One Song - The Smiths “How Soon is Now” with guest Kaskade

Episode Date: August 10, 2023

Live from Las Vegas, Diallo and Blake are joined for this special episode of One Song by superstar DJ, Kaskade. Kaskade chose the song he wanted to explore and he went with a surprising choice for an EDM pioneer: The Smiths 1984 banger, How Soon Is Now. Listen along to find out why the song means so much to Kaskade, and hear team One Song's analysis.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello. Here we go. Check, check. Hello, everybody. How you doing? All right, good morning. Good morning. I hope we've been enjoying the music we've been playing for this Vegas crowd.

Y'all been liking to music so far? One thing that we try and do with the music that we were just playing and on the show is we try to draw connections. Everything from Stevie Wonder to Duran Duran. Like it just, it can be anything. It can be the latest, you know, little baby single. It can be like the oldest, you know, Jackmaster. jackmaster, you know, track. You know, I have a special connection

with Chicago, and, you know, that's always going to be, we're always going to mix in some house music because that's very important to us. I'm actor, writer, director, and sometimes DJ, Diallo Riddle. Thank you. And I am DJ songwriter, producer, and guy on TikTok who whispers

interpolation. Luxury, that's me. That's him. Hello. We're always competing to see who can have the most titles before their name. That's a big thing. Thank you. Coming to you live

from Heartbeat Week in Las Vegas. This is one song. Everybody makes some noise. All right. I'm just going to get into the circus. Let's do it. But honestly, before we get in today's show, a couple of things I want to call out.

This is our very first live show. How are you feeling about that luxury? I'm excited. This is amazing. What a beautiful crowd. Everyone's like handsome and beautiful and gorgeous. By the one thing I did notice since we're all staying at this hotel

or most of us are, there's a single smell of the same soap that everyone used. and I'm really kind of enjoying that. It's a nice, pleasant aroma, so it's really great. Yeah, I'm liking that. The second thing I want to call out is this is the first time we've actually had a guest on the show.

And it's something that we want to do more of. We want to talk to comedians about music. Want to talk to musicians about comedy. Questla famously said, all comedians want to be musicians. All musicians want to be comedians. And it's really true. But we wanted to do guests,

and this is the first guest we're ever going to have on the show. I'm so excited to introduce him. He's filled arenas. He's topped the charts. He's been voted America's best DJ twice. Two times. People who come to Vegas know him and know him well. Ladies and gentlemen, make a huge round of applause for Cascade.

Felt a little constrained from the hug there. I'll give you a hug after, I promise. All right, all right. Do you remember that song? Yes, of course I remember that song. Yes, man. It's off your first album. That was my first, like, big one.

You know, this is one of the reasons why we're so excited to have you here, because I first came across your music when you were on OAM Records, and the song, it's you and me, it's like right up there in the Deep House canon with, like, you know, that was like when naked music, everybody was on naked music. You know what I mean? That was what was happened back then. It was a special time, and the reason I bring it up is because, you know, newsflash, I'm black. Me and my friends, we would go to the, I know, exactly, right?

Me and my friends, we would go to, like, parties where they would play house music and specifically deep house music because it just sounded like R&B with like a dance beat. You know what I mean? Like, and it's a reminder that black people invented electronic music and house music. You know what I'm saying?

Like, it was there. It was, it was black, it was gay. It was this Chicago house mix. And, like, the fact that Chicago is where they did the disco demolition. You know, like it was like the place they were like, oh, disco sucks. Irony is thick there, man. Man, I'm serious.

It's ironic that the place that had, like, the most famous anti-disco movement gave birth to this wonderful, beautiful house music that, like, you know, black people were turned to from time of time. I think Deep House has those black roots. Beyonce made a house album, a fantastic album, that I was so happy, because I feel like it brought a whole new generation of black people to this music. Anyone here have that album that he's referring to? You guys know about Beyonce? Anybody heard of Beyonce? It's kind of obscure, yeah, reference. artist, obscure artists.

Well, you know, I might be getting ahead of ourselves. So I'm going to take a step back and just welcome you to the show and say that you recently dropped a new EP. What else, sir, have you been up to? Oh, man. Touring. I've just been playing a lot of shows. I've been here at Resorts World.

This is a brand new residency here in Las Vegas. Playing tonight, right? You're here tonight, right? This is cool this afternoon at the pool. So if you aren't doing anything this afternoon. All right, that's what you're doing. Come to the pool. And you look really good, half naked.

then you're invited. We all do. We all look. Use your imagination. Just imagine us all make it. Okay, so we're excited on that. I want to get back to Chicago for just a second because you are from Chicago,

the birthplace of house music. When we went to your people and were like, hey, we'd like to know what song was really formative for him. Like, what was that song? Because here on one song, we talk about one song. and I was admittedly surprised. You know, I thought, oh, man, he's probably going to choose, like, you know. Marshall Jefferson.

Yeah, like Marshall Jefferson, Frankie Knuckles. Maybe chic. You know, silk hurley. Like, you know, we were thinking of that. But you surprised us. You surprised us here because you chose a song by a band called The Smiths. Before we get into the song, I am curious. How did you get into The Smiths?

All right. I like that. And there's a good story. there. Because, listen, a lot of people don't know. Early dance music and early house music, a lot of it, I'd say the majority of it was instrumental.

So when you guys are like, hey, send a song, yes, I think back to the early years and a lot of Steve Sil Curley and all the side, Frankie Knuckles, whistle song. Whistle song, what I say Frankie Knuckles to me, I think of the whistle song, which is an instrumental song. Great song doesn't take away from it anything. But when you're talking about

songs, really, when you boil it down, to it. To me, it's about words and melody. When you think of dance music now, yes, it's very song-based, lyric-based, but I think the early house music stuff, I was just more into the sound design.

Like the 808, the 909. For me, that was what drew me to it, the simplicity of it, right? Just the rhythmic nature of it. I was like, ah, I love this. And then there are a sample of these old disco records and just cutting them up and making them new. That was fascinating to me. But

as a kid, when I was growing up really, it was like Robert Smith and Morrissey and like these early kind of like new wave bands and the songwriting they were doing, that spoke to me as a kid. And I was like, you know, just disgruntled suburban kid. Were you kind of goff a little, those are some dark references there, the cure, right? Depeche Mode maybe. Man, angry suburban kid. Yeah. Grown up like, I don't fit in.

Where's my place in the world? Anx, angst. Yeah. So, yeah, the teenage day. And I think, honestly, I think Morrissey's a brilliant songwriter. Yeah. And I like this song. Did we introduce the song?

Did you say that? I'm going to introduce it. Okay, do that. I'll tell you why I picked that song. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, listen, the song you chose, well, let's hear it now. I'm sure everyone here at Heartby Weekend will know it. Let's play a little bit of how soon is now.

All right, how soon is now by the Smith? Make some noise. Emotional. It's emotional. By the way, we all have that on our playlist too. I will say that. The Smiths have so many classics. Why that one? I think it's cool because it lends itself. Johnny Maher, amazing guitar player.

I think that opening riff, everyone knows, and it's been sampled, I don't know, a lot. I remember in the 80s, where was that hippie chick? Yeah, so ho. Hippie chick. Yeah, that was a great one that stole that riff or borrowed that riff. So I think it's kind of a cool blend of cool sound design, which is what got me into dance music.

And then great songwriting, The Sun in the Air, I think as a kid, we fought. Because, you know, back then this is pre-just, just Google it up. Yeah, exactly. You didn't have all of human knowledge at your fingertips back there. Right. So I thought, the opening of the I am the sun, I am the air, it could be, the sun, like outside the sun and the air, the air that we breathe. I am the sun and the air.

I think this is an incredible line, but really, when I googled it this morning to actually check, it's the sun, is in the sun and dark. Which, by the way, it was news to me. I always thought it was the sun outside and the air around it. And apparently it's the sun as in child and the air is in someone who inherits. Right.

This is the genius. of Morrissey. I think this right here is a... Works on multiple levels. That's great writing right there. Multiple interpretations. I will say growing up, you know, I grew up in an environment

it was like 99.9% black. Okay, like, you know, there were literally three non-black kids in my school. There was Josh, there was Tranley, and there was Jorge, and everybody else was black. Josh.

It was just a truth. But I will say, I was one of the kids, like there was a small cadre of us who listened to everything. So like we listened to Depeche Mode. We listened to Nirvana. We listened to a lot of that music.

The Smith didn't come on my radar for a very long time and I think it's just a part of their history. They never got the play in America, you know, overall that, you know, some of these other groups like, you know, Duran Duran Depish Mode. So a lot of these other groups that, you know, you can do any party and you put on some of those songs. Everybody knows that that's not always the case with the Smith.

What is your relationship with the Smiths? I mean, the Smiths, specifically this song, I mean, to your point, the Smiths were dark. We talked about they were like The Cure. There's a sort of angsty zone of certain bands where maybe if you're an only child like me and no one gets you and no girl likes you, it's like you retreat into these songs.

So for me, this song specifically, how soon is now, which I'll be breaking down a little more in a moment, that line that we heard that we've been talking about, or all of the lines, it's all about loneliness and no one loves me. That's kind of Morrissey's thing. In particular, I remember being

a high school student, fair enough, I was pretty young. Went to a club, fake ID, and that song came on, and in the song, he's talking about how you go, I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit, but you go home and you cry and you want to die, that was me. And that was the moment I went from being not a Smiths fan

to being a Smiths fan. And lifelong goth, by the way. I'm not done. I'm not done. All right. We got some gotts in the house. All right. Yeah, well, you know, before we go any further, I think we're going to do a quick shout out to the good people who made all this possible and essentially, you know,

talk to you about some things that will allow us to pay our bills. This episode of One Song is brought to you by Extra Refreshers Gum. Here on One Song, we're all about connections, and we love a good remix. Making the connections between the artists and the story behind the song, the connection between the DJ and the crowd. It's also important. And extra refreshers is there for you in all the moments you want to connect as you enjoy the music, you know, with the refreshers.

Uniquely offering moments of play, adventure, and, you know, boredom, busting through their mix packs, which include three flavors in one easy to open, close me, bottle. It's the perfect personal stash that's always there whenever you need it. You can find out more about extra refreshers by following at extra gum or heading a little. over, so there you go. Extra refreshers. Word from our sponsor, yeah. Those are not Morrissey lyrics. Don't get it twisted. We're going to come back after a quick break.

Welcome back. Now's the time on the show where we're going to break down the song in question, how soon is now. We're going to go way back in time. We're going to start with a young Johnny Marr. He's with his parents driving in the back seat of the car. He's like 15 or something. He's in Manchester, England, in the 70s. And A song comes on the radio, and young Johnny Marr is like, something about this song just like gets inside of him.

And here's the track. So first off, I don't know if anyone in this room recognizes the track. Let's start with you guys. Do you know who this song is by or what the track is? I didn't recognize it. Okay. It's Bohannon. Yes.

Good one. Hamilton, Bohannon. That's right. Great artist. Absolutely. No, you nailed it. It's a disco stump by Bo Hanon. It's funny because it's a lot like that track,

if you recognize, you know, New York groove. The tracks are virtually identical, and I couldn't figure out which copy of the other, but they're both 1975. It's a very 1975 song. And importantly, it's a groove that goes back before that. It's dun-dump-pum-dun-dun-dun. Does anybody know what that rhythm is called?

Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun. That's the bow-diddley beat. So this track uses that bow-don-don-don-don-d-beat, and Johnny Marr loved that beat. He just loved that rhythm. So this becomes a building block of what would become this song. And I'm going to go a little further down the path.

Follow me down this rabbit hole, if you will. If you will. Oh, just one more fact, by the way, about Bohannon. A couple of fun facts. He was in an early band with Jimmy Hendricks, which I did not know. This is like an unsung disco hero. This is awesome.

You're blowing me away. The fact that he can connect Johnny Mart to Boehannan, and then it's awesome. It's awesome. Just like extra refreshers. Gum, we're all about connections. There is. But you know, I got to say one thing I love about Bohanan is that he did one of my favorite disco tracks of all time. Let's start the dance.

And that's the one. That's the one. It's got a massive breakdown about halfway through the song. And that's where she says, I'll be watching you all night. Don't you want to dance? Everybody dance now. Oh, everybody together. Interpolation.

That was an interpolation. Not a Bohanan song. Yeah, absolutely. There you go. going. All right. Well, a couple more fun facts. Bowhannon was in the backing band for a bunch of Motown band. So when you saw Smokey Robinson,

Marvin Gay, Diana Ross in the 70s, Bo Hannan was leading the band in the background. And last but but not least, one of my favorite references, because it's one of my favorite songs of all time. You guys all know Tom Tom Club. Genius of love, of course. You know, they name drop

James Brown. They have all those name drops, Sly and Robbie. There's one reference that you might have missed, because you don't know what the hell they're saying, but from now on, when they do that, this one part, you'll know, Boanan, Boanan, Boananin, Boanan. For years, I was like, what the hell is that? It's Boanan, Boanan, Boan. Anyway, that's all you need to know about Bo Hanan.

You need to go impress your friends next time. We're going to get into the next Johnny Maher reference. And in addition to that Bo Diddley rhythm, so remember that dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, there's another important component, and that is this one. This is this. This track actually has both the rhythm and the new thing I'm going to describe, which is tremolo,

which is that kind of wobbly sound. That's literally the volume pedal kind of coming in and out. So just it's like, that's happening to the guitar. By the way, you know what's crazy is when you played that just now? I actually thought that,

I thought we were listening to the stems of the Smith. That's a pretty big. That's super close, right? It's a little slower on the Morrissey track. Yeah, that's wild. It is almost identical. It is almost identical. But that is actually a track by the Rolling Stones.

It's called Mona from 64, and it's a cover of a Bo Didley song, not super surprising. There's a lot of Bo Diddley in this track, in the Smith song. So the tremolo, that's basically what it is. It kind of evokes kind of a swampy vibe, too. You kind of get a little bit of like swampy,

Louisiana kind of feeling in there as well. Can I just say, I actually love it when artists and musicians do stuff like that. It reminds me of that guitar. That guitar solo from Santana on a... And it turned out that White Club was like, yeah, I just really am a fan of Wu-Tang Clan ain't nothing to fuck with. And so we played the...

On a guitar. And that's all that they did to come up with that. Let's just do a quick refresher, by the way. That's crazy. And all those connections are crazy. Connections. It's all about connections. and it's all about extra.

So that's what it's all about. So one more, if I can get the intro to How Soon Is Now, and remembering those two snippets we just played, here is the intro to the song, the Smith song, How Soon Is Now? So there's Mone Up by the Stones. There's Bo Diddley. Iconic intro.

And iconic intro is one of the last things I want to talk about because iconic intro was absolutely Johnny Marr's goal. when he wanted the song to be known in one second. He wanted it, in his words, he wanted it to be like Leila by Eric Clapton. We won't play that, but it's da-da-da-da-da-da. Like, you know it's Eric Clapton, Leila, in a heartbeat. Same thing going on with How Soon Is Now. That was the intent.

So we think he nailed it with that one. There's a cool interpolation in this song. And D'allel, I'm curious if you know this one. So we're going to play it for you. Play it How Soon Is Now. There's a part later in the song. where there's this little melody part that comes in. Can you play that for us?

I'll point it out. Here it comes. It's this one here. Here it comes. That's it. It's this little moment. It's almost a throwaway, but it's ding, ding, ding, de, de, de, de, de, de, de, de, de, de, de, de, and that is actually a conscious

to Johnny Marr giving a shout-out to one of his favorite hip-top tracks from 82-83. What? Yeah. You want to, you guys have any ideas, or should we just? Any guesses? It's kind of a deep kind. I feel like I almost can hear it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's on the tip of your tongue. Scratch that brain. I don't know if we can find it. Go ahead and play it. No way. Yep. Love Buck Starsky. Hell yeah.

This is a deep cut. I thought it was going to be something like Planet Rock or something like that. I thought it was going to be like some run DMC stuff. But like that's actually dope. He was listening to Love Bus Starsky. It's Love Bus Starsky. It's produced by Curtis Blow and Larry Smith, who did a bunch of run DMC, The early run DMC stuff is all Larry Smith.

Cascade. That's the one big he's talking about. Love Bugsawkes. Mind is blown. I was just going to say, I want to pause for a second. That's a lot of information. How are you feeling with all this? This is awesome.

