Professor of Rock

Coming up, it’s the story of a band that just might be the greatest rock group you’ve never heard of… Often compared to Led Zeppelin, and sometimes Triumph, this band called Zebra had a unique blend of rock influences that set them apart and gave them their own unmistakable edge. For nearly a decade, Zebra battled to make their mark, and when they finally broke through, it seemed like luck was on...

The J. Geils band paid their dues for over a decade on the road. They released 9 albums and not one was a hit, 11 singles with not one MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH… By the early 80s this hard-working, well-respected band was overdue for a breakout. Then all of the sudden in 1982 they were the toast of the charts with one of the biggest hits of the year: Centerfold. But the song wasn’t without controversy. C...

Coming up…we uncover the story of the New Radicals' "You Get What You Give" a 1998 hit that took shots at healthcare giants, the banking industry, and corporate oppression. A PROVERBIAL middle finger aimed at the man… Maybe the last great mainstream song to do so. The song even railed against the artificiality of celebrity, with the singer threatening to kick the butt of some of the hottest musica...

The Doors were coming off a year that included their breakthrough to the masses with one of the most iconic songs of the rock era, Light My Fire hit #1 and it didn’t sound like anything or anyone. Then they had another strange song that was a major hit from their second album that killed the sophomore jinx... People Are Strange. When they released their third album in 2 years Jim Morrison wanted o...

We've been singing this 1983 classic all our lives and come to find out it's about a couple hooking up during nuclear war? I Melt With You by Modern English was written by all of band members...Robbie Grey Gary McDowell Richard Brown Michael Conroy Stephen Walker and produced by Hugh Jones and actually only hit #78 when it was first released but it became an MTV New Wave Classic and re charted in...

Coming up next, one a scary story for ya. Our story revolves around singer-composer Danny Elfman who stayed in a haunted room where 7 people were murdered. He was told he might see their ghosts, and by the morning he had the idea for a song that would become one of the most recognizable songs of the 80s. But the thing is even though this composer has written dozens of the most recognizable songs i...

Today, we’ve got a drama-filled double feature from Def Leppard, a band that ruled the airwaves with one album, Hysteria, from 1987 to 1989. At the time these guys were everywhere. Not only did they dominate radio, but every kid from the age of 8-18 had Hysteria. When all was said and done it boasted six Top 20 singles and a seventh that went Top 10 on the Rock Charts. Was there anything that coul...

Coming up, we’re counting down the Top 5 songs that stirred up so much controversy, for the most part, the artists themselves won’t perform them anymore. From the Beastie Boys who actually came out and apologized years later after getting married, to the Rolling Stones who own one of rock’s greatest riffs that due to some lyrics now won’t ever be heard live again, to one Heart song Ann Wilson call...

Today’s band Red Rider was a well-kept secret in their time and they had multiple hits in their homeland of Canada. In the early 80s inspired by several transformational moments, they wrote a masterpiece: Lunatic Fringe. It’s been called one of the coolest one-hit wonders ever. The only problem is… It was never a hit. At least not in America where it’s always in the top one-hit wonders of the time...

"Coming up…the story of metal rock icon, Lemmy Kilmister who toiled behind the scenes as a roadie for the great Jimi Hendrix, and was fired from a band after being arrested. But soon after the tables were turned and the band he was fired from was opening for him! He was a scruff from Newcastle with the most famous chopstache of the Rock Era, who LOVED to gamble- while playing his music with Motorh...

Coming up… the strange tale of how a lead pipe falling at a construction site allegedly gave Cass Elliot of the Mamas and the Papas one of the most iconic voices of the '60s the ability to sing three octaves higher. As the story goes, Cass auditioned for the up-and-coming band but was initially denied because her range was not good enough. Then Cass was at a construction site and got hit in the he...

Coming up next, one of my favorite singers ever and one of the most celebrated singer-songwriters of the past 50 years, Daryl Hall tells us the stories of many of his biggest hits. First of all, Daryl Hall and John Oates dominated the 80s with the most hits of the decade. But the #1 hit that set it all up, Rich Girl, happened in the 70s and it was a doozy. It had a swear word in it and it riled up...

For just short of a decade today’s classic song Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas was the most-played song on rock radio... and it was almost never released. The band almost left it off the album. Kansas was shocked when it was a hit because it was so out of the ordinary… Carry On Wayward Son was a revelation, it felt like 4 different songs combined, it changed tempo and the funny thing is the band p...

Coming up… we get into the story behind a Top 10 hit from one of the biggest duos EVER, The Carpenters. Known more for their angelic harmonies and light and easy hits than for a shredding guitar solo, but in the 70s they took a bold leap with today’s song Goodbye to Love… Going hard rock for one hot minute… Goodbye to Love was a major departure from their usual sound, and their fans weren’t happy—...

Okay, it doesn’t get any bigger than this. I’ve got an impossible task ahead of me and I don’t know how I’m going to do this. For this episode, I’m tackling the story of one of my Top 3 bands of all time, Pink Floyd. They have over a quarter of a billion albums sold and a catalog of studio albums spanning nearly five decades. But their acclaim isn’t counted in albums made or sold. It’s all about t...

You can’t make this up… a foreign language song that was originally released as a B-side all of a sudden became a massive worldwide #1 smash nearly 30 years after it was released. How does that happen? Well, it helps when one of the great rock and roll stories comes back into the zeitgeist. Ritchie Valens was a mere 16 years old when he recorded La Bamba. He came in a time of teen idols who had th...

Coming up, the story of an epic collaboration between one of rock’s most iconic rebels Joan Jett and one of the most prolific songwriters of the era Desmond Child. This rock legend had a bold, risqué song title that no one would dare play, but she had the riff to back it up. All she needed was some expert help to craft a radio-friendly title and some unforgettable lyrics. The song, eventually titl...

Coming up next… an interview with Tommy James, a legend who technically recorded his first hit at just 15 years of age. He snuck into a club and heard today’s song Hanky Panky being played and noticed that the audience LOVED it. So he decided to cut the record himself. But he forgot the lyrics and made up some of his own. The recording wasn’t very good and he didn’t think it would go anywhere. The...

Coming up. It’s a subject we’ve talked about quite a few times on here. How does an artist or band blast onto the scene and hold the world hostage for several years and then disappear as quickly as they came? Well, in 1988 the underground band Information Society took over radio with zero gimmicks and zero support from their label. It was all about their music. Their first song What's On Your Mind...

Coming up, we celebrate Dan Fogelberg's The Innocent Age, an underrated masterpiece that deserves recognition for both its impact on the music industry and its timeless lyrics and musicianship. One of the most accomplished albums of the 80s by Dan Fogelberg, an artist whose achievements never get the credit that he deserves. In the early 80s, there were only 2 musical acts that had 4 hits from one...

The world of rock n’ roll has many of those wild, fascinating stories. As time goes on, the stories get wilder and wilder…the myths get further & further from the truth. In this episode, we’re going to explore the Top 5 Urban Legends of Rock n’ Roll and separate fact from fiction from Mama Cass Elliot dying from choking on a ham sandwich to the Beach Boys writing a song with a mass murderer to...

Today’s song Dancing in the Moonlight by King Harvest is one of the most beloved of the 70s. It is a happy-go-lucky singalong that no one can deny, yet it came from one from an absolutely chilling experience. The song’s writer Sherman Kelly and his girlfriend almost lost their lives in a terrifying ordeal right out of a horror movie. But the writer turned the evil event into one of the most positi...

Okay, we’re getting a little controversial here today. I mean, it’s unavoidable when you’re talking about the legendary and reckless Guns N Roses. As a way of introduction, let me give you their calling card: It simply reads “Sex, Drugs, and Rock N Roll.” Yeah, everybody knows this catchphrase. But GNR epitomized it. Especially on their 1987 debut album Appetite for Destruction. Which by the way i...

Coming up….the story of a hall-of-fame rocker Steve Miller of the Steve Miller Band who found inspiration for the lyrics of his last BIG hit Abracadabra when he saw another superstar Diana Ross take a MAD tumble on the ski slopes in Idaho. At first, he was solely concerned about whether one of the diva was OK from the fall, but, later, the incident triggered the words for a song that he had shelve...

Coming up, I have an interview with a real blast from the past band, Yacht Rock sensation Pablo Cruise… They had 6 hits in the late 70s into the early 80s, a few of which we hear all the time, including Whatcha Gonna Do, Love Will Find A Way, and Cool Love. But then they disappeared! Would they be forgotten… Not exactly. There were two major events that brought this band back to the masses…two maj...