Taj Williams (00:38.555)
Welcome back to the Ultimate Playlist podcast full of choice tracks. I'm Taj.

Damon (00:44.593)
I'm Damon.

Dee (00:45.685)
And I'm Dietrich.

Taj Williams (00:47.519)
Hey, welcome back, new year 2025. Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Dee (00:54.624)
New phone, who dis?

Taj Williams (00:56.159)
So,

Damon (00:57.928)
Exactly. Yeah, what is, where am I? Where, when am I? Okay.

Dee (01:04.61)
I always hate the people that say new year, new me. And then about a 12, they're back to the same old thing.

Taj Williams (01:10.143)
True, true. So yeah, so we're starting off the new year with a theme, of course. And so, you know, I was it was my turn to pick, trying to figure out what to come up with. You know, I was thought like, you know, exploring or, you know, adventures or, you know, I just thought maybe I just dumb it down and do simple and do the word start. So we're doing songs that have

Damon (01:13.458)
Sure, sure.

Taj Williams (01:39.537)
start, started, starting. And so, you know, we already done, you know, we didn't start the fire. So nope, can pick that one. I know that's that's Dietrich's favorite song. we. He's so excited about that song, but that song did not make this cut. So the song I picked is actually based off of a.

Dee (01:53.001)
Yes.

Dee (01:57.494)
You are correct.

Taj Williams (02:07.421)
Which is interesting, both of them are kind of based off of a Drake song, which is started at the bottom. But I chose to do a different one by a female Australian artist by Iggy Azalea. And the song is called started. Yeah, started.

Taj Williams (02:46.281)
Yep. So that's the song. That song slaps, like literally slaps, like that bass is slapping. She's slapping everybody around, especially when the that hard hat comes in. It's just that like slap sound like. And so I enjoyed this one because it was like, you know, start out from the bottom. Now I'm rich. But yeah, it's totally the lines, the digs in it are awesome.

And I was like, yeah, I couldn't pick another song. Like this song, you play it, makes you feel like a boss when you walk in anywhere. It's solely a boss song. But yeah. What did you guys... So I guess I should clarify. So Iggy Azalea, actually her real name is... sorry. Was it? is Amethyst. I'm looking at the wrong... Wrong sheet. So Amethyst Amelia Kelly.

And so when she was 16, she moved to the United States. And this song started was off of her 2019 album. It was recorded in 2018. And so, but yeah, I don't know. I like the song. I watched some of her other videos. I wasn't familiar exactly with who she was, but I knew some of the other songs once I looked her up. I was like, OK, this is some

some boss action, but yeah.

Dee (04:17.142)
Yeah, you probably know her from Fancy. Yeah. I'm so fancy. Who's singing on the book? Who's singing on the book, Gertrash?

Taj Williams (04:20.384)
from Fancy?

Taj Williams (04:24.474)
yeah, exactly. Yeah.

I'm not sure what the hook is on that. I'm so fancy. Yeah.

Dee (04:36.822)
Can I still with the hookies all fancy?

Taj Williams (04:39.167)
I'm trying to remember that I'm drawing a blank. I'm being honest.

Dee (04:47.54)
Okay. her name starts with Charlie.

Taj Williams (04:51.373)
Her name search was Charlie.

Dee (04:56.108)
Yeah.

Taj Williams (04:57.052)
Okay.

Dee (04:58.924)
Yeah, Charlie XCX was on there. Look, that's that's what forced her into the main spotlight was being on the hook of that song and going off.

Taj Williams (05:01.863)
okay.

Taj Williams (05:07.098)
Cool. That makes sense. But yeah, I was. The music video for this was also crazy because she marries an old rich dude and then watches like a home shopping network on buying poison to kill rich dudes so you can get their money. And then she poisoned her husband, rich dude. And then she throws a boss party at her house. That's the music video for this. I know.

Damon (05:36.045)
the music video that that's not what I get for the song. Wow.

Taj Williams (05:40.351)
That is not what you get from this song, but yeah, it's like, okay.

beer.

Damon (05:47.208)
I mean what I got from this song was that she was, you know, she came from nothing and then she made something out of herself that all the people that were hating now like her and she's telling them to fuck off.

Taj Williams (06:00.285)
Right. no, this song, when I first listened to it, it totally sounds like it's it's kind of like Lizzo's Juicy, where it's it's one of those where it's like, you know, it's not her fault that men keep tripping over her. Like, you know, she is what she is. Like if the men want to leave their other women for her, then like, you know, don't be checking her. It's your man's It's a my problem. Yeah.

Damon (06:23.494)
Yeah, she's like, she's a boss. She's like, fuck you. It's not my fault that you ruined your life. With them titties. Yeah. Yeah.

Taj Williams (06:31.455)
Exactly. Right. With her drip. Let's get right.

Damon (06:46.536)
It's like I can figure out what that means, but I'm not gonna spell it out for anybody.

Dee (06:50.986)
No,

Taj Williams (06:53.701)
you

Damon (06:57.958)
Okay, I'm just a dirty old man. Okay, cool.

Taj Williams (07:00.892)
Yeah

Taj Williams (07:06.185)
So, it's too late.

Damon (07:06.578)
Too late.

Dee (07:08.03)
Yeah, I know. all good. Put it this way, I knew it was a big year's failure for very long time. I knew when she first came out.

and she had songs you know skills and she had other songs work and one of my favorite songs was Pussy that's actually one of her songs she she had when she first came out she had two girls that would dance in like cheerleader outfits in every video and it was it was a trip but she's come a long way since then

She's definitely made her buddy. This one kinda is a slap, and it was kinda funny that you said the bossy because the actual underlying beat was, I'm not gonna say stolen, I would say ripped from a song that Khaleese did called Bossy. know, that Pharrell made for her, and it was a hit.

But this this beat kind of underlined that beat and then she took her on spin on top of it talking about started so She definitely knows how to keep a bounce to whatever she's doing and she stays in her lane and I'm not mad at it at all. This is boss bitch attire so I'm not mad at her.

Taj Williams (08:41.951)
So, okay. Well, that sounds good. All right. Well, that's how we start this episode. Let's go and keep it going. So, Damon, what did you have for your first starting song?

Damon (08:55.368)
Okay, so My first song I went with a band that I think everybody knows bands been around for Feels like forever some of the some of the people in the band. I think we've already talked about the Rolling Stones The stains but yeah, so like This band has been around for a long time and So I picked start me up

Taj Williams (09:12.499)
The stones!

Damon (09:24.924)
This is from the album Tattoo You. And this was released in 1981. So that's like not even their oldest stuff. from the, they go back to the sixties. But yeah, we, we've seen them in movies and shows and they seem to just not age somehow. Cigarette smoking, know, liquor drinking, music playing, you know, and

Yeah, they're still going. I believe they're... I know they did some stuff in Austin not too long ago. They did like Circuit of Americas and they like closed all these roads up for it because they knew it was gonna be crazy and it caused a lot of problems because there were so many people that wanted to see the Rolling Stones. And if you see a band play at Circuit of Americas, I think it's like... This is like a racetrack.

that they do like F1 races at, but they also have like a huge area. Cause I had been there for one of their races and they did, I saw like Billy Joel, you know, he's pretty good. I've talked about all this stuff, but if you haven't heard that episode, yeah. So like they're playing in the middle of a field and the Rolling Stones, just, you know, they, they bring everybody to their shows and people were probably coming in helicopters, whatever. I'm sure it was crazy like that.

But yeah, so as far as like a band that I think represented, you know, our theme for starting something, I think that going with a band that's been around forever and a band that's, you know, everybody can say that they, you know, that they like for sure. mean,

Yeah, so without further ado, song I picked is Start Me Up.

Damon (11:37.02)
I think he sounds as good now. I don't think he sounds bad, but like the guy's been seeing it forever. It's kind of like some other bands, Aerosmith, know, like Big Jagger. I don't think he lost his voice, but Steven Tyler had the issue and now they can't play live. So that's kind of like, that sort of hinders you if you've been around forever and you're still playing and doing live shows. But if you can get out to see a band like the Rolling Stones,

seen live do it whether they've been around for a long time or not. So what did you guys think?

Taj Williams (12:14.27)
So, I mean, do you like seeing a grown man cry?

Damon (12:19.054)
I mean, it ain't me, but I'm not gonna say You can still be a man and cry. Do I like it? No. It ain't pretty.

Taj Williams (12:36.575)
So, but yeah, no, I know this song. This song's a classic for sure. But yeah, when you pick there, like, okay, I see you. So, but yeah, I liked it for sure. And it totally fits the theme and, you know, it's a classic.

Damon (12:54.012)
Yeah, he's like, no, Mick Jagger's probably usually singing about like chicks and partying and whatever. Crazy dude, right? But yeah, think, yeah, he's probably crying in front of people, I'm sure.

Taj Williams (13:05.535)
You

you

Dee (13:12.384)
I was thinking, is this supposed to be a drug song?

Taj Williams (13:16.639)
I don't know. I thought maybe that this was like a kind of your turning Japanese type of song. Like that's that's what he's talking about when he says you make a grown man cry. So.

Damon (13:30.674)
Well, I think originally it was supposed to be Never Stop. But then it turned into Start Me Up. So, and then they added it to the album, Tattoo You. So it wasn't even, I don't know if it was originally even supposed to be on the

Dee (13:31.255)
world.

Taj Williams (13:36.583)
Okay.

Dee (13:50.786)
Okay, nevermind. So, okay. I got it. I was in the wrong direction. No, it was about sex. So, yeah. Yeah, so it's a stir up of physical emotions. You I make you want it baby. Yeah, Randy, yeah. Small stuff about shit, but yeah. Yeah, it's about arousal and getting excited about something, so.

Taj Williams (13:53.471)
So this about sex, okay, that's what I

Taj Williams (14:20.2)
You can say it's about cock rings and blue bowling.

Damon (14:24.219)
my god. What? What kind of show is this? Cover your ears.

Dee (14:25.062)
hell no. What have you been doing over the Christmas break? What the hell? my burgineers. they're bleeding. Wow.

Taj Williams (14:30.847)
you

Taj Williams (14:37.065)
So.

Damon (14:38.568)
Well, it did take about six hours to record this one.

Dee (14:41.058)
Uh huh. So, okay, well, we know what time it is there for New Year's, so,

Taj Williams (14:41.535)
Alright.

Damon (14:48.552)
Well, moving on, Taj, who's our next pick?

Taj Williams (14:52.255)
I just ruined the whole show with that, didn't I? Right. So all right.

Dee (14:52.287)
Yeah.

Damon (14:57.338)
a completely different like view of the rolling stones.

Dee (15:02.975)
Yes.

Damon (15:05.33)
based on Taj.

Taj Williams (15:09.119)
What did you have for your first pick there, Dietrich?

Dee (15:13.826)
My first pick is something that I think we've all heard at one point in time or another I feel like it's nothing that we could not have on this particular playlist and if it wasn't gonna be on the playlist BAM should better have a good reason for it not to so my first pick was actually from You know somebody is known as the king of pop somebody is known as the best You know performer of all time

in one way, shape, and fashion. His first album was phenomenal. It's one of the greatest albums. This was a sophomore album and it literally was a follow-up of that first album Off the Wall. And this particular album had some of the greatest hits on here as well. I'm talking like The Girl is Mine, Paul McCartney, Thriller, Beated, Billie Jean.

human nature, pretty young thing, lady in my life. Like you literally read off the whole damn album. The only song on here that wasn't like big as it was, baby, you be mine. But everything else was in this particular song started off that album. I it was Michael Jackson's Wanna Be Startin' Suckin'.

Dee (16:42.242)
See, it's just an infectious group and it's one of them. You gotta bob your head too, you gotta listen too if it comes on. You gotta sing some of the lyrics. You might not be able to get as high as them, but you're still gonna sing along regardless. You can buy an octave major that you can hit. So, you may be one of these times that we ever all get together, we can actually do some karaoke on and I'll send the shit out of it. But until then, yeah, what do y'all think about Michael Jackson's wannabe starting song?

Taj Williams (16:44.371)
Right?

Damon (17:04.84)
I'll have a look.

Taj Williams (17:10.321)
I... Yeah. No, you go ahead.

Damon (17:12.968)
Go ahead, go ahead, Dash.

Damon (17:17.064)
We're so excited, we're like stuttering here. Yeah, so I think, yeah, the 25th anniversary album I do have on CD. It's like a double disc. And Michael Jackson in general, I think, has been one of my favorites since I was little kid. Had the glove at one point. I think they had like a glove thing. I had like a jacket. Like I had all kinds of shit. And...

Dee (17:18.902)
Right?

Taj Williams (17:19.976)
I know.

Dee (17:29.314)
You

Dee (17:40.938)
and the genesis.

Damon (17:45.628)
I'm a Pepsi fan over Coke. I like Coke, but Pepsi was my favorite. And it was crazy that he like did a commercial. I think it was Pepsi, right? Where he got burned. Yeah, his hair actually burned during the commercial from like pyrotechnics. So like, I always thought he went the extra mile to, you know, be there for his fans and...

Dee (17:55.062)
Yep.

We have a car back.

Damon (18:12.072)
despite whatever was going on for Michael Jackson. I was definitely a fan. So this is one that I could throw on in my vehicle with a bass blasting. That's going to be a good starter for my day. I think a lot of Michael Jackson's music is up to your own interpretation. So he has a story behind all the songs, of course, but

Like I think the way it makes you feel is kind of like where you go with it. But you want to be starting something's like, you know, just like listening to it. I'm thinking, okay, well, he's starting, you know, he's not starting something, but if someone's going to make a deal or a big deal out of something that shouldn't be almost like probably maybe it's about like bowling. I don't know if that's exactly what it is, but he's like, well, you want to start it? Oh, I'm to come back, you know, at you.

I'm finish it. But, you know, maybe that's more of like, you know, the song Beat It, where he's in the video, he's getting into like knife fights in the parking lots and shit like that. yeah, I love it. It's fucking awesome. And get back.

Taj Williams (19:34.217)
Yeah, no, I enjoyed it a lot, I'm not sure if I had heard this. mean, I it's sad because I haven't listened to that album itself. But like, I'm not sure if I'm sure I probably heard the song before, but I enjoyed it. I thought it was interesting the the use of vegetables. And it's like it's like what? Because at first I was like.

Dee (19:34.815)
You understood?

Dee (19:48.031)
Damon (19:53.457)
shit.

Taj Williams (20:02.995)
Why is he like, does he just hate eating vegetables? But then he meant it more like in the person's like mindless about what they're doing. They're just vegetables. And it's like, OK, that was it for me. That was kind of an interesting take on that, because it's not often that you hear that other than like in a medical drama. It's like, you know, they're vegetable. You know, it's like to hear it in a pop song is like, OK, so.

For me, it was unique. then I was curious, I was going to ask you because he actually mentions Billie Jean in this song. So like, is she mentioned? I know there's the Billie Jean song, but like, she mentioned in a bunch of songs and then passed this album or is it just in this album that she's mentioned multiple times?

Dee (20:51.554)
So here's the funny thing about this. This song was actually written in 1978. The reason it was written so, it was written about his sister, Latoya. Latoya was always like one of the black sheep of the family.

Taj Williams (20:57.001)
Okay.

Taj Williams (21:06.217)
Mm-hmm.

Dee (21:07.138)
And this particular song right here in response to her spreading rumors about the mother and the other sisters and how she was being treated and things of that nature. And so this was a song that Michael wrote about her. So when he's talking about your vegetable, he's literally talking about her like she's not really understanding what's going on in the world. Problem was when he wrote the album for Off the Wall, this was supposed to be on Off the Wall. But

It was too late to make the master cut so he actually put it on this particular album on Thriller So it would have coincided with all the other songs that was off the wall But yeah, that's that's what it was literally That's what he was written writing it for Was the by his sister and about everything came out how to be?

Taj Williams (21:41.901)
Uh-huh.

Dee (21:59.522)
So even some of the Cameroon chants in there, say mama saw mama mock the saw, was mentioned in there, just basically kind of break up and talk trash in different languages. But for the most part, it's literally about rumors and what you say and how you don't really know what you're talking about.

Taj Williams (22:21.887)
Gotcha.

Taj Williams (22:25.439)
But yeah.

Dee (22:25.674)
I don't know if I answered your question. What was your original question?

Taj Williams (22:29.127)
No, because it mentioned Billie Jean and I was curious like if Billie Jean was just like a theme kind of in this whole album or if it went beyond this album.

Dee (22:39.062)
Billie Jean was a theme in Off the Wall level.

Taj Williams (22:41.85)
and OK, gotcha. That makes sense.

Dee (22:43.756)
That's what it was. And that's why it was mentioned in here, because it was originally meant for that album.

Taj Williams (22:48.436)
That makes sense. OK. OK. That makes sense.

Taj Williams (22:56.051)
Yeah, OK, so I guess I should go next to my second pick. So all right, so I found this song. I'm just going to be honest, like I and I could pick better songs, maybe. But like this song just got in my head. And so this song is a straight up parody of Drake's started at the bottom. But.

Dee (22:57.122)
Yeah, yeah

Taj Williams (23:23.771)
It's a, you know, it's a comedy song. I appreciate that the lyrical nature that goes into it. So the artists and I'm going to mess up his name. So I do apologize. But it's Lajoy or what did you think it was? It's L.A.J. Lajoy. Lajoy. Yeah, sorry. Yeah. So it's John Lajoy.

Damon (23:44.986)
Lahoy. Lahoy. I think it's Lahoy.

Taj Williams (23:52.177)
If you don't recognize that name, we have some mutual friends that really love the show, The League. And so he plays taco in the league, which is interesting. But he also does music there. But yeah, so the song he did is started as a baby.

Taj Williams (24:32.807)
you

Taj Williams (24:39.071)
you

Taj Williams (24:49.215)
the two feet. Right.

Damon (24:50.888)
Yeah, okay. I can't get enough of that.

Don't we all feel like that once in a while?

Dee (25:00.536)
Where the hell did you find this shit?

Taj Williams (25:03.543)
It just came up and I was searching for songs that had the start or started at the beginning. And it was like, what the heck? And it was interesting because like, you know, there is a lot of hip hop songs that have started at the bottom. Right. And there's a ton of them. And like, I just like how you leaned into it. And at the very beginning of this song, he's like, you know, everybody's out there saying that they started at the bottom. Well, I started as a baby. Like he just talked about.

lower than the bottom. And then like he even ends the song with saying like he started microscopic because he was two halves before he was a baby.

Dee (25:42.796)
No, he's not coming out the nut sack. That's just wrong. That's just so wrong on so many levels. Sorry, that was a trigger. One of my dad's friends just come around, I don't remember when you was no bigger than a nut in your dad's nut sack. And I'm like.

Taj Williams (25:47.519)
Right?

Taj Williams (26:00.082)
Right.

Taj Williams (26:09.647)
You

Dee (26:11.98)
How would you say some shit like that? Sorry, that's that reminded me. Okay, nevermind, go ahead.

Taj Williams (26:20.617)
Yeah, no, but the whole ludicrous part about this whole song is like the fact that he has a stance in there where he calls out people that think that he wasn't a baby. They came out full grown. You're like, who the hell thinks that? Like, I'm pretty sure there's no haters out there. Like, you were never a baby. What are you talking about?

Dee (26:41.442)
In case of point you could be a test tube,

Taj Williams (26:45.983)
Yep, you're still not coming out folk road.

Dee (26:51.554)
You are correct. You are correct. Yes. I tried to get a little bit of credit. Yeah, I tried. I can't.

