Show 569 – Summer of ‘69

  • New Tesla, Shakra, Wage War, Breaking Benjamin, The Dead Collective, The HU
  • Ultra rare hair from all-girl L.A. rockers who could have been big
  • A famous song everyone knows that proves your inner adolescent pervert right
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From AC/DC, Aerosmith, Baton Rouge, Black Sabbath, Black Stone Cherry, Breaking Benjamin, Bryan Adams, Buckcherry, BulletBoys, Dokken, Europe, Guns N’ Roses, Gunshine, Hanoi Rocks, Highly Suspect, Jaded Lady, KISS, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Pretty Boy Floyd, Shakra, Sick N’ Beautiful, Tesla, The Dead Collective, The HU, The Pretty Reckless, Wage War, Warrant

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Show 568 – Summer Special ‘26

  • All-music, no-talk Summer Special episode
  • Wall-to-wall summer bangers, back to back
  • Perfect for beach, BBQ, and open-road cruising
  • Two-hour version available on your local station
  • Four-hour version streams free at HardHeavyHair.com
  • Completely work-safe
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From Ace Frehley, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Bon Jovi, Britny Fox, Bulletboys, Cheap Trick, Danzig, David Lee Roth, Deep Purple, Def Leppard, Diamante, Dirty Honey, Dirty Looks, Downplay, Edgar Winter Group, Foghat, Ghost, Guns N’ Roses, Jackyl, Joan Jett, Jon Bon Jovi, Kiss, Krokus, Led Zeppelin, Loverboy, Mötley Crüe, Motörhead, Pantera, Play Rough, Poison, Riley’s L.A. Guns, Sammy Hagar, Scorpions, Skid Row, Skindred, Slayer, Steppenwolf, Tesla, the Pretty Reckless, Theory of a Deadman, Thirsty Merc, Thundermother, Trouble Is, Tygers of Pan Tang, Type O Negative, Van Halen, Volbeat, Warrant, White Zombie, Whitesnake, Within Temptation, Y&T, ZZ Top

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Show 567 – Forgiven

  • New Anthrax, Smoking Snakes, Five Finger Death Punch, Zan Cody, Von Groove, and Awaiting Abigail
  • A Cover Song of the Week most people think is an 80s Hard Rock original
  • The 5th song ever played on MTV
  • A Triple-Shot of forgiveness
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From Anthrax, Artificial Agent, Avenged Sevenfold, Awaiting Abigail, Baton Rouge, Buckcherry, Cinderella, David Lee Roth, Disturbed, Electric Boys, Femme Fatale, Five Finger Death Punch, KISS, L.A. Guns, Lynch Mob, Ph.D, Roxx Gang, Slaughter, Sleeze Beez, Smoking Snakes, Stryper, Tesla, Trixter, Von Groove, Warrant, WildSide, Zan/Cody

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Show 566 – Running Red

  • New Dominum, Steel Panther, Crashdiet, Mattador, King Zebra, The Tennessee Werewolves, and DAZR
  • The anti-drug music festival and album organized by a convicted drug dealer
  • Running red lights with Rock N’ Roll
  • Dead at 27 and still rocking 50 years later
  • a Blues-soaked backend
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From Blue Murder, Cinderella, Crashdïet, DAZR, Def Leppard, Dominum, Extreme, Femme Fatale, Great White, King Zebra, Kix, Loverboy, Madam X, Mattador, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne, Platinum Overdose, Poison, Queen, Ratt, Roxanne, Sammy Hagar, Scott Stapp, Skid Row, Steel Panther, The Tennessee Werewolves

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Show 565 – Because the Night

  • New Europe, Cassidy Paris, Behind the Haze, Sha-Boom, Crown Lands, Circle of Monsters, Tygers of Pan Tang
  • 3 guitar gods with a rarefied distinction
  • A band 20 years silent back with new music
  • the song Bruce Springsteen wrote and gave away to someone else to make a classic
  • a 4-letter word Gene Simmons just had to have
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From Ace Frehley, Behind the Haze, Black Sabbath, Britny Fox, Cassidy Paris, Cinderella, Circus Of Monsters, Crown Lands, Europe, Evanescence, Frontiers Records, Ghost, Guns N’ Roses, Ignescent, Keel, Metallica, Orianthi, Patti Smith Group, Poison, Scorpions, Sha-Boom, Skid Row, Strong Like Bull, The Pretty Reckless, Tygers Of Pan Tang, Van Halen, W.A.S.P., Warrant

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Show 564 – Main Street Heartbreak

  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From Ace Frehley, Andrew W.K., Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, Chez Kane, Christian Shields, Cinderella, Cobra Spell, Dorothy, Electron, Faster Pussycat, Guns N’ Roses, Halestorm, Linkin Park, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Night Ranger, Ozzy Osbourne, Shinedown, Smash Into Pieces, Tesla, Twisted Sister, Warrant, Whitesnake
  • A Cover Song of the Week no one else could have done
  • Whitesnake’s David Coverdale’s Fare Thee Well retirement announcement
  • Welsh singer finds the tongue spot
  • Songs about hometown heartbreak
  • A Twisted Sister 2-parter song you won’t hear anywhere else on radio
  • Five rock queens spell out S-E-X

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Show 563 – Songs To Strip To (as Chosen by Real Strippers)

  • The sexiest, nastiest Hard Rock, Metal, and Hair Band songs professional strippers dance to
  • All songs chosen by working strippers
  • Appreciating the in-control, self-confident women who make their living as exotic dancers and strippers
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From AC/DC, Alice Cooper, Breaking Benjamin, Danger Danger, Def Leppard, Evanescence, Ghost, Gina and The Eastern Block, Godsmack, Halestorm, Helix, In This Moment, KISS, Kix, Lenny Kravitz, Lipz, Marilyn Manson, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, My Darkest Days, Nine Inch Nails, Poison, Rev Theory, Rob Zombie, Royal Blood, Sick N’ Beautiful, System of a Down, Three Days Grace, Van Halen, Warrant, White Zombie, Whitesnake

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Show 562 – Say My Name

  • New Rachel Bolan of Skid Row, Eva Under Fire, Degreed, Creye, Confess, and Chrome Vanity
  • Beyonce goes Metal
  • Triple-Shot game: what’s my name?
  • It’s not just Whitesnake, R&B acts swap recording musicians out for music videos, too
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From Bon Jovi, Chrome Vanity, Cinderella, Confess, Creye, Damn Yankees, Degreed, Dokken, Dorothy, Eva Under Fire, Fastway, Godsmack, Hanoi Rocks, KISS, L.A. Guns, Ozzy Osbourne, Rachel Bolan, Randy Rhoads, Ratt, Shinedown, Shotgun Messiah, Sideshow, Skid Row, Spread Eagle, Stryper, Triumph, Warrant, Winger

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Show 561 – Pretty Tied Up

  • Kinky Heavy Metal
  • Sexy Hard Rock plus Hair Bands and shaved bands
  • The Number 1 rock band named after a cat
  • Ozzy’s axeman takes on J.S. Bach
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From Aerosmith, Baton Rouge, Black Label Society, Black Oak County, Blue Murder, BulletBoys, Def Leppard, Electric Boys, Extreme, Faster Pussycat, Guns N’ Roses, Halestorm, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, KISS, KISS, Night Ranger, Poison, Procol Harum, Puddle of Mudd, Shinedown, Skindred, Steelheart, The Cult, Vince Neil, Warlock, ZZ Top

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The Rock Festival Guide for 2026: Which Lineups Actually Put Women Front and Center

Because who headlines matters — and so does who’s buried on page three of the poster.

Every spring, the rock festival posters drop, and every spring, a certain pattern emerges: the top of the bill is an almost unbroken wall of men. We scan the small print, hunting for the female-fronted bands we love, and sometimes we find them — and sometimes we don’t. In 2026, though, something is shifting. From one festival making outright history with an all-female-led stage to others quietly stacking their undercard with some of the most exciting women in rock today, there’s genuine reason for optimism. Here’s your guide to which 2026 rock festivals are actually walking the walk, which ones are making progress, and which ones still have work to do. Read Now

Show 560 – Unring

  • Yacht Rock gets metal as hell
  • It was supposed to be Diana Ross’s voice, but now it’s the voice of Vixen
  • Divisive new music that gets an immediate reaction
  • Turn it up to 11 one last time for Rob Reiner
  • Three bells, no carols to close out the 2025 Holidays
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From 10 Years, AC/DC, Badlands, Black Sabbath, Blackrain, Burnt Out Wreck, Extreme, George Lynch/Lorraine Lewis, Helix, Joel Hoekstra’s 13, John Corabi, Kingdom Come, KISS, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Neil Sedaka, Quiet Riot, Ratt, Scorpions, Spın̈al Tap, TAZ, Thomas Raggi, Van Halen, Venus 5, W.A.S.P.

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Show 559 – Riffs of Fury

  • Kung Fu & Power Cords!
  • US Metal band announces their end
  • Bruce Lee inspires new Swedish bluesy Hard Rock project
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From Bon Jovi, Bullet to the Heart, Disturbed, Dokken, Electric Boys, Free, Godsmack, Gotham, Guns N’ Roses, Heavy Pettin, Jackyl, Jeet Kune Do, Lynch Mob, Madhouse, Mammoth, Manowar, Mötley Crüe, Papa Roach, Sabina Beyli, Saigon Kick, Skid Row, Steelheart, The Pretty Reckless, White Lion
  • A Classic Rock staple goes Portuguese!
  • Spokane, Washington AOR band erupting like Mount St. Helens 45 years late!
  • Cindy Lou Who kicks ass in a time travel that makes the Grinch jealous

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Show 558 – Leather Anniversary Show – 9 Years of The Hard, Heavy & Hair Show!

  • New Spread Eagle, The Pretty Reckless, Godsmack, Dan Byrne, Michael Sweet (of Stryper)
  • Celebrating 9 years of the Hard, Heavy & Hair Show!
  • Interview with Taylor Momsen of the Pretty Reckless
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From Aerosmith, All For Metal, Bam Bam Boys, Crazy Lixx, Dan Byrne, Diamante, Godsmack, Great White, Judas Priest, Leatherwolf, Michael Sweet, Ozzy Osbourne, Poison, Pretty Boy Floyd, Saxon, Sevendust, Spread Eagle, Tesla, The Frequency Conspiracy, The Pretty Reckless, Theory of a Deadman, Three Days Grace, Trixter, Warrant, Whitesnake, Wings of Steel, Y&T

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Show 557 – Pin-Up Girls

  • New Rock and Metal in 3D from Des Rocs, Derek Davis, the Devil Wears Nada, and more!
  • Frontmen take center stage including a Twisted Sister frontman twist
  • The Cover Song of the Week mystery connects Sleaze Metal origins to Sidney Sweeney
  • The Rock Queen of the Week tribute
  • A Triple-Shot of late-80s Hair with a visual connection for real rock fans
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From Chevelle, Contraband, Def Leppard, Derek Davis, Des Rocs, Dorothy, FireHouse, Godsmack, Great White, Killer Dwarfs, Kingdom Come, KISS, Lita Ford, Mötley Crüe, Poison, Shinedown, Skid Row, Skindred, Slaughter, Stephen Pearcy, The Devil Wears Nada, Thunder, Tora Tora, Twisted Sister, W.A.S.P.

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Show 556 – Wicked Game

  • New Temple Balls, Erik Grönwall, Creye, Ginger Evil, Von Groove, Gotham, Vendetta Bloom, and the Phil Koubek Project
  • The other voice of Skid Row is back — and he’s not whispering
  • Your Front Row Ticket to Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, and Tesla — live and loud
  • A ’90s track left for dead… resurrected by David Lynch amid cinematic darkness
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From Allele, Bangalore Choir, Chris Isaak, Creye, Def Leppard, Erik Grönwall, Ginger Evil, Gotham, Guns N’ Roses, KISS, Kix, L.A. Guns, Lita Ford, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Phil Koubek Project, Quiet Riot, Ratt, Scorpions, Seether, Static‐X, Temple Balls, Tense Machine, Tesla, Van Halen, Vendetta Bloom, Von Groove, Warrant

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Show 555 – Milk & Cookies

  • New Ice Nine Kills, Electric Boys, Stråle, Firesky, Afraid of My Brother, and Death Warmed Up
  • A guitar-driven show built on tension… and release
  • Swiss rockers weaponizing Canadian insomnia
  • Cookies, cream, custard, and cupids crashing your speakers
  • An all-woman metal band bringing the raunch and the riffs
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From AC/DC, Adelitas Way, Aerosmith, Bachman–Turner Overdrive, Black Stone Cherry, Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Death Warmed Up, Def Leppard, Electric Boys, Faster Pussycat, Firesky, Halestorm, Helmet, Ice Nine Kills, Krokus, L.A. Guns, Led Zeppelin, Morano, Phantom Blue, Poison, Scared of My Brother, Skid Row, Slaughter, Steel Panther, Strale, Ted Nugent, Warrant

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Show 554 – Don’t Change

  • New Bad Marriage, Shiraz Lane, Hooked Like Helen, Kris Barras Band, Defiant—and no lie—unreleased Van Halen you’ve never heard before!
  • Cheech & Chong once said to speed up Black Sabbath… So I did. Will you hear God?
  • Cleveland rocks–and I’ve got the new track to prove it.
  • Professor Pariah drops the needle on record player history–turntables, speeds, and some questionable science.
  • And a heads-up for Van Halen fans: there’s a must-own box set coming, and you’re gonna want to preorder.
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From A Neverending John’s Dream, Asking Alexandria, Bad Marriage, Black Sabbath, Cinderella, Cyanide, Daughtry, Def Leppard, Defiant, Dokken, Electric Boys, Faster Pussycat, Femme Fatale, Hooked Like Helen, INXS, Kris Barras Band, Little Caesar, Mason Hill, Mötley Crüe, Poison, Shiraz Lane, Tesla, Triumph, Van Halen, Whitesnake

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Show 553 – Valentine’s Day & Anti-Valentine’s Special

A Hard, Heavy & Hairy Valentine’s: Counting down the 14 greatest mushy but metal, soft but hard, and all hair love songs of all time. And, in between those 14 most romantic hair band heart songs are anti-Valentine’s Day songs to honor those who are boycotting the holiday.

  • Countdown: The 14 Greatest Hair Band Love Songs of All Time
  • Plus ANTI-Valentine’s Day songs
  • With Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Brocarde, BulletBoys, Extreme, FireHouse, Great White, Guns N’ Roses, Guns N’ Roses, Halestorm, Hinder, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, My Darkest Days, Nelson, Scorpions, Seether, Skid Row, Steelheart, Stryper, Tesla, Warrant, White Lion

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Show 552 – Fire Horse

  • New Sevendust, Papa Roach, Creye
  • Year of the Fire Horse
  • Metal kickoff to the Winter Olympics
  • New Hampshire versus Skeletor’s Ex
  • Two Triple-Shot games!
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From Black Sabbath, Black Star Riders, Bon Jovi, Creye, Def Leppard, Godsmack, Gojira, Guns N’ Roses, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Our Last Night, Pantera, Papa Roach, Savatage, Sevendust, The Cult, The Four Horsemen, Van Halen, Vixen, Warrant, Whitesnake

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Show 551 – 25° or 6° Below

  • Beaten by the U.S. Marines, jaw wired shut, he sang a 70s Rock masterpiece
  • New Def Leppard, Black Label Society, Stråle, and Rob Zombie
  • A 1970 guitar solo Jimi Hendrix called better than his playing
  • What classic Rock song was written while staring at a hotel ceiling… at 3:34 A.M.?
  • Snowing outside? Things get dangerously hot with a Triple-Shot that’ll crack the ice
  • Japan got it first in ’95. In 2026, Pariah brings it back to the West
  • 2 Rockin’ Frontwomen storm ’26 like a beachhead
  • Bluesy ’90s badasses back—by bold request
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From Aldo Nova, Babylon A.D., Black Label Society, Black Sabbath, Cassidy Paris, Chicago, Cinderella, Company of Wolves, Def Leppard, Def Leppard, FireHouse, Judas Priest, L.A. Guns, Linkin Park, Loudness, Megadeth, Metallica, Orianthi, Ozzy Osbourne, Poison, Rob Zombie, Skid Row, Stråle, Three Days Grace, Vince Neil

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Show 550 – Rock Generation

  • New Heavy Pettin, Faster Pussycat, the Pretty Reckless, Ignescent, Solence, and Metal Warrior with Keri Kelli
  • Too dark for radio, too heavy to ignore
  • Female-fronted firepower meets Sabbath’s heaviest hymn
  • A Triple-Shot from the best friend Glam Metal has in the 2020s, the man single-handedly making it possible for today’s hardest working non-A-list rockers to finally make their nut
  • The Metal masterpiece closing coda secretly honoring two roadies
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From AC/DC, Ace Frehley, Baton Rouge, Black Sabbath, Crowne, Dokken, Eva Under Fire, Extreme, Faster Pussycat, Hardcore Superstar, Heavy Pettin, Ignescent, KISS, Lynch Mob, Metal Warrior, Papa Roach, Revilo, Scott Stapp, See This Through, Sister Sin, Skid Row, Solence, Steelheart, The Pretty Reckless, Warrant, Wildstreet, Y&T

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Show 549 – The Rose (and The Epstein Files Original Soundtrack)

  • New music from Norway, Finland, and Phoenix
  • Guitar Gods and their guest solos
  • A Grammy-winning song the singer-songwriter didn’t want to finish
  • A batarang comes back after 30 years
  • That “you covered WHAT?!” Metal band does it again
  • The Hard, Heavy, and Hairy Original Soundtrack of the Epstein Files
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From Blue Murder, Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Def Leppard, Fighter V, Fozzy, Great White, Grey Daze, Guns N’ Roses, Hokka, Killer Dwarfs, Lily Löwe, Lord Tracy, Megadeth, Motorhead, No Resolve, Poison, Seal, Shy, The 69 Eyes, The Defiants, Three Days Grace, Twisted Sister, Voices of Extreme, Warrant, Y&T

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Show 548 – Happy Nude Year!

  • When rock stars go full-frontal
  • Angelina Jolie’s uncle writes rock history
  • The only Rock single to ever simultaneously chart for 2 different record labels!
  • New The Erotics, Axminster, Absent Light Arena
  • Rock Queen of the Week keeps kicking ass with heavy riffs even as she embraces her Cindy Lou Who side
  • Rare Hare from Tuff, Jackyl, Sleeze Beez, Contraband, and Warrant
  • Songwriting commissioned by the wife of Cleopatra’s lover, Mark Antony
  • A hit single the songwriter laughed at for being too simple, but that paid him enough to lose $10 grand a day gambling for decades
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From Absent Light Arena, AC/DC, Ace Frehley, Axminster, Bai Bang, BulletBoys, Contraband, Crobot, Guns N’ Roses, Ignescent, In This Moment, Jackyl, Lynch Mob, Mötley Crüe, My Darkest Days, Poison, Ratt, Shark Island, Sleep Token, Sleeze Beez, The Erotics, The Pretty Reckless, The Wild Ones, Tuff, Van Halen, Warrant, Winger

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Show 546 – Unring

  • New John Corabi, George Lynch & Lorraine Lewis, Joel Hoekstra’s 13, Venus 5, Thomas Raggi, Helix, and more
  • Yacht Rock gets metal as hell
  • It was supposed to be Diana Ross’s voice, but now it’s the voice of Vixen
  • Divisive new music that gets an immediate reaction
  • Turn it up to 11 one last time for Rob Reiner
  • Three bells, no carols to close out the 2025 Holidays
  • Hits, Deep Cuts, and Rare Hare From 10 Years, AC/DC, Badlands, Black Sabbath, Blackrain, Burnt Out Wreck, Extreme, George Lynch/Lorraine Lewis, Helix, Joel Hoekstra’s 13, John Corabi, Kingdom Come, KISS, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Neil Sedaka, Quiet Riot, Ratt, Scorpions, Spın̈al Tap, TAZ, Thomas Raggi, Van Halen, Venus 5, W.A.S.P.

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