Here’re my favorite creepy eighties-ish songs for your
Halloween listening pleasure:
1. Thriller – Michael Jackson
I know this one might seem predictable, but this is THE
Halloween song of the eighties. Spooky
and campy at the same time…and it has Vincent Price. ‘Nuff said.
2. Lullaby – The Cure
I’m not sure who’s creepier: The Spiderman or Robert Smith. Nevertheless…
3. Lost in the Shadows – Lou Gramm
This is a song from a movie about vampires from a time
before vampires sparkled. I HATE sparkly
vampires.
4. Don’t Pay the Ferryman – Chris DeBurgh
Hang onto your obolus.
It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.
5. Bark at the Moon – Ozzy Osbourne
In 1983, I was afraid that I would immediately die and go
to hell if I accidentally heard an Ozzy Osbourne song. This one was so catchy that I risked it. Whew!
6. (Ghost) Riders in the Sky – Johnny Cash
Technically, this one came out in 1979, but I was still
wearing out this 45 rpm in 1980.
7. Terrifying – The Rolling Stones
One of the best songs on 1989’s “Steel Wheels” wasn’t
even a hit single. How spooky is that?
8. Cemeteries of London – Coldplay
I didn’t even like Coldplay until they turned into U2…and
that was enough to get them on this list.
This video is amazingly creepy, btw.
9. Cry Wolf – a-ha
When I heard this spooky track from a-ha’s 1986 album, I
knew they could kick ass on a James Bond theme song. Two years later, they did a James Bond theme
song.
10. Devil’s Party – INXS
J.D. Fortune was the second coming of Michael
Hutchence. Such a shame the band
couldn’t make it work with him. They
could have had a good run, I think.
There are a lot of famous curses out there. There’s “The Curse of the Hope Diamond” that
has been attributed to the fact that virtually every person who ever owned that
particular piece of jewelry wound up losing their head…literally. There’s the “Kennedy Curse” that supposedly
began when JFK was assassinated in 1963 and continues today with the recent
suicide of Mary Kennedy. In sports,
there’s “The Curse of the Bambino” (which was broken in 2004 when the Red Sox
finally won another World Series), “The Curse of the Billy Goat” (which may be
broken this year) and the more recent “Madden Curse” (which continues to
plague a different NFL player every year).
There are musical curses, too. There’s the “Buddy Holly Curse”, which is
cited by many as being the cause of the deaths of at least a half dozen
musicians and other people connected to Holly.
There’s also the “27 Curse”, which refers to the fact that such artists
as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse all
died at the age of 27. The most famous
of them all, though, is probably the “Robert Johnson Curse”. Of course, that’s the one that involves
Johnson meeting The Devil at a crossroads and trading his soul away for sweet
guitar-playing chops.
However, this isn’t about any of them. This is about a lesser-known curse – one to
which I was a witness…but I’m getting ahead of myself.
When I was a kid, there was no internet. I didn’t have Facebook and Wikipedia and a
million other websites that I could use to access all of the knowledge known to
man. If I wanted to hear a song I didn’t
own, I waited for it to come on the radio.
If I wanted to see a music video, I waited for it to come on MTV. If I wanted to know the lyrics to a current
song, I waited for it to appear in “Song Hits” magazine. And, if I wanted to know the story behind the
songs, I waited for an interview in “Rolling Stone” magazine…or on “Hitline
U.S.A.”, a syndicated radio show that spotlighted a different rock star each
week. It came on every Sunday night at
10:00 p.m. on WOKI-FM 100.3 in Knoxville, TN.
I never missed it.
It was January 14, 1990 and the guest was Richard
Marx. I was stoked. I tuned in and patiently awaited his stories
about the early years & the recording of his (then current) album “Repeat
Offender”, as well as hints of what was to come.
Things started out innocently enough with Richard declaring, “I’m very
self-critical, but I’m not nearly as critical of me as some other people – like
our co-host Adam Curry.” Marx went on to
explain how a friend of his had heard Curry insult him on MTV, comparing an
incident during which he trashed his tour bus while being delayed at the
Canadian border with “Doogie Howser going on a homicidal shooting spree.”
