RockPopandRoll

As the frontman of John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band, Cafferty rose to prominence with the soundtrack to the 1983 failed studio movie turned HBO cult classic "Eddie and the Cruisers".  “On the Dark Side” became a hit, topping the rock charts.  It went top ten on the Hot 100. His music, eerily close to the sound of Bruce Springsteen, helped define a genre - heartland rock with an East Coast rock and roll, let's-cruise-the-beach-roads, sweaty, smoky rock bar vibe.   While not a massive star, Cafferty maintained a long touring career, especially in the Northeastern U.S., where he and his band have a devoted fan base. He has released the band's first new album since 1988. What did he bring?  We listen together. I hadn't heard the album until I recorded this podcast. Join me on the ride.  email: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com website/archived episode: www.rockpopandroll.com  

I've had a bit of a Neil Young obsession lately, intrigued by his long career, and how he continues to release new music, regardless of who might hear it. The beauty and genius of Neil Young. I also love to dig into his catalog and find songs I've missed, for whatever reason.  He has a lot of music.  There are some gems in the NY library. Indiana musician Rusty Bladen put together a band and found some of those gems as he debuts a "Tribute to Neil Young" the weekend this podcast drops.   Rusty has nine albums with a new EP on the way later in 2025.  Before that happens, he's in love with what he and the band are doing for tribute, and how he puts his spin on paying honor to the great ones. Let's talk some Neil. It won't be the last time. website: www.rockrpopandroll.com email: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com Thanks for listening.  We appreciate you.  Tell and friend about us if you get a chance. Stay safe. R    

Marty Stuart rocked the country radio in the early 90s and albums that blended Steve Earle-esque country rock with badass guitar playing and a nod to traditional country. In this episode, we take a listen to the trajectory of Marty's music. Traditional country to modern country to where his music lives now: as rock music.   Did that really happen? Stuart has more than 20 studio albums, has charted more than 30 times on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, won five Grammy Awards, and is an engaged member of the Grand Ole Opry and Country Music Hall of Fame.  It is a fascinating truckload of music.  Let's go. Email the show: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com website: www.rockpopandroll.com   NOTES: The Fabulous Superlatives, Marty Stuart's band since 2002, includes Stuart on guitar and mandolin, Kenny Vaughan on guitar, and Harry Stinson on drums, and from 2002 until 2008, Brian Glenn on bass. From 2008 until 2015, Paul Martin was on bass. In 2015, Chris Scruggs replaced Paul Martin on bass, and also played steel guitar. Every member sings. Stuart's guitars also include "Clarence", a two-tone Fender Telecaster, once owned by Clarence White. This instrument is the original B-Bender guitar, built and designed by White and Gene Parsons (Byrds) in 1967, to allow the guitarist to manually raise the guitar's 'B' string one whole step to play in a style similar to a pedal steel guitar. Stuart bought the guitar in 1980 from White's widow.   Mavis Staples of the Staple Singers gave one of her father "Pops" Staples' guitars to Marty Stuart after Pop's death. "My father was Marty's godfather. My sisters and I took him in as our brother. He's the only one that I've heard who -- when he's playing guitar, sounds like Pop. He can play just like him."  

Our episode features Jonathan Rundman, singer/songwriter from Minneapolis, who has a new Americana rock and roll album called "Waves". It is a fascinating and fun talk about 80's rock music, The Silos and the circle of friends that includes Cracker, The Vulgar Boatmen, and all they that have influenced.  If you dig 80s rock, his tales are what you might want. We talk about Bob Seger, the Rainmakers, The Hooters, and lots more. Born and raised in the isolated Finnish-American communities of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and now based in Minneapolis, Rundman twists smart, cinematic, rock and roll lyrics, pop hooks, and garage attitude into his songs.   In addition to his solo career, Rundman tours and records as keyboardist for legendary New York City-based Americana/rock band The Silos. Rundman released his first new album in ten years in April, 2025 and is on a Midwest tour opening for the Silos. For the past decade he's been touring and recording with Walter Salas-Humara and The Silos.   The pre-release single from the album, “Elizabeth, Don't Waste Your Breath” was co-written with Salas-Humara and the second single from the record, “Let's Put On An Opera”, champions the artistic process, backed by vintage analog keyboards from the 1960s, including a Wurlitzer electric piano, a Vox Continental organ, and a real tape-powered Chamberlin. His producer, Ron Gomez, told Jonathan that he should record some interstitial music, instrumental pieces that weave in between the songs. "We talked about albums we liked, featuring these kinds of moments, like the acoustic transition after the song 'Nights of Mystery' by the Georgia Satellites. Referencing "Nights of Mystery"?  I'm all in. That's what I needed to hear. You like the Vulgar Boatmen? Del Fuegos? Replacements? Gear Daddies? Cracker? A little Elvis Costello and Rockpile? You need to be in too. www.rockpoandroll.com email the show: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @rockpopandroll

In this episode, we take a first listen to the new album from Mitch Ryder, called With Love the latest chapter in the career of the rock and soul icon. With the release of his 21st studio album, Ryder calls it one of the most honest works of his career—raw, autobiographical, and packed with his grit and soul. Produced by Don Was, the album marks a 2025 moment in Ryder's decades-long career. We'll also hear Ryder's roots—from fronting The Detroit Wheels in the mid-60s with hits like “Devil with a Blue Dress On” and “Jenny Take a Ride!” to his transformation into a blue-eyed soul singer and bandleader of The Mitch Ryder Show and his later career in Germany. His influence stretches across generations, as seen in collaborations with John Mellencamp and his induction into the R&B Hall of Fame in 2017. We also talk about Ryder's unexpected second act in Germany, where he's cultivated a devoted fan base and recorded much of his later work. Highlights include a live performance listen to The Roof Is on Fire, captured during his 75th birthday tour. Whether you're a longtime fan or new to Mitch Ryder's music, we hear his new music first - right here. How's it sound?  What do you think?

Rockpile?  The band?  How were they well-known in roots rock music circles and not so much with radio listeners and album buyers?  Or were they, and we just didn't realize it? Rockpile began as the name of the first solo album by Dave Edmunds, released in 1972. Edmunds plays almost all the instruments except for bass and backing vocals, The album included a 1970 single, "I Hear You Knocking" - a #1 song in Britain He billed his band as Dave Edmunds and Rockpile.  It eventually included  Edmunds (vocals, guitar), Nick Lowe (vocals, bass guitar), Billy Bremner (vocals, guitar), and Terry Williams (drums) In their heyday, Rockpile recorded enough material for five studio albums, though only one (Seconds of Pleasure) was released under the Rockpile name.  Tracks on Wax 4, Repeat When Necessary, and Twangin' - all Dave Edmunds solo albums- were released under his name. One more (Labour of Lust) was released as a Nick Lowe solo album.  And then there was the great lost classic Seconds of Pleasure.   We explore the music Edmunds made as his own, but actually with that Rockpile band. We discover some Nick Lowe (with Rockpile and without -sort of).  We tear into some post-Rockpile music from both artists, weave in how they may have influenced early Elvis Costello, and find a Huey Lewis and the News story, too. Rockpile. It's a bumpy road worth the journey.  Let go. email: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com website: www.rockpopandroll.com  

Here's my background. Love Bryan Adams. He did "Cuts Like a Knife", one of the great rock tracks of eighties radio. "Straight from the Heart", one of the great ballads of rock radio, and the windows down, summertime, turn it up loud, catch a little buzz, rock and roll of Reckless. His eighties work is the foundation. And then he went into the nineties and worked with Mutt Lange and had a huge album. And then worked on some soundtracks, went ballad-heavy, and then lost his way. Now I saw him live, would have been 1987.  The Hooters opened. It was Joe Louis Arena. So it was the, you know, 17,000. Great show. Saw him in Indianapolis  - 2007-ish. And it was really good Bryan Adams has always been good live. He has a 2025 tour of Europe planned. Now he has new music. And I've been so disappointed with Bryan Adams music over the past 30 years.  Never a great lyricist - he's not Springsteen. He's not Petty. But the the banging eighties guitar, drums, whiskey-soaked voice played loud - that's Bryan Adams. That is his sweet spot, and and he had lost that. Shyper-generic and not great fun - to me anyway. But he's come back with some new music. It's a first listen for me.  Hadn't heard it yet. We're gonna hear it together. We're gonna I'm gonna react to it, and we'll see what we see what I think. What does it do for me? For you?  A single called Roll With the Punches was released in February. That's gonna be the name of the album due to come out sometime in 2025. And then he has released a second single in March He's working again with Mutt Lange. Let's see what this sounds like.    may stop it as we're getting through part of it. What do we think? So this is the brand new single. It's called "Make Up Your Mind".  Let's turn it up and listen together.   And then I found a couple of added surprises. :) email: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com website: www.rockpopandroll.com    

Examine the post-1970's output of Aerosmith, because the path that they traveled was unlike how things usually and eventually play out in a career in a rock band. What was it, really? There's roughly three stages to the Aerosmith career:  First, a nearly decade-long run in the 1970s as a party, blues-rocking, Stones-emulating live band with rock radio stone-cold classics. Secondly, a late 1970s into the early 1980s drug-hazed, hit-empty period that caused a fallout that cost them both guitar players, with the grind stretching into 1985 with a less-than-great ("Done With Mirrors") comeback album. Then, for the third act, "Walk This Way" exploded with Run D.M.C., and the band kept-a-rollin' for nearly 25 more years. Lots of music from the "Pump" album onward.  Let's re-examine what it really was.  Or at least what I think it was, and you be the judge.  Agree.  Or nope. Just like always.  Let's go. It's a good reason to look at some Aerosmith nuggets on Rock Pop and Roll.    .

Is Billy Idol a couple of hits and not much else? Is his career more than the peak "Rebel Yell", "White Wedding", and "Dancing With Myself"? Surprises?  I found some. The hits?  Fewer than you might think. He did have four top ten songs, but even they aren't what you might think initially.  But he had some tunes that weren't big but did rock. We dig into a couple of those. Was he a pioneer in blending punk attitude with mainstream rock and pop appeal, bringing a sneering, rebellious edge of punk to MTV?  Or was he a jump-on-the-bandwagon pop-punker? Some might argue that his music was more about style and image than deep artistic innovation, especially compared to more groundbreaking punk and new wave artists. If someone values raw, underground punk over polished rock, they might see him as more of a commercialized version of the genre. I'm not so sure. Embrace the sneer.  Let's go. ------- email: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com website: www.rockpopandroll.com  

Radio friendly, some heartland authenticity, and a bit of Philly attitude.  Remember The Hooters? “I don't think we really fit into the ‘80s mold,” said lead singer and guitarist Eric Bazilian. “But we sure do show up on a lot of ‘80s playlists. If anything, I think we were a ‘70s band who had survived into the ‘80s.” And you can hear a little in the first album - their major label release Nervous Night. In the United States, they had three decent hits off that album. In 1985, the band played at the Live Aid benefit concert in Philadelphia In Europe, the Hooters had success with singles in Germany, Ireland, UK, Germany, Belgium Netherlands. But not everyone liked them. Quotes online like “sub-Springsteen pop rock”, “reggae-inflected hokum” or “split the difference between Bruce and U2, wipe clean any trace of personality, and you've got The Hooters”.  Ouch. But hear me out. it was enthusiastic and earnest, and they wanted to rock a bit.  “And We Danced” - that's their signature sound. But how did The Hooters find success, and what's up now?  Well, let's dive in. ------- email: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com website: www.rockpopandroll.com  

This is the 50th episode of Rock, Pop, and Roll.  In honor, here are, of the 100's of 45's I owned, the 16 that I think shaped my musical journey. It's what resonated. The building blocks of what I liked.  Straight emotion - with no judgment of what was cool.  It's what made me move.  Made me think and feel stuff I didn't quite yet understand.  Bubble gum. Rock of the 50s and 60s. Some 70s country.  A lot of hits.  A few that weren't.  And records I bought because I heard them on AM radio. Really, it's the 16 songs that shaped what I would like for the rest of my life. Come along for the ride. Rob email: rockpopandrollpodcast@gmail.ocm website: www.rockpopandroll.com  

Daryl Hall and John Oates made lots of albums.  And had a strong run of early hit singles. "Wait For Me" "Sara Smile" "She's Gone" "Rich Girl" What was the Hall & Oates heyday? The string of albums that they created at their career pop-rock apex?  It came in the 1980's: Voices. Private Eyes. Big Bam Boom. Rock and Soul Part 1.  Maybe even Live at the Apollo.   Were they great albums? Early on, as artists tend to do, Hall & Oates had trouble clearly defining their sound, alternating among folk, soul, rock, and pop.  None of their early albums—Whole Oats, Abandoned Luncheonette, and War Babies—were big sellers.  A single would hit but not album traction on the charts - meaning the LP's were not big sellers. "She's Gone" off Abandoned Luncheonette was covered by Lou Rawls and Tavares, the latter version reached #1 on the R&B chart in 1974. Their first album for RCA, Daryl Hall & John Oates contained "Sara Smile", which hit #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in June 1976. Old label Atlantic then re-released "She's Gone", which reached #7 in October 1976. Abandoned Luncheonette hit #33 on the album charts on November 20, 1976, and stayed on for 38 weeks. Bigger Than Both of Us (1976) had a second single, "Rich Girl", that became Hall and Oates' first #1 hit in  March 1977. A couple more top 20 singles.  But it really wasn't the Hall and Oates we would know in the 1980's. They ended up building a fantastically successful body of work and career.  The biggest-selling duo in rock history. Radio singles. Lots of radio music. But are there two albums and a half H&O albums that do really rock?  Or pop-rock?  Or are a 9 or 10 on the scale of "Is that a great album"?  I thought I knew - I always think I know. But maybe I was wrong.  We did some research and lots of listening to remind us of what it was. Take a podcast ride on the RockPopandRoll and Hall & Oates Philly Express soul/pop/R&B train and see what station  -  great albums or no - is the destination.  Email Rob at rockpopandrollpodcast@gmail.com Website: www.rockpopandroll.com    

The rise and slide of the Simple Minds - one of the most successful and influential bands in the UK during the 1980s. A mix of new wave, post-punk, and rock. Multiple UK Top 10 hits. But it took "Don't You (Forget About Me)" to break them big in the US.  They rode that stand-alone single into one hit album here in the States. When Once Upon a Time was released in 1985 - without "Don't You" on it. "Alive and Kicking" was the lead single - essentially the band's 2nd American single. It went to #3 on the Billboard charts. The album went platinum in the US. Then they fell from those rock and roll heights while continuing to make albums for the next 30 years, just as they had been working years to gain their audience, gigging since the late 1970s. They suffered from a comparison to U2; Both bands from outside the US. Both had a big, expansive, anthemic sound, and both were socially and politically conscious in their lyrics. But there were differences too. We talk about the climb. The slide. The U2 thing. We listen to the music they made early and late in their career.  And they are still doing their thing, still big in Europe.  What's going on?   Hear all the episodes, get contact info, show notes and more at  rockpopandroll.com Send us an email: rockpopandroll@gmail.com

We play just five songs from an artist's catalog - from all the albums, the singles, the live albums. The music game is called "Play Me 5". Can we hear a band or performer in five songs, and find the reason - a bit of the understanding - as to why they are who they are and why they matter in the rock and roll continuum?  That's it.  Let's go. This episode, it is Bryan Adams.   Why does Adams, a rock and roll singer from Canada, have a place in rock and roll history?  Or does he? Reckless was a huge album.  Cuts Like a Knife had a pretty good pop/rock/heartland vibe too. Five songs. That's the rule.  Agree or disagree as you please. Five songs that do two things: 1. Give a representation of the artist - the musician - the band - the singer.  2. Find songs that reveal a bit of the magic of the performance or the musicians.  Or both. Hear all the archived episodes and find our social media and email links on the website: rockpopandroll.com Please share Rock Pop and Roll Podcast with a friend SUBSCRIBE LINKS: Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts ...or anywhere you find podcasts EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforward.wordpress.com

This episode is a conversation with a 30-something Bruce fan who came to Bruce Springsteen's career only recently. We talk with Brandon Fitzsimmons, who started his journey with Springsteen during the downtime he had during COVID in 2020.  He did a deep dive into Springsteen's catalog, and most interesting to me, just saw Bruce for the first time at a show in Pittsburgh in the fall of 2024, driving 6 hours to see a 74-year old Springsteen and the E St. Band.  What was that like?  We talk about it, and how Brandon started - and went all in - in his Boss journey. Brandon is a big music fan, albeit one who has deeper fandom for most things 90, and post-2000's.  He's a great person to talk to because he has both an open mind about music styles and also loves rock and roll. 

Greg Kihn, the California-via-Baltimore pop rocker passed away in August 2024, leaving behind a truly great FM radio hit with “The Breakup Song” and his biggest song, “Jeopardy”, that hit #2 and found heavy rotation on MTV.  The same song was famously parodied by Weird Al Yankovic. Kihn also had a long career as a rock radio DJ on KFOX, and he wrote books. But mostly he was a guy who just kept rocking. After a run of yearly albums for more than a decade, from the mid 70's to the mid 80's, he released his final album (Rekihndled) in 2017, a throwback to the ringing guitars pounding drums, and the echoes-of-The Beatles sound that he mined for a long time. Sure, he's remembered for his two big two songs, but he and his Greg Kihn Band had a couple more kinda-hits and a catalog of under-the-radar power pop.  I liked Greg Kihn's music. Unpretentious working rock and roll. “We want people to come back to hear the music,” he said in a 1982 interview. “I mean, nobody goes to see Bruce Springsteen because of the light show.”

Albums that may not have seen big sales - a couple did - but that are worth turning up.  We talk about who, why, and how come they rock.  And a couple of bonus albums too. James McMurtry Melissa Etheridge Rick Springfield Warren Zevon Todd Snider The Gaslight Anthem The Elms *** Hear all the archived episodes and find our social media and email links on the website: rockpopandroll.com SUBSCRIBE LINKS: Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforward.wordpress.com

We play just five songs from an artist's catalog - from all the albums, the singles, the live albums. The music game is called "Play Me 5". Five songs that do two things: 1. Give a representation of the artist - the musician - the band - the singer.  2. Find songs that reveal a bit of the magic of the performance or the musicians.  Or both. Can that work? I don't know. That's the idea and intent.  Can we hear a band or performer in five songs, and find the reason - a bit of the understanding - as to why they are who they are and why they matter in the rock and roll continuum?  That's it.  Let's go. We are going to start with Bob Seger.   Why does Seger, a journeyman rock and roll singer from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and by extension, Detroit, hold a place in rock and roll history?  Five songs. It's not enough, but that's the rule.  Agree or disagree as you please. Just turn up the rock and roll as you do. Hear all the archived episodes and find our social media and email links on the website: rockpopandroll.com Please share Rock Pop and Roll Podcast with a friend SUBSCRIBE LINKS: Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts ...or anywhere you find podcasts EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforward.wordpress.com FACEBOOK: @rockpopandroll INSTAGRAM: @rockpopandroll

More known as a party band than they were rock royalty, the J. Geils Band is still a rock band of the era that gets tossed aside, despite a decade of incendiary live shows and more hits than some may recall. One of my favorites. Played them loud.  Learned some history too. I seriously rocked the “Blow Your Face Out” live cassette in my $2,000 brown Buick Skylark back in 1986. It's really not just that the J. Geils Band is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But they probably aren't getting in. Yet the bridge they made - from the last 60s blues band era to the time of Seger, Springsteen, Petty, and U2 blowing up - was integral in rock and roll. Their live show.  The R&B fused with rock and roll. The way they hit the stage, took no prisoners, and then blew out of town. That matters.  That's their legacy. That was their time. It was a band more than the perceived one-time splash of "Centerfold" and "Freeze Frame".  The J. Geils Band were road dogs.  They were also a bunch of guys who reintroduced a whole lot of people to songs that were forgotten before they recaptured them.  And they had hits well before they were able to fuse the new wave with the old rock, and did it more seamlessly than lots of others who tried. Take a bouncing ride on this podcast.  We dig into the reasons why this band from Boston, one in a long line of great rock and roll, from The Standells to Aerosmith to the Cars - made in that town, matters.

John Waite was in The Babys, out front of two pop hits that both peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, ("Isn't It Time" and "Everytime I Think of You") His solo career started with a really good but forgotten 1982 debut album Ignition, which produced the single "Change". It didn't chart on Billboard's Hot 100 during its initial release (June 1982) but was #16 rock track on AOR radio stations and was produced by the great Bob Clearmountain.  And Patty Smyth sings background vocals on "Change" But it was the album No Brakes that gave him his career a real path to moving forward. "Missing You" went to No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and the album was a top 10 record. We spend our time digging into his often-overlooked career. A guy with a distinctive voice that rocks. “Perched perfectly between anthemic mainstream rock and sleek post-new wave pop, it was a minor miracle -- a flawlessly written, classicist pop song, delivered with a stylish, MTV-ready flair. It deservedly became not just a number one hit, but one of those records that everybody knows”  -- Stephen Thomas Erlwine  / allmusic.com Waite had two more singles from No Brakes, including "Tears" which was a #8 hit on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart and #37 top 40. His next album had a single, "Every Step of the Way" that got radio play (#4 rock charts and  #25 top 40 and would be his last top 40 hit. He did join former Babys bandmates Jonathan Cain and Ricky Phillips, along with Neal Schon and drummer Deen Castronovo from Journey, to form Bad English and the 1989 ballad "When I See You Smile" went to No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 and the album sold nearly two million copies.  I didn't love that band, but I've always had a spot for John Waite in my rocker heart. He kept going after the band broke up. But he keeps going. Waite is not always the first thought as a terrific rock band frontman - but he was - and is. He is still on the road.  A singer who fronts a band like someone who wants to be there.  Who has been there.  He's 72 years old.  He's on tour as I recorded this, with dates booked well into 2024.  One who is worth mentioning if you talk about great rock and roll frontmen of the past, for like 50 years. He's a rock and roll lifer still working.  There is honor in that.   *** Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforwardmusic.com WEBSITE: rockpopandroll.com EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts

On this episode, take a tour with us  - to the early 80's - to Scandal, as we drop into the short history of the band that released an EP that was a scattering blast of five songs - including “Goodbye To You” and “Love Has Got A Line”. At the time, it was the best-selling EP in the history of Columbia Records. But did I ever really listen to, back in 1982 or 84 or 87 or whenever, all the five songs? Maybe.  Around this time, in 1982, Pat Benatar was coming towards the end of her best run. Scandal had that vibe - rock and roll crunch with a new wave-ish bite. Early 80's production and the couple hits were all about the chorus making your hips move and your head nod. Scandal threw five variations of their sound out there to see what's stuck. And did it with 80's killer keyboard playing, guitars-and-drums of the time, and a powerhouse singer out front. Patty Smyth went solo in 1987 with her debut album. The first of two hits on it, "Never Enough" (the album's title track), was written by The Hooters' Rob Hyman and Eric Bazilian (there are a surprising amount of Hooters connections to other artist's music of the era). Rick Chertoff, who produced both The Hooters and Cyndi Lauper's debut megasmash album is involved too. Baby Grand, a pre-Hooters lineup, recorded an earlier version of "Never Enough".  Smyth said the album "was never supposed to be a solo record; it was meant to be a record by 'Scandal Featuring Patty Smyth'.” So we listen to the EP.  Let's dig into “The Warrior” album, and hear some of what we like  - and don't so much - with Smyth's solo records. Still, at the essence of it all is a great rock and roll voice, some drops of rock and pop candy, and a whole bunch more to like than what was heard just on the radio. *** Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforwardmusic.com WEBSITE: rockpopandroll.com EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts

Henry Lee Summer latched on to the sound of pop and rock radio in the 80s and rode that bad boy to a couple of late-decade hits, and a handful of good, heartland rock and roll albums.  But in his home state - Indiana - Summer was more than couple nice radio hits and a handful of albums. Weird that he could be, maybe? Really not. His story is like a lot of local-but-more-music heroes. Cleveland and Providence and Pittsburgh and Toronto. Artists like Donnie Iris, Kim Mitchell, John Cafferty, and Joe Grushecky.   Henry Lee Summer mined the sound of late 80's rock and roll with his own little twist, influenced by Top 40 AM radio hooks, and, in the best way, a product of live sets in the smoke and noise and chaos of a live rock and roll club. His is the sound of the Midwest. The studio recordings - most of them - shined up for presentation to the masses, and the live shows greased and gritted for the faithful. And he played great shows. Evenings that turned revival-ish. A shared act of live, loud, shakin' crowd-into-it rock and roll.  Henry Lee, well beyond most of his hit-making days, brought the goods, man. His last hit was the early 90s.  I saw him making it rock in a live setting be fantastic ten years past that.   And then he wasn't.  And now he is again. I loved seeing Henry Lee live. Here's an episode driven by a hope to share how great that act was without overselling it.  Because in the end, Henry Lee Summer had a handful of hits on the radio. Nothing more than that - unless you saw him live. Then it makes more sense: the straining-to-be-loose studio albums that never quite were roughed up enough (other than the second major label release  - "I've Got Everything") as he chased the right mix of hanging on and totally in the groove. That balance was what he harnessed on stage.   So these are my stories of discovery and the way one musician nothing much to most music fans, found a way to mean something more where he was and when he could.  Maybe this one is a little more personal than usual. I'm OK with that. I hope you are too. Enjoy the listen.   SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforwardmusic.com website: rockpopandroll.com EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com

