June 8, 2022

Rivalry Week - Matchbox Twenty vs Rob Thomas - Episode 919

Rivalry Week - Matchbox Twenty vs Rob Thomas - Episode 919
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The time has come in which once per season we agree to disagree, and season 9 has led us to The Great Rob Thomas Showdown. One of us loves the Matchbox 20 era, one the Rob Thomas solo era, and we will make our cases for and against each as we bring our arguments before you.  Also:

- “I like Rob Thomas with some money.”

- Rob’s shameful secret

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Transcript

(This episode was performed by baby robots, so forgive their errors--their transistors are so tiny, you know.)

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Turn up the radio and sing along. It's time for another Great Song. This is the Great Song Podcast, the season's greetings and welcome once again to the Great Song Podcast. I'm Rob Alley, J.P. Moser, and we're here to celebrate the greatest songs in modern music history. We're going to tell you what makes them great, why we think they're awesome and why you should too.

J.P. how are you doing today, man? I am doing fantastic. So every year we do our rivalry week and it's always one of the toughest things for us to decide on as we both typically like to despise similar music. So, and we like similar, similar music. So when this concept hit us, we were like, let's do this.

I'm a fan of early Matchbox, 20 featuring Rob Thomas on lead vocals. Well, Rob's not super crazy about early Matchbox Twenty and is a fan of him as a solo artist. And I'm not as crazy about his solo stuff. So we have it folks, the showdown of Rob Thomas, the great Rob Thomas shoot, the great Rob Thomas showdown.

So for chronological order, I'm going to point out highlight. All the good things. I mean, it's early Matchbox, 20 career. I like how you said that. Like, I'm going to point out the things that happened before he got terrible. And that's what you said. Well, Rob, to test this and then we'll swap over to is subpar solo career and the debate will continue.

So Rob, for starters, let's kick it off with the first single off of the first album, album yourself or someone like you with a little real world. All right. This is real-world by Matchbox.

Shawn Kemp rain man. Oh yeah. John Grisham book.

when you get to verses before. True. You have to endure two verses everybody say it. So hair row, you know, you love it. I wonder where I'd go and I could fly around downtown.

I'll say that. Yeah, it's hard not to give them the news.

Okay. So wait

that, we're going to talk about that. Okay. So maybe my favorite Matchbox Twenty song is the first one they ever did write out the hook right out, right out the gates I'm hooked at this band. And it's funny because all the things that I'm going to talk about, I like talked about as they were going. So I love the.

Per Hey RO and everybody that hears it sings, it let's have on show, head honcho. Let's be honest. Everybody embraces their interrupt. Thomas, every time it comes on, like it or not, you're going to do it. So that's catchy, maybe the best. Yeah. And nineties late nineties music mid to late. Is that in terms of collective soul with like a word?

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's more of a, yeah. I don't know. Yeah, I get, yeah. Okay. Good point now. Okay. We can debate that later. This is not the collective soul debate. We'll talk about Sean with him soon. There we go. Huge chorus, huge chorus. It's huge. It's big. It's the Bravo. RMLS okay. Video of Rob Thomas with a camel in a bowling alley.

So good. And we can move along. We'll just go quick because we got lots of talk about a long day, or you want to start, you wanna talk on things here? Let me just say on this song, because in particular, like. Of the Matchbox Twenty that I don't like, this is right up there for me. Like, it just does nothing for me.

First of all, I just go, man, counting crows is so much better, right? Like if this is the thing that you're doing, you got beat to the punch, bad, like counting crows. And so it's, but it's like the, the. I don't know how they got away with that guitar line, because it's the kind of this kind of feel and that kind of musical hook is what nineties Christian rock bands got killed for.

Right. Listen, like if you. If you didn't know the song. And I said, let me play this song by the waiting Ryan, I love and hate like nineties Christian rock would go. This is corn balded

Okay. So like, I just, I don't know how this guy, that's the way you annunciated the Darren and arrows.

