Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life"

♪ Well, I'm just a modern guy ♪ ♪ Of course I've had it in the ear before ♪ I don't know why the phrase, "I've had it in the ear before." I don't know why that bothers me so much. [pop] Luxury today on Wednesday, we're focused on a specific time at place. We're talking 1977 Berlin and the iconic collaboration between the Godfather punk and the thin white dupe. That's right, D'Alan. While this song wasn't a hit in the U.S. at the time, it has since become a cult classic, thanks in part to a key placement in one of our mutual favorite films, "Train Spotting." Yes, yes. We're just two modern guys talking one song, and that song is "Lust for Life" by Iggy Pop. ♪ Well, I'm just a modern guy ♪ ♪ This is how I'm had it in the ear before ♪ ♪ Must for life ♪ [upbeat music] I'm after writer, director, and sometimes DJ, D'Alan Role. And I'm producer, DJ, songwriter, and musicologist, Luxury, AKA the guy who is first, "Interpolation." And this is one song. The show where we break down the stems and stories behind iconic songs, the crash genres, and tell you why they deserve one more listen. You will hear these songs like you've never heard them before, and you can watch one song on YouTube as Spotify. While you're there, please like and subscribe. But don't join ICE. All right, D'Alan, I've got an extra bounce in my step today. A little sitting boom, boom, boom, boom. And so infectious. But tell me, D'Alan, when did you first hear "Lust for Life"? Oh, it was definitely the opening scene of "Trade Spotting." Let's watch this snippet. ♪ ♪ Choose life, choose a job, choose a career, choose a family, choose a fucking big television. It's so fantasy, Obi-Wan Kenobi, ready for a whole bill. [laughing] Iconic opening scene, they're all running. We don't know from what yet, but we suspect it's something that they did wrong. They did something wrong. We suspect they are the wrong users. They're about to arrest them. Racing, racing, racing. And they're in Scotland, right? Edinburgh, whatever. And then they almost get hit by a car. And then it's freeze frame. It's such an iconic opening scene. So, D'Alan, so much energy. So many good movies begin with, they open on running. There's something cinematic about just the guy run. I remember the first week and I saw this movie. I actually saw this movie, "A Clockwork Orange," and the movie "Go" all the same week is the first time. That's kind of the same energy that makes a lot of sense. Dude, I felt like I had dead drugs from "Go" "A Clockwork Orange," a train spotting. And committed a lot of crimes and maybe got to wait with it, maybe not. There's something so subversive about the Saul Less for Life, the Saul we're talking about today. And I gotta say, I associated with two things that are complete opposites. The movie "Trains Body" and a commercial for "Carticle Cruises." >> Like to me, there's something so weird with these really weird subversive songs. >> Oh my God. >> Get dropped into commercial though. >> That's right. >> This is like, that's right. >> All of us in the know who saw that ad were like, do they know what they're doing? Did they listen to the rest of the lyrics? >> A song about doing heroin now used to sell cruises to old people. >> It's kind of long. >> Incredibly subversive though. That's the sort of thing that Devo would do. >> Yeah. >> I love the fact that it happened. >> Devolution. >> But I don't think it happened again. I think there'd be a lot more people on top of that information. >> But I want to say something about "Trains Body." This soundtrack was really formative to be as a DJ. It had songs from some of my favorite at that time. Contemporary artists like "Blur," "Underworld," "Levfield." Right next to "Legis," like "Luried," "Branino." And of course, Iggy Pop inspired me to be more of an open format DJ and mix genres and eras in interesting ways. Like I feel like in a time before the iPod came along, the iPod specifically, this was a soundtrack that mixed genres and put everything right next to everything else. >> Yeah, this was like "Smart Shuffle" before there was "Smart Shuffle." >> Totally. >> It really has a perfect flow to it to the sequencing. Perfect day, of course. Iconically is the moment you need to kind of rest from everything else. Great soundtrack. I still listen to it to this day. >> What about you, Luxury? What was the first time you heard "Lust for Life?" >> When I saw "Trains Body," I had heard that song before, but probably once on the radio years before, but he evoked a memory. And as I'll be talking about later, that song has a lot of evocation in it, because it's evoking a lot of sound from another era. So when I saw it, I was like, "This sounds so familiar, but it was also kind of new to me." But at the same time, I was a huge Iggy Pop fan from the studios. And let's just be clear, Iggy Pop is one of my heroes, one of my icons, and this is not our studio's episode. There will be separate studios episode. This is like we've done before with Ozzy, there will be a Sabbath episode separately. We're going to focus, however, for the sake of this one episode about "Lust for Life," not just on Iggy and his solo career, but on the year 1977. >> Yeah, 1977 is a really big year. >> Yeah, and one of my favorite things about this phenomenon and Iggy Pop is 1977 is that as kind of one of the forefathers of punk, right? This dude is started in 1969. This is one of the first bricks in the wall that became the Ramones and the Sex Pistols in the Clash and everybody else in punk rock later. But in 1977, Iggy Pop kind of goes the opposite direction. >> What do you mean by that? What do you mean that Iggy went the other way? >> I would argue that at this moment in 1977, Iggy Pop, one of the godfathers of punk rock, along with David Bowie, are kind of crafting post-punk. They're creating post-punk almost simultaneously with punk existing. I think that's the best way to describe what he's doing with the two iconic records that he makes with Bowie that we'll be talking about on this episode. >> Let's go back to the studios for a second, because I think that their last album, "Raw Power" predates the 1977 punk wave by about four years. When you listen back today, it's not hard to hear why he's called the godfather of punk. The stooges were really, just, they were ahead of their time. Let's listen to a little bit of that period of their output. Let's listen to "Search a Destroy." ♪ It's a bad guy to save my soul ♪ ♪ Baby, I'm gonna save my life ♪ >> I thought it was gonna be hell. >> Oh! >> I love that song. >> Freaking love that song. So here's the thing, David Bowie mixed that song and he mixed it so poorly. It is one of the worst mixed songs of all time. It's insane. I've gone into it to analyze it and figure, how do you fix this problem? Which they tried to do years later. I bought the remix version. It is no better. It's a strange mix. It's a great song. It's not a problem. It's one of those things where, by the book, it's not doing things correctly, but we love this song and we love the energy. But his voice is like crazy loud. The drums are like this tiny little being in a box in the closet over there. It's so weird, but it's great. >> Was it the mics? Like, honestly, I'm sure there are wonderful analyses out there. I literally, with the stems, tried to remix this song and failed miserably. Like, I can't, the energy was to quote tank from our tank episode, which we should go back and listen to. >> We always thought tank. >> Tank had a wonderful line about perfection is how it turned out. >> Yeah. >> That was the perfect way. So he wasn't perfect by the book. >> He wasn't talking about search and destroy, but you think of general point. >> Absolutely. He was talking exactly. >> We don't know tank's opinion about search and destroy. >> I would love to know what tank thinks about search and destroy. I think he'd agree that because the vibe was the vibe and that was the accurate, correct vibe for this