John Richards

Passion: Music for the Last Temptation of Christ is Peter Gabriel's 2nd soundtrack and he has recorded 4 soundtracks overall. In addition to Passion, he's released Birdy, OVO, and Long Walk Home: Music From The Rabbit Proof Fence

“To all who have waited, our dear fans, thank you, our fever to tell has returned, and writing these songs came with its fair share of chills, tears, and euphoria when the pain lifts and truth is revealed,” Karen O said of the album. “Don’t have to tell you how much we’ve been going through in the last nine years since our last record, because you’ve been going through it too, and we love you and we see you, and we hope you feel the feels from the music we’ve made. No shying away from the feels, or backing down from what’s been gripping all of us these days.”

We're still celebrating 1989 because 1989 will not be contained in one show! Robert Smith told Melody Maker in 1989 about this song from 'Disintegration': "... the key song on the album could be “Closedown”. I think it’s horrible that you become insensitive with age. When you’re young and naive, you always have intense feelings. All you gain with experience makes you lose that."

Just Mustard are playing Barboza on November 15th! In the meantime check out there KEXP in-studio from May: bit.ly

ODESZA are playing three nights starting tomorrow next door at Climate Pledge Arena. You can also see ODESZA in Ridgefield or Bend in September!

Arcade Fire with an acoustic performance by Beck will be at Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday, November 22. bit.ly Frontman Win Butler said about the song: "There's sort of an everything-nowness to life. I feel like almost every event and everything that happens surrounds you on all sides. Some of it is fake and some of it is real and some of it is trying to sell you something and some of it is profound. Every moment of everything refracts into a thousand different things. It's trying to capture some of the experiences of being alive now in all its flaws and all its glory." bit.ly

New music from U.S. Girls - their first new track since 2020’s Polaris Prize shortlisted album, Heavy Light. U.S. Girls played live on KEXP in in 2018, you can check out their full performance here: www.youtube.com

"'Free Yourself' is the beginning of a new era for me," Ware said in a statement. "I'm so excited for people to have this song for the end of their summer; to dance, to feel no inhibitions, and to feel joyful because that’s how I've been feeling recently being able to tour again and being able to sing again. Enjoy yourself, Free Yourself!" www.jessieware.com

Lizzo will be performing at Climate Pledge Arena on November 9th! "And no, when I sing ‘Take your mask off,’ I didn't mean your N95," Lizzo says. "I meant like the mask of the person that you have to uphold when you're out in the world, the mask that protects your true self. Take that off, because we accept you for who you are in this space." -- tinyurl.com

De La Soul's 1989 debut album! De La Soul's Pos noted in the book, “Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies," that: "The name of this album came from a Johnny Cash tune called “Five Feet High and Rising,” which we sampled, when it says “Three feet high and rising” right at the very end of the track. Dave’s father had that record."

#1989 The Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique was a masterpiece in sampling, and this track samples Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly," as well as "Sport," a 1973 track by the funk band Ligtnin' Rod.

#1989 "Deeper Shade of Soul" is the debut single by Dutch band Urban Dance Squad and samples the Ray Barretto song recorded in 1968 with a similar name ("A Deeper Shade of Soul"). Urban Dance Squad performed it live on Jay Leno in 1991.: www.youtube.com

#1989 Young MC recalled to Rolling Stone: "People looked at rap and hard rock as the type of music that you slam your door after you argue with your parents, and bang your head in defiance. My record wasn't necessarily rebellious, but it was clever enough to grab in a decent segment of people that didn't listen to rap music."

#1989 Bob Mould is playing a solo show at The Triple Door on Saturday! Workbook is the 1989 debut solo album by Bob Mould, following the breakup of the influential rock band Hüsker Dü.

#1989 The second studio album from the Indigo Girls. "Closer to Fine" features Irish band Hothouse Flowers on background vocals. The Indigo Girls were also joined R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe sang on the track "Kid Fears" and other members of the band performed on the track "Tried to Be True". We’re singing along to the music of 1989 to celebrate 50 years of KEXP! www.kexp.org

#1989 The debut single from Michael Penn, released in late 1989 features a vintage electro-mechanical keyboard instrument, a Chamberlin. It can be spotted in the video - www.youtube.com

Sounds too good today to hear only once!

#1989 With its themes of compassion, communication and communion, "Sit Down" seemed custom built for the COVID-era. Yet James treat the song frugally, wary of cheapening it or letting the track define them. "'Sit Down' is our biggest hit in Britain, but it isn't worldwide," Booth told Uncut magazine in 2021. "We play it when we can play it with passion, because for us the whole gig is more important than one song. Having said that, I know it has been a really important song for people in lockdown. It comforts people, so I could see us entering a period coming out of lockdown where we'll want that sense of unity and connection." www.songfacts.com

Animal Collective will perform at the Day In, Day Out Fest at Fisher Green Pavilion (Seattle Center), August 12-14, 2022. www.dayindayoutfest.com On this song, vocalist Noah Lennox, aka Panda Bear, sings about how he eschews material things and just wants four walls to keep his wife (fashion designer Fernanda Pereira) and daughter (Nadja) safe. He explained in a 2009 interview: "I'm not big on possessions but, for some reason, being the owner of a space, a safe house for my wife and my daughter, has become the most important thing for me, for better or worse." Learn how Animal Collective used a JUNO-60 arpeggiator to make this great song: articles.roland.com anmlcollectve.bandcamp.com

#1989 Sowing the Seeds of Love was a worldwide hit, topping the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart and reaching the top ten in Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and on the European Hot 100. In the United States, it reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on both the Modern Rock Tracks chart and the Cash Box Top 100.

#1989 XTC's eleventh studio album. The album titled was inspired by the band's poor financial standing at the time. "The Mayor of Simpleton" was the album lead single and became the band's only US single to chart. It’s KEXP’s 50th anniversary! To celebrate we’re playing songs you know and love from 1989! kexp.org/50/

#1989 "Don't Let Me Down Gently", became the Wonder Stuff's first Top-20 hit in September 1989,

#1989 British indie pop band the Primitives were formed in Coventry, England in mid-1985 by singer Kieron, guitarist Paul Court, bassist Steve Dullaghan, and drummer Pete Tweedie; after a handful of gigs Kieron was replaced by vocalist Tracy Tracy, a peroxide-blonde bombshell whose presence inspired a more melodic approach, which earned the group inevitable comparisons to Blondie. They disbanded in 1991: www.allmusic.com

#1989 Regarding the number part of the song, Frank Black said in an interview: "It's a reference from what I understand to be Hebrew numerology, and I don't know a lot about it or any of it really. I just remember someone telling me of the supposed fact that in the Hebrew language, especially in the Bible, you can find lots of references to man in the 5th and Satan in the 6th and God in the 7th. I didn't go to the library and figure it out." It’s KEXP’s 50th anniversary! To celebrate we’re playing songs you know and love from 1989! kexp.org/50/

#1989 "So Alive" was conceived by Love And Rockets guitarist Daniel Ash, who also handled lead vocals. "I'd gone to a party on Saturday night, and I was married at the time, and I saw this woman over the other side of the room, and I was completely transfixed which is very odd because I was freshly married," he told Xsnoise. "It was very weird, but I was completely infatuated by her and so much so that I couldn't go near her to even speak to her, it was just this overwhelming thing. I can't explain it to this day. That's why the first line is, 'I don't know what color your eyes are.' Because I didn't get that close, I just saw this person in the distance." It’s KEXP’s 50th anniversary! To celebrate we’re playing songs you know and love from 1989! kexp.org/50/

#1989 "Thieves" includes dialogue samples from R. Lee Ermey's drill instructor character in Full Metal Jacket. It’s KEXP’s 50th anniversary! To celebrate we’re playing songs you know and love from 1989! kexp.org/50/

#1989 "Terrible Lie" is the second track on the 1989 release Pretty Hate Machine and begins directly at the end of "Head Like A Hole." Reznor and his crew spent a lot of time refining the songs, agonizing over them to get them just right. The exception was "Head Like A Hole," which he banged out in about 15 minutes and considered a throwaway. "The fact that it produced this huge reaction really pissed me off because I hadn't agonized over it," he said. --- Both the song name and the band name Nine Inch Nails were inspired by a quote by Al Jourgensen, lead singer of the metal band Ministry: "Listening to Ministry is like having a nine inch nail hammered into your head like a hole." It’s KEXP’s 50th anniversary! To celebrate we’re playing songs you know and love from 1989! kexp.org/50/

