As today is Neneh Cherry’s birthday, a few songs from her are included on today’s playlist.
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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 8-17-22
Today’s playlist celebrates the August 17 birthdays of Dexys Midnight Runners’ Kevin Rowland, The Go-Go’s’ Belinda Carlisle, Phoebe Bridgers, Mark Dining, Luscious Jackson’s Jill Cunniff, The Revolution/Wendy & Lisa’s Lisa Coleman, Maria McKee, The Pack’s Lil B, and Robert DeNiro; and the August 18 birthdays of Arcade Fire’s Régine Chassagne, Aphex Twin, the xx’s Romy, Wu-Tang Clan’s Masta Killa, The Orioles’ Sonny Til, Clairo, House of Pain’s Everlast, The Primitives’ Tracy Tracy, The Move’s Carl Wayne, Mika, The Toys’ Barbara Harris, Johnny Preston, Maxine Brown, The Lonely Island’s Andy Samberg, Martin Mull, and Denis Leary.
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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 8-2-22
Today’s playlist celebrates the August 2 birthdays of The Band’s Garth Hudson, Traffic’s Jim Capaldi, Charli XCX, The La’s’ Lee Mavers, The Shirelles’ Doris Coley, Johnny Kemp, The Cascades’ John Claude Gummoe, Mojo Nixon, Apollonia, Jacob Collier, and Andrew Gold; and the August 3 birthdays of Metallica’s James Hetfield, Tony Bennett, Scroobius Pip, Nice & Smooth’s Smooth B, Skunk Anansie’s Skin, Lucky Dube, Syreeta, and Ricky Blaze.
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My Top 100 Songs Of 2021
Prince, Elvis Costello, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Kool & the Gang. It must be my list of favorite songs of 198-, uh, 2021. The aforementioned veterans rub elbows with Dua Lipa, Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Wet Leg, serpentwithfeet, Lil Nas X, Billie Eilish, The Weeknd, The Avalanches, Adele and Little Simz.
Here are my top 100 songs of 2021:
- Same Size Shoe – serpentwithfeet
- Love Again – Dua Lipa
- Body – Megan Thee Stallion
- Black Like Me – Mickey Guyton
- Easy On Me – Adele
- Thot Shit – Megan Thee Stallion
- Up – Cardi B
- Save Your Tears – The Weeknd
- Good Days – SZA
- Under the Table – Fiona Apple
- Wet Dream – Wet Leg
- Rumors – Lizzo & Cardi B
- Find My Way – Paul McCartney
- Levitating – Dua Lipa feat. DaBaby
- Chaise Longue – Wet Leg
- I Love You, I Hate You – Little Simz
- Best Friend – Saweetie feat. Doja Cat
- Brando – Lucy Dacus
- So I Lie – Miguel
- We Go On – the Avalanches feat. Cola Boyyy & Mick Jones
- Twerkulator – City Girls
- MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) – Lil Nas X
- Butter – BTS
- Cold Heart – Elton John & Dua Lipa
- Therefore I Am – Billie Eilish
- Your Power – Billie Eilish
- INDUSTRY BABY – Lil Nas X feat. Jack Harlow
- Point and Kill – Little Simz feat. Obongjayar
- Scratchcard Lanyard – Dry Cleaning
- Security – Amyl and the Sniffers
- Puppy and a Truck – Jenny Lewis
- Don’t Judge Me – FKA twigs, Headie One, Fred again…
- Pursuit of Happiness – Kool & the Gang
- Savage Good Boy – Japanese Breakfast
- Pay Your Way in Pain – St. Vincent
- ARE YOU WITH THAT? – Vince Staples
- Hot Summer – Prince
- Diamond Studded Shoes – Yola
- Solar Power – Lorde
- chinatown – Bleachers feat. Bruce Springsteen
- The Divine Chord – the Avalanches feat. MGMT & Johnny Marr
- Don’t Go Yet – Camila Cabello
- Strong Feelings – Dry Cleaning
- Rainforest – Noname
- Working for the Knife – Mitski
- Take My Breath – The Weeknd
- Boomerang – Yebba
- ooh la la – Run the Jewels feat. Santa Fe Klan & Mexican Institute of Sound
- Candypaint – Joey Purp
- Free from Gravity – Django Django
- Spanish Doors – Liz Phair
- Roaring 20s – Flo Milli
- Rhetorical Figure – John Grant
- THAT’S WHAT I WANT – Lil Nas X
- The Doll – Audiobooks
- Strange – Celeste
- WUSYANAME – Tyler, the Creator feat. YoungBoy Never Broke Again & Ty Dolla $ign
- White Dress – Lana Del Rey
- family ties – Baby Keem & Kendrick Lamar
- Starlight – Yola
- The Melting of the Sun – St. Vincent
- Pick up Your Feelings – Jazmine Sullivan
- I am not a woman, I’m a god – Halsey
- Hertz – Amyl and the Sniffers
- Please – Jessie Ware
- The Adults Are Talking – the Strokes
- Got Me – Laura Mvula
- We’re Good – Dua Lipa
- Kiss Me More – Doja Cat feat. SZA
- I Don’t Live Here Anymore – The War on Drugs feat. Lucius
- Magnificent Hurt – Elvis Costello & The Imposters
- 34+35 – Ariana Grande feat. Doja Cat & Megan Thee Stallion
- Just One Sec – the Antlers
- Love Is Back – Celeste
- Let Me Love You Like a Woman – Lana Del Rey
- Down – St. Vincent
- Amoeba – Clairo
