Whitney Houston: Whitney Houston (1985)

[00:00]In 2020, four friends decided to listen to every one of the greatest 500 albums as decided by Rolling Stone magazine. This resulted in a text chain that celebrated the music, excoriated the order, and led us to making this podcast. We are far from experts, so we promise to do almost no research. All opinions are our own, unless you disagree. Please sit back and enjoy Beck Did It Better. We are all the way up. Now, this is going to blow your mind, actually. This blew my mind when I wrote this number out. We are all the way up to album 249. You know what that means?

[00:32]We're close to. What's that? We're almost on the back half. We've almost crossed the Rubicon. Middle age point of a podcast, they might say. We're on like June 27th. Wow. The calendar. Can you imagine? It must be one of the greatest albums of all time that we're going to do next week for 250. I can hardly wait. I'm on tenterhooks, okay? It's definitely not one where there's definitely not going to be a parody song. 2025, we have one of the few albums about when Hakeem Olajuwon and Vernon Maxwell made a ton of jokes.

[01:06]Witty Houston, Witty Houston. Never underestimate the heart of a champion. Rudy Tomjanovich. Oh, my impression of him is getting punched in the face. Now. Speaking of punched in the face, I don't know if you guys have seen Vernon Maxwell is on a lot of these NBA podcasts right now. And he tells the story. About how he was like spinning on the floor.

[01:31]And Hakeem, the dream came up to him and told him to stop it. It's not professional. And he pretty much told him to F off. And how Hakeem, the dream essentially gave him the dream shake in the form of a smack across the face. And it is, it is hilarious. Can you imagine if Hakeem and I don't care. I'll tell you right now, Russell. I don't care if it's Hakeem Olajuwon or Hakeem Olajuwon. If they slapped you, it would hurt so bad. Can you imagine how big his hands are? I bet it's like get hit with a frying pan. Plus, he's sure he's got good footwork. On that. Remember when all the guys used to go to his footwork camp?

[02:03]Yep. Oh yeah, for sure. They're all going to turn into Hakeem. Can you imagine he slaps you, Russell? Then he kind of, you try to go at him and he kind of spins away and pulls the chair on you and you fall. I look like David Robinson out there just flailing. Is there, is there another NBA player that more big fat guys tried to emulate? Cause they're like, if I can only learn the dream shake, I'd be unstoppable. And it's like, you have to be able to do the dream shake and be like seven, two. Or whatever he was. You know what I mean?

[02:30]Like you need both. You need the height and the footwork. But the dream shake was, it was kind of like just a lot of upper body. A shimmy, right? Yeah. It was a little bit more of a shimmy. So it was pretty easy. Even, even like when you got older and like you couldn't move like you used to anymore. That was a move you could do. If there, you know, that guy that you play pickup basketball with that when you touch his back, it's just hairy. And he's backing you down. Cause he knows he's got the hairy sweaty back. He's putting the dream shake on you is really what it is. Uh, now. Did you like that joke? By the way, man, witty Houston, witty Houston.

[03:01]Now it's pretty good at this point. You seem to be going very fast though. Just wondering. No, we're on a late night. We're on a time. My other favorite Houston move is the Mario Ellie, the, the kiss, the kiss. And you blow the kiss after the big three pointer. Russell, was there an age where you learned, where you realize you weren't going to be like a great basketball player? Yeah. Actually very, it was very early in life. Cause I grew up in a neighborhood with a lot of, a lot of playing of sports and everything. And. And when it came to basketball, there was one of my good friends, a complimentary movie guy, actually, uh, ended up being six, eight and played like division two basketball and was the best player in our neighborhood from like age five on.

[03:41]So like when you're not even close to the best player on your street, you realize real quickly that you're not destined to be a professional. Well, I can tell you if there's a guy on my street who is six, eight. Well, he wasn't six, eight when we were eight years old, but I can tell you, you know, the equivalent was. So Russell, I had the opposite problem where I was the oldest kid in my street.

[04:02]So I was like being six, eight to them. They were all like, and they were like five years younger, six years younger. And I'd be playing basketball with them. Just swatting that shit. Like Shaquille O'Neal. I was blue chips. I was swatting that like crazy. Yeah. And it, and you'll never guess what it did to me, Russell. It gave me an inflated sense of self that took years of, of years of middle school basketball to go away. I'll never forget when I was doing seventh grade basketball rebounds, I was getting boards. I was like crazy when I wasn't getting a three second call.

[04:30]And then all of a sudden the next grade, eighth grade, we came into basketball tryouts and people were drubbing with their left hand. I was like, I was like, what the fuck? What are you guys? What are you? You guys are like pros. That's crazy. I'd try it. No way. Then you went back to just being a normal high school kid that slept around in your parents' basement, doing your version of the dream shake damn TV. Hey, to me, Russell, can I just tell you to me, my dream shake? Probably if you mix chocolate and shamrock shake together. Oh, that's a. That's a dream, huh? That's my dream shake.

[05:00]Matt, what's your dream shake? Shamrock something. The mint is always good. Maybe like, uh, you know, put some Oreos in there. Like, so like a mint Oreo shake. That's a good one. Yeah, it's a good one. Russell, what's your dream shake? I told you before my dream, my, my blizzard that I liked that you've mocked before Rob was the banana split blizzard. I forgot you said that. It made me laugh again. That's how you know you have a head. Now listen. The other moment. As a youth that I had where I realized I was never going to be anything as an athlete and maybe Matt can relate to this.

[05:33]Certain cities are better at different sports and it doesn't always quite make sense. It might just be the high school coach has a better youth program or something like that. But I grew up playing VAA baseball. So Apple Valley's in-house league, right? And this is before there's all the club and all the, all the stuff they have now. And I was a good, like a good player on all my teams. Never one of the. Like best one or two, but definitely in the top half, all through VAA in ninth grade or eighth to ninth grade, somewhere in there.

[06:05]I shifted from VAA to our AAA, the Rosemont league and Rosemont always had a legit baseball program. And I went from being an above average player to one of the worst players on the team that could barely ever put the ball in play. And it became, it became evident real quick. My career was destined to be an intramural superstar and not ever. Never carrying the real, the real bag, if you will. Well, he's here in intramural superstar.

[06:32]I think that's great. I, you know, I knew my baseball career was done when I showed up and a guy had a mustache. I was like, Oh damn, that guy is so much bigger and so much more mature than me. This is crazy. There's no way this is going to work out now. Yeah. Let's do another clap real quick. When Aaron, Aaron. Oh man. That was cool that we did the album first this time. Let's get to rolling going. Aaron has just stopped. And now Aaron, we've had two questions. Number one. Yeah. What's your dream shake? Because I said, this album is witty Houston.

[07:01]So it's a key millage. I'm telling a joke. Oh, like a, Oh, like a dream shake. Not like a mint, mint Oreo. Yep. Mine's a banana split. Oh, there is a, there's a new burger place in West Oakland and I have not been yet, but they're making a cap and crunch shake. Oh, I'll sign me up. Let's go. I feel like I need to go try that one. I feel like I got to try. Let's throw some peanut butter for these mush.

[07:30]You have a kicks one too. Oh man. I think they just make the cap and crunch one. I got, but I got to check. Yeah. Grape, uh, grape nuts, kicks, Captain Crunch. Yeah. Cause I've got, if you got a kicks and that was your dream shake. If my kid told me that kicks was their dream shake. Okay. I can tell you what they're getting left in a basket in front of the fire station. What if somebody told you that Captain Crunch was your dream shake? That's tasty. Kicks is weird. Kicks is bizarre, but I'm confused. Is it? I think they're the same dream shake. Cause you're doing a Winnie Cooper. Is that a Winnie Cooper joke? Is that what's going on? Uh, no, I explained the joke to you earlier.

[08:00]So please listen again. I said that his album is in witty, witty, witty Houston. Oh, I thought you said Winnie. And I thought you were doing like a Winnie Cooper joke. And you're asking, who's your dream shake? Like who's your dream person? Cause Winnie Cooper was so many guys dream person. God, Aaron, that was sick. That's Aaron. We don't think about it. What? Wasn't she like the main crush? Uh, no, for me, Aaron, it was, uh, Margaret Thatcher. Okay. That's what I'm attracted to actually. Okay.

[08:30]I'm not attracted to women in high school here. That's sick. I didn't. Yeah. Maybe you guys get it all twisted around, but yeah, I got to try this. Captain crunch shake. And I'll let you guys know how it, then my other question is, Aaron is, when did you realize you're bad at basketball? Like, when did that happen? Oh, you know, it was different levels of it. Cause like at St. Olaf, like I was bad, but like everybody still let me play and it was fine. And I was like, yeah, I don't think I was bad. I think I was the worst player on the court very often. I know I was sometimes, but then I started playing at the Southdale Y first year out

[09:03]of undergrad. And it was like, oh, these guys don't like it when I show up. Like, this is not like, this is not fun for them. To be fair though, Aaron, Aaron, at some point in his life was like, oh, I'm an elite musician. So like, if you have something else, you are amazing. It's a lot easier to be like, yeah, I'm not good at it at Legos, but I'm good at this. You know, like it's okay to not, it's okay. To suck at stuff. If you've got one elite skill, but Russell could ball.

[09:31]Oh, well, yeah, that goes without saying. Russell was a gunner, man. We, Russell was, Russell said he was defeated in basketball when he was like five and there was some guy in his block that was six, eight. So I will say though, this guy too was, this was famous where we would play like all the neighborhood kids and everything. And there would always be the kid that would be like, you're only good. Cause you're tall. And then, and then my buddy would take, Oh, sure. Major offense to that and be like, all right, I won't, I won't ever come in the paint.

[10:00]And then he went like 21 to zero. Like it would, it wouldn't matter. Now, can I tell you this, Russell, you said that Aaron had another thing he was good at. So that's why he ducked out of basketball. That's weird because you know, when I got really good at basketball, it was right after I lost my virginity, I knew that I had another calling. What? It was a direct line. Also, I was like a real, I don't get that. Like it was a real sicko thing for me. I was like, cause I was good at it, Russell. Oh, it was even. It was even that like, Oh, I like sports because I'm not good at them.

[10:30]Like it was a real sicko thing. Like, Oh, this is, I'm going to just try harder and that's going to be a thing. So I don't know. It didn't matter to me that I wasn't good. It made me want to do it more. I do feel that way about pornography sometimes, Aaron. You know what I mean? Just where I'm like, I'm like, they've been going so long and they're not even tired. Like they're not sweating on each other. It's crazy. Is that a DVD that you rented from Russell's pornography store where you work? That was, it was, well, yeah. I mean, you guys thought I wouldn't listen, but I did. I did. And you sounded delightful. I just say this, Aaron, if you have a store that rents pornographic DVDs, that would be

[11:02]a bummer. Wouldn't it? Like the guy brings it back and you're like, how was it? He was like, it was great. Yeah. You just read to this 15 minutes ago. Yeah. I would also say, Rob, I also, when you used to play like street football as a kid, we always had like active neighborhood. There was always games going on and I was like, not a good quarterback, but I could play like quarterback. We were playing street football, but I remember getting to St. Olaf play. Like any real football. And I was like, oh, I could play. I could play quarterback.

[11:30]And that lasted for like two drives. You're like, oh no, I can't. Yeah. Well, that's weird. Cause the guys would show up with receiving gloves. So I don't know why you weren't a better quarterback. You'd think it now today's episode is the good vibes episode. Yeah. We have gotten so many voicemails complimenting us. I'm going to play him. I'll play them later, but I'm just going to tell you off the record right now. We got multiple voicemails about Russell's AAU joke and how good it was like literally multiple voicemails. Which is a crazy thing for them to be complimenting.

[12:00]What was the joke? I don't remember. I'll go. We'll talk about it next episode and I'll cut it out. And was it about how if me and my sister both had to plan an AAU competition, she would blow me out of the water. You think that's the joke they thought was so good about planning something? No, no, no. Russell mentioned somebody seeing somebody play somebody and they, people ate it up. So that's how you, Aaron, this is like, this is, you know, who our fans are people who can't do podcasts. It's the same with you in sports. These people are real stars. They could never talk. We are in the, and you're, you're guys, kids, Aaron, your kids are a little young, Matt,

[12:35]Rob, your kids are of the age of like the early teens where it's, it's sports time. My kids are our buddies. Our listeners are in that prime of you. Sports is the most important thing to them without question. I've got three guys here. Oh, and can I say this? This is going to be a positive episode. I feel like our spirit is going to be positive. Our spirits have been down lately on the text chain. So this is the episode where I found stuff to bring us up.

[13:00]I also was going to say it's a clean episode until I wrote this joke. So I apologize. I've got actually the next two jokes. I'm going to apologize for the next two. I've got three guys here who know the greatest love of all is loving yourself. Oh, oh wait. No, I read that wrong. It's loving your shelf that holds the Jack-o-matic 3000 that I read. That's on me. It's loving your shelf. Is it a whole check? I've got Russell. Yeah, the Jack-o-matic. No, the Jack-o-matic 3000.

[13:30]Hey, Jack-o-matic is my dad. You can call me Jack-o-matic 3000. I've got Russell in Minneapolis. Russell, how are you doing? Put that on a shirt, please. Speaking of Jack-o-matic, Rob, I've been saving all my podcasting for you. Wow. Wow. I've got Matt in Minneapolis. Matt, how are you doing? Well, you wanted to make this positive, but, you know, I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadows. So I want to take this opportunity to say this will be my last episode. I'm going on a trip. Not on my own. Just kidding. God damn it.

[14:01]I mean, we really, I don't know. He had us. He had us. He's not going to be in your guys' shadows any longer. He's doing the Matt podcast where he's going to be one episode ahead. Like next episode, he's going to do 251. And for every week, he's just going to say one ahead of us. Damn it. Now, it's way more. All the listeners go to his podcast. Now, I've got Aaron out in California. Now, Aaron, I was telling Aaron about a week ago. I was telling Aaron about a woman who is neither one of our wives. So let's be very clear about this.

[14:30]This is not about one of our wives. This was a woman who does exist, but it's not one of our wives. And she was stung by a bee when she was golfing. And so, you know, we said, where'd you get stung? And she said, well, I got stung between the first and second holes. And I said, well, your stance is too wide. It's the positive episode. Great joke. I'm so hard not to laugh.

[15:00]Great joke. I wanted to tell you that tonight is the night when you're feeling all right and no other man's going to do but not feel nervous to say that. I'm very excited to talk about Whitney Houston. You guys know. So let's do it. Now, let's get right into our voicemail. By the way, we are on a timer up today. We are on a timer up right now. Yep.

[15:30]Check the episode right now. If it says anything over 115, somebody has quit the podcast for real this time. Let's get into our voicemail. Okay. Complimentary movie guy. I already left a voicemail during the early part of Green Day, American Idiot. But now we're going to get to that voicemail later. But I want to play this part first today. Here is a follow up text. I'm the Kevin Harlan voice, if you please. Up high down hard. One, Russ with a few brilliant callback jokes.

[16:01]The AAU Aaron sister joke is gold. The pulling teeth dentist joke is first rate. Two, Rob's shilling video game joke right after that. So funny. Three, Matt, typically the voice of reason, drops a Rob level Ferris Bueller take with American Idiot. Last, the American Idiot episode was fantastic. Yeah. I listen every week. And for about the last three years, I have been questioning why.

[16:31]And then you drop this episode and totally redeem yourself. Only redeem yourself. Keep up the good work, guys. I would be lost without your banter. Not Russ. Wow. Oh. Oh, thanks, Russ. Did he say he, didn't he want that into the Kevin Harlan voice? Up high down hard. From strong side to weak side. The big ticket. The big ticket. Oogly oogly oogly, baby. Hopefully. Fourth quarter, bring it to the ticket. The site I had been using to create those voices when I did Celebrity Voices

[17:02]was shut down in 2023. That's how long it's been since we've done those. I was looking for the Kevin Hart. It was shut. I was like, oh, no, this is very, very depressing. It's too bad that AI is taking such a step back in the last five years. I know. You can't even impersonate celebrities and threaten people anymore. It's crazy. But guys, we are, the podcast is rolling right now. We are on a roll. Aaron, I was saying this is episode 249. We are close to the Rubicon here. And I feel like we are picking up a little bit of steam.

[17:32]Even the little short thing we did before the Johnny Cash thing. I was like, we get on, we're hitting. And I'll tell you, we got tons of voicemails. You know, saying that John from Edina is on full time. That was great. Matt, we're not joking about that anymore. Well, that might be a truth coming up here. Because we do have our busy time of year. We are together tonight on a weeknight. So once again, this is a Rush episode. But I want to say thank you to everybody out there who sends us nice. But not a Rush episode. When's Rush on that list? Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Monday morning. XXY, I think, is the first one.

[18:01]That is going to be, and you know what? I mean, you know, to me, Aaron, Rush is on my Mount Rushmore. Not on your Mount Rush-less. That was a much bigger Brendan and Jerron Rush. Isn't that right? So it's the High School Brothers, the AU Stars. Yeah, Brendan, Jerron, and Kareem. UCLA, you just see? I saw. I saw. I saw Brendan Rush blow out his knee live on, like, opening night of the, I don't remember

[18:30]what season, against Memphis. Bringing it to you, a complimentary movie, guys. Eat the slop. Eat the slop. It really is sick that, like, our maps. Kareem was the one lefty. Oh, yeah. Oh, God. Who cares? Nobody cares. Yeah. Nobody cares about anything. Everyone cares. So many people care about this. It really matters. So anyway, as we approach episode 250, I just wanted to thank everybody who listens. Because, of course, for 250, we've got a huge, spectacular episode planned. Lots of guests. Okay? People coming in and out. It's going to be just absolute, halfway spectacular. We're halfway done with this shit.

