March: Decades of Music

Image from the video of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean

We've got our monthly selection of music again, right under the wire. I always hate running late on this enjoyable feature. It seems stupid celebrating the sounds of one month in another.

Over the decades, the month of March has been full of good and interesting music. In fact, it was a bit hard winnowing my selections down to just nine songs. Some fun music was left to the side. So, we'll have to pass up on Snow's "Informer" from '93 and Will Smith's "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" from '98. Maybe we'll listen to them next time, in five years or so. ;-)

Another funny point about this month's post is that it would have been very easy to make it totally focused on Dance music. The whole reason why I changed the post titles, in January, from "Monthly Dance Party" was because it was too tough to put together a broadly enjoyable collection while just focusing on that genre. Well, it's all for the better; I can now honestly choose whatever sounds and videos catch my enthusiasm.

Interior art from Evanescence's album Fallen

Well, that's enough blather. Let's get to the music!!!

February: Decades of Music

Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" was one of the hits of February, 1998.

It's that time again, when we take a stroll back through the years and listen to various hits from over the decades. This month, our selection is eclectic, ranging from instrumental to hip hop, but it's predominantly mainstream. I didn't go looking for off-the-beaten-path songs. Diverse though they may be, these were all chart toppers.

For all the criticism that can be lobbed at popular musical tastes, it's kind of nice seeing how different styles and sounds gain prominence over the decades. Any list that includes such varied music as from the likes of the Bee Gees and Queens of the Stone Age, Toto and Alicia Keys, is a list that can be appreciated. These songs capture the quirkiness and trends of their day.

Alicia Keys' "Like You'll Never See Me Again" made its mark in 2008

Well, let's listen to some music.

January: Decades of Music

The Bee Gees kicked off their Saturday Night Fever success with "How Deep Is Your Love"

I stopped writing the old "Monthly Dance Party" posts a while back because of two reasons. First, although it's fun to look at different musical trends over the decades, contrasted in five-year intervals, I didn't feel as if my writing was giving anything special to the topic. My posts were little more than a couple pictures and a list of videos.

Second, I got lazy. Feeling as if these music posts were just list-compiling drudgery, I couldn't muster up the energy or enthusiasm to write about the songs or my experiences of the music. Yeah, with a little effort, I could have addressed my first concern, but that very problem broke my morale and sapped my will, creating a vicious cycle of negative feedback. My posts were vapid and that drained my enthusiasm, which, in turn, kept me from improving upon my posts.

That's kind of stupid, but that's how it went down. But, with a new year, I'll try to start the project up again and try to make things more interesting. We'll see.

Artwork for Duran Duran's "Ordinary World" from the interior of the Wedding Album 

This month, I went easy on the selections with nothing too far from the mainstream. I didn't hit many Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers, but they all probably made good chart positions. Sure, I could have dug a bit deeper into the music, turning up forgotten gems, but there's nothing wrong with mainstream music.

After all, we're here to have fun. ;-)

Dance Party: August

Meg White as a Mexican prostitute in The White Stripes' video for "Icky Thump"


It's time for our monthly celebration of music. I know that many of my recent posts have been heavy on the tunes, but, whereas those other posts focus on a theme, the "Dance Party" is chronologically arranged. From 1967 to 2007, we've got some fine and fun songs to bring back memories from these bygone years.

It's a fine way to end a summer day, sharing music, like bringing gifts from far away. ;-)

And it's better than standing in line to see the show tonight. . .



Image from The Beatles' Yellow Submarine


Doesn't take much to make me happy. :-)

So, let's listen to some music.

Dance Party: July

Detail from Ultra Nate's "Free" EP (1997)

Comin' in just under the wire. ;-)

Well, we've got a goofy mix of music this time around, but lots to enjoy, admire, and appreciate for beauty, playfulness, or originality. The nine songs in tonight's post are all certainly evocative of the era in which they came to prominence. Yeah, there's a bit o' cheesiness that can't be denied, but, over the years, popular trends go from cool to kooky, poised to playful. And a whole lot of loneliness. . .

