Inspired by the passing of Little Richard and the May 9 birthdays of Ghostface Killah, Sam & Dave’s Dave Prater, Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan, Billy Joel, Andrew W.K., Hank Snow, The Housemartins/The Beautiful South’s Paul Heaton, The Crickets’ Sonny Curtis, The Ventures’ Nokie Edwards, Cyrkle’s Don Dannemann, Clint Holmes and Tommy Roe.
2020 seemed like just another year, until this week. Something mind-boggling happened. No, the president of the U.S. didn’t display empathy. Get this: The Village People are presently in the Top 40 on the Adult Contemporary chart with a ballad taken from their 2019 Christmas album. The key terms in that sentence: Village People, presently, Top 40, Adult Contemporary, ballad, Christmas. It’s 2020! The song is called “If You Believe” and it jumped from #53 to #25 this week with a 310% increase in radio airplay over last week. “If You Believe?” More like “Hard to Believe!” Am I right, people?
Today’s playlist is inspired by the May 3 birthdays of James Brown, Frankie Valli, Father John Misty, Soft Cell’s David Ball, Pete Seeger, Christopher Cross, Mary Hopkin and Napoleon XIV.
Inspired by Earth Day and the April 22 birthdays of Glen Campbell, Ace/Mike + the Mechanics’ Paul Carrack, Peter Frampton, Von Bondies’ Jason Stollsteimer, silverchair’s Daniel Johns, Larry Groce, Jack Nitzsche, Lipps Inc.’s Cynthia Johnson, UTFO’s Mix Master Ice, Moose Jackson and Eddie Albert.
Inspired by the April 13 birthdays of Al Green, Louis Johnson, Nellie McKay, Little Feat’s Lowell George, Bill Conti, Future Islands’ Samuel T. Herring, Lou Bega and Flamin’ Groovies’ Roy Loney.
Inspired by the April 4 birthdays of Cibo Matto’s Miho Hatori, Muddy Waters, Major Lance, Jill Scott and Kelly Price, and the passing of Bill Withers.
Inspired by the April 1 birthdays of Jimmy Cliff, Rudy Isley, Henry Gross, Gil Scott-Heron, Tom Shipley and Rachmaninoff, and April Fools Day.
Inspired by the March 24 birthdays of Nick Lowe, Nena, Don Covay and Billy Stewart, and the passing of Manu Dibango.
Inspired by the March 15 birthdays of The Beach Boys’ Mike Love, Sly Stone, Terence Trent D’Arby, the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh, Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus, Buzzcock’s/Magazine’s Howard Devoto, Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath, Rockwell, Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider and Lil Dicky.
Inspired by the March 10 birthdays of Neneh Cherry, Timbaland, Dean Torrence, Boston’s Tom Scholz, Edie Brickell, Robin Thicke and Carrie Underwood.
Inspired by the February 4 birthdays of Alice Cooper, Cam’ron, James’ Tim Booth, and Natalie Imbruglia; the February 3 birthdays of The Temptations’ Dennis Edwards, The Kinks’ Dave Davies, Melanie, and Daddy Yankee; and the February 2 birthdays of Graham Nash, Honey Cone’s Edna Wright, Shakira, Howard Bellamy and Stan Getz; and the February 3 anniversary of the passing of Buddy Holly.
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