song. It's why it's one of the greatest proto-punk songs of all time. But, you know, by the book, if you ask a mixing engineer who had only spent time at Berkeley in full sale, like in the books and like learning the technical perfection techniques, they didn't do anything wrong. Throw this away, delete it, start again. So as much as this is our E-Pop episode, it's also our Iggy and David Bowie episode because Bowie was so crucial to Iggy Pop's life in this moment, both creatively and personally. After this, he just broke up in '73. Iggy was in a pretty bad place. He was in and out of rehab. >> As the story goes, Iggy was in such a bad place that he checked himself into a psychiatric hospital at Bowie visits him while he's staying there. Bowie wanted to keep his friend on track and help him get it back on his feet. Invites Iggy to go on the station to station tour in 1976. By the way, station to station, what about favor? >> That might be my favor, Bowie. >> Bowie too, it's so good. >> Let's hear a little bit of stay off of station to station. ♪ That's what I meant to say or do something ♪ ♪ But I never say you say this time ♪ ♪ I really meant to show that ♪ >> And after that tour, they decided to move to Berlin. Troopy told both of them were battling addictions. How do you think he stayed the thin white duke? >> This is such a well-documented period. It's sort of like their lost time together in the wilderness. It sounds from great quotes about Bowie's. He was living in LA in '75. And his co-cane addiction was so all-encompassing that apparently he refused to use elevators. (laughing) He subsisted. >> What? Why elevators? What was wrong with the elevator? >> I don't know, fear of heights or something. He subsisted on a diet of red and green peppers, milk and cocaine. (laughing) And he wouldn't sleep for three or four days at a time and was definitely afraid of Jimmy Page. (laughing) >> So kids, so long. >> This is what the white stuff will do to you. Stay away from powders. >> I'm staying away from Jimmy Page on an elevator, apparently. (laughing) So yes, they wouldn't just stay away for the drug-seated LA, but before landing in Berlin, they stayed in France for a few months and started recording Iggy's first solo album, The Idiot. Let's hear one of my favorite Iggy Pop songs from this period. This is Nightclubbing. ♪ Nightclubbing, we are nightclubbing ♪ So good. ♪ We are what's happening in the night ♪ >> So good. What a frickin' tune. >> Like, I like songs that are simple sometimes. You know, he's just like, hey, we're nightclubbing. >> Yeah. >> Sounds like a guy who's been outclubbing a little bit too much. >> Yeah, that's the thing. You feel it in the sounds. >> You feel it. >> You feel it in the vibe in the sounds. That vibe of music. maybe don't nightclub tonight. I didn't expect that we'd be talking about Gary Glitter so much, but there's such a rock and roll part two vibe in the beat right because rhythmically it's done see that yeah I'll just play it quickly right it's like slow down though slow down but that slow down including the slap-back sound this feels like an hour's party in 1977 yeah it's chopped and screwed Gary Glitter part one and two it becomes nightclub in right by the way do you also know what song was famously used that beat as a sample no the beat by the way comes from a drum machine it might be that I looked it up I don't it's not the limb I think it's not the limit proceeds even the CR 78 by a few years it might be the roll in TR 55 and Bowie wanted to replace it with real drums but Iggy pop is like no it sounds really cool I got it right the robotic kind of motoric feeling you're getting yeah Kan noise very Berlin mid 70s it was sampled in a song you may recognize oh god are you serious that's really now I finished now closer which I think we should do an episode on by the way we will let's do double and again this is one of those oh that's the same beat it's one of the scenarios not the same rhythm but it's the same sound I think they isolated the kick and maybe the snare with a layer to it it's clearly been processed again it comes from a roll and drum machine so this is one of the situations that we've talked about in this yellow it episode yeah the sample is embedding a free to use sound that's licensed for sure to use at large so that's so cool it's so cool I love that reuse of sound like that and embedded in it is the history Berlin 75 yeah exactly I also love how Iggy himself describes the ending he describes it as a cross between James Brown and craft like there's such a vast space between those two artists like the organic funk of a James a craft that's such a cool that it really you hear when you look for it but if that that was the mission statement the Jimmy Osterberg his name is Jim all his friends call Iggy pop Jim Jim's favorite artist I believe as a performer has always he's talked about this many times is James Brown so when he's on stage he's picturing like next level James Brown the showmanship and it kind of makes sense when you plug it in and think oh that's what he's doing up there with a peanut butter and the blood and they're like jumping in the crowd it's like next level like it wouldn't work if Iggy like that a shape still like taking the shirt off after all these years like it kind of works because he's lying yeah I agree and then the craft work comes into play because when they would drive around Bowie and Iggy were being shuttled around in this time period between studios in Berlin and Munich and France they had like a little record player in the limo that were they were being driven in and they had three records and one of them was how do they power it in the seventies have a record player in the car I don't know when you're rich in the seventies you figure things out I guess good question they had they had cell phones back then too though right there's like seventies yeah there's like pictures of people in 1974 on in their car on a felt like rich people with like fur coats on like ballers I don't know if you have a concord this is not a technology podcast if it were I could tell you the answer I just know rich people have magic tricks to do what they need to do that's just a thing that's fantastic I mean something to look forward to both but yes I love the sound of night clubbing I love how guitarist Phil Palmer explained what he was told to do by Bowie he was sort of acting like a director Bowie was like here's the conductor he was like a conductor to all the session players that he'd brought in some of them are his long standing collaborators like call out Carlos Olimar and also Phil Palmer who played guitar on this who said that Bowie wanted him to make a quote noisy ruckus and when Phil said well what what key are we in Bowie was like the key is irrelevant I want you to imagine you're walking down the street at three in the morning and each club you pass you're getting a different racket coming out of every door I love that I love that could somebody do that away because somebody just hey you're walking down the sunset yeah it's two AM everything's closing right just do a song about that this is the soundtrack knowing that like I think intuitively it sounded like something like that but now that I know that was the edit makes so much sense so cool but by the way Bowie wasn't just producing he was also co-writing alongside Iggy and playing on many of the songs on lust for life and the idiot the way Iggy described their work in relationship was that he was Bowie's giddy pig he said Bowie had an idea and wasn't sure how to approach it he would write or arrange something in a similar manner for one of Iggy's projects that's right this is maybe a good time to point out that these two records were talking about the idiot and then into lust for life there's a major distinction I would say draw between them in that the idiot is very much a collaboration where Bowie's leading the way and Iggy's learning the ropes and even sonically you listen back to the idiot it's right next to low they are a record in fact low or is recorded after Bowie made sure that low came out first so people when the key was ripping the idiot off but the idiot actually came first they made that one first but sonically they really fit together and then for less for life Iggy is a little bit pushing back on the Bowie in zones he's like I kind of want this one to be a little more me I'm a little tired of everyone asking us asking me and interviews about the Bowie factor yeah so there's a big sonic change I would say they're both incredible records they're both 1977 let's not forget they're cranking them out and and then Bowie goes on to do heroes like four records in Berlin in this period of time but I just wanted to sort of as we're talking about it I'm sort of thinking about this and realizing there's a subtle change that happens into less for life which is the song we're gonna focus on today it's a little more rock and roll or more throwback whereas the idiot and low are kind of more the sound of the future and that's where the craft work and the electronic stuff comes in but you're absolutely right y'all though those two records Bowie is mainly being the musical director he's performing on the tracks Iggy is mainly on lyrics but sometimes there's some cross-pollination for example let's hear a Bowie song this is what in the world from low and see if you can make out Iggy's backing vocals thank you what in the world can you do I'm in the mood for your love for your love I hear so good I hear Jim I hear Jim I hear Jim I hear it in there too by the way listening to that makes me realize too one of the major things about these records is if this is like a in the weeds thing for the sonic nerd it's not in the song today but there was this really important invention called the even-tied harmonizer that snare sound is iconic once Tony Visconti made the drums on the record low have that sound that you just heard which it didn't sound like what snare drums normally sound of yeah this was the beginning of some of these machines and devices adding to the machines it wasn't a drum machine it's an effect that was sort of like a delay it thickens it it gives us this other worldly feel and it's one of the most famous snare sounds of all time like producers legend derrily will refer to it even to this day is like I wanted to sound like low I wanted to sound like a snare on low so low is part of what Bowie fans refer to as the Berlin trilogy which is low heroes in larger I didn't realize people had a term for ease the idiot and less for life releases but I read people refer to it as the Berlin dip tick hey sounds like an insult you're a dip tick Berlin dip tick hey which is I think the old time I've ever said dip tick in my life yeah I don't think I'll be saying it at all I gotta it doesn't have the same rig you own that word it's all yours so after the idiot they go out on the idiot tour and the band's getting tighter and they're also trying out new material yeah and it should be said that Bowie's on this tour with them Bowie's playing keyboards and he's sort of in the background concert yeah he isn't always looking at the audience he wanted to not take the shine off of eggy pop of course people in the audience are like oh my god it's David Bowie who's that tall white guy up there did white after the tour they get back to Berlin and they go straight to Hansa Studios and record it makes less for life in just eight days let's listen to a clip from another track off less for life this is the passenger which is a classic cut here's eggy performing the song live in 1977 in Manchester by the way what is the passenger about according to eggy first of all the passenger was co-written by Ricky Gardner who's the guitar player on the song we're talking about today okay and actually Ricky Gardner is credited as being one of the kind of collaborative nucleus for this record it was him and Bowie and eggy pop hold up writing a lot of songs together this is one of them but apparently according to eggy it partially comes from a Jim Morrison poem called the lords it also has a connection to an Antonioni movie called the passenger with Jack Nicholson oh wow that biggie hit the billboard what he was driving that yeah I love this he was a big Jim Morrison said my favorite stuff he was a big doors fan they were label mates yeah for sure I mean there's obviously a Jim Morrison stage presence connection with eggy as well right who came before there's another connection I'll be pointing out a little bit later I don't want to ruin it and then the last one is simply what we were talking about a minute ago they are driving if you're being driven around he was the passenger is literally a passenger from station to station I love it when we get back one pack the ukulele beginnings of less for life and discover the unlikely source of that Motown Ask Rhythm section don't go anywhere welcome back to one song so before we get into the stems let's talk about how this song began eggy and bowie were not only close collaborators during this time but they were also living together and so what night they're watching tv when bowie is captivated by a blippy call signal that the american forces network is playing so he picks up his ukulele and starts playing along with it and then it becomes less for life and this is post world war or Tuberlin, not post the ball has fallen down. - Oh, they're in East Berlin or West Berlin. - They're in West Berlin, but they can see East Berlin. In fact, in the song Heroes, which is also done in this area, they talk about I remember standing by the wall. ♪ I remember, I remember, remember ♪ ♪ Standing by the wall ♪ - Great song, that's one of the all time grades. It's insane that these four records, there's also actually technically in 1977, five records came out between the two of them, 'cause Igi actually had a third record, which was just a re-release of Kill City. - So it's not a diptych. - It's not a diptych. Well, no, it's still diptych. - We didn't lie, too. - No, no, no, no, no, still diptych. He had recorded it in '75. It was kind of like a fourth stooge's record that never happened. My point is, five records, iconic records happening in one year. - I love it when people have like these like weird, very prolific periods. - Yeah. - Well, it helps. - It got so much stuff. - It helps to not sleep and beyond drugs the whole time. - There's actually a really funny quote where Igi-- - Pay attention, kids. It helps to not sleep and beyond drugs. - One song has a lesson for you. - That's how we do this show. We recorded five of these episodes of One Day. I'm telling you. - It's funny to say that because they actually wrote all the songs and recorded and mixed this entire record in eight days. So they were extraordinarily prolific and tight. - That's so crazy. - With their, you know, efficient. - We tried to do this show in eight days. It did not work. - There's a really funny line. Remember before I was alluding to how for less for life, Igi was starting to maybe try to break away a little bit. There's this funny line I read. He said, he wanted Bowie to have a little bit less input. So he didn't sleep very often 'cause he had to get there first. Quote, Bowie's a hell of a fast guy. I realized I had to be quicker than him. Otherwise, whose album was it gonna be? So that's really interesting to think about. It's setting the tone of like, they're starting to separate a little bit. And they actually was a three record deal. They ended up not doing the third record together. So less for life is the end of their collaborative moment. But what a collaborative moment it is. - Let's get into the drums. What's going on with the drums? Because I think you said earlier that they have this sort of Motown appeal and I would agree. - All right, let's listen to those Motown drums. These are played by Hunt Sales. That's right, Son of Sopie. - Hunt, No way. - These are literally Sopie Sales, television star. Sopie Sales is one of those iconic early television comedy stars. - These are like a Borscht belt comedian, right? - Yeah. - Who made the transition to TV. - We've lost everybody under 50. (laughs) - I feel like they had puppets on Sopie Sales' show, didn't they? - I feel like they did. It was very funny. - It was more of the puppets. He had Sopie had puppets. - I feel like I've gone back to watch those like early shows and they're kind of funny. They kind of like- - They're pretty good. - They're in the test of time. - Hey, do we leave out anything else? - Blue. - Whoa, oh, you left that one more thing? - Uh-huh. - Well, let's get to it. - Uh-huh. (dance music) - Oh. - See you, folks. - Here's the drums. (dance music) And now, listen for here. There starts to be this overdub on the, in one channel, you hear a chick, chick, and on the other side, you'll hear a tambourine coming to kind of lock it in, 'cause it's so wonderfully messy and big and loud. Okay, here comes overdub one. (dance music) - Tambourine. (dance music) - Two. - Four. - Two. - Four. - Four. - Four. - Two. - Can you do the play? - I can only do the go. ♪ I do love to ease my mind ♪ - It sounds just like Motown, right? - It sounds just like the Supreme. - It's the Supreme's. - Yeah. - Can't hear a love beat. (dance music) ♪ I need a love ♪ - I'm glad we're gonna pause here for a minute to talk about that beat's evocation moment. - Oh, right on. - Perfect. So, what does that beat remind you of? Well, a lot of us, it reminds us of Motown in the '60s. - Music to drive to, as Barry would have said. - So what's interesting about that rhythmic motif, it's kind of the riff of the song, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, which we'll talk about these evocation things in a second. But it is the driving motif of the song. It is the closest thing we have in ways, and this will be apparent when we get the vocals to a melody. Like what we're hearing in the whole song is really just this riff played on different instruments. There's not a lot of counter rhythms. There are actually no counter rhythms in the percussion. There's one or two overdubs that kind of play off of it, but it is such a prominent throughline of the entire song in everything that you hear. It's the core, I wouldn't even argue it's the melody of the song. - I think you're right. This feels like the melody of the song, and I love that Hunt Sails, the drummer, said that he was definitely inspired by, you can't hurry love, by the surprise, but he was also inspired by this song. (dramatic music) - George, George, George, George, the jungle's strong as she can beat. - That is George of the Jungle. - Theme song, right? - Of the early '60s cartoon. I love that. The drums are so big. - They're so big. And you know what, for the longest time, I assumed that they were either overdubs of a Tom overdub with two hands, along with the trot kid going on the snare. Like until I saw live footage, and Hunt Sails is playing that beat wholesale. - He's doing the whole thing. - I'll play you some footage. (dramatic music) - It's just his keep drum. - Wow. - He's playing the whole beat. - I love it when you go see artist perform live, and the songs are faster. - Oh yeah. - That is my preference. I hate it when you go to a live performance, a concert, and motherfuckers have slowed it down. Way too much. - Oh, I can go one day. - I'm like, how old are you? Fuck it, let's go fast. You don't even have to go to the show for that. It happens in this song at the beginning of the song, we're at about 100 101 by the very end of it. Listen to this. We go crazy at the end. We're at like 107. Here we go. (upbeat music) It's so crazy. So that speeds up by six or seven BPM, just within the span of the recording song. - Yeah, I love it. - 'Cause it's so exciting, and they're all excited and they're on drugs. - Don't quantize, just get into the groove. - Absolutely, yeah. - I also heard that they set up the drums in the middle of the room, so they could get like a really big sound, like, you know, more space about the wall. - You hear the room sound. That's a big part of what you're hearing. See the Morris from Joy Division in New Order has said, quote, "Lust for life the drum sound, not huge but massive, the loudest symbols known to man." I wanted to sound like that, still do. It's such an iconic sound and the hugeness of it is in many ways the result of it being recorded. - That's so right. The symbols are like, front and center. - Yeah, yeah. - Which is not typically the case. - It's simultaneously chaos and order because it's also keeping everything else together, but when you listen to it isolated, it's like, that's chaos, that's a party happening. A fun party, a scary party. Can't hurry love came out in July 66. That's the Supremes. It's a very mo-town sound. So when in 1977, they're playing the speed, it's evoking all the things. - It's got a retro. - It's very retro. It's already sound even though that was only 10 years ago. It was already retro sounding, and I think that's clearly a conscious goal, is to evoke something from the past. But specifically that rhythm, the Dune, Dune, Dune, Dune, Dune, Dune, it's connected to Barbara Ann. ♪ Bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. ♪ Which is from 1961. We also talk about how it's connected to the Bill Haley sax solo on 1954's Rock Around the Clock. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I found a couple of new things, one of which, talking about the doors earlier, this is the doors connection. So, doors manager Danny Sugarman claimed to his deathbed that this song and that riff was ripping off a door song, and here it is. ♪ ♪ That's Touch Me From 1968, which was probably evoking the Motown and the other things from that lineage. And one last thing, there was a song that that song was accused of ripping off at the time. Which was a four-season song called "Come On Mary Ann" from '67. Here's that. ♪ ♪ Because even with the break into the vocals touch me babe, there's definitely some connective tissue there. It's just one of the situations where there's a couple of ideas that are rhythmic, you can piece together to write a completely new song. These are not ownable ideas, the rhythm or the idea of stopping and then singing. But when you put them together in that order, it evokes the other song, but it's perfectly legal, and it's a cool connection. So that's the trope, that evocation combination takes us all the way through, "Holognotes Maniator." ♪ ♪ Town Hall now is. ♪ ♪ Are you going to be my girl, by jet? ♪ You're going to be my girl ♪ ♪ ♪ They're just using that same rhythm. In some cases, not even on the drums, on the bass line in the Jetsong, but that's why you think of them immediately. It is such a melodic sounding motif, I would say. There's a part of me that thinks, "No one should know, but I can't know now." That's just a group. And it goes back to jazz as we again, man. Exactly. I can guarantee you at some point, some black jazz, man. And I'm so happy. ♪ ♪ And other people. So we have hunt sales on drums. We have Tony sales on bass, and I feel like the bass is pretty prominent in this song. So what can you tell us about the bass? - All right, brother rhythm section. Let's listen. (guitar music) Little Phil coming up here. (guitar music) And he's kind of just grooving the whole time like that. And then he goes up to the five. (guitar music) Again, this is snappy song. This song is snappy. - Does he go up again? - Okay, so let's talk about the arrangement 'cause you're gonna ask me about that. It's a good question. This is a weird song arrangement-wise. It's doing a funny thing that I was breaking it. I was trying to figure out what it is. I think it's a little bit evoking that blues, 12-bar blues thing we've been talking about, but it's not a 12-bar blues. So sort of breaks your reign a little bit. Broke my brain, trying to break it down, being like, oh, it's kind of doing what your typical one, four, five, over 12-bars thing does. Go back to our Janelle Mona