Encore: The Stories Behind The Songs You Love

Welcome to Season SEVEN of Encore with brand new host, Ruby Carr! Boy bands - they really don’t get much cred for being musicians, performers, and entertainers, am i right? From the Jackson 5 in the mid-1960s to the current global phenomenon that is K-pop, boy bands have been a big moneymaker in music for decades now. But at the same time, they have also been subjected to plenty of ridicule, disparagement and even hatred while girl groups like Destiny’s Child, Spice Girls and TLC have earned respect and admiration for their empowering and inspirational music.  Some even say that the 'Boy Band' was essentially a music industry creation with the sole purpose of capitalizing on the love and devotion of young girls and their allowances. The boys in these bands were almost always reduced to being puppets to just sing and dance to music that was mostly written, recorded and - to use a dirty industry term - “manufactured” by professional songwriters and musicians. This music was designed to be a perfect product that girls of the tween and teen variety couldn’t resist. HOWEVER… there is one song that goes against the grain, that breaks all the rules, and for the past quarter century that has been an exception to everything I just said. It is a song that had the likes of grown men like Adam Sandler, Paul Rudd, Jerry Seinfeld and Jon Hamm singing along to it on live television like true stans when it was performed at the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary concert this past February. It has been used countless times in movies and TV shows, covered, sampled and parodied to no end. Let's face it, because you can’t deny it, it is the one true boy band song that virtually everyone on Earth gives a pass to - Even more so, it’s a song that everyone flat out loves - whether they will admit it or not. That song is “I Want It That Way” by Backstreet Boys. With Newly Unearthed audio from the Backstreet Boys & a NEW Interview with Howie D!

It's the Best of Encore Seasons 1-6 with a jam-packed Vocal Powerhouses BOXSET. Listen to 4 episodes of Encore featuring the stories behind Mariah Carey's We Belong Together, Amy Winehouse's Rehab, Adele's Rolling in the Deep, and Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. Listen to NEW Episodes of Encore: The Stories Behind The Songs You Love every Thursday on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your Podcasts coming soon!

It's the Best of Encore Seasons 1-6 with a jam-packed Pop-Punk BOXSET. Listen to 4 episodes of Encore featuring the stories behind Green Day's American Idiot, Sum 41's Fat Lip, My Chemical Romance's Welcome to the Black Parade and Jimmy Eat World's The Middle! Listen to NEW Episodes of Encore: The Stories Behind The Songs You Love every Thursday on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your Podcasts coming soon!

It's the Best of Encore Seasons 1-6 with a jam-packed POP BOXSET. Listen to 4 episodes of Encore featuring the stories behind Taylor Swift's We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Britney Spears' Toxic, Nelly Furtado's Promiscuous and Christina Aguilera's Dirrty! Listen to NEW Episodes of Encore: The Stories Behind The Songs You Love every Thursday on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your Podcasts coming soon!

Way back in Season 2 of Encore we talked about the United Kingdom’s rich history of introducing some of the most iconic Boy Bands of all time into the world. From The Beatles to Wham! Westlife to One Direction, Pop Music is littered with some fine British Exports. But of course, that’s really only half the story isn’t it?  Because through all the Boys noise there’s one incomparable group of Girls that rocked the world in the mid-to-late-nineties. Sporty, Scary, Baby, Ginger, and Posh - The Spice Girls! This is the Story of Spice Girls’ Spice up your Life! With newly unearthed audio from the girls themselves!

Originally founded by current members Singer and Rhythm Guitarist James Hetfiled and Drummer Lars Ulrich, alongside Bassist Ron McGovney and Lead Guitarist Dave Mustaine, Metallica actually parted ways with both McGovney and Mustaine due to various personal and professional conflicts before recording and releasing their 1983 debut album, controversially titled ‘Kill ‘Em All’. McGovney was quickly replaced by revered Bassist, the now-late Cliff Burton, while Mustaine was replaced by legendary member-to-this-day, solo-master Kirk Hammett. Still an incredibly rough-around-the-edges Thrash Metal band, Cliff Burton would have a massive influence on the maturing of Metallica for their second album, Ride The Lightning. Metallica would follow Ride The Lightning up with 1986’s Master of Puppets  No longer just making music for the underground metalheads of the world, ‘Puppets’ marked Metallica’s Major Label debut with Elektra Records.  The album was roundly received as one of - if not the greatest metal album of the time, with critics noting how much Burton’s influence in particular had progressed the band’s sound.  Tragedy would strike Metallica in September of 1986 - mere months after MOP’s release, as Cliff Burton would die in a bus accident in Sweden, while on tour promoting the record.  By 1987, Metallica would find their necessary replacement for Burton - Bassist Jason Newsted.  With Newsted in the band - Metallica geared up to release their final album of the 80s, called …And Justice For All.  Tragedy would strike Metallica in September of 1986 - mere months after MOP’s release, as Cliff Burton would die in a bus accident in Sweden, while on tour promoting the record.  Burton was only 24 years old when he was ejected from the window of Metallica’s tour bus as it skidded off the road suddenly, while the band members slept. The bus would land on top of him, killing him instantly. While the fault of the crash was hotly (and legally) debated at the time, ultimately Metallica’s tour bus driver was found not to be at fault for the freak accident. By 1987, Metallica would find their necessary replacement for Burton - Bassist Jason Newsted.  Years later, Newsted would tell VH1’s That Metal Show that he secured the gig by stealthily finding a Metallica setlist, learning all the songs on it to note perfection, and demo-ing them out for Ulrich, who hired him two days later. YOUTUBE CLIP VH1 1 With Newsted in the band - Metallica geared up to release their final album of the 80s, called …And Justice For All.  By this point, Metallica had very much made a name for themselves as the premiere Metal band, and Justice would prove it; peaking at number 6 on the Billboard album charts, going double platinum across its album cycle. Mainstream critical success would also soon follow for the band; although they would lose out on winning the first (and only) ever Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental GRAMMY Award to very-much-not-a-metal-band Jethro Tull’s very-much-not-a-metal album Crest of a Knave in 1989, Metallica’s song One would snag them the inaugural Best Metal Performance award in retribution at the following year’s ceremony. Eventually - …And Justice For All would follow in the footsteps of its pivotal predecessor, going more than 8x platinum to date. Now, you may be thinking by this point that this is truly unprecedented success for a metal band.  Of course, there’s always a place in music for aggressive, heavy tunes, but as the 80s turned to the 90s - you would be forgiven for assuming that the roughly 4 to 5 million records sold in America across 4 monster albums, was about as good as it could get for any metal band, and perhaps they’d finally hit their glass ceiling. But Metallica, simply put - were not just any metal band, and were ready to change the way the world perceived heavy metal forever. For the first time ever, the band understood that they didn’t know everything there was about not only composing music - but producing it, and they were going to need someone to help guide them through the process, if they were going to do it right. So what did they do, you ask? Call in a Canadian, Naturally. This is the story of Metallica's Epic -' Nothing Else Matters' with newly unearthed footage from the band themselves - including interviews live from the studio while recording the iconic Metallica (Black Album).

One of the biggest music stories every year is the battle to see which artist releases the “song of the summer.” But rarely is the winner clear-cut and decisive. For example in 2024, which song would you say best repped the summer: Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso? Post Malone and Morgan Wallen’s I Had Some Help? Shaboozey’s A Bar Song (Tipsy)? Chappell Roan’s Good Luck, Babe? Debating the candidates of songs of the summer is an annual tradition for music fans, but there is one song that I feel will always be the song of any and every summer: “Steal My Sunshine” by Len. Yes, despite its release way back in 1999 there isn’t one person on Earth who can convince me that there is a song better suited for radiating summertime vibes than “Steal My Sunshine.” To me and likely many millions of people, Len’s hit song better exemplifies the summer season than any other song. This is the true story of Len's 'Steal My Sunshine' with newly unearthed footage from the band!

Laughing My Freaking Ass Off, or LMFAO as they were more commonly known - were one of the most enigmatic duos in pop music history. Formed in 2006 by Motown Records’ founder Berry Gordy’s youngest son Stefan Kendal Gordy - AKA Redfoo, and Redfoo’s half-nephew Skyler Austen Gordy - or Sky Blu (with no e, of course)... I would hazard a guess that these hyperactive nepo-babies are the single most successful Uncle-Nephew duo in all of music. As was the style at the time - Foo and Blu’s club bangers included tracks with influences from contemporary pop, hip hop, synthpop, paving the way for a somewhat mindless wave of EDM that focused on the carefree vibes of nightlife, partying, drinking, and just having a good time. After gaining a bit of a following and laying down some demos that truly distilled their party-rocking sound, Redfoo decided to show his demos off to his best friend to get his thoughts on the songs. Now, You may not be surprised to find out that Redfoo’s best friend LOVED the demos; you could even say he had a feelin’ that LMFAO were ready for the big time.  Of course, I’m burying the lede here. It PROBABLY didn’t hurt that this ‘best friend’ in question, was none other than Will. I . Am. This is the story of LMFAO's 'Party Rock Anthem' with newly unearthed audio from the group.

How often does a band lose its two founding members, one of whom co-writes all the songs, only to survive and become both better and more successful? This is a rhetorical question, of course. I don’t actually know how many times this has happened. But what I do know is that Paramore is the perfect example of this: a band that experienced some truly challenging circumstances and potential catastrophe, only to rise from the ashes like a golden phoenix to become stronger and better than before. While the band’s saga has been full of drama since its very beginning, Paramore evolved from a scrappy teenage punk band based in Nashville, Tennessee to a stadium-rocking headliner in pop music. As you will hear, it definitely wasn’t easy getting there. This is the story of Paramore's 'Still Into You' With newly unearthed audio from the band themselves!

Who doesn’t love a good feature track? There’s something special that happens when two (or more) artists respect each other enough to get into the studio and hash out some music that inspires them - and their respective fanbases - it’s even better when the song becomes a MASSIVE hit! Now usually, when a collaboration effort is released - it’s because the artists in question are undeniably hot acts in their own right.  Think of tracks from Maroon 5 and Cardi B, Post Malone and Swae Lee, The Chainsmokers and Halsey, Rihanna and Calvin Harris, or Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes - each artist’s popularity helped bring the other to a whole new level.  Of course, this makes sense, after all - Pop music is SUPPOSED to be popular, so whether the genre mashups are a match made in heaven, or even a little off the beaten path - the equation is simple - Hot Artist PLUS Hot Artist EQUALS Hit, Baby! But what if I told you that one of the biggest collab tracks in Billboard history (and the first of the millennium) was made by an old school guitarist who hadn’t released a hit single in over 15 years, and an alt-pop soft rocker who had never actually released music outside of the comforts of his (admittedly quite popular) band? Let’s Don’t Forget About It! - This is the Story of Santana and Rob Thomas’ ‘Smooth’ with newly unearthed audio from Santana and Rob Thomas himself!