Welcome to My Weekly Mixtape, a podcast that
takes the classic mixtape approach to building
a modern playlist. I'm your host, Brian Colburn.
Joining me once again as guest curator is Zach
Derby from the Neatcast. Zach, welcome back to
the show, my friend. Hey, thank you for having
me back. And I know this has been, you and I
have gone back and forth about this for a while,
and we've changed topics a couple of times of
what we were going to make a mixtape about, but
this one is going to be a lot of fun. I'm actually
really, really excited about this one because
anybody who's listened to this show for a hot
minute knows that one thing I talk about pretty
much every week is the fact that I love album
opening tracks. And tonight we get to talk about
them 20 times in a row. How wonderful is that?
And all 90s opening tracks. I mean, the 90s was
so good for movies and music. And I'm sure I'm
a bit biased because it's what I remember the
most with growing up. But, man, 90s was awesome.
90s is an incredible decade of music. How tough
was it for you, Zach, to narrow down your bank
of 90s rock album openers? Even though we're
kind of narrowing the scope here in terms of
decade and genre, the word rock in and of itself
is pretty vague, especially in the 90s. Yeah,
once you get to 90s, I mean, granted, you go
back to the 80s. Yeah, there's different genres
of rock and roll. And it has since expanded now
into the future of what 80s rock was and where
it is labeled. 90s, though. Like, you started
with rock, but it quickly became the alternative
grunge, the hardcore, a lot of other versions
of rock that was a bit more prominent than just,
oh, that's rock and roll. And this was pretty
difficult because... I have enough to make another
album, I'm sure. When we get done with this,
I'm going to have leftover songs. I have 40 songs
in my bank. Of course you do. Of course I do.
Ready to go, because I don't know what direction
you're going in, and I want to try to have ammunition
to go and either follow along or take us in a
new direction, depending on where we go with
this. So tonight, as I mentioned at the top of
the show, Zach and I will be curating the ultimate
90s rock album openers mixtape, and we'll use
the old cassette deck approach. Zach, as my special
guest, will begin side A with his first song
choice, and then I'll add a song that I feel
best follows up that choice. We'll then flip
-flop choosing songs until we've mapped out 10
songs for side A. We'll then give our mixtape
the proverbial flip and we'll map outside. But
only this time, I'll kick things off with Zach
choosing second. Our overall goal for this episode
is to craft the best 90s rock album openers mixtape
possible through only 20 songs. At the end of
the show, you can take our conversation to the
next level by visiting the episode page at myweeklymixtape
.com to give our final mixtape a listen via the
embedded playlist. And if you like what you're
hearing on the show, you can help me out by either
telling a friend, leaving the show a five -star
review wherever you're tuning in, or becoming
a part of the Patreon mixtaper community at patreon
.com forward slash My Weekly Mixtape. There you'll
find ad -free episodes of the show, gain immediate
access to future My Weekly Mixtape episodes,
hear exclusive bonus banter clips, chime in on
upcoming show topics, become a future guest,
and so much more. And I'd like to give a shout
out to some of the Patriot mixtapers who chimed
in on tonight's topic, 90s rock album openers.
Sean Goff chimed in saying, the tinny drums,
then the squealing feedback, followed by a driving
headbang and riff, Stink Fist by Tool is how
you start things tonight. Seeker chimed in from
Australia saying he's been struggling between
hard rock and grunge. So he's going with an opener
that he thinks straddles both genres. And that
is Sister Havana by Urge Overkill, which opens
up the magnificent album Saturation. Ben from
the Too Vague podcast chimed in with Bjork's
human behavior from her 1993 debut. Well, debut.
Rob chimed in saying if Ben Folds Five counts
as a rock band and he thinks they do, then Narcolepsy
from the unauthorized biography of Reinhard Messner
or on a completely different level of rock, Pantera's
Mouth of War off Vogel Display of Power. And
he says now that he's actually thought about
it, it has to be Bomb Track by Rage Against the
Machine, doesn't it? Tom Hutchinson chimed in
saying he's going with Cherub Rock by the Smashing
Pumpkins, saying it's a great start to an even
more incredible record. Chad LaMassa chimed in
with Mr. Self -Destruct from Nine Inch Nails'
The Fragile, calling it one of his favorite songs
from the band. Philip Bergman chimed in with
a trio of songs, kicking off with Two from U2,
Disco Tech from Pop, as well as Hold Me, Thrill
Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me from the Batman Forever
soundtrack. And he also chimed in with Smells
Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana off of Nevermind.
And finally, Brandon from Virginia chimed in
with So So Many, as he put it. Robbie Robertson's
Night Parade from Storyville. Suicidal Tendencies
You Can't Bring Me Down from Lights Camera Revolution.
Bad Religion's Generator. Fish's Julius from
Hoist, and Soundgarden's Rusty Cage, just to
name a few. Once again, if you'd like to chime
in for future My Weekly Mixtape episodes, join
the Mixtaper community at patreon .com forward
slash myweeklymixtape. Now, Zach, I don't know
about you, but if the Patreon Mixtaper's barrage
of picks doesn't scream that you and I are in
for kind of a tough one tonight, I don't know
what does. Yeah, there was a lot that I heard.
I'm going, oh man, they're really good at picking
these songs. I got that one. I got that one.
Oh, I didn't have that one. These guys might
be a little bit better at this than I am. Well,
the mixtapers do not mess around when it comes
to something like song choices. But with that
said, Zach, I think we should take deep and cleansing
breaths. And I'm going to press the record button
on the ultimate 90s rock album openers mixtape
and pass the mic to you. What 90s rock album
opener do you deem worthy enough to open our
mixtape of 90s rock album openers? That is a
lot of pressure. When you say it like that, it's
a lot of freaking pressure, man. Going through
what I have here. I think I'm going to go from
the 1992 album Dirt, Alice in Chains, Them Bones.
Nice. The album is a solid album. And I didn't
own every album by Alice in Chains, but this
was one of my favorite songs by them. And it
just, I think it's a damn good start. Oh, dude,
it's an incredible start. You scooped me right
from the jump. both Them Bones from Dirt as well
as Rotten Apples from Jar of Flies in case we
were going in a more mellow, mellowness direction.
That one just, oh my God, that opening of that
song is so hypnotic, but you didn't start with
that. So we'll talk about that another time.
Them Bones. What a massive riff that is. This
pummels you. There is some metal in the grunge
with Alice in Chains. I think they're the heaviest
of the big four. Easily, yeah. I would lean to
them as, quote, the heavy of the big four. And
surprisingly, Them Bones is not a long song.
It's only two and a half minutes. And as I'm
listening to it, I always felt it was a little
bit longer just because of the cadence. It never
bothered me until I looked up to add it and go,
oh yeah, it's only two and a half minutes. All
right. Short start. It's a short start, but it's
two and a half minutes that aired on a lot of
radio stations because it reached number 24 on
the US mainstream rock chart, number 26 on the
UK singles chart, number 22 in Ireland and number
93 on the Australia ARIA chart. So maybe not
a number one hit. But this song just has a timeless
nature to it that if you put it on right now
and you tell somebody, hey, this song is 33 years
old. I feel old now. It sounds like it could
have came out yesterday. Yeah, it still holds
up. I mean, and a lot of that I attribute to
the polish and the editing and everything that
they did to put it together. Because some audio
you hear over time. Go, yeah, that's old. That's
a little bit even digitally when it's remastered,
it still got a little bit of age on it. This
feels 90s, but also doesn't. It's a weird it's
a weird song, but I like it. Well, I think I
know what I'm going to follow that up with, because
you've already started the big four. You've opened
that Pandora's box. So for track two, I'm going
to go with an album opener called Once. Okay,
I see what's going on here. All right. Honestly,
I could have went with Go off of Versus or Laxed
Exit from Vitology, but I'm sticking with their
1991 album, 10, and I'm going to go with Pearl
Jam. Depending on where you listen, Master Slave
is part of that, which is the opening instrumental
piece that plays before the song. Personally,
if I had any say in it, I would go with the remixed
version from 2009. I feel like the remix truly
sounds like it could have been released in any
decade. And the 1991 original, as much as I love
it, there still is that early 90s, late 80s sheen
on top of the album. Still kind of drowned in
reverb. I think the newer version is a little
bit more raw. But Once was always one of those
songs. And don't ask me why. Anytime I go to
a pool hall. And this has nothing to do with
the song in any way, shape, or form. I just feel
like this is a badass song to shoot around a
pool to. I can hear that. It's the most random
of things, but it works. Next time you're shooting
pool, give this song a play. I'm going to have
to pull that up and go, all right, Brian said,
listen to Once while you're sucking at pool.
Okay, I can do that while I'm being hustled.
Yep. All right. So since I kicked it open and
you continue to open the door, now I'm committed.
Okay. So whatever you pick now, my next pick
will be the other one. So let's just get this
out of the way. Pretty much. I think we need
to do this just because we have to. I am going
to go with, yeah, I think this is the right choice.
1991 from Bad Motor Finger. Rusty Cage, because
that first little intro of the guitar, just back
and forth a little bit, and then it comes in
and it just goes and goes, even though about
three quarters of the way through, all of a sudden
they go a completely left direction and you go,
what is this? But it kind of snaps you back to
it because you're kind of just in this mood,
this mode with Rusty Cage. I enjoy that. that
can plead out of left field where they go with
the song. But this was such a kick -ass start
to the album. I love Rusty Cage. Oh, Bad Motor
Finger is probably, it's not probably, it is
my favorite Soundgarden album. Yes, I know. I
know. But this one to me just had all the rawness
and a little bit more heft. Then I got, I, people
are going to get so pissed. I know how much people
love super unknown and zero disrespect to it,
but bad motor finger did it for me. Shout out
to Patreon mixtape or Brandon from Virginia,
who also chimed in with this one. And while it
didn't chart here in the U S it did reach number
41 on the UK singles chart and number 80 on the
Australia Aria chart. So the UK and Australia
got it right. We messed this one up in the US
for sure. And I should also mention, because
we have to talk cover songs, and it also happened
in the 90s, while it didn't start the album,
Johnny Cash with a backing band of, oh, I don't
know, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on the
1996 album Unchained did a brilliant reimagining
of this track. I played this. All the time on
my country radio show in college, because to
me, it's Johnny Cash and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
covering Soundgarden. And Cash, I mean, that's
an entirely different conversation. But later
on in his life, he did some very interesting
covers that kind of introduced me to his earlier
music because I knew the name Johnny Cash. I
knew. a couple of his main hits from way back
in the day. But then when he covered Hurt, and
then he did a few more, and it was, okay, I know
this guy. This is a little bit different. And
then I was able to go back and go, holy shit,
sugar, honey, iced tea. It's like, this is such
a weird direction, but I like his covers. I will
say this was one of the times that Rick Rubin
truly hit a home run and knocked it out of the
park because just what you said, Rick Rubin saw
the potential to introduce Johnny Cash to a new
generation of people that again, probably knew
the name from their parents, but what he did
in the late nineties and early two thousands
made him cross generational adored by our generation
and the one before. And it was amazing. I'm perfect
cover, but okay. obviously for track four, I
have to go Nirvana here or else it's going to
bug me for the rest of this episode. However,
here's where I'm going to piss everybody off.
Okay. I am not going to go with smells like teen
spirit off of nevermind. Although I will give
a shout out to Patreon mixtape or Philip Bergman
who chimed in with that one. And I'm not going
to go with serve the servants from in utero.
I am going to go off the bands, 1992 compilation
incesticide. Yes, I'm being serious. A compilation.
However, Dive coming out of Rusty Cage, I just
feel musically works a little bit better than
Smells Like Teen Spirit. And Smells Like Teen
Spirit is the obvious pick here. And I wanted
to go a little bit off the beaten path. See if
you're really out there listening. Have you write
it and be like, how dare you not put smells?
Honestly, I love Smells Like Teen Spirit. The
song never got old for me. It really didn't.
But Dive is probably one of my top three favorite
Nirvana songs of all time. It was originally
a B -side to the band's Sliver single that was
released in 1990. And then they re -recorded
it during the Nevermind sessions and it ended
up on Incesticide. My God, I just imagined this
song on Nevermind. And I know they decided at
the end that it didn't fit, but I kind of think
it does. So throwing a curveball here, we are
going with Nirvana, but dive for track four.
You know, it's kind of interesting that when
you hear about what bands and artists do, like
after the fact, when they're working with the
producers, all right, what are we going to put
on the album? And then you hear. Some of the
songs that were considered and used for a later
album or a non -album release or something. And
you sit there and you go, why didn't this make
the album? Because sometimes, in my humble opinion,
sometimes these songs work better than some of
the songs on the album. So I always sit there
and wonder how much of this was someone fighting
for creative control. Now, with Nirvana, I did
look at them. I think of the big four. If I have
to put them in order, they're in fourth place.
They came up with a lot of unique. They definitely,
I think, one of the most unique sounding of the
four. They just weren't my favorite. But for
me, if I was going to go, I was actually going
to go with the MTV Unplugged in New York. Oh,
I forgot about a girl. Yeah. For me, that is
one of my favorite Nirvana albums. There's just
something about. How they all sound, just hanging
out, playing, unplugged. The versions that they
play and the direction that they take with all
those songs, especially with About a Girl, I
was like, God, this is really, I like this. Completely
different from their album stuff that they released,
their studio albums. But it was either that or
Soundgarden or Rusty Cage. No, I'm going to go,
I like a bit more Soundgarden, so that's why
I went with them. instead of nirvana i'll be
honest with you zach had you gone with about
a girl from the unplugged album i was going to
be picking rusty cage so you could have gotten
both picks i could have damn it all right well
it's okay you know what we're still off to a
good start that we are so now i'm throwing it
back to you for track five what are we doing
after the big four well now that we got that
out of the way uh so i'm gonna go a bit different
direction i'm gonna head out of america And I'm
going to find, let's see, this was also 1991.
And I always screwed up saying the album name
because I wasn't really sure. But Ak -Tung Baby,
is that how you say it? From U2, 1991. I wanted
to go with Zoo Station. Nice. Which it's not
a song that you hear all that often on the radio
in a lot of airplay. Like we've used it when
we do like A to Z. It's one of the last songs
you play. But I hear it's just a fun song that
it's a little earworm that when I hear it, I
go, OK, I like Zoo Station. I can go with this
for you, too. I love the fact that you went with
this one because even though Patreon mixtape
or Philip Bergman chimed in with both discotheque
from pop and hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill
me from the Batman Forever soundtrack. Mm hmm.
Zoo Station, in a kind of a similar fashion to
Dive, like you said, from Nirvana, these are
not hit songs, but my God, they kick off the
album listen with authority. And I can't imagine
Octoong Baby starting off any other way. I mean,
the fact that the U2 UV Octoong Baby residency
that took place at the Spear in Las Vegas opened
with this song. I think they have enough trust
in the track that it's, like you said, it's not
a household song that people automatically go
to. But anyone who's a U2 fan, I think it's a
classic in the discography. And if you're not
a U2 fan, you may not be familiar with it. Well,
it's going to be on the playlist, so you'll be
able to hear it. I think it's a banger. I like
it. That's a great song. And I think to follow
that up, because we got out of that kind of the
heavier stuff a little bit, and I'm not saying
you two can't be heavy. They can. They have their
moments. They have their moments, but I'm going
to kind of stay in this just straight ahead rock
vibe. And I'm going to go with one of my favorite
albums that I got to see during this tour for
this album. And on this tour for this album,
I got to see a young. Taylor Hawkins from the
Foo Fighters showing the world what he was made
of. And that was on Alanis Morissette's Jagged
Little Pill tour from her 1995 album. Well, now
obviously Jagged Little Pill. I'm going to go
with All I Really Want. The opening harmonica,
the kind of little bit of doodling that happens
before the song kicks in. There's something that's
so 90s about this song. And this is Alanis. reintroducing
herself to the world a lot of people this is
the introduction to alanis morissette because
the first song at least here in the u .s that
people knew from alanis for the most part was
you ought to know and then everybody went out
bought jagged little pill and all i really want
was the start of the show she has two other albums
that came out in canada prior to Jagged Little
Pill. So for the US listeners, this song is a
different experience than maybe some of our Canadian
friends listening. But this song reached number
14 on the US alternative airplay chart, number
59 on the UK singles chart, number 58 in Scotland,
and number 40 on the Australia ARIA chart. To
me, God, I hate to say like it doesn't get better
then, but for Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little
Pill is an absolute masterpiece. And as much
as I still pick up all of her albums as they
come out, I could put on Jagged Little Pill anytime.
If I start at the beginning of All I Really Want,
I have to hear it all the way through. It's just
a perfect album opener. It's a good album. And
one of the things I always don't judge an album,
but how I kind of... categorize them is like
all right can i listen to this from cover to
cover and there's a lot of albums that i can
and then there's some that i just can't because
there's enough songs on there that i go there
was potential but you guys put it into only one
or two songs and usually that happens later on
in certain bands careers when they're under pressure
from the label company all right you gotta churn
out you gotta churn this out you gotta churn
this out well we all had A decade to make our
first album. Now we've had six months to make
our next one. You can't put the same amount of
love into it, but it's a solid album from her.