That's that's one step away from being the refreshments opening to king of the hill.

about the vocal inflection on your guitar. Riff that's country lit. I mean, it really is like,

Hey dude, it's a little loud. Right. What was the musical hook on? Hey dude, get along a little dog.

right. Something like that. Yes, man. Y'all go out there and watch. Hey dude, just do it. And if you, Hey, if you're a Patrion we did a, a tweener thing where we talked about, Hey dude, I'm one of those, just a mini-sode or something like that. Okay. Continue. I'm not going to do it. I enjoyed that. I enjoyed that that, that counterpoint there their second track long day didn't chart that well, but if you jump ahead to 3:00 AM, which is their third track.

All right. Oh, I'm sorry. I do have to say, you got to think about me and you and you and me. I can't do that.

And later in the song, they even add harmony to it. Like, I just know it's like when it's like, it's like on, under the bridge by red hot chili peppers, which is an amazing song. Right. But it's one of the all-time great examples of of doing like a no as a filler word and a yeah. As a filler, right? At the same time.

No, no. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's like, I just can't it's like, you got to say one or the other, you have to. Yeah. If you say one, you got to say the other on the. And you it's too. It's like the, it's the same thing with Frampton on baby on Davia way every day. You just, it's just one of those lyrical things.

Let's go eat some hay down by the bay. I just may. Yeah. Yeah. One of the things that people do, it doesn't really make any sense. You don't have to give into that urge, right? Yeah. I like that. Okay, cool. Now let's jump ahead to 3:00 AM. Okay. Cause it's 3:00 AM. Cause at 3:00 AM. I'm up lonely. I'll be at home and not listening to this guy.

He's 12 years old, his mom had cancer and he had to take care of his mom. I'm a mom. Don't come on. Don't do that. Great acoustic performance where he explains it. But for listener comfort, let's just take it to the original gimme some easy chord progression. Just it let's give it some easy chord progression below.

I mean, come on. Let's just be, let's just be, what am I supposed to do with this thing? Come on.

Dang.

There's another country lik

home Alabama. And it really is that progression. It's the main kind of

one for.

Call him that the one that's

come on, you can play this at this age, you know, any. Man can cover 3:00 AM

and seeing it like whole, everybody likes to do a good Rob Thomas impersonation. This is going to be one of my, one of my things that is a defining thing between the Matchbox Twenty era and the post-match Matchbox or not post-match cause Matchbox is still a thing, but the solo career era is, is his vocal inflection.

Like his vocal that life. Nineties, it's not an angsty thing, but it just feels so put on to me. And the fact that he, once he starts doing solo stuff and more pop stuff, it disappears, you know what I mean? That sort of overdrawn, you know what I mean? Like it's like, you have to put your, you have to put, you can try this at home.

Y'all it's you of put your lips over your teeth and it just makes you do.

It's almost like you have dentures or missing teeth, make sure you overdo your arms. And you know, it just, is that weird. It's it sounds like he's doing an impression of what people try to say. Like how people try to say, like, everybody sounded like Darius Rucker in the mid nineties, you know what I mean?

And they do an impression. That's what he sounds like, that he sees the impression guy doing an impression of Derrius Rucker. And it doesn't sound like Gary is. It just sounds like an overblown nineties, grunge voice track for push. I want to push here. So this song was everywhere. You can't say this wasn't played in every taco bell and the sound as you're getting your three sock soft tacos, your nachos with your fake cheese.

Ordering a water. And you, you know, I've told you my taco bell trick. I told you guys this, that, that is legal. So every, so like I had this streak where I went into taco bell, order a water, and then they give you the water and you ask the guy behind the counter, like, oh, how much is it to make this a Coke?

And EV most times they'll say, just go ahead and get a Coke. Yeah. And so that's not stealing a Coke because you've asked the guy permission. So I'm like, I can have a Coke. And the guy at taco bell is giving me a Coke. And anyway, so that's not, I don't say go order a water and fill it up with Coke. No, that's stealing.

Don't steal. Don't steal. People at taco bell or nice ask, ask, and it shall be given to you. Yeah, y'all don't know J.P. in college, had a system by which he could eat and get full at any fast food restaurant for $2. Am I lying? It was cheap. Yeah. And still to this day, this is a, here's a little JP lunch theory that, or thanks.

So I get a loaf of bread every week. I've I've worked for a company for 19 years. And I've ate and lunch the same way every week, I get a loaf of bread, which is a dollar. And then I get either a rotisserie chicken for $5. Okay. And I just make chicken sandwiches all week, or I do deli sandwiches or tuna sandwich.

So basically I eat for $7 lunch every week, every week. And I've done that for years. So there you go. Serious money tip Dave Ramsey is smiling somewhere. So, but this is not budget music. Let me, this is high dollar quality music play a little bit of push, just so we can get some some of us nineties kids, a loving life.

They're going to commit one of the Cardinal sins right away.

I will say for some for an mid nineties rock, man had a lot of like stick clicks going on. Yeah. Yeah. It's not

by hamlets custody. You can just feel the presence of his leather jacket and the earring, but just be like, I'm surrounded by them. That's air sounds. Good. Snare does sound.

Panhard right there and it's playing bad. So here's a little take. That is another thing that Rob can bash. Cause he hates the apologetics. Every time I hear this song, I think of the apologetics version. I want to put you down in my will and it says, I want to save your poor planet, but I don't remember what it's about.

I don't remember the. Oh, I know. Right. I don't remember the theme, but anyway, I just, I want to put you down and my, well, I don't remember what the song is about, but so I've, I said I'm going to early Matchbox. So those are the three that I'm going to focus on as creature comfort songs for your ears.

I got a little bit on the, meet the band. And then go ahead and tell me things you don't like. Yeah. Let me just come back on push. First of all, I've just from the very beginning. That chorus has not done it for me. I just don't like the lyric. I don't know what the is about. I don't know if it's about his mom having kids then I don't know what I'm supposed to say, but like, you know, I've just never liked that chorus as, as allegory or as whatever as it might be.

I just don't like that. And and I, and I get that. It's probably from the perspective of somebody who's doing somebody, I don't know. I don't know. I just, I just hate it. I just hate that lyric. The the, the rhythm guitars are doing a couple of things on, on this song that just irk me bad. And I'll let me, I'm actually gonna swallow my pride and play it again.

The very, the, the second chord that you hear we're in a G shape. Okay. I don't know if we're actually in junior flat. I think we might be in G flat, but they're going to do this thing where you, you have a G shape and you move down the lowest note of the G to an F sharp. And what you should do with your other fingers is form and a D chord on top, so that you're, you're hitting a note that jives with the cord, but the lazy way to do it is just keep the rest of the G shape and just move.

G to an F sharp. And so what you get is a G chord on top over and sharp. Okay. And that's what they're doing here. Egregiously, listen, listen closely here. So what you're going to hear is. Okay. There's our key boom. So you're going to hear up top these notes, these notes, right? BOM, BOM, BOM, BOM. And then it's going to go BOM BOM, BOM, BOM, BOM, BOM BOM is where you're getting the low.

So. BOM BOM, BOM, BOM, BOM, BOM, BOM, BOM, BOM BOM. That's not a core bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp, G D G F sharp. It's not, it's not at all. There's nothing right about that. Listen, so listen real quick that it's just this casual strum thing. It's lazy. It's not even call it. You can call it a D suspended over an F sharp, but that's a lazy chord.

That is a lazy chord. Okay. And then the other thing that they do that I won't, I won't dig into find it, but the other thing they do on the chorus, especially. Is on the wind. They're strumming the G chord. They leave in the low third in the court. So if you're, if you're a guitar player, you know, the G chord shape and you in there might be a couple of different ways.

You play up the top part of the court, but the bottom part of the chord, the way you learn it first is there's a G on the bottom. That's on the third fret. And then with your ring finger, I mean your first finger you play the. On the F on the fifth fret second, I'm sorry. Fifth string, second fret.

Right? That bomb bomb. Right. So if you're spelling a G chord from the bottom on guitar, he goes BOM, BOM, BOM, BOM, BOM, BOM. Okay. So they're leaving that bomb bomb. In there instead of like muting it and it's too close that portrait not be played that way. But it's like the first way they teach you to play a G chord, but honestly, a PR professional musicians, they don't play that chord that way.

I'm sure somebody. And obviously they did, but like, it shouldn't be, it's too close. It's muddy, inherently muddy, no matter what you do with the mix, those two notes are too low and too close to each other to sound good. So that's just a thing for me. I know people get away with it and I know people don't mind it, but for me, those things are like Cardinal sounds.

All right. Let's make the band. Let's find out who did this, this guy. It's time to meet the bear. Hey mama. Less meat, less meat, meat, meat, meat, meat. All right, let's start with him. Okay. Now on lead guitar. Kyle Cook. He put a solo project together called wolves, solid guitar player, but not flashy. August 25th, 2020.

He played the guitar riff for the Nashville se Gibson guitar riff on YouTube so they can play riffs. They can play with on rhythm guitar. Probably the guy you're mad at the war. The most Adam Gaynor was on millionaire matchmaker. He's got to stay solo tracks, stuck and float. He wrote his first book.

This is Edgar Pennell, Pendleton, so good for him. So he's a writer and that's what your rhythm guitar players do go on when to be fed. When, when an album blows up, like yeah. Did you, yeah. Yeah. You can go out and be, if you want to be on base Brian yet. I was in a group called Tabitha secrets which eventually was the band.

That was the predecessor to Matchbox Twenty. Yeah. So Rob Thomas span prior, also with the gentlemen below the gentleman below was the second percussionist. His name's Paul Doucet was he's the drummer in Matchbox Twenty He was in a he's in a band called the brake and repair method. Their debut album was called the milk and the B, which is definitely piano driven.

Reminds me kind of, you know, who Jack's mannequin is. I really liked them. I listened to the album. I like a song called won't get worse. Best off the album. He was married to Frank Zappa's daughter, moon Zappa for 12 years. On keyboards and percussion. Well, a guy named met, sir. Ledek like so many.

We spoke with that play keyboards on ad albums. He's primarily a producer these days. He ironically played with collective soul. So there you go. He's also done stuff with blessing, eating your souls. One of my favorites, Edward McCain bless the union of may. And I love that song. I believe. Good stuff. If that be the one you would pick love is the answer.

Anther, anther lovely author. One of my favorite editor McCain, and one of my favorites, ed McCain. And here's a name we don't throw around often keyboards for a girl named Stacy or Rico, a little, little CCM kickback for you guys there. That's what I got on the early Matchbox Twenty days. I try to keep it short so that we can jump in to the, to the solo stuff.

No. I don't know. I don't think so. So you can poke some holes or we can kick it to the cellos, right? Yeah. I think I'm going to kick it into two, two, some solo tracks. And here's so here's how this started. I there's one Rob Thomas solo track. And I guess I'll just start with it. That I heard and I just really liked, which was a surprise to me because I just thought forever.

I'm just not a Rob Thomas Guy. He's just not my guy. And then I heard this song and I went, oh, I kinda love this. You know? And so I had to let myself be okay. At first with even just keeping it on. It was just my practice for many years. You hear the voice? Yeah, I just scan. Yeah. And so so I had to be okay first with this, but it won me over.

And then I was like, man, this is good. And then what happened? So that was going to be basically my basis for this episode was going to be this song street corner symphony. Let's take a listen.

I'll wake up the test of Sama swim, miss.

okay. So first of all, my, my first thought when I heard this was, I didn't know, he had that. I didn't know, he had that upper note, you know, right. And that's just a great sing along chorus. Come on. It feels good. Street, corner symphony. Let's, you know, whatever, everybody come hang out. We're all cool. And we're all friends and we all love each other.

And so that was, that was my first like, you know, okay. I could be I'm down with this. As far as Rob Thomas goes, I like it. But then I started listening to more and more and more. Are you done with. Yeah. Okay. Cause I got a note. Okay. Okay. So I was ready to tear into this one because I don't like it.

So I don't like it. And then I found out, do you know who plays guitar on that? Is it something I could guess? No. Freaking John Mayer is the guitar. So anyway, so I'm like, gosh, I can't hate on John Mayer because I'm a big John Mayer fan, but then I realized, how do you have John Mayer on. And not realize it's John Mayer and not have a memorable solo.

So like you didn't even know that. So there you go. So I'm going to give myself a point as a negative because you have, you know, somebody that you can, and he sings background vocals on that. He's so far buried in the mix. You can't even tell the unmistakable voice of John Mayer. You can't even tell it that's his guitar and he doesn't play a solo.

So John Mayer wasted on that. That's my justification for street corner symphony, but a great rule. Nah, just, don't just, don't be hating on the country. Okay. And so I found some commonalities in like li solo era. Okay. Rob Thomas versus Matchbox Twenty, or Rob Thomas and what it really comes down to it's really, I like Rob Thomas with some.

I think that's really like, it's, it's a, like a major versus minor, you know what I mean? Give me Rob Thomas with something in his bank account after he's financially set. I'm ready to hear Rob Thomas. Okay. So like that first album, Matchbox Twenty, there are probably, you know what I mean? They're like in their record company was probably stealing from him, you know, that old Chestnut, right.

We didn't get paid until three years in that business. Get, I let Rob Thomas roll up in a Bentley with a good haircut. Not that stuff he was rocking on, on that first Matchbox Twenty album. You know, with a, with a, with a martini in his hand, give me that Rob. Oh, Gore's light Rob Thomas, you know, Milwaukee's best Rob Thomas.

You're like, give me martini rubbed off. Yes. Give me martini, Rob Thomas with some money coming up, you know, flexing co-writing with whoever, you know what I mean? Like give me that I want happy Rob Thomas. That is like, that's like. Okay. Do you have an example of how sure, sure, sure. So we got some, let me, let me check this one out.

I really like this one. This is the greatest.

people are talking what you can on. No,

I live across that.

So just hope that he just rolled up to a club with.

And this song is a mood for me.

I don't know this song. Should I, is this a hit? I don't know if it's a hit or not. I don't know this song, so 'cause I like people, I didn't know any of this. Is it, does it get big or does it stay there? It just kinda, I mean, 'cause it didn't really do much for me. It expands a little, it's more of an emotional driving late night.

Smooth yet, dude, this is a, this is a black roles, you know, sunglasses at night, Rob Thomas, you know it's just it just, he was just so grumpy before, you know, Matchbox Twenty. It was. See, I want that guy and let me tell you, I want the I'll go with, give me poor over rich because, and I can give some reasons.

Okay. So if we're going to go era, let's talk about his first solo album, something to be. So it's got the three dots before. Let's be honest, those three dots are super pretentious, so don't give me rich martini, pretentious baby. One more time. My goodness. And, and the thing that makes me frustrated about it is this album knocked off.

It kept my person out of the number one spot, which was Mariah Carey patient and made me finished to behind this one. So he's, he's he knocked he knocked my girlfriend out of the out of the top spots here a little bit about. Here's just a little something to be. It's a good song.

I mean, all this stuff is so immediately more vibey than Matchbox Twenty stuff, you know, it's not as raw. I'll take a little rawness Polish produce. Give me some Polish, come on. This is the same debate on, you know, where I'm feeling like this is. I mean, it's Charlie blue. It's the same Charlie Bruce debate.

Yeah. I don't want to Polish on it, dude. No, if I want Polish though, I don't want to go Rob Thomas, if I won't Polish, I'll go anyway. Nah, I want, I want Rob Thomas featuring pit bull. Okay. So the first song off the first solo album is called. This is how heartbreaks first verse he says, take it for granted the way he says it's.

And the stranded the song, the synth parts kind of weak ramp seems kind of lazy. And basically in the video is Rob Thomas chasing himself the whole time. So it's a little weird. So I'm just going to go solo quick bullet points. Cause I don't want second tracks probably as big, biggest hit. It's called lonely no more.

Yeah. Words are only words. Can she show me something else? It gets a little rapey open up to me like you do your girlfriends. I hate this. Not a lot of cords holding a song together, mate, mainly just sounds so you can play it if you want. No, no. I will say of his solo stuff, especially if it's solo hits that one is at the bottom.

Some guitar, a bunch of notes. I'm actually multiple guitars. Smartest thing he did was have windy Melville and play guitar on this track. It was prince as longtime guitar player and Jeff Trott, another guitar player, but just, that's a thumbs down for me. Third track ever not crazy about this one, but I do like that.

He wrote this one about his wife it's called ever the same and they're still together. So props to that, anybody that's been together through the nineties and be a rock star, that's a win on the cradle song album. He's got a song called someday. We can play that. It sounds like you having to grow out to me, who I love, but if I want to hear it, I'll just listen to Gavin DeGraw.

