Our journey through 1999 continues with pop punk sensation blink-182 and their smash hit, “All the Small Things“. It’s two minutes of romantic pop-punk sensibilities filled with bombastic drum fills and nasally declarations of love. And the video is supremely 1999, even if that means that you won’t get half of the references. Join Wes and Clay as they talk about a band that neither finds particularly enjoyable and a video that both find to be obnoxiously unfunny and boring....

Our coverage of 1999 continues with the song that The Ringer ranked 22nd on its list of the biggest singles from 1999: Eminem’s “My Name Is”. It was our introduction to the Slim Shady persona, platinum blond hair, and endless controversies of a young man named Marshall Mathers aka Eminem. Hi kids, do you like Primus/violence? Eminem would later call the song “cheesy”, but as an example of what the young star sounded like during his early years it works as an excellent...

In today’s episode, Wes and Clay discuss Santana and Rob Thomas’ 1999 smash hit, “Smooth”! It’s one of the most successful songs of all-time, it brought Santana back into the cultural consciousness, and it allowed Rob Thomas to brag about having a smoking hot Latina for a girlfriend! The guys discuss yet another video from 1999 and try to figure out who exactly is responsible for the color and exposure that’s ruining so many of them. They also break down the story behind...

Is a desperate plea to keep a lover from slipping away? Or is it the cry of a woman who needs some domestic violence to make herself feel alive? Whatever the case may be, it’s a catchy little diddy from 1999 that sparked the career of a pop star who burned too brightly in the early 2000s. It’s Britney Spears and the song is “… Baby One More Time“. Oh baby, baby… Our coverage of 1999 continues as we dive into the pop star renaissance that brought us acts like Britney...

SUM BUDDY once told me… To kick off their celebration of the musical styling of 1999, Wes and Clay do a deep dive into “All Star” which entered the public consciousness and has never really found its way out. It was a huge hit for Smash Mouth and was included in numerous film soundtracks, cementing itself into the history books. But is the song good? Hey now, you’re an all-star! And more to the point, is the video any good? To both Wes and Clay’s surprise, it focuses...

I ain’t ‘fraid of no ghosts! It’s the mantra of the 80s, and it’s the brain child of Ray Parker Jr. The theme song to Ghostbusters is arguably as important as the film (who doesn’t know how to answer “Who you gonna call?) and it’s an earworm that you’re never able to forget. The music video features a stilted performance from Ray Parker Jr, a lot of neon, and cameos from almost every Hollywood celebrity alive in 1984. Listen as Wes and Clay dissect the music...

Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” was a massive hit that helped to propel James Cameron’s Titanic to the top of the box office charts. A simple love song that mimics Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” in both cadence and structure, Dion’s mega-hit features vague lyrics, soaring vocals, and a half-assed music video. The video itself is mostly clips from the film, with Celine Dion posing against some poorly lit backdrops. Clay and Wes discuss this relic of the ’90s and try to...

As we continue with our movie-themed music video coverage, we’re moving into the mid 90s and the height of Arnold Schwarzenegger! “Big Gun” is an AC/DC song that was written for Last Action Hero – it has not appeared on any of their studio albums. The brawny riffs of one of the greatest rock n’ roll bands of all time collides with the brawn of the former Mr. Universe and the resulting explosion creates an absolutely terrific music video. Arnold stomps around on stage with AC/DC, and...

West Coast hip-hop had a strong showing in the mid ’90s, and one of the most iconic songs to come from the era was “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio. It was the theme song for the Michelle Pfeiffer-led Dangerous Minds film, and it won a handful of Grammys and has become a staple of pop culture. Featuring a dystopian view of life as a black man in LA, the song samples Stevie Wonder and thus has no cursing (as Wonder would not allow it)! Clay and Wes analyze the video for the mega-hit song...

Cyndi Lauper is an iconic pop star of the ’80s who penned a number of huge hits, including “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and “Time After Time”. Unfortunately, she also performed “The Goonies ‘r’ Good Enough“. It’s a song based in the film The Goonies, except it has nothing to do with that film (except for the name). The video features WWF wrestlers, secret tunnels, and pirate adventures! It’s a little bit of everything, and it backs up a pretty lackluster track. Wes and Clay kick...

Blues Traveler made a big splash in the mid-90s with their bluesy, folk-rock harmonica driven sound (and larger than life front man, John Popper). They had a string of hits that started with “Run-Around“, a whimsical and upbeat pop song that features ferocious harp playing and borderline nonsensical lyrics. The video is a play on The Wizard of Oz, complete with “Dorthy” and her companions trying to get into a nightclub to see the “band behind the curtain”. Clay and Wes discuss the...

One of the finest albums of the 1980s (in the opinion of Wes), Songs from the Big Chair spawned a number of hits, including the iconic “Shout“. Tears for Fears is an almost perfect amalgam of the decade: big hair, big teeth, big clothes, and great songwriting. It’s frequently considered to be an “emo” song, but in reality, it’s a semi-political call to action complete with a fist-pumping chorus. Wes and Clay discuss the music video and whether or not it helps the song get its point...

If you’ve got a pretty generic band with a pretty generic song, the only solution might be to spend $35 and shoot yourself one helluva music video. Queensryche is a modestly influential metal band from the 1980s, but what they lacked in musical panache they more than made up for with their music video for “Queen of the Reich“. Clay and Wes discuss changing one metal band out for another, why singers always carry the narrative load in music videos, and not having enough coverage...

Change my pitch up, smack my bitch up. That’s the entirety of lyrics for this song, so you know that the video is going to have to do some heavy lifting. The Prodigy are the 90s electronic band that Wes remembers the most, and he remembers this video being “too disturbing” for MTV to air it any earlier than midnight. It’s an adrenaline and cocaine-fueled romp that ends with a twist ending that young Wes never saw coming. The guys discuss the impact of ’90s electronic music, the...

This week, Wes and Clay discuss the musical stylings of the inimitable Meat Loaf! Meat Loaf became famous due to his Bat Out of Hell trilogy, and his biggest hit during that stretch of albums was the Grammy-winning I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That). It’s a Michael Bay directed masterpiece: a questionable homage to Beauty and the Beast, complete with fast paced cuts, helicopter chases, motorcycles driving through stone walls, and Meat Loaf smashing a...

In the premiere episode of The Radio Star Murders, Wes and Clay go for something to get the kids interested: the bombastic overconfidence of “Thunder” by Imagine Dragons. Imagine Dragons has dominated the charts over the past few years, and at the same time have come under heavy criticism for their production values and advertiser friendly sound. “Thunder” is a tune that embodies a lot of what people love and hate about the band: slick production values and lyrics that focus on...

In the 1980s, a crime wave rocked the music world. A new kind of technology enabled the systematic murder of hundreds of musicians, artist’s whose only crime was having a face for radio. In this podcast, internet sleuths Wes and Clay review hundreds of case files in an effort to solve a mystery that has endured for decades: did video kill the radio star? Listen as the duo analyze music videos, looking for any kind of evidence to finally crack the case. Did video kill the radio star, or was it...