Yes…yes I am. In fact, I’m feeling a bit inspired lately, so new posts will be forthcoming. The dilemma of country radio, the powers that be wiping out a whole generation of musicians in one fell swoop, and what I believe is the latest posting of 2015’s best songs are all coming soon. In the meantime, please check out the Constant Conversations podcast I recorded with Big Money.
*cue the chorus*
Today marks one year since I heard the news that Frankie Knuckles passed away, and I still feel the sting of that information. It’s made all the more profound because in some ways, I had almost forgotten about Frankie for a good decade.
That’s not to say that Frankie’s influence on me, dance music, and music in general had disappeared. If anything, imagine your eccentric uncle flying to Europe and loving it so much he stayed for a decade or so, because that’s what basically happened with House music. Its homeland of the United States may have given up on it like its predecessor disco, but Europe took up the House call and helped it evolve in different directions. And then, as with many other classic sounds, it returned with a vengeance.
My first contact with Frankie’s music came in college working at radio stations that had dance shows on the weekend. When Frankie dropped “The Whistle Song,” I was instantly taken. “Rain Falls,” “It’s Hard Sometimes,” “Workout”…his first album Beyond the Mix is a BEAST! This was also one of the first times I was aware that a DJ could actually be considered a musician as well. That’s a naive assumption in this day and age of David Guetta and Calvin Harris, but at the time it rocked my world.
While Frankie’s original music is the stuff of legends, a case could be made that his remixes will always be the strongest part of his legacy. I remember moments in my life when a Frankie Knuckles remix moved me: the first time I heard the Def Mix of Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You,” being stopped dead in my tracks as the opening a capella of perhaps his best remix “The Pressure” evolved into a full-fledged gospel house explosion, and the moment that I started healing from a painful breakup thanks to being on the dance floor as his interpretation of “Unbreak My Heart” rocked me to my core. I was ravenous, finding remixes as varied as Loose Ends, Lisa Stansfield, Rufus & Chaka Khan, and the Pet Shop Boys.
Soul music has been a passion of mine as long as I can remember, dating all the way back to hearing my mom’s Barry White’s Greatest Hits on a Saturday morning in our third-floor apartment in Syracuse. The tone, the depth, the contrasting hard and soft elements…all of it resonates with me deeply. As the 80s progressed, I got into more than just the crossover R&B tracks, discovering artists like Luther Vandross, Rene & Angela, Chaka Khan, Five Star and Freddie Jackson, with Michael Jackson acting as a gateway melody for my eager ears to follow. All of this lead me to House, and along with elements of Techno and Eurodance in the 90s, I soaked it all up.
As the 90s ended, I drifted…the Frankie mixes surfaced less frequently, leading me to take up the torch for collectives like Thunderpuss and Soul Solution. But all it would take was an older remix to pop up and I was reminiscing. Still, it wasn’t until around 2010 that I really re-introduced Frankie into my personal rotation, but I made up for lost time. If there was a compilation, I was on it. Then he dropped “Get Over U,” and I was stunned. Frankie had created a jam that not only was an instant classic in my eyes, but if given a chance should have been an International pop/dance hit. In fact, I named “Get Over U” my number six song of 2012.
I learned about Frankie’s death on Twitter, and I was heartbroken. He was actively traveling around the world for DJ gigs, he was back in the remix game (Ariana Grande’s “Baby I,” Mapei’s “Don’t Wait”), and the thought of him being gone was unimaginable for me at that moment. My mind raced to all of those listed moments he helped define, and the kinship I felt with a man I never met, and the sorrow was surprisingly deep. It probably took a few weeks for me to not think about his passing on a daily basis, and that shook me. I have only had that reaction to two other musicians passing: Michael Jackson and Luther Vandross. Michael lifted my spirits, Luther comforted me in my lonely hours, and Frankie spoke to my soul.
To honor his memory and raise funds for the Frankie Knuckles Fund, Defected Records is releasing a 2 CD compilation of tracks that Frankie had started compiling prior to his passing. It’s a solid track listing, and comes with a t-shirt of Frankie that was created specifically for this fundraiser. I’m hoping a US online shop carries it, as the shipping is a bit steep, but I’m on board. In the meantime, I’ll continue to play his continuous mixes and shuffle through my House playlist on my iPod, picturing the Godfather of House behind the decks, mixing tracks and releasing demons all in one shot.
I woke up this morning to the news that Giorgio Moroder and Kylie Minogue had finally released the video for “Right Here Right Now.” Unfortunately, Vevo decided that the video wasn’t available in my region, and I was sad. Fortunately, someone came to their senses midday and allowed the rest of the world to witness the hotness that is Kylie. Check out the video that immediately erases almost any memory of the hot mess that was Kylie’s “I Was Gonna Cancel” video.
This track brings up mixed feelings for me, because on one hand, it’s amazing. In fact, it’s better than about three-quarters of Kiss Me Once. On the other hand, it goes back to the same well that Light Years and Fever were dipped in, and while they were amazing records, an artist like Kylie tries to stay diversified in the material she records. Once my internal struggle is over, I want Kylie and Giorgio to record an entire album of material like this mixed into one epic track. Is that so much to ask?
Giorgio’s album is slated for release this spring, and is expected to include tracks with Sia, Matthew Koma, Foxes, and, yes, Britney Spears.
A good chunk of the reason I don’t blog as much is that I don’t come up with fully fleshed-out topics, but that’s a bit of a cop out. So here’s a quick list of what I’m diggin’ currently:
Apologies for the delay in releasing this list…life just continues to get away from me and distract me from the few things I want to complete for myself. This list has been formed for a month, but it evolved at least five times over two weeks, and then it sat for another three weeks. I made one last change about three minutes ago, and now it’s unleashed. Let’s be honest…my list or really anyone’s individual list doesn’t change anyone’s opinion who already has an opinion. If nothing else, this list for me is a chronicle of the songs that resonated in one form or another at some point in the past twelve months. A few points of housekeeping:
Here we go…
50. Golden (feat. Stevie Nicks)/Lady Antebellum (#50 US Country)
49. I Was Gonna Cancel/Kylie Minogue (#5 US Dance)
48. Me and My Broken Heart/Rixton (#14 US)
47. Sleeping With a Friend/Neon Trees (#51 US)
46. The Way I’m Livin’/Lee Ann Womack (Not charted in US)
45. Shut Up and Dance/WALK THE MOON (#71 US to date)
44. Sissy That Walk/RuPaul (#14 US Dance)
43. Love Me Harder/Ariana Grande & The Weeknd (#7 US)
42. Sick of Me/Tim McGraw (#50 US Country to date)
41. Try/Colbie Caillat (#55 US)
40. Take Your Time/Sam Hunt (#71 US to date)
39. Bang Bang/Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj (#3 US)
38. Stockholm Syndrome/One Direction (#99 US to date)
37. Boom Clap/Charli XCX (#8 US)
36. Outside (feat. Ellie Goulding)/Calvin Harris (#58 US to date)
35. Of The Night/Bastille (#35 US Rock)
34. Hello, I Love You/Adore Delano (Not charted in US)
33. Hideaway/Kiesza (#51 US)
32. Go All Night (feat. Jennifer Hudson)/Gorgon City (#1 US Dance)
31. Coming of Age/Foster the People (#14 US Rock)
30. Do It Again/Röyksopp & Robyn (#1 US Dance)
29. Don’t Wait/Mapei (#27 US Dance)
28. An Open Heart/Bright Light Bright Light (Not charted in US)
27. Perfect Storm/Brad Paisley (#52 US)
26. Make Me Wanna/Thomas Rhett (#59 US to date)
25. Girl In a Country Song/Maddie & Tae (#54 US)
24. Right Now/Mary J Blige (Not charted in US)
23. Pompeii/Bastille (#5 US)
22. Ghost/Ella Henderson (#22 US to date)
21. You/Lucas Miré(Not charted in US)
20. Wrapped Up/Olly Murs (Not charted in US…yet)
19. I Choose You/Sara Bareilles (#88 US)
18. Rather Be (feat. Jess Glynne)/Clean Bandit (#10 US)
17. Only Love Can Hurt Like This/Paloma Faith (Not charted in US)
16. Uptown Funk/Fleur East (Not charted in US)
15. Crying for No Reason/Katy B (Not charted in US)
14. Kiss You Tonight/David Nail (#25 US Country to date)
13. Dark Horse/Katy Perry (#1 US)
12. Stay With Me/Sam Smith (#2 US)
11. Calling All Hearts (feat Robin Thicke & Jessie J)/DJ Cassidy (Not charted in US)
10. 2 On (feat. ScHoolboy Q)/Tinashe (#13 US)
We can mob all in the whip
Make the money make a grip
I be stuntin’ with my clique
Getting faded ’till we trip
2014 marked my return to actually caring about R&B on more than a superficial level. Part of that came from the revitalization of disco and house and acceptable and legitimate influences for contemporary music (see Disclosure, Clean Bandit, MNEK, and on and on). However part of it also came from a new wave of artists who were able to take their classic influences and apply them to more contemporary productions like Jhene Aiko and August Alsina. The biggest crossover of the rookies went to Tinashe, whose Aquarius disc was one of my favorites of the year. If you haven’t heard the Janet-sampling “How Many Times,” do it now.
9. Happy/Pharrell Williams (#1 US)
It might seem crazy what I’m ’bout to say
Sunshine she’s here, you can take a break
I’m a hot air balloon that could go to space
With the air, like I don’t care, baby, by the way
I resisted…I admit it. I heard that Pharrell’s single from “Despicable Me 2” was starting to gain traction at radio and was already a hit in the UK and I still resisted. Why? Stubbornness? Old Man get-off-my-lawn Syndrome? Who knows, but that was dumb. Even a year later this song instantly puts a smile on my face and transports me mentally away from whatever is stressing me out that day. I was also really feeling “Marilyn Monroe” and “Gust of Wind” at different points, but it’s safe to say that “Happy” will go down as Pharrell’s career song.
8. Take Me To Church/Hozier (#2 US to date)
My lover’s got humour
She’s the giggle at a funeral
Knows everybody’s disapproval
I should’ve worshipped her sooner
A friend of mine in Oklahoma recently commented that this song is huge in Oklahoma for all the wrong reasons. I love that…I picture God-fearing churchgoers embracing this song, not really listening to the message of religious intolerance. Or maybe they are and they accept the fact that the guy in the song is an unrepentant heathen. Either way, Hozier’s album is a solid debut that trades in folk, blues, rock and pop to great effect.
7. Blank Space/Taylor Swift (#1 US)
“Oh my God, who is she?”
I get drunk on jealousy
But you’ll come back each time you leave
‘Cause darling I’m a nightmare dressed like a daydream
In 2014, Taylor Swift sealed the deal. Two years ago, “Begin Again” made my top 50, and I freely admitted that Swift had crafted a strong pop album, even as her label still tried to position her as Country. With 1989, Swift’s conversion to pop diva was complete, and she racked up the two biggest pop singles of her career with “Blank Space” and “Shake It Off.” The album is chock full of hits, with “Style,” “Welcome to New York,” and “Out of the Woods” all potentials hits in waiting.
6. Chandelier/Sia (#8 US)
But I’m holding on for dear life
Won’t look down, won’t open my eyes
Keep my glass full until morning light
Cause I’m just holding on for tonight
Anyone who has followed Sia’s career wasn’t surprised by her releasing a song that was so passionate and moving. What they WERE surprised by is that the song became a Top Ten hit. The video sure didn’t hurt, but at the end of the day, Sia took a song she easily could have given to Rhianna or some other pop glamazon and picked up a worldwide hit for herself instead.
5. Secrets/Mary Lambert (#66 US)
And I’m passive aggressive
I’m scared of the dark and the dentist
I love my butt and won’t shut up
And never really grew up
After having teamed up with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis in 2012 on “Same Love,” Mary Lambert was able to parlay that attention into a recording contract of her own which lead to her debut major label release Heart On My Sleeve. In a year where girls were being encouraged to be “All About That Bass” (a song I never could get behind), they should have been praising this ode to “owning your baggage” and embracing the quirks that make you unique.
4. Thinking Out Loud/Ed Sheeran (#2 US to date)
When my hair’s all but gone and my memory fades
And the crowds don’t remember my name
When my hands don’t play the strings the same way
I know you will still love me the same
Ed Sheeran has described “Thinking Out Loud” as probably the happiest song he’s ever written, or at least the happiest he’s able to write. To my ear, it’s the love song for a long-term couple who know each other and have recognized that they are in it for the long haul. This song hit home for me on a number of levels, but at the end of the day Sheeran proves he has both the writing skills and the vocal delivery to ensure longevity in the business. Fellow singles “Don’t” and “Sing” were also highlights in 2014.
3. Jealous/Nick Jonas (#7 US to date)
I turn my cheek, music up
And I’m puffing my chest
I’m getting ready to face you
Can call me obsessed
Reinvention is the name of the game in the music business. How many times can you take someone or something that has been popular before and repurpose it in a way that extends the shelf life and maximizes the return on investment? Sounds cold and calculated, but it’s true. Fortunately, there was plenty of untapped potential in the lead singer of the Jonas Brothers to warrant Nick coming back as Justin Timberlake 2.0. Teaser track “Chains” introduced a more mature, independent and sexy Nick Jonas to the world, and official first single “Jealous” sealed the deal even before the full album was released. For a change, check out the remix with Tinashe that adds an extra layer of sexy to the track.
2. Love Never Felt So Good (feat Justin Timberlake)/Michael Jackson (#9 US)
And the night through the thick and thin
Gotta fly, gotta see, can’t believe
I can’t take it
How many times has a song been released from someone who passed away that was worth listening to? I’m hard pressed to think of more than two: the Beatles’ “Free as a Bird” is a GREAT song, and reminded the world just how great John Lennon was that a song like that would be cast off; and MJ’s “Love Never Felt So Good,” which thankfully saw the light of day in 2014 in both its original intended form and in a “remixed” version with Justin Timberlake along for the ride. A lot of my contemporaries have stated their preference for the non-JT version, but there is a magical quality to the update that I just love. “Dance…let me see you move…” If you haven’t already, also pick up “Place with No Name” from Xscape.
1. Wrote a Song About You/MNEK (not charted in US)
Every time I look around, I sit and wonder
Where did you disappear?
My thoughts are no longer a capella but it doesn’t seem to matter
Cause I feel you here, I feel you here
Nineteen…for some reason, I can’t get past the fact that MNEK is only 19 but still able to put out some of the freshest retro-modern tracks that any pop chart wished it could see in 2014. He’s producing and performing on other artists’ hits (see Gorgon City, Duke Dumont, Little Mix and new Madonna), but he hasn’t broken through in his own right yet. Yet. Here’s to 2015 bringing MNEK’s debut album that slays all that dare cross its path. In the meantime, check out one of the most cleverly written songs of the past twelve months, but don’t stop there. “The Rhythm” and “Every Little Word” were also stellar tracks that should help make his disc a must-have in 2015.
In August 2013, I was in Santa Fe, NM for the first time with my recently reactivated Sirius satellite radio providing the soundtrack. It was almost six hours heading down from Denver, three days of driving around town, and then the return trip on a Sunday night. During that time, The Highway was previewing Luke Bryan’s newest album Crash My Party, and I heard tracks from the album multiple times. Full disclosure: up until this album I liked Luke, but felt like he was wildly inconsistent in the quality of his output. With Crash, it felt to me like he really gelled around what he does well, even if he’s not going to go down in country music history as a trailblazer. “Crash My Party” was already a hit, but one song stood out to me more than any other. I’ll let Luke pick it up from here:
“More than ever in my career have I let fan response on the road dictate a single than ‘Play It Again.’ From the day we put Crash My Party out, ‘Play It Again’ was getting downloaded more than any non-single, and when we play it live on the road, it goes over bigger than most of my prior No. 1s. It’s a fun little story. It’s a great song, because it does have a story about a relationship, but I think the reaction that the girl has – ‘Oh my God, this is my song’ – that’s such a real reaction and that’s what makes the song work.”
I actually pegged the song as one of my favorites of 2013 based on my obsessive play prior to it being released as a single, but by the time the label got around to releasing “Play It Again” as a single (number four behind “Crash,” “That’s My Kind of Night,” and “Drink a Beer”), radio was on board, launching the song all the way to number one in a quick 12 weeks. To put that into perspective, the current top three on Billboard’s country chart took 27, 29 and 14 weeks to get there. And what song is in its 14th week? Luke Bryan’s “Roller Coaster.”
