Day 174: When MSU won the National Title in basketball in 2000, the phrase that kept going through my head was, "I can't stop dancing." When you win the big dance, I guess that is a pretty natural way to feel. Another weekend of the Big Dance has drawn to a close, but you know what? I still feel like dancing. So, with this Chapter I would like to explore some of the songs in my library that really get my toes tapping. The title of this chapter comes from a certain song from the Violent Femmes and a certain evening I once spent in NYC with Jovon and Shelia, but that song is a bit profane, and it is a family show, so today I figured I would go in another direction. It is Monday, after all, and there will not be any more basketball until Thursday, which certainly makes me a little blue. So, it only seems fair to open this Chapter with the New Order classic "Blue Monday," one of the greatest club tracks ever recorded. Actually, Wikipedia tells me that it is the best selling 12" single of all time. It has everything that a great New Order song should have: a great beat, cool synthesizer and guitar, and completely nonsencical lyrics from Bernard Sumner that seem to have nothing to do with the title of the song. Yeah, it's pretty awesome
03/24/2015
Day 175: Years before the Adam Sandler movie "The Wedding Singer" made it famous, the super-fun dance track "You Spin Me 'Round (Like a Record)" by Dead Or Alive was one of my favorite dance tunes. I must have heard the song on the Impact, because I have no memory of ever seeing the video for the song, which is a bit of a rarity for my collection. At some point, I even bought the 1985 album "Youthquake" on cassette, but as you can imagine, other than today's song it is a bit of a stinker. No matter. This song still makes me want to spin round and around in my living room every time I hear it.
03/25/2015
Day 176: In retrospect, I am not sure if today's selection, "Help, I'm Alive," from Metric is an actual dance song per se, but it certainly has that certain sound that seems to put it into that category for me. I ran across this track on the post-120 Minutes show Subtarrean and the infectious beat and hook just got stuck in my head. I put the 2009 album "Fantasies" on my Xmas list and all-in-all it is pretty decent album. But today's song is still the best track. There is just something about the hook that I just love: "Help I'm alive, my heart keeps beating like a hammer. Hard to be soft; Tough to be tender." What can I say? Some days it just is hard to be soft and tough to be tender. What the heck, I still feel like dancing...
03/26/2015
Day 177: There are a couple of songs that really perfectly capture that feeling of the early 90s. I highlighted some of those songs like "Smells Like Teen Spirit" or "Right Here, Right Now," back in the fall. But, if you are looking for a fun, tap your toes kind of early 90s track, today's selection "Unbelievable" from EMF fits the bill perfectly. I am sure that this track must have been a mainstay of high school dances and EMF's "purple prose" still puts a smile on my face today.
03/27/2015
Day 178: As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I have never quite really "gotten" the British band Blur, but they do have their moments, even if they are sometimes a bit odd. Today's song, "Girls and Boys", is certainly a bit strange, as it seems to be about hooking up while on vacation in Greece and perhaps having some gender confusion happening? But, boy oh boy, is it catchy. The chorus just kind of gets in your head and makes you want to jump around a bit. So, no matter if you are a girl or a boy, get up and dance!
03/28/2015
Day 179: When it comes to 80s synch dance-pop music, the story for me really begins and ends with the British band Depeche Mode. When it comes to Depeche Mode songs that are fun to dance to, I think everything starts and ends with their first breakthrough single, today's selection, "I Just Can't Get Enough." Some songs make you want to play the air-guitar. Some songs make you want to air-drum, but this song will make you want to air-keyboard. If you're me, it makes you want to air keyboard on both the high and low keyboards. (Jen will confirm, that yes, in fact, I will pretend to play several different set of air keyboards). What can I say, when I hear this song, "I just go out of my head. I just can't get enough."
03/29/2015
Day 180: Speaking of Depeche Mode, the man who wrote yesterday's song, Depeche Mode founder Vince Clarke actually only stayed with Depeche Mode for one album. He performed with several other acts for a few years, but in 1985, he teamed up with singer Andy Bell to form the iconic synch-pop due known as Erasure. Erasure has literally dozens of pretty awesome danceable tracks, but today I would like to highlight one of my favorites, "Love to Hate You," from the 1991 album "Chorus." Erasure can at times be a little sugary sweet, but today's song is slightly darker with some pretty cool lyrics: "I think to read a murder mystery; I like to know the killer isn't me." I always thought that was clever. In any event, my love for this song is indelible.
03/30/2015
Day 181: I don't know about you, but I for one still feel like dancing. I guess so does MSU! In any event, Happy Monday! Why does that sound familiar? Probably because of the One-Hit-Wonder alternative act out of Manchester by the same name. They are another one of those bands that I remember from the early 90s as being WAY more prolific and important than they actually seem to have been. In all honestly, today's song, the very dance-able "Step On," is literally the only song from them that I remember. But, oh is it a fun track. That bass and drum line by itself just makes me want to shake my shoulders just thinking about it. It is so much fun, we might just have to call the cops.
03/31/2015
Day 182: OK, here is the Situation: a few days ago I touched on the influence of songwriter Vince Clarke on two of the best synth-pop acts of the 20th century in Depeche Mode and Erasure. Well, as it turns out, he also had an additional project in between his stint with those two groups. That project was a duet with singer Alison Moyet by the name of Yaz (or Yazoo in England). I sort of forgot about the band Yaz until a few years ago when I had two different memory joggers by way of TV. One of them took place during the telecast of the 2014 Super Bowl with my personal favorite ad from Turbo Tax, the premise of which was that the Super Bowl (if your team is not playing) is really like watching another other guy at Prom dancing with your girl for 4 hours. The song that that guys was dancing to? Well, it happened to be today's song "The Situation" by Yaz, which just has one of the most infectious keyboard lines I have ever heard. Not long after that commercial aired, I downloaded a whole Yaz best-of album. I regret nothing.
Well, it appears that March is drawing to a close and with it the madness is starting to subside. Songwriters such as Vince Clarke are clearly masters at writing songs for their own groups. But sometimes magic happens when bands decide to put a new spin on an older song by recording a so-called "cover." Well, get ready to take cover everyone, because that will be the subject of a new chapter beginning tomorrow!
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