Damon (26:54.856)
Yeah, look how he's...

Taj Williams (26:58.623)
Right.

Damon (26:58.823)
Uh-huh.

He's talking about how when he was a baby, he was just so stupid. It's like, yeah, when I was a baby, I was just stupid. now I'm. Holy crown. He's just sucking his mom's titties or something like that. Getting a diaper, no shit in the toilet like.

Taj Williams (27:08.98)
Right? I couldn't even speak English. Yeah.

Yeah. So yes. Well, yeah, because that's the thing. He's like, when they're calling him out saying he wasn't a baby, he's like, well, I sit on the toilet now, but I know what diaper full of shit is. You're like, So yeah.

Damon (27:38.504)
like I'm from the streets because I know what diapers are like.

Dee (27:38.818)
Yeah, that's way too Too descriptive. more funny sense trying to be a baby like that doesn't make any sense Not even trying to to justify that it's a funny in the song I give you that and we're gonna play it to you how the times no, but

Taj Williams (27:50.248)
Right?

Taj Williams (28:02.995)
Which funny. Yeah, the music video is funny, too, because it's him and he they got some models and they got a baby. And it was like, I'm not sure what the models were thinking, but they were like totally straight face through the whole music video. But they had to be like, you want me to do what with this baby music video?

Damon (28:03.271)
I got a-

Dee (28:23.84)
I feel bad for the baby, I'm just saying.

Damon (28:27.304)
think he's gonna see that shit later on and fuck some shit up, dude. That's all I'm saying. Gonna turn that fucking song into reality.

Dee (28:30.784)
basically

Taj Williams (28:34.367)
You

Dee (28:35.458)
That baby is going to be on somebody's biography somewhere in how he turned to a life of crime based off of this. that's exactly what's going to happen. Like he's going to have childhood trauma. I don't get it. I don't get it at all.

Taj Williams (28:43.102)
Hahaha

Taj Williams (28:48.383)
Yeah, I don't think people I Mean that'd be a weird excuse. I don't think people are gonna recognize the baby be like wait You're that baby in that music video

Dee (29:04.994)
Hey, people used to recognize the baby from the baby wipes or the sunscreen. had the dog pulling the diaper down and shit. Yeah, people recognize Mikey. He likes, he likes like, like people recognize you for sure.

Taj Williams (29:10.591)
You

Damon (29:15.772)
Not like the baby sued after.

Taj Williams (29:20.465)
you

Damon (29:21.405)
Aha!

Damon (29:26.022)
I'm suing, I'm suing. Yeah. Well, baby or not, you know.

Taj Williams (29:28.285)
Yeah.

Dee (29:32.928)
As funny as hell, though. I give a no.

Taj Williams (29:34.495)
Right?

Damon (29:37.544)
I definitely thought it was Lonely Island at first. We're seeing that it references Lonely Island as a similar band.

Taj Williams (29:41.297)
Right?

Taj Williams (29:45.695)
Yeah, no, for sure. I kind of thought the same thing too. And yeah, so, but yeah, no, he's like a music producer. He's from Canada. So yeah, he's still in the music game and doing, I mean, he's in the show, the league, he has also, and you know, still doing music stuff. So it's like, it's crazy. But yeah. I think he's from Canada. Yeah. Canadian comedy actor, rapper.

Damon (29:55.324)
cool.

Dee (30:08.416)
Are you from Canada? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it makes so much more sense, Yeah, it makes so much more sense, yeah. Okay.

Damon (30:12.616)
Makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense.

Taj Williams (30:15.207)
singer, songwriter, director, and record producer.

Yeah, he has a YouTube short where he's seen in front of a thing. It's like I have no hook or the hook's too short. It's like he does like a single line and then it goes into the course and it comes back and he's like, yeah, I have no hook. So wait, yeah. So he's still doing some awesome things.

Dee (30:48.554)
Okay.

Damon (30:50.556)
He's a motherfucking baby, yo.

Taj Williams (30:53.163)
Right?

Dee (30:53.345)
Yeah.

Damon (30:55.022)
Fuck your shit up.

Dee (30:57.005)
Uh-huh.

Taj Williams (30:58.921)
So what was your second one, Damon?

Damon (31:02.76)
Okay, so we're going right into it. I think I've talked about Arcade Fire before. like that band because they, A, I think they have a reminiscent sound, reminiscent sound that kind of is a throwback to David Bowie and some other musicians and I know they're fans of artists like that. So they came out with an album, The Suburbs,

which definitely like, this is an album that I know was an award winner. They played like the 53rd Grammy Awards when this came out and the suburbs in 2010, 2010 we talked about it being like a really good year for music and albums and that's true. Definitely is. And this is one of the reasons why I think that.

The suburbs in 2010 had a song called Ready to Start and that was my pick.

Damon (32:40.988)
Yeah, see here like that it has like this kind of like nostalgic sound to it. I think a lot of their music is very instrumental and then their vocals are great. There's man, male, female voices going on here. yeah, I think that Arcade Fire is probably, I'd say it's one of my favorite bands for their sound.

And yeah, so what do you guys think?

Taj Williams (33:16.681)
So I'm a big Arcade Fire fan. So back in the day when we talked about that music subscription that me and Brandon used to have, that's where I first heard Arcade Fire with The Funeral. Their very first album is really low-fi, really grungy. I liked it. And then they came out with Neon Bible, which that album is all time.

favorite, amazing. And then what's nice with this with the suburbs is like it just it continues, right? It grows. It's but it's a little bit neon Bible and they still have that fresh sound. It's what's interesting about them is that they. It's most of their songs are journey, right? Like it goes and then they throw in different elements and then it just builds and it builds like you don't it's not protect, you know.

Like that bass line is the engine going through there, but it's like elements come in and go out of the song, right? And it's just enjoyable how they decide to bring it together. So yeah.

Damon (34:30.792)
Thanks.

Taj Williams (34:34.911)
But what do you think, Dietrich? You like Arcade Fire? You like the arcade? Do you like fires?

Dee (34:36.13)
Yeah. I thought Daniel was going to follow up with that, bad. So I do like Ready to Start. I do like that album, The Suburbs. Just for note, my favorite song on there was Half-Life 2. But yeah, I remember that back in 2010. That was a bit by. This song brought back so many memories.

not only just from the album but just from like how I was like living in 2010 because I was still in music um still like trying to be on the road and produce and things of that nature um it was it was kind of crazy like

I don't know how else to explain it. was religious state, but I was like, wet behind the ears, so to speak. And that was when I would like go out doing parties and clubs and, and like performances and stuff and come to work at four o'clock in the morning, smelling like the night before disaster backups and all that stuff. And then finally sleep at my desk before anybody else came back in.

Damon (35:42.632)
Yeah.

Dee (35:50.114)
But yeah, I definitely remember having this song and playing it for playing this album on and just thinking back on like how I love their sound. Like this song, yes, it does have that little O to back school play, but.

You know, it definitely feels good and it's one that can be played today's time and you think it came out today. speak like the lyrics are not dated, in the sense of how they came out and, the overall flow is shift the bob. So I'm glad that we put it on the playlist.

Damon (36:29.369)
how are you?

Dee (36:29.386)
totally forgot about this shit. So yeah.

Taj Williams (36:29.513)
for sure.

Damon (36:33.787)
I appreciate that.

Dee (36:34.338)
Yeah, great drawdown memory lane.

Damon (36:38.696)
Yeah, so like the two, I'd say the two vocalists are also like a couple, married couple. So Wynn Butler Regine Chessing, I think is how you say her name. Yeah, so they're together, but they also are like the founders of the band. So you got that kind of like...

Dee (36:51.265)
Yeah

Damon (37:05.872)
I guess you have that too. And I always like bands that have like a couple as like, you know, the vocalists for some reason that really works a lot. It really works well with some bands that I've heard that are indie, indie, I guess like genre. Yeah, this is kind of like a weird band. They're Canadian, which is like, you know, that's like my go to, right? I like.

Dee (37:32.364)
That's two.

Damon (37:37.244)
But yeah, from they're from Montreal. So but yeah, so going back to Canadian bands, I think is always a good thing. I don't know what it is. Canadians like Canada has like really good performing arts. I think they do really have really good film and they have like a lot of like startups for like film and stuff like that, like production companies that are like kind of their own thing.

And then musicians coming out of Canada are just like really kicking it, man. I guess I wouldn't think that at first, but like, no, like a lot of bands that I picked and I didn't even always know it at first, but they're from Canada. So kudos to Canada. Maybe I should move there.

Dee (38:18.401)
Yep.

Taj Williams (38:21.311)
But you bring up an interesting point that like it. I think the chemistry of a couple of those work well together, but it's it. I want to say it feels like it's rare for them to stay together. Yeah. Well, because like, I mean, like white stripes, you know, they were at the top and they didn't last as long as Arcade Fire, you know, and then like.

Damon (38:38.6)
Stay together.

Damon (38:48.776)
Jack and Meg.

Taj Williams (38:49.434)
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, they had that hit song Home, you know, and they only did like two albums. And then like, I don't know what happened to them. Like, it's interesting because that

Dee (38:55.062)
Right.

Damon (39:00.936)
They're still doing their thing, but like, yeah, good point. Like, where the fuck are they?

Taj Williams (39:05.215)
Yeah, so and that's where like it's You know, just gotta give it to him for for still being in there because they just did you know Arcade fire just did an album two years ago. So yeah

Damon (39:19.048)
Yeah, and that's been the standard now during the pandemic and after things started opening up again. Bands wanted to get out there and try to make a name for themselves, keep themselves going, make money of course, because that's their livelihood. But another band that I really liked and I talked about was July Talk, and that's a couple. that was like...

They're Canadian. They've been around for a while, so they're still kind of, I think they're still together.

Dee (39:50.144)
It been around here.

