[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
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[00:00:55] Speaker C: I'm going to be honest with you. I hate this place, this podcast, this prison, this reality, whatever you want to call it. I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell. If there is such a thing in an audio format. I feel saturated by it. I can taste your stink. And every time I do, I feel I have somehow been infected by it. It's repulsive, isn't it? I must get out of here. I must get through. And in this podcast is the key, My key.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: Come on down. It's nailed a song by song. Journey through the world of year zero. I'm Blake.
[00:02:11] Speaker D: I'm Jessica.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: And tonight we're discussing track four, the Good Soldier.
One of my favorite tracks on the album, probably makes the top three.
I don't know if it is favorite, though. Like number one. I don't know if it's number one. Top three for sure.
What?
[00:02:34] Speaker D: Nothing. Just keep talking. That's really great.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: Do you have any thoughts?
[00:02:39] Speaker D: It's good.
[00:02:39] Speaker A: Oh, okay. Just good?
[00:02:41] Speaker D: No, I like it a lot. I don't know what you want me to say. I like it so much, I named tonight's drink after it. Can't believe I'm drinking on a school night, but here I am. This is what Trump's America has turned me into.
[00:02:53] Speaker A: Oh, boy. Tell them what your weirdo drink is for tonight.
It's like we're in the early days again, making drinks for the podcast like we did when we were drunk in the first few halos.
[00:03:06] Speaker D: So the good soldier is some Jack Daniels mixed with some 7 up tropical 0 sugar.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: See, that's weird. I thought the vodka was good with.
[00:03:18] Speaker D: The 7Up Tropical, but I'm not done. Then I added some almond milk creamer. It's sweet cream, so it has, like, a nutty.
[00:03:27] Speaker A: Yeah, this is a disastrous mix.
[00:03:29] Speaker D: No, it's. It's really good. And it's got, like, a nice, like, orange ish coloring. Like it's a push pop or something. Like a dreamsicle.
[00:03:35] Speaker A: It looks the color Of a White Russian to me. Can I. Let me sip, though, because now I have to try because it sounds insane.
[00:03:41] Speaker D: I am trying to believe that you will like this drink. Okay.
[00:03:46] Speaker A: Mmm.
Whoa. It's very, very sweet. It's sweet like candy, actually. Not bad.
[00:03:53] Speaker D: Thank you.
[00:03:53] Speaker A: I wouldn't drink the whole thing. I mean, it's a little rich.
[00:03:57] Speaker D: It's a dessert drink. You know, like a. Like an espresso martini or something.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: Chocolate martini after dinner drink.
[00:04:03] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: Not for the. Not for the faint of heart. You need a sweet tooth. Anyway. The Good Soldier.
[00:04:11] Speaker D: This song, it's one of your favorites. But not in the top three. Is that what you said? Or maybe in the top three.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: No, it is. I think it is in the top three. We will get to what my others are in the top three. We haven't gotten there yet.
[00:04:24] Speaker D: Oh, so beginning of the end isn't one?
[00:04:27] Speaker A: No. Sorry.
[00:04:28] Speaker D: Symbolism isn't one.
[00:04:30] Speaker A: No. Nope. This time I'm not a singles Stan like I sometimes am, so I don't think we have any nine inch news, do we?
[00:04:40] Speaker D: I don't think so.
[00:04:41] Speaker A: Nothing happened.
[00:04:42] Speaker D: Nothing's going on.
[00:04:44] Speaker A: Challengers still didn't win any Oscars.
[00:04:47] Speaker D: Wasn't nominated and didn't win.
[00:04:50] Speaker A: Although I want to shout out our friend. Not our friend, our good friend Griffin on the Blank Check podcast. Podcast we love.
[00:05:00] Speaker D: I mean, we're basically besties.
[00:05:02] Speaker A: Yeah, well, one time he, like. He liked to reply to a tweet of mine about toys or something. A long time ago.
[00:05:10] Speaker D: Nice.
[00:05:11] Speaker A: He's an action figure boy, too. Anyway, they just recently did the blankies, their Little Awards for 2024, and Challengers was his number one pick. Number one movie of the year for last year. They're always shouting out Reznor and Ross scores as well. They seem to really like them on that show. Anyway, into the Good soldier.
[00:05:34] Speaker D: Yes. Track four on year zero. Sandwiched. Sandwiched. Sandwiches. Right in between survivalism and vessel. I love vessel.
[00:05:44] Speaker A: That's the sweet spot where you want to be.
[00:05:46] Speaker D: It's a really good spot.
Let's talk a little bit about the basics.
Normally we don't focus on the BPM that much unless it's really weird or.
[00:05:58] Speaker A: Yeah, this one stood out to me.
[00:06:00] Speaker D: Yeah. So tell us what you discovered about the BPM. What is the BPM?
[00:06:04] Speaker A: Do you have it written down?
[00:06:05] Speaker D: It's 87.43.
[00:06:07] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, because I couldn't remember that offhand, but I know that the. The tempo is 87.43 beats per minute because I downloaded the multi tracks.
The GarageBand files and just some plain old Wave, I think. And shout out to nindestruct.com and pyrakt for putting them all up. Don't know what I'd do without you. But anyway, it has a little text file with each of the songs saying what key it's in and the tempo. And the tempo for the Good Soldier is listed at 87.43.
And I dropped it into the. Into Reaper and it is true. That's what it's at. Not at an even number where.
[00:06:59] Speaker D: Not rounded down.
[00:07:00] Speaker A: The majority of these tracks are on an. On a. An integer, as were all the tracks on With Teeth, because I put those in a spreadsheet too. They were all a nice round number.
So I'm like, what's up with this weird decimal bpm?
The. The human brain does not really care about 0.43 bpm. Just make it 87 or 88.
[00:07:35] Speaker D: Okay?
[00:07:36] Speaker A: The brain is not going to know, I promise.
So I figured there was a reason.
[00:07:40] Speaker D: So what. What did you do? What was the reason?
[00:07:43] Speaker A: And this was it.
[00:07:44] Speaker D: Hoobastank.
