02-12-26 - It's Michael McDonald's BDay Today So We're Making Listeners Sing Nine Inch Nails Songs As Michael For NIN Tickets

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Holmberg's Morning Sickness (98KUPD)

Episode: 02-12-26 – Michael McDonald's Birthday “Yacht Rock Nails” Challenge
Date: February 12, 2026
Main Theme:
Celebrating Michael McDonald’s 74th birthday, the crew challenges listeners to sing Nine Inch Nails songs in their best Michael McDonald impression to win concert tickets. The segment is filled with humor, vocal antics, playful banter, and a unique mashup of Yacht Rock and industrial rock.

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1. Episode Overview

The show celebrates legendary singer Michael McDonald’s birthday with a one-of-a-kind contest: listeners call in and perform classic Nine Inch Nails (NIN) songs—using Michael McDonald’s soulful, unmistakable voice. The hosts, John Holmberg, Bret Vesely, and others, riff on the challenge, demonstrate impressions, and judge listener entries, all while reveling in the absurdity of genre collision.

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2. Key Discussion Points & Insights

Michael McDonald’s Influence and Iconic Voice

• Hosts reminisce about McDonald’s lasting impact on music, suggesting that “without Michael McDonald, music would have stopped happening like, in 1980” (02:36).
• Discussion of “Yacht Rock” status and signature vocal style:
  • “You can sound just like him. And it’s still not the same.” (03:14, John)
• Lighthearted tutorial on how to impersonate McDonald:

  “Take your fingers, index finger, and thumb... pull your cheeks apart in reversing fashion, and then just start singing because you will become Michael McDonald.”
  (04:21, John)

The Contest: NIN Songs as Michael McDonald

• Rules set out:
  • Listeners must pick well-known NIN tracks (“Closer,” “Head Like a Hole,” etc.).
  • “Make it something that people know well. If you do that, you run the risk the judges going, I don’t know what you’re doing.” (05:34, John & Bret)
• The prize: coveted Nine Inch Nails tickets.
• Playful endorsement:

  “It’s a great way to pay tribute to the great Michael McDonald.” (05:43, John)

Listener Performances & Memorable Moments

Audrey

• Song: “March of the Pigs”
• Energetic performance, blending NIN aggression with McDonald’s smoothness:

  “Step right up. March. Push. Crawl right up on your knees. Please breathe. Feed…” (10:27)

• Judges: “It was more strange than I thought it was going to be.” (10:58, John)

Oliver (Eventual Winner)

• Song: “Closer”
• Nailing the impression, ad libbing, and delivering a crowd favorite:

  “You let me violate you, oh yeah. You let me desecrate you, oh yeah…” (12:14, Oliver)

• Judges:

  “Oliver, you just bumped Audriana out of the gates. That’s solid. He made that song Michael McDonald’s.” (13:13, John)
  “Michael McDonald doing Closer worked.” (13:18, Bret)

Eric

• Song: “Terrible Lie”
• Struggles with both vocal technique and technical instructions (“Pull your cheeks apart... I’m trying, I’m fat.” 14:24)
• Judges: “Your fat cheeks got in the way, and I’m not sure what just happened.” (14:59, John)

Michael

• Song: “Every Day is Exactly the Same”
• Mildly received; song choice deemed “maybe a bad song choice, but it was alright.” (15:51, John)

Frenchie

• Song: “Head Like a Hole”
• Enthusiastic and incorporated beatboxing, but quickly drifted from the impression, becoming “Monty Python woman” (16:47, John)
• Judges: “That left Michael McDonald a long time ago…” (16:47, John)

The Hosts’ Reactions and Aftermath

• Enthusiasm for the game’s weirdness:

  “This is weirder than I thought it was going to be. Brett, I feel like I might be in some sort of strange dream.” (13:13, John)

• Inspiration for future hijinks:

  “Even if you’re in the car going, well, that’s dumb. You’re doing it.” (18:22, John) “I want to go do karaoke this weekend and do the all Michael McDonald.” (18:22, Bret) “Renegades of Funk...Master of Puppets. All beautiful. Excellent job, everyone.” (18:56, hosts)

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3. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Michael McDonald Impression Technique:

  “Take your fingers, index finger, and thumb each hand up to each cheek of your face, pull your cheeks apart in reversing fashion, and then just start singing because you will become Michael McDonald.”
  (04:21, John)

• On Contest Judging and Song Selection:

  “Familiarity is a key. You can choose. I’ll let them choose… Sing a Michael McDonald version of a Nine Inch Nails song. The best one going to Nine Inch Nails.”
  (05:23–05:43, John)

• Listener Feedback:

  “Thank you for getting Michael McDonald stuck in my head for the rest of the day, first and foremost. Secondly, I followed your directions exactly as you said to a T. But I don’t know how spreading my butt is going to make me sound more like Michael McDonald.”
  (08:52, listener email read by John)

• Hosts on Winning Performance:

  “Oliver, without question, Oliver is our winner today... Give us a little whatever else you want to do as Michael McDonald. For his birthday.”
  (17:17–17:25, John)

• Legacy Praise:

  “Without (Michael McDonald), music would have stopped somewhere around 1987. Would have been like, we’re done.”
  (19:34, John)

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4. Timestamps of Important Segments

• [02:36] – On Michael McDonald’s impact on music.
• [04:21] – Cheek-pulling Michael McDonald impression tutorial.
• [05:23–05:43] – Contest rules detailed.
• [10:27] – Audrey’s “March of the Pigs” performance.
• [12:14] – Oliver’s “Closer” begins.
• [13:13] – Oliver declared winner over Audrey.
• [14:24] – Eric’s cheek-pulling struggles.
• [16:24] – Frenchie’s “Head Like a Hole” with beatboxing.
• [17:25] – Oliver’s encore.
• [18:22] – Hosts’ encouragement for others to try the bit themselves.
• [19:34] – Reflection on Michael McDonald’s legacy.

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5. Tone and Style

• The entire episode is playful, irreverent, and celebratory.
• Host John Holmberg leads with self-deprecating humor, quick wit, and a genuine love of both Michael McDonald and the absurd collisions of pop culture.
• Listeners and hosts alike enthusiastically lean into the ridiculous premise, creating entertaining radio with participatory spirit.

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6. Concluding Remarks

The episode delivers exactly what it promises: over-the-top tributes to Michael McDonald, bizarre (yet heartfelt) listener karaoke, and the sort of anarchic, community-driven comedy that defines “Holmberg’s Morning Sickness.” Whether you’re a Yacht Rock fanatic, NIN fan, or just in for the laughs, this episode brings both chaos and joy—with a surprising degree of musicality from Arizona’s most adventurous morning show audience.

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Transcript

[A]

You're listening to the HMS podcast brought to you by MMP Guns.com, your most trusted online marketplace for firearms, ammunition and accessories.

[B]

It's John Holmberg here from the morning sickness to tell you about the Core Institute. People who met me found out that I've had four major operations in the last four years. They're blown away. I've had both shoulders replaced and both hips replaced because I was an absolute disaster before my surgeries. I was in pain. Now no one knows I've had any issues. People who hear multiple surgeries assume they'll never be the same again. It's just not true. I'm better than I've been in 20 years. Stop quitting the things you love and get back to being the pain free you you love. The Core Institute.com hey, it's Brett Vesely.

[A]

And I'm here with Byron from MMP Guns. Look, Byron, I have a friend wanting to sell some guns he inherited. What's the best way for him to do that?

[C]

Brett, the last thing you want to do is sell the gun to someone who can't legally own one. Tell him not to put himself at risk and come into MMP Guns where he'll get a fair offer and he can rest easy knowing it's not getting into the wrong hands.

