Warren Zevon - 1978-04-24 - Los Angeles CA (FM)

Warren Zevon

1978-04-24

The Roxy

Los Angeles, CA

FM Broadcast

320 kbps

Artwork Included

01. Radio Spot and Intro

02. Johnny Strikes Up the Band

03. Tenderness On The Block

04. Mohammed's Radio

05. Excitable Boy

06. Werewolves Of London

07. Accidentally Like a Martyr

08. Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner

09. Poor Poor Pitiful Me

10. Lawyers, Guns & Money

11. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead  

Warren Zevon - 1978-04-24 - Los Angeles CA (FM)

Warren Zevon was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2025, alongside Joe Cocker, Bad Company, Chubby Checker, and Cyndi Lauper, just to name a few other members of the class. Zevon was inducted for "Musical Influence", a category the hall defines as including "artists whose music and performance style have directly influenced, inspired, and evolved rock & roll and music impacting culture". As if every artist inducted as a performers hasn't done all those things. I think it really should be defined as "we've screwed up for countless years in not inducting you, so we created this category to get you in the door."

In any event, this FM broadcast captures Zevon at the Roxy in Los Angeels on April 24, 1978, 4 dozen years ago today. His album Excitable Boy,  which had been produced by Jackson Browne and guitarist Waddy Wachtel, had been released just 4 months earlier. The disc met with both critical and commercial success. Rolling Stone called the album one of the most significant releases of the 1970s. The disc went to #8 on the Billboard charts, and spawned the classic single Werewolves of London, which reached #21 on the singles chart. Interestingly, on that same day, the Grateful Dead were playing a concert in Normal IL, which has been officially released as Dave’s Picks 37. They too had taken notice of Zevon, as their choice for an encore that night was none other than Werevolves of London.