The Current Music Blog: April 1, 2009 Archive

Happy Birthday Jimmy Cliff

Posted at 10:32 AM on April 1, 2009 by Steve Seel (1 Comments)

Today In Music History:

1939 - Rudolph Isley (Isley Brothers) was born.
1969 - The Beach Boys sued Capitol Records for unpaid royalties and production fees.
1984 - Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his father.
1992 - Billy Idol was fined $2,000 for hitting a woman in the face.
2007 - Modest Mouse had the #1 album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.

Jimmy Cliff is 61 today, born on this date in 1948 in Somerton District, St. James, Jamaica. A celebrated reggae and ska performer best known among mainstream audiences for songs such as "Sittin' in Limbo", and "Many Rivers to Cross" from the soundtrack to The Harder They Come, which helped popularize reggae across the world. To honor Jimmy, I played his hit "You Can Get It If You Really Want."

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Hoaxes, Myths, Jokes and Frauds

Posted at 10:40 AM on April 1, 2009 by Steve Seel

On this April Fool's Day, may you be strictly the punk-er and not the punk-ee.

In honor of the day, I thought a good topic for the 9:30 Coffee Break would be artists or bands associated with hoaxes, myths, rumors, frauds, or urban legends ... anything that we're temped to believe, but which makes us feeling like ee-jits for ever having bought into in the first place. Lots of great suggestions today, from the "murdered woman" in "Love Rollercoaster" to "Mama Cass choked on a ham sandwich" to several requests for Milli Vanilli. The final three:

1) KISS, "Detroit Rock City": How many myths are there about this band, anyway? "Knights In Satan's Service," Gene Simmons had a cow's tongue stitched onto his own to make it longer, and then that whole "they're not satanists - I went to a dinner where they all prayed and served up a delicious home-cooked stew!!!" thing. Any others I missed?

2) The Dukes of Stratosphear, "Vanishing Girl": A long-lost, psychedelic Carnaby Street band from the late '60s who wrote music that sounded like The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and the Beach Boys all rolled into one. Except is was XTC in disguise.

3) The White Stripes, "Rag and Bone": So, were Jack and Meg brother and sister? Married? Neither? Both?

Finally, there's the one about Angela Bowie catching David Bowie and Mick Jagger in bed together. Someone suggested I play their remake of "Dancin' In the Street" ... but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Lady Luck awards you with a free tune!

Posted at 10:41 AM on April 1, 2009 by Barb Abney

Maria Taylor's third album, LadyLuck was released yesterday. Maria co-wrote the tune "Cartoons and Forever Plans" with Michael Stipe (R.E.M.) and Andy LeMaster (Bright Eyes, Now It's Overhead) and you can grab it for free today on our Song Of The Day Podcast page. She's playing The 400 Bar on April 22nd.
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