Professor of Rock

They’re one of the greatest Duos ever. A rare and unique pairing that comes along maybe once a generation. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel…AKA Simon and Garfunkel… Over the span of half a decade, they became so popular that at one point their records owned the top 3 spots on the US Albums chart. Sadly, however, this partnership didn’t last. Fraught with jealousy and bitterness, their relationship cam...

Coming up, the story of the epic 70s rock track with so many dramatic subplots, it should’ve been made into a full feature bio-pic- like Bohemian Rhapsody or Walk the Line. Derek and the Dominos classic Layla The roots of Layla go back to the the writings of a romantic tragedy by a 12th century poet that was a foreshadowing to Romeo & Juliet. Hundreds of years later, an adaptation of his work...

Coming up a song that has become a classic rock standard and one that started it all for one of the greatest American rock bands in history... Journey… The song? Wheel In the Sky from their 70s classic album infinity... To think it wouldn’t have happened if the road manager hadn’t insisted on pulling the tour van over to get a candy bar.. or Take a piss, depending on the story! At the time the you...

Glam Metal band Europe wrote a keyboard instrumental to be the opening music for their live shows…to play while they were walking out on stage… Then half the band HATED it…and they actually shelved it for 5 years. Then they needed a song for their next album and dusted it off thinking it would be no more than a filler track. It not only became their signature song.. it became a stadium rock anthem...

It’s interesting how a band can blow up on the other side of the pond in the UK and be one of the most renowned bands of it’s time and then over here in the States are just a one-hit wonder… Well, today’s band and song are a lot more than that! The band Madness were trailblazers in their native England with 30 top 40 hits over the course of the 70s 80s and 90s with 17 of those going to the top 10....

Coming up… separate interviews with 2 legends behind one of the most truthful and compelling songs of the rock era: The Heart of the Matter by Don Henley written for his solo album The End of the Innocence. It's a song that’s changed so many people’s lives including mine with a message that’s so life-affirming and real it should be required listening… It’s just universal. And one of me most import...

In 1977 legend Jeff Lynne of ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) was trying to write songs for a new record but the weather was so dark around him he went into a funk.. Down and depressed he battled writer’s block and couldn’t write for weeks… He drowned his sorrows at the pub but one morning the sun came out and it shook him from his gloom and inspired him to write 13 songs in a little over a week inc...

It’s a song that is guaranteed to REARRANGE your mind. Just ask the legendary artist who wrote it. Freddie Mercury of Queen. Before this track, neither he nor his band QUEEN had much to show for their efforts. Two albums in, and almost no one knew who they were outside the UK. Actually, they tried touring across America to get their name out there. But their guitarist, Brian May had to be hospital...

It’s one of the most essential tracks of the 80s, a song that perfectly captures the neon decade in all its glory and infamy. Everybody want to rule the world by Tears for Fears. The thing is... it almost never happened. Written by a band that was virtually unknown in the US at the time, this track changed everything… it went to #1 and is still arguably the definitive track of the 80s… But the tru...

Today’s song only needed its opening note to spark a revolution on rock radio. It’s sinister, it’s mind-altering, it’s empowering. One growling intro note is all it takes to open the portal to an otherworldly soundscape, masterfully crafted by one of the most colossal forces in rock history. This Rock band broke the world in two with this 1981 gateway anthem that turned all of us into believers an...

Coming up… New Wave and Rock icon Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders faced the unpleasant task of having to fire one of the co-founders of her band…Then two days later, she faced the death of another co-founder that she cherished as “her right hand,” James Honeyman-Scott, and struggled with a volatile relationship with her ex-lover, Ray Davies of the Kinks. All of this happened while she was three m...

They spent roughly a million dollars making an album that should have been the biggest of its time. However, after the better part of a year, this band, Foo Fighters threw it all away… They completely scrapped the record. No one in the band liked the finished tracks, which Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins dubbed them the “Million Dollar Demos.” Even worse, all four band members were all at each other...

Coming up… It may just be the greatest Hard Rock song ever. With music by the foremost guitar hero of Generation X, the late Eddie Van Halen, and lyrics by rock’s ultimate frontman Diamond Dave… David Lee Roth. He wrote the words in response to a reporter's editorial that he only sang about "women, partying, and fast cars.” Diamond Dave took exception to the reporter implying that he was a stereot...

