Professor of Rock
- Episódios
- 1.742
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- diária
- Último episódio
- 14 nov 2026
Sobre o podcast
The ultimate rock music history podcast for fans of the greatest era of music. If you’ve ever wondered about the true stories behind your favorite songs, or wanted to hear directly from the legends who made them, Professor of Rock is your new go-to podcast. Hosted by music historian and superfan Adam Reader, this show brings the golden era of music back to life with exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes stories, and deep dives into the songs that shaped our lives. This podcast uncovers how timeless tracks were made, the creative breakthroughs, the near-breakups, and the powerful moments that defined music history. Each episode is a masterclass in rock culture and nostalgia—whether it's a chart-topping ‘80s anthem, a one-hit wonder with a wild backstory, or a candid conversation with the legends themselves. Hear the Stories. Relive the Music. Only on Professor of Rock.
Episódios 1.742
Greatest Opening Lyrics in Rock History: The Ramones, Pink Floyd, U2 & Jackson Browne
There is something about an opening lyric that can make or break a song. And as a lyricist, when you get it right, it launches your song into the stratosphere. For today’s show, we’re paying homage to some of …
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There is something about an opening lyric that can make or break a song. And as a lyricist, when you get it right, it launches your song into the stratosphere. For today’s show, we’re paying homage to some of the most gripping opening lines of the rock era… written by master wordsmiths. We’ll tell the stories of their songs and where their inspiration came from… including Jackson Browne who found his muse when his car broke down in the desert and had to hitchhike home. Roger Waters who was haunted by a bandmate’s ghost. There’s also the Ramones who copy-catted one of the first boy bands and their bubblegum hit with one of the best rockers of the time. And U2's Bono who couldn’t stand to sing his own iconic opening lyric... thinking it was cheesy We’ve got some killer stories coming up… NEXT on the Professor of Rock.
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Songs That Saved My Life: A Personal Countdown Featuring Bob Marley, Simon & Garfunkel, and AC/DC
Coming up, i’m going to share a countdown that is very personal to me. Several weeks ago I had a miracle in my life. I was on the verge of death from Hypoxia caused by severe pneumonia. I wasn’t getting enough …
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Coming up, i’m going to share a countdown that is very personal to me. Several weeks ago I had a miracle in my life. I was on the verge of death from Hypoxia caused by severe pneumonia. I wasn’t getting enough oxygen to my brain and my oxygen level got all the way down to 40% and my Heart rate was 190. As I rushed to the hospital, I’ve spent weeks healing and today I want to count down the song that have helped me heal, motivated my recovery and lifted me in my darkest hour. Including 1 that literally saved my life… and they all have remarkable stories. Including the story of Bob Marley, whose home had just been shot up. But as he sat quietly at a window watching a few little birds land on the sill, he found an enduring message of comfort. Also, we’re covering the Paul Simon who handed off his most personal composition to Art Garfunkel because he believed his voice was meant to carry it… But resentment over the song’s success eventually broke them apart. Could they ever fix their friendship? And then there’s AC/DC, the band that spent most of the 80s unraveling — addiction, firings, divorces, and no real hits. But in the 90s they emerged with a riff so unstoppable that it single-handedly reset their entire legacy. Let’s get started.
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Top 10 Songs of 1980 That Should Have Hit #1: The Biggest Chart Injustices
Coming up next we rewrite history with 10 Songs that should’ve been #1 from the year 1980 and there are so many classics today that came up short of the top spot including a singer won a record amount of …
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Coming up next we rewrite history with 10 Songs that should’ve been #1 from the year 1980 and there are so many classics today that came up short of the top spot including a singer won a record amount of grammies as a rookie and he wrote the song while tripping on acid and when you find out who it is, you’ll be shocked because he doesn’t fit the profile. Plus the Singer who’s told me the story behind his biggest hit but then when I put out the interview he chastised me for releasing it because he didn’t like the he looked in the interview so I had to take it down… Find out the artist and the song… Plus the rookie artist who put out a song that Didn’t sound like ANYTHING on RADIO! but even though he became an icon it was his only hit in america and he grew to HATE IT… But then another legendary artist made him realize he was being a huge baby…and then there’s the legendary artist who had her most famous hit… It became here signature song even though she had a ton of classic hits. But then decades later she refused to play it in concert and told her fans she’d never play it again. Find out why next on Professor of Rock.
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FROM THE VAULT: Steven Tyler Wrote “Dream On” at 14 – The Song That Almost Didn’t Happen
Let's run it back! Coming up legendary singer Steven Tyler of Aerosmith wrote one of rock’s greatest masterpieces at the age of 14. A 14-year-old kid! Not only that… This 70s classic is a pretty heavy song for …
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Let's run it back!
