We opened this year’s Jheri Curl June with a socially conscious Jheri Curl song. Well, here’s an entire album of Social Justice Jheri Jams. Appropriately titled Listen to the Message, Club Nouveau’s second album is an overt political statement that you can dance to. The opening track, “It’s a Cold Cold World,” has lyrics about poverty, homelessness, war, and racism over a knocking beat.
Listening to this song, recorded over 30 years ago, really drives home the fact that things aren’t getting better and the hour is surely getting late, both for humankind on this planet and for Jheri Curl June. We only have two more days in June, folks! But don’t worry, we will (probably) be back next year.
In the meantime, check out the playlists below and stay tuned for the final days of Jheri Curl June 2021!
As we round the corner into the last days of Jheri Curl June, today’s pick is another repeat induction into the JCM Hall of Fame. You may recognize Curtis Hairston as the lead vocalist for the 1985 album Genie by the B.B. & Q. Band, who we spotlighted back in 2016. This time, however, we’re talking about Hairston’s 1987 solo track, “The Morning After”: the third and final single from his self-titled Atlantic Records debut–and, sadly, his last single as a solo artist. “The Morning After” wasn’t a hit in the U.S., but it did chart in the U.K., where Hairston remains better known; and the combination of the singer’s soaring tenor with those slick keyboards makes it the perfect song to slide into the weekend with.
You can listen to “The Morning After”–and the rest of our picks so far–on the Spotify and YouTube playlists below. We’ll be back next week for just three more days, after which we must sadly return our ceremonial Jheri curl wigs to the Dystopian Dance Party Vault for another year. Still, we’ve got some more great songs in the pipeline, so we’ll see you again soon!
This year’s Jheri Curl June has leaned heavily into harder go-go beats and electro grooves. Sure, we had Atlantic Starr‘s grown and sexy “Love Me Down” at the beginning of the month, but after that it’s been back to back Jheri Jams. So, I felt it was again time to relax into something as silky smooth as the sheets that Angela Winbush rests on in the music video for her song “Angel.”
We previously spoke about Angela Winbush and her abusive working relationship while she was a part of René and Angela. On her first solo album, 1987’s Sharp, Angela really shines as a powerhouse vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. Her credits on this album include drum programming, keyboards, synthesizer, bass, and percussion.
Another fun thing of note is that on the vinyl release of Sharp, the A- and B-sides of the album were titled the “Slammin’ Side” and the “Quiet Storm” side, respectively. On our own playlist, we’ll probably return back to the Slammin’ Side tomorrow, but Angela Winbush’s “Angel” was like a nice cooling summer rain on a hot day.
Over the years, we’ve talked a lot about how Jheri Curl Music evolved over the decade: taking on associated sounds like electro and freestyle, before finally being subsumed by the emergence of New Jack Swing. On the other hand, there’s Midnight Star, who continued to plow more or less the same furrow throughout the whole Jheri Curl era: from their breakthrough in 1983 until the departure of creative nucleus, brothers Reggie and Vincent Calloway, three years later. Listen to 1983’s No Parking on the Dance Floor back to back with 1986’s Headlines and you’d be forgiven for thinking they were recorded during the same sessions: pretty much the only thing that changed, in fact, were the group’s actual J.C.’s, which had blossomed from the relatively modest coiffures of the former to the baroque salon lookbook lineup of the latter.
But hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it; and the title track of Headlines shows that, if nothing else, Midnight Star’s signature sound was still good for a decent groove. If we’ve heard these tricks before–right down to Vincent’s Vocodered rap, which sounds copied and pasted from the No Parking club hit “Freak-A-Zoid“–it’s only because they proved so effective the first time around. Just one word of advice: while “Headlines” hardly necessitates a 12″ mix–the damn album track is already almost eight and a half minutes long–it’s still my preferred version, if only because it contains the hilarious breakdown where singer Melvin Gentry demands we “take a memo” and then spends the next 45 seconds rapping the words “type” and “backspace.” Also, Reggie plays a flute solo. Who knew journalism could be so funky?
We’ll be back tomorrow with more latter-day Jheri Jams. Meanwhile, check out our growing playlists below!
Last December, hip-hop pioneer John “Ecstasy” Fletcher passed away at the age of 56; so it seemed long overdue to pay tribute to the group he co-founded, Whodini, with this year’s Jheri Curl June. “Freaks Come Out at Night,” from the group’s seminal 1984 album Escape, is a perfect example of an early hip-hop, electro Jheri Jam, complete with a bouncy synthesized beat and a horny robot talk box.
Whodini now lives in the hallowed halls of the proverbial Jheri Curl Hall of Fame, in the same wing as the Egyptian Lover and the Jonzun Crew, with Ecstasy’s signature Zorro hat and tiny shorts on display right next to the Egyptian Lover’s leather suit and everyone’s fingerless gloves.
We’ll be back tomorrow with more Late Era Jheri Curl Music; in the meantime, playlists are below.
If there’s ever been an artist who embodied proto-Jheri Curl Music without ever quite crossing over into J.C.M. proper, it’s Nile Rodgers. As the guitarist and co-producer behind disco innovators Chic, Rodgers played a key role in the creation of the more streamlined “post-disco” sound; yet by the early ’80s and the dawn of what we call the Jheri Curl Era (JCE), he had taken a left turn from the majority of his acolytes, moving in more of a pop direction with his solo debut Adventures in the Land of the Good Groove and high-profile productions for the likes of David Bowie, Madonna, and Duran Duran.
Rodgers’ second album, 1985’s B-Movie Matinee, is no exception; it isn’t quite Jheri Curl Music, though it certainly has elements in common–dig, for example, the electro-style programmed bassline and bright, brassy synths that open “Let’s Go Out Tonight,” one of two singles released from the album (and, incidentally, the only one of Rodgers’ solo singles to crack the Hot 100). But then again, J.C.M. itself was kind of on the wane by 1985; and even if it isn’t quite orthodox Jheri Curl, how could I refuse myself the opportunity to share this absolutely bonkers video, which features Rodgers (wearing some kind of futuristic Cosby sweater) bringing a Japanese Bunraku marionette to life, taking her out on a date, and then seemingly turning into a marionette himself? Besides, Nile Rodgers wrote the Soul Glo jingle; even if his rhythm guitar style hadn’t influenced virtually every artist we’ve written about for Jheri Curl June, that alone would ensure his place in JCM history remains secure.
We’ll be back tomorrow with more picks from the latter-day JCE; in the meantime, playlists are below.
We’ve spoken briefly about Perri “Pebbles” Reid before, in the context of our 2016 profile of her ex-husband and producer, L.A. Reid, as well as our 2018 profile on André Cymone, who co-wrote her contribution to the Beverly Hills Cop II soundtrack, “Love/Hate.” But part of the point of Jheri Curl June Ladies’ Week is to give the women of Jheri Curl Music a chance to step out from their male producers’ shadows and get their own turn in the spotlight; and besides, Pebbles’ 1987 debut album–and the Number 1 R&B hit “Mercedes Boy” in particular–is just too damn good to ignore.
Written by Pebbles herself and co-produced with Charlie Wilson (yes, thatCharlie Wilson), “Mercedes Boy” is vintage late-era JCM, with a freestyle-inspired programmed bassline and a positively dripping guitar solo. The music video, released in March of 1988, might try to fool us with its close-cropped male dancer; but we all know the hairstyle the boy of Pebbles’ dreams is really rocking, and let’s just say her Mercedes had better have some plastic headrest covers.
Sadly, that wraps up Ladies’ Week for this year; but Jheri Curl June still has a week and a half left to go! Until then, check out those growing Spotify and YouTube playlists below:
I’ve been sitting on this song for the last seven years holding out to see if maybe, just maybe, Vanity’s music would appear on streaming services and we could add it to the Spotify playlist. Unsurprisingly–and, like Eddy Grant‘s absolute fuckin banger “Electric Avenue,” with which we kicked off the festivities this year–that doesn’t seem likely anytime soon. So, I’m finally including Vanity in Jheri Curl June Ladies’ Week (although we did mention her back in 2015 in our Jheri Curl Cinema writeup on The Last Dragon).
“Under the Influence” is my favorite Vanity song. Granted, it was written by Motown songwriters, which is probably why it’s, uh, better than most of her solo stuff (although I love the entire Wild Animal album as well, and will die defending it). Vanity looks stunning in the video, flipping between a glamorous white ’20s-inspired look shot in black and white and some bizarre lacy number with a scarf, two different-colored knee-high boots, and what looks like the pirate hat that I got from the Pirates of the Caribbean gift shop at Disney World back in 2007. Who else BUT Vanity could look that good wearing that stupid outfit and rolling around on the stairs of an opulent hotel entranceway?
We’ll be back with our final day of Ladies’ Week tomorrow. In the meantime, check out the Spotify and YouTube playlists below… just, sadly, don’t expect to see Vanity on the former.
Earlier this week, we mentioned that Bonnie Pointer had departed the Pointer Sisters for a solo career in the late ’70s. Her third album, 1984’s If the Price Is Right, still has remnants of the disco sound of her former musical output, but soaked with Jheri Curl juice. Even the album cover features a glossy image of Bonnie in a Vanity 6-esque teddy.
Sadly, Bonnie Pointer passed away last year, on June 8, 2020; but because we postponed Jheri Curl June that year, we are honoring her with a posthumous induction into a year late. Rest in peace, Bonnie Pointer!
Remember to check out the Spotify and YouTube playlists below. We’ll be back tomorrow with another day of Jheri Curl June Ladies’ Week!
Fredi Grace & Rhinestone was a trio from Atlanta, Georgia consisting of Fredi Grace, Rosalind Sweeper, and Keith Rawls. “Tight,” the titular track off their second (and last) album, is a sparse, funky opener with soaring vocals by lead singer Grace. On a side note, Grace’s tensile strength must be incredible, because after nearly six minutes of instructing her lover to hold her EVEN TIGHTER, she still seems unsatisfied. Squeeze responsibly, folks!
We’ll be back tomorrow for Day 3 of Jheri Curl June Ladies’ Week. In the meantime, remember to check out the Spotify and YouTube playlists below!