[19:01]We barely have to do it. No one knows when it's happening. So, yeah. And it might not happen for four weeks. We'll look at our schedules. We'll see. We might have John in here instead of me. But that is it. Listen, let's get into, and I'll tell you what. Can I just say this right now? We have, oh, I'm back on my computer. I don't know where any button is. We are. Are we not going to a multiple voicemail? It's time to see what everybody's up to. Oh, you want that one, too? I can play that one for you. Guys, so here's the thing.

[19:30]When you tell me that I need to be in a timer for an episode, and then you do stuff like this, it's sending conflicting messages. That just means that you need to tell less jokes, and Russell needs to interrupt less, and Aaron needs to not talk about food so much, and I need to stop talking so much. No. You know what? You're right. Let's play the second voicemail. We need to listen to our fans. That's what we need to listen to. I don't have any good food takes right now. I did eat a whole burrito on Monday night. Super burrito. See? That's the stuff. We don't need to hear it. Hour 15. Shut the shit down. Hit the music.

[20:00]Aaron ate a burrito. Hit the music. I get it, but the difference between a whole burrito and a burrito hole is so big. You know what I mean? Like, if you came home with a bunch of burrito holes, and it's like, it's the part of the burrito they take out, and you're like, well, that's, there's, you don't take out. I'm just going to play the first part of the voicemail. Complimentary movie goer here. Just calling in to say Rob is right. Play the sounder. About the moron note. Super funny. Rob is right about the moron note.

[20:33]Rob is hitting the moron note. Oh, he's saying it's okay. Has been hitting. Yeah, and you'll, guys, you'll never believe. I came home and talked to my wife, and I talked to her about me leaving the moron school note. You'll never believe it. She was a big fan. She thought it was great. So she and I are destined to be together. You're saying we wouldn't believe that you talked to your wife? Match made in heaven. She listened to me for a little bit. And then she, and then she clapped her, clapped her pants and was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, squad, yeah, world record.

[21:03]You're not kidding. That was literally the dog's intro to the apartment is her screaming before a bench press. All right, let's get into Roland going. All that chalk can't be good for a small dog. It's time to see what everybody's up to. It's time for Roland. There's no way I breathe. Breathe? No. I breath so much talc just with Jenny. And then. And then. She's like sniffing. She's, she's breathed in all this talc and she's sniffing ammonia like crazy.

[21:31]I'm sorry. You got it. Is, is the past tense of breathe breathed? I didn't know. Yeah. What do you take a breath? I didn't. Hello. I know. I never knew that. I didn't know. That's what I should be saying. That's not real. Right. That's not real. Oh, I breathed. Yeah. I love your breaths. Now Roland go on Aaron. How's it going with you? Wow. It's going great. There's so much. There's so much happening. And then I get here on rolling going. I draw a blank, but I do. It's been a while since I gave any recommendations.

[22:01]This new Dijon record. Have you guys listened to Dijon yet? Nope. It is fantastic. And a friend of mine said the first track is baby. I like freak it. And I like higher. This is a super fun record. My favorite part of it though, is that I had. I discovered this. I mean, discovered for me because I was out walking the dog.

[22:31]And so somebody described it as digitally refracted Prince, which I think is fantastic and rich. Hey, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Yeah. It's described as what digitally refracted Prince. Oh, okay. I get it now. This is a person I know who texted that to me. So I got to give him a shot. Pat shout out to you for being clever. He doesn't listen to the podcast, but my favorite part about it was that, I was out walking the dog in the neighborhood and ran up on a friend of mine.

[23:04]He was in his car and I stopped to chat him up for a minute. And then I said, Hey man, what do you listen to? And he was like, oh, it's this album by Dijon. You would like, you should check it out. And then like a week or two later, my brother texted a group text and was like, this new Dijon record is cool. It's making the rounds on like, you know, the internet, whatever. And I was like, I had a legitimate organic music discovery of this. Like I was. It was in, it was playing from someone's car. And I walked by to talk to him and he was like, you just check this out.

[23:31]And I was so stoked that that was how I came upon this album. Cause it's been so long with the internet and whatever else is going on in the world that you just discover something cause it's playing from your buddy's car. So this, I don't know. That's what, that's, what's going on with me, man. I was, I'm still talking about a time machine. That's like going back to high school, isn't it? I mean, think about how much music you discovered by riding along in somebody's car. Like that's how I know all Garth Brooks. I know all nineties country by being in my buddy, Tim's car. That's how I know all outcast. Yeah. Yeah. Whose car, whose car was playing the outcast, Matt?

[24:00]Oh, Kevin, who now has 11 kids. He had a pretty good system. Oh my God. Kevin 11. Mike 11. 11. Mike. Goodbye. Outcast over, Kevin 11. Mike from the 72nd Avenue Yacht Club. When you want to hear about the greatest albums of all time. I also, you know, he had a system. Listen to that. Dwayne. Dwayne was the point guard of the football basketball team. He always was quoting outcasts. So those guys are the main ones. That's fun. Outcast family tree. I did also see a show Monday night. I missed you guys. I'm sorry, but I was not used.

[24:30]You, I was not actually with my family. I went to San Francisco to the Warfield to hear the clips on the let God sort them out tour. And the opener was earth gang who are kind of in the outcast family tree. I think play FICO. I believe it was cousin of former WWF challenger to the title earthquake. Yes. Now, wait a minute. No, no, no, no. And their other cousin, another challenger for the title, the one man gang.

[25:00]Oh, so Russell, by your thinking. Yeah. Earthquake and earth gang are related because they have the same first name and the one man gang. This makes the same last name. Now, Russell, guess what? You got me. I've come all the way back around. In some countries, the first name is the surname. I mean, it just depends on the, how the language works. That joke is like a cash register. I fixed. It started to make a lot of sense. There we go. But, but earth gang was fun. They were a fun opener, but you guys listen to this. I go to the show. Which one do you want me to call play?

[25:30]Wait a minute. Fico. Whatever you want. Well, if I go by the clips, the clips was the headliner. Oh, earth gang was the opener. You don't have to go through the whole soundtrack. And there is something that is pretty entertaining about a good, a credit score song. Oh, dude, it is a good credit score song. And we go to the Warfield in San Francisco. We got a super carnita, super burrito first. Psycho the money wouldn't come faster than a show. Fascinating doors are at seven shows at eight.

[26:02]Earth King goes on exactly at eight o'clock. They came out. They were fun. They played for like 35 minutes, did a quick set. They were like, flips is coming up. Lips goes on at nine Oh five. They came out of their brothers. They just, they it's just the two dudes, their DJ, some video screens. They wrap, just wrap all their wraps for about an hour and five minutes shows over a 10, 15, a whole crowd loves it. I get home by 11. I got home exactly at 11:00 PM.

[26:31]Like go to a show, get home exactly at 11, very grown up experience. Loved it. It was really wonderful. Love it. Love it. Love it. That is the one thing about rap shows, right? Is like the, you realize that these longer songs, right? Are absolutely produced because no, no rapper can go for a four minute wrap on anything. No. Yeah. They just can't keep up. They didn't do a lot of ad living. They didn't do any overdubbing. Like they just really came out and wrapped their verses and they were like,

[27:01]cool, we're done. And I was like, that's great. I caught a contact. It was very nice. So what was it for me? Monday night, Matt, what's the best rap show you've ever seen? I've only been to one, so I only have one answer. I don't know if I, I mean the best rap show I ever saw. I saw Snoop dog at, uh, the caboose. Oh yeah. I remember that's cool. You know, so we were like four people deep and, and it was unbelievable. It was unbelievable to see Snoop. And then Warren G was there and stuff like that. But the worst show I ever saw,

[27:31]I can't believe that happened in my own town. Yeah. This guy named Skizzy Mars, um, had a great album in like 2010, 2011. And I can't remember what it is, but I listened to it forever. And all of a sudden he was playing to the caboose. So I went to see Skizzy Mars, the caboose, and it was like a 45 minute show. And like the, the greatest songs that he had, he, he played like two of the verses, one refrain and was done kind of a thing. He didn't even get to sing. He didn't even get to sing. He couldn't do it, but he was like a newer, younger guy. And it was the worst. And that's when I realized like,

[28:00]Oh, this is, this is how it always goes. Kind of a thing. But I've never like seen outcasts, you know, things like that. I got to try to get some. Now I've only been to one rap show, of course. And that was DMX. I saw him in the bottom of a hotel in Vermont. Oh yeah. And I went and it absolutely ripped. He got up on the speaker. It still is one of my favorite concerts. And he would bring up people who had DMX tattoos. And he brought up, literally, I bet six people to the stage throughout the concert. Multiple people there had DMX tattoos.

[28:31]I love DMX. I did have an experience at Sunday morning basketball. This song came on at Sunday morning basketball. And there were dudes who were like really vibing out over it. And then I was like, Oh, Hey, I listened to the clips too. And they were not like, they were not interested in hearing my opinions. So I had to just, I had to keep quiet. I was like, Oh yeah, cool. I'm going to just. This guy with the long shorts over there listens to clips. Yeah. But we got to keep moving. How's it rolling going with Russell? Rolling on.

[29:00]Things are going good. I had a experience the other night. Do you guys ever go out and have some drinks and then get yourself into something? You don't want to get yourself into like a future commitment. Oh yeah, dude. That's what happens. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. The next hang gets planned at the current hang. And sometimes you're more, more pumped about it in the moment than you are in the future. Yes. Aaron, just take him here. Tell a story where it's happened to you. You know what I'm talking about? I just know that you're like, yeah, you're out, you're having some drinks and someone says, Oh, we should go do this thing.

[29:31]And then you go like, yeah, I want to go do that thing. I want to go to the roots game. I want to go. And then you, you get even more excited about it. You're, you're pushing it forward more than anyone else even is. Yep. And then you think like you go home and go to sleep and you think like, ah, nobody's that's not, that's, that's over. That's done. And then the next day someone texts you, Hey, I bought the tickets to that thing. And you're like, Oh, all right. I guess I'm in for it. Aaron, you get that text that says the ring you gave me as a binding contract legally in the state of Minnesota. And you're like, what? Where am I?

[30:00]You know, I was up late recording an intro to Johnny Cash. I don't remember the rest of the night. You know, Rob made a text or a text on the text chain about how, uh, two years is a long time to be dating. Or what was your text? Rob? What was that? Taylor Swift got engaged after only two years. I mean, I would probably get engaged after two years. If, if the upstairs roommate had a brother-in-law who was a successful podcast, host. That's, that's the best joke ever told in the podcast. I enjoy that joke too.

[30:30]Yeah. Cause why wouldn't I? Why would you? Right. It's a fun joke. All right, Russell, I want to hear what, what you got yourself into after some drinks. Oh, so I went out. I forgot about that. This is a upstairs roommate. It's got a kind of a crew of good friends. We go out every few months. I would say they're, they're very fun people. Everyone's super nice. We always have a good time and everything. How many are there? Russell? There are six total. So three couples, six. Yeah. All right. So who's, who's the worst one? I mean, Oh yeah. But maybe two, you can name two. There's no worse ones.

[31:00]There are times where the two guys start getting a little political and that's just not my idea. Are they all married? Are these three married couples? Actually, none of them are. Oh, but then you're pipe and smoke it, man. I see why this group works. Yeah. It's a fuck fest. Do any of them, do any of them have a yeah. Pineapple socks. When they're going out. So anyways, this is a group though. We usually go out and get dinner somewhere and then the night never ends. It's never dinner in home. It's,

[31:30]it's, it's bar bouncing until, until someone gives up. And I am usually the one that calls it quits. Like the other four, it's 2 a.m. And they go back to someone's house and they keep going. What age are these people? I, our age, 19. They're in the forties. Our age. Yes. What the fuck? It's amazing. Can you imagine? I stayed up to like 11 the other day. Cause a new video game came out that I wanted to play. I was dying. It's 11 o'clock right now. It's it's, it's almost midnight where you're at.

[32:00]What do you mean? You stayed up till 11. I don't have school tomorrow. All I have tomorrow is an appointment with my cardiologist. So I don't think this is going to possibly go wrong. Yeah. I don't know. She keeps wanting to see me. I know. Oh, don't worry. I'm sure it'll be good news. The cardiologist is like the dentist. Every other one is good news. You know what I mean? Like, oh, we don't know. We can't see anything. We need an x-ray. Oh, we got to take x-rays again. That's another 250 bucks. Yeah. When I get into the cardiologist and she starts scanning, I'm fucked. So we went out and we,

[32:30]we went to dinner at one 12 eatery. Super cool spot to go to. Then we started wandering. Upstairs or downstairs? Of course. It's a much better sit upstairs. Much more fun. Yep. We go and we start wandering. We ended up at like a dive bar, which was a younger crowd. Cuzies. Did you go to cuzies? I'm not even saying where we went, Matt. Oh, it was like a younger crowd. Type of dive bar. We're talking like a cowboy jacks type thing. So not the escape altar lounge. No, we, we almost went into something like that. And Russ put the veto on.

[33:01]I'm like, well, I'm not doing that shit. But anyways, we ended up going, we ended up at black sheep pizza. Late guys. Hey, is it still coal fired? Coal fired. Oh, that pizza is good. The amazing thing is you would never expect like a pizza shop to be open till two 30 with the bar and, and everything open all night. Right. Love it. Wow. And, and when you go in, it's got like a pizza shop vibe. So it's not like a club, but they got good drinks.

[33:30]They got like a menu of like 10 solid drinks. So it was, it was great. So we're having fun, but I can get fucking hammered like a gentleman in here. And just soak it in. Yes. Distinguished gentlemen. So, but these are guys where a one or two of them will, they'll tie one on. And I'm the type of guy where if there's someone else that's, willing to like go, you got it. I'm go, I'm going. Yeah. And so I got a little, a little liquored up and everything. And these guys have been talking about, about doing a Japanese whiskey tasting for quite a while.

[34:03]That like one guy has started collecting Japanese whiskey. Wow. And I was like, I'm in, but then I started pushing it even further. Like, when are we doing this? It's going to be awesome. And everything. Yeah. Woke up the next morning, realized I have committed myself to go to a Japanese whiskey tasting in like a month. Okay. Do you need some suggestions? Because I just had a Takamine eight year. Do I need suggestions on how to get out of it? I'll send you a bottle. I got some good ideas.

[34:31]Aaron literally, when we were in Vegas, he's like, Oh yeah, this is one of my favorite Japanese whiskeys. I'll never forget. I was like, fuck me. I was like, he's living the real life here. You're ready. I was ready to go back to the disco. I am ready. I am. I do get it. So Russell, we need some cannabis this time. We were, without. Okay. Aaron, let's just relax a little bit. Just bleep it. Whatever. Jesus Christ. Hey, what if my boss listens to this? Hey,

[35:00]she probably loved the joke I opened with and hated that part. Oh, that's if Rob's boss listens to this, we've got to, we've got to turn this. No, no, no. What if she's listening to this while she's stretching Rob out when he pulls his hamstring again? Oh, I thought you were going to say violation right there. While she's watching one of the DVDs for Russell's place. I'm suspicious because I saw them and the HR person at my school at a concert together and they were holding out.

[35:30]I don't know. I, it's a separate thing. Yeah, it was. So Russell, when is the, when is the tasting? It's like in October. So these guys were ready to go in like a week or two weeks, but I am a, I can only see people so many times. Like I can't do, I can't do multiple times in a month. It's too much for me. I think a Japanese whiskey tasting would be a 90, a Thanksgiving activity or a Christmas lead up activity. You could push this to the holidays. I'm just helping Russell push this out for him. I'm trying to help Russell push it out for him.

[36:01]You think a good Thanksgiving activity is a Japanese whiskey tasting? Fuck yeah. Why not? Drink some, eat a bunch of Turkey and then be like, cool. I've got a good base of Turkey and gravy and shit. And I'm going to drink some whiskey now. You know what? I got a retracted Aaron. You know what? Could you do that backwards? Like the guitar? That's exactly what I was going to do. That's exactly what I'm looking for. Actually, I'm so sick of you. And I thought of the same joke and figure out how to do it backwards, but that would have been really good. Either ways. I'm sure I will have fun and everything,

[36:31]but I, I, I do not like, I've got a major problem with planning things in advance. I don't like planning anything in advance anymore. I'm willing to go somewhere. If you give me like an hour's notice, but planning something like six weeks out is too much for me to handle. So I don't know, Matt, Rob, do you guys ever go out and get yourself stuck? And something that you're, even if you're going to have fun, you don't really want to do it. I see that all the time. So now I'm so defensive against that, that I just, I don't,

[37:00]I'm with you, Russell. Like somebody like, Hey, you want to golf next Friday? I'm like, well, that sounds great. Let me, let me look. Ooh, man, I got to work, you know, kind of thing. Let me know if you guys still go and I'll, you know, but like, yeah, I'll make up any excuse not to hang out with people. For me, Russell really vacillates back and forth. Even if it's people you would like to hang out with. And you know, you're going to have fun with, there's something about it. I've just, I've got the phobia about setting plans in advance. You know what fucking rules my house and my stuff.