episode, we talked about that in detail. But it isn't a 12-bar blues. It's not even 12-bars. The structure itself kind of fluctuates. It's definitely the sign of a live band performing and somebody raised in their hand and saying, "Do that again." Kind of in real-time reacting to the moment. And that's really clear when we noticed that in the middle of the song, what had been a really short chorus earlier was just four bars less for a live. It becomes like 22 bars. It just kind of keeps on going. They keep on cycling. So it's not as 12-bar blues. It's one, five, one, five. And then when we get to the Justin Modern Guy, I'm calling that the pre-chorus. That goes to the seven. And then it goes for the, I had it in the ear before. That's just this little four-bar thing that breaks up the one, five, one, five with the rest of the song. And that happens about four times throughout the whole song. Got it. Yeah, I think this non-traditional structure sort of speaks to why he's the Godfather of Pum. He's kind of playing by his own rules. And like you said, I hadn't really thought about it. But like, yeah, first the chorus is like pretty short. And then they do the chorus for a really long time. It's like a minute and change. The second time or something. Yeah, that's super cool. And then they kind of go back. And it feels like for verse three, 'cause it verse three is verse one again. They just repeated verse one. For the last minute and a half of the song is then just going back to the beginning. And it just feels like a band going, hey, let's just keep playing the song. We're enjoying it. They're three and a half minutes in. They could have been done by them. Totally. Let's keep going. You don't often think of punk ever crossing with like jam bands, but this almost feels like a protopunk jam. Yeah. You know, a big part of Iggy Pop's music career from the studios onward is a combination of jaminess. That James Brown is in the mix, both in the musicianship, too. It's a rhythmic, he's a rhythmic guy. All of his bands are rhythmic. They're groove-oriented. It's not big, neurotic. You're so right. You're so right. And wailing, it's mostly about this groove thing. So the groove of this song is very Iggy Pop. My favorite studio song of all time is Fun House. And that ain't nothing but a groove. I love that rocker. [MUSIC PLAYING] That whole rocker is great. My favorite one, since you mentioned it, is the opening track of that rocker, which is down on the street. That song grooves so hard. It's one of my favorite intros of an album of all time. Yeah. [MUSIC PLAYING] Did you play us the bass on that pre-chorus? Yeah. Let's bring some drums in, because there's some fun fills coming up. It's so good. You know it's crazy about that kick drum. That's what it was. I'm now figuring out why I thought for years that Hunt Sales was playing an overdub of a floor tom. Because the kick drum is not muffled at all. Like if this were a Fleetwood Mac session, happening simultaneously, by the way, in 1977, around here, in L.A. It would have been dry. It would have been this perfectly crafted tiny, a little big sound, but that is a kick drum that does not sound like a kick drum. It sounds like a big kick drum, where you don't have the back of it. You take the back off. Maybe you don't even put a pillow in there. It has so much tone to it. Boom, boom, boom. That it sounds like a floor tom, which was probably intentional, given the George of the Jungle, what they were doing coming from people playing Tom's on those other beats. So what's happening with the guitars? We have two guitar players on this tune. We mentioned Ricky Gardner earlier, because he co-wrote the passenger. It's him and Carlos Alamar, who is Bowie's long-time band leader and toured with him for many years and collaborated on many incredible songs. So the two of them are playing the guitars that you're about to hear, who played which I'm not sure, because they've both been credited in various sources as lead. But it's also hard to decide what the lead is. It'll make sense when we listen. And you're like, what's going on here? It's a cool cacophony of cool parts. I'll just jump in and let's listen to Ricky Gardner and or Carlos Alamar. So there's a twingy part that sounds like this. The twingy part. And then there's what I call the plucky part. And it kind of paints or play. And I'll bring in the other guitar with that. And it's like wonderfully messy. I love it, though. Maybe three different parts that interplay. And it sounds like-- honestly, it sounds like nobody ever really talks about John Lennon, the guitarist. But it sounds like early-- Oh, I like that. Because it's got so much vibe to it. Yeah, it's just got that plucky stuff. It's plucky and vibey. I'll bring in some of the other instruments, because this is one of those songs where everything on its own sounds a little bit wonderfully messy and imperfect and human. And maybe a little chaotic. And then when they all lock in, you're like, wow, how did that happen? That really works. And you know what's so funny? You say like it's messy. And literally, in my brain, I'm thinking, why is this the song that AI couldn't produce? I mean, there's so much messy humanity in it. It's ungranted. We go from 101 at the beginning to 106 BPM by the end. It's a bunch of musicians playing together in Berlin, vibing with baby substances or sleeplessness in the mix. And again, I'll bring it in so you can hear how these parts lock together. Kind of going back through it. I think what locks it in. Earlier, I mentioned there's that on the 2 and 4, we have that overdubbed hi-hat chick, as well as tambourine. Those two elements probably keep this song from going off the rails into the autobahn, fast lane, and crashing in a violent mess. So I'll play that for you, and let's see how that happens. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] It's chaos. I love it. It's perfect. It's fucking rock and roll. That's what rock and roll is. You know, the remedy episode, a few episodes back, it's a similar thing. When you have a bunch of musicians playing music, they will naturally fluctuate with their rhythms and their tempos. It's locking in maybe to the drummer or sort of one person whose job may be like a conductor or orchestra, to keep it from getting too insane, and that's usually the drummer. Yeah. And in this case, what we're hearing is like, it's just barely not going off the rails. And that's the energy of the song. That's the energy. It's so funny, because I see my kids practicing their piano or practicing any other instruments. Sometimes I'm a little sad, because I'm like, will there be music made by real human beings? Or are we all just going to put in prompts and have the AI created for us? But then I used up like this. And I'm like, oh, I think we're safe for now, because like you said, that's sort of like unplanned chaos. Yeah. Well, can I give you-- It's really hard for a machine to duplicate. I think it's impossible for a machine to duplicate. And can I just give you my really quick hot take on AI and music? Yeah, go for it. This is real simple. Because it's like the most un-A-I song of all time. I think that when you separate process and product, it's everything. There are times when people or situations are functional. Like, I need to write a hit song tomorrow or just another track for this record. There are reasons why I'd want to be fast. Right. No, I think that there are times when you have some deadline or something like that. And maybe you're looking for assistance. Then there are use cases where AI can perhaps generate ideas that you choose from and write a song on top, whatever it is. But as an artist myself, I'm almost never like in a hurry to get to the outcome and need-- I don't need help. That's beautiful. I'm enjoying trying to find it. And AI has some functional tools, like maybe no different from a splice sample, like prompt me to do something, or a drum machine beat. AI has some similar prompting tools like that that