John Richards

Good morning, happy Friday, and welcome to The Morning show with the handsome John Richards! We have The Church LIVE at 9:30 a.m. today. thanks so much for listening! -- There were untrue rumors that Lou Reed sang on this song, because of "Pop’s sprechgesang vocal delivery." David Bowie wrote the music and Iggy Pop dashed off the lyrics in minutes. Read the story of this song: ig.ft.com

Bowie wrote "Moonage Daydream" specifically for fashion designer Fred Burrett, whom he met in The Sombrero gay bar and decided to groom for stardom. Burrett, who changed him name to Freddie Burretti, is credited as a vocalist on the song, but whatever contributions he might have made never actually made it onto the track. -- That's Mick Ronson's great guitar playing on the song.

Written by T. Rex lead singer Marc Bolan, this song is all about sex, but with imagery so comically vague it would be hard for even the most prudish listeners to take offense. Bolan's delivery is feral, and he does keep calling the girl "dirty and sweet," but you really have to stretch to find sexual connotations in a "hubcap diamond star halo" or a "cloak full of eagles." The biggest suggestion is in the title. --

Lol Tolhurst is a founding member and former drummer and keyboardist of The Cure. Peter Edward Clarke (Budgie) is the ex-Siouxsie and the Banshees drummer. Jacknife Lee is a producer ( the Cars, U2, R.E.M., the Killers, etc.). Their debut album comes out in November. Read about it here: www.nme.com

This is LCD Soundsytem's cover of Chic's 1978 "I Want Your Love." -- Want to hear the original?: www.youtube.com

Happy anniversary to "Brotherhood," released on September 29th, 1986! -- "Bizarre Love Triangle" has been critically acclaimed since its release. In a 30th anniversary retrospective citing the song as one of the greatest of all time, Billboard described it as a "synth-pop masterpiece" and "an incandescent jewel of mid-'80s computer love." -- Watch a 2018 performance of "Bizarre Love Triangle" live from Alexandra Palace: youtu.be

British synthpop band W.H. Lung will play Barboza on Sunday, October 8th. -- While WH Lung’s name might suggest a nod to the likes of WH Auden and similarly austere literary figures, it actually comes from a Chinese supermarket in their native Manchester. Learn more about this trio: www.theguardian.com -- Here's the official video for "High Pressure Days": www.youtube.com

M is the British musician Robin Scott, who wrote, produced and sang lead on this track. He attended Croydon College Of Art, where he became good friends with Malcolm McLaren, the man who brought us the Sex Pistols. In 1969, he got a record deal and released a folk album called "Woman From The Warm Grass." He walked away from this record deal and turned to electronic music. -- M's backing musicians were known as "The Factor." He said they were more of an "organization" than a band. "Pop Muzik" featured Scott's brother Julian on bass, his wife Brigit Novik on backing vocals, and Wally Badarou on keyboards.

Watch lead vocalist Ellie Rowsell and Wolf Alice perform in the KEXP studio during a live session that included the great "Don't Delete the Kisses": www.youtube.com -- Here are the lyrics: www.azlyrics.com

U2 are back with a new single called “Atomic City,” their first original new song in two years. The band says it's an homage to Blondie, Giorgio Moroder, the Clash, 1970s post-punk, ’70s punk, and the city of Las Vegas which was known as “Atomic City” in the 1940s and ’50s. -- Here's the video: www.youtube.com

Because of the similarity of the previous song, U2's "Atomic City," to "Call Me," both Debbie Harry and Giorgio Moroder (who co-wrote this song) got writing credit on the U2 tune.

Good morning, John! (If you could play this between 7:30-8 before she goes to school, that would be amazing ✨✨✨) Today is the 16th birthday of our incredible daughter and KEXP fan, Ruby. Could you play "Dreams" by The Cranberries for her? Thank you 🙏💗 Johanna in the CD -- Happy birthday, Ruby!!!

“Cut Your Face” is the Welsh band's first single since their 2021 album "Into The Blue." -- The band’s Ritzy Bryan had the following to say about the new song: “‘Cut Your Face’ is a reminder to myself that even in shyness, when that voice is telling you to hide away, that what I really want is deep, authentic connection. The only way to satisfy that longing is to be vulnerable, messy and imperfect…and life is all the more beautiful because of it.” -- Check out the collage video for "Cut Your Face": www.youtube.com

Ahhh....the Friday song! Join KEXP for day parties at the KEXP Gathering Space prior to the Death Cab For Cutie and Postal Service anniversary shows at Climate Pledge Arena on Friday, October 6th and Saturday, October 7th from 3:30 to 7:00 PM. This is a 21+ and free event featuring cocktails by Sunny Hill Restaurant, beer and food from Stoneburner Restaurant and KEXP DJs live on air. All proceeds benefit KEXP.

