Cars in Music (In Cars!)

Heather (01:27.321)
Welcome to Discourse, a podcast about music as a medium for conversation. Our guest today is probably the coolest person I know. Greg Hanna has been playing bass professionally since he was 14. So you were a member of the Dickies. You played in a band with D .H. Pellegros of the Dead Kennedys. You’ve played with John Five, Pete Anderson, and you’ve been on you played on tracks that have been all over television and media.

So you’ve been around.

Greg Hanna (01:58.501)
Little bit, little bit, yeah.

Heather (01:59.867)
So how did you really get started? your dad was professional musician, correct?

Greg Hanna (02:08.146)
Correct. My dad was a first call jazz drummer in the Detroit area. you know, music always in the home. I remember him playing six, seven nights a week. And then like a little, when I was getting a little bit older, he was playing in some other bands. He was playing a little bit of everything besides jazz at that point, like Top 40 and rock and country and

I started taking bass lessons, literally like two lessons, and he had a gig one night and their bass player couldn’t make it and he goes, grab your bass. I was like, okay. So 14 years old, playing in some bar that I shouldn’t have been in because I was 14, not that I was drinking or anything. And the band leader would look at me and say, okay, this one’s key of G.

Heather (02:59.795)
Ha

Greg Hanna (03:06.771)
You know, it’s like, well, I had a 50 50 chance of hitting the right notes, you know, so turn it down a lot more and just like, okay, you know, and then you, you know, you make it, you know, so was, besides taking lessons and all that, it was, there was a lot of like sink and swim, throw you out in the water and learn, you know, what they call standards.

Heather (03:33.466)
Mm

Greg Hanna (03:33.523)
songs that like every band plays for like wedding gigs and you know venues where they play four sets a night everything like that you gotta know a blues chord progression you got you got it’s a great way to learn all your must know what to do and how to play it so it was an amazing education for a 14 year old

Rajah (03:37.771)
you

Heather (03:59.4)
Yeah, that sounds incredible. So these days you’ve settled down a bit. spend most the time with your family and customizing Hot Wheels.

Greg Hanna (04:06.803)
Yes, I do. Yeah. Besides being into music when I was a kid, was, but still am. I’m into cars, love cars, always love cars, always love building model cars. getting busy with family and everything like that and space constraints, building models, take up a lot of space and a lot of time. And like about 10 years ago, I discovered

people customizing Hot Wheels on Instagram and I’m like this is me now so that’s what I you know it’s a great side hustle it’s a great hobby so it’s it’s just a lot of fun so

Heather (04:50.554)
Excellent. I love those niche hobbies that I feel like you always end up with like oddly tight -knit communities that, you know, are full of people who would never meet otherwise.

Greg Hanna (05:01.018)
I agree, I agree. it’s, I love little tight knit groups like that. And I also love that a lot of people within these groups, if there’s a need, they’ll create it. You know, like there’s a lot of guys that will print decals and sell them or print 3D parts, things like that, you know, so.

I love when the cottage industry spring up around it too.

Heather (05:32.22)
Absolutely. So our theme for this week honors your hobby. It’s cars. So let’s go ahead and get started. Music starts in three, two, one.

Greg Hanna (05:38.651)
Excellent.

Greg Hanna (05:42.482)
all right?

Heather (05:49.696)
Alright, so Greg’s first pick is Little Deuce Coop by the Beach Boys. It was released on Little Deuce Coop album on Capitol Records in 1963. Greg, tell us about the song.

Greg Hanna (06:02.216)
Well…

Wow, where do I start? Brian Wilson to me is one of the best composers of history, let alone pop music. the reason I picked this song is their singer Mike Love was really into Hot Rods, really into the surf scene. And there’s nothing I love more than docudrama. And this song has it in spades where they’re listed, you know,

how they built the car. It’s a 32 Ford. It’s got a competition clutch with a four on the floor. So this resonated with everybody in the middle 60s. So that’s the reason I picked it.

Heather (06:52.646)
Excellent. The Beach Boys is one of the bands that I grew up listening to and my dad is a car nut too. So I love this selection.

Karla (06:59.987)
Okay.

Greg Hanna (07:03.028)
I, yeah, I mean, and then they have so many other songs like 409, Shut Down, Fun Fun Fun. So besides the music and the singing, which is incredible, they really nailed it with the lyrics and capturing that era.

Heather (07:10.624)
Yep.

Heather (07:24.961)
Excellent. All right.

This next song is Life is a Highway by Rascal Flatts. This is Raja’s selection. It was released on Me and My Gang with Lyric Street Records in 2006. Raja.

Rajah (07:45.945)
Yeah, when I heard the theme was cars, the first thing I thought about was the movie cars. This came out when I was in middle school. And when I think about cars, I think about travel. And I love traveling. And so when I was little, being on a highway meant we’re going somewhere different. A new state, a new place, to visit someone. And the song is just a great song about life transition and going with the people you love and care about.

The vibe is great, it’s happy. It’s a great song.

Heather (08:19.873)
Yeah, it’s excellent. So Rascal Flatts is more country than I usually go, but this is a great cover.

Rajah (08:27.073)
What?

Heather (08:32.099)
So what about Rascal Flatts? Do you really connect with like, is this a band that you like a lot or is it just the association with the movie? Okay.

Rajah (08:43.19)
It really was just the song. The song, the highway, And of course it was on the soundtrack of the movie. So when I heard it, I was like, this is my jam. And I was first going to middle school, that was like a big loss change. And this song just was like, if I had to pick a song for this moment, I’m in. And it’s always been something I would turn back to when I needed a little pick -me -up. So, yes, traveling. Life is literally a highway.

Heather (09:10.915)
Excellent.

Heather (09:15.052)
It is.

Rajah (09:15.22)
And of course you can’t complain with rascal fags.

Heather (09:18.988)
Yeah. And I really, love all the Pixar movies. like, and my, my nephews always like they hit a certain age and they get obsessed with the Cars movies. It’s really a great connection.

Rajah (09:24.032)
Yes.

Rajah (09:30.378)
Thank you.

Karla (09:30.944)
Yeah.

Rajah (09:34.037)
And yes, I’ve seen all of them.

Heather (09:36.651)
Excellent, I have not.

Rajah (09:37.834)
Yes, they’re really good. Like, kids movies definitely still include themes and jokes for adults, so you’ll find something to commit to.

Heather (09:51.404)
Yep, I do love that.

Heather (09:56.344)
Greg, have you seen the animated movies?

Greg Hanna (09:59.447)
I’ve seen, I don’t know if I’ve seen one start to finish, know. My son sometimes when he puts a movie on, we might see five minutes of it. You know what I mean? But I’m definitely familiar with it, of course. But what this song reminds me of is if anybody here watched The Office, there’s a great scene with this song.

Heather (10:11.258)
okay.

Heather (10:27.957)
I haven’t seen that, that’s nice. There’s an office episode for everything, isn’t there?

Greg Hanna (10:32.917)
Yes.

Heather (10:35.757)
Excellent.

Heather (10:40.141)
Alright, this is a longer song, so we’re gonna jump to the next one.

Alright, this is Carla’s pick. is Fast Car by Tracy Chapman, released on a self -titled album on Elektra Asylum Records in 1988. Carla, tell us about this song.

Karla (10:59.04)
Yeah. Well, I first heard this song from a friend of mine when we were at a writing convention. like, just kind of, I was so young, I was like 21. And back then, it sort of vibed with me. But I think at different times of my life, it has also just had like an impact. It’s kind of like…

You you listen to a song once and it means something and then you listen to it another time in your life and it means something different and it resonates in different ways. And last year, actually, Tracy Chapman won Best Song at the Country Music Awards and she was the first black woman to do so, which is wild because this was released 30 years ago.

Heather (11:32.258)
Definitely.

Heather (11:46.052)
Right?

Karla (11:46.408)
And only now after like Luke Combs, like David A New Life and everything. So then I listened to it again when she played it live with him. I think it was like at the Grammys. And again became like obsessed with it. And every time I think about cars or road trips, this song is like top in my playlist. Cause I think it’s just such a…

a good song about growing up and overcoming obstacles and life not really turning out the way you planned it.

Heather (12:19.596)
Absolutely. I remember seeing an article about the cover when she won and how, I don’t know the new artist, but he purposely didn’t make any changes to the song so she would get more credit on it, which I think is really incredible.

Karla (12:21.183)
Yeah.

Karla (12:28.308)
Yeah.

Karla (12:35.496)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And she’s a very private artist too. So I think like, a lot of people thought she was dead for a while. Because it’s kind of like a generation. Yeah, it’s kind of this generation of artists that like, make music and then sort of that music lasts forever and you feel like…

Heather (12:47.025)
wow.

Karla (12:58.44)
It’s kind of like that music has been a part of your life forever, but you haven’t really seen the artist much. So a lot of people are like, I thought she was just done and she’s just very private. So I was happy to see her like live, you know, and get these accolades that she got to from the song. then just, I don’t think.

Any other lyrics are as catchy as this like, you know, we got a fast car. It’s like every, and that other line, I think that I belong and I think that I could be someone. I think that line really hits all of us at different times. Cause there might’ve been times where we might’ve felt like we didn’t belong or, you know.

Heather (13:47.302)
Mm -hmm. I think it’s really relatable.

Karla (13:51.504)
and it’s really long too.

Heather (13:54.843)
It is. It’s a very nice mellow vibe though, like sometimes you need a song like this. You really do.

Karla (13:56.37)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Karla (14:02.752)
It’s like a driving song too, I feel. Like if you’re on a road trip. Yeah.

Heather (14:04.879)
yep. Yep. I love rave songs.

Rajah (14:07.546)
Yes. Yeah.

Greg Hanna (14:11.191)
What year did this come out again?

Karla (14:13.376)
88.

Heather (14:13.385)
this, yep, 88.

Karla (14:16.085)
Yeah.

Greg Hanna (14:16.663)
Yeah, how amazing, I mean, it still stands up perfectly.

Karla (14:21.631)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Heather (14:26.539)
All right, on to the next song. This is… So this song has a really long intro. It’s like two minutes of comedy. So it is Bitch and Camaro by the Pet Shop Boys. It was released on Big Lizard in My Backyard on Quid Ergo in 1985. So I mentioned my dad is really into cars. Camaro’s were his primary growing up, I think.

Greg Hanna (14:41.433)
Classic.

Heather (14:55.596)
He had a 67 Camaro when he was younger that he really wanted to get again. But in high school, he actually made me put a playlist together for him and I burned CDs. It was his Camaro playlist and this was on there. you know, it has a place in my heart because of him. But like the intro is this long kind of…

Greg Hanna (15:10.135)
That’s awesome.

Heather (15:25.513)
Honestly, it’s kind of cringy now. Stand up thing with two of the singers. Like right here, they’re doing an impersonation of, what’s his name? From the Doors.

Greg Hanna (15:43.631)
Morrison. Yeah, Jim Morrison.

Karla (15:44.468)
Morrison.

Heather (15:44.981)
Yes, Jim Morrison. Thank you. Yeah. So for any young kids listening, like you should know who Jim Morrison and the Doors are. There’s a great, great movie. I’m going to forget his name again, too. Who played?

Greg Hanna (16:03.832)
Val Kilmer.

Heather (16:04.727)
Val Kilmer, thank you. I’m really bad with names, so I’m gonna need everybody to help me. I apologize. Like V, his name starts with a V. But it’s really fantastic. So, Ted Milkman.

Karla (16:06.149)
community.

Yeah.

Rajah (16:09.89)
I’m better than you two.

Heather (16:23.35)
So going through this, here we go. What kind of card is? It’s a bitchin’ Camaro.

Heather (16:36.374)
All right, here we go. So now it’s a great little jumpy song about a kid with a Camaro who has no business driving and can’t get in trouble because his dad’s the mayor. So I love it.

Karla (16:38.346)
Yeah, I know.

Karla (16:51.84)
you

Heather (17:08.632)
So I really like songs with this kind of comedy to them. I think that’s a recurring thing with me. Like no matter what the genre, you can work jokes in there, you’re gonna get me.

Greg Hanna (17:22.085)
Yeah, Deb Milkman nailed that whole humor and punk rock thing.

Heather (17:27.455)
absolutely.

Greg Hanna (17:29.936)
like punk rock girl, amazing song.

Heather (17:33.161)
Karla (17:33.192)
I love that song, yeah.

Heather (17:36.503)
Alright, well that’s round one. We’re gonna take a quick break and do a word from a sponsor. We don’t have any sponsors, so I’m just gonna talk about some random company I like. Today we’re doing a free promo for Tidal. Tidal is a streaming platform that is similar to Spotify. They started as one of the first companies to stream high resolution audio. Jay -Z bought them for a few years, now he’s just on the board, but they pay artists more than most streaming.

platforms, so their average payout per stream is like twice what Apple pays and like two and a half times what Spotify pays, which per stream is still really low. It’s like .013 cents. But I still feel like it’s more supportive of artists, so I really like it. And we actually are using Tidal in production right now, so Tidal sponsor us. All right, we’re gonna start round two.

here we go, back on. This is Thunder Express by MC5. It was released on Thunder Express on Jungle Records in 1999. Tell us about it, Greg.

Greg Hanna (18:52.381)
Well, you can’t have a song about cars without a band from Detroit, MC5. Although I think that release is from, what’d you say, 99? I think they originally recorded this like in 69 or 70. And just like with Iggy Pop, one of the ultimate pre -punk rock bands, you know? And I love this song, of course, because…

Heather (19:07.397)
okay.

Greg Hanna (19:20.446)
Again, with the docu drama with talking about having a 454 and a Voodoo heads and swifter shifter and all that. And it’s just the blues. The song isn’t overly complicated, but it’s just straight up rock and roll. And anybody out there is not familiar with MC5. You need to get familiar with them. Amazing songs and really raw and definitely.

definitely kickstarted punk rock before punk rock was even a thought. So hope you guys enjoy it.

Heather (19:57.081)
Yeah, so they’re, the track I’m familiar with is Kick Out the Jams. But other than that, they’re not like a household name for me, but.

Greg Hanna (20:02.235)
Yep, that was their big one, yeah.

