Professor of Rock

Everyone loves a great underdog story, and up next, we have one of the best from the 80s. Today’s Rookie artist Cyndi Lauper went through hell and back to get to the top. First of all, she lost her voice because of a collapsed vocal cord, and doctors said she’d never sing again. Then she got sued for $80K, which today would be like a quarter million. This forced her to declare bankruptcy and left her destitute. But Lauper kept going, she finally got a break with a label, but they didn’t believe in her songs, they pushed her to do cover songs from other artists, even though she was a great songwriter herself. After recording a bunch of covers, she rebelled and wrote a song with another up-and-coming artist from the band the Hooters that came from her TV GUIDE and an annoying alarm clock that kept malfunctioning and going off in her apartment. She even smashed it against a wall and threw it in the shower, but it kept ticking away. That ticking sound inspired one of the greatest #1 hits in history. Time After Time from her 80s classic album She's So Unusual. It became the most covered song of the decade and hundreds of artist have claimed it's the one song they wish they'd written. It was so good her producer would let anyone near the studio when she was working on it for fear someone would steal it. Up next, I have the co-writer to tell the story.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Coming up next a lead singer from an underrated band that in their peak years from the late 60s to the mid 70s had More Gold records Than The Stones! Bigger Crowds Than Credence! And Fatter Purses Than Elvis! Chuck Negron's band, Three Dog Night had had a then record, 21 consecutive hit songs and up next he shares the story of several classics including a song...Pieces of April he recorded because the band needed one more song, only the rest of his band mates were out of town so he had to go in and record it himself but because he didn’t have his regular group and none his of session guys were available so he found out that the janitor played Cello and the studio’s secretary played guitar and so he Jerry rigged the song and it became a smash. Then there was the album cover that was so controversial he had to put a bandage over the cover and then there was the hit song called the show must go on that he covered and decided to change the lyrics but he was in such a hurry to get it recorded, he forgot to call the original singer for permission to change them and when the song came out he was livid… plus the song that was created for a failed children's tv show and because one of the biggest rock songs ever, Joy to the World. So many classics coming up next. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Coming up, we shine a focus on the neurological condition known as stuttering…. Some spend a lifetime trying to get rid of it, others have learned to control it and become legendary performers. And then some have turned the condition into some of the biggest hits in rock history. In this episode, we explore how a stutter was turned into a clever art form, uniting a universal chorus of stammers that was beautiful. Including the song Lola that Kinks singer Ray Davies was writing when his toddler started singing along with him… the simple lyrics were like a nursery rhyme and they stuttered it together and that stutter by his toddler made it a classic. Then there’s the stutter that came from frustration when The Who's legendary singer Roger Daltrey, couldn’t get the timing of the vocal and lyrics right, so he had to stutter to make it fit. It became an all-time anthem. And then Randy Bachman, who wrote Ain't Seen Nothing Yet to mock his little brother’s speech impediment and it hit #1 in 12 countries and he even got a special award from the non-profit stuttering foundation. Let’s do it. Go to this exclusive web address right now to try ZipRecruiter FOR FREE: https://www.ziprecruiter.com/rockSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ladies and gentleman, rock and roll. From its inaugural blast off and moon landing on August 1, 1981 until the clock struck midnight on New Years Eve 1989, MTV and the 80s were a match made it heaven. The decade was no doubt the most important in the network’s history and was stacked with landmark moments. Famously opening with the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star,” MTV quickly became part of the fabric of our lives. It’s humble origins began with a very limited library of music videos, but it wasn’t long before the channel caught fire… and became the juggernaut that powered the lives of music lovers everywhere. As the “I Want My MTV” ad campaign hammered the brand into public consciousness, rock and pop stars came out of the woodwork to throw in their support. And as the decade unfolded, we were hit with music videos that revolutionized the medium and kept our eyes glued to the screen. Duran Duran’s Hungry Like the Wolf, Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer, Dire Strait’s Money For Nothing, Genesis with Land of Confusion, and Michael Jackson’s Thriller. The list goes on and on. And surrounding the never-ending line-up of videos were moments that put MTV down in pop cultural history: Madonna’s“Like a Virgin” performance at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards, Live Aid coverage, the Run-DMC Aerosmith collab on Walk This Way, Motley Crue’s Home Sweet Home breaking Dial MTV, the debut of MTV Unplugged in 1989… But now over 44 years later. MTV has been unplugged once and for all. On December 31, 2025, the last of MTV’s dedicated 24-hour music television channels ceased global broadcasting, ending over four decades of continuous music programming. The shutdown affected 5 major channels (MTV Live, MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, and MTV Hits).See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sometimes you ask a question, and there’s some mustard behind the answer. Today I talk with a legend who was riding as high as a band can in one moment, but then music got turned on its head, and this band, along with dozen’s of other,s were suddenly at a crossroads. Coming off one of the biggest albums ever, this band was in crisis going into a new decade… They lost two of their members. Their legendary guitarist and their so called 6th member, one of the greatest producers ever, as they gathered to put together their new record, all bets were that it was gonna be dark and brooding. That was certainly the mood, but instead this band put out a relentlessly upbeat album full of hard rock that was a pure adrenaline rush with a huge first single; the only problem was their timing was a bit off. Had this record come out even a year before, it would’ve been twice as big, but it dropped when GRUNGE had taken over the landscape and was threatening to take this band out. I pose the question decades later to their legendary frontman. What were you thinking when this musical movement that took out so many bands and threatened yours happened, and he spits a little fire my way… But his answer is priceless. Let’s do it.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Some songs start as hits but end up as punchlines. Over-saturation, endless mocking, and viral internet culture can transform a former chart-topper into a pop culture punching bag. Today, we're counting down 6 tracks and artists that went from beloved… to the butt of the joke. We’ve got stories like the time Conan O'Brien teased Michael Bolton. So Bolton threatened to end Conan's life by sending a softball through his head at their next charity softball game. Or how about when the star of Titanic, the highest-grossing film of the 20th century, said that movie’s theme song My Heart Will Go On makes her throw up in her mouth every time she hears it… because fans won’t stop playing it for her! And then there’s the music journalist who was locked inside a listening booth at a Best Buy, and was forced to listen to We Built This City his magazine called “the worst ever”… for 24 hours straight. Plus, there’s What's Up, the song that is so annoying I'd rather be water boarded then list to it. We’re covering the rock era’s best musical punchlines. Let’s go!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