From tear-jerkers to trance, big hair to big butts, disco to emo, tonight we'll play out the month with an eclectic mix.

Cover detail from Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" (1992)

Let's listen to some music!

Dance Party: June

Detail of the cover image for Dirty Vegas' "Days Go By"

It's that time again, amigos!!!

We've got a fun roster of classic and quirky songs to celebrate the month of June, at least in five year increments from 1967 to 2007. ;-)

The night is pressing and I haven't the time to get all prosaic on you all, but, since we've been doing this for over a year now, just imagine that I'm engaging in some rants and raves. It can be a form of Paideia "Mad Libs", going something like:

"I'm not much of a (Noun) for (Band Title) but this piece is (Adjective), showing real change from the (Adjective) style of their early music towards a more (Adjective) sound."

See!!! Music criticism is easy!!! LOL!!!

Cover image from Kim Wilde's "You Keep Me Hangin' On"

Let's listen to some music!!!

Dance Party: May

Detail of the cover image from Sheryl Crow's "Soak Up the Sun"

It's time for another set of music flashbacks. Yeah, we've been doing a bunch of music posts over the past few weeks, but the next couple of weekends are likely to be busy for me. Therefore, since I don't want to miss out on celebrating May's music over the decades, I'm putting this post up tonight.

But it'll be just as good going early as keeping it late. And either way is better than nothing at all. ;-)

So, from '67 to '07, let's have some fun!!!

"Point of No Return" was Exposé's second hit in 1987.

What the world needs now is. . .

Dance Party: April

Detail from the cover image of Celine Dion's A New Day Has Come (2002)

So, we've been doing these monthly dance parties for a year now. My focus and approach has changed a lot since my first post last May. I used to focus exclusively on "Dance/Club" music. I used to write a lot of context on how the musical styles had changed over the 5-year increments.

But my "curatorial" style has changed over the year. I've broadened out my selection criteria and allow the listeners to bring their own experiences or context to my monthly playlist.  Yeah, I know that this is my blog and that, ultimately, everything boils down to being "all about me" but I like being "light-handed" and subtle. After all, if my song choices are interesting, then they can tell the story themselves.

Image from Soft Cell's Tainted Love (1981)

So, what narrative arises from this month's selection?

Dance Party: March

Cover image from Vanessa Williams' "Save the Best for Last" (1992)

It's time for our monthly celebration!

This time around is a whiplash of styles, but I love them all, for different reasons both aesthetically and personally. Whether you want to be "There beneath the blue suburban skies" or "Feel the sun on your face and tell me what you're thinking" or feel that the "Night is young and the music's high. With a bit of rock music, everything is fine", there's something for all types tonight. ;-)

And we love variety!

Image from Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" concert film (2006)

So let's listen to some music!

Dance Party: February

Cover image for Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy" (1992)


It's that time again.

This month's selection is filled with memorable songs, love 'em or hate 'em, tunes that set the sound for their era. From the Trammps' "Disco Inferno" to the Spice Girls' "Wannabe", these songs became pop culture icons.

To be honest, I wasn't fond of many of these songs back in the day, but time has given them the warm glow of nostalgia. ;-)

Image for the J. Geils Band's "Centerfold" single (1982)

Let's listen to some music!!!

Dance Party: January

Image from Incubus' video for "Anna Molly"

It's been a while since we last celebrated with a selection of songs from over the last four decades. Well, we're starting the year off strong with lots of fun music. ;-)

I've pushed back the start date of our tour of yesterday's songs to 1967. In terms of popular music, that's where my familiarity starts to kick in. Yeah, that's definitely before my time, but I know this music fairly well because it was where my parent's album collection more or less started.

For me, the music of the '70s have realtime memories associated with them, albeit distant and dim, but the music of the late '60s don't have a strong connection, in my mind, between song and society. Nevertheless, I figured it would be fun to expand the range of our monthly festivity.

Thelma Houston's "Don't Leave Me This Way" became a Disco classic.

Let's get this party started!!!

November Dance Party!!!

