EP 99. Exit Sandman; or, Party Like It’s 1999 (Unless the Robots Take Over)

On July 3, 1999 Mark Sandman, frontman and two-string slide bassist of Morphine collapsed and died while performing onstage in Palestrina, Italy. Ironically a few years earlier he wrote aa song in which he sang about hoping to have french fries with pepper on September 9th of that year. 

But don't let that get you down. As we approach our 100th episode, we turn back the clock 25 years to the strange, beautiful, and paranoid world of 1999. Clinton was impeached, Napster was born, and people were hoarding water in fear of Y2K. Now in 2024, we’ve got AI making music, faking voices, and threatening to write this podcast for us. Coincidence?

We explore the eerie parallels between Y2K fear and AI anxiety, all through the lens of the incredible music that defined the end of the millennium. Featuring everything from The Flaming Lips’ cinematic masterpiece The Soft Bulletin to Fiona Apple’s poetic rage, and from Rage Against the Machine's fury to Beck’s freaky funk, this episode is a tribute to the year that birthed some of the deepest—and weirdest—dad rock we still love today, including: 

• The indie guitar heroics and existential hooks of Built to Spill’s “Keep It Like a Secret” 
• The strange and defiant Primus’ “Antipop” 
• Moby’s soundtrack to the digital dawn “Play”
• Pavement’s bittersweet farewell produced by Nigel Godrich “Terror Twilight”
• And Wilco’s “Summerteeth” which is Dad Rock and not New Dad Rock 

This isn’t just a nostalgia trip—it’s a portal between two centuries, two technopanic moments, and a lot of great records.

🎧 Episode 100 is coming next… and it’s all about YOU. Send us your questions, dad rock confessions, or AI fears before the robots take over for real.