With its songs about war, addiction, loneliness and death, John Prine’s self-titled album is just what I need to take my mind off all of the horrible news these days.
The late John Prine was born on this date in 1946. Several of his tunes are included on today’s playlist.
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Today’s playlist celebrates the October 10 birthdays of Thelonious Monk, Van Halen’s David Lee Roth, John Prine, Ultravox’s Midge Ure, Kirsty MacColl, Dave and Ansell Collins’s Dave Barker, Ivory Joe Hunter, Truth Hurts, Tanya Tucker, The Honeycombs’ Dennis D’Ell, Mr. Big’s Eric Martin, Marina and the Diamonds’ Marina Diamandis, Mya, and Oscar Brown Jr.; the October 11 birthdays of Daryl Hall, Art Blakey, Cardi B, Wheatus’s Brendan Brown, Jay-Jay Johanson, MC Lyte, Dottie West, Jane Krakowski, and Todd Snider; and National Coming Out Day.
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Stating the obvious here: not only were their more openly queer and trans artists making their music heard as we entered a new century, the subject matter of songs related to LGBTQ+ people expanded as well. It’s pretty rad to compare this playlist to the 1950s/1960s one I made to kick off this Pride Month celebration.
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Inspired by National Coming Out Day and the October 11 birthdays of Daryl Hall, Cardi B, MC Lyte, Jane Krakowski, Art Blakey, Todd Snider, Dottie West, and Wheatus’ Brendan Brown.
Inspired by the April 3 playlists of The Spinners’ Phillippe Wynne, The Band’s Richard Manuel, Tony Orlando, Jan Berry, Richard Thompson, Wayne Newton, Social Distortion’s Mike Ness, and Spiller.
Today is the birthday of Natalie Merchant, former lead singer of 10,000 Maniacs, whose 1987 album In My Tribe is one of my favorites. The album opens with “What’s the Matter Here,” a song that addresses child abuse. That inspired the theme of today’s playlist – songs about social or political issues.
While such recordings seemed more commonplace on the radio in the sixties and early seventies, there remain plenty of songs that speak to topical issues. I decided to make 1980 my starting point, with that year’s “Biko” by Peter Gabriel being the oldest song on the list. As the studio version is not on Spotify I used a live recording. The most recent recording included is Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” from 2011. Lots of great songs of different genres about a variety of topics populate the program. If you’re so inclined, let me know what favorites of yours I missed.
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