Rock School

"This week back in 2007 Sammy Hagar sold an 80 percent stake in his Cabo Wabo tequila for $80 million. Since then it seems every musician or band has their own line of booze. Here is a good long list and where you can buy it."

"We all know the stories of the Beatles, Doors, Dylan and Stones on Ed Sullivan. However, there are a few more good stories you might find interesting. They are not as big at the main stories, but interesting nonetheless."

"A story about the Payola Hearings came up in a music history feed and it occurred to me that we have never done a show on Payola. It is a rather interesting story of companies acting in their own interest with the backing of the government. You may think Payola is bad but I believe I can change your mind."

"At the time of this recording, President Trump has paused the Tariffs but for China. Even so, the tariffs will have a marked effect on the cost of almost everything dealing with music including instruments to records to touring to streaming."

"Tool was just roundly booed off the stage at their own festival. Seems they promised two separate sets over two night and did not deliver. But it is not just them. You will not believe some other bands who were booed off stage as well."

"There are a lot of songs that have famous people in their titles. We wanted to know who some of the lesser known people named in titles are. The internet did not disappoint. We have a good long list."

"We hit a thread that listed some songs that were written for revenge. A single Google Search later and we had a good long list. And it is not just Taylor Swift."

"It seems that lately that are more plane crashes and close calls than we have had in a while. There are many stories of musicians dying in plane crashes but what we have here are stories of survival over multiple crashes and air mishaps."

"This is something we should keep a good eye on. In an effort to become a leading force in AI the government in the UK is strongly considering rewriting their copyright laws to allow all copyrighted material including music to be offered fully to all AI companies. I know it sounds fake but it is not."

"Brian Setzer of the Stray Cats announced he is dealing with an unnamed autoimmune disease that has taken his ability to play guitar. This is certainly not the first time something like this has happened. We have a list of musicians who are in a battle that has taken away their ability to play."

"Fred Durst and the members of Limp Bizkit have brought a rather substantial lawsuit against their record company for unpaid royalties. I know it is Limp Bizkit but the suit goes back to before streaming to when artists had lousy deals and if it is upheld in court, could lay bare much of what was going on in the 90s."

"It seems impossible that a judge in Brazil could stop streaming services worldwide from playing a song due to a copyright concern. That is what is happening now to Adele. If other countries stand by the injunction then it could have a rather wide ranging concerns."

"I wrote a book. It is titled We Will Try and Get That On For You. My Life in Personality Radio. It is a memoir of radio in the 80s and 90s when I did it for real. In this show we will tell you where you can get it and play some excerpts from the Audible audio version."

"The LA Wildfires have devastated multiple communities. The number of not only musicians but producers and orchestras and studios and engineers affected is vast. There are some big names but mainly those who simply made their living in music. We will talk about it and how you can help if you wish."

"If you use Spotify then you know it gives you a year end rundown of the songs you most listened to. It is called Spotify Wrapped and it is more than just a nice way of saying you are being tracked. It is a successful marketing ploy."

"January 1 was the 2025 Public Domain Day but it goes a bit further. It is not only those works of art that are from 1929. This year the Digital Millennium Act went into effect so other years came into the Public Domain. We will explain."

"The US will inaugurate a new president come January 20. We went back as far as we could to get audio and found who performed at each of the Inaugurations. Plus we play a game. Who did the president defeat in the vote and who was his Vice President. See how you do."

"This is our second show celebrating the anniversaries you'll hear about during 2025. Throughout the show we will have some predictions about music from websites and a few from the Rock School hosts."

"Welcome to 2025! Here is the first of two shows where we look at many of the big music anniversaries of the year ahead."

"Every year we take the last full week of the year and offer a tip of the hat and a raise of the glass to those in the music world who left us. Here are the names from 2024."