During the past two weeks, I had a myriad of topics that I planed to talk about, one of them looking back at a college Spring Break weekend at Daytona which occurred 40 years ago during this blog period, and the songs I listened to both on the way down and at the resort town. I also got an email from a reader who suggested I discuss the many music festivals that are or will be taking place in our region during the next few months. One of my favorite hometown artists, the talented Rachel Allyn released a long-awaited EP (and has the top debut on the SNS 100), and I wanted to say a few words about that.
That is, until I heard the news that music icon Prince passed away on Thursday, April 21, at the young age of 57. So here we go again.
At first, I was pretty much numb to all this. With so many musicians (and actresses---we lost Doris Roberts this week also) leaving us, the thought of Prince being another one was like "okay another one" and leaving at that. But then it sank in more and more. Prince wasn't just another artists who was popular that passed, he was a superstar in every sense of the word. In fact, if you had to name three music icons of the 1980's, you've be inclined to state the obvious: Michael Jackson and Madonna. But think just a bit harder, and you'll know that Prince definitely belonged in that grouping as well....probably even more so. And while the King of Pop would indeed have his impact felt in the 1980's, he released only two albums in that ten-year stretch, and you'd have to wait a few years in between each one. Madonna released records more frequently, and although her impact carried over to dance-pop artists of the era like Stacey Q and Debbie Gibson, just to name a couple, Madonna, in spite of shocking people, was primarily limited to dance-pop (of course, she did broaden her horizons in future decades).
Prince, however, was in a class by himself. Not only did he release nine albums (as opposed to MJ's two and Madonna's four) in the 1980's alone (and thirty-nine during his lifetime, most recently early this year)....and he increased that in the following decade,his artistry was multi-dimensioned. He melded several styles, including rock, funk, R&B, avant-garde, hip-hop and many others. He played his own instruments. And probably even more important, he had influence on many other artists during the 1980's, either via mentoring, producing, songwriting, or other influences. He hailed from Minneapolis, an area not normally considered a music hotbed, but had his own stable of artists based in that Minnesota metro area. For a time in the mid-1980's, many of the artists who were popular, either in the pop or R&B field, had ties to Prince, and beared his distinctive sound. He himself led two backup bands, The Revolution and The New Power Generation. Bands and artists under his wing included The Time (with Morris Day), Mary Jane Girls, Vanity 6, Apollonia 6, Sheila E (a drummer for one of his backup bands who became a respected musician in her own right, often playing as part of Ringo Starr's "All-Starr Band" of music veterans), Madhouse and many others. He also took other artists and made them current and relevant again; Sheena Easton comes to mind, most notable "Sugar Walls" as well as a couple of duets. Artists like The Bangles ("Manic Monday") and Sinead O'Connor ("Nothing Compares 2 U") had huge hits with his songs. Cyndi Lauper's "When U Were Mine", an album cut from her breakthrough She's So Unusual, received airplay even though it wasn't a single. Yes, Prince's impact was far reaching for sure.
Like many artists who have had long careers, many of Prince's songs coincide with many events in my life. And although Prince's first chart successes were in 1978 with his debut album For You and single "Soft and Wet", it was at the turn of the 1980's that people first heard of him. "I Wanna Be Your Lover", a fresh slice of funk in the wake of disco's demise from his eponymous sophomore set, reached #11, and I remember hearing it a lot on the radio in early 1980 as a 23 year old riding in a van pool going to my first job, in Roseland NJ. And, while the next two albums, Dirty Mind (1980) and Controversy (1981) were more R&B success than pop ones, it did have some reviewers take notice; one compared the Purple One to none other than Jimi Hendrix; and while Prince, though playing an awesome guitar (more evident on the next, breakthrough album) may not be a match for the Woodstock-era legend, Prince added multi-dimensions to his music; already I this stage of his career, those albums added funk and R&B to the rock leanings.
Prince's commercial success was apparent with his next album 1999 (1982). The title track reached the top 40, becoming his second single to do so. That was followed by "Little Red Corvette" which became his first top 10. I may add that both of those songs were in major rotation on the still-new MTV. What is significant about that, is it occurred a couple months before Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean". There was a big controversy regarding MTV in that era not adding black artists as it maintained it was solely a rock channel, a representation of an FM-type rock station that one might listen to during much of the 1970's. In actuality, they did play some videos by artists of color, but more obscure ones like Garland Jeffreys, Fun Boy Three....and Prince, those that the channel deemed "cutting-edge". In fairness, I may add, that MTV avoided more mainstream R&B and pop artists of color, until Michael Jackson's record label threatened a boycott of that company's videos if they didn't play "Billie Jean", the original thought being Jackson was too "mainstream" at the time. Of course, "Billie Jean" in fact, turned out to be groundbreaking, both the song and video, and Thriller as a whole, changed the course of popular music. And MTV did indeed play more mainstream music, including those by African-American artists, including Prince and many others after that "color barrier" was broken.
"1999" was re-released as a single and hit #12, followed by the top ten "Delirious", a hit in the summer of 1983. And then came Purple Rain.
Let's just say that Purple Rain was to 1984 what Thriller was to the year before it. It was in the Spring of 1984 that "When Doves Cry", the lead single, shot quickly to #1, around the time I struck out on my own, moving out of my hometown of Roselle Park to an apartment in Budd Lake. That was followed by another #1, "Let's Go Crazy". Both of those songs showcased the rock side of Prince, and further cemented his status as a major artist in the eighties. They also coincided with some initial good times I had on my own, spending summers at the village of Mountain Lake, with its two nightclubs set in the middle of nowhere. A fall hit, the title track, reached #2, and "I Would Die 4 U" went to #8 that winter. As a result of his success, other artists in his stable had hits as well. Purple Rain, of course was a movie as well, a semi-autobiographical film roughly depicting his life. Aside from the expected Grammys, he also won an Oscar for Best Original Score.
While Jackson waited four years to release his follow-up to Thriller, Bad, Prince released Around The World in A Day, quickly after the final single "Take Me With U" fell off the charts. It was here that Prince showed the world that he would not stand still artistically. The album, in a sense was his answer to Sgt Pepper, with psychedelic overtones adding to the funk-rock hybrid already in place. The paisley design was his answer to tie-dye as he created a new persona, especially with the lead single, the #2 "Raspberry Beret". He also hit the top ten with the second single "Pop Life" to carry him through the rest of 1985. The paisley persona would indeed become his trademark, resulting in his own record company, Paisley Park, as well as his estate of the same name, perhaps his answer to Neverland or Graceland. It is interesting to note that, in spite of his popularity in 1985, he neither appeared in the "We Are the World" video, nor at Live Aid, although he had sent a taped video at the latter concert, and one of his songs was on the We Are the World benefit album released that year.
Around the World in a Day, unlike Purple Rain, fell off the charts quickly, inviting thoughts of the inevitable backlash. Back in those days, I had my clock radio set to top 40 station WQQQ (Q100) in Easton PA, and in early 1986, when the new single "Kiss" was played, at the end, there was played a sound-bite from a listener, "Gimme a Break!". But in spite of that, the single reached #1, and the album hit the top 3. There was also another movie, Under a Cherry Moon, which music was based on the album. "Kiss", a song covered a couple years later by, of all people, Tom Jones, however was the only big hit from Parade.
But another year, another Prince album. Sign O' The Times was released in early 1987, making it four releases from Prince since Jackson released Thriller (Jackson would finally release Bad later that year). Prince took care of business on this one, with the #3 title track. "If I Was Your Girlfriend", the second single, did horrible, but "U Got the Look" and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" both hit the top 10. The latter is one of my favorite Prince songs, released late in 1987 at the start of a ski house that me and some friends joined, at the Gannon's Inn near Hunter Mountain in New York.
