Showing posts with label Sunshine Pop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sunshine Pop. Show all posts

Sunday, August 13, 2017

GLEN CAMPBELL & HIS PARENTS IN A SOUTHWESTERN BELL COMMERCIAL


Southwestern Bell had an ad campaign featuring celebrities from each state they served. A parent or relative would say they called the celebrity long distance. Glen Campbell and his parents represented Arkansas (BTW: As a monster kid, I still think it is cool that Missouri was represented by Vincent Price and his niece).

It is amazing that I haven't seen this commercial in years, yet remember it word for word. NOTE: This cuts off abruptly.



Wednesday, October 5, 2016

THE MUSIC OF OCTOBER COUNTRY


October Country was a sunshine pop group of the late 60s. I once erroneously said on this blog that the liner notes of the only LP were by Ray Bradbury. I found some copies of the LP on line and Bradbury is nowhere to be found. I'm not sure what I saw, where Bradbury gave an endorsement to a 60s band, named after one of his books. I'll keep digging.

They do have a connection to another sci-fi/horror master. After they recorded their first LP, they scored a short film called Amblin. Ever hear of Amblin Entertainment? That film was written and directed by a young Steven Spielberg. Enjoy two of their most famous songs.





Tuesday, September 13, 2016

DESDINOVA'S 20 FAVORITE SONGS BY THE MONKEES


This September is also the debut of not just another television show on NBC, but a rock band: The Monkees.

I mentioned a few post ago how I feel they are the most underrated American pop group of the 60s. Since I have listed favorite songs by other bands, I'll now give you my favorite songs by The Monkees.

1. "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone"
2. "Pleasant Valley Sunday"
3. "Words"
4. "The Door Into Summer"
5. "Daily Nightly"
6. "Heart and Soul"
7. "Mommy & Daddy (the unreleased version)"
8. "Randy Scouse Git"
9. "Girl I Knew Somewhere"
10. "For Pete's Sake" (this was the closing theme for the second season)
11. "Last Train to Clarksville"
12. "Saturday's Child"
13. "She"
14. "Listen To the Band"
15. "Valerie" - original version
16. "Love Is Only Sleeping"
17. "The Monkees Theme"
18. "Goin Down"
19. "That Was Then, This is Now"
20. "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You"

There are more, but I decided to stop at twenty.




Sunday, March 22, 2015

R. I. P JACKIE TRENT

Here is her obit from the BBC. She and Tony Hatch sang a sunshine pop masterpiece called "Gotta Get Away" in the pilot to the TV series The Persuaders. Here is the scene it appears in complete with retro cars.


Monday, October 27, 2014

R. I. P MARCIA STRASSMAN



I'll bet you didn't know she was a singer before she was on MASH and Welcome Back, Kotter. She recorded as few sunshine pop songs in the late 60s.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

DESDINOVA'S RETRO MUSIC PICK: PILOT - "JANUARY"


Technically, this song is about a girl, but this could describe many people in the USA feelings be about the first month of 2014's horrible weather.

WE HATE YOU POLAR VORTEX!!!

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

I AM NOT ASHAMED IPOD PLAYLIST 8

I haven't unleashed one of these since February. So here is another group of guilty pleasures that I am not ashamed to have in my Ipod. Some would laugh at me and some would scorn me, but I just crank these up and sing along.

The Brooklyn Bridge - "Worst That Could Happen"
Del Shannon - "Kelly"
Gary Glitter - "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)"
Lancelot Link and the Evolution Revolution - "Sha-La Love You" (Chimps in clothing make great music)
Tal Bachman - "She's So High"
The Chakachas "Jungle Fever" (Early 70s dance/orgasm number made famous in Boogie Nights)
Color Me Badd - "I Wanna Sex You Up"
Golden Earring - "Dong Dong Di-Ki-Di-Gi-Dong" (They gave us vaguely risque bubblegum/sunshine pop before "Radar Love" & "Twilight Zone")
Jon & Robin and The In Crowd - "Do It Again, Just a Little Bit Slower" (Speaking of  vaguely risque bubblegum/sunshine pop)
Jane Child - "Don't Want To Fall In Love"
Mink Deville - "Spanish Stroll"
Dan Fogleberg - "Part of the Plan"
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)"
The Jacksons - "Shake You Body (Down To the Ground)"
Desi, Dino & Billy - "I'm a Fool"
The Smithereens - "Behind the Wall of Sleep"
Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin - "Je T'Aime...Mon Non Plus" (If you want to cause a commotion in a public place, play this orgasmic French on the jukebox)
Chubby Checker - "The Class" (His first hit and part of the strange genre of "imitation" songs)
Barry Manilow - "Copacabana"
Pilot - "Magic"
The Critters - "Mr. Diengly Sad"
Chris Rea - "Fool (If You Think It's Over)"
Flock of Seagulls - "I Ran (So Far Away)"
Billy Joel - "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" (The original studio version from the Turnstiles LP)
Bill Parsons - "The All American Boy" (The record company made a mistake. The singer is really Bobby Bare)
Glass Tiger - "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)"
Blue Swede - "Hooked On a Feeling"
Firehouse - "Don't Treat Me Bad"
Heinz - "Just Like Eddie" (Cochran, that is.)
    

Saturday, January 19, 2013

REEVALUATING THE BOSSTOWN SOUND


The first time I knew of "the Bosstown Sound" was through a collection of old Scholastic Co-Ed magazines that my sister had bought when she was in junior high in the late 60s. I liked to look at these because they contained the things I were interested in the most when I was in junior: photos of girls and information on music of the 60s (then it was the current music scene).

I remember this article saying that the coolest music was coming no longer coming from San Francisco or London, but Boston. The article told about these band, but even with my limited knowledge of the music of that era at the time (I was only beginning my exhaustive studies) I knew I had never heard of any of these bands. Although one band name stuck with me because I thought it was so cool: The Ultimate Spinach (pictured above).

Skip forward to my college years when I would do a monthly segment during my KSMU airshift a called the Psychedelic Limits. I found a copy of Ultimate Spinach's second LP, Behold and See. I began using a song from the LP called "Mind Flowers" on the Psychedelic Limits.

Recently, I found an abundance of psychedelic music on iTunes and Amazon and began downloading it like crazy. I found that many of the songs that I were not familiar with were by bands from "the Bosstown sound." In recent years I had read that "the Bosstown Sound" was a huge flop in the music industry. it is even mentioned in Dave Marsh's Book of Rock List. Why did it flop?

Part of the problem was the fact that most of the bands were all on MGM Records. This was almost an "all-your-eggs-in-one-basket" situation as much as Columbia Records went overboard with jazz horn rock bands about the same time, with the main difference being that the jazz horn rock bands at Columbia were huge sales success with wide spread airplay (many of those songs are still radio staples), where as the Bosstown Sound didn't make enough money in sales to cover the amount of promotion and very little airplay.

Another problem was the hype surrounding the Bosstown Sound. Co-Ed was not the only magazine promoting the Bosstown Sound as the next big thing. 16 and Seventeen did too. The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Time, Life and even Playboy ran positive articles about it. On the other hand, a relatively new magazine called Rolling Stone trashed the Bosstown Sound an article. It took MGM and the mainstream media to task for trying to steal the thunder of the San Francisco music scene. Of course, Rolling Stone was based in San Francisco.

While we are on the subject of the Rolling Stone article, I should mention the other problem with the Bosstown Sound was lack of support at the top of the records company. Shortly after the marketing started for the Bosstown Sound, MGM Records appointed Mike Curb as president. Curb was quoted in the Rolling Stone article as saying "Boston shucks" and calling the music "a bunch of junk." Curb later used his controversial "Dump the Dopers" campaign as a way to get rid of the Bosstown Sound bands. He claimed the Orpheus love ballad "I've Never Seen a Love Like This" was "a drug song." It should also be noted that Curb had MGM drop Frank Zappa, but kept Judy Garland and Hank Williams Junior (Mike Curb's sunshine pop choir, the Mike Curb Congregation backed Hank Junior on some of his MGM hits). It was later found that most of the acts dropped were groups whose contracts were ending. To add insult to injury, Bosstown Sound producer and creator Alan Lorber says Mike Curb asked him why the Bosstown groups hadn't provided any new material. This was after Curb had bragged to the press about dropping these "junk" groups. I should note that not all of the Bosstown bands were at MGM, some were on a smaller label called Mainstreet.

As I said earlier, I've been downloading music by these bands various Bosstown bands and I have noticed that there is another reason these groups seem forgotten. Unlike many of the San Francisco groups and the British bands of the late 60s, the Bosstown groups sound dated, like a stereotype of 60s music. To me that is not a bad thing, but consider the mundane nature of classic rock radio. The songs that have become staples on classic rock radio by Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Santana, the Rolling Stones, the Who and Led Zeppelin, sound as if they could be recorded by any current band or even in the 70s or 80s.

The Bosstown groups have an overly psychedelic sound to them. All the psychedelic bells and whistles show up on these groups LPs. There is an abundance of slowed down voices, vibes, chimes, backwards taped instrumentation, and lyrics about "sounds," "bright colors," "pretty flowers" and "beautiful girls with hypnotic eyes." However, before we say that Mike Curb was right about these groups, it should be pointed out that one thing that hurt them among the underground press was that many songs have a negative view of the drug culture, such as Beacon Street Union's "Speed Kills."

On a whole, the Bosstown groups were more mellow. They were sort of a mix of "sunshine pop" and smooth jazz rather than bluesy like the British and West Coast acts. Not real heavy, but kind of light.

So what happened to the people of the Bosstown Sound. Many of the musicians continued performing various other acts. Of the acts from the Bosstown boom years, there are three names you would recognize. Ultimate Spinach produced future Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter. A group called The Chain Reaction only recorded one single, but that group featured future Aerosmith lead singer/ American Idol judge Steven Tyler. The most surprising future star in a Bosstown band was the drummer of Chamelon Church. He would leave music for comedy and make people laugh on TV's Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update anchor and on the big screen as hapless father figure Clark Griswold. Yes, the drummer of Chameleon Church was Chevy Chase.

Here is a short list of Bosstown Sound tacks:
  • "The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens" Beacon Street Union
  • "Mind Flowers" Ultimate Spinach
  • "Seven Starry Skies (Mystic Magic Oceans)" The Lost
  • "When I Needed You" The Chain Reaction
  • "Images" The Freeborne
  • "I've Never Seen Love Like This" Orpheus
  • "The Red Sox Are Winning" The Earth Opera
  • "My Island" The Fabulous Farquar
  • "Another Day" Phluph (I'm sure that is pronounced Fluff)
  • "Can't You See" The Tangerine Zoo
  • "Goodbye Girl" Eden's Children
  • "Silver Children" Front Page Review
  • "Camillia Is Changing" Chameleon Church
While the Bosstown Sound may be considered a failure, it did paved the way for successful acts from Boston in the 70s such as Aerosmith, Johnathan Richman and Modern Lovers, The Cars, J. Gelies Band and, of course, Boston.  

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

I AM NOT ASHAMED PLAYLIST 5

It is time for me to list more songs that are in my Ipod that I'm not ashamed to admit to liking. Some call these guilty pleasures. Life is to short to be guilty about your entertainment choices.

Ars Nova - "March of the Mad Duke's Circus" (An early prog rock band)
Capt. Groovy and His Bubble Gum Army - "Capt. Groovy and His Bubble Gum Army" (Really Bobby  Bloom of "Montego Bay" fame)
The Monroes - "What Do All the People Know" (Great lost hit of the 80s)
Geoff Goddard - "Sky Men" (A sci-fi Joe Meek novelty. Goddard played keyboard on the more successful Joe Meek production "Telestar")
The Squares - "This is Airebeat" (British New Wave/pop pop of late 70s/early 80s "This has always been a backwater")
Tommy Roe - "Dizzy"
The English Congregation - "Softly Whispering I Love You"
The Fabulous Poodles - "Mirror Star" (A 70s punk song about playing air guitar)
Chad McDevitt Skiffle Group with Nancy Whiskey - "Freight Train" (Early British hit in this country in the 1950s)
Baz Luhrman - "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)" (One of the best spoken word/recitations ever)
Cee Lo Green - "Forget You" (One of the great ultimate break up songs - How could anybody not like it?)
Ray Parker - "The Other Woman" (A great R&B hit of the 80s that you don't hear anymore)
Blondie - "Heart of Glass"
Louie Armstrong - "Old Man Mose"
Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band - "Abba Zaba"
The Rembrandts - "I'll Be There For You" (YES I DO LIKE THE THEME SONG TO FRIENDS! WANNA MAKE SOMETHING OF IT!)
The Breakfast Club - "Right On Track" (A memory from high school)
Owl City - "Fireflies"
Rockwell - "Somebody's Watching Me" (Barry Gordy Jr's son - featuring backing vocals by Michael and Jermaine Jackson)
The Combo Kings - "Batman A Go Go" (A soul dance hit from 1966 - There was a similar James Bond dance number)
The Seeds - "Pushing Too Hard" (One of my all time favorite songs. It sums up my life. If I ever find who was responsible for taking this out of the TouchTunes juke box at Buffalo Wild Wings, I will kill them!)
Charlie Dore - "Pilot of the Airwaves" (A song about a girl in love with a radio DJ. Dore was a Emmylou Harris sound alike from Australia)
Robbie Dupree - "Hot Rod Hearts" (I was told this was "dirty" when I was in elementary school - Never figured out why)
The Lettermen - "Come Back Silly Girl " (Early sunshine pop -slightly un-PC title)
October Country - "My Girlfriend Is a Witch" (Psychedelic/Sunshine Pop by Ray Bradbury fans - he even wrote the liner notes on their only LP)
Sarah Brightman/Michael Crawford - "The Phantom of the Opera"
The Beginning of the End - "Funky Nassau" (Fast reggae hit of the early 70s)
The Bosstweeds - "The Theme from Faster Pussycat Kill Kill"
The Coasters - "Little Egypt" (Singing Yiiiinnnng YYYaaang! Gitchy gitchy!)
The Hollywood Argyles - "Alley Oop"
Morris Day & the Time - "Jungle Love"
Even & Jaron - "Crazy About This Girl"
Cliff Richard - "Dreaming"
Hank Ballard & The Midniters - "Annie Had a Baby"
The Floaters - "Float On" (A Quiet Storm hit featuring the most romantic line ever "Cancer and my name is Larry")
The Bangles - "Walk Like an Egyptian"
Neil Sedaka "Bad Blood"
Lady Antebellum - "Need You Now"
The Hollies - "If the Lights Go Out" (From their 80s reunion LP - Why was this song not a bigger hit?)

If you want to see the previous "I AM NOT ASHAMED" Ipod playlist, here are links:
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4 

Friday, September 21, 2012

I AM NOT ASHAMED PLAYLIST 4

I thought it was time for another Guilty Pleasures I AM NOT ASHAMED playlist.

"Cars" Gary Numan
"Wild Is the Wind" David Bowie
"Trouble' Lyndsey Buckingham
"Christo Redentor" Harvey Mandel (Sounds like make-out music for Captain Kirk)
"Juicy Fruit" Mtume
"Special Lady" Ray, Goodman & Brown (KLWT-FM 92 in Lebanon played this everyday at 4:05 p.m. You could set your watch by the automation)
"South Side" Moby with Gwen Stefani
"The Letter" The Arbors (Neat cover by a prog-sunshine pop)
"Raspberry Beret" Prince & the Revolution
"Iesha" Another Bad Creation
"Voo Doo Walk" Sonny Richard's Panics with Cindy and Misty (Go-go dancing singers doing a song about monster - What is there not to like about this?)
"Now To You" The David
"Who Do You Think You Are?" Candlewick Green (Original British version of the Bo Donaldson & the Haywoods hit)
"Do You Want To Dance?" Bette Midler (Sexiest cover version of this song ever)
"Theme from Dark Shadows" Bob Cobert Orchestra (The 45 single easy listening version with a great piano player)
"Down By The Station" The Four Preps (Children's song turned into a song about a being a player)
"Dancing Bear" The Mamas & The Papas
"Sugar Sugar" The Archies
"What Goes Around Comes Around" Justin Timberlake
"Easy Come, Easy Go" Winger
"Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile" David Allen Coe
"Signs" Five Man Electrical Band
"Who Is Gonna Mow Your Grass" Buck Owens & the Buckaroos (One of the best fuzztone guitar parts ever in a country song)
"Isn't It Time" The Babys
"Heat of the Moment" Asia
"Too Shy" Kajagoogoo
"Master Jack" Four Jacks & a Jill
"No Reply At All" Genesis
"Guilty" Barbara Streisand & Barry Gibb
"Never My Love" The Association
"Fantasy" Aldo Nova 

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

DESDINOVA'S CAMPY 70s HIT PLAYLIST


Yes, once again I'm going to swipe and idea from KYTV newsman Ethan Forhetz. His E-List from last week was about 70s One Hit Wonders.  I kind of wanted to make my own list, however, as I've mentioned before, the term "one-hit wonder" can be open to interpretation. Also I thought about those songs that give you that "only in the 70s" feel, but either were not big hits or were hits from artist who had several hits. Before there is an outcry from fans or haters, let me say some of this is a mix of 'so bad it's good" and things that are great songs, but their style and content scream 70s. As usual, I went overboard on listing songs. I hope that this list could be used as the perfect soundtrack for a 70s party.

