#i just love 90s euro dance songs

[gorekiss]

people being like omg when is the full dj crazy times song dropping. like no seriously listen to any 90s euro dance song. any of them. u will be so happy about it

[love-from-sasha]

Life Is Perfecto (2021)

CFCF

(featuring @imarley!)

Life Is Perfecto is the second track of the album memoryland released by Mike Silver, known better as CFCF in 2021

beginning with a sample from Millennium Mambo (dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien), the seven-minute track gradually converges into an amalgamation of breakbeat electronica and dream-pop. the featured monologue details a past love affair of the narrator, describing her youth prior to the new millennium

“It was the catalysing inspiration for the album, and I wanted to do justice to its universal themes of alienation from one’s own identity amid the turbulence of youth in a globalised metropolis on the cusp of the millennium”

such themes of compelling melancholy are evident in both memoryland and Millenium Mambo alike, exploring the uncertainty and anticipation of Y2K, resulting in a strikingly nostalgic and bittersweet track

now, a few words from marley!

Life is Perfecto is a fantastical 7-minute long journey formed from the nostalgic techno-sound of the late 1990s. It’s the second track on Mike Silver's (CFCF) album fittingly titled memoryland.

My favourite aspect of the track is the clear influence from some of the big Dance and Electronica of the 90s, such as The Chemical Brothers and Sonic Youth - music that was very prevalent in my childhood, with 'Hey Girl, Hey Boy' being one of the first songs that I downloaded onto my iPod. However, Life is Perfecto is a slow-burner of a song, so it reminds me more of the Chemical Brothers' earlier music, such as 'Her Jazz'. Despite the nostalgic influence, Life is Perfecto still manages to sound new and fresh.

"I was feeling fatigued by an overabundance of ‘calming’, productivity-oriented music, and wanted to explore something angsty, messy, and dark, while also applying a pop sheen" 

In my opinion the track does just this, and as always Silver finds a way to perfecto-ly blend multiple styles and familiar sound together, my other favourite example of this being from his debut album Continent, which has many clear 80s and euro-dance inspiration. 

Everything comes together beautifully, making for a familiar and nostalgic, yet fresh and upbeat listening experience.

with love,

sasha and marley

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

KissFM Flashback: Best of Love 1998 R&B / Adult Contemporary / Pop / Soul / Arena Rock / Pop-Rock

Funny thing about this pretty anodyne and somewhat random assortment of love songs from the Warner Elektra Atlantic catalogue that span between the late 70s and late 90s is that, had you not recognized the radio station logo that's on this album's cover, you'd probably have no idea that this was actually a Finnish release. And that seems to be because of two intertwined things: one, naming your radio station Kiss FM is like the equivalent of naming your American town Springfield; like, I'm pretty sure it's the most popular name for a radio station in the entire world, which also makes it the most generic. And because it's the most generic name for a radio station, it also then makes sense that its own tracklist would not provide a single clue as to where this particular Kiss FM station itself was actually located.

Which I guess just also goes to show how generic the market was overall for one of those hit European radio stations that played a mix of 'the hits from yesterday and today' in the late 90s, because not a single song on this release is actually Finnish-made itself, which would definitely lead you to think that it's not actually Finnish when it so totally is! 

But all that said, despite there not being anything to actually individualize this comp from any other similarly-scoped Euro comp out there, this thing nevertheless still manages to kick itself off with a pair of my all-time favorite big hits of 1996: the terrific Todd Terry remix of Everything But the Girl's "Missing," which was not just undoubtedly that year's single biggest commercial house hit, but was one of its biggest radio hits, period, too; and British one-hit wonder Donna Lewis' dreamy and ever-so-soft disco-pop-slow-dance smash, "I Love You Always Forever," which subtly built up all this tension with an unwavering bassline chug that smacked of the stuttering opening seconds from Survivor's own "Eye of the Tiger," and then suddenly released it all with a much louder and very catchy bridge that was outfitted with some handclaps and sharp, rich, and powerful keyboard chords. Sounds like a ballad that Cyndi Lauper might've made had she been born a decade later, and to that same end, a really lovely tune.

And another thing you might be interested in is that if you wanna hear iconic Swedish teen pop producer Max Martin's signature mid-to-late 90s sound applied to something before he managed to launch the Backstreet Boys into the stratosphere himself, there's Papa Dee's euro-reggae-pop cover of P.P. Arnold's "The First Cut Is the Deepest," which has that same smack-clappy backbeat sound that would define much of BSB's own output. Not gonna say that I particularly enjoy this song at all, but it's still intriguing to hear the Martin sound on something else prior to BSB.

And lastly, we have Lutricia McNeal's largely forgotten cover of Barbi Benton's "Ain't That Just the Way." If you dig that softly bouncy, hip hop-laced contemporary R&B sound of the mid-to-late 90s that made the careers of people like Mary J. Blige, Brandy, and Monica, this Oklahoma City native who ended up launching her career in Sweden and scoring this hit there is a good one too. After hitting big in Europe, "Ain't That Just the Way" crossed over here into the States and achieved moderate success as well, and while it never ended up earning itself the Grammy-winning plaudits of something like The Fugees' Lauryn Hill-led cover of Roberta Flack's own Grammy-winning "Killing Me Softly with His Song," I happen to think that the two tunes dovetail pretty perfectly with each other as 1996 R&B companions 👍.

So, a pretty lame Finnish comp of love songs with most of a selection that could fool anyone into thinking that it actually came from any one of a number of stations named Kiss FM in America instead, but nevertheless, some great intercontinentally popular hits from 1996 on here anyway 😌.

Highlights:

Everything But the Girl - "Missing (Todd Terry remix)" Donna Lewis - "I Love You Always Forever" Simply Red - "If You Don't Know Me By Now" Lutricia McNeal - "Ain't That Just the Way" Mr. Big - "To Be With You" Damn Yankees - "High Enough"

[thesinglesjukebox]

CALVIN HARRIS X RAG'N'BONE MAN - "LOVERS IN A PAST LIFE"

So 2000 and late...

[4.07]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: [A deep][trance][scorcher] about [old love] by [Calvin Harris] & [Rag'n'Bone Man][!] [6]

Will Adams: Disappointment! After last year's fantastic duo of singles that breathed life into the trance revival, Calvin Harris slips back into Euro-filler, where the only notable features are a marble-mouthed vocalist and a way-too-loud guitar riff. [4]

TA Inskeep: Calvin Harris, ever the musical unoriginalist, sounds as if he's interpolating the likes of Darude here -- because if there's anything Harris knows, it's what's hot in dance/pop at this moment, and right now that's retro '90s dance and trance-pop. The oontz-oontz is pleasant enough, and Rag'n'Bone Man's overdone vocal "ache" fits it well. Neither terrible nor great, just as one would expect. [4]

Alfred Soto: It has the anonymity of a dozen Eurohouse tracks that Miami played around the clock 30 years ago: I can hear Real McCoy's "Another Night" in its verses. What I didn't expect was a guitar solo with "My Sweet Lord" in its rear view. [5]

Hannah Jocelyn: Why did Calvin Harris stick a rag (possibly also a bone) in his vocalist's mouth before recording? The guitar sounds more human than he does! [3]

Nortey Dowuona: Rag'n'Bone Man's lush and rough voice works for EDM since it's just smooth enough not to clash with drum programming. It feels light, excitable and lively when freed of the obligation to imitate R&B and blues -- both genres he clearly wishes to be a part of, yet lacks the finesse or power to. Here, he lives out his fantasies of being Teddy Pendergrass. His voice is too raspy and phlegmy to hold during the verses, but once the pre-chorus synths take hold, he soars, ebullient and lithe as the guitar line over the slimmed-down 1986 pop drums. By the end, he is absent because he's served his purpose. [4]

Dave Moore: The vocals set my teeth on edge: wannabe journeyman pap, like Blues Traveler with all the wrinkles ironed out. I might have found the wallpaper pop-house backing from Harris to be a reprieve, but instead it's just a tepid bath for Rag'n'Bone Man to soak in. You couldn't get me in an unplugged hot tub with either of these guys. [3]

Brad Shoup: On "Giant," Harris redirected Rag'n'Bone Man's gale-force soul through the doors of the Wigan Casino. There was also a hint of boogie, which "Lovers in a Past Life" broadens. I love how this is hectic but not urgent: wrapping itself around the bullcrap until it's drilled a hole in the floor. When Harris drops the twangy hook, it's three docks before Balearic: lovely and gauche, like a restaurant's wall-length photo transfer of a sunset. [7]

Katherine St. Asaph: "Miracle" : Y2K :: "Lovers in a Past Life" : the Y2K club that probably exists in deleted footage from The Beast. (To be fair to this song, I would be more OK with being Rag'n'Bone Man's lover in a past life than that of the guy from The Beast.) [3]

