{"id":42032,"date":"2026-02-12T13:11:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T13:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/?p=42032"},"modified":"2026-02-12T13:11:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T13:11:10","slug":"im-done-protecting-them-rick-wakeman-launches-a-new-show-promising-to-reveal-the-70s-rock-secrets-he-was-paid-to-keep-quiet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/?p=42032","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019m Done Protecting Them.\u201d \u2014 Rick Wakeman Launches a New Show, Promising to Reveal the 70s Rock Secrets He Was Paid to Keep Quiet."},"content":{"rendered":"

For more than half a century, Rick Wakeman<\/span><\/span> has been prog rock\u2019s flamboyant wizard-in-chief \u2014 capes, Mellotrons, and towering keyboard rigs included. Now, at 76, he\u2019s swapping the Moog for a microphone and hinting that the stories he once kept buried are finally ready for daylight.<\/span><\/p>\n

His newly announced podcast, The Sound Of The Seventy Year Olds<\/em>, co-hosted with comedian Griff Rhys Jones<\/span><\/span>, premieres February 27, 2026. Officially, it\u2019s being pitched as a humorous reflection on aging, memory, and cultural milestones. Unofficially? Industry whispers suggest it could become Wakeman\u2019s long-awaited reckoning with the excesses and egos of 1970s rock.<\/span><\/p>\n

From Mellotrons to Microphones<\/span><\/h3>\n

Wakeman\u2019s r\u00e9sum\u00e9 reads like a hall of fame roll call. He famously contributed keyboards to Space Oddity<\/span><\/span> and rose to global prominence with Yes<\/span><\/span> during their most ambitious era. Albums like Fragile<\/em> and his solo epic The Six Wives of Henry VIII<\/em> defined the grandiosity of progressive rock.<\/span><\/p>\n

But behind the virtuosity lay a decade infamous for indulgence, financial chaos, and blurred boundaries between brilliance and absurdity. Wakeman has long joked about curry dinners served onstage and the notorious King Arthur on Ice<\/em> spectacle \u2014 a lavish ice-skating rock production that ballooned into a financial headache.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, he appears ready to revisit those chapters with fewer filters.<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201c1974 Hotel Incident\u201d<\/span><\/h3>\n

Early recording sessions reportedly took a sharp turn when Wakeman casually referenced a \u201c1974 hotel incident\u201d involving a major rock figure. While no names have been publicly confirmed, insiders describe audible gasps in the studio.<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout his career, Wakeman has maintained a careful balance between storytelling and discretion. The 70s touring circuit \u2014 especially during Yes\u2019s sprawling Tales from Topographic Oceans<\/em> period \u2014 was legendary for its extravagance. Yet legal caution often tempered how much detail artists were willing to share.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Wakeman is truly \u201cdone protecting them,\u201d as promotional teasers imply, the podcast could venture into territory that memoirs and documentaries have tiptoed around for decades.<\/span><\/p>\n

Settling Scores \u2014 or Setting the Record Straight?<\/span><\/h3>\n

The show also promises candid reflections on Wakeman\u2019s famously turbulent relationship with Yes. He exited and rejoined the band multiple times, often citing creative frustration and industry pressures. In recent interviews, he has criticized what he calls the \u201cvanilla and safe\u201d tone of modern mainstream entertainment \u2014 a sharp contrast to the chaotic inventiveness of his generation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Paired with Griff Rhys Jones\u2019 dry wit, the format is expected to blend comedy with confession. The duo, neighbors in East Anglia, frame the podcast as a celebration of a generation that \u201cinvented everything\u201d \u2014 from pirate radio to prog-rock concept albums.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet there\u2019s a sense that Wakeman sees this as more than nostalgia. It\u2019s legacy management on his own terms.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still Moving at 76<\/span><\/h3>\n

Despite undergoing brain surgery in late 2025 for normal-pressure hydrocephalus, Wakeman\u2019s 2026 calendar is packed. Alongside the podcast launch, he\u2019s preparing new music \u2014 including a sequel project titled Return to the Red Planet<\/em> \u2014 and continuing select dates of his acclaimed \u201cOne Man Show\u201d farewell tour.<\/span><\/p>\n

If anything, the health scare seems to have sharpened his urgency.<\/span><\/p>\n

For fans, the prospect of unfiltered 70s revelations is electrifying. For former collaborators, it may prompt uneasy phone calls. Wakeman has spent five decades building bridges across the prog-rock landscape. Whether he intends to burn them or simply illuminate them remains to be seen.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the teaser trailer, he jokes, \u201cWe managed to remember none of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But if the early buzz is any indication, Rick Wakeman remembers exactly enough.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For more than half a century, Rick Wakeman has been prog rock\u2019s flamboyant wizard-in-chief \u2014 capes, Mellotrons, and towering keyboard rigs included. Now, at 76, he\u2019s swapping the Moog for a microphone and hinting that the stories he once kept buried are finally ready for daylight. His newly announced podcast, The Sound Of The Seventy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42032\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}