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 tonight from both The Neat Cast as
well as Podcasters Assemble Podcasts is Zach
Derby, somebody who I've known and gone back
and forth with since the beginning of the Playlist
Wars days, and we're finally, for the first time
ever, doing an episode together, and I am so
stoked about that. Zach, thank you so much for
joining me on My Weekly Mixtape. Brian, I'm happy
and honored to finally be here. It's been fun
to watch you as a content creator grow and evolve
from where you and Gomez were with Playlist Wars
and where you are now with the My Weekly Mixtape.
Being on NeatCast and a few others that I'm involved
in, we're... We're not as unique, I think, in
my opinion, as what you do. I don't really see
any other content creators, at least in my field
of podcast and viewing, doing what you're doing
the way that you do it. We're comedy, or at Podcasters
Assemble, we're talking about movies, but you,
I love your approach, and you change it. It's
always different every week, and I love it. Yeah,
it's usually how my musical playlists go, but
thank you very much for the kind words. And now
for the first time in so many years, I get to
ask you my first timer's question, which is,
Zach, what does the word mixtape mean to you?
Well, Brian, I am old enough to remember tapes
prior to making the mix CDs, which I did do a
fair amount of those because honestly, that became
a bit easier. But the mixtape was. the old cassette
boombox radio popping in the tape and just like
everybody else like waiting for the right song
and then you know you'd hear it because most
everything we had was a hot ac chr they were
playing the hits the new music and you'd wait
for it and you'd hit it and you'd record it and
if you're really good it almost sounded like
you knew what you were doing. But sometimes you'd
miss a couple seconds here or there, or the DJ,
the jock, would come on the air, which didn't
ruin it for me. I know some people hated that.
Stop talking over the music! Well, that's what
radio is, unfortunately. Sorry. I mean, I'm sorry.
If a radio DJ could talk up to the opening lyrics
and hit that post, to me, that is money right
there. That is a skill. There's training wheels
now with radio. It's so freaking easy to hit
the post now with the software that they give
you. I don't necessarily complain because I remember
the reel -to -reel. I remember the tracks. I
remember the carts. I remember all this. I was
still using those when I came in, but they were
going out. I'm not complaining about where technology
is, but respect to the guys and girls that did
that. just off pure sound and knowledge of the
music. Just kudos to them. My owner is like that.
He started as an on -air jock, and he knows how
many intro seconds. Oh, yeah, 48 seconds. How
do you know that? Well, tonight we are talking
about a very divisive topic, and I'm going to
say it's a divisive topic before we even record
it, because... We recently dropped an episode,
Guilty Pleasures of the 1980s. I heard it and
I loved it. I loved it. It was great. Thank you.
Thank you very much. And I want to take the same
approach. So I'm going to start by giving the
same PSA I gave before the 1980s episode, which
was episode 67, if you want to check that out.
But I want to stress that at least for me personally,
I have never and will never. feel guilt listening
to a song that i enjoy but coming from a podcasting
perspective people search for the term guilty
pleasures people have requested guilty pleasures
of this show it's just the terminology for a
song that is otherwise known as songs that people
seem to hate but you love and people don't search
for that So yes, I am pandering to the masses
by saying that this is a guilty pleasures episode.
But for me tonight, there's zero guilt. I love
all of these songs, but a lot of publications
hate them. Zach, what approach did you take coming
up with your tracks for tonight? So this was
actually tough because just like you said, guilty
pleasure, you're implying that I like something
that other people don't. And for me, I wasn't
it was hard for me to go, all right, does the
public really hate this? Because I know there
are songs that the public really hates. But then
I went, do I actually really like those songs?
So for me, that was tough. But I know I had an
easier time remembering. Back in the 90s, yes,
I was born in the 80s, but I grew up in the 90s.
So the 90s were my jam. And I remember the music
that I would like that I went, I don't know if
I want to play that around my friends. So that
was my approach. I didn't share what. albums
i got off the columbia house 20 cd sign up thing
that you may or may not have paid for back in
the day but that was my approach try to think
of what do i secretly enjoy that maybe i didn't
want my friends at the time to know and my objective
tonight is for us to create a playlist so that
you and i and everyone else are going to be listening
to it going What do you mean this is a guilty
pleasure? And they drop an F -bomb and they just
sing along because they don't care. Because they
just got the window down. If they had hair, it's
flowing. I don't. And they're just going to have
a blast with our playlist. That's my goal today.
All right. And mine, I'm taking it one small
step further. I went and Googled the most hated
songs of the 1990s. You said that. And I found
lists from Rolling Stone magazine, NPR, NME,
Ranker. And I just. Looked through them and went
wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. So I've got about
45 wrongs in my list that we're going to try
to whittle down to 20 and make right tonight.
So let's get down to business. As I mentioned
at the top of the show, Zach and I are curating
the ultimate guilt -free guilty pleasures of
the 90s mixtape, and we're going to use that
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
a proverbial flip and we'll map out Side B. Only
this time, I'll kick things off with Zach choosing
second. Our overall goal for the episode is to
craft the best guilt -free guilty pleasures of
the 90s 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 Patreon mixtaper at
patreon .com. forward slash My Weekly Mixtape.
There you can enjoy ad -free episodes of the
show, become a future guest, and so much more,
such as chiming in on each week's episode topics,
which is what I'm going to do right now, as several
of the Patreon mixtapers chimed in with songs
they would use to kick off a guilt -free, guilty
pleasures of the 90s mixtape, and I want to give
a few quick shout -outs. Ben from the Too Vague
podcast chimed in with Scooby Snacks by the Fun
Lovin' Criminals. Jen Fink chimed in with Chumbawamba's
Tub Thumping or Limp Bizkit's Nookie, depending
on how we want to set the tone. And speaking
of Limp Bizkit, Tom Hutchinson chimed in with
Break Stuff or Hadaway's What Is Love. Chad LaMassa
chimed in with Wannabe from the Spice Girls,
saying the song is infectious and fun. And to
that, Zebrahead does a killer punk version. If
you want to hear that, go check it out. Philip
Bergman chimed in with Step by Step by New Kids
on the Block. And Sean Goff chimed in with Walk
This World by Heather Nova. And over on the brand
new My Weekly Mixtape Discord server, which you
can find in the show notes here, as well as the
main menu at myweeklymixtape .com, there was
a last minute chime in of Escape Club's. I'll
be there. Just a reminder, if you want to chime
in for future My Weekly Mixtape episodes, you
could join the Mixtaper family at patreon .com
forward slash My Weekly Mixtape. So, Zach, with
that musical food for thought out in the atmosphere,
everyone cleansed their souls of the guilt. This
is a safe space. I'm officially going to press
the record button on our mixtape and pass the
mic over to you. What song? Are you unabashedly
diving into to kick off Side A? Boy, this is
a little bit of pressure. This is the first one
they're going to hear. And I was going back and
forth going, oh, man, do I want to start slow?
Do I want to start fast? Do I want to start annoying?