Cover image from Donna Summer's Four Seasons of Love (1976)


Once again, we enter the final stretch of the month with a celebration of popular music from over the past four decades. And there are a bunch of interesting songs that we could feature tonight. Sometimes, these monthly posts are tough to put together, because of the poor quality of the selection, but tonight it was tough because there was so much from which to choose.

And that's a good thing. Family obligations and poor health have kept me from maintaining a steady stream of posts over the past week. Nevertheless, I've been having a good time. :-)

Cover image from My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade (2006)


Let's listen to some music.

October Dance Party!!!

Cover Image from Erasure's "Love to Hate You"


Regardless of style or genre, music is one of my obsessions, catching my imagination with a driving rhythm or a clever lyrical twist, sounds that sneak into my dreams, setting a soundtrack to each day of my life.

It's been six months now that we've been celebrating our Dance Party, reflecting on songs from decades past. I've enjoyed these posts. For me, music brings back memories, returning me to times long past, reuniting me in my imagination with friends long gone. I suppose that's why I do these posts. There is a catharsis when I work through this four decade progression of music.

Well, that's enough personal stuff. We've got some quirky tunes to appreciate today.

Portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven (1820) by Joseph Karl Stieler

Let the music play!!!

September Dance Party

KC and the Sunshine Band scored a #1 hit with (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty


It's time to celebrate a month's worth of music. Honestly, September can be really hit or miss over the years. So, this month's selections will be all over the place. We even have a country classic from Tammy Wynette for our dance party. Yee haw!!!

So hold on to your hats and glasses. . . And get down on it!!!

Crystal Waters' Makin' Happy was a chart topper in September 1991


And now for some music.

Dancing at the End of August

You Should Be Dancing by the Bee Gees topped the Dance charts in August 1976.

My baby moves at midnight

Goes right on til the dawn

My woman takes me higher

My woman keeps me warm

Wow! I almost forgot to post my monthly Dance Party. And this month has a fun and varied selection of songs. So, although it's a weekday night, here's some music to make you move. ;-)



Bananarama (Sara Dallin, Keren Woodward, Siobhan Fahey) hit the top with Venus.


"She's got it! Yeah, baby, she's got it!"

July Dance Party!!!

Rick James, Super Freak

It's time for our monthly celebration of popular dance music. Our eight song selection is pretty interesting this time around. In '81, and '91, the dance trends undergo radical changes following the featured songs of this month. Creative trends within the dance subcategories are featured in '86 and '96. Good stuff!

So, let's get to the music.



Jean Knight, Mr Big Stuff



Eight Dance Songs for June

It's time for our monthly celebration of Dance music over the decades!

We start our survey in 1971 and go in five year increments all the way until 2006. I limit our selection in such a manner because that's a time frame in which I feel moderately comfortable discussing. Yeah, we can hop with the "bobby soxers" of an earlier era, but my selection would be limited to a shallow sampling of pop standards. Likewise, I can discuss the modern dance/club scene, but I don't want to get all "get off of my lawn" about it.

So, here are our dance hits for June:

Eight Dance Songs for May

I'm a fan of dance music. Popular songs that are specifically designed for dancing have a certain functionality that no amount of hype can fake. It needs to get you up on your feet and kickin'. Even with horrendous lyrics or rough vocals, if it makes you move to the groove, it is a successful dance song.

So, let's check out some tunes from the month of May over the decades:

In 1971, we have Funk music coming onto the scene.

In 1976, the Diva of Disco is ascendant with her second dance hit.

In 1981, Disco is dying.

In 1986, Freestyle has gone semi-mainstream. (BTW, it's weird to think of Buttercup of the Powerpuff Girls or Tommy Pickles of the Rugrats as a "lolita").

In 1991, this is House music! ;-)

In 1996, we have to beginnings of Trip-Hop.

In 2001, the era of bland prepackaged pop music has even weakened the Dance charts.

In 2006, a House resurgence, with more of an electronica feel?

Anyways, it's interesting to do a quick survey of the trends of the past. It's like looking at a map that shows a fascinating geography of style and time. Of these eight songs, my favorite is Vanessa Daou.

Enjoy!!!