Episode 62: Matthew Sweet’s “Girlfriend” (1991)

Summary

Accelerated Culture Podcast: Episode 62 Summary – Matthew Sweet’s “Girlfriend” (1991)

Hosted by Lori and Scott Free

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Introduction

In Episode 62 of the Accelerated Culture podcast, hosts Lori and Scott Free delve deep into Matthew Sweet's seminal 1991 album, "Girlfriend." Celebrated as a cornerstone in the power pop and alternative music landscape of the early '90s, this episode offers an exhaustive exploration of the album's genesis, production, critical reception, and enduring legacy.

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Shoutouts and Host Updates

The episode kicks off with Lori and Scott extending heartfelt shoutouts to dedicated listeners, including Zabe and Cynthia. Lori shares her recent experiences attending live tribute performances in Chicago, highlighting the vibrant tribute scene that echoes the original sounds of iconic artists like The Smiths and David Bowie. She also recounts viewing the remastered version of Prince's "Purple Rain" in theaters, noting its exceptional live performances despite the dated narrative.

Scott updates listeners on his participation in Chicago's annual Shaididod—a whimsical shopping cart dog sled race that combines creativity with charity. Their team's unique contribution included a colossal, functional Chicago-style hot dog stand, which gained viral attention on TikTok.

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Matthew Sweet: From Athens to "Girlfriend"

Hosts Lori and Scott provide a comprehensive overview of Matthew Sweet's early career. Born in 1964 in Lincoln, Nebraska, Sweet moved to Athens, Georgia, in 1983, immersing himself in its thriving music scene alongside luminaries like R.E.M. and The B-52s. Initially gaining traction with his first two albums, "Inside" and "Earth," both of which were critically acclaimed but commercially overlooked, Sweet faced the prospect of fading into obscurity.

After being dropped by A&M Records, Sweet's fortunes changed when Karen Glauber, then president of Hits magazine and a staunch supporter, advocated for his signing with Zoo Records. This pivotal move birthed "Girlfriend," described by Sweet as his "last chance Hail Mary."

Notable Quote:

"To tell you the truth, I was mostly concerned that it would be my last album. I thought that if this got left on the shelf they wouldn't let me make any more records." – Matthew Sweet [17:19]

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Production Excellence and Collaborative Brilliance

"Girlfriend" marked a significant departure from Sweet's earlier synth-heavy work, embracing a raw, guitar-driven power pop aesthetic. Co-produced by Sweet and Fred Meyer—a drummer turned producer known for his work with Lou Reed and Information Society—the album emphasized organic recordings with minimal overdubs. The production eschewed reverb in favor of heavy compression, ensuring each instrument's prominence and creating a cohesive, loud soundscape.

The album featured collaborations with esteemed guitarists Bob Quine (formerly of Lou Reed and Richard Hell's Voidoids), Richard Lloyd of Television, and Lloyd Cole. Sweet primarily handled bass duties, showcasing his versatility as a multi-instrumentalist.

Notable Quote:

"The album does owe a bit of a debt to that, to Big Star, to a number of other guitar legends." – Lori [18:24]

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Critical Acclaim and Legacy

Upon its release on October 22, 1991, "Girlfriend" quickly garnered critical acclaim. Publications like Allmusic awarded it a perfect score, while Rolling Stone and Q magazine rated it highly. Spin magazine lauded the album, giving it a 9 out of 10. Karen Glauber of Hits magazine hailed it as a perfect blend of songwriting and musicianship.

Despite only peaking at number 100 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart, "Girlfriend" cemented Matthew Sweet's status in the alternative music scene and revitalized his career.

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Iconic Album Cover: Aesthetic and Controversy

The album cover of "Girlfriend" features a photograph of actress Tuesday Weld at 14 years old, posing in a fur-trimmed hood. Originally intended to be titled "Nothing Lasts," legal concerns necessitated the change to "Girlfriend." Weld interpreted the image and title as a commentary on her fading career and youth, leading to some initial apprehension about its use.

Notable Quote:

"You see why she would not be into this." – Lori [28:26]

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Track-by-Track Analysis

Lori and Scott provide insightful commentary on each track, highlighting lyrical themes, musical composition, and production nuances.

1. Divine Intervention [00:30]

   • Overview: The opening track sets the tone with Beatles-esque harmonies and a dense, multi-layered sound.
   • Notable Quote: "This is a strong opener that lets you know this is going to be a power pop album, but not in a stripped down way." – Lori [34:36]

2. I've Been Waiting [10:56]

   • Overview: A quintessential power pop single featuring Robert Quine’s ripping guitar solo and Matthew Sweet’s bass mastery.
   • Notable Quote: "This has become a benchmark for guitar pop." – Lori [38:28]
   • Music Video: Features early anime clips, showcasing Sweet's forward-thinking approach to visual media.

3. Girlfriend [19:28]

   • Overview: The titular track, Sweet's biggest hit, intertwines personal heartbreak with infectious hooks.
   • Critical Reception: Honored as one of the greatest divorce records ever made.

4. Looking at the Sun [46:10]

   • Overview: Blends upbeat melodies with lyrics about disillusionment and emotional hurt.
   • Notable Quote: "This is a guitar-driven rock record." – Lori [48:51]

5. Wynonna [48:54]

   • Overview: A country-tinged ballad inspired by actress Winona Ryder, blending pedal steel guitar with tender lyrics.
   • Controversy: Initially titled "Alone in the World," it sparked questions about its subject matter.

6. Evangeline [54:09]

   • Overview: A song based on a comic book vigilante, merging themes of religion, violence, and sexuality with drop D tuning guitar riffs.

7. Day for Night [59:11]

   • Overview: Features lyrical depth with an acoustic foundation, drawing parallels to The Moody Blues.

8. Thought I Knew You [61:59]

   • Overview: A poignant exploration of betrayal and loss, notable for Sweet's lead guitar performance.

9. Don’t Love Me [66:20]

   • Overview: A restrained country-infused track expressing dignified acceptance of a failed relationship.

10. I Wanted to Tell You [70:01]

    • Overview: A folk-pop anthem about missed opportunities and unspoken feelings.

11. Don’t Go [73:34]

    • Overview: An ambiguous track blending Rock with subtle hints of dark themes, often compared to "Hotel California."

12. Your Sweet Voice [77:22]

    • Overview: A soft ballad reminiscent of Big Star's mellow tunes, characterized by pedal steel guitar layers.

13. Does She Talk? [81:16]

    • Overview: An upbeat rocker with bluesy undertones and intricate guitar work, showcasing Richard Quine’s virtuosity.

14. Ooh, Holy War [84:24]

    • Overview: A politically charged song expressing anti-war sentiments, blending personal and global themes.

15. Nothing Lasts [88:37]

    • Overview: The album closes on a melancholic note with a stripped-down acoustic ballad, serving as a farewell to past relationships.

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Matthew Sweet's Later Career and Personal Struggles

Post-"Girlfriend," Matthew Sweet continued to produce music, collaborating with artists like Susanna Hoffs in the Under the Covers series. Despite releasing several albums, none matched the monumental success of "Girlfriend." In a poignant update, Sweet suffered a debilitating stroke in October 2024, severely impacting his mobility and ability to play guitar. His Instagram post reflects resilience and a determination to continue creating art despite his physical limitations.

Notable Quote from Matthew Sweet:

"I must keep going. And I feel a great burden to do so with such incredible support that you have given me." [96:00]

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Hosts’ Favorite Tracks

• Lori’s Choice: "Thought I Knew You"

  • "That sort of Spanish acoustic guitar situation... a song of bitterness and betrayal." [97:12]

• Scott’s Choice: "Girlfriend"

  • "It is impossible to stay in a bad mood when that song comes on." [98:36]

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Closing and Next Episode Preview

Lori and Scott wrap up the episode by expressing their admiration for "Girlfriend" and extending best wishes to Matthew Sweet. They announce the next episode will traverse across the Atlantic to explore Blur's "Leisure," signaling a shift to the dawn of Britpop.

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Conclusion

Episode 62 of Accelerated Culture masterfully captures the essence of Matthew Sweet's "Girlfriend," providing listeners with an in-depth understanding of its creation, themes, and lasting impact on the alternative music scene. Through rich analysis and engaging discussions, Lori and Scott celebrate a pivotal album that continues to resonate with fans decades later.

Transcript

[Lori]

Foreign.

[Scott Free]

Welcome to the Accelerated Culture podcast. A sonic journey through the vibrant and revolutionary sounds of the 1980s and 1990s. And now 2024 Webby Honoree for best Indie Podcast. I'm Lori, along with my co host, Scott Free, and in this podcast we explore how new waves stormed the airwaves in the early 80s and and gave way for the rise of alternative music in the 90s. Find us on the [e-mail].

[Lori]

Welcome back to Accelerated Culture. Dear listeners, I'm Lori and I am Scott Free. And we have a couple listeners in particular who we'd like to give shouts out to.

[Scott Free]

So we'll start with our friend Zabe. Zabe from the podcast who Will Save Generation X. Scott. I had posted on March 7th to our Facebook page that we made number 25 on the Apple Podcasts music category chart.

[Lori]

Whoa.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, right. Which I'm really, really stoked about.

[Lori]

Yeah, it is exciting.

[Scott Free]

Well, so Zabe responded. I'm tired of seeing these lying posts on Facebook. You are not number 25 on Apple Podcasts. That's just BS. I just looked it up and as of this comment, you're number 24. Wink emoji. Congrats, heart.

[Lori]

We are number 24. We are number 24.

[Scott Free]

World domination is right on schedule.

[Lori]

So number 23, we're closing in on you. Maybe. I don't know.

[Scott Free]

There you go.

[Lori]

I don't pay much attention to the.

[Scott Free]

Charts, but anyway, thank you, Z. We appreciate the shout out there.

[Lori]

Right on. Thanks, Abe. Another shout out. And this is another repeat customer, one who we've mentioned before. Here is my sister in law's sister, my brother's wife's sister. Yes, I am your father's brothers, nephews, cousins, cousin's former roommate. What's that make us? Absolutely nothing. She is a cattle rancher in Colorado who is the proprietor of Princess Beef and she listens to us while doing ranch work. I do not have the specifics of what precisely that entails, but she does listen to the Accelerated Culture podcast and in her own annual newsletter she gives us a shout out in her Tractor Time section where she says, I really enjoy the accelerated Culture podcast that breaks down new wave and alternative albums that I was totally into during the 1980s and 90s. So, Cynthia, thanks for your continued support and for the shout out. We can do this shout out, encounter, shout out thing all day long. So I look forward to hearing your shout out about our shout out. And then we'll shout that out and that'll be fun for everybody. And by Everybody. I mean, mostly just you and me.

[Scott Free]

Now we know how we made it to number 24 on the Apple podcast chart. It's Cynthia.

[Lori]

Yes.

[Scott Free]

Okay, well, that's it for the shouts out. So, yes. Tell me, Scott, what have you been up to these past few weeks?

[Lori]

You know, many things. But of relevance to this show and of interest to our listeners, two music related things last week I saw at a small music venue in Chicago, a place called Livewire features live music all the time, as the name would imply. I saw a double bill, two tribute acts, the first, Still Ill, a Smith's cover band, followed by Scary Monsters, a David Bowie cover band. And you know you will never get to see the Smiths or David Bowie live ever again. But seeing a good tribute act, as good as it's gonna get. And both of these acts were top notch. And then Wednesday of last week, for my first time ever seeing it on the big screen in a movie theater, I saw Prince's Purple Rain with new remastered Dolby sound and it sounded amazing. And it is not, as it turns out, a particularly good movie. Iconic. Absolutely. Live performances, absolutely amazing. The plot has not aged well. A lot more domestic violence than you probably remember. Yeah, you remember Prince's father beating Prince's mother and just being generally abusive. You may remember less well the extent to which Prince actually roughs up Apollonia. So not great there. And the acting, well, there is a reason why Prince is known and cherished for his albums, less so for his movies. Not a great movie. Fun moviegoing experience though. Um, yeah, Purple Rain.

[Scott Free]

Oh, sounds like you had fun.

[Lori]

I did, I did.

[Scott Free]

And then you had something else going on this past weekend.

[Lori]

Oh, going a little further back two weekends ago, a really cuckoo bananas and super fun event here in Chicago, now in its 20th year. An annual shopping cart, dog sled race, costume contest, art parade, bar crawl, charity drive for hunger charities.

[Scott Free]

You got all that, listeners?

[Lori]

It's the largest one on earth.

[Scott Free]

Probably the only one, right?

[Lori]

Well, yeah. So it's called Shaididod and 59 teams, I believe, of five people each dress up in costumes, take a shopping cart, make it up to look like something else and race around Chicago. Or in the case of my team, because we're in no hurry, lazily amble around Chicago raising money for hunger relief charities. This year, the architect and master builder weirdo of our group of artist weirdos, one Dan Brown, who, you know, back in the day.

[Scott Free]

I know Dan Brown. Hi, Dan.

[Lori]

Yeah, Dan Brown had a brilliant idea and that was to take four, count them, four Shopping carts. Put them in a rectangular configuration and build the biggest Chicago style hot dog you have ever seen. That flipped open to reveal a functioning hot dog stand. We passed out just shy of 400 hot dogs and veggie dogs to the masses for free and generally had a cuckoo bananas time. Dressed up as, you know, diner counterfolk or hot dogs. I was in hot dog costume myself. Crazy times for a good cause. Highly recommend. Shydid Rod it seems will be coming back for a 21st year in 2026. So if you want to get real weird with it for a good cause, first weekend in March is the time for you.

[Scott Free]

Nice. And I saw some pictures and I will say that was an enormous wiener.

[Lori]

Yeah it. It went low level viral on TikTok.

[Scott Free]

You look like you could have done some damage with it. Oh yeah, I used it as a battering ram.

[Lori]

Oh. I was pulling the thing the whole damn time. So I did some damage but it was mostly to my lower back because I ain't as young as I can.

[Scott Free]

Accelerated culture actually donated to your team, did we? Yes we did.

[Lori]

Thank you. Sorry. Thank us.

[Scott Free]

Thank us. Yeah. Classy.org okay. Slash team.

[Lori]

Yeah.

[Scott Free]

Slash 633030 well that's catchy, right? I know, right? We could like embroider it on a hat.

[Lori]

What is that? What is that? That's just the super gentleman's link.

[Scott Free]

Yes, yes.

[Lori]

When I've mentioned occasionally our group of artist weirdos that it is called the secret gentleman's club. And to be clear, it is not a gentleman's club in the pole dancing sense. It's a gentleman's club in the old English high backed leather chairs and brandy snifters and yes, quite so, quite so sense. So just so we're clear, you did.

[Scott Free]

That a little too well. You practiced that. So guys, the secret Gentleman's Club is $268 away from meeting their team's goal. So if you feel so inclined, help them over the finish line. Classy.org team633030 I'll also put the link in the episode description.

[Lori]

Well, thank you Lori. And thank you dear listeners. Let's get some people fed.

[Scott Free]

And not just hot dogs.

[Lori]

And not just hot dogs. Oh God, I've eaten so many hot dogs since the event. Thanks to the hot dogs that were donated to our team by Makowski's Real Sausage company here in Chicago. Both the aforementioned Dan Brown and I are longtime friends of the sausage queen of Chicago, Nicole Makowski. They recently broke ground on a new facility in Lansing, Illinois. Where they will expand the Makowski sausage empire. So, yeah. Thank you, Nicole, and thank you, listeners, for donating, should you decide to do that.

[Scott Free]

So Abe Froman has been dethroned. He is no longer the sausage King of Chicago.

[Lori]

I mean, he may well be the sausage king of Chicago. We're just saying. We know. The Sausage Queen of Chicago. No relation.

[Scott Free]

Okay, so, Scott, did you pick this week's album or did I. I don't even remember.

[Lori]

I gave you a list of choices and you said, let's do this one. So I don't know. It's kind of a medium effort, right? Well, we might as well get down to it. This week's subject is the 1991 power pop masterpiece, Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, Scott, I was really pleasantly surprised when you put this one forward as an album we would do for an episode, because I don't think I've listened to this since maybe 93 or 94. So this was. Yeah, this was a good trip down memory lane for me.

[Lori]

It's one of those albums where you didn't necessarily need to go back and listen to it because a couple, two, three, as we say in Chicago, a couple, two, three songs have really never gone out of rotation. If you listen to a couple of the radio stations that I listen to, once again, shout out to wxrt, Chicago's finest rock, where they play two singles from this album. I gotta think they play them twice a week each. And I'm never mad about it because I'm always psyched to hear from Matthew Sweep.

[Scott Free]

Okay.

[Lori]

Yeah.

[Scott Free]

Well, this is the only album of his that I knew. Well, no, that's not entirely true. I knew the one after it, too. Altered Beast. But as you and I were texting back and forth about this, I mentioned a guy that I used to know who actually turned me on to this album. Yeah, his name was Woodchuck Dan.

[Lori]

That is a great name.

[Scott Free]

He was a few years younger than me. Big Matthew Sweet fan. Lent me the cd. Honestly, I don't know if I ever returned it.

[Lori]

Irma Borrow.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, well, you know the other thing I felt bad about, he also lent me a bunch of his comic books. He had a lot of First Edition Man Eating Cow.

[Lori]

You have mentioned that.

[Scott Free]

Yeah. And we lost touch. And I held onto him for a very, very long time. And honestly, I don't know whatever happened to them. It's interesting that Woodchuck Dan was into Matthew Sweet and comic books, because as we're going to see as we get into this album and the track by Track there is some correlation between comic books and anime and Matthew Sweet.

[Lori]

There is crossover there for sure. All right, well, I guess let's get into a little bit about the man himself. Matthew Sweet was born in 1964 in Lincoln, Nebraska. He was in Nebraska, kid, all his young life. And after graduating from College, moved in 1983 to Athens, Georgia. If you have been a listener to recent episodes of this show, you will know there was a lot going on in Athens, Georgia in the 1980s. One thing in particular, above all others, and that is REM and to a.

[Scott Free]

Lesser extent, the B52s. But there is a little bit of a connection between Matthew Sweet and R.E.M.

[Lori]

Absolutely. Yeah. So Matthew Sweet graduates college, goes to Athens, and pretty much immediately becomes a working musician. And some of the work that he does is pretty impressive. He is getting into bands, he's playing on records. And among the bands that he is in is a band with one Michael Stipe, who you may know from REM In a band called Community Trolls, a one and done sort of situation. He also got into a band with Michael Stipes Sister Linda in another band called O. Okay.

[Scott Free]

Now, another band that I know he was in at one time in Athens was called Buzz of Delight. And it's going to be kind of important when we get to the story of this album because that eventually is what's going to lead him to be on Zoo Records.

