“Every Breath You Take” was a career single for The Police, who were already one of the hottest rock bands around at the time of the song’s release in summer ’83. “Breath” was the #1 single of 1983, which was not a shabby year for pop records. It topped the pop charts for eight years,… Read More “Every Breath You Take” by The Police (1983)
“Don’t You Want Me” is one of those songs that could be the plot of a movie…a movie that could potentially end in disturbing fashion. As I’ve grown older and understood relationships more, I’ve figured out how factual the story arc of “Don’t You Want Me” can be. By the time a relationship ends, usually… Read More “Don’t You Want Me?” by The Human League (1981)
My high school experience was nothing like anything John Hughes ever captured in a film. For one thing, there were people of color in my high school. Actually, Brooklyn Tech was (and still is) predominantly Asian. And not one of them sounded or acted like Long Duk Dong. Also, I don’t think my high school… Read More “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds (1985)
Dear Michael Jackson, welcome to the first day of the rest of your life. “Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough” was where Michael stopped being the lead singer of the Jacksons and became Michael Fucking Jackson. “Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough” transcended boy bands, transcended disco, transcended those silly “Star Wars”-esque references about the… Read More “Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough” by Michael Jackson (1979)
“Don’t Leave Me This Way” began life as a song by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. It appeared on 1975’s Wake Up Everybody, their last album to feature Teddy Pendergrass as the lead vocalist. Motown’s staff got wind of the song, and decided to re-record it on Thelma Houston. Their recording of the song… Read More “Don’t Leave Me This Way” by Thelma Houston (1976)
Elton John was probably the biggest artist in pop music when “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” was released, and the song performed as one would expect for the guy who was the mid ‘70s equivalent of…Drake, I guess. “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” was a massive chart-topper, got nominated for a Grammy, and is one… Read More “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” by Elton John & Kiki Dee
Can you imagine the wild shit Michael Jackson encountered in his life? Like, before this dude was 15, he’d had more life craziness than a lot of people live out full lives having to go through. The groupie stories alone could probably fill a book. “Dirty Diana” is a groupie story, and it’s not especially complimentary… Read More “Dirty Diana” by Michael Jackson (1987)
A few random observations. “Dancing Queen” might’ve been the poppiest thing in the massive collection of 45s I inherited from my aunts and uncles as a kid. Pretty much everything we owned was in an R&B/funk wheelhouse, even if it was by a traditionally pop artist (i.e. Saturday Night Fever, Boz Scaggs’ “Lowdown”, “Da Ya Think I’m… Read More “Dancing Queen” by ABBA (1976)
The older I get, the less of a shit I give about what people think of my musical taste. So I have no problem admitting that my two favorite Rod Stewart songs are his “disco” songs. We’ll get to the second one…uh, much later. Anyway, “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” is a song that drips with late ‘70s… Read More “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” by Rod Stewart (1978)
It took a while for me to get into “Creep”. TLC’s debut was so unique and left that the image and musical shift “Creep” heralded took me by surprise. I guess I was expecting “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg” part 2 and was thrown for a loop when I didn’t get it. But…I guess you could say that “Creep”,… Read More “Creep” by TLC (1994)
Five Star Jamz 