You take your road, I'll take mine The paths have both been beaten Searchin' for a change of pace Love needs to be sweetened I scream my heart out, just to make a dime And with that dime I bought your love But now I've changed my mind I'm not your fool Nobody's fool Nobody's fool I'm no fool
Here's a nugget for all of you glam rock fans out there. Cinderella's debut album, Night Songs is more than 30 years old. THIRTY! Does that make you feel as old as it makes me feel? I'd say that Cinderella spent a bit of their early year's lots in a sea of fellow headbangers but when I looked back, they actually did chart pretty well. They were also innovative in that all of their first videos had a continuing storyline.
In their first video, "Shake Me" a Cinderella-type girl was transformed into a bad girl that hung with the band. Her wicked sisters (AKA the polka dot twins) were always nearby. "Nobody's Fool" picks up the story with Cinderella heading to practice with the guys but then leaving in order to make it home by midnight.
"Nobody's Fool" ended up being a really popular power ballad, with tons of radio play. MTV also had the video for it on an every four-hour loop for months. In an era where power ballads by glam rockers were everywhere, this song probably lands in my top five or six.
You can catch Tom Keifer live at the 10th Anniversary M3 Rock festival! Tickets are available HERE.
I was in 7th grade during the summer of Purple Rain and I remember it well. It was that rated R movie that none of us were allowed to see so we absorbed every possible detail from television, MTV and magazine articles. Back in the 80's (you know, when everything wasn't just the click of a mouse away), we cut everything about our favorites out of the newspaper or any magazine that we could find. My friends and I were divided down the middle, either you loved Prince or you loved Michael Jackson- it couldn't be both. I was a Prince girl and built my magazine cut out scrapbook accordingly. And the music truly did directly influence everything back then. If you loved Prince then you represented with your purple on the daily. Most Prince fans loved Madonna equally, especially when they toured together so it was a mix of purple lace hair bows, crosses, and purple jelly bracelets all summer long.
That summer ended up being the very best one of my childhood and the Purple Rain was always part of the soundtrack. My friends and I spent hours at the kitchen table together glued to a boom box waiting for a chance to call into Q-102 (THE station to listen to) to try and win a copy of the soundtrack. None of us won a Prince album but we did score theBoss, Steve Perry, Chaka Khan and a few others. Music was absolutely everything back then, especially when you were at the mercy of a DJ or MTV to play it for you.
It took me years to really understand that Prince was more than the freaky guy in purple with perfect eyeliner, that he was a musical genius. I had a friend absolutely obsessed with him and he spoon fed me various Prince facts while we worked together. By the time "Batdance" came along I understood what I was really listening to and came to expect nothing short of amazing-ness from him.
In the last 30 years, so many other artists have come and gone as my taste has shifted and changed over the years. I can honestly say that I like a little bit of everything (minus country) but so few bring to the table what Prince has. I mean, how many on Billboard's charts can play 27 instruments? Yeah, none. How many currently rocking in the top ten will be relevant in 30 years? Maybe 1 or 2 right, maybe? Or maybe none at all.
Today's artists aren't built for the kind of longevity like Prince, David Bowie or even Glenn Frey. They don't bring all of those elements to the table and that has only made the loss of these icons feel that much heavier on our hearts. Prince himself confirmed years ago that there really is a vault filled with his unreleased music. There are albums from Prince & the Revolution and also a few with The New Power Generation. Perhaps part of what makes him so iconic is the fact that he was thinking beyond his life here. He was not only making sure that he wouldn't be forgotten, but he left new music behind so that his presence would be felt in a new way after the fact.
If you manage to catch any of Prince's live performance videos on YouTube before they are pulled down, pay attention to the details. Every single second is choreographed and means something. Amazing how we notice all of the details after the fact, isn't it? Like the fact that there is a purple heart behind Prince on the cover of the Purple Rain album. I never noticed that before this week.Hard to believe that it was 35 years ago that Prince topped the charts for the very first time with "When Doves Cry".
I thought that when you gave me love My life would start to change Instead I saw that I was wrong My life was re-arranged
"Bad of the Heart" by George LaMond might just be one of freestyle's very best break up songs of all time. I have to wonder who helped to motivate the stinging lyrics way back in 1990. Of course I think most of us can actually think of an ex or two of our own that they apply to and that, is precisely why this song has become a freestyle anthem.
I remember seeing LaMond perform back in the early 90's and after catching his set again a few months back I have to say that he may actually sound better now! Check out the original video below and if you'd like to check LaMond out live then you're in luck because he still pops up in freestyle shows all over the country. Check out his tour dates here.
I lose my cool when she steps in the room And I get so excited just from her perfume Electric eyes that you can't ignore And passion burns you like never before I was in search of a good time
Just running my game Love was the furthest Furthest from my mind
Billy Ocean's"Caribbean Queen" is one of the very last 45's that I bought before committing to cassette tapes. It was late 1984 and I was actually a little late to make a full conversion from vinyl. 8th grade had just started and my friends and I were all about bringing our music everywhere with us in a boom box so vinyl had to go. "Caribbean Queen" actually helped Ocean to breakthrough here in the states and it helped to kick off a string of hits that would help to make the artist a household name.
