RockPopandRoll

Their debut album was “Get the Knack”.  It had one monster song, a lesser follow-up single and then the band rode the wave of success as best they could, before breaking up, reforming, and never duplicating the initial explosion.  But how could they, right? The rest of their albums?  Nothing as good.  Or even close.  But they kept the idea alive that you could be a band that takes the tropes of 60...

You ask me what is the greatest rock/pop guitar album of the 1980s and I say Reckless from Bryan Adams.  Lyrically, it's mostly sophomoric.  No deep thoughts.  But that was never the strength of Bryan Adams.  His reason for being was that he made straight-ahead rock and roll music that never ventured into pop-metal – though his 1991 album Can't Stop This Thing We Started – produced by Mutt Lange –...

Sports isn't fancy. It's rock music played tightly and with enthusiasm by the band, recorded cleanly. The songs are first-listen friendly and held up after the set became a monster hit, spending more than a year all over Top 40 and rock radio.  It ultimately ranks as one of the great pop-rock band albums of the 80s. Huey Lewis and The News earned themselves lots of hits singles, with a couple real...

This episode is "Friday 45" and features Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers. The band released Rumble in 1988, followed by Guitar Trouble in 1990. Conwell ended up in Philadelphia and The Hooters’ producer Rick Chertoff got Conwell and the Rumblers signed to Columbia and he produced “Rumble” After the band released their first album on their own “Walkin’ on the Water” in 1986, which was produced...

The thing – one of the things – I can't stand about classic rock radio stations, and why they have become unlistenable,  is the playlist that has stagnated. It's not that the bands are at fault. Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Foreigner, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Bob Seger, Journey, Pink Floyd – they all rock, right?  But when the typical classic rock and roll station in the US plays the same 3 or 4...

Did Hair Metal change the world?  Well, some of the songs and the bands were part of the continuum that is rock music.  It was really a flash - a bomb of hairspray rock and roll that hung around for about five years.   We always like to offer a bit of an explanation.  A Definition.  A clarification of what we are searching for. What is Hair Metal? Pop Metal? Glam Metal? How is it different than ha...

This episode is a look at four bands that had a big hit and then tried to capitalize on it with something called a "momentum hit" in the 80s. Or at least most had the followup hit. What's that even mean? Here's how we define it: Sometimes a band would have a hit single, getting significant radio play on rock or top 40 stations, and then follow it up with a song was usually not as good, but was sti...

It's our Friday series that takes a look at, and a listen to, one great single of the 80s that deserves another spin.  There once was a band called Red Rider. The lead singer, Tom Cochrane, joined that Canadian rock band in 1978 and served as their lead singer and main songwriter for more than ten years. He recorded six studio albums with Red Rider. By 1986, the band was billed as "Tom Cochrane &...

In this special presentation of RockPopand Roll, host Rob Nichols remembers the songs and what made Little Richard a legend – and architect – in the making of rock and roll.  Little Richard passed away at age 87 on May 9, 2020.  Of all the patriarchs of rock and roll music, Little Richard may have been the most outrageous, had the most hits in the shortest period of time, and could arguably be ahe...

While there are many great songs and music from the 1980s, there are lots of tunes that have gotten lost. Music that was a hit, yet still somehow slipped away from classic hits and classic rock radio stations. Some of the songs were big hits, and it is tough to fathom how they are not remembered better or talked about more, and some songs had a flash of notoriety and slipped away.  In this episode...

A brand new podcast that takes a deep dive into the retro greatness of 1980's music and radio.  The show is the intersection where rock music, pop music, power pop, guitars, drums, memorable tunes, and guilty pleasures come together.  Join host, Rob Nichols, along with artists, writers, and friends as they dig into the music.