Inspired by the August 31 birthdays of Van Morrison, Squeeze’s Glenn Tillbrook, Julie Brown, Fleetwood Mac’s Bob Welch, Debbie Gibson, The Vines’ Craig Nicholls, Tony DeFranco, Bobby Parker, and Broadway lyricist Alan Jay Lerner; and the August 30 birthdays of The Mamas & The Papas’ John Phillips, Lewis Black, Kitty Wells, and D:Ream’s Peter Cunnah.
Inspired by the July 17 birthdays of The Temptations’ Damon Harris, Spencer Davis, Gang Starr’s Guru, Animal Collective’s Panda Bear, Vince Guaraldi, Sebadoh’s Lou Barlow, Phoebe Snow and Nicolette Larson.
Inspired by the July 12 birthdays of Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie, Boney M’s Liz Mitchell and Broadway composer Oscar Hammerstein II.
Inspired by the July 11 birthdays of Suzanne Vega, Lil’ Kim, The Paragons’ John Holt, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Jeff Hanna, Peter Brown, Red Peters, Bonnie Pointer, Thurston Harris, Peter Murphy, Andrew Bird, the Murmurs’ Leisha Hailey, and Mel & Kim’s Mel Appleby; and the July 10 birthdays of Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant, Mavis Staples, Arlo Guthrie, John Whitehead and Eileen Rodgers.
Inspired by Black Music Month, LGBTQ Pride Month, and the June 21 birthdays of The Kinks‘ Ray Davies, The Killers’ Brandon Flowers, Lana Del Rey, Shakespear’s Sister’s Marcella Detroit, Pete Rock, John Paul Young, Sonique, Brenda Holloway, Rebecca Black, O.C. Smith, Strawberry Alarm Clock’s Greg Munford and Jussie Smollett.
Inspired by the May 27 birthdays of OutKast‘s Andre 3000, TLC’s Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, Crowded House’s Neil Finn, Siouxsie Sioux, Spoonie Gee, Ramsey Lewis, Bruce Cockburn, Detroit Emeralds’ James Mitchell, and Vincent Price.
Inspired by the passing of Little Richard and the May 9 birthdays of Ghostface Killah, Sam & Dave’s Dave Prater, Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan, Billy Joel, Andrew W.K., Hank Snow, The Housemartins/The Beautiful South’s Paul Heaton, The Crickets’ Sonny Curtis, The Ventures’ Nokie Edwards, Cyrkle’s Don Dannemann, Clint Holmes and Tommy Roe.
Here in California, our governor has ordered all beaches to remain closed to curtail the spread of the coronavirus. Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner disagrees, arguing that going to a beach is good for one’s health. Said Wagner “Medical professionals tell us the importance of fresh air and sunlight in fighting infectious diseases.” Mr. Wagner believes that air and sunlight cannot be found anywhere in Orange County except on crowded beaches. He seems smart.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters said Joe Biden “has no appeal to anybody.” Interesting. Biden has no appeal to anybody, and yet he received more votes than all of the other candidates vying to be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States. Someone needs some education. Perhaps Waters should run for office. I suggest Orange County Supervisor.
Today’s playlist is inspired by the May 2 birthdays of Lily Allen, Foreigner’s Lou Gramm, Lesley Gore, Hot Hot Heat’s Steve Bays, The Vaccines’ Justin Hayward-Young, Shannon, Kevin Morby, Little Sister’s Vet Stewart, Engelbert Humperdinck, Link Wray, David McAlmont, Blow Monkeys’ Dr. Robert, and Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart.
In October of 1975, the band Queen played for their manager, John Reid, a song they recently finished recording that they wanted to release as their next single. Reid told them the track would not get any airplay. He played it for another artist he managed, Elton John, who reportedly said “Are you mad? You’ll never get that on the radio!”
Queen stayed firm, not relenting when their record company begged them to at least edit the song down from its nearly six-minute duration.
To promote the song, the band was invited to play on England’s hugely successful Top of the Pops television program. They were unable to appear due to tour commitments, so they did something that wasn’t very common in 1975 – they filmed a videoclip. Top of the Pops aired the clip. As the song rose up the charts, the video was shown repeatedly. Soon other artists in the UK made videos for their records, which is why when MTV launched in the United States in 1981, many of the clips they aired were of UK acts.
The single, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” went to #1 in England in December of that year, where it stayed for nine weeks. It got knocked from the top spot by a song whose title consisted of a phrase used in “Bohemian Rhapsody” – ABBA’s “Mamma Mia.” “Bohemian Rhapsody” hit #1 again there in December of 1991, a few weeks after the death of the band’s lead singer and the song’s composer, Freddie Mercury.
In the United States, the song didn’t go to #1, but it did hit the top ten in 1976 and 1992.
For this week’s Throwback Thursday playlist, Tunes du Jour revisits 1976 (part I can be found here), kicking off with the Queen classic “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Click here to like Tunes du Jour on Facebook!
Follow me on Twitter: @TunesDuJour
Follow me on Instagram: @GlennSchwartz
It’s Mothers Day weekend. Today’s playlist consists of songs about mothers. Not mothers like Shaft, a bad mother shut-your-mouth. Real mothers.
Happy Mothers Day!
Click here to like Tunes du Jour on Facebook!
Follow me on Twitter: @TunesDuJour