[Lori]

Oh, interesting. All right. He gets a record deal. He puts out his first record called Inside. And it is apparently. I can't say that I've heard anything from this one. It is characterized by very strong songwriting and very 80s production. Gloopy synths is the quote that I have seen. And too much drum programming. And so his songwriting abilities are overshadowed by a very, meh, very immediately dated album, critically well received and nearly no sales. And his record label drops him. He, however, signed to another label for his second record, entitled Earth. It too, is critically well received and goes nowhere. So by the time we are getting to 1990, Matthew Sweet is feeling like this is his last chance.

[Scott Free]

Yes. Now, according to an article in magnet magazine from May 23, 2016, it's called Magnet Classics, the Making of Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend. He was just dropped by A and M Records, and so he was shopping it around to pretty much every major record label in New York. And he happened to know the president of Hits magazine, Karen Glauber. Now, she wrote. I met Matthew when he was in the Athens, Georgia band Buzz of Delight and worked closely with him as the director of new music marketing at A and M, which was the label for his second solo album, Earth. I left A&M in 1990 and I was absolutely insistent that Lou Maglia sign him. Lou Maglia is the founder of Zoo Records, so she says. I was absolutely insistent that Lou Moglia sign him. The label that employed many of my friends and fellow avid Matthew fans.

[Lori]

Yeah, this record felt like it was a last chance Hail Mary for Matthew Sweet. I have a quote here from him. To tell you the truth, I was mostly concerned that it would be my last album. I thought that if this got left on the shelf they wouldn't let me make any more records. Luckily he had a pretty solid team come together for this record, especially in the other musicians. And they brought a lot to the table and a lot to the recording studio.

[Scott Free]

Yes, so he brought in as a producer Fred Meyer, who was a drummer for Skritti Polity.

[Lori]

Yeah, so Girlfriend was co produced by Matthew Sweet himself, but the other co producer had been on some pretty interesting stuff before then. Fred Marr was a member apparently of the band massacre in 1980. 81. Can't say that I've heard much from that band. He produced Lou Reed's 1989 album New York which was a massive comeback for Lou Reed. Also Information Society's self titled album. I know you're a huge fan of that, Laurie. But he was also the drummer for Scritty Polity, a new wave act that had a couple minor pop hit songs that I just love so very much. Anyways, he is now a producer and he's putting out some pretty impressive records. So he teams up with Matthew Sweet to produce Girlfriend.

[Scott Free]

Another article I think that you and I are both quoting from Scott is from Spin magazine, October 2021. Matthew Sweet's girlfriend, 30th anniversary. Okay, according to this article, Bob Quine, am I saying his name correctly? Q U I N E. Bob Quine.

[Lori]

I'll say yes.

[Scott Free]

Okay. Bob Quine, who had been a guitarist for Lou Reed and for Richard Hell in the Voidoids played guitar on a lot of the tracks on this album. And then some of the other tracks feature Television guitarist Richard Lloyd.

[Lori]

Also notable is Lloyd Cole, sans the Commotions, who was starting off in a solo career at this point, also lent guitar to the album.

[Scott Free]

Oh really?

[Lori]

And then Fred Marr doing some drums along with one Richard Menk.

[Scott Free]

The only really consistent player on the entire album is Matthew Sweet.

[Lori]

Right. It changes from song to song. There's a lot of amazing guitar work on this album, but you never get Robert Quine and Richard Lloyd on the same track.

[Scott Free]

Right. Because they're basically being treated as such a musicians.

[Lori]

Right. And Matthew Sweet is this. This was surprising to me. I think of this as such a guitar pop album that I always figured Matthew Sweet was himself a guitarist, while he is a multi instrumentalist and he recorded a lot of demos on his own. He really is primarily a bass player.

[Scott Free]

Yeah. My notes say Matthew plays rhythm guitar and light leads only on this album.

[Lori]

That's right. So and so he could play and did play rhythm guitar on many of the tracks. But when you hear these blinding solos, screaming solos on the big singles or other deeper tracks, that's usually not actually Matthew Swed himself, but the guys who he had playing had massive guitar cred from, you know, in the case of Richard Lloyd from Television the band, in the case of Robert Quine from Lou Reed, I want to say.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This album, besides being his first one on Zoo Records, it also represented a major shift in that it was not as synth driven as his previous albums. Actually, I don't think there's any synth on this one at all. And it also came shortly after his divorce. He's been pretty tight lipped about a lot of it, but there's a couple places in the album where we're going to reference some quotations from him.

[Lori]

Yeah. And for that matter, I'm going to be quoting occasionally from an article on PopMatters.comAn October 25, 2021 article by one Ian Rushberry entitled Matthew Sweet channeled divorce into the Power Pop hall of Fame with girlfriend. There's a lot in there. And while it is not an autobiographical album per se, the divorce and his thoughts on his past relationships and looking forward to new ones definitely are a couple major themes going through this one.

[Scott Free]

So my understanding is he and his first wife had married at a very young age, like late teens, early 20s. And they kind of reached a point where they had started to grow apart and they were actually living apart from each other. Matthew Sweet felt bad because I think he realized that they really were better apart than together. But then he kind of had to be the bad guy to be the one to end the relationship. We see that in some of the songs here where it's like the ending of the relationship, but then there's also the beginnings of potentially new relationships. So it's kind of a transitional thing as far as relationships are concerned.

[Lori]

Oh, for sure. As far as the production of the album, you talked a little bit about how they moved completely away from synths and were making pure guitar pop. The production of the album is actually pretty interesting in its own right. I mentioned that Matthew Sweet did a lot of the demos himself. He had a home studio, but the demos, it's interesting. Quote I have here from guitar.com the genius of Matthew Sweet's girlfriend. I set up the drums in the main living room and I started playing them on my demos. I sent those to manager Russell Carter and he said it reminds me of Crazy Horse and Neil Young. And I said I know my voice is really high and weird. He's like no, no, the whole of it. And he sent me a bunch of Crazy Horse stuff and I was like fuck, now I understand what he's saying. And yeah, the album does owe a bit of a debt to that, to Big Star, to a number of other guitar legends. But once he gets past the demo stage and they take it into the studio and the studio that this album was recorded at was of course Axis.

[Scott Free]

Studios and Battery Studios.

[Lori]

There we go. They went for a more raw and organic and perfect formative sound. This once again from guitar.com there was very little editing or basic backing, no punching in of crisper played chords in any particular verse. And whatever the musicians played would be showcased as performances. The songs were largely constructed from full song length recordings of different instruments. From that Guitar.com article the Genius of Girlfriend by Matthew Sweet that was published on June 30, 2021 by Michael Leonard. Another big finger to 80s production. No reverb was used. Cavernous crashing drums and echoey solos were definitely out. Instead Sweet and his production team used loads of compression. The result is that every instrument sounds equally loud. And it was loud. It's a triumph of crafted spontaneity, if that makes sense. The drum track a few takes use the best one in full. Super crisp rhythm guitars and bass, the latter all by Sweet. The same. The lead guitars and solos were somewhat different. Be it by Quine or Lloyd, they never both play on the same track. But particularly with Robert Quine. The late New Yorker was such an unpredictable soloist. He. He never played the same thing twice, so his explosions were inevitable. Comps from four or five Goes and that makes them sound like some of the craziest solos ever. But it makes for a vivid pseudo live recording. It's a tight and clean guitar sound.

[Scott Free]

It really is. And you know what? It sounds just as good and just as fresh in 2025 as it did in 1991.

[Lori]

Well, yeah, because it's power pop, right? It is timeless because it's just this pure pop. And the guitar may have distortion in differing amounts, but it's clean, it's bright, it can have some crunch. But yeah, it's. It's pure pop.

[Scott Free]

And you know, the other band that we Talked about from 1991 that was also doing guitar driven power pop was.

[Lori]

Material Issue, Chicago Favorites Material issue.

[Scott Free]

Yes. So if you like this kind of music, make sure you go back and check out that episode too.

[Lori]

So there's a kinship between these two albums. Jim Ellison and his pure power pop songs about girls and Matthew Sweet in his a little harder driving power pop. Mostly songs about girls. Sometimes the one he's just divorcing, other times about the new ones he's got on his radar. But yeah, that's one of the things about power pop songs about girls. From pop matters.com an article called Matthew Sweet channeled divorce into the Power Pop hall of Fame with girlfriend. A great quote here, I think, orally, which is to say sonically, girlfriend is dry as a bone, reverb is off limits, and the mixing is straight out of the Beatles in stereo book. Instruments and voices are hard panned to the left or right, resulting in the listener being placed in the center of the performance. The studio credo was first take equals best take, which added to the song's raw feel.

[Scott Free]

You know, we can't talk about the album without talking about that iconic album cover. Scott.

[Lori]

Iconic.

[Scott Free]

I was today years old when I learned that that photo was actually the actress Tuesday Weld when she was 14 years old.

[Lori]

Vintage.

[Scott Free]

Matthew Sweet told Magnet magazine that the album was originally supposed to be called Nothing Lasts after one of the other tracks on the album where he said we had to go through hoops to get Tuesday Weld to let us use her photo on the COVID Then somebody from the legal department called her and asked, is it okay that it's called Nothing Lasts? Well, it wasn't.