For Naomi in Greenville, SC...She writes, I'm such a devotee of your show and all of KEXP. I love y'all for your inclusiveness and genuine acknowledgement of the shitty cards that folks are dealt in life and the support you lend. But I've been just an onlooker to this world, relatively insulated from death and hardship, until last night. I learned that a family member was just diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer and given 1 week to live... Funny how it gives me comfort to share my story with a stranger and DJ, nearly 3000 mi away. But thanks for listening. If u have a favorite consoling song, would love to hear it. Thanks. 💕

Quenn's bassist John Deacon wrote this song about his wife, Veronica Tetzlaff, a former trainee teacher from Sheffield. Deacon wrote the song at home. “Freddie didn’t like the electric piano, so I took it home and I started to learn on the electric piano and basically that’s the song that came out when I was learning to play piano,” said Deacon. “It was written on that instrument and it sounds best on that.” -- “John didn’t write that many songs but when he did – as with ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ and ‘I Want To Break Free’ – they were big, big hits,” said Brian May.

"Don't give up... You've got a reason to live... Can't forget... We only get what we give..." -- Watch the official video for "the baby Friday song," which is also the New Radicals' signature song: www.youtube.com

The Verve released "Urban Hymns" on this date in 1997! -- This song was originally a gospel spiritual, "This May Be the Last Time." The Staple Singers recorded it in in 1954, the Stones turned it into "The Last Time," and Richard Ashcroft heard it, too.: www.theringer.com

Sound familiar? -- The Andrew Oldham Orchestra was a musical side project in the mid-1960s created by Andrew Loog Oldham, the original manager and record producer of The Rolling Stones. There was no actual orchestra per se. The name was applied to recordings made by Oldham using a multitude of session musicians, including members of the Rolling Stones

In 1948. Roebuck Staples forms a gospel group with his family called The Staple Singers. In 1955 they released a recording of the traditional gospel song This May be the Last Time in a blues style. Ten years later in 1965, The Rolling Stones ‘borrowed’ most of the lyrics for their single The Last Time.

In the 2003 book "According to the Rolling Stones," Keith Richards wrote: "We didn't find it difficult to write pop songs, but it was VERY difficult - and I think Mick will agree - to write one for the Stones. It seemed to us it took months and months and in the end we came up with The Last Time, which was basically re-adapting a traditional gospel song that had been sung by the Staple Singers, but luckily the song itself goes back into the mists of time. I think I was trying to learn it on the guitar just to get the chords, sitting there playing along with the record, no gigs, nothing else to do. At least we put our own stamp on it, as the Staple Singers had done, and as many other people have before and since: they're still singing it in churches today. It gave us something to build on to create the first song that we felt we could decently present to the band to play... 'The Last Time' was kind of a bridge into thinking about writing for the Stones. It gave us a level of confidence; a pathway of how to do it. And once we had done that we were in the game. There was no mercy, because then we had to come up with the next one. We had entered a race without even knowing it."

On this date in 1992, 10,000 Maniacs released their fifth studio album “Our Time in Eden” featuring “These Are Days." -- Natalie Merchant lost her voice after emergency surgery for degenerative spinal disease earlier this year. She has now recovered and has a new album out.: www.theguardian.com

Did you know that Michael Stipe and Natalie Merchant were friends and then romantically involved? -- This song was originally recorded in 1969 by a group from Beaumont, Texas called The Clique, who released it as the B-side of their only Top 40 hit: "Sugar On Sunday." The song was written by the group's producer Gary Zekley along with Elliot Bottler, Mitchell Bottler and Brandon Chase.

“I don't know how to say it without using the same cliche words, but you definitely go into a spiritual place when faced with these things,” Cinjun Tate says. “A lot of things that you maybe even build your life around or maybe you really held in important esteem just shatter and become like ash and you're like, ‘Why did I even waste time on that?’ Things you wouldn't expect to become the most important things. It's surreal.” -- Remy Zero's vocalist August Cinjun Tate spoke about his cancer treatment, recovery, and everything after in this exclusive KEXP "Music Heals" interview: bit.ly

Genesis Owusu, is a Ghanaian-Australian singer from Canberra. He will be at Neumos on Thursday, November 9th. -- Genesis Owusu performed "Leaving the Light" and other songs from "STRUGGLER" during this KEXP live in-studio session last May: www.youtube.com

Good morning!! I'd love to request anything by Young Fathers!! Saw them 3 times (once at KEXP) in the last 48 hours. THEY ARE INCREDIBLE, and I just wanted to keep it going a little longer.❤️❤️ Big love to you all down at the station today! Namaste, Jeremy, Proud amplifier -- Scottish band Young Fathers were live in our studio on Wednesday, September 27th, at noon. You can listen to that performance for two weeks on KEXP's streaming archive: www.kexp.org

The song makes full use of the stereo spectrum, with an acoustic guitar dominating the left channel, and lighter sounding guitar on the right. According to producer Phil Ramone, this right-channel guitar was an electric that was unplugged, with its strings dampened. Simon and David Spinozza played the guitars. -- The odd squiggly sound throughout the song was created with a cuica, which is a kind of percussion instrument. It was played by the Brazilian musician Airto Moreira. -- Simon did the whistling solo on this song himself. In concert, the whistling was sometimes replaced with a saxophone solo. His wife, Edie Brickell, would sometimes handle the whistling during live shows.

The Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie will play Climate Pledge Arena on Friday, October 6th, and Saturday, October 7th. -- Join KEXP for day parties at the KEXP Gathering Space from 3:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on October 6th and 7th prior to the Death Cab For Cutie and Postal Service anniversary shows: www.kexp.org

If you saw The Flaming Lips at Woodland Park Zoo in August, you saw these "evil robots": www.youtube.com

Another wonderful song from the classic "Urban Hymns," released on September 29th, 1997. -- In a 2018 interview, Richard Ashcroft said he hasn't written his definitive song yet, but this one sure comes close. "The definitive Richard Ashcroft song will be when the cream of a particular emotion or a particular scenario in the human condition plays out, and that song mirrors it," He said. "So, if it happens to be 'Lucky Man' for that feeling of transcendence, of liberty within yourself, your body, your partner in life, you can actually fleetingly feel that moment and you want to put it in a bottle. And that's what music's about. It should be about capturing those moments for yourself and then the listener can put it on over and over again, if they want."

This song was written for an earlier incarnation of Radiohead, called On a Friday. In 1991, On a Friday recorded a three-track cassette at Dungeon Studios, which included “Stop Whispering,” a song written as a tribute to the Pixies (though they later admitted they missed the mark, landing somewhere in early U2 territory). Ed O’Brien described the song in 1993 as being “about people not standing up for their rights: Stop whispering and start shouting.”

Although the lyrics say, "Your skin is black metallic," some have heard, "Your skin is like a tire." -- Vocalist and guitarist Rob Dickinson said these lyrics were partially inspired by a 1968 Camaro in gloss black. -- See an eleven-minute live version of "Black Metallic": www.youtube.com

I'm probably a little late to the trigger here, but I am getting strong PJ Oceans vibes from this set. Maybe just because that song sounds like Brooklyn feels right now... wet. Great show. Great opening track too, the segue from the intro... mint. jon -- Guitarist Stone Gossard said that this is his favorite track on Ten. He explained: "That probably sums up why I get excited about song writing. It's like open detuning where the first chord's just straight across and it's just two fingers that come on and off to create the whole thing and then it moves down one position and it moves back up. It has a tiny little change in it but it's also got three big movements. What I love about music is aesthetic chords; the simpler the better and then another set that does something to those original chords. It's a really simple arrangement."

“Skipping Like a Stone” features Beck on vocals, reuniting the two artists after their 2015 collaboration “Wide Open” from "Born in the Echoes." -- "When you feel like nothing really matters When you feel alone When you feel like all your life is shattered And you can’t go home I’ll come skipping like a stone...": genius.com

"Born Slippy .NUXX" was the B-side to the instrumental "Born Slippy." This song was featured during the famous last scene of the critically acclaimed Danny Boyle film, "Trainspotting." The soundtrack to the movie is considered to be one of the greatest in film history. -- Karl Hyde, who wrote the song, told The Guardian he was recreating how “a drunk sees the world in fragments” and described it as a cry for help when he “was still deep into alcoholism.” Although written about alcohol, the manic lyrics stand in for heroin abuse in "Trainspotting."

I'd love to hear something off the new Jungle album on this sunny Friday if it fits into your set! Best, --Ben, from the gathering space -- See the official video for "Us Against the World": www.youtube.com

Earlier this year, Empire of the Sun played their first live show in many years. I feel like this is the perfect time for Empire Of The Sun to come back,” Luke Steele says. “I think there’s always been tremendous love for this band,”: themusic.com.au

Like many great tracks, the song came to McCulloch as a jolting epiphany of magnificent proportions. “I love it all the more because I didn’t pore over it for days on end,” recalled McCulloch to The Guardian. “One morning, I just sat bolt upright in bed with this line in my head: ‘Fate up against your will. Through the thick and thin. He will wait until you give yourself to him.’ You don’t dream things like that and remember them. “That’s why I’ve always half credited the lyric to God. It’s never happened before or since.": faroutmagazine.co.uk

This is the title song of The Church's stunning 2023 album: www.popmatters.com -- “Not in my wildest dreams did I expect all the love that has been thrown at this record by the audiences and the critics,” says bassist/vocalist Steve Kilbey in a press release. “I’m excited to play a whole bunch of new places and take this incredible version of The Church to wherever folks want to hear us.”

"Wooden Shjips, like a good number of psychedelic-leaning bands worth their weight in acid, have carved quite a path out of turning repetition into something hypnotic. The band, fronted by Portland resident Ripley Johnson, is guided by recurring musical motifs cycling a trail for Johnson’s far-reaching, exploratory guitar work to stretch its legs over." Check out Martin Douglas's 2018 interview with Ripley Johnson here: www.kexp.org woodenshjips.bandcamp.com