Episodes

  • OS#72 Side Trips

    OS#72 Side Trips
    Sep 17 2024
    Professor Mikey here. Thanks for marking the attendance sheet today on Old School. 🏫 Something you notice when you transcend from being a young punk disc jockey into being an old professorial spinner of the tunes, part gasbag, part profound, is …well…how you pick your music. Don’t get me wrong. There are lots of good golden oldie shows out there. And most of them are based on the number of listens that get piled up over 40 to 60 years. It’s like they are working for out of focus groups. If they say Eagles, the machine says Hotel California. If they say Fleetwood Mac the machine goes for Rhiannon. In the process, a lot of great tunes get forgotten or never heard by the new cool kids on the block.That’s were the vintage wine of the ones and twos kick in. Old DJs remember every song they ever played, as well as the people who dug the sounds that were going down.Human programmers can do something that never occurred to Algo and the Rhythms. They can take sidetrips that lead to who knows where. The destinations appear to them in visions about halfway through the current song thats being heard.Funny, that’s the theme of this edition of Old School. These are all destination songs, but not exactly road trip songs. These are all great places to go, but they might give Waze and Google Maps an error code, even if the kickoff tune started in New York City.Stay with me on this. The longer you listen the longer the tracking machines like it. There is one podcast for every three people on the planet now, so Old School needs all the help it can get. Hit subscribe and I’ll take you there.We have much ground to cover, so let’s get started. With the hard rock Beatle, John Lennon no less. And our first song is not Imagine. Or Strawberry Fields.Thanks for listening. This is Old School number 72. Buckle you seat belts. The destinations are all Side Trips! NEW YORK CITY John Lennon & Yoko Ono 197250,000 MILES BENEATH MY BRAIN Ten Years After 1970JOURNEY TO TYME Kenny and the Casuals 1965PRIMROSE HILL John and Beverly Martin 1970ONE WAY STREET Nine Below Zero 1971 SHAMBALA B. W. Stevenson 1973HITCHHIKE Marvin Gaye 1962STRANGER IN TOWN Del Shannon 1965CHELSEA Elvis Costello 1978BERLIN Lou Reed 1973SECRET LIFE OF ARABIA David Bowie 1977OKLAHOMA USA The Kinks 1971BILOXI Jessi Winchester 1970DEBRIS Faces 1971THE GIRL FROM MILL VALLEY Jeff Beck Group feat. Nicky Hopkins 1969PROMISED LAND Chuck Berry 1964A side trip is a wonderful thing in music when you are a disc jockey, free as a bird, without a corporate playlist or strict directions delivered by someone who doesn’t like music. Traditionally it means you are in the midst of a trip when you realize you wouldn’t have to go far out of your way to experience a completely different destination. You are at Disneyland, and find out Knott’s Berry Farm is just 7 miles away.In free form radio it means you have 3 or 4 minutes to find another record that will sound good after the one you are playing.For this episode #72 we chose from a number of possible musical destinations that were generated by musicians who may have been planning to do something else. You never know with these guys and girls.Twice we have pondered rock and roll destinations on Old School. I’ll put the links at the bottom of the newsletter page, which you can get to for free at professormikey.substack.com. They will get you to Episode 25, Omaha Shout, a theme show about place names that may or may not have come from Peyton Manning while trying to throw the defense into confusion. It featured powerful yet easy to understand directions from Moby Grape, Nina Simone, and the Dead Kennedys. Great city songs from Episode 21, “Location Location Location” worked a real estate vibe with classic recordings from The Runaways, The Jam, Porter Wagoner, and T Rex.As always Professor Mikey hopes Old School is becoming your jam. If you hear this on Spotify, just a comment or any kind of signal that the the Spotify empire in Stockholm might see or hear. Old School is produced for educational purposes, with whole songs coming from the public domain, with encouragement from labels from years gone by, or are used within the guidelines of fair use stipulated in Section 107 of the copyright act of 1967. It was a very good year.Thanks again for listening, avoid dead air, and I’ll be back very soon with another edition of Old School. The past is a blast!Links to similar side trips This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe
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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • OS#70 Monsters of the Surf Guitar #2 [1 more time]

    OS#70 Monsters of the Surf Guitar #2 [1 more time]
    Sep 8 2024

    *Show note: Old School GT students. Don’t be confused. This is the same show as the original #2. My apologies for sending again, there’s been a rogue wave that knocked some episodes out of Spotify. So we can sit in the sand and hope things work out, or we can just grab our guitars, hop on our boards, and ride the reptilian surf one more time!

    A few episodes back we heard from the Monsters of the Surf Guitar, them rocking reptiles and low-fi lizards that hit the beach with us just as things were warming up.

    As the summer went by, too fast as always, a lot of you made it evident you were craving more surf guitar, that twangy genre that ruled the charts in the early 60s just ahead of the British Invasion. If you haven't heard that episode, it has lots of gila monster history, ferocious feedback, and reptilian reverberation. Odds are pretty good if you dial back a few episodes to Old School Number 66, you’ll find it. But you don’t have to have heard that one to paddle out for this one.

    I was even thinking of making this a sleep tape. Could people really nod off to dreamland while rocking to the memories of surf, sleep, and Stratocasters?

    Most of these artists surfed the waves at Oblivion Beach, where their reputations came and went like the great waves at Wiamea bay. Can you dig it?

    We’ve got guitars that scream like a shark on a spree,

    And lizards that strum with wild jubilee.

    The crocs and the gators are ready to jam,

    With riffs so hot, they could fry a clam!

    So slide on your shades and hang ten with the best,

    Where the surf meets the scales and Black Lagoon Creature don’t rest.

    It’s a wild, wacky ride and its just ahead

    With monsters and Fenders and creatures who shred

    Can you hang ten with the toes and the flying fins and fingers of the larapin lizards of the lost legends of the surfside sidewinders and their dreamy dinosaur dramas?

    I thought you could.

    The Original Surfaris start of this last set of the Old School Endless Summer with a track called EXOTIC. It’s the return of the Monsters of the Surf Guitar. Number Two. Just for you.

    MONSTER PLAYLIST🦖

    Exotic THE ORIGINAL SURFARIS

    Gear DAVE MYERS & THE SURFTONES

    The Breeze and I STEVE AND THE EMPERORS

    Ishamatsu THE CENTURIONS

    El Gato THE CHANDELLES

    Pressure THE PYRAMIDS

    Surf Rider THE LIVELY ONES

    Midnight Surfer JERRY COLE & HIS SPACEMEN

    Fugitive JAN DAVIS

    Dance of the Ants THE STRANGERS

    Bongo Shutdown NEW DIMENSIONS

    Ram Charger THE DELVETTS

    Yep THE SURFARIS

    Scorpion THE VIBRANTS

    The Gremmie Part 1 THE TORNADOES

    Rampage THE CHALLENGERS

    Cheater Stomp THE FABULOUS PLAYBOYS

    Moon Shot KENNY & THE FRIENDS

    Surf Medley THE VENTURES

    Travelers SPANISH MOON

    Professor Mikey's OLD SCHOOL is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and keep the dust off the vintage wax, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

    “The past is a blast.”



    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe
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    51 mins
  • OS#73 Alan Freed's "Memory Lane"

    OS#73 Alan Freed's "Memory Lane"
    Sep 6 2024
    Today I’m turning the dials over to one of the original architects of rock and roll, the late great cooler than cool master of the microphone, Hercules of the hits, the original Daddy O with stacks of wacks, and the answer to the question who put the bomp in the bomp shu wamp. Alan Freed.Freed was the original radio hustler. He knew he had stumbled on lightning in a bottle. He just wasn’t quite sure how to monetize it. In a buttoned up post war world where the fuse for the coming teenage rebellion had been lit, how the explosion was going to play was still a bit of a mystery. Like Robert Oppenheimer, Alan Freed just knew things were going to be different.Alan Freed came up with the term rock ‘n’ roll as it applies to music in 1951, at least four years before anyone heard of Elvis. The phrase had been batted around for years in the blues culture as a synonym for, well, getting down and dirty and bumping to the music. Had the parents of squeaky clean Make Room for Daddy music fans known that, it would have been banned in Boston and everywhere else.Freed brought his act to radio, to live audiences, to television, to movies and to congressional hearings. He introduced legends including Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Richie Valens and many more. He was controversial and raised eyebrows because he thought this great music was for everyone. His shows featured black artists as well as white, and his audiences all rocked out together, regardless of race, color, or creed. That may seem tame, but in the changing world that birthed this controversial soundtrack, it was a very big deal.The show we will hear reflects the diversity of the product to which Alan Freed dedicated his short life. On the surface it may not sound like a revolution. It’s a little square and presentational. Freed isn’t lighting any fires here, no auditorium seats were harmed during this recording. The guy who changed radio forever sounds pretty laid back. He’s wrapped up in the nostalgia of some music that was less than ten years old. There was no such thing as classic rock, and if there was Alan Freed would never have played songs for 50 years straight.This was one of the first compilation albums, so exactly how to pull it off had not been worked out. Alan reverently introduces each song. Some of these songs had only been pressed on 45, so they were hard to find in a non digital world. Ginormous giants and the forever forgotten are crowded together in a cramped skipping and popping time machine. This was released in 1961, just four years before Alan Freed’s untimely death at the age of 43 in 1965. Its heavy on the doo-wop, and listening to it from another timespace, it was probably intended for sweet young makeout sessions. It features early performances from The Dells, The Flamingos, The Five Satins, Little Anthony and the Imperials, and many more. Let’s let the boss tell you the rest. Rock, roll, and remember. This is Old School #73, Alan Freed’s Memory Lane.I hope you enjoyed that. If you are a doo wop fan I’m pretty sure it was a breath of fresh air from the distant past. If you have never encountered this music before, you are probably already searching for box sets. And who better to take us down the romantic Memory Lane than the late great Alan Freed. In addition to his work as the original pioneer of rock and roll, Alan left some fun movies that you should check out when you can, including “Don’t Knock the Rock,” “Mr. Rock and Roll,” and “Go Johnny Go.” The plots are cornier than movie buttered popcorn, but they all include state of the art filmed performances of early rock stars in their dawn of time genius modes.More info on Alan Freed’s Memory Lane can be found on my free newsletter that you can click on anytime at professormikey.substack.com. The podcast is there, and anywhere else you find your podcasts. Subscribes and likes are the bitcoin of the new audio communication, and are always appreciated.Professor Mikey’s Old School is produced solely for educational purposes, and any dancing or kissing that may result is the sole proprietary responsibility of the listener. Any and all music heard resides within the public domain or is used within the guidelines of fair use provided for in Section 107 of the copyright act of 1976. I’m Professor Mikey, thanks for listening, join me next time on Old School where the past is always a blast!* Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1169/alan-freed: memorial page for Alan Freed (15 Dec 1921–20 Jan 1965), Find a Grave Memorial ID 1169, citing Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum, Hartsdale, Westchester County, New York, USA; Maintained by Find a Grave. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe
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    50 mins
  • OS#71 “Hey! Hippie!”

    OS#71 “Hey! Hippie!”
    Aug 22 2024
    Professor Mikey in the Old School, thanks for attending class today.Were you ever a hippie? Did you ever get called a hippie?I did. On the streets of Los Angeles back in the early 70s. By an old guy on a bicycle. I was minding my own business, letting my hair blow in the breeze, wearing a tie dye tshirt and bell bottom jeans that had a lot of patches. And Jesus boots, or sandals as they would eventually be known.I was so impressed. LA of all places. I was into it. I loved psychedelic music, I couldn’t wait for the next concert. Unlike a lot of hippies I had a job. And unlike a lot of people who had jobs, I worked on the air at a radio station that was so square and strait laced I had to wear a short hair wig. It was like a swimming cap with a fraternity haircut.But enough about my minor dishonesty in the name of staying employed and paying the rent. I could go to work and play Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Spirit, Country Joe and the Fish. You know. Hippy bands in there with the Archies and Bill Withers.Today’s internet often refers to hippie songs, but people who weren’t there have a tendency to get off track. They go for drug songs and anything that might mention peace or love. WHich is okay, but most of those miss the lifestyle and the actual ethos of Hippiedom. The point about changing the world through love, becoming a vegetarian, and smoking pot that you grew yourself. In these next few songs, we are going to try to get back to the garden. This is not only where it’s at, it is were it was. Incense, love beads, tuning in, turning on, and dropping out. Within reason.Welcome to Old School #71. Sit anywhere. We are going to change the world, one doobie at a time. Its a unique time in/and space, that begins on Broadway and eventually hitches a ride to San Francisco.Pull back to reveal the Summer of Love, 1967. The atmosphere in the city where Tony Bennett misplaced his ticket is electric, thick with the scent of patchouli and the strumming of a thousand guitars. It may be California, but it’s a different state of mind altogether. It’s groovy, it’s laid back, it’s casual Friday for the cosmic universe.The streets of Haight-Ashbury are alive with Peter Max color, a swirling kaleidoscope of tie-dye, beads, and flowing fabrics that catch the sunlight as mostly young people wander with an almost dreamlike sense of purpose. We see bell-bottoms, fringed vests, and crystal spectacles paired with peace signs, love beads, and flowers tucked into long, Beatles 2.0 hair. The fashion here craves statement over style in a rebellion against the buttoned-up norms of the previous decade.Everywhere you look art sprouts and erupts on the walls, on the clothing, even on the super high faces of the people all beautiful. Psychedelic posters tout Fillmore music happenings, where bands like Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead are exploring night trips to the centers of the minds. Tangible good vibrations, a sense of unity and shared experiences draw crowds and converts at all hours. Strangers greet each other with “Peace” and “Love,” and it feels genuine, as if they’ve tapped into something deeper than just freaky holiday.The air is thick with the sweet middle earthy scent of cannibas, mingling with the sexy spice of Nag Champa. Conversations drift from spiritual awakening to civil rights, to Lewis Carroll and chamomile. Many question the merits of meditation alongside the damnation of war. There’s a feeling that this generation is on the brink of something that could change the world (personal computers?) or at least their own reality. It’s easy to lose yourself here, to be swept up in bedrock optimism, the sense that anything is possible. All you need is love.A new music spills out from every corner—birthed in raw inspiration and reverb, echoing the plugged-in heartbeat of this loosey-goosey movement, a soundtrack to revolution that will place flowers in rifle barrels. It’s a renaissance fair in Itchycoo Park that asks if you are going to be at the Love-In.HIPPIE PLAYLISTRENAISSANCE FAIR * The ByrdsITCHYCOO PARK * Small FacesARE YOU GOING TO BE THERE (AT THE LOVE-IN) * Chocolate WatchbandAQUARIUS * Original Broadway Cast of HAIRLOVE STREET * The DoorsGENTLE PEOPLE * Biff RoseSAN FRANCISCO (WEAR SOME FLOWERS IN YOUR HAIR) * Scott MackenzieHIPPIE FROM OLEMA * The YoungbloodsDON’T BOGART THAT JOINT * Fraternity of ManWHAT ABOUT ME? * Quicksilver Messenger ServiceCLOUD NINE * The TemptationsTHE HIPPIE ELEVATOR OPERATOR * The W. C. Fields Memorial Electric String BandEPISTLE TO DIPPY * DonovanCOME TO THE SUNSHINE * Van Dyke ParksWON’T YOU TRY/SATURDAY AFTERNOON * Jefferson AirplaneSAN FRANCISCAN NIGHTS * Eric Burdon and the Animals YOUNGER GENERATION * The Lovin’ SpoonfulLETS GET TOGETHER * Dino ValentiSECTION 43 * Country Joe and The Fish “The past is a blast.”Thanks for reading Professor Mikey's OLD SCHOOL! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. ...
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    1 hr and 12 mins
  • OS#70 Monsters of the Surf Guitar #2

    OS#70 Monsters of the Surf Guitar #2
    Aug 8 2024

    Surfs up again! A few episodes back we heard from the Monsters of the Surf Guitar, them rocking reptiles and low-fi lizards that hit the beach with us just as things were warming up.

    As the summer went by, too fast as always, a lot of you made it evident you were craving more surf guitar, that twangy genre that ruled the charts in the early 60s just ahead of the British Invasion. If you haven't heard that episode, it has lots of gila monster history, ferocious feedback, and reptilian reverberation. Odds are pretty good if you dial back a few episodes to Old School Number 66, you’ll find it. But you don’t have to have heard that one to paddle out for this one.

    I was even thinking of making this a sleep tape. Could people really nod off to dreamland while rocking to the memories of surf, sleep, and Stratocasters?

    Most of these artists surfed the waves at Oblivion Beach, where their reputations came and went like the great waves at Wiamea bay. Can you dig it?

    We’ve got guitars that scream like a shark on a spree,

    And lizards that strum with wild jubilee.

    The crocs and the gators are ready to jam,

    With riffs so hot, they could fry a clam!

    So slide on your shades and hang ten with the best,

    Where the surf meets the scales and Black Lagoon Creature don’t rest.

    It’s a wild, wacky ride and its just ahead

    With monsters and Fenders and creatures who shred

    Can you hang ten with the toes and the flying fins and fingers of the larapin lizards of the lost legends of the surfside sidewinders and their dreamy dinosaur dramas?

    I thought you could.

    The Original Surfaris start of this last set of the Old School Endless Summer with a track called EXOTIC. It’s the return of the Monsters of the Surf Guitar. Number Two. Just for you.

    MONSTER PLAYLIST🦖

    Exotic THE ORIGINAL SURFARIS

    Gear DAVE MYERS & THE SURFTONES

    The Breeze and I STEVE AND THE EMPERORS

    Ishamatsu THE CENTURIONS

    El Gato THE CHANDELLES

    Pressure THE PYRAMIDS

    Surf Rider THE LIVELY ONES

    Midnight Surfer JERRY COLE & HIS SPACEMEN

    Fugitive JAN DAVIS

    Dance of the Ants THE STRANGERS

    Bongo Shutdown NEW DIMENSIONS

    Ram Charger THE DELVETTS

    Yep THE SURFARIS

    Scorpion THE VIBRANTS

    The Gremmie Part 1 THE TORNADOES

    Rampage THE CHALLENGERS

    Cheater Stomp THE FABULOUS PLAYBOYS

    Moon Shot KENNY & THE FRIENDS

    Surf Medley THE VENTURES

    Travelers SPANISH MOON

    Professor Mikey's OLD SCHOOL is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and keep the dust off the vintage wax, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

    “The past is a blast.”



    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe
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    51 mins
  • OS#69 Back to the Pool [Autumn Edition]

    OS#69 Back to the Pool [Autumn Edition]
    Jun 25 2024

    Hey Professor Mikey here and I’m all wet!

    The Old Schoohouse cleaning continues with the last pool party of summer. Some of you might have seen this in June, others might have had important things to do. But Spotify missed it and maybe you did to. In this episode we head back to the summer of 1963 when swimming pools were cool and music was blasting over the loudspeaker.

    I held my breath and made this playlist from songs that would have made big splashes in the early part of the 60s, just before the British Invasion changed everything.

    Believe me, when you are under water it’s still all about that bass. So do some stupid tricks off the diving board, eat a cheeseburger in the water while the lifeguard isn’t looking, and bring some of your hottest tracks to slip into the poolside turntable. It’s early 60s for you and me and we are back to the pool, fool!

    THE LOCOMOTION Little Eva HOT PASTRAMI The Dartells TWISTIN’ MATILDA Jimmy Soul THE WANDERER Dion and the Belmonts THE PEPPERMINT TWIST Joey Dee and the Starlighters WHIP IT ON ME Jessie Hill TWIST AND SHOUT The Isley Brothers DAUGHTER The Blenders DA DOO RON RON The Crystals EASIER SAID THAN DONE The Essex IF YOU WANT TO BE HAPPY Jimmy Soul HEATWAVE Martha and the Vandellas FINGERTIPS (Pts 1 &2) Stevie Wonder SALLY GO ROUND THE ROSES The Jaynettes IN DREAMS Roy Orbison C’MON AND SWIM Bobby Freeman WAH-WATUSI The Orlons YOU CAN’T SIT DOWN The Dovells MOCKINGBIRD Inez and Charlie Foxx DENISE Randy and the Rainbows COME GO WITH ME Dion and the Belmonts DEEP PURPLE Nino Tempo and April Stevens

    We want to thank Dick Clark and Wolfman Jack for the special guest roles they played on this episode.

    The Turtles perform on Dick Clark’s “Where the Action Is”

    Old School 69 Back to the Pool is just one of almost 70 Professor Mikey podcasts you can find online on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, wherever podcasts run free. With a little more restriction but an audience the world has never seen you can also hear select episodes on YouTube. The free newsletter will send love to your inbox and any given moment, you can subscribe at professormikey.substack.com.

    The early 60s rolled out over a mixed musical landscape that was just starting to think about things like civil rights, equal opportunities, and people hooking up with people. Change was in the air, and when it went in the jukebox it reflected the times with music that still resounds a half century or later.

    We close with a dreamy tune that gave a Hard Rock band their unforgettable name. Nino Tempo and April Stevens sing Deep Purple, and there is no smoke on the water. They are closing the pool for the night; it will be a while before the sun goes down and we climb the fence to sneak back in for a night swim.

    This is Professor Mikey. You stay forever young and forever cool when you keep it all inside the Old School. See you next time!

    Professor Mikey's OLD SCHOOL is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and to help champion the cause for older and better music, obscurities, and vicious vinyl, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. It’s really less than a used Terry Jacks album, especially if you only subscribe on YouTube.



    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe
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    1 hr and 12 mins
  • OS#68 TEEN TRAGEDIES: Accidents Will Happen

    OS#68 TEEN TRAGEDIES: Accidents Will Happen
    Jun 9 2024

    Teenagers had been taking themselves out in automobile accidents for at least 30 years when the 50s rolled around. But they rarely sang about it.

    Prof Mikey here, welcome to a grim but thoughtful edition of Old School.

    Most of these gruesome goldies have arrived from a very different era. Back whey they were recorded, car accidents were the number one reason for death among teens aged 13-19. Today car crashes rank as the number 2 killer of youth. What could be number one?

    Cars were different in the 50s, just before they were declared “unsafe at any speed.” The windshields weren’t as unbreakable, there were no airbags, no excess safety padding. Just lots of metal and chrome. No pesky seat belts to sit on either.

    And coming semi-regularly from the push button AM radio scattered among the Top 40 classics were eerie little ballads about joy tides gone bad. Love was in the air, but rain and heartbreak were on the road.

    We are about to happen upon some love affair snuffed in tragic instances. When these songs were new they clogged the request lines. Fasten you seatbelt, its going to be a bumpy night. The is Professor Mikey’s Old School #68, “Teen Tragedies: Accidents Will Happen.”

    TEEN ANGEL 🪽Mark Dinning

    LAST KISS 💋J Frank Wilson

    THE PROM👗Del Shannon

    I WANT MY BABY BACK 😢Jimmy Cross

    NIGHTMARE #5 🧟‍♀️Al Kooper

    TERRY ✨Twinkle

    HELLO THIS IS JOANNIE ☎️Paul Evans

    ENDLESS SLEEP 😴Jody Reynolds

    TELL LAURA I LOVE HER ❤️Ray Peterson

    TELL TOMMY I MISS HIM 💔Laura Lee

    LEADER OF THE PACK 🏍️The Shangri Las

    TRAGEDY 🎭The Fleetwoods

    What made these songs so crazy popular was much more than a class ring clutched in tight feminine fingers. As odd as these tales of blood and gore on the highway could get, they represented something new in this still very young genre.

    Where so much of rock and roll was about dancing, having whole lot of shakin going on parties, and falling in love with contemporary babes like Peggy Sue, Venus, Boney Maronie, and Be Bop a Lula, the violent highway tear jerkers offered kernels of blunt truth.

    Sure listeners were drawn to the audio equivalent of watching a car wreck. But these sick sidetrips to the dark side revealed a facet of story telling that was controversial and raw. Records so shocking they were banned from radio were definitely on to a new and dangerous path. There was something truly appealing about songs so controversial they horrified the older generation.

