Dystopian Dance Party

Tag: tina turner

  • Jheri Curl June: The Gap Band’s “Disrespect”

    Last Thursday, June 7, would have been Prince’s 60th birthday had he: a) not passed away in April 2016, and b) believed in concepts as prosaic as “birthdays” and “years.” Last week also happened to mark the underwhelming conclusion of the beef between rappers Pusha T and Drake, which just a few short weeks ago felt like the only thing anyone on the Internet was talking about. So, I thought, why not make today’s Jheri Curl June post a diss track about Prince?

    Released on Gap Band VI (actually, confusingly, the eighth album by Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Gap Band) in December 1984, there’s nothing about “Disrespect” that directly implicates Prince–except, of course, for the sound, which pairs Minneapolis-style sustained synth chords and a “Controversy”-esque bassline with call and response right out of the P-Funk playbook. The lyrics, by Gap Band frontman Charlie Wilson, are aggrieved but non-specific, excoriating some unfortunate “sucka” who “had the chance” but “disrespected” him.

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  • Jheri Curl June: Tina Turner’s “Better Be Good to Me”

    After four solo albums–two after her split with musical partner and husband Ike Turner–1984’s Private Dancer would solidify Tina Turner as a solo act and superstar. It also proved to be the debut of the fright wig that would become a signature style for Ms. Turner through the rest of the 1980s.

    The Tina Turner Hair. Screenshot from the What's Love Got to Do With it video
    The Tina Turner Hair; © Capitol Records.

    Tina’s cover of the short-lived New York City-based group Spider’s song “Better Be Good to Me” stayed true to the original’s basic pop/rock sound, but updated it with some slick mid-’80s Jheri-Curl flair. Now, enjoy watching Tina Turner strut around in a full leather bodysuit and have a weird hip-thrusting standoff with that guy from the Fixx:

    Spotify and YouTube playlists after the jump:

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