Music

Professor of Rock

The ultimate rock music history podcast for fans of the greatest era of music. If you’ve ever wondered about the true stories behind your favorite songs, or wanted to hear directly from the legends who made them, Professor of Rock is your new go-to podcast. Hosted by music historian and superfan Adam Reader, this show brings the golden era of music back to life with exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes stories, and deep dives into the songs that shaped our lives. This podcast uncovers how timeless tracks were made, the creative breakthroughs, the near-breakups, and the powerful moments that defined music history. Each episode is a masterclass in rock culture and nostalgia—whether it’s a chart-topping ‘80s anthem, a one-hit wonder with a wild backstory, or a candid conversation with the legends themselves. Hear the Stories. Relive the Music. Only on Professor of Rock.

Latest Episodes:

Revisiting the Top 10 Songs of 1986: Hits, Rivalries, and Lasting Impact Jul 19, 2023

Show notes

Today, we’re going to go behind the Top 10 songs of this very same week from the year 1986. If you need a break from the sheer insanity of the 2020s, we’ve got you covered. We’re hopping into the DeLorean and returning to the golden era of rock. After counting down the Top 10 songs from 37 years ago, we’re re-ranking them according to how much the world has listened to them since. So by the end, we’ll have an entirely new Top 10 for you. This time around countdown contenders include multiple movie soundtrack hits including Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins a comeback single from legendary band the Moody Blues with In Your Wildest Dreams who found new life in the neon decade, and not one, but two heavy-weight rivalries between iconic bands and their former frontmen Including Van Halen with Sammy Hagar vs. David Lee Roth solo... You’re not going to want to miss one. It’s all coming up… NEXT on the Professor of Rock.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How Cream’s "Sunshine of Your Love" Overcame Doubters to Become a Rock Classic Jul 18, 2023

Show notes

They were likely Rock’s first supergroup and it all started when these virtuosos who went by the name of CREAM starring Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker all took in a Jimi Hendrix concert, and the bassist Jack Bruce was so juiced with inspiration by what he saw, he went home and created one of rock music’s most familiar and magical riffs. Sunshine of Your Love One that gets stuck in your head for days and that’s a good thing. However when they showed the guaranteed hit to the label head, legend Ahmet Ertegun he hated it. He thought it was crap. Some famous artists outside of the band had to talk him into putting it out. The supergroup was only together for a couple of years and they almost killed each other but their music will last a millennia creating genres and subgenera’s in the process. The story is next.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How the Bee Gees Staged a Comeback with "You Win Again" and "One" Jul 17, 2023

Show notes

Making a comeback is a punishing challenge. In the entertainment business, it is extremely difficult, if not utterly impossible. But the Bee Gees beat ASTRONOMICAL ODDS by mounting a successful comeback not once, not twice but an amazing THREE times and on the third comeback they had to do it twice.. once in the UK and then again in American with two different songs. Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb and Robin Gibb were the biggest band in the world and then Vanished from the charts for a decade. They didn’t have a hit for 10 years! The ruled the 70s with the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack with hits like Staying Alive and How Deep Is Your Love and then were pushed out by tastemakers but their hit You Win Again gave them a #1 hit in 1987 in the Uk and One a top 10 in America in 1989.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How Creedence Clearwater Revival Dominated Then Disappeared: The Story of "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" Jul 15, 2023

Show notes

Sibling rivalry, band-member infighting, and an ongoing wrestle for creative control all led to the break up of today’s featured band. Creedence Clearwater Revival... Theirs was a bottled lightning career, but they were no one hit-wonder. In fact, they kicked out 9 Top 10 hits in the space of two years… John Fogerty and his band never landed a #1, but they did have a record 5 #2 hits. Today’s song was certainly worthy of a #1. It is a true standard of the rock canon. It was also prophetic… predicting the collapse of this illustrious band. Have You Ever Seen the Rain predicted what was about to happen. But only Fogerty knew what it meant. The rest of the guys had no idea. Find out how one of the biggest bands in the world went from clear blue skies to pouring rain almost overnight and then they were gone forever… Next on Professor of Rock.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How Jackson Browne Wrote "These Days" at 16 and Redefined Live Albums with "Running on Empty" Jul 14, 2023

Show notes

Up next, a tale about legendary singer songwriter Jackson Browne who wrote plenty of entries in the great American songbook including a deeply poignant classic that he wrote when he was only 16 years old called These days He was an old soul and after taking radio by storm in the 70s he decided to do something no other band or musician had done before Cut a completely Live rock album of all new material while touring America. Life on the road can be grim and bittersweet, living our of your suitcase severely exhausted from gig to gig This legend wanted to capture that so he made a concept album with all new material live… And not just onstage… But in hotel rooms, rehearsal spaces, and even on a moving tour bus. The result is iconic. Today, we’re giving you the story of behind this album and it’s title track Running on Empty, a moving masterpiece that makes you feel like you are there. Coming up next on Professor of Rock.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Interview with Dennis DeYoung: How "Babe" Went from Birthday Gift to #1 Hit Jul 13, 2023

Show notes

Coming up next, an interview with one of history's only rock singer-songwriters that has had a big hit in the 70s, 80s, and the 90s. Dennis DeYoung of Styx is a bonafide "3 Decades Icon." He did in the 70s with Babe, in the 80s with Mr. Roboto, and Show Me The Way in the 90s. Well, In the late 70s, Dennis needed a birthday present for his wife, so on the fly, he sat at the piano and wrote a very personal song to give to her… Well, the song was so good his bandmates begged him to put it on their new album. He wasn’t so sure but at the last second his bandmates got him to agree and it became the band’s first #1 hit and one of the biggest songs of 1979. Babe started out as a birthday present. He tells us the story next as well as insight on the iconic guitar solo. It’s a can’t miss.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How Johnny Cash’s "I Walk the Line" Became a #1 Hit and the Comeback That Radio Blocked Jul 12, 2023

Show notes

Struggling to stay faithful to his wife while on the road, the Man in Black, Johnny Cash wrote her a mournful love ballad backstage at one of his concerts to clarify his feelings he called it Because You’re Mine but it later turned into I Walk The Line. However, when he got the song to the studio, his producer increased its tempo, turning it completely on its head. And Cash hated it. Well, that is until he saw how audiences reacted to it. His fans went crazy for it. And with his deep baritone voice rumbling like a train down the tracks, it’s no surprise this song shot to #1. Today we’re not only giving the story behind this legendary hit but also interviewing another Icon who teamed up with this Johnny Cash to record an entirely new version of this track and we get a historic account of that recording that was a guaranteed #1 Mainstream Radio screwed him over. This untold story will blow your mind. It’s all coming up… NEXT on the Professor of Rock.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How Aerosmith’s "Walk This Way" Sparked One of Rock’s Greatest Comebacks Jul 11, 2023

Show notes

Coming up we present the story of a song that is truly a musical miracle …Aerosmith and their classic 70s and 80s hit Walk This Way. First of all the masterful riff from this 70s and 80s classic instantly came out of nowhere at a soundcheck… Then the iconic lyric came to singer Steven Tyler when he was in the middle of a movie at a theater. Steven Tyler wrote the lyrics in a flash but on recording day he left them in a cab and they were never recovered so he had to start all over because he couldn’t remember them… The band including Joe Perry were livid. Well they came out better on the second try. The song was a hit in the 70s and then America’s band fell flat on their face… They couldn’t buy a hit. After years of nothing producer Rick Rubin gave them a chance to remake this hit with a new hip hop group called RUN DMC and it started one of the greatest comebacks in rock history. The story is next.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhoads Defied the Odds with "Crazy Train" Jul 10, 2023

Show notes

After Ozzy Osbourne was fired from Black Sabbath, the band he’d fronted and helped make famous for a decade, a lot of people thought his career was finished. That he was a washed-up has-been. Exiled for being a drunk and a drug addict, and fighting demons and wild mood swings, you can’t really blame them. Even Ozzy thought his career was over. However, with the aid of an up-and-coming guitar hero named Randy Rhoades, he would surprise even himself… rising from the wreckage to become a larger-than-life rock icon. Even bigger than he had been with his former band. And kicking it all off was his seminal 1980 album Blizzard of Oz which delivered a full-speed-ahead, blazing rock track called Crazy Train that had listeners going off the rails… It missed both charts but spawned a classic following, a perfect moment in rock history. Come help us relive it. … NEXT on the Professor of Rock.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How Nikki Sixx’s Near-Death Experience Inspired Mötley Crüe’s "Kickstart My Heart" Jul 08, 2023

Show notes

Coming up, it’s a full-speed, kick-you-in-the-teeth, adrenaline-fueled rocker… inspired by an 80s legend who literally had a death wish. Motley Crue and their once-in-a-lifetime rocker Kickstart My Heart from their 1989 classic Dr. Feelgood. It all happened on one notorious night back in 1987, Nikki Sixx the decadent rockstar overdosed after a night of reckless abandon… scaring the hell out of his bandmates Vince Neil, Tommy Lee, Mick Marrs, and his fans in the process. Pronounced clinically dead, rumors of his demise spread like wildfire. And it would take some serious Pulp Fiction needle-piercing action to bring him back to life. He would actually say he was out of body witnessing his death Then he woke up in the hospital. and he ripped out his tubes and escaped. He bummed a ride off a fan who thought they were seeing a ghost and then when he got home he shot up again! Well needless to say the incident’s aftermath led to his band’s biggest song ever and it would eventually help him get clean. The unbelievable story is next.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Professor of Rock

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected