Professor of Rock

Coming up, a rare interview with one of the funniest rockers ever. Mr. Eddie Money… Sadly, he passed away a few years back. The Money Man tells the story of his signature hit the 70s rock classic, Two Tickets To Paradise... He was a poor kid from the other side of the tracks dating a rich girl. Her parents didn’t want her seeing him He wanted to take her somewhere special but didn’t have the money so he wrote her a song… It became a rock classic but did it save their relationship? Find out next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Pat Benatar has something of an adversarial relationship with one of her biggest songs… the Top Ten 10 hit “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” It broke her career wide open. There’s a few reasons for this, but ultimately, even though she made it famous, it wasn’t her song to begin with. That distinction goes to a struggling songwriter who wrote it after punching pillows in a new age therapy session. Yeah, you can’t make this stuff up. Even though Pat doesn’t care for it, there’s no doubt that generations of fans haven’t been able to get enough of it. It’s an 80s classic rock radio staple for sure, oozing confidence and bravado, putting Pat Benatar forward as the 80s premier female rocker that would be followed by plenty of great hits like Love Is a Battlefield and We Belong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee 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 one of the nicest guys in the business about his biggest hit. Jason Mraz on his smash hit I’m Yours…It started as a demo he put up on his website.. he considered it nothing more than a b side. A few years later he was playing a concert in Sweden and he needed a song to extend his set, he played this b side, and all 10k people there were singing every word. He was shocked. So he decided to record it properly. He put it out and it became one of the biggest songs ever...spending a year and a half on the charts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

AFTER years of partying like rock stars. IT FINALLY caught up with the members of Motley Crue. It began with a fatal car crash involving singer Vince Neil and then the band’s primary songwriter and bassist Nikki Sixx nearly died on the floor of a hotel bathroom, in fact, a few hours later he busted out of his hospital room and bummed a ride home from 2 fans who were having a candlelight vigil after they heard he’d died on the radio. After these near-death experiences into the late 80s this glam rock act finally got clean and sober. From this mild experience, they made a historic record called Dr. Feelgood led by the powerful title track that became the band’s only gold single that came from dancing with death. Let the viewer beware…We are about to enter the dark side of Hollywood NEXT on Professor of Rock. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s show is a whopper…we dig into the genius & the tragedy that surrounded a pop music classic that was #1 several times for different artists. Without You. Written and recorded by Badfinger and then discovered as a deep track by Harry Nilsson who loved it and wanted to record it. …But after trying it in many different iterations and fighting with his legendary producer about the right way to approach the song. Harry Nilsson began to hate the song and did everything he could to sabotage it. It went to #1 anyway…But then the song became something of a curse. The co-writers of the song from Badfinger were decimated by career & money struggles, and in the end, actually ended up taking their own lives. Then Harry Nilsson ruptured his vocal cords and never sang the same way ever again Harry then basically disappeared from the public eye and then passed away right before he was planning to wage a comeback. Then another artist took her version to #1 in the 90s... The details of this bittersweet rock n’ roll soap opera are coming up NEXT….on Professor of Rock." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee 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 taking a deep dive into one of the most recognizable songs of the rock era from one of the most storied and long-tenured bands of the rock era… Start Me Up by the Rolling Stones… The band actually first wrote it as a reggae song, a pretty big risk for a bunch of white guys.. even though this song came from later in their catalog, it was a smashing success, just missing out on that #1 spot… a coveted prize they would never achieve again. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards first wrote it in the mid-1970s and then a few years later they did even more takes. More than 70. One was a rock and roll take… Years later an associate producer was looking through the vaults and took found the one take they did that was a rock version and the band released it off of the 1981 album Tatoo You…becoming a classic. Which begs an interesting question, was this song their last stand? Was it their last gasp for mainstream music relevancy? Or is chart success overrated? Let’s find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Up next Graeham Goble, a founding member of the legendary 70s and 80s band Little River Band and the band’s primary songwriter dd he tells the story of their biggest-selling song… Lady... He said that he wrote a song about a beautiful girl he saw dancing at a show he was playing. Lady became one of the most-played songs in radio history and Their biggest selling single and to this day, the woman has no idea the song was written about her because as the writer will explain… he never met her. He also tells how the band he helped start and created many of their biggest hits is now controlled by a group of individuals who aren’t even from the band's native country and tour and record without any original members in an exclusive interview coming up on Professor of Rock Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee 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 one of the greatest rock singers in history… Lou Gramm the voice of Foreigner and another legend Mick Jones mega-producer and songwriting maestro on a song that spent a record 10 weeks at #2. Waiting for a Girl Like You... The song never got to #1! It had to settle for being the greatest bridesmaid in recorded. history. this 80s masterpiece was famous for its distinct ambient intro that came from future star Thomas Dolby who was discovered busking on the street by producer Mutt Lange. Lou's incomparable vocal came from a session where a mysterious beautiful woman walked and sat down in front of him inspiring him to dial it up to 11, nailing the take … then he rushed out to find the woman but never saw her again. Up next an interview with all three about one of the greatest songs ever... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It’s one of the most well-known classics of the 80s but… it wasn’t actually a hit. It stopped just sort of the top 40. #41 in fact…New Wave classic Tempted by The Squeeze was an interesting one... the band recorded it with their longtime lead singer Glenn Tilbrook and then when Elvis Costello came in to produce the record, he didn’t like the lead singer's approach so he had the whole thing re-recorded using a guest vocalist named Paul Carrack who had a hit with How Long with Ace and then later had several solo hits as well as many with the band Mike and the Mechanics including in the living years. Carack was only with the band for one record. He nailed it and one iconic line from the song became so popular that fans threw toothbrushes on stage at the band whenever it was performed. Get the inside story of this classic next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee 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 going to go behind the Top 10 songs of this same week from the year 1984. But we’re not stopping there. After we count them down, we’re re-ranking them according to all-time streams and views, to find out which one has left the biggest mark on history. This time around we’ve got some of the greatest hits from the 80s all duking it out for that coveted #1 spot. But who will be the champion? Will it be Van Halen, Prince? Genesis, or maybe a rookie new wave band, a glam metal favorite, or even a one-hit wonder? It’s a nostalgic trip back in time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.