What bands do the riffers on Satellite of Love like?

My wife and I were watching Warriors of the Lost World and there are a ton of “prog rock” riffs in it. I’ve always assumed that the “Satellite of Love” name was from the Lou Reed song of the same name. But I actually was thinking, I don’t know that I’ve ever read what Mike, Joel, Jonah and the rest of the crew are into musically speaking. I’ve always assumed from the riffs they like progressive rock and 80s one hit wonders, but that might just the easiest for them to make fun of…lol

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Not entirely certain. There was a love for Zappa amongst the Best Brains, for sure.

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And the band Yes

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I think Mike is into Classical music. Years ago, before he left Twitter, he would occasionally post about various composers.

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I believe Joel has confirmed the Lou Reed source for the SOL. I assume they got a kick out using a three-letter acronym that would otherwise be used to described Joel’s situation.

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Jonah Ray used to have a music-related podcast called Jonah Raydio. He seems to be an indie rock guy.

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He appeared in a video for Jason Lytle/Grandaddy. My brain had a little fansplosion that day!

Grandaddy, “Brush With the Wild”

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Joel commented during a meet and greet about some of the more ‘Americana’ feeeling bits that he listens to at times to take any edge off, and I don’t recall more of his response, but he had a few musical interests. Played some from a playllist on his phone.

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I do a little cheer whenever I hear one of the few Neil Peart (Rush) references sprinkled throughout the earlier seasons. :drum:

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After Bowie died, Kevin Murphy did a live-tweet thread of listening to the entire Ziggy Stardust album in tribute.

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I was at a convention and someone asked Joel whether there were a lot of B-52 references because he liked them or just because they were ridiculous.

Joel’s response: “Can’t it be both?”

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The musical references are literally woven into the fabric of the show, from Crow being named after a Jim Carroll Band song to the theater silhouette concept being inspired by album art from Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”.

MF Doom being namedropped as Santo enters the room, “Play That Funky Music” being a notable riff in “Fugitive Alien”, even really obscure references like “Crystal Blue Persuasion” and the aforementioned Elton John’s “Levon”…it’s one of the reasons I was drawn to this show. The musical references are almost too numerous to name.

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Mike loves Elvis Costello which is fitting since he mocked Moz.

Also, I’m well aware of Frank’s love for Laura Nyro on his Twitter feed and his days on John Fugelsang’s Sirius XM program.

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He would direct a surprising amount of vitriol at Anton Bruckner.

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Fleetwood Mac of course.

Tusk.

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The Satellite News’s 20 Questions Only Joel Can Answer About MST3K gave us this:

“The name Crow was inspired by a number of things. I thought it would be cool to have a robot with sort of a Native American feel to it. I had a friend in college who had a friend named Tommy Crow he had all these adventures with. I always thought that was such a cool name. Also the Jim Carroll Band had a song called ‘Crow’ on the album ‘Catholic Boy.’ If you listen to the song, it’s easy to picture the character of Crow.”

So, the Jim Carroll Band, perhaps?

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I’m told that it’s Frank Conniff who’s responsible for most of my beloved Jazz riffs, and perhaps the Jazziest of sketches, too. (See: Secret Agent Super-Dragon) It’s good to know that if we stayed on music and away from politics, we’d probably get along okay as apartment neighbors.

P.S. -

@whenfatkillsfat

Do they also have the one by David Lee Roth where he says something like:

“My fans like me because I look like them. Critics like Elvis Costello because they all look like him.”

(That won my heart despite my not being much for stadium rock. I intensely dislike most rock critics and most Costello. I treasure the tale on Wiki of Bonnie from Delaney and Bonnie allegedly punching him in the face, because at a party she demanded that he stop dropping the N-Bomb all over the place but he wouldn’t. :rofl: )

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You’ll love this episode of the podcast.

And this as well.

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Thanks. Now I know exactly how I’ll be wasting my whole afternoon. :smiley:

[ETA- Not the worst podcast I’ve ever heard, but the 2018 E.C. episode has a lot of padding. Which is common with podcasts, to be fair. Do they improve on that as time passes?]

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Did I mention I cried?

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