Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
The Middle of Culture is what happens when two siblings with too many opinions and not enough chill dive headfirst into movies, music, video games, and whatever else is rotting our brains this week. It’s part pop culture podcast, part sibling rivalry, and fully unfiltered. Expect passionate arguments, niche references, unsolicited rankings, and the occasional moment of unexpected insight. If you’ve ever wanted to eavesdrop on the kind of argument you’d hear at the family dinner table—only with better audio—this is your show.
Peter
00:10
Welcome back to the Middle of Culture. I am one of your co-hosts, Peter.
Eden
00:15
And I'm your other host, Eden.
Peter
00:17
Eden, before we started recording officially, you were telling me that it is colder than crap out there in Iowa.
Eden
00:25
It is. You know, one of the beautiful things about being this terribly landlocked is that the swings are all over the place. So today it was in the 40s. We got some rain. A lot of snow melted. It was really nice to finally get some of this stuck on snow. You know, we had probably six or seven inches, and it's down to probably like two. Like S the grass is poking through the snow in various and sundry spots now.
Peter
00:52
Okay
Eden
00:53
And then about 4-4-30, the wind said, no. No, no, no, no, no. Wind advisory came. Winter storm warning came. It's currently 14 degrees and windy. Feels like 23 degrees below zero.
Peter
01:09
Yeah.
Eden
01:09
So it's not fun out there.
Peter
01:10
That's no, that is just gross.
Eden
01:11
And so of course, before we start recording, I'm like, well, I'll let the dogs out so that, you know, they can get their wiggles out, they can get their do their business. The other dogs all go out. Mr. Loki, our old man dog, goes outside. Just as off having fun in the snow
Peter
01:30
Uh-huh.
Eden
01:30
And I'm standing out there like, bro, I'm dying here. What are you what are you doing, bro?
Peter
01:38
Yeah, like
Eden
01:38
Uh and eventually Cassie had to like put on boots and go like kick him in the butt to get him to come inside. Not literally, but like figuratively go usher him into the door. Cause he's just having too much fun out there. And we're like, bro, you are going to get frostbite. You're going to burn your little toesies off, brother.
Peter
01:56
Yeah, no kidding
Eden
01:57
He's a dumb dog. I love him. He's a dumb dog. Anyway, how you doing?
Peter
02:02
Well, you know, I'm hanging in there. It's getting close to the end of the year, which is just a welcome thing. I'm in that stretch where all I really want is just January to be here. And and realistically, quietly, just between us and those who are listening. I'm just trying to get to now the 10th of January because we've got that pesky little wedding, you know, in that uh on the 9th of January.
Eden
02:26
Yeah.
Peter
02:28
So so yeah, I'm just just kind of trying to get to there.
Eden
02:29
Yeah, you got a busy you got a busy few weeks, I bet.
Peter
02:34
Yeah, no, it's it is going to be, but uh but that's all right. That's all right. Well what have you been checking out lately?
Eden
02:39
Yeah.
Peter
02:41
Anything interesting?
Eden
02:42
Yeah, so here's a funny thing. Um, so I am uh I'm I I am a Redditor, for better or worse, um, because I do think Reddit is a terrible website. Don't get it twisted. Is it, however, maybe the best social media site right now in 2025? Also, yes.
Peter
03:02
Oh, one hundred percent. I agree with you completely.
Eden
03:06
Which sucks because I think Reddit is miserable, but if you want to spend time online and not want to kill yourself, Reddit is the only place you can go today in 2025.
Peter
03:16
I mean, I will say if you have a carefully curated collection of meme accounts stupid video stuff and metal bands and that's the vast majority of your Instagram feed. Instagram can still be fairly fun
Eden
03:33
I would have to take your word for it. I deleted all of my meta accounts many years ago at this point and refused to make any more.
Peter
03:40
And that is entirely understandable and something I support.
Eden
03:44
But regardless, I'm on Reddit, I'm farting around, I'm in uh a subreddit, and someone says, hey I accidentally got two copies of the third volume of the manga adaptation of There's No Freaking Way I'll Be Your Lover, unless which I don't know if we've talked about here, is a pretty fun book series.
Peter
04:03
Okay.
Eden
04:04
Um, but someone was like, hey, volume three up for free to anyone who wants it. I'll even pay for the shipping. And I was like I don't need it. If anyone else claims it, that's cool. But if three or four hours from now no one has claimed it, I'll say hey, send it my way. 34 hours go by, no one's claimed it, and I say sure, send it my way, because I've got the first one and I've been meaning to get more, so sure, this will fill in a nice gap. And then, you know, we get into the DMs, and this person says to me, hey, do you want anything else out of this box? And shows me a box of manga. And I saw all nine volumes of the Kase-san series, and I was like, you know what?
Peter
04:38
So
Eden
04:43
I have been meaning to read the Kase-San books. So if you'd like to mail me all nine of those, please. So, you know, I like split shipping with them. I was even like willing to pay the whole shipping, but he said, no, no, we'll do halves. And have these of Canadian shipping, so it was cheaper for me than it was for him.
Peter
05:03
Yeah
Eden
05:03
Uh but regardless, uh, I got those in this last week, and I'm about six books through the nine that are out so far. Um the series is called Kase-San and Dot Dot Dot because the first five books are all Kase-San and something. Kasi-san in morning glories, Casi-san and a bento, Kasi-san in an apron. Um, and it's just like a a really qu kind of fun, quiet, uh, romance book. That has some of the funniest faces I've ever seen. Like the faces that the mangaka draws are just off the chart. Um, and I'm having a very fun time with it. It is two girls that both need to talk to each other more than worry about their relationship. It's one of those things where it's like. Kids, communication is key. You gotta you gotta talk to each other. If you think things aren't going well with your girlfriend, or if you can't figure out Where we where where are things at? Are you flirting with that other person? Because we're not actually go go talk to her. Go talk to her, bud. Um anyway, it was it's been very fun. I'm I'm having a lot of fun with it. The first five books are them in high school, and then they change the name of the series in book six, uh, and then they're both in college together. I'm having a fun time. Um, but yeah, that's been really, really fun. I also read another one that we got in at the shop the other day, and I had never heard of it. It was one that the boss uh saw the cover of, obviously, and was like, I think I'll buy this. Uh it's called Chainsmoker Cat. And it is it is about an anthropomorphic cat girl who is the dirt worst person
Peter
06:43
Okay
Eden
06:53
just like lives in her filth in this apartment while she chain smokes. Like and it's it's a gross comic. It is gross because it is showing how gross this person is. Like to such a degree that she accidentally starts a fire on her mattress. And so the only solution because her water is off because she's not been paying her bills is to piss on it.
