U Talkin’ U2 To Me? - U Talkin' U2 To Me? - From Boy to Under a Blood Red Sky

Episode Date: February 26, 2014

In anticipation of U2's latest album release, Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation) and Scott Aukerman (Comedy Bang! Bang!) come together as superfan Adam Scott Aukerman to discuss the music and impact of... the band. In the inaugural episode they delve into the U2 eras from Boy to Under a Blood Red Sky. So put your headphones on and hear how Adam Scott Aukerman got into U2, a teenage Adam’s experience at the US Festival in 1983, and the premiere of their other podcast "I Love Films."

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Starting point is 00:00:00 We've got Squarespace sponsoring today's episode of You Talkin' U2 to Me. Squarespace is the all-in-one platform that makes it fast and easy to create your own professional website or online portfolio. For a free trial and 10% off, go to squarespace.com and use the offer code BONO. From boy to boots, get on your boots. This is You Talkin' U2 to Me. The comprehensive and encyclopedic compendium of all things U2. I am your co-host, Scott Aukerman. You know me from the Comedy Bang Bang podcast and TV show.
Starting point is 00:00:42 And across from me is fellow U2 fan, Adam Scott. Hello, Scott. Together we are Adam Scott Aukerman. That's right. That's us. Two guys with similar voices. And similar tastes in U2 music. A lot of people, by the way, have commented on us having the exact same voice.
Starting point is 00:01:07 So this is going to be very confusing for people to listen to. Should we, before each of us talks, should we just say, I'll say my last name and you say your first? Yeah, and I'll say my first name. Okay. Okay. Scott here. Scott here. Okay.
Starting point is 00:01:20 Wait, I didn't say anything. Scott here. Hi, Adam. Scott here. Scott here. Hi, Adam. Scott here. Hey. Hi, Scott. This is going well. This is going great for a first show.
Starting point is 00:01:32 Let me explain what we're doing here. A couple of weeks ago, Adam Scott, actor from various things like The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Parks and Recreation, I Afford It the Respect that the Full Title Deserves. I don't call it Parks and Rec. Thank you for doing that. Yes. You're a rarity in this world. I've always said that.
Starting point is 00:01:56 You know, even on the set of the show, I'm not afraid to say it, we throw around Parks and Rec. Sometimes even Parks. Even Par? Yeah. Sometimes even P. not afraid to say it we throw around parks and rec uh sometimes even parks even par yeah sometimes even but it's it's uh disingenuous isn't it yeah it is and i appreciate you using the full the full throated full syllable the name of our lovely show parks and recreation Recreation. Thank you. Adam got a hold of me a couple of weeks ago. And your email, essentially, I'm going to, you know what? I didn't memorize it. I'm so sorry.
Starting point is 00:02:32 I should have. Interesting. Okay. Maybe we're not off to a great start. But I will try to encapsulate it as best I can. You said to me, hey, man. It may have been a hey, bro, as well. Uh- can. You said to me, Hey man, it may have been a, Hey bro as well.
Starting point is 00:02:47 You said, Hey bro, uh, you two has a record coming out very soon. Yeah. Uh, at the time of this recording, by the way,
Starting point is 00:02:56 uh, you or I do not know the title of the record. It has not been announced. Nor any of its content. No, but you, we know it's coming out very soon. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:03:05 You said, would you like to do a podcast where we go through and talk about you two? Seriously, perhaps? Comedically, perhaps? I don't know. I don't know if you can call what we've done up to this point comedic or serious, but- It depends on whom you ask. If you ask one of us, I'd say greatest podcast of all time.
Starting point is 00:03:27 Ever. But if you ask, say, an aunt of mine, she would probably just say it sounds like just two people talking. Sounds like one person talking. Exactly. So you said,
Starting point is 00:03:41 I really want to talk about U2 with someone. And I know that you were on my Comedy Bang Bang program a few years back and we were talking about U2 on it. Yeah, we did. We talked for a little bit about them. Which is maybe why I popped in your head. I don't know why. But the record is coming out. which will be a limited series podcast where we discuss U2 and all of its incarnations, leading up to the release of this new record, which we will listen to and give our impressions of.
Starting point is 00:04:13 Yeah. And this first episode is going to just delve into the period, their early period. That would be strange if we started in the middle. But we could. Yeah. Or just talked about periods. Ladies, can you please call in right now and tell us about your first period experiences? We'll just play YouTube music under your voice.
Starting point is 00:04:36 Let me find the perfect song for this one. Ladies, tell us about your periods. Let's hear it, ladies. We want to hear it all. Did you get them on a Sunday? What kind of Sunday was it, ladies? Oh my God. All right.
Starting point is 00:04:58 I'll bet you that there's some zoo crew in our country where if there's a woman on or they play tape of a woman um who is uh like in a bad mood or or saying something nasty they play that song just as code and yeah that they're on their period i'll bet that we have now done something that like a morning zoo crew does. I'm going to start doing it on my show because I thought it was gold. It was fantastic.
Starting point is 00:05:29 I loved it. But so we are going to be discussing the early period from boy to under a blood red sky. Yeah. Another one of those. I think that it was your idea to talk about U2 in the context of their eras. I was going to say their periods. Because they tend to move in three- Three album cycles. Three album cycles.
Starting point is 00:05:59 Yeah, we'll talk about them in their cycles. We don't know what this new cycle is going to be either. I'm thinking it might be the beginning of a new cycle, Scott. It just may be, or the end of the previous one. I'm not sure. But they got to do something. But we'll get to it. But what we want this podcast to be is the definitive, comprehensive, encyclopedic compendium of all things U2.
Starting point is 00:06:24 In other words, we are going to talk about it all on this show. If you have never heard of U2, you will feel like you have heard of U2. Absolutely. Even if you've listened this far into the podcast, you will now have definitely felt like you've heard of U2. U2. Yeah. We've mentioned them a few times. Several times.
Starting point is 00:06:49 Okay. But I also want to throw in little nuggets of details about them that people may not know. Sure. And I know you don't know a lot about their early period, so I'm just going to throw out some information as we talk about these things. Well, can I just say that this one will be Boy, October, War, Under a Blood Red Sky. The next episode will be Unforgettable Fire, Wide Awake in America, Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum, and so on and so forth.
Starting point is 00:07:30 Yes. And then the third episode will be Baby. Baby. Baby. Baby. Baby. We could do that for a while.
Starting point is 00:07:46 I would really like to. But it'll be baby. Let's see. It'll be baby. Baby. Seriously, though, it'll be baby. But seriously, let's move on. It'll be,
Starting point is 00:08:08 By the way, we're... But in all seriousness, that episode will start with, I do want to say we're taping this really late at night we've both worked a long day
Starting point is 00:08:31 so far so and it's hot in this room strangely it's it's winter when we're taping this and it's hot
Starting point is 00:08:38 it's like almost Christmas and it's 10pm and it's 73 degrees outside it's great you gotta move here if you don't live here so it'll be act on baby and it's 10 p.m. and it's 73 degrees outside. It's great.
Starting point is 00:08:47 You got to move here if you don't live here. So it'll be Acton, baby. Yes, of course. Then Zoropa and Pop. Yes, and Passengers will probably be in there as well. Oh, yeah, Passengers will be in there. And then after that will be all that you can't leave behind. Yeah. Atomic Bomb.
Starting point is 00:09:04 Atomic Bomb, how to dismantle one as a matter of fact and uh no line on the horizon yes and uh then we'll follow that up after having listened to the new record which we cannot name it's a lot like the voldemort of albums currently i am now reading the harry potter book so I finally know what people are talking about oh good yeah well like when I mentioned Harry Potter you now know what that is yes just like someone who had not heard of
Starting point is 00:09:34 you two and now they're listening we're also hoping by the end of this podcast you will have heard of Harry Potter if you have not heard of Harry Potter oh by the way we should have mentioned this at the top this is going to also be a comprehensive Harry Potter yes we'll weave the way, we should have mentioned this at the top. This is going to also be a comprehensive Harry Potter podcast. Yes, we'll weave it in as much as we can. That's right.
Starting point is 00:09:49 The boy who cannot be named. So is the final episode... Wait, no, the boy who lived. What am I thinking? Voldemort can't be named. Is the boy who lived the name of... What's that? That's Harry Potter's nickname.
Starting point is 00:10:00 That's like calling Iron Man Shellhead. There's a nickname. That's like calling Iron Man Shellhead. Is the final episode – the final episode will be entirely on the new record, right? Yes. Okay. Yes. And we may have some special guests, none today for this episode, but we may have some special guests along the way who have said they were interested in joining. So that may be fun as well.
Starting point is 00:10:24 Because they either dislike you two or also love them. Yes. So we'll see how this one goes. This is not like Analyze Fish, a podcast. You're part of the Analyze Fish family. This is not like that necessarily where we're talking about one guy likes him, another guy dislikes him. We both like them. Which is why it's going to be so boring.
Starting point is 00:10:44 Yeah. And probably be so boring. Yeah, and probably is so far. But to get us out of, to snap us out of those boring doldrums, I do want to just pepper in. Sure. Much like the Red Hot Chili Peppers would, I would imagine. Which is another podcast we're going to be starting. We will. Well, the Peppermint Podcast, that's Zach Galifianakis and John Daly. That's right.
Starting point is 00:11:06 They've been threatening that for a long time. I want to pepper in some trivia about U2. Okay. So that people listening to this will know everything about U2, because we're going to say every fact about U2. Great. Along with it. But the members of U2, and you may not know because you don't know a lot about their early period, are Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr.
Starting point is 00:11:31 Yeah, I definitely knew that. Well, you don't know about their early period, so I thought maybe you didn't know that they joined the band. But, okay, how do I put this? But, okay, how do I put this? I became a fan around the Joshua Tree area and became a big fan. Around the Joshua Tree area? Really? So you were living out in Joshua Tree.
Starting point is 00:11:54 I was. And I heard the album as I was entering the Joshua Tree area. But at that period, as it is now, it's the same four guys. And I'm a big fan. I emailed you and asked you, can we do a podcast about them? So I know who the members are. You know who the members are. Yeah. Okay.
Starting point is 00:12:15 Well, I didn't know whether you knew that they had joined the band because you said that you didn't know anything really a lot about the early era or era. I assumed they had all joined the band because the band consists of them. Okay. Well, you know, I just wanted to throw that out there. Okay. So I'll even prove it right now because I know the band members by heart. Okay.
Starting point is 00:12:36 Bono. Who do you got? Bono. Great. The Ige. Larry Clayton Jr. Right. And Adam Mullen.
Starting point is 00:12:47 Mm-hmm. And Naomi Campbell was... Their keyboardist. Yeah, for a little while. Now, also another piece of trivia for all of you U2 heads... Tours. Out there. All U2-fers.
Starting point is 00:13:05 The two for Tuesday-ers. Is that they, several names, they were called before U2. Oh, let's hear them. Most famously, the Facebook.
Starting point is 00:13:18 Hmm. That seems ahead of its time. It really does. But they settled on U2 because the Facebook wasn't referencing anything yet, and U2 was a reference to a type of plane or something. No one would have known what they're talking about. Yeah, exactly. But now every time you hear U2, you think of the plane.
Starting point is 00:13:40 Yes. The U2 bomber, is it? And then when you listen to the podcast, you're like, oh, yeah, and the band as well. Yes, exactly. Okay. So let's talk about U2 here. We have their – let's get into it. What do you say?
Starting point is 00:13:56 Okay, yeah, let's do it. You ready to go? Sure. All right, so they started – So my whole thing is I don't – it's not that I don't know much about the early period. It's just this period of the first, I love war. So I would just say Boy and October are the two albums of theirs that I give a shit about the least. Out of everything they've done?
Starting point is 00:14:17 Yes. Okay. Do we want to talk about how we got into U2 first of all? Sure, yeah. Just to get some background. Now, Adam, I know very little about you. You're an actor. You put on a lot of costumes and a lot of faces. Makeup. You hide behind that.
Starting point is 00:14:35 Masks. Yes. So I don't know a lot about your background. Where did you, well, grow up? Well, Scott, I grew up- This is Adam Scott talking about you. Oh, yeah. Scott. This is Scott. I grew up in a sleepy little Northern California town of Santa Cruz.
Starting point is 00:14:58 Did you live on the roller coaster? I lived at the top of the Giant Dipper for the first nine years of my life. And then- At the bottom for the rest of it? Well, and then Lost Boys came and filmed there. Oh, yeah. So for the second nine years of my life, I lived in Jason Patrick's butthole. It's a tight squeeze in there. It's a tight squeeze, know he's an incredible actor
Starting point is 00:15:27 and that's what we're talking about that's what this is hopefully by the way bono was listening to this and very proud of his legacy um boy oh boy no i became a youtube2 fan in the Joshua Tree area. No, it was Joshua Tree in 1987. How old of a person were you or do you not tell your age? In 1987, I was only three years old. Okay. No, I was in junior high school. Let's see, 1987, I would have been 14 years old.
Starting point is 00:16:04 You're three years my junior, I believe. Three years your junior. Which kind of explains me coming to them late. I think that because it's not like you listen to The Joshua Tree and you think, boy, a nine-year-old would love this. There is kind of a weird sophistication to it. Was it one of the first bands that you can recall you liking that was sort of more grown up? Yeah, I think so.
Starting point is 00:16:30 I think before that it was the Go-Go's and Huey Lewis and the News. Huey Lewis and the News was really big for me, by the way. Were they? Me too. Really big. When I was 13, my favorite band, I loved sports. Me too.
Starting point is 00:16:44 And you know what? I just recently got sports again. It's really big. When I was 13, my favorite band, I loved sports. Me too. And you know what? I just recently got sports again. It's really good. It's so good. I remember I threw away my t-shirts when I started to get into alternative music. I was like, oh, Huey Lewis sucks. I threw away. But secretly at the time though, still even to like 1985, I loved Back to the Future and I loved that he was in it. I still was a secret fan. Yep.
Starting point is 00:17:07 And now I'm just still a fan. Yeah. Sports is, I mean, it's a, I think they're on. Let's start a show about that. Yeah. Sports. Just sports. Not even the Huey Lewis record.
Starting point is 00:17:16 No, no, no. We can't mention Huey Lewis on that podcast. That album is nine songs or ten songs, and think eight of them are huge massive hits yeah yeah and the other one sucks there is one song on there that what's the one song that's not a hit well walking on a thin line actually is a great song it was kind of a hit was it yeah oh you crack me up oh boy was not a hit but i actually really think that's a pretty great song um let me see if i can find it hold on anyway uh um anyway yeah joshua tree and so it just sort of blew my mind because i had never heard music like that before and that that album still is
Starting point is 00:17:59 pretty terrific so you were 14 i myself got into you two when i was 13 so i remember it being one of the uh first kind of grown-up records so was it war for you it was war yeah i um i grew up uh in the uh church my mother i don't know if you know, this was a church secretary. Was she really? Yes, in Orange County. And my father was a deacon. So I went to church probably three times a week. Wow. Yeah. So I don't have, you crack me up on this iPod, by the way. I have it on my phone. You do?
Starting point is 00:18:43 Yeah. All right. Well, yeah, find it while I tell this story. So I went to church three times a week. Wow, that's intense. Yeah, midweek was Wednesday, and that was where the youth group was. And the first time I ever heard of U2, I used to – I remember when I was about 13, I ever heard of you two, I used to I remember when I was about 13 the
Starting point is 00:19:06 church had a big seminar where this guy I think his name was Bob Beeman. Oh boy here we go. You crack me up. Turn it up. This is what you want to hear when you're listening to a YouTube podcast. That's right.
Starting point is 00:19:27 Oh my God, I can't believe my eyes. Underneath that ghostly palace at noon. I love that bass sound. Adam just air-guitared that riff right there. I love it. Just air-guitared that riff right there. I love it. I find it really interesting that, you know,
Starting point is 00:19:50 I didn't know a lot about the Ghostbusters suit. Oh, yeah. The Huey Lewis Ghostbusters suit. And I always was like, yeah, they're sort of similar. But what it is is that they copied the whole production style as well. Is that what it is? Yeah, like Huey Lewis basically and the News, style as well. Is that what it is? Yeah, like Huey Lewis basically and the News they created this kind of like
Starting point is 00:20:08 way that records sounded that was unique to that band and then he said within a year every record copied that production style so everything on the radio sounded like him and Ghostbusters was one of those
Starting point is 00:20:24 where they just copied that production style. But also copied the song. Copied the actual melody as well, yeah. And the other part of it was they asked him to write the theme to Ghostbusters. He turned them down because he was feeling too overexposed, I believe. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:20:40 And then they got Ray Parker Jr., this nobody, the son of Ray Parker. He's the junior of Ray Parker. I mean, he's not a nobody. To copy his song, and he did not like that. And then a couple years later wrote Power of Love for Back to the Future. That song's great. That's an amazing song.
Starting point is 00:21:03 I cannot attest to the fact that he wrote it a couple years later. He could have written it the very same day. He could have written it for the sports session. Sure. And it was just a leftover. He could have been humming it as he was humming. He was like, the heart of rock and roll is still beating. I got this other song.
Starting point is 00:21:19 The power of love. Fuck that. Throw that one away. Heart of rock and roll. Yep. Love, love. Ah, fuck that. Throw that one away.
Starting point is 00:21:23 Harder rock and roll. Yep. But, so yes, I grew up in the church and there was this seminar that this character named Bob Beeman, I believe, came and taught at the church that was all about terrible rock music that parents should stay away from. Yeah. And he showed slides of all the album covers including dead kennedy's too drunk to fuck uh sticks essentially telling all the kids these are the albums you want they were great and i have like sought out those records ever since because they were forbidden yeah of course so uh
Starting point is 00:22:00 rock music was not really something that was was was looked upon very favorably in this church. But when I was 13, John, the kind of younger guy who was in charge of the youth group at the church, started telling us all about this band, U2. And they were a Christian band supposedly. Right. and they were a christian band supposedly right but they were like the best band in the world right and he played us sunday bloody sunday i will follow and he even started his own band called the innocence uh e tS so they were the innocents not not S-E if you know what I mean
Starting point is 00:22:47 oh okay yeah yeah yeah and we would go see them and they would do U2 covers so it was almost kind of like seeing U2 in a small club and they would
Starting point is 00:22:55 exclusively play U2 covers they played some of their own songs but they weren't very good but when they would play these amazing U2 songs which are not that hard to play yeah
Starting point is 00:23:03 they would play daka daka yeah daka daka and you could feel the power of the song would play these amazing U2 songs, which are not that hard to play. Yeah. They would play, da-ka-da-ka. Yeah. Da-da-da-ka-da-ka. And you could feel the power of the song, even though it's just some shitty cover band. Well, I mean, I wouldn't call them shitty. They were nice guys. You just called them shitty.
Starting point is 00:23:14 Oh, that's right. Because we sound the same. Oh, shit. I got to stop saying these things. But yeah, it really made me go, oh, oh man this is a good band because you could hear the power of those songs when you're when you and i used to go see them play and my they were one of those bands that i could go see play because they were from my church and i was like 14 hanging out in a really skeezy bar yeah um and my parents were fine with it because it was like these guys
Starting point is 00:23:41 anyway so i have a lot of memories about you two this early period, kind of tied up in the church. I remember there was a white elephant Christmas gift party that you were not allowed to give away records, but somehow U2 slipped in there. So Under a Blood Red Sky was something that was the most coveted gift that everyone was trading back and forth. And I did not get it. So I had always wanted that record growing up. And when I finally got it, it was like, you know. Under a Blood Red Sky was a really cool one to have because it was like an EP. It wasn't a full album.
Starting point is 00:24:16 No, it was slightly longer than an EP though. Yeah, but not as long as an album. Yeah, it wasn't full length. Yeah, albums were 40 minutes. That's sort of what, 35 really. Yeah, now they're like 75, and they're all too long now. Right. But at the time, 40 minutes was about what an album was,
Starting point is 00:24:34 and I believe the EP, The Under a Blood Red Sky, is about half an hour or so. Right. So it was on the short side. But it was this amazing doc, and they used to play all of the videos on MTV all the time. Yeah. And so it was not only their hits but a couple of really great solid B-sides.
Starting point is 00:24:51 Yeah. And done live with a screaming crowd. Yeah. And I remember seeing Under a Blood Red Sky in people's record collection. And it was just a cool title to have in here. And the record looks cool. It looks cool. Remember, when I was a kid, I went to the Us Festival in 1983.
Starting point is 00:25:13 You went to the Us Festival? Yeah. How did you get there? Which, by the way, these are all, it's out on DVD now? Yeah, I got it. Oh, you got it. It was really amazing to- Did you see yourself?
Starting point is 00:25:23 Yeah, I did. Got it. Oh, you got it. It was really amazing to... Did you see yourself? Yeah, I did. To get the... In the crowd of 600,000 people, I was able to find my 10-year-old self.
Starting point is 00:25:32 But it was weird seeing it, and I have such vivid memories of the Us Festival, and then seeing it on DVD was really weird. It was a festival held out... Where was it? In San Bernardino. San Bernardino, and it had,
Starting point is 00:25:47 I think they did it three years in a row, perhaps? They did it two years in a row. Okay. This was the second year. And it had just amazing bands there. Yeah. The English Beat,
Starting point is 00:25:57 Men at Work, Stray Cats. I know there are a lot of people laughing at us right now because we said amazing bands, and then I said English Beat, Men at Work,
Starting point is 00:26:04 Stray Cats. But at the time, amazing bands. And they said English beat, men at work, stray cats. But at the time, I remember English beat, there was like a buzz about them. Like people were just discovering them. But men at work were like U2 is now. They were massive. When I was in the seventh grade, when I was 12, sorry, when I was 13 actually, eighth grade, I was in a woodworking class for a shop class. Yeah. And we had these plaques that we were supposed to use.
Starting point is 00:26:34 Maybe it's called a router, but you can like make letters. It spins really fast. Yeah. And it's kind of like a pencil. It almost looks like a pencil. And you could carve letters into wood, right? Oh, sure, yeah. And so I remember the guy who was really cool wrote men at work on his.
Starting point is 00:26:53 Obviously, he was really cool. And we were like, man, that works as both a sign saying he likes the band and also as a sign. Like in men at work, we were like, oh, man. As practical application. But you couldn't copy him. So I sat there racking my brains trying to think of what could I put on mine. And I wrote, I love my, and then the Atari symbol. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:27:22 Because I'd gotten an Atari 5200 and it was really cool. And of course, everyone would make fun of me and say, you love playing with your joystick. Oh, that backfired on you. Yeah, it really did. Seems like everything. But I like to think that the men at work thing backfired on him as well. And just, we didn't know it. We thought he was cool. Yeah, I think that there's a reason he was the cool guy in the woodworking class.
Starting point is 00:27:45 Because he liked men at Work a little too much. But Men at Work were massive. They were there. Massive. Anyway, who else was there? English Beat was the vampire weekend of their day, in my opinion. They were. They were. I think they're very similar bands. English Beat was so great.
Starting point is 00:28:00 Fantastic. The Clash was there. Oh, my God. Van Halen, David Bowie. I used to hear about the Us Festival and be fascinated with the fact that it would have bands like The Clash and Van Halen together. Yeah. Where when I was growing up, my brother was into heavy metal and I was into alternative. And you would never mix those.
Starting point is 00:28:24 Right. According to him more but um so when I would hear about these these festivals that would have those kind of mixes it sounds great to me now because I mean how much would you love nowadays going to a festival that had Vampire Weekend and Mastodon playing yeah it would be think it would be amazing. Well, this was, I think they had like the first day with Stray Cats and Men at Work, it was like new wave day. With like,
Starting point is 00:28:50 you know, English beat and stuff. The second day was metal day. And you were there both days? We were there for three days. What? And you two played
Starting point is 00:28:57 on the third day. What day was that? Was that like rock day? It was, I think like, boy, I have the t-shirt at home still maybe they played on the first day anyway they were way down the bill because they weren't very big and i don't remember them but people don't know but before the joshua tree they were not big right they were big sort of with people like us yeah California, too. Like the Unforgettable Fire, they would play like the Greek theater.
Starting point is 00:29:28 Like they were pretty big, but not huge. I also feel like growing up in L.A. like I did, there were articles about U2 and the L.A. Times by Robert Hilburn. Right. Every week, it seemed like. And Robert Hilburn was the pop music writer for the LA Times he was really good and he would describe like everything about a band's performance and talk about all of the amazing things that happened in quote lyrics now he had his certain things that he loved so you would read about U2 and Bruce Springsteen constantly.
Starting point is 00:30:08 Right. And I was not a Springsteen fan at the time. I was like, shut up about Springsteen. Now I would love to go back and read those articles. But he would just talk about the experience of seeing a band and it felt like you were seeing them. And he would talk about U2 endlessly. And so they seemed like a huge band to people in my neck of the woods.
Starting point is 00:30:26 Right. Yeah. Yeah. I really, I missed Robert Hilburn after he left the LA Times, actually. He was pretty great, pretty reliable to write, you know, good reviews. He shaped a lot of people's music tastes growing up in California. Yeah. lot of people's uh music tastes yeah growing up in in california yeah like um kurt loder did for me like his his writing more than his mtv anchoring which i you know liked and stuff but he was a
Starting point is 00:30:53 great rock critic i've always felt that your acting is sort of based on kurt loder's reporting interviewing yeah absolutely when he when he interviewed REM in 1991, I actually – my performance in Party Down is based on that interview style. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. So – But wait, there's one more writer that really – that I still love to read. Dr. Seuss? Yes, yes. I love his reviews um i'll i'll think of it and okay yeah just
Starting point is 00:31:30 blurt it out it's to say your name though i'll say it's scott and i will blur it okay great oh hey we should take a break yeah for a minute yes when we come back, more you talking you too to me? You talking you too to me? To me? Of all people, to me? Wait. Hold on. Stop the presses.
Starting point is 00:31:55 Alert the media and or stop the presses. Now, when you say both of those, it's kind of contradictory, isn't it? I know. I mean, alert the media that you're going to be stopping the presses. How about stop the presses, alert the new media? You talking you too to me? All right. We'll be right back.
Starting point is 00:32:16 All right. Let's take a break, everyone, to thank Squarespace. What is Squarespace, I hear you saying? Well, look, you should know it by now. It is the all-in-one platform that makes style options you need to create a website tailored to your needs and tastes. Plus, every Squarespace plan is now, get this, fully able to support commerce functionality. That means that every single Squarespace customer, that's how you say it, right? No.
Starting point is 00:33:06 It means every single Squarespace customer can now begin selling products online. And, you know, there's no better way to get money in your pocket than to sell something. That's what my father always said to me. So start your free trial with no credit card required at squarespace.com. If you decide to sign up, all right, make sure to use the offer code Bono to get 10% off and to let them know that you heard about it on You Talking U2 to Me.
Starting point is 00:33:35 Squarespace, everything you need to create an exceptional website. Hey, everyone, we want to thank Audible. Why? Well, just for being awesome. But hey, how about for sponsoring today's show? Audible has over 150,000 audiobooks and stand-up sets to choose from. So you will never run out of things to listen to.
Starting point is 00:34:00 Here's a deal. You get a free audiobook and a free 30-day trial. All right, not just one, not just the other. You get them both. Log on to audiblepodcast.com slash U2 to get it. When I say U2, of course, we're talking about U2, the greatest band in the world. Here's a recommended audiobook. How about a reading of Akhtung Baby as an extended riff on the fall of man? Check out U2's Akhtung Baby, Meditations on Love in the Shadow of the Fall
Starting point is 00:34:31 by Stephen Katanzarite. That's a free audiobook. A 30-day free trial by visiting audiblepodcast.com slash U2. Thanks, Audible, for helping us out.
Starting point is 00:34:48 You talking U2 to me. We're back here. Adam Scott and I. Scott Aukerman. It's Scott and Scott. That's all we need to say. The Scotts. The Scotts. It's like when my family's gonna go to someone's house for dinner. Are the
Starting point is 00:35:03 Scotts coming over? They could say the same for you and I when we go to someone's house for dinner. Yeah, we should go to people's houses for dinner together. Let's start doing that. Why not? Now, what were you doing at the Us Festival? This is 1983. You must have been 10. You were 10?
Starting point is 00:35:19 Yeah. What are you doing there? Drugs. Awesome. No, my stepmom was a family therapist, and so she had a family therapy seminar. Like, Steve Wozniak had a bunch of tents with different things going on. He started the Us Festival, by the way. Yeah, he's the one. The Woz.
Starting point is 00:35:41 Steve Wozniak. And I met him when I was 10 and talked to him at the Us Festival. And there was just a big crowd of, like, press and people just following him around. And I just got down on the ground and crawled under a bunch of people's legs and popped right up in front of him and stopped him and asked him a question. Why? Why are you so fascinated with Steve Wozniak at 10? Because my dad and my brother were big computer nerds, and so in our family he was this big hero,
Starting point is 00:36:11 and I didn't totally understand what he was all about. You were trying to impress daddy. And that's what it's all about, isn't it? And that's why I asked Steve Wozniak if I could suck his dick. You got down low and popped right up. No, because in the Bay Area, Steve Wozniak used to have a dial-a-joke where every day you could dial a phone number
Starting point is 00:36:38 and he would have a different joke. Really? And so I wanted to talk to him about that because I used to love calling dial-a-joke. Anyway. What did he say to you? I'm sure inquiring listeners want to know. I asked him about Dial a Joke, and he just said, oh, I just do it for fun, and then just kind of kept walking.
Starting point is 00:36:55 Kept walking. Yeah. It was pretty cool. I think he was pretty into me as a kid. Mm-hmm. Wow. So yourhmm. Wow. And so your mother was there. Yeah, my stepmother was doing
Starting point is 00:37:12 a family therapy seminar in this tent, and so we got backstage passes and stuff at the US Festival as a family. So you were backstage watching the band? I was backstage watching little steven and the disciples of soul that's the only band we got to go backstage for boy yeah now here's my question about little steven and the disciples of soul do you remember them yeah yeah yeah did he have to share the microphone like he does with bruce springsteen or did or was he like you know
Starting point is 00:37:40 what i have to do all that was bruce i'm going to get my own mic. I feel like for little Steven, if he's not sharing a mic with someone, he probably still behaves as if he is by playing backwards to the microphone. I like to think that Bruce Springsteen has really bad breath and is forcing everyone to share the microphone with him, and it's their least favorite part of the night. I mean, they truly are one of the most successful bands on the planet. You would think they could afford a few more microphones. I know.
Starting point is 00:38:11 Come on, Bruce. Geez. Well, that's, you know, that's why they're so popular. Bruce Springsteen. Exactly. You know what I mean? Hey, whose name is up there on the marquee. You know what I'm saying?
Starting point is 00:38:20 Yeah, yeah, exactly. Before we get back to the us festival um a little bit more of trivia we don't need to get back to the us festival by the way uh the edge guitarist for youtube yeah sure his real name frank bloford huh i thought it was dave evans no frank bloford frank bloford wow interesting which is why you know the edge sounds a lot cooler than the frank I thought it was Dave Evans. No. Frank Bloford. Frank Bloford. Wow. Interesting, which is why, you know, The Edge sounds a lot cooler than the Frank Bloford.
Starting point is 00:38:50 Yeah. I wonder what, if he never changed his name from Frank Bloford to The Edge, how different would U2's music be? I know. Like, could you really listen to this band with Bono and Frank Blofert? Right. You know what I mean? Or if Bono never changes his name either from Paul.
Starting point is 00:39:18 Paul. God, we'll figure this out. Paul. Gorfinsen. Yes. God, we'll figure this out. Gorfinsen. Yes.
Starting point is 00:39:30 So Paul Gorfinsen and Frank Blofert start a band together. What if they'd kept those names? I don't think it would have worked. What is it? Bono. What is that? You know what I mean? Bono.
Starting point is 00:39:41 Bono Vox. Bono Vox. That was how he was originally built. On the boy liner notes, it's Bono Vox. Bono Vox. That was how he was originally billed, right? On the boy liner notes, it's Bono Vox. That's a lot like the Pixies. Kim Deal, wasn't she billed as Mrs. John something on the first record? Yeah, they each had a weird name. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:00 And a weird photo to go along with it. But, you know, people in rock bands are weirdos. Yeah. Well, you hope they're weirdos. That's what was great about music back then. We're starting. We're now just old people talking about music. Yeah, I know. But there was like a mystery to it.
Starting point is 00:40:19 People have already sat through Huey Lewis and the News and the Stray Cats. And us talking about how awesome they were. But there was something cool about the mystery. That's why like seeing Under a Blood Red Sky in someone's house, it was like,
Starting point is 00:40:34 what the fuck is that? Yeah, you couldn't just look it up. You couldn't download it immediately. And I remember when Octoong Baby came out. What?
Starting point is 00:40:43 Maybe. Oh, when Octoong! Baby! When that Baby came out. What? Maybe. When Octoon Baby, when that album came out. Sure. They didn't release it early for critics, so there would be reviews out when it came out. No one had heard it until it physically came out. And then you brought it home having no idea other than The Fly, which had already come out, what this was. We'll talk about The Fly in a few episodes, by the way.
Starting point is 00:41:10 And I'm going to talk about all of this all over again. But I just thought that was such a cool move to just put this thing out there. That's like Beyonce. Right. You know what I mean? Exactly. But just so there's no, like the critics haven't defined it for you yet. And since it was such new music, it was just a cool move.
Starting point is 00:41:30 I was thinking about this today. Don't you think most music criticism these days is addressing complaints about, like it's addressing comments that will, internet comments, before they can be made. Does that make sense? Like half of anything you read reviewed now is, yes, people are going to think that it's a blah, blah, blah, blah. But what it really is, is that drives me crazy. Just tell me what you think of it. I feel the same about film criticism now, too. Films.
Starting point is 00:42:00 Yeah. Films, criticisms. I love film, by the way. Have we talked we should start a separate podcast I love my favorite films
Starting point is 00:42:08 of all time yeah Citizen Kane sure The Godfather of course Lawrence of Arabia like those are the
Starting point is 00:42:14 types of films that I like Scott those are great films thank you I would even I'd even go so far as to add
Starting point is 00:42:21 The Conversation to that list. Francis Ford Coppola. I don't know that one. I've only seen three movies. Yeah, I've never seen The Conversation either, but I just feel like it should be on that list. It should be a part of The Conversation.
Starting point is 00:42:36 Yeah. Yeah, it's funny. Because that's the name of the movie I was referencing. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Fun stuff. We should start another podcast concurrently, which is inside the U2 podcast. We should have another podcast running inside of it called I Love Films. Okay, so let's hear the I Love Films theme song.
Starting point is 00:43:12 Okay, great. So now let's talk about films that we love oh man um scott i have a question for you yes scott this is scott talking scott i have a question for you yes scott this is scott have you ever seen splendor in the Grass. Ah, beautiful film. Great film. And that was... That was our first episode. Our first episode of I Love Films. We also should be doing... We should be doing a Huey Lewis podcast, but we should be doing it
Starting point is 00:43:39 when the other person is talking. We should be recording that one. Yep. So listen for that. Right now, this is scott i'm talking and scott over there is currently talking about huey lewis in 1985 and no do you no not into that mic sorry do it into the other mic and the minute that i stopped talking in 1985 try to keep it down because i'm still trying to talk about you two over here. The minute that I stop talking, Scott will come over to this mic and he'll start talking about you two and I'll start talking about Huey Lewis. I thought of maybe getting in touch with Scott to do this podcast.
Starting point is 00:44:31 Just how U2 has kind of been around my whole adult life. That's all I know about Huey. Hey, man. Hey, man. Hey, that's all I know about Huey Lewis. I kind of crapped out. I kind of crapped out. That was really hard. It was hard to do, but worth it.
Starting point is 00:44:43 Let's get back to U2. And most importantly, let's get back to the Us Festival. Did that set a love of music and love of going to bands and watch them perform? How did that shape your experience? Yeah, it was, I remember, because we camped out in a, I think we had tents, my family. It sounds intense. It was very intense. But I remember Van Halen went on after The Clash and just talked shit about The Clash.
Starting point is 00:45:23 What? Yeah, David Lee Roth came on stage and was like, you know who sucks? The Clash and just talked shit about the Clash. What? Yeah, David Lee Roth came on stage and was like, you know who sucks? The Clash. Oh, come on. Yeah, because I guess it was the heavy metal day, so the Clash being on that bill was a little weird. Oh, yeah. And we were already like
Starting point is 00:45:37 asleep in our tents, which was totally intense by the time this was all happening because I was like 10 years old, so my parents weren't going to have me at the heavy metal show. They were going to keep me intense. You know who sucks? The Clash, boozy, boozy, bop.
Starting point is 00:45:55 Yeah. Boozy, boozy, bop. That's too bad. You want all the people in your bands to get along, but at the same time you don't. I don't know. But they were talking about a different band. They weren't talking about their own band. Oh, that's true.
Starting point is 00:46:08 Yeah. Anyway, yeah, it was a crazy experience because that was a huge, huge, I mean, that was like six times as big as Coachella. It was huge, I think. I mean, looking at the video, like I did recently, I was like, wow, that was enormous. I mean, it was like a million people or something. Crazy. I heard about it. I saw the t-shirts for it. I grew up fascinated with it.
Starting point is 00:46:31 I always wanted to be there. And you say you saw U2 there? No. Maybe. I just don't really remember. Yeah, I didn't know who they were. It was like the Divinals and In Excess and all these kind of John Cougar. Was he Mellencamp at the time? No, he was not mellencamp yeah i remember those days he was great then um so you two yeah so anyway
Starting point is 00:46:55 uh boy yes so tell me when did you so you you discovered them with war so boy was when did you, so you discovered them with War. So Boy was, when did you dig Boy up? I, because of that band that I used to go see at my church, they would play I Will Follow. Yeah. So I kind of mixed all of their first three records together in my mind. Boy, War, and October were kind of the same thing for me. I knew they were different and I knew what song was on which, but all three of those kind of were the same thing
Starting point is 00:47:35 to me. Right. October was the one that no one really listened to all that much, although the song Gloria was on that. I just listened to it today, as a matter of fact. How long has it been since you've listened to all that much, although the song Gloria was on that. I just listened to it today, as a matter of fact. How long has it been since you've listened to it? I listened to it a couple days ago. Yeah?
Starting point is 00:47:51 I got those, because they just put out those remastered ones of Boy and October. And Boy is pretty terrific. Yeah. I mean, it's always fun to listen to a big band like that in their infancy. And just kind of what they... I love the big band style.
Starting point is 00:48:10 Yeah. I love listening to Duke Ellington in his infancy. I love musical combinations of any sort. But like Out of Control is such a great song. And that one was not on the record. That's their first single. Oh, no, I'm sorry. The single version is not on the record. That's their first single. Oh, no, I'm sorry. The single version is not on the record.
Starting point is 00:48:28 Oh, yeah, can you play the single version? Oh, sure, yeah. Let me switch over to it. But that was one that, you know, was popular, but I never really heard until probably about five years or so when they put out these. Yeah. Oh, no, no, this is not it.
Starting point is 00:48:47 Sorry. But the incredible thing is, and this is why I brought up the Us Festival. I talked about it for 20 minutes, and I didn't say this. I was watching the DVD of it, and I was watching U2 on that DVD. And so it's 1983, so it's before War came out. But they played Sunday, Bloody Sunday. So that means no one in the crowd knew what it was. But they played that song like they were their lives dependent on it.
Starting point is 00:49:13 And he was just going all out. I mean, and it was such a polished, perfect performance. And so even from way back, and then you listen to Boy, it's the same thing. It's like, these guys had their sights set on world domination from... They were magnetic performers. Yes. That's one thing that I was reading about them, is they were
Starting point is 00:49:36 mainly known as a live act. Yeah. And their records did not sell very well. Until Unforgettable Fire. Joshua Tree. Unforgettable Fire was at least like gold. Pride was, yeah, Pride was a big hit,
Starting point is 00:49:48 but their records, you know, steadily grew, but they were mainly known as a lot of fact. You know, I was thinking about too is,
Starting point is 00:49:56 I was looking at Bono's age and this depressed me. He's only 10 years older than I am. Wow. That's like, he's a, when they did.
Starting point is 00:50:04 So he's only 13 years older than me? Yeah. Jesus. It's like, he's a, when they did. So he's only 13 years older than me? Yeah. Jesus. It's crazy. He was born in 1960 and when they put out Boy,
Starting point is 00:50:13 he was 20 years old. Wow. And here's, here's something I was thinking about music recently is, you know how
Starting point is 00:50:21 awful it is to watch a musician who is like overweight, how depressing it is, you know, of like, oh man, that person got fat or whatever. We want our movie stars and we want our pop stars to be thin. Yeah. And good looking. Yeah. And the only time that they consistently are is when they're really young.
Starting point is 00:50:45 And that is the time in a person's life where they don't have a lot of wisdom quite yet. Yeah. And so most of the songs written by these young people, these 20-year-olds, are written by dumb shits. Right. And so it is very rare when someone like U2 or Nirvana comes out and they have lyrics that are actually interesting when they're that young. Right. And so do you think that the lyrics on Boy are interesting? Well, I do. I mean, I was reading a little bit about the lyrics of Say Sunday, Bloody Sunday, which is a political song about the situation in Ireland.
Starting point is 00:51:26 And I was imagining myself if anything that I wrote when I was 20 or 22 were to still be popular and I would still have to recite it. Yes. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? I wrote plays and stuff like that when I was 22 and they were fine. And hey, you know what? I wrote on Mr. Show in my 20s, nominated for an Emmy.
Starting point is 00:51:49 Right. And it's still great. It's okay. Yeah, but it's Mr. Show, so you would happily sit down and watch and talk about Mr. Show. Yes, definitely. But something lesser would be embarrassing to have to recite. Yeah, I mean, one of my plays I wrote when I was 20 years old, I cannot imagine still talking about it to this day. Right.
Starting point is 00:52:10 These guys get out there and have to sing those songs every show they do. And the other part of it, the flip side of it is, is people think that they're smart songs still as well. People talk about Sunday Bloody Sunday and go, oh yeah, that's a really interesting song and an interesting discussion of this topic. Like how crazy is that that someone can do that at that young of an age? Yeah, it's pretty amazing.
Starting point is 00:52:35 And you look at, that's the thing is that Boy is such a burst of energy. It's definitely that debut album thing where you can tell these guys have been waiting five years to let all of this out. They put it all out on that album. And I think
Starting point is 00:52:51 it's a little spotty and their song writing is a little rudimentary in parts. But then I Will Follow and Out of Control are like wow, these are great songs and these guys are so tight and great. But then some of it's a little dated, some of it's not. A lot of slap bass on those first three records.
Starting point is 00:53:11 Oh, yeah, for sure. You gotta say. Yeah. I think Eno and Lanois must have come in and... All right, look. Listen. Listen, Adam. Cut the shit.
Starting point is 00:53:24 Yeah. listen listen adam cut the shit yeah they uh but that was also of its time a little bit of that kind of new wavy yeah sort of let's talk about their influences because um you know you two essentially in these early records are a post-punk band they were listening to a lot of suzy and the banshees buzzcocks probably yeah but um they're uh i forget which record it was it might have been boy was supposed the whole record was supposed to be produced by martin hannett who produced joy division wow really and they wanted to sound like joy division wow and he was going to produce them but but then Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division, committed suicide, and he was too distraught to work at the time. Wow.
Starting point is 00:54:09 And so I believe Steve Lillywhite went ahead and did it. But that's interesting that they were trying to sound like other people in the same way that anyone kind of imitates people when they first start doing things. In the same way that anyone kind of imitates people when they first start doing things. But if you listen to those early records, it's not all Sunday Bloody Sunday or I Will Follow. It's a lot of that kind of like octoon baby is more of a more kind of defined music for the era and pop was kind of a reaction to it and therefore pop song will get to all of this in a few episodes. Don't you worry. But I feel like other than that little section there, their stuff is really timeless.
Starting point is 00:55:10 But then also kind of Boy is a little dated in parts. And then October is definitely like almost a cliched sophomore slump. Where they had no songs, it seems. I listened to it today uh today and first of all okay first of all it starts with gloria which is a great song great song for some reason left off of their best ofs yeah like they're ashamed of it or something well i think they just i think they don't love october is right yeah or they don't want anyone to buy it put one song from it on your best ofs and then people go oh i like that. Let me pick up the rest of the record. It is a great song.
Starting point is 00:55:46 Now, song number two, I Fall Down. I was listening to it today. This is a great song. Will you throw that on? Here I go. Oop, let me turn it up. Okay, here we go.
Starting point is 00:55:57 Ready? Wow, it's an 11-song album, too, which is... Yeah, but a couple of instrumentals, a couple of shorties. Okay, so you got the piano here. It's a much moodier album than Boy was. Here's my opinion of it. Is this Steve Lillywhite as well?
Starting point is 00:56:18 I believe it is, yeah. I think he did the first three, perhaps. And then did Atomic Bomb. Did he do... Yeah. Oh, wow. So my opinion of october re-listening to it today is that the first side of it is great uh-huh good rock songs
Starting point is 00:56:34 the second side is just gloomy as hell here turn turn back the second side of it is where did second side start october uh second side is one, two, three, four. Yeah, it's like October with a shout, Stranger in a Strange Land, Scarlet, and Is That All? And you think the second side starts with October, probably? I can look that up for you right now. I have that information. And this is good.
Starting point is 00:57:00 I'm glad we're talking about this because we want everything you2 talked about on this. Will you put on what you think is the gloomiest song of Psy 2? Yeah. Just so we can kind of hear. Okay. Because again, I listened to this a few days ago, but I just don't know this album that well
Starting point is 00:57:17 because I remember getting it. Psy 2 starts with Tomorrow, actually. Okay. I remember getting it when I was getting into U2 and I never got into you too and just I never got into it because I just let me put on October because that you you think the titular song and by the way people say I say titular too much fuck you someone said will you stop saying titular really and I would rather die I
Starting point is 00:57:40 will never stop which is the title of your autobiography. Ography. Ography. Ography. Ography. Ography. Octong. Baby. Here's October.
Starting point is 00:57:59 This is the title song from October. By the way, us being critical of October, I hope it doesn't stand in the way of us getting backstage passes, too. Yeah, by the way, you know, it worked for Analyze Fish. We got backstage. That's true. Just from that podcast, we were invited backstage to the fish show. And neither of us really cared about going backstage at the fish concert. So you, too, if you're listening, hit a brother up.
Starting point is 00:58:23 Get us backstage. This is Adam Scott A ackerman that's right listen to this why are you putting this on a record it's fine like dicking around on a piano but that's kind of a typical second record thing is that you're a little bit out of songs and you're tired because you've been touring for two years i think if you're in a band and you're tired because you've been touring for two years. I think if you're in a band, hold something back. Don't put every, you know, I mean, look,
Starting point is 00:58:52 you got the Cars who, their first record, they talk about how they could have called it greatest hits because Soam and Huey Lewis Sports, you know, but that wasn't his first record. I think it was their third. Yeah, but the Cars' first record is like, they just boom, boom, boom, everything great. Second one's a bit of a letdown you know hold something back hey i go back to i i talk about him too much probably to all my friends but here we go reckoning second record not a bad song on it. Nope. Who do you like better, U2 or REM?
Starting point is 00:59:29 This is a tough one, Scott. Oh, my God. I hate to open the floodgates here. And boy, here come the waterworks, by the way. You started to mist up. Wow. It's a sore subject for me. I have to go with REM because... subject for me i i have to go with uh with rem because and this this is a this is a something that i will that i want to i think it goes through every period of u2's history where i think that
Starting point is 00:59:57 they have made more than maybe more than any other band made more albums that are considered classics like full albums that are considered classics where it's hard to discuss what your favorite u2 record is if you're a u2 fan there's a lot of debate because so many of the records are good but i i don't think they have a flawless album. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. Not at all. Like, I think even their best albums have... Clunkers.
Starting point is 01:00:31 Clunkers. Definitely. I was listening, and we'll get to all that you can't leave behind in a few episodes. I was listening to it the other day, too. Great songs on it, but man. Talk about front-loading an album. Yes. Oh, man.
Starting point is 01:00:44 New York. New York. I was going to say New Yes. Oh, man. New York. New York. I was going to say New York. Oh, boy. We'll talk about it. We'll talk a lot about it. So, wait. Let's go back to October here.
Starting point is 01:00:52 Yep. What do you got? Wait. Let me find it again on my smartphone device. Oh, you have a smartphone? Yeah. It has a screen, a touchscreen. What?
Starting point is 01:01:05 A touch screen. Okay. Can we play With a Shout, Jerusalem? With a Shout, Jerusalem. Stranger in a Strange Land
Starting point is 01:01:18 is kind of a classic that they... What's the song from October that they pulled out on their... Didn October that they pulled out on their... Didn't they pull one out on their last tour? Or was it... Is it I Threw a Brick Through a Window?
Starting point is 01:01:32 I don't really know. I didn't see the last tour. You didn't? Wait, I saw the 361 that was in Pasadena, but I didn't see it when they came back around. Like, the one in Pasadena was terrible from what I remember. And they were really remember and they were
Starting point is 01:01:45 really rusty and they were dealing with technical problems oh at the rose bowl the rose bowl yeah yeah oh i thought it was great oh really well we were sitting behind the band we were literally the 360 of the three it was doug benson and i and i was like they should call this one you two 180 yeah 180 because yeah it was okay so i remember looking and being like yeah those people back there are not getting a show this is not 360 once per song one guy would come by and like adam would like play the bass at us for literally five seconds once per song one person and your tickets were like 150 dollars we'll talk about all of that shit when we get to it here's with a shout from october you too here we go oh this is a good drum uh phil
Starting point is 01:02:35 larry mullen jr is a good drummer their songs are very simple though though, aren't they? Well, you know... Especially back in this time. There's a lot of talk about Adam and what a terrible bass player he was. Right. He was widely considered to be a terrible bass player.
Starting point is 01:03:02 Right. By the band. Peers? Oh, by the band. Peers? And himself. Oh, by the band. Yeah, and himself. From what I remember reading about U2 back in the day, everyone would kind of make fun of his bass playing.
Starting point is 01:03:14 Okay. And I think now what they say to be kind is that he is like a steady bass player. Yeah. Don't they call him like the kind monk of the band? Right, yeah. Which is not what you want to hear
Starting point is 01:03:29 when you're talking about musicianship. Right. How nice you are. But what I was going to say about how simple their songs are is I like that.
Starting point is 01:03:38 Like I like With or Without You, the bass line. Oh, so good. Yeah, and it's so good. Yeah, and it's it's so simple. Scott, sitting on the dock
Starting point is 01:03:52 of the bay watching the time roll away. Sitting on the dock I remember I saw a comedian on Johnny Carson when I was like 10 years old who said, you know, sitting on the dock of the bay. I remember I saw a comedian on Johnny Carson when I was like 10 years old who said, you know, sitting on the dock of the bay, it's basically a song about doing nothing.