[A]

Okay, but what if he lives out of state?

[C]

Easy legalgunbuyer.com and he can do it all online. It's really that simple.

[A]

There you guns or legalgunbuyer.com the safe and legal way to sell your firearms.

[B]

Morning sickness. You've been deceived by an agent of Satan himself. Then I got an email from a guy that says guys that pee sitting down don't like coconut. You're a twink, Holmberg. I don't know what kind of circular, strange coconut sitting to pee that bugs people. My sitting to pee thing, and all it is, is cleanliness.

[A]

No splashing.

[B]

There's no splashing. There's no. The. The bowl at my of my toilet is never no dots, no drips, no runs, no drips or errors as they used to say about rust oleum. And that's the same as my wang.

[A]

Well, it's. You know, you don't use the restroom here, but the urinal in there, it looks like a pair of Spicoli vans. It's just checkerboard like, which just drips.

[B]

All around it enough.

[A]

It's like, Jesus Christ, floor tap your crank instead of tapping that app.

[B]

I don't know why people think sitting to pee is gay. I don't get it. Try it at home. The cleanup is. There's none. Your bathroom stays spotless forever and ever. So smart.

[A]

Your wife will thank you for it.

[B]

Everyone will thank you for it especially. But, you know. And then you'll know that if they're on there, it's because she's doing something horrible.

[A]

She standing a pee.

[B]

There's a. It's a new world, Brett. Some of these ladies have penises now.

[A]

I also work on BMWs.

[B]

It's. It's 8:37. It's Michael McDonald's birthday, and we are fans of Michael McDonald. I. I firmly believe without Michael McDonald, their. Their music would have stopped happening, like, in 1980. What's the point?

[D]

There's.

[B]

But then you get songs like this. I mean, come on. This. The dude's voice is legendary. Everything he's ever done, everything. And you can't help. You don't sing normal.

[A]

Everybody changes their voices.

[B]

And the cool thing about it is you can sound just like him. And it's still not the same.

[D]

No.

[B]

I. I had this song on in my car and on Apple play, you can turn off the lyrics.

[A]

Oh, nice.

[D]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

So I'm in the car, you know, the bronco. Not that I, you know, good thing Stemmings wasn't with me, because it would have been the gayest moment of my life. But I. This very song, I turned on and I clicked off the lyrics, and I'm. You know, Were you stirring with your.

[A]

Knees and pulling the cheeks and everything? Were you doing full monty or what?

[B]

I'm going to teach people that in a second. Once again, we have to remind them how it gets done. But if you. A Michael McDonald impression and driving around and it's just you singing, I realized it's a good impression, but it doesn't matter. You look like a lunatic. He's the only one that can do it. Oh, still good. What we want to do here. I can listen to this for hours. Now that you've got the Michael McDonald, I'm going to teach you how to do a Michael McDonald. Everyone can do it. Everyone can do it. I've taught Brett.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

And you realized at that point, I don't know, if you were doing Michael McDonald before that.

[A]

It wasn't as good.

[B]

That's exactly. I mean, it was.

[A]

It was an attempt.

[B]

I'll just say, take your fingers, index finger, and thumb each hand up to each cheek of your face, pull your cheeks apart in reversing fashion, and then just start singing because you will become Michael McDonald. Brett, go ahead. You can't help it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, it's. Pull your cheeks apart. It doesn't have to be. Okay, so now that we've taught you, what we want is to give you Nine Inch Nails tickets while you're all, you know, scrambling around our app and our website putting in code words at 8 o', clock, which is orchestral until 9. And it's something else. We want you to sing us a Nine Inch Nails song on Michael McDonald's birthday as Michael McDonald.

[A]

Do we want to give them the song so they can look up the lyrics to it? How do you want to do.

