Who Ordered the Pie? | Classic Rock Music History & Cocktails
Who Ordered the Pie? is a classic rock music history podcast that explores the hidden stories behind legendary songs and the artists who shaped rock history.
Each episode dives deep into rock history, Billboard chart performance, and behind-the-song storytelling, exploring the real-life moments that shaped legendary tracks and classic rock culture.
Part narrative storytelling, part music documentary, and part barstool conversation, the show blends classic rock history with craft cocktail culture in a way that feels both nostalgic and fresh.
If you love discovering what really happened behind the songs, tracing their rise on the charts, and hearing the stories that shaped music history, pull up a chair. This is your show.
Episodes
53 episodes
Episode 51: When Soul Got Fuzzy | R&B with the Guitar Turned Up
Episode 51: When Soul Got Fuzzy: R&B with the Guitar Turned UpMotown had a sound of its own. Then fuzz guitar started cutting through the polished soul, adding a rougher, louder edge.In this episode, Christopher follows the ...
Episode 50: Something Strange in the Speakers: Creepy Sounds and Studio Legends
Have you ever heard something in a song that made you stop, back it up, and wonder, “What the hell was that?”This week on “Who Ordered the Pie?” we’re exploring the creepy sounds and studio legends hiding inside familiar records. From th...
Episode 49: A Life in Records | 1 Year of Who Ordered the Pie?
1 year. A lot of music. And a wife whose suggestion to start a podcast turned out to be an excellent delegation strategy.For this anniversary episode of “Who Ordered the Pie?” I’m sharing how a lifelong love of liner notes and music triv...
Episode 48: Right Song, Wrong Timing | The Power Pop Pioneers
Before Cheap Trick, The Cars, The Knack and the power pop bands that followed, a handful of artists were already combining loud guitars, huge hooks and ’60s-inspired harmonies into something that would help define the genre.In this insta...
Episode 47: Right Song, Wrong Timing | Around the World in Five Great Songs
5 songs. 5 countries. Very different stories on opposite sides of the world.In this edition of “Right Song, Wrong Timing,” Christopher follows Split Enz, Moving Pictures, Jon Astley, Peter Schilling, and Golden Earring through family con...
Episode 46: Right Song, Wrong Timing | Canada Comes South
Why were some of the biggest Canadian rock bands of the 1980s huge at home, yet barely known in the United States?In Episode 46 of "Who Ordered the Pie?," Christopher heads north for another installment of "Right Song, Wrong Timing" and ...
Episode 45: Sunshine Pop | The Happiest Hits of the '60s and '70s, Part 2
Sunshine Pop is back for Part 2, with 4 more ridiculously catchy records from the late ’60s and early ’70s, and some of the strangest stories behind them.This time, Christopher digs into Edison Lighthouse, The Cyrkle, The Assoc...
Episode 44: Sunshine Pop | The Happiest Hits of the '60s and '70s, Part 1
Some songs challenge you. Others just make you feel good.In Episode 44, we're diving into the bright, ridiculously catchy world of Sunshine Pop with 4 songs that helped define the happiest side of AM radio in the late '60s and early '70s...
Episode 43: Three of a Kind | FM Rock’s Other Great Trios
Rush, The Police, and ZZ Top became rock institutions. But what about the other great power trios of early ’80s FM radio?In Episode 43 of “Who Ordered the Pie?,” we explore three bands whose defining moments arrived in three consecutive ...
Episode 42: Right Song, Wrong Timing | MTV’s Almost Superstars
In the early days of MTV, one unforgettable music video could make a band look like the next superstar. In this episode of Who Ordered the Pie?, we revisit five 1980s bands that had the songs, the talent, the image, and the MTV exposure to beco...
Episode 41: Jessie's Girl | From Stained Glass to No. 1
This week marks the 45th anniversary of Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl" reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the perfect time to take a deep dive into one of the biggest songs of the 1980s.What do a stained glass class, ...
Episode 40: Right Song, Wrong Timing | The Guitar Stars Who Almost Took Over the '80s
Some guitarists become legends.Others seem destined for superstardom... until something gets in the way.In this episode of Right Song, Wrong Timing, we're revisiting five incredible guitarists who had the talent, the songs,...
Episode 39: Right Song, Wrong Timing | FM Rock That Almost Conquered the World
Turn up the radio and roll the windows down.This week on Who Ordered the Pie?, we're reopening five more musical case files featuring FM rock bands that had everything it took to become arena legends.Big guitars.Hu...
Episode 38: Right Song, Wrong Timing | Power Pop's Greatest "What Ifs"
Have you ever heard a song and wondered, "How was that band not huge?" In this brand new recurring series, Christopher reopens five musical case files to investigate artists who had the right song, the right sound, and every reason ...
Episode 37 - My Fourth of July Soundtrack | The Stories Behind the Songs
Every Fourth of July has a soundtrack.In Episode 37 of Who Ordered the Pie, Christopher explores the stories behind the songs that have become part of America's Independence Day celebrations. Discover the surprising history behind Chicag...
Episode 36: Warning Label | How a Sticker Became a Badge of Honor
This is Part 2 of our two-part series on the Parental Advisory label and the controversy that changed music forever.In Episode 35, we explored Prince's "Darling Nikki," the PMRC, and the infamous Filthy Fifteen. Now the story moves from ...
Episode 35: Parental Discretion Advised | From Darling Nikki to the Filthy Fifteen
A simple black-and-white sticker changed music history.The Parental Advisory label became one of the most recognizable symbols in rock and pop culture, appearing on albums by Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Ozzy Osbourne, Mötley Crüe, and coun...
Episode 34: Between the Lines | How Rock and Pop Learned to Wink
Some songs say it outright.Others make you work for it.In this episode of Who Ordered the Pie?, Christopher explores the lost art of innuendo in rock and pop music. Back when radio stations, television networks, and censors had th...
Episode 33: Stutter Rock | When the Hook Trips Over Itself
Welcome back to Who Ordered the Pie? In Episode 33, Stutter Rock | When the Hook Trips Over Itself, we're exploring some of the most memorable vocal hooks in rock history. From Bachman-Turner Overdrive's accidental chart-topper "You Ain't Seen ...
Episode 32: Second Listen | The 80s Songs You Thought You Knew
We’ve all heard them.Songs from the 80s that feel simple. Catchy. Easy to sing along with.But what if we didn’t really hear them the first time?In this first episode of the Second Listen series, w...
Episode 31: The Dreamy 90s Sound | Songs You Knew, Genre You Didn’t
Episode 31 of Who Ordered the Pie? dives into the dreamy 90s sound that millions of listeners knew by ear, even if they never knew the genre name. Was it dream pop? Shoegaze? Atmospheric alternative? However it was labeled, these songs blended ...
Episode 30: The Joke That Worked | The Turtles, “Elenore,” and the Hit They Didn’t Mean
What happens when a band gets tired of being told to repeat their biggest hit… and decides to prove a point?In 1968, Elenore by The Turtles climbed to No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. But it wasn’t written as a serious follow-up....
Episode 29: When Disco Died | Reinvent or Fade Away
What happened after disco died?Not faded. Rejected.In the early 1980s, the backlash against disco forced some of the biggest artists in the world to reinvent themselves in real time. Some evolved. Some adapted. And some lost every...
Episode 28: When Rock Went Disco | The Beat They Couldn’t Ignore
What happens when rock meets disco?In the late 1970s, it wasn’t just a trend. It was a moment where even the biggest rock bands had to decide. Ignore it, or follow the beat.In this episode of Who Ordered the Pie?, we dive into the...