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Dance Music Network

1987

Looking over the charts (Hot 100, Soul Singles, Dance Singles and KROQ) I ranked them based on my preferences. The soul charts were great. Ironically and unfortunately, I have already lost my soul by 1987 and I could only find one song/record from those charts to post. The dance charts weren’t bad. The music is a little poppy, so to speak. Versatile and stale at the same time. KROQ playing alternative rock contained great artists and great music.

I chose one song from each of the three moderately impressive music charts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hot_Black_Singles_number_ones_of_1987

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_number-one_dance_singles_of_1987

https://www.rocklists.com/kroq-1987.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_(Alexander_O%27Neal_song)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strangelove_(song)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy%3F_(Public_Image_Ltd_album)

April 2, 2025
1987 The Year in Hip Hop

My mother purchased the hip hop pioneer Sugar Hill Gang Rapper’s Delight 12” and Grandmaster Flash‘s The Message album. During my childhood, I failed to appreciate the innovation and uniqueness of rap music and its production. It was around 1983 when Rex introduced me to Run DMC and the art of breakdancing, right at the peak of both cultural phenomena. Despite the acclaim, Run DMC’s music didn’t captivate me, and I lacked the skills for breakdancing. There was a moment in time I could have become an original og b girl. I passed it up for the alternative scene. It’s no coincidence, I couldn’t do the popular black dances in 1987.

I have openly expressed my preference for hip hop and rap music created prior to 1992. Selecting 1987 at random, I aim to find three hip hop records from that year that I can genuinely endorse. While 1987 may be considered early in the history of hip hop, it undeniably falls within the golden age of the genre.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_in_hip-hop

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_Bad

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Ya_Like_Me_Now

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Ain%27t_No_Joke

March 31, 2025
aka Rex

It is time for me to introduce the audience to my best friend and long time music partner aka Rex. His most recognized moniker is DJ 7Up which is also used by a more popular DJ. This is my aka Rex.

I could have brought him up in 1983 when posting Fascination or State Farm. It was Don Quixote that reminded me of how influential, inspirational and enlightening my relationship with aka Rex turned out to be throughout most of my life. He introduced me to house music, high energy music, Euro-disco and he was one of the first individuals who discussed record production with me. I am going to play you one of our collaborations when we transition to my first record label in 1999.

Our first recording was made as the duo The Art Department circa 1987. Unfortunately I don’t have any of those sound recordings preserved. They were epic records created by two 18 year bffs that put their similar taste in funky up tempo music to work.

https://www.blackhistory.mit.edu/archive/bang-orchestra-hologram-ca-late-1980s

Rex turned me on to 100’s of bangers. Here is one of the earlier ones.

March 30, 2025
1986

I wonder what my relatively young mother is listening to in 1986. Remember, she stopped going to the record stores for me a few years back. She doesn’t like alternative rock.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hot_Black_Singles_number_ones_of_1986

I don’t remember too many, if any of the above records being a part of mom’s collection. I could be wrong.

Let’s see if there are any jams on the dance charts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_number-one_dance_singles_of_1986

Who doesn’t love Stevie Wonder? I am dedicating Go Home to my mother. I’m not sure she if she bought this single. However I know her taste, she probably did. Our taste will appear to be a little different from each other’s in the mid-90’s. I will talk to you about the revered 90’s R&B era soon enough.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Home_(song)

Can I pull two songs/records I love from the Hot 100 or will I have to go back to KROQ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_1986

https://rocklists.com/kroq-1986.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigmouth_Strikes_Again

The Smiths were my favorite band in high school. Keep in mind I have many favorites. In 1986 they were getting ready to break up and Bigmouth (I liked Boy with a Thorn in His Side more at the time)was being played on KJET, and after that Morrissey went solo. For some reason I never became partial to Morrissey post Smiths.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magazine_60

Every selection above is from a different genre. I am partial to the KROQ playlist. I feel sorry for mom, in retrospect. Her bouncy, well produced, dance floor oriented singles are not popular anymore. Indeed if you want to get down and get funky in 1986, you need to be in a discotheque.

