In Episode 329 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin digs through the decade’s heavy underground to find traces of early U.S. doom metal—spotlighting bands like Sir Lord Baltimore, Blue Öyster Cult, and Kiss—while concluding that true doom wouldn’t fully take shape in America until years after Black Sabbath set the template.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 328 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin explores “the last hair metal album”—digging into the moment before grunge overtook the charts to pinpoint which glossy, glam-fueled record marked the true end of hair metal’s unironically flashy golden era.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 327 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin ponders the question of which record truly marked the end of prog’s golden era, tracing the genre’s rise from King Crimson and Genesis through Pink Floyd and Yes, and debating where the vitality of prog finally gave way to punk, new wave, and beyond.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 326 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin tracks the explosive pre-album stirrings of punk—from the Ramones’ debut and the Saints’ first single to the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, and Damned taking shape—marking the moment the underground coalesced into a global movement.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 325 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin explores how Randy Bachman’s relentless pursuit of hit songs shaped BTO, Trooper, Prism, and beyond, sparking a uniquely Canadian glam-infused rock movement that left both successes and curiosities in its wake.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 324 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin explores how outside songwriters like Desmond Child, Jim Vallance, and Diane Warren sometimes elevated bands such as Kiss, Aerosmith, and the Scorpions, showing that even rock purists can be happily fooled when the collaboration works.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 323 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin rants about "the outside songwriter’s worst sin"—pop vocal melodies—spotlighting how they derailed bands like Aerosmith, Heart, and Ozzy Osbourne by forcing generic, label-driven hooks that undermined each artist’s authentic voice.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 322 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin delves into the tricky art of finding the ideal replacement singer, while breaking down why some frontman swaps succeed or fail—covering cases from AC/DC to Black Sabbath and AC/DC to Fleetwood Mac, Deep Purple and beyond.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 321 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin contemplates how the mid-'70s marked a seismic shift in rock as American hard rock, prog, and singer-songwriter acts like Kiss, Aerosmith, Kansas, the Eagles, and more began to eclipse their British counterparts, signaling a new era of U.S. dominance in popular music.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 320 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin explores the “curious chaos” of hair metal live albums, as he surveys the patchy, inconsistent releases of the era—ranging from double-gatefold throwbacks to scrappy singles, EPs, and bonus-track hybrids—and examines how changing technology, shifting band abilities, and label strategies shaped a messy, often underwhelming legacy.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices