Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - Homerpalooza With Alexi Rose

Episode Date: July 4, 2018

We're doing one of the most rockin' episodes of The Simpsons and we've got rockstar Alexi Rose here to tell us about how accurate this is to the rock 'n' roll lifestyle! We reflect on how much has changed in the 22 years since, give you updates on all the bands, reflect on 1990s' alternative rock, and so much more! And be sure to listen to Alexi's band, The Y Axes here! http://theyaxes.squarespace.com/ This podcast is brought to you by VRV, the streaming network full of cartoons, anime and more. sign up for a free 30-day trial at VRV.co/WAC and help support Talking Simpsons! Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons!

Attention Talking Simpsons listeners, would you love to hear us give the same treatment to Futurama? Who would do a thing like that? Who could do a thing like that? Then you'll be delighted to know we're doing just that for Futurama's entire first season. Hey, when you look this good, you don't have to know anything. And it'll only be available for people who donate at the $5 level to the Talking Simpsons Patreon. Oh god, no! And along with 13 episodes of Talking Futurama, you'll get all 23 episodes of Talking Critic,

the entire first season of Talking Simpsons, monthly community podcasts, interviews with Simpsons writers, and so much more! Shut up and take my money! Remember, go to patreon.com slash talking simpsons to get your hands on podcasts from the world of tomorrow! I heartily endorse this event or product. Ahoy, hoy, everybody. Welcome to Talking Simpsons, where a turkey is a bad person. I'm your host, the too-cool-for-this-planet Bob Mackie,

and this is our chronological exploration of The Simpsons. Who else is here with me today? Henry Gilbert in Do You Feel? Do You Feel? Henry can't get the pig out. And who is our special guest? I don't trust anyone over 30. I'm Alexi. Smiling politely. And today's episode is Homer Palooza. Quit driving me turkey. You got to sass it. A turkey is a bad person. Wow. And today's episode aired on May 19th, 1996. And as always, Henry will tell us what happened on this mythical day in real world history.

Oh my God. Oh boy, Bobby. The space shuttle Endeavor launches for the 11th time. How Stella got her groove back tops the New York Times bestsellers chart. And Paul Hogan and Elijah Wood team up with a disobedient dolphin in the film adaptation of Flipper. Wait, who was in that movie? Paul Hogan and Elijah Wood. They didn't call it Crocodile Dolphin?

They paid for that Flipper license they're going to use. I guess so. No one wanted Flipper license. They're going to use it. I guess so. No one wanted Flipper to come back. I know. In 1996, who cared? Anytime Flipper aired on Nickelodeon in the 90s, I was like, well, I have to watch anything else. I was like, I'll take a Dennis the Menace, please.

I don't want the Flipper to happen. Is there anything else stand out in that news? This is a bad week. Well, I had to split the news here because you're going to hear some more things that happen next week or this week, next week on the time. Well, yeah, we'll talk about it more. I mean, on May 19, 1996, my life peaked as a human because there were two season seven episodes of The Simpsons on the same night. This and Summer of Four Foot Two. Oh, my God. Yeah.

Did life get any better? They just burned them off on the same night. This and Summer of Four Foot Two. Oh my God. Yeah. Great episode. Did life get any better? They just burned them off for the season finale. It was a hot hour of Simpsons. I mean, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, that was good. That was some sexy beach readings

for moms. It was the Fifty Shades of Grey before that of its time. Don't delegitimize How Stella Got Her Groove Back. It wasn't glorified Twilight fan fiction. That is true.

I'd rather read it. I know the film a bit better, which I believe. Man, who is the sexy dude in it? Is it Taye Diggs? I was right. It was Taye Diggs. I remember correctly. Taye Diggs is the sexy young man who gives Angela Bassett her groove back while Whoopi Goldberg is the funny friend in it

who cheers her on to go and get that groove back. To Flipper's credit, it did bring back that song Roll With Me by Della Maitri. What? Oh my God, I didn't know it went away. Never left my heart. Jeez, I remember cutting the lawn while listening to that song a lot on the radio.

I don't know why. It's got a really creepy video where they're all babies. Have you seen this? Yes. Yeah. Beavis and Butthead watched it, and they did not care for it. Flipper and the film Lightning Jack were the 90s attempt to like, you can still watch a Paul Hogan movie in the 90s, right?

And the world said no. Get him back in that vest vest or it's no deal. And he wouldn't get another movie really again until a series of car commercials repopularized the Crocodile Dundee character. And then they got to make Crocodile Dundee Goes to L.A. That's a debacle. I hope we never get to talk about it again. No. So our special guest, Alexi, first time, long time. And for this episode, we have a honest

to God rock star in our midst. So Lexi, tell us about who you are and what you do and all the good stuff. My name is Lexi and I'm in a band in San Francisco called the Y-Axis. I'm a singer in that band. And I also go to shows alone and I have a video blog where I go to shows alone, essentially, and interview bands and watch them and creep them out a little bit. They seem to take it rather well. And I mean, podcasting, not to upset you, podcasting is the new rock and roll I've heard, except for the sex and the drugs and the money and the legitimacy. And people don't really know what I do when I talk to them. So that's like a modern band.

Really? It has the obscurity like a modern band then. Really? It has the obscurity of a modern rock band. Excellent. Wow. I mean, the rock bands in this episode were like the last ones to have mainstream super success. Nobody else got to be a rock star after the ones in this generation, I think. Very true. Not to speak ill of your profession, Lexi.

Sorry. The slices of the pie were much bigger to be had. Very true. Not to speak ill of your profession, Lexi, sorry. The slices of the pie were much bigger to be had. My profession. But yeah, you're both a rock star and a Simpsons fan. What came first, the Simpsons enjoyment or music enjoyment? Almost

simultaneously. I started watching the Simpsons when my bedtime was 8.15, So on Sunday night, I could only watch half an episode. Wow. That's strict, man. I mean, they weren't very strict in general, my parents, but something about those random rules are like 8.15, go to bed. That's bordering on abuse, I'll say. To not let a child finish a TV show. That's what I keep saying. I hope you've forgiven them after all these years.

I mean, we always bonded over The Simpsons. So in some way, once it started airing at 6.30 and 7.30 on Fox, the forgiveness came over time. Were you taping the episodes? We weren't really taping them. They would just always be in syndication.

Like every day, five days a week, plus Sunday at 8, it was just like, you get, what is that, 11 episodes a week plus sunday at eight it was just like you get what is that 11 episodes a week of simpsons like without fail it's that's a bounty of simpsons at that time and uh what was that do you remember what the first episode you saw was oh man it would be really hard to say i mean if i'm if i'm thinking chronologically i would say something like you know the babysitting episode which not not the l one, which is really great, but the babysitter bandit. Yeah. That's pretty early if you were watching that. Okay. Actually, I wanted to ask everybody, this is an episode about music and I don't think we've

talked about this before, but what was your first album you bought? I really want to know this. They'll all be embarrassing. Mine, maybe not. I maybe have said this before. I think back to the first CD I bought, I believe, was Aerosmith's Get a Grip, which had all the big Alicia Silverstone hits and hits and cow udders on the cover. I think that was it. And if it wasn't that, then it was a cassette tape. That was the first one I remember I bought as my choice of

this is an album for me. It is not a cassette tape my mom buys for us all to listen to like Weird Al or Simpson sing the blues together. But the first album I truly obsessed over it was not Aerosmith. It was

it was They Might Be Giants Flood like all mega nerds that was the one I listened to all the fucking why is the world in love again they might be giants

I just fell down a rabbit hole like I'll listen to one They Might Be Giants song on YouTube two hours later I guess I should

just listen to all of the Apollo 18 album. I mean, why not? You're running into like the Tiny Toons animations of all of them. Oh, hell yeah. They hold up. That was why I bought Flood because of the music videos on Tiny Toons for sure. For me, it was Crazy Sexy Cool by TLC. Oh, nice choice.

But also a single of Water Runs Dry by Boyz II Men. Yeah, very good. And then the first CD I ever had was a Saturday Morning Cartoons cover album. Hell yes. I had that. Collective Soul doing The Bugaloos and Hong Kong Fooey by Sublime. Oh, man. That's a great, great album.

I love the Revan Horton Heat doing Johnny Quest. That was really good. And also the, I forget who did it, the Popeye one I really like a lot too. And the Ren and Stimpy one that closes it out. I like, honestly, the whole album I listened to, it was in my five-disc CD changer right next to each other was the Saturday Morning covers album. And then the Schoolhouse Rock covers album. And that is from this era, like from this alternative era. As for me, I'm going to break it up.

So Weird Al does not count. Weird Al, I mean, I love Weird Al, but I mean, I think a lot of kids' first albums. It's not fair. The Jurassic Park album. God, I think my first Weird Al album was actually Polka Party. I bought one of his 80s albums first because I was like, I've never heard these songs before. And it's like, I don't know what they're parodying, but they're pretty funny. Those polkas are great.

They are. I love the polkas. But my first album on cassette that was not Weird Al was Elastica's self-titled debut. Nice. Which I think is still pretty good. Yeah.

And I think my first CD, I bought a bunch of CDs in 1996 around May when I got a CD player and I believe I got, of course, Weird Al's Bad Hair Day which was new at the time.

The Peaches single from the Presidents of the United States of America. Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. And... I can't. What's that? Oh, I heard it's a metaphor for something, but no, it couldn't be. I still don't get it.

And Space Hogs in the meantime. And I stand by all of those choices. And I've never... I'm old, by the way. I feel quite old feeling excitement over all of those albums. Let's listen to Space Hawk. I can see the covers of all of them in my head of like, yep that was my, I remember that CD, I remember

that CD. You see the Frankenstein eating the cereal? Yes. The schools don't teach kids about Space Hawk. Important part of the 90s. This episode let's get into it. Some pre-production stuff. The story is by David S. Cohen, the weirdest. Like, why would David S. Cohen, the mega nerd who would co-create Futurama,

come up with a story about a rock concert? But he did. But it was written by Brent Forrester, his last show for The Simpsons. He went to Lollapalooza to do research, and he hated it. He said at age 27 he felt too old for the show in general. He felt like he was the dad there. We see a lot of his experience in the episode. He was hassled

by security guards all the time. He had to throw all of his things away when he got there. And he was using a recorder, a tape recorder, to take notes about the show. Just, you know, record his observations. And when he was doing that, someone came up to him and said, how's it going, Nark? So that is captured in this episode perfectly.

This episode hit at just the right time for all these bands. It was in the afterglow of Nirvana being big, but all these bands had kind of transformed, like Sonic Youth and Smashing Pumpkins. Both had gotten so big. Melancholy and the infinite sadness. Oh, yeah. It just, well, not just come out, but was relatively new.

It was huge, too. Yeah. And Cypress Hill, like, I did not own any of their albums. I was a scared white child. I was like, oh, my dad might not like this. But I listened to them. I watched the music video a million times and loved it. And seeing all of them in the same episode, I was like,

this also let you know that the Simpsons was, this was a younger staff than the previous season. Like the, no offense to Merkin or Al Jean and Mike Reese, but they wouldn't have had these. Dave Merkin had on his James freaking Taylor. That was his generation of music. He would not have had on the Smashing Pumpkins ever. And one other pre-production note is that Ken Keeler,

he wrote a lot of the songs for The Simpsons and a lot for Futurama. In fact, he won an Emmy for We Put the Spring in Springfield. But he wrote a parody of Nine Inch Nails Closer for this episode, and that got cut, which I want to know what that was like. He says it wasn't very good. So he wrote a song for Two Bad Neighbors and that got cut. Which I want to know what that was like. He says it wasn't very good. So he wrote a song for Two Bad Neighbors, that got cut. He wrote a song for A Star Is Burns, that got cut, and this got cut as well. So

very few of these songs he wrote actually made it to air. And we've talked many times about how Oakley and Weinstein, when they were running the season, they said they wanted to copy season three. And one thing that's in season 3 is the star fucking episode that's

all about the in that case softball with every major league baseball player. So good though. This is their major league baseball episode which it is it's great in it's own way but in both those cases story is second to guest stars. Daryl.

This episode has nothing as good as Daryl I will stars. Daryl. Daryl. This episode has nothing as good as Daryl, I will say. That is true. Very true. No one has mocked so soundly. They got like five stars for this. I don't know you, but yes. And also, no voice, no rock star in this is as good an actor as Daryl Strober. That's true.

Though I think they're a little too harsh on this in the commentary. They think this is one of their weaker written episodes. That's true. Though I think they're a little too harsh on this in the commentary. Like they think this is one of their weaker written episodes. Bill Oakley, co-EP, says we shouldn't have given this a family story. The family story kind of emerges out of nowhere in the third act. Like now Bart needs to – sorry, now Homer needs to impress Bart for some reason. But you forget about that when you sit down and watch this episode. You're not worried, will Bart respect Homer? And in the aftermath of this show, the bands like Smashing Pumpkins have broken up multiple times.

So they are now on a reunion tour. Except for Darcy, she is not back. But James E. Caw and Chamberlain are back. Apparently she has not spoken to Billy Corgan in like 20 years. Wow. I wonder why. We'll get to that later. Meanwhile, Sonic Youth has been disbanded since

the 2014 divorce of Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore. They're so happy together. Cypress Hill is still going strong though. Although all the original members in their 50s still touring around doing the Cypress Hill thing. And Peter Frampton as well is also coming alive around

America to this day. Do you feel? Do you feel? I just love that. On the OSW Review podcast, they mention that many times too. Anytime something isn't working

in a wrestling show, they'll joke about like, do you feel? So this episode opens with, it gets started off like in 20 seconds, we have the catalyst for the rest of the story. It is Otto basically destroying the school's apparently one bus that's for every child.

Or maybe just, I guess it is for the entire school because Bart and Lisa both need a ride to school. Yeah, I mean, the opening with Otto, it's also funny that Otto is the rocker of the show, but he's not really – he is at one of the concerts. But he's – he was the connection to the rock in the previous episode about this with Spinal Tap. But the Otto show killed Otto. Yeah. Ultimately. Well, I would say that Otto also is kind of a man out of time at this point because he is an 80s hair metal rocker.

And by 1996, the least cool thing you could be was an 80s hair metal guy. That's true. By 96, I think Metallica had shaved off their locks. They're like, this is, we look lame with long hair. Yeah, 80s doesn't get cool until like 2002 again. It finally comes back around, which also, speaking of beginning on a cool, watching this episode at

35 is not fun. I don't like that I am now, I have gone from watching it at Bart's age to watching it at Homer's age. I'm not Jay Sherman's age. Though at least I'm not Jay Sherman's height. I at least I'm not Jay Sherman's height. I am his weight, but not.

Also, though, this episode, like, Wes Archer and his team do an amazing job all over the place in this. And it starts with the bus crash. Them running out of the bus as it is being crushed is beautiful. That's why you take those drills where you jump out the back of the bus in school. You have to learn how to escape from things crushing it from the front. And barrels. And also at this point, it seems that the writers have really struck on that. A good running gag for Marge is reading notes from school.

Yeah. Out loud. So, who's going to keep his secrets? Dear parents, due to yesterday's unscheduled field trip to the auto wrecking yard, the school bus will be out of commission for two weeks. By reading this letter out loud, you have waived any legal responsibility on our part in perpetuity throughout the universe. We'll have to organize a carpool. Hey, every day will be like a road trip with your dad to school.

I think Marge read two letters in a row that are just out to insult her. Either her rights or her profession as a homemaker. It's just Marge reads a note and then ends with a grumble. So being embarrassed by parents in front of school chums. Anybody else suffer through that in childhood? I think everybody in some way. I think my parents worked too much to ever interact with the school in me. I was just, they were in their own realm and I never, the paths never crossed.

My dad didn't do much of that, but my mom did a bit. And she would, I would be the like, mom, stop like that. Not so much embarrassing me with her old music taste, but telling stories that I was like, this is embarrassing to me. What comes to mind for me is actually my friend's embarrassing me in front of my Grammy. Because, you know, I want my Grammy to think I'm, you know, wholesome and innocent and all that stuff. And then the shit that come out of their mouth, I'd be like, oh my gosh,

you can't be saying that in front of my grandmother. I remember once she even was like, after she dropped off out of their mouth, I'd be like, oh my gosh, you can't be saying that in front of my grandmother. I remember once she even was like, after she dropped off one of my friends, I'm not going to say who, who knows if they're listening, but she was like, that is the rudest girl I've ever met. And I was like, oh, and that was shameful for me. So my Grammy never embarrassed me, but vice versa. Grammy judgment. The worst. They're picking up the kids. I completely forgot Janie was in this carpool. She says nothing. She's just like cargo.

But it's nice she gets to be there at least. Homer is starting to embarrass him. He's telling him about Jive. And then he turns on the radio. KFSL Fossil 103 Classic hits from Arbor to Zeppelin, comma, land. We are winners and losers.

Bad fellows losers. Tell him. Mr. Simpson, sir, can you please change the radio station? But this is Grand Funk Railroad. You guys back there know Grand Funk, right? Nobody knows the band Grand Funk? The wild shirtless lyrics of

Mark Varner? The bong-rattling bass of Mel Shocker? The competent drum work of Don Brewer? Oh, man! For more information on Grand Funk, consult your school library. So that was Grand Funk Railroad Shining On. That is Bill Oakley's favorite band and favorite song.

Man, it's, wow. Bill Oakley is so stuck in the past that he didn't listen to Sonic Youth, and when that Sonic Youth cover pops up, he's like, why did you guys even like this? And Mac Grady's like, this is my favorite Simpsons cover ever. But yeah, apparently Grand Funk wanted them to use We're an American Band, but Bill Oakley was like, no, I love this song. Only this one.

But they don't get royalties for it for some reason. Oh, they got fucked on the songwriting rights, and so Bill Oakley cheated them out of money. I mean, American band is their big thing. Yeah, for sure. But the, though I think

Bart and Lisa should have realized it's actually cooler to like older rock and say, these new bands are just ripping them off. Like,

Nirvana smells like teen spirit. It's just a rip off of Boston, man. They only play three chords. Yeah, they only play three chords. I also, getting older, is hearing Nirvana on a K-fossil type radio

station. Yeah. It's real. Yeah, it sucks. Like, Q102, like, playing, like, you know, stuff from, like, the late 90s. I'm like, really? Hard Knock Life? Really? It's like, when you see things on Nick at Night that shouldn't be. It's like, this is Murphy Brown.

What are you doing? What are you doing? 1999 is so recent, isn't it? Yeah. I mean, when I finally realized I was the homer in this episode was when it hit me that I was like, I like hip music. Like Radiohead's OK Computer was so recent. Oh, no. This was very hashtag relatable to me in 1996 because as a kid I was Bart's and my dad was a very Homer-like guy.

Graduated high school near the same year, but he was way into classic rock stations. And I was not because I would hear the same songs over and over. Only recently did I realize, like, no, I can like some music from the 70s, just not the songs I heard a billion times. So I was like, I am just like Bart in this episode. And that's what really sticks with me here. Just like, can you not, can we just listen to something else? From ages eight to 10, I was obsessed with an oldie station when my family lived in Atlanta, but its timeframe was 50 to 69. So I didn't hear these 70s rock songs. Like I learned every song that was played on this radio station, but they all kind of ended the 70s. So these 70s songs references, usually I was like, what?

What is this? What's Grand Funk? Speaking of things I didn't get, like the multiple multiple pot reference in this episode, like, flew right over my head. Yeah. And the bong-rattling bass, I did not realize what that meant. Just so you know about Grand Funk kids, currently Mel and Don do tour with a younger Grand Funk. They are surrounded, but Mark Farmer has done solo work in some Christian rock, so he no longer tours with them. I see.

But I mean, if you're buying tickets to Grand Funk, know that you're getting the competent drum work and the long rattling bass, but none of Mark Farmer's shirtless lyrics. Well, I can't return these tickets now. And also, watching this, I can't return these tickets now. And also watching

this, I can't stop thinking of how expensive all the music is. It's just like what was the budget on this? We get some more classic rock and Homer has to hear some harsh truths. And when I listen to a really good song, I start nodding my head

like I'm singing, yes, to every beat. Yes, yes, yes, this rocks. And then sometimes I switch it up like, no, no, no, don't stop a-rockin'. Dad, please, you're embarrassing us. No, I'm not. I'm teaching you about rock music.

Now, Grand Funk Railroad paved the way for Jefferson Airplane, which cleared the way for Jefferson Starship. The stage was now set for the Alan Parsons Project, which i believe was some sort of hovercraft dad no one cares about any of your stupid dinosaur bands you have the worst lamest taste in music ever i'm just trying to party with you guys homer first of alltay. And second, we wouldn't par-tay with you if you were the last dad on Earth. Aw. Aw.

We were doing all the body movements in the room. That did teach me how to properly enjoy rock music. Like, yes, yes, yes. No, don't stop rocking. Don't stop rocking. These were good suggestions by Halloway. They were wrong to reject that. And that was Mississippi Queen by Mountain.

As made popular by Guitar Hero. Yes. Yeah, by the way, this is what all of Guitar Hero was until a few years into that series. This is why I didn't really like Guitar Hero. I'm like, I made this joke on several podcasts, but I was like,

this game is like taking a car ride with my stepdad. I've done that a lot. I don't need covers of that. They were all the affordable ones, though. The more recent songs were too expensive, and also they didn't have as many of the classical chords. First song I think of when I think of Guitar Hero is More Than a Feeling. And I'm glad they got that over, I don't know, Evanescence in the first release.

I felt bad watching this now, too, of feeling bad that I hurt my mom's feelings any time I might have told her, like, you're not cool. Like, you're making me look bad. Mom, you're embarrassing me. Now I just feel bad. I would just make fun of my parents liking Jimmy Buffett. My mom was a huge parent. I feel still justified in that. Like, come on, let's all call it a day on Jimmy Buffett. It's fine a huge parent. I feel still justified in that. Like, come on, let's all call it a day on Jimmy Buffett.

It's fine. He's got a restaurant. My mom's taste in music is actually really cool. Oh, damn it. Listening to Punk-O-Rama and Voodoo Glow Skulls, a lot of ska. Whoa. Nice. Yeah.

I can get down with that. You're skanking it up. Skanking in the backseat. The Simpsons will be right back we know you're saving up all that money for a walk-in humidor but why not take that money and give it to your buddies at talking simpsons for just five dollars a month you can support us at patreon.com slash talking simpsons and if you go there you'll get access to every episode a week early and ad free including next week's season finale as the summer of four foot two not to mention that you could get access to every episode of what a cartoon a week early and ad free that's where

we go through a different cartoon each week in the same talking simpson style you can hear us talk about steven universe king of the hill batman the animated series and so much more and you'll get early access to that as part of your patreon support as well not to mention if you give it the 10 a month level you'll get access to special exclusive videos including me and bob's recent deleted scenes commentary for futurama's first season and coming real soon is our deleted scenes commentary for season seven so check all that out at patreon.com slash talking simpsons we've got a message for jimmy hendrix listen to our interview with mike reese we interviewed mike reese former executive producer of the simpsons who's worked on the show for over 30 years and he just wrote a brand new book called Springfield Confidential, which we interviewed him about right on our podcast.

It was really cool. A whole hour of him telling us tons of Simpsony secrets. And if you'd like to hear the audio book version of Springfield Confidential, you can get that for free on us. How? Go to audibletrial.com slash TalkingSimpsons. If you go to audibletrial.com slash TalkingSimpsons and sign up for a 30-day free trial of Audible audiobook service, you'll get a free audiobook of your choice

and may we suggest Springfield Confidential Red by our recent guest, Mike Reese. It is tons of fun and you can get it for free on your friends. Talking Simpsons and a little bit of money gets kicked back to us. Alright, now let's keep on rockin' with this week's episode. I've come to love this music more in a just classical sense, but I also feel bad for Homer. This is how I feel going into a...

We're a record store to exist now. No, they actually do exist where we live, like Rasputin and... Amoeba. They're both still open in Berkeley. Well, now records are back. Oh, yes, that's true. They're hotter than ever. Yeah, so the thing is that actually Homer's the coolest one in the room right now. Yeah, that's true.

With all of his classic collections and listening to the King Biscuit Flower Hour. He wants to buy record. The sign gag, I love it so much that to show you where they are at that time in music in 1996, good vibrations has turned into suicide notes. It's very Gen X. But here is Homer at Suicide Notes. Where can I find the latest releases by Bread? Oldies.

Oldies? But you've got all the top bands in here. Sticks? I just heard them on the King Biscuit Flower Hour. Now here are some of your no-name bands. Sonic Youth, Nine Inch Nails, Hullabalooza. Hullabalooza is a music festival.

The greatest music festival of all time. There can only be one truly great music festival a lifetime, and it's the Us Festival. The what festival? The Us Festival. It was sponsored by that guy from Apple Computers. What computers? Why do you need new bands? Everyone knows Rock Att rock attained perfection in 1974

It's a scientific fact There's a lot to get into there That's how I still feel like Why do you need new bands? 1996 I wanted to point out the first of many references To cigarettes in this episode Okay, yeah

The magazine that the record store clerk is carrying Has a Laramie Cigarettes ad on the back And I was like, what? Why is that even record store clerk is carrying has a Laramie cigarettes ad on the back. And I was like, what? Why is that even there? You could have drawn anything there. I guess that reminds me at the time, like, the few places I'd see cigarettes ads in the mid to late 90s would be in Rolling Stone or Spin. You could still get them in print at the time. Now it's just kind of dead.

But let's get into the King Biscuit Flower Hour. Yeah. It sounds made up, doesn't it? I was sure it was made up. No, it's just kind of dead. But let's get into the King Biscuit Flower Hour. It sounds made up, doesn't it? I was sure it was made up. No, it's real. It was a syndicated radio show. Basically what they did was they would record bands at concerts and then edit that into a syndicated program and produce it. It ran original programming from

1973 to 1993. For Homer, it ended three years ago. And it ran reruns until 2005 when no one wanted to carry it anymore. Well, that's who would still be playing sticks then. Just any old rerun would have sticks on it. So Homer heard a rerun of the King Biscuit Flower and thought the sticks was still relevant.

That's the joke. In 1996, sticks couldn't be more like lame-o, but the sticks had a big break over one member of sticks wanting to make them rock operas and the other just wanting to be straight rock. And they eventually got back together. I think Styx is the greatest when they have to balance being a stupid gay rock opera with regular cock rock. But those were very accurate posters at the time of Night of the Snails and Sonic Youth.

And how about the Us Festival? Homer's right. Yeah. I love that Homer, you think he's going to say Woodstock or, I don't know, some other famous one. No one has thought of the Us Festival since 1984 probably. He was a young man then. He was in his 20s. It's perfectly to fit his time.

And the guy from Apple Computers he's referring to is Steve Wozniak, the other guy who really got kind of, if you've watched the Steve Jobs movies or read the book, he kind of got fucked over by Steve Jobs. Not that he isn't like a super-duper millionaire, but he's not a billionaire. Yeah. Which, as we all know from social network,

is what's really cool is being a billionaire. For sure. And the thing about Apple, like what computers? It's because Apple was sort of a joke and a failing joke. Big time. And so the iMac would launch in 1998, which would turn the company around in terms of profitability. And Steve Jobs would go back to Apple in 1997.

But in 1996, they were just like a miserable failure with like nothing good to offer anyone. Yeah, it was just seven months after this episode, December 1996, is when Steve Jobs sold his also kind of failing company, Next Computers, to Apple and rejoined Apple. Meanwhile, Steve Jobs was also kind of investing in some no-name computer graphics company called Pixar. I don't know what they'd ever do. They went nowhere.

No, by 1996, actually, they'd gotten quite big already. That is true. A lot of car cartoons, I heard. Yeah. They're the masters of cars. The big bands on the Us Festival, apparently, were the Police and Grateful Dead. They did it in 82 and 83 and then never again. I mean.

Police, hey. A continued rock festival is not easy to do. Like, it's to keep it going without a corporate sponsorship or some corporation taking over it. Otherwise, it either has to be like a one-off thing or it just completely consumes your life. You don't do anything else but a music festival. Yeah. By the time Brent Forrester went to Lollapalooza, it was a corporate event. It was no longer like the Jane's Addiction fun party time with freaks.

Well, actually, if you'd like to hear about Lollapalooza and the history of it, I've got a quick clip here. Perry Farrell started it, Jane's Addiction frontman in 1991. It ended in 1996, but it returned in 2003 and actually buy tickets to Lollapalooza show in Chicago coming up soon. Ooh. In the early 90s, Perry Farrell awoke from a dream and said, Lollapalooza, and the rest is youth culture history.

Now, Perry's idea of a big traveling circus of alternative culture kind of gave way to commercial pressures after a couple of years, but it was a true gathering of the tribes, complete with splinter factions. And over the years, there were some Lollapalooza mainstays, things you'd always see. The mosh pits, the body piercings, the info booths, and of course, the rabid fans

rushing to the front. So then that clip, it's a woman talking, but she's holding a giant camera, and someone is clearly filming her. What's happening? It's very odd. All I know is it's a woman talking, but she's holding a giant camera, and someone is clearly filming her. What's happening? It's very odd. All I know is it's from Much Music, and the Canadian VJs did things a little differently, I guess, than they did.

Figure it out, Canada. At least Ed the Sock wasn't in that clip there. But, yeah, they have other clips. It's a cool little documentary from the time. I think that's from 96. And they have a clip of Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine talking about how they get undercut by the Lollapalooza t-shirts. They're like, we can't sell our t-shirts cheaper than Lollapalooza's t-shirts. And they're $23, so we're getting fucked by that. They are the sweetest plum.

They are. Right? Yeah. T-shirt sales are where it's at, right? Yeah, you get like $40 a shirt if you're like a real big old band. Ours are, I think, $15, but that's just... But the merch is where it's at. Merch is where the money is.

The ticket sales, they go to the ticket printers and the album sales go to like Apple, et cetera. Or to Mr. Burns and Ticketmaster. 100% service fee. So the next scene I really enjoy because it is, I don't know,

like it echoes through the ages as one of the most perfect lines ever, what Abe says here. I think this is the line of the episode. Yes, let's give it

the line of the episode. That's the joke. You make me feel like dancing. I want to dance the night away. What the hell are you two doing? It's called rocking out. You wouldn't understand, Dad.

You're not with it. I used to be with it. But then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it. And what's it seems weird and scary to me. It'll happen to you. No way, man. We're gonna keep on rocking forever. Forever. Forever. Forever. Forever.

What's wrong, homie? I went to the record store today and they were playing all this music I never heard of. It was like the store had gone crazy. Record stores have always seemed crazy to me, but it doesn't upset me. Music is none of my business. That's fine for you, Marge, but I used to rock and roll all night and party every day. Then it was every other day. Now I'm

lucky if I can find half an hour a week in which to get funky. I really like Marge's sweet, it's like, it's none of my business. I mean, that's none of my business. None of my business. I mean, that's the more sane way to go when you're getting old. It's just like, I don't care. Pop music is none of my business.

For Marge, music ended when Ringo Starr and the Beatles broke up. She does not remember any of that. Though, I don't know. With her love of Ringo Starr, maybe she would have gone and seen some of the trash Ringo Starr and the All-Star Band bullshit.

I really enjoy the flashbacks to what a loser Homer was, but he still thinks he was cool. I really enjoy the name of the van, the Second Bassmobile. They're setting their expectations really realistically. Yes. Say hello to the Second Bassmobile. Even though that guy, he's a hunky dude. A hunky dude with an awesome van and a ball-rattling bass. Like, he can do better than second bass. And that I think you're cool, Homer Simpson thing has happened to me before.

That was mean. That was mean. Yeah. It's a very dazed and confused flashback, too. Yeah. Though anytime I see young Homer, I'm like, that's Fry. That's Philip J. Fry right there

basically but the it's such a great another great licensed music in this of one of like 8 million in this

is the Edgar Winters band Frankenstein that's a song playing over the second bass machine like it's it's so great I watched a

one of my favorite things to put on when I worked at a video store were basically music video compilations because now you just listen to music at work. Oh, yeah. And there was one that was a collection of this British music series called The Grey Whistle Test. And on that they had on Edgar Winter and it's just Frankenstein like fully and he's playing

it live and it's just him running from keyboard to keyboard and just like losing it. You're like, man, Edgar Winter is working hard. He's usually just the butt of jokes about weird looking albinos. In fact, he will be run over by

Homer for being a weird looking albino. You're right. Coming up soon. Yeah, that's right. a weird-looking albino. You're right. Coming up soon. Yeah, that's right. I thought it was before this, but you're right, totally. But it's a great song. And lastly, the animation on the strobe light effect of Homer moving closer, and then he's immediately back to it. Yeah, very well done.

That's great. But yes, it'll happen to you. They made this joke knowing that it happens to all of us. You age. There's no escaping time. It's funny because in this episode, so my favorite local music station at this time was Cleveland's 107.9 The End. And I found out through research every 107.9 is named The End no matter where you go because it's the end of the dial. Isn't that clever? But they cut a promo for their station with all of these clips, like nine inch nails.

And we're going to keep on rocking forever. Forever. Forever. Like so much of this episode, I remember from hearing those promos over and over and over again. So, yeah, I feel like, wow, they made a lot of hay out of that. That's another thing you noticed in the Homer memories. His real problem, why he feels out of touch now, is that he misremembers that he was cool. He was never cool. He was singing along to—

Leo Sayre. Yeah. He was not singing cool music. And these girls were being mean to him, but he was too stupid to know it. He was happy. He was happy. He was blissful ignorance that Homer had. And though that's

the same deal, Abe was never with it. He was never cool. Even in his youth, he was not cool. He was just a giant square. But that match cut to forever, forever. It's a punch in the gut for people in their 30s, I think.

I agree. And also, though, an underrated line in that section there, too, is like, it was like the store had gone crazy. Homer's just so, like, lost and confused. Had gone crazy. A store going crazy is a funny idea. When pan flute became popular again, that was when I realized I was no longer with it. Oh, my God. I didn't realize.

Is this really happening? That Justin Bieber song that came out in like 2015. Oh, man. Does Zanfear know about this? He's the master of the pan flute. I'd be so excited. Damn. I hope he's not dead.

Homer has got to find a way to get cool again. And they just drive right by Millhouse on the carpool lane which I, that felt like also another very real thing of like sometimes kids just stink bad and they don't know they need a parent to tell them you need to start wearing good right now you're a smelly child. I'm okay

today. I'm okay today. And then Homer reveals what a cool dad he really is. Looks like your uncool dad scored tickets to Hullabalooza. Bart, these look real. Check the authenticator spot. This is an authentic Hullabalooza ticket. For authentic refreshment, eat Clark Bars.

And for totally outrageous class rings, it's Jostens. Go Jostens. You're not going to school today. Today your classroom will be the capital city amphitheater. Your teacher? Four dozen rock bands. So get ready for some well-supervised craziness while you rock

out with your father. I love it. With your father. The bizarre product tie-ins. Clark bars makes me laugh a lot, and the class rings is good, too. But Brett Forrester saw a lot of this corporatization when he went to Lollapalooza. But I also think they're riffing a bit on Woodstock 94. Oh, yeah.

Which was, like, the most corporate hell boomer, again, hellscape. Well, that's why the line a little later of Lisa saying, this is like Woodstock except with advertising. That was Woodstock 94. Well, meanwhile, Woodstock 99 was Woodstock if it was hell. Yeah, literally hell. It had literally become hell. What if it was just mud and fire? And Justin's, that Justin's gag too is great to me because like Justin's doesn't need to advertise.

It has a 100% monopoly on class rings. They come to your school and talk you into a bad decision. Yeah. What fucker walks around? Like if you see somebody with a high school class ring walking around, I feel like you haven't done anything since high school. I'm sorry if anybody in the

listener is listening now and they're looking at the class ring. I don't want to insult anyone. This is okay if you feel this way, but it baffles me. Like, people that are still, like, way into the college they went to, maybe it's for sports, it's fine, but outside of that, I'm just like, come on, we can, let's get over this.

Maybe, yeah. High school even more so feels like, come on. They did spend thousands of dollars to go to that school. They better love it a little bit. I mean, I spent too much money to go to college, and I don't even want to think about it anymore. I don't want a reminder. But, Bob, when you went to that school, there were cool girls walking around with guns. That's true.

And talking about how protected they were. I didn't teach any cool gun-wielding people at Kent. What if that girl had walked into your class with a huge assault rifle? I would have dove out the window. But, yeah, those class rings, they always seem like a scam assault rifle. I would have dove out the window. But yeah, those class rings, they always seem like a scam to me. Also, I love the, there's great acting. I just caught this time of like,

when the way that Bart and Lisa, they're shifting between excitement, but then also realizing, oh, he's going to be there. And they kind of scoot away from him. Like, oh, no. No longer well-supervised. It is a devil's bargain. And they kind of scoot away from him like, no. No longer well supervised. It is a devil's bargain. And I also love

like they, that Oakley and Weinstein, they remember Capital City. Other writers, they forget that Capital City is a usable locale for the more upscale things in the Simpsons universe. Like we went to Capital City for the Planet of the Apes musical and now we're going

there again for DeSere. Four dozen rock bands. How can you? That seems like tons. How many days? Yeah, and how many stages are there? There seems to be only one stage in Hullabalooza. And, oh, yeah, I forgot to say it.

On the Hullabalooza thing, the sign that Homer sees, the huge 1996 on it, that, like, dates this in a way they never do on the show. They're usually more careful of that kind of thing. But maybe they were rightly thinking like these bands date this anyway. Oh for sure. Billy Corgan's going to shave his head in a day. Yeah. But yeah so we see a bit of the Freaks for the first time and this is based on

the Jim Rose Circus which started in Seattle in 1991 and then rose to fame at Lollapalooza in 92. And if you're watching TV in the 90s, these people were all over, like, late night shows. There was, like, well, Jim Rose was sort of like a comedian, but he would also, like, staple things to his face and things like that. There was a guy, the famous lizard man who had got the forked tongue and all the tattoos and piercings all over his body. Love that guy. One guy who just picked things up with piercings on his nipples and genitals and ears and stuff like that.

So, yeah, it was – that's what they did. And they're still operating. I mean, like it seems like that's sort of a gig you can only do for so long before your body just gives up. But maybe they hire new freaks. I mean, they probably have pretty good veterinarians they're going to. Yeah. You're seeing a vet. I also love some of the booths they walk by, like the Register Not to Vote parody of the Rock the Vote campaign.

Bungie Jump Against Racism. That reminds me of today's retweet, if you think bigots are uncool. Every generation has slacktivism, but it's important to note that Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, they were in Gen X, but they hated Gen Xers. Yes. They're like, you spent your whole youth being sad about things.

You should have worked at a ski lodge or something. I do love that. Yeah, just like, you should have been having, like, sexy fun. Why'd you feel depressed? Like, why do you feel so mopey? It was the 90s. Always mopey. They really fit with, like, Lollapalooza's particular brand of whimsy, that kind of stuff.

Yeah. Then we get our first appearance of a current day band with Cypress Hill. What is that smell? It smells like Otto's jacket. Dude, karma. What? Karma. Karma.

Oh, I get it. Dad, you cannot wear that. That's a Rastafarian hat. Hey, I've been Safarian since before you were born. Wearing a Jamaican hat makes a bold statement about your connection to reggae music. Well, excuse me. So they're playing Throw Your Set in the Air from 1995, Cypress Hill 3, Temple of Boom. And Cypress Hill were famously pro the ganja.

So that's why the Otto's Jacket gag fits in there, which I, as a child, did not get that. I didn't either. Nope. But they've been around for 30 years now. So and their last album was in 2017, and it's called Elephants on Acid. That didn't either. Nope. But they've been around for 30 years now. So, and their last album was in 2017, and it's called Elephants on Acid. That's pretty cool. Good for them. That's this year, actually. I was wrong.

And that joke, they also talk about Blockbuster Entertainment, which is like, wow. Property of Blockbuster. Yeah. There's a fun story on the commentary in which, like, so if you guest on The Simpsons, you get a gift, and every year they change what the gift is. And that year it was a Filofax.

Do you guys know what a Filofax is? Sort of like a binder of information, right? It's basically like a trapper keeper for adults. And they were just kind of confused by it. If I had been the guest and seen that in previous years people got a friggin', like, jacket, like a varsity jacket, I'd be like, hey, how about that? This Final Facts is bullshit.

It's pretty cheap. I worked at a Blockbuster, and it's still strange to me to even think that I worked at a Blockbuster, and it feels like it's somebody saying they were a phone operator who connected lines or whatever. It's such an outdated job of just that people came into a store and picked one movie they wanted to watch and paid you $8 for it and left. That's just what it is. And then they pay

you more money if they were late with it because you had to bring it back. I got rejected from a Hollywood video interview. Oh my gosh. I wish I worked at a Hollywood because they had a better anime selection. Good game store next to it as well. Yeah, yeah. But you were rejected from that too?

I didn't try that one. Okay. But I love that they would fix your disc. Oh, man. They're regular game doctors. So everything that Homer does is from the 70s. He does the Steve Martin Excuse Me too. So he's very trapped in that era. And that karma bit, I love that

because it's one of the few things with kids Homer does understand eventually, and he just won't do it. Oh, I get it. By the way, are you being sarcastic, dude, that guy? I don't know anymore, man. He is not a voice actor. He's a contest winner. That's all that Bill

Oakley says. So I don't know what the contest was, but probably some Simpsons-related thing in a comic or a magazine or whatever. He guessed who shot Mr. Burns. No, no. That woman did not want the prize. She just took the money.

That was some old lady who ruined the contest. Yeah. But I also like that everybody, some people like to act like complaining about cultural appropriation is a new thing.

Like, this is the Simpsons doing that joke in 1996 of, like, you can't wear. You are stealing the culture of reggae and Rastafarian. And the other 70s thing Homer does is the keep on trucking R. Crumb walk, which they had to animate. And it doesn't look that much like it, but you get the idea. And that was R. Crumb drew that in a one-page comic, and everyone ripped it off in the 70s. So there's merch for that all over the 70s that he has nothing to do with because people just like the image of the guy walking with his foot out. Marge liked it so much

he stitched it into a blanket. But they weren't allowed to show the drawing. It had like a peace symbol. Oh, that's right. Yeah, that's lame. I mean, also Homer's too cool for this planet pin. It's such perfect lame dad-ness. Dad pin.

So then we get the Homer-Nark situation, which I love this. The scene always made me laugh, but in this viewing was when I was finally like, oh, poor Homer. All right, yeah. Cool concert, am I right? Yeah, nice try, N try narc where's the narc who that fat jamaican guy what did i say what's going on hey we're just trying to have a good time narc why do you want to destroy us don't commit your hate crimes here hate crime at least it gets the crowd surf out of this yeah Cry! Okay, I'm heading out now. More butt support. More butt support. At least he gets the crowd surf out of this.

Yeah. That one they used in all the commercials. But the, I just feel so bad for Homer in this one now where he's, when the woman is pointing at him screaming hate cry, he's just like nervous, like, that sounds bad. Like, uh-oh. That fat Jamaican dude. The hat, it made him pass as a Jamaican guy. He did it. He's a very light, like, that sounds bad. Like, uh-oh. That fat Jamaican dude. The hat, it made him pass as a Jamaican guy.

He did it. He's a very light-skinned Jamaican. I also have to say, I knew one white Rastafarian in my life with those dreads, and he was the phoniest fucker in the world. A rich kid, a rich kid who, you know, when he was tired of having ugly dreadlocks, cut them off, went back to being rich, just fine. No white dreads. I don't care what happens next year.

No white dreads. It's true. I mean, speaking of this, my friend lived with a drug dealer once back in the college days. Just weed. Just sold weed. And I'll buy weed from him. But he also had a Bob Marley beaded curtain to go into his room. I'm like, do you really need to do this?

Do we really need to be doing this? I mean, you got to be that much of a stereotype of a weed dealer. Like, if he didn't own a Bob Marley beaded curtain, how would you know he dealt weed? Well, this is actually weed. I trust this man. It's not oregano. I would think if a cop busted there, they'd just have to laugh. Yeah.

Come on. In there. And then break his head open. We get a nice shot of the Smashing Pumpkins playing their big hit, Zero. It may be bleak, but this music is really getting to the crowd. Making teenagers depressed is like shooting fish in a barrel. No. Makes no sense.

I haven't changed since high school and suddenly I'm uncool. I've been kicked out of paradise. I'll never be part of this scene again. So yeah, Smashing Pumpkins. I was a big Smashing Pumpkins I was a big Smashing Pumpkins fan

at this time I don't know about you guys I can still go back to this album but the lyrics are deeply embarrassing very much so guess what guys

God is empty just like me I'm in love with my own sadness yep deal with it America yeah

it's it's cornball but it was just the thing. At 14, I needed to hear that to be like, yeah, I have deep feelings like these. Fashion victims. In a way, I like how earnest it is, though. I got more into Adore. That album was more my thing. Ah, okay. More the extra sad, no more hard stuff.

See, yeah, no. Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness. I listen to that infinite times. There's Infinite Sadness. How could Adore be sadder? And Melancholy, that's a funny pun. That's so clever. Now, and just the look of, that look of Billy Corgan

at the time in that black t-shirt that said Zero on it, like, it's an easy thing for any average white man to copy. You look cool. At this point though, he had adopted the bald look. So it was weird to see him with hair and I forgot that he had hair at some point.

Yeah, he had shaved it off a little before this. What was playing all the time on MTV was the Tonight Tonight. That one was playing all the time. Oh, great video. Is that the top hat one?

When he has a little top hat? Yes. So pretty. My lady. So Billy Corgan has some opinions these days. I want to talk a bit about this. What I did while watching this episode was I took a screen cap of Billy Corgan in this episode. And then I took a screen cap of him on Alex Jones looking like Aqualung.

Thank you, somebody on my Twitter, for coming up with that joke. So I put those two next to each other and in the text, it'll happen to you. And Bill Oakley liked it on Twitter, so it is Bill Oakley approved. But let's hear some of his opinions on the Alex Jones show. He's wearing about, I would say, conservatively 13 jackets and five scarves.

If you're trying to come at it from a different angle, because we see the rise of the social justice worry movement as another propaganda kind of control arm, right? It's here to control us. It's the Maoists. Here they come. And they'll use kids.

And I mean, they have no shame. It's classic tyranny. Okay, right. So what is allowing people who in their own hearts have a differing opinion to be led down this path? It's a collectivism. It's a peer pressure it's shaming it's it's guilting it's it's like gang member stuff they're they're young they're uninformed they take them to the college they put them under pressure they send them to group but again he is he is trapped in those coats someone

help him oh my god i did not know what was gonna come out of this yeah i mean it gets worse there's there's hours of this online by the way if you really want to dig into it. Social justice warriors. That makes me so angry. Are communists? Is that what's happening? Collectivists, Maoists. Yeah.

What makes me most angry about that little clip there is that these are the things Billy Corgan, I would hope, would have laughed at in 1996. And secondly, like, you cannot sound more like a fucking grandpa to be like, they go to the colleges, they get indoctrinated. You don't know what a fucking college is anymore. You are that fucking out of touch. Colleges are boring. You don't learn anything. They are useless to you, and you are certainly not indoctrinated into Maoist theory.

Colleges are just part of corporate America. They act like if they went to classes that were about the founding fathers and the constitution that they would learn to not be Maoist, which is like, none of them learn this. You can't even outright socialists who are teachers can't

even teach that shit because they're shoved they would be shoved out of the schools. They made me take several classes in collective Maoism, Henry. And I've killed for my beliefs. Just the way, the matter-of-factness of Billy Corrigan saying this stuff, like, well, it's social justice warriors. They're being trained in collectivism. And they don't even know. It's just shameless.

I was like, you are 8 million years old. Like, you could not be more out of touch that he's talking about these collectivist kids who are out of touch. What makes it even better is when Yosemite Sam chimes in with his opinion. I totally agree. They're indoctrinating them. Let's move on from this topic because Henry's going to have a heart attack. Alex Jones must have been. Okay.

I got one too. Yes, please. I saw Smashing Pumpkins at the Bridge School benefit a few years ago. Oh, man. I've been to that before. Yeah. And I have to tell you, I was hugely, hugely disappointed. Played mostly new stuff

and brought out Josh Groban. Boo. Brought Josh Groban out to sing a song with him. That's inexplicable. And this guy's going to talk about indoctrination and corporatization.

That really sucked. What I hate, too, is that he Is that he is Legitimizing Alex Jones by Appearing on this thing which is why Alex Jones Will agree with anything Corrigan Says because he's like you're giving me

So much more Legitimacy here and also though It should be a law Homer was right When he yelled that at that concert Like only play the old stuff Like we don't want to hear the new things Like that at that concert. Like, only play the old stuff. Like, we don't want to hear the new things. Like, that's how it is. I don't want to hear the new things.

Yeah, when I saw They Might Be Giants, they followed that rule. When I saw Violent Femmes, they were like, we know why you're here. Yeah. Though I was, my first They Might Be Giants show, opening for them were OK Go before they were popular. And they said, we're going to do one They Might Be Giants cover because they said they're not going to play the song tonight. Oh, spoiler. And it was Kiss Me, Son of God. I destroyed the bond of friendship and respect between the only people left and even looked me in the eye. Now I laugh and make a fortune off the same ones that I tortured.

And the world says, kiss me, son of God. What's the name of the song, though? Sorry. Though also that same old thing was I went to see a super drag show because they were also, hey, you want more things that are like Weezer? Listen to super drag. And I went there. They sang only new songs of them trying to be Matchbox 20. I was like, this isn't who you're going to be.

They sang one old song and it wasn't even who sucked out the feeling. That's too bad. When you play new songs at a concert or when I hear a band I love playing a new song at a concert, that's when I start feeling old. Mostly because I suddenly am like aware of how my legs are sore because I don't know the song. I'm just like. And everyone around you knows it.

Oh, that's the worst. When they come out with an album and I haven't caught up. First time I heard that was when I saw Hot know the song. I'm just like... And everyone around you knows it. Oh, that's the worst. When they come out with an album and I haven't caught up. First time I heard that was when I saw Hot Hot Heat play. It's going to date me a little bit. But they came out with a,

like a third album or second album and I was just like, I don't know these songs. I only know bandages. What is this? Bandages. Also, last thing about Billy Corgan,

he not only has he transformed into this. Talking Corgans. But he is also a pro wrestling promoter. Cool. That's great, though. He has invested a ton of money into pro wrestling, and he now owns the old NWA. It is in National Wrestling Alliance. That NWA.

And he is promoting wrestling shows. I tweeted at you, Bob, the outfit he wore in Chicago for a wrestling event. He's dressed like the mask. It was insane, the suit suit and giant fedora he was wearing. Still no hair. Yeah, still no hair. So he was the mask. Well, you're right.

Actually, someone photoshopped that for me and put green face paint on him and two googly eyes. But he's gone and hard on wrestling promoters, so it's been a bummer for me of seeing some of my favorite indie wrestlers pose for photos with him because they're just like, he's helping expand wrestling. And a lot of them are just like, hey, I'm just a wrestler. I don't know politics. Yeah, I mean, in the end, the world is a vampire.

So we've got to get out of here. Good for Darcy to never hang out with him anymore and to just be done and she can make millions if she went on the road with him again but so the fact

that she doesn't tells me she's got more sense than say James Eha that sellout Spider-Man's rage I love that animation

of the sad crowd moving back yeah they loved it so much that they reused it later on a loop. That's how I dance. I only dance the way Peanuts characters

dance. That's all I know. I dance like that and like Fry. 10 out of 10. Wouldn't pay to see that. What mode I'm in. Maybe you will. At your show. There'll be no one around me. So Homer gets smashed in the gut and a giant flying pig pops up,

which was popularized by Pink Floyd on their album cover for Animals. And it actually got loose in the same way that Homer just got it loose here. But they would never sell it to anybody because when the band split up, Roger Waters kept the pig rights. And he used them at his concerts, Roger Waters kept the pig rights. The pig rights. And he used them at his concerts, not at whatever the other Pink Floyd guys were at. Yeah, I didn't realize that that was a mainstay at Pink Floyd concerts. The joke is that Peter Frampton shouldn't care about the pig.

He shouldn't have a pig. It's not part of his act at all. But it helps so much when you go like, do you feel? And the pig explodes. Do you feel? And the pig explodes. Do you feel? Also, did you guys catch that Eric Stefani drew No Doubt into the background of that show? I know somebody did. It's so distracting.

It wasn't Eric Stefani himself, it was friends of Eric Stefani on the staff who, if you guys didn't know, Eric Stefani who was the original lead singer of No Doubt and one of the songwriters. When No Doubt was not doing so well, he went back on his first skill. He had learned animation, and he was an animator on the early years of Simpsons.

Very talented, too. David Silverman tells a funny story of them working together and him getting a gold record in the mail. And it was like, well, I don't think we're going to keep him any longer as an animator. Oh, man. Here goes Peter Frampton's big finale. He's going to be pissed off. You're damn right I'm going to be pissed off.

I bought that pig at Pinkfroy's yard sale. Dad, are you okay? I'm fine. Sir, I run Hullabalooza's pageant of the Transmundane, the freak show, and I've been looking for a big fatso to shoot with a cannon. I'd like very much for you to be that fatso. So, you want to go on tour with a traveling freak show? I don't think I have a choice, Marge.

Of course you have a choice. How do you figure? You don't have to join a freak show just because the opportunity came along. You know, Marge, in some ways, you and I are very different people. So I want to get into the story of Frank Cannonball Richards. So later in this episode, there'll be a clip of Homer being shot with a cannonball in slow motion and falling over. It's a reference to a very famous piece of stock footage of a bald fat man getting shot with a cannon and falling over.

This was this guy's job. This is what he did for a living. His living was making money off of his bulletproof stomach. There's an entire Getty Images mini documentary about him, but he was famous for this iron stomach. People would come up to him and punch him. They'd jump on him.

Later, it escalated to getting cannonballs fired at him, and here's a little bit about this guy. You will win! Finally, in a feat for which Cannonball Richards would be forever remembered, he was shot in the belly with a 104-pound cannonball. Appearing relatively unfazed by the experience, and going on to make a career out of his ability. He took a cannonball to the belly twice a day in front of gobsmacked crowds. Frank Cannonball Richards lived to a ripe old age of 81.

Unfortunately, he didn't live long enough to see himself immortalized on a Van Halen album cover. Yes, he's on Van Halen's 3, I believe. Yeah, it's really weird. So that Van Halen thing was after this episode, but that piece of stock footage was so famous, if you watch TV, since that guy did his thing, you would see it in, I don't know, Muppet Babies, or in

a lot of music videos, in a lot of commercials. That clip, especially that one clip, is all over the place. It was free stock footage, so you'd put it in anything. I mentally associate it either with Muppet Babies or with 120 Minutes.

They would often use shots like that or somebody with a beard of bees. It's amazing to watch the slow motion of it. I feel bad for Homer in this episode because only once when they are reenacting that scene does he have a net that catches him. Every other time he just smashes on the ground. I can't believe he

like, they didn't talk about doing an autopsy and figuring out what's going on with this guy because he should have been killed. I know. I don't understand. I want some answers, but I guess the mystery remains. Could be that blowfish that he

ate. Toughened him up. I think he just eventually developed a lot of scar tissue. And I also, this is a real mark of this time in The Simpsons where Marge is recognizing the hokiness of a Homer job episode of just like, you

don't have to do this, Homer. This is, when I say this out loud, what you're about to do is ridiculous and you don't have to. You and I are very different from Marge. He's in a Homer gets a job episode. He has to do it. Yeah. What's he going to do?

Not take a new job? Like, these are just such great opportunities. This is the first time I caught that they went to the Skoll Bowl in Raleigh. In Raleigh-Durham. Sideshow Bob hates Raleigh-Durham. But Skoll is a chore. Yeah, yeah. Again, lots of tobacco ads everywhere.

I couldn't stop seeing it. I was like, why is that there? I think it's because it's like, what is the worst corporation to sponsor an event would be a cigarette company. And they're allowed to make fun of cigarettes but not alcohol. Well, North Carolina is tobacco country. That is true, yeah. So it was this big cash crop. But they have to say, I don't think that behind the scenes on Lollapalooza that the freaks were getting to hang out with the actual main acts.

I think they probably had to go somewhere else. They probably tried to. Yeah, they were like, hey, can we hang out right against the machine? We want to hang out with the lizard guy. Yeah, maybe they did. Maybe. But Homer sure gets to hang out with them.

Hey, Cannonball. I like your statement. When life takes a cheap shot at you, you stay on your ground. Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins. Homer Simpson, Smiling Politely. You know, my kids think you're the greatest. And thanks to your gloomy music, they finally stop dreaming of a future I can't possibly provide.

Well, we try to make a difference. Dear Bart and Lisa. All is well on tour with America's most popular alternative music festival. Our first job is to entertain. And I like to think sometimes we get a message across as well. No litter. But the main thing is

I finally tapped into that spirit of self-destruction that makes rock and roll the king of music. I appreciate the joke of him leaving Ohio, or the bus leaving. It's like, either Cleveland or Cincinnati would be a good choice. Either they just don't want to do it, that fork in the road, or they're like, let's turn back. How did we get this far into Ohio? Can't go to either.

It was Death of Time. Did you take that as the Ohio dig as a child? Oh, yeah, and I liked it. Even at 13, you're like, fuck this. I'm done with this place. I'm out of here as soon as possible. Only 17 more years. Though I have to say, the future that the Smashing Pumpkins promised us

wasn't sufficiently gloomy enough for what is the real future now. It's true. And then Homer, okay, so that joke, Homer Simpson smiling politely, they had originally envisioned that for a joke on Courtney Love. That's right. The gag would be, Courtney Love, Homer thankful. And they thought they could get Courtney Love because James L. Brooks was maybe going to make a movie with her. So it would make her more open to it. And in 1996, I would say, in alternative music, there were a few women hated more than Courtney Love.

Yes. In fact, one of the bands on this that's in the show said if Courtney's in, we're out. So I want to say maybe Sonic Youth. It was revealed later in like an oral history article. It was Sonic Youth. I thought so, yeah. But they weren't even in it, right? They didn't have lines, right? They had lines at the very end. The very end, yeah.

They have like one line. They talk way less than Smashing Pumpkin. Sonic Youth kind of gets a bum rap in this episode. But I mean, most bands hated Courtney Love at this time, which I think, I don't know. I this time, which I think, I don't know. I am of two minds on this. I don't know Courtney Love.

Maybe she is like a very difficult person. But I feel like she took maybe too much blame for Kurt Cobain's death. And I don't know. I like whole songs. There are good songs. They made good music. But I don't know. Lexi, how do you feel?

I feel like she shouldn't be blamed for Kurt Cobain's death. That's crazy and ridiculous. Maybe, I suppose people would probably blame her for capitalizing on him entirely. Sure, yeah. But like, I mean, also in retrospect, like all musicians are difficult. It doesn't just have to be, doesn't just have to be Courtney Love. Like that video of the sound person isolating her guitar. It was so mean. Though at this time, too, she was kind of trying to rebrand herself. Like, Hole was still putting out albums in the late 90s, but she was trying to go to Hollywood. Like, she really thought, you know, she thought that the man on the moon was going to get her an Oscar win and she'd arrive as an actress.

But after that movie, she wasn't really in many movies anymore. I think it's because she was too expensive to insure for a movie because of her problems. Yes. Yeah. Hey, she's outlived so many of her generation, though. Yep. I mean, if Charlie Sheen can do it, she can do it. Yeah, I think, well, men get a pass for everything.

Good old Charlie Sheen. He won't show up for a while. Yeah, I feel like Courtney Love could be 80% as bad as Charlie Sheen, but she gets like 150% of the shit that he gets. That's how it works. I also love the Wes Archer animation in his team. They found different ways to film Homer getting hit with a cannonball. Yeah.

Because they've got to do the same setup like eight times in this episode. They even get a full camera spin around from it. Well, not full, like not 360, but a camera spin. Like, that was really good. They're asked to do a lot. And I believe Homer stands much further away from the cannon than that iron gut guy did. Yes, which seems more dangerous, I think. It builds up speed.

But yes, here is dangers of irony, kids. Hello, ticket holders. Oh, here comes that cannonball guy. He's cool. Are you being sarcastic, dude? I don't even know anymore. So there's your contest winner, everybody. Did a great job.

Now I'm distracted forever by that new voice. Yeah, it is. I did not know it was a contest winner. But that's the dangers of being too ironic. You don't even know anymore. I fell for it, too. I'm post-post-irony. So then we get a nice...

I think Pete Frampton is the best actor of the guests. He really is. He really gives it. Yeah, like here. And remember, don't trust anyone over 30. And now, Peter Frampton. Thanks, Homer. Homer Simpson, everyone.

Hey, Homer. Looks like our next stop is your hometown, Springfield Is it true that we have to bring our own water? We got a little rule back home If it's brown, drink it down If it's black, send it back The hometown show's the big one, Homer Yeah, people who called you a weirdo in high school

Get to see what a successful freak you've become Hey, I wasn't a weirdo I was in the audiovisual club. Really? Me too. But I got kicked out because of my views on Vietnam. Also, I was stealing projectors. So they're headed to Springfield.

The Smashing Pumpkins are some of the worst actors, I think. Especially after you hear Peter Frampton. Billy Coyne's like, hi Homer, how's it going? I think drummer Jimmy Chamberlain is the worst. Yeah. In a way, it's so bad, it's great at the end of this episode. But I like Darcy talking about how I was in the audiovisual clip.

That used to be a marker of nerddom, but they don't really exist anymore. And then Homer just did it to steal things. And this is when we get the introduction to his stomach problems, which apparently went away after he stopped getting a daily cannonball. He did not rupture his stomach afterwards. But I love when the

freak guy shows up to check and be like, nothing is more important than the health of my freaks. Then we get a really bad outro line. I think it's one of the biggest groaners. The writers agree with you. Well, we're done. Gee, I don't like the sound of that.

No biggie. I'm cool. Homer, nothing's more important to me than the health and well-being of my freaks. I'm sending you to a vent. My God. Those cannonballs have practically Demolished your stomach From now on, no cannonballs

No spicy foods And when you lie in a hammock, please Rest your beer on your head or your genitals Rules I'm a rocker, I don't care for rules Mr. Simpson, this is serious If you take one more cannonball To the gut, you will die.

Die? Well, you don't scare me, Doc, because dying would be a stone groove. Got any messages for Jimi Hendrix? Yes. Pick up your puppy. Puppy is cute. Puppy's sad. That puppy's 26 years old.

Jimi Hendrix died in 1970, by the way. So the sound that puppy makes, I feel like it's... That was added after the fact. I think that was a stuffed dog. I want to think that dog was dead, and they had a taxidermy. I guess it's not moving in any way.

It's just laying there with its eyes open. It also looks a lot like the Jurassic Bark dog as well. Seymour. Yeah, Seymour. Good old Seymour. Looks like Janis Joplin. On the commentary when they talk about this crappy joke, they say that this is when they started talking about how very tired they were.

They're like, the season's over. You're getting tired of writing jokes and you just settle. You're just like, look, that's funny enough. Let's get out of this. We need to finish our work. Honestly, those are some cranky jokes in this episode. Everything is very cranky. I'm complaining about ticket master fees. I'm complaining

about, like, what's that one religion? With the well-meaning rules. Yeah. It's really a lot of like, take that. Take that. Yeah, they're tired, they're angry, and also they're old guys who aren't cool having to pretend to be cool for an episode. They must have had like a Donald Glover, like, that they were ringing for information. Yeah, man, I guess David, I would think even though he is a mega nerd as well,

David X. Cohen wrote for Beavis and Butthead and was maybe one of the younger guys on staff. So perhaps him. I believe Josh Weinstein is the dude who was way into music at this time and kind of still is. Bill Oakley was, again. He's seen more Skinner. The more we see Bill Oakley and Skinner. He really is. But Josh Weinstein, he was the guy who was like, we need Sonic Youth.

We need Cypressilla. We need this. We need that. He was the guy who was like, we need Sonic Youth. We need Supercell. We need this. We need that. Like he was the guy who was like sort of organizing all of this. And then we come back and we get this through line he barely even needed. Like Homer loves Bart's attention, but he also is going to die trying to get it. And there's just not enough time for it. And that's what happens.

You got to make time for all your stars. You can't keep doing this. Bart's love for Homer was not anything in Act 2. In Act 1 he was just annoyed with Homer. Yeah, they should have. I guess Bart getting the letter from Homer was the start of that.

But it's really light. Also, I do like the gag about the underwear that Homer must like in an unfurnished basement. That's a bar coin, that frame. I also love that billboard of Homer being the pride of Springfield, like that freeze-frame shot of him getting smashed with a cannibal. It's pretty hilarious. When we get backstage and they arrive, it's be real from Cypress Hill doing the ha-ha,

but it really sounds like a Dan castling that ha ha to me. Though I think anybody can do ha ha. And it could be anybody. It could have been anybody there, but then we get another great stoner joke. Hello bands!

Who is playing with the London Symphony Orchestra? Come on people, somebody order the London Symphony Orchestra? Come on, people. Somebody order the London Symphony Orchestra. Possibly while high. Cypress Hill, I'm looking in your direction. Hey, man, did we order an orchestra? What's up with this orchestra, man? Where'd the orchestra come from?

I don't know, man. I didn't tell me about this, man. We gotta do something. Oh, yeah, yeah, we think we did. Do you know Insane in the Brain? We mostly know classical, but we could give it a shot. Put the wine on the flame for you to fall. Just toss that hand in the frying pan.

That's how you do it. Now this I like. Marge gets into it. I actually would like to hear a whole version, a whole album of that. Yeah. That was also my mom's reaction, too, of hearing the... They really cleaned it up. She finally could appreciate Insane in the Brain.

That kind of reminds me of, remember when LL Cool J did Unplugged? He did MTV Unplugged, and it was all live music being played behind him. And he loved it. He was like, oh, yeah, there's a funny thing where he wanted to say, like, okay, guys, rewind the thing. Oh, yeah, wait, no, you just start again. I don't know what that would be like with LL Cool J. You must have seen it. He's singing with two mics in his hands, and you can see the deodorant in his armpits as well.

Oh, now it's all coming together. That's the image I remember now. Once you remember the deodorant, it's all right. Disgusting. I think I remember that because I just remember the idea of trying to make authentic analog instruments out of a mix-up like that. It was neat. It was neat. So then we get Frampton Star making performance here.

Well, his talking guitar is cool. They even drew in the mouth tube for his talking guitar on the microphone here. And this is the shoes talking. Man, that guy's guitar is talking. Hey, my shoes are talking too. Don't worry. We won't hurt you. We only want to have some fun.

And to think, Smithers, you laughed when I bought Ticketmaster. Nobody's going to pay a 100% service charge. That's a policy that ensures a healthy mix of the rich and the ignorant, sir. They cut that out, the shoe talking part. Oh, in the syndicated version? Yeah. Oh, wow. I guess you could lose that.

It's kind of long. It's not. It has no point to it. Every time I pay a convenience fee at Ticketmaster, I think of Mr. Burns getting my money. I mean, everything has convenience fees, and it's not quite clear what that means. Like, we're letting you,

we're sending you a PDF. That's convenient, isn't it? Well, give me five extra dollars. Yep. Isn't that convenient? Five dollars sounds fair. What the shoes say, by the way, are from the classic 1999 from Prince, which

until I listened to the album, that's when I heard it. Because in the classic music video for 1999, this isn't on there. But it is the first thing you hear when you play the album, 1999. Don't worry. I won't hurt you. I only want you to have some fun. Nice. And it just kind of leads into 1999.

I could legit cry. That's scary. Prince wanted to freak you out. Well, I mean, the concept of the album 1999 is this is the far flung future of 1999 and the world's going to end and that's the robot who's going to kill you at the end of the world, I guess. But that's a reference. Again, I didn't

know that until I listened to 1999, the album, a long time after this episode. I only found this out in doing research for it today. I never listened to the album version. Well, also it was a reference. I forget which Mystery Science Theater, but they also have that. Yeah. Oh, I think it was in the Neptune Man.

And Final Sacrifice had it, too. Okay. Oh, yeah, that's right. The guy with the deep voice. You're the deep voice. We won't hurt you. R.I.P. Rostauer. R.I.P.

He's drinking that beer on the sun right now. Pour one out. I also. Oh.P. Rosedower. R.I.P. He's drinking that beer on the sun right now. Pour one out. I also, oh yeah, I think both Peter Frampton is the best actor, but I do really like this line from Thurston Moore here in this next clip. Do you feel? Do you feel? Oh, come on. Do you feel? God. come on. Do you feel?

God. Homer Simpson wrecks my pig, Cypress Hill steals my orchestra, and Sonic Youth's in my cooler. Get out of there, you kids. Oh, come on, Mr. Frampton. You're not going to eat all that watermelon. Please, I'm trying to perform.

Go ahead. We'll stay here and guard your cooler. Oh, 25 years I've been in time. Never heard of him. He is great. I mean, is Sonic Youth the one band that appears but does not perform in the episode? Yeah, they don't play anything on stage. I mean, their version of the theme song is it, but within the universe of the episode, they do not play a song. But I just

love that they are eating all his food, and they call it guarding his cooler. That's just, it's so funny to me. Dennis the Menace. Yeah, exactly. And then Thurston Moore's line of just like, Aw, come on. All that watermelons. We missed the Ticketmaster

thing. It's important to note that around this time, people were really revolting against Ticketmaster specifically. Like Eddie Vedder, he was trying to circumvent Ticketmaster. He failed. Ticketmaster still exists as Live Nation. It's just like sort of when companies like Blackwater have to change their name because they murder too many people. Comcast to Xfinity, Clear Channel to whatever the fuck it's called now. You just forget about Ticketmaster

That guy never happened Yuck I mean it's the same Shitty charges It's just not I mean ultimately They change their name Because they absorb everything

And they But it helps to have A new name With a new reputation Vote with your dollar Also five corporations Own everything Yeah

Yeah vote however You want to I Also the casting Of Peter Frampton is old in this episode. Do you guys know how old he was when this episode aired? 52. No.

48? Lexi was closer. 46. She wins Peter Frampton. The old man in this episode was 46. But that's because Peter Frampton was a huge star in his teens. Like at 18, he was starting to be a big star in the late 60s with like Humble Pie and then Going on His Own. And then starring in the quite horrendous Sgt. Pepper's movie.

Oh, my God. I forgot about that. He is so bad at it. He speaks – they deleted all of his lines. They're like, nope, not showing any of these lines. They'll just be narration by George Burns. If you want to see a horrible film filled

with terrible to pretty good Beatles covers, then Sgt. Pepper is where it's at. What about that Around the Universe? Yeah. You know, Across the Universe. Oh, sorry. That's my favorite Beatles song, Around the Universe.

I would say of the two movies, across the universe is more like baseline okay, but I prefer the wackiness of seeing Steve Martin sing a Beatles song about Maxwell Silverhammer. You don't like seeing Eddie Izzard sing the Beatles song? No, him singing Mr. Kite. I'm like, nah. You can do other things. Pretty obnoxious. Obnoxious is a good way of putting it.

Oh, yeah. Also, I have a clip here. I've always, I never heard, I don't listen to many Peter Frampton albums. So Come Alive, Comes Alive is apparently the best live album ever, they say. But here is the actual song that Do You Feel is referencing. Come on, everybody. But here is the actual song that Do You Feel is referencing. See, that's if it works. And someone threw something at his head in that clip.

Oh, geez. Yeah, and he's like lecturing them. It was like a tennis ball. But that's if Homer doesn't screw it up. That's how it's supposed to happen when he says, do you feel. Well, there's a joke in Wayne's World in that Wayne says, if you were in the suburbs in the 70s, you own Frampton Comes Alive. It was sent out in the mail like samples of detergent. So it was very, very popular.

I mangled that joke. I thought that was the same with Fleetwood Mac's rumors of just like, no, you have to have that album. I also love that Milhouse becomes, when Homer comes out, Milhouse becomes a total star fucker. Just like, I used to carpool with that guy. They are also correct in that this episode's ending kind of has no oomph to it on the commentary. They complain about that.

