Rare & Scratchy Rock 'N Roll Podcast

This episode pays tribute to Little Richard, one of rock and roll’s most flamboyant pioneers and pop icons. Best known for his many 1950s hits, he continued to chart for four decades. We’ll sample all of his hit singles, the original versions by other artists that he emulated, and the hit 45 rpm remakes of his songs by other singers. Plus, his hit singles with Jimi Hendrix, Billy Preston, Quincy Jones, Canned Heat, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Philip Bailey, and the Beach Boys.

This episode pays tribute to Buddy Holly, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson & Ritchie Valens whose tragic deaths in a plane crash occurred on February 3rd, 1959. It’s been called the day the music died. We believe the best way to honor them is to reconstruct, as much as we can, the set-list they and the other artists – Frankie Sardo, as well as Dion & The Belmonts, performed with them at their final concert in Clear Lake, Iowa the previous night – February 2nd.

This episode spotlights 40 lost hits from 1976. These include top 40 tunes radio stations no longer play – by major artists such as Stevie Wonder, the Electric Light Orchestra, Elton John, and the Beach Boys, among others. We’ll salute a legendary disco star who was also an acclaimed painter. We’ll also reveal another disco diva, who left nothing to the imagination in her other profession as a pornographic pictures star. And we'll feature the only Top 10 tune ever about a dog during the rock and roll

This episode spotlights 58 rock, pop, rhythm and blues, soul, jazz, and country radio disc jockeys who not only played the hits, but also made their own. We’ll salute some of the stations those DJs were on, with a few soundbites of their shows and jingles. We’ll remember two DJ’s from a legendary Memphis station whose collective total of hit singles reached nearly 100. And the Virginia DJ with more hit singles than any other DJ ever. Plus, the first radio DJ ever to have a hit record.

This episode spotlights the movie career of Elvis Presley. The King Of Rock & Roll also was the king of rock stars on the silver screen. He acted in 31 features and starred in two concert films between 1956 and 1972 – or a total of 33 movies – more than any rock star in history. They generated 38 hit singles. We’ll sample them all. we’ll also have some fascinating factoids about Elvis Presley’s “filmography" and the original versions his movie songs by other artists.

In the early 1960s top-40 radio was wild and woolly, and no DJs were wilder and woolier than Johnny Lizard and Al Fresco, two top jocks on the imaginary station, W-O-R-M, otherwise known as “Wonderful WORM.” In what is actually a continuation of Rare & Scratchy Rock ‘N Roll shows 10 and 15, we’ll reintroduce you to Mr. Lizard and crew and let you hear what top-40 might have sounded like in 1962 if things got really out of control.

It's Christmas with the Beatles and Elvis Presley. We'll sample all the Christmas songs about them plus the annual holiday messages the Beatles sent to their fans from 1963 to 1969, including one with the only guest star performer ever to be featured as a vocalist on a Fab Four recording. We've also got snippets of Christmas songs by the Beatles individually and collectively and all of Presley's hit Christmas singles.

This episode pays tribute to rock and roll royalty – emperors, kings, queens, princes, pharaohs, khans, and even a sheik, as well as other similarly named sovereigns who all ruled positions on the rock singles chart. We’ll also present the pop music potentates who also were imperial or royal. They’re joined on our regal roll call by numerous nobility such as dukes, earls, counts, viscounts, lords, ladies, and knights, whose quests for a Top 100 hit were successful.

This episode spotlights 40 lost hits from 1968 – that we found in our “Rare & Scratchy Rock ‘N Roll” groove yard. These are top 40 tunes radio stations no longer play. They’re by major artists such as the Bee Gees, Credence Clearwater Revival, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Donovan, and Elvis Presley, just to name a few. And we'll hear from the real-life family that inspired the fictional Partridge Family television show. Plus, a band that just might have been the first heavy metal recording arti

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This is part one of a two-part salute to Connie Francis, the most commercially successful female rock and pop singer of all-time. Her recordings have sold more than 200 million copies world-wide. We’ll track her complete U.S. singles history, along with the original versions by other artists that inspired her hit renditions. We’ll also include some of her foreign language hits, too. Our resident rockologist Ken Deutsch interviewed her for this series, and she has some delightful stories to share.

You never would’ve heard all the great hits you grew up with if it weren’t for your favorite local top-40 radio stations, and your favorite local DJs. We’ll flog your memory banks with some of the jocks and jingles that made your particular top-40 station so memorable. And we'll interview two of the big air talents who played the hits back in the day – Bob Sirott and – Al Mitchell.

This episode spotlights the career of a gifted singer, songwriter, studio musician, record producer, radio disc jockey, record company owner, and front man for a for a famed funk and soul band. He told us to get up and dance, get along with each other, and take pride in ourselves. We’ll track his trajectory from child prodigy Sylvester Stewart to superstar Sly Stone – along with every hit single by Sly & The Family Stone.

This episode salutes dozens of folk singers who had hit 45s between 1950 and 1975 – the era of the folk music craze. Some acts charted with traditional tunes passed down from past generations. Others sang new compositions or tunes from entirely different genres – just masquerading as folk songs. We’ll spotlight a ground-breaking, early 1960s television folk music series whose title was coined by a singer/songwriter the producers banned from the show. Plus you'll hear many hits with surprising histori

This episode pays tribute to 82 multi-talented actors and actresses who also had hit records. Our honorees in this podcast all played a role on the rock, pop, country, or bluegrass hit music charts after they made their names in Hollywood movies and TV shows. Our cast includes movie and television tough guys, lovely leading ladies, precocious adolescents, talented teens, and comedians who could seriously sing. And we’ll identify the first actor to become a rock and roll superstar.