The Massive Attack Podcast

Day 1 - A Christmas Carol (1911)

It's December 13th, so that can only mean one thing... it's time to start dropping our 12 Days of Christmas mini episodes.

This year we go back to that old (roasting) Chestnut that is the Charles Dickens classic tale, A Christmas Carol. Why not, it's been 5 years since we last did it, so for the next week and half each day we'll give you a different take on the story.

Today we start off old school, with the 1911 silent film version, aptly titled "A Christmas Carol".

Episode 136 - W is for The Wall!

As we get closer and closer to the end of our second round of A to Z's, this episode we look at another music related movies, the 1982 film "The Wall" based on Pink Floyd's iconic 1979 album of the same name.

We dive into our histories listening to the band, and first seeing this film, as well as the production behind it, and our feelings nearly 40 years after it's first release.

We even lament the passing of the whole concept album idea too.

Episode 135 - V is for Jean-Claude Van Damme!

Back in the late 80s and early 90s he was one of the action/martial arts genre's biggest names, so for our V episode we couldn't go passed the Muscles from Brussels himself, Jean-Claude Van Damme!

 

We go over some of his more memorable roles, some run-ins he had with other celebrities, and Mitch goes on a tangent about how he hates Steven Seagal.

Episode 134 - U is for Universal Monsters!

Back in the 1930's Universal Studios pioneered the idea of a shared cinematic universe after creating a series on now iconic horror films including Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf-Man and The Mummy. These became known as the Universal Monsters, and over the years ended up being some of the most well-known depictions of the characters that are still recognized today.

So, seeing as it's October and almost Halloween, this episode we delve into the Universal Monster world, looking at some of the more popular films, the remakes and copy-cats they have spawned, and even the failed attempts to re-boot the franchise.

Episode 133 - T is for Thundarr the Barbarian!

Back in the early 80's, just a few years before He-Man hit our TV screens, there was another blonde muscleman with a sword gracing our Saturday mornings. That man was "Thundarr the Barbarian", and is the topic of our T episode of the A to Z.

We discuss our memories of the show, discuss the plot and characters, as well as a bit of history of the creators and the Ruby-Spears Productions story.

Episode 132 - S is for Ska!

Ska is one of those musical genres that you either love or hate, and thankfully both Mitch and Joe love it!

This episode we go on a deep dive and trace the roots of ska through it's three waves - the origins in Jamaica in the 60's, the 2-Tone era of England in the 80's, and third wave of ska punk from the US in the 90's - including some clips of Joe's favourites, as well as a few of our usual tangents too.

Joe has even put together a companion playlist on Spotify of a lot of the songs we discuss too if you want to check it out here - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4QniLlNzMXva58Ouenk5YA?si=3459caf018d94718

Episode 131 - R is for”Rowdy” Roddy Piper!

He was a massive star in the world of wrestling in the 80's, who also went on to star in a number of cult movie classics, so we bend the A to Z rules a little this episode to talk about the "Hot Rod" himself, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.

From his incredible Wrestlemania moments, to his long list of B-Movie credits, he truly was an icon, and a huge reason Mitch and Joe became wrestling fans as kids.

Episode 130 - Q is for Quadrophenia!

Based on the album by The Who of the same name, this month we look at the 1979 film "Quadrophenia".

Set in late 60's England, It's the story of an unlikable young Mod named Jimmy, who seeming has it all. However it's not all tricked out scooters, high fashion and a party lifestyle, as it all come crashing down around him thanks to drugs, failed attempts at love and the ongoing war between the Mods and The Rockers.

Episode 129 - P is for The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix!

We've cover some pretty obscure stuff on this podcast, but possibly nothing more obscure than the Norwegian Stop-Motion film "The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix" that we watched this month for the letter P of our 2021 A to Z list.

Originally released in 1975, it boasts as being the highest grossing film from Norway, and held the record for highest grossing stop-motion film of all time for many years too, and in our opinions is not half bad either.

 

Episode 128 - O isfor One Hit Wonders!

We always enjoy when we get to do a music themed episode, so seemed like an easy choice to pick One Hit Wonders for our O episode.

We discuss what defines an artist as a One Hit Wonder and go on a little tangent about Australian TV's iconic "Countdown" with Molly Meldrum, but then came the hard part... choosing just one song per decade from the 60's until 2010's to be our picks as stand out examples.

 

Episode 127 - N is for Not Another Teen Movie!

The 2021 A to Z rolls into the second half of the alphabet with the letter N, and this episode we look at the 2001 parody (or is that spoof) film, "Not Another Teen Movie".

A homage to those teenage high school flicks we grew up loving in the 80's, we look at the movies and characters is parodying, the awesome soundtrack of late 90's bands doing 80s covers, and whether it still holds up today.

Episode 126 - M is for The Muppet Show!

We've officially made it to the halfway point of the alphabet, so this episode we look at another iconic TV show from our youth, "The Muppet Show".

Seeing as this could have been a huge topic, we just looked at the original series that ran from the late 70's to early 80's, and not any of the multitude of spin-offs.

We discuss the format of the show, the characters and of course the guest stars.

** We had some feedback that Mitch's audio was a little low, so have re-uploaded it with a bit of tweaking **