173 - Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything - W. Kamau Bell

Summary

Episode 173 Summary: Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything with W. Kamau Bell

The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers delves into Rolling Stone Magazine's ranking of Todd Rundgren's seminal album, Something/Anything, with special guest W. Kamau Bell. Released on February 12, 2025, this episode offers an in-depth exploration of Rundgren's influence on music, his multifaceted artistry, and the personal connections that shape the discussion.

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Introduction

Josh Adam Myers opens the episode by welcoming listeners and introducing W. Kamau Bell, renowned comedian and host of CNN's United Shades of America. The hosts set the stage for discussing Something/Anything, a cornerstone in Rundgren's discography and its placement at number 173 on the Rolling Stone list.

Josh Adam Myers [04:29]: "Where are we?"

W. Kamau Bell [04:31]: "Todd, this was a longy, but a strongy."

W. Kamau Bell’s Musical Journey and Connection to Todd Rundgren

W. Kamau Bell shares his personal musical evolution, heavily influenced by his high school friend Rob Nasseter, a passionate guitarist inspired by Rundgren. This relationship ignited Kamau's appreciation for diverse musical genres, from Miles Davis to Motown, laying the foundation for his love of Todd Rundgren.

W. Kamau Bell [07:01]: "So, I really wasn't listening to, like, music other than whatever my mom would play on the stereo..."

Josh Adam Myers [09:08]: "I met him as Walter."

Kamau recounts attending Rundgren's concerts, emphasizing Rundgren's ability to personally connect with his audience, which fostered a lifelong admiration.

W. Kamau Bell [10:53]: "Well, welcome, welcome."

Deep Dive into Something/Anything

The conversation shifts to Something/Anything, Rundgren's ambitious double album released in 1972. Kamau highlights the album's structure:

1. Side One: A "bouquet of ear-catching melodies."
2. Side Two: The "cerebral side."
3. Side Three: "The kid gets heavy inside."
4. Side Four: "Baby needs a New Paris, A Snakeskin Boots, a Pop Opera."

Kamau praises Rundgren's versatility and technical prowess, noting his ability to produce, sing, and play all instruments on the first three sides.

W. Kamau Bell [12:22]: "So how does that come about? Like, and how do doing it and explain your process?"

Josh draws parallels between Rundgren's solo control and his own experiences in stand-up comedy, emphasizing the dedication required to master multiple aspects of a craft.

Rundgren’s Artistic Control and Influence

A significant portion of the discussion centers on Rundgren's reputation as a "control freak" in the studio, meticulously crafting his sound without relying heavily on session musicians. This approach is likened to the creative processes in comedy, where both Josh and Kamau strive for authenticity and personal expression.

Josh Adam Myers [13:04]: "I'm a natural born control freak who has to learn how to work with other people."

Comparisons are made between Rundgren and artists like Prince, highlighting their commitment to artistic integrity and innovation.

W. Kamau Bell [08:18]: "One of the greatest musicians that might have ever existed. I put him up there with, like, Beethoven and Mozart."

Album Highlights: I Saw the Light and Hello, It's Me

The hosts delve into standout tracks such as "I Saw the Light" and "Hello, It's Me." Rundgren's ability to write a quintessential pop song quickly is both praised and critiqued by Kamau, who notes the song's commercial success juxtaposed with Rundgren's personal dissatisfaction.

Josh Adam Myers [40:36]: "It's a perfect pop song."

They discuss how "Hello, It's Me" exemplifies Rundgren's mastery of melancholy storytelling, making it a timeless piece that resonates with listeners across generations.

W. Kamau Bell [58:13]: "That plays into Todd Rundgren. He also was a man of his time."

Personal Anecdotes and Broader Reflections

W. Kamau Bell shares a poignant story from his documentary work, detailing his encounter with the Ku Klux Klan. This narrative underscores the intersection of art, personal experience, and societal issues, reflecting the depth of both Rundgren's and Kamau's creative endeavors.

Josh Adam Myers [37:53]: "So we went to an open field. We stayed there for hours until it got dark..."

The discussion touches on the enduring impact of Rundgren’s work and his ability to influence both peers and emerging artists through his innovative techniques and collaborative spirit.

W. Kamau Bell [46:38]: "Are you nervous leading the KKK?... It was super scary..."

Concluding Thoughts and Legacy

As the episode wraps up, Kamau reflects on Rundgren's lasting legacy in the music industry, including his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and his pioneering efforts in electronic and progressive music. Both hosts agree that Something/Anything deserves its place on the Rolling Stone list not just for its commercial success but for its artistic significance.

W. Kamau Bell [66:55]: "But I understand, like, do you feel like this record should be on the 500 greatest album list?"

Josh Adam Myers [67:36]: "I think that this... it's a very great... you want some outliers on this list."

Final Promotions and Sign-Off

The episode concludes with mutual appreciation for each other's work, promotions for upcoming projects, and a nod to future episodes covering other iconic albums. Kamau encourages listeners to explore Rundgren's discography and stay engaged with both his musical and comedic endeavors.

W. Kamau Bell [73:01]: "So we got to get you out of here soon. We gotta ask you the same question we ask everybody."

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Notable Quotes

• W. Kamau Bell [08:23]: "But then I gotta ask you, because I know we only have an hour, is like, what are you... What are you doing here? For Todd Rundgren, which I'm excited about."

• Josh Adam Myers [40:31]: "So, yeah, you may not agree with it, but it's still an album you should reckon with."

• W. Kamau Bell [57:55]: "How did you meet and how did you start working with Chris Rock?"

Key Takeaways

• Todd Rundgren's Mastery: Rundgren's ability to control every aspect of his music-making process sets him apart as a true auteur in the music industry.

• Artistic Integrity vs. Commercial Success: The tension between creating authentic art and achieving mainstream appeal is a recurring theme, mirrored in both Rundgren’s and Kamau’s careers.

• Influence and Legacy: Something/Anything not only showcases Rundgren's diverse musical talents but also his lasting impact on peers and future generations of artists.

• Personal Connections: W. Kamau Bell's personal anecdotes and professional relationship with Rundgren enrich the discussion, providing a deeper understanding of both figures' artistic journeys.

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For those unfamiliar with the episode, this summary offers a comprehensive overview of the rich dialogue between Josh Adam Myers and W. Kamau Bell, celebrating Todd Rundgren's Something/Anything as a pivotal work in the landscape of modern music.

Transcript

[Josh Adam Myers]

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[W. Kamau Bell]

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[W. Kamau Bell]

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[W. Kamau Bell]

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[Josh Adam Myers]

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[W. Kamau Bell]

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[Josh Adam Myers]

All you have to do to get it is beat me at a one on one. I'm just playing get the Angel Reef Special at McDonald's now.

[W. Kamau Bell]

I participate in restaurants for a limited time. This show is brought to you by Distro Kid. Bring your music to the masses. The 500 the 500 JM been walking us down through that 2012 edition so it ain't nothing to you. Hundreds more to go and in need of a friend the king of peaceful angelo. Talking the 500 until the end Talking the 500 until the end with my man JL on the 500 Talking the 500 hundred until the end up at me and the answer was plain to see Cause I saw the light in your eyes. The song is I Saw the Light. It's by Todd Rundgren from something anything from 1972. It's also number 173 out of 500 on the 500 with Josh Adam Myers. That's me, everybody. I'm a comedian and I'm going through Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums and we're chipping away, dude. Thank you to everybody that came out to see me at Mohegan Sun Comics. The shows were incredible. I got some great clips out of it this weekend. You can see me at the Atlanta Punchline February 14th and the 15th. I'm doing five shows then Sunday I'm at the goddamn Comedy Jam in LA at the Comedy Store, and Monday I'm at Shimmy. I'll be doing some shows with Big J and David Tell while I'm in la. And then the following weekend I will be in Reno, Nevada at the Laugh Factory. And then the weekend after that I'll be in Dallas at the Dallas Comedy Club. And then March, I don't have much on the road, but April, I'm out pretty consistently, and then May is loading up. I'll have more dates, so go to joshadam myers.com for tickets and at Josh Adam Myers on all social media. So we're getting ready to tape this podcast with Morty and Wayne Federman. It's gonna do it on the Patreon. I think we might release it as a regular podcast, but subscribe to the Patreon if you want. It's gonna be great, man. Me, Morty and Wayne are just so different. We're so fun. We love each other. So subscribe patreon.com backslash the 500 podcast. Like really help us out, man. It's we work our asses off on this. We need your help. You'll get free merch. Patreon.com backslash the 500 podcast. Subscribe to the YouTube and be a part of the journey, guys. All right, let's get to it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Where are we?

[W. Kamau Bell]

Todd, this was a longy, but a strongy. And my guest today, incredible W. Kumal Bell. You know him from a CNN series, United Shades of America. Also totally biased, brilliant comic and super fun. To have him on the podcast, we get deep and he's a real fan of Todd. Rate review. And most Importantly, subscribe to the 500 listen free on all platforms or anywhere you get your podcast. Follow me at Josh Adam Myers on all social media and follow the podcast at the 500 podcast. Email the [e-mail], follow the Facebook group run by Crazy Evan, and for all things 500, go to the website the500podcast.com. All right, y'all, not left to say. But here we go with number 173 out of 500 with Todd Rundgren's Something Anything.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Hello, hello, hello.

[W. Kamau Bell]

How are we, Morty?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Morty makes it hard to get off the phone, doesn't he?

