Ep11 The Meat Puppets

Rene: Welcome to earshifter. He's Sean Capstick.

Sean: And he's Rene Rouleau. And Rene, what are we doing here? 

Rene: Sean, we are here to hopefully enlighten people about bands that maybe they'd never heard of and kind of introduce them to that band. And then, hey, if you kind of like that band already, we're here to kind of educate you on that band itself and maybe play a few songs and talk about their history and their discography and all, and their influences, et cetera.

Sean: Okay. So I want to talk about a band called The Meat Puppets and why. Do I wanna talk about the meat puppets? It's because when we were talking about the brothers around Sparks and all of those other brands that have brothers in them, it got me thinking about the meat puppets, their core band. They were on SST and they were pretty important to me back in the day.

Rene: Sorry. What is SST. 

Sean: SST is one of the most important, I think, record labels. Wow. That started in the seventies and is died out now, but it's an important record label. So do you know who was on SST. I don't, let me tell you about SST, but first let me tell you about the band. So the Meat Puppets were founded in 1980 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Original members are Kirk Kurtwood, his brother Chris. And Derek Bostrom, he played drums. Kurt was the guitarist and the vocalist. And then Chris was the bassist and the vocalist. So they met Bostrom when they were attending high school. They later moved back to, phoenix and they practice in a backyard shed behind Kurt's house.

Kurt [00:02:00] was into Led Zeppelin, Zed Z Top. Bowie Bostrom brought punk rock records and Chris was initial skeptical of the whole thing in punk rock. But he joined in after briefly considering, and I think this could have been a not as good a name, but the bastions of immaturity as their band name. They chose to meet puppets because that was a song that Kurt had already written.

I 

Rene: love the name. Like I love, we are All Meat puppets. Sean. We are all meat puppets. I love that name. It's one of my favorite band names. Honestly, I think they went right with the, 

Sean: the meat puppets name that were right. But they were misfits and they were hippies in the hardcore scene. They played just whatever the they wanted.

They were. Chaotic. They were confused audiences, but they intrigued the style Lakers at SST. And why I think they're so important is they really embrace this freedom, this outsider status. They rejected that hardcore orthodoxy at the time [00:03:00] in favor of surrealism and make, making do whatever they want.

Rene: Very punk rock. 

Sean: Very punk rock. So SST. Greg Giin. Do you know who Greg Giin is? I do not. Okay. He was the guitarist, a black flag. Okay. Yeah. I know there's a black flag 

Rene: connection for sure. I did read a little bit about that. I cheated. 

Sean: So, Greg started solid state tuners as a mail order electronic business in the year that we were born.

In 78. He translated this to music, so he made money selling like. Tubes that people couldn't find. Right. You remember you used to go into like, this is like a vague memory. Like this is before our time when in hardware stores they had tube testers. Yeah. So he did a mail order business for tubes.

That's hilarious. And he said, well, I want to be I can't find any records that I like. Nobody will put out, my band Black Flag. So I'm gonna start my own record label. And so he [00:04:00] started SST records. So I guess you don't know who was on SST, so let me list them out. Yeah. Black Flag, of course.

The Minutemen and Fire Hose. I'm gonna take a guess on one. Okay. My whole surfers yes or no? Nope. No. All right. Butthole Surface will come up later. Husker Deter Nice. Sonic Youth Sound Garden. Dinosaur Jr. They were originally on Homestead, but then they went to SST and Bad Brains. That was just a pew.

So this was a serious record label. I mean, these were bands that have gone on to shape, you know, the, the punk underground in the eighties and, you know, and really influenced what we are doing right. Till today. That's a seriously impressive list. It really is. Renee, I gotta ask you a question. We have used this term pretty indiscriminately over these last few episodes, and that's fine.

I think we've used it appropriately. But before we go any further, what is punk? 

Rene: Oh dude, you're gonna put that on me. That's [00:05:00] a huge question. I think punk is literally what you said. It's doing whatever the hell you want and you don't give a shit. But also, I mean, it depends on the punk. I think genuinely, like if you look at British Punk, it was largely political, but if you look at the skate punk, it's not, it can be political, but it's not necessarily political.

And then, I mean, the Ramones, I'm sorry, they weren't really that political either, but the sound was punk and what they did. With their instruments. The fact that they didn't really know their instruments very well inspired a lot of people to take up punk. 'cause they thought, well, if they can do it, I can do it too.