All right. So now we are back to you for track
seven. Of course. Yeah. Well, going a different
direction is never bad. So I think from the late
90s, whenever I hear the name of this band, this
is the song. That always comes to mind. It was
played everywhere in the late 90s, late 97 into
early 98. The Verve with Bittersweet Symphony
from Urban Hymns. And this was kind of their
big breakthrough album where it went, I don't
know, over 10 times platinum or something. It
had a number of hits on it. It was played all
over the world. A lot of airplay here in America.
Yeah. Number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Number one on the Canada Rock and Alternative
chart. Number two on the UK Singles chart. Number
11 on the Australia Aria chart. And it cracked
the top 10 in Spain, Italy, Finland, Scotland,
Iceland, Ireland, Sweden, and Norway. Total worldwide
hit here. I worked in a record store when this
album was out. We could not keep it in stock.
I mean, like when the weekends hit and kids would
get their allowance, like we knew to make sure
we were stocked up on this album for the weekend
rush every single week. And then as fast as it
like took off, it was at that time when CDs were
the medium, not like now, but the next one would
hit. And then that would be the big jump. I want
to say, Chumbawamba, their album with Tub Thumping.
They both hit similar. I also think Brimful of
Asha from Corner Shop also hit around this time.
We could not keep those albums in stock. And
I think also sometimes it's weird because Americans
will all of a sudden will focus on a completely
different style of music, especially if it comes
from across the pond. And then something hits
like that and they're like, oh. This is completely
different than anything we have here, and this
will now be mine. And they kind of focus on that
for a little while until the next big thing.
We've seen that even through today. You know,
you have these one -off bands that'll have a
major single that comes over here to America,
and it takes off because it's so different. Exactly,
exactly. And we don't want to forget the fact
that... Limp Bizkit covered Bittersweet Symphony
as a medley with Motley Crue's Home Sweet Home
on their 2005 Greatest Hits album. I just want
to make sure. I forgot all about that. Oh, wow.
Limp Bizkit and Disturbed are like two bands
that are like every once in a while they'd be
like Disturbed did it like kind of album to album
and Limp Bizkit every once in a while be like,
let's do this cover. All right. That was unique.
But I like the way you kind of took it down musically
because I didn't know how or where I was going
to fit this one in. But you just literally lobbed
me the perfect pitch that I think that I hope
I'm going to hit out of the park here. And I
am going to go off of my favorite album from
this band. And that is 1992's Automatic for the
People. We are going to go with R .E .M.'s Drive.
Oh, this was on my list. Reached number 28 on
the U .S. Billboard Hot 100, number 7 on the
Canada Top Singles Chart, number 11 on the U
.K. Singles Chart, number 34 on the Australia
ARIA Chart, and cracked the top 10 in New Zealand,
Greece, Norway, Ireland, Portugal, and Switzerland.
To me, it's hard to start off an album slow and
still manage to capture people's attention. And
while bittersweet symphony is kind of a mid tempo
song drive is a brooding slow. Yep. The fact
that they had the wherewithal to open up this
album, because I love automatic for the people.
And if you take any other song from that album
and put it in the one slot, it's a completely
different experience for the album. Yeah. Yeah.
I like, I love man on the moon, but it would
be, quite a different start to the album if that
was track one yeah i don't think you can get
to and everybody hurts unless you start the album
with drive because you think about the album
before this which was out of time you're coming
from the land of shiny happy people and losing
my religion people were expecting shiny happy
people too a little bit different but to me it's
their masterpiece and i and and i look no disrespect
to their 80s stuff in any way shape or form automatic
is is my top rem album okay um well let's see
i've been out of the states for a bit and this
is my this is my last one for this side right
yes you are on track nine now oh cheesy crazy
lemon squeezy all right so uh you know what this
is a band that i haven't seen them live but i
did see one of the brothers live uh and hopefully
i'll be able to see them now that they've reconciled
and they were actually on tour supporting this
album from 1990 shake your money maker the black
crows i want to kick it off with twice as hard
I actually had a feeling this is where you were
going because you said you wanted to come back
to the U .S., that you were overseas for a while.
And had you not said that, I would have been
debating the whole time if you were talking about
the Black Crows or Oasis before you revealed
the Black Crows twice as hard. Reach number 11
on the Billboard U .S. Mainstream Rock Charts
and number one in my heart, my all -time favorite
Black Crows song. I got to see them this past
summer for the first time ever at the Wind Creek
Entertainment Center. Second song of the night.
Twice as hard. Absolutely. You know, it's funny.
I went with Pearl Jam in the two slot with once.
This was originally what I was going to do for
track two. Twice as hard. Ha ha. But when you
started with Alice in Chains, I felt like. Yep.
We have a vision when we go into this and then
one of us will do something. We're going to switch
that around now. Yes, by all means. I mean, I
will never forget getting this cassette for Christmas
and playing it over and over and over again.
And this was one of those first albums that when
CDs became mainstream, this was one of the first,
I need to replace my cassette with a CD of moments.
Absolutely love the pick. And to close out side
A, I'm going to stay in 1990, I think. Okay.
And I'm going to start by saying, ladies and
gentlemen, we have more influence over your children
than you do, but we love them too. Born in and
a gift of Los Angeles, Jane's Addiction. However,
if you don't know what I'm talking about, most
people know the opening as Senoras y Senoras.
And I am not going to do the rest because I am
not Spanish and I am not going to butcher it.
