Inspired by Black Music Month, LGBTQ Pride Month, and the June 18 birthdays of Sir Paul McCartney, Alison Moyet, Tommy Hunt, The Undisputed Truth’s Joe “Pep” Harris, and Blake Shelton.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (6-3-20)
Inspired by Black Music Month, LGBTQ Pride Month, the June 3 birthdays of Curtis Mayfield, Deniece Williams, Mott the Hoople’s Ian Hunter, C + C Music Factory’s David Cole, Suzi Quatro, Allen Ginsberg, Dan Hill, Boots Rudolph, Republica’s Saffron, Stereophonics’ Kelly Jones, and Beabadoobee, and the June 2 birthdays of The Rolling Stones‘ Charlie Watts, Chubby Tavares, Cypress Hill’s B-Real, Spandau Ballet’s Tony Hadley, Bangles’ Michael Steele, Jimmy Jones, Skillz, Otis Williams, David Dundas, Marvin Hamlisch, Sammy Turner, and Robin Lamont.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (5-21-20)
Inspired by the May 21 birthdays of Ronald Isley, The Notorious B.I.G., Sugababes’ Mutya Buena, Carl Carlton, Leo Sayer, Justice’s Gaspard Augé, Fats Waller, Marcie Blane and Anjulie.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (5-10-20)
Inspired by Mother’s Day, the passing of Betty Wright, and the May 10 birthdays of U2‘s Bono, Sex Pistols’ Sid Vicious, Spinners’ Henry Fambrough, Donovan, Traffic’s Dave Mason, Larry Williams, Fred Astaire, Underworld’s Karl Hyde, Young MC, Filter’s Richard Patrick, Jay Ferguson, Craig Mack, Sunscreem’s Lucia Holm and Young Disciples’ Carleen Anderson.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (5-3-20)
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.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (4-22-20)
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.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (3-2-20)
Inspired by the March 2 birthdays of Lou Reed, Wu-Tang Clan’s Method Man, Karen Carpenter, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Jay Osmond, Boogie Down Productions’ Scott La Rock, Missing Persons’ Dale Bozzio, Musical Youth’s Dennis Seaton, UTFO’s Doctor Ice, the Kooks’ Luke Pritchard, and composer Kurt Weill (“Mack the Knife”).
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (2-14-20)
Inspired by Valentine’s Day and the February 14 birthdays of Cait Brennan, Tim Buckley, Rob Thomas, and Dwele.
Michael Jackson: Sixty At 60
Michael Jackson was born sixty years ago today. Tunes du Jour celebrates the birthday of one of the greatest artists of our lifetime with sixty of his finest.
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Throwback Thursday – 1980
In 1979, Giorgio Moroder, famous mostly for his production work on Donna Summer records, composed the score for the film American Gigolo. He asked Stevie Nicks to sing the movie’s theme song, for which Moroder wrote the music, but she had to decline for contractual reasons. He next turned to Deborah Harry of Blondie.
Harry write the lyrics to the song that became “Call Me,” the second #1 single for her band. Of her experience with Moroder, she told Billboard “He’s very nice to work with, very easy, (but) I don’t think he has a lot of patience with people who fool around or don’t take what they do seriously. I think he’s very serious about what he does and he’s intense and he’s a perfectionist and he’s very talented, so I think that people who are less talented or less concentrated bore him quickly…you really have to pay attention.”
Said Moroder of working with Blondie, “There were always fights. I was supposed to do an album with them after that. We went to the studio, and the guitarist was fighting with the keyboard player. I called their manager and quit.”
Moroder did end up working with Deborah Harry again years later on another soundtrack song, producing “Rush Rush” from Scarface, and in 2004 remixed Blondie’s single “Good Boys.”
Tunes du Jour’s Throwback Thursday playlist this week spotlights the best of 1980, kicking off with Blondie’s “Call Me.”
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