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 for tonight's collaboration is my
good friend and co -host of the TuneStyles podcast,
a show we produced from 2018 through 2021. Please
welcome the man with the board shorts tan, the
one and only... Jay Sweet. Jay, thank you so
much for being on, man. Thanks, Brian. Thanks
for having me. And here I was thinking that we
were going to escape the entire episode without
a board shorts reference. I've burned the board
shorts. They're burned. Well, it's been a long
time since we've done a podcast together. I'm
so excited to finally talk tunes with you again.
Let's start with the question I start every show
with because everybody has a different answer
to this one. Jay. What does the word mixtape
mean to you? It means road trip. When I was in
college, my friends and I, we would get into
the car. I got myself a set of wheels and we
would put these mixtapes. I would put these mixtapes
together to handle these long road trips. I was
up and down the eastern seaboard. My mom lived
in Tampa at the time. So we'd go visit her or
we'd stop in New York City all the time. And
I've been out west, went to as far as Sandusky,
Ohio, which were the roller coaster farm out
there. And you get bored in listening to the
radio was wonderful. Discovering new new stations
and new markets. But it's a pain in the butt
to. do the tuning thing when you cross state
lines or get out of range of the city. And so
I put these mixtapes together. And you know the
old meme, get in losers, we're going to wherever.
We did that. I got in the car and drove down
the neighborhood and arrive at my friend's house
and be like, let's go. We're going to New York
this weekend or we're going to Washington or
wherever the road would take us. So I put together
a whole volume. Well, I called it the ultimate
driving experience. And there were, I think there
were eight or 10 various mixtapes in that. Awesome.
Well, tonight, Jay and I will be curating a mixtape
of 2000s punk rock. So a little outside of the
mixtape years, this would probably be mixed CDs
at this point. But we're talking about anything
released between 2000 and 2010. And we're going
to use the categories of punk rock, emo punk,
ska punk, or pop punk, because the words punk
rock went in. countless directions during the
2000s so we're kind of using the all -encompassing
punk rock while a few bands might immediately
come to listeners minds there are a ton of lesser
-known bands from this decade that i'm actually
really excited to hopefully bring to the table
tonight because during 2002 to 2006 i played
in a punk band and this era of music really connects
with me because I got to see a ton of great punk
bands live through that band. And I also, in
some few cases, got to share bills with some
of these amazing bands. So these songs really
are a snapshot of a time and place in my life
that I truly loved. My wife and I were still
dating at this point. We were still in our younger
20s and kind of enjoying life. And these songs
are kind of the soundtrack to that. So I've got
a list that's... full of endless possibilities
and directions and i'm really excited to talk
about it jay i know you're a couple of years
older than me maybe like 20 or 30 what were you
what were you looking for the songs that you
brought to the table this evening well i'll be
perfectly honest with you and not brown nosing
at all but these songs most of the songs that
are on this list remind me of you These were
songs that came out and that I listened to when
I met you. And some of them I'm going to actually
give you credit for turning me on to. I would
not have heard them if you and I had not worked
together in New York back in the early 2000s.
So I'm looking forward to kind of reliving those
memories and seeing your punk band a couple of
times. Fresh off of recently, I saw Bowling for
Soup and Less Than Jake with Cliff Diver and
Dollskin, which was right here in Atlanta. A
fantastic show. And I was thinking maybe of throwing
some Dollskin on here and maybe some Cliff Diver
as well, because those would work as a bit more
heavier than Pop Punk. But most of the things,
like I said, they remind me of the time that
I moved to New York. And you and I have spoken
several times on TuneStyles where... I used music
to connect myself to memories of times in my
life. And that was this period of one of the
greatest periods of my life was finally breaking
free of Syracuse. Not that I was imprisoned there
or anything, but just, you know, when you work
in a market 80 versus all of a sudden getting
the call up to go to work at market one when
you're in radio, that was the pinnacle. That
was the dream. So these again, these songs are
right around the hot songs around that time and
that they have really, really strong memories
tied to them. Awesome. Well, let's get down to
business then. Tonight, as I mentioned earlier,
Jay and I will be curating a 2000s punk rock
mixtape, and we are going to use the old cassette
deck approach, meaning our tape will be broken
up into two sides, side A and side B. Jay, as
the special guest, will begin side A with his
first song choice, and then I'll add a song that
I feel best follows up his 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 the side off with
Jay choosing second. Our overall goal for this
episode is to craft the best 2000s punk rock
mixtape possible through only 20 songs. At the
end of the show, you can take our conversation
to the next level by visiting the 2000s punk
rock page at myweeklymixtape .com and give our
final mixtape a listen via the embedded playlist.
Finally, if you like what you're hearing on the
show, please consider becoming a Patreon mixtaper
at patreon .com forward slash my weekly mixtape.
And I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome
our newest Patreon mixtaper, The Too Vague Podcast.
Thank you so much for supporting the show. Jay,
now before I turn it over to you to reveal your
track one, some of the fellow mixtapers who follow
me at My Weekly Mixtape on Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, and TikTok have chimed in with their
ideal opening track for a 2000s punk rock mixtape.
And I wanted to share a few of them now just
so we can have some food for thought going into
this. Patreon mixtaper Cactus Pete chimed in
with Yellowcard's Ocean Avenue. And then across
social media, Josh Zimmer chimed in with either
Green Day's Jesus of Suburbia or Coheed and Cambria's
A Favor House Atlantic. Courtney chimed in with
NoFX's Linoleum, which did come out in the 90s,
but NoFX was still massive during the resurgence
of pop punk during the 2000s. So I'll totally
allow that one. Kay Hutch chimed in with 28 Days
Rip It Up, getting an Aussie band into the conversation.
I like that. Ryan at the Soundtrack Your Life
podcast chimed in with the Gaslight Anthems,
the 59 Sound. The Music Rewind podcast chimed
in with Good Charlotte's The Motivation Proclamation.
Derek Caravu chimed in with Against Me's Osama
Bin Laden as the Crucified Christ. Prahi and
Matt Natham chimed in with Sum 41's Fat Lip.
Rob Ebert chimed in with Fall Out Boy's Grand
Theft Autumn. Coley Green chimed in with Green
Day's St. Jimmy or Sum 41's Jessica Kill. And
Amanda Walsh chimed in with Bowling for Soup's
Punk Rock 101. Now, J -Suite, with those picks
out in the universe, I'm officially pressing
the record button on our mixtape and the floor
is yours. Why don't you dive into what song you
chose to kick off Side A? Well, I gotta say,
you want to start a mixtape like this real strong.
You want to be able to hit the proverbial listener
in the face in terms of true punk revolution.
And there were a couple of real strong contenders
for the number one spot. But what I decided ultimately
where I settled on was welcome to 2001's Take
Off Your Pants and Jacket, Blink -182's The Rock
Show. Nice. The reason that that, I think, leads
off a great mixtape is because it's powerful.
It's fast. You know what you're getting into
right from the rip. It sets the tone. It, of
course, welcomes you to the rock show. How can
you go wrong with an album named Take Off Your
Pants and Jacket? That is probably one of the
best albums to this day, the best album titles.
I mean, everything about Blink -182 is they're
back out. They're churning out new music. And
Tom DeLonge is back with them, which is fantastic.
In fact, they're coming right through Atlanta
this year. And my oldest daughter wants to kind
of go see them. And they're also playing the
When We Were Young Festival for $50 more. So
I think we may actually, I may sneak her out
to Las Vegas this year and we may check out that
festival. But back to why The Rock Show is a
fantastic opener for a mixtape is, like I said,
they hit you right in the face with what you're
going to get from this mixtape. Absolutely. I
could not agree more. You scooped me on Blink
-182 because obviously you can't have a 2000s
pop punk mixtape without mentioning this band.
Although I did not have The Rock Show, I had
Anthem Part 2, which was the opening track on
Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. both songs are
kind of interchangeable for me i those are my
two favorite songs from the album so i'm perfectly
happy with the rock show obviously you've got
travis barker's drums that are just driving you
through that he is one of the best punk rock
drummers and i'll even go as far as to say one
of the best rock drummers on the planet some
of the stuff he does just blows my mind it almost
sounds like he's doing some like neil pert prog
drumming in punk music and it works and it's
just so effortless i love the song but now following
that up i want to keep that energy because you
obviously kick this thing off at 100 miles an
hour and i want to stay at 100 miles an hour
but i don't necessarily want to go with a band
where everybody's going to go i know that group
and i don't want to go too deep either but i'm
going to use my jersey roots for this one and
i'm going to plug in a band that i feel follows
up blink 182 perfectly and especially the manic
energy of this song going to the rock show is
about being with your friends and having a good
time and falling in love at a rock show so thematically
I'm also going to be on the same wavelength,
only it's going to be a song about getting together
a night out with the boys. Guys night out. The
ladies are out doing their thing and the guys
are going out separately. And I'm going to go
off of 2001's How I Spent My Summer Vacation.
And I'm going to go with the Bouncing Souls,
Mantham. It's a shout out, sing along song, the
whole chorus. I mean, if you listen to the lyrics.
He's my friend. He's my alibi, my accessory to
the crime, a bond that will never die until the
end of time. It sounds like it could be a really
sappy ballad between two friends, but it's done
at a million miles an hour with everybody screaming
the chorus coming out of the rock show. It keeps
that energy up and it keeps the punk vibe going.
So my track to following you up is the Bouncing
Souls Anthem. bouncing souls are probably one
of the most perfectly named pop punk bands that
are out there yeah bro punk would be an apt description
of that anthem song it's perfect for a follow
-up to to blink and now you have the easy task
of where we go from here, which I'm sure is simple
because you probably, knowing you, you brought
what, like maybe six or seven songs? Yeah, right.
I was up all night curating a list of songs here.
You and I are going to have some fun tonight.
I know that for sure. So I could go a couple
of different ways here, but I think we're going
to introduce, I know you like to drop the zingers
of the girl power. Later on in your mixtapes,
I've noticed through the show. So I'm going to
start here. I'm going to 2007 with the best damn
thing and throwing in some Avril Lavigne with
Girlfriend. Wow. Avril Lavigne gets kind of a
rough rap because, you know, she was very bouncy
pop, more leaning into the pop side of the pop
punk. But I got to tell you. you listen to skater
boy and I, my cover band did skater boy and we
always had the crowd on the floor. But when you
do, when you listen to Avril Lavigne's girlfriend,
that song screams at you that it's, you know,
you've got your bros, you got your man. Well,
I don't like your girlfriend. Wow. I'll be honest.
I didn't even think Avril Lavigne, but in the
pop punk realm, it actually works because in
modern pop punk, Yes, I'm going to say the name,
but I will also say it did not make the playlist
tonight, nor will it. But Machine Gun Kelly's
recent tour, he's out doing the pop punk thing
right now. And he brought out Avril Lavigne,
which was in his mind kind of a throwback to
the early 2000s pop punk sound, which I have
a hard time wrapping my mind around because we're
talking about songs that are. two decades old
now, but in my mind, two decades ago was 1983,
not 2003. I can't wrap my mind around that. Some
of these songs are over 20 years old or 20, some
coming up on 25 years old. And it's just, it's
crazy to me. It makes no sense, but here we are
and we just have to deal with it. But coming
out of Avril Lavigne. I want to keep the girl
power going just a little bit more because I
feel like I know the song that could bounce off
of that perfectly and lean us a little bit out
of the pop side of punk and a little heavier,
but still keeping in that pop punk realm. And
I'm going to stay with 2007 and I'm going to
go with Paramore's misery business from the riot
album. This song is. Absolutely amazing. I love
Hayley Williams' voice. They obviously did a
little bit more emo stuff when you think about
songs like Hallelujah and Decode and some of
the other songs they've done. But Misery Business
is one of those songs that is firmly cemented
in that pop punk 2000 sound. It's got a little
bit of an emo vibe to it. And I get that there
was a little bit of controversy over the last
few years about the lyrics. I'm glad that she's
back to... singing it the way it was because
it's a snapshot in time and what is offensive
in 2023 was not offensive in 2007 and people
are going to change what they are and aren't
offended by and i don't feel like an artist should
have to apologize for something that they did
almost 15 20 years earlier in a time when the
rules were different so that's my big soapbox
speech about it. But before all that, the song
frigging rocks. And there's a reason why, and
I don't like mentioning this man twice in this
episode, but Machine Gun Kelly covered Misery
Business, which is opening Paramore up to a younger
generation who might not have known them in 2007.
And yes, Paramore is coming out with new music
this year, but it's definitely leaning a lot
more pop than what they were doing back on the
days of Riot. And to me, Riot is a top 10 2000s
pop punk albums. So following up your Avril Lavigne,
I am going to go with Paramore, Misery Business.
That's fantastic. You scooped me on Paramore.
I did have Misery Business on my list, or I could
have gone with That's What You Get off the same
album. When Paramore came out, now, you know,
working in radio for as long as we have. All
music is cyclical. And I know in the last episode,
you were talking a lot about how Top 40 Radio
from your 1993 episode with Ed, you were talking
about how music and Top 40 Radio was very all
over the place in 1993. And the genre changes
frequently. Right around 2007 was when my third
daughter was born and Paramore hit radio. And
I was at that point, I was not. with the way
that Top 40 radio was heading. I'm not a very
big fan of a lot of that era Top 40 stuff, but
Paramore hit. And I say that purposefully. Helly
Williams has an amazingly powerful voice and
she conveys a lot of great emotion through Misery
Business. I just, I can't. Yeah, all right. So
there's some controversy there. But that really
speaks to the punk side of things. What is, and
again, that rock music in general. as a protest
is consistently controversial. I think that's
what made Riot such a hot album at the time was
the fact that, you know what, she's pushing the
edge a little bit. Definitely, definitely. And
now we are throwing it back to you for track
five. Wow. All right. So how do I follow Misery
Business and still keep our flow going here?
You know what? I'm going to slow it down just
a little bit and go back to 2000, right at the
front end of our volume here. I'm going to an
album called Stomping Ground by a band called
Goldfinger. It was a ska band who reached some
prominence with Here in Your Bedroom in the early,
mid -90s. And they released a cover song, Nina's
99 Red Balloons. Love that cover. Absolutely
love that cover. Featured on one of my favorite
movies of the time. Not another teen movie with
a very young Ryan Reynolds, Molly Ringwald, Tyler
Lee. Fantastic. A funny spoof of every movie
of that American pie meets. Can't hardly wait.
And I remember when we moved to New York, you
remember Charles, right? Chaz? Yeah. He came
up. We had a couple of friends visit us and.
After like 20 minutes of walking the streets
of New York, we had just heard the complaints
of, oh, my feet are killing me. So, of course,
Charles, being as witty as he is, came around
with can't hardly walk. So, yeah, anyway, getting
back on topic, that soundtrack for Not Another
Teen Movie just is spectacular with some really,
really high pop punk covers of some great songs.
And Goldfinger's 99 Red Balloons just really
stuck out. Well, you scooped me on Goldfinger
and you scooped me on Stomping Ground, but I
had Counting the Days from that album because
I do have some punk covers sprinkled in my list,
but I love the cover of 99 Red Balloons that
they do. It's also in the movie Eurotrip and
they play the German verse as they're going through
Germany. They play it in that movie as well.
I love Goldfinger. There's no reason why they
shouldn't be on this list. They are one of those
bands that just... screams 90s, 2000s pop punk,
and I love the pick. So what I'm going to do
is follow up your Goldfinger pick. Because I
mentioned the movie Eurotrip, I'm going to stay
with the movie Eurotrip and go with a band who
would be considered a one -hit wonder. And believe
it or not, are actually a real band. The band
is called Lustra. And I'm going to go off the
Eurotrip soundtrack with the song Scotty Doesn't
Know. And no, Matt Damon does not sing for the
band. He lip synced the song in the movie. But
let me tell you, I've played this song with cover
bands before. Even though the movie wasn't a
massive hit in theaters, this song has taken
on levels of a cult following because of the
DVD. rentals of this movie and it's just such
a fun pop punk song it's totally inappropriate
totally hysterical and coming out of goldfinger
i feel like we keep that energy up in that little
movie tie in there so from 2004's eurotrip soundtrack
i'm going with lustra scotty doesn't know that
is a fantastic pick and i thought about putting
it on my list as well but and then i thought
all right maybe that's a little too uh dr demento
of me but as a one oh it is but i don't care
but i gotta tell you that has to be one of the
greatest moments in cinematic history for me
and also i mean you say that euro trip wasn't
such a huge hit but it did make michelle trachtenberg
really a household name at the time who yeah
by the way uh love her made her right up there
with with the jennifer love hewitt and and just
the the beautiful people of the early 2000s yeah
yeah so now i've kind of given you a cleed slate
to Bounce off of that one with because you could
really go anywhere from the Dr. Demento land,
if you will. You totally can. All right. So we're
we're about midway a little about three quarters
of the way through our first side here. And we've
got some great mix going on. I think what I want
to do now is is bring the tone down back to speaking
of reminiscing. I'm going to go back to 2001
and the album called Bleed American with a fantastic
group called Jimmy Eat World. And use the authority
song. All right. So we're going into a little
bit of the emo punk sound now. I really like
that. I had Jimmy Eat World on my list, but I
went a little later in their catalog. I had Big
Casino from 2007's Chase This Light. But honestly,
any era, Jimmy Eat World is one of the biggest
emo punk bands from. that decade so i see no
reason why any song i'm actually i'll be honest
jay i'm surprised you didn't go with the middle
coming out of scotty doesn't know so i do like
the little bit of a deeper pick with the authority
song there well i did have the middle uh as an
alternate and i could have gone with the obvious
the middle i think that was their probably their
biggest smash radio hit which was one of the
great it's so much fun to play that song because
i had a band that played that song as well and
that is a fun song to play lead guitar on. But
I went with the Authority song because one, it's
a little bit of a deeper cut. Their newer stuff
is still so good. Oh yeah. If you don't keep
up with them because you think they peaked at
quote unquote the middle, you really should check
out their newer stuff. They're a train. They
just keep going and they churn out just these
great anthemic pop punk rock songs. And the Authority
song is one of those that kind of takes you back.
Again, it really speaks to how I view music.
It directly tells the story of what a song will
do to you. It'll take you right back in time
and put you right back into the way you feel,
the way you smelled, the sights you saw, the
sounds you heard, everything that was going on
at that time. And I really couldn't have picked
a better song to encapsulate that. Yeah. And
following that up is tough because I feel like
we've got this energy level going through this
side A here. And I don't want to mess with it
too much, but I do want to lean into the emo
side of pop punk a little bit here. And I think
I know what I'm going to do. It's going to keep
the energy up, but it's going to be a little
more on the emo spectrum. And I'm going to go
back to 2003, off the album Ocean Avenue. And
I'm going to go with the title track, Yellow
Cards, Ocean Avenue. I want to give a shout out
to Patreon, Mixtape, or Cactus Pete who chimed
in with this one. Absolutely love this track.
I know Yellow Card might be considered kind of
a deeper cut here because they had kind of their
moment in time, but I feel like they're a band
that consistently puts out good music, a little
bit under the radar. They're not a household
name like the Blink -182s and the Green Days.
And it's a shame because they're extremely, extremely
talented. And as a musician, Colburn & Company,
Jay, as you have played Colburn & Company shows
in the past, you know we have a violin player
in the band, Rebecca. Becca, an absolutely amazing
violin player. I love the fact that Yellow Card
takes violin and incorporates it into a punk
rock sound and makes it work. Because on paper,
it doesn't sound like it would work. But you
listen to the violin in Ocean Avenue and it really
elevates that song to a new level. So a little
bit more emo, but still staying with that energy.
I'm going with Yellow Card, Ocean Avenue. I love
the pick. I had that as well. So you scooped
me on both the song and the artist. That album,
again, you get Ocean Avenue as the smash radio
hit, but Yellow Card is, again, another one of
those groups that consistently churns out. Kind
of like an ACDC, you know exactly what you're
getting when you hear the opening of a Yellow
Card song. You know that that is going to be
a consistently solid album. Yeah, they're not
putting out any dubstep albums. Nope. Thank goodness.
Yeah, let's put that out there, yes. When I do
a dubstep episode of my weekly mixtape, Yellow
Card probably won't make the cut. That's unfortunate.
Yeah. Hey, maybe Yellow Card's listening. If
they do a dubstep album, look, I'll consider
it for sure, but I don't know about Yellow Card's
dubstep turn, so we'll have to see how that goes.
But Jay, you've got one song left for Side A.
Where do you go from Yellow Card? That is a fantastic
question. So if I could find you now, I'd last
forever. Let's think. I think I'm going to push
up to 2002. I'm going to go back in time a little
bit before Yellow Card. The album Sticks and
Stones, New Found Glory, My Friends Over You.
And here's another great anthem of Love Lost.
and how miserable the loss of a long -term relationship
can make you. If you remember when I had essentially
fled to New York in the early 2000s, I had gotten
over a long -term relationship, or I was looking
to get over a long -term relationship that had
ended pretty badly. And this song specifically
spoke to me very loudly at the time. And I could
completely see why. I think that's a fantastic
pick. You scooped me on the band. I actually
had from 2000s self -titled Newfound Glory album
hit or miss. And I know immediately as soon as
I say those three words, fans of the band are
going to start screaming because, yes, the song
came out originally on 1999's Nothing Gold Can
Stay. but I was actually choosing the 2000 re
-recording that they did when they were on Drive
Thru Records for the self -titled album. So I
had a little bit of a gray area asterisked over
there, but it doesn't matter because it didn't
make the tape because you went to 2002's My Friends
Over You. I love that second album, or technically
third album from them. I love the song Understatement
as well. This group has been consistently putting
out fantastic... pop punk stuff. They have a
series of cover song albums that all focus on
movie soundtracks. They do covers of Anna Kendrick's
cups from the. Pitch Perfect Movies, The Power
of Love. That's right. I mean, they're a fun
band, but their original stuff is fantastic too.
So I highly suggest if you stopped listening
to them at any point, remedy that and pick up
some of their newer albums because they still
keep the same style, the same energy. They're
actually putting out an acoustic album this year
in 2023, which is pretty exciting as well. So
New Found Glory is great, but you know this...
To finish up a side, this is tough for me, but
I think I know where I'm going to... You want
something big to finish up a side. And the last
time I saw Newfound Glory live, they were opening
for another band. And I think because we started
with Blink -182, I feel like we need to kind
of end with that same massive group. And I don't
think you can get any more massive in... 2000s
punk rock and 90s punk rock in 2010s punk rock
than Green Day. So I'm going to go to 2004's
American Idiot and I am going to close our side
with the epic Jesus of Suburbia. We talked about
it at the top of the episode because Josh Zimmer
chimed in with that one. And I know. Coley Green
chimed in with St. Jimmy also off of the American
Idiot album. American Idiot is one of the biggest
albums of the last 20 years. It was made into
a Broadway play. Jesus of Suburbia was the band's
most ambitious song to date. And the first time
I heard it, as I was listening to the CD, I'm
saying, wow, are we on like track seven already?
And I looked down and I'm like, we're only on
track two. This is a suite of songs. And it.
Absolutely works. It doesn't feel like it's over
nine minutes long because it's just done so well.
And I feel like closing out a side because punk
songs are relatively short. This brings us a
little bit closer if we were to be timing this
out to the end of a side on an actual cassette
tape. So I am closing out side A with Green Day's
Jesus of Suburbia. Well, you got me on the album.
