Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Heptember 2024 - The Reel Big Skirm-ish Finals (w/ Jordan Morris)
203 Plays2 months ago
The quest to determine the greatest Reel Big Fish cover song finishes with return guest and podcaster extraordinaire, Jordan Morris! The CP/SC crew kicks off with a quick pick it up before chatting with Jordan on his new graphic novel Youth Group, Christian Ska and 90s YA Horror Comedies. Then, Rob, Celine, Joey and Jordan all dig in on both the Semis and the Finals to crown the ultimate winner. PLUS a return of the Checkered Rob Invitational and RBF round of Big Five!
Follow along with the Heptember Bracket all September long at www.challonge.com/heptember2024
Hosts: Celine, Joey and Rob
Engineer: Joey
Editor: Cutman
Skassociate Producer: Chris Reeves of Ska Punk International
Reel Big Skirm-ish Theme Song: Keelan
NEW Here For The Bits Merch: www.checkeredpast.ca/merch
Patreon: www.patreon.com/checkeredpast
Recommended
Transcript
Intro and Podcast Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
We're potting away. We have things we shouldn't say, but we'll say it anyway. Today is a good day to enrage you with our bracket. Oh, we don't need your love, okay? Vote with me, it'll be done in a week or two. It's heptember 2024, the real big skirm-ish.
Meet the Hosts
00:00:51
Speaker
What up, Checkerheads? Welcome to Checker'd Past, the SCOD cast of Selene and Rob. The show where ah Phil Collin, Interruptor, and Skokor, the Devil, and Morrissey explore the history and impact of a different band each episode, hope to bring in new fans along the way. I'm Saxel Rob, and this is my sister and co-host, the smoky-ass bitch, Selene. Okay, so it was Phil Collin's, and what was, what'd you say? What was the first thing?
00:01:15
Speaker
phil call interrupter Right, so Ska Band and Phil Collins. So that's Ska Band and a song, I think whatever that real big fish is covering, band or song. Right. but got Band, guy. Yeah, you got it. And then the second thing. Ska Core the Devil and Morrissey. Right, so Morrissey. That's funny. I have to put that up. It was a little bit more so on the nose this time. I didn't feel like going to the one where I'm putting too many hats on the hat, but maybe next week I'll try again.
00:01:44
Speaker
a little foreshadowing, but a little on the snoot. Oh, very nice. Keep with that. You know, the more we reference the visual, not say one the better. I think this is how we get the patrons. And here and here, as always, is our co-host with the most toast, Little Joey Christmas. Hi, I'm here. Little Joey might stick. Yeah, it's a good nickname. Smokey ass bitch s salin might stick to. Yeah, we'll just do the same ones. Then I don't have to come up with more. That part's of the hard part. ah Should we pick it up where we left off?
00:02:18
Speaker
Yeah, let's do it.
00:02:24
Speaker
Slinn, for the listener at home, explain what's on your head right now. I was working on a cosplay and me and my friends do very, I guess I'll say like arts and craft cosplay. I loved that idea. That's how I'll describe it. Yeah. Yeah, I'll do it. Low budget.
00:02:44
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So we're being the max Rebo band. So right now I'm making my arm wearing my size snoodles cap chapeau and I have like a really good snook. I have pouty lips. I have like beautiful eyes. Um, Austria. Yeah. But talk about your hat now. trimb on ah It's weird. You're my sister. yeah i yeah I don't know. I was trying to gloss over it. No, don't like it.
00:03:08
Speaker
I'm painting a morph suit. I find I can really enter flow state when I'm painting. This is my second morph suit i paint I've painted. I will say Jar Jar Binks, like the Gengen, the Squigglies, were more fun to paint than this yeah this is kind of the noodles spots. Yeah, I'm like a spotted paliwick. And I was saying pre-pod that scythe noodles is a bounty hunter and spy. And she betrayed another hut. I can't remember what hut now.
00:03:35
Speaker
But there's other huts. There are pizza pizza. So talk. What's what's the what else have you done? What are your other arts and crafts ah costumes that you've had over the years?
00:03:48
Speaker
Well, the Jar Jar Binks was very good, obviously. I was good. I think that was actually legit good. I think you undersell the Jar Jar Binks, which as you said on Twitter today is now your your whole thing. Oh, yeah, I did make a kind of wild post and then like didn't check my Twitter all day. You said that your whole identity is Jar Jar Binks and saying that Reese Roper is a 10 out of 10. I truly have not checked. Yeah, I yeah, I maybe should have put that one in the draft. I think.
00:04:16
Speaker
I think I think at this point based on the it's supernova weekend as we record this Scott supernova weekend and I think we can like say that Selene has added a phrase to the Ska Lexicon with Ska Daddy. I feel like at this point it's solidified. There was a band called the Ska Daddies. Yeah, but in the context that you used to do. With a Zed though. Yeah. That's true. That's true. Ska Daddies with an S. Yeah. There's our local Comic Con this weekend and it's also kind of a not so great Comic Con, but it's there and I'll be there.
00:04:52
Speaker
And it'll be fun. We'll walk around usually we go to the Calgary one and there's a casino and we'll go have beers and go get like a little day drunk and walk around the Comic Con. So there's no. drinking with this, so I think that'll change to the vibe, but you know? That does change the vibe. But Rose McGowan and Holly McComb are there, so let's TBD on whether or not Sice Noodles gets to meet Rose McGowan. Because of Charmed. Yes. Yes. No. Right. No. and Because, yeah, no, I'm just saying. You're just name dropping people with no context. People should know! Google it or get out! Honestly, you like, know the culture or get out of my face.
00:05:29
Speaker
Is that what when people come to you and you're like, what are you? Google it. Know the culture. got his face Yeah. Yeah. You should know just by looking at me. I keep thinking about we were saying that size noodles is that she's like a gorgeous woman who wears nothing but a fringe belt and a crooked smile. But because I glued my lips on crooked.
00:05:50
Speaker
the
00:05:53
Speaker
just All right. there's Nothing but a fringe belt and a crooked smile. With that, I think it's time to introduce our guest. We're excited to welcome him back. He's a writer, podcaster, comedian whose new graphic novel youth group is available at your local comic store right now. Jordan Morris is here. Hello, Jordan.
Jordan Morris and His Graphic Novel
00:06:10
Speaker
Hey, gang. Great to be here. I can't believe I'm eating size noodles. Oh, my God. my i right might idol I don't know what she said.
00:06:25
Speaker
Yes! Oh my gosh, sorry! I can't believe it, it's you! She opened and closed with that one because she knows it's the hit. Jedi Rocks. so Open Jedi Rocks. Close Jedi Rocks. Oh, boy. Sisunas is doing stuff off the new album. Everybody go to the bathroom. Jedi sucks. Oh, Jedi sucks. Jordan, ah we want to talk to you about ah your new graphic novel youth group. um It is out now as a record. So ah could you let the listener know a little bit about it and what it's all about?
00:07:01
Speaker
Oh, my God, I'd love to. a Youth Group, it is a YA horror comedy graphic novel from me and the great artist Bowen McGurty. I don't know, wherever you get your books and comics. And ah yeah, it's a story about teenage exorcists. So um it is a kind of a funny horror story. If you like a Buffy the Vampire Slayer, if you like a Charmed starring the great Rose McGowan. I know who she is. Everyone else should too. Open the schools.
00:07:27
Speaker
Teach the who Rose McGowan is. um Yeah, so Buffy, Buffy Charmed, Shaun of the Dead. um That's the kind of flavor you're getting. ah Yeah, it's kind of like based on my ah childhood youth group experience. I grew up in Orange County, California, ah ground zero for the third wave ska revival. um And I grew up going to like a goofy Bible study where we like sang parody songs and made abstinence charts and Yeah, I just always thought it was kind of a funny, weird little world that I had never really seen, like, written about in any kind of, you know, interesting or authentic way. So, yeah, I always thought it would be a fun setting for a story. And then, ah yeah, and now here we are, Youth Group. It is out now.
00:08:13
Speaker
I love the idea of setting stuff in a youth group because so me and Selena from St. Paul, Alberta, Canada, which is a town of about 5000 people with an enormous ah Catholic church, right smack dab in the middle. It's bigger than the hospital. OK. And so this is our life. ah We know all about it. But we went to this tiny little Anglican church that was off to the side simpsons that had Yeah, that had all of 10 people and our our our pastor loved to make Reverend Lovejoy impressions. Like that was his whole deal. Nice. And he so as a young kid between the age of eight and 13, he was the coolest guy I knew. Oh, I'm sure. Because like nobody else was doing that. So he like wear a Hawaiian shirt sometimes like a couple of times a year, bust out the aloha shirt.
00:09:01
Speaker
Oh yeah he was he was definitely a swing the the chair around kind of guy. yeah He made jokes about how bad the the kind of the the cracker tasted. you know He's like, I know it's kind of crappy but you got to come up your butt. Jordan you made a joke on how did this get made about the youth pastor that was like the first punk. You know the first punk rocker was Jesus Christ.
00:09:23
Speaker
That's right. he had some pretty he kind of He had a band of 12 guys, and they toured the country, blowing people's minds. Slightly smaller than a ska band. but yeah Oh, yeah, sure. but to I mean, Apostle, ska-postle, it's right there. It's right there. you had it He knew the pun was coming. Only kind of bad that I can think of that needs 12 members.
00:09:48
Speaker
that was the joke oh Yeah, that was the joke already there yeah kind of got there um But yeah, I think that's really cool I mean you talked about the Buffy influence which I think is yeah interesting Were you a big Buffy the vampire Slayer fan like when it was on and like to the day or like oh totally? Yeah, and you know and hey We'll talk about problematic men later in the episode. And, you know, I know Josh Wheaton has his own kind of baggage and now we know not such a great guy, but obviously lots of great people worked on that show. And yeah, I loved it as a kid. It was such a great combo of like comic book stuff, but also teen stuff. Like, you know, as a teen, it's like a show about those giant teen feelings and how like epic and apocalyptic they feel.
00:10:34
Speaker
And then, yeah, it also like took its comic book lore so seriously. So, yeah, I just kind of love, I love that show how it was like a funny genre thing, but the jokes weren't about, you know, haha, arent aren't vampires funny. Like it was, the characters were funny and the relationships were funny. And that's kind of where the comedy came from. But like,
00:10:55
Speaker
The vampires were real. The horror stuff was real. It was definitely scary at times. So yeah, it's it's such a it's such a cool show tonally. And I think it was really like very unique at the time. And I know that like ah more stuff kind of has that tone these days and a lot of stuff kind of like ripped off Buffy. um But yeah, like at the time it it was so it was so unique and cool. And what a mind blower.
00:11:17
Speaker
Weirdly, you can see the through line because like Buffy had a lot of like I don't want to call them gimmick episodes, but, you know, they had the one where and nobody talked and then the one where it was big musical. ah But that's like it was like communities whole thing, like from season two on. Right. Is like every episode had some kind of big gimmick. So you can almost oh totally. Yeah. 1990s to 2000s. Yeah.
00:11:37
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And i think I think, you know, a lot of that was was like cleverness on behalf on the part of the writing staff, but also just like TV was so different then. And they're like, God, we got to do 22 of these a season. ah This one they sing. ah You know, we this one's ah this one's no john quiet. Yeah. So everybody's an angel. I think there's an angel where they turn into puppets. I was going to make the joke if you were going to do like a page that was all silent or like, you know, a chapter that's all musical. But.
00:12:06
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah, but but ah yeah, Buffy Buffy was wild and it kind of like broke format in some cool ways. And yeah, what a what a neat show. So I also wanted to talk a little bit about ah like you were on In Defense of Ska recently where you talked mostly about Christian ska
Exploring Christian Alternative Music
00:12:23
Speaker
music. Oh, yeah yeah. That was so Christian like alternative Christian music was also big in St. Paul. i Like I worked at this ah record store called Sunshine Video Music Station whole name. You had to say the whole thing.
00:12:37
Speaker
uh and all the burnouts that work there so i was like 14 when i worked there but all all the step point of point of clarification sunshine s-u-n or s-o-n s-u-n okay but yeah it was a missed opportunity because everybody there was super christian right uh and there's a lot of alternative christian music i would
00:12:59
Speaker
um I remember working with somebody who said brave saint saturn was their favorite band which to this day still be my mind. okay um Five iron friends what's been off band right. That's correct. Yeah. um Five Iron, big deal. All the hype that money can buy, oddly, was the one that was getting a lot of spins. And I was trying to get it not to be that one, because that one's a little weird. ah But one of the bands, you talked about a bunch of the groups like the Insiders and Supertones. One of the bands I didn't hear about was the band Squad Five-O. Are you familiar with them?
00:13:31
Speaker
Oh yeah, I listened to a little bit of them in high school and then like a little bit to prepare for that episode. They weren't really on my radar growing up, but they they were around. They were kind of like a little more op-iv, ska punk, right? No horn section with squad 5-0. And I think they kind of went more hardcore punk as the as their career went on. They kind of dropped the ska. Maybe I'm wrong about this. But yeah, anyways, I don't know a ton about squad 5-0. I'm just spinning my wheels.
00:14:00
Speaker
Do you have a connection to squat fight though? ah I don't, but I wanted to play. I know I'm very far away from it. I did want to play one song because it's something I want. I've been so desperate to talk to people about such a wild song. Joey, could you play song zero?
00:14:32
Speaker
How can you justify what they can't deny to fly a state of hate?
00:14:49
Speaker
The one thing with that song is that about how the Confederate flag is on the Georgia state flag. Okay. And that song was used ah as a part of like a bunch of rallies to have it removed. And they succeeded in actually getting the Confederate flag removed from the Georgia state flag. I'm not saying it's 100% because of that, ah but The thing with Squad 5-0 that was so weird, like I listened to a bunch of them growing up, it was they would always alternate their their songs. It would be like a real big Christian song and then like a political punk song and they would go back and forth across the record and all the songs were a minute and a half.
00:15:25
Speaker
i Highly recommend listening to it. It's wild stuff. Okay. Yeah, I was kind of into that one and definitely like like that It has a progressive political message. You gotta love that On pod before rob not on pod. Oh, no, probably do you? Yeah in life just in life, you know, listen to squad 5-0 your love-making playlist Yeah, I'm his sister Jordan. I didn't suggest that you two were making Jesus probably make you cry. You know, probably I don't want to infer anything about your person. You probably have made love before. to Yeah, um not.
00:16:02
Speaker
That song comes on and they they there's like a smoke trail that like it goes right out of the room. um Yeah, I've learned my lesson on that one. Sure. Yeah. Hole shaped like the person in the in the wall. Yeah. In the wall. Yeah. Looney Tunes. That's hard. to That's a hard hole to fix, too. um The were you ever at the Christian Warped Tour of Cornerstone?
00:16:25
Speaker
i didn't what I went to Tooth and Nail Fest, I think was the closest thing I went to. Tooth and Nail Records, of course, home of MXPX and a lot of those other Christian bands. So yeah, I went to that and I went to, but no, I never did Cornerstone. I have heard Cornerstone talked about as like Christian Warped Tour, Christian Lollapalooza. Sounds like a real scene. The band we're talking about today is Real Big Fish. Jordan, what's your history with this band?
00:16:53
Speaker
Oh, ah tons of history. So, yeah, as I mentioned, grew up in Orange County. It's where Youth Group is set um in the 90s. Also, Youth Group is also set in the 90s, I should mention. So um some fun nostalgia there. Okay, I'm done talking about the book for now. No, you can bring it up as much as you want. How about some ways to crowbar it in there? in the book That's like a ska kid, like a ska punk kid.
00:17:16
Speaker
No, I didn't put any Scott jokes in there. I thought I thought about it, but I um yeah I resisted the temptation. That's a very there other lore to each character with kind of what music they were interested in. Yeah. Thing. I think there's a character who probably had some ska in the rotation. I think if you read the book, Courtland is kind of the like stony burnout character. And I'm like, this guy absolutely listened to Sublime.
00:17:43
Speaker
So yeah, ah what were we talking about? Oh, yeah, real big fish. I loved them. I was like right in the pocket for them as they were kind of getting famous. I saw them at like smaller shows that are like all ages venue and then like kind of watch them open for bigger bands and then got to see them like headline big venues. So like they were very much like local boys, local heroes. And yeah, I remember grabbing that Grabbing that first ah that first mainstream album, Turn the Radio Off, and I think I spun that one right into the ground. I listened to that album so much. um Yeah, and i ah Why Do They Rock So Hard? I think is also a great album. um Really, really good. um Yeah, some great hits on there. I like kind of lost track of them a little bit after that. I think I
00:18:33
Speaker
You know, I didn't love the kind of subsequent stuff where they were kind of like not leaning on Ska as hard. I think I kind of felt a kind of a purist betrayal when they started kind of dropping the Ska stuff in subsequent albums. um But yeah, I mean, they're they're they're such a such a cool band and like Aaron is Aaron is like a melody genius. I mean, he the the the hooks in some of those songs. It's like those those those are like such great sing along cookie hooks. And yeah, just a real like a real, you know, a real real pop genius, I think. And um yeah, and and I think like I had so much fun with real big fish in like high school. But I think in just a weird way, I think
00:19:21
Speaker
I think they've unfortunately like not aged great because I i think when people make fun of ska, like when music snob people make fun of ska, I think they are specifically making fun of real big fish. they Like sure you know if you if you know, like a yeah, if they like ah a sketch comedy show did a did a did a sketch about a goofy ska band, they would be dressed exactly like real big fish in the music. Yeah, like it right. like Well, let's let's go. They have. Oh, sure. I'm sure. Let's go through it. Hawaiian shirts, suspenders, big sunglasses, you know, pompadour hair, at least one guy with a hat. One guy's got to have a hat. And after party, Ben Schwartz has a bit when his got banned. You just checked off all of the. Oh, really? I haven't seen that show. Is that it's actually it's really good. Yeah. But yeah, he has like, yeah, his whole thing is he has a Scott Bandit. It shows it and it's all of that.
00:20:20
Speaker
And it is funny. Yeah. And and so I think like. And I think a lot of bands from that era, like, you know, like Less Than Jake and like The Slackers, I think they are the sounds. a little I mean, you know, you can still tell when it's coming from, but it's a little more timeless. It kind of like, you know, doesn't hit those 90s Ska conventions as hard. So I think like.
00:20:48
Speaker
Now those bands, I think, you know, just just. I don't know, for whatever reason, they're a little they've aged a little bit better, but like. You know, those there's still some great real big fish songs and some great real big fish hooks and choruses and yeah, and all these covers were so much fun.
00:21:05
Speaker
um And I have I have heard the Internet rumor mill is a chuggin. ah Isn't isn't Scott going to maybe come back and join the band? Oh, that what they're saying that new. They've already brought back the beer, the the beer maker himself, Dan Regan on on trombone. So, yeah, it sounds like Scott's coming back in the fold. So there might be like this already. Rob, probably. I don't know. I don't know. You have a flat circle.
00:21:30
Speaker
like
00:21:33
Speaker
like Scott and Aaron singing together is so great. Those guys harmonize so well. and like I've seen them you know after you know when they've had different lineups and it's kind of just Aaron and some guys. I'm sure that some guys are great and probably are in other bands that I would like. but like You know, it it it would be great to see them with with the with the original lineup, I think. Do you know what it is? because It's because Aaron doesn't sing. I've unlocked it throughout the process. Oh, please. Yes, I would love to hear your theory. Aaron doesn't sing with much, if any, vibrato. OK. but Makes his voice stay small, as I've learned through Google.
00:22:15
Speaker
And Scott has like a lovely vibrato and singing voice. We feel like their voices together. I feel like Scott's more of the singer, to be honest. Oh, totally. He's a great singer, songwriter and like guitar guy. Yeah. He's like a guitar guy.
00:22:30
Speaker
He's a good guitar guy. He's a guitar guy. He shreds. And that's why I think all these fucking hair metal covers go so well with them. I think these hair metal covers are some of their. I said he's great at guitar and he's good at singing. Yeah. And great at mel he's great at hooks. He's like a great, you know, he's a great hook writer. And yeah, I saw Scott's kind of occasional side project kind of piano pop band, littlest man band. I played in SoCal not too long ago and I went to see him and they were great.
00:22:58
Speaker
i are um so i am and international and we yeah oh that was I said I'm having the time of my life and I was hesitant because I have been a real big fish hater I have been too cool for real big fish reasonable position But this podcast has broken me down. and But there are a lot of redeemable songs and qualities about them. So I do respect them a lot more. And the Littlest Man Band was really, really good and impressive live. And it moved me. Yeah. Those are great songs.
00:23:29
Speaker
We also talked when we see Real Big Fish live, like that it's like its own kind of event because they have a lot of bits and we're here for the bits. I saw them at Warped Tour, I've told this on Pod once before, where the whole bit was that after every song they pretended to leave and then pretended like somebody was telling them to get back on stage and then they would come back in between every single song. You know what? and not good so funny it's a Good bit. Good bit.
00:23:56
Speaker
Have you saw you saw them then in their early days with like the full full lineup? Like, yeah. What was that kind of sit like, was there a lot of bits going on to or? is Oh, just i do I remember specific bits? No, I mean, they've always been a been a chatty funny band and yeah, like funny songs. And I think they're all they're all like very funny for band guys. So, yeah, I don't remember any specific ones, but like definitely the like Yeah, the like comedy is part of it. And so with the covers, that's what we're going to talk about today. The one big question I always ask before we kind of get into the meat of this is where did we fuck up in the bracket?
00:24:31
Speaker
to and OK, i I have the bracket here. I mean, like, OK, I think just the like glaring thing that we need to talk about is that like wild that take on me got taken out. yeah We're here in the semifinals finals. I'd justd love to hear. And maybe this has been, you know, like like litigated on the podcast before. I have not gotten an adequate answer myself and I was there. Oh, I voted for it. What was it against? What what was it?
00:25:01
Speaker
Jordan, you have the bracket up in front of you, right? What was it taken out by? It looks like Take On Me lost to, we hit it when our friends become successful. Right, which is still here. Yeah, so it was just, I really like their cover up. I just really like it. I just really like it. Because it's like one of those things that you kind of, I don't know, I don't really, I would never choose to listen to Take On Me. It's kind of white noise at this point. It just doesn't sound like anything. It's so overplayed, so I'm like,
00:25:28
Speaker
Like that's like, it's fun. It's fresh. It's new, exciting. It's like, I like that how they do new wave. I think his voice sounds good. And then I think we're with other people who also just like the song was Devon. Yeah, that's actually crazy. Yeah. And and I think I got ah swept up in in your love of the song with Devon. And I actually regretted. but Hey, don't blame me for your choices. I did make the vote that I made. I voted with my heart. I voted the way that I felt. because when you And that's that's what I have to say is when you're in the moment listening to the songs, you'll know the truth. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's true. No, I ah you're but you're not. Yeah. You listen, you're not just you're not you're not just giving the people what they want to hear. You want to have you want to have you hot takes.
00:26:12
Speaker
You want to surprise people? I get it. And yeah, if you weren't feeling it in the moment. Hey, what choices don't you like immediately gets defensive? ah Yeah, I think it's I think it's mostly my fault, you guys. That's what I'm trying to add. Real regrets after he's like, Rob, yeah, voted that way.
00:26:31
Speaker
yeah that's I don't think I regret it on any of the other brackets, but this one, this one yikes. I think these little covers that they do in in general, i I like it when they play it a little straighter. I think that sometimes the covers get a little funny.
00:26:48
Speaker
And I think that like, you know, some of their their their comedy stuff is kind of hit and miss, right? Like I think when they, like they are funny guys, but I think that sometimes the like jokey songs are a little eye rolly. So I think sometimes they like have these little comedy takes on the songs. And I think for me, I would rather they not did that. And I think that that that the ones that are played a little bit straighter are my favorite ones.
00:27:16
Speaker
Is there any that you can maybe call out ah that fit that bill? Oh, I mean, I think Take On Me is a great just like down the middle cover. I think it is just a great like we like this song. We're playing our version of it. um Yeah, let's see. oh We're going to talk about some of the other ones. Oh, I mean, I like their talk dirty to me. I think they're talked. Oh, we're going to talk about that, right? That's in the mix. Oh, that didn't make it. Oh, we have Kiss Me Dead. I'm sorry. We like it. We like talk dirty to me, though. We like talk dirty to me. Yeah, I thought their talk dirty to me was good. um
00:27:50
Speaker
We like the hair rattle. I like nothing but a good time, too. I think nothing but a good time is also good. I don't know if that has any like jokey elements that I forget. Yeah, up against, I guess in the. Yeah, that's the thing. The bracket, the bracket will fuck it up like in a previous ones, the ones that were controversial was when we did madness, our house was knocked out in round two as well.
00:28:13
Speaker
Uh, no regrets. I hate that song. I'm glad. And then, hey, I don't know if you guys got the freaking coffee commercial, but we definitely did. And that ruined that song for me forever. And, uh, and then what else? Oh, it was at rancid time bomb didn't win. Yeah. That's a friend. Better song. That's all there is to it. Okay. So you'll get you get spicy on here. That's fun.
00:28:40
Speaker
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It gets pretty spicy. like yeah Are there a couple jalapenos here? because world is my on I thought I was on a Ska podcast. I guess I'm on Hot Ones. How do you feel about being a Ska guy now?
00:28:56
Speaker
you come and I feel like you keep talking about, yeah, I feel like you keep talking like other podcasts that aren't Ska. You're just talking about Ska. Sure. No, it's in Ska podcasts. You've kind of become a Ska guy. No, I really have. And, you know, I do. I do i like that. I don't know. Let's unpack it. um I know. Honestly, same. Like, tell me about it. Like, it is so embarrassing, but I don't hate it. Yeah. I mean, is it a yoke around my neck? I don't know. Maybe. No, no but to get back to me when you've done one hundred and sixty episodes and then we'll talk about you it shows you. Like, I really think it chose you.
00:29:35
Speaker
So I felt like in in in kind of like hitting hitting the the promo trail for this book, which I'm I'm I really love and I'm like really excited and happy to talk about it because I'm super proud of it. I like love how it turned out and I just like want as many people to check it out as possible. Amazing. Thank you. Yes, it's job it feels great. And so thank you. I do. I am stoked. Thank you. It looks really pretty. I haven't read it. I've just seen it, but it's like really beautiful looking.
00:30:01
Speaker
Gorgeous book. Bo McCurdy, very good at art. Bo McCurdy drew the fuck out of the book. oh alone Yeah, anyways. But you know, I mean, grab it from the library, I guess, but I mean, you're going to want to buy one. It looks great on the shelf. Handsome on in the shelf. Anyway, but I mean, a big part of like just talking about this book is like talking about the 90s because it's set there and like You know, just like a fun thing that everybody kind of likes talking about is the 90s ska revival. And I think it's I think it's like I think people are looking back on it fondly now. I think like there was a little period of time when like. It it like people hated it, right? Like people thought it was like bullshit and maybe they had like they kind of blamed it for like
00:30:52
Speaker
smash mouth and you know kind of some more like annoying radio rock and I think that like people hated it and I think that it was not fun to talk about like and if you said like oh I like this ska band like people would like dick on you in a way that like wasn't fun you know you know how like okay you know how like someone from New York if you like try and recommend a pizza place that's not in New York they'll turn into like a weird like dick ba for five minutes while they're yelling about you at why the water in your town isn't good enough to make pizza. Like I felt like that about Scott for a little while. It was like if I would bring it up or if I but you know, I would just get this like music snob aggression that wasn't fun. And I'm like, well, I'm just not going to bring this up anymore because like
00:31:41
Speaker
Some douche is just going to yell at me about how Scott ruined music for a couple of years, you know? So I'm like, okay, whatever. But I think that now, you know, i don't and I don't know, i don't I don't know what, I think it just maybe like, it just has aged well in people's minds, I think. I think people look back on it and they're like, that was fun.
