Hair Band Friday - 7/28/23

1.  "Inside Out" by XYZ

2.  "Flying High Again" by Ozzy Osbourne

3.  "Spend My Life" by Slaughter

4.  "One in a Million" by Trixter"

5.  "Get the Funk Out" by Extreme

6.  "My Michelle" by Guns N' Roses

7.  "Uh! All Night" by KISS

8.  "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" by Night Ranger

9.  "Electric Gypsy" by L.A. Guns

10.  "18 and Life" by Skid Row

Retro Video of the Week: "Nothing Compares 2 U" by Sinéad O'Connor

As you likely heard by now, controversial Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor died yesterday at the age of 56.  Other than ripping a picture of Pope John Paul II in half after performing on Saturday Night Live to protest priest sex abuse, she is best known for her 1990 cover of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U."  Her version was a massive hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks in April and May 1990, and hitting #1 in nearly 20 other countries.  It came in at #3 on the Billboard Year End chart for 1990.  O'Connor's version is more soulful than Prince's version.  She made it her own, and she absolutely crushed it.  You feel her pain.  

On top of that, the video is a classic, largely showing a close-up of O'Connor's face as she sings and looks into the camera, probably making the would-be subject of the song's lyrics feel a little awkward, but at the same time, pretty good about himself because, damn, she is not over him.  The clip won three MTV Video Music Awards:, including Video of the Year, making O'Connor the first female artist to win that award.

Hair Band Friday - 7/21/23

1.  "Breaking All the Rules" by Ozzy Osbourne

2.  "Hee Bee Jee Bee Crush" by Kix

3.  "Falling in Love" by Scorpions

4.  "Nobody Knows" by Roxy Blue

5.  "Let's Spend the Night Together" by Keel

6.  "Fight For Your Rights" by Mötley Crüe

7.  "Felony" by Dokken

8.  "Perfect Crime" by Guns N' Roses

9.  "The Kid Goes Crazy" by Y&T

10.  "Standing in the Shadow" by Whitesnake

Retro Video of the Week: "Space Age Love Song" by A Flock of Seagulls

In less than 54 hours, I will, in fact, be watching A Flock of Seagulls perform live at a street fest here in Chicago.  I'm pretty excited about it.  Of course, most people associate the band with their 1982 Top 10 hit "I Ran (So Far Away)" -- and lead singer Mike Score's insane hairdo.  But the band was not a one-hit wonder, as "Space Age Love Song" and "Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)" were both Top 30 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

I'm going with "Space Age Love Song" for this week's Retro Video of the Week.  It's a tasty little new wave/synth pop number, and the video shows the band performing the song on the roof of famed '80s New York nightclub and new wave hangout spot, Danceteria.

Hair Band Friday - 7/14/23

1.  "Bed of Nails" by Alice Cooper

2.  "Thrill of a Lifetime" by King Kobra

3.  "Love on the Rocks" by Poison

4.  "Hit Between the Eyes" by Scorpions

5.  "Black Tiger" by Y&T

6.  "One For the Road" by Tora Tora

7.  "Squeeze Box" by Roxy Blue

8.  "Ridin' High" by Warrant

9.  "Stranger Than Paradise" by Sleeze Beez

10.  "Cathouse" by Faster Pussycat

Retro Video of the Week: "Intergalactic" by Beastie Boys

Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Beastie Boys' fifth studio album, Hello Nasty.  It was an immediate success, debuting at #1 on the Billboard album chart and staying at #1 for three weeks.  It eventually went triple platinum in the U.S.  Hello Nasty was also a bit hit internationally, topping the album charts in Australia, Europe (the Billboard European Albums chart), Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the UK, and reaching the Top 10 on the album charts in nine other countries.  It ended up on various "best of" lists for albums released in 1998.  The album won the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album, and "Intergalactic" won the Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.

"Intergalactic" was the debut single from the album, and it reached #28 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the group's third Top 40 hit in the U.S.  It also reached the Top 10 on six international pop charts.

The video was directed by MCA, and it's a classic, winning the MTV VMA for Best Hip Hop Video.  It a tribute to Japanese monster movies (think Godzilla or Mothra), with a giant robot and a giant octopus-headed monster fighting each other on the streets of Tokyo, while the band saunters around the city wearing street construction worker uniforms.

CoronaVinyl Day 466 (P): Prince by Prince

For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.

To quote Stained, it's been a while.  I actually listened to this album several weeks ago for several days in a row, but then, you know, shit got away from me.  Anyway, today's CoronaVinyl category is "P," and I went with Prince's self-titled 1979 sophomore album.

The Purple One's debut album, 1978's For You, didn't do much, peaking at #178 on the Billboard album chart.  But his genius could not be contained.  Prince (the album) was showed the diversity of Prince's (the artist) musical talents.  As with many of his albums, he wrote, performed, arranged, and produced the whole album.

It shows signs of what was to come in the '80s, with a mix of funk, pop, soul, and R&B.

The album reached #22 on the Billboard album chart and eventually went platinum in the U.S.  It featured Prince's first Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, "I Wanna Be your Lover," which went to #11, as well as #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart.

The album cover is odd.  As you can see, it's a bare-chested, sullen-faced Prince looking into the camera like he's pissed to be there.  But the back is the best.  It features a presumably completely nude Prince riding Pegasus, and I think we can all assume it was real.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?"
This one is definitely a harbinger of things to come, as Prince was honing his sound.  It's pop and R&B, with a little rock thrown in.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "Bambi"
Lest you didn't believe Prince had guitar chops in his early days, "Bambi" dispels you of that notion.  This is a raunchy rocker, with Prince's falsetto layered over his wicked guitar licks -- and then he just goes off on a solo to end the song.

Hair Band Friday - 7/7/23

1.  "Love Don't Come Easy" by White Lion

2.  "You're Crazy" (acoustic) by Guns N' Roses

3.  "Don't Talk About Roses" by Sleeze Beez

4.  "I Believe in Rock 'n' Roll" by Twisted Sister

5.  "Showdown (Riot on Sunset)" by L.A. Guns

6.  "School's Out" by Krokus

7.  "Every Time I Look at You" by KISS

8.  "White Heat, Red Hot" by Judas Priest

9.  "Switch 625" by Def Leppard

10.  "Scratch My Back" by Roxx Gang

Retro Video of the Week: "I Should Be So Lucky" by Kylie Minogue

This past Tuesday was not only America's 247th birthday, but also the 35th anniversary of the release of Australian actress-turned-pop-singer Kylie Minogue's debut album, Kylie.

Minogue had been an Australian soap opera star in her teens before she turned her talents to the microphone.  She had just turned 20 when Kylie was released, and it immediately established her as a huge pop star, not just in her native Australia, but around the world.

While Kylie only reached #53 on the Billboard album chart, it topped the album charts in the UK and New Zealand and reached the Top 10 on seven other album charts.  It ended up being the #1 album on the UK's year-end album chart for 1988 and the #5 album on the UK's decade-end album chart for the '80s.

The first single released from the album was "I Should Be So Lucky," a catchy little dance-pop song that was a worldwide smash.  It topped the pop charts in Australia, Europe (the European Hot 100 Singles chart), Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Switzerland, the UK, and West Germany, and it cracked the Top 10 on the pop charts in six other countries (and was Minogue's first Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, hitting #28).

If you're thinking to yourself, "man, that song could have been a hit for Rick Astley," you're not totally wrong.  It was written by Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman -- the same powerhouse songwriting team that wrote much of Astley's breakthrough 1987 album Whenever You Need Somebody, including the hits "Never Gonna Give You Up" and "Together Forever."