All Episodes

History in Five Songs Episode 372: Killed by Booze

History in Five Songs Episode 371: Last Song, Best Song

History in Five Songs Episode 370: Underperforming Debuts

History in Five Songs Episode 369: Lowering the British blues boom

History in Five Songs Episode 368: Your new guitarist is a distraction.

History in Five Songs Episode 367: How crazy was 1991?

History in Five Songs Episode 366: The Four Pre-Perfect Strangers Albums

History in Five Songs Episode 365: Where Guitar Takes a Back Seat

History in Five Songs Episode 364: Best Weird Lineup Records

History in Five Songs Episode 363: Title Not in the Lyrics

History in Five Songs Episode 362: Prog and Metal

History in Five Songs Episode 361: Career Sabotage Albums

History in Five Songs Episode 360: Melody

History in Five Songs Episode 359: Thrash and Hair Metal as Doppelgangers

History in Five Songs Episode 358: Getting Behind Concept Albums

History in Five Songs Episode 357: Three Bands, Three Golds

History in Five Songs Episode 356: Histories Waiting for You

History in Five Songs Episode 355: Looks Great on Paper

History in Five Songs Episode 354: ZZ Top and Billy Idol as Doppelgangers

History in Five Songs Episode 353: Clone Bands

History in Five Songs Episode 352: The Curse of the Second Live Album

History in Five Songs Episode 351: Greatest Comeback Albums

History in Five Songs Episode 350: Recorded in Canada

History in Five Songs Episode 349: Live Albums That Meant Little

History in Five Songs Episode 348: Peaked with a Live Album

History in Five Songs Episode 347: Bands with Under-Performing Early Classics

History in Five Songs Episode 346: Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel as Doppelgangers

History in Five Songs Episode 345: Rock Stars with No Gold Records

History in Five Songs Episode 344: Infiltrated by Americans

History in Five Songs Episode 342: Title Track as Last Track

History in Five Songs Episode 343: Biggest Left Turns

History in Five Songs Episode 341: Good Riddance to the ‘70s

History in Five Songs Episode 340: Painkiller on The Razors Edge

History in Five Songs Episode 339: Stick Around

History in Five Songs Episode 338: Rock ‘n’ Roll Vampires

History in Five Songs Episode 337: Missed the Pre-Grunge Window

History in Five Songs Episode 336: Snuck One in Before Grunge

History in Five Songs Episode 335: Motörhead and Saxon as Doppelgangers

History in Five Songs Episode 334: Why a Rock ‘n’ Roll Song?

History in Five Songs Episode 333: First Track Buzz-Kill

History in Five Songs Episode 332: Shockingly Not on the Live Album

History in Five Songs Episode 331: Double-Powered Inventors

History in Five Songs Episode 330: The NWOBHM in 1979

History in Five Songs Episode 329: American Doom in the ‘70s

History in Five Songs Episode 328: The Last Hair Metal Album

History in Five Songs Episode 327: The Last Progressive Rock Album

History in Five Songs Episode 326: Punk in 1976

History in Five Songs Episode 325: The Cult of Randy Bachman

History in Five Songs Episode 324: Happily Fooled by Outside Songwriters

History in Five Songs Episode 323: The Outside Songwriter’s Worst Sin

History in Five Songs Episode 322: The Ideal Replacement Singer

History in Five Songs Episode 321: The American Revolution of 1975

History in Five Songs Episode 320: The Curious Chaos of Hair Metal Live Albums

History in Five Songs Episode 319: Ozzy’s Long Death Reckoning

History in Five Songs Episode 318: Ozzy’s Warnings to the World

History in Five Songs Episode 317: Non-American Hair Metal

History in Five Songs Episode 316: Bands Ruined by Funk

History in Five Songs Episode 315: Metal Classics That Sold Nothing

History in Five Songs Episode 314: When Writing Credits Matter

History in Five Songs Episode 313: What did you do during hair metal?

History in Five Songs Episode 312: Unexpected AOR Albums

History in Five Songs Episode 311: Covers, not grunge, killed hair metal.

History in Five Songs Episode 310: Struggling with the Greatest New Wave Bands

History in Five Songs Episode 309: New Wave’s Pub Rock Problem

History in Five Songs Episode 308: Who invented new wave?

History in Five Songs Episode 307: Knighted Rock Stars

History in Five Songs Episode 306: Offshoot Band, Shadow Band

History in Five Songs Episode 305: Bands That Became American

History in Five Songs Episode 304: The Best Real Estate on a Vinyl Album

History in Five Songs Episode 303: The Stealth Platinums

History in Five Songs Episode 302: Prog Bands’ Top Ten Seconds

History in Five Songs Episode 301: There’s no such thing as proto-punk.

History in Five Songs Episode 300: The Guitar Weave

History in Five Songs Episode 299: Punk Albums Late by a Year

History in Five Songs Episode 298: The Yes Solo Album Break

History in Five Songs Episode 297: Lighter but Better?

History in Five Songs Episode 296: The Last Great Pre-Metallica Albums

History in Five Songs Episode 295: The Rock Hall’s Individual Problem

History in Five Songs Episode 294: Early Kiss Songs Not by Kiss

History in Five Songs Episode 293: Am I too much of a punk snob for hardcore?

History in Five Songs Episode 292: The Mack Attack

History in Five Songs Episode 291: The Five Greatest Songs Ever Written

History in Five Songs Episode 290: Two Songs in One

History in Five Songs Episode 289: False Endings

History in Five Songs Episode 288: Gillan, Rainbow, Whitesnake and the NWOBHM

History in Five Songs Episode 287: Where do I start?

History in Five Songs Episode 286: A New Theory on What Caused Punk

History in Five Songs Episode 285: Vocal Intros

History in Five Songs Episode 284: Bands Ruined by Hair Metal

History in Five Songs Episode 283: Totally Invested in Title Tracks

History in Five Songs Episode 282: Not Big on Title Tracks

History in Five Songs Episode 281: Early Rush Songs About Mortality

History in Five Songs Episode 280: Heaviest Canadian Albums of the ‘70s

History in Five Songs 279: Which bands do comedy?

History in Five Songs 278: Sacred Songs I’ve Always Rejected

History in Five Songs 277: Missed the Boat on an '80s Live Album

History in Five Songs 276: Live Albums: The Decade-by-Decade Fade

History in Five Songs 275: Which Deep Purple era has the best intros?

History in Five Songs 274: Exiled Rockers on Fire

History in Five Songs 273: 1979 was the worst year for rock.

History in Five Songs 272: Late-to-Arrive Hair Metal Bands

History in Five Songs 271: More Famous Last Words

History in Five Songs 270: LP Band to CD Band Starkly

History in Five Songs 269: Old Band, New Guy, NWOBHM

History in Five Songs 268: UFO Spotted Over the NWOBHM

History in Five Songs 267: Locating the Rolling Stones Sound

History in Five Songs 266: Is Black Sabbath progressive metal?

History in Five Songs 265: Why did the NWOBHM fail?

History in Five Songs 264: Peter Gabriel Makes Everyone Better

History in Five Songs 263: Genesis and the Worst Year in History

History in Five Songs 262: Shocker: The Old Bands Invented Hair Metal

History in Five Songs 261: AC/DC, Alice in Chains and Thrash

History in Five Songs 260: The Battle of 1976

History in Five Songs 259: That Jukebox in Your Head

History in Five Songs 258: Greatest Band of All Time

History in Five Songs 257: The Devolution of Sabbath Intros

History in Five Songs 256: Heavy Metal Duets

History in Five Songs 255: Golden Era Quo Intros

History in Five Songs 254: Goofy Riffs

History in Five Songs 253: Albums That Don't Deserve the Love

History in Five Songs 252: Joke About The Police

History in Five Songs 251: Barely Written Songs

History in Five Songs 250: Their Future in One Song

History in Five Songs 249: First Person Perspectives

History in Five Songs 248: Metal History in First Verses

History in Five Songs 247: Wrapping Up the Album

History in Five Songs 246: Covers on Debuts

History in Five Songs 245: Ancient Zeppelin Reviews Part 2

History in Five Songs 244: Ancient Zeppelin Reviews

History in Five Songs 243: Ancient Sabbath Reviews

History in Five Songs 242: This Band's British Steel

History in Five Songs 241: Contrarianism

History in Five Songs 240: Producer Chris Tsangarides

History in Five Songs 239: Biggest Heavy Metal Stars

History in Five Songs 238: A Different Kind of Genius

History in Five Songs 237: Genius

History in Five Songs 236: Fifth Gear Singers

History in Five Songs 235: First Gear Singers

History in Five Songs 234: They Shrunk the Boogie!

