Dystopian Dance Party

Tag: jheri curl music

  • Jheri Curl June: Jeffrey Osborne’s “One Love – One Dream”

    Somehow, despite his over-decade-long tenure as lead singer for the proto-JCM group L.T.D., we still haven’t gotten around to covering Jeffrey Osborne for Jheri Curl June. But as we say goodbye to our fifth annual celebration of all things Jheri Curl, it feels right to end on the title track from Osborne’s 1988 solo album One Love – One Dream. After all, it’s our one love for Jheri Curl Music that brings us together every year, and our one dream for the wet, silky R&B music of the 1980s to get the recognition it deserves.

    But most importantly, “One Love – One Dream” just sounds like it could be the song rolling over the credits of Jheri Curl Music: The Movie. The dry rhythm guitar and softly tinkling synthesizers sound instantly nostalgic in an R&B market dominated by the emerging New Jack Swing; it’s the song you listen to the night you take your jheri curl for one last spin, before trimming it into a hi-top fade. But as Osborne sings, in that sonorous voice that launched a thousand barbecues, “We’ve been together for a long time, baby / And our feelings have never died / Don’t think that anyone could break us up / Because you really mean the world to me / There’s no deeper emotion / I only want you and I’m filled with devotion.” He may not have been singing those lines to a jheri curl (okay, he definitely wasn’t)–but he totally could have been, and that’s the important thing.

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  • Jheri Curl June: Whitney Houston’s “So Emotional”

    There are certain Jheri Curl songs that just hit you in the solar plexus with their energy. “So Emotional,” the third single from Whitney Houston’s 1987 sophomore album Whitney, is just such a song. As soon as the powerful synths come in, I imagine jheri curls bursting into flames like Michael Jackson’s in the Pepsi commercial. Thankfully, “So Emotional” didn’t actually cause anyone’s hair to spontaneously combust, as it was a huge hit in dance clubs in 1988, and playing it would have been a liability for club owners.

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  • Jheri Curl June: Stacy Lattisaw’s “Jump Into My Life”

    Danny Brown put me up on Stacy Lattisaw. After hearing him reference her in “Adderall Admiral” and gush about her in his Nardwuar interview (beginning at 5:45 in the video below), I made a point of checking her out and, lo and behold, she is a perfect fit for Jheri Curl June.

    Lattisaw’s most commercially successful period was during her teenage years. By 1986, now only 20 years old, she had signed to Motown and released Take Me All the Way. The album was produced by Kashif and Leon Sylvers III of SOLAR Records, which definitely explains the Jheri Curl sound. “Jump Into My Life,” the second single off the album, is definitely full of late-period Jheri Curl flair with its rhythmic bass and layered synthesizers.

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  • 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: 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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