After another nearly year-long hiatus, the Dystopian Dance Party podcast has returned with something literally no one asked for: a year-long deep dive into the cinematic ouevre of Saturday Night Live alum/man of a thousand catchphrases/notorious Hollywood diva Mike Myers. In this first episode, we delve into Mike’s pre-feature film career and (sort of) explain why we’ve been possessed to do this. Come for the cracks about Cat in the Hat, stay for the clips of ’70s and ’80s Canadian TV shows!
After devoting much of the last three years to our love-hate relationship with ’70s clown-rockers KISS, we felt it was only appropriate to catch them on their (alleged) farewell tour and pay our final (dis)respects. Here are our impressions. This is another short one, but we’ll be back in a few weeks to talk about the autobiography of P-Funk originator George Clinton, Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You? If you have any questions or comments about the book you’d like us to address on air, find us on on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube.
We’ve been making an effort to include some international Jheri Jams this year, from the Japanese City Pop of Hitomi Tohyama’s “Wanna Kiss”to the French post-disco groove of J.M. Black’s “Lipstick (Shout!).”Today, we’re showcasing the Brit-funk cult classic, “Melodies of Love” by Pink Rhythm.
From the twinkling, dramatic synth opening to the throbbing bassline and dripping Moog solo, this song is soaked with jheri juice. I imagine it playing over a montage of extreme closeups of Jheri curls being seductively played with in a room full of mirrors and purple strobe lights. Don’t kink shame.
We have one more day of Jheri Curl June coming up tomorrow! Meanwhile, check out the YouTube and Spotify playlists below.
We’re breaking Jheri Curl June protocol in a few ways today: first, because Callie and I were both out of town on a family vacation last Thursday and Friday, we’ve extended Ladies’ Week into the first few days of this week. And second, rather than following up Callie’s 1985 Aretha pick with something later, I’m going a year back in time. My original plan had been to pick something from Destiny, Chaka Khan’s 1986 followup to her smash 1984 album I Feel for You. But, frankly, there isn’t anything on Destiny that slaps anywhere near as hard as I Feel for You’s opening track, “This is My Night”; and our priority for Jheri Curl June has always been to slap first, follow the rules later.
https://youtu.be/sy6IUDoL8Bg
But if any sticklers out there have doubts, allow me to enumerate the reasons why “This is My Night” deserves the spotlight today. First and foremost, there’s Exhibit A: the shimmering keyboards and freestyle-inspired drum programming by songwriters David Frank and Mic Murphy of JCJ vets the System. And if that isn’t enough, there’s Exhibit B: the above music video, an homage to 1930s backstage comedies featuring Chaka, in all her bewigged-and-décolletaged glory, acting opposite everyone’s favorite bald ’80s character actor, Wallace Shawn. I rest my case.
We’re now back on our regular schedule, so we’ll see you again tomorrow for a few more days of Jheri Curl June. Meanwhile, playlists are below!
Who’s Zoomin’ Who? was recorded and produced with a younger, more contemporary audience in mind, hence its Very Jheri production: slick synthesizers, a programmed drum machine beat, and a rhythm guitar that bounces like soft, wet curls.
We’ve long since established that Jheri Curl Music is an amorphous genre, with many roots and branches; but even still, it isn’t every day when we get to spotlight a track that is both perfectly Jheri Curl and emblematic of a style all its own. Shannon’s “Let the Music Play,” released as a single in 1983, is just such a track. The song’s inventive mix of Latin rhythms and electronic instrumentation–“a cross between Gary Numan and Tito Puente,” as music journalist Peter Shapiro put it–sparked enough innovators to earn its own genre designation: “the Shannon Sound,” it was called at the time, though today it’s better known as freestyle.
But even if “Let the Music Play” didn’t basically invent a new subgenre, it would still have its place in the annals of Jheri Curl Music history. Sure, the heavily syncopated drum programming by lead producer and songwriter Chris Barbosa leans a little more into electronic music than orthodox JCM; but those swelling keyboards and squelching synth-bass are as wet and silky as they come. Later freestyle music may have moved toward more of a hip-hop feel; but “Let the Music Play” proved that the genre’s primordial ooze was actually Jheri curl grease all along.
We’ll be back again tomorrow with more Jheri Curl June! In the meantime, why not “Let the Music Play” on our YouTube and Spotify playlists below?
Carrie Lucas began her career as a backup singer for the Whispers before signing to SOLAR Records. While she didn’t have any breakout hits during her solo career, 1982’s Still in Love is a Jheri Curl classic which includes a song produced by Nicholas Caldwell of the Whispers, as well as today’s Jheri Curl June song, “Men.”
What would Ladies’ Week be without a funky jaunt through the ways that men are absolute trash? “Men” begins with a list of the homekeeping duties and emotional labor that women are expected to do for men, asking, “Is this a woman’s place?” It’s feminism you can dance to!
We’ll be back tomorrow with more female-fronted Jheri Curl Music. Meanwhile, YouTube and Spotify playlists are below!
Each June, we set aside a week to celebrate the women of Jheri Curl Music. This year, we’re kicking off Jheri Curl June Ladies’ Week with not one, but three women: Melissa Bell, Marsha Carter, and Barbara Fowler, who together comprised the vocal trio Sinnamon.
Sinnamon’s 1982 single, “Thanks to You,” is a certified Jheri Curl jam: a sassy kiss-off to an ex-boyfriend whose “lovin’ services” are no longer required because the ladies of Sinnamon have “found somebody new.” The track’s sleek, futuristic beat and gospel-inspired vocals took it to the top of Billboard’s Hot Dance Music chart–making it by far the biggest success of the group’s brief recording career. But at least one person involved with “Thanks to You” was destined to go on to bigger and better things: the song’s 12″ mix was handled by KISS FM DJ Shep Pettibone, who would go on to become the remixer du jour for house-flavored tracks in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
We’ll be back tomorrow for Day 2 of Jheri Curl June Ladies’ Week. In the meantime, remember to check out the YouTube and Spotify playlists below!
It’s honestly shocking to me that in the six-year run of Jheri Curl June, we’ve never covered Ashford & Simpson, the ultimate soul music couple. Ashford & Simpson are what Jheri Curl June inductees René & Angela aspired to look like: a powerhouse singer-songwriter married couple.
Beginning their careers as successful songwriters, Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson wrote songs for Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles before joining Motown and continuing their trail of hits. But what we’re interested in here at Dystopian Dance Party is the second decade of Ashford & Simpson’s solo career: specifically, 1984’s Solid, when the couple went and got proverbial Jheri curls together.
Solid could be classified as a Jheri Curl album for the grown and sexy. Unlike most Jheri Curl Music that’s for the club or en route to the club, this is the album you put on when you’re about to pour champagne and have slow, sensual sex on satin sheets. It’s not spontaneous humpin’, this shit was planned out all week and you’re about to make this baby because it’s a Friday night AND the peak day of ovulation. Babies aren’t made in heaven, after all.
Anyway, let’s say you’ve poured out the champagne out and have been kissing and touching and all that, right? “Outta the World” is undressing and foreplay music. Things are getting steamy and wet now–you know, kind of like a Jheri curl. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: at its best, Jheri Curl Music sounds like the wetness of desire AND/OR the literal feel of a Jheri curl, and “Outta the World” is a perfect example of this. Now check out Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson’s sweet synchronized shoulder shrugs and get humpin’.
And with that, we’ll just leave you to start your weekend with the words “Ashford & Simpson” and “humpin’” emblazoned in your brain. Or, you can listen to the playlists below and try to clear your mind.
