Winston + Whitney 2014-08-07 18.58

Boy Meets Girl Meet Future Superstar

Do you remember the musical duo Boys Meets Girl? Neither do I, but they had a top 5 single in 1988 named “Waiting for a Star to Fall.” This post is not about that song.

A few years prior to that hit they were signed to A&M Records, for whom they had a top 40 single in 1985 named “Oh Girl.” This post is not about that song.

Also signed to A&M at that time was Janet Jackson, who had released two albums – Janet Jackson in 1982 and Dream Street in 1984. Neither had sold particularly well. A&M asked Boy Meets Girl to write a song for Ms. Jackson. They came up with a ditty they called “How Will I Know.” They sent it off to Janet’s people, who said “No, thank you.”

Someone from the pair’s publishing company sent the demo of “How Will I Know” to Gerry Griffith, who worked at Arista Records’ A&R department and was looking for material for a new teenage artist he signed to the label. Griffith liked the track and presented it to the young singer, along with another song, entitled “You Give Good Love.”

In 1985, “You Give Good Love” was the first single released from the singer’s self-titled debut album. It reached #3 on the pop chart. The follow-up single, “Saving All My Love for You,” went to #1. “How Will I Know” was the third single from the album, and it became the singer’s second #1. This was followed by “Greatest Love of All,” originally the b-side of the “You Give Good Love” 45, which also went to #1. To date, that album, entitled Whitney Houston, has sold approximately 25 million copies.

Winston + Whitney 2014-08-07 18.58
For the first single from Whitney’s second album, entitled Whitney, Arista turned to the duo who wrote “How Will I Know.” They came up with “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me),” another #1 single.

As for Janet Jackson, her 1986 album Control produced six top 40 singles and established her as a superstar.

In observation of Whitney Houston’s birthday, here are ten of her finest moments.

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It’s Friday And I Need To Dance!

I recently came across the following piece of advice:

We tend to beat ourselves up when we fail and fail to celebrate when we succeed. Strengthen your belief in yourself by reflecting on each decade of your life and every success you’ve experienced. You can begin as early as age five when you learned how to ride a bike. Write it all down. You’ll be inspired, motivated and amazed by your list and how and can be used to face your fear.
(from lifehack.org: 13 Tips To Face Your Fear and Enjoy the Ride)

My list includes:
Cast as the second male lead in high school production of Fiddler on the Roof
First person in my family to graduate college
Became a Vice President at Warner Music
Performed stand-up comedy – won contests, was mentioned in Backstage cover stories and secured an agent
Became a homeowner at 30
Adopted two rescue dogs (previously I had a fear of dogs)
Second place in Toastmasters humorous speech contest
Named President of ImprovMasters
Successfully sued landlord
Paid off student loans
Skied down the Swiss Alps
Learned how to ride a bike

I recommend doing this exercise. You’ll remember many things you haven’t thought about in a while or perhaps take for granted. Look at the list whenever you need a reminder of your fabulousness.

Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s Friday and I need to dance!

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Glenn’s Ten – August 4, 2014

Spoon’s “Do You” holds on to #1 in Glenn’s Ten this week. There is one new entry – “Really Don’t Care” performed by Demi Lovato featuring Cher Lloyd. The track, a pop song in the “Call Me Maybe” vein, is the first Glenn’s Ten entry for both of these women.

Glenn’s Ten for this week is:
1. “Do You” – Spoon
2. “All the Rage Back Home” – Interpol
3. “Left Hand Free” – Alt-J
4. “Really Don’t Care” – Demi Lovato featuring Cher Lloyd
5. “Heart is a Drum” – Beck
6. “Nothing More than Everything to Me” – Christopher Owens
7. “You Are Your Mother’s Child” – Bright Eyes
8. “Every Time the Sun Comes Up” – Sharon Van Etten
9. “Just One of the Guys” – Jenny Lewis
10. “Control” – Broken Bells

Rounding out today’s playlist are ten tunes that were #1 on this date in Glenn’s Ten history, in reverse chronological order.

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me July 25 2014 at IM

It’s Friday And I Need To Dance!

Last week I regaled an audience with the story of the time I accidentally hired a prostitute to show me around Prague. These things happen. To me, anyway.

Half-glass-full guy that I am, once I realized what I did, I looked at the positive – I hired a prostitute to show me around Prague! Complications arose when the police got involved and I had to explain to my bank why they needed to credit that charge.

Though I ended up sightseeing that spectacular city on my own, I got a great story out of the trip. Sometimes things don’t go according to plan, but you make the best of the situation and try to turn it into a positive.

me July 25 2014 at IMSomeday I’ll talk about the time I boarded a bus in Mexico to go on what I thought was a nature trip to the hot springs. Let’s just say I don’t think the springs got any hotter than they did that night.

In 1987, two bands, both interested in making a dance record, got together in the studio at the suggestion of the head of their record label, 4AD. Colourbox and A R Kane didn’t hit it off, so each worked on their own track, which they then turned over to the other group to embellish.

Colourbox came up with “Pump up the Volume,” its title line sampled from Eric B & Rakim’s “I Know You Got Soul.” A R Kane added some guitar to the track, and DJs CJ Macintosh and Dave Dorrell added a bunch of samples.

The record was released under the name M|A|R|R|S. “Pump up the Volume” became a worldwide smash and was groundbreaking in its use of samples on a British house track.

Though the idea of a true collaboration between the two bands didn’t come to fruition, and the acts didn’t get along and never worked together again, they did produce a dance classic. “Pump up the Volume” kicks off today’s dance playlist. Have a great weekend and before you buy anything, make sure you know exactly what it is you are paying for.

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Kate Bush001

The Time I Met Kate Bush

My first job in the music business was in the Accounts Receivable department of CBS Records. After a couple of years there I moved into T&E Accounting. T&E stands for Travel and Entertainment. In those halcyon days of the music biz in the late eighties, there was a lot of money spent on traveling and a lot of money spent on entertaining. Employees using their company credit card had to file expense reports documenting all money spent. My job was to audit those reports. If an employee’s reports weren’t filed in a timely manner, I had to cut off his/her corporate card.

In the autumn of 1989, Kate Bush was in town to review the marketing of her then new album, The Sensual World. She was out to lunch with her product manager. The latter called me from the restaurant – her card was declined. She knew she was behind in filing her expense reports, but had no other means of paying for the lunch. I saw to it the lunch was taken care of. As a thank you, when she got back to the office she invited me up to the 12th floor conference room to meet Kate. It was just the three of us. Kate signed a promo shot for me.

Kate Bush001
The product manager got caught up on her expense reports, I met one of my favorite performers, and Kate Bush got fed. Everybody’s happy.

Today Kate Bush turns 56. Here is a playlist of some of the highlights of her recording career. Her best-selling and most critically-acclaimed album, Hounds of Love, is not on Spotify – I assume there is a remastered reissue of the album on the way – so we’ll make do without her best-known recording, “Running Up That Hill,” her only US top 40 single.

For more on Kate Bush, check out my friend Bradley’s blog here.
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Glenn’s Ten – July 28, 2014

Spoon’s “Do You” holds on to #1 in Glenn’s Ten this week. There are two new entries – Christopher Owens’ “Nothing More than Everything to Me” and Bright Eyes’ “You Are Your Mother’s Child.” It’s a very white list again this week, and, with the exception of the Miranda Lambert/Carrie Underwood track, a very adult alternative list. Am I missing a great new r&b or rap track? I look forward to the new Kanye West single, due any day now.

Glenn’s Ten for this week is:
1. “Do You” – Spoon
2. “All the Rage Back Home” – Interpol
3. “Heart is a Drum” – Beck
4. “Left Hand Free” – Alt-J
5. “Every Time the Sun Comes Up” – Sharon Van Etten
6. “Control” – Broken Bells
7. “Nothing More than Everything to Me” – Christopher Owens
8. “You Are Your Mother’s Child” – Bright Eyes
9. “Just One of the Guys” – Jenny Lewis
10. “Somethin’ Bad” – Miranda Lambert with Carrie Underwood

Rounding out today’s playlist are ten tunes that were #1 on this date in Glenn’s Ten history, in reverse chronological order.

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Winston + Stones 2014-07-26 11.59

Mick Jagger Is 71!

Winston + Stones 2014-07-26 11.59

Today Mick Jagger turns 71 years old. He remains a dynamic live performer and one of the greatest frontmen ever.

Don’t use your age as an excuse to not do what you wish to. You’re not too old to write a novel or take tap-dancing lessons or wear Speedos at your local pool. Don’t worry about others might say; you have nobody to impress but yourself.

Ringo + White Lines 2014-07-25 14.13

Ten Facts About Grandmaster & Melle Mel’s “White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It)” | It’s Friday And I Need To Dance!

