No Need To Wonder

All this talk of Michael Jackson and his importance in the world of music may have given some the impression that he is the greatest artist that ever lived.

Not so folks.

As talented as he was, the greatest artist in music history is not he. That honour belongs to one man only. The gentleman originally known as the boy wonder, and now recognized the world over by just one name:

Stevie!

That's right. Stevie Wonder is the most outrageously talented musician of the last century, with no exception. The trouble is that people say this for different reasons and I would like to set the record straight.

For years, Stevie wrote songs that made us move, that told us stories, that made us feel, and he did it with a voice that was not overly perfect, but as sublimely real as anyone ever.

However, it seems that fellow artists, musicians and true music enthusiasts have delved further into his repertoire than the average Person.

I only say this because everytime the topic of Stevie Wonder comes up in conversation, some young white woman pulls an "I Just Called to say I Love you" out of their butt! Hey, I'm not saying you can't LIKE the song! Heck, if I had written it, I'd still be talking about it. But to define the man, his music, or career by that song, is a back-handed bitch-slap to him, and every artist he has influenced, and that is one looong list.

Of course, nobody's worried about Stevie getting his due. He gets plenty, but it should not have anything to do with the condition of his eyesight, or the fact that a couple of his catchiest tunes have been so commercialized.

This is not a tribute to Stevie Wonder per se. It is a plea to music lovers who have not explored his music, to do themselves a favour and listen to at least a portion of a staggering body of work while he is still alive.

You've heard every Michael Jackson song ever recorded, over the last two weeks, and Ray Charles exploded posthumously due to a hit movie and a 'Duets' album, but Stevie will leave a larger footprint than Ray, Michael and Elvis put together!

From a young age, Stevie was recognized by the greatest minds in music, and given more freedom than most artists. His thirst for every facet of sound brought him greater strength with each endeavour, and by age 15, he had written and recorded countless hits on which he played various instruments including, Keyboard, drums, Harmonica, Bass, and every percussive instrument known to man, and even discovered a few new ones. He also sang not only lead vocals, but his own back-up vocals as well, sometimes performing each part of a five part harmony all by himself. A good example is the song They Won't Go When I Go which was later covered by George Michael (Remember him?)

Sometimes he would even synthesize his own voice to mesh with his own, creating the illusion of a duet like on You Are The Sunshine Of My Life (Oh, you thought that was a woman?)or Ordinary Pain where he sounds like a little boy.

In addition to many of those unique gifts, so raw and sincere were his lyrics that he would humble even the greatest musicians.

One example is Eric Clapton in the mid '70s while riding a huge wave of admiration among rock fans who proclaimed freely that "Eric Clapton is God!" He once told Rolling Stone Magazine that when he felt his ego getting out of control, he would put on a Stevie record, and come right back down.

For 30 years, Stevie prolifically produced more timeless classics than anyone. Songs that hold up in all situations, and all times.

If you've ever wondered (no pun intended) why Stevie has that perpetual bump on his head, it is because in 1973, a log fell from a truck, went through the windshield of his car (no, he wasn't driving.) and hit him right in the head. He ended up in a coma for four days and lost most of his sense of smell, and also left him temporarily without a sense of taste, a particularly tough pill to swallow for someone already born without sight.

After returning to much fanfare in 1974, Stevie set out to begin his biggest project. An album that would take 2 years and a couple of million dollars to complete (a huge sum at the time).

This album would cause Berry Gordy so much grief that he had almost begun to lose faith in his most solid commodity.

Almost.

Stevie's double album, which also included an additional extended play 45, finally went on sale in September 1976.

Songs In The Key of Life became the first American album to hit #1 on its first day.

There it remained for 14 non-consecutive weeks. To this day, the album ranks 56th on Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, behind his own Innervisions at #23. In my estimation, 'Songs' is still grossly under-ranked.

Those two albums, in conjunction with Fulfillingness First Finale are referred to as Mr. Wonder's "classic period". Rolling Stone Magazine said, of this period, that Stevie "pioneered stylistic approaches that helped to determine the shape of pop music for the next decade".

In 2005, music mogul Kanye West said, "I'm not trying to compete with what's out there now. I'm really trying to compete with Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life. It sounds musically blasphemous to say something like that, but why not set that as your bar?"

Why not indeed!

If you fancy yourself a music lover, and have never explored any of these classic albums, consider yourself informed.

Non-commercial songs like Love's In Need of Love, Too Shy To Say, You Haven't Done Nothing, Lately, and All Is Fair In Love have been covered by artists such as Jodeci, Marc Anthony, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Mary J. Blige.

His music is consistently sampled by rappers like 50 Cent in the song "Ryder Music". Warren G sampled "Village Ghetto Land" for his song "Ghetto Village." "Pastime Paradise" was re-worked only slightly for Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" while Will Smith used "I Wish" as the basis for the theme song to his movie, Wild Wild West. In 1999, Salome De Bahia made a Brazilian version of "Another Star". Tupac Shakur sampled "That Girl" for his hit song "So Many Tears" and Red Hot Chili Peppers covered "Higher Ground" in 1989 on their "Mother's Milk" album.

Many more songs by Stevie Wonder have also been sampled or re-made. Wonder is one of the most sampled artists/singers ever.

So if Stevie inspires the artists you listen to in order to create the songs you love, shouldn't you give the original a chance?

It's high time for the youth of the world to hear the real deal.

Often imitated, but never duplicated......the one and only,

Stevie Wonder.

Who's the King?

Michael Jackson's death has given the media's greatest vultures a whole new meal plan. The frenzy that will ensue over the next year is going to make Princess Di's death look like my mother's uncle Sam's (Sadly, uncle Sam went out without much fanfare).

I, for one, am neither interested nor impressed by any of these posthumous scandals; the discovery of countless "Last" Wills and Testaments, the genetic evidence of Patrimony, or unsolved allegations of impropriety, but much like the show Fear Factor, when a grown man eats the freshly removed testicles of a Donkey, it is difficult to ignore.

So brace yourselves people, for a barrage of "tell-all" books, feature articles, made-for-TV movies, made-for-movie movies, and countless bits of gossip, hearsay and urban myth whose subject is no longer available for rebuttal.

It has begun already, and may never end.

Today is Michael Jackson's memorial and if his life story hasn't been pimped enough, you've got the celebrity line-up of the century performing at what is essentially his wake. We've got screaming fans fighting each other tooth and nail for the opportunity to "honour" the artist that sang of peace, love, togetherness, and gettin' on down wit'cho bad self!

Far be it from me to rise above the madness and speak purely of the artist's work, but I saw a news clip of an older gentlemen, whom I will kindly refer to as "L'homme avec le cou rouge" so as not to offend anyone. He, for some reason, felt the need to point out that this was not as big a loss as Elvis! Now, granted, I was a child when Elvis died and while his body of work speaks for itself in the grand scheme of things, I must confront this as a lover of music and pop culture, and firmly ask, "Are you out of your *#$%@*&# mind?????".

I know there is no need to drag one artist down, to demonstrate the greatness of another, but Monsieur "Cou Rouge" started it, and I must finish.

Hear me now, and please forgive me for this mom, but there is absolutely, positively, undoubtedly, and unquestionably no comparison in the world of music that could ever put Elvis in the ring with Michael Jackson!!!

Elvis was the greatest celebrity of his time, but he was neither the greatest singer, nor songwriter, actor, dancer, musician of his time or any other. He was the pioneer of the crossover, and may have had more actual hits than anyone, and the impact of his death may have been just as great at the time, but as an artist, he cannot be compared to Michael Jackson in any way whatsoever!

Now, I know I have opened the floodgates, so yell and curse at me if you will, but should you doubt the sheer talent and genius of the King of Pop, I encourage you to go ahead and listen to Who's Loving You, a song recorded at the tender age of 10. A blues-y, gospel-y vocal strut that has to have been developed in the womb. His groundbreaking rhythm at a ridiculously young age, both with dance moves and pure vocal funkiness is second-to-none. Listen to Dancing Machine, which the Jacksons recorded when Michael was in his early teens, or I'll Be There when he was 11.

His voice alone would generate excitement in any collaboration. Take, for example Rockwell's one-hit wonder, Somebody's Watching Me. His is the defining line in the song, and it was enough to make it a top 10 hit. The same goes for any of Michael's duets with Mick Jagger (State of Shock) or Paul McCartney (Girl Is Mine, Say Say Say). Even Michael's part in the Wiz's Ease on Down The Road alongside Diana Ross and Nipsy Russell (for those looking to name for their newborn).

Michael stood his ground and over-shadowed the best with a great work ethic and an outstanding natural talent. He repeatedly created things that changed the direction of popular music, video, dance and show business as a whole, whereas Elvis had an awesome voice and a little bit of soul at a time when white dudes just didn't. A wonderful singer, Mr. Presley was, but please don't make me have to come down to Memphis to have this conversation, because I would very much like to not be shot.

So I say, "Let there be 2 kings! The King of Rock, and the King of Pop."

Both started as human beings and ended as legendary icons that the world will never forget....or leave in peace.

Bow Your Head. The King is Dead.

This has to be the blow heard round the world. June 25th, 2009:
The day the King of Pop died.

My late father-in-law called it 10 years ago. Michael Jackson was on TV defending himself yet again for some inappropriate interaction with a kid, or for proclaiming that he was not bleaching his skin, or, and this is the best one, saying that he had NOT had any plastic surgery!!

My father-in-law shook his head and said "This guy's not going to make it past 50."
"Why do you say that?" I asked.
"He lived too much too fast, and that just can't go on for long." He said.

I really didn't think that was a solid theory. I still don't.
Yet here we are, with one of the world's all-time greatest talents leaving us at EXACTLY the age of 50. My father-in-law's deadline.

He had lost some lustre of late, to be sure, but Michael Jackson, until today was still the King!

There was controversy and there was weirdness, but when MJ came to town, people were always there to greet him. Not just our town, but any town, practically anywhere in the world. This guy fascinated everyone, and he did so from the tender age of 5.

Sadly almost anything you say about Michael has either already been said, or it's just obvious. To say he was one of a kind would imply too many things I don't wish to discuss, so instead, I will recount my recollections.

Born August 29, 1958, he was child number 7 for his parents. With the additions of Randy and Janet,there would be nine in total, at which point I assume Mrs. Jackson's uterus simply disintegrated.

By the time he was 11, he was playing with his brothers in the Jackson 5, with a hit record and loads of adoring fans.
I remember the Jackson 5 (That's right, I'm old, so what!?). I remember their variety show. I remember their Saturday morning cartoon, and I remember when Michael first got together with Quincy Jones to release his magnificent Off The Wall album. As a matter of fact, I still have it. Not the CD, the LP (Okay, I'm old. We get it!)
The big hits were:
Don't Stop Till You Get Enough- a song that to this day, can kick start any party.
Rock With You- with that smooth soul groove that has been much covered, but little improved.
Off The Wall, the title track, which has been sampled, covered and remixed repeatedly in dance music, and the Eddie Murphy imitated ballad,
She's Out Of My Life (Tito, get me some tissue. Jermaine, stop teasing!).
Then somebody heard the B side of one of those singles. A song called Working Day and Night which never became a proper hit but has the freakiest rhythm ever and is still played at sporting events, on TV shows and in commercials!
I wondered how one artist could make one album with so much eclectic great music.
No other pop album in my lifetime even compared.

Until 1983.

That's when Thriller came out (Technically, the end of '82).

The first song I heard was The Girl is Mine, his duet with Paul McCartney. It was good, but not the track that was going to flip the world on its ear. ("Paul, I think I told you, I'm a lover, not a fighter!")