[B]

We can do closer. We can do Head like a hole. Maybe Head like a hole like the big hits.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So, yeah, load it up on your phone if you can. The lyrics and anything else. Sing a Michael McDonald version of a Nine Inch Nail song. We will judge this and give. Yeah, it's Yacht Rock Nails.

[A]

Okay. Yeah, Yeah, I like it. Yeah. And no deep album tracks. Make it something that people know well.

[B]

If you do that, you run the risk. The judges going, I don't know what you're doing.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Exactly. So give it. Familiarity is a key. You can choose. I'll let them choose. Yeah. Go on your phone. The lyrics come up and you can have that. And sing a Michael McDonald version of a Nine Inch Nail song. The best one going to Nine Inch Nails on the tickets we got sitting in our hands, you don't get in the party suite. But these are good seats to the show that's coming up March 6th. And it's a great way to pay tribute to the great Michael McDonald.

[A]

Birthday. 74.

[B]

Let's. He's all. That was 1974.

[A]

That's. Well, he's 74 years old.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

Oh, yeah, Yeah.

[B]

I don't know. This has to be right around there. What a song. Yacht Rock Nails is coming your way. And I want this to be. I want you guys to nail it. 585-9800.

[A]

Is the phone number 79.

[B]

I'm gonna this all day long. I'm gonna listen to mic. This is 78. Okay. God. So good. All right, get ready for it. We're gonna play that next. And also, I know everybody always says, pull your cheeks open. Calm down, calm down.

[A]

Wrong station.

[B]

Yeah, Gaty KB is doing a different version of Michael McDonald contest. Open your cheeks and sing cheeks.

[E]

What a blessing.

[B]

Kitty, kitty. All right, it's 8:42. We'll get you guys next with our Yacht rock nails Michael McDonald tribute right after this visit. Holmberg's morning sickness [e-mail] well, it's now.

[F]

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[D]

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[B]

Holmberg's morning sickness all right, Brett is feverishly working our telephones to get you guys to play this glorious game. Give me a little taste of that again, Brett. Hit that button. Michael McDonald, 74 years old today. Emails like crazy. Everything about him. Thank you for getting Michael McDonald stuck in my head for the rest of the day, first and foremost. Secondly, I followed your directions exactly as you said to a T. But I don't know how spreading my butt is going to make me sound more like Michael McDonald. I've tried it for science, but I sound like somebody doing a bad impression of Michael McDonald. But I do feel a little breezier. And I think I have a boyfriend. Let me know what I'm doing wrong. Nothing.

[A]

Is that Troy or Michael?

[B]

His name is Mike. It's Michael. You can try spreading your butt cheeks, but I think it works. It's such a great all right, so we want you guys. To sing the songs of Nine Inch Nails, Your choice. I want to hear this.

[A]

Acapella.

[B]

Try it at home. Acapella. Nine Inch Nails as Michael McDonald. This could be weird. This could be fantastic. We don't know. It's up to you guys. And we're gonna go to the phones right now. Nine Inch Nails tickets on the line. Who's first there, Bert?

[A]

We'll start with a woman.

[B]

Audrey? Audrey, are you there?

[E]

I'm here.

[B]

Hi, Audrey. How are you?

[E]

I'm great. How are you?

[B]

I'm doing great, thank you. All right. Audrey. I'm. I have a Twix in my mouth. Hold on. I gotta watch that down. I gotta twitch right from. Hold on, Audrey.

[A]

What song?

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

There you go. Trying to stretch.

[E]

All right. March of the Pigs.

[B]

March of the pigs as Michael McDonald. Are you going to spread your cheeks apart?

[E]

I'm prepped.

[B]

All right, she's ready to go. Audrey. March of the pigs as Michael McDonald. Please go.

[E]

All right, step right up. March. Push. Crawl right up on your knees. Please breathe. Feed. No time to hesitate. I want a little bit. I want a piece of it. It. I think it's losing it. I want to watch it. Calm down. Don't like the look of it.

[B]

It's working.

[E]

Don't like the smell of it.

[B]

All right. All right. Audrey. Audrey, you have an advance. She ain't stopping, and I don't play her. That's pretty good. That wasn't bad. It was weird. Yeah, it was really weird. It was more strange than I thought it was going to be. All right. Nice job, Audrey. Hold on. We'll go to the judges at the end. Please wait and see if anybody defeats you. That's pretty solid right there.

[A]

We got a couple people wanting to do closer. You got to do the radio version.

[B]

Yeah. Don't do the curse. Yeah, yeah. You get what we're saying? But just skip over the F bomb. Yeah, I'd like to. Yeah. Bleep you like an animal is my. Michael McDonald would never say such filth in a song. Exactly. Yeah. You're doing it to the other song. All right, who's second?

[A]

This is Oliver.

[B]

Oliver, are you there? I'm here.

[E]

Jew and the WAP show.

[B]

What's going on? It's the Jew and the Whop this morning. No, Brady. So we're doing and whopping our way through. All right, here we go. The Jew and the Wop would like to hear you. What song are you gonna. Are you gonna do? We're gonna do a closer. All right. Closer. By Nine Inch Nails as sung by Michael McDonald. Oliver. Go.

[E]

Michael McDonald for his birthday.

[B]

That's right. Oh, good intro. I like that. Okay, go ahead.

[E]

You let me violate you oh, yeah. You let me desecrate you oh, yeah. You let me penetrate you oh, you let me complicate you. Help me. Broke apart my insides oh, help me. I've got no soul to tell me Only thing that works for me.

[B]

Here we go.

[E]

I wanna do you like an animal.

[B]

Keep going. Keep going. All right. I like this. All right. Oliver. Oliver. Oliver, you just bumped Audriana out of the gates. Audrey's out. Oliver's. That's solid. He made that song. Michael McDonald's.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

This is weirder than I thought it was going to be. Brett, I feel like I might be in some sort of strange dream.

[A]

I don't know.

[F]

It's.

[A]

But it's working. That Michael McDonald doing closer worked.

[B]

I want to hear that.

[A]

All right, we dropped three, so we can go blind on that.

[B]

Go blind on that one. Are you. It says, J.D. are you there?

[E]

Yes.

[B]

All right, Turn your radio down the background there. JD who are you going to? What song are you going to be singing as Michael McDonald for his birthday? J.D. oh, dumped him. Got ready. The phones are breaking.

[A]

Everything we got. Eric?

[B]

Eric, are you there? Yeah, I'm here. All right. Oh, geez. Eric's calling from the moon. All right, Eric, what song are you going to be doing? The terrible eye. Terrible lie. Oh. As Michael McDonald. Terrible lies. Gonna be a tough one. All right, start with the chorus. Oh, God. Oh, no. All right, well, you do whatever you do. Do whatever you do. I just wanted to get to that. I'm curious how it's gonna end up. All right, good luck to you and go get him.

[E]

Thank you. Why are you doing this to me? Am I not living up to what I'm supposed to be?

[B]

Pull your cheeks apart.

[E]

What? I am laying up what.

[B]

Pull your cheeks apart.

[E]

I'm trying. I'm fat.

[B]

You're fat. Then you've got more cheek to pull. All right, go ahead, Chunky Mike McDonald. Go on.

[E]

Why am I cheating with this animosity? I think you owe me a great big apology, Tim. Alive.

[B]

Bill Walton, when you do it. All right. Well, all right.

[A]

I still say Oliver's.

[F]

Oliver.

[B]

Oliver beat you. I. I'm sorry. It's your fat cheeks got in the way, and I'm not sure what just happened.

[A]

I do anymore.

[B]

Heck, yeah. One more. We've got to go blind. All right, we gotta go again. Oh, did it hang up on The. Oh, that's right. Michael, are you there? Yeah, I'm here. All right, Michael, go ahead and give us some. Michael McDonald, Nine Inch Nails yacht Rock Nails. All right, I'm gonna do Every Day is Exactly the Same. Okay, let's hear it.

[E]

All right.

[B]

Stupid, keep going. You're not done yet.

[E]

Now, I never make a sound. I just do what I. I really don't want them to come around.

[B]

All right, this was maybe a bad song choice, but it was all right. All right, Michael, nice try. Yeah, we got to go with Oliver right off the bat. Oliver. There's one more. Let's try another one. All right. Damn it, it's John. Hey, what's up, man? How are you, John? Is this President John? This is Frenchie. Oh, Frenchie. Oh, okay, Frenchie's on there. All right, Frenchie, ready to go? What's happening? Yeah, let's do a Head Like a hole. Head like a hole. I'd like to hear that Michael McDonald singing head like a Hole for Nine Inch Nails tickets. Go get them. All right, here we go.

[E]

Before the one you serve you're gonna get what you deserve Bow down before the one you serve you're gonna get what you deserve.

[B]

Oh, he's got the drums in there. Beatbox. All right.

[E]

God money, I'll do anything for you.

[D]

All right.

[B]

It's starting to turn into it. This is almost. This is like serial killer sound. John, that's creepy. That left Michael McDonald a long time ago and became like a Monty Python woman. All right, John's Oliver. Oliver's the champion. Sorry, Frenchie. Oliver. Without question, Oliver is our winner today. Let's get Oliver back on real quick. Oliver, we'd like an encore, if you don't mind. Could you sing us one more thing? Are you there? Hey, sorry about that. Yeah, my surface is kind of cutting out. That's right. Don't worry about our phone suck. All right, give us one other thing. Give us a little. Whatever else you want to do as Michael McDonald. First birthday.

[E]

Michael McDonald's damn good, Oliver.

[B]

Wow. Really good. Nice job, Oliver. I'm proud of you. You're going to Nine Inch Nails. That's a good job. We'll give you tickets. Hang on a second. Nicely done.

[A]

We got a substitute for the Michael McDonald Quartet right there.

[B]

Yeah, no, Brady's not here today, so the quartet is in, man.

[A]

Michael McDonald singing Closer is awesome.

[B]

It's spectacular. I didn't realize how good that was going to be as far as that particular song. And he made it. Michael McDonald. I'm proud of Oliver. Oliver is the champion today. Nicely done. Yeah, that was really. I'm having fever dreams. And I have a feeling, you know, everybody, even if you're in the car going, well, that's dumb. You're doing it.

[A]

Oh, 100%. I want to go do karaoke this weekend and do the all Michael McDonald.

[B]

Let's do it today.

[D]

Everything.

[B]

Today we just go over to the grapevine and just go. I'm singing everything as Michael McDonald.

[D]

Doing.

[B]

All renegades of Food. Oh, my God. The Renegades of Funk. As my.

[A]

And you gotta rap.

[B]

It's impossible. I love it.

[A]

Master.

[B]

Master of puppets. All beautiful. Excellent job, everyone. We're proud of you. And if you didn't get in on the Michael McDonald tribute today for his 74th birthday, we're sorry. But you can still win tickets to the Suite that feeds if you put in the word frail. The nine o' clock word is frail. F, R A I L. Frail. And we'll get you up in that thing. That was ridiculously dumb and I enjoyed every second of it. I had no problems with that. Oh, the offspring. Do it in your car, on your way, and even in your office. Just creep your co workers out. Little Michael McDonald offspring, Lincoln Park. Coming up after that, Michael McDonald. He's earned this. Without him, music would have stopped somewhere around 1987. Would have been like, we're done. It's the Offspring, everybody. It's got to get away. It's 98 KPD. Happy birthday, Mike. Hey, it's not weird. It's pretty cool, actually. No membership fee. I have heard enough of this.

[D]

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Not available in all states.