Inspired by the October 26 birthdays of 10,000 Maniacs’ Natalie Merchant, David Was, Girl Talk, ScHoolboy Q, Maggie Roche and Bootsy Collins.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (10-24-20)
Inspired by the October 24 birthdays of The Rolling Stones’ Bill Wyman, ANOHNI, Drake, Monica, The Big Bopper, V V Brown, and Lipps Inc.’s Steve Greenberg.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (10-23-20)
Inspired by the October 23 birthdays of “Weird Al” Yankovic, Miguel, The Raindrops’ Ellie Greenwich, The Dixie Cups’ Barbara Ann Hawkins, and Charlie Foxx.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (10-14-20)
Inspired by the October 14 birthdays of Cliff Richard, Usher, The Moody Blues’ Justin Hayward, The Chicks’ Natalie Maines, All Saints’ Shaznay Lewis, Boney M’s Marcia Barrett, Thomas Dolby, Nazareth’s Dan McCafferty, Robert Parker, Bill Justis and Karyn White.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (10-3-20)
Inspired by the October 3 birthdays of Fleetwood Mac‘s Lindsey Buckingham, No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani, Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears, A$AP Rocky, Chubby Checker, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Fountains of Wayne’s Chris Collingwood, Eddie Cochran, Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee, P.P. Arnold, Jimmy Ray, and India.Arie.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (6-17-20)
Inspired by Black Music Month, LGBTQ Pride Month, and the June 17 birthdays of Kendrick Lamar, Barry Manilow, Dead Kennedys’ Jello Biafra, Mike + the Mechanics’ Paul Young, and Ricardo “RikRok” Ducent.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (6-8-20)
Inspired by Black Music Month, LGBTQ Pride Month, and the June 8 birthdays of Kanye West, Three Dog Night’s Chuck Negron, Boz Scaggs, Nancy Sinatra, Bonnie Tyler, Joan Rivers, Robert Preston, Gang of Four’s Jon King, and James Darren.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (6-7-20)
Inspired by Black Music Month, LGBTQ Pride Month, and the June 7 birthdays of Prince, Tom Jones, Violent Femmes’ Gordon Gano, Whodini’s Ecstasy, Prefab Sprout’s Paddy McAloon, Chromeo’s Dave 1, Dean Martin, Joey Scarbury, Fetty Wap, George Ezra, Sunshine Anderson and Broadway composer Charles Strouse.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (4-30-20)
Inspired by the April 30 birthdays of Sugarhill Gang’s Wonder Mike, MC5’s Wayne Kramer, Bobby Vee, Travis $cott, Snap!’s Turbo B, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer, Johnny Horton, Mac Demarco, Santo & Johnny’s Johnny, and Broadway composer Sheldon Harnick.
Twenty Songs You Should Hear (1-12-20)
Happy Sunday! I hope it’s a fun day. An I-don’t-have-to-run day.
Here are some songs to play while chillin’ in the crib:
Run the Jewels featuring Zack de la Rocha – “Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)”
Today is the birthday of Zack de la Rocha, best known as the singer for Rage Against the Machine.
Beck – “Black Tambourine”
Mary J. Blige – “PMS”
Ruth Brown – “I Can’t Hear a Word You Say”
Today is the birthday of the late Ruth Brown. She had so many best-sellers on Atlantic Records in the 1950s that the label became known as “the house that Ruth built.” You may know her from the original movie version of Hairspray, in which she played Motormouth Maybelle.
Marvin Gaye – “Hitch Hike”
With backing vocals by Martha and the Vandellas.
Ray Charles – “Drown in My Own Tears”
Stevie Wonder – “Love Having You Around”
Aretha Franklin – “Spirit in the Dark”
Aretha’s son Kecalf doesn’t want you to see the new biopic of the soul legend, which hits theaters sometime in 2020. He says her family wasn’t consulted about what is in the movie, aside from Jennifer Hudson as Aretha, which was the Queen’s choice.
King Curtis – “Memphis Soul Stew”
Kendrick Lamar – “Hiiipower”
Lamar’s first single, from 2011.
Amerie – “1Thing”
Today is Amerie’s birthday. This song sat on the shelves at Sony Music for a year and a half, at which point Amerie herself leaked it to radio stations. It reached #8 on the pop chart.
Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott featuring 702 and Magoo – “Beep Me 911”
Madonna – “Take a Bow”
This song went to #1 in the US. In the UK, it peaked at #16, ending her record-breaking streak of 35 consecutive top ten singles.
The White Stripes – “Black Math”
Foo Fighters – “This Is a Call”
Foo Fighter Dave Grohl wrote this song, sang it, and played every instrument on it.
Janet Jackson – “Throb”
Boom boom boom until noon noon noon.
OutKast featuring Raekwon – “Skew It on the Bar-B”
Today is the birthday of Raekwon, best known as a member of the Wu-Tang Clan.
Big Star – “In the Street”
Today is the birthday of Big Star’s Chris Bell. This song was used as the theme for That 70’s Show. The soundtracks to that television sitcom were the first projects I worked on upon getting a job at Jive Records.
Spice Girls – “Say You’ll Be There”
Today is the birthday of Mel C (Sporty Spice).
Sly & the Family Stone – “Dance to the Music”
Today is the birthday of the late Cynthia Robinson, trumpeter and vocalist for Sly & the Family Stone. She and Jerry got a message that’s sayin’ “all the squares, go home!”
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