Professor of Rock

Coming up, I’m finally doing it. My personal top 10 song of all time. 10 songs that were pivotal in shaping and changing the life of a small-town boy from Idaho. These are my personal favorite classic rock songs of all time. There's a story about the genius Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys collaborating with an unknown jingle writer that surprised rock fans and even his own band with the greatest harmony ever…with the song God Only Knows. The story of the 70s classic Baker Street, a song that features one of the greatest instrumental performances of the Rock Era and the sax player was only paid 27 bucks while the singer made millions … Plus Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb, the song that pulled me out of deep despair following a devastating divorce that ultimately put me on a path to a life I didn't know existed, and Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen the song that made me who I am and busted me out of prison It's the countdown of MY Top 10 Personal greatest songs EVER, 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.

Bob Seger had been a regional sensation for over a decade but when it was all said and done he had only had one hit in 15 years and by 1976 it had been 8 years since that hit. He couldn’t seem to break through. Well, one night after seeing a popular film of the time he started to have a vision for a song. the 70s rock classic NIGHT MOVES was a very emotional and private experience from his adolescence and sometime later he wrote it at an A&W Drive-in after ordering a burger.. rumor is he wrote it on his tab… He wrote it about a teenage tryst. She ended up marrying somebody else and broke his heart but he turned it into a breakthrough smash single, transforming him into one of American Rock’s greatest rock storytellers. and to think due to a mix-up at his label it almost ended up being a b side… The story is next on Professor of rockSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we're counting down 10 killer classics from a special year in the 80s that were snubbed by mainstream radio. I’m talking about massive songs from some of the biggest musicians and bands of the era… that somehow never made the top 40. These are real musical mysteries —We’ve got the story of a remixed Don't Stand So Close to Me, that’s tied to what may be the most disastrous band reunion ever… including a broken collarbone and a 12-inch switchblade. As well as Boston's Cool the Engines, that was almost lost forever when its writer accidentally melted its master… Find out how he saved it. There’s also the AC/DC that pulled out of a 6-year slump with a massive record that a famous author fanboyed the band into doing for a B Movie. But it sold 5 million and outsold the movie! Then there was one of the biggest records of the year that landed Paul Simon on a hit list, and then years later, some would try to cancel it for Cultural Appropriation. Find out why. And finally, there was the song that iconic guitarist Johnny Marr of the Smiths wrote, and then declared it to be the best song he had ever heard in his life. But then he refused to release it as a single! Let’s get into it.The story of AC/DC Highway to Hell and Who Made, Bon Jovi Never Say Goodbye from Slippery When Wet, Boston third stage including the Hot Amanda, Van Halen with Sammy Hagar and Eddie Van Halen on the album 5150 including Dreams and the Best of Both worlds, Paul Simon Graceland , Peter Gabriel So and Sledgehammer and Red Rain, The Smiths there is a light that never goes out, The police Don’t Stand so close to me. 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.

Today we’re telling the story of folk singer Jim Croce, who spent years playing dive bars and college cafeterias for pocket change… before he finally broke through in his thirties. This Philadelphia everyman wrote songs in the back of pickup trucks between construction jobs, pouring his heart into tales about working stiffs, lost love, and fleeting moments. Jim's warm baritone and fingerpicking guitar-work created intimate three-minute short stories that felt like conversations with an old friend. Tragically, just as Jim reached the summit, his life was cut short in the cruelest way imaginable. But the songs he left behind became timeless classics that still move us decades later. It's a bittersweet journey on our latest edition of Short and Sweet. Let’s get into it.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alright, you asked for it. So you got it. It’s a Halloween Special Edition of Professor of Rock. Today, we're counting down my Top 8 most haunting, spine-chilling tracks from the rock era. And yeah, we’re gonna get a little creepy here. So brace yourselves. On this episode, we’re telling stories of sonic spookers, dark confessions, back-masking messages, and deathly warnings… including one track that was born from a father's twisted bedtime stories about a man-eating monster that haunted his son Robert Smith of the Cure for decades. He couldn’t escape his nightmares; the only way he solved it was through writing a song about it called Lullaby. Then there’s the song that was so traumatizing for Korn lead singer, Jonathan Davis, that he broke down into hysterics after he finished singing his vocals. And it was all caught on tape. The producer just kept it rolling. I’ve also got the most controversial musician I have ever interviewed on this channel. When I released our interview a few years back, I lost 5000k subscribers overnight…I’m hoping it doesn’t happen again. IlAnd lastly, the most chilling song ever released: DOA by Bloodrock. It was not only banned…for a time, it was against the law to play it. It was so disturbing that the band’s promising career never recovered and they were cursed to be a one hit wonder See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Legendary rock band Kansas was coming off of a huge single with Carry On Wayward Son and album with Leftoverture that established them as the one of the premier bands of the 70s as they were woking on their follow up their main songwriter Kerry Livgren was playing a fingerpicking exercise when his wife noticed and told him he should put lyrics to it. He did and wrote Dust in the Wind with lyrics that go back to Genesis in the Bible making it 6000 years old. The next day he was reticent to show the band this song since it was a ballad and totally opposite to what they were about. but as soon as he showed them they knew it had to be their next single. It became their only top 10 hit and in the interview next original guitarist and founding member Rich Willams tells how the song was such an ordeal it made his fingers bleed and how Steve Walsh made it flow… with special guests on how the 70s rock classic has changed everything.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

COMING UP I’ve never done this before but if it goes well I’ll do it again. A full length interview with one of my favorite rock singers ever. A true legend who will walk us through his legendary career song by song including fronting one of the greatest rock bands ever. It’s our first ever episode of RETROSPECTIVE We start with Sammy Hagar and cover his entire career from Montrose to his solo years including I Can't Drive 55 and then joining Eddie Van Halen and helping take Van Halen to #1 on the album charts many times with 5150, 0U812 and For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and the stories of his biggest hits including the guitarist he hates working with because he never tries the same thing twice. It's all coming up in our 1 hour interview with Sammy Hagar the red rocker...See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

There must have been something in the water back in the mid to late 60s because legendary bands and artists wrote some of the most life-changing songs ever. Today, we celebrate a true lost art... songs that stick it to the man. From an accidental protest song from rock’s greatest poet Bob Dylan, who put lyrics to a melody from the 1800s but wrote the lyrics down so fast and messy that night when he played it live for the first time, he couldn’t read his own handwriting, so he had to make up the lyrics on the spot, and it became an all-time standard. Then there was the legendary song that Barry Maguire didn’t like. In fact, he recorded a bunch of songs, and his voice was so shot that he trudged through the song without any care; it was raspy, rough, and haggard. He knew it was a scratch vocal and he’s re-do it later, but then the label put it out as is, luckily it was just a B-side, but then a DJ mistakenly played the wrong side and it became a #1 hit overnight. And helped push the 26th Amendment across the finish line. And then there was the Byrds' song Turn Turn Turn, which was taken straight from the bible, and its writer added his own 2 cents to the scriptures that made it a protest song. Let’s get into it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Riding high on satire…Weird Al Yankovic seemed unstoppable in the mid 80s after Eat It! and Like A Surgeon. but when his fourth record, Polka Party essentially flopped, he almost called it quits. But instead, he started writing for his life. And out of this trepidation, he created a supersized song patterned after the King of Pop Michael Jackson’s latest hit Bad called Fat. It not only won over listeners, but captivated MTV audiences across the world with a hilarious video in 1988. If you lived through the 80s, I don’t think there’s any way you could have missed this one. It was huge! How Weird Al went platinum with Even Worse and rocked 88.Check out this classic, 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.

Remember when a particular band came out of nowhere and dominated radio and MTV with a big album and a bunch of hit songs, and it looked like the start of a massive career? But then the band sputtered and never had another hit, and a few years later, you might hear their old hit and go "What the hell happened to that band?" Well today we have a special edition of bottled lightning, counting down those intriguing stories. Including frontman Darius Rucker, who was overheard singing in a college dorm shower. His future bandmate proposed they team up on the spot… Then years later, David Letterman boosted their album sales into the millions when he promoted it on his show. Then there was Fine Young Cannibals, who put an ad on MTV for a new lead singer. They got 500 cassettes in the mail, and they all sucked. But a friend took pity on them and recommended Roland Gift, a saxophone player who secretly had a great voice. They had 3 Huge hits and a #1 album and became the #1 band of the last year of the 80s. And then they NEVER put out another song ever again. Let’s do this.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.