The Ugly American Werewolf in London Rock Podcast

Long time listeners know that Rush is one of The Wolf's top 3 favorite bands of all time. The Wolf & Action Jackson camped out to see Rush on the Roll The Bones Tour and The Wolf has seen them 12x live. After reviews of Fly By Night and Caress of Steel at 50 plus an interview with longtime collaborator Hugh Syme on the 250th and a First Concert Memories show on the mini-tour between Permanent Wave...

Mark Knopfler is a celebrated guitar player and songwriter. And while his voice may not win awards for being pretty, his world-weary story songs fit his oakey-mellow vocals perfectly. Sultans of Swing of Dire Straits eponymous debut in 1978 catapulted Mark and the band to stardom with gold and platinum sales around the world. Though their 1979 follow up also sold well it didn't sell nearly as well...

By 1980, The Police were really on a roll. Their first two albums, Outlandos d'Amour and Regatta de Blanc had introduced their punk/reggae stylings to the world and had earned platinum awards on both sides of the Atlantic. Their success meant they were in demand - as a live act around the world and in the studio by A&M records. Also due to their success, they had to record outside of the UK and ch...

As teenagers, The Wolf & Action Jackson dreamed of seeing Led Zeppelin live. However, the boys came of age in the 1980s after the band had broken up following the death of John Bonham. They were forced to live with ill-fated one-off reunions like Live Aid, Atlantic Records 40th and Knebworth. While they jumped at the chance to see Page/Plant in the mid-90s doing reworked versions of Zeppelin class...

1975 found Genesis in a time of transition. After coming off a lengthy and technically difficult tour for their 1974 album The Lamb LIes Down On Broadway, most everyone was a little burned out. Peter Gabriel ended up leaving the band to embark on a solo career (one that would land him in the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame) and the band were left with a lengthy audition process to replace him. Meanwhile,...

Longtime listeners of our show know that The Wolf is an unabashed American Oasis fan. Though he wasn't onboard from the jump, once he discovered the melodies and lyrics of Noel Gallagher, he became a true believer ready to fly the Oasis flag in an attempt to convert more US fans. But Oasis were more of a phenomenon in the UK thanks to a new liberal government, the rise of Brit Pop and Cool Britann...

In late 1975, Rush were feeling confident. Their previous album Fly By Night had taken a step forward from their eponymous debut and new drummer Neil Peart had not only set a new standard for drumming but was ready to become the band's lyricist thanks to his voracious appetite for reading. Thanks to Neil, the lyrics could become more introspective while also walking into a fantastic fantasy world...

We at The Wolf are excited to present our 250th episode of UAWIL and want to take a moment to thank all our loyal listeners & social media followers. Building this show and the community of fellow rock fans has been such a fun and sometimes magical adventure around the world these past 5 years. We want to express our sincere thanks for coming on the journey with us. Also, we like to do big guests...

On the 26th edition of First Concert Memories, we go back to 1986 to hear the story of one young rock fan's first ever Van Halen concert. Our Pantheon Podcasts brother Ilan Fong of What's Hot in the Strip Clubs was only 8 or 9 years old when he heard his older sister playing Van Halen I on her stereo. From that moment, his life was changed and was always curious about the music coming from the roo...

By 1985, The Replacements had seen and done a few things. They'd recorded a couple of records (see our review of Let It Be at 40) and been out on some tours. They'd made enough noise that they were signed to major label Sire and were ready to take on the world with bigger shows, music videos and tv appearances. But wait, were they? The boys were still drinking heavily thanks to Bob Stinson and Pau...

The Wolf has had a complicated relationship with The Black Crowes. As a young man, he felt the music industry had conspired to anoint the Crowes as the next big thing in rock. MTV, rock radio, Rolling Stone, etc all seemed to be on the Crowes bandwagon and were shoving them down our throats (or that's what it seemed like). The fact that their first single was a cover and Chris Robinson's cocky att...

It's hard to imagine being in Pink Floyd in 1975. 1973's Dark Side of the Moon had not only achieved high praise from the critics but had sold better than most any album ever recorded. Nick Mason, Rick Wright, Roger Waters and David Gilmour had soared to extraordinary heights thanks to their balance of technological experimentation, their examination of modern capitalistic life and Waters' biting...

Queensryche were always different from their hard rock & hair metal brethren in the 80s & 90s. Based out of Seattle, Geoff Tate (vocals), Chris DeGarmo (lead guitar), Michael Wilton (lead & rhythm guitar), Eddie Jackson (bass) and Scott Rockenfield (drums) created a more prog rock sound akin to that of Rush or Dream Theater. Tate's soaring vocals against the brilliant guitar work and fiesty rhythm...

As we start our 3rd year of First Concert Memories, the monthly sidecast from your friends at The Ugly American Werewolf in London, we welcome our friend Richard Evans to tell the tale of seeing Bruce Springsteen live in 1980. Richard is the head writer of Rock N Roll Archeology, one of the great podcasts in the Pantheon Podcasts family, which is hosted by Pantheon CEO & Co-Founder Christian Swain...

1969 was a big year for Carlos Santana. He played Woodstock one week before his debut album was released and he saw it rise the charts and sell millions in the US. With the wind at his back, he and his band came back with momentum and on September 23, 1970 they released Abraxas which would go onto sell over 5 million copies. To some, it was an introduction to the fusion that Santana and his band c...

Most casual Yes fans aren't familiar with their 1980 release Drama. After 8 years of gold and platinum releases, Drama failed to sell as well as its 70s prog counterparts like Close To The Edge or Fragile. When they went to the south of France to record in late 1979, it was the most celebrated Yes lineup of Jon Anderson (vocals), Chris Squire (Bass), Steve Howe (guitars), Rick Wakeman (keyboards)...

In a first for us hear at The Wolf, we're rebooting a previous episode with cool, never before heard material. On Episode 221 we did our usual track by track, in-depth analysis of Eric Clapton's Behind The Sun as it turned 40. It was a bit of a return to form for Clapton after he had worked to clean himself up and went platinum after some less than stellar albums in the early 80s. Still, songs She...

You might ask boys - if you've already done two 1+ hour episodes on Live Aid at 40, what more could you possibly have left for a third? The only thing we left out of episodes 1 & 2 were first hand accounts from the front or back of the stage that day, something we weren't privy to at the time due to the fact that we were 12 years old. So we enlisted two folks who there that day to help tell the re...

Welcome to Part 2 of our deep dive into Live Aid as it turns 40. In Part 1 we spoke about the creation and buildup to the event on July 13, 2025 at Wembley Stadium in London and JFK in Philly. It was billed as a legendary fundraiser to support starving people in Africa organized by Bob Geldof which attracted some of the greatest artists of several generations. On our second installment, we break d...

Live Aid may have been the cultural event for Gen X'ers just as Woodstock was for their baby boomer parents. Bob Geldof had led a group of British pop artists to the charity single Do They Know It's Christmas? That inspired US artists to create We Are The World. Both singles were to aid millions of starving people in Africa who were suffering from severe drought and broken politics. The huge succe...

Longtime listeners know that The Wolf & Action Jackson hava a special place in their hearts for Rush, the Canadian power trio that went through many phases and sounds over their more than 4 decades together. To wrap up our 2nd year of First Concert Memories, our monthly sidecast about special moments in our lives that revolve around a live rock show, we welcomed our Pantheon Podcasts brother Brad...

When Iron Maiden announced they'd be doing the Run For Your Lives Tour in 2025-26, The Wolf & Action Jackson knew they would have to go see a couple of shows. And when there were only European dates announced for 2025, they knew they needed to dust off their passports because there was no way they would be able to wait 2 years to see the boys on what could be their biggest and best (perhaps last?)...

Listeners of The Wolf know that despite the fact that The Wolf lived mere yards (or meters) from Abbey Road, he and Action Jackson aren't huge Beatles fans. While he did go through a Beatles stage in high school, it was really an education on how the band evolved and created some amazing music which is still enjoyed and studied today. However, thanks to a run of 60s rock related movies that ran on...

While the average rock fan may not know the name Nicky Hopkins, the average rock legend knows the name very well and most likely worked with him at some point. A classically trained pianist, Nicky Hopkins would go onto play with the greatest rock bands of all time - The Beatles, The Rollings Stones, The Who, The Kinks - and that was just the 1960s!! Finally, Nicky has been chosen for induction int...

Ritchie Blackmore is known as a guitar legend and as one of the more mercurial figures in rock. The Rock N Roll Hall Of Famer rose to power with Deep Purple and unleashed some of the most classic, hard rock riffs on the world, including the simple and ever-present Smoke On The Water. But Ritchie was known to be aloof, distant from his bandmates and would often fly into critical rages about their p...