Josh Adam Myers (7:38)

As of right now, you know, just my usual content grind, the twitch page, the YouTube channel, TikTok. We're just friends freaking everywhere and just it's nothing but music opinions and music views flying out in every direction all the time. And I'm trying, I'm trying to get better and better every year with like just being a bit more, I don't know, steady and focused as opposed to kind of like, you know, running my YouTube channels like a mosh pit where I'm just like trying to quickly respond to every single thing that's happening at any given moment and sort of come out with content about it immediately.

Anthony Fantano (8:14)

Sure.

Josh Adam Myers (8:14)

But you know, it is what it is.

Anthony Fantano (8:17)

It is what it is. But you're doing a fucking hang up job at it. You know, I wanted. We're going to get into the history of how everything started with you. But I'm curious, like when I sent you that list which had some incredible. Yeah, like Radiohead. Okay. Computer on there. We had T. Rex, some great, great records. Why did you choose Prince? 1999 to talk about on the podcast today.

Josh Adam Myers (8:39)

I think it's really fun. Album number one. You know, probably, like, above all else, I think it's a very fun album. It's a super fun record. And on top of it, I think Prince kind of continues to stand as one of the most interesting and unique songwriters of all time in pop music. And I feel like. Stands as like a prime example of, you know, the potential of pop music. I feel like there's. There's a lot of pop music and popular music out there, but I feel like a lot of pop music doesn't necessarily live up to its potential in the way that I feel like Prince sort of exemplifies through his personality, through the tight and impressive instrumentation, through the way his personality shines in his music quite boldly. Yeah, I mean, I feel like there's just not a lot of competition on that front in terms of, you know, like, what pop music could potentially be. You know, I feel like Prince is kind of like the total package in a lot of ways.

Anthony Fantano (9:53)

How old are you, by the way?

Josh Adam Myers (9:55)

I'm going to turn 40 this year.

Anthony Fantano (9:57)

You turned 48. Best. Best decade, bro. Best decade. Trust me. I'm 45, man. It's really. It really isn't that bad, especially as a dude. You're like, dude, this. You know, we're coming into our golden year, coming into our Clooney years. You know what I mean? It's. It's not the worst thing, but so. So. Yeah, so. So you're. But we're roughly in the same ballpark. Whereas, like, somebody like me, like, I always knew Prince, you know, as just this incredible artist that was already popular. I knew the Purple Rain stuff. I. You know, as a little kid, there was always that comparison between Michael Jackson and Prince, which I feel never. The two have shouldn't been compared in the same way because I feel like they're completely different artists. But. But it wasn't until I started really doing the podcast. Well, really, it wasn't until my buddy showed me the. While you're. While my guitar gently weeps solo from the Rock and Roll hall of Fame, where I was like, holy. Like, Prince is badass. And then I just became, I would say consumed. But anytime I go to Minnesota, I go to Paisley Park. You know, I. We've done Dirty Minds on the podcast, which. Which, you know, I guess was. Was really where I got to find out just how incredibly talented he is by doing every instrument and writing everything, and also how young he was. So I've Kind of grown into a fan. Like, what about you? Like, in your childhood, were you with Prince? Or is this something that developed as you started kind of like digging into all the other music?

Josh Adam Myers (11:23)

I did not in my childhood, I would say I got into him more when I was sort of like in more of a. I don't know, kind of growing into my music. Snobbery, whatever you want to call it, like, when I was in college and.

Anthony Fantano (11:40)

Snobbery, like, what do you mean? What's. What's your snobbery like? Because I really want to find out, I guess.

Josh Adam Myers (11:45)

I guess, like, taking music more seriously, you know, and really getting into music. You know what I mean? And that sort of thing. Like, taking music more seriously, getting into music in more of, like, kind of a nerdy way. Through that, I started to, like, really begin to appreciate where Prince was coming from creatively. And I feel like a key point of that for me personally was when I caught, like, this interview on Fresh Air hosted by Terry Gross, and it was an interview with Trent Reznor. And she was asking him, like, point blank, like, you know, who are some of your favorite artists, who are like some of the greats in your opinion, so on and so forth. And he just said, like, with no hesitation, like, point blank, like, no pause. Like, Prince was like, Prince. And she's like, really? And he's like, I think he's like one of the greatest of all time. And, you know, just like, really talked up his songwriting and so on and so forth. And then when I thought about it more, I was like, you know, actually like the weird, freaky sort of attitude and how bold and kind of like, you know, unabashed he was about himself and his desires and his personality and really everything. It kind of made sense, you know, that like, the I want to fuck you like an animal guy would also be sort of like a die hard Prince fan and also a guy who sort of, you know, like Prince, like, produced all his own stuff and sort of, you know, like, really took ownership of his craft.

Anthony Fantano (13:14)

He's the goth Prince, right?

Josh Adam Myers (13:16)

Exactly. You know, I feel like coming from that perspective, like, it kind of makes sense. And, you know, I mean, of course, like, after that I started to dig into his stuff more. And of course, like, started with records like Purple Rain and then, you know, went on to enjoy even more records like this. Also records like Sign of the Times, which are like. So the word I want to use is, like, really predictive. Predictive of, like, a lot of sounds and songs that you would hear in the 90s. I feel like he was like really ahead of the curve in terms of like setting the tone for a lot of 90s pop and a lot of 90s music generally. So, you know, I guess all of that and I, I guess, I guess like in total that that's kind of like all the reasons, you know, there's like numerous reasons right there where I kind of like got into his stuff and also kind of came into. Came to appreciate the place that he sort of like holds culturally, which I think frankly continues to go a little. What I want to say is like under appreciated in a way because.

Anthony Fantano (14:35)

There'S.

Josh Adam Myers (14:35)

A lot of people that look at Prince just as sort of like, oh, this is just like idol pop music. And there's not really like. And there's not really like any there, there. There's no like real substance or there's no like real cultural value beyond it. Sort of like being kind of salacious and that sort of thing. But then you have to kind of take into context like Prince was a main target of like the pmrc. You know, Prince was like a main focus of like these newly risen religious and political groups that were like really culturally on this crusade to prevent certain types of music from getting out there because they were offensive or they were salacious or, you know, they were like, you know, in, in sort of the view of, of that right wing conservative public like doing way too much again. Prince was like one of the prime focuses of that, especially in terms of like there being campaigns to kind of keep songs of his. Certain songs off of radio, have certain songs censored, especially on, on this record. Like Little Red Corvette I believe is actually one of the tracks that sort of like came up for the PMRC as being like a supremely offensive song. And obviously, you know, it's like there's a lot of metaphor there and it's very sexual track. But you know, the thing is like what a lot of people sort of I, I think need to or fail to appreciate is like, excuse me, you're good. Prince was sort of like in your face with all of that stuff during a time when that was not quite as normalized as it is now. You know what I mean? Like back then it was like, holy crap, what is this? You know, it's like even going to a record like a Dirty Minds. Like you know, even some of his earlier stuff, there's some filthy ass songs.

Anthony Fantano (16:12)

Yeah, dude, that record, you know, him, his sister in it. Yeah, it's.

Josh Adam Myers (16:16)

Yeah, it's awesome. Exactly, exactly. So it's like, you know, he's got some really filthy in your face tracks. And, you know, I think people really need to sort of, you know, just. Just appreciate that he was coming at all of this from like, just. Just a different place, you know.

Anthony Fantano (16:33)

Yeah, so. So, you know, we did. Like I said we did Dirty Minds and you brought that up. And then the record after that is Controversy.

Josh Adam Myers (16:41)

I'm.

Anthony Fantano (16:41)

This might be all over the place. I wanted to try to keep this streamlined. But this. This. We might go bio about leading up to this into some of the tracks, which I've got a bunch of stuff on everything. And like I said, feel free to interject if you've got anything that, you know, you know. This came right after Controversy. Controversy is the album that basically establishes Prince with the use of the color purple and his use of symbols to shorthand his titles. Not only does 1999 build on the sound out and vision of controversy, but the COVID of 99 is a particular. Is. Is partially made up of chopped up elements of Controversy. And I don't know if this is too early ask this question, but I was like, after achieving. With all the. Because we're gonna. I want to get into the history of how you got into the position that you're in. So I don't know if I should ask this now, but why not? Like, so with all this stuff that you have going on and really building your brand as one of the top Internet critics, I'm gonna say Internet music critics out there right now, have you ever felt an expectation for you to carry over similar elements to solidify your.

Josh Adam Myers (17:45)

Style, like, taste wise or.

Anthony Fantano (17:48)

Yeah, yeah. Or just into other, you know, facets of building out?

