Ongoing History of New Music

It's not only expensive to put on a concert or a tour, but it's also risky. There's the whole issue of liabiltiy. If a fan gets hurt or killed, the resulting lawsuits can be crippling. You need insurance. You know...just in case something awful happens.  And awful things do happen.  No one goes to or holds a concert with the idea of anyone being hurt...but...stuff happens. Well, what kind of stuff?  Well...I'm glad you asked Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ska was born in Jamaica in the 1950's. It was declared over at least twice. The first wave pettered out in the 1960's as Reggae took hold. Then in the early 1980's, post-punk Ska was suddenly deemed passe.  But on both occasions, Ska rose from the dead and came back even stronger.  Ska is not onto its 3rd wave...and that's where we are going. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How many of today's Ska fans...and there are millions and millions of them all across the world...realise how deep and how rich, and how complicated the history of this music really is? From first wave, through second wave, and finally the present third wave of Ska...We think it's time to check it out. This is the first part of our in depth look at the history of Ska. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this Podcast, conclude our 2009 profile of Rage Against The Machine. Few bands in Alt-Rock are as passionate, powerful and influenctial as these four guys. We trace the roots of Rage from their earliest bands, all the way through their reunion in the late 00's. Enjoy. And turn this one up! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every walk of life has its stars...the famous people who get all the attention. In business it's the CEO's, in sports the athletes. In movies it's the actors and to some extent, the directors. And in music it's the musicians...and the singers. But to be honest, these people are just the faces of their respective industries and pursuits. Some have real power and influcence...others are just figureheads and pupets.  Whatever the case, behind them...behind the famous people...are armies of people who made it possible for these folks to do what they do.  This is the kind of stuff I want to explore on this program. The people deep behind the music and who never got the credit. Until now... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Few bands in Alt-Rock are as passionate, powerful and influenctial as Rage Against The Machine. On this weeks bonus summer Podcast, and by request, we dig into the archives to bring you our 2009 profile of RATM. We trace the roots of Rage from their earliest bands, all the way through their reunion in the late 00's. Enjoy. And turn this one up! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I hate not finishing something I start…for example, if I pick up a novel, I’m determined to finish the thing even if I hate it… But then I look around the house and I see all the jobs that I didn’t complete…organizing the basement…filing all CDs and records…that little project in the back corner of the garden that—well, I don’t even remember what I was trying to do there… Then there’s my novel…I’ve wrote two chapters in a flurry of creativity year ago—and I haven’t touched it since…it’s been so long that the file was written in WordPerfect…I hope I can still open it…I’ll get around to checking that…. All this unfinished business really bothered me—until I saw something that made me feel so much better… It was in china...north of Beijing is a giant amusement park that from the highway looks a lot like Disneyland…it’s called wonderland…it was supposed to attract millions of visitors from all across the country… But then in 1998, investors pulled out…120 acres of half-finished, abandoned, fairytale-themed amusement park…it was so weird…all this time and money and labour put into something only to never see it actually work out… Which brings me to this…just because you start on an album doesn’t mean you’ll ever finish it…and even if you do, it doesn’t mean it’ll ever get released… There are dozens and dozens and dozens of “lost” albums sitting in vaults and on hard drives all over the world…who made them?...and what happened?...let’s take a look—and maybe even a listen… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this weeks bonus Ongoing History Podcast, we go back to January 2005 and our look at Christian Rock. In this episode we trace its history and evolution of  in the Alt-Rock world. It's not all Creed! Thankfully... Special thanks to Brad from Brampton, Ontraio who asked for Alan's thoughts on the genre. And fortunately, we had one on file!  Here it is!  Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a show about crime—specifically crimes committed by performers in alt-rock…and i’m not talking about petty misdemeanors, bar fights, minor felonies, drug convictions or overnight stays in the drunk tank…the topic is real crime and hard time…arrests, convictions and long-term jail sentences—in some cases, sentences scheduled to last decades…robbery, murder, child abuse…there’s some scary stuff coming up here… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For decades, the attitude was that if you recorded for an independent label, you were in the minor leagues…after all, if you were any good or you made music that the masses were likely to enjoy, you’d have been picked up by a major label, right?... The world of indie rock—which itself was a subset within the already left-of-centre alternative rock scene—was a place to put all the extra weird misfits or those whose talent was questioned… Totally unfair…mostly…yes, there were plenty of dregs when it came to indie rock…but this is also the universe where people took chances…and every once in a while, something great inevitably happened…a new sound…a new trend…a new band…even just a new song… And when things got weird with the music establishment in the era of music piracy and illegal downloads, it was the indie world that was forced to step up and figure what everyone needed to do… This is part four of our history of indie rock… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices