Professor of Rock

Ok, you’re not going to believe this story… Coming up.. a song.. a record that changed everything… Spinning Wheel by Blood Sweat and Tears. It dominated the charts because it was so fresh…so impactful It didn’t sound like anything on the radio at the time. With the amazing pipes of David Clayton Thomas. Up next the band’s co-founder Bobby Columby tells the story of this song that was a crossover hit on 3 major charts and that’s just one part of it. This band suddenly became one of the biggest in the world. They were up for record of the year, and they become the only band to have 3 straight #2 hits… their album hit #1 it sold millions and they were banned from touring in America at their peak because the US government wouldn't give singer David Clayton Thomas a green card… So they allegedly blackmailed the band that they would give them a green card if the band would tour behind The Iron Curtain. Hear the unbelievable 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.

Hey teacher, leave them kids alone! Today we’re telling the story of the classic 80s track Don’t Stand So Close To Me by the Police. The controversial song is about a classroom instructor who crossed the line with one of his students. And since Sting was a teacher before joining this band, a lot of fans wondered if it was really about him. Was he speaking from a real experience? Besides that, this song holds another claim to fame as well. It is notorious for trying to pass off one of the worst rhymes in a pop song ever. Even band mates Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland admitted it was terrible. But despite all the drama surrounding it, this song was just they needed at the time. Not only did it become one of their most popular tracks, it opened the way for them to become global rock stars. and part of it would come back around a few years later to help create another massive hit. Money For Nothing from Dire Straits So get ready, we’ve got some controversy coming up on this one… 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.

So I was looking through some old interview footage and I found this cool zoom session I did with two of the greatest drummers from hard rock and Metal. The Appice brothers Carmine and Vinnie Appice. They both played for two of the greatest rock singers ever… Ozzy Osbourne and Ronnie James Dio. They have some great stories including an inside story about an 80s rock masterpiece Dio’s Holy Diver that has been severely misunderstood due to the embellishment of 80s satanic panic… including an experiment that this drummer and the iconic singer he played with did to prove that the media and the naysayers were lying about hidden messages in songs. Great interviews coming up 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… Two of rock and roll’s greatest storytellers Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings formerly of the 70s band the Guess Who share the hilarious story of writing a #1 double sided hit… American Woman and No Sugar tonight. The two hits came from different experiences … One came when the Randy Bachman, who was not from the United States visited Haight Ashbury for the 1st time… He witnessed a tough guy get cut down to size by his lady… She cussed him out in front of onlookers and said a phrase that this guitarist had never heard but he turned it into a #1 hit. The other song came to the band on the spot when they were playing a show. Randy Bachman was vamping on a something and Burton Cummings spit out random lyrics and luckily a bootlegger was recording it because it became massive. The double interview with these legends 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.

In the mid 80s Australian band Midnight Oil was one of the hottest box office draws on their continent, poised to sell out arenas around the country…But instead of accepting the lucrative payouts, they chose to tour the MOST remote areas of the region- for a pittance of what they could’ve made. In these places, singe Peter Garrett and his band witnessed the harsh conditions and poor health that ran amok within the communities they toured in. For decades the people were mistreated by the government, Outraged by what they saw, the band created a song that conveyed their fury and beseeched the public to join them in a crusade to fight… Beds are Burning because one of the defining protest anthems of 1987 from their 80s masterpiece Diesel and Dust... The story behind their biggest American hit of the is that actually brought about real change 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.

Coming up, an interview with a true 80s icon. Colin Hay of Men at Work. This band was as big as anyone in 1982 and 1983. They actually pulled off something that not even the Beatles did… when their debut record, Business As Usual spent 15 weeks at #1 and they had 2 #1 hits Down Under and Who Can It Be Now and 4 top tens…they won a Grammy for best new artist and were on the cover of Rolling Stone… But By the mid-80s the band had disappeared.. and they NEVER had another hit. Up next we get the story behind these hits in an exclusive interview with Colin Hay and find out what the hell happened. 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’s the story of the 1983 Hit Der Kommissar that had two very different lives. First released by a German-speaking 80s star, named Falco, the song went Top 5 in at least 10 different countries. But It crashed and burned in America… Although Falco would have his revenge with a different hit called Rock Me Amadeus a few years later….But then an American ‘prog-rock band gone new wave pop called After the Fire’ got their hands on this song. They translated most of it into English except for a few mysterious lines and released it as a single that same year. And it Crashed and Burned Again!… Deeply in debt, burned out, and at odds with their record company, they decided to break up the band. Then out of nowhere, this track made a run for the top of the US charts just two months later. Was the song’s sudden success enough to get the band back together? Also, what did the mysterious chorus mean when translated into English? Find out 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 was a last-minute song written at record speed. When rock’s greatest trio Rush finished their 9th studio album Signals, they realized they still had 3 minutes and 57 seconds of space left. No big deal right? Well, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart wanted to give their fans the most bang for their buck. So they decided to squeeze one more song onto the record. Only they didn’t write many songs under four minutes. So they gave themselves the ultimate challenge… two days to see if they could do it and dubbed it “Project 3:57.” Well, the song they cranked out called New World Man became their highest charting track of all time. It was unbelievable. I mean these guys practically pulled this song out of thin air. Just an afterthought and it rocketed up the charts. Find out how they beat the clock and improvised their way to their biggest hit… 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.

In 1983 into 1984 every artist and band on the planet was massively outdone by one massive blockbuster. The Biggest selling album of all time. Michael Jackson’s Thriller…. The Police, Pink Floyd, Hall and Oates, Styx Foreigner, YES, David Bowie… All had to be second bananas and then some of the biggest albums of that times never got to #1 because of it. I’m talking Van Halen 1984, Def Leppard Pyromania, and Duran Duran Rio to name a few. That’s when a rising superstar named Prince Rogers Nelson who was part Jimi Hendrix, part Little Richard stepped to up the mic and unleashed a batch of songs that would one up Michael Jackson… He would dominate the charts with 24 weeks at #1 with Purple Rain but he’d also do something even Jackson couldn’t do.. Dominate movie theaters. He took a risk with a first time director and a song that had no bass called When Doves Cry… 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.

Coming up an interview with one of my favorite singer’s ever…He’s one of only a few artists in rock history who’s had a hit with three different bands and as a solo artist. Paul Carrack sang the 80s hit Tempted for Squeeze, Silent Running and #1 hit the Living Years for Mike + the Mechanics, the solo hit 1987’s Don’t Shed A Tear and today’s 70s classic How Long by Ace. He tells the story of this 70s rock and soul classic that even Yacht Rock has claimed. They Call him the man with the Golden Voice and here he explains how this song that everyone assumes is about adultery is actually about something else entirely and how he wrote it on a bus ticket…. 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.