The JAM Yearbook

This week Matt and Jim are at the start of the last decade of a millenium: 1990. Holy nostalgia overload! Matt is out of high school and facing the realities of the real world. Jim is finding his identity on stage starring in a production of Grease, working at summer camp for the first time, and buying his first guitar. Jim was hanging out a lot with Matt and his brother at their place and Matt pu...

You know the song, Matt and Jim know the song, we all know the song. Why? Because it's a cover song. Cover songs can make fools of us. Fools because we don't realize it's a cover, fools of the band that shouldn't be covering the song, and fools of us who think the cover is better than the original. Welcome to the cover episode. It had to happen. But what occurs when Matt and Jim dive in? They find...

Welcome to an unprecedented episode. No need to adjust anything. You've correctly read the title. This week Matt and Jim tackled both 2006 and 2007. Why? They're honoring what their mothers told them: If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. The years weren't completely absent of good music, but when they went on their weekly deep dive of 2006 they came to the surface with nothin...

This week Matt and Jim go back to a year more unique than any experienced. Welcome to the lockdown episode. 2020 was a year of loss, fear and hope. This reflected between the music and the world around them. Jim began a deep dive each week into new release playlists in search of a new sound. Matt found himself opening up to modern rap shared with him by his sons. Too many music icons of their yout...

It's March and it's madness time. Instead of sports, Matt and Jim are going to take on metal and mayhem. They've invited their good friend Sandy back and created a challenge. Sandy is a successful metal blogger and has some expertise on the genre. Matt and Jim have taken 64 of some of his favorite songs and pit them against one another until in the end the most ultimate metal song of all time is c...

Fresh in from riding their bikes down Electric Avenue, Matt and Jim get ready to dive into their 45s and cassettes. In 1982 the world caught a bad case of Pac-Man Fever and the jukebox still reigned supreme. Sometimes they talk about big albums, but this was the year of Thriller. The Clash, Duran Duran and Willie Nelson release their biggest albums. Matt finds a hero in Tom Petty while Jim has the...

It's the start of a new millenium! Welcome to the year 2000. After partying like it was 1999, Matt and Jim are faced with some sobering realities about the music that was being released. Pop was still being HUGELY dominated by the Disney kids. The gears of rock shift and Nu metal rises to the top of the industry machine. This is prompts an epic Jim rant. How is it Nu/New? He might not mind all of...

Peace, love and music! Valentine's Day passed by this week so Matt and Jim use it as a cheap excuse to step outside of the years of their lives and visit 1967, better known as the Summer of Love. It was a huge year for music and they do their best to unpack as much as possible. There is groundbreaking music from The Beatles and The Beach Boys. Motown and soul music artists released massive hits. T...

This week Matt and Jim go a few years back to 2015. Should we be nervous, or will they find themselves in pleasant musical pastures? The world loses Lemmy and a King. Jim has his modern hip-hop breakthrough. Matt has some challenging listening, but comes out the other side chalking it up as a necessary experience. Pop is actually ok, keyboard music in 2015 is boring, and rock is still found in the...

This week Matt and Jim go back in time and revisit 1985. Hair metal is rising, Phil Collins gets everyone's attention and The Hoff (David Hasselhoff!) releases his debut album. Matt and JIm make a bet and the loser has to give us a review. Charity is the word as USA for Africa aligns the stars for the biggest single of the 1980s and Live Aid brings as cross continent event to our televisions. Dire...

It's 1976 and Matt and Jim have found their happy place. It's a lot easier to enjoy anything that's fun when you're still growing up and the 70s were filled with good times and fun music. Iconic albums arrive from The Eagles, ABBA, Boston and Matt finally gets to the debut of The Ramones! Blondie rules CBGBs while Frampton Comes Alive in the arenas.  Matt and Jim play a game: Cheesy or Not Ch...

Matt and Jim have moved on to 2001. It was a year filled with highs and lows. Jim gets married and is experiencing the best time of his life. Matt is beginning to shift toward his indie phase, but has a few radio songs he's still hanging on to. The horrific events of 9/11 overshadow the year as entertainment in the US is brought to a standstill. But it's music that unites and brings the country to...

It's 1989 and it's time for Matt and Jim to go back to their high school years! Matt is graduating and Jim has his first job. Both are buying and listening to so much music, it's almost impossible to talk about all of it. They're still going to try though. Matt revisits his hair metal memories. Jim raps! It's as cringy as it sounds. It's all in good fun. So sit back and have a laugh as they talk t...

Welcome to the next clean-up episode! 10 more years and a few specials have passed and it's time for Matt and Jim to revisit previous episodes and take action. However, they aren't the only ones taking action. This time, instead of just adding songs to the playlist, they have the audience vote on what songs should be REMOVED from the playlist. Will tears be shed? Will hearts be broken? Will Matt a...

It all ends here! Well, not really. Matt and Jim are at the end of 2022 and it's a time to reflect as they would on any episode. In 2022 they made new friends and had some revelations and experiences while creating this podcast. The funny thing is they spent so much time in that past they had a bit of a struggle to keep up with new releases. Fortunately, they were still tuned in and 2022 was not w...

Christmas, Christmas time is here, time for songs, time for beer! Welcome to our very sweary Christmas. Matt has a limited tolerance for Christmas music and Jim used to work in retail, so at the start of this episode they come across as a couple of Grinches. After digging deep through their Christmas memories though, their hearts grow a couple sizes bigger and they realize that some music can stil...

This week we bounce back to 1998. These are strange times for Matt and Jim to identify with. They recognize that there is a lot of music from the year still popular today, but they don't feel an attachment to it. Was it fatigue? Has it been overplayed? Was Matt a fool for listening to the entire 1998 Billboard Top 100? Probably. There are a lot of great 'alternative radio' classics still getting c...

The 2000s have been a challenge for Matt and Jim. They've tried to stay objective but often come off as old men yelling at kids to 'get off our lawn!' They observed in earlier episodes that by the end of the 2010s there seemed to be a generational shift occurring in music that was beginning to promote a new era of identity and, at least to these two grumpy old men, music was starting to get good a...

It's the start of a new decade! Instead of ranting about these years in the 2000s, Matt and Jim get more personal about what was going on in their lives. Matt finds a band playing fun originals while Jim has an epiphany that changes his perceptions of cover bands. They ALMOST get through the episode without mentioning Max Martin. Did Jim's band really open for Justin Bieber? Probably not.  Jo...

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American listeners. On this episode Matt and Jim turn their focus to country music. In some episodes they allude to the fact that they aren't the biggest fans of this genre. But guess what? They were raised on it. So while they might not have connected with it in their adult lives, they have some deep rooted nostalgia for the classic era of the 60s and 70s. Grab a...

Nostalgia overload! Welcome to Version 1984. Matt and Jim are lost in a world of music from some of their most formative years. The Boss, Madonna, Van Halen, Prince, Wham...and we haven't even gotten to Footloose yet! MTV, Night Tracks, Good Rockin' Tonight, Friday Night Videos, and the one and only Casey Kasem there to make your next dedication. Ballads and metal blend. Cheese is good! It wasn't...

This week we head to 2004 and Jim escapes the echo storm of 2014.  Matt gushes over the debut of The Killers while both of them mourn the tragic loss of Dimebag Darrell. There's a new sound in the air. Raw, overdriven guitars are met with disco beats blending punk and New Wave. Green Day makes a big comeback and a supergroup leaves its mark. Phish breaks up and creates chaos in the Northeast...

Welcome to 2014 where a new normal exists to the indie sound. Matt and Jim disagree on the results and the gloves come off. Would a session at the mixing board have improved it, or is it an attempt to just not sound like everything else? Matt thinks Jim likes his spaghetti plain with no sauce (well, he does offer up a bit of buttah!) Both of them find some great music when they get the shovels out...

Happy Halloween! Matt and Jim are psyched to bring you a special episode centered around metal. So many 'cores! Screamo to hard rock. Fans that put cosplayers to shame. They invite metal blogger and friend Sandy Williamson to share his journey through life as a true fan of the genre. From Ozzy to Pig Destroyer, why do they chose these names? Can't understand those low growls? Go see them live! Thi...

Bring your disco platforms, your leather jacket and your eyeliner, it's 1979 and there's a little bit of something for everyone. Kermit sings and Pink Floyd builds a wall. Ska steps out (two feet at a time) and punk is crossing over to New Wave. Join Matt and Jim as they explore this year full of unexpected classics. The perfect end cap to the 70s. Pina Coladas anyone?