My Dad's Favorite Artist. I always liked this song. But never took Tom Jones seriously. He has songs which I like, "she's a lady", It's Not Usual", but was shocked when my Dad told me at the time, He's the greatest singer. I was listening to The Who at the time, I was 18. Lol

I never liked The Cars, except for Drive"; such a great song. I didn't even know "Moving in Stereo " was them; another cool one. After this, I'm gonna give them another try. Thanks for the continuing education, Professor!

Terrific rock vocalist.

Medical experts have verified that hearing 'It's Not Unusual' will make your day better.

Tom’s voice is incredible. His breadth and depth of hits and performances is only equally impressive if you haven’t been paying enough attention. (It’s actually even more so - there’s a reason why Elvis appreciated Tom so much.)

I only know this music because my brother is a few years older than me and was stuck listening to his music when he picked me up from school

There's a great story from Patton Oswalt about filling the jukebox queue with only "Whats new pussycat", over and over! Tom is a great singer

I've always said this argument makes no sense - it's apples to oranges. The Beatles are the greatest pop band in history, while the Stones are clearly the greatest rock n roll band of all time. These two bands are the yin and yang of rock music. And as we all know, where you land in preference is 100% personal and therefore subjective. If The Beatles are your cup of tea, then enjoy them. If the Stones are your shot of bourbon, then rock on. I like them both immensely, but I'm more of a bourbon and vodka guy rather than a tea sipper. So I prefer the Stones, hands down; but you can't argue with a band that crafted Rubber Soul and Sgt Pepper's.

My mother loved Tom Jones. I was able to take her to see him in concert much later in his career but he blew the roof off the place. I love his version of "You Can Leave Your Hat On" which he did for the movie The Full Monty. He voice is still amazing. I love your channel. Your interviews with artists are so insightful and your passion for keeping great classic music alive is inspiring. You are the best!

Thank you so much, I have loved Tom Jones since I was a kid. I finally got to see him in Chicago a few years ago and OMG, super....

Great song

Would have been Foreigner's best, imo

Nope never would have connected:Hit Me With Your Best Shot: with shootings

I love it when you feature artists you've never done before. Tom Jones still sounds good to this day.

Yes but how can she prove it! How can you lay claim to something thats free to everyone! So say I'm in New York and standing on the sidewalk listening to one of those people who play with a hat on the sidewalk in front of them for people to put change in! He's singing an original. I go home produce a song out of his music and it's goes to #1! It's not his, it's mine! He didn't market it, I did! Same as Rita Coolidge. It wasn't hers, if it was she should have kept it for herself! Tough luck! I've heard this before and it doesn't fly!!

My Grandmother being from England loved Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck ❤ RIP Nan

this is a similar story to Neil Diamond and the song Hanky Panky.

Panama is my absolute favorite VH song. Followed quickly by Eruption/You Really Got Me (fried my mom's stereo speakers with that one).

I remember singing along to "What's New, Pussycat" when in our '61 Rambler station wagon. I loved the song because I thought it was about cats -- I was 8, what did I know? Now 66, I still love Tom Jones!

Heh, fun fact: Too Shy was actually re-created for The Sims 2 with the words "translated" into Simlish.

Spent some time, with both Lou, and separately, Mick. Touched on this. Lou’s story rang true. I’ll leave it there.

Okay. Semantics. It's Queen Elizabeth the 2nd (second), Not 2. Otherwise, Sir Tom is Awesome.

He had two things against him for me: he was one of my mom’s favorite singers, and her taste in music was as un-hip and un-cool as possible, in the Lawrence Welk category; and I couldn’t take the whole “whoa, whoa whoa” vocal tick he had. I have come to appreciate him more over the years, particularly when I heard the story of Thunderball and that he held the final note so long that he nearly passed out, impressing the hell out of John Barry, not as easy thing to do. And of course the fact that it’s a great song and from my all-time favorite Bond film doesn’t hurt. And he did a Prince song. So, I don’t hate him anymore 😊

I mostly remember the competition between TJ and Engleburt Humperdink

As a child watching Tom Jones perform on the Ed Sullivan show, the inuendo of this song went totally over my head.

Are we not men? (actual size).

