Professor of Rock

If there was ever a cautionary tale about a rock group making a deal with the devil to hit the big time, it would be the story of the rise and fall of SWEET. A saga of talent, fame & excess, followed by violence, frustration, alcoholism, disaster, poverty, and death. Along this bumpy journey, there are a lot of GREAT songs that will make you stand up and cheer. I want to warn you….it’s gonna b...

Coming up, We Break down the biggest selling album of Rush’s storied career, celebrating Moving Pictures 40th Anniversary by unboxing the Deluxe 5 Lp set. You Can Purchase Here: https://rush.lnk.to/MovingPictures40th0F 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-no...

In early 1988 the INXS song Need You Tonight went to #1… becoming the signature hit for a legendary band with closet full of hits and memorable songs..Not bad for a song that was written on a crappy little 8 track machine while a taxi honked impatiently while it’s co writer Andrew Farriss tried to finish it so he wouldn’t miss his plane to Hong Kong to write with iconic lead singer, Michael Hutche...

WE count down the top 5 hidden gems from 80s movies. When you do this, it’s almost impossible to avoid the great John Hughes. He fingerprints were all over the greatest movies of the time like Weird Science (OINGO BOINGO), Pretty in Pink (OMD), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (The Beatles) The Breakfast Club (Simple Minds) but here we capture the hidden gems in his and others films including the Karate K...

up next one of the most under appreciated singers of the 80s had a few years of bad luck in the industry… until he was in the right place at the right time and got a career defining opportunity when one of the biggest movies of 1990 used their song in the opening credits and the song became a smash. The heart stopping singer tells us the story of one of the greatest movie songs ever and how the ti...

While Canadian Singer-Songwriter Gordon Lightfoot was at his secluded Farm entrenched in writing his new album, his drop-dead gorgeous girlfriend went out on the town and partied.. As the sun began to set, he began to wonder who she might be with, and even worse, what she might be doing. Crazy with jealousy, he penned the gut-wrenching 1970s #1 hit Sundown that no boyfriend wants to think too hard...

One of the most heart wrenching love songs of the 80s steeped in a happy go lucky feel. Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits is a bit of conundrum. Find out what this riddle of a song means from their 1980 classic album Making Movies and how Mark Knopfler took a breakup and made it an all-time standard next on Professor of Rock Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See P...

in 1989 a song was released that blew up radio with its sophisticated, multi-layered pop elegance. (sowing) the Seeds Of Love By Tears for Fears would capture the hearts and minds of listeners globally. Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith had created another phenomenal record after taking the world by storm with 1985’s masterpiece Songs from the Big Chair which included the #1 hits Everybody Wants to Ru...

In world of Autotuned, plastic pop fast food music, is there anyway to save great music? Is there a way to save one of the most important art forms in history of our world? We must. THE ALBUM is about to be extinct.. Imagine all that you have gained from Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon, Led Zeppelin IV, Rush Moving Pictures, Peter Gabriel So, Prince Purple Rain, The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely H...

George Michael was a part of the big 80s duo that had 3 #1 hits and one of the most successful albums of 1985 Wham Make It Big… then he went solo and went even bigger…SO big that he surpassed the newest releases by Prince, Michael Jackson, Madonna and Whitney Houston with his 1987 LP Faith. up next the story of his blockbuster album Faith that had 6 top 5 hits and 4 of those went to #1 including M...

the true story of John Fogerty formerly of Creedence Clearwater Revival CCR who was put on trial for plagiarizing himself. Sued for writing a song that sounded too much, well... like him. His enemy said that his 1985 hit The Old Man Down the Road sounded to close to CCR’s 70s hit Run Through the Jungle With this trial, the right to have your own musical style hung in the balance. If found guilty,...

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The story of Harry Chapin’s beautiful and poignant masterpiece, Cat’s in the Cradle. You think you know the story but you really don’t. How Harry’s wife Sandy woke him up to the damage he was inflicting on his family as he let the rock star life overtake him, The cautionary tale that we’ve all benefited from hit #1 in 1974 and changed not only our lives but the life of the singer/songwriter… Learn...

My favorite married couple in music history Billy Davis Jr. and Marilyn McCoo who were in the 5th Dimension together in the 60s recorded this funny Laura Nyro song about the female singer (McCoo) asking a guy named Bill to marry her. Wedding Bell Blues! Life imitated art, as after they recorded it, Billy and Marilyn got married and then the song became a #1 hit. A great story that will bring a smi...

Hall of Fame songwriter Jack Tempchin tells the story of the 70s classic hit Peaceful Easy Feeling that he wrote one night after being stood up by a girl and being locked inside of a bar overnight. He finally finished the song at a hot dog food chain and presented it to his roommate who happened to be Glenn Frey who asked to record it with his band that would later became e the Eagles. The song en...

When Mother Love Bone frontman Andrew Wood dies tragically in 1990, Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell was devastated. He was trying to work through his emotions and knew that music would be the only cathartic way to do it. As he wrote some very heavy songs had knew they wouldn’t work for his band so he connected with the remaining Mother Love Bone band members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament as well a...

Up next an interview with one of the greatest songwriters of the 80s and 90s. Martin Page co-wrote 2 #1 hits in a row… These Dreams for Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson’s Heart and We Built This City for Starship. Then he wrote King of Wishful Thinking for Go West For the Pretty Woman soundtrack and then he kept a #1 for himself as 10 plus years after he started writing for everyone else he had a #1 so...

Steve Perry took a break from legendary band Journey and created his first solo album Street Talk, Up next we go deep into his top 3 1984 hit Oh Sherrie. Written about his real life girlfriend, Sherrie Swafford. The song was such a smash, fans wondered if the Voice Steve Perry would ever go back to his band. In a new episode of Solo Venture, we honor this classic 1984 hit... Learn more about your...

If you’re a Child of the 80s this song was like a rite of passage. A quintessential 80s classic Jessie’s Girl by Rick Springfield went to #1 the day MTV launched with a music video perfect for the channel. General Hospital Heartthrob Rick Springfield tells us the inspiration behind the song and album working class dog and how he had to shatter 24 mirrors to get it right. Learn more about your ad c...

What if our PARENTS were ACTUALLY as weirdly COOL as we think we are? 70s classic Surrender by Cheap Trick is about that very thing. It was conceived when guitarist Rick Nielsen found out his parents were members of the KISS army when he was 14, with an electric vocal by leading man Robin Zander the story of how Cheap Trick made it big in japan first and how their live album Live at Budokan change...

I say it all of the time. 1984 was the greatest year in music history. It was so fiercely competitive, Only 5 albums went to the #1 spot, the least amount in history. Michael Jackson Thriller, Prince Purple Rain and Bruce Springsteen Born in the USA battled it out for chart supremacy and Huey Lewis and the News, the ferocious blue collar bar bad from San Francisco was one of those 5. Huey tells us...

Have you every hated a band or artist and then something happened that transformed you into a major fan? I used to hate the band Bread. the soft rock, beautiful voice of the 70s. David Gates wrote so many classics like Diary, Baby I’m a Want You, Everything I Own, Guitar Man, If, Sweet Surrender, Aubrey and so many more. Here I count down the top 5 song by bread and tell you why I now love this am...

Up next we’re going to go go behind the top 10 songs of this same week from the year 1985 then we’ll recalibrate them based on their all time performance. Who will be the new #1? Wham! Reo Speedwagon, Foreigner, Van Halen, Bill Ocean or Phil Collins? Find out next on the Hit song Redux. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/pri...

Coming up, the story of Quiet Riot and their classic 80s hard rock hit Cum On Feel the Noize which was of cover of the UK hit by Slade. Singer Kevin Dubrow and drummer Frankie Banali HATED the song and tried to sabotage it, but instead it became a top 5 hit and pushed their 1983 album Metal Health to #1 on the charts in one of the most competitive years in music history. they put hard Rock and Hea...