The Hustle

The 90s were a fickle time. Fads came and went, stars were made and just as quickly left behind. Austin's Fastball had what it took for the long haul, but it hasn't been easy. Lead by the dual songwriting chops of Tony Scalzo and Miles Zuniga, the band broke big on their second album with hits like "The Way," "Out of My Head," and "Fire Escape." But, as it often happens, by the time the follow up...

Imagine this - one of the greatest rock singers in history decides to leave his hugely successful band and you've been selected to take his place. That's what happened with Johnny Edwards. Though it was the beginning of the 90s, Foreigner's Mick Jones felt that even though Lou Gramm was out of the band there was still enough gas in the tank to keep things going. He recruited Johnny and they record...

Walter Egan's 1978 smash "Magnet and Steel" will follow him around wherever he goes, deservedly so, but what gets lost sometimes is the absolutely stellar power pop album he made in 1983 called Wild Exhibitions. It featured his last hit "Fool Moon Fire", but didn't get the attention it deserved then, and still doesn't, so we attempt to right that wrong. In this Deep Dive, Walter and I shed light o...

There's never been anyone like Mike Watt. He's an American treasure at this point. There's the Minutemen. Then fIREHOSE. Then about a million other projects of various size including a period with Porno For Pyros, another with Iggy and the Stooges and even an appearance on a Kelly Clarkson record! One of Mike's recent projects is the Jumpstarted Plowhards - a collaboration between him and guitaris...

In a decade that churned through artists as tastes and fads changed weekly, Everclear managed a heckuva lot of hits. Storming the gates with the hyper-catchy "Santa Monica," the guys dropped radio staple after radio staple like "Everything to Everyone," "Father of Mine," "I Will Buy You a New Life" and the list goes on and on. By the 2000s, the wave was starting to die down, but the band never rea...

Cinderella may have been put to bed years ago, but frontman Tom Keifer has been slowly building up his solo project for a while now and it just keeps getting bigger. The Tom Keifer Band recently released the new album Rise and completed a US tour (another leg is taking shape early next year). In this short conversation, we discuss the difference between his current band and his old one, how he vie...

The last few years have been a blur of prolific activity for Juliana Hatfield. There was the anti-Trump album Pussycat from 2017, there have been side projects with Paul Westerberg (The I Don't Care's) and Nada Surf's Matthew Caws (Minor Alps), and there have been albums of new material (2019's Weird and 2015's Whatever, My Love), but what is a wonderful new focus for her are these albums of cover...

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Jon engages in conversation with his 12-year-old daughter Georgia, discussing their love of Kiss and counting down their top 5 songs. This was done quick and dirty, no editing, no production. Hope you're all impressed!

The summer of 1991 belonged to bands like EMF. When they took over the world with their debut single "Unbelievable," it signaled a change in the sound of mainstream music where white British guys merged alternative rock with dance music, hip-hop and skate culture. Coming out of the gate with a song as big as that one, you'd think EMF would continue on, but such was not the case. Like so many other...

Sometimes you just have to wonder why some bands don't make it. Take the Hollywood Stars. Brought together by famous impresario Kim Fowley, the guys were meant to be a West Coast answer to the New York Dolls. After some stops and starts, the band finally released their debut album in 1977, but it didn't show what the band could do, it under-performed, and the band broke up ending the potential for...

Flesh For Lulu had it all. They mixed the Stones' swagger with the New York Dolls' grease and added a healthy dose of 80s glam to perfection as evidenced on possibly their best known hit, 1987's "I Go Crazy" from the Some Kind of Wonderful soundtrack. But, it all ended too quickly and now it never will be again. Lead singer Nick Marsh passed away in 2015 of cancer, putting a permanent end to this...

In part 2 of our crossover episode with Reliving My Youth, Jon and Noel countdown their Top 10 soundtrack songs of the 90s. 

Red Rockers were all set to be the "American Clash." They may have started as the go-to punk band in their native New Orleans, but when they wrote the 1983 hit "China" for their second album, not only did their style change, but MTV played them incessantly, recognition soon followed, and original fans screamed "sell outs!" Unfortunately, the switch to a more commercial sound only led to moderate c...

