Tesla "The Great Radio Controversy" (1989): Track by Track!

<v Speaker 1>Hey, this is Cameron from Vancouver, Canada. Welcome back to
<v Speaker 1>Shirley Fans. Over the next couple of weeks, my friend
<v Speaker 1>and former college roommate and fellow Tesla fan Jason Colin,
<v Speaker 1>along with his friend and podcast partner Dee Graves, whom
<v Speaker 1>is usually on the right side of these battles, are
<v Speaker 1>going to compare the raw soul and hard rock of
<v Speaker 1>two great bands and two great albums, The Black Crows
<v Speaker 1>Shake Your Moneymaker versus Tesla's the Great Radio Controversy, admittedly
<v Speaker 1>one of my favorite bands and albums from back in
<v Speaker 1>the early nineties and still to this day. So it's
<v Speaker 1>time to hang tough. This ain't no flight to nowhere.
<v Speaker 1>We're on our way to paradise and that's just the
<v Speaker 1>way it is. Plug it in, crank it up, and
<v Speaker 1>let the battle begin.
<v Speaker 2>Hey, Shirley Fans, we are coming at you live today,
<v Speaker 2>just a couple of modern day cowboys, bringing you a
<v Speaker 2>new episode every week and getting better every show. So
<v Speaker 2>if you love songs like we do, hang tough with
<v Speaker 2>us as we travel up Heaven's trail, discussing each of
<v Speaker 2>these songs track by track, making magic and telling it
<v Speaker 2>the way it is that's so good man from that
<v Speaker 2>last episode.
<v Speaker 3>True, thank you.
<v Speaker 4>You know, days go by and live drags on, but
<v Speaker 4>the podcast keeps on rocking. So hey, you know, people
<v Speaker 4>don't know this, but a lot of times we build
<v Speaker 4>these matchups in advance.
<v Speaker 2>Yep.
<v Speaker 4>And this matchup, the Black Crows versus Tesla was supposed
<v Speaker 4>to be last year, celebrating nineteen eighty nine. Yeah, but
<v Speaker 4>one of those that kind of got moved and it
<v Speaker 4>got pushed, and then it got and then we're like, hey,
<v Speaker 4>black Crows is nineteen ninety, so we can celebrate nineteen ninety.
<v Speaker 2>So we have.
<v Speaker 4>Literally been waiting over a year to complete this matchup,
<v Speaker 4>and this week you try to throw me a curveball
<v Speaker 4>and say.
<v Speaker 3>Hey, what do you think of that?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah? So we we okay, So welcome back to the
<v Speaker 2>Shirley Podcast. Everybody. We're here for an episode on Tesla's
<v Speaker 2>great radio controversy. We are compared it from last week's
<v Speaker 2>episode to the Black Crows, Shake your money Maker, and
<v Speaker 2>I got done with the Black Crows, And in my
<v Speaker 2>mind for that whole year, I was thinking that Tesla
<v Speaker 2>was much more of an acoustic bluesy sounding kind of band,
<v Speaker 2>because that's just my memory, I hadn't. I mean, I
<v Speaker 2>loved them in the nineties. We covered their songs in
<v Speaker 2>my band. I've got a story that I'm gonna telling
<v Speaker 2>here in just a second. That's, you know, a great
<v Speaker 2>moment with Tesla. But in my head, they were much
<v Speaker 2>more of a bluesy acoustic sound like Black Crows were right.
<v Speaker 4>You were brought up on five man Acoustical Jam, is
<v Speaker 4>what it sounds like to me.
<v Speaker 2>Well, yes, that's what happened. I was just like, I
<v Speaker 2>guess my memories kind of were really mostly inspired by
<v Speaker 2>five Man Acoustical Jam, which also came out in nineteen nineties.
<v Speaker 2>It did, and so it it like this one the
<v Speaker 2>great radio controversy are right there on. I mean, I mean,
<v Speaker 2>we think about the singles were hitting their thirty five
<v Speaker 2>year anniversary for just about all of them. Sure, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>for sure, same time as Shake Your Money Maker came out,
<v Speaker 2>And so when I heard this album, I was like,
<v Speaker 2>whoa this. I mean, first few songs out of the gate,
<v Speaker 2>I'm just thinking, this is like, it's like hard rock, metal,
<v Speaker 2>hard rock. Man, it is not the bluesy stuff I
<v Speaker 2>was expecting at all. Now you get a little further
<v Speaker 2>into the album and that changes. But I was like, oh, dude,
<v Speaker 2>I'm sorry. I made the mistake. We need to do
<v Speaker 2>five men acoustical jam. It's nineteen ninety and you're like, no,
<v Speaker 2>we've been prepping.
<v Speaker 1>I have been.
<v Speaker 2>I prep it way way more in advance than I do.
<v Speaker 2>If I prep as much as you do, I get
<v Speaker 2>overloaded and then I just it's a mess and eight
<v Speaker 2>hours long and it's terrible. Yes, so I'm happy that
<v Speaker 2>we're doing the great radio controversy. We'll touch on the
<v Speaker 2>five man acoustical jam a little bit, undoubtedly as we
<v Speaker 2>go through this. But yes, we're here today talk about
<v Speaker 2>something that we've been anticipating for a while.
<v Speaker 1>Now.
<v Speaker 4>I want to ask you how you got into Tesla,
<v Speaker 4>how you discovered them. But before we do, Yeah, we
<v Speaker 4>need to give a shout out to We've got a
<v Speaker 4>couple of new Patreon members. I want to give a
<v Speaker 4>shout out to. We've got our new friend, mister Mark Myers.
<v Speaker 4>Mark Myers, executive producer for today's episode. He's a pastor, yes,
<v Speaker 4>said he incorporated our Lady Lady Lady Matchup song podcast.
<v Speaker 2>Really to his sermon, Yeah, I'm really curious as to
<v Speaker 2>how he made a sermon out of that, and I
<v Speaker 2>texted you and I was like, had we called that
<v Speaker 2>lady on lady action that I wanted to, he probably
<v Speaker 2>would not have been able to issue in his sermon.
<v Speaker 2>But Mark, thank you.
<v Speaker 4>Yes, we are honored to be preaching if you will
<v Speaker 4>here at the Shirley can't be serious podcasts. Yeah, and
<v Speaker 4>we also need to shout out Rich the Union guy.
<v Speaker 2>Rich the Union Guy. Hi, Rich, thank you so much
<v Speaker 2>for joining our Patreon family. Texas back man, I hit
<v Speaker 2>you up, give me a text. Let's hear from you, man.
<v Speaker 2>Let's here go And guys, if you want to be
<v Speaker 2>one of our Patreon members, it's very simple. All you
<v Speaker 2>have to do is go to patreon dot com slash
<v Speaker 2>Shirley Podcast. You can sign up for free and get
<v Speaker 2>involved in some of the conversations we do, polls and
<v Speaker 2>stuff like that, and then for as little as five
<v Speaker 2>bucks a month, you get access to all of our
<v Speaker 2>one hit Wonder episodes and other kind of novelty songs
<v Speaker 2>that we do, which are really some of our our
<v Speaker 2>most fun episodes. And if you decide to be especially generous,
<v Speaker 2>we'll start sending you gifts with your name and the
<v Speaker 2>Shirley you Can't Be Serious podcast logo on it and stuff.
<v Speaker 4>Speaking of the Shirley Can't Be Serious logo, how's the
<v Speaker 4>merchant store coming?
<v Speaker 2>I am working on it. Etsy decided that it didn't
<v Speaker 2>like us, So I'm given. I'm given the preferbial signs.
<v Speaker 2>Signs everywhere there's signs that Etsy means we don't want
<v Speaker 2>to do business with you. So I'm gonna I'm opening
<v Speaker 2>a Shopify account. I'll do it, okay, So tell me
<v Speaker 2>how did you get involved in Tesla? Like, how'd you
<v Speaker 2>find out about them? So in the nineties, I was
<v Speaker 2>we were doing cover songs, right, I was in a band,
<v Speaker 2>and we were covering all kinds of things that were
<v Speaker 2>popular at the time, including the Black Crows. I mentioned
<v Speaker 2>that our very first show, our very first song was
<v Speaker 2>hard to handle at the end of the show, came
<v Speaker 2>out in the middle of the audience and with our
<v Speaker 2>acoustic guitars and did she talks to angels and patients
<v Speaker 2>by guns and roses. But I had been playing guitar
<v Speaker 2>for a while at this time, I mean a few
<v Speaker 2>years anyway, And I'm a guy who likes classical music.
<v Speaker 2>I was raised on not just bugs, money, but hooked
<v Speaker 2>on the classes. I really I got into classical music
<v Speaker 2>quite a bit right, and I hear this thing on
<v Speaker 2>the radio that I'm like, this sounds like a classical guitar.
<v Speaker 2>This is I'm not used to hearing this kind of
<v Speaker 2>thing on the radio. And it was love song by Tesla,
<v Speaker 2>and I was like, I've got to find out how
<v Speaker 2>to play this song. So I went on a mission
<v Speaker 2>to find out how to play this song. Ended up
<v Speaker 2>getting several of the albums, obviously, including the five man
<v Speaker 2>Acoustical Jam. Then I got very lucky. One evening, I
<v Speaker 2>had a buddy who was working at a bar. This
<v Speaker 2>is back when Tesla was kind of on their downslide,
<v Speaker 2>just maybe a yearish before they broke up, and so
<v Speaker 2>they were playing smaller clubs and he was bartending at
<v Speaker 2>this club and he's like, Hey, do you want to
<v Speaker 2>get backstage for the Tesla show.
<v Speaker 4>I was like, yeah, yeah, for sure.
<v Speaker 2>So I brought my guitars with me. I was like,
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to get my guitars signed. This is going
<v Speaker 2>to be great. I watched the show. It was fantastic.
<v Speaker 2>They you know, at the as they're closing out the
<v Speaker 2>first part of the act. The second part of the
<v Speaker 2>act is they all go sit up front on the
<v Speaker 2>stage and do their five man acoustical jam. Yeah. Bit
<v Speaker 2>it was kind of like the best of both worlds there.
<v Speaker 2>And then I went backstage and you know, waited. There
<v Speaker 2>were several other people back there waiting, some of them
<v Speaker 2>very hot, the rock star lifestyle, right it is. And
<v Speaker 2>Brian and the drummer Troy came back at that point,
<v Speaker 2>and they're not very cool, Like Brian was kind of douchey,
<v Speaker 2>like yeah, you know, just kind of sarcastic and not cool.
<v Speaker 2>When I was trying to talk to him about stuff.
<v Speaker 2>I kind of understand now after having read his book
<v Speaker 2>that he's dealing with some issues and struggles and stuff.
<v Speaker 2>But you know, okay, we all maybe he had a
<v Speaker 2>bad day. Well I won't fault him before that, of course.
<v Speaker 2>Then they leave and a little while later, Jeff Keith
<v Speaker 2>and Frank Handon come back and I've gotten the first
<v Speaker 2>two guys to sign the guitar. I get Jeff to
<v Speaker 2>sign the guitar. I get Frank to sign the guitar,
<v Speaker 2>and he's like, hey, man, hang out and play if
<v Speaker 2>you want to play. And I was like, are you
<v Speaker 2>kidding me, And so I had my twelve string there
<v Speaker 2>with me, and he you know, talked to a few people,
<v Speaker 2>and then he came over and sat down with me
<v Speaker 2>and we sat there and played guitar for an hour
<v Speaker 2>and a half, like he had just done this full show.
