Few yacht rock hits of the 70s have endured as well as Player's 1977 classic "Baby Come Back." While they had a few other hits, they've been completely overshadowed by this monolith. What you may not be as aware of is the vast songwriting career of frontman Peter Beckett. Remember "Twist of Fate" by Olivia Newton-John? That was Peter. Or "Dare to Fall in Love" by Brent Bourgeois? Also Peter. There's also been the Temptations, Commodores, Survivor, Heart. Grace Slick, and Janet and Jermaine Jackson. There was even a stint in Little River Band. These days he's embracing the yacht rock life for all it's worth and tells us stories about all of it including seeing the Beatles at the Cavern! It's stories galore this week! Enjoy! 

Bill Janovitz returns to the Hustle, this time as an author instead of a rocker. The Buffalo Tom frontman has recently published a master work - the definitive story of The Cars: Let the Stories Be Told. Bill effectively tells the band's story from beginning to end with all the detours in between. Each band member's personality comes to life and the inner tensions become very real, but so does the wonderful music they made. Bill and I discuss the guys, how he went about writing the book, and our thoughts on the music especially the earlier albums versus the later ones. The book is great, check it out! 

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Bill Janovitz – billjanovitz.com

When you talk to keyboardist Roddy Bottum, the word "privileged" comes up a lot. He was privileged to grow up in San Francisco as a gay man. Privileged to play keys in Faith No More and Imperial Teen. Privileged to have the foresight to be an early investor in Apple that has since made him a multi-millionaire. Privileged to have had close friends like Kurt and Courtney. He recounts this unique life in a new memoir, The Royal We, which is out now and totally fascinating. Roddy joins us this week to discuss the book and flesh out details like this (and shoot down others). We even have a copy to give away. Enjoy! 

When you talk to keyboardist Roddy Bottum, the word "privileged" comes up a lot. He was privileged to grow up in San Francisco as a gay man. Privileged to play keys in Faith No More and Imperial Teen. Privileged to have the foresight to be an early investor in Apple that has since made him a multi-millionaire. Privileged to have had close friends like Kurt and Courtney. He recounts this unique life in a new memoir, The Royal We, which is out now and totally fascinating. Roddy joins us this week to discuss the book and flesh out details like this (and shoot down others). We even have a copy to give away. Enjoy! 

The 80s weren't a fertile time for blues on the radio. Eventually, acts like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Robert Cray and this week's guest the Fabulous Thunderbirds captured some attention and kept the torch lit. In fact, "Tough Enough" also happens to be one of the greatest singles of the decade, but it was the T-Birds biggest and only crack at the pop charts. Eventually, tastes changed, Jimmie Vaughn left the band, and things settled back down, but the they've never stopped delivering blistering blues for six decades now. Frontman Kim Wilson is here to discuss his great new solo album, Slow Burn, but also to give a tutorial on the history of the blues. He's a great dude and still doing what he does best. 

Ivy might be the least likely band to release new music in 2025. After the loss of leader Adam Schlesinger to COVID early in the pandemic, the band had no choice but to end things. Luckily, surviving members Dominique Durand, Andy Chase and Bruce Driscoll came together to flesh out some songs Adam hadn't finished and released the new album Traces of You recently as a proper tribute to their former bandmate. All three of them join us this week to explain how the album came together and if there will be more, what it was like competing for Adam's attention with Fountains of Wayne, and everyone's other side projects. Ivy was special. It's a shame they and Adam are gone, but we have some incredible records to remember them by including Traces of You. 

The great Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly is back again. Last week he released his 30th album (!) called Seventy and it's evidence that this genius shows no signs of slowing down. Paul returns to the podcast to discuss some of the key tracks, what his process is at this stage, and what he still has left to prove. The man is as good at 70 and he has been his whole career. We're lucky to have him. 

It's been a bumpy road for Pete Droge the last few years and the acclaimed singer-songwriter knew exactly what to do about it. First off, after years of not feeling right, Pete was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome about ten years ago. This changed how he would have to approach his career which, as an independent artist, was already a full time job. Then, he decided the time was right to find his birth mother who, it turns out, passed away just months before he found her. These themes permeate his latest (and best) album, Fade Away Blue. Pete lays out the challenges of the last few years, how he kept afloat, and what to expect from here. We also get the scoop on his sadly short-lived supergroup the Thorns with Matthew Sweet and Shawn Mullins. He's a wonderful guy and hugely inspiring. Enjoy! 

Producer Mark Saunders has done a lot of things, but amidst it all he's responsible for two of the most revolutionary albums of all time. The first is Neneh Cherry's debut Raw Like Sushi featuring the game-changing "Buffalo Stance". The second is the debut album Maxinquaye from Tricky which rewrote the rules as far as what music could sound like. Just those would be enough for some people, but we also hear about The Cure, the Chameleons, Erasure, Madness, a-ha, Ian McCulloch, Lisa Stansfield, Cyndi Lauper, and an absolutely bananas experience with John Lydon. Plus, we get the full scoop on the historic night when Bowie and Jagger recorded "Dancing in the Street". It's 3 hours and not a second is wasted on this instant classic. Don't miss it!