It's that time again, Hustlers and this time Jon and Jan are joined by Brad Page of the I'm In Love With That Song podcast. We're honored to have the man with the buttery voice slumming it with us knuckleheads. Not only do we recap the last three months of episodes, but we also discuss bad publicist experiences, we get an update on Jan's love life, whatever happened with HustleFest, and who was it...

Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson is busy these days. First of all, November sees the release of the new book The Ballad of Jethro Tull. For the first time ever Ian, along with former members of the band, tell the full story of their musical formation and legacy. You can preorder this beautiful new book now and get your name printed inside. You will also receive an mp4 of Ian reciting new tracks "The Bal...

Martha Wash has one of the most recognizable voices in pop history. Well, maybe a better word for it is "utilized." She has sang on some of the biggest club/dance hits of the last 40 years and you may not even realize it. In the 70s she and her friend Izora Rhodes began singing back up for disco legend Sylvester, becoming known as Two Tons O' Fun. This lead to their own record deal and two albums...

We lost another good one recently. To discuss the great Eddie Money we bring back Steve "Eddie" Rice of the killer Bay Area rock band Eddie and the Tide. Money produced their album Go Out and Get It in 1984 for what we think may be Eddie's only production credit of his whole career. Steve shares stories about what Eddie was like to work with, the jokes he told, his approach to songwriting and even...

It almost didn't happen for George McCrae. In fact, the whole thing was a total fluke. He and his wife Gwen sang back up on recording sessions around Miami with his focus more on managing her career than pursuing his own. But when Harry Wayne Casey wrote a new song that was too high for his register, he asked George, who happened to be around, if he would sing it. That song, 1975's "Rock Your Baby...

This month we welcome back the fantastic Robert Tepper (ep66) to discuss his 1986 debut album No Easy Way Out. True, the title track from Rocky 4 is one of the greatest AOR songs ever and was a decent-sized hit, but when it came time to release the full album his label was on to other things. We discuss the creation of the songs, who played on them, and how royally Scotti Bros. botched this thing!...

In 1995 "Lump" was unleashed on an unsuspecting world. And it became a hit. That was followed up by "Peaches," another weird one that reached the same status. Where did these funny, but rocking (novelty?) songs come from? Who writes songs like this? The band is literally called The Presidents of the United States of America? It all seemed like someone was playing a joke, but the tunes were undenia...

After too long a layoff, The Hustle and Suburban Underground come together again this time to play recent music from legacy artists. You may be surprised to find out that some of the bands you loved back in the day have made quality music in the last few years that's just as good as material from their peak. In here we play newer songs by Animotion, The Waterboys, Bad Religion, Robert LaRoche, The...

To celebrate the life and work of Ric Ocasek we welcome back former guest Fred Pineau (ep70), guitarist of the Atlantics. The Atlantics were an excellent Boston-based power pop band who came up through the ranks alongside Ric and the Cars in the 70s. Fred talks about his relationship with Ric, what he meant to the Boston scene, what the his legacy will be, and shares stories from back in the day....

When people talk about alternative rock band Dramarama, what you'll often hear is that they were "before their time." Though they came to prominence in the mid-80s, their aggressive, but melodic power pop sound was a perfect precursor for the garagey 90s. Through the help of tastemaker Rodney Bingenheimer, the band exploded out of LA in 1985 with "Anything Anything" that set records and still kill...

Among the many fantastic British shoegazer bands of the early 90s, Great Yarmouth's Catherine Wheel were among the very best. They exploded out of the gate with Ferment in 1992, one of the best debut albums by anyone ever, and kept the train rolling for most of the decade until the "wheels" finally came off at the dawn of the new millennium. While it lasted they managed to impress and work with to...

It feels like UB40 have always been in our lives. Maybe that's because they practically have. Last year the guys celebrated their 40th anniversary with a tour that was so well received, it's carried over to the 41st year. And to mark the occasion, in 2019 they released their best album in decades, For The Many, which hearkens back to their early days like nothing else they've released in a while....