Twostepcublog

" Waterfalls " - TLC from the album CrazySexyCool (1994) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (seven weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 28 Today's song of the day comes from the R&B/Hip-Hop trio TLC , whose Grammy-winning sophomore album CrazySexyCool had already spun off a big #1 pop hit with " Creep " as well as a worthy follow-up that stopped at #2 in " Red Light Special ". Also, the album track " Switch " got enough airplay at urban format stations to spent time on Billboard magazine's R&B Airplay chart, peaking at #56. The third release from the album, though, would surpass both of them and become the group's biggest hit and signature song. "Waterfalls", written by the production team of Organized Noize (Ray Murray, Patrick Brown, and Rico Wade), Marqueeze Etheridge, and TLC member Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes, was a mid-tempo R&B track with lessons about sexuality and drug use and a landmark use of AIDS in its ...

" You Got Me Running " was a club hit for former Tower of Power lead singer Lenny Williams . Appearing on his album Spark Of Love , the song was written by Williams with producer Clay Drayton along with Judy Wieder. On Billboard magazine's National Disco Action Top-40 chart, the song rose to #25 in 1978, while also peaking at #40 on their R&B chart.

" Nuthin' But A "G" Thang " - Dr. Dre with Snoop Dogg from the album The Chronic (1992) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 24 Today's song of the day comes from producer/rapper Dr. Dre , aka Andre Young, who grew up in the suburbs around Los Angeles like Compton, notorious for its gang violence and poor economic standing. Shuttling around between schools before dropping out, Dre got his first big break as a member of the World Class Wreckin' Kru, a breakdance-style troupe which also included friend DJ Yella and future steady Michel'le. With them they scored a moderate hit on the R&B chart in 1988 with " Turn Off The Lights " which peaked at #30 R&B and #84 pop. But by the time this record was peaking, Dre and Yella had already moved on, hooking up with rapper Ice Cube, Eazy-E, and MC Ren to form the seminal gangsta-rap group N.W.A. (N****z with Attitude), which changed forever the sound, look, and ge...

Regina - "Baby Love" from the album Curiosity (1986) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #10 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 12 Today's Song of the Day comes from dance-pop singer Regina (Richards), a Brooklyn native who hooked up with producer/songwriter Stephen Bray, who had played with Madonna in the Breakfast Club and produced hits like "Angel" and "Into The Groove" for her. In fact, "Baby Love" was meant to be recorded by Madonna, but by then her music had evolved far beyond the freestyle dance/pop vein, and Regina, who co-wrote the song with Bray, ended up releasing the song herself. A total ringer for something from Madge's first album, "Baby Love" still got an audience still yearning for that... "Baby Love" made the American pop top-ten in September of 1986. The single would also reach the top of the Dance Club Play chart in Billboard magazine, and even climb to #30 on the R&B chart. Internationally, ...

I'm ready to cross the border into Germany to check out the songs making the official singles chart this week.... There's a new #1 on the list, and it's from rapper Cro from the southern city of Aalen with "Traum" ("Dream"). The man who dons an eerie panda mask has had one other #1 hit with "Whatever" from 2013... (Click below to see the rest of the post)

John Waite - " Tears " from the album No Brakes (1984) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #37 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 4 Today's Song of the Day is by British rock singer John Waite , who left the power-pop band the Babys and scored a #1 pop hit in America with " Missing You " in 1984. For its followup John released a song co-written by guitarist Vinnie Vincent (of Kiss fame) and Adam Mitchell (who wrote for Olivia Newton-John among others). "Tears" was originally recorded by former Kiss drummer Peter Criss for his 1982 album... "Tears" became John's second top-40 pop hit in the US in November of 1984, while scaling to #8 on the rock radio chart in Billboard .

Hey gang, it's time for today's 70's throwback, and this week I'm back to 1974, the year Sarasota newscaster Christine Chubbuck committed suicide on-air on her Sunday program. Paul Anka with Odia Coates - " (You're) Having My Baby " from the album Anka (1974) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 Songwriter: Paul Anka In time for the royal baby announcement, here's the treacly ballad that got Paul a bit of flack for it's "you didn't have to keep it" line... (Click below to see the rest of the post)

It's time to jump over to Germany to check out the latest songs making their official sales chart there, as Robin Thicke claims yet another country's #1 with "Blurred Lines"... The top debut of the week up at #4 is "V.I.P." from southern German rapper "Prince" Kay One. It features The Product G&B, best known in America for their guest on Santana's "Maria Maria" which topped the US chart for 10 weeks in 2000...(NSFW) (Click below to see the rest of the post)

  Before I start with part two of this week's "chart sweeps" of the latest songs making their way on to the weekly music charts at Billboard magazine,  I need to bring up what happened at the magazine this week . From the time that the chart gods started electronically monitoring what radio stations played in the early 90s until last week, the rock, R&B, Country, dance, and Latin subcharts were solely based on airplay, graphing a song's broadcast to a station's Neilsen rating to estimate an "audience impression" score, which would determine the ranking. With the advent of digital sales, I've been really interested in a revised chart that would take sales into account, since there are big hit songs (at the top of my head, "Goodbye Earl" at country) that didn't do as well on radio. Well Billboard did finally pull through with this, but in effect possibly neutered their whole chart system as a result. Instead of using the exist...

photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images So let me get this straight... This dickhole who caused a scene at last Friday's press conference by interrupting and attempting to argue with the president on his assholic assumption that the proposed amnesty directive means Obama favors foreign workers over American ones, yeah, that dickhole, is a foreigner here on a fucking green card .So his whole charade about asking the right questions has nothing to do with his own situation and how well he sucks Tucker Carlson's dick. This right-wing game of Calvinball is getting too fucking ridiculous. Romney says Obama is out of touch. Romney proceeds to be amazed by the Wawas ( sic ) and their newfangled hoagie-orderin' machine as a fucking Friedmanesque sign of the sanctity of the free economy, whatever the fuckall that means. It's just getting to be "play the game of say whatever crazy and see if anything sticks", isn't it? It's like the political process has become ...