Dystopian Dance Party

Tag: david frank

  • Jheri Curl June: Chaka Khan’s “This is My Night”

    We’re breaking Jheri Curl June protocol in a few ways today: first, because Callie and I were both out of town on a family vacation last Thursday and Friday, we’ve extended Ladies’ Week into the first few days of this week. And second, rather than following up Callie’s 1985 Aretha pick with something later, I’m going a year back in time. My original plan had been to pick something from Destiny, Chaka Khan’s 1986 followup to her smash 1984 album I Feel for You. But, frankly, there isn’t anything on Destiny that slaps anywhere near as hard as I Feel for You’s opening track, “This is My Night”; and our priority for Jheri Curl June has always been to slap first, follow the rules later.

    https://youtu.be/sy6IUDoL8Bg

    But if any sticklers out there have doubts, allow me to enumerate the reasons why “This is My Night” deserves the spotlight today. First and foremost, there’s Exhibit A: the shimmering keyboards and freestyle-inspired drum programming by songwriters David Frank and Mic Murphy of JCJ vets the System. And if that isn’t enough, there’s Exhibit B: the above music video, an homage to 1930s backstage comedies featuring Chaka, in all her bewigged-and-décolletaged glory, acting opposite everyone’s favorite bald ’80s character actor, Wallace Shawn. I rest my case.

    We’re now back on our regular schedule, so we’ll see you again tomorrow for a few more days of Jheri Curl June. Meanwhile, playlists are below!

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  • Jheri Curl June: Phil Collins’ “Sussudio”

    Okay, okay, I know what you’re thinking: who let this flaccid, schlocky dad-pop interloper into our pristine shrine to the jheri curl and the music it inspired? But just relax, and I’ll explain everything.

    After the massive success of Purple Rain in the summer of 1984, jheri curl music went from being a trendy form of R&B to one of the dominant modes of mainstream pop, full stop. Pretty soon, everybody was starting to sound a little jheri-curl–even people who had no business sounding that way. Even people who could never actually have a jheri curl of their own. People like the incurably lame, and just-as-incurably bald, Phil Collins.

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  • Jheri Curl June: The System’s “The Pleasure Seekers”

    Most of our choices for Jheri Curl June so far have fallen between 1981 and 1983, and for good reason: those years were arguably the high point of jheri curl’s Golden Age. But as we reach the second half of our month-long celebration, I wanted to also shift our focus to the second half of the decade, and the evolution that took place for jheri curl music in those years. And who better to do that with than the System?

    A partnership between singer/guitarist Michael “Mic” Murphy and session keyboardist David Frank, the System formed in 1982 and, thanks to Frank’s expertise in studio technology, quickly developed into one of the jheri-curl era’s most sonically sophisticated meldings of electronic production and pop-R&B songwriting. In fact, by the time of their third album, 1985’s The Pleasure Seekers, their sound was almost too sophisticated: all of the various synthesizer tones, electronic percussion sounds, and other assorted studio trickery make the title track sound a bit schizophrenic, almost like a more radio-friendly Art of Noise rather than conventional jheri-curl. But if you think I’m calling the System’s JCM credentials into question, you’ve got another think coming: I mean, just get a load of Murphy’s hair in the video, which is surely a contender for the Jheri Curl Hall of Fame if ever I’ve seen one. It’s like Prince‘s Purple Rain-era hair had a baby with Little Richard’s jheri-pompadour, and then left that hair-baby out in the rain for several hours. In short, it’s glorious.

    You know the deal: playlist after the jump, see you again tomorrow!

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