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Thursday, Mar 25 2021, 7AM
Death Cab's Ben Gibbard has been performing livestream sessions for fans last year after the coronavirus pandemic spread across the world. On Wednesday (March 17), he returned to the internet to mark the one year anniversary of COVID and has shared a cover of Kirsty MacColl's "They Don't Know". Find it here: www.nme.com
Did you do something dangerously fun and outrageous in the ’90s that your parents didn’t like? You can probably thank Perry Farrell and Jane’s Addiction. - bit.ly
‘I went on a three-day bender in Glasgow and woke up blind in one eye with teeth missing. After I recovered, songs started pouring out of me’ -Gary Lightbody
Snow Patrol on how they made Run : www.theguardian.com
Read Stereogum's interview with Wild Pink, "The Story Behind Every Song On Wild Pink’s New Album A Billion Little Lights" here:
www.stereogum.com
Melbourne's Flyying Colours' second album, "Fantasy Country," was released in February. It came out five years after their debut. : flyyingcolours.bandcamp.com
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Find out more about the making of this album with these band member interviews: bit.ly
The National covered INXS’ “Never Tear Us Apart” for a Australian bushfire relief compilation. " In addition to the National, Songs for Australia features Kurt Vile (covering Nick Cave’s “Stranger Than Kindness”), Joan as Policewoman, Sam Amidon, and more.
According to Yorn, the name of the song was inspired by a Les Paul guitar he bought at a second hand store. After he got home from the store, had the guitar riff in his head. He grabbed his newly purchased guitar and started to play. Unable to think of a name for the song, he glanced at the back of his pre-owned guitar and for the first time noticed the name "Nancy" scrawled into the back of it.
"Blitz" is the first single from Unwed Sailor's upcoming album, Truth or Consequences out May 14th. You can find it on several limited edition vinyl versions on their bandcamp: unwedsailor.bandcamp.com
The Mighty Lemon Drops were originally called the Sherbet Monsters.
Part of the Madchester movement in the late 80's and early 90's, 'Life' is Inspiral Carpets debut studio album.
Hey man…second birthday in a row locked down at my in-laws…as a fellow double lockdown birthday, any chance I could hear Enjoy the Silence?
We’re going to get through this,
Justin
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Yes Justin, we are going to get through this! Happy birthday!
Good morning, John! Today is our son Elliot’s 4th birthday! He’s the sweetest, kindest, funniest little boy. Can you please play Blinding Lights, his favorite song, around 8:00?? We would love a family dance party to kick off the day. Thank you for all you do! We love you.
Paige
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Thank you Paige. Tell Elliot happy birthday from us!
Some Aretha on her birthday. She would have been 79 today.
Check out video of this live performance at Fillmore West in 1971 here: www.youtube.com
Hey John -
It’s my wife Chanda Hall’s 50th( !)birthday today. She’s a HUGE fan and we listen to your show religiously, especially these days! She’s also the one who took BowieCorn on that NYC tour a few years ago. I’ve been out of town for work for 5 straight months and she’s been holding it down on the home front all by herself and I know that your show and KEXP in general have helped keep her sane during the craziest year ever. So thanks for that!
Anyway, if you could play Yo La Tengo’s Big Day Coming or The Stone’s Gimme Shelter for her and tell her Alex, Skye, Layla and Blue love her, that would be amazing. And thanks for all you do, man. Peace. And stay well!
-Alex Hall
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Happy birthday Chanda from Alex, Skye, Layla, Blue, and the Morning Show!
Hi John
Almost this time last year you read out my message. I was working from home as an accountant in Cambridge, England and my wife Beth was working at the local hospital.
A year later, I'm still working from home, but we now have a beautiful baby daughter Saoirse
I was wondering if you can play something by Sonic Youth?
