NoMeansNo Thing

What a bunch of songs!  None of them deserve the boot, but two the boot must receive:  I Can't Stop Talking vs. The Tower and Metronome vs. The Graveyard Shift.  Man, this was a fun episode, and we love talking about these songs, but jebus it really hurts to say goodbye to some of these!  Will the best song survive?  Well, they are all great songs, so by definition, yes?  I dunno.  Sometimes I write these things in a hurry.

Grab them weenies and 'mellows, impale them on a sharp stick and slowly roast them over a blazing fire kids!  This week is...this week...the songs...well...hmmm.  Look, The Terrible Machine(tm) decided to let a bunch of scrappy little fuckers have at it.  Don't get us wrong, there are good songs here, but none you might expect to see in Round 2 or certainly to make it to Round 3 (with one notable exception I think). Any way, it's Baldwang Must Die vs. Life in Hell and No Fckng vs. Now It's Dark.  Yeah, us neither. 

A true and proper episode this time gents and germs and ladies and lice and all in-between and outside.  This week it's Paradise vs. Lost, and Ya Little Creep vs. Joyful Reunion.  Some scrappy little toughs take up their knives against some bonafide Kaiju, trying to pull some real David and Goliath shit.  Will these upstart more obscure scrappy little fucks take out their towering challengers with some well placed jabs and good luck?  Listen in and find out.

Hey nerds.  This is NOT a 'real' episode.  We normally would have just stayed dark this week while Michele is off gallivanting about having a 'life' or some shit, but instead, after podcast listener Emelie all but BEGGED Jordon to do an episode proselytizing about his favorite book of all time (soon to be yours) Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe, he couldn't resist the call, and sat in front of the microphone and blathered about this book for, oh, about 20 mins.  I dunno.  You can probably skip it.  Except for Emelie.  You made me do this.

Ep 52 – Back on Track!  We’re back, babeeee!  Back in the saddle and ready to sling our bullshit once again.  This week we tackle I Need You vs. Manic Depression and Faceless May vs. Forward to Death.  Yet again the Terrible Machine pulls a fast one on us and pits two Rob Epics against two rip roaring bursts of joy.  What will win out? Will there be fights?  Will there be blood?  

We are joined by the excellent Andy Sandall this week, contributor to the upcoming “From Obscurity to Oblivion” book by Jason Lamb, and knower of many much NMN lore and history.  And, to the delight of many I’m sure, Andy excoriates those of us deserving of such on the pod for our lack of Oh No Bruno! Love. Look folks there was a lot of drinking in this episode.  A lot.  Too much.  Too much is not enough!  It’s 3 hours.  I’m sorry. I’m really very very sorry.  You’ll want to break this one into chunks probably.  Or start listening and at some point just say “yeaaaaaaah, I’m gonna come back to this one later” and then don’t.  But you should, because Andy opens up some really great discussions and has some really interesting thoughts on these songs.  Oh yeah the songs!  It’s a doozy.  Now vs. Beauty and the Beast, and Sex Mad vs. 0+2=1.  I mean, come on.  The votes are real nail biters this time, with some honest to god drama.  And Jordon heartily apologies for his misuse of the term Archipelago.  I’m fully aware that an Archipelago is a land mass and not a musical term.  Honest.

Peace be upon ye, Nomeansnerds. Recent events have made it complicated for us to brew you some new derring-do. But quail not, true believers! Hero of the show and Very Special Boy, Sean MacTiernan, had too much to say to be condensed into a tidy email, so instead decided to bestow upon us a scant sample of his decades of thinking about, and subsequently blithering about, our favourite band. Sean is a podcaster of some experience and also dude can confabulate. We found his offering moving, thought-provoking, and hilarious. We hope you do too.

Sean's most recent podproject is called SFULTRA, in which he, not historically a SF kind of feller, bought 100 SF novels and reviews them in an attempt to convince himself to like these genres. Available on whatever podthing you use. 

This week we are joined by esteemed Jason Lamb, of the upcoming NMN Book "From Obscurity to Oblivion!"  It's good to be back in the saddle, sorry this one was late.  We cut you off a juicy slice.  Being as this is round 2, no vote is easy, this week is no exception.  It's Oh No Bruno!! vs. Tired of Waiting, and Brother Rat/What Slayde Says vs. Dead Bob.  At this point at least half of you will be pissed at our choices.  And for one pairing in particular probably about 9/10ths of you.  Anyway.  You love us. Enjoy!

There is absolutely nothing interesting or unusual about this episode.  At all.  Best to just move along.  No need to get excited or hyped or anything like that because, in fact, there is nothing to get excited about.  So, just, you know skip this one or whatever.  Don't listen right away, don't drop what you're doing and immediately binge this 2:45 minute episode.  Because, as I've said, and I can't stress this enough, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, remarkable.  At all.  OK WE INTERVIEW ROB WRIGHT IN THIS EPISODE HOLY SHIRT BALLS!!!!!!

I think we get our legs back underneath us this episode.  It was a fun one to do.  Unfortunately, no guest this week, but that will return next ep (we hope!).  This week sees This Wound Would Never Heal vs. Hunt the She Beast and More ICBMs vs. No Rest for the Wicked.  

Do you hear the angels singing?  That's the start of...Round 2!!!  We're back, hopefully on a regular cadence although we make no promises.  None.  Zero.  We start off with a bang, bringing in friend of the podcast Chuck Wood to join us in making the impossible choices.  This round starts off with Victim's Choice vs. Real Love, and Small Parts vs. Rich Guns.  Which songs will come out on top?  Can we make it through a whole episode (this question is truly up for debate).  We're glad to be back, we've missed ya.

We sit down with Becky Black of the AMAZING 'Pack (A.D)', to talk about touring with NMN, and dive deep and go wide into a bunch of subjects.  We want to apologize to the listeners, and to Becky, for the bad sounding audio in this episode.  We had to record over Zoom, and...well, it's trash.  But, the interview is still great, so have a listen!  And if you aren't already a fan of the Pack (A.D.), what the hell is wrong with you?

We wrap up our bottle episode on The Sky Is Falling and I Want My Mommy, selecting two more winners, and then pitting all of the champions in a death match which will leave only two!!!  Come on, you already know which two songs are going through, don't be coy.  

Don't look up, because the Sky Is Falling, and I Want My Mommy!  We decided to tackle this album before we start Round 2 proper, and in this episode we tackle four of the songs (1/2 the album) and give them our usual fair and objective treatment.  Our randomizer pit The Sky is Falling vs. Chew, and Bad vs. Ride the Flume.  How do you feel about this album?  Your answer to that question may prefigure how you will feel about this episode! :)  I think, it's safe to say, that we are enjoying this re-visitation of this album more than we expected. 

Don't listen to this one first; it spoils ALL THE SUSPENSE of everything before it. But if suspense gives you the jibblies, then by all means fill y' boots, chum. Unless you like the jibblies. In your jorts. Point being: this episode wrecks the results of TWO YEARS' WORTH of our yammering. So don't do it. Start at ep.1, listen to ep. 0 if you absolutely must, and please keep in mind that it wasn't until about ep. 12 that we weren't totally mortified that our nerdy bullshit was out in the world where humans could hear it.

*****

The votes are in, in the most consequential election of our lifetimes!  A whole bunch of you submitted your votes for which songs to rescue from relegation, and in this episode we report in on which six songs you've managed to save and bring forward into Round 2.  We are very very pleased with your choices.  But, because we are the petty dictators that we are, we also chose six songs to rescue from the dustbin.  This means 12 of our precious babies (six from you, six from us) will live at least a short while longer.  But many many more have now finally and officially been cast into the outer darkness, where there is much gnashing of teeth.  The reality of that has really sunk in now.  Don't like it.

This one's a real turkey, folks!  I mean, do your three favorite NoMeansNerds bullshit together for just over an hour?  Yep.  Are we talking about your favorite band, THE BEST band of all time?  Also yep.  Is it as coherent and entertaining as past episodes?  Low bar, but prolly nope.  But, hey, maybe for you 'Muricans it will give you an hour of distraction and reprieve from your relatives and/or the dishes.  Anyway, we'll be back with real episodes which talk about songs real soon.  Until then, you get this.  Sorry.

After two long months slogging through regular ol' life, we finally have a new episode for you.  No, it's not the official start of Round 2, its the first half of our Round 1 round up.  Is it worth your time? I dunno.  We had a great time recording it though.  And, some interesting fault lines are starting to appear regarding opinions on what will make it all the way down the field.  We hope you'll listen, and part 2 should be released on the regular Thursday schedule in a few weeks.  After that, not sure how soon Round 2 will officially launch, but we are beginning work on it, so things are looking good.  Thank you everyone!

WE DID IT.  Season 1 complete!  We made our way through the entire catalog, boring you with our dumb takes on each. And. Every.  Freaking.  Song.  This week, as our gift to you for making it through so many episodes of this podcast, we are brining you a THREE HOUR PODCAST.  Do yourself a favor and break it up into several listening sessions.  Our last roster of competitors, 6 this time is:  New Age vs. Ya Little Creep, The Rape vs. Black Silhouette, and Almost Like Home vs. Perambulate.  Plus, a bunch of listener submissions, and the very last set of Andy's Kerrections....so pull up a beer, a chair, a rock, or whatever, and enjoy!  We will be taking a bit of a break, maybe 2 maybe three months.  We'll be hard at work during that time working on season 2.  See you soon(ish)!

In our penultimate episode of Round 1, we tackle four beastly songs from across the spectrum of tone and era.  It's Catching Up vs. Living is Free and Hunt the She Beast vs. Angel or Devil.  Say your prayers and lock your doors, because there is a lot comin' at you this episode.  

Grab a giant steaming black mug of mud and sit through another episode of the search for the best NMN song of all time.  We pit Give Me the Push vs. Too Much Dope and Lullaby vs. No Means No.  Since two of the songs in this roster are very obscure, we decided to put the whole track up for your enjoyment (and because they aren't 8 min epics).  Enjoy!

We've been fairly unanimous as of late with our picks, something maybe some of you have been yelling about into your speakers or a cloud.  But not this week.  Drama and suspense abound as opinions skew wildly different on this strange and interesting slate of choices:

All the Little Bourgeoise vs. Forward to Death, and Oh Canaduh vs. Faith!  Place your bets!  Who will win?  Which side will YOU choose?

Strap on your Trident Missiles folks and ride them all the way to punk town.  This week that terrible machine has brought forth a few very very VERY old tunes, both of which happen to be about Nuclear Annihilation!  Fun stuff!  It's I Get Up In The Morning vs. More ICBMs and No Sex vs. Burn.  Duck and cover!!!!!

Sorry for being a week late, but better late than never?  This episode is, completely by random happenstance, we promise, a Father's Day appropriate episode.  Grab your horn and get ready to be blown away by four more amazing songs from the NMN catalog.  This week we pit Dad vs. Approaching Zero and Wiggly Worm vs. Rich Guns.  Damn these guys make amazing music.  Enjoy!

Well here we go again, getting some nice things, and getting some things that aren't so nice at all.   A brace of great songs, skewing toward the olden times.   Small Parts Isolated and Destroyed vs. End of the World and Some Bodies vs. That's Sad.  Join us as we gush about this band, again!

Holy hell folks.  Sorry we missed a week.  But this week IT'S HERE!  ONE OF THE BEST SONGS OF ALL TIME!!!  Jordon goes a little crazy (more than usual) for one particular song, Michelle takes a turn at being the real drunk one, and Matthew uses the wrong mic for the whole episode, resulting in some less than perfect audio.  Lots of flaws in this episode guys, but I think it is a good one.  We pit Brainless Wonder against Faceless May, and The River against The Night Nothing Became Everything.  I mean...really. Anyway, enjoy the episode and we promise to have better audio next time.  And to prevent Michelle from eating any chips (or crisps for you Europeans).

