You can’t help but sing along to “What’s Up?” 4 Non Blondes’ lone chart hit, penned by the band of brunettes’ frontwoman, Linda Perry, catapulted the San Francisco alternative act to short-lived stardom in mid-1993, and despite Perry’s subsequent success as a songwriter, “What’s Up?” continues to define her career as a performer — especially […]
Eddie Kendricks’ ‘Keep on Truckin’ drives disco to the promised land
Three years after his acrimonious exit from the Temptations, Eddie Kendricks broke through as a solo artist with 1973’s infectiously funky “Keep On Truckin’,” arguably the first disco record ever to reach number one on the Billboard pop chart. KSID::Z195a1E5a19Y3
‘Somebody Told Me’ lures the Killers out of the shadows and onto the charts
The infectious “Somebody Told Me” introduced American audiences to the Killers, the guyliner-rock foursome that grew to become one of the most successful bands of the early 21st century. KSID::2016b1Bb16a3
Extreme goes back to basics for ‘More Than Words’
There’s nothing extreme at all about Extreme’s “More Than Words” — which is precisely the point. The funk-metal band ignored the objections of label executives to release the anachronistic acoustic ballad as a single, and its instincts were proven correct when “More Than Words” reached the top of the Billboard pop charts in mid-1991. KSID::4032b332b313B
Inside the ‘Bitch’ session that birthed Meredith Brooks’ biggest hit
“You’re not alone if you think you’ve been hearing a new Alanis Morissette song on the radio,” begins the Los Angeles Times profile from June 1997. “Meredith Brooks’ hit single, ‘Bitch,’ sounds exactly as if it could have been lifted from Morissette’s Grammy-winning 1995 album, Jagged Little Pill.” The Los Angeles Times wasn’t alone, either: […]
How George Thorogood’s ‘Bad to the Bone’ became cultural shorthand
“Bad to the Bone” is the b-b-b-b-best thing ever to happen to movie trailers. George Thorogood and the Destroyers’ snarling, stuttering blues-rock anthem failed to reach the Top 40 during its original 1982 release, but the song is now permanently ensconced in America’s collective consciousness thanks to decades of use and abuse in Hollywood features, […]
‘You’ve Made Me So Very Happy’ ends Brenda Holloway’s unhappy Motown tenure
Brenda Holloway deserved so much better. She had all the makings of a superstar, but her tumultuous tenure with Motown Records yielded only a handful of Top 40 hits, including her swan song for the label, the pop standard “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy.” KSID::F435a43463048H8
Dobie Gray’s ‘Drift Away’ frees your soul
No song captures and communicates the healing power of popular music more eloquently than “Drift Away.” Dobie Gray’s country-soul reverie celebrates pop’s extraordinary capacity to soothe the mind, body and spirit — to liberate listeners from the stress and strain of their everyday lives, and transport them to a dimension reality cannot reach. KSID::204d04321P45l […]
The Allman Brothers Band’s ‘Jessica’ triumphs over tragedy
“Jessica” is seven-and-a-half minutes of light and love — what producer Johnny Sandlin called “the happiest song I’ve ever heard.” The instrumental surfaced at an intensely turbulent time for the Allman Brothers Band, which was reeling from the deaths of two founding members and struggling with drug addiction. That didn’t stop guitarist Dickey Betts from […]
How the Dandy Warhols’ ‘Bohemian Like You’ conquered the UK airwaves
Though best known in their native U.S. as the subject of the cult-favorite music documentary Dig!, the Dandy Warhols are celebrated across the Atlantic for the swaggering “Bohemian Like You,” which soared into the U.K. Top Ten in the fall of 2001 after featuring in an advertisement for mobile network operator Vodafone.