And I love that DIY sort of, attitude. Agreed. Isn't 

Sean: it? That, that, I don't know if the story is a true if it's apocryphal, but the Ramones played Manchester and everybody who was in the audience started a band. 

intro: Yes. 

Sean: Let's go. Let's start with the entomology of punk. Alright, so the word punk dates back to the six.

Can, can we start with the word entomology? [00:06:00] That is the origin of a word. Cool. I'm pretty sure I'm using that word correctly. Okay. Otherwise, it, it means something else. Probably biological that I'll take back. I'm sorry. Well, I mean, you're the engineer. I'm the English major, so I'm gonna take your word for it.

Punk dates back to the 16th century. It was originally used to describe a prostitute or someone of low social sadis. And, you know, in the mid 20th century, it was slang for a young troublemaker, a petty criminal, or someone seen as worthless or rebellious. It also appeared in you know, the prison slang and beat literature used by writers like Hemingway and Burroughs.

So by the seventies it was already a term for outsiders and misfits. And so I think it really. Bits what that DYI attitude, right? So all those, you know, and let's look at the English punks. They rejected everything going on in the seventies, even though they [00:07:00] secretly loved the seventies music and the Prague Rock and stuff, which was kind of funny.

But my thesis, if you'll allow me, is that as a musical style. It was already dead by the time it started. What punk? Yeah, because punk came from so many disparate things and you know, the bands rebelled and they turned rebellion into money. 

Rene: Yes. And as soon as that punk was dead, I believe that's a clash quote he just did.

And look at me with lyrics. You're so good. 

Sean: So. The Clash signed to a major record label. Punk's Dead, they're on CBS, but I'm so glad they did. 'cause otherwise I would never have got London calling when I did. So, punk as a musical genre 

Rene: is very narrow. 

Sean: I see. 

Rene: Oh, so what you're saying is, by definition, the moment punk becomes signed onto a major record LA label, it's already dead.

Sean: Yeah, that's what you're saying. But they spawned a million of sub genres. I think Skate punk is a perfectly good, appropriate way. To talk about some sub genres, so [00:08:00] being inspired by DUI, doing what you want, and that's why we've used the term so well, so we can, called Neil Young Punk, even though he doesn't play punk music in any sense of the imagination, but when he sings about Johnny Rotten in his songs and nobody else know, has any idea, all of his fans have no idea who he's talking about.

You know, he's pretty punk. I did not know that. Oh, yeah. Hey, hey. My, my, that's about Johnny Rotten. Well, Johnny Rotten is rock and roll. Can never die. I'm confused. Johnny Rottens in the, I can't, I can't quote that. It's 

Rene: uh, is it actually about Johnny Rotten? It's about Johnny Rotten, yeah. Whoa. That's kind of crazy.

Actually. I did not know that. This is the story 

Sean: of a Johnny Rotten. Rotten Johnny. Rotten Johnny, yeah. It's a, that's the lyric in. 

Rene: Wow. I did not know that. Okay. Very cool. It's better to 

Sean: burn out than to fade 

Rene: away. 

Sean: Yes, 

Rene: most def. 

Sean: Okay. So, SST went the same way as punk. [00:09:00] You know, they, they became a corporate record label, even though they said corporate record labels suck.

And, you know, the, the, if we're talking about SST negative land, do you remember Negative land? They were a sample band. 

Rene: I do, yeah. 

Sean: So they were on SST as well later. And they did a parody of, they had, they released a single that had you and two on the front of it. It and they sampled U2 and it was, had a great, uh, voiceover of Casey Kasim.

Remember the competitor of Dick Clark on, uh oh no. Casey Cassim's. I don't what his, uh, thing yeah. Just going on. How much he hated U2, just like calling him the assholes and all. So did 

Rene: negative land like U2 or hate U2, or were they being ironic? I think 

Sean: all of the above. And of course U two's management sued.

SST Glen did the total non punk rock thing and he settled with him and then he said, I'm gonna charge you royalties ban. So at that point, I think SST was over. But it led the way for this [00:10:00] DYA episode. Let's go to the first DDIY. DIY. Yeah. So let's go to the first three albums. Okay. So there was the Meat Puppets, meat Puppets two, and then up on the sun.

