Tunes Du Jour Presents 1982

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Nineteen eighty-two was a musical kaleidoscope. New wave, punk, rap, and pop collided in glorious ways, creating a year of iconic sounds that still resonate today. Synth-pop rose to prominence, rock anthems solidified their place in our hearts, and the pulsating beats of new wave and post-disco ruled dance floors and radio waves alike.

It was the year that brought us iconic songs and sounds that still resonate today, like Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love,” a synth-pop masterpiece, and The Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me,” a song so ingrained in our collective consciousness it practically begs to be sung along to. Both are emblematic of the New Wave movement that dominated the airwaves.

New Wave wasn’t the only game in town, though. Rock received a shot of adrenaline with Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock N’ Roll,” a fist-pumping reminder of the genre’s enduring power. Queen and David Bowie delivered the masterpiece “Under Pressure” – a testament to the power of collaboration (and maybe a metaphor for the year itself!). Meanwhile, Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City” offered a poignant look at the working class experience.

The year also marked a significant moment for hip-hop with Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five’s “The Message,” a track that brought social consciousness to the forefront, laying down the reality of urban life with a beat that demanded attention.

Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman” experimented with spoken word and electronic sounds, a heady trip that felt like a message from the future. Afrika Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock” introduced audiences to the future of electro-funk. On the other end of the spectrum, “I’ve Never Been to Me” by Charlene… well, let’s just say it was a unique contribution to the musical landscape.

The Jam’s “A Town Called Malice” captured the youthful angst of British punk, while Madness’ “House of Fun” and Depeche Mode’s “Just Can’t Get Enough” offered a quirky new wave charm.

Pop had its share of fun too. Who can forget The J. Geils Band’s “Centerfold?” There was also the infectious “Jack & Diane” by John Cougar, a little ditty about young love in a small town. The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat” declared female empowerment with a pop-rock punch, while Stray Cats’ “Rock This Town” brought rockabilly back into the mainstream. Even bubblegum pop got a look-in with Bow Wow Wow’s sugary sweet “I Want Candy.”

Nineteen eighty-two was a year where music embraced the weird, the wonderful, and everything in between. So crank up the volume, dig out your leg warmers (optional), and let this playlist take you back to a time when music wasn’t afraid to experiment and have a whole lot of fun.

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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 8-6-22

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Today’s playlist celebrates the August 6 birthdays of The Chiffons’ Judy Craig, Elliott Smith, Leftfield’s Neil Barnes, Spice Girls’ Geri Halliwell, Yaeji, Timbuk 3’s Pat McDonald, Joyce Sims, and Andy Warhol; and the August 7 birthdays of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson, Throwing Muses’ Kristen Hersh, B.J. Thomas, Positive K, and Stan Freberg.

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It’s Q-Tip’s Birthday And I Need To Dance!

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Here’s the thing…I started writing today’s blog entry about mishaps I’ve recently encountered in on-line dating, specifically with an app I downloaded last week that despite my creating a profile that says I’m a man looking for a man, keeps trying to set me up with straight guys. I tied that into today’s birthday, Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest, by saying he’s one straight guy who wouldn’t date me. I quoted lyrics from Tribe’s song “Georgy Porgy.” While I was typing those lyrics, my stomach turned. I had trouble finding the humor in a song that refers to a gay guy as gross, ill, a fag, wounded, weak, a fucking faggot, and then some. The post started out funny but when I got to Q-Tip’s lyric “You can call me homophobic but I know it and you know it/ you’re filthy and funny to the utmost,” I decided I may be funny, but he isn’t, nor is he worth celebrating.

Odd that such a hateful bigot should appear on a record by Deee-Lite, a trio of gay and gay-friendly performers. Q-Tip appears on a lot of good records.

Friday is dance day at Tunes du Jour. Today’s playlist doesn’t celebrate the loathsome Q-Tip, but rather twenty great club tracks, a few of which feature Q-Tip. I’ll fill you in on my dating app experiences later.


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Brandeis ID

It’s Friday And I Need To Dance! – College Reunion Edition

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Brandeis ID
On the Facebook page for my thirty-year college reunion, which is coming up this June, someone brought up the music that reminds them of our college days. Many posts followed, naming songs that remind us of shared experiences at Brandeis University in the first half of the 1980s.

That post inspired today’s playlist. Friday is dance day at Tunes du Jour, and today I present 50 songs we danced to in the Usdan Ballroom at Brandeis University between the fall of 1981 and the spring of 1985. It was a great time for popular music. These songs have stood the test of time.

Have a great weekend!

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It’s Friday And I Need To Dance!

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There was an article on the site Gawker yesterday about a woman named Zoe Fennessy who, when she hears the music of Ne-Yo, “freezes up and begins vomiting uncontrollably.” You may say the same thing happens to you when you listen to Nickelback, but Ms. Fennessy’s reaction to Ne-Yo’s music is due to a rare medical condition called musicogenic epilepsy.

