History Funny / ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2021

** When Jimmy Jam stated that this addition of the line (especially with the context that Jam and Lewis compromised with Phil Oakey in order to keep the whole project from being thrown out) reflects how the two sexes handle their adultery:

** The #1 hit Jam and Lewis wrote for the band, "Human":

-> '''Phil Oakey''': ♫ I wouldn't ever try to hurt you. I just needed someone to hold me, to fill the void while you were gone. ♫\\

* The #1 hit Jam and Lewis wrote for the band, "Human", is an apology song for infidelity. Todd immediately doesn't buy it.
-->'''Todd''': Look, as part of this job, I've been exposed to quite a [[SophisticatedAsHell few shit]] [[Music/JasonDerulo ass bullshit]] [[Music/JustinBieber apology songs]]. And on the bullshit shit ass-o-meter, this one ranks really high.
* Todd's reaction to Joanne Catherall's line about how she "was human too", which he [[ItMakesSenseInContext imagines with a laugh track behind it]].

--->'''Todd''': You know, maybe it is partially, but it's funny knowing now that it's more about behind-the-scenes drama so they had to turn their gut-rending regret ballad [[MoodWhiplash into the goddamn Piña Colada song]].

* His reaction to "Human"'s singer attempting to justify himself:

-->"Todd:" We see them whine, bicker, and argue, and then hire a therapist so they can whine, bicker, and argue in touchy-feely language.

Trainwreckords ( [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2017 2017]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2018 2018]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2019 2019]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2020 2020]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2021 2021]] | '''2022''' | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2023 2023]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2024 2024]] )\\

Trainwreckords ( [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2017 2017]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2018 2018]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2019 2019]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2020 2020]] | '''2021''' | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2022 2022]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2023 2023]] )\\

One Hit Wonderland ( [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsOneHitWonderland2012 2012]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsOneHitWonderland2013 2013]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsOneHitWonderland2014 2014]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsOneHitWonderland2015 2015]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsOneHitWonderland2016 2016]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsOneHitWonderland2017 2017]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsOneHitWonderland2018 2018]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsOneHitWonderland2019 2019]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsOneHitWonderland2020 2020]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsOneHitWonderland2021 2021]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsOneHitWonderland2022 2022]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsOneHitWonderland2023 2023]] )\\

-->'''Todd:''' [[SarcasmMode How could Lars have lost that PR war?]]

** While Todd never draws attention to it, some further humor can be seen in the fact that Lars is visibly wearing a ''[[UsefulNotes/SovietUnion Radio Moscow]]'' tee shirt in the sketch, not to mention the fact that Metallica themselves originated in an underground scene that ''thrived'' on home taping (essentially the pre-digital equivalent of Napster), giving a great deal of {{irony}} and HypocriticalHumor to the sketch and Lars' anti-Napster campaign as a whole.
** Todd actually [[https://twitter.com/ShadowTodd/status/1375278114406756353 talked a bit about the Napster feud on his Twitter after the episode came out]], noting that just about everyone agrees that [[JerkassHasAPoint Napster might have actually been bad for the music industry]] with even Music/DaveGrohl, who was highly critical and angry about Metallica's war campaign, admitting that indie artists who need every sale they can get would be genuinely screwed over. The problem was that the band were such assholes about it, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero and the laws enacted to counteract Napster were so draconian]], that whatever point Lars had was drowned out by the raging douchery of it all.

** While Todd doesn't draw attention to it, another bit of meta amusement that ties in with producer Bob Rock's CreatorsApathy on ''St. Anger'' lies in the fact that the original lyrics to "Enter Sandman" were apparently ''even worse''-- Hetfield tried to write a song about crib death, and the only reason that the second verse was changed was because Rock thought the lyrics sucked.

** As Todd describes the song as "a poor man's Wang Chung", his narration serendipitously plays over a portion of the video that suspiciously resembles the JumpCut-heavy video for "Everybody Have Fun Tonight". [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer Todd did not edit the footage to make his point.]]

*** Todd doesn't mention it, but it gets even funnier when even the interview article seems to snark back at Chris Barron's quote about acapella intros and medium tempo funk with "Do beer commercials count?"

* After "B'wana She No Home" is a poppy ditty called "All You Get from Love is a Love Song". While Todd likes it despite his lightweight nature ("upbeat The Carpenters is just The Captain & Tenille, and I don't need that"), he also can't think of much to say about it. Neither can Richard Carpenter, it turns out, as the entry for it on his website admits "it just doesn't make for much of a story!", and ends without any details about the recording or production.
** When mentioning Richard's site itself, Todd gets in a quick little dig at its dated Web 1.0 layout, adding a "[[{{UsefulNotes/Fonts}} Lol, Papyrus]]" caption.

* Todd discovers that the album contains one of the first ever {{cover version}}s of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina", sung while ''Music/{{Evita}}'' hadn't become a stage show yet, and for whatever reason it's preceded by the song immediately before it in the show, "On the Balcony of the Casa Rosada", a filler piece that only exists to set up Eva Perón's speech. Todd compares it to a video game cutting out midway through to play Creator/SallyField's entire funeral monologue from ''Film/SteelMagnolias'' (complete with showing the scene of the speech with a "Press X to skip" caption), heightened by the amount of commenters comparing the analogy to a Creator/HideoKojima game.
** Todd also gives ''Passage'' the bizarre OverlyNarrowSuperlative of being "the only Carpenters album to feature UsefulNotes/CheGuevara" by virtue of the expository narration's inclusion.

* Todd had [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes a bit of trouble]] in securing a usable copy of the immensely bizarre album for the review, since it doesn't exist in full online legally ''or'' illegally. First he purchased an LP copy so that he could source more accurate information about... ''everything'' regarding it. But since he doesn't know how to rip vinyl, he purchased a CD of ''Mission Earth'' as well for this review, only to discover that [[FromBadToWorse some of the songs on the album were scratched up]]. The only reason that he didn't have to buy a ''third'' copy of this album that no one wants is that the borked songs were thankfully already on Website/YouTube, so he just ripped those versions of the songs instead. Then, the day after his review went up on [=YouTube=], guess what also went up? Yes, the entirety of ''Mission Earth'', with the comments and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fonP6gr-2JI even the video's description from it]] implying the only people listening are Todd fans having a case of morbid curiosity.
-->'''Video description:''' Mr. In-the-Shadows [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot could have saved himself a pretty penny had he just checked Soulseek!]]
* Before he begins his review of the songs, Todd gives a [[FauxHorrific grave, serious warning]] to his viewers: [[GuiltyPleasures they might actually enjoy the music they're hearing]][[labelnote:caption]]WARNING: Music might be good[[/labelnote]]. The majority of comments on the [=YouTube=] rip are all various listeners admitting that they genuinely enjoy some of the songs and that this is genuinely annoying.

Pop Song Reviews ( [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsFromTheVaults Pre-TGWTG]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadows2010Episodes 2010]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadows2011Episodes 2011]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadows2012Episodes 2012]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadows2013Episodes 2013]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadows2014Episodes 2014]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadows2015Episodes 2015]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadows2016Episodes 2016]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadows2017Episodes 2017]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadows2018Episodes 2018]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadows2019Episodes 2019]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadows2020Episodes 2020]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadows2021Episodes 2021]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadows2022Episodes 2022]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadows2023Episodes 2023]] )\\

* The Human League's attempt at funk [[JustForPun crashes]] and burns when Todd gets to the album track, "Swang", which he absolutely ''tears into'' for [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy its incredibly awkward invocations of AAVE]]. It doesn't help that backing singers Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley state that they [[SeparatedByACommonLanguage didn't understand terms like "kickin'"]], [[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe which sincerely baffles Todd]].

** Even when he puts into context that the original Michael Franks song was a character piece about the narrator explicitly being a jerk to his maid, [[WTHCastingAgency Todd is bemused as to why Karen would cover it]].

'''Todd''': I forgive you, Phil. I forgive you for the [[CreatorsOddball cheating]]. But not for "Swang". Human or not, there's no excuse for that.

'''Todd''': I forgive you, Phil. I forgive you for the [[GenreAdultery cheating]]. But not for "Swang". Human or not, there's no excuse for that.

* To put the album's terrible sound mixing into perspective, Todd brings up that ''[[Music/AndJusticeForAll1988 ...And Justice For All]]'' is a beloved classic in spite of the fact that "it famously sounds like total butt"[[note]]the band intentionally buried Jason Newstead's bass in the mix, leading to reviewers at the time criticizing the album as overly bright and dry[[/note]], and ''Music/DeathMagnetic'' [[LoudnessWar was so badly compressed in the final release, clipping and distorting with every peak even on LP copies,]] that the ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' mixes of the rough master tracks sound much better. In short, Music/{{Metallica}} fans are willing to put up with truly terrible engineering choices if the album is good... [[EveryoneHasStandards "and they did not put up with this"]].

* To put the album's terrible sound mixing into perspective, Todd brings up that ''[[Music/AndJusticeForAll1988 ...And Justice For All]]'' is a beloved classic in spite of the fact that "it famously sounds like total butt"[[note]]the band intentionally buried Jason Newstead's bass in the mix, leading to reviewers at the time criticizing the album as overly bright and dry[[/note]], and ''Death Magnetic'' [[LoudnessWar was so badly compressed in the final release, clipping and distorting with every peak even on LP copies,]] that the ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' mixes of the rough master tracks sound much better. In short, Music/{{Metallica}} fans are willing to put up with truly terrible engineering choices if the album is good... [[EveryoneHasStandards "and they did not put up with this"]].

Trainwreckords ( [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2017 2017]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2018 2018]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2019 2019]] | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2020 2020]] | '''2021''' | [[Funny/ToddInTheShadowsTrainwreckords2022 2022]] )\\

* Todd is equally baffled when he sees the video for the final single, "Love Is All That Matters" [[note]]As Todd points out, it's technically not even a single from ''Crash''-- though originally released on that album, it was released as a single promoting a GreatestHitsAlbum two years later[[/note]], because it's a ClipShow from old Human League videos, something he's never seen before.

'''Todd''': I forgive you, Phil. I forgive you for the cheating. But not for "Swang". Human or not, there's no excuse for that.