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Wednesday, Aug 19 2020, 10AM
"Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" was a song originally written by The Smiths. The song has been covered countless times by numerous artists and has been featured on several "Dream Academy" releases.
The The are an English post-punk band. They have been active in various forms since 1979, with singer-songwriter Matt Johnson being the only constant band member.
Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk group, formed in Liverpool in 1978. Their original lineup consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer!
Fine Young Cannibals were a British band formed in Birmingham, in 1984, by bassist David Steele, guitarist Andy Cox. Their 1989 album, The Raw & the Cooked, topped the UK and US album charts.
"Tainted Love" was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964. It attained worldwide fame after being covered and reworked by English synth-pop duo Soft Cell in 1981 and has since been covered by numerous groups and artists
"Tempted" is a song by the British band Squeeze, and it was released as the second single from their fourth album, "East Side Story." Unlike other Squeeze songs, which are sung usually by guitarist Glenn Tilbrook, the song's lead vocal is sung by keyboardist Paul Carrack,
"Smooth Operator" was released in July 1984, serving as Diamond Life's second single. The song became Sade's first top-10 entry in the US, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100!
"Cities in Dust" was a lead single from "Siouxsie and the Banshees" and their seventh studio album, "Tinderbox." The song describes the volcanic eruption that destroyed of the city of Pompeii in 79 AD
"Blue Bell Knoll" is the fifth studio album by iconic Scottish band Cocteau Twins, released in September 1988. This was the band's first album to receive major-label distribution in the United States
The Church have a fantastic KEXP in-studio from September 2017! You can watch it on our YouTube channel: bit.ly
"Gardening at Night" was recorded for R.E.M's 1982 debut EP Chronic Town. The song is said to have been written on a mattress in the front yard of the "Oconee Street Church" in Athens, Georgia.
When Bad Brains hit the scene in 1977, they made waves in the DC hardcore scene, at first for being an all-Black group, and then for their irrefutable talent.
The iconic "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" was Cyndi Lauper's breakthrough hit. It remains one of the most recognizable songs for a whole generation. The song has been covered countless times by over the past decades
Bananarama formed as a trio in London in 1979 by friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 and formed her group the Shakespears Sister
The inspiration for the song occurred during a tour of Japan mid-1979, when Billy Idol and bassist Tony James were struck by the sight of the young crowd in a Tokyo disco club dancing with their own reflections in walled mirrors rather than with one another.
Big Audio Dynamite were formed in London by Mick Jones, the former lead guitarist of the Clash, who has been their only constant member. The song was the group's first Top 40 hit on the UK Singles Chart.
8th Wonder is the second album by rap group The Sugarhill Gang. The members, all from Englewood, New Jersey, consisted of Michael "Wonder Mike" Wright, Henry "Big Bank Hank" Jackson, and Guy "Master Gee" O'Brien. The three were assembled into a group by producer Sylvia Robinson, who founded Sugar Hill Records with her husband, record producer Joe Robinson
Allies released six albums during the 1980s and early 1990s. The most notable band members were guitarist Randy Thomas, formerly of the group "Sweet Comfort Band" and vocalist Bob Carlisle
Felt were an English indie pop band, formed in 1979 in Water Orton, Warwickshire, and were led by the Lawrence Hayward. The band have been cited as notable influences for the bands "Belle and Sebastian" and "The Charlatans"
Cure biographer Jeff Apter refers to "A Forest" as "the definitive early Cure mood piece" and he argued the song is the centrepiece of the album.
"A Flock of Seagulls" is the self titled debut album by the synth pop/new wave band. It was released in 1982 on Jive and featured the international hit single "I Ran (So Far Away)", which reached the Top 10 in the US
The Primitives are from Coventry, and are best known for their 1988 international hit single "Crash". Formed in 1984, disbanded in 1992 and reformed in 2009, the band's two constant members throughout their recording career have been vocalist Tracy Tracy and guitarist Paul Court.
After recording sessions for "Listen Like Thieves" closes, the band felt as if they needed a on last song to be "hit." They went back into the studio and reworked a track called "Funk Song #13" into "What You Need'
Go! Go! Trouble Funk is an R&B and funk band from Washington, D.C. The group helped to popularize funk and the subgenre go-go in the D.C music scene.
The song takes its name from a 1971 song of the same title recorded by Bobby Byrd, which it samples heavily, and is frequently credited with popularizing the use of James Brown samples in hip hop songs. It also samples the Ben Powers Jr. drum intro from the song "You'll Like It Too" from Funkadelic
The Dynette Set released one album in 1983, but it's clear they had a lasting effect on this city! Read more from KEXP here: bit.ly
Grant McLennan wrote the lyrics for his mother as an autobiographical description of his return home to a Queensland farm. He even wrote the song while using Nick Cave's acoustic guitar while staying at Cave's London apartment.
Queen Elvis is the seventh studio album by English musician Robyn Hitchcock, released on A&M Records in 1989. It is his fourth release with his band The Egyptians.
Town Called Malice" is a song recorded by British band The Jam from the album The Gift. It debuted at number one in the UK Singles Chart in February 1982!
"Veronica" is a single from Elvis Costello's 1989 album Spike, co-written by Costello with Paul McCartney. The song "Veronica" was co-produced by T-Bone Burnett and Kevin Killen, and features Paul McCartney on his iconic Höfner bass.
“Senses Working Overtime” was released in advance of XTC’s 1982 album English Settlement. It became a top ten hit in the UK.
As with their first album, the B-52's traveled to Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas to record Wild Planet. Several of the songs from the album had been concert staples since 1978
The classic song describes an exhaustive tour and yet nevertheless the band won't rest until they've reached their home base Brooklyn.
X achieved limited mainstream success but influenced various genres of music, including punk rock, Americana, and folk rock, and are considered one of the most influential bands of their era
The song quotes a line from "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks, with the word "girl" replaced with "boy": "Boy, you really got me goin."
"I Want Candy" is a song written and originally recorded by the Strangeloves in 1965. It is a famous example of a song that uses the Bo Diddley beat.
Joan Jett was touring England as a member of an all teenage girl group called The Runaways when she discovered this song. She wanted to record it with The Runaways, but the other members didn't like the song and made the mistake of passing it up. So, in 1979, Jett recorded it with Paul Cook and Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols and released it as a B-side. Finally, in 1981, Jett recorded the song with her band The Blackhearts, resulting in a monster hit.