Author: zachary.hoskins@gmail.com
-
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,…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Jheri Curl June: Ready for the World’s “Love You Down”
Today we give a shout-out to Flint, Michigan‘s own sultry jheri-ballad kings, Ready for the World. They were discovered by the WJLB Detroit radio personality The Electrifying Mojo in 1982, and gained underground notoriety in both Flint and Detroit for “Tonight,” the song that would eventually become the lead single for their 1985 self-titled debut. “Love You…
-
Jheri Curl June: Cameo’s “Candy”
William Shakespeare once wrote, “Be not afraid of jheri-curl: some are born jheri-curl, some achieve jheri-curl, and some have jheri-curl thrust upon them” (note: I may be misremembering this quote). Cameo, founded by the inimitable Larry Blackmon in 1974, belonged to the latter category: they started out as a straight-up funk band in the P-Funk…
-
Jheri Curl June: The System’s “The Pleasure Seekers”
Most of our choices for Jheri Curl June so far have fallen between 1981 and 1983, and for good reason: those years were arguably the high point of jheri curl’s Golden Age. But as we reach the second half of our month-long celebration, I wanted to also shift our focus to the second half of…
-
Jheri Curl June: Klymaxx’s “Meeting in the Ladies Room”
What would Ladies’ Week be without a tribute to Klymaxx: one of the few all-female, self-formed groups in pop music history? Meeting in the Ladies Room, Klymaxx’s fourth studio album, was co-produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and went platinum with four successful singles, one of which was the title track. The song–written by another trio…
-
Jheri Curl June: Mary Jane Girls’ “All Night Long”
The Mary Jane Girls were essentially Rick James’ answer to Vanity 6: the girl group Prince constructed as the prostitute foil to The Time‘s pimp image. In this case, though, Rick James might have actually one-upped his longtime rival; for their 1983 American Bandstand performance of “All Night Long,” the girls look like they were literally picked up off…
-
Jheri Curl June: Mtume’s “Juicy Fruit”
Ladies’ Week continues with “Juicy Fruit,” another jheri-ballad from 1982 by Mtume. The band is named for its founder and lead songwriter, former Miles Davis percussionist James “Mtume” Forman; but the voice you hear front and center in “Juicy Fruit,” as well as the band’s other hits, is female co-vocalist Tawatha Agee. And it’s the…
-
Jheri Curl June: Evelyn “Champagne” King’s “Love Come Down”
It’s Day Two of our informal Ladies’ Week for Jheri Curl June, which means it’s time to break out the Champagne. “Love Come Down” is the first single from Evelyn “Champagne” King’s 1982 album Get Loose, and it’s as frothy and ebullient as her liquid namesake, with one of those irresistible computerized synth-basslines early-’80s jheri curl…