Do you guys remember Jonathan Butler? Wow! This was one good-looking bro back in the day. Mr. Butler is a type of talented artist I think not to many people appreciate. He made some really good music, however, his music was not chart topping unfortunately. For some reason, I can’t retrieve all the stats for Jonathan on the billboard, but judging from the very low Spotify streams overall, I can make a safe assumption he did not rank high on the Billboard charts. But, But this doesn’t mean he wasn’t talented. One of the songs I remembered very well from him, is a song called “Lies,” released in 1987. This song only peaked at the 27th position on the Hot 100 Charts, however, I remember seeing the music video for this song all the time! It’s a great jazzy pop tune! It will at least get your head bopping. Another nice one was “More Than Friends,” released a year later in 1988 from his album called “More Than Friends.” I think you’ll really like both these songs. Check it out.
I wanted to quickly share with you an artist I’ve enjoyed a lot. His name is Jonny P. He released a song called “Shine On,” and I love it sooooo much. The feel of this particular song is somewhat along the musical styles of Ronald Isley & Al Green put together. His music is so unique that I can’t even really fit him in any category. All I know his music smooth and pleasant to the ear. As I seriously dig in to finding more diverse music (which is not easy believe it or not, which is why blogs are still necessary), I am stunned to find more and more younger artist that choose to produce new music with a classic flair. Not only have they taken their new music old school, there are lots of fans to go along with them. This has really restored my faith that their are new artists that value quality, and not just dump a bunch of manure on the internet (and expect to get rich). Check Jonny out on Spotify, I’ve already saved several of his albums. Lots of real talent out here guys.
It’s such a shame that Robbie Dupree became a one hit wonder. Robbie made it big with his smash hit called “Steal Away,” released in 1980. This was my favorite song, I used to play it all the time. The song has such a catchy tune, and he used an instrument that sounded like it came from India (I don’t know what it’s called), made the song even more interesting and unusual. The song hit #6 on the Hot 100 Charts; and that was pretty much it! Actually, on the same record, he had a song called Hot Rod Hearts, but it only reached #15. Now, 15 wasn’t a bad position at all, but I felt that this song was quite boring unfortunately. You know what? Depree released a song called “Brooklyn Girls” in 1981, It reached #54, yet I felt the song sounded waaaaaay better than “Hot Rod Hearts.” I guess there just wasn’t a market for Dupree’s kind of music. Dupree recorded many albums since then, but no more hits. Mr. Dupree is about 71 now, and still performs to my understanding.
In 2018, are you still downloading mp3s? If not, do you miss them? I was reading a number of different blogs on the subject; and turns out there are just as many different opinions about mp3s. Some bloggers talked about the beauty of gaining access to obscure music not easily found in stores; not sure if that’s still true because the best way back then was via Kazaa & Imesh. Now that both of those are basically defunct; I’m almost positive that the way people get their MP3s now are by way of YouTube. As I’ve gotten older, I just don’t see the point of going through the trouble of finding and downloading mp3s anymore, now that streaming is here. There is a point (speaking from my experience) where large amounts of mp3s becomes too much to organize/manage. No matter how much you try, you can’t really truly organize them; unless you obsess over them to the point you can’t do anything else with your life. Which is also one of the many reasons I’ve come to the conclusion that downloading mp3s now are just too primitive in the current age of streaming. I liken this to people who have emotional attachments to physical albums; once you come from a certain era, it’s really hard for most people to change towards something better. We all fall victim to it (whatever that thing is).
I think the only sites that supports mp3s now (legally) are independent artist sites, such as Jamendo and the like. What I find even more stunning, is that many artists who want more fans, still don’t use music discovery platforms such as Spotify. Let me tell you, the vast majority don’t even know what a Jamendo is. Some bloggers I’ve read suggests that mp3s are dying. I’m not sure if I agree with that either; maybe if we look at it in a relative sense (in comparison to streaming)?. When we look at legal sites such as Amazon and GooglePlay, there needs to be a site that has music not available on your chosen service in mp3 form. On the other hand, I’ve also seen sites that automatically and illegally RIP YouTube music into mp3 formats. Now, taken in account that storage has gotten larger and cheaper, there still comes to a point when downloading huge amounts of mp3 files (also large sized files cause most of us care about quality), can and often does effect you’re mobile’s performance. Hardware do get slower as space diminishes. Again, to solely use mp3s today just doesn’t seem practical to me anymore (unless there’s no other way of getting it), and it has become a habit that is impossible to break, especially now that music is essentially free now via streaming.
Oh, my goodness! Have you guys heard of Marc Martel? Holy sh*t! He did cover of Queen’s legendary classic Bohemian Rhapsody very recently. I never even heard of this guy until I found him by accident yesterday. I saw so many people posting photos of the late Freddie Mercury all over twitter, and I said to myself WTF? It must be his birthday or something. Come to find out, they have a new movie out called “Bohemian Rhapsody,” starring Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury. You remember Rami? The one from that TV show Mr. Robot? Ok. Let me tell you guys something….. To be fair, I have not seen the movie yet…. But…… Girrrrrrrrlllllllllllllsssssss After I heard Marc Martel sing his version of Bohemian Rhapsody, I said to myself HE should have been casted to play Freddie Mercury instead. However, at the same time, I guess it doesn’t matter, because with Marc’s new cover, it’s perfect timing. When interested fans search for either Bohemian Rhapsody or Queen, Marc will probably show up in the results somewhere! Guys, the song sent chills through my spine! It was like Freddie Mercury rose from the dead…. I’m telling you…. Very rare have I ever heard a song where it laterally left me speechless. I’m sure with a good makeup artist, they could have made Marc in to Mercury. I think that would have frightened a lot of people, cause damn if it didn’t freak me out. I’m hearing mixed messages about the movie documentary. I think I’ll wait a bit before I see it (depending on what more people say). Or maybe I’ll wait for Netflix. OMG!!!!
Here is an amazing candid photo of the legendary Fats Domino (1928-2017). He was best known for his (what I call) piano pop. His music was categorized as rock ‘n’ roll, but if you really listen to his music it’s a mixture of pop, jazz and blues. I guess in those days, anybody who has their fingers moving as fast as his across the piano, it was immediately stamped rock, regardless! 😀 Now, I always remembered him primarily as a singer & piano player; but he also played sax and electric guitar. Fats had about 34-36 records that hit the top 40s. It is interesting that I can’t find any #1 hits from Fats, however, he has sold millions of records. The highest ranking song was at #6 called “Whole Lotta Loving.” Keep in mind this was based on the Top 100 category; he may have been higher in Billboard’s rock category.
Not for nothin’, but, James Taylor was very handsome when he first started back in the day. I’ve been a huge fan of his ever since I can remember. He’s kind of like a new age folk singer; almost like a Jim Croce upgrade 🙂 In my opinion, Taylor wrote and performed some of the best love songs of the seventies and eighties. He always seems to sing about the positive side of love and relationships. It was almost as though his music kept him young and in love with someone special. A perfect song that represented that is one of my many favorites he did called “Your Smiling Face,” released in 1977. Another sweet romantic favorite of mine is called “Handyman,” which was also released in 1977. James also worked with the amazingly talented Carole King for many years. It appeared that they had such a close relationship (both professionally and personally), I’m surprised they never married. I think you should check both of their greatest hits albums. They have some great stuff out there 🙂
Here’s something from way back in the 80s. This is Susan from Apollonia 6, Ricky from New Edition, and Apollonia from Apollonia 6. You know, I really do miss the classy photos we used to get in entertainment magazines back in the day. It’s a shame Apollonia 6 did not receive the same success as when Vanity was the lead. The only thing she had even close to a hit was “Sex Shooter.” Even then, it peaked #85, it only got air play because of the Purple Rain movie I recon.
This new artist has got it going on. I really love his voice. Kane Brown sings the kind of country music I like. I’m not a big fan of country music that is boarder line rock music. I like the easy listening type of country music. His musical style sort of reminds me of Randy Travis. So, recently Kane released a single called “Weekend,” written by Chase McGrill, Will Weatherly, & Kane Brown. What’s interesting is… I also usually don’t like songs where the chorus portion is too repetitious. But, I love the beat of the song and his voice so much, I easily overlooked that repetition. Kane Brown is a true example that Social media works. From the release of his first album called “Closer” over 3 years ago, he’s been boiling hot ever since. His song “Weekend” got over 4+ million plays on Spotify alone. Go head with your bad self Kane!!
I was thinking, I haven’t seen a Time Life infomercial in ages! Remember those? I think they used to come on PIX or WWOR. They used to spread out about 10-15 CDs containing all kinds of classic music for the sale of $120, with 5 easy payments of $23.99. 😀 Although those infomercials may have been annoying to some, one thing’s for sure, it was a great way to rediscover your favorite classic music. I’ll doubt this will comeback ever again, as all we have to do now is stay in front of the TV with our Shazam up and running. I remembered that I recorded a couple of those long infomercials on VHS. I just Shazam’d all the songs I liked. Didn’t need to make one single purchase. Yup… Free & legal….. Gotta love technology!! Now you have people creating playlists derived from those same albums. LOL
I came across an artist named Mac Miller while browsing other music blogs. Although I’ve read quite a few people hailing him as a phenomenal artist, I wasn’t attracted to his style of hip hip unfortunately (that’s just me). However, his partner in music, Austin Marc Flip, I’m assuming he did the background mix for this particular piece called “What’s The Use?” Which was released this month I believe. I much prefer this instrumental version. It has a style of funk, jazz, and disco all rapped in to one. It doesn’t appear that the instrumental version is available on Spotify, however, you can listen to it here on the StereoFox Blog.
P.S. I was saddened to read that Mac Miller has passed away. How ironic that they would choose that photo for his album cover. By the way, doesn’t he look a lot like Sam Smith?
I should have put Suzanne in a “forgotten artist” category, because no one is talking about her these days. There are only two huge hits I remember her for. I think she became most famous for a club mix she did called “Tom’s Dinner,” off her second album called “Solitude Standing.” This must have been a special 12 inch release, ’cause she only sings this song a-cappella on her album. I loved the beat of this song. Although the song only peaked at #5 on the billboard, it was still a considerable hit. The second song you may remember her for is a song called “Luka,” which is on the same album. This was a very important song in the 80s, as it brought awareness to domestic violence towards women. The song hit #3 on the Hot 100 Charts. She has recorded quite a few albums since then, but none has repeated the success of her second album.
Alright!!! I am back with another hit from one of my favorite reggae legends Alton Ellis!! Alton reinterpreted a song from “The Guess Who” called “These Eyes.” I loved that the producers kept the distinct baseline the same, and just instrumentally added their reggae accent. Alton’s version is so sweet, you’d think that he was the original performer. I estimate that this song has been played more than 1.4M times on YouTube. Here is the 1969 original The Guess Who’s version of “These Eyes.”
You know, I’m surprised to read that there are a lot of people who still believe that blogs are dead. This is not exactly true at all, and I think if someone wants to start a blog of their own, they should not be discouraged. What appears to be the core & common belief is that, now with the age of music streaming services like YouTube, Spotify, etc, people can just listen to music themselves without having to read the advice of others. While that is true, there are also other factors. Many people do in fact loose interest in their blogging. It takes a certain amount of dedication that many people just don’t have anymore. Sometimes people have things in their lives that has permanently taken their attention away from blogging. Or, sometimes it’s simply being technically challenged. There is a LOT that is involved in blogging. It’s not just finding a good interesting topic people want to read about; it’s also figuring out how to promote yourself for the least amount of money and time; it’s about figuring out how google works to your best advantage. A lot of people aren’t willing to invest in that kind of time, therefor, some blogs start to slowly die off.
I also considered the possibility that Google is inadvertently shadowing bloggers. Why would I think this? Well, remember that everything is automated, and keywords are used to search your content, and once a string is found, Google/X search engine can do whatever. Understand that a search engine’s algorithms are not perfect, and sometimes they can blacklist innocent sites for just typing the wrong word. This is because today, sites like Google & Facebook have become not only so politicized; they’re being made responsible for blocking “questionable sites.” So despite the fact that many people still think that blogging is dead, there are a ton of new music blogs emerging all over the place. The bottom line is, it’s true you may not necessarily need a blog to get their opinion on music, but we do still need them to help us find new music and playlists that cater to our tastes. Also, if you really are interested in a particular artist, you may appreciate a little more information about that artist, which a blog (made by other music fans) can provide. Please remember one thing, regardless of how good a search engine’s (or music service’s) algorithms are, we still need a human being to help us find quality & historical music.
Did you guys know that our very own Lynda Carter was a singer before she became the iconic Wonder Woman? Yes!! As much as I love Lynda, I saw her as a better actress than a singer. Don’t get me wrong, she doesn’t sound bad at all, she has a very beautiful voice. Her music just isn’t something I would listen to more than once. It’s really an acquired taste. As far as I’m aware of, she hasn’t ever had a big hit (at least in terms of the major music genres). Not to sound mean but, I think her singing career is surviving because of her successful career as Wonder Woman. I don’t remember her doing any other major acting gigs other than Wonder Woman. If I remember correctly, I heard her say in a television interview that she loves singing more than acting…. She sang mostly music standards. If you’re curious to hear what she sounds like, check out her album called “Crazy Little Things,” released in 2011. According to The Music Billboard, the only hit she ever had was her reinterpretation of Etta James’s “At Last (2009),” which peaked at #10 on the Jazz Charts.
Wow, I must really have been in a dance mood lately. I came across one of my favorite dance oldies you may remember from the 90’s. It’s from a classic house queen that dominated the nineties dance floor. Her name is Crystal Waters, and the song is called “Makin Happy.” The song came from her debut album called “Surprise.” I must say that, the late eighties into the late nineties were special, in that artists used to write lyrics to dances that made absolutely no sense, yet these same songs became major hits because they were fun to listen/dance to. Crystal is a poet, writer, and performer. I recommend that you go through some of her greatest hits album, she’s had a LOT of great dance tunes that has gone to #1 on the dance charts. Including “100% Pure Love (1994).”
Curtis harding has a brand new single out called “Where We Are.” This particular piece has a Black movie soundtrack feel to it. The song is almost 8 minutes long, and he uses that time wisely to show case his instrumental talents. I just absolutely love Curtis’s musical style! He is one of the very few new independent artists I really love. When you listen to his music, you can tell he grew up musically cultured. His voice perfectly fits the old school vibe of his music. It is so refreshing to hear a young artist like him (well technically he’s not that young (39 years old)) taking their creativity back to basics. There’s another song you may like, which he also released as a single called “It’s Not Over.” This song has a slight hint of Memphis sound, mixed with an updated R&B kick. You know, he performed in NYC not too long ago, and unfortunately, I couldn’t go. Oh well….. Next time..
Chaka Khan’s Through The Fire (1984). I immediately loved this song when it came out. You know, I didn’t think I’ve noticed until now, but take a look at all the names involved in this one song! Wow, you need several people to make a hit song? That’s why nobody can make money, because every single person involved wants their cut!! But, I digress…… Any whooooo. “Through The Fire,” became one of my most favorite Chaka Khan songs. Now, it’s funny because, chart wise, the song didn’t do that well. It hit its highest at 15th position on the Hip Hop/R&B Charts; but on the Top 100 Chart, its highest peak was 60th position. I’m kinda in disbelief, because in the Black community this song was very popular back in the day. It’s hard for me to think these numbers were that low. Maybe it ranked higher in another category?
I am so incredibly angry. All I can say to you guys is, unless you have very strong technical abilities DO NOT USE GODADDY! However, if you’re on Godaddy already, here’s why you should stay with the devil you know (a wise old saying). Setting up for the first time is easy. But switching over to the new server was a nightmare! And they really didn’t do shit! They left me hanging for almost two weeks, they’re unorganized, they’re not on the same page at all. If it where not for the fact that I understand what I’m doing, and the fact that their hardware is pretty solid, I would have went with another hosting provider. But the other thing is, I don’t want to leave into the arms of an even worse host! “Better to stay with the devil I know.” Why did I do it in the first place? To have better security, and a cheaper price. I really don’t know what happened, they were not so bad when I first started with them 10 years ago. Their tech support SUCKS now!!!! They must have outsourced their staff too! It’s the only explanation I can think of! Damn it. It is so difficult to deal with a company that has outsourced their staff. It’s not a good feeling to realize you understand more of what needs to be done than the provider’s staff. They love to talk you in to buying a bunch of stuff, but in reality, the lack the organization to do what’s necessary for my situation. It was kind of like talking to a Best Buy manager; you know how they’ll lower the price on something in order for you to get the insurance? LOL So, long story short, because the server is entirely different, the new database is entirely different, I can’t import any of my old data. And I’m not paying a single penny more to have them do anything (which they’re not going to do shit anyway, cause they appear to be backwards). So, I decided to start over again from scratch. I was saddened to come to that conclusion. Words cannot describe how mad I am with godaddy. The amount of work that would have taken to deal with that database isn’t worth it. My question is, why didn’t they develop a tool to seamlessly migrate data and update the database? Especially since WordPress is the most commonly used CMS program. Grrrrrrrrr. Thanks guys for your patience and support. Please note: It will be some time before google gets around to indexing my site.