Old Man Yells at Music

This time Roger goes back a mere quarter century to when you could see a pregnant sherrif on the big screen and an Irish angel on the small one. Meanwhile, the charts were populated by player putdowns, Rush without Rush, sped-up space rock, the guy ladies love loving a lady, a fiddler kicking it old school (be careful doing that in a kilt, buddy), and a confident gentleman announcing his comeback...

This time Roger goes back 42 years to the month a famous fictional oil man became the centre of a mystery that captivated the world. The hits of the day included angsty new wave, the singles chart swan song of a rock institution, a minimalist Motown cover, a look at some strange children’s games, a modern murder ballad, a hit that launched a revolution, and a tale of animals heroically taking on a...

Our latest dip into the deep well of forgotten albums pulls out the one and only LP by a retro-sounding band whose lead singer would later become a star on her own by embracing her desire to have fun. Listen and watch her and her old band in action on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDWLXjsOJPQlwaLK6luY4OH0Ly0unGdOw And consider supporting the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/o...

This week Roger goes back to the middle of the winter of '77. Paul Newman was playing hockey on the big screen, while Abe Vigoda was adopting orphans on the small one.  On the charts, you could hear a deceptively serious party record, little furry creatures getting busy, some guys from Philly taunting a spoiled brat, reminiscence of teenage boning, entertaining heartbreak, and a song that people t...

In an example of the adage "Big things come in small packages," the shortest episode to date is an important one: the show that determines who will make the final of the tournament of 80s outliers. Vietnam, video games, vocal gymnastics, and violence of the comedic kind. Which two of these will be a magic formula that moves a song to within a step of the title? View the contenders on YouTube: http...

Roger heads back to February 1991, a time when presidential dogs "wrote" bestsellers and film goers learned what human body part was best served with Fava beans and a nice Chianti. On the charts, there was a song about laying down arms, a hit by a Stooge not named Curly, Larry or Moe, some superstar offspring, an Aussie vanishing act, a call to perspiration and booty-shaking, and a naughty cartoon...

This time Roger looks back at charts from 36 years ago. There's suggestive funk, a murder case, a boy soprano, a Greek songbird, speaking pavement, and a hit that won a whopping wager. Find out more on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDWLXjsOJPQkloHoYNJ6oHQinXo8uzboI And you can support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/oldmanyellsatmusic?fan_landing=truehttps://www.patreon....

This week Roger pays tribute to the recently passed Michael Nesmith by covering two Monkees TV specials. First, it's a 1969 show where two British musicians play aliens/and or supervillains want to use the Prefab Four to brainwash the world. This plan also somehow involves Charles Darwin, interpretive dance, and three of rock's earliest stars. Then, we jump ahead to 1997, when the boys did a new s...

Roger's last show of the year examines the hits of a time when the cinemas were full of flaming disasters, funny monsters, and fratricidal gangsters. On the radio, you could hear an introduction to Polish, some French heavy breathing, a Beatle collaborating with the new hotness, a song not about a dog, an enthusiastic offer of assistance, and an anthem of paternal regret. Oh, and in Britain, a son...

The Old Man tries to catch up on his schedule by finally looking at the charts of early December 1995. There's a future chef, an oddly-named lady, meth addiction, dad rock, a weird Icelandic take on big band jazz, our first look at a superdiva, and some TV hunks competently crooning old stuff. Make sense of it all on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDWLXjsOJPQmSKTo-t1fx8xF8Uf9eePnL And...

This week Roger continues his series of looks at near misses by talking about almost-almost hits of 1977. There's a disco update of a French instrumental, another artist from the Rock n'Roll Sports Classic, the king of rock eccentrics taking on leisure suit lotharios, a lone Blue Note, and a song to smuggle beer by. You can hear everything on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDWLXjsOJPQ...

This time Roger goes back to late autumn of 1982, when a football player crashed into a tuba player and into legend, and the music world didn't know what was about to hit it a few days later. The hits of the moment included Scottish longing, a clownish band in it for the affection, an Italian and and Englishwoman going way, way over the top, a rockabilly revival, a dessert band, a future superstar...

Roger goes back to his days in utero to look at the hits of November 1970. There's some exotic sounding wedding rock, a flute subbing for a Plant, funky expression, a posthumous smash for a legend, a lady who once played a biker wedding, a man who performed for animated astronauts, and some metallic psychosis. Learn all about it on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDWLXjsOJPQlPA71MeVyeP...

At long last Roger looks back at the CanUKUS charts of the fall of '98. While the Yankees were winning yet another championship, the pop scene contained songs about mother love, being as cool as a deposed Central American dictator, life at the end of a thousand-year period, romantic rivalry, love of all shapes and sizes, and teenage crises of faith. Listen and watch along on YouTube: https://youtu...

After a long hiatus. Roger returns with a long episode with a long title. After celebrating All Hallows' Eve with Kiss battling robots in a theme park last year, he returns by looking at two 80s shows about the scourge of punk. First it's the episode of Quincy where the intrepid coroner and his psychologist girlfriend try to save a young girl from the horrors of slam dancing and ice pick stabbings...

This week Roger looks back at the height of the disco era, when NBC decided to pre-empt SNL for a special shot in a soundstage turned into a club. There's a dance contest, a fashion show, magic, a trapeze artist, and the Village People. Plus we take a detour to Studio 54, which apparently used to be the home of What's My Line. And oh, the 1978 commercials. Watch it on YouTube: https://youtube.com/...

The Old Man goes back 40 years to look at the of an early 80s autumn. There's rock from multiple countries, an ode to international female industry, old school gangster music, heartbreak, suicide, and the most retrospectively embarrassing song we've come across so far. See it all on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDWLXjsOJPQn8vNfKZ2BCTM1dlcmHDBiK And consider supporting the show on Pa...

This week Roger goes back to a time when stoners ruled the box office, hippies played the Pyramids, and everyone else was getting down and boogie oogie oogie-ing. The charts of the time included songs about suspicions of infidelity, mutant animal revolution, getting robbed on vacation, and getting dumped in favor of a moron. And it helped to either have an automotive band name or friends in Fleetw...

This week it's the Round of 8 in the search for the most atypical US pop hit of the 80s. War battles horniness, traditional gender roles take on vocal gymnastics, serial drama faces serial comedy, and video games meet horse racing. Which songs will remain? Get more on the songs and their subjects on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDWLXjsOJPQmJIZB47dh09e2qLjf8yuEx And consider supporti...

Roger returns to the discount rack to talk about an album he paid actual Canadian cents for nearly 30 years ago. It's the only album by a group led by a guy who was integral in a pop superstar's success who now wanted to do quirky rock songs about subjects like a surrealist artist and an Eastern European writer. And one that may have predicted a key plot thread of a future blockbuster. Plus a song...

This week Roger goes back to when the kids were going back to school 29 years ago. There would be no cartoons for them on NBC that year, but on the radio, there were songs for and against drugs, a portrait of a false prophet, rambunctious rap, a giddy goth, some bad boy do-gooders, and a band managed by a dog. Allegedly. Follow along on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDWLXjsOJPQns9Eh5...

This time Roger looks at the hits from the late stages of the last summer of the 80s. We've got crazy people offering comfort, a hair metal band's idea of paradise, a group with no fear of distortion pedals, a guy who thanked the superstar who revived his only hit with a lawsuit, a choreographer calling out cads, and a second generation showbiz legend trying out synthpop. And a whole lot more, whi...

Roger’s Busted Bubbles series continues with a look at songs that couldn't quite make it to the big time of the Hot 100 in 1976. They were loveable palookas, like the hero of that year's biggest movie, but unlike him, they never got their shot at the title. Among these are a comeback attempt by one of rock n’rolls originators, a song slower and sax-ier than its band's calling card, a tune to exter...

This time Roger goes back 50 years to look at the charts of the summer of '71. We've got hippy-dippy folk, preaching greasers, a legend getting bluesy, suspicious soul, naked women, naive children shaming the intolerant, guys who dressed like American revolutionaries pretending to be indigenous, and a group whose success may have been aided by prostitution. Follow on YouTube: https://youtube.com/p...

This week Roger looks back to a time when Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones were erasing memories on the big screen, Chuck Norris was showing why you don't mess with Texas on the small one, and the pop charts contained songs about SoCal intoxication, bidding farewell in multiple languages, wanting to eat a sugary treat in the air, collegiate tragedy, vengeful arson, rejecting materialism, and appreci...