- Don’t Forget Your Neighborhood – Cola Boyy feat. The Avalanches
- All My Favorite Songs – Weezer
- Sober & Skinny – Brittney Spencer
- Unblu – Jenny Lewis/Serengeti
- Living Proof – The War on Drugs
- Prisoner – Miley Cyrus feat. Dua Lipa
- NDA – Billie Eilish
- In His Arms – Jack Ingram, Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall
- Walking at a Downtown Pace – Parquet Courts
- Lost Cause – Billie Eilish
- Dancing with the Devil – Demi Lovato
- Hope – Arlo Parks
- Oh My God – Adele
- My Path – Raphael Saadiq
- Unsmart Lady – Dry Cleaning
- t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l – Willow feat. Travis Barker
- Reason to Believe – Vagabon feat. Courtney Barnett
- Paprika – Japanese Breakfast
- Thumbs – Lucy Dacus
- Happier Than Ever – Billie Eilish
- Be Sweet – Japanese Breakfast
- Hurt – Arlo Parks
- More Life – Cordae feat. Q-Tip
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Throwback Thursday: 1987
On this week’s Throwback Thursday playlist we listen to 30 of the best tracks that hit in 1987. It wasn’t a radical year for popular music, though there was enough good stuff to keep me entertained.
Throwback Thursday: 1986
For many years I’ve been saying that 1986 was a crap year for music. I prove myself wrong with this week’s Throwback Thursday playlist. Listen to these gems! How did I get this so wrong until now? My theory is this: In 1986 I was still listening to top 40 radio more than other formats. While there were many great hit songs in ’86 (as evidenced by the playlist below), there was also a lot of garbage songs that were successful on the pop chart. My thoughts of all those garbage songs outweighed my fond memories of all of the good songs. Well, no more, missy! Nineteen eighty-six was a good year for music. The proof is in the pudding (pudding meaning this week’s Throwback Thursday playlist).
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A Prince Playlist
I missed Prince’s debut album, For You, when it was released in 1978. My first exposure to him was hearing “I Wanna Be Your Lover” on the radio. It became a hit when I was in high school. Good song. Then I saw the video. Not what I expected. Before then I thought Prince was a trio of Black women, like The Emotions. My first visual exposure to Prince and already he was throwing my expectations.
His third album, 1980’s Dirty Mind, got a fair amount of press in music magazines, and its cover art made an impression. I was interested in the guy.
“Controversy” was a single my freshman year in college. The song grabbed me, and so I bought the 45, my first Prince record.
The life-changing moment came the following year, when I heard “1999” on KISS-FM in Boston. Holy crap! It blew my mind. It sounded like nothing else on the radio at that time or any other time. At that moment I became a big fan. I got a ride into Harvard Square, went to the Harvard Coop (the university’s bookstore/ record store/ probably other things I can’t remember store) and bought the 1999 album. (The same day I bought Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Can you believe the two albums came out a month apart? What a time to be alive!)
From that point on I was a certified Prince fanatic. I bought the first four albums. I bought subsequent albums on the days of release. I bought the twelve-inch singles, and eventually the CD singles. And for quite a stretch there Prince continued to blow my mind. I’m still awed by his genius and marvel at how he thought to do unconventional things with his music, such as removing the bassline from “When Doves Cry,” the only number one on the dance chart to not have a bassline.
I’ve met many great talents over the years. Brian Wilson. Tina Turner. Smokey Robinson. Norman Fell. But nothing compared 2 meeting Prince. It was in 1988. He didn’t say a word, though he did sign my work stationery:
Putting together a Prince playlist and disciplining myself to keep it to thirty songs is a tough task, especially as a Prince fanatic, but I persevered. I’m not saying these are his thirty best songs, nor are they his thirty most popular songs, nor are they my thirty favorites of his songs. It’s a mixture of all three of those categories (which, of course, have a lot of overlap). I threw in some of the hits others had with songs he wrote. It’s by no means complete, but it’s a start.
(The Spotify embed feature is STILL broken. Here is the link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3TrbpWDHR6CzcYRHmvSrRA?si=4367f868ddcf4e52)
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