You Asked, I Answered
After a year and a half of MRC, I've started to get actual email and questions from those who read, listen to, or view Michael's Record Collection.
Thanks for spending part of your day with Michael’s Record Collection! As always, this newsletter aims to discuss music, but this one is a little different than a typical review of a new album with quotes from the artist, or album/song rankings, or a look back at a favorite record. In this issue, my special guest is…well, you! That is, some of you.
I had originally meant to answer questions and/or comments as they arrived in my inbox, and that is likely the tactic I’ll use moving forward. However, I had forgotten to do it a couple of weeks in a row, and then I got a few more. So, I figured I’d just put everything together in one issue/podcast/video and make it its own thing. My apologies for the delayed response to those who reached out to me a few weeks ago.
If you have questions, comments, or feedback, feel free to email me at michaelsrecordcollection@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you. Sometimes I feel like I do this in a vacuum. I get analytics from the newsletter, podcast, and videos, obviously, but without actual responses from those of you consuming this content, it’s hard to know if what I’m doing is actually making a difference to anyone. Let me know what you think, and don’t be shy. If it’s a critique or a suggestion for improvement, I welcome that as well.
Let’s get into it!
Having published this newsletter for a little over a year and a half, it was nice to get an influx of folks who have reached out in recent weeks with questions. I thought I’d take the opportunity to gather them in one place and provide answers. While I’m just a guy who writes and podcasts, the entire point of MRC is music discussion. I love to listen to music, but I also like to talk about it. That’s what MRC is — me talking about music. Sometimes that’s with an artist, fellow podcaster, or author.
Who I’d really like to talk about music with is you, the reader of this newsletter, the listeners of my podcast, or those who watch the videos on my channel. To that end, this issue aims to do just that. Here are some things that have been on the minds of people who have either visited the website, read the newsletter, listened to the podcast, watched the videos, or who simply follow MRC on social media.
Thanks to everyone who sent in questions and words of encouragement. The first several questions were sent in by MRC Patreon supporters Scott Pringle and Dave Rohe. As far as I’m concerned, my Patreon subscribers can ask as many questions as they want. Big thanks to them and all of the MRC Patreon family for supporting independent content creation.
Could you elaborate on the process and hurdles you face in putting together an episode? (ideas, finding contacts, research, scheduling, equipment, logistics, editing, etc.) — Scott Pringle
The process varies. There are lots of different ways to do it and I don’t want to go into some of them, simply to preserve some secrecy/privacy. Most of the interviews I do are set up through the artist’s publicist and include a lot of emails back and forth. The main hurdle I face is making something work around the hours of my day job. This can be tricky when an artist lives several time zones away. When I interviewed former Goanna front man Shane Howard, who lives in Australia, it was pretty challenging to coordinate with him on the other side of the world.
As for my equipment, it’s pretty simple. I finally invested in a decent microphone setup (an Audio-Technica ATR2100X, which is still fairly inexpensive), so the audio on my podcast and videos has improved over when I was using the built-in mic from my laptop. I record my interviews via Zoom, convert it to mp3 format using Cloud Convert, and edit the audio and video through freeware. I use Audacity to edit the audio and two different free programs for the video (one to trim it and the other to add my logo to the beginning and a ‘card’ with info about this newsletter at the end). The reason I use two free video programs is that each one is really good at one thing but not the other.
Aside from that, I use Substack to distribute and house my newsletter, I have Podbean host my podcast (because it’s easy and inexpensive and gives the show its own dedicated web page), and a YouTube account for the video. I also have a website, which isn’t necessary, but it allows me to collect everything in one place and directing people there instead of various other places is easier.
If you could go back in time and do an episode with any performer, at any time in their career, who would it be, when, and why? — Scott Pringle
Probably David Bowie or Freddie Mercury — at any point in their careers — because they’d be fascinating interviews. But, if I’m being true to myself, the holy grail would have been Rush drummer Neil Peart right after the band’s final tour. I’ve long enjoyed his lyrics and his books and he was simply an interesting individual. Sadly, now that he’s gone, I’ll never meet him.
