1996's Romeo + Juliet seemed like a slam-dunk ending to our soundtrack mini-season...but we have regrets! Epcot industrial music, lazy versions of Shakespeare, the psychotic hormonal jangling of youth, Scandinavian cultural crimes, and the returns of Teddy Ruxpin AND No Middle Ground with Paul Quinn accompany our struggling to remember the Wallflowers, and to decide whether it's possible for a song to be disgusting. Sidle up to an aquarium and have a listen!

Intro and outro by Laura Barger and Jack Baldelli. For more information/to become a patron of the show, visit patreon.com/mastas!

SHOW NOTES

• Where to watch Romeo + Juliet (though we don't advise it)
• The short, sad life of Quindon Tarver

This episode is, we suppose, like a box of chocolates, because technically you don't know what you're going to get, but we can tell you we're talking about the ubiquitous Forrest Gump soundtrack. Remembering top-loader VCRs, #justiceforJenn, powering through overplay, how long sixties soul acts gave themselves to get drawers on the floor, and songs Muppets sing at you. What does it sound like when the Beach Boys sing a New Yorker article about pirates? Find out with our latest episode!

Intro and outro by Andrew Byrne; interstitial music by Classics IV. For more information/to become a patron of the show, visit patreon.com/mastas!

SHOW NOTES

• Where to watch Forrest Gump
• Record Of The Year Showdown, Episode 1: 1959-1974
• John Fogerty not about certain pols' use of "Fortunate Son"
• Episode 45: Gladys Knight And The Pips, "Midnight Train To Georgia"
• Episode 195: Dolly Parton's Underrated Hits

The '90s Soundtrack Flashback season is bustin' surfboards with Pulp Fiction, 1994's omnipresent Quentin Tarantino joint. After talking about how the movie itself holds up (spoiler: really well!), we move on to fights with the Ventures, QT's trademark alternate timelines, how epic moments are inevitably punctuated by frump, at-the-bank audio wallpaper, and Peanuts-apron guy's moment of glory. C'est la vie, say the rankings, so have a listen!

Intro and outro by David Gregory Byrne; for more information/to become a patron of the show, visit patreon.com/mastas.

SHOW NOTES

• Where to watch Pulp Fiction
• SDB's review of Lonely Hearts at Best Evidence
• SDB's piece for Slant Magazine on "Void movies"
• The teen-idol bracket
• Do Call It A Comeback, Episode 4: The Last 15
• Episode 43: The Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack, Ranked

Welcome to our '90s Soundtrack Flashback mini-season! We're ranking the soundtrack albums from four legendary 1990s movies, starting with grunge-adjacent rom-com Singles. We waded into the great plaid middle of this disc to talk about the insouciance of Cameron Crowe stories, when it's okay for grunge gods to laugh, the conversation between this genre and punk (and Zep), and "hard rock for the school bus." Grab a Crystal Pepsi and a flannel buttondown and join us!

Intro and outro by David Gregory Byrne; interstitial music by Alice In Chains. For more information/to become a patron of the show, visit patreon.com/mastas.

SHOW NOTES

• Where to watch Singles
• This one didn't make the Poppy-Fields Couch of Fame...but Almost Famous did
• Episode 239: The Replacements, "Alex Chilton" (with Taylor Cole)
• "The hell are cross tops?"
• MB and SDB talk Mark Yarm
• Mark Yarm talks Hozier for the New York Times
• N...ot the Melrose soundtrack MB meant

"Blurred Lines," the sound of the summer of 2013, is compared (unfavorably) with a cold sore in today's episode, which pits Robin Thicke, TI, and Pharrell against Weird Al's screed against bad grammar and usage errors. Despairing of Shazam, continuing to die on the hill of "irregardless," and the tyranny of younger siblings over the #oldladywalk playlist...we're working through all of it, AND figuring out who's going to "win" the season. It would be a Class-Y felony to miss it, so listen now.

Our intro is by David Gregory Byrne, and our outro is by Aimee Mann. For more information/to become a patron of the show and hear all episodes of this season, visit patreon.com/mastas.

SHOW NOTES

• "What...is this thing?" Start at the beginning!
• ThickeCorp's "Blurred Lines" video
• Weird Al's "Word Crimes" video
• More on the copyright/royalties battle
• Whose side are you on, NPR??
• Slate breaks down all the aforementioned crimes

Thirty years after the death of frontman Kurt Cobain, Nirvana and their music still feel very close. Does that have anything to do with Weird Al's equally "defining" parody, a track that let Al "sell out" again after the disastrous UHF experience...with a band at the bleeding edge of the sell-out conversation? The shroud of tragedy, the performance of self, rebellious chaos, and ballerina tutus: better get to the gym, y'all! It's an all-new MASTAS.

Our intro is by Laura Barger and Jack Baldelli, and our outro is by Hole. For more information/to become a patron of the show and hear all episodes of this season, visit patreon.com/mastas.

SHOW NOTES

• "What...is this thing?" Start at the beginning!
• Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video
• Weird Al's "Smells Like Nirvana," which...will probably look familiar
• WAvE Episode 20: "The Saga Begins"

It's an all-time training-montage banger vs. Weird Al's vision for Rocky XIII in today's episode, as we drop Wiki factoids, contemplate an all-depressing-follow-up-hits season, digress at length on Live's legal battles, and wonder when in Reagan's presidency the Me Decade became sentient. Greetings from the Sly Stallone industrial complex; get that sammich to go and listen to an all-new episode!

Our intro is by Andrew Byrne, and our outro is by the Waitresses. For more information/to become a patron of the show and hear all episodes of this season, visit patreon.com/mastas.

SHOW NOTES

• "What...is this thing?" Start at the beginning!
• The "Eye Of The Tiger" video
• The secret history of "Eye Of The Tiger"
• "Rye Or The Kaiser" on Weird Al's YT channel
• Collector's Call
• Live's unseemly death
• Weird Al vs. Everybody, Episode 14: "King Of Suede"

You can't always control what people do with your art once it's out in the world -- something Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits may have learned the hard way with both the original "Money For Nothing" AND Weird Al's re-imagining of the song via a dream sequence in UHF. Essential references versus essential songs, 20th-century TV's preoccupation with yokels, and resting Don Henley face...they're all in this episode, so finish up that microwave-oven install and listen.

Our intro is by Andrew Byrne, and our outro is by the Allman Brothers Band. For more information/to become a patron of the show and hear all episodes of this season, visit patreon.com/mastas.

SHOW NOTES

• "What...is this thing?" Start at the beginning!
• The "Money For Nothing" video
• Weird Al vs. Everybody Episode 9: "I Lost On Jeopardy"
• George's Beverly Hillbillies dream
• Knopfler and Harris in concert