The Ugly American Werewolf in London Rock Podcast Mac B.

Listeners of our show know that The Wolf loves Ronnie James Dio and his epic voice. We've done past episodes on his time in Sabbath (UAWIL #13), the Dreamers Never Die bio-pic/documentary (UAWIL #98) and last year's Holy Diver at 40 (UAWIL #129). So as Dio's sophomore effort turns 40 in 2024, we took the opportunity to celebrate Ronnie's voice and dive into The Last In Line.
With the same lineup as Holy Diver - Vivian Campbell - guitar, Jimmy Bain - bass, Vinnie Appice - drums - Ronnie sought to recapture the magic from the first album. And with stadium rockers like We Rock, Egypt (The Chains Are On) and the title track, the band showed progress while keeping in touch with the anthemic rock that got them where they were. But are songs like Breathless and Evil Eyes really Dio songs? Are could they have been released by any hard rock band of the era? While The Last In Line showcases Ronnie's voice in a way that no one else could ever sing the song, some of the tracks on the album don't seem to hold up to the same standard. Vivian Campbell is glorious throughout the album with some thrashing solos and a touch of Eddie Van Halen here and there. Vinnie and Jimmy provide the devastating beat that makes this a hard rock classic and Ronnie's vocals are as strong as ever. But should they have taken more time to hone down the songs? Should they have spent more money on the videos? We dive into all those questions to celebrate Ronnie and The Last In Line at 40.

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Coming off the success of his 1999 album, Prince took everything to another level with 1984's Purple Rain. The album featured 5 singles that would get major airplay on different radio formats (pop, rock, r&b, dance) and MTV. The album would sell over 25 million copies worldwide but it was also the soundtrack to the movie of the same name which grossed over $70 million. Prince not only won Grammys for the album but also earned an oscar for the title track. Prince's unabashed sexuality oozed from every aspect of his performance in the movie and the videos and was reinforced by his band, The Revolution.
From pop greats (I Would Die 4 U), rockin dance tracks (Let's Go Crazy), personal epics (Purple Rain) and emotional hits (When The Doves Cry), Prince saw his tunes go up the charts of different musical genres. But his overt sexuality, especially in songs like Darling Nikki, irked parents including Tipper Gore who included him among the Filthy 15 during her PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) hearings before Congress. However, the extraordinary talent of Prince as a songwriter, instrumentalist, singer and performer won out in the end and this is the album that sent him to heights from which he never came down. It may not be the hard/prog/classic/heavy rock we normally cover but Purple Rain was hugely important in the development of our generation's understanding of what music was and we're happy to celebrate it's 40th!

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By 1984, Bruce Springsteen had long been hailed by rock critics as the next great American bard for the working man. His ability to mix heavy lyrics about the struggles of everyday life with catchy pop/rock rhythms had elevated him to rock royalty status before he ever made his 7th album. Released June 4, 1984 as a follow up to the melancholy and personal Nebraska, Born in the USA reunited Bruce with the E. Street Band and The Boss brought 70 songs for the gang to work into what would become the biggest selling album of 1985. The result was a record that sold over 30 million copies worldwide, contained 7 top 10 singles in the US and won Springsteen his first grammy (Dancing in the Dark).
While many of the tracks on the album can boast big sing-along choruses (Working On The Highway, Glory Days, Born in the USA), the subject matter of the song may not always be the kind you shout and pump your fist to. Bruce can take a song about Vietnam veterans not being treated fairly into a stadium anthem or a song about going to jail for getting involved with an underage girl into a rockabilly runner. But the deeper tracks Downbound Train and No Surrender may be among the best songs on the album despite more than half of the record being hits on the charts. While The Wolf and Action Jackson dive into these tracks as they turn 50, can they separate their emotions from hearing these songs as kids, remove the disdain for people who scream along to Born in the USA without understanding the song's meaning and try to be impartial despite the memories of moms loving Bruce as this time? It's a challenge...