Okay. Fair enough. Yeah. So, and then that's another, you got another song on there called her diamonds. He wrote for his wife who was battling lupus at the time. Yeah. So prompts, prompts there. So I'm giving some kind of, yeah, that's a cool story. So I got one, I got something that I do want to do a quick tear down and I think you'll agree with me on this.

So his first thing he did without Matchbox Twenty it's 1999. And it's the heyday. I think we can say it's maybe the worst thing in music. It's called smooth with Santana. So let's play a little of this and let's talk about why we don't like smooth. All right. Do you like smooth? Here's my secret weapon.

Okay. I was hoping to save my own pride that I was not going to have to say this. Okay. But you forced my hand. Here's my shameful secret. Sometime in the last six months, I turned the corner on the number two billboard, single of all time, Mr. Carlos Santana in arguably the greatest guitarist of his or any other generation featuring who not Matchbox Twenty featuring Rob Thomas kicking off his solo career.

And something happened to one day when it came on, I didn't turn it off. Just, I just stopped just the act of not turning it off. And then the next time it came on, I found myself like dancing along. And now my room is all decked out with Santana flags and supernatural three D glow in the dark posters of Santana.

I burn incense all the time. I wear Santana brand earbuds. Did he only plays a PRS power of smooth, and I forgiven Carlos Santana all because of the power of Rob Thomas. Come on. It's just like the ocean under the moment. He drew me in lights at the time, the bay can't stop.

Come on. Just give me a frozen, put me out in the Harlem street. I'll make it. No. No. Okay. So I'll, I'll joke it aside. I win because of that, but I'm going to give Rob. On something done. I don't like about early Matchbox Twenty, so it's going to come back around. My least favorite thing that he's ever did is bent, which I must say is from mad season, which is a Matchbox, which that's without a doubt, my least favorite.

So let's both talk about how we don't like, so no, all joking aside. I really here's how I would kind of do the debate. I can't really bash Rob Thomas, as I really searched for something to debate on the rival can't. I just like, I'm going to pick the Matchbox Twenty stuff over then his solo in the beginning.

So like, it's a, I can't hate it as much as I try. I mean, there's some things that I don't like. I don't like smooth. I don't like. Some of the things I don't like, but it's not a Troche's hatred. This is more of just a showdown of which we like better if have preference preferences, showdown. Okay. Here's, here's the thing.

And this is kind of my only note other than to say I looked up just some of their like the Matchbox Twenty albums and stuff like that. Their albums were massively huge. I mean, let's look at this Grammy awards nom nominated for push mad season unwell. I will say unwell is, is a good song.

Like that's a, that's a really good song. Also nominated 2004 for that album. But they hold on, I'm trying to find the. The platinum. I think that first album was 12 times platinum in the U S second. The followup was four times platinum. Like, you know, you've got something when your second album goes four times platinum, you know what I mean?

I think the third album was double platinum. You know what I mean? And then his, and they miss behind their standards. It's still monster. Kill to have a double platinum album. Are you serious? Yeah. And, and of course his side projects have done really well, too. I think his first one at least is platinum or double platinum in the U S so you got to, and, and he's written a bunch of hits songs for other people now started collaborating.

You know, all that stuff. So you've got to give it to him. Here's the thing I respect about Rob Thomas. Like when he wanted to do pop stuff, he just went solo and did it like, as opposed to taking like the maroon five route, right. Who basically become an RNB band at this point, you know, like they, and they started out as a.

About a straight ahead rock band, as you, as you would want to find. Rob Thomas said, let's keep Matchbox Twenty, what it is, and let me do this myself. I'm going to go make some pop records and we'll come back and we'll still be Matchbox. They ever broke up. I don't think they just sort of, you know stopped.

So, you know, I, I can appreciate that and I can respect that as opposed to like turning the band into something that is, I mean, I'll say this God bless maroon five. I'm glad they're doing well, but I can't think of anyone. In my lifetime, unless I'm missing somebody that, so obviously took a turn to where the money was than maroon five.

You know what I mean? I have to, I feel like Coldplay did it to. Maybe a degree, but they love it. And I'm a Coldplay fan and they've turned it into a whole other thing. Coldplay took it and ran into a really creative here's my take. As I think they made that what it is like maybe. So I think they are the biggest of doing that.

Like maybe they, I think they made that much money happened. I don't think they were chasing a that's for sound. I think they said, we're going to go make this sound. We've done this. We're going to go create this. That's true. And I am a Coldplay fan. Saw an opportunity. I can see that Adam Levine, this is going to, he feels more like a sellout than Chris Martin to me.

And that's, I'm not bad. I'm bashing a little bit. Yeah. Let's just be, yeah, I think it's fair to say. I think he's doing the showdown of Adam Levine. What we will both be on early. Yeah, before we leave, we can't, it's not an episode. If we don't play stump the genius. So tall stimulus placed up the gene, the genius genius, genius, genius.

So we're going to play stoke the genius. Rob Thomas Matchbox, 20 edition. I don't know any of these songs. I want to play five that I don't know. And I'm going to see if you can guess whether it's Matchbox. So you're going to be, yes. So it's 50 50. I probably wouldn't have done as well, but here we go.

Here's number one. I'm sure I'm going to get stumped by some later Matchbox, that's gotta be Matchbox status Matchbox Twenty that's song called cold that's Rob Thomas Thomas overdose on a bad site. Saw the best in the worst times. I'm hearing the production.

That's Rob Thomas stepper. Okay. Dang it. Last boy.

That's for five good job, bro. That was a winning. Okay. Now I got, I got 80% based on this alone. Major key, Rob, minor, key Matchbox. It's awesome, dude. That's going to get you good job. A lot of the way there. All right. I have, I have one or the thing that I'm never gonna, gonna, gonna have another chance to play because obviously I Leaned into the comedy a little bit on my Santana beer, but truly I have come around on smooth.

I don't know when it happened and I can't explain it, but I, but I now can enjoy listening to that song. I'm not there yet, but but here's the other, here's the thing that I have. Years ago I helped produce a project for a, a mutual friend of ours. We have we have an awesome friend named Brando.

He's 18 feet tall, strongest man in the world. And yeah, and just, just makes Paul Bunyan look like a little worse. Okay. I, I helped produce a project for his sister whose name is Solon summer. And one of these songs had this sort of it reminded me of the Carlos Santana song with Michelle Branch gave a love in a little bit in his, you know what I mean?

Yeah. Okay. It just gave me that kind of. Okay. I'm going to put a Carlos Santana guitar solo in this song, and I'm going to be, I'm going to play every over gun Santana lick that I can possibly muster in this like eight bars. Okay. So my name I'm officially credited on the album as Marlo Fantana. Okay. So this is answers featuring Marlo fantasy.

By summer Hollander. Okay. I'm going to, okay. So I'm going to just scoot ahead to the guitar solo and you see if you can everybody listen and just see if you can count how many Santana licks I was able to get into this. Okay.

yeah.

Even it was even fun to do knowing I'm not, I'm not the Carlos and fan, but that's how much like, I've never bought a Santana record, but I've never intentionally listened to Santana other than the one song with Chad Kroeger, but it was insane. It was instilled with me just having heard on the radio.

That's so funny. I love that guys. This has been fun. We're coming down the home stretch only one more episode this year. Yeah. With the grand finale of number nine and hope you guys enjoy the showdown of Rob Thomas, let us know where you where you fall, whether y'all are Matchbox people, whether y'all are Rob Thomas people, whether you're neither people or whether you're both.

Yeah. Just let us know kind of where you fall on which side of the fence and give some highlights. Yeah. That's it. Do you like happy Rob Thomas with money or do you like poor, angry, Rob Thomas with a dying mom? Sorry. All right. We'll be back next week with another Great Song, but first do something for me.

Go on socials, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter hit that little button that says follow. When you find the account, that's called Great Song pod. And if you want to go the extra mile, help us by supporting the. Then go to patrion.com, P a T R E O n.com and hit that little button that says support. There's different levels that you can do it at.

But we've got them all the same. They all get the same stuff. We know not everybody's in the same spot financially. So it doesn't matter. At what level you support us, you get all the benefits that the people who support us on the. Do so if you want to do that, then we can say thank you. By giving you extended shows, early release, full bonus episodes and more when you go to patrion.com/ Great Song pod, we'll be back with the season finale of season nine.

And I am so excited. It's going to be a real doozy. So we'll see you guys next week until then I'm Rob. J.P. go listen to some music.