The Story of Rock and Roll Radio Show

The final episode of season 3 went out fittingly at 7 pm on New Years eve, 31 Dec 2020.  It was a great episode, one of my all-time favourites.  I really enjoyed doing a review of the albums released this year.  The plan was to run through the albums and to throw in some rock classics like Guns ‘n’ Roses with ‘Welcome to the Jungle’, Rainbow with ‘Kill the King’, and Def Leppard with 'Women'.  I didn’t want to lose the audience with too much unknown stuff especially in view of the fact that there were some seriously good metal albums by Heathen, Annihilator, Testament, Onslaught, and Sepultura but by playing some classics I realised too late that there were way more albums than time so some albums did get short-changed as a result.    

All of the albums featured in this episode have been played on TSORR through the year, I bought 46 albums released in 2020, and obviously, with a 3-hour show, I had to prune it quite drastically.  We got to hear some standout lesser-known artists; Catalano, Thundermother, Those Damn Crows, All Them Witches some excellent SA releases from Agro, Deadline, Fokofpolisiekar, and Johnathan Martin.  Johnathan’s album Into the Nebulous Night is my favourite SA release of 2020 and I urge you to buy it.  

I also paid tribute to some of those we lost this year; Eddie Van Halen, Leslie West, Dave Greenfield, Neil Peart, and Bob Kulick.  Overall, I reckon it’s a pretty good summary of a year that was very good musically.

Artists featured:  Guns ‘n’ Roses, Catalano, Those Damn Crows, Biff Byford, Thundermother, ACDC, Ozzy Osbourne, Rush, Axel Rudi Pell, Dirty Shirley, Rainbow, Onslaught, Cirith Ungol, Vandenberg, Blue Öyster Cult, Philip Sayce, Joe Bonamassa, Agro, Deadline, Def Leppard, Paul Stanley, Heathen, Sepultura, Johnathan Martin, Piet Botha & Jack Hammer, Pirates of Radio, Bush, Seether, Marilyn Manson, Annihilator, All Them Witches, Bruce Springsteen, Fokofpolisiekar, The Stranglers, Van Halen, Mammoth WVH, Five Finger Death Punch & Leslie West

The Story of Rock and Roll.  TSORR - Your one-stop shop for Rock

Another quick little Festive Season Bonus.  Here is the Metallica Rock Review that I did for Rebel Rock Radio at the tail end of 2020

The Story of Rock and Roll.  TSORR - Your one-stop shop for Rock

Merry Christmas to all of you and thank you for the support throughout 2020.  There is no question that it's been tough :-).  The X-mas eve edition of TSORR went on air at 7 pm on 24 Dec 2020.  It wasn't particularly Christmasy as I generally am not overly Christmasy myself and especially when it comes to music.  I wasn't a total grinch though and did play 'Christmas in Hell' by Sixx A.M.

The show kicked off with some Whiskey Myers and then hit stuff like Slash, Ozzy Osbourne, and Animal Drive.  My daughter was in the house and she is a big part of why TSORR exists as both a book and a Radio Show so I played a couple of tracks and explained how all of this came about.  Kiss - Destroyer, John Paul Young's Yesterday's Hero, and The Boomtown Rats' masterpiece the Fine Art of Surfacing, all have a special bearing on the show as do Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and The Stranglers.

There was a short tribute to Leslie West, a giant of a man both physically and as a guitarist.  He sadly passed away last night (23 Dec) and so, it was fitting that we played 'Legend' off his Unusual Suspects album.  Leslie's tone and feel were indeed extraordinary and he will be missed.  That's Leslie in this episode's thumbnail for those who may not be familiar with the man (perish the thought).

Highlights for me included Tom Petty with 'Have Love Will Travel', Machine Head with Bastards, Tom Waits with Mr. Siegal, and Rammstein with Deutschland.  

Artists featured:  Whiskey Myers, Slash, Quiet Riot, The Lazys, Animal Drive!, ACDC, Ozzy Osbourne, Arapaho, POD, Rammstein, System of a Down, Australian Crawl, Kiss, John Paul Young, Sixx AM, Mötley Crüe, The Boomtown Rats, The Stranglers, The Clash, Seether, Clutch, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Dire Straits, Tom Petty, Leslie West, the Killers, The Longshot, Cold Chisel, the Mayfield Four, Machine Head, Megadeth, Rival Sons, Airbourne, Prime Circle, Bad Company, Tom Waits, Iced Earth, Halestorm, Tesla & Slade.

