yeah, or the play that the or there are those songs that were technically like I want to say I wanna say one hit wonders, but they had one or two big hits, you know. Like we we play we every time it's becoming one of those songs that we play like almost every time we play out because it always gets such a great response. Is uh My Own Worst Enemy by Lit. People go absolutely nuts for that song because it's just like so like fun and you know, and people dig it. That yeah, that you know, uh we were talking about the song you mentioned, uh Jimmy World song, you know, that middle, uh middle. Then you get like the other one.

SPEAKER_01 36:37

Uh what's what's the one from Harvey Danger?

SPEAKER_02 36:40

Oh, uh we play uh shit.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

Uh I don't can't remember what you call it. Um it's got a funny funny song title.

SPEAKER_02 36:48

Um my god. It's terrible. I play it all the time. If you wouldn't have said uh flagpole sitter.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

Flagpul sitter, yeah. Fun another fun song.

SPEAKER_02 37:02

That or the other one that's people that's just one of those that people think about, then they go, oh yeah. Uh the flies? That's we need to play that. That's so good.

SPEAKER_01 37:13

Got you where I want to. Got you where I want you. What a great song.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

Inside Out.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

Uh yes. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 37:22

Yeah, you know, I was swallowing my pride, trucking the rise, you know, that. Yep, Eve Six. Eve six, exactly. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 37:29

That I mean, I think it's cool. That's what I'm I'm glad I asked because we were talking about like 90s and stuff, and he Kevin and I we've mentioned this before, but Kevin and I have a tendency to like just rattle off stuff and never really finish anything. Finish, right, right, right. Uh the first time we went to see Iron Maiden, my buddy Robert went with us, and it was so hilarious. And I could sense his frustration that he's in the backseat. And Kevin and I are just we're, I mean, you remember this song? 30 seconds later. What about this song? Boom. The entire ride home from Lakewood Amphitheater going to Taco Mac, where we grabbed something to eat. We didn't, I mean, I don't think we played more than a minute of a song. And so finally, Robert, very quiet, very calm. He said, just finish a damn song. Please, just finish the song.

SPEAKER_02 38:23

One song. But if something else pops into my head, I I I'll forget it.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

He's like, I can't keep up with you guys. You're kidding me, because I know most of this stuff, but just finish a damn song. Uh, because Kevin and I literally, I could since we were doing that at at uh Three Taverns, we're like, Oh, what about that? Oh, that's a great song. What about that?

SPEAKER_02 38:44

You know, just about screaming trees. What about that? Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 38:47

Yeah, we're just riffing back and forth. I just I love the fact that the 90s are back. The 90s are I I cut my teeth like you really mid to late 80s was when I cut my teeth. I graduated high school when no, I did graduate high school when 10 and nevermind were released. So uh I think never mind, I think nevermind was released in 92, but I think 10 might have been released in 91, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, so those were part of my my senior year, but even prior to that, there were that that that signaling that change of things hadn't really happened until I graduated. You know, things didn't really shift, everything was about now. I I remember the big thing that everybody was so excited for was GNR Lies, my senior year, because we're like, what on earth is this? Everybody thought that Slash sang patience, everybody thought nobody thought it was Axel, everybody thought it was Slash. It's like, oh my god, Slash has such a good voice. Um, but yeah, so but I am very, very fond of the 90s. The 90s is probably my favorite era just because of the diversity. Um, but it wasn't where I started, so it's cool to see Kevin's band, they're called Bedhead, by the way. Um covers the two eras that we love the most. I mean, love me some 60s and 70s, and I love the stuff that's coming out now, but 80s and 90s are just kind of unbeatable. Um, all right, I'm gonna shift a little bit here too. So Kevin and I were talking about this the other day because we were talking about I don't know how we got on how do we get on the topic of Natalie Merchant and 10,000 maniacs, and then we started talking about Tori Amos, and we both realized like, holy crap, like we both went back and listened to Natalie Merchant's last two albums. Excellent, right? Excellent albums. He had said, Holy crap, I didn't know she was releasing stuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:51

Like the why and why I don't know that is I mean, why and we don't know that, why it's not known is what I'm saying, you know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 41:00

Yeah, well, it's interesting because for them, uh this and this is a different topic altogether, but for them in general, like they were both pretty Natalie Merchant, not as much, but definitely Tori Amos was pretty gritty, pretty edgy. Uh, I'm just I'm just was floored that we're not hearing about their music. The one that floored me the most here recently, and Kevin knows where I'm gonna go with this. He was on Trackstar, I think it's the most recent episode of Trackstar, is Bruce Hornsby. Um, so I have never listened to anything from Bruce Hornsby after Bruce Hornsby and the range, which is really the first three records. And so I've seen this stuff because working in CD stores, I knew of Harbor Lights and What's This and all these other uh albums, but I had you know I wasn't familiar with this stuff, and after that interview, and I realized who he'd worked with and who he was familiar with, like Justin Vernon, Ezra from Vampire Weekend, and was like, Holy macro, like this guy's work with some stuff. So I listened to um I think the um was it the album called Flicted? Flickted, holy crap, like very right. This guy is he is completely, and I didn't realize it started it's not Bruce Hornsby in the range.

SPEAKER_02 42:27

I love Bruce Hornsby in the range, but the new stuff is not like that. The way it is, it's not that.

SPEAKER_01 42:32

Yeah, so he he stopped with the range, he kind of lost interest and pop after the third album, and then his first album, which Kevin said he's loved for years. I've seen it, and it's fantastic called Harbor Lights. Harbor Lights is I think that's his first solo album, just him. Uh 33, very very jazzy. Um, but the stuff that he's released releasing now, like he did an album with uh Christian McDrive, Christian McBride and Jack DeJohnette. I mean, it is straight up killer trio hard bop jazz, like very complex. Like he even said, like in that interview, he said they said, Okay. And he's like, What do you think? And they said, Yeah, it's all right. You can do better. You gotta hone into he's like, Oh man, I really gotta step up my game. And when you listen to it, you can hear he stepped up his game, amazing piano player. I'm telling you, amazing Flicted. The album before it, too. That's got him with um James Mercer from The Shins. Um, somebody else is on uh on that album, and then the the album I listened to with Flicted, like I said, Ezra from Vampire Weekend. You got um what's her name? Danielle Haim from Hyam. Uh, so good, dude.

SPEAKER_02 43:51

But it is very like it's very experimental. Yes, experimental. I saw him live at a festival, uh Whew, it's been years now, but I like uh is there, I think it was Wani when we were down. It was like a jam band type festival, right? Yeah, because he was playing with the dead, yeah. Yeah, of course. He played, I mean, that's what probably when I really got into him was when he was playing with the dead because he played not totally unassuming, you know. He's sitting back there and played piano, played keyboards piano for the dead, wasn't like out there being the man or whatever, but he's an incredible piano player, and he played with the dead probably late 80s, early 90s, and uh it was just great stuff. So I'm at least a few times in concert. Uh so then I that's I think that's when I got into Harvard Lights, and then the but the stuff recently is very jazzy and experimental, and like it jumps around, does different stuff, but it's like excellent, you know. So I'm live, and he had like he had a band called The Bruce Horns being the noisemakers, which different people were in there, and then like it's just cool stuff. He's played. I mean, and he's he's done albums with like Ricky Skaggs, you know, like Skaggs, and oh is this good. I mean, he's just an excellent musician, and he's definitely not just resting on those laurels and sitting back and playing the range stuff, you know. He's still pushing the envelope and doing, I mean, he just came up with a new album last week, you know, it was just which is really good.

SPEAKER_01 45:17

Uh I think it's one of those things too where uh it's uh it's easy to overlook somebody like that because you think of regardless of like you can say what you will, but I mean, most people just know the way it is. Go back and listen to that song. That song's awesome. The Bruce Warns Me in the Rain stuff is really good. I mean, those are two of his best-rated albums. They were they were really good albums, they're good piano pop. Um, he just lost interest. He just said, you know what? I want to play with Bonnie Raitt, I want to play with some of these other because people came to him because they knew how good he was. I just never paid attention after, dude. I didn't. And so I'm fully tuned in now because I'm telling you, like, Flicted came out in like 2022. That would have been on my list. That would have been on my list of albums for that year. Um, he's awesome, so he's definitely on my radar. There's a ton of artists now. Like I said, I listened to the most recent Natalie Merchant record, very good, really good, very folky, very uh organic. Like she's yeah, she's not interested in going back and doing tiger lily and stuff like that. She's um she collaborated with another artist. I can't think of her name. I'm sorry, but um excellent, excellent music. I I told you I listened to the most recent, you know, last couple of Tori Amos records. She hasn't lost step. There are some artists out there. I guess we'll wrap things up with saying there are some artists out there that were really, really big in the 80s and the 90s that are still doing stuff, and you'd be surprised at how good some of the some of the stuff is better than what you know them for. And I would say for Bruce clue in if Ezra from Vampire Weekend wants to play with you, if Chaim wants to play with you, and all of these people approached him. You know, there's several hip hop artists that have done remixes and stuff of his uh awesome Justin Vernon from from Bonavere. I just think it's really cool. Um, I just need to, it's easy to move on and try to find the next big thing, but sometimes going back and listening to somebody that you like that you grew up with, give them a chance. I'm telling you, for somebody that has not listened to Bruce Hornsby, probably in 20 years, I that I've been on a huge Bruce Hornsby kick today. Uh love it, absolutely love it.

SPEAKER_02 47:37

Yeah, good stuff, good stuff, highly recommend. Yeah, like I said, there's tons of artists like that, or a bunch of artists like that, where they you know might not be in the limelight anymore, but they've been releasing steadily releasing you know, good stuff. So check them out.

SPEAKER_01 47:54

And let's uh let's give props to where props are due, man. Trackstar. Trackstar is awesome. Uh he he he interviews uh anybody of note, really, modern people that just been released, people that have been out for 50, 60 years. Uh, it's really cool. He does a really good job of curating, and his curation leads that artist down a certain pass and how he explains things. And you're like, holy crap, I didn't realize Bruce Hornsby worked with this guy. I didn't realize that you know the guys from Kings of Leon, holy crap, I didn't realize they collaborated with this and they knew that. So I just think it's I think it's cool. Uh continue to watch like stuff like that to kind of get inspiration. So, anyway, um I guess that's all I got, man. Unless you have something.

SPEAKER_02 48:45

We'll let you go. Yeah, we're good.

SPEAKER_01 48:47

Cool. All right. Well, thanks for joining in. Had a blast. We're gonna continue doing this. We'll keep going down the 1960 to present route. Uh, tell us what you think. Album should be our pick. What's an album you think from 1983 that's overlooked, underrated, or both?

SPEAKER_02 49:04

Hit us up at SkizomusicPod at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_01 49:09

We will respond. We will give you a shout out on this podcast. All right. Thanks so much once again, and until next time, take care. Take it easy.