Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the worlds of rock and roll and history’s most beloved sci-fi franchise collided in ways nobody ever expected. That’s right, on this episode of Professor of Rock, we’re counting down the greatest rock meets Star Wars stories around. And from the casting room to the recording booth, popular musicians and Star Wars have a surprisingly in-depth history. Including members of NSYNC who got their greatest wish... to be cast as Lightsaber-wielding JEDIs. They went out and filmed and were excited to see themselves in Star Wars but were crestfallen when George Lucas cut them out of the film after fan backlash. Plus, the iconic future front-woman Terri Nunn was almost cast as Princess Leia. She made it to the final round of auditions, impressed the director, but was turned away because Harrison Ford didn’t like her. So she had to settle for music stardom instead. Then there is Joseph Williams, the son of one of the greatest composers in Hollywood history and the replacement singer for one of the biggest rock bands of the 80s. He penned the lyrics to two of The Return of the Jedi’s original songs… only to have them later replaced in the 1997 Special Editions. And finally, the King of Pop personally lobbied George Lucas for a role in the most anticipated film of a generation… But he got nixed too. But he dodged a bullet…
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Executive Producer
Brandon Fugal
Honorary Producers
Robert Taylor, Missy D, Stan Summay, MG, David Fritz
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Subscribe to the Professor of Rock Podcast
Apple: apple.co/445fVov
Spotify: spoti.fi/42JpfvU
Amazon: amzn.to/44b5D6m
iHeartRadio: bit.ly/444h8MO
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Patreon: bit.ly/ProfessorofRockVIPFan
Merch Store: professor-of-rock-lsn-shop.fourthwall.com
Instagram: bit.ly/Instagram_Professor_of_Rock
#classicrock #80smusic #vinylstory #weirdalyankovic
Hey Music junkies, Professor of Rock always here to celebrate the greatest songs and the greatest artists of all time. As a kid, if you ever ran through the sprinkler or made your own slip and slide out of garbage sacks, you’ll dig this channel of deep musical nostalgia. Make sure to like, share, and comment to keep this channel alive. Alright, I had a plan to do this episode and release it on the 4th. But we put it up and then got taken down over and over again for some claims, so today we are going to try it again. It’s our rock and roll Star Wars episode when Rock and Star Wars collide. The top 6 Star Wars and rock stories.
Starting things off at #6, it’s a Star Wars Queen connection. When Star Wars debuted on May 25, 1977, in just 32 theaters… few expected George Lucas’s space fantasy would do much of anything. But driven by word-of-mouth, long lines soon stretched around city blocks across North America. Moviegoers queued for hours to see Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Leia, Han, Chewy and all the rest… and then went back to see it again. The film smashed box office records, earning over $220 million and helped usher in the era of the modern blockbuster. Beyond the silver screen, Star Wars redefined entertainment marketing through an unprecedented merchandising wave—from John Williams’s iconic score dominating radio airwaves to an inescapable surge of action figures and lunchboxes—transforming a movie release into a multi-generational pop culture obsession. Star Wars was the new global obsession. Beyond that, Star Wars made musical inroads as well… For instance, musician, producer and sci-fi fan Meco rearranged the film's main theme and "Cantina Band" into a disco medley. It hit #1 on the Hot 100, selling over 2 million copies.