So last week I showed this strange one-hit wonder Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm by the Crash Test Dummies, to my autistic son, and he was absolutely mesmerized. He has listened to it about 90 times since then, so it got me curious about a deep dive on it. It’s undeniably creepy but strangely comforting…Written about 3 different kids connected by the common thread of loneliness and suffering. It was inspired by true stories and events, and the singer delivers it in an unconventional style with a voice that many tried to imitate at the time it came out, but no one could do it. It made us all bristle with astonishment and wonder lead with the strangest meandering one-word chorus in history. It’s time to get to the bottom of this one. Let’s do it.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

1980 was a wild year for rock. It’s hard to believe it was 45 years ago… The charts were dominated by soft rock holdovers and the last gasps of disco… Meanwhile, some of history’s most groundbreaking tracks were flying under the radar. Songs that became legit anthems for generations to come. But they couldn't even crack the Top 40. Today, we're counting down 10 badass tracks from 1980 that were ignored by Radio but are now Classics. Including Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart, a song that an iconic frontman wrote that fans and his own band didn’t realize was a suicide note till it was too late. Plus U2's I Will Follow that was written during a screaming rehearsal argument. Bono, who couldn’t play any instruments, got so angry he ripped the guitar off his guitarist's neck and started making a sound like a dentist’s drill. It became one of their most iconic tracks. Or what about the lovestruck guitarist Mark Knopfler, who got his punk rock girlfriend a record deal, only to be brutally dissed by her in a public interview… He turned that diss into a 6-minute sonic masterpiece. Let’s do it!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Coming up you asked for it. and so her it is Round 2 with the UNFILTERED Dr Love. Gene Simmons of Kiss. This first iteration got backlash and I even got called out for not pushing back in the last interview My job is to ask questions and get out of the way. Well, haters are gonna hate because This one may piss them off even more. We talk about the classics from Kiss’ biggest song ever I Was Made for Loving You to the one that put ‘em on the map I Wanna Rock n Roll All Nite (And Party Every Day) plus some deep cuts, his notorious tongue, he shares his feelings on his roots which is very touching, how he made it in America, and then his phone dies mid-interview. He says what he wants, and along the way we get some great stories. Here’s Gene Simmons of Kiss on the biggest hits and misses. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Here’s Part 2 of the greatest Female Rock Singer Ever and most of save for a few minutes here and there most of this has not ever been show. Ann Wilson of Heart takes us from the late 80s thought the 90s and up to now with the stories of the song and album that made heart one of the greatest bands in history including the song that save their career, plus the song that became their biggest hit of the last 35 years but Ann Hates it so much she refused to play it for decades plus the song she took a step back and let her sister Nancy who was the guitarist and backing vocals sing and it became a smash…as well as tackling the most revered song in rock history that she sang in front of here heroes and made one cry and another smile plus their impact on grunge and the new millennium here’s Ann Wilson.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.