Josh Adam Myers (17:54)

Not particularly. Not particularly. I feel like I've had to just sort of just be myself as much as possible. I. I feel like at the time that I was, you know, starting what I was doing, I was kind of getting the sense that there was just a lot of music criticism out there, especially in sort of like, specialty publications that might focus on, like, a particular genre, that sort of thing. That. There were just a lot of publications out there that were, you know, dropping reviews of records that for the most part were just very kind of like super congratulatory or maybe like a little kind of treating the record with kids gloves and that sort of thing. Also, there were a lot of, you know, artisan records that personally I felt like were going a little underrated and underappreciated around that time. The late 2000s and the early 2010s stuff that I thought could use more positive coverage. And, you know, that sort of like, caused me to just start to take. Just, Just. Just to start taking up that mantle of just kind of like trying to, I don't know, talk up more certain. Certain albums and certain artists and just get, like, reviews out there of stuff that I feel like are being a little underappre appreciated.

Anthony Fantano (19:11)

Yeah. You know, what did you have. You've dug into controversy, I'm assuming. I'm assuming you. I'm just. I can only imagine, like, when you're talking about an artist like you, especially someone like Prince, like, you've gone through and, you know, like, you mentioned Dirty Minds, so you probably sat with each one of these records and, you know, as far as controversy in 81, I think one of the reasons we're getting to where Prince is, the way that he is right now is that you probably know about in. In 1981 ruling he's for opening up for the Rolling Stones. There's a performance at the Coliseum in Los Angeles. He did the first night and got bottled and booed. And even though Mick Jagger talked him back into coming back for the second night to finish his set, it still wasn't well received. So In a sense, 1999 is a record with Prince having a chip on his shoulder. And I think that's kind of what's so great about the song. The album opening up with something like Night with the. With the song 1999. So after a slowed down robotic voice assures the listener, don't worry, I won't hurt you I only want you to have some fun. This title track and first signal that references carefree partying despite the very real threat of Armageddon via nuclear proliferation opens the record. Prince had already broached the subject of the threat of nuclear war through politics on Ronnie Talked to Russia from the previous record Controversy, recorded midway through what would. What would be Reagan's first term, 1999, and the end of the millennium into the 2000s, while far away, seem both bleak and hopeful. Thoughts on the opening track. Thoughts about. For this to be the. I mean, obviously it's the. The title's named after it, but thoughts on the song, you know, your feelings.

Josh Adam Myers (21:02)

Again, like with Ronnie Talk to Russia and with the title track of this record like this. This is exactly what I'm talking about in terms of, like, Prince kind of meeting. What I feel like is a full potential of pop music, for pop music to not only be sort of like fun and celebratory and enjoyable to everyone generally. But also, like, be a very bold and interesting reflection on the reality that we're living in.

Anthony Fantano (21:24)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (21:25)

And I feel like more often than not, pop music is trying to avoid that as a topic, you know, like, any kind of, like, collective conscious of, like, our human experience, like, maybe outside of experiences like love and that sort of thing. But, you know, again, on this record, you have him, like, literally paranoid about the potential outcomes of the Cold War, you know, and everything is happening at the time in terms of, like, nuclear armament and, you know, the arms race generally. And, you know, as a kid, I mean, actually, you asked me if I was sort of like, any. If I had any sort of, like, fandom or awareness of Prince when I was much younger. And that is, in fact, wrong, because I do remember vividly, and I'm sure maybe you do for a time, too, during that Y2K era, like, 1999 was, like, rotation again for a lot of people because, like, everywhere. Yeah, it's like it was everywhere. It's like, you really couldn't, like, avoid it because it's like, oh, yeah. You know, it's like we're about to cross over into this new millennium, and people are feeling very anxious about it. It's a very weird time. It's like, oh, yeah, we already have a song. Like, obviously it's about literally something totally different, but it's. Oh, yeah. It's like, kind of about this. Let's bring it back. You know, so that song was kind of coming back. And, you know, I remember hearing it a lot when I was a kid and being like, oh, okay, that's interesting. You know, and sort of like, you know, just connecting that with the experience that I was having at the time. Because there were a lot of adults in my life that were, like, you know, really worried about that time period and that change during that era. And, you know, that that anxiety is echoed obviously on the original song itself. And, you know, again, I love music that does sort of, like, reflect on the human experience, the collective human experience like that and Princess, I feel like through stuff like this and through sexuality, too, like, connects. Yeah. In a really deep way.

Anthony Fantano (23:13)

Sure. I, I. When that. When it was getting close to Y2K. I mean, like, you said you could not go anywhere. Any rave I went to, this was plays. I was. I remember being at a rave on the changeover from 99 to 2000, actually 98 to 1999. And I probably heard this song 45 times that night. And it's still, you know, until I started really digging into it and you, and really listening to lyrics like, you don't even realize that it's about the end of the world. It just sounds like a great party song on the surface.

Josh Adam Myers (23:43)

Yeah. I mean, it even kind of sounds like a bait and switch because of the intro, you know, words that you just said there. It's like, I don't want to hurt you. I just want you to have fun. So on and so forth. But then when you actually get toward the end of the song is like, mommy, why does everybody have a bomb? You know, it's like you're, you're as a child in this state of fear asking, you know, why, why these weapons exist.

Anthony Fantano (24:02)

Yeah, I actually, I, I did the goddamn comedy jam this past weekend at the Moon Tower Comedy Festival in Austin. And you know, I opened up with this and it's just the connection. This is. I saw Beck do it at this Love Hurts, John Varvatos, uh, show at the Beacon with like Beck and Cher and all these different artists. And I saw him open, uh, his set with this amongst them, like some other songs he was going to do. And it just, it was like I saw the reaction that the crowd gave, so I was like, oh, I'm, I'm definitely gonna use this. And it's an immediate party starter. It still hasn't lost, it's still relevant. It still feels funky today, but we might as well get out of the way by now. But sometimes it feels like we're living in a time where too much is happening for art to have a moment to catch up. Do you ever feel that because of the immediacy of the Internet and the 24 hour news cycle, that real life moves faster than art can reflect it?

Josh Adam Myers (25:06)

No, I feel like art can. I feel like art has the potential to move as fast as any narrative that's being put in front of it. Honestly, with the speed at which people can record and put things out, what I think is going on is if art is lagging behind, and I see a lot of underground artists coming out with records, I'm even listening to this album today from this artist named Infinity Knives and this rapper who's kind of spitting on his instrumentals named Brian Enels, a lot of the lyrics on that record are just like very, very current and very, very political and very, very in your face about what they're trying to get across. And I feel like these days a lot of what is causing art to be kind of like lagging behind is just that, that it's kind of algorithmically disincentivized. And I think people, you know, the, the audience is kind of like, I don't know, in a way, maybe a little traumatized by our current times and aren't necessarily like looking for a piece of art to sort of like reflect their negative experience. They're looking for music as more of like an opiate to kind of like distract them from what's going on in their lives. And I mean, that could be because of just the way media and the Internet works now. That could also just be because of like what people are kind of like what they've been spoon fed and what they're now used to through playlists and through algorithms and through like, you know, you go on Spotify and in every corner, you're like confronted with not only bland music that is not like dealing in any of those topics, but just like AI slop that's just meant to be played in the background, that's not even generated by actual artists. You know, it just sounds like vague, you know, wallpaper music, you know. So sadly, you know, there's, there's more and more art that we're seeing out there that is not actually sort of like getting to the heart of anything, but also is not even being made by a human, you know, and, and as a result, I think there's like less. I, I think there's an underappreciation of music as a communication medium going on. I feel like music is being underrepresented and underutilized as a communication medium. And I, I feel like if Prince did anything, it was make sure that regardless of what he was doing, he was using it as a communication medium, whether that be to convey a feeling that he was, you know, really homed, honed in on or, you know, or convey an emotion, you know, desire, and just wanted to make sure that got across.

Anthony Fantano (27:43)

France seems to almost have like a too simple approach to the cynical horrors of the world. Can protest songs with achievable goals exist these days?

Josh Adam Myers (27:53)

I mean, I think they can and I think they do. You know, I mean, I, I think, I think protest music is important to sort of like continue to sort of help, you know, along collective consciousness of certain feelings and experiences that we're all having. But simultaneously, I mean, it has been said, and I tend to sort of agree that there's like no protest song that ever convinced anybody of, of anything. You know, it's the, it's, it's more of sort of a tool of kind of like being able to collectivize and validate feelings that people are Already having, you know, as opposed to sort of like selling somebody on the idea of something that they just hadn't, like, sort of considered before, you know, I mean, if that's, if that's what you want, read a fucking article. You know, like, there's. There's other. There's other ways of going about sort of having that experience other than a pop song. But that doesn't mean pop music just. Just because maybe there are other mediums that sort of like, you know, create that change better because you can get across more and sort of like, you know, a 5,000 word series of paragraphs. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try, you know, or that doesn't mean that your music shouldn't try to speak to something.

