Professor of Rock

Glam Metal band Europe wrote a keyboard instrumental to be the opening music for their live shows…to play while they were walking out on stage… Then half the band HATED it…and they actually shelved it for 5 years. Then they needed a song for their next album and dusted it off thinking it would be no more than a filler track. It not only became their signature song.. it became a stadium rock anthem that would rule our culture and it’s still killing it. The story of Europe and their hit the Final Countdown that ruled 1986 and 1987. 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 interesting how a band can blow up on the other side of the pond in the UK and be one of the most renowned bands of it’s time and then over here in the States are just a one-hit wonder… Well, today’s band and song are a lot more than that! The band Madness were trailblazers in their native England with 30 top 40 hits over the course of the 70s 80s and 90s with 17 of those going to the top 10. In America, they conquered the charts in 1983 with their only hit stateside but it was a big one. Our House by Madness was a monster smash. It’s a classic we all still sing along to pretty much every week. Madness is a band where every member came from a working-class family trapped in cramped quarters and several members even had criminal records before they hit the big time. It’s a compelling story of a band of brothers who rose above poverty and crime to create a musical movement that changed everything. We break down this sentimental classic by the “working man’s Pink Floyd"…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… separate interviews with 2 legends behind one of the most truthful and compelling songs of the rock era: The Heart of the Matter by Don Henley written for his solo album The End of the Innocence. It's a song that’s changed so many people’s lives including mine with a message that’s so life-affirming and real it should be required listening… It’s just universal. And one of me most important parts of the song was written improv when its legendary singer was recording it… They needed a verse and he sang what came into his head on the spot and it tied the song together. You have to hear this story and interview coming up with 2 of the 3 co-writers of this song, JD Souther who wrote 3 #1 hits for the Eagles including Best of My Love and Heartache Tonight, and Mike Campbell the former guitarist, producer and co-writer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. 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.

In 1977 legend Jeff Lynne of ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) was trying to write songs for a new record but the weather was so dark around him he went into a funk.. Down and depressed he battled writer’s block and couldn’t write for weeks… He drowned his sorrows at the pub but one morning the sun came out and it shook him from his gloom and inspired him to write 13 songs in a little over a week including a classic hit Mr. Blue Sky. The song was about a make-believe superhero, inspired by a silly TV show he loved as a child. It was recorded with percussion played on a fire extinguisher and was so powerful and singable, later astronauts would use it as an alarm in space and it would be voted the happiest song ever! Get the story 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.

It’s a song that is guaranteed to REARRANGE your mind. Just ask the legendary artist who wrote it. Freddie Mercury of Queen. Before this track, neither he nor his band QUEEN had much to show for their efforts. Two albums in, and almost no one knew who they were outside the UK. Actually, they tried touring across America to get their name out there. But their guitarist, Brian May had to be hospitalized… twice. Completely pulling the rug out from under them. They needed a hit so their Freddie popped one off quickly which would start a habit of writing at the spur of the moment from scribbling down lyrics, with nothing to do on a Saturday night to writing a complete song in the bathtub. It would alter the sound of the band and make them legends… Killer Queen from their album Sheer Heart Attack made them rock legends... Find out how this band found their signature sound and conquered America 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.

It’s one of the most essential tracks of the 80s, a song that perfectly captures the neon decade in all its glory and infamy. Everybody want to rule the world by Tears for Fears. The thing is... it almost never happened. Written by a band that was virtually unknown in the US at the time, this track changed everything… it went to #1 and is still arguably the definitive track of the 80s… But the truth is, the singer-songwriter who wrote it didn’t even like it. And didn’t want it on the album. He called it lightweight and said it didn’t fit with the rest of the songs. With just one slot open, it came down to this one and two other tracks. Find out what changed his mind. Plus, discover which two songs inspired the process of writing it. The story behind this one will make you hear it in a whole new way.… It’s coming up… NEXT on the 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 song only needed its opening note to spark a revolution on rock radio. It’s sinister, it’s mind-altering, it’s empowering. One growling intro note is all it takes to open the portal to an otherworldly soundscape, masterfully crafted by one of the most colossal forces in rock history. This Rock band broke the world in two with this 1981 gateway anthem that turned all of us into believers and even though it’s one of the biggest songs in rock history technically, it wasn’t a hit and the band hated it until it got mixed.. it was inspired by a literary classic that every generation has read, and even though it was a tall order to name the track after this novel, it’s that rare case where the song is better than the book and the movie. Find out next! NEXT on the 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… New Wave and Rock icon Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders faced the unpleasant task of having to fire one of the co-founders of her band…Then two days later, she faced the death of another co-founder that she cherished as “her right hand,” James Honeyman-Scott, and struggled with a volatile relationship with her ex-lover, Ray Davies of the Kinks. All of this happened while she was three months pregnant. It was a period of deep sadness and conflicting emotion, but Chrissie is a resilient warrior... and she rose from the anguish with a thought-provoking smash, the top 5 80s smash Back on the Chain Gang that became her band’s highest charting hit in America. A story of passion & pain for a Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame band is 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.

They spent roughly a million dollars making an album that should have been the biggest of its time. However, after the better part of a year, this band, Foo Fighters threw it all away… They completely scrapped the record. No one in the band liked the finished tracks, which Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins dubbed them the “Million Dollar Demos.” Even worse, all four band members were all at each others’ throats. In-fighting was on the verge of fist-fighting. Three albums into their career, they were done. Or so it seemed. With their frontman touring with another band, but somehow they found their mojo and recorded 14 new songs in a matter of days… Including today’s iconic ‘never say die” hit single, Times Like These...This song turned everything around for this band as they stared down the crossroads. It’s a story of near disaster and unexpected miracles…and how the song has a whole new meaning now… the story is NEXT on the 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… It may just be the greatest Hard Rock song ever. With music by the foremost guitar hero of Generation X, the late Eddie Van Halen, and lyrics by rock’s ultimate frontman Diamond Dave… David Lee Roth. He wrote the words in response to a reporter's editorial that he only sang about "women, partying, and fast cars.” Diamond Dave took exception to the reporter implying that he was a stereotypical, vacuous rocker. After pondering on the critique, he realized he’d never actually written a song about “fast cars,” and he did so with piss and vinegar… the result was Panama from their multimillion-selling hard rock masterpiece, 1984. Not even a broken nose could stop him from singing after an accident live on stage...and to think this song barely missed the top 10… Today we're giving it the #1 spot… The story is 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.