The Story of Rock and Roll.  TSORR - Your one-stop shop for Rock

We're close to the end of Season 3 now, episode 18 of 20 aired at 7 pm on 17 Dec 2020.  It was a pretty smooth sailing affair.  Listenership was lower than normal, I suspect because of the festive season.  Low listenership on the night, however, always drives the podcasts which incidentally hit 10 000 this week so thank you all.  I am most appreciative of the support that TSORR is getting and especially to those of you who download it as soon as it lands.  A reminder to you all that the TSORR Facebook page is the best way to contact the team if you have any comments, questions, suggestions, etc about the episodes.

We kicked off with a few lesser-known bands, Drowning Pool, Burning Rain, The Answer, and Baton Rouge before cracking in with some Bon Scott era ACDC.  We continued in that vein with a good selection of the music you expect from the show: Tool, Kid Rock, Guns 'n' Roses, Judas Priest, Joe Bonamassa, Megadeth, and many more rock giants of our age.  I spent a bit of time on the SA stuff and specifically on friends and supporters of Rebel Rock Radio, The Burning, The Color Blew, and Deadline who were all present at the South African Metal Music Awards ceremony at the Fokof Bar on Sunday the 13th Dec.  We took a listen to all 3 and it's clear that SA metal is alive and kicking.  We also took a listen to Agro and we will play some more from all these guys on the final TSORR for 2020 on 31 Dec.  Gary Clarke Jr made a return to the show as did Biters and it was really cool to listen to Gene and Paul back to back from their solo albums.  

Artists featured:  Drowning Pool, The Answer, Baton Rouge, Burning Rain, ACDC, Tool, Kid Rock, Testament, Guns 'n' Roses, Mark Haze, Joe Bonamassa, Gary Clarke Jr, Megadeth, Theory of a Deadman, The Burning, Deadline, The Color Blew, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Loverboy, Mötley Crüe, Joe Jackson, The Offspring, Biters, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Oasis, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Wolfmother, Deep Purple, Foo Fighters, In Flames, Avenged Sevenfold, Agro, The Gaslight Anthem, Anti-Flag & The Uninvited

The Story of Rock and Roll.  TSORR - Your one-stop shop for Rock

Here's a little bonus for frequent listeners of The Story of Rock and Roll.  The Rock Review is a feature I present monthly on day time radio for Rebel Rock Radio.  The RRR presenters take turns to pick an artist and then present a quick one-hour overview of that artist every week which means my turn comes round once a month.  

My first one was The Stranglers, then Van Halen (before Eddie passed away), Queensrÿche, and Iron Maiden.  Here's the Iron Maiden Rock Review and if it gets some interest I'll put up the others.     

It's a lot of fun, see what you think.  Feedback welcome, find me on The Story of Rock and Roll Facebook page.  

The Story of Rock and Roll.  TSORR - Your one-stop shop for Rock

One down 3 to go,  Episode 17 of Season 3 aired at 7 pm on 10 Dec 2020.  It was another technically flawless affair with zero Wi-Fi hassles or presenter bungles.  We kicked off with Dave Lee Roth’s uplifting  ‘Yankee Rose’, the perfect song to get the energy levels up, and followed with a band called Dirty Honey out of L.A.  For the rest, it's pretty standard TSORR fare.  A bit of Punk with The Stranglers and The Sex Pistols,  Scorpions & Devil’s Train out of Germany, ACDC and Jimmy Barnes out of Australia, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Sabbath, Priest, and Maiden out of the UK and everyone else out of the USA.  South Africa got a bit short-changed for some reason Dan Patlansky was the only representative, I’ll fix that next week.  

I thoroughly enjoyed Gov’t Mule's cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘Time’, his version of Dave Gilmore’s solo is perfection.    Asking Alexandria’s ‘Not the American Average’ was brutal, in a good way, and there was a nice little link with Metallica, Volbeat, and Avenged Sevenfold one after the other.  The point was made that those 3 bands toured a lot together in 2019 and would have continued if the Covid thing hadn’t happened.  

Artists featured:  Dave Lee Roth, Dirty Honey, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Devil’s Train, The Temperance Movement, Skid Row, Buckcherry, Accept, ACDC, The Raven Age, the Stranglers, The Sex Pistols, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Jimmy Barnes, Joe Bonamassa, Dan Patlansky, Gov’t Mule, Asking Alexandria, Metallica, Volbeat, Avenged Sevenfold, Scorpions, Twisted Sister, Oasis, Wilko Johnson & Roger Daltrey, Zakk Wylde, Alice in Chains, Linkin Park, Pearl Album, Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, System of a Down &  Little Steven   

The Story of Rock and Roll.  TSORR - Your one-stop shop for Rock

Season 3 Episode 16 aired on 3 Dec 2020.  We are in the final stages of Season 3 now so hang in there it’s been a busy year.  This episode is unique in that it is perfect in terms of a live take, there were no drop-outs or Wi-Fi issues and all the levels were fine, no editing needed at all.  Quite amazing really, the traffic on the road was so backed up I literally was left with 5 min to set up and get on air, it just shows, when you expect the worst you get the best.  

The show goes live at 7 o'Clock so it was fitting that we started with The Quireboys and their opening track off A Little Bit of What You Fancy called 7 o'Clock, then we had a bit of Kid Rock and some Motörhead.  We were all over the place going as heavy as Parkway Drive and as light as Manfred Mann.  It looks like it was the first-ever show without an Aussie band, that wasn’t intentional it just worked out that way.  We also only had 3 SA bands which was also unusual, so in general, this show is a bit different.  It was Ozzy Osbourne’s birthday so we said hi to him.  I really enjoyed Edguy’s little dig at the record industry called ‘Life of a Bonus Track’.  It’s a bit of fun that they recorded in a couple of minutes to satisfy some contractual commitment and it’s funny and clever.  I also took the gap to hit you with Steel Panther’s Death to All But Metal’’  and forgot to warn listeners about that little gem.  If anyone is offended then I have to say they are probably listening to the wrong radio show J.  Check out the video to that track in the website blog section.     

The highlight for me was a tip of the hat to Wolfgang Van Halen and the way he is handling the death of his much-loved father Edward.  We played his track ‘Distance’ and then took a listen to the great man himself with a track called Stay Frosty.  Another personal highlight was realizing how cool the vocal by Dave Matthews is on The Rolling Stones track Memory Motel.  Other than that there was the usual fare, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, W.A.S.P.  you know the drill.  Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth), Cliff Burton’s Base solo Part I was played to remind you that the next Rock Review I do will feature the mighty Metallica.  The answer to the inaugural TSORR eclectic thread puzzle was Nita Strauss, I’ll tell you why next week.  There are 3 connections to Ms. Strauss in S3E16.     

Artists featured: The Quireboys, Kid Rock, Motörhead, Rainbow, The Offspring, Die Toten Hosen, W.A.S.P., Warrant, Cinderella, Saxon, Metallica, No Friends of Harry, Alice Cooper, Halestorm, Ozzy Osbourne, Red Dragon Cartel, Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Coheed & Cambria, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Black Stone Cherry, Junkyard, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Manfred Mann, The Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam, Wolfmother, Desperado, Edguy, Steel Panther, Mammoth WVH, Van Halen, Springbok Nude Girls, Stiff Little Fingers, Ramones, Foo Fighters, Tom Waits & Parkway Drive.     

PS, just realized that the show is not Aussie free, Wolfmother are in there with ‘Pyramid’.  

The Story of Rock and Roll.  TSORR - Your one-stop shop for Rock

S3E15 aired at 7 pm on 26 Nov 2020.  It was pretty painless, to be honest,  we started with Halford and ended with Sixx AM, as usual time flew and many songs ended getting left out.  According to the Rebel Rock Radio app data Asking Alexandria got 4 times more likes than anything else which I was surprised but happy to see.  Other noticeable mentions were John Cougar, Nirvana, Wonderboom, Rose Tattoo, Scorpions, and ACDC with Code Red off the new Power Up album.  It’s the first time I have looked at those stats so that was quite interesting.   

On the local front, we had The Burning, Koos Kombuis, Wonderboom, and The Black Cat Bones with an amazing track called The Hunter, this was off an album in my collection called SA Blues Breakers.  There was a nice bit in the middle with Tool’s Aenima and Faith No More with Ashes to Ashes.  They went down very well.  The new Armored saint album Punching the Sky is also very good and we took a listen to Standing On The Shoulders of Giants.   

