Wil Wheaton Breaks the Rules

I’m not going to the San Diego Comic-Con this year. I feel a little guilty about this, like I’m somehow not fulfilling my duties as a nerd/geek culture aficionado.

But then I spoke with actor, author & web host Wil Wheaton and learned he’s taking the year off as well, and I no longer feel so bad.

In his case, Wheaton is focusing on completing current projects that are sure to be the conversation of conventions to come, a smart and rare opportunity for someone with his relentless schedule. But, lucky for us, it also gave him time to chat with us about music for the latest edition of the Guest DJ Project!

In between offering stories about memorable childhood encounters with the songs of bands like Heart, Iron Maiden and Pink Floyd, as well as a spirited defense as to why the medley on side two of the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” qualifies as a single selection, Wheaton also cited Public Enemy’s “Bring the Noise” as an influential discovery.

While he focused on this legendary PE track, he explained why rap in general was important to him, and mentioned a story about meeting Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels of Run-D.M.C.-fame at a convention & getting to try on his gold-chain necklace.

Although we weren’t able to include that snippet in the fully-edited piece, we thought you might like to hear the complete unedited version (complete with bonus Beyonce content), which you can check out below!

And be sure to check out all his picks at the Guest DJ Project page!

ERIC J. LAWRENCE

Producer’s Note: Many Guest DJ Project guests try to bend the rules to share more than five artists/songs — mostly by playing covers or collaborations. Wil Wheaton is the first guest to ever claim an entire side of an album is actually one song. He’s a rebel rule breaker! But his reasoning was so good, we let it slide. RR