[Lori]

Yeah. I mean, she had been a movie star in the 50s and 60s, a TV star in the 70s and early 80s, and not doing a lot in 1991. So she felt like having a young Tuesday Weld as the entire cover of Matthew Sweet's album. And having it entitled Nothing Lasts made it a commentary on her career, on her youth, on her looks. You can see why she would not be into this.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, so the picture of her wearing that fur trimmed hood and the title girlfriend, those are married together in my mind.

[Lori]

Oh yeah.

[Scott Free]

I cannot see one without the other. So ultimately I think he settled on the best choice for the album title.

[Lori]

And yeah, the title track was a monster hit within the context of the modern rock charts and, you know, MTV.

[Scott Free]

The album Girlfriend by Matthew Sweet was released on October 22, 1991. It went to number 100 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart.

[Lori]

But for a guy whose previous album had made it to somewhere around 200, 100 was a pretty big hit. And it restored the record company's faith in him and allowed him to keep making records. So mission accomplished. A little bit on the critical reception for Girlfriend. Earlier you mentioned Karen Glauber, who insisted that Matthew get signed to Zoo Records in Hits magazine. She said Girlfriend is a perfect album. The songwriting and musicianship is unparalleled and, you know, she ain't wrong. Allmusic gave it a five out of five, Rolling Stone and Q gave it a four, and Spin magazine gave it nine out of 10. So, yeah, critically well received. With that, I guess we can see what all the critical fuss was about and jump into what we do here. The track by track.

[Scott Free]

All right, so Scott, the first track on the album is called Divine Intervention.

[Lori]

I don't know, I don't know where I'm gonna live I don't know if I'll find a place I'd have to think about it some that I do not wish to face I guess I'm counting on his Divine intervention.

[Scott Free]

Okay, so this one apparently was the first single released off of the album, but I couldn't find the date it was released. It was released sometime in 1991. The song did go to number 23 on the US Modern Rock chart.

[Lori]

You know, you hear this track and I don't know about you, but I think Beatles, right? It has Beatles sound throughout it. And I, in doing my research, found another music critic who put it, I think, even better than I could. This is written by Eric J. Lawrence in an article from kcrw.com entitled It's Been 20 Years the Best of 1991 Revisited Matthew Sweet's girlfriend. And while too many records are declared Beatles esque, the album's aforementioned opener, Divine Intervention, genuinely qualifies with tight production, backward tape tricks, a slicing guitar solo, an Utterly terrifying to radio DJs, at least, false ending, and uber hot multi tracked backing vocals, making for a song that wouldn't sound out of place on Abbey Road, as do a number of other tracks.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, that ripping guitar that you mentioned, that is Richard Lloyd on lead guitar.

[Lori]

And the aforementioned false ending is because they found a place where they thought it would make sense to end the song. But there was still more Richard Lloyd guitar solo to Go. And so they decided to bring it back up. A technique that the Beatles did use a number of times, actually.

[Scott Free]

It's interesting to me, though, that you're drawing the parallels with the Beatles, because the very end of the song Sunshine. The sunshine. Here it comes.

[Lori]

There you go.

[Scott Free]

There you go. Here comes the sun. Right?

[Lori]

Yep.

[Scott Free]

I do have a quote from Matthew from that Magnet magazine article.

[Lori]

Yes.

[Scott Free]

So he said, people see what they want in divine intervention. If they're religious, they might think, awesome, that's when God comes. But I was saying that he's not. I was coming out as an atheist, in a way. Christianity has great things about it. Jesus is totally cool, and I live by those morals. I don't do anything that's really unchristian, and most atheists probably don't. He also references. You mentioned something being Christian. Turn backwards, right?

[Lori]

Yeah, the backward tape tricks. Yeah.

[Scott Free]

Yes. Matthew told Magnet magazine we put the whole album in Pro Tools, which was so novel back then. The intro to Divine Intervention was something turned backward. Then you hear Richard playing a lick. I don't remember ever hearing this one as a single.

[Lori]

Oh, no. Was it a single?

[Scott Free]

Yeah, it was. The first single off the album. Went to number 23 on the US Modern Rock chart.

[Lori]

Yeah. No, I'm with you. I do not recall hearing that except on a CD player. No.

[Scott Free]

Okay, well, there's one song on the album that WXRT used to play all the time that was not a single, but we'll get to that.

[Lori]

I always thought it was. I know exactly what you're talking about.

[Scott Free]

Yeah. Yeah, I did, too, because I used to hear it all the time. Is there anything else you want to say about track one?

[Lori]

No, just a strong opener that lets you know this is going to be a power pop album, but not in a stripped down way. There is a lot going on in this track. It is dense. The individual voices within it are clean and tight, but it is a pretty dense track to chew on. And it tells you, yeah, we're going to be making pop, but it's complex pop.

[Scott Free]

Here you go.

[Lori]

Right on. Well, then let's get to track two. I've been waiting.

When you said to me you are not so old Did I know it then? Cause I have just been told I didn't think I'd find you perfect in so many ways But I've been waiting I want to have. I've been waiting, waiting and I want to.

This is just power pop perfection, right?

[Scott Free]

Absolutely.

[Lori]

Yeah.

[Scott Free]

Okay. So this was also released as a single, depending on who you consult. It's either the second or the third single. But if Divine Intervention was the first single, then I've Been Waiting would have been the third single. It was released in October of 1991. You know, I really like a lot of his lyrics in some of these songs. They're just so sweet.

[Lori]

They can be.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, yeah. The secret on your lips that nobody knows. Gentle in your eyes. You can wear my clothes. I mean, most teenage girls. Most teenage girls that are attracted to boys go through a phase where they wear their boyfriend's clothing, you know?

[Lori]

Oh, yeah. If you are a guy and you are the kind of guy who dates girls, you've lost multiple hoodies or sweaters to that teenage girlfriend.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, I just found that very, very relatable.

[Lori]

And that particular line, I didn't know I'd find you perfect in so many ways with those lush harmonies. Right again, Beatles esque there, but, yeah. So sweet.

[Scott Free]

Is that why it's. His name? Matthew?

[Lori]

I did not put that. That was. That was. No pun intended. My bad.

[Scott Free]

Okay. But, yeah, that's all right. Matthew told Magnet magazine I've Been Waiting was really like a brand new untouched fantasy of how it could be great to fall in love or whatever. He's just coming out of the bad marriage, but there's this optimism, there's this new hope, somebody new on the horizon that he's been waiting for, that he wants to hook up with. You know, I mean, it's not hard to envision.

[Lori]

Yeah, yeah. Again, from that popmatters.com article, I love this quote. Sweet combines all the elements of. Of power pop in I've Been Waiting, creating something that can hold its head high. From Sweet's ringing arpeggios to Richard Lloyd's short but stinging solo via a vocal melody that is perfect and timeless. It'll have you fruitlessly working through your record collection looking for its antecedents. It's become a benchmark for guitar pop.

[Scott Free]

Nice, right?

[Lori]

This one had a video, you may recall, one of two singles from this album that had videos and had videos that featured clips from classic anime. And this is pretty early in the game. We're talking 1991 anime was not widely popular in the States, so Matthew Sweet was ahead of the curve here. It features Loon Invader from the anime. I'm going to butcher the pronunciation of the name here. Urusai Yatsura. Does that seem right?

[Scott Free]

Sounds right. Better than I could do.

[Lori]

But it is a beautiful very. Again, pardon the pun. Sweet song. So many good things happening. Performance and production Wise. But again, it's that guitar work and it's those lush vocal harmonies over this incredibly tender and optimistic look at a new love that, yeah, makes this song classic. And it still gets play on your finer guitar rock radio stations these days.

[Scott Free]

We should also mention that the lead guitar on this one was played by Richard Lloyd.

[Lori]

We should mention that.

[Scott Free]

I guess we did. All right, so from track two, he's been waiting. Well, track three, he's found his girlfriend.

[Lori]

I wanna love somebody. I hear you need somebody to love. Oh, I wanna love somebody. I hear you looking for someone to love. Cause you need to be Back in the arms of a good friend. And I need to back in the arms of your girlfriend.

[Scott Free]

Scott. I love this song. I love this song, Scott, so much.

[Lori]

Oh, yeah. This song is absolutely brilliant. An absolutely perfect song as far as I'm concerned.

[Scott Free]

I agree. This is a fantastic song and it's also quite an earworm. I basically, for the last week or so, everywhere I go, I'm singing this song.

[Lori]

Oh, yeah. Among the other things that this song is remarkable for the rhythm guitar. Matthew Sweet's rhythm guitar is just absolutely driving, merciless. Right from the beginning, that guitar riff, unstoppable, but it fades in on that and a guitar solo. Like how many songs, much less hit songs, open with a guitar solo? It is madness.

[Scott Free]

It's perfect, though.

[Lori]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Amazing. It has that driving, driving beat, but then it will stop suddenly and then start up again again. Oftentimes for the choruses with that huge. Ah, those drum fills. Oh, man. Like they are just pounding the drum fills. Yeah, this. This track is so, so good.

[Scott Free]

So the lead guitarist on this one is Robert Quine. And the thing that makes this song for me, Scott, is the bass. And that is Matthew. Yes. And that is Matthew Sweet on the bass. And this song is bass perfection. I mean, I could just lose myself in the bass line.

[Lori]

Curiously, Lloyd Cole was the one who inspired the actual title for this track. In July 2017, Matthew Sweet on the aforementioned WXRT radio in Chicago said that his friend and musician on the album, Lloyd Cole, convinced him that it was a good song worthy of the album. Cole also helped inspire the song's title. He, Cole explained, Matthew kept talking about good friend. He'd just been recently separated from his wife. And I don't think he wanted to address the issue straight on and say girlfriend. And I said, for God's sake, just call it girlfriend. And he did. And it made for an incredible single. The title track to the album, pivotal moment. I would Say, in Matthew Sweet's career, that conversation. I don't think the album would have been as big a hit had he gotten his original wish and entitled it Nothing Lasts.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, but you know, these lyrics are just so perfect. It's just such a perfect love song. If you want to impress the hell out of a girl and just make her melt, don't you need to get back in the arms of a good friend? Because, honey, believe me, I'd sure love to call you my girlfriend. Many of the songs on this album do remind me of somebody, and that's all I'm going to say. I'm not going to go into any detail.

[Lori]

Fair enough.

[Scott Free]

Yeah. But I suspect the person knows who they are, so.

[Lori]

Right on. Maybe they're listening. Yeah, well, maybe this one also had a video like I've Been Waiting. The video features clips from Anime Osamu Dezaki's space adventure Cobra. The movie gave this sort of timeless power pop, but with very 90s production and absolutely ripping guitar work. Gave it a weird sort of futuristic feel again to the 1991 I. Unless you had grown up on Battle of the Planets or Robotech or anything like that, you didn't see a lot of anime. So this was. This was something different. I mean, he's not the main focus.

[Scott Free]

Right. He's also not a terribly attractive man.

[Lori]

You know, he's got a big strange head. But as a big strange headed man, I. I can appreciate that you do.

[Scott Free]

Not have a big strange head.

[Lori]

I don't know what to tell you. Thank you. But you know, you say the kindest things.

[Scott Free]

So Girlfriend was released as the second single from the album. It reached number four on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and number ten on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in Billboard magazine. And this is Matthew Sweet's biggest hit to date and well deserved indeed.

[Lori]

Yeah. And again, I know I say this about a lot of songs, but particularly the big singles, because alternative radio played a lot of stuff over and over again. If you're at all like me, you can hit play in your head and listen to this song note for note. And that's no mean feat considering how many notes Robert Quine plays in that guitar solo that lasts most of the song. It knocks out for the chorus, but it's going a lot of the time. It's an amazing guitar solo. It's an amazing song, but you know it. You know it. Well, I don't know that we need to belabor it a lot more here.

[Scott Free]

Okay.

[Lori]

Which I guess brings us to the next track. Number four. Looking at the sun.

Do you really wanna run away with me? Would you really like to run away with me? I can feel very clearly but no longer see Looking at the sun Waiting for you to appear Watch your getting here Like I knew it in my my heart the damage was already done Looking at the sun.

So like sometimes I just write my reactions as I'm listening to the song, trying to listen to it with new ears and my notes are just like, okay, it's got a little swing and it feels like sunny light hearted. And the lyrics play along with that. Do you really want to run away with me?

[Scott Free]

Ah.

[Lori]

Until Till the damage was already done. Looking at the sun Burned my eyes out and I'm blind Now I was looking for somebody that you will never be and it's like whoa. Lyrical content and musical feel do not line up. There's a cruel juxtaposition going there. Making fun, happy, go lucky Music about a guy who has been very, very, very badly burned by the relationship.

[Scott Free]

So again, this might be some inspiration from the ex wife, right?

[Lori]

You might think a little bit.

[Scott Free]

Yes, it might. But I mean, again, this is something that's so totally relatable. It's a universal theme, Right. We've all kind of been in that situation where we were just so completely enamored with somebody, we put them up on a pedestal and we're bound to be disappointed. Right? We're bound to get burned for sure. Yeah.

[Lori]

From that guitar.com article that I keep referencing to these ears, you can actually hear Rick Menx Ringo style drums slow down in the latter parts of Looking at the Sun. It all sounds wonderfully real. You know, it's got an organic almost swing to it within a 4, 4 song. But yeah, it's got an organic feel to it. This is a. This is a guitar driven rock record.

[Scott Free]

All right, so then the next one, Scott.

[Lori]

Yes.

[Scott Free]

Is called Wynonna.

[Lori]

So you can see I've got a problem. Backed by Popular to man. Sometimes I want to keep it from.

[Scott Free]

You.

[Lori]

Sometimes I think you'll understand could you be my little movie star? Could you be my long lost girl? It's true that I don't really know you.

You know. A wild change of pace. So far this album has given us Beatles esque pop, straight driving power pop and a little bit of swing. And now we get a ballad, like a straight up ballad.

[Scott Free]

Not just a ballad, a country ballad with slide guitar played by Greg Lease L E I C Z Le I believe. Yeah, Le it's. It's too country for Me just too country.

[Lori]

Oh, we got both kinds.

[Scott Free]

We got country and western.

[Lori]

Well, all right. Well, I can understand how you would think that. And that country feel comes from the pedal steel guitar being played by Richard Lees, right?

[Scott Free]

Yeah.

[Lori]

You know, it's a country ballad. And really, anytime you have pedal steel, it's going to feel very country. It's going to sound like an unflattering analogy, but it's not a judgment about the actual content. If you put a tablespoon of water into a. A gallon of sewage, what do you have? Sewage. If you put a tablespoon of sewage into a gallon of water, what do you have? Sewage. It's a lot like that with pedal steel. A little of it. And you've got a country song no matter what, so you might as well go big with it. And Richard Le does go big with it here. It's a country ballad, and I. I do not personally have a problem with that. I loved pedal steel, but if you're not into country, I can see why this one would rub you the wrong way.

[Scott Free]

Yeah. As far as who the song is actually about, Lloyd Cole told Magnet magazine. Matthew was obsessed with Wynonna Ryder, especially in that Heathers film. I said to him, you're singing a song about Wynonna Ryder, and Wynonna is a great title for a song, so just do it. Apparently, it was originally titled Alone in the World. That was the original title of it.

[Lori]

I saw a slightly different version of that. So it wasn't written about Winona Ryder per se. Despite the timing, yes, Winona Ryder was a big star at the time. And yes, Matthew Sweet was, you know, very into her. But the song was initially entitled Alone in the World until Sweet's collaborator, Lloyd Cole, saw Matthew had a photo of Winona Ryder and suggested the title change to match the country style of the song. This became awkward later when the album became a hit and Sweet was unprepared for the onslaught of questions about the song. And is it about Winona Ryder?

[Scott Free]

Well, I mean, could you be my little movie star? Could you be my long lost grand girl? I mean, come on. Yeah.

[Lori]

I mean, I think. I think the initial drafts of it were not about her, and then it became about her once they decided to title it after her.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, y.

[Lori]

But, you know, Ryder was supportive of it, even once joining him on stage to sing backup vocals on her namesake tune, It's Cool, right?

[Scott Free]

I feel like she's a pretty down to earth person when she's not getting busted for shoplifting. Ouch.

[Lori]

Too soon.

[Scott Free]

It's not too soon. What has it been, like 25 years? Come on. So the song ends just with this repetitive phrase, I feel alone. I feel alone. So he's feeling isolated, alone in the world, and this actress on the screen is the only person that he feels that he can relate to.

[Lori]

No, I'll buy it. Yes.

[Scott Free]

All right.

[Lori]

Which brings us to track six. Evangeline.

She's on another planet she's in my dream she's some kind of angel if you know what I mean Try her on. And she fits like a glove. Too bad she only thinks about the Lord of angels.

If I'm not off my mark. Earlier, when you said a radio station in Chicago played a song from this album that was not a single, but played it so much that you thought it was a single, Was Evangeline the song you were thinking of?

[Scott Free]

In fact, it was, Scott.

[Lori]

Yes. Still a staple on the aforementioned WXRT in Chicago.

[Scott Free]

It's a good song. It's very catchy. It's based on a comic book character, isn't it, Scott?

[Lori]

Yeah. So references a gun toting vigilante from comics created by then husband and wife team of Chuck Dixon and Judith Hunt. And I have another article from guitar player.com titled How Matthew Sweet Wrote Evangeline by Joe Basso on November 12th of 2021. This is Matthew Sweet interviewed in that article. She was this scantily clad kind of babe who's a warrior on the behalf of God. So there was this weird mix of religion, violence, and sexuality. He explains. I grew up Roman Catholic, but I was pretty much atheist by the time I was writing the songs on Girlfriend, I sort of lashed out at God a little bit on the record. In Evangeline, the guy is basically saying, forget about God and come be with me.

[Scott Free]

Yeah. And even the name Evangeline, which means bringer of good news, there's like this ongoing theme throughout the song that he's even willing to convert. He's even willing to become evangelized. Too bad she only thinks about the Lord above. He doesn't stand a chance. Because how can you compare. How can you compare with a God?

[Lori]

You know, I do my best.

[Scott Free]

Oh, okay. All right.

[Lori]

It is not. It is not working out.

[Scott Free]

Yeah.

