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Tag: Michael Jackson

  • The Infatueighties Countdown: #101: “Ain’t Nobody”

    Chaka Khan. Chaka-chaka-chaka-chakakhan. Chaka Khan. Oops,wrong song.

    A year before she had her biggest hit with a cover of a Prince album track, the woman whose momma named her Yvette Marie Stevens joined forces with her old band Rufus for the last time and produced this electro-soul classic. If they were gonna go out, I guess why not go out with this, right?

    The cover of the 45 for \"Ain\'t Nobody\" by Rufus & Chaka Khan.

    Some of you may remember “Ain’t Nobody” from the movie “Breakin’”,which it made an appearance in after it’d already become a hit. What some of you may not know is that the song, which was written by Rufus member David “Hawk” Wolinski, was originally earmarked for use on “Thriller” by Quincy Jones (I can hear Michael singing it). However, Wolinksi decided to keep the song and use it as one of the two studio tracks on “Live-Stompin’ at the Savoy”. Add Chaka’s unusual phrasing and one of her most powerful vocals, you wind up with one of the best-loved songs of her career, although it’s chart position (#22 pop) wasn’t exactly earth-shattering. Nevertheless, the song won Rufus & Chaka a Grammy, and to this day, no Chaka concert is complete without it.

    I did not realize this song had a video until, you guessed it, I popped over to YouTube earlier today. No big surprise that the rest of Rufus appears nowhere in this video. Nevertheless, witness Chaka in her full-fledged big-haired glory. And bust a move like Turbo and Ozone.

  • Yahoo! Presents The Top 20 Albums of All Time…For Real!

    Yahoo!’s music coverage generally leaves a lot to be desired. Their writers are unnaturally obnoxious (even for music crit-types), and they are in the unfortunate position one of my least favorite music writers as one of their main contributors (and because I have a job to protect, I won’t mention his name in public. Besides, he’s not worth it). However, this list of the Top 20 albums of all time was pretty interesting, and I kind of like the method by which this list was created.

    Of course, everyone and their mother can make a list and call it “The Top 20 Albums of All Time” (hey, anyone been reading my list of the 105 Greatest Singles of the Eighties??), but the list compiled by Robert of the Radish (dude, you couldn’t think of a better name) is certainly one of the most scientific lists of this kind.

    Robert took personal opinion out of the equation completely, instead basing his list on several factors: critical acclaim, actual sales figures, Grammy award love (probably the weakest part of his argument, considering that there have been several bands universally acknowledged as the best at what they do that have never won a Grammy…Led Zeppelin and The Who among them, although it doesn’t look like that affected Led Zep too much), and the most interesting component to my eyes, staying power as judged by the average price and availability of used copies of the CD. I found this interesting mainly because I frequent more than my share of used record stores. I’ve shopped for used music in at least five states, and I can say with some authority that there are certain popular titles that you will see in abundance in just about every used record store in America (he mentions Hootie & The Blowfish’s “Cracked Rear View”. I’ll see him and raise him one Matchbox 20’s “Yourself or Someone Like You”, thank you very much), and some that you never see anywhere (ever seen a Beatles studio non-compilation album in a used record store for less than 8 or 9 bucks, if at all? Don’t think so).

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  • The Infatueighties Countdown: #104: “Invincible”

    The Infatueighties Countdown: #104: “Invincible”

    There are exactly three movies I remember seeing in the movie theater during the summer of 1985: “Back to the Future”, “Pale

    Pat Benatar Invincible Cover
    Pat Benatar Invincible Cover

    Rider” (who takes a 9-year old to see a Western??), and a little film called “The Legend of Billie Jean”, which, despite the time period of it’s release, was not about a woman who said Michael Jackson was the father of the kid.

    While I’ll leave the specifics of the plot to the folks at “I Love The 80s” (ahhh…it involved a stolen bike…thanks Wikipedia), I do remember that it starred Helen Slater (of “Supergirl” fame) and a very young Christian Slater (no, the two are not related, although I thought they were for years). Somewhere along the line, Helen (as Billie Jean) chopped off her long tresses in favor of a blond Joan Jett-esque look and started screaming “fair is fair!” at everyone within a 50-foot radius. To support this sudden lunge into badassitude, the writers of the movie needed a badass theme song, and they knew just who to call: Pat Motherfuckin’ Benatar.

    Benatar spends this aggressive rocker emoting like the opera student she once was, snarling lines like “We can’t af-FORD to be innocent! Stand up and FACE the enemy!” with some serious ‘tude. It’s the type of spit-in-the-face-of-authority that attracts every mousy kid who dreams of being a badass. Maybe that’s why I liked it so much.

    “Invincible” marked the end of a killer run for Benatar. During the years 1980-1985, she sold millions of albums, scored a handful of Top 10 hits (with “Invincible”‘s #10 placing marking the last of those), and won four Grammy Awards (all for Best Female Rock Performance). This song was pretty much the last gasp for her as an icon, and she quickly lost traction to the likes of Madonna, Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson (and Tina Turner, who owned the Female Rock Grammy for the next several years).

    According to Wikipedia (man, I love those guys), “The Legend of Billie Jean” has never been released on DVD. Someone needs to fix that one stat. I’d buy a copy.

    One thing I didn’t realize until I was watching one of VH-1’s 80s retrospectives is that Yeardley Smith plays a fairly major role in this movie. Who’s Yeardley Smith, you may ask? Most folks know her better as the voice of Lisa Simpson.

    Finally, anyone notice that the bridge of this song sounds almost exactly like the beginning of U2’s “Two Hearts Beat As One”?? Check it out for yourself.