Starting point is 01:04:11 I could just as easily write a song about like, I'm sitting here watching TV. I'm going to get up and go over there. And I thought that was hilarious. A song about nothing. I was hilarious a song about nothing I should write a show about nothing and that man was Jerry Seinfeld
Starting point is 01:04:30 yep fantastic okay can we hear Stranger in a Strange Land yes sir we can here we go Stranger in a Strange Land
Starting point is 01:04:38 from October you too is this one of your favorites? This is good and this is starting to sound like a live U2 show don't you think? A little bit, yeah
Starting point is 01:04:58 The Edge's style is not really developed at this point he's kind of imitating post-punk players, but a little bit of that sounded a little like the Edge there. Oh, here it is. See, this is now going into territory I don't love. Right, yeah, yeah. Like the super echoey vocals.
Starting point is 01:05:19 Yeah. I mean, they were like, what, 21 years old? Yeah. They're figuring it out. But I love hearing one of the great bands sort of come of age. Figuring it out. In front of our ears. Let's skip over to War.
Starting point is 01:05:35 Okay, so War is really where they figured it out. I mean, this album is a cohesive vision, don't you think? They call it their most immediate record. There's no echo almost, although I hear, I don't know, I hear a little bit here. But yeah, it's their most in-your-face record. Yeah, it's in your face. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 01:06:01 And yeah, this has some massive hits on it you have uh but at the time how big were those hits were they hits like like how like vampire weekend diane young was it like it was a hit with like it wasn't like number one it was pop charts no it was something where if you were in alternative into alternative music you knew it it was one of the biggest songs. It was huge. But it's not blurred lines. Yeah. It's not like With or Without You or I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,
Starting point is 01:06:30 which are major across-the-board hits. Right. Like Grammys and... Yeah. And just like gobs of pussy in your face. Oh, my God. Can we talk about gobs of pussy in your face? Just gobs.
Starting point is 01:06:41 What's the biggest gob of pussy that I've ever had in my face? Yeah. Oh, man. By the way, Bon bono hit us up with the backstage passes we'd love to talk about pussy with you um so wait so i'm looking right here on my mobile smartphone device and i'm looking at the track listing for war for war and for some reason i don't have have Sunday Bloody Sunday, but I have the rest of the album. I know. It's not on here. But these are, I mean, let's just go through it.
Starting point is 01:07:10 Let's play, we all know Sunday Bloody Sunday. Let's play Seconds. Seconds is great. It's great. Here we go. Here we go. Seconds from U2. Turn it up a little bit.
Starting point is 01:07:22 Remember, this is like a headphones in high school song. I remember I knew the singles from this record, New Year's Day, obviously, Sunday, Bloody Sunday, and also Two Hearts Beat Us One. Those were played constantly on K-Rock, okay? So then I picked up this record thinking it was going to be a little like October. And almost every song on this is really, really good. That's what I was just thinking.
Starting point is 01:07:50 I was thinking there isn't a weak track on here. No. Okay, that's Seconds, which is very catchy. This is a very catchy song. It's great. And it's better, I think, with us talking over it. Oh, for sure. And it's better, I think, with us talking over it.
Starting point is 01:08:03 Oh, for sure. But I feel like this is such a huge step up from October. They were like, oh, we got to pay attention to the songs. Yeah, let's figure this out. Okay, so then you got New Year's Day. We've heard that. Okay, let's go over to Like A Song. Yeah. Here we go.
Starting point is 01:08:20 Ooh, those drums sound so full, don't they? Chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp. Oh, man, I thought sound so full, don't they? Chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp. And then hear the... Oh, man, I thought they... I love the production on this. I thought they sounded full then, but then you hear that slapping of the snare. That's a great drum sound.
Starting point is 01:08:33 It is. Is this... I think this is still Steve Lilly-wide again. Well, I can tell you, because I have the Wikipedia opened. That's what I hate about iTunes, is I don't have all the, like... Yeah, on my phone, I don't have all Wikipedia opened. That's what I hate about iTunes is I don't have all the like yeah, on my phone I don't have all that info.
Starting point is 01:08:49 Like this is this is great. Really great. Steve Lillywhite. Yep. He encouraged Larry Mullen Jr. who by the way is the drummer of U2. Right. No, I know that. See, I'm a fan of the band. He encouraged him to use a click track
Starting point is 01:09:03 for this record. Okay. He had never used one before and like a lot of drummers, he was saying, that's bullshit. I don't want to use a click track. Sure. Which I believe, I just saw the Sound City documentary and I believe Dave Grohl talks about this as well, about like not wanting to use one and then the minute he
Starting point is 01:09:19 started going, oh, this helps out tremendously. Yes. And that's the same thing that happened to Larry Mullen Jr. as he started using a click track on this and it helped him out. All right, let's go to the next song, Drowning Man. Drowning Man. This one I don't know as well. Me neither.
Starting point is 01:09:36 Let's see how this one stacks up. A little moody. This is good. This is a fucking good song. The end of Side 1. And it's a good... I mean, so far on Side 1, we've had Sunday Bloody Sunday, Seconds, very catchy,
Starting point is 01:09:53 New Year's Day, classic, Like a Song, that last one we heard, which sounds great. Great. I gotta listen to that one again. This album is clear as a bell. Yeah. They really... They must have found, like, been able to afford a kick-ass recording studio.
Starting point is 01:10:09 Like, let's say Abbey Road. Let's say Ocean Way. Any of these recording studios, Scott, they were able, they were getting, they were starting to move into the big leagues, Scott. That's what I'm saying. Scott, I couldn't agree. Thank you, Scott. More. Oh, more.
Starting point is 01:10:27 Yeah, this is, I think I remember reading the lyrics to this and writing them down and giving them to a girl and saying I had written it. That you'd written it? Yeah, I did that a couple times. I did that with, what's that Dire Straits song? Money for Nothing? No. Look at that faggot the one that opened the faggot in an earring and a coat yeah the most popular songs to ever
Starting point is 01:10:56 use that word no i i i wrote down the lyrics to oh what's that dire straight song that opens brothers in arms i do not know that is one that i'm not really you didn't have brothers in arms no my dad is a big dire straits fan i found out uh i tried to get my dad a u2 record uh how to dismantle an atomic bomb thinking hey they're cool again yeah when you know all that you can't leave behind came out yeah they're classic now let's get him this. He looked at it, and he kind of gave me one of those, like, oh, yeah, I've been meaning to get into this band, and now I can.
Starting point is 01:11:31 And I bet he never listened to it. Oh, yeah. Plus, I don't like that record. We'll talk about that one. You don't like Atomic Bomb? No, I don't. Wow. We'll talk about it when we get there.
Starting point is 01:11:40 I then have something very controversial to divulge. Oh, no. I think we may. Boy, this is going to be a corker of an episode because this sounds like we are polar. No pun intended. You work on Parks and Rec. Opposites. Nine hours from now when we get to that episode.
Starting point is 01:11:59 Listen to The Refugee. This is one of my favorite songs. Turn this up, Cody. This is The Refugee from War. This is one of my favorite songs on. Turn this up, Cody. This is The Refugee from War. This is amazing. This is good. Sounds so clear and good. Yeah, it's so good. They so clear and good. Yeah, it's so good.
Starting point is 01:12:28 They were not fucking around. No. Then you go over to Two Hearts Beat Is One, which is deep on side two. I mean, you're burying Two Hearts Beat Is One as track seven? Yeah. That's how confident you are in these other songs. All right, you got Two Hearts Beat Is One. We all know that one.
Starting point is 01:12:46 Then you got Red Light. What's Red Light? Let's hear a little bit of that. Oh, yeah. This is so good. This is a great song. I used to listen to this over and over. Me too.
Starting point is 01:12:56 I think Two Hearts Beat Is One is the one I wrote down and plagiarized. And what did the girl say? I think she thought it was cool. I think that's the one. I bet you had no trouble. Like, you never even had to write stuff down, right? You're a good looking guy. No, I had lots of trouble.
Starting point is 01:13:13 You had trouble? I had to write stuff down. Really? Let me smell your fingers. Let me smell my penis. Your penis smells like dog's breath well i have trouble still i have no trouble with dogs uh bono please contact us i'm trying to think of the dire straits song okay you have a computer in your hand yeah i do you weirdo all right after red light we have surrender let's hear that oh this is great surrender is fucking awesome guitar sound i know this album kind of the classic this out this are we are we finding youtube's best album here this might be this is
Starting point is 01:14:00 a great record i i have a i have i have a pick that you'll hear soon of my favorite. But this is really good. This is great. Here it comes. I mean, this is really like... This is high quality rock and roll. I've been waiting for you to say that. Oh, thank goodness.
