All articles filed in K-Chuck Radio

There’s something special about “sunshine pop” – the music that just makes you feel good, it has an amazingly catchy melody, and the lyrics can be about anything – childhood games, allusions to history, wry lyrics with a dulcet hint of happiness. So even though this weekend we must deal with rain and storms and…

This insomnia has been kicking my tail for a while.  And it affected me over the weekend, while I was in Buffalo on business. So I flipped around the hotel television dial one night and found the NHK world channel.  NHK is the home of Japanese television, and in the middle of the night they…

There are happy songs, there are angry songs – and then there are the songs that bring your emotions to the boil.  The ones that are the equivalent of a half-gallon of ice cream and a TV tuned to Investigation Discovery. On today’s K-Chuck Radio, let’s go through a few of those emotional classics.  Bring…

Sometimes I get frustrated when I listen to popular music.  It’s 95% junk.  It’s 97% fluff.  And I say to myself, “The music I enjoyed in the 197o’s wasn’t this painful, was it?” And then I realize… there were a few chunks of pyrite and feldspar in the gold that was part of my musical…

What if I told you that these three men were responsible for at least ten different pop hits under ten different names? Yeps.  It happened and it happened a lot. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, it was not uncommon for an artist to add his vocals to a studio track, and then have…

The best thing about 1960’s and 1970’s garage and psych music is that, once everything hits at the right time and in the right place, you’ll hear an amazing two-minute gem.  It might be the best thing the band ever recorded, or it might be a small prelude to something they’ll make in the future. …

Thought I’d do this for today’s edition of K-Chuck Radio.  This playlist features several songs that were either inspired by, or build their song concept from, our games of youth.  You know, the ones we played after lunch at recess; the ones we played in the parking lot; the sing-song chants we used with jumping…

What is it about sunshine pop – also known as baroque pop or 60’s orchestral pop – that just captures my emotions and my attention? I think it has to do with the intricate melodies and the beautiful lyrics.  It’s not sweet like bubblegum pop, and it’s not an acquired taste like artrock.  But I…