I thought it might be simple.  Who were some of my favorite roots rock bands from the 1980's and 90's?  And why?  This episode turned into a deep dive into what still feels like it was only skimming along the surface of a genre that was hot for about five years and before fading back into where it was before, into a mostly forgotten sub-genre that I still love. "Roots Rock" was a name that was branded on a sound that came of age in the mid-'80s. Some guitar rawness.  Some harmonies. Roots rock had twang and guitars and drums. Garage-ish rock. There was definitely a crossover with the sound called heartland rock.  There was, however, a rawness that made it more roots than heartland. Heartland rock was a name used in the 1970s to describe Midwestern arena rock. The Mount Rushmore of 80s heartland rock? Arguably - but correctly  - Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, and Tom Petty, John Mellencamp.  Could also include bands like REO if you wanted. Maybe Cheap Trick?  Michael Stanley Band for sure.   How was it all the same?  How not? We listen to bands that made an impact both on the roots rock genre and on me.  It is not an all-inclusive list of everyone and every band that fit or that I listened to. Instead, it is a selection of music that was on the radio, or maybe not, and we talk about why it was or wasn't.  But these are certainly bands and music that slid into my cassette player in the 1979 Buick Skylark a whole lot of times. Band like: Cracker Del Fuegos Bodeans Rainmakers John Hiatt Steve Earle V-Roys Long Ryders It is an epic podcast.  More than an hour's worth of bands and artists and tracks for listeners to dig into more deeply. Turn it up. SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforwardmusic.com website: rockpopandroll.com EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com

A band named Truth and Salvage Co. was formed in 2005, made a couple of albums, and broke up only to return in 2022 with a lost album that was released - again - with a sound that it should have always had. Late in 2022, the band came back, finding a nice way to revisit a career that sputtered and eventually splintered. It was 2009 when Black Crowes Chris Robinson signed the group to his label and gave them the opening slot on his band's tour that year. The band released its debut album (produced by Robinson) on May 2010.  I loved that album. That album captured the words, the heart, and the intelligence of a powerfully relaxed band. It is fair to say it was a band that played rock and roll with an arms-around-each other attitude and a nod to their influences while still working to forge their own sound. Truth and Salvage Co. created uplifting, pounding, loose, build-and-release rock and roll.  This is their short story, recounted because of an album Atoms Form - that is really good. SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforwardmusic.com website: rockpopandroll.com EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com

Rock hits but not Top 40 hits?  What's that really mean? We take a listen to some great throwbacks to a time when rock radio was more than day-after-day classic rock, same song, repeat cycle that it is today.  Go back to when album rock stations (and for a brief time, Rock40 stations) made the radio a place for listeners to find a little bit of variety - and get surprised - with their rock and roll.  We hear songs that were hits on rock radio but not top 40, and one track that was a top 40 hit and oddly ignored by the rock stations. In the process, we talk about what the Rock40 format was, how AOR made it possible to hear more than just the same two songs from Cheap Trick, and why we all should relish being able to have heard radio that took chances. Jump into today's podcast for a batch of songs that were on rock stations of the 1980s that were not top 40 hits but made an impact on listeners - like me - back in that decade.  Let's take a trip and rip into some of them - in a good way. #CharlieSexton #Boston #johnkilzer #webbwilder #austin #neworleans #aor #rock40 #mitchryder #godfathers #radio SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforwardmusic.com website: rockpopandroll.com EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com

Located alongside the Tennessee River, Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and the studios there helped create some of the most important and resonant songs in rock and roll. On this episode, we look back at bit of the history of the Muscle Shoals sound, a trio of FAME Studio house bands, including the great "Swampers", and how Detroit's Bob Seger fused their sound with his heartland rock to produce some underappreciated but great songs - and one song ("Old Time Rock and Roll") that has been played way too much, burned deeply into our music brains, but whose story - from writing to the final version - is a wild one. We listen to a few Seger and Muscle Shoals Studios and Fame Studios tunes, hear some sublimely elegant Bob deep cuts, and have a blast rediscovering some of the famous and forgotten songs that came out of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. #muscleshoals #rolling stones #otisreddiing #wilsonpickett #bobseger #cher #osmonds #sweetsoulmusic SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforwardmusic.com website: rockpopandroll.com EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com  

Pat Todd has been called the most sincere rock and roll singer/songwriter on the planet.  His first group, the LA-based Lazy Cowgirls, called it quits in 2004 after nearly 25 years together. Pat Todd, raised in Indiana, formed a new band, the Rankoutsiders. In them, I hear Jason and The Scorchers, the Georgia Satellites in their prime, cowpunk, and gassed up the guitars with bang-bang-bang drums, all driven in 5th gear. How had I not heard of Pat Todd until 2022?  I have no idea.  But now I have and find a need to share it with my rock and roll compatriots.  So turn it up and let's rock together.  Maybe it's a new find for you too. Giving you an artist and a band that takes total inspiration in sounds and chord changes from 50 years ago - Berry riffs and Sweet Jane chord changes - and twists them enough to make them work now. Wanna hear a band recorded in a room together and sounding alive?  Let's go. There is nothing cute about them unless you call harmonica and acoustic guitar cute. The sound of Faces and Stones, garage rock, Louie Louie messiness, and FU brashness. SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforwardmusic.com website: rockpopandroll.com EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com

The passing of Jerry Lee Lewis signifies the passing of one of the few remaining architects of rock and roll. That piano and that voice, recorded in a way that sounds like dim light, beers, AM radio rock and roll, cigarette smoke, and always the underlying idea that a fight might break out.  He made music filled with gospel roots, country music, piano boogie woogie, fire, preaching, loving, sexing, and edge-of-explosion rock and roll.  We dig into his career and find the rockabilly beginnings.  The rock and roll detonation.  The country hits.  The duets and collaborators.  And the attitude.  Always the attitude.  A flawed, brilliant, scarred, self-destructed, monumental life in music.  That was the Killer.   SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforwardmusic.com website: rockpopandroll.com EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com

Bar band swagger. Like many Minneapolis artists we have been talking about, there were a number of rock and roll bands that paid lots of night-after-night dues in rock clubs and van tours.  They too recorded critically-acclaimed, small-label indie albums before eventually landing a big deal. Or not. Artists - Just like Prince did - heard themselves on top 40 radio stations alongside other cuts from bands playing something different than their core sound, and artists took part of those sounds as their own.  Styles weaving into each. Grabbing something from another band and slipping that sound into their own music.  Just like Prince did in the 70s and early 80s, growing up on Minneapolis radio.  Just like those rock and roll kids did, hearing Prince themselves.   This is the third (and final) part of the series that listens to the sounds of the Twin Cities and why they matter to rock and roll guys like me. Part 1 - Prince and Minneapolis Part 2 - The Replacements and Jayhawks SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforwardmusic.com website: rockpopandroll.com EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com  

There are small towns known for a musical signature - a sound that you call the Bakersfield sound or the Muscle Shoals sound. There are sounds and bands and vibes tied to big cities like zydeco drums and street sounds of New Orleans, the funk and gloss of the Motown Sound of Detroit, and the stew of garage rock into new wave that was Boston.  Like the swampy soul of Memphis, the sound of the 90's grunge and alternative rock in Seattle, and the 60's and 70's groove and soul with Philadelphia. There is a significant Minneapolis influence of the americana roots rock sound of the 1980s and into the 90s.   There was a sound of Minneapolis that was not just Prince. What he became was a product of the multicultural melting pot of music that may have been prevalent in other cities, midwest or not.  But by some confluence of events and karma, there was a steady flow of bands that rocked and called Minneapolis home This rock pop and roll podcast is part two of the series on Minneapolis' unique sound and a primer of some of the best and most influential - because of commercial success or integrity  - or both.  Every city has a thousand musical stories.  This is one city and a some of those bands and stories. Part 1 - Prince and Minneapolis SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforwardmusic.com website: rockpopandroll.com EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com FACEBOOK: @rockpopandroll INSTAGRAM: @rockpopandroll TWITTER: @rockpoprollpod 

This particular podcast episode found its inspiration in one of the Spotify-exclusive Rock Pop and Roll Radio Shows that we've made. They live on Spotify and were created to give me a chance to make an old-school radio show. Listen for 90 minutes to one and hear stories plus the whole song, something we don't do on the podcast. A callback to the great radio of the 70's and 80's.   I was working on a podcast about Minneapolis roots rock/heartland rock bands and how they were oddly influential in the 1980's musical landscape.  Then I remembered this Prince Spotify radio show I produced and thought - hey - this is part of the story.  How Prince - who music listeners know is from Minnesota - and a bunch of white kids with guitars could exist and, in a sense, inspire each other. Prince was a mashup of what he heard growing up.  That was his secret to crossover success. Filmmaker Philip Priestley, who made a 2008 documentary comparing the careers of Prince and Michael Jackson, said that growing up in Minneapolis helped Prince to create a new sound. "He grew up listening to a lot of radio which was other stuff than black soul music and rhythm and blues," Priestley said. “He was listening to rock -- white rock -- which explains why he was so unique musically. "He fused a black American tradition -- rhythm and blues, soul, funk, jazz -- with white rock."  That's what we peel back here, trying to figure out the connection between it all.   SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforward.wordpress.com EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com FACEBOOK: @rockpopandroll INSTAGRAM: @rockpopandroll TWITTER: @rockpoprollpod 

Take a minute to think about Joan Jett.  More than one song.  More than just "I Love Rock and Roll", as great as that radio song is.  She's called “The Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll” and “The Godmother of Punk.”   Let's think about the rock and roll in her catalog and the influences she ultimately passed along.  In the podcast, we talk about her career and how - somehow - she's may even be a bit undervalued as one of the rock and roll greats. Jett's self-titled solo debut was released in Europe in 1980. In the US,  the is that after the album was rejected by 23 major labels, so Jett and and manager Kenny Laguna formed Blackheart Records and released it independently -  started with Laguna's daughter's college savings -  sometimes selling the albums out of the trunk of Laguna's car after a show.  They eventually made a deal with Casablanca Records head Neil Bogart, and he signed Jett to his new label, Boardwalk Records and re-released the Joan Jett album as Bad Reputation.  That statement and that song - what Joan Jett sang about - "I don't give a damn about…" was what she became.  That's the image she made real.   It is her brand.  It cements her place as an integral part of the melding of punk rock and rock and roll.   SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforward.wordpress.com EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com FACEBOOK: @rockpopandroll INSTAGRAM: @rockpopandroll TWITTER: @rockpoprollpod 

The continuing story of the the echoing Influence of Tom Petty...and how Mike Campbell has taken that influence and made some magic. I hear lots of bands than dig for that bit of Petty magic within their sound. The Wild Feathers.  American Aquarium. Turnpike Troubadours. Eddie Vedder. Cody Canada. Band of Heathens.  Petty left us too early.  His influence has stayed.  I thought it would but you never know.  Some artists just have louder echoes.    And now, Heartbeakers guitarist and his band, Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs, have an album out  - released in early 2022 called External Combustion. Petty fans should rejoice.  It rocks, in a Petty and the Heartbreakers way.  A good way - with the echoes of the sounds of Torpedoes and Wildflowers.  People hear the Petty songs and think they're basic. Why?  Hell, Petty songs and  singles were on the radio in a time when radio was king and queen and prince. They got your soul, one hit at a time.  When I go to the radio or a Spotify playlist that a fragment of melody, line of lyrics, or chord change that will be a line back to something from Petty - his influence - from a generation of rock and pop stars that were raised on his music.  Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs. They have a second album. It's pretty damn good. Mike has found his voice. It is the voice that helped blend with Tom's voice for 40 years and it is evident that he was a huge piece of that sound, and the two growing up and writing songs for all those years gave each a part of each other's musical soul.  On External Combustion - his voice is stronger. Crisper.  Tweaked a tiny bit higher in the mix.  It works. We listen to Petty's influence in the album, and with other music too.  It's a good sound.  A sound that deserves to live on. Hear all the archived episodes and find our social media and email links on the website: rockpopandroll.com Eddie Vedder interview with Bruce Springsteen - https://youtu.be/PhqKCQXI8s0 SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforward.wordpress.com EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com FACEBOOK: @rockpopandroll INSTAGRAM: @rockpopandroll TWITTER: @rockpoprollpod 

On the weekend we recorded this, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins died. He was 50.   People are fans.  We aren't friends.  If it feels awful or heart wrenching to fans, know his friends feel it harder and bigger and sadder. I'm a superfan of what the Foo Fighters represent. The fervor of how they play rock and roll. The satisfaction and pride they seem to feel when they are doing what they do. The Spirit of the Foo Fighters.  What he brought to them.  The fun.  The wow.  The fanboy love of rock and roll, played in the pocket and as the engine to the band. They've played all the Queen covers and Rush covers and all the covers tackled from all the bands.  The Foos love music and are students of the hazy 70s and rock and pop MTV 80s. They remember where they were when the rock and roll hit the radio the first time. It would come out in a show. The spirit of the Foo Fighters. It's different now.   Even though they say it's only rock and roll, it's not. We remember a bit of the spirit of Taylor Hawkins and what he brought to the band. Foo Fighters final show with Taylor Hawkins / Argentina / rockpopandroll.com SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforward.wordpress.com EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com FACEBOOK: @rockpopandroll INSTAGRAM: @rockpopandroll TWITTER: @rockpoprollpod 

Georgia Satellites are owners of one fluke hit from their self-titled debut album - a Chuck Berry-ish throwback-for-the-80s radio.  One song amidst their bucket of barroom rockers.  Those songs don't come around Top 40 too often anymore.  The “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” or “Jealous Again” type of songs are outliers.  So is "Keep Your Hands to Yourself".  It rocketed all the way to #2 on the top 40 singles chart in early 1987.  Bon Jovi kept them out of the top spot with "Livin' on a Prayer". And why do I still think about the band?  They really weren't anything new.  But they did put together a flash of a career - though the band name lives on with guitarist Rick Richards - with some of the best dueling guitars of the 1980's. Again, we go back to the bar band label. It was an easy label to paste on them – to call the band an 80's version of the great 70s rockers, The Faces.  Hell, they even covered "Every Picture Tells a Story". They played rock and roll that was a blast of scraping guitars, big drums and a vibe that bridged the decades before the Black Crowes would make a similar move around 1990.  The Crowes ended up making a career last - off and on – for 25 years.  For the Georgia Satellites? They opened on a couple big tours, played a whole lot of bars and then splintered right around 1990. What is their legacy?  Why a podcast about a retro band than was not around long enough to have a second big hit?  That's what we dive into.  How the Georgia Satellites predated country radio rock that would come just a bit after their time, and end up as an influence for lots of bands - or at least make those bands believe there was a path to a crunching rock and roll career.  Bands like Cross Canadian Ragweed. The Bottle Rockets.  Blackberry Smoke. Singer Dan Baird went on to a solo career and formed a couple really good bands, including Dan Baird and Homemade Sin. One of their best tours was a triple bill in 1987 with Del Fuegos and Tom Petty. They also opened for Bob Seger in 1986 on his American Storm Tour for their first time on arena stage. Dan Baird has said that Bob made sure they had full house lights, house sound, everything the headliner would get. He knew what an opener needed.  He was one for years. Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis talks about living in Atlanta in the early 1980s,  “The Satellites were like the city's house band.”  They made it into America's consciousness, at least for one song and a few years more for fans of the band.  They brought it live. Loud. Righteous. I say worth remembering one more time. They have a new - recorded in 1988 - live album out now that gives us a taste of what made them so good.  Lightnin' In A Bottle. Seems like a good time now to rewind and salute a band that was better than they ever got credit for.  Of course, if you saw them live, you knew.   I did, and I do. Hear all the archived episodes and find our social media and email links on the website: rockpopandroll.com SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforward.wordpress.com EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com FACEBOOK: @rockpopandroll INSTAGRAM: @rockpopandroll TWITTER: @rockpoprollpod 

Huey Lewis and the News were a bar band that was better than a bar band. That's such a lazy way to describe a band anyway.  A bar band is a good thing anyway, right?  That means they cut their chops live and can make a crowd - big or small - happy. Lewis and the band just happened to have the songs, the performance chops, and the talent to take that bar band moniker and make it huge.     There's a long history of bar bands who had some fame and a hit or three and have a bit of a legacy. The J. Geils Band comes to mind.  Southside Johnny and the Jukes. Georgia Satellites. John Cafferty. I might say the greatest bar bands of all time may be Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Springsteen with the E St. Band.  So there is no shame there.  Lewis and the News where a glossier,-pop-leaning bar band than who had nine top 10 hits over the space of about four years. Later in their career, they turned deeper to soul and Stax and to a version a band leaning into a bit of R&B later in their career, to pretty good results.     After that glorious run from about 1982 through 1987, they began that journey, beginning with Small World album.  Though it reached #11 on the album chart -and the song "Perfect World" went to  #3 on Hot 100, the white-hot radio magic was on it's way out for the band.   What happened after the 80's to Huey Lewis and the News? They continued to release albums.  They continued to play live. Hard at Play was the first of those post-80's albums to be released. Though they weren't burning at the levels of the mid 80's any longer, the record produced two top 40 singles with "Couple Days Off" and "It Hit Me Like a Hammer".   What came after these?  How did they age?  What is worth hearing hat we might have missed.  That's the podcast.  Dig in.   Hear all the archived episodes and find our social media and email links on the website: rockpopandroll.com SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforward.wordpress.com EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com FACEBOOK: @rockpopandroll INSTAGRAM: @rockpopandroll TWITTER: @rockpoprollpod 

Let's do a little Jackson Browne history: Browne wrote several songs for Nitty Gritty Dirt Band early on - he was briefly a member in 1966 before they were signed. He co-wrote the first Billboard Top 40 hit for the Eagles  in 1972 with "Take It Easy". Browne released his debut album in 1972, which had one Top 40 hit, "Doctor, My Eyes" (#8) and another that should have been "Rock Me on the Water" (#48) With his third album, Late for the Sky, he reached number 14 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and earned a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year.  It was his fourth album, The Pretender – produced by Jon Landau - that cracked the top 5  on the album chart with singles "Here Come Those Tears Again" (#23)  and "The Pretender" (an FM radio hit).  By the time he got to the 1980's, he was ready for some radio hits and some MTV love. Browne was one of the singer songwriters that bridged the late 60s/early 70 socially conscious singer songwriter with the days of AOR and guitars, loud drums and the rock and roll that ruled a lot of radio in the 80s. His 70s output is underrated and the classic rock stations of today only skim the same few, forgetting a lot of his catalog.  Jackson is one of those musicians who we take for granted a bit, and maybe dismiss when his thoughts, actions, and causes don't match up politically and socially with with our own.  But that doesn't make him any less great.  He is a rock guy who makes an effort to be an artist.  And has done it for more than 50 years.  Followed his heart.  His beliefs.  His art.  Jackson Browne is important in the telling the story of rock's history.  We talk about his 70s output, what happened in the 90s and beyond, but focus this podcast on Jackson Browne in the 1980's, his golden years of getting played on the radio.   SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts CONTACT: EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com  TWITTER: @80srockpopandroll  FACEBOOK: @rockpopandroll ROB'S INSTAGRAM: @rockrob WEBSITE: rockpopandroll.com

With this episode, we're cranking the power pop sound. A lot of bands fit this genre so the episode is a teaser – a primer if you will. Not everything that ever happened, but a taste of that sound. Some history, some not-so-talked about bands, and the roar of guitars bashing, sugared harmonies, and cracking drums.  We dive into some rocking rabbit holes to talk about bands and artists, and hear throwbacks to the sounds of many, including Marshall Crenshaw, Rockpile, Phil Seymour, and Donnie Iris. Cheap Trick may be the biggest of the genre, still doing their thing, playing "Surrender" and their great catalog live. The Raspberries had “Go All The Way” and are widely thought of as early power pop heroes.  Matthew Sweet did the sound better than almost anyone in the 90s.  It is a sound that I still love.  So let's go.  Turn it up. SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts RADIO SHOW: Rock Pop and Roll Radio Show - Spotify Exclusive - One hour of tunes and talk CONTACT: Show suggestions.  Comments.  Thoughts.  Smiles.  All of it. EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com  TWITTER: @80srockpopandroll  FACEBOOK: @rockpopandroll ROB'S INSTAGRAM: @rockrob WEBSITE: rockpopandroll.com

Who was the best and biggest and most consistent rock band of the 1980s?  That's a question that was banging around my head.  I have a winner.  And you aren't going to like it. Or maybe you will.   I was thinking about who truly, really was the kings of rock and roll bands of the 1980s and I can't say no to u2.  Springsteen and the E St. Band Right are up there, but The River was 1979. Then it was Nebraska.  So Bruce is really one band album in the decade.  Petty?  Always solid.  Prince?  I mean, he had 1999 and Purple Rain back to back.  Bon Jovi?   Def Leppard?  We can talk about it. I mean, there were a lot of contenders.  Journey?  Queen?  Late decade Guns and Roses. Van Halen?  The Police? That's a lot of great rock and roll. And why is there a distaste that persists for u2? People like to throw stones at Bono. he is earnest above all.  The band is so non-ironic, that it scares some people. They reinvent.  They tour stadiums and do it well.  Some still hate on them.  Well, screw them. I'm onboard and I will tell you why. LINKS: U2 Live 1983 US Festival U2 Live in Dortmund 1984 U2 at Live Aid 1985 SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts RADIO SHOW: Rock Pop and Roll Radio Show - Spotify Exclusive - One hour of tunes and talk CONTACT: Show suggestions.  Comments.  Thoughts.  Smiles.  All of it. EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com  TWITTER: @80srockpopandroll  FACEBOOK: @rockpopandroll ROB'S INSTAGRAM: @rockrob WEBSITE: rockpopandroll.com

It is the curious case of The Romantics. Detroit rockers worth another listen. 60s garage rock.  Pop punk.  Ear worms for those who like hard candy. Detroit attitude. The group's debut was a 1978 single "Little White Lies on Spider Records,  followed that year by the Bomp! single "Tell It to Carrie".  Here's what you know for sure about the Romantics: "What I Like About You”. 
 Would seem like a strong start, right?  But the song wasn't a hit when they released it.  Sort of, but not really.  #49 on the Hot 100 – didn't crack the top 40. So they slogged along until the one golden, overlooked-in-rock history album. They are remembered for a relatively minor hit that everyone who has heard a radio, been to an athletic event, or watched TV knows.  Everyone can sing it. "Hey." Fluke. But the In Heat album was real.  Sounded great, had terrific energy and hit the pop rock button during just the right time. And radio made those songs sound even better. Then they went poof.  Gone.  Faded.  But never completely burned away to ash.   hey played tiny, out of the way joints to stay alive. They came out on the other side. These are the Romantics and what you should hear. LINKS: Hear our exclusive Spotify playlist for this episode: The Curious Case of the Romantics SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Or wherever you get your podcasts. CONTACT: Show suggestions.  Comments.  Thoughts.  Smiles.  All of it. EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com  TWITTER: @80srockpopandroll  FACEBOOK: @rockpopandroll ROB'S INSTAGRAM: @rockrob WEBSITE: rockpopandroll.com

In the years since Tom Petty's passing, his music rings authentic and sounds just as it was meant to be - timeless. We uncover why he is, and they are, the band that has best represented American Rock music for 40 years – a deserved title for Petty and the Heartbreakers. And we choose the Essential 7  - the albums of Tom Petty. It's a band with a long history, going back to the original Mudcrutch days. Giving them the nod as the quintessential American rock and roll band is no small honor. Petty and his boys owned the whole package, and they shared it on album and on stage for 40 years. Writing, passion, craftsmanship, music loved across age groups.  loud American rock and roll guitars, sweet-ass rock and roll hooks. Links: "She's The One" Documentary Hear our extra Spotify playlist for this episode: The Essential 7 Albums of Tom Petty / Songs + More Subscribe to RockPopandRoll: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Or wherever you get your podcasts. Contact us: EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com  TWITTER: http://twitter.com/80srockpopandroll WEBSITE: rockpopandroll.com

The Rolling Stones spent much of the 1980s on the struggle bus.  After a couple of good early decade albums, they were fighting amongst themselves, Keith Richards didn’t want to be in the band. Mick Jagger made a solo record. So did Keith. The 1986 One Hit to the Body single was about all they did right. Harlem Shuffle was weak. The early decade live shows weren’t strong.  The Rolling Stones pretty much had fizzled out as a group. Then they made Steel Wheels. The final album they would make that really mattered. We take a listen to why that record was their real last hurrah and the single that made it happen. The massive Steel Wheels Tour started just two weeks after the single’s release. With the album and ensuing tour, it was the return to the sound that the classic rock fans wanted. The sound of the (kinda) gritty and greasy Stones. A throwback to the sound of the Stones of the 70’s, or as close as they had been to that sound in 10 years. The sound that made them loved.  This album tried hard to be that, and radio bought in.  Links: Hear our extra Spotify playlist for this episode:  The Greatness of The Rolling Stones - Steel Wheels and Other Cuts Subscribe to RockPopandRoll: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Or wherever you get your podcasts. Contact us: EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com  TWITTER: http://twitter.com/80srockpopandroll WEBSITE: rockpopandroll.com

How do you follow up the 70’s if you are Elton John? Can you successfully. The 1980's Output of Elton John: How Was It? Rating his 80s singles. In 1970, Elton’s first hit single, "Your Song", from his second album, Elton John, became his first top ten in both the UK and the US. His most commercially successful period was 1970–1976, with the albums Honky Château (1972), Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player (1973), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) and his first Greatest Hits compilation. In this episode, we talk about how Elton’s piano playing is integral to the success of his best hits, and hear why.  Might he even be underrated (or at least not appreciated like it should be) as a piano player?  Are there any certifiable classics worthy of his 70s greatness?  We could argue - and we might. - that Elton was the biggest rock and pop music artist coming out of the 1970's.  Is it fair to compare the decades?  How could he live up to the ten years that came before? How did Reginald Dwight do with the decade of the 80s? That’s what we will look to discover in this podcast. Links: Hear our extra Spotify playlist for this episode: Elton John / The 80s Songs (and some extras) Subscribe to RockPopandRoll: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Or wherever you get your podcasts. Contact us: EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com  TWITTER: http://twitter.com/80srockpopandroll WEBSITE: rockpopandroll.com            

Kool & The Gang mastered the transition from funkmeisters to smooth pop R&B. A band since 1964, they are still tour ready. Top 40 radio dug them for the better part of ten years. I mean, really loved them.  The band's first taste of pop  success came with the release of their fourth album Wild and Peaceful (1973), which contained the US top-ten singles "Jungle Boogie" (#4) and "Hollywood Swinging" (#6). Disco didn’t really work for them.  Back in the 70's, they had  more in common with Sly and the Family Stone than Donna Summer. We dig in to the 80’s Output of Kool & The Gang, with a peek into the workmanlike, early funk before they had a middle career making hit music on the radio, and showed themselves to find success with the slow pop song too. In 1979, J.T.Taylor had joined the group and they found a producer with a love for ear candy, hooks and choruses. Emergency (1984) remains their highest selling album and spawned four US top 20 singles. By this time, they ha smoothed the rough edges and became the only band to have four top 20 singles from a single album in 1985.  We dive into the hots and more. Links: Hear Spotify Playlist: Kool & The Gang Mixtape Subscribe to RockPopandRoll: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Or wherever you get your podcasts. Contact us: EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com  TWITTER: http://twitter.com/80srockpopandroll WEBSITE: rockpopandroll.com

There’s always been bands that had some part of their success because they – a little or a lot- sounded like other bands.  The Beatles and Badfinger.  The Beatles and a band called the Knickerbockers with a 1965 hit song called “Lies”.   “Oh Sheila” was a hit for the band Ready For the World that had a sound like Prince. An R&B singer named Fontella Bass sounded a whole lot like Aretha Franklin with a 1965 hit called “Rescue Me” - Greta Van Fleet sounds eerily like Led Zeppelin. So did the 80s band Kingdom Come.  And I always kind of wonder what happened to a band.  How did they go from having hits to having sorta hits, not really being a band anymore.  Did they burn out. Fade away?  Get taken advantage of?  Dropped by the record company.  Implode? In this podcast, we revisit three bands that had hits – big hits – in part because the albums they made sounded a little - or a lot like a more successful band. Not that it made them bad. But that’s the truth. Let’s dig into the careers of Quarterflash, The Outfield, and John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band. Links: Hear Spotify Playlist: Tracks From Bands That Sounded A Little - or a Lot - Like Other Bands Subscribe to RockPopandRoll: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Or wherever you get your podcasts. Contact us: EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com TWITTER: http://twitter.com/80srockpopandroll WEBSITE: rockpopandroll.com

As big as Bob Seger is on the radio – arguably one of the top half dozen classic rock artists to still have a big footprint on rock radio – in his entire career, he actually only had seven top 40 hits that cracked the top 10. He spent a lifetime on the road. A classic rock mainstay.  But big top 40 hits?  Hardly. Bob Seger’s only #1 hit? - "Shakedown" from 1987 and the Beverly Hills Cop II soundtrack. His other top 10’s? “Night Moves” #4 in 76 “Still The Same” #4 in 78 “Against The Wind” #5 in 1980 “Fire Lake” #6 in 1980 But there are other tunes that were big that have slipped away.  You want to the deeper catalog of Bob Seger?  It’s not always on the radio any more – outside of stations in Michigan, where he is still the hometown hero across there.  I know. I lived in Michigan for almost 20 years.  The amount of Bob Seger  - deep Seger – on the radio is astounding.  Album tracks from Live Bullet.  Album tracks from Against the Wind.  Lots of the cuts from the Stranger in Town and Night Moves albums. Go to Detroit. He’s the man. But elsewhere?  Not as much.  The stuff that was once a radio hit but faded away. So what has been become overlooked from this rock and roll giant? The story is pretty well known.  Bob Seger was a regional star for a long time, building his reputation as a great live performer while not getting much love nationally. But he just kept driving the roads and playing the gigs, and ultimately broke big nationally with the Live Bullet double album recorded at Detroit’s Cobo Hall in 1975 and released in 1976. That’s the record that vaulted "Turn The Page" into a rock radio classic. On Rock Pop and Roll, We take look back at five songs that were big but have gotten lost in the years passing and radio playlists tightening.  Links: Hear Spotify playlist: Bob Seger - Underappreciated Hits and (much more)! Subscribe to RockPopandRoll: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Or wherever you get your podcasts. Contact us: EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com TWITTER: http://twitter.com/80srockpopandroll WEBSITE: rockpopandroll.com

By 1982, and 1983, Brian Setzer’s group, The Stray Cats, had earned three top 10 hits: “Rock This Town”, “Stray Cat Strut”, and “She Sexy and 17”. And in late 1984? That was the year Setzer decided to break up Stray Cats in the midst of their success. Why? He told the Los Angeles Times in 1986 that he thought the band had run its course. “I didn’t want to make another rockabilly album.” Setzer made a couple album in the two years away from the Cats, including one that stands out as a forgotten but near classic take on heartland rock and roll. The Knife Feels Like Justice became the debut album solo album for Setzer. It had a roots rock sound, in the style of John Cougar Mellencamp.  He formed a band for the album that was pretty damn impressive It was roots rock. Heartland rock.  Springsteen-ian rock.  At the time, bands like Mellencamp, Springsteen, the BoDeans, The Gear Daddies, Jason and the Scorchers, The Del Fuegos, The Wagoneers, and others were mining that heartland sound.  It was the heyday of heartland rock, and he crossed it with some punkish/post-new wave middle America sensibility. The sound of the album fit the time. Not any real radio airplay other than some scattered rock stations. The album peaked at number 45 on the US Billboard album chart in April 1986. Though a bit forgotten, in Setzer’s career of more than 30 albums between solo, the Stray Cats, and his Brian Setzer Orchestra, this was one of only five albums to crack the Top 100.   For Setzer, he scratched that roots rock itch. The Knife Feels Like Justice album is this odd little outlier in his career – made at a place in time where the sound was hot, and he went to work on it.  For one album and one year, he drove a little different musical, drum-smacking, guitar-crankin’ road. Links: Hear Spotify playlist: Brian Setzer - The Knife Feels Like Justice and (much more)! Subscribe to RockPopandRoll: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Or wherever you get your podcasts. Contact us: EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com TWITTER: http://twitter.com/80srockpopandroll WEBSITE: rockpopandroll.com  

On this episode of Rock Pop and Roll, we focus on the peculiar history of Rod Stewart. Some Good and a Little Bit of the Bad: Rod Stewart In the 1980’s. Rod Stewart is nearing 60 years in the music business, right up there with the Rolling Stones and The Who.  He's in the Rock and Roll Hall of fame, inducted in 1994. He released 32 solo albums, not counting live and greatest hits compilations. During the 1960s, Rod Stewart was a part of the Jeff Beck Group. In 1969, he joined The Faces.  If you don’t know The Faces, you need to.  Black Crowes fans out there?  They were essentially a 90s version of the Faces. A party on stage, a swaggering rock band that was loose, riffing like the Stones, and probably underrated in their place in the rock timeline.  Stewart joined them as his solo career was getting going, creating an odd dynamic. Stewart scored his first solo success with the album Every Picture Tells A Story, which featured the hit single "Maggie May" in 1971. That same year, the Faces had their biggest US hit with the song "Stay With Me.” Stewart had dual recording contracts with different labels, as both a solo artist and as a member of the Faces. In 1975 Ronnie Wood began working with the Rolling Stones, and the band broke up. And that’s where Rod’s career both took off and fell apart, depending on what you like. Somewhere along the line, he morphed into something different than before. What the hell happened? Stewart moved to a more new wave direction in 1980 by releasing the album Foolish Behaviour. The album produced one hit single, "Passion", which reached No. 5 on the US Hot 100 Billboard Charts. The hits kept coming – although pretty disposable if we look back at them today.  A time capsule of the era more than great tunes. They all had the signature Rod Stewart rasp.  That was the key - highly recognizable and gives even the smoothest song a bit of grit.  That’s his gold. It is the curious case of Rod The Mod.  LINKS: Hear Spotify playlist: Rod Stewart in the 80's with bonus cuts Subscribe to RockPopandRoll: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Or wherever you get your podcasts.

RockPopandRoll / Episode 12 • A legendary – maybe the most legendary Australian rocker  - who couldn’t break through in the US• An influential Cowpunk band that had big names push them • A rock band from the United Kingdom that had millions of fans and only one American sorta hit. This week on RockPopandRoll, our show is: "3 Underrated, Under the Radar Rock Bands that Never Hit the Top 40" Host Rob Nichols, a radio vet and longtime music writer, revisits rock and roll and pop music from the playlist of the decade of the 80s The Alarm Originally a punk band formed in Wales, The Alarm played with U2 in 1981 while they were still gigging with three acoustic guitars. In December 1982, they played four shows with U2 with Bono joining them on stage. In 1983, the Alarm went on their first tour of the U.S., supporting U2 on the War Tour. The Alarm's highest charting single in Britain was 1983's "Sixty Eight Guns", which reached number 17 in the UK Singles Chart. The Strength album brought them into the top 40 of the US Billboard 200 album chart for the first time and they got some rock radio play in America with the single "Rain in the Summertime". Bowie producer Tony Visconti helped them to their biggest rock his with "Sold Me Down the River" They sold more than five million albums worldwide.  But no US Top 40 hits. They sounded like U2.  Maybe, in retrospect, too much like U2. Jimmy Barnes
 Cold Chisel was an Australian band that became a great live band, and the biggest band in Australia for a time. Barnes went solo in 1984, and released a song "Working Class Man" in 1985 in the U.S., written by Journey’s Jonathan Cain, and got his first small taste of American love.  He had a rock radio hit with the great “Good Times”, with INXS for Lost Boys soundtrack and then went on to accumulate nine Australian number-one studio albums and lots of hit singles including "Too Much Ain't Enough Love", which peaked at No. 1 in Australia. Barnes was inducted into Australian music hall of fame  for his solo career and with Cold Chisel.  He is still making music today, just not as an American music star. Lone Justice
 Lone Justice had its chance  - and the right people helping out  - but for some reason never really made it. Lead singer Maria McKee had the chops and the music was written and produced by superstars. But the punk-roots-rock-pop sound just never did it for them until their influence was figured in years later.  Their self-titled debut in 1985, followed by a tour in support of U2, got them noticed, but gave them no hits. The single, “Ways to Be Wicked”, was written by Tom Petty and Mike Campbell while “Sweet, Sweet Baby” was written by Little Steven and Benmont Tench. The second album, “Shelter”, had two singles co-written with Steve Van Zandt. Still, no chart love.  They broke up, but had an influence on the alt-country movement that came a decade later. LINKS Hear Spotify playlist: The Alarm/ Jimmy Barnes / Lone Justice with bonus cuts Subscribe to RockPopandRoll: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Or wherever you get your podcasts. Find us on twitter at 80srockpoproll Email us – rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com If you like the show - Share it with someone.  Share it with a fan of 80s pop and rock and roll.  Write in the comments section.  Give us a review.  We thank you.

RockPopandRoll / Episode 11 Remember Jessie’s Girl? #1 in 1981?  It is the iconic power pop song that threw musician Rick Springfield, a musician on lean times, back into the music game. He’d been in music since the late 60’s in Australia. A rocker, blessed and cursed. Great looking dude, with the “I’m on a TV show albatross” to carry.  He was a career songwriter and guitar guy who had already waded through the teen idol swamp and come out OK.  Mostly. This week on RockPopandRoll, our show is: Power Pop and Rick Springfield: Here’s 6 Songs You’ll Love if you Dig Jessie’s Girl” Host Rob Nichols, a radio vet and longtime music writer, revisits rock and roll and pop music from the playlist of the decade of the 80s I get it.  Here’s the common word on Rick Springfield  - he isn’t a legitimate rock and roll guy. I call bullshit.  If you take the music he has made, especially from 1981 to now, he qualifies.  A couple bigtime hits.  A dozen stellar pop, rock, and power pop songs that cracked the top 40.  And a career that he revived in the late 90s and still has rolling.  Springfield sometimes tries too hard with overwrought lyrics.  Heavy handed.  A bit cliché.  And some of his music, when he is not trafficking in the sugary, rocking thing, it doesn’t work well.  There’s stuff he has put out – in his heyday of 1981-86 or so, and in some of his more recent albums, that is sincere but just doesn’t hit it his pocket for me.  Like he tries too hard. But then there’s the Rick Springfield that is a star because of the Working Class Dog record, a wholly under-appreciated power pop album – a genre part of rock and roll and radio rock in the late 70s through 1983 or so.  The album had “Jessie’s Girl”, “I’ve Done Everything For You”, a minor hit in “Love Is Alright Tonight”, and a bucketful of non-hit, guitar rock and pop songs.  It was as good as it really got if you liked the Cars, Rockpile, Cheap Trick, The Greg Kihn band, the Knack, the Romantics, Phil Seymour, and Dwight Twilley. Harmonies, guitars, big drums, some 80s keyboards, and songs about love, girls, and heartache. If you turn it up when the guitar power chord solo comes around in the middle of “Jessie’s Girl”, here are 6 songs you will love. He’s at best when guitars dominate in a poppy, rocky, throwback-to-FM-radio hits way. Turn it up SONGS “Love Screws Me Up” “Light This Party Up “ “It’s Always Something”“Bruce” “Kristina” “I Hate Myself” LINKS Hear Spotify playlist: Rick Springfield  /  Six songs you’ll dig if you like “Jessie’s Girl” plus bonus cuts. Read review of Rick Springfield show at Indiana State Fair / 2010 Subscribe to RockPopandRoll: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Or wherever you get your podcasts. Find us on twitter at 80srockpoproll Email us – rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com If you like the show - Share it with someone.  Share it with a fan of 80s pop and rock and roll.  Write in the comments section.  Give us a review.  We thank you. One Last Fact We Learned: “I’ve Done Everything For You” The Working Class Dog rocker first appeared on Sammy Hagar’s 1978 concert album All Night Long before it would be a Top 10 hit for Springfield, a follow up to “Jessie’s Girl.” Springfield wasn’t the first person to consider “I’ve Done Everything For You” as cover material. Hagar says producer Keith Olsen brought it to Springfield after first trying to get Pat Benatar to do the track. They made of a demo of it, but they decided to use their own song, “Heartbreaker. Rick got the song.

Their debut album was “Get the Knack”.  It had one monster song, a lesser follow-up single and then the band rode the wave of success as best they could, before breaking up, reforming, and never duplicating the initial explosion.  But how could they, right? The rest of their albums?  Nothing as good.  Or even close.  But they kept the idea alive that you could be a band that takes the tropes of 60s rock and roll and 70s power pop, blend them, and make a sound that was their own.    Thanks for listening to the podcast Subscribe to RockPopandRoll on Apple Podcasts Spotify IHeart podcasts Or wherever you get your podcasts.   Find us on twitter at 80srockpoproll Email us – rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com   If you like the show - Share it with someone.  Share it with a fan of 80s pop and rock and roll.