Then, at a time when videos were just starting to shape the music industry in a new way, came Billie Jean. No one knew what this video was about but they had Michael Jackson...dancing...on a street where the cobblestones light up when you dance on them. Then he went for the big finish: the half-kick-leg shake-fake shoe tie. His dancing was so unique that they just let him go. There did not seem to be any choreography.

The turning point was that fateful night of Motown's 25th anniversary.
March 25th 1983.
All the great Motown acts were performing and the Jacksons were all there too. Michael did a medley with his brothers until they suddenly left the stage, leaving him alone to the sound of a familiar new beat, the intro to Billie Jean. In my opinion, this was the moment in which Michael Jackson grabbed the world by the tender parts, never to release them. He started his pelvic thrust to the beat, stood up straight, looked both ways, grabbed his hat, and flung it behind him with such style that no one spoke in anticipation of what was to come. Michael did not disappoint, and as the piece de resistance, hit us with a move that streetdancers had been doing for years, but that would forever become his trademark:

The moonwalk!

Believe me when I tell you that everyone watched in awe for the rest of his performance, rendering anything any other Motown great had done until that very minute, completely insignificant. That was all that would be talked about the next day.

The next thing I remember is being in a shopping mall and seeing a crowd gather in front of the electronics store where the big 36" screen TV was about to play the very newest video for his new song, Beat It.

Up until that moment, all we had seen is Michael with the Jacksons or dancing by himself to his own music, but this viedo was awesome. It was the first time you saw a story being told to a great song that included Eddie Van Halen on guitar, and the greatest choreographed dancing to really ewnhance Michael Jackson's own moves. It was tantamount to the space shuttle's first landing on the moon! Moonwalk and all.

Everyone agreed it was the greatest video we had ever seen......until.....
Thriller!!

Thriller was the mother of all music videos and it's debut was highly anticipated by all. That night, millions of families, mine included, sat and waited and then watched in amazement as the King took it to another level.

By mid-1985, you could still not go to a party without at least one Thriller cut being played, be it PYT, Wanna Be Starting Something or any of the aforementioned.
And just so you don't think it was all dance music, he threw in Human Nature (and they said, "Why, why"?).

From then on, the bar had been raised. Everyone else's best was simply the least we expected from Michael.

He had become so popular that Jewish boys were dressing up as him for Purim. You didn't even need much: One glove, a black hat, and for those fortunate few, a red pleather jacket (What? You think anyone is buying it in real leather?).

I could go on and talk about Bad and Dangerous and everything else, but in my fondest memories, that was Michael Jackson at his best: Young, slick, and still black despite the first of many facial configurations.

So, if his music is his legacy, then we have all received a great inheritance.
We will always have the songs.

Farewell dear Michael. You changed the world.

Go in peace.

This summer will commemorate the 30th anniversary a most glorious era on earth!

No, It was not the space shuttle or Haley’s Comet.

It wasn’t Margaret Thatcher’s election as Britain’s Prime Minister (although that was pretty awesome!).

No, my friends. It was the height of perhaps the most pivotal movement in the history of…pivotal movements.

It was the indisputable peak of music history’s most enduring (but also endearing) blemish.

Yes folks…….‘Twas the age of DISCO!!

Disco hit it’s pinnacle in 1979!

It was everywhere atop the charts, and many radio stations had even gone all disco (with the occasional Al Green tune just to break the monotony).

Saturday Night Fever had been in Theatres for about 2 years, and it’s soundtrack had gone 15x Platinum!
A year earlier, you could not enter a home in North America that didn’t have a copy of that record, but by 1979, many of those homes were buying 2nd and 3rd copies because the 1st was so scratched from being over-played, or because the kids were fighting over which songs to play when they practiced groundbreaking moves, like pointing from left to right while simultaneously doing a pelvic thrust, in front of the mirror.
The craze had reached nauseatingly unprecedented proportions.

Just like any other all-encompassing fad, it was bound to drive you batty eventually.

Like when your wife buys you a bright red satin shirt to go with the tight pair of Sergio Valente Jeans that she has taken the liberty to “bedazzle” and tells you it’s the perfect outfit for your buddy’s party. So you break them in while you shop for a Roller Boogie lunch box for your son at K-Mart where Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive is playing over the P.A. (and you are still oblivious as to how annoyingly insidious that song would one day become).
Your daughter comes along to see if she can get a shiny pair of hot pink stretchy pants to wear on her date with some guy who’s trying desperately to look like Andy Gibb with an open leather vest and who drives one of those Trans Ams with a T-roof and the eagle on the hood.

So there you are shakin’ your booty with your Boogie Woogie Dancin’ Shoes on when unbeknownst to you, some rock radio jock in Chicago gets fired because his station switches to an all-disco format. Remember, this was back in the day when radio DJs actually chose and played their own music.

This DJ, Steve Dahl, landed a job as the morning man for a rock station where he began his infamous crusade against what he referred to as “Disco Dystrophy”, an infectious disease that had become a social pandemic. His followers were essentially white folk who couldn’t dance, I assume, but I have no factual basis for that statement, so I digress.

Their objective was clear, and their slogan was simple:

DISCO SUCKS!

No room for ambiguity there.

So that’s when it happened. July 1979. The great “Disco Demolition” at Comiskey Park, home of the Chicago White Sox. The promo took place during a night time double-header between the Sox and Detroit Tigers. Anyone bringing a disco album to the game would be admitted for just 98 cents. Between games, DJ Steve Dahl would blow up those disco albums with fireworks.

Sure. It sounds like a great idea when you say it like that, but over 75,000 people showed up and the huge box containing the records was rigged with what was essentially a small bomb! When it exploded, the bomb tore an enormous hole in the grass! Now, I’m not the most manly sporty type, but it is my understanding that baseball players actually use that little portion of ground. They even have a name for it. It’s commonly referred to as ….THE OUTFIELD!!

The next thing you know, thousands of fans are rushing the field, lighting fires, rioting, destroying the batting cage and stealing bases (no pun intended), but DJ Dahl had already escaped just as he discovered that his listeners were essentially insane.

Disco Sucks? You suck, Steve Dahl!

Okay, honestly, I could live 200 years without ever hearing I Will Survive, YMCA or Staying Alive again, but what about Off The Wall by Michael Jackson, He’s The Greatest Dancer by Sister Sledge, or Got To Give It Up by Marvin Gaye. Everyone remembers Shame by Evelyn "Champagne" King and who can forget Push Push In The Bush by Musique?
Ring My Bell by Anita Ward, or I Love The Nightlife (on the disc ra-howwwnd, yeah!) by Alicia Bridges.

I wish I could have been there. Disco sounds like a blast! (okay, that time the pun was intended)

To quote the inimitable Zohan, “disco disco, good good”.

Happy Anniversary!

"Oldies" is not a genre!

It has recently come to my attention that some people do not know the rules of music conversation. You see, one of the greatest catalysts for dialogue is music. After all, who doesn't like music? The question is never whether or not you like music, rather what kind of music you like.

(Note: If your answer is "I don't really like music.": I congratulate you for having the courage to expose that lameness that ensures you go through life with as little joy as possible. Fair or not, you will be judged on that statement, so give it some thought.)

My favourite answer is "House" or "Trance". Not because there is not some great music being stolen....er, uh... created... in that genre, but if that is what you put on at home, it is a pretty good indicator of exactly what point you are at in your life, and it doesn't really further the conversation, does it? That type of music is as fleeting as Susan Boyle's fame. How many times can you refer to a song's "really cool beat"? To be fair though, it has it's rightful place in the clubs and can draw you in under the right circumstances.

The term "Oldies but goodies" was actually coined by a radio jock named Art Laboe in the mid-50s in reference to the "good music" that was around before that "Rock n' Roll drivel". You know. The music that would be around long after Rock n' Roll was dead.

Then in the 70s, those same kids (now adults)preferred those Rock n' Roll "Oldies" to the "noise" being produced by flash-in-the-pan types like Zeppelin, Deep Purple, The Who, Dylan and other silly artists merely perpetuating a mindless fad that was sure to disappear at any moment due to it's lack of substance. After all how can 5 part harmonies and lyrics like Pink Floyd's "Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies. Tongue-tied and twisted Just an earth-bound misfit, Ice is forming on the tips of my wings. Unheeded warnings, I thought I thought of everything." ever be expected to compete with the poetry of Perry Como's "Hot Diggity, Dog Diggity, ooh what you do to me."? Substance indeed!
Ah, the oldies but goodies!

First of all, the term "Goodies" has a whole different connotation in the current Hip-Hop landscape, and an "Oldie" is anyone who doesn't know that.
My niece thinks the first Black Eyed Peas CD is a "Classic oldie" and she eventually might be right, but I assure you that it is currently neither!

I recently had a conversation in an office with a young lady who, upon hearing that I was a long-time DJ, excitedly told me about a club she goes to every week for what is know as "Way-Back Wednesdays". Her friends join her as they muse over the sweet old days.... OF THE 90s!!!! I suddenly felt too old to muster the strength to smack her with my bag-full of 45s! Her, and the callow bunch that run that promotion. I won't even bore you with the details of "Retro Thursdays" which plays 80s music all night long.
The Motown label is an outstanding example of good branding. So great a brand that it is commonly referred to as a genre unto itself, and while that may just be the case, it doesn't include much of the talent attributed to it. For example, the following acts were never a part of Motown...ever!

Aretha Franklin
Ray Charles
Jackie Wilson
Percy Sledge
Wilson Pickett
Sam & Dave
Otis Redding
Sam Cooke

Get the picture?
Ask anyone under 30 to name 10 Motown artists and they'll use at least 3 of the above without ever approaching 10.
Still, for those of us who know, Motown pretty much IS a genre. It had it's own style: Slightly overproduced soul music, and there ain't nothing wrong with that.
Note: A fitting tribute is Raphael Saadiq's last release, The Way I See It, containing new songs that you would swear were old Motown standards. Hey, if you didn't know, now ya know! Check it out.

So here are the acceptable designations for genres relating to musical eras:

Big Band
Crooners
Rock-a-billy
Psychedelic Rock
Motown
(Note:As a genre, it refers primarily to Motown's hey-days which were the 60s and 70s.)
Disco 70s (Included Soul, R&B and anything by Stevie, Barry, Rev. Green, Teddy, etc.)
Classic Rock 70s
80s New Wave
80s Rock
80s Hair bands
80s Funk
90s Grunge
90s R&B
90s House

Everything else is simply Pop.

In case you noticed, it's not that there was no Soul in the 80s. It's just that it was barely a genre. After the death of Marvin gaye in '83, the closest we came to good soul in the 80s was the watered down sound of Lionel Richie, Diana Ross and DeBarge. Freddie Jackson seemed to be paving the way for the R&B style of the 90s when suddenly came Anita Baker and her Diva-ness Whitney Houston. Anita came and went, but Whitney changed the landscape of her genre forever. You can thank her for the fact that every song's original melody is bypassed for 5 minutes of gratuitous vocal acrobatics designed to show off the singer's vociferousness rather than letting us hear the @#$%*@# song!!

So go on and enjoy the nostalgic sounds of the early millenium.

'Twas a simpler time, no?

One Hit Wonders

What would you rather be? A one-hit wonder or a has-been?

They both come with pretty pathetic connotations, but there is that famous quote about "I'd rather be a has-been than a never was..."

What I am saying is, that if I had ever written even one great song, I am pretty sure that I would never stop talking about it!
Yeah, I'd be that guy that you regret sitting next to on the bus, plane, train, movie theatre, restaurant, public urinal etc. I would have it on my resume, and my business card. People would utter a rhetorical "How are you", and I would answer, "Good. You know about my hit song, right?" And even if it was something completely inane like, 'Tutti Frutti, Shake Your Booty', I would wear it as a badge of honour, because how many people can say they had a hit song in their lifetime?

So recently, while watching some VH1 or MTV special on One Hit Wonders, it dawned on me how harsh and cruel, and ignorantly judgemental society and history can be. You see, many of the bands were not actually one hit wonders. Some had one song, and some, an entire hit album with numerous hits, which for any number of reasons, was never followed up with any further success. A little unfair, wouldn't you say?
I mean, if I had written even just one full album with numerous hits.....(please see above and multiply by 10!)
Furthermore, what about the career musician or more precisely, the career artist, who never concerned themselves with commercial success, but just by producing a work of sheer quality, gained temporary fanfare before fading back into the shadows from whence they emerged. Why must we unfairly assign them the "One Hit Wonder" label?

And do you have any idea how many talented artists may have given us more if the band hadn't split up or if they were not screwed by their management, ruined by drugs or forced to go work for their cousin peddling office supplies, or dog accessories, or private-label hair products?!

Now, many among the One Hit Wonders of which we speak, are simply glorified jingles! I am talking about crappy, poppy, bubble-gum shit essentially created to entertain children and brainless twits. No powerful metaphors, or if they do exist, are hidden benath the guise of Magic Dragons or Tin Soldiers or something.

Many of them are novelty songs like;

"It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater", or
"Yummy Yummy Yummy, I've got love in my tummy", or
"She wore an itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini",

and many, many more nauseating examples.

And what's worse, is when some schmuck decides 10 years later that this drivel is worthy of being re-created so that the people that were too young (or blessed) to hear it the first time, can now stick a NEW version into their mental file-o-fax!
For example, was it necessary for anyone (my apologies to the ever-lovely Kylie Minogue) to remake The @#$%^&*#@ Loco-Motion?!?!?!
And some seriously renowned rappers got together a few years back because they felt it was necessary to re-interpret the Sugarhill Gang's profound lyrics of "Hip-hop, da hibby, a-hibby dibby, hip hip hop-a-ya don't stop! Rock it out, baby bubba to the boogie de bang bang, the boogie to da boogady beat!" Ah yes, I now have a much clearer picture of what their message was!I guess what I am getting at is that there have been so many great works of art that just so happen to be the artist's solitary commercial success, but is it fair to compare them to these mindless monstrosities?
I say "No!", but since my opinion is usually insignificant outside of my own house (and even there, it comes right after wife and dog), I decided to hold a focus group. And, by "Focus Group" I mean, my uncle, brother, and a couple of cousins as well as the homeless guy who sits outside of Hooters covered in his own previous night's vomit. The experience prompted me first and foremost to take a shower, but from there, to compile a list of good songs that just happen to be the artist's sole sensation, or in some cases, just part of their lone lucrative album.
Please feel free to let me know what you think:

Me and Mrs. Jones - Billy Paul
Drift Away - Dobie Gray
Misty Blue - Dorothy Moore
All The Young Dudes - Mott The Hoople
Mississippi Queen - Mountain
Cruel To Be Kind - Nick Lowe
How Long - Ace
Black Betty - Ram Jam
Baby Come Back - Player (What? I can have a romantic side!)
Romeo's Tune - Steve Forbert
My Sharona - The Knack
All By Myself — Eric Carmen
Lovin' You — Minnie Riperton
Far From Over - Frank Stallone (Seriously, there's something about this song that makes you want to run a triathlon!)
Get Here - Oleta Adams
Walkin'In Memphis - Marc Cohn
MacArthur Park — Richard Harris
Tubthumping - Chumbawamba
Eye of the Tiger — Survivor
Dont You Forget It - Glenn Lewis
Something In The Air - Thunderclap Newman (This could be a blog all it's own as the band was assembled by Pete Townsend to play the songs of "Speedy" Keen who was a former chauffeur, roadie, and defacto fifth member of The Who. In addition to this song, he also wrote Armenia City In The Sky for The Who, and went on to produce Tom Petty and Motorhead!)
Cool Like Dat - Diggable Planets
Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) - US3
No Rain - Blind Melon
500 Miles - Proclaimers
More Than Words - Extreme
Let's Get Together - Youngbloods
We're Not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister
(a member of my "focus group", who requested anonymity for obvious reasons, insisted this be here, and I do not disagree enough to argue.)
I Got A Girl - Tripping Daisy

and I will probably add many over the next little while.

