Rock School

"This is the second to last Rock School show and I'm using it to pitch my 4th album, Widow Maker, which went live last week on Spotify and Apple Music. I hope you enjoy it and I hope to see you all next week for the final Rock School Show."

"Every list of the best bands contains the same bands in the top 20 so I made a new list. I looked at several best band lists and eliminated those top 20 bands. My list gets rid of the obvious choices and gives many lesser known bands a chance. See what you think."

"Tammy and I have decided to retire from our jobs and also from creating the Rock School Radio show. I know this is the 744th show on PRX but it's actually our 997th show overall. We will do this show and three more, ending on our 1000th show. To that end, in this show we will announce some musicians who might be retiring soon themselves. We will list the oldest people touring this summer."

"For an experiment, I denoted the last ten generations and attempted to define the song of their generation. Some were easy and some quite difficult. I offer five possibilities first and then pick. See if I made the correct choice."

"I was talking about the Paul is Dead conspiracy theory in class one day and the students began asking me if I knew about THIS theory. And then THIS theory. We went on for 30 minutes and then I did some research. There were so many theories I had never heard of. Hopefully they are new to you as well. We have a long list."

"When you listen to Van Halen or Extreme or Steely Dan you expect a great guitar solo. The point of this show is to offer some examples of totally unexpected solos. These are solos in a song or a genre or by an artists that it seems to be coming out of nowhere. "

"Back on May 31st Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson chided an audience for chanting USA. Much of the audience then walked out. I wondered if this had happened before and it certainly did. We have multiple examples of an audience turning on the performer and vice versa. For many we have the audio from the stage."

"The new owners of Fender since 2020 are attempting to own the copyright on the Stratocaster body. A German court has taken them part of the way but most experts don't believe it will hold up to scrutiny. Nonetheless, Fender has sent Cease and Desist letters to multiple guitar makers telling them to stop production, call back orders and destroy stock. Fender may have just committed brand suicide because history is not on their side."

"It is no secret that music contracts can be rather brutal on artists. Often the stories focus on not getting paid but there is also the interesting idea of a lawsuit ordering a musician to fill his or her contract and record what we are calling a court ordered album. We have multiple examples plus one where the band was paid NOT to record an album."

"Sony Music Publishing confirmed an agreement to acquire Blackstone’s Recognition Music Group catalog for $3.5 billion. The Red Hot Chili Peppers just sold their catalog for $300 million. Other Funds are raising billions to start buying. These buyers are called Music Rights Funds. I became interested in how these Funds actually made money. How does one invest and can I sell my own music. I have the answers for you."

"The New York Times released their 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters list a short while ago. I know online lists usually have some click bait to start conversation but this list was overtly egregious. Not for who was on it. It was who was left off. We will go over the list and play some artists that should have been on there."

"Many summer tours are having to scale back or cancel altogether. The nickname given to this practice is Blue Dot Fever. It is named after the blue dots that appear on unsold seats when a ticket buyer uses Ticketmaster. It has become indicative of a larger societal and financial concern that is leading to people not being able to attend live music. We will explain."

"This is a requested topic from a friend. He wondered if we had ever discussed steel drums. We had not so we did a show. We have some history and some discussion of tuning and prices. There are also a lot of songs that use the steel drum you may not have noticed before."

"On April 16 2026 A federal jury in Manhattan found that Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation have been acting as a monopoly. The case is wide ranging involving 33 states and the District of Columbia. Live Nation will not appeal any of the verdicts. We will discuss what is a monopoly and what these decisions could mean for the future."

"Just a bit of fun this week. Nobody is perfect so it is pretty easy to hear mistakes in recorded music. Here are some of the big ones in rock and hopefully some you did not know. Once you hear them, you cannot unhear them."

"The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has released its 2026 State of the Industry Report. There are some pretty big take aways including stances on AI and the fact that the music industry is now more profitable than ever before. We will explore the findings."

"The former head of Interscope and Geffen records Jimmie Ivine said that streaming has had its time. Spotify will see its demise soon. Whether you believe that or not, the question is what comes next. After Spotify. Many have suggest this next step in music evolution. We will tell you what Ivine said and offer up some possibilities for after Spotify."

"I found a cheeky online piece where the author was using funny put downs to describe some popular bands. Tourist Rock. Ring Tone Rap. Yallternative. So I put it to the Facebook and received a much longer list. I call then Genre Insults and we have a bunch for you."

"I ran across an article that listed three songs that people listen to only to wait for just that one section. It mentioned the drum break in the Phil Collins song In the Air Tonight. I knew exactly what it was talking about and immediately had five examples from my own collection. I put it to Facebook and now I have a slew of examples."

"Major record companies are suing SUNO and Udio over song usage to create AI tunes. The one big thing the companies are looking for is a Walled Garden, the idea that what is created on SUNO will stay on SUNO. It cannot be taken and spread around. One company has already settled but it goes much deeper than that."

"This topic came from a discussion with an English professor. Somehow the idea of a misheard lyric came up and she suggested that was called a Mondegreen. She professed a few more interesting names for English concerns in songs. This will truly be Rock School. However there will not be a test."

"I ran across an article describing when Martha Wash sued over credits and the law was changed because of her suit. I wondered if any other musicians were responsible for the changing of a law. There are ten great stories this week. Martha Wash is the first. "

"I ran across an article listing musicians who are in both the Rock and the Country Halls of Fame. There aren't many. When I started looking into it further I found that the people on the list were in multiple other Halls of Fame as well. I wanted to find out what musician is in the most Halls. There is a clear winner."

"Luminate is a company that tracks the Entertainment Industry pointing out data analytics and trends. Their 2025 report has come out and it points to overall listenership being up. Listening to new music is way down. There are also some interesting data points regarding AI."

"The internet loves lists. The click bait ones often choose to list the worst of something and choose the best of it just to upset the audience for engagement. I can usually ignore these but this one really bugged me for some reason. I'll tell you the list and debunk it and offer some of mine."

"The Rockin 1000 is a project that started in Italy as gag to create a video of 1000 musicians playing Learn to Fly in order to get the Foo Fighters to come and put on a concert. It has since grown into full scale concerts across Europe. On January 31 the Rockin 1000 played their first concert in America, in New Orleans, and I was part of the band. Let me tell you the story."

"We are coming into tax season so Tammy and will talk about paying the government. The HITS Act is now in full swing. Foreign governments are changing their tax codes for musicians and we also have a list of what you might not have known was tax deductible."

"Every year I hear people complaining that the NFL makes lousy picks for the Super Bowl halftime show. If the picks are lousy then ratings must tank. But they do not. In fact the halftime show has never been better watched. We have a long list of ratings and demographics to show that the NFL seems to know what they are doing."

"In our New Year show we related an article that suggested that 3D spatial audio was going to be popular in 2026. Tammy asked for an explanation of 3D audio so here it is. We have examples of both new songs and classic music that has been remixed into a spatial audio format."

"A report from Spikerz, as Israeli company that tracks hacking, suggests that in 2025, music hacks were a sizeable number of methods bad actors were using to extract money from unsuspecting persons and companies. We have the numbers and multiple examples."

"This is our second of two year opening shows. We will cover new Public Domain availability, anniversaries for this new year and some predictions for 2026."

"This is our first of two year opening shows. We will cover new Public Domain availability, anniversaries for this new year and some predictions for 2026."

"NOTE. This show is being posted a week early due to our Holiday travel. Enjoy two shows this week. This is our traditional end-of-year show were we give one last tip of the hat to the musicians who passed in 2025. "

"This is our second Christmas show of 2025. We are giving more trivia and history for many of your favorite songs. It is quite a list."

"This is the first show of our annual Christmas double header. We did a show years back that looked at the history and trivia of classic Christmas Carols. For these shows, we chose a whole bunch of songs we did not cover in that previous show. Get ready for a lot of information about your favorite songs of the season."

