Song of the Day - Another One Bites the Dust - Queen

I hope posting this song today isn't crude.  I was just reviewing the coronavirus statistics yesterday with one of my classes and they're just so staggering.  I'm starting to think this is the single biggest tragedy of my lifetime.  Here's Queen...

Song of the Day - Rapture - Blondie

This is what it feels like!

Song of the Day - Precious Time - Pat Benatar

Pat Benatar's 1981 tune from her album of the same name is what I feel most during this quarantine.  How much more precious time are we going to have to waste?  Here's Precious Time...

Song of the Day - Blue Monday - New Order

Good morning everyone!  I don't know about the rest of the country, but it is one gloomy, rainy, blustery Monday here in New York, and this is a perfect song for the day...

Song of the Day - Do You Really Want To Hurt Me - Culture Club

Classic!  Happy Monday y'all!

Song of the Day - Stand Back - Stevie Nicks

If you look, it;s not hard to find songs that go with these times we're currently living in, as evidenced by the tunes I've been posting lately.  Here's another relevant track, suggested to me by my pal Eddie, the biggest Stevie Nicks fan I know.  There's a definitive message in the title of this song, something that still too many people are not heeding, and that all-out stupidity will unfortunately force us to live like this longer than we should.  So please everyone, Stand Back...

Song of the Day - Don't Stand So Close To Me - The Police

I started a new playlist on Spotify for this Quarantine and here's another one of my entries...Very appropriate, don't ya think? 

Flashback Friday Song of the Day - Strut - Sheena Easton

I've been watching a show on Amazon Prime called Red Oaks, which is a sitcom set in a 1980's Westchester, NY country club, and the best part about it is the music.  Talk about bringing you back!  Here;s one I knew I had to post when I heard it.  Ah, memories!  Here's Strut...

Flashback Friday Song of the Day - Physical - Olivia Newton John

After posting Dua Lipa's Olivia Newton John inspired Physical the other day, I figured there's no time like the present to relive an iconic tune by an iconic performer  Here's the original...

Flashback Friday Song of the Day - Catch Me I'm Falling - Pretty Poison

I've been watching the Netflix series AJ & the Queen, starring Rupaul recently and I have to tell you, just the music alone makes it worth the watch.  Case in point, here's a song featured in one of the episodes that I had completely forgotten about.  If you were around in the late 80's, you'll surely remember Pretty Poison's Catch Me I'm Falling...

Flashback Friday Song of the Day - Two Tribes - Frankie Goes To Hollywood

Today's song isn't posted really for music's sake.  I never really liked this second single by Frankie and the gang, but the video more than makes up for it.  It wasn't long ago that the Cold War was still a big threat to world peace and this video came as a warning of what could happen if it ever heated up.  Luckily, the Cold War ended, but in the years since then, Russia has proven to show it is still an adversary to us.

  It seems these days that many Americans forget just how much of an adversary the Soviet Union was, and still is.  Though the USSR no longer exists, Russia remains an oppressive state and its despotic leader continues to use Soviet-style strategies to spread Russia's influence far and wide, even here.  Imagine Putin and Trump replacing Yeltsin and Reagan in this video.  Would it still be the same, or would we see more of a tag team style match, the two of them against the world rather than a fight to the finish between them?  

One of the most surprising things of this era is that many on the right view Russia favorably, with a spike in that favorability rating coming in 2017 at 40% favorablity amongst Republicans.   (I wonder why!) Even more startling, there are a great number of Republicans who favor Russia over their fellow Americans, namely Democrats.  It should be no surprise to anyone why this statistic exists.  

While Putin's interference in our 2016 Presidential election should have been met with anger across all political affiliations, the side that won that election, no doubt partly due to this attack, seem to not care.  That, to me, is a very sad state of affairs and very telling of the state we are in today.  So for anyone reading, please watch the video and be reminded that even though the Cold War is long over, Russia is still not our friend and we should all, always, put country over party.  Here's Two Tribes...  

Song of the Day - Listen To Your Heart - Roxette

In case you hadn't heard by now, the music world lost one of its own yesterday as Marie Fredriksson, of the Swedish hit making duo Roxette, passed away yesterday at the very young age of 61.   With a string of hits in the late 80's and early 90's, Roxette produced a string of pop hits, including It Must've Been Love, Joyride, The Look and this one, my personal favorite.  Check out Listen To Your Heart...

Song of the Day - Controversy - Prince

Once upon a time I found myself in a music appreciation class in Fordham University when one of the graduate students gave a lecture on a recently released album by a little-known artist named Prince.  I remember him talking about the thematic album being full of controversial topics of the day, such as gun control, nuclear war, God, homosexuality, self-pleasure, and all other sorts of taboo topics.  That in itself was interesting enough, but when the lecturer shared that the artist had not only written all of the songs, but he played every single instrument and laid out every single vocal track, I knew I had to run down to Crazy Eddie's and make a purchase.

Thus was the beginning of my membership in the fandom of one Prince Rogers Nelson, or simply Prince.  Of course this uber-talented legendary musician would go on to make a great many hits, and a great many wonderful non-hits, too, and these days we all regale him, as we should, as one of royalty playing up there in Rock and Roll Heaven.  Controversy wasn't Prince's first hit, but it was the first song (and album) to make me a bona fide fan, and it is still a great song!  Check it out...  

Flashback Friday Song of the Day - Like a Virgin - Madonna

Thirty five years ago this past Halloween, the very highly anticipated lead single from Madonna's sophomore album was released.  Thirty five years ago! Yikes!  Anyway, the song is as singable today as it was then.  Here's Like a Virgin...  

Flashback Friday Song of the Day - Give It 2 Me Baby - Rick James

It's been a really long time since I've posted anything from the late, great Rick James.  Here's the second monster hit from his 1981 breakout album, Street Songs.  Check out Give It 2 Me Baby... Bring on the funk!

Flashback Friday Song of the Day - The Best - Tina Turner

I do believe this is the first time ever posting a Tina Turner song.  This one reminds me of when the NY Rangers won the Stanley Cup back in 94'.  Special!  Here's The Best...

Flashback Friday Song of the Day - Raspberry Beret - Prince & The Revolution

Classic Prince, and just in case you forgot the words...

I was working part time in a five-and-dime

My boss was Mr. McGee

He told me several times that he didn't like my kind

'Cause I was a bit too leisurely

Seems that I was busy doing something close to nothing

But different than the day before

That's when I saw her, ooh, I saw her

She walked in through the out door, out door

She wore a

Raspberry beret

The kind you find in a second hand store

Raspberry beret

And if it was warm she wouldn't wear much more

Raspberry beret

I think I love her

Built like she was

She had the nerve to ask me

If I planned to do her any harm

So, look here

I put her on the back of my bike

And we went riding

Down by old man Johnson's farm

I said now, overcast days never turned me on

But something about the clouds and her mixed

She wasn't to bright

But I could tell when she kissed me

She knew how to get her kicks

She wore a

Raspberry beret

The kind you find in a second hand store

Raspberry beret

And if it was warm she wouldn't wear much more

Raspberry beret

I think I love her

Song of the Day - Shake It Up - The Cars

Ugh, three days, two celebrity passings.  Just two days after the death f singer Eddie Money comes the sad passing of another, Ric Ocasek of the new wave band, The Cars.  The Cars made a big splash on the music scene in the late 70's and early 80's and had a string of hits during that time.  This fun one from 1981 appears on the soundtrack of one of my favorite 80's movies, The Last American Virgin.  Rest in Peace Ric!  Here's Shake It Up...

Song of the Day - Take Me Home Tonight - Eddie Money with Ronnie Spector

I'm guessing that most of you already know of the passing of Eddie Money, an 80's pop music mainstay and fellow Long Islander, just yesterday.  Money's biggest hit also happens to be my favorite song of his.  Check out the fun Take Me Home Tonight... 

Song of the Day - The Harder They Come - Rockers Revenge

During the summer I like to listen to a lot of reggae music.  There's something about the island jams that really gets me in the spirit of the season.  On that note, here's an oldie but goodie, a cover of a Jimmy Cliff song by a band called Rockers Revenge.  Check out the irresistible The Harder They Come...