Three strikes and you’re out. Isn’t that usually how it goes? Well, not for today’s band… Alphaville who despite repeatedly failing to break into the Hot 100 with the same single…the 80s classic Forever Young, still turned the 1984 single into a massive pop culture phenomenon. Played on underground radio here in America, a lot of people here just didn’t catch on to it until long after its release…...

All eyes were on this legendary band after they released their megalithic fourth album Led Zeppelin IV. Championed by many as the greatest rock record ever written… Everyone was clamoring for a sequel. But they wouldn’t get it. Instead, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham took a sharp left turn into unexplored territory… kicking out a bold collection of songs that tapped int...

Coming up…. Jimmy Buffett became the wealthiest artist of the rock era because of his clever songs that he turned into crafty entrepreneurial maneuvers. But there was a time when he was given free drinks as compensation for entertaining barflies, and didn’t own a collared shirt or a pair of jeans with no holes. His career was in such bad shape, he contemplated committing suicide in a hotel room. T...

After this rookie hit the top 10 for the first time in 1983 he was ready to take his place amongst the legends with his follow-up… Prince Rogers Nelson otherwise known as just Prince created something that he wasn’t really comfortable doing. Writing a big stadium power ballad. He actually saw Bob Seger inspire a crowd doing one of his own classics and was intrigued, believing he could write a grea...

Coming up, it’s the latest edition of our program the Hit Song Redux. In this show, we go behind the Top 10 songs from this very same week 40 years ago in September of 1983! But counting them down isn’t enough. After we reach #1, we re-rank them according to all-time streams and views… to see what the real #1 hit is. Today we’ve got a massive lineup in store, with some of the most iconic tracks th...

Coming up next, an interview with a legend on a feel-good singalong 80s classic. First, this legendary singer-songwriter was told by a big-time movie producer his movie song would be used for a dancing puppet... which he thought would be lame… Secondly during the recording of the song this singer invited another famous rocker to do background vocals but he forgot to give him credit when the song b...

Today, we’re bringing you the story of a perfect pop song… the 1984 smash hit Hard Habit to Break by Chicago… It was an 80s pocket symphony that hearkens back to the genius of the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds. This band and this song feature one of the most power-packed vocal duos of all time. Peter Cetera and Bill Champlin’s vocal prowess was second to none. On this episode, we’re giving you an exclusi...

Although Pink Floyd is no stranger to this channel, we really are breaking new ground here… taking on an epic album that we’ve never covered before. And with it, a formidable song that is as darkly beautiful as they come. Were covering the dog-eat-dog track from Pink Floyd’s 1977 masterpiece Animals, Dogs… It was written by one of the premiere lyrical geniuses of the past half-century… Roger Water...

Today I have a very interesting interview with a legendary singer and former frontman of one of the biggest bands of the 80s Dennis DeYoung was with Styx for many years but his 1983 song Mr. Roboto may actually have been the straw that broke this band up. Mr. Roboto was a huge hit and it's still ahead of its time decades after it became a mega smash. It’ rocketed up the charts and has become the s...

Up next, an interview with one of the most prolific songwriters in history… JD Souther...He co-wrote many hits for the biggest-selling American band ever, the Eagles. Today he tells the first-hand account of the Eagles' #1 hit sung by Glenn Frey and Don Henley that was a full-on brawl. The 1980 classic, Heartache Tonight. Coming from the multi-million-selling 1976 classic Hotel California, this hi...

"Coming up the story of the groovy, “feel good” pop classic, Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison. Despite the song’s tremendous, enduring success, Van Morrison, who composed it & sang it, didn’t feel good about ANYTHING to do with the song. First of all, he made a terrible deal with a record label in which he received no royalties, and had to beg this unscrupulous label for a little money just to...

In this short interview, we pay tribute to the late great 70s icon Gary Wright, who passed away on September 5th 2023, six years after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's. Today we celebrate his #1 multi-platinum 70s classic Dream Weaver in an exclusive interview. . The songs "Dream Weaver" and "Love is Alive" were multi-platinum hits. Dream Weaver was released in 1975 but i peaked in 1976. Dream We...