Do I want to start with something that people
go, oh, nice. Ah, gosh. And this one I'm just
going to start with because this was the one
when you said guilty pleasure song. This is one
of the first ones that came to mind because.
I got a reaction from my friends off of, again,
a mix CD I had made when we were just playing
it, hanging out. It was Butthole Surfer's Pepper.
And the look I got as it started, all their heads
turning because I was the one that made the mixtape.
And at first I was like, oh, they like it. But
then I saw their faces and I went, oh. Not fans
of the butthole surfers, I see. So butthole surfers
pepper is what I'll be starting with, if that's
okay by you. Oh, by all means, man, I'm actually
shocked that that one would come up as a guilty
pleasure song, because I think maybe more that
the band name was just outside the norm than
anything else. To me, again, I had the approach
of going off my personal experience than just
necessary. I do have some that people hate or
can't stand. But for me, it was one that I really
loved. And just that reaction went, oh, this
is now my guilty pleasure song. Well. I think
it's a great way to start things off. It's a
little weird. Yeah. It's got that definite 90s
vibe to it. And God, that one never even came
up on my radar. So coming out of that, I'm scrolling
through my list and I'm going, hmm, that won't
work. That won't work. That won't work. However,
I found something that just might. So what I
think I'm going to do is tap into the kind of
the weirdness of. butthole surfers pepper and
slow it down a little bit for a track too which
is a weird way to start a playlist but out of
every song on my list this is the only one that
actually makes some musical sense and this song
was ranked number three on buzzfeed's 20 worst
songs of the 90s now if a song is that bad weirdo
yankovic will not parody it and on his box set
permanent record al in the box he closed the
box set out by parodying this song as headline
news and i'm going to go with the crash test
dummies it was a distinctly 90s song and i think
the biggest problem with the song is that it
gives people the idea that that's all that the
crash test dummies are about and they're an incredible
band and i feel like this song just got so big
it almost became the issue in and of itself because
this is a great group they're still constantly
on the road touring and if a song was that bad
i don't think weird al would do a parody of it
so he's pretty particular with what he chooses
and he hits some of the the ones that you know
and love so it's a nice simple nice simple parody
and then others are thinkers And he is very meticulous
with his at least that's how I always understood
his approach to me. Agree. And that's this is
probably headline news, at least one of the few
instances where when I play Weird Al songs for
my kids now, I kind of skip that one, because
unless you were alive during that era, a lot
of those stories, I'd have to sit there and pause
the song and explain the stories he's talking
about. In headline news, because that was a very
dated comedic song for Weird Al, which is a lot
different than a lot of his other stuff that
has a more timeless nature to it. But we're not
talking about Weird Al. We're talking about crash
test dummies. No guilt in this song. It's awesome.
And I think it's a great follow up to Pepper.
No, I agree. It's it is a very slower song to
start. So it follows very well. So what are you
going to follow up Pepper and Mm -Mm -Mm -Mm
with? Baruch Assault? This is going to be the
slowest playlist ever. It's just all under like
60 beats a minute. It's awesome. No, I think
I'm going to bring it up a little bit. Gosh,
but what do I want to bring it up with? Ooh,
because that one, that one I want to use, but
I'm going to hold on to that because that's a
little, that just shoots out like a cannon. I'm
going to start with this one because I remember
hearing it and it was popular. And then I think
it started to wane on people because it was being
played everywhere, especially after A Night at
the Roxbury came out and it's had away what is
love. I remember hearing it and it was, you heard
this at all the school dances and everything,
but it quickly wore out its welcome once the
movie hit and everybody was playing it everywhere
and then you couldn't get away from it. And I
still enjoy it. It's repetitive, but you just,
all of a sudden you just, you're bopping along
to it and you're going, yeah, I'm listening.
I'm still listening to it. I absolutely love
that song, man. I mean, even before a night at
the Roxbury, I had this on cassette single. Like
I really liked this song. This is an absolute
dance anthem worldwide. This was a worldwide
hit. I think the only thing that this song suffers
from is the fact that it was so popular. It just
got played to the point of nauseam. And I think
that might be a lot of things that we touch on
tonight that. These songs aren't necessarily
guilty pleasures. They were just so big and so
unescapable that people almost felt bombarded
by them. Yep. And there is a song. I'll wait
until I hope it doesn't go on the list because
I can't stand it. But if it does, I'll tell the
story then. If not, I'll tell you about a certain
song that I can't bring myself to add into the
rotation of my station because. I just can't.
It was so overplayed that I don't ever want it
to come back on the radio. It was just that awful.
Well, I'm going to go with one to follow that
up with a song that, according to a lot of publications,
is a quote unquote bad song. This was ranked
number one on Rolling Stone Reader's poll of
the worst songs of the 90s. So if we're going
for the cleanup spot here, we might as well go
for a home run. Sure. Number 17 on BuzzFeed's
20 worst songs of the 90s. Number two on Bustle's
18 annoying 90s songs that we all listen to obsessively.
And number one on American Songwriter's 10 worst
songs of the 90s. Now, if you were alive in 2023.
I was. You were. So was I. Oh, good. Yeah. You
would remember the fact that Barbie was. inescapable
oh no and yes we are going there aqua barbie
girl coming out of what is love this song i never
thought was bad i always enjoyed that euro dance
sound yep like around the world la la la la la
all those songs with that very much similar sound
similar beat i always thought this one was just
novelty -esque enough that it was fun but still
danceable you could still play this in a club
and people would get into it but it was just
as much fun that it kind of crossed barriers
when it was played around younger audiences the
innuendos would go over their head and i would
have to assume if a punk band like homegrown
recorded a cover of it usually you don't cover
songs you hate So while all of these places said
it was the worst song ever, you got punk bands
covering it, and then you fast forward 20 -something
years later, and the song is brought back into
a revival through the Barbie movie and is now
being celebrated for what it did back in the
90s. So while it's not my favorite song of the
90s, coming out of What Is Love will keep the
dance vibe going a little bit longer. Okay. All
right. I feel that. Well, okay. I could also
do something that's a little novelty, I guess.
This is going to be from my extra category, but
it was in there. And personally, I don't listen
to this gentleman that much anymore. But when
his first album came out, and I love the man
on Fresh Prince of Bel -Air, but when Will Smith
dropped his first album, I got that and went,
oh, wow. This is fun. This is interesting. But
then the one that I think people dislike more
than anything off of his first album was after
Wild Wild West came out and hit Will Smith doing
Wild Wild West. It's one of those. It's still
you hear it start and it's got that. It's a little
bit of an earworm and it just sticks with you.
