In the Mix

The boys are back! We're doing some more classic mixes this season, and had a big plan to start it off right by doing another power hour with our bud Dave Lynch. Unfortunately, a couple of us were ridiculously hungover at the time of recording and were in no shape for such a feat, so the three of us instead recover and listen to the drinking songs we picked. And it's a good thing we didn't do a power hour, because these are not fun-time songs. Most of them are, in fact, about the sadder elements of drinking, from Kendrick Lamar's ominous warnings to Ernest Tubb's old-timey country binge drinking. But we do still find time for some Bad Bunny bangers and ICP favorites, along with a recommended spirit for each track.

On today's episode, Katie Wright rejoins the boys to discuss the everlasting legacy of ALF and of course, music from Steve's favorite albums of all time.

Back again with some more of Steve's favorite albums tracks! Joined by returning favorite Devon Moore from Fake Pockets, we focus on more of a good vibes time after last time. Together, we take a trip to the Myspace era with some Hellogoodbye, examine the charming nostalgia of Something Corporate, the etheral club vibes of Jessie Ware, and the tentative hopefulness of Frightened Rabbit. All this, plus Prince and the awesome power of being a weird little guy.

After a winter break, we return to the favorite albums project for a low key episode with some downer songs. As Dave bravely muscles through a recording while being sick, the playlist brings us to discussions of the isolation of living alone, nostalgia for life events you didn't actually experience, and living the ultimate dream of working on a ranch that has a Friendly's on it.

For the past few years, our holiday episodes have been derailed by the same scourge: The Christmas Shoes. Because our friend Chris Dubrow can't stop playing the song whenever he's on our holiday episode, this year we did something a little different: we made him watch the 2002 The Christmas Shoes made-for-TV movie starring Rob Lowe. And we also watched it. How do you turn Christmas's most treacly, upsetting song into a heartwarming family movie? Turns out you don't! We watched an unbearable slog of a movie and try to pin down what went wrong.

It's the end of the year, so we're taking a short break from our season-long theme to do our usual end-of-year stuff. First up is our annual favorite songs of the year episode! What did we like this year in punk, indie, R&B, hip-hop, ska, dance, and even video game protest music?

Your hosts return this week, still talking Steve's Favorite Albums, however, this episode has a lil twist. Dave was handed the keys and found himself ten lil songs from Steve's list that he has some serious questions about. Mostly of the 'this isn't an 8, it's a 9!' variety. Along the way, we double dip into artists, create new 'bad lil boy' personas, and try to figure out what music needs to really impress us. Have a listen. 

It's just your hosts this week as we take a look at some of the tracks on the favorite albums project that were pleasant surprises. The result is a fun episode about a real bummer of a playlist, from an underrated Tracy Chapman deep cut to the tortured sorrows of American Football and Fleetwood Mac. And in between those we return to a question we asked at the beginning of this season: is Coheed and Cambria books?

Along with returning favorite Jess McCormick, we have a loosey-goosey late night after hours episode as we continue deeper into the favorite albums project. Together, we bond over our love of Frank Turner, indulge in some of Bruce Springsteen's most writerly efforts, break down the genre of "bummer pop," and let the wonderful chaos of glass beach remind us that music is in fact good.

Steve and Dave are nice now as they continue deeper into this favorite albums project. With returning guest Lenny Burnham (Chapter Surfing, House of House), we discuss why Reel Big Fish's most pure radio rock song didn't get the success it deserved, trying too hard to hate Fall Out Boy as a teenager, and we take the plunge into some Steely Dan facts.

In episode 3 of discussing Steve's favorite albums, we have already made the choice to go negative! We're talking 10 songs from these albums that just didn't feel up to par and wondering why. Why did The 1975 try to be Radiohead for a song? Why does it hurt so much when you find a Carly Rae Jepsen song boring? Why would The Wonder Years put an okay acoustic song on an otherwise perfect album? And why does Dave Matthews apologizing to someone sound so skin-crawlingly weird?

This week we continue our season-long thread of trying to determine some of Steve's favorite albums. Joined by returning favorite (?) Chris Dubrow, we discuss whether Weird Al is the GOAT, embrace the Buffett vibes, explain why Oasis being assholes was actually pretty cool, and once again apologize for being Weezer fans.

We're back with a brand new season, and a brand new season-long topic! This season, we'll be taking a look through a variety of tunes as Steve tries to determine his 100 favorite albums, from the most critically acclaimed classic albums to the least essential pop punk one-hit wonders. On the first episode, we talk the greatest live album of all time, the varied career of AFI, how Gorillaz handle impending climate change, and how to possibly get into Coheed and Cambria without getting bogged down in lore.

We end our season of reevaluations where we started: with the Insane Clown Posse. We bring back our friend Max to watch ICP's 2000 film Big Money Hustlas and see if, even though we can see the things that are bad with it, we can also find what's good. Turns out, there may be more to like than you'd expect. We also get a surprise ICP-related gift from Max that requires an unboxing!

Many factors caused the end of disco by 1980. One that isn't discussed as much: as the market went all-in on disco, established artists who never made even remotely disco music tried to cash in on the trend. Many of these songs were buried as a shameful part of pop music past, but how are they as actual songs? With the help of Chris Fox of Ruby Bones (and our theme song!), we listen to disco songs from soul stars, hard rockers, future 80s pop stars, and even Beatles to see if they warrant a positive reevaluation.

On this week's episode, Dave and Steve are joined by friend and returning guest Jessie McCormick to give 'Bro Country' the ol' college try and see if there's any gold to be discovered amongst the trucks, coolers of silver bullets, and having a few beers before driving down some backroads (please do no do that).   You can find Jessie's most recent release, 'Songs My Mom Likes", on their bandcamp at Jessie McCormick Bandcamp. Check out their other band, The Foes of Fern, at Foes of Fern Bandcamp.

On this week's episode of In the Mix, Steve and Dave are joined by another person named Dave to take a look at a spectrum of music from the 70s to now that encompass themes people would probably mark as being "political." Through good and bad, the trio dissect, deconstruct, and ponder on what makes a good "political song", why so many tend to fail or be rendered meaningless shortly after their release, and if releasing this kind of music really does make a difference.

On today's episode of In the Mix, Steve and Dave take a dive into songs with a cause. From the 70s to now, many musicians took it upon themselves to create singles or records with the idea to make money for causes, organizations, or even individuals. Did they succeed in making good music as well? Take a listen and find out!

What's up all you cool cats and dames. On today's episode of In the Mix, Steve and Dave are joined by old friend and past guest Matt to discuss the finer intricacies of that old horn tootin' and dancin' genre of yesteryear. 1990s yesteryear, at least. We're talking Swing Revival!

On this week's episode, Steve and Dave are joined by friend of the show Zac Schaffner to discuss just what exactly is the deal with jam bands, is there something more there they have been missing, and if all that raw talent also equals 'good' music tunes. 

Butt rock, the watered down younger brother of grunge, ruled the rock radio airwaves in the 2000s with bands that became massive successes and cultivated massive fanbases that exist to this day. But it still gets made fun of for being unambitious, whiny, and aggravating. Is it? Steve and Dave examine butt rock, a genre they have some experience with from their younger years, and see if it's as bad as people think. Shave your beard into a soul patch and start headbanging, people you're listening to WITM In the Mix. Nothing. But. ROCK.

The Pure Moods series of CDs promised us pure moods, and left us to decipher what that means. So we decided to listen and see if Pure Moods is right for us as it takes us on a journey of new age, Celtic, ambient, and dance music... and TV theme songs. Along for the ride are Bill Lambusta and Brian Erickson of The Great Albums Podcast, and the four of us discuss the many compilation CD commercials we still remember, tales from our younger days at karate lessons, and perhaps the purest mood of all: Oscar Isaac.

This week, Steve and Dave dive into the long career of Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band. Long maligned as corny boomer music, they instead find a lot of touching, meaningful story songs... as well as a lot of silly songs. Can the easygoing nature of the Buffett experience resonate with your intrepid hosts? Are they now parrotheads?

We're trying to stay positive as we reevaluate all this music, but we're facing our toughest test yet. With returning guest and Chapter Surfing host Lenny Burnham, we take a look at some of the most notorious example of famous people who tried to become successful musicians and completely failed. From socialites to actors, athletes to dancers, we tackle them all. Was Paris Hilton's music actually good? Could Robert Downey Jr. have become the next Harry Connick Jr. if he tried? Is Steven Seagal's music actually good? No, the answer to the last question is no.

We continue our series of "Reevaluations" episodes of music often mocked or written off. This week, we take a trip to the alternate universe of Christian music. The classic genres of music you know... but Christian. As we listen to Christian rock, grunge, ska, , punk, hardcore, EDM, R&B, and hip-hop, we see just how different (or not so different) Christian versions of these genres really are. What works and what doesn't, and how do two guys who aren't religious react to such devout lyrics?

For the rest of the season, we'll be sticking to one theme: Reevaluations. Bands, genres, musical movements and more that have a poor reputation: is that reputation actually earned, or is there more than we realize beneath the surface? We start this recurring theme the only way we knew how: by seeing if the infamous Insane Clown Posse's music is actually good. Along with our old friend Max Resnick, we look at the lengthy discography of ICP and see if we can find more meaning than we've been conditioned to expect from it. Does the power of the juggalo have an effect on us?

2020 was a year to forget, so Steve and Dave decided to end the year forgetting it! We instead talk about some of our favorite discoveries of the year that was released in any year but 2020. In doing so, we take a look at how we've changed and who we've become in the past year. The weird pivots we've made looking to find positivity, the detached music we've danced to, the legendary artists we finally checked out - and of course, our newfound dedication to appreciating the little things.

Steve and Dave break down some of their favorite songs of 2020, looking at the best the year had to offer in punk, emo, dance, indie, country, hip hop, and something Dave calls "soviet doomer music." All this, plus discussions of what we think makes for good and bad pop music and what it feels like to realize you are old now.

Holiday songs are boring. The only way to make them interesting is to either retool them or make new ones in your own style. So with the help of returning guests Devon Moore and Chris Dubrow, we examine the good and (mostly) bad of artists bringing their own aesthetic to the holiday season. We've got holiday Weezer, holiday dance pop, holiday sadboi emo, holiday island time, and much to Steve's chagrin, the return of the wretched Christmas Shoes.

Culture today may have its issues, but that doesn't mean that everything from the cultures of yesteryear was great. So we banded together in this, our season finale, to examine some of the worst songs from when we were growing up. We discuss bad attempts at being an R&B song, the scourge of butt rock, and a hit song that has been nearly totally disappeared from the internet. Plus, why don't they make hit songs for movie anymore? That was fun!

Nearly a year ago, we decided to record an episode of songs about the end of the world. Instead of being about fictional apocalypses, we talked depressingly about our concerns of a real life apocalypse. However, Steve's old computer overheated and damaged the episode beyond repair, and we never released it. This week, we returned to that playlist to discuss these songs, what we felt last year and how weird it feels to discuss this all in the midst of an actual pandemic.

Getting older can suck. But it can also be a fun time, and there's a lot of good music that gets to the heart of this conflict. Joined by return guest and Chapter Surfing host Lenny Burnham, we discuss some of our favorite songs about aging. From 90s ska bands to the latest in European dance, we get down to just how it feels to remember you're not that young anymore. To learn more about Lenny's new podcast Chapter Surfing and more, check out his Patreon here!

If you're lucky enough to have a backyard/patio/deck/fire escape/any means of getting some solitary fresh air during this pandemic, we've got you covered with music for the occasion. From some silky smooth Steely Dan to classic Beach Boys, weed rap to ska Sinatra, we've collected a group of songs perfect for slinking into a chair while you're taking in a summer day. End song: Mad Caddies - Backyard

We grew up as alternative rock kids, as did our guest, returning champion and We're Ghosts Now bassist Max Resnick. So we shuffled every song that ever went #1 on the Alternative songs Billboard chart (currently the Alternative Airplay chart) and discussed the first 10 that came up. How has alternative rock evolved from the chart's beginnings in the late 1980s to now? Why does everything these days sound like it's made specifically commercials? And what the hell even is alternative rock?

Steve and Dave embark on a solo episode this week in which they do a deep dive in the famous "Punk Goes" series of compilations. Going from different eras, from pop punk to emo pop to crunkcore and much more, we ask: what does it mean to have a good Punk Goes Pop song? What makes one worse than others, and is it better to play it safe or try and do something crazy with your cover?

Music fans love finding songs, falling in love with them and then listening to them until you can barely stand them anymore. Returning guest writer/actor/podcaster Katie Wright joins us to talk about some of our favorite songs we couldn't stop listening to throughout our lives. From depressed Paramore to The Pogues, Craig Finn to The Smiths, we cover songs the three of us have gone through periods of exclusively listening to. If you're interested in donating to Katie's workshop fund, donate here!

NYC-based cinematographer Adam Kolodny joins us to talk about some artists we've enjoyed but who no longer make music. From classic 70s punk to 2010s indie, to folk artists who disappeared, we get into some great artists and why they stopped.

Not every artist you dislike is disliked for a rational reason. So we decided to talk about the artists we refuse to give a chance for admittedly petty, nonmusical reasons, and to join us are returning guests Jessie McCormick and Avery Mandeville! Is a jam band's annoying fanbase enough of a reason to dislike them? Do you NEED to like Frank Sinatra just because old people do? Would listening to John Mayer talk about a song he wrote make it even worse? Hard yes to that last question.

Steve and Dave return to a familiar well for some comfort: some of their favorite cheesy songs. What makes a song cheesy in a good way, as opposed to in a bad way? What made the 90s so conducive to classic cheesy tracks? What makes one corny Michael Buble song good as opposed to all the bad ones? All that, plus a song that is exclusively about PlayStation.

Steve and Dave stumbled across various memes based on the iconic midwest emo song "Never Meant" by American Football, and dedicate an entire episode to some of their favorites. What makes "Never Meant" such a good song, what makes it such a unique candidate for memes and what genres manage to turn it into something entirely new? Want to enjoy the playlist on your own, and without us getting in the way of it? Check it out here!

Quarantine has made us a little weird and loopy, and it has us missing a lot of experiences we didn't think we missed, or took for granted, or outright hated before all of this. Gross bars, chain restaurants, overrated cities, crowded beaches and more: these are the things we miss that we never would have imagined wanting to return to.

We are back! Ruby Bones guitarist Chris Fox returns to the show and the three of us discuss some of our favorite music we've found while being stuck in the house all day every day, from new discoveries to tracks from our old favorites. Also holiday music. Tune in!

It's our season finale! We wanted to talk some of our favorite songs about beer from ska to classic rock, Nina Simone to Barenaked Ladies, etc. And as drinking beer is something we do with friends, we brought our old pal Dave L back on the show not just to talk music, but do an old fashioned power hour! Well, not necessarily old fashioned. We used hard seltzer. We're old.

With Steve on vacation, Dave needed a guest host. And wouldn't luck have it, one of his good friends, Matt, jumped at the opportunity to be apart of the great legacy of In The Mix! On today's episode, Matt brings a special theme to the ITM studio, one that revolves around one of Earth's favorite characters...Sonic the Hedgehog! 

With Dave on vacation, Steve needed a guest host. So Chris Dubrow returns to do a sister episode to his first one. In that episode, we dove into the world of The Mountain Goats, and in this one the two discuss another one of their shared favorites: They Might Be Giants. It's a retrospective of the band's decades of work, how we discovered our love for them and songs we think are good tracks to use for introducing someone to the TMBG oeuvre.

After ending 2019 with a month of positive shows, we're burnt out on liking things. So for an episode we decided to just dedicate some time to rant about some of our least favorite songs. Are Imagine Dragons really as bad as people say, or is there a new contender for worst alternative rock band? How did it take so many people to write High Hopes? And just who do the Chainsmokers think they are? For just a couple of hours, we let ourselves get mad.

We're back with part 2 of our favorites of the 2010s to highlight some of our absolute top picks. Songs to get angry to. Songs to get sad to. Songs to feel a little bit of happiness to. And of course, songs to get horny to. Chris Fox of Ruby Bones is still on mic too as the three of us talk about what makes these songs great and our hopes for the 2020s.

With just a week and a half to go in the 2010s, Steve and Dave decided to put up a pot/buy a box of coffee and dive into some of their absolute favorite songs of the decade for a few hours. With the eventual help of Ruby Bones frontman Chris Fox, we talk about what makes some of this decade's finest in punk, folk, pop, indie, funk and more so darn special to us. Grab your own box of joe and join us!

We continue our end of the decade mixes by discussing our favorites from this year, with the help of returning guest Devon Moore of Fake Pockets. What were our favorite songs and bands from the worlds of pop punk, indie, hip-hop, surf rock and more this year?

For the rest of December, we're going to be talking about our favorite music of the decade as it comes to a close! First up: some artists and songs that we think have gone under the radar and deserve a shout out.

New Jersey musician Chris Dubrow returns to the program as we, for the second year in a row, talk about some of the worst songs the holiday season has to offer. From the new Baby It's Cold Outside to bad covers from rock icons, and from miserable acapella groups to cover songs from 2000s ringtone legends, we break down the many ways one can make a truly terrible holiday song.