<v Speaker 2>And he sits down and plays with me, and we're
<v Speaker 2>playing Tesla songs to start, you know, and then he's like, hey,
<v Speaker 2>play me something that you wrote. And I was like okay,
<v Speaker 2>and I'm like playing some chef and he's like, okay,
<v Speaker 2>slow down, slow down, and he's listening to it. And
<v Speaker 2>then he starts playing lead over a song that I've
<v Speaker 2>got and I'm just like, that is amazing is being
<v Speaker 2>blown like, and I'm like, after an hour of this,
<v Speaker 2>I'm like, man, you're it's so kind of you to
<v Speaker 2>spend this much time with me and just hang out
<v Speaker 2>and be so cool. I just really, you know, this
<v Speaker 2>is amazing. You're a great guy. And he's like when
<v Speaker 2>I was young, I met Eddie van Halen and he
<v Speaker 2>sat and played with me for an hour or so
<v Speaker 2>after his show and was super kind. And I said,
<v Speaker 2>if I ever am this big, I'm gonna be nice
<v Speaker 2>like Eddie was, and so he was inspired by Eddie
<v Speaker 2>Van Halen to do that.
<v Speaker 4>It's like, just like Eddie Van Halen's your guitar granddaddy.
<v Speaker 2>It's kind of like, yeah, six degrees of Kevin Bacon.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, that's incredible. No, that's amazing story.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, and it's been an amazing story my entire life
<v Speaker 2>until yesterday when you called me and said you blew it. Dude.
<v Speaker 4>Okay, I did call you. You you answered the vone. You're like, hey,
<v Speaker 4>I'm You're on speaker and I said, d you blew it?
<v Speaker 2>You blew it? Yeah, I had no idea what you're
<v Speaker 2>talking about.
<v Speaker 4>So what we found out later by doing our discoveries.
<v Speaker 4>Tesla hired the replacement for Tommy Skio, their other guitarist,
<v Speaker 4>the other one other than Frank Hannon. They found him
<v Speaker 4>on my Space. His name's Dave Rude.
<v Speaker 2>Good guitarist.
<v Speaker 4>But you could be touring with Tesla today.
<v Speaker 2>Well, you said, you told me at the time that
<v Speaker 2>he had played with them backstage, like that he had
<v Speaker 2>done the exact same thing that I did. Yes, and
<v Speaker 2>then they're like, hey, come join the band, and I'm like,
<v Speaker 2>what I know? When was this? You're like two thousand
<v Speaker 2>and four I'm like, okay, Well I missed that by like,
<v Speaker 2>you know, eight years, So I'm okay, and I was
<v Speaker 2>your timing was off? Yeah, yeah, I mean I was.
<v Speaker 2>I was nineteen at the time that I played with him.
<v Speaker 4>I mean chicks and drugs and money, fame.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, could have had it all, could have been a contender,
<v Speaker 2>but a bum.
<v Speaker 4>Oh okay, that's a great story.
<v Speaker 2>Well how about you. How'd you get into these guys?
<v Speaker 4>I mean I discovered him on MTV basically, I Love
<v Speaker 4>Song was my entry point, and then I went backwards
<v Speaker 4>to Mechanical Resonance and I absolutely love Mechanical Residence.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, let's see here.
<v Speaker 4>Mechanical Residence. Great radio controversy. Five men Acoustic Jam was
<v Speaker 4>very important to me, and then Psychotic Supper when I
<v Speaker 4>got to college. You know, people forget about Psychotic Supper
<v Speaker 4>after listening to these guys talk. It's like universal that
<v Speaker 4>that's their favorite Tesla album.
<v Speaker 2>All these guys.
<v Speaker 4>That album was released in that same pocket of time
<v Speaker 4>in late ninety one, with Nevermind and Usual Illusion and
<v Speaker 4>the Black Album from Metallica and No More Tears and ten.
<v Speaker 4>We just had a ton of great music and it
<v Speaker 4>tends to kind of get Forgotten. But that's a great
<v Speaker 4>album with great songs.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, absolutely it does.
<v Speaker 4>All right, enough about us, I mean, let's talk about
<v Speaker 4>these songs, man. All right, well, let's dive in. So
<v Speaker 4>just to quick overview the album, go ahead. The Great
<v Speaker 4>Radio Controversy is the second album by Tesla. I was
<v Speaker 4>released in February of nineteen eighty nine, and the term
<v Speaker 4>the Great Radio Controversy has to do with this battle
<v Speaker 4>between Nicolette Tesla and Thomas Edison over whether radio should
<v Speaker 4>be profitable or free. I don't really tell me about.
<v Speaker 2>So this is more about the who was the inventor,
<v Speaker 2>because Marconi is the guy like Edison had taken a
<v Speaker 2>lot of Tesla's ideas. Tesla worked for General Electric, and
<v Speaker 2>basically Edison would take Tesla's ideas, patent them and then
<v Speaker 2>make them his own. He was notorious for like, once
<v Speaker 2>he's gotten the patent, he's soon anybody who tries to
<v Speaker 2>do anything similar to what he's got the patent on. Right,
<v Speaker 2>So that's part one, But part two is Marconi basically
<v Speaker 2>does the exact same thing with Tesla. Tesla has essentially
<v Speaker 2>perfected the radio to where it's a genuinely usable thing.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, it's got a long history but genuinely usable thing.
<v Speaker 2>But Marconi rushes the plans to the patent office and
<v Speaker 2>files first, and for the longest time it was like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>Marconi was the inventor of the radio. But it turns
<v Speaker 2>out there was a lawsuit over it, and the court
<v Speaker 2>found that Tesla was the legitimate guy who had invented
<v Speaker 2>the radio, and that was the Great radio controversy.
<v Speaker 4>If you want to know more about the Great Rio
<v Speaker 4>controversiic go listen to the song Edison's Medicine off a
<v Speaker 4>psychotics Ever. Yeah, that's the extent of my knowledge. But
<v Speaker 4>as I understand it, Tesla died penniless, and essentially he
<v Speaker 4>is the model for the crazy mad scientist like long hair,
<v Speaker 4>dirty thing, your nails, penniless.
<v Speaker 2>He wacky. He was wacky, like, for example, mechanical resonance.
<v Speaker 2>That that comes from a theory of his, that like
<v Speaker 2>everything has a resonant sound like a vibration, right, a resonance,
<v Speaker 2>and that if you, if you, and the entire earth
<v Speaker 2>has the resonance, and so if you played something at
<v Speaker 2>the right resonance, you could literally split the earth. So
<v Speaker 2>inter just just a theory of his, Yes, bad scientists stuff. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>have you seen the Prestige? Maybe David Bowie plays Nicola
<v Speaker 2>Tesla really yeah, it's got it's a it is a
<v Speaker 2>Christopher Nolan movie.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, that may I may need to rewatch that one.
<v Speaker 2>That's a great one. It's got Christian Bale and Jack
<v Speaker 2>Hugh Jackman in it. I need to go in Scarlett
<v Speaker 2>Johansson in some skimpy laingerie. Yeah, there you go. All right, Okay,
<v Speaker 2>are you ready?
<v Speaker 4>First song on the album, Let's dive in Song number one.
<v Speaker 2>Hanged Tough. Here we go.
<v Speaker 5>Oh, sorry, I knew what she knew.
<v Speaker 4>Something weird is going on there.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, sorry about that, everybody. Another nineties throwback for you,
<v Speaker 2>needles scratch.
<v Speaker 4>I believe that's Hanging Tough.
<v Speaker 2>All right, here we go Song number one from Tesla.
<v Speaker 2>This time hang Tough.
<v Speaker 5>It's more like it.
<v Speaker 4>Whoo kicking ass and taking names. I mean, what a
<v Speaker 4>great kickoff song. It's got that bold bass intro. Yeah,
<v Speaker 4>it's it's the perfect like, welcome to this album. We're
<v Speaker 4>gonna kick your butt for the next seventy minutes.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and you've got some amazing like speed metal lead
<v Speaker 2>in there. The brilliance of two guys who were equipped
<v Speaker 2>to play both lead and rhythm guitar so that they
<v Speaker 2>can bounce back and forth off of each other, or
<v Speaker 2>in this scenario, play the exact same thing at the
<v Speaker 2>exact same time. Sometimes just builds that big round sound
<v Speaker 2>with the power metal behind it. It's it's great. I
<v Speaker 2>love it.
<v Speaker 4>This was the second single released April of nineteen eighty nine.
<v Speaker 4>This video was directed by our man Nigel Dick never
<v Speaker 4>forget his name right. We've talked how many times we
<v Speaker 4>talked about it? Allow a bunch he did a bunch
<v Speaker 4>of those videos in the eighties. So here's the deal.
<v Speaker 2>I mean.
<v Speaker 4>He did shout Mother's Talk, Everybody Wants to Rule the World.
<v Speaker 4>He did Sweet Child of Mine, Welcome to the Jungle.
<v Speaker 4>He did do They Know It's Christmas? By band Aid.
<v Speaker 2>I believe he also did like hit Me Baby One
<v Speaker 2>More Time? Too right?
<v Speaker 4>It did Hit Me Baby one More Time?
<v Speaker 2>That's it.
<v Speaker 4>He did down in a Hole by Alison Chains. Oh nice,
<v Speaker 4>he did Patience, He did Rocket by def Leppard. The
<v Speaker 4>guy's done everything. The cool thing about this video is
<v Speaker 4>that like that bass part in the video, Yeah, you
<v Speaker 4>have a little boy who's like playing with this, like
<v Speaker 4>Telegraph Machine and it looks exactly like the album cover,
<v Speaker 4>which I think is.
<v Speaker 2>A really cool nod. It's fantastic. So it's funny you
<v Speaker 2>mentioned def.
<v Speaker 4>Leppard, right, yeah, oh yeah, Okay, So these guys they
<v Speaker 4>started off well, I mean, Brian was in a band.
<v Speaker 2>Called Rage at first. Yes, he's the guy that was
<v Speaker 2>playing in bands the longest as a continuous member of
<v Speaker 2>this band. I mean, you basically got three core guys
<v Speaker 2>who are always in Tesla, right, but there's some ins
<v Speaker 2>and outs throughout that process. But Brian and Frank the
<v Speaker 2>other guy who's Frank Cannon, who's in the Brian.
<v Speaker 4>Wheat Frank can your buddy, Frank Cannon, My buddy, Frank Cannon, Right,
<v Speaker 4>my birthday buddy too, Right, he's both of us. October third,
<v Speaker 4>Steve Rayvaughan also October third, by the way, Tommy Lee
<v Speaker 4>also October third. It's a heck of a band, you guess.
<v Speaker 2>We can just call ourselves the Libras and d and
<v Speaker 2>the Laborers. So Frank and Brian in nineteen eighty one
<v Speaker 2>they go to see a def Leppard show, right, what, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>the High and Dry tour, right, yes, And this is
<v Speaker 2>how different things were in that in those days, right
<v Speaker 2>number one def Leppard wasn't pour some sugar on me
<v Speaker 2>big yet that's right, but still not bad. I mean
<v Speaker 2>they still got they got Mutt Lang producing their own.
<v Speaker 2>They're doing a big tour, yes, and so Frank and
<v Speaker 2>Brian and this guy named Gosh I think it was
<v Speaker 2>Henry or something. They all go together and then after
<v Speaker 2>the show, Frank has to leave because he's only like
<v Speaker 2>six ten years old or whatever, and so Brian.
<v Speaker 4>Mom's gonna ground me if I don't get home.
<v Speaker 2>Brian and Henry are hanging out by the tour bus
<v Speaker 2>and outwalks Pete Willis and Rick Allen the drummer yes, yes,
<v Speaker 2>still has two arms. And they walk out and his buddy,
<v Speaker 2>Brian's buddy is like, hey, guys, and they're like, hey,
<v Speaker 2>I got some weed and they're like oh yeah. They're
<v Speaker 2>like yeah, you want to get high?
<v Speaker 4>And he's like, yeah, we're staying over at the holiday
<v Speaker 4>and he tells him.
<v Speaker 2>Where the where they're staying in the hotel room and everything,
<v Speaker 2>and they go up and they hang out with those
<v Speaker 2>guys and get stoned. I mean, can you imagine any band,
<v Speaker 2>any of def Leopard's significance, going, oh yeah, our hotels
<v Speaker 2>over here, these guys we just met three seconds ago. Head,
<v Speaker 2>we've got some weed. Yeah right, wow were there? Yeah?
<v Speaker 2>And then five years later they were opening.
<v Speaker 4>For them on the Hysteria tour and that was the thing,
<v Speaker 4>the biggest time, I mean it was the def Lepper
<v Speaker 4>was ruling the world at that time. Yeah, so backstage two,
<v Speaker 4>I mean, leading off incredible.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>You know I heard Brian Wheat talk about Frank Hannon.
<v Speaker 4>So Brian Whet was in this band called Rage and
<v Speaker 4>he had it, you know, some of his buddies and
<v Speaker 4>they played keggers.
<v Speaker 2>I'll tell you that the buddies' names were Larry, Stacey, Nick,
<v Speaker 2>and Wendell.
<v Speaker 4>On guitar once again lost to the sands of time,
<v Speaker 4>but he had been hearing whispers of this kid named
<v Speaker 4>Frank who is like fifteen years old.
<v Speaker 2>It could really play the guitar well. So they were
<v Speaker 2>practicing in the back of like an ice house, like
<v Speaker 2>an ice factory. That was their practice space. And the
<v Speaker 2>guy who owned the place says, hey, my girlfriend's son
<v Speaker 2>plays guitar and he'd liked to come jamming. What And
<v Speaker 2>they're like okay, and he's like they're like, does he
<v Speaker 2>have any experience? He's like now, he's only fourteen, and
<v Speaker 2>they're like what, yeah, whatever, you know whatever.
<v Speaker 4>Brian is kind of a nobs kind of guy, right, Yeah,
<v Speaker 4>you didn't have time.
<v Speaker 2>He'll tell you to f off if he wants you to. Yes,
<v Speaker 2>that's right. And so they're like, yeah, okay, whatever, because
<v Speaker 2>the guy is letting him use the space to practice in. Right,
<v Speaker 2>So he says, Frank rolls up in a forty seven
<v Speaker 2>Chevy Classic looking like a freaking gangster, right, and he
<v Speaker 2>gets out of the car and he's this skinny blonde
<v Speaker 2>kid and when they hear him play, all of a sudden,
<v Speaker 2>Brian's like, well, Wendell's out, Frank's in. Yeah, and that's
<v Speaker 2>how fast it was. And you said, you said that
<v Speaker 2>what his thought was when he saw him play. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>he said.
<v Speaker 4>I looked at him and I said, this kid has
<v Speaker 4>been touched by God.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's how good he is. He got out of
<v Speaker 2>the forty seven Chevy with a Fender Stratocaster and a
<v Speaker 2>Marshall amp And in Brian Wheats words, if you had
<v Speaker 2>a Marshall amp back then, you were a bad mother.
<v Speaker 4>That's great man, that's great. So that's the beginning of Tesla.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I'm I mean, little by little, those guys dropped
<v Speaker 2>off Rage became not Rage anymore. They started another band
<v Speaker 2>and they called it earth Shaker, and they need a
<v Speaker 2>new singer. And these girls say, hey, we heard this
<v Speaker 2>guy singing like karaoke or something, and he's really good.
<v Speaker 2>You should come. You should let him come play with you.
<v Speaker 2>So this is Jeff Keith.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, he's kind of legendary around here.
<v Speaker 2>He grew up in Oklahoma.
<v Speaker 4>He graduated from Idabella High School, which is little bitty
<v Speaker 4>town in southeastern Oklahoma.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, he was in he was I think he was
<v Speaker 2>in Texarkana for a while because he mentioned that. I
<v Speaker 2>remember him mentioning that during the concert I saw back
<v Speaker 2>in ninety five or ninety six, whenever it was.
<v Speaker 4>You remember the last time we talked, talked about Texarkana, Texas.
<v Speaker 4>No smoking the band because that's where they were going
<v Speaker 4>to get the six point beer.
<v Speaker 2>That's all right.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, So anyway, he's thirsty dummy. So Jeff Keith Oklahoma native,
<v Speaker 4>and I might as well tell this story now, but
<v Speaker 4>he played a show in Oklahoma City and I bet
<v Speaker 4>you a mill bucks. It was a day before or
<v Speaker 4>a day after your fort Smith show. But he lost
<v Speaker 4>his class ring during the show, right, and he's up
<v Speaker 4>there singing doing whatever, and he goes whoop, falls off,
<v Speaker 4>and he tells the crowd He's like, hey, guys, I
<v Speaker 4>lost my ring.
<v Speaker 2>Will you guys give it back to me?
<v Speaker 4>You know, And instead of most hard rock shows either
<v Speaker 4>getting pelted in the forehead with it or somebody just says,
<v Speaker 4>no way, I'm stealing this Jeff Keith's ring, they pass
<v Speaker 4>it back to him.
<v Speaker 2>Oh nice.
<v Speaker 4>So the concert I was with with Patreon memmer Cameron Eckert,
<v Speaker 4>he mentioned that story again and said, that's why Oklahoma
<v Speaker 4>people are the best, Because I lose my ring. You
<v Speaker 4>guys passed it up handed back to me. Other places
<v Speaker 4>I got hit in the forehead with it.
<v Speaker 2>By the way, since you mentioned Patreon member, I will
<v Speaker 2>just say last episode when we did The Black Crows,
<v Speaker 2>we did our own little introduction there that was not
<v Speaker 2>the original twice as hard that you heard entering that episode.
<v Speaker 2>That was me playing a guitar built by Patreon, remember
<v Speaker 2>Kevin Davis, along with Patreon member Gotier Pirozac playing bass
<v Speaker 2>and drums and mixing it all together. Thank you.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, thank you guys very much. Not only are you
<v Speaker 4>Patreon members, your band members too. That's so cool, man,
<v Speaker 4>that's so cool. Before we move off of this song,
<v Speaker 4>I want to just make a comment about the video.
<v Speaker 4>So number one, these guys are still pretty new in
<v Speaker 4>the MTV realm. The drummer Troy always looks like he's
<v Speaker 4>going to the gym. So he's wearing shorts, like he
<v Speaker 4>clearly got this from Rick Allen. Rick Allen's like, I
<v Speaker 4>don't have time for leather pants.
<v Speaker 2>I'm wearing shorts, right, it's hot behind the drums.
<v Speaker 4>It's hot, and I'm wearing a T shirt and shorts
<v Speaker 4>and that's it. So Troy's looking like he's going to
<v Speaker 4>the gym. Jeff Keith is wearing his signature jeans with
<v Speaker 4>the handprints on them that reappear and become a little
<v Speaker 4>bit more iconic during the Love Song video. But when
<v Speaker 4>I read the comments on YouTube, people were like, I
<v Speaker 4>was a cancer survivor. I played this song to inspire me.
<v Speaker 4>My marriage was on the rocks. We played this song
<v Speaker 4>to inspire us. And I know for a fact I
<v Speaker 4>lived in Oklahoma City in nineteen ninety five after the bombing,
<v Speaker 4>this was the first song that the local rock radio
<v Speaker 4>station played after nothing but news coverage of the Oklahoma
<v Speaker 4>City bombing and saying, hey, Oklema City hangked off.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's the yeah mentality of never giving up. And
<v Speaker 2>it's great because Jeff Keith would write the lyrics for
<v Speaker 2>these songs. These guys got lumped in with the hair
<v Speaker 2>metal guys, right, but they weren't right. They were They
<v Speaker 2>were absolutely not. They weren't wearing the black leather like
<v Speaker 2>you said. They're wearing their jeans or their shorts or shirts.
<v Speaker 2>They they got their hair teased up, just like Axel
<v Speaker 2>Rose did for the first video, but after that they're like,
<v Speaker 2>we're not doing that now. I can see with Frank
<v Speaker 2>and Tommy Skio that they got the long hair they
<v Speaker 2>look like and they play like those guys too. But
<v Speaker 2>these lyrics they have more meaning than you know, girls
<v Speaker 2>at the strip club or doing heroin or other stuff.
<v Speaker 4>You know, generally positive lyrics, which was kind of unusual
<v Speaker 4>at that time.
<v Speaker 2>Well and Brian said that that Jeff Keith is just
<v Speaker 2>always that positive guy, like always the look on the
<v Speaker 2>bright side, How do we have fun? How do we
<v Speaker 2>make this good? That kind of guy and he just
<v Speaker 2>seems like a genuinely great dude.
<v Speaker 3>All right.
<v Speaker 4>Next song on the album, Yeah, is a song called
<v Speaker 4>Lady Luck.
<v Speaker 2>I struggle with whether he's actually talking about a real
<v Speaker 2>female or if he's just talking about luck, luck and
<v Speaker 2>good luck and the fact that he didn't get to
<v Speaker 2>get any.
<v Speaker 4>When he says, how do you do she said, I don't,
<v Speaker 4>I don't. This song was the song they led their
<v Speaker 4>shows off at the Residency in Las Vegas. Right, look,
<v Speaker 4>what a perfect song to lead off in Las Vegas? Right?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, absolutely so.
<v Speaker 4>I listened to a podcast this week and a bunch
<v Speaker 4>of call in Tesla fans. A lot of people had
<v Speaker 4>this in their top five song of like all time
<v Speaker 4>favorite Tesla songs, which I found interesting. It's not a single.
<v Speaker 4>It's a great song though hard rocker.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>I wanted to get back to Jeff Keith real Quick
<v Speaker 4>born in Texarkana, grew up in Idabel moved to northern
<v Speaker 4>California after he graduated from high school. He drove a
<v Speaker 4>septic truck. Oh right, he drove a septic truck. He's
<v Speaker 4>talking about this. He said, we're number one job. Well,
<v Speaker 4>he said, we're number one in the number two business. Uh, huh.
<v Speaker 4>But he he would pop in tapes like cassette tapes
<v Speaker 4>and sing.
<v Speaker 2>To Fogat was his favorite. There you go. Yeah, and
<v Speaker 2>five Man Electrical Jam.
<v Speaker 4>Makes perfect sense, right. He was in f f A
<v Speaker 4>in high school.
<v Speaker 2>Future Farmers of America, Future.
<v Speaker 4>Farmers of America, and that was his That's the direction
<v Speaker 4>he was going. And now he's like a multi.
