I’ve got a special treat for you today. It’s an interview I released years ago but got taken down within a few hours over copyright claims… Well I worked it out and Now I can put it back up. Clive Davis helped bring it to life. It’s a happy singalong classic that everyone adores. Brandy (you're a Fine Girl) by Looking Glass from a singer songwriter who look and sounds like Dustin Hoffman. the song is about Girl that many have wondered if was based on a real person… Well it was such a popular song it made the girl’s name blast toward the top of the rankings of baby names for the next 5 years and as you’ll find out from the singer… it has great story first of all the song was too long for radio to play so he fudged the actual running time on the record he send to radio stations saying it was 2:55 when it was longer than that. Then it was merely an album track as part of a muti song acetate that sent to stations and the DJ played the A side but it floundered but the DJ was talked into hearing the other songs and he turned the record around and play the b side or album track and the phones lines lit up and practically overnight the song was a #1 smash. then he was called decades later by Filmmaker James Gunn who wanted to use the track in his big superhero movie Guardians of the Galaxy 2…today’s artist thought it would be cool to have a few seconds of his song in the film but was shocked when most of the song was used, multiple times and even became a plot point and made the song a smash all over again. Let’s get into it.

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Alright, it’s been a long while since we covered one of these. Today, we’re coming back to a channel favorite: Female Hidden Gems! For this countdown, we’re highlighting some incredible songs sung by amazing female artists that have just gotten lost in the shuffle, and it’s time to dig ‘em up and add them to our playlists. Coming up, we’ve got the story of the Cowboy Junkies, a band so desperate to record their album in a historic church building that they invented a fake but wholesome band name and lied to church officials to get approval. They had to do a top-secret recording. Find out if it was worth it. Then there’s Brandi Carlile, who was stricken with laryngitis while recording her signature song. As she belted out the track’s climactic finish, her voice cracked under the strain… giving us one of the most “technically wrong but emotionally right” vocals ever. And finally, there’s the artist Anne Preven, who wrote a global chart-topper called Torn, but nobody knows who she is… because when she released her original version of the song, it flopped. But when another singer gave it a pop makeover, it became 1 of the biggest hits of its time, but I’m telling you… Nobody knows this song is a cover. Let’s do it. 

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Coming up… It’s our final TIME IN BOTTLE COUNTDOWN for now. I’ve really enjoyed doing this series of songs that take us right back to the moment these song were on radio Today we are traveling back to a big year in the 70s with so many classic songs that will take you back including a song that was written after a member of a legendary band lost his beloved dog it was a sad song but it would end up causing a ruckus on the air when the most famous DJ in America flipped out in the middle of his famous show in a profanity laced rant when it was played during his most listened to segment.

There is also the famous 17-minute overtly sensual song that came from its iconic singer having multiple AHEM peaks while recording it. It was banned pretty much everywhere, but still hit #1. We also have a rock band that had 15 hits and influenced every band that came after, but they’ve been erased from history for no good reason, plus the song that one of the greatest songwriters of all time got from his 3 year old song. He wrote it as a joke, and it became his biggest hit… Let's do it. 

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Let's run it back!

The 80s classic hit In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins has arguably the most famous urban legend behind it in rock history. Told and retold thousands of times. Did Phil Collins of Genesis really witness a potential murder and then write about it to haunt the killer? Or is it a total farce? The story of a song that has become one of the biggest of its time only to stall outside of the top 10 back in the early 80s. we give it it’s due as a #1 in our hearts and find out the real story next.

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I love the Mamas and the Papas. They had such a unique style with hits like California Dreamin' and Monday Monday, but today I have a really strange tale. It’s one that most people haven’t heard. How a lead pipe falling at a construction site allegedly gave Cass Elliot of the Mamas and the Papas one of the most iconic voices of the '60s, the ability to sing three octaves higher. As the story goes, Cass auditioned for the up-and-coming band but was initially denied because her range was not good enough. Then Cass was at a construction site and got hit in the head with a pipe, and when she came to, her range drastically expanded. And Cass got into the group because of it and had an incredible career. But did this really happen? And if not, why was the story told in the first place? Was there another reason why she was initially rejected? Well, one of the biggest creeps in music history originally cut her from the band for being overweight. Buy Cass would have the last laugh with a dozen hit. We’re delving into another fascinating case of fact vs. fiction, through the songs of the Mamas and the Papas, including California Dreamin', and CREEQUE ALLEY next on Professor of Rock.

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Alright guys, you better watch your step… We are about to count down the greatest “femme fatale” songs of the rock era. And every one of these songs is based on a real woman… and they are all a little bit dangerous. Including one foul-mouthed model-turned-actress named Kelly LeBrock who changed me from a boy to a man after watching 1 particular 80s film. This 80s fox cussed like a sailor and told jokes I can’t repeat on here or even in public. When John Oates met her, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It inspired him to write one of the most dangerous hits of the 80s: Maneater. Then, there’s the story of one of rock's biggest bands, Bon Jovi, that might not have cracked the mainstream if not forvolatile, party girl actress Diane Lane who tore through the band. She inspired two of their biggest hits after dating the singer and the guitarist back to back or at the same time. Plus there’s the hitmaker Phil Collins whose biggest muse was his ex-wife, whom he loathed. Yet every time he thought of her, he spun her memory into hit after hit after hit. … turning his bankrupt marriage into a very profitable venture. The knives are coming out for this one. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Let’s get into it.

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Peter Beckett, lead singer of the band Player, tells the story of the group's huge number one hit, Baby Come Back, the smooth 70s classic that has now become a yacht rock standard. It was just covered by Keith Urban for his new album. Peter’s wife left him. He got off tour, and she had abandoned their home together, taking everything with her. He never saw her again. He poured his pain into the one-hit wonder.

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Behind the platinum records and the sold-out arenas, the music world hides a shadowy world of surveillance, syndicate deals, and criminal acts that most fans don’t know about. Today we're pulling back the curtain on some dark true crime stories on our latest edition of Rock and Roll True Crime. Including Mariah Carey, one of the biggest pop stars on the planet, who was imprisoned inside a $22 million fortress rigged with hidden cameras, armed guards, and recording devices held by 1 of the most powerful men in the business. He would punish her more by sabotaging her career. Then there’s the group of obsessive Lynyrd Skynyrd fans who broke into a cemetery under cover of darkness, smashed open a marble mausoleum, and tried to pry open a rock star’s casket to settle an urban legend about a t-shirt. Plus the Allman Brothers Band, the Southern rock icons who got so tangled up with a ruthless criminal syndicate their lead singer had to take the witness stand to testify against their road manager. It tore the band apart. And finally, Dave Navarro, the rock star who came face to face with his mother's killer after a decade of trying to capture him. It’s all coming up next. 

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Coming up next on of the most important interviews I’ve ever done with one of the greatest legends in rock history. He was the leader of a band that was competing with the Beatles and the Stones and the Beach Boys and Bob Dylan back in the 60s in the quest to take music to higher ground. We’ve shown pieces of this interview before but today show the full uncut, never-before-seen sit-down with Roger Mcguinn of the Byrds including the story of their #1 hit Mr. Tambourine Man that Bob Dylan gave them, Dylan never had a number one hit himself, he gave his away and the Byrds did justice with it. Also the story of Turn! Turn! Turn! the nearly 3000 year old song that he and the Byrds took to #1. Plus the story of the song he wrote for the classic film Easy Rider and the song He wrote as a scathing diss track against manufactured bands… Many think it was a direct shot at the Monkees, who were outselling many of the biggest bands of the time, including the Beatles. See what he says about it. Let’s get into the stories of some of the greatest songs ever from a SUPERGROUP that not only included Roger McGuinn but David Crosby, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman, and Gram Parsons. A band that helped birth Entire new musical genres, including folk rock, psychedelia, and Country rock.

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Behind the platinum records and the sold-out arenas, the music world hides a shadowy world of surveillance, syndicate deals, and criminal acts that most fans don’t know about. Today we're pulling back the curtain on some dark true crime stories on our latest edition of Rock and Roll True Crime. Including Mariah Carey, one of the biggest pop stars on the planet, who was imprisoned inside a $22 million fortress rigged with hidden cameras, armed guards, and recording devices held by 1 of the most powerful men in the business. He would punish her more by sabotaging her career. Then there’s the group of obsessive Lynyrd Skynyrd fans who broke into a cemetery under cover of darkness, smashed open a marble mausoleum, and tried to pry open a rock star’s casket to settle an urban legend about a t-shirt. Plus the Allman Brothers Band, the Southern rock icons who got so tangled up with a ruthless criminal syndicate their lead singer had to take the witness stand to testify against their road manager. It tore the band apart. And finally, Dave Navarro, the rock star who came face to face with his mother's killer after a decade of trying to capture him. It’s all coming up next. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.