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 ...
Jan 13, 2023•29 min•Ep. 36
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 a...
Dec 07, 2022•25 min•Ep. 35
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...
Oct 31, 2022•27 min•Ep. 34
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 t...
Oct 12, 2022•37 min•Ep. 33
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. Ther...
Sep 20, 2022•30 min•Ep. 32
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 th...
Jul 25, 2022•34 min•Ep. 31
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 t...
Jun 13, 2022•31 min•Ep. 30
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 Campb...
Apr 12, 2022•23 min•Ep. 29
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 r...
Mar 27, 2022•9 min•Ep. 28
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...
Mar 22, 2022•29 min•Ep. 27
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 B...
Feb 21, 2022•28 min•Ep. 26
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, ...
Dec 23, 2021•27 min•Ep. 25
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....
Nov 05, 2021•35 min•Ep. 24
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 19...
Sep 21, 2021•28 min•Ep. 23
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 H...
Jul 17, 2021•33 min•Ep. 22
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 ...
Jul 02, 2021•30 min•Ep. 21
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 ...
May 30, 2021•15 min•Ep. 20
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 th...
Apr 10, 2021•37 min•Ep. 19
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 a...
Mar 27, 2021•24 min•Ep. 18
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 b...
Feb 01, 2021•38 min•Ep. 17
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 198...
Jan 04, 2021•27 min•Ep. 16
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 b...
Dec 22, 2020•23 min•Ep. 15
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 do...
Nov 13, 2020•40 min•Ep. 14
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 play...
Sep 18, 2020•44 min•Ep. 13
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: Powe...
Aug 23, 2020•30 min•Ep. 12
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 ...
Aug 01, 2020•39 min•Ep. 11
You ask me what is the greatest rock/pop guitar album of the 1980s and I say Reckless from Bryan Adams. Lyrically, it's mostly sophomoric. No deep thoughts. But that was never the strength of Bryan Adams. His reason for being was that he made straight-ahead rock and roll music that never ventured into pop-metal – though his 1991 album Can't Stop This Thing We Started – produced by Mutt Lange – did make him sound like Def Leppard. Bryan Adams was radio rock for the 80s. Other than "Heaven", it wa...
Jul 14, 2020•25 min•Ep. 10
Sports isn't fancy. It's rock music played tightly and with enthusiasm by the band, recorded cleanly. The songs are first-listen friendly and held up after the set became a monster hit, spending more than a year all over Top 40 and rock radio. It ultimately ranks as one of the great pop-rock band albums of the 80s. Huey Lewis and The News earned themselves lots of hits singles, with a couple really good album tracks. It is bar band rock and roll with a shine, as they made a radio-ready album wit...
Jul 06, 2020•21 min•Ep. 9
This episode is "Friday 45" and features Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers. The band released Rumble in 1988, followed by Guitar Trouble in 1990. Conwell ended up in Philadelphia and The Hooters’ producer Rick Chertoff got Conwell and the Rumblers signed to Columbia and he produced “Rumble” After the band released their first album on their own “Walkin’ on the Water” in 1986, which was produced by Conwell and The Hooters’ bassist Andy King. They had two radio hits in addition to the featured ...
Jun 26, 2020•14 min•Ep. 8
The thing – one of the things – I can't stand about classic rock radio stations, and why they have become unlistenable, is the playlist that has stagnated. It's not that the bands are at fault. Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Foreigner, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Bob Seger, Journey, Pink Floyd – they all rock, right? But when the typical classic rock and roll station in the US plays the same 3 or 4 songs from each band and has played those same songs since 1990, how can you stop me from hating what...
Jun 10, 2020•24 min•Ep. 7
