Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Pop songs brave the elements

The chemical elements are the building blocks of life, including many a pop tune. Since we skipped chemistry in high school, most of our science education came from this song which conveniently names all of the elements. This tongue-twisting footage is an amazing live performance by Tom Lehrer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcS3NOQnsQM

Representing Silver, is our next ditty, which is actually Steve Martin’s feature film debut. He plays the demented Maxwell Edison of “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” in the 1978 film Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTNIqJE80nQ

This is probably the first song that comes to mind when thinking about the elements. That’s why we put it third. Representing Gold is the classic “Goldfinger” sung by Shirley Bassey on The Muppet Showhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7OPuc4KZZY

When talking about the music and elements there’s no avoiding Heavy Metal. Here’s Ozzy before he got rusty performing “Iron Man” with Black Sabbath: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l_RLH7QYLk

A professional bassist for over 20 years, John has been at KNKX since 1999 where he hosts All Blues on Saturday and Sunday nights. He was previously a senior producer of BirdNote for 19 years, and the primary recording engineer for hundreds of KNKX Studio Sessions.
John Maynard started working in radio in the seventies as a DJ at Seattle’s KJR AM which at the time was the dominant AM station in the Seattle market. After a brief stint as a restaurateur and night club owner, Maynard returned to radio with Robin Erickson, creating the hugely popular “Robin and Maynard Show.” In the more than 20 years under that marquee, Maynard flew with the Blue Angels, piloted the Goodyear Blimp, sang with Donny Osmond and hung out in a Universal Studios bar with Kojak (Telly Savalas).