Also in 1978 in a classic Saturday Night Live sketch, Bill Murray performed as a suave, lounge singer delivering a cheesy, improvised performance of John Williams' iconic main theme. The parody became an instant pop-culture hit. But the boys of Queen also got in on the action… name-checking the galaxy far, far away on the front half of their double A-side Bicycle Race / Fat Bottomed Girls. Released on October 13, 1978, Bicycle Race’s lyrics were laced with a pop culture references… Jaws, John Wayne, Peter Pan, Superman, Frankenstein… and Star Wars. However, in the song Freddie sang “And I don’t like Star Wars.” What? Okay, pump the brakes. Actually, according to Brian May, Freddie was just playing a character in the song, and the frontman actually “loves Star Wars.” In fact, during Queen’s 1980 tour, Freddie could frequently be seen riding around on Darth Vader's shoulders during performances. Freddie loved Star Wars so much that he wanted the band to get in on some
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the worlds of rock and roll and history’s most beloved sci-fi franchise collided in ways nobody ever expected. That’s right, on this episode of Professor of Rock, we’re counting down the greatest rock meets Star Wars stories around. And from the casting room to the recording booth, popular musicians and Star Wars have a surprisingly in-depth history. Including members of NSYNC who got their greatest wish... to be cast as Lightsaber-wielding JEDIs. They went out and filmed and were excited to see themselves in Star Wars but were crestfallen when George Lucas cut them out of the film after fan backlash. Plus, the iconic future front-woman Terri Nunn was almost cast as Princess Leia. She made it to the final round of auditions, impressed the director, but was turned away because Harrison Ford didn’t like her. So she had to settle for music stardom instead. Then there is Joseph Williams, the son of one of the greatest composers in Hollywood history and the replacement singer for one of the biggest rock bands of the 80s. He penned the lyrics to two of The Return of the Jedi’s original songs… only to have them later replaced in the 1997 Special Editions. And finally, the King of Pop personally lobbied George Lucas for a role in the most anticipated film of a generation… But he got nixed too. But he dodged a bullet…
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Executive Producer
Brandon Fugal
Honorary Producers
Robert Taylor, Missy D, Stan Summay, MG, David Fritz
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to the Professor of Rock Podcast
Apple: apple.co/445fVov
Spotify: spoti.fi/42JpfvU
Amazon: amzn.to/44b5D6m
iHeartRadio: bit.ly/444h8MO
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patreon: bit.ly/ProfessorofRockVIPFan
Merch Store: professor-of-rock-lsn-shop.fourthwall.com
Instagram: bit.ly/Instagram_Professor_of_Rock
#classicrock #80smusic #vinylstory #weirdalyankovic
Hey Music junkies, Professor of Rock always here to celebrate the greatest songs and the greatest artists of all time. As a kid, if you ever ran through the sprinkler or made your own slip and slide out of garbage sacks, you’ll dig this channel of deep musical nostalgia. Make sure to like, share, and comment to keep this channel alive. Alright, I had a plan to do this episode and release it on the 4th. But we put it up and then got taken down over and over again for some claims, so today we are going to try it again. It’s our rock and roll Star Wars episode when Rock and Star Wars collide. The top 6 Star Wars and rock stories.
Starting things off at #6, it’s a Star Wars Queen connection. When Star Wars debuted on May 25, 1977, in just 32 theaters… few expected George Lucas’s space fantasy would do much of anything. But driven by word-of-mouth, long lines soon stretched around city blocks across North America. Moviegoers queued for hours to see Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Leia, Han, Chewy and all the rest… and then went back to see it again. The film smashed box office records, earning over $220 million and helped usher in the era of the modern blockbuster. Beyond the silver screen, Star Wars redefined entertainment marketing through an unprecedented merchandising wave—from John Williams’s iconic score dominating radio airwaves to an inescapable surge of action figures and lunchboxes—transforming a movie release into a multi-generational pop culture obsession. Star Wars was the new global obsession. Beyond that, Star Wars made musical inroads as well… For instance, musician, producer and sci-fi fan Meco rearranged the film's main theme and "Cantina Band" into a disco medley. It hit #1 on the Hot 100, selling over 2 million copies.
Also in 1978 in a classic Saturday Night Live sketch, Bill Murray performed as a suave, lounge singer delivering a cheesy, improvised performance of John Williams' iconic main theme. The parody became an instant pop-culture hit. But the boys of Queen also got in on the action… name-checking the galaxy far, far away on the front half of their double A-side Bicycle Race / Fat Bottomed Girls. Released on October 13, 1978, Bicycle Race’s lyrics were laced with a pop culture references… Jaws, John Wayne, Peter Pan, Superman, Frankenstein… and Star Wars. However, in the song Freddie sang “And I don’t like Star Wars.” What? Okay, pump the brakes. Actually, according to Brian May, Freddie was just playing a character in the song, and the frontman actually “loves Star Wars.” In fact, during Queen’s 1980 tour, Freddie could frequently be seen riding around on Darth Vader's shoulders during performances. Freddie loved Star Wars so much that he wanted the band to get in on some
