Fictional Bands Hall of Fame

Summary

House of R — Fictional Bands Hall of Fame

Podcast: House of R (The Ringer)
Hosts/Guests: Joanna Robinson (Host), Jessica McKenna (Guest), Rishikesh Hirway (Guest)
Date: June 5, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this lively episode of “House of R,” Joanna Robinson is joined by musical comedian Jessica McKenna and musician/podcaster Rishikesh Hirway to induct their picks into the Fictional Bands Hall of Fame. Timed to the release of the new “Vampire Lestat” series—centered around a vampire rock star—the trio celebrates their favorite fake bands from movies and TV, dissecting what makes great fictional music, sharing favorite songs, and reflecting on the pitfalls and triumphs of musical storytelling.

The episode features a playful draft of “awards” across categories (Best New Artist, Best Original Song, Best Animated Band, etc.), tons of quotable insights, and a nostalgic (and occasionally hilarious) walk down pop culture memory lane.

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Episode Highlights & Key Discussion Points

1. Setting the Stage: Bona Fides of the Guests

Timestamps: 00:15–02:45

• Jessica McKenna explains her background in musical comedy:

  “I exist exclusively in fake music…pretending that I know how to be musical while wrapping itself around to accidentally having to learn a lot about music.” (00:32)

• Rishikesh Hirway notes his career as a “singer-songwriter” (01:12) and as host of the “Song Exploder” podcast, with a new album “In the Last Hour of Light.”

• Both riff on the surreal, accidental way expertise develops in music and comedy.

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2. "The Vampire Lestat": Music that Has to Sell the Story

Timestamps: 04:51–18:46

• The group discusses the music being created for AMC’s “The Vampire Lestat” series.
  • Rishikesh: “It feels very real...very Iggy Pop, I think, like a more slinky Iggy Pop.” (06:58)
  • Jessica: “You don’t want it super overly processed. That’s when you get into the uncanny valley of, like, is this even a human?” (08:09)
  • Joanna: Details the high stakes of fake band music needing to be “believably catchy”, referencing how a weak song can sink a story (Queen of the Damned cited).
• The trio praise composer Daniel Hart, his broad influences and his skill in bridging diegetic and narrative songwriting.

  “He was a playwright...an incredible musician...this is a time when he gets to bring all these different parts of himself to bear in this one aspect. It’s really cool.” (15:43, Rishikesh)

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3. The Impossible Task of Writing "The Greatest Song Ever"

Timestamps: 12:12–14:31

• Discussion on pitfalls when fiction requires a character to write “the greatest song of all time” (Jessica references “Hadestown” and Orpheus).

• Analogous challenges in depictions of stand-up (“Studio 60,” “30 Rock”).

  “I find myself drawn more to stories about...finding ‘what we sound like’ ... That just gives you a lot more latitude.” (12:20, Jessica)

• Joanna observes:

  "With music...the stakes are so much higher. We know a great song when we hear it." (14:03)

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4. The Art of Faking It: Casting Musicians for Authenticity

Timestamps: 20:21–25:32

• Vampire Lestat cast includes musician-actors to ground performances.
• Discussion of how onscreen performances are scrutinized—when is someone authentically playing their instrument, and does it matter?

  “The sound changes completely...it happens all the time where they go to the playback version…suddenly you're supposed to be watching a band practicing in a garage and it sounds like a studio recording. That always takes me out.” (21:58, Rishikesh)

• Filming tricks for piano, drums, and other instruments.

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5. The Fictional Bands Hall of Fame Draft (Awards & Picks)

Timestamps: 25:32–90:00 approx

Format:

• Each category/award gets a winner from each panelist (no repeats from a single property except the final “lifetime” award).
• Categories include:
  • Best New Artist
  • Best Original Song
  • Best Cover Song
  • Best Fictional Band Name
  • Best Animated Band
  • Best Real Band Cameo
  • Most Impactful Musical Performance
  • Best Album
  • Best Fictional Band
  • Lifetime Achievement Award

[Best New Artist: “Not known for singing, but wow!” — 26:53]

• Jessica: Paula Pell in Girls5Eva
  • “Not expecting her to be able to sing...and yet they’re mixed into a girl group sound...she sells it.” (27:18)
• Rishikesh: Carey Mulligan in Ballad of Wallace Island (and Inside Llewyn Davis, Shame)
  • “She doesn’t have to be that good, but I totally buy it.” (31:07)
• Joanna: Ewan McGregor in Velvet Goldmine
  • “He’s just, like, oiled and covered in glitter and gets literally naked at one point on stage...a huge inspo for what we'll see in the Vampire Lestat.” (32:45)

[Best Original Song: “Catchiest Earworm” — 34:01]

• Rishikesh: "Golden" from K-Pop: Demon Hunter
  • “You cannot say that. It's gonna be stuck in my head for the rest of the day.” (34:23)
• Joanna: "That Thing You Do" from That Thing You Do
  • “It is the most important song...it is the entire premise of that movie...You're gonna be excited every single time you hear it.” (36:29)
• Jessica: "Eye to Eye" by Powerline (A Goofy Movie)
  • “The song Eye to Eye is my personal religion.” (43:08)

[Best Cover Song — 43:07]

• Joanna: "Ballroom Blitz" (Wayne’s World, by Crucial Taunt/Tia Carrere)
• Jessica: "Mustang Sally" (The Commitments)
• Rishikesh: "Francis Forever" by Mitski, performed by Marceline in Adventure Time

[Best Fictional Band Name — 48:41]

• Jessica: Soggy Bottom Boys (O Brother, Where Art Thou?)
• Rishikesh: Pink Slip (Freaky Friday)
• Joanna: Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem (The Muppets)
  • Runners-up: Frozen Embryos (My So-Called Life), Dingo’s Ate My Baby (Buffy)

[Best Animated Band — 58:09]

• Rishikesh: Wagstaff 6th Grade Music Class—Bob’s Burgers, “The Plight Before Christmas”
  • “It is so beautiful and so emotional. I challenge people to watch it and not cry.” (59:01)
• Joanna: The Beats (Doug)
  • “Killer Tofu, I need more allowance...I think that might be all you hear of those two songs or just the hook.” (60:00)
• Jessica: The Party Posse (The Simpsons — “Join the Navy” backwards song)
  • “Join the Navy is such a funny thing—specific government propaganda. It’s so pitch-perfectly insidious, but not that insidious.” (63:33)

[Best Real Band Cameo — 64:05]

• Joanna: Letters to Cleo in 10 Things I Hate About You
• Jessica: Mighty Mighty Bosstones in Clueless
• Rishikesh: Maustetytöt (Fallen Leaves, Finnish band cameo)
  • “Pitch perfect for the actual movie and how weird it is and everything. They fit right in.” (67:52)

[Most Impactful Musical Performance as Story Beat — 70:42]

• Jessica: The writing of “Falling Slowly” in Once
  • “It feels so authentic and it’s so important in the story.” (71:46)
• Rishikesh: “The Death of Queen Jane” in Inside Llewyn Davis
  • “That whole moment is so brutal and so real...that’s how dreams die.” (73:11)
• Joanna: “Remember Me” from Coco
  • “When it comes through at the very end, it's just, like, absolutely on the floor crying.” (74:26)

[Best Album — 76:47]

• Rishikesh: The Commitments — Complete Soundtrack
  • “I just listened to that album and thought they were a real band.” (77:10)
• Joanna: O Brother, Where Art Thou?
  • “I burnt a hole in that CD...for a long time I put Oh Brother in my top five movies.” (81:19)
• Jessica: Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping soundtrack (Lonely Island)

[Best Fictional Band — 83:34]

• Joanna: Stillwater (Almost Famous)
  • “I believe in Stillwater. I believe in Jeff Beebe. I believe in Russell Hammond.” (83:48)
• Jessica: Mitch & Mickey (A Mighty Wind)
  • “Their music is beautiful, their ability to write in multiple genres, their ability to have it play comedically but also sincere—they’re huge for me.” (90:00)
• Rishikesh: School of Rock (School of Rock)
  • “I just love them and I don’t know that I've ever felt...so seen.” (88:33)

[Lifetime Achievement Award — 90:00]

• Jessica: Christopher Guest & Michael McKean
  • “Their ability to write in multiple genres, and have it play comedically and sincere.” (90:00)
• Joanna: Adam Schlesinger (That Thing You Do, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Fountains of Wayne, Josie & the Pussycats)
• Rishikesh: Tags on with praise for Schlesinger, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and collaborative writing in musical TV/film.
  • “Those songs were legitimately great, and they play with genre really well.” (92:57)

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• “The song Eye to Eye is my personal religion. And if I Freaky Friday’d with a 10-year-old boy, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.” — Jessica (43:08)
• “With music...the stakes are so much higher. We know a great song when we hear it.” — Joanna (14:03)
• Regarding “The Commitments”:
  “I just listened to that album and thought they were a real band.” — Rishikesh (77:10)
• On “Falling Slowly” in Once:
  “It feels so authentic and it’s so important in the story.” — Jessica (71:46)
• “I want them to win, I want them to succeed the most. And it’s School of Rock.” — Rishikesh (88:21)
• “Santa came on a dragon” — As an impromptu pitch for a new holiday classic song and running comedic motif. (79:04, 95:15, 102:48)

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Notable Runner-Ups, Deep Cuts, and Listener Shoutouts

• Josie & the Pussycats, Sex Bob-omb (Scott Pilgrim), Wild Stallions (Bill & Ted), Mouse Rat (Parks & Rec), Derry Girls, Over the Garden Wall, Drive Shaft (Lost), The Blues Brothers, Marie de Salle (High Fidelity)
• Dream Girls, Hedwig and the Angry Inch — Blurry line between musicals and fictional band stories

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Thematic Takeaways

• Diegetic vs. Narrative: Many of the best fictional bands/songs are those where the music arises naturally from the story, and the bar for “greatness” is lower/safer when bands are finding their sound rather than immediately “legends.”
• Performance Authenticity: Real musicians in casts often help, but having the “human” element—even if it’s talk-singing or slightly unpolished—can make a fictional band more believable.
• Comedy x Music: Fictional band stories overlap with the challenges of fictional comedians; it’s hard to fake “good” when the audience just knows.

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Final Thoughts & Closing

• The group reminisces about formative movie soundtracks, swapping trivia and reflecting on the emotional and narrative power of a well-placed fictional song or band.
• Multiple requests for a new holiday song (“Santa Came on a Dragon”), joking about collaborating and racing to release it for the UK charts.
• Shoutouts to the production team, and a sign-off promising a deeper “Vampire Lestat” deep dive and upcoming House of the Dragon coverage.

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For Full Enjoyment:
This episode is a treat for any pop culture or music superfan, filled with laughter, deep references, and tons of recommendations—a fun way to revisit why we love (and occasionally cringe at) fictional bands.

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Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

Hello and welcome to House of R. I'm Joanna Robinson, and joining me today, two very special guests. Jessica McKenna is here.

[A]

Hello.

[B]

Rishikesh Hirway is here.

[C]

Hello.

[B]

And we are so thrilled to be talking about fictional musical bands. I'm so excited. Jessica. Before we get started, I want to ask both of you, what do you feel like your bona fides are for being here as part of this episode?

[A]

That's great. I think that I exist exclusively in fake music. I would say I'm like a musical comedian and most of my music is, I would say, pretending that I know how to be musical while wrapping itself around to accidentally having to learn a lot about music over the past decade or so. I write music and I improvise music, but really born out of a desire to pretend that I know how to create music. And then that pretending became true.

[B]

Like, you're living the dream.

[A]

Yeah. You know, it's a real fake. It maybe. Maybe make it kind of way you've made it. Hey, thank you so much. Thank you.

[B]

And your bonafides.

[C]

I'm a singer songwriter.

[B]

You are.

[C]

I put out a bunch of albums over the years and then had a long period when I wasn't putting out anything and making any music. But I started a music podcast called Song Exploder where I interviewed. Where I interview other musicians about how they make songs.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And then I started making music again, and now I'm doing both.

[B]

Can you talk about your, what, your current project, your current album that you're touring?

[C]

I just put out a record called in the Last Hour of Light. That's the first album in 15 years. And yeah, I've been touring, doing album release shows, but it's kind of like half band concert shows where I'm playing with my full band. But it's also kind of half a book tour because the album is kind of a memoir and I wanted to treat it like a memoir. So I've also been doing like a book talk style conversation or like song exploder style conversation about the making of the album before we play.

[B]

Excellent. Jess, what are you currently working on that you want to tell folks about?

[A]

Currently in rewrites in year six of an original musical, My comedy partner Zacharino and I, along with Dave, wrote a musical that was originally conceived as a feature. And then we decided to pivot it to stage. And we did more than a workshop, less than a show.

[B]

It was a show.

[A]

It was a show. Yeah. Here in Los Angeles in February at the Chaplin Studios. And now we're doing some rewrites, re breaking some songs to. Yeah, I guess send it to Broadway. I'm saying it here. So now it'll happen.

[B]

You guys have somewhat in common between the two of you. Josh Molina, right?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I tried to get Josh to let me get in to see that show and I could not get a ticket.

[A]

I'm so sorry.

[C]

It was a hot ticket.

