Happy Summer Solstice!
“Cuddly Toy” – Roachford. I know I’ve written about this song at least a couple times over the past 16 years. How I bought the cassette single right before I graduated from high school 30 – THIRTY!!! – years ago and listened to it non-stop that week. And how when I got to college someone “borrowed” it and I never saw it again. Then, years later when file sharing and music downloading arrived I tried to find the song but could never remember the name of the artist until I heard it randomly sometime about 10 years ago. Anyway, someway or another I was reminded of it this week and made sure to add it into my Spotify library.
“Wishing Well” – Terence Trent D’Arby. I heard this on Sirius this week and started wondering if TTD was the most disappointing artist of the 1980s. This was a monster hit, and deservedly so. In an era where music was all mixed up he found a niche that was all his own. James Brown loomed large over his sound, but he was far from just a new age JB. TTD was, arguably, the most brash artist of the decade, basically telling everyone he was the greatest thing to come along in the entire history of music. There was so much promise on this song and then it all kind of went POOF and he disappeared, never to enjoy the success he saw with this song, let alone do bigger things. Hearing this song, and having those thoughts, got me inspired and I listened to his entire debut album, Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby the other day. It was good. But it also didn’t punch me the way I expected, loaded with tons of “How were these never hits?!?!” songs. Oh well. A single moment in the spotlight is better than none.
“Magic” – The Cars. One of the great summer songs of the 1980s kicked off the greatest summer in the history of pop music.
“Sleep All Summer” – Crooked Fingers. A summer staple on these playlists. Just a wonderful song from a vastly underrated band from the ‘00s.