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  • Award Season Is Upon Us: The 2008 AMA Nominees

    No matter how they try, the American Music Awards will never be able to escape the shadow of being the Grammys’ bastard little brother. Which is why today’s announcement of the nominees was met with a resounding yawn. The show gets ignored for several other reasons too. The awards are voted on by a select poll of consumers, which means we get hit with travesties like Milli Vanilli’s sweep in 1990 and C&C Music Factory’s sweep two years later. There have also been long-standing rumors that AMA winners are tipped off before the show airs, meaning that the winners are a lot more sure to be in attendance.

    This year’s nominees are fairly predictable. Alicia Keys leads the pack with five, followed by The Eagles and Coldplay. Other multiple nominees are Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Lil’ Wayne, Kanye West, Garth Brooks, Carrie Underwood, Usher, and several others. The only head-scratching category, oddly enough, is Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Group, where the nominees are G-Unit, Three six Mafia and Wu-Tang Clan. Jordin Sparks’s submission in the Adult Contemporary category is also a bit of a head scratcher. Something tells me the nominating committee struggled long and hard in order to come up with those names.

    The show will be hosted by the usually entertaining Jimmy Kimmel and will in all likelihood be live-blogged by yours truly. Expect the usual snark and wishes for a Michael Jackson sighting.

    The show airs on November 23rd, and in a new wrinkle, they’re allowing the public of the wide world of internets to vote on the winners. You can log on to vote here.

  • Infatueighties: #78: “Only You” by Yaz

    Infatueighties: #78: “Only You” by Yaz

    I’m sure this wasn’t just me. Did anyone else think Alison Moyet was a guy upon listening to Yaz’s 1982 album “Upstairs at Eric’s”. Moyet was blessed with Yaz Upstairs at Eric's Coverquite possibly the most androgynous voice of all-time. What’s up with British singers and androgynous voices anyway? Boy George? Annie Lennox? Geez. There must be something in the water across the pond.

    Anyone who considers synth-pop emotionless has obviously never heard Moyet sing her ass off on “Upstairs at Eric’s”, the first of two collaborations between her and Depeche Mode founder (and future member of Erasure with yet another androgynous singer in Andy Bell) Vince Clarke. The collection of songs on “Eric’s” contains enough drama to have any petulant schoolgirl singing in her hairbrush for months on end. “Only You”, the album’s only real ballad, brings that sense of drama to a majestic climax. Despite the wall of synthesizers, the only thing that really matters is the melancholy of Moyet’s voice. She could be singing this acapella and the song would be as emotional.

    Despite Yaz and “Eric’s”‘ lack of mainstream attention upon its’ 1982 release, both the album and “Only You” have become cult classics over time. The song’s been covered by everyone from Rita Coolidge to Enrique Iglesias, while it’s also popped up in several movies and commercials over the years. Still, it’s unlikely that anyone will come close to the soulful longing as portrayed by Moyet in the song’s original version.

  • Out There!- “Spacer” by Sheila / “Crying At The Discoteque” by Alcazar

    I will admit I am a sucker for a song with a great dance beat.  Back in 2001 during my clubbing days, I was a real big fan of dance music and spent a few days a week listening to KTU radio or buying dance compilation albums.  I used to think One More Time from Daft Punk was the greatest dance song of all time.  Okay, I’ll admit I was wrong.  The best song was an obscure tune from a Swedish pop group called Alcazar with the title of Crying At The Discoteque.  The song was the group’s biggest hit in America, peaking at #44 on the U.S. mainstream dance chart in 2000.  I first got wind of the song from a dance compilation CD I bought so I could proudfully acclaim that I owned Lady by Modjo for my music collection. I ended up almost crying at the discoteque because I never heard this great song played while I was doing my disco disco!  The song has a distinctive melody and some of the cheesiest lyrics of all time.  Check these out: The golden years, The silver tears,You wore a tie like Richard Gere!   Back in those days, my brother and I would ride down the highway blasting this tune as we bopped our heads  like the Night At The Roxbury guys played by Chris Kattan and Will Ferrell.  It wouldn’t be until a few years later that I realized that Alcazar had actually sampled the track from an obscure Swedish pop star of the 70’s.  Considering most great dance and hip hop melodies are stolen, how can I have been so blind?

    The original melody actually was from a super hot 70’s disco queen from France known as Sheila.  The song’s title was Spacer, and the tune was as or if not more cheezy than Alcazar’s tune.  Sheila oddly enough got her stage name from the title of her first release which was a cover of Tommy Roe’s classic tune.  Sheila was actually a folk singer until she changed her music style to disco in 1977.    You know what, she was kind of hot and ranks up there with Agnetha from ABBA as my favorite blondes from overseas.  Spacer was actually written and produced by the team of Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic.  The song never charted in the US, although it was a big hit overseas and peaked at #18 on the British charts.  I’m sure most people don’t even know what this song is.   You probably won’t find it on any disco box sets or compilation albums.  Just like Crying At The Discoteque, I’ve never heard Spacer at a 70’s night or club which is an outrage.  Listen to the song below, and I’m sure you’ll have that melody in your head for the rest of the day.  If not, at last you’ll never forget the images from the video.  “Because he’s a spacer, a starchaser!”  Yah!

    And here’s the Alcazar tune for you to make the comparison which song is more funky for ya!