All of this goes to show what I’ve believed as long as I’ve understood how radio and retail singles work: the fans know what they like. When you don’t give the fans what they want, they will eventually abandon you. In this day and age, it is so much easier for record companies to gauge interest in songs via streaming, video plays, downloads and social media mentions, but it doesn’t always happen. When Katy Perry was preparing to release her most recent album Prism, the label selected “Dark Horse” as a buzz cut to unleash prior to the full disc dropping.
Weeks after its release and well after most buzz cuts drop off the sales charts, “Dark Horse” kept selling. For reasons known only to Katy Perry and the label, they ignored this data and decided to release “Unconditionally,” a song that Perry cited as very personal. If Capitol is as focused on high charting activity for Perry as we saw in the number of remixes released for singles on Teenage Dream, you would think they would be more responsive to this. At the time, Capitol execs described the situation as an “embarrassment of riches,” but you got the feeling that they didn’t really appreciate radio and the marketplace upsetting their carefully laid plan which most likely included “Unconditionally” becoming her tenth consecutive top ten record.
Instead, radio quickly dropped “Unconditionally” due to middling sales and interest, riding away with “Dark Horse” and forcing Capitol’s hand to release it as the third official single. Two months later, the single hit number one in the US and stayed there for four weeks, selling over five million copies in the process. As someone who is not a huge Katy Perry fan, I had to eat a little bit of crow and admit the song’s pretty brilliant, and “Horse” remains one of the few number one songs this year that I never did grow tired of.
There’s a long line of hit records that have found an audience without a record label or commercial radio’s help, but the fans will find what they like in the end. If record companies want to be successful, maybe they should just give the fans what they want and not force good music to “wait its turn.”
…and it’s Calvin. But I’m skipping too far ahead.
I have compiled my music in one place as long as I’ve been able to possess music. From filing my 45s in order to recording a lot of music off the radio onto cassette tapes, it’s been a bit of an obsession. So when the 80GB and 160 GB iPods came on the scene, I HAD to have one. Why I bought the 80 instead of the larger model still boggles my mind (it wasn’t THAT much different in price), but that’s what I went with. It was my second iPod…the first just didn’t have enough space for me to carry ALL the music everywhere I went.
Calvin was purchased from Apple in 2006, and I took advantage of the free engraving. Feeling a tad subversive, I chose “This iPod’s mine, BETCH!” because the profanity filter at that factory in China wouldn’t catch it, plus I was trapped in a Kelly/”Shoes” phase that wouldn’t let go for quite a while. (Side note: “Shoes” holds up much better than it should) As I prepared to drive across the Midwest and move to Michigan the following year, first and foremost in preparations was creating playlists to power the cross-country drive, and now I didn’t have to worry about creating tapes or burning discs. I just had to figure out how to play the thing in a truck (thank you FM transmitter).
I’ve gone through three or four sport bands that hold Calvin when we go to the gym or for a run, and I’ve been through a LOT of headphones. Currently I have a pair of Yurbuds that won’t slip out when I’m drenched in sweat, and the plastic covers do a nice job of blocking outside noise. Sometimes when I’m on a plane, I’ll wear the headphones just to get peace and quiet without the iPod on.
A lot of the writeups about iPod Classic’s demise (a totally appropriate name, given the ground it broke back in 2001) have stated “sales of the iPod Classic have dropped in recent years,” and that is a true statement. However, it’s not a fair statement to make in this day and age where Apple regularly updates its products every 12-24 months to improve technology and drive sales. Calvin hasn’t received a software update in years, and between his amazing battery life and solid package, he hasn’t really needed it. This should be a testament to great engineering and how long-lasting technology can still exist. Sadly, that long-lasting technology most likely contributed to its demise. There is no money these days in quality, just quantity.
Man, this is reading like an obituary, isn’t it? And it shouldn’t. Calvin is alive and well and hopefully will be doing so for quite a while. The little spider cracks in the upper right corner of his screen are more like crows’ feet to me. Neither of us are as shiny as we were when we first appeared, but we’re both still kicking. I’ve already compressed the quality of my music on Calvin to fit more on his limited memory and he’s handling it like a champ. But I may have to find a backup, just in case.
And the name? “Calvin and Hobbes,” of course! 
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