“I Know You Rider” galloped into Grateful Dead lore at the dawn of the group’s creation, and remained in their stable of songs for the next 30 years. But the blues standard’s place in the pantheon wasn’t assured until late 1969, when it joined forces with the Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter original “China Cat Sunflower” to […]
Jason Ankeny
‘China Cat Sunflower:’ The unforgettable tail behind a Garcia/Hunter classic
No one knew at the time “China Cat Sunflower” made its live debut in early 1968 that the song’s future lay in the Grateful Dead’s past. Officially released via the Dead’s third studio album, Aoxomoxoa, “China Cat Sunflower” slinked around their live sets for the better part of two years before it was paired with […]
The Springfield Creamery Benefit still rises to the top
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Barry White’s ‘You’re the First, the Last, My Everything’ deserves unlimited love
What a weird and wonderful world we might now inhabit if racism and homophobia hadn’t killed disco at its cultural zenith — if sybarite symphonies like Barry White’s “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything” still flew their freak flags from the highest reaches of the Billboard charts. There’s never again been a pop star […]
How Kenny Rogers hit the jackpot with ‘The Gambler’
“All the songs I record fall into one of two categories, as a rule,” Kenny Rogers once said. “One is ballads that say what every man would like to say, and every woman would like to hear. The other is story songs that have social significance.” The 1978 country-pop crossover classic “The Gambler” fits squarely […]
Why the Four Tops’ ‘Reach Out I’ll Be There’ remains a pillar of strength
“Reach Out I’ll Be There” is a light in the darkness — an achingly tender declaration of commitment and compassion delivered with the force of rolling thunder. Released in August 1966 following a summer of mounting civil unrest and violent rebellion, the Four Tops’ humanist anthem remains a bottomless reservoir of strength and succor through […]
benny blanco meets Halsey and Khalid on the ‘Eastside’
Before he was the impish foil of rapper Lil Dicky on the FX network’s must-watch cringe comedy Dave, benny blanco was merely one of the biggest music producers in the universe. His shapeshifting, kitchen-sink production ethos is the sound of pop radio in the post-millennium age, midwifing career-defining records for superstars Ed Sheeran, Rihanna, Justin […]
How “la petite mort” inspired Cutting Crew’s biggest hit ‘(I Just) Died in Your Arms’
“(I Just) Died in Your Arms” topped the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1987, more than a year after the Parents Music Resource Center compiled its “Filthy Fifteen” — the now-infamous list of pop songs the committee’s founders blamed for the moral decay of America’s youth. Censors were asleep at the wheel by the time […]
‘I Can’t Get Next to You’ returns the Temptations to the top
When the Temptations released their debut Motown Records single “Oh Mother of Mine,” Paul Williams was firmly ensconced as the group’s lead singer. But by the time the Tempts topped the charts with “I Can’t Get Next to You,” Williams’ life and career were in irreversible decline, his formidable baritone confined almost exclusively to backing […]
How Gladys Knight and the Pips ‘Heard It Through the Grapevine’ before Marvin Gaye
Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” was at one time the best-selling single in Motown Records history — and then Marvin Gaye’s version of the song came along just 13 months later, and knocked it off its pedestal. But Knight’s “Grapevine” is no footnote: her rendition of the Norman Whitfield/Barrett […]