I am going off of 1990s ritual de lo habitual
and we are going with stop. Reach number one
on the Billboard Modern Rock Chats chart on two
non -consecutive weeks. My favorite album from
Jane's Addiction. Obviously, Been Caught Stealing
was the big single. But when you bought the album
for that big single and you put it in and you
heard that opening and then you've got Perry
Farrell screaming, here we go. Oh, my God. And
it's kind of funny that we're ending the side
with him saying, here we go. But it is an album
full of album openers. So as far as I'm concerned,
all bets are off. However, the song Stop closes
out. side a and you know the way the song ends
on that just and stop and it just ends i think
the perfect way to close out this side that's
very appropriate that jane's addiction oh gosh
i who knows if we'll ever see them live again
unfortunately yeah i mean i loved i mean they
they had a bit of space uh in between a couple
a few of their albums that was 80 87 88 was nothing
shocking yeah 88 was nothing shocking and i'm
personally mountain song was my jam i just love
mountain song and i mean of course bencott stealing
and jane jane says and there's a lot of them
that you hear on the radio but mountain song
was that was my love i love that song i got to
see them do that live with believe it or not
the band that opened this side of this tape Alice
in Chains. It was Jane's Addiction opening for
Alice in Chains. And Mountain Song was the highlight
of the entire set for me, as far as I'm concerned.
It was just such a monster live. I really hope
Perry can get it together because people still
want to see them. It's a total shame what happened
with them. One of my former coworker was telling
me about how she went to Ninja when it was Nine
Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction. And she said
that was a hell of a show. I can imagine. I would
have loved to been here. Yeah. Man, we haven't
gotten Nine Inch Nails in yet either. Anyway,
and that mixtapes concludes side A of the ultimate
90s rock album openers mixtape, which consists
of Alice in Chains' Them Bones, Pearl Jam's Once,
Soundgarden's Rusty Cage, Nirvana's Dive, U2's
Zoo Station, Alanis Morissette's All I Really
Want, The Verbs' Bittersweet Symphony, REM's
Drive, The Black Crow's Twice As Hard, and Jane's
Addiction Stop. Head over to myweeklymixtape
.com to hear all the songs we've discussed in
this mix through the playlist embedded on the
episode page. And now, Zach, I am going to kick
off Side B by saying, hey, batter, batter, hey,
batter, hey, batter, batter, hey, batter, batter,
hey, batter, hey, batter, batter, hey, batter,
hey, batter, hey, batter, hey, batter, hey. Swing.
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Power of Equality, 1991's
Blood Sugar Sex Magic. My favorite Red Hot Chili
Peppers album. My favorite opening to a Red Hot
Chili Peppers album. The song tackles everything
that is as relevant now as it was in 1991. Equality,
prejudice, sexism. And the song channels public
enemy. Hell, he calls out public enemy in the
song. And we talked about him earlier. Rick Rubin
produced Masterpiece. Rick Rubin, there's a lot
that he's done that I really enjoy. When he's
on point with, I think, the right collaboration
of creative minds, they can really come together
and make something. As long as everybody's willing
to work together. Because there's been some stuff
that Rick has done, and I think maybe the people
he was collaborating with. weren't of same sound
mind and they weren't willing to work with him
so the finished product i went well wasn't awful
but i felt like there could have maybe been a
bit more potential from that but you know maybe
next time not every hit is a home run but i'll
tell you rick has done a lot more albums that
have blown my mind than albums where i kind of
go I could go on just the albums that he's done,
Beastie Boys, License to Ill, Death Magnetic.
You think of even Black Sabbath's 13. If the
album to me is lackluster, I don't blame Rick.
I am more inclined to be like, something broke
down outside of Rick than Rick himself. All right.
Well, what are we following up the power of equality
with? Okay. Okay. Okay. So let's let's do this.
This one, I'm pretty sure somebody mentioned
I was never the biggest fan of this band, but
they had some really good songs that I would
enjoy. Mostly the radio hits. That's just how
I would hear them. But every once in a while
I go, all right, well, let's check out a few
of the albums. And I did have. It's somewhere
down in storage. Siamese Dream from 1993, Smashing
Pumpkins. Cherub Rock is just a fun, alternative,
kick -ass, grungy kind of guitar sound to start
the album. Similar to Rusty Cage. It has a similar
kind of energy to it. Oh, by all means. You scooped
me on the band and you scooped me on the song.
I actually was thinking about putting Tonight
Tonight in my bank for Melancholy and the Infinite
Sadness, but there is the song Melancholy and
the Infinite Sadness beforehand, the little three
-minute instrumental piece. It's just an instrumental,
Brian. You know, technicality. But at the end
of the day, if I was going to put Cherub Rock
on the playlist, I was actually thinking of it
coming out of Soundgarden. But I obviously went
with Nirvana because you talk big four. But at
the end of the day, I think there's some people
out there listening. That would say that the
Smashing Pumpkins need to be in the conversation
of the big four. Cherub Rock reached number seven
on the U .S. Alternative Airplay chart, number
31 on the U .K. Singles chart, number 91 on the
Canada Top Singles chart, number 87 on the Australia
Aria chart, and number 16 in New Zealand. Another
worldwide hit for the band. Maybe not as high
as some of the bigger hits from them, but definitely,
as far as I'm concerned, an absolute staple from
the Smashing Pumpkins. An all -time classic album
from them as well. It's still successful and
people still know it. Oh my God, yeah. And I
think I'm going to go a little heavier now. Cherub
Rock's heavy. It's got a vibe. Power of Equality
is heavy in a way. Cherub Rock is heavy in a
way. Yep. Bomb Track from Rage Against the Machine
is heavy in another way. Yes. And as a bassist,
that opening bass guitar run to open the album,
that was one of the first things I said to my
teacher at the time, I need to learn how to jam
to this song. There's just something so massive
about it. The self -titled Rage Against the Machine
album is one of my favorite quote unquote heavy
albums of all time. If you're a 90s movie fan,
you obviously will remember the use of this song
during the prison breakout in Natural Born Killers
with Woody Harrelson. Okay, yep. And I mean,
this is another instance where this song is 34
years old. Stop saying things like that. Don't
do that. It hurts. I mean, Stone Sour covered
this song for the Metal Hammer Goes 90s compilation
and put it on the deluxe edition of Hydrograd.
