Twostepcublog

Happy 79th birthday to Willie Nelson - the Keith Richards of country music.... Happy 39th to Jeff Timmons, member of 98 Degrees and current Chippendales host..Now where's the reunion tour? It's the big 69 for 60's teenybopper Bobby Vee... Diana Agron from Glee turns 26 today. That's a lot of years held back! Kidding aside she's awesome. and finally, happy birthday to punk troubadour Amanda Palmer, who is crazy enough to release on one hand a ditty about date rape at an Oasis concert, and on the other hand put out a record titled "Do You Swear To Tell The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth So Help Your Black Ass"...

Elton John - "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)" from the album Jump Up! (1982) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #13 (two weeks) weeks in Top-40: 10 Today's Song Of The Day is Elton John 's requiem for friend and idol John Lennon, who was murdered a year and a half past. "Empty Garden" was released at a time where Elton was at a relatively "dry" point in his career, which his previous LP The Fox having two singles miss the top-20 (thought "Nobody Wins" came one rung under). With Jump Up! , he set up camp away from his singer-songwriter rock output of the 70's squarely into adult contemporary territory, and his booming and dramatic wail would characterize a lot of his most successful work of the decade. Even thought the lyrics were written by longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin (who used Elton and John's appearance at Madison Square Garden as an reference point), this song was extremely personal for Elton, and the performance

Today, April 29th, marks Carnie Wilson of Wilson Phillips' 44th birthday. Go on and have the cake, girl! Happy 72nd to April Stevens...duetting with Nino Tempo on "Deep Purple" Tommy James of the Shondells is 65, so he can pick up that Social Security check now... Big Easy rapper mogul and Dancing With The Stars alum Master P turns 45... 1/3 of R&B girl group SWV and Survivor contestant Taj Johnson turns 41... Member of Irish boyband Westlife and Voice of Ireland mentor Kiam Egan turns 32... And most important of all, uber-middlechild Jan Brady (Eve Plumb) turns 54 today. It's a Sunshine Day!

Sugarhill Gang - "Apache" from the album 8th Wonder (1982) Billboard Hot 100 peak: # 53 This week's robbed hit is by the breakthrough hip-hop act who had the first top-40 rap single with the classic " Rapper's Delight ". The Sugarhill Gang was formed in Englewood, New Jersey by singer-turned label head Sylvia Robinson. Robinson had been half of the Mickey & Sylvia duo  (" Love Is Strange "), then had a top hit of her own in 1973 with " Pillow Talk ", one of the first "disco" songs of the 70s. With husband Joseph, she signed Master Gee, Wonder Mike, and Big Bank Hank to her Sugarhill Records label, and along with labelmates Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, were the first big acts of the burgeoning rap genre. "Apache" with the first single from their sophomore album, and while it didn't make the top-40, it climbed to #13 on the R&B chart, and got major airplay on New York and Philly

The Human League - " Don't You Want Me " from the album Dare (1982) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (three weeks) weeks in top-40: 21 Today's Song of the Day was the harbinger of the second "British" wave of the 80's, and the first bonified electronic #1 pop hit. The Human League started out as a purely electro-art rock group by keyboardists Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh in the late 70's. They recruited singer Philip Oakey (their original unavailable choice Glenn Gregory went on to front Heaven 17), and released two records that got some success in the burgeoning new wave movement along with contemporaries Depeche Mode and Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. However, conflicts on where the band's music split the group, with Ware and Marsh abandonning the League because it was going too pop-leaning to form Heaven 17, which ironically became just as pop-inflected as the other. On their third album, Dare , Oakey brought in two fem

Asia - "Heat Of The Moment" from the album Asia (1982) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (three weeks) weeks in top-40: 12 Today's song of the day is by the rock "supergroup" Asia . The band was made of 4 powerhouses of progressive rock: Geoff Downes and Steve Howe of Yes, drummer Carl "Emerson Lake & Palmer" Palmer, and singer John Wetton from King Crimson and Roxy Music. Their first self-titled album was one of the first cassettes I bought with my own money, and the second "rock" T-shirt I ever owned (after the Police's Zenyatta Mondatta shirt). Five of the nine tracks made the rock radio chart, and "Heat Of The Moment" remains their biggest hit. Unabashedly pop for these guys, and well foretelling the Yes transformation that was to come a couple years later. And of course beside the band's mention in 40 Year Old Virgin (shh it's true), South Park 's Cartman brought it to Congress... As

It's time for my top-100 tunes for the week. This week Antipodeans Gotye and Kimbra spend an eighth week at the top, while British TigerBeaters the Wanted (pictured above) make it into the top-five. Former big hits by Robin Thicke and Katy Perry drop out, as singles by One Direction, Justin Bieber, and Carrie Underwood make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ).Link-O-Rama is in effect, so you can click on any of the artists' names to open up their official website for more info. This Week          Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Something That I Used To Know - Gotye f/ Kimbra (1) 2. We Are Young - fun. f/ Jonelle Monae (2) 3. Rumour Has It - Adele (5) 4. I Won't Give Up - Jason Mraz (4) 5. Glad You Came - The Wanted (7) 6. Bully - Shinedown (8) 7. Set Fire To The Rain - Adele (3) 8. Part Of Me - Katy Perry (10) 9. Domino - Jessie

