Professor of Rock

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Coming Up a song that missed the top 40 in the early 80s but has since then Rock Lobster by the B-52s has become a modern day standard and a major influence after it was released. Cindy Wilson tells the story of how it helped John Lennon come out of retirement and how she and Kate Pierson mimicked sea creatures to get it’s interesting sound and Fred Schneider’s deadpan delivery. The song was punct...

Up next the story of one of the greatest new wave singles ever released from the lead singer and songwriter of 80s band MODERN ENGLISH, mr. Robbie Grey on the crazy story of I Melt With You which was Inspired by nuclear war and It reached number seven on Billboard mainstream rock chart in 1983 and was re-released in 1990 reaching number 76 on its Hot 100 chart in 1990 Even though it was a one hit...

Everyone loves a love triangle, right? Just as long as you’re not the one on the outs. Well, today’s song was written by Stone Temple Pilots. Frontman Scott Weiland wrote the lyrics about a love triangle between he and his fiancee and the third party, who wasn’t human. The song was a massive hit on the rock charts in the 90s after STP’s first album blew up and critics trashed the band, but they ha...

80s New Wave band, Naked Eyes consisting of Pete Byrne and Rob Fisher took the Burt Bacharach and Hal David classic (There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me and turned it into a show stopping 80s classic taking it to upper reaches of the Billboard Hot 100, retitling it simply, Always Something There To Remind Me. Naked Eyes Lead Singer Pete Byrne tells the story of recording the classic at Ab...

Introducing the story of 5 cult classics from 80s New Wave. I’ve said it before, Some people are sticklers for labels or genres. I’m calling them new wave... Here are five New Wave Cult classics hidden gems from the 80s that deserve recognition and celebration including the Smiths Rusholme Ruffians from Meat is Murder, my favorite band ever. Appetite by Prefab Sprout from Steve McQueen, who’s sing...

Coming up, 80s guitar hero Steve Stevens who shredded and co-wrote many of Billy Idol’s greatest songs had his gear set up in a studio when film composer Harold Faltermeyer asked him to play a blazing solo for an upcoming movie starring Tom Cruise. The guitar virtuoso began to shred and within minutes he finished the song in 1 take and moved on to the next thing and forgot all about it. To him it...

In the late 70s, Led Zeppelin divided their fanbase when they released an album that, well... didn’t rock... Or at least that what the naysayers said. Admittedly, this record and today’s song All My Love were a journey into new territory. But Zeppelin wasn’t apologizing. In fact, it was a matter of personal catharsis for Robert Plant who was coming to grips with the most devastating tragedy of his...

Stranger Things Season 4 is just around the corner and in celebration we’re counting down the Top 5 songs from Stranger Things Season 3. In this episode, we’re really packing in as much as we can. With exclusive artist interviews, including REO Speedwagon, Howard Jones Limahl and Foreigner and we’ll go behind the scenes of the show including the big final that had the Theme song from the 80s fanta...

Up next Jefferson Airplane revolutionized 60s rock with a rebellious psychedelic spirit, but after a split they changed when the decade ended. Transforming into a classic rock 70s outfit with a more accessible sound starting with the hit song JANE. sung by newcomer Mickey Thomas. who share this insight along with band member David Frieberg who co-wrote the classic, turning Classic Rock radio upsid...

The unorthodox track known as Lullaby by Robert Smith and the Cure has so many stories tied to it. It came from the 1989 classic Disintegration that record execs called a career killer. The creepy opus really was misunderstood from the start. However, hypnotic, haunting, and kind of horrible, this song told a tale that was too shocking to turn away from. About a Spider eating Smith alive. it was t...

In a year of blockbuster albums songs and artists the English synth domino Howard Jones Quietly released his sophomore album Dream into Action after several successive singles, he released his synth-pop masterwork…No One Is To Blame, which should’ve hit #1 but 1 radio station refused to play it. Up next this 80s icon tells why and how he wrote a standard due to an off-the-cuff comment. HoJo then h...