The albums continued to be released fast and furious, unusual for the 1980's, as Lovesexy was released next, in early 1988. It was only hiccup of this hit-making period, missing the top 10, although it still produced a top 10 single, "Alphabet Street", but subsequent singles didn't chart. Perhaps the public finally got tired of Prince. Maybe it was time for another change.
And that he did. His next release, 1989's Batman soundtrack came next, but was really not a soundtrack at all (that actually belonged to composer Danny Elfman); but what set Prince's album apart from anything else was that the songs on his soundtrack-inspired set were almost avant-garde like; snippets of lines and moods from the movie (which starred Michael Keaton as the Caped Crusader), interspersed with his effects and artistry. Both "Batdance", the first single, and his album topped the charts and Prince was back. Every time I hear "Batdance", at the end of the song, with a soundbite of Jack Nicholson's Joker saying "this town needs an enema", I crack-up. My friend George Nowakowski always liked Prince's original line in the song, "Hey, Bucky....let's put the twelve inch into the computer".
The decade was over, but Prince wasn't. Far from it. Another album, doubling as a soundtrack to a movie, Graffiti Bridge, produced the #6 "Thieves in the Temple", in 1990, followed quickly by Diamonds and Pearls, and another #1, "Cream", his fifth and final chart-topper, which reminds me a lot of T. Rex's "Bang A Gong". The title track also hit #3 in 1991. "Money Doesn't Matter 2 Night" is another fave of mine, hitting #23 in early 1992 amidst the grunge explosion, but Prince stayed relevant in his own way, with his eclectic pop/rock/funk mixture that was always changing.
Prince's eccentricity started catching up to him in 1993, releasing an album with the title of merely a symbol, which appeared to combine the male and female symbols. Prince was sometime regarded as an androgynous figure as it was, a throwback to the glam era of the 1970's, you could even say he was the black David Bowie in some ways, mainly in the fact that he combined many styles and evolved. The "Love Symbol album", as it became known, yielded the single "7" which peaked at that position on the charts. "7", another one of my favorite Prince tracks, was pretty much forgotten by me until 2001, when I was on a bike trip to Cape May with the ski club I belonged to, and the band at the nightclub next door played this song, reminding me of what a great song it is.
Things, however, became more bizarre the following year, as Prince changed his name to that unpronounceable symbol, and was referred to as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince", although Prince himself didn't care to be called even that. In spite of this, "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" became his final top ten, in 1984. The reason for the change, (as well, as an even more frantic release of albums), was that Prince was protesting the fact that artists' output, as had been common practice up to that point, was owned by the record label they were recording for, and thus, had no access to it. Prince became being "enslaved" by this operation, and in his mid and late 1990's performance, often went on stage with the name "slave" written on his forehead in protest. Prince, under his "pseudo-symbol", released a ton of albums the rest of the decade and eventually fled Warner Bros. Records, and gaining artistic freedom in the process.
Though the music climate changed drastically from the mid 1990's on, Prince still released albums up to his death, similar to Bowie. He reverted back to the "Prince"moniker in 2000. He still made the Billboard Hot 100 several times in the 2000's, most recently "Black Sweat" from 2006's 3121. His final set, Hit 'n' Run Phase 2, was released in January of this year, just thirteen days after Bowie released Blackstar.
Prince was certainly a legend, a superstar in every sense of the word, and his music will indeed live on.
NOW TO THE SNS 100: Foals' emotional "Give It All" holds the #1 position on my chart for the third week, preventing Fitz & the Tantrums' "HandClap" from tying the record for the quickest rise to the top. Although Foals' previous single "Mountain At My Gates" is still getting significant alternative airplay, the follow-up is finally on Sirius XM's "Alt 18" countdown, so action is kicking in, preventing it from a bigger drop in points. But there's no doubt that "HandClap" will be the next #1 and probably will hold that position for awhile as it is fast moving up the alternative chart, and there are no immediate contenders for the top of my list (although Smash Palace's "My Mistake" jumped from 18-8). It is also being featured in a car commercial. Will this be the band's pop breakthrough? We shall soon find out.
For the second week in a row, a North Jersey native has the top debut. While Paul Czekaj had the honor last week with "Up in the Sky" (this week's Mover of the Week), Ogdenburg's Rachel Allyn does the trick this week with "Next Year's Girl" with a #53 debut. It's the first chart entry since "Restless Times (Call for Reckless Measures)" fell off the chart almost 15 months ago. The song is from her new EP of the same name, her third release (and second EP). I had planned on writing a blog on this new set, but I will postpone it for a future blog. The song is an up-tempo romp, and the singer-songwriter seems to be having a great time doing this one, right down to the audience cheers at the end. This is pure country, more so than her previous efforts. For anyone questioning the current country music's integrity, give this one a good, hard listen. As I will discuss in a future blog, this is an important release for Rachel, who has made my top 20 with all ten of her prior releases. A nice effort.
Jumping in closely after "Next Year's Girl" is Collective Soul's "Contagious", from the veteran band's 2015 set See What You Started By Continuing. If you were a fan of their rocking stuff like "Gel", "Heavy" or "Precious Declaration", you will love this one, a throwback to their catchy rock songs from the 1990's. I had previously added "This", the first single, which only grazed my list for a couple of weeks; to me it was a big disappointment. This one is a good one.
Two new songs by veteran acts to SNS, The Heavy and The Thermals, also have high debuts. The Heavy, who reached #2 with "What Makes a Good Man" and the pre-SNS "How Do You Like Me Now", are back with "Since You Been Gone", from their fourth set Hunt and the Merciless. The Thermals, with two SNS top 10's under their belt ("I Don't Believe You" and "I Got Alone") also return with "Hey You", the Portland, Oregon band will release their seventh set, We Disappear shortly. Two bands new to SNS, Chef's Special, from The Netherlands, with "In our Arms" and Coast Modern, with "Hollow Life", debut as well. Also returning to SNS are Elle King's third single from Love Stuff, "America's Sweetheart", the follow-up to the #1 "Under the Influence" and #2 "Ex's and Oh's", and finally the first single from Meghan Trainor's forthcoming second set, "NO" which at least on first listen, sheds the retro-poppiness of her initial singles for a more hip-hoppish romp.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
April 10 & 17,
2016
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 1 | NUMBER ONE:
"Give It All"
Album: What Went Down
(3 weeks at #1)
|
10 |
| 2 | 5 | Fitz and the Tantrums - HandClap | 3 |
| 3 | 2 | DNCE - Cake By the Ocean | 11 |
| 4 | 7 | Run River North - Run or Hide | 8 |
| 5 | 6 | Half Moon Run - Turn Your Love | 18 |
| 6 | 9 | Avid Dancer - I Feel It | 10 |
| 7 | 8 | Beach House - Space Song | 11 |
| 8 | 18 | Smash Palace - My Mistake | 5 |
| 9 | 13 | The Parlor - The Surgeon's Knife | 6 |
| 10 | 16 | Kaleo - Way Down We Go | 7 |
| 11 | 4 | Elle King - Under the Influence | 12 |
| 12 | 17 | Taylor Centers - Dodged Your Bullet | 11 |
| 13 | 3 | Adele - When We Were Young | 12 |
| 14 | 10 | Tame Impala - The Less I Know the Better | 8 |
| 15 | 11 | City and Colour - Lover Come Back | 16 |
| 16 | 15 | Martin Courtney - Northern Highway | 20 |
| 17 | 21 | TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
"The Beacon"
Album: Berkana
|
8 |
| 18 | 12 | Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats - Look It Here | 9 |
| 19 | 28 | Santana - Anywhere You Want to Go | 4 |
| 20 | 14 | Coldplay - Adventure of A Lifetime | 17 |
Tremors:
| 101 | Silversun Pickups - Circadian Rhythm | |
| 102 | Awolnation - Woman Woman |
|
|
Songs
with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.
● Songs
with 25 or more plays on my iPod.
▲ Songs with 50 or more plays on my iPod.