So 82 produced by the in-house producer spot. I won't play anything from the first Meat Puppets album 'cause they're largely in intelligible lyrics. Played as fast as they could and. They, you know, so they were opening up for Black Flag, you know, the, the orthodoxy of La Hardcore. And they were playing these wigged out country punk songs like cow punk.

Right? Cow punk. Yeah. Yeah. And so, Tigo The Village Voice gave it a b I think it's come back, you know, that some people like it. It's, it's, I listened to it after not listening to it for a long time, and it made me smile. There's a song on our, on our playlist tumbling tumbleweeds, which is pretty funny.

And, uh, that they do a [00:11:00] covers on that as well. So then the Critic Darling album, right? Pitchfork gave it a nine out of 10 originally. Wow. Spin gave it a 10 out of 10. Considered the magnum opus of the SST era, and it again, just took everything they had from that original album and slowed it down, made it more melodic and blended more country and more psychedelic in that album.

Let's hear. The big song off of that record Lake of Fire. Excellent. Let's hear that. 

clip: Where Bad.

I knew a lady who came who bit by a dog [00:12:00] with the rabbit too. She went to her grave soon and flew away.

Rene: Okay, so. I listened to your playlist. Guys, just so you all know, we share kind of a besties playlist before the episode so we have a chance to, and an opportunity to listen to the songs that the other person really likes and we will likely talk about. We don't necessarily know which five songs or six that they'll talk about, but it gives us an idea of where we're going with the episode.

Sean shared with me the meat puppet's besties version that he had at the time, and I did go listen to it three times. Okay. Probably four. I've never felt like something was homework more than than that. Okay, 

Sean: where's this episode going? 

Rene: It's getting messy but so Lake of fire. But I did take notes 'cause I wanted to be articulate about what the challenges I [00:13:00] had liking this band.

So Lake a fire. I said I didn't like Lynyrd skidder the first time around. And Skynyrd fans, you can come at me, I don't care. But I just, I, it felt like Lynyrd Skynyrd and I never liked Lynyrd Skynyrd to begin with. So it's basically blues rock, right? 

Sean: I don't think so at all. I think at the time this Skid fans would've been like, ready to fight you.

They would've hated you more than they hate Mr. Young, because of this song. Because of this song. This was totally, I remember at this time in my life. So there was this totally cool house, totally cool people, and I lived with. A guy who was in a Max Webster cover band, love Max Webster, but Max Webster was really not in the, the dark alternative scene.

Right? So again, max Webster was. Punk's hated, uh uh, max Webster. Max Webster. Yeah. Well, maybe, I dunno, max Webster was kind of punk. [00:14:00] Max Webster wasn't an enigma. They were, yeah, they were Glenn, they were an enigma. They were precursor, really punk. You wouldn't have really led with your love of Max Webster in this crowd.

Fair enough. SST Any SST band. Yes. Yeah. And, uh, Leonard Skynyrd, I remember. Oh, Leonard, no. I remember the my guy in the, my housemate at the time going, this alternative rock is just like rock. It's just got different lyrics and so he hated but you know, like Leonard Skin, people would never have liked it.

So I don't think the band, maybe now they would appreciate that controversy. Let's hear the next song. Let's hear again. Just whatever they wanted to do. I picked. There's other hits on this, but I picked one of the, the tracks that I think is, is, again, more difficult, the whistling song. Let's hear their whistling part.

Let's hear it.[00:15:00] 

clip: Living room. 

Sean: Okay, so that I think is totally punk rock. To have a song called The Whistling Song and do some forlorn, you know, cowboy whistling on the record. There's a whole bunch of blistering guitar on this record. Again, lots of people think this was a genre defining moment. In the alternative, you know.

Scene. So the fact that they had a whistling song, I think that makes me like them more. 

Rene: Fair enough. Like, listen, this podcast is all about introducing music to people, [00:16:00] including me sometimes. Maybe you sometimes, yeah. Depending on the episode. But I appreciate that. I appreciate that people love this band and I'm not sending them any ill will.

But you know, for me it wasn't that and. And that's okay. I often talk about with you know, friends and stuff. I say, you know, music is like food. Like, you know, you can have the best chef in the world create something for you, but if you don't like broccoli. You're gonna have a problem if it's a broccoli dish, maybe, maybe not.

But 

Sean: if you had the best chef of the world playing broccoli, you better say, let me try broccoli again. 