Coming up legendary singer Steven Tyler of Aerosmith wrote one of rock’s greatest masterpieces at the age of 14. A 14-year-old kid! Not only that… This 70s classic is a pretty heavy song for a 14-year-old to understand let alone write. The 70s hard rock classic Dream On is the one that put the screaming demon and the Boston boys on the top of rock royalty. But when Tyler brought the bonafide rock classic to his band, guitarist Joe Perry didn’t want to cut it because he felt it was too soft for their sound even though the song builds and then explodes! Many obstacles stood in the way of this song becoming a hit from a run-in with a gangster who pulled a gun on the band to it failing on its first release to Steven Tyler blowing out his vocal cords on one big performance. The song is sung by Steven Tyler in an entirely different way than any song he’d sing thereafter. the story is coming up...
This classic VAULT episode NEXT on Professor of Rock.
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Def Leppard, The Byrds & Metallica: The Surprising Bible Stories Behind Classic Rock Hits
Treat yourself to Ka'chava. Go to https://www.kachava.com/ and use code POR for 15% off your first order.Def Leppard, the Byrds, Sting... They all took song from the Bible! Inspiration for a hit song can come …
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Treat yourself to Ka'chava. Go to https://www.kachava.com/ and use code POR for 15% off your first order.
Def Leppard, the Byrds, Sting... They all took song from the Bible! Inspiration for a hit song can come from anywhere. Here on the channel, we’ve discussed a lot of unexpected song origins. And today we’re continuing that trend with an episode about songs whose lyrics were lifted from The Good Book... the Bible. And you’re gonna be shocked. It’s a counter-intuitive episode where we explore the spiritual side of rock. But these aren’t tracks that you’ll find in a hymn book at church… well, actually, one of them you will. But not in the way that you think. You’ll see. We’ve also got a #1 protest song by The Byrds that traces its origins back thousands of years. As well as the story of Metallica's heavy metal drummer who was obsessed with the movie The Ten Commandments. We’ve got some surprise revelations coming up in this one, as well as exclusive commentary straight from the artists. It’s all happening NEXT on the Professor of Rock.
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Time in a Bottle Countdown: 10 Forgotten ’90s Hits from Sophie B. Hawkins, Sir Mix-a-Lot & More
Coming up, it’s the closest thing we have to a time machine. It’s our latest Time in a Bottle countdown where we feature 10 tracks that take you back to the exact moment they came out on radio. Along the way …
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Coming up, it’s the closest thing we have to a time machine. It’s our latest Time in a Bottle countdown where we feature 10 tracks that take you back to the exact moment they came out on radio. Along the way, we’ll tell the story of how Sophie B Hawkins accidentally wrote her signature song when her hand slipped on a piano. That same song went on to make history as the first song title with profanity to become a massive hit on the charts. We’ll also cover Sir Mix A Lot, whose music video was banned from MTV for celebrating full-figured women. So he stalked an MTV network executive at a restaurant, and railed on him until he convinced him to air the video. And then there’s Shakespears Sister that should have been a sisterhood after they scored a big time hit, but their creative partnership came to an embarrassing end when one of the member had her publicist fire the other on national television. And finally, we have Jon Secada, who sang backup for a legend for years until he stepped into the spotlight and amazingly outsold his iconic mentor. Let’s do it.
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Huey Lewis on His Greatest Hits, Hearing Loss, and Being Snubbed by the Rock Hall of Fame
Coming up next… So about a month ago, I did an interview LIVE at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland at the RAB Fall meetings in front of owners of Radio stations and some voting members of the …
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Coming up next… So about a month ago, I did an interview LIVE at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland at the RAB Fall meetings in front of owners of Radio stations and some voting members of the Rock Hall and employees RAB stands for Radio Advertising Bureau, and I was there representing my syndicated radio show Classic Rock U when is growing steadily. It think were somewhere between 35 and 40 station including WNCX FM in Cleveland. I was given the opportunity to interview someone of my choice, and I chose my good buddy Huey Lewis From 1984 to 1988 nobody was bigger. he had so many classic hits like The Heart of Rock and Roll, Heart and Soul, Jacobs Ladder, I Want a New Drug, Stuck With You, The power of Love, Hip to Be Square and a dozen more. Huey Tells the story of all of them here in some of the best stories you’ll hear on this channel. Now, anyone who has watched this show knows that I’ve had some pretty big disagreements with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame about some glaring omissions over the years, including Boston, INXS, Styx, and Huey Lewis, among others. Well, I got a chance to share my opinion on stage at this event in front of the Rock Hall. I was polite, but I pointed out that Huey is part of a short list of artists who’ve had back-to-back multi-platinum albums with at least 4 top-ten hits, and every one of these artists is in the Rock Hall with the exception of Mr Lewis. It’s time to change that. So hopefully this put a bug in their ear. Anyway, this interview was filmed by the Rock Hall, and it’s a fun walkthrough of Huey’s amazing career, including where he is now, having to walk away from music because of his diagnosis of Ménière's disease, which has taken his hearing, and sadly he can’t even hear music anymore. But Huey is a fighter, and it was so great to not only interview him, but I had a chance to walk through the Rock Hall with him… He had never been there. We took some pics and even got a chance to walk on a replica Saturday Night Live Stage because the Hall of Fame was celebrating 50 years of SNL Music. And I got to introduce him as the musical guest…. We also checked out a bunch of other rock memorabilia. It was a great time. So here’s the interview… Hopefully the Rock Hall listens to reason and inducts Huey... It’s about time.
