Dizzy Heights #77: Conjunction Junction, Vol. I

This idea started where all good ideas start: in the shower.

Originally, this was going to be nothing but songs that start with ‘If,’ but I ultimately decided to mix things up. You will notice, though, that ‘if’ rules the roost, at least in this installment. Pretty sure I’ll be bringing this one back for a second tour of duty.

NINE artists make their Dizzy Heights debut this week, including two Rock and Roll Hall of Famers and an alt-rock giant that’s been a radio mainstay for almost three decades. I would argue that they’re a wildly inconsistent mainstay, but a mainstay just the same.

Thank you, as always, for listening.

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Dizzy Heights #76: The Cuervo Gold, The Fine Colombian – Songs with Greetings and Salutations

Hello! Goodbye. Welcome! Hey. Goodnight. Bye! One of those six words appears in every song in this show (and in three cases, two or three of them appear). It is that simple.

I am not deep.

Yes, it’s true: I talk about editing one of these songs down from its monstrous run time, then listened to it again, and realized I could cut another 35 seconds and create a better edit, even though the “better” edit still sticks out like a sore thumb to me. It’s my “Strawberry Fields Forever.” Beatles fans nod knowingly. So does my wife, who gets that reference against her wishes.

Thank you, as always, for listening.

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Dizzy Heights #75: Zipperhead – ‘Girl’ Songs

No joke, I’ve been sitting on this idea since my last Name That Tune quiz at Popdose, which was *checks notes* a little over 11 years ago. So, this idea is slightly younger than my youngest child. Who’s in middle school. Man, I think I need to lie down for a minute.

My apologies for the delay. This show was originally supposed to go live the week of January 14, but…some things happened. Disappointing things, which I will explain, possibly to my detriment. I regret nothing.

Thank you, as always, for listening.

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The Popdose Interview: Terri Nunn (2020)

A zeptosecond may officially be the shortest unit of measure of time, but in reality, the shortest measure of time is 15 minutes with Berlin singer Terri Nunn. Within seconds, interviews with Terri stop being interviews and become conversations – case in point: when we interviewed Nunn in 2013, we talked about Berlin, but also talked about Devo, Prince, Giorgio Moroder, Andrew Eldridge, Kylie Minogue, The Psychedelic Furs, Thompson Twins, Trevor Horn, and Kraftwerk – but with only 15 minutes, one must stick to the script, as it were. In this instance, the script was discussing Berlin signing with August Day Records to make the playful and gorgeous orchestral album Strings Attached. Oh, and two core members of the original band have since returned to the fold. Terri Nunn and Berlin are in a very good place.

But before we begin, she has a question. A 100% in-character question.

Hey, before you record, are we allowed to curse? Because one interview I did this morning. I did. And I thought, uh oh, I didn’t ask.

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Dizzy Heights #74: ‘Boy’ Songs

Not to be confused with Show #70, Alt-Rock Songs About Boys. Those songs referred to people by name. This one is just songs with ‘Boy’ in the title.

I’ve been sitting on a ‘Girl’ show since Show #1, but decided to put it off one more time and, um, do the boys instead. Now that it’s end of my fourth year doing this, it felt like it was time to finally pull the trigger.

Also, these are really easy shows to research.

It starts off a bit predictably, but by the sixth song or so, it starts to go sideways, as my shows often do.

My apologies to Pete Townshend, whom I completely forgot to mention when talking about the first set.

Thank you, as always, for listening.

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Dizzy Heights #73: Songs About Songs

Features Ben Folds Five, Dan Wilson, R.E.M., The Candyskins, Joe Jackson, and more

*wakes up from three-month slumber* So, what did I miss?

You know what, don’t answer that.

This is an idea I’ve been knocking around for years. I’m sure my friend Ed came up with it, but Mike is the one who reminded me. I’m also sure that The Show About…did this, and better, but I’m too scared to look. Maybe I’ll take a peek at his library now that I’ve finished my show. Can’t cheat off of him after I’ve turned in my test.

Thank you, as always, for listening.

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Dizzy Heights #72: Good/Better/Best

Features Basement Jaxx, Utah Saints, Was (Not Was), Stardust, Daft Punk, and a bunch of other stuff that doesn’t remotely resemble those five acts. Like, Arctic Monkeys are after that.

Aaaaaaaand we’re back! Well, for now, anyway.

I’ll be honest, I don’t think I will be keeping any sort of reliable schedule while we’re in lockdown, but this idea, surely given to me by my friend Ed, was too good to sit on for long. I had some free time, so I went for it. I am clearly out of practice on a mic, though, that much is clear. So why didn’t I just re-record the bits, then? Excellent question. *walks away*

Thank you, as always, for listening.

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The Karen Mixes, Part 4: More Beats

Includes The Cure, Thomas Dolby, Captain Sensible, Tom Tom Club, Sinead O’Connor, and more

You might recognize some of the segues here. I’ve used several of them before in other mixes for other people (my wife’s high school reunion mixes, mainly), but I’ve never done them for Karen, so they seemed like fair game.

If you liked Karen Vol. I: Beats, odds are you will enjoy this one, too.

There will be a Volume 5, but I may not finish that one for a while, ‘cuz, you know.

Thanks for listening!

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Dizzy Heights Live 6/6/20: The 1985 Show

Dizzy Heights has been quiet, but it has not been idle.

In late April, I received my own Zoom account through work, and hatched a plan: I will host a night of music, take requests, and spin tunes. The first night was a free-for-all (I’ll be posting it soon), but the most fun shows so far were time-specific. First I did 1987, then I did 1981-1983 (but cheated like crazy). Then I thought about 1985, and what a dramatic shift it was for modern rock. I had another 90 minutes worth of music to play when I ended it.

The requests are what made this show so good. My friends threw fantastic ideas at me, things that were not at all on my radar.

The set list here is the same, but I used different mixes in some instances (and added Ian McShane to the front of the Grace Jones track, where he belongs). This is far better than what I did live.

Thank you, as always, for listening.

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Dizzy Heights Live 5/16/20: The 1987 Show

Features The System, Frozen Ghost, Bourgeois Tagg, Rock & Hyde, Julian Cope, The Other Ones, and more.

Hang a sign up on the door, indeed.

This was the third live show I had done, and the first one to be time-specific. The original plan was that I’d start in 1987, and see where it went from there. But after a while, I committed to the idea, which would explain why the end gets a little weird.

I also had to get creative. A few of these songs were released in album form in 1986, but not released as singles in the US until 1987 (ahem, Level 42). I also used a mix of a song that wasn’t released until 1988. Following on the heels of the previous song, it would have been negligent to do otherwise.

Thank you, as always, for listening. Next up: 1979-1982. Think First Wave, but adjacent to First Wave, mostly.

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