Professor of Rock

"Coming up, the evolution of a universal rock standard that was rescued from obscurity by a 17 year old, future icon, who happened to see a live performance of the song while watching TV in a hotel room in London. Joan Jett was touring with the Runaways when she saw the Arrows perform I Love Rock and Roll on TV. Joan made a pact to cover the song no matter what. She Knew it would be a #1 hit. It t...

This all time rock classic appeared on the biggest selling album of all time. Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975… Already Gone was the most rocking single that Glenn Frey and Don Henley and the Eagles ever did.… It came out of funny situation…while in the backroom of a place he used to gig at Hall of Fame songwriter Jack Tempchin was thirsty and searching for something to Drink. when he opened...

For a lot of US listeners, today’s band is a well-kept Canadian secret. And that’s not a good thing, because these classic rockers have turned out a killer catalog that includes multiple Top 40 hits... just not on this side of the border. It’s Tom Cochrane’ and his band Red Rider. Their classic rock battle cry: Lunatic Fringe is continually cited as one of the best one hit wonder of the 80s only i...

When anyone thinks of the baddest rock stars on the planet, Billy Joel would likely be at the back of the line because they judge his work and persona off of a few radio hits. Uptown Girl, Just the Way You Are, We Didn’t Start the Fire... Well that bias has caused many to miss out on one of the greatest back catalogs of songs in history and one of baddest cats in the business… Mr. Billy Joel the P...

Coming up an icon of the 80s was using a urinal when a fan recognized him and came up midstream and pitched him his demo. He gave him the tape when he was finished. the icon was Rick Springfield mourned the times Jessie’s Girl was a hit. Part of the music on that demo became his top 10 hit Affair of the Heart. Then a few years later another 80s icon (Steve Kilby of the Church) was using the bathro...

This band’s heavy Debut single was one of the biggest rock hits of the year but critics wrote them off as a Grunge also ran. Collective Soul hit #1 on the Rock charts with Shine. Critics were dead wrong. It was a huge mistake on their part since Ed Roland and Collective Soul weren’t of that caliber just in the same time frame.. Their second album 90s classic December blew the sophomore jinx out of...

Gary Puckett and the Union Gap were playing wherever they could when they got discovered. They got their big break while they were playing a gig inside of a bowling alley. IN fact they signed the record contract inside the same bowling alley about a month later they hit the charts with fury, with 6 consecutive gold hits and actually outsold the Beatles in 1968. Young Girl was the big hit for them...

Up next ZZ TOP was doing well in the 70s but when they entered the 80s they wanted to up their game after hearing the modern sound of several New Wave and Synth pop acts of the 80s like Depeche Mode and Duran Duran so they updated their sound adding keyboards to their guitar attack along with some high tech music videos for MTV and instantly blew up as one of the most recognizable bands in history...

The story LA punk band X and their 1980s masterpiece album Los Angeles. Both John Doe and Xene Cervenka give their recollections of the scene and music that has influenced everyone since with X’s distinct brand of rockabilly, punk, American and folk. X is one of the most compelling and influential underground bands of the 80s punk and alternative scene with a new perspective on an indie record tha...

Daryl Hall and John Oates 1981 hit I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) is one of the most sampled songs in music history. It went to #1 after Olivia Newton John spent an 80s record 10 weeks at #1 Stopping Hall and Oates from replacing themselves at #1 since Private Eyes was at #1 just before Physical’s run. (It also kept Foreigner at #2 for a record 10 weeks! Not only has been sampled by numerous icon...

How Led Zeppelin threw this song away is beyond me. Next we break down a classic rock hidden gem Hey Hey What Can I Do which was the B side to the 45 of Immigrant song Written by the world’s biggest rock band Sadly, it never made it onto its intended album, Led Zeppelin 3 or any of the six that followed. And yet it has been hailed as a top-notch tune, living for decades as a holy grail rarity. A s...

One of the 80s best hit songwriters Holly Knight created the perfect song for an up and coming rookie Patty Smyth or Scandal featuring Patty Smyth called the Warrior… When Patty Smyth heard it she absolutely loved it. She knew it was a hit… She would be proven right as it went to #1 on the rock charts and #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. When it came to the music video…it was a different story and eve...