You started losing me with Time After Time, but I completely understand why it's in your list as it really was aHUGE hit, and a great song, but when you listen to Cindy SHOUTING I WILL BE WAITING, it kind of doesn't hold up for me. Where I completely disagree with you is Billy Joel's An innocent man. TERRIBLE Song, completely forgetful, and really one of his weakest, Completely CORNY, and crappiest songs of his career. I can't believe that Billy Joel is your favorite artist of all time, which makes it exactly TWO people that I know of who've ever publicly stated such, with the other famously being Debbie Gibson. I refuse to believe with your deep knowledge and vast musical palate that you'd pick Billy over say Heart, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Prince, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Madonna, or ANY other world famous singers/groups. LIES I SAY!… I refuse to believe it! AND HOW CANB YOU INCLUDE THAT TERRIBLE SONG AND LEAVE OUT WHEN DOVE'S CRY??!?!?! All that said… you TOTALY REDEEMED YOURSELF WITH PANAMA!!! The greatest band to ever feature 2 different front men. Both were so equally great that any true fan struggles to pick one era over the other!… Though I will say the DLR era squeaks by for me, even though Sammy's Lyrics are far more relatable and mature, but Dave… Well Dave is Dave! Remember, he's the guy who when asked what he thought of Ozzie's kids on the Howard Stern Show, his response?… FAT!!! LOLOLOL

I saw Tom Jones in concert in 1989. Women were throwing their panties and bras on stage.

Professor Lou is foreigner and without him not the same.

Devo had quite a local cult following in the early '80s when I was at Ohio University.

My only memory of this song was the peculiar impression it made when I wondered if it was supposed to be the innuendo it sounds like. Not that I barely remember it, I remember it well. It's because no one talked about it.🤣

How do you not mention the greatest use of Tom Jones ever? Maybe you haven’t heard it yet. Do yourself a favor and look up John Mulaney‘s “Salt and Pepper Diner”. Easily one of the funniest comedy bits of all time.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot doesn't imply physical violence, it's a spin on "give it your best shot", it means do your best and in this context I think the singer is saying "you can try to put me down/hold me down but I'm stronger than that". Good thing I have the original album.

My opinion: His two best songs are Help Yourself (awesome!) and Burning Down the House (rivals the Talking Heads version). Such a great singer.

PoR, Tom Jones was one of the best. Love his song "I'll Never Fall In Love Again." Another great singer at the time you have to react to is Engelbert Humperdinck who was very big in Vegas. For those commenters and romantics who've never heard of him before here's a list of his super hit songs: 1) The Last Waltz 2) Release Me 3) After The Lovin 4) Am I That Easy To Forget 5) Les Bicyclettes Des Belsize 6) Falling In Love Again 7) Love Me With All Of Your Heart (Best song version has 53 million views). Enjoy!

Come on, not ever having a Frankie Says shirt does not mean you were "not there" in the 80's!!! I am a child of the 80's and I have the scars (physical and mental) to prove it!!! Love the show but gotta call out that comment, just bustin chops!!!

I was a child when I heard this song & I hated it..

During the times Tom Jones was out, my mom bought the live album "Live at the Talk of the Town" I believe it was 1966, I was 5 years old at the time but mom would play that album over and over again. Two songs I remember listening to and still today even though the album is just about worn out and have been unable to find a cd copy is Shake and the cover Land of the Thousand Dances. I do have LTD copy from iTunes and that has kept the memories of mom alive. Growing up through the years, I would say the band backing him up was killing it and they were beyond the time during the live recording. Even though mom passed away in 2019 at the age of 82 but I still listen to that album and remembering times when mom was alive. I do have other recordings of TJ and mom loved all of them. Thanks for the memories Professor and also Tom Jones for helping me through the times I miss mom and dad.

Ronnie Ross was Bowie's sax teacher and played the outro sax solo on Bowie's "Walk On The Wild Side"

Powerful powerful voice

lol! we all thought 'China girl' was about opium or heroin.

He stutters a lot. I wonder if he does it when he's performing 'live'...

To answer your question about the first one, I can't think of a time where this happened to me while driving, but one of my earliest memories was as a small child as a passenger in the car my dad was driving. I was laying down in the front seat and we were on the highway somewhere. I just remember looking up and seeing the light pillars periodically go by in the median of the highway and the song that was on was Journey's Faithfully. It's by no means a one hit wonder, but I always thought it appropriate that we were on a highway and I could hear the piano and Steve singing "Highway run..." Incidentally, I had this memory until I was a young adult when I found out the name of the song and who it was by. I still think of that time in the car when I hear that song.

Loved this song when I was in high school. Still love it today. Thanks Mr. Gramm.

Such a joy listening to these legends tell their story.

Infuriating!!! This is theft!!!

❤❤❤ Tom Jones! Used to sing What’s New Pussycat to my cat Oscar and he’d mew at the right times lol and my middle name is Delilah so of course I’ve never had this song sung to me 🙄 haha. Excellent job professor, as usual 😊❤🇨🇦⭐️

How old is the interview? Eight years?

57 Channels and nothing on- I completely forgot that song existed. And for good reason, it was crap and stopped getting any play (thankfully) on the radio. I think one of the worst songs I ever heard from an artist I love has got to be Illegal Alien by Genesis.

Tom Jones was my mother’s favorite and I had to watch This Is Tom Jones on tv or watch nothing. And yes, I wound up thinking Tom Jones was a talented singer, a cool ladies man and an entertainer who would have very cool guests on his show.