Ask John Schaefer Anything: Songs That Define Your Teenage Years, And Jerry From Queens

By most anyone’s standards, John Schaefer knows a lot about music. Yet despite his two radio shows and various other music-related projects, we get the feeling he's withholding some of that knowledge. So now's your chance to ask Soundcheck's famously brainy host anything as long as it has something to do with music. 

Walter from Long Island asks: "What three songs sum up your teenage years?"

John Schaefer: Oh wow, gosh. I'll say "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads. That was a big one. Uh, proooobably something from David Bowie's Station To Station album, maybe "TVC 15."

And you know, I'm gonna have to go obscure because, you know, I misspent a fair number of my teenage years at the old CBGBs, where I knew the band The Shirts. And they had a song called "Poe" -- which, I don't know if they ever recorded.* But it was just… I still hear that song in my mind's internal recorder.

[*The Shirts released "Poe" on its 1978 self-titled album, and a live version appeared on the Live At CBGB comp. -- ed.]

Since John wasn't 100% sure that these three songs adequately defined his teenage years, Soundcheck sought out someone who could possibly corroborate: John's brother, known to many as "Jerry from Queens." 

"I kind of concur with him," says Jerry in a conversation with John and Soundcheck producer Joel Meyer. "I kinda thought he was gonna say something from the David Bowie Low album, personally." 

Jerry also went on to pose a question of his own, and answer his own in the process: "The worst song ever recorded, or the worst question that you just absolutely hate that makes you want to punch someone in the face when you hear it."

Jerry: That stupid song by Melanie, around 1969, ["Brand New Key"]. Ugh, the lyrics, the tone of her voice, the whole thing; I just wanna run my head through a brick wall when I hear it.

JS: That song is not really about a roller skate or a key. 

Jerry: I do know that. This is a family friendly show, I'm trying to keep it family friendly, so let's stay the course.

JS: The song that probably does that to me, is probably... "Wildfire" -- Michael Murphy. That's fingernails on the blackboard for me.

Do you have a music-related question you want answered? Leave it in the comments, drop us an email at soundcheck@wnyc.org, leave us a voicemail at 866-939-1612 or tweet @Soundcheck.