Guilty Album | New Radicals: Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too

"Make my nipples hard, let's go!" I have no clue which back-up singer said this to Gregg Alexander while recording his only studio release Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too (1999), but it completely sets the tone for the entire record. I bought this CD at a K-Mart knockoff store in my hometown merely because of the one-hit wonder "You Get What You Give". And make no mistake, I firmly expected it to be a $15 single. I had no idea the riches that...

#FridayFind | ELO – Don’t Bring Me Down

Who would've thought Jeff Lyne's biggest hit in the U.S. would be the song he dedicated to NASA's Skylab Space Station? A looped drum sample from "On the Run" is the backbone for this clap-inducing tune. The album "Discovery" in 1979 was definitely where the band pushed wholeheartedly from orchestral space pop into pure disco territory. A few tunes of theirs leaned disco including "Evil Woman" (1975 - Face the Music) and "Livin' Thing" (1976 - A...

#FridayFind | Toto – Africa

The time has come for my inaugural #FridayFind guilty pleasure pick. And what better artist to start out with than Toto, and their amazing #1 hit "Africa". Why has this tune endured for me? Partially because the lyrics make absolutely no sense. I have no idea why a woman coming on a mid-day flight has any damn thing to do with rains in another country. And I don't know why a man cares about Mount Kilimanjaro's similarities to Mount Olympus. My...