Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Today we’re dealing in “what ifs” and “what could have been”… because we’re counting down my top 8 “lost records” of the rock era. Albums that have been buried in the graveyard of rock. We’ll talk about how Prince spent a fortune to physically destroy every copy of his upcoming album because he believed it was straight up evil and that it was a mistake to have ever recorded it. But somehow a few copies survived. There’s also Def Leppard, who fired their producer over interior design issues in the studio. But the real problem was that he was a horrible fit for the band. And even though the album they recorded together actually exists, you’re never gonna hear it. Plus, there’s the story of Led Zeppelin's epic, unreleased rock song in history. It was shelved decades ago, but recent activity suggest the the legendary band behind it might finally give us the holy grail of rock? Let’s get started.
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Executive Producer
Brandon Fugal
Honorary Producers
Frank Kuna, zachery perry, Shayne Smith, Tom Stokes, Walter O. Wright II
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 #80srock #rickbeato
Hey Music Junkies, Professor of Rock always here to celebrate the Greatest artists and the greatest songs of all-time. If you remember digging into the bottom of newly opened cereal boxes to get that cheap toy at the bottom, you’ll dig this channel of deep musical nostalgia. Make sure you are subscribed, and make sure to like, comment, and share this so we can keep the channel going.
Today, it’s another edition of our show RECORDS of the Lost Art. Great records that have been lost to time… Starting things off, #8 is an album we actually got, but there is a completely different version of it that actually exists… at least in part. But the master tapes are stashed away in a box, and it is never going to see the light of day. The band? It’s Def Leppard. And the lost album is the Jim Steinman version of 1987’s Hysteria. The 1984 collaboration between Def Leppard and producer Jim Steinman is one of rock's most ridiculously expensive disasters… Mutt Lange was initially involved in the early stages of the Hysteria album, but due to conflicts over the album's direction, he was not the first producer… So, the band turned to the man behind Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell. But the collaboration was a train wreck from the start. According to frontman Joe Elliott, “Jim was a funny guy, very eccentric... But in that first meeting, we realised that Jim was in a completely different orbit to us. I got this uncomfortable feeling.”
Steinman’s hands-off, "vibe-first" approach was the polar opposite of Mutt Lange’s meticulous production style… And on day 1, the writing was already on the wall. That first afternoon, the guys were warming up with Don’t Shoot Shotgun – just the riff and a part of the melody. No chorus. When they were done, Steinman said, ‘I think we got that one.’ But they hadn't even tuned their instruments yet. The guys were like, “What the hell?” Throughout the sessions, Jim’s sonic suggestions, such as adding Yes-style synth runs to the gritty "Run Riot," only deepened the divide. And it quickly became clear that Jim's theatrical instincts were the "polar opposite" of the band's street-level rock. The tension in the studio was furthered fueled by a massive lifestyle gap, with Steinman rolling in hours late most days after spending his nights writing Bat Out of Hell II. And while the band was eager to work, Steinman was more interested in ordering banquets for lunch… (reportedly one of everything off the menu) and then charging it to the band.
It all finally hit the fan when Steinman demanded an interior design makeover. Steinman insisted that the studio’s control room carpet had to be replaced with a higher-quality version before he would continue work. Joe Elliott snapped and told the band they would "change the producer before we change the carpet." Steinman was fired soon after. The partnership only lasted for 8 weeks in the fall of 1984, and Def Leppard ended up paying him hundreds of thousands of dollars to just go away. As for the recordings, they were so mediocre that guitarist Phil Collen claimed they sounded worse than their original home demos.
Today we’re dealing in “what ifs” and “what could have been”… because we’re counting down my top 8 “lost records” of the rock era. Albums that have been buried in the graveyard of rock. We’ll talk about how Prince spent a fortune to physically destroy every copy of his upcoming album because he believed it was straight up evil and that it was a mistake to have ever recorded it. But somehow a few copies survived. There’s also Def Leppard, who fired their producer over interior design issues in the studio. But the real problem was that he was a horrible fit for the band. And even though the album they recorded together actually exists, you’re never gonna hear it. Plus, there’s the story of Led Zeppelin's epic, unreleased rock song in history. It was shelved decades ago, but recent activity suggest the the legendary band behind it might finally give us the holy grail of rock? Let’s get started.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Executive Producer
Brandon Fugal
Honorary Producers
Frank Kuna, zachery perry, Shayne Smith, Tom Stokes, Walter O. Wright II
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 #80srock #rickbeato
Hey Music Junkies, Professor of Rock always here to celebrate the Greatest artists and the greatest songs of all-time. If you remember digging into the bottom of newly opened cereal boxes to get that cheap toy at the bottom, you’ll dig this channel of deep musical nostalgia. Make sure you are subscribed, and make sure to like, comment, and share this so we can keep the channel going.
Today, it’s another edition of our show RECORDS of the Lost Art. Great records that have been lost to time… Starting things off, #8 is an album we actually got, but there is a completely different version of it that actually exists… at least in part. But the master tapes are stashed away in a box, and it is never going to see the light of day. The band? It’s Def Leppard. And the lost album is the Jim Steinman version of 1987’s Hysteria. The 1984 collaboration between Def Leppard and producer Jim Steinman is one of rock's most ridiculously expensive disasters… Mutt Lange was initially involved in the early stages of the Hysteria album, but due to conflicts over the album's direction, he was not the first producer… So, the band turned to the man behind Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell. But the collaboration was a train wreck from the start. According to frontman Joe Elliott, “Jim was a funny guy, very eccentric... But in that first meeting, we realised that Jim was in a completely different orbit to us. I got this uncomfortable feeling.”
Steinman’s hands-off, "vibe-first" approach was the polar opposite of Mutt Lange’s meticulous production style… And on day 1, the writing was already on the wall. That first afternoon, the guys were warming up with Don’t Shoot Shotgun – just the riff and a part of the melody. No chorus. When they were done, Steinman said, ‘I think we got that one.’ But they hadn't even tuned their instruments yet. The guys were like, “What the hell?” Throughout the sessions, Jim’s sonic suggestions, such as adding Yes-style synth runs to the gritty "Run Riot," only deepened the divide. And it quickly became clear that Jim's theatrical instincts were the "polar opposite" of the band's street-level rock. The tension in the studio was furthered fueled by a massive lifestyle gap, with Steinman rolling in hours late most days after spending his nights writing Bat Out of Hell II. And while the band was eager to work, Steinman was more interested in ordering banquets for lunch… (reportedly one of everything off the menu) and then charging it to the band.
It all finally hit the fan when Steinman demanded an interior design makeover. Steinman insisted that the studio’s control room carpet had to be replaced with a higher-quality version before he would continue work. Joe Elliott snapped and told the band they would "change the producer before we change the carpet." Steinman was fired soon after. The partnership only lasted for 8 weeks in the fall of 1984, and Def Leppard ended up paying him hundreds of thousands of dollars to just go away. As for the recordings, they were so mediocre that guitarist Phil Collen claimed they sounded worse than their original home demos.