Some of you may be saying “Who’s Ne-Yo? Is he/she/they someone whose music gets played a lot?” The answer is, apparently. Since his first hit in 2006 (“So Sick,” which went to #1 on the US and UK pop charts), Ne-Yo has had 17 top forty hits on the US pop chart and a half-dozen more on the r&b chart. He has had just as many hits in the UK, where Fennessy lives.

Ne-Yo isn’t the only artist to cause seizures in people with this condition. Around ten years ago there was a report of a six-month-old who had seizures when she heard The Beatles. The Beatles! That shit ain’t right, yo. One may get a reaction from all classical music, another from the lower notes played on a brass instrument.

The reactions people with the condition have vary as well. Some have convulsions, others become incontinent, and others become incredibly sleepy.

Ms. Fennessy had part of her brain removed to try and cure the problem, but the operation was not a success. She still needs to steer clear of Ne-Yo’s music.

Friday is dance day at Tunes du Jour, and if Ms. Fennessy is reading, she’ll be happy to know there is no Ne-Yo on today’s playlist, which kicks off with the Jason Nevins remix of “It’s Like That” by Run-D.M.C., whose Joseph “Run” Simmons turns 50 today.

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It’s Jellybean’s Birthday And I Need To Dance!

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John “Jellybean” Benitez, along with Arthur Baker, was the pre-eminent remixer of the 1980s. If I saw his name on a 12-inch single, I knew I was going to get something good. He worked with many big names in that decade and beyond. Artists whose work he remixed include Talking Heads, Michael Jackson, Fleetwood Mac, Paul McCartney, Donna Summer, Santana, ZZ Top, Billy Joel, Afrika Bambaataa, Whitney Houston, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Sting, Bangles, A-ha, Cher, Shakira, Bonnie Tyler, The Romantics and, most famously, Madonna.

These days Jellybean deejays parties around the world and is the Executive Producer of Sirius XM’s disco/dance station, Studio 54 radio. A couple of years ago, while I was working at Warner Music, Jellybean and I were discussing a project he wanted to do. I was very into the idea and told him I was confident I could get the big names he wanted on board. We also talked about a radio show he conceived for the Sirius XM channel in which new mixes of classic dance songs were played. To help him with that show I sent him a package with some modern mixes we had done of disco classics by Chic, Ashford & Simpson and others.

He never said thank you. I sent him a follow-up email to be sure he received the package, but he didn’t reply. Oh, well. So he is lacking manners. That doesn’t affect the joy I get listening to his classic remix work. (By the by, he never got around to launching the project he wanted to do about which I was excited.)

Today is Jellybean’s 57th birthday. Many of his mixes are not on Spotify, so today’s dance playlist consists of some of his mixes that are, of Madonna, David Bowie, Irene Cara, The Pointer Sisters, Shalamar and Whitney Houston, alongside other records I love to dance to.

You’re welcome.

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Ringo + White Lines 2014-07-25 14.13

Ten Facts About Grandmaster & Melle Mel’s “White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It)” | It’s Friday And I Need To Dance!

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Ringo + White Lines 2014-07-25 14.13Ten Facts about Grandmaster & Melle Mel’s “White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It)”
1. Yes, the word “don’t” is repeated in the parenthetical.
2. Melle Mel was the most prominent rapper in Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Grandmaster Flash was the DJ, not a rapper.
3. Though credited to Grandmaster & Melle Mel, Grandmaster Flash does not appear on “White Lines,” nor did he appear on the classic “The Message” (“it’s like a jungle sometimes / It makes me wonder how I keep from going under”). Forced out of the group that bore his name, Flash sued Melle Mel and their label, Sugarhill Records, over the use of his name to sell records, the result of which was the odd artist credit on the “White Lines” single.
4. Flash heard “White lines,” about the dangers of cocaine addiction, while on his way to buy crack.
5. Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel reunited in 1987 at a charity concert hosted by Paul Simon.
6. The bassline was lifted from Liquid Liquid’s “Cavern.”
7. The record credits Melle Mel and Sylvia Robinson as the song’s writers. Robinson was the head of Sugarhill Records. Previously, she had a hit in 1973 with “Pillow Talk,” a song she wrote for Al Green, who declined to record it, and as one-half of Mickey & Sylvia, she took the classic ”Love is Strange” to #11 in 1957.
8. The lyrics include a reference to car manufacturer John DeLorean (“A businessman is caught with 24 kilos”). In 1982 the FBI arrested DeLorean for purchasing 24 kilos of coke. The song compares his fate (“He’s out on bail and out of jail”) with that of an inner city youth (“A street kid gets arrested, gonna do some time. He got out three years from now just to commit more crime.”).
9. An unofficial music video for the song was directed by an NYU student named Spike Lee. It starred Laurence Fishburne, the actor who at that time was playing Cowboy Curtis on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.
10. The record hit the top ten on the US dance chart in 1983. It kicks off Tunes du Jour’s weekly dance party.

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