The phone rings in the middle of the night My father yells what you gonna do with your life. Oh daddy dear you know you're still number one but girls they wanna have fun

‘80’s Pick of the Week

“Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper (1983)

There ain’t no stoppin’ the whirling New York dervish called Cyndi Lauper. In 2010 at age 57 she had the number one selling blues album on Billboard called “Memphis Blues”. 

Seems like she came out of nowhere. Her contribution to ‘80’s styles is unquestionable. Was it her inextinguishable New York charm? Was it her little high pitched squeals interjected into songs? Was it her hair? Or does it really go deeper; like she really is an amazing singer with a innate feeling and understanding for the material, whether her own or the interpretation of others?

We'll be fighting in the streets with our children at our feet and the morals that they worship will be gone

Songs Everyone Should Know

“Won’t Get Fooled Again” by the Who (1971)

It started as being an extension of the statement made by the hippies. “We Won’t Get Fooled Again”. By What? By Who? Let the entrenchment of the boomers begin. Are the new leaders any better than the old leaders?

It was the loudest band in the world. The thunderous drums of Keith Moon, the driving bass of John Entwhistle, the crashing guitar of Pete Townshend and the instantly recognizable vocals of Rodger Daltrey blended at the time of male-dominated rock and roll. With fellow Brit bands Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones, they were all over the airwaves in the early ‘70’s. The so-called ‘holy trinity’ of British bands (with the Beatles and the Stones) is filled out by the Who.

Well some things you can explain away but my heartache's in me till this day

70’s Pick of the Week

“Train in Vain” by the Clash (1979)

He is not likely going to be posthumously knighted ‘Sir Joe Strummer’. One of the central figures in punk rock, Strummer was viewed as an extremist and mocked the government. You don’t get knighted for that. The Clash would sit around another round table though – that of Punk Rock.

From the womb of a nation wracked with economic turmoil and political and social unrest came writhing, spitting, sneering and swearing, a youth with only anger, fear and contempt for anything that smelled like authority - that was the essence of punk rock. 

Daaaanaaaanaaa, twangggggg, ......dannannnannaaaaa,.....datatada, datatada....... Daaaanaaaanaaa

Pick of the Week

“Rumble”, Link Wray and His Ray Men (1958)

Jimmie Page said he was a major influence and studied this innovators guitar riffs. So did Neil Young, Pete Townshend and many others. Raising the bar from Chuck Berry, he took attitude, made his fingers move, which made the strings move on his guitar, and the attitude came out the amplifier - new and alive to the world. Why does this song hit you like it does?

T'was in the darkest depths of Mordor I met a girl so fair...

70's Pick of the Week

“Ramble On”, Led Zeppelin, 1969

Gollum slipped away with Liv Tyler,..uhhhh....I mean Arwen, Elrond’s daughter.  What was going on in this song besides a bit of blatant hero worship of the magical J.R.R. Tolkien, and his beloved ‘Lord of the Rings’?

A long, long time ago...I can still remember how that music used to make me smile¹-

At work I gave everybody on the team a blank cassette tape and asked them to put a song on it that represented their presence within our work group. The idea was that I would then take all the songs, make a compilation tape and distribute it back to everyone. This collection then would be like our groups ‘Greatest Hits”.