can help me on my journey. But I want to enjoy the process. I want to be just buried in not knowing where this goes and feeling it lead me somewhere. So that's kind of my simplified take at this moment. When my son comes up to me and says, AI is going to ruin everything. I'm like, I think they're still going to be artists who want to spend time figuring it out. I've read AI generated comedy scripts, and they're not fun. There's also that. They're real enough. They're aggressively unfunny. So I think some things are safe for now. Yeah, it's a use case situation. Now, let me just say, as a casual listener to this song, I don't know that I hear a piano in it, but I guarantee you would you play me some piano. I'll be like, Oh, yeah, that's there, but I feel like the piano is not prominent in the song. What's the piano doing in the song? And that is Mr. David Bowie on the keys on the on the 88s. He's playing a little bit showboating because I'll tell you right now I'm trying to hear it in my head. I don't know that I hear much piano. Let's see if I can isolate a little bit for you. It is very much in the mix buried. It's very low in the mix, but it's there. Here's some piano. There it is. Just playing the motifs. A little harmonization there. By the way, there's a little harmonization on the guitar there too. So they're just using the motif and varying it a little bit by going to the major third instead of the root note, but like motif dries everything. That hunt sales is driving this truck all the way because it's driving the truck. It's trying to not go off the side of it. That's right. So we know that Bowie came up with the title, but Iggy was the main lyricist on this song. He said that the lyrics were based on the novel, the ticket that exploded and the soft machine by William Burrows and also his personal experiences. So let's hear a little bit of the lyrics as sung by Jim aka Iggy Pop. James Newell Osterberg, Jr. From Ipsilanti, Michigan. Yes, I'm called love. Well, that's like hypnotized and chickens, so that hypnotizing chickens. Apparently, that's also part of the Burrows novel. That's from that's one of the characters. He's fucked up. Can we just talk? He's talking about hypnotized chickens. He's talking about lotion. Yeah. There's some guy Johnny Yan is going to do a another striptease. He's already done one striptease. Johnny Yan is quote from the novel, the quote, boy girl, other half striptease god of sexual frustration. So a lot of that obviously makes it a lot when the phrase he's coming up with liquor and drugs is not the most controversial part of the lyric. This is so crazy. That actually might turn out to be the least controversial when I explain it to you in a second, but that hypnotizing chickens line comes from the book quote that the character says quote love what is it anyway? It's just like when you hypnotize a chicken. As though that were to make sense. As one does. As when what his burrows we're talking about, right? So the cut ups when burrows being the prominent beat Nick poet writer and author of naked lunch, which is perfect because that's literally how Iggy pop brought the lyrics to his singing. He stood there at the microphone with fragments of lyrics in hand. Yeah. And what you're hearing is him in real time choosing which fragment to vocalize. And can I just say I love the way he sings this song? It's sort of like how it's one of the reasons I like Interpol I like it what a person's not really singing so which is they're like talking with emphasis. So one thing to notice is exactly what you're saying. This song doesn't really have I would say it doesn't have a melody that is distinct from it's literally the rhythm that's coming from Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun. He's playing that back and forth, but the notes he's singing are 90% of the notes that he's singing are just what the root note is in the court that we're at. So we're Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun where okay here comes Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun he's just going flat seven and minor third and root those three notes as we cycle through the chords he's basically just emphasizing those chords through the whole song. It's borderline slam poetry song. It's definitely slam poet. But it's cool in that because it's still singing. I think Iggy Pop at heart is a poet and by the way I'm even as a good time to talk about what it is about David Bowie and Iggy Pop. What is this connection? Because to me that's such a like it's a fascinating thing that I feel like I sort of understand they both saw a little bit of what they weren't in the other or what something that they wanted. Are we talking about a duo again? I feel like on this show we inevitably talk about collaboration and yes collaborations because we're just trying to work out our own shit. Have a cut we are. We need another five thousand episodes or that I think let's face it. I think there's always these concentric circles right where there's what each person brings to it and then there's the overlap in the middle. But when I think about Bowie seeing Iggy I feel like Bowie's Britishness was sort of like a stifling factor even though he was this free dude but he sees an Iggy like absolute free Michigan's Michigan Jim totally Michigan Jim and it's the freedom and from constrained and just like he's doing crazy stuff and Bowie's doing crazy stuff but it's extremely controlled right like everything he does has like a mission and a purpose and controlled and he's using all these core changes and colors. Bowie's a singer and he's a singer he's got an incredible voice and Iggy does what he wants and it's slap dash but also art right yeah it's also art anyway. He's also a modern guy can we hear a little bit of the chorus? Pre-chorus into the chorus now we'll talk about ears and what you do to them. I don't know why the phrase I've had it in the ear before. I don't know why that bothers me. Well my whole life up until researching this episode I thought it meant something different. What do you think it means? A penis in your ear right? I thought it was either penis in the ear. We're going to use the medical terms on this show. I think I thought it was a penis in the ear but I actually thought it might have been like some I'm not a heroin eye so I thought it might have been a drug thing like you've run out of veins so like you put the needle in. I don't know. I never thought of that. It could have been a lot of things. It definitely felt either sexual or drugs or both and had some sort of penetrative penetrative transgressive qualities. Why would you do it? What it never occurred as it could just be the music I've had it in my ear before. It didn't because I think you pop and hit the side of the chickens. Contextually that was a little too light. That was a little bit too clear what it's going for. But I did find out the actual meaning pop has described what that phrase comes from. He says, of course I've had it in the ear before is a common expression in the Midwest meaning to give it to him right in the ear meaning to screw someone over. So we're not totally off base. That probably had its origins with some penis in an ear in Ipsilante Michigan at some point. They were doing a weird shit in the Midwest. Wait, can I tell you? Play me a little bit of verse two because this is another line that I think I misheard but it starts with I'm worth a million. I'm worth a million in prizes. I'm a torture film. Java GTO. I'm aware of uniform. I've always been fascinated by the line. Yeah. For no other reason than I really want to understand what it means. I'll tell you my theory is that like these they have these things called sweepstakes. Yeah. Yeah. They would come to your door with a big fake check and stuff. That language. We've got millions of prizes. That language sounds like language that would have been used for a moment in that era. Yes. It sounds like he just co-opted like sweet commercial. Right. Right. With my