# Musical Musings: Five of the Best - Toad the Wet Sprocket

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-zealand-net-radio-7869194/musical-musings-five-of-the-best-toad-the-wet-sprocket
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-zealand-net-radio-7869194/musical-musings-five-of-the-best-toad-the-wet-sprocket.md
Podcast: [New Zealand Net Radio](https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-zealand-net-radio-7869194)
Published: 2026-08-05T02:55:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.nznetradio.net.nz/podcast/#ep-82
Audio file: https://www.nznetradio.net.nz/podcast-audio/Musical-Musings-Five-of-the-Best---Toad-the-Wet-Sprocket-2026-08-05-1455-licensed.m4a
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Duration seconds: 3671

## Resource

For this edition, Ken Cheshire champions a band whose ridiculous name (lifted from a Monty Python sketch Eric Idle designed to be “so silly nobody would ever use it”) has always undersold the quiet brilliance underneath. High-school friends from Santa Barbara — Glen Phillips, Todd Nichols, Dean Dinning and Randy Guss — they made warm, jangly, thoughtful alt-rock that could land a knockout blow by playing softly, with two platinum albums in Fear and Dulcinea. What makes Ken’s five so satisfying is that they quietly tell the band’s whole story: the gorgeous hit “Walk on the Ocean,” the platinum peak of “Crowing,” a genuine rarity in “Are We Afraid,” the pre-hiatus “Whatever I Fear,” and the fan-funded 2013 comeback “Is There Anyone Out There.” Breakthrough, peak, rarity, farewell and return — a fan’s love letter in five songs. Broadcast 5 August 2026

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## Transcript

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