In Episode 346 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin traces the parallel career arcs of Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel, comparing their conservative early albums, synchronized creative peaks, shared technologies and collaborators, commercial high points, and eventual semi-retirement marked by long gaps, home studios, and artistic mystique.

1. Peter Gabriel – “Modern Love”
2. Kate Bush – “Delius”
3. Peter Gabriel – “Mercy Street”
4. Kate Bush – “Snowed in at Wheeler Street”
5. Peter Gabriel – “Intruder”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 345 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin explores surprisingly famous rock stars across metal, prog, and punkrock who—despite major influence, acclaim, and ticket-selling power—never earned a single U.S. gold record.

1. Scorpions – “Top of the Bill”
2. Status Quo – “Down Down”
3. Porcupine Tree – “Shallow”
4. The Replacements – “I Don’t Know”
5. Motörhead – “(Don’t Need) Religion”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 344 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin explores how famously British and international bands—from Yes and Black Sabbath to Bowie, Foreigner, and Peter Gabriel—gradually absorbed American members, not to “become American,” but through creative instinct, convenience, touring realities, and fresh energy that subtly reshaped their sound and identity.

1. Yes – “Cut from the Stars”
2. Foreigner – “Lonely Children”
3. Sepultura – “Unconscious”
4. Rainbow – “Freedom Fighter”
5. Peter Gabriel – “The Family and the Fishing Net”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 342 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin contemplates the unusual choice of albums where the title track appears last, and examines what that placement says about the songs and albums, using examples from Slayer, Alice in Chains, David Bowie, and more.

1. Slayer – “Seasons in the Abyss”
2. Nazareth – “No Mean City”
3. Alice in Chains – “Black Gives Way to Blue”
4. April Wine – “The Whole World’s Going Crazy”
5. David Bowie – “Heathen (Rays)”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 343 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin explores the most surprising and often baffling musical “biggest left turns,” spotlighting bands that radically and unexpectedly reinvented their sound—from punk to prog, metal to synth-pop, and rock to funk—often defying logic, trends, and their own pasts.

1. The Saints – “See You in Paradise”
2. Alice Cooper – “Leather Boots”
3. The Meat Puppets – “Paradise”
4. The Tubes – “Tip of My Tongue”
5. Rush – “Lock and Key”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 341 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin rings in the "new year” of 1980 by examining how classic rock, metal, punk, and new wave bands either reinvented themselves, stalled out, or flat-out quit as the calendar flipped from the ’70s into the radically different ’80s.

1. Y&T – “Shake It Loose”
2. Led Zeppelin – “Carouselambra”
3. Black Sabbath – “Wishing Well”
4. The Damned – “Plan 9 Channel 7”
5. David Bowie – “Ricochet”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 340 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin treats Judas Priest’s Painkiller and AC/DC’s The Razor’s Edge as near-identical 1990-era comeback doppelgangers, comparing their timing, guitars, drummers, production, and missed momentum as two old-guard metal bands tried to outmuscle a changing scene on the eve of grunge.

1. AC/DC – “Are You Ready”
2. Judas Priest – “Between the Hammer & the Anvil”
3. AC/DC – “Moneytalks”
4. Judas Priest – “Night Crawler”
5. AC/DC – “Thunderstruck”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 339 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin explores how persistence and simply staying in the game can eventually pay off, using life-lesson stories and musical examples—from Gary Moore and John Wetton to Tommy Thayer and Derek Shulman—of artists who kept showing up, climbed the ladder in different ways, and ultimately landed career-defining gigs inside and beyond the rock world.

1. Gary Moore – “Moving On”
2. Gentle Giant – “All Through the Night”
3. Kiss – “Outta This World”
4. Asia – “Cutting It Fine”
5. Trans-Siberian Orchestra – “The Dark”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 338 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin explores why veteran rock stars like Alice Cooper, Robert Plant, Rob Halford and others collaborate with younger musicians, examining whether it’s for creative renewal, staying culturally relevant, genuine mentorship, or tapping into youthful energy.

1. Alice Cooper – “Dirty Diamonds”
2. Robert Plant – “Big Love”
3. Fight – “Immortal Sin”
4. Bruce Dickinson – “Back from the Edge”
5. Iggy Pop – “American Valhalla”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 337 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin examines rock and metal bands that “missed the pre-grunge window” by failing to release one more album before grunge’s 1991 breakthrough wiped out their commercial momentum.

1. Whitesnake – “Judgment Day"
2. Foreigner – “Counting Every Minute”
3. Accept – “Monsterman”
4. UFO – “Mean Streets”
5. Blue Öyster Cult – “Del Rio’s Song”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode 336 of History in Five Songs with Martin Popoff, Martin ponders the bands who managed—through timing, luck, pivots, or pure momentum—to sneak in a successful album just before grunge exploded and reshaped the entire rock and metal landscape.

1. Alice Cooper – “Little by Little”
2. Pantera – “Domination”
3. Judas Priest – “Hell Patrol”
4. Metallica – “Holier Than Though”
5. AC/DC – “Let’s Make It”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices