HOW MUSIC CHANGED PART 137-54 – MICHAEL JACKSON 1958-2009

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Despite all of the eccentricities, flat-out weirdness and even the horrific allegations, I always felt a certain connection with Michael Jackson. We were born within a few weeks of one another, and the experience of seeing someone my own age, at 11, doing what Michael could do had left an indelible impression on me that never really faded away. His talent was so enormous that it trumped ‘undeniable’ and jumped with no resistance into the category of ‘unbelievable.’ Michael Jackson was the artist that made the dissolution of the Beatles slightly easier for me to bear, because here was a kid, an American kid like me, who seemed ready to lead us toward a bold new frontier of creativity and performance. By the 80’s, he made good on that potential, and turned his huge success as a singles artists with his brothers, into phenomenal album success as a solo artist, while literally defining the potential for the video medium.

It is a terribly sad coincidence that Heidy and I had just returned from Detroit the day before, where we visited the Motown Museum, which is housed at the location of the original Motown Recording studios. There, we saw plenty of Jackson 5 memorabilia, including Michaels jeweled glove. Today, our intention was to do a special show that would convey information about the famed ‘Snakepit’ where literally hundreds of hits were recorded. Instead, we must now pay tribute to a man that the Guinness Book of World Records referred to as “The Most Successful Entertainer of All Time.”

Songs include;

1) Can You Feel It?

With the Jackson 5

2) I Want You Back

3) ABC

4) The Love You Save

5) I’ll Be There

6) Never Can Say Goodbye

Early solo sides

7) Got to Be There

8) Ben

Later solo sides

9) Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough

10) Rock With You

11) Billie Jean

12) Thriller

13) Beat It

With the Jacksons

14) Shake Your Body Down to the Ground

HOW MUSIC CHANGED PART 137-53 – EVERY SINGLE MOTOWN ‘A’ SIDE, PART 53

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In the previous four or five shows, we’ve implied that Motown appeared to be struggling for relevance, while the ratio of hits started to dwindle. This show puts the lie to any of that, as it contains a higher ratio of hits than any other show in this series. A full seven of the eleven songs we feature reached the top 40. Here’s our list;

1) The Love You Save – The Jackson 5

2) The End of Our Road – Marvin Gaye

3) Just Another Morning – Michael Denton

4) Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours – Stevie Wonder

5) War – Edwin Starr

6) It’s a Shame – The Spinners

7) Do You See My Love for You Growing – Jr. Walker & the All Stars

8) The Day Will Come Between Sunday and Monday – Kiki Dee

9) Everybody’s Got the Right To Love – The Supremes

10) We Can Make It Baby – The Originals

11) Stay a Little Longer – Yvonne Fair

JUNE 1969 ALBUM TRACKS

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The older I get, the more I feel capable of determining which music will be deemed timeless and ‘classic’ and which can be dismissed as trendy or short-lived. Either that, or I’m so old I can’t see past the music of my own youth. The music from 1969 makes me wonder which of these options is the right one, because I seem to like so much music from this era. I’m not some ageing hippie, pining for the ‘good old days’, but I feel that there is an undeniable quality to much of the music created during this era, a quality that makes itself just as apparent to subsequent generations as it had been to mine. To varying degrees, each of the albums featured today can be considered classic; if an album has remained available forty years after its initial release, what else can you call it?

Here’s a list of songs and albums featured in today’s show;

1) You Don’t Have to Cry – Crosby. Stills & Nash (from ‘Crosby, Stills & Nash”)

2) Wooden Ships - “

3) Helplessly Hoping - “

4) St. Stephen – The Grateful Dead (from “Aoxomoxoa”)

5) China Cat Sunflower - “

6) Here Comes the Meter Man – The Meters (from ‘The Meters’)

7) Sophisticated Cissy “

8) Long Black Limousine - Elvis Presley (from ‘From Elvis in Memphis’)

9) Wearin’ That Loved On Look - "

HOW MUSIC CHANGED PART 137-52 – EVERY SINGLE MOTOWN ‘A’ SIDE, PART 52

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 By 1970, the material coming out of Motown was a hit-or-miss affair, even in the literal sense; There were still a few incredibly great hits emanating from the label, but there were more than a few misses as well. This show captures the ratio of hits and misses as the label attempted to adjust to a new decade, while preparing to abandon Detroit altogether.

