Twostepcublog

Happy Halloweeners! " Something In My House " was the second single from British synthpop band Dead Or Alive's 198g album Mad, Bad, and Dangerous To Know . Led by the flamboyantly androgynous lead singer Pete Burns, the song climbed to #3 on Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart in 1987, while stopping at #85 on the American pop Hot 100 (in their native UK, it hit a respectable #12, their third-biggest British hit). Later on, Burns would appear on the UK version of Celebrity Big Brother , and passed away in 2016 of a heart attack. This spooky and paranoiac dance banger remains one of their best... and as a bonus, the 12" club version...

" Sword Of Damocles " is the new one-off single from singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright . Playing off a parable told by ancient Roman writer Cicero, the song fleshes out the story of the perils of actually getting the things you desire. A pointed hit at the current corrupt Trump administration, this song is meant to inspire the younger folks (and some older folks) to not just sit on their asses next Tuesday. Darren Criss co-stars in the music video, and his accoutrements are on point... Rufus' last album to reach to charts in America was Out Of The Game , which peaked at #35 in 2012.

" That's The Way Love Goes " - Janet Jackson from the album janet. (1993) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (eight weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 20 Today's song of the day comes from Janet Jackson , who had taken a little break after her massive Rhythm Nation album, which spun off eight top ten pop and airplay hits. In the summer of 1992, she teamed up with Luther Vandross, Ralph Tresvant, and Bell Biv Devoe for the top ten pop/#1 R&B hit " The Best Things In Life Are Free ". Also during this time, she signed a lucrative contract with Virgin Records, worth in the eight digit marks, making her one of the top pair female musicians of the time (and in direct competition of brother Michael). The first result of that switch came when Janet released the preview single for her fifth studio album janet. in April of 1993. "That's The Way Love Goes" brought over her successful writing and production partners of Jimmy "Jam" Harris and Terr...

"Haunted House" was a single from house act DaDa NaDa, one of the monikers used by dance music artist Robert Ozn (aka Robert Rosen ). The stand alone track, released on 12" record, climbed to #5 on Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart in the spring of 1989. and as a bonus here's the house remix  of Robert's other club hit, "Deep Love", done by the legendary Frankie Knuckles with David Morales...

" Dedicated " - R. Kelly & Public Announcement from the album Born Into The 90's (1992) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #31 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 7 Today's song of the day comes from R&B singer/producer R.Kelly , who with his backing vocal group Public Announcement, scored a top-40 pop hit in the summer of 1992 with " Honey Love ", the second single released from their debut album Born Into The 90's . That was followed by the booty call jam  " Slow Dance (Hey Mr. D.J.) ", which spent a week at #1 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart, but missed the pop top-40 by a few notches at #43. A fourth release from the album, " Hey Love (Can I Have A Word) ", which in the single was lead-billed to house music rapper Mr. Lee, climbed to #15 on the R&B list, while "bubbling under" the pop Hot 100 at #101. The fifth and final song pulled from the record to radio would be another ballad, "Dedicated"....

Passport is a German jazz fusion band put together by saxophone player Klaus Doldinger in the early 1970s. In 1978, they experimented with disco on their album Ataraxia , featuring the track " Locomotive ". Although the song didn't make Billboard 's Dance/Disco chart, the album climbed to #12 on their Jazz Albums chart, and #140 on the main sales list. The act is still together, with their most recent album in 2016... ...and here's the extended disco version of the track...

" I See You Smile " - Gloria Estefan from the album Greatest Hits (1992) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #48 This week's "robbed hit" comes from Cuban-American pop star Gloria Estefan , who had come off of her triumph return from her bus accident injuries with her Into The Light album in 1990, which scored her a #1 single with " Coming Out Of The Dark " and bubbly top-40 follow-up " Live For Loving You ".  Two years later, she celebrated fifteen years in the business (and seven since her pop breakthrough with "Conga") with her first Greatest Hits album. With ten of her big songs added to four new recordings, it earned her another top-20 album. The first release of the new set was another inspirational ballad, " Always Tomorrow ". Although that song climbed to #5 on the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio format chart in Billboard magazine, it stalled way down at #81 on the pop Hot 100 in America. S...

" Without Me " is the new single from pop singer/songwriter Halsey . An emotional take on her breakup with rapper G-Eazy (who she's back with), the track is so far only a stand-alone track. Her recent collaboration with Benny Blanco and Khalid, " Eastside ", peaked at #20 on Billboard magazine's pop Hot 100 chart.

" Connected " - Stereo MC's from the album Connected (1990) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #20 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 11 Today's song of the day comes from the British electronica band the Stereo MC's , who scored a top-40 pop hit in America with " Elevate My Mind " in the summer of 1991. Two years later, the group re-emerged with their next album Connected . The first single and title track from the album, written by their leader Nick Hallam and Rob Birch, takes a sample of the disco song " Let Me (Let Me Be Your Lover " from Jimmy "Bo" Horne, which was written by Harry Casey and Richard Finch from  KC & The Sunshine Band... "Connected" became the Stereo MC's biggest hit in America, reaching the top 20 in June of 1993. The song also climbed to #5 on Billboard 's Modern Rock radio format chart. Internationally, the single made the top ten in Austria (#5), Switzerland (#6), and Sweden (#8), while h...

I'm BAAAAACK! " Dance With Me " was the biggest pop success for singer/songwriter/producer Peter Brown, who came from a musical family in the suburbs of Chicago. The funky track, which featured singer Better Wright, who had success of her own with the top-ten pop hit " Clean Up Woman " in 1971. The song, which climbed to #8 on the pop chart and #5 on the R&B list, peaked up at #4 on Billboard 's Disco/Dance Tracks chart in 1978. Appearing on Brown's debut album A Fantasy Love Affair , it remains one of my all-time favorite disco songs...

Aerosmith - " Livin' On The Edge " from the album Get A Grip (1993) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #18 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 11 Today's song of the day comes from the veteran blues-rock band from Boston, Aerosmith , who were coming off of the most successful album of their career, Pump , which had scored them four big top-40 pop hits with " Love In An Elevator ", " Janie's Got A Gun ", " What It Takes ", and " The Other Side ", the last one in the summer of 1990. After a year-long tour, the band took a break to rest, releasing one of the early big "Box-sets", Pandora's Box , that landed a couple new tracks on the rock radio chart - a remake of the Beatles' " Helter Skelter " made it to #21 there. The group re-emerged in the spring of 1993 with their next album Get A Grip . Lead single "Livin' On The Edge", released in February, was another head-banging song with a messag...

" Three Little Pigs " - Green Jellÿ from the album Cereal Killer Soundtrack (1993) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #17 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 12 Today's song of the day comes from the comic heavy metal act Green Jellÿ , who were formed by musician Bill Manspeaker in Buffalo, New York originally under the name Green Jellö. Patterned similarly to the outrageous rock band GWAR, the band assumed characters and dressed in costume and their disheveled shows ended up in chaos with food thrown everywhere; nevertheless they accrued a loyal following, and eventually Manspeaker moved back to Hollywood, and reformed the band again with the same if not even more chaotic live experiences. Most of the members were musical novices, yet two members of Tool were also in the ever-changing lineup. In 1992 due to word of mouth and initiative, Green Jellö was signed to a record deal with the then up and coming ZOO Entertainment records, based on their promise to created an entire v...

Friday's here, and it's time to run down my top 100 tunes from the previous week. Imagine Dragons take over on top for the third time this year, while country singer Russell Dickerson (pictured above) climbs into the top-10. Former big hits from Tom Petty, Clean Bandit/Demi Lovato, and Metro/Nelly Furtado drop out, while songs from Marshmello/Bastille, Mitchell Tenpenny, and Lukas Graham make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ highlighted in red ). Please let me be capebound! And Happy Halloween! This Week          Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Natural - Imagine Dragons (2) 2. Tequila - Dan + Shay (3) 3. Africa - Weezer (1) 4. I Like Me Better - Lauv (4) 5. The Way I Am - Charlie Puth (5) 6. Boo'd Up - Ella Mai (6) 7. Nevermind - Dennis Lloyd (7) 8. Blue Tacoma - Russell Dickerson (12) 9. New Light - John ...

