Reelin' In The Years (RITY)

On this episode on Reelin'... The Featured Five Theme is Pavlov's Dog... Also, A shipping clerk, his record-label boss’s rejection, and the $2,500 that launched Alligator Records... A Jimi Hendrix recording that spent nearly 44 years in the vault before reaching listeners in 2013... A Chicago Blues standard about a man whose five years of paychecks still got him shown the door... A roadside sign i...

This week on Reelin'... The Featured Five Theme is The Suburbs... Plus, Robert Plant, a fifteen-foot tree, and a song title born out of a winter firewood problem... Six four-hour sessions and a day job - the making of Elvis Costello’s debut album, My Aim Is True... A Hall & Oates song about existential boredom and how an idealized escape can still leave a person empty... The afternoon politica...

On this episode of Reelin'... The Featured Five Theme is A Needle In A Haystack: Songs that were hidden on albums... Plus, the Beatles song that changed animals after Paul McCartney started barking... Music Stevie Wonder left off Songs in the Key of Life - finally seeing the light of day 50 years later... The strange recurring dream of shattering bottles that inspired a Peter Gabriel classic... Th...

This week on Reelin'... The Featured Five Theme is Commercially Brewed: Songs and beer commercials... The ’90s hit whose title can be traced all the way back to a second-grade book report... What happened when someone sent one of John Prine’s fictional problems to the Dear Abby... The ’60s dance song whose original title was probably a little too risqué for radio... New music from St. Paul & T...

This week on Reelin'... The Featured Five Theme is 100: Songs that mention that number in the lyrics... Plus, Johnny Cash, a cocaine-fueled murder and a 99-year prison sentence - recorded LIVE at Folsom... A spontaneous rehearsal-room jam captured on tape then rebuilt with an Atari computer... The Bad Company tune revisited nearly 50 years later with Paul Rodgers & Blackberry Smoke... A number...

This week on Reelin'... The Featured Five Theme is It's All Greek To Me: Songs with references to Greece... The future Monkee whose song was rejected for not sounding enough like The Monkees... The soul album recorded in a basement for a grand total of $452.11 - that includes the beer!... The one-off benefit performance that unexpectedly turned into an 11-year comeback... Why Geddy Lee never under...

On this episode of Reelin' In The Years... The Featured Five Theme is Friday Night Lights: Songs that make some sort of reference to high school football in the lyrics... Also, the basement recording that became an indie-rock phenomenon - thanks to a movie scene... David Bowie’s eye patch looked like a fashion statement - but the truth was far less glamorous... The 19-year-old thief, a diamond rin...

This week on Reelin' In The Years... The Featured Five Theme is "Bay" Watch... Plus, the deliberately “uncommercial” song written in a room at a Holiday Inn that became a hit... The accidental guitar tuning that left Pete Townshend and David Gilmour searching for answers... The soul classic secretly powered by Motown's The Funk Brothers and a big stack of cash... The upbeat hit followed by a myste...

This week on Reelin' In The Years... The Featured Five Theme is Paying The Bills... Also, the reggae legend who refused a Chuck Berry classic - until Louisiana became Jamaica... The New Orleans classic featuring a future superstar - still in her teens - singing backup with her mother... The late-night hotel room lyric that went from “walking around the room” to something more memorable... The song...

This week on Reelin' In The Years... The Featured Five Theme is "Back To School"... Also, The song inspired by an open window, a missing cat and one very worried songwriter... How a trip to Elvis’s home helped a songwriter turn a broken relationship into a journey toward healing... How a childhood memory of gathering wild plants in rural Louisiana inspired a swamp-rock classic... The ordinary airp...

This week on Reelin' In The Years... For the Featured Five Theme, we explore the roots of rock 'n' roll... Plus, The ancient empire, missing verse and faulty mixing console behind a Neil Young epic... The Linda Ronstadt hit that began when six encores left her band with nothing else prepared... The road anthem that began as an idea for a Ford commercial... The Guns N’ Roses co-founder who traded s...

This week on Reelin'... The Featured Five Theme is Lucky No. 7... Also, the phone call that arrived just before a songwriter’s phone service was disconnected... A hit song from 1991 that was inspired by two events that reshaped the world in 1989... The story behind a famous “bass line” that wasn’t actually played on a bass guitar... The studio accident that unexpectedly made room for the biggest s...

