Category Looking Back Reviews
PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION’S *AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY* TURNS 30!…
On this day in 1985, Prince and the Revolution’s followup to the massively successful Purple Rain album was released with little fanfare. Prince had asked that Warner Brothers release Around The World In A Day with almost no announcement, no videos, and no singles. I can only imagine the shouting matches that must have taken […]
THE 1984 EXPERIMENT: WHAT I LEARNED BY RELIVING THE YEAR I FELL IN LOVE WITH MUSIC…
It all started with an idea for a Spotify playlist. What if I compiled a playlist, chronologically, of all of the hit songs of 1984? What if I went deeper and added the big music that happened that year in other genres too? R&B, hard rock, early hip-hop, dance… What if I did that for […]
ROGER WATERS – THE PROS AND CONS OF HITCHHIKING – 30th ANNIVERSARY (A LOOKING BACK REVIEW)…
On my seventh birthday in 1984, completely off my radar as it were, Roger Waters, the chief lyricist and bassist for Pink Floyd released his first solo album. Tensions were at an all time high in the band, as Roger would soon announce the end of Pink Floyd, much to the remaining members’ chagrin. Topically, […]
THE DEFINI-SPECIA-LUXE EDITION: CYNDI LAUPER – SHE’S SO UNUSUAL – A 30TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION…
30 and a half years ago, Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual hit the stores. It didn’t burn up the charts right away, but it crept up and when MTV started playing the now famous video for “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”, it started a chain of events and hits that made Cyndi a bonafide […]
PINK FLOYD’S *THE DIVISION BELL* TURNS 20! – HOW I BECAME OBSESSED WITH PINK FLOYD…
Twenty years ago this Sunday, March 30 1994 in the UK (but not until April 5th in the US), the final Pink Floyd studio album The Division Bell was released to extremely high and impatient expectations. Their previous album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, created a dividing line amongst fans. Original lyricist Roger Waters had […]
THE CARS – *HEARTBEAT CITY* TURNS 30! (A “Looking Back” Review)…
In 1984 The Cars were everywhere. My earliest memories of watching MTV for the first time in the summer of that year includes two images: Ric Ocasek buzzing around as an animated fly (“You Might Think”) and Ric walking on water across a pool as others chasing him fell in (“Magic”). That was my first […]
25 YEARS AGO: MILLI VANILLI – GIRL YOU KNOW IT’S TRUE (A LOOK BACK AND ‘WHERE ARE THEY NOW?’)…
25 years ago, an album was released that over 6 million people bought in the U.S. alone. Even more in Canada! It would stand to reason that some of those people *liked* the songs on that album. At least a few. Most people within earshot of the pop music world heard what happened in 1990. […]
“WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC IN 3-D TURNS 30! + THE FRIDAY NIGHT CONCERT FROM 1984…
Today marks the 30th anniversary of “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D. This was the album that put Al on the map and made him a household name in the 80s and still today. The big boost in notoriety was thanks to his music video of a spot-on spoof of Michael Jackson.. “Eat It”. In 3-D […]
“THE SMITHS” TURNS 30 – LOOKING BACK + THE FRIDAY NIGHT CONCERT…
February 20th 1984 was a day that changed music forever. The Smiths may have only had two singles out so far in the UK, “Hand In Glove” and “This Charming Man”, but their full length debut would change the course of popular music and would even change lives. At a time when pop groups like […]
FOOTLOOSE TURNS 30! (A “Looking Back” Review)…
This month marks the 30th anniversary of the blockbuster Footloose soundtrack. Wikipedia has conflicting dates. It was either the last day of January, or February 14th. It was one of the first of its kind. The soundtrack was not just a collection of songs that happened to be in the movie. Instead the movie and […]
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