Professor of Rock

Coming up, it’s a full-speed, kick-you-in-the-teeth, adrenaline-fueled rocker… inspired by an 80s legend who literally had a death wish. Motley Crue and their once-in-a-lifetime rocker Kickstart My Heart from their 1989 classic Dr. Feelgood. It all happened on one notorious night back in 1987, Nikki Sixx the decadent rockstar overdosed after a night of reckless abandon… scaring the hell out of his...

Legendary Producer and artist Jeff Lynne from Electric Light Orchestra, who was only a few years removed from writing and performing 8 top 10 hits with ELO, was producing George Harrison’s 1987 comeback album Cloud Nine. The comeback would be big with 2 huge hits.. including I Got My Mind Set on You and When We Was Fab. The two of them decided to put together a supergroup. They both agreed to find...

In 1985, pop music was not a forum for the dark subject of abuse, doors were opened leading up to that year to take about deep subjects from Tears for Fears to an awkward singer named Aimee Mann was fronting a New Wave band called Til Tuesday from Boston brought the taboo topic to light with a groundbreaking song about empowerment. Voices Carry was a New Wave revelation. It was one of the most mem...

Coming up, an interview with one of the most interesting frontmen in music on his band’s signature song. John McCrea of CAKE on their 90s classic GOING the DISTANCE A song that has one of the most iconic first lines of the last 30 years. I have to admit I was a little intimidated to interview Cake’s frontman because he’s wicked smart… You’ll have to see how I did. His explanation of the meaning of...

The story of this next song is so good. So entertaining it almost feels made up, but it’s not. Van Halen with David Lee Roth at the helm headlined one of the first big festivals of the 80s… while they were in the middle of working on the song Jump from their blockbuster hard rock masterpiece 1984. The other big headliner was the Clash, the most famous punk band on the planet, and Joe Strummer and...

It is arguably the most ambitious and iconic concept album ever created, written by a band that was coming apart at the seams. Pink Floyd the Wall. It was Born out of the mind of mad genius Roger Waters one of the rock era’s most provocative and insightful lyricists, its genesis began when a stadium-sized concert went sideways. Feeling disconnected from his audience, Roger Waters lost it when one...

Up next, a band that had to fight tooth and nail to get airplay on American radio in the late 70s. The Police struggled to get a fair shake in 1979 but just a few years later they were the #1 band in the world when Synchronicity and Every Breath You Take were #1 globally. Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland’s global domination would begin with today’s song that is a no doubt about it classic...

Today, it's the defining track of a big-budget, no holds barred rock opus. But writing this signature song would be a harrowing experience for this band’s frontman Dave Grohl. Just a couple years removed from the suicide of his friend and bandmate, Kurt Cobain when he was in NIRVANA, Dave Grohl was trying to move on. Now with a new band Foo Fighters and writing their second album the Colour and th...

Alright, so today we’re going old school… taking you back to a shocking and iconic hit from the 70s. It was from a rockstar that defined the word and he put every teacher on notice when he wrote this defiant rocker. I”m talking about Alice Cooper and his anthem Schools Out. No two greatest words were ever spoken in a rock song… at least not to us when we were kids in school. All of us have been si...

Up next an interview with a principal band member and cowriter of one of the most recognizable and popular songs of the 80s. except for the fact that it was actually written, recorded, released and peaked on the charts in the 70s! Video Killed The Radio Star by the Buggles was actually a 70s song But because it was part of one of the most revolutionary moments in music history when it was the firs...

Up next, one of the greatest living guitarists Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme tells us the story of his band’s hit that he believed in so much that he almost quit the band in protest. The label didn’t want to release More Than Words as a single because there was nothing on radio like it at the time. It was the time of big explosive power ballads and his song was more like a Beatles song… but he knew...

When Led Zeppelin touched down with their debut album, it shook the entire world. And a short while later, they were shaking American concert-goers as well, as they toured non-stop to support this groundbreaking LP. They were so hot their label demanded they make another record, Led Zeppelin II just months after their debut dropped and they made them keep touring unrelentlessly… So they had to wri...

