I Thought Interview Would GET POLITICAL-My Focus Was Music-Here's What Happened...-Professor of Rock
4,393Coming up next, I have to admit, I was pretty intimidated to interview today’s guest, John McCrea of Cake. This witty singer is wicked smart. Cake's song The Distance was an instant favorite with an opening line that grabs you by the ears and never lets go, and also contains a word that has never been used like this in a rock song. I think it’s got to be the best opening line of the last 30 years easy… It’s a song that was extremely peculiar, and I mean that as a compliment, because it’s truly the coolest hit of its time. I’ve always wondered what the story behind it was, and I wasn’t disappointed when John used a hilarious analogy to explain it. This is one you gotta see, next on Professor of Rock.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Executive Producer
Brandon Fugal
Honorary Producers
Norman Buchwald, Cliff Konstans, Steve DocPinko Cloutier, Jenny Blaxell, Jason Elliott, AArthriticGamer
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to the Professor of Rock Podcast
Apple - https://apple.co/445fVov
Spotify - https://spoti.fi/42JpfvU
Amazon Music – https://amzn.to/44b5D6m
iHeartRadio – https://bit.ly/444h8MO
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check Out The Professor of Rock Merch Store -http://bit.ly/ProfessorMerch
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check Out Patron Benefits
http://bit.ly/ProfessorofRockVIPFan
Help out the Channel by purchasing your albums through our links! As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you, thank you for your support.
Click here for Premium Content: https://bit.ly/SignUpForPremiumContent
https://bit.ly/Facebook_Professor_of_Rock
https://bit.ly/Instagram_Professor_of_Rock
#classicrock #90smusic #vinylstory #onehitwonder
Hey Music Junkies, Professor of Rock always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time. If you remember waiting in line around the block for tickets to the great blockbuster movies of the 70s and 80s whether Star Wars, Indiana Jones or Back to the Future You’ll dig this channel of daily nostalgia Make sure to subscribe below right now and click the bell so that you always know when our new interviews drop click the bell. Also, check out our exclusive content on Patreon.
I’m excited to bring you another episode from our series Revelations, where featured artists go deep on their greatest songs and albums with fascinating insight you won’t find anywhere else. Today’s episode is pretty cool. Ya know, to me, mainstream music started to go downhill in the 90s. It pretty much went off a cliff after 1995. Well, just when I thought there was no hope, this band came out of nowhere in 1996… They weren’t grunge, they weren’t ‘pop, they really weren’t even alternative, though that’s where the tastemakers tried to categorize them. They stepped into a world full of post-grunge as Kurt Cobain had already passed away, and after a summer dominated by the Macarena and Mariah Cary the band Cake was a welcome arrival with their catchy and cool ditty The Distance.
It grabbed you from the opening line and seduced you with Greg Brown’s crackling guitar and John McRea’s speak-sing one-liners…It was glorious. The Distance was unlike anything on the radio, and it has become a classic since. It was a hit across the globe, hitting #22 in the UK, #15 IN BELGIUM, #20 in Scotland, and #5 on the candid rock charts. Here in the US, it hit several charts. #38 on the rock charts, #4 on the Alternative charts, and #35 on the US Radio charts. Again, you couldn’t really categorize or label these guys. They did what they wanted…And they were beloved by all types, which is why their debut album Fashion Nugget went 2 x Platinum and was a hit clear into 97…and their follow-up was a hit as well, their cover of Gloria Gaynor’s hit I Will Survive. Well, I’m excited to share an interview I did with one of the most interesting frontmen in music, Mr. John McCrea of the band Cake, about this classic song and album. I was a little intimidated, I must admit… He’s a very smart guy. Well, let’s get into it.
Man, I gotta go listen to the distance again. It’s so good. This song will be a hit with every generation… My test is this. …I just let this song play while I was working in my office the other day, and within about 60 seconds, my son and his friends came in and said Who sings this? It’s a pretty cool song. That’s how The Distance is. It just hooks ya.
Leave us a comment about Cake and this cool classic. What do you remember about this song and album, and the end of 1996 going into 1997?
To get more of this interview and many others, click on our Patreon link below.