Music is one of those things that can bring families together…and sometimes, that togetherness grows into a business…

The BeeGees had the three Gibb brothers…baby brother Andy Gibb was also part of that universe for a while…

Then there’s The Beach Boys…the original lineup included Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson and their cousin Mike Love…Murray Wilson—the father of Brian, Dennis, and Carl—was their manager…he was terrible at it (in fact, Murray was an all-around disaster for his sons), but at least they were all together…or something like that…three brothers, their father and a cousin…

We have The Cowsills…this was a 60s pop group from Rhode island who had a series of hits…six siblings: Bob, Bill, Barry, John, Paul and Susan…they ranged from 8 to 18…and then there was mother Barbra…this arrangement was the inspiration for the TV show “the partridge family”…that’s seven people, which later became eight when Bob’s twin brother Richard joined up for a bit…

And we have to talk about the Jackson 5: Michael, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon…when the group left Motown, Jermaine was replaced by Randy…

So that’s six members of the Jackson 5… then we have Janet, LaToya and Rebbie…that’s nine, and everything was run by father Joe Jackson—another abusive disaster…so the count is up to 10…

All this got me thinking: are there equivalents in the world of alt-rock?...What are the biggest family affairs the genre has ever seen?...Let’s take a look…

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

Here’s a warning right from the outset: this is going to be a weird program…the performs and the music we’re going to talk about are famous because of their weird, shocking behaviour…they set out to get our attention—and they did…

Some of us appreciated what they were doing…but the vast majority didn’t get them at all…they were branded as sick, deviant, sociopathic, psychopathic, and even criminal…

Yet all found some measure of fame within certain corners of the rock universe…their antics may seem tame now, even quaint…but if we put these images and behaviors in the context of the times, it seemed like that antichrist’s musicians were on earth, ready to lead the young dancing and singing towards the apocalypse…

So, if you’re listening to this program, please look around and asked yourself this question: “won’t someone please think about the children?”…

This is a look at some of the weirdest and most shocking rockers of all time…

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

This is the second part of our examination of the legendary Alt-Rock scene known as "Goth", and this time we go from mid 80's... right up to today.

Goth has always had a bad rap, so in our deep dive, we'll try to clear everything up.. 

This is "Good Goth-Part 2"

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

Goth has always had a bad rap and that's not fair to the music, the fans and the fashion so we're going to try to clear everything up with our deep dive.

But don't worry...no one's going to get hurt.

We are going to examine the Alt-Rock scene from the early 70's, and take it right up to today.

This is "Good Goth...Part 1"

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

When you’re the lead singer in a band, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get all the attention…after all, you are the visual and audio focal point for pretty much everything…

Yeah, there might be a hot guitarist or someone else flashy in the group, but for the 99% of the time, the spotlight is on you…which is fine if you’re the lead singer…

But if you’re not?...what if you’re the schlep on bass or drums?...what if you’re the newest member of the band and you haven’t earned the right to claim any of the glare…maybe you have something to say…or maybe you have something to sing…

Chances are you’ll get shouted down, ignored or buried…but not always…i’ve found some very, very good songs where the second voice in the band—or the third or the even the fourth has stepped-up big-time to grab centre stage, even for just one single song…and here’s the thing: you might not even know it…

This is a look at some times when the lead singer took a step back and handed the mic to a second voice

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

Friday, August 16, 1974, was a hot summer day in New York City…it was 31 degrees, but the humidity made it feel a lot hotter…and if you were down in the Bowery amidst all the concrete, it was hotter still...and it smelled.

But what happened that night, when a bunch of punks took the stage at a scussy dive bar called "CBGB's", would change music forever.

This is the story of the original Ramones.

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

Most of us probably go through a phase where we decide to make music for ourselves…maybe we’ll do it alone, or perhaps we want to be part of a band.

The first thing you need to do is decide what instrument you will play…once you do that, you have to narrow things down to the exact make and model of that instrument.

When you’re starting out, your dream instrument is probably out of reach financially, so you make do with whatever you can afford…but you never lose sight of one day owning an iconic rock’n’roll machine of some sort.

It might be a guitar…and if it’s a guitar, you will inevitably have an opinion on amplifiers…perhaps you’re into keyboards…you might covet an expensive grand piano…or you have your eye on a particular line and model of electronic keyboard….the same applies to drums.

So what are these iconic instruments? What instruments are famous and desired by musicians worldwide, regardless of their level of expertise ?...and what about these particular music-making things that make them so desirable?

Let’s investigate…this is a look at the most iconic instruments—the goats of the tools of rock’n’roll.

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

After World War II, Germany was destroyed…the country was divided…the east was under the control of the USSR…the west was in democratic Europe…and then there was berlin, sitting in the east but cut into different zones dominated by the Russians, the Americans, the British, and the French. 

Most history books look at the political and military side of things…what we don’t hear about nearly as much as how Germany society was rebuilt…imagine being a young person who is too young to have been in the military…what prospects did you have growing up in a divided country ruined by war. 

This is where art comes in…art is always downstream from whatever is happening in society…and in the case of West Germany, many artists wanted things to be different. 

Young German musicians had some very serious ideas of what needed to be done…many were into rock…but they were determined to create rock that was different from what was being made in the UK and America. 

And they certainly didn’t want anything resembling traditional German music…it had been tainted by the nazi legacy…it was time for something new, different, and away from the status quo. 

There were experiments in the 50s that were pretty radical and, frankly, all over the place…but the results of these experiments began to coalesce into something by the end of the 60s. 

Within a few years, something distinctly German had emerged…it rocked (in its own way)…it had elements of psychedelic music…things could either be extremely structured or open to wild improvisation…it certainly wasn’t from any blues tradition or normal rock conventions upon which British or American rock was built. 

The structures of some compositions weren’t exactly what you could call normal—at least not in the context of rock…and occasionally, things got political, but not necessarily in a protest sense. 

By the middle 70s, we had a new distinctly German sound…the scene was very diverse in terms of sonics, but there was a Teutonic purpose underlying everything. 

The Germans just called it “German rock”…the British, however, gave it another name…it was supposed to be a joke, but the name stuck…and looking back, this sound, approach, aesthetic, and name can be found throughout many different corners of the rock. 

This is an explanation of thing that has become known as a “Krautrock”…and believe me, you’ve heard it more than you realize.

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

What do you remember from history class back in school?... Maybe a few dates and events…maybe the names some important people…and probably how dull a lot of history classes were.

 I remember being inundated with a bunch of facts—which was fine (i guess), but it didn’t really make history come alive, you know? ...and it didn’t have to be this way. 

History is more than this country going to war with that one, who married who to create what royal alliance, and which explorers went where to inflict harm on what indigenous people…there are many other branches of historical study.

There’s social history, economic history, the history of science and technology, technology—and (my favourite) stupid history…these are stories of how civilization changed because of stupid people and stupid things…and if we were taught stupid history alongside all the record stuff, those classes would have been a whole lot more fun.

For example, in 1545, winemakers in Saint-Julien, France, were in a panic because their vines were being eaten by weevils…these vineyard owners were so upset that they brought legal action against the bugs.

This was all very formal…documents were drawn up and the weevils were appointed a defense lawyer by the court…there was a trial with a judge and when it was all over, the weevils were found guilty of, well, being weevils and eating grapevines.

Almost a year later, the presiding judge issued a proclamation demanding that the weevils cease and desist with their ravaging of the vineyards…dumb, right?...but believe it or not, the weevils listened…the infestation stopped almost overnight.

There was not any kind of weevil problem for 40 years…and when they showed up again in 1587, the vineyards again took the bugs to court… the result of that case is lost to time…i love it…that is wonderful stupid history.

Music has its own stories like this…yes, there are things that require serious sober study…but then there’s also the stuff that makes you think “that really didn’t happen—did it?”.

 Oh, yes it did…this is another round of stupid history, the music version.

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

There are plenty of thankless jobs out there…think about the people who have to work outside in all kinds of weather…line workers for power companies…garbage collectors… construction workers.

Same goes for prison officers, nurses, teachers, and first responders of all types…i could go on, but you get the idea…so much needs to go on behind the scenes for us to be able to live our lives. 

There are dirty jobs but someone’s gotta do it…for the most part, they do their jobs so well that we don’t even think about them…but if not for these people, society wouldn’t function. 

Now let’s look at the music industry…the performers get all the glory, but we’d know nothing of them if it wasn’t for the massive support they get from people in the background. 

That includes support staff at record labels and management companies,  publicists, assistants, and thousands of other positions that helps make the music happen. 

One of the most important positions is paradoxically both visible and invisible…if they do their jobs well, they’re ghosts…but if they don’t, things don’t go so well…in fact, they may not go as well. 

I’m talking about roadies, members of the road crew, the people who enlist in the army that’s necessary to put an act on tour…without their expertise, long hours, and willingness make sure everything always goes smooth, there would be no live experience. 

They say that if there ain’t no audience, there ain’t no show…but if there ain’t no road crew, then their ain’t nothing at all.

This is a history of the men and women who make live shows happen…it’s the story of roadies.

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