(upbeat music) - Befaw. - Befaw. - Befaw. - Nice. - Slim. - I really wanna make like a beep some butt head reference. I can't, I don't. - I, it's been a while since I have watched them consistently. - What a great show. - Thank you. - I know. I love MTV cartoons. It's my like insane, it's not even a guilty pleasure 'cause I don't feel guilty about it, but like I love MTV cartoons. The one I really wanna watch, I'm never, I haven't gotten around to is the Max. It's a, I think it's like a weird tale of like, the main character's like homeless, but he has like, it's almost like he's like going through like a trip with like, sometimes you see him and he's just the bum in a abandoned room, but then sometimes you see him and he's just this like superhero caveman who's just like saving the world and saving this, protecting this girl. It's this insane kind of trip. It's one, it's like, I think of the maybe a season, maybe two. I really miss that. - Is this from like the mid 90s? - Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, at five. It's called the Max, M-A-X-X. I crave that like 90s early 2000 creativity. - You're truly a connoisseur of a really obscure comment event. - It's so good. This is the other half of the reason I like wanted to do this too 'cause it was just like, man, I got things in my brain that it seems like no one remembers and they need to remember. - Yeah, it's funny, on the IMDB page of the Max, the first recommended is Aeon Flux. - Exactly, exactly, exactly. Beavis and Bunhead, Doria, Aeon Flux and the Max. The spawn one, for some reason, I can't get into the spawn animated show. - I do wanna watch it, I have to sit down and watch it, but the first episode, I don't know what it is, it might be the pacing for me. I've fallen asleep at least three times trying to watch the first episode. It's like trying to watch 2001 at Space Odyssey. I just fall asleep before they get to space. - So apparently, as of this year, Channing Tatum brought the film back up for the Max. - Oh my God. - Wow. - November 22nd, 2019, Channing Tatum and Roy Lee announced their intent to produce a film based on the match. In January 2024, Tatum confirmed on his Instagram that production on the film was moving forward. - Wow. - Oh my God. - Is Channing Tatum a good choice for this? - At this point, you might know more than-- - At this point, I'm in. I mean, here's the thing, he wanted to play Gambit. - He didn't play Gambit. - Well, in the 2000s, he wanted to play, he was like, I want to play Gambit, I want to play Gambit. - He was supposed to be Gambit. - Yeah. - For the, you know how they had the X-Men Wolverine origins? - Yeah, he was basically Gambit in that. - Well, he was supposed to get his own movie. - Yeah. No, I remember it was supposed to go up until around when after Deadpool came out. There was a whole plan and then it just got dropped. So we, I think we were severely robbed on that 'cause he was one of the best parts of evidence. - He was very excited to play Gambit. Who's another, there's another person who's like, oh, Aquaman, Momoa wants to play Lobo. - You're the DC expert here and if any listeners out there, you can't tell why we're just kind of rambling and you're not hearing a voice, might you decide to abandon us today? So this is just my variety. I'm Jared. - And I'm Vinny. - And I'm just-- - And I'm Variety. - We're just Variety today. We're just Variety today and our good old producer, Jake, is jumping on for this one. - It's me. - It's a bit of a one off. We're doing things a little bit differently today in honor of Mikey's absence. We're scrounging around for ideas and as you can tell, we're scrounging around for ideas of how to even jump into this, just bullshitting about DC comics and TV shows. - We're a little strapped for ideas right now because of that and because of that, we've asked producer, Jake, to help us out a little bit with this episode. - Indeed. - And we're gonna do something a little different, Vinny and I. And then we're gonna try and do this at any time that there's no, one of us has to drop out. We're gonna try and do collaborative playlists. You're gonna listen to us build playlists in real time. This is kind of based off of something we did for Vinny's last show at the radio station. One of our mutual friends of all of us, Spanky. - Craigie Spanky. - Craigie Spanky. - Also, DJ Spanky. Also a friend of Vinny in mind from high school too. Between Vinny and him, I have never met two people with a wider and deeper taste of music. We always said the two of them should have a variety off at the station. And we decided to finally do it for Vinny's final show. We came down and played, it was what, like an hour or two hours. - I literally, something like that. - I think I had an eight hour or four hour. Either I had four hours or eight hours. I feel like it was only four. So for, I think for two of it, it was just me and Spanky just kind of going head to head. - So what I did was I wrote down like 50 categories and literally just picked them out of a hat. And then on the spot, you guys had to both pick a song out of your libraries that fit that category. - Yeah, I think we have like-- - Without fail, you guys had like 10 seconds to do it. Without fail. - I think it was like 30, somewhere between 30 and a minute. - 30 in a minute. - Yeah, I don't remember. Maybe something like that. But regardless, no matter how much time I gave you, you both immediately, as soon as I said the category, hopped right through it and knew exactly what you were throwing in there. So yeah, we asked Jate to come up with a couple categories for when we need the start. And we don't know what it is. We're consummate professionals here. - Absolutely. - At just my variety. - Yeah. - So we are not cheating on this. - I actually, today and yesterday, I tried not to listen to a lot of music, just to like clear my brain. - Yeah, same here. - Clean slate. - And what's crazy is I'm going to like three shows, four shows in the next two weeks. But this is what I've been looking forward to doing most out of hell. - Hell yeah. - Hell yeah. Yeah, this is very much a rush for me. I'm a big, yeah. That was really fun when we did it. So I'm excited to see what we can do today. - Yeah, this should be pretty neat. I'm curious to see what you guys come up with. And the categories themselves, not exactly genre-focused. It's more just like a feeling. And so yeah, I'm really, really interested to see what you guys come up with. So without any further ado, are you guys ready to jump on in? - Let's hear it. - Let's start things off calm. We'll go from calm and then we'll work our way into fury. Does that sound like a plan? Sounds good. - Absolutely. - Okay, okay, let's see, let's see, I'll let me go. - So adjust my screen. - You are. - So is Jake, is Jake judging us today? - I guess so. Oh man, that's a lot of power, guys. - I'm a long run, damn. - I mean, I've heard your takes on several things. So, you know, I know exactly the seat that I get myself into. - Oh no, we're giving our secrets to the wrong person. - I know, it's crazy. - I'm gonna keep my secrets. - So, put yourself in the driver seat, literally, because you're taking a drive. It is 12 o'clock at night, one in the morning, it is a nice, cool, crisp summer night. You are cruising down the road. What are you putting on? - Where am I? - You are, wherever makes you the most happy, Vinnie. - Okay, okay, we have our first submission. - That's the one, first comes to mind. - Oh, this is interesting, Jake. - Oh, I know what it is, give me a second, I can't find it. - There it is. - Oh, wow. - There it is. - Wow. - Oh, wow. - We are running the dammit, this is why it's called just my variety. - My goodness, my goodness. Okay, all right, Jared, I'm listening to yours, I'm gonna then now listen to Vinnie's here. - This also is an interesting tell of how we approach what we think of that dream. - Whoa, Vinnie's here. This was not what I was expecting. - This is about what I was expecting from you. As soon as you said the time, and as soon as you said the drive, it was immediately big crit. The hardest part for me was figuring out the song. ♪ Yeah, I remember it so clearly ♪ ♪ Wrapping to my pop up by the cars and the clothes ♪ ♪ Shrimp in the laughter that I heard about ♪ ♪ Like word of mouth ♪ ♪ The U G K Tave and score face ♪ ♪ I turn your eye ♪ ♪ I was like 13, 13 for a good beat ♪ ♪ Scoping for a studio ♪ ♪ Talking about a spit heat like ball and G ♪ ♪ On that pimp type shit ♪ ♪ Three, six, hit me crunk on that late nights ♪ - Okay, I want you both to talk about these tracks, but I mean, I have to pull the trigger prematurely. Vinnie, you obviously have this round. That noise, you're right, Vinnie. I mean, like 12, one o'clock in the morning. You know, whatever your nighttime drive is. - Oh my God. Yeah, that was, why'd you pick that song? - Okay, so short of it is big crits, dream it, which thank God he uploaded to Spotify recently. Although I will say, he changed the beats. He uploaded all of his old stuff recently and they're all changed. I talked to him a little bit earlier about like, I know those albums, those are also albums that I know. And I heard them on the Spotify version. I was like, these are changed and I know this is wrong. But big crit for me has always been like driving music. I mean, he has so many songs about driving in a car. Like, the one is me in my old school. What's the other one? I think it's off-returning forever. My sub rotation, a whole bunch of songs about driving. He's from Mississippi. So he always says, if I can go from Mississippi to Atlanta and not wanna skip my track, that's how I know an album's done. Cool. But the tone of it is always like, I've always been a sad kid. So like, I always describe them as down songs. That time to me always represents just me just kind of by myself. And just, if I were to think of ideal, it's like maybe driving through the city. I was just about to ask, where are you driving? Yeah, I'm probably driving through the city, maybe going into like the suburbs, but like probably like driving through the city. And it always reminds me of like, the lights of the street lights just boom, boom, boom, boom. Yeah, good vision. And just that, coasting through just, it's like 12 o'clock. Between 12 and one is a really good time because it's like, no one's out after the bar yet. All the people that are drinking are still still in the bar. But like, everyone who isn't going to the bar, they're already home probably asleep. But yeah, that's a great pick. ♪ There's a road I'd like to tell you about ♪ ♪ Losing my hometown ♪ ♪ Make sure driving road is cold ♪ ♪ And it'll take you up or down ♪ ♪ From rats on up to riches ♪ ♪ 15 minutes you can fly ♪ ♪ Pretty blue lights along the way ♪ ♪ Cut you right on by ♪ Jared? Yeah, so I'm not gonna lie, I pulled the trigger a little early on this and didn't give it a lot of thought. I was very reactionary on this. I went with Late Short Drive by Alliotta Haynes Jeremiah. And for some reason, this is one that always like, it's not necessarily even a go-to anymore. I think it was more in college, it was driving from Cal back to home and back when I was commuting senior year. And like driving from Cal to the suburbs, it's nothing but farmland. So I think the country aspect of it is like what some of the bluegrass elements of it are really what stuck with me and like, made me think of that drive home. And it was always late at night too. Leaving campus after meetings or classes. Even after college, driving out that way to play cards, like still driving through farmland. But I was thinking about it more and realized there's so many better options I could have gone with. I mean, I don't know, it's just better. You know, there's just more options. There's so many options. Oh yeah, I guess better is not the right word to use there. But in terms of, I should have thought it through a little bit more. I'll take D.L. on this boy. I think it was cool though. And I like the juxtaposition between these two tracks really. Because I mean, you have that very happy, folky, you know, bluegrass type piano. And then you got Vinny's, which is very much more, you know, dark and just kind of like sucks you in and holds you into that drive. The more he was talking, the more I was thinking about it and thought, man, Midnight City by M.E.3 would have worked. Pretty much anything off of the baby driver's soundtrack, would have worked. Carpenter Brute, I've done that Midnight Drive multiple times. There was one remit of a Peter Gabriel remit of Heroes. He did it live at the Berlin Wall. Oh, okay. That I remember spanking and I funny enough, we're driving around one night and I put it on. And it was like perfect for our drive up to 79, like up into the North Hills. Yeah, absolutely. That would have worked. But I'm liking my choice a little bit more with the juxtaposition, though. Yeah. And the contrast between the two. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think about the, if it's good or it's bad. I mean, if you, yeah, just commit to the song, man. It's, as soon as you said, driving a car and time, I was like, I know exactly who, as the problem is, I don't know the song. Yeah. And then I remember, I was like, oh, no, my absolute favorite big crit song is streaming. All right. Well, good picks here, guys. Good picks. Let's move on then. So we've been driving. That's all good and great. Also, as we're driving into summer, see that segue, guys? Yeah. Crazy. As we're driving into summer, I'm sure that summer not to pull it back to nostalgic towns necessarily. But I'm sure that there are moments in your young 14 or young adult life that has had some nostalgia. And I'm sure that some of that has happened during the summer. So what is the summer time song? What is the ultimate summer time song to you? And you're really majoring us today. I don't know. You're going to take this song. I'm going to throw this in before you do, Jared. I almost don't want to look at what you're putting in their vin, but I feel like I have to, so we don't put the same one in. Damn. I got to think on this one a little bit. It's probably not going to be the same. This is going to be such a left field. I would be mind blown if it's the same thing. It could be. I highly doubt it. So for those listening at home, I am not looking at what he is putting in. Yeah, only I'm looking. Yeah, there it is. That's what I'm doing. Bang. Okay. Okay. Yeah, we didn't pick the same one. Yeah. No, I'm not even close. Not even close. [laughter] Pool party, baby. It was a cool party. Cool pool party. La-la-la-la. Pool party, baby. It was a cool party. Cool pool party. La-la-la-la. I'm corn hot, but there's in him from the patties. All the food you need to feed the very hungry. I didn't think you were going to be close. It was possible. No, I didn't get into the Aquabats until I was older. Okay. I didn't know a lot of people that had pools. Uh-huh. It's just a fun time. It's just like a... Yeah. [humming] It's just like... Skaw is the music of a teenager. Skaw is the music of your childhood. And to have the Aquabats pool party, it's just like the song of songs of being a teenager. So, if I was going to go with the Skaw song, it would have been suburban legends, bright spring morning. Okay. That would have been the one. But does that usually is one of the first ones I listened to? And like, over Memorial Day week, and the like, some are awesome. Right. Because I do have nostalgia for that one in particular. All right. I'm glad I didn't now, because I feel like two Skaw songs would have been low obvious. Oh yeah. I've done this enough where I just go with the first sense that I have. Like, I've just like, boom. This is the one. Okay. If I'm like, and you're like, talking about Summer nostalgia, just being a silly guy, running around, goofing off. Like, the Aquabats pool party. I don't know what other songs are. Oh, yeah. [LAUGHTER] So I listened to both of them. The winner here is going to be you, Jerry, because this song that I'll let you talk about here in a second, to me, like, this is also my, it's the same feeling that I have for like Summer. Get wrecked, Vinny. You don't know your audience, too. I just know. This isn't about me knowing any audience. Yeah. I just think that this song is like, just, it's the quintessential hanging out. Far but you going on, there's like plastic wrappers on picnic tables. There's like hamburgers and hot dog buns, like all over the place. Yeah. This song puts me there. So, Jared, why don't you talk about the song that you put here? Yeah. So I chose Bon Jovi's Lost Highway, not to be confused with David Lynch's film. That's something completely different. We're not going to discuss here. But this was John Bon Jovi's foray, like deep foray into country for about two or three years. It was a weird time in the late 2000s, everyone. Very, very weird. And we're talking about driving. And hearing you say Summertime's song and correlating that with driving. This was one of the first albums I bought with my own money. So, I have such nostalgia for this particular album, especially because I listened to a lot of Bon Jovi at the time. My parents loved them to death. How old were you roughly like when you bought that record? Like, I wanted to come out 2007, I think. Okay. Yeah. So I would have been, yeah, 12 turning 13, was when that came out. So, to me, it just had a lot of nostalgia. Playing this over that summer, playing it on car rides, listening, especially specifically to Lost Highway. There was another song I almost put on there instead. Summertime actually would have been, with my other choice I was going to go with. But then as soon as I saw Lost Highway, I realized that's the actual pick. Yeah. So, for me, this is where the nostalgia hits of, spent a lot of time in between 6 and 7th grade, listening to this album, listening to a lot of Bon Jovi. Yeah. So, that's why I went with this one. Denny? Uh, I think for me, it's more of a, like I kind of said, like, it's the vibe of being a teenager. Just goofing off. Like a band that dressed up like superheroes. Like, come on. Yeah. Of course. I think for me, it would have been summertime for sure, especially as a teenager, would have been a lot of scott or punk. It's getting harder. It's kind of the, it's kind of the point I'm trying to make. It's getting harder to put myself in those times. But like, songs that have been around me forever. Like, specifically like the Aquabats. Streetlight Manifesto's point counterpoint would have been one. There's a handful of other ones that I could have picked from. I was a Green Day kid. Absolutely. You know, 21st century breakdown would have been a good one too. That just didn't, because- Yeah. That was, that's before, that's after me. That's after me. Yeah. I spent that tour. I saw that tour because I hadn't seen them before. Because I spent an entire summer listening to that album. Actually, I think Jared, that was the summer after what we were just talking about. I think that came out in 2008. I think so. And that would have also occupied a lot of my summers. Yeah, it's- Right. Yeah. I was, I think the last one I consciously listened to, I was in eighth grade was American idiot. Yeah. Great album. I got it. Geez. That might have been one of my, that wasn't my first album I ever bought with my own money for sure. Yeah. Yeah. That was the first one that I got. But I didn't, I didn't buy it. And I didn't steal it either. My dad got it pirated from somebody and gave it to me. Oh, yeah. So, so my friend was the one who stole it technically. I got my mom to go to Best Buy to get it for me. Nice. Day of, I was like, Green Day gets out on Tuesday and I need you to go there on Tuesday. So I can listen to it when I get home from school. That's awesome. So I, I asked for it. Literally, I didn't know anything about Green Day in like 2005, 2004, 2005. And on my, from my birthday list that year, I literally just put Green Day CD and then they gave me American 80s. Hell yeah. And the first time I listened to it, I'm like, this isn't what I expected. And my mom was even like, yeah, your uncle was used to listen to when I come around all the time. Nice. And then that was, that was not the same band. My first album was Nimrod. Cool. Wow. My first Green Day album was Nimrod. My second was Super Hits. Nice. My first album, I bought myself, this should explain a lot. First two, actually, on the same day. It was Boston self-titled. And then Dave Matthews, is it not? Is it everywhere and in between? That should explain everything. Every day. Hell, every day is the album. Every day is the album I'm thinking about. Oh, that's funny. Wow. Because it was at FYE. And so it was like that Buyats get so many free. Yeah. And I had money for once. Yeah. Dude, I think I did a Columbia clearing house or whatever the hell it was. Oh geez. 12 CDs for a penny or whatever. I did like, I couldn't even tell you. I just started putting things on and I was like, here. Yeah. Nice. Anyway. All right, next one to one. Right. Yeah, it's one to one. Actually, I should probably be keeping score, huh? Shouldn't I? Yeah, why not? Just my variety. Where the rules are made up and the points don't matter. Everybody's made up and puts them at. I'm not thinking of my audience. I'm thinking of what you just said and how, where my burning goes. Exactly. As you should. You're in the gym now, Vinnie. That's where you are. So what are you putting on to really get the workout in? You know, what's going to really get you going? Already? Wow. Jared, that was quick. Oh, here it is. Okay. All right, Vinnie. What do we got? Actually, you know what? I'm going to use my change here. Might be a good one based on Vinnie, but in here, maybe take that. No, no, it's actually in the same thing. I haven't listened to "Overkill" in quite a while, but for some reason, as soon as you said in the gym, I was like, "Dude, overkill." [Music] Mine is "Hello from the Dutter" by Overkill. I was a thrash kid, for sure. I will always be slayer over Metallica and anyone slayer over everyone. And you said, "Jim, for some reason, just immediately went to "Overkill." I haven't listened to this album in quite a while, but it still comes in my brain every once in a while. The "Hello from the Dutter." Like, "Hello from the Dutter." Just everyone's on my brain. I just hear it rattling around in there. But it just occupies most of your thoughts. There's a lot of just different signs. Like, the one today was the stinky from "I think you should leave." Those were some reasons my brain just started stinky. But yeah, they're just like little sayings and stuff that just echo around in my little noggin. And "Hello from the Dutter." That scream just comes and goes. I think "Overkill" doesn't get enough hype. Like, looking through. Like, I understand this is a lot for a lot of people, but like compared to like Slayer or Metallica, they have 228,777 monthly listeners. That doesn't seem much enough. No, "Hello from the Dutter" has on this album, "Under the Influence." "Hello from the Dutter" has 2 million views. Everything else has less than 400,000 streams. So I don't know, I just like this is a band and an album I really, really enjoyed. I've always really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I haven't listened to a lot in the last handful of years, but I think people should know about it. And it fucking gets you hype. Yeah, they definitely should. And that's actually really interesting that you point out the numbers. Not that that's like, you know, a big, big deal. But it's interesting in this facet, because like literally that song has like over 2 million. All the others have less than 400,000. Yeah, like 300,000 interesting. Do you know why? Like, was that like a really popular... Because this album came out in '88, 1988. Yeah, '88. This was probably the hit of the album, "The Single." And then my assumption on how Spotify works is it's on like a thrash. Hello from the gutters on a thrash. Playlist or something. And no one else has gone like, "Oh yeah, I remember over 2." Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. All right, my change is done. ♪ Ain't good beat time, but then again ♪ ♪ I can't remember half an hour since I got out of phone ♪ ♪ I know you guys are second set, except for us ♪ ♪ And you leave me with my jaw on the floor ♪ ♪ All the things when you think ♪ ♪ And you need to go ♪ ♪ Just when you think ♪ ♪ And you gotta go ♪ ♪ 'Cause when you go home ♪ ♪ I hear it goes, hear it goes, hear it goes, yeah ♪ ♪ Now ♪ Oh, that's a tough one. 'Cause they could both, like when I listen to both of those, I could easily listen to both of those and get really hyped. Yep. Jared, I'm gonna have to say you went again. I'm gonna have to go with that. That's right. I mean, Vinny, that was awfully close. Literally like that was a small, tiny, tiny little fraction. All right, all right. So I had to give some rationale here. Because the song I initially had. Well, you're the winner, so I mean, you don't need to justify it too hard. This might have changed it, though. The first one I had in there was "1, 2, 3, 4" by FICE. And my thinking was when I'm at the gym, as much as I like having thrash on in those situations, I need something that kind of repeats itself so I can kind of just focus on what I'm doing. I haven't been to the gym over a year or so, but usually I'm listening to a podcast or just something that I take my mind off of what I'm doing. If I'm listening to either a podcast or if I'm listening to music that kind of repeats itself or is repetitive in nature, I can just kind of focus on those beats and kind of count with it in my mind of like what's going on. I try and listen to more poppy stuff. So I had "1, 2, 3, 4" in there because if I'm on the treadmill, I need something a little bit lighter to listen to. And thinking about it, I was thinking tribe would have actually worked pretty well with it too. But I ended up going with "Here It Goes Again" by OKGo. The treadmill music video just like is the quintessential YouTube video. And this is like the perfect example of just throw it on. I can focus on that so I don't have to focus on running or necessarily focus on any weights I'm lifting or anything I'm stretching or pulling. It's something simple that doesn't take a lot of attention. Definitely, definitely. Moving on, it's Friday night. We're not going out this Friday night. We're not doing any of that. We're staying in. We're inviting friends over. We're going to have a bonfire in the backyard. We're going to get some beer. Maybe you're smoking a little something, you know. It's just good vibes all around. You've got all the homies around you. You're hanging out and you're putting this on. Maybe you're getting rowdy. Maybe you're keeping a chill. I don't know. That's up to you. Dealers choice. So Friday nights. Yep. Friday night. Staying in. Friday nights. We're just hanging out. We've got some friends over. Yeah. This is what we're listening to. ♪ Pink pony club ♪ ♪ How I'm gonna keep my dancing ♪ ♪ At the pink pony club ♪ ♪ How I'm gonna keep my dancing ♪ ♪ Down in West Hollywood ♪ ♪ How I'm gonna keep my dancing ♪ ♪ At the pink pony club ♪ ♪ Pink pony club ♪ Oh, I'm too funny. I wish I was a banger, bro. (laughing) Oh my god, Jared, you better. Son of a bitch. You better pick it up. (laughing) I lost. I surrender on this one. Oh man. Oh, oh, also good pick. Okay. Okay. Yeah, okay. So, Vinny, you're gonna win this round. (laughing) That was nuts, but Jared, I like the way that you were going with that one. Uh-huh, yeah. Vinny's, I feel like, put me at backyard party, for sure. Um, yours took me to more like, indoor or sitting around, like everyone's like, actually, intently listening to the music. Vinny, let's start with the party before we go into the vibe that Jared said. This is Pink Pony Club by Chapel Room. This song has been a hit now for at least the last two years for us. Um, and I mean, if you're talking about people are coming over, Pink Pony clubs come on at least once. If not a bunch of other Chappelle Rowan songs. Uh, you're wedding this popped off. So you have this at your wedding? Absolutely. That's awesome. So our last three songs in a row, this was like the one thing. So at all of the end of our weddings, our song, uh, me and my friends as a group, is send me on my way, my rusted group. Classic blood speed band. Absolutely. Yeah. Funny enough, my cousin used to see him because he was friends with his brother. Oh, okay. My cousin was friends with the lead singer's brother. Because he went to school with him. And then he used to see him when he went to Ganon with, and he was like, we were the only ones there seeing him. So it was, um, the final three songs were Clarity by Zed. Pink Pony Club by Chapel Room. And then send me on my way. It's choreographed at this point. Like it's like, there's a, there's a sync to it. There's like a, like, you know what? Like certain songs come on. Like when you do it, when the YMCA comes on, everyone knows what to do. Yeah. Like when the chute can shuffle or whatever. Yeah, it went dumb. Yeah. When Pink Pony, when Pink Pony Club comes on, when send me on my way comes on, you know what to do. That's so cool. But Pink Pony Club is just a great song. It's a fucking banger. Like, Chapel Room is, I mean, she's been blowing up already, but she can't get enough in my eyes. Like, like me and my buddies have always had like, there's always a pop artist that were just like, this is the best. It was Kesha, then it was Carla Rae Jepsen, and now Chapel Room. Oh. And they all still hold up. Yeah. Oh, they're great. They're short. They're great. Jairus, why don't you tell us about your Friday night? Yeah, so my Friday nights aren't as crazy. I went with Sour Times by Portishead. And the reason I chose this album specifically was, I hosted a Friendsgiving back in November and decided to, instead of playing a Spotify playlist, I just built a playlist out of my record collection. And this is what I started off with. And I thought it was like the, or this was the second album I had in there. And I thought it was like the perfect mood set or for everything else that was going to come. And it progressively got a little bit edgier as the night went on. But with everyone kind of milling about, this was like the perfect background noise where it's-- Totally. That has those trip hop beats. And like, it's very subdued and quiet. But those that are paying attention, it should catch you a little off guard of, it's not a pop song, but it's not too obscure. Like it just, it fits the mood just right. So if you want to listen to it, it's catchy enough. But if you don't, you can try to tune it out, let it sit in the back. Yeah, excellent picks. You got to mark my score sheet here, goes to Vinny. It's two to two. It's two to two, yeah. The title kind of says it all. Songs that make you laugh. A song that's just going to crack you up. Maybe it's a line, maybe it's a chorus, maybe it's the band as a whole, maybe it's the album as a whole. We have a submission. What's up, Chan? I should have guessed. I should have guessed. That wasn't the song, I thought you were going to have picked. I wanted to pick another one. There was a couple I wanted to pick. But this, I don't know, this one kind of sums him up for me. I've also done stepdad already, so I just didn't want to make stepdad. I also thought of doing porn again. That's a great one. Yeah, but this one's kind of the one that's like, the first time I heard it out, this dude is fucking hilarious. I'm a genius. I like the music to it, just everything about it just kind of like gets me going. Far from born again. That title won't. I know, and you don't know what to expect going into this show. Vinnie, I'm curious to hear what you have to say. Why does Alex Cameron make you laugh? Alex Cameron, the main thing that gets me going is like, he writes as characters. Like all the songs are about a character. They're not necessarily about him. It's like a story of a person. And they're not usually good people. Maybe they're not like evil, but they're just not, you know, they're not doing too great. But I don't know what it is about country figs that gets me so well. But this one, it's the music for sure. But it just feels like I'm in, it's not an indie movie, but like a B to C, maybe even D movie in like the late 80s and early 90s. And like, I can super low budget. Like, I can see the scene. I can see the fight that's going on. I can see the fighting between the soap opera couple that's going on. Like the big hair, the ridiculous clothes. Like, I can just see the whole thing. And I'm there. I have flashbacks to things I've never seen before. Or like movies and stuff that I've just caught glimpses of before the commercial came on and I changed the channel. You know, I feel so hard that it's just like, I can't not help but laugh because I know the tone that he's taking. Cool. Is this album a forced witness? Is this like a themed album or? Not necessarily a themed album. I mean, any of them are necessarily themed. Yeah, I wouldn't say necessarily any of them are themed. I just think he really, like for years, this is something I've said is for years, I would have told, if you asked me like what your favorite pop star is, I would have said Phil Collins. But hearing Alex Cameron, hearing forced witness and the other two albums after that. Alex Cameron is my favorite pop star right now. And I know he's not like big or crazy, but I just think he makes the music that I want to hear. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Oh God, my phone. It fell to the ground. Oh no. Oh no. All right. Heaven or heck eat the rich food. Half time breakdowns chopped and screwed. Pruning shears cutting liberty spikes on the hedges of my mind. All right. Okay. Well, Jared, I'm going to have to give this to you just right off the bat. Because the second I turned that on, I started laughing. Cheat face is probably one of my favorite artists of the year. I've when I discovered them, I just can't get off of them. And they're songwriting to me so clever in so many different ways. When I said they were a mix of Tate and they might be giants, their word play is very much they might be giants. Yeah. There were changes in the hardcore scene. It's such a little bop. And it's so bouncy and fun. But the whole thing is about how like the hardcore scene has made it very inclusive and welcoming now, as opposed to back in the day where it's very gatekeeper. Yeah. Yeah. Like as soon as you start hearing the first couple lines, they hook you, they keep you trapped. And then the chorus gets in saying, I love to send me some messages. I love to send me some messages. I love to send me some messages. This was one of the first ones that came to mind. If you need a laugh, you could go with pretty much any of their songs. Their song, Plastit, the whole back half of it is him literally asking if the stuff that he has is recycled or reused and just repeating the same question over and over. The line that I always think of when I hear cheat faces, the salad should be iceberg when it isn't romaine. It kills me every time I hear it. I can't think of which song it is. But the one I should have thrown in there was when life hands you problems. And it's literally just when life hands you problems make problem made. When life hands you wages minimum wage. So it just, I don't know, if you ever need a laugh, just throw on cheat face. If you ever want to just something to bop along to throw on cheat face. Absolutely. And it's so surface level that I love Al, it's Cameron. Because it's exactly everything you said. But sometimes if you just need a quick pit me up to cheat faces the way to go. Yeah, I mean, I think I even said as I was judging this, like the second I turned yours on, like it already made me smile. Where we're like, Vinnie's, I'm sure if I were to listen through in its entirety, I would have found something humorous in that. Oh, yeah. I think this is one of the reasons why I love doing these. It just like shows really shows you who they are, like what they like. Like I like something that I got to like re-listen to a handful of times to like get it. Whereas like Jared, yeah, Jared likes that. But this is the one he immediately thought of. Right. Yeah. Well, then moving on to the next. So now you guys are at the bar and you're going up and you're singing karaoke. What are you saying? Oh, God. Oh, um, damn, I don't do karaoke. So I don't do karaoke either. But I think I've decided what my song is. I need another minute to determine a winner to help me with my decision here. Jared, why don't you start with the clash here? Why'd you pick London Calling? Funny enough, I was between London Calling and Better Man by Pearl Jam. So like the lineage, the lineage. You don't want to have the bat on that one. I'm telling you right now. I've figured that seemed a little too obvious. I've thought like, I'm just a strummer. Can't be that hard to pull off, right? It's a lot harder than you would think. I've been a fan of the clash since probably late middle school, early high school. And that was London Calling was the first out. My picked up from the library and listened to the whole way through and thought this is weird. I really liked this. It's a weird introduction to the clash. Especially here and there are a punk band all this time. And then you just get a wide range of stuff off of that album. But that song in particular, I always felt like would be a very underrated karaoke song, especially in like a suburban bar that does a karaoke night. Because there are going to be people that know it and those that don't might. They're either going to be into it or to be completely turned off by it. Sure. Yeah, it's pretty cool. But those that know will know it. ♪ Here you come, I'm knocking, knocking on my door ♪ ♪ And I'm never gonna go like you before ♪ Benny, I fucking love this song. Yeah, I think it's so amazing me and bonds and fronds. We're driving to Chicago. This song came on. We were coming through the Michigan turnpike and there's a storm going. It was rough. Like at a point where, you know, on a 75, 80 mile an hour road, we're going 40, you know, 40, 30, something like that. There's like all of a sudden, it's like someone turned on the lights whenever the lightning would strike. And at the time, I had a kazoo in my car. As you do. As one does. Right. You don't buy kazoo. No. Why are there it? No. That will take that question. If you're listening, if you've ever bought a kazoo, let us. Please tell us. Yeah. So like, you don't buy kazoos. Yeah. You just look down one day and there's a kazoo in your compartment. You're just sitting around your kazoo and all your music stuff. Well, I've been listening to Edwin Collins, who's on BMX video. I don't remember which one. The guitar is amazing and all this stuff. So remember, Franz and Bonds have never heard this song before. I have been listening to this song since I can remember. All of a sudden, this song comes on. And I don't even realize that I have a kazoo in my mouth. And I am kazooing to the guitar of this. Perfectly, like you don't know what's a guitar. I don't know. I love this. So like after that, it was like a stop the car moment. Like it was like, dude, what the hell. Like when you see your buddy do something, you're like, what the fuck did you just do? That was amazing. It was like one of those situations. So like, I've always just kind of said, like if there's ever an opportunity to do karaoke, it's a girl like you by Edwin Collins. Well, you have the kazoo with you. Yeah, it will, you have the kazoo probably. But like in that term, it's like, and then it's perfect for me because it's like the people that know that song fucking love that song. And then like, there's a lot of people who are going to hear it and be like, I've heard the song. I think I've heard the song. I love the song. What is the song? And there's a lot of people who are going to be like, this song rules, I've never heard before. This song rules. I want to know what it is. Totally, especially if you do it with a kazoo. I mean, we would write all the attention. Yeah. Yeah. And actually, you know what? I'm so glad I let you guys explain first because, Vinny, you're going to have to win that one. Yes. I was going to concede on that one. Because you did karaoke with it basically. I'm just getting the visual of you doing karaoke with the kazoo to the song. And it's just so damn funny. In the atmosphere of like, we thought we were going to die. Yeah, right. We're going to struck by lightning. Yeah. I don't know if a double point or like, maybe like a fraction more, like like 0.5. Only because the kazoo literally sounds just like the guitar is in it. It does. Yeah, you get it. I get inspiration. Yeah, not that good. For all you DID folks out there. That might be like a 1.5 that you just racked up right there. All right. Well, it sounds like we are in a good mood. Kazoos are fun. But when you don't have kazoos around, what do you put on to just boost your own day? Your mood is just going to be better because you put this on. Oh, quick submission. I think Jason, I have a tough one this time around. This also could have been my, I think it's funny. Yeah. Oh, no, easily. So let's go on a crime spree together. We can't do whatever we want whenever. Two lovers against the law. Living on a pair we don't get caught. We're going to start with you, Vinnie. Tell us why. Mass intruding. Mass intruding also could have been on my "makes me laugh" playlist. The idea of the band is very just like, no one ever talks about how creepy it is to write a song about someone. And they kind of like bring it up in the songs. Like the one is "Heart Shape Guitars." Like the perfect example of it. It's literally the center standing outside of a woman's window saying "I'm going to write you a love song." And then the woman. And she's just like, "I don't want you to write me a love song." I don't know you. Get the fuck away from me. All in the police. So like it's just a good bit. And I just think it's really fun. So their whole stitch or their whole bit is that they're all like bank robbers. They're all mass intruders. Each one's, no one knows their actual names. They go by colors. It's a blue, red, yellow, and green. Cool. And blue is like their leader. He's one with the glasses. And he's on stage. He talks like in 1930s, Danstered almost. Like he has this real deep voice. And then here I'm sitting. He has this real melodic voice. Oh, melodic and high pop-pump voice. Yeah, I'm looking at their picture. It looks like the wiggles if they decide to rob a house. Yeah, exactly. Is that the album that has sticker mop? I don't know if Motherfucker's sticker mop. Yeah, sticker mop is there. I've seen them twice. And both times have been so fun. They have a police officer who's their hype man that runs across stage and will like start pits with people. But by the end of the show, he's pretty much naked. Yeah. He just does him and his underwear. Yeah. And he'll, and what's even better is like when they're, when they're like announcing songs and be like, all right, this song's about doing a lot of crime. And when you do it a lot, it's called a spree. So this one is called crime spree. And this one is, this one is about how I don't want to be alone again anymore. It's called, I don't want to be alone again anymore. And then just bust right into the song. Yeah, that's a really good bit. So self-referential. It's so fun. Yeah, I love it. Regardless, like crime spree just makes me, me and Jared have like riffed on like a music video for this. And it's literally just like. They did a video for it. But it's nowhere near what you and I were talking about. Right. Like I'm literally, like when I think of this song, I think of flying down a freeway with like a handful of cops flying behind you. But you're in like a convertible, but just going. Just you're on high on the world. You don't care if you get caught or not. But you're just like, I'm going a thousand. I'm going as fast as this car can take me. And then they catch me. Good for them. So that's where we were riffing on this with. And I said like on like the last, like the whole the whole video should just be like their height man officer like speeding behind them. And the whole band is in the car, but it's blue in the driver's seat. The three band members in the back and then surprise. Pink intruder is in the front seat. And they're driving away as fast as they can. After a huge bank robbery. And then like the outro kits in. You just see them whip around a bend. Meanwhile, pink and blue were made out in the front seat. And all the band members like heading back in the back. It's all slow motion. And then you see like the officer pull around, whip around behind them. And then you just see like a thousand cop cars behind them. And just dust everywhere. You just see police lights every like, like for just this one car. It just makes me think of having a lot of fun. That puts you in a good mood. Yeah. I'm in the corner, watching you kiss her. Oh, I'm right over here. Why can't you see me? Oh, I'm giving it my hope, but I'm not the guy you're taking hold. Oh, I keep dancing on my own. Jared, why don't you tell us about Robin? Yeah, so Robin, I had always heard the song in passing in the past couple of years. Until this year was like the first year I actually like listened to it. And I'm like, this song fucks. Yeah, I know it's been around a while, but this song fucks. Yeah, for sure. And I don't know what took me 14 years to catch on to it. It's like a sign line, man. It's like a fine line. And Van, I think it was at your wedding when it was playing. I'm like, man, this song really goes. Oh, yeah. So now I just put it on anytime I'm filling down or like need to pick me up with some sort and I'll throw it on when I'm doing something in the kitchen and I'm just going. I'm just flying through whatever I'm looking at. Absolutely. You both have boosted my mood with these songs. It's going to have to go to Jared. Hell yeah. Now we're going to go to a concert. You're going to go to a show. It could be any show, but it's going to be an arena show. They're in a big arena. Like we're talking thousands of people arena and you want to hear that song. What's that song? I feel like this is more entertaining for you and me to watch Jate. I have to deal with it. Now I have my existential crisis trying to pick between these two. This is the arena song, but it's pitted against the Foo Fighters. Yeah, I mean, here's the thing, I don't know if I can win. I don't know if I can win this. I like watching you struggle with that, but I don't know if I can win this. I mean, the Foo Fighters are, I've never seen the Foo Fighters live, but I've seen Frank Turner live and when Get Better comes on, I just want to throw the fuck down. I'm trying to get better because I haven't been my best. She took a plane back like I started riding on my chest. She threw a line across the middle of my broken heart and said, "Come on now, let's fix this mess. We can get better because we're not dead yet." Let's start with Frank Turner. Frank's great. I've seen Frank live a handful of times. I love Frank's approach. I think he's doing like seven or eight shows in the span of 48 hours in a couple of different cities right now. They just broke the record. Yeah, I mean, well, he did 24 shows in 24 hours before, which he's like, "I never want to do that again." And then I'm watching him do, I looked on his Instagram page. It's like, there's a couple of different cities involved in 48 hours. And I was like, this man is a maniac. And I've always loved people that approach music as a job. Like John Darniel of the Mountain Goats reminds me of this. Frank Turner reminds me of this. And they are just people who are just like, "I'm going to keep putting out music, not because I'm making money, not because I'm doing this, because I don't know anything else." Brendan Kelly of the Mount of Lawrence Arms and Falcons, and he's like that too, where it's like, "I don't like I listen to a podcast with Brendan Kelly." And he was just like, "I got to be 20 some years old." And he's like, "I've never done it. I never did anything else." He's like, "I can't do anything else." I was like, "This is what I know how to do, write songs and play them live." And Frank is truly like, I think Frank takes a cake from all three of those people that I just spoke about. And there's plenty of other people who are like that. But Frank takes a cake because of like, he posts a picture on his Instagram every day. And it's like, "Show 2,000 and whatever, show 3,000 and whatever." Like, it's just like, and you were... He's a workforce. He's a workforce. He's just an absolute powerhouse. And just like, "I've seen clips of him at Wembley. He sold out Wembley." Which is insane. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like, "Dude, that's... I want to see that man in a giant arena." Like, "I've seen him at stage A, I've seen him at small. I've seen him at stage A, you know, I did not see him at the rock scene." Well, unfortunately. Unfortunately, he had to cancel that night. Seeing him at stage A, he was one of the coolest shows I've ever been to. And I've seen Death Grips. So... Which I want to say what my experience of seeing Death Grips was, it was an altar bar in Pittsburgh. So it was a converted church. So for people who don't know, altar bar used to be a bar in the strip. And it used to be a church. And now it's the church again. But it used to be a church. And then they made it all crazy. And Death Grips played in 2013. And I went and a band called Rat King opened up. And they came on. M.C. Rod threw his arms up. And you can see it, his arms up into the air. It was just him and... I don't think Zach was there. Him and the keyboardist. He threw his arms up. And for 35 minutes, he threw the fuck down. Because it was only ex-military. And the money store were the only two albums out of the time. Because it was right before they quit. And then 35 minutes, he threw down. After 35 minutes, he left the stage, got off. And everyone was kind of like, "Are they going to do an encore?" And then the lights came up. Didn't you say there was a giant blue light behind them the whole time? Yeah, it was a giant blue light. I couldn't make out. It could not have been M.C. Rod for all I know. And you'll never know. And I'll never know. I'll never know. You know what? I don't want to know. Yeah, right. That's just back to what you were just saying of the workhorse thing. It's a journeyman thing of like, "This is all I know how to do. I go off, I do a show, I leave." Yeah, I go up for 35 minutes. I throw the fuck down and I get off stage. ♪ Can you feel me ♪ ♪ Feel me breathing ♪ ♪ One last breath ♪ ♪ Before I close my eyes ♪ From one Wembley selling artist to another, Jared. Foos. Yeah, so the Foos here, like, I mean, I've seen them three times now. Yeah, three times. Twice in the arena, once at out at Star Lake. And I'm going to see them again out in Hershey this summer. Do a sold out show out there. I mean, this is obviously the first tour they're doing without, unfortunately, without Taylor. Yeah. Josh Fries, I mean, you know. Josh Fries, great feeling it. Great feeling. But I've seen them three times now. And I've wanted to hear, I was stuck between a couple off of In Your Honor. I've wanted to hear In Your Honor, no way back in DOA live for years now. And they don't play those songs ever now. Yeah, that's true. Like In Your Honor to me is like the perfect arena show opener. Besides when they opened with Bridge burning in 2011. But like, it's loud, it's big, it's bombastic. And just it's like the perfect opener to that out, to a giant two disc album. And I would just die to hear that song live. I mean, just that opening, just that can you hear that? Yeah, I love the Foos. I try and see them every time they come. They're supposed to be coming back to Pittsburgh this year. But who knows? Hell yeah. This is going to be a tie, guys. This is going to be a tie. Okay. I'm going to go tie. I'm going to give you both a point. Vinny is still in the lead by 0.5 because of the kazoo. That's what I'm here for. We'll move on and I suppose this will be our last one. I think we'll probably reach our limit here. Take us home. Yeah, let's wind it all down, right? We had our fun, right? We had our parties, we had our arena shows. We did it all. We're going to bring it home with some reflection. So whatever a song that comes to mind that you throw on, it can be nostalgic, I guess. You know, if it's going to make you reflect back to like a certain period of your life, it could be a reflection of like something that reminds you of a person. It could be, you know, reflection on whatever. Maybe it brings you back to like a certain moment in your life, certain person, certain time, certain place. Let's talk to you, Jared, then about why nobody stays. Yeah, so this is the Men's Universe. We've talked about them on the show before and I'm sure we'll bring them up again in the future for short because they're one of my favorite artists currently out there now. That whole album, some of it was true. Like the whole almost every song on it is about reflection in one way or another. In fact, like most of the Men's Universe catalog really is. So I knew this is where I was going to go with it, but I wanted something off of the new album. And I was stuck between that and come on a heartache, but I thought if usually if I'm in a song or place, this is the song I'll put on just to like think back on I don't know the past 20 years or so. And this whole song is basically about how people don't stick around forever. Things don't stick around forever. No feelings, final, live in the question. There is no answer. So everything is uncertain in life and hearing that always makes me reflect back on how nothing is certain and things change for the better or worse all the time. So that intro at the beginning, like Western country riff, it's a great lore and then just hits you all the sudden. So that's why nobody stays. [Music] Anyway, mysterious, beautiful by Zero Theory. This was from a lot of the weird ones I pull are BMX videos, along with goofy cartoons from the 90s and stuff. I also watched a good bit of BMX videos in the 90s and the 2000s. And they loved putting on goofy music and very much meant I had to go searching for all these stuff very hard. And mysterious, beautiful was one of those ones where it was like almost designed to be. I found mysterious, beautiful the same time I found Midnight in a Perfect World, which may be my favorite song. I don't know ever, but it is for short top five. If it's not the first, it's like top five for sure. Midnight in a Perfect World by DJ Shadow, off of introducing amazing DJ. And that song and this song started me off on a trip hop, because I know that's what some people call it. That was DJ Shadow's thin, though, wasn't it? It's one of those things where they don't necessarily like to be called trip hop. I mean, you've heard people talk about it in 60s songs. He's like, "I know people don't like saying trip hop, that's kind of what it is." It got me into that DJ's and samplings and cut chemist and there's a couple of the ones. It's like the early hip hop, you know, info. Hip hop beat makers and stuff like that. I just really kind of got into that. I almost lo-fi before lo-fi, because lo-fi now was varied background, but there was still scratching and like playing around with sampling beats and looping them and all that stuff and all the fun stuff that comes with it. If you didn't say trip hop, I was probably going to relate it more closer to lo-fi. But this one just has such a feeling to it that honestly, it could have gone either way, but in recent memories, I will throw on mysterious, beautiful, on repeat and just kind of sit there and hang out and just kind of like not figure anything out, but you know, just kind of like a lot of reflection going on, whatever that song's playing. It's existing, you know. The winner of not only just this category, but of the game, the game that we've played today, thank you all so much for listening. This has been a pleasure. I have appreciated being a guest on the show that I produce. But the winner here, Vinny, you have won the first bonus episode, the first bonus playlist. That was a phenomenal track. I love the way that it just, it kept drawing me in. That was a great pick. Jared, I love the way that your track lured me in with those guitars. And that was also very, a very special moment. We decided to name this playlist Mikey's Day Off in honor of our old friend, Mikey, that decided to leave us today. No, no, it's my day off. Mys Day Off. Mys Day Off. Mys Day Off. Yeah, just my variety. Oh, oh, oh, oh, it's my, it's my, it's my, it's my, it's my apostrophe. Okay, all right, it's my apostrophe at mys day off. So it's mys day off, right? All right, now you're right, it's right. So we decided in honor of Mikey not being here and having a social life, we decided to call this mys day off. And you can find the playlist out there on Spotify and the LinkedIn on Instagram. Go check out the insta. DM us, tell us how you would answer some of these questions, what your thoughts are, what your thoughts are on the playlist, what you would add, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah, tell us what you think of some of those, those opinions. What are your songs for those feelings? What are your songs when you're feeling those things? You tell us and we'll tell you, you might be wrong about how you feel. For sure. We're judging, we're not gatekeeping. No, there's a difference. Listen to what you want, but I'll judge you for it. Exactly. Anyway, this is, thank you, thank you so much to producer, Jay for helping us out with this episode, with this bonus episode. And thanks for putting the questions together. Of course, my pleasure. Anything you guys. It was a lot of fun. Hope. That's why you pay me so much money. We pay him to say that, guys. It gets the big bucks. Huge dollars. They're massive. Seriously though. Huge bucks. Huge eight points on animals. We're giving them, it's all in V bucks, right? It's like the check that you hand somebody at like an event. It's one of those like really big ones. Huge. Go find this playlist, go listen to it. Send us your thoughts on these. Check this out. Listen to our other episodes. And we will see you all next time on Just My Variety. [MUSIC PLAYING]