[Lori]

Let's see here. So musically, for the guitar players out there, he is playing in drop D tuning, where you take the lowest string that is usually an E, take it down a full step to D. And he says that that helped drive the guitar riffs. So from guitar player.com at the time he was writing songs for Girlfriend, Sweet's main guitars were Fender Jazz Masters and Strats, but he had been reading about Drop D tuning and wanted to try. Didn't work so well with whammy bar guitars, he says. But I found that my 56 gold top reissue held the T perfectly. So I started playing around with it. I thought it sounded cool and was very unlike other things I was doing while playing in Drop D. One day a riff appeared and Sweet started singing along to it. It all happened pretty easily, he says. In that way, it was one of those songs that came out of nowhere just as quickly. He began to incorporate lyrics inspired by the title character from the comic book Evangeline. And then the song just kind of happened in the studio again. From the guitar player.com article, Sweet and co producer Fred Marr stayed true to the song's demo. As opposed to Girlfriend, which had a lot of stops and starts, Evangeline was pretty straightforward in terms of arrangement, Sweet recalls. He played the main rhythm on his gold top through a 20 watt Marshall. For the snaky lead lines that punctuate much of the track, he handed Richard Lloyd, his Jazz master. That's when things got a little funny, he says. I wanted these repetitive melody lines exactly how they were on my demo, and Richard got frustrated. So I would play the parts myself on the Jazz Master and then I'd hand him the guitar back to him so that he would play the sections that sort of answered them. We went back and forth. And then for the knockout solo, Sweet let Lloyd run free. I remember for this solo and the one Richard played on Divide Intervention, I was blown away, he says. Everything he played was so forceful and spirited. Sometimes you do multiple takes of a solo and you either pick one or do a comp and use tiny pieces of all of them. I think everything Richard played was a one take deal. There was no reason to second guess it.

[Scott Free]

Impressive, right? Yeah.

[Lori]

On first listen it sounds like just another very sweet, pardon the pun, guitar pop song about a girl. But yeah, then you dig into the lyrics and this is no ordinary girl.

[Scott Free]

All right, so then the next song is called Day for Night.

[Lori]

What you gave me I could feel it like the warm rays of the sun Such a small thing Me farther than I've been with anyone. What else can I tell you? My life was simply very bright so traded victim.

[Scott Free]

For you millennials, you, Gen Z that are listening the very beginning of this song. That static that you're hearing is from an old vinyl LP record.

[Lori]

The entirety of My notes is bring on the triplets.

[Scott Free]

Okay. And that's a reference to the rhythm, obviously.

[Lori]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Scott Free]

But, yeah, I really like this one specifically for the lyrics. What you gave me I could feel it like the warm rays of the sun. Such a small thing. Took me farther than I'd been with anyone. What else can I tell you? My life was simply very bright. So I traded the day for night. Well, I love you and I want you. Doesn't mean I'll stay. If this relationship is the sun, it is bright and warm. He decided that that's not what he wanted. Traded day for night. Doesn't mean I'll stay. Right.

[Lori]

Yeah. And how much can I tell you? When my brain is terminally light and so bright that I traded the day for night.

[Scott Free]

Yeah. This one reminds me of the same person that the other track reminds me of. A lot of songs remind me of this one person.

[Lori]

Oh, dang.

[Scott Free]

Yeah.

[Lori]

You want to talk about it?

[Scott Free]

No, I don't.

[Lori]

No, me neither.

[Scott Free]

Oh, thanks. Thanks, Scott. You're a good friend.

[Lori]

I'm kidding. Anytime. But let's stick to the record.

[Scott Free]

Okay. Robert Quine on guitar again, lead guitar.

[Lori]

That guy's all right.

[Scott Free]

Yeah.

[Lori]

Robert Quine. I don't know that we've mentioned it up to this point, but known for his earlier work with Richard Hell and the Voidoids.

[Scott Free]

Yes, I mentioned that.

[Lori]

Okay, good.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, cool.

[Lori]

No, I guess that brings us to the next one. Track 8. Thought I knew you.

I thought I knew I was in for a surprise. I let my love flow from my heart into your eyes. And then I found out that there was nothing I could know or guess about you. You'd go as far as you could go. And it took me years to figure out to that there was nothing I could give to you. Years to figure out that there was nothing you would take from me. And how can I describe the way you slowly put my hope away? And all of the time I thought I knew you.

Okay, so this one plays with you a little bit at the beginning. There's a false statement start. Guitar starts to come in, then suddenly stops. And then they tap and count in. And then this acoustic guitar really fires up, and it's got an almost Spanish, almost classical guitar feel to it. That guitar riff in particular has echoes, for me at least, of the Moody Blues, the story in your eyes. But that one might just be me.

[Scott Free]

I could see it.

[Lori]

Curiously, though, I did listen quite a bit to an acoustic version of this track that Matthew Sweet played live on MTV's 120 Minutes. And his introduction to that song, I think, plays into our analysis here. He introduces it with. This is a song of bitterness and betrayal, as you may guess, from a song called thought I knew you with the implication being. And I didn't.

[Scott Free]

Well, and I. The only thing I have in my notes is this about his divorce.

[Lori]

Yeah. It is a tough one, lyrically.

[Scott Free]

It took me years to figure out that there was nothing I could show to you. Years to figure out that you were never really going to choose. And how can I describe the way I slowly lost my love for you? And all of the time I thought I knew you? And so that goes back to what I was saying earlier about how he married very young and he and his first wife kind of drifted apart, and he didn't want to be the bad guy. He didn't want to be the one to end the relationship. So I think he was. He slowly lost his love for her, as he said, and was waiting for her to be the one to end the relationship, waiting for her to choose, as he says in the song. And then a few years later, he realized she's never going to do it. She's never going to be the one to end the relationship. So he had to be the one to do that. And I think that that's coming out in this song.

[Lori]

Oh, yeah. And there's another line. And how can I describe the way you slowly took my hope away and does it with these big harmonies? It's a heartbreaker, man.

[Scott Free]

Yeah.

[Lori]

I think I've been in that relationship and I've been the problem in that relationship.

[Scott Free]

Yeah. Both sides.

[Lori]

Yeah.

[Scott Free]

This song is notable, Scott, because this is actually Matthew Sweet on the lead guitar for this one.

[Lori]

Oh, yeah.

[Scott Free]

Yeah.

[Lori]

He's quite good.

[Scott Free]

He is. He is still like him better on the bass, but.

[Lori]

Yeah, yeah. He's no Robert Quine or Richard Lloyd, but he's still pretty damn good. I gotta tell you, this song really, really does it for me. It lacks a lot of the power of some of the power pop on the rest of this album, but I think it's brilliant and heartbreaking and still energetic. It's not a ballad, but it gets the heartbreak without having to spoon feed it to you, as some of the ballads do on this one.

[Scott Free]

Yes.

[Lori]

But, yeah, this. This one is right up there among the very best on this album.

[Scott Free]

It's a very good one. I agree. I guess. Then that leads us to the next one.

[Lori]

Yeah, sure enough.

[Scott Free]

All right, so the next one. Scott, you don't love me.

[Lori]

And what a beautiful moment as my head comes apart drunk and in a manner of saying wasted. Cause you don't love me, you don't love me. You can't see how I matter in this world Even though I love you.

Well, considering I just said that. Sometimes the ballads really spoon feed you the heartbreak. Boy Howdy does this one and boy howdy does it do it in a very steel panel country sort of way.

[Scott Free]

Yeah. The first thing I have in my notes, please gods, no more country music.

[Lori]

See, I disagree. Like it. It's again, pulling those country lost my girl heartstrings. But I think it doesn't brilliantly. You know, you can just get from the title, you don't love me what the song's going to be about. Again, from that powerpop.com article I've been quoting, this is essentially Sweet's version of go your own way. Here, however, Lindsey Buckingham's righteous indignation has been replaced by dignified acceptance. Then I guess it's okay. I think it's okay if you go away because you don't love me. Lys the steel petal player piles on the pathos with some heartbreaking petal steel embellishments, and quine adds a touching and tasteful solo. Plus, Sweet keeps his emotions in check and floats a gorgeous, measured vocal line over the piece. It's a masterclass in restraint. There's no hand wringing and garment rending. There's just a heartfelt statement of the facts.

[Scott Free]

Okay. And then Sweet told Magnet magazine, you don't love Me might be a song my wife was singing to me. You know what I mean? But I felt those feelings and so I was working that out in a song. So what I just mentioned earlier about how he didn't want to be the one to end the relationship. He wanted her to be the one to end it.

[Lori]

Yeah.

[Scott Free]

So if this is from her perspective, if she was singing this to him. You don't love me, you don't love me. You can't see how I matter in this world. Even though I loved you. You can't believe that. You think that leaving is what will make you happy. Then I guess it's okay. I think it's okay if you go away. And I could really kind of see, now that I know that about the relationship, I could see where she might have sung something like this to him.

[Lori]

Yeah, yeah. You know, he writes from his life, but the songs aren't necessarily from his own perspective. It's autobiographical, but also with a switch in perspective. And again, heartbreakingly sad. If you can get past the. It's a straight up country song, which I know you have a difficult time doing, but as a country song goes, pretty solid heartbreaker. That brings us to track 10. I wanted to tell you.

What you want to. I think you're right. I do what I want to do I do what I want to do I let the world surround me cuz I saw no real harm I didn't stop to think of you, you were already in my arms I was wrong but I. I wanted to tell you I wanted to tell you what I couldn't say.

This is another pop banger, but it's really like more pure pop or folk pop. It could have been a hit, but it lacks that merciless guitar rhythm and guitar heroism of Girlfriend and the Sunshine of I've Been Waiting, although it is closer to the latter. The rhythm guitar is an acoustic, so it has a more like Michael Penn sort of feel. If we can get back into that early 90s mindset, or even Ben Harper, although that's later in the decade, really. But, yeah, it's acoustic folk pop, but it's got a little power. It's got a little oomph to it.

[Scott Free]

This one is really interesting lyrically, too. I wanted to tell you. I wanted to tell you what I couldn't say Love I needed to find mine but it took me a long time to see love. Well, never mind. I know how you feel about that. So he's got feelings for this person, but he's afraid of saying so because the minute he says so, it's going to ruin the relationship, you know?

