Iggy Pop
Music legend Iggy Pop was born in Muskegon, Michigan. He started out as lead singer of the Stooges in the late '60s. Co-penned "China Girl," which became a huge hit for Mr. David Bowie. Iggy on Toronto TV, '77: "Punk rock is a word used by dilettantes and heartless manipulators about music that takes up the energies and the bodies and the hearts and the souls and the time and the minds of young men who give what they have to it and give everything they have to it. And it's a term that's based on contempt, it's a term that's based in fashion style, elitism, Satanism, and everything that's rotten about rock 'n' roll. I don't know Johnny Rotten, but I'm sure he puts as much blood and sweat into what he does as Sigmund Freud did." Nothing better than hearing "I'm a Conservative," from the album Soldier, coming out of the psyche of Iggy.
Buy: iTunes
Genre: Rock
Artist: Iggy Pop
Song: I'm a Conservative
Album: Soldier
Geeshie Wiley
Geeshie Wiley was one of the great obscure and overlooked blues singers/guitarists/ukulele-ists of the 1920s and 1930s. In her early years, it was rumored she traveled with a medicine show. Her sound is heartbreaking and melancholy. Born in Natchez, Mississippi, she was most likely married to maverick slide guitarist Casey Bill Weldon after his divorce from "the Guitar Queen," blues singer Memphis Minnie. Wiley recorded three records for Paramount. "Eagles on a Half," the flip side of "Pick Poor Robin Clean," is one of Wiley's last recordings, after which she enigmatically disappeared with her guitarist, Elvie Thomas. Find her in "Eagles on a Half."
Buy: iTunes
Genre: Blues
Artist: Geeshie Wiley
Song: Eagles on a Half
Album: American Primitive
Earl Greyhound
New York rock trio Earl Greyhound is guitarist Matt Whyte, Kamara Thomas on bass, and Big Ricc Sheridan on drums. Their live show is all about unfiltered, pristine abandon and straight-up energy. First saw them a few years ago at a small club in New York's East Village. The club was hot and sweaty, and everyone stayed to watch until the very end. "S.O.S.," from the album Soft Targets, is jet-propelled rock 'n' roll. It should be played convulsively loud.
Buy: Amazon.com
Genre: Rock
Artist: Earl Greyhound
Song: S.O.S
Album: Soft Targets
Rod Stewart
Roderick David Stewart was born January 10, 1945, in Highgate, London, minutes before a German missile exploded in the police station a few doors down the street. Stewart, the youngest of five children, grew up singing Al Jolson tunes by the family piano. Early career: part of the Jeff Beck Group in '66, eventually joining the Faces with bass player Ron Wood (now a Rolling Stone), before succumbing to enormous solo success. The 1975 Atlantic Crossing album in vinyl is a collector's item; one side is slow, the other fast. String arrangements are by the late and greatly loved and missed producer/composer/arranger Arif Mardin, whose orchestrations are intimidatingly exquisite and emotional. "Sailing," from the slow side, is beautifully bewitching. Get the entire album.
Buy: Amazon.com
Genre: Rock
Artist: Rod Stewart
Song: Sailing
Album: Atlantic Crossing
Young M.C.
Young M.C., a.k.a. Marvin Young, is best known for his 1989 hit, "Bust a Move." Born in London in 1967 to an educated, middle-class family. Young eventually moved to California to study economics, earning a degree from USC, where he met Michael Ross and Matt Dike, founders of the Delicious Vinyl rap label. "Bust a Move" won the Grammy for Best Rap Performance in 1989. Hearing "Bust a Move" again is wonderfully nostalgic and germane nineteen years later.
Buy: iTunes
Genre: Classic Rap
Artist: Young M.C.
Song: Bust a Move
Album: Stone Cold Rhymin'
Harold Arlen / Jeff Buckley
The 20th-century composer extraordinaire Harold Arlen was born Hyman Arluck on February 15, 1905, in Buffalo, N.Y. (He died in 1986.) Like Elvis, Arlen was born a twin, but his brother died the next day. Although he was a shy child, by age 7, Harold was singing at the Pine Street Synagogue, where his father was cantor. Arlen went on to compose 400 songs, including "Over the Rainbow" (named the top Song of the 20th Century, in 2000), "It's Only a Paper Moon," "Stormy Weather," "I've Got the World on a String," and "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive." As a young man, Arlen was playing the college circuit in upstate New York, where he befriended genius dancer Ray Bolger (a.k.a. the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz). Arlen also composed for Harlem's famed Cotton Club in the '30s, collaborating with Cab Calloway. The body, soul, and magnitude of his work = astounding. The late Jeff Buckley undeniably delivers on Arlen's "The Man That Got Away."
Buy: Amazon.com
Genre: Alternative
Artist: Harold Arlen / Jeff Buckley
Song: The Man That Got Away
Album: Mystery White Boy - Live '95-'96