The Ugly American Werewolf in London Rock Podcast

Billy Idol sold his hedonistic act & lifestyle to MTV in the 80s and it was a match made in heaven. Thanks to Billy's snarling sexuality and his mix of hard rock with new wave thanks to longtime collaborator Steve Stevens, Billy used the fledgling cable channel as not a springboard but a rocketship to superstardom. He'd already received attention and airplay thanks to White Wedding and with 4 sing...

When you become a father, you do things for your kids - even things you once said you'd never do again. That's exactly what The Wolf did when he took the Wolfcub to see KISS on their interminable End Of The Road Tour for the third time in five years. He wanted her to have the experience of a KISS live show with all its bombast, pyrotechnics and visual overload. Though she saw them twice in 2019 (L...

KISS was so important to your hosts, The Wolf & Action Jackson, as part of the foundation of their love of rock n roll, live music and their friendship. That's why they invited Tom & Zeus from Shout It Out Loudcast to come on the premier episode of First Concert Memories, our monthly sidecast, and talk about the first time they saw KISS. For FCM 4, we welcome back Sonny "Hollywood" Pooni of Grown...

If you were alive in 1983, you knew who Michael Jackson was. Not because of his fame growing up as the lead singer of the Jackson 5, not because you loved his diamond selling disco smash Off The Wall but because you lived through the time that saw the release of Thriller. Unleashed on November 19, 1982, Thriller would go onto to become the biggest selling album of all time thanks to a familiar sta...

In thinking about what we wanted to do for our 151st episode, we wanted to talk about an album which we knew very well. In realizing that we rarely do live albums, we thought about the live albums that have influenced us and that we've listened to the most. For The Wolf, that would be 1989's A Show of Hands by Rush - their 3rd live album chronicling their 80s techno-pop stage. Many hardcore Rush a...

For our 150th episode (and thanks to all of our loyal listeners in the UK, the Netherlands, the US and around the world for helping us get this far) we are pleased to welcome a singer/songwriter who we grew up watching on MTV with his band The Church - Steve Kilbey. For more than 40 years Steve's led Australian psychedelic rock band The Church and has returned to the US to promote their latest rec...

The Wolf and Action Jackson thirst for knowledge about rock n roll. The bands, the musicians, the albums, the songs, the studios, the history - we want to know it all!! But no one knows everything, we all have blind spots. So as a way to further our own knowledge and understanding of rock music, we've developed a new, somewhat regular segment we call On First Listen. Here we take an album that we'...

On the third edition of our monthly sidecast, First Concert Memories, we welcome back good friend to the show Neil Poole from the glorious Def Lep Pod. Neil's passion and knowledge for all things Def Leppard made him an easy choice to give us the lowdown on the first time he ever saw his favorite band on the Adrenalize Tour in 1992 in Birmingham, England. The Wolf & Action Jackson saw the band for...

October 25, 1988 saw the release of Traveling Wilburys Volume 1, the debut of a supergroup that no one saw coming. Born out of an idea that George Harrison and Jeff Lynne shared as they worked on his hit album Cloud Nine, they decided they'd like to make music with friends and people they admired. Jeff wanted to work with Roy Orbison and George wanted to work with Bob Dylan. After enlisting the he...

To hardcore fans of Yes, 1983's 90125 was a big departure from their progressive rock sound of the 1970s. But for the MTV generation, it was our first introduction to Yes and the immense talent within the band. Driven by new member Trevor Rabin as the guitarist, sometime lead vocalist & dominant songwriter and former lead singer Trevor Horn as producer, Yes went in a more commercial and pop direct...

As 10 years olds in 1983, Genesis self-titled album was our introduction to the band with singles & MTV videos like Mama, That's All & Illegal Alien. We had no awareness of the band as prog superstars in the 1970s with Peter Gabriel & Steve Hackett and would only learn of that incarnation later in life. Phil Collins solo career was also on a huge upward swing after the release of Face Value (1980)...

The Yardbirds have an unparalleled legacy in the hallowed halls of rock n roll as they were one of the original British Invasion groups that brought the blues to the forefront of the rock scene in the 60s. The Wolf & Action Jackson became enamoured with them as teens in the 80s as the 60s had a big cultural renaissance and new CD box sets like Eric Clapton's Crossroads (which we cover in-depth on...

