These posts are about the songs that just barely failed to cross the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. In 1962, Sam Cooke released the cut … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “I’ll Bring It Home to You”
752. Bleached Black, Bleached Black (1987) College programmers who first dropped the needle on the self-titled debut of Bleached Black might have been expecting to get a sweeping dose of glorious goth music. Instead, the band from New Haven, Connecticut … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #752 to #749
In my music fandom, I have a few clear weaknesses, sounds and conceits before which I am utterly helpless. One of chief bits that gets me almost every time is a song that is about being a song, calling attention … Continue reading This Week’s Model — An Horse, “This is a Song”
The baby sister in the intimidatingly talented Knowles clan, Solange faced a monumental task in following up 2016’s A Seat at the Table, which was widely and justly celebrated as an elegant reinvention of classic soul music. Blazingly smart and … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — When I Get Home
756. Malcolm McLaren, Fans (1984) Malcolm McLaren’s career as a musical provocateur took a strange turn in the nineteen-eighties, when he moved from behind the scenes promotional manipulations for the likes of the Sex Pistols, Adam Ant, and Bow Wow … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #756 to #753
It’s perhaps not surprising that a performer as iconoclastic as Karen O might have difficulty finding her footing in the current music industry. All sharp edges at a time when the strong preference is for sleek, prefab figures, the frontwoman … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Karen O and Danger Mouse, “Turn the Light”
760. George Harrison, George Harrison (1979) By the end of the nineteen-seventies, George Harrison didn’t seem all that interested in making new records. Certainly, anyone who was one-quarter of the most important combo in pop music history earned the right … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #760 to #757
Thirty years ago this week, I know what was being played at my college radio station. Or at least I know the ten albums that were being played more than any others. I’ve been sitting on this particular list for … Continue reading From the Archive: 90FM’s Top Ten Albums, Mid-March 1989
With about two decades of recorded music and seven full-length studio efforts behind them, the National are somewhat burdened by their most distinctive elements. Barring a massive, likely fan-alienating reinvention, a new National song is going to exist in the … Continue reading This Week’s Model — The National, “You Had Your Soul with You”
These posts are about the songs that just barely failed to cross the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. The Cars registered thirteen Top 40 singles … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Good Times Roll,” “It’s All I Can Do,” and “Since You’re Gone”
Coffee for Two 