I love because I'm looking at you and I love the smile on your face. Yeah, you're blowing me away. This is great. Any of those in particular where you're like, oh my God, you kind of knew the song or kind of you noted the connection or something? I didn't know any of these connections, but I think it's amazing. I mean, I'm a huge Johnny Marr fan.

I mean, I think that's why. these two eventually had to split. You know, Morrissey, film formed his own thing. You know, two alphas there that are trying to get the control. Strong wills. Yeah, no, there have been some great partnerships. You know, Andre 3000 and Big Boy,

Johnny Marr and, you know, Johnny Marr. I actually think that's not a bad comparison. Yeah. Are the Smiths, the outcasts of indie rock? Yes, they are. They are. They are. We always try to figure out what spaces people occupy.

But Johnny Marr and more are kind of like, I could totally see that comparison. That's a good comparison because the Smiths are kind of funny. The Smiths have a sardonic humor to their lyrics. I think that's a great parallel there. I've heard that Coachella's

been trying to get them back together. Yes. Oh my God. Offering obscene amounts of money. Obscene amounts of money. If anyone can happen, make it happen. It's Coachella. I don't know. I mean, I heard BBC Radio 1, John Peel, or I think it was John Peel. He was like, Morrissey's lyrics

So, like, Borsi's the one guy who can make me laugh out loud while I'm listening to a song. With, you know, just crazy time. Big Mouse Strikes Again and all that other stuff. Right, right. Yeah. Hanging the DJ was my second pick. I was going to ask you, yeah. Just for the irony.

Yeah, it's fun. It's fun to be a DJ and play Hanged the DJ. And then segue into, I am a DJ. I am what I play, perhaps by David Bowie. I'm going to do one more musical reference, and then we're going to get into the lyrics a little bit. And this is a really big one for us as all. house music fans and makers.

So here we go. Now this is more of a kind of connection that I'm making. Those are 16th notes. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And the importance is that with the How Soon-N is Now, if you want to quickly play the How Soon as Now intro again, just to compare the two, you're hearing da-da-da-da-da-da. That's really hard to play.

Like, to make that happen on a guitar is incredibly challenging because you're not doing da-da-da-da-da-da. It's the pedal doing it. in sequence. So a big part of the how the song got made, backstory includes getting that da-da-da-da-da-da-da to be on time. And this guy, I'm actually wearing a shirt,

George Romero, who produced the Donna Summer. I feel love snippet I just played for you. He was one of the first to master how to do that and then influenced Sheik and I think Johnny Marr in this song. So there's a connection back-to-house music. Wow. Love that. Yeah, is all good. Are you a Giorgio fan? Of course.

Of course. Yeah. Do you have a favorite track? Can't make house music and not love Donna Summer and not love Georgia. No, and also just to get really nerdy for a second, in your productions, I've noticed there's a lot of like arpeggiated 16th notes. That's a big part of what you do. That and tremolo, we side-chain tons of stuff in dance music. I use that trick all the time, which I think if Johnny was doing that guitar riff now instead of the tremolo, he probably would have done some kind of side-chaining trick, which is a very

commonly used production tool right now. I mean, that's just kind of the flavor of now, I guess. That is the sound of dance music. So there's a connection to Cascade, a Smith's Johnny Mark Cascade connection. Certainly is. Sponsored by extra refreshers. All right.

I think we're good on the deep dive into the music. Thanks for joining me on that rabbit hole. We're going to talk a little bit now about Mr. Morrissey, Stephen Patrick Morrissey, the lyricist, and a person with, there's a lot of content potentially to come here. We'll discuss who he is as a man and some of his, present-day choices. But you want to talk about the vocals

I am human, right? Right. Well, first we're going to get into, we'll talk about the lyrics. The title for this song, it's one of these kind of, it's a bit pretentious to name your song, not what's ever said in the song because the song is called How Soon is Now? And the song, chorus doesn't go,

How Soon Is Now? Like, he doesn't ever say How Soon Is Now, right? It's like Blue Monday. They never say Blue Monday. But we do know that Morrissey, going back to being pretentious, was pretentious in a good way. Like, he was a feminist. He was like he had a bunch of feminist literature. And the title for this song actually comes from a somewhat obscure

