‘Semi-Charmed Life’ by Third Eye Blind and When Radio Edits are Cool

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[00:00:29] Hi everybody, Mark here from the future.

[00:00:34] So this podcast is actually the first thing Nicole and I ever recorded.

[00:00:40] And yeah, you're gonna notice the audio is a little clunkier, not quite up to our normal B-plus standard that you've come to love.

[00:00:50] So yeah, different microphones, different technique, different skill sets.

[00:00:54] We thought it was still pretty funny and fun and informative and wanted to let you all hear it.

[00:01:01] Nicole, do you swear in front of your kid?

[00:01:05] Do I swear in front of my kid?

[00:01:07] I do now because she's older, but when she was younger I would like sub out words.

[00:01:14] And sometimes they'd be silly, but then there are others that just kind of stuck.

[00:01:18] You mean like fudgesicle, that kind of thing?

[00:01:21] Or like fudge crackers.

[00:01:22] Fudge crackers.

[00:01:23] We would say sometimes.

[00:01:24] Or I would say frick a lot.

[00:01:27] Frick's good.

[00:01:28] Frick is good.

[00:01:29] But do you think we can like really swear on this podcast?

[00:01:32] You know, this episode I would say, children, don't listen to this episode.

[00:01:37] Some naughty speak on this one.

[00:01:38] Some no-no words.

[00:01:50] Hi, I'm Nicole.

[00:01:52] And I'm Mark and this is Nevermind the Music.

[00:01:54] What are we talking about today, Mark?

[00:01:55] Today we are talking about Third Eye Blind.

[00:01:59] Semi-Charmed Life.

[00:02:00] Do you remember this song?

[00:02:19] How could I not remember that song?

[00:02:21] How could you not?

[00:02:21] Yes, it...

[00:02:22] Incredible hook.

[00:02:22] You know what only hit number four?

[00:02:24] It feels like a number one single.

[00:02:26] This is 1997 when it came out.

[00:02:28] It feels like that would have been a...

[00:02:30] A song of the summer.

[00:02:31] That's like the song of the summer.

[00:02:32] Yeah, a song of the summer.

[00:02:33] Coming out in February, probably not going to be the song of the summer, but still worked.

[00:02:37] I mean, for me, this was like in the cracks between me being really into grunge and me

[00:02:41] being really into punk.

[00:02:42] So that kind of power pop alt rock definitely snuck in to me.

[00:02:47] I don't know.

[00:02:47] Where are we at with this song?

[00:02:49] I love it.

[00:02:50] It reminds me of summertime.

[00:02:51] I don't know.

[00:02:52] It's just the vibe of the song.

[00:02:53] I feel like it's so static in my brain to like pin me to a time and place in my life.

[00:02:58] I'm not super familiar with it though.

[00:03:01] Really?

[00:03:01] Yeah.

[00:03:02] You don't know every word?

[00:03:02] I don't know every word.

[00:03:04] Yeah, so you're one of them.

[00:03:05] It's a nice contrast to a lot of the other stuff in the era because it's a song about

[00:03:08] drug abuse that doesn't sound depressing.

[00:03:10] It sounds cheerful.

[00:03:12] Oh, I never even knew it was about drug abuse, I guess.

[00:03:15] I mean, literally they talk about using crystal meth.

[00:03:18] Oh.

[00:03:18] I mean, for me, this song was like also almost archetypal as when I was learning the guitar.

[00:03:25] Sure.

[00:03:26] Because it had three chords, even though he has the line, the four right chords could make

[00:03:31] me cry.

[00:03:31] It's three chord songs, the right exact chords to learn when you're not very good.

[00:03:36] And I would play this all the time with my friends and back when I was delusional enough

[00:03:42] to think I could get a date by playing the guitar and trying to sing.

[00:03:45] But what I want to talk about with this song is not the chords.

[00:03:50] It's not the hook.

[00:03:51] It's radio edits.

[00:03:54] Yeah.

[00:03:54] Do you have a take on radio edits?

[00:03:56] You know, the thing about radio edits, if you're not like a fan of them, like you wouldn't

[00:04:01] know that it's a radio edit because you're only used to the version you hear on the radio.

[00:04:06] And maybe I don't know this is a song about drug use because they must have to blur out

[00:04:11] crystal meth on the radio, right?

[00:04:13] Like, well, there's definitely that one line.

[00:04:21] And you, your innocent mind heard this probably.

[00:04:31] So they didn't even try that hard.

[00:04:32] Yeah.

[00:04:33] You just thought it was a sick 90s DJ spin, but it's not a dirty word.

[00:04:37] I mean, crystal and meth together or separate.

[00:04:39] I don't think they're on the list of the words you're not allowed to say on seven words.

[00:04:43] You can't.

[00:04:44] The George Carlin stick.

[00:04:45] I don't think crystal was one of those, but you know, I guess they were trying to make

[00:04:48] it less objectionable.

[00:04:50] But I don't even want to talk about that with this song.

[00:04:52] With this song, it's not the edit of the words crystal meth.

[00:04:55] It's when I think about radio edits, I would say there's a few different reasons you would

[00:05:00] make a radio edit to your album track.

[00:05:03] Yeah.

[00:05:03] Like if your songs eight minutes long, that's not going to work.

[00:05:06] Yeah.

[00:05:06] There's the length one.

[00:05:07] Unless it's seventies album oriented rock radio and you get to play the full version

[00:05:12] of a 25 minute yes song or whatever.

[00:05:14] Sure.

[00:05:15] Generally, you got to cut for length.

[00:05:16] So that's one of them.

[00:05:16] Yeah.

[00:05:17] Right.

[00:05:17] And so when I think of a cut for time, I think of something like this song that you may have

[00:05:23] remembered.

[00:05:34] Yeah.

[00:05:35] I think that's from like this really lesser known artist.

[00:05:39] Yeah.

[00:05:39] It's an indie artist.

[00:05:40] Yeah.

[00:05:41] Prince, of course, he did hit number one with that in 1984.

[00:05:44] Well, I would say most people would know the way the radio version ends, the single,

[00:06:01] the eighties fade out.

[00:06:02] I hate the fade out.

[00:06:03] You hate the fade out.

[00:06:04] I hate it.

[00:06:04] And it's such a great tune that it's just like has so much feeling behind it.

[00:06:08] And then just like it just fades out.

[00:06:10] So what is the extra minute and a half of the album version doing?

[00:06:14] We've got two kinds of things happening.

[00:06:16] First, some sick vocals and vocal harmony.

[00:06:18] And then if that's not masturbatory enough, we get a sick synth solo.

[00:06:31] I've literally never heard that.

[00:06:33] Never.

[00:06:33] You haven't listened to Purple Rain.

[00:06:34] Well, that's the thing.

[00:06:35] Like when you edit it, you lose the continuity of the album.

[00:06:38] Right.

[00:06:38] When you do the fade out.

[00:06:39] Yeah.

[00:06:40] I mean, plenty of, especially in the eighties, plenty of songs even on the album would have

[00:06:43] that fade out.

[00:06:43] But in this case, to me, this feels like a clear cut for time.

[00:06:46] I don't know that the jamming at the end is essential to the essence of this song.

[00:06:51] So it feels like cut that minute and a half.

[00:06:53] Keep this to a tight single length.

[00:06:55] Right.

[00:06:55] And I'm not going to say that the single version is better, but it's understandable to make

[00:07:00] a long song with an eighties synth solo more accessible just from the standpoint of time.

[00:07:06] A pure Prince fan is going to be so mad at that edit.

[00:07:10] Right.

[00:07:10] They're going to be like, you're losing so much content and so much like essential Prince

[00:07:15] vibes.

[00:07:15] Do people feel that way about semi-charmed kind of life?

[00:07:19] So the reason I chose this song, it connects back to this being a song that I learned to

[00:07:24] play when I was jamming with my friends or whatever.

[00:07:28] You get to this point in the middle of the song, what I would call the bridge of the song.

[00:07:32] So it's actually like an entire minute of music and nobody knows what to do with themselves.

[00:07:39] The person playing the guitar maybe knows the next section.

[00:07:43] The person singing along maybe knows a different version.

[00:07:46] And it's just confusing.

[00:07:47] There's so many different edits of this song that all existed in this bizarre ecosystem.

[00:07:54] Why?

[00:07:54] It all surrounds this one section.

[00:07:57] Now, granted, this is a little long.

[00:08:01] Bear with me.

[00:08:01] I'm going to play you like an entire minute of music.

[00:08:03] I guess I could say the bridge of this three chord song.

[00:08:16] All right.

[00:08:23] Still with me?

[00:08:40] We're getting there.

[00:08:59] I promise this is the last bit.

[00:09:01] It's just sort of this lump of three or four pieces of music between the middle chorus

[00:09:32] and that quiet chorus we just ended on.

[00:09:35] Sure.

[00:09:35] Do you remember this part of the song at all?

[00:09:37] I've never heard that.

[00:09:39] And actually, I think the lyrics are incredibly problematic.

