Last Updated on March 16, 2026
This is it. The big one. Episode 161. A milestone nobody asked for and even fewer likely wanted. It’s the “Ego-death indulgent Spectacular Special,” which is basically a fancy way of saying Andrew and Dr. Sam have finally disappeared up their own backsides to look at the wreckage of the last 160 episodes.
Expect a lot of self-congratulatory stats, clips of the pair sounding like absolute melts, and the usual technical failures that have become the show’s unintended trademark. We’ve got deep dives into why Queen is discussed more than played, the actual number of times we’ve mentioned bodily functions (spoiler: it’s lower than you’d think, which is disappointing), and a look back at the time Mike Watt told us he hated Zoom. It’s a retrospective of chaos, bad decisions, and the occasional riff.
Sam’s Riff of the Week
- The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis – Deface The Currency
Andrew’s Riff of the Week
- LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER – Eins, Zwei, Drei
The Ego-Death Deep Dive: A History of Bad Decisions
- Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Intro: We started with a lie. In Episode 1, Andrew promised a 20-minute show, but it ran to 55 minutes. Sam’s original review: “Andrew, this was supposed to be 20 minutes”.
- Cee Lo Green – FUCK YOU: Setting the tone early. Episode 1 ended with Andrew attempting professionalism while Sam signed off with a heartfelt “Fuck you all”.
- Metallica – Fuel: It took us 63 episodes to finally deliver on the Metallica special we promised in week one.
- The Replacements – Here Comes a Regular: We predicted we’d be “irregular”. We then accidentally published for 96 consecutive weeks without missing a single one.
- The Minutemen – Corona: Revisiting our favourite intro, the moment Mike Watt joined the Zoom call and immediately shouted, “Fuck those people”.
- The Stone Roses – Tell Me: Statistically our most played artist with 14 appearances over the journey.
- Queen – Stone Cold Crazy: Our most discussed band (mentioned 26 times) that we almost never actually play.
The Hall of Fame: Dumb Bits & Chaos
- The Christian Vulvas: A band name suggestion that almost killed us with laughter.
- Thighs Wide Open: Walking into the technological dystopia with our “eyes fucking wide open,” or something like that.
- 10 Pence Pieces: The failed monetization strategy involving skin insertion.
- Testicle Weather Vanes: A foolproof way to predict a tornado or an earthquake based on swinging.
- Ruddiger Broomhilder’s Unripe Plums: The AI-assisted tale of a stomach-ache staging a revolution.
Love vs. Death vs. Poo
- PIL – This Is Not A Love Song: The stats are in. We prefer death (29 songs) over love (19 songs).
- Phil Collins 3 – Pooey Stick: Despite the scatological humor, “poo” has only appeared 11 times in the transcripts.
The Numbers That Tell the Story Stat Number Total episodes 167 (including trailer) Total hours of content 136.1 Total tracks identified 1,044 Unique artists 706 Artists played only once 560 (79%) Sam’s track picks 354 Guest picks 166 Longest publishing streak 96 weeks Average episode length 65 minutes Love songs / Death songs 19 / 29 Horse references 13 Toilet / Poo references 12 / 11 Unused backlog ideas 74 Original zine issues 10
Watch more Beat Motel chaos here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWvEIcKhJxA&list=PLwnzX0gT6IrcZqrF2Xslb19NiBRgd9rj9
