Monthly newsletter 2023
#3
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INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the Third edition of The Story of Rock and Roll newsletter. We have a lot of new subscribers so by way of introduction this is worth repeating. The Story of Rock and Roll was a book that grew into a website that grew into a weekly radio show on Mix 93.8 FM, which grew into a podcast, and ultimately contributed to the founding of Rebel Rock Radio.
The Story of Rock and Roll Radio Show airs every Thursday on Rebel Rock Radio from [7:00]-[10:00] PM South African time and there’s also a shorter power hour version TSORR Turbo on Bulldogs Radio every Friday from [6:00]-[7:00] PM. You can catch the live broadcasts on www.rrr.cat and https://bulldogs-radio.com/, respectively. The three-hour show is also available as a podcast on most popular podcast sites, including Apple, Overcast, and Google, or get it here https://www.buzzsprout.com/273305.
NEWS
The Story of Rock and Roll Podcast was voted into the Top 35 Rock Podcasts on the Planet. At the time of notification, it was sitting at No 12. According to Feedspot main man Anuj Agarwal, the founder of Feedspot “I would like to personally congratulate you as your podcast, The Story of Rock and Roll Radio Show, has been selected by our panelists as one of the Top 35 Rock and Roll Podcasts on the web” He goes on to say that The Top 35 Rock and Roll Podcasts is the most comprehensive list on the internet. I am not sure about that, but I am just happy to get some recognition, support, & publicity. Check it out here: https://blog.feedspot.com/rock_and_roll_podcasts/
The TSORR Best of January 2023 playlist was sent to all subscribers and posted a week later on TSORR Facebook page. By now you should have received the link for TSORR Best of February 2023. The playlist is made up of five to six tracks from S6E5 TO S6E8, where ‘S’ is the season, ‘E’ is the episode. The Spotify playlist is ideal for listening to TSORR music in your car or at work while pretending to be on a Teams meeting.
Last month I told you about Immortals, these are tracks over 7-minute long that are largely seen as some of the finest examples of a band’s work. Immortals has been very popular, this month we heard Molly Hatchet, ‘The Fall of the Peacemakers’, Guns ‘n’ Roses – ‘Estranged’, The Rolling Stone – ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ and Metallica with the Diamond Head classic Am I Evil.
Another new feature started this month is The Ultimate Challenge. Every week we look at four albums released from a specific year and ask which of these four albums would you take if you could only take one. It is devilishly difficult, the first year we did was 1984 and the choice was between Iron Maiden – Powerslave, Van Halen – 1984, Judas Priest – Defenders of the Faith and. Metallica – Ride the Lightening.
1984
1980
The next week we looked at 1980 and had ACDC – Back in Black, Motörhead – Ace of Spades, Judas priest –British Steel, and Black Sabbath – Heaven and Hell.
It is proving to be very popular, check out the TSORR Facebook page to have a say in the results before each show. We also covered 1991 and 1973, the format has now evolved to playing a track off all four albums one after another. From there we attempt to find a bit of consensus. You can participate on TSORR Facebook page every week when the next Ultimate Challenged is revealed.
1991
1973
In other news, Ozzy Osbourne won a Grammy in the Best Rock Album category for Patient Number 9 and another for Best Metal track for ‘Degradation Blues’.
IT’S WHAT YOU SAY THAT COUNTS
On TSORR we love lyrics as much as the music. You could take all your spiritual guidance from rock lyrics if you wanted to. As always it helps to listen to the song for this to sink in so I have included the podcast and the time stamp for your convenience. You will see it in Brackets after the song credits below.
MORNING SHOW
The clown you loved is dead
My insides have turned red
A future that is hopeless
Just makes each day delicious
Time is like a peel
It opens and reveals
I’ll fix my face and go
Go and do the morning show
I’ll fix my face and go
Time to do the morning show like a pro
James Newell Jr. Osterburg (S6E5; [02:22:30])
Check out the video below but more importantly look at the love for Iggy in the comments
This one meant a lot to me at a rough time in my life and that is the point, lyrics can get you through.
ESTRANGED
Well I jumped into the river
Too many times to make it home
I’m out here on my own, an drifting all alone
If it doesn’t show give it time
To read between the lines
‘Cause I see the storm getting closer
And the waves they get so high
Seems everything we’ve ever known’s here
Why must it drift away and die
I’ll never find anyone to replace you
Guess I’ll have to make it through, this time – oh this time
Without you
I knew the storm was getting closer
And all my friends said I was high
But everything we’ve ever known’s here
I never wanted to die
Guns ‘n’ Roses (S6E6 – [02:14:15])
THE FALL OF THE PEACEMAKERS
A wise man told me there’s something you should know
The way you judge a man is to look into his soul
And you’ll soon see everything
Molly Hatchet (S6E5 – [02:02:00])
EVERYTHING ZEN
There must be something we can eat
Maybe find another lover
Should I fly to Los Angeles
Find my asshole brother
Mickey mouse has grown up a cow
Dave’s on sale again
We kissy kiss in the rearview
We’re so bored, you’re to blame
Try to see it once my way
Everything zen, everything zen
Bush (S6E7 – 0o:2[0:26])
SOUTH AFRICAN SCENE
This was a fantastic month for South African music, we featured our first artist chat. Kenny Hughes graced us with his time and told us a little bit about his brand-new release ‘Midnight Man’ https://linktr.ee/kennyhughes. In TSORR style it is all about the music, so we don’t take much time talking, like Alex Van Halen once said “All our songs are short like 3 minutes, we don’t plan them that way it’s just that is what it takes to get in, say what you wanna say and get out”. I am following that Van Halen system for Artist Chat, it’s an elevator speech, tell us about the track , you’ve got 4 min.
The next week’s interviews were with Sheldon Horvatic of Oceans of Angels and Jessy Switchblade from Deadline, SA’s masters of old-school metal. It is really great talking to all these artists and the feedback from the listeners is very complimentary. Check out the brand new EP The Gift from Oceans of Angels https://linktr.ee/oceansofangels and ‘Monuments’ the single from Deadline https://linktr.ee/deadlinehmc
I managed to play you two tracks off the new Jack Hammer Band album, I have it on pre-release and you will get it as soon as I do. We listened to ‘As I Turn Away and then on S6e9 ‘Lamenting In the Rain’. Future Radio is made up of Johnny Future (guitar and vocals) and Drikus Roets (guitars and visual artistry). These guys have got the energy and the originality to go far. The tracks are as hooky as hell, check out their debut album Freedom. We also had the new single from Pilgrim South, a band out of Sekunda, called Old Man Moonshine’.
CHEERS @#$%’s
The February shows S6E5 to S4E8 marked a very important time for me personally and the shows effect the changes I was going through. These changes should be beneficial to the growth of TSORR. I hope you enjoyed the February edition of TSORR monthly newsletter, comments are welcome, feel free to drop me a message on The Story of Rock and Roll Facebook page or via email at thestoryofrockandroll1@gmail.com.
Best regards and take care
James