Tag Archive for: classic rock interview

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Dire Straits- On Every Street 35th Anniversary- Mark Knopfler

When the song "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits became a worldwide hit in Summer 1985, the album Brothers in Arms spent a stunning nine weeks as the #1-seller in the US in 1985, eventually selling a staggering 26,000,000  copies worldwide. This kind of celebrity could not have happened to a more reluctant rock star than Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler, and trust me, there is absolutely no way to prepare for what comes next.
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Lynyrd Skynyrd- One More From the Road 50th Anniversary- the late Gary Rossington, Leon Wilkeson

In September 1976, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Atlanta's venerable Fox Theater each needed a minor miracle. Performing over three hundred shows on 1975's notorious "Torture Tour" had original Lynyrd Skynyrd members dropping like flies. Three things were evident: America's hyped bicentennial was entering the history books even as the wrecking ball was heading for the Fox Theater; a live "best of" discounted price double album by Peter Frampton earlier that year was re-writing the record books; and Lynyrd Skynyrd was selling more concert tickets than copies of their diminished ranks studio album "Gimme Back My Bullets". The band needed a stop-gap recording that could capture their lightning in a bottle live show, and the Fox Theater needed a lightning rod which could make saving it a cause celebre. Original co-founder the late guitarist Gary Rossington joined me here In the Studio for the tale behind "One More from the Road".
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Genesis- Abacab @45- Mike Rutherford, Phil Collins

The September 1981 release of Genesis "Abacab" forty-five years passed. The veteran English band's eleventh  studio album, nevertheless it was the first Genesis album to breach the American Top Ten album sales on Billboard , and surprisingly the first Genesis million seller. Yet it is no minor miracle that my guests Mike Rutherford, Phil Collins, and Tony Banks could make it to the Progressive Rock promised land.
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Triumph- Allied Forces 45th- Rik Emmett, Gil Moore, Mike Levine

If you've ever been in a band, you need to listen to this honest, heartwarming, hysterically funny interview with Triumph ... 1979 breakthrough "Just a Gam"e with the songs "Hold On" and "Lay It on the Line", plus the even bigger seller "Allied Forces" forty years ago with "Magic Power" and "Fight the Good Fight".
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Boston 50th Anniversary- Tom Scholz, the late Brad Delp

In the Summer of 1975, a year before releasing what quickly became the biggest selling debut album in music history, the band Boston did not even exist . A year later Tom Scholz's seven year basement tapes would emerge out of nowhere to re-write the record books on popularity and profits fifty years ago ...(more) Tom Scholz is my guest for Boston's golden anniversary.
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Bob Seger- The Fire Inside

August 26, 1991 I had the great honor and pleasure of co-hosting the world premiere radio broadcast  with Bob Seger of "The Fire Inside". His fourteenth (!) studio album, it came a long five years after Seger and the Silver Bullet Band's "Like a Rock", the Detroit rocker's fifth multi-million seller in a row.
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ZZ TOP- drummer Frank Beard dies, 77

The all-important breakthrough third ZZ Top album, "Tres Hombres", will focus on the all-around improvements in recording quality and songwriting reflected in such perennials as "Waitin’ for the Bus”, “Jesus Just Left Chicago”, and “Lagrange” plus the introduction of "the squank" to guitar vernacular. Squankmaster Billy Gibbons, deceased drummer Frank Beard, and the dearly missed Dusty Hill tell the colorful tales of the earliest days of ZZ Top here In the Studio for  the breakthrough 1973 third album, "Tres Hombres".
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Bon Jovi- Slippery When Wet 40th- Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora

Bon Jovi's third album "Slippery When Wet" has a worldwide sales estimate since release forty years ago : 28,000,000 copies. It is impossible to overstate how massively popular Bon Jovi's third album, "Slippery When Wet", was...Jon Bon Jovi and original guitarist/co-writer Richie Sambora are my guests.

Julian Lennon- Help Yourself 35th Anniversary

...prior to "Help Yourself". A peculiar and confounding thing happened with the reception to that fourth Julian Lennon album and its brilliant eco-ballad "Saltwater". The song went to #6 in the UK and straight to #1 in Australia, but failed to even chart in America. Julian Lennon is my guest In the Studio.

Ten Years After- A Space in Time 55th- the late Alvin Lee, Leo Lyons

"When things get put onto celluloid, they tend to get bigger than life," the late guitarist/ singer Alvin Lee told me by way of explanation as to how Ten Years After was catapulted from the second tier of English boogie and blues by their prime spot in the Woodstock Festival   movie documentary. The band utilized that momentum to deliver their most popular album ever in late Summer 1971, " A Space in Time",  which included "One of These Days", "Baby Won't You Let Me Rock'n'Roll You", and what turned out to be their biggest hit, "I'd Love to Change the World".