March 30, 2025
Shout Out to Cameo

My last favorite funk band coming out of the 70’s is doing alright in the 80’s, compared to Pariliament/Funkadelic and Slave, anyway. Cameo’s sound is changing in the 80’s as reflected by the smaller band line up and a more electronic sound. A lot of people became familiar with Cameo for the first time when Word Up came out. I suppose the music industry blessed Larry Blackmon with a major label deal when most of the other funk bands were out of luck and going out of business.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_Up!_(album)

March 28, 2025
1985
From here on I will preview the charts and decide which one(s) I will select from. It is confirmed, there was nothing on the Billboard charts that knocked me off my feet in 1985. I was definitely listening to alternative music formats. It is (is it)ironic that the most popular songs played on said radio stations did not generate #1 hits.

https://rocklists.com/kroq-1985.html

Somebody should jog my memory. If 1985 was a prolific year in black music, I must inevitably like many of those songs/records. I just don’t recall because I was pre-occupied with alternative rock and all things white in Bellevue, Washington.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_It_On_(T._Rex_song)#The_Power_Station_version

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gino_Vannelli

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_Skin_(Lloyd_Cole_and_the_Commotions_song)

What is the criteria for my three selections?
1. Songs I loved then.
2. Songs I loved at a later time.
3. Songs I enjoy listening to now just as much as I did then.
“Perfect Skin” is an example of a song I remember from 1985 and didn’t appreciate until much later.
March 28, 2025
Fostex X-26

I remember using this blessed 4 track recorder as early as 1985 but I can’t find much information on it. I was a home studio recording artist playing the guitar, bass, drum machine, supplemental keyboards and trying to sing in 1985. I never mastered the Fostex X-26, meaning I never ping ponged any track so I didn’t go pass 4 track recording. Limiting my compositions and imagination. I didn’t realize there was a big difference between recording artist and record producer until around 1990.

I sent some demo tapes to the major labels in the mid 80’s. No offers but I did get a rejection letter from Benny Medina. I should have kept it. Might be worth something today. My style in the 80’s was alternative dance music. I was trying to mesh the syncopated rhythms I loved with alternative rock arrangements.

March 27, 2025
1985/Alternative Rock

The pop charts in 1984 were not impressive in my humble opinion. In retrospect, I wasn’t listening to “pop” other than what I stumbled across via MTV or someone else’s radio. My boombox was tuned to KJET 1600 and my Walkman contained cassette tapes from The Smiths and Inxs for example.

Here are three of my all time favorite records/songs from 1985. 1985 was a powerful year in music no matter what you listened to. I was listening to alternative rock. We have come to a crossroads. Please make a note of it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Across_a_Crowded_Room

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McQueen_(album)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Armoury_Show

Be sure to listen to these records. Yes indeed alternative rock was my favorite music genre for many years constituting the most impressionable years of my life. I was an aspiring rock star in 1985 with three whole years of guitar playing under my belt no less. At least I could hear the guitar in so-called rock music.

I’m already familiar with rap and hip hop in 1985. It didn’t make a strong first impression on me at all.

March 27, 2025
1984

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_number-one_dance_singles_of_1984

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hot_Black_Singles_number_ones_of_1984

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_1984

In 1984, as I approach the age of 15, Prince embarks on his decade-long reign over the pop, black, and dance charts simultaneously. Interestingly, the realm of R&B and black music seems to have lost some of its funk, with George Clinton now underground. The Hot 100 seems to have cooled compared to the previous year. It will be interesting to observe if this trend persists into the following year, especially considering that 1985 is anticipated to be a remarkably prolific year in the music industry. I intend to shed light on another genre that was prominent in 1985, one that may not necessarily be reflected in the billboard hits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Horse_(Laid_Back_song)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reflex

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infatuation_(Rod_Stewart_song)

March 27, 2025
1983

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_1983

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Black_Singles_number_ones_of_1983

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_number-one_dance_singles_of_1983

I will focus on the charts from the 1980s, as other songs and records from 1983 have crossed my mind despite not making it to the charts. It is important to note that the selection of songs I am posting here represents only a fraction of the grandiose amounts of music that deeply affected my life.

In 1983, the music charts began to exhibit a noticeable shift towards a more mainstream pop sound, predominantly catering to a white audience. However, my personal taste leaned more towards the new wave and dance genres. Some dance tracks did receive airplay and mainstream success. This trend really picks up when Madonna shows up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobody%27s_Diary

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascination!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is_There_Something_I_Should_Know%3F

March 24, 2025