Scream for us, YouTube! Dan Chartrand and I have reunited for this fun episode about nostalgia and dreams. So you wanna be a rock star? We’ll tell you what not to do!
In this incredibly fun episode, Dan will tell you about his rock star ambitions which eventually resulted in three CDs by Dead Culture Society. He’ll also tell you about “turning down” the bass player job in Quiet Riot, and pissing off Rudy Sarzo to an extreme degree. (Never make fun of the way Rudy licks his fingers when playing bass.)
I dug up some things from my teen years, dreaming of being a rock star. I found the original script for my remake of the “Nothing But A Good Time” music video, and some postcards from my partner in crime Bob Schipper. We talk air bands, buying our first guitars, and the art of swinging them over our shoulders. Learning to play? Not important! Getting the stage moves right was what we focused on.
Please join us for this incredibly fun and occasionally hilarious trip down memory lane, and give Dan a like and subscribe! We will be back!
Refer yourselves back to Record Store Tales Part 52: Air Guitar. Playing air guitar is fun! It’s healthy! It’s good for you and it’ll burn the calories something fierce.
This past summer I was rocking out to the track “Set Your Sails” by Deadline. I was at the cottage, really digging the notes, and just started spontaneously jamming out. I was alone and I thought, “Maybe I should film myself”. So I did and now I’m finally over how stupid I look.
AMERICAN DAD! – “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” (Episode 5, season 9)
Seth MacFarlane’s American Dad is a very musical show. That’s why this is the second episode I’ve reviewed so far. It’s rare to find a cartoon with so much musical integrity. From an episode based on a song by Wax Fang, to another showcasing the band My Morning Jacket and their lead singer Jim James, they really stuff the show full of tunage. Not to mention they also use plenty of original music! There was one episode featuring Cee-Lo Green as a talking, singing hot tub. For real! Then there’s the original song “He’s Got a Kink”, with a dirty, dirty message!
You’ve got a kink, You’ve got a kink, Don’t be afraid to put a finger in the stink!
While the episode “My Morning Straightjacket” was probably one of the most musical episodes of any comedy show anywhere, it was “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” that earns top marks at LeBrain HQ. Why? Rush. 2112!
With Steve Smith dressed as a glammed-up Alex Lifeson, and his best friend Snot Lonstein as Geddy, the episode opens with the two best friends rocking out in the garage, playing air guitar to Rush’s immortal epic “2112”. When Steve’s dad Stan comes home, he is none too amused by the tight costumes, wigs and finger-flicking. “I-I don’t know where to start. Look at you two. Best case scenario, you’re telling me you’re gay with each other,” complains Stan.
Steve and Snot defend the air guitar, but a furious Stan smashes Snot’s tape deck and forbids Steve from seeing him again. Of course this does not work, so Stan does the obvious thing to get rid of Snot. He stages a fake mafia hit in front of the young kid, and then takes him away to be in the CIA witness protection program…forever.
Snot goes into hiding (the apartment building is #2112). While delivering Snot his weekly groceries, Stan finds that he actually likes the kid. They begin to hang out. When Steve finally figures out what his dad has done, he tracks Snot down…only to find him playing air guitar to “2112” with a wigged-out Stan!
The episode is dedicated to “BFFs everywhere”, and I admit I get the feels at the end. In an homage to Say Anything, Snot and Steve reunite, with a glorious air-guitared version of “Always With Me, Always With You” by Joe Satriani. Yes, the episode is a tribute to best friends. I think it is also a tribute to the pure joy that is air guitar. The two things go together. I played many many hours of air guitar with my best friend Bob, and nothing can erase the sheer happiness we had doing so. I identify with this episode! Not the dad breaking up the friendship part, but the friendship itself.
Highly recommended for nostalgic air guitarists everywhere.
I can’t help it. When a good song comes on, it’s an unconscious reaction: I start strumming the chords in air guitar…beating the air drums…slappin’ da bass! (Nobody plays air keyboards.)
Everybody around me was embarrassed to the nines. But you can’t stop the rock!
I jumped on counters. I even once jumped down on the floor and did the Angus Young spinny spinny thing. When there were no customers. Sometimes I had to jump right off the counter as a guy was coming in.
“Yeah…heh…just playing some air guitar…”
The first time I was ever caught playing air guitar at work, it was actually at my first job at the grocery store. I was working in the parcel pickup area, and it was March break, about 11 in the morning, and it was dead down there. So they get you to sweep up the area, clean it up real good. And we had a tape deck down there. Well, I started playing air-broom-guitar when one of the assistant managers walked in. He just smiled. Probably thought I was half out of my mind.
My air guitar at weddings is now legendary. It is now tradition that I get down on the dance floor and do the Angus Young spinny-spinny during “You Shook Me All Night Long”. Last time, I did it in a kilt. Don’t worry, I didn’t wear the kilt “traditionally”.
Air guitar is an expression of one’s connection to the rock. If the rock connects, then the air guitars come out. Next thing you know, you’re doing Van Halen on the countertops, pretending it’s the “Hot For Teacher” video. It happens!
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