00:32:01
Speaker
in like, you know, and we've had a couple of like, not fun years as a planet, right? Like the planet can be very not fun. So I think looking back on like. What, why? Well, you know. Please don't ask me that. It's your friend's size snoodles about. I think it is like, yeah, I don't know. I think people look back on it fondly in a way that they maybe didn't a couple of years ago. And even if you weren't like super into the scene, you're like,
00:32:31
Speaker
Yeah. Mighty Putty Boss tones. Okay. Yeah. That was, oh, they were in Clueless. Yeah. Okay. Rancid. Yeah. You know, and like it, I don't know. I, so I think it, I think I am more like apt to talk about it now just cause I feel like you get a better reaction now and people kind of look back on it as a fun meme and a fun time, even if they weren't like super locked into it. Like I was, if that makes sense.
00:32:53
Speaker
Yeah. And I think the distance on a lot of like younger kids is like that they didn't experience
Ska Music's Young Fanbase
00:32:58
Speaker
that. Right. Yeah. I think that's the other thing, too. Like when we're when we go to SPI, like I'm always like shocked about how many 20 year olds are there. Oh, totally. Yeah. I know. I've gone to like the past couple of scholarships I've gone to. I've been like there is a lot of like dudes like me and vans, but there are also a nice like group of, you know, like just enthusiastic kind of dorky kids having ah having a lot of fun. and It warms the heart. It warms the heart. And I will say the interrupters are keeping Scott alive for the kids. Yeah, no kidding. Kids love the interrupters. Yeah, kids love them. This is heptember. All month long, we're doing a March Madness style bracket to pit 32 cover songs performed by real big fish in head to head battle to determine once and for all the greatest RBF cover song of all time.
Real Big Fish Cover Song Bracket
00:33:42
Speaker
Thanks for everyone who voted their predictions. If you want to follow along, the bracket is that shalonge.com. Shalonge. The matchups I've seen it based on only done this like 20 times. It was like quite a bit after I said it.
00:33:59
Speaker
The matchups are seeded based on chronological order, so the earlier songs have more favorable placement than newer songs for no other reason than that was the easiest way to do it. Here's how it's going to work. The pre-show was all about Real Big Fish's side projects, other bands and songs cut from the bracket. Round 1 kicked off with the CPSC crew going through the first set of matchups across two parts. The chaotic Round 2 had the equally chaotic Devon Kay, and Round 3 had the delightful Glampunkers Bad Mary.
00:34:23
Speaker
Today, Jordan Morris will help us decide the ultimate winner. Songs in the semifinals will be the final minute of the song. For the final matchup, we will play the songs in its entirety. The tiebreaker will play the original version of the song and we'll decide based on that. And if that still has a tie, we go to the discord and they are on deck.
00:34:43
Speaker
If you listen to any of our other madness marches or heptembers as is, then you get it. Who is real big fish? I mean, come on, we did three parts on the band already. So what are you waiting for? Go back and listen with our guests, the third rates, Devin K and Gary Mastriano. But if you want a quick recap, here we go. They are the monster stick meme formed in California in 1991 as a hair metal cover band before adding a horn section and switching to full blown ska punk.
00:35:08
Speaker
After their debut indie album Everything Sucks gained underground traction, they were signed to a major label for the blockbuster Turn the Radio Off and its ever-present single, Sell Out, launching the band into the mainstream. After four years of headlining fame, they released the power-pop influence Cheer Up with lead singer Aaron forming the forces of evil, thinking his band was about to break up.
00:35:27
Speaker
After being convinced to return, he penned the angry We're Not Happy album as an anti-music industry concept record for being dropped to go indie again and reigniting their career as a Dark Ages ska darling. They had many lineup changes but released a consistent batch of albums including the cult classic Candy Coded Fury and the divisive cover album Fame Fortune and Fornication,
00:35:46
Speaker
Known for their vibrant live act, cheeky lyrics and horn based third wave Scott sound. They are semi active today. Gone Gold released nine albums, multiple best ofs, an amazing live record and something like 46 covers that we are talking about all month long. Let's talk about what we're looking for in a real big fish cover song. Joey, what are you looking for? Uh, I want genre mashie and I want the big production. Yep.
00:36:15
Speaker
And the third thing that I always forget. I'm trying to remember the things we were saying. It was like two weeks ago. Not irritating. Not irritating. Yeah. Celine, what about you? Earworm, not tapeworm. Yep. Right. Song I don't hate already. It's not a song I like. It's not that you like. It's a song that I don't already hate. Right. Important.
00:36:40
Speaker
Not too summery. Not too summery. More autumn-y. A little cool. A little cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Late summer. I like clean fingernails, clean production. I like anarchy in the studio. And I like to lean on the 80s covers. That's what I'm looking for. and Jordan, be curious to know what you're looking for. Already kind of tipped one of them. So you like it when they play it straight. Yeah. What are some other factors that you look for? not too not Not trying too hard to be funny. Very important. Right.
00:37:08
Speaker
Yeah, I think big, you know, big hook, big chorus. And yeah, I think, hmm, I do like all the hair metal ones a lot. All the hair metal ones really hit pretty hard for me, but I think they've done a good job in a lot of genres. So slight preference for the hair metal ones, but willing to hear them out in many genres.
00:37:30
Speaker
All right, let's do it. This is the semifinals politician. What a politician answer. He also did this thing for some reason. What a good visual joke, right? Anyway, I did the old Bill Clinton. I feel your pay. Yes. Sign up for the Patreon to see him. play fan yeah All right. The first one is a cover of the Sublime song released in 2002 on the album. Cheer up. This is a boss DJ. The end part.
00:38:02
Speaker
I feel like some people might be surprised with Scott this far. This is a good cover, man. I like this one. yeah I love it. I keep voting for it.
00:38:15
Speaker
I want to hear it twice. Our harmony is still good so good. Yeah, bill that's a really beautiful harmony. I know. Actually, all of the songs in there have Scott in it, so we we got a full Scott. Oh, Scott preference.
00:38:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:42
Speaker
And I know we've talked about it before, but it's just so much better than the original. It's not. I don't think we all agreed on that. No, I said that. I forgot there was like a key change.
00:38:57
Speaker
and the handclap. Scott's like, can sing high. it Scott's doing like a third on like already a high note. That's crazy. That's in vocal range. Jordan, how do you feel about that cover?
00:39:09
Speaker
I the the pleasures of it are hard to deny, right? That chorus. Oh, my God, it's it's great. You'll you'll you'll hum it till you die. um I like the little two tone part a lot. I like the little part with the keyboard. It kind of sounds more like a special song. It kind of feels like they they they throw you a lot of different scoff flavors in this one song. I will say here's here's the stuff I don't like about it.
00:39:35
Speaker
I think interest in general, not a sublime guy. I think I not a sublime guy. I think probably just like Orange County in the 90s. It just kind of got yeah overplayed whobas that we're into it, too. Sure. And you don't want to blame. I don't mean, I kind of i kind of like, so but I feel like what made me hesitant on liking Sublime was the fandom, like the hackster. Yeah, that's, yeah. They have a particular kind of dude that's into them who is, um you know, maybe not my favorite kind of dude, I'll say.
00:40:06
Speaker
Um, oh captain jordan I know. Sorry. I'm being a little bitch tonight. I'm a little bitchy. Yes, much. Yes. but as The specials once sang. I'm yeah quite the little bitch.
00:40:23
Speaker
Um, so I don't love sublime and listen, I don't, I don't love the reggae touches. I don't love it. And I, you know, a lot of Scott bands do this. A lot of Scott bands did this when they like, you're, you're probably white singers exaggerate the reggae stuff. And I, you know, the fake and Jamaican, we give out cards, we give out the cards to the people who are allowed to do fake and Jamaican. And then the people who are not allowed to do it. Yeah. Mostly no. Yeah. Mostly no. I think it it just it it reads as jokey to me. And I don't think people are are they I don't think they're like making fun of reggae when they do that stuff. But I think it I don't know. It just comes off a little weird to me. Always gives me just a a little bit of ick.
00:41:11
Speaker
And I think for that, that's the stuff that prevents me from like really liking the song, right? I think that stuff. I love it. And that's what prevented me from liking Sublime, or one of the things, right? it's like They did so much of that like fake reggae stuff. um so So yeah, so I think i think i think these are these are the reasons that it's it's not my favorite, but like the cool shit is hard to ignore, and the like real big fish harmonies are so tight in it, and the... like You know, that hook. My god. My god, that hook.