Anthony Fantano (29:09)

Yeah. What would you say are some of the best protest songs? Like, you know, I still. My favorite one of all time is 1, 2. What are we Fighting For? Don't ask me. I don't give a damn. Next stop is Vietnam. I love that song for some reason. What would you say is, like, on the Mount Rushmore protest songs?

Josh Adam Myers (29:29)

I think some of my favorite ones and. And a lot of ones that I feel like are still pretty salient today have been written by Phil Oaks. I Am Marching Anymore. That song that he has about Mississippi on that record, also that song that he has, Love Me, I'm a Liberal, you know, which is like, I dig this. Oh, oh, you. You have to listen to him. He has. Love Me, I'm a Liberal is a. It's all about sort of like, you know, and we're talking about, like, the civil rights era here. We're talking about, you know, basically the sorts of. The whole song is about basically the sorts of fence sitters who at that time may have been like, you know, I understand all this, like, racial injustice is kind of bad, but like, you know, can't we all just like, get along and chill out and so on? You know, do we need all the, you know, the revolting and so on and so forth? You know, it's exactly like that kind of personality type which, you know, when you listen to that song, you're like, holy. This sounds like, you know, 24 hour MSNBC watcher today, you know. Yes, in terms of like. Yeah, yeah, you know, Definitely, definitely. Like, obviously, like, they're left wing sort of enough, but they're like, you know, not willing to cross that border into sort of embracing anything radical, you know, in terms of. Or any sort of like, anything that would radically change the system as it currently functions.

Anthony Fantano (30:53)

So we just did 1999 Little Red Corvette the car song has been a staple of rock and roll since what is often considered the first rock and roll song. Rocket 88. This uses the fast car metaphor for a fast lady and their inevitable one night stand. It was originally conceived when Prince was taking a nap after an all night session in Revolution. Revolution keyboard player Lisa Coleman's pink 1964 Mercury Montclair Marauder. Thoughts on the song Feelings what do you love? What do you dislike? You tell me.

Josh Adam Myers (31:34)

The vocal harmonies on the chorus are great and like many tracks on the album, I think it has just amazing synth parts. I mean the synth chords across the track are just fantastic. I mean I think it sort of like stands out as one of the best songs musically, instrumentally.

Anthony Fantano (31:51)

Yeah, I'm trying to see if we got this Came in at number 360 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2020 list of the 500 Greatest All 500 Greatest Songs of all time. Just behind Killing Me Softly by the Fugees and just ahead of Jimmy Cliffs the Harder They Come. When did you first realize that reviewing would be your vehicle to success? I because I want to tell you. I can tell you the exact moment I heard about you. My buddy and I never. I mentioned it so far on the podcast a few times. My old cocaine friend when I used to do coke. I shouldn't say his full name. My buddy, my buddy Matt, let's call him that. He big music head. Loved. He kind of introduced me to like Sand Precop and like the C and Cake. He loved loved MF Doom, loved more of. I would. I don't know if you'd call it artist hip hop but you know, just definitely off the beaten path. He loved just. He was a guy that like when it came to like he wasn't listening to mainstream. He was always listening to what I would call like, like indie or like what other cooler people would call, you know, the, the better music at the time. And I and he kept mentioning you and I would take that all the way back. Man, I hope I get the year right. But I would say probably I lived in LA so2013,12,13 maybe or maybe a little bit later. But I I remember him bringing you up and how much he respected your opinion. So when did you first. How did it happen and when did.

Josh Adam Myers (33:28)

You first realize I feel like excuse me. I was working at a in NPR affiliate in Hartford and had kind of just like gotten out of. Had had recently just sort of like or was getting close to graduating college and had been the general manager at the Record. Not at the Record, at the radio station there for a couple of years and had essentially decided that, you know, I wanted to go into radio professionally and you know, at the time, like music stations culturally and sort of like in terms of the job market, at least in the area that I was, were like pretty freaking awful. Not a whole lot of options and on top of it. Excuse me. Not a lot of options and on top of it, I guess, like there wasn't a whole lot of variety and there wasn't. And from the places that I was aware of, it didn't really seem like there'd be a whole lot of. I don't know what you could say, like, creative control, that sort of thing. Yeah. Which had me a bit disheartened, I guess you could say. But still, with that being said, I still figured this was like an opportunity to at least get my foot in the door and sort of like, see where it could potentially take me. And I ended up being like, I guess, sort of pleasantly surprised by, I guess what you could say is like just the overall vibe there and, you know, was enjoying sort of like doing my thing at a radio station that was like very, you know, news oriented. And even though there really wasn't any music going on, in fact they had just sort of transitioned from being and all talk station to a classical station. Pretty big shift there. Obviously I was still sort of like, I guess just determined to make it work and just see how things kind of like panned out. And you know, I was doing a lot, a lot of editing and sort of behind the scenes stuff and was maybe potentially down the road considering doing reporting because I focused on a lot of journalism in school too. But they were repeating a lot of programming over the course of the day. And I just thought like, hey, what if I made a show and pitched it to the general manager and it was like a music show? Because I kind of missed doing a music show in the way that I did when I was still at college. And he liked the demos that I pulled together and said, well, if you can do this regularly, if you can generate these episodes regularly, you can go ahead and continue doing this, you know, and we'll, we'll air it. And I was like, okay, cool, sick. Like that's, you know, wasn't expecting that, you know, in terms of a guarantee, but there we are. And you know, so, I mean, I just sort of like followed through. I kept like generating episodes and they kept sort of like putting them on the website. As a podcast eventually got them, like, airing on the air at the same time. This sort of like, gave me, I don't know, a bit of legitimacy in a way and allowed me to, you know, sort of like, try to pitch my music writing to other places and other spaces that maybe wouldn't have kind of like, considered having me do or sort of have anything posted, you know, to their weekly otherwise. So it just sort of like opened the door for a lot of different opportunities that, that again, that I just, like, wouldn't have had prior.

Anthony Fantano (37:28)

Was there. So, so you're getting all that, like, was there a, was there though a moment? You're like, oh, this is, this is a career. Like, this is for sure gonna be what I do.

Josh Adam Myers (37:40)

That didn't really fully come into play as a possibility until, like, YouTube. Because what YouTube provided was essentially the opportunity to, excuse me, to do it professionally in a way that I just wasn't really getting just from, you know, writing for the weeklies that I was writing for every once in a while. So as a result, I was able to sort of start actually making money doing what I was doing on YouTube through just sort of like the revenue share program and so on and so forth.

Anthony Fantano (38:24)

And you can really, really, it's really is like you literally have your own TV station that people can find. It's easy. And they are the, I mean, would you, they probably. Would you say they're the most fair out of all of the social media platforms where it's like you said, revenue share. I mean, you can. People make great livings just off their YouTube?

Josh Adam Myers (38:44)

No, they do. You know, it's like, I mean, I, I, I'm on like most of the social media platforms and I mean, there's a lot of, you know, reasons to, you know, the, the YouTube has issues just like any other platform, obviously. Yeah, but I mean, you know, it's, it's the platform that has been best to me. You know, it's the platform that has been best to me. So I mean, I can only like, complain so much, you know, in terms of like, the opportunities I've been afforded and brand I've been able to build over all of this time that I, I don't think I would have been able to had I just prior to YouTube, I was just sort of like writing on my own blog, you know, like my, my own, like, blog spot blog, like my own WordPress or whatever. If I just stuck to that, I wouldn't have sort of had the opportunities that what, you know, I, I do now, if I just sort of like, stayed to that and not done anything else.

Anthony Fantano (39:45)

Sure, sure. God bless you too, man. It's like, for very. I love it right now because I've been watching. I'm really obsessed with like, all the movies from the 90s, and there's not just like, you know, there's just documentaries about that, but there's so many great documentaries that people, just regular people have made that are interested in them that are better than some of the stuff on Netflix. So whatever you're looking for. So if you're looking for a music review, you can find you. If you're looking for a documentary on RoboCop 2, you can find it there, which I am. So it's like, it's. It's really, really cool. And I think, like, you know, it's. I think it's only gonna get, you know, hopefully, like, better and easier as we move forward. All right, I want to move on to Delirious before I did read my. Any thoughts on the song or anything you want to say about it? Because this is the third single. I think it's, you know, it's fast paced, it's a rock and roll infused tune. Sees Prince crushing on a girl that he can't handle. He actually first attempted to do this as a rockabilly song, which I found pretty interesting. Thoughts on it?

Josh Adam Myers (40:51)

No, I could kind of hear that, knowing that that's sort of like the. The background of it. I mean, I'll say for this one. Like that damn little synth line that. The way it sort of slides up and like, that always gets stuck in my head.

Anthony Fantano (41:04)

It does. Really? Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (41:06)

As soon as I put that on, that's like such a slinky, funny little melody that always sort of like sticks with me every single time I hear this song.

Anthony Fantano (41:14)

It sounds like. It sounds like. It sounds like something that would be played during a challenge on Double Dare, you know, like one of those.

Josh Adam Myers (41:25)

Yeah, it does inadvertently have, like, a little bit of a game show quality to it.

Anthony Fantano (41:29)

Really does.

Josh Adam Myers (41:29)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Anthony Fantano (41:32)

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Josh Adam Myers (44:25)

I you know, I've had people like Azealia Banks hate on me publicly, but she hates on everyone publicly. I don't know if I'm special in that regard. There. There was. There was one time when Drake turned up in my DMs to tell me I'm a. I'm a light one, you know, which is like me kind of which is him kind of using my score, you know, my grading rubric against me, you know, which. I mean, you know, which. He's entitled to his opinion, though. Generally, I don't think the most extreme reactions I've ever gotten have actually not really been from artists. You know, I mean, there have been a few here and there. One of, you know, one example who shall remain nameless. And I respected it for a time until he kind of, like, came back around and kind of changed his mind. But there one guy who's just like, look, man, I just don't think I want you to review my music anymore. And I said, like, okay, you know, fair. You know, if that's really how you feel, like, you know, not that I feel like an artist has to, like the things I have to say, but if you genuinely feel that negative about the idea, like, there's plenty of other people I could be reviewing. So, I mean, I'll just go review something else, you know. But with that being said, like, the most extreme reactions I've ever gotten from fans have always been from, like, the fans.

Anthony Fantano (45:44)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (45:45)

You know, who are just sort of like. And, you know, look, the majority of any music fan base is, like, filled with just regular people who, you know, are just, like, kind of chilling and vibing to the music. But, you know, the Internet allows the most obsessive and psychotic of every fan base to come together and form, like, Voltron, to sort of, like, destroy anything. And anyone that they sort of see being in the way of the success or happiness of their favorite artists and gets quite crazy in terms of, like, people obsessing over you and tweeting at you every day and trying to dox you or sort of like threatening you all various sorts of ways, and just absolutely, you know, just.

Anthony Fantano (46:29)

Just.

Josh Adam Myers (46:29)

Absolutely. Just absolute psychosis.

Anthony Fantano (46:31)

Yeah, it's the fans, you know, they. It's. It's crazy that people can get a direct line to message you about something, you know, and I think we could. I mean, dude, you could send a message to. To, like, to. To the president and it can get to him. And he. He. He's responded to that kind of. And especially our president now. But, you know, when you're talking about music in particular, and I think that's kind of why I have to be very delicate on the records that I'm talking about, because the first time I saw it was when I did the MGMT debut record. I'm gonna get the name of the album Wrong Spectacular. Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (47:12)

And.

Anthony Fantano (47:12)

And I loved. I. After a couple listens I really loved it and I might have said something and there was an MGMT Reddit page and they ripped me apart because this guy doesn't know mgmt. He doesn't know this. And I really gave it the, the, the college try. Like I, I think I lit like back in the day I used to listen to every album at least 10 times. And I mean the first time all the way through. And you, you grow to love them, you know. Like, how many listens do you give each record, by the way?

Josh Adam Myers (47:44)

I try to give like at least four or six listens, maybe more depending on if like, I'm not familiar with the genre or maybe the particular place musically that a record is coming from. But I mean, you know, at this point though, when it comes to something like, I don't know, like let's, let's say like an indie folk album. Like I've reviewed so much indie folk at this point and I have like such a, a working knowledge of the most important artist to me. You know, it's sort of like the hallmark records in that genre. If I hear anything sort of like dabbling in that a little bit, it's like I have a very strong notion of like where it's coming from, what it's inspired by, what it's trying to do, what, what if anything, makes it maybe different from anything else that's come before it. Whereas, you know, other records, depending again on how familiar I may be going into it, may depend on more, may require more listens or more research or whatever. But with that being said, it's really funny. That's like the album on that subreddit that undid you, especially since like, and I love mgmt. I feel like if you like really, really with mgmt, that's like not necessarily your favorite record in their catalog. I feel like MGMT fans would probably like admit that they've made much more interesting music since then. And you know, even the duo themselves, like, you know, songs like Electric Feel, you know, they're like, yeah, we kind of made that as a bit of a tongue in cheek thing.

Anthony Fantano (49:09)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (49:10)

You know, like they themselves knew that they weren't like making super high brow music and went on to make much more interesting music.

Anthony Fantano (49:17)

It was like the second half of that record, right? Because that was like. The whole thing was that the first half was like a, almost like a pop, their attempt at a pop record. And then the second half, it really started to get more experimental in what I think mgmt eventually, because I didn't really, I haven't listened to a lot of the stuff afterwards, but I'm pretty sure that's what I had read and that's what I had said was that. That. And I loved that. I loved, loved. But. But, dude, fans. Music is such a delicate dance because this.

Josh Adam Myers (49:44)

Records are like people's bibles.

Anthony Fantano (49:46)

Yes. More than movies, more than any other art. Like, they. This is the song that my dad and I used to listen to. And he's no longer with us. And there's this. I met my wife when this was playing. Our first dance at our wedding. So you have to be very, very dainty. Have you gotten death threats?

Josh Adam Myers (50:03)

Oh, yeah, of course. Of course.

Anthony Fantano (50:07)

Part of the job, dude.

Josh Adam Myers (50:09)

At this point, yes, unfortunately.

Anthony Fantano (50:11)

It's crazy. It's crazy. All right, let's. Let's talk about a few more of these tracks, and I have some other pretty good questions. Let's pretend we're married. Thoughts on it? What do you got? Because this is the. This is the final single from the album. One of the many funk sexual songs from punks. Punk. Prince's discography.

Josh Adam Myers (50:29)

Right. I was gonna say this is like, one of the few songs from Prince in this era that's actually, like, genuinely heartening, you know? Yeah. In a way where it's like, oh, he's actually, like, not trying too hard, or he's not, like, trying to. Not trying too hard, but, like, he's not in a way that I'm sure he was conscious of at that time. He's not, like, trying to push the envelope or anything. Just seems like he's coming through in a way that's, like, very sort of genuine and, you know, from the heart and sort of, like, cute. He's being cute in a way to where it's. It's not coy. It's not trying to sort of, like, get at you in any way whatsoever. It's just, like, endearing. It's just an endearing.

Anthony Fantano (51:06)

Yeah, it really is. So much of Internet success comes from with partnerships, sponsorships, and deals made. Were there any that weren't good fits on your way to figuring it out?

Josh Adam Myers (51:18)

I mean, it. Yeah, not any. That sort of. I mean, you know, I'll say, like, instinctively. I've had a pretty good sense from day one in terms of, like, partnerships in regards to, like, what works for me personally, what I feel like, my. What makes sense for my audience to see me ingrained in. You know, to this day, I've continued to turn down weird. And even when this was sort of, like, at its peak, I've Continued to turn down, like, weird crypto crossover things. There was this one website that was sort of like offering me multiple five figure amounts to sort of be like, hey, if you do an ad with us or some kind of, like, integration with us, you know, you pitch to your fans or allow them to come on our website and bet on what the next score for this or that or this other album is going to be. And it's like, are you serious? It's like, yeah, and then we'll give you this percentage or whatever. It's like, that's psychotic. Like, you want. You want me to tell my fans, hey, go to this website.

Anthony Fantano (52:30)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (52:31)

Bet all this money on what score I'm going to give the next Drake album. Like, that's fucking unhinged. You know, it's like, I feel like that would be such a rip off, you know, and just, honestly just like create a very horrendous situation. Yeah.

Anthony Fantano (52:48)

Because you could also. You could also, you know, do some real legal by saying, all right, you place $200,000 on the. On the next, you know, Chapel roan review. And I'm gonna get.

Josh Adam Myers (53:03)

Yeah, I could. I could tell somebody. I could literally do some insider trading and just be like, hey, yeah, I'm gonna do this. So you. You go ahead and do that. So there's also that, that I've also had, like, you know, websites come through and sort of like, offer, hey, you know, can we do a series of sponsorships with you where you use our, like, hair growth serum? And it's like, not. Nah, that's okay. I'm. I started YouTube bald. I'm gonna finish YouTube bald. I have no hair. Sort of like change or transplant plans. I'm still good, though. You look good.

Anthony Fantano (53:39)

You got a good head, dude. Like, I do not have a divot, but. Yeah, you really do. A lot of people don't. You do.

Josh Adam Myers (53:46)

Yeah, I figure. I figure it works for me. So, yeah, I've been avoiding crypto and hair regrowth is mostly what I've been avoiding.

Anthony Fantano (53:54)

All right, let's move on. Dance, music, sex, romance. Prince really perfected his own language in this song, in his song titles and using this acronym, keep it mysterious. Kept it mysterious while still being peak. Prince. Subject matter, thoughts, what do you got?

Josh Adam Myers (54:12)

Yeah, and also in, you know, sort of like echo that same sentiment, like all the album titles across his discography, where there's like numbers instead of letters, I mean, and that sort of thing, or numbers instead of words. Or even the fact that, like, at that one point in his Career. I mean, you know, it's funny, I know, you know, but there are, like, a lot of younger listeners and music fans who don't necessarily know this, but there was that point in time where he was no longer Prince.

Anthony Fantano (54:42)

I know.

Josh Adam Myers (54:43)

And he was just. He was just the symbol.

Anthony Fantano (54:45)

The symbol, you know, and.

Josh Adam Myers (54:46)

And.

Anthony Fantano (54:47)

And.

Josh Adam Myers (54:47)

And people referred to him as the artist formerly known as Prince to sort of like, get that across. He was very. He was very, very particular, you know, like, which. Which I think. I think is. Is exemplified in this song and the production and the title, obviously. But I. I feel like that a lot of the. Some of the best artists, those who will. Obsess over a certain idea or a performance or a song concept, maybe not to the point where they're such perfectionists about it that they obviously get in their own way and they just don't release it, but care so much about what they do in their craft that they really try to get as close to perfect as they possibly can and really nail it and give the audience something unique and different and sort of know, bold and challenging and, you know, so.

Anthony Fantano (55:42)

So with. Because we. Everything we talked about is where he's really coming in on into his own here, where he's becoming Prince. Do you feel that this album defines Prince?

Josh Adam Myers (55:51)

I feel like this era defines Prince. I feel like this Dirty Mind, Sign of the Times and Purple Rain. I feel like this all. I feel like this whole era, like, defines Prince. You know, Doves Cry too, I would say, as well, you know, all of that. I feel like this whole era defines Prince in terms of, like, him just being at his peak artistically, commercially, also to a lesser extent. Sorry, I meant Parade when I said that earlier. But also to a lesser extent to the. The Batman soundtrack that he had inclusion. Oh, I remember during that time period too. I feel like this whole era defines Prince creatively. He. Like, during this point in. During this era, he really could kind of, like, do no wrong, you know, creatively speaking.

Anthony Fantano (56:41)

What. What are some albums that have defined artists that you think that would be like their 1999.

Josh Adam Myers (56:47)

That would be like their 1999. 1999 is a specific. Like, it's. It's obviously like a commercial success, but it's not like, on the level of like, a purple. Right. You know, like. Like Michael Jackson's 1999, In My. In my opinion, is like off the wall. You know what I mean?

Anthony Fantano (57:03)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (57:04)

Like, it's not. It's not quite Thriller, but it's, like, more raw. It's a little wilder. It's a little bit more cohesive as an album, in my opinion, and a little bit more immersive as an album experience. Another artist, 1999, I would say is like Pink Floyd's animals. I feel like Pink Floyd's animals is like their. They're 1999 maybe. Yeah, I could say that I feel like some other example of like a 1999.

Anthony Fantano (57:39)

Well. Well, while you think of that, I think this actually is even better because, you know, you're I'm always looking for new music and I'm always looking for great new artists. So as somebody that is on the cutting edge of music and reviewing and influencing what artists do you think have already released their 99 and are about to release their Purple Rain?

Josh Adam Myers (58:02)

I would hope that like that's in fact the case for someone like Dochi. You know, I feel like seeing like, I feel like she's seeing a lot of success off this Alligator Bites mixtape, which I didn't love but I think has a lot of great highlights on it and the best songs off of it, like Denial Is a River, for example, have me really sort of like thinking this could be a potential for like what some people read is like some real hip hop to kind of come back. Somebody who comes through and is like a lyricist lyricist and actually cares about like the craft of storytelling and sounds great on the mic and actually has personality and cares about writing and conveying ideas and getting thoughts and emotions across as opposed to, you know, just like coming through with something kind of boring and mind numbing and isn't really communicating much. Yeah, I mean, I feel like her new record kind of like lays the groundwork of her latest or her latest mixtape is what I want to say. Lays the groundwork for a lot of potentially more interesting stuff in the future, I think. Also Chapel Roan is an example of somebody who may have just dropped her 1999 and potentially has a bigger commercial smash coming immediately around the corner.

Anthony Fantano (59:18)

Really?

Josh Adam Myers (59:19)

Yeah, no, I think so. I mean, I feel like a song like Pink Pony Club only comes along every once in a blue moon in terms of the longevity that song has had is insane. So it'll be interesting to see sort of where that goes. But I think she has great potential to write something to really outdo her last album. Overall. I'm trying to think of who else off the top of my head kind of fits within that rubric.

Anthony Fantano (59:54)

I don't because I don't know many new new artists like I'm as of this podcast, all I'm doing is Listening to older music, which I love. It's all great, but yeah, it's like Chapel Road. I think I heard about her through your review. I think that was how I found her. Because, you know, I remember you talking about how she used the same people as Olivia Rodrigo and, and that maybe then go listen to Olivia because, oh, I like this. I might also like that.

Josh Adam Myers (60:23)

Right, right, right, right.

Anthony Fantano (60:24)

Have there been. I wonder if, I don't know if, if this is even a good question, but who, who has been somebody that had their 1999 and then you know, you're like, you're excited for the next record and then it's. It isn't, it isn't their Purple Rain. It's actually even worse than their 99.

Josh Adam Myers (60:42)

You know, I, I think like, I think maybe an example of that that could have happened recently. What was this? A very left field experimental hip hop outfit that I'm usually a big, big fan of named Clipping. They just dropped a record recently that a lot of fans seem to love called Dead Channel sky that I was not as into personally. It is very kind of like a futurist rave rap experience with a lot of dystopian lyrics that sort of like dabble in. Again, I already said futurist, but like, you know, futurism and sort of like technocracy, dystopia, that sort of thing. And it's got a lot of interesting aspects. I just think they've made like more interesting records. Their previous set, the previous set of albums that dropped, they dropped a couple of records back to back, were both horror movie themed and we're just like intensely creative and dark and really cool. But you know, I still, I still think they're an insanely creative, creative group and I'm looking forward to anything and everything they do into the future. There was also a moment where after a couple of records, How I'm Feeling now, also her self titled album, which was just named Charlie Charlie xcx came out with a few records back to back that I thought were amazing. And they both had like very kind of like weird left field pop appeals to them. And then immediately after she kind of went into this album cycle for this record Name Crash. And you know, she herself has admitted that that album was like really her trying to come through with like very mainstream sounding hits that would be like widely palatable to the greatest amount of people possible. And it just didn't really sort of like generate the kind of, you know, interest that I think that she was hoping for. Sure. Like there were Some fans of the hits, but it didn't really go that far for her commercially. And then she kind of went back to, I guess what you could argue or like, her roots, working with some of her older producers again and, you know, making pop music that was a little bit more like, kind of club centric and left field. And that's how the album Brat came through. And I'm sure last year you caught wind of Brat Summer at some point. It ended up being one of the biggest musical phenomenons of 2024. So, you know, it's. It's. It's always cool to see a bounce back.

Anthony Fantano (63:04)

Yeah, for sure.

Josh Adam Myers (63:06)

And really sort of, like, see it pay off when an artist sort of sticks to their guns or sticks to their roots as opposed to sort of, like, branching off in a way that doesn't necessarily play to their strengths.

Anthony Fantano (63:19)

Sure, Totally. All right, Free thoughts on Free. While I pull up the I've got. This song encourages people to count their blessings and be thankful for what they have.

Josh Adam Myers (63:31)

Your thoughts again, I. I feel like this track just kind of speaks to how thoughtful Prince is as an artist And. And the. The fact that he's like, like, and. And he delivers songs, and I feel like there's a lack of this these days. He. He delivers songs sort of, like, really cause you to kind of focus on what it is he's trying to get to the heart of. And on this one, he's like, you know, pushing people to be more conscious of themselves and their lives and be appreciative of, you know, who they are and where they are and what they have and. And so on and so forth. And, you know, I. I feel like trying to instill appreciation and, you know, maybe a bit of some humble feelings as well into music fans and people generally is not necessarily a bad thing. You know, again, it's. It sort of seems like he took. And I feel like there's a lack of this these days, too. I feel like he took a certain, like, responsibility with his platform and he said, you know, and thought, well, as long as I have this, I might as well spread some kind of message that might help people or do people some good or something.

Anthony Fantano (64:34)

Sure.

Josh Adam Myers (64:34)

You know, and, you know, there's certainly, like, examples of that out there today, like Kendrick Lamar or something like that. But, you know, I feel like it's one of the many things that, as I've been just kind of saying, make me just, like, appreciate him as an artist.

Anthony Fantano (64:52)

Sure. Speaking of Free, you know, not to take anything away from this song, which is Beautiful. And like we said actually about freedom. Let's take this idea actually literally. Being an influencer that usually guarantees that you'll be given or at least offered free stuff. Stuff. Do you feel conflicted in reviewing under those circumstances? And what is it? What is or are there anything that has been the most ridiculous things that you've been sent or offered that you may or may not have accepted?

Josh Adam Myers (65:24)

Unfortunately, like it's really in, in the music commentary space, be it sort of like either on YouTube or on other various social media platforms, it has been sort of like normalized to like behind the scenes, be on like record label payroll, you know, or like to one degree or another to sort of like help them push out artists and so on and so forth in a way that comes across to listeners is like organic. Who's like, oh yeah, we're just reacting to this song today. Or I'm just gonna post a tweet about this music video that just dropped. Or we're gonna, you know, like post about this random stupid made up news item about a thing that isn't even true or sort of like, like, you know, manufactured to sort of like be a controversy point or something that gets interest generated in the artists that we're trying to sort of like build a fan base for and so on and so forth. There's just like so much music discourse out there these days that is either like bodied or it's paid for in some form or fashion.

Anthony Fantano (66:27)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (66:28)

And unfortunately, like the people who are engaging this aren't really sharing openly with their audience that like, oh yeah, this is like, like it's effectively an advertisement. You know, it's like you're being paid to advertise this particular artist or this record or something, but you're not like being forward with your audience about whether or not that is the case. You know, you're just like doing it silently because you know that if you were to tell your audience that this is the case in a lot of them anyway, that you just, that they would sort of see that and just presume like, oh, well, you're only saying that's good because you got paid. Or you're only saying that's good because you, you know, the, the label told you to say it was good. So, you know, it's, it's, it's a little preposterous in my opinion, that that sort of thing is like becoming more and more normalized.

Anthony Fantano (67:16)

Sure, sure. It's so, it's also so funny that the, that the next song is called all the Critics love you in New.

Josh Adam Myers (67:24)

York.

Anthony Fantano (67:27)

Thoughts on it. Before I pull up my. My little Mish Bagash, where I have.

Josh Adam Myers (67:31)

I also wanted to say.

Anthony Fantano (67:32)

Yeah, please also want to say.

Josh Adam Myers (67:33)

Say Lady Cab Driver is one of the longest songs on the record and is just a great jam.

Anthony Fantano (67:40)

Oh, yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (67:41)

Like. Like, DNSR is like, a really great immersive, sort of odyssey of a synth funk track that you could, like, really get lost in. I feel like it's, you know, one of the better and again, more immersive performances on the entire record. But, you know, this record, um, the. The Critics track is one of the reasons I like, you know, this album. You know, not that I sort of, like, obviously agree with every single thing that Prince says on it. And, you know, I could also see sort of the merit in what he's saying as well, because, you know, during this point in time, like, obviously, Prince is perceived as a very influential, groundbreaking, classic artist right now, but between the envelopes, he was pushing and sort of being under fire by certain social groups at the time. Like, he had his fair share of critics and, you know, didn't feel like he deserved all the flack that he was getting and he was not beloved by everyone at, you know, this point in time during his heyday, which I feel like is. I. I feel like it's something that's often kind of like, lost with. You know, I. I feel like that context is often lost when it comes to records and artists. Sadly, that. That becomes kind of classic over time. You know, whether it's like this or whether it's like Pink Floyd's the Wall or whether it's like Nirvana's Nevermind, for example, I feel like those records just become so ingrained into regular, everyday culture that they no longer seem radical to us anymore. And unless you live during that time, you're not really subject to or you don't really fully understand what made those albums subversive at the time that they came out, or what made them edgy or what made them different or, you know, the fact that Kurt Cobain was, like, openly hostile toward anybody who was, like, racist or homophobic or anything like that. You know, like, if he were around today saying that stuff, if he were still alive today, you know, he'd have morons on Twitter reacting like, oh, you went woke.

Anthony Fantano (69:52)

Yeah, yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (69:53)

Like, it's like that. And it's like, get a grip. You know, it's like the only reason that you think that is because you don't have any context or understanding as to why it was to as to what any of this stuff is coming from, you know, what, or even what it's saying. You know, it's, I mean, there are people that, like, listen to Rage against the Machine and, like, see the stuff Tom Morello says on social media. It's like, oh, now you're raging for the Machine? And it's like, no, they've, they've always had these opinions, man. This is, like, who they are. This is always what they've stood for. You know, you're the one who's either changed or sort of, like, clueless as to what's going on.

Anthony Fantano (70:27)

Well, speaking of changing, you know, as, as your, as your judgment, your tastes have changed, being as a critic, have there ever been something, you know, that you've like, or how often do you go back to check on whether you still agree with your assessments? And are there any notable examples of you changing how you feel and announcing it publicly?

Josh Adam Myers (70:49)

Yeah, I've done some videos on that here and there. You know, either in sort of like a series that I haven't updated in a while where I just, like, kind of will maybe list several albums that I feel like have either grown on me or maybe I'm not as jazzed about as I was when I once listened to them, but I've literally gone as far as to, like, re reviewing a couple of projects, like, based on either my personal feelings changing or things about the record changing. Like, for example, Kanye's the Life of Pablo before he went fully crazy when he first released the album. And this is kind of his first album cycle like this. It wasn't fully done before the record reached the point where it is now. It underwent several track list changes, song changes, and also, like, really, Really, I, I, I think defining mix changes as well. Like, a lot of the songs right out of the Gate sounded like Mudd, and all of that were all of those things compiled into stuff that just kind of took away from the album for me. And then I think it went back to the Excuse Me album, like, maybe nine months later or so, maybe a year later. Yeah, with all those changes, because at a certain point, like, I'm doing a review, I'm doing a review almost every day. You know what I mean? And there were so many news items and articles, like, cropping up all the time, like, oh, Kanye changed the album again. It's like, I can't keep, keep up with every. Sure, you know what I mean? After a certain point just kind of got annoying. And it's like, I'm just tuning this out and going to go pay attention to other things.

Anthony Fantano (72:22)

Sure.

Josh Adam Myers (72:23)

Really several songs on the album that I really liked when I first heard it, you know. So I went back to sort of hear those songs.

Anthony Fantano (72:29)

I was like, whoa, these are like.

Josh Adam Myers (72:30)

These are sounding way better. And then, you know, then I went back and I was like, oh, okay. Wow. There were like a. There were like at least several mix changes between when it first came out and what this is right now. And then I even found an original sort of mix, mixed version of the album and sort of did a side by side comparison. I was like, okay, this is actually like significantly better. And then I went on to re review the album and I was like, oh, actually this is a lot better now. And I kind of, you know, inched the score up a few notches. There's also Mac Miller's Swimming record, which I did not really like at all when I first heard it. And then shortly after I did the review and the album came out, he passed away. And then, you know, a few more years after that, that's when he had sort of his circles record, which was like more of a singer, songwriter sort of experience. And I went on to review that and I loved that. And then a little while after that I decided to like, you know, it's sort of time I decided to go back to Swimming and sort of see if like I still didn't like it and still didn't care for it. And I went back and I watched my old review and then I ended up sort of like pretty much doing a 180 on the album and I had more glowing take on it years later down the road.

Anthony Fantano (73:32)

Wow. All right, we come to the. Is this the final song on the record? International Lover.

Josh Adam Myers (73:37)

Lover, yeah, yeah, International Lover.

Anthony Fantano (73:40)

International Lover. Recorded during sessions for the Times. What time is it? In fact, Prince knocked out the entirety of International Lover and the Walk on the same day. It's speculated that the song was originally and written and recorded for Morris Day before Prince held it back for his album. Given the slow James lyrical content, equal parts sexy and silly, it's a very plausible theory and great song and a great song to end the record.

