History in Five Songs Episode 313: What did you do during hair metal?
In Episode 313 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin delves into how a wide range of hard rock and metal bands navigated the hair metal era—from those who ignored it entirely, to those who subtly adapted, stayed the course, or went in completely bizarre directions.
Black Sabbath – “Call of the Wild”
Scorpions – “Hit Between the Eyes”
Queen – “Pain Is So Close to Pleasure”
Kiss – “Good Girl Gone Bad”
Starz – “Rock Six Times”
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36:00
History in Five Songs Episode 312: Unexpected AOR Albums
In Episode 312 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin explores a curious subset of rock history—unexpected AOR albums—by spotlighting bands like Heart and Yes that made surprising forays into glossy, radio-friendly territory during the early ’80s, blurring the lines between prog, pop, and proto–hair metal.
Heart – “Heavy Heart”
Yes – “City of Love”
Blue Öyster Cult – “Eyes on Fire”
Golden Earring – “Enough Is Enough”
Sammy Hagar – “Remote Love”
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36:22
History in Five Songs Episode 311: Covers, not grunge, killed hair metal.
In Episode 311 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin argues that the real nail in hair metal's coffin wasn’t grunge, but the wave of uninspired cover songs that undermined the genre’s credibility and alienated metal purists from the very start.
Quiet Riot – “Cum on Feel the Noize”
Great White – “Gimme Some Lovin’”
Mötley Crüe – “Smokin’ in the Boys Room”
Twisted Sister – “Leader of the Pack”
Poison – “Your Mama Don’t Dance”
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37:21
History in Five Songs Episode 310: Struggling with the Greatest New Wave Bands
In Episode 310 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin wrestles with defining the genre and counts down his five favorite—yet genre-challengingly eclectic—new wave bands, kicking off with the Boomtown Rats and Devo in a tightly-defined 1979-focused episode.
The Boomtown Rats – “Keep it Up”
Devo – “Blockhead”
The Police – “No Time This Time”
The Jam – “Girl on the Phone”
XTC – “Scissor Man”
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39:01
History in Five Songs Episode 309: New Wave’s Pub Rock Problem
In Episode 309 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin delves into the theory that traditional, conservative pub rock diluted the innovation of New Wave, highlighting how artists like Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, and Rockpile carried this "pub rock problem" into a genre otherwise defined by its creative and edgy origins.
Elvis Costello – “The Beat”
Joe Jackson – “Kinda Kute”
Rockpile – “A Knife and a Fork”
Talking Heads – “New Feeling”
Patti Smith – “Space Monkey”
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History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff is the show that aims to make grand and often oddball hard rock and heavy metal points through a narrative built upon the tiny idea of a quintet of songs. Buttressed with illustrative clips, Martin argues quickly and succinctly why these songs - and the specific sections of these tracks - support his mad professor premise, from the wobbly invention of an “American” heavy metal, to the influence of Led Zeppelin in hair metal or to more succinct topics like tapping and twin leads. The songs serve as bricks, but Martin slathers plenty of mortar. At the end, hopefully he has a sturdy house in which this week’s theory can reside unbothered by the elements. At approximately 7000, Martin has had published in books more record reviews than anybody in the history of music writing across all genres. Additionally, Martin has penned approximately 85 books on hard rock, heavy metal, classic rock and record collecting. Proud part of Pantheon - the podcast network for music lovers.
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