<v Speaker 2>Rockstar, rockstar. Yeah. I like this song too. It kind
<v Speaker 2>of is a sandwich song for me though, because I
<v Speaker 2>really love the first one and I love this next
<v Speaker 2>one coming up? Can we jump into this one? Let's
<v Speaker 2>get it, okay. Third song on the album, Heaven's Trail
<v Speaker 2>or No Way Out? You know, I freaking love this summer. Oh,
<v Speaker 2>I love this song. It is a banger, dude. So
<v Speaker 2>this is another one that was on the Five Man
<v Speaker 2>Acoustical Jam album. This is the second one or third,
<v Speaker 2>because the first one it's kind of a mashup of
<v Speaker 2>coming at You Live and truck sh Yeah grateful dead, right,
<v Speaker 2>But this one. I love this. I love it electric,
<v Speaker 2>but I love it acoustic even more. Listening to to
<v Speaker 2>him playing that slide on the guitar sounds fantastic.
<v Speaker 4>You know, when I watched the video. So I love
<v Speaker 4>the song too, and the version on five an acoustical
<v Speaker 4>jam is amazing. But in the video for the studio
<v Speaker 4>version of this song, Frank Hannon, it's so cool.
<v Speaker 5>He moves.
<v Speaker 4>He plays two different guitars like he's got he still
<v Speaker 4>has one strapped on while he's playing another one and
<v Speaker 4>it's the intro and then when it needs to go electric,
<v Speaker 4>it gets after it with the other one.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>So this is one of their signature songs. Now in
<v Speaker 4>the video they have like signs that say no machines.
<v Speaker 2>It's kind of their mantra.
<v Speaker 4>In the studio, it's it's raw rock and roll. They
<v Speaker 4>don't like double tracking when they're on stage. They're playing
<v Speaker 4>live guitars.
<v Speaker 6>Uh.
<v Speaker 4>They're kind of critical of people who have a lot
<v Speaker 4>of stuff going on in the background that's not really playing.
<v Speaker 4>And I'm thinking to myself, they're kind of describing def Leppard,
<v Speaker 4>and I am the biggest deaf Leppard f But def
<v Speaker 4>Leppard was hugely instrumental in their career, dragging them around
<v Speaker 4>on the Hysteria tour. But def Leppard plays tons of
<v Speaker 4>effects like on rocket and stuff like that.
<v Speaker 2>Sure, and they're and they're a brick by brick Lang
<v Speaker 2>style of album too, that's right, which these guys are
<v Speaker 2>definitely not now this and this is good. This is
<v Speaker 2>a good segue because we're talking five men acoustical jam
<v Speaker 2>and that kind of concept. Right. So they are at
<v Speaker 2>the Bammis, which is the Bay Area Grammys, right, and
<v Speaker 2>they do an acoustic version of love Song, you know,
<v Speaker 2>on stage for the crowd, right, yes. And so there's
<v Speaker 2>a lady in the crowd at that moment named Queenie Taylor,
<v Speaker 2>and she owns a club with Boss Skaggs. Remember Boss
<v Speaker 2>Skags Toto episode all of that, Yes, right, They own
<v Speaker 2>a club called Slims. And she sees them do this
<v Speaker 2>acoustic version of love Song, and she gets a hold
<v Speaker 2>of their managers, who we'll talk about soon, and she's like,
<v Speaker 2>I would love for them to come and do like
<v Speaker 2>a whole hour and a half set at Slims. And
<v Speaker 2>so their their managers are Peter Minch and Cliff Bernstein,
<v Speaker 2>and those guys will be huge, we'll talk about them
<v Speaker 2>in a second. But they were motivational in the right
<v Speaker 2>way at the right time, okay, Yes, And so when
<v Speaker 2>Peter Minch comes to them and is like, they want
<v Speaker 2>you to do this full hour and a half set.
<v Speaker 2>Rian we just like, no, we are a rock band.
<v Speaker 2>We're not going to go do acoustical music. That's ridiculous, right,
<v Speaker 2>And Peter Minch is like, yeah, you probably can't do
<v Speaker 2>it anyway, and they're like, we aren't going to do it,
<v Speaker 2>and so they put together the hour and a half
<v Speaker 2>set that ultimately is so popular at that location that
<v Speaker 2>they start doing it in multiple locations. They record several versions,
<v Speaker 2>but the one that we end up with is the
<v Speaker 2>one that they did in Philadelphia. Now, don't you even
<v Speaker 2>worry in Philadelphia, right, We're just talking about tours at
<v Speaker 2>this point. But then the song Signs, which is originally
<v Speaker 2>by five Man Electrical Jam, it comes out as a
<v Speaker 2>single and it gets a lot of airplay, and so
<v Speaker 2>the radio company is like, hey, we want to do
<v Speaker 2>a full record of this. Let's listen to Signs.
<v Speaker 6>Really quicks a lot of big people.
<v Speaker 4>I mean, you're talking about one of the big songs
<v Speaker 4>of the nineteen ninety.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and it's obviously very raw, right, this is a
<v Speaker 2>concert song. And when it became so popular, they were like,
<v Speaker 2>we want a full album and we're gonna take it.
<v Speaker 2>We're gonna produce it. We're gonna overdub some stuff, and
<v Speaker 2>they're like, no, no, this is We're not gonna do that.
<v Speaker 2>If you're gonna make this an album, we wanted to
<v Speaker 2>be completely the way that it was. Well. As it
<v Speaker 2>turned out, the best show that they had that they
<v Speaker 2>thought they had to pick from was this Philadelphia show.
<v Speaker 2>But for that set, somehow Brian Weat's bass did not
<v Speaker 2>get recorded. Everything else got recorded, but not Brian Wheat's bass, okay,
<v Speaker 2>and so they're like, we gotta we gotta have you
<v Speaker 2>come in and overdub it. It just has to be
<v Speaker 2>that way, right, Yeah, And he's like this is kind
<v Speaker 2>of cool. He's like, Okay, I'm gonna do it, but
<v Speaker 2>we're not gonna stop and start and re record. We're
<v Speaker 2>gonna start the tape. I'm gonna start playing, and I'm
<v Speaker 2>gonna play it straight through just like I'm sitting on
<v Speaker 2>stage the way they did it. That's fantastic. Yeah, that's fantastic.
<v Speaker 4>By the way, the motivation of their managers to use
<v Speaker 4>that psychology, it reminds me of Smoking the band. Every
<v Speaker 4>He's like, oh, that's great psychology. Why don't you just
<v Speaker 4>say something about my mother, your mother is so ugly.
<v Speaker 4>You guys probably aren't good enough to pull this off,
<v Speaker 4>and oh yeah, watch us. Yeah, and it becomes five
<v Speaker 4>an acoustical.
<v Speaker 2>Jam, it becomes Sigence, becomes one of their biggest singles.
<v Speaker 2>I would never have heard of the song except for them.
<v Speaker 2>Most people think it's their song.
<v Speaker 4>And they began to realize that they were not rich
<v Speaker 4>rock stars.
<v Speaker 2>They were poor rock stars. Like they were in debt
<v Speaker 2>because they had spent all these money on videos and
<v Speaker 2>tours and all of this other stuff, not realizing that's
<v Speaker 2>all their money, Like all the money they make for
<v Speaker 2>their concerts and their album sales is going to pay
<v Speaker 2>for all of these things. So they weren't really making
<v Speaker 2>very much. The five man Acoustical Jam pulls them out
<v Speaker 2>of debt and makes them successful and lets them keep
<v Speaker 2>on going. Oh that's cool, Yeah, I love it. By
<v Speaker 2>the way.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, there's another song that I want to talk to
<v Speaker 4>you about here in a minute, where they have basically
<v Speaker 4>claimed it was by another artist. They covered it and
<v Speaker 4>it has really since become theirs.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, all right, all right, talk about that then. Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>Next song on the album is a song called be
<v Speaker 4>a Man George Thurgood eat your heart out.
<v Speaker 2>Tell me you don't want to start clapping your hands
<v Speaker 2>over your head on this one.
<v Speaker 4>I mean we're sitting there, we're just bobbing our heads.
<v Speaker 2>Such a good song, great crowd song, super smooth slide
<v Speaker 2>on the guitar. Again, I mean, this kind of brings
<v Speaker 2>it back to what I was expecting when I first
<v Speaker 2>started listening to this Again this, I mean, who else
<v Speaker 2>was playing other than George Thurgood and the Black Crows.
<v Speaker 2>Who else was doing this? I can't think of anybody.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, So wanted to bring up Jeff Keith again about
<v Speaker 4>him making the band. Okay, so you know he played
<v Speaker 4>a karaoke bars. He was introduced by this girl whatever,
<v Speaker 4>and they bring him on stage and he's so inexperienced.
<v Speaker 4>He doesn't know how to operate the equipment. He doesn't
<v Speaker 4>know how to hold the microphone.
<v Speaker 2>Never been on stage in his life, right, Yeah, And
<v Speaker 2>so he's singing, and so Brian we thinks this guy sucks. Yes, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>so he he would be so far away from his
<v Speaker 2>microphone that you couldn't hear his voice. And so the guys,
<v Speaker 2>you got guys who are running the board who are like, well,
<v Speaker 2>we got to turn it up. Well, when they would
<v Speaker 2>turn it up, that caused more feedback, so it's just
<v Speaker 2>either getting all this squelchy feedback. You can't hear his vocal.
<v Speaker 2>And after the show, Brian goes to Frank and he's like,
<v Speaker 2>we gotta get rid of this guy. He sucks and
<v Speaker 2>Frank is like, no, no, no, no, man. There was
<v Speaker 2>one point and one song where we both leaned in
<v Speaker 2>and sang the lyric at the same time, and I
<v Speaker 2>heard him singing and he was amazing. We just got
<v Speaker 2>to teach him how to use the microphone. I love it.
<v Speaker 2>I love it. You know.
<v Speaker 4>Wed has called him since the best rock and roll
<v Speaker 4>singer since Steven Tyler.
<v Speaker 2>That might be a bit of a stretch, but it's.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, he's good. He really, he really is good.
<v Speaker 4>He's got that real strong rasp. Yeah, and I don't
<v Speaker 4>know how he does it all these years, but him,
<v Speaker 4>he's still out there kicking butt man.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>Absolutely, Okay, we're ready for the next song on the album.
<v Speaker 4>Next song on the album Lazy.
<v Speaker 2>Days, Crazy Nights, a song about being a rock star.
<v Speaker 4>So this to me is the undiscovered gem on this album.
<v Speaker 2>That's great. I love it. I love Frank's chord choices
<v Speaker 2>on so many of these songs, and this is one
<v Speaker 2>of them.
<v Speaker 4>Fantastic, It bangs, it's got that kind of darker tone
<v Speaker 4>to it. I saw a video on YouTube, I don't
<v Speaker 4>know if it was an official video, where it was
<v Speaker 4>kind of a fan made video. It's behind the scenes,
<v Speaker 4>but it's also a live show and they're doing things
<v Speaker 4>like they're in the swimming pool, they're riding a roller coaster,
<v Speaker 4>they're playing and it just looks like a life that
<v Speaker 4>you would love to.
<v Speaker 2>Have, you know what I mean, Yeah, the rock star
<v Speaker 2>lifestyle when it's good. Because when it's good, it's really
<v Speaker 2>really good. And it's bad, it's awful.
<v Speaker 4>Well, and it turned bad for these guys.
<v Speaker 2>Sure.
<v Speaker 4>The video is also clearly shot on a VCR handheld
<v Speaker 4>recorder right right, it looks like it's you know, I mean,
<v Speaker 4>it looks like it's nineteen eighty nine. I mean, it's
<v Speaker 4>just how things look. So love this song. It's underrated.
<v Speaker 4>I don't think people will appreciate this one as much.
<v Speaker 4>At this point, I was going to say the band
<v Speaker 4>had become city Kid. Yeah, yeah, yeah, city Kid was
<v Speaker 4>their name for a bit. They get their management, they
<v Speaker 4>get Cliff Burnston and Peter Minch in there, who are
<v Speaker 4>also managers for def Leppard, right.
<v Speaker 2>They basically they are working with them, but they realize
<v Speaker 2>they need a lot of work, right, and so they
<v Speaker 2>holler at a friend of theirs named Ronnie Montrose. Yes,
<v Speaker 2>that Ronnie Montrose. Yeah, I mean, and they're like, hey,
<v Speaker 2>we want you to work with these guys. See what
<v Speaker 2>you can do to build them up and make them
<v Speaker 2>polished instead of the kind of rough edged thing that
<v Speaker 2>they are right now. Right, And so Ronnie gives them
<v Speaker 2>a lot of advice, brings them a lot of different
<v Speaker 2>songs to choose from, and one of the songs that
<v Speaker 2>he brings is from a band called pH D out
<v Speaker 2>of Britain. Okay, this comes from Ronnie Montrose. Ronnie Montrose
<v Speaker 2>is the one that suggested this. Okay, very good, And
<v Speaker 2>so he says, I think you guys should cover this song.
<v Speaker 2>It's called Little Susie's On the Up. He's on the up. Now.
<v Speaker 2>I thought, when I got this little bit of information
<v Speaker 2>that I'm gonna blow Jason's mind. So I sent you
<v Speaker 2>the video for the pH D song of the Little
<v Speaker 2>PhD version of Little Susie's on the app Right, and
<v Speaker 2>you respond back and you were this is this is
<v Speaker 2>the musical savant that I I co host an episode with.
<v Speaker 2>He's like, yes, I believe that was the fifth video
<v Speaker 2>played on MTV. I thought you were gonna have never
<v Speaker 2>heard of it, had no idea, and you were like
<v Speaker 2>given me details that I didn't even know. Yes, thank
<v Speaker 2>you very much, man, thank you very much, thank you.
<v Speaker 2>I appreciate that. Let's listen to the PhD version of
<v Speaker 2>that song really quick.
<v Speaker 7>Okay the way now before are we trash on PhD
<v Speaker 7>too hard?
<v Speaker 2>Right? Because that is not at all the song that
<v Speaker 2>not those guys went on.
<v Speaker 4>I mean that the pH didn't last, but those guys
<v Speaker 4>went onto place with some major major artists.
<v Speaker 2>But I mean, you've got this again. It was the
<v Speaker 2>early stages of MTV and they had an actual music
<v Speaker 2>video that was a story, not just a band up
<v Speaker 2>on stage singing a song. Now the story involved a
<v Speaker 2>woman pulling an egg out of a saxophone. But why,
<v Speaker 2>I don't what, huh?
<v Speaker 4>Super early MTV? Right, right, they're showing what they've got,
<v Speaker 4>which is nothing. The beer commercial guy leaves his stage
<v Speaker 4>job and goes through X music videos at night, right,
<v Speaker 4>that's right, And so so Ronnie Montrose brings them this song, right, and.
<v Speaker 2>They obviously make it their own. Let's listen to that now. Woo.
<v Speaker 2>That kicks some major boute right. I mean, they totally
<v Speaker 2>have made it their own song.
<v Speaker 4>They have confiscated. This is now belongs to Tesla.
<v Speaker 2>Absolutely does like even more than Signs, I would say,
<v Speaker 2>because this, I mean Signs still sounds pretty much like
<v Speaker 2>the original version. Just nobody really heard that one. But
<v Speaker 2>this one, they've they've rocked it up. They've changed the
<v Speaker 2>progression a little bit, they've changed the melody a little bit,
<v Speaker 2>and they've absolutely knocked it out of the park. It's amazing. Now.
<v Speaker 2>What you may not know is that Ronnie Montrose dealt
<v Speaker 2>with a lot of difficult things later on in his life.
<v Speaker 2>They all kind of remained friends with him, even though
<v Speaker 2>he was kind of hardcore on him, and he would
<v Speaker 2>occasionally see them and he would kind of give them
<v Speaker 2>a hard time of you know, I brought you guys
<v Speaker 2>a little susie, you know, like you owe me a
<v Speaker 2>flat screen TV or something, you know, And so he
<v Speaker 2>ultimately he got cancer, was dealing with that, had to
<v Speaker 2>fight that, would still go and play live shows from
<v Speaker 2>time to time, and at some point Brian Wheat gets
<v Speaker 2>wind of you know that. Ronnie's like, hey, you guys,
<v Speaker 2>you owe me this flat screen TV. And so he
<v Speaker 2>says to Frank, hey, let's buy him a flat screen TV. Well,
<v Speaker 2>this is back in the days, like the early two
<v Speaker 2>thousands when the plasma TV's were ten thousand dollars, right,
<v Speaker 2>big and heavy, Yeah, big and heavy and yeah and
<v Speaker 2>so but they he buys it for him, doesn't tell him,
<v Speaker 2>buys it for him, drives it ninety miles over to
<v Speaker 2>the show that Ronnie is doing, you know, somewhere else
<v Speaker 2>in California. Knocks on the door and he's like, wat,
<v Speaker 2>what are you doing here? He's like, come here, I
<v Speaker 2>want to show you something. He's like okay, and so
<v Speaker 2>he comes out. He opens the back of the truck
<v Speaker 2>to show him the TV. He said, Ronnie Montrose literally
<v Speaker 2>broke down in tears. Oh man, that literally broke down
<v Speaker 2>in tears. Oh that's sweet story.
<v Speaker 5>I love that.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, I mean it's just it's nice. A lot
<v Speaker 2>of us go through life with the John McClain line
<v Speaker 2>in our head of how you feeling Roy pretty pretty fun, appreciated,
<v Speaker 2>and so sometimes people will do something that just sound
<v Speaker 2>expected and it means you mean something to them, And
<v Speaker 2>to get those moments where you do feel appreciated is
<v Speaker 2>a wonderful thing. Side note I had that happened to
<v Speaker 2>me in December. Guys that I work with bought me
<v Speaker 2>what Frank Cannon showed up to his first audition with
<v Speaker 2>a Vender stratocaster and a Marshall amp.
<v Speaker 4>And you played twice as hard last week.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I sure that that was one of the two
<v Speaker 2>guitars that I've played. Yes, it was, thank you, D's Bosses.
<v Speaker 2>That was very very nice. Yeah, very nice. Next song, yep.
<v Speaker 4>Next song on the album is called did It for
<v Speaker 4>the Money.
<v Speaker 2>So I just gotta say I love the way the
<v Speaker 2>intro to this song goes because you start off with
<v Speaker 2>this guitar chord progression that I'm like, oh, it's another
<v Speaker 2>knocking on Heaven's door, no woman, no cry song, okay,
<v Speaker 2>and then it's like boom boom boom, just kidding yeah,
<v Speaker 2>and then and they're wailing through stuff. I was like, oh, nice,
<v Speaker 2>nice bait and switch. Guys, you had me with that. Okay,
<v Speaker 2>here we go, here's the same old three chord song
<v Speaker 2>every nos. Yeah, no, they blew it Away, blew it Away.
<v Speaker 2>This is a great song.
<v Speaker 4>It's another rock song.
<v Speaker 2>Did she do it for love? No, she did it
<v Speaker 2>for money. Yeah, which, by the way, you told me
<v Speaker 2>a story today about some kind of hard times that
<v Speaker 2>Jeff Keith experienced after the band broke up, and I
<v Speaker 2>had to think, I wonder if this song ever got
<v Speaker 2>played in the rotation when that was going on. You're
<v Speaker 2>gonna tell that story.
<v Speaker 4>So after they broke up in nineteen ninety six, you know,
<v Speaker 4>they formed some solo projects, they did some stuff, but
<v Speaker 4>really grunge had kind of killed this rock and roll thing,
<v Speaker 4>and so they were just doing what they could and
<v Speaker 4>Jeff Keith, in order to make ends meet, got a
<v Speaker 4>job djying at a strip club. Rock star Jeff Keith going,
<v Speaker 4>all right, everybody, get out your dollar bills.
<v Speaker 2>Kandy Cinnamon, diamond sugar. But I think that did it
<v Speaker 2>for the money. Have to be a song you would play, right,
<v Speaker 2>This is a This is a stripper song. Why wouldn't
<v Speaker 2>you is this? Yeah?
<v Speaker 4>Absolutely, this is a stripper song, all right. By the way,
<v Speaker 4>before we move on from this one, yeah, these guys
<v Speaker 4>like the Beatles. When the Beatles went to Hamburg, Germany,
<v Speaker 4>to get in their ten thousand hours playing their songs. Yeah,
<v Speaker 4>which is what honed them as a band, which made them.
<v Speaker 2>Super successful, speaking of strip clubs.
<v Speaker 4>Speaking of strip clubs, Yeah, Tesla spent three months at
<v Speaker 4>a US Army base in Guam, in Guam where they
<v Speaker 4>played six nights a week, five sets a day. Yeah, played, played, played, played, played.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and it really honed them as a band. They
<v Speaker 2>became good in that time and got some good food apparently.
<v Speaker 2>Oh was that right? Yeah, I guess, and he was
<v Speaker 2>as he disclosed it, he was like, I'm not gonna
<v Speaker 2>say his name so he doesn't get court martialed or whatever.
<v Speaker 2>But they made friends with one of the military guys
<v Speaker 2>who would steal stuff like steaks and lobsters and stuff
<v Speaker 2>from the military rations to uh to take over to
<v Speaker 2>get them to cook meat.
<v Speaker 4>I heard Frank Hannon on a podcast and he was
<v Speaker 4>with Mark Goodman. Mark Goodman MTV VJ the first one
<v Speaker 4>of the first group beings of MTV VJs, and Mark
<v Speaker 4>Goodman was recalling the early days of MTV, saying, as
<v Speaker 4>we know MTV was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but it was
<v Speaker 4>not on in Manhattan, New York. I mean New York
<v Speaker 4>City didn't have MTV right, and so he could walk
<v Speaker 4>down the street and everything was cool. And so Frank
<v Speaker 4>Hannon spoke up and said, you know where MTV was Guam,
<v Speaker 4>because that's all we watched in Guam. We just watched
<v Speaker 4>nothing but MTV MTV. So I thought that was funny. Yeah,
<v Speaker 4>next song is called Yesterday Is Gone. As much as
<v Speaker 4>I want to play a boys to men's song right now,
<v Speaker 4>I'm not gonna do that.
<v Speaker 2>I just gotta tell you the music on this is
<v Speaker 2>really unique. Like you got a very very fast, shuffley
<v Speaker 2>drum beat. I can't I can't tell you another song
<v Speaker 2>that I can think of that sounds anything like this song. Okay,
<v Speaker 2>I mean, it's just it's got a different I mean,
<v Speaker 2>it's obviously still very rock. It's got great guitars, but
<v Speaker 2>it's unique. It's different than most songs that were coming
<v Speaker 2>out at this time.
<v Speaker 4>It's kind of speed rock, but yet the chorus is
<v Speaker 4>not sped up. It's just kind of slower, you know.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, it's the the guitars obviously are more heavily distorted,
<v Speaker 2>but it's almost it's got almost like an early ZZ
<v Speaker 2>time vibe, except faster. Yeah, I mean, I don't know
<v Speaker 2>it's it's a great it's a great tune, very unique.
<v Speaker 2>I don't know that it's like it's I don't think
<v Speaker 2>it's a single kind of song because it's not hooky,
<v Speaker 2>like it's not and the chorus is good, but it's
<v Speaker 2>not something you're gonna sing to yourself later on. Right,
<v Speaker 2>it's just kind of it's a good one to just
<v Speaker 2>listen to and just be like just rockskuys are really
<v Speaker 2>getting after it.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, so you talked about owing Ronnie Montrasse a flat
<v Speaker 4>screen TV.
<v Speaker 2>You know who else they really owe a beer or more? Too?
<v Speaker 2>Is Jack Russell of Great White. Oh yeah, he's the
<v Speaker 2>one that turned on Tommy Zutat to him.
<v Speaker 4>Yes, so tom Zutat who discovered Motley Crue, discovered Guns
<v Speaker 4>and Roses, signed these guys, and.
<v Speaker 2>Signed these guys before he signed Guns and Roses, that's right.
<v Speaker 2>So he had been at Elektra yes when he got
<v Speaker 2>Motley Crue, obviously, yes, and then Tesla was the first
<v Speaker 2>band that he signed once he moved over to Geffen,
<v Speaker 2>which was a brand new label at that point. As
<v Speaker 2>a matter of fact, Mechanical Residence was the first successful
<v Speaker 2>album for Geffen Records really yeah, and I mean they
<v Speaker 2>had Aerosmith, but you know, Done with Mirrors was not
<v Speaker 2>a particularly good album. That's right. This was so Tesla's
<v Speaker 2>first album was the first successful album for Geffen Records,
<v Speaker 2>and obviously Tommy Zutat is a part of that process,
<v Speaker 2>and he was heavily involved until he did sign that
<v Speaker 2>new band called Guns and Roses, and then they didn't
<v Speaker 2>see him so much anymore.
<v Speaker 4>Well, hey, at least they got him on board. Okay,
<v Speaker 4>So for the record of tom Zutat, we have now
<v Speaker 4>covered Appetite for Destruction, We've covered Once Bitten twice, Shy
<v Speaker 4>by Great White yep. We are now covering Tesla yep.
<v Speaker 4>And we've covered Hotley Crue twice. Yeah, and and Girls
<v Speaker 4>Girls Girls, Girls Girls Girls and Doctor Feel Good. And
<v Speaker 4>there's some pretty great stories there.
<v Speaker 2>Absolutely go check those episodes out. They're all fantastic.
<v Speaker 4>All right, hit stop on your tape player, kick it out,
<v Speaker 4>flip it over for side two, and we're going to
<v Speaker 4>be making magic.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, what are your thoughts? This is not the song
<v Speaker 2>you start side too with? I agree with you, Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I this one is I mean, it's a it seems
<v Speaker 2>like it should be a good song, but it doesn't
<v Speaker 2>grab you. It doesn't. There's to me, nothing that reaches
<v Speaker 2>out and grabsh you about this one.
<v Speaker 4>This is the first song where I'm kind of like.
<v Speaker 2>Eh, yeah, I'm this might be I don't know if
<v Speaker 2>it's a skipper, but it's definitely a filler. For sure.
<v Speaker 2>It's filler.
<v Speaker 4>And why in the world would you not start the
<v Speaker 4>second side off with the next song, which we might
<v Speaker 4>as well just move on and talk to him.
<v Speaker 2>I'm fine with doing that. I'm totally fine with doing that.
<v Speaker 2>Before we get there, though, I did. We started talking
<v Speaker 2>about Ronnie Montrose and and I told a story there,
<v Speaker 2>but we've mentioned that, you know, Brian Whet's first band
<v Speaker 2>was called Rage. Then when he got rid of basically
<v Speaker 2>everybody except for Frank Hannon, they started a band called Earthshaker,
<v Speaker 2>and that was the guys that I mentioned earlier. And
<v Speaker 2>then ultimately they became city Kid. But once they got
<v Speaker 2>to that stage, and Ronnie's like, this is city Kid
<v Speaker 2>sounds like lover Boy, And so if you want to
<v Speaker 2>be a pop band, then that's fine, but otherwise you
<v Speaker 2>need to change your name, right, And so they kept
<v Speaker 2>trying to think of names couldn't come up with anything.
<v Speaker 2>It was actually their manager, I think again Peter Minch
<v Speaker 2>that came up with this, and he said, what do
<v Speaker 2>you guys think about the name Tesla? And they said,
<v Speaker 2>what's a Tesla? Yeah, and so he explained to them,
<v Speaker 2>you know, who Tesla was, and that this kind of
<v Speaker 2>relationship with Edison and Marconi and all this other stuff,
<v Speaker 2>and they're like, okay, sounds pretty cool. But they the
<v Speaker 2>guys had no idea who he was. Was a this
<v Speaker 2>is a manager call, and I think a fantastic one. Obviously,
<v Speaker 2>the name has become very popular since the nineties for
<v Speaker 2>various reasons. Yeah, it has.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, you know that's interesting because they have so many
<v Speaker 4>songs that seem to be calling back to this Tesla.
<v Speaker 2>Edison absolutely onto the idea. Yeah, he actually bought them
<v Speaker 2>all books. He bought them the book on Tesla, whatever
<v Speaker 2>the I remember the name of it is, and he says,
<v Speaker 2>there's going to be a quiz and whoever gets a
<v Speaker 2>hundred on the quiz gets a hundred bucks. Yeah, none
<v Speaker 2>of them made a hundred bucks. But he again motivation,
<v Speaker 2>read the book, and so they did. They did. They
<v Speaker 2>read it, and so that's where you get Edison's medicine,
<v Speaker 2>and you get the names like mechanical resonance and.
<v Speaker 4>Great controversy there all right, next, I mean, come on,
<v Speaker 4>let's get I'm.
<v Speaker 2>Dying pushing you off and you wanted to jump in right?
<v Speaker 2>All right, here we go.
<v Speaker 4>This song is called the Way It Is.
<v Speaker 2>That's the way it is. It's the way that it
<v Speaker 2>goes better stuff. We're gonna listen to the whole thing.
<v Speaker 2>Oh man, it's so good. It tell me about your
<v Speaker 2>tell me about your thoughts.
<v Speaker 4>So I've got the football in my hand and I've
<v Speaker 4>got it back. If there were not for a game
<v Speaker 4>changer on this album, this would be the spike the
<v Speaker 4>football best off.
<v Speaker 3>It's the Way.
<v Speaker 2>So let me tell you this. I love the song,
<v Speaker 2>have listened to the song for years. As I pulled
<v Speaker 2>into your driveway, I was listening to this song and
<v Speaker 2>because of other music that I had been listening to
<v Speaker 2>earlier in the week, this week, I was like, huh,
<v Speaker 2>so I'm gonna play you a song by led Zeppelin.
<v Speaker 2>You tell me what you think.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, it's the.
<v Speaker 2>Sun with both beautiful songs and I'm not gonna say
<v Speaker 2>it's a copy, but no, no, no, I gotta think
<v Speaker 2>it was inspired super super similar.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, it's kind of like when we talked about the
<v Speaker 4>song Hysteria, Yeah, and the talk what was the Pink
<v Speaker 4>Floyd song that.
<v Speaker 2>Was, oh yeah, yeah there was, Yeah, I can't remember
<v Speaker 2>which write.
<v Speaker 4>Oh yeah, Goodbye Blues now that one's pretty well note
<v Speaker 4>for note, but yeah, but.
<v Speaker 2>This one, like the chords are slightly different, but.
<v Speaker 4>It's the sound, the pace, the melodies all very similar,
<v Speaker 4>but both.
<v Speaker 2>Beautiful, beautiful songs in their own Yes. And I don't
<v Speaker 2>know if I said it. That's thank You by led
<v Speaker 2>Zeppelin by the way.
<v Speaker 4>Okay, the way it is is rocked up though, but man,
<v Speaker 4>such a great.
<v Speaker 2>Solid love it.
<v Speaker 4>The video for this, I don't know if you've watched
<v Speaker 4>the video. So this is at the height of their powers, right,
<v Speaker 4>this is like the I think.
<v Speaker 2>This is the fourth single released. This is in.
<v Speaker 4>Spring of nineteen ninety. But they it's like the radio
<v Speaker 4>DJ starts the video, he's like, all right, everybody, you're
<v Speaker 4>coming in to see the Tesla concert. If you bring
<v Speaker 4>two cans for the homeless, you get in for free.
<v Speaker 4>And it's in Sacramentos, their hometown, right, and so everybody's
<v Speaker 4>there bringing cans for the homeless to watch the Tesla
<v Speaker 4>concert and it's just it obviously doing great things, feeding
<v Speaker 4>the people, putting on a So you mentioned this band
<v Speaker 4>is from Sacramento. This was I mean, Sacramento is known
<v Speaker 4>for being the gold rush town, right, but it was
<v Speaker 4>it's also you know, at this at the stage that
<v Speaker 4>they were growing up there, it's a very much a
<v Speaker 4>working man's town, right, right. And all of these guys
<v Speaker 4>are very blue collar kind of kids. And the name
<v Speaker 4>of Brian Wheat's book that I've referred to a few
<v Speaker 4>times is called Son of a Milkman. As it turns out,
<v Speaker 4>you know, you've heard that old joke about you know,
<v Speaker 4>the milkman game to your house, And yeah, that's actually
<v Speaker 4>what happened to his mother, and she got pregnant, and
<v Speaker 4>he is actually the son of the milkman.
<v Speaker 2>The milkman knocked his mother up. Yesoo who Yeah, And
<v Speaker 2>he says he can remember that his brother came and
<v Speaker 2>had bought a record player, and he remembers the very
<v Speaker 2>first time on this record player that his brother had
<v Speaker 2>probably bought with money he got from stealing stolen bike stuff,
<v Speaker 2>hearing Paul McCartney play. And if you've ever seen Brian
<v Speaker 2>Wheat play, especially on the five man Acoustical Jam. He's
<v Speaker 2>got a very unique looking bass. It is the exact
<v Speaker 2>same type of bass that Paul McCartney would play most
<v Speaker 2>of the time whenever he was playing for the Beatles.
<v Speaker 2>It is a Hoffner style bass. It looks kind of
<v Speaker 2>like a violin the way that it shaped, you know.
<v Speaker 2>So he said he was so entranced by Paul McCartney's
<v Speaker 2>voice because the album that he was listening to was Revolver.
<v Speaker 2>I remember that, right, Revolver is the album. Well, the
<v Speaker 2>first song on the album is tax Man, but the
<v Speaker 2>album that he had gotten had a scratch on it
<v Speaker 2>so that one couldn't play the first song. So immediately
<v Speaker 2>went to the second song, and that was Paul McCartney playing.
<v Speaker 2>And so he said, had the record I had a scratch,
<v Speaker 2>I probably would have been in love with George Harrison's voice.
<v Speaker 2>But because we skipped to the next song, I got
<v Speaker 2>Paul McCartney.
<v Speaker 4>Okay, So I wanted to bring this up. Brian Wheat
<v Speaker 4>eventually marries Sandy Soirea. Now I was talking to our
<v Speaker 4>buddy James Buckley on the way over here. He claims
<v Speaker 4>that the Sorea song on the Shocker soundtrack.
<v Speaker 2>Shocker the movie. Yes, classic cinematic greatness.
