Professor of Rock

I know you are gonna love this episode! Because i’m gonna give you some familiar songs that were hits that I guarantee you haven’t heard in ages. Radio and streaming playlists are filled with the same songs we hear over and over again. So I just spent about 6 hours going through every chart from the 80s to find songs that were hits in their day and songs you know and love but have fallen through the cracks. They’re never played today, but once you hear them, you will be like Oh man, I remember that song! I love it. I’m choosing one from each year in the 80s. Along the way, I’ll tell you the stories behind them. Including how Saga's producer decided the only way to get the right vocal performance for an epic song was to rig a microphone to a crossbeam 60 feet in the air… and then convinced his singer Michael Sadler to climb to the top and record it. He did it without rope or a harness… If he fell, he would have been toast. That’s why his vocals sound so ALIVE. Plus there’s the solo rocker John Mellencamp, whose record labels made him change his name 4 times… So he had hits under different names. Plus Van Halen's Most Badass guitar riff of the 80s that has been forgotten cuz the song has been the victim of cancel culture! And finally, I’ll cover Billy Joel who shocked radio when he put out the first major hit about phone S-E-X. 10 - 1980: : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTWSXhMKX4I&list=RDnTWSXhMKX4I&start_radio=1 9 - 1981: : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DagIivbPlCU&list=RDDagIivbPlCU&start_radio=1 8 - 1982: : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDXbxvRsdEM&list=RDYDXbxvRsdEM&start_radio=1 7 -1983: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmFt56haHr4&list=RDbmFt56haHr4&start_radio=1 6 - 1984: : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3a4OTh2Y8w&list=RDm3a4OTh2Y8w&start_radio=1 5 - 1985: : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqeJihujaws&list=RDDqeJihujaws&start_radio=1 4 - 1986: : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOXaPE6gklI&list=RDrOXaPE6gklI&start_radio=1 3 - 1987: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELtpTBf-pMU&list=RDELtpTBf-pMU&start_radio=1 2 1988 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZB2sNnTTos&list=RDNZB2sNnTTos&start_radio=1 1 - 1989 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loNey3n6uuE&list=RDloNey3n6uuE&start_radio=1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Producer Brandon Fugal Honorary Producers Frank Kuna, zachery perry, Shayne Smith, Tom Stokes, Walter O. Wright II ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe to the Professor of Rock Podcast Apple: https://apple.co/445fVov Spotify: https://spoti.fi/42JpfvU Amazon: https://amzn.to/44b5D6m iHeartRadio: https://bit.ly/444h8MO ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patreon: http://bit.ly/ProfessorofRockVIPFan Merch Store: https://professor-of-rock-lsn-shop.fourthwall.com/' Instagram: https://bit.ly/Instagram_Professor_of_Rock #classicrock #80smusic #vinylstory #onehitwonder Hey Music Junkies, it’s time to rescue 10 hits that have fallen through the cracks and get them into our playlists… you’re gonna thank me for unearthing these classic hidden gems… So starting off at the dawn of the decade, at #10 from 1980, I’ve got a song that was banned for its suggestive lyrics about phone Sex. It’s "Sometimes a Fantasy by Billy Joel. So Billy Joel entered the 80s as one of the most commercially successful artists in popular music… ascending from piano lounges to stadium headliner status on the strength of back-to-back masterpiece albums The Stranger and 52nd Street. However, contemporary music critics routinely dismissed Joel as a soft, sentimental balladeer. Motivated by the aggressive energy of the burgeoning New Wave and Punk movements, Billy aimed to prove his rock 'n' roll credentials by overhauling his sound. Gathering his veteran touring band at A&R Recording Studios in New York, Joel set out to create 1980s Glass Houses, an intentionally raw, guitar-driven album. Said Joel about it, “What I meant was, 'I'm going to throw stones at the image people have of me as a soft ballad singer. We've done rock 'n' roll before, but we went into it even more on this record. I don't believe the old saying that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones—why don't you do it? I think, 'Take a chance.’” We all know Glass Houses for hits like You May Be Right and It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me. But one of the hardest-hitting entries on the album was "Sometimes a Fantasy.” It was conceived as a hyperactive, synth-laced power-pop rocker that captured the manic frustration of a long-distance romantic relationship.