Rock in Retrospect

Music journalist Matthew Silva joins Nick to discuss the career and legacy of The Guess Who, one of the greatest and most impactful rock acts to come out of Canada. They discuss their catalog of great songs, their messy legal disputes, and their omission from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Send us a text

Christy Alexander Hallberg (Rock is Lit) and Staci Layne Wilson (Rock & Roll Nightmares)  return to discuss the 2024 documentary Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg. Topics discussed include Pallenberg's involvement with the Rolling Stones, her legendary film career, and her status as a fashion icon.Christy and Staci both interviewed Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill, the filmmakers who directed Catching Fire, on their respective podcasts. Listen here to Christy's interview and Staci's interview.Send us a text

Richard D'Orazi and Andrea Lewis join Nick to discuss Questlove's recent documentary Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music. We talk about our favorite musical performances, interview segments, and so much more. Richard also recounts his experience attending a live taping of SNL in early May.This episode is released in conjunction with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's new exhibit "SNL 50" that opens today! There are a lot of Rock Hall connections mentioned throughout our episode.Send us a text

Filmmaker Trevor Banks (Give the Drummer Some) joins us to discuss the career and legacy of legendary drummer Clyde Stubblefield. Most famous as a member of James Brown's band throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Stubblefield's drumming led to some of the most innovative and widely-sampled drum breaks in music history. Stubblefield's influence is undeniable and Banks is advocating for Stubblefield to earn his rightful place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.Sign Trevor's petition to get Stubblefield inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.Send us a text

Part II of our fun interview continues with John Mutford and Tony Greathouse answering a few more music-related questions.Send us a text

The first of two episodes where anything goes on Rock in Retrospect! I invited back to the show John Mutford, Tony Greathouse, and Kyle Hildreth to answer some fun music-related questions. Part II will be released this Wednesday.Send us a text

Matt and Lucy (Robbie Williams Rewind) join Nick to discuss the Michael Gracey-directed music biopic Better Man and all things Robbie Williams!Send us a text

Tom Lane, David Schnelwar, Michelle Bourg, and Greg Peurach return to discuss their reactions to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's Announcement of the 2025 inductees. We recorded this episode the night after the big announcement.This year's inductees are Bad Company, Thom Bell, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Nicky Hopkins, Carol Kaye, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Salt-N-Pepa, Soundgarden, Lenny Waronker, The White Stripes, and Warren Zevon.Send us a text

The Douche Caravan returns! Jon Lamoreaux (Host of The Hustle Podcast),  Patrick Dupuis (Host of The EETF Podcast) and Michael Bagford join Nick to discuss the 2024 Max documentary Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple. They discuss Van Zandt's legendary one-of-a-kind career as a performer, producer, arranger, political activist, and so much more!Send us a text

Philip Bergman (Rock Hall Monitors) joins Nick to discuss the career and legacy of the 60s rock-and-roll icon Chubby Checker. We talk about Checker's association with Dick Clark and American Bandstand, the enduring legacy of "The Twist," our favorite songs from his catalog, and his current nomination for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.Send us a text

Pat Francis (Rock Solid) joins Nick to discuss the legendary career of  Billy Idol. We discuss Idol's partnership with guitarist and songwriter Steve Stevens, his status as an MTV icon, his truckload of hit singles, and his current nomination for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's 2025 class. Send us a text

Mike Drew returns to give his thoughts on the concert film Liam Gallagher: Knebworth 22. We also discuss Oasis' highly anticipated tour later this year, Oasis' status as Britpop icons, and share our favorite songs from Gallagher's catalog. Send us a text

The first in a series of artist-centric episodes spotlighting some of this year's nominees for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. To kick things off, I invited music editor Ryan Gibbs (InBetweenDrafts) to talk about the career, legacy and current Rock Hall nomination of the mighty jam band Phish.Send us a text

We've hit a huge milestone! It's our 100th episode! To celebrate, we asked you, our listeners, to send in your questions for Nick to answer.Send us a text

Aaron Conn (host of Albums Uncovered) comes on to discuss the legacy of the late, great David Johansen. He was the lead singer of the legendary protopunk band the New York Dolls and had a very successful solo career under both his name and his persona Buster Poindexter. We celebrate the life and career of a one-of-a-kind performer who is one of the most underrated and influential in the history of rock and roll.We also heavily discuss Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi's 2023 documentary Personality Crisis: One Night Only which focuses on Johansen. Send us a text

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Let's honor the Irish by discussing Kneecap, the rebellious trio from Belfast who have taken the world by storm with their unique brand of Irish-infused hip hop. I invited Patrick Dupuis (EETF Podcast), Hector Contreras, Kyle Hildreth, and Tony Greathouse to talk about the group's upcoming 2024 film. We also discuss Michael Fassbender's involvement, the group's political and social activism, the importance of preserving languages, and its presence during the previous years awards season. Send us a text

Writer Ross Warner (Drunk on Sunday) joins us to discuss his latest book, American Standard: Cheap Trick from the Bars to the Budokan and Beyond (2024), about the early years of the legendary American rock band. We also discuss our shared love of the band, how Pearl Jam's Mike McCready came to write the book's foreword, and much more. We conclude by sharing our favorite Cheap Trick songs and albumsYou buy a copy of Warner's book here.Send us a text

David Lizerbram (Rock Docs) returns to discuss Sofia Coppola's biographical drama Priscilla (2023) starring Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi as Priscilla and Elvis Presley. Send us a text

Kailyn, Jordan, and Sam return to discuss the recent Disney+ documentary Elton John: Never Too Late. The film focuses on the life and career of the legendary performer and also incorporates performances from his farewell tour. We talk about our earliest memories of Elton, our thoughts on the film and its Oscar-nominated song, and conclude with our 5 favorite songs from his catalog. Send us a text

Darren Hines and Peter Waters return to discuss the nominees in the music categories at this year's Academy Awards. We analyze all ten scores and songs, give our personal rankings, our predictions on who will win and cap it off with great works that were snubbed. We also discuss the Oscars' decision to omit live performances from this year's ceremony. Send us a text

Scott and Andrew (hosts of I've Got That on Vinyl) join Nick to discuss James Mangold's A Complete Unknown (2024), the Oscar-nominated biopic that focuses on the early years of Bob Dylan. The film stars Timothée Chalamet, Edward Norton, Monica Barbaro, and Elle Fanning. Other topics discussed include Scott meeting Dylan in the early 1990s and a rundown of our all-time favorite Dylan songs.Send us a text

Tom Lane, Mark Lempke, David Schnelwar, Michelle Bourg and Greg Peurach return to discuss this year's nominees for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's Class of 2025. Artists nominated this year include Bad Company, The Black Crowes, Mariah Carey, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order, Cyndi Lauper, Maná, Oasis, Outkast, Phish and The White Stripes.Send us a text

All aboard...the Douche Caravan is sailing away on a yacht! Jon Lamoreaux (Host of the Hustle Podcast),  Patrick Dupuis (Host of the EETF Podcast) and Michael Bagford return to discuss the latest film in Max's Music Box series Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary (2024). This film charts the music and careers of Yacht Rock's most famous artists including Steely Dan, Michael McDonald, The Doobie Brothers, Kenny Loggins, Christopher Cross, and Toto. We give our takes on this style of music, the film itself, and conclude with a list of our favorite Yacht Rock classics. Send us a text

On this very special episode, Hadyn Murdoch, Jon Jamen (both part of the INXS All Areas Podcast) and Jim Skivalidas (a member of the Induct INXS campaign) to discuss why they feel INXS should be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It's what you need to kick off February!If you haven't already listened, check out our previous INXS episode with Hadyn and our friend Jon Lamoreaux from 2022.Please sign Induct INXS' Change.org petition to get these Australian music legends into the Rock Hall.Send us a text

Joe Kwaczala (host of Who Cares About the Rock Hall?) returns to discuss Nick's recently updated 'Rock Hall Prospects Project' list, now in its fifth year, which ranks the worthiest and most deserving artists for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction. We discuss the artists who made the top 10, the 14 newly-added artists on this year's list, and concludes with Joe's suggestions for next year's revision. Read Nick's Substack post about his updated 2025 rankings for the Project.Send us a text

R.I.P. Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States who was also one of history's greatest humanitarians. To pay tribute to this great man, I invited three Carter historians and biographers (Randall Balmer, Michael Brown and Mark Lempke) to talk about Mary Wharton and Bill Flanagan's 2020 documentary Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President. Featured in the film include music legends such as Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Bono, Jimmy Buffett and Gregg Allman.  Consider purchasing these works from our guests:Randall Balmer's biography Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter and Michael Brown and Mark Lempke's contributions to the anthology The Literary Legacy of Jimmy Carter: Essays on the President's Books.Send us a text

To celebrate what would've been Elvis Presley's 90th birthday today, I invited the great Tom Lane (Tom Lane's Music Blog) to discuss the Netflix documentary Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley. The film covers Elvis' life and career and, most notably, his triumphant 1968 television comeback special. This is a companion piece to our earlier episode where Tom and I discussed the 2023 documentary Reinventing Elvis: The '68 Comeback (which, ironically, covers the same topic as Return of the King). You can listen to that episode here. Send us a text

For our first episode of 2025, let's start with a draft....more precisely a Rock Hall Nominees Draft! Tom Lane, Mark Lempke, David Schnelwar, Michelle Bourg and Greg Peurach return to discuss who they believe will be nominated for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's Performers category in 2025. To spice things up, we're gonna predict the ballot in a draft-style format! Over the course of 5 rounds, we each select 5 artists and make the case on why we think they'll appear on the ballot. Get your pencils sharpened, fill out those scorecards and see if you agree (or disagree) with our picks! Send us a text

A holiday surprise! I invited Patrick Dupuis (EETF Podcast), John Mutford, Mike Drew, Hector Contreras, Kyle Hildreth, and Woody Meachum to discuss the 2024 documentary Band Aid - The Making Of The Original 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' - to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the iconic charity single. The movie is streaming for free on YouTube!Send us a text

Scott Kummer and Josh Hohbein (hosts of the I Got That on Vinyl) come on to discuss the 2022 Netflix documentary Like a Rolling Stone: The Life & Times of Ben Fong-Torres. Send us a text

Writers David Cantwell (No Fences Review) and Tom Lane (Music Blog) return to discuss the career and legacy of Jerry Lee Lewis. We talk a lot about Ethan Coen's recent documentary Trouble in Mind (2022) and also emphasize Lewis' place in the both the rock and roll and country genres. We conclude with our favorite tracks from the Killer.Send us a text

On the latest Movie Talk episode, things get a little weird...as we talk about all things Weird Al!   I invited past guests Patrick Dupuis (EETF Podcast), John Mutford, Mike Drew, Hector Contreras and Kyle Hildreth to talk about the 2022 music biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.Send us a text

The second of two episodes covering the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. For Part II, I invited Mark Lempke and Greg Peurach to talk about their experiences watching the ceremony live and in person! The ceremony took place at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday October 19th. Topics discussed include our favorite speeches (from both presenters and inductees), favorite musical performances and who they want to see honored at next year's ceremony. Send us a text

The first of two episodes covering the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. For Part I, I invited Darren Hines, Jordan Collins, Cliff O'Neill and Andrea Lewis to talk about their experiences watching the ceremony live and in person! The ceremony took place at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday October 19th. Topics discussed include our favorite speeches (from both presenters and inductees), favorite musical performances and who they want to see honored at next year's ceremony. Part II, with different guests who also attended the 2024 ceremony, will be recorded and released in the coming days. Send us a text

Mike Wiles (Retro Rock Roundup) returns to discuss the life and legacy of singer-songwriter Barry Manilow. Topics discussed include Manilow's status as one of the most versatile and talented creative forces in American music , his many collaborations with famous artists, and  his catalog of classic songs. Send us a text

Albert Tsibu, who runs the @InductAaliyah campaign on various social media platforms, joins Nick to discuss his all-time favorite artist: the one and only Aaliyah. We have an in-depth conversation about the late singer's career and legacy. We discuss various topics such as Aaliyah's music videos, her status as a fashion icon, and our favorite songs from her catalog. We also talk about Aaliyah's recent induction into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame last year and her potential induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (filled with dream inductors and set lists). To paraphrase Albert's favorite social media hashtag, he gave all the things and much more with his beautiful tribute to Aaliyah.Please sign Albert's Change.Org petition to help get Aaliyah inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.Send us a Text Message.

Music writer and critic Tom Lane (check out his Music Blog) returns to talk about Nelson George's documentary Thriller 40 (2023). The film focuses on the creation and legacy of Michael Jackson's iconic 1982 album. We have an informal discussion of the best and most memorable moments in the film, provide insight into the album's production history, celebrate the many talented individuals who contributed to Thriller's success and we conclude with a ranking of every song on the album. It's a great tribute to one of the most acclaimed and best-selling albums of all time.Send us a Text Message.

Returning guests Kailyn Champlin, Peter Waters and Sam Ratner join Nick to discuss the recent concert film Gaga Chromatica Ball (2024) starring the one and only Lady Gaga. We share how we became fans of her music, our thoughts on the film, and choose our favorite songs from her catalog. A really fun episode that was just born this way!Send us a Text Message.

We just celebrated our 3-year anniversary this past week and this is our 75th  episode! To celebrate this achievement, I invited the great David Festini back on the show to talk about one of our favorite artists of the 1980s: Huey Lewis and the News. We discuss this hugely popular band's rise to fame, their unique sound, their status as icons of the 1980s and why they deserve to be considered for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.Send us a Text Message.

Jordan Raycine (Needle Drops) and Sam Ratner join Nick to discuss the new Disney+ documentary The Beach Boys (2024). The film covers the career of the iconic American band and we have plenty of thoughts on this one. With July 4th happening this week, there isn't a more perfect time to discuss this film!Send us a Text Message.

Andy Heller (Fat Dude Digs Flicks Movie Podcasts) joins Nick to discuss the recent music biopic Bob Marley: One Love. Send us a Text Message.

Patrick Dupuis (EETF Podcast), Hector Contreras and Kyle Hildreth join me to discuss the Beatles documentary Let It Be (1970). Long unavailable to the general public for many years, the film is now streaming on Disney+.

Christy Alexander Hallberg (Rock is Lit) and Staci Layne Wilson (Rock & Roll Nightmares)  return to discuss the recent Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black (2024).

The Douche Caravan returns with Jon Lamoreaux (The Hustle), Patrick Dupuis (The EETF Podcast) and Michael Bagford coming on to discuss Bao Nguyen's Netflix documentary The Greatest Night in Pop (2024). The film tells the story of the charity single "We Are the World" spearheaded by Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie in 1985. They assembled a once-in-a-lifetime lineup of the biggest musical stars for the recording that included Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper among others.

Music journalist, filmmaker and podcast host (Rock & Roll Nightmares) joins us to discuss Nick Broomfield's documentary The Stones and Brian Jones (2023). The film covers the life and times of Rolling Stones founding member and multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones who died at age 27 in 1969. 

Tom Lane, Michelle Bourg and Mark Lempke give their initial thoughts on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's Class of 2024 inductees.

Wes Gabrielsen returns  to discuss the career and legacy of iconic singer-guitarist Peter Frampton. Topics discussed include Frampton's  collaborations with legendary artists, his magnum opus Frampton Comes Alive! and our experiences seeing him perform live in recent years. We conclude with a discussion of Frampton's current nomination for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

The Douche Caravan returns with Jon Lamoreaux (The Hustle), Patrick Dupuis (The EETF Podcast) and Michael Bagford coming on to discuss Anton Corbijn's documentary Squaring the Circle: The Story of Hipgnosis (2022). The film tells the story of Hipgnosis who designed some of the most iconic album covers in rock and roll history. They worked legendary artists including Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, AC/DC and so many others.

Darren Hines and Peter Waters return to discuss the nominees in the music categories at this year's Academy Awards. We analyze all ten scores and songs, give our personal rankings, our predictions on who will win and cap it off with great works that were snubbed.I'm Sorry Zero Points ~ Eurovision podcast with Adrian & Seamus.It's season 3 of I'm Sorry Zero Points. Adrian & Seamus bring...Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Music journalist David Schnelwar returns to discuss the career and legacy of Lenny Kravitz. Topics discussed include Kravitz's musical influences, notable collaborations, his ability to stay relevant for 35+ years and our favorite songs from his iconic career. We also discuss Kravitz's recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination and why he deserves induction this year. I'm Sorry Zero Points ~ Eurovision podcast with Adrian & Seamus.It's season 3 of I'm Sorry Zero Points. Adrian & Seamus bring...Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Liza Lentini of SPIN returns to talk about the life and career of the late great Sinead O'Connor. We talk about Sinead's talents as a singer and songwriter, her activism, our favorite songs from her catalog and her recent nomination for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Nothing Compares talking 2 Liza about Sinead!Please check out Liza's pieces about Sinead O'Connor: a 2020 interview with the iconic artist, a 2022 piece on why she deserves induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and SPIN's cover story selecting O'Connor as their Artist of the Year in 2023.