Author: zachary.hoskins@gmail.com
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Introduction to Jheri Curl June 2: Electric Boogaloo
That’s right, folks, it’s finally here: Jheri Curl June has returned, and this year it’s going to be even better than before. For those of you new to the party, I wrote an introduction last year that I highly recommend, as it provides a definition and brief history of the genre we like to call…
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My Type of Hype: A House Party Series Retrospective
Last month marked the 25th anniversary of the release of House Party: the definitive early ’90s African American teen comedy, starring pop-rappers Kid ‘n Play and directed by Reginald Hudlin. So what better time than now to look back and recall the classic film, the sequels it spawned, and the moment in urban youth culture it inimitably captured…
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Jheri Curl June: The Time’s “Jerk Out”
Well, here we are: the last day of Jheri Curl June, and I don’t think there could be a better band to go out with than the greatest band in the world, the muthafuckin’ Time. Today’s selection, “Jerk Out,” comes from the earliest of the Time’s many reunion albums, 1990’s Pandemonium: their first release as a group since 1984’s Ice…
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Jheri Curl June: Full Force’s “Love is for Suckers (Like Me and You)”
As we discussed in a previous post, by the middle of the decade the popularity of jheri curl music was waning, thus making room for both hip-hop and New Jack Swing. Full Force, who released their first album in 1985, combine equal parts of all three genres, helping to bridge the gap between JCM and New…
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Jheri Curl June: Roger’s “I Want to Be Your Man”
Roger Troutman was a talented guitarist, bassist, keyboard player and harmonica player, yet he is undeniably best known for perfecting the use of the talkbox in R&B music. Between his band Zapp and his “solo career”–a term I employ loosely, as most of the personnel on his solo records were in fact members of Zapp–Roger had a…
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Jheri Curl June Special: Michael Jackson
It’s only fitting, as we spend the last full week of Jheri Curl June discussing the twilight years of the genre, that we pay tribute to the man whose passing five years ago today helped spark a revived interest in the music he popularized: Michael Jackson. Though Jackson didn’t play as formative a role in the invention…
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Jheri Curl June: Was (Not Was)’ “Walk the Dinosaur”
Is jheri curl music still jheri curl music when it’s self-aware? This is the existential question raised by “Walk the Dinosaur,” the hit 1988 single by Detroit new-wavers Was (Not Was). It has all the ingredients of a great late-period jheri-curl song: clattering synthesized percussion, a bassline that pops all over the place, soulful vocals by…
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Jheri Curl June: Sheila E’s “A Love Bizarre”
Way back at the end of week one of Jheri Curl June, we argued that Prince left jheri curl music behind just after he arguably perfected it with his 1984 masterpiece Purple Rain. And while that’s technically true when you consider Prince’s career strictly as a solo artist/bandleader, it’s not quite the whole truth. Because by the mid-1980s,…
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Jheri Curl June: The Egyptian Lover’s “Freak-a-Holic”
I’m going on record now to say that the Egyptian Lover‘s “Freak-a-holic” is the ultimate jheri curl track. It has everything you could possibly ask for: a thumping artificial drumbeat, whining bass line, one of the most unconvincing synthesized horn riffs EVER, and of course a sleazy obsession with sex. In fact, the song is…
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Jheri Curl June: Rick James’ “Glow”
Rick James never actually sported a jheri curl, yet he inarguably made some of the best jheri curl music of the first half of the 1980s. By his 1985 album Glow, however, he had lost even his long glittery braids in favor of a curly, light dye job that made him look more like Rowlf…