torture film. Right. Yeah. There's something. You know, in the comments, by the way, tell us what you think I'm worth a million in prizes. But that's what always meant to me. Well, also he goes, that's where he grabbed it from. I think that could be right with the language. And then he's sort of twisting the meaning because he goes on to say, where a uniform all on a government loan were just out of Vietnam in this era. There's also GI's in Berlin that are stationed there that they're probably seeing on the other side of the wall. Maybe there's some sort of like him thinking about the military and soldiers and the war and everything. Could also be happening. Yeah. I think like the best of burrows, there's definitely sort of like an abstract quality police lyrics where you can sort of graft on whatever you want to take. And it's helpful to carnival cruises grafted on. They're like, he's got a lust for life. He wants to go out of boat and spend a lot of money. And now's a perfect moment to remind ourselves what we're hearing and where it came from. It goes from burrows who's already doing cut up beat poetry where he's literally chopping things up and throwing and he's also on heroin. There's already this poetic abstractness to the source material, which then Iggy selects material from and re-arranges and writes new words to and stands at the microphone in real time deciding what the next thing sonically. It's all a poetic moment. So the abstraction is built into the process. So it comes out as poetry whose meaning emerges and maybe wasn't intentional. I think maybe that's what most of my adult life trying to figure out what David Bern was singing about. And then I found out later like no, he was intentionally. The reason he starts singing stopped making sentences because he didn't want the lyrics to make logic. Absolutely. Yeah. I've never noticed this before. Listen, there's a huge backing choir. This is the whole band singing. It's about four minutes into the song towards the end. A way out here comes Johnny Yeah, again. A way to liquor and drugs and a flash for shame. I know it's gonna do it. I'm like a gospel. Are those people? That's the band. That's the band. Okay, so now that we've heard the song, how did the splits break down? lyrics, Iggy, music, Bowie, 50/50 between Osterberg and Jones. Oh, well, Davey Jones, Lauren David Jones, David Bowie. I'm saying David Bowie, but I'm using his birth name, David Jones. I'm so glad you said that. I know. I can tell I need to know who David Jones was. Because when he came out, there was already David Jones, David Jones from the monkeys. That's like the monkey. Yeah, that's part of why he changed his name. It's one of a number of reasons, but there's already a Davey Jones, you know, I've done TV show. I want to be confused for him. So what would you say the legacy of lust for life is? The legacy. I mean, listen, there's no doubt that Iggy Pop is the Godfather punk. He's a larger than life figure that you can still go see out there performing. 78 and he says good is ever and he's he's a close 78. There's some other 78 year olds that I won't even mention. They're not cool. They're not cool. Chuck Schumer not a cool 78 year. I do not want to see Chuck Schumer. I was thinking about. I was like, yeah, Chuck Schumer. I mean, in some ways, he's like the antithesis of live fast diet. You know what I mean? Because he's still this man is actually playing Coachella next year. That's insane to me. But listen, he's maintained his aura. He still looks great in his Iggy pop way. And sometimes I feel like Iggy has a lust for life. Iggy definitely has a lust for life. He also is alive. And unlike unlike unlike so many of his peers in the punk moment, you know, the Johnny thunders and the citizens who did not make it pass out of their 20s. In some cases, past 21, the fact that he's still going strong demonstrates the lie of this whole idea that in order to be a punker, you have to be nihilistic. You have to like beat your brains with liquor and drugs till the final curtain. Right. So we're so grateful that he's still with us. You mentioned the word aura and actually flashed on a moment, which I'd forgotten. I had forgotten until you said that word aura that I saw Iggy pop in New York once I was walking down the street in the East Village. Wow. And he came around the corner with like like, you know, ah, like the sort of God like you have an aura. He did not have a shirt on. And he was with a hot Asian woman who I think might have been his wife at the time. I'm not sure. But they were just were the sexiest thing you've ever seen on two feet. They got to have been in their 60s when I saw this. But that's it. You just I had forgotten about that. You kind of unlocked this memory. So Iggy pups or that was a great New York site. It's a great New York site. I have a friend who worked at a cafe at a coffee shop where David Bird would come off to. And I'm just like, how that's such a great you. I was like, did he have the bike? They were like, yeah, the bird had the bike. There's a whole book about. You saw Iggy walking down the street with no shirt on. I saw him with no shirt on. And he was hot. How does he have a good shirt? And shoes, unlike shoes either. He lives in Florida now. By the way, he's been living there for like 25 years. Oh, that's the most uncool thing. But it's perfect for a shirtless shoeless man. In his late 70s. Let's face it. And I just said earlier, we've got this prolific period in 1977. The between the two of them five records come out four of which are collaborative and are iconic in some of the greatest records to this day. And definitely the beginning. I'd say a precursor to what we now know as post punk begins in this moment with those two dudes in Berlin. All right, one song nation. It's time for one genre. Our friends at Discogs challenged us to do a deep dive into a subgenre. Share a few records that we think are essential listening. Just a reminder, we at one song use genre and subgenre is a way to talk about music with shared sensibilities, not as a way to rigidly define music. That's right. We thought it was necessary to have a bit of a disclaimer since genre can be a very polarizing term. But we need for it to be expansive and inclusive. There are lots of ways that genre is has porous edges and nebulous borders. So some of the albums and some of the bands we're about to talk about had songs and albums that were not necessarily in this genre. That's the way it works usually. So today we're talking about synth pop. Synth pop is probably one of my favorite genres. It harkens back to my childhood. I grew up listening to like soft cell and human league and all this great pop songs actually were hugely influenced like top 40 songs. At the time I was growing, I've had this synthesizer driven. Yeah, no, it's like this British second wave and you've got everybody from something about you songs level 42. Yeah, I mean, these are songs that if you're a certain age, they really mean something to you. I remember the first time I heard human league and the song true by span of LA. I was just like, man, these are great songs. So to the point we were just making about porousness of definitions and flexibility with language. Synth pop edits core generally means pop music made with synthesizers often with drum machines. Sometimes added to the mix and of course vocals and sometimes added to the mix. You get acoustic instruments or analog instruments like guitars and basses and drums. Gary Newman's a great example of that. I think of Gary Newman as being seminally synth pop, but he's got a live drummer. He's got a live bass player. He just happens to be prominently playing the synth as like the lead instrument replacing the guitar. That's kind of the primary thing. So again, very flexible, wide borders, wide parameters. So without in mind, let's dig into our synth pop picks. Do you all know what is your pick? Well, mine comes from the group, yes. I think upstairs and Eric is just really