"We have broken down the meaning of American Pie and Creeque Alley and now it its time for We Didnt Start the Fire from Billy Joel. Listen closely. We go pretty quick."

"The The Office of the US Trade Representative has released their 2024 Piracy Report listing the notorious markets for counterfeiting and piracy. The practice is alive and well. This report dedicated an entire section just to music. We will tell you what it said."

"This is our annual Thanksgiving show. Thanksgiving is celebrated in many counties other than the United States. We will tell you the list and and how the people celebrate. Plus play songs about Thanksgiving food."

"Video may have killed the radio star but streaming and individual choices in music killed the video. Paramount Global has begun shutting down Mtv channels in Europe and reports are that soon it will come to the United States. Mtv is 44 and it looks like it may not make it to 45. "

"At least three record companies have extended million dollar contracts to people who create AI music. The US Copyright office has said it will begin extending protection those who use AI as a tool. The PROs will extend licensing. We will tell you what is going on."

"The number changes, but as of the writing of this description, only 1883 songs have topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart including all its earlier versions. This week back in 1990, the first rap song topped the chart. That got me wondering how many other firsts and other interesting facts surround the top spot. Here is a list."

"The NOW CDs, as they are often called, started in the UK in 1998 with Richard Branson. They were a hit out of the gate, each crafted to a specific formula. They are a professionally made mix tape. We have the full history and a good bit of trivia about the series."

"Cryptozoology is the study of a creature that probably does not exist. Think Bigfoot. What is great about it is that every state seems to have its own monster. Maybe people really do think it exists or maybe it was invented to scare children at Halloween. We built up a list along with songs about candy. It is Halloween 2025."

"Many music outlets noticed there was no traditional Summer Song this year. No poppy dance tune that rose to the top of the charts. The Billboard Summer Song chart claimed a number one but it was a down tempo ballad. We will explore what happened and why."

"Many countries around the world take time each year to poll their citizens about their favorite songs. It usually happens around Christmas and a major media outlet plays the songs. We will tell you about some of the biggest ones and try to figure out why we don't do that here in America."

"An Idiom is a group of words that suggest a meaning different than their specific words. Many of them come from the world of music and we have created a solid list. You will recognize a lot of them."

"This past 4th of July someone posted the Preamble and I wondered who the singer was. I watched a few more and wondered who they were. We will answer that today. We will play some of their Schoolhouse Rock song and then one of their singles. Plus we have some trivia about the show."

"Long before American Idol and Americas Got Talent, there was Star Search. It was pretty schmaltzy but looking back, some of the biggest singers, actors and comedians got their big break on Star Search. We have grabbed as many examples as we could."

"Here is a game to play. Name as many two minute songs as you can following these rules. Only one song per group and you cannot name just punk songs. We then go one step farther and change the game to as many one minute songs as you can."

"A band named The Velvet Sundown had a hit a short while ago. The concern was that the band and the music were all fake. They were both fully AI generated. It is easier than you think. We have the story and some examples of when I did the same thing for an audience just to prove how easy it is to do."

"This is a fun parlor game. Name a band, a song by that band and then an album from that band that are all named exactly the same. Here is an example. Bad Company by Bad Company on the album Bad Company. There are many that are close but a true Trilogy is all three exactly the same."

"The Rock School show is now a part of the Library of Congress through their American Archive of Public Broadcasting. I know. I can barely believe it myself. Here is the story of the Library of Congress and how this all came to be. Check the calendar. It is not April and I am not fooling."

"Naming a band can be quite difficult. The list of bands we will discuss today went back into history to grab a name or an event to come up with a moniker. You know a good many of them."

"The K Pop band EXO claimed that one of their concerts in South Korea sold out in less than two seconds. It sounds impossible because you are not being told the entire story. It is a badge of honor for bands to sell out quickly. Other than EXO, who did legitimately sell out the fastest. We will tell you our pick."

"Often an actor will start a band once her or she is famous. However many actors start as musicians. Some saw great success. We have some surprising names this week."

"Rock and Roll really came into its own in the 1950s and once it did someone was always proclaiming it bad for the youth in one way or another. These were generally called Moral Panics. Here is the history and some examples of a few of the most popular Moral Panics."

"Here is the second show where we play songs you might not know were covers. Often the cover version of a song becomes a bigger hit. And even if you did know the hit was a cover you may not know the original. We will play you a few."

"This is the first of a two show set. Often people are shocked to hear that a hit song is a cover. We have put together a long list of hit songs that are covers and we will play the original to you can hear where the hit you know came from."

"In July of 1962, the Rolling Stones play their first gig in the Marquee Club. The Marquee Club was one of the main venues for 1960s British rock. This week we will discuss the rather interesting history of the Marquee Club."

"Punk music has produced some of the greatest performers and some of the greatest musician nicknames. Here is a list of the best names and where they came form."

"Back in 1973 Muhammad Ali knocks out George Foreman in what was called The Rumble in the Jungle. This victory inspires Johnny Wakelin to write the song Black Superman. He gets a hit with it. So what other songs are written for or about athletes. We have a list."

"Last week we spoke of Dockery Farms which the birthplace of The Blues. As all music does it was expanded and taken to different places by the musicians who played it. Here is a run down and description of the most popular forms of The Blues."

"Dockery Farms is said to be the place where the Delta Blues began. That is a bold statement but once you hear the research I have gathered it will be hard to argue. Robert Johnson did not sell his soul for great musical talent. He went to Dockery Farms which is still open today and welcoming visitors."

"If you have an extra 12495 dollars lying around then you can be a roadie for Gene Simmons on his solo tour. We will discuss what you must do and if the money is worth it. We will also talk about the average monies paid to real roadies."

"First you need to know there are no swear words in this show. It was this week back in the 60s when the FBI released a letter stating that there were no curse words in the song Louie Louie. But people keep looking. This is a list of songs that were banned or otherwise maligned because someone was sure the singer was cursing. But there was no curse word. It is a long list."

"This week back in 2007 Sammy Hagar sold an 80 percent stake in his Cabo Wabo tequila for $80 million. Since then it seems every musician or band has their own line of booze. Here is a good long list and where you can buy it."

"We all know the stories of the Beatles, Doors, Dylan and Stones on Ed Sullivan. However, there are a few more good stories you might find interesting. They are not as big at the main stories, but interesting nonetheless."

"A story about the Payola Hearings came up in a music history feed and it occurred to me that we have never done a show on Payola. It is a rather interesting story of companies acting in their own interest with the backing of the government. You may think Payola is bad but I believe I can change your mind."

"At the time of this recording, President Trump has paused the Tariffs but for China. Even so, the tariffs will have a marked effect on the cost of almost everything dealing with music including instruments to records to touring to streaming."

"Tool was just roundly booed off the stage at their own festival. Seems they promised two separate sets over two night and did not deliver. But it is not just them. You will not believe some other bands who were booed off stage as well."

"There are a lot of songs that have famous people in their titles. We wanted to know who some of the lesser known people named in titles are. The internet did not disappoint. We have a good long list."

"We hit a thread that listed some songs that were written for revenge. A single Google Search later and we had a good long list. And it is not just Taylor Swift."

"It seems that lately that are more plane crashes and close calls than we have had in a while. There are many stories of musicians dying in plane crashes but what we have here are stories of survival over multiple crashes and air mishaps."

"This is something we should keep a good eye on. In an effort to become a leading force in AI the government in the UK is strongly considering rewriting their copyright laws to allow all copyrighted material including music to be offered fully to all AI companies. I know it sounds fake but it is not."

"Brian Setzer of the Stray Cats announced he is dealing with an unnamed autoimmune disease that has taken his ability to play guitar. This is certainly not the first time something like this has happened. We have a list of musicians who are in a battle that has taken away their ability to play."

"Fred Durst and the members of Limp Bizkit have brought a rather substantial lawsuit against their record company for unpaid royalties. I know it is Limp Bizkit but the suit goes back to before streaming to when artists had lousy deals and if it is upheld in court, could lay bare much of what was going on in the 90s."

"It seems impossible that a judge in Brazil could stop streaming services worldwide from playing a song due to a copyright concern. That is what is happening now to Adele. If other countries stand by the injunction then it could have a rather wide ranging concerns."

"I wrote a book. It is titled We Will Try and Get That On For You. My Life in Personality Radio. It is a memoir of radio in the 80s and 90s when I did it for real. In this show we will tell you where you can get it and play some excerpts from the Audible audio version."

"The LA Wildfires have devastated multiple communities. The number of not only musicians but producers and orchestras and studios and engineers affected is vast. There are some big names but mainly those who simply made their living in music. We will talk about it and how you can help if you wish."

"If you use Spotify then you know it gives you a year end rundown of the songs you most listened to. It is called Spotify Wrapped and it is more than just a nice way of saying you are being tracked. It is a successful marketing ploy."

"January 1 was the 2025 Public Domain Day but it goes a bit further. It is not only those works of art that are from 1929. This year the Digital Millennium Act went into effect so other years came into the Public Domain. We will explain."

"The US will inaugurate a new president come January 20. We went back as far as we could to get audio and found who performed at each of the Inaugurations. Plus we play a game. Who did the president defeat in the vote and who was his Vice President. See how you do."

"This is our second show celebrating the anniversaries you'll hear about during 2025. Throughout the show we will have some predictions about music from websites and a few from the Rock School hosts."

"Welcome to 2025! Here is the first of two shows where we look at many of the big music anniversaries of the year ahead."

"Every year we take the last full week of the year and offer a tip of the hat and a raise of the glass to those in the music world who left us. Here are the names from 2024."

"This is our second Christmas show of 2024. We asked AI to tell us the No 1 Christmas song and Christmas movie each year right up until this current year. Mariah Carey might show up."

"Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. We have a two part Christmas offering this year. We are counting down both the No 1 Christmas song and the No 1 Christmas movie for every year starting in 1950 through 2024."

"It had to happen. The Grammys have changed their ruling that music can only be made by humans. The Beatles changed their minds but this is no where near the first time The Grammys have had to accept machine and computer generated music. We have a timeline."

"This is one of the oddest topics we have done in a while. There are Guinness World Records in music. They are easy to find. However many of them are disputed as someone now believes he or she owns the record. It is fascinating."

"Here is a sampling of some important music events that happened on Thanksgiving Day. I think it would be the best day to have a concert. Everyone is off work."

"An album can go Gold, then Platinum, then multiplatinum and then Diamond for ten million in sales. However, there have been 13 albums that have gone Diamond twice, the Double Diamonds. Here they are."

"Usually when you hear about a musician being sued it comes from their label or a venue but seldom the fans. However it does happen. Here is a list of some of the more interesting suits over the years."

"I read an opinion that asked if this was the last year for Classic Rock. The Stones are still out there. Paul McCartney as well. But it seems this year has a lot of the genre retiring. We have a list for you."

"This is our 2024 Halloween show. I read an article explaining John Carpenters theme to Halloween and it got me interested in other famous horror movie themes. Here are all the facts I found."

"On September 13, Janes Addiction was performing in Boston when singer Perry Farrell showed and punched guitarist Dave Navarro. The band is now on a hiatus. However this is no where near the first time band members have fought on stage. We have a list for you."

"Two members of Journey have settled a lawsuit over money and are back out on tour. It seems one of them was spending too much. This is often a problem for a band. The money. We have some examples of poor management and some tips about how bands have handled their income."

"We are once again in a presidential election season and musicians are once again angry when Donald Trump uses their songs. I was asked to lecture on the laws of a candidate using a song at a rally so I thought I would do them for you here as well."

"In honor of Tammy and my 36th wedding anniversary this week, we are offering up a list of the shortest musician marriages on record. Those crazy kids."

"Taylor Swift canceled three shows in Vienna due to a terrorist threat. However she lost no money as she had purchased terrorism insurance. What other policies does or should a musician have. We have a list"