[A]

It was. I. You should have come to me.

[B]

Now you have the closer hookup. Sounds good. All right, so we're going to do fictional bands and the Vampire Lestat right after this.

[A]

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[B]

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[A]

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[B]

All right, so quickly. Just this is a spirit, spiritually, a friend of the Pod month sort of continuation. You guys are two of my favorite people, favorite creators, and I feel very grateful that you both know that this podcast exists and so that if I say come on this podcast, you're excited to come. So thank you so much for being here.

[A]

Deeply a bad baby.

[C]

Huge honor.

[B]

Yeah, what a thrill for me. The Vampire Lestat, the TV show is almost here. On Monday, Mallory and I will be breaking down the first episode. They did their live concert in New York City this last week and it is sort of ostensibly the reason we are gathered here today. But we're not going to go in depth about the vampire set. This isn't like a primer for that show. It's just sort of like a tangentially. This is actually Jess's idea, a tangential sort of let's talk about fictional bands in general before this show that's about a fictional band. And then House of the Dragon is going to be here soon, so there's a lot coming up. Spoiler warning for music, question mark. I don't know. Some of these musical moments have plots associated with them, so. But we're not talking about anything that feels sort of new. New. Fresh. Fresh. We're going back through the history of film and television, so I don't think there should be anything anyone should be worried about.

[A]

Spoilers? I don't think so. Spoilers. Sometimes music is in movies.

[B]

Sometimes. Sometimes people sing. Yes. Lip sync.

[A]

Yeah. And a lot of these, though, they're not musicals, which is like. So if you're like, I'm an opposite of a spoiler, but I just don't want to listen to this because I don't like musicals.

[B]

This isn't about musicals.

[A]

These are actually not about musicals. Yeah, so we got you there.

[B]

There's like, one. Got you one musical or, you know, a couple that I would call musical.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

But I was trying to keep the musicals out of the mix because. Trying to keep this as like, sort of fictional bands and rock stars sort of thing. On the Lestat front, if you're not up to date on what's going on with Lestat, we just wanted to talk about it, like, really briefly here at the top. Interview With a Vampire Season one and season two came out. And then this is season three of Interview with Vampire, but they're calling it the Vampire Lestat because that's the book it's partially based on. Sam Reed, who plays the vampire Lestat in this era of his lifestyle, of his life, long life. Lestat is a rock star, canonically a rock star. So this third season of the TV show has to be built around an actor they've already cast as Lestat, becoming a rock star and having a band centering around him. Have either of you checked out any of the music that they've already released for the show? What have you heard? What do you think?

[C]

Yeah, I've listened to all of the music. I mean, it feels very real. It feels fully baked in. And I like it for the era, too. It's kind of like. It's very Iggy Pop, I think, like a more slinky Iggy Pop. I mean, Iggy Pop's quite slinky to begin with.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

A slinky or Iggy. Wow. Yeah. I think it's like. It's such a perfect placement, too, I think, because that feels like a heightened moment in rock music history. Very performative, very about, like, Persona as rock star. So it's really rich.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

I'm so excited for this. As. As. As I said, they did a live show in New York, so Samree's like, no, really, I can do this. I am singing into a microphone. I can do this. Um, he has expressed a lot of anxiety because he is not like a trained singer, but I think he sounds great and not, like, heavily. His voice doesn't sound heavily manipulated. He's doing a lot of, you know, plenty of, like, talk singing on these songs. My. Speaking of musicals, my dad always calls that style Rex Harrisoning, like, through something where he just sort of, like, talk singing to get through, but he's also belting out on some of it, and it actually sounds to my ear really great. What do you guys think of his musicality here?

[A]

Yeah, definitely. And also, that just adds to, like, the authenticity. I think it's. You don't want, like, it's super overly processed. That's when you start to get in an uncanny valley of, like, is this even a human? A human?

[B]

Well, a van.

[A]

She's not a human. But I think immortal chords probably would have a little more, you know, grit to them.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Immortal chords. I love that.

[C]

I think also, like, there's a confidence in the talk singing.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

You know, it's like, I don't need. It's the opposite in some ways of musical singing. You know, it's just like, I can do whatever I want. And I feel like it goes well with the character and the era. It makes sense to me.

[B]

Yeah. The inspos for the Rockstar Lestat are many. Here we go. David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Bjork, Freddie Mercury, Mark Sandman, Franz Liszt, Otis Redding, Moses Sumney, Douglas Dare, Red Cross, Lang Lang, iggy pop. Single St Vincent Prince, Florence Welch, Jim Morrison, T. Rex. T. Rex got me really excited. Gustav Mahler, Brendan Flowers, Fiona Apple, Serge Gainsborg, Electric Light Orchestra. The sweet Nick Cave Rally. Richie, who is Jacob Anderson, who plays Louis Benjamin, Clementine Chapel, Rowan, Gustavo Dudamel, David Lee Roth, Ryan Kattner, John Cale, Jeff Magnum, Paul Westerberg, and Daniel Hart, the composer. Any of those stick out as particularly intriguing to you?

[A]

I mean, Gustavo, let's go. Sorry to get real LA specific. Well, he's moving. Or he has moved.

[C]

I think he's moved.

[A]

Well, he's the conductor for the La Phil and from. I mean, I've seen him conduct the La Phil a couple of times, but also my heart goes to the mural on the side of the 1:10, including the famous violin lady. Google it.

[B]

Who is that violin lady, this has been a big question I've had as a recent LA transplant.

[A]

Really important that you understand my friend, she's so iconic. I don't know her name, but her visage is so iconic. My friend was her for Halloween, came to a crowded Halloween party, and we were all like, so Gustavo, a very animated conductor. So that's, like, interesting. I don't. I mean, yeah, that's a very fun one.

[B]

Any things to get to you? Well, Gustavo.

[C]

Yeah, Gustavo really jumped out when I listened two things. Mark Sandman was very excited to hear that name in there. I love Morphine. Morphine is one of my favorite bands. I'm from Massachusetts. They were very big. They were an important band. And then also Daniel Hart, of course, is a composer for the show. He wrote these songs, and he's a great friend of mine. He's a wonderful, wonderful guy. Incredibly talented. He plays on my album. And, yeah, I love him.

[B]

He's incredible. So I was a huge fan of his before his work on Interview with the Vampire. He did great work on all the David Lowery films. I'm a huge Pete's Dragon head, among other things. But his work in the Green Knight, his work on that one is so amazing. So I was a fan of him as a composer. And then the composition, the score that he has done for the first two seasons of Interview with the Vampire. Incredible. That intro that starts the. It's almost like an orchestra warming up sort of sound that starts the episodes. Incredible stuff. And then, yeah, then he's written these amazing songs. When the first song came out, I was worried, like, I wasn't sure how this is gonna go. I saw the Queen of the Damned the last time we tried to get a rock star, Lestat, in a film. And we're. This is a very celebratory podcast. We're here to celebrate things that we love and not, you know, crush things that we don't love. But that was, by all reports, not a successful film. You know, And I rewatched it recently, and I was like, yeah, this just. So there's, you know, if the music doesn't work in this season, if it is not believably catchy, then the whole season doesn't work because it's built around a rock tour. Yeah, Jesse, definitely.

[A]

I just feel like, also, it's one of the traps of, like, having music represented in media is if you hang too much on how good the band is supposed to be.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Or how good a single song is supposed to be. Like, I found myself, like, drawn More to stories about, like, finding what we sound like stories. Because I think that just gives you a lot more latitude to. Not every song has to be, like, the best song ever. I know we're not talking about musicals here, but it's like. It's such a sad issue I have with Hadestown, a musical that I mostly really like, but I'm like, a whole plot point is. And then Orpheus came up with the greatest song ever heard ever of all time. And it's. Oh, it's like. Like, no, no, we don't buy it. And so I think it's like, yeah, it's a tough trap if you. If you know he is successful or like, this a monster hit. That's a way harder bar to clear versus. Does this song just have to sound like an era? Feel connected to the character? You know, like, there's. I don't want to, like, get too far ahead, but there's lots of ways that we, like, use artists in fictional bands where we're. Maybe they're on a downside, maybe they're on a comeback. They're finding their sound, which I think is, like, narratively a strong choice to make sure that you're not putting too much pressure to invent the greatest song you've ever heard.

[B]

Right.

[C]

Yeah. I find this thing not just in music also, I think with comedy.

[A]

Yes. Yes. Fictional comedians is, like, really tough.

[B]

Studio 60s.

[A]

Really tough. Really tough. Yeah.

[C]

I mean, I think hacks runs into this, too, sometimes when, you know, like, just anything where. Or funny people. You know, anytime you have to depict someone being funny and they're killing, you have this pressure of, like, is it also killing with the people who are watching this?

[A]

Right. Hax is much. Is so much more successful when they're in the riff of, like, maybe it's this, maybe it's that. And you're like, oh, great. I understand their comedic brains, but I don't necessarily have to, like, six months later think this singular joke is amazing.

[B]

Right, Right.

[C]

And that's why 30 Rock, I think, was so brilliant, because the whole premise was, you know, the girly show was, like, bad, you know, so they could have all the silly farting robot jokes. And they were always a struggling show. And so you had all this freedom to do whatever you want, and you didn't have to live up to this pressure.

[A]

Right. Or you're only dealing with, like, tops and tails of a sketch. You're never watching a whole sketch. Which is another thing about, like, fake music is like, can you end the recording session and You. You kind of get a glimmer of what the song could be.

[B]

Right, Right. But you don't have to hear the whole. All the hook and everything like that. Yeah. It's interesting. We were just talking about this on the. On the Prestige TV podcast, because in an episode of Euphoria this season, Sydney Sweeney delivers a Shakespearean monologue. And I was like. I was like, is this supposed to be good or is it supposed to be bad? I was trying to, like, you're watching the people watching her, and, like, how are they covering them? But there' thing that I often see filmmakers and people who make TV do when they're trying to capture good acting, which is the camera does, like, a circle around them, and they're just like, this is really it. They're really doing it. It's this, like, camera language to try to communicate to you this is great acting. And then they capture some, like, rapt faces or you get the standing ovation. But with music and comedy, it's so much harder, I think, because. Especially with music, because, like, we know a great song when we hear it, and we know E in a musical space or something like that. When something gets stuck in your head, when it has a. An actual hook that you can sing, that you want to, like, listen to the soundtrack immediately when you get into your car, when you're home, there's no denying it. So I just think the stakes are so much higher on. On music, in a way. Yeah.

[C]

Can I say one more thing about Daniel? So I wasn't worried when I went to go hit play on the. On the songs, because if you haven't heard Dark Rooms, which is Daniel's own project, it's amazing, and he really should be a rock star. And also, he's just uniquely qualified, I think, for this exact role because he was a playwright, he has a playwriting background, and he's an incredible musician. He was also in St. Vincent. He was in Polyphonic Spree. He has this crazy resume, and I feel like this is a time when he gets to bring all these different parts of himself to bear in this one aspect. It's really cool.

[B]

I definitely didn't mean that as an insult to him at all. I was just sort of like, I love this show so much, and I just wanted this to be. And then as soon as I heard Longface, which is the first track that they released, I was like, oh, oh, we're cooking. Like, this is it. We got it.

[A]

That's another thing, though, is, like, it's there. If you. If you can use, like, pastiche or such a specific genre that's not current. That's the other thing that I think is the hardest is trying to write, like, current music especially. I think it's really hard to see the forest of the trees. I don't really know what the sound of right now is. That might just be because I'm old, but, like, I'm like, I wouldn't know how to, like, write a song for right now versus if you asked me to write a song for, like, 2005, I'd be, like, great. Or stand behind, like, a rock glam sound. You're just, like. You're working in a more refined palette that's going to allow you to, I think, have, like, a higher success rate.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

In. In the. So the songs that they've released. They've released five so far as the. As of the taping of this podcast, Butterscotch Bitch. Great title. Love that song. Longface, which is the first one they released, which starts with La Marseillaise, which is like a nice, like, Beatles reference. That's. That's how all you need is love starts. But also like a nice, like, Lestat. He's French, you know, and has that great, like, ooh, ooh, ooh, ah, ah. Like, hook to it. So good. All Fall down, which they used on the trailer. So I've heard it a lot because I've watched that trailer a lot, which is incredible. The Dancing With Myself cover, which they released on another trailer. And then your biggest fan, which is like more of a ball. It's more of, like, a slowdown ballad with a scorching guitar section on it. I'm just like, there's a nice amount of diversity here. And to your point about this idea of someone finding their sound, that's something that they've talked about a lot in the press lead up to this season of just sort of like, Lestat is working through a lot. A lot of centuries of psychological damage,

[A]

emotional, and, like, centuries of musical reference he's making. He could be like, I can't get this song from, like, 1682.

[B]

You know what I mean?

[A]

Talk about just standing on the shoulders of giants. He was, like, there to hear a lot of it.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. So to your part about Daniel Hart, it's like, as a playwright, having to write in the voice of the character of Lestat. Working through. You know, this isn't just like a fun pop song with a hook or a cool rock song with a hook. It's like he's processing his feelings about Louis or all of these other figures in his life via the music. And that's an even higher bar that they have to clear, which I think they are so far. Yeah.

[C]

And you have to do that in a more abstract way with film scoring all the time. You know, think about what's the emotional through line in this scene from the perspective of this character, whatever. But to be able to do it in a pop song context, there aren't a lot of people who can translate that from the film scoring world, but he's definitely one.

[B]

Yeah. Anything else you want to say about. Again, we're not here to be negative, but anything else you want to say about when it doesn't work?

[A]

I mean, I think, like, pop music for me is, like, one of the hardest ones. If it's just, like, this person's writing a music in a time that you're supposed to hear it reflect the sound that you're currently in. I just think, like, distance is really helpful and I think, like, limitations are helpful. I'm currently doing a Girls rewatch, but realized that I never went beyond season two because I read Fame Sick and I was like, I think I have to reassess my relationship to girls. And so I've, like, finally got to the season where Marnie's in a singer songwriter duo.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

And trying to, like, place them in more like, the stomp clap, like, Lumineers era. I'm like, yeah, I guess this, but I'm. It's that it is an uncanny valley of, like, how good is this supposed to be? Probably not that good, but occasionally a little good. Like, good enough that, like, they got a meeting at, like, a record label or whatever. But, yeah, I think distance is super helpful, but. Or shorter versions of songs. But yeah. And all I can think of is that Orpheus song at the moment. Sorry. Hadestown. Really catching some strays.

[B]

EPIC3. Really? I have a lot of EPIC3 thoughts that I would love to share with you sometime. But on the sort of, like, fictional band front, I just wanted to note who they've cast to surround Sam Reid here. So they've gotten a bunch of musicians, actor musicians. So Noah Reid, no relation, as far as I know, who played Patrick on Schitt's Creek and did the. That iconic. Simply the best cover and was incredible. And the fake cabaret that they did, stuff like that. So, like, is a musician is playing Larry in the band. Man.

[A]

Man.

[B]

Lead singer and lyricist. Honus Honus. Ryan Katner.

[A]

That's. Oh, that's crazy. Oh, my friend plays In Man. Man. Sometimes.

[B]

Okay, so Ryan Katner, who's the music super supervisor for the show, is playing the character Salamander in the band.

[A]

That's cool.

[B]

He's in the band. Sarah Swire, who performs as Sister Swire, is a musician. She's playing TC Tough Cookie, who's the drummer. And then Seamus is Alex, who's also a musician. So they cast a bunch of, like, they actually know how to play their instruments. Musicians to surround Sam Reed, who has to play the guitar a bit, but mostly just has to be, like, shirtless in leather and sweaty and, like, hit his notes. And so in terms of, like, watching as. As two musicians yourself, in terms of watching people, I think about, like, I love listening to behind the scenes of movies and TV shows. And they're like, they sent us to band camp and we learned to play our instruments. Like, can you tell when people are not really doing it? And does it bother? I don't think. I think I know so little about finger placement and stuff like that that it doesn't bother me. Cause I can't see it. But does it bother you when someone clearly doesn't know? What do you think?

[C]

The thing that really bothers me, actually, it probably goes along with this, but it's when the sound changes completely from. And I feel like this happens all the time, where they go to the playback version of the thing. And suddenly you're supposed to be watching a band practicing in a garage. And it sounds like a studio recording. That always takes me out because I'm like, what space am I supposed to be in? How does this vocal have reverb on it? Right, yeah, that always gets me. But yeah, for sure. The drums are really the big one. If you're listening to the drums and the drummer's hitting the snare somewhere else, I'm like, what are you doing? What are we doing?

[A]

Yeah, it's so physically obvious. I was gonna say piano more for me of like, where are you placing? And it's just like, just put the camera further away from the piano and just do an insert on someone else's fingers if you need it. Unless it's like a biopic. Unless it's like Rocketman. Just shoot the other angle and let the actor know, hey, you're vaguely up here. You're vaguely down here. You're playing something percussive. You're doing this with your left hand. They don't have to know how to play. I mean, it's cool. I think it's always cool when an actor's like, I trained for six years to learn how to play the banjo. It's neat, but I think, yeah, it's, like, easy to work around. You don't need to do that.

[B]

When you watch Timothee Chalamet on the set of Dune 2 being like, I'm good at paint. Bob Dylan, he sung and guitar.

[A]

I know, I know. Gosh. I mean, as an actor, though, Hollywood doesn't agree with that label enough for my taste. Meaning I don't have that many credits. That was a confusing way of saying that I always have a dream that I'll get cast in something that requires me to learn, like, an insane skill or get really jacked. Which would be really nice if someone, like, paid you to be, like, to

[B]

be, like, super jacked.

[A]

Yeah. Get really jacked.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

I'm gonna manifest this for you.

[A]

Thank you so much. I just can't do that on my own.

[E]

Okay.

[B]

You need a whole team.

[C]

Without a role, why would anybody.

[A]

Why would anyone do that ever?

[C]

Why? Exercise.

[A]

I don't want to eat that much cod.

[B]

Yeah. I just saw the movie Tuner earlier this week where the actor Leah Woodall. There's two actors in that movie who are meant to be incredible piano players, and his character doesn't play until the very end of the movie. And what I really love about that is he has these, like, very distinctive, like, small but very distinctive tattoos on his hands. And. And then I was like, why are those there? Because the actors didn't have them. And at the very end, when they, like, show the cut in insert of him playing, I'm like, oh, they put it on. Whoever has to play the piano. They put, like, the little tattoos on his hands so you can be like, oh, that's definitely. I'm. Oh. Like, the piano is a real one. Because, like, they're always like. I'm like, are those your hands actually playing? I don't think so. But I also love those shots on the other side of the piano when they're just, like, really feeling it and, like, moving their arms around.

[A]

You're, like, totally.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And I think you can kind of mark that, like, choreography. Like, if you needed to mark that, you were, like, an incredible tap dancer, but they were framing, like, above your feet. You could probably, like, fake what the top physicality looks like. I mean, with some effort, it wouldn't be easy, but you wouldn't have to, like, do a perfect, like, double time step. You'd just be like, okay, it's like a hop and a step, you know, like, same thing. Like, okay. You're down in the. You're down in the base. Okay, now you're. Now one hand is up here. You could learn it like a dance, I think.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. They should mark it on the keyboard for them. I'm sure they do.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Blue, blue, blue.

[C]

Yeah, that's my expectation. My expectation is they're going to do a pretty good job of faking it.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And. And that's. That's enough for me. So when someone actually is playing and you can tell they're really playing and it's happening, I'm very, very impressed. Like, that's not my expectation that they should be able to do it, but if they can. But if they can.

[B]

Wow. Wow. All right, Fictional band, Hall of Fame. Less of a competition, more of a celebration. Here are the rules. We, and by we, I mean me, came up with 10 random awards that we are giving out. The rules are they can come from any film and television, you know, property that you choose. Each of us is going to pick one winner per category. If someone picked your. Your preferred winner, you have to pick something else. We're just trying to get a lot of variety here. So that's one rule. And then the other is you can only pick one winner from each property. I would say with the exception. And I didn't say this to you beforehand, but I would say with the exception of the hall of Fame category, which I have at the end, which is like, sort of like a more broad sort of thing, so we don't have to get so picky about that. But again, in the interest of variety, so we don't just say, hey, I've seen almost famous 9,000 times, and I have a tattoo about it, which I do like. Let's just spread it around. Spread the love around. Any questions about the rules or what we're doing?

[C]

Not a question, just. It was. Those were tough rules to work with.

[A]

Limits are helpful. That's what I think.

[B]

All right, the first award is Best New Artist, and this is Best Actor, who is not famously known for singing, but sings very well nonetheless. And sure, maybe they were helped a smidge by autotune, but mostly. Wow.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You're up first, Jess.

[A]

Okay. I'm starting with, like, I think a hipster ish choice, as one might say a deeper cut. I'm gonna go with Paula pell in Girls5Eva. I really loved Girls5Eva. Great music. And Paula Pelt absolutely holds it down. And she's up with some real singers, right?

[B]

Like Renee Elise Goldsberry's in that.

[A]

Yes. And Sara Bareilles. So it's just like.

[C]

It's like two Broadway singers.

[A]

Yeah. And you are. And Busy Phillips, also great in it. But I think Paula Pelle is like, the further away from expectation. Funniest. One of the funniest writers on SNL of all time. Like, brilliant comedian, but not expecting her to be able to sing. And yet they're mixed into a girl group sound. But, I mean, I feel like she sells it.

[B]

I love that.

[A]

And I feel like when you can pick her out, you can hear, like. Yeah. There's a beautiful, warm tone to her voice. Just a huge fan. Yeah.

[B]

For people who haven't seen that show. Cause I think it was like, a really underwatched show. People were constantly trying to champion that show, but it never really, like, hit wide. Can you talk a little bit more about what that show was?

[A]

Girls 5 Eva is in the Robert Carlock, Tina Fey DNA of 30 Rock and great news. And now the Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, which I really also recommend. And it's about a girl group that now. They had, like, some hits, you know, 15 years ago, and one of the members dies and they decide to get, like, back together and now are, like, trying to navigate being, like, in their 40s. And they. It's really funny and there's some great music in it. There's a song about a New York lonely boy that I think about a lot, where it's like, a decision to have an only child and all these examples of how it's okay if you're in New York because there's tons of New York lonely boys, including John Slattery makes a cameo, I think, with maybe his real son of like, I've raised a New York lonely boy. So that's like, one specific song. But, yeah, it's a great, great joke, heavy show with some really successful music. And it does the thing I was talking about, which is like, they're trying to find their sound. Their music in the past is supposed to be kind of bad or at least like pop derivative stuff. So there's never really. There's not really a high bar ever for the music. It's allowed to be, like, comedic first, which is something that I, you know, recognize and identify with. But it's still, like, hooky and fun and you buy it as pop music. So it's like it's carved out a really sweet spot for itself of what you're expecting the songs to sound like.

[B]

Oh, I love that. We did get a lot of listener emails saying like, you have to, you know, give girls 5eva shout outs out the gate. Did it.

[A]

They were all from me.

[B]

Yeah. All your burners.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I feel like the Tina Fey world always has good music, I think, because of maybe her husband.

[A]

Her husband, a huge. Yeah. Jeff Richmond, a huge influence in the sound and, like. And then composer of the Mean Girls musical. But, yeah, I think there's. There's a. So, like, the comedy lineage of Second City, the Chicago theater, the Chicago improv and sketch theater. It's starting more in, like, the 50s. It was. Every show has an accompanist on stage, which is different than if you see, like, an Upright Citizens brigade show or a show at Improv Olympic or IO or where that got peeled away. But back when it was like, this is. And I think they still do, but, like, that aesthetic of, you're coming here, you're having a drink, you're gonna watch a show. A pianist was on stage as a key member of the comedy. And so I think that there's a crossover. There's a lot of Chicago comedy that I think overlaps with having a musical sensibility, because literally, your sketch would be underscored.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

All right, what's your winner here?

[C]

I'm going with Carey Mulligan.

[B]

Oh, that was my answer. I love it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

But in which movie? Because for me, it's Ballad of Wallace Island.

[B]

I mean, it's kind of like she's kind of like an mvp.

[A]

Oh, good one.

[B]

Yeah. Cause she's so good in the. Give your. I don't want to step on your answer. Give me your answer.

[C]

Well, you know, she's also in Inside Llewyn Davis. But I really wanted to talk about Ballad of Wallace Island.

[A]

Yeah. Yes.

[C]

Maybe this is a hipster.

[A]

No, I love this movie, man.

[C]

That movie needs to be seen by more people. I loved it so much. Maybe my favorite movie of last year.

[B]

It's so beautiful.

[C]

Yeah, it's about this band. Carey Mulligan and Tom Basdin were the members, and then they broke up, and then this eccentric rich guy invites them to reunite, and then they play some of their old songs, and she really sings, and. And she's got such a nice voice. And. Yeah, there's no need. You know, she doesn't have to be that good, but I totally buy it. And I loved the music as well as the movie.

[B]

Great pick. I love her in Inside Llewyn Davis. She also sings in Far from the Madding Crowd and Shame.

[A]

Whoa.

[B]

And her performance in Shame. She sings New York, New York and is, like, crying while she's singing it. And it's, like, one of the best things I've ever seen. But I just, like, I love anytime she sings in a movie. That's a great ch. Hoisted by my own rules. I was like, no one's gonna pick Carey Mulligan. I will. I will zag, and I will say yes. He was in Moulin Rouge. Ewan McGregor. I'm picking Ewan McGregor, not for Moulin Rouge or anything like that, but for Velvet Goldmine, where he doesn't have to sing a ton. And I actually, like. I have heard Ewan McGregor sing without auto tune, and I actually don't think he's, like, tremendously on pitch all the time. But in that. That movie, which I think has a lot of DNA in common with the vampire Lestat, he is just, like, oiled and covered in glitter and gets literally naked at one point on stage and leather pants. And I just think it's like, a huge inspo for what we're gonna see in the vampire Lestat. So this is like, you know, pre Moulin Rouge, pre Obi Wan Kenobi. Like, Ewan McGregor. Just like when he got naked in

[A]

everything

[B]

movies so often.

[A]

That guy was naked.

[B]

Yeah. And when I saw Velvet Gold Mine, I was, like, so young, and my jaw was just on the floor. I was like, I didn't know you could do this.

[A]

I think I saw it after I'd already seen. I mean, the first time he sings in Moulin Rouge, I think is maybe the most significant moment of my life,

[B]

when he's like, my gift is my song. Yeah.

[A]

It's one of, like, the only few movies I saw multiple days in a row. I was like, I have to go back for more.

[C]

I have. I'm going through puberty right now.

[A]

Right now. I can tell you. Exactly. It was, like, hugely important. Important. Yeah, yeah. But. But then I went back after and watched Velvet Gold Mine when I was like, I gotta go see all these.

[B]

And if you. I mean, if you've naked movies, if you've never. Oh, the. The naked oeuvre is plentiful. Like, you know, the Danny Boyle movies. But. But, yeah, Velvet Gold Mine, which is about various glam rock stars of the era. It's got Jonathan Reese Myers, and it's got Christian Tony Collette. It's just an incredible sort of exploration. And there's some great songs in there, some incredible visuals of that, like, glamrock ethos. So huge fan of that. All right, Best original song, which is Catchiest Earworm Originally written for the show or film ratio. Europe first.

[C]

So the thing is, you said best original song, but then you said catchiest earworm. And I'm sticking to what's on the page.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

And I feel whatever the opposite of hipster choice, but I'm putting golden from K Pop Demon.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Nice.

[B]

Great pick.

[C]

My nephew the other day, he's 8, and I was on a FaceTime call with my sister and her kids, and someone just referenced that song, and he said, you cannot say that. It's gonna be stuck in my head for the rest of the day. You can't even bring it up.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And that's how I can't mention the color. Really. Anything in the yellow family.

[B]

It's over. It's over for us. Yeah. The way that film took hold and the way that, like, children. I mean, not since Frozen, I feel like children everywhere were just singing all of these songs constantly. And that's part of how it spread everywhere. It's just. It's response, you know, the music in that is responsible for how much of a massive phenomenon that particular movie.

[A]

Totally.

[C]

Yeah. And there was just the one second when my sister was like, hey, you should check this. This movie out on Netflix. It's actually good. And you know, the briefest moment where I was like, oh, have I discovered this? I mean, I didn't discover it, My sister told me, but, you know, like,

[B]

oh, I'm ahead of the curve.

[A]

Yeah. You got in slightly before massive hype. Yeah.

[C]

And I don't think I even actually did. I just hadn't hit me yet.

[B]

And I think also K pop as, like, this huge phenomenon in general, but, like, not, you know, necessarily. I feel like a lot of Americans, like, this was their first exposure to anything like K pop, and they were like, oh, now I understand what's happening here.

[C]

But I was impressed by how they wove the plot into the actual songs.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

You know, they're singing. What they're singing about in that song is actually, like, what they're fighting against. It was cool.

[B]

Yeah, it's great. Shout out, Hunt Tricks. Shout out to Sasha, boys. I'm gonna pick just as I can here that Thing youg Do from that Thing youg Do. Because that is the most important song in any of the things we're talking about. Because it is the entire premise of that movie is y the best song ever. And it's going to launch us. Nobody's into instant fame. And we're gonna play it 200 times in this movie. Yeah. And you're Gonna be excited every single time you hear it.

[A]

Some would say, I think that actually I've heard it's referred to as the Anti Orpheus song by you. No, no, that's actually a common term in the biz. They're like, can you believe they pulled off an Anti Orpheus even though it predates Hades? The story which is the inspiration from Lin Rouge. But yeah, no, it's so good. When I first got a drum kit, that was all I wanted to learn was the doom ta ta ta. Like, it's so amazing and, like, what a thing to achieve. That song rules.

[C]

I gave someone drum lessons where that's what they wanted.

[A]

Really? Yeah.

[B]

Oh, they're like, I just want to be Shades man.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That thing you do. And we might talk about this a bit more a little later on, but, like, that thing you do. Every time I get mad that it didn't win the Oscar for best Original Song, I have to go and remind myself what did win. And it's my heart will go on for Titanic. And you're like, okay, that's wild. Yes. I understand what happened there.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. That's maybe the only thing that could ever beat it.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

That's crazy.

[B]

I know.

[A]

Wow. We didn't know how good we had it. I know.

[B]

The 90s, 1997 Oscars. We had it so good.

[A]

Oh, she hit her chest so hard.

[B]

All right, Jess, what's your answer here?

[A]

I have to go with the 1995 Eye to Eye by Power Line from a Goofy movie just to really firmly set you in trying to date my age. I love that song so much. And Power Line is Tevin Campbell backed up by Rosie Gaines, people who was exposed to sound like Prince, and so they got people who sing with Prince like it is. It's like a forgotten movie that is held dear by a certain, like, you know, section of millennials who are just like this was. It's like as the Disney apex is starting to fade, like, it's post Lion King and Little Mermaid and all these great musical movies with actually phenomenal songs, and it's considered this sort of flop that is just this cult classic. And that song is just like, so good. I've had a very short time on like, like Twitter, and I think I only had two versions of Twitter bios, and one of them was the song Eye to Eye is my personal religion. And if I freaky Friday with a 10 year old boy, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. So it's just, I have to be truthful to myself. I love that song. If we listen to each other's heart we'll find we're never too far apart Come on.

[B]

You're so dialed into the bad bit. You were like, right? We got so many emails about power lines.

[A]

They were all from me. Yeah.

[B]

Once again, you have so many burners. I'm really excited.

[A]

Yeah. I personally really spammed this episode, I'm gonna be honest. Yeah. I mean, Powerline, it's just like, he's a great. It's also. It's doing the opposite thing. It's not that plot. I mean, it's a plot. Important moment of the father and son, like, coming back together. But I think Powerline in construction is actually pretty smart. Cause it's, like, background to the story. It isn't our main character. We're like. And now Powerline's gonna sing the best song of all time. It. It's like Max loves Powerline. You hear two songs by Power Line, but, like, it is background in a way that I think, like, takes some of that pressure off and allows it to just be, like, a really fun song where, of course, they have to do the perfect cast. But. Yeah, I just love that song so much. It's been on a. It was on many a mix cd, even through high school.

[B]

You know, I think I just, like, slightly missed a Goofy movie. Just like, I feel like it's like a micro generation moment.

[A]

No, it's so. I mean, even like, siblings on either side, it's just like. No, you had to be. You had to be, like, seven when it came out, and then be like that song kind of. And then later, like, seven years later, be like, am I crazy? Does that song slap? And then, like, another seven years be like, no, we're wearing T shirts from Hot Topic about Power Line. So, yeah, he's really important. Power Line's really important to me. And it's vocally, like. It's a really vocally impressive song.

[C]

I think I'm nodding, but I. I've never heard it. I have no idea what you're talking about.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

This would be great for you.

[B]

Later.

[C]

Goofy movie. Do you mean, like, the Disney character Goofy?

[A]

I do. Y.

[C]

That's. Yeah, it's the.

[A]

Do you need to know the premise of the Goofy movie, please? Okay. So Goofy, he's starting to feel a little like he's losing his son Max, because Max gets in trouble on the last day of school for pulling off an elaborate prank, which is him performing the other Power Line song. Stand out to try to Impress a girl that he likes. And he gets, like, sent to the principal's office. And then his next door neighbor is like, max is going to end up in jail. They literally have. There is an animation of like a looming electric chair. They're like, if you don't get in and stop Max from listening to rock music, he's going to die. He's gonna get the death penalty. Yeah.

[C]

Well, a call back to Power Line.

[A]

Yeah, there you go. Very, very true. This is.

[B]

These are the thematic through line.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. So then Goofy is like, you know what? The time has come. I'm gonna take Max on this road trip that I took with my dad. It's the perfect road trip. It's the perfect road. Road trip route. And Max is like, I do not want to go on this road trip. I want to, like, stay with my friends. It has a great opening number. After today, my grace will be. Just kidding. After today, she'll be mine. Okay, that's great. And then you see Standout, which is him singing lip syncing as Powerline. And then it's one more song about, like, being on the road. And they start to go to, like, some of the early stops and Max hates them. Then they start to. Ice starts to thaw. And it's classic father, son friendship relationship. And then Goofy decides to. Decides to give him the power to reroute. Like, you pick the stops, Max. This should be for both of us. And he trusts him. But then Max is like, I'm gonna route us instead to this. Instead of going to this fishing place, I'm gonna route us to the Powerline concert. Because he told his crush back home that he's gonna go to the Powerline concert and he's gonna be on stage and wave to her. So then father and son have to come to terms, and guess what? They end up on stage at the Power Line concert.

[C]

Wow.

[B]

Crazy, random happen.

[A]

I know. Can you believe where they have to do the perfect cast? Bigfoot's in it. Hi, dad Soup. Pauly Shore voices his best friend, Leaning Tower of Jesus. No. Nothing.

[C]

Wow.

[A]

Not even a trailer in the background.

[B]

Nothing.

[A]

Yeah. It's important.

[C]

No. Does Goofy's son exist only for this movie or is that a. Is that a.

[A]

It made a sequel where Max goes to college. And also there was a. There was a Goof Troop. Goof Troop TV show.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

That's where I know Max from.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. I don't know why I know Goof Troop, but, like, miss the Goofy movie. Yeah, I couldn't tell you.

[A]

That's a real bummer for you.

[B]

That's real tough. Real tough for me. All right, Best cover song is the next category. I get the first pick. I am not going to step on something that I know is important to one of you, just in case you

[C]

want to pick it. No, no, you can do it. No, I'm not going to.

[B]

I have a backup, but I have a front.

[C]

Okay. Okay. Okay.

[B]

Okay. I'm going to pick Ballroom Bo from Wayne's World. This is crucial. Taunt is the name of the band. Cassandra Wong is the name of the lead singer played by Tia Carrera. But this was like, this is one of those. I didn't know this was a cover until later in life. Turn into a ballroom blitz. Ballroom blitz Blitz. Like, it's rules and it's not. You know, Is it plot important? Yes. Cause it's, like a part of Wayne falling in love with her and stuff like that. But it is just an absolute jam. What a badass rock Bay. A lead singer in this band, and I just love this song. And we listened to it all the time growing up, so that's my favorite.

[C]

Huge, Huge.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I cannot say or hear the words my drummer without hearing them in Tia Carrera's voice when she's answering the question, who's Anthony? Who's Anthony? My drummer.

[B]

Really good. All right, Jessica. What yours?

[A]

I'm gonna go with Mustang Sally and the Commitments.

[B]

So good.

[A]

I love that movie. And I think, like, that's, like. It's a nice, like, coming together moment, and it's just. Yeah, they sound great, particularly on that song.

[C]

How did you. How did you watch that movie? I mean.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Are you, like, how old are you?

[B]

I know.

[A]

It's a mystery, I should say, besides, like, being, like, really setting my age so specifically that my Irish heritage is most of my personality.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

Got. And so I think it was, like, I didn't catch it the first time around, but it was like, oh, do you know there's this Irish movie that you should see? And that's about the whole sentence that I require. Right, Right. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, it's just. I found it later, but the music is so great in it. And Mustang Sally is, like, the one that I'm like, oh, that's the one that really sticks in my head.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

So the Commitments, which is a movie about an Irish band forming and in the. Is it late 80s, right? Mid to late 80s. The commitments.

[C]

The storyline or the movie coming out?

[B]

The movie coming out.

[C]

Movie came out in 91, I think.

[B]

91. Okay. But, yeah, they're trying to, like, capture this R and B sound. And the big story out of that is Andrew strong, who was 17 years old, who plays Deco Cuff. And he is the lead singer. And, you know, you hear it on Mustang Sally in all of these songs. He has this, like, incredible voice. And when you find out that he was 17 years old when he made that, it is.

[A]

I'm learning this right now. That's insane.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

He does not look 17.

[B]

He doesn't look 17.

[A]

You know, but, yeah, Ireland's a tough living.

[B]

But then, you know, the Commitments was such a cool concert. You know, like, Glenn Hatzner is in it, Maria Doyle, and they toured as, like, a band after that movie came out.

[C]

So, yeah, I was confused because. Well, I'm giving away one of my answers later. But anyway, yeah, they're great.

[B]

They're great.

[A]

All right.

[B]

What's your cover pick?

[C]

Okay. I was torn between a couple of things, but especially given that we're doing a vampire themed reason for getting together. I have to go with Marceline, the vampire queen in Adventure Time doing Francis Forever by Ms. Mitski in the Battle of the Bands.

[A]

That was so many cool nouns in a row.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

I could not.

[C]

My head exploded. I was like. I couldn't figure out who was cooler. Like, everybody was so cool for this thing existing. Mitsuki is so cool to have her song in Adventure Time. Adventure Time. So cool to have the song in there. And then Marceline is playing and she's just so bad at. And it's awesome.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Adventure Time has such great music. Yeah. Really good pick. That's actually not the pick I thought you were gonna pick. The other thing you talked about in

[C]

that email, what was the other thing I talked about?

[B]

Is it gonna come up later, though? I don't know.

[C]

Oh, okay. Well, my. And that. Because my backup was. Can I say my backup?

[B]

Yeah, of course.