History in Five Songs 233: OTT Hair Metal Songs

History in Five Songs 232: Celebrating Snare Drum

History in Five Songs 231: Birmingham’s Black Sabbath Family

History in Five Songs 230: My Shadow Top Five: A Breaks Study

History in Five Songs 229: My Top Five Albums: A Pre-Chorus Study

History in Five Songs 228: Corporate Solo Albums

History in Five Songs 227: Inspired by New York City

History in Five Songs 226: The Bruce Springsteen Family

History in Five Songs 225: Heaviest '70s Live Albums

History in Five Songs 224: Sequencing

History in Five Songs 223: Bands Rarely Copied. But Not Never.

History in Five Songs 222: Recalled Reactions: Big Debut Albums

History in Five Songs 221: Recalled Reactions from 1976

History in Five Songs 220: Hair Metal Skips by ‘70s Bands

History in Five Songs 219: Hair Metal Fails by ‘70s Bands

History in Five Songs 218: Hair Metal Wins by ‘70s Bands

History in Five Songs 217: This Band's (Police Album)

History in Five Songs 216: Finding Value in Instrumentals

History in Five Songs 215: Song Title Non-Starters

History in Five Songs 214: This Band's "Smoke on the Water"

History in Five Songs 213: I can't unhear that.

History in Five Songs 212: Drummers. Who's left?

History in Five Songs 211: What's the point of this band?

History in Five Songs 210: Zeppelin and Sabbath as Doppelgangers

History in Five Songs 209: UFO and Thin Lizzy as Doppelgangers

History in Five Songs 208: Glad They Went Poppy

History in Five Songs 207: Grunge Requiems

History in Five Songs 206: Bands That Went New Wave

History in Five Songs 205: Triple Crown Rockers

History in Five Songs 204: But for That One Song

History in Five Songs 203: Bands Get Smart

History in Five Songs 202: The Ballad

History in Five Songs 201: Asterisk Albums

History in Five Songs 200: Triple Anniversary Show

History in Five Songs 199: Why is This Depressing?

History in Five Songs 198: Heavy Metal Gallop

History in Five Songs 197: Why Go Solo?

History in Five Songs 196: Slow Songs

History in Five Songs 195: Paying Your Dues

History in Five Songs 193: Bad Drum Sounds

History in Five Songs 192: Good Drum Sounds

History in Five Songs 191: Bands with Outside Lyricists

History in Five Songs 190: Bad Song Title Bands

History in Five Songs 189: History of Annoying Band Names

History in Five Songs 188: Third Album, New Band

History in Five Songs 187: Second Album, New Band

History in Five Songs 186: The Pasha Sound

History in Five Songs 185: Famous Last Words

History in Five Songs 184: Was Hair Metal Born in Canada?

History in Five Songs 183: Punk Explained Right Away

History in Five Songs 182: Sounds Like “Kashmir”

History in Five Songs 181: Best Album Titles

History in Five Songs 180: Worst Album Titles

History in Five Songs 179: New Romantic: An Alternate Path

History in Five Songs 178: Snowglobe Bands

History in Five Songs 177: Title Track Weirdness

History in Five Songs 176: Rock ‘n’ Roll Medley

History in Five Songs 175: Stand Alone Singles

History in Five Songs 174: That Undeniable Song

History in Five Songs 173: That One Massive Album

History in Five Songs 172: Started as Psych

History in Five Songs 171: Chorus First

History in Five Songs 170: Short-Lived Genres

History in Five Songs 169: Consensus Best Songs

History in Five Songs 168: No Category Bands

History in Five Songs 167: Worst Songs By Consensus

History in Five Songs 166: Songs You Shouldn’t Cover

History in Five Songs 165: Self-Titled

History in Five Songs 164: The Birth of Stoner Rock

History in Five Songs 163: Grunge from Away

History in Five Songs 162: Concept Album Flops

Last published episode: 'History in Five Songs 161: First a Guitar Solo

History in Five Songs 160: The Jim Morrison Complex

History in Five Songs Ep. 159: Psychedelic ‘90s Metal

History in Five Songs 158: Songs About Radio

History in Five Songs 157: Solo Albums from Drummers

History in Five Songs Ep. 156: When Thrash Slowed Down

History in Five Songs 155: The 'It' Band

Episode 154: How Heavy Can It Get?