Artists featured:  Halford, Armored Saint, Led Zeppelin, Scorpions, Rose Tattoo, ACDC, Warrant, Ted Nugent, The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, The Jam, Slipknot, Asking Alexandria, The Black Cat Bones, Wonderboom, Nirvana, Koos Kombuis, Accept, Megadeth, Tool, Faith No More, Jimmy Barnes, Powderfinger, WASP, Metallica, Marilyn Manson, David Bowie, Emigrate, Extreme, Dokken, Rainbow, Green Day, John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, Kiss, Def Leppard, Guns ‘n’ Roses, and Sixx AM  

The Story of Rock and Roll.  TSORR - Your one-stop shop for Rock

S3E14 aired on 19 Nov 2020 at 7 pm live from behind the bar at Planet Rock.  There should be something for everyone here, we kicked off with Metallica and ended with the Foo Fighters.  A bit busy this week so no time for any commentary.  I don’t think anyone is reading it anyway, let me know on The Story Of Rock and Roll Facebook page or e mail me on [email protected] if I’m wrong.  

Artists featured:  Metallica, Black Tide, Mötley Crüe, Ratt, Man As Machine, Jerry Cantrell, Ozzy Osbourne, W.A.S.P, Staind, Dogs D’Amour, Machine Head, Anthrax, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, John Mellencamp, Seether, Rammstein, Chickenfoot, ACDC, Black Sabbath, Saxon, The Stranglers, The Sex Pistols, The Boomtown Rats, Thin Lizzy, Kiss, Neil Young, The Uninvited, Iron Maiden, Queensrÿche, Pearl Jam, Weezer, Sugardrive, Jasper Dan, Pirates of Radio, Hinder, Bring Me The Horizon, Zakk Wylde, Twisted Sister, The Foo Fighters

The Story of Rock and Roll.  TSORR - Your one-stop shop for Rock

TSORR Season 3 Episode 13 got off to a not so great start on 12 Nov 2020.  It’s funny because I am reading Matthew McConaughey’s book Greenlights and that is exactly what I didn’t get, the show said ‘connected’ but no green light so I had to start again.  You won’t hear that because I have cut it out but I’m just telling you for interest sake and to explain the reference to an aborted start.  After that, it was plain sailing all the way other than some niggle with the microphone clipping a bit, but it’s only on the first two bits of chatter.     

The show was great, we heard a lot of good SA rock with the Burning and L.A. Cobra showing that SA Rock is alive and kicking.  Later on, we took a listen to The Fismits, featuring Rebel Rock Radio’s very own Mark Biaggio on guitar and vocals with a track called ‘Questions’.  We also heard The Color Blew and toward the end of the show Johnathan Martin (happy birthday brother) and SA Metal maniacs Deadline.  The guitar work in Deadline is just so perfect, love those solo’s, I referred to the album as 'Cathedral' instead of Cathedral Point so apologies for that guys.  We had Danko Jones, Seether, Marilyn Manson, and an absolutely fantastic track by The Pretty Reckless.  We played a few songs for America (Ugly Kid Joe and Motörhead)  because, I am so grateful to the US for all the amazing music over the last 50 years, it doesn’t really matter who runs it as long as the world gets its rock and roll.   

One of the highlights of the show for me was Queen with 'The Prophets Song' off A Night at the Opera.  I made mention of the fact that it doesn’t get a look in because of that other long song on the album but it’s well deserving of some airtime.  It still sounds fantastic 45 years later.  The other highlight was having a good friend listening in and playing a couple of road-related tracks (Buckcherry's 'Ridin'' and Audioslave's 'I Am the Highway')  in memory of some of the great music we have listened to on roads around the country.  These are the type of songs that form the backbone of The Story of Rock and Roll.  'You Make Me Want To Die' by The Pretty Reckless and 'Little Secret' by Black Country Communion both stood out as did show opener 'Cold Sweat' by Thin Lizzy.     

Artists featured:  Seether, Mötley Crüe, Motörhead, Deadline, Linkin Park, Van Halen, Ugly Kid Joe, The Burning, Queen, Def Leppard, Black Country Communion, UFO, The Ramones, Audioslave, The Temperance Movement, Pearl Jam, L.A. Cobra, The Fismits, Edguy, Buckcherry, Thin Lizzy, Marilyn Manson, Mick Jagger & Dave Stewart, Anti-Nowhere League, The Color Blew, Johnathan Martin, The Pretty Reckless, Whitesnake, Danko Jones, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Judas Priest, Bush, Iron Maiden, Warren Zevon, Leslie West

The Story of Rock and Roll.  TSORR - Your one-stop shop for Rock