Thirty of the songs that defined 1983.
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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 10-2-22
Today’s playlist celebrates the October 2 birthdays of The Human League’s Phil Oakey, The Police’s Sting, Genesis’s Mike Rutherford, Richard Hell, Badly Drawn Boy, Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard, Don McLean, The Diamonds’ Dave Somerville, Hoodoo Gurus’s Dave Faulkner, Tiffany, Mousse T, Redbone’s Lolly Vegas, Aqua’s Lene Nystrom, Foxy/OXO’s Ish Ledesma, and Abbott & Costello’s Bud Abbott.
Throwback Thursday: 1986
For many years I’ve been saying that 1986 was a crap year for music. I prove myself wrong with this week’s Throwback Thursday playlist. Listen to these gems! How did I get this so wrong until now? My theory is this: In 1986 I was still listening to top 40 radio more than other formats. While there were many great hit songs in ’86 (as evidenced by the playlist below), there was also a lot of garbage songs that were successful on the pop chart. My thoughts of all those garbage songs outweighed my fond memories of all of the good songs. Well, no more, missy! Nineteen eighty-six was a good year for music. The proof is in the pudding (pudding meaning this week’s Throwback Thursday playlist).
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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (10-2-20)
Inspired by the October 2 birthdays of The Police’s Sting, Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard, Genesis/Mike + the Mechanics’ Mike Rutherford, The Human League’s Philip Oakey, Mousse T., Badly Drawn Boy, Foxy/OXO’s Ish Ledesma, The Diamonds’ Dave Somerville, Don McLean, Richard Hell, Redbone’s Lolly Vegas, Aqua’s Lene Nystrom, and Bud Abbott.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (9-18-20)
Inspired by the September 18 birthdays of Dizzee Rascal, Frankie Avalon, Ricky Bell, the Jayhawks’ Mark Olson, Dodgy’s Nigel Clark, Noname, Jimmie Rodgers, Xzibit, Wu-Tang Clan’s Cappadonna and The Human League’s Joanne Catherall.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (3-22-20)
Inspired by the March 22 birthdays of George Benson, William Shatner, Stephanie Mills, the Yardbirds’ Keith Relf, the Human League’s Susan Ann Sulley, Broadway legends Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
It’s Pete Burns’s Birthday And I Need To Dance!
Early in the career of the group Dead or Alive, UK music magazine Melody Maker described their lead singer Pete Burns as “a cross between Bette Midler and Jim Morrison.” Sure.
At the time Burns was sharing a home and a bed with his wife Lynne and his lover Steve. His marriage with Lynne dissolved in 2006, the year he announced his engagement to a man named Michael.
Today Burns celebrates his 57th birthday. Tunes du Jour kicks off its weekly dance party with Dead or Alive’s “Brand New Lover,” with lead vocals by the man Melody Maker called a “transvestite sex symbol.” Sure.
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It’s LGBT Pride Month And I Need To Dance!
Because there are millions of people who tell us we shouldn’t be who we are because it doesn’t conform to who they think we should be;
Because this “government of the people, by the people and for the people” often isn’t for all the people;
Because “All men are created equal” doesn’t include those in the LGBT populations per many politicians and their constituents;
Because our Pride parades are attended not only by LGBT peoples are their allies, but by “counter protestors” who shout hateful rhetoric through megaphones in the name of religion, as these self-proclaimed Christians have no place better to be on a Sunday morning;
Because LGBT youth represent 7% of the youth population, while LGBT homeless youth make up 40% of the homeless youth population;
Because LGB and questioning youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than non-LGB youth;
Because queer youth need to see there are many people like them;
Because if we don’t celebrate who we are, then we tacitly say we are not worthy of celebration and things are fine as they are, neither of which is true;
Because there is strength in numbers;
Because in many parts of the world one is killed for the suspicion of being gay or lesbian;
Because in many parts of the world it is illegal and/or dangerous to show your LGBT pride;
Because nobody should live in fear of expressing their authentic self, including the asshats who attempt to intimidate us from doing so;
Because it is empowering to be able to express one’s sexuality or gender identity in a supportive environment;
Because coming together brings about positive change;
Because while marrying someone of the opposite gender has been legal throughout US history, the right to marry someone of the same gender is coming on just one year;
Because we still have a ways to get to before we reach true equality, and we’ve come too far to stop now;
Because it’s fun!;
Because diversity should be celebrated;
Because pride is respect for yourself and you deserve respect;
Because men in Speedos;
Because despite all of the bull feces, we persevere. That is why
We still need LGBT Pride Month celebrations.
Here is your expanded soundtrack:
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It’s Siouxsie Sioux’s Birthday And I Need To Dance!
During the 1980s, Siouxsie and the Banshees, led by Susan “Siouxsie” Ballion, had 15 top 40 singles in the UK, where they formed. In the US, they had 15 fewer hits.
That changed in 1991, thanks to a song about a popular Hollywood actress of the 1950s who died in a car accident in 1967.
Vera Palmer, under her screen name Jayne Mansfield, won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year in 1957, beating out Natalie Wood. That was the year she appeared in the film Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, based on the Broadway show in which she also starred. She also starred in the hit film The Girl Can’t Help It, which featured appearances from Little Richard, Fats Domino, The Platters, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent.
Her career took a turn after these hits, perhaps due to a public backlash against her over-exposure, perhaps due to a decline in popularity of the “blonde bombshell” look, and/or perhaps due to her frequent pregnancies keeping her from accepting roles she was offered.
She did continue to work, however – in films, on television, on stage, and on records. Following a nightclub performance in Biloxi, Mississippi on June 28, 1967, Mansfield was en route to New Orleans where she was scheduled to be part of a radio show the following day. Her car collided with a tractor-trailer, and Mansfield, as well as her boyfriend and the car’s driver, were killed instantly.
The car accident is referenced in the fourth verse of Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Kiss Them for Me,” named after Mansfield’s 1957 film in which she co-starred with Cary Grant.
“Kiss Them for Me” peaked at #23 on the Billboard Hot 100, nine positions higher than its UK peak. It also went to #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart and hit #8 on the Billboard Dance chart.
Today the woman born Susan Ballion turns 59 years old. Tunes du Jour’s weekly dance party kicks off with her ode to the late Jayne Mansfield.
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