email: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com website: www.rockpopandroll.com (Some of) My Favorite Covers: From the earliest days of rock and roll, cover songs have been a vital part of the music’s forward movement, drawing on its past. Long before we knew about digital discovery, one of the fastest ways for new artists to connect with audiences was to reimagine an existing hit and put it on an album or 45—infusing it with their own style, energy, and attitude. A Chuck Berry riff might get filtered throu...
Aug 08, 2025•55 min•Ep. 66
INXS recorded their biggest album, Kick, in Sydney and Paris, produced by Chris Thomas. Atlantic Records didn't like the record offered them $1 million to go back to Australia and record another album. The band said no. Good call. Kick was released in October 1987 and peaked at No. 1 in Australia, No. 3 on the US Billboard 20, and had four top 10 singles But they had more than Kick . INXS’ music filled a niche, on the radio and in your head They were a band that was electrifying live, had a char...
Jul 22, 2025•43 min•Ep. 65
Billy Squier spent the ’70s in New York City, playing with the rock band Piper. They toured with Kiss. Squier released his first solo album in 1980, The Tale of the Tape. “The Big Beat” got some radio airplay. All of that changed with 1981’s Don’t Say No. I count eight songs that were played, either on pop radio or, to a greater frequency and depth, on rock radio of the 80s. Huge album. Billy Squier had made it. One ill-conceived video stopped - mostly - his career. But Squier hung around. Made ...
Jul 14, 2025•32 min•Ep. 64
The Doobie Brothers have been a band for more than 50 years. Their first album was released in 1972. It's now 2025, and they have a new record, called Walk This Road. And we're going to take our first listen to the album here on RockPopandRoll. How did they do? Would I listen again? Does it rock? Does it roll? Do we hear the echoes of "China Grove" or "BlackWater"? Dovwe want to? Lots of questions that we answer together. Let's go. www.rockpopandroll.com email: r ockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com...
Jul 05, 2025•40 min•Ep. 63
Steve Miller music has a depth greater than his career-defiining Greatest Hits 1974-1978 album. That's what I think. In 1966, he formed the Steve Miller Blues Band. They backed Chuck Berry on his Live at Fillmore Auditorium album, released that year. In 1968, Miller released the psychedelic blues album, Children of the Future . The Joker, from 1973, found him getting radio airplay, and the title song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Miller followed up with Fly Like an Eagle in ...
Jun 20, 2025•32 min•Ep. 62
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, C...
May 29, 2025•47 min•Ep. 61
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...
May 16, 2025•20 min•Ep. 60
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 engag...
May 15, 2025•46 min•Ep. 59
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 Michig...
Apr 23, 2025•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 58
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...
Apr 10, 2025•49 min•Ep. 57
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 (voca...
Mar 26, 2025•48 min•Ep. 56
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...
Mar 18, 2025•27 min•Ep. 55
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 play...
Feb 27, 2025•45 min•Ep. 54
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...
Feb 21, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 53
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 ...
Jan 23, 2025•49 min•Ep. 52
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 ...
Jan 01, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 51
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...
Dec 05, 2024•42 min•Ep. 50
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 o...
Nov 15, 2024•41 min•Ep. 49
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 a...
Oct 18, 2024•24 min•Ep. 48
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, ...
Sep 23, 2024•47 min•Ep. 47
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 rele...
Aug 22, 2024•22 min•Ep. 46
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...
Jun 21, 2024•51 min•Ep. 45
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 t...
May 01, 2024•34 min•Ep. 44
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....
Mar 10, 2024•49 min•Ep. 43
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...
Dec 04, 2023•35 min•Ep. 42
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 ...
Oct 17, 2023•33 min•Ep. 41
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 Jo...
Aug 03, 2023•43 min•Ep. 40
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 t...
Jun 12, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 39
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 (produce...
Apr 13, 2023•22 min•Ep. 38
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 ...
Feb 11, 2023•33 min•Ep. 37
