Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 1-6-23
In his excellent autobiography Le Freak, Chic’s Nile Rodgers writes how his group’s record label wanted to capture the magic Rodgers and his music partner Bernard Edwards brought to their group to other acts on the Atlantic Records roster, such as The Rolling Stones and Bette Midler. Nile turned down the acts that were firmly established, as with them less attention would be paid to the song’s writers and producers. He wanted to work with a lesser known act. Atlantic Records president Jerry Greenberg suggested a group of sisters who “stick together like birds of a feather,” and so it came to be that Rodgers and Edwards wrote and produced the We Are Family album for Sister Sledge. I think you know what happened next.
Today’s playlist celebrates the birthday of Sister Sledge lead vocalist Kathy Sledge by including several tracks from that classic album.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 9-24-22
Today’s playlist celebrates the September 24 birthdays of The Dixie Cups’ Rosa Lee Hawkins, Gerry & The Pacemakers’ Gerry Marsden, Shep & The Limelites/The Heartbeats’ Shep, Kreayshawn, The Muppets’ Jim Henson, Eagles of Death Metal’s Jesse Hughes, Linda McCartney, and Trinidad James; and the September 25 birthdays of Childish Gambino, Rosalía, T.I., Santigold, Womack & Womack’s Cecil Womack, Ween’s Dean Ween, The Fresh Prince, The Kendalls’ Royce Kendall, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
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My Top 100 Songs Of 2021
Prince, Elvis Costello, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Kool & the Gang. It must be my list of favorite songs of 198-, uh, 2021. The aforementioned veterans rub elbows with Dua Lipa, Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Wet Leg, serpentwithfeet, Lil Nas X, Billie Eilish, The Weeknd, The Avalanches, Adele and Little Simz.
Here are my top 100 songs of 2021:
- Same Size Shoe – serpentwithfeet
- Love Again – Dua Lipa
- Body – Megan Thee Stallion
- Black Like Me – Mickey Guyton
- Easy On Me – Adele
- Thot Shit – Megan Thee Stallion
- Up – Cardi B
- Save Your Tears – The Weeknd
- Good Days – SZA
- Under the Table – Fiona Apple
- Wet Dream – Wet Leg
- Rumors – Lizzo & Cardi B
- Find My Way – Paul McCartney
- Levitating – Dua Lipa feat. DaBaby
- Chaise Longue – Wet Leg
- I Love You, I Hate You – Little Simz
- Best Friend – Saweetie feat. Doja Cat
- Brando – Lucy Dacus
- So I Lie – Miguel
- We Go On – the Avalanches feat. Cola Boyyy & Mick Jones
- Twerkulator – City Girls
- MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) – Lil Nas X
- Butter – BTS
- Cold Heart – Elton John & Dua Lipa
- Therefore I Am – Billie Eilish
- Your Power – Billie Eilish
- INDUSTRY BABY – Lil Nas X feat. Jack Harlow
- Point and Kill – Little Simz feat. Obongjayar
- Scratchcard Lanyard – Dry Cleaning
- Security – Amyl and the Sniffers
- Puppy and a Truck – Jenny Lewis
- Don’t Judge Me – FKA twigs, Headie One, Fred again…
- Pursuit of Happiness – Kool & the Gang
- Savage Good Boy – Japanese Breakfast
- Pay Your Way in Pain – St. Vincent
- ARE YOU WITH THAT? – Vince Staples
- Hot Summer – Prince
- Diamond Studded Shoes – Yola
- Solar Power – Lorde
- chinatown – Bleachers feat. Bruce Springsteen
- The Divine Chord – the Avalanches feat. MGMT & Johnny Marr
- Don’t Go Yet – Camila Cabello
- Strong Feelings – Dry Cleaning
- Rainforest – Noname
- Working for the Knife – Mitski
- Take My Breath – The Weeknd
- Boomerang – Yebba
- ooh la la – Run the Jewels feat. Santa Fe Klan & Mexican Institute of Sound
- Candypaint – Joey Purp
- Free from Gravity – Django Django
- Spanish Doors – Liz Phair
- Roaring 20s – Flo Milli
- Rhetorical Figure – John Grant
- THAT’S WHAT I WANT – Lil Nas X
- The Doll – Audiobooks
- Strange – Celeste
- WUSYANAME – Tyler, the Creator feat. YoungBoy Never Broke Again & Ty Dolla $ign
- White Dress – Lana Del Rey
- family ties – Baby Keem & Kendrick Lamar
- Starlight – Yola
- The Melting of the Sun – St. Vincent
- Pick up Your Feelings – Jazmine Sullivan
- I am not a woman, I’m a god – Halsey
- Hertz – Amyl and the Sniffers
- Please – Jessie Ware
- The Adults Are Talking – the Strokes
- Got Me – Laura Mvula
- We’re Good – Dua Lipa
- Kiss Me More – Doja Cat feat. SZA
- I Don’t Live Here Anymore – The War on Drugs feat. Lucius
- Magnificent Hurt – Elvis Costello & The Imposters
- 34+35 – Ariana Grande feat. Doja Cat & Megan Thee Stallion
- Just One Sec – the Antlers
- Love Is Back – Celeste
- Let Me Love You Like a Woman – Lana Del Rey
- Down – St. Vincent
- Amoeba – Clairo
- Don’t Forget Your Neighborhood – Cola Boyy feat. The Avalanches
- All My Favorite Songs – Weezer
- Sober & Skinny – Brittney Spencer
- Unblu – Jenny Lewis/Serengeti
- Living Proof – The War on Drugs
- Prisoner – Miley Cyrus feat. Dua Lipa
- NDA – Billie Eilish
- In His Arms – Jack Ingram, Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall
- Walking at a Downtown Pace – Parquet Courts
- Lost Cause – Billie Eilish
- Dancing with the Devil – Demi Lovato
- Hope – Arlo Parks
- Oh My God – Adele
- My Path – Raphael Saadiq
- Unsmart Lady – Dry Cleaning
- t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l – Willow feat. Travis Barker
- Reason to Believe – Vagabon feat. Courtney Barnett
- Paprika – Japanese Breakfast
- Thumbs – Lucy Dacus
- Happier Than Ever – Billie Eilish
- Be Sweet – Japanese Breakfast
- Hurt – Arlo Parks
- More Life – Cordae feat. Q-Tip
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Throwback Thursday: 1974
In 1974 Grandpa Abe gave ten-year-old me a radio. Very quickly that radio became shy me’s best friend. I hadn’t paid much attention to music previously, only hearing what played in the family care when we went out to eat or to Sunday school or the orthodontist. With my best friend Radio by my side I was exposed to so much more. Mostly I listened to the top 40 station WABC. By the autumn of 1974 I was making weekly treks on my bicycle to Melody Manor to buy whatever single entered the top 40 that week, unless it was something truly heinous like “Cat’s in the Cradle.” It’s a habit I kept up until the mid to late eighties, when “Lady in Red,” “The Final Countdown,” “Hip To Be Square” and Milli Vanilli convinced me to eschew that habit and only buy records that were tolerable. Today’s playlist celebrates the music of the year I started collecting records.
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A Paul McCartney Playlist
Celebrating Sir Paul McCartney’s career in 30 songs is an impossible task. (I initially wrote that it’s a fool’s errand, but that was the first time I typed that expression and it felt weird.) Anyhoosle, this playlist isn’t perfect, though the songs on it are quite spectacular. I do have issues with the opening of “I Saw her Standing There,” however. Putting aside that she was just 17, the “you know what I mean” line that proceeds that rubs me the wrong way. After that, it’s smooth sailing.
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A Kanye West Playlist
My favorite artist to emerge in the 2000s is Kanye West. Not only has he released so many great tracks, he also tries new things with each release, not content to repeat himself or rest on his laurels. Unfortunately, his public shenanigans – some non-music-related, some gimmicky promotional stunts – have distracted from his talent, especially these last few years. This playlist will remind you of his merits. Big fan that I am, I hadn’t heard some of these songs in a while. It was nice to hear them again.
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Throwback Thursday: 1973
I didn’t appreciate how much great music hit in 1973 until I compiled this playlist. Take a listen to the classic tunes that were unleashed in that year. Dag yo.
The Spotify embed feature isn’t working again, so here is the link: https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/77FwxEBSB575UVrsGKmOSv
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Throwback Thursday: 1971
I recently read a book about the music of 1971. It was pretty bad. I should have been clued off seeing that the book derived its title from the name of a Rod Stewart album that came out in…1972. The author and I agree that 1971 was a great year for music, though he focused mainly on white acts. Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, recently named the number one album of all-time in Rolling Stone, was dismissed as being overrated due to white guilt, something the author clearly doesn’t feel. I humbly suggest that the playlist below shows more of the greatness (and diversity) of 1971’s music than this book.
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