But when you talk about destruction Don't you know that you can count me out Don't you know it's gonna be all right

Quick Hit

“Revolution” by the Beatles (1968)

 One of my favourite Beatles songs was written entirely by John Lennon, but credited as was usual practice, to both McCartney and Lennon. Recorded in the Abby Road Studios this classic song is inspired by the French government under Charles DeGaulle.  Student uprising were occurring all around the world primarily in the U.S. against the Vietnam War. When strikes in Paris resulted in riots. Lennon was directing this song at the world’s young revolutionaries – he was anti-war.

I got a gal, named Daisy, She almost drives me crazy .... She knows how to love me

Songs Everybody Should Know

“Tutti Fruiti”, Little Richard, 1955

Who inspired James Brown, Michael Jackson, Prince, Elton John, David Bowie, Marc Bolan, the New York Dolls, Alice Cooper, even Elvis himself?  Who put the funk in the rhythm?

If there was a black Elvis, Little Richard was him. Probably as important to the birth of rock and roll was Richard Wayne Penniman, or ‘Little Richard’ as he called himself.

I said, what are ya tryin' a do to my head? Said, whatcha' tryin' a do to my head?

MTV and the Decline of Music, Part II

“You Better Run”, Pat Benatar, 1981

The second song ever aired on MTV was “You Better Run”. Pat Benatar had already established herself as a powerhouse. She had released the albums In “The Heat of the Night”, and “Crimes of Passion” that had sold millions of copies and had been awarded a number of Grammy’s and the American Music Awards. Pretty safe choice for song number 2 really...

A Toronto based company called CHUM Ltd. launched the Canadian equivalent to MTV, ‘ Much Music’  in 1984, noting the success of MTV in the United States, and wanting a piece of the action. The CRTC, which is the governing legal body in Canada, prevented MTV from either bringing its U.S. channel directly into Canada or setting up a home-grown competitor. As a result, MTV was initially content to sell Canadian rights to its programming for rebroadcast on Much Music. Before this happened we had really only seen MTV in bars on satellite. Not really thinking about whether it was legal or not.