For the first 60 years of the recorded music industry, things sounded awful?the quality of the recordings people had to put up with were terrible?the old 78 rpm records played on gramophones were no match when it came to hearing music live?we just didn?t have the technology to capture audio so that when we listened back, it sounded real? That began to change in the late 1940s with the introduction of vinyl records: the 33 1/3 rpm vinyl album and the 7-inch 45 rpm single?it changed further with the switch to magnetic recording tape in the early 1950s? New microphones, better tape machines, and further understanding of acoustics when it came to building recording studios?then came better turntables, amplifiers, and speakers?recorded audio started to sound more and more like the real thing? In the middle 50s, people started to hear about something called ?high-fidelity??it was a marketing term invented by the audio industry to describe equipment capable of producing music properly? Once stereo recordings came along in the late 50s, music fans went wild and started buying hi-fi gear for their homes?then their cars?and then for going mobile? It was an endless pursuit for perfect sound, music that was loud, clean, clear, and accurate?meanwhile, recording studios were constantly in a state of retrofitting and refurbishment because artists demanded the best for their music? That was the 1970s?in the 1980s, there was a reaction, a backlash, an artistic regression, after the introduction of the compact disc?for some, this music was too perfect, too shiny, too unreal? They felt it contained none of the imperfections that made it human?beauty, they thought, was in the mistakes?that?s what made music authentic?audio quality mattered less than being able to listen to music that obviously came from the heart? These music fans even had a name for this approach?if the best-sounding audio was high-fidelity, then what they wanted was the opposite: low-fidelity?and that aesthetic continues today?this is the history of Lo-Fi music? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the summer of 2006, a young Calgary woman was on top of the world. She had a supportive family, amazing friends and a great job. But life as she knew it came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the night on August 6, 2006. In this episode, Global News senior crime reporter Nancy Hixt shares details of a violent attack- a story that?s every woman?s worst fear. www.calgarycrimestoppers.org - reference case # 06274598 https://newsroom.calgary.ca/sexual-assault-case-from-2006-has-new-lead/ Contact: Instagram: @nancy.hixt Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NancyHixtCrimeBeat/ Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Streaming is a very cool way to access tens of millions of songs with a few pokes on your phone?the idea of being able to listen to virtually any song from any era of human history with such ease is something akin to magic? The downside of streaming is that it doesn?t provide any context to what we?re hearing?a continuous stream of music tells us nothing about the artist or the song?it?s just music, standing alone with nothing to anchor it to anything? It was different in the old days?if you bought an album, dammit, that was an investment?you paid money for it, which created a fiscal relationship with the artist?that meant you were more likely to stick with an album and get deeper into the artist and the songs?otherwise, you had this nagging feeling you had wasted your money? Context means so much to the enjoyment of music?which is probably a reason you?re listening to me right now?you want more than the notes that make up a song? Yeah, sometimes a song is just a song?you know, it?s got a good beat, you can dance to it and maybe sing along?it doesn?t really mean anything more than that? But some songs are very deep?they actually form some part of a historical record?they tell the story of real people, real events and the things that came after? That?s where we?re going with this show: everything we?re about to hear is based on fact, on history, on actual events?and you may be shocked by the truth beyond songs that you?ve been digging all your life?this isn?t anything you?re gonna get from a stream?trust me? Songs in this episode: The Clash - White Riot Boomtown Rats - I Don't Like Monday's U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday REM - What's the Frequency Kenneth? Pearl Jam - Jeremy Nirvana - Polly The Tragically Hip - Wheat Kings Filter - Hey Man, Nice Shot! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A band is like a plant?stay with me on this?like a plant, a band grows from seeds to maturity, bursts for with new seeds and then eventually withers and dies?it?s the cycle of life, you know?... But like plants (or animals or any other living thing), the lifespan of bands varies greatly?you could last as long as rehearsal?kinda like, what, a dandelion??or you might find yourself on some kind of 50-year-anniversary tour?the equivalent of a bristlecone pine tree that can live as long as 5,000 years? Okay, I think we?ve tortured this metaphor long enough? Then we have bands that form, rise to a peak, hit something of a downhill slope, and break-up, only to reform again for?well, there could be any number of reasons?and this leads into completely new second act?and thus things begin again?and maybe even under better circumstances than anyone thought possible? Let?s do a case study?let?s have a specific band deconstruct their journey from formation to breakup to reunion?this is the history of Alexisonfire?in their own words? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A boy cannot become a man in the Satere-Mawe tribe of the Amazon Rain Forest until he can stand being stung by a swarm of Bullet ants?they?re called that because it?s said their sting is as painful as being hit by an actual bullet?if the kid can handle it without shedding a single tear, then he is officially a man?I can?t explain it?and I?ll bet that no one in this tribe can, either?it?s just always been their thing, something that has always been done? Let?s try something more modern?have you ever noticed that any depiction of an iPhone or iPad, the time on the device used to be 9:42 am?...now, it?s 9:41?why?... We need to go back to when Steve Jobs? unveiled the iPhone in 2007? the first image of the iPhone appeared behind jobs at 9:42 am?and for a while, that was the time shown in all ads?but when the iPad came out, the reveal happed at 9:41 am?from then on, it became a rule that time displayed must be at 9:41? The Apple Watch is an exception?the standard advertisement display time is 10:09 am?not one is sure why, although that?s the old Timex watch commercials always had the time as 1:51?10:09 is the mirror image of that? Now think about your car on the driver?s side?if your car is a standard, the pedals from left to right go clutch, brake and accelerator?if it?s an automatic, it?s brake then the accelerator?and that?s the way it is in every car made in the world today?doesn?t matter which side the steering wheel is on?the pedals are always laid out the same from left to right?. But in the early days of the automobile, it wasn?t always this way?sometimes the accelerator was in the middle?sometimes it was on the left?sometimes it was on the steering wheel? The first car with the pedal layout we have today was probably a 1912 Cadillac?that spread throughout the company and then on through Chevrolet and other gm cars?from there, everyone eventually adopted that arrangement?. And since we?re in the car, let me explain your automatic transmission lever?it goes park, reverse, neutral, drive, and low?R,R,N,D,L?that order was laid out in ?U.S. department of transportation standard no. 102? which stated the order of gears on automatic transmissions must always be park-reverse-neutral-drive-low?and since America called the shots with the auto industry back then, this law became our universal standard? There are so many things in this world that we just accept without bothering to look for an explanation?they?re there, it?s everywhere, it?s a simple truth of life?but why?... The world of music is filled with things, too? for example, why do we call a certain genre of music ?heavy metal???who came up with the idea for paying to see a concert?...why would anyone use a toilet plunger together with a trumpet or a beer bottle on a guitar?...why is there music on the phone when we?re put on hold?... Let?s figure this all out?welcome to another edition of ?the rock explainer?? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The biggest tech story of recent years has been the rise of artificial intelligence?the subject of ai is everywhere? it?s been ?AI this? and ?AI that?? The Wikipedia article on ChatGPT, the company that really got things rolling in this area, was the most popular Wikipedia article in all of 2023?50 million visits? That made it more popular than even Christian Ronaldo, the world?s most famous athlete?that?s more than ?Barbie? or ?Oppenheimer? put together? This tech is being adopted everywhere, mostly for good?just look at the medical field?. Ai is being used to sort through chains of molecules to come up with the next generation of breakthrough drugs, including those that will work on antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the misfolded proteins behind Alzheimer?s?ai is being trained to quickly find things in scans and x-rays that a human technician might miss? AI can be used to make better decisions in real time?for example, it can learn traffic and pedestrian patterns and synchronize lights for more efficient movement of everyone? AI should even have an impact on fighting climate change by creating better models?and when it comes to world hunger, ai can analyze zillions of data points to help determine what crops, seeds, fertilizers, soil, and so on for maximum efficiency in any area of the world? AI is growing at an exponential rate?it?s predicted that the industry will grow by 250% over the next five years? by 2031, the market for generative ai will be at least one trillion U.S. dollars? But yes, AI can also be used for evil?deep fakes and fake news, copyright infringement and forgery, cybersecurity breaches, manipulation of financial markets? AI is inevitably going to replace humans in a lot of different jobs?there?s a lot to be concerned about? If you?re listening to me, you?ve probably wondered about artificial intelligence and music?that?s good because there?s going to be an impact?best we know where this intersection of music and tech came from so that we can maybe figure out where it?s going?. This is the history and future of AI in music? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Once upon a time, I was deep into collecting bootleg recordings of my favourite bands?and this obsession came from a really good place?at least I thought so? I?d already bought all the albums and singles, collected a bunch of memorabilia, snapped up the t-shirts, and gone to all the shows?but I wanted more?the only place let to go was unofficial?read: illegal?releases? Almost everything I accurate was on cd?some were burned discs that I traded for with other hardcore fans?I might go to eBay once in a while?there were a few stores I knew that stocked these discs for special customers?and whenever I went overseas to certain countries were copyright laws were lax?Russia, Indonesia, a few places in the Caribbean?I?d be sure to visit the market stalls to see what they had?I honestly wasn?t trying to rip off or hurt anyone?I just loved these bands so much that I needed to own a copy of everything they did?once, when I talked about my bootlegs on the radio?probably not a smart idea?I got a letter from the head of a recorded industry organization calling me ?morally reprehensible? ? But over the years, these hardcopy bootlegs became harder and harder to find, thanks to crackdowns on illegal exploitation of intellectual property, the disappearance of these record stores, and, most importantly, the rise of online file-sharing?by 2008 or so, the physical bootleg market had all but collapsed?I haven?t acquired anything new for my collection for almost a couple of decades now? But I?ve never lost my fascination for this recordings?where did they come from?...how were they made?...who distributed them?...did they really hurt artists and the industry?...and what kind of legacy did old-school bootlegs leave behind?... I?ve found some answers to those questions and more?this is another look at bootlegging, part 2? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey It's Alan...and I want to introduce you to my brand new, one-of-a-kind true crime podcast called Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry.  On this podcast I take you inside unbelievable stories of murder, plane crashes, court battles, and even run-ins with the mob! In this podcast you'll hear all about the dark side of world of music. We're releasing new episodes every two weeks, so search for and follow Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry wherever you get your podcasts.  I hope you enjoy this sneak peak of Episode 9 "The Disappearance of Richey Edwards" Episode Link: https://megaphone.link/CORU6081355392 Show contact info: X (formerly Twitter): @AlanCross Website: curiouscast.ca Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On December 24, 1877, Thomas Edison filed a patent for a new invention he referred to as a ?talking machine??for the first time ever, audio could be captured, played back, stored, shared, and analyzed? When asked what the point of his machine was, Edison listed some future possibilities?. His phonograph (as he called it) would eventually be used as a method of preserving great speeches?.it could also be used for making audio letters, giving dictation, a talking clock, a telephone answering machine, and remote learning?and way down the list was ?reproduction of music?? That original talking machine technology has evolved greatly over the years and the ?capture and reproduction of music? has moved way up on Edison?s original list of uses?the recorded music industry is now worth tens and tens of billions of dollars? But the phonograph also gave birth to a new type of music industry?when it first went on sale, copyright laws weren?t ready?they had been drafted and enforced with the printed word in mind, not with audio recordings?this meant that people began making recordings that weren?t exactly authorized in the proper ways? This gave birth to another industry, one that worked in the shadows of record labels, music publishers, performing rights organizations, and all the rest of the legitimate record music industry? What started with secretly recorded Edison phonograph cylinders progressed through reel-to-reel tape recordings, unauthorized vinyl records, cassettes, CDs, and digital files freely traded online?you may have some of these recordings in your collection?and you may not even know it? The original name of such recordings is ?bootlegs??here are a few things about them that you might wanna know? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We would not be sitting here talking about rock music if it weren?t for people of African descent?if you start in the present and begin to trace things backward to important innovations and accomplishments, nine times out of ten, you?ll end up exploring something from black culture? And we can go way, way back?right to 1619 when the first slave ship arrived in north America at the British colony of Virginia carrying about 20 captives? Over the centuries that followed, the people of Africa, consisting of many different communities, nations, tribes, and cultures, were brought to the west by force creating wounds that have yet to heal?  But more than just bodies made the trip across the Atlantic?these were human beings with identities, history, traditions?and music?and these songs and rhythms helped sustain them during those brutal times? There were work songs, protest songs, satirical songs, songs meant to be sung in the fields and streets, songs that were games in themselves?some had regular rhythms while other contained syncopated beats from traditional dance?  Over the centuries, the music evolved, mutated, and spread?spirituals and gospel?blues and boogie-woogie?ragtime and jazz?rhythm and blues and bebop?and in the early 1950s, this music with its rich history and traditions was incorporated with country, western, hillbilly, r&b, and a few other ingredients to become what we call ?rock and roll?? Along the way, there were many musical firsts, and landmark contributions by black artists that changed everything?without them, what we call ?rock? today and so much of its culture would simply not exist? These people and their accomplishments need to be recognized; commemorated, and celebrated?this is an episode on rock firsts by black artists? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I really, really want to believe?there are trillions of galaxies in the observable universe, each containing billions of stars?there?s gotta be something out there?we can?t be alone? Organisms floating in the acid clouds of Venus?remains of bacteria in the Martian soil?creatures swimming in vast oceans below the ice of Europa?something lurking in the methane lakes of Titan?and that?s just the start? Roswell?the ?wow? signal?fast radio bursts?the possibility of a Dyson sphere around ?Tabby?s Star??hints of something on the hydrogen line frequency of 1.42 405 755 117 gigahertz?and now both nasa and the U.S. government have admitted that they don?t know what?s going on with those strange objects that have been buzzing the planet? Our culture has absorbed these mysteries and possibilities?and our music reflects that?this is UFO, UAP?s, aliens, and rock? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey It's Alan...and I want to introduce you to my brand new, one-of-a-kind true crime podcast called Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry.  On this podcast I take you inside unbelievable stories of murder, plane crashes, court battles, and even run-ins with the mob! In this podcast you'll hear all about the dark side of world of music. We're releasing new episodes every two weeks, so search for and follow Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry wherever you get your podcasts.  I hope you enjoy this sneak peak of Episode 7 "The Linkin Park Cyberstalker" Episode Link: https://megaphone.link/CORU6081355392 Show contact info: X (formerly Twitter): @AlanCross Website: curiouscast.ca Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Decades ago, I was the best man for my buddy Charlie and was in charge of driving the bridal car from the church to the reception?the happy couple were in the back seat?next to me up front was the bride?s sister-in-law? When I started the car, ?Welcome To The Jungle? started playing on the radio?the sister-in-law freaked out? ?What is this garbage?...turn it off!??I looked at Charlie?he looked at me and shrugged? no sense in making waves?I switched to a pop station?but the sister-in-law?s violent reaction to the gunners stayed with me? Then not long ago, I was in the car with a friend when rage against the machine?s ?Bulls On Parade? came on the radio?I instinctively turned it up?awesome song, right? But my friend shrieked? ?What is this [bleep]?? She said??it?s awful!?you can?t possibly like this?? I was slightly taken aback?we go back a couple of decades and she came from an alt-rock radio background, too?her life used to be filled with this kind of music?how could she not like Rage Against The Machine?... ?I don?t know,? she said? ?Maybe I?m just getting old?I prefer softer stuff these days?? Ah?there it was again: an example of how someone?s musical tastes evolve with age? it?s just something that happens with most people? most of take that as a given?not me, though?this is something that?s always fascinated me?there has to be some science behind why we listen to different types and styles of music as we go through life? So I tracked down this science and I have some answers?we?ll call this episode ?what a drag it is getting old?musically?? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A year ago, I began what will unfortunately be a regular series of these programs from now on?it?s an annual look back on the musicians we lost in the previous year? Rock star deaths have been on our mind since late 2015 when Scott Weiland of the Stone Temple Pilots died, followed a few weeks later by Lemmy of Motorhead?then the floodgates opened in 2016: Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Glenn Frey of the eagles, both Keith Emerson and Greg Lake from Emerson Lake and Palmer, and George Michael?just to name a few? And since then, it seems we hear about a rock star death every couple of weeks?Tom Petty, Chris Cornell, Chester Bennington, Gregg Allman, Walter Becker of Steely Dan, Chuck Mosley of Faith No More, Andy Fletcher of Depeche Mode, Mark E. Smith of The Fall, Charlie Watts The Rolling Stones?it?s been a lot to take in? Some of these deaths have been of natural causes, disease, and old age?others have involved drugs, alcohol, years of hard living, misadventure, and suicide? Here?s the hard truth: rock has been around for about seventy years?many of the people who have provided us with our favourite music and some of the greatest songs of all time are reaching the end of their lives? No one is getting any younger...and over the next decade, we?re going to lose some of the personalities who have always been with there for us over the last 30, 40, 50, or even 60 years... With that grim reality in mind, I think we need to continue with an annual retrospective at those whom we?ve lost in the last 12 months?they may be gone, but we need to recognize and celebrate their contributions to the world of music...this is 2023 in memoriam... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I?m not gonna lie?I?m addicted to listicles?not the click-baity ones that have sub-headlines like ?and you won?t believe #6!??I?m only interested in the ones that offer interesting or weird facts?usually that means Buzzfeed, Bored Panda, Upworthy, Laughing Squid?you know the kind??today I learned? and ?I was today years old when I discovered??that sort of thing? Here's one?there is a species of moth that lives in the amazon jungle that drinks the tears of sleeping birds?it?ll sit on a bird?s neck, stick a long proboscis under the bird?s eyelid, and slurp away the tears?I know! Right?... Here?s another: until the 1800s, polite people didn?t eat bananas because their shape made them an ?immoral fruit??importers had to hire women for ads showing them eating bananas to prove that there was nothing wrong with them? Okay, okay?one more?and I?m sorry if this is going to trigger you?if you take public transit, approximately 15% of the air you breath contains human skin?all those floating specs you see in the sunlight?...skin?gross, but I love this stuff? A big part of my job is searching for facts, although most of what I?m looking for involves music?I?ve heard that if you play hip-hop to a wheel of cheese as it?s maturing, the cheese will have a stronger flavor and aroma?as late as 1948, you could win an Olympic medal for music?and if you want to play music for you dog, choose Reggae?scientists have proven that that?s the music they like the most? Over the course of the year of researching and writing this program, I run across all kinds of weird facts?most I can incorporate into various shows?others, not so much? But these orphaned facts need a home?so once every 12 months, I devote a program to clearing out all this information from post-it notes, highlighted passages in books, pages torn from newspapers and magazines, and various files on my computer and throw them all into one program?what you do with this stuff is up to you?this is the annual show I call ?60 mind-blowing facts about music in 60 minutes?? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey It's Alan...and I want to introduce you to my brand new, one-of-a-kind true crime podcast called Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry.  On this podcast I take you inside unbelievable stories of murder, plane crashes, court battles, and even run-ins with the mob! In this podcast you'll hear all about the dark side of world of music. We're releasing new episodes every two weeks, so search for and follow Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry wherever you get your podcasts.  I hope you enjoy this sneak peak of Episode 5 "The Satanic Panic" Episode Link: https://megaphone.link/CORU6081355392 Show contact info: X (formerly Twitter): @AlanCross Website: curiouscast.ca Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It?s been a rough decade for the electric guitar?sales of new instruments have dropped by a third, from 1.5 million globally to around just one million? Why?...generations brought up on electronics are opting out of creating music with traditional instruments like the guitar?instead, they use laptops, iPads, gear like Ableton Live an any number of programmable keyboard devices? Most guitars are being bought and sold by older players?and there are fewer and fewer of them each year? All this has hurt manufacturers like Gibson, who filed for bankruptcy in 2018?it?s hurt music stores, both big and small?it?s hurt music teachers who have fewer students? Sounds dire, right?...maybe?but there?s one bright spot: there has been a steady rise in the number of young women taking up the electric guitar? According to fender, women now make up at least 50% of all the beginner guitar players in North America and the UK?in South East Asia, that number is more like 70%... That?s interesting, given that it wasn?t all that long ago that it was accepted fact that a girl could not play an electric guitar?not as good as a guy, anyway? That attitude abounded through the 70s and 80s?today, that?s no longer the case?the intimidation factor is gone?women are marching right into male-dominated music stores and buying guitars?some take traditional lessons, but others are using online tutorials so they can avoid any hassles and harassment? And most importantly, we?re seeing more female guitar heroes?you no longer have to be a dude to be a guitar role model?and those are the people we?re going to explore on this episode?this is modern guitar heroes: the women? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is a guitar hero?...yes, yes, it?s a video game that vaguely simulates playing a real guitar?what else?... Yes, yes, it means someone who can rock the ?expert level? at guitar hero, the video game?but before that, it meant something totally different? A guitar hero was a guy?and it was almost always a guy?who had achieved a seemingly supernatural mastery of the electric guitar?they were so good that other experts looked to them to learn and for inspiration? Chuck Berry?Jimi Hendrix?Eric Clapton?Jimmy Page?Pete Townshend? Jeff Beck?they were among the first to be declared guitar heroes?they pushed the limits of what could be done with the instrument, amplifiers, and effects pedals? More followed?Eddie Van Halen?Angus Young of AC/DC?The Edge from U2?Slash?Stevie Ray Vaughn?Randy Rhoads? All excellent players?this got me thinking about guitar heroes from the world of alt-rock, specifically from when things exploded in the early 90s?... They aren?t betterthan the first generation of guitar heroes?just different, you know?...let?s make a list, shall we?... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey it?s Alan and this week we?re going to do something a bit different for the podcast? When we recorded our 1000th episode of the ongoing history at Corus Quay?we ended up with a lot of content that we couldn?t fit into the radio show.  If you caught last week?s podcast, you will have heard the story of how the ongoing history came to be, and how we got to 1000 shows.  You also would have heard part of the Q&A session we did with the Q107 morning show, and our live audience.   But?there was so much recorded?and we didn?t want it to go to waste?that we thought, ?why not do a second podcast, of just that part of the night? So?here is the full q and a session from the 1000th episode of the ongoing history of new music, recorded live at Corus quay on December 5th 2023?I think you?re going to enjoy this? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Tuesday December 5th, in front of a live audience at Corus Quay, the Ongoing History of New Music recorded the 1000th episode of the radio program. What some people don't know is that this Podcast started out as a radio show in February 1993 on 102.1 The Edge in Toronto. It has taken over 30 years to reach out 1000th episode! This is a podcast of that evening complete with part of the Q&A that took place. Next week there will be a "Part 2" Podcast containing everything not included in this episode. There was a lot of content! Enjoy the 1000th episode of the Ongoing History of New Music, and thank you for your continued support. Show contact info: X (formerly Twitter): @AlanCross Website: curiouscast.ca Email: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With over 300 OGH podcasts to choose from, we know that sometimes older episodes get lost in the library. So, here is a topic we had a request to dig up again...and this episode first aired on radio in November of 2010 as we look at one of the most under appreciated and underrated members of any rock band...the bass player.  These are the most influential bass players in the history of alt-rock. Next week...it's the 1000th episode of the Ongoing History of New Music   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You may be aware of a podcast that came out in the spring of 2020 that sought to get to the bottom of a certain musical mystery?it?s called ?wind of change? and it explores the possibility that a metal power ballad was a contributing factor to the fall of the soviet union in the very early 90s? Stay with me? ?Wind of Change? was a global hit for The Scorpions; a metal band out of Hanover in what was then WestGermany? The Scorpions sing in English?but they also recorded a Russian version under the name ?Veter Peremen??and when the song was released on January 20, 1991, it became a worldwide hit? Estimates are that it sold 14 million copies?it?s the best-selling single by any German artist?and because it was such a big hit in the USSR, the band presented Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev a gold record?even today, the song is a massive, massive hit among several generations of fans in Eastern Europe? For years, rumours have swirled about this song?it is said that it was the product of a CIA operation design to destabilize Soviet society with its message of change and revolution?it worked so well that by the end of 1991, the Soviet Union had crumbled? Did the CIA commission someone to write ?Wind of Change,? get The Scorpions to record it, which somehow helped bring about the end of the USSR from within?...I?m not going to cover that here, so you?ll have to listen to the podcast? But I can tell you that this might not have been the first time rock music was used by a foreign intelligence operation to drive a wedge into a specific society?the popular music of the west?especially the music produced by the USA?was feared by Soviet bloc authorities?but the Soviets also knew that music could also be a weapon against the west? Here?s another theory?could it be that punk rock was actually KGB plot against the west?...did things also operate in the opposite direction?here?s what we know?or at least think we know? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you are a professional musician?that is, you?re being paid to write and perform music and can actually make a living from it?you?re part of an infinitesimal quintile of people who are able to do that? you are living the dream? This, in fact, may be the only career you?ve ever known?you?ve never had a ?real? job?maybe you?ve had a chance to see the world because of music?and if you love what you?re doing and the money works, you want this to go on forever?but it won?t?at some point, the music stops? It might not be your fault?the music industry moves fast?one day you?ve got it all figured out, working from immediate deadline to immediate deadline and from gig to gig?and then everything stops? Maybe it happens quickly?maybe it happens slowly then all at once?music changes?the industry changes?trends change?technology changes?and what you offer?what you can do?is no longer in demand? It?s like captain Jean-Luc Picard has said: ?you can do everything right and still lose?that?s not weakness?that?s life?? So what?s next?...if you exit the world of music?be it voluntarily or by force?what do you do next?... Maybe it?s best to study what some other musicians have done to transition from rock star to civilian life?this is a look at examples of life after music? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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In the mid-15th century, France was ruled by Louis XI, otherwise known as ?Louis the Prudent?...but he was always known as ?Louis the Cunning? and ?The Universal Spider? because he was always spinning plots and looking for conspiracies...when it came to dissent and wars, he was a brutal sort... Being a despot is hard work and sometimes you need cheering up...that?s why he challenged Abbe De Baigne, a builder of things, to create a brand new musical instrument for his amusement... The result was the piganino, a keyboard that required a number of pigs of varying sizes...each was laid out on a flat surface, smallest to largest...above the hind end of each pig was a spike connected to a piano-like keyboard...by pressing a key, the corresponding pig would be spiked, resulting in an oink of a certain note...it was thus possible to play a tune by poking the pig... It didn?t sound very good, but it worked and Louis XI found it very funny...the pigs did not... Music and technology have always had an interesting relationship...sometimes it?s harmonious and wonderfully...other times?like with the piganino?there?s a hideous clash... ...however, the piganino, invented 600 years ago, was the forerunner of future music-related technologies like sample, sequencing, and synthesis...the tech?or at least some of the concepts?would eventually win out... If we step back and look at the history of science, math, and engineering and the practice of creating the art music, we?ll see that every time the two intersect, technology almost always comes out the winner...and that?s okay... Something that seems radical, evil, transgressive, impure, and corrupting turns out to be a pretty good deal and music is the better for it... Here are some stories about the clashes between tech and music...I?ll lay out the facts and you decide if these were good things or bad... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was Tuesday, May 24, 2016...you know how when you land the flight attendant says it?s now permissible to ?use transmitting and receiving functions your portable devices? while you?re taxiing to the gate?... I?d just landed on a 14-hour flight from Hong Kong...and as soon as I flicked my phone out of airplane mode, it blew up...emails and texts all about one thing: The Tragically Hip had just announced that their singer, Gord Downie, had brain cancer... At first, this didn?t make sense...had the jet lag kicked in already?...was this some kind of hoax?...I mean, this was Gord...he was practically a Canadian superhero...nothing like this was supposed to happen to him... But it was true...the emails and texts kept popping up...dozens, hundreds of them...and we all know how the next 18 months played out... When Gord left us in October 2017, it was really rough...the best tweet I saw that day was ?Canada closed: death in the family?...the country spent the next week trying to explain to the rest of the world how a singer of a rock band had brought an entire nation to tears?even the Prime Minister...where else in the world does something like that happen?... The answer is you have to be a special kind of person: artist, writer, thinker, activist, and poet? this is the story of Gord Downie, Canada?s own rock poet? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It?s 1986 and Michael Morrison is offered the opportunity of a lifetime. A chance to leave his life of poverty in Newark and start afresh. It?s a job offer he can?t afford to refuse. Michael has no idea what this new job has in store. But he soon realizes: he?s just joined ?the biggest gang in America?. Join Seren Jones to hear Michael?s story and find out what it means to be both Black and Blue. Want to hear more? You can follow along on your favourite podcast app here: https://link.chtbl.com/blackandblue-rssdrop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When someone dies, our first reaction is disbelief...we?re stunned...that?s immediately followed by a need to know what happened...how?...where?...it?s only natural...we need information to help us process the news and the emotion that comes with it... The next stage is might be ?could anything have been done to prevent this??... ?Could someone have helped or intervened??...In some cases, perhaps...in the case of health issues, maybe not... And finally, there?s this:... ?could what happened to that person happen to me??...again, totally normal... When it comes to the death of a famous musician, there?s an additional aspect to processing the news...chances are we never knew this person as, you know, a person...our only relationship with them has been as a fan...so why does their death affect us?... Here?s a possible answer...although we never knew them, it was through their music that we learned more about ourselves...and in a way, when they die, a little of us dies, too... This might only cause us to go deeper into what happened...we just need to know, to make sense if it, and to put everything to rest the best we can...yes, some people get very nosey and gossipy and intrusive, but there?s always a way to handle what?s known through the public record: family statements, doctors? accounts, police reports, coroners? testimony, toxicology examinations, and autopsy results.... And we often can?t look away because we just need to know...this is ?the last moments of, part 2?.... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It?s always a shock when a rock star dies...and our first reaction is ?what happened?...how did this person die??... That?s completely natural...whenever we?re met with something incomprehensible, we demand an explanation...sometimes one comes quickly...other times, it takes days, weeks, months, and even years for the truth to come out?if at all...  And how much are we entitled to know?...when do we cross the line from being curious and concerned to gawking and prurient and prying and invading very private space?... Yet there is something to be said for learning about how someone died...maybe there?s a lesson to be learned or a cautionary tale, steps we or someone else can take to make sure something like this never happens again?or at least not as often... A celebrity death is news, part of the public record...and wanting to know what happened helps us process the news and all the emotions that go along with such a death... Besides, some will say, these doomed people are celebrities...and as celebrities, they lived with the idea that the public was interested in multiple aspects of their existence, including how they died...it goes with the territory... And one other thing: could we ourselves ever meet such an end?... With all that in mind, let?s look at some notable rock star deaths, focusing on what happened in the last moments of their time on earth... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The old days of air travel were quite risky?compared to today, the chances of your flight going down were far greater ?every airport had kiosks and coin-operating vending machines where you could buy life insurance before you headed to the gate?you know, just in case you thought you weren?t going to make it to your final destination? 1977 was one of the worst years for accidents in aviation history?in addition to several violent hijackings every month?sometimes with fatal results?There were also passenger plane crashes with great loss of life?including the worst aviation disaster of all time when two 747s planes collided on a runway in the Canary Islands, killing 583 people. Frank Sinatra?s mother, the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia, and all but one member of the University of Evansville basketball team died in crashes? But then there were the events of October 20, 1977, when a rickety chartered plane went down in a swamp in Mississippi?on board were members of Lynyrd Skynyrd?six of the 24 passengers died, including singer Ronnie Van Zandt, guitarist Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines, and assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick?both pilots also died? What happened? Have I got a story for you... Show contact info: X (formerly Twitter): @AlanCross Website: ajournalofmusicalthings.com Email: [email protected] https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/uncharted-crime-and-mayhem-in-the-music-industry/id1710775237 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the most important parts of music is beat and rhythm...without beats, without rhythm, there?s no groove...without a groove, there?s no movement or dancing or really physically getting into the music...beats and grooves are essential building blocks for so much of modern music... In some songs, the beat is subtle but there...you feel it without someone having to keep it for you...but in others, you need a timekeeper, someone to emphasize and augment and the beats and the rhythms... For centuries, that job has fallen to drummers and percussionists...but what if a drummer or percussionist isn?t available?...or if you want to try something rhythmic but with different sounds, sounds that a drummer can?t make?...then you might find yourself reaching for a drum machine... Since their introduction in the very early 1980s, drum machines have become an essential part of modern compositions and productions...in fact, it?s impossible to imagine the music we have today without such electronic devices... Oh, we still have human drummers?we always will?but drum machines have taken us places that human timekeepers never could...and I?m speaking as someone who plays drums myself... But how did this all come about?...let?s investigate...this is the history of machines that keep time for our music... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For centuries, there?s been a dance between music and technology with each affecting the other in some way...almost always, though, there?s no fighting progress...music (and everything to do with it) ultimately bends to the needs and demands of new technology... For example, when the Catholic Church built big, echo-y cathedrals in the Middle Ages, the sacred music in those buildings adapted to this new architecture so that it made use of the natural reverb... Fast-forward a bunch of centuries...Thomas Edison?s talking machine, first demonstrated in 1877, and Emile Berliner?s gramophone, which debuted 10 years later, were the first machines able to capture sound, up to three minutes at a time...but because of that recording limit, the standard length of a popular song became about three minutes...the music bent to the limitations of the medium... I can give you other examples: radio changed the way music was consumed, marketed and sold...jukeboxes help spread the word on R&B, country, and rock?n?roll...they were so popular that a coin shortage in 1937 was blamed on the popularity of jukeboxes... Electricity gave us amplifiers and the electric guitar...the microphone turned singers from people who could belt out tunes at high volumes into crooners who used the mic to create softer, more intimate performances... Synthesizers were reviled by many musicians at first because one could make the sounds of an entire orchestra, threatening the livelihoods of professionals...but they were eventually accepted...sampling was thought to be evil and illegal at first, but we worked that out...file-sharing of mp3s meant that no one would ever pay for music again, but now hundreds of millions of people are paying for streaming...there?s more, but you get what I?m talking about... This music-and-tech balance continues today...and on episode five of our look at rock in the 2010s, we?re going to look how that particular dance played out and the effect these interactions had on our music... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We as parents get so little time to ourselves. So if you know when vacationing with kids actually becomes a relaxing vacation? please let us know. In this episode we discuss the literal ups and downs of traveling with kids. You can find and listen to this podcast wherever you get your podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/badparents Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It?s an established fact that music comes in many different types of cycles...a sound and style will be big for a while, reach a peak with the public, and then slowly fade out....but once established, it?s unusual for a sound to completely disappear, never to be heard from again... The only genre I can think of is---maybe alt-rock-style rockabilly...it was big in the very early 80s with bands like the stray cats...but then it just kinda went away...there?s never been a rockabilly revival?at least in the sense and style and scope of what we heard way back then when it was huge for about 18 months... Instead, after enjoying a time at the forefront of music, many of the cycle-prone rock sounds recede into the shadows, never really going away...they lie in wait until someone comes along?often a generation or two later?to rediscover and reactivate it... When that happens, it?s usually given a sonic update and if the timing is right, the sound enjoys a new period of time in sun before the cycle repeats yet again... The longer you live and the more music you become familiar with, the more you begin to see these cycles play themselves out, sometimes over and over again...we see it every decade... The 2010s were no different...we saw a series of revivals, rediscoveries, and comebacks, all based on the musical dna of what had come before...let?s examine that...this is the history of the 2010s, part 4... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It must have been so easy to write about rock back in the 50s...comparatively easy to today, i mean...everything was so new that that?s all you had to pay attention to...there wasn?t exactly anything called ?rock history? back then because the music had no history... What began as a spark in the early 50s turned out to be the musical equivalent of the cosmological big bang...and as the years and decades passed, this music?which began as a fresh take on the 12-bar blues template?separated, segmented, stratified, mutated, evolved?with increasing speed... New genres began to appear yearly, monthly, and sometimes even weekly...today, it seems like every single day results in some kind of derivative spin-off sub-sub-sub-sub-genre... The new sound and approach may gain traction and stay with us for some time, perhaps even carving out its own permanent space in the rock universe...more likely, though, a new genre will have a half-life shorter than hydrogen 7...and to save you from looking that up, that?s a tiny, tiny fraction of a second: a decimal point followed by 23 zeroes... But there?s no stopping the fission and fusion of rock...we?re always going to get new sounds...keeping up with them all is another matter... This is part of what makes writing a musical history of the 2010s so challenging...the number of iterations rock went through in that decade was insane...but if we?re going to understand what happened to rock during that time, we?re going to have to at least try... This is the history of the 2010s, part 3... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Traditional wisdom says that the recorded music industry is dominated by the major labels...there used to be a bunch of them, but over the last 25 years, their number has been whittled down to just three companies: universal (the biggest), Sony, and warner music... Here?s something you may not have know...at last estimate, about 95,000 songs are uploaded to the streaming music services every day...of that number, only about 4% are from those three majors...the rest is from indie labels and do-it-yourself musicians... Let me flip that around: 96% of all new music comes from independent musicians...the market share of indie labels has been rising by double-digits for almost 25 years now... Indie music?or at least material from bands not directly signed to one of the three majors?was an important aspect of the 2010s...major label acts were still important, but without the indies, it would have been a pretty empty decade...but thanks to the sheer volume of new music and some crafty distribution by indie-friendly companies, we got to hear a lot of it... The width and breadth of indie over those ten years was staggering...and without the influence of independent musicians, styles, and trends, major label mainstream rock would have been much different... Let?s examine that...this is part two of the history of rock in the 2010s... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We never know we?re living through history as it happens...for example, if we?re trying to assess what happened in a particular decade, we can?t really do it justice if we attempt to analyze things day to day...you need a break, a little time for things to settle into place when it comes to the grand scheme of things... Take the 60s, for example...this sounds a bit weird at first, but they didn?t end when the calendar flipped over to January 1, 1970...decades have momentum?sometimes a hangover?that carries things forward for a year or two or even three afterwards... For example, the 50s carried on until probably 1963...it took the assassination of JFK to really kick off the new decade...historians have made convincing arguments that the 60s didn?t end until 1972-ish... The 70s may have ended relatively on time, brought about by things like the death of disco, a terrible recession, the election of Ronald Reagan, and other markers that said the ?me decade? of 70s were done... I?d say that the 80s ended by the end of 1991, thanks to the first gulf war, another awful recession, and a wholesale sea change in music as we quickly transitioned from a world awash in hair metal to the new alternative generation... I?d put the end of the 90s in 2001..buried by 9/11 and the retaliation that followed, the rise of the internet, the bursting of the dot-com bubble, and the end of the traditional music industry, the introduction of the iPod... The aughts?...that?s another decade that I feel ended on time...so much came to a screaming halt with the financial crisis?the great recession in 2008?and by the time the clouds parted, we were done with that decade... This leaves us at the dawn of the 2010s which was one of the few decades that started right on time...and for the next 10 years, we saw everything from prosperous economic growth to the rise of authoritarism...and technology?...wow...the 2010s saw more people get into tech and gadgets than at any time in history...smart phones, the explosion of social media, cord-cutting... Which brings us to music...when we look back on that decade, what happened?...what did we learn?...and how were trends and styles and consumption different than earlier decades?... Let?s find out...this is the history of the 2010s, part 1... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Continuing to dive into the Ongoing History of New Music archives, here's a show for 2016 that we are surprised has not been posted yet! At some point in your life, you said ?I?m never going to become like my parents??yes, you did?don?t lie?we all did? We vowed that we?d never become old and stodgy and boring and stuck in their ways and closed to new ideas? Do not panic?this is totally natural?this cycle of life has been going on since the invention of music?and it only accelerated with the birth of the recording industry in the late 1800s? Every generation has its thing?and every generation thinks that the people who came before them and comes after them are weird and wrong? This is part two of the more things change, the more things stay the same? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Continuing to dive into the Ongoing History of New Music archives, here's a show for 2016 that we are surprised has not been posted yet! Have you every heard yourself say this? kids these days! What?s wrong with them? All their crazy music. It?s just noise! That usually leads to? music isn?t as good as it used to be. When i was younger?high school, university?music was awesome! That?s followed by a list of bands and songs you believe to be the greatest ever, a lot of which aren?t as popular as you still want them to be?and then things usually end up like this? if today?s kids would stop and listen to what we used to listen to, they?d see that i?m right! Then we?d start getting some goodnew music! Don?t worry?if any of this sounds familiar, it?s because this is totally natural?  People always hate the music of the generations that are coming up behind them?and I mean always? The young are always denigrated for their music, their way of dancing, their technology and their overall disrespect for their elders and history and the way things used to be?  It?s the cycle of life?and it?s been going on for not just decades, but centuries?here?let me show you?   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we go back into the Ongoing history vault from 2008 and the second of two parts on world records. Most people want to leave this earth being known for... something. We want it to be at least a little memorable... to some, so that our time on this planet won't be forgotten so quickly. It's that whole sense of self my soul has self-esteem issues thing that we're all born with. Maybe you want to be known for being kind to animals. Maybe you're good at math, and you want people to remember your gift for solving difficult differential equations. Or maybe you want to be known as the only man who has ever eaten an airplane. You heard me. Michelle Lottito is also known as Massio Monge-tut, which translates as Mr. Eat Everything. He's the world record holder of the largest meal ever eaten. In this case, it's a Cessna 150. This is an airplane, and has a wingspan at just over 33 feet and weighs about 1100 pounds. It can carry two people at a maximum altitude of 14,000 feet for just over 400 miles, and this dude ate one. Apparently, he has a stomach lining that's twice as thick as it should be, which allows him to digest things like nuts and bolts and sheet metal and chain. Wonder what kind of wine goes with the prop assembly. Anyway, Michelle Lottito will be forever known as the guy who ate an airplane. A meal that size is a world record. Which is another thing that got me thinking. What are some of the superlatives and some of the weirdness that comes from the world of New Rock and alternative music when it comes to stuff like this? So I started looking, and I found out a lot. This is the Ongoing History of New Music Book of World Records, part two. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we go back into the Ongoing history vault from 2008 and the first of two parts on world records. Chances are you have at least some kind of talent. Maybe it's not something very useful, but at least it's something that you can do that no one else can. My mom used to say that everyone is good at something or at the very least, known for something that no one else is.  For example, I grew up with a kid who could dislocate his thumbs at will. It was great for freaking out substitute teachers. He got to go home early a lot. Another kid could pop a wheelie on his bike and ride it all the way home like that, and he'd live more than a mile from the school. Sometime in the 1970s, though, the world discovered the Guinness Book of World Records. And that's when we realized that there were things out there much stranger than we could ever realize. Like the dude from India whose fingernails had a combined length of over 20ft. Or Elaine Davidson, the world's most pierced woman; 720 piercings, including dozens in her face. Another dude from Scotland has tattoos over 99.9% of his body, making him the world's most tattooed man. Then, in the summer of 2008, Sandy Allen died. She was the world's tallest woman. At 7ft seven inches, she lived in the same Indiana nursing home as Edna Parker, who died year earlier at the age of 115. And up until then; she had been the world's oldest woman. Now, this kind of got me thinking. Has anyone ever put together a list of world records for the world of new rock? A list of all the superlatives, the biggest, the shortest, the highest, the longest, the most expensive, all those things? And I couldn't find one. So I thought to myself, hey, there's a gap in the market. There?s got to be enough genuine and morbid curiosity out there to make it worthwhile. And who knows? Maybe a project like this might inspire someone to-do something great, or at least something weird. Which, of course, would be good, too. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, I give you?The Ongoing History of New Music ?Book of World Records version 1.0? part one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you're a fan of a particular artist, you want as much as you can get from that artist, you know, the albums, the singles, the t-shirts, all the downloads and all the swag and that's great when your favourite group releases an album. But with some bands going 234 or even more years between records, things get kind of dry. Now in the olden days, that was too bad distribution systems being what they were access to everything a band did was pretty much impossible. The access was tightly, tightly controlled, but the best you could hope for was for one of those rare elusive and highly legal bootleg records, unauthorized recordings issued by some shadowy label without the permission of the artist. Mostly these bootleg recordings featured live performances. After all, they were the easiest to make, but some contained stuff in the vaults that was never ever designed to be heard by anyone outside of the band's inner circle.  Heck, some of this material wasn't even heard by the executives of the group's record label for years. We had this cat and mouse game between the labels and the artists and the bootleggers and hard core fans were right in the middle, waiting, hoping and praying that they could somehow get their hands on this stuff. Bootleggers moved offshore to places like Italy, Singapore and Indonesia where copyright laws were, uh shall we say a little looser? One of the great bootleg labels was called KTS. They were renowned for two things,  super high quality live recordings that they got from somewhere and a wide selection of studio recordings that were never ever supposed to be released. I have a bunch of KTS releases and they are very, very good. Then along came the internet and the bootleg CD industry suddenly dried up pretty much overnight. Why bother putting out something that you had to manufacture in a Backstreet factory in China when you could just put it all online. Meanwhile, a strange thing happened with performers and managers instead of being all freaked out about this unfinished or unapproved stuff getting released into the wild by someone else, they started doing it themselves. I mean, why not use this material to forge a deeper relationship with their best customers, their biggest fans. The result has been an explosion of interesting material from some very big bands. And here's how you can track down some of it for yourself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There?s a fine line between ?wonderful? and ?weird?...things that are ?wonderful? tend to inspire you with awe...you feel warmth and light and awe and admiration...and you may suddenly find yourself believing in goodness and a higher power... I saw a total solar eclipse once...that?s exactly how I felt...maybe you?ve had a similar experience... But just a few centimeters from ?wonderful? is how you feel when you run across something that?s genuinely ?weird?...you might still feel awed?but you might also experience disbelief, confusion, disgust...and you may even feel a little throw-up at the back of your throat... Or you might laugh...?Weird? fan be funny....or you might think that something ?weird? is really, really cool...see, there?s good ?weird? as well as bad... ?wonderfully weird,? if you will...it?s all in the eye of the beholder... Let?s see where this stuff fits in with you...its part ten of ?100 weird things about new rock?... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Money is a weird thing...when you don?t have it, it?s all you can think about...when you do have it, it?s the last thing on your mind... It?s gotta be especially weird for successful musicians...99.9% of all rock performers come from very modest backgrounds...for years, they make sacrifices for their art, hoping and praying that one day, they won?t have to worry about where their next meal comes from or how they?re gonna manage to pay the rent.... But 99.99% of professional musicians will never hit the big time...they may make an okay living, but they?ll never be rich... But what about that 1/100th of 1 per cent that do hit the big time?...for them, life changes a lot and it changes fast...suddenly, they?re able to do and have things that they never even dreamed of... Some can handle it and ease into the über-rich lifestyle with elegance and grace...others?well, not so much...others still use their positions to do strange, excessive and occasionally destructive things... And, not surprisingly, things on all sides of the ledger can get quite weird... This is part 9 of ?100 weird things about new rock?...it?s 10 tales of wealth, success and excess. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The standard musical diet consists of three things: sex, drugs and rock?n?roll....all three of these stapes affect the same areas of the brain... We?ve talked about this before, but here?s a quick refresher course in neuroscience... In your head, you have the amygdala, the cerebellum and the nucleus accumbens...they?re involved in the process of creating and regulating dopamine, which is the hormone that makes you feel good... These regions analyze what?s going on when you have an orgasm, take cocaine or listen to a great song...dopamine is released into the bloodstream, which is a signal to the rest of the body that says, ?this is good!  Let?s have more!?... Needless to say, dopamine is a pretty addictive hormone...mix music and drugs and you?re heading down a slippery slope...as we?ve seen many times?including earlier this in this year?things can get very weird very quickly... But musicians taking drugs is often a very solitary and personal thing...with sex, other people are involved...most of the time...but then again, we are talking about weirdness, aren?t we? You might want get the kids and grandma to do something else for the next hour...this is ?100 weird things about new rock, part 8"?and the topic what happens when new rock and alternative music mixes with weird sex... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is a fact of human nature that those given the power to make rules that govern the behavior the rest of us will devote their lives to making and enforcing those rules... Most of the time, that?s a good thing...if you murder someone in cold blood and you?re caught, you?ll face justice...robbery is illegal...and so is owning a pig in France and calling it ?napoleon?... No, seriously...it?s against the law to name your pig ?napoleon? if you live in France...in California, women may not operate an automobile while wearing a house coat...and in Canada, it?s apparently illegal to remove a bandage in public....who knew?... Then there are all the weird lawsuits?like the dry cleaners who were sued for $54 million for losing a pair of pants...or the American politician who filed a suit against god for causing natural disasters and inspiring terrorists... And then there are all the tiny legal nuances that either allow cases to proceed or have them dismissed on a technicality?hello, O.J. Simpson... The world of rock is not immune to legal foibles...crimes, felonies, misdemeanors, weird lawsuits, legal charges, jail time?the works... Which got me thinking: what are the weirdest intersections of the law and new rock of all time?...I came up with a list of ten.... This is ?100 weird things about new rock, part 7: 10 stories from the legal files:...  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I think we take music for granted...as much as we love it; we also treat it like something disposable... And I don?t if we can be blamed for it...I mean, there?s just so much music out there...there?s a never-ending supply... We hear a song...we evaluate it?sometimes in less than 3 seconds?and then we either accept or reject the song...and if we accept it, we?ll listen to it only until something better comes along... We seldom stop to think about all the effort?the time, the inspiration, the emotion, the skill, the technology, the money?that went into creating that one song... While music can be written and created anywhere, you need a recording studio to preserve it, to put it into a form in which it can be duplicated and then distributed to the world so we?the fans?can finally get to hear it... And recording studios can be weird places...confining windowless rooms where time seems to lose all meaning...yet the goal is to capture the energy of a live performance... In other words, there?s a lot that can happen between the time a songwriter feels that creative flash and we finally get to hear the end result...and yes, it can get very, very weird along the way... This is part 6 of ?100 weird things about new rock?...I call this episode ?studio stories?... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some things just go together naturally... A nice sauterne is a fine companion to foie gras that is served with fruit compote...or, if that?s too rich, strawberry jam works well in a sandwich with peanut butter... And, as even the most casual observer knows that rock music often comes with side order of drugs... In case you haven?t noticed, rock and drugs often have some kind of symbiotic relationship... I mean, the self-appointed moralists who want to sanitize life for the rest of us kinda have a point...the world of rock?n?roll is filled with stories of druggy excess and the kind of misery only drugs can offer... A lot of lives have been ruined or ended by that dangerous combination of rock music and drugs...and more often than not, things can get really weird...really weird... I have ten stories where rock and drugs have intersected with very strange results... It?s part five of ?100 weird things about new rock?... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the outside, being in a famous touring rock band seems like a glamourous thing...you travel the world, playing for thousands of adoring fans night after night with your gang of buddies... Oh, the gloriousness of it all...the private jets!...the media exposure!...the excitement!...the perks!...the sites!...the sex!...the drugs!...your every whim catered to by people whose job is to, well, cater to your every whim... And that really is the reality?for maybe the top 1/10 of one per cent of groups in the world...for other 99.9%, going on the road is a trying ordeal that can get pretty uncomfortable real fast... I mean, think about it...for the entire time you?re on tour, you?re living in a bubble, going where you?re told to go, doing what you?re told to do and living out of suitcases for months on end... You can wake up in the van or the bus one morning after the gig and quite literally have no idea what country you?re in, let alone what city... Then there?s the bad food, the interviews with the same stupid questions all the time, annoying fans, the late nights, too much alcohol, too many drugs and not enough sleep... The only thing that makes it all worthwhile is the fact you get to play every night...but even that gets old after a while...all you want to do is go home, do the laundry and finally be left alone for a while... With that kind of working environment, life on the road can get pretty weird...how weird?...let us count the ways... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This historical, true crime podcast hosted by Kru Williams from History Television's hit original series Deadman?s Curse: The Legend of the Lost Gold investigates the curse and legend surrounding the lost gold mine of Pitt Lake. On their quest they're joined by members of the Stó:l? and Katzie First Nations, historians and cultural experts of diverse backgrounds, as they sort fact from fiction and give Slumach a voice from the other side of the veil. You'll hear about how an Indigenous prospector, accused of murder set a curse on anyone who searched for his hidden gold just before he was hanged. Over a century later, a prospector, a mountaineer, a truth-seeker and a way-shower band together to walk the same paths of those who went looking for Slumach?s cursed gold and never returned find how a single bullet was the catalyst for a 150-year-old mystery. Click here to find it on your favourite podcast app. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices