Pat's Peeps Podcast

Ep. 448 Today's Peep Pops A Top To Schlitz, Why Schlitz Beer is Disappearing, Nostalgia Hits Hard With Memorable Ads & Jingles of Brands "Slip Sliding Away"

Schlitz is disappearing, and it feels weirdly personal. A beer that once dominated bars, ballgames, and TV commercials is being discontinued after 177 years, and we sit with what that says about American business, taste, and memory. We dig into the details behind Pabst Brewing Company putting Schlitz Premium on hiatus, including the final “farewell batch” brewed through Wisconsin Brewing Company using a recipe reconstructed from 1948 brewing logs, back when Schlitz was the top-selling beer in the world. From there, we go beyond one label and into the whole ecosystem that made mid-century American beer culture so sticky: regional branding, blue-collar pricing, and marketing you could hum decades later. We talk Lucky Lager puzzle caps, Black Label’s old-school ads, and why the era of beer jingles worked so well at building instant recognition. It is a mix of personal nostalgia and real business forces, including distribution costs, corporate consolidation, and how craft beer and microbreweries changed what drinkers expect from a brand. We also wrestle with the uncomfortable stuff, like cartoon characters helping sell beer and how different advertising rules and norms felt back then. If you love American beer history, vintage commercials, and the psychology of nostalgia marketing, this one will hit. Subscribe, share the episode with a fellow nostalgia nerd, and leave a review telling us which discontinued brand you miss most.

Ep. 443 Today's Peep Issues A Fair Warning

Fair Warning turns 45 and it messes with my head, because it still sounds like a band pushing the amps into the red right now. A Michael Anthony clip sent me down the rabbit hole, and once I started thinking about how long 1981 really was, I couldn’t stop.  I trace that feeling back to 1978, when rock music seemed to reboot overnight. Van Halen’s debut hit like nothing else, and The Cars brought a new wave sound that felt just as fresh in a totally different way. I also share a personal story from my days working at an Oregon truck stop, when someone casually told me, “You’ll find out soon” about a band called Van Halen, before most of the country even knew the name.  From there we get into a full-on Fair Warning appreciation session: why it’s often called the slowest-selling David Lee Roth era Van Halen album, why that “least commercial” edge makes it special, and why I think it’s some of the fiercest, hardest classic hard rock the band ever made. I talk Alex Van Halen’s underrated drumming, Eddie’s guitar aggression, Michael Anthony’s harmonies, and tracks like “Mean Street” and “Unchained,” plus the little synthesizer hint that foreshadows where the band goes later.  If you love Van Halen, album deep-dives, classic rock history, and the messy gap between critics and fans, hit play, then subscribe, share the podcast with a friend, and leave a review so more rock obsessives can find us.

Ep. 432 Today's Peep Remembers Having An Awesome Time At An Historic Concert In Sacramento 38 Years Ago, Putting The Passage Of Time In Perspective, What Makes One Concert Stay With You For Decades? And A 420 Twist- Old Weed Was Silly, Then It Got Scary

It’s April 20, and I can’t see 420 on the calendar without thinking about the night Pink Floyd lit up Sacramento. I’m looking out at the Northern California foothills, watching the weather roll in, and it takes me straight back 38 years to Hughes Stadium and a concert day that started with pouring rain and ended under a sky that somehow turned pink right before the band hit. I tell the full story from the way we used to buy tickets (yes, camping out overnight outside Tower Records was a real thing) to the drive down, the “rain or shine” promise printed on the stub, and that feeling of relief when the storm finally broke. We talk about why that 1988 show still matters, how it fit into Pink Floyd’s post Roger Waters era, and why the A Momentary Lapse of Reason tour led by David Gilmour felt so huge in a venue that rarely hosted major rock concerts. I also share what makes the bootleg audio so powerful: you can actually hear the crowd and feel the night breathe again. Then I take a left turn and celebrate 420 the other way, with clips and commentary that trace how marijuana culture has shifted over time, from “old weed” nostalgia to debates about legality, policing, and the way comedy and music have shaped the conversation. It’s a mix of memory, history, and a few laughs, all tied to one date. If you’ve ever had a concert that locked into your soul, you’ll get it. Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who loves live music stories, and leave a review telling me: what’s the one show you’ll never forget?

Ep. 431 Today's Peep Goes Strictly Commercial: Our Commercial Time Capsule, Spring Cleaning Sparks a Tour of Classic TV Ads, Don't Squeeze the Nostalgia, A Super-Rare Track... Dan The Man Does "High Priced Gasoline" and A Lost Soul Classic From '72

Spring cleaning turns my brain into a jukebox, and today it’s all commercials. While I’m organizing the house and thinking about old-school cleaning products, I end up chasing the bigger question: why do vintage TV commercials and classic jingles stay in our heads longer than most real conversations? Pat’s Peeps 431 becomes a fast, funny nostalgia trip through 1970s advertising, 1960s catchphrases, and the weirdly comforting logic of product mascots.  We start with a surprise vinyl find, a novelty record called “High Priced Gasoline 81,” and react to it together as it riffs on the energy crisis with that classic Dickie Goodman break-in style. Then it’s a run of unforgettable spots: Starkist Tuna’s “Sorry, Charlie,” C&H Pure Cane Sugar’s earworm jingle, and those cleaning commercials that made dish soap and sink stains feel like prime-time drama. I talk about Palmolive’s Madge (“You’re soaking in it”) and Comet’s Josephine the Plumber, plus the grocery-store legend of Mr. Whipple telling everyone not to squeeze the Charmin.  The tour keeps rolling through Green Giant dreams, the “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature” Chiffon line, and even ads that wouldn’t be aired today, which opens up how culture changes while memory doesn’t. We also tip the hat to pitch-perfect celebrity advertising with Edie Adams selling Muriel Air Tips, and I close by dropping the needle on Love Unlimited’s “Walking In The Rain With The One I Love,” a lush hit tied to Barry White’s early production world. If you enjoy pop culture history, retro commercials, and the psychology of nostalgia, hit subscribe, share this with a friend who knows every jingle, and leave a review with the catchphrase you still quote.

Ep. 428 Today's Peep Wishes Ray Stevens A Quick Recovery & Writes A Love Letter To Novelty Songs, We Trace How Dr. Demento Style Radio Turned Weird Songs Into Classics, From Pencil Neck Geek to Who Threw That Ham At Me? And We Play Fish Heads On Purpose

A broken neck at 87 sounds like the end of the story, until it isn’t. That’s where we start tonight, reacting to the news about Ray Stevens and rolling straight into the kind of radio fueled comedy music that made him a legend. I’m fresh off my show, still in that Dr. Demento headspace, and I wanted to keep the dial turned toward the weird, the catchy, and the strangely comforting songs you never forget. We revisit Ray’s novelty song classics like “Guitarzan” and “The Streak,” plus the culture behind them, yodels in pop, streaking as a real 70s phenomenon, and what “could you play that on the radio anymore” even means. From there I follow the memory trail to Roger Miller, where the humor isn’t just a gag, it’s baked into the writing and the rhythm of “Chug-A-Lug” and “Dang Me,” the kind of songs that feel like childhood car rides and old jukeboxes. Then we get into one of my favorite clever formats in comedy records: Dickie Goodman’s break in interviews, where questions get answered by hit song clips from the same year. “Mr. President” and “Mr. Jaws” are basically a prototype for remix culture decades early. We round out the ride with Martin Mull’s “Men,” a grab bag of Dr. Demento era oddities like “Fish Heads,” plus Fred Schneider’s “Who Threw That Ham At Me” and Freddie Blassie’s “Pencil Neck Geek,” before tipping the hat to Weird Al as the parody hall of fame benchmark. If you love novelty songs, parody music, Dr. Demento history, and deep cut comedy tracks, hit play, then subscribe, share with a fellow weirdo, and leave a review. What’s the funniest song you still know every word to?