Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 11-26-23

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Superstar producer Phil Spector went to see Ike Turner. He told Ike that he wanted to record a song with Tina that would become a number one smash on the pop charts and break them bigger. However, Ike could have nothing to do with the recording. Ike agreed, provided his name was still on the record label, which led to the awkwardly phrased Ike & Tina Turner featuring Tina. The track, “River Deep—Mountain High,” was recorded over five sessions. At various times during the recordings, studio guests included Mick Jagger, Brian Wilson, and Dennis Hopper. After subjecting Tina to take after take, Spector finally got what he wanted. He knew he had a smash on his hands.

In the US, the single debuted on the Hot 100 at number 98. The following week it was up to number 94. The next week, number 93. Then number 88. And that was that. Its chart run was over. In the UK the record went to number 2, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy Spector, who retreated from music production for the next couple of years.  

The late great Tina Turner was born on this date in 1939. Lots of Tina on today’s playlist.

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Throwback Thursday: 1984

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Madonna! Prince! Bruce! Michael! Chaka! Cyndi! Rockwell! Boy! The best of 1984’s pop stars/hits made a mark that remain part of our consciousness nearly forty years later. The influence of upstarts who didn’t crack the Hot 100 – The Smiths, The Replacements, Run-D.M.C. – has been acknowledged in the years since. For those who wish to relive those days, for those who wish they were living then, and for those who wish to associate 1984 with something other than a misunderstood piece of classic literature or the most recent Wonder Woman movie, this playlist is for you. Happy Throwback Thursday!

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It’s David Bowie’s Birthday And I Need To Dance!

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Our weekly dance playlist kicks off with a track that was inspired by a song from the 1952 film Hans Christian Andersen. In the movie, Danny Kaye performs the Frank Loesser’s “Inchworm.” While schoolchildren sing “Two and two are four / Four and four are eight” etc., Kaye sings to the titular worm “You and your arithmetic/ You’ll probably go far,” and asking “Could it be you’d stop and see
how beautiful they are?” Singer-songwriter David Bowie told Performing Songwriter magazine “You wouldn’t believe the amount of my songs that have sort of spun off that one song. Not that you’d really recognize it. Something like ‘Ashes to Ashes’ wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t have been for ‘Inchworm.’ There’s a child’s nursery rhyme element in it, and there’s something so sad and mournful and poignant about it. It kept bringing me back to the feelings of those pure thoughts of sadness that you have as a child, and how they’re so identifiable even when you’re an adult. There’s a connection that can be made between being a somewhat lost five-year old and feeling a little abandoned and having the same feeling when you’re in your twenties. And it was that song that did that for me.”

Today is David Bowie’s 69th birthday. Put on your red shoes and dance the blues with this playlist of club tunes.


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A Hint Of Mint – Volume 13: The Rolling Stones

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In this installment of A Hint of Mint, we’re celebrating Mick Jagger’s birthday with a Rolling Stones playlist. As 8tracks must limit the number of songs per artist, we’re including covers of Stones hits done by members of the LGBTQQI and SA populations.

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Winston + Keef

Keith Richards Is An A@@hole

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Winston + Keef
Keith Richards is an a@@hole. I came to that conclusion after reading the book Life, by Keith Richards.

His autobiography is a good read, especially if you’re a Rolling Stones fan, as I am. Most of the songs have held up well decades later, and learning how they came to be grabbed my interest.

However, the constant referring to women as bitches and the reference to Studio 54 as “a room full of faggots in boxer shorts” (and your beef is what, exactly?) reduced my regard for the guitar legend.

Worst of all is the complaining about Mick Jagger. Richards resents Jagger’s controlling the band, especially as the eighties began, but Richards spent the seventies as a junkie. Someone with a clearer mind had to take care of group. Richards didn’t want The Rolling Stones to indulge Jagger’s desire to create more dance-influenced music, and then he became incensed that Jagger records a solo album where he can do that music. Mick shouldn’t be allowed to create his art as he sees fit? And he’s the controlling one?

While Keith’s book put me firmly on Team Mick (should I have to choose sides), the truth is the two need each other. Neither Mick’s albums or Keith’s albums away from the Stones are must-haves. Together, they’ve created classics.

Keith Richards is an a@@hole. Fine. I won’t hang out with him. I’ll still enjoy his music.

Today Keith turns 71 years old. Today’s playlist consists of twenty great Stones tracks.

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