I meant to write something up and post it Sunday. I just got lazy. It’s been a long time since I’ve done so little over the course of a day. But it was cloudy and chilly and drizzly and the couch felt so good. I’m only vaguely beating myself up for not being productive, although my therapist tells me it’s totally okay to do nothing once in a while. Not tonight, though! I walked home the long way, worked out, got my graphics ready for tomorrow’s podcast launch, I might even pay a bill or two! Oh, yeah. And I’m gonna write about another seven songs. Here goes!
“Another Lonely Christmas” by Prince & the Revolution (1984)
Christmas is a season of joy and giving, or so I thought when I was elementary school age. Prince’s holiday offering, released at the height of his Purple Rain success, was the first real inkling that some folks did not have a cool Yule. “Another Lonely Christmas” finds our hero mourning the sudden loss of a romantic partner. And no, they didn’t break up. She died.
And I’m not trying to make light of that situation at all. But imagine how impressionable 8 year old me felt hearing this on the radio. This song fucked with emotions I didn’t even know I had yet. Prince milked every bit of emotion out of this song with his patented arsenal of yells and screams, and “Another Lonely Christmas” almost certainly has more guitar pyrotechnics than any other holiday song released during the ‘80s.
“Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen (1980)
I’m reading this book called “The Come Up”, which is an oral history of hip-hop. In one of the early passages of the book, someone (I think it was Kurtis Blow) notes that Queen stole borrowed the bass line of Blow’s “Christmas Rappin’” for “Another One Bites the Dust”, the song that would go on to become their biggest American hit. While I’ve always assumed that “Dust” was a rip of Chic’s “Good Times”, I’d argue that John Deacon (who wrote the song) wrote a bass line that was more directly inspired by Blow’s early rap classic. Let’s split the difference and say that Queen was equally influenced by the music of 1979, inclusive of both Blow’s and Chic’s records.
During one of the many house parties my folks (grandparents, aunts, uncles) had in my early childhood, our neighbor Andrew Coleman (who will come up several times over the course of this list) brought over his 45 of “Another One Bites the Dust”. He never got it back, as that record got spun repeatedly by me well into my teenage years. Even after I graduated from records (and left my folks’ home), Freddie’s amped-up rock/disco smash was a staple in my music rotation.
Somewhat mystifyingly, Freddie Mercury’s butchest musical moment came as a result of a foray into disco.
Bonus fact I love sharing: Michael Jackson suggested “Another One Bites the Dust” for release. Man, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during the years those two were friends.
“Another Star” by Stevie Wonder (1976)
Songs in the Key of Life is considered by many to be Stevie Wonder’s magnum opus. I think it’s an amazing record (although I’d rate Talking Book and definitely Innervisions ahead of it), even though it’s got some fat. Even if you’re at your creative peak as an artist, it’s hard to fill up 2 1/2 albums worth of material!
“Another Star” closes out Side 4 of Key of Life, so if you’re not counting the bonus EP, it’s the album’s final song. Stevie takes us out on a high note, serving up a joyous funk-Latin-disco-jazz fusion. I’m typically not a fan of songs that go over 5 minutes (what can I say? I have ADHD), but not a second of this 8 1/2 minute masterpiece seems superfluous.
“Anotherloverholenyohead” by Prince & the Revolution (1986)
Here’s some more Prince for you, courtesy of his ill-fated second film, 1986’s Under the Cherry Moon. Even though The Revolution itself was often absent from records that bore their name, Wendy and Lisa (at least) make themselves very at home on this loose-limbed pop-funk groove. Actually, strike that! I just looked up the credits, and this is surprisingly (almost) a Prince solo composition. The female vocals I attributed to Wendy & Lisa in my head were actually sung by Wendy’s twin sister (and Prince’s muse) Susannah Melvoin. Regardless of who’s singing where, this song jams.
During the years I lived in Michigan (1984-1987), I’d spend my summers in Brooklyn. My grandfather would always buy me 2 cassettes shortly after my arrival in New York, and I would play the living shit out of those tapes. In 1986, I jammed the compilation Rock and Roll Music by The Beatles, somehow got my mitts on a dubbed copy of Run-D.M.C.’s Raising Hell, and committed Prince’s Parade to memory. “Anotherloverholenyohead” always makes me think of one of my sisters, who was 3 at the time, She would giggle whenever the song played because Prince sang “there ain’t no other…who can do the duty in your bed” and her toddler brain (thankfully) interpreted “duty” as “doody”.
