Show Notes
Synopsis
Rock N Roll Archaeology excavates the divergent paths of Elton John and John Lennon in the first half of the 1970s, a period where one man sprinted toward the brightest spotlight on Earth while the other desperately sought an escape. From Elton's star-making coronation at the Troubadour to Lennon's chaotic "Lost Weekend" in Los Angeles, their journeys collide in a New York studio with a high-stakes wager over the song "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night."
This is a story of two friends, two paths, and the unforeseen consequences of getting exactly what you wish for, set against the backdrop of the post-Beatles power vacuum and the dizzying heights of 70s superstardom.
Producer and Host: Christian Swain
Head Writer: Richard Evans
Sound Designer: Jerry Danielsen
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More from Rock N Roll Archaeology
"Time has resumed its shape. All is as it was before. Many such journeys are possible. Let me be your gateway."
A sober, chronological narrative of the tragic final day of John Lennon on December 8, 1980. This episode tracks Lennon's last hours, his final interview, and the chilling, parallel actions of his killer, Mark Chapman, waiting outside the Dakota. We go inside the frantic rush to Roosevelt Hospital and recount the surreal, historic moment the news broke during Monday Night Football. This is the definitive, fact-based oral history of an empty, violent act that shattered a generation and a world.
The show opens December 27th, 1961, at the Cavern Club where Pete Best calls in sick, and the boys bring in Richard Starkey - Ringo Starr to the world - to sit in on drums, his first paid gig with the Beatles. It clicks musically; the band really swings with Ringo on drums.
Arrival: we begin the show on February 7th, 1964, in the first-class cabin aboard Pan American Airlines Flight 101 from London to New York City. It’s a raucous, party atmosphere, but John Lennon, for a moment anyway, feels alone in a crowd.