That it's just like, well, will he get hit by a cannonball or not? He will not. The end. And then he'll hug his family. Oh, Marge.

I thought I had an appetite for destruction. And all I wanted was a club sandwich. There might be one in this cooler. Oh, here we go. Oh, man.

Homer wussed out. I'm so disillusioned. Hey, Hullabalooza isn't about freaks. It's about music and advertising and youth-oriented product positioning. That and getting toasted. Nicely toasted. Homer, I'm sorry.

There's nothing worse than a yellow-bellied freak. Unless that's his act. I expect your letter of resignation on my desk. You have a desk? No, I mean the hood of my car. I'll miss you, pumpkins. But I just can't share your bleak world view. I've got too much to live for.

We envy you, Homer. All we have is our music, our legions of fans, our millions of dollars, and our youth. Let's all go out and buy fur coats. I want to walk in humidor. I mean, we all... So 20 years later, Billy Corgan bought 34 coats. He worked at the same time. And he really took advantage of that.

They're very expensive. The only thing he doesn't have anymore is his youth, but he's still enjoying all the rest of it. I just, goddammit, the way that guy says humidor. It's so bad. It's like he's never said the word humidor before. He doesn't know what it is. It's just

fucking humidor. He was kicked out of the band for a while because of drugs, but I think they let him back in. Oh yeah, it's him. I mean, they know now that people are going to pay more money for the original band together. It's the same of like, Sting can go on tour

and he'll sell some tickets, but if he gets back together all of police, they'll sell some more tickets. It's like at the drive-in playing at the Warfield a couple years back, but not with the original guitarist. Aww. But the way this episode wraps up is I do like just how lazy

it is where Marge goes, they're designed to hurt. Yeah. Do we need Marge to say that? I just like, that is what solves the problem. She's like, oh, that cannon won't hurt you. Get out of the way. And on the commentary they say it's kind of weird, and from as a viewer standpoint, it is kind of weird that the cannon fires Mrs. Homer.

We don't see what happens to the cannonball in an episode of The Simpsons. Like, it should cause destruction. Originally, it did. Bill Oakley's like, it knocked a bunch of stuff over and it hit port-a-potties and Skinner was in one of them. And he said something that wasn't funny. So we cut it. Okay. Yeah.

So I guess we would have seen the path of destruction the cannonball took. But they cut it out of the episode. It's better that they had something that happened there instead of – at least that they knew they needed to have something happen there as opposed to nothing. But it's kind of empty otherwise. You just hear a sound and it's – and again, it's just like they point out dramatically. It just doesn't have the same oomph of like – and then he dodges it. And Homer just shrugs like, oh yeah, I guess I don't want to be rock and roll.

I love my family, and that was my emotional journey, right? Right. This conversation in the car, though, I think really helps the episode recover and leaves it on a good note. I realized that being with my family is more important than being cool. Dad, what you just said was powerfully uncool.

You know what the song says? It's hip to be square. That song is so lame. So lame that it's cool? No. Am I cool, kids? No. Good, I'm glad.

And that's what makes me cool. Not caring, right? No. Well, how the hell do you be cool? I feel like we've tried everything here wait march maybe if you're truly cool you don't need to be told you're cool i'm sure you do how else would you know that is a cute ending about the nature of being cool or at least trying to impress kids and let them think you're cool that it's it mercurial and impossible. And no matter what you do, your parents can't be cool to a child.

Like, in the end, that's really it. I love Marge's consternation. She never swears. It's so rare she swears in front of the kids, but she's just so fed up. How the hell do you be cool? Yeah. I mean, again, I feel like the commentary makes you want to think that this is, like, one of the bad episodes of Season 7.

I really, even though the story gets lost and it's not really there, it's still so much fun. And I think this really helps you forget that the resolution was just so weak and kind of didn't make any sense. Yeah, it's more emotional. It gives some emotionality to it. I think they're a little too hard on the commentary. Maybe this is the weakest of the season, but that's just because the season was so damn good. Oh, my God. I can't believe we are so far. No more

season seven soon. Yeah, but I'm glad they kind of recovered after this one to have Summer 4'2", which is a... Amazing. One of the most amazing ones. But this is, I mean, it's a star-driven episode, and you get good jokes about stars, and it really does encapsulate

what 96 was for alternative, corporate alternative music was anyway. What's more important is all of these stars will stay alive before we post this episode. Yep. That's what's even better. Peter Frampton, you seem pretty healthy. Yeah, he takes care of himself.

Billy Corgan, take off three coats. It's getting hot out. Summertime. Get some water. But, Lexi, how well does this sum up being a rock star for you? Oh, I would say not very much at all. I mean, it just seems like, I don't know, it just seems like it was recorded in, like, an empty space. Like, there's only three bands out of these 48 that they promised. That's true.

You really can't smell the grass. It seems like they never left the city of Capital City, even though you see them stop almost in Cincinnati, almost in Cleveland. The rock star vibe, I don't know.

These guys have millions of dollars. I guess post Napster, I can't comprehend that at all. That's true. Yeah, but like, what is your proximity to freaks currently? Pretty minimal,

but I mean, could use more freaks. I agree. Rock and roll needs more freaks. More freaks. The transmundane. You know, that's a good point that they have, they spent the extra money for the master version of these songs, but shouldn't they sound live? Not just like off the record,

like all the songs they play are straight off of the album, which is, you know, what the real version sounds like. But it doesn't sound live. That's a very good point. But when they arrive at the festival, there is that moment

where they play the Simpsons theme in sort of a arena rock style that does feel, for a moment, they're like, you're really going to a festival. And I was going to festivals at like 14, so I kind of have that Bart Simpson feel about that.

Yeah, we didn't talk about festivals, actually. I was never really a big fan of a festival. I like just going to a place and seeing a thing and then going home. But now I feel like my body couldn't take it. It's like camping or something. I would prefer to stay in bed than go to festivals. I say this before I'm about to go to a festival. That's true. This Sunday I'm going to Clusterfest in San Francisco, which is a comedy and music festival, though it's

like eight bands and 900 comedians. Make sure to check out Las Culturistas while you're there. Great podcasters. I'm mainly going there for the podcast. I got a $100 ticket to listen to three live podcasts. It was not cheap.

It came with a $20 convenience fee. Convenience fee. Make sure you steal some of their watermelon while you're there. That was an amazing giant watermelon they have. Peter Frampton knows how to buy watermelons. Totally. So anything else about this episode we need to cover? I think that's it.

It did send me back down a rabbit hole of listening to the 90s alt-rock hits, which I should have just bought one of those CDs on those commercials. I'm just like, oh, the monster hits of the 90s. That's what I call music. So thanks for listening, folks. This has been Talking Simpsons. Let's talk to our special guest, Lexi, who is here and is a real rock star. You need to tell us where to find your music in your YouTube series as series as well oh absolutely um I'm in a band called the y-axis

if you want to go to a website it's the y-axis.com that's a-x-e-s and you can find my video series at notion beach that's n-o-c-e-a-n. And I'm Alexi Belcher on Twitter. Alexi Belcher, that's Alex with an I and Belcher with an E at the end. Awesome. And we will go out with one of your band's songs because Sonic Youth has had their day in the sun. It's time to move on. Thanks so much. Yeah, which song would you like, actually? I'd like

to play Meteorite because it's short and it's fun. Cool. Yes. And please check out our music. It's really good. And as for us, this entire network of shows is all Patreon supported. So if you go to patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons, you can get a whole lot at the $5 level. And I'll tell you what, if you subscribe for five bucks a month, you'll get this episode a week ahead of time and ad free every week, as well as our other weekly podcast, What a Cartoon, which is basically doing this with a different episode of a different cartoon every week. Also, $5 level, you will get things like Talking Critic, Talking Futurama,

all of our next miniseries because those are all Patreon exclusives. You also get season wrap-ups for Talking Simpsons, deleted scenes for seasons 5 and onwards, the entire first season of Talking Simpsons, our monthly community podcast, and interviews with amazing people like David Silverman and Bill Oakley and Mike Scully and Dan Graney and so many great people behind The Simpsons. Henry, what else am I missing here?

Well, yeah, I did want to just say it again that in the season wrap up, we're coming up on the end of season seven. So you'll be hearing one of those soon. You can catch up on the ones for two, three, four, five, and six. And the seasons five, six, and 6 and the seasons 5, 6 and soon to be 7 deleted scenes are all there and if you want to see a video version of the deleted scenes as well as other videos

me and Bob did including our retro spectacus of the original Simpsons shorts, you can get those at the $10 premium level. It's super worth it. There's already a great collection of them there and we do a monthly video. Not to mention, we've got tons more

cool stuff coming. We've got some big plans for an LA trip. And yeah, so check it all out. Patreon.com slash TalkingSimpsons. And I've been your host, by the way. I'm Bob Mackie. I'm on Twitter as Bob Servo. My other podcast is RetroNauts every Monday.

Go to RetroNauts.com or look for RetroNauts in whatever you use to download and listen to podcasts. It's a classic gaming podcast. We've been going on since 2006. I say find a topic that interests you and download the corresponding episode. It's a smart thing to do, and it'll make your life better. Henry. I'm H-E-N-E-R-E-Y-G on Twitter. Follow me there for updates about these episodes when they go live and other podcast news.

And soon to be our tweets from beautiful, sunny Hollywood, California, where we're going to be doing some podcast shenanigans there. Thanks to your support on Patreon. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week with the summer of 4.2. And please enjoy the Y-Axis. Yay! To crash land Meteorite, oh what a sight Maybe you're right, we've got a fight And I get time for gas But there's still so much I regret

Leaving town tonight Out to where the light can't reach us And the starlight can't bring us home And death's turning to noise To show up for all my lies You just can't miss But I can't take it in When the dawn came, and all your armor powered down We looked the same, Never been much for sleeping sound

Meteorite, oh what a sight Maybe you're right, we gotta fight Take your hand, make a fist We can make so much more than this Leaving town tonight Out to where the light can't reach us And the starlight can't breathe us all And there it's turning tonight I can't reach us, and the storm I can't breathe I saw the dead turning to knives

To show up for all my lies You just can't miss, but I can't take it in Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Leave in town tonight Out to where the light can't reach us And the starlight can't breathe us all in Leave in town tonight

Out to where the light can't reach us And the starlight can't breathe us all in Dead soon and tonight, you're short for all my lines You just can't mess, but I can't take it in Leave in town tonight, out to where the light can't reach us And the starlight can't breathe us all in I want to walk in humidor.