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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Madonna

  • The Infatueighties Countdown: #99: “Looking for a New Love”

    My friend Jim calls Shalamar the most underrated pop group of the Eighties, and he might have a point. The threesome of Howard Hewett, Jeffrey Daniel and Jody Watley created some of the most bubbly, well-crafted pop-R&B of it’s time, even incorporating new wave and rock textures into their music by the time of 1983’s “The Look”. They’re probably best known for the hit singles “This is for the Lover in You” (which Babyface re-recorded with the three original members in the late Nineties) and “A Night To Remember”. If Jeffrey Daniel’s face looks familiar to you, it’s because he appears in Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and “Bad” videos. He apparently was also moonwalking almost a year before MJ “created” it for “Motown 25”, as the below listed clip will demonstrate.

    Anyway, Shalamar’s story is worthy of it’s own column sometime in the future. Back to the topic at hand. The female third of Shalamar, Jody Watley, reintroduced herself to the market as the high-fashion edition of a Janet Jackson or Madonna. With Prince associates David Z. and Andre Cymone (who she later married), her first album was a Top 10 success and also won her the Grammy for Best New Artist, largely due to the success of “Looking for a New Love”, an attitudinal slab of techno-funk that spent a month at #2 on the U.S. singles charts (thankfully, it spent that time behind a song worthy of beating it: U2’s “With or Without You”.

    While Jody’s subsequent albums failed to set the world on fire, her first album is easily one of the best dance-pop albums of the Eighties, and very easily the equal of Janet’s “Control” or Madonna’s debut. She was certainly a more striking visual artist than the other two: with a highly defined fashion style adopted from several years living in London, not to mention cheekbones that you could cut yourself on. She was also the first woman I ever saw with a tattoo, but that’s neither here nor there.

    Finally, let’s give her some long-overdue props for originating the phrase “Hasta La Vista, Baby” two years before Tone Loc used it in “Wild Thing” and three before Arnie uttered it in “Terminator 2”.

    This is the extended version of the single…sounds like it was sped up a bit too.

    Oh, and one more thing…she was voguing and embracing gay culture before Madonna…as this video from 1989 (“Vogue” came out a year later) will attest to. Hey, is that Rakim rapping in a video filled with drag queens??

    …By the way, if this list had stretched to 150, both “A Night To Remember” and “Friends” would have been included.

  • The Musichelpweb Midyear Report Part 2: The Good, The Bad & Lil’ Wayne

    Hey Folks,

    In addition to this fine site, I also occasionally write (but mostly comment) for a couple of other sites, one being my friend JayVee’s site, The Round Table. You can find it at theround-table.blogspot.com. This column was originally written for them. Enjoy!!

    Believe it or not, 2008 has not been a bad year for music-unless you happen to be a superstar. Particularly a superstar diva. Janet Jackson, Madonna and Mariah Carey have all released fairly underwhelming albums over the first half of the year-with Janet’s the best of a very weak bunch. Hip-hop has also taken a bit of a leave of absence-unless you’re one of those folks who thinks “The Carter III” is a classic, there wasn’t much to gloat about if you were a rap fan for the first part of this year.

    However, there have been some bright spots. Soul singers on the other side of the Atlantic continued their renaissance after Amy Winehouse set one hell of a standard (and you have to admit that “Back To Black” is a work of genius, no matter what you think of her personally) last year. In addition to the new Brit divas, a couple of vets returned after short absences with albums that rank among the best of their careers. And there’s still half a year to go.

    (more…)

  • Chart Chat 7/13/08: The Midyear Analysis (Oooohhh…)

    It’s a mellow Sunday morning. The sun is shining, I’ve got the next week off from my day job, and the relaxing, dulcet tones of Courtney Love are coming from my stereo. Nothing like a little Hole to smooth out the 7th day, eh?

    All that because I don’t really have an intro for this week’s Chart Chat. Here are the charts, as usual provided by the lovely ladies and gentlemen of Billboard Magazine.

    You know what? Screw that (partially because this week’s charts are dead boring and I can’t really find much to talk about beyond G-Unit scoring a mighty flop and putting yet another nail in the coffin of 50 Cent’s career).

    Even though we’re a week or so past the official halfway point of the chart year, now might be a good time to take a look at the Top Albums of the Year so far. Since I have no way of finding out what the year’s top singles are (I would imagine either “Lollipop” or “Low” tops the chart), I’m stretching the list from 20 to 40. Ooh, good times, right?

    Anyway:

    Lil Wayne's "The Carter III"

      The Top 40 Albums of 2008…so far

    1) “The Carter III” Lil’ Wayne
    2) “Sleep Through the Static” Jack Johnson
    3) “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends” Coldplay
    4) “E=MC2” Mariah Carey
    5) “As I Am” Alicia Keys
    6) “Taylor Swift” Taylor Swift
    7) “Spirit” Leona Lewis
    8) “Here I Stand” Usher
    9) “Juno Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” Various Artists
    10) “Now That’s What I Call Music Vol. 27” Various Artists
    11) “Growing Pains” Mary J. Blige
    12) “Alvin & The Chipmunks Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” Various Artists
    13) “Exclusive” Chris Brown
    14) “Thriller” Michael Jackson
    15) “Trilla” Rick Ross
    16) “Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus” Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus
    17) “Little Voice” Sara Bareilles
    18) “Hard Candy” Madonna
    19) “Back To Black” Amy Winehouse
    20) “Coco” Colbie Caillat
    21) “In Rainbows” Radiohead
    22) “Jonas Brothers” Jonas Brothers
    23) “Daughtry” Daughtry
    24) “Carnival Ride” Carrie Underwood
    25) “Now That’s What I Call Music Vol. 28” Various Artists
    26) “Just Like You” Keyshia Cole
    27) “Welcome To the Dollhouse” Danity Kane
    28) “The Ultimate Hits” Garth Brooks
    29) “Indestructible” Disturbed
    30) “Camp Rock Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” Various Artists
    31) “Troubadour” George Strait
    32) “Good Time” Alan Jackson
    33) “Enjoy the Ride” Sugarland
    34) “Rock & Roll Jesus” Kid Rock
    35) “Good Girl Gone Bad” Rihanna
    36) “Jordin Sparks” Jordin Sparks
    37) “Now That’s What I Call Music Vol. 26” Various Artists
    38) “Dreaming Out Loud” OneRepublic
    39) “Long Road Out of Eden” The Eagles
    40) “Discipline” Janet Jackson

    *A telling note on the state of the music business. At this point in the year: only 4 albums have crossed the million mark in sales, and only the Top 29 albums have crossed the 500,000 mark. Typically, 90-100 albums a year sell more than half a million copies.

    *Kid Rock’s one of the artists who will most likely jump over the half million mark next week, and his “Rock & Roll Jesus” has sold 1.1 million copies in it’s chart life (soon to surpass the 1.4 million that his last studio album pushed), and he has sold not one copy of this digitally (Jay-Z moved a million copies of “American Gangster” last year the same way). So there are still folks shuffling their lazy asses into record stores (or at least ordering hard copies through Amazon or wherever).

    *I love how Jack Johnson sells a shit-ton of records year-in and year-out without whoring himself. When was the last time you saw the dude on TMZ or even a morning talk-show? On top of that, he’s never on MTV, barely on VH-1, and can you say he’s ever really had a radio hit?

    *From the list of Top 40 albums, it’s pretty obvious what’s catching the public’s attention. Lots of soundtrack action this year, with all 4 of the titles in the Top 40 skewing to a younger audience (well, three of them appeal to straight-up kids, with “Juno” inappropriate for that age range, but attracting plenty of older teens and younger adults).

    *Also, plenty of country (6 titles, not including the country-esque Kid Rock & The Eagles), “Now That’s What I Call Music” compilations (3 of ’em), R&B divas (8, including R&B-esque Leona Lewis & Rihanna), “American Idols” (3), and somewhat, improbably after all these years, the kids of Joe & Katherine Jackson (2).

    *In this Top 40, you’ll see the artist who had the #1 album of 2004 (Usher), the artist who had the #1 album of 2005 (Mariah) and “Hannah Montana 2” and “Camp Rock”, Disney soundtracks just like the #1 album of 2006 (“High School Musical”). I bet ya if Josh Groban (who had the #1 album of 2007) releases an album this year, he’ll pop up on this list before December 31st.

    *Back to the Jacksons for a sec…Janet’s “Discipline” will most likely exit the Top 40 next week, but “Thriller”‘s numbers are pretty amazing, especially since Michael Jackson has not lifted a finger promotionally. I don’t know that a reissue album has ever finished a year in the Top 40 of a year-end chart, and it’s entirely possible that “Thriller” will hit the million mark by year’s end (right now, it’s about 3/4 of the way there with Michael’s 50th birthday a month and a half away).

    *And, OK, I’ve gotta admit that it’s funny seeing “Thriller” at #14 and Rick Ross’s “Trilla” at #15.

    *Nice year to be a female artist of mixed racial heritage, eh? In a year where we might see a mulatto get elected President of the United States, bi-racial honeys Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey and Leona Lewis are all in the Top 10, with Rihanna and Jordin Sparks also in the Top 40. Where’s Faith Evans when you need her?

    *With Lil’ Wayne and Coldplay hitting their marks in four and three weeks respectively, I’d imagine it’s a fairly safe bet that they’ll end the year in the top two spots, yes?

    *Not a bad time to be a new or developing artist, as of the 33 albums in the Top 40 that are not compilations, 9 are debuts (counting Winehouse, whose “Back to Black” was her first Stateside release), and another 5 are sophomore albums.

    *One thing to note is the surprising amount of flops from previously unassailable artists this year. Looking through the rest of the Top 100, you find rapidly sinking albums from the likes of Snoop Dogg (#49), Sheryl Crow (54), Panic at the Disco (63), and Counting Crows (82). This is in addition to the relative failures of the Madonna and Janet Jackson albums. Ahh…and we’ll soon be adding G-Unit to this list. Have I mentioned them before? God, I hate 50 Cent.

    Anyhoo, if you missed me actually talking about THIS week’s charts, you can find them over at http://www.billboard.com.

    Look for a list of my favorite albums of the year so far (screw sales) coming soon…