History in Five Songs 153: No Top End

History in Five Songs 152: No Bottom End

History in Five Songs 151: Senior Singer Report Card

History in Five Songs 150: Proto-Progressive Metal

History in Five Songs 149: Guest Female Voices

History in Five Songs 148: The First Great Productions

History in Five Songs 147: The Last of the First Mods

History in Five Songs 146: Is there a NWOBHM sound?

History in Five Songs 145: Bands with Angry Fans

History in Five Songs 144: Pub Rock

History in Five Songs 143: Fadeouts

History in Five Songs 142: Light Band Heavy Single

History in Five Songs 141: Songs Critical of the Music Biz

History in Five Songs 140: Favourite Requiems

History in Five Songs 139: The Next Def Leppard

History in Five Songs 138: The US Response to UK Glam

History in Five Songs 137: Glam Rock

History in Five Songs 136: The Shadow Album

History in Five Songs 135: Early Mutt Lange

History in Five Songs 134: Drum Flourishes

History in Five Songs 133: Epic Drum Intros

History in Five Songs 132: Drum Hooks

History in Five Songs 131: Dubious Cover Version Decisions

History in Five Songs 130: Elevated by a Cover Version

History in Five Songs 129: Those electronic drums sound good.

History in Five Songs 128: Metallica or Megadeth? In 1990.

History in Five Songs 127: British Metal in the ‘90s

History in Five Songs 126: Kerrang!’s Top 100 Albums… in Issue #4

History in Five Songs 125: Kerrang!’s Top 100 Songs… in Issue #1

History in Five Songs 124: Re-Recording the Old Hits

History in Five Songs 123: Legendary Albums Not Certified

History in Five Songs 122: Best NWOBHM Bands NOW!

History in Five Songs 121: Greatest Hits Plus

History in Five Songs 120: Made for Japan

History in Five Songs 119: Reggae in Hard Rock

History in Five Songs 118: Hair Metal’s Twilight Years

History in Five Songs 117: The Birth of Post-Punk

History in Five Songs 116: Recording Badly on Purpose

History in Five Songs 115: Best First Songs Ever

History in Five Songs 114: Anthem

History in Five Songs 113: The Last Great NWOBHM Albums

History in Five Songs 112: Self-Produced Albums

History in Five Songs 111: You didn't have to be there.

History in Five Songs 110: You had to be there.

History in Five Songs 109: Best Last Songs Ever

History in Five Songs 108: How Bands Deal with Loss

History in Five Songs 107: One and Done

History in Five Songs 106: Over the Top

History in Five Songs 105: Half-Time Shuffle

History in Five Songs 104: Heavy Metal Shuffle

History in Five Songs 103: The Start of Punk in Canada

History in Five Songs 102: Here Comes Success!

History in Five Songs 101: Not Under-Rated

History in Five Songs 100: Answering Your Questions

History in Five Songs 99: Gotta Move

History in Five Songs 98: Cusp Albums

History in Five Songs 97: No Longer Punk

History in Five Songs 96: Part II Albums

History in Five Songs 95: Rough Patch Successes

History in Five Songs 94: The Next Led Zeppelin

History in Five Songs 93: Chameleons

History in Five Songs 92: World’s Biggest Dead Rock Stars

History in Five Songs 91: World’s Biggest Living Rock Stars

History in Five Songs 90: Live Albums of New Songs

History in Five Songs 89: This Album's Too Short

History in Five Songs 88: Kiss and Trends

History in Five Songs 87: The Mod Revival

History in Five Songs 86: Worst Five Single Live

History in Five Songs 85: Outshined

History in Five Songs 84: Top Five Single Live

History in Five Songs 83: New Way to Rank Zep

History in Five Songs 82: Queen and Novelty

History in Five Songs 81: Novelty Singles: Not My Style

History in Five Songs 80: Five Females - A Wyrd Congruence

History in Five Songs 79: NWOBHM Compilations

History in Five Songs 78: Proggers Go Solo

History in Five Songs 77: Southern Rock by Proxy

History in Five Songs 76: Singer Equals Band

History in Five Songs 75: This Album’s Too Long

History in Five Songs 74: Not in the Rock Hall

History in Five Songs 73: Crazy Ideas

History in Five Songs 72: Lee Kerslake and Ken Hensley

History in Five Songs 71: Southern Rot

History in Five Songs 70: Imaginos and Re Imaginos

History in Five Songs 69: Heaviest US Albums of the ‘70s

History in Five Songs 68: Smarty Pants Metal

History in Five Songs 67: Eddie Van Halen

History in Five Songs 66: Strictly Commercial

History in Five Songs 65: 300th Anniversary Tour

History in Five Songs 64: New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, or not?

History in Five Songs 63: Bluesy Hair Metal

History in Five Songs 62: Problem with Top New Of Wave British Heavy Metal

History in Five Songs 61: The Next Van Halen

History in Five Songs 60: Give the People What They Want

History in Five Songs 59: Tormented by EPs

History in Five Songs 58: Blues for Metalheads

History in Five Songs 57: Faith No More and Commercialism

History in Five Songs 56: The Motörhead Family

History in Five Songs 55: Tom Werman and Twisted Sister

History in Five Songs 54: Heavy Metal? Not Us.

History in Five Songs 53: Blue Album Covers

History in Five Songs 52: Firing Robert Plant

History in Five Songs 51: Paul "Tonka" Chapman

History in Five Songs 50: White Album Contrivances

History in Five Songs 49: Weird Solos

History in Five Songs 48: Access Denied - Canucks in the ‘80s

History in Five Songs 47: Bands of Individuals

History in Five Songs 46: The Foreigner Effect

History in Five Songs 45: Shocked by Synths

History in Five Songs 44: Montrose and Van Halen

History in Five Songs 43: The Birth of Thrash

History in Five Songs 42: The AC/DC Family

History in Five Songs 41: Jason Bonham

History in Five Songs 40: Second Wave Heavy Metal - American Division

History in Five Songs 39: Hard Rock Shark-Jumpers

History in Five Songs 38: Second Wave Heavy Metal - European Division

History in Five Songs 37: Halford and Dickinson – The Doppelheadbangers

History in Five Songs 36: Who Invented Punk?

History in Five Songs 35: Circumstances: Rush and Judas Priest in the ‘70s

History in Five Songs 34: Off the Deep Purple End

History in Five Songs 33: Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time

History in Five Songs 32: Swan Song Records

History in Five Songs 31: The Very, Very Strange Story of Ram Jam

History in Five Songs 30: The Roots of Grunge

History in Five Songs 29: Neil Peart - 12-Panel Man

History in Five Songs 28: Brain Augmentation for Rush Fans

History in Five Songs 27: The (Blank) Deep Purple

History in Five Songs 26: Twice Bad Timing - Angel, Moxy, Rex, Starz and Teaze

History in Five Songs 25: Go to Vancouver and Try Harder

History in Five Songs 24: Rick Rubin When It Mattered

History in Five Songs 23: Hair Metal Goes Grunge

History in Five Songs 22: How Lars Ulrich Invented Hair Metal

History in Five Songs 21: Original Punk for Metalheads

History in Five Songs 20: Martin Birch

History in Five Songs 19: The Birth of European Power Metal

History in Five Songs 18: The Birth of American Power Metal

History in Five Songs 17: 2020 Rock Hall Nominations – Hard Rock Division

History in Five Songs 16: New Wave of Swedish Heavy Metal

History in Five Songs 15: Metallica’s Production

History in Five Songs 14: Twin Leads

History in Five Songs 13: Choirs of Angels

History in Five Songs 12: 'Honorary' New Wave of British Heavy Metal Pt. 2: Not Even British!

History in Five Songs 11: 'Honorary' New Wave of British Heavy Metal Pt. 1

History in Five Songs 10: New Wave of British Heavy Metal

History in Five Songs 09: Who Invented Heavy Metal?

History in Five Songs 08: Dirty Hair Metal

History in Five Songs 07: Proto-Metal Part 2

History in Five Songs 06: Proto-Metal Part 1

History in Five Songs 05: Double Bass Drums

History in Five Songs 04: Guitar Tapping

History in Five Songs 03: Doom Metal

History in Five Songs 02: American Heavy Metal

History in Five Songs 01: Led Zeppelin in Hair Metal