This week I'm talking exclusively to Emma Maatman about her single-digit, pre-tween relationship with Backstreet Boys and the excellent video for the historically complicated "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)".
We cover the most confidently dinky beat in RnB and a fun, very "believable" music video featuring a backflipping werewolf "pimp," a hideously scarred phantom of the opera, and a goofy, decidedly un-sexual mummy.
Also: Not wanting to be a homewrecker or a “slut” when choosing your boy band crush, learning grammar through pop songs, and the christian names of these classic monsters
Music we like: Chavez's Cockfighter EP
This week we're covering Crazy Town... again? Guest Matt Zeidner explains how, at age 12, this was the perfect blend of hip hop and punk rock (as clearly stated in the song), and how a particularly terrible lyric held a personal meaning for him.
Also: Crazy Town describes what this song sounds like, namedrops MUCH better bands, hints at even more disturbing fantasies than those we’re aware of, and a listener relates an Awful Sound-related band encounter.
Music we like: Slowdive's new track, Star Roving, and Migos' upcoming C U L T U R E
This week Cahn returns to chat about the INCREDIBLE "Chattahoochee" from 1993. Is this the music video America needs right now? I think so.
On the docket: Alan Jackson's penchant for writing songs based on phrases he hears; the average temperature of "a hoochie coochie"; interesting reactions to frustrated abstinence; the good-natured fun and stunning visuals of the video, which revolve around teenage antics and glorious footage of Jackson himself absolutely shredding on a single ski in the Chattahoochee river.
Music we like: Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, and Omar Rodriguez Lopez's Sworn Virgins
Remember to check out Nick Bahula's artwork at instagram.com/bahulashop and throw some business his way!
This week guest Travis Duscay finally admits musical fallibility as we return to one of his adolescent favorites, The Bloodhound Gang, and their hackneyed, overbearingly ironic "Fire Water Burn."
Does repeating a punchline twice make it three times as funny? As an aging actor, would you risk what might be your final performance on being the butt of Jimmy Pop's sight gags? If you admit to being white frequently enough, do you become a good rapper? Colby Ferrin has an answer for that.
Music We Like: Death Grips - Bottomless Pit, Troller
It’s the 2 year anniversary of That Awful Sound! For this special episode we revisit New Found Glory’s lovesick, middle school anthem “Dressed to Kill” and its cringey video featuring a y2k-era nice-guy stalker lusting after an equally psychotic Rachel Leigh Cook.
To commemorate the 2-year anniversary we dive deeper than ever into our horrible fashion choices, including fake piercings made from household items, hot topic socks worn thin, and temporary tattoos purchased FAR too late in life.
We also recap our favorite albums of the year, including Angel Du$t’s “Rock The Fuck On Forever,” Helms Alee’s “Stillicide,” Creative Adult’s “Fear of Life,” Dinosaur Jr’s “Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not,” BADBADNOTGOOD’s “IV,” Nocturnal Habits’ “New Skin For Old Children,” Solange’s “A Seat At The Table,” Field Music’s “Common Time,” Autolux’s “Pussy’s Dead,” and Royal Canoe’s “Something Got Lost Between Here and The Orbit”