Ringo + White Lines 2014-07-25 14.13Ten Facts about Grandmaster & Melle Mel’s “White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It)”
1. Yes, the word “don’t” is repeated in the parenthetical.
2. Melle Mel was the most prominent rapper in Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Grandmaster Flash was the DJ, not a rapper.
3. Though credited to Grandmaster & Melle Mel, Grandmaster Flash does not appear on “White Lines,” nor did he appear on the classic “The Message” (“it’s like a jungle sometimes / It makes me wonder how I keep from going under”). Forced out of the group that bore his name, Flash sued Melle Mel and their label, Sugarhill Records, over the use of his name to sell records, the result of which was the odd artist credit on the “White Lines” single.
4. Flash heard “White lines,” about the dangers of cocaine addiction, while on his way to buy crack.
5. Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel reunited in 1987 at a charity concert hosted by Paul Simon.
6. The bassline was lifted from Liquid Liquid’s “Cavern.”
7. The record credits Melle Mel and Sylvia Robinson as the song’s writers. Robinson was the head of Sugarhill Records. Previously, she had a hit in 1973 with “Pillow Talk,” a song she wrote for Al Green, who declined to record it, and as one-half of Mickey & Sylvia, she took the classic ”Love is Strange” to #11 in 1957.
8. The lyrics include a reference to car manufacturer John DeLorean (“A businessman is caught with 24 kilos”). In 1982 the FBI arrested DeLorean for purchasing 24 kilos of coke. The song compares his fate (“He’s out on bail and out of jail”) with that of an inner city youth (“A street kid gets arrested, gonna do some time. He got out three years from now just to commit more crime.”).
9. An unofficial music video for the song was directed by an NYU student named Spike Lee. It starred Laurence Fishburne, the actor who at that time was playing Cowboy Curtis on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.
10. The record hit the top ten on the US dance chart in 1983. It kicks off Tunes du Jour’s weekly dance party.

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Glenn’s Ten – July 23, 2014

There is a new #1 in Glenn’s Ten this week, as Spoon’s “Do You” jumps up from #4 to claim the top spot from Sharon Van Etten. There are three new entries this week – Interpol’s “All the Rage Back Home,” Alt-J’s “Left Hand Free” and Jenny Lewis’ “Just One of the Guys.” They replace Jack White’s “Just One Drink,” Pharrell Williams’ “Come Get It Bae” and Michael Jackson’s “Love Never Felt So Good.” The White track had a seven-week run, the Pharrell track a five-week run and the MJ track a nine-week run, three of those weeks at #1.

Glenn’s Ten for this week is:
1. “Do You” – Spoon
2. “Every Time the Sun Comes Up” – Sharon Van Etten
3. “Control” – Broken Bells
4. “Heart is a Drum” – Beck
5. “Somethin’ Bad” – Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood
6. “All the Rage Back Home” – Interpol
7. “Do It Again” – Röyksopp and Robyn
8. “Left Hand Free” – Alt-J
9. “Just One of the Guys” – Jenny Lewis
10. “West Coast” – Lana Del Rey

Rounding out today’s playlist are ten tunes that were #1 on this date in Glenn’s Ten history, in reverse chronological order.

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Winston + Rufus 2014-07-22 10.28

The #39 Album Of All-Time: Rufus Wainwright

Winston + Rufus 2014-07-22 10.28
In 1998, Rufus Wainwright released his debut album, which he named Rufus Wainwright. By 2011, he had released six studio albums, so naturally the time was right for a box set. House of Rufus contained 19 discs. It included each studio album, two previously-released live albums, collections of songs performed with other artists, songs from soundtrack albums, DVDs of concerts and a documentary about the opera he wrote. It also included a hard cover 90 page book.

Rufus seldom does anything small. His motto seems to be “Go big or go home.” Sometimes I find that off-putting the first couple of times I hear a song of his, but after repeated listenings the melody and the lyrics sink in and I no longer notice the ornate production.

His first album didn’t grab me on my initial listen. Some months after I bought it, MTV was having a special weekend during which they showed music videos. They showed Rufus’ “April Fools” video a handful of times that weekend, and it hit me. I put the album back on and its magic came through. It was practically glued to my CD player for months to follow.

Today Rufus Wainwright turns 41 years old. To celebrate, Tunes du Jour presents a Rufus Wainwright playlist, focusing on his debut album, my #39 album of all-time.