00:41:44
Speaker
Yeah, it's an earworm, not a tapeworm. Yeah, me and Joey did a ah reggae rock ah episode and that we decided we do not like reggae rock conclusion. We decided after listening to like 15, 16 songs, we're like, you know what? Not my genre, not into it. I definitely put in my time with Sublime back in the day, but yeah, when we did our episode with Sublime, I was like, it was great to listen. Yeah. Joey has a big son. just a black tra Oh, wow. Okay.
00:42:13
Speaker
yeah real into it back but i mean ah Yeah, like last time we listened through it, like for the pod, it was like, I'm good. I feel like I was like, you know I feel like I was like, no not bad, not bad.
00:42:26
Speaker
yeah It's going up against. I feel like it has. Well, I just. Yeah. I said this last time. I feel like it has like a bit of a timeless like that song in general. Sounds like it could have been written 20 or 30 years prior to when it was. I feel like it has just this like timeless kind of classic rock element to it like Eagles. I'm done.
00:42:47
Speaker
And the original version of this song, and I could be wrong, I do not know my sublime lore, being someone who doesn't like them a lot. But the original version of this song is like an acoustic thing. Yeah. And it does- And it's on Robin the Hood, which is like one of their lore. Sure.
00:43:03
Speaker
Yeah, which is one of the more ah controversial records. Yes, and it does like it does have that quality of like this is just like a guy at a party with an acoustic guitar singing and I think it's it's the good version of that because there's a bad version of that absolutely and a lot of like for evil fashion of john Yeah, but I think I think when I listened to it again for this I'm like this this has a kind of a charming, you know You're at a house party and everybody's getting stoned and, you know, drinking and drinking natty ice kind of quality to it that I that I kind of liked. So I I I and and I know that the original has has its pleasures as well. It does. And it is going up against a Morrissey cover this time. Solo Morrissey, not the Smith's cover that they also did. It appears on the 2005 album. We're not happy till you're not happy. This is we hate it when our friends become successful.
00:43:54
Speaker
And we've all gone on and on ah how how much we love Morrissey as a person. Like, that's canonical. Morrissey, don't love his politics. But like I was going to do a bit where I said, I don't love his music. I love his politics. I love his politics. Love the politics. The music. Eh. Eh. Yeah. I love being in ah the same room as him and Joss Whedon and just getting to chat. Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah. You wouldn't be allowed to be in the same room as Joss Whedon.
00:44:24
Speaker
Unless I was right, yes, I got it.
00:44:30
Speaker
Yeah. Twinsies. There's a couple of little bitches I'm going to pull out my size noodles hat. Imagine the reveal. We're just a couple of Spider-Men pointing at each other.
00:44:48
Speaker
um We love to laugh. We love to laugh in the song. Wait, I love to laugh. You like laugh loves me is high love to laugh. Jordan, how do you feel about that cover of the Morrissey song, We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful? Yeah, I think i think i think this succeeds in many ways. I think that like it if you didn't know it was a Morrissey song, that like the title especially, you're like, oh, that's a real big fish song. It's so funny what a real big fishy title and topic that song is. So it's like a fucking perfect cover for them.
00:45:24
Speaker
And yeah, Morrissey, bad dude. But I do like Morrissey and the Smiths more than I like Sublime. It's just like music to listen to. So I kind of like like this song a little bit more going into it. And yeah, I will say I'll i'll i'll i'll divert from my twinsie for a moment and say not a huge fan of the laugh. I think the laugh kind of tips over into jokey a little too much for me. But I i i do think this is like sad laugh. They seemed a little like like longing. Yeah, sure. Yes, they're loaded. They're loaded, complex laughs. But yeah, i I all in all laughs aside, I really like I really like this song and I really like this cover.
00:46:04
Speaker
think as time I think so. I think I'm locked in on how I'm going to go. So the way we'll do it is we go three, two, one, and then we all say it at the same time. It's chaos. It's fine. We all say the song title at the same time, but we do figure it out. We do figure it out. We figure it out. It's never, we've never not figured it out. ah But I'm good. Joey, you good? You're locked in.
00:46:27
Speaker
Joey Joey's got it. Yeah, I'm good. Okay. but Three, two, one. We hate it whenever we become successful. bo but die yeah we hated what our friends I do love Boss DJ, but I think like the more I listen to the we hate it cover, the more I think that it's like.
00:46:48
Speaker
an actually intelligently written song and in the context of that that record it made so much sense like i think it was bookended with like that don't start a band song and so i'm like okay like it all kind of worked really well together yeah it told a story and it really like kind of all fits together So yeah. All right. Moves on to the finals. I like when people complain about success. I like, I like, I know a lot of people don't like that. I like when people become successful and are like, this sucks. This is a lot. You don't have to envy them as much. You're like, chapel run, right? I like that. She told that photographer to fuck off. Me too. Yeah. I love it. Great famous person.
00:47:32
Speaker
that Like being like, yeah, can we not like be like, can I have the hug? Nobody wants that. Nobody wants that. Anyways, I think we get great things from her. ah So next matchup, a cover of the Lita Ford hair metal classic appearing on the 2000 compilation Metalliska. This is Kiss Me Deadly.
00:47:56
Speaker
Fucking song, man. This is a cool part that we haven't heard yet. It's a Tavis trumpet solo. Great Tavis words. Name-check twice in the song already. Let's play the sound.
00:48:23
Speaker
It's a grand song. It's like a grand song. Yeah. It's a big song.
00:48:31
Speaker
Whoa, he shreds. Such a neat song.
00:48:40
Speaker
Great harmony. I've only heard better harmony than femme voyeur. That's my band, Jordan.
00:49:03
Speaker
And then they end it with a joke. Yeah, that's fine. That's fine. Oh, but they're being kind of silly. They're kind of being funny. They're being a little silly there. No, no, no. Not for Jordan. He hates it. Only for Jordan. Only Jordan funny. I can only be silly. I'm the silly Billy here.
00:49:28
Speaker
So how do you feel about that cover? Kiss me deadly. I mean, I fucking love it. I love that song. I love that song period. I think that's that ah the original version of that song is awesome. and Yeah, I mean, I'll I'll say ah maybe I'm losing some RBF fan points, fan points by saying this, but I did not know that tidbit about them starting as the hair metal band. That was ah in the early 90s. OK, I think and yeah and it was like next. And they were only like a three or four piece. Then they added the ah the horn sections as they went.
00:50:01
Speaker
I mean, yeah, it it tracks. It's perfect. um Yeah, i I mean, yeah, there are some like funny goofball touches in that and like, you know, there's like he does kind of the jokey version of the hair metal voice, which like, you know, you not my favorite and like funny hair metal stuff. I got a little bit burned out on funny hair metal jokes in the 90s. We had a lot of those. yeah and and And so, yeah, so so there's some like little like little details that I wish were different. But like all in all, this fucking rips. It rips. It's a great song. and I think it's a great cover. And like yeah, all the re real big fish stuff you love is in here. Those harmonies, the ah kind of mellow or scah parts, the stuff you can pit to. I don't know. I love it. I love it.
00:50:45
Speaker
Yeah, it's a good one. This is in my core cover era, which is like 96 to 2001. Let's say like everything I felt like was just like banging. And this song is right in there. I love it. It's going to be such a hard matchup. Yeah.
00:51:00
Speaker
Yeah, this next song. OK, it's against my maybe my favorite. my like My cover band does this song and it's one of the favorite songs you have a cover band. And yeah, I play in like rap poison with two teas. Cool. Oh, yeah. And we do like the full like the like like full evening, like three hour long set type of stuff like. Oh, yeah. Do that type of deal. Yeah, they do like three 45 minute sets or three one hour sets. That's a lot of music. Uh, but this is one of my favorite songs out of the 40 some odd songs that we play nice by a long shot. It's just such a fun, just such a fun song. So I've heard it. People love it. The Cougars will dance. Oh yeah. This is, dance this is a dance in the song. It's a going out and having some drinks and dancing type of song. And I get a Cougar moving.
00:51:48
Speaker
Go to On the Rocks, get this song on there. But yeah, that's a, I'm a big fan. I really, really, really like this version of this song a lot. Hell yeah. And it is going up against, and this is Selene. Selene's going to have a hard time with this. Cover of the Phil Collins solo song appearing on the 2007 album, Monkeys for Nothing and the Chimps for Free. This is Another Day in Paradise. Chest is heavy. Mom's spaghetti. Mom's spaghetti.
00:52:20
Speaker
Goes pretty hard. I came in on the breakdown,
00:52:32
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Actually, I think you did with the downscale and the harmony vibrato for him. That's fun.
00:53:02
Speaker
it another oh did that come half yeah sam think I bet you Phil Collins likes this.
00:53:14
Speaker
You think? Yeah. I'll just think about it.
