I know that when I first say Men At Work you're probably going to think of "Down Under", the song that everyone most associates them with. And for good reason, because it's a great song with a hook that borders on brilliant. Of course, it was a hit and it's one of those songs that you know right off the bat. That's where the brilliance comes in to play. Just about every song by the group has a melody that is kind of a mash-up of synth and reggae, with the exception of one song, "Overkill". While I appreciate the humor and fun of most of the earlier songs, Men At Work's "Overkill" from their second album, Cargo, in 1983 proved that the guys could be serious, if not straight up melancholy. I really love this side of the band and it shows lead singer Colin Hay to be a bit deeper then I would have at first believed. While I love a fun song, I equally appreciate the "Overkill" type songs hidden between cheerier tracks on any album. Check out the video below!
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free You'll find a god in every golden cloister And if you're lucky then the god's a she I can feel an angel sliding up to me."
You may not remember the name Murray Head, but you'll definitely remember the one-hit-wonder that he sang on in 1985. "One Night In Bangkok" was part of the Chess musical that came out after its' concept album took off. Murray was simply a British actor that was brought in to read the lyrics and probably never anticipated the song being so well-received. Check out the video below. Of course you remember this, right?
The kids are strappin' on their way to the classroom
Gettin' weapons with the greatest of ease
The gangs stake out their own campus locale
And if they catch you slippin' then it's all over pal
If one guy's colors and the other's don't mix
They're gonna bash it up bash it up bash it up bash it up
Hey, man, you talkin' back to me?
Take him out
You gotta keep 'em separated"
"Keep Em' Separated"
What do you think of when you hear that? If you're a music fan then The Offspring's "Come Out And Play" would be the correct answer. It took the band a decade of playing together to break through on a major (national) level with this song. They were a true Indie act back when being an "Indie act" actually meant something. The Offspring was at the forefront of groups that helped to make punk rock popular again back in the mid-nineties.
"Come Out And Play" just reeks of pent-up aggression and frustration, making it a great song to vent right along with as it plays. I remember back in 1994 fans were divided between bands and it was an either/or thing (kinda like people chose between Michael Jackson and Prince the decade before). If you were info The Offspring then it was an unwritten rule that you wouldn't love Green Day. I found that one easy to abide by.
Here's the video for "Come Out And Play". If you have to choose, do you prefer Offspring or Green Day?
"Lost in a dream; I don't know which way to go. A-let me say if you are all that you seem, Then baby, I'm movin' way too slow. I've been fooled before; Wouldn't like to get my love caught in the slammin' door. How about some information, please?
Straight up, now tell me , Do you really wanna love me forever, Oh, oh, or am I caught in hit and run?"
I think just about everyone loved Paula Abdul back in the late 80's. She kind of seemed like the girl next door in interviews but once she hit the dance floor it was nothing but fire. My friends and I wanted to dance like her and the guys around us wanted to spend a little time with her as well. What is cool about "Straight Up" is that it sold a million copies the first week that it was out and it shot to the top of Billboard's Hot 100 before a video was even released!
Oh and that video? It was kind of everything. The black and white was a nice departure from the bright colors of the decade and it was memorable. People over the years have claimed that Abdul can't sing but again I need to remind you that she hit number one without a video filled with her sick choreography to bolster the song.
Abdul eventually traded in making music for mentoring and judging others on shows like American Idol. Just when it seemed like her own performing days might be over Abdul started hitting the stage again. You can check out upcoming performance dates on her official site, but in the meantime, check out Abdul at her best below!
What's it gonna be 'cuz I can't pretend Don't you want to be more than friends Hold me tight and don't let go Don't let go You have the right to lose control Don't let go
I love when every member of a girl group can hold their own vocally, don't you? Throughout most of the '90s no other girl group seemed to compare to En Vogue. When the ladies (Cindy Herron, Dawn Robinson, Maxine Jones, and Terry Ellis) first broke through with "Hold On" off their debut album Born To Sing in 1989 it was immediately clear that they would become a force to reckon with. From that first single on En Vogue found great success with nearly every track that they dropped and it didn't hurt that their videos were as hot as their music.
"Don't Let Go (Love)", released in 1996 on the Set It Off soundtrack is arguably the group's best vocal performance ever and it also marked the end of Dawn Robinson's stint with them. The single sold 1.3 million copies in the states alone and quickly became En Vogue's top international hit. It was also nominated for a Grammy in 1997, at a point when En Vogue's lineup and future were in a state of flux.
Years of legal wrangling followed the release of "Don't Let Go (Love)". Maxine Jones and Robinson both embarked on solo careers but fought for the right to still use the En Vogue name. It was a fairly unsuccessful plight and you can actually catch Ellis, Herron, and Rhona Bennett on tour now. The ladies are currently part of the lineup on various 80's tours that are winding their way across the country and yes, they still sound fantastic live!
No pullin' teeth, she didn't want to fight, she said
Shake me, all night, she said
Shake me, shake it, don't break it baby
You already know that I've basically never encountered a hair band that I didn't eventually have a soft spot for, right? So why wouldn't I love Cinderella, still? I can't think of a single reason. Their first album Night Songs first dropped in 1986 and the boys made good use of their band name when it came to creative videos. "Shake Me", "Nobody's Fool" and "Somebody Save Me" all included a play on the Cinderella character and her evil step sisters. Back then it was a pretty clever move and all three videos were given a lot of play.
Sometimes even the best hair bands will feel just a tiny bit dated to me but never Cinderella. Tom Keifer's voice sounds as good today as it did thirty years ago. Here's their first video, "Shake Me". After you watch it then click through and watch the other two that followed it for the full effect!
Now she's breakin' hearts in heaven Shinin' bright in the sky I still hear her voice in the wind I still think of you in the night, oh yeah Well I guess you'll never know How much I need her so
I was trying to find the perfect power ballad for this morning and this song by L.A. Guns came to mind. Back in 1989 "The Ballad of Jayne" caused many headbangers to pause for a moment and think about the lyrics. While the guys admitted that the song was originally a tribute to Hollywood icon, Jayne Mansfield, who was killed in a tragic accident, the lyrics resonated with just about everyone.
If you've ever lost anyone too soon then "The Ballad of Jayne" will hit a nerve. Phil Lewis' haunting vocal makes this one of the best ballads to come out of the 1980's. Plus it is pretty timeless. After taking a listen to "The Ballad of Jayne" for the first time in a while it occurred to me that it could have just been released yesterday.
As for L.A. Guns, well they're still around playing shows here and there. I'm pretty sure that "The Ballad of Jayne" ends up being one of the best songs in their setlist to this day.
"Take me in your arms, caress me gently Oh, I can't get enough, ooh Thrill me, say the word, I will surrender To your poetic charm, oh
'Cause when the night falls I hear seductive voices sing Romantic songs of love Let's get intimate
Turn the lights down It's time to get romantic (Do everything romantic now) Light a candle It's time to get romantic"
My introduction to Karyn White's "Romantic" came in the summer of 1991 in a department store. Back then the juniors department always had random tv's placed near the ceiling and MTV would play nonstop. I guess the music itself was supposed to improve your shopping mood and let's face it, that still does seem to somehow work. When is the last time that you were in a clothing store that didn't have some sort of dance music on?
Right?
It must put shoppers in a good mood and boost sales, otherwise it would be Marilyn Manson playing, no?
So anyway, back to Karyn. "Romantic" was an instant New Jack Swing dance floor classic. And the video? Totally slick. I always joke that you can tell a 90's video by the blue and brown tones in the lighting. While the song itself is politely about sex, the video was pretty classy for the early 90's. Chair dance and all. I stopped shopping on that day back in 1991 to watch, just like I stopped what I was doing the other day to watch it again.
And past your door, but you don't live there anymore
It's years since you've been there
Now you've disappeared somewhere, like outer space
You've found some better place
And I miss you like the deserts miss the rain.
"Missing". the dance song from 1994 by Everything But The Girl technically classifies as a one-hit-wonder for most people, in spite of the group being around for more than 30 years. This is one of those songs that remains pretty timeless for multiple reasons. First off the sound isn't the least bit dated or obvious and then there are those lyrics, ones that surely resonate with anyone who has ever had a significant other for even an hour.
We all know what it's like after a breakup when all of those familiar haunts no longer have any meaning. Who hasn't done the random drive by just to see, well, what are we actually looking for in those moments? A familiar face? Proof that everything is different now? Closure?
WHEN THE BANDS STOPPED PLAYING NOW STREAMING ON AMAZON PRIME, APPLE TV, GOOGLE PLAY, VUDU, iTUNES
COVID-19’s Decimation of the Music Industry as Told by Those Working on the Inside
NEW YORK, NY -- DailyBOOM Media has released When The Bands Stopped Playing, a documentary on COVID-19’s brutal impact on the music industry, on March 14, 2022, on various streaming platforms via Legacy Distribution. This feature-length film was written by Executive Producer Cate Meighan, with Emmy Award-winning Video-Editor and Co-producer Heather Dauterive, and an original score by Award-winning Multi-instrumentalist Jack Miele.
In early 2020, the music industry was readying itself for another blockbuster year. Acts like Guns N’ Roses and Foo Fighters were gearing up for major tours, while Motley Crue announced a reunion that had sold out nationwide within minutes. Symphonic shows, festivals, Vegas residencies, and club gigs were all booked solid when Covid-19 brought everything to a screeching halt. Overnight an entire billion-dollar industry was shut down and the fact remains that it will be one of the very last industries to fully reopen.
When The Bands Stopped Playingis a feature-length documentary that gives viewers a detailed glimpse inside of this shattered and shuttered industry through the eyes of its’ hardest workers. Famous artists, indie artists on the rise, plus rock and dance acts working the club circuit on both coasts have all lent their voices to this documentary. Every voice was crucial to the telling of this story and in our eyes, they also share an equal amount of importance. They speak openly about the financial hardship, deep depression of losing something that they love so much (even temporarily), and the things that they are doing to help keep their own positivity and hope alive.
Since we were dealing with Covid-19 restrictions and there is no such thing as a backstage interview, we met our interviewees exactly as they were. Some have studios at home with great cameras and others had a more normal setup. As a media team we prefer perfection of course, but these are not normal times and we needed to be authentic. This group of people has been so incredibly honest with us and we feel a responsibility to be just as honest with our viewers in how they are portrayed.
The cast of When The Bands Stopped Playing includes:
Haley Johnsen – American Idol Semi-finalist
Ron Keel – Ron Keel Band
Jeffrey “Soave” Martinez – Freestyle Artist
Sabrina Nieves – The Cover Girls
Jeff Pilson – Foreigner/Ex-Dokken/Black Swan
Numa Saisselin – President of The Florida Theatre of Performing Arts
"Darkness Imprisoning me All that I see Absolute horror I cannot live I cannot die Trapped in myself Body my holding cell Landmine Has taken my sight Taken my speech Taken my hearing Taken my arms Taken my legs Taken my soul Left me with life in hell "
1988 brought with it an onslaught of hair bands that took turns dominating the charts. If you weren't an actual fan then being able to distinguish between Whitesnake, Europe and Skid Row was probably damn near impossible. Each power group a lineup of hot men with better hair than most of the girls that I knew. Metallica had been toiling in the hard rock ranks for years but it was the final single off of their fourth album that was a total breakthrough.
"One", an anti-war song skyrocketed into MTV's heavy video rotation almost immediately with a video that alternated between scenes of a supposed war vet sent home to die and actual footage from the 1971 anti-war film Johnny Got His Gun. The strong lyrics along with the black and white visuals helped Metallica to win the very first Grammy in 1989 for a Best Metal Performance.
This is one of those songs that always gives me chills and it's beyond words live.
"I go about my business, I'm doing fine Besides what would I say if I had you on the line? Same old story, not much to say Hearts are broken, every day."
Jewel burst on the scene at just the right moment in the '90s. Hairbands and grunge had both died down and R&B was slipping just a little. New Jack Swing and house music were on the sidelines and we were needing something fresh so along came Indie-rock chicks.
Sarah McGlaughin, Shawn Colvin, Paula Cole...the list is endless. One after another they pinned songs designed to tug at our heartstrings as well as our wallets, and it worked. Jewel's "You Were Meant For Me" became a classic almost overnight. Especially if you were college-age and trying to fill a void left by a guy. Oy was kind of the official song for breakups that aren't mutual.
I remember watching Jewel's earliest videos and being mesmerized by the simplicity. There was nothing flashy or glitzy. Almost the exact opposite. The visuals, while stunning, were primarily about this young woman and her guitar. They told a story all on their own. One that's worth revisiting so check it out below!
One of the things that I remember best from the summer of 1987 was the release of Dirty Dancing. Somehow, in spite of the internet not being around to generate tons of buzz, the advance promotion for this film was crazy. By the time August 16th rolled around everyone and their posse of friend's was dying to buy a ticket to what would become one of the most iconic film's of the decade. Check out the memorable closing scene below and then scroll through the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. So many great songs came from this movie!
If you've been reading Daily Boom for any length of time then you've probably pretty easily caught on to my love of freestyle music. Those same songs that had me on my feet as a teen now almost instantly put me in a better mood. That tells me that whatever power freestyle once had, still remains at least for me. The Cover Girls have undergone line up changes over the years and regardless of who hits the stage, I still adore them.
When "MyHeart Skips a Beat" first was released in 1989 it really looked like this group was ready to skyrocket towards serious mainstream success. Instead, lead singer Angel Clivilles left in the middle of their tour to pursue a solo career, leaving the group in a bit of chaos. Evelyn Escalera stepped in as lead singer and she continues that role to this day. "My Heart Skips a Beat" has always been one of my favorites by The Cover Girls and the video mix of the song really is a classic example of what great freestyle sounds like.
When you think of 80's rock, with those heat scorching guitar riffs, Adrian Vandenberg is one of a handful of names that quickly comes to mind. He has played with many of the greats, including a twelve-year run beside David Coverdale in Whitesnake, but his own band, Vandenberg, has always been the crown jewel of his career. It has been 35 years since the band has released a new studio album and earlier this year it was announced that Vandenberg's return is imminent, with a brand new lineup and a full album entitled 2020 set for a May 29th release.
I was able to catch up with Adrian recently and while social distancing literally on opposite sides of the world, we chatted about all sorts of things, including why now is the perfect time for the world to be reintroduced to all that Vandenberg has to share. Check it out below!
Adrian on dealing with a pandemic:
"It doesn't make much of a difference for me right now. I'm not out on tour so I would be home now working on my music anyway. I can still cook a nice meal or hang with friends as long as it's not more than a few of us together. It's a lot more dramatic for a lot of other people but my life is mostly the same. The one thing that does bother me the most is that I can't visit my mom who is 94. She's all alone and my brother and sister and I can't visit her now, which is more than a little sad, so let's hope that this is over soon. This time makes you rethink a lot of the things that were perfectly normal a couple of weeks ago. When you have no choice but to go back to the basics you realize how much you've taken for granted."
Adrian on why now is the right time to bring back Vandenberg:
"It was really a natural thing (laughing). People have asked me to do this for years and I just didn't want to do a nostalgic type of thing. There are two reasons why I decided to finally dig in and do this now and it is partly because of writing. The more that I got into it the more I realized that I wanted to come back and expand with some harder, faster stuff, different from what I've done with MoonKings over the past five years. The other thing that led me to this had to do with the singer in MoonKings. He owns a really big farming company and at this point, he can't really leave the country for more than one day and I just love touring and doing shows. I want to keep playing all over the world and he wasn't ready to leave the farm behind, so it only made sense for me to go in another direction.
He and I are good friends and he also didn't want to stand in the way of my ambition. I figured that if I could find a really good singer then maybe I could put Vandenberg back together and that's what has happened. We are a modern and kind of in your face band, but then we also have the legacy too.
The record is fresh and it just doesn't sound like a tired band that's trying to revive itself. My ambition was for this to feel like a progression of the band and I think that it has worked out like that."
Adrian on how he writes:
"My writing process has most certainly evolved because when I started the early Vandenberg in 1981, I didn't have the guts to tell people in the studio what I really wanted. Now many years later I do have the guts and I know how to make a record really sound the way that I hear it in my head. When I found Ronnie (Romero, lead vocals) willing to join the band it just opened up everything writing-wise because he has no limitations. That gave me a lot of freedom because I really try to tailor the songs that I write to the singer and so writing with him gave me a lot of inspiration. His emotional way of singing opened up so many possibilities for me. It's a great feeling to be able to do what you feel in your soul without any restrictions there. It's such a beautiful thing and it has made me so happy."
Adrian on the chemistry of the band now:
"I didn't know these guys before putting this band together and we really do click big time. When I first flew to Madrid to meet Ronnie we had an instant connection and I was so happy. If you're going to be writing with someone then I think you really need to have a great connection. David Coverdale and I were a great example of that in the past and now, so are Ronnie and I. When I started looking for a drummer I checked out a Dutch magazine that lists the top ten leading drummers and their best guy, Koen Herfst, was on top for several years. I was blown away by what he could do and then a similar thing happened with our bass player, Randy van der Elsen. I actually have a band that can do these songs the way that I hear them in my head and that has led to us having a beautiful connection within the band.
It's all really cool now and I feel very fortunate. I'm not the kind of guy that takes things for granted in my life and I really value the quality of my life. This music and the band are an important part of it and I'd rather not do it at all if people don't get along or if there are bad vibes. I'm grateful that things are going smoothly and I also believe that in order to write good music you have to feel good about the situation. So we are very fortunate to be able to write this music and to know that somewhere down the road in the future, we'll be able to play it live for the fans."
Adrian on accomplishing his goals:
"I'm not somebody that thinks too far ahead. I do live in the moment and I want this moment to be a good one. I'm kind of like a freight train with my goals though and when I run into an obstacle I'll run right through it and I'll clean up the mess later (laughing). That's basically how my life goes. It's funny because my sister is a classical piano teacher and we are very different with how we do things. She doesn't understand how I can do these things without reading notes and I tell her that I just focus really hard when I'm writing and recording. Everything else is left to the side, which can cause a lot of other problems (laughing) because once the music is gone then I have a big mountain of other things that I have to do. It's the only way for me to do it though, with that singular focus, otherwise, I end up limiting my creativity. If I start and then stop it changes what I'm writing. Maybe it won't be worse but I'll have lost my original path with the song."
Adrian on the desire to tour again:
"I can't wait to hit the road with them. That is definitely the plan and ambition, this album isn't meant as a one-off kind of thing. We're really secure as a band and this music was created to be heard in a live setting. I love being able to interact with a crowd and to tell them stories about the music. I'm dying to do international tours again because I really miss it. I love being on the road and being able to focus on just making music with a bunch of great people while getting the crowd going too. It's almost an addictive rush that you get because you can feel the hearts of the people in the venue, whether it's ten or ten thousand, it's such a beautiful thing. Those moments cross all borders and they connect everyone that's there. What a beautiful thing to be able to share with the fans and I can never get enough of it."
Check out Vandenberg's official site to preorder '2020'. Follow the band on Facebook and Twitter for updates on the music and future gigs!
When I think of diva's from the early 80's Diana Ross quickly jumps to mind. By the time 1980 had rolled around she had swapped out her Motown sound for pure dance music and it worked. I'll admit I played my little 45 of "I'm Coming Out" like crazy but 1984's "Swept Away" was even better. The video was kind of over the top and the synth in the song made it a dance floor classic. Larry Flick recently played it on Studio 54 radio and I found myself hoping that it was the extended version of "Swept Away"
Thankfully, it was.
I can't really think of a better way to start the day. Take a look & you'll quickly see and understand why Miss. Ross was and still is just a little bit larger than life!