Peter
07:13
I figured that's where it was going.
Eden
07:13
So of course she has to pee on the fire to put it out. Or, you know, at one point she's out of matches um and or she's out of of uh butane in her lighter. So she's like, well I'm gonna use the spark from the lighter to try to light a fart, and then that will light my cigarette that I'm holding in my tail. And so of course she puts her she lights her tail on fire. It's that kind of stupid stuff.
Peter
07:38
Sure, sure.
Eden
07:40
And like everyone in her in her life, like her younger sister, her landlord, they're all just like, you are the most disgusting creature. That has ever lived. You have got to stop. Uh and she doesn't. And she will she ever get better? I don't think so. I think She will wallow in her filth. Um, because that's what she did for the whole first volume. But it was pretty entertaining uh while being very gross.
Peter
08:03
Okay, very good.
Eden
08:05
Um, and you know, that's kind of it. It's been pretty light for me. I'm still playing where winds meet. I'm having a good time I've wrapped up the two big main storylines so far. So now I'm just doing some of the smaller side quests and stuff. But it's it's still really, really fun. The uh the it had an update earlier this week, and I don't know if I mentioned, but you know, this is like set in like a Wuja Chinese setting. So there's lots of sects that you can join. Different, like, uh, you know. uh affiliations of people. And I'm currently not aligned with any of them. But I wanted to maybe join one of them. There's this one called Velvet Shade. And basically the pitch is What if it's a bunch of hot evil people? And I'm like, I love I love when hot evil people, so let's go. Um and so I want to figure out how to join this this new sect that just came out with the new update. It turns out what you have to do, this is so silly. Like some of the sects are really easy to join. You want to join the like healing sect, you walk up and you say, hey, can I can I join you guys? And they say, sure. Come on in. Be a healer. You want to join the hot evil spies, you have to get married in-game to one of the other PC, like one of the other players. You have to get divorced. And then because you have been betrayed by divorce, that's the only way that you can join. That's when you get the hint to how you could potentially join the evil hot people sect. So that means I gotta find someone to marry me?
Peter
09:36
Okay
Eden
09:39
So I don't know. I have a couple of friends that I have in a local Discord have started playing the game apparently. And one of them was like, sure, I'll marry you so we can get divorced so you can join the evil hot people guild. And I was like, cool. Get a little further in the story and then let's go to the marriage tree and then get divorced immediately after. So anyway, I might be getting married and divorced in where winds meet pretty soon here.
Peter
10:00
There you go.
Eden
10:03
Anyway, what you been up to?
Peter
10:03
Okay. Uh I haven't been up to a lot new. Uh I am still working on the three-body problem uh and Gdelesher Bach. Uh those are still the books I'm reading. I did recently
Eden
10:19
Oh, I have to say, shout out to my friend Shep, who sometimes listens to the podcast. Her daughter Esher is named after That book because she read that book when she was pregnant with Escher and that is why Escher is named Escher is because of Girdle Escherbach.
Peter
10:29
Oh very cool, very cool
Eden
10:36
So shouts out.
Peter
10:38
Shout out. Uh no, it's uh you know, again, I'm still enjoying it. That is a book that it is read a few pages uh at night a few times a week. This isn't a I'm sitting down and I'm reading a lot.
Eden
10:48
Absolutely.
Peter
10:51
Um the, you know, in three-body problem, the crux, it's it's it's a little conf I wouldn't say confusing, but it's one of those that very much at the beginning you're kind of sitting here going, okay. what's the point? What's the story? Where's what's happening? There's all these things.
Eden
11:08
Sure.
Peter
11:08
And now I I've definitely I'm into the meat of it where um It is clear what's happening and it's interesting. I am enjoying it. I think that it's a fun read and and continuing to just kind of plug along at that. Uh, the other book I kind of did start is they just recently this year released, in fact I think it was this month it came out, was a workbook for atomic habits.
Eden
11:37
Okay.
Peter
11:37
And the idea is there's a bunch of pages and you can download them, you know, they give you the link to download kind of the PDF pages. But it's it's a bunch of pages to just kind of use to process as you're focusing on a habit and say, okay, you know, what how can I link this?
Eden
11:45
Uh-huh.
Peter
11:52
What can I do this? How does this tie into my identity? And so I have been, I've been slacking a lot in some of my habits. There's a lot of places where I look at it and go, hey, I'd like to tighten this up. I'd like to do better. And so I started going through that. And it gives you kind of a condensed version of the principles in the book atomic habits, which again I enjoyed. It didn't Didn't blow me away, but I think that it's a decent book. And so uh I've been working on that a little bit, which um which has been decent. It's been good. In terms of music, there's usually not much out coming out this time of year, really, and no big changes here.
Eden
12:32
Sure.
Peter
12:34
although there is one uh one single that came out, and that is the new uh the new single Carrion Ladder from the band Archspire. I think I've talked about Archspire before here.
Eden
12:48
I think you have to
Peter
12:49
They are a ridiculous technical death metal band that is, I I think one of the they really are probably the fastest test tech death band in in the world right now, plot riding and playing music. But the thing I always like about ArtSpire is it isn't just that they're gonna be fast and ridiculously technical. There's there's moments in every song where the real melody is allowed to kind of breathe, or they recognize You can't handle, well, I mean you can, but it's going to be a little fatiguing if you just have four minutes straight of 420 plus beats per minute. And so they'll have little moments in the song where it backs off a little bit, lets you kind of catch your breath before it comes back in and hits you at
Eden
13:34
Did you say four hundred and twenty beats a minute?
Peter
13:36
I did. I did. I told you they were fast.
Eden
13:40
That's ludicrous. I I have never heard this band. Um I have never heard this band, and I don't think I'll enjoy this band, but I think I need to go hear it just to say I've heard four hundred and twenty beats a second.
Peter
13:45
Mm-hmm. I mean, I don't know if Carrion Ladder reaches that, but I think that that was the I think that is the the tempo of the last track off their previous album, Bleed the Future.
Eden
14:05
Okay, well I mean I guess if you're gonna bleed the future you might as well do it at four hundred beats a minute.
Peter
14:05
And Yeah. So so they're they're again I appreciate that. I really appreciate the fact that they recognize that what they're doing is a little ridiculous and it's a little over the top. And you can tell from their um their videos in particular that they are not taking themselves seriously in any way, shape, or form. I mean, they know that they are incredibly good musicians.
Eden
14:31
Sure.
Peter
14:35
But they also are having fun and and I appreciate that.
Eden
14:39
Okay.
Peter
14:40
So the single came out. This is interesting, ArtSpire. And you know, we've seen this in a lot of other uh a lot of a lot of other places in music, and and I think it's indicative of a bigger issue in the world today in many ways. And that is, oh hey, guess what? Capitalism kind of actually can suck in a lot of ways. You know.
Eden
15:03
Yeah. Welcome, comrade.
Peter
15:04
And so Of course, what did Archspire do with their uh preparation for their next album? They said, you know what We're gonna self-fund this thing. And so they did they did a Kickstarter and of course I backed it at the get the vinyl and all this kind of fun stuff. And and and it allows them to be able to get it done, but not be tied to the music industrial complex, you know, that that we see right now. So
Eden
15:32
Sure.
Peter
15:32
Uh so good for them and the album's coming out in twenty twenty-six, it's all recorded, but they released this first first single, and it's just it's just it's fun. It sounds silly. to say it's fun, but like it starts with you know, I mean everybody I'm sure is familiar with isn't it is it rap god that MM song that's like super fast, whatever. I don't know. Or or something.
Eden
15:56
I think so.
Peter
15:57
I
Eden
15:58
I think so.
Peter
15:58
It's basic the obviously me either.
Eden
15:59
I'm not not an MM person, so I don't really know.
Peter
16:03
But I will say carrion ladder starts with basically the death metal equivalent of that. uh which is which which is just again, it's just kind of fun. So that's been the main big music thing. And then the other thing I've been getting into is, you know, we talked the Apple music replay came out and I'm just again enjoying that playlist and going, yeah, I I'm There isn't a single song that pops up on that Apple Music replay playlist that I'm like, how did you get on here? Every single song that's popping up there, I'm going, yeah, I can see that you are one of the top 100 songs I listened to this last year.
Eden
16:37
They earned their spots.
Peter
16:38
Yeah, they are in their spots. Uh the final thing I'll mention is I've been playing some more of, again, kind of those same shorter, I would say more casual games, um, Ball Pit and Megabunk. Uh ball pit, fun, progressing with some of the characters. Megabunk is probably the one I put more time into, and I'm really enjoying Megabonk. I bounced off it a little bit the first few times I was playing because I'm like, man, maybe I just really suck at this game. And then something clicked. And I was like, oh, okay. I gotcha. And I've been having a lot of fun with that, unlocking new characters, just doing runs. And again, like vampire survivors, the runs are basically timed. You're gonna You're going to either find the boss, defeat the boss in the time, and then use that portal to go to the next stage of that world. Or you're going to get to a point where the final swarm comes and just like in Vampire Survivors, you will not survive the final swarm. It will kill you.
Eden
17:35
Sure, sure.
Peter
17:36
And so I've been playing that some more and enjoying that. And and I'm sitting there, I'm no, I you know, I know at the Game Awards Larian announced Divinity, and they're saying
Eden
17:48
Here's the thing.
Peter
17:49
Mm-hmm.
Eden
17:50
I don't like the Divinity games. I'm just gonna say it. I don't like them.
Peter
17:54
Well, so I haven't played that much of them. But the reason I I mention it is, you know, they're talking about, oh, it's it's going to be bigger than Baldur's Gate 3. And then I see people talking about Uh I think it was probably on Reddit people talking about, oh yeah, I've played Baldur's Gate 3 30 times through and there's still things I haven't uncovered. And I don't want to do any of that, but it has really got me kind of going, do I want to play Baldur's Gate 3? Is now the time I fire up Baldur's Gate 3 for real?
Eden
18:27
Cause you've never really like stuck the time into it, right? Like you've
Peter
18:30
No, I started
Eden
18:31
You've probably fiddled with it. You downloaded it. You've you created a character you played for a few hours and then you were like, I'll come back to this when it's done, because it was probably early access.
Peter
18:39
That is exactly right. So since it's been officially launched and then patched multiple times and is in what I can only assume is basically considered its final state. I have not gone in to play it and and I'm feeling the pull and I'm trying to decide if I'm going to to take the dive or not.
Eden
18:58
Well, good luck to you if you do. Um, I saw the steam sale just started earlier today and I looked and it's not $30 yet, so I'm not buying that game yet.
Peter
19:08
That's totally fair. Totally fair. I'm looking at the steam sale and I'm going, Oh, the outer worlds too is on sale. Do I want to get that?
Eden
19:17
Oh.
Peter
19:18
And then I remember, but I haven't finished the Outer Worlds 1, so maybe I should play that instead of Baldur's Gate 3.
Eden
19:18
I don't know. You should probably finish the first one, yeah.
Peter
19:24
So who knows?
Eden
19:24
Hmm.
Peter
19:25
I don't know. Again, I have all these ideas of the bigger story-based meteor game that I want to dive into. And um I'm still I'm still scared, so I'm holding off.
Eden
19:38
Fair, fair.
Peter
19:40
So well this week uh we'll go ahead and move on to our topic for the week. I thought again we would do something a little
Eden
19:46
Yes
Peter
19:50
Look, I'll just be honest, this was kind of a what can we do that's fairly low effort coming in? Because sometimes it's fun to have homework for the pod. And other times you kind of want to have maybe let's not have too much homework. And right now we're in the let's minimize the homework time of the year.
Eden
20:10
True
Peter
20:11
So last week we did our tier list of our or two weeks ago, I guess we did our tier list of our fast food and fast casual. This week, what I thought I'd do is I went and I pulled The uh number one, it was the top song from the Billboard Year End Hot 100 chart. From the year 1980 till 1999. And what I thought we would do is we would go through and we're going to do a draft of sorts. So we're going to end up picking our 10, hopefully. We'll see. We're gonna get the 10 out of these 20 that we each want on our our playlist. But understanding that because this is a draft, if the other person takes it, you're SOL. You don't get it as well. Okay.
Eden
20:57
Here's the thing. I listened to all these. I put together the playlist, you know, in order. I listened to it all day today to prep myself for this. There are some real bangers. And there's some real uh some real stinkers.
Peter
21:08
Yes. Stinkers. Yes, yes, there are
Eden
21:12
I have a s I I have a sneaking suspicion what might be the last one picked, but I guess we'll see.
Peter
21:19
Okay. Well, to decide who gets to go first, I'm going to flip a coin in dice by Peacock and I'm going to have you call it. So.
Eden
21:29
Okay.
Peter
21:29
Flipping the coin and you call heads tails.
Eden
21:32
Heads.
Peter
21:33
It is heads.
Eden
21:35
Yes, yes.
Peter
21:36
So Aiden, you're round one. What is your first pick? And if you pick my hopeful first pick, I'm gonna cry a little bit.
Eden
21:46
Well, I don't know what your hopeful first pick is gonna be.
Peter
21:46
But you You won the toss, so so you you get a go.
Eden
21:50
I have to say though Um there are some bangers on here, but I would be lying to myself and to the world if I did not pick. Oh god, now I'm torn between two. I'm gonna I'm gonna pray you don't pick the other one. And I'm gonna say 1993's I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston is one of the greatest songs ever written.
Peter
22:15
Uh yeah
Eden
22:20
Dolly kicks it out of the park with the writing, and then Hey, Dolly's version's good. I ain't out here to say Dolly Parton's rendition of that song isn't good, but then Whitney Houston takes it and says, hey Dolly. Hold my beer. I'm gonna create the second greatest song of all time for one of these big I'm in a movie songs. Second only to how is it not on this list? My God in heaven, why did this 1997 song win? Where is uh Um, my heart will go on. That should have been 95.
Peter
22:52
True, that should have been there
Eden
22:55
That's the only other one that's in contention with my heart will go on. Like or I I I Will Always Love You, My Heart Will Go On. That's it. Those are the two great songs of the 90s. So I'm going with I Will Always Love You.
Peter
23:04
I mean, they are. They are, they are great.
Eden
23:06
Whitney Houston. Gone Too Soon. One of the greats. maybe the top five voices of all time in singing.
Peter
23:14
Yep.
Eden
23:15
She's great. Anyway, what are you picking?
Peter
23:16
Yep.
Eden
23:17
Are you mad about that? Was that your choice?
Peter
23:19
No, I'm not. I was I was getting nervous.
Eden
23:20
Okay, good.
Peter
23:21
And then when you didn't, because because I'll be honest, when I looked at this list, I thought to myself, okay. There is one song that I absolutely desperately want. And the rest, I'll be okay. I'll be okay if the other if I don't get uh the other ones.
Eden
23:36
Okay.
Peter
23:38
But thank goodness I get
Eden
23:38
Okay
Peter
23:41
1984's When Doves Cry by Prince.
Eden
23:45
Listen, that's number three on my favorites.
Peter
23:48
Yeah.
Eden
23:49
It's number three
Peter
23:50
It is, I could not.
Eden
23:51
The whole album Purple Rain is ugh Purple Rain's incredible. The thing about Purple Rain is from tip to toe it's one of the greatest albums ever made.
Peter
23:58
Yeah. I I will be honest and say I'm not a huge Prince fan. I don't love a lot of his music, but when Dove's Cry is an absolutely. I mean, it is it is a little eerie. It is kind of haunting in a lot of ways.
Eden
24:15
Uh-huh, uh-huh.
Peter
24:18
It is just, it is one of those pieces of music that I will never forget. The first time I heard it and going, this doesn't sound like what else is on the radio in 1984. This is this is leaps and bounds above
Eden
24:33
No
Peter
24:36
what I was used to hearing on the radio in 1984.
Eden
24:38
Yeah.
Peter
24:40
So
Eden
24:40
That's that's the thing about Prince. Even if you're not a big Prince fan, you listen to him and you're like Well, this guy's so much better than everyone else who's putting out music at the same time.
Peter
24:48
Oh yeah, no question.
Eden
24:48
Like, he's just one of the one of the greatest performers and songwriters to ever live.
Peter
24:55
Yes, so
Eden
24:56
Even if I don't listen to him very often, I g you gotta give the credit where the credit is due, and it is due to him
Peter
25:02
Well, I'm thrilled that I got it. So thank you for picking. I mean, you picked an absolute, I mean An absolute classic track. So I was I was glad that this was left for me.
Eden
25:12
I mean, it's great
Peter
25:15
Okay, you're round two.
Eden
25:15
I'm happy I'm happy to see that I get my number two pick, which is of course Do you believe life after love after love after love? Because shares believe One of the all-time like talk about a comeback. Cher, one of the big artists of the 70s, huge TV show everywhere. 80s, she's big, she's in the movies. 90s, Cher disappears. She's gone. She's washed up. Nobody cares about Cher anymore. And then 1999 comes along. And the song Believe comes out, and everyone remembers. Oh damn, Cher's pretty good, huh? She's incredible. And it's maybe my favorite Cher song. So I have to take Believe.
Peter
26:03
Okay. I mean it is. Like you said, especially because I'm I'm a little older than you
Eden
26:10
Mm-hmm.
Peter
26:10
I remember our mother being a huge fan of the Sonny and Cher show and everything.
Eden
26:15
Oh, yeah.
Peter
26:15
And then yeah, Cher Cher was then she became kind of a movie star-ish sort of thing, sort of person in like the 80s.
Eden
26:23
Mm-hmm.
Peter
26:23
And then nothing just faded, gone
Eden
26:27
But what a renaissance to come back with believe and then all of the other singles off that album, also bangers. Like that album is like a neo-disco classic.
Peter
26:37
Yeah.
Eden
26:37
And uh it's great. I love the whole album. Believe is incredible. I'm happy to have it in my uh in my team.
Peter
26:44
That is an excellent, excellent choice. I will be interested to see if I noticed something as I was putting in my dream top 10 picks. And we'll see if you pick up on this on this pattern that we're seeing here as I throw out my number two pick, and that is 1980s Call Me by Blondie.
Eden
27:06
Here's the thing. This might be a generational vibe. I think you're picking more eighties and I've got nineties so far, but call me.
Peter
27:11
You have absolutely figured out what where I'm coming from.