To ALL artists, please just remember to go all out when you do what you do, and if you get a hit, great! If you don't, the world will never even know.

Please note that if I have in any way, spoiled my chances of one day sleeping with Kylie Minogue, I truly and sincerely beg her forgiveness! Seriously Kylie, call me.

The Best Never Known

He has played with artists such as;
Jerry Lee Lewis, Phil Spector, Joe Cocker, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Elton John, BB King, Eric Clapton, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Willie Nelson, Badfinger, Tijuana Brass, J.J. Cale, David Gates (of Bread), Frank Sinatra, The Band, Marc Benno, Edgar and Johnny Winter, Glen Campbell, and The Rolling Stones.

His works encompass the genres of rock, blues, and gospel.

He wrote some of the most covered hits in popular music.
Here are a few:

Superstar: Sung by the Carpenters, Rita Coolidge, Luther Vandross and countless American Idol contestants.

A Song For You: Sung by Donny Hathaway, Ray Charles, The Carpenters again (and you thought they wrote all their own music), Michael Buble, Simply Red, Natalie Cole, Rufus Wainright and oh so many more (Yes. Just that song!)

This Masquerade:sung by The Carpenters (I am not making this up. Honestly!), Ella Fitzgerald, Helen Reddy, Johnnie Taylor and the inimitable George Benson.

He has had a solo career spanning over 40 years and 30 SOLO albums.

His name is.......................................... Leon Russell, and if you are under 45, there is a good chance you have no idea who he is.

And if you are over 45, you probably still have no idea. Unless you are one out of millions who have seen him in the renowned 'Concert For Bangladesh' or countless other performances throughout North America during the last 30 odd years of the millenium. My point is SOMEBODY saw him!! And yet ask anyone NOT in the music industry and they stare at you blankly.

If you are expecting me to impart some nugget of deep wisdom as to how that's possible, I have none.

He is a great pianist, guitarist, songwriter, lyricist and singer, but for all you know, he could be the great grandson of Mao Tse Tung (He's not. I do do some research.).

Can it be that Show Business is discriminatory toward people who make peculiar fashion choices? This is Leon at his best.

So what if he looks like the bastard offspring of Kid Rock and Jamiroquai? Surely Hollywood has seen worse.

Recent photos indicate he may actually be the lovechild of ZZ Top and the Winter brothers (Johnny and Edgar, not Jonathan and...whoever his brother was). but who cares? Do we really need to know why?
This guy is obviously a musical genius, and since we know that what's old is always new again,this is a chance for all you "super-progressive, indie rock listening, going out on a limb by yourself but only if all your friends want to go" people to listen to something new.

You are intrigued. I can tell. Google him. Download him. Read about him, and try to figure out how someone like this could go so unnoticed by someone like you who prides yourself, not only in keeping your finger on the pulse of pop culture, but more specifically on the music scene itself.

Well, go forth and listen children, because even if his voice doesn't hit you (not that it shouldn't), his music, in the hands of your favourite artist will.

Now because this man was obviously not concerned with labels and boundaries (and hairstyles), you may want to approach the exploration of his music with caution.

So, once again, here am I to point the way (Praise the lord!).

I have made a list of suggestions in addition to the ones above for songs that will get you started. Some of these songs will sound familiar because you have heard others sing them, but most of those people originally heard the songs by the man who bore them:

Leon Russell

Delta Lady
Lady Blue
Hummingbird
One More Love Song
Act Naturally
Magic Mirror
Tight Rope
How Can This Be Love

Go on, you know you want to.