[C]

My backup was hey, you. By Pink Floyd in Squid and the Whale.

[B]

Oh.

[C]

Because. Because he presents it. Jesse Eisenberg's character presents it as if he'd written the song and then he wins the talent competition. And Anna Paquin is the only person who knows that he didn't write it. And when she calls him on it, he says, but I felt like I could have.

[A]

Incredible. So good.

[C]

Incredible. It's, you know, and for that character and, like, all the terrible lessons he's learning from his father about, like, authorship, and it's just amazing.

[B]

I love it.

[C]

Amazing.

[B]

I thought you were gonna pick and this would be my runner up. Which is the COVID of the Metric song Black Sheep in Scott Pilgrim.

[C]

Yes. Yes.

[B]

Brie Larson. Clash of Demonhead. That's. I love Metric. I love Metric. And I'm like, is that better than the Metric version? And it might be.

[C]

Honestly, it didn't even occur to me to put it in that category because, like, Ballroom Blitz for you, for me. Me, that song is canonically by the Clash.

[B]

I think that's fair. I think that's fair. All right, our next category is best fictional band name.

[A]

This feels pretty. This feels tough to use this in this category, but I have to go with the Soggy Bottom Boys. I'm sorry. That. That means I'm taking off. Like, for me, that means I can't do any more. Oh, brother. But it's just like. It's incredibly. It's an incredible name and a now grown only more dear to me post great British Bake off that they. You know, that's a different type of Soggy Bottom. I like that. It's alliterative. It has, like, the. The. It just sounds great. It sounds like the type of music. It fits perfectly, and it's great. Soggy Bottom Boys. Yeah. It's really awesome.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And also, when you hear characters in the movie go, like, hot dang.

[A]

It's a Soggy bottom boy. Like, fun to evocative of the right type of, like, band you're trying to picture. It's like. It's just. Yeah. I guess it could be, like, Paul Hollywood's band, but other than that, it has to be, like, in the Delta bluegrass.

[B]

What kind of music would Paul Hollywood play in his Soggy Bottom Boys?

[A]

Oh, gosh. He would play probably, like, yacht rock About Bread. Yeah, yeah. Like, very, like, sort of, like, smooth. I think like a smooth vocal line. I feel like he's very, like, buttery.

[B]

It's the blue eyes.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

I went to the first thing I thought of was David Brent in the company retreat playing Free Love on the Free Love freeway. That's what I imagine.

[A]

Oh, maybe I'm thinking that he would sound like Jerry Rafferty because Jay Rafferty wrote Baker Street. I can just see Paul Hollywood doing that.

[B]

I'd love it. All right, Rishi.

[C]

Okay. So controversial take. I think that band names are bad. Like, just generally.

[A]

They're tough.

[C]

It's hard to. They're just.

[A]

I come from a worse area, which is improv names. Really bad.

[B]

Really tough.

[A]

Really tough.

[B]

What's the worst, like, improv?

[A]

I mean. I mean, when I was in college, I was on a team called Matador now, where we all shouted now, I think, like, some, like, gimmicky part of that.

[B]

That always feels like, welcome to Matador now.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. My first Herald team was called Mr. Town City, and a guy always ran across and did, like, a cool kick. No regrets there, honestly. But, I mean.

[C]

Yeah, you just. You have to have it.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

It's part of it, but it's so hard to have a good one.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And for me, like, there are really not. There aren't really many good band names like Magnetic Fields. And maybe that's it. That might be the end of the list for me in terms of, like, that's a great band name. The only fictional band name that I think that lives up to that is Pink Slip.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Because Freaky Friday.

[B]

Yes. Okay.

[C]

Like, the Magnetic Fields, it works on two levels, and the meanings are so different between the two. And, um.

[B]

Yeah, we got a lot of emails about Pink Slip, so do you want to talk a little bit more about.

[C]

No, I should not be the one to talk about.

[B]

It's just a great name.

[C]

It is a great name.

[B]

Let's not get into the musicality of it. Exactly.

[A]

Yeah. No, please, not. No, no, no.

[C]

Don't make me talk about the music. Great band name. Yeah. Stillwater, I think, is similarly like.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Stillwater Run Deep. It's real of the time.

[C]

It feels like. That feels like a real band name, but not one that I'm like, what a great band name.

[B]

I don't know if this is an inspiration at all, but I grew up in. In Mill Valley in Northern California, and there is, like, a slightly iconic bar in the town called Stillwater where, like, a lot of bands played. I have no idea if that had anything to do with what Cameron Crowe did, but that's part of why it feels like. Because you wouldn't. It's much bougier now as all of Mill Valley has become. But, like, when I grew up there, like, in the leftover. The hangover of, like, a lot of rock stars lived in that area in the 70s, like. Like, you know, moving from San Francisco to Mill Valley. And so, like, you'd go into Stillwater, which was this super dive bar, and there would just be, like, all these cool, like, band photos on the wall, like that. But, yeah, Stillwater. This is really hard to pick. I have three really good candidates. I'm gonna give it to Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.

[A]

Yeah, that's good.

[B]

The Muppet Band. I love them.

[A]

Yeah. Really good.

[B]

I think Aurora Borealis shining down in Dallas is One of the best lyrics that has ever existed of all time. Time. So. But the Electric Mayhem, like. Yeah, that's a great.

[C]

It's really good.

[A]

I also love a long band name.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

You know.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. I was just, Just in Chicago and I saw a poster for Annual Noah's by the Trail of Dead.

[B]

And I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

That. There's something. There's something so great. If you can't be concise, just commit to extremely long.

[B]

How do you feel about abbreviating that? Like, should you say the whole band name or should you say Kol, which is not a long band name, but I know Kol for Kings of Leon always bothered me for some reason. I don't know why.

[A]

Yeah, that doesn't hit. I mean, because you can easily just call them Electric Mayhem. Yeah. And. Or like, I guess we do the opposite with sergeant Pepper. We. We take it down to sergeant Pepper. Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, we don't call it the Hearts Club Band, but like. Yeah. I think taking it to just part. I think abbreviation, I don't really like as much.

[C]

That's why my favorite K pop band is behind the Scenes.

[A]

And that's. That's a. That's a real one. That's how you know you're a real fan because you respect. You respect them so much that you have to give them the entire time. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

My runners up here, I just want to mention them, are Frozen Embryos from My so Called Life and Dingo My Baby from Buffy Vampire Slayer.

[C]

I think it's a good move, similar to what we were saying about jokes and songs. Like to intentionally name your band something ridiculous in the thing, you know, like Mouse Rat or whatever you were. It's just like it's. You're making fun of how bad Oz

[B]

should be in a band called Dingo's Ate My Baby.

[A]

Right?

[C]

Yes.

[A]

It's also like. It's a great. I mean, it's a classic scene in that thing you do of the one eaters versus the wonders, you know, like giving. It's also good if you can ever show us the people thinking of the band name and give us a couple variety of opinions on the band name so that you're like, oh, great. They don't necessarily think it's great. Or if they do, and that's the point is for us to be like, oh, they're a little too high on their own supply.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's the Sing Street? Oh La Vie.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's also Captain Geese and the Shrimp Shack Shooters from that thing you do. They're. They're fictional. Fictional band.

[A]

Right. Amazing.

[B]

Would you just call them the Shrimp Shack Shooters or the Shooters.

[A]

Shrimp Shooters, maybe. Shrimp Shooters, Yeah. That's great.

[B]

Something to think about. I did want to share. This is nothing to do with anything, but one of my fondest memories is singing Kiss From a Rose with you at the Buffering Prom this last year. That was so fun.

[C]

That was so fun. Yeah.

[A]

A great song.

[B]

Am I a musician? No. Can I stand on stage next to him and sing Kiss on a Rose? I can't.

[A]

Did you pre plan the harmonies or did you just have to feel it out?

[B]

It was a group sing, so you could just blend into the background if

[A]

you need to, you know.

[C]

No, it was 13 voices in unison.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Unison.

[B]

Yeah. I could just go as low as I needed to. It's fine. Absolutely fine.

[E]

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[A]

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[B]

[e-mail] all right, best animated Banishi.

[C]

Oh, okay. So I kind of used up my Marceline the vampire queen

[B]

and your K pop demon hunter.

[C]

I'm gonna go with the Wagstaff 6th grade music class from Bob's Burgers. The episode the Plight Before Christmas where Tina Fey comes in as the substitute teacher. It is the single best episode of Bob's Burgers.

[B]

Love it.

[C]

Have you seen this episode?

[A]

No, but I love this.

[C]

And they have one day to learn their song. Eventually, Gene comes up with the idea of taking off all of the bars from the glockenspiels that are not notes that they're gonna play so they can learn it. And then the song they play is a Philip Glass piece.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[C]

And it is so beautiful and so emotional. I challenge people to watch that episode and not cry.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I love that when there's, like. When you're watching something like a comedy thing, and then they're like, oops, fooled you.

[A]

We did something incredible.

[D]

Yes.

[C]

So emotional.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

What a great pick. He's like, yeah, I know. I killed it. That one.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

It's a deep cut, but you can actually find the. They put out the recording of the Wagstaff sixth grade band playing that song, and it was on my Christmas playlist this year.

[A]

Is it just instrumental?

[C]

It's instrumental.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

Yeah. And it's so nice.

[A]

That's really cool.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

All right, all right. My pick is it Ages and dates Me. I'm picking the beats from the animated show Doug.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

They have two hits that I will always remember.

[A]

I almost picked this from most for best song.

[B]

Is it killer Tofu?

[A]

Of course. Killer Tofu.

[C]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

No, no. Oh, and then there's. I need more allowance, because I do.

[C]

That's a different song.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But you both knew exactly where to go. Well, that's.

[A]

That's the one part.

[B]

I think that might be all you hear of those two songs or just the hook. But the Beast there. They're the Beatles, but like, you know, they're the beats. And spelled like the vegetable. Yeah, spelled like the vegetable.

[C]

Gotcha. Gotcha.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

This is a Nickelodeon show.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

I'm both old and didn't have cable.

[B]

This is what. Okay, I had cable, but we didn't have like HBO or Showtime or something like that. And I'm discovering this as I. Every time they call me on to do the rewatchables and I watch a movie, I was like, wow, there are boobs in this. And I watched the like TNT cut or the USA cut. And I didn't know how many boobs are in this movie.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So we all go through our own things. Jess, what's your answer here?

[A]

Well, also really quick, the music in Doug, like the intro music is. It's great, like really good. It's like a acapella scatting sort of. Yeah, it's great.

[B]

Patty mayonnaise.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, there's also. There's a great. When they make a band. Banging on a trash can. Strumming on a street light. No, no, no, no. Wow. You just unearthed me. One little voice keeps calling. One little voice. And they're like, he dreams the music video. Cause he comes up with the song on his banjo. And then everyone is like, doug, we heard you have a band. We wanna be in your band. And it starts to get too big for Doug. Cause really he just had his one song on the banjo. But then he imagines that they have this big music video where they're in sort of giant suits like the Talking heads. And he wakes up and he just writes down big suits. I love Doug.

[C]

I'm impressed by your reason.

[A]

Well, I'm so sorry that I did have cable and I was a certain age that I would just watch it on absolute repeat.

[B]

Doug was very important.

[A]

I think I like would know my day by the half hours of television.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, actually I have that as well. Yeah, but just, you know, no cable.

[A]

Sure, sure.

[C]

Just the hour long block of the real Ghostbusters.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, totally. Yes, Very important. The Beats were my first pick, but I have a strong second pick which goes to my half hour of like it was on at 6:30, it was on at 7:30. You could sit through the local news in between. And then primetime would start at 8, which is the specific episode of the Simpsons where they get recruited into a boy band called the Party Posse. Bart, Milhouse Nelson, Ralph Martin. And they have a song that the chorus is evanet Niage. And they reveal later that they have been put together to get to be propaganda to have people join the Navy. Yvonne Netanyahu backwards says, join the Navy. So it's like, it's height of NSYNC and Backstreet Boys when this episode comes out. They're just, like, doing boy band tropes about, like, you know, it's a great, you know, thing in an episodic storytelling to just show the whole, like, arc in 22 minutes. But their big song is Yvonnette Niig, which is Join the Navy backwards.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Party posse.

[B]

And again, your recall of that hook is incredible.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Really? Well, I considered joining the Navy.

[B]

I worked on.

[A]

You like being on a boat.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

With some of my dear friends.

[B]

John Tap.

[A]

Jaunty cat.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Crisp outfits. I know what to wear. Sounds good.

[B]

Sounds great to me.

[A]

Join the Navy is such a funny thing, too. Like, specific government propaganda. It's so pitch perfectly, like, insidious, but not that insidious. Just be like, I don't know. Join the Navy.

[B]

Yeah. Think about it. I love that we all pick TV shows. That's fun. All right. Best real band cameo. So a real band that showed up in a TV or film playing themselves is sort of the idea here. So I'm gonna pick because I can. Letters to cleo in 10 things I hate about yout.

[A]

Really good.

[B]

Because it's plot. It's important. They show up thrice. There's a concert. They play the prom.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then they play on the rooftop of the high school over the closing credits, which is an incredible moment.

[A]

Really good.

[B]

That's my solid.