"I Am Pegasus" Ross Ryan (I list this obscure 70s hit first because of its opening line has to be one of the goofiest lines of the 70s "I am Pegasus, my name means horse.")
"Kung Fu Fighting" Carl Douglas
"Afternoon Delight" Starland Vocal Band
"Cover of the Rolling Stone" Dr. Hook
"Seasons In The Sun" Terry Jacks
"Heartbeat-It's a Love Beat" The DeFranco Family
"Chevy Van" Sammy Johns
"I Think I Love You" The Partridge Family
"Ride Captain Ride" The Blues Image (The 70s had several "nautical" related songs.)
"Torn Between Two Lovers" Mary MacGregor
"Nice To Be With You" Gallery
"Dancing In the Moonlight" King Harvest
"Fernando" ABBA
"Fly Robin Fly" The Silver Connection
"How Do You Do" Mouth & MacNeal (You got to see this clip of them sing this on a TV show.)
"I Am I Said" Neil Diamond (Runs second to "I Am Pegasus" for the goofy line "And no one heard at all
Not even the chair.")
"Undercover Angel" Alan O Day
"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Around the Old Oak Tree" Tony Orlando & Dawn
"Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)" The Looking Glass (Another nautical/sailor song)
"Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" Middle of the Road (A goofy song is always better when sung by a sexy blonde in hot pants.)
"Little Willy" The Sweet (The bad that should be considered the fathers of hair metal.)
"Don't Go Breaking My Heart" Elton John & Kiki Dee
"The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia" Vicki Lawrence (I love how toward the end of the song she starts singing like Mama Harper.)
"Joy To The World" Three Dog Night
 "Rock The Boat" The Hues Corporation
"Night Chicago Died" Paper Lace (Best historically inaccurate song of all-time.)
"I'd Love To Teach The World To Sing" The New Seekers (Best commercial jingle of the 70s-all-time maybe.))
"That Same Old Feeling" Pickettywitch (This received heavy air-play on Top 40, but didn't make the Top 40.)
"Baby I'm-A Want You" Bread
"Top of the World" The Carpenters
"Garden Party" Rick Nelson
"Spanish Stroll" Mink DeVille (This was considered "punk" in the pre-Sex Pistols era. Not sure what it is, but it is a pretty good song.)
"Billy, Don't Be a Hero" Bo Donaldson and the Haywoods
"Rhinestone Cowboy" Glenn Campbell
"Hooked On a Feeling" The Blue Swede (Oooga-chaka-ooga-chaka!)
"Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" Edison Lighthouse
"Montego Bay" Bobby Bloom
"Midnight Train To Georgia" Gladys Night & The Pips (If you knew the truth everyone sings along with the Pips on the "Woo-woo" part when this song comes on the radio.)
"Ooh Child" The Five Stairsteps
"Sweet City Woman" The Stampeders (One of the few songs with a banjo I can stand.)
"Down By The Lazy River" The Osmonds
"Macho Man" The Village People
"Love Train" The O'Jays
"Moonlight Feels Right" Starbuck (I like this because the lead singer sound kind of sleazy.)
"Arizona" Mark Lindsay
"Sweet Mary" The Wadsworth Mansion
"Loving You" Minnie Ripperton
"Saturday In The Park" Chicago
"Why Can't We Be Friends" War
"Float On" The Floaters (This one feature an unintentional goofy line, "Cancer and my name is Larry.")
"Muskrat Love" The Captain & Tennille
"Brother Louie" The Stories
"Sugar Baby Love" The Rubiettes
"Disco Lady" Johnny Taylor (A big "disco" hit that isn't real disco)
"Smoke From A Distant Fire' Sandford-Townsend Band (One of the greatest one hit wonders of all-time!)
"Come & Get Your Love" Redbone
"Band of Gold" Freda Payne
"Brand New Key" Melaine
"The Rubberband Man" The Spinners
"Easy The Commodores
"It Never Rains In Southern California" Albert Hammond
"Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" Lobo
"Spirit In The Sky" Norman Greenbaum (Fuzztone guitar and Christianity make of good mix.)
"Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" Cher
"Coconut" Harry Nilsson
"Living Next Door To Alice" Smokie
"Do You Think I'm Sexy?" Rod Stewart (Probably the song by Rod Stewart most people hate-I like it.)
"ABC" The Jackson 5
"Rock Me Gently" Andy Kim (This is one of those songs that was made for Top 40. It still sounds great.)
"Rings" Cymarron
"I Can See Clearly Now" Johnny Nash
"Last Time I Saw Him" Diana Ross
"Bungle In The Jungle" Jethro Tull (Most Jethro Tull songs were deep, dark and philosophical. This is 70s sexy talk.)
"Wigwam" Bob Dylan (In 1965, Dylan went electric. In 1970, Dylan went Trololo on this song.)
"I Am Woman" Helen Reddy
"Squeeze Box" The Who (Only in the 70s and only the Who could pull off a song built around a double entendre about a woman playing an accordion.)
"American Pie" Don McLean (The Greatest Number One hit of the 70s! It sort of sums up the strangeness of the decade.)

I may create a list based on certain genres of 70s music (disco and heavy metal).
 



Wednesday, June 13, 2012

I AM NOT ASHAMED PART 3


More songs that "I AM NOT ASHAMED" to like (What most people call musical guilty pleasures).

"Lake Shore Drive" Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah (Country psychedelia with a ragtime piano? You knew a radio station was cool if they played this. KSHE & KFBD are two of those radio stations.)
"I Eat Cannibals" Total Coelo (British girl group with a sexually suggestive song and tacky 80s video)
"Living On A Prayer" Bon Jovi
"Don't You Want Me" Human League
"Mary's Prayer" Meet Danny Wilson
"I Fell In Love" Carlene Carter (Besides being a great song, Carlene Carter looks like Jennifer Sims, the first girl I ever kissed. She is on Mad Men some times.)
"Boy On the Roof" The Outnumbered (A Paisley Underground group singing about life as a gay teen - great fuzztone guitar fiff. I first heard this on KSMU in Springfield.)
"That Same Old Feeling" Pickettywitch
"I Know a Heartache When I See One" Jennifer Warnes (I heard this on KGBX-AM coming from an emergency doctor's visit to Springfield. The sun was setting in the fall. So I always think a sunset when I hear this sexy song from that nerdy, little, blond girl from the Smothers Brothers show.)
"Tight Fittin Jeans" Conway Twitty (Memories of the 80s and those designer jeans.)
"Raise A Little Hell" Trooper (A great lost heavy metal anthem)
"Like To Get To Know You" Spanky & Our Gang (Sunshine pop/psychedelia/lounge music)
"Chemistry" Semisonic (A power pop/Beach Boys-influenced minor hit that is 10 times better than there big hit "Closing Time")
"Glamorous Life" Shelia E (I had a crush on Shelia E when this was a hit. She was Prince's main squeeze at the time.)
"Rico Suave" Gerardo
"No Rain" Blind Melon (I wonder what the bee girl is doing today?)
"Hair" The Cowsills (How did the Cowsills get to record the coolest Broadway show tune ever?)
"The Warrior" Scandal
"Working On a Groovy Thing" The 5th Dimension
"Euro-Trash Girl" Cracker (Kerouacian song that beats, no pun intended, their big hit "Low")
"Jingle Jangle" The Archies (Is that Betty or Veronica singing with Archie on this? Saturday morning cartoon memories.)
"Solfeggio (Song of the Nairobi Trio)" - Robert Maxwell Orchestra (Ernie Kovacs & Sammy B. Goode fans know this song.)
"Stumblin In" Suzi Quatro & Chris Norman (Not only is this a great song, but it proves I still have a crush on Leather Tuscadaro.)
"Tragedy" The Bee Gees
"Lightening Strikes" Lou Christie
"Walking On Sunshine" Katrina & the Waves (Memories of drivers ed with Eunice Moneymaker-the summer of 1985)
"Tomorrow Never Knows" The Beatles (The beginning of the psychedelic music revolution)
"Close To You" Maxi Priest
"I'd To Teach The World To Sing" The New Seekers (The best soda pop jingle ever - Anybody that hates this song is stupid!)
"Artificial Flowers" Bobby Darin (Bobby Darin had a knack for making morbid subjects into great toe-tapping hits. Dickie Goodman used this in one of his parodies of The Untouchables.)
"La-La-La-La-La" The Blendells (A Hispanic garage band singing a Stevie Wonder song-that is just cool all over.)
"It's a Heartache" Bonnie Tyler (She looked like Eunice Moneymaker but sounded like Rod Stewart's sister-one of my favorite teachers, Mr. Thieman, used to play this for girls in our class experiencing relationship drama.)
"Tighter" Paul Revere & the Raiders (A psychedelic/sunshine pop love song that isn't heard enough)
"Makin It" David Naughton (The only big hit for the star of Dr. Pepper commercials and American Werewolf in London. This song was a major part of my childhood.)
"Out of the Question" Gilbert O'Sullivan (You never hear this song today-It is the one of the few songs of his that isn't politically correct in some way.)
"The Tra La La Song (The Banana Splits Theme)" The Banana Splits
"Super Freak" Rick James
"Loser" Beck
"Ebony Eyes" Bob Welch (Great guitar riff - RIP Bob)
"Beg Borrow and Steal" The Rare Breed
"Feed The Tree" Belly
"Precious To Me" Phil Seymour
"Pretty Flamingo" Manfred Mann
"Magic" Olivia Newton-John
"Paradise Garden" Peter Jay (An early 60s Joe Meek masterpiece)
"Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie! (A Man After Midnight)" ABBA
"Jungle Rock" Hank Mizell (A rockabilly tune that hit about 20 years after its release)
"Edge of a Broken Heart" Vixen
"Diggin For Gold" David John & the Mood (More Joe Meek stuff)
"Lonely Days" Bee Gees (Pre-disco hit of the 70s)
"In a Gadda Da Vida" Iron Butterfly (All 19 minutes of this psychedelic heavy metal masterpiece!)
"Mickey" Toni Basil
"You Are the Woman" Firefall
"C'est La Vie" B*Witched
"Barnabas Theme" The First Theremin Era (A disco version of the Dark Shadows theme song from 1969)
"Coronet Blue" Lenny Welch (Cool theme to a 60s TV show about a guy with amnesia- Cee-Lo Green needs to do a cover for a new movie version) 
"Don't Touch Me There" The Tubes (Best of the Phil Spector homages of the 70s. Sorry Carpenters.)
"Love Potion Number Nine" The Clovers ( I prefer the version that mentions Love Potion Number Ten)
"Marrakesh Express" Crosby, Stills & Nash
"Wigwam" Bob Dylan (Dylan as the Trololo Guy)
"Superstar" The Carpenters (Made famous by Chris Farley and David Spade in Tommy Boy)
"The End" Earl Grant      

Friday, June 8, 2012

I AM NOT ASHAMED PART 2


I couldn't wait. I needed to post a second volume of guilty pleasures  music "I am not ashamed" to like. I hope to update the Amazon store at the left of the blog with these songs or I may link them to Amazon's downloads.

DESDINOVA'S "I AM NOT ASHAMED" GUILTY PLEASURES PLAYLIST:

Amy Holland - "How Do I Survive"
Jennifer Page - "Crush"
The Equals - "Baby Come Back" (Early Eddy Grant)
The Bluenotes - "I Don't Know What It Is" (Cheesy 50s rock & roll love song)
Bob Seger and the Last Heard - "East Side Story" (His first record)
Vanilla Fudge - "You Keep Me Hanging On"
Karla Bonoff - "Personally"
Kate Bush - "Hammer Horror"
Tanya Tucker - "Can I See You Tonight?" (Remember the poster of her in a black leather jumpsuit holding T.N.T?)
Mama Cass - "California Earthquake" (She had a lot of courage to sing the line, "They tell me the fault-line runs right through here." Just saying.)
The Kingston Trio - "M.T.A"
Lindsfarne - "Lady Elenore"
Earl Grant - "House of Bamboo" (A cool song from an organist who sounded like Nat King Cole)
Kim Wilde - "Love Blonde" (The video sold me on this song. Kim Wilde is sssoooo sexy!)
Glen Campbell - "Wichita Lineman" (Jimmy Webb/Glen Campbell-sunshine pop/country masterpiece with a synthesizer. I also like this because my father was a lineman at the time this was popular.)
Peter Murphy - "Cuts You Up" (Former Bauhaus singer with a Goth rock hit from my early days in radio)
Pet Shop Boys & Dusty Springfield - "What Have I Done To Deserve This?"
Argent - "Hold Your Head Up"
Labelle - "Lady Marmalade"
Boys Don't Cry - "I Want To Be a Cowboy"
Middle of the Road - "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep"
Katy Perry - "I Kissed a Girl"
James & Bobby Purify - "I'm Your Puppet"
Michael Cox - "Angela Jones" (Another cover better than the original. A Joe Meek production.)
The Buggles - "Video Killed the Radio Star" (Actually it was stupid, greedy people in management.)
Nik Kershaw - "Wouldn't It Be Good" 
Dean Friedman - "Ariel" (At the time this came out, people mistakenly thought this song was by Billy Joel.)
Roseanne Cash - "Seven Year Ache" (I always wanted to be the guy she is singing about.)
Canned Heat - "Going Up The Country" (I also like the song they did with the Chipmunks.)
Depeche Mode - "People Are People"
Daniel Boone - "Beautiful Sunday"
Fever Tree - "San Francisco Girls" (Is there a bad record containing fuzztone guitar and feedback?)
Olivia Newton-John - "Physical" (A big number one hit that radio stations don't play today.)
Marcy Playground - "Sex and Candy"
The Barbarians - "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?" (A mid-60s garage band making fun of homophobic jerks. The band's drummer, Moultly, had a prosthetic hook for a hand.)
Focus - "Hocus Pocus" (70s Prog/metal with a yodeler)
Four Seasons - "December 1963 (Oh What a Night)"
The Blow Monkeys - "Digging Your Scene" (I'd like anything from a group called The Blow Monkeys.)
The Bay City Rollers - "You Made Me Believe Magic"
Circus Maximus - "The Wind" (Jazzy/folk/psychedelic group with Jerry Jeff Walker)
Bananarama - "Cruel Summer"   

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

I AM NOT ASHAMED or DESDINOVA'S MUSICAL GUILTY PLEASURES


This post has two titles, because websites call what I'm about to post by another name and people looking for such will no doubt Google the more common phrase. This is a list of songs I like that many bloggers and pop culture websites refer to as "guilty pleasures." However, I have a different view point than most people (Don't I always) on this. I will turn 43 later this year and I have two college degrees...I WILL LIKE WHATEVER I WANT AN NOT APOLOGIZE FOR IT!

I have gotten flak about the music I like ever since I was in elementary school. Rednecks who tell you that the only music you should like is Hank Junior or people, who  tell you that the music you like is affiliated with the Satanic/Leftist/drug culture. I thought being in radio, I would meet people that liked as many various kinds of music as I did. WRONG! The problem with radio is there are people who only like what is popular at that moment or hate everything that is popular. Of course, the morons in the talk radio area HATE pop music of any kind and want it all banned from radio.If you mention that you like a certain pop song around these people they frequently tell you "The only song I like is the Star Spangle Banner." These people also claim to carry a copy of the Constitution with them everywhere.

On a personal note, I have always made fun of people who like country music and I tell people that I hate country music. Truth is there are a few songs on here that are country songs that I cannot live without.

So I have decided to swipe a phrase from the types of people, who usually criticize my musical taste, use in their little cut-and-paste postings on Facebook.. This is not so much a guilty pleasures list but the "I AM NOT ASHAMED" list. This is only the start of this. I plan to do follow up list.

DESDINOVA'S GUILTY PLEASURES "I AM NOT ASHAMED" PLAYLIST LIST
(In no particular order)

"Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" Culture Club - (Boy George is the most underated singers of all time).
"Lonely Boy" - Andrew Gold (I hated this song when I was younger, until I noticed it kind of rocks).
"May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose" - Little Jimmy Dickens
"Just Like Heaven" - The Cure
"Fancy" - Bobbie Gentry
"Batman, Wolfman, Frankenstein or Dracula" - The Diamonds (If I ever meet a horror movie loving girl like the one in this song, I will marry her on the spot).
"Click Click" - Dicky Doo & the Donts
"Green Slime" - The Green Slime
"Dress You Up" - Madonna
"Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" - Edison Lighthouse
"Grazing In the Grass" - Friends of Distinction
"Rock & Roll Waltz" - Kay Starr
"Goodbye Earl" - The Dixie Chicks
"Bela Lugosi's Dead" - Bauhaus
"You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma" - David Frizzell & Shelly West
"Alice Long (You're Still My Favorite Girlfriend)" - Boyce & Hart
"Take On Me" - A-Ha
"Eloise" - The Damned (One of the few remakes that is better than the original).
"She-Bop" - Cyndi Lauper
"Point of No Return" - Expose
"Mmmbop" - Hanson
"Batman's Theme" - The Markets
"How About Us" - Champagne
"Let It All Hang Out" - The Hombres (Some people have called this a bad Bob Dylan imitation. I believe it is a really good imitation of Roger Miller).
"Della and the Dealer" - Hoyt Axton
"Gotta Get Away" - Jackie Trent & Tony Hatch (This song is in the pilot episode of the TV 70s show The Persuaders).
"Come Softly To Me" - Jane Olivor (Another remake that is better than the original).
"Pop Muzik" - M (This song bridged the gap between the disco era of the late 70s and the new wave era of the early 80s).
"Stop & Get A Ticket" - The Clefts of Lavender Hill
"I Can Make It With You" - Pozo-Seco Singers (Another underated singer, Don Willaims, before he was a major star).
"Psilocybe" - The Mad Violets (80s psychedelia)
"If I Can't Have You" - Yvonne Elliman
"Give It Up" - K.C. & The Sunshine Band
"Bad Time" - Grand Funk Railroad (This is as close as Grand Funk came to a power ballad - ignorred by classic rock radio).
"In The Year 2525" - Zager & Evans (The greatest one-hit wonder of the rock and roll era. It was number one the day we walked on the moon and the day I was born).
"Goody Goody Gumdrops" - 1910 Fruitgum Company
"Seventeen" - Winger
"I'd Love To Change the World" - Ten Years After
"Pretty Blue Eyes" - Steve Lawrence
"Rock Me Gently" - Andy Kim
"Unbelievable"  - EMF
"Experiments With Mice" - Johnny Dawkworth Orchestra
"Radioactive" - The Firm
"125" - The Haunted
"Yankee Rose" - David Lee Roth
"Don't Stop Believin" - Journey
"Walk Away Renee" - The Left Banke
"If You Seek Amy" - Britney Spears
"Rio" - Duran Duran
"Dust In the Wind" - Kansas
"Cherry Hill Park" - Billy Joe Royal
"King of Wishful Thinking" - Go West
"Tainted Love" - Soft Cell
"Bubblegum Factory" - Redd Kross
"Indian Reservation" - The Raiders
"Bend Me, Shape Me" - The American Breed
"Windy" - The Association
"Laid' - James
"My Special Angel" - Bobby Helms
"Butterflies Are Free" - The Free Design
"Who Do You Love (I Want To Know) - The Sapphires (One of the great lost R & B classics. Why oldies radio stations don't play it anymore is beyond me).
"Naughty Naughty" - John Parr
"Lotta Love" - Nicolette Larson
  

Thursday, March 1, 2012

THE MONKEES DAVY JONES DIES AT 66



Even though I took quite a bit of flak for it (from stupid people who liked Hank Williams Junior and Alabama, of all things) I have always liked the Monkees. Sadly, Davy Jones passed away yesterday at age 66. Here is the obit from the Los Angeles Times. Above is a scene from the Monkees film Head with Frank Zappa.
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