Taylor Alatorre: Just as I was readying a wisecrack about the repackaging of Eastern spiritualism to suit Western categories of romance, I take another listen and realize the song isn't even that: "we were lovers in a past life, for all we know." How do you take a title that hints at reincarnation and cosmically linked fates, and reduce it to a shouted pick-up line at the club? Analyzing EDM lyrics is the province of fools and YouTube essayists, but Rag'n'Bone Man is credited as a co-lead, and his voice is launched at us in the first second, ironically while slurring the word "patience." If there ever were a stage name that implied a commitment to the bit, you'd think it would be "Rag'n'Bone Man," but here he is unwilling to give full expression to the fantasy contained in the premise. His misaimed realism leaves us with little to chew on but Calvin Harris' ongoing Eurodance fixation, which is more subdued and weary-sounding here than it was on "Miracle." That one was turn-of-the-century nostalgia in the service of untrammeled exuberance; this is just another day in the Logic Pro mines. [4]

Ian Mathers: So anodyne and pro forma that I've played it about 5x more than the other songs today because I keep forgetting what it sounds like. Would not care (or even notice?) if it was playing on the radio or whatever, and cannot even vaguely imagine getting it stuck in my head, let alone seeking it out. [4]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Something about this (maybe Andrew Watt's slide guitar solo?) makes me feel actually literally ill. If I heard this in the club I think I would die on the spot. [0]

Isabel Cole: Rag’n’Bone Man does a good job at something I’m not particularly into (soulful warbling), and Calvin Harris does an adequate job at something I’m easily suckered by (a perfectly passable beat occasionally punctuated by, e.g., swooshy laser noises or handclaps), so I guess this is… fine? [6]

Daniel Monteshenko: Rag'n'Bone Man has a powerful bleat that's all grit, and I've never believed a single lyric he's yowled. The streak continues here. "We were lovers in a past life," he pushes on the chorus, but there's no history, no mangled emotion, no wide-eyed wonder of what romance brings. They're just things he's saying. Calvin Harris is 6'5" and cruising through life. [4]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[eurovision-revisited]

Eurovision 2007 - Number 17 - Infinity - "Hooked on You"

One of the standard reasons for a band entering a national final is as a last hurrah. The final opportunity to relive past glories and maybe, just maybe, get on the Eurovision stage as a swansong. One last sweet single to remember the good times. Infinity entering the Melodi Grand Prix in 2007 was one of those situations.

They'd been huge in the late 1990s in the Electro/Euro house scene. Pulsing synths, power vocals from a female voice, growling interjections and exhortations to dance and scream from the male voice like a fairground barker conjuring screams from the riders. They are Birgitte Moe and Kjell Gabriel Hendrichs, and in 1999 they released the best selling dance album in Norwegian chart history. That album was www.happy-people.net from the era when URLs were cool. It contained their three best selling singles. It was their debut and also their peak.

They managed to keep going for four more years, before going on hiatus in 2003 with declining sales as their niche became less favoured and newer, shinier things appeared. They'd wanted to give it one last go, and in 2007 submitting Hooked on You to MGP gave them that opportunity.

For a Eurodance hit, this song is unusual as it's written by the lead female voice Birgitte. Normally there's a male producer lurking behind the band, but not with Infinity. They're a band of equals who were originally formed when Kjell was working in a record store and Birgitte was working in a bakery in the same shopping centre in Oslo, and they got talking when Kjell went to the bakery for his lunch.

The song is almost identikit Eurohouse circa 1999. They haven't changed and you can feel their joy in doing this in front of such a huge audience. The highlight is Brigitte's vocal delivery. The pause in her career hasn't diminished the power. She has a perfect voice for EDM. Timpani don't usually feature in these songs, and even though there's a kettle drum on stage, I'm not convinced there's one in the mix. You have to give the drum machine some credit in a song like this though.

The Oslo Spektrum gets to its feet one more time and they all truly get into this like old times. The cheer at the end is authentic and unlike other euphoric house music, here that euphoria is cut with undiluted nostalgia to produce a heady, irresistible cocktail that you will only get to sample once or twice in a lifetime.

They easily qualified from their heat, but in the final the televotes at home couldn't bring themselves to vote for something that was out of fashion. Infinity failed to make the gold final and Eurovision was poorer for their absence. Still, what a way to go out. They've toured since as part of the We Love the '90s tour in Norway with other bands from the decade.

Their biggest hit from the 1990s was Happy and this version is from that We Love the 90s tour - although I think the audio is from the studio.

[giraffess]

hey, im ur secret rocker santa 4 this year :) just thought id introduce myself a bit and ask how ur doin? im v much into 90s brit rock and my fav film is trainspotting but i also rlly like quadrophenia, tho i havent listened to much of the who's music. any recommendations on where to start w their discography? also what are your favourite bands/artists, fav films, even fav book? id love to know! :)

Hello hi!!

I haven’t listened to a lot of Brit rock, so if you have some recommendations of what songs or albums to listen to in that genre I might be down to try it!

I like a few different music genres, in the classic rock sphere I love the Beatles, the Who, the Moody Blues, Tom Petty, Deep Purple, and a bunch of others that I’m forgetting. I also love other genres like synth pop, euro dance, some modern pop stuff, classical, and musical theater.

Most of my interests lie in music or musical theater, so most of my favorite movies and books are in some way music-centered. I love a Hard Day’s Night for example, and I love documentaries about different artists or events in music history. There was that recent documentary about the making of “We Are the World”, which I forgot the name of but I thought it was very interesting.

I don’t know if I have a favorite book. Up until now, I’ve mostly been the person who only read books for school (I can tell you though that my favorite assigned books in high school were Brave New World and As I Lay Dying), but never really was interested outside of the classroom. I have made a goal to start reading more plays, though!

As for your question about The Who, if you haven’t listened to the actual album Quadrophenia, I would definitely recommend it. I might even go as far as to say it’s their best one.

A lot of the Who songs that you probably know of appear on Who’s Next. I would recommend that one because it’s fairly short, and you may already be familiar with a few of the songs, so it’s kind of like a nice sampler, imo.

Tommy is of course one of the great concept albums, and I have many many thoughts about it, but I think it’s worth a listen.

My actual personal favorite album of theirs is their first one, My Generation. It is quite different from the rest of their work though, I think. Much more 60s pop and blues.

I hope that answers everything. Thank you for all your questions!!

[vvh1sk3y]

Hi I love your blog and I’ve probably read through just about every post in the past few days… you seem like such a cool person and your writing is awesome!!

I saw the one question yu got about music and you seem to have a super wide variety of songs you like! What I want to ask is could you maybe give some songs that you think Ghost, Soap and König would like?? Thank you!!!!

HI I LOVE THIS ASK TYSM my brain was meant for this. i have a brief description of what i think they'd like as well as a few songs below :)

okay for ghost? i can’t imagine he listens to a lot of music for some reason. he kind of just listens to whatever is on. however i think he has a super secret thing for cutesy stuff including some music, but if he had a preference he’d probably prefer 70s/80s pop and rock. (thanks to soap)

if you caught him listening to this he would prob yell at you and slam a door in your face :/ ngl

soap!! okay so i feel like he listens to a lot of 90s and 2000s alt rock (the smashing pumpkins, pearl jam, blur, etc.) maybe some random 80s music thrown in there as well. i also feel like he listens to euro-dance on the low but would never admit it to anyone. specifically for reboot soap, i feel like in the gym he listens exclusively to drill (unfortunately not included here because i only know of pop smoke and ice spice and i refuse to believe soap is listening to munch while getting his gains)

könig, oh poor man. total sad boy tunes. the smiths, the cure, elliot smith, also some german rock. könig needs a hug.

[papermint-airplane]

Music Meme Remix

🎶✨when u get this u have to put 5 songs u actually listen to, and publish. then, send this ask/tag 10 of your favorite followers (non-negotiable, positivity is cool) ✨🎶

I was tagged again by @llamaheart and I love doing memes like this so you know what? I'mma do it again and this time it's the FULL KPOP EDITION!!! 😈😈😈 I'm not gonna tag anyone this time, though. I don't want to spam people who have already done it. So, instead, if you want to do this again, do it, and pretend I tagged you personally. 🤭 Ok, let's go, embeds under the cut.

BEcause - Dreamcatcher

I love this song. I never get tired of listening to it. It's a "love song" from the POV of a dangerously obsessive person who may or may not be out to kill the object of their affection (I told you Dreamcatcher got dark). I think it's insanely cool that the choreography is an homage to the movie "Us". You really see it in the beginning where JiU bows to Gahyeon and Gahyeon responds like her mirror image, only to then reach out and put her hands around JiU's throat. It hearkens back to the iconic funhouse scene in Us. Absolutely fantastic. 10/10, I have no notes, flawless execution (pun fully intended). This is why Dreamcatcher is my ult. For those of you who don't speak Kpop, ult means ultimate bias, or ultimate favorite. Nobody can beat them in my eyes. Nobody even comes close.

2. Zombie - Purple Kiss

Another song I can listen to on repeat for days and never get tired of. Listen at your own risk -- it's so catchy, you'll never get it out of your head for the rest of your life. Not only is it very cute and fun, it sort of helped me get over my irrational fear of zombies. Now whenever someone says the word, all I hear in my head is "ZOM-bie-bie-bie-bie, bie-bie-BIE-bie-biebiebie". 🧟‍♀️💘🧟‍♂️

3. Heartburn - Sunmi

Ignore the stupid title, this song is not about acid reflux. It's a beautiful, catchy, summery song that's 10% tragedy, 90% vibes. This is why Sunmi is the queen.

4. Love Dive - Ive

So right about now, you're noticing a pattern and you're like "hey wait a minute, this is all girl groups/singers!" Yes, I listen predominantly to girl groups. Male groups just really aren't my thing (even though I do still jam to the GOATS like Shinee and BTS occasionally). This song got insanely popular last year and I've had it on my playlist ever since. There's just something so addictive about it. Also, there's a popular interpretation out there that this song is about the myth of Echo and Narcissus. I don't know if that's the real story behind the song, but it fits so well that it's my headcanon, even if it turns out not to be true. 🎶 Narcissistic, my God, I love it. 🎶

5. Catallena - Orange Caramel

And finally, no favorite Kpop songs list of mine would be complete without Orange Caramel. Weaponized cuteness at its finest. This song is about a girl having a crush on another girl, which is an idea that was pretty rare in Kpop at the time. It mixes Korean Trot, Euro dance beats, and even samples a Punjabi wedding song, all the while the girls cosplay as sushi. Nothing about this should work, but it all fits together perfectly in one weird package. This is another one of those "listen at your own risk" situations because I guarantee you, once it's in the wrinkles of your brain, it's never coming out.

[lexifleurs-versace]

The former East

As Igor Zabel writes in his book Contemporary Art Theory " the eastern artist  has , in his effort to produce modern art, remained a kind of incompletely realized  western artist, and thus a second class artist" or sometimes a slightly different situation where  the eastern artist is seen as a "representative of a different and exotic culture". The Eastern artist, in  their attempt to please the idealized West, has become either an incompletely developed Westerner or  has turned their "easterness" in an exotic fiasco. In the post-Cold War period, the Eastern artist is no  longer expected to be a universal artist, the eastern artist is expected to be a Polish, a Bulgarian, a  Russian but never "just" an artist.  

The Bulgarian contemporary artist rarely admits to have been influenced by bulgarian art and even disregards the bulgarian art. This attitude is self colonial because they are denying the importance of the cultural context that they have grown up in and are striving for these universal forms of art which in their essence are Western ideas of art. Everything on the periphery of the Western idea is seen as “the Other” and the Bulgarian artist does not want to be that Other.

In this text I am going to explore parts of that vernacular pop culture which the Bulgarian intellectual elite are trying to escape from, to be unassociated with and are trying to eliminate its presence in their identity. DRIFTING EAST    CHALGA

 Chalga is the Bulgarian version of the Balkan folk music known as Turbo-folk in Serbia, Laiko in  Greece, Manele in Romania or Tallava in Albania. Etymologically the word “chalga” means popular  entertainment music, once played in Bulgarian towns during the Bulgarian Revival under Ottoman rule  by ethnically mixed instrumental bands, the so-called “chalgii”.  The popular culture of chalga appeared during the "transition" period which rattled Bulgaria and  other post-Soviet countries. While in ex-Yugoslavia this transition period was experienced through wars, Bulgaria's war was an economic  one. A survey done by sociologist K. Kolev shows that during the transition period “65% of all people  have not bought shoes or clothes in the past two years. 54% have not traveled between settlements.  20% have not bought even soap” . Amidst this national crisis I was born in an intellectuaé Bulgarian family strongly oppossed to chalga culture invested  in "protecting high culture". According to Open Society foundation, around the time of my birth the situation in Bulgaria was that “76% of the people have lost their social status, both objectively and subjectively, which leads to social degradation… The people’s vault of values is emptied of meaning as well as is their psychological capacity of correctly responding and dealing with problems and the elite do  not need the population, which has fallen into a state of complete exclusion and inertia." . During  this turmoil chalga music is gaining traction as the "hero" of the time, an art medium  which makes the Bulgarians forget the massive political issues going on. Shops are empty, protests for  democracy are ongoing, organized crime is steadily entering politics and people are brutalized. There is an  ongoing danger in Bulgaria, especially in the 90s, in these wretched conditions and the brutalization of  people, and the relationship between “life” and “art” gives only chalga as a result. Chalga is rejected by the intellectual communities, and "high" and "counterculture", but if reflection of reality in itself is a "high" culture, then isn't chalga a paradoxical high culture in itself?        

 Throughout this period chalga was more attuned to the cultural, political, and societal woes of everyday Bulgarians than anything produced by the self-proclaimed intellectual tastemakers of the times.  Reoccuring topics in Chalga music :

Mercedes or BMW

The presence of the importance of economical status as represented by such brands as Mercedes and BMW has been an omnipresent feature of the venucalare Bulgarian, and to some  extent Balkan, culture since the 90s.After the end of the socialist era people were finally able to buy  easily "western" brands. Owning "western" objects belonging to the world of capitalism before '89 was seen  as an extreme luxury , objects to which only a priviliged few had access to and the free market shift  made the ownership of such objects socially acceptable  The western brands are the symbol of privilege   and an expression of a high class status. Chalga singers dedicated songs to car brands, and if they didn't  explicitly name them after a brand, they implied visually their social status by featuring Mercedes and  BMW in their music videos. Thus creating a visual hegemony and an aspiration for economic stability and wealth which is what these ‘luxury’ brands represent for the masses during the transition period. In contemporary pop culture in Bulgaria one can say that the definition of success  is owning a Mercedes. Usually owning a Mercedes means that the owner is someone who lives abroad - in Western Europe - and is therefore rich (  the local stereotype is that all Western Europeans are rich). It is  very common that most of the people who live up to the Bulgarian dream of owning a Mercedes are  working for less than the minimum wage in countries such as the UK, Germany or Switzerland , working  over hours and living in horrible conditions. They save money during their stay in Europe in order to  buy the shiniest and newest Mercedes or BMW so that when they come back home they can show all  their neighbours how powerful and rich they are. In its essence the Mercedes is a symbol not only of a  mindset developed during the 90s but can also be seen as a symbol of the social position of the  Eastern European diaspora in Western Europe.  

In the video clip of Nelina - Bial Mercedes / Нелина - Бял Мерцедес / ENG: White Mercedes  we see the narrator, the singer Nelina, dancing in the typical lo fi, green screen 90s aesthetics setting montage and shaky low production camera footage. " A white mercedes is following me around in life  and is constantly walking next to me, a white mercedes has taken my attention but love is not sold for  money, I have foreign currency that I can sell but I do not sell my love for money , my mom sent me to  the change bureau so that I can buy one green dollar but in the change bereau they are out of dollars ...  " . The White Mercedes in this song stands for the man whose social status ranks him to have anything he  desires. The Mercedes owner waves a one dollar bill at Nelina only to assert his dominance. As  viewers we are confronted with different images depicting the comfort of this symbol in its making (as  seen in Image 1) and we are put in front of this difficult choice that Nelina is facing. She has to make a  choice - submit to the dream of the "west" , of having money , of being Western and putting aside her  "easterness" but by doing so affirming even more her position as an Eastern European woman in the  context of male - female relationship , or rejecting the idea of having money, as post-socialist philosophy  . In this song we can see not only the inner battle of a woman struggling whether to marry a man for  money, but we see the more complex relationship of former East and former West ideologies. The  "West" represents the bourgeouis, who 50 years prior to this song were murdered or robbed in all  post-Soviet countries, through the symbol of Mercedes and rejecting the symbol of Mercedes

represents the traditional socialist thinking which is "higher" and "devoted to the nation". But in  Image 2. we see Nelina merging with the Mercedes and this can only mean that no matter what choice  she makes it is evident that the symbol of Mercedes is an inevitable part of her identity.  

In Rositsa Peycheva - Dai mi Tate Malko Parichki / Росица Пейчева - Дай ми тате малко  парички / ENG: Daddy, give me some money 1995, Image 4. , we can see a merge between Balkan  culture with the newly arrived Western culture. The five musicians playing traditional to the chalgii  music instruments are fading into a highway traversed by a BMW. But in this context the musicians are  not the ones seeking dominance through owning luxurious items. The musicians themselves are part of  this property. The highest goal for the Balkan gasterbaiter (slang word for bulgarians who work as  construction workers in Europe) is to be able to come back to their home country with an expensive car  and throw a massive party in their home village. But this parties are not what a party looks like in  Western Europe. These parties consist of inviting at least everyone in the village, decorating the village  and inviting the most expensive orchestra, usually a Roma orchestra. The musicians play only if the  audiences sticks money on their foreheads. If the money stops, the music stops. It is very common for  Balkan party- goers to spend between 50euros and 4000 euros per song. Therefore Image 2. is a  representation of the highest form of being the most successful, specifically gasterbaiter, Eastern  European.

In Image 5: Simpatiagi - Za milioni niama zakoni /Симпатяги - За милиони няма закони / ENG  : For people who have millions there are no rules 1998 we see two thugs asserting their power by  standing next to their Mercedes. Here the role of the Mercedes is a little bit different. While it still  represents dominance, it is a different branch of the Mercedes dream. This dream is designated for the  most daring - the ones who are ready to take the once in a lifetime oppurtunity of becoming a criminal.  While it is a job that hides some risks, the thugs of the 90s (as we see in the watermark of Image 5) ruled  the country and potentially are in charge up to this day. The biggest barrier to becoming a Mercedes  owning thug was the risk of getting shot or getting arrested in the case for those who were not so high  in the hierarchal structure. The image represents essential trademarks of the Bulgarian thugs - golden  chains, dark sunglasses and black clothes. And ofcourse, what is a thug without a Mercedes?  

In Image 6: Tzvetelina - Sto mercedesa /Цветелина - Сто мерцедеса / ENG: One hundred Mercedes cars, 1997 we see a young beautiful woman surrounded by a rain of Mercedes. The rain of  Mercedes could be seen as a substitute of the cliché rain of money. After all , anyone can have money,  but not everyone has enough to buy a Mercedes. Interestingly enough, the lyrics of the song are  exploring a love story and the value of the love is represented through the amount of Mercedes cars the  lady owns. " 100 Mercedes, I will drive them for 100 years and a 100 men will want to marry me". In this  song the Mercedes is no longer just a symbol of money. The Mercedes represents everything - it is the  lover, it is the lenght of a life, it is the social position. WOMEN FOR MALE PLEASURE 

In chalga music , the female singer or actress is depicted as a sexy woman whose only  concern in life is how to please the men around her. The man is strong and is either a thug or tries to be  one. The narrative demonstrates the power play position of the rich Balkan man and the quiet beautiful  woman. She is entertaining, forgiving and sensitive. He is strong, powerful and wears gold. He has as  many women as possible. The more women he has around him, the richer he appears to be.

In its essence it is a social game whose winner is the richest. This might be regarded as PTSD  from the deprivation of capitalism before '89. After '89 the people who were robbed of the experience  of "being unequal" could finally show that they are better than their peers. And what other way to prove  your superiority but with demonstrating your wealth to acquire high status. In reality, most people in  the 90s were poor but that made chalga even more attractive. It represented a sort of a dream world, a  so to say collective consciousness. This person, who listens to chalga, is not a chalga celebrity such as  Milko Kalaydzhiev or Kamelia , who are projections of his or her dreams. This person articulates through  the language of chalga imagery but they remain his or hers best self. Chalga dictates the norms and rules  of the pop culture.  

The socialist parliaments in Eastern Europe included a higher number of women than those in Western Europe before ‘89. Prior to the regime change, the average percentage of women in those parliaments was 26% compared to only 12.5% in the European Union member states. After the first free elections the level of women’s representation in parliament decreased. In Bulgaria it fell down from 21% to 8.5%.

As the iron curtain fell, mysoginist came front hiding behind the idea of free speech. We can see the root of this issue in “socialist feminism” – the woman was portrayed both as a laborer and a mother thus retaining her “women” duties in her private life, while being equal on paper to her male colleagues. Even though there was a significant number of women in politics, they had almost no power and were shadowing the male leaders in their sphere. And as the transition period of the ‘90s arrived, Western feminist ideologies were seen either as a colonial power trying to impose foreign beliefs or a type of bourgeouis feminism. Thus chalga reacted as a counterculture agent trying to establish a national identity which didn’t respond to external pressure whether that be from the West or the East.

Whether chalga is one of the roots of sexism in Bulgaria or is a reflection of the already existing sexism in the country is not clear. But in contemporary culture chalga listeners preach beliefs of gender inequality. Even though men are as objectified as women in these videos, the objectification remains in the respective gender boxes. The woman must be attractive, have big breasts, wear as little clothing as possible, be submissive even if she is portrayed as strong and independent. She is suffering for she can not live without the male character. The man must be strong, he must display his financial status through cars and gold, he is in power even when he is weak or dependent. He is suffering for the female character but usually forgets about her because he can have any girl he desires. It is a sort of power play between emotional and financial dominance.

IMMIGRATION / EUROPE

The most traumatic topic for Bulgarians today is emmigration. From a population of roughly  9million in 1989 to roughly 7 million in 2019, Bulgaria faces one of the biggest population declines that  are not caused by a war. Most Bulgarians aspire to live abroad as they know that this is the only way to  self-realisation. The immigration process has become even easier after 2007 (the year Bulgaria became  part of the European Union) as visas were no longer required to live in the EU. Chalga music, as the  trustworthy mirror it has proven to be, has taken this topic at heart and has a wide range of music  clips tackling this issue.  

In Kali - Shengen / Кали - Шенген, 2000 , we see a fictive Shengen border which is guarded by  two border police men . They are playful but at the same time are strict and do not allow the Bulgarians  to enter Shengen. Even though the song was created for parties, it has a strong political message. " Will I  manage to get in Shengen? Can I be a European member?" is part of the refrain. Alongside the video ,  the Shengen song represents one of the biggest political questions at the time. The Eastern European  who is wondering whether they are good enough for the Europeans, whether they are savage or civilised, and their worth is measured by their status in the EU. Some of the characters in the video are represented by "european looking" Bulgarians, whilst others dressed in the traditional Bulgarian clothes represent what needs to be eliminated from Bulgarian culture in order to be seen as worthy. The  characters trying to pass the border are performing different tricks for the border police and their

entry is based on the entertainment value of their performance. The Eastern European is seen as  the one who is invited only if they play by the rules and marginalized if she/he demonstrated  their culture too much. The invitation is conditional.  

In Lia - Mitnichariu/ Лия - Митничарю / ENG: Borderpolice, 2001 we see a beautiful young lady  stuck at a border point. She is begging the policemen to enter their country whilst offering them  different types of bribes. She drives an expensive car, which means that she has been working abroad  and now wants to go back home. The border police do not allow people with expensive cars to pass  the border without taking a bribe, even today. The lyrics of the song " give him 200 deutsche marks, he  is human after all and he needs money to buy cigarettes" are giving a sort of innocence to the act of  corruption. Lia is normalizing the corruption culture but she is also giving a voice to the Bulgarians who  live abroad and experience this border police reality. Rather than describing a fictional situation, Lia is  addressing an actual issue . She is not trying to take a political stance i.e. fight corruption, but rather  is trying to deal with immediate corrupted regulations .The Bulgarian doesn't want to be involved in changing the country, they know it is not possible. The Bulgarian wants to get rid of the  bureaucratic situation as fast as possible and knows the cost of it. The individual wants to give the  money required and go home to see their family as fast as possible because they have only a few days  off from work in the West. In a few days they will have to drive another 1000 km to go back to  Western Europe and continue working. The border police is just one of the many obstacles on the  journey. The Bulgarian knows that if he refuses to pay the bribe there will be greater consequences,  even if he has not done anything illegal. Mitnichariu is a song which I listen to every time I am faced  with Balkan border police, it gives assurance that I am not the only one experiencing this injustice and it  gives me hope that these thug policemen are eventually going to let me through the border.

The border is a mythical location. It is a place where anything it can happen. For the  border police it is a sort of cash machine. Refering to my own experience during the summer of 2020 I  was asked for my car insurance at the border between Montenegro and Croatia. I gave them my international insurance which explicitly covers Montenegro. The borderpolice said it is not possible to pass through unless I buy their insurance and claimed that mine was invalid. After arguing for twenty minutes, one of the border police gave me 3 choice : buy their insurance, get arrested or go back to Croatia. When I bought their insurance at the price of 15 euros and hurried to enter Montenegro, I saw  that document they gave me said One Week Insurance for Belarus. An elaborate scheme for taking  bribes through a company in another country. Technically, this insurance was worthless, unless I went to  Belarus in the upcoming days. This is just one of the many examples of the cash machine which Balkan  borders can be. In the video clip of Lia we can see an exploration of this topic through her personal  experience, which even though personal can be relatable for any Eastern Europeans who has had to  pass through the Balkans by car.  

Even though there are other visual culture references in chalga music , I have decided to focus in this text on the holy trinity of the chalga person - cars, women and Europe. heteronormativity

To end this visual analysis of chalga we must have in mind that the music in its essence is Orientalist but it is not the Saidian concept of Orientalism. Bulgaria does not have the colonial history which Europe has with Oriental culture but was rather under Ottoman rule for 500 years up until the late 19th century which makes orientalism a big part of the Balkan identity. The orientalism of chalga helps the listener to break free from the cultural elite formed during Soviet times and it can been seen as a tool to decolonize the national identity from Western culture. Rather than mocking “Eastern” values which are seen as uncivilized or backward in the eyes of Western Europe, the sultans and sheiks are transformed in a treasure vault mocking the Western ideals. They have been transformed in mafia businessmen, luxury capitalist gods, and the target of irony , even if not conscious, are the dreams connected to the Western life. 

__________________

Bibliography:

Igor Zabel - Contemporary Art Theory

Rosemary Statelova - The Seven Sins of Chalga

Boris Groys- The Total Art of Stalinism: Avant-Garde, Aesthetic Dictatorship, and Beyond

Boryana Rossa - The Tree of Bulgarian artists

Vesa Kurkela - Balkan Popular Culture and the Ottoman Ecumene: Music, Image, and Regional Political Discourse 

Rory Archer - Assessing Turbofolk Controversies: Popular Music between the Nation and the Balkans.

 Reference links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv18ZnLFQBc - Bial Mercedes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5dJVFoXzL4  - 100 Mercedesa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvjzB3zQDRg - Dai mi tate malko parichki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVMTaIIFQgQ - Za milioni niama zakoni

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZtN1Fu_G6I - Mitnichariu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwzVGVjtAIs - Shengen

[firespirited]

30 minutes into the podcast on disco demolition from your wrong about recced by @cosmomoore and i’m talking to my screen: “speaking of exclusionary did you know Chic wrote le freak about being excluded from studio 54 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Freak“ like I’m such a nerd for disco and post disco house because

ok readmore for long post again

the local teen radio back in ardèche was run by this middle aged super cheesy buddy guy who would switch late night time over to chicago and detroit club feeds and i had serious insomnia and i loved motown so it was just seamless to fall in love. There was an other older guy and he loved disco divas and this was his radio station of choice, who knows why, so he’d phone in and request Hot Stuff in between teens declaring eternal love over some Sash, Jamiroquai or No Doubt and the older dj was like oh cool it’s my bud the donna summer fan like they knew eachother.

The other radio station that wasn’t like dumb pranks and oooh saucy talk or for some reason machina 24/7 (half my spanish, i learned against my will from machina and it’s mostly about the devil and how horny he is) was of course Nos-tal-gie which now plays 80s-00s stuff but back in the late 90s early 00s it’s was 50s to early 80s. They did disco evenings regularly with a 70-30 ratio of american vs euro covers/euro disco including fairly recent german and italian disco.  I should add that this was when downloading a song took an hour so you either had your music collection or whatever radio channels you could get; so you end up knowing your album beat for beat exactly how many seconds to skip the annoying song bit, exactly how many press backs to get to that great part. And the thing about top 40s if you’ve ever been stuck in an environment where a radio or tv plays for hours... is that 40 is not many at all. In fact it feels like the same three songs, the same three ads and there’s always one of them that becomes like a physical irritant.

Anyway that’s how I became a human shazam from the early 90s to late aughts and (very white) 60s to early 80s who can’t tell you the band name but can sing the rest of the tune and half the lyrics for pretty much anything that came close to mainstream and found refuge and a real sense of going home in disco and house. of couse once you get the internet you get to expand the horizons.

ok 44 mins in and we’re at the fake saturday night fever cover story that inspired the movie and yeah that sounds like some of the mod and even some northern soul dance movements which were like 30 guys all doing the same moves in formation trying to keep some macho energy in there.

50 mins and they said the sesame street fever album actually isn’t bad. VINDICATION. They had quality writers for that.

aaaaaaaaah at minute 55 they just mentioned Le Freak being born from being shut out of studio 54. good podcast. good research. all is forgiven

oh yes they’re going into the gender politics tying into homophobia. *chefs kiss*

the conclusions are exactly what i would said <3 I generally really like ‘You’re wrong about’ though it’s a full 1h30 and i’d prefer an article that reads in 45 minutes instead.

[lovejustforaday]

Underrated Gems - Love and Glitter, Hot Days and Music by Helen Love

Love and Glitter, Hot Days and Music - Helen Love

Main Genres: Bubblegum Dance, Twee Pop, Pop Punk

A decent sampling of: Happy Hardcore, Indietronica, Dance-Punk, Power Pop Have you ever wondered what it would sound like if ADHD was an album? Well, here's your answer.

Love and Glitter, Hot Days and Music is an odd concoction of hipster twee pop sensibilities, y2k internet culture, chintzy Euro-style bubblegum dance, Joey Ramone worship, and gamer weeb aesthetics. Trust me, it makes a lot more sense once you hear it.

But get this - Helen Love aren’t some gen Z post-100 Gecs bandcamp project obsessed with hyperpop and the y2k nostalgia from their childhood. No no no, this came out in the year 2000. These guys are proto-Gecs, proto-Bladee, proto-KKB, basically proto-everything that’s cool and hip right now.

Helen Love are an obscure twee-punk-electronic band fronted by a woman of the same name. These guys have been putting out EPs since the 90s, and to say they were ahead of their time is an understatement. When this dropped in 2000 most people weren’t ready for this kind of post-ironic, internet savvy music, and likewise Helen Love never really made it big, not even by indie music standards.

Even the band’s visual aesthetic feels way ahead of its time. The glitchy, sugary anime cartoon jumbles of their LP and EP covers would fit very nicely with your favourite HexD soundcloud rapper or whatever these days. Also, for the record, these guys still haven’t quit and even put out an album earlier this year which I plan on checking out soon.

But I digress. Sure, it’s ahead of its time, but Love and Glitter, Hot Days and Music is also just a really fun album, like a forty minute Sega Dreamcast fever dream that refuses to let up for even a second. I’m sure to some people this could be grating, but my ADHD ass would gladly inject this shit directly into my veins if it were at all physically possible.

“Shifty Disco Girl” doesn’t waste a second, immediately opening the LP with a buzzing punk guitar riff set to a 190 bpm drumkit with a tongue-in-cheek lyrical ode to some flavour of manic pixie dream girl who wants to live in Tokyo.

The biggest highlight for me is “Who Stole The Starz”, a warm and fuzzy piece of sentimental youth that sounds totally blasted with dizzy 16bit-like synths. It’s basically musical antidepressants and I could very easily get addicted.

“2000mph Girl” mostly switches out bubblegum dance sounds for jumpy hip hop beats, sounding kind of like a spiritual predecessor to the brilliant “Vroom Vroom” by Charli XCX and SOPHIE. I think it would make an excellent alternate theme song for My Life As A Teenage Robot or The Power Puff Girls.

The title track “Love and Glitter, Hot Days and Music” is the closest thing to an intermission the album has, taking the tempo down just a few small notches with a shamelessly giddy twee pop singalong tune. Still, you probably shouldn’t listen to this one before bed like I am currently doing as I type this out.

Admittedly, Love and Glitter, Hot Days and Music is pretty frontloaded, but there’s still two major standouts in the second half. Most notably, there’s “Bigbigkiss” which samples part of the lyrics to a pleasant little Shangri-La’s song into something positively manic, with a zippy drum machine beat and gorgeously clipped and compressed punk shouting that serves as backing vocals.

Also, when I mentioned ‘Joey Ramone worship’ earlier, what I really meant is that Helen Love are like, REALLY BIG fans of the Ramones, so it’s pretty cool that these little indie misfits were actually able to get Joey Ramone himself to do a duet on the track “Punk Boy” not long before he tragically died a year after the album’s release. The track itself is somewhat of a jab at the whole concept of ‘real punk’ vs. ‘fake punk’, which I find very fitting for a band that so uniquely transforms the idea of punk music.

So yeah, I’ll be the first to admit that this album isn’t for everyone, but I personally love it with all of its originality, unabashed hyperactivity, and minor imperfections. Regardless, it’s long overdue that Helen Love get the credit they rightfully deserve for the creative and prescient sounds of Love and Glitter, Hot Days and Music.

9/10

highlights: “Who Stole The Starz”, “Shifty Disco Girl”, “Love and Glitter, Hot Days and Music”, “Bigbigkiss”, "2000mph Girl”, “Atomic Beat Boy”, “Punk Boy”

[nerianasims]

Billboard #1s 1980

Under the cut.

KC & The Sunshine Band -- "Please Don't Go" -- January 5, 1980

Is that falsetto in the opening or merely an attempt at it? KC & The Sunshine Band trying to do a sincere, sad ballad does not work. Now I have the dance remix by KWS that was a hit in the 90s (and apparently plagiarized from a Euro-dance group) in my head.

Michael Jackson -- "Rock With You" -- January 18, 1980

I thought I had never heard this song before until I heard the chorus. Oh yeah, this one. I don't know if Michael Jackson singing a sex jam would have worked for me before, well, all the child molestation coming to light. Now it really doesn't. There's only so much "separate the art from the artist" I'm capable of, though I am in favor of it. On another note, in the video, he's wearing the sparkliest outfit I have ever seen.

The Captain & Tennille -- "Do That To Me One More Time" -- February 16, 1980

I don't want to think about The Captain doing it even once. That is the problem with this song. Other than that, I think it's a perfectly acceptable cheesy love song. Well, except for the... plastic flute? I don't know what that is, but I'm not fond of it.

On a kind of strange note, I scrolled ahead, and starting here, I recognize almost all the songs for the next couple years on this list. Maybe they were played more on the oldies stations? At clubs? Restaurants? Maybe I came to musical consciousnous at three and a half years old?

Queen -- "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" -- February 23, 1980

 This is not a top tier Queen song, but Freddie Mercury belching would be better music than anything Barry Gibb did. Not top tier, but still very fun. And it's always great hearing Freddie Mercury do whatever the hell he wants to do with his voice. Here, he has fun doing a little bit of Elvis, but not too much. It's a rockability track by Queen. So it's great.

Pink Floyd -- "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" -- March 22, 1980

We don't need no education. This is a song about the horrible British teachers who used withering sarcasm and cruelty against the children under their care. (Like Snape, basically.) I think it's about boarding schools, since the teachers apparently have control over whether or not the kids get pudding. British boarding schools were terrible. British boarding schools are terrible, though they seem to be trying to be better. We'll see. They have hundreds of years' practice at bricking kids' psyches up in walls, and I don't trust them to change. Um, anyway, it's a good song, but not one I'd choose to listen to separate from the entire album.

Blondie -- "Call Me" -- April 19, 1980

This song actually does start with "Color me your color, baby." Or I suppose "colour" since Blondie are Brits. But it's not like the lyrics are deep -- if you can understand "Call me," you get it. I guess it's technically a love song, but since Debbie Harry sings in such an intentionally icy manner, it's anything but passionate. It's still fun and light and musically interesting.

Lipps, Inc. -- "Funkytown" -- May 31, 1980

This song is about moving out of a town that's stifling and to a town that's right for you -- "Funkytown." It could be any big city with a music scene. It's a dance song with very few lyrics, and yet the lyrics are important. The singer has "talked about it talked about it talked about it," but is determined to finally do it. It's a good funky disco song, and a good send-off for the genre's dominance.

Paul McCartney and theWings -- "Coming Up (Live At Glasgow)" -- June 28, 1980

It sounds a little bit like McCartney trying to do Philly soul, horns included. But lighter, because Paul McCartney. I can't remember the lyrics even just after I heard them, but it's a love song. Quite boring.

Billy Joel -- "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" -- July 19, 1980

I love a lot of Billy Joel songs. I don't really love this one. I like the sentiment -- "Oh, it doesn't matter what they say in the papers/ 'Cause it's always been the same old scene/ There's a new band in town but you can't get the sound/ From a story in a magazine/ Aimed at your average teen." He also criticizes the 80s' roaring materialism, which hadn't even hit its nadir yet. But I dunno. Maybe it's a little slow? It needs something.

Olivia Newton-John -- "Magic" -- August 2, 1980

I had never heard of the movie Xanadu until about a decade ago. It's a staple of bad movie sites. Its plot is bonkers, and some very 1980 blockhead is the male lead. The story would have made more sense and the movie been far better if Olivia Newton-John's character had gotten together with Gene Kelly, who's also in the movie, instead. Anyway, this love song is from the movie's soundtrack. It's got a little bit of that mystical vibe that Stevie Nicks did so well, and that always appeals to me. I can't pretend this is a great song, or even necessarily a good one. But it speaks to the 12-year old in me.

Christopher Cross -- "Sailing" -- August 30, 1980

This is the most Florida song ever. Because it doesn't sound like he really has a boat. "Fantasy, it gets the best of me/ When I'm sailing/ All caught up in the reverie, every word is a symphony/ Won't you believe me?" Musically, it sounds like it would go well with a sailboat. But almost none of us have sailboats. We have fantasies. It's a nice-sounding song, and if you think about it enough, it becomes more complex than it seems.

Diana Ross -- "Upside Down" -- September 6, 1980

I'm going to have to face up to the fact that I usually don't like how Diana Ross sings. She's too slick and detached for me, without lyrics that go with that. I cannot believe this woman was ever turned "upside down" by love. And of course the guy she's singing this to is cheating. But she's okay with it, because of course she is, he's just so awesome that she's singing to him "respectfully." I like this song musically, except for Diana Ross' emotionally distant singing, but I hate the lyrics, and I am extremely sick of this no-maintenance schtick.

Queen -- "Another One Bites the Dust" -- October 4, 1980

This might be the only Queen song I don't like. I'm not saying it's bad. It's probably very good. But I have heard the chorus way too much. Otoh, I've heard "We Will Rock You" even more, and I still like that. Maybe there's too much... stuff in this one? I don't know. It's definitely too repetitive. It's no "Don't Stop Me Now," that's for sure. Queen's best songs never reached #1 in the U.S., and I don't know if any came near until "Bohemian Rhapsody" hit #2 when I was in high school. But reaching the charts is a very bad sign of whether or not music is actually good.

Barbra Streisand -- "Woman in Love" -- October 25, 1980

I'm not going to go back to check, but I think Barbra Streisand has exactly the same pose and expression on the covers of all her singles. This one was written by Barry Gibb, oh joy. I wondered if this would be an additive or a multiplicative factor in how bad the song (which I had never heard) was. Something happened that I didn't expect: It made the song so boring it slips out of my head while I’m listening to it. There's the line "no truth is ever a lie." Brilliant, Barry, what a lyricist. Also, that line is not true. Barry Gibb was apparently not familiar with Othello. Anyway, since I'm just bored, I guess Streisand and Gibb together is actually better than them separately. Still bad, though.

Kenny Rogers -- "Lady" -- November 15, 1980

It's a love song in which the narrator sings that he's your knight in shining armor. That sentiment should be surrounded by more interesting music in some way. Something operatic, or mystical, or country, something. Kenny Rogers was never one of my favorites, but he's capable of something. This song is nothing. Lionel Richie wrote it, so of course.

John Lennon -- "(Just Like) Starting Over" -- December 27, 1980

This song hit #1 just after Lennon was murdered. I was 4 years old, but I actually remember when John Lennon was murdered -- I was in the car with one or more parental units (I don't remember who), and it came on the radio. I was upset. I knew Beatles music, my parents played it all the time, and I knew who John Lennon was. I'm still extremely sad about his death today. This song is about how happy he was with Yoko, all settled down and looking forward to a nice, calm, loving future together. Ugh I'm gonna cry.

BEST OF 1980 -- "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen. WORST OF 1980 -- "Please Don't Go" by KC & The Sunshine Band

[deathdroprp]

Hello folks! Moonshine here, and with the release of the site member groups and the awesome decade theme that I love I got a lot of muses running through the veins and figured why not channel that into some playlist? I may add to these and I may not. Who’s to say? Anyways I hope you like them and feel just as jazzed as myself about this upcoming site. Without further ado... the unofficial RadarRP playlists!  

The Sounds of the 60s

It was a time all about social unrest, counter culture, and who can forget those four boys from Liverpool. The feel of the decade was activism through art and artist were more than musicians - they were rockstars! 

The Groovy 70s

Disco hit the airwaves and dominates the dancefloor. Meanwhile, Rock n' Roll finds a voice and a little show called Soul Train introduces the world to Rnb.

Made In the 80s

Disco is dead and TV has killed the radio star. This decade is all about material girls, thillers, and totally bitchin' music. Meanwhile, in Harlem a brand new style of expression takes the city by storm and soon the world!

Like, Totally 90s

Boybands and girl groups dominate the pop scene but the biggest question of the decade is "Tupac or Biggie?" Simultaneously a melancholy sound takes Seattle by storm and Chicago's techno music rules the Euro scene.

That’s Hot - The 2000s

Power up your iPod nano and dance around in front of a colorful backdrop! It's the age of Limewire and Napster and our computers can take another hit of malware if it means you're getting that poppin' for your next "profile song."

The 2010s Essentials

Snuggle up to bae and "do it for the vine!" Social media rules the music scene and with internet more common than ever the decade has trouble rooting itself in one sound as new opportunities for underground & experimental artists to reach more fans than ever arise.

[randomvarious]

2 Unlimited - "Get Ready for This" 1991 Eurodance / Eurohouse / House

Yuuuuup. Outside of that nutty megamix that was literally called "The Jock Jam" that fused together pieces of, like, 30 jock jams in total, this 1991 debut single from Belgian-Dutch dance project 2 Unlimited is the king jock jam of all other jock jams. And what I've always found to be most baffling about this group in particular is that, despite them being maybe the most overplayed act in US history–thanks to their permanent residency on sports arena playlists for about three decades now—most Americans would never be able to recognize either member of 2 Unlimited if they saw them in public. And that's really kind of wild to think about, considering the fact that, basically since Elvis, the music industry has operated on this truism that you will always need a face to sell the music. But in the case of this group that was easily one of the single-most popular in the world during the early-to-mid-90s, that standard clearly didn't fully apply to 2 Unlimited in the US.

But it's not that they ever wanted it that way. It's just that MTV was very averse to letting dance music bleed out of their niche programming into their regular video rotations. So, when this song was out, the only place on TV that you really could've caught the video for it was on MTV's own Club MTV show.

So, with that in mind, over the next handful of days, I wanna revisit a bunch of the music videos that 2 Unlimited put out when they were huge, since Americans were hardly ever exposed to them in the first place. You don't have to love their music—not even I will ever cop to that much—but a lot of their videos were cool and fun, and each one was really a vibe unto itself.

But first, some good 2 Unlimited history!

2 Unlimited started as a partnership in 1991 between a pair of Belgian guys named Phil Wilde and Jean-Paul de Coster. In '89, they released a couple dance hits as Bizz Nizz that were particularly popular in the UK: "We're Gonna Catch You" and "Don't Miss the Party Line." But no amount of listening to those hits could've prepared you for what they would unleash just a couple years later as 2 Unlimited, with "Get Ready for This."

This silly raver banged against European club walls in 1991, as it catchily cycled through happily revved-up string synths and acid-dotted comedowns. And you could have some fun in attempting to replicate its lead melody too, by repeatedly scratching your nails across your very own beautifully multi-colored 90s nylon tracksuit, because that's what it kind of sounded like 😅.

But as 2 Unlimited at that point was only just a couple producers, outside of a pair of samples, including that of rapper The D.O.C.'s "It's Funky Enough" to get the iconic "y'all ready for this" line, the original version of this Euro-club hit was just an instrumental. And Wilde and de Coster knew that if they wanted to be a more popular act, and succeed in America, they would need to recruit a vocalist. So, they enlisted someone that they'd already had a relationship with: a Dutch MC named Ray Slijngaard, who had performed on a Bizz Nizz track that ended up going unreleased.

And this is where the overall trajectory of 2 Unlimited both suddenly and drastically changed. Wilde and de Coster gave Ray a tape of "Get Ready for This" for him to rap over, and when he came back to them with the finished product, there was unexpectedly a woman named Anita Doth singing on it too. And the contrasting dynamic between Ray's intense and inane Euro-rapping, and Anita's soothing singing that managed to relieve all the residual tension that he had built up, showed Wilde and de Coster a vision from Ray that they hadn't seemed to seriously entertain before: that 2 Unlimited could have more than one star vocalist; and they could also be of different genders.

And that moment is when the floodgates opened. This new vocal version of "Get Ready for This" would make its way Stateside, and by September of 1992, it would finally enter the Billboard Hot 100. Then, the following month, its corresponding album, Get Ready, would reach its peak position on the Billboard 200 at the 197th spot, which is definitely very low, but through the years, as countless Americans would continuously be exposed to "Get Ready for This" by way of their local tastemaking sports arena playlist compiler, the album would eventually achieve gold status, and the single would reach its #38 peak by April of 1995 as well. And perhaps the song's biggest point of American pride: it also served as the anchor track to open that aforementioned "Jock Jam" megamix!

So, now the video, which was a pretty electric one, as the cameraperson kept employing frantic and jostling zoom-ins and zoom-outs that transmitted a feeling of chaos while Ray and Anita danced and took turns playing the nearby synthesizer. And I'm also not sure exactly how 2 Unlimited became a fixture of seemingly every sports arena in the US, but maybe the very weird Los Angeles Kings visor that Ray was rocking here encouraged it. You have to remember that, because Wayne Gretzky was on the team, the Kings were one of hockey's biggest spectacles back then, and maybe Ray's donning of that...hat...was 2 Unlimited's way of trying to get the NHL's attention? 🤔

Anyway, the number of times that I've heard at least a snippet of "Get Ready for This" in my lifetime probably numbers somewhere in the quadruple digits by now, so, naturally, at this point, I've become pretty unflinchingly numb to it; but watching this music video for it really has me hype for this song in a way that I haven't been in an extremely long time, which should tell you just how enjoyable it is! 🤩

Yeah!

More fun videos here.

[the-stoned-ranger]

music ask game take 2

i already did this but was tagged by @culumacilinte and had so much fun rediscovering music last time that I’m doing it again. so welcome to the niche corner part 2: is “sad electrofunk” a legitimate genre of music?

“Bourbon”, Gallant: I have a thing for falsettos. An awesome downtempo alt-R&B track. Makes you sad and also makes you wanna dance.

“Sprawl II”, Arcade Fire: While this is far from my favorite song on the album, “The Suburbs” is one of my favorite albums of the last ten years. One of my coworker’s mom’s worked for their record label, and leaked her son, an Arcade Fire fan, “The Suburbs” weeks before it was released. We listened to it on repeat. It reminds me of being young and dumb in New York City, racing around the streets on my bike and hanging out at the Banks and trying to learn BMX and falling and hurting myself and generally failing completely.

“Baby Sucks,” Polica: A bass-heavy 80’s inflected track whose catchy beats contrast against haunting, aching vocals

“Let Yourself Go”, Big Daddy Kane: An old-school track off Kane’s seminal 1994 album, “Daddy’s Home”

“Zero Hill”, the Herbaliser featuring Twin Peaks: A dystopian hip-hop track with an awesome droning ANALOG baseline--that’s an actual electric bass, up at the top of the mix! I love hiphop that mixes  real instruments with the samples.

“No Way”, Young Fathers: If you don’t know who Young Fathers are, you’re missing out! They’re a Scottish band that mixes rap, R&B, and African beats. Their songs are powerfully emotional and feel a kick to the stomach. Though they didn’t come up on this playlist, “Sister”, “Toy”, and “I Heard” are my favorites by them.

“Moon”, Beth Orton: I have loved Beth Orton since Portishead in the 90s. This song is  witchy, dark, and haunting. Her falsetto in the bridge gives me shivers.

“Secret in the Dark, Juan Maclean Remix”, Monika: Yes, I love trashy Euro dance music, why do you ask? Samples Stevie Wonder’s “Superstitious”, which is probably why I like it.

“Call It Heaven”, Shakey Graves featuring Esme Patterson: A stripped down, downhome arrangement that’s all about the dueting voices. I love the way that the singers push their voices to the limit; the imperfection and the gravelly, broken quality of their voices makes this song ache.

“Fantasy”, Kari Faux: Fierce lady hiphop with jazzy horns and a strong anti-patriarchy message.

“Electric Mistress”, Jamiroquai: OK, Jamiroquai are legit one of my favorite bands, you can stop laughing at me now. I remember buying “Traveling without Moving” and listening to it so much I wore out the CD. No one does “sad electrofunk” quite like Jamiroquai! This song is a riot of electronic blips and samples of ringing bells. 

“Today’s Your Day”, Fatlip: Just a super fun hip-hop song with a great beat. Mixes rap verses with a Parliament-style singing. I love putting this song on repeat and letting my fingers type to it.

“Runaway,” Nice as Fuck: Reminds me of a modern PJ Harvey or Liz Phair song. Strong female vocalists with a lo-fi arrangement: analog drum and bass, with some samples  

“Masterminds”, Hieroglyphics feat. Tajal: Hieroglyphics is an old-school West Coast hip-hop collective where Del the Funky Homosapien got his start. It’s like sci-fi hip hop

“Now or Never”, Smoove and Turrell: I usually prefer the more funk-infused songs by Smoove and Turrell. “Now or Never” is a departure from their usual style, an almost-vaudevillian R&B song. 

“Super Hero”, Kool Keith & MF Doom: Name a more iconic duo that Kool Keith & MF Doom. I’ll wait... Oh, you can’t. That’s OK, this is a nerdy rap song that sounds like reading a comic book. The beat in the background sounds like walking into a dungeon in a video game (I’m pretty sure Kool Keith actually sampled the Jehovah theme song from Final Fantasy VII in this song!)