[W. Kamau Bell]

Do you know Morty? I feel like Morty. I feel like Morty knows everybody. Morty Coyle, you probably. Have you ever been to. Have you ever been to. Do you ever. Have you ever been to Canners Deli in Los Angeles.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Sure, sure, sure.

[W. Kamau Bell]

So they have a back room there called the Kibbutz Room, which is. Is a little dive bar. Slash. Yeah. You know, so. Yeah, so. So there's been a jam there since, like, the 90s. And, you know, it started, I guess, like, pre grunge into hair metal, and then it became a whole thing. And my buddy Morty, who I met there, he's kind of like the band leader, and when I started doing this podcast, you know, because we've been buddies and he's older than me, and he knows so much about music, he would be like, dude, you're missing so much important stuff. And. And I think you get it, because it's like, when you study any art form or if you're in anything, you know, ex. There's. There's, like, Especially music. More than anything, people are very, like. Like, nope. Like, this song was played at my wedding. This song was played at my dad's funeral. I think of this. So you have to be very delicate, and you got to make sure you show that even if you don't like the record, I got to show the respect to it because.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, yeah.

[W. Kamau Bell]

So. So when you get. So, you know, just to dive into this, it's like, dude, I don't know a lot about Todd Rundgren. I don't even know if I'm saying his last name right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I think you're saying it right. Right enough.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah. So. So, you know, to put the. To put the button on this is.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I.

[W. Kamau Bell]

You know, I spend hours going over everything and kind of like, figuring out what to make sure I hit what. Make sure I don't miss, which I. You know, it's like, you got to show respect to this. And so Morty is just. He's been. He. He reached out a long time ago, was like, dude, let me help you. And so now it's like, I've spent. Dude, I've spent. Literally, we were on the phone two days ago for five hours going over this record, and then we have a shared note, which is. Yeah. Which has got all my notes, and I've got the questions, and then we research you. And so it's just. It's a lot.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you do it. If you're gonna do something, you might as well do it well, because 100.

[W. Kamau Bell]

And what are you doing it for? And I think also it's just like, the more you start really diving in, you could listen to something. It's like when I. When you just listen to this record, at face value, like, you're just like, yeah, it's a good record. It's long, it's this. It's. You can see this guy's trying a lot of stuff, but then you find out which will go over everything. This guy Todd is a genius.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, he's white. Prince, dude.

[W. Kamau Bell]

I was. I was gonna say that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean to.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Big ups. No, no big ups to Prince, probably.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[W. Kamau Bell]

One of the greatest musicians that might have ever existed. I put him up there with, like, Beethoven and Mozart.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, sure, sure, sure. Yeah.

[W. Kamau Bell]

You know, but. But then I gotta ask you, because I know we only have an hour, is like, what are you. What are you doing here? For. For Todd Runby, which I'm excited about. But, like, how do this record something, anything?

[Josh Adam Myers]

So I think most of my musical knowledge, at least the roots of it, come from a dude I met in high school named Rob Nasseter. We were both in the same school, the same grade. He. Rob was the white Jewish guitar player who wanted to be the next Bob Dylan. And, you know, would sing at school functions and had been. Would record in his bedroom. Like, this is the. This is the late 80s, early 90s. So he was. This was not an easy thing to do. Sure. It was not. There was no garage band or laptops and. And so.

[W. Kamau Bell]

But Rob.

[Josh Adam Myers]

When I met Rob, I really wasn't listening to, like, music other than whatever my mom would play on the stereo on the album, you know, with the records. And I was really a comedy geek and a Bruce Lee kung fu nerd, and that's what I didn't. And even though hip hop was, like, happening all around me, I appreciated it, but I wasn't really listening to music. And I met Rob, and Rob's one of those people, if you go to his house, he's going to put a record on. He's going to just. And. And Rob's musical tastes were, like, all over the map, literally. You know, like Miles Davis, you know, Bob Dylan, Todd Rundgren, classical music. You know, he sort of liked a little. He liked a little bit of everything, which was great for me. As a friend, I was able to go, I'll take this part. Oh, John Coltrane, you say, I'll take him with me. Oh, Bob Marley. Yeah, that's a good one. And. But, like, Rob took me to my first concerts. My first concert was Tom Petty. And it was one of those things where I was like, this guy's pretty good.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, He's.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He's really doing. He's gonna, he's gonna do well. And also I realized I know most of these songs without knowing that I knew most of Tom Petty songs because he's that kind of guy where he's sure. But Rob's number one favorite musician was Todd Rundgren. So because Rob took me to concerts, I at one point had seen Todd run ready more than I saw anybody else. Even bands that I liked, like, I probably so Todd run your live through like throughout the 90s, the last time I saw. And then eventually I would even go by myself. Like when Rob. Me and Rob weren't talking anymore, I was like, oh, Tom running in town. And so yeah, so I, I am. I have a. So I know a lot about Top Rungren, which is weird because as you say, it's not exactly. I think when you all sent me records to look at, I was like, what about that Todd Rungburn record?

[W. Kamau Bell]

Dude, you don't understand. We go through that list and we're like, who the gonna do Todd Rungren?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, welcome, welcome.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Well, but that's what's so great about this podcast is that, you know, you were always sending out. Like we got Emily, our booker and she's this just sending out the bat signal constantly and like it's crazy what ends up sticking and. But I, I kind of, I kind of can see somewhat of a connection not just musically but also like through you because so just so everybody knows and we'll get through the mish bagash of this. So this is something anything. It's Todd Rundgren's first double record, his third solo record, but I think it's the first one under his name. It's recorded in late 71 in Los Angeles City and Woodstock, released in 72. In the liner notes, Todd described side one as a bouquet of ear catching melodies. Side two as the cerebral side. Side three is the kid gets heavy inside. Four is baby needs a New Paris, A Snakeskin Boobs, a pop operata. He produced all the tracks, sang all the vocals, played all the instruments on the first three sides of the record. It's one of the core Rundgren records that attached a cult audience, you being one of them that stayed faithful for decades. So you were also born a year after this came out. So Todd's record has basically always been in your existence. And I read that you're an only child and there is something to be said about how this record is very singular. And basically the first three sides, like we said, are all Todd, he did everything by himself. He's one man show, you know, like you also have done one man shows.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Like, yes.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Like how, how does that come about? Like, and how do doing it and explain your process? Because we've had Colin Quinn on, you know, and there's a difference as a comic, there is a difference between a stand up show or just like an hour of stand up and then a one man show. So how do you, how do you approach that?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I mean, I think that the, you know, like I'm an only child because of that. I'm, I'm a natural born control freak who has to learn how to work with other people. And so when I look at Todd Rungren, it's like, oh, I don't know if he's an only child, but he's clearly a control freak because he's like, yeah, I don't, when you don't even trust studio musicians who are like some of the best musicians in the world. He was like, I, I don't trust these guys to do what I want them to do. I'm going to learn how to play drums myself, you know.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes. I think that like it's the, you know, I would say the difference is if it's a, if it's a one, if it's a solo show or if it's like even a really sort of good hour of stand up. Because even Carlin was kind of doing it even without calling it a solo show. There's a through line, there's like a, we start here and I'm taking you here. I think Carl really did that without calling it a one man show. It was just like, are the things I'm thinking about right now, here's how I tie them together. I have a place I want to start and a place I want to end. And you will have traveled a journey in this process. I think that's why I think about stand up generally, but also, you know, specifically if you're doing a solo show. Yeah.

[W. Kamau Bell]

So when the idea gets in your head is this, is it just kind of consume you? Or do you say I want to do a one man show about X and then you're like, let me research and find everything. Or is it like, are you piecing it together through just stand up? What you were saying. Good.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Like right now I'm working on my new. I'm about to go on tour and I'm working on my new hour and it came together sort of. I like, I stopped doing stand up for like five years because Covid and kids and fear of Things. But then last year, I decided I had the itch again, and it really was with, like, there's these things that I can't stop thinking about, these ideas or these premises that I can't stop thinking about that keeps it rolling through my head. And there's no place to put them other than on stage. Like, they're not going to be a documentary, they're not going to be a TV show, they're not going to be article. There's just these. These sort of like, very specific standup ideas that I. That I. And I feel like I'm starting to think about how to tie together. Just as I walk around my house, my joke is that my wife, and I don't know if this is really a joke, would see me walking around the house talking to myself and laughing. And she was like, I think you need to go back on stage again. So, like, it's. But, yeah, so it's just these ideas you can't escape, and you sort of just want to see. I just want to see if they work more than anything else. Does this idea actually work? Does it make sense? And then once you get on stage and it doesn't work, you're like, I think I can get it to work. And you keep working on it and keep working on it.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, well, let's. There's so much to go over about this. You know, a lot. You, like, like you said, you know a lot of facts about this guy.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I mean, I. I mean, I would have to say I'm in the 99th percentile of people who know things about Todd Rungren just because he's. He is a cult figure. There's that 1% of people who are, like, super fans that I would not put myself in. But I know I would say the general public, not, you know, just mostly just because I've followed his career and I've also. I was around long enough watching his shows, and I saw him, like, evolve, and he's a real quick adapter of technology. So he has some albums that are like, a little bit like, whoa. Just because he was, like, working with new technology. Yeah, but. Era was Todd sort of basically like, I think I'm. I think I can be the Beatles by myself. I think I can be the. And I think he probably really thought that I am the. I'm the Beatles, because him and John Lennon were friends, but then had beef. And so I think this was a little bit like, I'll show you the Beatles. I'm the Beatles.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah, I I'm trying to figure out, like, Morty and I went over so much stuff, and there's so much cool information to talk about, and I don't want to like this up, up. So I might be all over the place, you know, but I'm gonna try to keep, like I said, just like a woman. I'm trying to keep a through line.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Through line. Yeah.

