This song was written by Marianne Fathfull's boyfriend, Mick Jagger, along with Keith Richards, reportedly for her (she denied that). The Stones version came after hers, and yes, was better known, but her version - her debut single in 1964 - was also a hit in the US, UK and Canada.
Marianne Faithfull passed away on January 30th, aged 78. Her voice is one that will live on in music history.
Look, I've been clear about how very cool I think The Cardigans were and are.
This song is yet another log on that fire.
A cool, slower song than was their norm, it followed "My Favourite Game" as a single and, like that song, was a big hit all over Europe and not so much in the States. That whole Gran Turismo album is a classic and more people should listen to it.
As was their style at this point, there are multiple versions of this video. In this one, the walls close in to the point of almost crushing the band, but then a door opens. It's better than a beheading, right?
This version of the video intersperses scenes from the movie The Thirteenth Floor, which featured this song prominently.
The band is still getting crushed, though.
Yes, there's a version where the band clearly gets crushed. No one wants to see that one, though, right?
I feel like a recurring theme here is songs that I could not freaking stand when they were out, and songs I actually like in hindsight.
THIS song is absolutely and firmly in that category. God, I hated this song. I thought it was drivel.
Now, I appreciate the pop pleaure of the rapid-fire lyrics and what sounds like a Fine Young Cannibals sample running throughout the whole song. (As far as I can tell, it isn't, and I hope I didn't just spark a lawsuit).
This was their debut single, and not nearly their biggest hit (although it was top 5 around the world), but it's possibly their most enduring.
This band was, of course, a bigger hit in their home country of Australia than elsewhere - and this song was a hit there first. Since this was their debut song, their original video was a little lower budget...
So, a lot of the appeal of this song is that it's a duo and the song is immaculately produced. It sounds polished.
So how would a song with that production and that energy play live?
Surprisingly and exceptionally well. If you didn't like this song already, you likely will after this performance.
I remember HATING this song when it came out. I don't know why I did. It's a great song.
It was their first single in the United States, and it made it to #1 on the Billboard pop charts. In the UK, it was the FOURTH single off their SECOND album. Annie Lennox and David Stewart - the band and songwriters - recorded the song in their attic with Stewart producing - which, for a pop hit at the time, was unheard of.
But here's something you didn't know: the song almost didn't get a US release because RCA did not like that the song didn't have a chorus. Did you even notice the lack of a chorus? No, because people don't care. They just like interesting, catchy music.
And this song is interesting and catchy.
When performing the song live, the band, and later Annie Lennox solo, performed the song in a higher key and with a lot less monotone.
When inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, they were back to the original key, but still with a lot of emotion and inflection.
So, we're tempted to let AI write this classic post about a classic song that wasn't really a hit other than a short stint in MTV heavy rotation.
We're resisting.
The song refers to the phenomenom of the border blaster - a radio station in one country with a signal targeted towards another country but sitting where it is to subvert broadcast rules. Yes, there are a lot of Mexican border radio stations targeting the United States. Famed disc jockey Wolfman Jack built his career at a couple of border blaster stations.
Mexican radio stations have to play the Mexican national anthem twice daily and include some Spanish-language content, but for the most part, these border radio stations target the United States.
The song, written by the band, is fun but was probably a hit because of the bizarre video, which featured Stan Ridgway emerging from a bowl of beans. This song and its success allowed Ridgway to pursue a solo career soon after this single's run.
When I was a kid, I associated Simply Red with boring, overblown ballads.
But really, they made great dance music, too. Take this song from 2003 - which was something of a comeback for them in the UK and pretty much everywhere in the world that's not the US - where they had not had a hit since the late 1980 (and this song wasn't either).
The song was written by Mick Hucknall - who is the only original member of Simply Red (it's not just him, but it might as well be) and, shockingly, Sara Allen, Darryl Hall and John Oates, the writers of "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)". Paul Carrack does NOT get a credit for the obvious borrowing from "How Long"(presumably because he doesn't say "How long" in the song?). Sarah Brown provides additional vocals.
The song owes a large debt to this video, filmed near Rio de Janeiro, for its success.
Anyway, the song is fun and hot and not at all a boring, overblown ballad.
You all know by now I love including a live performance, and I chose their show in Cuba for this one. I don't think I've ever featured a Cuban performance. Well, anyway, it's a gooder.
This is a case where there is an obvious original and an obvious cover, and yet both are iconic.
But you weren't expecting THREE songs, were you?
In 1981, Falco released this song as a single in Germany and Austria. He really wanted it to be a B-side because he thought the bassline was too-"Super Freak"-y. He may have been right, but his record label insisted, and, well, they were right.
The song hir #1 in both countries.
So they all decided to release it broader. And it did really really well in Europe, and hit #11 in Canada in 1982.
It only made club hit status in the US, despite this amazing US-only video with terrific special effects. Don't worry, though - he had hits later.
We jump to early 1982, and struggling UK prog rock band After The Fire. In a last-ditch effort to stay together, they recorded a version of this song, and it was a hit everywhere Falco's version was not, except Canada, where not only were both hits, but - remember above, where I said Falco's version hit #11? ATF's version hit #12, the SAME WEEK.
Anyway, this was a more popular song in the US, but both are great.
Falco, who HATED the ATF version with a passion, would not agree with me that both are great.
ATF would break up in late 1982 - ON STAGE, during an opening gig supporting Van Halen - but they did reform in 2004, and yeah, they did perform this song live. And well.
But c'mon. Falco did live better, if just for the trenchcoats.
But wait. There's more. Around the time of ATF's breakup, Laura Branigan was recording and preparing for release her own version of the song, with a different translation and in a very different key.
Here she is lip-syncing to "Deep In The Dark" on American Bandstand. It did get a 1983 single release but went nowhere on the charts, and was quickly overshadowed by "Self Control".
"Dance The Night" is what you'd get if ABBA and Daft Punk had a baby and raised it on a strict diet of glitter and confidence. It's proof that movie soundtracks don't have to be as forgettable as your ex's birthday or as bland as tofu at a steakhouse.
Yep. It's gonna be that type of post today.
Mark Ronson crafted a production smoother than a buttered dolphin. The bass line struts around like John Travolta practicing for "Saturday Night Fever" in a zero-gravity chamber, while strings sweep in like the ghost of Barry White conducting an orchestra of velvet.
Dua's vocals are more polished than a Buddhist monk's head, showing growth that would make a redwood tree jealous. She's evolved faster than a Pokemon with a Fire Stone since "Future Nostalgia," and this track is her final evolution. The lyrics, ostensibly about dancing through your problems, are more layered than a Matryoshka doll wearing an onion costume.
The song, from the soundtrack to the Barbie movie, dominated summer 2023 like a benevolent earworm dictator, climbing to #6 on Billboard faster than a spider monkey hopped up on espresso. It's the rare movie tie-in that doesn't feel more forced than small talk in an elevator, actually enhancing both the film and Dua's artistic journey like some sort of pop music alchemy.
Remember when Pat Benatar was on MTV all the time?!
This song was a lot of the reason. The video itself tells a story of a 30-year-old teenage runaway leaving home to become a taxi dancer, only to lead a dance rebellion by her fellow taxi dancers and escaping the lifestyle.
No, really. That is the storyline of the video.
It was somewhat groundbreaking because it was one of the first music videos to feature dialog - not THE first, but the first well-known video. It is the Oreo to Phillip Bailey's "I Know" Hydrox.
The song was written by Mike Champan and Holly Knight - each of them hitmaking songwriters - and would become one of Benatar's celebrity-making early hits.
This song was a hit in 1983 and 1984. So, imaging the surprise when she appeared on Austin City Limits in 2024 and brought the SAME LEVEL of energy to the song 40 years after its initial release, at age 71.
I'm not overselling this performance. It's incredible.
I have always loved the song, and it's been in my drafts for five years. Today is the day.
It was the biggest hit of 1968, by far. It led year-end charts worldwide.
The song started out as "Hey Jules" in May 1968 - the titular Jules being Julian Lennon, son of John and Cynthia, who had separated in the wake of John's affair with Yoko Ono. Listen to it as not a love song, but as encouragement for a five year old kid who blames himself for his parents' divorce, and you will get it.
Did Paul McCartney ever admit to John Lennon that it was about his son? No. John thought it was about himself.
The seven-minute long magnum opus was, at the time, the longest #1 song in history (later eclipsed by "American Pie" by Don McLean, which was a minute longer, itself eclipsed by Taylor Swift's "All Too Well").
In 1998, I travelled to California with my then-wife for a training class.
The only tolerable radio station we could find was, no joke, Radio Disney.
This song was on super heavy rotation, so, shockingly, we got a quick affinity for the song.
It's clearly a strong attempt to have the word "Spice" repeated over and over in a song.
The song was the lead single from their 2nd album, SpiceWorld, and was a significantly lower performer than their previous songs. Still, it was a hit, and not a bad song (although there are some questionable lyrics).
But can we talk about the B-side? You see, they didn't have any songs left for the B-side, so Virgin Records hired songwriting/producing team Absolute to come up with something. The "something" they came up with was "Spice Invaders" - literally a generic dance beat over hot mics on all the Girls just talking.
It is both horrifyingly awful and amazing at once.
But back to "Spice Up Your Life". This was one of the two songs (the other OBVIOUSLY being "Wannabe") the group performed at the London Olympic closing ceremonies - their first performance together in over a decade.
They did leave out the line about the yellow man in Timbuktu.
So, rather than saying a million words about a song, I want to give you an epic song.
But I can't say nothing about it.