Marx recounted how, at a later MTV taping, he had
confronted Curry, who denied making the comment. Marx didn’t believe him, though, and was able
to acquire a tape from the network which proved that the statement had, indeed,
been made. Marx then said
matter-of-factly (on LIVE radio, mind you), “So, Adam, you lying scumbag, I
don’t want to hear your voice for the rest of this interview.” He went on to say how Adam had a “hairdo like
Mrs. Howell from “Gilligan’s Island”.
Now, even though I was a HUGE Richard Marx fan and didn’t
really have strong feelings about Adam Curry one way or the other, I thought
that was a little like the pot calling the kettle black. I mean, have you ever seen pictures of Richard
Marx’s hair circa 1990? It was a helluva
thing.
Curry tried to smooth things over saying, “Hopefully, we
can refrain from all the personal differences.
I don’t think this is either the time or the place to discuss it. Although…”
“Adam, you jerk, I don’t even want to hear your voice!”
Marx interrupted. “You’re just a mousse
endorsement!”
Again, look in the mirror, Richard. I’m just saying.
Luckily for everyone involved, they weren’t actually in
the same studio. Therefore, no punches
were thrown – just one insult after another.
Adam seemed to restrain himself in the interest of professionalism, I
suppose, jabbing Marx one last time when he said, “Remember, I’m on MTV every
single day…and you’re not.” The two
agreed to compare careers in 5 years and then Richard stormed out.
I was in shock. It
was one of the most awkward and bizarre things I had ever heard on the
radio. How cool that I was in the right
place at the right time and heard it all.
But, “What’s the curse?” you ask. Well, in 1990, Richard Marx was one of the
most successful rock stars in the world.
He was on an incredible run that had begun 3 years earlier when he released
his debut album. During the period from
1987 thru 1990, he had 7 top five hits, three of which had made it all the way
to number one. His current (at the time)
single was “Too Late to Say Goodbye”.
It just happened to be his first to miss the top ten,
stalling out at number twelve. His next
single, “Children of the Night”, would peak at number thirteen. Over the next four years, Marx would only hit
the Top 40 five more times and only two of those would reach the top 10. His last hit was in 1994, one year before he
and Adam Curry were supposed to compare careers.
Coincidentally, 1994 was also the year that Adam Curry
quit MTV declaring that he could no longer play Winger videos when the internet
was happening. Of course, nobody knew
what the hell he was talking about at the time.
He would go on to host a number of podcasts, earning the nickname “The
Podfather”. By and large, though, he,
like Marx, would essentially disappear from the face of the Earth…four years
after the “Hitline U.S.A.” incident.
All that being said, a number of questions still
remain: Did Adam Curry really put a curse
on Richard Marx? If so, did he
accidentally get some on himself? Did
the two of them actually ever compare careers in 1995? Will Richard Marx hire Theo Epstein as his new manager? Does anybody really give a shit? I don’t have the answer to any of these. Sorry.
Let’s face it:
There are plenty of reasons to hate U2.
I mean, sure, there was a time when they were so cool that only cool
people liked them. Then, there was the
time when they were so HUGELY popular that EVERYBODY liked them. That was a LONG time ago, though. Since then, they’ve given us the HUGELY
pretentious “Rattle & Hum” album, the HUGELY weird “Zooropa” album &
tour, the even weirder “Pop” album & tour and then the HUGELY experimental
“No Line on the Horizon” album after we had just gotten used to them being good
again on “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” and “How to Dismantle an Atomic
Bomb”. That’s not even to mention (even
though I am) Bono’s pompous attitude and in-your-face holier-than-thou
politics. I think the best reason to
hate them, though, is that they gave everybody in the world a copy of their
latest album. No, wait…that doesn’t make
sense. What the hell am I talking about
anyway? Oh yeah…last year, U2 released
their best album ever & gave it away for free and millions of people got
totally pissed off at them for it. Wow. I just read that back and it still doesn’t
make sense. I’ll bet you’re thinking the
same thing. I’ll bet it’s for a
different reason, though. I’ll bet you’re
sitting there wondering how I could say that “Songs of Innocence” is
U2’s best album. It is, though. Seriously.
First of all, let me just say that I know that it’s a
widely-accepted fact that “The Joshua Tree” is U2’s best album. I don’t think I’ve ever even heard an
argument to the contrary. I mean, to
date, it’s sold in excess of 25,000,000 copies worldwide and was
single-handedly responsible for catapulting the band from “critical darling” to
“biggest band in the world” status.
Along the way, it undoubtedly became the soundtrack to millions of
lives, earning a place in the hearts of those same millions FOREVER. I get it.
Here’s the thing, though:
I wasn’t a U2 fan in 1987. In
fact, I never even bought a U2 album until 2000 when “ATYCLB” came out. Now, that’s not to say that I didn’t like
U2. I liked a lot of their songs. I liked “New Years Day” and “Pride (In the
Name of Love)” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “Angel of
Harlem”. I just didn’t like them enough to
buy the albums…because I wasn’t a U2 fan.
I was just a guy who liked some U2 songs. It wasn’t until I heard “Beautiful Day”
post-Y2K that I was actually moved to buy a U2 album. I was hooked after that, though. By the time “HTDAAB” was released, I had gone
back and purchased their entire catalog…and I’ve bought everything they’ve
recorded since then.
My point is: I
have absolutely no sentimental attachment to “The Joshua Tree”. It’s a great album. For years, I considered it their 2nd
best after “War”. But I didn’t own it in
the eighties. It’ll never mean as much
to me as “Rio” or “Thriller” or “Born in the U.S.A.” because it wasn’t there
for me when I was growing up. It’s just
a really good album that I bought as an adult and appreciate for the really
good album that it is. That means I can
be completely objective when I say that their latest album, “Songs of
Innocence”, is better.
Again, I know that statement is going to sound
blasphemous to some. Hear me out,
though.
There are, basically, three kinds of U2 albums: post-punk, soul and experimental. While everything the band records has a
degree of raw energy, soul and experimentation, each of their albums leans
primarily in one direction more than the others. For example, the band’s first three albums,
“Boy”, “October” & “War” would fall into the first category. There was an angry, youthful energy that
drove even the slower songs on those records.
It was undeniable and exciting.
It’s what drew millions to them in the first place.
However, with “The Unforgettable Fire”, the band would
reach a new plateau. That’s when they
found their “soul”. No more were they
angry, young men. They had matured, and
with that maturity came a new wisdom.
They weren’t fighting the world anymore – they were coming to terms with
it…and embracing it, even as they tried to make it a better place. That soul would carry them through their next
two albums, “The Joshua Tree” & “Rattle & Hum”, as well.
As the nineties dawned, the band wisely lightened up a
bit. That’s when their experimental
phase began. “Achtung Baby”, “Zooropa”
& “Pop” were clearly not “your father’s U2”. The quirkiness of those songs was
accompanied by a circus of a live show, during which they pretty much poked fun
at themselves. Commercially, there were
as many valleys as peaks, but they did succeed at getting the pretentiousness
monkey off their backs…and AB is regarded by many as one of their absolute best
albums.
It was those three experimental albums that allowed the
band to finally regain their soul, so to speak, on 2000’s “All That You Can’t
Leave Behind”. The overall sound was
again more organic with simpler arrangements on gospel-tinged songs about love
and loss. It was a welcome return to
glory and fans showed their delight by snatching up almost as many copies of it
as their previous two albums combined. They
would continue along that same path on the follow-up, 2004’s “How to Dismantle
an Atomic Bomb”, although they would let their post-punk roots show, at least
to a degree. Unfortunately, they would
be back in mad scientist mode again five years later with the disappointing “No
Line on the Horizon”.
That brings us to last year’s “Songs of Innocence”. One part post-punk, one part soul and one
part experimentation, the record that Rolling Stone called U2’s most complete
album is the first on which the band displays all three parts of their musical
psyche equally…and the results are fantastic.
Nowhere is this more evident than on the opening track “The Miracle (of
Joey Ramone). The song kicks off the
record with a grungy guitar riff reminiscent of HTDAAB’s “Vertigo”. But, whereas the band holds the pedal to the
metal throughout the latter, they wisely stop on a dime on the former for a
heartfelt chorus as powerful as that of their very first U.S. Top 40 hit thirty
years earlier.
“Every Breaking Wave” follows suit with a soulful verse
that builds to a powerful chorus. Bono’s
ragged delivery is perfectly juxtaposed against the slick keyboard riff that drives
that section of the song. It’s edgy,
passionate and, at the same time, innovative…plus, it’s damn catchy.
And it doesn’t end there – the band fires on ALL
cylinders on EVERY SINGLE SONG. There is
NO filler here. Somehow, this band that
has been around for almost 40 years manages to play ear candy like a punk band while
weaving in enough unexpected musical flourishes to sound as cutting edge as
anything on Top 40 radio…and all while Bono passionately wails lyrics that only
a starving 20-year-old living in his van should be able to write. It’s astonishing, really…but that wasn’t even
the true litmus test.
After listening to this album non-stop for 2 weeks, I was
ready to rank it comfortably behind “War” and “The Joshua Tree” as the band’s
third best…but then I did something that changed that. I went back and listened to their older stuff. That’s when I realized that my mind had been
playing tricks on me. Every time I
listened to SOI, I was reminded of U2’s earlier albums. Several songs on the album were very
reminiscent of TJT. However, when I went
back and listened to that album, I realized that the new songs are better. Take away the nostalgia of that classic album
and there’s really no comparison.
“California”, “Cedarwood Road”, “Raised by Wolves” and “Iris” (which
Bono wrote about his mother who died when he was 14) are actually better songs
than pretty much everything on TJT.
The same was true when I listened to “War”. Ever the contrarian, I had always insisted
that it, not TJT, was U2’s best album. I
stuck it in the CD player and listened from start to finish. It’s a great album. It’s one of their best…but it’s simply not
their best. “Volcano” and “This is Where
You Can Reach Me Now” do what it does better. Once again, I was astonished – just as astonished as you probably are right now.
Now, let me qualify what I’m saying before you call me an
idiot. I’m not saying that the 11 songs
on “Songs of Innocence” are U2’s best eleven songs and that every other U2 song
ranks somewhere behind them. What I’m
saying is that, as a whole, this album has everything that every other U2 album
has all packed into one album. If you
like young, wild, pissed-off U2, this is the album for you. If you like older, preachy, pretentious U2,
this is the album for you. If you like
old, crazy, weird U2, this is the album for you. It’s the all-purpose U2 album…if you’re a U2
fan. If you disagree, then there’s a
chance that you’re not really a U2 fan at all – you’re just a guy (or girl) who
likes some U2 songs. Some really OLD U2
songs.
So, let go of the past and give this “new” album a fair
shake. Don’t tell me you don’t have
it. I know you do. Every damn body in the world has it. U2 made sure of that.
By the way, I hope you enjoyed the videos I included in
this week’s blog. I felt that I needed
to feature every song on the album in order to state my case, so I literally
searched for hours to find a good visual representation of each song. Three of them were official videos produced
by the band and one was a live performance.
The other seven were fan-made.
Thanks to all of these filmmakers for demonstrating their passion for
this music by creating some amazing art.
If the fact that he’s not CLOSE to being a “one-hit
wonder” is Rick Springfield’s biggest secret, then his even BIGGER secret is
that he has continued to make some amazing post-eighties music. After keeping relatively quiet throughout the
nineties, he returned in 1999 with “Karma”.
The album wasn’t great, but it featured the likeable single “It’s Always
Something”.
“Karma” was not a commercial success, only peaking at
#189, though it did create a spark and prompted Rick to start touring again.
It would be five years before he would release another
album, 2004’s “Shock/Anger/Denial/Acceptance”.
The album would live up to its title with darker themes and a harder edge. The first single was “Beautiful You”, which
managed to crack the top 30 on the adult contemporary chart, although the album
did not chart.
The following year, Rick would release “The Day After
Yesterday”, which was an album of eighties covers that he described as “songs I
wish I had written”. As much as I like
Rick, I would have to describe it as “songs I wish he had left alone”.
It was followed in 2007 with a holiday album entitled
“Christmas with You”. Both albums performed
meagerly, but kept him in the public consciousness to a degree. It was also during this period that he
returned to General Hospital and his role as Dr. Noah Drake after a 23-year
absence.
A year later, Rick stormed back with his best album since
1983’s “Living in Oz”. “Venus in
Overdrive” made it all the way to #28 on Billboard’s Top 200 fueled by the
“Jessie’s Girl”-esque “What’s Victoria’s Secret?”.
Other highlights included the reggae-tinged title track,
the Foo Fighters-ish “Time Stand Still” and the beautiful “Saint Sahara”, which
Rick wrote for a young fan who died of brain cancer.
He would follow that in 2009 with “My Precious Little
One: Lullabies for a New
Generation”. The true follow-up to
“Venus in Overdrive”, however, would be 2012’s “Songs for the End of the
World”. The album was almost as good as
VIO and would also make a considerable dent in Billboard’s album chart, peaking
at #44. The lead-off single was “I Hate
Myself”.
And that pretty much brings you up-to-date on Rick
Springfield. His newest album came out
earlier this year. It’s called “Stripped
Down” and it’s full of acoustic versions of some of his biggest hits. He’s currently on tour with Loverboy and The
Romantics.
As a self-appointed and universally-recognized (at least in
MY universe) eighties historian, I can’t think of too many things that annoy me
more than hearing someone refer to an artist who had multiple hits as a
“one-hit wonder”. Don’t get me
wrong. The eighties had its fair share
of "one-hit wonders". After the Fire is one of the
first ones that comes to mind. Man, did
I love their version of “Der Kommissar”.
I can still listen to that song over and over and over without getting
tired of it. Kajagoogoo was one, too. Their lone hit, “Too Shy”, is another song
that I have never gotten tired of hearing.
Dexy’s Midnight Runners is another band who had only one song to chart
in the U.S. Of course, that song was
“Come on Eileen”. I could name at least
a hundred more…but I won’t. That’s not
what this rant is about. No, this is
about the bands who are FALSELY accused of being “one-hit wonders”.
a-ha is a band that is frequently referred to as a
“one-hit wonder”, but they’re not one.
Sure, everyone remembers their debut song, “Take on Me”, which hit #1 in
late 1985. They had another hit right on
the heels of that one, though. It was
called “The Sun Always Shines on TV” and it hit #20. Say what you want, but a top 20 hit IS a hit.
A Flock of Seagulls is also not a “one-hit wonder”. They’re primarily known for their 1982 hit “I
Ran”, but they had two more top 40 hits:
“Space Age Love Song” and “Wishing (If I had a Photograph of You)”
Another alleged “one-hit wonder” is The Outfield, who are
best known for their 1986 top ten hit “Your Love”. The follow-up, “All the Love in the World”,
made the top 20 later that same year, though.
They would hit the top 40 three more times with “Since You’ve Been
Gone”, “Voices of Babylon” and “For You”, the latter of which just missed the
top 20, peaking at #21.
I’ve even heard Naked Eyes referred to as a “one-hit
wonder”. Their biggest hit was the top
10 remake of “Always Something There to Remind Me”, but they barely missed the
top 10 with the follow-up, “Promises Promises”.
They would hit the top 40 two more times with “When the Lights Go Out”
and “(What) In the Name of Love” before they would call it quits.
Now, I realize that there are many of you who might argue
that you don’t remember “The Sun Always Shines on TV” or “Wishing (If I had a
Photograph of You)” or “All the Love in the World” or “Promises Promises”…and
that’s okay. That’s why I’m here – to
provide you with information about the eighties that you may not have
possessed. That being said, I do tend to
lose my patience and get a little angry when I get around to talking about the
next falsely-accused “one-hit wonder” on my list. I may even yell a little. You have been warned.
RICK SPRINGFIELD IS NOT A “ONE-HIT WONDER”!!!
I told you I might yell.
I’m better now, though…I think.
Anyway, where was I?
Oh yeah, Rick Springfield.
It’s inexplicable to me that there are people who actually think that Dr.
Noah Drake never hit the charts again after “Jessie’s Girl” hit #1 in 1981, but
these people DO exist. Hell, Oprah
Winfrey is one of them. In his book,
Rick recounts how he was contacted by her show in 1989 to take part in their
“one-hit wonders” special. He
respectfully declined, even though he considered afterwards writing them a
blistering letter peppered with the titles of all of his other hits. To be honest, I’m kinda pissed at HIM for not
doing that. I mean, these people have to
learn sometime, right? But again, that’s
why I’m here.
First of all, “Jessie’s Girl” wasn’t even Rick’s first
hit. He hit the top 20 a decade earlier
with “Speak to the Sky”. Post-“Jessie’s
Girl”, he hit the top 40 a staggering 15 MORE TIMES with four of those making
it into the top 10 and one of them going all the way to #2. THAT’S 17 TOTAL HITS! Not too shabby for a “one-hit wonder”.
Obviously, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I
didn’t list them all for you, so here goes:
“Speak to the Sky” (1971, #14)
“Jessie’s Girl” (1981, #1)
“I’ve Done Everything for You” (1981, #8)
“Love is Alright Tonight” (1981, #20)
“Don’t Talk to Strangers” (1982, #2)
“What Kind of Fool Am I?” (1982, #21)
“I Get Excited” (1982, #32)
“Affair of the Heart” (1983, #9)
“Human Touch” (1983, #18)
“Souls” (1983, #23)
“Love Somebody” (1984, #5)
“Don’t Walk Away” (1984, #26)
“Bop ‘Til You Drop” (1984, #20)
“Bruce” (1984, #27)
“Celebrate Youth” (1985, #26)
“State of the Heart” (1985, #22)
“Rock of Life” (1988, #22)
NOTE: The years
listed are when the album on which that song was included was released and not
necessarily the year that the song peaked on the charts.
While the eighties revival has been underway for the
better part of a decade with artists like Billy Idol, The Cars and Van Halen
(the original lineup), among others, returning to action of late, it’s rare
that so many MTV-era icons release new albums at the same time. That’s exactly what is happening this fall,
though. Nearly a dozen major artists who
either began their careers or enjoyed considerable popularity during the
eighties will be back in the new music section of record stores (and yes, with
the recent resurgence of vinyl, I can call them that again) over the next
couple of months. Rather than write a
long, boring review of each one (maybe I’ll do that later), I figured it would
save us both time if I just give a quick overview of my first impressions of a
few of the most notable ones. So, here
goes:
Duran Duran – “Paper Gods”
(release date: 9/11)
After returning to their New Romantic
roots on 2011’s excellent “All You Need is Now”, the Fab Five (minus one) are
back in experimental mode and chasing trends again with a whole slew of special
guests. The sounds are interesting, for
sure. Unfortunately, the songs are
unspectacular with awkward melodies and contrived lyrics. Disappointing, to say the least.
a-ha – “Cast in Steel”
(release date: 9/11)
The band’s first since 2009’s “Foot of
the Mountain” is a plodding collection with nary a “Take on Me”, “Cry Wolf” or
“Celice” to be found – just one sluggish number after another. Boring.
New Order – “Music Complete”
(release date: 9/25)
Their first album of all-new material
since 2005’s “Waiting for the Sirens’ Call” finds the band in top form. If you like New Order, you’ll like this one.
Don Henley – “Cass County”
(release date: 9/25)
His first in a decade and a half
contains none of the energy he displayed on “Long Road Out of Eden”. Instead, it’s mostly melancholy country with
a forced southern accent – not exactly the makings of a “perfect beast”.
Janet Jackson – “Unbreakable”
(release date: 10/2)
Back after an 8-year layoff, Janet
sounds disturbingly like her brother Michael on this one…and I don’t mean her
music – I mean her voice. It’s actually
distracting. Almost as distracting is
the excessive use of autotune that undermines the most listenable songs on the
album, which are mostly the slower ones.
This is a mixed bag, at best.
Joe Jackson – “Fast Forward”
(release date: 10/2)
If the title track and “A Little Smile”
are any indication, this could be Joe’s catchiest album since his
early-eighties heyday. I like what I’ve
heard so far – very “Night & Day”-ish.
Rod Stewart – “Another Country”
(release date: 10/23)
After what seemed like an eternity of
reinterpreting classics from the past half-century, Rod finally returned to
making new music with 2013’s lackluster “Time”.
“Love Is” hints at a much better result this time around with early
press promising a healthy dose of Celtic and reggae flavor. Welcome back, Mr. Stewart.
Bryan Adams – “Get Up”
(release date: 10/30)
His first album of new material in
almost a decade is produced by Jeff Lynne and bears more than a slight resemblance
to the Traveling Wilburys…and that’s a good thing. This is the most engaging thing he’s done
since the nineties and could be just the shot in the arm that his career has
needed. If you’re a fan of Bryan OR the
Wilburys, give this one a listen.
Well, there you have it – my mini-reviews of new albums
by some of your favorite artists that you probably thought had stopped making
music years ago. There are several others
that I either missed or ignored altogether.
My object wasn’t to include them all.
It was only to inform those of you who are very quick to say “music
doesn’t sound like it used to” that, yes, it does. You just need to look a little harder.
