Rock Of Ages

UPDATE (2/1/23): It is with a heavy heart that I announce that on Sunday, January 29, Chris was part of a car accident that sadly took his life. The accident also took the life of his friend Patrick and badly wounded Patrick’s brother, James, better known as YouTuber Schaffrillas Productions. Chris will be known through the rest of time for his heart and his humor, on both his livestreams and the...

Before our episode on The Kinks' "Face to Face" this Sunday, I figured we should listen to something not Kinks. This song, oft considered to be one of the progenitors of the rock opera style, likewise with the band, was quite influential in its day; further escalated when the band played it on The Rolling Stones' Rock & Roll Circus in late 1968 with so much power that The Stones withheld relea...

On Kay's first official birthday episode, we tackle a musical that had a production in 1988 before being shut down due to numerous flaws, one of them almost fatal! But I'm getting ahead of myself. This musical, based off Stephen King's famous first novel of the same name, came back & as some would say better than ever in 2012. But does it deserve it's praise as a comeback musical? Let's talk "Carr...

U2, the Beatles of the 80s. And they proved they're just as great as them with their 5th album; an EP of 4 songs and 7 bonus tracks. Let's join Bart & The Edge in "The Joshua Tree"! Also, yes, calling Bono "Bart" is an in-joke that will be explained in the episode.

One of the most famous debut albums of all time, we finally take a look at it, along with a band one could consider to be transcendent rock gods. And then we dissect that title a bit. Regardless of the people behind it, this album is awesome. It’s Led Zeppelin, “Led Zeppelin”!

Almost a year has passed since our infamous episode on The Beatles’ monumental 1966 masterpiece of an album, Revolver. Have our opinions changed on it over time? Have they soured or stayed the same? Let’s find out!

UPDATE (2/1/23): It is with a heavy heart that I announce that on Sunday, January 29, Chris was part of a car accident that sadly took his life. The accident also took the life of his friend Patrick and badly wounded Patrick’s brother, James, better known as YouTuber Schaffrillas Productions. Chris will be known through the rest of time for his heart and his humor, on both his livestreams and the...

In honor of our own Riley’s being in a production of this musical, we take a look at the 2002 soundtrack to the famous movie adaptation, whilst at the same time doing an intervention for Romi and her John C. Reilly obsession. Let’s look at Chicago!

This episode is dedicated to writer/composer Jim Steinman (1947-2021), who’s visionary mind brought forth one of the most classic albums of the 1970s. And it’s also dedicated to the man himself, Michael Lee Aday, aka Meat Loaf (1947-2022), who teamed up with Steinman to make the album more classic than it already was.   This album is stupid, silly, over the top & pompous, and we’re h...

Eric Clapton has long been a controversial figure in the history of rock music, not helped by his recent statements regarding the pandemic. And after building up my disdain for him for about a year now, we take a look at one of his early albums in a band that Jackson has called "the only good thing (he's) ever done." Let's talk Cream, Disraeli Gears!

In our last episode for Romi Half-Month, we do her official birthday episode with a whimsical piece of witty theater comedy that expands on the universe of the classic Aladdin whilst mocking it so endearingly. It’s Twisted! Which is also the name of the musical.

My friend Jamie guest appears in the second installment of Romi half-month, where we look at the near universally acclaimed indie/folk concept album that was meant to be a part of a 50 part saga about the 50 states. Sufjan Stevens’ “Illinois”!

We start off Romi’s half month takeover of the podcast for her birthday with an album that’s sort of left field. But it doesn’t matter what the album is, just as long as we like it, and...it’s an album. Angel Olsen’s “MY WOMAN”!

"Andrew complaining about the '06 recording of Company for 40 minutes straight" For real though, Stephen Sondheim was a visionary in musical theater, paving the way for lyrics introspective & sardonic about modern society, putting less emphasis on catchy hooks & more on hypnotic soundscapes. And a neat way for us to get introduced to the late genius is with his breakthrough musical comedy, Company...

We’re diving straight in to Talking Heads with their 1979 outing, Fear of Music! Well, four of us are, while one of us listened to the wrong album! That didn’t mean this episode was any less fun to record.  Also, some Spider-boy spoilers here & there. And just a note, we confused Chris Frantz with Jerry Harrison & forgive us for sounding like idiots.

We've had a long and crazy 2021 at the Rock of Ages podcast. And I just wanna take this time to thank our viewers new & old for watching our episodes. So here's a few of us ranking our best and least favorite albums we did this year, as well as some statistics, analytics & album predictions for 2022.

In our second bonus episode, we take a look at the collab we never thought would exist until we found out it did. And we’re glad that it does. One more spreading of holiday cheer with David Bowie & Bing Crosby with “Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy”!

Our last album of 2021 is here! And it’s quite topical due to a specific documentary from a specific New Zealander on a specific Disney+. Spoiler alert, but some of us do rate this higher than Revolver. For some reason. Let’s talk The Beatles, Get Ba— I mean Let It Be!

UPDATE (1/26/22) - since Young's music has recently been taken off of Spotify in protest of that hack Joe Rogan's anti-vax sentiments on his podcast, I have decided to still keep this episode on here for historical purposes. Just know that Joe Rogan can suck a tailpipe. In what is perhaps his greatest statement in his career, Neil Young, fresh off the successes of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young,...

Oh, Mama, can this really be the beginning? Of our adventures with the funny voiced folk man Bobby Dylan? A man that both Jackson (not in episode) & Izaiah (in episode) have expressed disdain for in the past, we begin listening to his albums with his big double album. And we respond with a collective "eh". Let's get stoned & talked about "Blonde On Blonde"!

One of the best selling debut albums of all time, every song on this album can still be heard on classic rock radio even after 45 years of aging. But is it the charm or the downfall of this album? We discuss this along with whether or not Mozart played harpsichord. Let’s talk Boston!

Lauded on one side, lambasted on the other, Jonathan Larson’s first and final masterpiece during his lifetime surely did divide us a bit this time. Featuring Adam Pascal & Adele Dazeem, it’s RENT! Also here's Romi's movie podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5rqpU6G7vzdP0Qroei9G0C?si=234f42ef0b1a4a67 And here's her Hunger Games Simulator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnN_lyBMy0Q&t=130...

Join me, Izaiah, Jackson, Kay, Riley and Romi (and Cade for like a couple minutes) as we spit on the legacy of Ayn Rand while simultaneously praising the best band from Canada, eh? Grab your guitar and prevent any priests from smashing it, it’s Rush, 2112!

In this episode we finally admit Robert Christgau has a good take. I mean how can you not berate this album? It’s Hendrix! The near perfect amalgamation of rock, blues, funk and soul in one of the most creative and audibly stunning pieces of modern music ever, it’s “Are You Experienced?”!

We looked at ELP, it only makes sense we look at ELO next. The sixth of musical auteur Jeff Lynne’s perfectly produced pop collections, this one boasts the arrival of the famous ELO disc & a song with an outro so beautiful we couldn’t put it in the incidental music. You have to listen to it yourself! It’s ELO, A New World Record!