Even before the official Philadelphia International Records label, you had the songwriting/production team of Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, who produced one of the very few singles I actually bought in the 1960s, Expressway To Your Heart by the Soul Survivors, a US Top 4 hit in 1967. I love songs that lived on the bottom.
It took me a while to recognize TSOP as a “sound.” I was familiar with Motown, whose move west in 1972 seemed to correspond with its lesser output, at least to my ears. Stax Records, out of Memphis, was in commercial decline around that same time. Philadelphia International filled that “soul” gap.
Still, in spite of a great roster of musicians, I most closely associate the O’Jays with the sound of Philadelphia. LISTEN TO: Back Stabbers (#3 in 1972) Love Train (#1 in 1973) For the Love of Money (#9 in 1974) I Love Music (#5 in 1976)
I’m always fascinated when a song becomes so popular that groups of people feel the need to emulate it.
I came across this song All About That [Upright] Bass by Postmodern Jukebox, featuring Kate Davis. Probably found it on a Facebook page for the podcast Coverville. The goal of Postmodern Jukebox, according to pianist/bandleader Scott Bradley, is to get the “audience to think of songs not as rigid, ephemeral objects, but like malleable globs of silly putty. Songs can be twisted, shaped, and altered without losing their identities–just as we grow, age, and expire without losing ours–and it is through this exploration that the gap between ‘high’ and ‘low’ art can be bridged most readily.”
Oddly, I had somehow missed the original All About That Bass by American singer Meghan Trainor, her debut single released in June 2014, which was co-written by Ms. Trainor and Kevin Kadish, until it had already reached #1 on the Billboard Top 100 chart; it’s been six weeks at the top and counting. It is considered “a pop and doo-wop song that contains lyrics of body-positive themes.”
I’m always fascinated when a song becomes so popular that groups of people feel the need to emulate it; see Happy by Pharrell Williams, Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen, and others. Even if I’m slow to the party. To that end, Siren’s Crush covers Meghan Trainor’s “All About that Bass”; yes, that’s the niece, Rebecca Jade on the right.
I once had something called ice milk, which was disappointing, to say the least.
Dustbury hates mayonnaise, and managed to write a whole blog post about it. I’m not being critical. Rather, I’m impressed that he was able to engender a whole condiment conversation in the comments section. I like mayo well enough, in egg salad or on a BLT. It should be real mayonnaise or perhaps the light (usually written as “lite”) version, whatever that is. But I HATE the low-fat versions.
And worse is that stuff that looks like mayonnaise but is sold as Miracle Whip salad dressing; I can always tell when that’s been substituted. I’m actually not sure WHAT it is, but “Miracle Whip does not meet the minimum requirement of 65% vegetable oil to be labeled as mayonnaise as dictated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.” One of the worst things of my youth: bologna sandwiches on white bread with Miracle Whip.
This is similarly true of yogurt. Regular yogurt’s fine, and there are some decent lite ones, but the no-fat iterations I’ve tried are vile. The strange aftertaste, probably from some toxic chemical compound.
I used to drink 2% milk, then 1% for a long time, but now I have gotten used to skim. But the Daughter has not; she likes the 2%. Her mother once said it tasted like ice cream, and I scowled; surely it is fuller flavor, but it’s hardly ice cream because I know ice cream.
Ice cream is another product where the real thing is great, and the substitutes, not so much. I once had something called ice milk, which was disappointing, to say the least.
What food substitutes are acceptable to you, and which food items just can’t be replaced?
The day before I heard about her death, I had just happened to have watched a segment of Saturday Night Live featuring her and Paul Simon. I really haven’t watched the show much this century, but I watched it religiously before that. I’ve long thought the best SNL cast may not have been the original troupe (John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, Gilda Radner, et al.) but the group of the late 1980s, with Jon Lovitz, Dennis Miller, Nora Dunn, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, and Jan Hooks.
I also watched her on shows such as Designing Women and 30 Rock.
Her former SNL co-star Victoria Jackson also wrote an article. Considering that Ms. Jackson has become a bit of a lunatic, I believe it was surprisingly pleasant. SamuraiFrog noted the passing of actress Elizabeth Peña on October 14. I thought she was older, mostly because she plays the mother of the character played by Sofia Vergara (42) on the TV show Modern Family. But he was only 55(!) herself. (The death of people younger than myself usually gets the (!) response.) Ms. Peña was in my favorite John Sayles movie, Lonestar, and she is a voice in probably my favorite animated film of the last half-century, The Incredibles. But she also appeared in a number of other projects I’ve watched, going back at least to LA Law.
I read before I saw any confirmation in news stories, that vocalist Tim Hauser of Manhattan Transfer has died on October 16. I have some of their music, going back to the days on vinyl. Chuck Miller wrote a very nice piece, complete with links to MT music. 10 Glamorous Oscar de la Renta Gowns.
I have links only to the middle tune, the song of my birthday. You can go to the website and hear the other contenders. If I’ve heard it before, I won’t play it again. If I’ve never heard of it, I’ll play it once. But I won’t listen to the adjacent tunes. My goal: am I happy with THAT choice to celebrate my birthday? Or (as will be the case in the latter stages of the game), I have no idea?
Don’t know Grillz, though I probably heard it at some point. Didn’t know the Beyonce either, though it should be noted that she mentioned twerking much earlier than the general public was aware of it; it did not do much for me on first listen. Blunt, by default.
That I really never heard ANY of these I must attribute to raising a toddler. Rather like the Timberlake song, now that I’ve listened to it. If there are songs you think I REALLY need to hear on this list, please let me know.
11/31/07 Alicia Keys – No One 1/5/08 Flo Rida feat. T-Pain – Low 3/15/08 Usher feat. Young Jeezy – Love In This Club
Another trio of songs I don’t know. I realize that I must be a real prude, because all these songs specifically about sex make me uncomfortable. So I’ll select Alicia Keys, unheard.
2/21/09 Eminem, Dr. Dre & 50 Cent – Crack A Bottle 2/28/09 Flo Rida – Right Round 4/11/09 Lady Gaga – Poker Face
Two Flo Rida songs in a row! I like this one a lot more than the other; it sounds familiar after I played it. Still, I’ll pick Gaga.
I like the idea of the Peas’ song more than its execution. Don’t know the Cruz song. I vaguely remember the Ke$ha song which has too much Autotune for my taste, but I’ll pick it anyway.
2/19/11 Wiz Khalifa – Black And Yellow 2/26/11 Lady Gaga – Born This Way 4/9/11 Katy Perry feat. Kanye West – E.T.
I’ve been reading this book about the Beatles, and note that they were struggling to figure out their own philosophy/theology. Gaga seems to have known right off; I pick that one. It STILL sounds like a Madonna tune, though. Don’t know the Khalifa song, and only barely remember the Perry song.
2/18/12 Kelly Clarkson – Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You) 3/3/12 Katy Perry – Part Of Me 3/17/12 Fun. feat. Janelle Monae – We Are Young
For the first time in years, I actually had heard all three songs before! I’ve always had affection for Kelly Clarkson from that first season of American Idol. The changing rhythms of the Fun. song intrigue me. I like the empowerment angle in the Perry song, so I’ll keep that.
2/2/13 Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz – Thrift Shop 3/2/13 Baauer – Harlem Shake 4/20/13 Bruno Mars – When I Was Your Man
I think Thrift Shop must be a good song, because it conveys the ick factor of used merchandise. I remember when I got the video for Harlem Shuffle before it was popular, and I noted that I didn’t “get” it; it WAS a different video. That leaves the straight-ahead Bruno Mars tune that I’ll choose.
There are parts of Timber I like, mostly the sections without Pitbull. I didn’t know the Perry song, and it didn’t grab me. I read later it’s some sort of “reheated trip hop”; you know you’re getting old when the description of the music is meaningless to you.
So I’ll pick Happy. There was one of those online polls of the worst pop song, the kind of thing I usually pick the Men in My Little Girl’s Life by Mike Douglas (#6 in ’66 – sign of the devil) or We Built This City. Happy showed up several times. I think they are conflating bad songs with songs people get tired of hearing (Freebird, Stairway to Heaven, Yesterday, Piano Man); doesn’t mean the song is bad, but that it’s been heard too often.