Taj Williams (39:54.975)
It must be those winters where you gotta stay indoors, know, it just builds really good relationships and bonding. In Canada, what do mean they don't have those kind of

Damon (39:54.982)
So yeah.

Dee (39:55.554)
See you.

Dee (40:00.918)
I don't think they are those kind of winners.

Damon (40:08.048)
Actually they don't. It's kind of neutral, right?

Dee (40:08.514)
Oh. Yeah, is minus 20 Celsius, Ooh.

Taj Williams (40:11.666)
you

Damon (40:17.264)
like I'll go out in a t-shirt, fuck it. And I'll say A as I'm doing it.

Dee (40:23.682)
Right? Start a polar bear clue, eh? Yeah. Let me shut up. They probably make fun of Texans and think we all ride horses and pick up cow shit and eat it. no, it's it's understand. Been up there a couple of times. I love it. I would love to go back. So I plan on doing so. So definitely shout out to them.

Taj Williams (40:45.663)
No, what we need to do is go to Calgary when they shut down the town for their rodeo because they have like five live stages of music in Calgary.

Damon (40:48.712)
pretty much from.

Damon (40:56.965)
fuck yeah. We're gonna have to spotlight that.

Taj Williams (40:58.217)
So.

Dee (40:59.266)
I know they got a Winterpeg Festival. That's a lot of music festivals. And then they also got North by Northeast. So I think it's not by Southwest, it's North by Northeast. And it's a whole festival as well. So we gotta go check that out.

Damon (41:08.68)
like it.

Taj Williams (41:15.284)
Right?

Damon (41:16.882)
We should do a show.

Dee (41:19.776)
Yes, that would be live as hell. Anybody listening, if you're from Canada, hey, hit us up. You got our email, you got our drop, Topless Pass is gonna give it at the end of show. But yes, hit us up, let us know if we can do an Airbnb or something out there or whenever the tickets are going on so we can buy those tickets, go out there, do a show. And if you're one of us and give us the most information, you can be on the show with us.

Taj Williams (41:46.463)
Right?

Damon (41:46.844)
Hell yeah.

Dee (41:47.674)
your fame and jump off from there. yeah, we'll give you the VIP treatment and the whole nine and you pick that episode, you pick the songs you want to talk about. We'll pick the songs we want to talk about with the episode and go from there and it'll be live and that show will be great. So hit us up.

Damon (41:50.033)
Email us.

Taj Williams (42:05.351)
Right? Well, before we wrap things up, Dietrich, you owe us a song. I'm just being a stickler for the homework. Yeah.

Damon (42:12.747)
shit, you have a song? Okay.

Dee (42:14.146)
No, I don't. I don't owe you shit. What you talking about? Spicy? No. I picked the song mainly because I had a sentimental value. It's crazy because this artist dropped a song on this particular album and he did it three weeks before his demise.

Damon (42:20.338)
Damn.

Dee (42:37.126)
so it's crazy that it happens like that and they're calling it post humanist, but it's kind of hard to call it that when you dropped it literally like three weeks before you died. So it's, can't really say double fantasy is that, but, the album was double fantasy, but this particular artist, came out with the song literally as a return to music because he had a five year hiatus from,

1975 to 1980. It was also a reuniting with his wife, Yoko Ono. And if you don't know who I'm talking about now, I'm talking about John Lennon. And his particular song was called Starting Over. This is his way of getting back into business and, you know, things kind of didn't work out like that, but at least we had something to listen to before he left. So here you go.

Taj Williams (43:33.491)
No, that's not John Lennon. I was her came fire. Sorry for the technical difficulties. shit.

Dee (43:39.712)
Yep.

Dee (43:46.122)
John Lennon wrote Arcade Byers song. That would have been a great alternative fact that we could have thrown out and somebody would have like, real?

Taj Williams (43:57.055)
you

Dee (44:38.21)
go. Him and Yoko singing in the background and uh um literally it was his return to music and it was also uh uh owed to his 50s music icons um that he wanted to you know he was inspired to write the song by. So what do you gotta think about John Lennon starting over?

Taj Williams (44:58.299)
It I liked it like it had that it the song does kind of follow a little bit because it starts out like early like 20s crooner and it kind of ends up with the melody and the guitar and everything. It ends up kind of like a Roy Orbison song. Like it it has a transition of like, you know, this is, you know, this is how we do romance. We start with crooner and then we go into, you know, Roy Orbison, which, you know.

Dee (45:16.086)
Mm-hmm.

Taj Williams (45:28.261)
arguably has some big romantic hit. yeah, I liked it. So yeah.

Dee (45:36.938)
Okay, Damon, what was your thought process?

Damon (45:42.0)
Yeah, actually, you what? You hit it right on the nail on the head with Roy Orbison. Like that really does kind of like captures that time period. And it really sounds like that too. But yeah, anything with John Lennon, I think is going to be epic for a lot of people. For me, it's like it's always.

There's like a weird nostalgia that I don't always understand, but I know that it's got to be one of the greatest things out there. And whether John Lennon's like, your favorite or not, like he was there creating music and creating styles through a weird period of time too. Like I think that like different war times and, you know, not all of us can relate to that period, you know.

