Episode 0304: "Come Original" by 311

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome again to another episode of This Song Sucks. Podcasts with three music profiles get together and talk about the music that we hate. I am Josh Kavanaugh and I am joined as always today by Hayden. Get busy, Diane Crawford. How's it going Hayden?

[00:00:24] The color of my energy is fucking dank today bro. Well you stole my name for our guest today. We have Elizabeth Amber as the color of her energy after. How's it going Elizabeth? It's going alright Josh, thanks for having me.

[00:00:40] Hayden why don't you give us a brief intro or introduction here to Elizabeth. Elizabeth has a fantastic taste in most all kinds of metal and hard rock and heavy music and we have bonded quite a bit over the years over making fun of stupid bands

[00:00:56] and like also listening to some dope black metal. But you know like anyone with good music tastes you have to start somewhere and that somewhere I would say for me was very deeply rooted in 311. Yeah so what song are we going to do today Elizabeth?

[00:01:11] We are doing Come Original. Yeah it's funny you say deeply rooted in 311 because I can remember a very distinct period or very distinct moment rather when I'm riding in the car with my father like

[00:01:23] 13 year old me is just like subjecting him to a long drawn out monologue about how like the moment when I decided 311 has finally eclipsed the smashing pumpkins is my favorite band of all time. Wow.

[00:01:34] And my father just like looking out the window like considering driving and going traffic. Your father was like I'd rather you tell me you're gay than this. Yeah I can imagine Big D's reaction to that just like damn it shut the hell up.

[00:01:47] To be honest he was very patient with all of that. So props to him on that one. Why did I decide to have a child? The question we all ask ourselves or don't if you're me.

[00:01:59] So we're going to have a little fun today at probably everyone's expense mostly 311 but we've got a little bit of a contest what do we decide to call this Hayden? I don't know I failed to come up with a clever name.

[00:02:11] Well the idea is that each of them came up with what they thought were the three most cringe worthy moments in the 311 catalog and this is mostly when they were still relevant I guess. I mean they've got like 18 Gajillion albums and this is basically up to 2001.

[00:02:29] Just want to specify yeah this is more than just like a bad lyrics contest like we did with the peppers because I'm like any other band I've listened to this much for the podcast 311 really has the ability to make your whole body go yee.

[00:02:44] This was hard because it's just full songs I mean ultimately we could just focus on every single song here. Yeah exactly. Right right so I guess the way we'll do this is y'all gave me an order but I don't know

[00:02:57] maybe the person who goes second should have the advantage of selecting the one to compete against what do you think about that? I don't know what that means it's too much. Yeah wait what did he say? So like Hayden you pick which one you want to start with.

[00:03:09] Oh no just go just go in order fuck it. This is about a celebration. Okay. Yeah maybe some people out here had like good parents and they don't actually know 311 so we should just give them like some 10 second clips about what we're talking about here.

[00:03:25] I do want to introduce the names of my clips myself though. That's fine would you like to do the same Elizabeth? Sure yeah I'll introduce the names of my clips yeah. Alright since you're our guest we'll let you go first.

[00:03:35] Alright let's you know let's start with I'll start with Sever. Well that's the name of the song and my title for this clip is someone got a new pedal. Here we go someone got a new pedal. Oh damn it. Oh yeah she did. I blurred it.

[00:03:53] Fuck I'm gonna lose. Alright here we go. So I just have to say if you can it sometimes it's hard because you can't get past how flat Nix Hexom sings but if you can there's this constant metal. The whole time throughout the whole song.

[00:04:29] It's just a goose is what sounds like. The goose is loose. Alright Hayden what one do you want to do? My first clip is a track named Hydroponic all 311's debut album Music and I'm just gonna title this clip The Earth Bruh. Okay here we go. Straight up.

[00:05:07] A walking sack of earth. I mean is it the callbacks? Is it the callbacks and the that's right like is that what you want to focus on on that? I like how unconvincing the right is to everything that eats from the earth. Right? It's like so unintimidating.

[00:05:32] Oh man so I'm supposed to decide which one's worse right? Yeah that's a tough decision but I think I'm gonna have to go with Elizabeth just because of the title. Somebody got a new pedal. And the horny duck. Yeah and the horny duck. I'm flattered thank you.

[00:05:54] Alright well let's get into our bio here so let me find my notes. I just want to say that 13 year old me is really pissed right now. That you lost or that you're talking shit on 311? That I'm doing this podcast. Alright so here we go got my notes.

[00:06:14] Okay 311 is a special purpose phone number supported by local governments in the United States and Canada. The number provides access to non-emergency municipal services with examples such as noise complaints, abandoned vehicles and dead animal removal. Wait wait is that not the 311 we're talking about?

[00:06:30] No we're talking about the one that's directly to the KKK. Oh shit okay well I just I do what I always do and just read the Wikipedia page of the first Google hit when I type something in so.

[00:06:39] That's all you can do yeah that's your entire research project. So Josh is really gonna educate us on local municipalities and laws today? Well I think dead animal removal is pretty apropos. Dead gaito removal. Anyway the band 311 formed in the late 1980s in Omaha, Nebraska. Omaha Stiley!

[00:07:00] Omaha Stiley yes. So in 1985 guitarist vocalist Nick Hexham and drummer Chad Sexton played together in their high school concert jazz band. And at the same time Hexham played in a band called The Eds with future guitarist Tim Mahoney.

[00:07:18] The Eds apparently were like mostly played covers like most high school bands but they did the cure, the Smith's, R-E-M with a few original tunes kind of sprinkled in there.

[00:07:28] At some point I guess Nick's was a few years older than the other guys but he graduated high school first and then moved to Elm. Wait are we calling him Nexham? Are we shortening? Are we combining? I may have put in Nexham. I like it.

[00:07:42] Nexham? Is that what I should call him? I should just call him Nexham. You should call him S.A. Martinez. S.A. Martinez Sam. Sam and Nexham. I can't say Martinez. I can't say Martinez like mayonnaise. Martinez. Oh God. Much like Martinez himself, no flavor.

[00:07:58] That lunchtime margarita is really hitting. We're recording too late damn it shit. Okay so Hexham moved to LA after graduation to pursue a career in music but he returned the following year to attend Mahoney and Sexton's graduation.

[00:08:14] And during this visit the three of them got together and janned a little bit for the first time and this elicited Nexham to stay and start a band with the two guys calling it unity. This phrase will pop back up later.

[00:08:27] But according to Hexham this is when they started to blend hip hop funk and punk. The red hot chili peppers were coming out around this time and we were like wow you can have punk rock energy but then also have like chops in your music.

[00:08:45] In 1988 all three of them moved back out to LA with the intent of getting a record deal. However at the time if you remember from our Weezer episode the late 80s LA was still mostly all about the hair metal.

[00:08:59] So the trio were not able to generate much interest in their music at the time. He gets discouraged and they all move back. The timeline here is a little fuzzy but apparently he moved to Germany briefly for a minute. Nobody can speak today. Yeah really off.

[00:09:15] We're all wasted we started this podcast two hours later than we had anticipated to prepare for it. I did get on my three o'clock last night so that was probably a bad idea.

[00:09:26] But apparently he was in Germany and at the same time Sexton the drummer went back to Omaha to attend the University of Nebraska. Sexton started jamming with guitarist Tim Watson who was an original guitarist and of course bassist Aaron Willis aka Pnut. Ah peanut baby. Yes Mr. Peanut.

[00:09:45] We're going to talk a lot about peanut today listeners be prepared. Yeah so they formed a group called the Fish Hippos. You can clearly see peanuts influence immediately.

[00:09:54] Yes yes and this group also included sometimes like I guess he was just like a featured guest but vocalist interned tableist Doug S.A. Martinez. So that's basically all of our players are here to involve which just hasn't coalesced yet.

[00:10:09] Since we brought up peanut we're going to go ahead and hop right into a little alternate event that I prepared for the listeners today. Ah yes. I have several clips of peanut beating his thing as 311 likes to say it.

[00:10:21] And we're going to subject you to some of these thing beatings. Did we start to call those the peanut beat off? Yep. Or the peanuttings? Oh God. I had suggested the peanut nut off when I heard or just simply the peanut off.

[00:10:36] We're going to call it the peanut nut off. Alright. But we're going to play some clips of him laying his thing down and I'm going to ask some peanut trivia to Josh and Elizabeth. So Josh you want to fire us up with a little nut symptom off grassroots.

[00:10:49] Here we go. The guitar tone here is so bad. Oh yeah. The worst guitar tone I've ever heard. Blast on a line 6 amp right now? Yeah. A PRS out of the line 6. Alright it's nothing bad. Peanut's on bass in that right? Yes. Oh yeah. He's slapping that thing.

[00:11:20] What was peanut's first concert? Did he attended? Yes. Are we each guessing? POD. Oh POD is a good guess. Okay so she's got her guess. Let's see I'm guessing this is like early 90s maybe or no probably before that. I'm not talking through this. Oingo boingo.

[00:11:43] Can I actually change my guess? Yeah sure. George Clinton. Man you're much closer with that one because it is the chili peppers. Oh okay. Whoa that was his first concert? Yeah it was just kind of awesome actually. We're going to give that point to Elizabeth for sure. Alright.

[00:11:57] Well thank you. I'm winning this podcast. You're going to fucking kill me because you actually know things about 311. Yeah I want you to lose. I constructed this for you to lose. Based on his age and like his terrible you know recreations of other people's music

[00:12:14] as like George Clinton's probably. Yeah so anyway what happens next and this is kind of conflicting sources here again is that Hexham returns from Germany. We don't know why exactly but apparently he joined the group for a gig opening for Fugazi in June of 1990.

[00:12:34] And one unverified source I found said that the group it was this show that they announced that they would be renamed 311 at the end of their performance. So this kind of gets us into all the stories and rumors about where this band name comes from.

[00:12:52] And the band members did little to clarify what it meant in the early years. Here's a couple of quotes from I think most of them from the 90s before like the real controversy behind it started. Hexham said a couple things like five friends making music.

[00:13:08] And then he also said quote we used to tell people that three minutes and 11 seconds was the perfect length for a song. Here's one from guitarist Tim Mahoney quote a number dictated to me by a higher intelligence.

[00:13:22] It's probably like a religious thing that they didn't want to lose cred for. Maybe so. I thought it was a police code. Well that's it but Mr. Pnut here's what he says quote

[00:13:36] knowing a little numerology and studying a little magic which I do which I do which I do and some factions three is man and 11 is magic. So 311 is like male magic. How can we hire peanut to perform magic? Oh how much do you think it would cost?

[00:13:56] I don't want to get married but if I can get peanut to do my wedding for like $1,000 I guarantee you the most magical wedding. Oh that would be amazing.

[00:14:09] But so as Hayden alluded to as we alluded to earlier the band became you know as it became more widely known in the mid to late 90s there were a lot of rumors swirling that the name stood for KKK

[00:14:20] K being the 11th letter of the alphabet and this forced the band to release a statement in an effort to dispel this rumor. So here is the band's official statement quote Oh my god.

[00:14:30] It has come to our attention that there is a very unsettling rumor circulating regarding the name of our band 311. We have been told that certain white supremacist groups use the numbers 311 to represent KKK. This is a most unfortunate coincidence and one that is extremely disturbing to us.

[00:14:46] We would like to state for the record that this is completely at odds with our personal beliefs. We believe the only people worth hating or organized haters like the KKK. Anyone familiar with our lyrics knows how we feel.

[00:14:57] Our lyrics make a strong stand against racism and a strong stand for positivity and unity. The name of our band originally comes from an Omaha police citation for indecent exposure. We thought it was funny at the time. Now our name simply means five friends from Omaha making music.

[00:15:16] Music that stands for peace and unity. His name is that statement is I do it is true though. Yeah I don't think they're racist. They're just no. They're just fucking war. There's bros. Yeah. There's bros who love each other.

[00:15:30] So it comes from the police code 311 and Omaha is for indecent exposure and there were two sources I found on this that were kind of conflicting. But the story is either they were all skinny dipping in a public pool and got busted by police

[00:15:46] and guitarist Tim Watson was the only one who got arrested or I also found something that said that Tim Watson just got arrested for streaking. Either way Tim Watson was naked. Yes. Maybe his dingus has only 3.1 inches. Maybe he's got three of them and they're all 11 inches.

[00:16:03] Why is it always naked showing them off? Speaking of little fingers did you guys know the street sign for 311? No. Wow nothing like imagery on an audio platform. That's done. What I am doing is holding making an okay symbol with my left hand with three fingers up

[00:16:20] and the devil's horn is my right hand. I saw a lot of images of people doing that online at like 311 concerts. Wait wait I thought they weren't white supremacists so they're doing the okay thing. Well their fans is another story.

[00:16:30] I've actually got quite a bit on that but I won't drag you that far. I'm sure there's probably plenty of people in their fan base that are white supremacists. Yeah. We'll get to that later don't worry.

[00:16:40] So moving on oddly enough the controversy actually ended up benefiting the band because it led the music press to spend a lot more time covering them and this garnered features in like Rolling Stones, Spin Magazine and USA Today.

[00:16:51] And the irony is that Tim Watson is the reason to have the band name but he is no longer in the band. He left in 92 and was replaced by Tim Mahoney and at the same time our friend SA joined the band as a full-time member.

[00:17:07] So we are now at full 311 capacity. Swap the Tims out we're ready to go. Exactly. Old Tims Out, new Tims In. Mahoney is a much better last name I gotta say that. Yeah, so the band moves to LA to pursue a record deal.

[00:17:22] I couldn't find a whole lot of information on how this happened but somehow one of their independently released EPs. They actually had two EPs and two full-length albums that they recorded themselves. But one of these things ended up in the hands of record producer Eddie Offord

[00:17:38] who is best known for working with progressive rock bands like Yes! and Emerson Lake and Palmer. Again, I have no idea how it ended up. And these guys were going on tours all over the place sending their demos out so it just made his way to his desk

[00:17:53] and he liked him enough. I don't know if he invited them out to LA but he was a crucial contact obviously and after three months of being in LA they were able to sign with Capricorn Records

[00:18:03] and I think that contact with Offord probably had a lot to do with it. Real quick, how shocked do you think Fugazi was as that 311 suddenly gets signed and blows up? Because you know at the show that they opened for

[00:18:17] Fugazi must be like who the fuck booked this band to open for us. One of them is way so clearly the better band there. What a slap in the face to Fugazi. Yeah, yeah it's pretty disappointing. So we're now onto our first album just simply titled Music.

[00:18:34] It's released in 1993. It never reached- From the streets. Yeah, music from of the streets. From the streets. For the streets. One street in Omaha. We can't keep sidelining to Omaha here but- We're gonna go back to Omaha so many times tonight.

[00:18:51] Despite the album not charting the single Do You Write did reach number 27 on the Billboard Modern Rock Chart which I'll be referring to the Modern Rock Chart a lot but it's now actually called the Alternative Chart but basically the same chart is called something different earlier.

[00:19:09] Like 793 and Creed territory. Yes, yes. So the album eventually would be certified gold but not until 1999 which I would assume is likely due to the success of their later albums. One story from this era that I found was that while they're on a tour for the album

[00:19:24] they're on their way to Kansas City for a show and the band's RV is like smoking and fire is coming out of the back of it so they have to like pull over on the side of the road

[00:19:34] and the way they tell it like flames are coming out of the door they had to like leap out of it and then the whole thing exploded destroying all of their equipment. Yeah, I think they borrowed the RV from like one of the members' dads or something

[00:19:49] so it just must have been this like really old piece of shit. Sounds like sabotage to me. Well it's just like maybe Fugazi rigged the bus. Those motherfuckers never again. They think they're punk rock?

[00:20:04] So they finished a tour of bar equipment and then head back to LA to record the next album and so for this next album the band built the recording studio in their shared home and again enlisted Eddie Offert to produce this album.

[00:20:18] However tensions between the band and Offert led the producer to quit partway through the recording process. Just for grassroots? This is grassroots, yeah. So apparently what happened is that Hexham had to like sit down and basically interview Offert

[00:20:34] and say how do I do this? How do we do this when we record? So it was like this cram session of learning how to record. You can never tell from the recording quality of the record.

