Professor of Rock

Coming up next… sometimes you have to ask, is there any justice in the world? Today I’ve got an interview with Don Barnes, one of the coolest singers of the 80s. He’s a guy who doesn’t get the credit he deserves. He fronted the band 38 Special, which started out as a southern rock band, but by the early 80s, they’d transformed into a leading arena rock group. And they released some of the most memorable hits of the decade,...

Coming up next a story you won’t believe. Talk about an ordeal. Today’s guest, John Parr, has a massive #1 hit in 1985 that is still huge today. It was the theme to the movie St. Elmo's Fire, but the song was actually written about the power to overcome anything and was inspired by a disabled man. It not only hit #1 but was the frontrunner to win the Best Original Song Oscar that year. But then it was pulled from contentio...

Coming up, we’re going all in on the most unlikely origin stories for some seriously legendary bands and artists. I think you're going to really dig this one... including the grieving drummer Dave Grohl, whose famous band, Nirvana had just splintered in tragedy. He left music for a time, but then, out of the blue, he secretly recorded a solo album in one week, playing every instrument himself. Then made up a fake band nam...

When today’s legendary band came out, they were unlike anything anyone had ever heard back in… Black Sabbath! Their music was hardcore and at first, they almost called themselves a three-word title that started with Polka, thankfully they saw a horror movie around that time and took its much cooler title as their name.. Their first record was destroyed by the critics but out of nowhere fans bought a million copies of it an...

In this exclusive podcast-only episode, the Professor of Rock sits down for an unfiltered, full-length conversation with the one and only Paul Shaffer—legendary bandleader, keyboardist, and comedic straight man for David Letterman. From his early days growing up in Canada and discovering his love for music, to becoming a mainstay on late night TV for over three decades, Paul shares hilarious, heartfelt, and behind-the-scen...

STRAIGHT UP. If there was just one Video or interview That I’ve done in the history of my channel that I would want my viewers to see. Just one. that I could leave to this world…Leave to my kin, to my ancestors. Well you get the point. It would be this one. I made a list of 15 artists I wanted to interview before I leave this earth and this was in my top 3. they Say NEVER to meet your heroes but in this interview, I found ...

Today, we're counting down the Top 10 Songs from 1984 That Deserved BETTER! We play them all the time, but somehow they missed the Top 40, and Most are better than the biggest hits of the year. I’ve got the story of Prince's gut-wrenching ballad that has been rumored to be about three different women. It was written in a late-night session as a last-minute track for one of the most unforgettable films of 1984. But who is i...

Pat Benatar has something of an adversarial relationship with one of her biggest songs… the Top Ten 10 hit “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” It broke her career wide open. There’s a few reasons for this, but ultimately, even though she made it famous, it wasn’t her song to begin with. That distinction goes to a struggling songwriter who wrote it after punching pillows in a new age therapy session. Yeah, you can’t make this stu...

I can’t believe I initially stopped doing these yearly countdowns at 1994 because today’s yearly top 10 is truly great. These 10 songs were certainly surrounded by some of the worst songs ever, but they shined like the song that Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan wrote about an important landmark date in his life, 1979 but he had to use a different year than the actual one because it had better rhymes. But his hardcor...

Today, we're diving into the solo career of one of rock's most over-the-top frontmen, David Lee Roth. After leaving Van Halen, one of the mightiest rock bands on the planet in 1985, this larger-than-life showman set out to prove he didn't need his former band to make killer rock music. Armed with a supergroup of virtuosos and a stadium-sized ego, he unleashed a string of hits that split fans right down the middle. But no o...

Coming up, we’re turning back the clock to the days when the Grammys actually mattered… But for today’s bands, maybe that’s not such a good thing. Because if you landed on this countdown, it means you’re in for some surefire disappointment. I’m talking about the much-talked-about Grammy curse… the best new artist curse… Is it a ticking time bomb, ready to blow up careers? Well, we’re going to investigate this urban legend....

Today’s featured artist, Phil Collins is a favorite.

And he may well be the greatest hit machine of any decade. In fact he was such a prolific hit machine at one point he averaged a hit song every 3 months for 7 years including Solo career and fronting the band Genesis. ..but today we focus on one of he best songs... Easy Lover a song that he was producing for Philip Bailey of Earth Wind and Fire and then in the middle...

If there was ever a cautionary tale about a rock group making a deal with the devil to hit the big time, it would be the story of the rise and fall of SWEET. A saga of talent, fame & excess, followed by violence, frustration, alcoholism, disaster, poverty, and death. Along this bumpy journey, there are a lot of GREAT songs that will make you stand up and cheer. I want to warn you….it’s gonna be electric and frantically...

I really enjoyed this one. Today we're counting down 9 of the greatest female hidden gems in rock history. Songs that seriously deserve the spotlight... including the heartbreaking tale of Eva Cassidy, one of the greatest voices of her generation who was virtually unknown while she was alive. She died at just 33 years old—with only a handful of songs recorded that were paid for by her aunt. The labels flat our rejected her...

Coming up, it was the year rock n’ roll dominated the airwaves, and pop culture, and those who were desperately trying to control the status quo thought the world was coming to an end. These stories are crazy…you had a legendary lyricist who wrote Elvis Presley's hit Don't Be Cruel and All Shook Up which became some of the biggest hits of all time, and sold it for a couple of bucks.. then One of the most elegantly performe...

Today we're telling the story of Jimmy Buffett, a singer-songwriter who spent years bouncing around the Southern US struggling to find his voice… before he invented an entire lifestyle brand built on relaxation and escapism. This Alabama-raised dreamer crafted a sound he called "Gulf & Western," mixing down home storytelling with Caribbean rhythms and beach-town philosophy that turned him into something more than a mus...

Remember back in the day when we used to draw band names and logos on our trapper keepers, and binders or school tablets? Well these logos, these symbols were more than just doodles. They were declarations of our rock identity. And man, we've uncovered some wild tales today as we count down the best ever. And these stories will blow your mind, like the Nirvana logo that's shrouded in mystery—no one can figure out who sketc...

Today’s song Forever Young by Alphaville is a classic that every 80s kid knows by heart… But here’s the kicker… some know it as a slow methodical ballad and some know it as an up-tempo anthem. That’s because the song was released in 2 iterations, and depending on how and when you heard it, one of those versions is your memory of it. And the other crazy thing is that, even though it’s one of the most well-known songs of the...

I’m excited to share today’s interview.

He’s had 11 Top 40 hits, sold over 55 million albums, and is one of only a few artists in history with a Top 50 album in six consecutive decades.

But even more important — today’s guest is a rock pioneer who helped build and shape some of the most important musical genres and movements of our lifetime and beyond.

Like shock rock, of which he’s the...