Dystopian Dance Party

Category: jheri curl june

  • Jheri Curl June: O’Bryan’s “Lovelite”

    I stumbled upon O’Bryan sometime last year, in one of my annual trawls through the underbelly of the Internet looking for fresh Jheri Curl Music. Born O’Bryan McCoy Burnette II, he cut his teeth in the 1970s Philadelphia soul and disco scene, before a fortuitous meeting with Soul Train creator Don Cornelius resulted in his being signed to Capitol Records. A singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist with an exotic, ethnically ambiguous look, O’Bryan was a shoo-in to be Capitol’s answer to the rising star Prince.

    The problem was that O’Bryan took things a little too far. While Prince was blowing up MTV with the low-key erotica of his videos for Purple Rain, O’Bryan was getting banned from MTV for actually showing titties in the video for “Lovelite.” Turns out that embracing a soft-porn aesthetic can make you a star, while literally putting soft porn in your videos will just make you a historical footnote. Still, there are definitely boobs in the video above, so enjoy!

    We’ll see you again tomorrow–Spotify and YouTube playlists, as always, are below.

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  • Jheri Curl June: Slave’s “Turn You Out (In & Out)”

    We’ve featured Slave before for Jheri Curl June, but their 1983 album Bad Enuff is the group at their most activated. By 1983, the sound of ’80s R&B had fully transitioned from leftover disco to what we all know and love as Jheri Curl Music, thanks to Prince’s Minneapolis sound taking off. Slave followed suit, though their sound had already changed slightly due to drummer and singer Steve Arrington leaving the group in 1982.

    Although post-Arrington Slave is not nearly as formidable as their earlier releases, Bad Enuff is a solid album, proving that Slave could adapt to changing times and a changing lineup. “Turn You Out (In & Out)” is arguably one of their sexiest songs, combining one of Mark Adams’ signature below-the-belt-hitting basslines with a prissy Prince-like synth riff and breathy vocals practically lifted from a Dirty Mind outtake.

    We’ll be back tomorrow with more Jheri Curl June. Spotify and YouTube playlists are below:

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  • Jheri Curl June: The Bar-Kays’ “She Talks to Me with Her Body”

    Few groups in the history of R&B have been as long-lived, or as chameleonic, as the Bar-Kays. The Memphis group got their start in the mid-’60s as a session band for Stax Records, with songs like 1967’s “Soul Finger” fitting squarely into the label’s signature sound. At the turn of the decade, like many other soul groups, they went psychedelic, backing Isaac Hayes on his epochal 1969 album Hot Buttered Soul, then recording their own Black Rock. In the ’70s, they were pure funk. So it should come as no surprise that the Bar-Kays were among the first groups of their vintage to recognize the wind change in the early ’80s and embrace the style we call Jheri Curl Music.

    https://youtu.be/3C8Wim_fJMg

    Like last year’s Jheri Curl June alums Ebonee Webb–who shared with the Bar-Kays a manager and producer, Allen A. Jones–the main frame of reference was Prince, with whining Minneapolis-style keyboards taking the place of traditional Memphis-soul horns (and no, that horn section miming in the Soul Train video above isn’t fooling anyone). But there’s also more than a touch of Zapp in the band’s 1982 single “She Talks to Me with Her Body,” from the short snatches of talkbox to that “More Bounce to the Ounce” bass. In fact–and ironically–the only thing that wasn’t Jheri Curl about the Bar-Kays in 1982 was lead singer Larry Dodson’s hair, which appears to be the same heavily-processed dome he wore to Wattstax in 1973, looking a little worse for wear. C’mon man, get some activator at least!

    We’ll be back tomorrow with more Jheri Curl June–Spotify and YouTube playlists are below!

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  • 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!

  • Jheri Curl June: Scritti Politti’s “Boom! There She Was”

    The last post of Jheri Curl June is always a bittersweet one to write. On the one hand, there’s the satisfaction of knowing we have another solid month’s worth of writing about classic 1980s R&B under our belts; but on the other, there’s the sense of emptiness that comes when we realize we have to wait another whole year before we can start the festivities again. Luckily, Scritti Politti’s ebullient 1988 single “Boom! There She Was” is here to take out some of the sting.

    Scritti Politti’s leader, Green Gartside, is a man after my own heart. Like many British art students in 1977, he was inspired to form a band after catching the Sex Pistols on their legendary “Anarchy” tour; the name “Scritti Politti” was chosen as a play on the political writings (“Scritti Politici”) of Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci, mixed with Little Richard‘s “Tutti Frutti.” So far, so cool, right? Well, in the early ’80s, Gartside went home to Caerleon, Wales, where he started listening to his sister’s R&B records; then, around the same time, he heard Black radio while visiting Florida. “[T]hat’s where I first heard ‘the funk,’” he later told The Quietus. “The System, Zapp… artists like that. There was a rapid change of influences combined with a disgust at big-I ‘Indie’ being born. It didn’t take long to say, ‘Fuck that, let’s do this instead.’” And by “this,” he of course meant this:

    https://youtu.be/6v-sCVhqG5Y

    I know what some of you are thinking: going from hip, underground post-punk rocker to goofball blue-eyed soul singer ain’t exactly everyone’s idea of an enviable career trajectory. But speaking as a fellow overeducated white boy who rejected the “indie” aesthetic in favor of slickly-produced schlock-R&B, I understand exactly where Gartside was coming from. And besides, “Boom! There She Was” has Roger Troutman on it. Roger! Who doesn’t love Roger?

    So yes, Jh3ri Curl Jun3 is over. But before we know it, boom! There June 2017 will be. I hope to see you again then. In the meantime…you know where to find the playlists.

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  • Jheri Curl June: Dan Hartman’s “We Are the Young”

    Few artists exemplify the ability of jheri curl music to cross racial boundaries like Dan Hartman. This is a man who started his career as a sideman for the literal whitest musician of all time, Edgar Winter, and went on to co-write and produce for one of the Blackest, James Brown. So it should come as no surprise that he dabbled in that ultimate hybrid genre, Jheri Curl, in-between.

    Unlike our previous picks for White Boys’ week, however, Dan Hartman’s take on JCM is truly heterogeneous: roughly one part synthesized pop-soul to two parts classic 1980s butt-rock. If his 1984 hit “We Are the Young” wasn’t on the soundtrack to Miami Vice, the producers really missed a trick; this song is basically Don Johnson set to music.

    Tomorrow, sadly, is our last day of Jh3ri Curl Jun3. In the meantime, enjoy the Spotify and YouTube playlists after the jump.

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  • Jheri Curl June: Madonna’s “Lucky Star”

    Look, I know we called this final week of Jh3ri Curl Jun3 White Boys’ Week, but I think we would be remiss to talk about jheri curl music’s appropriators without a shoutout to the anointed queen of all swagger-jackers: Madonna. Almost a decade before she brought a sanitized version of Harlem drag ball culture to Middle America with her 1990 smash “Vogue,” the future Material Girl was attempting to crack the R&B charts with her debut single, 1982’s “Everybody”–which, in a brazen act of reverse racial passing, released with a 12″ cover designed by Lou Beach, featuring contemporary “urban” signifiers like brownstone buildings, graffiti, a police officer, a few anonymous children of color…and Madonna’s white ass nowhere to be seen.

    © Sire Records
    © Sire Records

    The ruse didn’t last long, of course; when a music video for “Everybody” was released in early 1983, it became evident that the newcomer who’d been burning up the “Black” charts was as white as the driven snow (I mean, those dance moves alone). But even later that year, when she released her self-titled debut album sporting her now-iconic peroxide-blonde New Wave Marilyn Monroe look, it was easy to hear why so many early listeners had her pegged as an African American artist. Just listen to “Lucky Star,” the album’s fourth and highest-charting single. All the ingredients for jheri curl music we described in our video back at the beginning of the month are present and accounted for: from the crisp, clean-sounding guitar and bass to the Oberheim OB-X synthesizer and Linn drum machine–two tools of the trade that should sound very familiar to fans of Madonna’s 1980s dance-pop peer, Prince.

    So yes, Madonna did jheri curl, and she did it well. But like many a swagger-jacker before and after her, it didn’t take long for her to move on; by her next album, 1984’s Nile Rodgers-produced Like a Virgin, she was taking her sound in a more self-consciously pop-oriented direction. But I have to admit, I still have a soft spot for Madonna’s short-lived jheri curl era–and for the days when the words “Madonna” and “Black” didn’t produce an instant wince of second-hand embarrassment. Go ahead, white girl. You really were the luckiest by far.

    Spotify and YouTube playlists below:

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  • Jheri Curl June: Daryl Hall & John Oates’ “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)”

    What better way to start White Boy Week here on Jheri Curl June than with the smoothest, most soulful white boy duo, Daryl Hall and John Oates? Hall and Oates began writing and recording music together in 1970, and scored their first number one hit in 1977 with “Rich Girl.” It wasn’t until the 1980s, however, that the duo reached the pinnacle of their hybrid blue-eyed soul/rock/pop/New Wave sound and hit-making potential. 1981’s “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” reached number one on both the Pop and R&B charts, and was the inspiration for the bassline of jheri curl music innovator Michael Jackson‘s “Billie Jean.”

    But Daryl Hall and John Oates did not become the most successful pop duo solely from their songwriting skills, singing prowess, or crossover appeal. Oh no, the 1980s were the music video era, and the inception of MTV in 1981 also had a huge hand in Hall & Oates’ appeal–which is perplexing, since their videos are literally just a collection of weird dance moves, awkward camera angles, and a whole lot of Hall and Oates jumping in front of the camera. I mean, sure, there was definitely a learning curve for everyone with early music videos–as we saw earlier this month with Patrice Rushen–but Hall & Oates are truly better heard and not seen. Some of their videos definitely should have been career enders, much like Billy Squier’s ill fated video for “Rock Me Tonite” (“Method of Modern Love,” I’m looking at you).

    The video for “I Can’t Go for That” actually isn’t that bad, as far as Hall & Oates videos go–although the entire first minute is just a bunch of closeup shots of Daryl’s hands interspersed with clips of him wandering back and forth in front of the camera. The simple black background and lighting is a nice complement to the song’s steamy soul sound, though, with bonus points for John Oates’ and saxophonist Charles DeChant’s synchronized hand gestures toward the end.

    Jheri Curl June White Boy Week continues tomorrow with more music from artists who could never pull off an actual jheri curl. Spotify and YouTube playlists are below!

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