more brave than me
more blond than you
e e cummings
July 1, 2000: Lee Ann Womack with Sons of the Desert had a crossover hit when "I Hope You Dance" moved into the Billboard's Top 40.
“I Hope You Dance,” recorded by Lee Ann Womack with Sons of the Desert, and written by Tia Sillers and Mark D. Sanders, was one of 2000’s most successful singles in several genres, and is one of only a handful of songs in the past two decades that can truly be considered a classic.
June 30, 2007: Amy Winehouse had her only American Top 10 hit when "Rehab" peaked at Number 9 in the US.
Though she made a lot of great music, Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” is her most famous song.
June 29, 1968: Johnny Cash had a cross-over hit when "Folsom Prison Blues" moved into the American Top 40. It would peak one spot higher, at Number 32.
Madonna’s True Blue was her third album, but it was the first one she made when she was already a massive star.
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| Madonna |
Madonna made club music, post-disco dance-pop. Even her ballads nodded to that sound. So it must’ve been at least a little jarring for people to hear the fussy, rococo strings that open “Papa Don’t Preach.”
Read more: Stereogum
The lyric of "Bad Moon Rising" was inspired by a film in which a hurricane wipes out most of a town. This is where John Fogerty got the idea for the words "I feel the hurricane blowin', I hope you're quite prepared to die." Overall, he said the song is about the "apocalypse that was going to be visited upon us."
Read more; Songfacts
June 28, 1980: "Play The Game" by Queen started it's climb up the US music chart at Number 67.
Queen's eighth album, 1980's The Game, kicks off with a dramatic whoosh of noise befitting the score of a sci-fi film.
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| Play The Game by Queen |
It's hard to pinpoint the source. The answer, at least for Queen's standards, was a bit more shocking: an Oberheim OB-X synthesizer.
Read more: Ultimate Classic Rock
June 28, 1997: "Listen" by Collective Soul, the second single from their Disciplined Breakdown LP, began it's ascent up Billboard's Hot 100 at Number 79. It didn't get far, peaking at Number 72.
"Viva la Vida" was written by all members of the Coldplay for their fourth album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. The track debuted to critical acclaim and commercial success, reaching the top spot of the UK Singles Chart and Billboard Hot 100. The song won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards in 2009.
Read more: Wikipedia
Papa Don't Preach
Madonna
"Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" fell in the middle of a remarkable seven-song run of US #1 hits for Whitney Houston that were spread across her first two albums.
"Alejandro" by Lady Gaga, the third single released from The Fame Monster EP, was inspired by her "Fear of Sex Monster".
June 25, 1988: Prince peaked at Number 8 on the US music chart with "Alphabet Street" from his Lovesexy album.
"Alphabet Steet," the first single from Prince's 1988 album, was the LP's only top 10 single.
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| Prince Lovesexy cover |
Unlike most young guys who gravitate towards the latest rock or rap trend, Michael Bublé chose to study the classic works of pop vocal masters like Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra while slowly developing his own technique and career as a vocal interpreter.
June 22, 1974: David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel" peaked at Number 64 in the US.
Originally planned in late 1973 as part of an aborted Ziggy Stardust musical, "Rebel Rebel" was Bowie's last single in his signature glam rock style.
Paranoid was not only Black Sabbath's most popular record, it also stands as one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time.
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| The Cure |
June 18, 1976: Rod Stewart released the album A Night on the Town.
Taking a cue from Atlantic Crossing, which divided its two LP sides into fast and slow songs, Rod Stewart structured A Night on the Town similarly.
June 16, 1979: Donna Summer's album Bad Girls hits Number 1 in the US.
Every producer/DJ has the dream of creating an album like Donna Summer’s Bad Girls—whether they admit it or not.
Closer to Home, Grand Funk's third album, was the record that really broke them through to the commercially successful level of metal masters such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.
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| Grand Funk Railroad |
Rap’s underground/mainstream schism dates to the moment Puff Daddy’s performative act of mourning took over the Hot 100 and became, quite possibly, the biggest rap hit in history to that point.
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| Puff Daddy |
"Too Funky" finds George Michael propositioning someone he would like to have sex with.
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| George Michael |
