125 - Janis Joplin - Pearl - Greg Fitzsimmons

Summary

Podcast Summary

The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers

Episode 125: Janis Joplin – Pearl (feat. Greg Fitzsimmons)
Release Date: January 14, 2026
Album #125 of Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Albums

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Overview of the Episode

In this episode, host Josh Adam Meyers and acclaimed comedian Greg Fitzsimmons zero in on Pearl, the posthumous 1971 masterpiece from Janis Joplin. The conversation thoughtfully navigates Janis’s turbulent life and explosive work, exploring why Pearl stands as one of rock’s most poignant swan songs. Expect a heady mix of comedic asides, music nostalgia, and candid talk about burnout, substance abuse, and music’s enduring emotional power.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Janis Joplin’s Background and Persona

• Janis Joplin is remembered for her raw, honest, and uniquely soulful voice, marking her as “the patron saint of burning out.” (05:40)
• Raised in ultra-conservative Port Arthur, Texas, Janis was an outcast (“voted Ugliest Man on campus as a cruel joke”—14:50), bullied for her looks, and emotionally wounded, all of which fueled the power and vulnerability in her singing.
• Fitzsimmons: “I can count on one hand how many white people I want to hear sing the blues. And she’s the first finger on that.” (11:25)
• Joplin’s looks were often weaponized against her, but her perceived “realness” and outcast status added grit and character to her music (“She wasn’t a centerfold…she was a real human being that looked like her body was lived in.”—12:22).

2. The Power and Tragedy of Pearl

• Pearl is universally regarded as her greatest work—“her masterpiece, her life’s work, untouched… not just a cash grab” (29:47).
• The album was recorded just days before her death; Fitzsimmons likens its stature to the Allman Brothers’ Eat a Peach as another vital posthumous release (30:19).
• With the Full Tilt Boogie Band, the album marks a musical departure: more focused, blues and Americana-tinged, and less psychedelic than her work with Big Brother & the Holding Company (41:51).
• The tragedy: Pearl captures Joplin finally getting her life and sound together, only for her to die before she could reap the rewards (40:02).

3. Production and Songwriting

• Paul A. Rothchild (best known for producing The Doors) produced Pearl, bringing structure and polish to Joplin’s raw talent (41:51).
• “Move Over” is one of the few songs written entirely by Janis—direct, assertive, and unusually personal (44:37).
• “Cry Baby” and “Me and Bobby McGee” are covers, yet Joplin inhabits them so completely they feel original.
• Fitz: “She’s not begging in ‘Cry Baby,’ she’s daring him to crawl back to her. It’s a masterclass in how she inhabited covers instead of copying them.” (61:04)

4. Standout Tracks & Quotes

• “Woman Left Lonely” struck Josh as a revelation—“Probably in my top 10 favorite songs since I started doing this. I’ve listened to that one over a hundred times.” (57:03)
• “Me and Bobby McGee” was her first and only #1 hit, with its famous line (“freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose”) gaining mythic resonance after her death (62:19).
• “Mercedes Benz” was improvised in a bar, recorded acapella in one take—a satirical prayer for material goods that’s become a cultural touchpoint.
  • Fitzsimmons: “It felt like a fuck you to where she came from… she was talking about the girls who made fun of her… their aspirations, instead of finding themselves, was just to get this car.” (64:18)

5. Janis’s Place in Music and Culture

• The album’s songs are “blues-based, pop culture, satirical—a snapshot of someone with a really unique voice.” (86:09)
• Joplin’s honest voice and rock icon status endure—“Before you even know her music, you know Janis. She’s global, like a Madonna.” (51:08)
• Discussion of the album’s ranking fluctuating on the Rolling Stone list (#122 in 2003, #125 in 2012, #259 in 2020), and whether contemporary reevaluations of classic works are too reactionary or legitimate (83:23).

6. Big Picture: The Tortured Artist Trope and Janis’s Legacy

• Both hosts grapple with the question: Are artists like Janis remembered because they died young, or because their work is immortal?
  • Fitzsimmons: “I think she’s remembered because she was an original and accessible voice. She’d be up there in terms of records sold, period.” (67:10)
• On whether the “tortured artist” myth endures: Fitz notes, “It’s not as glorified now. Fans don’t want to see the suffering as much. Green Day’s considered punk, and those guys are making green smoothies and doing social media on the bus.” (67:39)
• Rock’s revolutionary energy was tied to the era’s drugs and critical attitudes toward society—something the Nixon-era crackdown tried to end (69:11).

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Janis’s Blues Credibility:

  Greg Fitzsimmons (@09:02): “Janis Joplin—Pearl was one of my first cassettes. I can count on one hand how many white people I want to hear sing the blues. And she’s the first finger on that.”

• On Her Outsider Status:

  Josh Adam Meyers (@13:50): “She grew up in Port Arthur, Texas, a very conservative oil town… bullied hard in high school, mocked about her weight, looks, clothes. She was voted Ugliest Man on campus—as a cruel joke.”

• On Her Musical Honesty:

  Fitzsimmons (@12:59): “Take her looks out of the equation… She was an outcast in high school. I think you can hear in her vocals how she feels about being abandoned by men… that pain, and the neediness.”

• On Posthumous Albums:

  Fitzsimmons (@31:24): “The only other posthumous album that feels as much like their best is Eat a Peach by the Allman Brothers… This is the way to do it.”

• On “Move Over” as Statement of Agency:

  Josh Adam Meyers (@44:37): “Move Over… it's unusually direct and confrontational for her. She’s claiming sexual agency, not just heartbreak.”

• On “Me and Bobby McGee”:

  Fitzsimmons (@61:43): “I love songs that are perfect stories… You feel like you’re in that truck with the rain on the windshield and the wiper blade. You’re there.”

• On Fame and Trauma:

  Fitzsimmons (@62:19): “That lyric—’nothing left to lose’—took on mythic weight after she died.”

• On Pearl as an Album:

  Fitzsimmons (@86:09): “This album captures someone who—although she hadn’t been around a long time—was an old soul. One of the great American albums. Blues-based, pop culture, satirical—a snapshot of someone who really has a unique voice.”

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Track-by-Track Highlights

- “Move Over” (01:56, 44:37)

• Entirely written by Janis; direct, assertive, showcases her sexual agency.

- “Cry Baby” (10:48, 61:04)

• Cover, but Janis delivers a “dominance flip”—it’s her emotional power that dominates.

- “A Woman Left Lonely” (58:35)

• Josh’s personal favorite: “I’ve listened over 100 times. Probably in my top 10 of all songs I’ve done on this podcast.”

- “Me and Bobby McGee” (62:19)

• Most iconic; only #1 hit, elevates the Kristofferson original into something mythic.

- “Mercedes Benz” (33:03, 63:03)

• Written and recorded impromptu; acapella, memorable for its biting social commentary.

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Important Timestamps

• 09:02 — Fitzsimmons on Pearl as formative; Janis’s blues authenticity
• 13:50 — Joplin’s traumatic youth and outsider status
• 29:47 — On Pearl as a posthumous masterpiece, not a cash grab
• 44:37 — “Move Over” as statement song
• 57:03 — Josh on “A Woman Left Lonely”
• 61:43 — Detailed appreciation for “Me and Bobby McGee”
• 62:19 — “Nothing left to lose” and the mythos after her death
• 83:23 — On the Rolling Stone list and shifting music canon
• 86:09 — Fitzsimmons’ “elevator pitch” for Pearl

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Final Reflections

• Both Josh and Greg dismiss the notion that Janis is legendary only because of her early tragic death—her voice, honesty, and musicality would have ensured her legacy (67:10).
• Pearl is recommended as the definitive starting point for anyone interested in Joplin, the album that best captures her talent and spirit (86:09).

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Notable Sidebars

• Anecdotes about 1960s counterculture, Dead shows, and psychedelic experimentation enrich the context for Janis’s work and the times.
• Conversation about “tortured artists” in rock versus today’s healthier paradigms, and what’s lost or gained in the music (67:39).
• Brief debates about changing cultural and industry standards—how “the new Rolling Stone list” reflects attempts at course-correction that sometimes overcompensate (84:22).

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If You Only Listen to One Part

Catch the segment from 58:35 to 62:19 for the deepest dive into individual tracks and what makes Joplin’s performances immortal.

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Overall Tone

Friendly, irreverent, full of nostalgia and dry self-awareness. Both hosts are candid about their own histories with substance use and self-destruction—mirroring Janis’s struggles—and balance musical insights with comic asides.

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Elevator Pitch for “Pearl”

“This album captures someone who, although she hadn’t been around a long time, was an old soul. Ten tracks of bluesy genius—blues-based, pop culture, satirical. A snapshot of someone with a truly unique voice. If you want to know who Janis Joplin was—start here. It’s American music at its peak.” (86:09)

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Closing Thoughts

• Pearl endures thanks to its honesty, power, and focus.
• Janis Joplin remains in the pantheon, not just for burning out but for shining so memorably while she was here.

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Transcript

[Josh Adam Myers]

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[Greg Fitzsimmons]

The 500.

[Josh Adam Myers]

JM been walking us down through that 2012 edition so it ain't nothing to you. Hundreds want to go in and need of a friend the king of peace for angelo Talking the 500 until the end Talking the 500 until the end with my man J on the 500 Talking the 500 until the end. Make up your mind you paying me make up your mind. The song is Move over and I'm telling y'. All. That might be one of the better opening tracks that we have had on this podcast. It's from Pearl. It's from 1971. It's by Janice Joplin and you are listening to the 500. Oh yeah. And this album is number 125 out of 500. I that up for the first time ever. In how many episodes? 375 episodes of the 500 with me, Josh Adam Myers. What's up party people? We're counting down Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums from 500 down to 1. It's a 2012 list, man. We got some ideas for when the show ends. I'm thinking about it. I'm thinking About a weekly. Me and Fetty Wap. Me and Fetty Wap. Going through the 2020 list. What do you think? What do I got to talk about? Social media is about to start popping, guys. I got a new social media manager. I'm really excited about it. Podcast, clips, all that stuff. It's all going to be a really good investment. So go to Josh Adam Myers on all social media. Follow the podcast at the 500 podcast because we're going to keep posting more and more about that. And I got one show this month I want to tell you guys about. Well, two that I'm really excited about. January 21st we're doing Shimmy Shimmy Ya at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles. Bill Burr, Bobby Lee, David Spade, Harland, all the, all the, the hitters. And then the 22nd through the 25th, I will be in Calgary at one of my favorite clubs, the Laugh Shop. So come one, come all. Tickets are atjosh adam myers.com. i will be there with Eric Novak, my good buddy. He rules. It's one of my favorite fucking clubs to do. So come one, come all. And you know, bring 25 people to each show. I would love to see you guys. Damn. All right, what are we talking about? Janis Joplin? What are we, what are we doing here, people? What are we doing? JJ J Squared, Janjo Pearl, man, sometimes I look at the list and I, and I go ahead of myself and I listen to the albums that I see coming up that I'm just like, let me just give a little scoodle about it, dude. This one did not disappoint whatsoever. And if you'll see, this is a two part episode because next week you're gonna see a little bit of the booking process. So I'm excited for you to get that one where me and another comedian, he's been on before, we talk about stuff and we say, God, I need a guest for this album for Janice Joppin Pearl. You'll have to wait and see. But we got a goodie today, brother. The one and only Greg Fitzsimmons. Fitz Dog. He is joining us again. He's doing the Hitters. Dude, Greggy is doing, he's done what Bruce Springsteen, he did come on in, do the Rising, he did the Stooges. And now he's here for Janis Joplin. Incredible comic. Fitz Dog. Radio check that shit out. Go to gregfitsimmons.com for all his tour dates. He's going to talk about that at the end. He is on the road. He's an hilarious comic. He's done Rogan like 20 times. And he is a rock and roll hippie connoisseur. So dig the out of this one raid review. And most importantly, subscribe to the 500 listen free on all platforms. Any way to get your pods? Follow me at Josh, Adam Myers and all social media, follow the 500 at the 500 Podcast. Email the [e-mail]. Follow the Facebook group run by Crazy Evan. And for all these 500, go to the website the500podcast.com all right, y', all not left to say, but I should do the right thing. Here we go. I did like that, though. That was fun. Janice Joplin, Pearl125 Dig it. She is the patron saint of what I would say burning out. And today our guest is the living proof of that. You can actually make it out alive and still be funny and be a podcaster, which is the hardest profession in the world. You do the hardest job.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Is it worthy of a Golden Globe? I mean, I watched the Golden Globes on Sunday, and they gave out an award for best podcast. And I thought, is there more of a mail it in style of entertainment than pie? I mean, you got. You've got filmmakers that. That smuggle cameras into North Korea to document human rights abuses, and they edited for two years and they fight to get into festival. And then we got. We got Amy Poehler asking Gwyneth Paltrow what time she eats dinner at night.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Hey, that's a great clip. Do not shit on that clip. I'll give you. I'll give you this. Listen, podcasting is ridiculous, and everybody's got one, but God damn, is Amy Poehler really having a good hang? She's having a good, fun hang.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Amy's extremely talented, and I'm not making fun of her. I'm making fun of people taking this seriously. And the fact that it costs $50,000 to get your podcast nominated, you have to pay that to get it nominated. And it just. It's weeding out. Anybody that's doing a grassroots do it yourself podcast, it's all corporate. It's William Morris putting together a studio. Come on, look at us. Look at us.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, dude, this is. This is exactly what it is. But, dude, if we had a better studio and all this, I mean, it's just. The sky's the limit, dude. Yeah, we might actually. We might. We made a habit. Maybe me, you, and, like. And a Janis Joplin, you know, what do you call that? A where they hologram. Thank you. Good God, my brain is slow today.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah, I got you.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, I'm gonna need you to. I'm gonna need you to cover a lot of the heavy lifting on this today, dude. Yeah, no, I know you're not. This is. What's so great about. About this is that this is like, I'm. I was excited to. To have this record come out.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Like, I was so excited when you guys reached out and said this was the album. This is shock. When I was growing up, I mean, my friends, all we listened to was rock that was made between 1966 and 1972. And Janis Joplin. Pearl was one of my first cassettes. I bought. We used to buy cassettes, I remember. And we go up to Rockwood and we play Hacky Sack and we throw a Frisbee and we would.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Listen. Stop.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Stop there. Stop there.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Hacky sack. What. What. What level of a sacker are you? Are you. Can you do stalls?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

I can do stalls. I can catch it on the back of my neck. You know, when you smoke enough pot, it's really. Is like. It's a varsity sport. In our high school.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, we used to have at the smoking section at Seneca Valley High School. Me, Tassos Lenderidas, Ben Allen, Kevin Bagini, Mark Thomas, the guys I used to hang out with. My first band. I mean, that was it. Smoke cigarettes, smoke pot and sack dude zach.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

To 2.25 pack of cigarettes. $2 and 25. That was my starting smoking. And that was a lot back then to get that to 225.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Well, my. My parents both chain smoked Viceroys, which I think had a skull and crossbone on it. They were really bad for you.

[Josh Adam Myers]

We're doing. They were doing what? They were doing what, like, Europe. They were doing, like, what Europe and Canadians do now. Like, they were so ahead of the game where they were showing you, like, the death and the teeth falling out and the hole in your neck. Yeah, back then, before anybody was doing that.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

No, my. My father smoked three and a half packs a day, and my mom smoked a pack a day, so I used to grab. I. You know, I smoked half a pack a day, so I just grabbed their cigarettes and. Yeah, you know, but. And I had asthma. But anyway, we would play Hacky second Frisbee, and I can just remember, like, when I hear Crybaby, it's just like. It brings me back to that music at that age when you're rebellious and you're listening to somebody sing from their heart. And I think that nobody captured that more than Janis Joplin did. I can count on one hand how many white people I want to hear the. Sing the blues. And she's the first finger on that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

She might be one of the. I mean, I would hate this. I don't want to break it down by color whatsoever, but, I mean, you know, to. To be a white woman, to sing like that, have that much soul, and they didn't.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

That's the thing. No white women had sung blues like that at all.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, I don't. Yeah, I mean. I mean, there had. There had to have been. I mean, it's. It's. You know. Alex, can you look that up? I mean, I don't think there had to have been other white women singing the blues. I mean, I know, like, because I'm thinking of, like, there's always, like, the Ella Fitzgeralds and the Bessie Smith, but that's not, like, blues swing singers.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Like, hold on. They're black. Josh.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Okay, you're right. No, you're 100% right. Well, what is. I mean, is. It is. But there's something. I think, with the thing about Janice is that it just felt like she wasn't just trying to be cool. You know, you really felt an honesty in her voice, like the. The. That gravel. That. That feeling. And the fact. And I. And I do not. I'm not look shaming her whatsoever, but the fact that she wasn't, like, this, like, gorgeous, you know, centerfold, like, she was a real human being that looks like her body was lived in, and she had a hard life, and there was that. It's. You know what I mean? It just added much more character.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Take that out of the equation. I mean, her having deep pock marks on her face. She was an outcast in high school. She felt like the ugly duckling. And that very much affected her, definitely relationships with men. I think you can hear in her vocals how she feels about being abandoned by men. I mean, when she cries out, you know, you know, about getting broke, a woman left lonely on that album. I mean, you hear it. You hear the pain and the. And there was a neediness that she had. She was like. She used to like the door. The. The bellhop would bring her her bags to her room, and she'd. The guy. There's stories about that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. It says she grew up in Port Arthur, Texas, a very conservative oil town. He was artsy, loud, opinionated, which, for a place like Port Arthur, Texas, I mean, could you imagine what that must have been like? It's like being gay, you know, it's like, to be an artist is like being like, you know, I also men. And, and I'm a man. What I'll be, it's like, you know, dude, I, I remember when me and, me and Jelly Roll did a show. Was it Texas Tech, which is like a crazy Christian area, Corpus Christi. And, and dude, it was like they walked out because he said something about weed. They were like, oh, my God. Yeah, yeah, we can't be here. So imagine what that's like to be a loud, opinionated woman in the 50s and the 60s. She's emotional in a place that, that, that, that, you know, that valued conformity. So she didn't finish, like you said, bullied hard. In high school, we mocked about her weight, looks, clothes. Oh, man, she was, she was voted ugliest man on campus as a cruel joke in college.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

God, yeah, I know that in college she kind of famously walked around barefoot and wore jeans, which you didn't do back then. Women didn't wear jeans in public. Maybe to garden or farm, but. So she was like, you know, I think there's a part of her. There's this famous story about her going back home for her 10th high school reunion. And it was a big deal to her to go back there, having been successful and try to. I don't know if she wanted to rub it in their face or whatever, but she went back and it actually was a horrible experience. She didn't. Nobody changed. Nobody was affected by her fame. They still. She still felt like a freak.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That's so crazy, man. Such a crazy, crazy sitch.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Never go to the genius. I've never gone.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Why would you. Well, why would you. Why would you go? Like, dude, reunions suck. I mean, I went.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

I don't think.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I don't think I went, dude. I was so bummed about my, like, the 20 year one. I was living in LA and I almost flew in for it, and nobody put any time or effort into it. And it was literally in the back of, like, in like the conference room of a friend that went to college once. We went to high school with his restaurant in Frederick, Maryland. You know, the, the, the, the, the buffet was just like chicken tenders.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Like, it was. And like. And then the worst part is, to be honest with you and I, Greg, I don't know. Like, dude, you look at the people that you. That. That were like the hot, attractive people, whether they were the guys or the girls, none of them are attractive anymore.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

No, when you look at them and you go, all right, we're the same age that means I look like these. I don't want to know. I look this old. I hang around with younger people. I hang around with Josh, Adam, my. This is how I feel. Young.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You just said how long? Like, I pickled myself at, like, 36. Because that was. That was when I stopped drinking, doing drugs. That's not saying that I didn't have a couple. I did just have a nice little relapse, which was a lot of fun. I'm not gonna lie. I'd never done. You know, I never did coke back in the past when I had money. So it was really nice to be able to do that and buy enough. Yeah, it was nice.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Good.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It was nice to go, I'm gonna buy an eight ball. And they're like, really? I never did that.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

I think it's. It's important to, you know, check off those unrealized dreams.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Really is.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

That was the last night I ever drank, which was January 1st. I quit in. In 1990, and I did an eight ball with a friend that night, and. And I made a fool of myself, blabbered on.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, no.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Was inappropriate. And I just went. And I was so ashamed. And. And then my friend who didn't do coke, like, kind of pulled me aside, like, dude, what the fuck are you doing? And I really respected this guy, and that was enough. That's. I just quit.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. You know, I. I went to Europe. I started drinking beers a little bit, but by the way, this is all the fans. I don't know I've talked about this at all, but, yeah, it was like. It wasn't. It wasn't bad. I was drinking like an adult, not like I. I did in the past. And. And I was like, oh, my God, I can handle this. And I could. The whole trip, I barely got drunk. I'd get a buzz, and I'd stop. I would never drink liquor. Just beer. Maybe wine. The Vatican. When I was at the Vatican, doing this thing with. With jelly roll, I drank a little too much Prosecco. And I did get a little. A little. I would say wasted. But I definitely. By the time we got back to the hotel and then I got back to America, and, dude, I just got. I was so depressed and bored that I was like, you know what? I. I was like, I'm going to keep drinking. I thought I was going to stop. And then. And then it was like, okay, now I'm starting to. You know. And then I think it was like, one of those things where you're like, all right, if I'm going to End this thing. I need to have, like, one strong push, and I need to have the worst hangover ever. And so I was like, how do you do that? Cocaine.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

There you go. How did you find it?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, come on, dude.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

You know a lot of coke deals. Come on, dude.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Look at me.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah, I could.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I could have cocaine here right now. Even if you could give me my phone. Could be. You could give me a fresh brand new burner phone. I bet you I could find cocaine within. Within a half hour. Yeah, I just. You just got to know who to ask.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Brought over. Brought over by a hooker in a stolen car.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And that's how it started, too. It wasn't. It wasn't the hooker, but it was the. The day that it. That it. That I decided to finally do it, which I was like. Because I. I went the whole trip without doing coke. So three months, and I got back for about a month. I wasn't doing it. I was like, all right. And I was watching a Redskins game at this shitty bar, and there was this girl there, and I was like. I was like, hey, do you want to just go back to my place and get some coke and just fuck for a couple of days? And she was like, all right. And I was like, okay, cool. Perfect. There we go. Dude, Jesus.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Wait, who were you with in Europe for three months?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I was by myself. I was just. I was. Oh, so I was by myself for the first month and a half, and then I was a month and a half with Jelly Roll and Post Malone. Oh, yeah.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

So you hung out with Post Malone?

[Josh Adam Myers]

My.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

My daughter dates. She's been going out for a while with Post Malone stylists. You probably partied with him on the road. I'd like.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Probably.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

I mean.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, here's what's funny about the. About those people. Like, that sounded so racist, those people, the. The Posty people. Like, I. I got to know some of them, but it was re. The camps were very separate.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Oh, really?

[Josh Adam Myers]

So Post Malone, he. Dude, he. He's, you know, he's very well protected. And there was a couple times, like, we went to this wrestling thing and went out to D them. But as far as, like, partying with him, like, it was. It was really separated. It was only. I only got.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

See a big partyer. This is group party.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I. I would say, yeah. I think they. I mean, drinking, yes. Because I think. And that's not a knock on him because he's in great shape and he. He murders on stage. I never saw him eat one morsel of food. I've only seen him drink beer and smoke cigarettes and I mean, he's.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Were there a lot of women around? I don't.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Dude, it was. That's all. It's all. That was it. Dude. They were in a different side of the arena. You know what I mean?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

You're. You're just. I'll tell you're being a pro.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You can't do. What am I supposed to do? I'm trying to go on tour with them again.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Oh, I get it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Orgy after orgy with. With uglies and hotties, with janices and mama casses.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

All right, let's get back to janice. Let's get back to Jan.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm just. I'm shocked that you. That you're here for this. I don't mean to say it like that. I just. Are you a neo hippie that I don't know about? Because.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

No, no. Really? Yeah. Tie dye shirts and long hair all through high school, and I had the denim jacket with Jim Morrison painted on the back of it. No, we went to all the Dead shows, but, you know, at the same time, like, we weren't pussy Deadheads. We were like hard rockers that also enjoyed the Dead a lot. So I feel like we were. If I. I always felt like I wish I'd been, you know, 18 years old in 1966. That was like. I felt like a person out of time, like I had been born at the wrong time.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Really?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah. And then I got into college. It was the same all through college. And then, you know, and then I quit drinking and I cut my hair, and I became a very serious standup comedian.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Were you. Were you, like. Were you Cosmic vibes? Were you.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

No.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Like, you weren't like that. Were you free love?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yes. Yes. As a matter of fact, I grew up in Tarrytown, New York, and it was very free. There was very few people that dated. There was no boyfriends and girlfriends. We just kind of were all really good friends, and we all partied together, and there was a lot of having sex with each other. It was fine.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, God, I wish I experienced. I mean, I kind of experienced that in the rave scene a little bit.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But it wasn't not like that. Like, my buddy, my podcast producer, but he just got married, but he. He lives in Ibiza and, like, lived in Hawaii. He's just. Yeah, dude, he's. He's turned into a neo hippie. So we. We were in Ibiza with. Meeting all of his, like, these beautiful Spanish people. Men, women, everybody is gorgeous. And we all did this mushroom ceremony, and while me and Jeremiah just, you know, we're tripping, eating like this. The morsels of food that all these different people had brought. The. The. The attractive Spanish people laid in like a cuddle puddle and. And just laid there on the sand. Like, just like. There's like nine people.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Just.

[Josh Adam Myers]

They weren't make. I mean, I didn't know they were making out. No body parts were out, but there was so much, like, love. And it was like, ah, man. I mean, that'll be weird if I'm like, hey, guys, you know, you just met me.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah, right? And you just bring a. You just bring a. An aggro male energy into it, and everybody just leaves.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I. I went to a. I went to a sex party out here once. This girl brought me, and then she left early. And once she left early, she's like, no, stick around. And just. She's like, just trying to try to find some sex in there. And I was like. And after, like, 10 minutes of me being like, hey, what do I jump? All right, you know, I'm just going to go like, yeah, I don't know these people.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Right, right, right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So. So. So the drugs were. You. You were a. You were a. Was it psychedelics or two?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah, I used to. Actually, I used to sell mescaline. And so my. There was a guy. The town I grew up in, there was like a projects downtown, and, you know, it was all black. And there was a kid. I won't say his name, but he was a dealer. And then I was sort of his. He. I was his guy with the white kids. So I would sell the mescaline. And he came over my house one time, and I was out and I came home and my mother. His name was Andre, and my mother was sitting in the living room drinking tea with Andre, who was like, clearly a gangster, and my mom just had no idea. He just. He came by to get money from me and. And so after that, I go, hey, Andre, we're done. We're done. I go, I can't. I can't have these two worlds coming together. And I. I stopped selling for him after that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I did mescaline at the. Which I'm very glad that I. That I did this at this show. I went to see the last time I saw Dead in Company. Are you Deadhead?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Are you. Are you. Are you doing okay about the. Because that's it. That's got to be it. I mean, you can't go on anymore. He's gone. That the last main Guy is gone. Mickey is a fucking. His drumming is garbage.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Well, he's deaf, apparently. He can't hear anymore.

[Josh Adam Myers]

What makes sense because his little drum. Because that's when he does the drum solo. That's when everybody goes to get beer and takes pisses at City.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah, I know. I know the Space Jam is really brutal these days. But no, I. We've. I've seen them like three or four times the last couple years with. Got to see them at the Sphere, which was insane, I bet. So great.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I bet.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

And yeah, and Bob Weir's interplay with. With John. John Mayer is like. It really was as good as him. As Bob and Jerry. It was just insane. So it was good to see that he was still on top of his game. And I was thinking about this when he. When he passed. Like, I think I'd be hard pressed to name anybody that has done as many live shows as Bob Weir, because not only was he playing with the Dead when the Dead wasn't touring, he had his own bands.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Rap band. There's like.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Rap. Yeah, yeah, something like that. Yeah. The. And. And so Rap Bird or if. So.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, we got it. It's like rat. It's like rat. Alex, look that up, dude, because I'm not looking it up.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

So, I mean, starting in, you know, the Dead was together since the early 60s, so they.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Rat dog, living in the movies. Old man, that is Little cutie Daddy Scooby, like the back dog.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah. And he just loved it right to the end. There was a really good documentary about him that I saw about six months ago that you should see. I think it's on. I think it's on Netflix.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I became a fan of the band the Dead because of this show. Having Phil Hanley on multiple times. Having. Yeah. You know, so giving them a shout out. Senator Al Franken. I was about to quit the show. I've talked about this before, so I don't hope I'm not redoing myself, but I was literally on the. On the precipice of quitting the show. And we had Senator Al Franken on to talk about. I think it was Working Man's Blues or American Beauty. And. Yeah, what you're doing is so cool. And I was like, I'm actually thinking about quitting. He goes, what number you at? And I tell him. He goes, you can't. You're. You're. You're halfway done. Like, what are you doing? Like, what a.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

What a loss.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And what you're doing is so cool. And. And literally that was Enough for me to stick around.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah. Well, the Dead. There was a great documentary about a train ride that the Dead did with Janis Joplin. Look that up. What it was called, but let's look it up. They basically did like a bunch of shows in Canada. And it was the. It was the band. It was the band. The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Buddy Guy. And they document them just sitting in the bar car with their instruments just jamming. It was insane. It's called the Festival Express. I actually saw that in theaters. Wasn't that great?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Can we get you a better mic? Alex, we got to get you a better mic when you're on air. We got to get you a. You know, tell jt.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Jt, he keeps saying I got one in my studio. I'll make sure to bring one up.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Come on, dude. You sound like you're in a goddamn Tron. Like I'm speaking to you. Are you. Are you Aries? Nobody gets that because nobody saw the movie. That's. That would have been a funny joke if that movie would have done better than the. Than the 40. Than the 40 million. All right, let's talk. Let's talk. Janice. Let's talk about her childhood before we get into this record. I wanna.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Okay. Because this is it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This is. This is. This is a. This is a very, very important record. And I think this is. This is what. How do I. How do you put this? Because I. I think. I think that if you're going to release a. A posthumous. Is that the word I'm looking for?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah. Posthumous?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes. If you're going to release a record after somebody passes away, this is the way you do it. Because this does not feel. This feels like her life work. This feels like a record that is, like, untouched. It's. It was like, here we go, guys. We're giving you what she gave. We're not gonna. With anything else. We're just gonna give you. You know, and this is like. This is her. This is her masterpiece. This is.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

I mean, it really is. I mean, it's just song after song. There's. There's four or five songs on the record that probably all of you know almost every word.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Every word.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

And, you know, and it was recorded literally, they finished like a week before she died. And, you know, the last one they recorded was Mercedes Benz, which is just her acapella. I think one person is stomping their foot in the background to keep time. One take done. And that song was actually written in between two shows that they were doing in la. At some theater, and she was with a couple friends and they went to a bar next door between shows, and they just wrote down the words to Mercedes Benz. And so, you know, Bobby McGee, you know, get it while you can. It's. But it's just. It's an amazing album. It's posture. I gotta think the only other posthumous album that feels as. As much as it's the best album they made was Eat a Peach with the Almond Brothers, where Dwayne Almond had died, like, before the album came out.

[Josh Adam Myers]

How do you spell postumus? Posh.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

P O S T. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

H U M O U S. H U M. Posthumously. So what are the best posthumously released? I'm gonna put this into the Internet. Released albums.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Well, Biggie. Biggie.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes. Okay. But. But the big one would be Live After Death.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And that's. But, dude, there's. There's like a million. There's a million songs on there. And if you. It's the same problem that I had with. With Use your Illusion by Guns and Roses, which is like. Dude, if you just take the best songs off of both of those records and put it on one album.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah, that's up there with.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I mean, it's. Is it Appetite. No, but it's a close second.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You know what I mean? It's not Chinese Democracy that took 13 years. So going by this, and before we get into all the facts, this is what people are throwing up. Pink Moon by Nick Drake. And I agree with that. 28 minutes. No filler at all. I would say that's like. It's so. It's so intimate. Have you listened to that record? The. Oh, God, dude. You know, it's who I did it with. I did it with. With Duncan Trussell. I mean, and it's an iconic record, but it took years for this record to find people after this guy.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Putting that on my list, right?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, you love it. It's. Dude, it's. You've heard. I know you've heard a few of the songs off it.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

They mentioned Sketches for My Sweetheart of the Drunk by Jeff Buckley, but I. That he was. That's not. That's not it.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Wait, no, no. Jeff Buckley had one album.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He had one album. Exactly. So this is. This was. That's a. This is a cash grab. Which. This. Which Pearl doesn't feel like a cash grab now.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

That's like Mountains of Neptune or whatever. Like Hendrix. Hendrix's estate put out a bunch of albums and they didn't love right away.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Of Love Left. It's not A leftovers dump. You know, they say. People say. I mean, because I'm reading here, people say it's a curated masterpiece, but because it feels like an album that he would have finished.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

The thing is, he had bought Electric Ladyland in New York, and he was just. Every night they. That. That studio had a fucking lounge for partying in, and then it had the recording studio off of it, and he would just party and he'd get inspired, and then we'd go cut some tracks. And that went on for a year. So there was a ton of material, but none of it feels as complete as, you know, Basically, the guy had two studio albums and he had one live album. That was it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, I don't know if I've ever listened to that one. The Cry of Love, Doc of the Bay, Otis Redding. That's. That's a big one. I mean, that. That's what. Basically his biggest single.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

He's on that 27 club also, right?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yep. Joy Division, closer release after Ian Curtis's suicide. That's the big record. I don't know if that's the one that we did on the podcast. They have some. Elliot Smith, they said, Live After Death, the Illumina, the Kill, the Don Caluminati, Seven Day Theory from Tupac, Janis Joplin, and. I mean, yeah, I think that. I think the argument right, is there. Is that. Is that dude, in my opinion, out of all of these Mac Miller circles. No, I would put.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

I would put this record, Eat a Peach and Pearl. Nobody mentions Eat a Peach on there.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It didn't say it. No, it did not.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Maybe because Eat a Beach was actually. They didn't have enough tracks, so they used some recordings that they'd done at the Fillmore to fill out the. The. I think it was 10 tracks and maybe six of them were studio.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So. So with this record, this is what's. What's so important. I think about this record because I was looking over all of the facts, all of the different doodads about this, you know, three months after she dies, probably her clearest, I would say, most focused capture of. Of what you would call the Janice Raw power. Yeah, it's emotionally, you know, this is like. You know, it's. It's a. It's. Her lyrics are dark. I mean, she's not like. Some of them are really. You know, they're. They're not. It's. If you really read what she's saying. But it's like with every song, though, she sounds confident. She's. She's playful. She's in control, which I think makes the tragedy of her dying so much harder. And. And it's like kind of frames is like. Is where. This is kind of where I think Janice. The direction where she would have gone. It was the same where I always say about. About. About Kurt Cobain. It's like, what would they have done next? Yeah, like, what would Nirvana have done after In Utero where they're pushing away the fame? Do you know what I mean?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Well, it seems like when they did MTV Unplugged and they did that cover of that Bowie song, that almost had like an Americana sound to it, and I could see them going deep into some acoustic Americana type stuff. What was that. What was the Bowie song they sang?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, the man who Sold the World.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, they're unplugged. They're unplugged. Look, is it. I always like to ask that question. I mean, I don't know if you have an opinion on it, but it's like the. Everybody sucks the dick of the Nirvana Unplugged because he died. And then that came out and. And that was such a powerful thing with him ending it with where did you sleep last night? Yeah, that lead Belly song. But I mean, the Alice in Chains Unplugged is just so.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Well, you know, the Nirvana Unplugged, they told. So Nirvana. Because Unplugged was only original music. And then Nirvana came on and they go, no, we want to do covers. And the head of mtv, Doug Herzog or whatever his name was, like, dug in and was like, you're not doing it with covers. You have to do your songs. And they just said, well, we're not going on. And like, literally an hour before MTV relented and they came out and they.

[Josh Adam Myers]

They sang those songs, which I love because I love that they had like. They had like the Meat Puppets. And. And I mean, they did. It's just crazy, you know, because they're the biggest band in the world and people like, what are you doing? Like, you have so much material. And they're like, it's the only way we want to do it. Oh, I. Dude, all respect to them. And then they bring the Meat Puppets out there to perform the songs with them.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Which is incredible. And I mean, you know, it's. I get it. And listen, I. I see why the Nirvana one is so important, because I think there's only such. Such limited things that we have. And I think that's the same thing with Janice, is that there's such limited. What exists is what exists? Yeah, that's it. You know, it's. It's like you pray that they have this, like, hidden vault of, like, Prince has, that probably will never be released.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