[00:07:46] Speaker A: What? Oh, my God. I won't put a drop in there.
[00:07:51] Speaker D: Can you just put the drop of. From Tim and Eric of Zach Galifianakis going like, who?
[00:07:58] Speaker A: The stank. The stank. Yeah, I'll put that in there.
[00:08:00] Speaker D: Okay, thank you.
[00:08:01] Speaker A: And most of the tracks on here are a normal number, but a few aren't. And this one isn't even the weirdest bpm, but we'll get to that in the later episode.
So I'm like, what the fuck does it mean?
87.43. Googled around some of the other.
Like, if you go to Ninwiki, I think they round. Yeah, they rounded it to 87.
So not everyone out there is going to tell you the true tempo.
[00:08:29] Speaker D: No offense to them, and what it really means.
[00:08:33] Speaker A: Did I. Am I the discover. No, I'm not the discoverer of this. Because everyone who downloaded these files presumably saw that.
[00:08:42] Speaker D: Was it marked, like, in a way that was conspicuous?
[00:08:45] Speaker A: Yeah, it's right there in a text document telling you what the tempo is that they have for all the tracks.
[00:08:50] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: There may be discussion on old forums about it, but I didn't come across that.
But maybe I'm not trying hard enough and it's just parallel thinking. Anyway, I'm not. The short answer is we're not totally sure what the meaning is, but we think there is a meaning.
[00:09:09] Speaker D: So when you Google it, it directs you to a telecommunications regulation by the fcc, which, for Those of you who aren't American, it's our Federal Communications Commission and it regards safety and special radio services. And it's an operation during emergency regulation. And it states a station may be used for emergency communications in a manner other than that specified in the station license or in the operating rules. When normal communication facilities are disrupted, the Commission may order the discontinuance of any such emergency service.
[00:09:45] Speaker A: So if you're old enough to remember, this is a test of the emergency broadcast system. Does this have to do with that?
[00:09:53] Speaker D: I mean, I didn't look and see when this was passed, but yeah, sure.
[00:09:59] Speaker A: I assume it's a similar thing. So your radio stations can be taken over temporarily in times of emergency.
And TV stations as well. Maybe.
[00:10:12] Speaker D: Probably.
[00:10:13] Speaker A: Maybe anything the FCC covers now, they.
[00:10:16] Speaker D: Can text you directly and they can be like, oh, there's a nuclear bomb coming and everyone in Hawaii runs and hides and panics.
[00:10:24] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a nightmare unto itself.
So it makes you think about, I guess, emergency signals, possibly from the government, times of war or disaster.
And that's sort of related to the song.
[00:10:44] Speaker D: Or possibly taking over the station for whatever they deem as an emergency, by the way. Okay, yeah, it's whatever the government deems as an emergency. It might not even be one.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: The government is hijacking your signal for whatever. For whatever message they want to put out there. So I guess keep that in mind as context maybe.
[00:11:05] Speaker D: There you go. So let's talk a little bit about the argh elements for this track. So one of the main little. The chorus refrain, the lyrics are, I am trying to believe that's like that.
[00:11:22] Speaker A: It's not the title phrase of the album, but it's almost like, you know what I mean? Like this. This is like. If the title of the album wasn't Year zero, I feel like it would be this.
This was like the first. Wasn't this like the first phrase we ever uncovered associated with this album? I am trying to believe it was like one of the first, if not the first, ARG clues.
[00:11:49] Speaker D: Well, I do know for sure that, yes, the website iamtryingtobelieve.com it was found from letters on a Performance 2007 Tour T shirt.
So several of the letters from the tour dates were like kind of set off by boldface or something. And those letters, when you wrote them out in order spelled I am trying to believe. And you add.com to that and you got a website. But it was also featured on a sign in the Year Zero trailer. So just before the presence is seen in that trailer, there's a sign. It's like a blink and you'll miss it. That says I'm trying to believe.
[00:12:27] Speaker A: You have to pause it.
[00:12:29] Speaker D: So, yeah, a fan noticed those. Those letters were stood out and put them together and had the website.
[00:12:36] Speaker A: It's like one of the main slogans I associate with this album when I think about its lyrics.
[00:12:42] Speaker D: And yeah, a lot of people compare it to like the X Files. Like I want to believe.
[00:12:47] Speaker A: Right.
[00:12:48] Speaker E: The.
[00:12:48] Speaker A: I'm just seeing the poster of the UFO and. Right. And it says that on it. Right now I have the Year zero poster up that says I am trying to believe in tiny text at the bottom, but it's covered up by the frame.
It's so low down there.
[00:13:06] Speaker D: So if you actually go to that website, it's not about faith and it's not about military, which you would think, because we associate that with this song. Right.
But instead it focuses on Parapin, which is a drug that has been introduced into municipal water supplies throughout the United States.
[00:13:27] Speaker A: Not in real life, but in the.
[00:13:29] Speaker D: Yes, in the arg. There's no Parapin in your water.
[00:13:33] Speaker A: There's just fluoride.
[00:13:34] Speaker D: Just fluoride.
[00:13:36] Speaker A: That's a whole other thing. Paranoia about what's in the water.
[00:13:40] Speaker D: It's just stuff that's making the frogs gay. It's okay.
[00:13:43] Speaker A: It's making the fricking frogs gay.
Did Paraben make anyone gay? I don't think so.
[00:13:48] Speaker D: I don't know. Some people say it made people see the presence, but.
[00:13:51] Speaker A: Right. It did a lot of things.
[00:13:53] Speaker D: Did a lot of things. But people who.
[00:13:55] Speaker A: Making you gay was not part of.
[00:13:56] Speaker D: It, didn't even drink the water, saw the presence.
[00:14:00] Speaker A: Correct. So don't believe those that claim that the presence is caused by parapin.
[00:14:06] Speaker D: That's right.
So I'm not going to get too much into the website and what's on it because I think we should do like a Drugs of Year zero episode.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: Oh, God. A whole episode just on that. There's a long list of them made by the Cedocore Corporation, but a lot of them, we just know their names and we don't know anything else.
