Welcome to the first-ever edition of the Rock & Roll High School Book Club!

For our inaugural selection, we're joined by veteran music writer and record executive Mitchell Cohen, author of Wake Me, Shake Me: New York City, the '60s, and the Pop-Rock Youthquake, along with a very special guest — founding member and drummer of The Smithereens, Dennis Diken, a lifelong student of rock & roll history in his own right.

Wake Me, Shake Me takes us back to New York City in the 1960s, when an extraordinary collection of artists, songwriters, musicians, producers and hustlers helped create a musical revolution that would change popular culture forever.

The Lovin' Spoonful. The Rascals. Dion. Simon & Garfunkel. The Blues Project. Laura Nyro. And many more.

Together, Mitchell, Dennis and Pete dig into the stories behind the book and the people, places and records that made New York one of the epicenters of the musical revolution of the 1960s.

They explore what made the New York music scene different from what was happening in Liverpool, London, Los Angeles and San Francisco — and how a generation of young New Yorkers absorbed everything from doo-wop and R&B to folk, soul and the British Invasion, turning those influences into something uniquely their own.

It's a fascinating look back at an extraordinary time and place in music history, told through the eyes of an author who has spent years exploring it, a musician who knows the records inside and out, and a host who shares their passion.

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For our 100th episode, we're joined by legendary Hall of Fame songwriter Desmond Child.

For nearly 50 years, Desmond has written or co-written some of the most iconic songs of the last half-century: "Livin' On A Prayer," "You Give Love A Bad Name," "I Was Made For Lovin' You," "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)," "I Hate Myself For Lovin' You," "Livin' La Vida Loca," and many, many more.

In this interview, Desmond shares the story of his upbringing in Florida, living with a larger-than-life Cuban mother and a father who, despite Desmond not learning the truth until he was 18 years old, was not his biological dad. Two of his aunts in Cuba were mistresses to men who led opposite sides of the Cuban Revolution: Batista AND Castro. And the stories just get more remarkable from there.

After moving to New York City and forming his own band, Desmond Child & Rouge, Desmond began a songwriting apprenticeship with legendary songwriter Bob Crewe (The Four Seasons, "Lady Marmalade"), through which he learned the secrets of writing songs that truly connect with an audience — lessons he would soon put to use writing some of the biggest hits in the history of popular music.

The list of artists who have recorded Desmond's songs is a who's who of music history: Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Barbra Streisand, Bon Jovi, Cher, Joan Jett, KISS, Ricky Martin and many more.

Desmond's great 2023 memoir, Livin' On A Prayer: Big Songs Big Life, written with David Ritz, tells these stories and many more in even greater detail. His latest album, Desmond Child Rocks The Parthenon — The Live Concert Album, is out now.

For more on Desmond, follow @desmond.child on Instagram.

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Richard Gottehrer is one of the most influential figures in the history of popular music—but unless you're a serious student of music history, you may not know his name.

Over the course of an extraordinary career spanning more than six decades, Richard has reinvented himself time and again -- as a hit songwriter, recording artist, record executive, producer, and digital pioneer. So much so that we had to split this episode into two parts.

In Part Two of our conversation, Richard picks up where he left off after departing Sire Records and embarking on one of the most remarkable second acts in music history.

As a producer, Richard helped define the sound of New York's emerging punk and new wave movement, producing landmark recordings by Blondie, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, and later guiding The Go-Go's to international superstardom with their groundbreaking debut album, Beauty and the Beat.

He reflects on working with artists who would go on to become cultural icons, the creative instincts that allowed him to recognize greatness before the rest of the world, and the producer's role in capturing an artist's true identity on record.

But Richard wasn't finished reinventing himself.

Long before most of the music industry understood the coming digital revolution, Richard co-founded The Orchard, helping create the company that transformed digital distribution for independent artists and labels around the world. His vision once again placed him at the forefront of one of the biggest changes in the history of the music business.

This conversation is a masterclass in creativity, innovation, and lifelong reinvention from a man whose fingerprints can be found on virtually every era of modern popular music.

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