Professor of Rock

Coming up next we rewrite history with 10 Songs that should’ve been #1 from the year 1980 and there are so many classics today that came up short of the top spot including a singer won a record amount of grammies as a rookie and he wrote the song while tripping on acid and when you find out who it is, you’ll be shocked because he doesn’t fit the profile. Plus the Singer who’s told me the story behind his biggest hit but then when I put out the interview he chastised me for releasing it because he didn’t like the he looked in the interview so I had to take it down… Find out the artist and the song… Plus the rookie artist who put out a song that Didn’t sound like ANYTHING on RADIO! but even though he became an icon it was his only hit in america and he grew to HATE IT… But then another legendary artist made him realize he was being a huge baby…and then there’s the legendary artist who had her most famous hit… It became here signature song even though she had a ton of classic hits. But then decades later she refused to play it in concert and told her fans she’d never play it again. Find out why next on Professor of Rock. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Producer Brandon Fugal Honorary Producers Holly Hammet, Remnarc, Kevin riley, Paul Moore II, CharleyAnne ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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, Professor of Rock, always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time. Make sure to subscribe, and it you are already subscribed, then unsubscribe and resubscribe so I come into your feed. My channel’s hanging by a thread to say the least so any little bit helps. I’m hoping to keep things going but I’m getting really tired. I have to admit. But let’s get into today’s countdown of the 10 songs from 1980 that should’ve been #1 Let’s open the curtain for the countdown with one of the coolest songs of the rock era. Many people point to it as a definitive song from one of the hottest genres of the 80s, and yet it came while this singer-songwriter was stoned out of his mind… It’s 5-time Grammy winner Christopher Cross. Here’s “Ride Like the Wind” at #10: Christopher Cross came out of nowhere to rule the airwaves in 1980 with his high tenor, starting with a song that he conceived under the psychedelic influence of LSD, while driving back home to Austin from Houston: The paranoia you hear in his lyrics and voice is all too real. It was the Paul McCartney & Wings song “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five” from the Band on the Run album that sparked the idea for Christopher to write a song about a condemned outlaw trying to cross the Mexican border. Now… the Wings song has nothing to do with an outlaw, it was actually a track about a deep, everlasting relationship that Paul dedicated to Linda: While Christopher was playing in a club band in Texas, his group would often turn the middle section of “1985” into an instrumental jam. On one of those live jam sessions, Christopher hit the turnaround and the C minor chord progression, and that moment is what later became the heart of “Ride Like the Wind,” especially that catchy “ba da da da, da da, da da” centerpiece: Let’s put the acid aside and concentrate on the permeating theme of “Ride Like the Wind”. Christopher explained where the vibe came from. He was all about cowboy movies when he was growing up, like The Lone Ranger, where the heroes are always chasing the bad guy. He lived in San Antonio near Mexico, so there was something rebellious and tempting about the idea that if you could make it to Mexico, you could escape the rules and authority. As a kid, Mexico also felt like a place where you could get into wild, no-rules fun, stuff that sounded exciting and “cool” from afar. For him, reaching the border felt like a fascinating step. Cross’s producer, Michael Omartian, is what brought Michael McDonald into the picture—they’d both worked with Steely Dan, so they already knew each other well. McDonald agreed to perform some background vocals, and he was brought in for “I Really Don’t Know Anymore.” A few weeks later, while Christopher and Omartian were working on “Ride Like The Wind,” they realized they needed another, distinctive voice, for the answer vocals, so they called McDonald back to record them and it was brilliant!