Davy Jones: 1945 - 2012 R.I.P.

Saddened to hear the news today that Davy Jones, one of the singers in the TV network manufactured rock group The Monkees has passed away. Jones died of an apparent heart attack in Florida.

Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith and Mickey Dolenz burst into the music scene and TV living rooms when their TV show The Monkees made its national debut in 1966. They clicked almost immediately with young viewers throughout the United States. Their first two singles, "Last Train to Clarksville" and "I'm a Believer" catapulted to the top of the charts, peaking at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and many other places.

Over the course of the years, The Monkees would enjoy huge success scoring top hits with songs like "Words," "Pleasant Valley Sunday", "Mary Mary", "I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone" (originally done by Paul Revere & the Raiders) and "Daydream Believer" a #1 song that is most associated with singer Davy Jones.

Jones appeared on TV on programs such as The Brady Bunch, Love American Style and Here Come the Brides. He also enjoyed a solo music career and had a handful of minor top 40 hits including "Rainy Jane" and "Girl".

God bless Davy Jones, rest in peace.

Michael Jackson 1958 - 2009

Like many people all over the world, I was quite surprised to learn of the untimely death of singer Michael Jackson. I got first indication of his death after reading an alert on my Google RSS reader. Shortly after news of his death was on the radio, TV and elsewhere on the internet.

Michael Jackson was not my favorite music artist. Still, he was one of the biggest icons in the music business. He made his mark not only in music, but also in dance, showmanship and video. He was the child star and lead vocalist of The Jackson 5, the music group put together by his parents and consisting of his brothers Jackie, Marlon, Tito and Jermaine. Their origins in the city of Gary, Indiana to hit making machine in the early to mid 1970s for Motown Records are legendary.

Michael Jackson became bigger than life well into his solo career. In 1979 his album Off The Wall became a dance floor favorite in the waning days of the disco era. I was there as a weekend DJ spinning cuts from this record that kept dancers happy and on their feet with the likes of "Don't Stop Til' You Get Enough," "Rock With You", and "Working Day & Night".

When Thriller came out in late 1982, the album became a phenomenal success. I was still there during my last year as part-time dance floor DJ spinning nearly all of its tracks... "Beat It," "Billie Jean," "Wanna Be Starting Something" and more.

Thriller broke new ground for Jackson and popular music. "Billie Jean" was the first song by a black artist to get regular airtime on MTV. The title track became a hugely successful long-form video utilizing the talents of top notch dancers, movie director John Landis and a rap by actor Vincent Price. Marvelous stuff!

Thriller became the biggest selling record album of all time and still is. Sales figures vary, but estimates put it somewhere between 65 to 107 million copies sold worldwide.

Michael Jackson's career progressed well beyond Thriller, though he was never able to match the success of that album. Now with his sudden death, Michael Jackson's music sales and memorabilia have spiked. All of his major studio albums and many singles are re-appearing on best seller charts. People are rediscovering his music and perhaps commerce has been handed a new industry.

Certainly Michael Jackson was not perfect. He had his personal, legal and financial problems. It is not in the scope of this blog to cover any of these, but only mention them in passing. In the long term, the scandals and problems will fade and only the music will live on.

Rest in Peace Michael Jackson. We'll all be listening to your music for many years to come.

TOP 20 FAVORITE SONGS BY MICHAEL JACKSON

1. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
2. Beat It - Michael Jackson
3. Rock With You - Michael Jackson
4. Don't Stop Til' You Get Enough - Michael Jackson
5. Thriller - Michael Jackson
6. Shake Your Body Down to the Ground - The Jacksons
7. We Are The World - USA For Africa
8. I'll Be There - The Jackson Five
9. Smooth Criminal - Michael Jackson
10. Dancing Machine - The Jackson Five
11. The Love You Save - The Jackson Five
12. Man in the Mirror - Michael Jackson
13. Who's Lovin' You - The Jackson Five
14. Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin' - Jermaine Jackson (with Michael Jackson)
15. Say Say Say - Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson
16. Black or White - Michael Jackson
17. Girlfriend - Michael Jackson
18. Ben - Michael Jackson
19. Got to Be There - Michael Jackson
20. The Girl is Mine - Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney

MICHAEL JACKSON - "Billie Jean" (1983)




Photo composite: Center is the Honolulu Star Bulletin front page that appeared on June 26, 2009 one day after Michael Jackson's death. The albums depicted on the composite are "Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5" from 1969; Michael Jackson albums "Off the Wall," "Bad" and "Thriller: 25th Anniversary Edition". The red 45 is a collector's pressing I got some years ago at Jellys' Honolulu. At top right is a headline from U.S.A. Today.

Super Oldies of the Week

What's an oldie? How old should a song be before it is considered an oldie? My friend’s kid who was born in the mid 1990s thinks any song released before 2005 is an oldie. Hardly so in my book.

Should the term oldie be applied to songs of a certain era or to songs that pass a certain numeric threshold based on the year it was released and first became popular?

For the purposes of the weekly top 10 that I turn into Plannine’s Classic Top 30 page, it seems that songs from the early 1980s or older qualify as an oldie. The current definition that I will use for an oldie is a song that is 20 years old or older.

Hence all music that was released and became popular in 1989 for me will be the defining point of what is an oldie. Certainly other people will think otherwise. This means popular tracks like Paul McCartney’s “My Brave Face,” U2’s “With or Without You” and Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” are all oldies. These records were released at least 20 years ago. Makes you feel old huh?

Here are my 10 favorite oldies of the week as submitted to Plannine’s site:

1. My Hawaii - The Rascals
2. Oh Boy - Buddy Holly
3. La La La La La - The Blendells
4. Jennifer Eccles - The Hollies
5. Orinoco Flow (Sail Away) - Enya
6. New Year's Day - U2
7. Nights Are Forever Without You - England Dan & John Ford Coley
8. The Lord's Prayer - Sister Janet Mead
9. One Tin Soldier - Coven
10. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - Gene Pitney

The oldest song on this list is Buddy Holly’s “Oh Boy” which came out in the 1950s. The newest is Enya’s “Orinoco Flow” which was a hit in 1988. Hard to imagine an Enya track as an oldie. The song is more than 20 years old. Yes, you are old.

England Dan and John Ford Coley, originally uploaded by lwb10463.

DAN SEALS

Sad to hear of the passing this week of country and pop singer Dan Seals. He was the “England Dan” of England Dan & John Ford Coley who had a string of soft rock pop hits in the mid to late 1970s. England Dan & John Ford Coley’s records included “Nights are Forever (Without You)”, “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight”, “It’s So Sad to Belong” and “Love is the Answer”. Dan Seals later went on to a solo country music career in the 1980s and early 1990s. He was the younger brother to Jim Seals of Seals & Croft fame. Rest in Peace Dan.