WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.980 It's the Apple podcast title. The Deep Dive, 00:00:02.020 --> 00:00:05.200 unpacking DBS's Eyes for Insignificant, 1990s 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:07.780 punk rock and pop punk history, Apple podcast 00:00:07.780 --> 00:00:10.359 description. Join us on this deep dive as we 00:00:10.359 --> 00:00:13.939 unpack the 1998 punk rock staple Eyes for Insignificant 00:00:13.939 --> 00:00:17.519 by Canadian band DBS. We explore the 13 -track 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:20.100 album's unique blend of melodic, hardcore, and 00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:22.420 skate punk, its fascinating run on the Canadian 00:00:22.420 --> 00:00:24.879 Top 50 chart attack, and the thematic depths 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:27.260 hidden within its rapid -fire 32 -minute runtime. 00:00:27.660 --> 00:00:30.329 From sociopolitical anth - to the pivotal departure 00:00:30.329 --> 00:00:33.070 of bassist Donnie Borges, we dissect the nuances 00:00:33.070 --> 00:00:35.990 of this defining late 90s release, perfect for 00:00:35.990 --> 00:00:38.750 music historians, the learner persona, and punk 00:00:38.750 --> 00:00:41.350 enthusiasts looking to explore the roots of independent 00:00:41.350 --> 00:00:45.320 music. Welcome to the Deep Dive. We are super 00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:47.740 excited you could join us today because we have 00:00:47.740 --> 00:00:49.880 a really fascinating historical artifact to dig 00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:51.899 into. We really do. Yeah, so our mission today 00:00:51.899 --> 00:00:55.039 is to take a highly specific, almost granular 00:00:55.039 --> 00:00:58.820 slice of 1990s music history, specifically looking 00:00:58.820 --> 00:01:00.840 at 1998 punk rock, and we're going to use the 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:03.640 Wikipedia data for an album called I Is For Insignificant 00:01:03.640 --> 00:01:06.260 by the Canadian band DBS. Right, from North Vancouver. 00:01:06.670 --> 00:01:08.370 Exactly. And we're basically going to extract 00:01:08.370 --> 00:01:11.450 the rich hidden narrative right out of that raw 00:01:11.450 --> 00:01:14.769 data. We're looking at its blend of melodic, 00:01:14.769 --> 00:01:19.150 hardcore, skate punk. It's incredibly weird run 00:01:19.150 --> 00:01:22.349 on the Canadian top 50 chart attack and the thematic 00:01:22.349 --> 00:01:24.930 depth that's just packed into a super short runtime. 00:01:25.290 --> 00:01:27.469 It's it's such an excellent candidate for this 00:01:27.469 --> 00:01:30.269 kind of historical excavation, because when you 00:01:30.269 --> 00:01:32.269 look at the raw data of a release like this, 00:01:32.390 --> 00:01:35.150 you aren't just looking at an album. You're looking 00:01:35.150 --> 00:01:37.549 at a snapshot of a very specific cultural moment. 00:01:37.629 --> 00:01:40.290 I mean, it's 1998. The music industry is still 00:01:40.290 --> 00:01:42.730 entirely dominated by physical media. No streaming 00:01:42.730 --> 00:01:44.870 yet. Exactly. If you wanted to hear a band, you 00:01:44.870 --> 00:01:46.769 had to physically go to a store and buy a CD 00:01:46.769 --> 00:01:49.189 or, you know, borrow a cassette from a friend. 00:01:49.430 --> 00:01:52.329 So this album is the third studio released by 00:01:52.329 --> 00:01:54.870 DBS and it's released on a Canadian. independent 00:01:54.870 --> 00:01:57.150 label called Sudden Death Records. But there's 00:01:57.150 --> 00:01:59.650 another label, too, right? Yeah. The data specifically 00:01:59.650 --> 00:02:02.310 credits empty records in Germany as well. Which 00:02:02.310 --> 00:02:05.510 is wild. It is. So right away, the metadata is 00:02:05.510 --> 00:02:08.490 showing us this local independent creation that 00:02:08.490 --> 00:02:10.370 somehow managed to establish an international 00:02:10.370 --> 00:02:12.750 footprint. I want to start just with the title 00:02:12.750 --> 00:02:15.969 of the album itself, though, is for insignificant. 00:02:16.870 --> 00:02:20.409 There's this deep. distinctly 90s irony there, 00:02:20.569 --> 00:02:23.530 right? Like they named the album to explicitly 00:02:23.530 --> 00:02:27.050 suggest that their work lacks significance. Yeah. 00:02:27.110 --> 00:02:30.110 And yet the fact that we are sitting here pulling 00:02:30.110 --> 00:02:33.189 so much cultural data from it proves the exact 00:02:33.189 --> 00:02:35.849 opposite. It's that classic slacker era self 00:02:35.849 --> 00:02:39.150 -deprecating armor. You see that a lot in 90s 00:02:39.150 --> 00:02:41.629 alternative and punk subcultures. There was this 00:02:41.629 --> 00:02:44.229 intense fear of taking yourself too seriously. 00:02:44.860 --> 00:02:46.719 Or at least appearing to take yourself too seriously. 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:48.659 Oh, totally. Caring was deeply uncore. Exactly. 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:52.000 So calling your third studio album is for insignificant 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.639 is essentially a defense mechanism. If you declare 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:56.719 yourself insignificant first, you take the power 00:02:56.719 --> 00:02:58.659 away from any music critic who might try to say 00:02:58.659 --> 00:03:01.060 the same thing. You beat them to the punch. Precisely. 00:03:01.139 --> 00:03:04.259 Yeah. But when you start to actually decode the 00:03:04.259 --> 00:03:06.060 track list, the genres, the evolution of the 00:03:06.060 --> 00:03:08.400 band, it becomes very clear that they took their 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:11.219 craft incredibly seriously. And for you listening 00:03:11.219 --> 00:03:14.479 right now, if you're someone who loves... Gaining 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:17.900 knowledge quickly but thoroughly without feeling 00:03:17.900 --> 00:03:22.000 completely overwhelmed. Honestly, a 32 -minute 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:25.180 punk album is kind of the perfect metaphor for 00:03:25.180 --> 00:03:27.259 how you learn. Oh, absolutely. We're going to 00:03:27.259 --> 00:03:29.819 break down the track list, the charting data, 00:03:29.960 --> 00:03:32.580 and the band's evolution to find all those little 00:03:32.580 --> 00:03:34.719 aha moments that are just hiding in plain sight. 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:37.159 So let's talk about how this album is categorized. 00:03:37.219 --> 00:03:40.099 Because the source material lists four distinct 00:03:40.099 --> 00:03:43.360 genres for this record. It lists punk rock, pop 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:46.639 punk. melodic hardcore and skate punk a lot to 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:49.039 unpack there yeah it's i've always found genre 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:51.539 tags from this specific era to be incredibly 00:03:51.539 --> 00:03:53.680 messy it's like throwing a bunch of conflicting 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:55.539 ideas into a musical blender that's a good way 00:03:55.539 --> 00:03:57.699 to put it because punk rock is your raw foundation 00:03:57.699 --> 00:04:00.580 but then you have pop punk which implies you 00:04:00.580 --> 00:04:03.360 know catchy melodies accessibility and right 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:05.919 next to it you have melodic hardcore which suggests 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:08.800 aggressive breakneck speed and a much heavier 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:12.629 edge So are these tags actually describing the 00:04:12.629 --> 00:04:14.330 sound or people just throwing everything at the 00:04:14.330 --> 00:04:16.589 wall to see what sticks? What's fascinating here 00:04:16.589 --> 00:04:19.509 is that they are definitely describing the sound, 00:04:19.569 --> 00:04:22.389 but you have to view it through the lens of the 00:04:22.389 --> 00:04:25.110 late 90s underground scene. OK, set the scene 00:04:25.110 --> 00:04:28.389 for us. So by 1998, the commercialization of 00:04:28.389 --> 00:04:31.269 punk was in full swing. Bands were exploding 00:04:31.269 --> 00:04:34.910 on mainstream radio and MTV. But underneath that, 00:04:35.029 --> 00:04:37.600 there was this. fiercely protective underground 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:41.269 scene clinging to the aggressive uncompromising 00:04:41.269 --> 00:04:44.449 roots of hardcore. Right. And DBS was sitting 00:04:44.449 --> 00:04:46.730 right on the fault line between those two worlds. 00:04:46.870 --> 00:04:49.050 The punk rock tag gives you their underlying 00:04:49.050 --> 00:04:53.209 ethos, the DIY anti -corporate stance, but the 00:04:53.209 --> 00:04:55.790 tension between melodic hardcore and pop punk 00:04:55.790 --> 00:04:58.069 is where it gets really compelling. Because hardcore 00:04:58.069 --> 00:05:00.509 purists at the time generally hated pop punk. 00:05:00.610 --> 00:05:03.209 It was viewed as selling out. Exactly. It was 00:05:03.209 --> 00:05:06.069 a dirty word. Melodic hardcore meant your drummer 00:05:06.069 --> 00:05:08.550 was playing at blisteringly fast tempos. Just 00:05:08.550 --> 00:05:10.459 hammering the kit. Yeah. Yeah, guitars heavily 00:05:10.459 --> 00:05:12.899 distorted and the vocals, while carrying a melody, 00:05:13.019 --> 00:05:15.279 were still aggressive, often shouted. It was 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:17.759 music designed for a chaotic live environment. 00:05:17.899 --> 00:05:21.240 Right, the mosh pit. But DBS clearly had an ear 00:05:21.240 --> 00:05:24.259 for melody. They were writing undeniably catchy 00:05:24.259 --> 00:05:27.639 hooks. So the pop punk tag acknowledges that 00:05:27.639 --> 00:05:30.639 they had this sugarcoating to their sound that 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:32.279 just made it stick in your head. And then you 00:05:32.279 --> 00:05:35.199 have that final tag. which is skate punk. Yeah. 00:05:35.319 --> 00:05:37.740 I always felt like skate punk was more of a marketing 00:05:37.740 --> 00:05:41.389 term or like a lifestyle brand. than an actual 00:05:41.389 --> 00:05:43.810 musical genre well in the broader commercial 00:05:43.810 --> 00:05:45.970 sense it eventually became a marketing term sure 00:05:45.970 --> 00:05:49.709 but in 1998 it was a highly functional descriptor 00:05:49.709 --> 00:05:53.069 functional how skate punk described a very specific 00:05:53.069 --> 00:05:56.089 tempo and energy it was music that literally 00:05:56.089 --> 00:05:58.870 synced up with the physical act of skateboarding 00:05:58.870 --> 00:06:01.129 oh interesting like the literal momentum of it 00:06:01.129 --> 00:06:04.350 exactly it was high energy fast paced and usually 00:06:04.350 --> 00:06:07.850 featured complex rapid fire drum fills it was 00:06:07.850 --> 00:06:10.750 the soundtrack to a physical subculture And that 00:06:10.750 --> 00:06:12.870 aggressive, fast -paced energy you're talking 00:06:12.870 --> 00:06:15.269 about is literally visible in the album's runtime. 00:06:15.550 --> 00:06:17.529 Let's hear the numbers. The total length of I 00:06:17.529 --> 00:06:20.930 Is for Insignificant is 32 minutes and 44 seconds. 00:06:20.990 --> 00:06:23.649 Okay. And they pack 13 distinct tracks into that 00:06:23.649 --> 00:06:26.250 space. So if we do the math on that for everyone 00:06:26.250 --> 00:06:29.329 listening, that averages out to roughly two and 00:06:29.329 --> 00:06:32.889 a half minutes per song. Which is so short. And 00:06:32.889 --> 00:06:36.949 to me, that indicates a band that has zero interest 00:06:36.949 --> 00:06:40.370 in wasting your time. None. There is no room 00:06:40.370 --> 00:06:43.569 for a two -minute atmospheric intro or like an 00:06:43.569 --> 00:06:46.790 indulgent guitar solo. It's an auditory sprint. 