This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Broadcast area | United States Canada |
---|---|
Frequency | Sirius XM Radio 21 Dish Network 6021 |
Programming | |
Format | FreeForm/Little Steven's Underground Garage |
Ownership | |
Owner | Renegade Nation |
Technical information | |
Class | Satellite Radio Station |
Links | |
Website | SiriusXM: Underground Garage |
Underground Garage is the name of two different related radio outlets that present Rock 'n' Roll and Garage Rock on radio: a syndicated show and a satellite radio station. Steven Van Zandt, best known as a guitarist in Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, is the founder and supervisor of both outlets. Both play a mixture of past and current Garage Rock.
The weekly syndicated radio show broadcasts under the full title Little Steven's Underground Garage, and can be heard on over 200 terrestrial FM radio stations in 130 major cities in the United States, and outside the US. The two-hour show is written, hosted, and produced by Van Zandt. The program began in April 2002 on about 30 US radio stations, and it has since emerged as one of the fastest-growing syndicated music radio programs. It is heard by approximately one million listeners in the US each week, and is currently distributed by Sun Broadcast Group. [1]
Underground Garage is a 24-hour satellite radio channel heard in the USA and Canada on Sirius XM Radio channel 21 and via Dish Network satellite TV, and heard worldwide on Sirius/XM Internet Radio. The radio channel is an extension of Van Zandt's own weekly radio show and shares the same philosophy.
The radio channel is programmed and run by Van Zandt, and hosted by a team of personalities hand picked by Van Zandt. On-air hosts on the channel have included original Rolling Stones manager/producer Andrew Loog Oldham, Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders, punk rock singer Handsome Dick Manitoba, Manfred Jones of the Woggles, Palmyra Delran of the Friggs, Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom, New York singer/songwriter Jesse Malin, television actor Michael Des Barres, Ko Melina of Ko and the Knockouts, Kelly Ogden of the Dollyrots, veteran FM radio DJs Rodney Bingenheimer, Kid Leo, and Bill Kelly, rock entrepreneur Kim Fowley, actor Drew Carey, and musician/producer Genya Ravan of Goldie & the Gingerbreads. "Chris Carter's British Invasion", hosted by Chris Carter, appears on the channel on weekends. [2]
On March 24, 2023, Drew Carey experimented with an AI of his voice, using a beta version of ElevenLabs and ChatGPT-generated jokes. He concluded that the audience still prefers a genuine personality since the listeners complained that the voice sounded "soulless" and unlike the "real Drew". [3]
Little Steven's Underground Garage periodically co-sponsors shows, and two events in late April 2014 [4] featured bands with "Coolest Songs", including the Connection, John & Brittany, the Jellybricks, and Palmyra Delran. [5] The shows were hosted by Underground Garage DJ Handsome Dick Manitoba. [6]
The music format of the weekly radio show and the 24/7 satellite radio channel is based on Van Zandt's approach to rock 'n' roll history. Van Zandt believes that rock 'n' roll is a continuum of the early 1950s sound onward and that it is artificial and counter-productive to isolate music by the decade it was created. The Underground Garage presents music from every decade since the beginnings of rock 'n' roll in the early 1950s to the present day. However, some would argue rock n roll was created before the term was coined in the 50's and instead created in the 1940s by pioneering artists like Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Buddy Jones in 1939.
Stylistically, the format's offerings span such genres and categories as Garage rock, acid rock, girl groups, British Invasion, psychedelic music, rockabilly, surf rock, Motown, proto-punk, power pop and punk rock. The music is integrated for listeners to hear recordings by rock pioneers such as Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard and Elvis Presley juxtaposed with records by present-day garage bands like the Contrast as well as multiple artists from in-between.
Van Zandt has stated that he hopes to draw younger listeners to the historic acts that paved the way for today's rock, and older listeners to discover the modern artists in the genre. He has described the format playlist as featuring "the bands that influenced the Ramones, the bands that were influenced by the Ramones, and the Ramones". [7]
On both the Sirius XM channel and the syndicated show, one song is proclaimed as "The Coolest Song in the World This Week". At the end of 2006, listeners were invited to choose among the 52 songs to pick the year's best. The 2006 results are:
The same concept was applied in 2009, with listeners voting at the end of the year for their favorite "Coolest Song in the World This Week". The 2009 results are: [8]
In addition to selecting a "Coolest Song in the World This Week" and voting for "Coolest Song in the World This Year", at the end of 2009, Little Steven also posted his "25 Coolest Albums of the Decade" and "50 Coolest Songs This Decade". The top 10 Coolest Albums of the decade were: [9]
The Top 10 "Coolest Songs of the Decade" were: [10]
The weekly syndicated radio show
The 24/7 radio channel
Steven Van Zandt, also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American musician and actor. He is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin. He has appeared in several television drama series, including as Silvio Dante in The Sopranos (1999–2007) and as Frank Tagliano in Lilyhammer (2012–2014). Van Zandt has his own solo band called Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul, intermittently active since the 1980s.
Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings.
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music, broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock, from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music.
Richard Blum, known by his stage name Handsome DickManitoba, is an American punk rock musician and radio personality. He was the singer of New York City-based band The Dictators from 1974 to 2008. With The Dictators, Manitoba sang on the albums The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! (1975), Manifest Destiny (1977), Bloodbrothers (1978) and D.F.F.D. (2005).
'60s Gold, formerly known as The '60s on 6 or The '60s, is a commercial-free, satellite radio station on the Sirius XM Radio platform. It plays music from the 1960s. Airing on XM since 2001, the channel became available to Sirius subscribers replacing '60s Vibrations on November 12, 2008, following the merger of the two companies. The station currently broadcasts on channel 73 of both services, as well as on Dish Network channel 6073.
Chris Paul Carter is an American disc jockey and music/film producer based in Los Angeles.
Outlaw Country is a Sirius XM Radio channel devoted to outlaw country music, along with various related genres including classic honky tonk, alternative country and roots rock. It is carried on Sirius XM Radio channel 62 and DISH Network channel 6060.
The Flairz were an Australian garage rock band from Perth. They were formed as a trio in late 2003 by pre-teens, Dion Mariani on guitar, bass guitar and vocals, his cousin, John Mariani on guitar, bass guitar and vocals, and Scarlett Stevens on drums and vocals. Late in 2006 Georgia Wilkinson-Derums joined on bass guitar. The group issued a studio album, Black Fox, and two extended plays, Rock and Roll Ain't Evil and Bullseye. The group disbanded in November 2009 with Stevens forming an indie pop band, San Cisco.
'50s Gold is a commercial-free, satellite radio station on Sirius XM Radio channel 72, as well as on Dish Network channel 6005.
The Red Button is an American power pop band consisting of Seth Swirsky and Mike Ruekberg. Swirsky is a well-known pop songwriter, while Ruekberg is a songwriter and performer in the Los Angeles area. Their debut album, She's About to Cross My Mind, was released in 2007 by Grimble Records. Their second album, entitled As Far As Yesterday Goes, was released on June 21, 2011.
The Doughboys are an American rock band from Plainfield, New Jersey, United States, who were active in the mid-1960s, and re-formed in 2000. They have been active ever since, and have cut three albums of newly recorded material since their reunion.
Lawrence James Travagliante—better known by his on-air moniker Kid Leo—serves as both General Manager and afternoon disc jockey on Little Steven's Underground Garage on Sirius XM Radio. He first began in radio in 1973 at noted Cleveland rock station WMMS. During his 16-year tenure, WMMS was consistently one of the highest-rated radio stations in the country. In 1988 he left to work as an executive at Columbia Records, where he served until 2002. Since 2004, Travagliante has been involved with Underground Garage. He also currently operates his own consultancy, LJT Entertainment.
Geoff Palmer, also known by the stage name Geoff Useless, is an American musician from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, now living in Madison, Wisconsin. He played bass and provided backing vocals for The Queers straight out of high school, and played guitar and did lead vocals for The Guts and The Nobodys.
Cocktail Slippers is a five-piece, all-female rock band from Oslo, Norway. Current band members are: Hope (vocals), Rocket Queen (guitar), Vega (guitar), SMASH (drums) and Sugar (bass). Cocktail Slippers was formed in 2001 and has released five studio albums. They are known for their entertaining live rock ′n' roll performances and have played alongside artists such as Nancy Sinatra, Crowded House, Elvis Costello and The Strokes. The band is continuously touring Europe and the USA.
The Bayonets is an American independent rock band based in Los Angeles, California. Formed in 2011 by Brian Ray and Oliver Leiber after years of collaboration on Brian Ray's two solo albums, Mondo Magneto (2005) and This Way Up (2009). Oliver had the idea to form a band together, so they got together to write a series of singles for release throughout 2013, beginning on Valentine’s Day with the song "Sucker for Love" and followed three months later by "Smartphone". Stevie Van Zandt separately named both songs the "Coolest Song in the World" on "Little Steven's Underground Garage" radio show broadcast on terrestrial and satellite stations worldwide.
"Seven Nights to Rock" is a classic rockabilly song written by Buck Trail, Henry Glover, and Louis Innis. It was originally recorded by Moon Mullican on January 26, 1956, and has been covered by a number of diverse artists.
Palmyra Delran is an American rock and roll musician, songwriter, guitarist and producer who was born in Princeton, New Jersey and later moved to Philadelphia. She played in seminal 1990s Philadelphia-area rock bands The Friggs and Pink Slip Daddy, as well as several of her own solo releases and recordings.
The New Trocaderos is an independent American rock 'n' roll/power pop/indie rock/garage rock band formed in November 2013 by New England natives Brad Marino and Geoff Palmer of The Connection, and Kurt Baker of the Kurt Baker Band. The group has released several EPs including The New Trocaderos and Frenzy in the Hips, with John Borack of Goldmine Magazine calling the band "sort of a mini-supergroup" and describing its sound as "a louder version of mid-'70s Dave Edmunds all hopped up on stimulants." Their first full-length album, Thrills & Chills, was released on August 20, 2015, and a vinyl release and sold out tour of Spain took place in October. Pop that Goes Crunch described the band's music as "timeless rock ‘n’ roll for the modern world."
Soulfire is the sixth solo studio album by Little Steven, released on May 19, 2017. It marks his first studio album since 1999's Born Again Savage. The album consists of Van Zandt's versions of songs that he either wrote or co-wrote for other artists and describes it as "me covering me!" In June 2017, Rolling Stone ranked Soulfire number 28 on their list of the "50 Best Albums of 2017 So Far."
Renegade Nation is a music and entertainment company founded by Steven Van Zandt in 1999. The company focuses on artist management, production, live events, and distribution. It is also the parent company of Van Zandt's independent record label, Wicked Cool Records, and distributes Little Steven's Underground Garage.