1000 Greatest Misses

07/11/2025

Episode 114 has a new segment called Tale of the (mix)Tape. Can you name all the artists on this beauty from 1985? Share some of your favorite mix tapes!

07/02/2025

We never talk about it, but you can support the show through the Buzzsprout app. David and Troy are longtime listeners and we really appreciate their support. Records aren’t getting any cheaper, so if we turned you on to a favorite new band, or reminded you of the greatness of an old favorite, or made your commute a little more enjoyable, let us know.

Here’s the link if you are so inclined…

Help a fellow victim of vinyl obsession buy more records for the show!

06/19/2025

Today’s episode features two special guests, Steve Coulter and S.W. Lauden. Spoiler alert, they are the same guy!!!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1-000-greatest-misses/id1675923067?i=1000713536594

06/13/2025

In episode 110 we featured the song Lighthouse Keeper by Kevin Salem. Kevin was kind enough to share some insites…

“Lighthouse Keeper was one of a few songs written right after the band came together: Dave Dunton on keys, Todd Novak on guitar, Keith Leverault on drums, and Scott Yoder on bass. I work with great players all the time, but that was probably the last great band I was in. I mean, it was a band band, so it was easy to imagine a song coming to life. That– the reliable vision of the end sound of something– makes writing a lot easier and more focused. I had the little riff and the melody, maybe the first line (wave goodbye to Pollyanna), and was headed to rehearsal. Anne MacDonald had given me a beautiful handmade book to write in, which I still have. The rest of the lyrics came in a cab ride to the rehearsal studio. The lighthouse keeper analogy was pretty obvious after a year spent being sick with a brain infection that culminated in a stay in the indigent ward in Bellevue, owing to the fact that I had no money and no home. But it's also about trying to find something from a solitary position in the dark, maybe a song, maybe just meaning. Who knows?
However much the seashore thing is the vehicle, a lot of what I wrote then was about music and music culture, about loving and living and breathing it. I can't say it was conscious. Very little of songwriting is that for me. But I take the idea of rock and roll pretty seriously, so there is a lot of reference to it in those early songs. It was, and still is, the life I know best. I could probably go through the lyrics line by line and know about it now what I didn't then. It was little impressions, a pastiche of things that fascinated me; fortune tellers, for example. Pollyanna is a synonym for naivete, but it also had the right amount of syllables. I know that line came before anything else as one of those little things you sing when you're noodling on the guitar that are the difference between a budding song and empty chord changes. Keith Richards calls them vowel movements.
There is a demo somewhere with a more dry, even more 90's vibe that we did with Tome Dube. Niko Bolas produced the version you know at Water Music in Hoboken. It's raw. We cut the instrumental track live, seven mics with no isolation. I overdubbed the lead vocal, singing into a handheld SM57 with the track blasting out of the giant speakers mounted in the control room wall. One of my favorite parts is Todd's backing vocal, singing unison "ahhh" with Dave's B-3 holding that note under the whole chorus. We might have added a tambourine. The guitar sound you hear... a lot of that is coming through the drum mics, and a lot of the drum sound is coming through the guitar mics, a pair of raging AC30s. I can't remember whose mix we used. Could be Niko's, but it's probably Jim Rondinelli's. At one point, the guy who mixed New Kids on the Block took a swing at it. Again, it was basically an eight track recording. Butch Vig heard the record and said, "It definitely doesn't sound buttoned down."
There was a songbook for Soma City. Cherry Lane, the company that published the book, wanted all the solos transcribed. I don't read music, but Todd did. I remember him laughing about struggling to, in his words, "figure out how to write the Chuck Berry riff as music." That is probably the only time I ever played that little riff without rolling my eyes. Again, totally unconscious, but what else would you play in a song about rock and roll?”
- KS

05/15/2025

Don’t forget to listen early tomorrow morning, episode hits the Buzzsprout server at 2:00 AM. Just sayin’

04/11/2025

Better have the lawyers on speed dial…

The first 50 people who check out on Record Store Day will get this fab poster designed by the über talented Shawn Stuckey. Printed on heavy stock paper, measuring 11"x17".. One more reason to come out early!

03/28/2025

Who else has this one? Another killer from our fiends to the North!

03/22/2025

This video will get referenced in episode 100…

Chicago Hard Rock/Power Pop titans get insane in this video for "Give Up" a track from their "Disrespecfully Yours" album. www.millionsrock.com

03/22/2025

These cats walk the line between The Rainmakers and Duran Duran. From 1985, it’s The Skam with Dime Store Romeo’s!

10/31/2024

Episode 85, get it while it’s hot!

Podcast Episode · 1,000 Greatest Misses · 10/31/2024 · 30m

08/25/2024

Episode 77 delves into some deeper cuts by well known bands. Check ‘em out.

Send us a Text Message.Chris and Paul discuss expanding one's horizons and feature five lesser-known songs by well-known acts: Daryl Hall & John Oates, Thin Liz

08/14/2024

You only have one more day to get caught up before episode 76 drops tomorrow!

‎Show 1,000 Greatest Misses, Ep 75: Songs 371-375 (New England, Paul Stanley, The Yo-Yo's, Johnny and the Distractions, Y&T - Glam, AOR, Punk, Metal, Power Pop) - Aug 8, 2024