Bonus: The Tierney Brothers Share Their Favourite Throwbacks

In this exclusive bonus episode of The Jermaine Plane, we dive into the throwback requests of Mike and Andrew Tierney from the iconic Aussie group Human Nature, now performing as The Tierney Brothers. These personal song choices were aired on the radio show version of The Jermaine Plane, which you can hear every Friday night on Nova Throwbacks via the Nova Player app.

From OneRepublic’s Counting Stars to Michael Jackson’s Rock With You, the brothers reflect on the artists who shaped their sound and the incredible stories behind their picks — including working with the legendary Rod Temperton, who wrote Thriller and nearly produced their album. If you haven’t yet, check out the full interview episode where they discuss their career, brotherhood, and touring with MJ and Janet.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Flying back in time.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
This is the Germaine Plane. Oh yes, Hello, it's Jermaine
here and welcome to a bonus episode of The Jermaine
Plane where I play the throwback requests of the guests
that we have on the show. Now, if you don't know,
I have a radio show version of The Jamaine Plane
on a station called Nervous Throwbacks. It airs every Friday night,

(00:22):
and I play some stuff that you don't hear on
the main podcast episode because they're requesting their favorite songs,
and in this case it's the Tierney Brothers. They're from
the band Human Nature. If you ever listened to the chats,
I would highly recommend it because we go through their
time as Human Nature touring with Michael Jackson Janet Jackson,

(00:44):
and what made them become a duo and how brotherhood
plays part in their new career journey. So sit back, relax,
enjoy the throwback requests from the brothers of the iconic
band Human Nature. This is Mike and Andrew, the Tierney
Brothers with their throw back requests on the radio show
version of The Germaine Plane. Enjoy all right, Mike, You've

(01:06):
chosen one republic counting Stars as your throwback for Tonight
Show on the Germaine Plane. Tell me why you've chosen that?

Speaker 3 (01:12):
Well?

Speaker 1 (01:13):
That that was a I think One Republic was a
good inspiration for us as Tiney brothers, you know, for
the sound of that record and the way that they
you know, I think Ryan Tedd is a fantastic pop
songwriter and just we often, you know, when we're writing something,
we'll go, what would Bryan Tedder do here? You know,
just the way he you know, he's the craft that

(01:34):
he has with songwriting and getting hooks and and kind
of yeah, just just the way he makes a song
work so well. So yeah, I think Counting Stars is obviously,
I mean, he's written so many great, great songs, but
that's one of the classics from him. And yeah, he's
a real Not only that the One Republic as a
sound inspiration, but him as a songwriter is a is

(01:55):
an inspiration too for us.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
We've got a Michael song. Couldn't be more happy about that.
Why have you chosen Rock with You?

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Well?

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Rock with You is actually written by Rod Temperton, like
a fantastic songwriter from the seventies and eighties, and he
wrote Thriller. He also so Rock with You. I think
was maybe the first song he'd written for Michael Jackson.
And when we were touring with Michael Jackson in throughout Europe,
the A and R guy of a record company actually
got Rod Temperton to come and see us as human

(02:26):
nature because he thought a human Rod should write for
you guys. And so Rod came to one of I
think it was the Wembley Stadium show and we hung
out with him and we started He said, yeah, I'd
like to work on your album. Obviously we were on
the up and up, you know, like probably at the
time someone saying, oh you come and write for One
Direction or and you know, everyone wanted to write for

(02:47):
One Direction on their second album, and so we Rod
was like really into it, and so we actually went
to Monaco Nice. We went to Nice and because Rod
had an apartment and niece, we went swimming in the
ocean with Rod, and we kind of set the tone
for Okay, let's start writing together. And so Mike and
I were writing that second record and we wrote a

(03:08):
song called Mary's Garden, which is like a kind of
a smooth, kind of MJ inspired song, and Rod really
liked it, and so he wrote a bridge for it,
and then he was Actually the crazy story is Rod
was booked on a first class airfare to come out
and work on that second record with US County Down,

(03:29):
and he called the day before and he said, I
can't get excited about the songs that I'm writing for
you guys, so I can't expect you to get excited,
so it's off. Oh wow, So it's really it was
like we were going to be making this album with
Rod Temperton and he was bringing his best songs.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
You know.

Speaker 3 (03:45):
That was kind of the thought. We had Mary's Guard
and we had another song called Temperatures Rising that he'd
written on, but he had these other songs that he
was going to bring, and we were thinking, okay, well
we've got these five and then we'll get this five
with Rod and we'll make the record. And then the
day before the session, he kind of he called and
said he's not doing it.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
How do you guys feel about that?

Speaker 1 (04:02):
It was it was a letdown. I meant, he was
still kind of involved. We would call him and you know,
get kind of hit help on sort of arrangement ideas
and things like that. But yeah, I mean, I mean,
I guess we kind of understood it too. If he
didn't feel good about what he'd written, I mean kind
of had to respect that too. It was like, well,
you know, we don't want us to He didn't want
us to record just anything, you know what I mean.

(04:23):
So if he couldn't get excited about what he was
what he'd written, and he was, you know, an older
guy as well, he you know, it was touch and
go whether he'd really come. You know, we always thought
in the back of our minds and not will this
actually happen?

Speaker 3 (04:37):
But but then to give that some context to the
song we're about to play, he thought Rock with You
was a silly little song. Yeah right, He never thought
it was going to be what it was. He goes,
I just you know, I didn't think rock with You.
So maybe he had Rock with You that he thought
was just not good.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
And he imagine he didn't go into the studio and
what did he have that he didn't bring for the
Human Nature session.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
He thought he had a collection of silly little songs
and he didn't get on a plane.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
Another Rock with You. Well, let's get it on for
your Friday and night. This is Michael Jackson Rock with
You a throwback choice from Andrew Tierney. He on the
Germaine plane.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
Flying back in time. This is the Germain plane.