The Cure proved something very rare in the history of music: that darkness and beauty could coexist in the very same catalog. While navigating immense and shocking internal chaos, band leader and guitarist Robert Smith and The Cure inspired generations of artists, helped define the sound of alternative music, and showed millions of outsiders that they weren't alone.  In this episode you'll learn:

• How Robert Smith managed to perform in two famous bands at one time
• The surprising musical influences that inspired The Cure sound
• Why Robert Smith was embarrassed by some of his biggest hits
• The levels of The Cure's debauchery that rival rock's most controversial acts
• The intellectual prowess of Robert Smith and its various influences

Guest Bio
Acclaimed music writer and journalist Ian Gittins is author of The Cure: Perfect Dream, a coffee table-like retrospective of The Cure's career, complete with album indexes, song listings and rare photographs included. Ian is a music writer for the British paper The Guardian, and has also written for Melody Maker, Q, MTV, The Daily Telegraph, and New York Times, and he is a best-selling author who has penned biographies of Bjork and Talking Heads.   

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A top 5% of podcasts in the world, Garage to Stadiums is a podcast for true music fans — the ones who want more than just headlines and hype. This show is for listeners who care about the full story behind the artists:  their childhoods, musical influences, early gigs, personal battles, journey to stadium-level fame and the drama in between. 

Why are we different? In each episode host Dave Anthony features guests who know their stuff and bring real insights from their time with the performers — from respected rock journalists to documentary filmmakers.

If you want smarter music commentary and behind-the-scenes stories you won’t hear anywhere else, subscribe now and get your backstage pass to music history. 

Picture a 1970s American teen, dressed as Frank N. Furter from Rocky Horror, interviewed on local TV outside a suburban cinema. That fearless teen grows up to be Michael Stipe, lead singer of R.E.M., the first alternative band to achieve global commercial success, from its origins in tiny Athens, Georgia.  The first alternative band from the college radio airwaves to experience mass commercial success with 90 million albums sold, R.E.M. occupies an influential position in music history, inspiring many bands with their fiercely independent spirit and sound.  On this episode you'll learn:

• How Athens, Georgia became the unlikely spawning ground for several successful bands.
• How R.E.M. created a memorable sound by combining punk, pop music, southern rock and R'n'B  
• Why Pearl Jam and Nirvana cited R.E.M. as a major trailblazer, and influence on their sound
• How an onstage near-tragedy changed the band forever... 
• The college radio strategy the company employed to build its credibility and momentum
• Why R.E.M. turned down the offer to write a theme song for the popular TV show Friends

Guest Bio - Peter Ames Carlin, author & journalist
Best-selling author Peter Ames Carlin appeared on our Bruce Springsteen episode. He is the author of  The Name of This Band is R.E.M. He's also written biographies on Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and Paul McCartney of The Beatles.  

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Listen to how a true California sound was born… from musicians who didn’t even come from California. In the late 1960s, four young artists arrived in Los Angeles from completely different corners of America. Blending country, rock, and soaring harmonies, Eagles captured the spirit of the American West and helped launch a new musical movement. Over the decades they would sell more than 150 million records and secure 2 of the top 4 spots in album sales in history. This is their journey from the garage to stadiums.  In this episode, you'll learn: 

1. How their childhoods shaped the music they would create
2. The superstar who gave Eagles their first big break in Los Angeles
3. The personality clashes that simmered behind the harmonies
4. Why the band deliberately changed their sound at their peak
5. The onstage threat of violence that foreshadowed the band’s breakup
6. Who shaped their sound - and the artists they went on to influence

Guest Bio
The guests for this episode are the authors of Eagles: Up Ahead in The Distance Eagles, Steve Caparelli and Rik Forgo. They have authored a trilogy of books chronicling the incredible rise of this quintessential band.

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4. Visit GaragetoStadiums.com for bonus content, including concert footage, transcripts and other interesting facts on all the acts we've featured.

In this repeat episode explore one of the most influential figures in modern music history - Brian Wilson leader of The Beach Boys.  Known for layered orchestrations and an innovative approach to studio recording, Brian influenced artists like The Beatles, Elton John, Queen, The Eagles and more. Incredibly, Brian created one of rock’s great lost albums - Smile begun in 1966 - but it was shelved for 37 years. Decades later... our guest today, David Leaf, helped bring it to the world.  You'll learn:

1) Brian's abusive upbringing and how it shaped him and his music
2) How 5 teenagers went to global stardom 6 months after forming
3) How Brian influenced The Beatles musical direction
4) The incredible story of how Brian overcame a corrupt psychologist controlling his life
5) How our guest helped rescue a "lost album" long anticipated in rock history

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Guest Bio
David Leaf is the author of Smile: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of Brian Wilson, chronicling Brian Wilson’s lost album masterpiece which was shelved for 37 years before release. He also directed the Brian documentary Beautiful Dreamer and teaches music history at UCLA.  David has won a Peabody award for powerful and intelligent story-telling.

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Incredibly, U2 began as a band of barely-formed teenagers—two 14-year-olds and two 15-year-olds—at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin, Ireland. Just 4 years later, they were signed to a major label, and not long after that, they were reshaping rock on a global scale with music driven by faith, politics, and social unrest. U2 would go on to sell more than 175 million albums, never standing still—shifting from raw post-punk urgency to towering arena anthems to daring electronic reinvention. This is a band that survived by constantly changing. In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The bizarre early incident that nearly ended U2 before it truly began
• The heartbreaking childhood tragedies that shaped two of its members
• The unlikely spiritual and political roots behind their lyrical mission
• The global live performance the band openly hated—yet became legendary
• The intense internal struggles over where their music should go next
• How a frontman with barely a high school education became a global humanitarian voice

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Guest Bio:
Bradley Morgan, author of U2: Until the End of the World. Bradley also has a book U2's Joshua Tree: Planting Roots in Mythic America about their breakthrough album, 1987's The Joshua Tree, a release that put them at the top of international album charts. 

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From a crumbling New York of the mid-'70s, in a tiny downtown club on the edge of collapse, a sound began to cut through the noise and redefine what popular music could be. One of those bands, Blondie, fronted by a punk-era Marilyn Monroe, fused art, New York street cool, visual invention, and razor-sharp pop songwriting, fearlessly moving between punk, new wave, rock, disco, reggae, and hip hop -- to climb from the underground to the top of the charts in the late 1970s and early '80s. In this episode, you'll discover:

1. How a collapsing New York City birthed a new sound
2. How the lead singer Debbie Harry rose as punk's most magnetic female icon,
3. How Debbie and guitarist Chris Stein created a creative and romantic partnership
4. How Blondie brought rap into mainstream pop culture,
5. The mysterious forces that ended their first golden era

Guest bio
Fred Schruers is a former Rolling Stone magazine staff writer who has contributed to The Washington Post, the LA Times, and he appeared on our story of Billy Joel episode. He profiled Blondie in Rolling Stone in the '70s and '80s time period, and the subject of a biography he wrote about hanging out with the band in that seminal period.

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4. Visit GaragetoStadiums.com for bonus content on The Who, including concert footage, transcripts and other interesting facts.

Travel back to Northern California of the mid 1960s with a young teenage girl writing poems in her bedroom after enduring countless moves across the country with her family.  Then on to a succession of menial jobs to support herself and her guitarist boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham to a strange twist that catapults her to becoming a mystical, fierce, powerful song writer fronting one of the top bands of the 1970s.  Stevie Nicks has faced serious personal challenges, the kind that could have ended the dreams of many, yet now stands as a two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer with over 150 million albums sold.  You'll learn:

• How Stevie's musician grandfather formed a musical act with a 5-year-old Stevie 
• How Stevie and Lindsey actually met & the unlikely way they met Fleetwood Mac
• Her unsuccessful attempt to leave Fleetwood Mac to join another famous band 
• How one of her biggest hits was given as a gift to her 
• How she overcame her torturous battle with various addictions

Episode Guest
Zoë Howe is a writer, broadcaster, musician and artist. She is the author of the biography Vision, Dreams & Rumours: A Portrait of Stevie Nicks. She is an acclaimed music journalist who has written books on a variety of performers.  She joins us from the UK.

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From the streets of New York came four young men — including one born to Holocaust survivors — obsessed from their earliest days with becoming the biggest band in the world. Behind greasepaint and fire, they transformed themselves into larger-than-life characters, igniting the imaginations of millions of youths. With thunderous riffs, explosive stage shows, and relentless ambition, KISS became one of the most influential and commercially successful bands in rock history, selling over 100 million albums worldwide. In this episode you’ll learn:

·       The background of the KISS member from Israel 

·       How a founding member overcame disfigurement and deafness as a child

·       The calculated strategy behind donning the make-up 

·       How KISS saved itself and its record company with a bold roll of the dice

·       The business model that propelled KISS to financial success 

·       KISS' shocking move to reinvent itself in the 1980s for a new emerging music genre 

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Guest Bio
Our guest Martin Popoff also appeared on our AC/DC episode.  He *has written extensively about KISS — including his first book, KISS at 50 Years. And his most recent work KISS '76, which carries the subtitle The Greatest Year of Rock’s Most Dynamic Band.

Martin has written more record reviews than anyone in the history of music journalism across all genres. In addition, he has penned approximately 135 books on hard rock, heavy metal, classic rock, prog, punk, and record collecting, and has contributed liner notes for releases featured on various music documentaries.

Step into the early 1960s to see how a young performer appeared out of nowhere to shape modern rock music. You'll follow him through the decades to hear Dylan's incredible influence on all music through his effect on superstars like The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, and modern music in general.  

1. How Bob grew up in a Jewish family in Minnesota and changed his name
2. The very strange obsession that brought him to New York in the early '60s
3. How the women in his life greatly influenced his lyric writing 
4. Why audiences booing him was the mark of a key turning point in modern rock n roll
5. How a near-tragic motorcycle accident actually may have saved his life
6. About his unknown backup band becoming a superstar band on their own without Bob 
7. His legacy and influence on all music that has come along since his debut

Bob Dylan is widely considered to be the inspiration for how rock music transformed itself from joyful ditties like Twist and Shout to deep and meaningful lyrics that communicated the challenges and dichotomies of life.  To understand the evolution of music, it is key to understand Dylan's key role in its transformation.

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Guest Bio
Harold Lepidus is a Dylan historian and author of Friends and Other Strangers: Bob Dylan Examined.