00:06:46.970 --> 00:06:49.750 It completely aligns with that skate punk functional 00:06:49.750 --> 00:06:52.329 descriptor we just mentioned. You drop in, you 00:06:52.329 --> 00:06:54.189 execute the song, and you get out before the 00:06:54.189 --> 00:06:56.269 momentum dies. Yeah, you drop into the half pipe. 00:06:56.649 --> 00:06:59.509 do the trick and get out that brevity is a hallmark 00:06:59.509 --> 00:07:01.990 of the genre but it also forces an incredible 00:07:01.990 --> 00:07:03.930 amount of discipline on the songwriting because 00:07:03.930 --> 00:07:06.769 you don't have time to meander exactly when you 00:07:06.769 --> 00:07:08.389 only have two and a half minutes to make your 00:07:08.389 --> 00:07:10.850 point your structure has to be flawless you have 00:07:10.850 --> 00:07:13.410 to establish the hook immediately the fact that 00:07:13.410 --> 00:07:15.829 they maintain this discipline across their third 00:07:15.829 --> 00:07:18.769 studio album shows that the insignificant title 00:07:18.769 --> 00:07:21.569 was purely ironic they knew exactly what they 00:07:21.569 --> 00:07:23.529 were doing structurally well let's look at the 00:07:23.529 --> 00:07:26.459 track list because honestly without even hearing 00:07:26.459 --> 00:07:29.079 a single note of the audio, the track titles 00:07:29.079 --> 00:07:33.540 alone paint this massive, vivid picture of what 00:07:33.540 --> 00:07:36.339 it meant to be young and navigating this specific 00:07:36.339 --> 00:07:39.339 scene in the late 90s. They really do. I'm seeing 00:07:39.339 --> 00:07:41.800 a few distinct themes emerge from this data. 00:07:41.980 --> 00:07:44.199 The first one I'd call, let's call it the self 00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:46.560 -aware and the cynical. Okay, I like that. So 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:49.319 track five is titled, So Poppy It'll Make You 00:07:49.319 --> 00:07:52.339 Puke, part one. Right. And then later down the 00:07:52.339 --> 00:07:54.800 track list, track 11 is, So Poppy It'll Make 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:57.579 You Puke. Part two. That perfectly illustrates 00:07:57.579 --> 00:08:00.259 the tension between the genres we were just discussing. 00:08:00.300 --> 00:08:02.540 Because of the pop punk stigma. Yes. Remember 00:08:02.540 --> 00:08:04.560 how we said pop was treated like a dirty word 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:07.399 by hardcore purists? Yeah. By preemptively naming 00:08:07.399 --> 00:08:10.259 not just one, but two of their songs. So, Poppy, 00:08:10.339 --> 00:08:12.560 it'll make you puke. The band is confronting 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:15.879 that exact stigma head on. It's hilarious. They're 00:08:15.879 --> 00:08:18.139 winking at their audience. They're fully admitting, 00:08:18.339 --> 00:08:20.779 yes, we wrote a song with a very accessible, 00:08:20.920 --> 00:08:23.319 catchy melody, and we know it's going to annoy 00:08:23.319 --> 00:08:26.379 the elitists in the scene. It's basically a preemptive 00:08:26.379 --> 00:08:28.740 strike against their own critics. You can't make 00:08:28.740 --> 00:08:30.699 fun of us for being poppy if we already made 00:08:30.699 --> 00:08:33.320 the joke ourselves. Exactly. And I find the structure 00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:35.700 of it really interesting, too. They split this 00:08:35.700 --> 00:08:38.679 thought into two separate tracks. Part one is 00:08:38.679 --> 00:08:40.960 in the first half of the album, and that clocks 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:44.220 in at two minutes and 56 seconds. Okay. But then 00:08:44.220 --> 00:08:46.879 part two is buried in the back half, and it's 00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:49.600 even shorter. It's just one minute and 56 seconds. 00:08:49.740 --> 00:08:52.360 It acts as a cynical recurring motif throughout 00:08:52.360 --> 00:08:54.720 the listening experience. Yeah, exactly. It creates 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:57.559 a narrative thread. It shows a really high level 00:08:57.559 --> 00:08:59.980 of awareness regarding album sequencing. They 00:08:59.980 --> 00:09:01.580 didn't just dump all these songs in a random 00:09:01.580 --> 00:09:03.899 order. Right. They deliberately paste the album 00:09:03.899 --> 00:09:07.120 to recall a specific joke or theme later in the 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:10.620 runtime. And this is important. They weren't 00:09:10.620 --> 00:09:12.379 just making cynical jokes about their own music. 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:14.279 No, definitely not. If you look at some of the 00:09:14.279 --> 00:09:16.639 other track titles, the tone shifts dramatically. 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:19.039 Yeah. That's the second major theme here, which 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:22.759 is these very blunt sociopolitical declarations. 00:09:22.820 --> 00:09:25.620 Let's hear them. So look at track seven. The 00:09:25.620 --> 00:09:29.720 title is Dave or O is a Nazi. Wow. And track 00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:33.419 12 is homophobia is a crime and you're a criminal. 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:36.600 OK. Now, obviously, keeping in mind that we are 00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:39.080 looking at these titles strictly as historical 00:09:39.080 --> 00:09:42.279 data points, we're completely neutral observers 00:09:42.279 --> 00:09:45.200 here just analyzing the text. Of course. Just 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:47.840 reading the data. It's jarring how direct these 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:50.379 titles are. Yes. There's absolutely zero metaphor 00:09:50.379 --> 00:09:52.360 happening. Yeah, none at all. They aren't hiding 00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:55.500 behind poetic imagery. No. And that ties directly 00:09:55.500 --> 00:09:58.419 back to their roots in the hardcore scene. Historically, 00:09:58.539 --> 00:10:00.759 punk and hardcore have operated as platforms 00:10:00.759 --> 00:10:03.320 for direct social commentary and activism. Yeah, 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:05.230 the music. was always intertwined with the message. 00:10:05.409 --> 00:10:07.649 The bands in this space often use their music 00:10:07.649 --> 00:10:10.470 as a literal megaphone. And what's really striking 00:10:10.470 --> 00:10:13.090 about a title like Homophobia is a Crime and 00:10:13.090 --> 00:10:15.769 You're a Criminal is the economy of the messaging. 00:10:15.990 --> 00:10:18.450 Because of the length. Right. That track is only 00:10:18.450 --> 00:10:20.970 one minute and 45 seconds long. Which is barely 00:10:20.970 --> 00:10:22.789 enough time to sing the title itself a few times. 00:10:23.230 --> 00:10:26.049 Precisely. The title essentially has to serve 00:10:26.049 --> 00:10:28.909 as the entire thesis statement. In the era of 00:10:28.909 --> 00:10:32.110 physical media, bands utilized track titles as 00:10:32.110 --> 00:10:35.129 literal manifestos. Oh, that makes so much sense. 00:10:35.269 --> 00:10:37.269 Yeah. Because you'd see the back of the CD case. 00:10:37.389 --> 00:10:40.330 Exactly. When someone picked up the CD jewel 00:10:40.330 --> 00:10:42.809 case in a record store and flipped it over to 00:10:42.809 --> 00:10:45.710 look at the track list, they instantly knew exactly 00:10:45.710 --> 00:10:48.330 what this band's ethical and political boundaries 00:10:48.330 --> 00:10:51.700 were without hearing a single guitar chord. It 00:10:51.700 --> 00:10:53.620 was a filtering mechanism for their audience. 00:10:53.700 --> 00:10:56.139 Exactly. A filtering mechanism. I really like 00:10:56.139 --> 00:10:58.460 that. You see the track list and you either put 00:10:58.460 --> 00:11:00.299 the CD back on the shelf or you take it to the 00:11:00.299 --> 00:11:02.919 register. It's incredibly efficient. Very. Okay. 00:11:02.980 --> 00:11:05.460 So we have cynical self -awareness. We have these. 00:11:05.690 --> 00:11:08.309 Blunt sociopolitical stances. And then there 00:11:08.309 --> 00:11:10.990 is a third theme that really anchors the album 00:11:10.990 --> 00:11:13.649 in its specific time period. Which is? Youth 00:11:13.649 --> 00:11:16.889 and mundanity. Yes. Track two is Viva La Kids. 00:11:17.309 --> 00:11:20.210 Track ten is Expectations Are for the Old. And 00:11:20.210 --> 00:11:23.269 track eight is simply titled Video Store. Oh, 00:11:23.289 --> 00:11:26.070 Video Store is such a perfect artifact of 1998. 00:11:26.149 --> 00:11:28.350 It really is. Because the Video Store wasn't 00:11:28.350 --> 00:11:30.230 just where you rented a movie, right? Yeah. It 00:11:30.230 --> 00:11:32.730 was the cultural hub for teenagers in the 90s. 00:11:32.769 --> 00:11:34.779 It was everything. It was where you hung out 00:11:34.779 --> 00:11:37.200 on a Friday night, where you talked to the clerks 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:39.340 to find out about weird indie films. Where you 00:11:39.340 --> 00:11:41.940 probably bumped into other kids in the local 00:11:41.940 --> 00:11:44.860 punk scene. Exactly. It represents the mundane 00:11:44.860 --> 00:11:48.440 reality of teenage life before the internet gave 00:11:48.440 --> 00:11:51.500 us instant access to absolutely everything. It 00:11:51.500 --> 00:11:53.960 grounds the album in a very specific physical 00:11:53.960 --> 00:11:56.559 reality. And when you pair that physical reality 00:11:56.559 --> 00:11:59.179 with a track like Expectations Are for the Old, 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:02.639 you get a really clear articulation of the broader 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:05.659 punk ethos. How so? Well, that track title is 00:12:05.659 --> 00:12:08.220 a complete rejection of the traditional paved 00:12:08.220 --> 00:12:10.899 pathway of adulthood. Right. It captures that 00:12:10.899 --> 00:12:13.779 universal tension of being young, seeing the 00:12:13.779 --> 00:12:16.299 rigid structures that society expects you to 00:12:16.299 --> 00:12:18.840 fall into, getting a corporate job, settling 00:12:18.840 --> 00:12:21.899 down, buying a house. actively rebelling against 00:12:21.899 --> 00:12:23.980 them. Yeah, those expectations are for the old. 00:12:24.100 --> 00:12:26.759 Exactly. That youthful defiance is timeless, 00:12:26.820 --> 00:12:29.000 of course, but it was particularly potent in 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:31.700 the 90s slacker culture. So we have this really 00:12:31.700 --> 00:12:35.379 cohesive picture of a fast, aggressive, politically 00:12:35.379 --> 00:12:38.740 vocal self -aware album. But if you look closely 00:12:38.740 --> 00:12:41.440 at the data, and I know you love this part, there 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:44.279 is one massive structural anomaly. The closer. 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:48.340 Yes. The very last track. on the album, track 00:12:48.340 --> 00:12:52.639 13, is titled Five Billion. And the runtime for 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:55.000 this track is four minutes and ten seconds. Which, 00:12:55.120 --> 00:12:57.080 in the context of this specific album, is an 00:12:57.080 --> 00:13:00.080 absolute eternity. Exactly. I mean, if their 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:01.799 average song length is around two and a half 00:13:01.799 --> 00:13:04.100 minutes, and we've got tracks clocking in at 00:13:04.100 --> 00:13:07.340 1 .45, a track that breaks the four minute mark 00:13:07.340 --> 00:13:10.460 is a massive outlier. Doesn't that contradict 00:13:10.460 --> 00:13:13.179 the whole no filler, zero wasted time ethos we 00:13:13.179 --> 00:13:15.080 were just talking about? On the surface, it might 00:13:15.080 --> 00:13:17.320 seem like a contradiction. Right. But structurally, 00:13:17.419 --> 00:13:20.580 within the context of album sequencing, a significantly 00:13:20.580 --> 00:13:23.700 longer final track usually serves a very deliberate 00:13:23.700 --> 00:13:26.460 purpose. Okay. It acts as an anchor. Think about 00:13:26.460 --> 00:13:28.220 the physical experience of listening to this 00:13:28.220 --> 00:13:31.059 album. You have just been bombarded by 12 tracks 00:13:31.059 --> 00:13:33.919 of high BPM, aggressive, rapid fire punk music. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:36.940 Just a wall of sound. Right. If the album just 00:13:36.940 --> 00:13:39.419 abruptly ended after another two minute sprint, 00:13:39.620 --> 00:13:41.899 it might feel unresolved. It might just feel 00:13:41.899 --> 00:13:44.379 like the tape snapped. Yeah, jarring. A four 00:13:44.379 --> 00:13:47.559 minute and ten second closer forces a dynamic 00:13:47.559 --> 00:13:50.940 shift. It's the cool down lap. Exactly. It might 00:13:50.940 --> 00:13:54.320 indicate a slower tempo, a heavier, more methodical 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:57.620 instrumental buildup, or maybe an extended outro. 00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:00.340 It gives you space to breathe. Right. It demands 00:14:00.340 --> 00:14:03.500 the listener's attention one last time, signaling 00:14:03.500 --> 00:14:06.159 that the chaotic sprint is over and giving them 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:09.220 a moment to actually process the frantic 28 minutes 00:14:09.220 --> 00:14:11.980 of music that preceded it before the disc actually 00:14:11.980 --> 00:14:14.730 stops spinning. That makes a lot of sense. It 00:14:14.730 --> 00:14:17.509 shows that even within a genre that is completely 00:14:17.509 --> 00:14:20.250 known for its brevity, they are thinking about 00:14:20.250 --> 00:14:22.789 the architecture of the album as a complete start 00:14:22.789 --> 00:14:25.309 to finish experience. They were very intentional. 00:14:25.490 --> 00:14:26.929 Now, I want to transition from the structure 00:14:26.929 --> 00:14:29.350 of the album to the actual individuals who made 00:14:29.350 --> 00:14:31.629 it. Let's do it. Because there is a crucial piece 00:14:31.629 --> 00:14:34.389 of personnel data in the source material that 00:14:34.389 --> 00:14:36.509 completely changes how we should view this album 00:14:36.509 --> 00:14:39.230 historically. Okay, so the credited band members 00:14:39.230 --> 00:14:42.450 for this release are Andy Dixon on guitar and 00:14:42.450 --> 00:14:45.750 backing vocals, Jesse Gander on vocals, Paul 00:14:45.750 --> 00:14:49.370 Patko on drums and backing vocals, and Donny 00:14:49.370 --> 00:14:52.970 Borches on bass guitar. Right. And the text provides 00:14:52.970 --> 00:14:56.429 one very specific, explicit note about this lineup. 00:14:56.590 --> 00:14:59.710 It says, I Is For Insignificant is the last studio 00:14:59.710 --> 00:15:01.970 album to feature Donnie Borges on bass guitar 00:15:01.970 --> 00:15:04.889 before he was replaced by Ryan Angus. And that 00:15:04.889 --> 00:15:07.490 detail is incredibly significant when you map 00:15:07.490 --> 00:15:10.049 it against the band's broader chronology. Let's 00:15:10.049 --> 00:15:11.909 look at the timeline. So they released their 00:15:11.909 --> 00:15:15.309 debut album, Tales From The Crib, in 1995. Okay. 00:15:15.370 --> 00:15:17.370 They followed it up with If The Music's Loud 00:15:17.370 --> 00:15:20.740 Enough. In 1996. And then this album comes out 00:15:20.740 --> 00:15:22.860 in 1998. So they've been grinding together for 00:15:22.860 --> 00:15:24.379 at least three or four years by this point. I 00:15:24.379 --> 00:15:25.899 mean, they've written three full -length albums 00:15:25.899 --> 00:15:27.960 together. Which means they have put their 10 00:15:27.960 --> 00:15:30.419 ,000 hours in. Definitely. They have spent countless 00:15:30.419 --> 00:15:33.379 hours sweating in a cramped practice space, touring 00:15:33.379 --> 00:15:36.039 in a tiny van. Smelling terrible, I'm sure. Oh, 00:15:36.059 --> 00:15:38.600 without a doubt. And through all that, developing 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:41.200 a deeply specific psychic connection with one 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:44.039 another musically. To lose a founding member, 00:15:44.220 --> 00:15:46.860 particularly your bassist, immediately after 00:15:46.860 --> 00:15:49.559 your third album, is a massive rupture in the 00:15:49.559 --> 00:15:51.960 ecosystem of the band. I feel like people often 00:15:51.960 --> 00:15:54.399 underestimate the role of the bassist in a four 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:56.620 -piece punk band. Like, it's not just a background 00:15:56.620 --> 00:15:59.700 instrument. Not at all, especially in melodic, 00:15:59.700 --> 00:16:03.059 hardcore, and skate punk. Why is that? Because 00:16:03.059 --> 00:16:05.500 the rhythm section, the interplay between Paul 00:16:05.500 --> 00:16:08.840 Patco on drums and Donny Borches on bass, that 00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:11.559 is the engine of the entire sound. Right. The 00:16:11.559 --> 00:16:13.899 bass isn't just playing root notes quietly in 00:16:13.899 --> 00:16:17.080 the back. In this genre, it is actively driving 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:19.519 the forward momentum, locking in with the speed 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:21.919 of the kick drum to create that aggressive runaway 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:25.059 train feeling. The propulsion. Yes. When a bassist 00:16:25.059 --> 00:16:27.460 and a drummer play together for years, they develop 00:16:27.460 --> 00:16:30.100 a shared rhythmic language. They know exactly 00:16:30.100 --> 00:16:31.960 when the other person is going to push or pull. 00:16:32.139 --> 00:16:34.779 So when Nani leaves, that language is essentially 00:16:34.779 --> 00:16:37.299 lost, or at least it has to be completely rebuilt. 00:16:37.620 --> 00:16:40.539 Exactly. When Ryan Angus steps in to record their 00:16:40.539 --> 00:16:43.460 next album, Some Boys Got It, Most Men Don't, 00:16:43.460 --> 00:16:46.679 in 1999. Great title, by the way. It is. But 00:16:46.679 --> 00:16:49.340 when he steps in, he is bringing his own style, 00:16:49.559 --> 00:16:52.620 his own rhythmic sensibilities, and his own influences. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:56.399 The fundamental chemistry of the band irreversibly 00:16:56.399 --> 00:17:00.090 shifts. So Atnan... It's for Insignificant isn't 00:17:00.090 --> 00:17:03.669 just their third album. No. It is the final definitive 00:17:03.669 --> 00:17:07.250 historical document of the original four -piece 00:17:07.250 --> 00:17:10.839 DBS lineup. It captures the absolute peak of 00:17:10.839 --> 00:17:12.599 the musical partnership they started back in 00:17:12.599 --> 00:17:15.339 1995 before the entire dynamic change. It's a 00:17:15.339 --> 00:17:18.200 time capsule of that exact human ecosystem. And 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:20.240 I want to look at exactly how that ecosystem 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:23.259 interacted with the real world in 1998. Because 00:17:23.259 --> 00:17:25.299 here is where it gets really interesting. The 00:17:25.299 --> 00:17:27.579 chart numbers. Yes. The source material provides 00:17:27.579 --> 00:17:29.940 charting data for this album that is frankly 00:17:29.940 --> 00:17:34.259 bizarre, but utterly fascinating. We are looking 00:17:34.259 --> 00:17:36.180 at the album's trajectory on the Canadian Top 00:17:36.180 --> 00:17:38.279 50 Chart Attack. Before we get into the numbers, 00:17:38.440 --> 00:17:40.539 it's really important to clarify what Chart Attack 00:17:40.539 --> 00:17:42.880 actually was. Yeah, please do. Because it wasn't 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:44.980 the Billboard Top 100. Right, this isn't tracking 00:17:44.980 --> 00:17:48.299 Celine Dion. No. Chart Attack was an incredibly 00:17:48.299 --> 00:17:51.000 prominent Canadian music magazine and charting 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:54.099 system that focused heavily on alternative, independent, 00:17:54.359 --> 00:17:58.119 and college radio music. Got it. For a band like 00:17:58.119 --> 00:18:01.069 DBS, Charting on Chart Attack carried vastly 00:18:01.069 --> 00:18:03.750 more cultural weight and scene credibility than 00:18:03.750 --> 00:18:06.089 charting on a mainstream pop list ever would. 00:18:06.250 --> 00:18:09.309 Because it's their peers. Exactly. It meant that 00:18:09.309 --> 00:18:11.970 actual college radio DJs and independent record 00:18:11.970 --> 00:18:14.710 store owners across the country were validating 00:18:14.710 --> 00:18:17.059 your music. Okay, so keeping that independent 00:18:17.059 --> 00:18:19.779 grassroots context in mind, let's look at the 00:18:19.779 --> 00:18:21.859 timeline breakdown of their appearances on this 00:18:21.859 --> 00:18:23.759 Top 50 chart. Let's do it. Appearance number 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:27.940 one, the week of June 25 to July 2, 1998. Okay. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:30.079 The album debuts near the bottom of the chart 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:32.700 at number 46. Pretty standard debut. Right. But 00:18:32.700 --> 00:18:35.079 then, appearance number two, a full month goes 00:18:35.079 --> 00:18:38.559 by. Then, the week of July 30 to August 6, 1998, 00:18:39.019 --> 00:18:41.420 the album surges to its peak position at number 00:18:41.420 --> 00:18:44.700 27. A huge jump. Massive. And then, appearance 00:18:44.700 --> 00:18:46.880 number three. The album disappears in the chart 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:48.980 for almost two entire months. Just gone. Gone. 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:51.980 Then the week of October 1 to October 8, 1998, 00:18:52.279 --> 00:18:55.039 it reappears at number 48. Now, if you look at 00:18:55.039 --> 00:18:57.660 those massive gaping holes in the timeline, it 00:18:57.660 --> 00:19:00.599 tells a very distinct story about how music moved 00:19:00.599 --> 00:19:02.900 in the late 90s. Because it's so different from 00:19:02.900 --> 00:19:05.259 today. Completely different. Today, in the streaming 00:19:05.259 --> 00:19:08.759 era, for you listening at home, chart data is 00:19:08.759 --> 00:19:11.720 almost always a smooth, predictable curve. Right. 00:19:11.799 --> 00:19:14.240 An album drops on a Friday. The streaming algorithm 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:17.319 pushes it. It hits its absolute peak on week 00:19:17.319 --> 00:19:20.220 one, maybe week two. And then it slowly and steadily 00:19:20.220 --> 00:19:22.720 declines as the algorithm moves on to the next 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:26.059 shiny new release. It's a slope. Right. This 00:19:26.059 --> 00:19:29.599 jagged, erratic start and stop pattern from 1998 00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:33.319 is completely alien to modern music distribution. 00:19:33.539 --> 00:19:36.019 It looks completely chaotic on paper. It does. 00:19:36.279 --> 00:19:38.400 But if you think about the physical reality of 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:40.920 being an independent band in Canada in 1998, 00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:44.579 this data starts to look exactly like a map of 00:19:44.579 --> 00:19:46.920 a regional summer tour. That is a very, very 00:19:46.920 --> 00:19:48.740 likely scenario. Let's break down the mechanics 00:19:48.740 --> 00:19:51.559 of that hypothesis. Okay. So in late June, school 00:19:51.559 --> 00:19:54.039 lets out for the summer. The band releases the 00:19:54.039 --> 00:19:56.839 album on sudden death records. Their local fan 00:19:56.839 --> 00:19:59.180 base in North Vancouver and the surrounding British 00:19:59.180 --> 00:20:01.799 Columbia area goes to their local independent 00:20:01.799 --> 00:20:04.740 record stores and physically buys the CD. So 00:20:04.740 --> 00:20:08.460 that localized burst of hometown sales and probably 00:20:08.460 --> 00:20:11.140 some local college radio play pushes them onto 00:20:11.140 --> 00:20:13.920 the national chart at number 46. Exactly. And 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:16.180 then because they are an independent punk band 00:20:16.180 --> 00:20:19.369 in 1998. They don't have a massive corporate 00:20:19.369 --> 00:20:21.730 marketing budget. No. They can't shoot a million 00:20:21.730 --> 00:20:24.089 dollar music video or buy national television 00:20:24.089 --> 00:20:27.369 ads. The only way to promote the record is to 00:20:27.369 --> 00:20:29.859 literally get in the van. The physical geographic 00:20:29.859 --> 00:20:32.819 grind of the 90s tour. They are driving across 00:20:32.819 --> 00:20:35.519 the country. They're playing Legion Halls, basements, 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:38.539 dive bars, all ages clubs. Sleeping on floors. 00:20:38.759 --> 00:20:40.819 Oh, absolutely. And they are setting up a merchandise 00:20:40.819 --> 00:20:42.720 table at the back of the room every single night, 00:20:42.779 --> 00:20:44.859 selling CDs directly out of a cardboard box. 00:20:45.160 --> 00:20:47.680 So by late July, maybe they've hit a major market 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:50.519 like Toronto or Montreal. Right. They play a 00:20:50.519 --> 00:20:53.019 string of incredibly sweaty, high energy, successful 00:20:53.019 --> 00:20:55.799 shows. Maybe they do a live interview on the 00:20:55.799 --> 00:20:57.519 local college radio station the next morning. 00:20:57.819 --> 00:20:59.759 And then the people who were at the show go to 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:02.180 the local record store that next day and demand 00:21:02.180 --> 00:21:05.039 the album. And suddenly, that regional momentum 00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:08.200 causes a massive spike in physical sales, and 00:21:08.200 --> 00:21:11.119 boom, the album peaks at number 27 on Chart Attack. 00:21:11.319 --> 00:21:14.759 Which is huge! To hit number 27 on that chart 00:21:14.759 --> 00:21:17.220 meant you were likely beating out much larger 00:21:17.220 --> 00:21:19.680 alternative rock bands that had actual major 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:22.319 label backing. It's a real David and Goliath 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:24.980 situation. It's a testament to the raw power 00:21:24.980 --> 00:21:27.119 of their live show and the dedication of the 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:30.380 independent scene. But honestly, the most revealing 00:21:30.380 --> 00:21:33.000 piece of data here is that third appearance in 00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:35.869 October. The October bump. Yes. So the album 00:21:35.869 --> 00:21:38.089 drops off a chart entirely throughout August 00:21:38.089 --> 00:21:40.970 and September and then suddenly jumps back onto 00:21:40.970 --> 00:21:43.710 the chart at number 48 in October. Why? Well, 00:21:43.809 --> 00:21:46.210 to disappear for two months and then return to 00:21:46.210 --> 00:21:48.809 a top 50 chart proves that the album had genuine 00:21:48.809 --> 00:21:51.250 staying power. It wasn't just a fleeting summer 00:21:51.250 --> 00:21:53.470 trend. Right. It means the fan base was actively 00:21:53.470 --> 00:21:55.950 growing organically entirely through word of 00:21:55.950 --> 00:21:57.789 mouth. It's the back to school effect. Exactly. 00:21:57.869 --> 00:21:59.829 Think about how cultural transmission worked 00:21:59.829 --> 00:22:02.930 back then. You went to a show in July and bought 00:22:02.930 --> 00:22:05.480 the CD. Right. You listen to it in your bedroom 00:22:05.480 --> 00:22:08.599 all August, and then in September, high school 00:22:08.599 --> 00:22:11.140 and college start back up. You bring your Discman 00:22:11.140 --> 00:22:14.559 to school. You physically hand the CD to a friend 00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:16.579 in the hallway and say, you have to listen to 00:22:16.579 --> 00:22:19.000 this. Track 12 is only a minute and 45 seconds 00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:21.500 long, and it's amazing. And then that friend 00:22:21.500 --> 00:22:24.539 listens to it, loves it. And by October, they 00:22:24.539 --> 00:22:26.200 go out to the record store and purchase their 00:22:26.200 --> 00:22:28.700 own physical copy. That is exactly how independent 00:22:28.700 --> 00:22:31.619 music survived and thrived. You literally had 00:22:31.619 --> 00:22:34.099 to physically hand someone the music for it to 00:22:34.099 --> 00:22:37.420 spread. The data from the chart attack is essentially 00:22:37.420 --> 00:22:41.240 plotting out the slow, gritty, deeply personal 00:22:41.240 --> 00:22:44.059 spread of a cultural artifact. It's like tracking 00:22:44.059 --> 00:22:46.619 a very cool virus. Pretty much. And what's truly 00:22:46.619 --> 00:22:48.619 incredible is that this physical transmission 00:22:48.619 --> 00:22:50.700 wasn't just limited to the case. Canadian highway 00:22:50.700 --> 00:22:53.079 system. Which brings us to the final piece of 00:22:53.079 --> 00:22:56.599 the puzzle. The record labels. Yes. We know the 00:22:56.599 --> 00:22:58.700 album was primarily released by Sudden Death 00:22:58.700 --> 00:23:01.960 Records in Canada. But the source material explicitly 00:23:01.960 --> 00:23:05.000 notes a secondary credit. Empty records in Germany. 00:23:05.319 --> 00:23:08.119 Yeah. How does a local punk band from North Vancouver 00:23:08.119 --> 00:23:10.700 end up with a distribution deal in Germany in 00:23:10.700 --> 00:23:13.359 1998? Like, how does that even happen? It connects 00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:16.240 you directly to the reality of the 1990s international 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:19.200 punk network. Which was huge, right? Massive. 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:21.880 Long before social media, the global underground 00:23:21.880 --> 00:23:25.420 was highly organized and deeply passionate. It 00:23:25.420 --> 00:23:27.920 operated through a massive web of photocopied 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:30.500 fanzines, international tape trading circles, 00:23:30.740 --> 00:23:33.700 and independent record labels that actively collaborated 00:23:33.700 --> 00:23:35.960 across borders. Pen pals, basically. Exactly. 00:23:36.140 --> 00:23:38.980 A label like Empty Records in Germany existed 00:23:38.980 --> 00:23:42.160 to seek out aggressive, melodic, hardcore from... 00:23:43.980 --> 00:23:47.140 It is so wild to think about. It really is. Just 00:23:47.140 --> 00:23:49.960 picture some kid in Munich or Berlin in the fall 00:23:49.960 --> 00:23:53.680 of 1998 walking into a record store, buying a 00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:55.839 CD from a band based out of North Vancouver, 00:23:56.079 --> 00:23:59.799 and experiencing that exact same 32 -minute auditory 00:23:59.799 --> 00:24:01.720 sprint that a kid in Toronto was experiencing. 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:04.180 Yeah. They are listening to songs about Canadian 00:24:04.180 --> 00:24:07.220 video stores and 90s teenage expectations, and 00:24:07.220 --> 00:24:09.099 it resonates with them entirely outside of the 00:24:09.099 --> 00:24:11.680 mainstream corporate music machine. It proves 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:15.140 that this specific blend of raw, unfiltered music 00:24:15.140 --> 00:24:18.740 truly spoke a universal language. It transcended 00:24:18.740 --> 00:24:22.259 geography. It did. But it also highlights the 00:24:22.259 --> 00:24:24.900 sheer amount of logistical effort required to 00:24:24.900 --> 00:24:27.140 be an international independent band in that 00:24:27.140 --> 00:24:30.009 era. Oh, the postage alone. Right. Getting your 00:24:30.009 --> 00:24:32.369 master tape shipped to Germany, coordinating 00:24:32.369 --> 00:24:35.470 the printing of the jewel cases overseas, ensuring 00:24:35.470 --> 00:24:38.130 the track titles, those blunt sociopolitical 00:24:38.130 --> 00:24:40.829 declarations we discussed, were accurately represented 00:24:40.829 --> 00:24:43.029 to a foreign audience. It was a massive undertaking. 00:24:43.529 --> 00:24:46.250 No emails with MP3 attachments. You had to mail 00:24:46.250 --> 00:24:49.220 a physical tape. Exactly. Well, looking back 00:24:49.220 --> 00:24:51.559 at the round we've covered today, it is amazing 00:24:51.559 --> 00:24:54.420 how much narrative you can extract from a Wikipedia 00:24:54.420 --> 00:24:56.839 stub if you just know how to read the negative 00:24:56.839 --> 00:24:59.119 space around the data points. It's all there 00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:01.299 if you look closely. We started with a brief 00:25:01.299 --> 00:25:05.680 32 -minute, 13 -track album from 1998, an album 00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:08.680 they ironically titled I Is For Insignificant. 00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:11.380 And we uncovered a massive exploration of an 00:25:11.380 --> 00:25:13.920 entire cultural era. We unpacked the internal 00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:16.779 scene politics of melodic hardcore versus pop 00:25:16.779 --> 00:25:19.730 punk. The self -awareness required to name a 00:25:19.730 --> 00:25:23.049 song so poppy it'll make you puke. Part one and 00:25:23.049 --> 00:25:26.589 two. Exactly. We looked at the economy of using 00:25:26.589 --> 00:25:30.130 track titles as blunt sociopolitical manifestos. 00:25:30.250 --> 00:25:33.369 We explored the delicate human ecosystem of a 00:25:33.369 --> 00:25:36.049 four -piece band and how the departure of founding 00:25:36.049 --> 00:25:39.650 bassist Donny Borges turned this specific album 00:25:39.650 --> 00:25:42.250 into the final time capsule of their original 00:25:42.250 --> 00:25:44.859 rhythmic chemistry. a really vital piece of their 00:25:44.859 --> 00:25:47.880 history and we tracked the gritty physical reality 00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:51.269 of 90s music distribution watching the album 00:25:51.269 --> 00:25:53.710 bounce around the Canadian charts on the back 00:25:53.710 --> 00:25:55.970 of regional touring and high school word of mouth 00:25:55.970 --> 00:25:58.569 before ultimately crossing the Atlantic to reach 00:25:58.569 --> 00:26:00.950 listeners in Germany. It serves as a great reminder 00:26:00.950 --> 00:26:02.630 to everyone listening that true understanding 00:26:02.630 --> 00:26:04.769 rarely comes from just skimming the surface. 00:26:05.049 --> 00:26:07.230 Definitely not. Sometimes the deepest insights 00:26:07.230 --> 00:26:10.309 come from unpacking dense, fast -paced bursts 00:26:10.309 --> 00:26:12.789 of information, just like a punk song. Oh, that's 00:26:12.789 --> 00:26:14.750 a great point. In fact, if you look at track 00:26:14.750 --> 00:26:18.069 nine on this album, titled Dream, it clocks in 00:26:18.069 --> 00:26:20.480 at exactly one minute and... 30 seconds long. 00:26:20.640 --> 00:26:22.700 It is the shortest song on the album, yet it 00:26:22.700 --> 00:26:24.660 sits right in the middle of the track list, holding 00:26:24.660 --> 00:26:27.339 its ground. Information density is a powerful 00:26:27.339 --> 00:26:29.700 thing, whether it's in a one -minute punk song 00:26:29.700 --> 00:26:32.000 or a handful of chart dates. That's perfectly 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:34.539 said. We could track lengths, a couple of dates, 00:26:34.619 --> 00:26:37.099 and a list of four names, and watched an entire 00:26:37.099 --> 00:26:40.700 1998 world spring to life. It really did. It 00:26:40.700 --> 00:26:42.920 makes you realize how much invisible history 00:26:42.920 --> 00:26:46.000 is encoded in the metadata of the art we consume. 00:26:46.759 --> 00:26:49.039 And that actually leaves me with a final lingering 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:51.259 thought for you to ponder long after we wrap 00:26:51.259 --> 00:26:53.740 up today. Lay it on them. We've just seen how 00:26:53.740 --> 00:26:56.319 a few track titles, run times, and scattered 00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:59.740 chart appearances from 1998 can paint a vivid, 00:26:59.799 --> 00:27:03.220 breathing picture of a cultural movement, a geographical 00:27:03.220 --> 00:27:06.880 grind, and a band's internal dynamics. It makes 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:09.779 you wonder if someone, decades from now, were 00:27:09.779 --> 00:27:12.140 to look purely at the metadata of the playlist 00:27:12.140 --> 00:27:14.460 you are listening to right now. Oh, that's interesting. 00:27:14.660 --> 00:27:16.700 Right. Like the exact lengths of the tracks you 00:27:16.700 --> 00:27:19.160 favor, the specific titles of the songs you repeat, 00:27:19.339 --> 00:27:21.420 the exact weeks and months you listen to the 00:27:21.420 --> 00:27:24.200 most. What kind of deep, hidden narrative would 00:27:24.200 --> 00:27:26.400 they uncover about your life? What a question. 00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:30.039 Something to think about. Thanks for joining 00:27:30.039 --> 00:27:32.420 us on this deep dive. Keep looking for the stories 00:27:32.420 --> 00:27:34.160 hidden in the data. We'll catch you next time.