[W. Kamau Bell]

So. All right, so let me see if I can start here. Let's. Because there's so many. There's so many tracks I want to try to talk about, and I got so much I want to ask you, so I Already said this. Released in 72, it only became a hit when radio stations started playing hello, It's Me over a year later, and the song was subsequently released as a single. Didn't hit the top 40 until 73. And by then he was already into a psychedelic sound album called A Wizard. A True Star had been out for eight months. The album had completely a different sound, and Run Grin was in completely different mindset. The record company didn't put any singles out for wizard for fear of alienating his fans. And Todd had a hard time performing the sudden hit that was now five years old. Where is this? So when he first started working on something. And here we go. Rundgren initially wanted to play, like we said, all the instruments itself. But once the project became too big, he enlisted a group of musicians from the album. Mark Mugi Klingman on Oregon John cmos on drums, Robbie I'm gonna that up. Cogel Kogel on guitar, Stu woods on bass, Randy Brecker on trumpet, Barry Rogers on trombone, and Michael Breckner on tenor sacks. So Run. So. All right, so here we go. So before this record, he's working in a band called Naz, and from that, he then starts working on Run, which is a short for his name, and then Run. But it's basically a solo record with other musicians.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, especially like his Childish Gambino. Yes, yes.

[W. Kamau Bell]

So. So basically, like we said, it's his Childish Gambino. Let me give you up right here. So. So he. The record company wants to. Because that's a success, wants to give him money to make the next record. So he gets a house in the LA hills. Oh, by the way, I feel like we got to say this. The guy's like a savant kid, I guess. We got a tip from his childhood. The guy, like we said, he's. He just. He wants to figure out stuff. He learns how to play it. He. He gets a house in the Hills put the recording equipment in, takes a bunch of Ritalin, which he's sober before he starts smoking pot, doing Ritalin to help him since he is sort of bored with pop music, since he's mentally figured out basically how to do it. And so he approaches it being alone and doing it by himself. When you, are you, are you a control freak or do you take suggestions when it comes?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I am a, I'm a much better collaborator than I was when I started. But yeah, so I definitely. But I only, as I say to people all the time, best idea wins. Knowing that I'll get credit for it if it's a great idea.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's like, it's like, that's like. So when I make a documentary, there's, you know, you're talking about like, like probably 20 people who can anytime go, what about this? What about this? What about this? And I'm happy to hear the what about this? But I'm also like, if I've decided something, it's decided and I'm just gonna like, you know, it, it would take a lot for me to undecide something that I feel like I've thought through from every angle. So there's, there's those decisions where you're like, when somebody gives you a note of like, take that out. And I go, oh, you want me to make it better? Okay, I'll make it better. I Sometimes when people say cut that, what I hear is like, make it better because I didn't understand it. So that's the level. Yeah.

[W. Kamau Bell]

When have you, when have, when have you been like, I'm set on this idea. I know it's going to work. And then somebody came in. One was a suggestion actually, like, oh, wow, you are right. That is better. Have you had that moment when you.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I mean, I'm sure I'm trying to think. I've certainly, I worked on a lot of projects. I think there have been really. I'm trying to think. There have been any number of times where I've been like, I know this, I know this, I know this. And then somebody sort of goes, I have like, you know, a few people are with. You're like, come out. Yeah. And I know when I hear that voice, like, oh, they really want me to listen. I, I might not be seeing something. So there's people who can like, if I'm really like being too hard headed, they will be like, they will sort of be like, sit down. And it's like my wife, Kelly Rafferty, who's my main collaborator. A few, a few good friends of mine will be like my friend Dwayne Kennedy. Like that's not it. But it's like, okay, so they, they have the in case of emergency smack privilege.

[W. Kamau Bell]

You said your main collaborator, who explain her. Is that you've been working with her for. From the beginning or just like.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, like currently? I mean, no, she's like, she's the, you know, of my production company. She's the co. You know, we lead it together. And I met her, she was, it's a. Happens a lot of times. I met her as my assistant and then she was so good. It was just like, I don't think you're my assistant anymore. So. Kelly Rafferty. So every project I've worked on the last seven years, last couple of seasons of United Shades, my book do the Work, the Cosby documentary, Thousand Percent Me, all of that has been worked on with Kelly Rafferty who's just like, was. Isn't. You know, again, she's like an academic. So I only work with nerds. Like, which is like almost like Todd Rungren is a music nerd.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's like, it's a, it's, it's, it's a lot of, it's a lot more thinking than you would think to write to this thing.

[W. Kamau Bell]

I bet you mentioned the Cosby documentary. How heavy is it to dig into a topic like that? When, I mean, it's just, you know, we're, I mean, I think you're a little bit. I'm 45. I think we're around the same age and it's, but still it's like in the zeitgeist, just Cosby was, was dad. He was the guy that we loved. And like, I mean every Thursday night at 8 o'clock we were sitting in front of the television and I mean, is that how, how hard is that? I'm assuming you felt the same way because it was all of America, we all loved him. You know, he's arguably one of the greatest stand up comics to ever live and storytellers. Like how, like I know you're doing the job and you're trying to get the information, but like how hard is that to really start? Like, do you have to prepare yourself and just to like have. You know, go ahead.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So first of all, that's not a job anybody would hire me for. That was an idea that I had. So like, sure. Me and the production board. So I think at the very beginning, it's not like you're thinking about it rationally. You're just like, for years I've been walking around, like, if you were to ever tell Bill Cosby's story, you'd have to do it like people like O.J. simpson made in America, where you told this huge story about America and this man's place in it. And so that was just the thing that was sort of rattling around in the back of my head. But it wasn't until I sort of got a relationship with this company, Boardwalk, that they were like, that's a good idea. And I'm like, it is. You know, so my curiosity leads my common sense, unfortunately. So I was just so like, oh, we could do this and get really excited about it. And then you get like, halfway into it, like, oh, no, what have I done? Because it is heavy and it also is not a pop. It's both heavy and not a thing that a lot of people want to talk about. And I knew we were taking an approach and that was, again, a true collaboration that I got credit for. I knew that we were taking an approach of like, we're not just going to tell he's a. He's a demon. And we're not just going to tell he's a hero, or we're going to try to do both. This. This demon is sometimes a hero, or this hero is sometimes a demon. And so that was. I don't. Nobody had ever really done. I mean, I don't say nobody, but in the popular documentary area of celebrity docs, nobody had done anything exactly like that. And it was also super personal. So, you know, I think, again, when you get motivated by the work, and I would say, this is definitely a Todd, run your thing. When the work is so motivating, common sense just sort of goes away. And even if you get caught in a cul de sac and can't figure out how to turn out of it, you're like, I'm the one who put myself here, so I have to. So it's up to me to get out of here.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah, dude, what a. The Cosby cul de sac. Jesus Christ. Getting stuck there, dude. All right, let's off him back to Todd. So like we said, Todd can play everything. Not every instrument well, but he would learn it. So he didn't have to try to convey what he wanted to an accomplished drummer. He would sit in a drum kit, record, and he would play thinking of how he wants it to go. And this is the cool part. Even if he up, he would keep it. So even though he is a control freak, he would let these little mistakes go, like to challenge him and then he would adjust the song accordingly to build on it. So this is. Morty said this perfectly. This is like the Bob Ross school of music, you know, the happy little club that's. Oh, it's a mistake. No, it's a happy little cloud. What would be your happiest, happiest accident?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I mean, I think all the time it's like you, you like the stand up. You're sort of like always looking for happy accidents. Like, I think you're sort of like you, you have the bit that you've written and then you go on stage and in doing it, the aud something and you respond to that and then suddenly go, wait a minute, I just found a new whole part of this that I didn't know was there. So I think like a lot of being a stand up comic is like, not every comics like this. Some people have it memorized front to back. But like the comics I admire, like Mark Marin and Bill Hicks and, and you know, like, where there's a sense of like, I'm gonna. I'm up here talking and I have the bit, but I hope I can find something. I'm leave enough room that I can find something else that you can run into these happy accidents and that's a way you can sort of build a whole new piece based on like, oh, I didn't know this part was as funny as it was, but I guess I'm going to pursue it since the audience told me to.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah, dude, it's. It's nice when you're like, you might even say something different or you, you up the, the wording of it and it gets a bigger laugh. You're like, oh, wow, like, is that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

The way it goes? Okay.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Oh, that's even better. So Todd states that after the release of Something, I think he evolved as an artist and reached beyond writing about love and relationships and states. And he'd been using a brief relationship from high school as song fodder, throwing around the word love cheaply. And he began to feel strange about it. Inspired him to dig deeper for new material. So I guess I'll put my thoughts of what. Because I know you're a fan, you know, and, and because I'm new, I'm new to this guy. And like, you know this.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'll.

[W. Kamau Bell]

I'll say this straight away with. Because we're going to talk about the opening track, obviously, because it's probably the biggest hit off of it. It's the one that the Second it came on. Oh, my God. I know this. You know, this. This was a record that I. I really wasn't expecting it to go the way that it did. I mean, well, you know, your friends showing this to you. How old are you when you first heard this? Probably.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Probably 17, 16. 17 somewhere.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But no, probably like, I met Rob, so. 15, 16. Yeah, yeah.

[W. Kamau Bell]

I mean, is. You know, and what's. So what's popular at the time. That's what I'm trying to figure is how you went like, yes. This is the funny part.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I didn't really go, yes, this. It's just he didn't stop playing. He would play everything. But Todd was the most consistent thing he played. And eventually it sort of gets in your head. You're like, oh, no, I get it. Like, I think it is very, like. Because I think it's some of Todd especially. You're also talking about, like, there's these different errors of Todd. So I heard lots of different versions of this. So I sort of went into this knowing this guy. It may sound simple, but this guy's always trying to do something big. And so you listen to this stuff and you're like, oh, I hear Beatles influence. I hear sort of a Blue Eyed Soul influence because he's from Philadelphia. I hear some sort of, like, classic R and B influences in here. But then you realize that he's doing this. It's not a thing he sort of is doing by accident, that he's got a plan. And so there's a part of this that, like, when I hear it and when I'm 15, 16, it also sounds a lot like it's clearly sort of inspired by the Motown music that I'm listening to. Well, my mom's records. So there's like, a part of this that's, like. That is familiar, but also. And a part of this that is, like, familiar but also, like, not. Doesn't. It doesn't sound like Motown, but it was clear that this dude had a respect for black music and sort of. And also early classic black music, so. And then also you'd hear different rubber albums and some sound like. Like, sort of audio math problems, because he's just off in his own space doing his own electronic thing. But this one is clearly a guy who is, like, almost like, going for mainstream success, even though, as you say, he quickly. He quickly resents it. And there's been times in Todd's career where he had a song that was kind of a hit and then he immediately changed his sound so he would not have another song like that. So this is probably the first example of that.

[W. Kamau Bell]

What do you think about that? I mean, do you. Do you. Because there's so many people that have. You know, they start with A, and then they're just like, nope, we're over here now. And. And that's that. What other, like, other are there? Do you usually go. Or. If you ever. Is there any bands that you really love? Loved that. When they changed your sound, you just went, no, because obviously you've stuck with Todd.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. No. So when I think of Todd, I think of the band that I like are kind of all like that. So, like, there are eras where you're like, it's not my favorite, but they're still my guys. You know what I mean?

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So I would say the band that first comes to mind is Fishbone. Like, wow. Yeah.

[W. Kamau Bell]

But I love Fishbone. Yeah. They ruled it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's like. And, you know, Fishbone is like, among my sort of like. Like, fake. Like, if I'm doing my own sort of Mount Rushmore music that I like. Fishbone is on the Mount Rushmore. Who else is?

[W. Kamau Bell]

Who else is. Who else is on the. With the other four?

[Josh Adam Myers]

So it's. So I would. So this is music from, like, high school era that I still sort of rock with. So it's Fishbone, Living Color.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yes.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Exactly.

[W. Kamau Bell]

I was just listening to that. That song because I wanted to do that at the jam with Bill Burr on drums. Dude. That's. Because that's such an underrated rocker. Just, you know, the guitar is amazing in it. Corey's voice is like. I mean, I think. Dude. And I read this. It was like, they. Somebody said, like, if he wasn't black, he would be. We talked about as one of the best rock singers.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He's. Yeah, it's like. It's. That's. You know, it's all these bands. Like, Fishbone came up in the same scene as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and no Shade, because we're not Chili Peppers. But that's. I rather. The Fishbone version of it. So, like, you know. So. Yeah. And I think there's clearly a whole discussion around why those bands weren't bigger. But. Yeah, so. And I've become friends with them since as an adult, which is really cool, too. But, yeah, so I would say that, like, when I think about Fishbone, there are areas of Fishbone where I'm like, this is not. This is not my favorite, but these are still my guys. So, like, when they come to town, I will be going to the show. And I hope they play stuff from this era and this era, and if they skip that area, it's fine. But it's also. It also. I think the thing that is cool about it is if you can hang with musicians like that, it will actually expand your musical tastes, because eventually some of that stuff that you're not with just over the course of time becomes nostalgic just because that's how nostalgia works and you'll expand your musical taste. So I would absolutely say that. Like, that as much as it's sort of like it sort of. It can be a bummer as a fan when your favorite musician won't do the same thing twice over the course of your lifetime, it becomes more rewarding and you start to resent the bands that are, like, still trying to sound.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Like they did back in the day, 100%. All right, let's talk about side one, the bouquet of Ear. Wait, you didn't finish Fishbone, Living Color.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Okay. All right. So. So what? I was. So the bands that made me go, oh, this is music. So Fishbone, Living Color. And there's a band out of New York named 247 Spies, which was. Yeah, this. They're like, sort of like from that same scene as Living Color, but they're. And then I would say Rage against the Machine. There you go. And I'm gonna throw in the. The last Mount Rushmore just because. Just because I can't have it be all that is going to be Nina Simone and John Coltrane holding on to each other.

[W. Kamau Bell]

I love that. I love that. Yeah, dude. I love. Yeah. All those bands except the one that I don't know, but I'm gonna check out. All those bands rule. I can see how they're. You know, Todd from those. I mean, I don't know.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Maybe.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Can you pull Todd from that? Yeah, why not? Sure.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. But Fishbone is another band like Todd Rundgren, like, wears their influences on their sleeve. So they can play like straight up ska, they can play straight up funk, and they have songs that sort of. They can play. They can play metal, and they have songs that combine all those things. And I think Todd is that same sort of like, same sort of like I'm. I'm just sort of wearing all my influences on my street sleeve and trying to make a new gumbo.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah, dude. All right, well, let's talk about the first ingredients of the gumbo. Side one. A bouquet of ear catching melodies. It opens with I Saw the Light, which is what I thought the rest of. I thought the record was just going to be this. When I heard this song, I was like, oh, it's gonna be. This is gonna be that easy breezy, like. Yeah, because this is because. And. And this is because Morty told me I'm just regurgitating. But this is Carol King. This is basically Tapestry. I heard this and I was like, I what the. Like, this is so. It's a song about a mixed up young man who stumbles into his first affair and doesn't know if he loves the girl. It was a solid hit for Todd, but far from his favorite. He explained, I Saw the Light is just a string of cliches. It's absolutely nothing that I ever thought or thought about before. I sat down to write the song. Talking about the impact of this song on Rundgren songwriting. He said, I wrote it in 15 minutes from start to finish. It was the reason that caused me to change my style of writing. It doesn't matter how clever a song is if it's written in 15 minutes. It's such a string of cliches. It doesn't have a lasting impact on me. And for me, the greatest disappointment in the world is not being able to listen to my own music and enjoy it. I mean, it's a perfect pop song. Yeah, it really is. And it's also ballsy to open the record with your big single. He kind, like we said earlier, he's influenced by the black music, so it's got a lot of Motown in it because he wrote it so quickly and he doesn't have any respect for it. 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 the 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 Deezer? 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. 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 100% of these earnings to artists minus banking fees and applicable tax. 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 song. 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 that's distrokid.com VIP the 500 for 30% off your first year. Dig it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Since you're new to H and R.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Block, we'll look at your returns from the last three years for any money your last guy might have missed for free. I could get money back from last year. You could. We'll find any mistakes. Could have really used that two years.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Ago when I dated that man.

[W. Kamau Bell]

A stake for five months.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Don't leave money on the table. Switch to H R Block and get a free Second look review. Second look is included at no additional cost with the purchase of tax preparation. Results vary. All tax situations are different. Fees apply. If you have us file an amended return.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Do you have anything from your career that you look back on and, like, cringe? And I mean, not just like, not just clothes or the weird tie, something that was well received, but you look back at with awe. You're like, oh, man, that's cheese. No.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So you know the thing that I would say that if people know me at all or run up to me in the street, the thing they know me from is the first episode of my TV show, United Shades of America, where I talk to the Ku Klux Klan. And so it's just like, first of all, it's funny to be walking through the airport and you're kkk. Oh, okay. All right. But I know that when we made that episode, I did not have much creative control over it. And I've talked about this. And so for me, as Much as I understand why people dig that episode, I'm like, it should have been so much better. It should have been. So that episode is like looking at baby pictures and I sort of look at the guy on screen is like, that guy was not supported well by the people around him. And so. And was not allowed to sort of influence your creative here in the way that he wanted to and was lied to, which is a whole other story. But so, yeah, so when people. I appreciate the fact that people, the people who respond to it, I'll be talking about that for the rest of my life. I mean, my best friend said when the Cosmidot came out, well, at least the first line won't be about the KKK anymore. But I know it's going to be in my obituary. Famously did a Bill Cosby doc and also met the kkk. But it's not something that like, like CNN would often be like, hey, do you want to do. Want to meet the KKK again? I was like, no, I do not want to meet the KKK again. So I respect and understand Todd being like, I get that you all like that, but I'm not doing that again because that I. I did it. I look on him. I don't look back on him as fondly as you do. But yes, I totally understand that.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Are you nervous leading the kkk? I mean, I'm obviously, yeah, it's a controlled environment. But I mean, what is that? What is that like being a black dude going into I' the lion's den? Basically, yeah. Oh, you did. Oh, yeah. As you should. Yeah, as you should. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Keep on their home court. I guess that's the lion's Ben.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So we went to an open field. We stayed there for hours until it got dark because they don't burn it until it's dark. And then they. They say it's across lighting. They say it's not a cross burning. But, you know, we can. We can differ on that. But yeah, so it's. Yeah, it was super scary because I was there for hours. And also, you don't know, there's that, you know, in my mind playing on a loop, is that scene from oh Brother or Art Thou where the black blues musician is like pulled out by. He's like attacked by the clan and about to be strung up until George Clooney and. And John Turturro save him. But yeah, so it's like certainly all sorts of things because I was like, what if this is a trick? What if now that I'm here, they turn on me. Now. I had a crew with me, and I had one plainclothes security guy. So, you know, and he was like, look, I'll get you out of here. He's like, I mean, I may not get anybody else. So I was like, all right, I guess that's true. But, yeah, it was super. You know, it's still the clan. Even though once they take the hoods off, they seem like. They seem like yokels for the most part. Like, dude, you would be, like. You'd sort of feel sorry for. They seem like they were incels before they were incels. But, yeah, you know, no matter how sort of soft you look, without the hood on, once the hood goes on, it's. You know, it's a terrorist.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah. Yeah, it really is. And it's. It's. You know, but, like, I like how you said that. It's just like. I mean, they're. They're just people, like. They're just. They're just as scared as. As anybody else. And unfortunately, they just. They don't. They take their. Their. Their. They take their fear and turn it into hate instead of, like. And try to, like, you know, but it's. It's. Yeah, dude, I'm not trying to like, make the same, like, cool, like, you know, it's. But I can empathize. It's like. You know what I'm saying?