<v Speaker 4>Hey, Wes Craven's Shocker. So it's Sorea and Steve Lucather. Okay,
<v Speaker 4>And the song's name is Timeless Love. And he is
<v Speaker 4>spiking the football with me. He says, this is one
<v Speaker 4>of the greatest ballads of the nineteenies. And I was
<v Speaker 4>telling him Sirea had a song called Love Has Taken
<v Speaker 4>Its Toll, which I absolutely love and I would never
<v Speaker 4>get to talk about it because it's not a big
<v Speaker 4>enough hit.
<v Speaker 2>People don't know it. But I'm dropping it right there. Okay.
<v Speaker 2>Then I love this song. It's a good song. I
<v Speaker 2>love it. It's a good song.
<v Speaker 4>I hate to be done with this song. I absolutely
<v Speaker 4>love it. It's the second best song on the album. Next
<v Speaker 4>song on the album is a song called Flight to Nowhere.
<v Speaker 2>Now the rock song about being a rock star.
<v Speaker 4>This is about drugs, It's about the whole lifestyle. I think, Yeah,
<v Speaker 4>this is another rocker. It's a good song.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, speaking of drugs and booze. Yes, you know that
<v Speaker 2>their first opening act. They opened for David Lee Roth. Right, Okay,
<v Speaker 2>so he apparently like I mean, they're obviously a young
<v Speaker 2>man at this point, and they didn't really talk to
<v Speaker 2>him very much, and it would be a situation like
<v Speaker 2>when he was walking the hall, they tell everybody else
<v Speaker 2>to get out of the way and could make way
<v Speaker 2>for Dave Davis coming through. Right, And I'm gonna sidetrack
<v Speaker 2>here in just a second. I just heard this story
<v Speaker 2>about from Henry Rollins said he was going in to
<v Speaker 2>do some sort of podcast interview or something like that.
<v Speaker 2>And as he's going in, it's like nine in the morning,
<v Speaker 2>David Lee Roth is coming out, and David Lee Roth
<v Speaker 2>is wearing like this full fur like road right, and
<v Speaker 2>Henry Rollins the first time he's ever met David Lee Roth,
<v Speaker 2>and he's like, oh my gosh, I'm Dave. You know,
<v Speaker 2>I love your stuff, grew up on your music, love
<v Speaker 2>it and Diamond Dave. David Lee Roth opens up his
<v Speaker 2>coat and it's like lined with beer bottles. He's like, hey, man,
<v Speaker 2>you want to be here? And Henry Rollins doesn't drink,
<v Speaker 2>doesn't do drugs, you know, He's like, no, nine, am, man,
<v Speaker 2>I'm pretty cool things. David Lee Roth says, what's the matter?
<v Speaker 2>You got school tomorrow, And so that's my lead end
<v Speaker 2>of this story. At some point while they're opening for them,
<v Speaker 2>they get a call and it's like, David wants to
<v Speaker 2>see you, and it's one he wants to meet you
<v Speaker 2>up in his hotel room. And so they go up
<v Speaker 2>to meet David Lee Roth in his hotel room and
<v Speaker 2>when they walk in, he's laying down with two incredibly
<v Speaker 2>beautiful women whose panties are on the floor in between
<v Speaker 2>them and him, and he propositions them and he's like, hey,
<v Speaker 2>Pete Angelus, and I would like to manage your band,
<v Speaker 2>Pete Angelis.
<v Speaker 4>We just talked about him last week as the manager
<v Speaker 4>for the Black Cross.
<v Speaker 2>He was the one who made the Black Crows, who
<v Speaker 2>they were taught Chris Robinson, how to be on stage
<v Speaker 2>in a big arena, how to dance across the stage.
<v Speaker 2>He made that band. He took them to where they
<v Speaker 2>needed to be. He's the guy who directed the David
<v Speaker 2>Lee Roth videos, directed those first three Van Haleen video.
<v Speaker 2>He's an amazing dude, right, and I have to think
<v Speaker 2>this is just before all of that, right, this is
<v Speaker 2>when they're just early getting started. This would be eat
<v Speaker 2>him and smile, you know, co residence time. So had
<v Speaker 2>they said yes, Pete Angelis might not have been available
<v Speaker 2>to do the Black Crows. Wow, how about that? Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>but they said, uh, now we got a couple guys already.
<v Speaker 4>Thanks gosh, Hey, you know I sent you a deal
<v Speaker 4>this week. Yeah, Tesla was friends with the Black Crows.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>In fact, Tesla did an early MTV Unplugged date with
<v Speaker 4>the Black Crows, like together, and I heard him talking
<v Speaker 4>about this. They so they were buddies. But they said
<v Speaker 4>that they think they smoked out MTV, like MTV had
<v Speaker 4>not seen that much marijuana smoke in one setting ever.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and that's saying something. Yeah. Yeah, so it's interesting
<v Speaker 2>that these guys were friends. Yeah. So yeah, And just
<v Speaker 2>a couple more songs. We're gonna have to decide between
<v Speaker 2>these two bands, of these two albums, which one's the best.
<v Speaker 2>Let's get to it all right.
<v Speaker 4>Next song on the album hold on to your Hats,
<v Speaker 4>boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, you can't play it
<v Speaker 4>here is the song that introduced both Jason and I
<v Speaker 4>to this band, and.
<v Speaker 2>To this day is my favorite Tesla song. The songs
<v Speaker 2>called love Song. So listen the whole song go on.
<v Speaker 2>I could listen to that song over and over and
<v Speaker 2>over and never get tired of it. You have this
<v Speaker 2>beautiful classical style of an introduction. I mean talk about
<v Speaker 2>we've we've just had rocker, rocker, rocker, and all of
<v Speaker 2>a sudden that yanked the rug out from underneath you.
<v Speaker 2>And you're listening to an acoustical guitar playing finger picking
<v Speaker 2>classical style music and then they come in nice and smooth.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, it's such a smooth transition from that into
<v Speaker 2>this incredible power ballad. I mean, game change, amazing, game changering.
<v Speaker 2>This was my intro to Tesla.
<v Speaker 4>It was your intro testa and I'd venture to say
<v Speaker 4>it was a lot of people's intro to Tesla. The
<v Speaker 4>intro is fantastic. It slides into a verse that's beautiful.
<v Speaker 4>It gives you this wonderful chorus, and then it like
<v Speaker 4>ramps up at the very end with the love Will
<v Speaker 4>Find a Way part. The guitar solo is one you memorize.
<v Speaker 4>I mean it it is arguably a perfect song. If
<v Speaker 4>there can be multiple perfect movies like Raids of Lost
<v Speaker 4>arc and Back to the Future and The Godfather, then
<v Speaker 4>I would say this is one of those perfect songs.
<v Speaker 4>I mean, it's absolutely one of the Best Songs of
<v Speaker 4>nineteen eighty nine and a brilliant power ballad.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, this is another one that is on the five
<v Speaker 2>man Acoustical Jam and they do it, of course, completely acoustically,
<v Speaker 2>and it's still amazing except the guitar solo. Do you
<v Speaker 2>remember that part that they pull out the la.
<v Speaker 4>They're like, we can't do this whole thing. They lay
<v Speaker 4>into that electric.
<v Speaker 2>Guitar, so fantastic.
<v Speaker 4>I want to talk about the video for a second,
<v Speaker 4>because the video is nearly perfect as well. Okay, So
<v Speaker 4>this was shot July seventh, nineteen eighty nine, so think
<v Speaker 4>how hot it is fourth of July weekend, right, So
<v Speaker 4>they had a concert in Sacramento, and a local radio
<v Speaker 4>station KRXQ in Sacramento had a contest awarding backstage passes
<v Speaker 4>to the fan who created the best banner.
<v Speaker 2>Okay.
<v Speaker 4>Now, the banner had to say KRXQ tesla and love song.
<v Speaker 2>Okay.
<v Speaker 4>And so when you watch this music video, that's why
<v Speaker 4>they have all these people there, got these love song
<v Speaker 4>banners in the crowd. Fantastic, and you got people like
<v Speaker 4>on people's shoulders, and it just really takes me back
<v Speaker 4>to a time because you've got cute girls and you've
<v Speaker 4>got you know, the guys all got their shirts off,
<v Speaker 4>and everybody's having a blast and it's hotter than you
<v Speaker 4>know what, July fourth weekend. There's no phones. Of course,
<v Speaker 4>everybody is engaged in what's going on, and it is
<v Speaker 4>just it looks like a blast. So if you're a
<v Speaker 4>young person and you're like what was like in the eighties,
<v Speaker 4>out of concert will be four phones. This is it. Yeah,
<v Speaker 4>everybody was engaged what was going on the show.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, you you told me this story. But
<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna retell it because it's it's it's it's it
<v Speaker 2>almost takes away from the song. But this is such
<v Speaker 2>a good song that I just have to think. I'm
<v Speaker 2>not gonna call it that. I'm not gonna say that
<v Speaker 2>takes away. It's it's what opened everyone's eyes. Okay, Sure,
<v Speaker 2>So the song was a very slow burn and it
<v Speaker 2>was only getting played on the album oriented rock radio.
<v Speaker 2>That was it, right, It had not crossed over and
<v Speaker 2>it was like starting to kind of plateau a little
<v Speaker 2>bit even with that. Gosh, but Cliff Bernstein and Peter
<v Speaker 2>Minsch were also managing the Rolling Stones. Yes, and the
<v Speaker 2>Rolling Stone were involved on their steel wheels tour.
<v Speaker 4>Right, which they had recorded in mons Rat.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's right, which we talked about on our dire
<v Speaker 2>Straits episode too long ago. And so they they saw
<v Speaker 2>that this song had the potential to break the band,
<v Speaker 2>but also saw that it wasn't quite breaking the band yet.
<v Speaker 2>And so what they did was they said to the radio,
<v Speaker 2>like the chart topping radio, you know, your top forty radio.
<v Speaker 2>They said, hey, we'll give you two tickets to the
<v Speaker 2>Steel Wheels tour that you can give away to your fans,
<v Speaker 2>but we want you to play love song. I love it.
<v Speaker 2>Brilliant management. It is rightant management.
<v Speaker 4>And you know what, in fairness, this song is so
<v Speaker 4>good that it merited that and it did break the
<v Speaker 4>band absolutely, so it just needed a little push over
<v Speaker 4>the hill. Yeah, and here we are talking about one
<v Speaker 4>of the best songs of the late eighties.
<v Speaker 2>Yep, this I put I put this management decision in
<v Speaker 2>the same category as Pete Angelis saying, Okay, now to
<v Speaker 2>talk about how bad the beer is, because we're going
<v Speaker 2>to get your contract renegotiated after I get you on
<v Speaker 2>the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
<v Speaker 4>If you want the details of that story, go back
<v Speaker 4>to last week where we talked about the Black Crows.
<v Speaker 4>By the way, love Song reached number ten on the
<v Speaker 4>Hot one hundred. Now, none of these songs are radio
<v Speaker 4>like top forty hits except this one.
<v Speaker 2>Yep.
<v Speaker 4>Okay, so it reached number ten, and as you said,
<v Speaker 4>it was released in August, it didn't peak until January.
<v Speaker 2>Wow, that's a long time, right.
<v Speaker 4>So number ten Love Song pops out at number ten
<v Speaker 4>deserves better, way better in my opinion.
<v Speaker 2>Okay.
<v Speaker 4>Number nine two to Make It Right by Seduction. Number
<v Speaker 4>eight free fall In by Tom Petty. Okay, that's a
<v Speaker 4>great song's classic. Yeah, just between you and me, Lou Graham,
<v Speaker 4>remember that one.