one of those almost perfect albums for what it wants to be upstairs at Eric's. First off, the the album art is iconic. If you if you can't see this because you're not watching this on YouTube right now on your own time. If you don't know, yes, is upstairs and Eric's take a look at the album art. You've got essentially two mannequins facing each other across the table. Well, it's funny. It's growing up. I always thought that they had a chessboard between them. They actually have a cake. I never noticed that. You're right. I never never noticed it was a cake for whatever reason, maybe because their body language. I thought they were playing a game. You know, they're also half of the mannequin is on top of the glass table and the legs are in the chairs. So it just has this weird sort of like detachment going on. And honestly, a lot of synth pop is emotionally detached. You would argue, but it was very fun to listen to if you remember the 80s. Or actually, that's a great point because one thing about synth pop is that the music is often very cold, but yes, as a great example of how vocalists like Allison Moye, who was before there was Adele, there was Allison Moye. I always kind of think of their voices being very similar. Really. I'm very totally soulful white singers. And when that is put on top of this layer of literally, this is Vince Clark, who had just left to Pesh mode. So I think of early to Pesh mode. Yeah. I just can't get enough. It's very to Pesh mode S. Yeah. That mixture, though, of the cool of like the emotions and the emotion in the voice. So even if you don't think you know, yes, you probably know, yes, they have this song called Situation, which is a great song. You've probably heard of you might have thought it was a Pesh mode. I remember the line where years when people would like miss label songs like that was sometimes skip to Pesh mode. It could have been a Depesh mode song had you not left the band. Maybe he was saying. That's right. And he's like, "No, this is for me." But situation's not the only good song in the sound. Like I said, for the year 1982, it's kind of a perfect album. It has a great song called Don't Go. I will sing it. You'll have to listen to it on your own time. In my room is a great song. Just really good songs on this sound. Check it out. One other thing I love about this particular pressing is that you know, you'll see this sometimes. This means that this was a promotional piece of vinyl. And it actually comes with this cool gold sticker provided with the hope that you will use this for in-store play. I love that. I love that so much. And so I was like, I got to find the promo version of this vinyl. And to try and locate that, I had definitely used this cause because you know, that's not something that you can often find. Yeah, you won't find that at the new in the new, the new pressings won't have that. You won't find that. When you play it, say it. Remember that sticker? I remember that. Yeah. We're at the radio station. Those are good times. My man, Luxury. What is your selection for? I'm going to have to do a top three and process of elimination to get to number one. So let's start real easy since we were just on jazz. Before he left the band, he was into Pesh mode. And the first record speaking spell is a masterpiece, if not the masterpiece of the genre. Lots of single note monophonic melodic lines. There's almost no chords on the record. That's not quite true. But most everything you hear is like a single monophonic line. Very simple sounding. The machines are simple. The melodies are simple, but it's so catchy. And of course, the iconic song that you probably know from this record, if you didn't know that you knew it was just can't get enough, which they put as the final song of the record because they were a little bit embarrassed about it themselves. They're like, this is so catchy and corny, but it's great. And that's the song that put them on the map. So to Pesh mode's first record, classic of the genre, that's my number three. My number two. And this was hard. This was really hard for me because this was close to number one, but it's got to be a human league dare. I remember that album. Oh my god. Such a good album. Such a good album. It's got don't you want me, baby. Similar thing. The last song on the record because those who want me, baby, is one of the great duets male female duets songs of all time. Yeah. Kind of should be its own subgenre like the the male female. That's right. The verse first versus the male, the second versus the response from the female. And then they go into the choruses together, blending their voices in harmony. Yeah. She was working as a waitress at a cocktail bar. Exactly. No skips on this record. Seconds of your time to take his life. Love action. And of course, we can't forget the opening track of this record, the things that dreams are made of New York ice cream TV travel good times, which is the refrain on that one. They name all the Ramones. All the good things in life are given a shout out by by Phil from the human league. But my number one record. I got to say, and I think Diallo and I share this the love for this record underrated gem of the genre is propaganda. German band. This record is a secret wish. Boy, talk about no skips. I this might be the most listened to record in my brain. It came out on Zhang Tum Tum records. If you go back to our Grace Jones episode, we talk a lot about Trevor Horn. He didn't produce this, but his team did. And they used all the same early same flavors and tricks of the trade. Claudia Brucken on vocals. Again, similar to Yaz, the music is is German tutonic cold. But the vocals are also tutonic and cold. That amazing. And one of my favorite vocalists, Claudia Brucken. So this is my favorite record. And I will say that I'm such a fan that I've spent a fortune on discogues spying some of the 12 inches like this 12 inch of the song, Dr. Mabousay. This one, which I couldn't believe when I found it. This is just the entire record remix. In 1985, that was kind of a new thing. I would say outside of Jamaica, where it was fairly common. But this record is all of a secret wish just done differently. And I haven't even shown you all of my discogues purchases, but there are many. Again, propaganda, one of my favorite synth pop fans. Love propaganda. So those are our one genre picks. Check out our list on discogues.com. And of course, there are so many more synth pop gems. We would love to hear your favorites. Let us know in the comments what other synth pop masterpieces are out there for us to discover. What synth pop pops for you? As always, - As you can find us on Instagram, a TikTok, you can find me on Instagram @Dialo, DIA, LLLO, and on TikTok @DialoRiddle. - And you can find me on Instagram @LUXXERY and on TikTok @LuxuryXX. - And you can follow our podcast on Instagram and TikTok at @OneSongPodcast for exclusive content. You can also watch full episodes of OneSong on YouTube and Spotify. Just search OneSongPodcast. We'd love it if you like and subscribe. - Also be sure to check out the OneSong Spotify playlist for all the songs we discuss in our episodes. You can find the link in our episode description. - And if you made it this far, you're officially part of the OneSong Nation. Show us some love, give us five stars, leave a review and send this episode to a fellow music fan. It really helps keep the show thriving. Luxury helped me in this thing. - I'm producer DJ, songwriter, and musicologist luxury. - And I'm after writer-director and sometimes DJ DialoRiddle. - And this is OneSong we will see you next time. - This episode is produced by Melissa Dwayne's, our video editor is Casey Simonson, our associate producer is Jeremy Bimbo, mixing by Michael Harman and engineering by Eric Kicks. Production supervision by Razak Boykin, an additional production support from ZTaylor. For this show, it's executive produced by Kevin Hart, Mike Stein, Brian Smiley, Eric Eddings, Eric Wal, and Leslie Guam. (soft music)