Did you know that there was almost a collaboration between rap giants RUN DMC and the King of Pop himself, Wacko Jacko? I didn’t either until now. But during the recording sessions for Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’ album an idea was mooted, possibly by or via Quincy Jones, for him to record with RUN DMC. The song would have been an anti drug song purportedly called “Crack Kills” which suggests that there might have at least been the germ of an idea ready. I reckon that this partnership might have sounded pretty good. What do you think dear reader?
The other day I decided to take a quick count of all the artists in my album collection where I have at least 10 albums by a single artist. I included CDs, LPs and cassettes (although the only non compilation cassettes that I have are David Bowie bootlegs). Oh and while I’m on bootleg recordings obviously I have included them whether they are live, studio outtakes or simply unreleased stuff. I have not included digital recordings. I was surprised to find that there are 4o artists where I have at least ten releases by them. The list is below, (artist followed by the number of albums) there are no real surprises for me, are you surprised at any on this list? Have you ever done anything similar? I have also added a song from each of the top ten artists 🙂
David Bowie 141
Bob Dylan 30 Johnny Nash 26 Bruce Springsteen 26
Beatles 25
Neil Young 25
Elton John 19
Bob Marley 19
U2 19
Rod Stewart 18
Pink Floyd 17
REM 17 Elvis Costello 15
The Eels 15
Prince 15
Paul Weller 15
Ryan Adams 14 Led Zeppelin 14
Madonna 14
The Clash 13 Elvis Presley 13
Radiohead 13
Kate Bush 12
Oasis 12
Lou Reed 12
Stevie Wonder 12
Morrissey 11
Tom Waits 11
ZZ Top 11
Jeff Buckley 10
Julian Cope 10
Johnny Cash 10 Michael Jackson 10
John Lennon 10 Manic Street Preachers 10
Kylie Minogue 10 Iggy Pop 10
Rolling Stones 10
Frank Turner 10
The Who 10
A few months back I finally succumbed to the seductive ways of Spotify and I signed up for the premium service. Oh boy I wished that I had done it sooner. The amount of new albums that I have listened to lately is phenomenal. My current faves are ‘The Day Is My Enemy’ and ‘The Magic Whip’ by the Prodigy and Blur respectively. I have also rediscovered some classic old albums especially in the reggae genre; Culture, Peter Tosh and Third World to name a few.
On top of all this there are countless playlists and it is these that I use for my workouts in the gym. Yes I have been a regular gym goer since January this year. Let me tell you I wasn’t just gifted with such a buff body, I have to work at it! Anyway the reason for this post other than to give Spotify yet more free publicity is to mention a song that popped up on one of those playlists in the gym last night. It was a kind of greatest hits of the 70s playlist and the song has always been one of my favourites.
Hearing it once again made me think that perhaps it is one of the finest most timeless pop songs ever. I am talking about the Jackson 5‘s magnificent “I Want You Back”. Put aside any prejudices about what Michael became, before he became the weird, cartoon-like plastic surgeon’s Mr Potato Head he was a supremely talented young boy. His pre-adolescent vocals on this song are electrifying. On top of that you get the full might of the marvellous Funk Brothers who were the Motown house band. James Jamerson‘s bass line is sublime in my opinion. Berry Gordy Jr certainly rated it as he had a share in writing it. I would love to hear your opinion on the song and any other suggestions for the finest and most timeless pop songs.
Madonna‘s “Holiday” has been in the UK top ten singles chart on three separate occasions; 1984, 1985 and 1991. It’s highest place came in 1985 when the song reached number two. It was also included on Ms. Ciccone’s first album. The song was written by Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens. But it was not actually written with Her Royal Madgeness in mind. It had previously been offered to and rejected by Phyllis Hyman and former Supreme Mary Wilson. Madonna’s version of “Holiday” was produced by her boyfriend at the time DJ/ Producer John ‘Jellybean’ Benitez. Does anyone know what happened to him?
Weird lyrics are great aren’t they? Often they might be confused with crap lyrics I suppose. Such as Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak” contains the line ‘tonight there’s gonna be a jailbreak somewhere in this town’. Somewhere? Obviously it will be at the jail won’t it? That for me is a crap lyric. A weird lyric for me comes from Haircut 100’s “Love Plus One” as in ‘where do we go from here, is it down to the lake I fear’. Then of course this little gem from Pharrell William’s wonderful song “Happy”; ‘Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof’. Anyway, maybe there is a very thin line between weird and crap, what do you think? Online music company Blinkbox Music recently undertook a survey to find out the weirdest lyrics. They asked 2,000 people for their opinion and the resulting top 10 weird lyrics were;
The Killers – “Human”- ‘Are we human, or are we dancer?’
The Beatles – “I Am The Walrus”- ‘I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus, goo goo g’joob.’
Well this is it good people of the blogosphere and the world-wide web. To quote Noddy Holder ‘ It’s CHRISTMAAAASSS!’. The bearded weirdo may have already arrived in your neck of the woods. If he has then I hope that he brought you what you hoped for if he hasn’t then I hope that you’ve been good! This is December 25th, Christmas Day and Day 25 of the With Just A Hint Of Mayhem advent posts. That also means it’s my last post in this years advent postings. Thank you very much for reading and normal, non-Yuletide service will be resumed very soon. Above all that have a wonderful Christmas and a 2014 that brings you all the good things that you can handle. In the meantime I still have two songs with the number 25 in their title for you.
The late great Edwin Starr brings you the first of those songs “25 Miles”. The song reached number 6 in the US charts in 1969. Edwin was let down by UK record buyers as the song only reached number 36 here. The song was his second biggest hit in the USA, “War” was his biggest making number one in 1970. “25 Miles” was written by Edwin along with Johnny Bristol and Harvey Fuqua. Legal action saw Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns being given a writing credit as their song “32 Miles Out Of Waycross” was seen to be very similar to “25 Miles”. The Ragovoy and Berns song was recorded by Hoagy Lands and also under a different title (“Mojo Mama”) by Wilson Pickett and Don Varner. A young Michael Jackson once recorded a cover of “25 Miles”.
The final song in this years advent posts comes from Tracey Thorn’s Christmas Album ‘Tinsel And Lights’ and it is called “25th December”. If you own the UK release of the album you may not have heard the song as it was a bonus track included on the US release. The song is actually credited to Everything But The Girl. “Tinsel And Lights” was released last year, 2012, and is a great album. It’s not strictly a Christmas album as not all the songs relate to Christmas but it is pretty darned good.
According to a recent article on the BBC Entertainment News website there was almost a sequel to the very successful Disney ‘Mary Poppins‘ film from 1964. It would once again have been based on the books by Pamela Travers. It would have been called ‘Mary Poppins Comes Back’. In fact a screenplay was written by Brian Sibley and Pamela Travers. By this time it was 1984 and therefore casting anyone from the original film would have been difficult. Julie Andrews had moved on to many other things and she was also twenty years older.
No more Jesus juice please!
There would have been not Bert in the sequel; that was the character played by Dick Van Dyke in the original. However there was a part for Bert’s brother who was to be an Edwardian ice cream seller in a London Park. Given that Dick Van Dyke probably gave us the worst cockney accent in cinema history who do you think some Disney executives were considering to play his brother in the ill-fated sequel? None other than Michael Jackson! can you believe that? Would that have changed Jacko’s self-appointed title to the King Of Poppins? Anyway if you would like to read the whole story on the BBC click here.
That well-known badger supporter Brian May has unearthed some recordings made by Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson at Jacko’s home in 1983. He has worked on them with fellow Queen member Roger Taylor and William Orbit. I guess the issue will be whether or not the three songs will live up to the expectations. was it quality control that kept them from release until now? Another big name duet for Jacko was Mick Jagger who joined the Jacksons on the single “State Of Shock” from the brothers ‘Victory’ album in 1984. Personally I was and still remain underwhelmed by that song. Other elements of posthumous twiddling may have fared well but for me the quality was lacking with the Beatles “Free As A Bird” which was based around a very basic John Lennon demo recording.But let’s keep fingers crossed that this stuff is actually good.
Paul Gambaccini has suggested that the songs were dubbed the Llama recordings given that Jacko allegedly brought his Llama into the studio when Freddie was there. A cautionary note was sounded by the Guardian’s Laura Barton who said “It feels like we’re sucking the artists’ bones dry… sometimes it would be nice to leave them with a little bit of dignity.” I think I can agree with her sentiments there. But I obviously won’t pass judgement until I have heard the songs. The release seems likely to be later this year. So while you wait take a listen to some classic Jacko and classic Queen and a couple of Jacko versus Queen mash-ups!
Apparently Wacko Jacko was at one time lined up to take the lead role in a film version of Doctor Who in 1988. Personally I am so very glad that it didn’t happen. What do you folks think? I suspect he would have had a 12-year-old boy as his assistant though. Quite topical given that his daughter Paris was supposedly turned down for a role in the TV series. Bill Cosby was also considered for the Doctor Who role in 1988 as well. Click here to read the story on the NME site.
They say that opposites attract right? Well I think the same could be said for certifiable fruitloops too. Why would I say that? Well earlier this week Lady Gaga (clearly a fruitloop of the highest order) bought 55 items of Michael Jackson’s (a major league fruitloop) stage gear at a LAauction.
Many of Jacko’s stage clothes were designed and made by American costume designers Michael Bush and Dennis Tompkins. Some the items sold included one of his infamous crystal gloves ($115,000) and the less glamorous pair of jeans ($50,000). The auction did raise money for good causes as well. Some of the proceeds were given to a guide dogs charity and some to a Las Vegas hospice.
Many of Jacko’s fans have expressed their displeasure that Gaga would keep the items stored whereas they claim that Michael Jackson wanted them in a museum. Gaga made a brief statement via Twitter which read ‘archived & expertly cared for in the spirit & love of Michael Jackson, his bravery, & fans worldwide’. Clearly full of her usual bollocks, but not necessarily denying any public showing of some of Jacko’s stage wardrobe.
Madonna
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 