[00:20:45] Yeah, to me it's like it's very clear that these guys have no fucking clue what they're doing. It sounds so bad. Regarding the tensions between the two, the band had a prepared statement that said Offert had some serious personal problems and health problems during the recording.

[00:20:58] He was drinking heavily and had really erratic behavior. And liked good music unfortunately. But Offert for his part denied this and he said that 311 had turned into very selfish people. They're great guys but I think they started to believe their own press.

[00:21:14] They were like spoiled kids and yeah, I pulled a few stunts on them. I won't deny it but they deserved it. I pulled a few stunts on them. That's amazing.

[00:21:25] I may have not showed up for the recording like most of the times but like you know, fuck you guys. So anyway, Grassroots comes out in 1994 and it appears on the Billboard 200 getting it to number 193 in July of 1994. Smoking. Yeah.

[00:21:43] So this album had three singles but none of them appeared on any Billboard charts at all. And again, this album would be certified gold but just like the previous album it wasn't until 1999. So again, probably because of the success of their next few albums.

[00:21:57] One other note about this that I found was this album was also the first time that Mr. Pnut recorded with a five string bass, fully cementing him as the slap bass legend that he so clearly is. Well, here we go. Let's do it. Pull another one. Okay.

[00:22:12] What do we do? Let's do what was I thinking of 1997's Transistor. Beat that thing, baby. The lamest guitar riff ever now. All right. What four things does Pnut have to have with him on tour to be happy? God.

[00:22:39] If you get three of them, you should be able to get three of them. One's kind of a one-off-the-ear for a loop. Do I go because I'm down or is that a loop? Yeah, you go first. Okay, I'll go first.

[00:22:47] I'm going to say Weed is one of them. Okay. His bass, I guess. Okay. Or a particular like special bass to him. Okay. I don't know, a top hat of some kind, I'm assuming. Top hat. And then calf length cut off jeans. All right. Josh, you got one.

[00:23:09] Yes. All right. I hate to steal this, but he needs weed. I'm going to assume he needs weed. The Bible. Oh, interesting. I'm going to give you that point. What does he need to be happy on? Weed, the Bible, a beach ball. I like the alliteration. Yeah.

[00:23:33] And unlimited fast food takeout paid for by the record label. It is weed, beer, books and headphones. I'm going to give you books with Bible because that's funny. I'm going to give you a book with Bible. Okay. There you go. Two to nothing. Wow.

[00:23:58] I do want to know what, so there's a theme. I read like a bunch of Reddit ask me anything that peanut hosted. Oh my God. I read a lot of them ask me anything. Turns out like peanut is like one of those pseudo-intellectual types who's like this

[00:24:12] quirky vision guy who thinks he's like. Super deep. Super book scene intelligent. His favorite director is Stan the Cupid, bro. You know. They all kind of are that way though. Like SA2, like they all read the anti-Christ once and they're like no, like I'm really like sacred geometry.

[00:24:28] I'm enlightened. It all makes sense to me. Yeah, I'm enlightened. Harmony of the spheres. You may think I'm just like a piece of shit stoner but I'm a piece of shit stoner who thinks he's way smarter than he is. I love Chuck Palinuk or whatever his name is.

[00:24:44] No, that's how they'd say it. Moving on, their next album, the self-titled 311 is also, it's commonly referred to as The Blue Album and it was released in 1995. This would be their big breakthrough into the mainstream, debuted on the Billboard 200

[00:25:00] in August of 1995 but it wouldn't reach its peak of number 12 until September of 96 so over a year. You know I remember this record being the first time I heard the word fuck ever in a recording.

[00:25:13] Like seriously, a friend brought this CD or maybe it was even a tape over my house. I think it may have been the cassette tape actually and he was playing at my parents' home from work yet and I was like oh my god that word.

[00:25:26] What is that word? Do you remember what song it was? It was Hive I think. It was also the first time I heard the P-word in Guns of Her Pussies too so that record kind of hit me with some language. Well I hadn't gotten to Cornelut Biscuit yet.

[00:25:38] This was definitely my stepping stone into like vulgar rock music. It was your gateway drug. Yeah for sure. I just want to say though that Guns of Her Pussies is a dope cinnamon for a bunch of men to say. Oh my god.

[00:25:52] Being anti-gun at that time was not exactly the MO of a streetcreen band. That's a good point. I think it's an interesting thing that they did. They should have said the word but it was the 90s. Also doing this like listening to 311 again and really reading the lyrics

[00:26:11] and hearing what they're saying because usually it's gibberish that I couldn't understand. The most unfortunate part of it was realizing that like 20 years ago they were all kind of good dudes. None of them made sense. They're terrible at what they do but they're not the worst people.

[00:26:27] There isn't a whole lot of evidence to show that any one of them is individually like a dirt bag in some way. And that is the sign of a psychopath. It all looks normal at first and in 10 years what are we going to find out?

[00:26:39] Just really good at hiding it. Not really do you think they all were probably, they're like dumb bros but they weren't like, there's not very much toxic masculinity being spewed around other than like the very beginning of their career.

[00:26:50] Like to be the kind of band they were is kind of amazing that they were as positive and like I want to say uplifting but they sure are to a lot of people. Yeah. Which is exactly why they're lame as fuck. Anyway moving on.

[00:27:02] So the kind of delayed success of this album was due to the fact that there's like two most popular singles weren't released until a year after. There were three singles on this album all of which appeared on at least one billboard chart.

[00:27:14] You got Don't Stay Home which topped out number 29 on the Modern Rock. Then you have Down which is their first real big one, number one on the Modern Rock, number 19 on the mainstream rock and number 37 on the Hot 100 Airplay.

[00:27:28] So it's not the Hot 100 chart, it's just the air, what's based off Radio Play. So it was getting a lot of spins on Top 40 Radio. Did y'all listen or happen to see the David Letterman performance of Down? Oh god, you ruined it, you ruined it.

[00:27:41] Let me get there, let me get there. Okay, just got that out. Pretend to do it. Okay. So the other single is All Mixed Up which is another big one, number four on the Modern Rock chart, number 36 on the Hot 100 Airplay.

[00:27:53] So the success of these singles led to 311 making the rounds on the late night shows including on Conan and David Letterman. And they're funny to watch particularly because Mr. Martinez looks like he's trying to dislocate his neck from his body

[00:28:07] with how hard he's bobbing his head up and down. You know what else he looks like? The guy from Bear Naked Ladies. We've been holding up side by side in pictures. A little bit. Like that smaller guy from Bear Naked Ladies who does the fast talking.

[00:28:20] Yeah, so, Jikki to China? Jikki to China guy. The Chinese chicken guy, that guy? Okay, so I'm going to play David Letterman's introduction of the band because I'm really glad you brought this up because it is hilarious. Oh, I can't wait. I was cracking up.

[00:28:35] Funniest thing I've ever heard in my life. Here we go. Here's Letterman introducing 311 in 1996. I have a feeling that our next guests are here to blow the roof off the dump. Am I right boys? They're a great rock and roll band from Nebraska. Go Huskers!

[00:28:57] Am I right boys? Come on, go Huskers! Yes! Come on and then go downstairs and back again and meet them in the game room, Huskers. Yeah! They have one of the top selling albums in the country not doing so well in the city.

[00:29:21] Ladies and gentlemen, here they are. Fucking Roaston 11. Anyway, let's listen to this bunch of hicks play some shit. I'm David Letterman. I've introduced some of the greatest acts of all time. What is happening with my career? He makes the country city joke. He leaps out of his chair.

[00:29:39] He's like standing up. He knew how good that joke was. That was a good joke. I will say though that that performance is pretty good. Yeah, they're good. They know how to do their stuff live. I understand why they were popular at the moment.

[00:29:54] If they were playing like that live at that point then I could see them being in an attraction. Yeah, definitely. Also, Down is arguably one of the better songs. Down isn't the worst song I think. I would agree with that. It's kind of...

[00:30:06] It's got the least nicks I'm singing in it overall. Yeah. Yeah. He's got a vocal double on his voice there too so it sounds kind of full. Yeah, that's something that comes up a lot in their live performances.

[00:30:17] Actually you're getting kind of cutting me off here but I've got something later that I have no idea what's going on with him but it's awful. So anyway, moving on, the album 311 would eventually be certified triple platinum by 1998.

[00:30:30] So within three years they sold 3 million copies of this record. So their biggest success to this day. So the next album is Transistor in 1997. Coming in at a whopping 21 tracks. Alright, this album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 in August 97.

[00:30:49] Hexham would later go on to say that trying to cram so many songs on one album with the amount of recording time they had was a huge mistake. I would agree with that. So the album received a lot of negative critical press after its release.

[00:31:04] So writing in 2002, so this is like several years later kind of a retrospective. We have Steven Thomas of the AV Club had the following to say, quote, It's not a bad album because there's too much of it.

[00:31:17] It's a bad album because it's a joyless, tedious exercise in white boy reggae, white boy rap, white boy dub and white boy rock. More and more, 311 just falls back on the same repetitive paper thin reggae rock arrangements, occasionally chunky guitar riffs and appallingly cheesy hippie mysticism

[00:31:38] which primarily seems to revolve around quote consciousness and the fact that violence is bad. The podcast is over. He said everything that needed to be said. That guy means a little word. I love it. Yeah. See you guys. Bye.

[00:31:52] That sounds fun. I'm going to get a little more margarita and see you later. But despite this negative press, the album still fared relatively well with all three singles appearing on the modern rock chart and the album was certified platinum in September of 97

[00:32:04] just over a month after its release. I mean, however we've seen this with other bands where their album after their big huge breakout album does even better just because of all the hype. They did have a beautiful disaster on it too though, didn't it? To help it along?

[00:32:17] Yes. That was one of the singles off that record. Which is like their best. I think that's their best song. Wait, that's on Transistor? Yeah. Yeah. I'm pretty sure. Let me double check. Yes. The singles off that were Transistor, Prisoner and Beautiful Disaster.

[00:32:30] Retrospective reviews apparently have been a little more favorable to this album than to pull this Hayden just to make your blood boil. You're going to hate this. Awesome. So writing, this is a positive review, writing for Consequence of Sound in 2011 Alex Young had the following to say, quote,

[00:32:47] The singles aren't what make Transistor great. It's the deep cuts that you play over and over again trying to catch their meaning. These are the songs that many bands create and never release because of timidness. At that time, radio and MTV were kings

[00:33:02] and if you didn't have airplay there, you would never make it. 311 had already made it and they used that opportunity to make their own Sergeant Peppers. I'm not even mad about the Sergeant Peppers drop. Obviously only doing that to elicit anger and to get his article shared more.

[00:33:23] Yeah. He doesn't look like he's going to explore. Like that's just like, come on, bro. I mean, what are you talking about? So yes, album is terrible. It should never have been released. We need another peanut clip to wash our pal. Yes, I agree.

[00:33:36] I can't just move on past that. Yes, let's do it. We're going to go to Feel So Good from their live 1998 record, which is actually recorded here live in New Orleans on the New Orleans lakefront. So let's hear it. Well, let's clay pool action there.

[00:34:03] All right. Question number three. What is peanut's Reddit handle? Give me your best guess. Oh, man. The thing is I actually thought I knew it at one point. Um, I was also reading some AMA. Oh my God.

[00:34:17] What I was going to say when I, when you played that clip is I have to wonder, and maybe we'll cut this, but I have to wonder if one person standing on top of a skyscraper watching Katrina just devastate their city was like, well,

[00:34:32] it's not as bad as when 311 played that 98 live show here. Oh my God. Not as bad as the 98 lakefront. At least this isn't the worst. It's only the second worst thing to happen to New Orleans. 11 point. What was the question? What is peanuts Reddit handle?

[00:34:54] Yeah, what is this Reddit handle? I think it's probably just his Venmo tag saying please help anything else. Anything helps. That's my guess. Oh my God. That's great. Josh. All right. I'm going to, I'm going to say, um, chunky Jeff.

[00:35:15] No, you know, I mean like it is a surprisingly pedestrian. It is I am peanut 311. Doesn't doesn't sound much like he's reading those books he claims, but No spaces all over case I am peanut 311. That was all about minimalism.

[00:35:32] I do want to take a break here from the story to point out that what What these things have in common if you're not noticing is that Anytime he does one of these stupid slap based solos, it is in a change of tempo or feel

[00:35:45] Which means this guy doesn't know how to do this in the context of an actual song. They literally say peanut changed up a lot of times because they know that he can probably do this at that one tempo and one feel Like you mean every slap based player?

[00:36:01] No, that's not true at all. In a rock context it is. In a rock context, yes. But slap is supposed to be funk. I mean you listen to someone like Victor Wooten who could like flawlessly and seamlessly transition from Me, me, Victor Wooten.

[00:36:13] Whatever the point is everyone thinks this guy's great and I think he's a fucking dickbag idiot. Well 311 isn't just one thing they're not just rock as we know they're everything. Yes. They're a combination of funk, reggae, rap, rock, metal, punk. You know.

[00:36:28] The worst, the worst tidbits of all of it. Yeah. Mix together in a sardine can. Listen, I like Chinese food. I like Mexican. I like Italian. I'm not making pasta fried rice combined. It's not going to be good.

[00:36:39] But if you eat them all in the same day only one thing comes out of the end. You know what I'm saying? Just like 311. That's well said. Very well said. Okay. Alright. Moving on to the next album we have Sound System in 1999.

[00:36:51] This album debuted and peaked at number nine on the Billboard 200 and includes today's subject, Come Original, which peaked at number six on the modern rock chart and 39 on the mainstream rock chart. Critics were not huge fans of this album. Rolling Stone said quote,

[00:37:07] The band offers their most ambitious fusion yet. Each track is a whirlwind tour of their soulful influences. Alas, the ingredients usually refuse to mix in 311's hands resulting in disjunctions that veer between the bland and the unintentionally funny. Who wrote that review? Rolling Stone.

[00:37:29] I didn't get the guy's name but yeah, I mean that was, that's, I mean that's basically exactly what y'all just talking about with the food analogy. Pretty much. I will say that this record took a huge step up in recording quality for them though.

[00:37:41] It sounds good and it's the only record there's house say that about. I, they're original records. They all recorded like separately.

[00:37:51] I don't know if it was this one or maybe the one before but they had just started recording like live as a band together at the same time. And that's probably one of the reasons it sounds a little bit better.

[00:38:02] But this album, it still sell well enough to reach gold status a month after its release in 99 so it never reaches platinum but it's still. I bought it like today it came out right? It was the main one I listened to yeah. Me too. I tore it up.

[00:38:15] Transits or didn't drive enough people away apparently. Sounds like it's why I believe I was writing in the car when I did right after having bought sounds like them when I had my epiphany that 311 was now my favorite band in the history of music.

[00:38:28] Yeah, I think this was also about the time my mom decided to surprise me and my sister with two kittens and we named them after our idols at the time. Oh God. Oh no. The first one was Buffy. Second one, Nicholas. Nice. After our beloved singer.

[00:38:47] I named a dog after a Ninja Turtles character one time. Yeah. Nicholas lived to be 19. He only died a couple years ago so I would still have to say like yeah he's named after the lead singer 311. Well just like 311 they didn't, the dog didn't die soon enough.

[00:39:02] My dog did. My dog died like in a couple months after we got it. Oh God. It did. It got some sort of crazy disease and died immediately. So all right let's just move on past that.

[00:39:13] To their next, well you don't talk about dead dogs anymore why not? From Chaos. Jesus Josh. At least in 2001 or as I like to call it the Delay Petal album. So this album debuted and peaked at number 10 on the Billboard 200. We're gonna stop after this album right?

[00:39:30] Yes, yes. And in July, this was in July 2001 and all three singles had relative chart success. You wouldn't believe at number 7 on the Modern Rock, number 32 on the mainstream rock.

[00:39:41] I'll be here awhile, number 15 on the Modern Rock and then Amber, certainly their most popular single at reach number 13 on the Modern Rock chart. It's also the band's only single to be certified gold.

[00:39:54] Like they have several gold albums but this is the only single that has any kind of status by the RIAA. And it's certainly their most popular song if you use Spotify as a metric.

