Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 45
Chart Week: July 3, 1982Song: “Hurts So Good” – John CougarChart Position: #5, 11th week on the chart. Peaked at #2 for four weeks in August. This entry is about how the biological information Casey Kasem shared on American Top 40 was not always accurate. John Cougar (Mellencamp) is the perfect artist to demonstrate this point, as he charted under…
On Lost TV Shows
Since I’m struggling to write about current affairs at the moment, I decided I am going to try to get back to doing something I used to do a lot more often: link to interesting articles. I can’t think of a better way to start than this piece. The Strange Disappearance of Ed, the Great Show That Time Forgot Old…
Reader’s Notebook, 7/13/20
Death in Her Hands – Otessa MoshfeghI read Moshfegh’s Eileen a few years back. After I started this one I had to go back and read my summary of it to recall that it was an odd little book. This one was odd, too. It is the story of a Vesta Gul, a widowed, 80-something woman who lives in an…
40 at 50
I missed an absolutely huge anniversary over the holiday weekend and have been grievously late in finally getting to it. Last weekend was the 50th anniversary of the first American Top 40 broadcast. If you follow here closely you know that there has likely been no bigger pop culture influence on my life than AT40. I remember my parents and…
Friday Playlist
“Light in the Heart of Our Town” – Joensuu 1685This Finnish band created some buzz about 10 years ago then splintered into side projects. They are back after that long fallow period and arrive with this absolutely gorgeous song “same mistakes” – We Were Promised JetpacksAlong with label mates The Twilight Sad, WWPJ practice a wonderfully miserable brand of Scottish…
The Fourth
I never served up a summary of the holiday weekend. Our family from Denver were in town and stayed with us: S’s sister, her husband, and their two kids. It was weird picking them up and dropping them off at the airport, which seemed mostly deserted, at least from the curb-view. Not that IND is often a super-busy airport, but…
June Media
Mystify: Michael HutchenceWhat a beautiful man Michael Hutchence was. Not just physically, he had a beautiful soul, too. He wasn’t a voice of a generation – well, maybe he was in Australia – but if you came up in the late ‘80s and listened to pop music, he sang a lot of songs that were in high rotation. INXS was…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 44
Chart Week: June 23, 1984Song: “Obscene Phone Caller” – RockwellChart Position: #39, 8th week on the chart. Peaked at #35 the week of June 30. I have always prided myself for knowing minor hits by artists who have been labeled as One Hit Wonders by the general public. Others find this trait annoying, but it’s kind of too late to…
Friday Playlist
As promised, a playlist for the holiday weekend. This is the same PL I shared last year on July 4. I listened to it again this week and still thought it was pretty good. I hope you enjoy it, and have a happy and safe Independence Day weekend.
New Jams for Your Head
I’m about to check out for the holiday weekend. I’ll post a special playlist for the weekend on Friday. Before I step back for a few days, I thought I’d provide some more music recommendations. So here are a few good albums from the first six months of 2020. If you have free time over the next few days, open…