[37:30]That's what I like. It's mine. I like it. I like being there. No shame in that Russell. The other thing, the other thing, this is at someone's house. We've talked about, I'm not into that. I would a thousand times over a thousand, rather meet someone at a bar, meet someone at a game, meets, do anything outside, I don't like going to people's houses. I feel like I'm imposing. I feel like I can't be myself. I would much rather meet in a public place. Sometimes you can't leave. Yes. The older you get, the more walking into somebody's house that you haven't walked into before is,

[38:03]gives you a bad feeling. It's, it's, it's just no good. Shut it down. Rolling, going. Man, I was going with you. No, there's no jokes to tell from that one. It just is what it is. I'm just going to say, Russell, I'm shocked that you're, you're having trouble with commitment right now with long-term stuff. That's just, yeah, to me, I'm just going to seem like you at all. It's not a strange. Yeah. Very much out of character for the positive episode. We're going too hard. I, uh, I did something today.

[38:30]I never thought I'd do guys. Whoa. Oh my God. What happened? I sold my little blue truck. You sold it. A little blue truck. I did. You had a truck. What was it? It was a little, it was a 1989 Isuzu pickup. Oh my God. Look up, look up and then put in, you've talked about this before. You're like, as stupid as the gear used to have aired in a red one. I had a red Chevy S10. And before that I had an 88 Ford Ranger like that with that blue on right there.

[39:01]Look at that one. Oh my God. This is not even a four by four. This is a, wait, this one. Was it a, was it a manual transmission? Manual. Oh, it was the small, it was the 2.3, four, you know, it was a four cylinder five speed. If there was, if there was two people in it, you know, that Hill going up to Burnsville, if you're taking 35 W South and you go over the river and you start heading up the Hill, I just hang on. Yeah. There's, we've been doing this podcast for now more than five years.

[39:32]And I will say like Matt, you and I didn't really become fast friends until the first year we went to Vegas together, but that's still been almost 10 years ago now. Yep. And we'd be doing the podcast together for five years. And I've never knew that you had this truck. I think he's brought it up. I'll send you the picture. I've heard it. I've heard it. I've heard it before. Yeah. I feel like I didn't know when you guys are talking. The third one. Excuse me. When you get, excuse me. When you guys are talking, I listen to me. Sorry. Bullshit. I feel terrible that I never knew you had this beautiful thing,

[40:01]but you must've had a good reason to sell it though. I trust you. Well, it gets a little, it gets a little deep, but here I'm trying to send you the pictures quick. I want you to look at the speedometer. I will. Bad boy. Once you get it. So, and I've had, this is the third Isuzu pickup I've had. My first truck ever, when I got my license, my dad bought me a 1989, a red one. He bought it because it was the smallest truck you could have. So we could drive it. I had my brother. But these are all four by fours.

[40:30]These are way bigger than what I've got. You let me know when you got, when you see the pictures that I texted over to you. I had the 1980 in high school. Again, you couldn't get yourself in trouble. And then I had one, maybe it was like right after college. I had one in 91. It was like a beige one. And then I got rid of that. And then I had like an Explorer and something else. And I was like, I told Sarah one time, in 2013, I was like, Hey, if I ever find a little truck, I just, I miss being able to just throw a snowblower or, or, you know, go pick up some mulch or something like that.

[41:00]You know, things like that. If I ever find one under 1200 miles or 120 miles, 120,000 miles, I'm going to, I'm going to buy it under 1200 bucks. I'm going to buy it. So I just happened to be checking Craigslist in 2015, September of no, 2014, September, 2014. And I got on in 20 minutes. You know, I was on in 20 minutes before I got on. Somebody posted this blue truck in Wisconsin. It was at their cabin. Can you see what the speedometer says on it right now? Let's see. I can. Yeah. 110.

[41:30]Oh, two, two miles. Oh, that's the, that's just for the gas fill up. Look right above that. 55,000 miles. Yeah. So that's great. Actual 55,000. Way to run that thing back before you sell it, Matt. Right. No, when I bought it 2014, the guy legitimately, the, the, the Craigslist ad said 51,000 miles. I just, I'm selling my cabin. I got to get rid of this. What do you just, and maybe some people, a lot of people know, but do you get, guess Aaron, how much I bought it for in 2014,

[42:01]21,000 miles, uh, $1,600. Shit. Aaron, Aaron is erect right now. Aaron is fully hard. Yeah. A hundred percent. I can't even. 500 bucks. $500. $500. $500. Oh my God. So I, I got it. And it called it. And it said, call only no, no emails called. So I called the guy like 20 minutes later. I'm like, this is be the, I've had two of these. I'll be up there tomorrow at 9.

[42:31]A.m. You know, I got a driver. I'm coming, you know, so Sam from Northfield, who kid I coached, I'm like, he wasn't doing anything. He's playing for the saints. Saints season was over. So I'm like, Hey, I pay you 50 bucks to drive with me and get this. Who did that? Saints. Nobody. Nobody. Yeah. So we drove up there, drove up there and he goes, you know, we have to pay tax on this. So I have to charge you five 30. And I'm like, sure. Sounds good. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of a thing. And then he said, then he goes, he said, and I've had hundreds of emails about this.

[43:01]Yeah. And I just said, I just paused one of the phone calls, but you were first. So a deal is a deal. So I walked out at bad boy with 500 bucks. So I've had that thing for 11 years on September 14th. It would have been 11 years. And I put legitimately like 4,500 miles on it. You know, every mile fun. Well, and it wasn't all me, but like, you know, my buddy Steve from Richfield, you guys know Steve from Richfield. He, not that Steve, this is the other Steve. Is this the Steve?

[43:30]Is this the Steve that was getting like triple whiskey shots and giving it to us? Like it was nothing in Vegas and tried to kill us. No, that's Wade. That was Wade. Yeah. Um, but like, you know, he, he was like, Hey, my car's down, you know? So what I'm like, well, Hey, borrow the little blue, like tens of times people have just borrowed the truck. When they've had a car like in, or, you know, for whatever reason. So it's been a glorious 11 years. It's only got 55,000 miles on it. I put it up for sale for 2,300 bucks because that was low enough,

[44:04]low enough that I thought I'd get a bunch of calls, but not too high. Like somebody was like, well, you know, this might need new tires. It's a plausible first offer. Yeah. It's 2,300 bucks kind of thing. So I had about eight calls in about four, four hours kind of a thing, emails and, and Wayne who used to live in Richfield, 63rd and Oliver came down from rush city. Now there's a rush city and rush city thing. And they got rid of, yeah, he got out of here when George,

[44:30]you know, I had to get out of there with George. I'm like, okay, sure. But you know, it all comes back. It all comes back to my new love in life. Oh, the, the Jack-o-matic three. Okay. Okay. That's the surfer now, you know? And so I got to get a surf boat and it's not to pay for the surf, but I need to, I need to bring my other boat from North Dakota down here so that I can trade it in at some point to get my surf boat to then bring back up there. And I think I got to do it in the fall because I'm not gonna be able to get into there in the winter kind of a thing.

[45:01]Cause nobody plows up there kind of a thing. So I just needed the, I needed the garage space. And also I just, it was time. Like I don't drive it and nobody uses it anymore. And my brother's got a truck and my dad's got a truck, things like that. So it was just time. Well, man, always congratulations on selling a car four times while you bought it. You bought a four. Okay. I've never been more excited on this. Literally unheard of. Okay. I'm just, I'm so like, if, if I knew a guy bought a car for that price, you would think it's like,

[45:30]you know, like 11 years later too. How about 11 years? He's been having sex with an 85 year old woman for like 10 years. And that's how he got this car for such a price. Like a sugar, like a sugar. Like a sugar grandma. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? Oh, okay. Nevermind. Yeah. So that's, that took up a lot more time than I thought we're at. I don't know. What are we at? 51 minutes. We got to, we got to really, don't worry about me. I'm, I'm passing on my role and going today because I have a, I have a long list that I think is more interesting. Give us one good one. I will say this.

[46:00]I am going to say this. Cause I, I like, I do think the podcast for me is kind of a historical document. I'm just going to say this. Kids and I and wife saw lady Gaga on Friday night. Oh, how was it? Spectacular in the truest sense of the word. She comes out in a dress that is, two stories tall. Wow. There is fire everywhere. There's dancers, truly a true spectacle, like crazy. And I'm telling you when she played the bangers guys, they were legit bangers. But the most impressive thing was my youngest knew we were going from the

[46:33]beginning of the summer. She knew every single word she prepped in that concert work because she put in the work and listened to it. And it was like this whole like musical ride for my now, you know, freshmen in high school, daughter, like listening and getting prepared for the concert. And I was just, it was so fun and so happy and so fucking expensive. So she will not be going to college anywhere. She will be staying at home. Yeah. See lady Gaga,

[47:00]Madison square garden. You are fucked. What? Yeah, no. So Madison square garden, that was number one, two. And it's an honest question. Was it sold out? Was it sold out at Madison? I don't think so. The Jenny said prices went way down the day before. Of course she told me that she's like, by the way, prices went way down yesterday. I could have gotten these tickets for way cheaper. Thank you for telling me that. Cause she hasn't come out with a new album or anything lately. Has she like, no, she's been touring for a little bit. Yeah. It feels like she's like getting a little over the hill a little bit. So I don't know. I it's, I, I thought the show was great,

[47:31]but it definitely was like, you know, a little bit shorter versions of poker face and stuff like that. Whereas when we saw her on the, cause we saw her, the other tour we saw her on was at city field. And that was on the Jolene tour, which was a total flop. And so we got super close, super cheap tickets. And that was really fun. Cause it was in a basement. It was a baseball stadium. Madison square garden is not my favorite place to see a concert, but how big was her? How big was her band? Like what was the band she was working with? It was, you know what? They were on balconies and you couldn't see him as well.

[48:00]I couldn't like, I saw a drummer playing, but I could not tell you how many people were in her band. I bet it was, you know, eight, but they had like two drum techs there the whole time, which I thought was kind of crazy. Cause the guy was going, cause the show was a lot of costume changes. So there's a lot of musical interludes. How big was the band? I'm a big band fan. It was, I love a big band. It was a blue, it was as big as those purple bands. Cause those are the most guys.

[48:30]That was a joke for my resistance band heads out there. They know what I'm talking about. That was a dark blue. Wasn't that's the thickest. I don't, I don't work out anymore now. Oh, here's the deal. Is this a music podcast? This is a music podcast. And I have a list inside this section, which is where I wanted to spend my time. But this album, Whitney Houston by Whitney Houston. Do you mean this album?

[49:00]Oh, you did it. Oh, you did it. Russell. Russell. Nice job. I've had that one for a while. Oh, okay. This album. First of all, this is the only Whitney Houston album on the list. I'm just going to say that right now. How is the, the bodyguard soundtrack not on here? I was waiting on the second album. Probably. Yeah. Second one's probably on here too. So I want to kind of give you a background of Whitney Houston because she's really fascinated. Actually becomes a fashion model in 1980 after being spotted at Carnegie

[49:33]hall. Literally somebody saw her and she became a model. She's that gorgeous. They realized she's a good singer, but she almost lands the role of Denise Huxtable in the Cosby show. She, she had the role and she says that she didn't take it. Right. And so think about that. So she could have been on the Cosby show. Then they hire, they get her on the label. She doesn't start an album immediately. So what does she do? They were trying to gather the right materials for her.

[50:00]She starts working with Jermaine Jackson, record some duets, including a country ballad called nobody's loves you like loves me. Like you do. The song is a hit on the hot country. It goes all the way up to like number 10 on the hot country. So already she's a hit before. She even comes out with her first album. This is album is released in a Valentine's day of 1985. And she's how old it 21 is 22, 22 years old, 22 or 21. Yeah. And so then this album though,

[50:31]slowly builds momentum and gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And it becomes top of the charts. And it took 55 weeks. There's only one album that took longer to get to the top of charts, by the way, 55 weeks. Think about that. An album is cooking for a year. That's like almost a year. And that Fleetwood Macs is the only other album. They're self, they're self-titled album is the only one they did it in 58 weeks to get to the top. This album's up there for 14 non-consecutive weeks. And that brings me to tonight's list.

[51:02]I want to talk about what were the top albums in 1986. We're going to talk about that right now, because I am fascinated by this list. So here are the number one albums in order starting off the year. Number one album. Miami vice soundtrack.

[51:32]Wow. By Jan hammer. Now I got to show you, we have, I know we have watched this before. Have you seen the video on this song? Yes. Jan hammer. This is a, the music video where it's, it's just an episode of Miami vice. And then in the middle, it's just a guy watching the show and playing the keyboard to the song. Oh yeah. Wow. It's the craziest video I've ever seen. This was a number one song in the nation.

[52:00]And at this time, this meant. Go ahead here. Well, this meant that people were buying physical copies of this Miami vice. That's how, that's how big Miami vice was. This is the last instrument, instrumental, number one song in the country until the Harlem shake in 2013. So next up, I've never, never seen the show and never heard that song in my life. Nope. Never heard it. And I'm,

[52:34]I'm with these guys. Never heard it. I mean, I know of the show, but I've never heard this song. Yeah. The Miami vice theme song is such a huge part of my life. It would never occur to me that you guys wouldn't know that song. Never do the song. Never seen the show. But that was like a show that our parents, our parents watched when we went to bed or whatever. Like that wasn't Michael Thomas. No, I know the show, but it's like, that was like, Oh, kids can't watch this. Like mom and dad are watching. That's like my most exposure to highlight was the intro to Miami vice. Had people playing highlight in it for three weeks after that.

[53:02]Number one, album Broadway album by Barbara Streisand. Barbara Streisand comes back to sing Broadway classics. The writer of this song, sending the clowns, Stephen Sondheim. Leave me all with the memories. Sorry. Don't ever be sorry. Stephen Sondheim writes extra lyrics. Stephen Sondheim. Are you sure it's not Stefan? Stephen Sondheim.

[53:30]Sondheim. Sondheim. Stephen Sondheim wrote extra lyrics for this version of the song for Barbara Streisand. Wow. So this album is number one for three weeks. Crazy. Is this Sinatra that does the other one or? Yeah, he does a great version. Yeah. Krusty the clown. We got to do in high school choir. We got to do sending the clowns. Aaron, you remember my high school choir. I do. I know a lot about your high school choir. Amazing, amazing song. I've always loved sending the clowns. Didn't Krusty the clown do it too on the Simpsons? Oh, for sure.

[54:00]A hundred percent. Now, so, so Russell, you're saying that if I came to a high school concert, I could see it when you were in high school, I could have seen sea shanties followed by sending the clowns. Meanwhile, my choir, we're just doing the Miami vice soundtrack. Yes. We don't sing that. God, would that be funny as fuck or what? It is. Our director. And you just have everybody up there and you just play on your keyboard, the Miami vice soundtrack. God damn, that'd be funny. Next up two weeks promised by Sade, which of course has the sweetest taboo. This,

[54:31]this album is not on the list, right? No, this is the one who's skimmed, but this was number one. And then she hit number one again in 2010. They have the record for the longest gap between number one albums. Sade. This is a great Sade song. We just have 23 years between number one albums. It's crazy. Why can't. And then next one for two weeks, or then it's Whitney Houston for six weeks. Then for three weeks,

[55:01]51 50. And a band we have not heard yet. Wow. Van Halen. But this is Van Hagar. This is the first album with Sammy Hagar. 51 50 is Eddie Van Halen's recording. Studio, which is also the police code for insane person. If you want to know if Eddie Van Halen was corny, then Whitney Houston again for another eight weeks, number one album in 1986.

[55:30]And then for two weeks, Janet Jackson control. Oh yeah. Of course, Russell, which song the pleasure principle. Amazing. I had forgotten. This is where pleasure principles. I know that guy. Then for three weeks, the next biggest, the top album in the nation, the top top gun soundtrack originally supposed to be saying by photo.

[56:04]Then Corey Hart says he was approached to sing it. And so was the lead singer from REO speed wagon, but it was too high. They gave it to Kenny Loggins. This is a great song. It's really great. It's awesome. It's awesome. Then for six weeks, we have an album dedicated to Sean Penn. What? Madonna. True blue.

[56:30]Literally dedicated to Sean Penn. So funny. I'd forgotten that whole thing. There is, there is part of this Whitney Houston album that is almost two eighties. It feels very Madonna. The production, the production, right? Yeah. It's very, very dated. Yeah. Now, imagine this. You've had Whitney Houston, Van Halen, Janet Jackson, Madonna, topping the list. And all of a sudden in October, right around Halloween, right around the spooky time of the season.

[57:00]What about September 27th? Oh, I'm skipping something, man, to speed things up. What? We've got slippery. Well, what was September 27th? Dancing on the ceiling by Lionel Richie. It's a good one. What? Most famous, of course, for being an American Idol judge. Now we have, I disagree. Around Halloween. Aaron Cole, Richie's dad. Aaron, you go to a house around Halloween, 1986, and instead of giving you candy, they give you the number one album. Slippery when wet on Jovi.

[57:33]And I'm listening to this. How would we not have this album on the list? You give love a bad name, living on a prayer, wanted dead or alive. By the way, check out this alternative Japanese album. It's too popular for the, for the New Yorksters. Yeah. This is everything Rolling Stone doesn't want. This is so good. And then finally, the last five weeks of 1986

[58:00]is closed out by the second best selling live album of all time in the U.S. And it's an album, it's the first album to debut at number one since Stevie Wonder's Key of Life in 1976. It's Bruce Springsteen Live, which is a five CD collection. A five CD collection was the number one album for the last five weeks of 1986. Oh, he's covering Edwin Starr here. That's funny. Yeah. This is one of the singles. What's that?

[58:30]Springsteen always covers some soul tunes. He does sound good. So folks, just to give you an idea of what we're doing with Whitney Houston, those were the top songs of 1986. Wow. Okay. Thanks for setting the stage, Rob. She was up there for 14 non-consecutive weeks at number one. This is the best selling album of 1986. It's got three number one singles. This is the first debut album and the first album by a solo female artist to produce three number one singles. And she got four Grammy noms. And listen to this.

[59:01]When she was coming out, famously for a Grammy, she's cheered by Dionne Warwick, who opened the envelope. Earlier at a different award show, Diana Ross said, quote, she's the most promising female vocalist. So when you have, Diana Ross, I mean, her nickname literally is the voice. Yeah. Did her mom, was it her mom that sang with Dionne Warwick? Her aunt. Yeah. Her aunt. Yeah. Okay. However, she did not win a Grammy for best new artist

[59:32]because guess what? She had released those duets with Jemaine Jackson before this album came out. Technicality. So she's not a new artist in 1986. She was the year before. They must've changed those rules because Sabrina Carpenter's on like her sixth, sixth album and she was nominated this year. I'm just telling you, look it up. It's the way it is. Same thing happened to Richard Marks. And then, yeah, second album was named Whitney, which I think is hilarious. And let's get into the album.

[60:01]You Give Good Love. Aaron, I always thought that Sabrina would have been eliminated after her teenage witch days. You would think, right? She's already been out there for the teenage witch. What's wild about this is the first note of the synths, this sucks. And then she comes in. Perfection. It almost doesn't fit, does it? Like the production feels like a Cyndi Lauper album to me. Yeah. Yeah. But it's like,

[60:30]as soon as her voice hits, you're like, well, I'm going to listen to this. Yeah. It's such a crazy voice. You Give Good Love. How would you rank your guys on your lovemaking ability? One through 10. Six and a half. I think we've had this conversation before. I'll say four. You said four too, Aaron. What'd you say, Russ? I was just going six and a half for a callback for the text chain. I'll get you back. Aaron, you don't want to say how good. This is about you, Aaron. I said we've had this conversation before.

[61:00]We've done this. I can't remember. What'd you rank yourself? I would say I'm plus one point if this album is playing. Whatever, wherever I'm at. You know what? Put on this album plus one. You're not wrong about this. Thinking about you. This is one of the first songs of hers to actually get big. She was still playing in the little clubs when this song came out. I mean, it's such an interesting album. It really is. Rob, what'd you say about this podcast

[61:30]being a time piece? It's refracted through audio. What did I say? It's refracted. You know, like so much of this production is like not exciting or it's of a time. But every moment of her voice is just like, well, I want to hear that. Like, yes. Well, and I think too, if you think that Janet Jackson album came out kind of right after this, I think this sounds really kind of underproduced compared to Control. Like, Jimmy Jam is putting way,

[62:02]I think, just a thicker album out. It just kind of sounds thin for these songs that you don't know as well. Not as lush? Yeah, it sounds lush. Now. It is kind of stripped down. You're right. Someone for me, this was produced by Jemaine Jackson of not giving her best new artist Grammy fame. This feels like a movie soundtrack song. Yeah. What's funny too is like

[62:31]Whitney Houston famously could not dance. And so on her albums, she had to have like a couple of danceable pop tunes. And then I think by the time they got to Bodyguard, you know, it was clear like, well, we're just not going to do, not going to do the dance since it didn't work. Because like when they had her, on live shows, she's just like, she was not a dancer. And so they eventually figured out what worked for her, but they were really trying some different stuff on this first album. And now we have Whitney's first number one hit, Saving All My Love For You. Oh my God. We enter a new world with this song, right?

[63:03]Yeah. Yes. I was a little worried at the Lady Gaga. Is this the second to last inside one, Russell? Yeah, I think the last one is, hold me is the last one inside one. Erin, hearing this song reminds me that the Lady Gaga concert, I was a little nervous that she was going to have a hologram Tony Bennett come out to like continue her elder abuse tour

[63:31]that she had been doing previously. Next up, this song called The Nobody Loves Me Like You Do. The theme of the song got her mom really mad at Whitney because it was about having an affair with a married man. But Whitney Houston later admitted, Whitney Houston later admitted that this was actually about her affair she was having with a married man named Jemaine Jackson. She had an affair with Jemaine Jackson

[64:00]and that's what the song is about. Can you imagine if Whitney Houston married into the Jacksons? That would be crazy. I mean, I don't want to take this podcast to a dark place, Rob, but since you mentioned Whitney's family, you know, she lived a hard life and was never able to be herself because of her family. So whether that story is true or not, I'm not even sure because, you know, she eventually was with a woman or wanted to be with a woman and wasn't able to do that because of who her family was and couldn't live her life as herself, you know?

[64:31]And I do think like ultimately, it's hard to talk about Whitney Houston without talking about like the tragedy, right? Because I think people our age who aren't thinking about the 1986 album, we think of the reality TV Whitney Houston, which is, you know, when you hear this, you realize like, oh, Diana Ross thought she was the best vocalist around. She's it. And there's a reason for that because her voice on this album is absolute. I mean, what can you say that hasn't been said about her voice?

[65:00]It's tremendous. I want to run back though. Nobody Loves Me Like You Do, that was on country radio? No, that was... What was the one you mentioned that was a country song? Yeah, that was. I mean, you could hear it, right? Like that could have been Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, but it was... Whitney Houston and Jermaine Jackson. I agree with you, Aaron. Did Beyonce steal this idea from Whitney Houston? That needs to be investigated. No, she stole it from Tina Turner. Sorry, I drew a blank for a second. There you go. She stole it from Tina Turner.

[65:30]This song, third single off the album, was originally intended for Janet Jackson who passed on it. How Will I Know? How could you pass on this? Listen to this hook. ♪ How will I know ♪ Oops, didn't hit the hook there. ♪ How will I know ♪ ♪ How will I know if he really loves me? ♪ I mean, I don't know what Janet could have done. Yeah.

[66:00]♪ I fall in love with him ♪ This is a great, like, there's a podcast I listen to called The Rewatchables where they talk about movies and they're like, well, what actor, if you switched in, would the movie be better if you switched out? It's kind of hard to put a Janet album above this. ♪ How will I know ♪ Isn't it? I would say 100%. If you switched the Janet Whitney, I think that would make sense. How does she only have one on this whole list? It makes no sense. All at once, this became her first hit. Oh, this is a force.

[66:31]This became her first hit in the Netherlands. And that leads me to ask a question that I'm always too embarrassed to ask adults. What is the Netherlands? Is it a country? Like, is there a country called the Netherlands? ♪ All at once ♪ Or is it a bunch of countries? Aaron, help me out. I'm serious right now. I think it's one country. So what is a city that's in the Netherlands? Because it's got a plural name.

[67:00]I think that's part of what throws me. You know what I mean? It's not called the Frances. It's supposed to be like the Lowlands. It's like the Netherlands, the Lowlands. It's just like... Amsterdam is in the Netherlands, isn't it? Are you telling me I've been to the Netherlands multiple times? And I didn't know it? Yeah. This is starting to make me think about some life choices I've made. This is Take Good Care of My Heart. This is Jemaine Jackson again. Jemaine Jackson must be a great lover

[67:31]to get this many songs on this album. Don't you think? Because who wants to listen to Jemaine Jackson over Whitney Houston? It is a lot, isn't it? Now. Three of these songs. Got into the top 100 again after her death in 2012. Including this one. I got to fast forward a little bit. Greatest Love of All. This was in the NBA video, wasn't it, Russell?

[68:03]I don't know about that. It might be Dr. J, right? Yep. Was this Dr. J's? Video? Julius Irving. I am a god. Wow. There you go. That's crazy. Got it done. NBA superstars. Yeah. There it is.

[68:30]Well, that answers who would bury who in the podcast, I guess. The question I've also asked a number of times. This is a cover, right? This was a George Benson song. But she made it famous. She made it hers. That reminds me of what's the Fievel Goes West song. What's that? What's that song? Oh. Somewhere. They're out there. Yeah. For some reason, somewhere out there, Greatest Love of All are like the same song in my mind. Well, James Ingram and Linda Ronstadt. They both just grabbed me by the guts. Can I ask you this? Why does that song start with talking about teaching?

