Let's Talk About Rock

In celebration of Metallica celebrating 40 years as a band, Vinnie chronicles their musical evolution over the course of their 10 studio albums, as well as behind the scenes hardship, tragedy and struggles with a devoted fanbase cementing their status in pop culture. 

After Don Everly's passing on August 21, 2021 joining his brother Phil Everly in rock and roll heaven, Vinnie gives a summarized history of the original fighting rock and roll brother duo the Everly Brothers from their musical back story to their success in the 1950's, faltering success in the 60's, and their ugly breakup in the 70's all the way up to their modern reunion and resurgence in the 1980's as a rock and roll force to be reckoned with preserving their legacies all the way up until Phil's death in 2014 and Don's recent death respectively.

Vinnie heads on down to the 1990's California ska punk scene to discuss one of the most iconic bands of that era Sublime, looking into the history of the band and singer Bradley Nowell's futile struggles with addiction leading to his passing too soon at the age of 28 from a heroin overdose before Sublime could become a huge success with their self titled 3rd album and how the members of Sublime have carried on their fallen singer's legacy over the past 25 years including with the reincarnation of Sublime called Sublime with Rome.

One of heavy metal's iconic legends, Vinnie delves into Ronnie James Dio's life story, talking about the origins of the horns sign, to his musical roots, leading to his stints in Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Dio discussing his stints in those bands and his legacy in the metal world. 

50 years after the loss of iconic singer Jim Morrison (1943-1971) at the age of 27, Vinnie talks about the life of Jim Morrison and the history of the Doors discussing the making of their albums, their many controversial concerts, and all the Lizard King antics you can name.

Continuing where the podcast left off last year with AC/DC, Vinnie talks about the band's history over the last 40 years with Brian Johnson as singer leading up to the release of their most recent record PWR/UP. 

For Let's Talk About Rock's 75th episode, Vinnie goes heavy metal this pride month by talking about LGBTQ+ metal icon Rob Halford and of course the band he sings with, Judas Priest who have been around for 5 decades influencing many heavy metal bands over the years and continues to this day, making their mark in rock history with timeless albums like British Steel and Screaming for Vengeance. 

Given Bob Dylan's long legacy in rock and folk music, Vinnie talks about Bob Dylan one more time going through some of Bob Dylan's discography and ventures from 1981-present as well as how he preserved his legacy during this time frame with his Bootleg Series alongside other iconic box sets, his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Presidential Medal of Freedom and Nobel Prize for Literature. 

Bob Dylan's legacy over the course of his 80 years on this planet, it was not enough to fit into one episode so Vinnie talks more about Bob Dylan starting from his recovering from his motorcycle accident to this resurgence to popularity with albums like Blood on the Tracks and songs like Knockin' on Heaven's Door, Tangled Up in Blue and Hurricane, all the way up to him becoming a born-again Christian releasing 3 Christian albums between 1979 and 1981 starting with the most notably one of those Slow Train Coming from 1979 with the hit song Gotta Serve Somebody. Eventually, he went back to secular music. 

To celebrate the 80th birthday of folk legend Bob Dylan, Vinnie goes into detail about Bob Dylan's musical history focusing on his first seven albums between 1962 & 66, his prominence in the Civil Rights Movement, going electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival and more. So much to cover, we had to split into multiple parts. 

On Wednesday, May 12, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced their inductees for 2021 in the Performer Category, Early Influences, the Ahmet Ertegun Award, and The Award for Musical Excellence. Vinnie talks a brief summary of who got in, and who didn't. 

For Let's Talk About Rock's 70th episode, Vinnie goes to the Sunset Strip once again to talk about the rise of the band Ratt and some of the greatest music they ever put up, their wild rock and roll lifestyle, and some of the behind the scenes on again off again tension that has plagued them from the beginning and their eventual reconciliation. 

Vinnie talks about Jamaica legend Bob Marley and his slow rise to prominence as a rock and reggae legend and Jamaican icon and how his legacy has been kept alive after nearly 40 years after his untimely death from skin cancer in 1981 at the young age of 36. 

Vinnie talks about another big band from the Seattle music scene named Pearl Jam chronicling their long history spanning more than 30 years as a band focusing on their discography, their touring, their ups and downs including their feud with Ticketmaster, the tragedy at the Rokslide Festival, their political activism, and the live shows that they do and having their concerts available to their fans.  

Vinnie looks at another great grunge band from Seattle named Alice in Chains focusing on their long career starting with original singer Layne Staley's backstory and his early bands including glam bands Sleze, (later Alice N' Chains) before eventually forming Alice in Chains with Jerry Cantrell, Mike Starr (replaced later by Mike Inez) and Sean Kinney where they would skyrocket to commercial success.  After Layne Staley's tragic death from a speedball overdose, Alice in Chains have been continuing Layne's legacy with William Duvall with live shows and albums that still sound great. 

27 years after Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain took his own life at the age of 27, Vinnie looks at his troubled past, and the history of Nirvana, one of the biggest bands of the early 1990's that changed rock music forever with their heavy edgy sound from the Seattle grunge scene skyrocketing the Seattle sound to the mainstream. 

Before Grunge became mainstream, before Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains, there was a huge underground cult following in Seattle originating with hardcore punk rock groups like Solger, the Fartz and 10 Minute Warning which led to bands adopting a rawer edgier sound for early grunge bands like Green River, the U-Men, the Melvins, Skin Yard, Tad, Screaming Trees, Malfunkshun, Mudhoney, and most notably, Soundgarden and Vinnie discusses those bands that helped shape grunge's sound in the 1980's and would be further cemented by the Deep Six compilation by C/Z Records and the founding of Sub Pop Records. Vinnie talks about many the early grunge bands leading all the way up the short lived supergroup Mother Love Bone whose potential came to a screeching halt with the untimely death of Andrew Wood. These early grunge groups may not be that well known, but they played a significant impact in how grunge began and how they paved the way for bigger bands like Nirvana, Alice and Chains, Pearl Jam and the continued smash success of Soundgarden, plus the influx of similar grunge-inspired bands all over the world. 

Poison is one of the most popular stadium bands of all time so Vinnie decided to delve into the long history of Poison going all the way back to their roots in Mechanicsburg and their slow rise to the top in the LA scene before becoming one of the biggest bands of the 1980's hair metal scene that is still drawing thousands of concertgoers to this day. 

For Women's History Month, Vinnie decides to talk about a legendary woman of psychedelia that was cut short from a life of drug addiction Janis Joplin. He talks about her troubled life growing up, her rise to superstardom as a countercultural icon and legend of rock music with groups like Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Kosmic Blues Band and the Full Tilt Boogie Band and concluding with her unexpected demise putting her in the infamous 27 club. 

To wrap up Black History Month, Vinnie gives a general summary of the Godmother of Rock and Roll, Sister Rosetta Tharpe's life and why her often sadly forgotten legacy still lives on as a huge influence on not just the gospel genre but the rock genre as well influencing early rock and rollers like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.

Vinnie talk about the Godfather of Soul, James Brown talking about his 73 year long life as one of the biggest African American R&B/Soul singers in music from his legendary stage presence, his iconic discography, to his civil rights activism. This episode also delves into some of James Brown's allegations of domestic abuse and checkered track record with the law from his formative years to his later life. Even through both good and bad, James Brown will always be the Godfather of Soul.

For the 60th episode of the Let's Talk About Rock, Vinnie summarizes the history of the legendary Motown record label, its founder Berry Gordy, the various songwriters, producers and musicians of Motown that make a successful musical formula and a brief summary of many Motown artists including The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, The Temptations, The Four Tops, as well as brief mentions of Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Jackson 5 etc. more than there is time to cover. It's legacy is still being felt today in the R&B realm, the pop realm and the rock world.

For the first week of Black History Month, Vinnie talks about legendary rock and roll founding father from New Orleans, Louisiana: Fats Domino. A piano playing legend with many iconic rock hits as Ain't That a Shame and Blueberry Hill among others, we break down his life story in summarized form, in his long 89 years on this planet living a full life and a cultural impact on the city of New Orleans and rock music in general.

On January 16th, 2021, Phil Spector died in prison at the age of 81 from COVID-19 so, for the first time, we rerelease our Phil Spector, we give our update before we go into our January 2020 episode about Spector's complicated legacy to put it mildly how he went from being one of the most famous music producers with his "Wall of Sound" to being imprisoned for the murder of B-movie actress Lana Clarkson. We're now also on the Qodpod network. Follow on Facebook & on twitter @qodpod.

On what would have been Sam Cooke's 90th Birthday, Vinnie talks about the life story of the King of Soul, Sam Cooke from his gospel roots, to a musical icon during the Civil Rights Movement before his life was cut short from a death at the age of 33 that is shrouded in mystery and speculation to this day.

In Part 2 of the story of David Bowie, Vinnie discusses Bowie's Berlin Trilogy, his rise back to the mainstream, his short lived Tin Machine project, Bowie's happy marriage to Iman, his foray into electronic rock, and his lasting legacy in the 5 years since his untimely passing in both music and film.

In memory of what would have been David Bowie's 74th birthday, and 5 years after he left us, Vinnie discusses the life of David Bowie. For Part 1, he focuses on his early life and talks about his slow rise to superstardom and his notoriety with over the top characters like Ziggy Stardust and the Thin White Duke, to launching his film career with the Man Who Fell to Earth all the way up to 1976. To be continued...

To finish off this crazy year of 2020 with things like the coronavirus pandemic and the many high profile deaths, Vinnie puts a positive spin as best he can by talking about all the new music that came out from artists both old and new, and his recommendations about who to listen to.

In Episode 53 of Let's Talk About Rock, Vinnie spends time filling in the gaps about what he missed when talking about hair metal. The first half of the episode is spent talking about forgotten bands he forgot to mention and the second half is spent chronicling the summarized histories of Quiet Riot, Great White and Warrant.

In 1980, after nearly 5 years out of the public eye, John Lennon decided to eventually get back into the game and released Double Fantasy with his wife Yoko by his side to collaborate. Sadly, on December 8, 1980, John was tragically assassinated outside his home at the Dakota shaking the world. Over the last 40 years, Yoko has had a hand in preserving John's legacy from the countless compilations, to memorials worldwide like the Liverpool John Lennon Airport and the Imagine Peace Tower in Reykjavik, Iceland among others. 40 years after he was taken from the music world, his spirit lives on to this day.

In Episode 51 of Let's Talk About Rock, Vinnie discusses the decade of decadence. Specifically, talking about the rise of hair metal in the 1980's, and the success of bands like Motley Crue, Quiet Riot, Dokken, W.A.S.P., Poison, Great White, Warrant and many, many more bands that oversaturated the metal genre by the decades end. Despite the sharp decline in commercial success starting with the grunge movement, hair metal for the past 2 decades has had a legacy as a great nostalgia trip and its legacy is still being felt and is a genre widely loved by many rock fans to this day.

This episode, Vinnie talks about this great Pinocchio story if ever there was one for rock music, The Monkees who started out as actors who played a band on TV, and then transformed into a real band and this is a story of how the Prefab Four starring Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork, successfully sought creative control over their own music. The story of how the Monkees became one of the most iconic figures in rock is one for the ages.

On Episode 48, of the Let's Talk About Rock podcast, Vinnie interviews rock radio personality Jacky Bam Bam, the nighttime host of Philadelphia's legendary rock station, 93.3 WMMR. We talk about how he got his start as a DJ and playing drums in bands like Scarlet Fever and the Dogtown Balladeers, before eventually making his way to the radio airwaves at 94 WYSP, before moving to WMMR where he moved up from the overnight shift all the way up to the evening shift he has now. He tells it like it is! We even talk about his role in the annual Philadelphia Mummers Parade, accompanied by some very useful advice for the next generation of radio DJ's.

In this special Halloween Episode of Let's Talk About Rock, Vinnie talks about the Godfather of Shock Rock Alice Cooper starting with his humble beginnings, his 70's heyday, his battles with alcoholism and his eventual resurgence as a cultural rock icon.

More than 3 years after the rock world lost Tom Petty, Vinnie examines the life and legacy of Tom Petty's 66 years on this earth, and the many ups and downs he endured in life.

To pay tribute to one of rock's greatest guitarists Eddie Van Halen, Vinnie looks at the summarized but comprehensive history of Van Halen since the 1970's from the David Lee Roth era, the Sammy Hagar era, the Gary Cherone era all the way up to the present day. R.I.P. Eddie Van Halen (1955-2020)

To celebrate what would have been John Lennon's 80th Birthday, Vinnie talks about John's early and his solo career from the Beatles breakup in 1970 to the time he took a hiatus to become a househusband for he and Yoko's son Sean in 1975. We talk about everything in between from his albums, to his politics, to his immigration battles, to even his famous "Lost Weekend".