<v Speaker 2>Not really, we're trying to Luke Graham foreigner, right, it's yeah, Okay.
<v Speaker 3>Here's all right.
<v Speaker 4>Number six Rhythm Nation by Jenna Jackson.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that was a big one in the day. Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>Number five Downtown Trained by Rod Stewart.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>Number four Everything.
<v Speaker 2>By Jody Wattley.
<v Speaker 7>No.
<v Speaker 4>Another Day in Paradise by Phil Collins.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, sure that's a boob. Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>Pump Up the Jam by Take My Tronic Pump Up Jam.
<v Speaker 2>That's a pretty iconic song.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, and the number one song this week in eighty nine.
<v Speaker 4>How am I supposed to live without you Michael Bolton.
<v Speaker 2>Gosh, when your best song tops out at ten and
<v Speaker 2>Michael Bolton is in the number one spot, that kind
<v Speaker 2>of hurts. Oh, I have a different shirt on. Hey,
<v Speaker 2>you have the same shirt on haircut. I have a
<v Speaker 2>different shirt on. What happened? What just happened?
<v Speaker 4>Right now the for the first time in the history
<v Speaker 4>of the Shirley Can't Be Serious podcast, we forgot to
<v Speaker 4>include a song as we were going track by track.
<v Speaker 2>I really can't. I feel like maybe you're editing software
<v Speaker 2>accidentally edited out. I really feel like we talked about this.
<v Speaker 4>So this is what happened. I'll tell you this is
<v Speaker 4>DA was truth. I have my stack of notes and
<v Speaker 4>for each song I have its own page.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>Well the wind blew and there they went, and when
<v Speaker 4>I gather them, I guess I left. I lost one
<v Speaker 4>and it was a big one.
<v Speaker 2>Right. Yeah again, I'm just like, man, I could have
<v Speaker 2>sworn we talked about this song. I did have that
<v Speaker 2>moment where where you were like, okay, last song, and
<v Speaker 2>I thought of myself, wait a minute. I thought we
<v Speaker 2>had two songs, and then you're like, no, we got
<v Speaker 2>two more songs. And I was like Okay, then we've
<v Speaker 2>got it. But we didn't get it.
<v Speaker 4>So let's talk about the song Paradise.
<v Speaker 2>Dude, we're idiots. This song I don't know, man, Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I mean, gorgeous intro.
<v Speaker 4>It reminds me of Home Sweet Home, you know, with
<v Speaker 4>that piano and wailing guitar.
<v Speaker 2>But it's I mean, you're not gonna agree with me,
<v Speaker 2>but it's better. I like.
<v Speaker 4>I like Paradise better than Home Sweet Home. It's it's
<v Speaker 4>so beautiful. The guitar is so emotion I love the
<v Speaker 4>piano in it, and then when he comes in with
<v Speaker 4>the lyrics, it just brings it all home.
<v Speaker 2>It's fantastic.
<v Speaker 4>The my sweet Paradise and the strong keyboards and it
<v Speaker 4>actually it's a ballad and then ramps up into a
<v Speaker 4>rocker at the end of it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so fun.
<v Speaker 6>You know.
<v Speaker 4>The funny thing about this is I was mowing the
<v Speaker 4>other day and I was thinking to myself, I really
<v Speaker 4>was thinking about deaf Dave because he's not familiar with
<v Speaker 4>Tesla at all, and I'm thinking in my head, I'm like,
<v Speaker 4>you know, if Dave will just give Tesla a chance
<v Speaker 4>to get to side to on side too, you've got
<v Speaker 4>love song and you've got the way it is and
<v Speaker 4>you've got paradise, and I'm like, wait a minute, we
<v Speaker 4>didn't talk about paradise. So anyway, Dave, thank you. You
<v Speaker 4>were the you were the spark that triggered the memory.
<v Speaker 4>This song is an amazing song. I love it. I
<v Speaker 4>actually love the five men acoustical jam version of this song.
<v Speaker 4>The studio version is fantastic, but there is a reality
<v Speaker 4>of that stage version, that audience singing along. They're singing
<v Speaker 4>along the hold me close, hold me tight.
<v Speaker 2>It's incredible, man, it's incredible. Yeah, I love it.
<v Speaker 4>Well, there you go, ladies and gentlemen of first in
<v Speaker 4>over five years of doing this, we missed a song.
<v Speaker 2>Sorry about that. We brought it back. We got it
<v Speaker 2>in just in time though. Okay, and now we're turning
<v Speaker 2>you back to your regularly scheduled program.
<v Speaker 4>Okay, last song on the album, there we Go. The
<v Speaker 4>song is called Parties Over.
<v Speaker 2>That's great.
<v Speaker 4>It's a rocker, man.
<v Speaker 2>It is a great closer. It's a great closer. It
<v Speaker 2>really is, and I mean perfect name perfect into a
<v Speaker 2>concert if you're at the concert. Yeah, And so to
<v Speaker 2>tell the listening audience the little behind the scenes here
<v Speaker 2>you accidentally pushed a different button whenever we're going to
<v Speaker 2>listen to parties over, and it was modern day cowboy, right.
<v Speaker 2>So that reminded me of one more story that I've
<v Speaker 2>got to tell. So, before they came up with the
<v Speaker 2>name Tesla, as they were still City Kid and they
<v Speaker 2>were trying to think of a new name, they were
<v Speaker 2>hanging out with Chrissy Hind of The Pretenders. Yeah, Brian
<v Speaker 2>said she was the coolest chick. He said she would
<v Speaker 2>try to help them think up band names, but she
<v Speaker 2>was like always thinking of the dirtiest, nastiest band names.
<v Speaker 2>And she said, imagine this modern day cowboy by the
<v Speaker 2>new band Dog's Balls.
<v Speaker 4>All right, I gotta drop a little nugget on you.
<v Speaker 2>Okay.
<v Speaker 4>Culturally, yes, the term turn out the lights the parties over?
<v Speaker 4>Uh huh was popularized by do you know this?
<v Speaker 2>No Down?
<v Speaker 4>Merrit, a former quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. On Monday
<v Speaker 4>Night football, when a game got out of hand and
<v Speaker 4>it was clear who the winner was going to be,
<v Speaker 4>he would sing turn out the lights the Parties Over,
<v Speaker 4>which he got from a Willie Nelson song called the
<v Speaker 4>Party's Over. Okay, all right, as we go into final judgment.
<v Speaker 4>Keep in mind, it doesn't matter who gets the best
<v Speaker 4>of who, it doesn't matter who hurts who the most.
<v Speaker 4>It really is just the way it is.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, nicely done, Final judgment time. Yep. So here's the deal.
<v Speaker 4>I've really been laboring on this because going through the
<v Speaker 4>Black Crows album last week, there were no skippers in
<v Speaker 4>that album, and there were some amazing songs. And then
<v Speaker 4>I go through this Tesla album this week and I'm like,
<v Speaker 4>all rock, I mean, killer fun songs, and then you've
<v Speaker 4>got a couple of game changers for me, like the
<v Speaker 4>Way it Is love song. I think Hank tof is excellent.
<v Speaker 4>So I asked myself, what's the better album? And I
<v Speaker 4>think the answer to that question is Shake Your money
<v Speaker 4>Maker is the better album. But I can't overcome my
<v Speaker 4>nostalgia for Tesla and Great Radio Controversy, and so I
<v Speaker 4>asked myself, Yeah, it's the best album, but if you're
<v Speaker 4>walking out the door, which one are you grabbing? And
<v Speaker 4>I'm like, if I'm walking out the door, I'm grabbing
<v Speaker 4>great Radio Controversy.
<v Speaker 2>Wow, okay. D So when we started, when we had
<v Speaker 2>just talked about this, I had no doubt in my
<v Speaker 2>mind who I was going to be picking, right, zeroed out,
<v Speaker 2>like I owned this album, I owned the five man
<v Speaker 2>Acoustical Jam, I owned Psychotic Supper, I had them all right,
<v Speaker 2>song and Emotion Blew Me Away. I love that song, right, yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I love those albums. I had heard the singles off
<v Speaker 2>of Shake Your Money Maker, and obviously we played those
<v Speaker 2>in the band as well, but I never owned but
<v Speaker 2>I never owned the album, and so I thought, okay, well,
<v Speaker 2>you know Black Crows are great. But so before listening
<v Speaker 2>to the albums, in my mind, the winner was going
<v Speaker 2>to be clear, Like Frank Cannon was a guitar hero
<v Speaker 2>of mine that I ultimately got to meet and I
<v Speaker 2>got to play guitar with, and it was a fantastic
<v Speaker 2>moment in my life. You know, I've been saying, don't
<v Speaker 2>meet your heroes after my lou f Igno experience, right,
<v Speaker 2>But then I think about Frank Cannon, I'm like, no,
<v Speaker 2>go ahead and meet your heroes, because sometimes they can
<v Speaker 2>be completely awesome. And I was confident I was going
<v Speaker 2>to pick Tesla, no question about it, except that then
<v Speaker 2>I listened to all of Shake Your Money Maker for
<v Speaker 2>the very first time, and my mind was blown, Like
<v Speaker 2>it is a flawless album. Every song on there is good,
<v Speaker 2>and a few of them are just blow your mind fantastic.
<v Speaker 2>And I got a new favorite song out of the
<v Speaker 2>mix twice as hard. I loved it, loved it, and
<v Speaker 2>so early nineties D would definitely be picking great radio controversy.
<v Speaker 2>My musical taste have changed in the last thirty five years,
<v Speaker 2>and I still love this album. But if I'm walking
<v Speaker 2>out the door, I'm grabbing Shake Your Moneymaker. I love it.
<v Speaker 2>I love it.
<v Speaker 4>That's fantastic. I don't think there's a wrong answer to
<v Speaker 4>this one.
<v Speaker 2>Now. I cannot say that I would say the same
<v Speaker 2>if we were talking about five Man Acoustical Jam. I
<v Speaker 2>might pick that one before I picked Shake Your money Maker. Oka,
<v Speaker 2>it really might. It's a tough call.
<v Speaker 4>Well that was a huge album for me as well. Yeah,
<v Speaker 4>all right, Well, we want to hear from you guys,
<v Speaker 4>which of these albums is your favorite and why and
<v Speaker 4>reach out to us.
<v Speaker 2>We'd like to hear from you. Yeah, let us know.
<v Speaker 2>Is it Shake Your money Maker? Is it great radio controversy?
<v Speaker 2>How does five Man Acoustical Jam fit in the mix
<v Speaker 2>for you?
<v Speaker 4>Let's talk go what we have next week Okay, what
<v Speaker 4>we got next week? D This is gonna be exciting
<v Speaker 4>because we have Rambo versus Commando, Arnold versus Stallone. In
<v Speaker 4>the summer of nineteen eighty five, it was huge. These
<v Speaker 4>guys battled it out at the box office. You haven't
<v Speaker 4>seen either of these movies. I am so anxious to
<v Speaker 4>hear what you have.
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to be breaking my serrated knife cherry if
<v Speaker 2>you will.
<v Speaker 4>That's right, Hey, Stilone versus Schwarzenegger doesn't get any better
<v Speaker 4>than doesn't.
<v Speaker 2>It does summer of eighty five, and you're gonna get
<v Speaker 2>my genuine first time reaction for this. So be sure
<v Speaker 2>and wait. It's gonna be so fun. Thank you guys
<v Speaker 2>so much. We'll see you next week.