You got me with the band. And I was going to
go with American Idiot. And for all of the reasons
that you mentioned, this is probably my wife's
favorite Green Day album. And if there is the
perfect summation of pop and punk, they did.
They built an entire Broadway show around it.
it totally plays like a concept album, almost
like a, not to, not to compare apples and oranges,
but almost like Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice's
Jesus Christ superstar, which started off as
a concept album, not, not necessarily a show.
And it became this beautiful, like this show
that, that now Ted Neely does just at 176 years
old, he's still going, but, but, you know, Billy
Joe, his voice is fantastic. They popped onto
the scene in the early mid -90s, and they showed
up out of California, picking up where we had
not heard punk rock in a while. And they kind
of took it up to a new level. And then as the
band progressed, I believe they just really found
the groove, and they really found the way to
toe that line to the mainstream and keep their
roots firmly in the punk world. And I'll go as
far as to say, and I know some punk purists will
be upset with this, but I think in terms of overall
popularity and mainstream appeal, I would, I
don't know, safely say, but I'll say with a little
trepidation that Green Day could be one of the
largest punk bands, if not the largest punk band
in the history of the genre. I get it. the Ramones,
the Sex Pistols, for me, the Descendants, the
Misfits. I get it. But Green Day is a stadium
band that took punk rock from the clubs to stadiums.
The Misfits do sell out arenas, but do they sell
out a stadium? I don't know. I like your argument.
I do. It's a tough one because I know punk purists
don't see Green Day as punk. They see them as
pop punk. And I understand there's that gray
area with subgenres. But I have a hard time thinking
of a band that would be bigger, even Blink -182,
which is from that same era. I still think if
they were touring together, Green Day takes top
billing. I'm sorry. Even with Tom back. Absolutely.
And going back to what I was talking about earlier,
when we were a young festival, they are the headline.
Green Day is the headliner, even though Blink
-182 is back on tour with Tom. It speaks very
loudly to the popularity and the pull power that
Green Day has. You're absolutely right. That
argument holds a lot of water. Well, that, mixtapers,
concludes side A of our 2000s punk rock mixtape,
which consists of Blink -182's The Rock Show,
Bouncing Soul's Mantham, Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend,
Paramore's Misery Business, Goldfinger's 99 Red
Balloons, Lustra's Scotty Doesn't Know, Jimmy
Eat World's The Authority Song, Yellow Card's
Ocean Avenue, Newfound Glory's My Friends Over
You, and Green Day's Jesus of Suburbia. You could
head to myweeklymixtape .com to hear all the
songs we've discussed in this mix through the
playlist embedded on the episode page. Now, Jay,
you had said earlier you're down in Atlanta.
You're working sports now. You're still in the
industry. So I guess my question for you is,
being Mr. Sports Guy now, what's your halftime
report for how our mixtape is coming along thus
far? Well, I got to tell you, Brian, the mixtape
is sounding really good. You come out of the
gate, you boom, you hit them right in the hocks.
You got them right on the ground and you're walking
around and you're wrestling like two little Greco
-Roman wrestlers. It's kind of crazy. How am
I supposed to follow that up? All right. Well,
with that, with that mix tapers, we are diving
right into side two and I kick things off here
and coming out of something on side one. That
is Jesus's suburbia. I felt like that kind of
cleansed the palate because that song is weaving
you in and out of all these different sounds.
So with that palate cleanser, I think I know
the perfect song to start off side two. And it's
going to start off on a quiet note, but then
pick it up a notch. And this is one of the biggest
emo albums of the 2000s. I'm going to go to 2006
is the Black Parade. And I'm going to go with
My Chemical Romance, Welcome to the Black Parade
to start side B. I know this gives you a new
slate, a new direction to take the side wherever
you want. I'll just go ahead and say it. I'm
not the world's biggest My Chemical Romance fan.
However, that album, in my opinion. is their
masterpiece. I absolutely love the fact that
they were able to blend Queen, David Bowie, punk
rock, and emo all into this sound that's so larger
than life and such a concept, and it works so
well. I might not be a defender of My Chemical
Romance much outside of this album, but this
song deserves every bit of... praise that it
gets. It is such an amazing song. Again, New
Jersey representing in this playlist, like I
said, with the Bouncing Souls. So we're starting
off on a little bit of a light note in the beginning,
but once that song kicks in, it is anything but
light. My Chemical Romance, welcome to the Black
Parade. You scooped not only my band, my album,
and my song, but you scooped my entire line of
praise for this specific song. The vocals, are
and the harmonies are so good uh when i first
heard this song i had deluded myself into um
that i was going to become a runner and and lose
some weight and and well we see how that worked
out for me not very well uh but i i remember
this song um when i first heard it uh it hit
my i want to say it was spotify we had moved
to albany spotify might not have been around
yet but it was on my playlist and it hit my playlist
And I remember feeling, I teared because, you
know, at the point it was just so powerful and
emotional. And at the time, like we had just
moved out to Albany. We had to carry my newborn
second daughter with me, with us. And it was
just, where were we going to live? It was all
kind of crazy. And then I heard this song and
it was just, it was perfect. Emotionally, it
just kind of got me in it. It really was the
part where he's, you know, shouting at the world
like do or die. I'll never break this. The world's
never going to break me. I'm not going to, you
know, you could throw everything you want at
me and I'm still going to still going to prevail.
And I think that that's what really that made
me a big fan of MCR. I also had teenagers on
my list because that song is hilarious. Oh, yeah.
That song to me is Queen personified by a modern
band. I really hear the Queen vibe coming out
in that song. For sure. And again, My Chemical
Romance is one of those bands. I liked it when
they came out in 2006. My oldest daughter loves
it. Now my second oldest daughter is a big fan
and my middle daughter is a big fan as well.
So it just transcends time. They're still like
2023 and we're still talking about how... Welcome
to the Black Parade is such a huge album. It's
a monster of an album. Yeah. And now that they're
back touring it again, I mean, they're going
to be back into that conversation even bigger.
