It's interesting to read this and listen to these songs.  I was in college and early grad school in the late 90's-early 00's, which means I was just the right age to be vaguely aware of Blink-182 and absolutely freaking despise them.  My favorite active bands at that moment were probably Pavement, Yo La Tengo, and Son…

As someone who was a Nirvana fan but never really a Nirvana obsessive, I always preferred Nevermind.  I mean, I like In Utero too—hell, I love it—but in some ways I love the idea of In Utero more than I actually enjoy listening to it, whereas most of Nevermind still floors me whenever it's been a few months or years…

Back at ya.  SDC really is a glorious part of the youth of any native of the Ozarks.

FIRE IN THE HOOOOOOOOOOLE!!!!!

"Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" probably.  "Landslide" maybe.  "Don't Go Back to Rockville" comes to mind.  "Crazy" (the Willie Nelson/Patsy Cline one) definitely.  Regardless, it's rarefied air.

I bought Transit Byzantium after reading that Believer article a few years ago, and it's a great album.

How about Son Volt's "Tear Stained Eye"?  Mentions a Missouri town repeatedly; is about rivers.

Missourian here.  "Heavy Metal Drummer" is a pretty good choice for the reasons mentioned above, but it's also fundamentally by an Illinois band, and while I like Wilco, they pale to the best Missouri has to offer.

I can already poke a hole in the March Madness stuff—the game on TV during the interview is Florida v. Kentucky in Rupp Arena, which in 2012 was not an NCAA tournament game played in March but a regular season SEC game played in February.

Man, wasn't expecting to see Big Smith on the AV Club—I share a hometown with them and I've seen them more times than I can count.  I actually attended the taping for the Live at Cartoon's special, which was produced and aired by the Springfield, MO NBC affiliate (KY3).  If memory serves, they actually aired the thing…

The way that Ted becomes a Professor is also not exactly how you become a Professor.  In fact, it's not even a little bit how you become a Professor.

Gotta agree with the others who lament the loss of Jay Bennett, both in terms of his death and in terms of his leaving Wilco.  Pre-Jay Bennett, on AM, they're fairly indistinguishable from any other 90's alt-country and worse than the best of it, and post-Jay Bennett, they've never done much for me.  It can't be a…