Guys – It’s time to grab that girl and hop aboard the “Love Train”. The next stop that we make – will be love. Don’t you know that it’s time to get on board ?
This weekend at the ‘Disco Party’ I’ve got The O’Jays out of Canton Ohio. This was by far the biggest smash of their long (and still going) careers. It’s a U.S. # 1 gold pop smash from the Spring of 1973, and here’s how America danced to it on one of the hottest music television shows of the time – “Soul Train”.
Let’s kick it with the “Love Train” on the “Soul Train”:
Today’s modern hit music should not be about ego-driven personalities or flashy music videos or eye-popping live performances. It should be about the words in the songs. Do they really mean anything relevant ? Can they change the world as we know it ? Do they benefit God’s Kingdom ?
Here’s an ENORMOUS Christian pop smash from Nevertheless that was in heavy rotation on the radio during the first 4 months of 2007 when my fantastic journey was still very young – building its sound foundation from the ground up – one baby step at a time.
So here I stand.
I’m ready for anything.
Just a man, but I’m giving everything.
We’re here only for a second.
And then we’re gone when we least expect it.
So do more than survive.
Let’s live like we’re alive !
Back during the Spring of 1996 I visited my Mom, Dad, Brother, and two cats in the Washington D.C. area for the final time. (About 6 months later that year they all moved southward to Jacksonville Florida.) It marked the end of a 27-year homestead (1969-1996) within the D.C. area for my family (55 years for my Dad going back to his birth).
During that final visit my Brother and I drove down I-95 early one chilly foggy drizzly morning to spend the day at Kings Dominion. We had free tickets to the amusement park because my brother won a prize package on DC-101 (heritage rock radio station) related to the world premiere of the first “Mission: Impossible” movie that was a week or two away.
This song in history – although it reminds my brother of a particularly bad relationship with a former girlfriend at the time – reminds me of those good times that we shared when we went on that short road trip for a day to have some fun.
Here’s the MTV award-winning music video for “Glycerine” from Bush. It’s one of my favourite songs of all-time:
I grew up on TOP 40 music in the Greater Washington D.C. area during the entire wild and crazy decade that was the 1970s and into the early portion of the 1980s. I listened to such great radio stations as WWDC-AM (1260), WASH-FM (97.1), WPGC (95.5) , WRQX (107.3), and WAVA (105.1).
Years and years of Sunday mornings were spent sitting right next to my transistor radio – listening intently to every single word that Casey Kasem uttered and every single lyric of every single song that he led in to and out of on the original “American Top 40” radio show.
Disco music took over and totally dominated the radio airwaves for a good solid three years starting in 1976, and this preteen kid at the time was caught right in the middle of that revolution. It totally defined our culture of the time.
31 years ago this weekend in July of 1978 this song was making its rapid ascent up Casey Kasem’s “American Top 40” countdown. It would eventually reach # 8 and become Barry Manilow’s 5TH gold pop smash in less than 4 years. This – my groovy middle-aged friends – is the “Copacabana” – and it’s the highlight of my ‘Friday Night Disco Party’ tonight !
CountUp 