[00:14:26] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, we can combine other things with that, but I just think that would be kind of a weird, fun little episode. But however, on the site, there is an email to contact the author or the site admin. And whenever you email, you receive an automated reply email. Like if you were participating in the ARG and you actually emailed and the email reply would say, thank you for your interest, it is now clear to me that Parapin is a completely safe and effective agent developed to protect us from bioterrorism. The administration is acting purely in the best interest of its citizens. To suggest otherwise was irresponsible, and I deeply regret it. I'm drinking the water. So should you. And it makes me. That kind of reminds me of.
[00:15:10] Speaker A: They've been compromised. What?
[00:15:12] Speaker D: For some reason, that just made me think of, like, Jim Jones. Drink the Kool Aid. I'm drinking the water.
[00:15:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:17] Speaker D: Are you gonna go? Drink the Kool Aid? And actually, it was Flavor Aid, but Flavor Aid just doesn't have the brand recognition of Kool Aid.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: Pet ants always point out it was Flavor Aid.
[00:15:28] Speaker D: So another cool thing related to the Good Soldier was found from an art clue in the arg. So there were a couple of murals, I believe one was in London or Brixton and one was in la. And this clue came from the LA mural. And the clue, it says on the mural, there's a bunch of stuff going on. You should just look at it. It's really weird. There's a thing that looks like a tick. I mean, not a tick. The tick. I'm sorry.
[00:15:58] Speaker A: It looks like the tick.
[00:15:59] Speaker D: It's like this blue winged angel thing.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: Hang on. I have to pull this one up because I forgot which one it was.
[00:16:05] Speaker D: And it's holding a bullet.
[00:16:08] Speaker A: Patrick Warburton's the Tick is on here.
[00:16:12] Speaker D: So the bullet says 54, 40 or fight. Which, when you look that up, that's a slogan that was used during Americans, like, early Manifest Destiny, kind of expansionist days when attempting to claim British Columbia. I guess that was something that. What was the people who were supporting that movement.
[00:16:32] Speaker A: 5,000, 440.
[00:16:33] Speaker D: 5,000, 440. Or fight. I think it's the latitude and longitude of.
[00:16:37] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:16:39] Speaker D: And anyway, I mean, fight's not over, apparently.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: What do you mean?
[00:16:46] Speaker D: Trump wants Canada.
[00:16:48] Speaker A: Oh, and Greenland.
[00:16:50] Speaker D: The 51st and 52nd manifest destiny is cool again. But this time we were.
[00:16:55] Speaker A: It was supposed to be. They. They got what they wanted. They got from sea to.
They got from sea to shining sea, but they just couldn't be satisfied with that. We're gonna need land in every direction now. And then some of the land that's in the ocean as well.
[00:17:14] Speaker D: There's no land on the ocean. There are also a lot of pigs in the painting. And it made me think of two things. Animal Farm or NIN fans.
[00:17:22] Speaker A: Trent Reznor pointing at the pigs.
[00:17:25] Speaker D: There's also, like, a banner, I think, and it says, d F, N, D, N, G, A, M, R, K, A. Which to me looks like it says Defending America, but America is spelled with a K, and the E's and I's are missing. Do you see what I'm talking about when I say the tick guy?
[00:17:43] Speaker A: There's Uncle Sam. Oh, okay.
[00:17:46] Speaker D: The is what?
[00:17:46] Speaker A: The behind Uncle Sam. It's like a muscly blue guy. So, yeah, kind of tickish. And he is. Look, he's holding a bullet.
[00:17:53] Speaker D: Yeah. So that's the bullet that has the, like, manifest destiny type slogan on it.
[00:17:57] Speaker A: The 54:40 or fight defending Amraka.
[00:18:02] Speaker D: For some reason, the E's and I's are out, which made me. Because of the pigs I suddenly got Old MacDonald, had a farm in my head because I was like, why are the E's and I's? And I was like, E, I, E, I, O.
[00:18:11] Speaker A: That's where they went to the song. There's a little art. Is resistance fly.
[00:18:16] Speaker D: Yep. There's an AR flag in there.
[00:18:17] Speaker A: Oh, it's like, upside down. Down, maybe. And a date.
[00:18:22] Speaker D: Yep. What's the date?
[00:18:24] Speaker A: April 13, 2007.
[00:18:26] Speaker D: So before the album came out.
[00:18:28] Speaker A: And that's when it was painted. I'm guessing.
[00:18:31] Speaker D: I'm guessing. Yeah.
[00:18:33] Speaker A: So, okay.
[00:18:33] Speaker D: Yeah, so that's what it looks like, if you wanted to know. And there's a little part of the artwork that says One country at a Time. And so people typed that in, and they found a website called One country at a Time.
And what exactly is on that site? Blake?
[00:18:55] Speaker A: Is this the one with the comic?
[00:18:57] Speaker D: Yes. So the site has a comic, and I'm gonna let Blake kind of sum that up for you, because I read it, like, last week, but he just read it today.
[00:19:08] Speaker A: I just read it today.
[00:19:09] Speaker D: But I want to say one thing about it before you start is that the comic artist is unknown, but people have theorized that it was drawn by Mark Bagley, who is known for his on Ultimate Spider man with Brian Michael Bendis.
[00:19:24] Speaker A: Whoa.
[00:19:24] Speaker D: And the two were paired on that together for. This is according to Wikipedia, so someone can correct me because it might be wrong, but the two were paired for 111 issues, which is one of the longest consecutive runs in comic history at that time and the longest by a Marvel creative team, even besting Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's run on the Fantastic Four. There you go.
[00:19:47] Speaker A: Okay, good to know, because they could have hired just, like, any nobody who can draw.
I didn't think they'd be hiring, like, a big name.
[00:19:57] Speaker D: I have no idea. That's a theory.
[00:19:59] Speaker A: Okay, I wonder why that theory? Because the art, maybe art style, looks.
[00:20:02] Speaker D: I guess the art is kind of similar. But I don't know enough about his art to compare the two and neither do I. Also, when you look at his art, it's very like this is line drawings and it's not colored.
[00:20:13] Speaker A: This is black and white pen and yeah, line drawings. And it's somebody who doesn't obviously need to put their name on it because it needs to stay within the world of the ARG and not take us out of it. So that's good.
It's all, as you might imagine, all glitched up. Like the comic has been sent to us from another time or reality via quantum computing, which as we know, causes all sorts of little glitchy pixels as we see all over the ARG materials.
And it's about soldiers in Syria. Some kind of one of the many United States campaigns in the Middle East. I'm guessing the One country at a Time title. It brings to mind, I don't know, imperialism. We take, I don't know if it's like we take over one country at a time. We deal with one country at a time.
[00:21:14] Speaker D: It also kind of made me think of, what is it? The domino theory where like, if one country succumbs to communism, then all the countries around them will fall as well. One country at a time. I don't know, I'm just thinking, look.
[00:21:28] Speaker A: At it that way.
But it doesn't get into the politics of it much.
It's from like one soldier's or. No, it's from the perspective, I think, of one of the soldier's kids.
[00:21:41] Speaker D: The captain's Son.
[00:21:42] Speaker A: All right, the Captain's Son. That was the name of a local band that I recorded long ago, weirdly.
Anyway, the captain, the soldiers are like trying to bring a little girl they found, like back to her home. They found her in a bombed out ditch or something.
They do see the presence reach down from the sky a few times and they're like, holy fuck. They're firing guns at it to no avail.
The soldiers under the captain, I don't think they like his plan to put their own lives in danger on this journey to take the girl back to her home. Eventually the captain is shot in the back of the head and I believe he was fragged by his own platoon. I'm using all these words wrong. Frag might mean grenaded. That's a Vietnam thing, so I'm using it wrong. But friendly fire.
And the narrator tells us in little written parts, handwritten Pages that he's. He didn't follow in his father's footsteps. But he's rather a. Like a graffiti guy.
[00:22:57] Speaker D: A resistance artist.
[00:22:59] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:22:59] Speaker D: Kind of thing.
[00:23:01] Speaker A: And the phrase I am trying to believe is alluded to in the comic. It's used not word for word, but basically the same thing.
You should read it, check it out.
[00:23:15] Speaker D: Yeah, it's really cool. It's like a cool little glimpse in the world. And it's kind of a. It's a short little story.
[00:23:21] Speaker A: I like it.
[00:23:22] Speaker D: And sad.
[00:23:23] Speaker A: The drawings of the giant hand in the sky I think were good. And give you a different perspective than we're used to seeing. Like the album cover and the little like glitchy arg. Fake photographs. This is. I like this different hand drawn perspective.
[00:23:41] Speaker D: So of course there are.
There's background texts from various banned media in this world. And for this site, apparently. It came from Pleasantville by Gary Ross.
And the text says. You are charged with the desecration of a public building. And the intentional use of prohibited paint colors. In violation of the Pleasantville code of conduct and laws of common decency. Do you admit that on the night of May 1st. You did consciously and willfully apply the following forbidden paint colors. To the north wall of the Pleasantville police station? Red, pink, vermilion, puce. Puce, sorry, vermilion, chartreuse, umber blue, aqua, oxblood. My favorite.
[00:24:22] Speaker A: What is this, a Crayola box?
[00:24:23] Speaker D: Green, peach, crimson, yellow, olive and magenta.
[00:24:28] Speaker A: It's a lot of colors.
[00:24:29] Speaker D: That's a lot of colors.
[00:24:30] Speaker A: Like the movie Pleasantville. Or was it a book too?
[00:24:34] Speaker D: I think it was a book because it says by Gary Ross. But I'd have to look that up. I didn't bother to look it up. Give me two seconds.
[00:24:39] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:24:41] Speaker D: Well, all I remember about Pleasantville is that I saw at the palace for a Dollar.
[00:24:45] Speaker A: I remember it was a black and white movie. But then some woman masturbated and the world started color.
[00:24:52] Speaker D: Just let women come, y'all. Look how pretty the world becomes.
[00:24:57] Speaker A: That's all it took.
[00:24:58] Speaker D: That's all it takes. And sometimes we gotta take matters in our own fucking hands.
[00:25:04] Speaker A: No pun intended.
[00:25:06] Speaker D: No, I think it is just the movie that they took it from. So they put written, produced and directed by Gary Ross in his directorial debut.
[00:25:15] Speaker A: So they put this quote from the movie on the site.
[00:25:18] Speaker D: I guess so. I guess it's not just banned books. They also banned this movie. Cause a pretty lady masturbated and came.
[00:25:27] Speaker A: Well, the movie is subversive, I suppose. It like says something about 1950s sitcom society, maybe.
[00:25:36] Speaker D: And repressed people.
[00:25:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:38] Speaker D: Who live in a bland, gray world.
A bland world of conformity where Reese.
[00:25:46] Speaker A: Witherspoon got sent there for some reason and doesn't belong.
[00:25:51] Speaker D: I just thought it was interesting that they used that for someone who's like a street artist. Like the site. And also the clue was found on a mural. So.
[00:25:59] Speaker A: Yeah, I like that. So there's this running thread of graffiti in street art. It really runs through the whole album in arg.
The artist resistance flag itself sometimes shown as a spray paint stencil.
So there you go.
[00:26:18] Speaker D: Yeah, there you go.
My favorite thing about Pleasantville was that Fiona Apple covered Across the Universe. That was a good cover. And there was a music video, I think Pete Paul.
[00:26:29] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:26:30] Speaker D: I think he directed it.
[00:26:31] Speaker A: Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson in the style of Pleasantville.
[00:26:34] Speaker D: I always loved it because it was like she was in her own little, little world while everything was falling to pieces behind her.
The lyric, nothing's gonna change my world as everything's destroyed.
[00:26:44] Speaker A: And John C. Reilly was in it.
Okay, we have to talk about this song.
[00:26:50] Speaker D: Okay, play that song.
[00:26:52] Speaker A: Let's play. This MF song's about to kick off with the sickest bass loop you ever heard.
Clap.
[00:27:09] Speaker E: Gun fire in the street where we used to meet Echoes out of beat and the bass goes.
[00:27:22] Speaker A: It's a little bit of a jump scare.
That guitar comes in tambourine, like, so sing songy.
For me, it's all about the chorus. Personally, it's the part I really like.
[00:27:59] Speaker D: I like when the bass goes bomb.
[00:28:02] Speaker A: It's really the guitar.
Those pads love that.
The titular phrase.
[00:28:50] Speaker E: I can tell them. I myself, I am trying to see bells.
[00:29:00] Speaker A: Vibraphone, kind of bell. Played with a mallet.
Gonna make us wait for it. Dropping out here. A little low pass filter opening up.
[00:29:29] Speaker D: Love just writing this out.
[00:29:30] Speaker A: This is where it's at the high point of the album. Right here.
[00:29:34] Speaker D: Love it.
[00:29:35] Speaker A: This guitar Rif.
Just gonna let it play.
I didn't want to talk over it.
[00:29:58] Speaker D: It's a good outro.
Don't worry. That vibe is about to get harshed.
[00:30:24] Speaker A: Try to tease him with one note of vessel.
Yeah. It's so almost blissful and chill.
And then vessel's about to come in. Fuck your world up.
[00:30:37] Speaker D: It is.
[00:30:38] Speaker A: Yeah. It doesn't get better for me than the outro of the Good Soldier.
[00:30:43] Speaker D: It's a really good outro. There's a lot of great outros on this album.
[00:30:48] Speaker A: Yeah. Especially when it just lets him ride out for inordinately Long periods.
Not my lyric wise in the verse. Singing wise in the verse. Maybe that's where it loses. Maybe that's why it's not my number one. But that by the time it gets to the outro guitar riff, all the elements blending together there.
Perfection, really. The little bells.
[00:31:16] Speaker D: Love those little bells. Love that little melody.
[00:31:19] Speaker A: Trying to think of another, like, pretty Nine Inch Nails bell melody.
I'm coming up. There's probably something on the fragile.
If there has been. It's probably like not that clean. Like super distorted somehow. That's just like so cleanly done.
I bet it's because they did this stuff fast and kind of in the box and didn't.
[00:31:47] Speaker D: I think there's something. I think there's something really pretty in their cover much, much later of life on Mars that uses bells. I think that are really beautiful and magical. But.
[00:31:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:00] Speaker D: Or whatever. Xylophone, vibraphone. I don't know what the hell it is.
[00:32:04] Speaker A: Yeah, maybe xylophone. I'm gonna play the clip later. So we'll determine then.
[00:32:08] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:32:08] Speaker A: Because I forgot.
So great. It's great. Are we playing the clips?
[00:32:14] Speaker D: Yeah, it's clips. Corner time.
[00:32:16] Speaker A: Okay. Those drummers, then the drums. A little bit later.
Added a little hi hat sixteenths.
[00:32:39] Speaker D: Love that little hi hat.
[00:32:40] Speaker A: And it got slightly louder. Everything. All the elements get slightly louder at the end.
[00:32:44] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:32:45] Speaker A: I think it makes our brains.
Well, our brains want. Prefer sounds that are louder no matter what. It's been proven.
So it's a good little trick to make everything jump in volume slightly. And you're like, ooh, I like this part.
[00:33:00] Speaker D: It works when that bass goes bomb.
[00:33:04] Speaker A: Scares the shit out of me.
Should we talk about the drum?
We've heard that drum before, believe it or not, that drum loop. Or we think we have. When we talked about the Little With Teeth era radio session featuring Peter Murphy, I believe we brought up that a drum loop they were using sounded like the Good Soldier.
[00:33:28] Speaker D: Okay. What was the song?
[00:33:30] Speaker A: I believe it was Reptile.
[00:33:31] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:33:37] Speaker A: Oh, way slower.
[00:33:38] Speaker D: Yeah, it's really slowed down.
[00:33:42] Speaker A: Hear the clap, though.
[00:33:43] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:33:43] Speaker A: Undeniable.
Okay, so I forgot how much slower it is.
[00:33:58] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:33:59] Speaker A: It's really some of the same dominance. I'm not gonna say it's the same thing, but it's just clearly it came from somewhere.
All right. That little strummy loop throughout. The entire song is a bass guitar.
[00:34:16] Speaker D: I love it.
[00:34:20] Speaker A: Two notes.
Simple stuff.
That guitar that goes bomb. Not the bass, but in fact the guitar that's pretty low.
Had to play it to the end because that's my favorite part.
[00:35:05] Speaker D: Do it again at that little.
I love it.
Nice.
[00:35:15] Speaker A: Reznor loves to bend a guitar note. You know, he never met a note he didn't want to bend on the six strings.
[00:35:21] Speaker D: I feel the same way.
[00:35:22] Speaker A: The guitar and the chord.
[00:35:23] Speaker D: I see that note. I just want to bend it over.
[00:35:26] Speaker A: Oh, God. Hey, no. You're looking good. Guitar. And of course, in that sweet, sweet outro guitar part.
[00:36:09] Speaker D: What does that remind me of?
[00:36:10] Speaker A: I love it, but it's extremely Reznor.
[00:36:13] Speaker D: Huh.
[00:36:14] Speaker A: The rest of the song might sound a bit different. Like, we haven't heard something quite like this from him before, but by the time he gets to that part, it's like, oh, yeah, this is definitely Trent Reznor playing a guitar lick that just.
[00:36:28] Speaker D: Reminds me of something. And I can't think of what it is, but it's probably just similar vibes or something.
[00:36:33] Speaker A: I bet there's another NIN song, but I just can't think of it right now.
[00:36:37] Speaker D: Yeah, it's that world building through sound.
[00:36:41] Speaker A: Yeah. Those pleasant keyboard sounds, whatever they may be within Ableton, they're labeled as keyboards pads.
Very gentle.
[00:36:56] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:36:57] Speaker A: Decidedly not distorted.
[00:37:05] Speaker D: It's very clear and clean.
[00:37:08] Speaker A: This album has a few like that.
More keyboards. Oh, this one has more synth layers added to it.
Love that even more.
This is the one that sounded like singing over it or a voice doing something weird. And I believe it's actually. Actually just a portamento synth almost mimicking the human voice going up. And that synth was, like, doubling the. What the guitar did an octave up. This was labeled as the Prophet 5. Legendary synthesizer.
You can see the profit. You can see Trent play the Prophet 5 in the slam bamboo video where they played House on Fire. He may have been mimicking playing the Prophet 5, but it's there in the video.
We'd recognize that famous synth anywhere. As we know, the album was recorded, like, mostly in the box.
That could be the Profit5VST plugin.
Everybody has one of those. I think I have. I didn't check, but doesn't matter.
Tambourine. But this time it's gated.
It's so strange.
So we're not just hearing it jangle all the way through. Most of it's been cut out and messed with the vibes. I think it was just labeled vibes, which in many senses of the word is true.
Okay. Of course it's vibraphone. I wasn't sure earlier, but it's labeled vibes, so of course it's vibraphone. An instrument that actually Vibrates to produce that vibrato effect, if you could believe that.
And then those vibes again with two octaves.
Very pretty. Almost lullaby like.
They should make an entire baby Nine Inch Nails.
[00:41:22] Speaker D: They have. There's a little rockaby. Baby Nine Inch Nails.
[00:41:27] Speaker A: Right? You're right.
[00:41:29] Speaker D: Put your little piggy to bed listening to March of the Pigs.
[00:41:32] Speaker A: Is this song on it, though? Is the big question.
[00:41:36] Speaker D: Oh, I can't remember. Hold on.
[00:41:38] Speaker A: Putting my good little soldier to bed.
[00:41:41] Speaker D: I don't have the track list.
[00:41:42] Speaker A: Anyone out there with our listeners with kids, if you put your good little soldier to sleep with this, let me know.
[00:41:53] Speaker D: Well, it starts with hurt.
[00:41:56] Speaker A: Let's not play Hurt for the children. I mean, I know it doesn't have lyrics.
[00:42:01] Speaker D: I don't think there's anything past the 90s on it.
[00:42:04] Speaker A: That tracks.
[00:42:05] Speaker D: Hold on.
[00:42:05] Speaker A: Well, missed opportunity.
[00:42:09] Speaker D: Head like a hole rattlesn oh, wait. Hand that feeds is on here. I lied.
[00:42:15] Speaker A: Oh, bizarre.
[00:42:16] Speaker D: So it stops at 2005, I guess.
[00:42:18] Speaker A: Of course. Of course it does.
By the way, talking about Fiona Apple earlier, do you know who is a master with the vibraphone?
[00:42:27] Speaker D: I guess Fiona Apple.
[00:42:29] Speaker A: I was gonna say John Bryan.
[00:42:33] Speaker D: That was my second guess.
[00:42:34] Speaker A: It's probably in that across the Universe cover. John Bryan, a master of the vibes.
[00:42:39] Speaker D: John Bryan, master of vibes. He should just have cards that says.
[00:42:41] Speaker A: That while working with artists such as Fiona Apple and many others.
Great vibe sounds.
The Voyager bass synth. This is the Moog Voyager, an old synth that Trent loves.
Damn, that's fat.
[00:43:07] Speaker D: There was a guy in my When I lived in Marshfield who drove a converted hearse as his car. And on the back it said just hearcing around like he had it painted.
[00:43:17] Speaker A: Oh my God.
[00:43:19] Speaker D: But he had like a crazy killer, like one of those bass systems that if you drove by that you could just feel it. You don't even have to hear it. Like you would just. And I can imagine that in his. In his hearsen around Mars farting out.
[00:43:32] Speaker A: That's a very farty synth Heads know we love it when the Moog farts.
[00:43:39] Speaker D: Sorry for that hearse story. Anyway, that's a hearse you can laugh at when it goes by. That's okay.
[00:43:45] Speaker A: Did the bass go bomb?
[00:43:47] Speaker D: Yeah, totally went bomb.
[00:43:52] Speaker A: And finally some vocals.
[00:43:55] Speaker E: Gun. Fire in the street where we used to meet Echoes out of beat and the bass goes bomb right over my head.
Step over the dead Remember what you said? You know the part about life, it's just a waking dream. Well, I know what you mean, but that ain't how it seems right here, right now how can this be real?
I can barely feel anymore.
[00:44:40] Speaker A: Had to get a little breath noise at the end. Does anything stand out to you particularly?
I just want to know someone else's opinion.
I don't know just about the sound of it. I think a few of those maybe it only stands out to me.
I think some of those notes are way too tuned.
[00:45:03] Speaker D: Oh, I don't got that ear well.
[00:45:07] Speaker E: Gun fire in the street where we used to meet Echoes out of beat and the bass goes bomb right away.
[00:45:21] Speaker A: The syllable where he says bomb not tuned sounds really good.
[00:45:25] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:45:26] Speaker A: Bass goes pretty tuned. That ruins that bit for me. It makes it harder to enjoy because I.
[00:45:34] Speaker D: Did you notice it whenever you were like before you had.
[00:45:38] Speaker A: I noticed it the first time I ever listened to this album. I was like this is a little too tuned. Just not everything. Just a few of the notes. It's enough to throw me off. Probably makes it not my number one song on the album. You know, they probably did that in the interest of time.
Vocal tuning mostly a time saving measure. People think it's a covers lack of talent but I think it's. It actually covers lack of time and money but they were on the go. This album was done really quickly.
He was a little too into the melodyne around this time, I think. But then I've read stuff that said Atticus convinced him out of it later anyway. No one probably cares that much. But the notes where he's more raw sound better. Should have just stuck with that anyway.
[00:46:34] Speaker E: I am trying to see this chorus.
[00:46:40] Speaker A: Doesn'T sound tuned to me at all. I don't think. Sounds way better.
[00:46:43] Speaker E: I am trying to see I am trying to believe this is not where I should be I am trying to.
[00:47:03] Speaker A: Believe maybe like one or two.
[00:47:08] Speaker D: I love Soothing Trend.
[00:47:10] Speaker A: Very soothing.
[00:47:11] Speaker D: Mm.
[00:47:12] Speaker E: Blood hardens in the sand Cold metal in my hand Hope you understand the way that things are gonna be there's nowhere left to hide Cause God is on our side I keep telling myself I am trying to see I am trying to believe this is not where I should be I am trying to.
[00:47:52] Speaker A: Believe well, almost whispering by the end it gets. I didn't realize. It gets way softer on chorus number two before it goes to the outro.
[00:48:02] Speaker D: It's like he was really trying to convince himself and then losing that faith at the end.
[00:48:07] Speaker A: Yeah, you hear it wavering.
[00:48:09] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:48:10] Speaker A: Okay, that's it for clips. This song is short and surprisingly simple.
I like that about it though.
[00:48:19] Speaker D: I don't know if I want to do Too much on the lyrics because I think it's kind of, just kind of obvious that it's a viewpoint of someone who's struggling with what they're doing.
[00:48:31] Speaker A: With what they're doing as. As a soldier, perhaps, and the reasons.
[00:48:36] Speaker D: They'Re told to do it. I guess there are the things we have to convince ourselves, you know, to do these kind of evil things.
[00:48:46] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm trying.
Implies you don't believe. Yeah, but you're gonna. You're gonna try to play this mind game with yourself. I don't think you can actually convince yourself to believe things. Maybe you can. You're either compelled or you're not. It's a weird.
[00:49:05] Speaker D: I don't know. I think you can look at all the bullshit.
[00:49:08] Speaker A: I know what you mean.
[00:49:09] Speaker D: But you mean, like, maybe your deep core principles. I don't know.
[00:49:14] Speaker A: I think they're compelled by something. If I was like, today I'm gonna start believing in God. Okay. I'm gonna try really hard, I couldn't do it. I would need something way more compelling to change my mind on that.
Anyway, as far as the title, do you have anything about the title?
[00:49:37] Speaker D: Well, I was gonna actually talk about some lyrics that were not included or sung on the album that were included in the lyric sheet.
[00:49:45] Speaker A: Forgot about that. Yes, go ahead.
[00:49:46] Speaker D: Yeah, so there's a stanza that was not recorded. Instead we got that beautiful little outro. But stanza. No one's even sure what we're fighting for or who we even are anymore. I feel so far away.
[00:50:01] Speaker A: I wonder if that was going to be over the.
[00:50:03] Speaker D: Do you think the title is just kind of ironic? Because a good soldier would just do what he is told to do without questioning it. And it seems like this soldier is starting to question it.
[00:50:12] Speaker A: Yes. So he's trying to be the good soldier, but he's not. And that's like an old phrase or concept. Right. Like, the good soldier does.
Obeys orders. It's not like something invented for this song. And there's like, movies and books with that title. I. I saw when I was looking it up earlier.
Every oppressive movement needs good, good soldiers. I guess.
[00:50:42] Speaker D: Yeah. I.
I don't know. I kind of feel like this has like, two different narrators.
[00:50:49] Speaker A: Oh, really?
[00:50:49] Speaker D: In a way, yeah. I don't know. I have a feeling.
[00:50:52] Speaker A: The verse in the chorus.
[00:50:54] Speaker D: No, the first verse and the second verse.
[00:50:56] Speaker A: Oh.
[00:50:57] Speaker D: Like, I feel like the first verse is set in a different place than the second verse is.
[00:51:02] Speaker A: Yeah, you could say that.
[00:51:04] Speaker D: Mainly because, I mean, I don't know who the soldier Is addressing necessarily when he says, like gunfire in the street where we used to meet.
[00:51:12] Speaker A: Mm.
[00:51:13] Speaker D: But right.
[00:51:15] Speaker A: That sounds more like.
[00:51:16] Speaker D: It sounds more like you're in, like your home.
[00:51:18] Speaker A: Right. Your home city and it's being bombed.
[00:51:21] Speaker D: Yeah. It's been invaded, it's been taken over. It might not even be a soldier. I don't know.
[00:51:25] Speaker A: So from the perspective of a person.
[00:51:28] Speaker D: Who'S living in the area that's occupied.
[00:51:31] Speaker A: Or something, or being attacked in an occupied nation.
[00:51:34] Speaker D: And then the second part seems like it's the soldier.
[00:51:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Cold metal in my hand Sounds like a person holding a gun to me.
[00:51:41] Speaker D: Maybe help you understand.
[00:51:44] Speaker A: Yeah. He's laying down the law. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Actually.
[00:51:47] Speaker D: That's what I was thinking about.
[00:51:48] Speaker A: But then who's. The choruses. Maybe the chorus is from both of their perspectives.
I think we figured it out.
[00:51:55] Speaker D: Crack the code.
[00:51:56] Speaker A: That applies. I'm trying to believe applies to both characters in this case.
[00:52:00] Speaker D: I mean, I don't know. This is just my theory. No, I think it's just based upon the. The setting that is described to me.
[00:52:06] Speaker A: It makes a lot of sense to me.
[00:52:08] Speaker D: I do remember reading reviews for this album when it came out, just like because magazines would be scattered on our break table. And I could not find the review. But I remember, I swear it was like an Entertainment Weekly or something. They talked about the bass goes bomb. And even though I hadn't, I didn't listen to that album for years later, until years later I thought of the bass goes bomb. And I had no idea what that sounded like.
[00:52:31] Speaker A: Like having that out of context, I'd be like, what the fuck?
[00:52:34] Speaker D: I know. I was kinda like, I don't know what to think of this.
[00:52:36] Speaker A: Like that Shir. Surely that can't be good, right? The base goes bomb. It's like a total, like, onomatopoeia ass moment. That's weird for Nine Inch Nails.
[00:52:50] Speaker D: I like a good onomatopoeia.
Also, try saying that like five times in a row. Can't be.
[00:52:58] Speaker A: No, I don't want to.
[00:53:01] Speaker D: So I just didn't want to spend a lot of time on it. But I just kind of wanted to put my two cents in about how I think it's maybe two possible different perspectives and a conflict maybe.
[00:53:11] Speaker A: I think that makes sense.
[00:53:13] Speaker D: So for live, this song was played for the first time live at Luna park in Sydney, Australia.
[00:53:21] Speaker A: Ooh, Luna Park.
[00:53:22] Speaker D: On May 9, 2007, according to NI and Wiki. And it was a regular on the set list for the performance. 2007 tour.
[00:53:30] Speaker A: Wish I could have seen that.
[00:53:32] Speaker D: Was played as an encore on about half the shows for the Lights in the sky tour and then became more infrequent on later tours.
2007 the only I didn't really go to a lot of shows because I was broke. I think the only show I remember going to in 2007 was seeing Arcade Fire with the LCD sound system.
[00:53:53] Speaker A: Yeah, this was a rough time for me financially.
[00:53:57] Speaker D: Like, I was so broke.
[00:53:58] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm trying to think if I went to any shows at all that year and I might not have.
[00:54:02] Speaker D: Yeah, that was it.
[00:54:03] Speaker A: I was moving around and I was dead broke.
[00:54:06] Speaker D: Yeah, I think I even had to charge that on the old capital one. And back then it was like $35. Like it was nothing. But I was so broke, I was like, it's going on the credit card, right?
[00:54:15] Speaker A: Anyway, I wonder when the most recent time it was played was. It's been a good while, I'm sure.
[00:54:24] Speaker D: But I would love to hear it. I think it's so pretty.
[00:54:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I'd love to hear that. Life.
[00:54:30] Speaker D: Okay, that's all I got. Tell us what you think the Good Soldier is about. Write us. How can they reach us?
[00:54:36] Speaker A: Blake, Good transition.
If you want to send us anything. Nailedpodmail.com all of our information and socials
[email protected] and a link to our Patreon is there as well.
And you can become like the good folks who have recently joined us. Had a little influx here.
So thank you for subscribing to Derek.
[00:55:06] Speaker D: Thank you, Derek.
[00:55:08] Speaker A: And someone named Kurt Russell, which I really like.
[00:55:13] Speaker D: Kurt Russell.
[00:55:14] Speaker A: I like that name.
I think everyone else I've read.
[00:55:18] Speaker D: Holy shit. Kurt Russell. I love the movie Overboard. So one of my favorites.
[00:55:23] Speaker A: I'm a big thing fan.
And Derek, I like your movies as well. Not to play favorites.
[00:55:30] Speaker D: Yeah, sorry Derek. I didn't mean to.
[00:55:32] Speaker A: Who's a famous Derek actor? I can't think of one.
[00:55:37] Speaker D: All I can think of Nevermind Derek and the Dominoes.
[00:55:40] Speaker A: Oh, it's probably him from Derek and the Dominoes.
[00:55:42] Speaker D: Oh, I bet it's that dude.
[00:55:43] Speaker A: Derek was definitely a real person.
So if you want to be like them and get twice as many nailed episodes to listen to, including our bonus episode discussions of the ARG music videos. All that going back to the beginning of our show.
Patreon.com nailedpod Can I do a merch update?
[00:56:13] Speaker D: Yes, merch update.
[00:56:15] Speaker A: Merch update corner.
[00:56:17] Speaker D: Blake has finally put together an Oscar T shirt. The fans demanded it, so it's a.
[00:56:26] Speaker A: Collaboration design with our friend and our friend Heather.
[00:56:30] Speaker D: With input from another friend, Mr. Alert.
[00:56:34] Speaker A: Yeah, Mr. Alert. This was a team effort. The collabo on the words from Mr. Alert. Most of the artwork done by Heather, and then typography by me.
[00:56:48] Speaker D: Maybe design idea. Design by me.
[00:56:51] Speaker A: Yeah. Right. The whole team pitched it.
[00:56:54] Speaker D: We did.
[00:56:54] Speaker A: So it's about to go up soon. It's not up yet.
[00:56:56] Speaker D: We're going to put it up. But we also. I want to work with a local animal shelter here in Springfield because I just want to. It's tough times, you know, so. And I think Oscar would love to know that the proceeds from his shirt are going to help other feline friends. So.
[00:57:15] Speaker A: Right. We love them.
[00:57:16] Speaker D: Yeah. We're gonna collab probably with a local no kill shelter and give them the proceeds from the sales.
[00:57:25] Speaker A: So I should probably get my ass in gear and put that in the store. So by the time you hear this, hopefully the Oscar shirt is live. Is live at the merch store, nailedpod.com.
should I say what it is?
[00:57:41] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:57:41] Speaker A: I need to sell this thing.
It's Oscar's face.
He's holding a blunt and pointing a gun at the viewer. And beneath that, it says, nothing can stop meow.
And don't ask what it means.
It just is what it is.
[00:58:06] Speaker D: Yeah. And wear it to your arena show of choice on the Peel it Back tour. So everyone's like, what the fuck is that?
[00:58:12] Speaker A: If someone wears Oscar's shirt to peel it back, I will give them a prize, I swear to God.
[00:58:18] Speaker D: Especially if you take a picture of yourself in that shirt with Trent Reznor.
[00:58:22] Speaker A: Oh, my God, that'd be insane.
[00:58:24] Speaker D: At least just have him in the background.
[00:58:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Center the Oscar shirt.
All right, we've again, we've gone probably too long on one song, so let's say goodbye and we'll see you next week for Vessel, one of my other favorite songs.
[00:58:42] Speaker D: I fucking love Vessel.
[00:58:44] Speaker A: Vessel is a unqualified banger.
[00:58:48] Speaker D: It's so good. Okay, I'll stop.
[00:58:51] Speaker A: Okay. So see you next week. Hey.
[00:58:55] Speaker D: What?
[00:58:55] Speaker A: Can we stop? Sa.
[00:59:23] Speaker D: It.
