Music Raygun

We’ve done a “grab bag” episode in the past where we said the theme was no theme. It was kind of random videos that didn’t fit any topic. We’re doing another assortment show this time, but it’s sort of the opposite, because instead of no theme, it’s all the themes. We’re going back to themes we’ve done in the first 15 episodes of the show, and picking new videos that didn’t quite make the cut for...

Kirk had his time to shine with the disco episode, but this one is all Paul’s doing. It’s finally time to talk about punk. Cretins hop, Pistols curse, and GG Allin does, well, the things that GG Allin did before he passed on. Knowing that Kirk doesn’t actually like punk music, Paul made sure to load this episode up with interesting archival material, including a fantastic old interview with John H...

What do we like? We like the cars that go boom, or at least the girls who sing about them. We also like Biz Markie, BDP, Heavy D, and Public E, so we're taking a look at a very specific time period in rap history: 1988 and 1989. Kirk was in college, getting drunk at parties and dancing to Salt-N-Pepa records. Paul was practically a toddler, and never got to watch "The Arsenio Hall Show," because i...

Kirk takes the wheel as “Music Raygun” goes back in time to the 1970s, when everything was bright and shiny on the outside, but sort of washed out and profoundly bleak beneath the surface. That's right: It's our disco episode. There’s Travolta, “Dance Fever” and, of course, a “Soul Train” line. That’s all to be expected. Less expected is… Ethel Merman? And don’t worry; we also sit through “Disco D...

We're going home, back to our respective hometowns. Paul is presenting the music of Rhode Island, and Kirk visits his old stomping grounds in Cleveland/Northeast Ohio. Both areas spawned bands with a working-class, blue-collar aesthetic, but that’s where the similarities end. Rhode Island provides the alternative and punk rock, while Cleveland brings the smooth pop and R&B. Then again, those diffe...

For the first time, we’re focusing our attention on one instrument: the saxophone. This has been a long time coming. When we first discussed what topics we wanted to have on the show, “saxophone” was Kirk’s immediate thought. There’s lots of smooth jazz and pop here to make him happy, but there's also some punk rock to keep Paul satisfied. We learn what’s wrong with the greatest pop sax solo of al...

Katie Willert is back! She's co-hosting while Kirk is on vacation. As promised during Katie’s first appearance on “Music Raygun,” she and Paul devote this episode to a legendary artist whom they love: Harry Nilsson. Nilsson never performed live, but he was creative with his projects on record, on TV and in movies, and there’s lots of cool video of him to look at. He was a true weirdo, a deeply tro...

We always say every episode of “Music Raygun” features a particular music artist, concept or topic. Well, we lied to you about that. Because this time, our topic is... no topic. It's the first "grab bag" episode. We each chose a few of our favorite videos that, frankly, defy categorization. But they’re too good to ignore just because we normally make a themed podcast. We’ll watch a dance contest,...

Kirk is really happy whenever he gets to talk about one of his top five, possibly top three favorite bands ever. We’re talking about Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky and Mike (and Ralph and Johnny). It’s the long-planned New Edition episode. And that means we also have to cover the whole New Edition family tree. That means Bobby Brown, Bell Biv DeVoe, New Kids on the Block, Another Bad Creation, Heads of Stat...

We’re joined by the fantastic Katie Willert, who’s here to share with us (and you) some of her favorite songs and videos. You know Katie from Cracked's "After Hours," the Upright Citizens Brigade, Funny or Die and and many other comedy things. We know her because we all used to work together making Internet stuff. Katie’s picks include Roxy Music, Talking Heads, HAIM and more. We also take a speci...

After a very brief hiatus, "Music Raygun" has returned. Kirk is back from vacation, and it’s time for us to turn our attentions to yacht rock, an admittedly nebulous, non-specific music genre that was roughly codified by a comedy web series circa 2005. So, aptly, there are some comedy videos in this one, like sketches from “SCTV,” “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” and “Documentary Now.” Plus Ch...

We’re celebrating just a few of the coolest, baddest-ass and most revolutionary women in rock. A fictional band refuses to put out. A real band throws a used tampon at an audience. And the Plasmatics scare the bejesus out of Kirk. We take an all-too-brief look at the riot grrrl movement, Tina Turner’s ‘80s legacy, and more. Honestly, we barely managed to scratch the surface of this topic. But what...

It’s time to take a close look at Christie Brinkley’s ex-husband William. You may know him better as Billy. Billy Joel. It's Billy Joel. See, just because music is uncool doesn’t mean it can’t be good. Billy Joel is one of the most profoundly uncool pop singers of all time, but we both love him. We love his hits. We love his piano playing. We love his dumb music videos. We even love his early, pre...

What does it mean to sell out? When, if ever, is selling out OK? (It is.) (Is it?) (Sometimes.) We take a long look at musicians who sold their music for advertising. Even though artists sell out all the time, we managed to find a few surprises. Like a soda jingle performed by a band that made sure it never made the air. And a 2 Tone classic used to sell toothpaste. And did you know the Moody Blue...

We set our minds back to the early days of MTV to watch music videos from 1981 to 1983. This episode stems from a pre-podcast tradition we had of getting together to watch collections of music videos batched by year. On the podcast, we take on early-MTV staples like Toni Basil and Eurythmics, but probably not the videos you’re thinking of. We look at two, yes two, different videos for one Robert P...

We started “Music Raygun” with a topic at least one of us has encyclopedic knowledge of. That one of us is Kirk, and the topic is Prince. We don’t talk about only Prince, but also some of the artists and groups associated with him. And there are many. The Purple One had his fingers in a lot of pies. (Sorry.) Our discussion ranges from Prince’s early years to rare television appearances to acts lik...