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Pop Rock Nation

Author: Money Mike

  • Infatueighties: #75: Stevie Nicks’ “Stand Back”

    When “Rumours” and “Tusk” were popular in the late Seventies,I don’t think anyone imagined Stevie Nicks hitting the dance floor, but 1983’s sizzling “Stand Back” did just that, with the help of a little man dressed in purple whose name you might know: Prince.

    So, here’s the deal. Stevie wrote the song, whose tempo and overall sound were influenced by the then-new sounds of “1999” and “Little Red Corvette”. At some point during the recording of the song, Prince magically appeared in the studio, improvised and recorded the song’s memorable keyboard part (allegedly only with two fingers), then with a click of his Cuban heels, magically exited the studio. Do I buy that? I’m not sure. (according to wikipedia, Stevie called Prince the night she wrote the song and that’s how Prince ended up in the studio). Either way, the song has a heavy Purple influence and was one of the best dance/rock tracks in an era of many, many great dance rock tracks.

    And like all the rest of you, i assume, I have no idea what the hell Stevie’s singing about either.

  • Notorious: The Trailer

    Being a Brooklyn kid only 2 years younger than the Notorious B.I.G. would have been if he was still alive, I’m looking forward to the premiere of the movie “Notorious” in January. The trailer, which you can find here only increases my excitment.

    I’ve gotta take my hat off-it looks like the folks behind the movie did a good job. Gravy isn’t exactly a Biggie lookalike, but he got the voice and mannerisms down pat. Angela Bassett was a great choice as Voletta, Biggie’s mother, but I don’t hear an accent in her voice, and anyone who’s heard Ms. Wallace speak knows that she has a heavy, aristocratic Jamaican accent befitting her career as a schoolteacher. Hell, even the chick who plays Faith looks ridiculously similar to the actual Faith.

    Anyway, check the trailer out and let us know if you like what you see.

  • Infatueighties: #76: Super Freak

    Rick James’ autobiography, “Memoirs of a Superfreak”, isn’t exactly an award-winning piece of writing. However, it gives you an idea of how much the title of “super freak” actually fit Rick. Somewhat shamefully, those freaky antics (immortalized in the legendary Dave Chappelle skit) have obscured the fact that Rick made some pretty good music.

    “Super Freak” is one of those near perfect fusions of rock and funk. While Rick (if he was still here) would say that Prince got much of his style from Rick (the two toured together in 1980), the fact is a) how the hell could Prince have followed Rick when their debuts came out the same year? (1978) and b) doesn’t “Super Freak” sound somewhat reminiscent of Prince’s “When You Were Mine”, which came out a year before “Super Freak” (and would have placed pretty high on this chart if I included tracks that were never commercially released as single A-sides)? Then again, Prince never had The Temptations sing background on his biggest hit. Either way, this song’s hard to knock. If the B-52’s met Parliament/Funkadelic, the result would have been “Super Freak”.

    I love the way Yahoo! Music follows “Super Freak” with “Trapped in the Closet”. Ladies & gentlemen, it’s the Sick Fucks of R&B playlist!!