YDKF Episode 183: Music

[m00npie]

Title: YDKF Episode 183: Music
Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2018 08:00:26 +0000
Link: http://podcast.robohara.com/ydkf-episode-183-music/

Description: I decided to take a break from my studies and talk about music for a couple of hours. This is the longest episode of You Don’t Know Flack by far — a meandering record of my personal history with music, […]

[k8track]

I am surprised and delighted as hell there's a new episode of YDKF out. Will listen on my way to work this morning!

[AArdvark]

the thing about Rob's shows is that he projects such enthusiasm for the topic you cant help but like it. I have never heard of most of these bands but now I must go research and listen.

[Flack]

That's good to hear. I was afraid that too many music samples from bands people hadn't heard might be a turnoff.

[HatTrick]

Another great episode! I just listened to it on a long drive.

I am like the girl that worked at the taco place and kind of just listened to what was on the radio.

My friends in high school were into metal and hard rock so I was too. Then, when I went to college my best friend was into rap so I guess that meant I was into rap too. Now I listen to latin music because that is what my wife listens to. I am weird like that.

One thing I am sure of is what I don't like. I hate the shitty pop music on the top 40 stations. Luckily I only have to hear it in stores and at games. It is offensive in how bad it sucks.

[k8track]

A couple of things resonated with me.

I had that EXACT 45 of Queen's Another One Bites the Dust/Don't Try Suicide. Back then, I had absolutely no concept of "A-Sides" and "B-Sides." I had a stack of 45s (almost all of them were my mom's old 45s; that's what I was raised on, along with her old LPs), and I only knew that often, if not almost always, there was the one song that I would listen to almost exclusively and then the one on "the other side" that I tended to ignore. Looking back, a lot of times the one I would listen to was the B-side, and that was exactly the case with Don't Try Suicide. That was the Queen song I was most familiar with as a kid, and that line "Nobody gives a damn!" gave us kids a sort of forbidden thrill. I didn't listen to the other side nearly as much (though I think my brother played it more often).

In junior high, NO ONE was cooler than Michael Jackson! (In grade school, it was Fonzie.) He was by far the coolest guy ever. We did indeed have that one guy in our school that had the red jacket; my good friend Brian had it. And I'll never forget seeing him do the Moonwalk on live TV that night (Motown 25th anniversary), it blew my mind. When I got the Thriller cassette, it was my most prized possession. (It wasn't my first cassette; that was Killroy was Here.) I still have all my old cassettes.

I have not been to many concerts. The first one ever was in late 1988 (my senior year of high school) when I saw Van Halen during their OU812 tour. I've seen Styx three times (1991, 1999, 2000). The 1999 Styx concert was pretty awesome, it was at the Quincy IL racetrack and it was redneck central that night. They knew their audience and played "Renegade" as the encore and the crowd went wild. I've seen Weird Al twice and he puts on the best show ever. I was sad to miss him this time around. He is playing in Champaign IL this very evening, as a matter of fact. But my friends and I realized we were no longer in a good financial position. (God knows I'm not.)

The absolute BEST concert ever for me, hands down, was when I saw Lush on Sept 18, 2016 at the Vic Theater in Chicago. They are my favorite band ever ever ever, I love them so much. They broke up soon after their drummer committed suicide in 1996 and no one ever thought they would reform. But reform they did in 2016 and I bought my ticket all the way back in January, literally the minute it went on sale. The concert was just the most amazing experience ever. The only way I can describe it was that it was a religious experience, absolutely transcendent. The tour ended a month later and they broke up again (it was always going to be temporary, a last hurrah). I am so lucky and honored to have been able to see them.

P.S. Yay, I got a name check! Ghetto Blasters represent!!

[Flack]

I try to keep YDKF PG most of the time (although it occasionally dips into PG-13 territory) but the term in "Don't Try Suicide" I asked my babysitter about was "prick teaser." My babysitter was 16, hot, and probably a prick teaser, so I don't think it embarrassed her.

Here's a blog post I did with 50 bands I've seen perform live. I wrote that post in 2009 and other than Alice Cooper I can't think of any bands I could add to it. Since then I've seen Motley Crue (with Alice Cooper), Guns 'N Roses (I think technically somebody opened for them -- can't remember two), and Weird Al, all of which were repeats. http://www.robohara.com/?p=1608

I could probably tell a story for most of those concerts, but none of them are great and it would feel dumb saying stuff like "a guy spilled a beer on me this one time."

[Flack]

I am like the girl that worked at the taco place and kind of just listened to what was on the radio.

Well, that makes it official. We can never date.

My friends in high school were into metal and hard rock so I was too. Then, when I went to college my best friend was into rap so I guess that meant I was into rap too. Now I listen to latin music because that is what my wife listens to. I am weird like that.

One thing I am sure of is what I don't like. I hate the shitty pop music on the top 40 stations. Luckily I only have to hear it in stores and at games. It is offensive in how bad it sucks.

In the car my wife listens to whatever the kids want to listen to, which is the most popular dance music or whatever. I am amazed every time she starts singing a song I've never heard of.

[Sumer]

Awesome! Glad you decided to do another one, Rob. I actually just started your "Cassettes" YDKF today at work. Been taking my time trying to get through everything, but every new one you do, I really appreciate. Your perspective and way to relate things is one of the reasons I love your podcasts.