This is Episode 1 of a compelling interview with Thomas Dolby who most recall as the 80s video star on MTV with his quintessential hit, She Blinded Me With Science and as a Master Producer for many acts including Prefab Sprout but did you know that he played with David Bowie at Live Aid and along the way founded a Silicon Valley Software Company called Beatnik that's technology has been used to pl...

Coming up a conversation with the hilarious duo They Might Be Giants who helped originate geek rock from with alternative vibe. Diving into their double platinum record Flood from 1990 including an in depth discussion on their modern rock hits Birdhouse in Your Soul.. early on, the two Johns… John Flansburgh and John Linnell found that Writing one minute songs was their forte and then they sprung...

The most streamed song for the band Kiss is I was Made For Loving You.. this 1979 hit started as a challenge between a disco producer & legendary front man Paul Stanley… Paul maintained, that it was much easier to write a “disco hit” than it was to write a rock hit. We go ‘behind the masks’ to reveal how the world’s most famous glam rock band created their biggest international hit…from the Ki...

Joe Jackson Stepping Out was the best song of1982. That’s saying something because 82 was a massive year in music, it was the year of mega chart singles like Eye of the Tiger by Survivor, Physical by Olivia Newton John and I love Rock and Roll by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and big albums like Men at Work’s Business as Usual Prince 1999, Duran Duran Rio even Michael Jackson Thriller came out at...

80s rock band Survivor was flying high in 1982. They’d just scored their first #1 hit with Eye of the Tiger spending 6 weeks at the top of the summit and were ready for more but when their next album flopped and their lead singer Dave Bickler lost his voice, Many wondered if this band would survive… after auditioning many singers they found the perfect frontman in Jimi Jamison as well as the perfe...

Up next a rock legend and metal god Rob Halford of Judas Priest gives the straight story behind the 80s heavy metal classic You’ve Got Another Thing Coming which started out as a b side until radio and their label turned it into the spark that pushed mainstream radio to play the music that was meant for the outcasts and misfits. Rob also talks about being part of Tipper Gore’s Filthy 15 list of ba...

the 80s classic hit In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins has arguably the most famous urban legend behind it in rock history. Told and retold thousands of times. Did Phil Collins of Genesis really witness a potential murder and then write about it to haunt the killer? Or is it a total farce? The story of a song that has become one of the biggest of its time only to stall outside of the top 10 back i...

Coming up…A tale of two lead singers Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth. Both fronted Van Halen… Both had different philosophies. WE look at them through two classic song from both eras… Aint Talkin’ Bout Love from the 70s debut and Why Can’t This Be Love from the 80s album 5150. They are both great because the music for each was written by the genius Eddie Van Halen along with the usual offerings by...

Tom Petty risked everything to earn his freedom form a cheating record label. The Result was captured in one of his greatest 80s hits, Refugee. Tom Petty risked His finances, his reputation, his future in music, even his mental health... it was all on the line. But the alternative was something much worse, working under a dishonest contract that was more or less musical servitude. Going bankrupt i...

The Police created the 1983 #1 Hit Every Breath You Take at a tumultuous time.. Sting was going through a painful divorce, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers were fighting tooth and nail with Sting to get their ideas heard and producer Hugh Padgham was in the middle of the strife. Manager Miles Copeland had to go lay down the law. They were the biggest band in the world and they wanted Synchronicit...

When Martin Fry of 80s New Wave band ABC was sick, music saved him. This Charismatic velvet voiced new wave frontman was going through his darkest times, when he had Hodgkins disease. As he battled cancer with chemotherapy he realized that listening to his favorite music lifted him up out of despair and so he wanted to create a song that paid tribute to this joyful music of motown that helped him...

The real story of how Dave the Snake Sabo and Skid Row created the 80s metal classic 18 and Life. There are a lot of urban legends about this song and Dave sets the record straight. The top 5 hit came from Skid Row’s multi-platinum 1989 self titled album that included the hits Youth Gone Wild, I Remember You and this classic. . As an opener for Bon Jovi during their New Jersey tour, many said that...

Burton Cummings of the Guess Who made up the all time 70s rock classic American Woman on the spot in the middle of a live show… while hearing Randy Bachman’s guitar vamp Burton sang the famous lines stream of conscience and a #1 hit was born. Luckily a bootlegger was recording the show and the Band got a hold of the cassette and recorded it after. Contrary to popular belief the song was not writte...