And if I play it back to back with Rage Against
the Machines, Rage Against the Machines still
sounds just as heavy and just as timeless as
a newer band covering it from decades earlier.
Wow. I was also contemplating Rage. But I actually
was not thinking that album. I was, and maybe
on a future episode, if we have to keep doing
these, I was thinking the Battle of Los Angeles,
sneaking in at the very, very end of 99 with
Testify. That's another great one. They always
know how to open their albums. I mean, People
of the Sun from Evil Empire, they know how to
album open with authority. Yeah. And that was
one of the ones that when I heard that album,
it was like, Jesus, this is this is rage. And
it's also the last studio album of original material
you'd ever hear from them. So there's that, too.
True. True. It's timeless now. It's a classic.
All right. Well, we are up to you now for track
four. Oh, boy. OK, so I. I'm going to go a little
bit different direction, out of the heavy. And
with this band, I had like five albums to choose
from from the 90s if I really wanted to. And
it still was kind of difficult because I was
leaning Nimrod from 97, but I decided to go back
to Dookie instead from 94 and go with Burnout.
Green Day finally makes the discussion. You knew
it had to happen. I could have went with any
Green Day album opener. I mean, let's just stick
with the Trey Cool years here, okay? Yeah. You
had 2000 Light Years Away from Kerplunk. You
had Burnout from Dookie. You had Armitage Shanks,
which opened Insomniac, which is my favorite
Green Day album. Yes, I said it. My favorite
Green Day album. When I first saw Green Day Live
in the 90s, Armitage Sanks was the song they
opened with. And it's got one of my favorite
Green Day lyrics, I must insist on being a pessimist.
I love that line. And then you have Nice Guys
Finish Last from Nimrod. But I digress on all
of that. Just like Rage Against the Machine opened
up albums with authority, so did Green Day. You
scooped me on the band. I had every single one
of these songs in my list. Yeah. And honestly,
it just came down to which album I listened to
more between Dookie or Nimrod. And just Dookie
was the one that I just always kept going back
to that I just would put. That was a cover to
cover one. I just pop it in and be like, all
right, I'm good for whatever it was, 40 minutes,
something like that. It was somewhere around
there. And either one I would have been happy
with. Had you scooped it from me, I would have
been totally happy with it. Now. You pivoted
out of Heavy going to Green Day from Rage Against
the Machine. I'm going to pivot back to Heavy.
Okay. And I'm going to, like I did on Side A
with Nirvana, I think I'm going to piss some
people off right now. Oh, what? No. Yeah, yeah.
No, sweet baby boy, no. Yeah, this is definitely
going to stir up some shit. Okay. All right,
let's hear it. Off of 1996's Load, I'm going
with Metallica's Ain't My Bitch. Oh, wow. Okay,
everybody is thinking the same thing. Why didn't
you go with Enter Sandman? Or why didn't you
go with Fuel? Or why didn't you go with, I don't
think many people are mentioning Free Speech
for the Dumb from Garage Inc., even though I
love Mia Cover's album, but there's a reason
I picked Ain't My Bitch. The song reached number
15 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart, but
that's not the reason. Okay. Back in the 90s,
kids, there was no such thing as, well, maybe
there was, but it was very rare to get your hands
on an advanced copy or a leaked album like you
do now, where an album can sometimes be leaked
months before it's supposed to drop. But head
back to 1996 and... Young, healthy, and happy
Brian was walking through the Meadowlands flea
market before heading down to Six Flags Great
Adventure to meet up with a group of friends.
And one of the music stores that I frequented
had a booth at the flea market. So I went over
and said, hey, I'm going to be in on Tuesday.
The new Metallica album comes out. I've been
waiting five years for this one. He goes, well,
why wait until Tuesday? And he pulled out a box.
And he had a box of 30 copies of load. And I
was like, I'll take it. And we drove all the
way down to six flags, which at the time was
like an hour and a half with traffic. Yeah. We
went and had a great time. And on the way out,
I was telling my buddies that I had load three
days early and people were fighting over who
wrote home with my buddy and I, so that they
could hear the album for the first time. So I
think there's. that memory is attached to this
story a little bit. But to me, when I first heard
that ain't my bitch riff, it just resonated with
me. And I know load is one of those controversial
Metallica albums, but I'll be the first to say,
I frigging love it. So ain't my bitch. So congratulations.
You did scoop one of mine. I think we've discussed
it before that I, I am a slightly. big metallica
fan they are the band i've seen the most that
i listen to the most that i have all the albums
i they're just the ones that i listen to no matter
what even the shitty stuff lulu i listen to uh
and i understand what it is what it is but when
i was looking at 90s load and reload came up
they were albums that i listened to again cover
to cover but i understand why some people dislike
them because it was not what they grew up with
in the 80s it was a shift for the band but i
also was looking at ain't my bitch because the
last time i was on i had fuel on the playlist
so i didn't want to choose it again even between
the two i think i like fuel just because it is
that fast kind of a little bit thrashy type of
sound to it which is a lot of fun But ate my
bitch is a little bit kind of heavier sound.
And I was going, well, that I think would be
the one because I feel like we probably should
have Metallica somewhere if I can work it in
here. So that was the one I was going to go.
All right. A full on scoop. I love it. So now
coming out of Metallica track six, we're at the
second half of side B. Where do we go from here?
Oh, that's right. This is me now. Damn it. I
was talking Metallica. I'm distracted. All right,
I'm going to pivot again. We're doing a lot of
pivoting on this side, which is fine. So is the
90s was one big pivot. Let's just be honest.
