Dystopian Dance Party

Category: jheri curl june

  • Jheri Curl June: Meli’sa Morgan’s “Fool’s Paradise”

    Like last year’s Jheri Curl June inductee Vesta Williams, Meli’sa Morgan was a backup singer for Chaka Khan before beginning her solo career. The influence is obvious. Morgan and Khan both have larger than life, soulful voices; even larger hair; and a connection to Prince: the title track and first hit single from Morgan’s solo debut album was a cover of “Do Me, Baby.”

    © Capitol Records

    But it’s the album’s third single, “Fool’s Paradise,” that I’m inducting into the hallowed halls of Jheri Curl June–mainly just because it’s a goddamn bop, and this video of Morgan lip-syncing, flanked by three dudes in half-shirts in a room full of bubbles, is what Jheri Curl June is all about:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP3Wrbr2gFg
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  • Jheri Curl June: Krystol’s “Passion from a Woman”

    We enter our annual Ladies’ Week with exactly what this year’s Jheri Curl June needs: some Passion from a Woman. Krystol is one of those groups that, despite having plenty of talent and hitmaking potential, never achieved widespread fame. Their first two albums failed to gain much commercial success, despite being chock full of bangers that are no less catchy than any of Madonna’s output, and certainly better sung. Finally, after suffering from personnel changes due to a birth and a death respectively, the now-three woman group began to achieve more success and exposure. “Passion from a Woman,” from the 1986 album of the same title, made it into the R&B Top 30.

    Unfortunately, Krystol still suffered from a lack of promotion, and were ultimately dropped from their label. But they undeniably paved the way for R&B girl groups of the late ’80s and ’90s–including Jheri Curl June Veterans Exposé.

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  • Jheri Curl June: Georgio’s “Tina Cherry”

    Every year there’s at least one artist who I eagerly anticipate writing about for Jheri Curl June. This year, without question, that artist is Georgio. I already told the story on our latest podcast about the first time I encountered Georgio, flipping through the racks at my local record store (shout out to Purple Narwhal Records in Rockville, Maryland). I took one look at the sculpted cheekbones and tastefully-applied makeup on the cover of his 12″ single “Tina Cherry,” and somehow I knew that this would be my JCJ discovery of 2018. I promptly picked up not only “Tina Cherry,” but the whole stack of Georgio records, and took them to the counter.

    Since then, I’ve made it a habit of picking up whatever Georgio I can find at the record store–I got a copy of “Lover’s Lane,” another single from his 1987 debut, from Electric Fetus in Minneapolis this April. The thing about Georgio I should establish at this point is that his music isn’t great. It’s perfectly competent, on the club/house-ier side of the late-decade JCM spectrum, but there’s a reason why it’s usually priced so cheap that I can routinely afford to walk out with a stack of five or six of his records. My affection for Georgio has a lot to do with my conviction that the best Jheri Curl Music, or at least the most characteristic, is often the most mediocre. It also has to do with the tragicomic history of the man himself, Georgio Allentini.

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  • Jheri Curl June: The Controllers’ “Stay”

    The first time I heard “Stay” by the Controllers, it was blasting from the speakers of a purple motorcycle driving down Warren Avenue on a sultry late August night in Detroit. The part I heard was about midway through, during the synth solo. My first thought was, “What the FUCK is this?!” Then I realized where it was coming from: a dude with long braids and no helmet riding a PURPLE MOTORCYCLE. Check it out in this creepy video I took of him–because he’s my hero, and also because I forgot that Snapchat has Shazam and I wanted to save the song to find later, even though I could clearly have saved myself a lot of trouble by using the feature that is literally made for finding songs.

    Anyway, eventually I found it and, much like with the Whispers’ “Rock Steady,” I did NOT expect it to be by a group of dorky-looking older guys dancing in unison. But boy, I’m glad it is.

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  • Jheri Curl June: Colonel Abrams’ “The Truth”

    In some ways, it’s surprising that it took us this long to feature Colonel Abrams (real name, no gimmicks) for Jheri Curl June. He was born in Detroit–always a big plus for us proud Southeastern Michiganders. He had connections to the architects of the sound, having sung on a few tracks by 94 East, a Minneapolis-based studio band that briefly featured an 18-year-old Prince Rogers Nelson on guitar. And, while the Colonel is better-known as a house artist, one listen to the whining synthesizers and flanged drum-machine claps on his 1985 debut album should be more than enough to get your Jheri Curl sense a-tingling.

    Like JCJ Class of 2015 member James “D-Train” Williams, Colonel Abrams distinguished himself by layering a soulful, gospel-infused baritone over his futuristic soundscapes. Indeed, “The Truth” from his debut album basically is a gospel song, with Abrams testifying “Let’s stop all hatred / ‘Cause love is what we need,” a bank of synthesizers taking the place of the church organ. I’m not a church-going man, but if it was anything like the music video above–featuring the Colonel in a graffitied alley, rocking Sgt. Pepper marching-band chic years before Michael Jackson and flanked by what appear to be the dancers from Pat Benatar’s “Love is a Battlefield” video–then I’d be in that bitch every Sunday morning.

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  • Jheri Curl June: Paul Laurence’s “Racism!!!”

