← Behind The Song: Classic Rock Chronicles
Behind The Song: Classic Rock Chronicles
The Classic Rock Songs That Shaped Janda's Formative Years
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- [00:00]
Buzz Knight
I'm Buzz Knight and I'm the host of the Taking a Walk podcast with Monterey Pop. I think it was just, you know, John Phillips from the Mom Pop is a good friend of mine. As a fellow folk singer, I talk.
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Janda
With industry insiders, authors, and musicians of.
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Buzz Knight
All music genres, from new and up.
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Janda
And comers to legendary hall of Famers. It cost me a gazillion dollars to have the Boston Pops practicing in the ballroom of the four Seasons.
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Buzz Knight
It didn't matter.
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Janda
I beat Luther Vandross.
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Buzz Knight
Listen to Taking a walk on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're not listening to We Fixed it, you're welcome. Then why are we fixing all these companies?
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Janda
I just think they need to do a better job at marketing what they already have. That's where I'm saying, like, oh, this seems like a weird time to be doing this.
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Buzz Knight
You said that was in 2008. The economy is very different.
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Janda
That tactic has worked and we've seen it before. That's what I might do because I want to help them.
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Buzz Knight
If you could fix the world's biggest companies, what would you do? Get your fix before season two drops this summer. Wherever you listen to podcasts. We Fixed it. You're welcome.
- [01:03]
Janda
Welcome to the behind the Song podcast, taking you deeper into classic rock's most timeless tunes. Here's your host, Janda. I'm Janda here for another bonus round of the behind the Song podcast. You know, I didn't grow up, unfortunately, in the 60s or 70s, obviously, but I do love this music, much of which was created and produced during that time frame. And so I thought it would be fun for this bonus episode to kind of go through a list of songs that really penetrated my brain as a teenager and set me off on this path with this fanaticism for classic rock songs. So that's what this episode's about. First up, I'm gonna go with the Rolling Stones and the song 19th Nervous Breakdown. I had the Hot Rocks compilation on cassette, and I literally played it until it was worn thin. This whole compilation for me was mind blowing and eye opening. It's a time capsule for the Rolling Stones in their formative years. And this song, 19th Nervous Breakdown, and others on the Hot Rocks compilation, was certainly formative for me because it opened a door that I didn't know had a room behind it, if you will. It was dangerous. It sounded a little messy to me, but I understood it. You know what I mean? Like, I heard this song and paint it Black. And it gave me the sense that rock and roll was a big place. Even if there are only just a few chords, it was a big place. And some of those places are darkened alleyways and dangerous streets. So I was all for that. Sitting in my room listening to my boombox with my cassette of Hot rocks. And so, yeah, The Rolling Stones, 19th nervous breakdown especially. It was like a flag waving on a hill. And I came when called. I don't know what that says about me, but I do love it. And I thank the Rolling Stones very much for having such rich material and having such a rich body of work, especially that early stuff. I love that stuff from the 60s. And I also loved the Doors. I actually don't know anyone that I am close friends with that didn't go through a Doors period in their teenage years. There was something about Jim Morrison and that dangerous appeal that he had as a rock star. And then the music, of course, was fantastic. I mean, I read the books. I had a dog eared copy of no One Here Gets Out Alive. I think Jim Morrison thought that he had all the answers. And at that time in your life, when you were a teenager, you think you have all the answers too. So he was speaking directly to me and to other people like me growing up listening to rock records. He became a little sort of godhead, if you will. Never mind that the Doors had ceased to be a going concern for at least a couple of decades before I got ahold of them. Didn't matter. And then when the movie came out, that was like Peak Jan to Adolescence with Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison. I thought it was fantastic. Went to see it in the theater three times. Something about the Doors, I think, will always appeal to an adolescent mind. There's the rebellion, there's that sort of self sanctified feeling of righteousness, you know, in Jim Morrison that most of us grow out of, but is certainly there when we're teenagers. So for me, the song was Break on through to the Other side. Break on through to the other side. Break on through to the other side. It sounds like there's a rumble about to happen or like a wave is about to crash. Either way, I was ready to run with the bulls. So the Doors Break on through to the Other side definitely makes my list of songs that got right in there in my head as a teenager and helped shape this fandom that I have had a lifelong relationship with. Similarly, Cream, the band Cream. I loved the Goodbye album. I loved Disraeli, Gears 2. But the goodbye album has the song Badge on it, which was probably my favorite and one of the most played songs when I finally got my license and could drive. It is a great driving song and I love the lyrics. I told you that the light goes up and down. Don't you notice how the wheel goes round? And you better pick yourself up from the ground before they bring the curtain down. Now When I was 16 I didn't know what any of that meant, but it was a great groove by a fantastic if short lived band and it was important to me. Badge by Cream and then there's Janice. There's some incredible TV coming out of the UK right now. Brits just do it differently. The accents, the wit, the scenery, the devastating one liners disguised as compliments. It's all streaming on Britbox. They have the best mysteries, dramas, comedies and seriously addicting originals like Outrageous. Based on the true story of the Mitford sisters. They were kind of like the Kardashians of the 1930s. Wealthy, audacious, chaotic, wildly opinionated and always making headlines. And chances are you've never heard their story. It's stunning, it's jaw dropping, it's very British. So check out Outrageous. It could be your next favorite. Don't miss Outrageous Streaming now only on Britbox.
- [07:10]
Buzz Knight
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Janda
Available at pockethose.com terms Janis Joplin was Probably the most important singer for me growing up. The first time I ever heard her sing, me and Bobby McGee, I remember just standing there like, what is this? I had never heard anything like it. Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose. Nothing. Her voice was so emotive. She had such emotion in her. I do think that Janis Joplin probably had some mental issues. I mean, it's pretty well documented. If she was around today, they would have probably medicated. Janice. But she did that herself, unfortunately, which led to her early demise. But the woman had just this range and a peculiar voice. And if you read her biography, you kind of understand where some of that came from. She was so insecure. But when she opened her mouth to sing, it was like, from another world. Yeah, Janis Joplin. And of course, she didn't write me and Bobby McGee. That was Kris Kristofferson. But she's an example of someone who could take another person's material and absolutely embody it, own it, sell it, make it sound like something that she had been singing since, you know, she came to earth. So, yeah, what a sad song. And I think for her, a song that she could relate to so well because her life was an endless string of lovers. You know, nobody ever stuck around for too long with Janis, or vice versa. What a voice. I love Janis Joplin. Still do. Next up on the list is a song and an artist that I have to be grateful that I have older sisters for, because it was my sister Penny who first played the loadout into Stay by Jackson Brown from the Running On MT album. This song in particular, I can remember riding up and down the roads with her and just belting out this song. And then she kind of explaining to me that it was from a roadie's point of view, which I had no idea what a roadie was at that point, but then I kind of got it. Oh, you know, there's the band and then there's the people that go around with the band and get them set up and get them on to the next town and that kind of thing. So it began to paint a picture in my mind of something that wasn't just an intangible thing, music, but people and places that go along with it and how it could be a job. Jackson Brown, I think, definitely one of our better songwriters. I just love this song, and I love how it's an into song going right into Stay, an inspired choice. That one's stuck with me all my life. Same with Night Moves by Bob Seger. Now At a certain point when I was in high school, my older sister Penny went to college in the western part of the state at Western Carolina University in North Carolina, which is where I grew up. And I can remember visiting her there in the summers. And at one point she had the Night Moves album in her car. And, man, there's nothing like hearing that song anywhere you are. It does what Bob Seger does best, which is sit down on memories and emotions. You know, he has that relatability in just about all of his songs. But there's something about when you're, you know, 15, 16 years old, you're riding around with your sister, winding around the mountainside while Night Moves is playing in the car at full blast and the backup singers come in and the sun starts to go down and you just feel so alive. And even though you're just a kid, you understood that these are the moments that he's talking about, right? These memories. I understood that a memory was being made there. I didn't know I'd be talking about it here these many years later. But that's what music does. It'll take you in places that you didn't expect to go to. And so thanks, Bob Seger for Night Moves. I can't be the only person for whom that song triggers a memory because it's just that kind of a song. I'm going Back to the 60s now for Zeppelin and Communication Breakdown. Communication Breakdown, it's always the same. Now for my Led Zeppelin fandom, I have to thank my cousin Jimmy, who was the first guy I knew that had all the records, Zeppelin, Rush, the whole. In fact, I can remember being a little kid and looking at this, you know, Led Zeppelin debut and reading the band title. I was probably like 10 years old or something and I thought that it said Led Zeppelin. And my cousin Jimmy let me think that that was the correct pronunciation for the band until I figured out that he was making fun of me. And it must have been hilarious to have this little 10 year old kid running around talking about how much she loved Led Zeppelin. But yeah, Communication Breakdown. For me, this was the song where I can remember feeling like complete electricity was enveloping my entire body when I heard this song. I couldn't dig it any harder than I did. I think I've mentioned it before in this podcast. There's a part of our brains that scientists call the reptile brain that responds to things in a very animalistic way. That was my response to Communication Breakdown by Led Zeppelin. I still feel that way about it. It still Feels like a personal riot to me, and I'm here for it. I'm always here for Communication Breakdown. On the flip side of their debut album is one of my other favorite songs from Led Zeppelin, your Time Is Gonna Come. I absolutely love that song for a completely different reason. And that's the great thing about music. That song, your Time Is Going to Come. It doesn't do all that thunder and lightning into the brain like Communication Breakdown does. But it is a visceral song on a completely different level. And I will always love that one, too. Love the whole first Led Zeppelin album. In fact, I love the first four Led Zeppelin albums to death. Could listen to them anytime. Next up on the list is Crosby, Stills and Nash from their debut, the one where they're sitting on the couch on the COVID I'm going with the song Helplessly Hoping. Because that is just such a