Dystopian Dance Party

Tag: time

  • Jheri Curl June: Chromeo’s “Sexy Socialite”

    Jheri Curl June: Chromeo’s “Sexy Socialite”

    Welp, our seat-of-our-pants M.O. finally caught up with us yesterday when I just straight-up forgot to write a post… whoops. But before I flagrantly shirked my duties as Jheri Curl June co-curator, I had planned to highlight a song by long-running French Canadian J.C.M. revivalist duo Chromeo.

    I got into Chromeo sometime between the release of their 2004 debut album She’s in Control and 2007 followup Fancy Footwork. Since then, I’ve dipped in and out of engagement as the effectiveness of their schtick has waxed and waned for me (in brief: loved the first two albums, was lukewarm on 2010’s Business Casual, back on board for 2014’s White Women, was underwhelmed again by 2018’s Head Over Heels, and haven’t heard much after that). To be honest, I think She’s in Control is always going to be my favorite; their newer stuff (by which I mean everything more than a decade into the current century) is just a little too slick for my tastes. But today I’m giving the nod to “Sexy Socialite” from White Women because, what can I say, I’m a sucker for a good Time reference (if you know, you know). It also doesn’t hurt that it’s one of the album’s hardest grooves, and I enjoy how guest vocalist “Ozzie” shows up as the titular “Sexy Socialite” to speak for herself and problematize the song’s essentializing themes. Gosh, it’s almost like singer Dave 1 was a literature professor (fun fact, he was)!

    We’ll be back later today (probably) with one more post for Jheri Curl June 2023. In the meantime, you know what to do:

  • Jheri Curl June: Prime Time’s “Anytime is Prime Time (Theme Song)”

    Jheri Curl June: Prime Time’s “Anytime is Prime Time (Theme Song)”

    In the almost-10 years since we started Jheri Curl June, I’ve learned to keep an eye out in the record store for potential discoveries in the Jheri Curlaverse. Sometimes, this habit pays off–as in the case of 2018 JCJ honoree Georgio. But sometimes, even the most promising-looking record can fail to live up to expectations.

    This was the case when, back home in Michigan two summers ago, I came across Confess It Baby, the 1985 sophomore album by Prime Time. “Promising-looking” didn’t even begin to describe it: Posed in front of the skyline backdrop from a local public access talk show, dressed in the finest selections from the Steve Harvey menswear line, the motley crew assembled on the album cover (see below) looked like they stepped out of a production of Guys and Dolls with a cast comprised entirely by the lineups of the Whispers and DeBarge. This–combined with a tracklist full of suggestive song titles like “What’s That You Slipped Into My Wine,” “Sex-o-logical,” and “Baby Don’t Break My Back“–basically put my expectations through the roof.

    Likely because of these sky-high expectations, I was underwhelmed when I got home and gave Confess It Baby a spin. It isn’t a terrible record, by any means, and certainly not below par for Jheri Curl June; remember, this is coming from someone who counts discovering Georgio as a success. But it was generic enough that I’d all but forgotten about Prime Time until this Jheri Curl June rolled around and I remembered, “Oh yeah, what about that one record by the goofy-ass Whispers/DeBarge knock-offs?”

    All of which is to say, I have good news and bad news about today’s JCJ pick. The bad news is, Confess It Baby isn’t officially streaming, and while we’ve included some YouTube-only tracks in past years, I can’t be bothered doing it for Prime Time. Which brings me to the good news: the group’s 1984 debut album Flying High is streaming, and it’s actually a damn sight better than Confess It Baby.

    Don’t get me wrong, it’s also hilarious. The group shot on the back cover (see above) is almost as goofy as the one on Confess It Baby, except this time the assorted Whispers and DeBarge castoffs are in a production of The Outsiders. Meanwhile, lead singer Jimmy Hamilton kicks off closing track “Anytime is Prime Time (Theme Song)”–yes, Prime Time end their debut album with a song about themselves–by yelling, “What time is it?” as if that catchphrase didn’t already very clearly belong to Morris Day of the Time. But the electro-lite groove and sunny melody ensure that you leave with a smile on your face, even if you don’t have as overdeveloped sense of irony as yours truly.

    Anytime is Prime Time to listen to Prime Time… and the rest of the artists on these playlists:

  • Headbangers Book Club: Morris Day’s On Time (Part 2)

    Headbangers Book Club: Morris Day’s On Time (Part 2)

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    It’s #jhericurljune in July! After a brief delay due to COVID- and car theft-related trauma, we’re finally back with Part 2 of our deep dive on Morris Day‘s 2019 memoir On Time: A Princely Life in Funk! Join us as we celebrate one of the greatest cultural achievements of the late 20th century (“Fishnet”), and we’ll see you again in two weeks for the first half of Pamela Des Barres‘ I’m with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie!

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  • Headbangers Book Club: Morris Day’s On Time (Part 1)

    Headbangers Book Club: Morris Day’s On Time (Part 1)

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    It’s a special #jhericurljune installment of the ol’ Book Club as we dig into 2019’s On Time: A Princely Life in Funk by Morris Day with David Ritz–so, slightly less headbanging than normal, but don’t worry, there’s plenty of the important stuff (i.e., cocaine). We’ll be back in a couple of weeks with Part 2, at which point we’ll also announce our official HBC selection for July. Remember, don’t let us Meat Loaf!