1973 book that he told Enemy was one of his favorite books. It's called Popcorn Venus Women Movies in the American Dream by Marjorie Rosen. And there's a line in this book that says, How Immediately Can We Be Gratified? How Soon Is Now? So that's, in this song, he's referencing this really deep-cut feminist icon. And that's where the title comes from. from. Not sure how it connects

to the rest of the lyrics, but that is, are you are you guys Marjorie Rosen fans? I had never heard of Marjorie Rosen. No, listen, I think it's a good point. Go ahead. News to me. This is me. That's great. Exactly. It's amazing. I'm not surprised that he's super well read. That doesn't

surprise me to all his vocabulary. It's amazing. The Smiths were pretty political. They were called the most political ban of the Margaret Thatcher, UK. So, like, you know, those, I'd actually be curious to know from you as an artist. As you said, house music and dance music,

they don't often have, they're not at sometimes, they're not as lyrically driven. You know what I mean? And like you said, a lot of times they can be instrumental. So, you know, I even say like to a certain extent,

dance's music has almost been anonymous. Like, you know, it's kind of ironic that like daft punk and dead mouse, you know, they wear things over their face. Because half the time, we don't know what people look like anyway. You know, the dude who's saying, what is love?

I have no idea what that dude looks like. He can look like anything. Johnny Hadaway. Shout out to Hadoey. He's like, I'm in the back. But like, because people don't necessarily come to dance music looking for any kind of like political agenda or something like that, do you think there is a place in dance music for any social commentary?

I mean, like, it's funny because I feel like I know where everybody, you know, in hip-hop or rock, like, you know, you kind of, because there's so many more lyrics being thrown at you, You kind of like feel like you know them a little bit. And in dance music, is there space to comment on the state of the world? Or is it just... What is your take on that? I think we're just at the beginnings of that happening.

Because dance music matured a lot, right? It was instrumental. Now, okay, it's more lyric-driven. And I think that's just because of technology has become more accessible. To make a dance record, you need a sampler. Okay, that used to cost a lot of money. Now, okay, now you can make a record on your parents' laptop. You can be 12 years old, composing something, whatever, on an iPhone.

You can make beats now. So I think it's... I remember when the home studio was like a big deal. Like, yeah, it invests tens of thousands. Nowadays, like my 11-year-old kid likes to make beats. That's it. I bought it like a little $500 pack that goes, it's literally all you need to produce the album. Yeah, I mean, garage band comes loaded.

What's in garage bands like a hundred times more powerful than what Motown was built on. So I think the accessibility, it's becoming less like dance music per se. Because I think everything electronic was dance music for a minute. Like craftwork. Oh, it's dance music. But now it's just becoming electronic music and there's a lot of variations in there. And it's becoming more political and it's becoming more artist-based. People are starting to know and understand the people behind this.

movement of music because it's just maturing and it's changing so it is changing a lot and it's ironic that you say that morrissey it sounds like you said he used the a line from feminist literature because nowadays you think of morassie is like you know he's he's pretty known at the time he was kind of he seemed very leftist and he was like talking about he was like one of the first high-profile vegans now he's pretty right-leaning tory voting now we're not sure what his deal is yeah he's I feel like on the spectrum somewhere the left and right they meet somewhere. Yeah, no, it's just interesting because

it is interesting how perception of Morrissey has changed over time. But I also feel like he's probably stayed the same and the culture's changed. That could be or maybe just got old and cranky. Sometimes you get old and cranky. I mean, the asexual thing that's got to catch up to. If you're

asexual and it's like a big party personality and then the years of not having sex cry up, you get a little angry. It doesn't feel good. I mean, for me, that's certainly the case. Just to bring it back, by the way, you mentioned the opening line of the song, because I wanted to actually tell you where that comes from. I am the son and the air.

And by the way, you're in good company, because the producer of this track, his name is John Porter. He's Roxy Music producer, big-time British guy. Roxy Music. Rocksy Music. Oh, one of my favorite. Were you a fan? Big Roxy Music fan?

Yes, huge. So huge. I mean, Brian Eno, Brian Ferry. So Porter produced this track, and when he heard Morrissey Walk into the booth and sing that line, I am the sun and the air. He just hears those two lines

and he's like, oh, he's talking about the elements. That's so smart. It makes sense. And then he goes on to say, of a shyness that is criminally vulgar. And then he, as the rest of us are like, wait a second, he just, that was a homophone sun and air. Those are two sounds that mean multiple words. So he's so clever.

It turns out, by the way, that this line is a reference, another literary reference. It comes from Middle March, George Elliott, 1872, and the opening line is, to be born the son of a Middle March manufacturer, and inevitable air to nothing in particular. So Morrissey takes this line from a 19th century novel, and he plops it right at the top of a pop song,

an iconic pop song. So that's another... Do we have any of those lines? Do we have any of those isolated vocals to play? Do we have some of them? Let's do it. How can you say I know that takes the wrong way

I am human and I need to love Just like everybody else now I mean, come on That just gets to your emotional core Who in this room Does not need to be loved? Raise your hand if you don't need to be loved

No hands, no hands You know on everybody's playlist It's always like, you know, Beyonce say, Steve Wonder, the Smiths. It's always right. Everyone in this room.

Everybody's play. But I think that's cool because I love to hear when people's influences for dance. I think that's one of the beauties of dance music that it draws in people

who listen to the Smiths. It can draw in people who, you know, because I know one of the first songs that got me into dance music was an Erica Badeer remix that, you know, just a guy in L.A.

put out on a white label. And then I was reminded as a kid, I really liked the Pet Shop Boys, who, you know, that was another group that, you know, really made me feel like it was very, very cool. I had one quick question, which, which I may you have already answered a cascade,

but if you have a favorite, do you have a favorite Morrissey lyric or line since we're talking about his literary tendencies? I'm going to say I'm the sun in the air. I think this is completely genius, and I love that it's from old literature. I mean, that, to me, hearing about this song's been so cool. I didn't know any of this stuff. I have a favorite Morse's.

line. I'll say my favorite lyric is now I know how Jonah Vark felt. That's a good enough feeling. He's got a lot of singers in there. No, this charming man, I didn't even know what that song was about. So I discovered this myth really after, you know, after college or whatever, but there are some great songs

there. I love how they tried to bring in sort of like 60s, you know. They had like those 1960 tempos where like everybody was up on uppers. I guess there's something like that. You know, one interesting thing about you is that you are actually, you are, well, I don't

think, I think it's actually public knowledge. You're a Mormon and you have never had one drug, you've never drank, you've never done any of that stuff, and yet you like this music that is completely associated with drinking and drugging. Yes, it is.

I sound like a 1950s politician. That's that drinking and drug in there. We're going to hell. Reifer madness. What is it? Polly, I don't like that stuff. But seriously, how do you... She knows what's up. How do you... I mean, like, you've been asked

since a million times, I'm sure. But like, does it ever make you feel weird that you're probably surrounded by people who are into that stuff? No. Is that weird that it doesn't? I don't know how to answer that. No, I've never felt very uncomfortable

or... I don't know, I just grew up enjoying this music and the fact that I was sober. I don't know. Never really entered the conversation. Nobody really cared. I think... Early dance music attracted a lot of misfits

and kids that were kind of different and didn't fit in. And I felt, because I wasn't hanging out at the kegger on Friday night, I felt different. So I was hanging out with the misfits and we were doing different things, hanging out at the club and the city.

I think that's dope. Well, I love the fact that you love that music. We will continue to enjoy your music. From, it's you, it's me all the way to the new EP. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Thank you, guys. Everybody, Cascade. Thank you, Cascade. Thank you. All right. That was great. That was great. First live show.

First live show. We're doing it. We're doing it. That was fun. I had a good time. Anything that coming out of that conversation make you think differently about the Smiths or the song?

No, I think the Smiths are cool, and I still, you know, their sound was a little different. It doesn't surprise me that they didn't necessarily take off the same way to Rand, Duran, and Depeche Mode and some of those other things. Yeah.

I think it's time for the game. We're going to play a game. Yeah, let's play the game. It's game time. Brought to you by our sponsor's Extra Gum. And the purpose of this game, like the purpose of the gum, is to show connections,

how things that don't seem connected actually are. The game is called six degrees of interpolation. Six degrees of interpolation. Interpolation, by the way, for those you don't know, interpolation is, it's like a sample,

except instead of actually taking the music, copying and pacing it to your new track. You take an idea like a melody and you reuse it in a new song. So, for example, the song, Summer Breeze, was interpolated by Master P into Smoking Weed. So his song was, smoking weed makes me feel hot. That's interpolation. That's interpolation. That's a great example.

Thank you. Okay. Came up with that one on the spot. Okay. Take a moment to kind of reset because you're going to need every brain cell for this one, my friend. Here we go. Here comes. We got two very different.

different artists, different genres, different everything. Can you link these two artists in less than six steps? Is this the challenge? I'm going to name two artists. You're going to link them. Okay. Anyway, by the way, six degrees of Kevin Bacon. It can be, it's exactly like that.

They can be collabs. It can be samples. It can be anecdotes. It's very free flowing, how you connect it. But I want you to get from Morrissey, lead singer for the Smith's House Spoon as soon as now, Morrissey, the guy we just talked about, the pretentious lyrics, Mankunian,

with questionable politics. We want you to connect Morrissey with Ice Spice. Hey, I'm not staying. I just want to play. And the party, he just want to rock. Can you do it? In six steps? In six or less.

Can it be done? Really? 60 seconds. How to be a millionaire music or one? Clock is ticking. All right. Morrissey to Ice Spice. And we got a 50 seconds left here.

I know. This is going to make compelling radios. Audience. I'm just curious, any hands? Any lifelines? Hints? You want a hint? I'm going to give you a hint.

Oh, wait, wait. No, I got one. He didn't need no hint. No, I think I got it. Hold on. Okay, Morrissey, Ice Place. Here we go. Oh, shit, I'm lucky as hell.

It's stressful. I know I told you. Morrissey was a big critic of Margaret Thatcher. Okay. Margaret Thatcher had a contentious relationship with the royal family, including Princess Diana. Oh, yeah, you got it. Princess Diana is a song with Dickie Minaj and Ice Spice.

Was that only three? I got there four steps. Was that four or three? That was four. Dude, that's amazing. Let's keep going. Give me another one. I am very impressed.

I am lucky as hell. They got a song called Princess Diana. There you go. I'm going to give full credit to our producer Matt on this one because I was trying to come up with one too and I went down the wrong path. I was like, I was like Pink Panther is. interpolated Eric Sati, the French composer from the 1800s. I'm like in a corner over here with the 1800s in France. You never going to get there in four steps.

That got me nowhere. But he did come up with a really good one. I lucked out. Do you want to say it yourself? Okay, so this is how you do it. Another way you go from Ice Spice. I'm Scottish. That's why I sound like this.

You're not having a stroke. Don't worry. You go from Ice Spice. collaborated with Taylor Swift who bought Johnny Marr's Jaguar Fender guitar Johnny Marr was in the Smiths with Morrissey.

There you go. I was like, wow. I was like, wow. So you both blew me away. I failed miserably on that one. So no extra gum for me. That's a fun game, though. I think we should do that more often.

Oh, you like that one? I like that good. I like it when I win. I feel a little bit like our show might be ending around now. I think that's it. So listen. We did what we came to do.

Thank you. We want to say a special thank you to our very special guest, Cascade. One more round of applause for Cascade, everybody. Thank you, everyone in the audience for coming. Thanks for waking up early, putting that soap on. It's a great aroma I'm really enjoying. I'm not being sarcastic. You all smell really nice.

But you all smell the same. That's all I'm saying. I want to thank all of you all for coming out and spending some time with us today. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you. One song is a Sirius XM and Kevin Hart's LOL radio production. It's hosted by me, luxury, and my friend Diallo-Riddle. This episode was produced by Matthew Nelson and Jordan Colling,

with engineering from Marcus Homb. Additional production support from Leslie Guam, Charles Childers, and Alicia Shimada. The show is executive produced by Kevin Hart, Ty Randolph, Mike Stein, Brian Smiley, Eric Eddings, and Eric Wilde.