Tag Archives: dance music

Röyksopp – Happy Up Here

Here’s the first single from Röyksopp’s upcoming album Junior. With extra Space Invaders coolness.

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RuPaul – Let’s Turn The Night

JMG reader Wayne sends us his video mash-up of NYC’s recent Prop 8 protests with a RuPaul track from the upcoming album Champion. According to RuPaul, Let’s Turn The Night was written during the Prop 8 protests in West Hollywood. UPDATE: Eric Leven points out that there’s a shot of me at the 1:30 mark. I’m in a brown jacket.

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#1 This Week In 1992

Saint Etienne’s first single, a cover of Neil Young’s Only Love Can Break Your Heart, topped the Billboard dance chart for two weeks in late February 1992. The song was Young’s first Top 40 hit as a solo artist, reaching #33 in 1970. The vocals on Saint Etienne’s version are by Moira Lambert of Faith Over Reason, current lead singer …

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Pet Shop Boys – Love Etc.

Here’s the first single from the upcoming Pet Shop Boys album, Yes. There are several remixes of Love Etc available as well as a “digital bundle” containing a non-album track. The last PSB full-length release of new tracks was 2006’s Fundamental.

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Sir Ivan – For What It’s Worth

Hey, look – it’s a non-hippie protest song. Sir Ivan is actually zillionaire Long Island banker-cum-philanthropist Ivan Wilzig, who is well-known around these parts for his 12,000 square foot medieval castle in Water Mill. Wilzig has ditched Wall Street for a music career to promote his Peaceman anti-war charity. Some of you might remember him as a contestant on Sci-Fi …

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#1 This Week In 1985

This week in 1985, Smalltown Boy, the debut single from UK gay dance trio Bronski Beat, hit #1 on the Billboard dance chart for its only week. The tortured lyrics, haunting melody and heartbreaking video (which depicts a gay bashing) made the song an immediate gay anthem worldwide and it remains a staple of gay nightclubs today. My roommate and …

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#1 This Week In 1977

This week in 1977, the Trammps, an 11-member disco/R&B band from Philadelphia, were in the middle of their six week run at the top of Billboard’s dance chart with Disco Inferno, a song that went on to be one of the famous and enduring singles of the entire disco era. Originally released in 1976, the single did not have much …

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Silencefiction & Fauxnique – Lipstique

Via SFist: National treasure Fauxnique and Silencefiction (the swellest chap you’ll ever run into at a club) collaborated on this smashing project. “Lipstique,” which boasts former Miss Trannyshack Fauxnique listing her favorite lipstick colors backed by an addictive disco beat. But it’s so much more than that. Silencefiction’s “Lipstique” (Looq Records) is meshed with cameos by Fauxnique, Peaches Christ, Kiddie, …

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#1 This Week In 1986

This week in 1986, Grace Jones topped the Billboard dance chart for one week with Slave To The Rhythm. Producer Trevor Horn originally intended the record to be Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s follow-up single to Relax, but had Jones provide the vocals after he created an eight song concept album in which each cut was a completely different interpretation of …

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#1 This Week In 1977

In January 1977 Rose Royce took their debut single Car Wash, the theme from the blaxploitation movie of the same name, to #1 on the pop chart for one week. The single was written and produced by Motown’s legendary Norman Whitfield, who took Rose Royce with him when he jumped ship for MCA Records. Rose Royce scored three more Top …

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#1 This Week In 1982

In January 1982, Wordy Rappinghood and Genius Of Love, two tracks from the debut album of the Talking Heads’ side project, Tom Tom Club, shared the #1 slot on Billboard’s dance chart for one week. Comprised of Talking Heads bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Franz, Tom Tom Club has released six albums to date, the most recent a live …

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#1 This Week In 1975

In 1975 Shirley Goodman and Jesus Alvarez teamed up to create Shirley And Company, taking their disco record Shame, Shame, Shame to #1 on the dance chart for four weeks. The single, which featured a cartoon of Shirley and Richard Nixon on the cover, peaked at #12 on the pop chart. You may know Shirley Goodman better from the early …

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#1 This Week In 1980

With the help of legendary disco diva Loleatta Holloway, in 1980 gay-but-closeted rocker Dan Hartman took Vertigo/Relight My Fire to the top of Billboard’s dance chart for six weeks. For the last three decades the tracks has remained a popular staple of gay dance clubs worldwide. Craig Peyton’s jazzy electric vibe solo on Vertigo is my favorite bit, but I …

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#1 This Week In 1993

In 1992, producers David Cole and Robert Clivilles of C&C Music Factory hired Michelle Visage (the white chick in the freestyle girl group Seduction) to create the annoyingly punctuated group S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M. Their rap/dance cover of Bill Wither’s 1976 hit Lovely Day spent two weeks at the top of Billboard’s dance chart in 1993 as It’s Gonna Be (A Lovely …

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NYC Tonight: Mel Cheren Tribute Party

There will be a fundraiser tribute party tonight for Mel Cheren, “the Godfather of Disco.” Top DJs and performers from the days of the Paradise Garage will perform. Get tickets here. Admission benefits LIFEbeat, AREA, and the Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

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#1 This Week In 1978

Contrary to popular opinion at the time, Chic’s 1978 smash Le Freak was not written to capitalize on the freak dance craze then sweeping the world. The song actually came about when the band was turned away at Studio 54 because Grace Jones forgot to leave their name at the door. Walking home that night, bandmates Nile Rodgers and Bernard …

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Billboard’s 2008 Year-End Charts

Billboard Magazine has compiled its year-end charts for 2008. With three singles in the year-end top ten, Chris Brown is the Top Artist for 2008. This year I’m at least vaguely familiar with everything in the pop singles top ten, but only know the Kristine W, Janet Jackson and (remixed by Rich Morel) Yoko Ono tracks on the dance top …

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Tonight: Blowoff San Francisco

Serendipitilicious = happening to be in San Francisco on the same weekend that Blowoff is in town. The fur begins to fly at Slim’s at 10PM. Every single person we ran into on the street today said they’re going, it should be a crazy night.

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Brooklyn Blowoff Photo Recap

This should make you feel better after the crap news of the weekend. The first Blowoff in Brooklyn was way crazier than I expected, as evidenced by the raucous behavior displayed in the above slideshow. Email me if you don’t want your mug shown and I’ll pull your photo. (Full-screen photos here.) There were lots of new faces in the …

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Tomorrow Night: Blowoff Brooklyn

Tomorrow night Bob Mould and Rich Morel bring their gonzo dance party to Park Slope’s Southpaw, their first Blowoff in Brooklyn. Doors open at 10pm, tickets $15. If you’re coming from Manhattan, you can use Hop Stop to plot your subway ride. I think the Atlantic Avenue stop on the 4 train is the closest station, somebody correct me if …

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