I just barely finished the blog for my #25 musician Janet Jackson and I've started working on my blog for my #24 musician Ronnie James Dio. Next on the countdown is one of the bands that's has had a ton of drama over the years, although they've released two of the most influential CDs ever, "Dark Side of The Moon" and "The Wall". Other than the hundreds of times I've listened to the songs from their 80's era CDs, now I need to listen to them in prep for their countdown blogs. I haven't listened to them yet with fresh ears, so I'm posting this blog of some of their best non 80's era songs.
Ronald James Padavona was born on July 10th, 1942 and died way too young on May 16th, 2010. Padavona was better known as Ronnie James Dio. Dio had a wide and varied career. He sang with Rainbow, Black Sabbath- two of their best CDs were with him as the singer- Heaven and Hell and of course his own band, Dio. He also sang on the Queensryche CD, "Operation: Mindcrime 2". These Dio countdown blogs cover from 1980's Black Sabbath CD "Heaven and Hell" to 1993's "Strange Highways".
Dio, the band, released 10 CDs over their career. I suggest their classic CD is 1984's "Last In Line", I rated all the songs 5.0 on that CD. My highest rating is 5.0. I couldn't find a sales total, but I'm sure Ronnie sold millions of CDs in his illustrious career. Ronnie James Dio has yet to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is hard to believe. Loudwire magazine has an article about this on their website about a prejudice against heavy metal music. Iron Maiden and Soundgarden also haven't been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
This Dio blog countdown focuses mostly on Dio's CDs. However since Ronnie James Dio was a vital part of two Black Sabbath CDs I've included those CDs in these countdown blogs. Including the two Black Sabbath CDs, I have 61 Dio songs on my iTunes. Now on with the Top 63 80's Era Dio songs.
63) "Overlove":
This is one of the 13 Ronnie James Dio led Black Sabbath songs. 62) "Die Young":
61) "Evil On Queen Street":
This is one of the six songs from 1993's "Strange Highways". The Heavy Metal genre usually doesn't have a lot of flexibility on sound. However the band Dio expanded their sound somewhat on this CD. Did it work, sort of. There are some interesting cool sounds and songs on this CD.
What were some of the best songs, from 30 years ago, from all genres? Well this list is a start.
Dan Seals "Addicted":
Alabama is the only country band that broke into my Top ? Greatest 80's era bands, their countdown blogs will be here in a couple of weeks- hopefully. Alabama "Fallin' Again":
Without a doubt one of the greatest songs of all-time. Keith Whitley "When You Say Nothing At All":
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band "Workin' Man (Nowhere To Go)":
Living Colour "Cult of Personality":
Belinda Carlisle "Heaven Is A Place On Earth":
Terence Trent D'Arby "Wishing Well":
Billy Ocean "Get Out Of My Dreams, Get Into My Car":
Janet Jackson was born May 16th, 1966, which makes 51. Janet is the little sister of Michael and a slew of other Jacksons. In fact Janet is the youngest child of Joe and Katherine. While never quite equalling the amazing legacy of Michael, she still has had an amazing career. I'm glad she met Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis or I'm afraid she would have never met her full potential. Her first two CDs "Janet Jackson" and "Dream Street" were probably only made because of her last name value.
She was able to leave that part of her career behind though and hit her peek with "Control", Rhythm Nation" and "janet.". Janet has also had some other interesting moments in her career, from her very provocative Rolling Stone cover to that Super Bowl performance. She's made 11 CDs, her latest CD is 2015's "Unbreakable", which isn't very good. Actually it's a complete disappointment. She's also appeared in movies and television, although I haven't seen any of the movies she's been in. I vaguely remember her in "Facts of Life".
Like Ronnie James Dio, my #24 80's era artist, Miss Jackson hasn't been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yet. And as with Ronnie, there's somebody claiming bias as the reason they aren't in the Hall of Fame. For some reason other women not in the Hall of Fame include Pat Benatar, Tina Turner, Cher, Stevie Nicks, Whitney Houston (coming up on this countdown), Dionne Warwick and Cyndi Lauper. I'm a bit mystified why none of those amazing ladies is in the Hall of Fame.
This is a mix of some of the obscure and very well known songs of 1978. Sometimes a song can be represented by two years.
According to Wikipedia.org this song is the best selling song of 1978. I hadn't ever heard or heard of this song. How could suck an allegedly popular song remain so obscure?
Boney M "Rivers of Babylon":
Another song I hadn't heard of, but I'm trying to expand my music appreciation.
The Motors "Airport ":
Now here's a stone cold classic, without a doubt. Gerry Rafferty "Baker Street":
Rachel Sweet "B-A-B-Y":
Cliff Richard "Can't Take The Hurt Anymore":
One of my favorite songs from the entire 70s, even Barry jumped into the Disco craze. Barry Manilow "Copacabanca (At The Copa)":
One of the best 70's ballads, Miss Warwick is uber talented. Dionne Warwick "Deja Vu":
Sniff 'n' The Tears "Driver's Seat":
Chic "Everybody Dance":
Chris Rea "Fool (If You Think It's Over)":
Earth Wind and Fire "Got To Get You Into My Life" (Live):
"Got To Get You Into My Life" (Studio):
Blondie "Hanging on The Telephone":
I had to listen to a bit of this song before I remembered it's a well known song. Gino Vannelli "I Just Wanna Stop":
If I don't get a chance to say it, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May the politics get more logical and less divisive in 2018.
As the year rapidly comes to an end I want to publish the last blog of the great songs of 1977, while we're still in it's 40th anniversary year. These are the final 12 songs that I'lll be posting. Half of the songs start with the letter W, I'm going to split those between over the final two blogs. This blog will feature the songs that start with the letter Y and half of the songs that start with the letter W.
I discovered a couple of other good 1977 songs that start with Y than I had originally planned on.
Bob Marley and the Wailers "Waiting In Vain":
Elvis Costello "Watching The Detectives":
Rita Coolige "We're All Alone":
Dave Mason "We Just Disagree":
Al Stewart "Year of The Cat":
Debby Boone "You Light Up My Life":
Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. "You Don't Have To Be A Star":
The Oak Ridge Boys "You're The One (In A Million)":
Fleetwood Mac "You Make Loving Fun":
James Taylor "Your Smiling Face":
Carly Simon "You Belong To Me":
Meat Loaf "You Took The Words Right Out of My Mouth":
Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand "You Don't Bring Me Flowers":
If I don't get a chance to say it, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May the politics get more logical and less divisive in 2018.
As the year rapidly comes to an end I want to publish the last two blogs for the great songs of 1977 while still in it's 40th anniversary year. There are 24 more songs that I have yet to post. Half of the songs start with the letter W, I'm going to split those between over the final two blogs. This blog will feature the songs that start with the letter T and half of the songs that start with the letter W. The last 1977 anniversary blog will feature the other half of the songs that start with W and all the songs that start with Y.
This is one of the two songs from Ms. Jackson's first ever two CDs. Those first two CDs are pretty terrible. I know it's not all because of her, but her third CD "Control" was a major step up in quality and skill. 26) "If It Takes All Night":
This is the other song from her first two not very good CDs. 25) "Don't Mess Up This Good Thing":
24) "Throb":
23) "Come Back To Me":
22) "Alive":
21) "He Doesn't Even Know That I'm Alive":
20) This song goes on about 75 seconds too long. "You Can Be Mine":
One of the many amazing songs from "Rhythm Nation".
Now for the creme dela creme of Elton John's 80's era output.
10) "Kiss The Bride":
This version isn't quite as good as the original. 9) "Your Song" (Live In Australia):
8) "Nikita":
7) "Blue Eyes":
6) "Sad Songs (Say So Much)":
5) "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" (featuring George Michael):
I would have never predicted I would be putting this song this high. This is why I go through and listen to each song again before organizing the songs into countdown blogs. 4) "Take Me To The Pilot" (Live In Australia)":
"Empty Garden" is about the death of John Lennon, former Beatles singer. I was reading somewhere the other day that it's been 37 years since he was shot and killed. It's hard to believe it has been long. And as many football fans first heard the news was from Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football. Cosell sharing the death of a famous rock musician is still a very surreal moment.
17) "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)":
16) "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That":
15) "Heartache All Over The World":
14) "Spiteful Child":
13) "Little Jeannie":
12) "Dear John":
This was originally recorded in 1974, but it wasn't included as a non-album track until 1980. 11) "I Saw Her Standing There" (featuring John Lennon)
After working through 14 CDs and 11 singles I've finally been able to listen to all the eligible music for my #26 Greatest 80's musician, Mr. Elton John. The CDs covered in this period are from 1978's "A Single Man" to 1992's "The One".
This era cover here wasn't the most high quality phase of Elton John's career, most of these CDs weren't very good. The best CDs of this era are probably "21 at 33", "Jump Up" and "Too Low For Zero". But a couple of these CDs are just turds, like 1986's "Leather Jacket".
The criteria for the songs that will be ranked are songs from CDs released in the 80's that are original music or are songs that were released singles. That's why you'll see some songs near the top of the list that were from an earlier time.
I have 77 Elton John songs on my iTunes.
Reginald Kenneth Dwight, better known as Elton John, was born on March 25th, 1947. John met his songwriting partner in 1967, Bernie Taupin. One can't write about John without writing about Taupin also. He's an integral part of John's success. Taupin wrote the lyrics and then John put them to music. Besides his own music John has also written for "The Lion King", "Aida" and "Billy Elliot The Musical" John has sold over 300 million records. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, a honor he easily qualified for.
He has been married to David Furnish since 2014, although they've been in a relationship much longer. They also have two kids.
Elton John is my #26 Greatest 80's Era Musician. Slowly but surely I've been working through his CDs. But since he comes from the generation of musicians who used to release a CD almost every year he has a lot more CDs to work through than many other musicians. While I'm in the process of doing that, I'm about halfway done now. I wanted to post a couple of blogs with some of his best non-80's era songs and some of his more recent songs.
"Your Song":
"Take Me To The Pilot":
"Border Song":
"Burn Down The Mission":
"Tiny Dancer":
"Levon":
"Madman Across The Water":
"Honky Cat":
"Rocket Man":
"Daniel":
"Crocodile Rock":
This was also a hit later, at least a revised version, after the death of Princess Diana. Originally the song is about Marilyn Monroe. "Candle In The Wind":
First up I would like to thank both Wikipedia.org and digitalspy.com for most of the biographical details in this blog. I don't have the same resources as even a small size media company has. If I was able to I would love to interview Dido and see where she has been and what we can expect in the future. But that is highly unlikely so I rely on the great work of others. Thanks to both of those organizations.
Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong was born on December 25th, 1971. Happy 46th birthday in a couple of weeks Dido.
Dido's first CD came out in 1995, but I hadn't heard of "Odds and Ends" until working on this blog. It was more of a demo than an actual release. Dido first broke out in 1999, although her first two singles didn't make much of an impact. I'm surprised that neither "Here With Me" and "Don't Think Of Me" made much of an impact, both of those are great songs. It wasn't until "Thank You" come out until she started breaking out. I'm loathe to give Eminem any credit for anything, but he did sample the first verse from "Thank You" for "Stan". At least there's some hope for Eminem.
Anyway since I have the coolest Mom in the world, she was actually the one that introduced me this CD. I remember listening to it with her as we went to a basketball game. Her first CD, "No Angel" is such a great CD. Sadly she had the first CD curse, an amazing first CD that she hasn't come close to matching again. "No Angel" has 10 very solid songs on it. "No Angel" sold over 21 million copies. She has barely had that many decent songs in her ensuing three follow up CDs.
"Life For Rent" came out 4 years later, in 2003, and it has the very solid "White Flag" and 3 other decent songs. But clearly Dido took a step back on this record and it wasn't like she rushed back into the studio. In 2005 she released a live CD, "Live At Brixton Academy". These songs played live have a bit more muscle on them as she fleshes out the songs in concert. She still retains her amazingly beautiful voice. This is a few selections from that her live CD.
Then it was 5 more years until her next CD, the not very good at all "Safe Trip Home". That 2008 CD has 3 decent, but not groundbreaking, songs. It was a couple of years later before she released her next solid song, "Everything To Lose". The song is from the "Sex and the City 2" soundtrack. In 2013 she released her most recent release, "Girl Who Got Away". If you buy this CD, which I wouldn't recommend at all, buy the deluxe version. Three of the CD's four decent songs are on the bonus disc. Too many of the songs on "Girl Who Got Away" are lifeless. When they add some extra flourishes, that's when the song takes on a life of it's own.
What has she been doing since then? In 2011, she gave birth to her first child. She was a mentor on the English version of "The Voice" in 2013, that was a busy year of her life. Dido also released her Greatest Hits CD in 2013. That Greatest Hits CD was the last CD in her contract with her record company and she was happy about it ending. They might not have been that heartbroken either as that CD only sold 800,000 copies. She reportedly started working on new music, but we haven't heard much from her since then. On July 5th, 2016 she tweeted out about how many CDs her first two actual CDs sold.
Dido I hope you are frantically working on new music and will be releasing shortly after the new year. We need your lyrical insight and amazing voice in this increasingly ugly world. We need the light and spark your music brings into the world.
"Thank You":
"Here With Me":
My favorite song from her first CD and in fact from her entire catalog. Such a great song for when one is ready to move on from a relationship. "Hunter":
It only took me 14 years, but I finally watched "Love Actually" tonight and it's a very good movie. The thing I most noticed about the movie was the the great music and how a perfectly timed song can make a scene even better. Here are the best songs from "Love Actually".
Any song is made even more amazing by an amazing vocalist like Miss Kelly Clarkson, this is her "The Trouble With Love Is":
Whatever happened to Dido, the world could use that amazing voice right now!!
Dido "Here With Me":
Norah Jones "Turn Me On":
Wyclef Jean and Sharissa "Take Me As I Am":
The Pointer Sisters "Jump (For My Love)":
Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now":
Lynden David Hall's "All You Need Is Love":
The Beach Boys "God Only Knows":
Texas "I'll See It Through":
Sugababes "Too Lost In You":
Otis Redding "White Christmas":
Olivia Olson "All I Want For Christmas Is You":
Maroon 5 "The Sweetest Goodbye":
Gabrielle "Sometimes":
I normally wouldn't post a video like the one below, but Jeri Ryan is yummy. From Wikipedia "One of the film's deleted includes "Joanna" by Scott Walker." "Joanna":
Like the Michael Jackson blog I published previously, this is a collection of live performances of an artist that's in my Top 10 musicians of the 106 Greatest 80's. For this blog, its the amazing musician, song writer and genius Prince Rogers Nelson. He's better known as Prince, not as well known as TAFKAP. Also most of the original members of one of Prince's earliest bands, The Revolution, have been touring this year as well. I'll include some of their live performances from the last couple of years as well. I'll be featuring both songs and full concerts.
Medley:
This is allegedly a full concert from back in 1982, which is when Prince was still early in his career:
Prince covering Radiohead's "Creep":
Prince full concert 1988 from Germany:
A not so crazy "Let's Go Crazy" in 2015:
"America":
"Musicology" on the Jay Leno show with a disapproving Mel Gibson looking on:
For those of you who don't know The Revolution was the backing band for Prince with Purple Rain and other of his classic CDs. Here's the best selections from The Revolution in 2017.
"I Would Die For U":
"Take Me With U":
One of his more recent and lesser known songs, but still a great, great song. "She's Always In My Hair":
"Baby I'm A Star":
"Kiss":
"Joy In Repetition":
"Electric Chair":
The Brit Awards, 2006:
A slowed down cover of "Crimson and Clover":
Prince in 2000:
Prince was notorious for changing the melodies and arrangements in his songs when playing live. Sometimes it worked, other times it didn't. The Revolution play closer to the original arrangements, aka the classic arrangements. For me I would rather see the Revolution live than when Prince was alive.
The Revolution songs...
I love the bass in this song. "Computer Blue":
"When Doves Cry":
Yeah, I don't know what that crinkly sound is, but I do know it's annoying. "Let's Go Crazy/ Computer Blue/ America"":
