In TV or radio announcer’s voice…
Some of you may remember Mike Joseph from his time as a music journalist at the height of the blog era! Among the publications he worked for are Popdose, Popmatters, Ultimate Classic Rock, The Boombox, and for eight (or so) years, he ran his own blog, Popblerd!
I sort of lost the taste for writing regularly about music in 2016. This was due to a combination of things. My interest in new music waned considerably as the streaming era rewarded media virality at the expense of things like talent and melody. The world of music journalism followed the greater industry and traded talent for low/no barrier to entry. I often say the worst thing about music (and this applies to music journalism as well) before the technological revolution is that there were too many gatekeepers. The worst thing about music (and music journalism) post-technological revolution is that there were not enough gatekeepers.
Other things that happened; I became increasingly uncomfortable with making definitive, global points about something as subjective as art, and making those points often required the use of unnecessary comparison as well as minimizing someone art to promote someone else’s. I leaned further into radio and podcasting (my Radio Free Brooklyn gig began that November). Finally, and maybe most distressingly, motherfuckers kept dying. 2016 felt like one long string of obituaries (Maurice White, Prince, Bowie, George Michael, Phife Dawg, Prince Be), culminating in the election results, which felt like the death of…democracy? Civilization? Rational discourse?
Speaking of events that cause hand-wringing, 2016 was also the year I turned forty. It was a strange time to celebrate, coming as it did in the midst of so much loss. To commemorate that milestone (one I thought I wouldn’t reach for much of my early adulthood), I started two writing projects: one was a playlist featuring the music I loved from each year of my existence to that point. The other was a recap of every song I’d given a five-star rating in my iTunes library. I didn’t finish either.
And…here we are, eight years later. I’m about 26 months away from my 50th birthday. Democracy is, once again, hanging in the balance. So many more icons from my younger years have transitioned, to say nothing of the friends and family members that have left this Earth in the last few years. I’m fine letting the playlist idea stay dormant. Finding 50 songs I enjoyed from any of the last ten years without repeating artists within playlists is probably not an achievable goal. But I do wanna get some regular use out of this Substack, and I want to write about music again. So I’m gonna resurrect Five Star Jamz, and I’m gonna start from the beginning (again), too!
A few things are different. Very recently (like, earlier in 2024), I decided to do away with my old school iTunes library. My Apple Music library consists of a mixture of songs I’ve uploaded from my hard drive (almost all consisting of CD rips or iTunes purchases) plus some stuff hanging out in the Apple cloud. Said library has shrunk from about 36,000 songs to just over 12,000. My days of ripping compact discs to the library are very likely over. I’ve also re-rated my music more times than I can count. I guess it makes sense-taste changes over time, and songs that I thought were perfect wear out their welcome ever so slightly.
There’s also the fact that a few artists have cancelled themselves right out of my rotation. R. Kelly, Kid Rock, and Eric Clapton are a few of the names that no longer hold space in my collection of songs. Several other popular (and famously problematic) artists, like Ryan Adams and Kanye West, are on “suspension” or have limited placement in my regular rotation of songs. As a future (and past) Detoxpod guest sagely explained in a recent conversation, we’re entitled to make our own decisions about which media to consume without judgment (although, seriously, if you’re listening to Kells in 2024…fuck that, Imma judge you…). Separating art from artist is necessary. And difficult. And complicated. And nuanced.
Anyway, early apologies to those who were following this series the first time around; you’re gonna get a few repeats, although I’ve pledged to not repeat my commentary verbatim. Hope you don’t mind. I’m also gonna try not to be as long-winded, although this intro isn’t doing me any favors!
As I mentioned earlier, musical taste is subjective, and I don’t aim for this list to be definitive by anyone’s standards. I’m just talking about my favorite songs for funsies, and maybe hipping y’all to songs you either haven’t heard before or might want to investigate in a new way.
And if you’re unfamiliar with me and want some background info that might assist you in understanding the choices I’ve made, here’s some pertinent demographic info that may explain some choices and may make you scratch your head at others: male, Black, Afro-Caribbean, queer, late 40s. Born in New York City, short stint in the Midwest (suburban Detroit- actually very instrumental when tracing how music has impacted my life), longer stint in New England. Fan of all kinds of music (really), but partial to anything that falls under the “top 40” umbrella (R&B, rap, dance music, adult contemporary pop/easy listening, melodic rock). I’m a big fan of anything tuneful, I lean heavily into lyrics and feeling.
Each post on Popblerd featured five songs. I was actually gonna shorten that slightly and do four every post, but we’ll see where this exercise takes us. I’m promising nothing other than that I’m gonna have myself a fun time writing. So let’s get started.
“ABC”, by The Jackson 5 (Motown Records, 1970)
As an adult (and even more so as a middle-aged human), listening to kids singing can sometimes feel like walking into a party you’re not invited to and shouldn’t even be attending. This is especially the case when the kids are (as is appropriate) singing lyrics that are clearly directed towards other children. “ABC” (and at least one other song I can think of that’s a direct descendant and will appear later on this list) avoids that trap for several reasons. One, this record was released before I was even born, so there’s no “maybe I shouldn’t be here” sentiment like I would feel if I was listening to, say, an early Biebs record. Two, “ABC” is so damn funky (and well-performed) that it transcends the ages of the people singing it (who were between the ages of 11 and 18 when it was recorded). It’s been a staple at dance parties and sports events for the last fifty four years because it’s easy to sing along with and practically irresistible to dance to. You don’t even need a pre-teen Mike Jack telling you to “shake it, baby, shake it”. It’s kinda amazing that such a great song came from a fairly lazy concept. The songwriting team that created the J5’s previous (and breakthrough) hit “I Want You Back”, not wanting to mess too much with the formula that created such a successful record, created “ABC” by literally replaying “I Want You Back”’s bridge/B-section.
“Addicted to Love” by Robert Palmer (Island, 1985)
The first two songs on this list were both American chart-toppers, so that maybe gives you a little more insight into where my tastes lie. Of these first four songs, “Addicted to Love” is the one that I’m not completely sure deserves five stars. In the lead up to finally committing this first installment to paper, I wrestled with how…well, addicted I am to “Addicted”. In the end, I’m gonna move forward with it. It’s got a clever lyric. It’s sung with a sexiness that’s equal parts Smooth Operator and Animal in Bed. There’s loads of well-applied crunchy ‘80s rock guitar and there’s a killer vocal arrangement, supplied by an uncredited Chaka Khan. There’s also the video, which I’m pretty sure I didn’t lay eyes on until well after “Addicted”’s spring ‘86 heyday. Living in Michigan with a very restrictive (to put it charitably) mom and stepdad, videos (particularly videos that were not made by Black artists) did not enter my purview particularly often. So I guess I was the only dude at this time who didn’t associate this song (and Palmer himself) with the undulating, blank-faced babes who mimed instruments behind him.
Maybe that fact alone justifies “Addicted to Love”’s inclusion on this list.
P.S.- “Addicted to Love” is one of those songs for which a radio edit made a world of difference. The single version cuts out some unnecessary instrumentation and turns a solid 4 into a tight 5.
P.P.S.- This was one of the first songs I ever performed at a karaoke bar. I feel like every song I’ve actually gotten up and sung in public probably deserves five stars. I’m not gonna embarrass myself with shitty material.
“Adore”, by Prince (Paisley Park/WB, 1987)
How sprung was Prince if he heard angels singing when you were making love? How sprung was Prince if he was like “well, okay. You can burn up my clothes and you can smash up my ride. OK, psych on that second part. But still—throw all my paisley and lacy frocks in a fire. That’s how I feel about you.” How sprung was he that, as “Adore” leads up to it’s, um… climax, an increasingly unhinged Prince shrieks “without you, there is no sea! There is no shore! Love’s too weak to define how much I adore…” Also, consider this: Prince was just a touch removed from the peak of his success when he wrote “Adore”. He could have (and kinda did) bedded and/or wedded the creme de la creme of available ladies. Yet and still, no part of “Adore” feels jive. This has gotta be what LOVE love feels like, right? Your brain, your heart, your loins are all like “YES!” IN TANDEM.
“Adore” was allegedly inspired by the “quiet storm” slow jams by Anita Baker and Luther Vandross that were dominating “urban contemporary” airwaves in late ‘86/early ‘87. “Adore” out-slow jams them all. It is my favorite love song of all time AND my favorite sex song of all time. It is a technically beautiful and passionately soulful vocal performance. And more often than not, those things (musically and IRL) have been mutually exclusive constructs.
Spoiler alert: Prince will very likely appear on this list more than any other artist (shit, he definitely will when you consider the long list of songs he wrote, produced and/or otherwise appears on) and Sign o’ the Times, the album “Adore” serves as the final track of, is constantly in a race with Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions for the title of Mike’s Favorite Album Of All Time. I’ll probably write about 2/3 of this album if we end up getting to the finish line.
“Adorn” by Miguel (RCA, 2012)
I don’t think “Adorn” exists without “Adore”. There are too many similarities, down to the damn titles. That said, while Prince has pretty much sealed the deal with “Adore”, Miguel is still in the preparation phase with “Adorn”. The upstart promises to be the ultimate partner with fists that will “always protect you” and a mind that will “never neglect you”. The love song/sex song conundrum is laid bare with the semi-whispered intonation of “my freak, my friend” that lingers in the background throughout much of “Adorn”’s length. What separates “Adorn” from the thousands of “let me love you” slow jams (several of which are actually entitled “Let Me Love You”) is Miguel’s delivery. When a singer is fully invested in the words they’re singing (and/or have written), there’s a passion in that performance that renders the song completely believable. Like, there’s no actual “perform”ing. This is heart-guts-loins to throat to tape, people.
“Adorn” feels like a heart on full display (or Miguel is a really good interpreter/actor, which subsequent material leads me to believe is likely not the case). I mean, compare “Adorn” to Miguel’s Janelle Monae duet “Prime Time”. I don’t hear an ounce of real heat/attraction/chemistry in their singing. Again, you can tell when it’s real. “Adorn” is real.
In the event that I ever get married (for reasons not related to convenience), there are two songs I want played. You’ve just read about both of them.
We’re going to bless some rains in the next installment, so stay tuned and feel free to leave a comment! I’m looking forward to this!