John Richards

Good morning! A triple treat---it's Friday, it's National DJ Day, and it's The Morning Show with John Richards! Thank you so much for being here! -- R.I.P., David Crosby. -- Graham Nash: “David was fearless in life and in music. He leaves behind a tremendous void as far as sheer personality and talent in this world. He spoke his mind, his heart, and his passion through his beautiful music and leaves an incredible legacy. These are the things that matter most.”

“He was without a question a giant of a musician, and his harmonic sensibilities were nothing short of genius,” Stephen Stills wrote. “The glue that held us together as our vocals soared, like Icarus, towards the sun.” -- Here's CSN performing this lovely song live in 1970: www.youtube.com

Stevie Van Zandt: "RIP David Crosby. As a member of The Byrds, 1 of the historically essential Artists that created the Artform of Rock. The Byrds, Bob Dylan, Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Who, Beach Boys & Yardbirds, showed future generations like us what was possible. We owe him, and them, everything." -- See The Byrds perform this Pete Seeger song on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1965: www.youtube.com

Roger McGuinn encouraged David Crosby to weigh in on Husker Du's cover of The Byrds' clasic. David Crosby tweeted, "Didn't get me." -- This article, however, says the cover is "a blistering attack on the philosophical failure of a previous generation’s subculture and a landmark recording in the life of an important and influential underground band.": bit.ly

Bob Mould graced our stage during our Grand Opening in 2016. Watch that performance here: www.youtube.com

The track was built using a Roland 707 drum machine that Andrew Farriss helped Hutchence program. It's the same machine that formed the rhythm for the Kick track "Need You Tonight." Tim Farriss, one of three Farriss brothers in the band, played the guitar solo. -- Want to know more about the Roland TR-707?: www.roland.com

The band's multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Andrew Farriss came up with the groove and guitar riff back in 1982, but he and late frontman Michael Hutchence didn't deem it ready for public consumption until 1987's "Kick" album. In this interview, Farriss tells the story behind the song: bit.ly

The supergroup of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus will release its debut LP, "The Record," on March 31st. They have released three singles from the album, including this one.

Hi John! I was very sad to hear about David Crosby’s death, and it made me remember being a little bit obsessed with “Southern Cross” in college — 20 years after it first came out — because one of my school’s a capella groups totally crushed it. Would you be able to fit that into your playlist? Thanks! <3 Kate (in Belmont, MA) -- "It's as big as the promise of a coming day..." Oh, those harmonies! (It's just Stills and Nash on the album version, but David Crosby joined them for the video). See CSN singing in the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw9gLjEGJrw

"Fuse,' the first new album in 24 years (!) from trip-hop duo Everything But The Girl (married couple Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn) arrives on April 21st. -- The duo started writing the new LP back in March 2021 and recorded it in secret, both at home and in a small studio outside Bath, England, with engineer Bruno Ellingham. “We were aware of the pressures of such a long-awaited comeback, so we tried to begin instead in a spirit of open-minded playfulness, uncertain of the direction, receptive to invention,” Thorn said in a statement.

Martin Gore told Bravo magazine in 1987 that "…the song has nothing to do with relationships. It's about the concept of fleeing from reality and the evil awakening afterwards. Any kind of fleeing. Drugs, alcohol, or whatever." -- Here's a long essay about how this song was made: www.musicradar.com

Good morning John, Owen and KEXP team- I emailed last week about some of the tough times we have been having recently and just wanted to say thank you again for always being there. You always do a great job, but for me the last two weeks of programming has been amazing, at a time when I really needed it. KEXP is a special place with special people. Speaking of special, my beautiful wife Joann has her birthday tomorrow. We will most likely be celebrating with a dance party later tonight, would you be able to play Sunshine Smile by Adorable for her? Thank you for everything- AJ, Joann & Aria -- Here's an interview with Adorable, the English band that formed in 1990 and live on the cusp of shoegaze and glam rock: www.fadeawayradiate.com

Ahh....the Friday song (Caught us by surprise with this "classical" request, Henry!) KEXP wants your vote for the best years in music of the last 50 years: www.kexp.org