Greg Hanna (20:07.534)
No, for a lot of people. Yeah, there’s no middle ground with MC5. Either they’re one of your all -time favorites or you’ve never heard of them. There’s no middle ground, so.

Heather (20:20.228)
Gotcha. So MC5 stands for, is it Motor City Five? Is that, yeah? And your family is from Detroit. You said your grandparents worked in them.

Greg Hanna (20:26.025)
Motor City 5, that’s it.

Greg Hanna (20:33.337)
Yep. Born in. Yep. All my relatives. Everybody worked for either GM Ford or Chrysler. So.

Heather (20:45.103)
Nice, lot of family history there.

Heather (20:58.886)
So this song in particular, how did you first hear about it?

Greg Hanna (21:02.879)
I just listened to the old MC5 records. You know, I think I probably first got ears on it, you know, my early teens, know, 15 or 16, something like that. had a buddy with some older brothers and they had a bunch of cool old records that kind of like slid me from the Beach Boys to more things like this and then slid me into more things like more like what was going on.

Heather (21:06.288)
Okay.

Greg Hanna (21:32.922)
at that very moment, like the dead Kennedy’s and black flag and things like that.

Heather (21:40.112)
Nice. Does it make you feel like really nostalgic or any other way listening to songs like these?

Greg Hanna (21:47.771)
yeah, sometimes. mean,

There’s some songs, like there’s a band called the Circle Jerks and they have an album called Wonderful. And if I put that album on, it takes me right back to spring of 1986 and skateboarding at that particular like in March. I don’t know why, but that’s another amazing thing about music, you know?

Heather (22:14.429)
haha

Heather (22:18.599)
Absolutely. Just kind of capture moments in your life.

Greg Hanna (22:22.652)
Yeah, and you don’t know it until years later, you know, at least for me.

Heather (22:27.484)
Absolutely.

Heather (22:34.772)
Are there specific lyrics in this song that really grab you?

Greg Hanna (22:39.314)
yeah, the second verse when he says, have LS7 -454 with an Inkey Cam, Voodoo heads in a Swifter shifter, pop the clutch, wham. It’s just like, and again, with older friends, with older brothers that had cars during this period, like your dad, but the Camaro, know, all my, all my buddies with older siblings. was just all, you know, it was like watching that movie Dazed and Confused, you know.

Heather (23:00.318)
Yeah.

Heather (23:10.102)
Absolutely. All right, we’re on to the next track. It is Throw Some D’s by Rich Boy. It was released on Rich Boy on Interscope Records in 2007. Raja, talk to us.

Karla (23:10.656)
great film.

Karla (23:25.406)
I love this song.

Rajah (23:27.053)
Yeah, the intro is funny to me. Just when people have conversations or phone conversations, it reminded me of how people would record songs before their voicemail to have some personality. But this song in particular made me think about when people customize their cars. Also, the summer is just a really popular song among music.

before I could drive but this song was everywhere and you would see people especially with a new car what customized it was the larger tires the rims and of course I know people started lying about spinners but when I think about cars I think about people customizing their cars and the whole culture surrounding car customization and this is one of those songs that made me think about it

And also love the… -Milly had this song also called Beats and she uses the same song, the beat specifically and with Rich Boyz Co -Side was able to bring this song back into the airwaves but she was specifically talking about it from Breast Augmentation so it’s funny how different songs

and different customizations people think about. But also just a great meat for a summer song.

Heather (25:04.831)
Nice. This is a song I’m not familiar with. Tell us more about Rich Boy, the artist.

Rajah (25:15.605)
Well, Rich Boy, an artist, this is one of the only songs that I really listen to from him. And I was reminded of it because of Flo Milly, so I of introduced him, reintroduced him through Flo Milly. So she’s a newer rapper, and he appears in her music video. And I was like, he looks familiar. Not picking up on the song.

Heather (25:29.203)
Okay.

Rajah (25:42.216)
where it originally came from. So of course the sample is what brought me back to this song. was like, he straight on wants to send me and he goes and I’ll

Heather (25:52.214)
Gotcha. I do like that one with all the sampling. You’re like, what is that? Like it’s a great unexpected way to kind of find new artists.

Rajah (26:01.718)
And I was like, I remember this. That was just everywhere on the radio growing up.

Heather (26:04.78)
Ha

Heather (26:09.314)
Nice.

Heather (26:15.064)
Alright, any more thoughts you have about this song, this artist, your memories? Alright, let’s move on to the next one. This one I am familiar with. This is Drivers License by Olivia Rodrigo, released on Sour on Geffen Records in 2021.

Rajah (26:20.172)
Thank you.

Karla (26:29.701)
Yeah.

Karla (26:35.976)
Yeah, I think if you don’t know or haven’t heard this song, then you’ve like really been living under like a rock because I feel like it just blew up everywhere. And honestly, when we said cars, I thought about this song immediately. was like, driver’s license. And even if you don’t like this kind of music, which I typically don’t,

Heather (26:43.978)
Right.

Karla (26:58.738)
know all the lyrics. like, it was one of those songs that it’s like you learn through osmosis because then everybody was talking about it. And I actually listened to the whole album because I was like, I mean, this was like teenage angst from Gen Z. I need to know what Gen Z is like feeling. I still had a chorus part, I don’t know if right.

Heather (27:15.69)
Ha

Karla (27:27.392)
I was like, wow, I feel like this is definitely how I would have felt at 17 if, you know, my boyfriend would have left me for somebody else, Yeah. And she’s such a Pisces, like Olivia Rodrigo’s a Pisces, and I feel like she’s like the epitome of Pisces. So like, you like really feel that depth, that water depth in these songs. Yeah.

Heather (27:39.722)
Absolutely.

Heather (27:56.323)
Yeah. I mean, this is one of those albums, like, early on, there was so much conversation about it. was like, well, I have to listen to it. And it’s, it’s really good. Like, I don’t, I mean, I’ve listened to a decent amount of pop music. But a lot of things I don’t like because they’re popular. I’m one of those people. Yeah, but I was really impressed with this album. And like,

Karla (28:07.629)
Yeah

Rajah (28:08.595)
Thanks

Karla (28:15.784)
Yeah, yeah me too.

Karla (28:22.548)
Yeah, and she has a great like from start to finish, I have to order.

Heather (28:28.923)
Yeah, absolutely. And I also, loved the memes that were like, you know, just a 30 year old teenager listening to Olivia Rodrigo. I think that really speaks to how well it resonated with people.

Karla (28:31.529)
and

Karla (28:37.525)
Yeah. Yeah.

Karla (28:44.628)
mean, I know like growing people, like really growing people that were like resonating with this song, right? I feel like this chorus too is so brilliant because you know, it’s like who hasn’t gone through this, you know? Like you’re in your car and you’re thinking about your ex and like you’re at the red light and you’re feeling that like dread and you might see them and

They’re still kind of like ghosts, right? Like they’re kind of like, they’re ghosts everywhere. But yeah, and this is so, it’s like innocent, but it still has that like, that thing that resonates with all of us, that like connection to like our significant others, which are those mundane moments where love actually lives. Like, you know, you’re just in the car laughing. I mean, she has another one about like ice cream, like sharing ice cream and.

Heather (29:17.656)
Mm.

Heather (29:43.163)
Hmm.

Karla (29:44.446)
And I’m like, ooh, that one like, are you like picking out ice cream with her now and things like that? And I’m like, yeah, that that stinks. But yeah. That’s that.

Heather (29:52.945)
Ha

Yeah. Greg, did this album reach you or just pop off your radar?

Greg Hanna (29:59.62)
I definitely, well, I’ve heard this song and I’m not too familiar with her music to be honest, but she definitely reminds me of Joni Mitchell and maybe a little Fiona Apple, but Fiona Apple was like a sledgehammer. know what I mean? Tori Amis, you know?

Karla (30:20.543)
Yeah.

Heather (30:24.42)
Mm, right.

Karla (30:24.916)
Yeah.

Greg Hanna (30:29.204)
Yeah, very good. I’m going to have to get a little deeper on that.

Heather (30:33.343)
Yeah, nice. All right, next song is on. It is Galaxy 500 by Reverend Horton Heat. It was released on Lucky 7 on Sheridan Square Entertainment in 2002. This is my pick. This is a newer song. This is obviously not related with my dad. He did not get into rockabilly and psych -abilly. But so Reverend Horton Heat, think, I honestly can’t remember when I first

Karla (30:33.503)
Yeah.

Heather (31:03.08)
heard them. I think it was just a deep dive into the genre because I was like, I’d recently heard about it and was like, this sounds interesting. Let me explore it. And I think Revan Horton Heat in particular is kind of like my version of country. He’s from Texas. There are a lot of the same themes. There are songs about getting left by his girlfriend and all of this.

music equipment being left in the rain on the front lawn, that sort of thing. But I really like the kind of rockabilly roots in this type of music. I get that rock fix, but it also, a lot of it is more playful, which is what I really like about music. And then the Galaxy 500, it’s a Ford model, which

You know, nobody cared about Ford in my house growing up, but it’s that kind of style. Although I did, I will say there was someone I went to high school with that on his 18th birthday, he went and got the Ford logo tattooed on his bicep. So like there’s a lot of love for Ford in the area.

Greg Hanna (32:04.293)
Right, right.

Karla (32:23.456)
poor life choices.

Rajah (32:24.162)
That’s commitment.

Heather (32:24.914)
Yep, yep, I wonder what he thinks about it now.

Rajah (32:27.793)
Thank

Greg Hanna (32:30.211)
I remember hearing these guys for the first time in the early 90s when they were on Sub Pop out of Seattle. you know, being a fan of like 50s rock and roll era, I’m like, yeah, this is great. And the straight cats, of course, you know, like more of the modern, the meteors, straight cats, more modern rockabilly bands that kind of paved the way for the revered. Not that he didn’t earn it, you know.

Heather (32:38.41)
Nice.

Heather (32:46.606)
Mm.

Greg Hanna (32:58.951)
I know those guys have been slugging it out since the early 90s. you know, seeing them live a few times. My buddy Haas is their drum tech. Any band that tours with Motorhead, seriously, that’s a feat into itself, you know.

Heather (33:09.112)
nice.

Heather (33:21.057)
Excellent.

Heather (33:25.269)
Yeah, there’s something about the vibe that just feels kind of homey to me, I think. Like the combination of the love of cars and the rock. I’m going to end up talking about my dad a lot on this show, so.

Heather (42:59.489)
Discourse is produced in partnership with Hey Awesome Girl, a full service marketing and creative studio on a social mission to help female entrepreneurs build and grow companies that empower their lives. Become a part of their awesome community at heyawesomegirl .com/grow. All right, let’s get into round three.

This is Manny, Moe and Jack by the Dickies. It was released on Dawn of the Dickies on Mercury Records Limited in 1979. Greg, tell us about it.

Greg Hanna (43:30.765)
All right. This was recorded way before I got into the Dickies in 2003, but this is one of the songs that was a staple in our set. So we played it every single night. It was a lot of fun to play. Crowd always loved it, sang along. For those who don’t know, Manny, Moe, and Jack are the mascots for the Pep Boys’ Auto Parts chain.

So it’s just a lot of fun, like all Dickie songs, not political, just a lot of fun and lot of silliness. probably my favorite part of this song, while playing it live, is one of our guitar players, Little Dave, him and I would do, we would study old live ZZ Top videos and steal all their stage moves.

Heather (44:29.315)
Ha, nice.

Greg Hanna (44:29.707)
So we would like rehearse backstage, like come up with ideas and stuff, but we wouldn’t tell any of the other guys in the band. And we’d just start playing and we’re doing like all these synchronized steps and stuff and twirling guitars and all that. So a lot of good memories, a lot of fun, always fun.

Heather (44:51.595)
Excellent. Perfect. Yeah, so I didn’t know the Dickies before I met you. So thank you for introducing me. they’re… Yep.

Greg Hanna (44:51.946)
And it’s car related.

Greg Hanna (44:59.661)
Yeah, that’s okay. Yeah, it’s another one of those bands either like you love them or you never heard of them, you know.

Heather (45:08.653)
Yeah, mean, the music is so much fun. You had to have a blast playing with them.

Greg Hanna (45:14.327)
It was a lot of fun. was a lot of, with any touring band and any band like that, there’s a lot of not fun stuff, but it was mostly fun for sure. And the guys are still playing, we’re still friends. So the next time they swing through and they’re by you, I strongly suggest you go see them. They got a great band to this day.

Heather (45:26.158)
No, sure.

Greg Hanna (45:43.375)
and they’re still writing new songs too. you know, after the Ramones stopped playing, the Dickies are the longest playing American punk rock band and the first punk rock band ever, first American punk rock band signed to a major record label. So.

Heather (45:46.209)
Excellent.

Karla (45:55.456)
Yeah.

Heather (46:02.807)
wow, that’s pretty impressive. Yeah, and you were part of it. That’s really cool.

Greg Hanna (46:06.051)
Kinda cool.

Greg Hanna (46:09.977)
for a brief time, yeah, and it was awesome. It was awesome experience.

Karla (46:11.018)
Yeah.

Heather (46:15.153)
Excellent. All right, this next song is I Drove All Night by Celine Dion. It was released on One Heart on Sony Music Entertainment in 2003.

Karla (46:25.408)
Yeah, this was my pick. And yeah, and this was actually, I have a really like crazy story with the song. So my mom is a diehard Celine fan and so am I. And I used to listen to her a lot as a kid, but I was maybe 23 and this song came on.

Heather (46:27.887)
Yeah, it’s out of order, sorry.

Karla (46:49.008)
And I couldn’t listen to it for a while because I caught my ex cheating on me as I drove up to his house And I had this blasting in my car And like as I drove into his his like I don’t know his driveway is the word in English as I drove into his driveway he’s like Walking out with this other girl And I’m like the fuck and this is playing

Heather (46:56.421)
What?

Karla (47:15.384)
in the car. It’s like the soundtrack to your cheating situation, you know? It’s kind of like a Hallmark movie moment, you know? And that was like a very dramatic moment because I actually threw a watermelon at his head and the watermelon, he’s bald and like the watermelon like dripped down and like Celine is playing in the background in the car, you know?