[00:40:05] It has nearly 160 million plays on the streaming service, which is like three or four times higher than the group of next most popular songs. So this was a big deal for them.

[00:40:18] The album itself received rather mixed reviews upon release and rather than quoting a bunch of or one single review here I have just brief phrases from several that I think really sort of put it in perspective. Oh, hit me. I love this.

[00:40:33] One of them is the tone of the gangster raps is absurdly inflated. Whiny white boy rap. Yeah. Whiny is a word that I really agree with pretty much everything that they've done. Here's another good one, almost funky bass lines. Ouch. And then the last one, unfocused and flat.

[00:40:55] Yeah, flat. The first thing that comes to mind always when I think about Nexium. Yeah. Isn't that a heartburn medicine? Nexium? No, Nexium is a cult actually. Oh, well, hey, it's just a drug too, right? Possibly. I think there's it's either a drug or a computer software.

[00:41:12] Yes, a medicine. Uh, gastrointestinal reflux disease, Josh. Jesus Christ. But anyway, this album would eventually be certified gold a year after its release. And I point that out to show that their big albums transistor, it became platinum pretty quickly.

[00:41:31] And after that sound system became gold really quickly, this one took a year to get to gold despite the success of the single amber, which to me just this is showing that the old fans are just dropping off like flies at this point. Yeah.

[00:41:46] They all are in rehab for the third time at this point. Yeah. On their third wife. Yeah. Yeah. So I just briefly mentioned the next record, hey, not willing into many details, but it's a Volvo was released two years later in 2003.

[00:42:05] But considering that it's like nearly identical in both popularity and sound, I don't I don't want to go into details. But I pointed out to say that the band at the same time they launched their inaugural unity tour, the sum in that summer to support the album.

[00:42:21] And I point this out just to show you tell you who their opening acts were. Oh, yeah. If you all this is me quizzing y'all now anyone want to take a guess at what their opening acts were for this tour? What year is this? 2003. Oh, fuck.

[00:42:36] I would have said POD actually. Yeah, me too. That's what I was thinking as well. Yeah. Limp Bizkit. Okay. So that's who the kind of bands that they would have toured with like when they're on the Vans Warp Tour in the mid 90s.

[00:42:51] Their openers for this tour were G Love and Special Sauce and OAR. Oh, I forgot they started to make this transition into like Jam Band Land here as far as like their fan base.

[00:43:01] This is much closer to like just sort of Milktost Stoner College kids rather than like that hard kind of sound. They're trying to do a fish thing. Yeah, I guess it's quite a left turn.

[00:43:13] They definitely, they're whole, they're whole like chemistry of the the fan scene definitely takes that turn though. I found this website that for the last 10 years every month at Biographies, a super fan of 311 and I read Voice in menu. Gross. But they are all like that.

[00:43:30] Like going like 90 shows and like following 311 around and talking about the most epic shows they've seen. It's very much like a panicky kind of culture going on. Weird, weird. So despite the fans slowly jumping ship after the last four albums, 311 couldn't be kept down.

[00:43:46] They had one mad, one last bad dash for popularity and relevance. And that came with the form of their cover of the Cure's Love Song in 2004. I didn't even hear that.

[00:43:56] Yeah, their version of the song appeared on the soundtrack for the Adam Sandler Drew Barrymore movie, 51st Days. Ouch. So just to give you the kind of, I mean the Cure version of the song is amazing. I love that song.

[00:44:10] When it came out in the 80s, it peaked at number two on the modern rock chart. But the 311 version hit number one. Oh no. But thankfully, this is actually the only song of 311 that appeared on the bonafide Billboard Hot 100 chart and it peaked at 59.

[00:44:28] Mercifully, the Cure's version though got number two on that chart. So it was much more in the mainstream at the time. It's really, I mean, if you haven't listened to it before, it's just like let's turn this song into the most like limp, reggae,

[00:44:45] snoozer that we possibly can. I'm going to give you a concrete reason from 311 itself as to why we should stop talking about these records. If you go to their online store, they stop marketing products after From Chaos.

[00:44:57] They don't even mention the other records on their t-shirts, their mugs and stuff. You can't buy an album cover past From Chaos on an item. So they had six more albums after this, the most recent being in 2019.

[00:45:10] No, no, no. I'm only going to point out that for some reason the record from 2009 which is called Uplifter, it peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, which is their highest shilling on that chart. Yeah, it makes no fucking sense.

[00:45:23] I mean, I refuse to listen to it even out of curiosity, but like why? Is there a single on it? Like I've never heard of it. I mean, there are singles, but they're like in the 50-somethings on the alternative chart.

[00:45:35] You know, it's, it makes no sense to me. But I have two more things I want to point out and talk about before we get into the specifics of the song.

[00:45:43] And I'll throw this to you, Hayden, but you listen to them a lot more, and I'm sure Elizabeth, you did as well. But I have a recollection being in like in high school and college and hearing them perform live

[00:45:53] and then the singing, particularly the background singer which I guess is Martinez, just being really fucking awful. Yeah, they're not a good live band. I struggle to find examples of this from my memory. I mean, is there anything in particular that you can remember that's like atrociously bad?

[00:46:13] No, I mean, I remember getting that live album that I played a clip from that Elizabeth equated to Katrina. No, no, I said it was worse than Katrina. I know. I remember being very disappointed by the live record overall because it sucked,

[00:46:29] but I don't remember it being because of essay in particular. Well, my search led me to find one video from a performance of I'll Be Here a While from 2018. And I'm going to play it and just let you guys absorb it. Let's do it.

[00:47:03] Oh yeah, I forgot about the song. It's very nasal. Maybe he had a cold. I think I know what's happening here. And you said that you thought there was a doubler on his voice. I think they're being live auto tuned.

[00:47:30] And if you really listen to the essay's background, you can hear the warble like fighting how off key he is. Maybe so. And there's a couple other similar clips that I found, but it's just like why dude? You don't have to sing.

[00:47:47] You can just do your terrible rapping. Essay brings a fire, bro. What are you talking about? So I have two more post popularity items. God, Josh, Jesus. We still have the competition, right? We're still doing our other two.

[00:48:02] I got to talk about their online store some more here. You said you wanted this one to be a long one. So here we go. This is me. I'm doing this personally because I am furious about this.

[00:48:13] But in 2013, Nick Hexham released a solo album called My Shadow Pages with the Grythym. Oh really? Yes, it has his brother in it. Who is very successful and no one knows is like an actual good musician has won many awards as a composer in film.

[00:48:32] But is he as shredded as Nick with a shirt off? So they call this group the Nick Hexham Quintet and you can listen to the album on Spotify.

[00:48:41] And so I'll just tell you the cover features Hexham wearing a suit and he's seated with an arched top like jazz style guitar. So when I saw this, I immediately became furious.

[00:48:52] So before I listen, I decided to find like reviews and read it and most of them are on Amazon and they describe this album as quote funky or quote smooth jazz. Oh no. So again, my anger is boiling at this point.

[00:49:06] So I'll play you a few seconds of the first track of this album. I take it back, Josh. I'm sorry I yelled at you. I want you to transport yourself in your mind to any house party that you would have gone to in college.

[00:49:22] Because something like this probably would have happened if someone pulled out of the acoustic guitar. Oh God. That's crunchy. This is the music every girl in college heard right before her Me Too moment. Amber Dyn ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to thank Elizabeth for coming on.

[00:50:08] Josh, thanks for being my partner all these years. Oh God. He literally said I want to kiss the ocean. This whole like the most common rhyme scheme of his lyrics in this album is AAA. Just every line is the same thing rhyming. Such a buzzkill, bro.

[00:50:25] I'm just going to fucking play a one for major seven chord back and forth and that's quote unquote jazz. It's not jazz? I mean what is jazz really? You know, it's this. There it is. Okay.

[00:50:39] You're just trying to piss me off even more moving on to the next thing. So I don't know if you guys hang on. I'm going to interject now. It's my turn. Damn it.

[00:50:48] I want everybody to know that this exists on 311's website on their on their Web Store. They have all the regular shit you would imagine, but they also have a mystery sock bundle for sale. Right?

[00:51:00] And it's got a picture of three pairs of socks with question marks on it for $45 and the description says three socks may receive duplicates.

