AMERICAN HIT RADIO - THE BEST OF JANUARY 1998

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How much can happen in ten years? From decade to decade, changes can be rapid, or they can be glacial. To my ears, it feels as though not much has changed since 1998. Here is a list of songs that debuted on the charts ten years ago. Hope you enjoy the program.

1)    Brick – Ben Folds Five

2)    I Do – Lisa Loeb

3)    Father – LL Cool J

4)    Sleep on the Left Side – Cornershop

5)    Brimful of Asha – Cornershop

6)    La Fenme D’Argent – Air

7)    Wide Open Spaces – The Dixie Chicks

8)    Given to Fly – Pearl Jam

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 10d - THE BLUES AND BESSIE SMITH, PART 4

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We complete our coverage of Bessie Smith by focusing intently on the connection between her music and her personal life. The more you know about Bessie Smith’s personal life and the times she lived in, the easier it is to appreciate her magnificent artistry, and recognize her importance as one of the most influential artists that ever lived. Her legendary status is compounded by her untimely death. Her story is a combination of ribald revelry and tragedy, and you can hear every ounce of Bessie’s experience in each of these songs. Here is a list of music covered in today’s program; 

1) Backwater Blues

2) I'd Rather Be Dead and Buried in My Grave

3) Empty Bed Blues, Pt. 1

4) Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out

5) It Makes My Love Come Down

6) On Revival Day

7) Do Your Duty

8)Gimme a Pigfoot

9) St. Louis Blues (from film soundtrack)

30 YEARS AGO, A PERIOD OF TRANSITION; JANUARY '78

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            If you judged solely by the pop charts, nobody would claim 1978 to be a banner year for music. Our glance at the top 10 chart for this week 30 years ago is a sad sight to see. Thankfully, albums provided significant relief from the stultifying morass of nonsense that dominated the top 40. It was an era of transformation, with ‘New Wave’ music trying desperately (and mostly failing) to gain a foothold on the charts, while artists with crossover appeal managed to do quite well. As a result, this is one of the most ridiculously eclectic shows we’ve ever compiled. Enjoy??

            Here’s a list of songs featured in today’s program;

1)    Baby Come Back – Player

2)    How Deep Is Your Love – The Bee Gees

3)    Theme from Close Encounters – Meco

4)    Trouble Boys – Dave Edmunds

5)    Deborah -  Dave Edmunds

6)    Wuthering Heights – Kate Bush

7)    The Man with the Child in his Eyes – Kate Bush

8)     Tropical Hot Dog Night – Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band

9)    The Floppy Boot Stomp – Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band

10)  The Pearls/Tia Juana – Ry Cooder

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 10c - THE BLUES AND BESSIE SMITH, PT. 3

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Today we continue our coverage of “The Bessie Smith Saga.” Until now, we focused pretty much exclusively on Bessie’s musical output, but her personal life had such an effect on her art that we find it difficult if not impossible to avoid a few personal details. And boy are they ever, umm, colorful. We tell part of the story, but we let Bessie’s niece and close friend tell the lion’s share, mostly because she was there and witnessed most of the shenanigans firsthand. With so much turmoil surrounding her, it’s a wonder Bessie could function at all, but her music stands as testament to her ability to withstand virtually anything that life had to throw at her (or that she had to throw back).

Hope you enjoy the show!

            Here’s a list of featured songs. All are by Bessie, unless indicated otherwise;

1)    Cake Walkin’ Babies From Home

2)    Reckless Blues

3)    Careless Love

4)    Blues Oh Blues – Ma Rainey

5)    The Yellow Dog Blues

6)    Interview with Ruby, Pt. 1

7)    My Man Blues

8)    Lost Your Head Blues

9)    Young Woman Blues

10)  Send Me to the ‘Lectric Chair

11)  Interview with Ruby, Pt. 2

12)  A Good Man Is Hard to Find

ALBUM TRACKS FROM 1968

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Last week we discussed the prominence of singles artists from this era, while alluding to the number of artists who were developing reputations as album artists. Today we focus on three of our favorite albums from 1968, each of which debuted in 1968. Albums featured in today’s show include Buffalo Springfield’s “Last Time Around”, “The Who Sell Out” and Love’s “Forever Changes.” We play a variety of songs from each of these classic releases. Hope you enjoy the program.

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 10b – THE BLUES AND BESSIE SMITH

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We continue our coverage of Bessie Smith by looking at her early life and discussing how her raw talent provided the impetus to make her the most famous of all blues singers, the ‘Empress’ of the Blues. It also covers the time period when the blues grew to become the most famous and commercially viable style of its time. For comparison’s sake we also listen to a few of her contemporaries, including Ma Rainey, Ida Cox and Eva Taylor.

