Otis Redding, Shake, Sitting on the Dock of the Bay, Try a Little Tenderness
Second generation. We were exposed to the joy of Tenderness via Duckie's dance at Trax in the movie Pretty in Pink. Shake is the bomb. Sitting on the Dock of the Bay, sadly, is Otis' swan song, the last hit after he died in a plane crash. Rock stars should not fly in little planes.
Jimmy Reed, Big Boss Man, Bright Lights, Big City
According to one youtube poster: Doesn't get any purer than this...a bluesman, his harp, his guitar, and his boys. Haa'Mercy! It sounds like standard issue blues to me, yet it's tighter and less messy. YouTube just kept playing his stuff and it's fantastic.
Lou Reed, Walk on the Wild Side
A standard on classic rock stations, this is as racy as they will get playing Lou's catalog. Very descriptive song, I wanted to experience those streets of NYC when I naively had no idea who Candy was or what she was doing. When I figured it out, I still wanted to go.
The Replacements, I Will Dare
One of those classic indie college bands that kids like me thought were edgy and cool. There's a pattern to such success: the song that blew up on college radio, the song that edged them towards international stardom, the song on the soundtrack, the collab, the breakup, the position as elder statesman that has the syndicated radio program or stint on a music channel show panelist lamenting the top 10 songs from some era.
Today may be shaping up to be a binge on The Replacements day.
Paul Revere & The Raiders, Just Like Me
American answer to The Beatles, albeit with less success. I recall instances where they were playing beach parties on music specials back in the 70s wearing tri-corner hats and other revolutionary war garb. Seemed out of place. Just looked them up on YouTube, and there they are on a 60s show doing the same thing. Very garage-y. I guess it's fun. I just found the song Kicks, and there's three girls in fringe dresses shaking their asses off to a dance one poster identified as The Pony. They are grandmas now.
Cliff Richard and the Drifters, Move It
I'm glad I broke this exercise up into 10 or so song increments so I can absorb the song or the era or the vibe. This is somewhere between garage, surf, and rockabilly.
Little Richard, Good Golly Miss Molly
Little Richard passed away earlier this year, just one more thing that sucks about 2020. What I appreciate about him was how coy he was about his appeal, his sexuality, his flamboyance. As a CIS white female, I just cannot imagine the bullshit a gay black man had to deal with in the 50s, and for him to succeed so spectacularly in spite of it and have a career to his grave is amazing.
Oh, and then there's the music. Designed to get you off your ass and shaking it. He was a big deal with the US Figure Skating ice dancers for a couple of years. He's multi-generational. Is there more for him on this list? There has to be more.
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