[00:51:09] But then right below it, they have all the socks that they have on display and they only have three pairs of socks on the website. Oh God. And they're all the same.

[00:51:20] It's funny that you bring up their merchandise because my last thing is about their line of their 311 is now a proud purveyor of several beer and marijuana products. Hell yeah.

[00:51:31] So Mr. Pnut and SA developed the band's beers, including the beautiful disaster IPA, which has of course an ABV of 11.3. Yeah.

[00:51:42] And the label of the beer has the band's logo in reverse indicating that there's also the I'll be here awhile honey apricot ale, which the band describes as an all day drinker. I got sucked down on those 11.3s right now. I'll tell you that.

[00:51:57] So Hexham created the cannabis products, which include their grassroots uplifter vape pen and amber chocolate, which has a THC to CBD ratio of of course 311. It's got their kind of genius, aren't they? Yeah.

[00:52:15] In an interview I found Hexham, they asked him what motivated the band to create these products.

[00:52:19] And so he said, quote, it's about getting through life and facing life struggles and finding a reason to go on and to focus on the best things in life and to tilt that ratio to be a happier person and focus more on the positive.

[00:52:30] It's about helping move people a little bit toward enlightenment. Nothing is more punk rock than marketing products. Yeah. All right, let's get let's get the next question in and we'll start talking about the song finally. So we're doing the cringe contest. Yeah. Sorry, the cringe contest. All right.

[00:52:49] So just to remind, what's the score on this one? Elizabeth is 1-0. All right. Yeah. So we'll let you go first this time, Hayden. I'm going to come at you hot with offbeat bare ass off grassroots. All right. Here we go. I'll warn the listeners now.

[00:53:02] This is 45 seconds long. So you can just press the skip 15. You want to understand why though it's a story, Josh. It's a narrative. It's a narrative he's telling.

[00:53:48] I say, who doesn't want to hear the rest of that story? What happens? Did you get away from the cop? I don't know. The lyrics are so bad obviously, but the thing that really stands out to me is just his quote unquote flow being just God fucking awful.

[00:54:09] Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah. It's not good. All right, Elizabeth. What do you got? I'll go with a brodolls off of their self titled. And what's the title of this one? Seafood in Nebraska. If you're able to digest all of that creamy seafood, you're a disgusting human being.

[00:55:02] Also you live in a landlocked state and you're eating this much seafood. There's so many. He's also probably, he's definitely pounded a BC powder the next day after those guinises. Did you imagine how disgusting clam chowder in Omaha, Nebraska would be? That's why their van blew up.

[00:55:18] So my poor clam chowder in the gas tank. Just all the fumes coming out of these people, these disgusting people. Oh God. Oh God. Yeah, I mean. Thanks for that image. I'm just pointing it out. Good God.

[00:55:32] Well, I will say Elizabeth while your lyrics are objectively worse than the ones that Hayden brought in on that one. I think just the musical content of Hayden's tips is over the edge a little bit. So we're going to tie it up here. It's aggressively bad. Wow.

[00:55:46] All right, so we're finally on to talking about the song Come Original. I of course have lots of notes, but Elizabeth would you like to maybe kick us off on what you find objectionable about this song?

[00:56:00] I guess the main thing I would find, I don't know objection, the whole song is objectionable. Everyone in the band is. The thing that stands out to me is the whole point of the whole like message in the song

[00:56:15] is to be an original artist, which you have, you know, four and a half white guys from Nebraska stealing the music stylings of mostly black people and claiming that as originality as if white people haven't been stealing music from black people for the entirety of time.

[00:56:36] My favorite subject. It's the funniest thing. That's the intro to the motif of our entire podcast. Yeah, I mean, I would agree. I mean, like I've got, you know, the lyrics up here and they sort of do they sort

[00:56:50] of do that Stevie Wonder Sir Duke thing where they name drop people to try like so they they name drop black eyed peas, no effects, Ronnie size who's a DJ, Mr. Vegas, a Jamaican reggae dude. I don't understand how you're saying you're being original when again you're clearly

[00:57:08] seeing these signs and you're also just you're stealing from yourself. Well, you're naming the artists that you're stealing from. You're like we stole this from black eyed peas. This from no effects become original. Yeah, so now are they stealing from all those people but this is not original

[00:57:24] within the context of 311. It's just a distillation of all like the shit that they've done before anyway. The real question is do they believe it? Like are they this heavy handed and they're like we we believe this is original

[00:57:37] or do they know what they're doing and don't care because they just really are into being famous and relevant. I think they believe it. I do too. Yeah, I don't think they have the self-awareness to be able to see through like the giant haze of bonk smoke.

[00:57:52] I mean, Peanut really thinks that like saying Stanley Kubrick is his favorite director who like makes him intelligent. Like these people have no clue. Yes, I agree. Any other points Elizabeth? Like any specific things lyrically or musically? Definitely the shout out to black eyed peas is pretty tough.

[00:58:13] The whole thing is just a mess. Like I don't know where to begin I guess once you guys. Well, funk slap bass. Yeah. Peanut does get a little beaten down in the song. Yeah, the lyric funk slap bass. I don't like the black eyed peas called either.

[00:58:32] I'll hop in there with you on that. I will go in an opposite direction though is I would argue this might be their best song. Come original? Yeah, I kind of like it. It sucks but it makes me smile.

[00:58:49] I mean, it's really stupid but I kind of like it. I really do. So it's got this intangible thing that makes you like it but I mean. It's not just a stology either. It's really not because like I don't know. It's a bad song. The lyrics are horrible.

[00:59:04] It's disjointed the tones are bad but like something about it just kind of makes me like a I don't know smile. I don't do that enough I guess. Well, you sent me some clips of this thing and I'm trying to figure out

[00:59:15] what you're trying to point out here. Well, there are some things that don't like about it for sure. One being let's just go ahead and play clip number one here is I cannot stand SA's DJ scratching over this slap bass. It drives me crazy. Here we go. This.

[00:59:48] It's so bad. Come on. Also the guitar riff there. That's another big gripe of mine. He frequently just plays one note. He's like just riffs on the E fifth or whatever he's got his guitar tuned down to.

[01:00:08] If he's tuned down to, he doesn't do anything else in those sections. He does that throughout their entire career. It's just kind of annoying because like I don't I don't actually mind slap bass as much as I'm making fun of it.

[01:00:18] Like I like Primus and so like Primus doesn't announce that they're slap bass throughout the song though. Here comes the slap solo. Objectively like a person slapping a bass in an alt rock something that is not actually going to turn me off but the atrocious riff on top

[01:00:35] of it and the DJ scratching and all the lyrics that are involved around it are the real offensive things happening there. Oh yeah, it's a big slosh of shit in that part for sure. A big slosh of shit? Jesus Christ, I throw toilet bowls after the clam shelter.

[01:00:50] I also cannot stand the little Hawaiian segue that happens towards it in the song that is like just plugged in for no reason and like repeats over the last course. This is at the end of the bridge here. Oh, Elizabeth's digging it though. God damn it.

[01:01:17] It keeps going through the chorus. No one who like that clip are currently like wearing billabong as we speak. It's so disjointed just everything into one. Yeah, well that's kind of my main point about this song and why I don't like it.

[01:01:33] I mean again I always harp on arranging but my biggest problem with this is this song is a perfect example of a piece of music that was constructed by just taking random chunks and sections of music and smashing them together with like very little thoughts.

[01:01:51] It's called fusion, Josh. The thing is you can make all that shit work if you kind of think about like stitching together intelligently but there's minimal effort to be done for that. I mean you have some like basic sort of chromatic or stepwise motion in the bass

[01:02:06] that kind of connects stuff but each section of the song is in a different key. Like that intro is like a D-liddy and kind of thing. The verse chorus is kind of in G, the slap rapping part is kind of in E.

[01:02:21] The bridge riff is sort of E minor E. I mean there's nothing wrong with that necessarily but like when you don't connect them in a way that makes sense and it lets the listener like go from one to the next

[01:02:34] it sounds like it does just disjointed and unorganized. Bandated together. Yeah. When you look at like when you listen to their music and read the lyrics it's like someone in the middle of a psychotic break because none of it ties anything together.

[01:02:50] They're jumping from one hilltop to another hilltop even lyrically like it's just I felt like I was having a stroke trying to follow along with their lyrics trying to figure out what they're talking about but at the end of the day it's nonsense.

[01:03:03] It's the ramblings of five boring maniacs. Right. Which is also why it's kind of it's also... Not 10,000 maniacs but four boring maniacs. 3.11 It's difficult to say pinpoint so many things about a particular song because like they all share these traits that we're talking about. Every one of them.

[01:03:23] That's kind of why this episode has I think been more of us playing a ton of their songs because they all suck for the same reasons. Yeah. They do the same thing every song. Well like again Hayden you're mentioning of that little Hawaiian riff.

[01:03:35] That's just like one of two things you know that and the intro are again this is one of my Piccadillos with arranging is that it's they play it once and it never happens again right like you don't have to repeat it exactly

[01:03:49] but like develop it in some way. You just have these two things that are just completely random and all of these are like arranging choices are lack thereof to me are indicative it's kind of happens in all 3.11's music but it's indicative of a group of guys

[01:04:04] okay that learn their craft when they were in high school and then did no work to personally develop themselves musically in any way in the 10 years between when they started this band and when they made this record right.

[01:04:19] They are stuck in a 11th grade level of understanding of how music is supposed to be put together. Exactly. Yeah that's pretty spot on. The lyrics are a journal you find when you move and burn because you never want anyone to see it

[01:04:36] except there's are out there on major record labels. I have three points on the lyrics I want to point out to the things that really stand out to me so name checking in the lyrics is always really dumb in my opinion

[01:04:47] the name is 311 and you know it ain't easy. What the fuck is so hard about being 311? Nothing. Nothing. A white male in the 90s. We have this lovely little rhyme scheme it's quite a doozy quote all the world then stands revealed with the clarity of raw voltage

[01:05:09] briefly we see and the hope is you'll be able to tell just what dope is. What dope is. I can't help but say it with you I'm sorry. Voltage, hope is, dope is awesome fucking awesome. Yeah it almost rhymes.

[01:05:21] And then we have our requisite example of hippie metaphysical nonsense activate and attune yourself with meditation and green plants they've got mad life they're sentient they're beautiful as you like they're beautiful as you and they like to dance.

[01:05:38] I remember the like to dance but I did not know this when he said before that what a crock of horseshit. I'm not following that metaphor at all if there is one. One thing I am positive about is nexum has never meditated. Unless he's meditating on that ass.

[01:05:52] No he's probably like he goes to the gym and does like a hundred bicep girls like this is my meditation. Stares at himself in the mirror Patrick Bateman style. He is shredded though for real.

[01:06:03] He is shredded I mean maybe he should spend some time learning how to play different styles of music other than working on those guns. Has he needed to and I'll think he's needed some guys. Yeah why would you?

[01:06:12] We also have another one of my faves just it's again this is sort of throughout 311's music just awful repeated note melodies that just the same fucking note over and over again. He's singing it's kind of half between singing and rapping but it's all crap.

[01:06:29] Yeah he's very monotone with his melodies there's just there's really not much variation or really throughout the entire career which is probably why Amber was as successful as it was because that kind of breaks the mold there a little bit.

[01:06:39] Because he got that whoa that's his vocal ring. Yeah. Amber is a fucking song. Whoa. I mean I like that song because it is a constructed song. Yeah it's definitely their best written song.

[01:06:50] Even I'll be here a while I would say that that's a decent song just because it is a song not a jumbled mass of random shit. Sorry you say you like it and you like Amber and like those things do you like them

[01:07:01] or are they the best of 311 like would you ever willingly put those on? I don't know if I would okay Amber I would say is not something that I would willingly put on but it's something that if it came on I would be happy to listen to it.

[01:07:13] Okay. Yeah I'm kind of I don't think I'd change it I haven't heard it in so long especially right now I would probably listen to it if it came on the radio but I would not seek it out.

[01:07:21] Yeah I mean the one thing I find annoying with it I mentioned to Hayden is earlier in the week was I forgot this is like really bad example of their fucking piccolo snare sound that's just awful.

[01:07:31] Like everything about that song is fine except that I just I can't you can't listen to it for too long. Since we're just talking about jumbled masses of bullshit I want to play the last peanut clip I have. Uh huh real quick.

[01:07:44] This one's called 816 AM off Grassroots and this exemplifies all the things Josh just said he hates so much like the faux jazz fusion the prog proggy like melodies you just play it. It's a four. Jazz. The guitar sounds really good when it comes in but that's about it.

[01:08:24] Okay so here's our last peanut trivia question. If peanut could eat one food for the rest of his life what would he choose? Pad Thai. This is misleading because this is hanging on this is misleading because they ask him for one food and he gives two.

[01:08:41] I'm just gonna give you a warning there so give me two. Alright can we get a hint that's like are these two foods related in any way? Yes and no. So if we pick one of them we get it right.

[01:08:54] Oh absolutely if you get one of these I'll quit the podcast. Okay I'm gonna say bugles. That's a great guess. Alright you said it's two foods alright I'm gonna say it's um... Pad Thai and milk.

[01:09:12] Oh funny as you say milk before we get to the answer to that question I'm gonna take us even further down the rabbit hole here. When I was going through the deep through the Reddit boards I actually found a brand of milk called Hatcher All Natural.

[01:09:28] It's a small family six generation milk farm from Tennessee right and when they give a gallon and they print the expire by date they write a message like it changes every gallon and one of them that was dated 311 says the only way to flow

[01:09:44] which is a reference to flowing off of a sound system and it made it all the way to the 311 Reddit board. So yes I related milk to this podcast Josh thank you. God damn it. Is this an ongoing thing that you love?

[01:09:57] Oh anyway peanut, peanut's favorite food is macaroons and wontons. What? Macaroons and wontons was the answer. Josh gets the point for bugles though cause like I... I don't know I feel like wontons are tangentially related to Pad Thai.

[01:10:15] Yeah I guess you're right you both get a point there. It's just like I mean what's in the wonton? He's just talking about the wonton wrapper and also again just the diets these people.

[01:10:25] Just the wrapper I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm imagining peanut ordering wontons and then just peeling the wrapper and eating that and not eating the filling at all. I'm picturing him buying just a pack of wrappers eating them in the van and then also eating macaroons.

[01:10:39] Can you imagine what that would do to his stomach? I would say based on the other Ask Me Anything questions that I read from peanut he does mention crab rangoons a bunch also. So I'm gonna guess it's some sort of gross seafood paste wonton.

[01:10:58] Fusion they're all about fusion. Oh man. I got a bonus question. Well I'm so far I'm 0 for 4 here so what's the point? Cause we're talking about peanut bro what's the fucking problem? It's for the fans Josh. Alright alright alright. What's peanut's favorite movie? You should get this one.

[01:11:15] Is he the one you were saying Stanley Kubrick is his favorite director? I'm not giving any hints now I already gave you all I gave you all you need. Well I'm gonna say Clockwork Orange then. Ooh I'll say Fight Club. Space Odyssey. Wow. Because of course it is.

[01:11:31] Fucking peanut. Yeah fucking peanut where what are we what's going on I've been talking about no. I was gonna ask do we have anything left for me there if you all specifically you'd like to say about cum original?

[01:11:42] I was gonna scream about I have notes to scream at you about milk right now but I already did that so I guess I don't have anything else.

[01:11:51] It literally says scream it Josh so I found this milk company when he asked if I have anything else to say. Awesome. Yeah I don't have any other notes on specifically on cum original. Alright well Hayden do we have a YouTube corner this week? Oh boy.

[01:12:08] We do I also went a little deeper into general internet deep dive so I'm gonna are we ready to move on? Yeah yeah I've said my piece about the song.

[01:12:18] Alright cool so I want to say real quick too the first couple of these are related to the video itself.

[01:12:25] So if any of the listeners haven't seen this video at least watch like the first 30 seconds so you get an idea of like the color schematics and it because it's like very distinctive looking. And it's a hilarious video. It's very 90s color scheme for sure.

[01:12:37] Anyway so we'll just hop right in this is another great comment section because of course it was there was no like nothing really offensive just a bunch of morons on here. So Aaron Churchill has to say this is a visual representation of what diet mountain do taste like.