    While Jheri Curl Music tends to be about the lighter side of life (dancin’, lovin’, partyin’, and rollerskatin’), there are times when social justice issues need to be addressed on the dance floor. Paul Laurence’s “Racism!!!” does just that with a simple chorus that could easily be used as a protest march chant: “Racism SUCKS, it’s time that we all give it up / Racism SUCKS, if you can’t give love then SHUT UP!” Now is probably a good time to point out that Paul Laurence is not to be confused with the early 20th century poet and novelist Paul Laurence Dunbar. But, while the lyrics to “Racism!!!” aren’t necessarily a literary masterpiece, they certainly get the point across. Racism sucks and racists should shut up. It’s really that simple.

    Unfortunately, over 30 years after “Racism!!!” was released, we are currently living in a hellscape where the President of the United States openly emboldens white supremacists and the destructiveness of white supremacy is becoming increasingly more evident; incidences of hate crimes surge, the rich get richer, the poor get drastically poorer, and our planet becomes uninhabitable. It’s time that we all give it up indeed.

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  • Jheri Curl June: The Gap Band’s “Disrespect”

    Last Thursday, June 7, would have been Prince’s 60th birthday had he: a) not passed away in April 2016, and b) believed in concepts as prosaic as “birthdays” and “years.” Last week also happened to mark the underwhelming conclusion of the beef between rappers Pusha T and Drake, which just a few short weeks ago felt like the only thing anyone on the Internet was talking about. So, I thought, why not make today’s Jheri Curl June post a diss track about Prince?

    Released on Gap Band VI (actually, confusingly, the eighth album by Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Gap Band) in December 1984, there’s nothing about “Disrespect” that directly implicates Prince–except, of course, for the sound, which pairs Minneapolis-style sustained synth chords and a “Controversy”-esque bassline with call and response right out of the P-Funk playbook. The lyrics, by Gap Band frontman Charlie Wilson, are aggrieved but non-specific, excoriating some unfortunate “sucka” who “had the chance” but “disrespected” him.

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  • Jheri Curl June: Fatback Band’s “Double Love Affair”

    Long before SZA’s ode to sharing a man, Fatback Band had “Double Love Affair,” a playful, jaunty tune about two-timing from the point of view of a man who “has so much love inside” that he “has to spread it out.” It might be the most lighthearted, infectious song about blatant infidelity ever recorded.

    Musically, the Prince influence is undeniable. Or more appropriately, it’s as much a ripoff of Ebonee Webb’s “Something About You” as “Something About You” was a ripoff of Prince’s “Head.” The whole song is sung in falsetto with Prince-like yelps, and toward the end of the track there’s even some heavy breathing. That’s right, folks, five years into Jheri Curl June and we’re just beginning to understand the self-referential quality of Jheri Curl Music.

    Like Monday’s JCJ inductees, Mandrill, Fatback Band had been around for a full decade before 1983’s Is This the Future? While certainly not their strongest output, it’s an album that speaks to Fatback Band’s ability to successfully adapt to the New Wave sounds of the ’80s.

    And that’s Jheri Curl June Week 1 in the can! Click through below for the latest updates on our Spotify and YouTube playlists. See you again on Monday!

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  • Jheri Curl June: West Phillips’ “(I’m Just a) Sucker for a Pretty Face”

    I’ve been sitting on this song for at least two Jheri Curl Junes now, but I always held it back because I didn’t know what to say about West Phillips. The only information and the sole photo I could find of him are both above, stolen from his Discogs artist page; and when I Google Image Search “West Phillips,” I just get a bunch of photos of buff hunks in bikinis by a photographer with the same name (you’re welcome, by the way). Earlier this spring, however, I heard “Sucker for a Pretty Face” on Andrew Joseph’s and Laura Caringell’s Paid Time Off radio show and was reminded of what a monster fucking jam it is. What else do we need to say, really?

    In case that’s not enough, here’s some info on West Phillips, all paraphrased from the aforementioned Discogs bio. He was born Everton West Phillips in Antiqua and later relocated to Chicago, where he began his music career working with songwriter Jerry Butler on songs for R&B artists like Sam & Dave and Percy Sledge. He then graduated to work as a musician for Butler’s label Fountain Records, playing on sessions with groups like Omni. Also, at some point circa 1984, he had a wicked jheri curl (see above).

    But even if Phillips hadn’t sported a curl, the spirit of JC was clearly with him when he recorded “Sucker for a Pretty Face,” his 1983 debut single and a masterclass in airtight electro-funk groove construction. The thumping “Another One Bites the Dust” bassline, the exquisitely whining synthesizer, the synthetic drum-machine claps and surgical rhythm guitar–all with Phillips’ incessant, pitch-shifting, lightly Caribbean-accented vocals layered on top, complete with a rap featuring the line, “let me get to munchin’ on your lollipop.” What else is there to know? West Phillips is a sucker looking for some sugar; and in the end, aren’t we all?

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  • Jheri Curl June: Imagination’s “Just an Illusion”

    As we mentioned in our Jheri Curl June 2K18 podcast, one of our favorite activities here in the Dystopian Dance Party universe is digging in the crates for Jheri Curl Music; and the British JCM group Imagination is my favorite discovery since the Deele.

    © R&B Records

    I picked up their first album, 1981’s Body Talk, solely because of the album cover, which features the trio posed around a white piano, wearing garters and gladiator sandals, in a room shrouded in dry ice smoke.

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