Dystopian Dance Party

Author: zachary.hoskins@gmail.com

  • Jheri Curl June Special: Jesse Johnson

    For the past three years, we’ve commenced our Jheri Curl June festivities with profiles of major figures in the style we call Jheri Curl Music, timed to line up with their birthdays in the beginning of June. In 2014, it was Prince (born June 7); in 2015, it was Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (the former born June 6); last year, it was L.A. Reid (June 7 again). But until now, we’ve never managed to make time for another architect whose birthday falls as close to the beginning of June as possible: June 1, 1960. I’m talking, of course, about Jesse Johnson.

    Jesse, in our defense, hasn’t exactly been a stranger to Jheri Curl June. His “Be Your Man” was our second-ever JCJ post back in 2014, and we’ve also considered his work both as a member of the Time and as the producer of late-’80s Minneapolis funk-rockers dáKRASH. But we’ve never taken a deep dive into his music–and that’s a damn shame, because whatever Johnson might have lacked in the innovation of his former associates Prince, Jam, and Lewis, he more than made up for with some of the strongest pure Jheri Curl Music of the mid-to-late 1980s. In other words, there’s no better person with whom to launch our fourth annual celebration of all things wet and silky in ’80s R&B music. So let’s get to it!

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  • Jheri Curl June: One Way’s “Cutie Pie”

    This year, we’re kicking off Jheri Curl June with Detroit R&B group One Way, formerly known as the Soul Partners. Although not exactly a household name, One Way has made a significant impact on music. Between One Way and Zapp, you pretty much have the sound of West Coast G-funk down pat: Everyone from Too $hort and DJ Quik to the Game has sampled One Way’s heavy bass and whiny synthesizers.

    One Way’s Who’s Foolin’ Who album from 1982, which includes their biggest hit, “Cutie Pie”; © MCA Records.

    One Way had a consistent output of top-charting R&B singles throughout the late ’70s and early ’80s. “Cutie Pie,” their biggest hit, is the perfect music to listen to in your vintage Lincoln Continental while you cruise through the strip on Belle Isle.

    We’ll be back tomorrow with this year’s Jheri Curl June special, on the music of Jesse Johnson. In the meantime, check out our Spotify and YouTube playlists below!

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  • Introduction: The New Jheri Curl June IV U

    Ladies and gentlemen, it’s finally here: the holiest month on the Dystopian Dance Party calendar, Jheri Curl June. We’ve done this song and dance a few times before, so I’ll keep it brief this time; suffice to say, if you need a primer on what Jheri Curl Music is, you can check out our somewhat crudely-produced Imaginary Genres video from last year:

    We’ll be back later today to officially kick off the festivities…remember to check back every weekday in June for more of the wettest, silkiest ’80s R&B!

  • Dystopian Listening Party Podcast: Memorial Day, 2016-2017

    Well, here we are: for the second consecutive year, we’re turning Memorial Day weekend into a time of remembrance for the many great artists we lost since last May. But because this is still Dystopian Dance Party, and we’re constitutionally incapable of being reverent for more than a few minutes at a time, please be aware that the resulting podcast is about 70% wake, 30% roast (well, maybe 60/40). Just believe us when we tell you it’s all coming from a place of love. Hopefully, while everyone good continues to die and leave us trapped on this smoldering husk of a planet, we can at least entertain you (and ourselves) with our impressions of “The Force M.D.’s Meet the Fat Boys”… R.I.P. to Trisco Pearson. Show notes below.

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  • Dystopian Book Club Podcast: Paul Stanley’s Face the Music

    The last installment of our Dystopian Book Club miniseries on the memoirs of KISS is finally here, and we’re going out in a big way. Paul Stanley’s Face the Music: A Life Exposed isn’t the best KISS biography we’ve read (or the second best…or even the third), but it’s certainly fertile ground for discussion. Join us for almost two hours on the man, the myth, and the chest hair; and remember, while Dystopian Book Club is done with KISS (for now), WE! ARE JUST! GETTING! STAAAAAAAAHHHTEEED! We’ll be back in June with a special Jheri Curl June episode on the memoir(s) of Rick James. And don’t forget, next month is our annual Memorial Day podcast, when we commemorate the many musical icons we lost in the last 12 months. Show notes, as always, are below.

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  • From the Vault: Interview with Beth Ditto of the Gossip, 2006

    Editor’s Note: Back in my past life as an extraordinarily small-time freelance music writer (as opposed to whatever the fuck I am now), I had the opportunity to interview Beth Ditto of the Gossip for this article in my local “alternative” weekly, the Lansing, Michigan City Pulse. The interview was, to be honest, the main reason why I wrote about the Gossip for today’s Women’s History Month post: don’t get me wrong, Beth Ditto was and remains a badass, but even more than her music, our conversation is what made a lasting impression on me. Ditto’s reflections on growing up as a queer woman in the deep Bible Belt were fascinating and incisive; she was also funny, gregarious, and a pleasure to speak to in general. So, whether you’re a fan of the Gossip or not, I highly recommend reading this interview: not because 21-year-old me did a great job as an interviewer–I emphatically did not–but because it’s a warm exchange with a decent human being, and that’s something I think we can all appreciate. – Z.H.

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  • Women’s History Month: Trina’s “Da Baddest Bitch”

    First and foremost, I love Trina. Trina is my shit. She’s a bossy, nasty, fellow Sagittarius woman who is obsessed with her own ass: sounds like a role model to me. In high school I was constantly listening to “Look Back At Me,” and for better or worse, the confrontational line “yeah you runnin’ now, you runnin’! I’mma put this pussy on you!” continues to influence me to this day.

    Trina and Trick Daddy in the bubble bath; photo stolen from Gangsta Boo’s Instagram.

    Trina has been outrageously raunchy since her debut verse on fellow Miami rapper Trick Daddy’s “Nann Nigga,” which jump-started Trina’s music career. Her 2000 debut album, Da Baddest Bitch, expands on the financially and sexually astute persona she introduced in “Nann Nigga.” The title track is essentially a book of proverbs for bad bitches, with such gems of wisdom as, “You see the bigger the dick, the bigger the bank / The bigger the Benz, the better the chance to get close to his rich friends”–and of course, my personal favorite, “make him eat it while my period on.”

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  • Women’s History Month: Wanda Jackson’s “Hard Headed Woman”

    Wanda Lavonne Jackson was not the first woman to sing rock and roll music; but she very likely was the first white woman to release a rock and roll single, and that was an achievement in and of itself. One barely needs to scratch the surface of 1950s moral panic to recognize that the “danger” of rock and roll was its perceived threat to the moral sanctity of white womanhood. But there was Wanda, in her red fringed dresses and high heels, tearing through racy–and “race-y”–rockabilly songs with the kind of blitzkrieg energy a punk rocker would envy.

    Given the time and place in which she originated–Oklahoma City in the mid-’50s–it’s unlikely that Jackson explicitly thought of herself as a feminist trailblazer, much less a transgressor of racial lines. But she didn’t need to: she broke those boundaries simply by existing. Take, for example, her 1961 version of “Hard Headed Woman.” Written by Black Rhythm & Blues songwriter Claude Demetrius and recorded, most famously, by her ex-boyfriend Elvis Presley for the King Creole soundtrack, it’s frankly a sexist song in its original incarnation: little more than a light-hearted rundown of Biblical stories (Adam and Eve, Samson and Delilah) presented as evidence that “a hard-headed woman is a thorn in the side of a man.” But Wanda clearly takes a defiant pleasure in identifying with “that evil Jezebel”; and her hellion vocals sound just as raw today as they did 55 years ago.

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  • Women’s History Month: Grimes’ “Venus Fly” (featuring Janelle Monáe)

    We begin women’s month with Canadian producer Claire Boucher, the singer, songwriter, and visual artist (among other things) better known as Grimes. As a self-made songwriter and musician, Grimes is especially notable for her unrelenting do-it-yourself work ethic, which allows her to be in complete control of every aspect of her work: from the creation of her music to the manga-inspired cover art of her albums.

    © 4AD Records

    Grimes has been vocal about sexism in the music industry, particularly for female producers working in a male-dominated field. She has also been infantilized for her high, feminine voice and pop sensibilities. “Venus Fly,” featuring fellow vocal feminist singer Janelle Monáe, is a response to this sexism. The lyrics uses a venus fly trap to represent something that, in Grimes’ own words, is “too scary to be objectified,” a beautiful plant that also eats living things. Monáe’s verse uses imagery of typically pretty things, such as curls and pearls, used as weapons, while the chorus repeatedly asks why her music is overshadowed by her appearance and femininity. Plus the song is an all-out banger, with amazing futuristic fairy tale visuals in the music video.

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  • Dystopian Art Party Podcast: Happy Birthday, Yoko Ono

    Last Saturday, Yoko Ono turned 84 years old; so we’ve decided to take the opportunity to shout out one of our favorite visual and musical artists, who has been fucking shit up for five decades and is still going strong in 2017. If you’re a Yoko neophyte and want to know what the fuss is about, here’s our (deeply personal, 100% subjective) primer on why she matters and where to start. No hate allowed–Callie will ether your ass. We’re taking next month off the podcast, but we’ll be back in April with another KISS memoir. The sublime and the ridiculous, folks!

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