1981 Archives

Cars- Shake It Up 40th anniversary- Greg Hawkes, the late Ric Ocasek

The Cars' "Shake It Up" was their first album to contain a Top Ten Billboard hit in the title song, so 1981's "Shake It Up", with its peak at #9 on Billboard album sales chart as well as #34 for the entire year, was seen by many as a return to high performance by the Boston band. Keyboard player Greg Hawkes joins me In the Studio with archival interview by Cars bandleader the late Ric Ocasek on "Shake It Up" fortieth anniversary.

Live Tracks

Ozzy Osbourne- Flying High Again- Memphis 4-28-82

Five weeks after the deaths of his trusted guitarist Randy Rhoads, his tour bus driver, and the band's wardrobe seamstress in a single engine plane crash, Ozzy Osbourne summoned the courage to honor a commitment to perform a live national radio broadcast from Memphis' Mid South Coliseum, with Night Ranger's Brad Gillis doing a commendable job of guitar grace under pressure, ripping through "Flying High Again".

Medium Rare

The Pretenders- Pretenders II- Chrissie Hynde

We had never met anyone in rock music quite like The Pretenders bandleader Chrissie Hynde, and honestly in the forty years since, I still haven't...I have Ms. Hynde here to speak for herself In the Studio about The Pretenders/ Pretenders II, one of rock's most important one-two Post-punk punches.

Medium Rare

ZZ TOP- El Loco 40th Anniversary- Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard

ZZ Top "El Loco" fortieth anniversary interview with Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, & Frank Beard "In the Studio".

Medium Rare

Pat Benatar- Precious Time

" It went platinum (1,000,000 sales ) in thirteen days," Pat Benatar states matter-of-factly while she and hubby/ musical director Neil Giraldo reminisce In the Studio about the explosive third album,"Precious Time", as it headed rapidly to the top-selling perch in America in Summer 1981...

Beard's Blog, Classic Rock Interviews

Genesis- Invisible Touch 35th Anniversary- Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, Phil Collins

Concerts are coming back just in time for the 35th anniversary of Genesis' biggest album in their long fifty year+ career, Invisible Touch (worldwide sales estimated at 15,000,000), so we convene Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, and Phil Collins here In the Studio to discuss the blockbuster sales behind "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight", "Land of Confusion", "In Too Deep", "Throwing It All Away", and "Invisible Touch".