What drives you to do MRC? — Scott Pringle
This is a good question, of which I’m not even sure I know the answer. I guess I’d say simply the fun of it, really. I love to talk music and was already doing a blog on my previous Michael Likes to Write website, which included a lot of writing about music. What’s better than asking the artists who made such great music how they did it or why? I went from just the blog to a newsletter and then added the video channel and (ultimately) the podcast. And with MRC having its own website, those non-music blog posts still have somewhere to live and I can add more if I want.
What were your first three concerts and/or top three concerts? — Dave Rohe
My first concert was a four-band extravaganza at Legend Valley in the middle of nowhere, Ohio. It was Sept. 2, 1984 and I had just graduated from high school a few months earlier. My mom wouldn’t let me go to concerts before I graduated. I had asked for years but she just wouldn’t let me. Being a nurse, what she knew about rock concerts is that people from them would turn up in her hospital’s emergency room for a variety of reasons and none of them had anything to do with the kind of person I was. Maybe it was just easier for her not to have to worry about me for the few hours I’d be gone. Anyway, I was just starting college and the shackles were off.
Getting back on topic, that magical first show featured an amazing lineup of bands. The headliners were the Scorpions, who were touring their multi-platinum smash hit album Love at First Sting. There were three other metal bands on the bill, starting with Canadian rockers Kick Axe. The band was touring its popular debut album, Vices. The second band that day, Fastway, was one of my favorite bands at the time. The group featured former Motörhead guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke and singer Dave King — now the longtime front man for Celtic punk band Flogging Molly after renouncing heavy metal. The final “warm-up band” for the Scorpions was Quiet Riot — a band at the height of its popularity.
I’ll never forget the scenes that day. It was hot, the music was loud, and I’ll never forget King catching a Nerf football thrown from the crowd, throwing it back, catching it again, and so forth, all while never missing a lyric. We were in the VIP section near the speaker stack to the right side facing the stage. Because of that, I’m fairly certain that guitarists Mathias Jabs (Scorpions) and Carlos Cavazo (Quiet Riot) are the reason my right ear is my weaker one.
My second concert was Sammy Hagar with special guest Dokken in Columbus at the Ohio Center in March of 1985. Hagar was on the VOA tour and played about three hours after about 45 minutes from Dokken. It was an incredible show. Me and a couple high school friends decided to join Hagar’s road crew after the show — I’m not kidding — and made it fairly far toward the back of the arena before finally being sent home by security.
My third show was another great double-bill just two months after the Hagar show: REO Speedwagon with special guest Cheap Trick. Both bands were amazing. REO was touring the Wheels are Turnin’ album and Cheap Trick had not yet released Standing on the Edge, so their most recent album at that time was Next Position Please.
As for my top three…that’s a difficult question but I will say my first show was hard to top and there were so many good ones. I’ll say that Paul McCartney on the Flowers in the Dirt tour in early 1990 at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati was definitely one of them. Sir Paul was on top of his game. I’d also include my first Pink Floyd concert — at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in 1987 has to be one. The band played “Echoes” at that show. The third was another Cincinnati show, when I saw the KISS reunion tour in 1996 with Ace Frehley and Peter Criss back in the fold.
What are your favorite guests you’ve had so far? — Dave Rohe
There haven’t been any really bad experiences so far, so that makes it tough to single anyone out. However, I understand the assignment. Three do kind of leap to mind first, and so I guess that means they should be considered the “favorites.” Styx founder Dennis DeYoung is on this list because, for me, (especially early in the run of MRC), he was an unbelievable get. I had been doing this less than a year. Dennis was very kind to me, funny, willing to bust balls a little but not in a meanspirited way. I did the interview during my lunch break from work but Dennis talked so long I actually had to end the interview so I could get back to the office. He was great and went into a lot of different topics — even ones I wasn’t going to bring up (but secretly wanted to).