Songs include;

1)    You Need Love Like I Do (Don’t You) – Gladys Knight & the Pips

2)    I Remember When (Dedicated to Beverly) – Ivy Joe

3)    The Onion Song – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

4)    It’s All in the Game – The Four Tops

5)    Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand) – Diana Ross

6)    Indiana Wants Me – R. Dean Taylor

7)    Come On People – The Rustix

8)    On the Brighter Side of a Blue World – The Fantastic Four

9)    Who’s Gonna Take the Blame – Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

10)  My Baby’s Love – Arthur Adams

11)  Two Feet from Happiness – Chuck Jackson

12)  Ball of Confusion – The Temptations

HIT SINGLES FROM JUNE 1969

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With music culture being as rich as it was forty years ago, I doubt we will a single month in 1969 that doesn’t take more than one show to convey the varied and wonderful music from this era. June is certainly no exception. Today, we will cover some of the most interesting singles to debut on this month forty years ago. Next week, we will focus on a few classic albums that were released in June ’69.

Singles covered in today’s show include;

1)    My Cherie Amour – Stevie Wonder

2)    What Does It Take – Jr. Walker & the All Stars

3)    The Ballad of John and Yoko – The Beatles

4)    Crystal Blue Persuasion – Tommy James & the Shondells

5)    Israelites – Desmond Dekker

6)    In the Year 2525 – Zager & Evans (as a ‘Great Miss’)

7)    One – Three Dog Night

8)    Black Pearl – Sonny Charles & the Checkmates

9)    The Windmills of Your Mind – Dusty Springfield

10) Tomorrow, Tomorrow – The Bee Gees

11) Spinning Wheel – Blood, Sweat & Tears

HOW MUSIC CHANGED PART 137-51 – EVERY SINGLE MOTOWN ‘A’ SIDE, PART 51

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       Today’s show brings on a new decade for Motown. The glorious success that came with the 1960’s now turned into a challenge for the label. Times brought on a whole new set of rules for the label, and Motown did their best to adapt. By the decades end, Motown would no longer be the leading record label in the nation, but they did hold their relevance for a while longer, as the next few shows ought to attest.

            Songs played today include;

1)    Psychedelic Shack – The Temptations

2)    The Bells – The Originals

3)    My Cherie Amour – Joe Harnell

4)    What’cha Gonna Do – Terry Johnson

5)    Time – Edwin Starr

6)    Gotta Hold On to This Feeling – Jr. Walker & the All Stars

7)    I Should Be Proud – Martha Reeves & the Vandellas

8)    Message from a Blackman – The Spinners

9)    Life Beats – The Supremes

10)  Up the Ladder to the Roof – The Supremes

11)  Expressin’My Love – Stu Gardner

12)  Get Ready – Rare Earth

13)  ABC – The Jackson 5

Hit Songs from June 1959

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In an attempt to douse the flames generated by rock and roll music, the media and conservative interests had thrown so much water at rock and roll culture that, by 1959, they nearly put the fire out entirely. Just compare the pop songs from May 1959 with those of a year or two earlier (you’ll have to check through our past shows for song titles) and you’ll see what I mean. Elvis was sent to Germany, and returned with less than half of his previous heat. Jerry Lee Lewis had been scandalized, Little Richard had quit, and Chuck Berry was marginalized, then jailed on the Mann act. Radio stations still willing to play rock and roll were being investigated for scandalous behavior. By necessity, pop music adopted a gentler edge, but speaking in a general sense, that didn’t mean that the songs were any less good. In a sense, all the hubbub forced rock and roll back to its roots, so country-western and R&B music expanded beyond regional interests and rose to national prominence in ways that couldn’t have been predicted.

Here’s a list of songs that debuted in May 1959, and are featured in today’s program;

1)    The Battle of New Orleans – Johnny Horton

2)    There Goes My Baby – The Drifters

3)    Tiger – Fabian (as a ‘Great Miss’)

4)    Lipstick on Your Collar – Connie Francis (as a ‘Great Miss’)

5)    What a Difference a Day Makes – Dinah Washington

6)    I Only Have Eyes for You – The Flamingoes

7)    Bongo Rock – Preston Epps (as a ‘Great Miss’)

8)    The Little Space Girl – Jesse Lee Turner (as a ‘Great Miss’)

9)    A Cottage for Sale – Frank Sinatra (from ‘Noone Cares’)

10)  Blue Moon of Kentucky – Elvis Presley (from ‘A Date With Elvis’)

11)  Good Rockin’ Tonight – Elvis Presley (from ‘A Date With Elvis’)