iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Embarrassingly that'd be the original survival horror game, "Alien" for the ZX Spectrum. Graphically basic but the oppressive atmosphere of panic the programmers built made the occasional xenomorph (and cat!)-related jumpscares the icing on the cake, pixels be damned

A very poorly rendered xenomorph from the 1984 ZX Spectrum videogame adaptation of the film "Alien". It features the messages "Dallas has been killed" and "Alien wounds Ripley", neither of which you wanted to see whilst playing.

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Not sure if this counts as a blast from the past or not. Probably, as it is from over half my life ago 😂 But a good time is about to be had

The Yeah Yeah Yeah's first EP, which might be self titled or might be called "Master", depending on who you ask. It's on God's own format, the humble compact disc, so it pisses all over vinyl for sound quality. And you all know that's true.

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Aside from @pablovich.bsky.social , it has to be Mat Osman from (The London) Suede. The reason I got as far as I did into playing the bass, and the reason I play the exact bass that I do - just not as well as him. Incidentally, I note no-one's nominated me yet...?

Mat Osman from UK indie glam guitar band Suede, known as The London Suede in the United States due to there being an existing act called Suede. He is reasonably tall, dressed in black and is playing a red and black Fender Precision bass, going through an Ampeg cab (which I really should get at some stage)

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Hi pals! Catch me on Noisebox Radio (noiseboxradio.com) this Sunday (July 5th) from 19:00 BST, with another hour of great pop and rock songs featured in The Simpsons. Yes, it's Simpsonic Sound Shower 2!

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Name a TV show you're positive no-one remembers but you.

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

...actually, there was a further peak beyond that peak

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Interesting, and frankly fantastic, story positioning there

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Just saw an improvised modular synth concert, two twenty-minute pieces with visuals, at my local cricket club. One of the performers was a former BBC Sports Personality of The Year. Life is strange

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

So: cards on the table time - I thought I'd only be playing thirty seconds of this, but my timekeeping was off so it is presented in full. And you know what? Hell of a performance!

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

...yes, it's Mason Williams with "Classical Gas"!

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

And that's a wrap folks! I cannot comment on any further, secret songs. Oh crap - I shouldn't have said there were any further, secret songs!... Ah, it's too hot today.

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Into the home stretch now with Journey. I prefer "Any Way You Want It" to "Don't Stop Believing" anyway so this worked out well for me...

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

It even features in an episode where Moe opens a British-style pub, and not "Bart vs Australia"! On a sadder note, that's all my chazwozzer material down the drain

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Surprise! It's Britain's national treasure... Who is Australian... It's Our Kylie with "Can't Get You Out Of My Head"!

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

The original is used in a "getting fit" montage in "Homer The Whopper" (pictured), but I've always loved how much Bowie's going for it in the German vocal version - a throat-burning barnstormer!

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Achtung! Meine machiner ist kaputzen!... Ah! That's better. But it's too late for David, we'll have to leave him in German for "Helden"... which is "Heroes".

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Das sang Homer in einer Folge, in der die Familie ihr Haus an europäische Studenten vermietet, um für Bart eine Therapie zur Gewichtsreduktion zu finden. Es ist totaler Quatsch.

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Hallo, meine Britischen freunde! Willkommen zur Euro Simpsonic Sound Shower! Hier ist natürlich Nena mit „99 Luftballons“!

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

No caption needed. (...except the one on the photo. You need that.)

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Well, the Bee Gees are a bit... Bee Gees-ish. So here's Tropical Fuck Storm's cover of "Stayin' Alive", which is jaw-dropping; every note of the original is on here, in the same order, but it's so different. Magic!

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

You're about to hear me saying this on the show, but "Bart vs Itchy And Scratchy" - from which this is taken - is a bloody brilliant episode, later season or not. If you want a dipping in point if you've not watched anything past season 10, here it is!

