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Run-D.M.C. - Crown Royal (2001)
- Todd spends the entire review sporting a chain, bucket hat, and glasses à la Jam Master Jay. He would later put them on Amy
. - Todd comparing Run-D.M.C.'s attempt at New Jack Swing on Back from Hell to if Johnny Cash started dressing like Harry Styles.
- Because Crown Royal was conceived at a time when the Rap Metal boom caused a resurgence in Run-D.M.C.'s popularity, Todd builds it up as the group's comeback album at first, but owing to a combination of Executive Meddling and the fractured state of the group, the album was delayed twice.Todd: When asked who's the best, y'all should say Run, D.M.C. and Jam Master Jay, and they were gonna make it happen with one of the hottest albums of 1999!
MTV News Headline : [February 11, 2000] Run-D.M.C. Keeps Busy While Album Is Delayed.
Todd: Of the year 2000.
MTV News Headline : [February 27, 2001] Collaboration-Heavy Run-D.M.C. Comeback LP Delayed Yet Again.
Todd: Of the year 2001! Okay, it was not the smoothest recording in history. It's tricky to rock a rhyme that's right on time.- Three years before the album came out, the group released a teaser track called "The Beginning (No Further Delay)"note . Todd straight up calls the title Tempting Fate and Hilarious in Hindsight.Todd: Right, Black Eyed Peas?
- Three years before the album came out, the group released a teaser track called "The Beginning (No Further Delay)"note . Todd straight up calls the title Tempting Fate and Hilarious in Hindsight.
- When talking about how D.M.C. didn't care for the newer styles of hip-hop, Todd shows an extract from his memoirs where he says that award shows like the VMAs (where Run-D.M.C. performed at prior to the album's release) don't honor the "real people" who deserve it like Sheryl Crow, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton.Todd: I just want us to stop and reflect on how immediately I, in 2023, would be cancelled if I said, 'Why are people listening to Britney Spears instead of talented artists like Eric Clapton?'
- When bringing up how Fred Durst was the featured artist in "Them Girls":Todd: It's easy to clown on Fred Durst now, but you have to understand this was the early 2000s — when it was even easier to clown on Fred Durst.
- As Todd points out, Fred Durst was already recognized as a horrendous mismatch even before the album released — according to the Run–D.M.C. biography Raising Hell, Ad-Rock created the beat for "Them Girls", only to hastily ask for his name to be taken off the project when he heard that Fred Durst was going to be the feature.
- At one point, Durst decides to rap about the titular "them girls," fresh off sleeping around on their boyfriends, making it up to them by bringing home Limp Bizkit sex toys for their boyfriends to use. Todd shudders at the thought.
- Eventually, Todd starts playing footage of Durst dancing awkwardly as he shouts "THEM GIRLS!" no less than sixteen times.
- As Run had since married and became a reverend, he obviously didn't want to do a song about having sex with various women, so he spends the song talking about himself rejecting them. Todd's fine with that, not especially wanting to hear about Run's sexual escapades past or present — but, as he then points out, if Run didn't want to do that, and was in charge of the whole album from the beginning, he could've just not done the song at all, rather than resort to strange-half measures.
- Who was the other big collaborator planned for the album? None other than our old friend Kid Rock, who Todd describes with his usual eloquence:Todd: All right, I realize we're all hearing this twenty years later and Kid Rock's presence puts the stink of unwashed scrotum all over this.
- Despite their featured artists being big at the time, as the turn of the millennium came and went neither "Them Girls" or "The School of Old" were released as singles. Maybe because of overexposure or simply their management could sense that after three years and two delays the album was destined to flop. Fred Durst seemed mystified by this, considering he actually wanted to do the song and wondering why his manager's word trumped not only what he wanted, but that of his record label's vice president, Frederick Allen Mayne III—in other words, also FRED DURST.
- The Running Gag of Todd repeating that, "Run raps about how he's a legend who started hip-hop and ruled the world in the mid-eighties", which Run does non-stop for much of the album.
- Todd keeps building up to playing D.M.C.'s songs, while noting his absence from most of the other songs on the album and mentioning, per Russell Simmons, that "D laid his vocals on the songs he liked". When he finally gets to them, he shows a black screen for several seconds... before cricket noises start playing and Todd reveals he'd been lying the whole time — D.M.C. had so disliked the project that he ended up contributing nothing to the album.Todd: Call this record the Minnesota Vikings, because it has no D whatsoever!
- To the question "Where's Darryl?" Todd shows a "Where's Waldo" book with D.M.C.'s head photoshopped on it.
- Todd theorises that what few contributions D.M.C. made to the album were samples from prior recordings, hence why his verses sound out of date.Todd: They straight-up "Carrie Fisher in Rise of Skywalker"-ed him into this record, and they had so little to work with that they could only do it for a couple songs.
- The absence of D.M.C. in the record was especially detrimental for a group like Run-D.M.C. in which the two MCs frequently traded rhymes. Todd compares Run rapping without D to a skit from The Richard Pryor Show where the Pips attempt to perform without Gladys Knight, resulting in awkward silences and cuts to an empty mic.
- Todd shows D.M.C's disinterest in the entire affair not just by quoting his memoir, but by playing clips from the "Rock Show" music video, where not only does he not rap, he just stands there, arms folded, and looking bored, an appearance obviously born out of nothing but contractual obligation. Todd lays Bruno Mars' "The Lazy Song" over the footage to bring the point home.
- For the Nu Metal-influenced "Rock Show", who did the band choose as their collaborator? Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind. Todd (despite liking Third Eye Blind) is baffled by this.Todd: Third Eye Blind were not cool; they were a pop rock act your mom could listen to.
- Todd points out that not only were Third Eye Blind not remotely nu metal, their career was actually on a bit of a downturn by the time the single came out — illustrated by a clip of Run DMC and Stephan Jenkins being announced for a half time show, with the latter's band getting accidentally misnamed as "Third Blind Eye".Todd: See? No one cares!
- Todd takes another shot at Black Eyed Peas by comparing Run's cheap interpolation of Rob Base's "It Takes Two" to them.
- For the Nu Metal-influenced "Rock Show", who did the band choose as their collaborator? Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind. Todd (despite liking Third Eye Blind) is baffled by this.
- After revealing that even Sugar Ray has a feature on the album, Todd claims that they were this close to working with Smash Mouth. He then provides his thoughts on what this would've sounded like by singing the opening line of "All Star" In the Style of Run-D.M.C.Todd: Yo! Some—BODY once—TOLD ME!
- Todd reveals that Sugar Ray also turned down the offer to do a single with Run D.M.C, meaning, at best, Stephan Jenkins was their fourth option to work with.
- A particularly brutal dunk of the cover version of "Take the Money and Run" by the Steve Miller Band, which includes rhymes so belaboured and painful that Todd calls them "the lyrics that Anthony Kiedis would've thrown out."
- Earlier in the video, Todd namedrops Everlast as an MC who had moved on to the kind of hybrid work that D.M.C. aspired to do himself. What was his featured contribution on this song? A rendition of the chorus so awkward and unmelodic that Todd comments that Stephan Jenkins should've been the feature instead.
- Throughout the review, Todd notes that D.M.C. expressed no interest in the project, and even had his own vision for what he would do next, namely mixing Hip-Hop with rootsier music. Eventually he did release his solo album with that vision in mind, with Todd even hypothesizing that if released together, it would be Run-DMC's equivalent of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.Todd: [while playing an excerpt of D.M.C.'s "Just Like Me" with Sarah McLachlan] This is a tiny bit wack.
- Todd gets in one last lyrical quote for the episode's closing line:Todd: Crown Royal is a trend-riding failure that completely misunderstood why the band was successful, and it will go down in history as one of hip-hop's great flaming disasters. It's like that, and that's the way it is. Peace.
Ringo Starr - Ringo the 4th (1977)
- Right from the jump, Todd references a comment he once got that said the intro to every Trainwreckords makes the subject sound like they're as important as The Beatles. Todd makes it clear he won't this time, in the episode about one of the Beatles.
- Introducing The Beatles' drummer, Ringo Starr, as "the man." Not "the man, the myth, the legend," just "the man." It's the fact that he says it with the exact cadence he would have if he'd said the full phrase that sells it.
- Todd notes that Ringo was the most successful Beatle in the immediate wake of the band's breakup, noting how his first hit single out-charted the singles that John, Paul, and George put out at the same time. As he says this, a caption comes up reading "L + Ratio + Ringo outsold."
- While discussing Ringo's solo career, and how he was out of the gate the most successful of the Beatles because, thanks to his friendly personality and networking, he was able to get lots of collaborations from more-talented performers, Todd points out that that represents a skill in and of itself, splicing in a few seconds of footage of DJ Khaled while stating that "for some artists, it's their only skill".
- The album was released in 1977. Which means...Todd: So let me introduce to you... The one and only... Disco Ringo!!!
- In bringing up the record Ringo made before this one, Ringo's Rotogravure, Todd almost explains what a "rotogravure" is note , before deciding it isn't worth it.
- "Ringo can go platinum with no features! Sure!"
- When Todd says this, a photoshopped edit of the cover of J. Cole's 2014 Forest Hills Drive appears with Ringo's head pasted over Cole's.
- When Todd gets to "Tango All Night", he doesn't have a music video or any live footage attached to it. Thus, from the sound alone, he cues up footage from the "I Go to Rio" segment of The Muppet Show.
- Todd reveals one of the backing vocalists is Bette Midler, considering this the greatest waste of her talents until the 2004 remake of The Stepford Wives.
- A lot of the comedy in showcasing the album's covers (which is the majority of the video, as Todd didn't really think the originals were even worth discussing) comes from first showing footage of the original hits, with dynamic and smooth performers like Joe Simon and Robert Palmer... and then, the over-produced Ringo versions, where Starr is almost drowned out by his own backup vocals and session musicians and badly straining to be heard. Todd sings a snippet of Palmer's "Addicted to Love" in Ringo's squawking style to illustrate how bad the matchup is. At one point, he even shows a volume bar going down when Ringo is noticeably muted during the chorus in favor of the other singers.
Nickelback - No Fixed Address (2014)
- Todd opens the video with a live commentary on the infamous video of Nickelback rage-quitting in the middle of their own show after someone beaned one of them with a rock and calling it "classic internet."Todd: Check out that 144p resolution.
- How does Todd open up the retrospective portion of the intro proper? How else?Chad Kroeger: How the hell'd we wind up like this?
- Todd gives a nuanced view on Nickleback's Critical Backlash, making it seem like he is going to change his long-time stance on them... but then sticking to his guns and maintaining he "could have left their names on the 'Worst Band Ever' list".
- This double case of Waxing Lyrical at the end of the intro:Todd: 'Hey hey, they wanna be a pop star, well Too Bad. This is Trainwreckords.
- Even though Todd isn't a fan of the band, he admits Nickelback jokes can be kind of hacky, citing an episode of Only Murders in the Building that called them a One-Hit Wonder as one that actually offended him on the band's behalf.Todd: What do you think their "one hit" even is? They had tons of hits! That was the problem!
- In spite of the band's terrible 2000s reputations, a decline in their commercial popularity, and the mutual erosion of the hard-rock radio ecosystem that once supported them, Todd admits that Nickelback never had a spectacular fall from grace so much as they just gradually petered out and lost relevance. Nevertheless, he continues, if a band shows up on this show, "that can only mean they did something funny." He then immediately introduces "She Keeps Me Up", a Genre Shift into Funk and Disco of all things.Chad Kroeger: Funky little monkey, she's a twisted trickster
Everybody wants to be the sister's mister
Coca-Cola rollercoaster...
Todd: [with malevolent glee] AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!- When reviewing the actual song, Todd is also quick to note that despite this song being one of the more ridiculous songs the band ever released, almost nobody mentions it due to how bad the album sales were! He also gives them the nickname 'Discoback.'
- Along with the return of the "Kroeger The Ogre" running gag, Todd repeatedly uses a soundbite of Chad Kroeger in an interview describing the band as "gettin' kinda funky," and sounding more awkward every time.Todd: This clip will haunt me.
- The clip is made even funnier because Todd lampshades how obviously hungover Kroeger and the band are while giving this interview.
- If Nickelback were going to get back on top in the 2010s, it stood to reason that they needed something distinctly of the moment to propel them. Cue Occupy Wall Street footage, and Todd reveals they released a politically-charged single called "Edge of a Revolution", inspired by Occupy, the Arab Spring, and, at the time it was recorded, the first wave of BLM protests.Todd: Yeah, he never says anything explicit about it, but, subtextually, this is their BLM song. [cracking up as he says it] Nickel-Black Lives Matter.
- When discussing the song's value as agitprop, Todd mentions that while his own sincerely-felt politics do come up from time to time in his videos, he doesn't feel that driven to talk about them, so a middle-of-the-road band like Nickelback suddenly calling for "revolution" (and sounding very insincere while doing so) was never going to fire up their audience.Kroeger: WHAT DO WE WANT?!
Crowd: [softly] We want change!
Todd: I mean, that's some tepid fist-pumping, there. - Todd manages to drop a reference to The Beatles' "Revolution"note when he realises what's happening and manages to up the incredulity.Todd: You say you want a revolution? Ah, well, you know...
- When discussing the song's value as agitprop, Todd mentions that while his own sincerely-felt politics do come up from time to time in his videos, he doesn't feel that driven to talk about them, so a middle-of-the-road band like Nickelback suddenly calling for "revolution" (and sounding very insincere while doing so) was never going to fire up their audience.
- As the album was mixed in a very different way than Nickelback's usual sound, Todd adds that the band's longtime producer Joey Moi (of "what the hell is on Joey's head" fame) had moved to Nashville by the 2010s and become a major force behind Todd's other pet peeve: bro-country, including Florida Georgia Line.
- He also takes a moment to briefly admit that "What the hell is on Joey's head?" is a legitimate question in the context of the photograph it's referencing.
- The video touches on Chad's association with Avril Lavigne, including co-writing her divisive foray into dance-pop, the dubstep-infused single "Hello Kitty":Avril: Mom's not home tonight / So we can roll around, have a pillow fight / Like a major rager, OMFG!
Captions: Chad Kroeger wrote this - Todd summing up the apathy around Nickelback as individual entertainers by revealing that Chad's surname is pronounced "Kruger", not "KROH-ger" as everyone else assumed it was, and nobody seemed to care — not even Chad himself, who didn't bother to correct them for years.Todd: Why didn't you fuckin' say something, man?! Well, it's Kroh-ger now, goddamn it, too late now!
- When he gets to "Got Me Runnin' Round", Todd notes that it's easy to write the song off as a sellout move due to its more pop-friendly sound, but that he personally doesn't see it that way... at least, up until the moment Flo Rida shows up for a guest verse.Todd: Yeeeeeees. Yeeee-he-he-heees! [as the "Yes Ha Ha Sickos" meme pops up]
- Todd later notes: "Flo Rida is the guy you get when you want a rapper, but not necessarily any rapper in particular."
- "The existence of a track from Nickelback, the whitest band on Earth, a band that claps on the one and three without fail, trying to get with the rap music has made this whole record worth it."
- Todd admits early on in the video that he has become obsessed with a song registered on ASCAP with the really odd pairing of Chad Kroeger and Carly Rae Jepsen, "a collaboration only possible in the incestuous Canadian music industry," as two of the four co-writers in spite of not even knowing if it has even been recorded at all. Towards the end of the video, he mentions that song again with the hashtag "#ReleaseTheCarlyRaeCut" popping up on screen.
- He's also amused by the song's title, "I Admit That There Was Music", as it's kind of an ironic name for a song that nobody has ever heard.
