Awesome show this week! The 42nd LeBrain Train was another three hour long epic. The theme was “Best Bands You Probably Never Heard Of”. We never settled on a proper wording for it, or a proper system for keeping score. The goal was to introduce you to plenty of artists we think you’d think. And we hope you do! For the first time ever, there was no crossover with the six lists!
Added bonus: At the mid-way point (1:30:00 exactly) a very-caffeinated-me decided to go on an F-bomb laden rant about people who post The Mandalorian spoilers openly on social media without warnings. Please enjoy my rant!
The final score:
Mike: 11 points
Sarah: 14 points
Harrison: 17 points
Rob: 19 points
John: 23 points
Aaron: 88 points
Huge thanks to everyone for hanging out so long! Thanks for watching and see you next week.
Picking a favourite episode among the 41 (!) shows we’ve done is a bit like picking a favourite child. Impossible to do! But I took a real shine to this week’s instalment: the Nigel Tufnel Top Ten Iron Maiden Deep Cuts.
Each of us had our own personal criteria to determine if a song was a “deep cut”. For example, I chose no songs from Live After Death, or any leading tracks from an album. Harrison the Mad Metal Man decided that he would include no single A-sides, and no songs that were played live…ever.
As an added bonus to this episode, we brought back Geoff from 1001albumsin10years. The Graph Alchemist himself had to be involved, to track all these crucial Iron Maiden songs. In particular I wanted to see what albums were dominant. Geoff then went above and beyond the call of duty by bringing us a four-way Venn diagram showing all the songs that the panel had in common. Ever seen a four-way oval Venn before? You will!
These four lists were all graphed and included in the episode’s statistics.
We also had three “bonus lists” that we ran right at the top of the show. These bonus lists were submitted by:
Reader KK
The Mighty Holen
Michael the Box Set Wizard
Finally this episode also marked the debut of the brand new LeBrain Train theme song by T-Bone. So good that I played it three times. Everybody loves the song and video — let me know what you think too.
Best show ever? Definitely top five.
Shoot, do I have to do a Nigel Tufnel Top Ten LeBrain Trains now?*
The LeBrain Train: 2000 Words or More with Mike Ladano
Episode 41
It had to happen eventually: the return of Harrison the Mad Metal Man, and our first Iron Maiden list show! It’s the Iron Maiden Deep Cuts this time, a subject sure to generate tons of discussion. Of course, B-sides are fair game, as are Blaze Bayley cuts!
No spoilers but I can tell you that Harrison is being very stringent about what certifies as a “deep cut”. However, this is a “no disqualifications” episode, so nobody will be getting killed by Eddie tonight.
Iron Maiden’s gonna get ya no matter how far.
The Nigel Tufnel Top Ten lists (concept by Uncle Meat) are always a pleasurable diversion, especially when we keep track of the stats! To that end, Geoff from 1001albumsin10years will be back tonight to bring us more graphs! We also hope that the Meat Man himself will be joining the fun with his hard-laboured list.
We have not had Harrison on the show since May, when we counted down the Nigel Tufnel Top Ten Judas Priest albums.* Because of the time difference between Canada and Australia, Harrison and I did the last show in the morning here. He also had an awesome moustache. This time we’re doing it at the usual 7:00 PM E.S.T. (He can be the one to get up early this time.) Will the moustache remain?
* The last time Harrison was on also happened to the first show broadcast from the cottage. A very special show for me because of both location and guest.
We thought we were counting down the next 11 live abums of all time — Nigel Tufnel’s Next Top Ten, #12 to 22 — but Deke and I received so many lists from people new and old that we actually did plenty of 1-11 lists too. Confusing? Maybe. Fun? Absolutely!
You’ll find a tremendous variety of material in these lists, from several sections of the record store. Some truly out of the box lists here, and I hope you’ll be inspired to check out some of these albums.
I also did a new release unboxing from John T. Snow. To skip directly that, watch from 0:08:40 of the stream.
For the commencement of the lists, skip to 0:10:55 of the stream.
Attention Aaron: Go to 0:19:35 of the stream!
To see a neat video of underwater rocks that I was uploading as the stream began, check out 0:02:50.
CH-CH-CH-CHANGES!
After some viewer feedback and discussion, I’ve decided to make some changes for the next streams. While I’m thrilled beyond words that this has become a popular thing, 10 lists is a record. I’d like to scale things back again to the earlier days of the Nigel Tufnel Top Ten lists. Five lists? Six tops? That’s a good number, and it’s perfect for the viewer to absorb. The featured lists would belong to the two co-hosts, and the rest to contributors. There have been so many list submissions from such a variety of people that I hate to have to exclude anyone at all, but I need to keep it manageable.
I’m not sure how to decide what lists to use if 10 people want to submit lists again. When I do a show on soundtracks (this is being planned) then obviously I need to feature a Rob Daniels list. It’s also a delight to get new names included, so first-timers have to be considered too. Suggestions on deciding these things are welcome.
We have time to figure it out. Deke is an eager co-host, and I love the Thunder Bay perspective that he brings to his episodes. He has some cool ideas that I am excited about, and next week’s show could be a completely different format. There have been plenty of list idea submissions too — I think we have at least 10 or 12 more to do. There will be other co-hosts in the second seat as well. Glitchy as it may be at times, Facebook Live continues to be the best platform for these live streams. (Fortunately for the non-Facebookers, I can get the Youtube video up the next day.) I’ll be continuing to use it in the foreseeable future. The screen sharing ability is terrific. If Zoom can be used to stream openly on Facebook (which has my biggest audience) then please comment below. Otherwise I’m going to use the Facebook Live screen-sharing ability for cohosting duties. It seems only certain mobile devices have this ability; you’ll know if you see a green prompt informing you that you can join the stream.
Leaner. Meaner. Streamer. Let’s keep this summer rocking.
Saturday’s show was not without its difficulties but it ended with another tremendous list. The main event this week was a Nigel Tufnel Top Ten list for superhero movies. The special guest for this epic segment was for the first time, the one and only Holen MaGroin! We had lists submitted by Harrison the Mad Metal Man, John T. Snow, Rob Daniels, and of course Holen and myself.
I was excited because I knew, especially with guys like Rob and Holen, we were going to get interesting and diverse lists. I expected Harrison to go mental, and I somewhat got that. John Snow also came in with some out-of-the-box suggestions. The lists were magnificent and it is fair to say that the overall winner was Batman, but in so many configurations that you will have to watch for yourself. Honorary mentions to Christopher Reeve and Robert Downey Jr. Enjoy the lists! Start the stream at 1:24:20 if you only want to see the lists.
In another feature I tried to hook up with both Deke from Arena Rock and KMA‘s Aaron in his live stream debut! Although I had difficulty hearing Deke, this brief segment can be found at 0:59:50 of the stream.
I also unboxed my latest musical arrival, Gordon Downie‘s Secret Path, both the CD and the graphic novel. Because they were shipped separately, the unboxings can be found at 0:47:45 and 1:11:55.
BONUS: Not part of the live stream, but I did get some video of a chimpmunk playing hide & seek with me. For Ladano’s Wild Kingdom, hit up 0:19:08 of the stream!
I hope you enjoyed this week’s fun, and hopefully next time I won’t have as many technical issues!
Please welcome Harrison to the Saturday live stream! With only minor technical glitches, the Mad Metal Man himself joined me from the other side of the world today.
Today’s subject: A solid “Nigel Tufnel Top Ten” list on the might Judas Priest. Harrison was armed with an addition list by Holen! We ended with an announcement. Link to the Mad Metal Man’s own new website below!
