GLO Radio

17/02/2022

The Kinks

07/02/2022

Check this out! Awesome!

Festival Seating is a little ditty about growing up in the 1970's attending rock concerts at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro NC. The Coliseum was one o...

06/02/2022

Melanie Safka is celebrating her birthday today.

Melanie performed at the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the inspiration for her signature song, "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)", apparently arose from the Woodstock audience lighting candles during her set (although most of the "candles" were actually matches or lighters). The recording became a hit in Europe, Australia, Canada, and the United States in 1970. "Lay Down" became Melanie's first Top Ten hit in America, peaking at Number 6 on the Billboard singles chart and achieving worldwide success.

Melanie had her biggest American hit in 1972 with the number one "Brand New Key" (often referred to as "The Roller Skate Song"). "Brand New Key" sold over three million copies worldwide and was featured in the 1997 movie Boogie Nights. When the song was first released, it was banned by some radio stations because some saw sexual innuendo in the lyrics. Melanie has acknowledged the possibility of reading an unintended sexual innuendo in the song, stating, "I wrote [Brand New Key] in about fifteen minutes one night. I thought it was cute; a kind of old thirties' tune. I guess a key and a lock have always been Freudian symbols, and pretty obvious ones at that. There was no deep serious expression behind the song, but people read things into it. They made up incredible stories as to what the lyrics said and what the song meant. In some places, it was even banned from the radio ... My idea about songs is that once you write them, you have very little say in their life afterward... People will take it any way they want to take it."

The follow-up single to "Brand New Key" was "Ring the Living Bell". To compete with this release, Melanie's former record company released "The Nickel Song", which she had recorded while still signed to Buddah Records. Both songs were simultaneous Top 40 hits while "Brand New Key" was still on the charts – setting a record for the first female performer to have three Top 40 hits concurrently. Melanie was awarded Billboard's #1 Top Female Vocalist award for 1972.

She was still out performing prior to the shutdown and puts on a great show. If you ever get a chance to see her, well let's just say that it is required attendance from The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge.

Happy Birthday Melanie!!!

05/02/2022

“Told her that I came from Detroit City and I played guitar in a long haired rock and roll band. She asked me why the singer’s name was Alice…

His birth name was Vincent Damon Furnier and he got that name 74 years ago today. He is one of the pioneers of theatrical rock and he used snakes, electric chairs, guillotines and baby dolls on stage. He is a world class golfer and truly one of the nicest people you will ever meet. Of course we are talking about Alice Cooper and today is his birthday.

If you could go to his birthday party this evening and he asked you what one song of his you wanted him to play, what song would you choose? And, how many times have you seen Alice in concert so far?

Happy Birthday Alice!!!!

Photo: performing at the 2019 Duesenberg Imperial Ball in Anaheim, CA (courtesy of Craig Erickson)

01/02/2022

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Mike Campbell is celebrating his 72nd birthday today. Mike is an extraordinary guitarist, songwriter, and record producer.

Between Mudcrutch and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Campbell collaborated, recorded, and toured with Tom Petty for almost 50 years. Mike co-wrote many of the Heartbreakers hits with Petty, including "Refugee", "Here Comes My Girl", "You Got Lucky", and "Runnin' Down a Dream".

During that time, Mike’s side projects and other collaborations included the Blue Stingrays, The Dirty K***s, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Don Henley, Joe Cocker, Stevie Nicks, Johnny Cash, John Prine, Warren Zevon and countless others. More recently, Mike joined Fleetwood Mac for their “50 Years - Don’t Stop” world tour.

Fans of Mike Campbell & The Dirty K***s are anxiously awaiting the release of their 2nd album “External Combustion” on March 4th and rescheduled tour that kicks off March 9th in Tampa, Florida.

Happy birthday Mike!!!

Photo: with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers during their final performance on September 25, 2017 at the Hollywood Bowl (courtesy of Craig Erickson)

31/01/2022

Pure History. One of the most iconic performances ever.

On Jan. 30, 1969, The Beatles, along with Billy Preston, played a few songs on the rooftop of their office building at 3 Savile Row, London. People gathered in the streets and the police were called when some shop owners complained about the noise. They had decided to do the concert a few days earlier, but first the roof had to be shored up first in order to handle the weight of the group's equipment.

They had a film crew there to record it. The footage was to be used for the movie "Let It Be". The concert lasted 42 minutes before the police made them stop.

It was the last time The Beatles would ever perform together in public. 53 years ago today.

Have you seen the Get Back docuseries? Have you heard the digital release of Get Back: The Rooftop Performance? Do you plan to see the IMAX screening today at 3 pm ET?

We can only wonder what they would have done if they didn't break up, but we do realize that they knew it was time.

31/01/2022

He wasn't a big man, but he was a giant.

Steve Marriott would have turned 75 years old today. Steve is best known for his time in the Small Faces and Humble Pie. If you look to see who many of the biggest stars in Rock and Roll say was one of the greatest ever, Steve will always be in their top 10. And we would agree.

The story has been told that when Mick Taylor left The Rolling Stones, Keith Richards pushed very hard to have Steve take his place. Apparently, Mick Jagger would have none of it.

We lost Steve on April 20, 1991 when he died in a fire in his house.

RIP Steve. Thanks for the music you gave us.

28/01/2022

𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕜𝕖𝕪 𝔻𝕖𝕍𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕖 - ℂ𝕝𝕚𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕓𝕒𝕟𝕕
🤘🤘🤘🤘
𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗮𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗯𝗶𝗿𝗱.

Out of North Carolina, Shakey DeVille formed in 2020 mostly as a result of Curly and Brandon playing a lot of the same clubs, often together in another band. From there, a short hop, skip, and jump later in December 2021 and we already had their first EP. If you like that greasy southern blues rock music, these boys might just be your huckleberry. First question that begs an answer, what the hell is a Shakey DeVille? The story I heard was that Curly and his cousin were chilling and talking cars. Apparently both are Cadillac guys, but Curly’s is probably going to be running ragged with the rough side dragging. Shaking and shimmying with pieces falling off as he goes, so well, he is a Shakey DeVille. If that ain’t country you can kiss my ass. Lol

So what it is about this music that inspired me to sit down and get to typing? Glad I asked, let’s get into it. This whole thing started with an email from Curly asking if I would listen to his single. I listened to it, I liked it, so we began working out plans for a Quick Talk session. That’s my go to move for bands like this to help them get a foothold here. If the readers like it and the response is positive, then I can justify a full review somewhere down the line. Anyways, as we talked, he sent me a couple more songs, I liked them, but two or three songs still doesn’t make a review, so I kept going with my first inclination. Somewhere along the way, I found myself singing the songs to myself as I walked the halls here, which is a sign, so I sent an email requesting the full EP. I loaded it, and listening to it on the way home that first day I had already changed my mind before I pulled into the driveway. This entire EP is solid from the first song to the last, no way I wanted to limit myself just one tune, so here we are.

𝗗𝗿𝗮𝘄𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻, for example, is the opener, with a little bit of a slower tempo, but the vocals, the story, and the guitar are setting you up for what is about to follow; a slap in the mouth. 𝗧𝗼𝗼 𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘁 comes next and opens with a Johnny B. Goode vibe to the guitar lick. Add a thick rhythm that could be pouring out of every barroom from here to Jacksonville just about every Friday night, Dan’s growly vocals, and you have yourself a jitterbug song almost. My wife would dance to it at least, so I will call it jitterbuggy.

𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗕𝗲𝘁 is next and although nothing overly complicated, just some straight forward juke joint rocknblues, it reaches out and grabs you. This guitar is the stuff dreams are made of. It’s as southern rock as cornbread and Freebird. 𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗢𝗻 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿 follows with that same southern rock blues guitar, but with a bit more squeal that ends up being the highlight of the song IMO. More catchy lyrics like, “𝚃𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚖𝚎 𝚊 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜, 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚊 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝙷𝚎𝚢 𝙼𝚊𝚖𝚊, All 𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚗𝚘 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛!” make it nearly impossible NOT to sing along with.

𝗙𝗹𝘆 𝗦𝗼 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵 is a not so subtle inference to those who might take a puff every once in a while. A little thicker on the rhythm, another slick southern riff, and although delivered at a lazier pace, maybe on purpose due to lyrical content, it still has a punch to it. Just when you think you have this album pegged, they throw a curve at you with a not so subtle Riders On The Storm lick reminiscent of The Doors, and although it made me do a double take, I hear it again and again every time I listen. 𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆 𝗖𝗮𝘁 leans more towards a plucky blues feel, with Dan growling at you through the mic “𝘐’𝘮 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘵, (watch yo back) 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴!”and again, that epic guitar tone. It’s still a little slower, probably still feeling the effects of the previous song, but still just as strong. Not to let you get too spaced, 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘁’𝘀 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 comes along and picks the pace back up. If you’re going to cruise along for a song or two, you might as well get one more slap to the back of the head before hitting the door, and that’s what they do here.

So there you have it. North Carolina southern blues rock with a solid guitar punch. It’s southern blues rock, swinging back and forth from more southerny, to more bluesy but always rock.

𝓢𝓱𝓪𝓴𝓮𝔂 𝓓𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓮 𝓲𝓼:
𝒢𝓊𝒾𝓉𝒶𝓇𝓈 - 𝒞𝓊𝓇𝓁𝓎 𝒮𝓉𝒶𝓅𝓁𝑒
𝒱𝑜𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓈 - 𝒟𝒶𝓃 𝑀𝒾𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓇
𝒟𝓇𝓊𝓂𝓈 - 𝐵𝓇𝒶𝓃𝒹𝑜𝓃
𝐵𝒶𝓈𝓈 - 𝒥𝑜𝓈𝒽𝓊𝒶 𝐵𝓇𝒶𝒹𝓁𝑒𝓎

🖌 / 📸 Billy McDonald

28/01/2022

Peace out all!!
❤❤

26/01/2022

Corky Laing is celebrating his 74th birthday today. Corky was the drummer for the legendary bands Mountain and West, Bruce and Laing.

His full name is Laurence Gordon Laing and is a native of Montreal, Quebec. He was the youngest in a family of five children. His eldest sister Carol was followed by triplet brothers, Jeffrey, Leslie, and Stephen, and then by Corky. According to Corky, his brothers called him "Gorky" because they could not pronounce his given name "Gordon". "Gorky" eventually morphed into Corky, a moniker which has remained with him throughout his career.

Corky is still playing these days so if you ever get the chance to see him live, you will be seeing one of the great Rock and Roll drummers.

Happy Birthday Mr. Laing!!

26/01/2022

If Eddie Van Halen were still with us, he would have been celebrating his 67th Birthday today.

If he could return, what is the one song you would ask him to play for you?

Rest easy on your birthday, Eddie. Thank you for the music.

26/01/2022

Little Feat released their third studio album "Dixie Chicken" on January 25, 1973. The artwork for the front cover was by illustrator Neon Park and is a reference to a line from the LP's third song, "Roll Um Easy".

The album is considered their landmark album with the title track as their signature song that helped further define the Little Feat sound. This was augmented by two additional members (guitarist Paul Barrere and percussionist Sam Clayton) added to make the more complete and familiar lineup that continued until their 1979 breakup following the death of Lowell George. Bassist Kenny Gradney was brought in to replace original bassist Roy Estrada, who had left after the band's second album "Sailin' Shoes" to join Captain Beefheart's Magic Band. This new lineup radically altered the band's sound, leaning toward New Orleans R&B/funk.

When is the last time you listened to this LP or anything by Little Feat?

Happy 49th Birthday to "Dixie Chicken"!!!

