Let's Talk About Rock

In celebration of Metallica celebrating 40 years as a band, Vinnie chronicles their musical evolution over the course of their 10 studio albums, as well as behind the scenes hardship, tragedy and struggles with a devoted fanbase cementing their status in pop culture. 

After Don Everly's passing on August 21, 2021 joining his brother Phil Everly in rock and roll heaven, Vinnie gives a summarized history of the original fighting rock and roll brother duo the Everly Brothers from their musical back story to their success in the 1950's, faltering success in the 60's, and their ugly breakup in the 70's all the way up to their modern reunion and resurgence in the 1980's as a rock and roll force to be reckoned with preserving their legacies all the way up until Phil's death in 2014 and Don's recent death respectively.

Vinnie heads on down to the 1990's California ska punk scene to discuss one of the most iconic bands of that era Sublime, looking into the history of the band and singer Bradley Nowell's futile struggles with addiction leading to his passing too soon at the age of 28 from a heroin overdose before Sublime could become a huge success with their self titled 3rd album and how the members of Sublime have carried on their fallen singer's legacy over the past 25 years including with the reincarnation of Sublime called Sublime with Rome.

One of heavy metal's iconic legends, Vinnie delves into Ronnie James Dio's life story, talking about the origins of the horns sign, to his musical roots, leading to his stints in Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Dio discussing his stints in those bands and his legacy in the metal world. 

50 years after the loss of iconic singer Jim Morrison (1943-1971) at the age of 27, Vinnie talks about the life of Jim Morrison and the history of the Doors discussing the making of their albums, their many controversial concerts, and all the Lizard King antics you can name.

Continuing where the podcast left off last year with AC/DC, Vinnie talks about the band's history over the last 40 years with Brian Johnson as singer leading up to the release of their most recent record PWR/UP. 

For Let's Talk About Rock's 75th episode, Vinnie goes heavy metal this pride month by talking about LGBTQ+ metal icon Rob Halford and of course the band he sings with, Judas Priest who have been around for 5 decades influencing many heavy metal bands over the years and continues to this day, making their mark in rock history with timeless albums like British Steel and Screaming for Vengeance. 

Given Bob Dylan's long legacy in rock and folk music, Vinnie talks about Bob Dylan one more time going through some of Bob Dylan's discography and ventures from 1981-present as well as how he preserved his legacy during this time frame with his Bootleg Series alongside other iconic box sets, his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Presidential Medal of Freedom and Nobel Prize for Literature. 

Bob Dylan's legacy over the course of his 80 years on this planet, it was not enough to fit into one episode so Vinnie talks more about Bob Dylan starting from his recovering from his motorcycle accident to this resurgence to popularity with albums like Blood on the Tracks and songs like Knockin' on Heaven's Door, Tangled Up in Blue and Hurricane, all the way up to him becoming a born-again Christian releasing 3 Christian albums between 1979 and 1981 starting with the most notably one of those Slow Train Coming from 1979 with the hit song Gotta Serve Somebody. Eventually, he went back to secular music. 

To celebrate the 80th birthday of folk legend Bob Dylan, Vinnie goes into detail about Bob Dylan's musical history focusing on his first seven albums between 1962 & 66, his prominence in the Civil Rights Movement, going electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival and more. So much to cover, we had to split into multiple parts. 

On Wednesday, May 12, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced their inductees for 2021 in the Performer Category, Early Influences, the Ahmet Ertegun Award, and The Award for Musical Excellence. Vinnie talks a brief summary of who got in, and who didn't. 

For Let's Talk About Rock's 70th episode, Vinnie goes to the Sunset Strip once again to talk about the rise of the band Ratt and some of the greatest music they ever put up, their wild rock and roll lifestyle, and some of the behind the scenes on again off again tension that has plagued them from the beginning and their eventual reconciliation. 

Vinnie talks about Jamaica legend Bob Marley and his slow rise to prominence as a rock and reggae legend and Jamaican icon and how his legacy has been kept alive after nearly 40 years after his untimely death from skin cancer in 1981 at the young age of 36. 

Vinnie talks about another big band from the Seattle music scene named Pearl Jam chronicling their long history spanning more than 30 years as a band focusing on their discography, their touring, their ups and downs including their feud with Ticketmaster, the tragedy at the Rokslide Festival, their political activism, and the live shows that they do and having their concerts available to their fans.  

Vinnie looks at another great grunge band from Seattle named Alice in Chains focusing on their long career starting with original singer Layne Staley's backstory and his early bands including glam bands Sleze, (later Alice N' Chains) before eventually forming Alice in Chains with Jerry Cantrell, Mike Starr (replaced later by Mike Inez) and Sean Kinney where they would skyrocket to commercial success.  After Layne Staley's tragic death from a speedball overdose, Alice in Chains have been continuing Layne's legacy with William Duvall with live shows and albums that still sound great. 

27 years after Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain took his own life at the age of 27, Vinnie looks at his troubled past, and the history of Nirvana, one of the biggest bands of the early 1990's that changed rock music forever with their heavy edgy sound from the Seattle grunge scene skyrocketing the Seattle sound to the mainstream. 

Before Grunge became mainstream, before Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains, there was a huge underground cult following in Seattle originating with hardcore punk rock groups like Solger, the Fartz and 10 Minute Warning which led to bands adopting a rawer edgier sound for early grunge bands like Green River, the U-Men, the Melvins, Skin Yard, Tad, Screaming Trees, Malfunkshun, Mudhoney, and most notably, Soundgarden and Vinnie discusses those bands that helped shape grunge's sound in the 1980's and would be further cemented by the Deep Six compilation by C/Z Records and the founding of Sub Pop Records. Vinnie talks about many the early grunge bands leading all the way up the short lived supergroup Mother Love Bone whose potential came to a screeching halt with the untimely death of Andrew Wood. These early grunge groups may not be that well known, but they played a significant impact in how grunge began and how they paved the way for bigger bands like Nirvana, Alice and Chains, Pearl Jam and the continued smash success of Soundgarden, plus the influx of similar grunge-inspired bands all over the world. 

Poison is one of the most popular stadium bands of all time so Vinnie decided to delve into the long history of Poison going all the way back to their roots in Mechanicsburg and their slow rise to the top in the LA scene before becoming one of the biggest bands of the 1980's hair metal scene that is still drawing thousands of concertgoers to this day. 

For Women's History Month, Vinnie decides to talk about a legendary woman of psychedelia that was cut short from a life of drug addiction Janis Joplin. He talks about her troubled life growing up, her rise to superstardom as a countercultural icon and legend of rock music with groups like Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Kosmic Blues Band and the Full Tilt Boogie Band and concluding with her unexpected demise putting her in the infamous 27 club. 

To wrap up Black History Month, Vinnie gives a general summary of the Godmother of Rock and Roll, Sister Rosetta Tharpe's life and why her often sadly forgotten legacy still lives on as a huge influence on not just the gospel genre but the rock genre as well influencing early rock and rollers like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.