[A]

Yeah, that movie's perfect. I'm gonna also go Ways of me. Right.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm gonna also go with a teen movie. I'm gonna go with the Mighty Mighty Boss Tones.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Clueless. This is like, what Joanna put together, like, an amazing list for us. And then occasionally be like, I. I need something else here. And this was the one that I feel like I did the most ancillary, like, Googling about. Like, I don't actually. Nothing's coming to mind. And when I thought of this, I mean, mean, that moment of ska in the 90s is so funny to me. And it was so, like, I don't know how mighty. My boss Stones are from Boston, I think. Yeah. Was ska big for. For y'? All?

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

We had the Mighty, Mighty Boston's. We also had the All Stonians.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

Yeah. We had. We had a lot.

[A]

Yeah. And we had a lot in SoCal. I mean, like, I feel like maybe we're the two epicenters of it, you know. And we started to. We started to go a little more pop punk. It's like, obviously like then into no doubt tragic kingdom huge. But my brother was in a ska band called Whipped Gr. You know, there was like. There was another ska band called Blue Raz in our town. Like, it was just like mush gravy. Yeah.

[B]

Pretty great.

[A]

There was like one year where. Yeah. Do you want to take it back about band names?

[C]

I'm wrong.

[A]

They had their one song was called Calvin Crime. I'm sorry. I do remember its chorus as well. Calvin Crime. Crazy kid next door. Calvin Crime. Steal stuff from the spirit. Yeah, great. And then like the dedicated hype dancer. That's my favorite part about the mighty. My Boss Stones sequence includes also. It's a great funny scene. You know, Ty is like dancing alone. It has the full on Monet, which is just a classic line. And just to have the mighty mite Boss Stones in this like Beverly Hills high school party is just so funny to me.

[B]

It's really good.

[C]

I'm gonna take back what I said about. About band names. All band names are bad. Except for ska bands, which are all good.

[A]

They're all.

[B]

They're all.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

What's the. What's the journey of ska into like Gap Ad Swing band revival that happened at the end of the 90s. I.

[A]

So for me, they're.

[B]

You're jump jiving and whale, if you will.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. You're cherry popping Daddy's a band that I would just say in fourth grade, you know?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, those were weird.

[B]

Yeah, Those are words.

[A]

Popping daddies.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Oof. Oof. Maybe it wasn't perfect in the night.

[C]

Just that one thing that is the one. One of the only good band names.

[A]

I know. It's great. It's great. Yeah. I think it was like, okay, we can put horns in things. And we're like, yeah, horns. Horns can be cool. Horns can be on Kroc. And then we were like, no, they can't. I think we just like immediately like, never mind. Absolutely not. And it like went. I think that some of the rhythms stayed in, like pop punk. But they got pulled. The horns got pulled out. We're like, this is too dorky, guys. You band geeks tricked us for a few years and now you fooled us. Now the skaters are back, like, wearing our bases really low. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. Love it. All right, what's your.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

Real band cameo.

[C]

This might be a very deep cut, but for me, we love a deep cut. Just number one. Have you seen the movie Fallen Leaves.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

Have you seen that movie?

[A]

No.

[C]

By Aki Karasaki. The Finnish movie. There's a scene with the real Finnish band. I'm certainly saying this wrong. Maus Ditot. Do you remember in the bar, they.

[B]

Yes. I just didn't know that was a real band.

[C]

It's a real band.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

So pitch perfect for the actual movie and how weird it is and everything. They fit right in. But that is a real band called Maus Dit, which is Finnish for Spice Girls, which is amazing because they are the two most deadpan people. Like, in a movie full of deadpan people.

[A]

Oh, that's so great.

[C]

And they have a song. I'm not even gonna try and say.

[B]

But you did most tutti. Thought so.

[A]

Well, yeah.

[B]

As far as I. I really think

[C]

these. I'm gonna ask Jess to say the. Say the name of this song.

[A]

Oh, my God. Gosh. Sentient sur y petty miskin. Born in sorrow, clothed in disappointment.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

That's what it translates to.

[B]

Incredible.

[C]

The first word is just consonants.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Wow. Incredible.

[A]

Have you been to Finland? No, I went to Finland and it was cold and other lovely things about it. But my husband and I really wanted to try to see the northern lights, so we booked, like, one of the, Like, a glass cube where you could just like, stare at the sky all night. We did not see them. It was too foggy. And also they were all really expensive. And we had two nights in Finland and we were like, okay, well, let's stay somewhere more affordable the night the other nights that we can, like, really splurge on this. So we were just in, like, an Airbnb, and in our. Airbnb is like, here's. We gave you soaps, we gave you towels. They also gave us vitamin D. Wow. They were like, hey, it's tough out there. It's tough out there. You're not gonna get any of this. Now, naturally, I was like, this is so thoughtful. And also, oh, gosh, I could certainly could not live here. But beautiful.

[C]

And yet voted, as indicated by Mausditot's album title.

[B]

Uhhuh.

[C]

The happiest country in the world.

[A]

Do you know, I think part of that, though, is is an acceptance of a certain. Of a certain hard life.

[B]

Or is just everyone maintaining on vitamin D. Exactly.

[A]

Or they always take that survey in the summer, you know, like. Or they. They're like, oh, I don't know. I forget. I don't know who I was for the past seven months, but sun's here. Yes, but actually, I Remember we were. When we were driving around, we put like, just local radio on and it was like, close to Christmas and there were a lot of, like. I was like, I think I have to look up some of these, like, Finnish.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Christmas songs. Like, this has got some great kind of like, hair metal. Like, I could imagine if I could hear the lyrics, they would be like, santa came on a dragon.

[B]

Please, please.

[C]

Right. Santa Cruz on a dragon.

[A]

I think you've already started halfway there. No worries.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

Please let that be the end closing song for this episode.

[B]

Santa came on a dragon. All right. Most impactful musical performance as story beat. Back to you, Jess.

[A]

I'm gonna go with. Okay. I have. Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I think it's just. It is such an important hinge moment in the story. I'm gonna go. When they are writing. Falling slowly in once my pick. Yeah, it was. Yeah, yeah. It's just like. And I thought of, like, oh, the times when it's more like a culmination moment where someone finally, like, takes a stage and you know what they're singing from. But I think in the Get Back documentaries, I think everyone's like, maybe favorite part is like, watching them think of Get Back and just. It's really hard to, like, show what a songwriting process feels like. And obviously this one's fictional, but they're both, you know, actually music. They just. It feels so authentic and it's so important in the story. And then it's just an incredible song. I was gonna have to, like, have once on here somewhere. And I think that what that does in the story is just so important without being, like, particularly showy. And they're in, like, in like a music store, you know, and it's like, I don't have the words yet, but it's like, dum, dum, dum. And then even the same way that it feels very truthful where he takes it to double time to get her to the next section. He's like, you know. And then it continues. He ups the time signature so he can sing through the next part. And then it's something like this. It was like, yeah, this is pretty perfect. And it's a great song.

[B]

It's a perfect pick.

[C]

And Glenn Hanser already had chops of being in a movie. Cause he was in the commitment.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Which I didn't know.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

There you go.

[C]

That song was almost in my favorite

[A]

covers list from Last man on Earth. Yes. An incredible scene. Also an under. A little slept on show. I feel like.

[D]

I agree.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

It's a great show, and it does that thing where it really barrels through plot in a really brave way. But, yes, Will Forte and Jason Sudeikis as brothers singing this song as karaoke over and over and over again is great.

[C]

Yeah. And then it becomes just like a trope running throughout the show until the end after that.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

It's just so good. Yeah.

[B]

All right, what's your pick?

[C]

My pick is the death of Queen Jane in Inside Leah Davis.

[A]

We lost her.

[B]

Yeah. Oh, my God.

[C]

Absolute life ruiner.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[C]

Just. It was right at the moment when my writer's block, which at the time I did not know would last a day decade, had kind of started. And then that scene was basically like. I was like, yep. Yeah, that's that. There it is.

[B]

That's it.

[C]

That whole moment is so brutal and so real. And that movie is a horror movie. And I just. The F. Murray Abraham reaction at the end of, like, I just don't see a lot of money here. It just. That feels like, so real. Just like the swell season once thing feels real in the creation. This feels like this is how dreams die. Because his performance of it is absolutely real. Like, you see him actually do it.

[D]

It's good.

[C]

It's competent. You have to wonder. They don't do the camera panning around the thing to be like, this is amazing.

[A]

This is good.

[C]

You know, it.

[B]

F. Murray Abraham's loving it.

[C]

And you're just dying with the suspense of how this is gonna go. And it turns out it doesn't go. Just everything about that. Just one of the worst things I've ever seen in terms of my own heart.

[B]

Yeah. Oh, my God. That kills me. Absolutely kills me. And I love that song, too. So good. I am going to pick Remember Me from Coco, you know, which is really good.

[A]

Really good.

[B]

Multiple times in that movie. But when it is, like, comes through at the very end, it's just like, absolutely on the floor crying.

[C]

This is why you didn't want us to tell our answers in advance so you could have this.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Oh, God, that's really good. No, I just. I love when people can, like, organically react to pics or be like, what the is that?

[A]

I need to tell you the plot of Goofy Movie.

[B]

But yeah, I mean, Remember Me is just beautiful and outstanding and like the. You know, I love that in. In a music or a song by music. When you hear a song one way and then you hear it another way later, and you're just sort of like, oh, God. Oh, my God. And the meanings, the meaning of the lyrics. I don't think I've ever cried more in a movie in my life than I did at the end of Coco. And it's still my favorite Pixar movie, so. Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Good one.

[B]

Yeah. That's my pick.

[E]

Really good.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

My hardest cry is at a Pixar. You as well.

[C]

All of them.

[A]

Yeah. Toy Story 3.

[C]

Toy Story 3. Yeah. Toy Story 3 got me. I mean, Coco got me. I got it easily now, so I don't know what an achievement it is for them, but, yeah, they get you every time.

[A]

When. When Bing Bong dot. Oh, inside out. Actually, a lot of inside out.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Okay. Actually, inside out didn't get me as much because it was, I think, think too abstract.

[A]

Interesting.

[B]

I don't think the whole thing got me, but Bing Bong definitely got me when he.

[A]

Your imaginary. Finding your imaginary friend in the rubble. Come on.

[B]

And then he sacrifices himself for you.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. Sacrificing yourself. That is. That's always going to get me. That's like Project Hail Mary. I know we're now out of this, but, like.

[A]

Well, I was just thinking of. It was making me think. I was just thinking of Project Hail Mary of like. Oh, that Sign of the Times performance also. So good.

[D]

So good.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

Oh, my God. Sandra Hu.

[A]

Yeah. Beautiful.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. Amazing. Yeah.

[B]

I love that. They were like, the story behind that, where they were like, oh, Ryan Gosling's like, oh, she should sing. And she's like, it must be Harry Styles. I must reinvent Sign of the Times. So good.

[A]

So good.

[B]

I love her. All right, Big ones left. Best album or she. You get the first pick here.

[C]

Mine was the Complete. Yeah, yeah. Because before I saw the movie, I experienced the cd. My sister had it. I have an older sister. And she was like, this is great. And so this was the spoiler that I was trying to avoid for that answer because I just listened to that album and I just thought they were a real band. And I thought they made the movie about the band.

[B]

Oh, nice.

[C]

With the band. Like, I thought it was a biopic. I mean, I was. I was a child.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

But, yeah, you're like Jimmy Rabbit. He's real.

[C]

Yeah. I just thought I was like, how did they.

[B]

Yeah, I guess.

[C]

Oh, yeah. They just asked the band to do their.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

I mean, like. Like a kneecap situation.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

It's not my pick, but yeah. Because I'm Irish. Yes.

[C]

And we just listened to that album over and over again. I was just like, this is great. It was Actually, how I got introduced to a lot of like soul class classics.

[A]

Yeah. Is.

[C]

Yeah. Through this Irish band.

[B]

I mean, movie soundtracks introduced me to so much music in general, so. But yeah.

[A]

Was it your experience that the year that Forrest Gump came out, everyone got that, Like, I feel like I was

[B]

like, fortunate Son is my favorite song.

[A]

Just like I feel like everyone's. You got every dad you knew. The Forrest Gump soundtrack, the double cd,

[B]

the double red and one was blue. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. For sure. All right. My answer is I feel like I should. I'm like, should I just talk about oh, brother again or should I talk about.

[A]

That's what I mean. I very like. You should. Because I feel like it's real category fraud that I put them in name. That's how I felt personally. I was like, wait, it doesn't take it off the table for the other people so someone can still talk about.

[B]

I mean, I feel like I will just say I listened to the inside Louis Davis soundtrack. It's like a weirdly a Christmas album for me. I listen to it every year at Christmas, I think because the movie came out at Christmas and then I just got.

[A]

And so like every time and folk is very cozy.

[B]

It's cozy, but it's sad. But it's just sort of like in that like, Charlie Brown Christmas kind of way. Yeah, totally. Where I'm just like, Christmas time, Santa

[A]

Came on a dragon. Very sad.

[C]

Oh, gosh. You've got to make this song. Please make it a sad song.

[B]

I mean, maybe you guys should collab. Maybe it should be able to be played multiple ways.