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's people who've had their economic anxiety weaponized against them. So I. These are all guys who are, like, either unemployed or underemployed or don't make a lot of money, and then somebody's like, you know whose fault that is? It's black people's fault. You're probably right. You give us a little bit.

[W. Kamau Bell]

We get. We got a lot.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's just. It's the stare in the. The south usually. So there's not as many juices. There are black people to be mad at. But, yes, they certainly don't like Jews, and even some of them don't like Catholics. It gets really.

[W. Kamau Bell]

It gets really so crazy, dude. By the way, I'm not trying to get off topic, but I just watched Conclave. Have you seen that? It's.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I haven't seen it. I want to see it.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Phenomenal, dude. I never thought I would get. I'd be so riveted about, like, the pope and, like, in picking of it, and I liked it so much, I immediately watched the two popes afterwards because I just. I was so. I was all poked. I was like, I want more, dude. I want more Pope. All right, before I ask you the next question, thoughts on I Saw the Light, like, what do you want to talk about when you, when you hear this? Or, like, what does it bring up? Or, like, what do you love about it?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I mean, it's just, it's one of those things where it's clear when you hear that song. He said it's a perfect pop song.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Perfect.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's a song that he could have sold. Like you said Carole King or James Taylor. It's just one of those songs that sort of like. And it's also very 70s. It's very like, very radio. AM radio with your mom, you know, like, whatever. And without feeling, like, dated, it just feels like. It feels stylistically 70s, but it actually still feels good. It doesn't feel dated. It doesn't feel so dated that you wouldn't listen to it again. And I'd say the other thing is, like, it's clear. This guy could have written versions of that song his whole career and been like, sort of like a cooler Barry Manilow, you know what I mean?

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Like a guy who's like always on the radio, always has hits. They could, you know, now he, now he'd be at the point in his career he had like a, A jukebox musical with all of his songs on Broadway. You know, sort of like that Elton Johnny, Barry Manilow, we write the songs. He could have been that guy.

[W. Kamau Bell]

When did you see the light, like going off the title? Like, when did the light bulb go in your head that, you know, the comedy. You want to do comedy, but with like a socio political commentary attached to it? Like, did it, did it happen immediately or was it like a gradual, like, oh, I'm just going to be writing this way. Why?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, it's like I tend to be writing this way and people in comedy clubs tend to not be appreciating as much as I want them to.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And then I. The what I have the story I told. I took me and my. One of my good friends, Kevin Abrar, who's also a comedian, we took a. We had a gig where we did a series of shows in Okinawa on military bases. And like, so it's like five shows and six nights in front of like, you know, 18, 19, 20 year old, like sort of young recruits who were in Okinawa and bored. So they'd bring comedians. And I basically bombed my way across Okinawa like it was World War II. I was just not. And I came back going, what do I do for a living? Is that what I do for a living, like. And so that's when I decided to rent a small black box theater where I knew some people and just said, I'm just going to put on a show W Kamal Bell Curve, Any Racism in about an hour. And if you like that title and you show up, then I get to do what I want to. If you don't like that title, don't show up. And that's the show that really like, like, turned it around. And it just so happened when I started doing that show, there was a. There was a junior senator from Illinois running for president named Barack Obama. And so it sort of became like, the things that I wanted to talk about were also being talked about in the news because this black guy was running for president. So, yeah, it sort of lined up very well.

[W. Kamau Bell]

I love that. I love that. All right, well, there's so much on this record. I don't want to, like, skip it. All right. You know, can't go track by track, though. We can't. No, we can't. No, we can't. But I also don't have good questions about everything. It's like. But I don't want to, like. So we have. Then it goes into. It wouldn't have made any difference, which I can tell from listening to this. It's like he's in total control. He understands now how to write a good pop song. Wolfman Jack, another great one for those people don't know.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Wolfman Jack was a legendary radio DJ in the 70s.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I don't know if we have legendary radio DJs in the summer anymore.

[W. Kamau Bell]

I don't think so.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Not anymore.

[W. Kamau Bell]

But he wasn't about.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He had any iconic voice. He was on everything.

[W. Kamau Bell]

All right, baby. The Wolf Man Jack right here. Yeah, I, I version of him on Bill Burr's cartoon called Howlin Hank. So I, I literally just, just stole, like, exactly the impersonation. And it's, it's easy when you have that gravel. But he was like, you know, just perfect hair. Just looked cool. Had that, like. I think he was probably. He had like a gray beard, probably at like 18.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, yeah, he was full beard. When it wasn't. When it wasn't cool.

[W. Kamau Bell]

He was the man. Yeah, he was the man. All right, Cole, I'm not trying to skip over. Some of these are like, are they on the. On the first side? Because I want to ask you eventually, what's your favorite song on the record? But out of that first side of the record, like, what's. What. What's your Favorite song? Is it. Is it the opening track? Or like, what, like what. What's. What's moving you towards? Like.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, I mean, I would say. I would say that when I hear, like, even now, if I hear I Saw the Light on the radio, I feel like, ah, good for you, Todd. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it's just. Or if you just hear it out in the world. Because a lot of his songs, he sort of had the perfect, perfect career of, like, if you're not going to be mega famous, you want to be famous enough that you have a few songs break through as a musician that you're going to get paid forever. And so he's got a few songs where he's getting paid forever. And this is one of those songs. So what I hear now, whether he likes it or not, I feel good for him that that song still exists. It still stands.

[W. Kamau Bell]

But, bro, like, he's, he's. I mean, I was going to talk about this later, but I mean, he's a prolific producer. I mean, he's produced, you know, I was looking at this list. Bad out of Hell by Meatloaf, you know, some Patti Smith stuff, some Bad Finger stuff. He's done some stuff with Cheap Trick. I mean, the guy, New York Dolls, Grand Funk Railroad, we're an American band. I mean, the guy made his money, dude.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He's for sure. And that Meatloaf album alone, I'm sure, like, bought him the house he wanted. You know what I mean? So I think that, like, he's like, yeah, that's why I think it's like a cool career. It's like, even though I sort of. We jokingly called him White Prince, he's not as famous as Prince, but he's talented enough that he was. That he was able to produce other people and have, like, enough songs that break through to the mainstream in some way. Like, if. If you go to any NBA game, you're going to basically hear Bang on the Drum All Day, which is a later Todd song. Yeah, you know, it's like. It's like a. It's like his novelty hit. And hello, It's Me still plays. So, yeah, he's, he's. He's. And he's also, you know, he's. He's never not on tour and he's friends with all the coolest people in music because he did so much. He knows everybody.

[W. Kamau Bell]

So I found this little thing about Wolfman Jack. Around the time Rung and released his Ode to Wolfman, he was spotted with the DJ at The Rainbow in Los Angeles by nothing John Lennon. And in 74, the famous beetle wrote a tongue in cheek response to Rungren scathing criticisms of him in the magazine Melody Maker and mentioned the sighting. Rundgren called Lennon a idiot and said the Beatles had no style other than being the Beatles. I mean, that is that you have to.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's like, you know, we don't think about rock and roll beefs, like we think about rap beefs. But those two went back and forth. It was a little bit Kendrick and Drake. It was a little bit like, I'm gonna write this about you, you're gonna write this about me, or, you know.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah, I mean, but who, like, who wins in that? I mean, I, I feel like. I mean, well, obviously let him passed away, but it's like you can't. Whereas like, you can't deny that Todd obviously did a bunch of. And he's like super talented and, and, and there's a reason he's deep on the list because he influenced so much. But it's like there's a beat. They just won another Grammy first and he's been dead for 45 years.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did they win a Grammy or did the technology win a Grammy? Anyway, it's.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Well, it's. If you think about it, I mean, that's what's so cool about the fact that they could do it, you know, is that. Is that. Yeah, he's been dead 45 years. He died, you know, December 8, 1980. George Harrison's been gone for, I mean, I think probably at least 20 years now. And, and yet there's still two remaining members. And with that technology, like you said, they're able to like, isolate, pull, remove. I mean, it's, it's. Is it, is it. Is it the best Beatles song? No, but, but, but, but it's, it's still somebody.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I would imagine every musician they were up against was like, yay. And I say, that is the year that I. And I'm not. This is just the way it happened. It's just funny to me, the year that I want that I had the Cosby do out and I got more critical acclaim for that than I got for anything I've ever done before since, like, so it won awards, but at the Emmys, every category it was in was up against Peter Jackson's Beetle documentary. And I just felt like, well, that's not fair. Yeah, it's gonna win. Peter Jackson won every enemy that night and, and looked. And looked to be like he was. The way he was holding His Emmys look like, I'm gonna lose these in the cab. I understand that. And I, you know, just the idea of like. Like, you can't defeat the Beatles. But the thing I like about Todd is that you have to imagine he was just contemporaries with John Lennon at the time. He had no idea. We think of the Beatles now as being like this embedded thing in music. But Todd was like, that's just the band with a bunch of guys, you know, they're not better than me. And I think it's sort of a la. The underdog always is sort of beefing with the big dog. So I think it's like, at the time, Todd didn't realize that, like, how this was going to work out. And also Brian didn't care, you know. Yeah, all right.