Billy Ocean has come a long way since his first release and now, more than 30 years later he released Here You Are: The Best Of. The album feature's Ocean's take on some of the classic songs that helped to shape him as a musician. It also includes a bonus disk with his classics like "Caribbean Queen", "Suddenly", "Get Out of My Dreams" and more. Check out the video that started it all for Billy Ocean!
"They call us problem child We spend our lives on trial We walk an endless mile We are the youth gone wild We stand and we won't fall We're the one and one for all The writing's on the wall We are the youth gone wild"
The year was 1989 and you probably were walking around in acid washed jeans with a huge vat of Aqua Net in your purse, for both your hair AND your boyfriend's. Hair bands ruled the air waves of Skid Row burst on the scene and instantly felt like they belonged amongst heavy hitters such as Whitesnake and Guns & Roses. They announced their presence with a single called "Youth Gone Wild" which instantly became an anthem for teens everywhere. Ironically, it didn't make the same impression on Billboard's Hot 100 and only charted as high as #99. Not that it really mattered. "Youth" was re-released by Skid Row a few years later and did well. It also became an anthem at sporting events and has been covered by numerous other hard rock bands.
Sidenote, lead singer Sebastian Bach's poster hung in many teen girl's bedrooms way back then. Total hotness.
You can catch Sebastian Bach live at the 10th Anniversary M3 Rock festival! Tickets are available HERE.
"You were the only one The only friend that I counted on How could I watch you walk away I'd give anything to have you here today But now I stand alone with my pride And dream that you're still by my side But that was yesterday I had the world in my hands But it's not the end of my world Just a slight change of plans"
I pulled out a bunch of old Foreigner records today to revisit their catalog. Yeah, I know that I've always really liked them, which is why I have so much of their stuff on vinyl, but I'm surprised that I don't listen to them more often. Agent Provocateur is the kind of album that easily plays from end to end without a song that just feels like filler.
You know what I mean, don't you? There are usually 2 or 3 songs on an album that aren't as good as the rest of it and it's almost like it's their purpose to bridge the singles. Except here. That's definitely not the case with Foreigner. While I've always insisted that "Urgent" is my favorite song, as I can still hear it blaring out of my transistor radio, "That Was Yesterday" is about as solid as it gets.
It's the grown-up, ice cold version of love gone bad and every once in awhile, everyone can relate to that, right? There's no (expiration) dating "That Was Yesterday" and I really love it. Check the video out below!
"Four in the morning Came without a warning Everybody's got a place to be I got holes in my conscience Shot with a vengeance I must have been a fool not to see
I need you bad It's hard to live without your company I need you bad, so bad I can't take it you see" In high school, I dated a guy who was mildly obsessed with Night Ranger. By the time we met "Sister Christan" had already been a smash hit on radio and MTV so I certainly knew who Night Ranger was. But in dating this dude I found myself compelled to brush up on the band. Seven Wishes was his favorite album so I bought it to catch up and have more in common with him. What I quickly realized was that I kind of loved Night Ranger too. Sure, I was mostly bouncing thru hair bands by then. The bottom of my denim hobo purse was home to cassettes by Skid Row, Ratt, Winger and more. Night Ranger found a spot with them pretty quickly. I can barely remember the boyfriend's name and I'm not sure what his favorite song was, but "Four In The Morning" quickly became mine. Oh and I love the backstory behind it. Jack Blades (Night Ranger vocalist) was having chick problems and happened to wake up at 4 in the morning singing the chorus of "I can't take any more, I can't take any more, it's such a hard time loving you." and just like that, a song was born. Still my favorite. You can catch Night Ranger live at the 10th Anniversary M3 Rock festival! Tickets are available HERE.
Hang on to your hopes, my friend That's an easy thing to say, but if your hopes should pass away Simply pretend That you can build them again Look around, the grass is high The fields are ripe, it's the springtime of my life
Ahhh, seasons change with the scenery Weaving time in a tapestry Won't you stop and remember me
Not every cover of an already popular hit works even if it's performed by a big name. Just ask Taylor Swift about that recent Earth, Wind & Fire cover. But when it does work, it usually helps to spin the song in a completely different direction, one that introduces it to a new audience.The Bangles version of "Hazy Shade of Winter" did exactly that. It was released in 1987 as part of the Less Than Zero soundtrack, but if you were a longtime Bangles fan, then you knew that they had been playing the song live since the early 80's.
The song, originally done by Simon and Garfunkel back in 1966, has a great arrangement that allows each of the ladies to shine- something that was important to them at the time. They also filmed a slick futuristic video to go along with it and that gave the song an even sharper edge. The Bangles spent the mid-80's fighting for the same band credibility that the men were being given because they could rock out just as much as the guys. "Hazy Shade of Winter" seemed to really be a breakthrough for them.