#1989 Murder Music sampled Led Zeppelin's "The Crunge" It’s KEXP’s 50th anniversary! To celebrate we’re playing songs you know and love from 1989! kexp.org/50/

#1989 Guitarist Kim Thayil on the song: "The intro was a feedback melody. Many people think we used an E-bow. I've seen transcriptions that have said to use an E-bow. The truth is, I've never even seen an E-bow. I simply stood in front of the amp, got the note ringing until it was feeding back, and slid my finger up the fret on the string and dragged the feedback with it." It’s KEXP’s 50th anniversary! To celebrate we’re playing songs you know and love from 1989! kexp.org/50/

#1989 Cobain was afraid that the punk/grunge crowd would accuse him of selling out with Nevermind. In order to deflect that possibility, he frequently reminded people that he'd been writing songs with pop melodies ever since "About a Girl" and "Sliver." Cobain explained his apprehension in a 1993 interview: "I was heavily into pop, I really liked R.E.M., and I was into all kinds of old '60s stuff. But there was a lot of pressure within that social scene, the underground - like the kind of thing you get in high school. And to put a jangly R.E.M.-type-of pop song on a grunge record, in that scene, was risky." www.songfacts.com

Hi John and Rumoured Crew, Either Nation of Language - The Wall & I or Florence and the Machine - Free would sound great this rainy morning in Scottsdale. (No worries, it will be sunny and 112F by noon) Daryl =========== Playing in Seattle at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday, October 6th with Wet Leg! Florence + the Machine’s 5th studio full-length 'Dance Fever' is centralized around the concept of “choreomania” (a manic, uncontrollable urge to dance, this phenomenon is known for outbreaks in Europe in the Middle Ages).

Did you get to see The Beths at Capitol Hill Block Party this past weekend? Catch the Beths' Live on KEXP at Home Session (July 2020, direct from Aotearoa-New Zealand) with Troy here: www.youtube.com. New Beths out September 16th! thebethsnz.bandcamp.com

X-Ray Spex were London punk rock band formed in 1976 featuring the "effervescently discordant" vocals of lead singer Poly Styrene, who was inspired to form a band by seeing the Sex Pistols. During their first incarnation (1976–79), X-Ray Spex were "deliberate underachievers", only releasing five singles and one album. But still, their first single, "Oh Bondage Up Yours!", is now a classic punk rock single, and album 'Germfree Adolescents' a classic album of the punk rock genre. X-Ray Spex saxophonist Susan Whitby was only 16 when this song was recorded!

#1989 Stepsisters Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly formed Throwing Muses in 1980, when both were 14. A few years later, the group signed with the upstart British label 4AD and released two albums that earned critical acclaim but sold poorly. In America, the group got a deal with the Warner Bros. imprint Sire Records, which was hot for a hit and demanded a single from their next album, Hunkpapa. Hersh, the primary songwriter in the group, complied, delivering "Dizzy." Hersh, hears music in ways the typical listener doesn't. A head injury when she was 16 left her hearing sounds nobody else could hear. She also developed a dissociative personality to channel them. Music, to Hersh, could be tormenting, exhausting, and very intense. With "Dizzy," she was just giving the record company what they wanted on the sonic palate of popular taste. bit.ly Happy 1989! Thank you for powering KEXP for 50 years! kexp.org

If you missed their show at the Crocodile last month you can see them at Thing Festival at Fort Worden or Pickathon in August or at Climate Pledge Arena in October with Florence and the Machine! wetleg.bandcamp.com

#1989 Famed hitmaker Nile Rodgers produced this track -- he helped the B-52s break out of a creative funk and expand their audience. When they made the album, they had to start without Rodgers, who was wrapping up another project. This ended up giving the album even more creative energy, as they spent a month recording four songs with Don Was, including "Love Shack." youtu.be www.theb52s.com We’re singing along to the music of 1989 to celebrate 50 years of KEXP! www.kexp.org

#1989 The Wedding Present performed "Brassneck" live on KEXP from Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop during SXSW in 2012! www.youtube.com

#1989 In 1985 The Stone Roses were locked in a room by their record producer Martin Hannett and told they weren't allowed out until they wrote a song. This tune was the result of this curfew. The original version was shorter and faster and was included on the Stone Roses 1985 album Garage Flower.