Coming up: legendary producer Narada Michael Walden tells us two stories that will make you laugh with joy! One of the most successful producers ever tells us how he was in the middle of working with Aretha Franklin when a 19 year old rookie name Whitney Houston walked in with a powerhouse confidence he’d never seen and recorded the #1 80s smash How Will I Know in 1 take beginning a legendary care...

Rupert Holmes tells the story behind the top ten hit HIM from 1980 after hitting #1 at the end of 1979 and early 1980, with Escape the Pina Colada song . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Coming up. A combination of two interviews with the co leads of 80s synth band Wang Chung, Jack Hues and Nick Feldman who wrote several hits that defined the era. Here we find out that their 1984 hit Dance Hall Days was well desired. The biggest icon on the planet at that moment Michael Jackson wanted to record the song, but wanted to change the lyrics. This 80s group declined and instead of being...

Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were lovers who had been trying to make it in music for years. After some fiery arguments, years of failures and poverty, Stevie decided to quit music for good. One night she put all that pain into a song she called Landslide. Almost over night after writing that classic she and Lindsey met Fleetwood Mac and they were asked to join up. They recorded the white al...

Coming up, we’re going to go behind the Top 10 songs of this VERY same week from the year 1970. 52 years ago. This top 10 has one of the greatest most revered tracks gracing its ranks. Will The Beatles be crowned #1? Not if the Jackson 5, The Guess Who or solo John Lennon have anything to say about it. Plus, we have some surprise underdogs and one of the most successful one hit wonders of all time...

Coming up a british new wave paragon of the 80s Cy Curnin of the Fixx takes us behind his band’s haunting first album. Released in 1982, the 2 biggest singles form the record Stand or Fall and Red Skies not only became their first charting hits in America, they captured the atmosphere of the cold war 80s in eerie fashion. The song still resonate today and have the ability of hypnotizing you as a l...

This nerdy 80s rocker gave me some much needed motivation as I stood at the highest diving platform at the massive community pool trying to get the nerve to the impossible. With a beautiful lifeguard looking on and the bullies razzing me, it was dive or die. The soundtrack of this conquering day in my life was Ah Leah by Donnie Iris. the 80s classic that should’ve been a #1 hit. Up next I tell the...

To many in the US, today’s international artist is simply known as the “balloon chick.” That’s in no small part thanks to her #2 US hit about lighter-than-air party favors. And though this song is only a small part of Nena's career, she doesn’t mind the label One Hit Wonder. Because believe it or not, 99 Luftballoons is a masterful anthem speaking out against Cold War fear and paranoia. It’s the u...

Known to many as hard and heavy rockers, Led Zeppelin has written some of the greatest pulse-pounding classics of the past half-century. But at one point they were actually called out by George Harrison for rocking too much. Challenged to bring it down a few notches, guitar virtuoso Jimmy Page composed a sonic soundscape so lush and surreal that one of rock’s premiere producers said it defied clas...

Today we talk with the lead singer and co-writer of one of the best British new wave duos of the 80s… The soul surviving hit making group, Go West. Go West was formed by the soulful new wave crooner Peter Cox and the smooth voiced Richard Drummie in the 80s and were successful in the UK first with the hit We Close Our Eyes. Which went top5 on the british charts while getting radio play in America...

Legendary Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell grew up stealing clothes from a thrift store and even stole from a commercial airline This is the hilarious story of Been Caught Stealing the 90s alternative rock classic from Ritual De Lo Habitual which signified Jane’s as the Godfathers of Alternative Rock. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at...

While driving home from rehearsal one day, Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers was in a melancholy mood. Flashing back to his former drug-induced days, he saw himself strung-out on a dirty mattress beneath an overpass. Surrounded by junkies and gang-bangers, it was a miracle that he was still alive. Suddenly, in the midst of his sorrow, he started singing... And for the rest of the ride, he fr...

Up next we’re going to go go behind the top 10 songs of this VERY same week from the year 1983 39 years ago. This top 10 has a very unique event… Michael Jackson was at #1 the week previous to this and would have a chance to replace himself at #1 Will he do it or will Styx, Prince, Dexy’s Midnight Runners or the Police stop him? With your stories and the artist’s commentary from exclusive intervie...