Starting point is 01:14:23 Is that the name of our podcast? Okay, and then... Here it is. Here it is, So Far Away by the Dire Straits. So you wrote that one down, So Far Away? I'm going to download it and then play it for you. Okay, what are the lyrics to it? We'll hear it.
Starting point is 01:14:38 Well, let's finish out War, by the way. This is the last song on the record was... An all-time classic. An all-time classic, and one that they just, dicking around in the studio, they realized they needed one more song. by the way this is the last song on the record was an all time classic an all time classic and one that they just dicking around in the studio they realized
Starting point is 01:14:48 they needed one more song to have ten and they didn't have one and so they did this little is that how 40 came about
Starting point is 01:14:55 yeah that's how 40 came about here we go let's hear it this is 40 they play this or they used to play this in almost every show
Starting point is 01:15:01 they would sometimes close out the show this is a little bit of 40 1, 2, 3, 4 used to play this in almost every show and they would sometimes close out the show this is a little bit of 40 it's funny because you can you can hear how this could come from a jam i guess mm-hmm. A jam. I hope I'm right about that. It's so good. A little bit of detail about them just jamming this. That may have been from another record,
Starting point is 01:15:34 but I've been right about every other piece of trivia so far. I think something else came from a jam. Is it One came from a jam? Well, One was a very different song in an early incarnation we'll talk about that definitely um this i bet we will this is a great song this is this may be youtube's it might be i mean we have every single song we've played we're like we're we're realizing how great it is yeah fantastic can i play the song I plagiarized? Here we go. So let's hear, this is, by the way, you're listening to You Talking U2 to Me, and this
Starting point is 01:16:11 is Dire Straits. Do you remember this song? I don't. I never listen to Dire Straits. Okay, I wrote these lyrics out, gave it to a girl, and said, I was thinking of you. And she, turn up the lyrics, here they go. here are they you want to sleep with her where are you when the sun go down what'd she think
Starting point is 01:17:02 you're so far away she loved I mean loved. She loved it. Wow. Loved it. But then a couple months later. She found out? She was listening to this song.
Starting point is 01:17:23 And I remember she called me and she was like, hey, Adam, what, have you listened to this Dire Straits song? I listened to it and then I looked at the,
Starting point is 01:17:37 because I was over at so-and-so's house and we were listening to it and then I got the lyrics out of her CD and looked at it and it's definitely the poem that you sent me. And I remember listening to it, and then I got the lyrics out of her CD and looked at it, and it's definitely the poem that you sent me. And I remember just being like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 01:17:52 That's just because I care about you. It was really stupid. I'm sure that it still kept going with her, or was that the end of it? No, we are married. Oh! Wow, so you have more than one wife. I have several wives. This is amazing, and this is why you're such a big U2 fan.
Starting point is 01:18:16 Yes, because they believe in multiple marriages. So wait, war. War, I think we've discovered something. We have a long way to go, but this is, I was just saying that you two, even though they're one of the great, in our opinion, I could probably say with confidence, in our shared Scott opinion, they are one of the great bands in the history of rock and roll music. I have a lot of experience with them, yes. Me too.
Starting point is 01:18:49 And we were just saying, though, that they do not have a flawless record. Right. But that one sounded pretty darn good. Let me just take one more look here. There isn't a bad song on there. There's not. So this may be their flawless record record although i do i do my favorite is coming up so uh but rattling um no oh god boy uh by the way weird piece of trivia about this record
Starting point is 01:19:17 is yours is unforgettable fire i don't want to say well we'll talk about it all right weird piece of trivia about this record do you know the band Kid Creole and the Coconuts? I mean, I've heard of them. You've heard of them? Let me see if I have them on my iPod. I believe I have one song by them. I will try to find them right now. Here we go.
Starting point is 01:19:44 Now, here we go. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Sorry, we will cut this out. Joshua Tree is pretty flawless, too. Oh, nope, I don't have it. I took it off my iPod. But okay, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, they're a pretty silly band. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:20:17 They sing backups on three of the songs on this record. On War? On War. Really? Yeah. Here's a quote from the Wikipedia about this issue. In the words of Steve Lillywhite, they just happened to be in Dublin on tour, so we hung out with them,
Starting point is 01:20:34 and they came in and sang on Surrender. So it was sort of random, this serious Irish rock band having the coconuts on their album. Yeah, because there's that really like... Yeah, because there's that really like... Da-da-da. Yeah, and then...
Starting point is 01:20:47 Surrender. Yeah, but they sing on three... That's crazy. I never knew that until today. It's such a fuller kind of confident sound. And there was another dude who... I don't remember his name, but he saw one of the dudes from U2.
Starting point is 01:21:04 I don't remember any of their names. On the bus. Bono, The Edge. Not ringing any bells. Larry Mullen. All of these syllables that you are uttering. We've been talking about them. No clue.
Starting point is 01:21:17 But saw this violin player on the bus, and the violin player said, Hey, you ever need any violin on your record? And he plays on one of the biggest hits i think on uh sunday bloody sunday oh really yeah and that's just by chance just he was like hey can i come by and lay something down those are the types of happy accidents that make a classic uh rock and roll album. Yeah. What did you say? This is... What?
Starting point is 01:21:49 What was your quote from earlier? This is good rock and roll music. I would like to see that quote, by the way. Guys, start making your posters. Oh, like anyone's made it this far. Start making your posters for this and have that quote right above Scott over here. This is good rock and roll music. I think even like the sound is so clear and it's such a tight album, but the songs are so good.
Starting point is 01:22:24 Like they're really really well written yeah songs I we can save this for later but I do not agree with your choice there with
Starting point is 01:22:38 Atomic what? Unforgettable what? Okay we'll talk about this in our next episode. Is that all we have on this? I was trying to think if I had any other kind of memories about this period at all. I think that, I think we've, oh, I do have Unforgettable Fire. I thought maybe I didn't even have it. Okay, I'm going to listen the shit out of unforgettable fire okay we have in our next
Starting point is 01:23:08 episode unforgettable fire that other one wide awake in america joshua oh yeah wide awake in america joshua tree wait was joshua tree a popular album i think. I think people like that. Unforgettable Fire, Wide Awaken America, Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum. We'll also talk about Live Aid. We'll talk about Cover of Rolling Stone. This is where they get popular. Yes. Okay, we'll talk about this. Popular.
Starting point is 01:23:40 Scott, popular beyond their wildest dreams. I mean, I can only imagine being four Irish lads from Liverpool. Yeah. Dublin. Liverpool, I think. Liverpool. Wait. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:23:54 Four Irish lads from Liverpool. No, Liverpool, Liverpool, Liverpool. The lovable lads from Liv is what they used to be called. I cannot imagine. Sure, you think you're going to be incredibly popular and sell 100 million records. Right. But as many as they did?
Starting point is 01:24:10 200 million? No way. No way. That is out there. That's insane. So these lovable lads, they did it, and we are going to talk about it next week. Any final thoughts, Adam, on this period?
Starting point is 01:24:23 I'm excited about our next episode yeah I'm excited by it too I think we may be joined by a special guest who wanted to come for the next episode so that'll be fun and we hope that you enjoyed this episode of you talking you too
Starting point is 01:24:39 to me and until next week this is scott and this is scott saying i hope you found what you're looking for see you next week goodbye everybody There's a place I go that takes me far away There's a TV show where I can thrive This has been an Earwolf Media Production. Executive Producers Jeff Ulrich and Scott Aukerman. For more information, visit Earwolf Media Production. Executive Producers Jeff Ulrich and Scott Aukerman. For more information, visit Earwolf.com. EarwolfRadio.com
Starting point is 01:25:53 The wolf dead. Hey Queeros, it's me, Cami Esposito, and I'm here to tell you about my podcast, Queery. You can sit in on hour-long conversations between me, Cameron Esposito, and some of the brightest luminaries in the LGBTQ family. Queery explores individual
Starting point is 01:26:15 stories of identity, personality, and the shifting cultural matrix around gender, sexuality, and civil rights. Plus, it is fun! We have had some incredible guests. Emmy winner Lena Waithe? Yes, definitely. Congressman Mark Takano? You bet. L Word creator Eileen Shakin? Yes. President and CEO of GLAAD, Sarah Kate Ellis? We definitely have. We've got celebs. People like Trixie Mattel, Evan Rachel Wood, Tegan and Sarah, the band, and the people, separately,
Starting point is 01:26:46 on two different episodes. We also have activists and changemakers in our community. I think it's a one-of-a-kind show full of chats you have never heard before. It's identity, it's community, it's query. You can find Query every Monday on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify,
Starting point is 01:27:02 or wherever you get your podcasts.

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