            Here’s a list of songs featured in today’s program. All are by Bessie Smith unless indicated otherwise;

1)    My Sweetie Went Away

2)    ‘Tain’t Nobody’s Business if I Do

3)    Weeping Willow Blues

4)    Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Ma Rainey

5)    Outside of That

6)    Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues – Ida Cox

7)    West End Blues – Eva Taylor

8)    Cemetery Blues

9)    Sinful Blues

10)  You’ve Been a Good Ole Wagon

11)  The St. Louis Blues

 

ROCK AND ROLL’S RUBY ANNIVERSARY - JANUARY 1968

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With Wedding Anniversaries, the 40^th year is known as the “Ruby Anniversary.” For our purposes, we’ll utilize the same signifier to celebrate popular music from forty years ago. Pop music from January 1968 significant for a number of reasons. Most historians refer to the great albums of this era, and while it is true that ‘album rock’ started to flourish in 1968, this perspective overlooks the great wealth of pop songs from artists who never developed an identity as album artists. The first part of today’s show focuses on songs that debuted on the pop charts in January 1968, while part two counts ‘up’ the top 10 for the week of January 13, 1968. You may notice that while a number of performers can legitimately claim status as album artists (The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Aretha Franklin), the majority were almost exclusively singles artists. These songs represent the spirit of the times, and so we celebrate their ‘Ruby Anniversary” with today’s show.

1)    She’s a Rainbow – The Rolling Stones

2)    Itchycoo Park – The Small Faces

3)    Nobody but Me – The Human Beinz

4)    I Wish It Would Rain – The Temptations

5)    Spooky – The Classics IV

6)    Simon Says – 1910 Fruitgum Co. (as a ‘Great Miss’)

7)    Skinny Legs and All – Joe Tex

8)    Green Tambourine – The Lemon Pipers

9)    I Second That Emotion – Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

10)  Bend Me Shape Me – The American Breed

11)  Chain of Fools – Aretha Franklin

12)  I Heard It Through the Grapevine – Gladys Knight & the Pips

13)  Woman, Woman, - The Union Gap

14)  Daydream Believer – The Monkees

15)  Judy In Disguise – John Fred & his Playboy Band

16)  Hello Goodbye – The Beatles

HOW MUSIC CHANGED PART 10a – THE BLUES AND BESSIE SMITH

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Today we begin Part 10 in our 250-part series on ‘How Music Changed’ by looking at the music of Bessie Smith, ‘Ma’ Rainey and other female blues singers from the ‘20s. In 1920, the fledgling recording industry was rocked when an obscure vocalist named Mamie Smith managed to sell over one million copies of a song entitled “Crazy Blues.” From most accounts, this marked the first time that a blues song was pressed onto shellac and sold for profit. The seismic effect of this success was palpable. Until then, virtually all recordings were aimed at the white middle-class audience, and consisted of novelty recordings, pop music, ‘coon’ songs (a vulgar term for whites imitating blacks), and a smattering of classical music. Before “Crazy Blues,” recording companies dismissed Blues music as worthless junk sung by itinerant yokels without sophistication or talent. After “Crazy Blues,” that changed very quickly. Suddenly, the race was on to find the best Blues singers available, and since Mamie Smith was a woman, they focused primarily on female vocalists. In the rush, a few extraordinarily talented women were discovered who otherwise might have vanished into obscurity, including Alberta Hunter, Eva Taylor, Ida Cox, ‘Ma’ Rainey, and eventually the Empress, Bessie Smith.

            Today’s show focuses on those early years. Songs include the following;

1)    Beale Street Mama – Bessie Smith

2)    Walking Blues – ‘Ma’ Rainey

3)    See See Rider Blues – ‘Ma’ Rainey

4)    Stack O’Lee Blues – ‘Ma’ Rainey

5)    Crazy Blues – Mamie Smith

6)    Goin’ Crazy with the Blues – Mamie Smith

7)    Beale Street Blues – Fats Waller and Alberta Hunter

8)    Down Hearted Blues – Alberta Hunter

9)    Down Hearted Blues – Bessie Smith

10)  Gulf Coast Blues -  Bessie Smith

The Golden Anniversary of Golden Age Rock and Roll - January 1958

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With the New Year, we return to our format of celebrating various anniversaries in popular music by taking a look at the first week of January 1958. Fifty years is a very long time, but we are impressed by how fresh many of these songs still sound. As 1958 dawned, rock and roll was at full force, but many people viewed it with disdain. Some fought it well (Frank Sinatra) and some did not (The McGuire Sisters and Pat Boone). It didn’t matter either way, though, because rock and roll was not going to disappear. At the time, it was impossible to determine the full impact this music would have, but now it’s plain to see that rock and roll was a cultural force as much as a musical force.

Today, music has fragmented into so many subdivisions that we don’t even know what to call the music we listen to anymore. In 1958, things were a lot simpler, and there’s a great deal of truth to that old axiom/acronym, “K.I.S.S.” (Keep it simple, stupid). The simplicity of early rock and roll provides much of its appeal and its lasting power, as we hope today’s show will attest.

            Here’s a list of featured songs from today’s show –

1)    Maybe – The Chantels

2)    Witchcraft – Frank Sinatra

3)    Get a Job – The Silhouettes

4)    Sugartime – The McGuire Sisters

5)    Stood Up – Ricky Nelson

6)    You Send Me – Sam Cooke

7)    Jingle Bell Rock – Bobby Helms

8)    Kisses Sweeter Than Wine – Jimmie Rodgers

9)    Jailhouse Rock – Elvis Presley

10)  Raunchy – Bill Justis

11)  Peggy Sue – Buddy Holly

12)  April Love – Pat Boone

13)  Great Balls of Fire – Jerry Lee Lewis

14)  At the Hop – Danny & the Juniors