The song was released as a single in 1978 and was a huge UK hit and a minor US one (her first!). But the history of the song was much longer than that. It was originally recorded in 1975 and produced by Andrew Powell and David Gilmour (it is rumoured the latter is the subject of the song, but Bush, the songwriter, has not clarified that).
But she had begun writing songs in 1970, and this song was written in 1972.
Kate Bush was 13 when she wrote this song and 16 when she recorded it. I suppose her youth contributes to the innocent nature of the song - it exudes a sweetness that is rare in music, even in the 1970's.
And, to be fair, she was 19 when she made this video.
Despite the epic nature of this song, it is, at its core, Kate Bush and a piano. Never has that been more clear than her 1978 Christmas special.
Let's start by remembering that, when Jesus Christ Superstar, the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical, was first recorded, Yvonne Elliman was 18.
18.
And she sang it with such maturity, and such gravitas, that it quite literally stole the show.
This version is from the 1973 version of the movie, when she was 21.
The song is sung from the point of view of Mary Magdelene, and the "Him" is Jesus Christ himself, in the last couple of days before his crucifixion. Written by Rice (lyrics) and Webber (music), the song owes a huge debt to Mendelssohn's "Violin Concerto in E Minor", and if you don't believe me, go check out the 2nd movement about 5 minutes in.
And, more than fifty years after its initial release, it is a song that stands on its own as a classic.
But this wasn't the version I grew up with.
No, in fact, when I first saw Jesus Christ Superstar in the early 1990s, my initial reaction to that song was 1) "that's not Helen Reddy" 2) "this is WAY better than Helen Reddy!"
Now, before you go off and say "OMG, you are being so disrespectful", hear me out.
I was in the early 20s when I saw the musical. I had grown up with parents - especially a mother - who were very passionate about music - especially music they had either purchased on eight-track tape or via a Columbia House membership, or in the case of Helen Reddy's Greatest Hits album, BOTH - and therefore, I grew up with this Helen Reddy cover of the song (a song she initially did not like)....
.... which was actually a hit first, and a bigger hit. The single release of the Elliman version was a reaction to Reddy's - and both were legitimately hits.
Now, as I am older, I appreciate Helen Reddy - the queen of 70's pop - a lot more than I did when I was 20. Her music brings me back to road trips in the van, short trips to school... a simpler time. And her voice was spectacular - let's not pretend otherwise.
I do stand by my statement that the original is the best, though.
And Elliman is still around to perform the song, and she does. The song would be one of her most recognized and one of her biggest hits. And even in this version, where her voice has lost some of the higher register, the passion she still exudes gives me goosebumps.
I decided this year to go through all my drafts on this blog. I have, not a joke, almost 500 of them, a large percentage intended for future March posts.
Yes, my musical tastes skew a little Canadian. Sue me.
This song was my oldest draft, and it'll surprise some of you that I actually enjoy the song, unironically. A song about a young woman leaving home to live her life on her own.... it was written by award-winning songwriter Susan Gibson, from the alt-country group The Groobies - who would go on to RELEASE the song themselves in 1999.... after recording it a few years prior.
So how did the song get to the Chicks?
That album the Groobies was recording was produced by famed country producer Lloyd Maines, who happens to have a daughter named Natalie..... and he thought the song was a good fit for his daughter's new group's first album (which would also be named Wide Open Spaces). (Also, anyone who thinks it's talent and not who you know that makes a hit - well, this is evidence to the contrary).
Remember earlier when I mentioned Susan Gibson was an award-winning songwriter? This song, which she loved and, by most accounts I found, still does, is a large reason for that. Sure, it was deeply personal for her - but the fact that it resonated with another artist was something she not only understood, she appreciated.
Anyway, this song, which ended up being the Chicks' third single, was a HUGE hit - and their performance was a big reason for that.
OF COURSE they perform it live, and of course it is brilliant.
I think I've mentioned here that I thought Lover was a high water mark for Taylor Swift. This song is yet another reason why. Written and produced by Swift and Joel Little, this LGBTQ+ anthem is fun, funky and smart. The song peaked at #2 on the pop charts in the US, blocked from #1 by the juggernaut that was "Old Town Road".
But can we talk about this video? So many cameos - and a lot of them are members of the LGBTQ+ community, which is wonderful.... but also, for all those people who thought "Bad Blood" was about Katy Perry must have been satified to see Ms. Hudson show up in this video wearing a hamburger and sharing a sweet moment with a fries-wearing Swift.
The video is fun and completely unhinged.
What would we be if we didn't include an Eras Tour version of this song?
But also, it's unlike any other song released in 2024, and it was a HUGE hit.... Richman's first as a vocalist. Strangely, it's a non-album single that does not appear on his later-in-2024 album Coyote, itself a decent piece of work.
Anyway, I don't post a lot of trap music, so when I hear something interesting and different, I am going to post it.
This is going to be our biggest year yet, so stay tuned.
