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

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

Songs in this episode:

9:11 Toad The Wet Sprocket – Walk On the Ocean
15:54 Toad The Wet Sprocket – Crowing
23:14 Toad The Wet Sprocket – Are We Afraid
28:58 Toad The Wet Sprocket – Whatever I Fear
38:07 Toad The Wet Sprocket – Is There Anyone Out There
47:17 Toad The Wet Sprocket – Jam (Acoustic)