The Rolling Stones - "Hang Fire" from the album Tattoo You (1981) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #20 (two weeks) weeks in top-40: 6 Today's Song of the Day was the third single off of the Rolling Stones ' classic Tattoo You LP, which gathered assorted songs from recording sessions from their previous albums. "Hang Fire" was from 1978's Some Girls sessions (which gave us "Miss You" and "Beast Of Burden"), and has a deceptively politically subversive message underneath the toss-off surf-rock backdrop. As a kid, I thought "hang fire" was just a drugged up version of "hang five", but it's a slang phrase for loafing around, stemming from the weaponry term for a misfired gun. It's almost a put-down of the youth culture as "dole queens", which I guess at this point in their career they've moved to artistic elitists. Oh well. Still a fun little ditty. The song made the pop top 20 and the #

Ray Parker Jr. - " The Other Woman " from the album The Other Woman (1982) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (two weeks) Today's song of the day is Ray Parker Jr. 's glorification of gettin' some on the side. Parker, a sideman for such R&B greats as Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin, formed Raydio in the late 70's. The group had three top-10 pop hits, including one of my personal 'perfect' pop singles of all time, " You Can't Change That ". The band split in 1981 (fellow member Jerry Knight went on to record " Breakin'...There's No Stoppin' Us " as Ollie & Jerry), and Ray's first solo album's title song became his first top-10 solo hit. His album just missed the top-10 at #11, but remains his biggest seller (not including the Ghostbusters soundtrack), which is why it's crazy that it's not available on CD except for a Japanese import for mucho dineiro. Tomorrow: the Glimmer

Happy 50th birthday to Soap star/singer Michael Damian. And happy 42nd to TLC's non-holographic T-Boz...

Happy 48th birthday to Andy Bell, lead singer for synth-pop duo Erasure. My favorite Erasure singles: 1) Drama! 2) Sometimes 3) A Little Respect 4) Fingers & Thumbs (Cold Summer's Day) 5) Chorus 6) Chains Of Love 7) Don't Say Your Love Is Killing Me 8) Love To Hate You 9) Victim Of Love 10) It Doesn't Have To Be It's also the 66th birthday of Bjorn Ulvaeus, 1/4 of ABBA. My favorite ABBA singles: 1) Take a Chance On Me 2) When All Is Said And Done 3) The Winner Takes It All 4) Knowing Me Knowing You 5) Mamma Mia 6) One Of Us 7) The Name Of The Game 8) SOS 9) Dancing Queen 10) I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do

Willie Nelson - "Always Of My Mind" from the album Always On My Mind (1982) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #5 (three weeks) Weeks In The Top-40: 15 Today's song of the day is the classic cover of "Always On My Mind" my country legend/toker Willie Nelson . The song originally was written back in the early 70s, and released initially by pop/country ingenue Brenda Lee, who had only a minor hit with the single.That same year, Elvis Presley released the definitive version, having a top-20 country hit and a top-10 pop hit in Britain. "Always..." was the first single for Willie after his film Honeysuckle Rose , featuring his iconic hit "On The Road Again". But it was the cover of this song that gave Nelson his biggest solo hit by far, and won writers Wayne Carson, Johnny Christopher, and Mark James a Grammy for Song of the Year. The production, stark with just the piano prevalent and echoing backing vocals, gave his version a timeless and

Tonight's Distant Shores song is a remake of Lykke Li's "I Follow Rivers" by Belgian rock band Triggerfinger. They're currently on top of the chart in the Netherlands and Belgium with this single.

Screw Ann Romney. I am totally tired of the deification of this Stepford Wife because she was able to turn a critique on her perennially-wealthy life to be some sort of "attack" on "stay at home moms". Yo Ann, you know what's an attack on stay-at-home moms? THIS: It's been a couple weeks since the legendary "War Againsts Moms" meme slash bullshit that the GOP establishment assisted by the "ooh yay we have an easy-ass narrative" media borg, but I'm still seething about it. Ann Romney proved to be the queen of victimhood when fellow Washington (but center-left-leaning) tool Hilary Rosen forgot her PR training with a totally-true but clumsily worded quip about Romney not working a day in your life. This started up the panty-twisting machine that distorted the whole off-the-cuff comment into a heathen barrage on all stay-at-home mom's. Even the President had to tuck it in and refute the claim,

Today should be a national gay holiday, since it's Barbra Streisand's 70th birthday (pictured above showing Lady GaGa how it's done. My favorite hits of Barb's: 1) What Kind Of Fool 2) Evergreen 3) No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) 4) Guilty 5) Promises (as you see I loves me some Guilty ) and forty (!) years younger is Kelly Clarkson, who turns the big 3-0 today. My favorite Kelly hits. 1) Walk Away 2) Since U Been Gone 3) Never Again 4) Because Of You 5) Mr. Know It All Now where's the duet between the two?

Charlene - "I've Never Been To Me" from the album I've Never Been To Me (1982) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (three weeks) Today's Song of The Day is by soft-pop singer Charlene (nee D'Angelo, then Duncan, then Oliver), who had one of the first 80's "revival" records with her hit "I've Never Been To Me". The song was originally released back in 1977, where it scraped the bottom of the pop chart, peaking at #97. Five years later, with the help of DJ Scott Shannon, the song's popularity spread like wildfire, putting her in the US top-3 and having a number-one record in Britain, where she was now living. And fortunately, it restored the controversial-for-its-time lyrics and bridge. Her record was rereleased by Motown, and she was so far removed from what the label was doing, that I'm not sure they knew what to do with her. Her followup record featured a duet with Stevie Wonder, but that didn't even make

Tonight's Distant Shores song of the night is Sweden's entry into this years Eurovision song contest, Loreen's "Euphoria". Loreen (born Lorine Talhaoui), was a contestant on that country's Idol franchise, and Euphoria is her second top-10 hit and first #1 there.

This week's Quisling (named for the infamous Norwegian leader who sold his country out to the Nazis) is Richard Grenell, Willard Romney's new foreign policy spokesman . While I should be gleeful that his appointment is drawing the ire of the fire-and-brimstone neanderthals, his attempt on being the catty GOP gay-friend only to go try to disinfect his Twitter account of his blatherings on Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, and the Gingriches is pretty comical. Recently this douchenozzle opined that Rachel Maddow should "take a breath and put on a necklace", alluding to a) the fact that she can speak coherently without mouthbreathing and b) nod nod wink wink is a big ol' LESBIAN. SHOCKER! Yo, Dick (it is short for Richard, no?), is this the witty banter that gets you blocked on Grindr? For someone whose verbal affectation makes Marcus Bachmann seem like Clint Eastwood, you certainly love to throw rhinestones in glass houses. I recently watched a fluffy gay rom

The Beatles - "The Beatles Movie Medley" from the album Reel Music (1982) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #12 (three weeks) After the left-field success of the cut-and-paste act Stars On 45's "Medley" , a #1 hit, record labels dipped their feet into the nostalgia pool, with releases like the "Hooked On Classics" kind, putting a medley of way-older styles to a electronic drumbeat, and string-along medleys of cornerstone oldies acts. The Beach Boys' label released a medley of their hits which went top-20 in 1981, and to promote the Beatles first compilation release since the death of John Lennon, Reel Music , Capitol put out a 45 single named "The Beatles Movie Medley". The track tied together parts of  seven Fab Four movie classics: "Magical Mystery Tour", "All You Need Is Love", "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away", "I Should Have Known Better", "A Hard Day's Night", "Ti

Happy 29th birthday, Taio Cruz. Now dance.

Singer Delta Goodrem has a lot in common with Antipodean queen Kylie Minogue. They're both Aussie singers who got their start on the soap Neighbours , Both transitioned from acting to singing with teen-pop releases before venturing into more adult material (though Delta went right to it on her debut album). Both have had crazy success around the world but have struggled to conquer the States (especially Delta, who only can boast a top-20 adult-pop ranking). And while Kylie's price may have been too high for the British version of The Voice , Delta settled in just fine in the Australian show's mentor spot. Both have had harrowing battles with cancer (Goodrem was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma at 18), and on a lighter note both have a proclivity for younger men (Delta dated Nick Jonas a couple years back, and rumors swirl about her and co- Voice -mate Joel Madden). She's back on the charts in the #2 spot in her home country with the Brightman-esque "Sitti

Hey folks, time for my top-100 tunes for the week. This week Gotye and Kimbra spend a seventh week at #1, while Adele (pictured above) now has two songs in the top-5. Nicki Minaj has the only track moving at least ten places, while former big hits by Gavin DeGraw and Havana Brown drop out. Link-O-Rama is still in effect, so you can click on any of the highlighted artist names to go to their website (now thanks to Blogger it'll automatically go to a new window. Yay!) This Week       Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye f/ Kimbra (1) 2. We Are Young - fun. (2) 3. Set Fire To The Rain - Adele (3) 4. I Won't Give Up - Jason Mraz (5) 5. Rumour Has It - Adele (13) 6. Turn Me On - David Guetta f/ Nicki Minaj (4) 7. Glad You Came - The Wanted (11) 8. Bully - Shinedown (10) 9. Domino - Jessie J (6) 10. Part Of Me - Katy