And no matter what you try to do, it's still
stuck in there and you're singing all about.
wild wild west i love the original from cool
mo d in the 80s so when this one came out like
i remember the original so i'm like oh this is
kind of like an updated version of that song
so to me when i think about it through my 80s
hip -hop lens when i was in middle school going
to middle school dances there's a part of me
that appreciates that song but I am definitely
much more of a getting jiggy with a fan. If you
were to ask me, because that one to this day,
I still genuinely love, but I could see where
wild, wild West would get more of the hate movie
and song actually. Yes. And that's a guilty pleasure
movie of mine. If I haven't watched it in a long
time, but I know it's not a very well -received
movie, but I would sit down and watch it. It
was peak Will Smith when he was becoming the
Hollywood star. And I'll still go back and watch
it. And getting jiggy with it is, I think, a
better song that I do enjoy more. But for the
guilty pleasure purposes, I think this fits a
little bit better from my list. All right. Well,
following it up. I'm going to stick with this
kind of rap, kind of hip hop, almost pop hip
hop scene here. And I'm going to go with a song
that ranked number 13 on Bustle's 18 annoying
90 songs that we all listen to obsessively. Now,
I don't understand even that headline, annoying
songs that we all listen to obsessively. It's
almost like we were kind of torturing ourselves.
However, I don't think this song was ever annoying.
And I think there's a lot more love for this
song than. People are going to want to admit
to, but at the time there were a lot of children,
hip hop artists. You had another bad creation
who did Aisha and playground. You had the youngsters,
which did hip hop ride and cruise pop, which
featured trash from naughty by nature. But I'm
going to go with the one that became a thing
because of the music video and the backwards
clothes, which we all probably tried at one point.
in middle school because yeah everybody when
that opening to crisscross's jump hits i don't
care that people said it was annoying i think
people were almost ashamed to say we're enjoying
kids rapping but i think crisscross scored the
biggest hit of all of those child rappers and
it's something that the song has been used in
movies i remember it being a joke point in that
movie with justin timberlake and was it no strings
attached i think so yeah one of those movies
where friends with benefits no string i'm not
a big movie guy so you're gonna have to help
me on that one but it was justin timberlake and
the one from that 70s show mila kunis mila kunis
and there was a whole thing about jump in that
movie i just remember that scene but to me the
song had a great beat yes they had a gimmick
but so does kiss And nobody complains about that.
Well, they do, but whatever. Crisscross jump.
That's a good follow -up. All right. Well, I
am going to go a different direction. But still,
I think this is something, I know it's a type
of music, but this is the one that stuck out
in the 90s and really was the one that seemed
to be the most popular. And you would hear it.
Not so much on the radio, but you would hear
it at parties, dances, events. It was always
being played. And that is Scatman John, Scatman.
Ooh, interesting pick. I'd actually love to take
a minute and get your deep lyrical analysis and
perspective on this one. I'm the scat man, skitty
-ditty -dab -a -doop, bop -bop -boop, and that's
it. Yeah, not bad, not bad. I think we might
have to, they might actually tag it for thinking
that I played the original in the episode here.
That was so lifelike. I mean, are you scat man?
You know, you lie like my co -host on the NeatCast,
and I like it. All right. Well, we've got this
kind of dance. I don't know how we went from
butthole surfers and crash test dummies to scat
man. I don't know, but I got stuck here. I'm
now looking at my list going, how many of these
are dance songs? And I'm looking going, probably
a third of them are at least dance songs. I don't
know how I got to this. All right. Well, I'm
going to give us a huge record scratching pivot
point. where we could go anywhere we want for
the last two songs of the night, because I've
got a couple of tracks that are definitely weird.
Okay. And I think coming out of scat, man, I
think I could get away with this one because
it is a kind of a rap song, kind of a dance song.
And it was a 1999 single. And the song became
so popular on MTV's total request live that it
went to number one, prompting MTV to have this
artist quote unquote, retire it. Why they did
that, I have no idea, because the video was promoting
another MTV network show and the song became
a hit that would have conceivably drove viewership.
But I digress. And as Tom Green said, he wanted
to at least give 98 degrees a chance. I'm going
with Tom Green, Lonely Swedish, the bum bum song.
If Eminem interpolates parts of the song in both
the real Slim Shady and Without Me, with Eminem
going as far as to wear a superhero costume similar
to Tom Green, the song is a novelty hit, but
it still gets a little bit of respect. If one
of the greatest hip -hop artists ever pays homage
to your novelty track, It has to have a place
on a guilty pleasures playlist, man. I, you just
unlocked a memory. I, I remember watching the
Tom green show. It is a Tom green show. This
is not the green Tom show. And I remember when
this song came out and I remember watching the
video and just laughing hysterically out of just
Tom green being Tom green. And I forget when
I, grew out of tom green or he retired or canceled
i forget but i i just went up and looked up the
video again went oh yeah yep there he is he's
doing his thing again that's tom green i still
have that song on several 90s playlists because
i love what it just pops up randomly and who's
ever in the car with you goes is that what i
think it is Because for a hot minute, you couldn't
escape the song on MTV. It really became a movement.
And I'm actually shocked that MTV didn't just
ride that wave. Because there were some pretty
funny bits on Tom Green. I used to love the man
on the street reporter where he would put dog
crap into the microphone and then close it in
and ask people questions. I thought that was
one of the funniest things on the planet at the
time. Yeah, back then. I don't know if I would
want that done to me. No, no, no. But back at
the time in the 90s in college, that skit was
legendary. It was. God. Now the memories are
starting to unfold from the Rolodex. Another
old term that's relevant now. Right, kids? Ha
ha. Well, and plus, I mean, you could really
go anywhere you want out of this song because
at this point I just threw a grenade on the side
A. I know. What do I want to end with now? Yeah,
your last pick for side A. Yeah. Gosh. This is
tough. This is really tough because I've got
a bunch that I could go any direction. And some
of these, I think what I'm going to do is I'm
going to get back to, this is certainly, I guess,
not really a guilty. Pleasure per se, but it
is something that I went, you know, I didn't
ever see myself as being a fan of this artist.
But the more and more that I heard their music
over their career, I went, all right, I'm not
pop, but I like it. And for the 90s, I'm going
to go with Michael Jackson's Black or White.
And I was never a big Michael fan. But yeah,
more and more I heard it and went, I like it,
I like it. I can kind of equate Michael in the
90s, now that I go back and listen, is kind of
like where Lady Gaga is for me now. I don't listen
to her music, but I respect her as an artist
and what she has accomplished and what she's
done. And she can perform. She's a hell of a
performer and an artist, but she's not my cup
of tea. michael wasn't either for the most part
i am on the other side of that i was a big michael
jackson fan in the 80s i thought the video for
black and white used technology that i had never
seen before and oh yeah with the face changes
it was mind -blowing at the time pre -cgi I mean,
you think about that video now, I'm sure somebody
probably can whip it up an AI in 30 minutes,
but at the time this was like some groundbreaking
shit that was happening. And the song was catchy
slash played guitar on it. So I got that little
bit of the rock edge into the mix, but it was
definitely a pop song and a little bit of a different
vibe from the bad album. And I still think the
song holds up and. Hmm. Where do you go from
Michael Jackson? Because that's one of the biggest
names. So I have to really hit a home run to
close out Side A. Sorry to put you in this position.
