The Second the Singalong Starts It'll Be Sensational: Cover Songs, Karaoke, and... Frank Turner?

The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly)

Feb 9 2022 • 48 mins

Disclaimer: there is no actual singalong, but Adam and Ed do interview Frank Turner, the musician and songwriter responsible for that line from his song “The Gathering,” part of his ninth album F.T.H.C. releasing 11 February 2022.

Prior to the interview, Adam and Ed debut their new, more formal trivia game "The Karaoke Trivia Bullpen" with some questions on songs Frank Turner has covered, and then cover some topics at the intersection of karaoke and professional music: is a karaoke performance a cover song? What do musicians have to say about karaoke? What are the barriers to making music, and creativity in general? Essentially, the concept is the same as in any episode: it's about loving music, and how people engage with it (and everyone knows how Adam and Ed engage with it).

Frank might be a surprising choice for a karaoke podcast, but Adam and Ed are both big fans of his work. They heard an interview Frank did with Liam Bird on Liam’s podcast Punks in Pubs--Frank told a story about getting kicked out of a karaoke bar after singing Meatloaf (which they’ve excerpted here). He expands on that story, tells another unhinged karaoke story, and then the three of them sort out all sorts of music and karaoke related questions. He even left a piece behind--starting in Episode 4, the quickfire game has a question rephrased because, not surprisingly, Frank Turner turns a phrase more cleverly than Adam and Ed do.

FTHC is the ninth solo album from British punk and folk artist Frank Turner. Initially striking out as a vocalist in the punk rock band Million Dead, Turner then turned his focus towards a folkier, acoustic-based solo career. Since that time, he has reached international acclaim as a chart-topping, award-winning singer-songwriter. Taking inspiration from early '80s US hardcore band logos, FTHC stands for Frank Turner Hardcore.

Photo credit: Ben Morse (ben-morse.com)

As always, you can find more info on the website (https://www.sungpoorly.com), and on social media--the show is @sungpoorly on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and now even Tiktok, sometimes. You can reach Adam and Ed via email by sending a message to sungpoorly@gmail.com.

Theme song: "Gasoline" by Ben Dumm and the Deviants. Make sure to check out Ben's newest music at The Ben Dumm 3.