Josh Adam Myers (74:04)

Thought Thoughts. Yeah, it's one of the more sensual tracks on the album for sure. Seductive, I guess you could even say. And I feel like in terms of that tone, it sort of like perfectly defines primarily sort of like who we know Prince to be as, as an artist. I feel like this is like one of the more on brand songs on the album in terms of just the, you know, allure of it, I guess you could say.

Anthony Fantano (74:28)

Yeah. You know, this is. This was a. It's quadruple record. This is four albums, if I'm not mist. Taken right when this was really.

Josh Adam Myers (74:38)

This, this. This is for. I mean, is it. I mean, it's like an hour. This is a 70 minute album.

Anthony Fantano (74:43)

Sure. But I'm almost positive.

Josh Adam Myers (74:45)

Short of a double, I think, isn't a double like 75.

Anthony Fantano (74:48)

Morty, Morty, hold on. This is a breakthrough. So. Yeah, it's a double lp, the first of many produced by Prince. Okay. You know, would. What. Would you cut anything off this record to make the album better?

Josh Adam Myers (75:03)

No, no, not even. Not even a little bit.

Anthony Fantano (75:07)

So, you know, with some artists, like, you've heard some records where they're like double records or stuff like that. Are there any albums where, if you think shaving some of the tracks off would have made the record better, like on the double? Because I think of like use your illusion by Guns N Roses, like there's some incredible music on that record and then there's also some sort. And I think it's a great record because I love Guns N Roses. But obviously if you would have. I think if you shave that down to one record, everybody would be talking about use your illusion. I don't know if they'd be talking about the way they talk about Appetite for Destruction, but I think it would be in the discussion as one of. One of their best records.

Josh Adam Myers (75:46)

Yeah, I mean, as far as like classic. Classic albums go, I mean, you know, I recently did a video on this. I did like a whole Pink Floyd worst to best. And you know, there's like argument to be made that like, you know, the. The wall is like a little bit bloated in comparison to some other. Other records or maybe feels more like a culmination of everything they had done up until that point where it's like, you know, you could say, well, if you want to hear this certain sound or this certain sound, you could hear almost like a condensed, better version of that on previous albums, you know, in a lot of ways. But I mean, it's still a great record. I mean, I think a lot of people also say that about the White Album, but like, that album being is sort of freewheeling and out of control and all over the place as it is is part of like what makes it appealing to me. Yeah, you know, it's just like kind of doing a little bit of everything. And some of it's kind of zany, some of it's a weird sounding, like little reggae Obla D Obla da song, whatever. You know, it's like. It's just kind of do a little bit of everything. It's just totally out of control. And that's like kind of what makes the record intriguing to me, you know. But. But despite the fact that this album is long as it is, and you even have tracks that like, really go the distance, like Automatic, hey you, hey you, D O Matic despite all of that, like, it all feels very fluid and cohesive and immersive. Like there's no song on it that stands out as like, oh, this is kind of like a weird out of place thing that doesn't really make any sense. It's a very cohesive album. It's rare that you get even during this time period. Albums that are this long and just feel still so together together, you know? You know, other records that I feel like also go the distance, but like, also somehow manage that are like Joanna Nome's have One on Me Songs in the Key of Life, you know, those are. These are big, big albums, but they still sound very, very like they're still a very focused vision throughout the entire record in terms of, like, what they're going for and what they're doing.

Anthony Fantano (77:44)

So I think I read here this was originally a double vinyl album. It was soon released as a single vinyl album and removed DMSR and Automatic dsmr. Automatic all the critics love you in New York City and International Lover. On the cassette, the only ballad, Free, was moved to the end of side one. But the whole record fit on one cassette. While the CD was finally released, DMSR was omitted because there wasn't enough room on a single disc.

Josh Adam Myers (78:15)

Because, like, at least from what I remember. And maybe this was like the very first, earliest CD recordings, which it could have been the case because, like, obviously Prince would have been popular and commercially successful in such a way to where he probably would have been considered for such a thing. But I thought the first CD copies that came out of the the gate were like 75 minutes.

Anthony Fantano (78:33)

Yeah, they were. Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (78:35)

And from what I understand, the album runs just short of that. But what you say is. I didn't know that about the cassette, though. But that's just one of the many funny things about just sort of the physical mediums that we used to kind of have to consume things on back in the day. And cassettes were my first. Cassettes on the radio were my first introduction into music. Just like having a little boombox and collecting my tapes and also just copying songs off the radio. That I liked on. On.

Anthony Fantano (79:08)

Oh, yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (79:09)

So that I could listen to them later. You know, stuff like that. And, you know, and. And these things had their. I mean, they were great and they were convenient in some ways, but they also had their limitations. Like, you've got to completely change up the track list to fit all the songs on it.

Anthony Fantano (79:24)

Sure. And. And years later, the. A lot of the artists would take advantage of the fact that the CD was longer than the record and they'd fill it. People like Red Hot Chili Peppers did that. That. Can there be too much of a good thing?

Josh Adam Myers (79:39)

Yeah, sure. I mean, why not?

Anthony Fantano (79:41)

Yeah. I mean, with music, I. I mean, if it's. If it's great song after great song after great song. Sure. But, you know, I, I still think that sometimes, especially from doing this podcast, that I've seen it where it's like, oh, man. Like, if they would have taken. Because one of the questions I always ask, which we're about to do, the final questions, like, what's your favorite song song? What's the song? You skip over, like, what should be left off, like this record. So, you know, I've seen it with a lot of incredible records. There's usually a misfire. I don't call it a misfire because that takes away from, you know, then, you know, the album or whatever. But still, it's like some, It's. I think sometimes too much. Too many songs can take where this could have been a perfect record into the term of like, ah, yeah, it's. It's. It's great, but it's not. It's. It has that moment. Is there. Is there notable, like, one song albums where you're like, damn, they could have just left that off. It would have been a perfect album.

Josh Adam Myers (80:36)

I mean, in the case of this album, I don't feel like there are any skips.

Anthony Fantano (80:40)

Yeah.

Josh Adam Myers (80:41)

I mean, there are some songs that are definitely excessive and kind of like go the distance and maybe you're not like always. Man, I wish there was like a single edit of this or something like that. Sure. It's like a song like Autumn Dramatic. For as catchy as that song is, it's funny that it goes on as long as it does. However, that's not to say like, obviously Prince is infallible or that there are instances of that on other albums. I mean, you know, when you go past sort of like the mid to late 90s and you really get getting into that sort of pocket of. Of Prince's catalog, like, it's, It's a bit of A no man's land in terms of, like, you know, you're really struggling to find a great record. And on top of that, like, you know, we talked about Dirty Mind earlier. Like, you know, I know it's short and it's obviously not demanding a lot of time of you, but like, you know, sometimes I do sit there through Sister and I'm like cringing, you know, it's like, man, you really, you really did write this gross ass song. Like, I mean, I know you're kind of trying to push some buttons here and maybe speak some experience, but you're really kind of going, you're really kind of going overboard here.

Anthony Fantano (81:45)

I mean, that's what I love about him. That's what I love about Prince, man, is that he doesn't seem to give a. And he cares about what is, what is inside of him needs to get out. And if that day he was, he was feeling that, that's what he did. And the fact that he put it out and not give a of what the critics thought or what anybody thinks, even changing his name, I mean, he, dude, he's an artist. The, the more you dig into the story of him and how talented he is, he really is, is, I feel, you know, maybe not album sales wise, but you put him, you know, you put him up there with Stevie Wonder. You put him up there with, with the, the Beatles. You put him up with like, some of the greatest musical minds, you know, and the fact that we got to live through him and really come into our own, I mean, we missed it. Like my, my writer Morty, who really got to grow up with him, but it's, he's, there's, I don't know if there's many more people as talented as him. I mean, even his, his super bowl performance, it's just. He covers a goddamn Foo Fighters song and, and because he doesn't give a, like, he's doing whatever he felt like doing in that moment. And that's rad.

Josh Adam Myers (82:56)

Yeah, no, I, I, I agree. I mean, like, obviously his willingness to go against the grain and totally, like, skirt any kind of, like, social norms and limitations and so on and so forth, like, you know, with any person that can have its downsides, you know, I mean, I feel like we're sort of seeing that in a huge way with like, you know, Kanye west right now, but simultaneously, you know, artists who kind of like, have that instinctively in them as like a personality trait, I mean, that also drives them to kind of like, pioneer into ideas and sounds and concepts that maybe Other people are afraid to or less app too.

Anthony Fantano (83:36)

Who is, who is the, the 2000 and twenties prince? Who do you think is the guy that's taking the torch? Very curious to hear that from you.

Josh Adam Myers (83:46)

I think my, I think my honest to God answer that question at this point is, is kind of like Tyler the creator.

Anthony Fantano (83:52)

Really?