Whooo boy.  One of our hosts (the one who is very fond of the glorious F word) gets a little extra boozed in this one. That's either fun or annoying, you be the judge.  But we don't shy away from giving our dumb opinions on four great songs, once again.  This week it's Teresa, Give Me That knife vs. Joyful Reunion, and Living in Détente vs. I Am Wrong.

Ep 32 - Goin' to Meditation.  We grab the schematics and try to pull apart and rebuild four more classics, mostly from the early half of the life of this unaccountably brilliant supergroup.  This week it is Widget vs. Dark Ages and I'm All Wet vs. No Rest for the Wicked.  Certainly no f#$%ing rest for us!!!  So, no rest for you either.  GET LISTENING!!!

We simp for four more songs in this, our 31st, episode.  The title ain't gonna make much sense unless you head over to one of our socials and see the episode graphic (it's worth it).  This week we pit Manic Depression vs. Wake Up, and Remember vs. Mama's Little Boy.  Git it!

Grab your knife and fork, and get ready as we chase down some absolutely classic NMN tunes and throw them on the plate to serve you up a hearty meal!  Four fierce beasts go at it this time, with Predators vs. Ghosts, and Junk vs. Red on Red.  This is a fun episode, and we get pretty rowdy!  Enjoy!

Four more songs get a hearty Hello while two, unfortunately, are given a sad Goodbye.  A brace of great songs give us fodder to once again try to understand just how great this band really is.  Spoiler:  They are really really great. This week it's Hello/Goodbye vs. In Her Eyes, and The Graveyard Shift vs. Kill Everyone Now.  Get on it!

SHE RISES!  In our best attempt at a genuine facsimile of an episode, we pit four more songs against each other.  New, old, some with words, some with no words. All with that genuine NMN stank!  This week it's Rags and Bones vs. Slugs are Burning, and John Instrumental (from 0+2=1 1/2) vs. Life Like!  May the best songs win!! 

We're back again, saltier and saucier. We really felt this one in our dark and sticky places. A for realsies content warning on this one...some discussion of serial murderers, the death of a child, and sex; with some crossover between those things (but not in the worst way you are thinking of, you monsters). So, you know, bog-standard NMN topics. We pit I'm Dreaming and I Can't Wake Up vs. Ashes, and Sex is Philosophy vs. Red Devil! Strap on, glove up, ensure you have a backup for your favourite lubricant, and have at it, folks. Let's all get a li'l sloppy!!!

Back again to make dumb choices and wax philosophical about punk songs!  This week we sink our collective teeth into One and the Same vs. Happy Bridge, and You Are Not One vs. Body Bag!  Bangers and Classics abound, with some wholesome disagreement thrown in for good measure.  Enjoy!

Gee mom, I wanna go, back to see nomeansno, gee mom I have a syndro-o-ome! (Believe me, that will make sense once you've listened to the episode).  Welp, we've survived our short winter break, dug out from under the snow, and are back to give you more podcast!  A lot of Time in this episode, boy howdy!  We've got early tunes, late tunes, tunes about time, tunes about boredom, and tunes about...the Netherlands?!?  Anyway, this week it's Paradise vs. Under the Sea, and The Future is a Past vs. Now.  It's good to be back, now go and listen!

A big day for Canada this week, with two songs focused on the social scene and history of the Great White North.  Also, just, you know, one of the most foundational NMN songs of all time, Victory, but whatever, no biggie.  Also, you know what they say....It's Victoria vs. Victory, and Canada is Pissed vs. The World Wasn't Built in a Day.  Join us, won't you?