16/01/2022

13/01/2022

53 years ago today Led Zeppelin released their debut album in multiple formats. Do you remember the first time you heard it? Have you listened to it recently?

Hopefully you didn’t have to suffer through the fade-outs and fade-ins on 8-track tape. This copy is from “Craig’s List” author Craig Erickson’s collection.

11/01/2022

"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" is a song by American rock band Blue Öyster Cult from the band's 1976 album Agents of Fortune. The song, written and sung by lead guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, deals with eternal love and the inevitability of death. Dharma wrote the song while picturing an early d...

10/01/2022

We lost Michael Lang. He was one of the founders of Woodstock. Michael was 77 years old.

A big part of our generation is gone.

RIP Michael. Thank You.

07/01/2022

Not a big Black Sabbath fan, but I remember several people having this on 8 tracks.

Have you been paranoid for 50 years?

On Jan. 7, 1971, many kids in the US heard the words "I AM IRON MAN" for the first time. It was on this date that Black Sabbath released their 2nd LP "Paranoid".

The album was issued in the United Kingdom in October 1970, where its sales were enhanced by the success of the "Paranoid" single. "That single attracted screaming kids," Tony Iommi recalled in the liner notes to Reunion in 1998. "We saw people dancing when we played it and we decided that we shouldn't do singles for a long while after that to stay true to the fans who'd liked us before we'd become popular." Paranoid 's US release was delayed until January 1971, as the Black Sabbath album was still on the charts at the time of its UK release. Paranoid reached No. 12 in the US in March 1971 with virtually no radio airplay. Like Black Sabbath, the album was panned by rock critics of the era.

We wonder how many albums those critics have sold? We bet they thought Black Sabbath was a dance band…...

Happy 51st US Birthday to "Paranoid"!!!

04/01/2022

Your first history lesson of the year from The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge:

03/01/2022

When the new Billboard Charts came out on Jan. 2, 1971, there was a new #1 album in the US, George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass".

'All Things Must Pass' was a triple album by recorded and released in 1970, and it was Harrison's first solo work after the break-up of the Beatles in April that year, and his third solo album overall. It includes the hit singles "My Sweet Lord" and "What Is Life", as well as songs such as "Isn't It a Pity" and the title track that had been turned down for inclusion on releases by the Beatles. 'All Things Must Pass' introduced Harrison's signature sound, the slide guitar, and the spiritual themes that would be present throughout his subsequent solo work. The original vinyl release consisted of two LPs of songs and a third disc of informal jams, titled Apple Jam. Several commentators interpret Barry Feinstein's album cover photo, showing Harrison surrounded by four garden gnomes, as a statement on his independence from the Beatles.

30/12/2021

30/12/2021

Grand Funk Railroad released their 2nd LP "Grand Funk" on Dec. 29, 1969. The album is also known as "The Red Album."

In making this record, the band and the producers concentrated more on Mark Farner's guitar because of the imbalance the band achieved on their first album "On Time". They felt that the bass was to upfront. This led to the unofficial name of "The Red Album", as the guitar track, which was marked red in the studio, was turned up. This was reflected on the red cover art.

The inside spread photograph of the trio, for the original album release, was used for the now infamous, $100,000, block-long and several stories high, New York City's Times Square billboard ad for the album Closer To Home.

When you first heard this record, did you like it better, about the same or less than their first album "On Time"?

Happy 52nd Birthday to the LP "Grand Funk (The Red Album)"!! Yep, 52 years ago today.

26/12/2021

Interesting!

Today is a really important day in Rock and Roll History. Well this day 53 years ago..

Carmine Appice, Vince Martell, Tim Bogert & Mark Stein, who together are known as Vanilla Fudge made one of the greatest decision in the history of American Rock and Roll….

Vanilla Fudge was scheduled to play a concert in Denver on Dec. 26, 1968. Spirit was the opening band. The show was sold out days before when the concert promoter, Barry Fey got a call from VF's agent. He wanted to put another band on the bill. Fey saw no reason to spend more money on a sold out show so he said no. The agent persisted and finally told Fey that Vanilla Fudge would pay half of the bands fee of $1500.00.

Fey decided that there must be a reason for VF to pay $750.00 so he said yes.

That show, on Dec. 26, 1968, saw the very first US performance of Led Zeppelin. Courtesy of Vanilla Fudge.

A local newspaper did a review of the concert a couple of days later. Here is what they said out Zeppelin:

"Blues oriented (although not a blues band), hyped electric, the full routine in mainstream rock – done powerfully, gutsily, unifiedly, inventively and swingingly by the end of their set.

Singer Robert Plant – a cut above average in style, but no special appeal in sound. Guitarist Jimmy Page of Yardbirds fame – exceptionally fine. Used a violin bow on the guitar strings in a couple of tunes with resultant interesting, well integrated effects.
Bassist John Paul Jones – solid, involved, contributing. John Bonham – a very effective drummer, but uninventive, unsubtle and unclimactic, just an uneventful solo."

53 years ago today, Led Zeppelin played their first in the US. thanks to Vanilla Fudge.

The staff and faculty here at The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge think it was a pretty important day.

17/12/2021

13/12/2021

The Rolling Stones created an event / party on Dec. 11, 1968. They filmed it and called it "The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus." The event comprised of two concerts on a circus stage and included such acts as The Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and Jethro Tull. Also, John Lennon and his fiancee Yoko Ono performed as part of a supergroup called the Dirty Mac, along with Eric Clapton, Mitch Mitchell, and Keith Richards.

The original line up was going to be the Faces, the Rolling Stones and the Who, and the concept of a circus was first thought up between Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane and was originally meant to be aired on the BBC.

It was filmed but the Rolling Stones withheld it. The Stones contended they did so due to their substandard performance, because they had taken the stage early in the morning and were clearly exhausted. In other words, they didn't think that their performance was very good.

Many others believe that the true reason for not releasing the video was that The Who, who were fresh off a concert tour, upstaged the Stones on their own production. (Led Zeppelin was also originally considered for the show but it never worked out.)

The film was finally released in 1998. The picture here is of Jethro Tull. If you will notice, their guitar played is Tony Iommi who would soon be part of Black Sabbath. Tony only played with Tull for a very short time.

How many of you have ever seen this film shot 53 years ago today?

Oh for that way back machine......

(For the next few days, The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge will be adding this on to all of our posts. With the Holiday season rapidly coming upon us, we would like to invite you to visit our 'store' where we have a number of different t-shirts, hoodies and kids (including babies) items for the perfect Holiday gift. Please click on the 'Shop Now' button on the right side of our home page. Thanks)

12/12/2021

This band deserves your attention!

After a lot of time in and out of the studio, and a lot of money haha, "Clichés & Contraband" is finally done! With this being our debut EP, it's like a snapshot of where we were as a band, at the time we recorded it. We're all really proud of what we've done on this EP, and Jamie King did an amazi...

07/11/2021

Gotta get this one!

** NEW RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENT **

Ok everybody, me and the rest of the guys in Shakey, are stoked to be able to let all of you know..... that the release date of our debut EP has FINALLY been set, and is right around the corner! Ladies....and dudes haha, as of right now, "Clichés & Contraband" is set to be released on Saturday, December 11th, 2021, and will be available on ALL streaming platforms! Now, doing all of the work that goes into making an EP, like recording all of the tunes and figuring out what the cover art should be, has been a very long and stressful process for us, but being able to finally get our music into the hands and homes of our fans and people that love rock n roll, absolutely and without a doubt makes every bit of it, f*cking worth it! And we thank you all! Stay Shakey!🤙

10/10/2021

Happy Birthday John, October 09, 1940, December 08, 1980

06/10/2021

amazing Charlie ❤

05/10/2021

David Bowie’s lost 2001 album "Toy," which was shelved amid problems with his record label, will receive its first official release next year as part of the late singer’s latest reissue campaign.