Yeah, I'm going to go with one that I have firsthand
experience that as soon as I say the name of
the song, people are going to start getting angry
with me. But I have seen firsthand on many Colburn
and Company occasions, people genuinely love
the song and they sing along with it unabashedly.
But when you say it, it's going to follow the
crisscross line a little bit here, because this
was a group that was made up of younger kids
that just happened to play pop rock music. And
you could not escape in the 90s. The Hanson Brothers.
Yeah. Mbop reached number six on Rolling Stone's
Reader's Poll of the Worst Songs of the 90s and
American Songwriters' 10 Worst Songs of the 90s.
Number eight on BuzzFeed's The 20 Worst Songs
of the 90s. Man, I'm not going to lie. Hanson
was one of those bands. That first album was
very much geared towards the new kids on the
block. It was the Justin Bieber of that time,
only it was a pop trio. If you put on some later
Hanson albums, the three brothers are ridiculously
talented. They're incredible songwriters. There's
a video out there that they recreate Shake Your
Tail Feather. From the original Blues Brothers
movie with one of their original songs. Really?
Yes. And the song is called Thinking About Something.
And they do kind of an homage to the Blues Brothers.
And the song is so infectious and so catchy that
I think it would blow a lot of people's minds.
Now, the reason I put Mbop here, usually when
Colburn and Company closes a show, we do a little
mashup of songs. And it starts off with What
I Got by Sublime. And from that, it goes into
Chumbawamba's tub thumping. And then it goes
back into What I Got. And then it goes into Sledgehammer
by Peter Gabriel. Nice. And it goes back into
What I Got. Then it goes into Sugar Ray's Fly.
And from there, we go into Mbop. And the first
time we did it, we literally said to ourselves,
there's a good chance we're going to get shit
thrown at us. If we try this. And when we started
doing it, everybody turned and their faces lit
up, guys and girls. And everyone started singing
Mbop at the top of their lungs. And to me, that
spoke a little nostalgia. I don't know what it
is, but people love the song. And Busted, which
is a UK group, recorded a 2 .0 punk version of
the song last year with the members of Hanson.
And it's actually. It's a bop, dude. Like they
did a really good job with it. I would like to
hear the punk version of Mbop. Sometimes I like
hearing like a slightly different, harder take
on stuff like Phil Collins and Invisible Touch.
Oh, yeah. Genesis. Like you hear his version
and you're like, OK, man, I'd be great if I heard
a rock version. And I've heard some independent
artists actually do a really good rock version
of that. And I go, I like this. I like this more
than I thought I would. So to hear a punk version
of Mbop, I am intrigued. Definitely look that
one up. The band is busted. It's called Mbop
2 .0. And there you have it, folks. Love it or
hate it, our guilt -free, guilty pleasures of
the 90s side A mix, which kicked off with Butthole
Surfer's Pepper, Crash Test Dummy's Mm -Mm -Mm
-Mm, Hadaway's What Is Love, Aqua's Barbie Girl,
Will Smith's Wild Wild West, Criss Cross Jump,
Scatman John's Scatman, Tom Green's Lonely Swedish,
The Bum Bum Song, Michael Jackson's Black or
White, and Hanson's Mbop. 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, at the beginning of
the show, you talked a little bit about NeatCast.
Why don't you let listeners know a little bit
about what you guys do over there and where they
can find the show? So I've been with NeatCast
for a little while, and we like to call ourselves
a comedy podcast. I don't know if we're actually
funny, but we have a good time doing it. We're
very good friends with Bobby, Rick, and Griff
over at FN Cultured. So we switch out guests
left and right. We're constantly hazing each
other. And we have a little bit different structure
where we have what we call segments, and we each
take a segment. Of an area that we just find
interesting or stuff that we want to present.
And I usually handle the more recent pop culture
type news that you're going to find in the average
radio show or blog or post on social media. But
I'll bring it to you so that we can discuss it.
Jeremy likes getting into the weird news. So
some of the weird things that you go, oh, I can't
believe that this guy speared this guy with a
narwhal horn and he's going to jail for it. Here's
a Bigfoot sighting or whatever it may be. It's
more of the weirder news that you you're not
sure if you believe or not. Michael brings the
spook. He loves cryptids and phantoms and aliens.
And he finds something to talk about every week
and usually tries to back it up with evidence
of some sort and first person stories. And then
the last segment. with usually an improv that
we will do a game or if we have a guest we let
them do a talking point or whatever it is that
the guest would like to do but we usually come
up with something for the fourth segment and
we always aim to be like less than an hour but
usually it's like 90 minutes to two hours long
we can't help it we talk a lot so we release
that every monday uh and if you want to follow
along learn more about neatcast or past episodes
check out All the social media, it's all online
at theneatcast .com. And while we're at it, let's
not forget to talk about your other podcast,
Podcasters Assembled. Why don't you talk a little
bit about that one as well? So Podcasters Assemble
is a movie hype series, very much akin to I Love
the 80s, I Love the 90s style. You know what
shows I'm talking about. You have a variety of
celebrities talking about, I love this about
the 80s or this song or this movie. And this
started. when they were leading up to Endgame
from the MCU, and they covered every film in
the MCU leading up to Endgame within a month.
And you had anywhere from five to eight podcasters
submit their audio, they chopped it up, and they
would talk about these movies. And then after
Endgame happened, they went, oh, what do we do
now? And they've covered a variety of different
series over their seasons with movies that are
coming out. So the Star Wars Skywalker saga.
The James Bond movies, the Jurassic Park movies.
We went through the Godzilla movies, Mortal Kombat,
Indiana Jones, Ghostbusters. We're currently
doing all the Ghibli or Ghibli films, depending
on how you pronounce that. I never grew up on
these. So for me, it's a fresh watch. I've never
seen any of these. And it's a fun trip to see
this whole other. I grew up on Disney. and Bluth
Productions. So this is really cool. But then
we also do occasional what we call disassembled
episodes where it's more of a traditional podcast
like this, where we've got four, maybe six of
us podcasting, talking about a film. And usually
those are more recent or an anniversary style,
as opposed to the here's 15 people all chopped
up into two hours talking about a film, which
is that is an undertaking to edit that together.
And I don't envy the editors and the producers
on that. So kudos to you, gentlemen. Bravo. It's
a great concept. Really enjoy both shows. And
now we are going to start side B. And I get to
kick this off. So I'm just going to hit this
nail right on the head. Because for an opening
song that considerably could be a guilty pleasure,
at least for metal fans out there. I don't think
there's a more divisive metal moment in the nineties
than when Metallica cut their hair. Oh, very.
And that to me was a moment people. Oh my God.
The, the audacity of them to do that. I chose
to kick off side B because people didn't like
load, but people really didn't like reload for
some reason. And yet when I saw Metallica this
past summer, For the 72 Seasons World Tour, when
they kicked into fuel, the place went nuts. But
for some reason, it's still considered like part
of the they cut their hair moment. And I don't
know. It's still a kick -ass song. My neck's
still sore from headbanging at it. Oh, see? You
know. I've got the Razor Star in my arm. Metallica
is one of the bands I've seen the most. And I
would have loved to have gone to the... the 72
season show they just unfortunately had it like
one day day off one day there was no way i could
afford the tickets at the time or work it out
so it was like i've seen them every time since
summer sanitarium i had seen them every tour
up until that one went i just can't swing it
now Father of two, different days. I can't do
it. Sorry. We had to divide and conquer with
my wife and I going one night, my daughter and
I go in the other night just to kind of break
things up a little bit because it was just so
hard to do the scheduling. But I will give it
this much. Metallica is closing in on their 60s.
I don't know if it would behoove them to go back
to back nights. And I think the tour could suffer.
So I understand why they're doing it that way.
And I'll be honest, they still bring it. I got
the CDs from both nights. You were able to order
them from the Metallica site. I listened back
to the soundboards, man, for their age, there
is no reason on this earth. They should still
be rocking the way they do. And I'm just going
to be the one to say it. I love the load album.
I loved. That album. I still do. I think it's
Metallica's take on Black Sabbath. Reload, I
thought, was a little weaker because of the fact
that there were some kind of songs that felt
a little leftover. But overall, it's a hell of
a lot stronger than St. Anger as far as I'm concerned.
So, yes, kicking things off with Fuel. Yeah,
that is one of my favorite Metallica songs from
the 90s is Fuel because it's one of those. We
don't care. We're in it. It's fast. It's not
heavy, heavy old stuff, but it is hard rock and
it's fast and I still enjoy it. You can't go
wrong with Fuel. Anyone that gets offended by
Metallica in the 90s, you know, bands are allowed
to do what they want. ACDC put out basically
the same album from 40 and I love every one of
them. Love them. They could put out 50 new albums.
I'm going to love them all the same. I actually
respect the fact that Metallica was trying different
things. Some of them worked. Some of them didn't.
I'll be honest. Not a fan of Lulu. I gave it
a listen. I am there with you. I wanted to hear
what they were going for. And I did. And then
I put it down. And I don't think I've tried it
twice since it was released. And both times I
was like, maybe time will. Give me different
perspective. And so far, it hasn't. No, no, I'm
there with you. And someday, if you ever just
want to talk Metallica, I will talk Metallica
with you. But we are making a mixtape. And I
don't want to take up all the time talking about
Metallica, although I'd love to. There's a lot
of music we still need to get to on Side B. So
what are you following up Fuel with? Gosh, oh,
man, what's the slowest song I could pick? I'm
trying to think of something that's going to
be kind of fast -ish. It's not going to be as
hard because, one, I don't want to just copy
and paste and just continue with something like
that. But I think I am going to stick with the
rock theme at the moment. And I've got two I
could go with, but I think I'll... I think I'll
save that one. And also, I'm not actually sure.
I think I just like that one. I don't even think
that's a guilty pleasure. But I'm going to go
with Gin Blossoms Found Out About You. Oh. Gin
Blossoms, they were one of those 90 bands that,
like, I found people were split on. Like, they
seemed to, I like Gin Blossoms, but then I'd
talk to someone else and be like, I can't freaking
stand them. Why? What is it? I don't know. I
just don't like them. Okay. Sorry. And I never
had an issue with them. They came and played
one of the small venues back in the mid 2010s.
And I got to do the interview and meet the band,
go backstage with them. And they were so laid
back and nice. And they put on a hell of a show
to a 400 person crowd. It was great. And I never
understood. Just why people didn't like them.
I understand not loving them, but I never did
not like their music. I always enjoyed what they
played. I mean, they're associated with Empire
Records. So that right there has to be a plus
one on Team Jim Blossoms. And then I'm just going
to say it found out about you is my favorite
Jim Blossom song because it reminds me of the
cars. To me, that was a long lost car song. The
harmonies, the delivery, it's power pop and it's
fun and it's infectious, but it still had that
90s feel. But you could take it back into the
80s and it would have still worked. And that
was something I felt like there's a timeless
nature to found out about you. And, man, I love
the Jim Blossoms, so I actually know where I'm
going to go from here. Oh, good. I'm glad I made
it easy for you. Yeah, this one's actually not
hard because I went to a tour that was one of
those 90s package tours. Oh, yeah. And the 90s
package tour was Marcy Playground, Lit, Jim Blossoms,
a band that I'm about to mention, and then Everclear
Headlining. And the band that I'm about to mention
was a band that when I discovered them, they
were opening for Korn. They were a heavy hardcore
slash punk band. Their album Lemonade and Brownies
was getting tons of airplay on college radio
stations. And my buddies and I spun this album
nonstop. And then a couple of years later. they
came back with fly and we're a whole new band.
However, as much as fly was a pivot from lemonade
and brownies, the song every morning seemed to
be the song that people went, ah, sugar Ray.
And I always got mad because I'm like, no, they're
lemonade and brownies. They're lemonade and brownies
because they were, they were a heavy hardcore
band. And it was such a one 80 that I love Lemonade
and Brownies as an album so much. I've forgiven
everything they've done since. And I've gone
to see them several times. And I even enjoy the
poppier side of Sugar Ray. But damn it, I wish
they did more stuff like Lemonade and Brownies
because they were really good at it. And I actually
have under one of my extras, I had Sugar Ray
Fly, the featuring Super Cat, though, version.
You got to have Super Cat. I heard the one without.
super cat and it sounded so foreign to me because
that was the only version i ever heard and then
when he wasn't there i went what what is this
it's empty this is fine i don't like it's empty
yes that was it it was so empty and but again
it was one of those extra songs where i went
does this fit guilty pleasure or is it just what
i mean again for me yes but is it a guilty pleasure
for everyone no Your pick is definitely a guilty
pleasure, in my opinion. And it's one of those
songs that every time it comes on, I never turn
it off and I find myself singing along with the
chorus. But then I'm like, God, I got to go put
on lemonade and brownies next because it's like
it kind of whets your appetite. And if you have
not heard Sugar Ray's Lemonade and Brownies,
go back and listen to it and have your mind blown.
Because for the first half of the album, when
they're rapping and they're doing hardcore and
punk and screaming, you're going to be sitting
there going, this isn't the same band. But yes,
it is. And now you get to follow up Metallica,
Gin Blossoms and Sugar Ray. Hmm. Yeah, I'm gonna
I'm gonna. continue to pivot but what do i want
to pivot to i know there we go so i this was
an artist that i heard a lot on the local stations
we didn't have many much radio up in where i
grew up in the white mountains of new hampshire
so you would hear a lot of the the popular stuff
as it was dropping and this artist i loved her
voice But she was somebody I was never going
to go see, just because, well, I can't go see
her. I'm a boy. That'd be weird. But I had the
opportunity to see her open up for Hart after
the Wilson sisters got in their fight, and they
separated, and then they came back for a tour,
and they're getting along now again. But this
little spitfire put on a hell of a show, was
just as excited to be out. performing live and
they came out with the Wilson sisters later and
performed with them. I'm going to add Sheryl
Crow. All I want to do. I am not going to lie.
I love Sheryl Crow. I have a ton of her albums
and Tuesday night music club is a nineties classic.
I think the songs on it are incredible. They
hold up. She's an incredible songwriter. And
hey, going back to your Michael Jackson pick
on Side A, she used to sing background vocals
for him. So, I mean, she obviously has been in
the industry for a long time. I love the fact
that she's kind of pivoted a little bit into
country music because her voice always had that
tonality. And it works really well, but doesn't
seem like you're trying to cram a circle into
a square musically. It really fits. And she has
a song called Prove You Wrong with Maren Morris
and Stevie Nicks and the three of them together.
It's an incredible trio of female vocal harmonies.
She is one that I think just kind of got lumped
into that saccharine 90s pop that I genuinely
love. I don't know what the big deal was about
it. So what's fun with Cheryl is. I play her
on two of the radio stations, and one is a light
AC, and you'll hear some Sheryl Crow, but then
you will hear the countryside of her on the country
station. So every once in a while, depending
on which station we have playing over the PA,
I'll be like, which station is on the PA? I'm
hearing Sheryl. Which one is it? Oh, okay. We're
listening to the country station today. Okay.
Well, coming out of Sheryl Crow for track five,
I'm going to stick with the female side of things
here. And I'm going to go with a song that the
band is a one hit wonder. And this song is very
divisive. Either people love it or they hate
it. We've covered the song and I can kind of
look at the room and see where the audience lies
on this track. I am love it for this song. Always
have been, always will be. And I think. The singer
-songwriter for this group is an incredible songwriter.
She's had hits with Adele, Alicia Keys, Gwen
Stefani, Cheap Trick, Christina Aguilera. However,
when you go back to the 90s, one of the first
songs that really got people either up in arms
or into this group is Four Non Blondes' What's
Up, Linda Perry. I think she's got an incredible
voice. I love the cover that they do of Misty
Mountain Hop on the 90s Zeppelin tribute album.
I think the entire album for Four Non Blondes
was incredible. But this song ranked number 10
on both Rolling Stone's Reader's Poll of the
Worst Songs of the 90s and American Songwriter's
10 Worst Songs of the 90s. I don't know. You
work with Country Station, so you're aware of
this. laney wilson just did a cover of what's
up for her most recent album and she kind of
put a little bit of a country spin on it a well
-written song is a well -written song and what's
up to me is just a well -written song that is
a good one and i actually had four non -blondes
uh somewhere uh over on the side list of yeah
that might be a possibility i might be able to
toss that in there but I have heard quite a few.
We're not pushing a lot of the new music, but
we do spin it here and there, depending on how
it charts, and you'll sprinkle it in here and
there. But I have heard just over the past few
years of my involvement with country, it's like,
wait, this isn't the rock version. Wait, this
isn't the pop version. Someone covered this,
and it does well on the country station. It's
interesting to see that. Luke and covering Tracy
Chapman with Fast Car. That was one that all
of a sudden just exploded. And I remember it
from the 90s. And I remember seeing it pop up
under the list. I went, that's not a guilty pleasure
song. It can't be. But it also charged my mind
with what you're talking about. You take something.
It was a good song. It was a popular song. And
here's somebody who's. Paying homage to Tracy
and she performed with them. They did a hell
of a duet, which was amazing at the award ceremony.
It's awesome to see some of these great songs
be reprised and be in a new light and a new sound
and a new voice. It's I I find it very interesting
and not the sidebar too much in the 90s. There
was a point where songwriters were selling their
songs to multiple artists. And I remember when
I Swear was a hit for John Michael Montgomery
on country radio and All For One on R &B and
pop radio. And that was kind of that crossover
appeal. And I think it also happened with Nobody
Knows by the Tony Rich Project was also a country
version at the same time. There was a lot of
that happening. But that's a total sidebar for
another time. You could make a playlist out of
that. You certainly could. You could do it for
decades. You could be like, you know, Manford
Band to Earth Band. They're the ones known for
Blinded by the Light. No one thinks of Springsteen.
Yeah, exactly. That's just what people know it
for. Putting a pin in a new episode idea. There
we go. You're welcome. Glad I could help. So
what are you following up what's up with? Yeah,
I want to I like that. Do I want to speed things
up? Do I want to kind of stay right there? Oh,
man, this one, this one. OK, this is what I'm
going to do, because I know there's people in
my station that hate when this one plays, but
I can't help it. I can't help it because it was
an earworm when I heard it when I was growing
up. There was something about it, and we're going
to also stick with an artist similar to Sheryl
who has transitioned from where they started
to where he is now, is Hootie and the Blowfish,
Only Wanna Be With You. Because Darius Rucker
now is having a pretty good career in country,
but in the 90s, this song was... And they had
a few other hits that did do well, but this seemed
to be the one for me all over the place. I know
multiple people in my station that when this
comes on, they go, oh, you're playing it again.
The rotation is slow. It's been three days. Calm
down. Look, when Hootie and the Blowfish first
broke, I was down in college in North Carolina,
and my buddies and I said, man, this could be
played on country radio. top 40 radio with ease
and just slide in and out and that was something
i think that was very endearing about hooting
the blowfish and probably what got them to the
popularity that they were because the 90s was
huge for country and if you had the ability to
teeter that line between country and pop like
a shania twain like a garth brooks like billy
ray cyrus with achy breaky heart where you're
getting that cross genre appeal another song
that could easily fit into the 90s guilty pleasures
oh yeah hooting the blowfish had a sound that
worked well on two formats so they were creating
two separate audiences that love them and to
me there's nothing but respect for that and hooty
obviously will not hooty darius rucker yeah Took
country. I mean, that poor guy probably gets
called Hootie like everywhere he goes. Hootie
to his friend. You can call me Mr. Hoot. Thank
you. Mr. Hoot. The Blowfish are out back. And
to me, it's one of those groups that, I mean,
they were embedded with the Friends lore because
of the whole episode where they went to go see
them. And Monica got the hickey from one of the
Blowfish. Hootie and the Blowfish, believe it
or not, I actually have every album they've ever
released. I still enjoy their stuff. They're
a hell of a show if you want to go see it. But
Only Want to Be With You is probably their most
overplayed song. So I agree with the pick here.
Yeah, it is. But people love hearing it. It's
one of their biggest hits for a reason. And I
dropped a bomb at this point of Side A with Tom
Green's Lonely Swedish. I'm going to drop a bomb
here for Side B too. okay and pivot us a little
bit it's a total 180 from hootie and the blowfish
it's a cover song and you know how my feeling
about i love my cover songs and if you're going
to take a song and you're going to reinvent it
and make it something new you better do it right
and this was number one on buzzfeed's 20 worst
songs of the 90s And number eight on Bustle's
18 annoying 90s songs that we all listen to obsessively.
Again, I really don't get that article title,
but I digress. The first time I heard the opening
chords to Limp Bizkit's Faith, I said, you've
got to be kidding me. They're doing a version
of George Michael? Oh, my God. Yes. Okay. When
this song kicked in and he starts screaming Faith.
I'll be honest. I loved the Faith album in the
80s when a band had the balls to take this song
and just make it this screaming, bloody murder,
kind of punk rock, kind of hardcore, kind of
new metal anthem. I was all in. And Limp Bizkit
is one of those hated bands. Oh, they are. Like
when you think about 90s hatred, they're like,
oh, Limp Bizkit. And I don't know how they became
kind of the. Maybe it was Woodstock 99. I don't
know, but they kind of became the poster child
for hated new metal. And I'm not going to lie.
I still have tons of their songs on my phone.
And hell, I was rocking dad vibes when they dropped
that on their most recent album. I thought that
song had a great groove to it. They're ridiculously
talented musicians. Wes Borland's a frigging
genius on guitar. And yeah, Fred Durst is Fred
Durst, but. Not every song needs to be something
impactful and meaningful. Sometimes you just
need to have fun. And faith is frigging fun.
And that is the band having fun. You know, there's
been plenty of covers I've heard from rock bands
that have put their spin on it. I've heard a
fair share, you know, from Metallica. They have
albums dedicated to it. God, you almost got like
one album from Disturbed. Like it seemed like
they were always throwing at least one cover
in there. And sometimes I'd hear these covers
by these hard rock bands and go, I like it. It's
good. And then sometimes you hear it and be like,
not sure that works. But kudos to you for trying.
And Limp Bizkit's Faith was definitely not one
of the ones that I listened to a lot or really
enjoyed. I remember hearing it going. That is
a choice. Well done. Well done, Limp Bizkit.
All right, then. You have gotten my attention.
And believe it or not, that's what the song did.
It got everyone's attention. And it catapulted
them to the level they were. Because that was
the song that broke them. And to me, my favorite
song is always going to be Break Stuff, Unabashedly.
I love that track. A two -chord monster. But
Faith was the one that when I would play it for
people, they would either go, dude, that's the
greatest thing I've ever heard. Or, you know,
like Beavis and Butthead, this sucks like that.
That was never an in -between. There was never
a lukewarm. It was just like visceral hate or
all in. And I think the divisiveness is what
kind of creates that guilty pleasure lore, at
least for Limp Bizkit. I agree. Now, this one,
I'm going through my list now, and a lot of the
stuff I have now, I'm getting down to, all right,
these are now personal experience of me hearing
something, enjoying it, and then witnessing other
people shit all over it. And at the time, and
I still actually like this song. It screams 90s
to me. Powerful female vocals. But this sticks
out to me because it was a song that my dad hated.
And it may have been just because my parents
were getting divorced and he had a horrible view
of women and anything of women kind of talking
about themselves and how they are. But I always
enjoyed this. And I do chuckle the fact that
it really pissed him off that he hated this song.
But I'm going to go with Meredith Brooks' Bitch.
Yeah, I like this song. I love it. And I never
understood what was wrong with it. Because just
her lyrics, she's just being blunt. She's like,
this is who I am. This is what you're going to
get. And I think if I'm going to psychoanalyze
anybody, or at least the people that I know beyond
my father as well that did not like this, it
was because they felt challenged by it. By a...
strong independent woman slash artist who was
being this blunt and this being at this point
of being like this is who I am this what I'm
going to be this what you're going to get instead
of the more let's say traditional approach of
past generations and I think that's why when
I was growing up hearing it and witnessing it
from the older generation I went I don't get
this but okay they don't like it I think that's
a fantastic song one hit wonder But what a hit
it was. I always thought it was powerful. It
was catchy. And it was quote unquote controversial
because she was somehow able to get away with
using bitch multiple times in the song. And that
was also part of it, I think, was that it was
maybe offensive wasn't the right word, but it
was challenging authority with being able to
say this inappropriate word over and over during
daytime radio. How dare you? children could hear
this let me go drop an f -bomb in the next room
when i hit my ham my hand with a thumb but that's
fine well i will say this the night that i met
my wife my wife and i met up in new hampshire
at a dance club in west lebanon at the time going
back 20 something years ago uh -huh and my buddy
and i were driving to this club with a group
of us we were all meeting there and we're listening
to the radio in new hampshire a rock station
And they were playing Candlebox You. And the
whole song, my buddy and I are sitting there
going, there is no way they got the balls to
play the uncensored version. There's no way they're
going to play the uncensored version. They're
going to cut out. And all of a sudden, the third
verse started kicking in. I'm like, dude, this
is the album cut. Either the DJ doesn't know
or they're going to play the album cut or they
figured out a way to cut the F -bomb out of the
song. And we're driving along and hand to God,
may I be struck by lightning. both F -bombs got
dropped in the song and it blew our mind that
this was eight o 'clock on New Hampshire radio
and they played the studio cut on accident. And
we were like, we thought we were witnessing something
that was kind of like epic. We're like, whoa,
I can't believe this. And I always tell my wife
that story. She goes, that's what you remember
from the night we met. I'm like, oh, it was.
You don't hear that often. You'd hear it in The
Who, Who Are You, or Jet Airliner by Steve Miller,
but never Candlebox. No, even with Fuel. There's
an F -bomb in Fuel that we play. I mean, unless
it's a very blatant F -drop, we play the unedited
versions of almost all these songs because, in
my opinion, that's what they were intended to
be. But if it's blatant... I forget which one
it is from Pink Floyd, but I had to edit that
one out because, oh, what do you want from me?
That one was very blatant. Yes. I couldn't let
that one go through. Jet airliner. Who are you?
You know, it fits. I mean, as a kid, you're sitting
there going when it happened. All right. Coming
out of bitch. I've got one song left and I am
so torn because there are two bands. That I want
to go to here because I feel like these two bands
caught so much hate over the 90s that I want
to spotlight. I'd love to spotlight both of them,
but I'm down to one pick. So I'll give you a
choice. Do we want to go upbeat and happy or
do we want to go big, anthemic and soaring coming
out of Meredith Brooks's bitch? Oh, boy. Oh,
man. Now I have to think about what I want to
end with because this would affect. So what am
I to a big, upbeat and what? Upbeat and fun,
little boppy kind of fun or big, soaring rock
anthem. Let's do. Personally, I've never been
a fan of ending on an anthem. I'd rather end
with an upbeat kind of. than kind of the, like,
if it's a slower anthem. So why don't you go
with the, I'll try to cover, I'll try to end
on the upbeat if you want to do this awesome
anthem. Let's go with the anthem then. Should
I spoil what the upbeat song was going to be?
Yeah, I mean, probably go ahead, you know, but
I may also be shooting myself in the foot by
having you do this anthem if it's what I think
it is, but continue. Okay, well, the upbeat song
was Smash Mouth All Star. Because the song just
was everywhere, inescapable. It was in movies,
TV shows, commercials. I mean, like you were
in Kohl's and the song was always played. It
was everywhere. Couldn't escape it. And I'll
be honest, I love Smash Mouth. Walking on the
Sun is one of my favorite songs of the 90s. And
then All Star made them kind of this hated band.
