Classic Rock Album Olympics

In this episode of Classic Rock Album Olympics music historians Gary Wenstrup and Robert Rodriguez turn on Remain In Light by Talking Heads and award gold, silver and bronze medals to their favorite songs.

Medal Winners

Crosseyed
And Painless

Once
In A Lifetime

The
Overload

Listening
Wind

Remain In Light, released in the fall of 1980, was the band’s fourth studio album and was an artistic leap as they blended new wave, funk, African polyrhythms, electronic music, and experimental rock into a new sonic texture.

Building on ideas first explored on Fear of Music, the album challenged conventional rock songwriting by emphasizing rhythm, layered textures, and hypnotic grooves over traditional verse-and-chorus structures.

The album was produced by Brian Eno, whose creative partnership with Talking Heads reached its peak during these sessions. Rather than recording songs in the traditional manner, the band developed many of the tracks through extended group improvisations that were edited into intricate rhythmic patterns before lyrics and melodies were added.

Inspired by the work of Nigerian musician and activist Fela Kuti, as well as electronic pioneers and minimalist composers, Eno and the band crafted a dense, layered production that pushed the boundaries of what a rock album could be.

Talking Heads consisted of David Byrne, lead vocals, guitar, and many of the album’s lyrics; Jerry Harrison, keys and guitar; Tina Weymouth, bass and Chris Frantz, drums.

Commercially, Remain in Light became Talking Heads’ highest-charting album to that point. It reached #19 on the Billboard 200 and earned widespread critical acclaim upon release. Two singles were issued from
the album. “Once in a Lifetime” became the band’s signature song, though it only reached #103 on the Billboard Hot 100. It became a cultural phenomenon thanks to its groundbreaking music video and has since become one of the defining songs of the MTV era. The second single, “Houses in Motion,” did not chart.

The cultural significance of Remain in Light is immense. It helped introduce African musical concepts to mainstream rock audiences in a respectful and creatively transformative way while demonstrating that experimental music could also be accessible.

Remain In Light influenced artists across alternative rock, electronic
music, art rock, indie rock, and even hip-hop including Radiohead, Peter
Gabriel and Arcade Fire. The album consistently ranks among the best albums ever made, celebrated for its experimentation, intellectual depth, and rhythmic vitality.

Bonus Tracks

Take
Me To The River

And
She Was

The
Lady Don’t Mind

Burning
Down The House

Road
To Nowhere

Artist
Only

Water
Got No Enemy – Fela Kuti

Zombie
– Fela Kuti

Take
Me To The River – Al Green

Love
Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division

Little
Red Book – Love

Interstellar
Over Drive – Pink Floyd

DJ
– David Bowie



Hashtags: #RemainInLight #TalkingHeads #DavidByrne
#BrianEno #OnceInALifetime #NewWave #ArtRock #PostPunk #ClassicAlbums
#1980Music #MusicHistory #AlbumHistory #VinylCommunity #FunkRock
#AfricanRhythms #ClassicRock

Contact Info

Website: ⁠⁠⁠Gary Wenstrup⁠⁠⁠

Podcast Website: ⁠⁠⁠Home - Classic Rock Album Olympics⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠(556) Classic Rock
Album Olympics - YouTube⁠⁠⁠

Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠(7) Facebook⁠⁠⁠

Podcast Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠(17) Gary Wenstrup | LinkedIn⁠⁠

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In this episode of Classic Rock Album Olympics music historians Gary Wenstrup and Robert Rodriguez take Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On for a spin and award gold, silver and bronze medals for their favorite tracks.

Medal Winners

What’s
Going On

Flyin’
High (In The Friendly Sky)

Mercy
Mercy Me (The Ecology)

What’s
Happening Brother

Inner
City Blues (Makes Me Want To Holler)

The album was released in the summer of 1971 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums ever made. It marked a dramatic artistic transformation for Marvin Gaye and for Motown itself. Rather than focusing on romantic love songs, Gaye created a deeply personal concept album that addressed war, poverty, racial injustice, environmental concerns, police brutality, drug abuse, and spiritual renewal. Inspired in part by conversations with his brother Frankie, who had recently returned from service in Vietnam, What’s Going On captured the hopes, frustrations, and uncertainty of America during one of the nation’s most turbulent periods.

What’s Going On was produced by Marvin Gaye, making him one of the first Motown artists to exercise complete creative control over a major project. Recording sessions took place at Detroit’s Hitsville U.S.A. studio and at Golden World Studios, also in Detroit. Gaye experimented with layered vocals, sophisticated orchestration, jazz-influenced harmonies, and seamless transitions between songs, creating one of the first truly unified concept albums in soul music.

Marvin Gaye handled the lead and background vocals and worked with Motown’s famous house band – The Funk Brothers. They included bassists James Jamerson and Bob Babbit, drummer Chet Forest, percussionist Jack Ashford, keyboardist Earl Van Dyke and guitarists Robert White and Joe Messina. The album’s lush orchestral arrangements and rich vocal textures combined elements of soul, jazz, classical music, gospel, and rhythm and blues into a sound unlike anything Motown had previously
released.

Commercially, the album became one of the biggest successes of Marvin Gaye’s career, reaching #6 on the Billboard 200. Three singles emerged from the album. The title track, “What’s Going On,” reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” climbed to #4 and became one of popular music’s earliest environmental anthems. “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)” reached #9.

The cultural significance of What’s Going On is difficult to overstate. It transformed expectations of what soul music could address and
demonstrated that pop music could also confront serious social and political issues. The album challenged Motown’s traditional business model, expanded creative freedom for recording artists, and influenced generations of musicians across soul, R&B, jazz, rock, hip-hop, and pop.

Artists ranging from Stevie Wonder to Prince, Bruce Springsteen, D’Angelo, and many others have cited it as a landmark achievement.
More than five decades after its release, What’s Going On continues to appear near the top of virtually every list of the greatest albums ever recorded and remains a timeless statement about empathy, justice, faith, and our shared humanity.



Hashtags: #WhatsGoingOn #MarvinGaye #Motown
#SoulMusic #ClassicAlbums #MusicHistory #ConceptAlbum #FunkBrothers #1971Music
#ClassicSoul #VinylCommunity #AlbumHistory #MercyMercyMe #InnerCityBlues
#WhatsGoingOnAlbum



Bonus Tracks

I
Can’t Get Next To You – Temptations

Stoned
Love – The Supremes

War
– Edwin Star

Ball
of Confusion – Temptations

Love
Is God

Right
On

Save
The Children

Sadly, a demo version of What’s Going On does not exist



Track Listing

Side One

What’s Going On

What’s Happening Brother

Flyin’ High (In The Friendly Sky)

Save The Children

God Is Love

Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)

Side Two

Right On

Wholy Holy

Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler)

Contact Info

Website: ⁠⁠⁠Gary Wenstrup⁠⁠⁠

Podcast Website: ⁠⁠⁠Home - Classic Rock Album Olympics⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠(556) Classic Rock
Album Olympics - YouTube⁠⁠⁠

Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠(7) Facebook⁠⁠⁠

Podcast Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠(17) Gary Wenstrup | LinkedIn⁠⁠

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In this episode of Classic Rock Album Olympics music historians Gary Wenstrup and Robert Rodriguez turn their attention to the self-titled album by The Band and award their gold, silver and bronze medals accordingly.

Medal Winners

Jemima
Surrender

Whispering
Pines

The
Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Rockin’
Chair

Across
The Great Divide

 

Released in the fall of 1969, the album arrived roughly a year after the group’s acclaimed debut, Music From Big Pink.  At a time when psychedelic rock and hard rock dominated popular music, The Band looked backward instead of forward, drawing inspiration from American folk traditions, country, blues, gospel, and early rock and roll to create a sound that helped lay the foundation for what would later become known as Americana.

The album was produced by John Simon, who had also produced
Music From Big Pink.  Recording sessions took place primarily in a converted pool house at a rented home in the Hollywood Hills before moving to The Hit Factory in New York City to complete the project.

The Band consisted of Robbie Robertson who served as the principal songwriter and lead guitarist.  Levon Helm played drums, mandolin, and sang many of the group’s most memorable lead vocals.  Rick Danko
handled bass guitar, fiddle, and shared lead vocal duties with his expressive tenor voice. Richard Manuel contributed piano, drums, and soulful lead vocals that ranged from tender ballads to powerful rock performances. Garth Hudson, regarded by many as one of rock’s greatest keyboardists, supplied the album’s organ, piano, accordion, saxophone, and other instrumental textures that gave the music its distinctive character.

Commercially, The Band was a significant success. It reached #9 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States.  Two singles were released from the album. “Up on Cripple Creek” became the band’s biggest American hit, climbing to #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and “Rag Mama Rag” reached #57. 

At a time when rock music often celebrated excess and experimentation, The Band created an album rooted in history, tradition, and compelling storytelling. Its songs explored themes of community, hardship, faith, work, and the changing American experience, helping redefine what rock
music could accomplish artistically.

The album became influential on later generations of musicians, inspiring artists such as Eric Clapton, Elvis Costello, Wilco, and countless Americana, country-rock, and folk-rock performers.

Bonus Tracks

The
Night They Drove Old Dixie Down – Joan Baez

The
Weight

Stage
Fright

Chest
Fever

Up
On Cripple Creek

Tears
Of Rage

I
Shall Be Released

Side 1

Across The Great Divide

Rag Mama Rag

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

When You Awake

Up On Cripple Creek

Whispering Pines

Side 2

Jemima Surrender

Rockin' Chair

Look Out Cleveland

Jawbone

The Unfaithful Servant

King Harvest (Has Surely Come)

 

Hashtags: #TheBand #TheBrownAlbum #ClassicRock
#RootsRock #Americana #1969Music #LevonHelm #RobbieRobertson #GarthHudson
#RickDanko #RichardManuel #JohnSimon #AlbumHistory #MusicHistory
#VinylCommunity #ClassicAlbums

Contact Info

Website: ⁠⁠⁠Gary Wenstrup⁠⁠⁠

Podcast Website: ⁠⁠⁠Home - Classic Rock Album Olympics⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠(556) Classic Rock
Album Olympics - YouTube⁠⁠⁠

Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠(7) Facebook⁠⁠⁠

Podcast Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠(17) Gary Wenstrup | LinkedIn⁠⁠

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In episode #26 of Classic Rock Album Olympics music historians Gary Wenstrup and Robert Rodriguez award their gold, silver and bronze medals for songs from David Bowie’s Station To Station.

Released in January 1976, Station to Station represented Bowie’s transition away from American soul influences toward the avant-garde European sensibilities that would define his late-1970s work with Brian Eno.

Station To Station introduced Bowie’s mysterious “Thin White Duke” persona — elegant, detached, and emotionally fractured. Recorded in Los Angeles during a turbulent period of Bowie’s life, the album blended art rock, funk, krautrock influences, and hypnotic electronic textures into one of his most acclaimed works.

The album reached #3 on the US Billboard 200, making it the highest charting album of Bowie's career.  The major single from the album was Golden Years which peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Second single TVC 15 reached #64.

The musicians on the album formed one of Bowie’s most celebrated backing bands. Guitarist Carlos Alomar anchored the music with sharp
funk rhythms. George Murray and Dennis Davis created the sleek rhythmic
foundation that would continue into Bowie’s Berlin recordings. Keyboardist Roy Bittan of E Street Band fame and guitarist Earl Slick played roles as well.  Producer Harry Maslin helped shape the album’s polished sound.

Culturally, Station to Station became enormously influential on post-punk, new wave, gothic rock, and alternative music. Its cold elegance and rhythmic experimentation inspired artists ranging from Joy Division and Talking Heads to later musicians such as Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead.

Medal Winners

Wild
Is The Wind

TVC
15

Station
To Station

Stay

Golden
Years

Bonus Tracks

Fame

Young
Americans

Space
Oddity

Rebel
Rebel

Cat
People (Putting Out Fire)

Wild
Is The Wind – Bowie Video

(Just
Like) Starting Over – John Lennon

Rockin
Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu – Johnny Rivers

When
You Wish Upon A Star -Jiminy Cricket/Cliff Edwards

Baby
Mine – Bonnie Raitt

The
Nearness Of You – Glen Miller & His Orchestra

Rawhide
– Frankie Lane

Town
Without Pity – Gene Pitney

Town
Without Pity – Ronnie Montrose

Wild
Is The Wind – Johhny Mathis

Wild
Is The Wind – Nina Simone

Do
Not Forsake Me, Oh, My Darling – Tex Ritter original soundtrack High Noon

Bennie
& The Jets – Elton John

Funeral
For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding – Elton John

Autobahn - Kraftwerk

Track Listing

Side One

Station To Station

Golden Years

Word On A Wing

Side Two

TVC 15

Stay

Wild Is The Wind

 

 

#StationToStation #DavidBowie #ThinWhiteDuke #GoldenYears
#TVC15 #ArtRock #ClassicAlbums #1976Music #BerlinTrilogy #RockHistory

Contact Info

Website: ⁠⁠⁠Gary Wenstrup⁠⁠⁠

Podcast Website: ⁠⁠⁠Home - Classic Rock Album Olympics⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠(556) Classic Rock
Album Olympics - YouTube⁠⁠⁠

Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠(7) Facebook⁠⁠⁠

Podcast Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠(17) Gary Wenstrup | LinkedIn⁠⁠

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In episode #25 of Classic Rock Album Olympics music historians Gary Wenstrup and Robert Rodriguez sail with Reggatta de Blanc by The Police and award their gold, silver and bronze medals for their favorite songs.

Released October 1979, Reggatta de Blanc was the second album by The Police and the record that transformed the trio from promising new-wave outsiders into stars. Produced by Nigel Gray along with the band, the album expanded the reggae-rock and post-punk sound introduced on Outlandos d’Amour.

The title – Reggatta de Blanc - loosely translates to “white reggae,” reflecting the group’s fusion of punk energy, reggae rhythms, jazz textures, and pop songwriting.  

The album featured the classic Police lineup: Sting on bass and lead vocals, Andy Summers on guitar and Stewart Copeland on drums.  Together they created a sparse but highly rhythmic sound built around Summers’ atmospheric guitar work, Sting’s melodic bass lines, and Copeland’s inventive drumming.  

Reggatta de Blanc became the band’s first UK No. 1 album. In the United States it reached No. 25 on the Billboard album chart, helping establish the band’s growing American audience.

The singles “Message in a Bottle” and “Walking on the Moon” both reached No. 1 in the UK.  The singles did not fare as well in the US. “Message” hit #74 and "Moon" did not chart.  The instrumental title track earned the band its first Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.  

The album captured the restless energy of the late-1970s post-punk era while proving that reggae influences could coexist with mainstream rock radio. The Police stood apart from both traditional punk and arena rock by emphasizing space, rhythm, and sophistication over heavy guitar excess.

Many critics and fans view Reggatta de Blanc as the album where the band honed its signature sound, paving the way for later classics like Zenyatta Mondatta and Synchronicity.
Follow-up Note: As speculated in the podcast, The Police did not perform at Live Aid.  Sting however did play a few Police hits with outside musicians.  

Medal Winners

No
Time This Time

Message
In A Bottle

The
Bed’s Too Big Without You

Bring
On The Night

Reggatta
de Blanc 

Bonus Tracks

Roxanne

Next
To You

Nothing
Achieving

Truth
Hits Everyone

So
Lonely

Visions
Of The Night

Fall
Out

Behind
The Camel

Be
My Girl/Sally

Mirror
In The Bathroom – English Beat 

Further Reading

Shot
In The Heart -Mikal Gilmore 

Track Listing

Side One

Message In A Bottle

Reggatta de Blanc

It's Alright For You

Bring On The Night

Deathwish

Side Two

Walking On The Moon

On Any Other Day

The Bed's Too Big Without You

Contact

Does Everyone Stare

No Time This Time

 

#ThePolice #ReggattaDeBlanc #Sting #AndySummers
#StewartCopeland #NewWave #PostPunk #ReggaeRock #ClassicAlbums #1979Music

Contact Info

Website: ⁠⁠⁠Gary Wenstrup⁠⁠⁠

Podcast Website: ⁠⁠⁠Home - Classic Rock Album Olympics⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠(556) Classic Rock
Album Olympics - YouTube⁠⁠⁠

Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠(7) Facebook⁠⁠⁠

Podcast Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠(17) Gary Wenstrup | LinkedIn⁠⁠

Intro & Outro Music by Flwers
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