And to be honest, I hope they do put out something
new and I hope it kind of stays in that vein,
because I think the Black Parade is just one
of those albums that if they could kind of recapture
that magic in the bottle. you have a whole new
generation that can have their minds blown by
it. Like we're talking about now, but now Jay,
I've left you kind of a wide open slate here.
You can go in endless directions. Where are you
coming out of my chemical romance? Well, there's
a couple of different things that I was thinking
here that we could do. And I, I'm almost positive
that this is the right step. I'm going to go
2004, the naked truth with Sarah Hudson's girl
on the verge. Now, Sarah Hudson is not a household
name you would think of right away, but she is
related to actress Kate Hudson and singer Kate
Hudson, also going by Katy Perry. So she had
that family, you know, the nepotism, if you will,
the family name to kind of hang herself on. This
song screams at you. It is girl power. It is
the breakup song told from the female perspective
and dealing with life on a regular basis. The
band that I was in, Phoenix Rising, at the time
that we were trying to get ourselves to play
this song. And I just I don't think we could
capture it very well. So I think we shelved the
idea. But this song, when I first heard it was
OK. This song screams at me literally. And I
loved the raw power of it. That's an interesting
pick, dude. I'll be honest. I did not have that
on my list. And I like it. I am just perplexed
at where to go from there. I'm scrolling up and
down this list saying, what can I do from that?
Hmm. All right. I think I know what I'm going
to do. Sarah Hudson. It has a little bit of that
alternative kind of indie rock sound. So I kind
of want to lean into that a little bit. And it
takes you a little bit away from the punk sound.
But when you. blend punk and that alternative
indie rock together, you do get this alternate
sound of punk. And I'm going to go back to New
Jersey again. And earlier in the episode, I gave
a shout out to Ryan at the Soundtrack Your Life
podcast. I'm going to do that again because I
am going to go with 2008's The 59 Sound and I'm
going to go with the Gaslight Anthem's The 59
Sound. The Gaslight Anthem is one of those bands
that truly started off in the punk vein, but
then started bringing in this Springsteen -esque
New Jersey vibe to the sound. And they're a band
that in this area. can easily play the PNC Bank
Arts Center. I feel like they should be a lot
bigger. Brian Fallon has done a lot of stuff
on his solo end. He's done the Horrible Crows.
He's done his solo albums. And he leans a lot
more singer -songwritery. But when they come
together, the 59 sound is this alternative indie
punk vibe with a little bit of a Springsteen
-esque... damn near Americana storytelling aspect
to the music. And I feel like coming out of Sarah
Hudson, it still keeps that kind of serious indie
vibe and kind of takes you back into the punk
realm with a little bit of that indie flavor
still throughout. So my track three is the Gaslight
Anthems, the 59 sound. What a spectacular pick.
You know, Gaslight Anthem is such a uniquely,
you said it perfectly, they're such a uniquely
styled pop punk band that brings, first of all,
I got to pause there for a minute because we
go to Jersey a lot here. Is there something in
the water? You know, they always talk about,
you know, the West Coast, like when you think
about Third Wave Sky, you had the whole West
Coast sky sound that came out with Real Big Fish
and No Doubt and all that. New Jersey has a great
breeding ground for punk music, even going all
the way back to the Misfits, Lodi, New Jersey.
That's right. You have the Ramones, which is
right over the bridge in New York. New York and
New Jersey is a central hub of punk music, and
there's a lot of great bands that came out of
it. It just so happens I'm choosing them tonight
because of the music, not necessarily the New
Jersey aspect, but yeah, damn. Good for New Jersey,
right? Very good for New Jersey and very good
for the Gaslight Anthem, too, because, again,
I think they took that punk sound, that pop punk,
and they flavored it up and they made it their
own. And I don't think you get a lot of bands,
obviously, that do that. I would hope that every
band aims to do that. But this is such a Gaslight
Anthem is such a classification in and of themselves
where that sound is that that's their style.
It's uniquely theirs. I love it. How do I come
out of that? that is wow okay let's take a look
um yeah for i'll tell you right now jay side
a we had this kind of vibe and energy that's
sprinkled throughout and side b has been just
zigzagging so far so i'm kind of curious are
you gonna put us on the straight and narrow here
or are you just gonna keep this weave thing going
that we've got going here oh let's see this is
a great question i think You know what? I'm going
to stay in New Jersey, and I don't think this
band is from New Jersey, but this song specifically
that I'm going to pick here is the song that
I would never have, it wouldn't have ever been
on my radar had it not been for one Brian Colburn.
So I moved to New York City in 2001, actually
late 2000. Met Brian at Westwood One, and we
became workmates and friends and went to go see
his band often. But we went to karaoke a lot
too. And on the way, we would listen to these
great songs. And this one particular song is
not even, it's a bonus track. So we're going
to go to 2001 with the album Go. And a band called
H2O did a cover of Madonna's Like a Prayer. Yes.
I love it. That one is absolutely fantastic.
What a great cover that was. Unsuspecting. I'll
never forget the look on your face when that
came on. You went, wait, what is this? What is
this happening right now? What are you putting
on? And then when it kicked in, you were like,
oh, dude, this is something. Oh, my God. I'll
never forget your reaction to that one. Oh, yeah.
And then they take that quick, like the music
break. And then they kick it back in. It's great.
And again, you wouldn't have immediately known
it if you weren't listening to the entire album
in the first place, because like a prayer, the
cover is a hidden track attached to underneath
the flames off of that album. And again, I went
back and listened to that entire album and it's
really solid. Oh, the whole album is great. I
love the band. I'm so glad that they got brought
up because they're, again, a little bit of a
deeper cut. But I absolutely love the pick. And
obviously, I love cover songs. So I got to give
a huge thumbs up to that. But I'm going to stay
deep now that you did that. We talked about the
Gaslight Anthem and H2O. Gaslight Anthem once
covered this song live that I'm going to pick.
