5 Albums I Can’t Live Without: Kyle Stoopid of Slightly Stoopid

Name  Kyle Stoopid 

Best known for Singer-songwriter-performer of Slightly Stoopid.

Current city: Ocean Beach, San Diego, California.

Really want to be in  Home is where your heart is. As long as you’re surrounded by love and good people, it’s where you should be.  That could be anywhere.  That being said, we grew up close to Mexico by the beach, so Mexico and all its culture, people, food, and music has always been close to my heart. The beach, the ocean, waves, tacos, and maybe a margarita, and it’s all gravy.

Excited about  Making music is just one of our passions. To be able to create it in the lab, in the pad, in a hotel room, or on a bus, is like cooking in the kitchen.  It’s a natural thing, but also a blessing. To be able to take what we cook up in the kitchen (the lab) and bring it to the stage and perform it is exciting. To see people singing along to the songs, and using the music as a form of therapy from the pressures of everyday life is also rewarding and a form of therapy for us too.

My current music collection has a lot of: There’s so many genres of music and so many eras… to choose one would be the same as choosing food.  There’s too much good food and music to choose from.  We learned guitar from wanting to play all the riffs on Metallica albums.  We love metal. When we started the band as teenagers we played only super fast punk. Bands like Operation Ivy, Minor Threat, Pennywise and NOFX fueled our desire to play as fast as possible.  Bands like the Skatalites and Buck O Nine inspired us to play ska.  Roots music and reggae like Don Carlos inspired us to slow it down and turn up the bass for that kind of style.  Over time we eventually played all the styles of music from Jazz, Afro Cuban, Blues, Funk, Punk Rock, Heavy Metal, Acoustic music, etc…so the style of records and music in my record collection is similar to walking into a record store. 

Current format: Always have had a special love for vinyl, for the full vintage feel of buying a new record.  The album cover art, the record art and all the cool things that come with a physical copy, how music was first released.  It is nice to be able to just pull up any song you want nowadays as well if you are driving, or in motion.

5 Albums I Can’t Live Without:

1

The first three albums from Metallica all immediately make you want to head bang. It was [with] Miles and my first concert that we saw at the sports arena when we were young that made us want to play guitar. When the song “Master of Puppets” starts to play, it’s instantaneous that you want to get up and go. Whether you’re in the gym and need something heavy to get your blood pumping or in the mosh pit, “Master of Puppets” is the one that will get you off your ass and moving. 

2

Blood Sugar Sex Magic, Red Hot Chili Peppers

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS! These guys changed the game with so many styles and so many eras of their music. All their records are special in a different way. Freaky Styley and Mothers Milk are so good because of how funky they are, but Blood Sugar Sex Magik has it all. Every song is incredible and magical from the beginning to the end. The way they recorded the album is amazing too, if you watch the documentary on how they locked themselves away from the world to make it, and created something that will live forever as one of the greatest records of all time.

3

Check Your Head, Beastie Boys

The evolution of the Beastie Boys is a special thing. How they started from East Coast punk rockers, and transcended into RUN DMC style hip-hop, and then transcended further into Meters-style funk, and multiple other genres all in one. They are masters of all styles of music and instruments, and performed like they were going into the Olympics. All their records are brilliant in different ways and styles, but Check Your Head is special how they combined all genres and really made something so beautiful that stands the test of time. Mario C. really knocked it out the park producing this record.

4

1988, Operation Ivy

This is the band that really influenced us as teenagers to want to play fast punk and ska to either get the mosh pit started by playing punk rock music or to be in the mosh pit while listening to it. Every song on this album is so good and can change the mood to make you have a better day. It’s so raw and rugged and real. When I have a bad day and need to turn it around, this album saves the day. Or if you’re having a good day and want it to be better, play this fucking record! Matt Freeman’s insane bass style is a big influence on early Slightly Stoopid punk music. Tim Armstrong and Jessie Michaels put out a collaboration in 2023 called Doom Regulator that is killer. Check out the song “Raid” by Doom Regulator.  Every album from Rancid is also a huge influence for Slightly Stoopid.

5

Which Doobie U Be?, Funkdoobiest

It’s not easy to pick a favorite Funkdoobiest song. They are all bangers and so good. But this album is mandatory to have in the record crates.  It’s a game changer from top to bottom. These days whether just driving down the street, or at home cooking and getting shit done, this album has been playing on repeat. Shout out to the brother Son Doobie who is hands down one of my favorite MCs, but also one of the realest, most humble people you can ever meet, which is what I think makes him so dope on the mic and off.