Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 12-24-22

Today’s playlist celebrates Christmas; the December 24 birthdays of Motörhead’s Lemmy, Savages’ Jehnny Beth, Lee Dorsey, Ricky Martin, Ray Bryant, and Dave Bartholomew; and the December 25 birthdays of The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan, Air’s Nicolas Godin, Eurythmics’ Annie Lennox, Cab Calloway, The Silhouettes’ Bill Horton, Alannah Myles, Chris Kenner, Jimmy Buffett, Dido, Bob James, and Merry Clayton.

Follow Tunes du Jour on Facebook

Follow Tunes du Jour on Twitter

Follow me on Instagram

Queer Music of the 1990s

What makes compiling lists of queer music by decades more challenging as we move forward in time is that the number of songs from which to choose keeps increasing greatly. For today’s playlist, I started with a list of several hundred songs by out LGBTQ+ acts or with LGBTQ+ subject matter, from which I whittled it down to the 30 tunes below. I second guess myself a lot. Should three of the first four songs be by straight-identifying acts? Should I include a lightweight novelty number over something by Maria McKee? (I decided yes, though I love Maria.) I didn’t necessarily choose my favorites. Instead I went for songs/acts that were on some level trailblazers. Here they be:

Follow Tunes du Jour on Facebook.

Follow Tunes du Jour on Twitter.

Follow me on Instagram.

Throwback Thursday: 1999

The music of 1999 shows the century coming to a close in grand style, as if to say the next year the party will be over, oops, out of time, so this year we better party. Latinx artists were crossing over to the mainstream pop chart. Cher and Santana, who first charted in the 1960s, scored the biggest hits of their careers. Artists who made their chart debuts include Eminem and Britney Spears. Pure pop exploded, though the charts made room for country, hip hop, electronica, and big beat. As one who values diversity, I loved hearing all these different genres and styles bump up against each other on the radio. Here are 30 prime examples of the music that hit in 1999.

Follow Tunes du Jour on Facebook.

Follow Tunes du Jour on Twitter.

Follow me on Instagram.

A Martin Luther King Day Playlist

“You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963

“He had a dream now it’s up to you to see it through, to make it come true” – “King Holiday”

Follow Tunes du Jour on Facebook.

Follow Tunes du Jour on Twitter.

Follow me on Instagram.

Pride 50

On June 28, 1969, what was supposed to be a routine raid on a gay bar by the New York City police turned violent when patrons at the Stonewall Inn fought back, thus setting off the gay liberation movement. That pivotal moment was recognized one year later with a gathering in New York’s Greenwich Village, where the Stonewall Inn is located, and Gay Pride marches in Los Angeles and Chicago. The following year, Gay Pride marches sprang up in Boston, Dallas, Milwaukee, London, Paris, West Berlin and Stockholm. The Pride movement grew with each passing year, and it continues to expand to this day.

Tunes du Jour celebrates 50 years of Pride with today’s playlist. Be seen. Be heard. Be proud. Celebrate. Love.

Click here to like Tunes du Jour on Facebook.

Follow Tunes du Jour on Twitter.

Follow me on Instagram.

The Ultimate Christmas Playlist

Today is the day after Thanksgiving here in the United States of America. You’re officially allowed to start listening to holiday music now. To get you started, I compiled a playlist of what I consider to be 100 of the best Christmas songs. Okay, 98 songs, a stand-up routine and a skit. It’s a mix of standards, versions of standards with which you may not be familiar, and obscure but delightful tunes.

Enjoy!

Click here to like Tunes du Jour on facebook!
Follow me on Twitter: @tunesdujour
Follow me on Instagram: @glennschwartz