Professor of Rock

After major success in the 70s, the band Heart hit a wall in the early 80s and went years without a hit. They were struggling so much that lead singer Ann Wilson thought the band's career might be over. Then they pulled off one of the greatest comebacks of the decade When they scored their fist #.1 album in 1985 followed by two consecutive #1 hit, These Dreams and the 1987 smash... the power ballad called Alone from the album Bad Animals. Alone was such an amazing vocal performance by Ann including a heart wrenching heavenly scream that made every 80s kid hit the rewind button on their walkman a few hundred times... Alone became a #1 Hit for a month... It revived their career for good and the song became one of the most covered from the 80s. Up next Ann Wilson of Roll Hall of Fame band, heart tells the story of making some huge sacrifices to keep the music alive and how alone brought them back from the dead. 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, the story of a rare hit song that went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 two different times. You Keep Me Hanging On went to to #1 for the Supremes in 1966 and then in 1987 for Kim Wilde. But! That’s not all. 2 other versions were top ten hits as well.. In fact the first time it hit #1 with it's soaring up beat hook laden take, just a few months later a totally different version from an explosive heavy rock psychedelic group went to #6… Carmine Appice and his group Vanilla Fudge It’s one of the most played songs ever and we have an all star cast of including Lamont Dozier of Motown, Mary Wilson of the Supremes and Carmine Appice of Vanilla Fudge to tell the story of this 60s 70s and 80s smash. With the recent passing of legend Lamont Dozier who along with the crack shot team of Holland Dozier Holland wrote many of Motown's biggest hits, we see in this video what made Lamont Dozier so special. He wrote or co-wrote 14 #1 hits from the 60s to the 80s including one with Phil Collins. 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.

The Fixx Came at the right moment in the early 80s and captured those times so eloquently in their new wave radio hits but strangely enough their songs seems to be the perfect soundtrack of the times we are living through right now. up next their lead singer Cy Curnin tells the story behind the 1983 classic Saved By Zero that may well be their signature song and how the song was written as a way to clear your head and put away your fears.. 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…the story of metal rock icon, Lemmy Kilmister who toiled behind the scenes as a roadie for the great Jimi Hendrix, and was fired from a band after being arrested for drug possession. He was a scruff from Newcastle with the most famous chopstache of the Rock Era, who LOVED to gamble- while playing his music with Motorhead ‘fast and vicious.’ We push up the ante, and play with the 'dead man’s hand’. with the 80s metal classic Ace of Spades and get the story behind this classic 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 next an interview with 80s underground band Violent Femmes.. They somehow sold 1 million copies of their self titled Violent Femmes debut album with absolutely no promotion. No radio play, no label support... nothing. The album had several familiar songs that the children of the 80s know by heart, like Add it Up, Blister in the Sun, Kiss Off and Gone Daddy Gone but the album was like contraband, if you had it you were lucky because it was hard to find. How did this little band that could sell a million albums fin out next with an exclusive interview with the band members including original members Gordon Gano and Brian Ritchie. 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.

The story of the one album wonder: Glass Tiger The Thin Red Line that had 3 top 40 hits. In the past we’ve talked about those rare hit songs that have been Lightening in a bottle. Where an artist or band releases a song that rips up the charts and shakes the earth for a time and then never rises to those levels again… Sometimes we cover An album that has multiple hit singles and rockets up the charts and then the artist never reaches those heights again? Up next lead singer Alan Frew and keyboardist Sam Reid from the canadian synth pop warriors, Glass Tiger tell the story of a moment where they were all the rage in mainstream music with #2 hit Don’t Forget Me When I’m Gone and #6 hit Someday as well as the top 40 anthem I will Be there! 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 another edition of our series Bottled Lightening One Album Wonders… Where an LP had multiple hit songs and then the artist Never had another hit. Rupert Holmes had three hits on his album Partners in Crime. the #1 smash Escape the Pina Colada Song and top 10 hit HIM and then the #32 hit Answering Machine about outdated tech that is pretty funny. but this story ups the ante. . Instead of fading to obscurity after his next two albums and song didn’t chart, he outsmarted the industry when they wouldn’t play his records anymore. He turned the tables on the old cliche one hit wonder and ended up being extremely successful in every aspect of the business including broadway, TV, and books.. It’s a great story 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.

What is your favorite song of all time. It’s a question that gets asked a lot… Well in one of my all time pinch me moments I got to interview the cowriter and co singer of my favorite song ever Mike Lindup of the 80s classic band Level 42 on the story of the 1986 hit Something About You, a glorious synth pop new wave jazz classic and even plays parts of the songs to show how he came up with the song and how he wrote with Mark King, Wally Badarou, Rowland Gould and Phil Gold from the album World Machine. 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 manipulative, it’s menacing, and it’s a masterpiece. the Metallica 80s song Master of Puppets is a grim parable about the abuse of power and the cost of addiction. And it just so happens to be set against one of the heaviest hitting riffs of all time by a band praised for their speed and skill, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Cliff Burton dug deep with this one. . No surprise then that this, their signature song, has made a pop culture comeback recently in the 4th season of Stranger Things. Featured in one of the most epic scenes in modern media history with Eddie Munson saving the world, it just hit #1 all over agian and my kids are listening to it! 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 the story of one of the most elegant and breathtaking #1 hit of the 70s: Just My Imagination (running Away From Me) from the last remaining member of the legendary rock and roll hall of fame group The Temptations. Mr Otis Williams takes us through the song. Though this song was the first of several number one hits for the group in the 70s after dominating the 60s with My Girl and Can’t Get Next To You it would be the last song to be recorded by two key members of the band including one of there lead singers Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams who’s health was failing. …this coming just two years after losing another of their lead singers in David Ruffin. It did’t matter because as this song proves.. it was always about the core not the individuals. The story of one of the most beloveds songs ever is 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.