[W. Kamau Bell]

I don't want to. I want to. I got a couple more facts about some other songs later in the record, so I'm gonna skip ahead a little bit. We got to mention side two is the cerebral side, which I thought was really interesting because he narrates at the beginning, that skit, like kind of showing the examples of like, reoccurring sounds, which I thought was like. I was like, is this supposed to be on the record? Like, I knew, I knew because I knew. Like, I didn't realize at first, the first time I listened to it, how long this was going to be. I just put it on.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, no, it's a. It's a. It's an all day affair. Fair.

[W. Kamau Bell]

It really is. But, you know, it's kind of cool where it's like you kind of hear his personality that sounds like something that you would. That he would do like on Ritalin. He'd be like, no, this should be good here. It's like, let me show you everybody the ins and outs of what the recording is like. And he talks about the errors that you're gonna hear, the hissing.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's also like, I think. But at the time you have to also realize that we're in the era of comedy albums being like, really big. And so there's a. The idea of like little skits on albums would be like, sort of. That's. That's an era in which like, like comedy albums and things were starting to sort of do these little skits and then like National Lampoon Radio. So I think. And Todd definitely has a sense of humor, so I would imagine that part of him is like sort of also doing his version of the thing that is starting to happen of these. Of these, like, little talky, fun skits on comedy albums. Did you ever.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Did you ever do, like, sketch or anything like that? Or was it always just.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I did, but not in any. Not in any way that was distinguished. Yeah, I feel like when you.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Go ahead. No, no.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Every comedian goes through their sketch era, but mine didn't stick.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah, I did one when I. When I first moved to Los Angeles, I was in, like, a sketch group, and it was me, Byron Bowers, and a couple other comics, and. And not. Not. Not fun. It was cool.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I.

[W. Kamau Bell]

You know, but I feel like when. When you're a performer, it's like you always want to, like, you know, it's like you take the sketch class, you do, the improv class, you do all the things, you know, were you. You just weren't drawn to it or it was just like.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Again, I think it comes from being an only child. It was too many. Too many. There was too much democracy, not enough dictatorship. So I would. Or too much dictatorship. Like. Like, because if you get. If you are just thinking in another guy's sketch group, so suddenly you work for him instead of like. So it just felt like, no, no, no. I would rather put all my creative energy into myself instead of, like, hoping that the leader of this sketch group approves it. Or also, like, having to be in sketches where you're like, I don't think this is that funny, but here we go. You know, so to me, that, like. And I love sketch, like, key and peel is some of the highest art that exists, but it's not for me.

[W. Kamau Bell]

No, I. I totally get that. All right. Side to the cerebral side, we have the intro, Breathless.

[Josh Adam Myers]

The.

[W. Kamau Bell]

The night the carousel burned down. Saving Grace. Like, what are your.

[Josh Adam Myers]

What.

[W. Kamau Bell]

What sticks out to you on side, too? Like, what are your. Some of your favorite stuff? Anything.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I mean, I think that this is. I think that, like. So, for example, like, actually, it's funny you say the intro. I do like that because it very much marks it in time for me. Like, it's very. When people were learning about what stereos were, like, this is stereo. And so to me, there's something about that that is sort of like. Like, you wouldn't play it. You wouldn't go to a party and go, let me play intro. But like, when you're sitting there listening to it, it's a fun thing to come up that you. Oh, yeah. But also, like, Song of the Viking, I Went to the Mirror. Those are two of the ones that I really liked. I just appreciate the. Again, it's like Todd, like, oh, no, I'm not just a pop guy. I'm also an artist.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm also, like. I'm determined that you're gonna understand that I'm actually like. Like, in the same way that, like, Prince would. Again, we keep. I keep saying Prince, but, like, in the same way that, like, you know, there's a little bit of, like, too smart for his own good in this. That. That I appreciate that also ages well. But at the time, you're like, the audience is like, this is too long. You know, like, just write the hits.

[W. Kamau Bell]

No, I. You know, that's what I loved about Prince. What I. Because I found. It's the same, I think, where a lot of people go through, you know, where you just know 1999, you know, purple Rain, maybe that's the album that, you know, and then, you know, some of his later stuff. And then when you really start diving into Prince. Because I. I went to Paisley park and that really sparked everything where I found out, like, I was like, oh, my God, like, this dude is like. Is beyond beyond. He's. He's. He's. He's really did everything. And. And that's why it's like, we sit here and we, you know, we'll. We'll be talking about Prince, you know, like, in the same vein. Like, I said, like, like, you know, I hated. They kept comparing him to, like, Michael Jackson. I'm like, they're nothing alike. It's just. They're both popular at the same time. Like.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Really, It's.

[W. Kamau Bell]

It's Todd. I mean, it'd be like. You'd be like, Prince Todd. I'm trying to. Maybe the guy from, like, Tame Impala is like a. As Like a. Like an alt version of that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, I mean, it's a little bit. I mean, it's a little bit like, you know, I don't know if Jack White plays drums, but it's that little bit of, like, I'm the leader of this. Like, whatever the name of Jack White's band is, it's just Jack White.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He can name it whatever he wants to, but it's just Jack White, you know?

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah. I. Marlene stuck out to me on the cerebral side. He wrote the song about his girlfriend, some say groupie Marlene Pick Pinkard, later known as Marlene Morrow. She was Playboy's miss April of 79. When asked if he was still dating Marleene when he wrote the song, he replied, it was just around the same time. There would have been a lot of miserable material about her. Her had I not gone out of that state of mind in the something anything liner notes. Rungen wrote the song, wrote of this song a shiver and a sigh.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That plays into Todd Rundgren. He also was a man of his time. And I mean that like he. As a. As a. As a musician who knew everybody and was. When it was like, you know, could get into any room because he was. He was sort of cool enough that everybody sort of knew who he was and he'd get around time. He had a good time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And also just sort of like, you know, let led the life of a 70s rock star. We'll just say yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[W. Kamau Bell]

All right, so side. Side four is where I have a lot of good stuff because this is the bot the baby needs a new pair of snakeskin boots, a pop. The first three sides are all Todd 4. Side. It's him with his band essentially recording live straight to tape with no other overdubs besides some older archival snippets. Bits Overture My Roots the song is broken into two parts. Money, that's what I Want and Messing with the Kid. Todd's first band was called Money, but he was also greatly inspired by Motown along the British invasion and the first hit were Barry Gordy's. For the label that would become Motown was Barrett's song Money. What was the first thing you ever bought when you made your first decent money?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I remember. So when me. I just remember. Let's see. Like, what I remember about money, specifically about having money, is me and my wife, when I got my first TV show, totally bia. We were living in San Francisco, where we were from, and we had to move to New York and we had to like. And it was a late night talk show and it was all, you know, it's like anybody. So I was hosting, like, it was once a week and then it became four times a week. But we sort of. Was the first time we got like a huge check like. Like, Like a. It was on fx. So it was like a. It was like a proper cable television check, which isn't big for. For like normal tv, but for us it was like. And we was like, oh, my God, we can. So we went to. I think it was crate and barrel. 100% sure it was Crate and Barrel, like I say it in San Francisco. And it was the first time, like, we got to go to a store and go, we'll take that and that.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Like, there was no sort of sense of like. And we still. The funny thing is we still have. I don't Know if we have all of it, we have most of that furniture that. That big, giant brown table we have has traveled with us, and it will be a family. I love that.

[W. Kamau Bell]

I love that. Oh, dude, it was like that. It was like that video of Michael Jackson where he's in that one, the store, and he's like, I'll take two of those.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I already have eight of those, but I'll take four more.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, dude, that rules. All right, let's. Let's talk about. Well, God, Piss Aaron. I wanted to ask this to make it quick. I don't even have a little bit of time with you. Piss Aaron is a descriptive name. Different guys would get in high school due to the freaky things they did. Given that premise, did you have a high school nickname?

[Josh Adam Myers]

No. But the weird thing is, in high school, I went by my first name, which is Walter. So when I think about high school, I think about high school just because I'd moved around a lot and I got tired of correcting people to come out. I thought that name was weird at the time. So, yeah, so Rob Nastar, who I met and who was the musician guy who juiced me to all this, met me as Walter. Like, he was like, you know, so I was Walter when I met Rob Nastor. So funny enough, that was. At some point, I had to go to my friends in high school. I had two friends or three friends I kept from high school and was like, could you guys call me Kamau? Now they would hear my mom call me Kamau. But I just at some point was like, I can't do this Walt nonsense. I dig it.

[W. Kamau Bell]

All right, let's talk about. Hello, it's me. This is one of the other big songs on it, inspired by Dion Warwick's recording of the Burt Back Rack and how David hit Walk On By. This is the first song Todd wrote, and it was played and recorded by his earlier band, the Naz. This is based on an actual girl who broke up with Todd because of her father's disapproval of her dating a hippie. Have you ever been on the losing end of a disapproving thing?

[Josh Adam Myers]

So, yeah, with my wife. We've been together for 20. Over 20 years when I met her. So as people know, my wife is a white lady, and it wasn't most of her family. We've talked about this a lot, so I'm not. But her grandfather was like, that guy. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Oh, wow.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Like, he wouldn't look at me. He wouldn't Shake my hand. He. If I walked into a room, he would walk out of the room. It was like I was a ghost for years, and I was with my wife long enough, and she stood up for me at one point where he eventually, like, really understood that, like, she was like, if you don't treat Kamau better, then you're going to lose me. And he sort of had this moment, like, I don't want to lose her over this dude. And then. And her grandfather, I mean, part of it, he was like a. The main things he watched were episodes of Survivor and Fox News. So all you need to know. So. But eventually, after a course of many years, he would turn off Fox News to watch United Shades of America. And then when I would see him, he'd call me his grandson and say, my grandson travels everywhere.

[W. Kamau Bell]

So I love that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. So over the course of time, it totally. By the time he passed away, we were in a great relationship. And, you know, but it was just definitely that first, say, four or five years was. Hello, it's me.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Thoughts on this song? I mean, you know, I think this.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Is the best song on the album. I think it's one of the best. I think it's one of. Not one of Todd's. I mean, whatever. I think it's one of Todd's greatest accomplishments because it's a song you still hear.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Like, it's.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And it's. And it's just a perfect. And it also has, like, the way it was recorded is sort of fun. And, like, you can hear. At one point, you can hear his voice break. So, like, it's just the idea that, like, I think this is like. Like, if somebody's like, if somebody's like, like, tell me about this Todd Rundgren. This is the first song I would play because he probably heard it or it's also just like a perfect sort of summation of a lot of what he can do. And it's like, again, if that. That guy could have just written like, I Saw the Lights and hello, It's Me for the next 40 years, he would be doing Disney movies like Elton John does now.

[W. Kamau Bell]

But, yeah, he's Randy Newman. He's just like. But that's what makes him an interesting character is like, you know, you. He. He gets. Dude, real. Real artists get bored and they move on to something else. And I think that's what you have to do to keep that creative juices flowing. I wanted to talk about some. Some folks is even whiter than me, and I feel like we. Knowing some of the Material you've covered. So you've written and performed extensively concerning racial relations, as well as creating your documentary about mixed race families and children. Without getting too political, do you think. I know. Do you think we'll ever be a society that, that truly judges people by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Now you have me thinking about the Bob Marley song war until philosophy. The short answer is no. I think that if I think that, like, we have to, like. So, yeah, in an infinite timeline, yes. But in the timeline the United States is probably on, probably not. But. So I think for me, I think and for a lot of black people, I don't necessarily. This is the hard part. I don't necessarily care what you think about me, as long as you don't stop me from succeeding in life. Yeah, like, I, I really, I think Martin Luther King Jr. Would be like, maybe we won't get the content of our character, but at least we'll get laws that protect us. So I think the idea of being like, I don't, I don't actually need you to love me, I just need you to not get in my way. And right now that's, that's the biggest problem is that people are, people are willingly getting, are really willing, are sort of actively sort of like stopping people's success and progress and, and free right to live. So, yeah, I think that that's the thing I would, I'm more focused on. I'd rather, I'd rather. I can't. I. If I can't get your heart on my side, I at least want the law on my side. And right now. Yeah, we don't really have either of those.

[W. Kamau Bell]

No, I know, and I, you know, I didn't want to get too, too heavy about it, but it's just, it does feel like we're swinging backwards instead of swinging forwards right now, which is like, you know, it's, it's really the truth, which is when they said we, everybody thought, you know, the history is progressive. And it's like, nope, it's not. It goes right back to the beginning. So on a lighter note, before we wrap this up, I, I gotta ask, because I think it's so cool, is just like, how did you meet and how did you start working with Chris Rock? Like, how did that happen? And because that's, you know, I, I see it. I can see how obviously, because he's saying something and then you're saying something thing. And he probably saw that. But how did that happen? What was that first meeting like, and then how did you get into, like, a working relationship together?

[Josh Adam Myers]

So, I mean, I would say it's really, you know, it's. It's really Chris who. People don't realize this, but Chris was always on the lookout for new voices and new talent. And he's sort of like. And he's also, like, very happy to help people. Like, sort of like, give people ahead, let them open for him. He's sort of like, actively, like, trying to keep the door open for others. I think I may be the most prominent example because Mike, he's sort of the way he got me through the door. So, first of all, I was doing this one man show, the WTMO Bell Curve. And I did. I used to do it in LA at the Comedy Central Stage. This guy named Paul Stein ran the Comedy Central Stage. And so showbiz people started showing up, and one of them was a friend of Chris's named Chuck Sklar. And at the time, he was like, yeah, Chris, I told Chris about you and you're like, great. I don't know. It's great, great. And you know this. In the comedy world, there's not that many degrees of separation if you're a working comedian. So I knew people who knew Chris, so. But I didn't. I wasn't trying to, like, get to him in any way. So then I did the show at the UCB theater in New York, and it was a great night. And then after I walked backstage to the UCB Green Room, which was filled with sketch comics about to go on, Chris Rock, as I always say, floated backstage. And it was those things where, like, I didn't know he was there, but he's like, yeah, I saw the whole thing. It was great. It was funny. And da, da, da, da. And I'll give you a call sometime. And that was basically it. But then he actually did give me a call and he was like, I'm gonna help you get a TV show. Unless you don't want my help. If you don't want my help, it's fine. I was like, I want your. And he hand sold my TV show idea, or our TV show idea, to John Landgraft, who's at fx, who's the kind of guy who was like, sure, if Chris Rock believes in it, I believe in it. And it ran for over a year, which is a success. But it didn't. It certainly didn't. It wasn't a hit, but it's the thing that got me through the door.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And you know, in the same way, that like Diana Ross discovered the Jacksons.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Chris Rock definitely discovered W. No, I love that, man. And that's, it's great when you have a cosign like that and, and you're somebody that it's like just, you know, not just one of the, you know, greatest comics, but I mean, is, is saying something and then can see something in you. And that cosign goes a long way, obviously. Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's also just an idea that like, and I really pride myself on the fact that I haven't. We worked together for that year and we've done one or I'm trying to think I did a documentary about him for A E. But like, I don't rely. I haven't relied on Chris Rock for the rest of my, like, I'm like, I appreciate the like, you got me through the door. I'm gonna help other people get to the door. But I'm not gonna call you every month going, what else you got for me, coach?

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm gonna put my head down and try to do the same for others. That the best way I could pay him back is by doing it for other people.

[W. Kamau Bell]

100. Yeah. As you go up, you reach down, you pull up. That's, that's the best advice I ever got from anybody. All right. No, we got to get you out of here soon. We gotta ask you the same question we ask everybody. I don't want to, you know, and Brian, I, I. Is there anything that we've missed about out the, the album that we need to talk about? I mean, I, I, let's hear, Let me do these accolades and just to tell everybody what happened with, with Todd, because Todd has done, he's, he's in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. I know that for sure. Impact on music. Considered the pioneer of fields of electronic progressive music videos. Computer software. Organized the first interactive television concert in 78. Same thing with the first interactive album. He's inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame in 2021, won a Grammy Award nomination for best music video for video Syncrasy and Night and and then in 95, he received the Berkeley Lifetime achievement award for the Pop culture society at UC Berkeley. I think the record on the 2020 list dropped. I think it went it's lower. I'm almost positive I saw it. Yes. So this is the only time we're going to be talking about Todd on the podcast. His name is going to come up and that's what the cool thing about this podcast is like you keep seeing, like, different names. You're just like, oh, this guy. Oh, he worked on this too. And.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But this.

[W. Kamau Bell]

On the 2020 re. Rank, this album dropped to number 396. So it dropped 223 spots. Yeah, but. But, you know, like I said, this, you know, those. It's the same we were talking about with. With race and status is like this. The 2012 list, the one that we're doing was like a lot of older white guys voted on the 2020 list. They made it much more diverse. There's a lot more hip hop. There's a lot more of, you know, because there's. There's records on this list that you're like, why is this on here? But I understand, like, do you feel like this record should be on the 500 greatest album list?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I think, yeah. I think that, like, because you don't want the 500 greatest album list to be the 500 biggest albums list. Sure. The point is that you may not agree with it, but it's still an album you should reckon with if you're sort of. If you're. If you. There's. The album has earned its spot on this list just because it is a very great. You. You. You want some outliers on this list. And so this. If this is going to be an outlier, it's. It's certainly earned its spot on this list because it is. You can't accuse it of being boring or not interesting or not accomplished. It's. And it's also just. It's, you know, again, it's like. It's almost like if you like hall of notes, maybe you're ready for this. You know, it earns its spot on this list.

[W. Kamau Bell]

I think I. I'm glad. I'm glad this was on here. And I think this came especially for me. It was at a time that I kind of needed something like this. It wasn't. I. What we did. We did Bob Dylan before. I've got Rod Stewart next, which are both great artists, and it's finally a Bob Dylan record that I actually really liked. But this was like. This was just a really easy listen. And. And especially right from the beginning, it was like, as soon as I heard it, it was like getting into a warm bath, and I was like, yeah, all right. This is gonna be comfortable. And then wherever it goes, it's still cool. But it was just. It was very comforting. All right, so, yeah, what you. You mentioned already, but just do it again. What's your favorite song on this record?