" Who Is It " - Michael Jackson from the album Dangerous (1991) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #14 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 10 Today's song of the day comes from the "King of Pop", Michael Jackson , whose Dangerous album had already spun off five top-40 pop hits in America with " Heal The World ", " Jam ", " In The Closet ", " Remember The Time ", and the #1 smash " Black Or White ". In the spring of 1993 the next release internationally was the guitar-dominated ballad " Give In To Me ", featuring Slash from the hard rock band Guns N' Roses (who also played on "Black and White"). That song went to #1 in New Zealand, and hit the top ten in the UK (#2), Australia (#4), the Netherlands (#4), Spain (#6), France (#7), Switzerland (#7), Norway (#7), and Germany (#10). Meanwhile at the time a song that had already been put out before "Heal The World" as the fifth release, ...

" Dazzey Duks " - Duice from the album Dazzey Duks (1993) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #12 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 26 Today's song of the day comes from the "bass" style rap act Duice, who came together when stationed in Georgia in the early 1990s. "L.A. Snow" and "Creo-D" released their breakthrough single "Dazzey Duks" in 1993. Written by the pair inspired by the short short worn by Catherine Bach in the TV show The Dukes Of Hazzard , the frenetic dance track was totally unserious and totally throwaway, but people ate it up... "Dazzey Duks" reached the top 20 on the American pop chart in July of 1993, eventually spending ten months on Billboard magazine's Hot 100. The single also climbed to #19 on their R&B chart. However, even with this massive success the duo never reached the pop or R&B charts again. (Click below to see the rest of the post)

On the 40th anniversary of the release of the retelling of the classic L. Frank Baum novel as The Wiz , here's the version of the film's apex, "Ease On Down The Road", which was covered and released in 1975 by the New York-based disco band Consumer Rapport. The one-off single featured vocals from Frank Floyd, who sang backup in the Broadway production. Their version spent five weeks at #1 on Billboard magazine's Disco/Dance Tracks chart, while climbing to #19 on their R&B genre list and just missing the top-40 at #42 on the pop Hot 100. It would be their only success, though Floyd would go on to front the Writers, who had a minor R&B hit in 1979 with the ballad " What's Come Over Me " (#95 R&B)...

" Crippling Self Doubt and a General Lack Of Confidence " is the new track from Australian rock singer/songwriter Courtney Barnett 's album Tell Me How You Really Feel . It follows " Nameless, Faceless ", which went to #20 on Billboard magazine's Adult Album Alternative radio format chart. And here's Courtney appearing live on Seth Meyers ...

" Love U More " - Sunscreem from the album O3 (1993) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #36 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 5 Today's song of the day comes from the British dance act Sunscreem , who came together in Essex in the early 1990s with singer Lucia Holm and synth player Paul Carnell. Their first success came in the beginning of 1992 with their single " Pressure ", which was a minor hit in the UK at #60. Later that summer, the band followed it up with what would become their biggest hit, "Love U More". Written and produced by the pair, the track joined techno rhythms with joyful positive lyrics usually heard in more pop and house music songs, to create an ebullient club track that translated to radio quite well, despite a very questionable "Fathers rape their daughters" line. Eventually it made it overseas, reaching mainstream radio in America the following spring... "Love U More" became Sunscreem's sole single to r...

"Jungle DJ" is a single from French disco act Kikrokos, made up of studio musicians that worked with fellow countryman and disco legend Cerrone on his Kongas project in 1978. That act had a # club hit in 1978 with " Africanism ". The following year, Kikrokos released the album Jungle DJ & Dirty Kate . The title track went to #23 on Billboard magazine's Disco/Dance Tracks chart, their sole success.

" So Alone " - Men At Large from the album Men At Large (1992) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #31 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 4 Today's song of the day comes from the R&B duo Men At Large, who came together in Cleveland in the early 1990s. David Tolliver and Jason Champion's act's name was a play on their size, and they released their self-titled debut album in 1992. Lead single " Use Me ", a midtempo new jack swing jam, was a respectable R&B hit out of the gate, peaking at #9 in the spring of that year. Their follow-up release, " You Me ", went to #29 on that list. But it would be the third song put out from the album that would go on to be the duo's biggest hit of their career. "So Alone", a ballad co-written by Gerald Levert, who helped discover the pair, would climb the soul list, then make it into the pop top-40... "So Alone" became Men At Large's first and only charting hit on the Hot 100, re...