[69:02]You know what I mean? Is there any meaning that she says? Is there a reason that it starts with like a teaching? Are you supposed to be the one who finds meaning in teaching? It's not my job. I can tell you what's mean is myself. I can tell you what's mean is my salary. It doesn't make sense. I'm not a man. I think I can get a clean copy for $9.50 plus $4.47. $15 for a clean copy on VHS of NBA Superstars. Matt's got a little cash hanging around from that 400% profit he made on that truck.

[69:31]Yeah. Matt can either buy all those videos or a new truck. Yeah. Oh, hey, I got a new truck. Yeah, I traded some old guy, my dead bird. You can see it. It was no big deal. I can either go buy two pairs of these Travis Matthews, golf pants, or a new truck. Russell, your theory has been rattling around in my head since we last talked like two weeks ago. What was my theory on? The last song.

[70:01]There has not been a last song since Cream. I'm going to say it right now. This is the worst last song since Disraeli Gears. I'm going to say that again. This is the worst last song since Disraeli Gears. One of the worst last songs. I've ever heard. It leaves you wanting nothing. You leave. When you put down this record, you do not ever want to listen to it again. Hold me. And what's weird. Listen to these lyrics. Oh.

[70:31]What? Make your mouth water? If a woman said to me, hey, you're making my mouth water, I'd be like, okay, see you later. That's not what I heard, but I heard a different one. What did he say? But what I wanted you to play, Rob, is I want you to play Turn Off the Lights by Teddy Pendergrast. Okay. Because what's so odd to me about this track is that he never goes to the heights that his voice is capable of.

[71:02]It's so restrained, and I don't understand what they were going for. And you'll have to, like, go forward a bit to some of the highlights, and we might miss them. Yeah, I'm going 30 seconds into the song, Aaron. That's where the highlights always are. Vocal fireworks, and they both just kind of, like. Yeah, let's go up here. Oh, Shower Together is good. I mean, he was smooth, no doubt. So you get where they're going. Is Teddy Pendergrast?

[71:36]Teddy Prendergast. Pendergast. Pendergrast, damn it. Is he a sneaky, horny singer? Oh, yes. On the likes of, like, Clarence Carter? This guy's horny. He was the singer of Harry Melvin and the Luna. Wow. So if this is the final song for some duet with this and Whitney, the album is totally different. Is the album, like, a top 50 album if this is the end?

[72:02]Maybe. Maybe. It for sure is flipped with the Janet Jackson control album if this is the final song. And what's so odd is that people, like, people listening to this album, I mean, that Teddy Pendergrast track is from way before this track. So people bought the album and saw, oh, Whitney did a track with Teddy Pendergrast. And then you play it and you're like, where's the fireworks? What's going on? And I don't know the history of it or why this happened.

[72:30]But the two of them just keep it so close to the chest. I don't get it. It's a very strange way to end the album. Not like the strong endings that some pieces of media have. And that reminds me, we're getting into the rating system. It's time for the hold on of the podcast. The patent and very popular Beck Did It Better rating system. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Now, this is all the way up to 249.

[73:00]They are literally saying Whitney Houston is barely on the top half of the best albums. Now, of course, Matt, you might be wondering, top half? I feel like we're going up. In this case, if I said top half, we're going down. And if you think this album should have gone down, which in my case would be a higher number, which is worse. I'm going down. That would be a rolling groan. You did not like this. You ain't around. Or if you think this album should have been higher, maybe we flip it with.

[73:30]I'm going down. What albums did we say we're going to flip this with? Flip this with. Janet Jackson, Control. I mean, I've brought this Lady Gaga. I can't remember now. Yeah, lots of stuff. I would take this one over. We've heard already. Well, I can't. If you would agree with Aaron, that would be a rolling bone. Or if you think it's perfect, just the way it is. Okay? Like, that's a rolling well-toned. Okay? I can feel my brain going very quickly. Now, what do you guys think? Rolling well-toned?

[74:00]Rolling boned? Rolling groan? Whitney Houston? Whitney Houston? Russell, what do you think? Whitney Houston is an all-time talent. I'll always come back to when we've talked Aretha or we've talked these talented musicians. That are producing something from their soul, something from their guts. I am always going to give it way more credit than electronic music, music that's heavily sampled, music that is piggybacking off of something else. To me, there is just this amazing talent that can never be denied.

[74:33]This has to be rolling boned. It should be way higher on the list for me. I don't know if it's a top 100 album, and to me, the only thing is there's a lot of corny synth stuff that immediately puts you into, like, this is a time of the 80s, and I don't know if that stuff holds up as much as some of the other stuff. Oh, it's all coming back. It's coming back big time, yeah. But it takes you to an era, but her talent is just off the charts.

[75:00]Rolling boned, this needs to be way higher on the list. I would say top 149 for sure. Can I just remind you that the year this came out, January 1st, this was the number one song in the nation. Everybody knew it. Everybody was talking about it. Yon Hammer. Anybody over the age of 42 in 1985. Hey, Aaron, in 1986, when you said, don't hurt him, Hammer, you were talking to Yon Hammer.

[75:35]Yon Hammer. Don't hurt him, Yon Hammer. You can touch this keyboard, because that's how I make all my music. I'm Yon Hammer. I'm from the Netherlands. Here's what I would throw down for you guys. I've listened to this album a few nights ago. I've told you as I listened to this one, the fuck, the fuck, if this is not better than Elvis Costello, this year's model. It's it.

[76:01]You can't argue with me. We did that one like 100 albums ago. Yes. That one is stuck in Russell's craw. It's a good album, but having just listened to it recently, and I think about this, because you guys know that it's been listened to. This goes, it goes back into the crate, and when I put this in the crate, and it's going in like the back 10, 12 albums of my 500 crate, something's off. Elvis Costello, you got to go. Get out, Elvis. Matt, what do you think? Rolling Well Toned, Rolling Bone, or Rolling Grown? Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston.

[76:30]Got Rolling Bones, the top 100 albums. Whitney Houston should be up there just because she's Whitney Houston. I think we've got so many examples of that in the top 250 that we've done here. This should be way, way higher in the list, so Rolling Boned. Yes. Aaron, what do you think? Rolling Well Toned, Rolling Grown, or Rolling Grown? Sorry, everybody already took Rolling Bones, so you can't say that. I can't say it. I can't say it any better than these guys. This is an all-time voice, and even with the dated sound, it's still our chance to

[77:05]hear Whitney doing what Whitney does, so it's Rolling Boned. Unfortunately, you guys are incorrect. That's not right. That's not true. Come on. That's not true. This gets a rolling Whitney Houston, but the N says tone, so it's like Houston. It's Whitney Houston. What the fuck else do you want? You know what I mean? Shut up. It's Whitney Houston. Just deal with it. It's Whitney Houston. I mean, just some bangers on here.

[77:32]When I put it on this album, I was like, oh, this is what the podcast is about. It's finding an album like this that I didn't know was just so much fun. And yeah, okay, it is a little, you know, did my wife say to me, hey, this is a little Jan Hammer-ish to me. And I was like, yeah, I'm the guy who made Miami Vice, a song we all know really well. We're going to actually base a big list around because we kind of got excited about that song in particular. And she was like, yeah, that's the song I'm talking about. Jan Hammer's Miami Vice theme. Now, next week, we're album for episode 250.

[78:01]Halfway there. Okay. The first one without Matt because he didn't realize that oral contracts are binding in the state of Minnesota. Next week, we have singles going steady by the Buzzcocks. What? No. I've been waiting for this one for so long. What are we talking about? The first, Russell, the first song on this Buzzcocks album is named A Song for My Mother Whom I Love. Oh, that's very sweet. Yeah. No, just kidding. It's Orgasm Addict. No, that I fucked up.

[78:30]When you want to hear about the greatest albums of all time. But you're just too lazy to look it up online. That's the greatest. I should chat and then they get off track. I've got the perfect podcast for you, Jack. Beck did it better. Robert, I know it's getting late. You better go give it a dream shake and fall asleep pretty quick. Oh, my God.

[79:01]It's time to say goodbye. Russell, I know that you had a I think we had a good time hanging out and everything. And I just want to say thank you so much for being here. And I just want to ask you if you want to get together maybe like in the next week or so. We could just hang out. I think that would be. Yeah. And yeah. Yeah. Come to my place and we could do a. Well, I don't know. What do we do? It's not. Oh, we're going to drink all of the.

[79:30]We're going to drink. Captain Crutch whiskey tasting, right? Oh, my God. Brilliant. Speaking of which, I'm just going to say this. I'm going to ask a question that I'm going to cut off the recording. Aaron, what's happened with all your driver moves? Sorry. Everybody. You'll never know. The answer is. It was.