Call it the "Best of 2021." Or the top 5 or the favorite 5 or whatever you must, but on Episode 33 of Well Disguised Brian Colburn of Playlist Wars fame joins me to go over our favorite records of the year. Hope you enjoy the banter and arguments in what will probably be a divisive episode, but I suppose that's what makes these things fun, right? (Mini-spoiler--I never once discuss the covers record from Monster Magnet. I still don't have my head wrapped around it, to be honest.) If you want to keep up with all things Playlist Wars, follow the link here: https://playlistwarspodcast.com/ Get a ..read more

In 1996, Deep Purple released their first record with Steve Morse on guitar, meaning Ritchie Blackmore was gone, this time for good. What does that album mean? To me, it sounds like being middle-aged. I explain why on this episode. You hear me discuss the delightful Deep Purple Podcast on this episode. You can find those guys here or wherever you get your podcasts: https://deeppurplepodcast.com ..read more

I won't claim this is a "deep dive" or some expert breakdown of what makes Mississippi Bones one of the most fantastic bands I've stumbled across in recent years. And that's because it isn't. This is just Dave and I telling how we did get into the band, the twists and turns as we talked about doing this episode, and just basically geeking out about a group that really scratches that itch. Bands like Mississippi Bones still make me inordinately happy. Look, just about all my favorite rock stars are millionaires and senior citizens too, but bands like this keep me going. Maybe even help keep me ..read more

Glenn Hughes--bassist, singer, rocker, Hall of Famer, soul man, and cool guy--got some of the attention he deserved in 2016 when he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame along with other members of Deep Purple. But that overshadows what I consider to be his real accomplishment...no one had a better decade from 2010-2019 than Glenn Hughes. With Black Country Communion, California Breed, and the awesome solo record "Resonate" Glenn was the most powerful force in rock as he entered his 60s. Listen as I explain why ..read more

Who Wants To Rock? My friend and frequent collaborator Dave returns to discuss my favorite band, Clutch. It only took 29 episodes to get to the best band on the planet! Here's the format: I divided up Clutch's 12 studio albums, assigned them randomly, and then Dave and I picked our favorite song from each, leaving us with one playlist. It's probably a good way to introduce Clutch to the unfamiliar and something tp argue about for the dedicated Gearhead. Hope you enjoy! Also, while I usually release every other Tuesday, I'm going to take an episode off. See you again in August. As promised in t ..read more

When Huey Lewis and the News prepped "Sports" they needed to sell records. It was to be the band's third release and without moving some product, the band might have had to dissolve and find something else to do. So, rather than write a killer album, the band chose to write killer songs, all aimed at radio with the hopes at least one would break through. Of course, five of them did and "Sports" is one of the biggest records of all time. What other records share this ? That is what this episode of Well Disguised is about. (It's also about how pop stars today are all young but many of the hitmak ..read more

This is not your typical "Satanic Panic" story about rock and heavy metal. Instead, I'm asking a different question. The history of heavy music is littered with stories about witchcraft, Devil worship, demons, hexes, seances, mysterious happenings and other such phenomena. And these aren't random nobodies who have talked about this stuff, but instead some of the biggest rock stars on the planet. Which begs the question--if you believe the black magic, might you also be more likely to believe in God as well? The audio from Dave Mustaine's ABC interview was pulled from here: https://youtu.be/FwD ..read more

So you're probably a fan of something. Maybe you even think you're a fanatic. But have you run a massive fan community about it? And even more to the point, have you ever broken genuinely newsworthy stories about the object of your fanaticism, even if those stories are negative? (And when sometimes those negative stories were specifically leaked by one faction to make another faction look bad?) Chris Ko has. He became the "Aerofanatic" after meeting Aerosmith on an old MTV show called "Fanatic." He took his fifteen minutes of fame from interviewing Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, and T ..read more

20 years ago this month, Chuck Klosterman released his first book, Fargo Rock City. It was a watershed moment for pop culture. For Chuck personally, it launched his career as he became one of the foremost pop culture critics and thought leaders in the world. For those of us smart and semi-smart types who sometimes wondered why we loved this often juvenile music, it might as well have been a Holy script. It's not a coincidence that the subtitle for his most famous book, "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto" inspired the subtitle for this podcast. Chuck was gracious enough to sp ..read more

Ever wonder if the world would have been a better place if The Wildhearts had taken over the scene in 1993 or so? Just me? Regardless, to have had a shot it probably would have helped if all their best songs didn't include dirty words--how could you market a song like "Loveshit" into global success? Of course, the truth is, The Wildhearts were real, and they didn't care about things like "marketing" and "decency." On this episode I talk about their wonderful debut record "Earth vs The Wildhearts." --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/welldisguised/message ..read more