[00:09:42] That's definitely there.

[00:09:43] And I think this is not the only third eye blind song where we could call that not even

[00:09:47] the only third eye blind song on that album that we could say that.

[00:09:49] Like no wonder they cut this out of the radio.

[00:09:51] They're not even saying crystal meth.

[00:09:52] We're Teresa and Nemo.

[00:10:01] And that's why we switched to Shopify.

[00:10:03] The platform, which we used before Shopify, has used regularly updates,

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[00:10:14] And the illustrations on the boards come now much clearer,

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[00:10:37] Okay, so let's talk about the different versions.

[00:10:39] All right.

[00:10:39] So there are at least three versions that were out there in the world at the same time.

[00:10:46] I'm not talking about remasters in the 2000s.

[00:10:48] I'm talking about when they were trying to sell this song.

[00:10:51] There's the album version, which you just heard.

[00:10:53] There's a radio edit with crystal meth.

[00:10:55] And then there's a radio edit with crystal meth being edited out.

[00:10:58] I guess, are you on the top 40 station or are you on the rock station, I guess?

[00:11:02] And then there's the music video, which is yet another length.

[00:11:06] Please follow me on this journey while considering which one has the most problematic lyrics.

[00:11:11] So you've heard the full album version.

[00:11:14] Just to remind you, the middle 10 seconds probably were like 20 seconds into the minute here.

[00:11:29] Okay, so he goes into that.

[00:11:31] The plane came in, she said she was crashing.

[00:11:33] Another drug reference.

[00:11:34] Yeah.

[00:11:34] This is what you heard on the radio.

[00:11:36] What you've heard probably, unless you were an MTV junkie.

[00:11:52] It's so nice.

[00:11:53] It goes right to the slow chorus, which was a whole like 45 seconds later.

[00:11:57] Sounds like you prefer that version.

[00:11:59] Well, I just never knew that this song was about drugs until like 20 minutes ago.

[00:12:03] Yeah.

[00:12:03] And now like, that's all I can hear because I'm hearing all these other versions.

[00:12:07] I'm like, oh shit.

[00:12:09] I never knew that.

[00:12:10] And I feel like a lot of my childhood innocence listening to this song is robbed now.

[00:12:15] He's talking about panties.

[00:12:16] That's gross.

[00:12:17] I need more.

[00:12:18] Tell me more.

[00:12:18] You've got that.

[00:12:19] The people like you, the civilians that don't have the album.

[00:12:23] Sure.

[00:12:23] That's the version they know.

[00:12:24] But then people watching MTV, they get this whole section.

[00:12:28] They get to hear this bit here.

[00:12:41] Right.

[00:12:42] So that's all exactly the same.

[00:12:43] They play that whole section until they get to this part.

[00:12:46] This is the album version at the end.

[00:13:06] I see you shaking your head.

[00:13:07] So yeah, you don't like that line.

[00:13:09] So take it up with Stephen Jenkins.

[00:13:10] He wrote the song.

[00:13:11] It's just so interesting because like, you know, when you talk about like codependence and drug use, like I never realized the song was so explicit about that.

[00:13:18] And it's like so explicit about like the romantic relationships that are tied up to like the ecological variables about drug use.

[00:13:27] And that's what this song is about.

[00:13:28] And I never knew that.

[00:13:31] Yeah.

[00:13:31] Well, that's the radio edit.

[00:13:32] Well, now if you're watching MTV, this is what happens in that section.

[00:13:49] Listen to that again.

[00:13:50] I hate this edit.

[00:13:52] Listen to the fade out and fade in that happens.

[00:14:06] It's just a cut.

[00:14:07] It doesn't solve any of the problematic stuff you talked about.

[00:14:10] No, cut it for time.

[00:14:12] So is it that the radio edit cuts for time and also cuts for content, but the MTV edit is only cutting for time?

[00:14:20] Well, I think the MTV edit is made to like be more sensational to get viewership, right?

[00:14:26] Like, wow, what's this version?

[00:14:27] Like, who's this girl?

[00:14:28] But there's no girl.

[00:14:29] There's no panties.

[00:14:30] The video is Stephen Jenkins walking around San Francisco and then cuts of the band looking all 90s playing in a garage or something.

[00:14:36] Yeah, they blew it.

[00:14:37] They should have had like they should have given a real accurate 90s description of like what addiction is.

[00:14:41] I think it would have saved a lot of people.

[00:14:43] Yeah.

[00:14:43] Is that I think to be clear, I think in the post Nirvana environment, there were many musical depictions of the dangers of drug abuse.

[00:14:52] Yeah.

[00:14:52] I don't know that the public service announcement was the primary.

[00:14:56] It might have been too soon after Kurt Cobain, too.

[00:14:59] Right.

[00:14:59] So which of these is the real version of the song?

[00:15:03] I mean, I think where I land beyond like musical merit when they wrote the song like in their grunged out garage wherever that is the real version.

[00:15:15] Like what before production came in before MTV came in before the sound engineers and edit it for radio like what they're I feel like the musicians intention is the real version.

[00:15:24] Well, that would be backed up by the fact we don't need to listen to it, but the demo version includes all of it.

[00:15:29] And then when they did the greatest hits album like a couple decades later, it's the full version.

[00:15:34] Right. So the musicians seem to like that version.

[00:15:37] But I don't know, sometimes a producer of record label makes a suggestion that could make a song better.

[00:15:42] Right. So I don't know that the artist's original intention is always best intention.

[00:15:46] Well, there's a lot of songs that like the artist's original intention was changed for a radio edit and arguably it's better in the radio edit.

[00:15:57] And we can get into some cases of that. But like, I think this is an interesting question.

[00:16:01] Like I'm thinking back to my guitar jam sessions or whatever when we get to that.

[00:16:05] And the plant came in. She said she was done.

[00:16:08] And like I'm looking at the other dude or lady I'm singing with going, you don't know this part.

[00:16:12] We can't do it. And there's this idea of like the clash of the expectation of what I'm hearing in my head and what they're hearing in their head.

[00:16:21] Which of us thinks we have the right of it?

[00:16:24] So in our interactions, we usually think that our opinion is right.

[00:16:29] Like that's our baseline. Like you're not wrong until someone comes and tells you you're wrong.

[00:16:34] You'll just walk around thinking that I'm like today.

[00:16:36] I walked around my whole life thinking I knew this version of the song.

[00:16:40] And it wasn't until you told me that there's so much more to it that I realized like I was wrong.

[00:16:45] Very wrong about what the song was about, about the intention of the artist, like all of it.

[00:16:49] So yeah, we definitely as humans have a tendency to believe that our version of the story is the correct version.

[00:16:55] The kids call it like the main character syndrome.

[00:16:58] Oh, yeah.

[00:16:59] Or in sociology and social psych, we would call it like the spotlight effect almost.

[00:17:03] That like you think that you're in the spotlight all the time and that everyone's looking at you for the baseline.

[00:17:10] But like reality is we're all in our own spotlights.

[00:17:13] Right.

[00:17:13] So there's a lot of like sociological constructs with being right.

[00:17:17] Right. And I think there would be socially accepted correct answers to depending on the band.

[00:17:21] How many people did we make mad by even considering the notion of the original version not being perfect on this song or something like that, for example. Right.

[00:17:29] And you get into like the fandom of it.

[00:17:31] Right. Like who's the real third eye blind fan?

[00:17:34] Who's the real Prince fan?

[00:17:36] Yeah.

[00:17:37] And it becomes a kind of like in group out group.

[00:17:39] Right. Which is another psychosocial term, meaning like the people in the in group are the people that know the real answer.

[00:17:45] And everyone else is like losers that don't really know the real story.

[00:17:49] So, OK, we've been talking about edits for, you know, accessibility, maybe a little bit of problematic lyrics.

[00:17:57] But let's be honest, most of the radio edits to hear are for swearing. Right.

[00:18:01] Yeah. And I think you wanted to bring in some examples of tunes that you thought were worth talking about to see, like how we all perceive the good and bad versions of a song based on whether they have adult content or not.

[00:18:15] Sure. Like I really am interested in Cee Lo Green's Forget You.

[00:18:21] Right. Can we do have a clip of that?

[00:18:22] You want to hear just to be clear, forget you.

[00:18:25] I want to hear forget you. I want to hear like what we hear on the radio when we hear that song.

[00:18:29] OK. Nice.

[00:18:37] I think for the people, the people who don't know the album version, should we?

[00:18:42] Yes.

[00:18:50] Nicole, I get sense that you're about to drop a controversial and maybe unpopular opinion.

[00:18:55] A hot take. I love the radio edit of this song.

[00:18:58] I think Forget You is so much more dynamic and has so much more nuance and so much more like depth somehow than the explicit fuck you version.

[00:19:09] Especially when you think of the whole vibe of this song, like the swear in there, like it just hits so hard that it doesn't match.

[00:19:15] I mean, I'm not a musical theorist by any means, but I know enough about music to know that the vibe of that song is so happy and so like affirming that to have that fuck you in there.