beautiful, beautiful song. Beautiful harmonies. Just one of the greatest singing groups and songwriters and players all together in rock history. Now, I didn't know that when I first stumbled upon their debut album when I was like 16 or 17 years old, but I knew that it was something special. I mean, you got this. You've got the song Wooden Ships, which is another one of my absolute favorites from Crosby, Stills and Nash. And of course, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes, which is an absolute masterpiece. As I'm going through this list, it is kind of standing out to me that all of the albums and songs that I've talked about are Stone classics. And there's tons of albums like this in classic rock. These are just the ones that centered my brain around the idea that this was a special time and place for music. I think Crosby, Stills and Nash let me know that it was all right to like pretty music. You know, like, at this point, I'm 16, 17 years old. I have establish that I'm going to be a rock fan. I know that. But a lot of the songs, you know, they're rockers for the most part. And then you have Crosby, Stills and Nash with this really vulnerable music and these absolutely gorgeous harmonies. Helplessly hoping her harlequin hovers nearby. I mean, come on, forget about it. And then on the flip side, first album I ever bought with my own money, Heartbeat City by the Cars, and the song Magic. I absolutely love this song. The layers of sound, you know, that the Cars were able to do and pull off in a pop way that was new wave. And you responded to the lyrics, but they weren't banging you over the head. You don't really listen to the Cars music for the lyrics so much, you listen to it for the sonic package. And that was by design. They were, by and large, a studio band. That's why the records sounded so great. Their debut album, one of the best debuts of all time in any genre, I would say. And of course, Heartbeat City came along a few albums later. Big deal for me. I'll never forget handing over my money at the counter at Cats Music, which was the record store I was in, and getting my copy on cassette of Heartbeat City and then taking that home and listening to it. I was again around 10 or 11 when I got this album. I absolutely devoured it. That's what these albums were intended to do, you know, like you were intended to sit around, look at the liner notes, look at the pictures, read every little scrap that you could about these bands. The Cars, Ric Ocasek, Ben Orr. Just absolute geniuses. Heartbeat City is probably not their best album, okay? But I absolutely love it because for me, it was my first possession. Not a hand Me down album or anything like that. It was something that I set out to buy and did and had. And now, if I could count all the albums that I bought since then, I wonder sometimes exactly how much money I've spent on albums. I actually don't want to know. And I'd rather have the records anyway, so whatever, okay, last on the list, but also first on the list, always, for me. If you've been following this podcast, then you know I'm a huge David Bowie fan. If you thought we were going to get out of this without David Bowie making an appearance, no, we aren't by any means. Huge song for me. Life on Mars from Hunky Dory. Now, I gotta tell you, the first time I ever heard this song, I didn't hear it. I watched the video on Night Flight. You know the video I'm talking about? Mick Rock shot it. The white background, the big Aladdin saying Ziggy Stardust, orange hair, the. The pale blue suit, the makeup, the tie, the whole look, it just was so wild and so stark because it was only Bowie. And I was absolutely mesmerized. That set me off on the entire David Bowie thing. That video shot by Mick Rock for Life on Mars. I love the song and I love Hunky Dory. Hunky Dory is in my top three David Bowie albums. But that song and the video for that song, again, the video is so important because it kind of is a little masterpiece in and of itself. An exercise in simplicity, I guess. But having access to see that via Night Flight Where I grew up was so important because it let me know that there were other people out there I could relate to. That felt a little bit different. And I just thought it was beautiful, you know what I mean? Like, I thought that David Bowie looked beautiful. I can't remember how old I was exactly when I first saw Life on Mars in that video on Night Flight. I gotta think it was somewhere around 12 or 13 years old. I can picture it now. The shag carpet, the big Zenith TV set, and then me sitting there like, what is this? And being so convinced that I had found a secret door into a room that I didn't know existed. Kind of like the Stones at the top of this list. Super important. Super important. These songs, if they're important to you, then they'll stick with you throughout your life. And of course, this is just scratching the surface, but all of these songs in this list did something to my brain, did something to me on the inside, changed me into the person I think that I was always going to become. But these songs were a pathway that helped me get there. So there you go, for whatever it's worth. The songs of my formative years. Or at least a few of them. Of course there's more, but these stood out and still do. So are any of these songs on your list of songs that really got in there in your formative years, too? If not, drop me a note in the comments and let me know what your songs are. I'm always curious, curious about this stuff. This is 100% why I do this, because I'm just a fan of the music and I like to hear about it and I like to talk about it and I like to be near it and be around it, and it's important. So obviously you think it's important too, or else you wouldn't be here. So, once again, thanks for watching this bonus episode of behind the Song and on the Way, much more classic rock and roll.