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  • Headbangers Book Club: Meat Loaf’s To Hell and Back

    Turns out Meat Loaf needed a little extra time in the oven, but we’re finally back to discuss the late vocal powerhouse’s 2000 memoir To Hell and Back. Join us as we ponder Meat’s many concussions, his suitably operatic relationship with the also-recently-departed Jim Steinman, and how he’s easily in the top five of anti-maskers we would have been okay catching COVID from. We’ll be back around the middle of next month for a special Jheri Curl June miniseries on Morris Day‘s On Time: A Princely Life in Funk!

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  • Jheri Curl June: Prince’s “Jungle Love”

    We’ve talked a fair amount about Prince, who would have turned 63 today, as one of the architects of the genre we call Jheri Curl Music: Most notably in our very first Jheri Curl June Special back in 2014, but also in various JCJ entries and profiles on his former colleagues (Sheila E, the Time, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Vanity, Wendy & Lisa, Jesse Johnson, and André Cymone), rivals (Rick James and, depending on when you ask, at least half of the previous list), and even a few knockoffs (Phil Collins, Ebonee Webb). In fact, we’ve talked so much about Prince on here, you’d be forgiven for wondering if there’s anything else about the Purple One we could possibly have to say (and that’s not even mentioning Zach’s long-running, exhaustively-detailed blog about him).

    The thing about Prince, though, is not only is his extant body of work both massive and exceedingly deep, but it’s also constantly growing, as more and more of his music is liberated from his storied Vault. Case in point: his version of “Jungle Love,” a 1984 hit for side project the time after its appearance in the Jheri Curl Cinema landmark Purple Rain, wasn’t even circulating on the robust bootleg market before 2019, when it was released on the posthumous compilation Originals.

    “Jungle Love” is actually a Jheri Curl milestone in more ways than one. Aside from being penned by Prince and made famous by the Time, it was also based on an instrumental demo by guitarist Jesse Johnson, whose 1985 “Be Your Man” has the distinction of being the second song ever highlighted for Jheri Curl June. As for the song itself, it’s one of the greasiest of Prince’s early-’80s peak as Jheri Curl progenitor par excellence: an infectious workout driven by a lubricious keyboard line, squelching bass-synth, and rhythm guitar so clean it sounds like it’s still in the shrink wrap. So happy birthday, Prince; here’s to another five years (at least!) of more Jheri Curl gems being unearthed.

    We’ll be back tomorrow! Spotify and YouTube playlists below:

  • Podcast: Dystopian Book Club vs. George Clinton’s Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You?

    Zach and Callie reconvene in (by our standards) record time for another Dystopian Book Club Official Selection: Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You? by Parliament–Funkadelic maestro George Clinton. Enjoy as we discuss our love of P-Funk and the book’s disappointing lack of hot deets on the Super Mario Bros. movie.

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  • Jheri Curl June Special: André Cymone

    It’s a poetic fluke of the cosmos that so many Jheri Curl Music innovators’ birthdays fall in June, the genre’s holiest month. So far, we’ve highlighted Prince (June 7), Jimmy Jam (June 6), L.A. Reid (also June 7), and Jesse Johnson (June 1)–as well as Michael Jackson, who passed away on June 25, 2009. Now, on the occasion of his 60th birthday, it’s finally time to induct André Cymone into the JCM Hall of Fame.

    As Prince’s earliest musical collaborator, André Cymone played an integral, but regrettably overshadowed part in the creation of the Jheri Curl Music strain more popularly known as the Minneapolis Sound. On our Prince associates podcast from a couple of years ago, I described Cymone as the twin Prince (figuratively, of course) consumed in utero. So many of the more famous artist’s stylistic choices in the first three years of his career–from his embrace of New Wave sounds and fashions to the whole song “Do Me, Baby”–can be more accurately interpreted as a collaborative effort between himself and his one-time surrogate brother. By the time André, understandably fed up with the lack of credit for his work, went solo in early 1981, the persona known as “Prince” had been more or less fully formed; this inevitably did his longtime partner a disservice by making his solo career look like an imitation.

    But today we celebrate André Cymone not as an imitator, but as the innovator he was. While he may not have scaled the critical or commercial heights of his musical other half, his efforts–both behind the scenes and in the spotlight–left an indelible mark on Jheri Curl Music, and on the last 30 years of pop and R&B in general.

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  • Podcast: Jheri Curl June 2K18

    This year marks our fifth annual Jheri Curl June, and we’re going to make it a thing or die trying. Join us as we define the Jheri Curl Music genre and share our picks for the most essential tracks; then, starting Monday, we’ll formally kick off the month-long celebration of wet, silky ’80s R&B. Oh, and listen all the way to the end, because we also announce the winners of our two free copies of Dystopian Dance Party Issue 1!

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  • The Prince Issue Podcast with Guest Erika Peterson

    As you may have heard, we recently launched a physical magazine, the first issue of which is dedicated to eclectic art and writing inspired by the music of Prince. So, to celebrate a successful launch–and to get us back in podcasting mode after an unplanned six-month leave of absence–we invited Erika Peterson, a friend and contributor to the magazine, to talk about her work and the most funny/surreal moments of Celebration 2018 at Paisley Park. We also talk about Dystopian Dance Party’s ongoing beef with Questlove, and do our best to try and beat him at his own game of guessing Prince songs from their opening seconds. It doesn’t go well.

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