Eden
27:16
Calls call me as a top five for me. Out of these 20, call me's a top five.
Peter
27:20
Oh, it's an incredible song. I mean, Blondie, just great music. Not only just call me, but Call Me is a stone cold classic, if you ask me.
Eden
27:30
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It's a stunner.
Peter
27:32
Yeah.
Eden
27:32
It's at tip to toe.
Peter
27:33
Yeah.
Eden
27:34
You know, when that guitar kicks in, you're just like, well, we're doing something special here.
Peter
27:38
Oh, yeah, and I mean it and it's this perfect blend of It it definitely can fit in on the pop channels, the pop radio stations, but at the same time, it's got enough of an edge that it's gonna be on some of the rock radio stations. And Blondie has this kind of pop punk attitude about the about it that that makes that music just again, I think it really does sort of cross a lot of genre divides there in a way that that makes it for me again a a kind of a timeless song.
Eden
28:12
The thing that told me that Calmy was a very good song was when I heard it It's tuned and slowed the fuck down to half speed and down two octaves. And the song still rips when it sounds like a sludge metal track. And you're like, wow.
Peter
28:31
Oh yeah, I believe that.
Eden
28:33
You got it. You you nailed it.
Peter
28:35
I believe that. Kay, your third pick.
Eden
28:39
Alright, I am going to the 80s for this one because I am taking Wham's careless whisperer.
Peter
28:43
Oh that was that was close on my list of of next choices. That is
Eden
28:50
I have to. Here's the thing, George Michael, he's on here twice for a reason.
Peter
28:55
It is true, it is true.
Eden
28:56
He is the 80s. Like Depeche Mode and George Michael. That's the 80s to me, baby. And I'm you know, Depeche Mode never quite got quite as popular. They're not on they didn't have a number one hit But that sound, like those two bands are to me. Do you want spooky scary 80s? Depeche mode. Do you want sexy fun 80s? Wham or George Michael solo work?
Peter
29:19
Yeah. That is a good one. And I'll be honest, I I love that um I love that this song has managed to live on because of the little saxophone bit.
Eden
29:34
The thing is, is it's one of the greatest saxophones. You don't even like saxophones. It was high on your list.
Peter
29:38
I hate saxophone.
Eden
29:39
So that speaks that speaks to how good it is because you hate the saxophone. But that is like one of the greatest things you've ever heard in your life.
Peter
29:50
Yeah.
Eden
29:51
It's great.
Peter
29:51
Yeah.
Eden
29:52
Ugh what a good song.
Peter
29:52
It's great. It is great.
Eden
29:54
What a good song.
Peter
29:54
So again, you you figured out my theme here, so I am sticking to the 80s and I'm going to 1987's Walk Like an Egyptian, The Bengals.
Eden
30:05
Okay. You c you can have this one. I've never been a huge Bengals fan.
Peter
30:09
You know, I was never a huge Bengals fan, but there was something about and and this is this is where I think at 1987, I'm 11 years old. in 1987, you're three years old, right?
Eden
30:19
Yeah.
Peter
30:22
Am I doing the no four three, four?
Eden
30:22
Three or four, yeah.
Peter
30:23
Yeah, doing them.
Eden
30:24
Yeah.
Peter
30:25
So so for me at at eleven years old. It was, I mean, you could buy little teeny single, like little itty bitty single micro cassettes. It was this whole big thing where they wanted to sell you uh plug in a pair of headphones, and it was a micro little cassette thing, and one of the first songs that they released in this stupid thing that I wanted badly but never got, was Walk Like an Egyptian. That's just how big of a hit this was. And I mean, all over the place.
Eden
30:59
Oh yeah
Peter
31:01
Walking you know, you're at school and people are singing it and All of a sudden people are doing the little dance in the halls from school, so uh walk like an Egyptian is uh definitely one that uh I I I wanted to snag.
Eden
31:16
Plus, it's one of those ones that you go to your friend's house, we didn't have cable, but you go to your friend's house, and MTV is on, and the walk like an Egyptian video starts playing, you're like, look at all these hotties with naughty bodies. I'm into this song.
Peter
31:28
You know, can't that cannot be denied. That cannot be denied.
Eden
31:31
It's a bunch of hotties.
Peter
31:33
All right, what else you got
Eden
31:34
All right. I mean Here's the thing. I have to take it because it is it is a it is a song that I have a lot of fondness for, not because of itself, like I do because it's a good song. Most of my fondness for it comes, however, from Weird Albert's parody of it.
Peter
31:54
Oh no
Eden
31:57
And that is Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise.
Peter
32:01
Uh, that was gonna be my next pick.
Eden
32:03
We've been spending most of our lives living in a gangsta paradise, Peter.
Peter
32:07
It's true. It's true.
Eden
32:09
Or churn the butter once or twice living in an Amish paradise because that's what I really think of when that beat drops. I'm like, oh, I'm thinking about Raisin Barnes.
Peter
32:20
As you should
Eden
32:21
Raising raise a barn on Monday. Soon I'll raise a nutter. That's what I'm thinking about.
Peter
32:26
Yeah.
Eden
32:28
It's a clas.
Peter
32:28
No, that is
Eden
32:29
But the thing is, Coolio's version, very good. I like Coolio. Dangerous Minds is not a good movie. I'm not out here saying the White Savior movie is a good movie. None of them are, but the song's good. Song's real good.
Peter
32:43
Yep. Yep. That is a good one.
Eden
32:47
Sorry to usurp sorry to usurp you.
Peter
32:47
Like I say, no, that is totally okay. That is fair. You are allowed to snipe. So I've gotta see and decide which I'm what am I gonna take next. I am going to I'm gonna take as my number four pick. I'm gonna do the 90s like Schmalty power ballad. And I'm picking everything I do, I do it for you by Brian Adams.
Eden
33:14
Please. Thank you. Thank you.
Peter
33:18
Do I love the song?
Eden
33:18
Thank you for taking this bullet.
Peter
33:20
Do I love the song? No, but does it have and then this is again, this is where I think the age is really important. Because in 1991 I'm fifteen. And in 1991, I am slow dancing. to everything I do, I do it for you at at school and church dances while they've got the video with scenes from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves playing.
Eden
33:37
Yeah, you're Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Peter
33:47
And so I have just, it is, this song is indelibly etched in my mind because of slow dancing with girls that I I might have. had a thing for in 1991 and and 1992 at at uh due to this song
Eden
34:00
Yeah. You're And nineteen ninety three and nineteen ninety four and they were still playing it when I was going to school dances in the late nineties and early two thousands 'cause it's
Peter
34:11
It's true.
Eden
34:12
one of those and you're dancing and your hands your hands are on their waist and their hands are on your shoulder and you can make sure you got a Bible's width between you.
Peter
34:12
It's true. It is one of those. Right, of course.
Eden
34:23
You're good to go.
Peter
34:24
Of course.
Eden
34:24
You're good to go.
Peter
34:25
So all right, what is your number five?
Eden
34:30
Here's the thing, we're starting to get to the dicier territory where I feel like there's only two actually good songs left.
Peter
34:37
Okay.
Eden
34:38
And then it becomes a lot of garbage. So I'm gonna take 1990s whole 1990s Hold On by Wilson Phillips.
Peter
34:43
Okay, all right.
Eden
34:44
I love it. It's a classic. It feels it, you know, it is that cusp between the 80s and the 90s to me. It's got a great uh uh a chorus that gets stuck in your head forever. I love it, it's a great song.
Peter
34:57
Yeah. No, it is. And it it is an absolute earworm. Very, very infectious. uh wasn't on my list, but I I I cannot deny that i i it it didn't surprise me. It was one of those where as I was looking through the list and coming across each song, I got to 1990 and I went Yep. Yep, that probably that probably deserves to be there.
Eden
35:18
Yeah, there are a couple on here that when we get to them, people will be like, that was the top song from that year?
Peter
35:25
Yeah. Yep.
Eden
35:26
All right, what's your next one?
Peter
35:28
All right. My number five, I think. I think I'm gonna take it. And again, this is just because of Of of where I was in life and everything, and that is gonna be 1983's Every Breath You Take by the Police.
Eden
35:45
Good. I hate this song, so I'm glad you're taking it.
Peter
35:50
It's super creepy. It's supposed to be.
Eden
35:53
It is
Peter
35:53
I I I and that's actually kind of why I like it, because this is not I'm still fascinated that this was the song that when this would get played at the slow dance, you're like, ew, I don't want to dance to this song.
Eden
36:05
I don't wanna dance to this song? Yeah.
Peter
36:08
No, so so there's that aspect of it that I actually enjoy. I I think it's fun that it is so misunderstood so frequently.
Eden
36:15
Yeah, how did a song that is about being a creepy stalker become the number one song of nineteen eighty-three?
Peter
36:25
I mean, the police were huge, and this was
Eden
36:27
Yeah, I mean it's Sting. It's a year before he gets all sexy in Dune.
Peter
36:32
Uh-huh. And and like I say, the police have some absolute bangers.
Eden
36:34
I mean, I get it.
Peter
36:37
The police have, I will say this, the police have many much, much better songs than this one.
Eden
36:42
Oh, for sure, for sure.
Peter
36:44
But I think that this was because it is that almost that pseudo-ballad, it seems like a ballad until again you listen to it and you're like Oh, this isn't like a heartwarming ballad. This is a like, oh, I'm gonna end up with a knife in between my shoulder blades ballad.
Eden
36:56
No Yeah. It's one of those ones that when you when you listen to it, it sounds good like it's got a good melody.
Peter
37:01
But people weren't paying attention to that.
Eden
37:07
There's a reason why people have taken that, like RB artists took that melody. rewrote the words to be an actual love song and it also charted really well because the melody feels like an R and B song Uh it feels like a love song. It's really easy to turn it into one uh instead of the creepfest that it is.
Peter
37:29
Yep. All right. What is your number six?
Eden
37:33
I mean I'm gonna take the other George Michael song, because you haven't taken it yet.
Peter
37:36
Uh, yeah.
Eden
37:37
So I'm taking Faith, 1988's Faith, and I think for me personally, that's the end of the good songs.
Peter
37:44
Okay
Eden
37:44
We're halfway through this list. I can't think of any of these other ones that I'm like, I like that song. Everyone other every other one, it's like, Mike, it's fine, or ugh.
Peter
37:52
Okay.
Eden
37:52
So we'll see how the back half of this goes.
Peter
37:54
All right. We'll see. It's definitely It's gonna be hard. This is where it starts to get hard. This is the I've got I'm gonna we're gonna make ourselves pick 10, and I kind of wish we only had to pick five.
Eden
38:01
Yeah. It's true. Here's the thing I'll say about Faith. I like it. It's a good song. It's catchy. Again, when I think of the song, do I think of the George Michael version of the song? No, I do not. I think of the limp biscuit cover.
Peter
38:19
Good. I was hoping that's what you were gonna say.
Eden
38:22
Because it's the best song Limp Biscuit ever recorded.
Peter
38:26
Yeah
Eden
38:26
Damning with faint praise, I know, but it's a catchy version of a catchy song.
Peter
38:31
It is. I cannot deny that. So, like you said, little bit slim pickens here. I'm actually gonna go with 1981's Betty Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes.
Eden
38:43
Yeah?
Peter
38:44
Yeah.
Eden
38:44
I was I was listening to this song and I was like, what's with this vocal fry?
Peter
38:44
I don't That's the thing, is she she has an unusual voice. She does have a lot of vocal fry in there. And I don't I don't like this song per se, but this is another one of those songs that you weren't around at the time, but our mother loved this song.
Eden
39:10
Did she?
Peter
39:11
Yes. So I heard oh, I heard Betty Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes so much when I was a little kid.
Eden
39:12
This doesn't seem like a Becky song to me. Well, see, this is this is the generational divide again, this the mine the micro generational divide. When I was, you know, a tween, a teen tween and in between, is when mom made her turn from pop to country.
Peter
39:38
Ah, yes.
Eden
39:38
And so I was not, mom was not playing Betty Davis eyes when I was growing up. She's playing Garth Brooks
Peter
39:45
Yeah, I I escaped that era for the most part.
Eden
39:50
Well, good for you.
Peter
39:52
Okay, number seven.
Eden
39:54
Okay, let me look at this list. Someone's got a s I'm gonna uh I'm gonna dive on the grenade for both of us here. I'm taking 1996's La Macarena. This song sucks. I hate it.
Peter
40:11
I hate it too.
Eden
40:12
But I would rather listen to the Macarena than most of the other things still on this list, so
Peter
40:17
Yeah. See, the Macarena was big when I was in Guatemala. So again, it's that association. So this is in connected to me walking the filthy streets of Guatemala and having.
Eden
40:29
Hearing that song everywhere.
Peter
40:31
hearing that song everywhere, having dogs come at us and all sorts of stuff. So the Macarena just for me is is not tied with I mean, again, I loved a lot of my time in Guatemala. H wonderful, fond memories of a lot of it. But this song, not one of those.
Eden
40:49
You know, that's fair. I I think it's uh a funny s it's a funny dance. It's funny to do the dance.
Peter
40:56
Yeah.
Eden
40:56
It's funny that in 2025 everyone still knows the dance.
Peter
41:00
It's true, it's true.
Eden
41:02
Um But yes, I do remember going to junior high dances and seeing a whole lot of people doing the Macarena.
Peter
41:09
Yeah, and I think I unfortunately skipped out on that because obviously in ninety-six I had graduated and so I was done with that. And by the time I was back in going to school in ninety seven and ninety-eight, I think that the the impetus to uh to do that dance at every function had passed. So I I managed to dodge that bullet.
Eden
41:28
Well, you d y uh it didn't have I'm surprised it didn't have quite the staying power that like the chicken dance did or things like that. Cause like, or the two claps this time, one clap this time, step to the right. Like Everyone knows those two, but they still get played when you go to like an event or whatever and everyone groans and then everyone goes and does the dance. They don't really play the Macarena at those events anymore.
Peter
41:53
No, no, they don't. Okay, well, let's see. My number seven is so I I don't feel like I'm having to throw myself on a grenade yet.
Eden
41:58
What are you taking? What's your number seven?
Peter
42:04
This is not a great song, but again, I kind of like it. And when I listen to it, I I I read it and I thought, I don't remember exactly what this is. And then as soon as I started listening to it, I thought, oh yeah, I got this one. And that is 1989's Look Away by Chicago.
Eden
42:20
You know, I I put that on the playlist, it started playing, and I said, What is this? And I did not recognize this song. I genuinely
Peter
42:27
Oh, yeah.
Eden
42:28
had no memory of ever having heard this song before. And I'm sure I did. It was the number one song of the year. Cause there are other ones that were on this list. I was like, I don't know what that is. And then it started playing and I said, Oh yeah, I guess I do know that song. I didn't know this song.
Peter
42:39
Yeah.
Eden
42:40
Genuinely I did not know this song.
Peter
42:40
Yeah. No, it is it is definitely not Chicago's best song by any stretch of the imagination.
Eden
42:48
No, it's not.
Peter
42:48
but it has that undeniable late eighties Chicago power ballad schmaltz to it, where again it just has enough of Chicago's DNA as kind of a rock band, though not always. I mean, they were kind of rock, kind of funk, kinda a lot of different things. But it's got enough of Chicago's DNA in there that it was gonna hit big on the AOR radio stations, uh but again being the power ballad, it's gonna get played on all your other top forty stations and stuff too, so. I remember hearing this song many a time.
Eden
43:24
Yeah. I bet
Peter
43:27
Okay, what's your number eight?
Eden
43:30
It's Ace of Basses the sign.
Peter
43:33
Okay.
Eden
43:33
It's not Ace of Basses' best song, but it's a good song, I guess, question mark.
Peter
43:39
Can I tell you my big problem with Ace of Bass? I remember hearing the name of the band Ace of Bass.
Eden
43:43
What's that?
Peter
43:46
And in my head, because I hadn't seen it, it was bass B-A-S-S, and I was expecting some real thumping drum bass kind of electronica stuff, and then I heard the sign and I thought. Well, this song certainly does not live up to my expectation.
Eden
44:02
Can I be honest with you that until you said this and I looked down at my phone and saw the way that it was spelled, I thought it was base B-A-S-S till this exact moment.
Peter
44:11
Uh-huh.
Eden
44:13
And I just thought it did not deliver on the promise of the name.
Peter
44:17
No, no, and that was the problem is you hear ace of bass and I want something. I want 19, let's see, what year was that again? 1994 is equivalent of dubstep.
Eden
44:26
Ninety four.
Peter
44:28
I want some filthy distorted electronic bass drops and and it's far from that.
Eden
44:28
Yeah, I want Yeah, yeah. It is far from that. But you know, it's there are worse things that I could hear on a 90s throwback playlist.
Peter
44:42
It is true. It is true. All right. Boy, we're really scraping the bottom of the barrel here.
Eden
44:47
The pickings are slim. The pickings are slim.
Peter
44:49
Okay, I I'm gonna feel bad doing it, but I'm gonna pick 1997's Candle in the Wind, Something About the Way You Look Tonight by Elton John.
Eden
44:58
How come it's both songs?
Peter
45:00
Because it was this there was a version of this, I believe, that was like a blend of the two songs.
Eden
45:10
Okay. The only version I could find was two separate songs, and I was like, I know one of these songs, and I guess I've heard the other one before. Question mark?
Peter
45:18
I'm I'm really picking Candle in the Wind.
Eden
45:21
The something about the way you look tonight, Half, I did not really recognize. But Candle in the Wind, it's fine. I prefer the version about Marilyn Monroe.
Peter
45:29
I do too. I do too. But you know, this was wasn't this one the uh Princess Diana.
Eden
45:37
It was. That's why he re-released it.
Peter
45:38
Yeah.
Eden
45:39
So of course it was 1997's biggest hit, even though it should have been Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On.
Peter
45:46
It should have been.
Eden
45:47
What has had more cultural staying power?
Peter
45:47
But I'll take that one. Oh, I mean, come on.
Eden
45:50
Let's be honest.
Peter
45:52
100%.
Eden
45:52
S Celine. Celine. I like Elton John. She ain't he's no Celine Dion.
Peter
45:58
It is true. It is true. Kay, what you got?
Eden
46:03
1998's Too Close by Next, just because I feel like it. It's that's the one that I was like, I don't know what this song is, and then it started playing, and I was like, oh. I guess I do know that song. I didn't know what next was, and I didn't know it was called Too Close, but I've heard this song many times in my life.
Peter
46:19
And see, that was the one uh well, look away was the one I saw, and I thought I cannot think of what this is. This was the one that I thought, I don't know that I know this, and then I listened to it and I said, I'm right, I don't know this.