Kind regards
Eamonn
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Speaking about the track, James McGregor from The Clockworks says:
“The idea for this song was to soundtrack a certain feeling, a rapture or excitement, for the lyrics to set the scene and the music to set the feeling. This song is essentially about how all the things that make up the city; the good, the bad and the ugly are all what make it exciting... In a way it could be about finding hope in hopeless circumstances.”
Paul Westerberg wrote about this classic song: "It took years for someone to pick up on the fact that the chorus is “Wait on the sons of no one, not ”We are the sons of no one.“ I didn’t even know that–I wrote it and I forgot it. A writer named Bob Mehr had to point that out to me. I actually took it from a chapter in the Bible.": genius.com
Dry Cleaning have recorded a cover of Grimes’ “Oblivion” for 4AD’s new Bill & Aches & Blues covers compilation, which features 18 artists from the label’s current roster covering songs from throughout the 4AD discography. Other covers include Future Islands covering Colourbox (“The Moon Is Blue”), Jenny Hval taking on Lush (“Sunbathing”), and Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox covering Breeders’ “Mountain Battles.”
pitchfork.com
Here's Nada Surf performing this one live for KEXP donors at The Triple Door in January 2020, when live music still existed in the world: www.youtube.com
This week is definitely heavy for a lot of us. I just wanted to send a note to remind you that what you do every day helps us to process the events of our crazy lives, remember what is really important, find peace and respite in the songs you play, and the reminder that none of us are alone. Music truly does heal. Thank you for the joy you bring into our often difficult lives.
As I was leaving my house on the South Hill and heading in to work in Post Falls, you were playing Snow Patrol. It made me think of the Reindeer Section. If you can fit it in, would you please play “You Are My Joy” by Reindeer Section. Consider it a dedication from all of us Morning Faithful to you, our dear friend.
Thanks again for your thoughtful dedication and hard work.
Courtney
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Travis's frontman Fran Healy told Yahoo!: "'Sing' - You could replace that word with 'Dance' or 'Cry' or 'Laugh' or just 'Let Go.' 'Cause as an expression, when you're a child, you sing all the time. And then when you get older, you don't - you just go, 'I don't want to, my voice is crap.' But when you're a kid, you don't care! And I think that's what you should always have - a little bit of that still in you. People look at people in the street that sing like they're mad, like, 'What are you singing for?' But it's about having fun and feeling good and all that stuff."
Stewart liked the play on words the title created, sometimes introducing the song by saying, "This is 'Maggie May' - sometimes she did, sometimes she didn't."
Hi John,
I want to thank KEXP and you, in particular, for helping me stay sane during the last year! I really appreciate your positive message that we are not alone and the lovely variety of music you bring to people's lives.
I was able to almost make it through COVID without being laid off. Almost. I found out a couple of weeks ago that I will soon be without and, as a single mom trying to juggle COVID, online schooling, and financial struggles, that news has been nothing short of devastating. I know things will work out, that this is only temporary, but right now it is hard to see the sunshine for all the clouds.
So, I was wondering if you would play Dancing with Myself by Billy Idol to provide a little bright spot in my day! That song always gets me dancing and it's good to remember that no matter how alone you may feel, you've always got yourself... and music... to keep you company.
-Hillary in Wilmington, NC
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Billy Idol was one of the first young pop/rock artists to achieve massive success in the early '80s due to the advent of MTV. Mixing his bad-boy good looks with an appealing blend of pop hooks, punk attitude, and dance beats, Idol quickly rocketed to stardom before hard living briefly derailed his career and almost proved fatal. www.allmusic.com
In an interview with Pitchfork, Robyn talked about the main lyrical theme of the album: "The whole album is about being really lonely, but I think it's interesting to put that idea in a club where a lot of people are crammed into a small room." She particularly wrote "Dancing on My Own" with that in mind, and continued, "I've been touring so much the last three years and spent a lot of time in clubs just watching people, and it became impossible to not use that lyric—'dancing on my own'—because it's such a beautiful picture." bit.ly
The title track to Bowie's 15th album, "Let's Dance," was produced by Nile Rodgers, who was responsible for the album's funky sound. Rodgers founded the disco band, Chic, and produced hits for Diana Ross, including "Upside Down" and "I'm Coming Out." He also produced Madonna's 1985 album Like a Virgin.
