Episode 99

Welcome to Songs That Don’t Suck with your host, Mark Bradbourne.

What is up, friends? Welcome to episode 99 of Songs That Don’t Suck. My name is Mark, and every week I listen to three to 500 songs sometimes more in the hopes to find a handful of songs that don’t suck to my Gen X ears. If you’re a Gen X, you know the struggle of finding new music. For those of you who still search for it, for those of you who don’t search for it, what’s your problem? Let’s go. Anyway, I’ve got songs for you this week, but before I do that, there was an event that we need to discuss.

Now, if you are a Spotify subscriber, you have an account there, you’ve listened to music there, you got the Spotify wrapped this past week. Now, at its heart, the Spotify wrapped is a huge, likely viral moment of marketing, and it has grown since the first one back in 2016. Now, we, the listeners of Spotify, this service, whether we pay for it or we’re on the free tier, we in turn become free labor marketing minions who execute this massive campaign on their behalf. How massive? In 2020, there was a 461% increase in the volume of posts on Twitter. 425 million posts in three days. It’s huge. And the question with any good marketing campaign is did it move the needle for us? Well, yes, it did. In 2021, Spotify app downloads jumped 20%. Now, when the rap hit, we were all excited. We were excited probably for about five minutes. And then we realized that some of the cool stats that we had gotten in the past were suddenly gone. Easy ones, top genres, top albums. You know, the Soundtown I thought was super cool to know what town had the same listening that I did, that’s cool stuff. There was a bit of a miss this year with Wrapped. We did get this weird AI podcast that basically recapped word for word, our RAPT. And then for some of us, we may have noticed that the Wrapped top five artists and songs didn’t feel right. And I have a theory as to why. Now, you may only see this phenomenon if you have a healthy mix when it comes to your artists. I have a very solid mix of big artists and small artists. Now, if you listen to purely obscure bands, like those with less than 50,000 active listeners on a month, you probably won’t see this. And if you only listen to huge bands, again, you probably won’t see this. But if you happen to find something different after I explain what’s going on, let me know. Now, my top five artists per Spotify RAPT were The Struts, Barnes Courtney, Dream Theater, Taylor Swift, and Fish and a Birdcage. So there were a couple of artists that I was like, I listened to them a bunch. As much as I listened to The Struts and Barnes Courtney, I listened to these other bands. So I went and requested my extended listening data from Spotify, which anybody can do because it’s your data. They provide access to it. Granted, it comes in a JSON file, which can be hard to deal with, but you can, promise. If you go to manage your account on the website, go to Privacy. There is a spot there where you can request your data if you want to try and play with this.

So I got the data. I filtered it down to what I call the Wrapped window, which is January 1st through November 1st, roughly. And my top five artists were The Struts, Dream Theater, Barnes-Courtney, Taylor Swift. And then in fifth place should have been The Wild Feathers. In sixth place should have been The Bites. In seventh place, we then find Fish and a Birdcage. Now, the top five artists were worse and made less sense. According to Wrapped, my top five tracks for the year were Vampire Disco by Friday Pilots Club, Give Me a Reason by Swim School, Dark Matter by Pearl Jam, and How Can I Love You by The Struts. And the fifth one was Pretty Vicious, also by The Struts. So two Strut songs. Now, according to the data, my actual top five are Pull Me Under by Dream Theater, Pretty Vicious by The Struts, Do Me a Favor by The Bites, How Can I Love You by The Struts, and then Vampire Disco. So my number one song was actually number five. What the fuck? Like, this is not hard.

Now, here’s my theory. Now, as artists go, I follow a lot, and I see them repost their fans’ social media posts when they tag them as their top artists for whatever reason, right? And what artist doesn’t want to encourage that because it’s advertising for them, and it makes the fans feel great when they interact with your social media posts. Now, if I was Spotify, and I’ve got this viral marketing campaign, I want to maximize reach. So would I want smaller artists to be tagged in these posts or larger ones? Larger ones, of course. So I started looking at audience size for my top five artists. Now, every one of them listed in my Wrapped have more than 1 million active monthly listeners. Struts, Dream Theater, Barnes Courtney, Taylor Swift, Fish and a Birdcage all have over 1 million listeners. The two artists that got skipped in my top five, The Wild Feathers, 65,000 monthly listeners. The Bites, less than 10,000 monthly listeners. So it is my theory that bands with these smaller listener faces were weighted out of Wrapped in some cases in favor of larger artists so that they would get more clicks and engagements and interactions. If this is the case, it’s not very data-driven of you, Spotify. It’s downright distasteful and just a bit dishonest. And I’m not a fan of it. Now, when it came to the songs, I don’t really see– I don’t understand why it’s so epically wrong. Friday Pilots Club is some– they are sub 1 million listeners. They’re 870,000 listeners. Swim School is small. They’re 56,000. Pearl Jam and the Struts fit my artist theory. They’re obviously over a million each. But why skip over Dream Theater, considering, A, it was my top track, and they fit the artist mold? It wasn’t even close. But we skipped the Bites. It doesn’t make any sense. Crap, because everybody makes a big deal about Wrapped. And I want my Wrapped to be accurate. And it’s not like this is difficult to do. Once I had my data, I had my answer in a matter of seconds. And yeah, I know Spotify has millions of listeners, but you programmatically can set this stuff up. I know. Just be honest.

Report what I’m listening to, damn it.

OK, let’s get into the new music for this, the 99th episode of Songs That Don’t Suck.

The first song this week is Universal Truths by Low Coast. OK, before I get into this song, I’ve got a thing that I don’t know if I’m enjoying or not. I’ve noticed a trend in newly released music that the first words out of the singer’s mouth are the title of the song. And I think there’s part of me that misses the mystery of what the chorus sounds like or why the name of the song is X, because it shows up in X. And then sometimes the title doesn’t even show up in the lyrics. I like that little bit of mystery. It just engaged me. You know, and I miss that. But anyway, I digress. When Universal Truths hit my ears, I was instantly reminded of bands like Third Eye Blind or the Gin Blossoms. And maybe an occasional hint of Tom Petty. I mean, it’s soulful pop rock. It’s got a sprinkle of alt-country. A lot of harmonies, catchy chorus. There’s a solo section that actually breaks the verse chorus pattern up nicely, like the rhythm that you hear. It’s a really, really nice change that they did. Really well-constructed song overall. And there’s a moment. And I don’t know if it’s true. But you can tell me if you hear it. If you listen closely, I think it’s after the solo section. There’s a bass guitar lick that’s very out in the open. And it feels very familiar if you are a fan of Paul Simon. Because what I think you’re hearing is late in the evening. Anyway, if you hear it, let me know. Here is a bit of Universal Truth by Low Coast.

The second song this week is Back for the Funeral by Donovan Woods. You know, it’s odd when songs show up in your life. Because I was actually supposed to go to a memorial service this weekend in the town where I went to high school. But I ended up not making the drive. A lot of stuff going on right now. But this song just hit a lot of nerves. When I was listening to it, a lot of the feelings that are expressed through the lyrics reflect how I feel every time I go into that town. Which usually happens like once a year. I go back, there are a couple of friends who I’m still very much in contact with. There are a couple of my best friends. They live there or close to there. We always meet up once a year or we try to. But the other trips that I go back are generally the very occasional wedding and the more recently happening funerals. So this song is just beautiful. The vocals have a very serene quality to them. There is a sadness in the voice. But I think that’s just because he’s an amazing storyteller. The orchestration is very stripped down. I love that because it makes the vocal really stand out. It’s truly the star of the song. So take a listen to Back for the Funeral by Donovan Woods.

The third song this week is Keep It by Trophy Wife. In hearing this, this song will probably give you all the feelings of the late grunge era, gritty female vocals. The production is very independent feeling. It’s raw. It’s real. It’s not overproduced at all. It’s guitar, bass, drums, vocals, and the very occasional solo guitar. I think it’s a three-piece. So they don’t have an extra pair of hands. But there’s no backing vocals. I don’t even think the vocal is doubled. I think it was just sung straight, and that’s it. I’d imagine if you see Trophy Wife live, this is exactly how you’re going to hear them. And I love that. I love that because it doesn’t happen as much as it should. This one has actually been out since June, but I missed it somehow in the first go-around. Thankfully, to counterbalance the Thanksgiving famine that happens musically, there are all kinds of best of playlists that start to get pushed out. And that’s where I stumbled across this one. And just because I went and wanted to hear more, I’m happy to report that the album is just as solid as a single, right? If you dig the feel of this, you’re going to really like Trophy Wife. So here is a bit of “Keep It” from Trophy Wife.

The fourth song this week is “Kick the Chair” by The Exhales. In listening to this song, I’m just perched on the fence as far as is this song just really, really dark? Or is it darkness with a kernel of hope and optimism? The title is exactly what you might think it is. Obviously, he is singing here about friends who have committed suicide through one way or the other. But he’s, I think, encouraging those who need help to ask for it. But in this next verse, he’s having the negative thoughts himself. And then immediately it was like, don’t let me do this on my own. And it’s just– when you hear songs like this, it just makes you think and reflect. And that doesn’t happen a lot with new music, I find. Pretty shallow, right? There might be a story behind the song. But I don’t know. Nothing hits like a song with a deep meaning that you can pick out. And before I play a little bit of “Kick the Chair” from Exhales, if you need help, please go get it.

The song this week is “Vapin in Vegas” by Wolves of Glendale. OK, if you like artists like Weird Al or Barenaked Ladies or any band that isn’t afraid to write something that is funny, you are going to like Wolves of Glendale. I don’t find these bands a lot. I just don’t think they’re out there. But I think after kind of the sadness that has been kind of persistent in some of the songs, like just this episode, this is a good palette cleanser. So “Vapin in Vegas,” oh my gosh, I’m just laughing thinking about it, “Vapin in Vegas” tells the story of this dude who is recently divorced. And he is just making poor life choices. He moves to Vegas, and then it just goes off the rails. And the longer you listen to it, the more off the rails it goes. Take that and then put it up against the bouncy yacht rock that it is musically. I mean, it is hard not to laugh when you listen to it. So here is “The Wolves of Glendale” with “Vapin in Vegas.”

That is it for this week. Next episode is the season two finale. And I’m really excited about it. It is the second annual “Don’t Sucky” awards. I hope you will join me. It’s always a lot of fun to look back and see how the podcast has grown over the years.

Now, connect with me on social media. You can find me on threads, Instagram, Facebook, and Blue Sky. If you go to the website, songsanddontsuck.net, you will find a cornucopia of things about the podcast. You will find show transcripts. You can send me recommendations and feedback on the podcast. You will find all the links to all the songs for all the episodes of the podcast, and the links go to the top seven streaming platforms. You’ll also find a link to join Discord, because I don’t have enough to do, and I want to have a community that we can chat about music and share stuff and connect and all be friends. Because I think that sounds like fun. Don’t forget to review the podcast. Subscribe to it on your platform of choice. Give us a rating. All that stuff is good. It helps with the algorithm. And by all means, be sure you’re telling your friends about songs that don’t suck. If you’ve got friends who like music and struggle to find new music, I am for them, and I am for you. So, as always, thanks for listening, and go out and support these artists. –

Thanks for listening, and until next week, keep searching for and listening to “Sing Your Song” by The Hedgehog. Keep searching for and listening to songs that don’t suck.