22 December 2023 - Olivia Newton-John - Hopelessly Devoted To You

Let's talk about Grease.  An adaptation of a stage musical of the same name, it starred Olvia Newton-John and John Travolta.   The soundtrack was the second biggest selling album of 1978 - second only to the soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever.    

By the way, both movies were definitely in theaters at the same time, because I remember going to see Grease in 1979 with my mother and literal one-month old sister and seeing posters for both.

Written by longtime ONJ collaborator John Farrar, this song did not appear in the original stage musical (the movie, to be fair, took several liberties with the source material), but was accepted into the movie immediately.  It ended up being one of Olivia's biggest hits, reaching #3 on the Billboard charts and earning Farrar an Academy Award nomination (he also earned a Golden Globe nom for a different original song for the movie, "You're The One That I Want").

Because it was an Academy Award nominated song, Olivia performed the song at the 1979 Oscar ceremony.  The backing was by the Oscar ceremony orchestra - and, if it's possible, she sang it bigger on that stage.

Olivia performed this song at least through 2017, as it was one of her favorites (mine, too).  Here is one of her last performances (she retired from live performance soon after, and passed in 2022).

21 December 2023 - Bee Gees - Night Fever

In 1978, the Bee Gees owned the music world.  This song spent eight weeks at #1, on the strength of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack album that was, essentially, a Bee Gees album.  That soundtrack is the best selling soundtrack of all time, and one of the ten biggest selling albums of ANY kind.  

It ended up being the second biggest hit song of 1978, behind their brother Andy Gibb's "Shadow Dancing", which, well, they wrote.  In fact, five of the top ten songs of 1978 were either by the Bee Gees or Andy Gibb and written by the Brothers Gibb.  8

To put that in perspective, Debby Boone's cover of "You Light Up My Life", one of the biggest singles of all time, was the #3 song of 1978.  In the moment, "Night Fever" was the bigger hit.  

By the way, the movie was originally called Saturday Night, but the band, who hated that as a song title, convinced the director to rename the movie to match THEIR song.  It was the right choice.  The song began life as something of a disco-based rerecording of Perth Faith's "Theme From A Summer Place", which, now that you know that, you cannot unhear.

The song is pure disco perfection.  

20 December 2023 - BLACKPINK - Pink Venom

I promise I didn't plan a theme week this week.  Sometimes, I go where the posts take me.

And this week, they took me to "Pink Venom", the 2022 hit song by BLACKPINK.

Fun fact - this song was BANNED in Korea.... not because it was dirty or anything.  No, it's because Lisa rapped about the French brand Celine - which she endorses - and that level of product placement in songs is not allowed in music in Korea.  

The song brings direct references to Taylor Swift, Rhianna, and Notorious B.I.G., all of whome are quoted in the lyrics - see if you can find them.  It is a confident and bold song that critics have compared to musical anarchy - with shifting musical styles between pop, rock, hip hop and Middle Eastern influence - almost as if each member chose a style and shifted it every time it was their turn to sing.  

It works, though.  It remains one of the group's biggest hits.  

We've mentioned that a live performance in the K-Pop world is more about dance than singing - but these ladies are getting better at the live singing part, too.

19 December 2023 - AleXa - Wonderland

How does a K-Pop star win American Song Contest?

Well, AleXa may live in South Korea now, but she was raised in Oklahoma and is an American citizen.  She was born in Tulsa.  And, when it was announced that a K-Pop star was going to participate in this show, she became the odds-on favorite to win what was essentially American Eurovision.

This was the winning song, and remains her only US chart hit to date, reaching #38 in 2022.  

The song is still a fan favorite, even in her adopted home country of South Korea. The focus is on dance performance here - and it matches what she actually did on the NBC show, and not the video above.

To compare, here is her week 1 performance from the show.  To be clear, this is the song and performance that won the show for her.  And the win was NOT close.  She beat Michael Bolton, y'all!

18 December 2023 - Rolling Quartz - Fearless

K-Rock?  It ain't pop, for sure.

In any language, this is real rock music.  Jayoung is a charismatic lead vocalist with a hell of a stage pressence.  The entire band is full of talented musicians who know how to play.

Watch at the 0:55 point of the video.  It's clear the video director told the band to each individulally give a deep, serious, sultry look to the camera.  Iree - the guitarist, who is a damn virtuoso - is way too happy to be there at 1:00.  It becomes her song at 1:59, when she goes into what is arguably the sickest guitar solo in Korean music history.  

I know there's a tendency to believe that a lot of Korean music is manufactured and built in a studio, with limited reliance on live talent.  Yes, sometimes, that's true.  It is NOT true with Rolling Quartz. Three things of note in this live performance.

1) It's not perfect.  Live performances shouldn't be.

2) Yeonguen's feet are going a mile a minute on those drums.

3) There are actually TWO guitar solos in order.  Rhythm guitarist Hyunjung gets a solo, too - and she's pretty damned solid herself.

15 December 2023 - Heart - Barracuda

One of my best friends in high school was a woman named Heather.  We don't talk as much as we used to (and in fact, I really should check and see how she's doing because it's been a couple of years), but I still think of our friendship.

A lot of it was rooted in music.  Her favorite artist back then was Heart, a group I didn't fully appreciate becuase, well, I first heard them with "What About Love", which wasn't really classic Heart.  Because of her, I know now of older Heart.

This song, which peaked at #11 on the pop charts, was from Heart's 3rd album, Little Queen, and was written by the band.  The song was produced by Mike Flicker, who is best known for his work with Heart.  It also happens to be one of my favorite songs of theirs.  

Heart is still together, a half century after they started - with the Wilson sisters as the only original members. In 2013, the whole band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and played with a band that included other Seattle legends, like Chris Cornell (who gave the induction speech) and Jerry Cantrell.  This was the first time in three decades that the original lineup was all together on one stage.  

14 December 2023 - Madonna - Hollywood

This song is being posted not because it is one of my favorite Madonna songs.

I mean, it is.  Absolutely.  Co-written by Madonna and Mirwais, it is a minimalist masterpiece.  Released in 2003, it was a bigger hit outside of the US than inside - but it was a minor hit here, too.... and a huge club hit.  It was her first single in 20 years to NOT make the Billboard Hot 100, though.

It's not because the video is iconic.

I mean, it is.  Madonna being Madonna all throughout this video makes this an even larger experience.  

It's not because Madonna is a WGP Hall of Famer

She's likely to be our next inductee.  Let's be honest.  

No, no, there's another reason.

Before we get to that reason, let's hear "Hollywood" live.

Oh, wait. Maybe "Hollywood" was part of an infamous VMAs performance in 2003 when Madonna famously kissed both Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera on the mouth.... literally right as they finish the song.