Heather (47:16.051)
Ha

Heather (47:24.082)
Wow.

Karla (47:41.884)
And so, yeah, so I had to include it. I mean, I laugh about it now, but it was a horrible time. So.

Heather (47:42.399)
my God.

Greg Hanna (47:44.426)
F -A and F -O, yeah.

Heather (47:48.947)
That is fantastic.

Heather (47:53.945)
Yeah. Wow. So is this like you can’t stand to listen to the song because of that? Okay.

Karla (48:00.69)
No, no, I love it now. I love it now. had like, definitely had like PTSD about it for a while and I had to take a break from Celine. But now I’m back to, you know, to loving her and yeah. And she’s still one of my favorites and like, I feel like at least for me,

Heather (48:11.523)
Karla (48:22.506)
I play my favorite music when I’m driving or when I’m cleaning my house or cooking, like doing any of those three things. And she’s, this song is definitely like on my cleaning playlist. Like I’ll, you know, like scrub the floors to it. Cause it’s like poppy, but it’s got that like, she still has that like 90s thing in her, you know, including these like little techno rhythms in there.

Heather (48:35.26)
Mmm.

Heather (48:38.576)
Excellent.

Heather (48:50.24)
And it’s got a good beat. can see like keeping you motivated while you’re cleaning. That’s good.

Karla (48:51.806)
Yeah. Yeah. It’ll keep you motivated to, you know, break a watermelon on a cheating ex.

Heather (48:59.931)
Yeah. wow. He totally deserved that. So you just like had a watermelon in your car.

Rajah (49:04.213)
Yeah.

Karla (49:04.724)
Yeah, my friends now call it… No, it was Valentine’s Day. I missed that. So was Valentine’s Day and he was like really into watermelon at the time. And for some reason I got up super early. I just had one of those like little witchy moments where I was like, I don’t know why, but I feel like I should buy a watermelon and head to this person’s house. And lo and behold, you know…

Heather (49:13.089)
damn.

Heather (49:32.211)
Wow.

Karla (49:33.16)
caught in action. So I had the watermelon and I was like, you know, here’s your freaking Valentine’s Day breakfast.

Heather (49:44.54)
Wow.

Karla (49:44.67)
Yeah, and all the neighbors were like passing by and like, yeah, horrified.

Heather (49:51.637)
I know.

Rajah (49:52.316)
Yeah, that sounds like the perfect storm, but I’m glad you can still listen to it now and enjoy it.

Karla (49:56.352)
It’s a good story now. And I’m usually really chill, but I feel like everybody deserves a little rage moment whistling in the background.

Heather (49:58.803)
Yeah, I’m glad you’ve been able to heal.

Rajah (49:59.497)
Yes.

Heather (50:08.198)
Absolutely.

Greg Hanna (50:09.703)
I really want to really, really,

Heather (50:13.429)
Alright, so next we have Sittin’ Sideways by Paul Wall featuring Big Poki. was released on the People’s Champ on Atlantic Records in 2005.

Rajah (50:23.761)
Yes, this was the first song on or first single on that album and when it came out still couldn’t drive but definitely saw like Fast and Furious and learned about like hydraulics and things and cars like that and so Sitting Sideways is when you have like the rear tires are touching the ground but the front tires are up on hydraulics

Heather (50:35.549)
You

Rajah (50:53.369)
and the car is leaning a bit to the side so it allows the driver, everybody in the car, to literally sit sideways. And this song is a feel, a personification of you have, especially Paul Waller for the music. And just like the attitude you have when you know your car looks nice, it’s customized to the key.

I really like car customization. I grew up watching Pimp My Ride and this song makes me think of Pimp My Ride and just that whole era of all those crazy putting a fish tank in your car. Like why do you need fish in your car? just like, right? Just like the attitude of having a car that can kind of dance to music and those different compositions.

Karla (51:27.696)
yeah.

Heather (51:30.973)
wow.

Heather (51:36.821)
Yeah. That show is so ridiculous.

Rajah (51:50.385)
where people would try to out -jump other people’s cars. That was also wild, but the energy there is just how people could have entire cultures built around their car’s personality to match them. I always think that’s so cool. And you can see that in this kind of music video as well. Of course, that’s actually serious when one of the characters, I her name is Suki.

She had a pink car with some anime character on the car and I thought that was a cool thing. So I was definitely interested in like wrapping cars and hopefully pimping out a car to match my personality. So that’s what I thought about when I was picking this up.

Heather (52:37.913)
Nice. I like that. It is like, God, that takes me back to like the height of MTV and their like the Cribs show and Pimp My Ride. It was so ridiculous on everything. Like they had to like fake a lot of that, right? Okay. wow. I hadn’t heard that. That makes sense.

Rajah (52:50.863)
Yes.

Rajah (52:57.391)
Yes, like some of those houses were rented, not owned. Yes, yes.

Rajah (53:06.925)
And so they’re like, this is my house, or this is my ride. And it’s like, it’s too expensive now that I have a mini fridge in my backseat to keep this going. still colorful and vibrant and a rich history there. And people customize their cars to express who they are, students there, know, riding around, traveling, car shows, things like that.

Heather (53:16.889)
Yep.

goodness.

Heather (53:36.548)
Yeah, I do like that. I have bats. Actually, I bought my car partially because it already had bat decals on the back. I’m like, well, it’s the model I was looking for. And it was like a mile from my house. I’m like, this is perfect. It’s meant to be. Yeah. I like the customization people do. It is cool.

Rajah (53:51.008)
Mr. yes. I love that.

Heather (54:00.557)
Alright, this is the last song. Highway Star by Deep Purple. was released on Machine Head on Warner Records in 1972. So this is another song I know because of my dad. But it’s like, I feel like it’s like the penultimate road song. Like there are a lot, you know, I thought about doing like I Can’t Drive 55, Sammy Hagar, but I had to go with this one.

Like just the vocals and like that driving kind of track on it. Like you can’t, you can’t go wrong. It’s fantastic. also random connection. I was watching the expanse, the sci -fi show, which is a great show. but there is a scene on it where there were people like racing spaceships, like they had these little speedster ships and they were like,

think they were using gravity to like speed things up and everything and they were playing a cover of this song, like just the instrumental from it and it was perfect. It was so exciting for me.

But yeah, great song. Also, The Expanse Show, I really like science fiction. I don’t know if anybody else does. But they did a great job, like, creating this future universe based on ours. So everything is like divided by classes. So the working class all moved to the asteroid belt because we’re mining ore from the asteroids.

And that creates all these differences in health. So they can’t go to planets because they don’t have the bone density. So there are all these complicated things with that. And then the rich elite all live on Mars because they could afford to move there. And then the middle class is still on Earth. So it’s really interesting how they expanded our society to fit a broader thing. I really like how they did that.

Heather (56:09.241)
Excellent.

Rajah (56:11.404)
love that and it does sound like a racy song.

Greg Hanna (56:11.57)
Amazing song, for sure.

Heather (56:14.586)
Right? Like, this riff right here? Yes.

Greg Hanna (56:24.184)
so john lord got this sound he used to plug his ham and b3 organ into a martial guitar stack so you can hear that distortion he’s playing through a guitar amp that’s what it sounds like that that’s the deep purple sound

Heather (56:31.611)
Yeah.

Heather (56:38.234)
Nice.

Greg Hanna (56:42.88)
especially right here.

Heather (56:44.325)
Mm

Heather (56:48.243)
It’s like a…

how would you describe that kind of feeling? The sound. Neat, great. that’s good. Yeah.

Greg Hanna (56:54.122)
A meat grinder.

meat grinder strapped to a bulldozer going through a building.

Heather (57:00.319)
Excellent.

Heather (57:11.665)
All right, well, I think we’ll wrap up the show now. That was an excellent playlist, if I do say so. Thank you, Greg, for joining us.

Greg Hanna (57:20.022)
Fantastic.

Karla (57:20.362)
Yeah, definitely.

Greg Hanna (57:24.663)
You’re very welcome. Pleasure was all mine.

Heather (57:27.453)
I’m gonna, so I pick a winner at the end of each episode, I’m gonna give it to you, cause you’re still like super cool. Thanks for joining, thanks for being you and bringing a of that music energy to us.

Greg Hanna (57:35.255)
Okay, awesome. Thank you.

Greg Hanna (57:44.181)
Well, thank you for the invite, honestly. you know, anytime I would love to come back if, but just a warning, if you had me on for a politics theme, all three of my picks are going to be Doug Kennedys. I’m telling you that right out of the gate. So, okay, cool. Cool. All right.

Heather (57:58.159)
that’s perfect. I support that. So where can people find you online?

Greg Hanna (58:06.793)
I’m just on Instagram. So it’s just gh_customs and it’s mainly Hot Wheels related, but sometimes I do music posts and stuff and there might be more of that in the future. There’s some local guys trying to, you know, just like the Godfather trying to pull me back in. So we’ll see if I’m there yet. You know, I had to take a break from it.

Heather (58:12.882)
Excellent.

Heather (58:29.855)
Excellent.

Greg Hanna (58:36.524)
But we’ll see. I might be ready, jump back in.

Heather (58:36.638)
Yeah.

Heather (58:41.142)
Okay. Well, we’ll be back with another episode every week, so be sure to hit subscribe. You can follow us everywhere @disccoursepodcast (that’s Disc Course with two Cs). And of course we have the playlist with all of the songs from this episode on Spotify and Tidal. You’ve been a wonderful audience. Good night!