WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - I've Got Aux: Twenty One Pilots Special Part 1

Episode Date: April 27, 2024

This week, we start a two-part special about Twenty One Pilots. We're joined by our friend and fellow fan, Madison Asher. In this episode we walk through "Taxi Cab" off of their self-titled debut and "Migraine" off of "Vessel." Stay tuned for part 2!

Right. Well, now this is a first. Never done this before, but how exciting is this on the internet? Okay, there you go. Hello, you're listening to I've Got Ox. I'm Radio Free Hillsdale, 101.7 FM. And today we're doing a special, Reminis of Beetle special, if you remember, we're doing 44 minutes of 21 pilots. And there's a reason, because everyone here has a history in some way. And today we have a special guest, our friend Madison Asher. She's awesome and we love her. And she also had a, you could say, a phase.

I did. I certainly did. Madison is still in the phase, too. Yeah, I'm like, low-key. This is like making me, like, slip back in. Wow. Well, we're here. So we've got Madison, we've got Gavin.

Yes, and me and Allie. And this is Allie. And Bella. And Bella. And that's the stack. because obviously the next logical step after the Beatles for a long episode is 21 pilots. But this band was integral to, I feel like a lot of people's niche obsessions, especially if you grew up on the internet. And people don't want to talk about it.

And you know what? I've been saying that. And yet I have vessel memorized. Yeah, same. I was like getting the regional best vinyl from Russia. Stop. Because it's not real. I was illegally downloading music.

Exactly. So we're going to try and pick a song from four of their many distinct eras. And we're going to go chronologically. And Madison's going to start us off. So Madison, if you want to introduce your track. So the song that I picked is Taxicab, which is from self-titled. I think it was released in 2009. Yes.

It's crazy. It's one of my favorite 21 pilot songs. It's not their best song, but it's very, very sincere. And it gives, I think, a really good feel for a lot of the themes that they'll revisit over and over and over again as their sort of career develops. I guess if I had to sum up the lyrical content of the song, it would be Tyler Joseph kind of having the spiritual struggle where he's sort of searching for God and trying to make sense of whether he even believes in God or not. And if he doesn't show up, well, God still show up for him. And again, it's just very sincere. And it appealed to me a lot when I was in middle school and feeling similar things.

Sure. And yeah, it has a really cool, I guess, rap section. Classic 21 pilots. Yeah. Classic 21 pilots. Classic Tyler. Our boy, Tyler. That I also really enjoy.

And I think it's one song, too, that they continue to. perform from some of their oldest stuff so yeah. Yeah, that's cool. Perfect. All right. Well, then here is Taxicab off of 21 pilots by 21 pilots. I fall inside your ghost and fill up

every hole inside and I want everyone to know that I am half a soul divider. Right. We're back on I've Got Oaks on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. You just heard TaxiCap by 21 Pilots. We're doing a little 21 Pilots feature. And that is our guest host Madison's song. So you gave a little bit of an overview, but do you want to give a slight summary of your phase with 21 pilots? Are you still in it? Where are we? So I think I started listening to 21 pilots in eighth grade, which is the time that you see. start listening to 21.

Exactly. I had a friend who was teaching herself to play ukulele. Oh my gosh. This is how I started. Me too. I think she played

We don't believe what's on TV. And I was like, oh, I kind of liked that. I'm going to look that song up. And three weeks later, I was in deep to this. I don't want to say obsession,

but it was definitely the only music that I listened to. It was like there was a period of time in my life where I listened to 21 pilots and that was my music. And then I listened to music that my dad liked because I wanted him to think I was cool. Oh my gosh. So I'd go 21 pilots and then I'd go like Weezer, Beatles, white stripes, Rush. All dads love Rush. We've discussed this. We have.

But I think what I really love. loved about their music was that it, um, it just, it just sounded cool. I just liked the way it sounded. It's, it scratched something in my brain that was really satisfying to listen to. And I think they were singing about like, kind of mental health and finding your place in the world. And, and like that song talks about sort of struggles with faith in a way that just felt very vulnerable and sincere and was appealing to me, especially at that age. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's kind of what drew me in as well. I feel like just like, wow, this is so vulnerable.

And like, I guess I'm not alone. I think it's like whenever people criticize 21 pilots or artists who are similar and like we'll make jokes about it for the rest of the episode, obviously. But there is something to be said about the fact that most of us in this room, like we're very much impacted by this. And this played a huge role in music we would eventually get into, our spiritual lives, our emotional lives. And like that time of your life is difficult period.

And so, yeah, it can be a cheap shot of like, okay, you listen to this in middle school. But it's like, well, thank God I had something like that. That was able to cling to or connect to. And you can still look back on and not be like, that was horrible for me. Right. Yeah. It's still okay. Like Madison said, like, that was my thing.

I was like, okay, I listened to 21 pilots. Yeah. This is my music. It was sacred. Yeah, exactly. Something I think about now, too, that I didn't really realize at the time is like, I think especially when they started becoming more and more well known, which was probably like 2015, 2016.

There was an explosion, I think, of music dealing specifically with like depression and anxiety. And it's like we talk about this now. And a lot of artists, now that I look back, really kind of glorified it. Like there was almost, like you got special status if you were depressed. Yes. And again, I didn't realize it at the time, but now thinking back, the message that 21 Pilots music typically has is like, this sucks. Yeah.

This is not fun. This is not something I want. I want to get out of this. And it was never like, oh, like one day it's going to get so heavy and I'm just going to give up. It's like, no, you, it's always like one more day, you know, and like recognize that, you know, there's meaning to life beyond you. Yeah. Life is not just about you and your feelings. Yeah.

And that was hugely helpful to me at the time. There's a song later on, I think it's on Trench. It's about, Tyler writes it about his grandfather. When his grandfather passed away, he had dementia or Alzheimer's. And so he kind of was forgetting who his grandson was. But it's this whole song of like appreciation towards this person older than him who he respected and looked up to and loved who lived this whole life. And it's like, look to your elders and like look at all these wonderful things that they've done and given to you. And life is very much worth living even.

even though right now you're 20 and you think it's all over for you. Yeah. I always respected that about them, I think, too. It was just like, oh, I'm depressed. And I'm going to write a song about that. It's like, I'm depressed and let's see where we can move on from here to get to a better place, which is great. Speaking of moving on to a better place. Yeah.

We're moving on to the next era with my song, which arguably I feel like among fans is like the most famous era. This is the album Vessel, which was really. released in 2013. And it came before Blurry Face, which might be their most commercially successful. But I feel like Vessel is the album that, like, most 21 Pilots fans knew front to back. Yeah, for sure. I remember it was very big, like, you get at Urban Outfitters on vinyl. It was that kind of thing.

And like, I'm looking at now, by the way, all of this is still downloaded on my phone, which is funny, because I've only had this phone for like two or three years, meaning I did that intentionally. But there's so many famous songs on this album, like, True. and guns for hands and car radio, which was the track that really, really blew 21 pilots up around this time. The song that I'm picking

is migraine, which is funny that that was my favorite song because I was obsessed with this song in the seventh grade before I got a head injury that I still deal with and have migraines all the time. So it's silly that that kind of was the song that resonated for years. I remember I made that connection today. I was like, oh my, whoa, that's creepy.

You actually manifested. I manifested in the car accident. I got a migraine. I'm going, okay. If you want one, girl, I'll give you a lifetime. One too many times. Basically. So this is migraine off of 21 Pilots album Vessel from 2013.

I've got the migraine and my pain will range from up, down and sideways. Thank God it's Friday. Because Fridays will always be better than Sundays. Because Sundays are my suicide days. I don't know why they always seem so dismal. Welcome to storms, cloud snow and a slight tristle, whether it's the weather or the letters by my bed, sometimes death seems better than the migraine in my bliss, examine it. So do not have. Welcome back to Radio Free Hillsdale, 1.0.107 FM.

You're listening to Ive got Ox and with Bella, Ali, myself Gavin, and our special guest, Madison, and that was Ali's song, migraine off of vessel. So, yeah, Allie. Well, first of all, what no one saw was the three women in the room. like mouthing every single word. That was healing. Well, the best part was there were moments where we were not making eye contact and everyone was just like under their breath.

Like we knew every word to that. That song is so good. That song eats. And you know what? I'm on the public record saying I love that song. Sorry. To this day.

I haven't heard that in years. And I was just sitting here reading the lyrics and all of that just like came out of my brain. So good to know I still possess memorization quality. It does not appear in my classes sometimes for sure. But I really loved that song and I think that speaks to what Madison set up with sort of the telos of the band, which is like community and like you're not alone and that's the whole corny message. But truthfully, and at the time, it wasn't corny.

Like this was people's bread and butter. Like this was, it was cool to like 21 pilots. Let it be known. And they were also viner's. I don't know if y'all remember that. Oh my gosh. Yes. Yes.

Their vines were funny. and everybody had little crushes on them. And it just felt, I feel like, out of all of the fandums that I was a part of, which were many, this was like maybe one of the healthiest. Yes, I totally agree. Which is funny, because their whole thing is about mental illness. Yeah, but even, like, you see in this song,

like, it still, like, lets it be, like, real, like, oh my gosh, like, I feel like I want to die all the time. Right. But then it's like, okay, well, we'll just keep going. Like, you know, it wasn't like, it didn't let you, like, dwell in that. Yeah, it didn't let you dwell and be like, it's like you know like we can and

I mean you were like even if you didn't believe that like as a kid you're singing that like you know you're internalizing yeah what's that line he says like life still has a hopeful undertone that's one of my favorite lines ever you can't you can't talk about depression and say that and still festering it and like Madison was saying like no one wanted to say

that back then it was more just like I just feel sad yeah like you know and they were like they're just so real with it and for the boomers listening or people who were healthy and didn't grow up on the internet is Like this 21 pilots was around in a culture on the internet in which self-harm was was the cool thing to do. Like Tumblr.com glorified everything from eating disorder like.

Onision? Yep. Don't. We'll do an onisian episode. She knows about Onisian too. It's like, so I think to have something like this that almost has the aesthetic of what was valued at that time but has a message that's a lot more hopeful. And in this song, like on multiple occasions, like it's so clearly, like he says he is suicidal. Like the word is used.

And I think there's there's a power in that that balances really well with like the levity of the tune and the melody. Yeah. And like kind of the, there's a joyous undertone, I think, to the song. I think they have a song where maybe they talk about that directly. Is it not today? Oh yeah. Listen, I know this one's a contradiction because of how happy it sounds, but the lyrics are so down. It's okay though because it represents.

wait better yet it is who I feel I am right now. I think that's what they do a lot in a lot of their songs. What song is that? Not today. Bars. Yeah, okay. I think it's on blurry face. I remember that.

My most cringe moment, I translated that song into Laird. Were you homeschooled? Bella. No, I just went to classical school. So did I. It wasn't really like, I did it for fun. I was just in class. I was like, yeah, I'm going to do this.

I used to doodle the lyrics. They have a symbol, as I'm sure we're all familiar with. It's like four lines or three lines. That was doodled every year. When I was, oh, this is, I don't want to say this. When I was taking Russian for like two years in high school, I used to, when I would get bored, I would write out 21 pilots lyrics in English, but using the Cyrillic letters to make the English sounds. And I have a high school journal where there's just pages of this. And I think it's the most obnoxious, insufferable thing I've ever done.

Oh my gosh. We would have been such good friends. Yeah, I know. Locate this group. We would have gotten through the words. All right. Thanks so much for listening. This ends the first part of our 21 pilots double episode special. We did Madison's song and my song, Taxicab and Migraine. And next up we'll have Bella and Gavin. True. Epic. On Radio for Hillsdale, 101.7 FM. See you guys. Bye.