If there was one band beside the Beach Boys that were hugely successful before during and after the British Invasion, their name was the Four Seasons. Vinnie chronicles the long running band, their success, their troubles, and most importantly their legacy, best exemplified by being the subject of the Tony Award winning Broadway musical Jersey Boys.

40 years after we lost drummer John Bonham (1948-1980) leading up to Led Zeppelin's breakup, Vinnie gets the led out by learning more about Led Zeppelin's history from their origin story, their tales of debauchery and a summarized making of the great timeless records they made together over the course of their history together.

It's been 50 years since the rock world lost Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) so Vinnie talks about the life and legacy of one of rock's greatest guitarists of all time examining his rise to fame summarizing the albums and songs he had given us as well as some of the history of his posthumous discography over the last 50 years.

Part 2 of Black Sabbath's story is discussed as Vinnie G talks about the many parts of Sabbath's history between 1980 and 2017 starting with Ronnie James Dio era of Black Sabbath, then the period of multiple lineup changes over the next decade including the Ian Gillan era, the Glenn Hughes era, and the Tony Martin era of Sabbath. Plus, in the 1990's there were reunions with Dio and the Tony Martin era and then, eventually a reunion with Ozzy Osbourne in the late 1990's lasting all the way to Sabbath's last show on February 4th, 2017.

On Episode 39, Vinnie summarizes the classic early years of Black Sabbath from their humble beginnings to singer Ozzy Osbourne's firing in 1979 and delves into their metal legacy and history in their first decade as a band that essentially created a perfect blend that started heavy metal music. Part 2 is coming next week.

Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll! Chuck Berry lived a full 90 year life making a mark in rock history as the Father of Rock and Roll successfully fusing the blues with country to perfect a full sound that would help define rock forever. Vinnie discusses Chuck Berry's rise to success, his influence in rock, his scandals among other things that well defined his status as a rock and roll hero.

3 Days of Peace and Music. That was the slogan of the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival. Vinnie talks about the making of the festival, what went down during the festival including the songs that were played at Woodstock, as well as the enduring legacy Woodstock still has on both American history and rock history.

Get ready to twirl because Vinnie is on hand to talk about the long running history of the Grateful Dead and how their legacy is still being preserved by the surviving members a whole quarter century after the passing of their legendary front man Jerry Garcia. God Bless the Grateful Dead!

Ladies and Gentlemen...Rock n' Roll. Those were the first words ever spoken on MTV when it premiered on August 1st, 1981 at 12:01am as Vinnie G talks about the summarized history of MTV, and its legacy in bringing music videos into the mainstream and giving many prominent artists more exposure even introducing us to the video jockey or VJ and even the many controversies MTV endured along the way. Vinnie looks at the MTV programs in the '80's and '90's that brought great music the masses like Alternative Nation, I.R.S. Presents the Cutting Edge, Total Request Live, 120 Minutes, Headbanger's Ball. and its predecessor Heavy Metal Mania hosted by Dee Snider of Twisted Sister as they were essential to many prominent rock and pop artists. MTV may be a reality show haven now, but its heyday in the '80's and '90's is well remembered much more fondly and left its mark for better or for worse in rock's legacy.

To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Back in Black, Vinnie talks about the early days of AC/DC from their formation in 1973 to their slow rise to superstardom when their 1980 classic Back in Black was released as a tribute to the late Bon Scott.

To celebrate 35 Years of Live Aid, Vinnie discusses the history and legacy of Live Aid and goes through the sets of each of the acts playing during the UK leg of Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in London and the US leg at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 13th, 1985.

To celebrate a belated 80th birthday for one of the most iconic rock drummers of one of the most iconic bands, Vinnie talks about the life and career of Ringo Starr and the ups and downs of his early life and his post-Beatles solo work over the past 80 years.

In Episode 31, after talking about the Chicago blues scene the previous week, Vinnie summarizes the blues scenes at various parts of the country and some of the artists that shaped the blues and rock music. He also talks about the summarized history of the Three Kings of the Blues: B.B. King, Albert King and Freddie King and briefly touches on the legacy of the blues being kept alive.

Vinnie G's got the blues for this episode and he is looking at some of the history of the Chicago blues scene and it's legacy in rock and roll history with artists like Muddy Waters, Little Walter, and Howlin' Wolf, and even going into some of the history regarding the most famous record label in Chicago, Chess Records.