In 2002, Joni Mitchell told Rolling Stone: The only thing I heard in many years that I thought had greatness in it was the New Radicals. I loved that song ‘You Get What You Give.’ It was a big hit, and I said, ‘Where did they go?’ It turns out the guy [Gregg Alexander] quit. I thought, ‘Good for him.’ I knew he was my kind of guy. -- (Actually, Gregg Alexander built a lengthy résumé with his songwriting credits and Grammy-winning production work.: www.allmusic.com)

Skate punk band Fidlar -- formed by Elvis and Max Kuehn, sons of Greg Kuehn, the keyboardist for punk legends T.S.O.L., and Zac Carper. The band's name is an acronym for "F**k It Dog, Life's A Risk." -- Take a drunken tour of West Coast clubs when you watch the official video for this song: www.youtube.com

Speaking of West Coast rockers...Japandroids are a band from Vancouver, British Columbia, consisting of Brian King and David Prowse. -- The song's music video was inspired by a classic '80s hard rock clip. "Our music video is based on 'Paradise City' by Guns N' Roses," guitarist Brian King. "When he [director Jim Larson] wanted direction I said, 'That's what I want it to be like.' : www.youtube.com

The very talented Stuart Adamson killed himself in December, 2001. Read about the rise, fall, and subsequent rise of Scottish band Big Country: www.loudersound.com

The Winston Brothers are a modular studio project by Hamburg-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Sebastian Nagel (The Mighty Mocambos, Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band) and drummer / percussionist extraordinaire Lucas Kochbeck (The KBCS, Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, Hamburg Spinners). "Drift," released last November, is their first full-length: thewinstonbrothers.bandcamp.com

Gothic post-punk newcomer Heartworms, aka Jojo Orme, has shared the unsettling video for her latest single, "Retributions Of An Awful Life." The song will be featured on her debut EP "A Comforting Notion," set for release on March 24 on the South London-based Speedy Wunderground label, which has helped launch the careers of Squid, Black Midi, Sinead O'Brien, Fontaines D.C. and more. Here's that mud-drenched video: www.youtube.com

Did you know that this genre-blending London trio was Live on KEXP at Home in 2021?: www.youtube.com -- Directed by the band, the video for "Untethered" sees them performing under a pulsating lighting rig with angular and sparse visuals (created by Gabriel Davidson) projected onto the trio as Ella Harris dances unrestrained.: www.youtube.com

British band Nitzer Ebb formed in 1982 and was an important force in the EBM (electonic body movement) scene: www.allmusic.com

Watch a young Trent Reznor, sporting tight blue jeans and long black dreadlocks, performing "Terrible Lie' in a small club in 1990: www.youtube.com

Did you know that this Ministry song was made with sampled guitars?: www.revolvermag.com

Matt Berninger of The National: "The lyrics of so many pop songs feel like they were chosen by a committee from the same stale bag of recycled thoughts. I never get this feeling with Baby Dayliner. He writes in an extraordinarily personal tone that I’ve never heard in pop music. He writes about the small vulnerable moments of life and nails the details. He goes on little narrative runs that put me right in the moment." -- KEXP premiered the video for this wonderful song by Ethan Marunas (Baby Dayliner): www.kexp.org

Formed in 1986, the trio was led by vocalist Lady Miss Kier (born Kieren Kirby in Youngstown, Ohio) and fleshed out by a pair of DJs, Super DJ Dmitry (a classically trained guitarist and Russian emigre born Dmitry Brill) and Jungle DJ Towa Towa (born Doug Wa-Chung in Tokyo, Japan). The instrumentals are built out of samples and instrumentation from veteran funk instrumentalists. Super DJ Dmitry sent Parliament and Funkadelic musician Bootsy Collins a demo, asking him to play on this track. He agreed and recruited fellow Parliament/ Funkadelic musicians Maceo Parker to play sax (he’s played with James Brown, and Prince) and Fredy Wesley (Van Morrison, Ray Charles) to play trombone. The bass line is sampled from Herbie Hancock’s “Bring Down the Birds.” The percussion and slide whistle is from Vernon Burch’s “Get Up.”

Happy Friday to you all! Thank you John, Owen and awesome morning crew for all that you all do. I have a request, I got tickets to see Madonna yesterday and my 10 year old self is so excited to hear her sing Borderline! My 48 year old self would love to hear it this morning, it will be loud but I don't want to scare the cats too much 🙃 I know about the 'dance to all madonna songs' rule too 🎶 Take care 💜 --JAIMEE -- Madonna's vocals for this song, written by producer Reggie Lewis, were pitched up, which was fairly common practice with dance tracks. This made her sound younger - she was 24 at the time. -- This was the fourth of five singles released from Madonna's first album. It was her first Top 10 hit, kicking off a remarkable run, with her next 16 singles also reaching the Top 10 in the US.

Model/Actriz will perform at Barboza on friday, March 31st. -- Model/Actriz is the quartet of Cole Haden (vocals), Jackson Wetmore (guitar), Ruben Radlauer (bass), and Aaron Shapiro (drums). Their debut album, "Dogsbody," will be out on February 24th. (Psst...in Britain, a dogsbody is a person who does menial, boring taks.)

Watch Kermit, Animal, Cookie Monster, and Miss Piggy perform the song on the streets of Brighton, England: www.youtube.com

This sultry track 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 said. "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." -- The Monday after he saw the girl at the party, he joined his bandmates David J (bass) and Kevin Haskins (drums) in the studio. He had just the opening line and two chords, so he went to the basement to finish the track, which took him about an hour. The band was planning to record one of David J's songs, but they put that on hold for "So Alive," which they recorded that day. All three members share songwriting credit on the track.

You can hear Screaming Females at Madame Lou's on Wednesday, April 12th, 2023. -- They're from New Brunswick, New Jersey. "Desire Pathway" is their first new album in nearly five years. The trio recorded "Desire Pathway" at Pachyderm Studios, the same Minnesota space where Nirvana recorded 1993’s "In Utero."

The song’s closing lines reference a Martin Luther King Jr. speech which was delivered on the steps of Montgomery’s State Capitol Building at the end of the famous Selma to Montgomery March. In his closing statement, Martin Luther King Jr. declared: "How long? Not long, because ‘you shall reap what you sow’" This particular statement paraphrases the Bible verse, “whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

The song’s closing lines reference a Martin Luther King Jr. speech which was delivered on the steps of Montgomery’s State Capitol Building at the end of the famous Selma to Montgomery March. In his closing statement, Martin Luther King Jr. declared: How long? Not long, because ‘you shall reap what you sow’ This particular statement paraphrases the Bible verse, “whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant on "Kashmir": “I wish we were remembered for Kashmir more than Stairway To Heaven. It’s so right; there’s nothing overblown, no vocal hysterics. Perfect Zeppelin.” Read the story behind this great song: www.loudersound.com See a live performance of "Kashmir" from 2012: www.youtube.com

The esteemed South African jazz musician Hugh Masekela contributed the clarion trumpet solo. Chris Hillman and David Crosby had worked with Masekela at a recording session for the singer Letta Mbulu. == The Byrds' Chris Hillman posted a tribute to David Crosby, writing: I lost my friend, David, today. Whose beautiful voice softened life’s blows, and brought so much joy to us all. He was my mentor, my big brother, my friend. The many miles we traveled together will always hold a special place in my heart. Singing with David was a blessing beyond words. I pray God grants him peace

Only three of the five members of the Byrds performed on this song: Roger McGuinn sang lead and played lead guitar; Gene Clark and David Crosby did the vocal harmonies.

This live performance by Brandi Carlile in the KEXP studio featured "Helplessly Hoping": www.youtube.com

“We were killing our own children,” says Graham Nash, “and we were killing them in support of a secret policy of slaughter on a mass scale.” -- “Ohio” is a protest song written by Neil Young in reaction to the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970. It was recorded almost instantly after Young wrote it and it was released some 10 days after it was written. In the liner notes for the song, Young said the Kent State murders were “probably the biggest lesson ever learned at an American place of learning” and he said that “David Crosby cried when we finished this take.” In the fade of the song, Crosby’s voice can be heard saying, “Four!” “Why?” and “How many more?”