The Robins

R&B; Profile

This week, I’m dedicating the entire podcast to one of the most influential and yet underrated R&B; vocal groups of all time, The Robins. The pinnacle of West Coast Doo Wop, The Robins were discovered by Johnny Otis, when they entered a talent contest at his Barrelhouse Night Club in Watts in 1949. They recorded for a variety of labels over the course of the next 12 years. I present to you the highlights of a long career in R&B;, including the stories behind the story on this great vocal group.

In 1960, Wanda Jackson did a great cover of the Robins 1954 classic, “Riot In Cell Block #9”. Listen to the show and then decide for yourself which one you truly DIG the MOST!

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Death By Teenage – Teen Tragedy Songs From The 50s and 60s!

Death By Teenage was a feature that I used to run every Halloween night on my old XM Radio Show, “The Night Prowl”. Each year, I examined this sub-genre of rock n’ roll chart phenomenon. Most of these songs were huge records and the writers and artists just kept pumping them out. It wasn’t enough that many of these songs featured love tortured teens dying in car crashes, no no, they soon added plane crashes, train crashes, shark encounters and even lightning strikes. All of these teens share one comonality, they all suffered “DEATH BY TEENAGE!”

So let’s listen to some of the greatest, melodramatic teenage tragedy songs ever recorded. You’ll here 2 by Ray Peterson and Dickey Lee. Songs by The Shangri-Las, Cathy Carroll and Johnny Cymbal will also be featured.

Then, vote for your all-time favorite teenage tragedy tune. Vote for “Other”, if yours is not listed and tell us why you voted in the “comments” section.

Get ready to cry until you laugh…it’s “Death By Teenage!”

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HALLOWEEN 2

Pop Culture Monsters (Drac, Frank, Wolfie & Mummy)

We celebrate part 2 of my 3 part podcast series on Halloween with many of the monsters and creatures you know from pop culture. We’ll hear rare songs about Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolfman and The Mummy. You’ll hear ghoulishly groovy tunes from The Hollywood Flames, The Edgar Winter Group, John Zacherle and The Calvanes.

Vote for your favorite version of the classic, “I Put A Spell On You” and don’t miss next week’s final part in the series, “Death By Teenage”.

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