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1974’s Greatest Hits Countdown: Ray Stevens, John Denver, and the Wildest Stories Behind the Songs
Today we are visiting one of the most gloriously weird and wondrous years in music history — the charts were packed with streakers, gangsters, and some passive-aggressive jealousy. We celebrate this crazy year …
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Today we are visiting one of the most gloriously weird and wondrous years in music history — the charts were packed with streakers, gangsters, and some passive-aggressive jealousy. We celebrate this crazy year with 10 songs that sound exactly like the moment they came out in the 70s and when you hear them you’ll be transported to the exact moment they ruled radio and the stories are even better. We’ll tell the story of how a folk icon sat alone at his desk one evening, unable to shake the thought of his girlfriend cheating on him with another man. He wrote what sounded like a mellow tune but if you listen closer, it is the most dangerous song of his career and in the end he got a #1 hit and she went to prison. Then there’s the comedian songwriter who read a magazine blurb about the national craze of streaking during his flight. He rushed home and wrote the most iconic streaking song in history. And then there’s the songwriter who took his song to the Beach Boys for help, but watched the sessions dissolve into chaos after Brian Wilson kept sneaking in at night trying remix his master tape. He gave up and recorded it himself, then disappeared to the South Pacific for two months while it climbed to #1. Let’s get into it.
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The Best Songs of 1964: Counting Down the Hits That Deserved #1 Over The Beatles
We’re rewriting history again today as we revisit a year when one band completely took over and overshadowed many classic songs that deserved better. Today we put those songs where they belong at #1. Including …
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We’re rewriting history again today as we revisit a year when one band completely took over and overshadowed many classic songs that deserved better. Today we put those songs where they belong at #1. Including The Drifters Under the Boardwalk, a song that was recorded just a day after an iconic band’s lead singer passed away. Their singer was gone, but they still had a session planned, so an outsider walked in and sang a perfect vocal that gave them their most famous hit. Plus the Innocent Classic by the Zombies, She's Not There, that got banned nationwide 37 years after it peaked on the charts for offensive lyrics, but everyone’s still trying to figure out what was offensive about it, including the band who’s here to comment. Plus the creepy song Last Kiss that was inspired by a fatal car crash, but it got even creepier after the song became a hit, and life imitated art when the band got into a fan carwreck that would destroy their group. Plus, I tracked down the mysterious girl behind the classic Beach Boys car song Fun Fun Fun, who got in trouble for driving her dad’s T-Bird. And lastly the biggest band in the world The Beatles took over the charts for one fateful week they made up 7 of the top 10 spots on the countdown but their best song, that was ruled by their singer’s sick as a dog vocal missed #1…Let's do it.
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10 Forgotten Hits of the ’80s: A Countdown Featuring Van Halen, Billy Joel, Saga, and John Mellencamp
I know you are gonna love this episode! Because i’m gonna give you some familiar songs that were hits that I guarantee you haven’t heard in ages. Radio and streaming playlists are filled with the same songs we …
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I know you are gonna love this episode! Because i’m gonna give you some familiar songs that were hits that I guarantee you haven’t heard in ages. Radio and streaming playlists are filled with the same songs we hear over and over again. So I just spent about 6 hours going through every chart from the 80s to find songs that were hits in their day and songs you know and love but have fallen through the cracks. They’re never played today, but once you hear them, you will be like Oh man, I remember that song! I love it. I’m choosing one from each year in the 80s. Along the way, I’ll tell you the stories behind them. Including how Saga's producer decided the only way to get the right vocal performance for an epic song was to rig a microphone to a crossbeam 60 feet in the air… and then convinced his singer Michael Sadler to climb to the top and record it. He did it without rope or a harness… If he fell, he would have been toast. That’s why his vocals sound so ALIVE. Plus there’s the solo rocker John Mellencamp, whose record labels made him change his name 4 times… So he had hits under different names. Plus Van Halen's Most Badass guitar riff of the 80s that has been forgotten cuz the song has been the victim of cancel culture! And finally, I’ll cover Billy Joel who shocked radio when he put out the first major hit about phone S-E-X.
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Jeopardy!, Family Feud & More: Countdown of the Top 10 Greatest Game Show Theme Songs
Every now and again I have an idea for a show, and as I put it together I’m blown away by the stories behind the songs and the fact that they’ve never been shared before. That’s this episode in a nutshell …
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Every now and again I have an idea for a show, and as I put it together I’m blown away by the stories behind the songs and the fact that they’ve never been shared before. That’s this episode in a nutshell. Today, we’re counting down the Top 10 songs that soundtracked your favorite TV game shows. And itspacked with more scandals, schemes, and behind-the-scenes absurdity than about any episode I’ve done. Game show music just might be the most underestimated music in television… engineered down to the beat to make your pulse race and keep your eyes glued to the screen. We’ve got the story of an unemployed Ice Cream Truck driver who spent weeks freeze-framing episodes on his VCR to figure out how beat the system and he actually cracked the code… He accrued more than $100k and there was nothing the show could do about it. Then there’s the Family Feud theme song that has been pumping up viewers for decades on one of TV’s longest-running game shows. Only that song was stolen from a musical cue from the #1 game show of the time… Plus the Jeopardy theme was actually a lullaby that the game show mogul made up to get his baby son to sleep. Years later when he sold the rights to the game show he smartly held on to the song rights, and it ended up making him over 100 million in royalties. Let’s go back in time…
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Top 10 ’80s Rock Songs That Deserved to Hit #1: Guns N’ Roses, Bon Jovi, The B-52s & More
Thank you Zocdoc, for sponsoring today's video. Your health matters and taking care of yourself shouldn't be complicated. Go to https://zocdoc.com/professorofrock to get started.Coming up next, we rewrite …
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Thank you Zocdoc, for sponsoring today's video. Your health matters and taking care of yourself shouldn't be complicated. Go to https://zocdoc.com/professorofrock to get started.
Coming up next, we rewrite history and put it right. 10 songs that deserved to be #1 and were better than the songs that did hit the top spot, including the story of a song that saved the B-52s from breaking up after they lost one of their founding members. The rock smash Dr Feelgood that the Mötley Crüe’s ex-manager claimed was ripped off from Guns N’ Roses. Plus the Bon Jovi song that Dolly Parton heard and assumed was a cover of a gospel hymn about the laying on of hands, but Bon Jovi meant a different type of laying on of hands, and it was spiritual! Plus the Guns N Roses classic Patience that Axl made up on the spot and then had to have Don Henley play the drums on since their drummer was in rehab. Plus the song a famous Goth frontman wrote as a wedding present for his wife. But he secretly hated the song and hated it even more when it became a massive hit. Plus, what happened when one of the most distinctive voices of the rock era had a huge comeback, but sadly died before he had a chance to enjoy the success. It’s time to take the Time machine back to the 80s… let’s do it.
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FROM THE VAULT: How Paul McCartney Turned a Robbery in Nigeria into Band on the Run, His Greatest Solo Album
Ah, man - this is one of my favorites! Former Beatle Paul McCartney was trying to establish his band Wings when he flew to Nigeria to record Band on the Run. 2 key members quite right before and then when they …
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Ah, man - this is one of my favorites!
Former Beatle Paul McCartney was trying to establish his band Wings when he flew to Nigeria to record Band on the Run. 2 key members quite right before and then when they arrived equipment in the studio was dismal and one day when Paul and Linda were walking the streets they were threatened at knifepoint by a gang of terrorists… Paul had to keep calm if he was going to save he and wife’s life. So along with his wallet, he handed over a bag containing two of his most prized possessions... a notebook of lyrics and a demo tape of songs for his new album. Neither of which he had copies of. These thieves, having no idea who was standing in front of them, stole one of the 70s greatest #1 hits. Band on the Run alone with 70s classics Jet and Helen Wheels. After surviving the ordeal this musical genius knew he either had to track down the stolen lyrics and tape or try to remember it and recreate it… Find out what happened next on professor of rock.
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Rock’s Biggest Meltdowns Countdown: Ozzy Osbourne, Samantha Fox, Keith Moon, and More
Coming up, we’ve got rockstars going off the rails. And yeah, rock stars have always lived by their own rules — but some of them have been known to take things just a little too far from time to time… leaving a …
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Coming up, we’ve got rockstars going off the rails. And yeah, rock stars have always lived by their own rules — but some of them have been known to take things just a little too far from time to time… leaving a trail of wreckage in their wake. Today we’re counting down the most spectacularly unhinged, catastrophic meltdowns in rock history. Including Ozzy Osbourne, one of heavy metal’s most notorious hellraisers, who stumbled out of a hotel in his wife’s evening dress, and got him banned from an entire city for relieving himself on one of America’s most iconic monuments. There’s also Samantha Fox who was handed the biggest opportunity of her career… hosting a major televised awards show. But the whole production collapsed in real time all around her. Was it her fault? The press seemed to think so. And don’t forget about The Who's Keith Moon who woke up surrounded by a demolished hotel suite after blacking out. It took the concept of trashed hotel rooms new levels and he had to cut a hefty check to set things right… but did he actually do it? Or was he framed? Find out next.
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The Stories Behind Iconic Hits: Guns N’ Roses, Boyz II Men, The KLF, and Metallica
Well, we took a couple of months off from this show, but due to overwhelming feedback, we did another episode… We brought it back at least one more time… It’s outdated… Time in a Bottle show… the songs that …
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Well, we took a couple of months off from this show, but due to overwhelming feedback, we did another episode… We brought it back at least one more time… It’s outdated… Time in a Bottle show… the songs that take you right back to the moment you first heard them. They sound exactly like the moment they were released, and these songs have compelling stories too… including how one of rock’s most dangerous frontmen, Axl Rose, sat down on a curb outside a Hollywood club, crying over a girl he couldn’t have. Afterwards, he went and threw rocks at his bandmate’s window that same night, and the two sat down and wrote the most emotional ballads in hard rock history. There’s also the story of Boyz II Men who snuck backstage at their idol’s concert, cornered him in his dressing room, and started singing. After hearing them, this popular musician signed them on the spot, and they would go on to break records set by the Beatles and Elvis. And finally… The KLF, a duo spent two years building one of the most bizarre and brilliant careers in music and, at the height of their popularity, crashed one of the UK’s biggest award shows by firing blanks from an automatic weapon over the crowd before disappearing from the music industry forever and deleting their entire catalog of songs. Plus why the Metallica controversy is ridiculous...
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The Greatest Animated Movie Songs: Phil Collins, Michael Bolton, and More
Alright, in the past we’ve tried our hand at soundtrack hits, movie scores, television themes, and even cartoon theme songs. But on this episode of POR, we’re trying something new and diving into the world of …
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Alright, in the past we’ve tried our hand at soundtrack hits, movie scores, television themes, and even cartoon theme songs. But on this episode of POR, we’re trying something new and diving into the world of animated movie songs… tracks that were sung by popular artists and rockstars from the mid-80s to the present. And get ready for some nostalgia… Along the way, you’ll hear the story of Phil Collins, who has been accused of being too vanilla… and when his music beat out the South Park creators for an Oscar, they were so furious that they lampooned him and the song on South Park for a little payback. Plus, we’ve got a song from one of Pixar’s biggest movies Toy Story 2… and the movie almost went direct to home video, but the studio changed their mind when the completed film and it’s backup copy were accidentally erased from Pixar’s servers. Plus the cheeseball balladeer Michael Bolton that was tapped to sing a song for a Disney movie. He was so excited to have the opportunity he went into the studio and blew everyone away. And even I have to admit, though I can’t stand this guy’s music, I have to give him props. He slayed it. Let’s do it.
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FROM THE VAULT: How The B-52s’ Rock Lobster Inspired John Lennon’s Return to Music
Back with the B-52s! Coming Up... a song that missed the top 40 in the early 80s but has since then Rock Lobster by the B-52s has become a modern day standard and a major influence after it was released. Cindy …
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Back with the B-52s!
Coming Up... a song that missed the top 40 in the early 80s but has since then Rock Lobster by the B-52s has become a modern day standard and a major influence after it was released. Cindy Wilson tells the story of how it helped John Lennon come out of retirement and how she and Kate Pierson mimicked sea creatures to get its interesting sound and Fred Schneider’s deadpan delivery. The song was punctuated their homage to Yoko Ono.
The story of a classic New Avant Guard classic is coming up next.
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1977’s Greatest Rock Hits: The Stories Behind “Go Your Own Way,” “Walk This Way” & More
Coming up…a year in music that needs some tweaking. It was the best of times, but today we’ll make it even better as well as select the 10 songs that should’ve been #1, including the greatest opening 20 seconds …
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Coming up…a year in music that needs some tweaking. It was the best of times, but today we’ll make it even better as well as select the 10 songs that should’ve been #1, including the greatest opening 20 seconds of a song in the history of our planet. And I know I won’t get a single argument from you once you hear the song. Plus, one of the most feel-good singalong classics, Easy, a song that ever came from a singer’s notes that he wrote down at a stressful business meeting… He turned those meeting notes into an all-timer. Plus Aerosmith's Walk This Way, the most miraculous rock song ever, that FAILED the first time it was released, then it hit The top 10 when it was put out again a few years later and then 10 years after that it came out a 3rd time and saved this band’s failed career. Plus, Paul McCartney's Maybe I'm Amazed that wasn’t a hit until 7 years after it was recorded, but a live version was what made all the difference. Plus the nasty lyric from Go Your Own Way that a guitarist wrote to shame his former girlfriend that caused her serious PTSD for decades because she had to sing it every night with him and take his abuse night after night….Let’s do it.
