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Matt speaks with Mitchell Stuart, writer/director of the new film, Worst to First: The True Story of Z100 New York. The movie is now available to stream and also can be found on select cable networks. Highly recommended for radio nerds, music fans and anybody who loves a good documentary watch. Stuart details his experiences working on the film with radio legends Scott Shannon and Elvis Duran.

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Show Notes:

Some information on Scott Shannon
Some Z100 history
Official film trailer
Where to watch
Sean Ross’ review of the film
New York Post story on the film (with a great Bruce Springsteen story -
Mitchell Stuart’s introduction to Z100 and Scott Shannon
Scott Shannon is not easy to deal with, but neither is Mitchell
Jim Kerr and the radio wars
Z100 going from worst to first in less than three months
What is the story that Mitchell regrets cutting from the film?
Nile Rodgers rules
Outtakes, there are lots.
Matt’s WMMS oral history
The rare audio and video Mitchell used in the film
Working with Scott Shannon
The best story from Scott
Z100’s sound processing / Frank Foti

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We weren't planning on venturing back to Hiatt Country so soon (after our initial episode on John Hiatt's Bring the Family), but we got an email from Michael Elliott, author of the new book, Have a Little Faith: The John Hiatt Story with an interesting idea.

He pointed out that February 18 is the 30th anniversary of the release of Little Village by Little Village, featuring John Hiatt, Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe and Jim Keltner. Would we be interested in discussing the album? Hell yes.

If you enjoy what you hear on today's episode, nab yourself a copy of Michael's book. He spoke with all involved with Little Village to get the definitive story behind the album for the first time. It's a great read (and if you're a Hiatt fan, you already know this is an essential acquisition).

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Show Notes:

Have a Little Faith: The John Hiatt Story
The birth of the book
What was the alternate plan if Hiatt didn’t participate?
Interviewing Hiatt
Ry Cooder
Little Village in the book
Initial thoughts on the Little Village album
How those initial thoughts changed with time
Traveling Little Village Wilburys?
Nick Lowe’s Party of One
The catalyst for Little Village
The tour for the Little Village album
What could it be holding up a Little Village reunion?
Collaborating by fax
It’s a good time to be these guys -- they can call their own shots.
The second generation of Little Village
The Bodyguard and Nick Lowe
Bring The Family Again…..The Little Avengers
30 years later..what do you really love about this album?
What should people listen to in order to get into this album?
The importance of believing in yourself and the ideas that you have.
Michael's John Hiatt playlist/soundtrack to the book

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Rickie Lee Jones' 1981 album Pirates emerged on the other side of what had been a complex period for the artist. Her 1979 self-titled debut charted top five on the Billboard Album Charts and her single "Chuck E.'s in Love" performed similarly well.

Touring extensively, her popularity continued to rise as additional media exposure, including a performance on Saturday Night Live, further elevated her profile. She would face challenges both personally and professionally as she began planning for her sophomore album.

Singer-songwriter Steve Poltz joins Jeff and Matt to look back at Pirates and everything surrounding the album. He goes deep with rock and roll war stories from his own career and we discuss Stardust and Satellites, his newest solo album.

As we get started, Steve shows us a bunch of personal memorabilia that he has on his walls. Here's a video of that portion so you can actually see what he's showing us!

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Another week has come and gone and Jeff and Matt are back to try to make sense of it all. There's plenty for you to listen to and read, as you'll hear (and read in the show notes below).
The guys preview the next two episodes that are on tap for this week.

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Cassingle Notes:

Mary Chapin Carpenter - Songs from Home
Mike Campbell's Instagram (his videos breaking down classic Petty songs are so good!)
Matt's unintentional flex. Apologies about that.
Mary Chapin Carpenter - One Night Lonely
Before I Go (2021)
The Guest House by Rumi
Jason's mother.
Jeff is participating in the annual February #MWE (Music Writing Exercise)
Eddie Vedder - Earthling (featuring contributions from Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Ringo Starr)
The Pearl Jam guys are music fans and deep cuts guys at heart. They respect their musical elders (except Motley Crue).
Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs - External Combustion (watch the great video for "Wicked Mind")
Pearl Jam - "Love Boat Captain"
Jules Shear - Dreams Don't Count
Mike Watt is awesome
The time that Mike Watt barged into a Cleveland sports talk station and just started talking sports.
Mike Watt - Ball-Hog or Tugboat
"Against the '70s" is the tune you probably know by Mike Watt
Oh, we realized after we finished this, that it's actually Andrew Watt. Oops.
Rax King's new book, Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer
Dana Carvey and David Spade's new SNL podcast, Fly on the Wall
Two podcasts this week! Steve Poltz talking about Rickie Lee Jones and Michael Elliott talking about Little Village
Michael Elliott's new book, Have a Little Faith: The John Hiatt Story
Justice for "Spies Like Us" (the song, not the movie)
My Friend: A Tribute to Rusty Young, being released by Blue Elan Records.
Cimarron 615 (with our latest guest, Bill Lloyd) - "Rough Edges" (from the Rusty Young tribute album.
Poco - "Call it Love"
The distinctive voice of Rusty Young
Rusty Young - Waitin' For The Sun

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The great Bill Lloyd of Foster & Lloyd fame is our guest for today's edition of The Record Player. Bill beamed in from Nashville to discuss one of his favorite albums from the McCartney catalog, 1971's Ram.

Ram emerged as the Beatles were in the process of legally dissolving their existence as a band. Credited to Paul and Linda McCartney, the album arrived after 1970's McCartney. His proper solo debut. Wild Life, the first outing with Wings shows up later in 1971, so Ram is an interesting divider between the two.

In the midst of our album discussion with Bill, we also talk about some exciting things he has in process for 2022 and beyond.

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Guitarist George Marinelli, known for his years of work with both Bonnie Raitt and Bruce Hornsby, as well as many others, joins Matt and Jeff to discuss one of his favorite albums.

Ahmad Jamal's At the Pershing: But Not for Me, recorded live in January of 1958 and released later that same year, is an album which carries some interesting history -- including that fun fact that Jamal himself was reportedly an influence on Miles Davis.

George discusses how he came across the album + also shares some good tales from his time working with Billy Vera and an interesting stint filling in as a member of James Taylor's band. He's got a keen interest in a number of different musical genres, so we dig into that. Plus, we talk about some of George's most recent work on the solo side.

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Matt and Jeff are discussing John Mellencamp's new album, the press he has been doing around it (which you should listen to) and why Brian Boone (longtime friend of the podcast) needs to come on to discuss John Mellencamp. There's a new Patreon for the show which you can read about here, where we're planning to share materials related to the podcast in addition to some fun pop culture stuff. Check out further details here and thanks for digging what we do!

P.S. Matt meant to plug Mike Joseph's conversation with Glen Phillips on Detoxicity (which he teases while mentioning Glen's conversation with Brian Koppelman). Since that didn't happen, go and listen to Mike's conversation with Glen. It's an essential listen.

Cassingle Notes:

John Mellencamp - Strictly a One-Eyed Jack
John Mellencamp and Brian Boone
Advice from circa-1982 "John Cougar."
John Mellencamp on Marc Maron
John Mellencamp on The Moment with Brian Koppelman
John Mellencamp - GQ profile
Has Jeff listened to the new Mellencamp yet?
Mellencamp's voice
Why you should listen to John Mellencamp's new album.
John Mellencamp - "Driving in the Rain"
Reader mail
The origin of Meat Loaf's name (for Judd)
There are many different variations on the origins of Meat Loaf's name.
Peter Lubin (who joined us for our John Hiatt episode) will join us again to share further stories from the music biz (including Jim Steinman stories)
Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman.
Jim Steinman's legacy extends way beyond his work with Meat Loaf.
Thanks to Jason Hare and Scott Malchus for the episode/podcast feedback
Dragnet (1987). How did this happen?
A stray mention of Dick Tracy (1990)
Why did Jeff go to see Dragnet?
You can watch Dragnet on Amazon Prime for the low, low price of $2.99
The Dragnet guys go to the zoo.
The genius of Tom Hanks on display
Cast Away (2000)
Samm Henshaw - Untidy Soul (thanks to Mike Joseph for the heads up!)
Greensky Bluegrass - Stress Dreams
Somebody Somewhere on HBO
Patreon and a new feature, At the Gig.

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Next episode: George Marinelli (Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Hornsby) is our guest!

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Styx's Lawrence Gowan joins up with Jeff and Matt to nerd out about progressive rock. Specifically, Genesis and 1973's Selling England by the Pound, arriving as the prelude to The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, which would be released the following year.

Lawrence and Matt also dig deep to share their thoughts on the current Genesis tour which is probably their farewell.

Don't miss Styx as they return to the road this summer for the Live and UnZoomed tour with REO Speedwagon and Loverboy.

Show Notes:

Intro
Did Jeff ever listen to '70s Genesis back in the day?
Okay, '80s Genesis is not the same band, you're right.
Jeff's first Genesis album purchase.
Jeff & Matt's previous discussion of We Can't Dance by Genesis on 1991: The Year AOR Ate Itself with special guest Jason Hare.
Christopher Cross - Every Turn of the World (1985)
The concept of fixing cassettes and on a separate topic, we call it streaming.
Sonic defects that are burned into your brain.
'70s Genesis with Peter Gabriel
Steve Hackett revisiting the Genesis albums with his solo shows = gateway drug
The Musical Box -- a tribute to '70s Genesis.
Ray Wilson of Genesis has an unfortunate Spinal Tap moment. Here's the story we referenced.
A masterful segue in introducing our guest
Jeff's shocking comments regarding Tony Banks, please share your feedback with us on Twitter. "Do your worst."
Styx - Crash of the Crown (2021)
Lawrence Gowan's introduction to the music of Genesis
Genesis - "Watcher of the Skies"
Genesis - Selling England by the Pound
Genesis - "Firth of Fifth"
Jeff hears Selling England by the Pound and A Trick of the Tail for the first time.
Jeff reveals his controversial opinion of Tony Banks
Genesis and their tricky time signatures
How "Supper's Ready" set the table for subsequent lengthy excursions.
"The Battle of Epping Forest"
Selling England by the Pound is a great headphone record.
Where Lawrence ranks Tony Banks on the list of his favorite keyboardists.
How Tony Banks became a minimalist from Duke forward.
Trying to learn how to play Genesis songs in the '70s
The evolution of groups through the '70s and '80s
The dilemmas that bands face as the years pass
Watching the Genesis guys perform on this current tour.
Lawrence's favorite part of the Genesis show on this tour.
The interesting parts of the setlist.
Phil's "party tricks" prior to "Domino."
Styx drummer Todd Sucherman is Lawrence's prog buddy in the band.
In defense of Invisible Touch and later Genesis inc

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On the heels of the news regarding the passing of Meat Loaf, Jeff and Matt share some of their individual memories and experiences with his music. We're also discussing carbonated beverages (thanks, Sloane Spencer!), a recent book by Daryl Gregory that's worthy of your reading time, Dweezil Zappa's excellent Van Halen podcast and other topics. See the show notes below for more details.

Cassingle Notes:

The passing of Meat Loaf
Losing control of your art
The long road to the success of Bat
Jeff’s UCR article on Meat Loaf and Steve Popovich of Cleveland International Records
An unexpected wedding ritual involving “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.”
Seeing Meat Loaf live for the first time in the ‘90s
Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell tour on Rockpalast in 1978
Matt's interview with Bruce Kulick about playing in Meat Loaf's band on the Bat Out of Hell tour.
Reader Mail
Bonnie Raitt’s ‘70s albums on Warner Brothers
Book recommendation: Revelator by Daryl Gregory
Podcast recommendations: Bubble Bottles and also, One Hit History, hosted by Sloane Spencer
Favorite carbonated beverages
Dr. Pepper vs. Mr. Pibb
Bob Seger - The Fire Inside retro t-shirt
Regional and small batch sodas - Fizzy Izzy Root Beer is awesome!
Rocket Fizz
“I’ve listened to 10 hours of you assholes over the past few days” - Jason Hare
Jason Hare keeps receipts
Linda Martell - "Color Me Father"
Holly G and Black Opry
Dweezil Zappa’s Van Halen podcast is awesome
Details on the next episode!
Closing remarks -- leave us reviews on your favorite podcast platform!

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Matt and Jeff take a look back at John Hiatt's breakthrough album with a huge assist from producer and A&R man Peter Lubin, who gives us a glimpse of the fascinating untold story behind the making of the record.

We love listener feedback! Share your thoughts and questions via Twitter @RecordPlayerPod.

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