Recent guest Maiah Wynne from Envy of None was just so lovely to talk to, so I have to say that she was one of my favorites. And Gil Moore from Triumph was a real thrill for me as well. He was extremely apologetic about missing our original recording date and was generous with his time.
Really I have been blessed to have had almost only fantastic interview experiences.
What was the first record in Michael’s Record Collection? Do you still have it? – Max in Detroit
My first three records came with my first stereo. I think I must have been in like fourth grade. It was a Sears stereo with a turntable, AM/FM radio tuner and 8-track tape player and it came with two little speakers on its own stand with a record rack on the bottom. I got 3 K-Tel records. One was Goofy Greats, and then there was Out of Site and another one that I think might have been called Hit Machine or something equally generic. They did not survive. My original record collection went bye bye about 10 years ago. It was amazing that I held onto them so long because I didn’t have a turntable for many years before that, dating all the way back to 1996, but I’m sure those records were in terrible shape. They’d literally never been cleaned. I had a Discwasher brush to get the worst dust off of them, but I had a cheap stylus, never did any real record cleaning to speak of, and — likely as a result — many of my records skipped. I was at a record show recently and saw a woman buying a really nice copy of Goofy Greats, and I wished I’d beaten her to that find, because I absolutely would have bought it.
What’s your favorite band? Favorite album? – Justin Findlay
My favorite band is Genesis, and that group has been at the top for me for many years. That is not to say that there aren’t several bands that are almost equal to them in my mind. Rush is right there, neck and neck with Genesis, just a hair ahead of the likes of Marillion, Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, and a few others.
My favorite record by Genesis is Duke. There’s something about that mixture of progressive rock with pop sensibilities that pushes that album over the top for me. On any given day, I might prefer to listen to A Trick of the Tail or Selling England by the Pound, but it’s Duke that I keep coming back to the most. Even though Genesis is my favorite band, I’m not 100% certain that Duke is my favorite album by any band in history. But favorite album is a more difficult question to me. Albums like Abbey Road, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Madman Across the Water, and Dark Side of the Moon are timeless gems, and I could listen to the debut album from Asia, Boston’s Don’t Look Back, or At Budokan by Cheap Trick for a week without getting tired of them. But for simplicity’s sake, I’ll say Duke.
Who are the best newer bands you’ve discovered? – Jeff P
I really dig Mammoth WVH, which seems like a cheat because Wolfgang Van Halen has been rocking for some time now. But still, the debut album under that name came out only last year. I love it so much and if rock was more widely accepted by the younger generation who dictate pop culture now, I think Wolfie would have a shot at eclipsing his father’s legend.
I also like Plush, a fantastic all-female hard rock band, Scottish rockers Mason Hill, and Envy of None, which is sort of a mish-mash of industrial, trance, shoegaze, electronica, and rock with haunting vocals.
Who is a must-see that you haven’t you seen in concert yet that is still touring? Who did you never get to see that is either gone now or the band broke up? – Andy in the U.K.
I’ve never seen Iron Maiden and I feel like I absolutely have to see them on this tour. Who knows how long they’ll be able to keep touring? They’ve been one of my favorite bands for many years. I’ve also never seen Pat Benatar, and I need to correct that. I would also love to see A-ha, but when they recently came to the U.S., they only played New York City and Los Angeles. There are a few bands like Journey that I never saw in their heyday that would have liked to have seen until they changed a key member and then it seemed less important.
As far as who I never got to see live that aren’t around anymore and I would have loved to have seen, Queen and Triumph are the main ones that I’m sorry to have missed. I didn’t really have any desire to see Queen fronted by anyone other than Freddie Mercury. He’s simply irreplaceable. The members of Triumph are still around but that band has been over for quite a while and it doesn’t appear we’ll ever get another chance to see them. I will also say that ABBA would have been fantastic to see and I would love to see their virtual versions in the show that they have going in England, but the travel cost is a bit prohibitive.
Finally, although I’ve seen Fleetwood Mac, I never got to see the classic lineup. When I saw them, Lindsay Buckingham left the band just before the tour and he was replaced by two guys. That was back in 1987. The band was still in top form at the time and I would have loved to have seen them with Buckingham.
What are some obscure bands or songs that you wish more people knew about? – Toronto Steve
I wish more people knew about Tony Carey. Some people might know him as a former keyboard player for Rainbow or they might know him as the guy behind the Planet P Project, but he is an excellent solo artist. In my opinion, he spins a gritty story every bit as well as Bruce Springsteen or Bob Dylan, but he’s much different than either of those legends musically. People may remember his 1980s hits “A Fine Fine Day” and “First Day of Summer,” but his entire catalog is so good.
Here in the U.S., not enough people know about Marillion or, with the exception of one or two hits, several bands from overseas like Big Country, Icehouse, and A-ha. These bands have great catalogs and just seem to have been frozen out by U.S. radio.
What’s your favorite format to listen to music? – Kim P
Nothing beats the tactile experience of vinyl. I love the entire ritual of pulling out the record, slipping the disc onto the turntable, and dropping the needle. Then I sit back, relax, and stare at the cover art, read the liner notes, or follow along with the lyrics insert — sometimes I do all of those things. Nothing sounds better than a pristine, well-cleaned record.
However, when I don’t have time to simply sit and listen intently, CDs are my go-to at home. I can put them on and forget it, since I don’t have to flip them over. At work, I stream music all day in my cubicle to block out the distracting office noises and conversations. I switched from Spotify to Tidal for better sound quality (and to support them for being a service with one of the higher artist payouts among streaming apps).
How do you discover new music? – Steve
There are several ways. I’ve curated a solid Twitter feed of podcasters, musicians, and music media outlets with taste I trust and whenever they talk about a band, I add them to a Google document that I keep and I check them out. I’m also part of a couple of Facebook groups that are dedicated to modern rock (one is post-2000 only and one is post-2010 only). Both of them, especially the folks at NWOCR (New Wave of Classic Rock) suggest tons of great bands that I might not otherwise have heard.
I’m also on a few music company media lists, so publicists send me promo tracks of a lot of new bands, as well as new music by bands/artists that have been around for a while. I get a lot of stuff from Frontiers Music, Golden Robot Records, Inside Out Music, and a few others. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with it all. Rock isn’t dead, but it is a lot more difficult to find these days, because it isn’t on popular radio.
What record isn’t in your collection that you have to have? – Jimmy Page Rocks
This is a question with a long list of answers, but the primary response is an easy one. I haven’t yet replaced my long gone copy of KISS Alive. I must have that one and I haven’t bought a copy yet. I’ve not been able to find a used copy in good enough shape that was also affordable and new copies seem to be sold out everywhere. That’s the record at the top of my list because it was my first favorite record.
I’m also seeking a few others to add to my vinyl collection, including a mint or near-mint copy of Cheap Trick’s At Budokan, the Alan Parsons Project’s Eye in the Sky, and several Steely Dan records. I would also like to complete my Genesis vinyl collection.
The good news is that all of the above are either in my CD collection, available to listen on Tidal, or both.
Thanks to everyone who sent in questions. I had a lot of fun thinking about the responses. A few of them challenged me to make decisions I don’t like to make. Just in case you want to see me stammer my way through the above information in video format, I’m including that below.
Thanks again for your time. Please consider sharing this issue of the newsletter with the first button below, or sharing Michael’s Record Collection with the second. And be sure to check out the podcast version at your favorite podcast dispensary. Feel free to visit michaelsrecordcollection.com and my Patreon site at patreon.com/michaelsrecordcollection to find out how you can support independent writing and podcasting for as little as $2 per month.