Rene: Exactly. And so I truly tried this like four times. I'm kind of bearing the lead here 'cause. I, there is one song I absolutely love, which I think we're gonna play and, and I love it so much that I actually put it on one of my playlists 'cause I completely forgot about it.

But that was it for me, but Okay. That's okay. So let's get to up on the 

Sean: sun. Oh yeah. So this is, so Up on The Sun is such a beautiful album, so [00:17:00] it. It was a breath of fresh air. So no, again, like nobody was playing this cow, punk, psychedelic, sun baked lazy, but totally intense music at the time.

So let's hear the title cut too. The third album. Yes, let's hear it. That makes me happy.[00:18:00] 

Rene: Okay, so, I literally, I think I texted you when I was playing the playlist and when I hit this song, I literally said, oh my God, I remember this song. I love this song. So, uh, for me, instantly when I wanted my playlist, 'cause I'd forgotten about it. So thank you for resharing and reminding me. 

Sean: Oh, you're welcome.

The whole album is beautiful and I read old interviews by Kurt and he said that he came up with the lyrics to this when they were opening up for suicidal tendencies and the crowd was just yelling and spitting at them and doing everything to, you know, get them off the stage. And then he just started noodling on you.

You are my daughter. Which is a good way to piss off guys that take themselves too seriously. Yeah, that's quite fun. I like that. Yeah. [00:19:00] Which suicidal tendencies don't take themselves too seriously anymore, which is great, but at the time they probably did. Yeah. So let's hear another one off the album that also prominently features whistling because it's so good.

Maiden's milk. All right. Let's hear it.[00:20:00] 

And again, that's why I think it's a genius of the meat puppets, so they don't take themselves too seriously. They've got a song that just continues on their whistling theme. As far as I know, there weren't a lot of whistling songs after this, but I just think it's beautiful. The. Prague, Rocky Country, like intricate guitar.

And then, not taking themselves too seriously, being kind of cowboys on the range. 

Rene: Yeah. And there is a lot of noodling that, that is undeniable. So that tells me that they're actually pretty good musicians. I'm thinking they, they 

Sean: have their chops. Yeah. That is for sure. Right. As you know, some of the DUII part was not having, you know, just picking up guitar and figuring it out. These guys practiced with their guitars. Yeah. Yeah. And they became a little bit more [00:21:00] rock. He, I think he's, voted as some guitarist, but I can't, I, I can't remember what the, the awards that he had. 

Rene: Oh, really? Yeah, I think I wrote down here, uh, you know, listening to it at times I, I felt like almost Grateful Dead.

In there, like just lots of like experimentally noodling all over the place. And I, I was wondering, I have a good friend who's a huge Grateful Dead fan Greg. I, I'm wondering if Greg liked the meat puppet, so I will be asking 

Sean: him. Okay, well, let's see if we can, I don't think that they're like that, but then I'm not a, uh, grateful Dead.

Rene: And 

Sean: nor 

Rene: am I. But uh, and then there was one song in particular that I felt was very ZZ Top like, and I can't remember the name of the song, but it was like, oh my God, is this ZZ Top? 

Sean: They became very much said Z Top. So let's just go through the rest of their catalog. Fair enough. So. Their next few albums, they've, I think they've got like, 14 in total.

You know, so the next 11 would continue to push genres, alienate the purists that [00:22:00] thought they liked them eventually land them in mainstream spotlight while they dealt with some personal tragedy and redemption and a reunion, right? So I won't go by album, by album, but yeah, they got darker and more ZZ top.

Let's hear one of those ZZ top songs. I can't be counted on at all from waves. Alright, let's hear it.[00:23:00] 

Rene: All right, Sean. So like I said, man, I did my homework. I really did. And this song I literally wrote forgettable Classic Rock. 

Sean: Yeah, but not unforgettable because at the time, you know, I think they influenced rock. They were like, this was different sounding. And lyrically the fact that he just says how bad a person he is over and over again in this song, I find quite funny and a little punk rock I might add and kind of punk rock.

Yeah. And maybe, maybe, you know, a little bit self, [00:24:00] uh, uh, revealing as well. Yeah. So. They go on to a major label At the time, London Records, they had an album produced by the same person who produced White Yoakum. They had a gold record produced by Paul Leary, the guitarist of the butthole surfers.

