101 Series Lesson 115: The Music of 1957

And now we have another installment in our look at pivotal years in music. For Lesson 115 we turn to the year 1957 when Leave It To Beaver and American Bandstand debuted on television, Dwight Eisenhower began his second term as President, and those pesky nuisances Rock ‘n’ Roll and Rhythm ‘n’ Blues were turning […]

Have The Rolling Stones Killed Ep 8: Deep In The 60s (Album tracks 1962-1969)

Between 1962 and 1969 The Rolling Stones release 10 records – 4 in 1965 alone (one for each season!). Andrew Loog Oldham kept those boys busy year ’round. For episode 8 of our tribute to the Stones, Have The Rolling Stones Killed, we go wading deep in these records and listen to some tracks usually […]

101 Series Lesson 114 Part II: Return of New Wave

Ok, everyone! The intermission’s over. Time for now for part 2 of our look at the music of the early80s with Return of New Wave. For Lesson 114 we get back on the dance floor for more tunes from the days of roller disco, Madame Wong’s and maybe a few dozen cans of AquaNet. It’s […]

Gimme Back My Song Ep 8

Alright alright alright . . . sit down everyone. Make a circle. You know what it’s time for? Some musical surprises! Here’s episode 8 of our all covers show Gimme Back My Song where we play a bunch of tunes you’ll be shocked your favorite singers sang way back when. We live in a world […]

101 Series Lesson 114: It Came From New Wave Pt. 1

Every so often music regurgitates . . . a music genre is created and spews forth a nice new corporate name that everyone can latch onto. Out of the 70s came the regurgitation known as Punk Rock: the resulting spew left over became known as New Wave (and it was pretty good). For Lesson 114 […]

From the Board Ep 8: Live at Woodstock

For a couple of days in August 1969 about three hundred thousand dirty hippies occupied a rural upstate New York farming community . . . people died, people were born, brown acid was eaten and some of the greatest rock and roll ever played before a live audience happened. In the eighth edition of our […]

101 Series Lesson 113: Best of MTV Unplugged

Something weird happened at the MTV in the early 90s . . . after doing nothing but show Peter Gabriel and Michael Jackson videos for a decade, the channel put a bunch of strangers in a loft and slowly started giving up on music. Yet, around this same time MTV managed to give us one […]

Found Gems Ep 8

All singers are trying to have a hit with every song, but you know what . . . that’s impossible. Not every song is a hit, even the one’s that shoulda been. We at the Balcony consider tunes on side two of your favorite records Found Gems. In episode 9 we spin all the great […]

101 Series Lesson 112: Michael Jackson, The Music Life

MJ. The King of Pop. The Gloved One. Owner of Bubbles. Brother of LaToya. Some stars get known by many titles. In Lesson 112 we focus on the pride of Indiana, Mr. Michael Jackson. In this episode we spin jams from a life’s work . . . literally a lifetime of material. (Mike started kinda […]

Embryonic Ep 8

It’s very easy to believe that every song happened magically – like it fell from Heaven, a perfectly formed gem from the gods. This is what the people of Rock ‘n’ Roll would like you to believe. And, you know, sometime that does happen. But, most songs start out as just an idea in someone’s […]