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

And here's The Runaways with "Cherry Bomb", also well used throughout popular culture (including to great effect in "Guardians Of The Galaxy")

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Of course, I've just remembered the Ramones were in the bloody show weren't they, singing happy birthday to Mr Burns! But I didn't remember that when I was downloading the pictures so here's a still from the episode this was played in, sorry

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

PANK RAWK!!! Batten down the hatches, it's Those Ramones with "Beat On The Brat" (once covered by U2 of all people. But I wouldn't make you listen to that, or the Geneva Convention would be all over me like a rash)

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

It's from a rare Simpsons hippy episode which doesn't feature his mother coming back, but does feature the ultimate protest song: "uptown girl, she's been living in her white break world..."

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

It had to be "Incense And Peppermints" by The Strawberry Alarm Clock, didn't it? Standing ready to soundtrack a montage of riots, nudists and Carnaby Street.

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

...In a tonal shift, it's featured in the poignant "Mother Simpson", which deals with some surprisingly complex issues around absentee parenting. And if any celebs die during the airing of this radio show, feel free to Photoshop them into the sky

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

AHH I FUCKIN' LOVE THIS ONE!!! Absolute shit-kickery from The Jimi Hendrix Experience with the superior version of "All Along The Watchtower". Turn this one up!

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Presented without context, here is my favourite Duffman moment

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Here's "Oh Yeah!" by Yello, which... Well, it is as it is. Very much of its time, if nothing else

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Odd that a British indie song was used so heavily in US sports at the time, but good on 'em eh?

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Now we have Blur, featuring the voice of Coco The Monkey from the Coco Pops advert, Damon Albarn, with their only real US hit, "Song 2".

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Not quite as rollicking as the Spinal Tap concert also featured in this episode.

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

The Modernaires next with their vocal version of "Spanish Flea"...

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

I think "Jazzy and The Pussycats" was a good episode for the time - Al Jean was settling back in, the first movie was on the horizon, and I wore an onion on my belt, which was the style of the time

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Bloody love this one and I hadn't heard it for ages, The White Stripes with "The Hardest Button To Button"!

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Here they are, all the lads (except Bill Berry, who'd left) - but Michael Stipe appears AGAIN in the very latest episode of The Simpsons, "Homer, A Cracker Bro?", which was aired after I recorded my bastard links, so I look like an idiot. Cheers, Michael. I'm glad Luke Haines nicked your guitarist.

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

It's "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" by REM! With whom I have a bone to pick, and it is Simpsons-related...

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Set your internet browsers to @noiseboxradio.com (noiseboxradio.com) - and enjoy some hits used in The Simpsons from 19:00 GMT! I'll stick some extra fun facts and Springfield stills in this here thread as the songs happen...

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Hello! At 19:00 GMT this coming Sunday (March 8th), I'll be on noiseboxradio.com presenting an hour of songs used in The Simpsons - I might do a little "listening party" here, assuming I have any energy left after my gig the day before... And if anyone would be interested, of course?

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Just learned from @whenisbirths.bsky.social 's last book (next one follows very soon" who the first artist to debut on the UK charts at number one was... I am SHOOK. Not for the quality of the artist (great track, great performance) but because I thought it would have happened sooner than that!

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Linoleum's debut album "Dissent". Released in 1997 and ignored amongst a deluge at the end of Britpop, it's dark, cynical and relentless with breathy, disengaged vocals, evoking the "end of the party" feeling at that stage. Top picks: "Dissent", "Ways To Escape", "Stay Awhile", "Dangerous Shoes".

The sleeve of a band called Linoleum's album "Dissent" on CD, with a special edition cover that is actually made of linoleum

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

...In fact, three of the bands led me to "Greetings From Uncle Sam", a more USA-tastic compilation from Columbia that shared a few tracks and even more bands with it.

Back cover and tracklisting from "Greetings From Uncle Sam", a 1993 Columbia Records compilation

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

I thought of the 1993 Virgin/EMI indie compilation "Loaded" today, and how it influenced my listening. Probably because I'm now starting to talk about these tracks and this era on the podcast. An important primer, and I've followed a musical path from almost every track to something else excellent.

The back cover and tracklisting of the 1993 Virgin/EMI indie compilation "Loaded"

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(Whatever Happened To) They Ray @invaderace2000.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

I cannot describe my feelings upon seeing this on BBC News. This should be on a wall of the Louvre, on the dome in Las Vegas, mentioned in Rutger Hauer's Blade Runner speech. Life, for me, has peaked.

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