All articles filed in Music

I looked at my iTunes directory the other day.  Over 4,300 songs. That’s too many. Recently I purchased a last-generation iPod Classic 160g music player, with the specific plans of keeping that bad boy for the rest of my music-enjoying life.  And when I synched the iPod up to my iTunes computer storage program, I…

309 South Broad Street in Philadelphia is a very famous address.  I’ve been there a couple of times, and I’ve found it to be a very inspiring and stimulating locale. Maybe you wouldn’t recognize that address among such others as 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, or 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit. but 309 South…

All you Phish fans, pay attention.  This is important. Apparently, someone out there likes one of your hits.  So much so, in fact, that the melody of one of your hits is remarkably similar to their breakout hit. This is not new.  Imitation is the sincerest form of plagiarism, and I’ve chronicled in past blogs…

Tim Hauser is best known as the lead vocalist of the ultra-superb vocal harmony group Manhattan Transfer.  And it’s a group whose music I’ve enjoyed ever since my high school music teacher, George Mastrangelo, turned me on to their sound by introducing me to their Extensions album. Over time, I’ve seen them in concert numerous…

Thirty-plus years ago, when I was a radio DJ in college (WHCL 88.7 FM), one of the bands whose music we played was a California group called The Din. In case you want to appreciate the Din’s music – at least the same music we played on our turntables in the basement of the Minor…

Once upon a time, there was a music producer named Frank Farian.  And Frank Farian wanted to create a popular dance / singing act, even if it meant finding someone with a great image – whether or not they could sing, that’s another issue. But this blog post is actually about the group BEFORE his…

Calling Bob Dylan a genius is like calling the sun bright. And today, on his website, he presents a brand new music video for his decades-old classic “Like a Rolling Stone.”  It’s part of the premiere of his new CD-box collection of his complete Columbia studio recordings. And you’re saying to me, “Chuck, big deal. …

It’s 1979 and I’m in high school.  Street Academy of Albany.  And it’s there that I discover this musical genre called rap. And back then, “rap music” was pressed on 12-inch vinyl records, and usually contained one long rap song on side A, and an instrumental version on side B.  I bought my first rap…

You know it has to happen.  Songs like these that come completely out of right field.  Artists whose songs just get played over and over and over again.  To the point where you like them, then you really like them, then you’re sick of them.  Then you never want to hear them again. I could…