Josh Adam Myers (83:53)

Yeah, because I, I think he has a similar sort of like flamboyance and eccentricity about him in this current era of his career. And he's like very into sort of like, like presentation, very creative production, really getting an idea emotionally across in his music as well and sort of like reinventing himself visually and aesthetically with each like new album cycle as well. I, I, I feel like he's like kind of got that freaky streak as well in his music, especially on this new record where he has actually some pretty freaky tunes, sexually speaking. But yeah, I think he's, I think he's somebody who while he is obviously predominantly categorized as a hip hop artist as far as like pop culture goes, somebody who's like making popular music where he's like really sort of letting his freak flag fly and, and really sort of like putting his personality out there in a very bold and uncompromising way. I feel like he's kind of the one at this, at this very moment. Moment.

Anthony Fantano (84:56)

So Morty, my writer, who's, he's probably in like mid-50s, he just took his daughter who's like, I think she's like 16 to the show, which I thought was really cool to be the cool dad because he's not particularly in, I'm not, he, he loves music, he knows me. He's a dj. He's one of the coolest. But yes, I, I myself, I, I really feel bad because I see Tyler the creator keep coming up in so many people's love for, for music and people that I respect. But I, I really never really dug into anything other than the odd future stuff. So if is a new, it's for our listeners too, you know, where would you start with, with Tyler the Creator to really. And then, you know, how would you, what, what would be the order of what we should listen to?

Josh Adam Myers (85:38)

You know, I think you should probably listen to Flower Boy if you're new to Tyler the Creator. I feel like that is his most palatable album. The album he came out with after that, Igor, I think is his best album, but it's not, it's not as rap centric. It's a little bit more sting songy and more tuneful and a bit more Soul inspired. And it's kind of a concept album about a relationship kind of falling apart in a bit of a love triangle thing. After that, he came out with Call me if you get lost, which is more his kind of like very brash, in your face return to kind of like just being a rapper's rapper. There were a lot of people who loved Igor, but some of the hardcore fans response to that record was like, oh man, he's not really rapping on this record. On what's going on, I kind of miss Tyler being a rapper, so on and so forth. So he kind of came back to that kind of feel with a vengeance. And it's kind of like doing a lot of flexing on that record and so on and so forth. And his latest record that he just came out with, the Chroma Copia record, I don't think he's his best personally. I think actually in some ways it may be the weaker of the four, but it's still an insanely creative album. And I feel like he's, you know, pretty much proving that he's on a bit of a run here creatively. And even a record that by Tyler standards is fine, is decent, is good, is like on average at least like two to three times better than the average that you're seeing out there in the main these days. And there's still incredible songs on the album that like, while they may not snap, they're still profoundly personal and emotional. Like one particular track where he's like reflecting on his, you know, connection or lack thereof with his father and so on and so forth. So certainly some of his most thoughtful and interesting material to date on the album. It's just not as most consistent in my opinion. But I feel like from. From Chromacopia, call me Igor. And again, I would start with Flower Boy if you're completely unfamiliar. He's really been on a great four album run as of late.

Anthony Fantano (87:39)

Dig it. I will. I will dig into it. Dude, this has been great. I'm so happy that you came on. I got to meet you. I'd love to have you back. We got. We got another 160. This is 163. This is ranked 163 out of 500, by the way. Do you feel like it's apt. Do you feel like it's, It's. It was in the right spot. I think it got readjusted here. Let me double check the statistics on it because the 2020 list, they re ranked everything. Let me see. So following. All right. So let me see if this is it. Following Prince's death, 1999 recharted on the Billboard Hot 100 at 27, making it the first song to reach. Oh wait, that's the song. Jesus Christ. So here we go. This is the second of four times we will discuss Prince on the 500. We had Ali Sadiq on back at 206 with Dirty Mind. Sign of the Times comes in at 93 and Purple Rain at 76. On the RE rank, Dirty Mind fell to 326. That's 120 spots. While this album climbed time 33 spots to 130. Sign of the Times jumped up to 45 and Purple Rain vaulted all the way up to number eight. Actually excluding the four Prince albums listed above, which is the most underrated. What do you think?

Josh Adam Myers (89:01)

Well, I mean, I feel like. I feel like I just. Just sort of like say off the bat. I. I don't really mind those placements. I do think Purple Range is like a top 10 album. I do think more people need to sort of like consider Parade generally. Probably more conversation about Diamonds and Pearls is warranted as well. But with that being said, like, those are not bad placements. I. I disagree with the original rankings that you were saying earlier. I do feel like this. I do feel like this at the very least is like a top 150 album of all time.

Anthony Fantano (89:34)

Sure.

Josh Adam Myers (89:36)

Sign of the Times is like a top 100 album album. And, and Purple Rain is the top 10 album like of. Of all time. You know, up there with like what's going on and stuff like that.

Anthony Fantano (89:48)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The 2020 list is, is almost completely different from the one that we're doing. Dude, this has been great. So let's do the final questions. Get you out of here. Favorite song on this record?

Josh Adam Myers (90:00)

Probably either Delirious or. Yeah, probably either Delirious or the critics track on the back end of the song.

Anthony Fantano (90:10)

Nice. What's least favorite track or is there anything that you skip over?

Josh Adam Myers (90:15)

I wouldn't say there's anything that I skip over, but I do think like, you know, sometimes I'm not always in the mood to hear all nine minutes of Automatic, you know, but like, still, it's, it's. It's still a highlight on the album.

Anthony Fantano (90:28)

Sure. Can you. To this record. Record?

Josh Adam Myers (90:32)

If, if you can't. To any Prince album. You can't.

Anthony Fantano (90:36)

I know that's. I gotta ask everybody. What would be your elevator pitch or how do you sum this record up to somebody?

Josh Adam Myers (90:45)

I. I feel like I would sort of just sum this up as, like, one of the greatest pop albums of all time. And I feel like it's, you know, an example of, like, everything pop can be, you know, and. And I. I would say one of the best synth funk albums of all time.

Anthony Fantano (91:01)

Dig it?

Josh Adam Myers (91:02)

Funk Essential.

Anthony Fantano (91:04)

Essential. You heard it here, everybody. Anthony, this was great. Thank you so much for coming on, buddy. I'd love to have you back. So thank you.

Josh Adam Myers (91:12)

Thank you, sir.

Anthony Fantano (91:13)

What did I tell you? What did I tell you? The one and only Anthony Fantano. Follow him on Instagram at a Fantano on X, at the needle drop, on YouTube at the needle drop and at Fantano piano. Check out his YouTube channel, guys. It really is a cohesive. Great. He's a. He's a music fan now. We just listened to Prince with 1999 for new music pick this week brought to you in part by distro Kid is do Vultures by the convenience. And you can find links to their music on our website, the500podcast.com and if you were in a band or directly influenced by one of these albums, ours, and you want your music featured on the 500 show, send your song to 500podcast gmail.com. make sure you put the album and artist and influence you in the subject line next week. The time has come. Radioheads. Okay, computer, this is a biggie for me, 1997's brilliant masterpiece. We're gonna dig into it. Do your homework. It's a good Skin so easy now should be criminal man skin easier. Skin so easy now without cultures, without culture.

Josh Adam Myers (94:34)

The 500.

Anthony Fantano (94:39)

Keeping it fleecy for the.

Josh Adam Myers (94:43)

Fleece nation on the 500. Live from the Internet's red carpet, it's Vrbo's 2025 Vacation Rentals of the Year, our annual showcase of the very best of Vrbo. Selected from over 2 million private vacation rentals, this year's list features breakout hits.

Anthony Fantano (95:12)

Like a ski in, ski out, mountain.

Josh Adam Myers (95:13)

Chalet and a modern beach compound. With unobstructed ocean views, and with discounts on select stays of one week or longer, these critically acclaimed homes might be more affordable than you'd think. Head over to vrbo.com that's vrbo to check out the official list and make it a vrbo. This is Lawrence Lanahan, journalist, musician, and host of Rearranged, an Osiris media podcast about music arranging. Once a song is written, arrangers make musical decisions that shape how we end up hearing the song. And we're not just talking about adding orchestral accompaniment like horns and strings or doing A cover version of a song arrangement can be putting happy music over dark lyrics, using samples, recording all acoustic, even tiny decisions like putting an electronic loop into an acoustic song to draw your attention to an important turn of phrase. It's all arranging. Rearranged Episodes are documentary essays where I use arrangements to answer some big questions like what is a song and what can a song become? And how can the sound of a song change the meaning you take from it? Listening this way has changed my relationship with music. Tune in to Rearranged, and maybe it'll happen for you, too. Learn more@rerangedpodcast.com Osiris Next Chapter podcast.