John Richards

Good morning and welcome to the first Morning Show of the 2024 Spring Fundraising Drive! It's a countdown of John's favorite songs after 3 funerals and jetlaaag! This is #147 This one goes out to John's fallen friend, Michael Hukin. Donate now at www.kexp.org

#146 of John's favorite songs! This song was heavily inspired by Prince's Little Red Corvette. In 1983, Stevie Nicks married Kim Anderson. On a drive to Santa Barbara for their honeymoon, Prince’s 1982 hit “Little Red Corvette” came on the radio, and the newlyweds pulled over to buy a tape recorder so Nicks could capture the melody and song in her head on a demo before it was lost. “All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I’m singing along, going, ‘stand back,’” said Nicks in a 2018 interview. “I’m like, ’Kim, pull over! We need to buy a tape recorder because I need to record this.’ And so we careen off the freeway to find a radio, record shop or something, and we go in and we buy a little tape recorder.” Instead of celebrating their honeymoon, Nicks stayed up all night writing the lyrics to one of her biggest solo hits. Here's the story behind this song: americansongwriter.com Donate now! www.kexp.org

#145 of John's favorite songs! Three different storylines are at play in "Bone Machine". In an interview with Pixies frontman Frank Black, he explained the inspirations: "Girlfriend. Unfaithfulness. Creepy pastor whose intentions I later questioned. In that order." "I was talking to preachy-preach about kissy-kiss.. He bought me a soda and he tried to molest me in the parking lot..." Here are the lyrics: https://www.songfacts.com/lyrics/pixies/bone-machine Donate now! www.kexp.org/donate

#144 of John's favorite songs!! It was a great experience when The English Beat played "Save It For Later" live in the KEXP Bumbershoot Music Lounge in 2010: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=238jb-bAVX8 www.kexp.org/donate

#143 of John's favorite songs! The House of Love is the second album by British alternative rock band the House of Love, released on Fontana Records in 1990. It should not be confused with the band's debut album, which is also called The House of Love. It is generally referred to either as Fontana or The Butterfly Album. https://www.thehouseoflove.co.uk/ www.kexp.org/donate

#142 of John's favorite sooongs! The video for "In the Morning" was featured on Beavis and Butt-head. Heh. Cool.:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJCC3QPtv5o www.kexp.org/donate

#141 of John's favorite soooongs! This song is about an imaginary lover in a different part of the world. The band got the idea for this song when they noticed a large number of people in the New York City phone book named "Ana Ng." From the second studio album by the band They Might Be Giants. - https://www.theymightbegiants.com/ www.kexp.org/donate

#140 of John's favorite songs! Did you know that this was supposedly written by Bono in response to the notion that it’s possible to identify a person’s religion and income based on the street where they lived? -- He said: "On reflection I suppose I want to write about that 'other country,' the country of the imagination. I want to run out of hiding, to tear down the walls that hold me inside myself. I want to touch the flame." -- Don't miss the Grammy-winning video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzZWSrr5wFI www.kexp.org/donate

#139 on the countdown of John's favorite songs! For the Kick album, INXS tried a different approach, with Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farriss doing all the songwriting. They wrote "Need You Tonight" and a few other tracks on the album at a studio in Hong Kong, where they worked for two weeks. Farriss came up with the rhythm track on a Roland 707 drum machine in a flash just before leaving for the airport - he was still working on it when the cab driver arrived, so he had the cabbie wait while he recorded a quick demo on cassette. We are almost to our first hour goal of the first Morning Show of the spring fundraising drive! Donate now to help put us over! www.kexp.org/donate

#138 on the countdown of John's favorite songs! The music was based on a riff the band used to play when they were introduced at concerts as the lights came up and they were introduced to the audience. Mick Fleetwood explained how it happened: "In soundchecks we used to jam on that riff, and I did the riff in drum form. When it came time to make the album, we pulled that riff out, screwed around with it, put it in the dustbin, and then a year into making that album, I pulled it out again and took it with me as a rough track to Normandy and came up with the idea of using the brass band on it, and using about 100 drummers on it, which we did." The group's bass player John McVie had a falling out with Lindsey Buckingham and never made it to Dodger Stadium for the shoot, so he was replaced in the video with a cardboard cutout: https://youtu.be/ATMR5ettHz8 www.kexp.org/donate

#137 on John's favorite songs! 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. Stevie Ray Vaughan played lead guitar. https://bit.ly/2S2tUsJ Donate now for hour 2 of the Monday Morning Show! www.kexp.org/donate

#136 on John's countdown of his favorite songs! It was 56 years ago that Bob Dylan walked into the Columbia Records' Studio A and recorded "Like A Rolling Stone." Bruce Springsteen said when he inducted Dylan into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, “When I was 15 and I heard ‘Like a Rolling Stone,’ I heard a guy who had the guts to take on the whole world and who made me feel like I had to too.”: https://bit.ly/3iKlO2w www.kexp.org/donate

#135 on John's countdown of his favorite songs!! Watch an intimate live version of this gorgeous song, with KEXP's own Sean Nelson on vocals.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTfTsdxnCdE www.kexp.org/donate

#134 on the countdown of John's favorite songs! The lyrics of California Stars was originally written by Woody Guthrie, but Guthrie never recorded it or wrote music down for it. No exact date is known for the lyrics, and could be dated anytime between the 1930s to 1940s. Although Guthrie's recording career was more or less over by 1947, his estate approached Billy Bragg in 1995 to set Woody's handwritten, unrecorded lyrics to music. Thus the song is a collaboration piece with Wilco that took place 30 years after Guthrie died. www.kexp.org/donate

#133 on John's countdown of his favorite soooongs! Classic Girl by Jane’s Addiction is a love song about Perry’s then girlfriend Casey Niccoli, written in early 1987 by Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro. In early performances of this song Perry sang the line ‘circus bears on the quilt I wore’ instead of ‘dinosaurs on the quilt I wore’. https://janesaddiction.org/songs/janes-addiction/classic-girl/ www.kexp.org/donate

#132 on the countdown of John's favorite songs! "Into the Labyrinth" recently celebrated its 30th anniversary - it was the first Dead Can Dance album performed entirely by Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard without supporting musicians www.kexp.org/donate

#131 on the countdown of John's favorite songs!! Named after the French horror film "Les yeux sans visage". Billy Idol's girlfriend Perri Lister sings the French phrase in the background on the track - https://billyidol.net/ www.kexp.org/donate

#130 on the countdown of John's favorite songs! Born Slippy is well known as the heartbeat of 1996's Trainspotting www.kexp.org

#129 on the countdown of John's favorite ever songs!!! The Waterboys were not fans of of synth-based pop, but when Mike Scott heard Prince's "Purple Rain", he realized it could work—if done right. Read about an interview with Scott where he talked about "Purple Rain's" influence: https://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/mike-scott-of-the-waterboys www.kexp.org/donate

#128 on the countdown of John's favorite songs! Chrome is Catherine Wheel's second studio album, released in 1993. In a 2006 interview, Rob Dickinson described "crank" as a British slang term for an odd or eccentric person. When he sings "call me crank," he is referring to how he views himself and that he's comfortable in acknowledging that he's unusual.: https://bit.ly/3UlagCc www.kexp.org/donate

#127 on the countdown of John's favorite songs! The first of what would turn out to be five compilations Ian Broudie released from 1996 to 2006. Pure, The Lightning Seeds' first release by Virgin, is almost a reissue rather than a compilation, since it consists of all but three of the songs released by Epic on the first two albums, Cloudcuckooland from 1990 and Sense from 1992. https://bit.ly/3IeED8s www.kexp.org/donate

#126 on John's favorite song countdown! This was featured in the 1989 movie Say Anything in a scene where John Cusack plays this from a Boom Box he holds over his head to win the heart of Ione Skye. Cameron Crowe, who directed the film, was going to use Billy Idol's "Got To Be A Lover," but it didn't work with the scene. Crowe got the idea to use this when he played a tape from his wedding which had the song on it. Because it was a deeply personal song, Gabriel did not want to let him use it, but when Crowe called and sent him a tape of the movie, Gabriel loved it and gave his approval. https://bit.ly/3HsxjIu www.kexp.org/donate

#125 on the countdown of John's favorite songs! Final track of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Lyrics were inspired by contemporary newspaper articles and McCartney's memories of his younger years. https://www.thebeatles.com/ Last half hour of the Monday Morning Show, Spring 2024 Fundraising Drive edition! www.kexp.org/donate

#124 on John's Favorite Songs Damon Albarn's original version was a third slower – it was guitarist Graham Cozon who sped the tune up. Said Albarn in Isle of Noises by Daniel Rachel: "It's definitely better the way it ended up. As soon as I hear myself doing anything I've done before I just do something else. I go the other way or I just go below or above. I can't bear repeating myself. As soon as I've finished something I think, 'That's terrible. Right, I better start again." https://www.songfacts.com/facts/blur/song-2 www.kexp.org/donate

#123 on the countdown of John's favorite songs! Seattle band Sky Cries Mary is an American psychedelic rock/trance musical group formed in the late 1980s by Roderick Wolgamott and Ben Ireland. Notable band alumni include Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow of The Posies, vocalist Anisa Romero, Michael Cozzi of Shriekback, Jon ‘Juano’ Davison (later of Yes and Glass Hammer), and Gordon Raphael (producer for The Strokes). www.kexp.org/donate

#122 on the countdown of John's! Favorite! Songs! From the debut album by the Cure, Three Imaginary Boys, released on this day in 1979. Three Imaginary Boys was released on 11 May 1979 by record label Fiction. The record company decided which songs were put on the album, as well as the cover artwork, without Robert Smith's consent. For all Cure albums since, Smith has ensured that he is given complete creative control over the final product before it goes on sale. The "Foxy Lady" soundcheck, with vocals sung by Michael Dempsey, was not supposed to be on the album, and was removed for the American release. Smith has stated that "songs like 'Object' and 'World War' and our cover of 'Foxy Lady' were Chris Parry's choice". www.kexp.org/donate

#121 on the countdown of John's fav songs everrrrr! Hounds of Love received critical acclaim upon its release and it is considered by many to be Bush's best album. Recording work began for Hounds of Love in Summer 1983 after a studio upgrade, with the album being constructed in preliminary form. Rather than re-record music, Bush took the original recordings and built upon them during the sessions, starting in November 1983. www.kexp.org/donate to donate in the last 5 minutes of the Monday Morning Show!