Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 8-1-23

FUN FACT: Coolio is not the name on this rapper’s birth certificate. He was born Artis Leon Ivey Jr. and got his stage name from a nickname he had as a teenager: Coolio Iglesias. Of course that’s a play on singer Julio Iglesias, with whom Coolio performed a version of “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” in 1999. So next time you listen to “Gangsta’s Paradise,” remember that there’s a little bit of Julio in Coolio 😂

The late Artis Leon Ivey Jr. was born on this date in 1963. A couple of his best-known tracks are on today’s playlist.

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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 11-28-22

Today’s playlist celebrates the November 28 birthdays of Randy Newman, En Vogue/Lucy Pearl’s Dawn Robinson, The Fleetwoods’ Gary Troxel, The 5 Royales’ Johnny Tanner, The Foundations’ Clem Curtis, William DeVaughn, Chamillionaire, Bruce Channel, R.B. Greaves, and Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr.; and the November 29 birthdays of The Mamas and the Papas’ Denny Doherty, John Mayall, The Young Rascals’ Felix Cavaliere, The Game, Zapp’s Roger Troutman, Ronnie Montrose, New Kids on the Block’s Jonathan Knight, and Meco.

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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 9-26-22

Today’s playlist celebrates the September 26 birthdays of Everything But The Girl’s Tracey Thorn, Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry, Marty Robbins, En Vogue’s Cindy Herron, Lonnie Gordon, composer George Gershwin, Boyz II Men’s Shawn Stockman, Blind Melon’s Shannon Hoon, Lynn Anderson, Olivia Newton-John, Julie London, Nicki French, David Frizzell, and Dr. Jeckyll; and the September 27 birthdays of Lil Wayne, Meat Loaf, Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s Randy Bachman, Avril Lavigne, 3 Doors Down’s Brad Arnold, Shaun Cassidy, and Trick Daddy.

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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 9-5-22

Today’s playlist celebrates the September 5 birthdays of Queen’s Freddie Mercury, En Vogue’s Terry Ellis, Inner City’s Kevin Saunderson, Al Stewart, Loudon Wainwright III, and The Impalas’ Joe “Speedo” Frazier; and the September 6 birthdays of Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, The Cranberries’ Delores O’Riordan, Jimmy Reed, The Cardigans’ Nine Persson, Macy Gray, Sylvester, N.O.R.E./Noreaga, CeCe Peniston, Nightcrawlers’ John Reid, Dum Dum Girls’ Dee Dee, and Foxy Brown.

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Throwback Thursday: 1994

Nineteen ninety-four was not one of rock and pop music’s pivotal years. I didn’t realize how lackluster it was until compiling this week’s Throwback Thursday playlist. I always begin such lists with a look at the pop charts of the year being spotlighted. What a sad state of affairs they were in 1994! I found around 15 good songs that peaked in the top 40 that year, and included all of them in this list (except for Ƭ̵̬̊’s “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” which is not on Spotify). A few great songs came close to making the Top 40, such as Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” (peaked at #41) and The Breeders’ “Cannonball (peaked at #44). More great (mostly “alternative”) tracks would have made the Billboard Hot 100’s top 40 if not for Billboard‘s archaic rule that in order for a song to be eligible for the Hot 100, it needs to be commercially released as a single. Record companies stopped releasing many singles in the late 80s so as to force consumers into buying more profitable full-length albums. What that means is the Hot 100, which was supposed to represent the 100 most popular songs in the US, did not represent the 100 most popular songs in the US. And what mad the top 40 in 1994 was a lot of wussy drek. And Kurt Cobain died in 1994. Not a good year for music. Here are its gems:

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Throwback Thursday: 1992

It’s Throwback Thursday, and on today’s playlist we go back to 1992. Compiling this list made me notice (or remember) what a kickass year for music 1992 was. The success of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” a top ten pop hit around the world months after it was sent to alternative radio, came as a complete surprise to the band’s record label and management, and seemed to kick open the doors for weirdos and freaks (I use those terms affectionately) to find their place in the sun and on the charts.

The left field entries weren’t solely from the guitar rock field. Shakespear’s Sister’s “Stay” was a song (or two songs) that stood out from the pack and was not something one would have expected from a former member of Bananarama and someone who co-wrote and sang backup on Eric Clapton’s hit “Lay Down Sally.” And Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy” endures all these years later.

To me this era was a golden age for hip hop. Arrested Development, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Kris Kross, Das EFX, Sir Mix-A-Lot and House of Pain hit creative peaks, while rap duo P.M. Dawn hit number three with “I’d Die Without You,” an unexpected ballad with nary a hint of the hip or hop.

Nineteen ninety-two was the year we met Mary J. Blige and Billy Ray Cyrus. It was the year many more people got to know Red Hot Chili Peppers, k.d. lang and En Vogue. And while new names were dotting the Hot 100, there was still room for more hits from Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, Whitney Houston and U2.

Here are thirty musical highlights from 1992, a year that most definitely was not wiggida wiggida wiggida wack.

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