Rob Nichols

This particular podcast episode found its inspiration in one of the Spotify-exclusive Rock Pop and Roll Radio Shows that we’ve made. They live on Spotify and were created to give me a chance to make an old-school radio show. Listen for 90 minutes to one and hear stories plus the whole song, something we don’t do on the podcast. A callback to the great radio of the 70’s and 80’s.   I was working on a podcast about Minneapolis roots rock/heartland rock bands and how they were oddly influential in the 1980’s musical landscape.  Then I remembered this Prince Spotify radio … Read more

Take a minute to think about Joan Jett.  More than one song.  More than just “I Love Rock and Roll”, as great as that radio song is.  She’s called “The Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll” and “The Godmother of Punk.”   Let’s think about the rock and roll in her catalog and the influences she ultimately passed along.  In the podcast, we talk about her career and how – somehow – she’s may even be a bit undervalued as one of the rock and roll greats. Jett’s self-titled solo debut was released in Europe in 1980. In the US,  the is … Read more

The continuing story of the the echoing Influence of Tom Petty…and how Mike Campbell has taken that influence and made some magic. I hear lots of bands than dig for that bit of Petty magic within their sound. The Wild Feathers.  American Aquarium. Turnpike Troubadours. Eddie Vedder. Cody Canada. Band of Heathens.  Petty left us too early.  His influence has stayed.  I thought it would but you never know.  Some artists just have louder echoes.  And now, Heartbeakers guitarist and his band, Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs, have an album out  – released in early 2022 called External Combustion. Petty … Read more

On the weekend we recorded this, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins died. He was 50.   People are fans.  We aren’t friends.  If it feels awful or heart wrenching to fans, know his friends feel it harder and bigger and sadder. I’m a superfan of what the Foo Fighters represent. The fervor of how they play rock and roll. The satisfaction and pride they seem to feel when they are doing what they do. The Spirit of the Foo Fighters.  What he brought to them.  The fun.  The wow.  The fanboy love of rock and roll, played in the pocket … Read more

Georgia Satellites are owners of one fluke hit from their self-titled debut album – a Chuck Berry-ish throwback-for-the-80s radio.  One song amidst their bucket of barroom rockers.  Those songs don’t come around Top 40 too often anymore.  The “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” or “Jealous Again” type of songs are outliers.  So is “Keep Your Hands to Yourself”.  It rocketed all the way to #2 on the top 40 singles chart in early 1987.  Bon Jovi kept them out of the top spot with “Livin’ on a Prayer”. And why do I still think about the band?  They really weren’t anything … Read more

Huey Lewis and the News  A bar band is a good thing anyway, right?  That means they cut their chops live and can make a crowd – big or small – happy. RN Huey Lewis and the News were a bar band that was better than a bar band. That’s such a lazy way to describe a band anyway.  A bar band is a good thing anyway, right?  That means they cut their chops live and can make a crowd – big or small – happy. Lewis and the band just happened to have the songs, the performance chops, and … Read more

Let’s do a little Jackson Browne history: Browne wrote several songs for Nitty Gritty Dirt Band early on – he was briefly a member in 1966 before they were signed. He co-wrote the first Billboard Top 40 hit for the Eagles  in 1972 with “Take It Easy”. Browne released his debut album in 1972, which had one Top 40 hit, “Doctor, My Eyes” (#8) and another that should have been “Rock Me on the Water” (#48) With his third album, Late for the Sky, he reached number 14 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and earned a Grammy nomination for … Read more

With this episode, we’re cranking the power pop sound. A lot of bands fit this genre so the episode is a teaser – a primer if you will. Not everything that ever happened, but a taste of that sound. Some history, some not-so-talked about bands, and the roar of guitars bashing, sugared harmonies, and cracking drums.  We dive into some rocking rabbit holes to talk about bands and artists, and hear throwbacks to the sounds of many, including Marshall Crenshaw, Rockpile, Phil Seymour, and Donnie Iris. Cheap Trick may be the biggest of the genre, still doing their thing, playing … Read more

Who was the best and biggest and most consistent rock band of the 1980s?  That’s a question that was banging around my head.  I have a winner.  And you aren’t going to like it. Or maybe you will.   I was thinking about who truly, really was the kings of rock and roll bands of the 1980s and I can’t say no to u2.  Springsteen and the E St. Band Right are up there, but The River was 1979. Then it was Nebraska.  So Bruce is really one band album in the decade.  Petty?  Always solid.  Prince?  I mean, he had … Read more

It is the curious case of The Romantics. Detroit rockers worth another listen. 60s garage rock.  Pop punk.  Ear worms for those who like hard candy. Detroit attitude. The group’s debut was a 1978 single “Little White Lies on Spider Records,  followed that year by the Bomp! single “Tell It to Carrie”.  Here’s what you know for sure about the Romantics: “What I Like About You”. 
 Would seem like a strong start, right?  But the song wasn’t a hit when they released it.  Sort of, but not really.  #49 on the Hot 100 – didn’t crack the top 40. … Read more