Coming up, an interview with the two principles from hard rock arena band Night Ranger. the band ruled 80s rock radio and here Professor of Rock interviews lead singer Jack Blades and drummer/singer Kelly Keagy as they shared the story behind one of the catchiest, raise your fist in the air, sing it to the top of your lungs rockers of 1984… the #1 classic Sister Christian. I don’t know if it’s ill...

Coming up, it’s 80s power pop at its best. The Cars and their 5th studio album Heartbeat City it sold 5 million and churned out 5 big hits.. But it didn’t come easy for this lead song from the album. In fact, it was a lifetime in the making… Or at least that’s how it felt to it’s band. Used to kicking out albums on the fly, their first four albums were a breeze to record. However, their fifth? Tha...

The game of life is like…a game of poker. And who would’ve known that some of the best advice for life would be found inside a song about playing poker The Gambler by all-time legend Kenny Rogers! … A SONG everyone knows by heart and a song that changed the fortune of a computer operator working a graveyard shift in up-and-coming songwriter Don Schlitz, and elevated a middle-aged singer into super...

Today’s rock band Survivor was on top of the world in 1982 with one of the biggest #1 hits ever in Eye of the Tiger... They were Poised to break out big time. But then their next album fizzled with no hits and then their singer Dave Bickler blew out his voice, in 1984 they would forge one of the biggest comebacks of the decade with a new singer Jimi Jamison who was tailor-made for their sound. The...

Coming up… the story of the greatest supergroup ever assembled. And there’s not a close second. the thing is they only recorded one song and they are only together for one night. USA for Africa with the #1 charity single We Are the World. One night where legends of all time like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, Steve Perry of Journey, Daryl Hall and John Oates,...

It’s the story of an 80s mega-hit song that topped the charts in at least 25 countries. But it almost never happened. While a young Rick Astley was looking for his big break, he got picked up by one of the UK’s premiere production teams. Stock Aitken and Waterman (SAW)... Only instead of letting him record an album, they had him doing chores around the studio… assigning him to make tea for the cre...

Coming up, the classic 80s duo OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) tell the unbelievable story of hitting an impossible deadline. They had to write and record a song for the iconic 80s movie Pretty in Pink in just one night. The Director, John Hughes already had a song from them but watched the pivotal ending scene at the prom where they would place the song but he needed something more. The 8...

Coming up, it’s the story of the 80s rock band Big Country whose sound was a unique mixture of modern rock and unique Scottish folk elements … After catching a break touring with Alice Cooper, they had bottles of urine thrown at them, but they held on and persevered and their debut album The Crossing would go on to sell over 2 million copies and produced one of the most timeless singles of the 80s...

I love stories like our next one. I had the chance to interview one of the nicest guys in music. He’s the equivalent of that children’s story the little engine who could. Technically he only had one hit… It was one of those rare songs where the song’s title is never said in the song…Romeo’s Tune by Steve Forbert… Forbert was a small-town guy who went to new york and made it in music. Truth is Rome...

Coming up…. When punk rock band Blondie recorded a disco song they alienated their punk followers who accused them of selling out. Deborah Harry and Chris Stein loved disco but their fans didn’t. On the flip side, the disco faithful treated them like outsiders who were merely pandering for commercial success. But here’s the thing… It’s one of the coolest songs of its time… In the middle of this id...

Coming up, an interview with a true 80s icon, Huey Lewis and the News on one of the biggest songs of the 80s. The Power of Love from the 1985 blockbuster Back to the Future. He was in the midst of a huge album in Sports that had 4 big hits Heart and Soul, The Heart of Rock and Roll, I Want a New Drug and This is It. Then he got invited to sit down with the biggest director in film history, Steven...

The making of one of the biggest rock albums of the 80s was full of drama, comedy, secret messages, and young lust. Def Leppard Pyromania... It started out with Def Leppard having to fire their longtime guitarist Pete Willis who was so drunk he couldn’t play the songs. They brought in a hot shot rookie named Phil Collen who became the missing piece that helped make this band one of the biggest of...

Coming up, it’s a song that can only be described as ‘epic.’ In a Gadda Davida by Iron Butterfly, originally radio-friendly in length,later grew to monster proportions, swallowing up an entire side of an album. All thanks to a prolonged jam session that wouldn’t stop. The engineer liked what he heard and kept the tape rolling… and when it was done, Iron Butterfly had made history. Plus its gibberi...