[Lori]

Yeah. I mean, the one that stood out at me. I do what I want to, too. I let the world surround me Because I saw no real harm I didn't stop to think of you, you were already in my arms but there was something I wanted to tell you what I couldn't say But I needed to find mine but it took me a long time to see.

[Scott Free]

And then the very last word of the song. Love. Yeah, that's heavy.

[Lori]

Yeah. You know, he was working through some stuff in this album, and, you know, when it's sunny and hopeful and excited and giddy about the new relationships, boy, is it a lot of fun. And what's about this divorce? Ah, it tugs on the heartstrings, man.

[Scott Free]

It really is kind of a roller coaster, isn't it?

[Lori]

Right. It's. Yeah. Pendulum swing. Yeah.

[Scott Free]

Yeah. By the way, Robert Quine on lead guitar again.

[Lori]

All right.

[Scott Free]

Excellent job.

[Lori]

Quite. Quite.

[Scott Free]

Okay, then. That brings us to Don't Go.

[Lori]

Don'T go don't let my love drive you away There is so much I have left to say I can't go don't bring my nightmare to the day There is so much I have to say.

Musically, it's a pretty straightforward rocker. You know, it's got this steel string acoustic guitar arpeggio thing going, but then just some crunchy chords and it's just a straight up mid tempo rocker. Lyrically, this one is perplexing to me.

[Scott Free]

I was gonna say, before you get into the lyrics, please, this has got some, like, Hotel California vibes to it.

[Lori]

Musically, you know, I can see some eagles in there. Sure.

[Scott Free]

Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, you were gonna say about the lyrics.

[Lori]

Yeah. Like, it starts off like straightforward heartbreak song. Don't go don't let my love drive you away Straightforward enough later in the song. I can't let them put you in the ground. What is actually happening in this song?

[Scott Free]

So it must be about somebody who died.

[Lori]

I mean. Yes. Or is it conceptually put you the relationship in the ground? I don't have it. I don't know.

[Scott Free]

They keep telling me the past is gone, but it looks like my evil deeds are coming round. Did he kill somebody?

[Lori]

I don't think he.

[Scott Free]

Is Matthew Sweet a serial killer?

[Lori]

Ah, we may have cracked the code.

[Scott Free]

Oh, that's. Oh, we can branch out into true crime. We can do another podcast.

[Lori]

Those podcasts aren't very popular.

[Scott Free]

Oh, they are. They're addictive too, man. They're so addictive.

[Lori]

Oh, you ladies love your murder porn.

[Scott Free]

You know, I was thinking about that the other day, and. Excuse me for going off on a tangent here.

[Lori]

Oh, I helped start it.

[Scott Free]

People kind of look at me funny because I find documentaries on things like serial killers, that's like comfort food for me visually. But I started to think about it and I realized, you know what? The case is always solved at the end. There's always a resolution. The guy's always caught. It might be, you know, decades later, but I think that that's what the appeal is for me, that there's like this certainty that justice will prevail, you know, and especially with what's going on in the world today, I think we need a little bit more certainty, you know?

[Lori]

I hear you.

[Scott Free]

That's my comfort food.

[Lori]

All right. Enjoy the comfort of murder.

[Scott Free]

Me? Come on, Scott. We've known each other long enough, you.

[Lori]

Know, I know you enjoy the comfort of murder, and you always have. It's fine.

[Scott Free]

Come on. Doesn't everybody have a favorite serial killer?

[Lori]

The ladies do the ladies do?

[Scott Free]

Yeah. So we think Matthew Sweet may. May be a serial killer.

[Lori]

Matthew Sweet's attorneys, please know that this is just a theory and not a very good one.

[Scott Free]

Did you rub that past our legal department?

[Lori]

The opinions presented on Accelerated Culture are uninformed and mostly just us goofing.

[Scott Free]

All right, anything else on that track? All right, well, you're next.

[Lori]

Okay. Number 12. Your sweet voice.

Speak to me with your sweet voice Take me through another night with your soft voice and I will surely be alright. If I can close my eyes without a fear. You speak to me with your sweet. With your Sweet.

[Scott Free]

Oh, God, it's country again.

[Lori]

Yeah. No, Matthew Sweet goes Crosby, Stills and Nash, or maybe Graham Parsons and the Flying Burrito Brothers. Or maybe Big Star, and, you know, probably Big Star. Matthew Sweet does cite them as one of his big influences and they were huge power pop players, but they also had the softer numbers. This wouldn't be out of place on Big Star's number one record. So, yes, it is undeniably country twangy, thanks largely to the pedal steel work once again of Greg Lees. But, yeah, the whole thing, it's arranged like country song. It plays like a country song. It's a country song. If you don't like country song, you're not going to like it. But, you know, I dig this one.

[Scott Free]

See some similarities to this one and some stuff by the Cowboy Junkies. There's a couple of their songs that have a similar kind of vibe. Murder Tonight in the Trailer park or kind of like these Extra Few Feet In My Bed. Actually, that's the one that I think of when I hear this. And they have a bit of a countryish vibe about them too, I suppose.

[Lori]

So the Cowboy Junkies.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, yeah.

[Lori]

Just a little.

[Scott Free]

Not everything Cowboy Junkies, for Christ's sake. But yes, well, you know that. That was another one that they just picked at random out of a dictionary because they didn't have a name. Right.

[Lori]

But the sound also. But yes. Anyway, you know, lyrically it's got again that pardon upon sweetness. But speak to me with your sweet voice and take me through another night Speak to me with your sweet voice and I will surely be all right. Okay. It seems like straightforward love song, but then it's as close as I get to love. As close as I get to love. Speak to me with your sweet voice again. And take me through another night Speak to me with your sweet voice and I will surely be all right. Like as close as I get to love. That ain't love.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, you Know, despite the slide guitar, it is a very, very nice ballad. There's some really beautiful harmonies going on in the chorus. And once again, we have Matthew Sweet on lead guitar. This is one of two songs on the album that he's taking the lead.

[Lori]

Good for him.

[Scott Free]

Yeah. So I. I don't mean to imply that I hate it. I actually do kind of like this one. All right, good D. Okay. So. So I can stay?

[Lori]

I guess so. Yeah. Okay.

[Scott Free]

All right.

[Lori]

I feel like that covers it. It is a simple enough song with just a little bit of a lyrical twist. You know, it may not be your thing, but that pedal steel work is dope. Pedal steel work.

[Scott Free]

Yeah. No, I. I'll agree with you on that. And when I said that, it reminds me of cowboy Junkies. That's the reason why I do like cowboy Junkies. So go figure.

[Lori]

Cool.

[Scott Free]

All right.

[Lori]

I guess that brings us to track 13.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, we're going to do a sick one. Isn't that how it starts? We're going to do a sick one. One, two. Anyway, this is. Does she talk?

[Lori]

She's just your size. She's sexy, she's beautiful. Does she talk? She's just your size. She's sexy, she's beautiful. Does she come. Cause, man, you can't teach a slytherin snake how to walk. Did you lick your palm to tell you your fortune tonight?

[Scott Free]

Now this, Scott, this is an old school rock and roll jam.

[Lori]

Yeah. Like, it's a pretty standard mid tempo, kind of bluesy rocker, but also it's funny. Like, not like novelty song funny, but there's lyrical twists in there. That. Yeah, there's some funny stuff going on.

[Scott Free]

Did she lick your palm to tell you your fortune tonight?

[Lori]

She's just your size. She's sexy, she's beautiful. Does she talk? Cuz you can't teach a slithering snake how to walk.

[Scott Free]

Ouch.

[Lori]

Right?

[Scott Free]

Yeah.

[Lori]

And that's all you know. There's twists, there's turns, there's word play. And then later, towards the end of the song, well, I can you up the. And you can me up the. All right. It should be noted for those listening if you have not listened to the song. Those pauses were not me censoring it. That's how the lyrics go. Just a pregnant pause for, well, I can you up the. And that's freaking funny.

[Scott Free]

You're gonna like it.

[Lori]

Now. I think it's better leaving it to your imagination, regardless.

[Scott Free]

All right. Well, I hadn't listened to the lyrics on this one. Believe it or not, I was so completely Caught up in Richard Quine's lead guitar. Yeah, there's like shades of Stevie Ray Vaughan going on here.

[Lori]

Yeah, I buy that.

[Scott Free]

Yeah. All right, well, that's all I got for Does She Talk?

[Lori]

I think it's plenty. Funny rocker. Good stuff. All right, brings us to track 14, the second to last track, the penultimate track. Ooh, Holy war.

I spent 20 years learning to live in a world that takes back all that it gives. But I do not want a war. I don't know what's going on in the scenes behind. I worry about it some of the time. And I hope there's not a war. Cause I'm not in for killing another man and in my holy land as if there's a God who would understand.

[Scott Free]

Penultimate.

[Lori]

Oh, yeah, like that.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, yeah, that's a good word.

[Lori]

So, sample of the lyrics. I feel like. Gives you a general taste of it. Because I'm not in for killing another man. Defending my holy land as if there's a God who would understand, you know, I feel like he does his best work on the personal stuff. And the previous 13 tracks were the personal stuff, failed relationships, the hope of a potential new relationship. But the political, anti war stuff, not his strongest work. It's fine, but it's no girlfriend. Right.

[Scott Free]

And, you know, it is kind of keeping with another theme that we've seen in a few of these songs, and that was his disillusionment with religion.

[Lori]

All right.

[Scott Free]

Like you said, defending my holy land as if there's a God who would understand. But then right after that, feeding the promised land with your blood by my own hand at Allah's own command. So blood being shed in the name of religion. Right. I mean, that's kind of how I interpreted that, you know, and we're in.

[Lori]

1991 here, so there was plenty of conflict to. To choose from, particularly Middle East.

[Scott Free]

Yeah.

[Lori]

And America's involvement in it.

[Scott Free]

Yeah. But I spent 20 years learning to live in a world that takes back all that it gives. I've spent 20 years. So this is a young man about the age of conscription. Right. About the age where he would be expected to go to war to fight for his country. But, yeah. No, I'm with you. I think the more heartfelt songs are his strong point. I think that this is a little too preachy for me.

[Lori]

A little too. Yeah. On the nose. Right?

[Scott Free]

Yeah. It says the gal that actually likes some. You too. And I'm calling Matthew Sweet. Too preachy. It's just this one song.

[Lori]

Fair enough.

[Scott Free]

Yeah.

[Lori]

You know, one more. Just to kind of exemplify how on the nose it is. I came up from the desert and here I will die Tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye. Though I didn't want a war. It's a little ham fisted is all I'm saying.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, I'll agree with you on that one. This is not one of his stronger tracks.

[Lori]

It is not.

[Scott Free]

But, you know, there's a lot of tracks on this album. See, that's the other thing. I know we still got one track left to go, but this is over 60 minutes, which was very unusual for a CD back then to be this far.

[Lori]

They had 72 that they could play with. Right?

[Scott Free]

74. 74 minutes, yeah.

[Lori]

All right. So, you know, 15 is a fair number of tracks. It's far from the longest album in 1991 or the greatest number of tracks, but, you know, if there were any tracks of the 15 on this album that they could cut to make it just a little tighter. Yeah, for my money, this is the one. It's Holy war.

[Scott Free]

Yeah.

[Lori]

You gonna do. I'll tell you what you're gonna do. You're gonna go to the last track, number 15.

[Scott Free]

Right. So this one is. Nothing lasts. This was the song that originally the album was supposed to be named after. Let's listen.

[Lori]

If one could stop time and make it up if two could realize the best of luck if I could locate the God above and you only wanted to be loved Then I try to hang on to the past.

So the album closes on a sad note. This is a plaintive ballad. It's a stripped down acoustic number. It is not a country song like a couple of the other ballads that we've come up against in the course of this episode. It's more of just a straightforward singer songwriter on an acoustic guitar thing and singing his heart out.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, this is a really nice way, I think, to close the album. And it also really showcases Matthew's voice in a way that some of these other songs haven't. Now, he does not have a conventionally beautiful voice.

[Lori]

A classically strong voice. No. But an expressive voice and a clear voice. Yes. You know, said earlier that producers had given him some Neil Young and Crazy Horse and then really turned him on to that. He was unfamiliar with it up to that point. And, yeah, there's kind of a Neil Young and Crazy Horse thing going here. Only unlike Neil Young, his voice is actually good.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, no, I'll give you that. I'll give you that. And especially on this one, I mean, it's just so full of emotion. And, you know, that's not something that you can fake.

[Lori]

No. It's not exactly soul that he sings it with, but, yeah, heart. He sings it with art.

[Scott Free]

Yes. Nothing's in your way now you can stand right up and run. Wouldn't even change things if you took back what you'd done. I've tried to hang on to the past But I couldn't keep my grasp because nothing lasts. So it's hard not to hear this as a farewell to his ex wife.

[Lori]

Yeah.

[Scott Free]

Nothing is keeping you here anymore. Nothing's standing in your way. You know, be free.

[Lori]

Sad but beautiful. Yeah, that's how this song goes and how the album ends.

[Scott Free]

So in that Magnet magazine article that I have been mentioning, Jim Rondinelli, the sound engineer, called Girlfriend one of the greatest divorce records ever made.

[Lori]

Yeah, I think that's accurate. It's got that profound found sadness, but also resignation, acceptance. There's sometimes where it's bitter, but sometimes where it's like, okay, I'm ready to let go. And then, okay, the relationship is over and you are looking forward to the world of possibilities that now exists with the next thing. Girlfriend, for instance.

[Scott Free]

Yes, exactly. So now there's an opportunity. There's somebody else that he's got his eye on now, right?

[Lori]

Yeah. So sad but hopeful.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, I think that's. Yeah, yeah. And there's enough here that is catchy power pop. There's some great hooks to these songs and some of them that just get into your head and they do not let go.

[Lori]

Absolute earworms that are I've Been Waiting, Girlfriend and Evangeline.

[Scott Free]

So Matthew Sweet went on to do a number of other albums after this, but he never quite reached this same level of fame. The album after this, Altered Beast, it was good, but it didn't quite register with the fans the way that Girlfriend did. Matthew actually said in an article, people will ask me if I'm sick of playing the Girlfriend stuff. And I'll be like, no, I'm just happy someone likes something I did. It's a gift to me that it means so much to people that it wears so well for them.

[Lori]

Yeah, I mean, it's a great attitude towards it. And, you know, he got to continue being a working musician, releasing records, his own solo records, like you said, altered beast, 100% fun and others. I, I, I had not put this together. You will recall at the end of Austin Powers International, man of Mystery, the first Austin Powers movie. At the end, there is a band playing, including Austin Powers himself, but then other musicians the bass player. I did not realize this until researching this. This episode is Matthew Sweet.

[Scott Free]

Yeah, that's the. The BBC song, right? BBC.

[Lori]

I think I want to say the band, they called it Ming Tea. Correct. Matthew Sweet, bass player for Ming Tea.

[Scott Free]

And the guitarist Susanna Hoffs. Now, I don't know how I missed that.

[Lori]

Yes. And then Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet go on over the course of years, starting in 2006, to release three different albums of COVID tunes with other musicians, but a series called under the Covers, Volume one, Under the Covers Volume two and Volume three, It's Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs just playing tunes they like. And that's kind of rad. But yeah. Matthew Sweet continued to be a working musician, putting out albums until cat's Paw in 2021 and touring until 2024. Just last year when in October, things went more than a little sideways. So if I can just going to read a little bit of Matthew Sweet's last post on Facebook talking about an incident that took place in October of 2024. Matthew Sweet's words from his post. I was colder than I've ever been and an icy sweat came from every pore. Then I heard a deafening white noise in both my ears, growing and growing and growing in volume, and my eyes started to scramble like eggs in a pan. Then I was in an ambulance and I heard a man yell, sir, you've had a stroke. I didn't know what it meant. It seemed unreal, as much of my life has. So Matthew Sweet had a massive, debilitating stroke in 2024. A successful GoFundMe page was launched to raise funds for his medical care. As he was uninsured, as so many artists are, he has lost the use of much of the left side of his body and thinks he may never play guitar again, which is tragic. But he and his wife are together. She is taking care of him. He has a generally good attitude, expressing gratitude and love and joy at the career that he has had up to this point. He ends a very long post that is worth it to read. I understand now what it means to reinvent oneself when the self you knew before is gone. You have no other choice. You either quit or you keep going. And so I feel I must keep going. And I feel a great burden to do so with such incredible support that you, many of whom I do not know, have given me. I must just say thank you to you for giving me this help, this hope I cannot feel whether I could have had on my own. I will try to make music I will try to. I will try to make art. I will try to express myself because that is all I have ever known and all that has ever brought me joy. May you all today find a glimmer of hope and love and a future to strive toward the way you have helped me find it. Every one of you. God damn. Like, I mean, that is an incredible attitude that will hopefully help fuel his recovery to. It won't be the same old Matthew Sweet, but to let him go forward and do what he wants to do and express himself and we can only hope. I look forward to seeing what he does.

[Scott Free]

Yeah. Best wishes to him.

[Lori]

Good luck, Matthew Sweep. Thanks for doing what you do and we are pulling for you.

[Scott Free]

So, Scott, what is your favorite track on the album?

[Lori]

You know, so often I go with the very obvious massive hit single because, well, they were put forth as a single in the first place because they really had something. It is hard not to say girlfriend because holy, that song is so good. However, just to go against my usual tendency, I'm going to go with a deeper cut this time. And it is track 8. Thought I knew you. That sort of Spanish acoustic guitar situation. That is. It is a tough one. The song of bitterness and betrayal. But, man, I do dig that track.

[Scott Free]

That's a good one.

[Lori]

And yours.

[Scott Free]

I have to go with Girlfriend.

[Lori]

It's so good, right?

[Scott Free]

It is impossible to stay in a bad mood when that song comes on.

[Lori]

Oh, yeah. And same with. I've been waiting, like either of those two songs, you feel good and hopeful and you're popping along and you're singing that song for the rest of the day. Yeah, yeah. Like you cannot go wrong.

[Scott Free]

All right, Scott, have we figured out what we're doing for the next episode?

[Lori]

Yeah, Yeah. I think for the next episode we will be jumping back across the pond to the dawn of Brit pop. Next episode is Leisure by Blur.

[Scott Free]

Oh, I like it. All right. I'm look. Yeah, looking forward to that one.

[Lori]

All right.

[Scott Free]

All right. So thank you, everybody for listening and for taking this album deep dive with us. I hope you enjoyed it.

[Lori]

It's a goodbye from me and from me Scot free. We'll see you back here in two weeks. Sa.