This week on Reelin' In The Years... The Featured Five Theme is Smoke From A Distant Fire... Plus, The Waterboys revive a Prince recording that sat unheard for nearly 40 years... The Canadian band that landed on the cover of Rolling Stone before they even had a record deal... What song by Andrew Gold was inspired by growing up in a Hollywood family - and feeling overlooked?... A Pixies classic tha...

On this episode of Reelin'... The Featured Five Theme is Finding Some Shade... Plus, what band got its name from an Aboriginal Australian expression?... How a single overheard sentence became one of rock's greatest mysteries... What Queen song nearly featured backing vocals from David Bowie?... New music from The Revivalists, Trey Hensley & Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and Johnny Blue Skies... Deep...

On this episode of Reelin'... The Featured Five Theme is Making The "Cut"... Also, the day Paul McCartney unknowingly became Nirvana's lead singer... Why Berry Gordy almost kept a Stevie Wonder classic off the radio... The strange story behind Jefferson Airplane's most unusual song title... A Bryan Adams classic born from a happy accident that felt so right... New music from The Rolling Stones, Ho...

On this episode of Reelin'... The Featured Five Theme is Boom!... What Beatles song was inspired by a phrase uttered by reggae singer, Jimmy Scott?... A Motown song that had to be recorded three different times before it passed quality control... Amphetamine abuse + Occultism = A 1968 title track by The Velvet Underground... Music from a soul singer who got his big break as a backing singer for Ce...

On this episode of Reelin'... The Featured Five Theme is Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness: Celebrating America's Independence... Also, music from a singer who's been out of the public eye for 16 years! I'll tell you why... What Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' tune was inspired by a quote from Janis Joplin?... What song by Wings is named after Paul McCartney's old Labrador Retriever?....

On this episode of Reelin' In The Years... The Featured Five Theme is Hiking... Also, the story of Johnnie Taylor's death and the lengthy legal battle that ensued... A Smashing Pumpkins song that was initially titled "Strolling" and nearly cut from the album... What band formed in England, but shares their name with their native country?... How the Traveling Wilburys evolved out of a proposed Geor...

On this episode of Reelin'... The Featured Five Theme is A Backyard Barbeque... Also, a 90s hit song that was inspired by the disappearance of Lela & Raymond Howard... A tune that went from a love song to one of the creepiest songs ever thanks to alcohol... One of three Pink Floyd tunes to feature a guest lead vocalist. Cigar, anyone?... That time when the Stone Temple Pilots recorded with the...

On this edition of Reelin' In The Years... The Featured Five Theme is Subconscious Behavior: Song titles that represent responsibilites of the subconscious... Also, a demo of the most played song in the history of American radio... What Stevie Ray Vaughan song is inspired by "shaggin' wagons" from the 70s?... A song by The Who that's named after Meher Baba and Terry Riley... New music from Devon G...

On this episode of Reelin' In The Years... The Featured Five Theme is What's Your Fortune: Song titles that could serve as a message inside of a fortune cookie... Also, who is the woman on the cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan?... A song about an alternate universe where J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. is president... What Blue Oyster Cult song was inspired by a drug deal gone horribly wrong?... Ringo...

On this edition of Reelin'... The Featured Five Theme is Playing "Favorites": Songs that mention the word "favorite" in the title... Also, Paul McCartney talks about partnering with John Lennon to write "A Day In The Life"... Paul Simon on finding love on the set of Saturday Night Live... What band gets their name from a passage in the Spanish novel, Don Quixote?... New music from Marcus King, The...

On this episode of RITY... The Featured Five Theme is Car Trouble: Songs that mention some sort of car-related issue in the lyrics... Also, Norman Greenbaum explains the process of writing his big hit from 1970... What do people from Vermont call the period between Halloween and the winter snow?... We know Tommy was the deaf, dumb, and blind kid, but why was he the pinball wizard?... What Joni Mit...

On this episode of Reelin'... The Featured Five Theme is At The Library... Plus, A band that gets their name from a term they found in a TV Guide Magazine... The story behind one of Bob Seger's most well-known songs... The Tubes will give us a deep cut about rich kids in Hollywood with drug problems... Music from a guy who worked in a factory installing toilets on airplanes prior to his big break....

On this episode of Reelin' In The Years... The Featured Five Theme is Gone Fishin'... Plus, a song inspired by Peter Fonda's near-death experience that happened when he was a kid... A Bowie tune that's nearly a reworking of "I'm Waiting For The Man" by Velvet Underground... What influential Delta Blues musician simply vanished in the early 1940s?... The band - Heart - and a song inspired by the ru...