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6 Bands That Should Have Been Bigger: The Stories Behind EMF, Tonic & Derek and the Dominos
Today we’re returning to a show that we haven’t done in a long time. It’s a variation on our Bottled Lightning series called One and Done… stories about bands who should have been so much bigger, but for them …
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Today we’re returning to a show that we haven’t done in a long time. It’s a variation on our Bottled Lightning series called One and Done… stories about bands who should have been so much bigger, but for them, lightning only struck once. And after one big album or a short time in the spotlight, they faded back into the shadows forever. For this edition, we’re counting down 6 bands that made their mark and disappeared, including Eric Clapton's supergroup Derek and The Dominoes who created one of the most legendary classic rock albums Layla, that was actually a secret love letter from Clapton to his close friend George Harrison’s wife.Then there’s the band EMF that embedded an F-bomb into the hook of their biggest hit, Unbelievable uttering the profanity 17 times, which would add up to FCC fines of over 36 trillion dollars, enough to pay off our national debt… And finally… the frontman form the band Tonic, wrote the song that would define his entire career on the night his own mother disowned him for getting married. And the line he shot back at her in that final phone call became one of the most recognizable hooks of the decade. Let’s get into it.
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FROM THE VAULT: Narada Michael Walden on Producing Whitney Houston & Prince’s Legendary Basketball Skills
Let's run it back with this classic! Legendary producer Narada Michael Walden tells us two stories that will make you laugh with joy! One of the most successful producers ever tells us how he was in the middle …
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Let's run it back with this classic!
Legendary producer Narada Michael Walden tells us two stories that will make you laugh with joy! One of the most successful producers ever tells us how he was in the middle of working with Aretha Franklin when a 19 year old rookie name Whitney Houston walked in with a powerhouse confidence he’d never seen and recorded the #1 80s smash How Will I Know in 1 take beginning a legendary career few have equaled.. then he retells a story of when another legend named Prince challenged him and others in a game of basketball and with 7 inch heels and a puffy shirt schooled every one on the court. It’s a can't miss on professor of rock.
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Top 10 Worst Celebrity Music Projects: Corey Feldman, Hulk Hogan, Eddie Murphy & More
Okay, okay. I’ve been meaning to do this episode for years. And well, I just can’t put it off any longer. Today, I’m counting down my Top 10 picks for the dumbest and cheesiest celebrity music projects that no …
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Okay, okay. I’ve been meaning to do this episode for years. And well, I just can’t put it off any longer. Today, I’m counting down my Top 10 picks for the dumbest and cheesiest celebrity music projects that no one asked for… Songs and albums spearheaded by actors and famous personalities who just had to have their cake and eat it too. The good news is that most of these celebrities had a day job to fall back on… because I tell ya, their music careers weren’t going to pay the bills. There’s the story of the larger-than-life WWF icon Hulk Hogan who once claimed he was ready to throw in the towel on his wrestling career to play bass for Metallica. He sent in an audition tape, but it was a pipe dream. Then there’s the teen movie star Corey Feldman, who turned down a guaranteed #1 hit from Michael Jackson to write his own song instead… and his music career has been mocked ever since. And finally, there’s Eddie Murphy, who won a hundred thousand dollar bet by proving he could make a “serious” music album with no jokes in it. But he never got paid. Let’s get into it.
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Top 10 Greatest Cover Songs of All Time: Joe Cocker, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley & More
A great cover song takes a track you thought you knew, turns it inside out, and makes you forget it ever belonged to anyone else. Today we're counting down the Top 10 greatest covers ever recorded and telling …
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A great cover song takes a track you thought you knew, turns it inside out, and makes you forget it ever belonged to anyone else. Today we're counting down the Top 10 greatest covers ever recorded and telling the jaw-dropping stories behind them… including one about Joe Cocker, who walked out onto the biggest stage in rock history, launched into a version of a borrowed Beatles song so primal and transcendent that he summoned a literal rainstorm in the process. And it was from the greatest band ever, who were deemed un-coverable. But even the Beatles conceded that it was better than theirs. Plus there’s the rock and roll pioneer who watched a rival Elvis steal his song while he was lying incapacitated in a hospital bed. And it became the definitive version, but his rival was actually just trying to help him. Plus a cover song that shocked us all. Johnny Cash recorded it because he knew he was about to meet his maker and captured a moment that broke our hearts and even made the original artist, Trent Reznor, admit the song no longer belonged to him…Let’s get into a great debate about the greatest cover songs ever recorded…
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7 Songs That Saved Lives: The Incredible Stories of Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, and Soul Asylum
Go to https://buyraycon.com/professorofrockBC to get 30% off. Thanks to Raycon for sponsoring!We need this show right now. I have always believed that music is the universal language, it is the thread that …
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Go to https://buyraycon.com/professorofrockBC to get 30% off. Thanks to Raycon for sponsoring!
We need this show right now. I have always believed that music is the universal language, it is the thread that weaves our entire civilization together. Songs serve as hallmarks of our history and as the checkpoints of our lives. Think about it. Songs are like time machines that transport us back to the moments that matter most in our lives. And in times of adversity and in our darkest hours, great music can motivate us to rise above anything. Today, I going to count down my 7 picks for the stories of songs that have rescued someone in times of distress, literally saving lives. Including the story of two men trapped in an underground mining disaster, who survived in large part thanks to an iPod loaded with rock music from one specific band: The Foo Fighters. And then Runaway Train and its milk carton-inspired music video became a powerful crime-solving campaign, saving dozens of missing teens around the world. But our countdown starts with a legendary NBA player who sat in his truck with a loaded weapon ready to take his own life. Until this 1 Pearl Jam song started playing and saved his life… He went on to win 3 consecutive NBA Championships. Let’s do it
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The Greatest Hits of 1973 That Never Made #1: A Classic Rock Countdown
Go to https://www.kachava.com/ and use code POR for 15% off your first order. Coming up… It’s time to rewrite history and give the greatest songs of 1973 their real due. These Top 10 hits missed the #1 spot on …
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Go to https://www.kachava.com/ and use code POR for 15% off your first order.
Coming up… It’s time to rewrite history and give the greatest songs of 1973 their real due. These Top 10 hits missed the #1 spot on the charts, but as you’ll see, they were all actually better than the songs that did hit #1. Let’s put it right. So many classics here. Including the song that a legendary singer wrote as a parody of Bob Dylan. He basically did an impersonation of him, and it made the song an all-time classic.
Plus the rock song that Paul McCartney wrote in mere minutes on the spot that was rejected by an iconic movie franchise that wanted a lounge act to replace him on the song… As well as the classic rock song that every casual rock fan knows by heart but almost nobody can remember who sings it. It’s one of the most missed trivia questions in music. There’s also Long Train Running by the Doobie Brothers, a song that came from a 10-minute jam that they sat on for 3 years until their producer forced them to put words to it, and it became a classic.
And finally, there’s the classic Steely Dan hit Do It Again that confused the hell out of fans because the lead singer was so overcome by stage fright, he had the band’s backup singer tackle it in concert. Leaving fans trying to figure out who really sang it?
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Halloween Countdown: The Darkest True Crime Stories in Rock History
Watch at your own peril….this one is spooky and creepy…Rock has always flirted with the dark side — but some stories go too far beyond the music. Today we're pulling back the curtain on the most harrowing true …
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Watch at your own peril….this one is spooky and creepy…Rock has always flirted with the dark side — but some stories go too far beyond the music. Today we're pulling back the curtain on the most harrowing true crime stories the rock world has ever produced. It’s our latest countdown of Rock True Crime Stories… “Halloween Edition.” We’ve got the twisted story of rising star Bobby Fuller on the verge of breaking through to the big time… but he was found unresponsive in a car soaked in gasoline. All signs pointed to foul play. But police ruled it out without even dusting for a single fingerprint. So what really happened? Then there is one of the most dangerous criminals in American history who told investigators that AC/DC's music had soundtracked his crimes. The media firestorm that blew up held the band responsible for the actions of a monster they'd never met. PLUS Frankie Teardrop, one of the scariest songs ever recorded…It was so disturbing the singer threw up in the middle of it. And for decades, several radio stations have sponsored huge contests to see if a listener could get through the song in the dark. Nobody could. Can you? Let's get into it.
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Pete Byrne’s Final Interview: How Naked Eyes Created Two ’80s New Wave Classics
It’s been a horrible year in terms of losing legends in music, and sadly we just lost another one. The compelling singer who gifted us with several 80s classics from our youth. Pete Byrne, the singer from the …
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It’s been a horrible year in terms of losing legends in music, and sadly we just lost another one. The compelling singer who gifted us with several 80s classics from our youth. Pete Byrne, the singer from the new wave band Naked Eyes. Pete passed away from a stroke brought on by a brief illness. Pete was a fantastic guy who ruled the charts with the one-two punch of Always Something There to Remind Me and Promises Promises. The Music videos were absolute classics that rocked MTV during its peak. Coming up next, in one of his final full-length interviews, I have the story of both of those classics with Pete. I was fortunate to get to know him and have this deep-dive conversation about these classic tunes and his passion for music. Let’s get into it.
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FROM THE VAULT: How a Session Guitarist Transformed Steely Dan’s "Reelin’ in the Years" into a 70s Classic
Let's take it back!Two of most cerebral rockers and known perfectionists Donald Fagen and Walter Becker AKA Steely Dan, just knew they had a song for their debut album with Hit potential. It was called Reeling …
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Let's take it back!
Two of most cerebral rockers and known perfectionists Donald Fagen and Walter Becker AKA Steely Dan, just knew they had a song for their debut album with Hit potential. It was called Reeling in the Years and was a bitter retort against Donald’s girlfriend who had ripped his heart out so he wrote a “get even” song that was missing one little thing... it lacked vibrancy and passion. So, the duo followed a deep gut feeling that they needed to bring in a musician that would provide the spark they desperately needed. Up next the story of a hired gun who stepped into a recording studio in Santa Monica to pull a song out of the doldrums and turn it into one of the greatest guitar tracks of all time, one that Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin called his favorite ever and one that became a 70s classic from their 1973 classic album Can’t Buy a Thrill NEXT on Professor of Rock.
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Top 10 Underrated Hits of 1986: Van Halen, David Lee Roth, Sting & More
Coming up… In 1986, these songs didn’t crack the Top 10; some may have thought they were also rans, but over time, they became bigger than songs that did, and some even bigger than the songs that made it to #1 …
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Coming up… In 1986, these songs didn’t crack the Top 10; some may have thought they were also rans, but over time, they became bigger than songs that did, and some even bigger than the songs that made it to #1, including David Lee Roth, one of the most dynamic frontmen of the Rock Era, released a song about an American symbol of liberty, but there is a bizarre connection with a book that is titled… The Satanic Bible. Plus Tarzan Boy, a song that was sung by a singer who was NOT the person singing in their heavily played music video... and fans are still confused today. Who really sang the hit? You’ll find out. Plus the broadcast from an illegal satellite dish that inspired a song called Russians that many argue Stopped Nuclear War with 1 question. Plus the bitter Van Halen feud between Sammy Hagar and Alex Van Halen about the legacy of the band. Sammy says Alex is erasing his legacy of 4 #1 albums and a dozen massive hits, while Alex recently called Sammy an idiot. We cover the song they recorded together that can’t be denied. We’re counting down the Top 10 In-Betweeners of ’86, songs that peaked between #11 & #22 on the Billboard Hot 100. But they're just as good as the song that hit #1.
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Top 8 Feel-Good Songs We Secretly Love—The Carpenters, Air Supply, The Osmonds & More
I KNOW YOU’RE GOING TO LOVE THIS EPISODE. If you don’t, I’ll eat my Hat live on camera. So everyone has that “one” playlist. You know the one with all the cheesy songs you’re embarrassed to admit you love. The …
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I KNOW YOU’RE GOING TO LOVE THIS EPISODE.
If you don’t, I’ll eat my Hat live on camera. So everyone has that “one” playlist. You know the one with all the cheesy songs you’re embarrassed to admit you love. The ones you sing to the top of your lungs when no one is looking. Well, today, we’re counting down my picks for the Top 8 feel-good songs that are deemed uncool… but that we secretly love and put on blast when no one is around. For this one, we’ve got the most squeaky-clean family pop group in music history, The Osmonds, who were so fed up with their wholesome image, they snuck off to a basement studio without telling their label and wrote one of the heaviest rock songs of the decade, and it actually influenced proto-metal! And Ozzy and Lemmy loved it. Then, there’s a soft rock duo, Air Supply, that was handed a song they didn't write for a Greatest Hits album that they didn't want to record. But it became a massive hit, and Brad Pitt loved it so much he handpicked it to sing in a big movie. Then there’s Karen Carpenter, who walked into her recording session without knowing the lyrics. Her bandmate scribbled the words on a napkin and handed it to her on the spot. Even though she had a hard time reading the handwritten lyrics, she sang it that one time, and that unrehearsed performance became one of the most heartbreaking vocals in pop history. Let’s get into it.
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The Weirdest and Wildest Songs of the ’50s — Wanda Jackson, “Purple People Eater” & More
The 1950s gave us the birth of rock and roll — and with it a collection of song stories so bizarre and completely unhinged that they sound made up. Behind the poodle skirts and the sock hops was a decade of …
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The 1950s gave us the birth of rock and roll — and with it a collection of song stories so bizarre and completely unhinged that they sound made up. Behind the poodle skirts and the sock hops was a decade of scandals, accidents, and twists that will shock you. Today we're counting down the Weirdest and Wickedest songs the 50s ever produced. First… the sweet, childlike duet Tonight You Belong to Me that was recorded as a family keepsake somehow became one of the most chilling songs on the internet thanks to a dark urban legend about girls forced to sing it by a lunatic. It racked up millions of views on social media… even though the real story behind the record is stranger than any ghost story.
Then… a female rock pioneer Wanda Jackson recorded a sensually charged song laced with references to nuclear devastation that American radio banned outright and many felt it was truly offensive to one particular country… only to watch it become one of the biggest hits ever in that exact country! And finally… the song Purple People Eater that its writer dismissed as the worst thing ever written was rescued from obscurity by a group of record label employees who couldn’t stop playing it in the lunchroom. Plus the story of Rock Around the Clock by BIll Haley and his Comets....Let’s go.
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