And it's a band that features Chuck Reagan and
Chris Woolard, both on guitar and vocals. And
the group is called Hot Water Music. And I'm
going off the album Caution from 2002. And I'm
going to go with Trusty Chords. It keeps in line
with that Gaslight Anthem style, but it's a little
heavier, a little bit more growly punk. And Hot
Water Music is one of those bands that every
album they come out with, I absolutely love it.
And I always wonder how... In the hell, they
are not a household name. They are so consistently
awesome. Every single album, including their
newest one that they just put out, one of my
favorite albums of 2022. This band should be
in everybody's ears. And I'm hoping through the
mixtapers listening tonight, you're maybe learning
about Hot Water Music for the first time. Or
if not, you're remembering them and going back
and starting to listen to them. Track five, Hot
Water Music, Trusty Chords. That's fantastic.
Again, that's not leaning away from the poppier
side of the pop punk era, but you've got that
real heavy. It is. It's almost that guttural
growling kind of hard edge of pop punk. And I
really love that pick. Again, that's going to
make it really interesting to come out of. You
know what? I'm going to throw a curveball in
here. That's what I'm going to do. Let's go to
2004. Let's go to 2004, Brian. You know, a young
lady, a little show called American Idol and
a young lady named Kelly Clarkson. I certainly
do. Well, she released a song called Since You've
Been Gone in 2004 off the album Breakaway. And
that, I think, is a great way to kind of flip
this album on its ear a little bit. I'll tell
you right now, Jay, people are going to be screaming.
That you put Kelly Clarkson in punk. I'm just
putting it out in the universe. But this song
does have that pop punk sound. So I am not going
to argue it. But you might get some hate mail.
Just throwing it out there. With all due respect.
That's fine. I welcome it. Because it's funny.
I was scrolling through TikTok the other day.
And I don't even know what the hell a TikTok
is. But there was a content creator. I guess
they call us now. Was saying about how Kelly
Clarkson was. going back to her pop punk roots
and they're waiting really you know these hardcore
died in the world fans are waiting for kelly
to signal that she's still one of them i'll say
that when she started she had that edge to her
um you hear it in in songs like since you've
been gone you hear it in my life would suck without
you she also has a later one called why you want
to bring me down which was a cover of a band
called a randa which was a hard rock kind of
indie rock group and she covered it with that
punk rock flavor as well so she's definitely
sprinkled it in to her music throughout the years
but because of where music has gone and her being
the pop artist she is it's been few and far between
And I was going to say, and now I'm diving directly
into the country thing. Plus, she's much like
Taylor Swift, kind of navigates her way, weaving
in and out of the pop and the country genres.
Kelly's leaning heavily back into her country
roots. And now she's a talk show queen. And she's
made quite a name for herself. And she's a Wayfair
spokesperson. Well, there you go. Well, coming
out of Kelly Clarkson. I got nothing. Actually,
you know what? I do have something. Because you
went so heavy into the pop side of the pop punk,
I got to bring us back towards punk a little
bit more. And what I'm going to do is go with
a cover song again. But it's a cover. Of the
massive 1997 hit from Natalie Imbruglia, Torn.
And it's by a band called Off By One. And it's
from their self -titled 2002 album, Off By One.
So the song Torn, the original, is that pop sound.
Obviously, Natalie Imbruglia's 1997 version.
Most people don't realize that Natalie Imbruglia's
song Torn. is a cover of Edna Swap, which featured
the two original songwriters in 1995. But that
wasn't even the original recording because Torn
was actually recorded first in 1993 by Danish
singer Liz Sorensen under the title Burned. So
this is actually a cover of a cover of the original
songwriter's cover, if that makes sense. I actually
love the song torn, but off by one's version
is full throttle pop punk and so much fun. And
from a personal standpoint, one of my old cover
bands use guys used to do Kelly Clarkson since
you've been gone and coming out of it, we would
go into off by one's version of torn. So on paper,
this is the only way I could see this working
here because all my other picks. do not lean
into the pop as much anymore. So I am going to
go with Off By One and Torn. That's fantastic.
You know, I'm glad you brought this up because
I am not familiar with Off By One, but I have
heard this cover. And I was wondering, you know,
who did it? And now you've brought it right to
the fold. And that's excellent. I'm here for
it. Let's go. This is one of those songs where
back in the Napster days, it would be like torn
cover. If you like bands like blah, blah, blah,
blah. Exactly. Kids, Napster was eight. So, all
right. So where do we go from off by one? Let's
see. We're bringing us back to center, if you
will. Huh? Let's, you know what? I think we're
going to do it. I'm going back to 2001. And I'm
going to go to a little album called Now You
See Inside. a group called SR71, who I would
be absolutely remiss if I did not put on this
mixtape. And the song is called Politically Correct.
Oh, you went with Politically Correct. OK, awesome.
Yeah, I could have gone with Right Now, an equally
awesome song. But I think Politically Correct
spoke at the time when I was leaving. I left
news radio and was kind of getting into network
radio. And it was all, you know, all of the news
that was going on at the time. SR -71 was one
of the first bands for me that vocalized the,
hey, everybody shut up. Just stop talking right
now and enjoy something, would you? That's when
I think everything started kind of where he throws
the line, they couldn't make a Mel Brooks movie
today. And it's a sad reality, really. I love
SR -71. I've had Now You See Inside for over
20 years now. I love... The CD book for this
album, just for a little bit of CD nerd geeking
out here for a moment. The CD book is actually
cut in half and you see half the CD and half
the image on the CD book. So the now you see
inside, you're actually looking into the jewel
case, seeing the CD behind the booklet. If that
makes sense. Clever marketing. very clever marketing
especially for that time you scooped me on the
band i had right now on the list just because
i remember it in that movie loser which was not
that good back in the early 2000s with jason
biggs after american pie exploded but i loved
the song and it was definitely one of those american
pie type pop punk songs that were popping up
in every comedy around that time. And now you've
kind of reset things here where I could go anywhere
with my last song pick of the night because we
only have two songs left and I'm scrolling up
and down my list and I am just heartbroken over
some of the songs that we are not talking about.
But the beauty of mixtapes is there's always
a volume two. So just because we're not getting
it to it in these 20 songs, there's no reason
why. We can't follow up because this is a genre
that's just full of possibilities. And because
we're nearing the end of the tape, I kind of
want to go with a song that's going to get everybody
fist pumping and singing along and just having
a big old party. And I feel like one of the areas
we didn't dip tonight was Irish punk. As much
as I am New York and I am a New York Yankees
and New York Giants fan, I have to tip my hat
to our Boston brothers in the Dropkick Murphys
because from 2005's The Warrior's Code, it doesn't
get any better than I'm shipping up to Boston.
You think about the movie The Descendants, fine.
It's great in that, but this song is such a punk
rock anthem. It made the Dropkick Murphys a household
name. I'm so thankful for what the Dropkick Murphys
did during COVID, during lockdowns. They were
finding unique and creative ways to do live streams
and bring music to people when everybody was
kind of hunkered down at home. They did this
amazing show. On Fenway, they were all separated
across Fenway Park on the field. Like each guy
was at a different base and they took up the
whole baseball field and they did a concert.
It was so much fun. I love the dropkick Murphys.
And I was kind of bouncing back and forth between
if I wanted to include dropkick Murphys or flogging
Molly here. But looking at where this mix is
going, I kind of want to end at like this. Just
incredible level. So for my last song for the
night, I'm going to go with Dropkick Murphys.
I'm shipping up to Boston. I love it. And again,
tying it back into my current job and being in
sports, everybody recognizes this song. When
it's played, it absolutely gets the entire crowd
up and off on their feet and off their feet,
too, while they're jumping in the air and fist
pumping up and down. They described perfectly
what you wanted to do on this album. So that
leaves me, I guess, to wrap this thing up, at
least for now. And I think you did this on purpose,
and I'm eternally grateful because the way I'm
going to close this album is with a friend of
mine. I'm proud to say that I have the capability
of calling him a friend. We're going to go into
the vast repertoire of Bowling for Soup. Jared
Reddick's voice, he has several songs that...
kind of make light of rock music. And he even
has a line in one of his songs that says, I think
that rock music is funny when it's serious. And
it just proves that Jarrett doesn't take himself
too seriously and that music is supposed to be
fun and that pop punk is a fun genre. So let's
go to 2003's re -release of 2002's Drunk Enough
to Dance. This was a bonus track and it's Punk
Rock 101. Nice. Amanda Walsh had chimed in with
that one as well. And I am glad to see that this
song gets represented here. It sums up the mixtape
perfectly. We started off with Welcome to the
Rock Show and we're closing out with your, this
is what we've learned today. This is your lesson.
And he, you know, Jared throws some, he's a great
lyricist. He has some great pop culture references
in there. He had a couple of references to Bon
Jovi's Living on a Prayer in that one. And it's
such a fun song. It's got a high energy and it
rocks. Well, you definitely scooped me on the
band. I had a feeling you were going to close
with that. So I kind of held Bowling for Soup
because I knew if I did it earlier in the show,
you would have probably started crying. And I
didn't want to make this a downer episode. I
had Almost from 2004's A Hangover You Don't Deserve,
as well as High School Never Ends from 2006's
The Great Burrito Extortion Case. I love Bowling
for Soup. They're one of my favorite pop punk
bands. i knew you were going to represent them
so i'm glad that it is represented tonight now
we've got 20 songs here jay i want to give you
a chance because i'm scrolling through my list
here and i'm feeling guilt there's a lot of songs
here that i didn't get a chance to talk about
so i'm going to give you this isn't going to
make the final mix but i'm going to give you
a chance for one honorable mention song what
is one song from your list that you wish We found
a way to talk about tonight, but just didn't
fit where we were going. Tokyo Hotel's Scream
from 2007's album, the same name. Tokyo Hotel
is probably not your well -known. It's a German
band named Tokyo Hotel. It's real strange stuff.
And of all things, the reason that I'm giving
this the honorable mention is because, one, it's
fantastic music. They did some great music videos
when he came over and translated some of their
stuff to English. And my oldest daughter, she
was obsessed with Bill Collitz for years while
she was growing up. And this song, Scream specifically,
was often heard bellowing from her bedroom in
the wee hours of the night. So definitely going
to give Bill Collitz some mention here and some
props. All right. And for mine, I am going to
go back to 2003's Anthem, and I'm going to go
with Less Than Jake, The Ghosts of Me and You.
You did pick Goldfinger, but you picked a Goldfinger
song that included no horns. So I really felt
like the ska part of Goldfinger was not evident
in the 99 Red Balloons. So I leaned into the
Eurotrip soundtrack tie -in to go into Lustra,
and I couldn't find a place to fit. less than
jake's the ghosts of me and you i absolutely
love that song i love less than jake i love the
whole ska punk scene and we could easily do a
ska punk episode as well so i'm sure down the
line at my weekly mixtape we'll be talking about
this but unfortunately did not make the final
cut but side b is kind of all over the place
so let's break that down one more time we had
my chemical romance welcome to the black parade
sarah hudson girl on the verge The Gaslight Anthems,
59 sound. H2O's Like a Prayer. Hot Water Music's
Trusty Chords. Kelly Clarkson's Since You've
Been Gone. Off By One's Torn. SR71's Politically
Correct. Dropkick Murphy's I'm Shipping Up to
Boston. And Bowling for Soup's Punk Rock 101.
Remember, you can head over to myweeklymixtape
.com to hear all the songs we've discussed in
this mix. through the playlist embedded on the
episode page jay sweet it's been an absolute
blast talking tunes with you once again my friend
thank you for bringing back some of the tune
styles flavor to my weekly mixtape and i hope
we could do this again sometime dude absolutely
brian thanks for having me we got to do this
again we certainly will and remember mixtapers
you can find my weekly mixtape on facebook twitter
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you can also head over to myweeklymixtape .com
to hear the music discussed on tonight's episode
as well as to check out the full catalog of my
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at patreon .com forward slash my weekly mixtape
that's all for this week thanks again as always
for listening and until next time enjoy the tunes