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Our monthly sidecast First Concert Memories was created as a vehicle to capture those special moments in our lives when we saw a band we loved for the first time. The anticipation, the build up, the people you're with, the performance, the party - all of if can bring back so many rich and happy memories. And it's great for artists, writers, journalists, podcasters and music fans - everyone has a story to tell about one influential night in their lives. For this month's show, we welcome a long time listener and talented musician to relate his story about seeing Metallica as a teenager in England, Nige Savage.
We met Nige through social media and he was always willing to give an honest account of our episodes on Ugly American Werewolf in London. But when he mentioned that he loved First Concert Memories, we thought it would be cool to have one of our listeners tell his story. As we discussed using his music on our show (he provides the intro and outro music on UAWIL) we discovered that he had the rare privilege of seeing Metallica on the Master of Puppets tour just 7 days before the death of bassist Cliff Burton. We dive into the evening and the performance which included James Hetfield in a cast, a surprise guest appearance which went over Nige's head at the time and how Metallica's music influenced his own creativity with Chupacabra. Join us for this fun stroll down memory lane with a version of one of the world's biggest bands that Action Jackson and The Wolf never had a chance to see live.

Follow Nige on X: https://twitter.com/NigeSavage
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On May 24, 1974, the world were introduced to new "supergroup" on Led Zeppelin's Swan Song record label with the self-titled debut of Bad Company. Sporting a world-class lineup of Paul Rodgers (Free) on vocals, Mick Ralphs (Mott the Hoople) on guitar, Boz Burrell (King Crimson) on bass and Simon Kirke (Free) on drums, Bad Company were seasoned veterans of the studio and the road. After becoming disenchanted with their previous bands, the guys got together to form a straight ahead hard rock act that was built for American rock radio and to play live. And while the record went gold in their home of the UK, Bad Company (1974) is 5x platinum in the US.
Paul Rodgers provides can go from singing with raw power on Rock Steady to the sweet Seagull to the soulful lament in Ready For Your Love. Ralphs big guitar riffs would help define what 70s hard rock was and the rhythm section of Burrell and Kirke were steady and creative. Though only two songs were released as official singles (Can't Get Enough & Movin' On), US rock radio fans have become familiar with the entire album thanks to DJs digging into this record for half a century. The Wolf & Action Jackson had a fun time going down memory lane with this one!

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We developed our On First Listen series so we'd have the opportunity to give a good listen to albums which had somehow gotten past us. Maybe we'd always seen it in the record store and were curious or maybe friends had recommended the album but we never had a chance to listen. Perhaps, like Roger Waters 1984 solo effort The Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking, it was both as the distinct cover is a young boys record shopping fantasy and many prog-heads have suggested it's better than The Wall from Roger's former band Pink Floyd. In fact, he brought both concepts to the band in the late 70s - they could pick the one they liked best and the other, Roger would keep for a solo album. While The Wall became a cultural touchstone selling tens of millions of copies around the world, The Pros & Cons was met with a much cooler reception.
And while Roger employed the talents of folks who had helped make Pink Floyd's The Wall such a success like artist Gerald Scarfe, he also brought in some preeminent musicians like David Sanborn, Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton. Telling a story in real time of a man dreaming about having an affair, the ambition of Roger Waters for the stage and screen of his idea is epic. However, despite all this help the album didn't sell like a PInk Floyd album and many critics and fans savaged the album as Roger's negative ego trip. Yet some say it's his finest work, in or out of Floyd. To help give us some insight, we brought back friend of the show Lee Dickson who was Eric Clapton's longtime guitar tech. Though his memory is a bit foggy, the stories of how the stage was setup and how the musicians performed this music on-stage are really special and we're so glad to have him back. Where do you come out on this divisive record? Is it an amazing concept or just a bad album? Are any of the songs memorable? We try to figure that out On First Listen.

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