But it was there. There was something. I remember. There's an album that I heard that she recorded, like, in Austin. She. She. She went to. Originally, she went to San Francisco in the mid-60s and burned out. That's when she started doing drugs. And she kind of came back and she said, I didn't meet anybody out there that I'd call a friend. And then she got sober back in Texas, living with her family. But she would go to Austin for the weekends and she would play music there. And there was a producer that got 10 tracks out of her, just her and her acoustic guitar, and that came out later, and that was excellent.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, I'm looking over her, like, history right now. And I would say this, like we mentioned earlier, because I'm trying to get us to Here. I'm trying to get us to Pearl, because I think that's the. That's the. The most important thing when you're talking about this is that it's like, how do you get to. To this? Because she's done. You know, like we mentioned before, she grew up in a small Texas town. Loud, weird, blah, blah, blah, blah. She's bully. She escapes San Francisco, finds the blues. Bessie Smith finds drugs, as you do. Suddenly, the thing that she was mocked for becomes the thing that makes her famous. She explodes with Big Brother, but the chaos almost kills her. She tries another band, spirals harder, realizes fame doesn't give, doesn't fix anything. And then finally she resets and finds this new band. She gets more control, less noise. And that is how you get to Pearl.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You know, which is the cruelest joke possible, because it's this. This is like the sound of Janice finally getting her together. And then she immediately dies.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Well, I was also. She. Yeah, she'd cycled through a bunch of bands and, you know, Big Brother and the Holding Company were. They were an existing band. And so when she came in, they had huge success. They went to the Monterey Jazz Pop Festival, which. I mean, Jesus, you should do an episode just on that. That. That festival, which was the Summer of Love, it was 67. Preceded Woodstock, preceded Altamont, and that one launched Janice. It was the first time America had seen Jimi Hendrix. It was the first time America had seen the who, Otis Redding. It was insane. And it went off without a hitch. Perfect weather, everybody killed. And so anyway, so she.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Love that you cut the Other you're like perfect weather, 70 degrees breezy.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Like a little bit of participant precipitation in the morning. But the dew settled. Everybody's cool. It was a little sick. Couple people felt one person cold front.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah. But. But my point is, like, Big Brother was kind of squelching her because they wanted. First of all, they split the money evenly, which after a while it was like, all right, give me a break. And, you know, they went from. You know. Because Altamont got filmed and released and was a big hit. She became like one of the biggest stars in the country. And they did. She wanted a horn section and she wanted a bigger sound. And they were like, that's not what Big Brother is. And she's like, well, then I'm not Big Brother. And so she moved on and cycled through a lot of musicians. And this. The. These are the musicians that, yes, you, I think, sounded the best with.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, where's. I just had a whole thing about the band. Yeah. So here. And by the way, our. Our producer, not producer, slash writer, Morty Coyle, he recommended. When we were trying to find a guest, he. He jams with the. The producer of this record, Son Paul A. Rothschild. I think he produced the Doors. Uh. But yeah, he, uh. Morty jams with him weekly. And I think he's in a band with him. The band for this is the Full Tilt Boogie Band. Finally, her band. This is recorded Los Angeles, 1970. Mostly live field takes. Pearl is her nickname, in case anybody was wondering. It's like, meaning this is basically just Janice Joplin presents Janis Joplin. Love the album cover of the Black and White Portrait. It's intimate, serious, you know, it's not. This isn't a psychedelic record. This is the furthest thing I would say from like, a psychedelic album.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Thoughts? I don't know. I mean, you're the. You're the neo hippie. I mean, can you. Can you guys trip out to this. Is this a. Is this a Take mescaline and. And listen to. Or is this a. A drive to the. To the hippie, to the further festival? You get in the car, you're in the. The love van, and you're driving.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Well, I think part of psychedelic music is when you've got people like Grace Slick and Mama Cass, you've got these strong women. It was a fat. I mean, in the sense that if it's reflective of the late 60s, it was very feminist. It was about strong women singing about, you know, their experience with men. And so in that way. But I think that I Think it's a blues. And, you know, you got a song on here for you. She only wrote a couple of songs. Bobby Womack wrote one of the songs, and Kris Kristofferson was the one who wrote me and Bobby McGee. So I think a lot of it was, you know, Americana, soft country. But she always bought blues to whatever she was doing. So I think, you know, late 60s, what was, you know, what was Woodstock, was. What was Monterey. I think it was a fusion. You had fucking Ravi Shankar up there. I think they embraced blues, they embraced rock, they embraced, you know, country Joe and the Fish. Like, it was about these kids opening themselves up to different things. And like we talked about before, like, white women were not singing the blues. This was a very new thing. And I mean, what was the Dead? Were they jazz, Were they blues? Were they rock? You know, it was a coming together of a lot of genres.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. So looking over some of the tracks, the Move over is one of the only songs Janice wrote completely herself. Lyrics and the melody. She wrote it after she discovered a lover was cheating. Unusual. That's very unusually direct and confrontational for her is what they said shows her trying to claim sexual agency, not just heartbreak. And. And the producer pushed her to tighten the vocal phrasing with less chaos, more bite. This could be a nice. A perfect combination of the right producer with the right artist at the right time to push her in the direction. Yeah. And then often, it's often overlooked because it's not a hit. But. But I think this is. I mean, dude, Move over. That's what grabbed me. You put this right on that. I mean, it's. Yeah, I mean, that. That had me immediately was I was at the Mohegan Sun Gym waiting to start my 6pm Saturday show.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah, I've been there.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, but it's not like it's. By the way, it's not 6pm because you sold out the 8 and the 10. They started 6 and then they do that in the 8, which I don't mind, especially when it's a drivable. You mind.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

I'm going to Atlanta this weekend. And the punchline does the same thing. Six, eight, and ten. And by, by halfway through my ten o' clock set. I have no idea which jokes I've already told.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I know, I know. I, I. Dude, I actually, I love doing that venue because I love the staff. Just, just everything about it. The Marcy. Is that her name? The girl.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

She's the greatest. She is. She is Janis Joplin.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Hey, everybody. So you guys have probably heard me talk about how I've been in bands my whole life. I love writing songs and performing in front of crowds. Just like with comedy. As a musician it can be kind of hard to cut through the noise and really stand out as an artist. I feel like half the music projects I've been in have ended just because we couldn't figure out the answer to that eternal question of how do we get people to hear us. But then again, that was before there was Distrokid. Distrokid is a digital music distribution service that brings your sound to the max masses. It's a one stop shop for getting your songs on itunes, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon, Deezer, Tidal, and many more. What's these? I never even heard of Deezer. How many of them are there? I know all that. That's like the holy grail of streaming services though.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

And.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And getting paid. They want to. We want to get you paid for your music. That's huge because a lot of bands go broke before they get big. But Distrokid collects earnings and payments and sends a hundred percent of these earnings to artists minus banking fees and active applicable taxes. And that's just one of the tons of benefits of using Distrokid. You can send big files to anyone with their Instant Share feature. You can use the Hyper Follow feature to promote your release and get pre saves on your song. You can even create personal landing pages for yourself, your band, your brand, and whatever you like. It has a free Spotify Canvas generator too to generate your own Spotify Canvas for your songs. And the Mixia feature instantly masters your tracks for higher quality audio. So if you're ready to bring your band to the next level, it's time to check out Distrokid. The Distrokid app is now available on iOS and Android. Go to the app or Play Store to download it. Listeners of this show can get 30% off their first year by going to distrokid.com 500. That's distrokid.com VIP the 500 for 30% off your first year. Dig it. New year, same extra value meals at McDonald's. So now get two snack wraps plus fries and a medium soft drink for just $8 for a limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California. And for delivery, free. Dude, dude, you ain't lying. Oh but it's just the. I mean the food and then I always go to. I always go to the. Go get soul food at. What is the place called Darn it. Why can't I think of it?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

It's in Buckhead.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No. Mary Max. Mary Max. Tea room. I rent a car. I don't know about you. Do you rent a car?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

No. No. I. I'm not a road guy. When I go on the road, I go to the hotel and the club. Except I was in Cleveland this past weekend and I went to the Rock and Roll hall of Fame, and I saw they have an SNL exhibit that it's almost worth flying in just for that. They've got a screen up where you can watch every musical performance for the last 50 years. You can just punch up on the screen.

[Josh Adam Myers]

What?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Got headphones and a screen. I stood there for two and a half hours just going through everybody's first appearance. And Sinead o' Connor doing. This is the. This is the end of our engagement. This is the last day of our engagements, where it's just her, bald on an acoustic guitar, locked off on one camera that gets closer and closer until the fucking song explodes with the band with a minute left and she starts doing this punk rock jig around this. It's. I had tears coming down my face.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, I, I.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

You know.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So I vote on the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. And I'm pushing to try to get her. I mean, I'm. I'm voting. I get, like. You get to vote for seven. It used to be five. You only get to pick five. And I think you get to pick seven people to put forward to that you vote for.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

She's not in.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, she's not in. But, wow. You know, I don't know if she will not because she doesn't deserve it. It's just, you know, it's just every year somebody bigger gets in or there's somebody. It's up for eligibility. And, like, I was shocked that Soundgarden got in because I've been pushing for sound guard. I was pushing for A Tribe Called Quest. Like, you know that you're like, oh, Outkast is gonna get in. Of course, dude. Warren Zevon got in. Only. Only through. Through just a thing of people being like, dude, where you gotta put him in? He just.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

I think Letterman got Letterman got Warren Zevon in.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I hope so. Yeah. Look, dude, it's. It's ridiculous. Like, it's ridiculous when you see some of the people that aren't in there yet.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

What the. Dude, I know.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I mean, Janice, obviously a. No, I mean, she's one of the. Like. This is what I love about this kind of a rock star is that she is before you even know her music. Like, you just know who Janice. Like, I bet you if you ask and if you ask somebody that's a Gen Z, they would. They would. They might not know her music, but they heard the name Janis Joplin, like, she is on the level of. She's like a Madonna, you know, she's that big. She's global.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, and her songs are. You know, the lyrics are really catchy. You know, they're the songs that really stay with you. And I don't know which ones they released as singles on this album. I'd be curious which ones they released as singles because, like, me and Bobby McGee is probably got the most legs of any of these songs, right?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, that's. That was the first one released. That was released first. Then it was with the B side being Half Moon. The second one was Crybaby Mercedes Benz, and then the final one was get it while you can't move over.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Okay.

[Josh Adam Myers]

34 minutes of just pure.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Just.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I. I mean, just amazing.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Just an amazing record. And then on top of that, like, this is what I love about this not being a cash grab, you know, it is. It is basically there. It's not finished. And so they don't try to, you know, put lyrics on the. The. The song that. The instrumental.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Where is it? What is that called? That's. We can't. Buried alive in the Blues. She dies right before that's released. And they. And. And she's supposed to record the vocals, so they just leave it that way. That's interesting, man. That they would do that. If you're. If your voice disappeared tomorrow, what part of your work would. Would still speak for you? What do you think? What do you think would stay. Speak out the most?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

You mean looking back or going forward?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'd say, looking back.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

What would stay? I would say. I mean, the great thing is, like, my kids, assuming I still pay the 50amonth hosting fee, my kids can listen to my podcast for. For the rest of their lives, you know?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

And so I. It's a very personal. Like, I talk very personally on my podcast, and I like to think they'd be interested in that. Like, especially the first 15, 20 minutes of my podcast is just me talking.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

And they may not want to hear all the interviews, but it might be nice for them to go back and. And listen to a lot of it is me talking about them as kids.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That's so great. Yeah. I wish, like, my dad used to do that. He was not podcasting, but he used to. When my grandmother and my aunt. My great. Was my grandmother, my great aunts, all of them used to sit around and just, like, smoke cigarettes and, like, drink when they were. You know, they're in their 80s. And my dad used to just put, like, a tape recorder and just hit. Hit record and just let him talk.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Oh, really?

[Josh Adam Myers]

It was just them talking, dude. Yeah.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Where were they all from?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Pennsylvania, I think. Most of them. Yeah. Because my dad. That's the thing that sucks, man, is that, like, my. My mom is kind of like the. The only one that still remembers a lot of the history, even my dad's history, too. But my dad, like, when he passed away, it's like. It's just left a hole of, like, so many questions. So I know my dad was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and that's where my grandmother lived, but, dude, I have no idea. I think. I think we're a Pennsylvania family. I'm pretty sure.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah. My father died young. He was, like, 53. And he never told me one thing about his family growing up. And he had one brother, no cousins. His brother didn't have kids. His brother was the skid row alcoholic. He lived in the Bowery in a welfare motel. And so I barely knew him. And then when my father died, I don't know anything. He grew up in the Bronx. You know what I know about him? What he was friends with? Do you know Mike Gibbons? Mike Gibbons is like. He was the head writer on the Golden Globes. He's the head writer on all the roasts. He. He created Norm MacDonald show and David Spade show, and he's been my best friend since college.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, no shit.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

His father and my father were friends in the Bronx, and my daughter and Mike's daughter are really close friends their whole lives. Isn't that cool?

[Josh Adam Myers]

That is awesome. That is awesome.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Together growing up. But anyway, yeah, the. Just to bring it back to this album, I have my. I have a. I had thousands of CDs, and then when the MP3 player came out and all that, I. I burned them all onto my MP3 players and I sold. I went to Amoeba Records, where they were giving you, like, a pretty good price. They were giving you, like, four or five bucks a CD back in the day. And so I sold them for a bunch of money, and I kept. I have one book with sleeves of CDs in it, and I gave it to my daughter to listen to. She's way more into music than my son. And Pearl is one of the final. I Think there's a hundred or two hundred CDs in there. And Pearl is one of the ones that was not sold to Amoeba Records.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I love that. I love that. I mean, this is. I'm so glad that this, this one popped in when it did. It's like, I, I, I. We've done Big Brother Holding Company. I think we did Cheap Thrills. But this, this record, though, this one really, really did kind of like get me. I'm gonna say my favorite song on the record now because there's. You've had. I've had these moments. Like I'm trying to remember where it really. The first one, where it started, where it was like I was blown away by something I had never hear. And it was only because of this podcast. It was probably something off a maggot brain. I think it was Hit it and Quit it and just being completely blown away and then doing Neil Young. God, I forget what the record is, but there's a song, Lookout Joe, one of my favorite, favorite songs I've heard from doing this podcast. And when I did this record. What is the. Let me find. Get the title of it just to make sure I got it right. I don't want to it up. A Woman Left Lonely. The track three, it's a Dan Penn Spooner Oldham song. I mean, it's. Is it, is it the, the most popular one of this? God, no. Is it a deep cut? Probably. God damn. I listen to that song well over a hundred times. I mean, it is probably in my top 10 favorite songs that I've done from since I've started doing this.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Really?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, my God, dude, it's. It's. Alex. Play a little bit. Play a little bit of that song. It's track three on it. I'm trying to get the facts of it, but I got all my, like, completely.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Doesn't that get you demonetized when you play music on your podcast?

[Josh Adam Myers]

We can play 14 seconds and then we have to talk about it. So play Skip. Go ahead. Go. Go into like the middle of it. Alex.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Sure thing. Sure thing. The best 13 seconds.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Pick the best. Read my mind. The, the section that I want you to play that part. There we go. Here we go. When a good place. And it. Just keep it. You can take it out. You take it off that just like that. Just that moment right there. I mean, that's like. It's like. It just. You feel that so deeply, like inside of you that. Yeah, I mean, I'm just like, you know, I mean, this is. This Is like, you know, like I said, it's that perfect combination of working with the right producer because it's anything after anything off of Cheap Thrills. This just sounds so much cleaner. And then, you know, for. And for her to work with Rothchild, it says that she begged him to keep the arrangement minimal. Where it's like. You feel like it could have gone bigger, but her. That's what let her voice, like. It feels like this record just lets her voice be the instrument that motivates everything. The melodies are there, the organs are there, the strings are there, whatever it is. But, you know, you can hear her a few times even in that song, where she just is singing so good quietly. And it's. It's barely, you know. You know, that's what she's literally just. But. And it's. It's. This is what I mean about her.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Voice is it's so powerful and it's so gravelly that you don't think she would be capable of, you know, elegant little, you know, hitting notes. But she had, like, perfect pitch. You know, when you. When you listen to Move over, when she is on top of that guard, that. That guitar lead. Exact. She's perfect.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, dude. And it's like. I mean, like we said Move Over. That's her song, Crybaby. That's. You know, it's a. It's a cover, but it doesn't feel like a cover. It feels like because she's reversing. Like, you know, it's a dominance flip of how she's doing this, like. Because it feels like she's. She's not begging in Crybaby. She's daring him to crawl back to her. He's like. You know, it's like. It's almost like she's. She's calling him. You know what I mean? It's a master class in, like, how. In, like, how she inhabited almost the covers instead of copying them.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah, well, I mean, Me and my. Me and Bobby McGee is my favorite, I think.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Go there.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

It's a Chris Christopherson song, and it's one of those songs I love songs that are perfect stories with beginning, middle. And when you think about, like, Tangled up in Blue or, you know, most of Tom Waits songs, you know, it's a story you don't get tired of hearing told ever. Over and over again. It's like the way she does it. It's so. You feel like you're in that fucking truck with the rain on the windshield and the wiper blade. You. You. You just. You. You're there.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. And it doesn't feel like. It's like it says. Janice slightly rearranged the phrasing of the song, which. Giving it more loneliness than freedom. This is recorded very quickly. It's the only. It became her only number one hit. And then that lyric, nothing left to lose took on this, like, mythic weight after she died, you know, where. It's. It's. It's. It's just. I mean, that song is. That's a. That's like a song that, like, when we've done the jam, like, three or four women have done this song, and it's like, all right, you're gonna do. You're gonna do Janis Joplin. You better nail it. You know, I think did a.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Pink did a pretty good version of it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, well, Pink. Pink insane. Pink can really say. Yeah. And she.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

I think Pink said that Janice was. There was no other influence. She's like that. That was it for her. Coming up.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. I. I mean, who else did it? Rosebud Baker saying it. Jen Kirkman and Jackie Tone. And each one of them, like, Rosie. When Rosie. When Rosebud did it, I was like. I was like, this thing, Janice, she murdered it. Kirkman. Kirkman did it. But she dressed up as Janice. So I think the outfit, everything kind of, you know, she. I mean, she looked just like Janice Joplin. She had the bow with the thing in her hair and, you know. Mercedes Benz. Written in 10 minutes in a bar with friends, like we said. Recorded acapella. One take. There's no intention of it being like a major track. It's a satire on consumerism disguised as a drunk prayer. It's the last song she ever recorded, and it became one of her most culturally, culturally, culturally referenced moments. Why do you think. Why do you think that is Mercedes Benz? Is it because that's just her. It's because, you know, she's. She's. You know, it's because it's this satire, you know, disguise.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

I feel like it was a fuck you to where she came from. It really felt personal, you know, like she was talking about the girls that had made fun of her and that their. Their aspirations, rather than finding themselves and moving to San Francisco and a thousand guys and doing drugs, was to just get this car. If they could just get this car. And God was involved. Like they were. They were using God to get a car. So I. That's how it. And we. We have these family reunions. My mother's side of the family, as opposed to my father's. Is the opposite. My mother was one of six, and they each had, like, seven kids, and there was 10. My grandfather was one of 13.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Jesus.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Ireland. So we would have these family reunions where we would rent out, like, a resort at the Poconos, and we'd all go. And then. And then I started running a talent show that I would host. The kids would get up and do little songs and sketches.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Like, I'm assuming you guys made T shirts. Like, you know. Oh, yeah, it's the fit Simmons. 42nd get the together in the Pokemon retreat.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's like what black people do when somebody dies.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Shamrock. Yeah. And so anyway. So everybody. You know, some of the older people would do Irish limericks that they grew up in Ireland saying. And anyway, my. My cousin Janine, who I love, who's a total free spirit, she got up and sang Mercedes Benz Acapella and killed it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I love that. Yeah, I love that. You. You. Not you. Did you. Are you singer? Should I book you on the jam?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Can't sing at all. No, I can't. I can get up and play an instrument, but I can't. I play harmonica and guitar.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Good to know, because that's. You could just come up in solo and then. And just get on the.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

I can't solo. I play rhythm guitar. All right. I could solo on the harmonica.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, there you go. You'll go Blues Traveler. We'll go Blues Traveler.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Okay.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Do you think Janice is remembered because she died young, or is it because she was honest enough that she could have survived if she'd gotten the chance?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Well, I think rock music was never bigger than when she was in the, you know, crescendo of rock music. I mean, some people say it doesn't even exist anymore. And she was one of the faces of it, you know, she was one of the. I think she's the most. She's up there in terms of records sold of all time. I mean, she's. She's top 20 of rock albums ever sold.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