And, uh, uh, you know, it had. Rock feel, they became very psychedelic rock, a bluegrass feel, which is what I like about this. So let's hear the song that I think you must hate the most. 'cause it's so bluegrassy coming down.

clip: Understand Another though, they call it terra Firm dis my feet through a pile of garbage for some worthless piece of paper. It's been hidden there for me to give me. I have seen the information on the side. I heard the new on again [00:25:00] rock. One thing always seems apparent. If the climb me much, I can always turn around

going down to the desert, to the dirty, filthy desert. I. Going through the sand for at least a couple days. Going down to the desert, there are things air worth 40, and it always makes me cross when, when things get in my way. I have seen the information on the liner side of Dumbness. I have heard the new statistic and the stomping on ground.

Again, slowly apparent if the too.

Rene: Okay, so two things on this song. I actually thought it was a cover 'cause it felt so goddamn familiar and so kind of basic blues grass country that I'm, I'm like, I Googled it. I'm like, is this a cover? And they're like, Nope, this is a brand new song. It's like, [00:26:00] sure. Doesn't sound like one to me. And then the second thing I want to say is, at this point in your playlist.

Honestly, Sean, I thought you were trolling me. I thought you were just like, I'm putting this in 'cause it's gonna really f him up. It's gonna fuck him up. Bad it. He's gonna be so mad. And he's gonna ask me if I actually, did you put that in just to bug me? You know, I wouldn't 

Sean: do it just to bother you. Did you like backwater?

'cause that was the hit off that song. We don't have to play it now, but I said. 

Rene: More basic, familiar, straight ahead, radio friendly, rock and roll, and that is not a compliment. And that's, what was 

Sean: it? Hit Billboard number two. That is not a compliment. It was, that was by far their most popular song. Backwater.

I think it should be up in, up on the sun a hundred percent. But, backwater I sing up on the sun in my head all the time. But this song when I'm riding my motorcycle and coming down on [00:27:00] the mountain and I haven't died, going up then, and when I'm gonna go up another mountain, it's been in my head for a long time, since 94.

I've been singing it when I go driving my motorcycles. 

Rene: Well, that I like that. 'cause I, I love your motorcycle stories and I love that you love your motorcycle. 

Sean: So it gets tragic at this point. The bang goes through some personnel changes because Kurt was shot in a post office and then he goes to jail for 21 months.

Wait, can you just. Is there anything you 

Rene: can 

Sean: fill 

Rene: in on that? Like how did he get shot in a post office 

Sean: by grabbing the security guard's baton and trying to beat the security guard with them because of probably a misunderstanding. So let's not get into the, the, okay. He was in a bad space. Okay, fair enough.

At that time. Fair enough. You know, drugs was involved and you know, it's his brother. He doesn't wanna start a new band, but he started a new band. He kept going and uh, but then, uh, you know, he got clean. He [00:28:00] rejoined the band. Chris's son, Elmo started playing with them. They reunited with Derek Bostrom, who had gotten a day job with computers, kept the band going a lot 'cause he managed their webpage.

And, you know, during all this time, you know, they released. Records that critics like critics really didn't like, but they were inducted to the Arizona Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Entertainment Hall of Fame. They rejoined and then he came out with. An album that I had to go back and listen to 'cause I'd missed it when it came out.

It came out and I started listening to it and then it fell off. But, you know, a critically acclaimed album called Dusty Notes. So let's hear the title track from Dusty Notes. Alright, 

Speaker 5: so, and I.[00:29:00] 

Rene: Okay, so truth be told dusty oes was not on my playlist originally that Sean shared with me. And I don't hate this song. I don't like it. I would never put it on any kind of, but if somebody played it in the background, I might be tapping my foot a little bit 

Sean: because you like a little bit of the country, the older country with a little tiny little bit of mariachi band in there.

Again, I know you, Renee, these are things that, that, really get Renee's toe going. In [00:30:00] country music. Yeah, 

Rene: absolutely. 

Sean: We will, I think at some point talk about Iron and wine and Calico, but I love those. That's another, those bands I love that's country and, and, and mariachi. So, but Sad Country and mariachi, so they're on hiatus.

They haven't broken up, they haven't called it quits. So maybe the story's untold, but there's gotta be one part of this story. And again, this is why. I mentioned brothers and thought about them, but along the way they became under the influence of Nirvana. So how do you feel about Nirvana? I 

Rene: listen.

I like Nirvana. I'm not a hardcore fan. I definitely had not the first album, not bleach, but I had the following two. And of those albums, as you know, with Renee I'd like about five songs to six songs on each album. I don't know what that would make me fan wise.

Sean: Probably not a typical fan because you don't have a Nirvana t-shirt and you don't listen to them unquestioningly, which I find kind of [00:31:00] interesting, like when I see somebody who wasn't born in 91 with a, a nevermind t-shirt and the guy who was the baby just settled with them.

That's so weird. Yeah, that is weird. Talk about it. Yeah. It's so weird. Uh, you know, the polarizing effect of money, right? That's the whole thing. They made so much money so quickly. I didn't, I loved nevermind that album. I loved every song. Played it a lot. And I didn't hate the band like when I was younger, when other bands got famous.

I find them an interesting anomaly and something that, again, has redefined rock as we know right now that I fully agree with. 

Rene: And, and I, I would call, I guess I would call myself a fan, but just not a hardcore fan. 

Sean: And so let's talk about that. MTV Unplugged in New York record. So it was released by, you know.

David Geffen Corporation, DGC, that made so much money off Nirvana November 1st, 1994, so a million years ago. [00:32:00] And it, you know, it was an iconic unplugged when that was cool. 40% of that album was covers. Yep. So there's the Man Who Sold the World, the big one that uh, was pretty good. And, but we liked that there was, Jesus Don't Want Me For a Sunbeam, which is a Scottish independent band that Kurt went, uh, yeah.

Went on about and then. There was lead belly who was totally influenced that whole grunge scene and Pearl Jam did a whole bunch of lead belly covers. But then inexplicably, there was three meat puppets songs. So it was Plateau OMI, and Lake of Fire, which we heard earlier. So the meat puppets suddenly were thrown into the public eye, which must have been so terrible for them.

So good because backwater became a, you know, a hit for them. After that they were in the public eye, but [00:33:00] it's. So hard. You know, when you think of what is fame, they were critically acclaimed this guy who all of a sudden gets. The spotlight put on him, tries to defer it and puts it over to these bands that they really like.

And then, you know, like in the end, would they be really happy about that? Like would they, is it would've been better if they hadn't had that spotlight or not? I don't know. But it's an interesting situation that the meat puppets. Deal with, and those individual songs, you've got the stats later, but you know, I think they've been played like 200 million times each, those cover versions.

And so that's more than every meat puppet song has ever been played that they, uh, wrote themselves. So it's kind of an interesting problem. 

Rene: Yeah. I mean, what, yeah, what great exposure to the meat pist themselves. I kind of love that Nirvana did that just all overall just said, [00:34:00] okay, we're not gonna do a typical unplugged where we play all your favorite songs that, you know, we're gonna play those.

But acoustic, no. They just said, screw it. We're gonna play bands or, or obscure songs by artists that you might know, and we're gonna play those instead. Like you said, 40%. Yep. Pretty cool. Yeah. And they were on stage with Nirvana at the time. 

Sean: Yes. They were playing back up to 

Rene: their own 

Sean: songs. Yeah.

And I'll 

Rene: just add that is very punk rock because MTV Unplugged is like, so you're gonna play your popular songs. Right. But just acoustic. And they're like, maybe, 

Sean: yeah. Oh yeah, yeah. Cobain. He did whatever he wanted. Right? Yeah. You know, unfortunately did the worst thing. Yeah. So let's go let's come back to my story and why the meat puppets are so important and why I knew you wouldn't really.

Like some of the songs. So Renee, how do people court these days? 

Rene: Well, I believe they court through online dating apps. 

Sean: So I, you know, I'm glad that I don't have to [00:35:00] understand that world, but back in my day, our day when you recording, there was no way to get around your record collection. Sooner or later, the person whose attentions you wanted to get would see what records were in your crate.

Yeah. Or you'll make them a tape. Mix tapes were very sexy at the time. Yes, so my wife, I got her to come over to my house. She saw the record. I had multiple record uh, in crates that were from vortex Records that we've talked about, and she started flipping through them. And the lack of David Bowie in my record collection was almost an irreconcilable difference.

I agree. The Bowie's hard. I wish there was a, Bowie is not. I wish there was a podcast back in the day that would've helped me with, uh, Bowie. Do you like Bowie now? Yeah, I think he's great. I think he's amazing. Give me your favorite album. I don't know any [00:36:00] of the albums. I don't know any of the albums.

Oh my God. Okay. All right. No, I don't like, I like that fame when he talks about he's a dj. Yeah. But he's, oh, the DJ one? Yeah. Logger. Yeah, he's kind of impenetrable. Like I again, 'cause I don't, like, he was so changed all the time and I didn't understand all those changes, so it was really hard.

Like that changes song. Deanne had to get over the fact that I didn't have any Dave. Boy, she was, I need to talk to Deanna about Bowie 'cause I think we could have fun. But when we first started uh, uh, dating Deanne had had been in Europe and she'd seen the meat puppets in Germany. And I guess she had, he, he played his guitar with a quarter and then he lost his American quarter and then he lost it and Deanne helps to look for it so he could continue to play.

And she really liked, she thought it was an amazing show, so she asked me if I knew the meat puppets, and so I answered with the lyric from up on the sun, but. Like girl's note wave thing. I'm sure she knew I was making it up because I had read about them in nerve the [00:37:00] Toronto Music magazine.

Yep. So good. So I was working at the radio station, so I immediately went back to the radio station and played all of their albums, fell in love with their albums. And it's funny because even before I met Deanne. I'd seen the movie, the Man Who Fell To Earth with David Bowie as the actor. Yep.

And so I played that song a lot. That was a heavy rotation. I really liked that song that Nirvana covered. Like that was, if you'd listen, not that there's any way of going back, but I played that song a lot before I met her. We saw them at the Albion, the meat puppets at the Albion probably during that ZZ top influenced records and since then we've lived happily ever after.

Rene: Nice. 

Sean: And so I think, you know, musical knowledge is very sexy and I'd like to quote the late day Bookman when he opened up his bookies. College a musical knowledge. Yep. I think he was just helping, trying to help everybody. Because a good background, knowing the answer to this really does make you more appealing.

So before we wrap it up, Brene, what are [00:38:00] their popularity statistics? 

Rene: Yeah. Oh yeah. Okay. So they're not too far off from granddaddy and listeners. You could listen to that episode too if you wanted. They're at 370,000 monthly listeners. Granddaddy was at 400,000 at the time. And these do shift people like you need to know that, but at the time it was three 70.

So they've got some popularity that they 

Sean: absolutely do that echo and their own. Great catalog has kept them in 

Rene: people's minds. So, and you, you actually, I'm surprised you didn't mention this, but they actually influenced Pavement, one of my favorite bands. And there were a couple others too. Uh, Nirvana obviously.

So they're influential for sure, influential in the moment. At that time, they were influential. That's impressive. End lasting. End lasting. But I will say this, Sean, this was the hardest homework you ever gave me. I really had a hard time but I, I appreciate you we're good friends and everything's cool, [00:39:00] but the best part about this is, dude, I was taking breaks 'cause I was having so much trouble and, and just, um, it was the weekend and I'm like, are you kidding me?

I have to listen to this on the weekend. So I was taking breaks and guess what? I was listening to? 

Sean: Car seat headrest. The weaker thans. The weaker. That's, oh, nice. I thought you would like 

Rene: that, man, because mm-hmm. Because we did that episode. I said, I like this song and this song, I don't really fully get it.

I am officially a weaker Thans fan now, like I listened to that besties playlist four or five times over the weekend. 

Sean: Isn't that nice? So listeners, dear listeners check in when Renee is quoting the, uh, the obscure tracks off Meat Puppets two and saying how great they are. 

Rene: I can't, I don't think that's gonna happen, 

Sean: Sean, but that's very cute.

Never say never, 

Rene: okay. Never say never, like Justin Bieber said. 

Sean: So why are they an ear shifter band? They do what they want in the true spirit of punk and they've [00:40:00] kept going despite all of their personal. Troubles. Right? And the fact that they're reuni reunited is, I think a great story. And they combined country bluegrass and psychedelic rock and you love one of those things, psychedelic rock into something that was unique to them and they were an inspiration for so many bands, like you mentioned a couple, would there be a ween.

Without the meat puppets. Right. Two fake brothers, and I'll stop talking about Brothers Dean and Gene Ween. They did whatever they want and they released the Seminal 12 Country Greats album, which is again, would it have been so cool? Who knows. 

Rene: Is Wayne gonna be one of these episodes?

