Professor of Rock

Coming up the two principals from an 80 rock band that is a true mystery… Wally Palmer and Mike Skill of the Romantics explain their 1983 #1 hit Talking In Your Sleep… First of all they had two huge hits that everyone knows… Talking in Your Sleep and What I Like About You...Only What I Like About You wasn’t actually a hit. It was sung by the drummer and got a lot of Mtv and radio play but stalled...

It’s a song that reached the Top 5 all over the world and went to #1 in 8 different countries. It was also one of the early warning shots of the Second British Invasion. and the Human League frontman Phillip Oakey had only learned how to play an instrument months before And although Don’t you Want Me has gone down in history as one of the most pivotal tracks of the 80s, singer Phil Oakey actually...

Coming up some call it the greatest power ballad ever recorded.. Faithfully by Journey. It was one of the best songs of one of the best years in music history.. 1983. It was so universal and impactful that when Prince was writing his own power ballad Purple Rain, he was concerned that he may have subconsciously borrowed from it so he called the band to see what they thought… and even though the le...

Today, it’s the origin story of an unrivaled rock band that was actually “this close” to never happening…Led Zeppelin almost didn’t work. At least not with the legendary lineup we’ve all come to revere. Rising from the ashes of another historic band, the Yardbirds young guitar virtuoso Jimmy Page dreamed of assembling the ultimate rock powerhouse… The only catch was, with a tour already booked, he...

A tribute to the beautiful Christine McVie...She was the endearing “secret weapon” of the brilliant, yet treacherous supergroup Fleetwood …the enchanting songstress that illuminated natural beauty with a quiet, unpretentious confidence. Her bluesy, angelic voice mesmerized us, and the sincerity of her music inspired us with some of the greatest songs of the rock era… Like Everywhere, Don’t Stop, Y...

Up next a #1 hit that took 10 years to write. Kevin Cronin of Reo Speedwagon had the verses finished but he had been searching for the chorus for so long…He felt blocked. With pressure to write a hit for his band’s next album he scheduled a writing session with a famous contemporary but the morning of he canceled because he was physically sick! He was so frustrated that he stared cussing Screaming...

It was Pearl Jam against the world when they were working on their follow up album to Ten that sold more copies that even Nirvana Nevermind in the early 90s. But as Eddie Vedder and co prepared for VS. their sophomore offering, they were tired of fame. They had planned on ten doing so well and they refused to do promotion of the album in terms of music videos etc… The album still hit #1. The signa...

Legendary rock band Kansas was coming off of a huge single with Carry On Wayward Son and album with Leftoverture that established them as the one of the premier bands of the 70s as they were woking on their follow up their main songwriter Kerry Livgren was playing a fingerpicking exercise when his wife noticed and told him he should put lyrics to it. He did and wrote Dust in the Wind with lyrics t...

A lawsuit with a corrupt label stopped rock band Boston from releasing anything for 8 years. After ruling the late 70s with hits like More Than A Feeling and Peace of Mind and Don’t Look Back, Tom Sholz and Brad Delp were paralyzed for almost a decade and even though Tom Sholz wrote Amanda in 1980 he had to wait until 1986 to release it after the band won the verdict and were able to record with a...

Coming up, we’re going to go count down the Top 10 songs of this very same week from the year 1983. It’s the lates edition of our program the hit song redux … And after we count them down, we are going to recalibrate them… revise them based on their all time performance since then. We’re going to show you what the real Top 10 is. Plus, we’re giving you exclusive artist commentary on the songs and...

Some thought she was an overnight success when she swept the grammy in 1989… but guitar-toting songstress Bonnie Raitt was actually two decades, and ten studio albums in the making. Without a doubt, it was a long, hard road to get there. Dropped by her label, written off by critics, and getting loaded after every show, it seemed like her career was over. but Bonnie’s comeback was sweet when she hi...

Coming up one of rock greatest vocalists Ann Wilson of Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame band Heart tells the first hand account of a song that has become part of rock folk lore . the 70s classic, Barracuda Her record label Mushroom set up a publicity stunt that a radio promoter harassed her about implying a sexual relationship with there sister Nancy.. She was so outraged, so livid she went straight to...

Up next two principals from the classic Reggae group UB40, original singer Ali Campbell and toaster the late Astro tell us the compelling story of a song that took 5 years to get to #1! Red Red Wine originally composed and sung by Neil Diamond. In 1983 Red Red Wine went to the top of the charts in the Uk but stalled at #34 in America then 5 years later a DJ played it by accident confusing this ban...

Today’s episode is a bottled lightning two for one. Singer Freddy Curci had Two chart dominating tracks though his bands vanished into thin air shortly after. One with the band Sheriff called When I’m With You that went to #1 in 1989 and one with Alias called More Than Words Can Say that hit #2 the very next year in 1990. So two massive hits with the same singer but two completely different bands....

"In 1971, up and comer Jackson Browne was working on his ‘all important’ debut album, and decided he needed to get out of LA, and take a road trip to visit the Hopi Reservation in Northern Arizona, to clear his head and discover inspiration for new material. He got as far as Winslow, Arizona, when his old Willys Jeep broke down- stranding him for two days. It could’ve been a frustrating ordeal, bu...

Robert Smith of the Cure created a masterpiece in 1989 called Pictures of You after he found an old photograph of his wife Mary when there was a house fire. He immediately wrote the lyrics on what would turn out of be a stand out track on the Cure's masterwork album Disintegration along with Fascination Street, Lovesong, and Lullaby. The record label didn't believe in the album thinking it was too...

Like sonic light cutting through the darkness, listening to this track is guaranteed to take you to a higher plane. It has been called one of the of the greatest guitar songs ever written. And it contains one of the greatest solos ever played. Steve Vai’s For The Love of God came about in an instinctive moment after this virtuoso picked up his guitar and everything just started to flow. He had fas...

Description When Legendary singer guitarist Lindsey Buckingham wrote the bitter cut throat rocker Go You Own Way calling out his ex girlfriend Stevie Nicks, accusing her of sleeping around it was caustic and blatant. She had to sing it with him every single night! Fleetwood Mac had the biggest rock and roll Soap Opera ever documented. and it was all in the music we heard on the 30 million selling...

At a massive show at Wembley Stadium, the headliner Stevie wonder was all set to play in front of 72K people and a television audience of over 600 million. When all of a sudden his main instrument with all of his pre recorded backing music was gone… He could’t play so the promoters asked a little known artist named Tracy Chapman with only an acoustic guitar to fill in. She played her song Fast Car...

For once on our show…A song that came from no real inspiration at all.. Just a Jingle writer forcing himself to write a song on a lazy day where he was about to sneak off to the beach or go home. Mark Foster of Foster the People wrote Pumped Up Kicks in an afternoon just messing around. He pretty much just pushed himself to write a song that would become a masterpiece. He recorded a rough demo pla...

Voted the greatest #2 hit in the history of Britain, this song is simply one of the finest singles of the 1980s armed with a spirit of mystery and noir by a new wave band who were kept out of #1 by one of the worst hits of it’s time… Vienna by Ultravox was an 80s phenomenon. Up next Midge Ure who wrote and sang this classic tells the story of creating this classic with it’s perfect Vilola solo. He...

Bette Davis Eyes was recorded several times and didn’t go anywhere… Then 5 years later it was re recorded with a completely different arrangment with a voice so raspy everyone mistook the singer for Rod Stewart…With Kim Carnes distinct voice, the song spread like wildfire. Bette Davis Eyes had become a quintessential 80s synth classic. It got so big its success was impossible to duplicate. It even...

Former Beatle Paul McCartney was trying to establish his band Wings when he flew to Nigeria to record Band on the Run. 2 key members quite right before and then when they arrived equipment in the studio was dismal and one day when Paul and Linda were walking the streets they were threatened at knifepoint by a gang of terrorists… Paul had to keep calm if he was going to save he and wife’s life. So...

It’s one of the most recognizable songs EVER and one that had DOMINATED Pop Culture as much as any piece of music in the modern era. Africa by Toto has been a part of a long list of tv and film placements and covered by hundreds of artists, this classic rock standard has become an immortal entry in the pages of music history. And yet the band called it a “wildcard song,” THEY ABSOLUTELY never Expe...

In the mid-50s, a school-teacher, and a former dishwasher repairman collaborated on writing a song allegedly inspired by the suicide note of a despondent man that was included in an article published by the Miami Herald. It would turn out to be for the King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley… The song? Heartbreak Hotel. In fact the schoolteacher named Mae Axton vowed to Elvis that she would write his...