“Ante Up (Robbin-Hoods Theory) by M.O.P. (2000)
I grew up in Brooklyn during a time when the streets were hot. There was always the specter of some shit going down—someone getting jumped or mugged on the street, on the subway, wherever. I’ve seen my share of people getting stuck up or beat up, and I’ve been on the receiving end of a few of those beatdowns (in addition to having been robbed a time of two). A lot of early ‘90s hip hop has that anxious energy, and it comes by that energy naturally. M.O.P. (who hail from one of Brooklyn’s most nefarious neighborhoods, Brownsville) took that energy into the 21st century with “Ante Up”. Actually, that song doesn’t have anxious energy, it has violent energy. It’s all misplaced testosterone, and it would come off as almost charmingly cartoonish if you’ve never actually had the experience of being jumped and/or mugged.
Every once in a while, some online publication will make a list of hip-hop songs most likely to start a fight, and “Ante Up” almost always ends up in the Number One position. I love this song the same way a lot of my old NYC friends say they miss the days when the city was dirty and dangerous. It’s an adrenaline rush that’s not easy to replicate.
“Ants Marching” by Dave Matthews Band (1994)
I get clowned a lot because I love Dave Matthews Band. I love DMB to the tune of having seen them 14 times. Now, that has at least something to do with the fact that I’ve befriended my share of DMB fanatics over the years, but…on the real, I love their music (or at least I did. I think we can all agree that they’re washed now.)
“Ants Marching” is a wry observation on the day-to-day tedium we all experience to varying degrees over the course of our lives. It’s filled with ear candy, from. Boyd Tinsley’s joyful violin to Dave’s odd way with a word (is it safe to say his music got more boring as his lyric writing became more linear). I understand that Dave’s actual voice, which sits somewhere between Sting and Grover from Sesame Street, is an acquired taste for some, but I love it.
And I will always have fond memories of thousands of people screaming “PEOPLE IN EVERY DI-RECTION” when this song has been played at every DMB show I’ve attended.
“Any Love” by Luther Vandross (1988)
I think there are some folks out there who think of Luther and are immediately like “love songs”. While Luther certainly made his share of songs that celebrated love, I think his better known songs, the ones more people feel, are the songs about loneliness and heartbreak. Luther proclaimed “Any Love” to be one of his most autobiographical tunes, and that tracks as many posthumous remembrances of him often point out the fact that he was unlucky in love (which his status as a closeted gay man likely had something to do with). In the song, Luther counts his blessings (“in a lot of ways I’m a lucky guy”) but mourns the lack of a special someone in his life. He’s resolute, though, and by the song’s end we’ve not only gone into a higher key, but Luther has vowed to “keep holding on” and continue his search for a love he can call his own. I’m sure it served as a soothing balm to many of LV’s fans who were lonely and unlucky in love, but keeping hope alive. I hope it soothed Luther, too.
Running tally-type shit because I like stats:
Total songs: 71
4 songs from the 1960s
15 songs from the 1970s
33 songs from the 1980s
12 songs from the 1990s
3 songs from the aughts
4 songs from the 2010s
23 songs by male solo artists (including Prince’s songs featuring band names), 30 songs by duos/groups/bands, 15 songs by female solo artists, 2 collaborative performance by two (or more) solo artists, 1 collaborative performance between two groups (although what did Cult Jam actually do?)
Michael Jackson appears on five songs on this list as it stands (one as a solo artist, three as a member of the Jackson Five, one as a background vocalist.) With his two songs in this entry, Prince ties MJ for the most songs on this list, also with five. Stevie Wonder locks into sole possession of second place with three songs. Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell (as a duo) and James Taylor (forgot to add him last time!) appear twice so far.
Next up: Plagiarism. Lisa, Angela, Pamela and Renee. And our first Beatle!
There's been a bit of a drop-off since Leroi passed away. They sound a bit tired on their last few records, but it's also not the OG Dave Matthews Band with one member dead and another member having been fired,.
I used to be a huge DMB fan as well, but when they started venturing what one of my friends referred to as “musical masturbation”, I became less and less interested. Those first 4-5 albums were great!