“Action”, by Cassius, Cat Power, and Mike D: This is a weirdo. Genre-defying. A vaguely Caribbean beat, an aggressive rhyme style, and Cat Power’s melancholy voice. Somehow, it works!

“Steve Biko (Stir it Up)”, A Tribe Called Quest: A old-school icon from Jamaica, Queens. One of my faves since the 90s! I used to have this album on cassette tape

“Magic Together (Instrumental)”, Lack of Afro: A new-school funk musician. I love listening to instrumental versions of funk and hiphop songs to get me in the mood to write

“Born into the Sunset (Remix)”, Temples with Lindstrom and Prins Thomas: Another mostly-instrumental electrofunk track for writing times. 

[thedornishprincess]

g2k me uncomfortably well

I was tagged by @eatmyshiftsticky thanks sweetie !! :) I’m sorry to answer to this so late but this week at wasn’t home and I couldn’t do it. I’m so sorry to also be less active here but never forget I love you all and I miss you !!! 

1. What is your middle name?

I don’t have any middle name. Just a first name :) Anthea

2. How old are you?

18

3. When is your birthday?

30th May 

4. What is your zodiac sign?

Gemini !

5. What is your favourite colour?

Black, Purple & Red

6. What’s your lucky number?

Uhm well... 7 

7. Do you have any pets?

Not anymore... my cat died a month ago. But my neighbor’s dog really love me and I considere him as my own dog :)

8. Where are you from?

France 

9. How tall are you?

5′5

10. What shoe size are you?

8 US

11. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

Hard question !! I think... 10 

12. What was your last dream about?

I can’t really remember but It was something really weird and at the same time awful. It was actually a fucking nightmare

13. What talents do you have?

I can do some twirl with my drumsticks, I dance pretty well and I think that’s all ! LOL

14. Are you psychic in any way?

I don’t think so 

15. Favourite song?

Dammmmmm !!! I can’t choose !!! It’s so hard !! Who are you, the devil ??! LOL ok so.... Don’t you ever leave me Hanoi Rocks 

16. Favourite movie?

The Lord of the Ring and Forrest Gump

17. Who would be your ideal partner?

A fucking rockstar ! LOL A man open-minded, who loves music, films and he’s really clever, cultured with whom I would speak about philosophy, history and litterature. A man who has long hair would be perfect by the way !

18. Do you want children?

Yeah why not ! But not now 

19. Do you want a church wedding?

In France, you can marry only in a church or in a city hall so... I don’t know now 

20. Are you religious?

No 

21. Have you ever been to the hospital?

Yes like a lot of people I suppose and many many times 

22. Have you ever got in trouble with the law?

nope, I don’t plan on i

23. Have you ever met any celebrities?

Ok... I met a lot of celebrities, some are really famous and some not. This is a short list of celebrities I met : Richard Madden, Pilou Asbaek, Natalie Emmanuel, Eugene Simon, Joe Dempsie, Alfie Allen, Daniel Portman, Gemma Wheelan, Vladimir ‘Furdo’ Furdik, Isaac Hempstead-Wight, Iwan Rheon, Jerome Flynn, Iain Glenn, Jack Gleeson, Jacob Anderson and Duff Mckagan :) ( I met other celebrities but you may not know the name ) 

24. Baths or showers?

both

25. What color socks are you wearing?

white

26. Have you ever been famous?

Not sure ahhaha I’ve been interviewed few times but that’s all

27. Would you like to be a big celebrity?

I would ! maybe as an author or actress

28. What type of music do you like?

Rock ‘n Roll, Punk, hard rock, pop, soul funk...

29. Have you ever been skinny dipping?

I have never.

30. How many pillows do you sleep with?

Only two but I’ve got 5 more pillows on my bed 

31. What position do you usually sleep in?

i’m either on my right or my left side in the same position of a baby 

32. How big is your house?

It’s a single-story but enough big for 4 persons

33. What do you typically have for breakfast?

Orange juice with cake for eating ( in french the brand is ‘’ Bellevita ‘’ )

34. Have you ever fired a gun?

No I only did rifle shooting 

35. Have you ever tried archery?

I’ve only really ever done archery during summer camp and it was a long time ago !

36. Favourite clean word?

Ok in French it’s ‘’ magnifique ‘’ 

37. Favorite swear word ?

In French again it’s ‘’ Va te faire foutre ! ‘’ 

38. What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without sleep?

One day only 

39. Do you have any scars?

Yeah one in the back of my arm because I felt a year ago when I was doing fencing 

40. Have you ever had a secret admirer?

No... 

41. Are you a good liar?

Indeed I am. But I don’t like to lie.

42. Are you a good judge of character?

I’d like to think I’m good at reading people

43. Can you do any other accents other than your own?

British accent, german and spanish just for fun

44. Do you have a strong accent?

No in French and when I speak in English I try to have no French accent at all. My english teacher said that my english accent was a mix of an american, british and scottish accent. I can’t imagine it but why not LOL

45. What is your favourite accent?

British !!!!!

46. What is your personality type?

Crazy, shy, a bit lunatic and open-minded 

47. What is your most expensive piece of clothing?

I don’t really have exepensive piece of clothing... maybe the most expensive is about 90 euros 

48. Can you curl your tongue?

nope

49. Are you an innie or an outie?

Innie.

50. Left or right-handed?

right-handed

51. Are you scared of spiders?

Fuck yeah

52. Favourite food?

Pizza 

53. Favourite foreign food?

Chili !

54. Are you a clean or messy person?

I hate mess ! I’m fucking clean person 

55. Most used phrase?

Even in French I speak in english and I say ‘’ anyway ‘’. In French I say always ‘’ genre ‘’ 

56. Most used word?

‘‘ Fuck ‘‘ 

57. How long does it take for you to get ready?

An hour bc I stay around 20 minutes in my bed 

58. Do you have much of an ego?

No, I don’t.

59. Do you suck or bite lollipops?

Suck them

60. Do you talk to yourself?

All the fucking time ! I’m asking questions to myself, talk in English to myself and having a conversation with myself. Yeah I’m crazy and so ? 

61. Do you sing to yourself?

bitch yes, all the fucking time !!

62. Are you a good singer?

I like to think that I’m okay ( but that’s not true )

63. Biggest Fear?

Being Deaf 

64. Are you a gossip?

Not really 

65. Best dramatic movie you’ve seen?

Forrest Gump !

66. Do you like long or short hair?

I don’t mind either way but long hair....dammmmmmm !! That’s my weakness

67. Can you name all 50 states of America?

You’re funny girl ! Not at all ! 

68. Favourite school subject?

History

69. Extrovert or Introvert?

Introvert

70. Have you ever been scuba diving?

nope

71. What makes you nervous?

A lot of things 

72. Are you scared of the dark?

Nope... sometime yeah but I’m gonna say no bc most of the time I’m not

73. Do you correct people when they make mistakes?

depends what kind of mistakes we’re taking here.

74. Are you ticklish?

yes, and I fucken hate it.

75. Have you ever started a rumour?

I don’t think I ever have

76. Have you ever been in a position of authority?

No LOL maybe few times but I can’t remember 

77. Have you ever drank underage?

yeah maybe a glass but just one 

78. Have you ever done drugs?

No

79. Who was your first real crush?

I’ve never really had a crush on a real person... but when I was a kind I had a crush on Aladdin from tht disney movie 

80. How many piercings do you have?

Just my ears but I want more .

81. Can you roll your R’s?

a little, but only for like two seconds.

82. How fast can you type?

As fast as I can lol

83. How fast can you run?

... i hate running 

84. What colour is your hair?

black, dark brown

85. What color is your eyes?

green and brown 

86. What are you allergic to?

mushrooms and some medicine 

87. Do you keep a journal?

No just a book where I write my ideas for my story I’m currently writting 

88. What do your parents do?

My mother works in a hospital and my father is an electrician 

89. Do you like your age?

Yeah...

90. What makes you angry?

A lot of things, but I’ve learnt to control it ( not always...) 

91. Do you like your own name?

I love it !

92. Have you already thought of baby names, and if so what are they?

I have. Boy names : Peter, Michael, James. Girl names : Arwen, Diana, Alice 

93. Do you want a boy a girl for a child?

I don’t have any preference 

94. What are you strengths?

I don’t know ahahah

95. What are your weaknesses?

I can be very touchy

96. How did you get your name?

Long story !!!!! But my name came from a french metal band and so now I’m the mascotte of the band. ( send me a dm for more details ahah ) 

97. Were your ancestors royalty?

Nope 

98. Do you have any scars?

I’ve seen this question somewhere else... 

99. Colour of your bedspread?

White 

100. Colour of your room?

Grey, purple and white 

I’m not going to tag someone bc I’ve got to sleep right now or tomorrow I’m gonna look like a shit LOL 

Love you all !!! XXX