[01:12:57] Very accurate bright greens and reds yeah. 100%. MC Emile says 311 the first band ever performing Saivan Avocado.

[01:13:08] Francisco says hardcore rap metal is always my favorite kind of music and that's all he says it's like I'm sorry Francisco as we discussed 311 is a lot of things but a hardcore is the furthest thing. Not one of those things certainly.

[01:13:23] They're basically the musical equivalent of like I can't believe it's not butter you know like you're not hardcore. Oyvalf says every member of this band is the perfect stereotype of every dude with a guitar playing sublime at a party.

[01:13:44] Ben says that bass makes me want to slap a stranger's child. Me too Ben but for a very different reason. A new meaning to bass slap. And this is my personal favorite handle. I love jacking on says. Instead of off Josh keep up.

[01:14:06] I just understand how that is in the context of this music video but sure. I love jacking on says this is awesome to listen to while high on ranch. Ranch dressing I'm assuming yes grandpa which starts a comet thread. Oh man of replies about the ranch kind of.

[01:14:26] Morrow says and reply to this. Yes ranch the greatest drug in the world which person do you like to do more cool ranch or ranch with a little blue cheese. I prefer cool ranch it's a very mellow high while blue cheese gets me wrecked too fast.

[01:14:40] I have a ranch dealer on my speed dial. Travis responds to this and says hey you guys mind if I ranch up in here. This kind of bring Shed's light on there in recently I don't know if you guys know about this in Vegas.

[01:14:56] There was a 311 5K which apparently happens most years there's a 5K on 311 day and in the photo that 311 reposted they showed all 20 fans who ran the 5K. I thought you're going to say all the people all the members 311 were eating their favorite bag of Doritos afterwards.

[01:15:15] No their cruise ships are booked it's just that most 311 fans aren't really in the condition to run a 5K. No no I imagine not. After three rehabs do you think a 311 cruise ticket comes with an H-PAP machine? It definitely comes with a buffet ticket we know that much.

[01:15:31] So what I'd like to know about that 5K is how many people are on the 311 cruise ship. Like if there's like 500 but they just got too big to show up and run. Alright Sam Dungus says anyone else going to the quad later?

[01:15:44] I laughed pretty hard at that one. And to close yet again sometimes we find the best analysis in our YouTube commentary we could have started with this. This definitely is a 5K.

[01:16:04] And to close yet again sometimes we find the best analysis in our YouTube commentary we could have started with this. This definitely sums up exactly how I feel about 311. Jackson says is it good? Is it bad? No it's 311.

[01:16:23] Oh man it does bring nostalgia for those days of kicking the sack around at the quad. Oh yeah. Kicking a little sack around? It kind of just begs who is 311 for really and the nostalgia I would say 311 is for like why is it good?

[01:16:41] Why was it popular? It's relatable to 11 year olds right who were like this is cool, this is the coolest thing I've ever heard. Yeah I agree I think I really think that 311 is not getting new fans right? No. They probably haven't since like 2001 or whatever.

[01:17:01] No I imagine their fan base just shrinks because people usually grow out of it.

[01:17:06] 311 was like I know exactly why I liked it at the time because as my musical world was expanding it had a lot of elements that I was not super familiar with so they were interesting to me at the time blended together.

[01:17:17] It's not something that stuck with me forever you move on past that stuff once you narrow in on what your actual interests are within it. Yeah you accept you had bad parents and you move on.

[01:17:27] So I found something pretty dark in my deep internet search here and if you just hear me stop talking and then it cuts to Josh wrapping the episode up you'll know what happened listener. So to go back to like the 311 is KKK thing that we brought up earlier.

[01:17:47] Oh fun. I'm on the edge of my seat now.

[01:17:50] I wanted to like find something really hilarious local business because like as I've mentioned before I was one time on tour in Omaha the same from the same story we tell on the podcast about me yelling at Conor Oberst.

[01:18:03] I was also searching for 311 stores and down to Omaha and I remember seeing like one place I had a post-drip and freaking out and yelling Omaha style whatever so like there's got to be like there's got to be some 311 theme business still in Omaha right?

[01:18:17] So I found it and but it's closed now but it was called the hive after I think the fifth track off of the self-tiled record coming like a nightmare you know the one that starts like that obviously as you are listening to.

[01:18:31] Pretty good intro coming like a nightmare. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So it's called the hive right? It's just like a club music venue.

[01:18:39] But I noticed it was permanently closed on the Google site so I started digging through all the Google reviews and it turns out this local there's been there a long time you know owned by a local Omaha. How do you say what is their name? Omaha Indian Omaha.

[01:18:54] Is it a music venue or what is the business? Omaha in Omaha. I'm sorry. It's a music venue club kind of.

[01:18:59] I think it's for the club than anything they have bands but it's like definitely it's a club vibe that has a long, long and very detailed history of being racist. Throughout their Google reviews like denying people entry.

[01:19:13] I'm just going to give you some examples of like their dress code and like the reasons they turn patrons away through the years. No hats, no tees. My cousin was turned away last night because he didn't have a belt on him.

[01:19:24] I was not interested because of the style of my jeans. Security assaulted me and grabbed me by my neck because I was not supposed to be in a patio area without paying a cover fee and threw me on the ground. It goes on and on and on.

[01:19:37] There's just like there's so many that are like this exact listing online. Even one guy even goes so far to say they wouldn't let me in because I have a 311 tattoo showing like they wouldn't allow tattoos. The guy was allowed into 311 club with the 311 tattoo.

[01:19:52] How fucking weird is that? So how is this a 311 club? Like what exactly so it's just the like it's named after a song like it's an Omaha thing. I think people thought it wasn't like this guy obviously thought he was going to a 311 club.

[01:20:07] I don't think that he actually was. I think it was just a gimmick because there's also a whole bunch of like reports of like how they would like let everybody in, let them buy two drinks and then kick them out so they could let more patrons in.

[01:20:19] It's like obviously a scam right? But where it gets really interesting rather is what happens during the George Floyd protests. It's still open at this time. At this point it's still open as a 2020. Real quick does the Hive acknowledge that they've named their club after a 311 song?

[01:20:40] I don't know but I cannot imagine. But it's written in a 311 style font like the name. Okay, got it. Yeah. So the owner gets arrested for murdering a protester in front of the business. He shoots a black man to death in front of the hive. Jesus.

[01:20:59] And later commits suicide after doing so. Which is why the hive is permanently closed. How much later? The only 311 a relic, this is the history that it's tainted with in Omaha.

[01:21:14] I thought it was going to be a funny bit when I thought I was going to find a 311 toy store or something. Yeah yeah yeah or like some surviving video shop. Not this horrendous thing. I have a question.

[01:21:23] Is there any information on like when he killed the protester did he say to him, hey bro if you're going to come at me you better come original. Oh my God. Jesus Christ Josh. And we'll wrap up that episode. And it's been a great day.

[01:21:41] I'm going to leave it with it in case we don't cut this I'm going to give you a couple little bits of humor from the comment section of the hive. Lay it on me. They had nothing to do with racism.

[01:21:50] After they curb stop me the guy made this hilarious joke about the holocaust. Oh my God. Hello well good guys there. This one is good. An absolutely disgusting festering wound in the heart of old Omaha.

[01:22:05] The smell of axe bodies fray will not leave the area for years after they go out of business. Another one. As if to prove everything I just said right this fucking idiot. Badass place especially since it's owned by a marine that screams badassery and motivation.

[01:22:23] If you're a baby and can't handle people judging you then don't come here. Cool bro. Followed quickly by I've never been more upset with the human race than when I was leaving this place. That's all I got. All right well that's all we got from Omaha.

[01:22:40] Josh you didn't even give me an Omaha style clip man. I didn't want to encourage you. You already gave me like 30 minutes worth of clips for this fucking episode. So with that Elizabeth thank you so much for joining us.

[01:22:56] We can't wait to have you on again and I hope to leave 311 and Omaha Nebraska behind me for the foreseeable future. It was an honor to relive these moments hopefully I can also leave them behind. Oh man all right well thanks again and we'll see you next time.

[01:23:14] Come on like a nightmare.