Eden
46:33
Ah, this was year look away.
Peter
46:33
So this is the one that I never heard
Eden
46:36
Ah, well, I did. And I was like, oh yeah, that sounds fine. So it's on my list.
Peter
46:42
Okay. All right. Uh my number nine My number nine is uh I'm gonna go with 1982's Physical by Olivia Newton-John because somebody's gotta pick it.
Eden
46:52
Yeah, okay. Somebody's gotta pick it.
Peter
46:56
Somebody's gotta pick it.
Eden
46:56
Somebody's gotta pick it. It's not good. The thing is you listen to the first two. You're like, uh we're I put the in chronological order because I wanted to listen to it in chronological order. Starts with call me, and you're like Whoo, this is music, man.
Peter
47:09
Banger, yep.
Eden
47:11
This is music. You get to Betty Davis' eyes and you're like, okay, it's fine. Lots of vocal fry. It's not for me, but it's not a bad song. And then physical starts and you're like Let's get into physical? What does that mean, Olivia?
Peter
47:25
Uh-huh.
Eden
47:26
Let's get into physical? What does that mean? Why does The words don't make sense, lady.
Peter
47:29
Yeah, no idea
Eden
47:32
The words don't make sense.
Peter
47:35
Nope, they don't.
Eden
47:36
But what are you gonna do?
Peter
47:36
Okay, so this is real rough.
Eden
47:38
So it's down to two things.
Peter
47:38
There's there's we've got two we got two songs here.
Eden
47:40
It's we're down to two left, dear listeners. We've got 1986's That's What Friends Are For by Dion Warwick and a Thousand Other People. Which again, I thought to myself, what the hell is this? And then it started playing and I was like, oh, I don't care for this. Or 1992's End of the Road by Boys to Men, not Boys to Men's best song. a weak Boys to Men song in my humble IMO, but their number one hit from 1992.
Peter
48:03
No.
Eden
48:10
So of those two I guess I'll take the Dion Warwick song because, for one reason and one reason only, she's funny on Twitter. Or at least she used to be.
Peter
48:19
Okay
Eden
48:20
I don't know. I'm not on Twitter anymore. But back in the day, she was mean and funny on Twitter. So that gets the last pick for me, Dion, because you were mean and funny on twitter. com.
Peter
48:31
Okay. Alright. Well, then I I it it does, but I'll be honest, I kind of think the end of the road sucks too, but
Eden
48:33
Song does suck though. The song sucks. It does.
Peter
48:41
I'm gonna wrap up with my final pick because it's all that's left for me. I get Boys to Mend, Boys to Mend End of the Road.
Eden
48:48
Here's the thing, the whole time End of the Road was playing, I was just like. If you're gonna have an RB song about roads, where is Bone Thugs and Harmonies see you at the Cross Roads? A good song, a much better song than Boys to Men's End of the Road.
Peter
49:02
There you go. There you go.
Eden
49:04
Where is the bone thugs? This is the nineties. Where were the people why weren't the people listening to good music?
Peter
49:11
I mean, because it was the nineties.
Eden
49:13
Because it was the nineties.
Peter
49:13
The nineties. Current, maybe it's fading, but but this wave of nostalgia that seemed to be, you know, we fined we got it kind of got over the 80s nostalgia, and then it was people were getting into 90s nostalgia.
Eden
49:29
Yeah.
Peter
49:31
And I was like, no, no.
Eden
49:32
Yeah
Peter
49:33
I mean, for the most part. It was bad.
Eden
49:37
The thing about 90s nostalgia that's weird to me is that the there are parts of it that I think are really productive.
Peter
49:37
There was a lot of
Eden
49:43
Like The PS1 throwback indie game scene is doing incredible shit right now
Peter
49:48
Mm-hmm.
Eden
49:52
Those games where they're like, we've moved out of the Pixel era, we're into the Polygon era, we are making the weirdest games you couldn't play on the PS1, but they look and feel like
Peter
49:52
True
Eden
50:03
God, if you had told me this came out in 1998, I would believe you until I start playing it, and then I'm like, oh the games didn't move like that back then. This is incredible. You play pseudo regalia and you're like, wow. If if only, if only Mario 64 could jump half as good as this bunny.
Peter
50:18
Mm-hmm.
Eden
50:19
Uh but it looks cool. Like the polygon look. And so I like that we're kind of ruminating in this PS1 uh era. But the music? No. The music's not as good. The cars the cars suck.
Peter
50:32
Now, yep.
Eden
50:35
Uh the fashion's bad. I don't want to see lows r low rise jeans. I don't want to see anyone's uh little pelvic bones. I don't need to see no butt cracks. We're good. I don't want to see a single thong sticking out of a pant unless your name is Aaliyah and she's been dead for 25 years.
Peter
50:53
It's true, it's true she has.
Eden
50:55
Where's Aaliyah? Where's Tell Me Are You That Somebody on this list? What were we doing as a culture?
Peter
51:01
Uh we were doing bad things. We were making bad choices and we were doing bad things.
Eden
51:04
Clearly. Clearly.
Peter
51:07
So
Eden
51:07
That should have been on the list. Because you know what would have been my number one pick? Halia's Tell Me, Are You That Somebody? That's a good song. That's a really good song.
Peter
51:15
Well you know, I I look at my I look at my list of ten songs and I think, hey, there's four or five good songs in there.
Eden
51:22
You know, I feel the same about mine. Like like I said, it's about half real bangers and a couple stinkers and a couple like I guess that's a song that exists.
Peter
51:24
So Yep. Yep, pretty much.
Eden
51:31
But I'm happy with it. I'm happy with it
Peter
51:34
Very good. Well, we'll go ahead and wrap it up here then. As I said, you know, this time of year, we thought we'd just do some things a little bit more low-key, a little bit more fun and silly. Uh and we'll be back again in uh another two weeks probably. We'll figure out what we're doing around the uh new year holiday week. Uh
Eden
51:54
Yeah.
Peter
51:54
Well we'll we'll figure something out. But uh until then, thanks for listening, and go ahead, leave us a review, share it with somebody, uh get somebody to subscribe if they haven't.
Eden
51:56
Yeah
Peter
52:04
If you haven't and you just happen to come across us, we'd love it if you'd subscribe, and we'll be back in two weeks.
Eden
52:09
See ya