[Josh Adam Myers]

My favorite song on this record is still. I mean, it's sort of like the hack one, but it's. Hello, it's me. I think that's a perfect, perfect melancholy love song. That is just like. If it's not in your list of like I'm sad because they broke up with me playlist, you need to put that on your. I'm saying put it in there. Yeah, it's a. And it's great because it's a lot. It's a melancholy love song, which. There's not enough good melancholy love songs. So.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Agreed.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Hello.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Agreed. Is there anything that you skip over, anything that you don't like on this record or any tracks that you're just like, meh. I mean there's a lot. So. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, I would say because it's. Because it's a. It's a double album. I would say in the middle there's things where I'm like, all right. You know, like, just like. I like the. I'm a bit like. Again, there's many different eras of Todd. I'm a big fan of begrudgingly Pop star Todd. Yeah. So that's like the beginning of the album at the end of the album. And then there's some stuff with this is throughout his career. I actually met him once. Like he's. Yeah, tell me. So I was. I was. This is what's so weird about it. So it was like I was probably 21, 22, so not that far out of. Of like going to like with my friend Rob. But Rob was like living in Boston and I was just like working at a condom shop in Chicago in the north side of Chicago called Condoms Now. Remember the shop before Walgreens was like, we'll just order more condoms. What's the big deal? So. And he was playing in town and I think I knew he was playing in town and all of a sudden he walks into the condom shop and bought. And like buys a bunch of condoms. Like a. Like. Yeah, of like the sort of like the low end cheap. I'm not. But he was like, I just need as many condoms as I can get. And when I saw him walk in, I was like, I gotta say something to this guy. And what I said to him was, hey, you're Todd Rundgren and I'm not. I don't know what that meant, but that was what I said to him. And he smiled and he didn't. He said, you know, because I have to imagine he's not expecting a 6 foot 4 black dude in his 20s to know who he is. But I didn't went to the concert that, whatever the concert was, and he like waved it me. He, he was passing out the condoms in the concert at some point and he waved at me. He recognized me and waved at me. So I felt like, I love that.

[W. Kamau Bell]

And, and I love that. I was like wondering, why is he buying all those condoms? He's like, oh, he's giving him out.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Thank God it was the, the Todd pass out condoms era of the Todd run career. What.

[W. Kamau Bell]

And I gotta ask, what you see how many times you've seen him live?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I mean, at one point I counted it up and it was like, I would say seven or eight, which is a lot for a person who's like, like, I, I maybe I don't know if I've seen Living Color more times just because they, they don't tour like they were. They went for a while, they broke up. But like, yeah, yeah, I've seen him. I've seen him seven or eight times, but also over a very short period of time. So, like, if he comes to town now, I got kids and stuff, I don't go see him. But like, there's a period of time where I saw him more than I'd seen like Fishbone and I like that band more.

[W. Kamau Bell]

I get it, I get it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's just Rob was like, we're going to Todd Runger.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Is there a concert? Is there one performance that sticks out like that? You were like, wow, like, he blew us away. Because if you see him seven or eight times, there's good ones and ones obviously.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, I would say like there, there was a time where he was like. I don't know if he was recording every concert on stage, but he was really like, like, that's the thing. He's kind of the control thing. Like everybody was in a separate, like, booth and he was recording it and they were like, and you. And it was like. He also gets into real like, vocal harmonies and things. And so he's got a song that's on, I think it's Nearly Human called I Love My Life, which I would highly recommend anybody check out. And he did. I've seen him do versions of that where you feel like you're levitating. It's like a white guy gospel song, which is not normally a thing I'd recommend, by the way. I wouldn't normally recommend a white guy gospel song. But he has, but he's. When you see him live and he sort of is really is. He can't do all the vocals so he has a band of people who can. And you hear, like, you hear those vocal harmonies live. It'll just, it'll. It'll blow you away.

[W. Kamau Bell]

I'm definitely gonna go see him now. Can you. To this record, if you put this on and you're about to make love.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Actually the side that it starts to get a little bit slower when it's not as poppy is when you can, like, really, really, like, it's a good record to put on and like, build the evening.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Sure.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[W. Kamau Bell]

I mean, it's, it's, it's. Dude, It's a journey, dude. That's right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's a very romantic. It's like sort of melancholy romantic, but it's a very, like, it's a way to sort of put on the, the evening music without. Without your date being like, wait, did you just put on music, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[W. Kamau Bell]

It's just like, just wait. Two more tracks.

[Josh Adam Myers]

We'll get there. We'll get there.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Two more tracks. And. And you might have already said it, but what would be your album, not album. What would be your elevator pitch to get someone to listen to this record? Like, how do you sum this up for somebody?

[Josh Adam Myers]

You like the Beatles, you like Motown? Listen to Todd Rungren.

[W. Kamau Bell]

There it is, dude. Promote away. Anything you want to promote, bud, like, you got going on that we got to keep. And we'll do it at the beginning, in the end as well. But.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So, yeah, I'm going on my stand up comedy tour called who's With Me? Which is also the same name of my sub. So you can follow me on Substack. Who's With Me? I write every week. And yeah, my. I, you know, So I got 10 cities. Washington, D.C. san Diego, Bloomington, Indiana, Chicago, Illinois, other cities. Come, come find a date and come hang out with me. We'll add more dates to the tour soon. So, yeah, the who's With Me Tour. And I'm currently competing on Celebrity Jeopardy. I won my first episode, but I'll be back on in April.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Wait, didn't wait. Aren't you, like. So you're like, in the semifinals or like.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, I won the quarterfinals and I'm in the semifinals. Airs and April, are you excited?

[W. Kamau Bell]

You nervous? Like, I'm excited.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, I'm excited. I mean, nervous, of course. Like, the whole thing seems, like, ridiculous. The biggie is you just don't want to look. You just don't want to look. You don't have a moment where you look like, which in the first episode, I didn't know the answer to a question about Usher. And I said on the episode, man, it's so awkward to be the black guy who doesn't know the Usher question.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah, dude. And some white was just like.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, actually, to be fair, the song was the song. Yeah. Which I think it was a little John song because it's Little John going.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, sure.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I, I, I, I, I plead. I feel like if they had said Little John, I might have known it. I'm not saying I would have known it, but as I said on Jeopardy, I was listening to Rage against the Machine at the time, so.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Sure, yeah. All right. What was the question? So let me see if I would have gotten it. What would you remember? Obviously, I know you remember it because it's the one you up on.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, but. Yeah, but I gave you the answer already.

[W. Kamau Bell]

I know. I know the answer, but I won't. How did they phrase it? I want to hear like.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So it was 2004. The category was like, 2004. What a year. And it was like this usher song spent 12 weeks at the top. That was, I think that was the whole question.

[W. Kamau Bell]

How could you not say dude? Yeah, yeah, dude. I was a dude. I was, I was a private party dj. Middle schools and high schools.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You wouldn't have gotten it. But I am saying it's super easy sitting in your little studio right there. There. No pressure and no lights and no kin dittings and no buzzer to buzz in. It's super easy right now.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Yeah, you're not. Okay.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'll give you that. I'll give you that.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Dude, this was great. I would love to have you back on. We've got so many more records and. And we'll. Let's find another one and get you on, man.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you.

[W. Kamau Bell]

All right, y'all, that's what I'm talking about. The one and only W. Kumal Bell. Follow him on Instagram an X at W. Kamal Bell and check out his touring [e-mail] for new music this week brought to you by distrokid, we have Utopian Fantasy by Ali Crow Buckley. And you can find links to the music on our website, the500podcast.com and if you were in a band and were directly influenced by one of these albums or artists that we feature here on the podcast, send us your song to 500 podcast gmail.com and we will play it next week. It's Rod Stewart week as we go deep into every picture tells a story from 1971 dig it. Do your homework. See you then. L are still kind of pretty.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Camps.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Cry Wife Tears, Gallery of Lights and Stars and Pictures, the Dark Enemy Symphony Ringing in my ear in nowhere still.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Kind of scares me.

[W. Kamau Bell]

All right. Oh, well, I'm still to I will.

[Josh Adam Myers]

See Keeping it Fleecy for the Fleece Nation.

[W. Kamau Bell]

On the 500. The 500. Every listener to Too Much Effing Perspective knows that my co host Alan Keller is a music nerd. And right up there in his pantheon with the Beatles and Elvis Costello is the Clash. So, Alan, it's one thing for you to be a nerd, but how did you rope in a cool guy 311's Nick Hexum into a full on Clash geek fest on our show?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, first of all, Alex, it was your idea.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Oh, right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Second, Nick actually jammed with the Clash's Joe Strummer in a supergroup that included Flea and Tom Morello.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Oh, okay. Well, there is that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And finally, one member of the Clash cited this is Spinal Tap, the reason our show even exists as his favorite movie.

[W. Kamau Bell]

Which one?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Hey, if you want to find out, you gotta listen to Too Much Effing Perspective. That's too much E, F F I N G Perspective.

[W. Kamau Bell]

The only podcast you crank up to 11.

[Josh Adam Myers]

We'd never admit it, but deep down, we all get at least some pleasure from bad things happening to somebody we don't like. History's full of stories about bitter enemies being mutually horrible. Usually nothing good comes of it, but sometimes. Sometimes you get soul singers, James Brown and Joe Tex, or 17th century nuns, Sor Juana and the entire Catholic Church duking it out and dramatically changing our world. On Beef with Bridget Todd, we tell the stories of those petty feuds behind some of the greatest art, innovation and global events. Listen to Beef wherever you get your population. Podcasts Next chapter Podcast.