[C]

I'm in.

[B]

I think this is gonna be like a breakaway.

[A]

I think so. Yeah.

[B]

Number one on the UK charts. Christmas single, Santa Came on the Dragon.

[A]

That's all. That's. That's. What's the song in about a boy.

[B]

Santa's Super Slay.

[A]

That's another great. Like. Yeah. But I always think about that with like, oh, if you could write a Christmas song.

[C]

Yeah. Do you get this thing where you. You get incoming emails like, do you want to write a Christmas song? And they come in July.

[A]

No, but if you want, you can. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Do you get constantly bombarded in July with like.

[C]

But in the summer there'll be a thing where it's like every TV show or like, all the things that are, like, looking for new original holiday music. Those requests come, they start coming around.

[A]

Now, I do have to say that, I mean, this could maybe still happen one day, but a friend of mine was pitching an animated holiday special version of Snakes on a Plane. And for where, like, Samuel L. Jackson as himself saves Christmas. And for the pitch he had Zach, my partner and I write and we wrote in the style of like, the Cobra, Starship, Snakes on a Plane, Snakes on a Sleigh. And so it's kind of a bop. Yeah.

[B]

Wow. But, yeah, I'm sure it's. I think we deserve a whole Christmas album for Snakes on a Sleigh.

[A]

And Sansa came on Dragon.

[B]

Absolutely. But I will pick O Brother just because, like, we get the Soggy Bottom Boys tracks, we get the Sirens song, the go to Sleepy Little Baby or And then we get down to the River Prey, like. And all of it is sort of. Is this cheating? Is this just a soundtrack? But, like, it's all diegetic inside of the. You know, the. Oh, Death song, like, all this incredible. And then like, what that album did with that album, what Thibaut Burnett did for, you know, folk music, rapid music and stuff like that and that whole revival. But I like, burnt a hole in that cd and that was like. I don't know if I still. If I still would put it in my top five favorite movies, but for a long time I put oh Brother in my top five favorite movies of all.

[A]

And now you can count this as Odyssey prep.

[B]

Exactly right. Exactly right. And I'm always thinking about Odyssey, you

[A]

know what I mean? It's the last great depiction of the Odyssey in cinema. Right. It truly is nothing. Nothing as clear since.

[B]

Do you know about the Odyssey musical?

[A]

No.

[B]

Okay. I've been getting a lot of emails about it.

[A]

Well, they're from me.

[C]

More burners.

[B]

More burners. All right, Jess, what's your pick?

[A]

Similarly, it's like soundtrack Y because there's multiple artists, so But I have to get go with Pop Star, which I just. I had to have.

[B]

Never Stop Stopping.

[A]

Yeah, Never Stop. Never Stopping. I have to have it on the list somewhere for me. I love Lonely Island. Also, like the songs that they write for Hunter the Hunted, the Chris Redd sort of odd future inspired character are also really great. They play in like a bunch of genres really well. Like, there's. The songs are legitimately like, so good. And another movie that I think it has like, grown. Grown. But just shock to me that it isn't like the biggest movie ever. It's so funny. The songs are so good. And yeah, his songs as Connor, for real, I'm so humble and like, the production value on it is really great. And sounds like that is a time period I do feel like I understand what the sound is supposed to be. Yeah. And they just do it so. So well.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad you. You got them in there because usually, I mean, they're just so good at.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

Making music.

[A]

Making music. Yeah.

[C]

Yeah. But in a sketch, you know, it wouldn't. It wouldn't really qualify for most of these, but. Yeah.

[A]

So good.

[D]

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[B]

Best fictional ban. Would you look at that? I get first pick. Honestly, this is random. I randomize this. But here we are. Which means I get to honor my tattoo in pick Still Water from Almost Famous here.

[A]

Heck yeah. Thieve Dog.

[B]

Like, incredible stuff. I. I mean, in terms of movies about a band, there are so many that I love, honestly, and we haven't even covered them all, but Almost Famous is so important. And I believe in Stillwater. I believe in Jeff Beebe. I believe in Russell Hammond. I believe in all of them. And yeah, that's my pick.

[A]

Yeah, it's a great one. It's also like a great one about being a fan, I think, like, and loving something. And I think it. That's like a great part about movies, about music is that I think it is ultimately the thing that we all understand the closest to. Not everyone you meet is going to have, like an encyclopedic knowledge, but everyone has, like, a favorite song.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so, yeah, Almost Famous is perfect for that.

[C]

Yeah. We can come back for another episode just to talk about how great that movie is.

[B]

Okay, great. Let's do it. I'll figure out a way that it's House of Art. Jason. I'll find a way.

[A]

It's Odyssey Prep.

[C]

There's a moment when they're doing the bus ride.

[A]

Tiny Dancer. Yeah.

[C]

When that movie came out, I had gotten really, really into for the first time. I had just gotten into Red House Painters. Was listening to so much Red House Painters, but I had no idea what Mark Kozlak looked like. And the. Then they go into that song and then suddenly I hear this voice and I'm like, wait, what is happening? What? You know, and it's unmistakably him.

[A]

And then.

[C]

Oh, it's. Mark Kozlak is in.

[B]

Yeah, he's in the band. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, my God. It's amazing. I remember when they. The one and only time I went to the Oscars, they did a flex.

[A]

Flex.

[B]

They did a. Sorry. Well, they did a montage of sort of, like, music in movies. And I was like, what are they gonna do? When are they gonna show Tiny Dancer? And they showed it, and I burst into tears. This is not a cool story. The Oscars in, like, formal wear, like, crying at the Dolby Theater because, like, Tiny Dancer was on the screen. And I'm like, yes, cinema matters.

[A]

It's so good.

[B]

It's important to me. Jess. Best fictional band.

[A]

Okay. I think I'm. I'm gonna go with Mitch and Mickey from A Mighty Wind. That. That's a s. That's not. I think my favorite is Waiting for Guffman. But A Mighty Wind, like, holds a super special place in my heart. And the music is so good. That's an. That's an album that I, like, played

[B]

on a million times.

[A]

A million times. And, like, the. The songs that they feature about them are great, but also the soundtrack has a song that isn't in the movie called the Ballad of Bobby and June about a Civil War soldier that is so beautiful that I have, like, on many a road trip, forced people to listen to. I'm like, do you know about this song? It's, like, actually just good, you know?

[B]

It's a track from A Mighty Wind that was not in the movie. Yes. It's great, actually. Yeah. Let me teach you something here about music.

[A]

About music. Okay. Obviously, I felt like. Yeah, I wanted to honor the late, great, amazing Catherine o', Hara, who is, I think, a great, great example of, like, bringing an authentic voice when she sings. Both of them, like, they just. They sound like humans. I do think there is, like, a through line here. I think folk music is a more successful genre to sometimes put in films because they're story songs. They don't necessarily rely on having a vocalist as being front and center. It's about, like, telling a story. There's plenty of folk voices that we have in the. The oeuvre that aren't good voices. So there's a lot more forgiveness for how they should sound, and they should just sound like themselves. And Mitch and Mickey are just like, kiss at the end of the rainbow. And then are they gonna do. I love that part where the folksmen are like, I remember this. Oh, this is that really pretty one. How are they gonna do the Kiss. How are they gonna handle it? And they all, like, walk out to watch.

[B]

They all run up to watch it. Yeah.

[A]

Like, just also a movie about an era and then who's everyone's favorite? Like, who's the musician's musician, you know, and the way that they feel about Mitch and Mickey. So I love A Mighty Wind. That's a. I've played a thousand times. And specifically within it, Mitch and Mickey are just God tier.

[B]

We watched that when Catherine o' Hara died. That was sort of like the. The project we picked to rewatch. And I was like, crying during Kiss at the end of the rainbow. It's so beautiful. Eugene Levy and. Yeah. And then, like, everyone is in the wings of the theater waiting to see what they do there, and it's just, like, so tender.

[A]

It's so beautiful.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

My pick is not the band whose music I necessarily love the most, but the one who I want them to win, I want them to succeed the most. And it's School of Rock.

[A]

Oh, yeah. That's great.

[C]

Yeah. I just love them and I don't know that I've ever felt I had my version of, you know, just like crying because of feeling so. Scene.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

When in the scene, it's like, I shouldn't be in the. The band. Why? I'm not cool. And the way that Jack Black just absolutely rejects that instantly. He's like, what are you talking about? You're cool. Like sim. It's just. It's a good. It's a good B side with Almost Famous. The only real currency, the only true currency in this bankrupt world is what

[B]

you share with someone else when you're uncool.

[C]

Yeah. And. And is it Linus? Is that his. The character. Character's name? What's the character's name? Who plays the keyboards anyway, when he. Or Lawrence. Lawrence is like, I'm not cool. And he's like, you are cool.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

So I want this.

[B]

That's a great pick and, like, a great use of Jack Black and his whole, like, commitment to, you know, music inside of his comedy.

[A]

I. Yeah. I'm realizing, yeah, he is. He has one of my favorite voices. Like, I love his singing voice. His range is unbelievable. Like, the rock high belts that he can hit are just. Just insane. Yeah. He's so, so good.

[C]

Yeah. And makes it effortless.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah. I was a. Became a Jack Black fan for life after that.

[B]

Yeah. Perfect. Perfect pick. All right, Lifetime achievement award. This is award I made up just so I could talk about one person but we can talk about a number of people here. So, Jess, what do you want to talk about?

[A]

Well, I'm glad that you made that adjustment and I'm glad that I already interpreted it that way because I'm going to say Christopher guest and Michael McKean, because I think also. So it's like you gotta talk about Spinal Tap somewhere. And then the through line that they are the duo that wrote, you know, a lot of the music for my knew. Even though I love the way Mitch and Mickey perform it, I just think that their music is beautiful. And like, their ability to write in multiple genres, their ability to have it play comedically but also sincere is. They're huge. For me, personally, I Love it.

[B]

Michael McKean played it at the Oscars. Right. Like when they did he. And maybe his wife or I don't know. But he played it because, yeah, he

[A]

wrote it and he's. It's so good.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And beautiful voice and. Yeah, I feel like it would be wild to not have any allusion to Spinal Tap in this. One of the great, great bands of. Of movie history. But I think for me it's more. The Mighty Wind was. Was more connected to me than Spinal Tap. But, yeah, they write incredible music.

[B]

That's a great pick.

[C]

And I want to cede my time so you have. So you can talk about yours, because I know it's very important to you.

[B]

Well, let's all talk about Adam Schles, the late, great Adam Schlesinger, who not only wrote that Thing youg Do, but also some of the music for Josie and the Pussycats, which is. We haven't talked about, but is one of my favorite fictional. I could have nominated them in every single category.

[C]

And I also want. Well, I also wanted to jump in on your time so that we could also talk about crazy ex girlfriend.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah. So he part of Fountains of Wayne, a band that I love. A lot of people know Stacy's mom, but, like, there's just incredible horror songs from there.

[A]

Love the song Hack and Sack so much.

[B]

If I ever get back to Hack

[A]

and Sack, it's so beautiful.

[B]

Yeah. Hey, Julie is like an absolute bop.

[A]

I know. Like, their music does not sound like Stacy's mom. Like, Stacy's mom is like such a funny outlier.

[B]

Yeah. Like a real novelty that. That hit. But I love Fountains of Wayne. And so, yeah, he did. He did a song for that thing you do. He did pretend to be nice from Jesse and the Pussycats and, like, collaborated on some of the other Stuff. But that's like. That's a good great. That's supposed to be the song in that movie, and that's sort of like, like, Pop Star, a movie that did not hit when it came out and has really grown in people's estimation. I. I have a du Jour bumper sticker on my car. I have the vinyl that they put out. Like, I'm a huge Josie and the Pussycats fan. Three small words, which he didn't write on, but, like, Babyface, like, produced all the music.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

On that album. But the fact that he wrote Pretend to be Nice, which is their. Their, like, hit, where it's like, ooh, like, it's a really great pop song. And that thing you do is insane. And then talk about his work on Crazy Ex Girlfriend.

[C]

Well, Crazy Ex Girlfriend just. I think that the music in that show is similar to. I think a lot of the picks that we've had is, like, better than it needs to be.

[A]

Totally.

[C]

You know, like, it just needs to reach a certain level to serve the function of whatever. But those songs were legitimately great, and

[A]

they play with genre really well.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm buds with Rachel. She's a genius. But she would like, you know, Adam and then another one of their significant co writers, Jack Dolgen. Incredible music and just, like, a total span of genre. Not playing necessarily into, like, musical theater tropes, even though characters are breaking into song. Yeah. Incredible stuff.

[C]

Yeah. And Zach Sherwin, who did the incredible, you know, epic rap battles of history.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

And did the Jap battle, which is an unbelievable yes.

[A]

Yeah. That's a great one.

[B]

I'm gonna hit some honorable mentions that we got from listeners before we call it a day. Unless there's.

[A]

AKA Me. Yeah.

[B]

All of Jess's other burners. I will say the other people, like I was was. You know, Christopher Guest is one that I was thinking of for this. John Carney talked about Sing street and once.

[A]

Yeah. I didn't end up using Sing street, but I love Sing Street.

[B]

Sing Street's amazing.

[A]

It's beautiful. Like, some of that music. Brown Shoes was my second choice for impactful musical performance when and, like, switches into music video mode. Like, it's. Yeah. But that's a great finding our sound, so. And they play in genre, so it's such a great device.

[B]

Drive it like you stole Riddle of the Model. Yeah. Great stuff. Love Sing Street.

[C]

Riddle of the Model is a song that they come to too quickly, though.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You're like, that's a true bop you got there, too.

[C]

You did not just write the whole thing. He's like. And then for the chorus, I was thinking maybe this. Here are the chords and all the melody.

[A]

You're like, no, these kids can't be geniuses.

[B]

Our listener Ian wrote in about Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which is something that I really thought of. That one's a little tricky because that was a stage musical, which became a movie and then back to a stage musical. Is it a musical? The lines are blurry.

[A]

Yeah, that's. That was my instinct, that one in

[B]

Dream Girls, like, the lines are kind of blurry on, like, musical versus, like.

[A]

Yeah, because obviously. Yeah. When it was, like, impactful musical. It's like, yeah, it's probably got to be Effie singing. But then you're like, that's definitely. That was the closing act of the Tonys that year. That's like, musical.

[B]

That's a musical theater.

[A]

I felt the same way about Hedwig, even. The Origin of Love. Love is one of my favorite songs of all time.

[B]

Good.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Incredibly good. That song is so long. It's like, what, five minutes or something?

[A]

Yeah. I love a long song. Couple movements in it. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Really good storytelling song. Yeah.

[C]

Santa came in on a dragon.

[A]

That's right. It'll have Santa rides a dragon. Have multiple movements.

[B]

Well, no, it was definitely. Santa came on a dragon. It was definitely that.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Don't try to move away.

[A]

Yeah, no, no, I won't recognize. They came on a dragon.

[B]

Very important.

[A]

And that's how he birthed the elves.

[C]

Oh, my God. It's going to be an A Lord of the Rings crossover.

[A]

Yeah, probably.

[C]

Dragon is sm.

[A]

Yeah, definitely that. And then could be House in House of Our Coded.

[B]

Oh, it's. It's very like L in the Witch of the Wardrobe, where, like, Santa's just in Narnia.

[A]

Yeah, that's just where he lives.

[C]

No, Santa is Gandalf known by another name.

[A]

Absolutely. I mean, Santa does have many names. Mini names, bro. This is why we had to shake on it. That's why it's a collab.

[B]

And it's not even July yet. You have time to get it done before the charts. I love it. Mouse Rat. Our listeners shout out to Mouse Rat. I mean, bye bye. Little Sebastian is.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

Yep.

[B]

An incredible song. Hep Alien from Gilmore Girls I thought was a fun. Because Sebastian Bach is, like, becomes part of the cast of that show and that's just, like, really fun.

[C]

One of my picks for work. Worst band name, though.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. I don't disagree. I have. I Couldn't co sign this because I have not rewatched this film because it scarred me so much. But the Ain't Rights from Green Room, a punk band. That movie is one of the toughest movies I've ever watched. It's incredibly good. But our listener wrote in and was like, this is like, this is what a punk show really, like that's cool feels and it's so hard to capture that. So they really wanted to. We got a lot of awesome. All of Jess's Burners and then some. This is a really interesting one. I don't want to like. Again, we're celebrating. We're not nagging anyone, but we got a couple shout outs for Daisy Jones and the Six. And that's actually like a really tough one for me because I was obsessed with that book. I loved that book so much. And that's tough because that story lived in my head where you couldn't hear the music. And I just imagined what these songs would sound like and what the collab of these two songwriters would sound like. So, like, though the Amazon show was like, good in many ways, like, I think I just had the book too, like huge in my head. So when I finally, like heard those songs, I was like, that's not what I was imagining. And I'm sure they're well written, but they didn't hit, you know, the way that I wanted them to. Does that make sense?

[A]

Totally. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

It happens.

[C]

Any shout outs for Wolf Bird? No, no, none. None for Wolf Bird?

[B]

Not yet. You should get on those burners, you know.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. You have to steer these episodes, don't you know?

[B]

This is the last one. It's from Kelly and she wrote, I feel compelled to put forth a fictional band that brought more joy to my childhood than any other. The Irish band in third class from Titanic.

[A]

Oh, absolutely.

[B]

The band, the film is the real life band Gaelic Storm, who have a fabulous. And I've been to a Gaelic Storm concert and they have a song called Don't Let the Truth get in the Way of a Good Story. And one of the lines of that is, I was in some blockbuster movie and I didn't make a dime. So I just like that lore from Gaelic Storm that they were like in Titanic and perhaps got paid a day rate or whatever and didn't. We're in like one of the biggest movies of all time because they're probably

[A]

just playing like reels. They're probably just playing like an actual music.

[C]

Yeah, you're gonna be in trouble because you didn't yeah.

[B]

Because of your people.

[A]

Yes, I will.

[B]

Unfortunately.

[A]

I got a kneecap. I got one. Sing street. Please. Just watch Derry Girls. All right.

[B]

Do we do it kind of as best we could?

[A]

Yeah. I'm planning I have to throw in one more honorable mention, which is the one that I replied in our email chain, which is that a song that actually does stick in my head from the Britney Murphy movie Uptown Girls.

[B]

Oh, yes.

[A]

With Dakota Fanning. And there's a pop star in it who has a chorus that is Na na na na na na na na. Sheets of Egyptian cotton that I think literally anytime I'm shopping for sheets.

[B]

I had never seen that movie, even though I was aware of it.

[A]

I mean it's like, yeah, yeah, it's

[B]

Brittany Murphy, Dakota Fanning and Jesse Spencer from House.

[A]

Yes. Or as I know him, Jesse Spencer from the Olsen twin movie Winning London.

[B]

There you go. I'm still trying to figure out your age.

[A]

I know, right?

[B]

But I watched the clip that you. That you sent and it's a real powerful moment because like, basically the premise is she's like, your song needs a hook.

[A]

Yes. And so cuz he writes this very like maudlin, like sad. And she's like, well, there's no hook. And then he puts a hook in that is Na na na na na na na. Sheets of Egyptian cotton. I think it's born out of their like love tryst weekend where because she's the daughter of a rock star.

[B]

Okay. She's like, if I know one thing it has you need a hook.

[A]

And then it takes off.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And she tries to make him a cool jacket and he gets mad.

[C]

Yeah. Because doesn't she. She ruins.

[A]

She ruins his jacket with her cool fashion. So it's a weird movie. But that song, I'm like, why is this song in there? And thus in my head for decades,

[B]

I will say that the clip you said where he like plays it for her, he hasn't told her he's written a book and he just like plays the recording for her and then he like looks up and he's like, yeah, I put that hook in for you. She's just like, oh my God. Whispered. He's powerful. Really good. Is there anyone anything we haven't mentioned that you want to make sure?

[C]

Yeah. I wanted to shout out an amazing moment in an amazing movie, but also personally significant to me, which is in the movie Short Term 12.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

There's a scene. Do you know that movie short control from 2013, Brie Larson. Yes. The cast is insane. It's A lot of people just before they get really famous. Brie Larson, Rami Malek, Stephanie Beatriz.

[A]

Oh, dang Lake.

[C]

Keith Stanfield, Caitlyn Deaver.

[A]

What the heck?

[C]

It's crazy. Yeah. And there's a scene where lakeith is. He's about to. It's like a foster care program, and he's about to ace and sort of like. Kind of like exit interview. Oh. John Gallagher Jr. Is also in it. And he performs a song that he's written called so youo Know what It's like, which is on the soundtrack and is just devastating. Like, it's in character. It's about him. He's rapping about his mom. It ends with him saying, look into my eyes. So you know what it's like to live a normal. To live a life not knowing what a. What a normal life's like. And it's so brutal. I saw the movie when it was at south by Southwest.

[B]

That's where I saw it.

[C]

Oh, really?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah. And I.

[B]

We were on South By. That's cute.

[C]

And I went and I asked a question during the Q and A about that song about, like, who wrote it? You know, because I was like, destin is an amazing screenwriter. Do you have that? And he was like, oh, no. You know, lakeith answered it. And then I talked to lakeith afterwards about it. And then we started a band together because of. Because of that.

[B]

Oh, this is year I went to the Oscars. This is. Wow.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[B]

I didn't know that.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

We have. I mean, we put out one ep.

[B]

That's amazing.

[C]

A few singles. But we have a project called. Or had a project called Moors. That was because of that.

[B]

That's awesome.

[A]

That's cool.

[B]

Have you seen I Love Boosters?

[C]

Not yet.

[B]

Lakeith is so good.

[C]

I've been on tour while it's. While it came out. So now they're. I'm home. I gotta.

[B]

He's really good at it. Anything. We haven't mentioned any incredible actor that you started a band with.

[A]

Yeah, well, when I was at the Oscars, yeah.

[B]

We met Leonardo DiCaprio. Yeah.

[A]

And he was like, I think what's missing from my career is a holiday band.

[B]

Santa came on a dragon.

[C]

Oh, okay. We write the song, we say it.

[B]

All right. Let me just, like, zoom through to see. Oh, speaking of Jack Black Barry Jive in the Uptown 5. High Fidelity. Very important band. And I almost picked Marie lasalle from that movie doing Ooh, Baby, I Love youe Way for the COVID because it's, like, so good. When they're like, wait, yeah, is this that song? It's fucking amazing. The Blues Brothers, we haven't talked about, but that seems important to talk about.

[C]

We talked about ska, and they dressed like they might be in a ska movie.

[A]

And we talked about the influence of Chicago comedy. Comedy in music.

[B]

Very true.

[A]

Yes. And they're both from Second City, though. Dan Akroid's from the. The Toronto Still Count outpost.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So, yeah, I love it. Chris Victorious. Friday at Lights. They just did a reunion in Austin.

[A]

Amazing.

[B]

It was incredible. So I want to mention them. Drive Shaft from Lost. You all, everybody.

[A]

Very important.

[B]

Yeah, very important. To me, over the Garden Wall just has, like, such beautiful music, so I wanted to mention that as well.

[C]

Chris Isaac sings.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. Oh, my God, that's such a magical little thing.

[A]

A whole separate category is. I also love, like, a. Something that has supposed to be, like a folk song in a different. Like a different timeline or something like Game of Thrones will, you know, or Lord of the Rings. Like any of these, like, old story songs moments. Those are also, like, always.

[B]

So you love the Bear and the Maiden Fair.

[A]

Yeah, of course.

[B]

Huge.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

We didn't talk about Jonesy or Ed Sheeran.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, I thought about that. But it was like. Yeah, but it's like. But that's also another great. Where it's like, oh, this song. This is a different universe. This song could be like a thousand years old or 500. Like, you don't have a relationship to it, so it exists in its own place.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I felt this way about the recent sea shanty in Widow's Bay.

[B]

Yes. Last Man.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

As written by Arcade Fire.

[A]

Yes. And I'm Neil. Casey is my. Is my buddy. And so I was like, technically, like, can I get, like, just. Can I get some demos of this? Like, I want the. I want the deep cut. Yeah.

[B]

That show's so good.

[A]

It's so good.

[B]

Have you watched what is Bay?

[C]

Yeah, I haven't seen that. I'm. I think I'm up to the first three episodes.

[B]

Okay. Yeah, yeah, it's like episode five.

[A]

Yeah, it's really good. So good.

[B]

Almost done here. Oh, I would be Remiss Lestra featuring Matt Damon from Eurotrips. Gotti doesn't know.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

A very important song.

[A]

Yes. This is the one thing my husband said when I. I told him about the. He was like, what are you.

[B]

Where.

[A]

Where are you putting? Scotty doesn't know.

[B]

Yeah. It's very like Matt Damon's lip syncing. The real band Lustra is playing. He's lip syncing the lead singer. Damon being there is really, like, part of what makes that whole.

[A]

Yeah. I've never seen Euro Trip, but I've seen that scene a thousand times.

[B]

Yeah. And he's just like. He just, like, airlifted in from some elsewhere in Europe where he was filming. And his head shaved for some reason. He's just like. Like, does this song where he lets our main character know that he's been, like, fucking his girlfriend this entire time.

[A]

Sometimes in a car. Yeah.

[B]

After. After. While you were at church or, like, whatever. Yeah, I think we did it. I really think we did it as best we could. Shout out Sex Bob, omb. And that's it. Wild Stallions, Bill and Ted. That's the end of my list. Okay.

[C]

Ramona by Beck. That almost made it up to my list.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

From Scott Pilgrim. Yeah. From Scott Pilgrim. Scott Pilgrim rules.

[A]

Such good music. Yeah.

[B]

All right, well, thank you, you to Scott Lee and Jacob Cornette. Who's here, Cameron Dwy, who is editing this podcast. To Mallory and Absentia so that I could get away with making this episode while she's here. Thank you, Mallory.

[A]

Thank you, Mallory.

[B]

Thank you to both of you for being here.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

This, like, filled my heart with such joy. You guys really crushed it. I love that we're going to get a whole new holiday classic out of this collab I'm really excited about. It's a handshake, it's real binding. It's on camera. We'll be back with our coverage of episode one of the Vampire Lestat, and we'll see you soon. Bye.