In this episode of The Story Behind the Song, join host Peter Csathy as he chats with UK-based singer-songwriter Howard Jones to discuss how he broke all the rules when he arrived as a one-man band and topped the charts with "New Song," a song he wrote to be his debut and artist manifesto to the world. Literally singing, "I don't wanna be hip and cool. I don't wanna play by the rules," Jones was literally ahead of his time as Jones' use of drum machines and synthesizers ruffled so many...

There is something about the drums and trans-inducing hook of Toto's Africa. that draws you in every time you press play. The song is an earworm that has been streamed over 1 billion times on Spotify alone! David Paich of Toto joins us on the Story Behind the Song to talk about this timeless and cross-generational song, which celebrates its 40th year this year and almost didn't see the light of day to make it onto Toto IV. How did David Paich come up with Africa's hook and lyrics? What did...

Welcome back to the Story Behind The Song. In this special bonus episode, we revisit an interview with Gerald Casale of DEVO from late 2020 to talk about a 1980 single that wasn't originally a single "Whip It." This interview was previously unreleased, but we are sharing to honor DEVO's 50th anniversary this year. It is a vibrant interview of a still vital artist and band that continue to make their mark as they look forward to touring once again in a new post-pandemic world, and to celebrate...

For the first episode of the New Year, The Story Behind the Song is celebrating the 40th anniversary of A Flock of Seagulls by diving into their new wave classic "I Ran (So Far Away)." The track and the band's look were some of the defining styles of the '80s, and their presence in our collective pop culture psyche flies right into today. On the episode, A Flock of Seagulls frontman Mike Score recounts the origins of the band, the hair, the song, and so much more. He also shares his...

Some songs are songs and some songs are bangers. Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit was lightening in a bottle. It propelled Nevermind to the top of several album charts at the start of 1992 and was an event that is often marked as the point when grunge entered the mainstream. To tell the tale behind the song, we speak to songwriter, super record producer, drummer and co-producer of the alternative rock band Garbage, Butch Vig.  Butch recounts how he went from recording indie bands in Madison,...

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of one of his signature songs, Billy Idol joins The Story Behind the Song podcast to discuss "White Wedding." Who can forget that epic music video of Billy Idol attending a goth wedding where the bride is played by Perri Lister, Idol's real-life girlfriend at the time? We also learn about how his recent banger "Cage" was actually inspired by COVID and his granddaughter. You can listen to the latest episode of The Story Behind the Song now, and then make sure...

In various incarnations for the last 40 years, true renaissance man Danny Elfman has delivered it all. As performer, frontman, composer, conductor, and visualizer, he is the consummate multi-dimensional innovator. Always unconventional, always out of place -- and always slightly dangerous because of it -- the man and his body of work is genius -- and also all a bit mad. The frenetic and haunted mind of so many mediums, Danny Elfman was meant for Halloween. For this special Halloween edition...

Classic rock legends Blue Öyster Cult may be the first band to feature an umlaut in their name, but the band -- which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year -- was no gimmick. They released a string of major hits in the '70s, with their most transcendent classic of course being 1976's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." The record that still haunts as deeply as ever, continually finding new ways to enter the zeitgeist. Of course, that's partially due to that iconic cowbell. The use of the...

Metric are an enigmatic, shape-shifting band -- always has been, always will be. Born out of Canada in 2001, they have built a discography that now spans eight studio albums that are difficult to box into any one genre (or two, for that matter). Part indie rock, part pop punk, part dance, part electronic -- why even try to put a label on it? The point is that it all works. At the center of it all is Emily Haines, who sings, writes songs, and plays synths and other instruments. Haines rocks it...

Southern California natives Brian Aubert and Nikki Monninger front Silversun Pickups, one of rock music’s leading bastions of guitar glory. The band just recently released their sixth studio album, Physical Thrills, produced by the legendary Butch Vig of Garbage (who were highlight on July's episode of The Story Behind the Song). The LP is marked by an adventurous -- and intentional -- departure of sorts, a tone brilliantly set by the lead single, “Scared Together." But the path to this...

This special bonus episode of The Story Behind the Song shakes things up a bit -- let's call it The Story Behind the Festival. Musicians Jim Lindberg of SoCal punk band Pennywise and SoCal native son Donavon Frankenreiter, together with LA music entrepreneur Allen Sanford, join the podcast to talk about their new upcoming music festival BeachLife Ranch. Spinning off of the trio's OG BeachLife event, the fresh fest brings an Americana focus to the same stretch of beach in Redondo Beach on...

Swedish-born Lykke Li has always been a musical enigma. She started her career seemingly happily at the age of 21 with her light, bouncy breakout track, “Little Bit.” But soon after she veered 180-degree into deep darkness, especially with her third full album, 2014’s I Never Learn. Li’s twisted journey continued thereafter with her 2018 latex-heavy album, so sad so sexy, before stripping down all of that album’s artifice to this year’s darkly haunting, spare and cinematic Eyeye that...

Garbage are an iconic, eclectic band that is anything but what their name implies.  Fronting the outfit is the charismatic and irrepressible Shirley Manson from Edinburgh, Scotland. Manson first met up with her three future bandmates in Wisconsin as a result of one of those strange, classic twists of rock and roll fate involving MTV, a phone call, and a disastrous first audition. In then end, Garbage was formed (even if Manson still isn't such a fan of the name), and with their self-titled...

"The Glamorous Life" proved to be a major solo breakout for Sheila E. in 1984. The classic pop track was one of her man collaborations with the legendary Prince, but Sheila E. already had a long history of playing with legends. In fact, her professional career began at only 15, when her father (a percussionist himself) asked her to fill in for him as part of Santana's band before a crowd of thousands in a night she describes as a true "out of body experience." Sheila E. joins host Peter...

The transition from 1980s new wave and hair rock to 1990s far less follically-minded indie pop wasn’t always a smooth one. But enigmatic, idiosyncratic, and frequently non-grammatical duo They Might Be Giants made it all go down so easy with instantly catchy hooks and frequently hilarious lyrics. The band’s tongue-in-cheek non-sequiturs and unconventional instrumentation masked a knack for writing songs that made us hum the first time we heard them. Nowhere is that more evident than in their...

Rick Astley burst onto the pop scene 1987 seemingly out of nowhere when his debut single, the feel-good, earnest dance anthem “Never Gonna Give You Up,” grabbed the No. 1 spot in 25 countries, including the US and UK. In just a matter of weeks, Astley -- then only 21 -- traded his small town outside of Manchester, England for center stage on a global scale.  As fate would have it, "Never Gonna Give You Up" never gave up either. Two decades after its release, the song "Rickwolled" its way...

Alex Ebert is lead singer, songwriter and resident shaman of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, the hippie-inspired outfit that broke out in 2009 with a fresh sound that was difficult to pin down. Via his alter-ego messiah character Edward Sharpe, Ebert and the Magnetic Zeros' breakout single and signature song across four albums is, of course, "Home." An ebullient and endearing anthem of love and pure joy, the song has become iconic thanks to its instantly recognizable whistles and...

Manchester Orchestra is one of Indie music’s darlings, and deservedly so. The band is fearless in how it has evolved over the years, moving from the in-your-face guitar thrashes of 2014’s Cope to the much more cinematic and layered approach of their last two albums, 2017’s A Black Mile to the Surface and their recent The Million Masks of God. But something strange happened along the way to Million Masks. The video for "The Silence," the closing song from A Black Mile, began to gain traction...

Judy Collins is a music icon, plain and simple. Collins' storied career, first inspired by folk legends Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, is now in its seventh decade and touches much of American music royalty. (Songwriting legend Leonard Cohen is just one such icon she elevated.) Her musical journey continues this month with the release of Spellbound – surprisingly, her first-ever full album of original songs. Amongst her respected oeuvre, Collins’ biggest hit -- a Grammy-winning Platinum...

Punk rock in the mid-to-late '70s and early '80s meant different things to different people, depending on which city you were in. For Los Angeles, it was the band X that helped define the sound from their Venice home. (The band sits at #13 on Consequence's own list of the Best Punk Bands of All Time.) X’s most iconic song happens to be the title track of their debut LP, Los Angeles. "Los Angeles" reflects all of that city’s deep complexities, including racial, sexual and religious...

Crowded House’s "Don't Dream It's Over" is one of the most memorable tunes of the '80s, and the band's Neil Finn explores that lasting legacy on the latest edition of The Story Behind the Song. Crowded House helped launch a new post-New Wave era in pop music in 1986, creating beautifully simple, earthy melodies driven by guitars rather than synths. Lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter Neil Finn founded the band after the demise of Split Enz (a Kiwi band out of New Zealand with several...

Blondie are, without question, one of the most successful, iconic, and influential bands in rock and roll history. Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 15 years ago, the Debbie Harry-fronted group has sold over 40 million albums worldwide and continues to release new music. But the “rock and roll” label doesn’t do justice to the group’s genre-bending music. What started as a punk band in the mid-1970’s in New York City after Harry and guitarist Chris Stein broke off from their...

Tears for Fears ruled the pop charts for much of the 1980s with their unique mix of instantly catchy synth sounds, irresistible hooks, and confessional lyrics. Like everybody in music, the duo of singer/songwriter/guitarist Roland Orzabal and singer/bassist Curt Smith wanted to rule the world, and they certainly achieved that with a string of hits spanning several albums. It all began with their 1983 debut album, The Hurting. The LP's haunting breakthrough hit, "Mad World," was originally...

In this third episode of The Story Behind the Song podcast, host Peter Csathy interviews Buckingham about the song “Tusk," diving into its inspiration, its meaning, its production, and its impact. In keeping with TSBTS’s mission, the guest musician also reveals the story behind one of their personal favorite tracks from their own catalog. In this case, Buckingham chose “On the Wrong Side,” his stand-out Fleetwood Mac-inspired track from his just-released self-titled solo album (his 7th and...

Iconic UK new wave artist Gary Numan ushered in an entirely new form of electronic synth music with 1979's "Cars." While the sound would go on to define much of the next decade, the breakout smash came to Numan in mere minutes -- after nearly being attacked by thugs in his own vehicle. Yet Newman's artistic and personal journey has not been for the faint of heart, characterized by massive highs (his immediate superstardom with "Cars") and equally massive lows (struggles with not only...