    We will close the lid on this coffin by burying a charismatic character who was not buried with his motorcycle, because there wasn’t much of it, or him, left. The Shangri Las roar off into the sunset with their arms around the leather jacket of the leader of the pack. Stick around for a sweet coda offered by The Fleetwoods.

    I’m Professor Mikey, this has been Old School #68 “Teen Tragedies: Accidents Will Happen.” Join us next time, keep your eyes on the road, your hands on the wheel, and your device tuned to Old School!

    “The past is a blast.”



    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe
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    44 mins
  • OS#67 "Going Down"

    OS#67 "Going Down"
    May 28 2024

    Professor Mikey here, welcome to Old School.

    Today we are GOING DOWN, literally and figuratively. Down is a direction. We all know the difference between upside and downside. Or Upside down.

    Down is also a direction for so many things. How your life is going, how your love life is going, where you are headed. Downtown? Down south? Down to the sea in ships? Downton Abbey?

    Down could be an emotional bummer, but is not always a negative. Especially if you are down with something, or you are getting down, or just giving directions about how to get down the road.

    Without much more to go on, I started digging through the stacks, seeking downright great music that examines the downside of life and how various situations were addressed in various genres that might get down and get funky.

    You might not think of these songs and hurry to write them down. But many of them occupy the same headspace. So if you are feeling down, knowing your are in rockstar company might help you put on a happy face. Or help you get through traffic that has slowed down just to get on your last nerve.

    Are you down for the count? Good let’s free fall starting with the great Texas bluesman Freddie King, who is about to tell you where he is going. And that would be down.

    Down, down, gotta shake off the frown,

    Pick myself up before I drown.

    Feet on the ground, but my spirit's in flight,

    Gotta turn things around, make it all right.

    PLAYLIST

    Going DOWN / Freddie King (1971)

    DOWN / Harry Nilsson (1971)

    Boogaloo DOWN Broadway / The Incredible Johnny C (1967)

    Hung Upside DOWN / Buffalo Springfield (1967)

    You Burn Me Up and DOWN / We the People (1967)

    Don’t Bring Me DOWN / The Animals (1966)

    ungle Boogie / Kool and the Gang (1973)

    Mellow DOWN Easy / Little Walter (1954)

    DOWN in Mexico / Ella Mae Morse (1956)

    DOWN in the Valley / Otis Redding (1965)

    DOWN in the Boondocks / Billy Joe Royal (1965)

    Sit DOWN I Think I Love You / The Mojo Men (1967)

    Floating DOWNstream in An Inflatable Raft / The Second Helping (1967)

    Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire / TIM CURRY (1979)

    Sunday Morning Coming DOWN / Kris Kristofferson (1970)

    Ups and DOWNS / Paul Revere and the Raiders (1978)

    Professor Mikey here. We just presented an hour of down songs and I feel better having heard them. Hope you do to. When you seek this among your podcasts or on YouTube Search Professor Mikey’s Old School, and this one is Episode #67 Going Down.

    The way pop songs is we’ve gone from a time when Down was almost always a depressing state of mind. Today it means you are just in agreement. You are down. I am down. I am so down to get this out to you. Remember down is only a temporary a condition, like being hungry. It’s amazing how much better you feel when you’ve had a little chow. So remember what Grace Slick said: “Feed Your Head.”

    It always gets better. A little food. A little music. Thats better.

    Old School is produced for educational purposes. Any and all music heard in this program resides within the public domain, is licensed through the podcast carrier, or is used within the guidelines of fair use provided for in Section 107 of the copyright act of 1976. You sharing what you like is a great way to get the word out. Subscribing on YouTube means you will never miss a rocking discovery. The newsletter remains free and those subscribers hear the new podcasts first. Subscribe anytime at professormikey.substack.com.

    We leave you with a serious opus from 1978, where the members of this revolutionary band reflect on the ups and downs of life, and reason with themselves that they have in fact been all around. Going up and down with Paul Revere and the Raiders.

    We will catch you next time on Old School.

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