Professor of Rock

Today, it's the story of a band that made rock history by literally singing their way onto the cover of Rolling Stone. This ragtag bunch of musical misfits from Jersey looked more like a gang of bikers than pop stars. Their lead singer wore an eye patch that made him look like a pirate, and their sound was unlike anything else on the radio... they were the musical equivalent of a traveling circus. And they were a powerhouse scoring 8 massive hits in the 70s and early 80s that we still love today. but then they just vanished. It's a wild ride from dive bars to the top of the charts on this New edition of Professor of Rock. We call short and sweet.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’ve done two of these, and you loved them and asked for more. The great IMPROV Moments in music, and the 3rd time might be the best. These are some of the most entertaining stories I’ve come across. Songs that weren't planned or rehearsed, but became pure gold. We’ve got a producer who brought a feast of chicken and ribs into the studio and got Screamin' Jay Hawkins and his band so drunk they blacked out during the session…and forgot they wrote a song. When they got sober, they discovered they’d created a shocking, unhinged masterpiece called I Put a Spell on You. There's also the legend Ella Fitzgerald, who forgot the lyrics to Mack the Knife during a live broadcast in front of thousands... but instead of panicking, she rewrote the song on the spot and walked away with two Grammys. Plus, the UK band Blur improvised a two-minute parody track called Song 2 to mock Cheesy American rock, fully expecting it to be a throwaway cut. But their label loved it, packaged it as a single, and it became their biggest hit. And then the broken string that caused a badass guitar sound that the band Metallica was never able to repeat again.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, I must have a death wish to keep covering this band but I have the final part of my interview with one of greatest producers of the 70s and ‘80s who produced most of the tracks on the biggest selling album ever as well as 5th biggest selling album ever and he has some great behind the scenes stories on some true American classics including a legendary song that may be the most storied rock hit ever. Hotel California, and there are some stories here that have never been told, including the fact that the song had to be recut three different times. The first time it was cut i the wrong tempo, then the second time it was done in the wrong key. The third time was the charm, and then this producer got a front row seat to the greatest guitar battle of all time when the dual solo was recorded. Then there is the classic song that was just Joe Walsh’s warmup exercise, and the band talked him into making it into a song, and there was the song that was a source of contention between the guitarist and lead singer…The guitarist wanted to sing it, but the singer outfoxed him and got his vocal down on the final. These stories are next on Professor of Rock.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today, it's the defining track of a big-budget, no holds barred rock opus. But writing this signature song would be a harrowing experience for this band’s frontman Dave Grohl. Just a couple years removed from the suicide of his friend and bandmate, Kurt Cobain when he was in NIRVANA, Dave Grohl was trying to move on. Now with a new band Foo Fighters and writing their second album the Colour and the Shape, he was facing all kinds of problems. The guys weren’t gelling and were exhausted from their perfectionist producer Gil Norton. And then he got served divorce papers at the studio. Crushed by the weight of his crumbling marriage… he put the sessions on pause and flew cross-country to his hometown. There he wrote his best song Everlong, pouring into it everything he was feeling. When it was finished, it would become the biggest song of his career. One that would have millions of fans singing along in unison. Get ready for a banger next.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Explore the fascinating world of the Carpenters, who dominated the charts in the 70s and 80s. Delve into the intriguing story of how Richard discovered 'Superstar' on late-night TV, and his surprising $1,000 bet about the success of 'Only Yesterday.' Discover the hit that Karen refused to perform, the drama of firing Neil Sedaka on tour, and how a bank commercial inspired one of their most beloved songs. With personal stories and behind-the-scenes gems, this is a treasure trove for music lovers!

Today we’re talking lost songs, underrated classics, and B-sides that should have been A-sides… all coming from the rock’s mightiest band Led Zeppelin… It’s a mystery how some of these tracks weren’t bigger than they were. In the mix, we’re uncovering one of rock’s holy grail songs. An epic song that could have rivaled Zeppelin's most iconic tracks… But it didn’t made the cut for its album. So it was broken up and scattered across at least four other songs… so you can hear parts of it, but what does the actual song sound like and why wasn’t it released? Especially since it had the potential to be Led Zeppelin's biggest anthem… It’s an episode packed with some of the best odds and ends and hidden gems from classic rock’s most legendary band… NEXT on the Professor of Rock.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're counting down the Top 10 songs from one of the greatest years in music history… including the story of David Bowie and Sweet who released singles at the exact same time with identical riffs… they both swear it was pure coincidence, but next we’ll find out the real story. Then there's the tale of a young Sammy Hagar who was so blown away by a guitarist's performance that he broke up his current band on the spot. He tracked down the axeman's address, showed up at his door dressed like David Bowie with a Les Paul and a notebook. They shook hands, and a legendary partnership was born. Plus, the haunting ballad written Elton John as a tribute to a Hollywood LEGEND that was never released as a single, but then years later new lyrics were written to the original music and it became the fastest-selling song ever. Then there’s the classic Zeppelin song that was written after a Beatle made an offhand remark that a famous hard rock band couldn’t write a good ballad, and finally the no-hit wonder who never had a hit in America but sold 145 million records and had 1 that was in the charts for 18 years. Next on Professor of Rock.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Coming up an interview with a band that you’ve probably forgotten or don’t remember, but I guarantee that you know the opening line of their most famous song. It's the Five Man Electrical Band and their classic song Signs that came to its creator when he was racing down Route 66 and saw billboards advertising products in the middle of beautiful scenery. Ads right smack dab in the middle of Mother Nature. It was covering up true beauty, so he wrote a protest song, he threw it onto the B side of a song that the band thought would be a hit, but instead, DJs turned the record over and played the lesser-known song, and it became a 70s classic. Up next, the surviving member of the band gives us the story on Professor of Rock.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 have a spectacular show for you. It’s become a lost art. But for those who grew up and came of age in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, the album cover was paramount, and today we count down the greatest album covers of the 80s with some stories that are almost too good to be true, including the colorful album cover every 80s kid knows by heart. It may be the most famous album cover of the decade, and everyone thought it was just a random drawing, but over 40 years after it hit #1, a real person was shocked to find out the image was actually a drawing of her! Find out how the mystery was solved next. Plus, the controversial album cover that came from bribing a kid with candy cigarettes, when his mother saw the album in stores she freaked out. Plus a striking image captured on a train track in Thailand—and the famous rock band in the pic were, allegedly, almost killed by a train. And finally, the album cover came from a total screw up we’ve all dealt with in our lives… a printer paper jam that turned into one of the coolest album covers ever! It's all coming up next on POR.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Up next, we have one of the most prolific rock writers, Desmond Child, to tell the story of the biggest songs by one of rock’s most legendary bands, I Was Made for Loving You by Kiss. First of all, he wrote it with Kiss's lead singer, Paul Stanley, who claims he wrote his part of the song as an answer to a challenge from the song’s producer. The Paul singer got into a discussion with this disco producer about whether it was easier to write a disco song than it was to write a rock song. So it became a bet. He was out to prove he could write the song quickly, and lo and behold, the song became a monster hit. But then one of the principal members of the band publicly said he HATED it, and Desmond got pissed, especially since he’d given the band a smash hit that made them millions, so he told Paul to go blank himself. And then this hardcore icon gave the only apology he’s ever given. The drama is intense next on Professor of Rock.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.