WHOOOO BOY!  Happy Thanksgiving Americans, for those that celebrate this increasingly problematic nod to our foundational genocide.  Well...here it is.  The episode that almost made us cancel the podcast, because the choice was just...too...HARD!  But, what an honor to talk about these songs.  This week, it's This Story Must Be Told vs. Pigs and Dogs, and....and...oh man, oh man, oh man...and...MARY (THE LAST) VS. 0+2=1!!  I mean....just....no.  Nope.  No.  You can be mad at us for our final choice if you wish, but put yourself in our shoes, will you?  Dang it.  

Another slate of absolute bangers this week, with some real emotional heft!  Plus, we have a live "Listener Submission" by a special guest!  This Wound Will Never Heal vs. State of Grace, and Our Town vs. Dead Bob.  

Just in time for Halloween, we brew you a wicked cauldron of fantastic music.  This week it's Bitches Brew vs. Mr. In Between and Long Days vs Sex Mad.  Who will be sent screaming to hell, and who will survive the serial killer hosts?  

We use our six lips, six lungs and three tongues to vivisect four more masterpieces from one of the world's best bands.  This week it's Who Fucked Who? vs Two Lips, Two Lungs and One Tongue and Machine vs. Stocktaking.  As always, incredibly difficult choices and regrets abound, but what a joy to dive into these nuggets!

Another impossible set of choices, for which we have no one but ourselves to blame.  But we did get a chance to geek out about two sets of incredible songs, so you won't hear us complaining.  This week it's Cats, Sex and Nazis vs. The Jungle and We Are The Chopped vs. I Think You Know.  You try to pick.  See?  It's impossible.  But, tune in to see what Wright or Wrong choices we make this time!

Hey NoMeansNerds. Surprise!  We did a really fun extended listener interview with the amazing Greg from the equally amazing Unscripted Moments, a Propagandhi podcast.  We think you'll dig listening to this as much as we enjoyed recording it.  Our great thanks to Greg for sitting down with us to expound on his love for the mighty NoMeansNo!  Check out Greg's pod, Unscripted Moments on all the platforms, and here: https://unscriptedmoments.libsyn.com/

Here we go again.  More songs!  More blather!  More drinking with our songs and blather!  Someone twiddles knobs somewhere!  Hopefully we give these amazing songs their due, as there are some real bangers in the ring.  Self Pity vs. The End of All Things and A Little Too High vs. Oh No!  Bruno!

We return for our bi-weekly tilt at the windmill of Best NMN song of all time.  Jebus, we must be nutz.  This week it's Land of the Living vs. Stop It and Every Day I Start to Ooze vs Jubilation.  Man.  I mean, all of these songs deserve to be praised.  But we do our best to relegate two of them to the minor leagues while raising the others up an octave.

Listen, many of us are Obsessed with the song from the title of this episode, and we Try our best Not To Stutter when talking about it, but I swear, 'Til I Die, this will always be one of the all time classic NMN tunes.  As you can tell from that ridiculous attempt to sandwich all of the songs into a sentence, we pit Try Not To Stutter against Obsessed, and 'Til I Die against The Day Everything Became Nothing.  Also, we drink some booze.  You know the drill by now.  Enjoy!

15 episodes in, and we're still making dumb choices.  Jordon apologizes for his audio on this episode which decided, on its own, to suck.  It won't happen again, we promise.  This week, we make I'm Doing Well vs. Rise and Tuck It Away vs. I Can't Stop Talking fight it out in bitter combat.  Blood is spilled, victors celebrated, and the losers, well, also celebrated because come on, it's feckin' NMN for chrisakes.  Enjoy!

I'm an asshole, you're an asshole, he's an asshole, she's and asshole, wouldn't you like to be an asshole, too?  This week, it's I've Got a Gun vs I'm An Asshole, and The Hawk Killed the Punk vs. Revenge.  Place your bets!

Bangers abound in lucky episode 13!  The gods of random generation serve us up a selection from across the span of the NMN timeline:  Humans vs. Forget Your Life, and Tired of Waiting vs. Slowly Melting.  Will your favorites make it through?  Will we break your hearts yet again?

Surprise, bonus episode!  We are thrilled to welcome Byron, Adam and Hans to the podcast, otherwise known as the amazing band Invasives! The boys regale us with stories of their days touring with NMN, and take us to school on some of our more questionable choices thus far on the podcast.  

We go low in the dust, and end up nowhere but a lonesome tower.  So Low vs. Heaven is the Dust Beneath My Shoes and Going Nowhere vs. The Tower.

This week is a wild potpourri of songs from the way back times.  Joy and Love abound in equal measures as they algorithmic overlords serve up songs from deep in the geologic strata.  Under this igneous stone emerges Love Thang vs. Joy, and from within that shale layer emerges Look, Here Come the Wormies vs. Now It's Dark!  We also bring you our first listener "NMN origin story" recording, and another edition of Andy's Kerrections!

Epics abound in this episode! We reach out with our hands to pick up some songs from the mud, and with the light burn others down.  A hard episode to do, not necessarily because of the choices to be made, but due to the degree of passion felt for these songs.  We bring forth I Need You vs. I See a Mansion in the Sky and Dance of the Headless Bourgeoise vs. Brother Rat/What Slayde Says.  I mean....come on.

More classics sidle on up to the chopping block.  This is, in our opinion, one of those episodes where it was impossible to make the wright call, so inevitably we'll piss off at least half of you!  Who will get the thumbs up and who the thumbs down?  Also, we introduce a VERY SPECIAL SEGEMENT at the end of the show.  Don't stop half way through and miss it.  This week we pit When Putting It All In Order Ain't Enough vs. The Fall, and No Big Surprise vs. Something Dark Against Something Light.  

The deathmatch continues, and we make a call to the community to send us your origin stories!  This week, we pit Slave vs. Lost and Old vs. Beat on the Brat.

A broad swath of songs from all over the catalogue this time!  We have to go deep and wide this week to choose our two winners.  The matchups are:  Would We Be Alive vs. No Fgnuikc and One Fine Day vs. My Roommate is Turning into a Monster.

We're thrilled to bring you this bonus episode of our interview with Jason Lamb, author of the upcoming book about NoMeansNo.  Jason shares his NoMeansNo origin story with us, and shares some great insight about his in-the-works book and the process of putting it together.  Don't sleep on this one!

There is too many much epic in this episode.  The random gods were both generous and cruel.  Four brilliant songs, but only two can live.  Also, probably our best episode yet.  Matchups:  Real Love vs. Lonely, and Madness and Death vs. All Lies.

This week sees a powerhouse set of match ups:  Big Dick vs. He Learned How to Bleed, and Sitting on Top of the World vs. Beauty and the Beast!  Four will enter the ring and only two will leave.  Also, we finally got our audio sh*t together this week, and it sounds way better.

Our 3rd round of songs fight for dominance, but two Victims must be Chosen for a Life in Hell, while two are lifted to the Valley of the Blinding Light.

Matchups:  Life in Hell vs. Valley of the Blind; Blinding Light vs. Victim's Choice

Three dead souls keep it steady and make a phone call to book a tour of Guam.

Matchups:  Dead Souls vs. The Phone Call; Mondo Nihilissimo 200 vs. Metronome

Finally, the music! Our first set of songs go head to head.  Do the best songs win?  No.  They don't.

Matchups:  My Politics vs Youth; Disappear vs. Baldwang Must Die

Three idiots wax lyrical about how they stumbled across this INCREDIBLE band, and what it has meant in their lives.  If you are already a fan, you'll probably hear yourself reflected a little, somewhere in this episode.  Don't worry, next episode we finally get to some music.

With Episode 0, we introduce you to one if not the greatest band of all time, NoMeansNo, the object of our ongoing podcast project.  Already know the band?  Meh, maybe go on to Ep 1.  Or not!  You can learn about how Rob actually started playing on a fish!  Listen, we know the audio isn't the best in this ep.  We're getting better, alright?  Stick with us friend.  This band is worth it.