And no, I think that she was an original voice and an accessible voice. So. No, I think that. I think that that's why she's remembered.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Do you think that the tortured artist thing is. Do you. Or do you think that we only mythologize the ones who don't make it out? Or do you. You know what I mean? Like, do you, like, almost. Do you feel like audiences secretly want our artists to suffer?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Not anymore. I think they used to. But now you've got, you know. Green Day is considered punk rock now. And those guys are on their tour bus making Green Smoot and doing social media. Like, that's. That's the new face of rock and roll. And I think the fans want that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. What. I mean, what is it you think about the. The 60s and the 70s and the 8? I mean, when. When do you think it stopped? When do you think it was? It was like that. We don't want the torture. I think we still do. I think there's something about. I mean, even Radiohead is starting to come back right now. And, you know, Jeff Buckley's having a. With his documentary. He's having a second go round. And. And, you know, I'm trying to think of some new artists because it's like, how do you suffer? Is Taylor Swift suffering? No. Yeah, because the media puts her boyfriend, her, you know, her relationships, and has talked about her breakups. Is that suffering?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

No, I feel like. I feel like there's a lot of country artists that have problems with alcohol that are pretty well publicized, and I think it's definitely part of that culture. I mean, you listen to a screen Chris Stapleton album and, like, seven out of 10 tracks are about whiskey. And. But. But I. But I think that rock. I think grunge came back. I think grunge brought it back, you know, But I think that. I don't know. I just don't know that rock exists anymore in this form, because I think that part of this was. Acid was opening people's minds.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

You know, there was a reason why the Nixon administration started a war on drugs, because it was making young people critically think about the actions of the government, and they didn't want that. And so I think the. The drinking and the drugs, certainly heroin doesn't open your mind to anything, but, like, it was all under the umbrella of, you know, turning it. Turning. What was it turning in and.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, like, tuning it. Tune in, turn off. Yeah, it's all that shit. I know exactly what you're talking about. I don't know it, but I know it. You did that, huh? You turned off, tuned in.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Now. I was always in. I.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You gotta be in if you're hacking.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

I wasn't hitchhiking behind the tour bus selling granola bars to. And. And go and stand outside the show going, I need a miracle. They would stand out there hoping you'd give them a free ticket, and they'd yell, I need a miracle.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Just one. Just one. I'm always.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

They still do. They still do.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, I. Dude, I get so worried. I was at a concert. I was at a concert and, like, I'll. You know, I'll get free tickets from shows sometimes, and they'll give me, you know, like, you know, so I'll get two tickets, even though it's only just me going. And I'll see somebody that's like, hey, can I get just one? And I want to give it to them. But then if it's one, if it's a seat, I don't want to sit next to that person.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah. And then two.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm always worried that if you give somebody a free ticket, especially if I'm getting a comp and it's like, in a section or even if it's not in a comp, they. They can trace the ticket back to the person, let's say. And then that person does something wrong, and then I'm the one that gave it to him, you know.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

I want to ask you a question before we go.

[Josh Adam Myers]

What do you got?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Top three songs for Walk On Music. When you go on stage.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I. I'm. I don't have a consistent one. I don't think I've ever really had a consistent one. You know, rock always, always works. I, like, in a perfect world, like, if I was famous enough and I could riff off of it, There's a song spread you'd love by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club that I just love. It's like. It's just. It's like. It's very bluesy, but grungy blues. You've heard it for sure because it's been in commercials.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

But what do you come up to in the clubs when you.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, I have a guitarist, so they just play, like, noise, and then I, like, run through. And if I don't. If I don't, like, sometimes I just do the instrumental version. I have them download the instrumental version of that Mary J. Blige song, let's get it flapping. Slap it, hunk it, dunk it. And then I riff off that. I. I'll say this. When I was in. When I did Madison Square Garden, I was brought up to moving out by Billy Joel, and it was just like. It was perfect because just being in his home. Do you know what I mean? That was like. He has had that residency, and the audience really, like, came with me. I'm trying to think of some other things. I've gone up to Living on a Prayer before, dude. I mean, I've gone up to Love Shack like a Idiot and then just, like, bomb my face off, thinking I'll, like, riff off of his voice.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah, yeah, you Can't. It's. It's. It's funny because I might. I'll just tell you my three.

[Josh Adam Myers]

What are your three?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Sharp Dressed man by ZZ Top because the great charge just kicks straight in.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's great song.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Tumbling by spine, Tumbling Dice by the Rolling Stone. It's that little Keith Richards lick right at the beginning. And then what's the other one I like? Oh, Panama.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, yeah. Also I can say this. And I think this is. This is probably a better way to do it. The. I'll say my top three jam songs that we started with, that we start that are basically walk on songs because we're coming out to that zombie. Zombie always rules. That. That's a great song. Enter Sandman is another one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And. And that's just a fun one because when that really, like kicks in and. And the way that I do it is that I don't know, know any of the words do it. I just know the first lines. Like, say your prayer. I'll say your prayer. Say your prayer. And I just keep saying that over and over.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And then what's that? What would be the. The third one that's like.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Oh, Van Halen. A lot of Van Allen songs, they. Because they just kick right in immediately.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

And then you don't have to tell the sound. Gotta cue it up to 13 seconds. It's just there.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I. I can't. You know what's funny is I came out to Panama when I did my New Faces showcase. And because I was like. But I kept singing like Canada.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

And.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And. But I tried to. I tried to like, do the kicks. I was like, we have such a huge stage and no one's moving around. And I go to like, move around not knowing that the mic cord was so short that I pulled. Which then pulled like three of this. The front speakers. And so it me up. And then I. I bombed for the next three minutes. And then luckily presence to go, dude, take a breath, slow down, because you're bombing in front of all of Hollywood. And then I finished very strong. But I'll never forget those three minutes. I guess my last question about. About this record. And we might have already said it, but, you know, look, look at this. So it's okay. So if Janice lives and let's say she gets sober because she continues her sobriety because she was sober when she made this record, at least that's what they're saying. And she makes five more records, but not as strong as this. Do you think we're still calling Her a legend? Or eventually would they just say that she lost it? You know what I mean? Like, is this record strong enough to propel if she makes mediocre the rest of her career? Thoughts?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

It's hard to imagine that she would make mediocre, because I feel like, you know, like, when you think about going to the crossroads and, you know, meeting the devil and getting the gift of the blues. She got it. She. She had it. There was no. It might have taken different forms and shapes, but assuming her drug use didn't keep her from performing at the top, I. I think she would have just. She would have been, you know, like an. Like Aretha Franklin. She would have just kept belting it out forever.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. And Aretha, obviously a legend, you know, beyond legend, you know, but towards the end, she got a little big, you know? Yeah. Started looking more and more like my Aunt Shirley. My Aunt Shirley is like a white Jewish version of Aretha Franklin. Like, she looks. They look exactly. I wish I had a picture of both of them. Also, I don't know if Aretha did this, but my Aunt Shirley is. Is basically laundering money for the. For some Nigerian con artists like me and my sister. We've had to, like. We've had to, like. Like, we have power of attorney. We've had to, like, stop it. She's, like, going crazy. But, yeah, I. I mean, it was like. It's that question I always ask. It's like, sorry. So. So I know this before I do the final. Final questions, which is the ones I ask everybody if. If there's an artist that died early that you would have loved to have seen, whose career, what, where. What they would have done the most. And this could be any musician that died early, and not even early, just died when they died. Could be John Lennon, who died at 40. You know what I mean? Was he 40? He must. Yeah, he was 40, right? I'm pretty sure. I'm gonna double check that math just to make sure. But, yeah, who would. Who would. Whose career would you have loved to have seen? Yeah, he was 40 years old when he died.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Musician, I gotta say. And I haven't seen the documentary, but Jeff Buckley's album Grace Feels like what would have been the beginning of Bob Dylan, like, Run of Music, I would have loved. His songwriting was so poignant, and his voice was haunting. And the album was. It was an album. Like, it was one of those albums, like, you got to tell your kids, like, don't listen to single tracks. This is meant to be consumed for 43 minutes while sitting alone with some headphones on.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I agree with you. I. I love Jeff Buckley. Grace is a phenomenal record, and the. The documentary on HBO is. It's amazing. And if anybody hasn't watched it, you know, and listen, dude, listen to the episode if you really need something good. We. We had the lead singer of Incubus on to talk about that record. And I mean, yeah, just talking about his voice. He's so right. It's like he might be one of the greatest, you know, rock and roll singers that. That, you know, that ever lived. It just not like power, just. Just this. The falsetto, the. The angelicness of it, the way that he sang it. Exact opposite of what. What Janice did. Because, you know, Janice is like, singing from her. Like, she's just. Yeah, her has built Ford tough dude. It is not. It is beat to dude. Yeah, no, I agree with you. I think that's a perfect answer for that. All right, let's do the final questions. Get you out of here. Favorite song on this album. What do you pick?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Bobby McGate. For sure.

[Josh Adam Myers]

How can you not?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

I mean, I never get sick of it. It's so funny when you have some songs that, you know, you've heard a thousand times and you just. Because the thing is, like, when I turn this a song, like, if I hear Bohemian Rhapsody, which I fucking love, I can't listen from the middle of the song. You know, there's songs that bill. Like, it's not a Zeppelin songs that, you know, you can't just tune in a Halfway through through, you know, Stairway to Heaven because you missed the build. And I feel like Bobby McGee, wherever it is in the song, I'm in for the rest of the song. It's like I said before this. She's accessible.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Very. No, I agree with you. I. I listen to this pretty hardcore for about a week, and then I put it away, and then I listened to it again a week ago. A week or so ago. And then I just re. Listened to it again today. And once you get to me and Bobby McGee, I mean, it's. It's just. It's a perfect song. It is a perfect. Like you said, it paints the picture. It is her voice. It's like. It's just like, you know, there's. There's moments in it. The way she says certain things. Like I. The windshot, my windshield wipers. I was like, I didn't know any of these lyrics. Like, I followed her. I followed her around. I was like, oh, my God, this is incredible.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Windshield wipers, serpentine holding Bobby's hand in mine.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I know, it's crazy.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Beautiful line.

[Josh Adam Myers]

The what? Would you skip over anything? You'd skip over?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

No, no, it's one of these albums that every song, you know, they're. They're all really different from each other. And, you know, like you said with Move over, it just grabs you. Like, you start playing it and it grabs you. And then, you know, like, I listened to it a couple times over the last couple days, and I. I just got this new Sonos speaker that really fills up the room.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Which one?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

It's. It's like a cylinder. It's pretty big. I actually got two of them. I got two pretty big ones. One for the back house, one for the front. It fills the whole house, bro. And I've got.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I've got $6,000 worth of Sonos figures. They were. They were early sponsor of the podcast.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Oh, really?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I had bought a bunch of. But, dude, I have, like. They sent me a move. They sent me one of the. The big play ones. Like.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah, I got one of those. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, I've got. I've got him. I've got, like, four speakers in here. I've got two in my bedroom. I have one in the kitchen.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

And the best is if you leave the room with your cell phone, it doesn't stop playing. No, because it's on WI Fi.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, I love it. Oh, do you gotta get me. You. I am huge. I mean, I wish we still. I wish they still, like, kept. You know, we're a sponsor and kept sending us because. Yeah, that was amazing.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Getting those packages. Oh, those were great. God bless. It's one of the few things that Darklord Spotify did. Right. Is that they found us the. Right. What do you call it, companies, ad sales, people at the beginning that just, like. I mean, they just nailed it. Headphones. And they would be like, we're gonna send you, you know, a 700 pair of headphones just for you to try out and keep. And you're like, oh, okay.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And then they won't even do. They won't even do an ad and be like, are you sure? So I have to send these back? No, no, they're yours. Okay.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Oh, I know. I got this bong company started sponsoring the show, and they would send me these. It was. They were called freeze pipes, and there were these, like, artistic glass. Some of them were, like, three feet tall. And. And they were really fucking expensive. And, yeah, I swear to you, I read one ad, and they sent me, like, seven of these bongs and so I went to the local head shop because I don't even smoke pot. And I'm like, I'm like, can I sell these? And the guy goes, well, I'll consign them if you want to put them on the shelf and tell me how much you want for them. And I was, you know, 300 bucks for this one, 250 for this one. And they fucking all sold in like two weeks. And I got a big stack of cash from the head shop.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, I love that. Oh, I have so much. Yeah, well, you have. One of our sponsors is the. They're a, they're a vaporizer and they kind of packs. Packs and they've. I've got like five of these, like 400 like portable vaporizers that I just never use.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

And it's like ebay, baby.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, but they got my name on them. Yeah, they always engrave it so they can't just give them away. Before I go into the final things, I just realized this. This actually made it to the. This, this stayed on the 500 Greatest album list, but it, but it dropped down on the newer version in, in 20. In 2003, this was number 122. Then the one we're doing now, this is 125 in the 2012 list. And on the 2020 list, it, it dropped to number 259.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Well, I gotta say, you look at some of these early picks on the list now, and you know, I'm all for affirmative type action, but the DEI front loading on this list is a little ridiculous.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, well, what on, on the 2012 list. The 2012 list is.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

No, no, no, the reason the new one.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, dude, the new one is. I remember when that came out, I made the joke. I was like, who voted on this? George Floyd? My God, it is, it is crazy. It's crazy, dude, it's. And look, I'm not saying that Nas Illmatic isn't one of the greatest records ever made in hip hop or in all the music, but the fact that it went from like number 300 something to number like 10, you're like, okay. And then, and then Outcast Equipment, which was number 500, dropped to the bottom hundred. And you're like. I'm like, it's a great record. And true. The list that we're doing is like old white people without a doubt. You know, dude, like the Paul Butterfield Blues Band should not be on here. Yeah, but it is. It is on the list and we did it. Yeah, but you know, and there are other things that probably should have made it on. And I think they just. They need to find Rolling Stone overcompensated when they should have found that good balance, because there's no reason that Sergeant Pepper should go from number one to number 25 right in the new list. That's insane. That's insane. All right, can you. To this record. Can you. To Janice Joplin Pearl.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yes. That's day sex. Lights are on. You're on top of the comforter. You're. You're. It's smiling. Is this eye contact? Yeah, she's on top. Because this is Janice. She's on top.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, and. Yeah, and so your girl can groove. Yeah, this is. I love that. Oh, my God.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And what would be your elevator pitch to get someone to listen to this? Like, how do you sum this record up? If we might have already said it, but what would be your. Like, hey, man. If you never listen to Janis Joplin Pearl?

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

I would say, I don't know that musical artists today have the kind of power of personality that Janis Joplin had. And I think that this album captures somebody who, although she hadn't been around a long time, she was an old soul. And like we said, she didn't write a lot of these songs, but she. She basically curated, you know, 10 tracks of bluesy great. I think it's one of the great American albums of all times. It's blues based. It's pop culture, it's satirical. I. I just think it's. I think it's a snapshot of. Of somebody who. Who really has a unique voice.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, I. I think if you're talking about the legend that is Janis Joplin, I mean, you could give them Big Brother Holding Company, Cheap thrills, but I think this is what you got to give them. Yeah, I think this is like. This is like. It's. I mean, like, if you're listening to Miles Davis, I mean, you could give him Birth of the cool. And. And. But I would say, ah, but kind of blue. There you go. This is. This is the record that I would give to somebody. It's just such an easily digestible. Like, I don't think there is. There's a lot of artists where you could say, oh, man, but what do you start them out with? It's like, even though this is her last thing, this is what you would start anybody out on, Janice and I. And I think you're capturing the legend at their. I mean, at their. Like, just their. Like the peak of what it. What it. Not the peak. It's just like the. The beginning of where it could have gone. I think the next. I think the next.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Better.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Dude, it's. Is there a comic that you would. Who would be like the Janice Joplin, a comedy who died before. Right. Dropped the one thing. I mean, Patrice with elephant in the room. And then.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah, Patrice. I could see that there. Who else was really at their peak? Well, Hicks was still. I think, you know, Hicks was just getting smarter and more in control of his craft when he died. Yeah. I would like to see Hicks turn into, like a Carlin, an elder statesman who kept talking the truth.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. I don't know. Did anybody. Does anybody died and then their special got released. Besides the guy that wanted to go on Letterman that made. They made a document.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Right, right. And then he didn't die, you mean? Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, dude, there was. Jesus Christ. We had a couple of those guys. I'm not gonna name names. I don't know if you remember. There was the guy that, like, had, like, horrible cancer, and he was like, he's got six months to live and they gave him an HBO special.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah, yeah. That's who I thought you met.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh. Oh, dude, that's. I think he's still alive. I'm almost positive he's still alive.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That sucks, dude.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

You have to die embarrassing for him. You gotta die.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Fake it. Yeah. Fake your own death and just. And just go live out in, like, in, like, in. In like Tulum or like Thailand or Dominican Republic or some like that. I don't know. That's what I would do. Do. Promote away. Anything you want to promote.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Oh, sure. Yeah. I'm gonna be in. When does this come out?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Tomorrow.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Oh, then I'm gonna be in Atlanta this weekend at the punchline, the 15th through the 17th. I'll be at the Irvine Improv, the 23rd and 24th. And then I'll be at the Comedy Mothership in Austin, the 30th through the 1st. Sacramento at the punchline, February 5 through 7. Next week in Philly, next week in Lexington, the next week at Houston, the next week in Fort Worth. Fitzdog.com get some tickets. Come see some live comedy.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Come see him, come see him, come see him. You're. You're one of my favorites. I'm so happy that you came back on this, man. Because, you know, it's. We had. How to say it? Because if you listen to the next episode, you're going to have here me and Wayne Federman talking about. We thought we were gonna Have Judd Apatow moment, who's done it before. And because we live in the episode, I'm like, I need a guest for Janice Joplin. He goes, he should have judged his family in this. And I was like, ah. And I was like, so that's the next episode, which we taped before this one.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And so this is. It's gonna be funny when they hear. They're gonna hear like. They're gonna be like, oh, so wait, that wasn't. We got Greg instead of Judd. I'm much happier instead of Judd.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Yeah. Yeah. Judd's a dud. No, I just. I just texted Judd yesterday to tell him he did a good job on the Golden Globes.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, dude.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

He did a very funny piece. Yeah, it was good.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He killed it.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

And.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And. And Fetterman. Fetterman loves you too. So when I told him, he was like, tell me to say. To say what's up to you, dude. Please come back on, brother. You're one of my favorites. You know I love you, so.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Anytime, man. Love you too. Thanks for having me on. Thanks, Alex.

[Josh Adam Myers]

What I tell you? What I tell you. The one and only Greg Fitzsimmons. Follow him on Instagram at Greg Fitzsimmons on his website is gregfitsimmons.com and he is on the road. Check out his podcast, Support, support, Support. This guy rules now. We just listened to Pearl from 1971 from Janis Joplin. Our new music pick this week, brought to you in part by Distrokid, is a track called Awakening by Eva under Fire. And you can find links to the music on the website, the500podcast.com and if you were in a band and were directly influenced by one of these albums or artists and you want your music Featured on the 500 podcast, send your song to 500podcastsmail.com next week. Mopey Grape, or I like to call it who. Who the is this? You'll see. Dig it. It's a goodie. 124 mopey grape, moby grape from 67 skadoodle. See you then, guys. Thanks for tuning in.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

I'm a devastated casualty person that I used to be in my brain don't think I'll ever escape what if I could change?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm not afraid with air in my lungs I scream through the sky. Like when the suffering becomes too much Just remember that you are enough when the suffering becomes too much no matter what they say we rise above they couldn't break me they couldn't break like us they couldn't break.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

Behind my lungs I scream to the sky. That's on the dark that I had.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Survived this is my I can. Awaken. I am awakening. I am awakening. The 500 keeping it flee.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

For the.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Fleece nation on the 500.

[Greg Fitzsimmons]

The 500.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Next chapter podcasts.