John Travolta prepared for the Saturday Night Fever movie by practicing his dance moves to this song. When he was told by the producers that "Night Fever" would be used for the sequence for which he was practicing, Travolta insisted that "You Should Be Dancing" be used instead.
Singer Pharrell Williams likened this track to David Bowie's classic mid-'80s cut with Mick Jagger, "Dancing In The Street."
"'Lose Yourself To Dance' makes me feel like walking down the street in the middle of the night in London and it's 1984, 1985," he told Vibe magazine. "I don't hear '70s in that at all. For me, it doesn't sound at all like a Bowie record, but I feel like David Bowie would have loved that record. He could actually sing it."
Ray Davies said that of all the songs he's written, "Come Dancing" is the lyrics he's most proud of.
According to the BBC Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans, when this song was played at a Windsor Castle event Queen Elizabeth said: "I always try to dance when this song comes on because I am the Queen and I like to dance."
The band members conceived the song during the recording sessions while they were standing in a circle humming to each other. It was inspired by Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way".
In a Top 2000 a gogo documentary, Martha Reeves told the story behind this song: "Marvin Gaye had recorded 'Dancing in the Street" when I first heard it, and he had put a real smooth vocal on there, sort of like (jazzy singing) 'Calling all around the world, are you ready for a brand new beat baby?' and for some reason, Marvin said, "let's try this song on Martha." I was in the office and they let me hear the song, but I couldn't quite feel it that way. I had been to Rio De Janeiro, I had travelled to New Orleans during Carnival time, so I just knew it had to be somewhere about dancing in the street. I said, 'Can I sing it the way that I feel it?' And they said, 'Go ahead.'
So, I sang it (singing on the beat) 'calling all around the world are you ready for a brand-new beat,' and, they loved it. There was all kinds of congratulatory hand slaps and 'hey man, we got a hit in that window up there,' and the engineer, Lawrence Horn, looked and said, 'I didn't turn the machine on.'
bit.ly
This song recites numerous Michael Jackson songs including "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)", "Black or White", "Workin' Day and Night" and "Whatever Happens" along with The Jackson 5 song "ABC" and Michael Jackson's album Music and Me. The verses of "D.A.N.C.E." contain an interpolation of the coda of Britney Spears's song "Me Against the Music".
en.wikipedia.org.
According to the band's saxophonist Jerry Martini, as quoted in Joel Selvin's oral history of the band -- none of the band members liked this song at first -- it was produced when CBS Records' legendary executive Clive Davis demanded some commercially viable hits.
A comprehensive look at how this legendary group began - here. slystonemusic.com
Young MC's real name is Marvin Young. He wrote this and also composed Tone Loc's hits "Wild Thing" and "Funky Cold Medina."
Check out this vintage footage of the Queen of Soul performing this: www.youtube.com
Who else can perform with just their name as the backdrop?
Deee-Lite were both very New York, their music slotting into the city’s decadent club scene, and globally disparate — DJ Dmitry was from Ukraine, Towa Tei from Tokyo, and Lady Miss Kier from the US — anticipating the explosion in global pop in the late 2010s. Last year, Dee-Lite talked about their early days, this fabulous song, and its impact on club culture.: djmag.com
The main spoken vocals on "Jungle Boogie" were performed by then-roadie, Donal Boyce, who became better known as "The Boogie Man." Boyce's vocals on the hit were so popular he was invited to sing back-up and perform "vocal effects" on a number of Kool & The Gang singles, including "Spirit of the Boogie," "Open Sesame," and "Slick Superchick." Boyce performed with the band from 1973 to 1977.
Check out this 2017 performance with Los Campesinos! live in the KEXP studio:
youtu.be