In Episode 332 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin digs into the most surprising omissions from classic live rock albums by legends like Led Zeppelin, Queen, and Rush—spotlighting the iconic tracks that somehow never made the cut.

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In Episode 331 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin ponders the bands and albums that helped invent multiple rock and metal genres at once—from Hendrix, Cream, and Pink Floyd shaping psychedelia, prog, and metal, to King Crimson, Uriah Heep, Sabbath, and Venom forging the foundations of progressive metal, power metal, goth, thrash, and black metal.

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In Episode 330 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin explores the birth of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal in 1979, tracing the pivotal singles, band formations, and cultural shifts that set the stage for Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Saxon, and countless others to ignite a new era of heavy music.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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