And I never understood it because I think the
song was just too popular for its britches. But.
Yep. I am going to go with a song that kind of
became the poster child for the term butt rock.
And we're going to go with Creed and higher.
Okay. I saw Creed play this song at a radio show
at Irving Plaza in New York City. The lineup
was Oleander, Our Lady Peace, and Creed. 1999.
All three of the bands commanded the stage and
Creed debuted higher that night. Human Clay came
out the next day. When they played this song,
you looked out in the audience and people were
just blown away by the song. And I said to my
buddy, this thing is going to be frigging massive,
this song. And it was. But then it became so
massive, it kind of became the poster child for
that term butt rock, which I don't like. It's
just. hard rock music i mean all those bands
that they kind of lump into that it was just
kind of a derogatory blabbermouth term that i
really feel like hell creed is selling out cruises
now they're they're back in 2024 they're doing
tours again did they have their moments that
might have been a little off sure but i go back
and listen to the first few creed albums and
there's a lot of great music on there and i don't
understand maybe it was the I don't want to say
religious nature of some of the lyrics. Maybe
I don't know what it was, but Creed got the Nickelback
hate before Nickelback hate became Nickelback
hate. I was actually going to make that next
point was going to be Creed was pre Nickelback
because I think and I think the similarities
between Creed and Nickelback are you can listen
to some Creed songs go, OK, this is rock. But
then you get something like higher. And then
all of a sudden I remember one of my teachers
because we were just have CDs playing in our
I .T. class just when we were doing work and
higher was coming from somebody's. PC through
the speakers and he's like whatever that is you
turn off that chick music and he was former military
and he was just like god damn Creed music and
went off about it and it was like okay we know
he doesn't like Creed and Nickelback Nickelback
I think took what Creed was doing and they said
hold my beer and they went so much further because
they had been so successful that People hate
them, partially for their success, also because
they have songs that are fast, hard rock songs,
and then they have this softer side, which shows
range, but in many people's views, I think, is
a... I don't know. It's taking a soft approach
to being what you're supposed to be known for
rocking out, you know, as as the band Nickelback.
But I saw them. I didn't see them live in concert
and they put on a hell of a show. So I don't
know what people I mean, I know why people don't
like them, but also at the same time, I can go
see them live. It was still a still a good show.
I'll say this. Creed and Nickelback were both
modern era Bon Jovi. To me, Bon Jovi did it in
the 80s. They had hard rock and heavy songs that
the guys liked. You Give Love a Bad Name. That
was a good hard rock song. Let it rock. But then
you had your power ballads. And they did it so
well. And Nickelback just kind of took the same
formula. And so did Creed. We got the heavier
side. We got the lighter side. And it works.
They're still selling out stadiums and arenas.
So what? Who cares? So, yeah, I put Creed on
here. I know people. I know there's going to
be somebody who's going to be angry. You're going
to get some hate, which means I can't let you
be alone. I can't let you. I appreciate that.
I am going to end with something that will probably
get a little bit of hate as well so that we can
share this together, because I feel we've really
bonded over the past hour and. 20 minutes or
however long it's been. There's a lot I could
choose with, but I'm going to choose something
that's upbeat, quick, annoying for many people.
And they're really, really popular now with Dune
coming out. It's Spice Girls Wannabe. Yes. Thank
you. You're welcome. Look, if Zebra Head covers
the song in punk rock fashion. Just like I said
about Aqua's Barbie girl. That's a stamp of approval.
That's the zebra head stamp of approval. Zebra
head has an entire album out called panty raid.
And it's all punk versions of female songs. It's
a really fun album. Get this party started. Want
to be all these good female pop songs. And they
went and punk eyes them. And it's so much fun.
Such a great listen. I loved Wannabe when it
came out. I was in a punk band in the early 2000s.
And in the middle of our song, we would break
out to the rap part of Wannabe just in punk form.
Just because the song was so much fun. It was
so infectious. God, there's not a bad thing about
this song. But I will tell this story because
one of my closest friends on the planet, Bob
and I were back in college together. He is now
my daughter's godfather. And we went to the theater
one night. We're like, let's just go catch a
flick. We're not tired. It was a nine o 'clock
showing of two movies. We had a choice. And it
was the Spice Girls, whatever that was called,
Spice World movie. Oh, yeah. Yeah, Spice World.
Or Deep Rising with Treat Williams. And we went
with Deep Rising. And Deep Rising was one of
the worst horror movies. It was about this alien
creature on a submarine, whatever. Oh, yeah.
Opening scene of the movie. This person sits
on the toilet and the being just sucks them into
the toilet. Never breaks the actual toilet, though.
The whole human body just kind of like it was
so bad. It was brilliant. And we laughed so hard
through that movie. But for the last almost 30
years, we were like, what would have happened
if we saw Spice World instead? It's always become
the it was like the fork in the road. And we
went to. deep rising instead of did we did we
choose the right universe did we should we have
gone should we is this is this are you were you
the catalyst that has brought us to this place
in this universe brian should do it but at the
end of the day what a great way to close outside
be a very eclectic Side B of our guilt -free
90s guilty pleasures with kicked off with Metallica's
Fuel. Gin Blossoms found out about you. Sugar
Rays every morning. Sheryl Crow's All I Want
to Do. Four Non Blondes What's Up. Hootie and
the Blowfishes Only Want to Be With You. Limp
Bizkit's Faith. Meredith Brooks Bitch. Creed's
Higher and Spice Girls. wannabe. 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 how they can connect with you and
learn more about NeatCast? You don't want to
do that, but if you feel obligated to, I am still,
the most interactive I am through the social
medias is through Twitter or X, whatever you
call it, at Zach Deuce. For everything with Neatcast,
you easily just go to theneatcast .com. And everything
that we do with Podcasters Assemble, it is at
probablywork .com. But I post whatever I'm doing.
on the Twitter, on my feed. So if I'm doing something
with, I don't know, somebody making a mixtape
or something like that, I'll be sharing it there
as well. Well, it has been way too long. I am
so glad we were finally able to make this happen.
Zach, thank you so much for joining me on my
weekly mixtape, and I'm looking forward to doing
this with you again, hopefully not in another
couple of years. I will gladly come back whenever
you want me to, and we will set up a time to
have you come regret joining us on Neatcast.
Would love it. And remember, mixtapers, you can
find my weekly mixtape on almost all the social
media haunts at... My Weekly Mixtape. You can
also head to myweeklymixtape .com to check out
the full catalog of My Weekly Mixtape episodes.
And if you like what you're hearing on the show,
you can help me out by either telling a friend,
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There you can enjoy ad -free episodes of the
show, chime in on future episodes, become a future
guest, and so much more. That's all for this
week. Thanks again for listening. And until next
time, enjoy the tunes.