The Softones were a vocal soul trio from Baltimore (Marvin Brown, Steve Jackson, and Elton Lynch), who had their biggest hit in the beginning of 1976 with this remake of a popular song from the 1940's, " That Old Black Magic ". Written by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen, it's been recorded numerous times. This version, which was their sole Top-40 R&B hit at #29, spent three weeks at #2 on Billboard 's Disco/Dance tracks chart. It came from their album Black Magic from 1977...

" Supermodel (You Better Work) " - RuPaul from the album Supermodel Of The World (1993) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #45 This week's "robbed hit" comes from an icon in the LGBT community who took the art of the drag queen into the mainstream (whether she wanted to or not), RuPaul Charles. Born in San Diego, RuPaul and her sisters moved to Atlanta with her divorced mom as a teen. There, she started the gender bending fashion through the punk movement, and starred in the cult movie Star Booty in the later 1980s. Her first taste of a national exposure came when fellow Georgians the B-52s included her in their video for their own breakthrough single " Love Shack " in 1989. But still, she worked underground in bands and appearances in Atlanta and then New York City through the beginning of the next decade. What was crucial to RuPaul's success is the concurrent establishment of the production partnership World of Wonder, originally started by film...

" Loyal " is the new single from British pop singer Paloma Faith . It comes from the re-release of her stellar album The Architect: Zeitgeist Edition , which will be released on November 16th. The carefully choreographed video is perfect for this Halloween time of year. Her last single to make the chart was her cover of Mama Cass' " Make Your Own Kind Of Music ", which reached the top ten on the British airplay chart and topped out at #28 on the singles chart in the UK...

" Simple Life " - Elton John from the album The One (1992) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #30 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 7 Today's song of the day is from Elton John , whose 1992 album The One had already scored two big pop hits in America with the top-ten title track " The One " and his Ryan White tribute " The Last Song ", which hit the top-40 in the winter close of 1992. Also, the track " Runaway Train " with Eric Clapton, which was serviced to rock radio and appeared on the soundtrack to Lethal Weapon 3 , climbed to #10 on Billboard magazine's Mainstream Rock radio chart and reached the top-40 all over Europe. The fourth and final single from the record would be the western-rock style "Simple Life". Written by Elton with longtime partner Bernie Taupin, the song had a feel like the 80s work of Don Henley and Bruce Hornsby, with vague lyrics about leaving the fast lane behind... "Simple Life" became the...

" Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone " was the epic club hit for the jazz-pop quartet Manhattan Transfer . Five years after their initial top-40 pop hit in the nostalgic acappella of " Operator ", this combination of the theme to the sci-fi show from the early 60s with a deep, moody disco experience that's ten times more spooky than "Thriller" tried to be. The track was their biggest success in the clubs, peaking at #4 on Billboard magazine's Disco/Dance Tracks in 1980, spending over six months on the chart, while making it to #30 on the American pop Hot 100 and #25 on the British singles chart. The song appeared on their fifth album Extensions ...

" No Matter What " is the new song from British singer Calum Scott. The intensely personal story of his "coming out" to friends and family, with different reactions, will appear on the re-release of his debut album Only Human . His current radio single in America, " You Are The Reason " featuring X Factor winner Leona Lewis ("Bleeding Love"), is currently at #25 on Billboard magazine's Adult Top-40 radio format chart.

" The Crying Game " - Boy George from the album The Crying Game (Original Soundtrack) (1993) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #15 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 9 Today's song of the day comes from British pop icon Boy George , who after breaking up his band Culture Club, struck out on his own in the later half of the 1980s, eventually scoring a top-40 pop hit in America with " Live My Life " from the soundtrack to the movie Hiding Out . While his first solo album was rather ignored in the States, his record company Virgin tried to "reinvent" George by compiling a sophomore effort from tracks from two subsequent British releases that weren't put out in the U.S., Tense Nervous Heartache and Boyfriend . The result, High Hat , featured two songs produced by new jack swing king Teddy Riley (of Guy and Blackstreet fame), and from it the song " Don't Take My Mind On A Trip ", was well-received enough to go to #5 on Billboard magazine...