[00:19:26] It just seems like such it's so biting. It like takes you off guard.

[00:19:29] So I love Forget You. I think it's softer. I think it's like more in line with the tone of the song. Like I'm moving on. I don't have any hard feelings. I'm letting you go and letting you go with love like that vibe.

[00:19:42] And that matches the rest of the song for me. And when you hear the fuck you version, it's just like, whoa, CeeLo, like you're pissed still, huh?

[00:19:49] I am not going to take a side on which no, no, I'm going to come down on the I think the original probably is better. But I have to say there is something better about a musical word that's very fun to say.

[00:20:00] Forget instead of this in the radio edit if they bleeped it out or they did a back mask like on the crystal meth line or they just left it silent. That's not good music anymore.

[00:20:11] No. And I think Forget You is just better music.

[00:20:15] Well, there is something about the the get that's a very percussive fuck. Fs are fun. The K is really fun. But K is at the end of the word.

[00:20:25] Whereas there's something propulsive about forget that you can get and squeeze out the high note. It's pretty satisfying.

[00:20:31] And it's like funner to sing. Like when you're singing the song in your car, it's funner to sing Forget You for me anyway.

[00:20:37] The thing about this song music theory wise, if I could use that term, which I probably shouldn't because it's not really appropriate.

[00:20:42] It has a very interesting chord progression that's very simple, but actually has a lot of cool lessons behind it.

[00:20:48] And that means I'll from time to time bring this up in my music theory classes.

[00:20:52] Cool.

[00:20:52] And I have this moment where I have to make a choice when I'm about to sit at the piano and oh, yeah, you all remember this song?

[00:20:58] It's got this cool chord progression that goes one, two. And I'm about to sing it.

[00:21:02] And I go, am I going to be that professor that's making a big deal about dropping an F-bomb in the middle of my class?

[00:21:08] Ha ha. Professor made an F-bomb.

[00:21:10] Or am I going to be that dad who's censoring himself and saying, forget as the students all look at me and shake their head in shame?

[00:21:19] And it's this moral crisis I experience whenever I want to bring this song up.

[00:21:23] So I actually asked my students yesterday because I was just warming up for class and I was trying to get them talking a little bit.

[00:21:31] And I was telling them about this project we're working on together.

[00:21:34] And I said, you know, we're talking about edits and songs.

[00:21:36] And I asked, is there a song that, you know, that's been edited for the radio?

[00:21:40] And like, let's talk about it.

[00:21:41] And they brought up this song.

[00:21:43] And when they did, I asked them, I was like, what version do you like better?

[00:21:48] And all of them said the fuck you version.

[00:21:49] Right.

[00:21:50] No one was like, and I, and then they said that out loud.

[00:21:53] That's the clinical correct answer, I would say.

[00:21:54] It's the correct.

[00:21:55] Do you?

[00:21:55] I think if you're, if you're a 20 something college student, you have to answer that way.

[00:21:59] I think that's the social, we talked about socially acceptable versions.

[00:22:04] That's the socially acceptable version.

[00:22:05] The fuck you version.

[00:22:05] If you're with a bunch of college students in college class.

[00:22:07] Because they want to be like, I mean, developmentally learners of that age.

[00:22:11] It's important for them to be edgy and real.

[00:22:14] And like, they don't have the dichotomous thinking yet that they can say like both versions are good.

[00:22:19] They're just different.

[00:22:20] Like they have to land on one side of it.

[00:22:22] And yeah, I was surprised.

[00:22:23] But the swearing in class, it's always a tricky thing.

[00:22:26] Like, how do you approach that?

[00:22:28] And I think that, you know, I'm not a teacher that radio edits themselves in the classroom.

[00:22:34] Yeah, I think maybe a well, a well-placed naughty word can wake the class up.

[00:22:40] We say a no-no word.

[00:22:41] A no-no word.

[00:22:42] That's the sociological term.

[00:22:44] Yeah, it's important to remember that.

[00:22:46] I think it is fun having the artist do multiple versions instead of just have a sound engineer edit it.

[00:23:11] You know, the Gale tune, ABCD, EFU that came out in 2022.

[00:23:15] There's like a million versions of that song.

[00:23:16] Right.

[00:23:17] So I guess we could say the original version, though there's at least four versions now.

[00:23:21] Goes like this.

[00:23:47] So obviously there's a clean version, right?

[00:23:49] And that's the version you'd hear on the radio in most cases, I would think.

[00:24:17] Like, it's interesting that we're seeing that like forget you swap out again.

[00:24:21] You think it's an homage?

[00:24:22] I feel like.

[00:24:24] This is knowable.

[00:24:25] I bet we could have Googled this before we start the episode.

[00:24:27] But like, it's fun to speculate.

[00:24:29] Like, is it an homage or is it just like, oh, shit, I need a clean version.

[00:24:33] And this is what CeeLo did.

[00:24:34] So I'll just do that too.

[00:24:35] Right.

[00:24:36] Sure, sure, sure.

[00:24:36] Is it just like an easy way out?

[00:24:37] It's the go-to, yeah.

[00:24:39] There's more than just that in the song that changes.

[00:24:41] Like, she changes a lot of lyrics in the clean version.

[00:24:45] But then there's like an even softer version than the clean version.

[00:24:49] The chill version and the angrier version?

[00:24:51] Yeah, let's hear the chill version.

[00:25:18] Mark, what do you think about that version?

[00:25:21] Do you like it?

[00:25:23] I mean, it feels almost like a cover, right?

[00:25:25] It feels like a different.

[00:25:26] It doesn't have that kind of power pop, pop punk kind of thing.

[00:25:29] It's fine.

[00:25:30] It feels a little weird to me.

[00:25:32] I hate it, man.

[00:25:32] You hate it?

[00:25:33] It just like takes all the steam out of it.

[00:25:36] Well, have you heard the angrier version?

[00:25:37] Do you like the angrier version?

[00:25:38] I haven't heard the angrier version.

[00:26:05] But the only lyrical change there is instead of F you, she says fuck you.

[00:26:10] She says fuck you.

[00:26:10] And then there's a lot of distorted guitars.

[00:26:12] There's like, I don't know if instrumental change is the right word.

[00:26:14] For sure, yeah.

[00:26:15] But like the composition of the song is different, right?

[00:26:17] Yeah, sure.

[00:26:17] So I like the clean version just because I'm used to listening to that with my kid.

[00:26:22] And there's something about my daughter like being empowered and being like, no, I don't

[00:26:26] need you.

[00:26:27] I'm going to move on.

[00:26:28] Like, I love hearing those words from her little mouth.

[00:26:31] Like, I love that.

[00:26:32] Then when she turned on to the original version and the swears, it landed for me different

[00:26:38] hearing her say like, fuck you.

[00:26:40] I'm a Beatles fan.

[00:26:42] I'm a sucker for a good play on words.

[00:26:44] And the A, B, C, D, E, F, U is amazing.

[00:26:48] And it's totally undermined by the forget you, though.

[00:26:50] So I get it.

[00:26:51] I also like this opportunity to make sure our listening audience knows that I'm the cooler,

[00:26:55] more edgy of the two of us.

[00:26:58] Oh, yeah, clearly.

[00:27:00] Though you're probably more no-no words in your classes than in mine.

[00:27:03] Yeah, I think that's a safe bet.

[00:27:05] You know, this song made me think of being in the car with my daughter.

[00:27:09] If I said Kidz Bop, what's the first thing that comes to mind for you?

[00:27:13] Making myself throw up in the bathroom.

[00:27:15] Yeah, it's pretty much the worst.

[00:27:17] But Kidz Bop, for our listeners that don't know, is a group of rotating menudo-like children,

[00:27:25] right?

[00:27:26] They change them out as they grow up, that they play radio hits, but they scrub them for

[00:27:31] like a kid audience.

[00:27:32] So you're not here and fuck you, CeeLo Green, on Kidz Bop.

[00:27:36] It is very much Forget You, and they're changing a lot of lyrics to make it a little bit much

[00:27:41] more vanilla for a kid audience.

[00:27:42] So when Lizzo's Truth Hurts came out...

[00:27:51] My daughter was like primetime pop music listening age, and we only listened to Kidz Bop.

[00:28:00] So when I heard Truth Hurts for the first time, it was the Kidz Bop version.

[00:28:04] But if we hear the original, the Lizzo version, a couple lines from the first verse of the

[00:28:09] song right at the beginning.

[00:28:11] I just took a DNA test.

[00:28:13] Turns out I'm 100% that bitch.

[00:28:16] Even when I'm crying crazy.

[00:28:17] Yeah, I got boy problems.

[00:28:19] That's the human in me.

[00:28:26] Nicole, are you ready?

[00:28:28] Let's do it.

[00:28:28] I'm ready.

[00:28:29] I just took a DNA test.

[00:28:31] Turns out I'm 100% that kid.

[00:28:34] Even when I'm crying crazy.

[00:28:35] Yeah, I got some problems.

[00:28:37] That's the human in me.

[00:28:38] Bling, bling.

[00:28:39] Then I saw them.

[00:28:40] That's the goddess in me.

[00:28:41] You could have had a good...

[00:28:44] I laugh so much when I hear the Lizzo version because I remember I was in class.

[00:28:50] I had just heard the Lizzo version for the first time.

[00:28:54] And I had always been staring at this girl's computer, and they have all the stickers on

[00:28:57] the computers now, these kids.

[00:28:59] Yeah.

[00:28:59] Yeah.

[00:29:00] And she had a sticker that said 100% that bitch.

[00:29:03] And I was like, what a funny sticker to have.

[00:29:05] And I spent my whole semester wondering, what is that about?

[00:29:08] You need a sticker that says 100% that kid, Nicole.

[00:29:12] Well, I mean, yes.

[00:29:13] 100% that kid, yeah.

[00:29:13] And then I heard the Lizzo song, and I was like, oh, that's what she's talking about.

[00:29:19] Like, that's smart.

[00:29:20] And that's a great line.

[00:29:21] I mean, the Lizzo version is, surprise, 100 times better than the kids' pop version.

[00:29:26] All right.

[00:29:26] Okay, good.

[00:29:27] I've been holding my breath.

[00:29:28] All right, good.

[00:29:28] We can agree on that.

[00:29:30] But kids' pop does that to a lot of songs that are just simply not kids' boppable.

[00:29:34] Yeah.

[00:29:34] The thing that I don't get about this, the thing that gets me about kids' pop, and I'm

[00:29:38] not hating on all children music.

[00:29:40] I've had to sit through years of kids' music and driving my kids around.

[00:29:44] But the fact that you have radio versions already of these pop songs.

[00:29:50] Sure, like, maybe some of it still is suggested, but a lot of the kids' pop songs already have

[00:29:56] Forget You existing.

[00:29:58] Like, they don't need to have a song with, in most of the cases, completely tame lyrics sung

[00:30:03] by a 12-year-old.

[00:30:04] Why does my daughter and my son need to hear a song sung by a 12-year-old?

[00:30:08] Can't they just sing a song by a grown woman or a grown man?

[00:30:12] Or, in some cases, the song might be actually from a teenager, right?

[00:30:16] Like, if it's a Selena Gomez song or whatever, or an early Bieber tune.

[00:30:19] Like, it's so superfluous, right?

[00:30:23] I don't know.

[00:30:23] It's a way to not have to pay master sync licensing, I guess, and sell some records, I guess.

[00:30:28] Maybe, but they, like, tour and stuff.

[00:30:31] Yeah.

[00:30:31] Like, I've seen kids' pop live, buddy.

[00:30:33] Imagine that concert.

[00:30:35] Oh, my God.

[00:30:35] No, I kind of don't want to.

[00:30:37] I want to hear who's, like, the next...

[00:30:41] Maybe this has already happened.

[00:30:42] A kids' pop alum that then becomes a superstar on themselves.

[00:30:47] Or, like, a famous film or stage actor or actress or something like that.

[00:30:51] I'm not sure.

[00:30:51] I think kids' pop is, like, the B-list Disney kids.

[00:30:55] You know?

[00:30:55] Oh.

[00:30:56] I don't think...

[00:30:57] I wonder.

[00:30:58] You know, someone Google it.

[00:30:59] I think that that's an interesting question.

[00:31:01] So, here I am.

[00:31:01] I'm casting so much shade at the producers and creators of kids' pop.

[00:31:05] You're assaulting the kids.

[00:31:07] How dare they?

[00:31:08] You're like, how dare these kids make money?

[00:31:11] They're supposed to be bored in middle school or whatever.

[00:31:14] I mean, I spend most of the pandemic watching kids' pop videos and learning choreography

[00:31:19] in my living room.

[00:31:20] Wow.

[00:31:21] Okay.

[00:31:21] We all had to do unspeakable things to get through those few years.

[00:31:25] We can never talk about it again.

[00:31:26] Edit it out.

[00:31:27] So, yeah.

[00:31:28] What's the...

[00:31:28] That's right.

[00:31:30] There's different versions and everybody's going to have their own favorite as long as

[00:31:34] we all agree the kids' pop version is not the preferred version.

[00:31:37] It's not it.

[00:31:37] And I think the in-group out-grouping that happens with edits of songs is so visceral.

[00:31:44] People have strong opinions.

[00:31:46] I mean, even us, we agree on a lot of things and we're disagreeing.

[00:31:50] Yeah.

[00:31:51] You're about to throw punches about this semi-charmed life situation.

[00:31:54] Yeah, I don't know.

[00:31:55] Now I'm finding myself second-guessing my teenage self.

[00:31:59] I don't know.

[00:32:00] So, okay.

[00:32:00] We got to end with the most important thing.

[00:32:02] Okay.

[00:32:02] Who's the best children's band or children's music artist?

[00:32:08] What do you got?

[00:32:10] You know, this is going to be a long answer.

[00:32:13] I have a lot of opinions.

[00:32:14] Okay.

[00:32:14] We got time.

[00:32:15] Okay.

[00:32:15] I really like the Wiggles, but not the old Wiggles.

[00:32:19] Like the new Wiggles.

[00:32:20] You like the new Wiggles?

[00:32:21] The new Wiggles.

[00:32:39] Are there any still, like old Wiggles still in the Wiggles?

[00:32:42] The blue Anthony.

[00:32:43] Anthony.

[00:32:44] The blue Wiggle.

[00:32:45] The hype man.

[00:32:45] The flavor-flav of the Wiggles, right?

[00:32:47] He is the hype man of the Wiggles.

[00:32:48] But what I really like is that the yellow Wiggle and Lockie, who's I think the purple Wiggle,

[00:32:56] they like met on the Wiggles, dated, got married, and divorced all through production of the Wiggles.

[00:33:04] So when you watch the show, you can like see that vibe.

[00:33:08] Like you can see their courtship and how they're kind of flirty with each other.

[00:33:12] And then you can see like them being mad.

[00:33:13] Are there like breakup songs, Wiggles breakup songs now?

[00:33:16] I don't think so.

[00:33:16] We had to stop watching it because my kid started talking with an Australian accent because she was just learning to talk when we got into it.

[00:33:22] So I had to pull the plug on that.

[00:33:24] That's a fate worse than death.

[00:33:25] Yeah, it was just really problematic.

[00:33:27] Shout out to the Aussies.

[00:33:28] I actually love y'all.

[00:33:30] Lockie, if you're listening, give me a call, buddy.

[00:33:33] I'm on Team Lockie.

[00:33:34] You got his side.

[00:33:35] All right.

[00:33:35] So I've got an answer.

[00:33:37] I'm going to shout out Chris Bilyeu.

[00:33:39] Do you know who that is?

[00:33:40] No.

[00:33:40] I might be saying his name wrong.

[00:33:41] Do you remember the presidents of the United States of America?

[00:33:43] Oh, yeah.

[00:33:44] Like the Peaches.

[00:33:45] Peaches.

[00:33:45] So good.

[00:33:46] Lump.

[00:33:47] I'm moving to the country.

[00:33:49] I'm going to eat a lot of peaches.

[00:33:58] Yeah, that's really it.

[00:33:59] A couple great albums.

[00:34:00] He is a children's musician now named Casper Baby Pants.

[00:34:05] And it's like legitimately good.

[00:34:07] It sounds like the presidency of the United States of America, except made in one guy's living room or something like that without the rest of the band.

[00:34:14] And he's got guest musicians.

[00:34:15] It's like legitimately sometimes I feel like it's Stockholm syndrome where like I'm listening to kids music and I realize, oh, my God, I'm starting to like it.

[00:34:23] No, with this stuff, I'm like, no, actually, it's good.

[00:34:25] But I like this legitimately.

[00:34:27] And I'm sure there's going to be come a day when my kids are too old for kids music.

[00:34:30] I'm going to bump some Casper Baby Pants and I'm not going to be ashamed of it.

[00:34:34] I found you.

[00:34:35] I found you.

[00:34:36] Two times two is four.

[00:34:38] I found you.

[00:34:39] I found you.

[00:34:40] Now let's go find some more.

[00:34:42] I found you.

[00:34:43] Yeah, I definitely like secretly in my car, like my kid will get out of the car and then I'm driving 45 minutes and I'm still listening.

[00:34:51] To Toot Toot Chugga Chugga or whatever.

[00:34:52] Yeah.

[00:35:02] Nevermind the Music is hosted by Nicole Thatcher and me, Mark Poppany.

[00:35:05] I also produce.

[00:35:06] Please be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating and a review.

[00:35:09] And let us know what you think on social media.

[00:35:11] We're Never Music Pod on all major platforms.

[00:35:14] You can also send us an email at nevermusicpod at gmail.com.

[00:35:18] Every so often we'll do a mailbag episode where we answer all your burning questions.

[00:35:22] So please send them in.

[00:35:24] Thanks for listening.

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