Rock School

"Have you ever watched the Grammys and wondered who are the people who get to vote for this? I have the answer this week. Michael Brothers is a professional musician and educator and is a Grammy voter, mainly in the Jazz, classical and Broadway categories. He will tell us how he became one and what process he uses through the year to make his best vote."

"Hendrix opening for The Monkees is the benchmark of odd opening bands, but there is a reason they were paired. And there is a reason why a lot of odd pairs were put together. Plus, there is an entire list of odd opening bands that we would have loved to see. We will list them all this week."

"About once a year, or so, someone creates a song specifically to make a dance. The lyrics say what to do and we do it. But, what was the first? What was the best? We will look into it this week."

"The Greatest Hits album is either loved or hated. You either get all the hits in one place or your not a real fan of the band. The funny thing is, now with streaming, every band page starts with the top songs. That's a greatest hits. We will talk about the first Greatest Hits album, who has the most and a lot of other trivia to make you remember your Columbia House 12 free albums. "

"This week in 1969, Rolling Stone made their cover story, Groupies and Other Girls. It is generally believed this is where the word came into common usage. We will take and hour and name some famous women and play some tunes about groupies."

"A listener to the show suggested there are a rather large group of songs that deal with Mythology, and not just the Greek stuff. This week we will talk about the iliad and the Odyssey, Icarus and the Soul Cages along with a lot more myths and names I probably will not say correctly."

"A music trademark? Can you even do that? Should it not be a copyright? Well, yes and no. Taylor Swift and Beyonce are trademarking their lyrics and sounds and we will tell you how they are doing it. Can YOU do it? Yes and there are some good reasons why you should. Trademarks and music. They do indeed go together."

"Johnny Cash is known for having recorded albums in prison, four to be exact. That got us thinking. How many other artists recorded albums during a prison concert? We found some great stuff. We will also touch on some bands that played in prison but didn't record it as an album. However, much of it is available thanks to YouTube."

"How about some fun this week? What is the best use of a musician in an SNL skit? Not their music performance, but rather when they appeared in a comedy skit. We have lots of suggestions and the audio to prove it."

"Here is the second part of our look at the anniversaries of 2021. We do every 10 years going back from the new year. This week, we will discuss events that occurred in 2011. 2001, 1991 and 1981. Join us for the look back."

"Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Devo and a long list of other musicians have sold their music catalog to a music investment company. There are a few out there but Hipgnosis is the biggest of the bunch. What is this all about? Why would people sell their entire music career? Let us talk about it."

"There are so many stories in the world of radio about a rogue DJ barricading himself in the studio and playing the same song again and again. But, did it ever really happen? Yes. Multiple times. We have got some of the best stories, just for fun, this week."

"The final Rock School show of every year is dedicated to those who left us that year. The year 2020 is a bit different as we dealt with a virus. We'll start with the musicians we lost to Covid and then list the others who passed throughout 2020."

"To start every year, we look back every ten years to find out what will be the anniversaries for this new year. In this show we'll start all the way back in 1871, 150 years ago. Then move up ten years at a time until 1970. That will wrap up show number one. Number two is next week. Happy New Year."

"This week is our first of two Christmas shows this year. Everybody has a Christmas list so we are doing a Christmas list show. Top songs. Biggest sellers. Movies. Toys. Books. It is just a big Christmas list."

"For this show, we stopped by a lot of the This Day In History websites and looked for events in music that, say it with me, happened on Christmas day."

"Author Tim English joins us this week to discuss his latest book. Lennon. 1980 Playlist. It is a deep dive into the music, the concerts, the videos and the places Lennon went the year he wrote and recorded his last album, Double Fantasy. This is a good week for the uplifting interview as Lennon was killed this week back in 1980."

"It was this week back in 1989 that he Mtv show Unplugged debuted with Squeeze as the first guest. Since then it has gone through two runs on TV, spawed shows on other networks and was revived as a streaming version during Covid. We will do some history and play some of the more memorable unplugged tunes of Unplugged."

"The this years feat, we will talk rock stars and pop stars who have invested their hard earned money into the food biz. We have got all their menus and many of the prices. Some had no prices. Because, if you have to ask."

"It was this week back in 1990 that Milli Vanilli were outed as a fake band, dancing while backup singers performed the music. How did we get there? Where are they now? Has this kind of fraud happened since? Yes. Yes it has. This week, we will tell you the story of Rob and Fab and what exactly happened. We will also tell you when it happened since."

"It is easy to pick out the bands that lean left. It is easy to pick out the bands that lean right. However, in this time of politics, what happens when a single band has members with different political views? Can they get along? And how do they do it? We have 12 examples this week."

"The first single to debut at number one was in September of 1995. Since then it is happening more and more, quicker and quicker. Why is that? What happened before 1995 that allowed the first one and what is happening now that is allowing it much quicker? We will discuss it all."

"This is our Halloween show for 2020. We are going to list the last song rock stars played before passing away. It is a macabre topic but it is Halloween"

"Back in 1981, when the Stones toured on Tattoo You, they had what many believe to be the first sponsored tour. Jovan Musk paid 1 million to put their logo on tickets and posters. Now it has become common place but the real story is that many companies are sponsoring smaller start-up tours. We've got the scoop and a bunch of email and web address for your band to apply. "

"So many television series have ended and those endings have been connected to a song. In fact, of the top 10 most watched series finales, seven of them have songs attached to them. We'll go over those ten plus a lot more. We'll talk about if Tony Soprano dies or not. "