Fire and Water Records: Summer Jams 2025

21 responses to “Fire and Water Records: Summer Jams 2025”

1. I was seriously afraid Ryan’s “magic waters” (or whatever the park’s slogan was) story was going to end with “…and I got to touch a boob,” Thank you for exceeding my expectations, sir.
   Similarly, this episode exceeded my already high expectations of a Daly Brothers’ playlist episode. Kudos, gentlemen. Now I have some summer tunes to tide me over until the upcoming autumnal mix tape drops.

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   1. I did, in fact, touch a boob in a swimming pool in high school. Quite by accident, as a I professed repeatedly.

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2. First of all, I love it when my brothers from another mother do a show. It’s just magic. I love the recollections and how music has shaped your lives. I can relate.

   Coach Ryan? sign me up!

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   1. Coach Ryan. The new Fire & Water show that follows Ryan around in a Ted Lasso fashion. Yeah, I could get behind 3 seasons on this.

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      1. Not sure if I’d be more like Ted or Roy Kent. Ah, who am I kidding. I’d be Coach Beard.

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3. I love these episodes, and the stories you guys tell around these songs. The songs themselves are almost secondary in my personal enjoyment, but I’m glad they bring up some memories and tales for you to share. Also very happy to see some favorites on here, like “Summer of ’69” and “Rock and Roll Girls”. I’ve seen Bryan Adams in concert 3 times, and John Fogerty once. Very “anthemetic” (I like that word) in my personal life. “Summer of ’69” is bascially “Summer of ’91” for me, but me and that girl stayed together.

   And I am with you Ryan on guiltly pleasures. Like what you like. And if anyone wants to brow beat you about it, it’s on them for being narrow minded and kind of hateful, honestly. Except for Kanye. Then you deserve it. My musical tastes are incredibly eclectic, apparently like yours! Looking forward to the Fall.

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4. Last week, I was just talking to my fiancee about how Prince’s Batman soundtrack is a very underrated Prince album and soundtrack, in general. I went ahead and played it for her, as she was only familiar with Batdance. Also, I explained to her that Batdance was more or less a medley for the rest of the album.

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   1. Yeah, the soundtrack is full of great songs. “Scandalous” is one of my Top 10 Prince songs.

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5. Great episode, guys! I love these seasonally inspired shows. Looking forward to the fall episode for Smashing Pumpkins Spice songs.

   Ryan, you aren’t alone in your memory of the video for “Walk of Life”. I would have sworn it was all baseball bloopers. In my memory, baseball was in the ether at that time. In fact, it brings me to a question: What’s the best sports inspired song of all time? I know “Centerfield” jumps out, but I’ll nominate “The Distance” by Cake.

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   1. Objectively it’s hard to think of a sports related/themed/inspired song that’s had a greater cultural impact than “Eye of the Tiger”. Maybe “Eye of the Tiger”. Do we consider “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now” a sports song?

      I’ll be shocked if Neil doesn’t have Tupac’s “Above the Rim” in his Top 3.

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      1. https://youtu.be/_shxzlTRK44?si=MqlA3ERBWSXKaqdG

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         1. This is a great question… but it’s important to consider the songs that we most associate with sports most likely aren’t sports songs! Take for example, “We Will Rock You / We Are the Champions?” Or like Ryan said, “Eye of the Tiger.” Those are forever ingrained in our collective memories as sports songs but aren’t as blatantly obvious as say “Centerfield” or Kurtis Blow’s “Basketball.” I would also add Springsteen’s “Glory Days” to the baseball list of contenders. But we could easily come up with a top 10-20 songs played in sports arenas and stadiums. They made a whole collection called “Jock Jams” (loosely inspired by the popularity of the ‘90s Chicago Bulls run). So piggy-backing on that era, I’d add Gary Glitter’s “Rock & Roll, Part 2” to the mix.

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         2. I think I might also add “I’m Alright” by Kenny Loggins from Caddyshack to the mix…

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   2. I came here to mention “Centerfield” also coming out in ’85 and having a baseball video. It’s likely what Barensteined me into also remembering Walk of Life as a baseball video!

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6. Great picks and engaging stories! That baseball championship game had to sting.
   A few of my summer jams:
   -The Courtneys: 90210 (Indie Canadian rock that will make you want to yell “whoa-oh!”)
   -Dirty on Purpose : Your Summer Dress (upbeat post-shoegazey rock song with fun guitar layers)
   -Deee-Lite: In The Summertime (they’re not just a novelty band!)
   Luscious Jackson: Summer Daze (hip-hop infused indie dance rock…is that even a thing?)

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   1. Oh man, I haven’t thought about Luscious Jackson in a long time. I’ll have to check those songs out.

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7. 1) “Ray of Light” by Madonna
   I had sisters in the ’80s, and also ears, so I was familiar with the Madonna discography through Like a Prayer, which I owned, and will always associate with “patchouli stink.” They were mostly gone by ’92, and I had to rely on Friday Night Videos and live performances for anything off Erotica. By Bedtime Stories, I was done with top 40 pop radio, and Madge was engaging her adult contemporary retreat/”acting career,” so exposure were collateral. I do remember Ray of Light being heralded as a return to form, but my attention was not recaptured until 2000’s Music. My main memory here is when I had my first meeting with a rabbi to discuss my potential conversion, and how the teachings of kabbalah had influenced it, I specifically told him that it was a “trendy Madonna thing.”

   2) “Summer Nights” by John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, and the Cast of Grease
   I am become boogeyman of another podcast. My work here is done. But seriously, I have nothing against anything on the Grease soundtrack, except maybe “Sandy”. In fact, it was the only double album I owned, so it got a lot of play on my suitcase record player as a kid. I somehow missed it theatrically, but my mother and I watched it probably every time it ran on ABC, something like a yearly event for much of the ’80s. My only complaint here is that it’s a Fall song. It’s about being nostalgic for the summer that has already past, not actively experiencing it.

   3) “Rock and Roll Girls” by John Fogerty
   I have a weird relationship with CCR, because I certainly heard a lot of roots rock in public spaces alongside country here in Houston, but nobody I knew as a child championed them. I wasn’t aware that there was a specific band responsible for a ton of hits a decade or so earlier, taking it more as a “sound” that came from multiple anonymous acts. I specifically remember hearing “Centerfield” at the food court of my grandmother’s favorite (and nearest) flea market that we went to once a month or so. It was just “the sports song” to me, because I didn’t know enough about baseball for the titular location to register. I also heard John Fogerty’s “The Old Man Down the Road” a fair bit, but “Rock and Roll Girls” was much more obscure. I still heard and know it, but not without jogging my memory. I educated myself more on CCR as I got older, and my father had a comprehensive anthology set that I ripped, but neither of us own any of the solo stuff. I also still confuse Fogerty with Dan Fogelberg, whose hits album I do have, but I need to jog my memory to recall what’s on it.

   4) “Summer of ’69” by Bryan Adams
   This was a big enough hit in ’85 to break through my musical bubble, and I might have even been able to name the artist, but not to associate him with any of his other singles. That didn’t all come together until the maple-syrup-sappiness-defining “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You,” and yeah, I saw Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves theatrically… for my idol, Christian Slater. I like the song fine, and unlike “Summer Nights,” it is a summer song, both in sound and because its nostalgia is timeless (but feels like a look back during another summer.) A side effect of having a song set in 1969 (supposedly, when Adams was 10 years old,) is that Bryan Adams never felt like one of “my” artists. Despite the age difference, he felt like a John Cougar Springsteen held over from another generation.

   5) “Caress Me Down” by Sublime
   I have a copy of Sublime’s Greatest Hits, but this wasn’t on it. I liked all the singles when they were released, and I’ve especially warbled through “Santeria” on more than one drunken night. But I’ll throw the other tracks on a thumb drive and simply will not be into any of it. My thumb starts hovering over the skip button inside a minute.

   6) “Summer Nights” by Van Halen
   Dunking on Van Hagar never goes out of fashion, but I do like some stuff from that period. I have a rip of 5150, but the only tracks that get any real love from me have the word “love” in their titles. I only have a vague period familiarity with this one.

   7) “Lonely Town” by Brandon Flowers
   I jumped off The Killers with (Mac’s copy of) Sam’s Town. and never knew much about Brandon Flowers, beyond the Mormonism. I feel like he’s probably a good dude, because he always goes out of his way to try to be weird/creepy/dangerous in a manner that only someone really safe and boring would. Like he’s one of those Salt Lake City kids that thought Oingo Boingo was the greatest band ever and burns to be as menacing as Danny Elfman (who I respect but will always await allegations against… [checks Wikipedia]… there we go.) Kind of like how Rob Zombie is such a wife guy and PETA poster boy. Anyway, I really dig this sound, and the accompanying video. Penelope Mitchell is not my usual type, but in this setting? Yeeah. I also really want one of those spectrum lamps now. No, that specific analog rotating lamp. eBay is not helping. I hope Mac takes me to the antique mall tomorrow. Anyway, that girl is having a better time with her Walkman and her imminent peril than I’ve ever had in this life, and I like the sentiment about “I always thought that things would change, but they never did.” I’ll always be that kid in the Graviton, and I’ll never escape being the person I was born to be. But I also adored the Graviton, and speaking of Mac, I might have been been the motivation for the Mac Brothers’ first spin in one, based on my open adoration. I was too afraid of roller coasters (particularly losing my welfare glasses) in my youth, but the Gravitron had the right balance of motion/safety/danger. There’s an odd pleasure even even the mildest effort to fight against the pull of centrifugal force. They’re mostly gone now, but I still cast an eye at carnivals along the freeway, in case I spy one.

   8) “Motorcycle Drive By” by Third Eye Blind
   I’ll never forget an article about a journalist that had special access to Stephan Jenkins, but made the mistake of referring to Third Eye Blind as a guilty pleasure once, and inadvertently soured the relationship. The writer was fairly unrepentant, and I think bemused that the band took themselves too seriously, but what artist ever sets out to be judged under those terms? In retrospect, it reeked of gatekeeping, “pop/genre is lesser than” bullshit that we’re thankfully interrogating today. It’s one of the reasons why I rarely comment about a podcast, keeping the acerbic comments to the conversation subjects on the podcast. I’m catty enough without taking inadvertent swipes at people I’m not meaning to hurt, and it’s also why I embrace an adversarial persona that hopefully makes it easier for people to say “ahh, fuck that guy” when the situation arises. Anyway, I’ve got this album, but I’m just a singles guy here, so never paid the track much mind. You know which eponymous album from this same period that I really liked? EVƎ 6. Never forget that whenever I cast aspersions on other people’s taste. I’m the guy who’ll throw down for the “Inside Out” dudes.

   9) “Walk of Life” by Dire Straits
   If it makes Ryan feel better, I went at least twenty years thinking the song said he “do the walk on by.” I wasn’t versed enough it the standards to catch all the song references, so I just thought it was a cool guy who paid no mind. I had to read the lyrics to see it’s about a subway performer. It does sound sporty, and it probably played alongside “Centerfield” at the flea market. Again, Dire Straits were somebody else’s band, but I like the big hits.

   10) “Wasted Time” by Keith Urban
   I basically have no use for country music past the early ’90s, and blame that disaffection largely on its becoming pop with a cunty twang that embraced moral majority bullshit. I mean, the genre always had conservative politics, especially in the years when I actively listened, but that was offset by all the human frailty on display. Then it all became redneck fuckbois drinking Buds in their Ford F-150s along the Chattahoochie-coochy. But I never heard a bad word against Urban, and he seems to make Nichole Kidman happy, so better him that Morgan Wallen.

   11) “End of Beginning” by Djo
   I remember watching that first season of Stranger Things and enjoying the ‘ron flashbacks, but for some reason, I was ecstatic when they played “Africa” by Toto. The song was a little before my time, not chronologically, but as an act and tune that were outside my limited sphere– who I’d never consciously appreciated. They were from the before-times, when I was nigh virginal toward contemporary music. Something that played on the Martha’s Greatest Hits block on MTV, alongside Yes and Foreigner, that I would stop recording and rewind to tape over, with a little digital static fart as a footprint on the VHS. I was unaware of the bizarre affection of whatever later generation somehow came to revere the tune, and for whatever, that specific ditty in that specific moment hit with such an intensity of 1982ness that I joined the adulation. I mention this because the Joe Keery thing is such an anodyne, Pro Tools, “I somehow count Toto as an influence in the 21st Century” bit of very modest talented but agreeable background noise. I feel like if I really committed, I could manage something as thoroughly suitable as this. I like his odds in a battle of the bands with Jeremy Renner, but I’m not hitting the merch booth.

   12) “Batdance” by Prince
   I actually turned my reply to this into a brief segment on an episode of DC Secret Files, out in the next week or so. The short version is that I held the same views on Batman as Neil, but directed them at Pre-Crisis Batman comics, not the movie. I was all-in for Batmania ’89, having read the novelization before seeing it twice in a row around opening day, and buying the O’Neil/Ordway squarebound adaptation at the concession stand between showings. And yet, I’ve never actually liked Batman ’89? But I loved the ready access to Batman and Joker shirts that year, including a variation on the Killing Joke promotional art on a tee that i wore probably once a week for the years that it remained intact. Also, my nighttime security guard stepfather brush-painted our ’68 Chevy pick-up black, and then used stencils to paint red Batman symbols all over it. I wish I could remember what ended up happening to that truck. Hopefully he got a few bucks for it. Also still hope he died badly, but that’s another thing. Yeah, “Batdance” was huge, but we all know Prince fit better on the Joker side of the bifurcation. This primed me for my favorite era, Graffiti Bridge-Love Symbol. I warned you about my questionable taste and implausibility of judging others.

   I get where Ryan is coming from on seeing summer as a “lightweight” season, but strongly disagree. I hated school, and always longed for the freedom and exploration of summer. In childhood, I was always my happiest and best realized self in that season, but it was also a roller coaster of emotions and experiences. There were so many regrets and missed opportunities– the kind of thing Brandon Flowers was singing about– that inability to transcend your own fears and limitations when given the robust opportunities of the season. Both the joys and sadness of the summers past haunt me more than most anything to ever occur in the regimented school year. I also had to go to work early to support my family–‘s vices and irresponsibility with money. I got to sacrifice all those summers in my teens to pay a chunk of the rent to free up their beer/dope budget and blow a few dozen dollars a week on comic books. But even if I’d kept it all and saved up for a car, or hell, bought my own illicit substances to ingested or share, would it have changed me enough to pursue more? Give me a blizzard in winter to cover for my own introversion and insecurities. The weight lands harder when I have a choice, and choose poorly.

   *) Not necessarily a summer song, but one that reflects what I was just talking about, is Jimmy Eat World’s “A Praise Chorus”. It’s like the other side of The Smiths’ “How Soon is Now,” embracing the anxious plunge into the social scene with a commitment to finding happiness, and I feel does a better job of lyrical interpolation than “Walk of Life.” It’s so triumphant after repeatedly stating the intent to hit the dance floor at the first familiar song to hear a litany of them at the end, so that even if he struck out each time, the odds favor his falling in love that night.

   *) Another one that isn’t specifically a summer song, but reflects the potential for the intense boredom that came with the season, is the Juliana Hatfield Three’s “Feelin’ Massachusetts”. It actually has a lot in common with “A Praise Chorus,” but is more plaintive and cynical.

   *) I forgot to ask my gal who I’d be in Ted Lasso before she went to bed. Hopefully the reporter guy with the great hair.

   *) I never heard “The Distance” as a sports song. It’s pure metaphor to me, and a mixed one, between the race cars and the horse. I’ve seen Cake live twice, and it was my most recent concert, so those guys are up there for me.

   *) I don’t care about sportsball, but I understand “7 Nation Army” gets played during world touchdown series encounters, so that one. My gal is very partial to Joe Esposito’s “You’re The Best Around,” and only the stridently off-key version of “Eye of the Tiger” from Persepolis.

   *) I frickin’ love Luscious Jackson, and Jill Cunniff’s solo album was pretty good, too. Never got to see them live, and they’re certainly not at a Veruca Salt level for me, but they are worthy of mention in the same breath.

   *) Yeesh, this took forever. I’m not doing any copyediting.

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   1. Never edit yourself on my account.

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8. Update: “Lonely Town” is still stuck in my head. Probably didn’t help that I woke up late at night from a nap to take out the trash with the world seemingly dead, except for the light sensor near said trash having been triggered by… something. Plus, I passed by an empty bedroom along the way with a stack of old solicitation catalogs on the floor, the one on top being an Image Scene cover-featuring a book titled “The Knives.” I’m not one to spook easily, but all those parallels were unnerving. I’ve revisited that video many times now, and I can’t believe they didn’t try a jump scare at least once with all those window shots. Like, he wouldn’t even have had to do anything– just stand there looking in once. Not even a Sinister motion blur? The glimmer of light on the metal and the ludicrous diegetic music are the only clear tells (she’s wearing earphones, man!) Penelope Mitchell gives a wonderful performance, aside from the over-dancing. If she didn’t actively lip-sync to the song, I’d assume that she was listening to something else entirely. I do think that red lipstick/hair combo is more ’90s, but the perfect gear and vibes (and over-dancing to a melodic song) sell the ’80s of it. Her handwork is especially compelling– clearly having worked out intriguing ways to interact with the environment that just look organic. The celebratory gesture with eye roll over the successful popcorn catch is a favorite. Alas, I found nothing particularly interesting at the antique mall, despite straining Mac’s patience with my lengthy effort. I came home with a Prime Ultraforce action figure and a 1988 anniversary issue of Playboy (I dug the painted art deco cover, but the overexposed brown pages are crunchier than I’m comfortable with.) He picked up War on vinyl, despite seeing U2 as more of a greatest hits band.

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9. Why does my brain immediately go to negative summer songs like Cruel Summer? I’m surprised I wasn’t an emo kid.

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   1. I think we’re all surprised by that.

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