Professor of Rock

Back with the B-52s!

Coming Up... a song that missed the top 40 in the early 80s but has since then Rock Lobster by the B-52s has become a modern day standard and a major influence after it was released. Cindy Wilson tells the story of how it helped John Lennon come out of retirement and how she and Kate Pierson mimicked sea creatures to get its interesting sound and Fred Schneider’s deadpan delivery. The song was punctuated their homage to Yoko Ono.
The story of a classic New Avant Guard classic is coming up next.
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Coming up…a year in music that needs some tweaking. It was the best of times, but today we’ll make it even better as well as select the 10 songs that should’ve been #1, including the greatest opening 20 seconds of a song in the history of our planet. And I know I won’t get a single argument from you once you hear the song. Plus, one of the most feel-good singalong classics, Easy, a song that ever came from a singer’s notes that he wrote down at a stressful business meeting… He turned those meeting notes into an all-timer. Plus Aerosmith's Walk This Way, the most miraculous rock song ever, that FAILED the first time it was released, then it hit The top 10 when it was put out again a few years later and then 10 years after that it came out a 3rd time and saved this band’s failed career. Plus, Paul McCartney's Maybe I'm Amazed that wasn’t a hit until 7 years after it was recorded, but a live version was what made all the difference. Plus the nasty lyric from Go Your Own Way that a guitarist wrote to shame his former girlfriend that caused her serious PTSD for decades because she had to sing it every night with him and take his abuse night after night….Let’s do it.

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Today we’re returning to a show that we haven’t done in a long time. It’s a variation on our Bottled Lightning series called One and Done… stories about bands who should have been so much bigger, but for them, lightning only struck once. And after one big album or a short time in the spotlight, they faded back into the shadows forever. For this edition, we’re counting down 6 bands that made their mark and disappeared, including Eric Clapton's supergroup Derek and The Dominoes who created one of the most legendary classic rock albums Layla, that was actually a secret love letter from Clapton to his close friend George Harrison’s wife.Then there’s the band EMF that embedded an F-bomb into the hook of their biggest hit, Unbelievable uttering the profanity 17 times, which would add up to FCC fines of over 36 trillion dollars, enough to pay off our national debt… And finally… the frontman form the band Tonic, wrote the song that would define his entire career on the night his own mother disowned him for getting married. And the line he shot back at her in that final phone call became one of the most recognizable hooks of the decade. Let’s get into it.
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Let's run it back with this classic!
Legendary producer Narada Michael Walden tells us two stories that will make you laugh with joy! One of the most successful producers ever tells us how he was in the middle of working with Aretha Franklin when a 19 year old rookie name Whitney Houston walked in with a powerhouse confidence he’d never seen and recorded the #1 80s smash How Will I Know in 1 take beginning a legendary career few have equaled.. then he retells a story of when another legend named Prince challenged him and others in a game of basketball and with 7 inch heels and a puffy shirt schooled every one on the court. It’s a can't miss on professor of rock.
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Okay, okay. I’ve been meaning to do this episode for years. And well, I just can’t put it off any longer. Today, I’m counting down my Top 10 picks for the dumbest and cheesiest celebrity music projects that no one asked for… Songs and albums spearheaded by actors and famous personalities who just had to have their cake and eat it too. The good news is that most of these celebrities had a day job to fall back on… because I tell ya, their music careers weren’t going to pay the bills. There’s the story of the larger-than-life WWF icon Hulk Hogan who once claimed he was ready to throw in the towel on his wrestling career to play bass for Metallica. He sent in an audition tape, but it was a pipe dream. Then there’s the teen movie star Corey Feldman, who turned down a guaranteed #1 hit from Michael Jackson to write his own song instead… and his music career has been mocked ever since. And finally, there’s Eddie Murphy, who won a hundred thousand dollar bet by proving he could make a “serious” music album with no jokes in it. But he never got paid. Let’s get into it.
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