On the 2nd episode of our monthly sidecast, First Concert Memories, we welcome Van Halen superfan Greg Renoff to talk about the night he saw Van Halen on the 1984 Tour. This night would change Greg's life as he would go on to literally write the book on Van Halen with Van Halen Rising and his latest Ted Templeman: A Platinum Producer's Life in Music. You can hear Greg's enthusiasm and encyclopedic...

Now this debate could stir some controversy... Just like sports teams, bands pickup new members to replace folks who don't fit in musically, quit, develop substance issues, don't jibe socially or even die. Eventually, most bands replace members at some point in their careers. But which are the best free agent pickups of all time? Which non-original members made the biggest contribution to a band i...

1978 was an interesting time for music. Bigger 70s acts like Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath & Deep Purple were breaking up or having issues. Punk was the hottest thing in the music industry. New wave was on the horizon as was the real game changer in 1981, MTV. Bands that would forge their way to superstardom in the 80s via MTV released their debuts in 1978 - Van Halen, Dire Straits, The C...

Titans of Metal and true global road warriors Metallica have greenlighted a new podcast from their camp that will provide weekly updates on the band - The Metallica Report. Hosted by Steffan Chirazi, who has worked with & around the band for decades, the writer/editor of So What! and Renee Richardson, a legend of San Francisco rock radio and the Director of Philanthropy at the All Within My Hands...

The Rolling Stones were on the run in 1973. Still tax exiles from England, the Stones went from Europe to the Caribbean to the United States to record and mix the album. Mick Jagger & Keith RIchards were still peeved over Allen Klein taking half their royalties but were now on Rolling Stone records (thanks to Ahmet Ertegun) and had a primo publishing deal. However, not all was right in Rolling Sto...

Motley Crue followed the platinum success of their debut record Too Fast For Love with 1983's Shout At The Devil. With a provocative title and a cover featuring a pentagram, The Crue were courting controversy in an attempt to gain fame and grow their teenage fanbase. Never known for their musicianship or lyric writing prowess, their sophomore effort helped define a sleazy LA sound that may have ev...

From the producers of The Ugly American Werewolf in London Rock Podcast, we bring you a new sidecast featuring special guests answering 20 questions about the first time they saw their favorite band live! And what better way to kickoff this new show than with the guys from the #1 rated KISS podcast on the planet, Tom & Zeus from Shout It Out Loudcast. We talk to our Pantheon Podcast brothers for t...

The Wolf was living in Amsterdam and received news that Iron Maiden were coming to town. Immediately I bought tickets and invited Action Jackson to come in for a visit as he's never seen Maiden live. I also picked up Antwerp tickets as....well, why not? Tragically, The Wolf had to move back to the USA prior to the shows in July. However, the boys were resolute and made their way to Europe to see t...

Kill Em All, the debut album from heavy metal heroes Metallica, was released July 25, 1983 but not to much fanfare. They didn't have the budget (or desire) to make videos and their sound was so loud and aggressive, you never heard them on rock radio back then. MTV was happy with bands like Men at Work and Duran Duran to be beamed to the suburbs which simply weren't ready for the thrash that Metall...

Martin Popoff may be the most prolific rock writer in the world with over 115 books to his name. Unlike other writers who prefer to delve into the gossip and tabloid portions of a bands history, Martin focuses on the music and the albums that we all love as rock fans. His latest, AC/DC at 50, is a beautiful coffee table book that features photos of the band on stage, in the studio, rare album cove...

Lynyrd Skynyrd emerged from Jacksonville, Florida and became titans of the Southern Rock scene. Battling their way up from adversity, the rowdy & rough-and-tumble bunch finally signed with MCA and released their debut album Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd in August of 1973. It went double platinum and saw them open The Who's Quadrophenia Tour which helped them get exposure to a larger audience. It w...

After the demise of Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant almost called it quits as a performer. It was actually Phil Collins, who knew something about going solo after being part of a big rock band, who encouraged him and actually played drums on his first album. Robert didn't want to go back to the big machine that was Zeppelin, but he did want to write songs, collaborate with musicians and play live. Howe...

Mick Wall is one of rock music's greatest writers. From Kerrang! to Classic Rock and publications all around the world, Mick has been telling stories about the rock musicians we all love for decades and has written more than 20 books on legendary acts like Jimi Hendrixx, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Guns N Roses, Iron Maiden & more. Recently he decided to take on the task of one of the most successful US...