Inspired by the April 24 birthdays of Barbra Streisand, Kelly Clarkson, Kehlani, Robert Knight, Freddie Scott, The Fortunes’ Glen Dale, and Oak Ridge Boys’ Richard Sterban; and the April 23 birthdays of Roy Orbison, The Wedding Present’s David Gedge, Jónsi, Ray Peterson, and John Miles.
Inspired by the March 12 birthdays of James Taylor, Blur’s Graham Coxon, Liza Minnelli, Libertines’ Pete Doherty, La Roux’s Elly Jackson and Jack Kerouac; and the March 11 birthdays of Cheryl Lynn and Bobby McFerrin.
Inspired by the March 6 birthdays of Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, Elbow’s Guy Garvey, Bubba Sparxxx, Betty Boo, Tyler the Creator, the Blasters’ Phil Alvin, Kiki Dee, Beanie Sigel, Bowling for Soup’s Jaret Reddick and Lou Costello.
Inspired by the February 23 birthdays of Japan’s David Sylvian, Josh Gad, Howard Jones and Broadway composer Robert Lopez; the February 22 birthdays of Sublime’s Brad Nowell, Marni Nixon, Ernie K-Doe, Bobby Hendricks, Oliver and Guy Mitchell; and the February 21 birthdays of Nina Simone, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield.
Today’s playlist is inspired by the February 11 birthdays of Sheryl Crow, D’Angelo, First Choice’s Rochelle Fleming, Gene Vincent, Brandy, Sergio Mendes, Bobby Pickett, Leon Haywood, City Girls’ Yung Miami, and Gerry Goffin (former songwriting partner and husband of Carole King).
“I don’t care to belong to any club that will have Bon Jovi as a member.”
– Groucho Marx
On April 14, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will induct several worthwhile acts and Bon Jovi. Over the coming weeks, Tunes du Jour will spotlight artists that are eligible for induction (i.e. they commercially released their debut recording at least 25 years ago), but have not been inducted as they are not as talented, innovative or influential as Bon Jovi.
Today we look at and listen to Carole King. King is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a songwriter. With her ex-husband Gerry Goffin, King wrote so many rock and roll classics, including “Will You Still Love me Tomorrow,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “Up on the Roof,” “The Loco-motion,” “One Fine Day,” “I’m Into Something Good,” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday.”
While her admission into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a songwriter is well-deserved, her induction as a performer is long overdue. Her landmark 1971 album Tapestry spent 15 consecutive weeks at #1 in the US and has sold over 25 million copies to date. It won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, with its track “It’s Too Late” winning Record of the Year and its “You’ve Got a Friend” winning Song of the Year, making King the first female solo act to win either of those last two. However, it’s not about sales and awards, right Bon Jovi? The influence of Tapestry coupled with the other smash records King released in the 1970s was heard on the records of her singer-songwriter contemporaries such as James Taylor and Laura Nyro and remained consistent through the years and changing pop music trends, up to Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga and beyond.
She is a terrific recording artist as well as a stellar songwriter. Still, she never wrote or recorded the lyrics “’Cause a bottle of vodka is still lodged in my head.” Do you know who did? Bon Jovi.
Here are twenty of Carole King’s finest performances.
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The girl group sound was a genre of pop music that flourished on the charts between 1958 and 1966. Most records that fall into this category were made by all-female trios or quartets. However, some girl group hits were performed by solo women, and some by groups that featured a cisgender male. Per girl-groups.com, more than 750 girl groups cracked the US or UK charts between 1960 and 1966.
Tunes du Jour commemorates International Women’s Day with a playlist of forty of the best examples of the girl group sound.
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Putting together a Hanukkah playlist isn’t easy, I tell ya, especially when one wishes to avoid THAT SONG. Beck’s Hanukkah entry, “The Little Drum Machine Boy,” remains absent from Spotify, so you’ll need to go elsewhere to learn about the holiday robot funk and the Hanukkah pimp. All in all, this isn’t a bad batch of tunes celebrating the holiday. Enjoy!
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Some time in my teen years I feel in love with the girl group sound. My favorite was The Crystals’ “He’s a Rebel.” The music and the vocals hooked me. The singer tells of how others don’t approve of the boy she loves as he’s a non-conformist, but he treats her well and that’s all that matters.
The story behind the record is as interesting as the record itself. The song was written by Gene Pitney, who had several hits of his own, including “Town Without Pity” and “(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valence.” “He’s a Rebel” was slated to be the debut single for Vikki Carr, but when Spector heard Pitney’s demo he knew he wanted it for one of his acts, The Crystals.
He needed to record it quickly in order to challenge Carr’s version at the stores. The Crystals, however, were on the road in New York and unable to make the recording sessions in Los Angeles. No problem. Spector hired a local group called The Blossoms, led by Darlene Wright, to record the song. Wright was paid $3000 for the session. Spector released the record under the name The Crystals, as his label owned the name. The actual Crystals first learned of their new hit song when they heard it on the radio. It became their first #1 single, meaning The Crystals had to learn this song so they could perform it at their shows. The group’s lead singer, Barbara Alston, could not match Wright’s vocal performance, so fellow Crystal LaLa Brooks moved into the lead vocalist slot. Coincidentally, the week The Crystals’ “He’s a Rebel” was #1, Gene Pitney was #2 as a singer with “Only Love Can Break a Heart,” a song he didn’t write.
As “He’s a Rebel” was so successful, Spector needed to get a follow-up single out quickly. Again, he turned to The Blossoms to record “He’s Sure the Boy I Love.” Wright, however, was angry that her name was not on “He’s a Rebel” and told Spector she would only do this song if she were singed to a recording agreement and was properly credited for her vocals on the track. Spector agreed, changing her name in the agreement to Darlene Love. He released “He’s Sure the Boy I Love.” It was credited to The Crystals.
Spector used the money he made from “He’s a Rebel” to buy out his business partners in the Philles Records label. In addition to the financial settlement, Spector had to give his two ex-partners a share of the royalties of the next Philles single release, so Spector got the real Crystals into the studio and recorded “(Let’s Dance) The Screw,” a silly number clearly not intended to be a hit. A copy was sent to one of the ex-partners. No royalties were generated.
Tunes du Jour celebrates Throwback Thursday with twenty great hits from 1962, kicking off with “He’s a Rebel” by “The Crystals.”
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At the end of the 1960s, Marvin Gaye was a huge star, having had more than two dozen top 40 hits before 1970. However, the singer was having a crisis of conscience, wanting to sing about the ills of the world he saw around him as opposed to perform nothing but love songs.
Inspired by the horrific stories told to him by his brother of what he witnessed serving three years in Viet Nam, Gaye, who hadn’t a hand in writing most of his hits up to this point, added lyrics to an unreleased song written by Obie Benson of the Four Tops and Al Cleveland.
He presented the song to Motown head Berry Gordy, who supposedly called it “the worst thing I ever heard in my life.” Gaye’s response? “Basically, I said ‘Put it out or I’ll never record for you again.’ That was my ace in the hole, and I had to play it.”
“What’s Going On” became the fastest-selling single in the history of Motown Records. Rolling Stone magazine has since placed it at #4 on their ranking of the greatest songs of all-time.
This week’s Throwback Thursday playlist consists of twenty hits from 1971, kicking off with Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.”
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