Maybe down the road. Okay. Maybe I am. That'll be difficult listening for you as well. It, it sounds like it might be. Can we take a break from that? Maybe season three. Okay. Well what about 

Sean: the Super suckers? Have you ever heard of the Super Suckers? Yes, I have. So, thereby second favorite band from [00:41:00] Arizona.

Huh? And their album Sacious Sounds, which was also produced by that butthole surfer guy. You know, and there's so many other influence Oh, and their. Their must have been high record. Their full on country record is pretty good too. And I think the most important reason that meat puppets are a near shifter band.

If I had not known the meat puppet song in that moment, listeners, then my life could have been very different. True, 

Rene: true. So it's got extra meaning for you, for sure. Alright, that was, I think that went all right. I, I think we didn't, we didn't hit each other. There was no crying or shouting. So I think, I think we made it through.

I imagine one day I'm gonna do an episode and you're gonna be like, I do not dig these guys. And that'll be interesting. Hopefully you're as gentle as I felt like I was in this episode. Bring it on. 

intro: Oh no. 

Rene: Alright. Sean, you wanna do a hot take? Sure. Okay, man. So when you're stuck on what to listen to next, what is your favorite go-to musical [00:42:00] artist or album?

Either one artist or album. Yeah, you're kind of stuck. You're like, Ugh, I don't know. I'm, I don't know what I want to hear next. Do you have a go-to, or you're like, this is what I want to hear. 

Sean: So for inspiration, I would pick Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground Man. I, I, so if I ever get stuck, I wish I could have guessed this 'cause I would've got it right then.

There is Nick Cave, some No. Nick Cave. Nick Cave. I find very. He is onto himself. He's a little bit of an ecosystem. You know, if Lou in the, the, the one rock, God there has to be three. Lou is the father. Nick is the son, but he's unto himself, right? So I find Nick. Brings you into his world and it's hard to get out.

Whereas, you know, listening to the Velvet Underground or any of the, the, again, [00:43:00] looted whatever he wanted over the time then, you know, you think about, well, what was happening in. 82 when he released my Red Joystick, which is an awful song, but, is he did it and then you think about what happens there.

You know, I, so I would say I, I gravitate back to the father. Fair enough. And who do you think it is for me, Sean? I think it's a band that I don't really like that much. Or if you're gonna be, isn't it Radiohead that you've always come back to? No, man, no. My favorite band in the world. 

Rene: Oh, the Walkman?

Yeah. Oh, okay. Always, always, always. When I'm bored and I'm stuck. It's always the Walkman. And that's how I realized they are, in fact, unquestionably my favorite band in the world. I'm glad you can say that out loud now because Great. It did take you a little while to do it did. It did, but I mean, I don't, can you actually say, this is my fa Would it be Lou Reed or can you actually commit to that?

It's a hard thing. Commit to Committ. Committ the chairman. I committed to 

Sean: the Rock and Roll Trinity. [00:44:00] But yeah, that's as far as I'm ready 

Rene: to go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's hard, it's a hard thing to, um, to own, but, uh, I feel, I feel very good about it and that hot take is kind of a shout out to the Scorching Hot Takes podcast.

Uh, Sam and Max, 'cause we're kind of fans of Sam and Max and, and they kind of inspired us to do this little hot take at the end of our episodes. We'll see how it goes. We'll see how long we keep it. But for now we're having fun. Yep. We're having fun. And until next time, Renee, what are we gonna hear? Okay, so next time we are going to hear a female artist who won multiple awards in Australia.

And was nominated for a Grammy for Best new artist, and yet still many people outside of Australia don't even know who she is. And Renee, what's our special episode coming up next? Oh, actually, Sean, we are gonna have a special episode where we kind of take a look at 2025 and. Cherry pick, if you will, our favorites from 2025, either releases or new artists either [00:45:00] way, or things that were overlooked that we think should have had a bigger deal in 2025.

Exactly. Okay, until next time. Until next time, people, bye. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Air Shifter. Tune in next time where we'll cover another band that deserves more. You can find Air Shifter on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Friend us or listen to our playlist on Spotify and visit air shifter.com for more information.

Special thanks. Go to our logo designer Stuart Thorsby and our intro Outro Music by Joe Novak. You can find him as, bye. Bye. Badman. One word on SoundCloud and a big shout out to Joe for being our awesome sound engineer slash editor. Until next time.