34. Scott Thomas Discusses Titus Andronicus, The Monitor

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Actor (I Know This Much Is True, Red Dead Redemption II) and Infinity Podcast co-host Scott Thomas introduces me to an album that is epic in nearly every possible way. We discussed Titus Andronicus’ second album, The Monitor, a Civil War-themed treatment of grappling with life as a young white man in an “uptight” North Jersey suburb. We talked about Scott’s current projects, the experience he had listening to The Monitor for the first time and what (nearly) each of the album’s 10 tracks means.

I had a first-of-its-kind fail on this episode. I unintentionally skipped the track, Theme From “Cheers,” so my apologies to those looking forward to a discussion of that song. For those who don’t know this album, it isn’t actually the theme from “Cheers.”

In No Future Part Three: Escape From No Future, Patrick Stickles sings a line “senior year in Mahwah,” which I had interpreted as his (or his character’s) senior year at Mahwah High School. I later realized that, given that Stickles attended Ramapo College in Mahwah, he was probably referring to his senior year of college.

In discussing the reference in A More Perfect Union to the Newark Bears baseball team, I had said they were or may still be an independent league team. The Bears folded in 2013.

Scott had recommended the series that the Dissect podcast did earlier this year on on Kanye West’s YEEZUS. You can stream those episodes here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2b025hq3gJ17tQdxS3aV43?si=uacvnmMDQqmG768nvvPKBg&nd=1

1:18 Scott joins the show

2:19 Scott has been working on several projects, including a short film

6:44 Scott cites some other albums he could have discussed on this episode

10:31 Titus Andronicus did not make a great first impression on Scott

12:56 Scott chose listening to The Monitor for the first time over a family dinner

16:19 Al’s first impression of The Monitor was nearly identical to Scott’s

18:04 Patrick Stickles gets his points across through a wide variety of cultural references

20:20 Delineations between songs on The Monitor are almost arbitrary

21:41 The Monitor requires a lot more listens than what Al gave it

24:13 Is Titus Andronicus a punk band?

31:23 The album touched a nerve for Al, who grew up near where Patrick grew up

33:05 Scott grew up with the members of Fall Out Boy

35:06 The Bergen County-specific references on The Monitor made the listening experience different for Al

38:24 The themes of The Monitor touch on ideas associated with white male privilege

41:41 The parallels between the inner conflict within white American men and within the larger American society begin at the very start of the album

Track by track breakdown

44:09 A More Perfect Union

47:46 Titus Andronicus Forever

49:55 No Future Part Three: Escape From No Future

55:28 Richard II or Extraordinary Popular Dimensions and the Madness of Crowds (Responsible Hate Anthem)

1:03:00 A Pot in Which to Piss

1:10:57 Four Score and Seven

1:16:07 To Old Friends and New

1:18:32 …And Ever

1:20:18 The Battle of Hampton Roads

1:32:09 Scott recommends a way to listen to The Monitor that makes it easier to digest

1:34:18 Will Scott see Titus Andronicus play The Monitor in its entirety on their upcoming tour?

You can find Scott on Twitter and Instagram at @OGScottieT

As he mentioned on the show, you can also reach Scott by email: [email protected]

You can hear Scott on The Infinity Podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-infinity-podcast/id1438989347

Al is on Twitter at @almelchiorBB. You can also find him on both Twitter and Instagra

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