Buckle up for some rock ‘n roll, MTV and Southern soul music. This episode of Ramblin’ Tunes takes you back to the Music Television (MTV) era as well as highlights of the Memphis’ Stax Records productions and popular music before and after.
| TITLE | ARTIST | COMMENTS |
|---|---|---|
| Driver’s seat | Sniff ‘N’ The Tears | “Driver’s Seat” is a 1978 song by the British one-hit wonder Sniff ‘n’ the Tears. According to Paul Roberts, “Driver’s Seat” isn’t about driving, but rather “fragmented, conflicting thoughts and emotions that might follow the break-up of a relationship”. Several car related commercials have been using the song ever since. |
| Do You Remember Rock’n’Roll Radio? | The Ramones | American rock band The Ramones looking for commercial success with producer Phil Spector in “Do You Remember Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio?”, released in 1980 from their album “End of the Century” (“When The Wall Of Sound Met The New York Underground”). Joey Ramone’s love letter to the past. Pure nostalgia: “Do you remember lying in bed / With your covers pulled up over your head / Radio playing so no one can see?” |
| Refugee | Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers | Also in 1980, Tom Petty was at his best in “Refugee” with The Heartbreakers . The song written by Petty and composed by band member Mike Campbell was a reaction to the pressures of the music business. The band shot a music video to promote the song without showing up at TV shows which was picked up by MTV. |
| Thriller | Michael Jackson | Here is another title where the video had to sell the song. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” helped MTV and Jackson gain in popularity. The video was a cultural milestone, introducing elaborate choreography, costumes and dialogue into the format. The music video is considered the most famous music video of all time. Jackson didn’t have to pay for the video out of pocket because they made deals with Showtime and MTV to cover the costs. Vincent Price, an actor known for his work on horror films, did the narration at the end of the song, including the evil laugh. With its famous graveyard dance, the video popularized group dance scenes in pop videos, a trend Pat Benatar pushed forward earlier in 1983 with her “Love Is A Battlefield” video. |
| Love Is A Battlefield | Pat Benatar | “Love Is A Battlefield” is a ballad written by Mike Chapman and Holly Knight with the uptempo added by Pat Benatar’s husband, guitarist and producer Neil Giraldo. The music video got a great deal of airplay on MTV. It was one of the first videos to incorporate dialogue into the song to progress the storyline and contained a group dance sequence that was also used in Michael Jackson’s music video “Thriller”. |
| Super Freak | Rick James | Rick James, was one of the first black artists from Motown to fight for the right to shoot videos and to get black artists on MTV. “Super Freak” is a 1981 single produced and performed by American singer Rick James written by Rick James and Alonzo Miller with backing vocals by The Temptations. |
| Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone | The Temptations | In 1972 the third Temptations lineup with Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin, Dennis Edwards, Damon Harris and Richard Street released “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”, written by Motown’s duo Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield. At that time, Whitfield had taken over Smokey Robinson’s role as the main producer for the Temptations and moved them into the psychedelic soul music genre. It was one of the last big hits recorded at Motown’s ‘Hitsville U.S.A.’ in Detroit. Both sides of the single won Grammy awards: the A-side for Best R&B Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus, and the B-side for Best R&B Instrumental Performance. The Temptations have been awarded more than 50 Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum Awards all combined. |
| Let’s Dance | David Bowie | David Bowie was one of the first white artists to appear on ABC TV’s Soul Train in early November 1975. In 1983 in an interview with MTV whilst promoting his album Let’s Dance, David Bowie had some questions and criticisms about MTV’s lack of videos featuring black artists (https://youtu.be/XZGiVzIr8Qg). “Let’s Dance”, written and performed by David Bowie with Nile Rodgers, Stevie Ray Vaughan and drummer Omar Hakim. |
| The Horse | Cliff Noble | “The Horse” was the b side of Cliff Noble’s single “Love Is All Right”. It featured many musicians that would join later famous in-house bands like the MFSB for Philadelphia Sound and the Funk Brothers for Motown. It was also well known as the theme music of “The Now Explosion” a unique marathon TV show featuring locally produced music videos for hours on end just like top forty radio – a decade before MTV. Founded by Bob Whitney and financed by Joe Field, “The Now Explosion” went on the air in Atlanta, GA, on March 14, 1970. |
| Video Killed The Radio Star | The Buggles | “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles is written by the initial three band members Geoff Downes, Trevor Horn and Bruce Woolley in 1979. The video clip was first aired on the BBC’s Top of the Pops for promotion of the single. MTV launched its broadcasting at one minute after midnight on August 1st, 1981 with the video clip ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ by The Buggles. |
| Money For Nothing | Dire Straits | Frontman Mark Knopfler of the Dire Straits had observed very well how to get on MTV and MTV Europe used his video clip for their launch on the 1st of August 1987. Knopfler modeled his guitar sound on ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons’ trademark guitar tone, as ZZ Top’s music videos were already a staple of early MTV. This song is about rock star excess and the easy life it brings compared with real work. Mark Knopfler wrote it after overhearing delivery men in a New York department store complain about their jobs while watching MTV. He wrote the song in the store sitting at a kitchen display they had set up. Many of the lyrics were things they actually said. The songwriting credits for “Money For Nothing” are shared between Mark Knopfler and Sting. Sting contributed and sang “I want my MTV.” |
| Sharp Dressed Man | ZZ Top | ZZ Top’s 1983’s “Sharp Dressed Man” music video continues the story of the “Gimme All Your Lovin’” video, and forms a loose trilogy (ending with the video for “Legs”). In the video, a male parking valet is remade as a star by a trio of women driving up in the Eliminator car; the band grants him the keys to the car. The “Eliminator” is Billy Gibbons’ 1933 Ford Hot Rod and the Album title where the three songs appeared. ZZ Top’s music videos provided everything MTV’s target audience craved: girls, rock and roll, and a really sweet ride. |
| Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll | Ian Dury and The Blockheads | “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll” by ‘Ian Dury and The Blockheads’ is written by Ian Dury and keyboard/guitarist Chaz Jankel in Dury’s flat in Oval Mansions, London (nicknamed “Catshit mansions” by Dury) that overlooked The Oval cricket ground. |
| Glad to K**w You | Chaz Jankel | In 1981 Ian Dury returned a favour to Chaz Jankel with his vintage storytelling for the dance hit “Glad to Know You” the biggest selling 12-inch single of 1982. |
| Ai No Corrida (ft. Ibrahim Ferrer & Quincy Jones) | Vania Borges | “Ai No Corrida” is written in 1980 by Chaz Jankel and Kenny Young. Kenny Young’s mission was to to help people affected by climate change and producing albums to raise money for environmental causes with leading artists, such as the Rhythms del mundo – cuba album in 2006. Quicy Jones recorded a Spanish-language version with vocals by Vania Borges. |
| Under the Boardwalk | The Drifters | “Under the Boardwalk” is a pop song written by Kenny Young and Arthur Resnick and recorded by the Drifters in 1964 with Rudy Lewis as lead vocals. George Treadwell, the Drifters’ manager owed the group’s name from 1955 and as a result, the Drifters recycled many band members. In 1958, Treadwell replaced the entire group with another ensemble, the Five Crowns, led by Benjamin Earl Nelson. In 1960, Nelson left, after Treadwell rebuffed his salary increase and fairer share of the group’s royalties request and embarked on a solo career as Ben E. King. |
| Save the Last Dance for Me | The Drifters | “Save the Last Dance for Me” by The Drifters was written by the songwriting team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman in 1960. Initially released as the ‘B’ side of the single ‘Nobody But Me’. Doc Pomus (born Jerry Felder son of British-born Jewish immigrants) wrote it when thinking back about his wedding, watching his brother Raoul (a famous divorce lawyer) dance with his bride, Willi Burke, a gorgeous gentile aspiring actress. While he was, polio-disabled, unable to dance, he knew that at the end of the evening, she would come home with him. |
| Stand By Me | Ben E. King | Benjamin Earl King’s “Stand by Me”, was a huge success both in 1961 and later in 1986 (when it was used as the theme to the film of the same name). The song is written by Benjamin King, Jerome Leiber and Michael Stoller and a heartfelt ode to friendship and devotion. The ‘Stand by Me Foundation’, is a charity dedicated to children’s education. |
| Young Blood | The Coasters | In 1957 Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller together with Doc Pomus wrote “”Young Blood” for The Coasters introducing the ground-breaking crossover hits with humorous ‘street saga’ songs of the white teenager sung by a black group. |
| Hound Dog | Big Mama Thornton | In 1953 Big Mama Thornton released her hit ‘Hound Dog’, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Freddie Bell of the Freddie Bell and the Bellboys, changed the lyrics in 1955 and turned the racy song about a disappointing lover into a song that was literally about a dog. As a white singer from Memphis with some black attitudes Elvis Presley stamped the song with his own identity and released it in July 1956 on the b side of his single “Don’t Be Cruel”. |
| That’s All Right | Elvis Presley | Elvis Presley’s version of Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup’s 1949 song “That’s All Right, Mama” was recorded in July 1954 at the Sun Studio, Memphis, Tennessee, known as “The Birthplace of Rock’n’roll” Rufus Thomas, who recorded “Bear Cat” for Sun Records, an “answer record” to Big Mama Thornton’s R&B hit “Hound Dog”, was at the time a deejay on the Memphis’ WDIA radio station and introduced Elvis Presley to the black radio audience. The rest is history … |
| ‘Cause I Love You | Carla Thomas | Thomas and his daughter Carla would become the first stars for the Stax label with their duet in 1959, “‘Cause I Love You” supported by the house band The Mar-Keys to turn Satellite into a rhythm and blues label. Originally known as Satellite, the Memphis company Stax was founded in 1957 by Jim Stewart and co-owned with his sister, Estelle Axton, and took its new name in 1961 from the first two letters of their last names. |
| Last Night | The Mar-Keys | Formed in 1958, The Mar-Keys was the first house band for the legendary Stax label and included drummer Terry Johnson, pianist Jerry Lee “Smoochie” Smith, saxophonists Don Nix and Charles Axton, and trumpeter Wayne Jackson in addition to guitarists Steve Cropper and Donald “Duck” Dunn. In 1960 the group joined the staff at Charles Axton’s mother Estelle’s Satellite label, backing artists that included Rufus Thomas and his daughter Carla. |
| Green Onions | Booker T. & The MG’s | Booker T. & the MGs, an interracial instrumental quartet, served as the Stax Records rhythm section and house band. The track “Green Onions” came about by accident during a jamming session. Hence it is credited to all band members Booker T. Jones (organ, piano), Steve Cropper (guitar), Lewie Steinberg (bass), and Al Jackson Jr. (drums). In 1962, jamming in the studio while fruitlessly waiting for Billy Lee Riley to show up for a session, they came up with a classic minor-key, bluesy soul instrumental, distinguished by its nervous organ bounce and ferocious bursts of guitar. |
| These Arms of Mine | Otis Redding | In August 1962 the young Otis Redding drove guitarist and Pinetoppers bandleader Johnny Jenkins for a recording session at Stax Records. At the end of the session, Stax co-owner Jim Stewart allowed Otis to cut a couple of songs with the remaining studio time. The result was “These Arms Of Mine”, released in 1962. |
| (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay | Otis Redding | “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” is a song co-written by soul singer Otis Redding and guitarist Steve Cropper. This was Otis’ final recording before the plane crash that took his life in December 1967, while touring with his backing band “The Bar-Kays”. |
| Soul finger | The Bar-Kays | The song “Soul finger” is written by the Bar-Kays while they were rehearsing with Norman West to perform a cover of J. J. Jackson’s “But It’s Alright”. The track was used as the opening theme tune to BBC Radio 1 DJ Stuart Henry’s shows from 1969 to 1974. The Sugar Hill Gang’s 1979 single “Rapper’s Delight” contains multiple references to the Bar-Kays. |
| Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic | Isaac Hayes | Surviving Bar-Kays members, trumpeter Ben Cauley and bassist James Alexander rebuilt the group after the plane crash and played on “Hot Buttered Soul” the timeless album in soul music history that launched the career of Isaac Hayes at Stax Records. “Hyperbolicsesquedalymistic” is one of the four tracks on the album, pronounced HY-PER-BO-LIC-SYL-LA-BIC-SES-QUA-DA-LY-MIS-TIC. |
| Soul Man | Sam & Dave | Sam & Dave’s iconic soul anthem “Soul Man” is written by Stax legends Isaac Hayes and David Porter. The duo Sam & Dave consisted of Samuel Moore and David Prater. Isaac Hayes with David Porter became the éminence grises behind Sam & Dave, much as Holland-Dozier-Holland pulled the strings behind the Supremes. They wrote, they produced— and the result was a string of hits, including “Soul Man,” “Hold On! I’m Comin’,” and “I Thank You,” songs that survive as the very epitome of Southern soul. When Stax’s distribution deal with Atlantic ended they no longer had access to the production team of Hayes and Porter or the house band of Booker T. & the MG’s, and their recorded work took a slight dip in quality. |
Sources
The information sources of the song facts include, but are not limited to, Wikipedia, songfacts.com, discogs.com, secondhandsongs.com, YouTube and artists’ related websites.
