Rock School

"This is a music podcast and radio show. The biggest music story right now is Joe Rogan and Neil Young. We have to talk about it. "

"The Oscars are this month. How about a show discussing musicians who have been nominated for an Oscar? Some have even won."

"This week we have an interview with author Marc Wasserman about his new book Skaboom. An American Ska and Reggae Oral History. It is a history of the music and its influence on culture, artists and other musicians. "

"Here's the game. Name a TV theme song that then became a hit on the pop chart. You cannot choose a song that was first a hit and then used for a TV show. This must be a song written for a TV show that then became a hit. We have a bunch for you."

"It is quite common for a commercial to use a hit song but now and again a commercial will become so popular that the music in the commercial will be reworked and itself become a hit. We have 17 examples this week. Often the song completely overtakes the commercial and you forget it was once used to sell a product."

"Remember, pronounce it Mohg rather than Mooog. Robert Moog did not invent the synthesizer. He just made it so that it was in the reach of the regular musician. This week is the anniversary of his releasing the MiniMoog so here is an hour on how his invention worked and how it came to be part of modern music."

"My wife and cohost has joked many times that she listens to so much radio and audio book during her job that they should be paying her. Well, now there are multiple websites that claim they will do just that. I don't endorse any of them but I did research them a little bit this week. We will tell you the pros and the cons."

"It happens now and again that a song will have its title changed after it is released and starts to become popular. The reasons why vary but collectors have started to gather up these title change songs. We have a long list and will tell you what they were and what they became."

"This is our last show of the year. We always take this show and give one last tip of the hat to those who gave us great music but sadly passed away in 2021."

"Early Upload Due to Vacation. We always take the first two weeks of the year and talk about the anniversaries that will come up in 2022. What famous events were 10, 20, 30, 40 and more years ago? By listening, you'll sound informed when someone brings it up."

"Early Upload Due to Vacation. This is the second Anniversary show for 2022. We always take the first two weeks of a new year and give anniversries 10, 20, 30, 40 years and on back so you'll sound super smart when they come up during the year"

"Late Last Year, Taylor Swifts song All Too Well topped the chart and became the longest song to reach number one at just over ten minutes. She took the record from Don McLean and American Pie. So, what are other long songs to chart? What are the shortest songs to chart? For an hour, we will tell you and play a few."

"It is one thing to change your name before you become famous. It is quite another to change your name after you become famous. We have a list that did. Plus, we will look into how to legally change your name and the laws of a stage name."

"Every year we put together a Christmas Show and here is the one for 2021. It is early in the month so we are talking about the best gifts to buy the music lover in your world. Happy holidays and may your days be merry and bright."

"This week we speak with photographer Curt Angeledes about his new book, Go For Broke, Volume One. Curt has been following and taking pictures of the Rolling Stones for decades and this book is a collection of his best."

"I have said many times on the show that titles are not copyrighted. You could write a song titled Stairway to Heaven. Well it looks like someone did. But what eles does Copyright NOT cover?"

"This is our annual Thanksgiving show. We will talk turkey and Black Friday and play the entire song Alices Restaurant"

"Once a musician has a massive hit album, they are expected to follow it up. But the rules change. What would easily be considered a hit for other artists is seen as a failure for the artist with the big album. If you sell 20 million albums but the follow up only sells two million, is that a failure?"

"The tour bus is the main form of transportation for bands. To that end accidents can happen. On the show Tammy and I will relate a list of tour bus accidents and what came of them"

"I want to play a game. No. Really. I want to play a game. I have ten monsters. I will say the monster and you tell me what song comes to your head. We will play the best pick and then tell you all the titles you could have said for partial credit."

"Spotify is the top streaming service so it is where musicians go to be discovered. The only way to succeed is to be streamed. What people are finding is that you can pay for streams. You can pay for computers to listen to your song so hopefully you end up of the new charts. But is it a good idea Is it worth the money We will talk through it all."

"All too often, when a concert is poorly attended, it is made fun of. However, used correctly, it can be a learning experience to work on your performance. To connect better with the audience and to ponder why the show was not well attended. It is also a test of a bands mettle. Do you punish the audience or do you put on a great show for those that did indeed attend?"

"This week we speak with author Jim Curtis about his new book, Decoding Dylan Making Sense of the Songs That Changed Modern Culture. Curtis is an academic who has studied Dylan from his history through his lyrics and down to his chord progressions. It is quite thorough and quite interesting."

"Elvis. Michael Jackson. Tupac. Many believe these people are still alive but faked their death. What is better is that of all the musicians we will feature on the show, there is proof they are alive in the form of photos and video. Some of it is pretty good and others are not so much."

"It seems that music companies are going out of their way to not pay their performers. The Black Box is a nickname given to a fund of royalties that cannot be determined who it should be paid to. It is created by overseas royalties and other untraceable payments. However, now companies and technologies are being created to fight the Black Box and make sure artists get paid."