Dystopian Dance Party

Tag: Jheri curl

  • Jheri Curl June: Aretha Franklin’s “Who’s Zoomin’ Who”

    Last summer when we lost Aretha Franklin, I realized what a massive oversight it was that we hadn’t inducted her into Jheri Curl June yet. Aretha became known as the Queen of Soul for her ’60s hits including “Respect,” “Chain of Fools,” “Think,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” and “I Say a Little Prayer”; but it’s her 30th (!!) studio album, Who’s Zoomin’ Who?, that qualifies her as a Jheri Curl Chanteuse.

    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.

    Matter of fact, take another look at the album cover and tell me that’s not a Jheri curl; © Arista Records.

    Also, fun fact: when Aretha passed, she still owed about $3 million in taxes to the IRS. Who’s zoomin’ who indeed.

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  • Jheri Curl June: Carrie Lucas’ “Men”

    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!

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  • Jheri Curl June: James Ingram’s “Party Animal”

    Earlier this year when we lost James Ingram, I took that as an opportunity to delve deeper into his music. Although I was aware that he was an accomplished singer and songwriter, I was mainly familiar with “Yah Mo B There” and the fact that he helped turn “P.Y.T.” by Michael Jackson into the undisputed Jheri Curl banger that it is today.

    If James Ingram was behind “P.Y.T.,” I knew he was bound to have some Jheri gems in his solo career; and lo and behold, the first track on his debut solo album, 1983’s It’s Your Night–nestled right there next “Yah Mo B There!”–is “Party Animal.” With its chickenscratch guitar and synth flourishes, “Party Animal” sounds like a companion to another early era Jheri Curl June inductee, Skyy’s “Call Me.”

    Now enjoy this video of James Ingram performing “Party Animal” on stage alone like the nerd at the school talent show:

    Rest in peace, James Ingram!

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  • Jheri Curl June: Larry Graham’s “Sooner or Later”

    Listen, I have been sitting on this Jheri Jam for a whole year, sustaining multiple burns on my ass from trying to contain this hot track. But, before we get into that, LOOK AT THAT ALBUM COVER. Larry Graham peeks out from a hot pink, palm-leafed environment, popping his collar and looking like Magnum motherfuckin’ PI. If ever there was an album cover that looked precisely how the album sounds, this is it.

    By the release of 1982’s Sooner or Later, Graham was already an elder statesman of funk, having been a member of Sly & The Family Stone, worked with the likes of Betty Davis, fronted his own Graham Central Station, and oh yeah, INVENTED SLAP BASS. Sooner or Later is his foray into the new world of the ’80s, effectively saying, “Here I am, new and improved and ready to slay all the Kingdom Hall pussy.”

    This is especially true of the instrumental version of the titular track, which contains some of my favorite tropes of Jheri Curl Music: a talk box vocal that sounds like a horny robot a la Roger Troutman, laser gun noises, and a bright, trilling synth line. This is a song made for cruising on a neon lit street in a Ferrari 308 GTB convertible with the top down on a steamy summer night, the warm air lightly caressing your curl and ruffling your mustache.

    Week 1 of Jheri Curl June VIbe comes to a close tomorrow! In the meantime, check out the Spotify and YouTube playlists below.

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