It was. It was all over the place. From Friends
all the way to the music. Pivot. So I'm going
to go again with late 90s. When this band dropped
this album, I think. This might have been one
of my Columbia House things that maybe you signed
up for and you got and then debated paying and
all that stuff. I forget exactly. I know it was
late 90s and I fell in love with this band and
I actually didn't even know that they had three
albums because they kind of, I guess the marketing
fell off after the second album. But from 1998,
the self -titled Eve Six from Eve Six. Okay.
With how much longer? And this was a little bit
back more to the alternative, a power poppy,
I think at times they had in their songs. But
every once in a while, they just had a fun, riffy
alternative song that they put in there. And
this album, I just fell in love with. It's still
one of my favorite albums that I can just sit
down and listen to. Horoscope, I love as their
second album, a little bit different, a little
bit more poppy, but I still enjoy it. I'll be
perfectly honest with you, man. Self -titled
horoscope. It's all in your head. And 2012 speaking
code are all front to back listens for me. I've
seen these guys several times in concert. They're
always a great show. And I love the fact you
went with this one because honestly, it's the
only Eve six album you could go with. Yeah. So
you were kind of tied by the decade by that one,
but. I know everybody looks at the album cover
and they automatically think inside out. And
as much as that was the song that introduced
pretty much everybody to Eve six, to me, it's,
there are other songs on the album that are even
stronger than that, including the followup single
leech, how much longer showerhead. I mean, inside
out is a great song and it was obviously the
most marketable one. So I understand why they
went with that as a single, but this was a very,
very, very strong album. From a very, very, very
young group at the time. And their potential,
I think, was realized on Horoscope. And then
it continued on. It's all in your head. But I
think musically, the tides were turning at that
point. Not just for the band, but I think with
radio in a lot of ways. Just even though I was
in the industry at that time, a lot of bands
that I had grown up with through the 90s just
kind of disappeared or you didn't hear about
what they were doing. It was so weird to be in
the industry, also be with like top 40s stations
and not be hearing about this stuff and then
learn like years later, oh, that band did a thing?
Papa Roach released music? Power Man 5000 is
pop? Eve Six had a third album? What the hell
happened? Why did I not know any of this? Well,
we've been pivoting and pivoting and pivoting.
So I am leaning in. We're weaving now at this
point. Yes. Back and forth between lanes, and
I don't care. Now, we've given Rick Rubin his
flowers tonight for sure, but we haven't given
him his wildflowers. So we have to go off of
1994's wildflowers. Tom Petty, of course I was
going here at some point tonight. Reached number
16 on the Billboard Hot Rocks chart, even though
it was never released as a single. That's how
good it is. He doesn't even have to put it out
as a single. Radio picks it up because he is
the best. He's my favorite. Everyone knows that.
Episode 95, the ultimate Tom Petty playlist.
You can hear me wax poetic about the man with
Kevin Brown from the Tom Petty Project. Awesome
show he does over there. And we talk well over
an hour about Tom Petty. And I don't want to
say if we do or do not include this song, but
we talk about the album, obviously. So I'll just
leave it at that. It's a perfect album. Rick
Rubin. I noticed I purposely left it out earlier
when we were talking about Rick Rubin. But talk
about pulling something out of an artist. It's
my favorite Tom Petty album. So, of course, I
was sneaking that in tonight. Petty is one of
the artists that is on my list that I missed.
And it's one of those regretful things that you
take for granted when you're, I play a lot of
these artists daily. And it never really hit
me until, I think it was right around when Tom
died of, oh shit, I need to start seeing these
guys. I can't just keep pushing them off because
I missed him. Coming to town, I missed Rush.
Last time they came to town, there's been a number
of bands that have come to town. I'd be like,
oh, I'll get them next time. I'll get them next
time. Thank God I have tickets to ACDC because
I am not missing them again. After Brian said,
I'm deaf. I can't tour. Oh, come on. Damn it.
But now check them off my list. Thank goodness.
But man, Tom, such talent. Such amazing sounds
and songs that he could create. He could do something
rocking like you wreck me. But then he comes
up with something like wildflowers. And this
song has a special meaning to my wife because
at our wedding, this was a song that she danced
with her stepfather. Oh, it's beautiful. It's
a beautiful, beautiful song. I love it. And now,
of course, I hear it. Now I just think of them
and I start welling up. It's like, oh, emotions.
Why? Stop it. So we have been zigging and zagging
all over the place here. How are you coming out
of wildflowers from Tom Petty? I have nothing
good. I can tell you that. I have nothing good
to follow that, but I am going to, we are, we're
going to keep hopping back and forth here. I
am going to, I'm going to pop back over out of
America. We're going to go close to middle. All
right, middle of the 90s. This is 94. This band
has a particular sound, as certain Brit bands
would. Kind of the Brit pop, I think, is what
they fall under. But in 1994, I'm going to go
with Park Life from Blur. That was kicked off
by Girls and Boys. Reached number 49 on the Billboard
US Hot 100, number 27 on the Canada Top Singles
Chart, number 5 on the UK Singles Chart, number
19 on the Australia ARIA Chart, among others.
I know because of the stadium aspect of things,
Blur is now more widely known for Song 2, but
I think you can't deny the popularity of this
song. Heck, this song charted higher than Song
2 at the end of the day. It's my last song pick
of the night, and I'm still riding on a recent
high because several episodes back, I had the
honor of bringing the original Counting Crows
drummer Steve Bowman on the show. Okay. And we
talked at length about 1994's August and Everything
After. And I am going to go with the opening
song from that album and second single, Round
Here. Go back to that episode to hear about the
transition that Round Here made from Adam Durrett's
first band, the Himalayans, because believe it
or not, Round Here is a cover song. Well, it's
Adam's song that he did with his old band and
he brought it to the Counting Crows. And if you
hear both versions back to back, there's some
similarities a little bit here and there, but
I'll just embed the Himalayans version on the
episode page at my weekly mixtape. So you can
check it out. It's definitely worth it. But August
and everything after I talk about it for an hour
on that album dive episode. So go check it out.
One of my favorite albums of the nineties. And
I'm just picturing the crescendo at the end of
this song, kind of taking us out to the last
song of the evening. Oh boy. Man. I mean, from
what I remember of trying to remember 90. three
94, whatever it was. I remember hearing Mr. Jones
everywhere on the radio round here. I don't remember
as much. I do remember hearing it somewhere,
but I don't think I heard it as much. Yeah. And
that makes me wonder if it's a difference of
markets between you and I, because being towards
the New York city radio stations, maybe there
was a reason for that, but yeah, around here
is going to close out my song choices for this
evening. Oh, shoot we are at the end yes you
have to you you we've got about 75 songs you
could choose from um no matter which one you
pick everybody's gonna be angry that you didn't
pick something else so there's zero pressure
no i made him made him angry at the beginning
and let's piss him off at the end there's always
volume two though so don't worry about it yeah
you know what there is there is always volume
two okay so um Even though this band is probably
thought of as more of classic rock, 70s, 80s,
and they've had lineup changes over the years,
not due to their own choices. Of the 90s, there's
two hard rock albums that come to mind. And I
like to end a concert or end an album pumping
things up. Driving fast, having fun. And I'm
going to go with 1990s, The Razor's Edge with
Thunderstruck. Awesome. Because whenever I hear
this song, whenever I play this song. I can't
but help. But just, you know, you're tapping
your hands to the guitar once it starts. If you're
in the vehicle, if you're on the bike, you stop
looking at the speedometer because you're going,
I don't want to look down. I'm just having fun.
And if I look down, I know I'm in trouble. This
is one of my favorite ACDC songs. And a lot of
the songs I love from them aren't even ones that
really tracked well, that hit the charts. A lot
of them, you know, they are the... far more popular
overseas than they are here in America. But Thunderstruck
is, you hear that opening guitar sound and you
go, oh, I know what song this is. Absolutely
iconic opening guitar part. I mean, there's so
many iconic opening guitar parts from ACDC and
Angus Young. So I think that's kind of a given
when you talk about ACDC. Now you talked about
Deep Cuts being your favorite. We are sitting
here in 2025 recording this and they're touring
this year and they're opening with my favorite
ACDC song of all time. And they decided to skip
New Jersey. And that is, if you want blood, you've
got it is the tour opening song right now. Oh,
but anyway, the lead single from 1990s, the razor's
edge. Chris Slade slamming those kick drums over
his head with the mat. Like the song is thunderous.
I mean, really this was ACDC reclaiming their
sound because the albums prior to that got a
little bit heavy in the eighties reverb and production.
Blow Up Your Video and Flick of the Switch. Fly
on the Wall. Fly on the Wall all had that really
reverb -y sound. And this was where they went
back to just being the raw ACDC that people fell
in love with on Back in Black. And I know there's
some people that actually say, oh, it just goes
from Back in Black to Razor's Edge. No, no, no.
For those about to rock, it's a killer album,
too. No, that is, I will argue, I will get in
a fist fight. For those about to rock, it's a
damn good album. But I understand, Back in Black,
it made a statement, similar to Metallica's Black
album. It was a statement, and then after that,
okay, yes, it was a little bit different. For
those about to rock is still a damn good album.
Not everything was a chart topping single, but
there's still good songs on there. Oh, God. Yeah.
I mean, look, there's not an ACDC album I don't
like. So I love this close. The song reached
number five on the US mainstream rock chart,
number 20 on Canada's top singles chart, number
13 on the UK singles chart, number four in Australia,
and was a top 10 hit in Belgium. Finland, where
it hit number one. Ireland, the Netherlands,
Hungary, Sweden, New Zealand, and Switzerland.
And it also hit number 10 on side B of the ultimate
90s rock album opener's mixtape, which kicked
off with the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Power of
Equality, Smashing Pumpkins' Cherub Rock, Rage
Against the Machine's Bomb Track, Green Day's
Burnout, Metallica's Ain't My Bitch, Eve's Six
is How Much Longer, Tom Petty's Wildflowers,
Blur's Girls and Boys, Counting Crows Round Here,
and ACDC's Thunderstruck. Head over to myweeklymixtape
.com to hear all the songs we've discussed in
this mix through the playlist embedded on the
episode page. Now, Zach, why don't you remind
people where they can find NeatCast and connect
with you and learn more about the show? All right,
well, if you want to learn a little bit more
about what I do, you can head on over to theneatcast
.com. That's our website, so you can check out
all of our back episodes. You can learn a little
bit more about us. I built some profiles, which
I need to expand upon there. It's a not -safe
-for -work podcast where we talk about a little
bit of pop culture, some weird stuff. I do that
with Jer and Michael. We each have our own little
area of, I'll guess, expertise. And we always
like to talk a little bit about aliens and cryptids
and ghosts or whatever spookiness is going on.
And then I also do a bunch of stuff with Podcasters
Assemble, which is a movie hype series where
we wrapped up with all of the Ghibli cartoons
and films. I had never seen them, so that was
fun. And we are going to be figuring out the
new direction for 2025, which will probably deal
with some time -traveling movies, to be determined.
But that is Podcasters Assemble or The Neat Cast.
That's where you can usually find me. Well, Zach,
always a pleasure talking music with you. Thank
you so much for being a part of this episode.
Look forward to having you on again soon, man.
Now, thank you so much for the invite. Be safe,
have fun, crank it up. Remember, you can find
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until next time, enjoy the tunes.