Dee (46:16.491)
Yes.

Damon (46:35.752)
some of those before we born or we were just too little to understand but yeah I think that you know this is a really good song for like that I guess that nostalgia and also you know just like the I guess like going from the Beatles to something like this like mix it up you know like that's a new style of music that I think was created by John Lennon really and like a lot of artists now are using that.

Dee (46:40.533)
Right.

Damon (47:06.736)
Yeah, I really like this song a lot. I think it's pretty good. Good pick.

Taj Williams (47:13.279)
So I mean, I know kind of a lot about The Beatles and I know like John and Paul were like the two big artists clashing over writing. I know the others helped, but they did the majority of the writing and musical thing. But am I wrong in that most people say that if John didn't die that he would have been a bigger star than Paul?

Dee (47:42.562)
You're not wrong. It is. It is. It is a hard one because it is based. It's subjective, right? It's based on the thing and in some people thought that John was more charismatic than Paul at the time, so it was easier to latch on to what he was talking about and what he was singing. him taking that five year hiatus literally gave people a chance to miss him. so you know him coming back into the game.

Taj Williams (47:42.815)
Yeah.

Damon (47:43.11)
Oof, that's hurt. That's a tough one.

Taj Williams (47:50.578)
Right.

Taj Williams (48:00.201)
Okay.

Taj Williams (48:07.967)
Dee (48:12.38)
a lot of people didn't like Yoko Ono, I could tell you that, but the fact that he was able to come back in and start recording music, you know, people love that aspect of him, whether he would have been bigger than Paul, that I can't say. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. And Paul literally took off on his music career. On top of that, he was doing duets with Michael Jackson. On top of that, he was like literally sitting on top of the world for a whole little minute.

Taj Williams (48:15.922)
Right.

Taj Williams (48:26.014)
Gotcha.

Dee (48:41.025)
So for me to say that John would have been bigger I can't necessarily say that because you don't know the music that was gonna come out outside a particular album. Say it be 1992 and he tried to drop something and it may have sound horrible and it might have ended his career you never know.

Taj Williams (48:51.156)
Gotcha.

Taj Williams (49:02.377)
That's true.

Dee (49:04.092)
Yeah, so that's that's where I kind of think of it like I think of the same thing with Joey Garcia and the Grateful Dead like how great would they would have been if he had not passed at the time at the height of their comeback so it's like I don't know you really can't ask that question for me I think Paul still would have been the bigger one but who's to say what world would really happen

Taj Williams (49:27.027)
Make sense. OK.

Damon (49:29.896)
I personally think that John Lennon could have done a lot more than Paul was able to provide. So I think that like they both would have been equals in their own realm. They would have come back together and done some stuff together too. think that would have been a good thing to see the experience, but to hear.

So it's good that he sounds like he knew, know, like he had a lot of, like he was like pushing to do a lot of stuff with Yoko.

like he knew he didn't have a lot of time left. I don't know. That's kind of how I look at it, he was a very spiritual person,

Dee (50:18.114)
And that also plays into it too. He was more relatable than Paul was at the time, because Paul was kind of standoffish in some aspects. Not from the line of view, but more so like people interaction, whereas John was just a regular person. Yeah, and it's eccentric ways, but you can walk up to him and spark a conversation in the whole lot from what I heard. So very, very.

Damon (50:28.434)
Yeah.

Damon (50:41.68)
It's really artsy. like I think down to earth with the conversation. Yeah.

Dee (50:46.304)
Yeah, he was a creative before they were creatives. You know, the term was coin. he definitely, Yep. So it definitely would have been an interesting situation that he stayed around. So rest in peace to John. But yeah, definitely the music will live on.

Taj Williams (50:49.99)
that makes sense.

Damon (50:50.45)
Yeah, to Andy Warhol era.

Taj Williams (51:07.263)
for sure.

Taj Williams (51:12.095)
for sure.

Damon (51:14.074)
Also through his son too.

Dee (51:16.736)
Man.

Taj Williams (51:19.679)
All right. Well, I know this whole episode was about starting stuff, but I think we're at the end and we're to have to end the episode. But I know, I know. But that means our listeners can start by subscribing and listening to all passing future episodes. See, they can continue. See, they're starting a habit and they're promising to continue that by listening to next week's episode. Huh? Huh?

Dee (51:19.98)
Man, that's all this

Damon (51:30.058)
no, come on, we just got started.

Damon (51:49.544)
Maybe win an episode with us too.

Taj Williams (51:50.815)
Right? Exactly. So this has been Trace Tracks. You can find this on our website of tracetracks.com or emails at tracetracks.gmail.com. Both of those end with a Z. And so we're starting our alphabet Z, from backwards to A. See, I'm just trying to double down on the whole starting thing. Anyways, let's go and sign out. I've been Taj.

Dee (52:23.028)
And I'm Dietrich and we're gonna pick up a needle but y'all keep spinning those choice tracks.