00:53:27
Speaker
john I think this is Rylandstein era. So a guy who would drum for America. And he loved to do the the the double time skate punk stuff for real big fish. So you can really hear it in there. ah Jordan, how do you feel about yeah another day in Paradise cover? ah Yeah, I like it a lot. I think this is really good. I actually had not heard this until it was assigned to me for this show. So this was a fun little discovery that I made. um so I could talk about it on the show. So yeah, this is fun. This is cool. I like the original Phil Collins version. I was a little bit like hesitant. I'm like, oh, no, they covered what? And I'm like, OK, this is this this is going to be like maximum goofball here, but not really. They're they're pretty like it's pretty straight like in there because it's such a sappy song. Oh, my God. It's like maximum, you know, got to be sad sometimes. No, sure.
00:54:19
Speaker
ah Yeah, that's true. You got call a little salty and a little has big, big feelings. Of course. he did who knew No one has felt more deeply than Phil Collins. he He feels so that we don't have to. Thank God. Right. Not even Peter Gabriel felt that much. No, no, not even close. um But yeah, I like it. i i I like that it's I like how down the middle it is. I like how how hard it rocks. Yeah, I think the skateboard stuff is really cool.
00:54:47
Speaker
Yeah, this is good. i i I've definitely like listened to the Kiss Me Deadly one like a lot more, um so I've spent some more time with it, but I think this one is is really good, a fun surprise, and yeah, like a fun left field choice that I think works out really good. This is very tough. Oh, I ask of all of you is just think about it. Just think about it. What are you thinking, Rob?
00:55:09
Speaker
Rob, what what are you thinking? You know what I'm thinking. No, I don't. I can say after I- okay, okay. Monkeys for Nothing and the Chimps for Free sucks. that up That's my professional Ska opinion, I guess. I don't know. And so that is kind of a nice part of that. That album was like one of the better. And I didn't even know it was a cover for like probably five years. And I was like, oh, they wrote a really cool song on here. And I was like, oh, it wasn't even their song. um And so I don't know. It just doesn't have like good memories for me. it Doesn't have a little bit had on. Whereas, yeah, I asked for it. You're like, don't be coy. Rob was like, great. Everybody's going to get everybody's going to get a turn to be the little bit.
00:55:56
Speaker
But you're already knocked out. and This is I guess this is my ultimate little bitch moment. You're already knocked out hunger like the fucking wolf. Right up from under my feet. So yeah. I forgot about hungry like the wolf. That is a surprise that that's not over here. It's my favorite real big fish cover song. And I feel like I feel like it was personal almost. That is. It's my favorite real big fish cover song. But yeah, that's that's what I sound like.
00:56:23
Speaker
robot ah trying to show his emotions. ah So. All right. Ready to vote. I'm ready. Flynn, Joey. Oh, boy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good. Jordan locked in. don You don't want to be. hurry i I'm ready. I'm ready. Yeah. Three, two.
00:56:44
Speaker
kiss me dead deadly Yeah, that's fair. I appreciate your concession to this. sal grace Graceful. That is one good song had to lose.
00:56:57
Speaker
I think Celine's favorite was Stray Cat's Strut, to be fair. Yeah, Stray Cat's got what I was really gotten for. I have not heard that one either. That's one I did not know they did. It's super straight. They basically did a full Rockabilly song. It's like a Brian Senter version. Oh, yeah. Jordan, did you have a Rockabilly phase? I feel like you didn't. No, no, no. That would be smoking, and a mother in the Lord would never approve. Tasting of the devil's tobacco.
00:57:26
Speaker
All right. i think it's arch of good usually And if you're rockabilly, you have to smoke. You got to roll up the pack of sigs in the sleeve. You got to smoke. You got to drink. and we check we go When I was rockabilly, I would check those smokes, see if they were stale or not. That's how you know if they're posers. And then if they're stale, you just make them smoke them all right in front of you. yeah Just like when a parent Donald Duck is smoking. Your smokes are going bad. Donald Duck, yeah. it's Better smoke them. All right, time to take a break. And when we get back, it's the finals. Rock-a-bully.
00:58:10
Speaker
Welcome back to Checkered Past. We're here with Jordan Morris, and it's the finals of the Real Big Skirm-ish, September 2024. And I have a secret bracket, because I do that every time.
00:58:22
Speaker
and the secret bracket is the checkered-rob invitational. This was my top four. This is what my top four was. I am not ashamed to admit that my top four was eliminated by round three. Wow. So I'm going to put that my top four in and we'll just go through the four and we'll decide if any of them are any good still. That's it? If they don't get another shot or anything, we're just... No, if it's good.
00:58:49
Speaker
Yeah, but we'll pick. We'll still like. you It's like a mini bracket. It'll be a winner of this one. Yeah, it's like a bronze medal. Let's call it. Let's call it. No, you get a special like participation trophy. We'll call it. OK, the checkered rod participation trophy. I like that better. The first one is ah the fishbone cover. Oh, yeah. Here we go. Yeah. And these are cut up, Joey.
00:59:19
Speaker
They are? They are, yeah.
00:59:30
Speaker
It's the first time Rob smiled this whole podcast. First time? Yeah. First time any joy has been across his face at all. Still mad about round two. Yeah, I know. Fine, Devon.
00:59:48
Speaker
It's so good to do your whole life. I do love the Zola vocals yeah a lot.
01:00:01
Speaker
A little slut, hey? Yep. This song was written by a woman. I know. yes We can be misogynists too.
01:00:49
Speaker
I didn't know the original was that silly, I'd be like, wow, they really made this too silly. No, that's a pretty pretty pretty one to one ah cover of the Fishbone version in in in tone. Yeah, totally. Maybe that's why I like it because I love Fishbone and I love that Fishbone EP. and It was really exciting when I got that Zoloft split and it had that song on it because that was like the one I kept repeating.
01:01:16
Speaker
So I thought it was going to go far and actually went farther. I had a ah suspicion. Selene was going to not be into it, but Selene was actually letting it slide for a little while. but Who's doing that lead vocal on that? the The female vocal. yeah That was that was Zoloft the rock and roll destroyer. Oh, I don't know. I think that's why I liked it. I like her.
01:01:38
Speaker
Yeah, and she's a great name great vocalist and there they were a power pop punk band and they wrote like just like minute and a half two-minute like super sugary keyboard punk songs and They're great. They were really really good and we'll come up they were kind of cool The one of the things with real big fish during like especially in the 2000s is they were always touring with like little bands. They were always like elevating these other like kind of pop and punk bands to kind of tour with them. and Not so much Scott until like maybe I'd say into the later 2000s. But yeah, they were basically trying to elevate them and give them a ah stage. So it's really cool. ah It's going up against ah the one that everybody thought was going to win. But look at the bracket predictions. Play it. go
01:02:28
Speaker
Got you hungry? Is that what you said? I said, is it take on me or hungry? Oh, I thought it said it got me hungry. I was like, okay. Just waiting for hungry. I'm hungry. I'm hungry like a wolf.
01:02:49
Speaker
I mean, this is like the ska cover. It is. If you said to someone who knew some shit about ska but not a whole lot in your life, ska covers, they'd be like, uh, who's what? They take on Eileen to take on Eileen from safe fairs. Oh, yeah. These are very much like, you know, two sides of a coin. Totally. It just seems a little lazy. It just seems a little lazy. Is this actually your top Rob, or are you just like? No, it wasn't my winner, but it got far.
01:03:18
Speaker
No, i but you like love it. Like you love the song. Yeah, I do. I really like the song. I like beer. I also said that when people. bo me on I'm fine with that. I'm fine with beer. It's a fun song. Like even so, I like turn the radio off still. Like I think it is a very fun record to go back and listen to. The record company is going to give me lots of money. You can't deny it. You cannot deny it. There's like five hooks in that song. and yeah yeah That'll all like get stuck in your head at different times of the day. Totally.
01:03:53
Speaker
I was reading, I was reading in defensive Scott and they talked about that song was ah about, um, it was about safe Ferris. That's what that song was about because in OC, everybody was just like rallying against safe Ferris for signing a record deal. And so the real big fish wrote a song about it and said, that's stupid. Let them have the record deal deal. And then gold finger got them the the jive thing. And yeah, that shows that as a single feltie.
01:04:20
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And now. here is here to stay in good So, that's our in the first mini bracket. Oh, yeah. OK. Take on me. It's so dumb. know that I didn't mean to. We have to be versus what? What was it? Why an ass bitch? Oh, yeah. OK. And we're voting. Yeah. So when do you listen to this podcast? I don't think my memory is terrible. And I think we've we've made that known.
01:04:50
Speaker
okay mini bracket one three
01:04:54
Speaker
Take on. Lion ass bitch. Yeah, take on me. Whoa. I had to think about it for a second. Yeah, I had to think about it for a second while we all voted. It really did come off like a victory of mode. All right. Next in the mini bracket. This one is the OP-IV one, Celine. I hated it. Okay. Yeah. You see? Okay, Play it, mini Joey. Just play bracket one, it. Refresh my three. memory.
01:05:19
Speaker
yeah Yeah, because it was a cool song and then he did this to it. It's all coming back to you. so Yeah, yeah, yeah. because this He quickly got a fuckingkin little punk rock song and cleaned it all up and shined it and put it through the washer and uncalled the fabric software and then rang it up to dry and the gentle summer breeze.
01:05:53
Speaker
He's like, what's that? see I had the same reaction. I don't like that. ah like Speak up. like Get out of the other room. Come into this room. He's on the telephone. Obviously. He does like to do this thing with his voice. Yes.
01:06:14
Speaker
It's like, sorry, I can't quite hear what you're saying. Yes, and I said this part's cool because this part's cool, but because it's exactly the same yeah original yeah So yeah, yeah, this is cool, but it's cool without that vocal effect or pedal or whatever is where he's using oh Studio trickery. Jordan, how about the Unity covers? I mean, I love i love the original. i like I like this. I had this album. I had this OP-IV cover album. And like a lot of these like a lot of these songs a lot. Yeah, I like this one. Yeah, I agree. The vocal effect is a little wonky. But I think are they trying to make it sound a little more lo-fi like the OP-IV album is you know is is definitely like has a lo-fi charm to it. So maybe that's what they're going for. I don't know.
01:07:04
Speaker
Yeah, I think that that's it's that's that's like, you know, one thing too many a little bit. But um ah I I in general really like it. I think it's a fun cover. Fun cover. Great song. Yeah. Respectfully done. How about that cherry pop and daddy's cover on that? ah Take warning comp.
01:07:21
Speaker
Oh, what song do they do? I remember they did one. Oh, yeah. I'm a cherry pop and daddy's defender. OK, the hot takes just keep coming. I did an episode where he did all this. He really is my favorite part. Yeah, the name's great. I like the name. I feel like they are holding on to it for no reason. Yeah.
01:07:45
Speaker
Okay, then number four is what I have said is my favorite. It's got a really fish cover. Hungry like the wolf. Now I'm hungry.
01:07:56
Speaker
I also skipped the goofy intro. ah Good call. Not on purpose, but also because I didn't want to hear it.
01:08:22
Speaker
That's very go to the delivery.
01:08:33
Speaker
I don't know about that. down and flus the devil
01:08:52
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know about all the the voices he was doing. A lot of voices. A lot of voices. It's too good to hide. Someone was having a little too much fun in the stew. They were having a good time. The boys are having some fun. When the boys get together, they're gonna have fun.
01:09:12
Speaker
Yeah. I'm going to do voices. The boys are going to get together and do some funny voices ah for their boys to crack up their brothers. Yeah. Sorry, ladies. and The boys are going to be in here doing some voices. Sorry, All right. The Op Ivy song song against The Hungry Like the Wolf. so The Hungry Like the Wolf song. Yeah, that's right. Are you good, Celine? Do you want to watch it, Joey?
01:09:42
Speaker
Three. Unity. hungry right now Oh, we voted our guests. I'm so sorry. No, that's OK. So I feel like I wish I almost know. I don't know. I was so spicy about it. I almost felt feel like I wish I voted different because the hungry like the wolf little bits are so dumb. He really hams it up on that. So then this is if if we're going to give the participation trophy, the checkered rod participation. So if it's take on me versus hungry like the wolf, which is how most people thought the finals were going to be. That's actually crazy.
01:10:14
Speaker
Wow. And it's um it's an impossible finale at this point. ah How would we all vote? How would we all vote on that? I guess. I'm good to vote. I think I could pick one. Yeah. OK, me too. I guess. Yeah.
01:10:30
Speaker
hungrily take on man yeah wall ancient andim then that's where um most obvious but This is and this in my brain when I envisioned The finals this is exactly the conversation. I thought was gonna happen I was gonna get out voted by everybody and take on me was gonna take the whole thing. So there it is just vindicating If if it happens, how I would have done it. You need to force yourself to lose to everyone and like live out that fantasy. I really did my OJ on this one. I like the bracket is bringing some, you know, giving some shine to some lesser known covers. That's a lot of fun. Everybody, everybody knows if you're listening to this show, you know, the real fish cover of Take On Me, but I hadn't heard some of these. So this is this is. You're welcome. You know, you're being very diplomatic and democratic in a way that I appreciate. Thank you. Yeah, and our brackets are not. Come in with some anger.
01:11:19
Speaker
Our brackets are not about whichever one is the most popular. no They're about which one is the best. yeah oh It is what it is, you know? Yeah, it's definitive. So let's do it. Let's do the finals. We're going to listen to the songs in their entirety and then we'll vote. And that'll be the end of the episode. And we'll have created another winner for another bracket. So let's kick it off. It's we hate it when our friends become successful. The Morrissey cover. Let's do it, Joey.
01:11:49
Speaker
And we can vamp.
01:11:53
Speaker
What were you whispering, Selene?
Sincerity in Music Covers
01:11:57
Speaker
Were you whispering something? I don't know. Oh, OK. I think I'm just trying. We're casting a spell. OK. Maybe I am. The efficacy wears off if you notice it, though.
01:12:13
Speaker
Yeah, it really is. I love the way he sings it. Yeah. He's he's doing a Morrissey impression.
01:12:25
Speaker
Like without the accent, I guess. He's being sincere about doing a Morrissey. He's not joking about it. This is a very sincere cover. Yeah. It's a sincere cover. Even though he's laughing. So this is really like. you yeah Honestly, this bracket is like a straight cover against a big jokey cover, kind of, right? Like there are two arms. That's true. They both have jokey elements to them. I think there's like, there's... I think they can't turn it off. We can turn it off. You said you can turn it off.
01:13:08
Speaker
Oh, okay. What? Why are we turning it off? Oh, I did not say that. That's okay. I said we're gonna listen to it in its entirety, but that's okay. The whole song? You want to listen to the whole song? We do this every single time.
01:13:27
Speaker
like i pretty sure i about this exact conversation with you we get liz that all we're going to talk about i just go for two hours scar yeah honestly i get great you movies could we ah recap bayir we tried we're thinking about that There's not a lot of Ska movies for us to cover, but that's found to happen. We can listen to the whole song. No, it's too late now. Like, I'm Let's go to the other one. We'll only listen to half of it just to pretty sure I've be had fair. this Kiss me deadly. exact conversation with you. Let's listen to it. I mean, we listened to the end of it earlier, right? Right. That's right. You're right. We already listened to the end. You're welcome. You might as well just listen to the first two words. That's what I was saying. You did it for the listener's sake.
01:14:17
Speaker
It just sounds cool. Not because I'm easily exacerbated by the fun cast and life. The mine is the most minor inconvenience.
01:14:29
Speaker
Dancing. Makes you want to dance. Yeah, I am dancing. It's real good. Yeah, it's pretty fun. I know that I can't beat you. There is something that's like, it's like not that romantic, but it is romantic.
01:14:46
Speaker
You know? yeah like it could be out of wayt It could be somebody's sweating song. Yeah, I bet it has been. Maybe not this version. I hope so. Probably. Did we play this at my wedding? Probably. Not not while you were going down the aisles. That would have been sick though.
01:15:11
Speaker
just right when they do the kiss. Yeah. Oh, why did you cut off right there? So you don't even know that that's exactly what happens to me every time because I cut the songs up. So um and people are like, Oh, stop at the best part. It's like a keyboard solo or something. And I was like, All right, he's to his own. Every and then i every part is somebody's best part.
01:15:37
Speaker
ah yeah Very true. You've been the kindest guest we had in like four months. Are people going to show and act like dicks? That's weird. I do. We do that to ourselves. Okay. Point taken, point taken. It's almost like we asked for it.
01:15:57
Speaker
um All right. i I know how I'm voting. I'm pretty much locked in. I think I know. I don't know. I think I am locked in as well. I think I'm going to vote one way, but I think I know I'm going to get outvoted and then I guess that's fine. That's how it works. Yeah. Two great songs. No losers. Yeah. me The only loser is the song that doesn't win. There you go. All right. Here we go. Three, two,
01:16:24
Speaker
Kiss me deadly when our friends become so many more words than kiss me deadly or syllables I should say. It's like you kept going. Well, we did it. Another bracket is in the bag. What wish we had a victory song? Like the Final Fantasy fanfare. Play Kiss Me Deadly Again. No, we don't have to play the song. Turn it over from the beginning and play it in its entirety. Just like we do every bracket.
01:16:54
Speaker
Um, we are going to play a game just to close this up. And this is a game I haven't played in a while, but I think for this one, it would be a lot of fun. And I'm going to do the song and I didn't write it down, but I hope I remember how to do it. so sha lala dumb d Shalalala, dumb DIA. Who is streaming on Spotify? It seems random without care. It's almost like a carnival. And yet the whole thing is not fair. This is big five. I did it. I did it from memory. I remembered it. Yeah, I did it from memory. What was that?
01:17:34
Speaker
That was a parody of the song Big Five by Judge Dredd. Okay. That was of stupid puns. What was that? What happened? that's the appropriate response What did I just hear?
Guessing Game on Spotify Streams
01:17:47
Speaker
So in this game, I have pulled up the top 10 real big fish songs on Spotify. Ooh. But I'm looking for the top five by streams.
01:18:02
Speaker
so We're going to figure it out. I'm sure we're all semi-familiar. We'll stream songs on Spotify. And we're looking for the top five, and it's Family Feud style. So if you get it wrong, you get an X, and three X's in your out. Love it. Last one standing with the least amount of X's is the winner. And in the spirit of fairness, Jordan Morris, what do you think? Oh my god, thank you so much. um so I think i think number I'm going to call it. I know you haven't asked us for like which slot they're in. I think Take On Me is number one. I think Take On Me is number one. Take On Me is number three. Oh. Number three.
01:18:39
Speaker
47.7 million streams. You swung my dick like that? Yeah, even though you swung your dick exactly like that, you still get a point. Or you get you get no negative points. I'm not. Oh, this works. OK. All right, Salin, over to you.
01:18:56
Speaker
a Beer, sell out, trendy, hungry like a wolf. Can't just name three songs. You have to pick one. You gotta pick one. of No, I'm saying it for me. Beer, sell out, trendy, hungry like a wolf. What do I think? Beer.
01:19:15
Speaker
Beer is on this list. Sorry, I have to scroll. Number two. Hey, eight million games. I wouldn't have guessed number two. I would have guessed it would have been on here, but I guess would have guessed it would have been kind of lower in the top 10. Is it is it because of baseball? I think so. I think so. I would say a lot. I know that's why I love it. but Engineer Joey's on it like that. Oh, you know, I get it. Yeah. OK, that's number one sell out. Fifty nine million.
01:19:45
Speaker
It's number one, sell out. Now comes the real tough. Yeah, boy. I'm going to be honest. I'm going to have to probably give you. So the next two, both north of 10 million streams. Okay. And the only hints I'm going to give you is that one is a cover.
01:20:03
Speaker
And one is a more modern song. Oh, talking about a stream. Yeah. Yeah. So Jordan Morris. OK, I guess I'm going to try and guess the cover, because I will admit I have not listened to the last couple of albums. I'm not looking at streams, but I'm looking at discography of the last album. Am I allowed to do that? I see. Interesting. Just discography of last album. You didn't have to say it. You could have done it, and I wouldn't have known you were doing it. Sure. Not in the same room as you.
01:20:30
Speaker
um I think the other cover, maybe it's maybe it's hungry like the wolf is the other cover. I'm going to guess that. That is incorrect. Oh, whoa, whoa. OK, so the cover is still open and we only have take on me on the board for covers. That's right. I like don't. It's very surprising. Like I know it's not any of the ones probably that were in our like.
01:20:57
Speaker
Um, what you don't final two. Oh, but maybe I don't think so. I don't know. That's tough, man. Yeah, it's a it's a surprising top five. This is tough. Um. I like just can't think of like, uh, cover is a Yeah, I'm trying. I think probably one of the hair metal ones. So there's kiss me. What is the other hair metal one? Talk dirty to me. I'm going to go talk dirty to me.
01:21:24
Speaker
That is incorrect. Good guess. That was a good guess. Good guess. Good answer. I'm going to go boss DJ. Oh, smart. That is incorrect. Oh, I figured popular. I'll give you another hint. Good guess. Good guess. Good answer. Good answer. For the cover. Well, I'll give you another hint for the cover. Think.
01:21:47
Speaker
Kazza or Napster, that era. Oh, brown eyed girl. Right. Yes. jordan ah Very good. And only because people thought they covered the one that was on Napster and then covered it later by themselves. Eleven point eight million. Number five.
01:22:05
Speaker
Wow. I was maybe going to guess Mela Kalikimaka. Maybe it just gets a huge Christmas bump from people just searching for the original. but They just love Carol of the Beers. OK, so the the last hint I'll give you is I'll tell you what album the other one is from. It is from Candy Coded Fury.
01:22:23
Speaker
Coded Fury, that's what I have up. I was like, I bet you it's from Candy Coded Fury. right So what was the hit from Candy Coded Fury? Is it just like... What was the single? I don't remember. Yeah, I don't remember what the hit was. So I'm just going to like say a random song off this. okay um Is it also about a girlfriend? I mean, there was a lot of them. There's a lot of those songs. Yeah, I guess I'm going to go Your Girlfriend Sucks.
01:22:51
Speaker
Nope, ah just love that's where your head went though ah Joey over to you ah yeah but i want to see these titles going i got to play role just mini jordan yeah they've decided to che you have every as well but Like the single is we're just looking at song titles, ah you know, otherwise I don't think it is but I want it to be don't stop skankin No, but fuck that song is good. Holy shit. I wanted it to be really, really bad. Might be the best real big fish song. And I don't feel bad about a song that has no lyrics in it. There is such a bang in instrumental. So good. Jordan, you have a guess? I again don't know this album. ah Don't feel like Googling. And I'm just going to guess the name of a song that I think might be a real big fish song. ah Just judging by my knowledge of their whole deal, I'm going to say um
01:23:43
Speaker
um I may be divorced, but at least I don't smell. That is an excellent guest. If Erin, if you're listening to this, Jordan Morris is available to ghost write some of your lyrics. um I'm doing that on behalf of him. Oh, yeah. I know your an whole thing. I know your deal. I know your whole thing. Still in the lead, but that was incorrect. Celine and Joey, you have one guest left. Can you just give it to us, or is it the song with Cooley ranks on it? That is incorrect. Joey, take a swing.
01:24:12
Speaker
ah I have one more guess. Oh, man, that that one with Cooley ranks was pretty good. um ah Yeah. How is that not it? Everyone else is an asshole. Correct. That is the same. You have guessed that title. Yeah, that also could have been a guest answer.
01:24:38
Speaker
13.2 million streams. It streamed more than a girl. Wow. Yeah, that was a insane it was a charting single. It was a charting hit on Candy Coded Fury. That record, for some reason, had a flip on the hot 100 TikTok soundbite. You know, like I'm looking at these there' like girls doing their makeup and then they're just doing like everyone else is an asshole. It was trending on TikTok. This so that I get songs on it. Yeah. So the the rest. So Jordan's our winner.
01:25:07
Speaker
oh And the other songs that are on the top 10 10 million streams is the original version from of beer from everything sucks. Where have you been? The crappy cheer up single. ah She has a girlfriend now six point eight. Yeah.
01:25:25
Speaker
i would Another FU song.7 million and then just because it's out that walking on sunshine cover is on the top 10 Because that's how Spotify works and it is fun. Anyway, that was
Closing Remarks and Promotions
01:25:40
Speaker
big five. Thanks for playing and Jordan Thank you for being on the show. It's over to you. What have you got to plug?
01:25:46
Speaker
ah Hey, I'll mention my graphic novel youth group one more time. It's a YA horror comedy art by the great Bowen McGurty. And yes, we mentioned it before, but oh boy, Bowen drew the hell out of this book. Such, such beautiful, fun, expressive characters, such, such, such great comedy from the art. um Yeah. I'm really proud of this thing. I really like it. if if ah if yeah If you like comics, hey, if you don't like comics, this is a story with a beginning, middle, and an end. I know sometimes people maybe ah maybe maybe don't pick up comics as much as they might because they're like, well, is this going to be some big continuity thing that I don't get? Is this you know yeah issue 865 of detective comics? No, it ain't. It's youth group. It has a beginning, middle, and an end. So yeah, I think if you even if you're an occasional comics reader, you'll dig it. ah Yeah.
01:26:34
Speaker
If you like funny stuff, if you like spooky stuff, if you were in a church youth group, if you weren't in a church youth group, um if you've ever been possessed by a demon, if you've never been possessed by a demon. Oh, nice. That's me. Yeah, that's you. So this is the book for you.
01:26:50
Speaker
really oh yeah Yeah, I hope you'll check it out. Please, please, please check it out anywhere you get your books and or, you know, requested at your local library. A lot of fun ways to read youth group but available now. Thanks, Jordan. And I will I'll do a shadow plug and also say that, yeah, Bubble was an awesome read as well. Big fan. ah I'm also a fan of Jordan, Jesse Go. We're yeah hugely influenced by a lot of the comedy podcast that came before us and a lot of your appearances on various other podcasts as well. So
01:27:21
Speaker
Uh, just want to shout out Jordan Morris, the comedian extraordinaire in general. Check him out wherever you see him. Yes. Check out the guy. And that will do it. If you like the books, check out the guy. He does. If you love the books, check out the guy.
01:27:37
Speaker
i and thanks And thanks for listening to Checkered Past. Hit us up on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok at checkeredpastpod, or send us an email, checkeredpastpod at gmail dot.com. Support the pod and get bonus content, including a full length and unedited video of this episode. Sign up for the Checkered Head Patreon at patreon dot.com slash checkeredpast. We also have merch available at checkeredpast.ca. Tell them about the merch, Joey. If this episode made you angry, you can get a shirt that says I'm here for the bits and to be upset with our friend Johnny on it, because that's why you should be here.
01:28:08
Speaker
That's the best one you've done, Joey. You nailed it this time. Yeah, yeah. Wow. Good plug. Good plug. Yeah, incredible. Good plug, Joey. This episode is engineered by Joey, edited probably by Cutman, and to follow along with the bracket and see how it all finished, head over to shallownage.com.
01:28:24
Speaker
Shush slash heptember 2024 next week we'll cleanse our pallets of the trombonas and then we're back to our normal shenanigans after that and until next time I'm Rob Saxel Rob. Oh slutty ass bitch. What is it? What is it? Smokey ass bitch. Little Joey Christmas and the immortal words of a band real big fish covered. It's not that nice. Don't listen to the same pod twice.
01:28:51
Speaker
Only over the fucking door with yourself