One of the many things disco did to the pop mainstream was to help sharpen its body-consciousness. Take the above video clip for Miquel Brown's "So Many Men, So Little Time," a 1983 hit that, according to the voluminous notes provided by the song's producer, Ian Levine (who has his own extensively curated YouTube hub ), was "The first pioneering record of the whole High Energy scene." The song was a huge European hit, but the video is striking for its glimpse into muscle-man culture. Not that this was altogether new in pop. Below, we present a selective history [...]

It's time for you to tell us again Which Is Better?? Here we have 4 versions of the song Jolene! The artist include: Dolly Parton, Olivia Newton-John, Sophie Ellis-Bextor & Strawberry Switchblade! They are all quite good... but what do you think, let us know Which Is Better?? [...]

Olivia Newton John: If Not For You [ purchase ] This one goes out to the one I loved. It's not the definitive cover version of this song (see George Harrison for that), but it's not bad. I include it here because I had a mad crush on Olivia back in the 1970's when I was just a little toeheaded kid and she was an Aussie mega-star. Those were happy times. . .

Happy Birthday to the recently married Olivia Newton John . She is a favorite w/ everyone here and today we would like to celebrate her & some of Olivia's music! It doesn't matter if she is singing in roller skates or just on stage... Olivia Newton John sings her way into our hearts :) Happy Birthday Olivia! Magic [...]

El día de ayer Billboard anunció el Top 100 de los sencillos más populares en los últimos 50 años y para todos fue una sorpresa enterarnos que ni The Beatles, Elvis Presley o Madonna están en el primer lugar. Así es, ocupando el número uno de la lista está Chubby Checker y su canción de 1960, "The Twist" . Por si fuera poco, ninguno de los anteriores logró estar entre los 5 primeros lugares, ya que a la canción de Checker le siguen: Santana con "Smooth", [...]
. Oh, my week was made by the lovely responses I received to my lament about not getting enough comments. I really wasn't angling for compliments, but those that came really built me up, buttercup. People reading my semi-coherent ramblings to their computer-illiterate aunts in Canada... Wow! So I'm deeply touched and very grateful for all the nice comments. Don't be shy, shower me with comments.

No matter where you were or what you did over the weekend, you need a little help easing back into things today, and nobody can do the job like Olivia. Her 1989 album Warm And Tender is an amazing collection of lullabies ("Rock A Bye Baby") and soft songs of love and encouragement ("You'll Never Walk Alone," "The Twelfth Of Never"). The title track (and today's Veg) is the single original song on the album (written by the classic Newton-John/Farrar lineup). Warm And Tender was THE album to listen to in [...]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =ow1gS3m1ckM Olivia Newton-John, "Physical" (American TV, 1981) To avoid controversy in the early 1980s, all you had to do was shift the focus of your little sex pop song to the bright synthetics, bunchy leg warmers, and happy-go-lucky headbands of the burgeoning workout movement. That's what Olivia Newton-John did, as she displays on this episode of "Solid Gold." Not only did\ the marketing gag guarantee multiplatinum rack-ups of the Physical album, but Newton-John was now a part of a movement. If she was still [...]
In 1980, Australian singer Olivia Newton-John was, without a doubt, one of the most iconic figures in pop culture. During the '70s, Newton-John had won several Country Music Association and Grammy awards, and notched 19 Top 40 singles in the US - nine of which hit the Top Ten including the #1 hits I Honestly Love You , Have You Never Been Mellow , and You're The One That I Want . The latter had been one of three Top Ten hits Newton-John had from the soundtrack to the 1978 smash movie Grease . [...]

Whether or not you regularly listen to it, everyone has at some point heard Olivia Newton-John's "Physical," or at least a cover version of it. Ever since it became a monster number one hit in the early '80s, it's become a classic trashy pop song. The base lyrics are catchy and simple, inspiring countless revisits over the years. Here are all the ones I could round up, starting with one that surpasses the now-dated original in my book. Goldfrapp did a sultry downbeat rework back in 2001 called "U.K. Girls (Physical)" that is definitely worth a listen. Kylie Minogue included [...]

How come I had to hear about Rick Rolling via the New York Times? Oh well, working this new "day job" has put me behind on the times, and that's why Armagideontime was able to pull this one on me . April Fool indeed. Speaking of pranks, I was duped into thinking that another great punk blog, Last Days of Man on Earth , had suddenly disappeared. Was this another April Fool's Day gag? After emailing Joe Stumble the truth was out. "This is an annual rite of passage [...]

Is there any argument that music and film are perhaps the two most celebrated, recognized and lucrative forms of artistic expression in our popular culture? Is there any argument that they also generate more arguments than all other popular artistic mediums combined? So why then, despite our obsessive dissecting, debating, analyzing and chronicling of the two, doesn't there exist a comprehensive list detailing the intersection of music and film? Somewhat related, are you sick of us asking rhetorical questions? Fair enough, we get it. Less questions, more solutions! In this, our first installment of [...]

"Physical" represented her commercial peak. "Xanadu" was a bomb before becoming "da bomb" (in certain cult circles). But "Grease" is, was, and always will be The Word. All hail OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN -- this Sunday's '70s songstress. [ MP3 ] "Have You Never Been Mellow" [1975] [ MP3 [...]
I've been listening to the Hollies version of this (which is the first version that was a hit, but not the first that was recorded) pretty regularly lately. I've no idea what's up with that. Although it's become apparent to me that Radiohead's "Creep" might not exist without it. Jorge Gonzalez "Necesito Poder Respirar (The Air That I Breathe)" (comp. Albert Hammond/Mike Hazelwood) Steve Wynn "The Air That I Breathe" (comp. Albert Hammond/Mike Hazelwood) [...]

The big news around these parts is we will be leaving these parts. For Thanksgiving , The Duchess, Duke Jr. and I are flying back to the Midwest. To stay at my parents house on the Mississippi River . To get me (and you all) in the mood for my time at the river, here are 30 " river " songs, and 3 " Mississippi " songs (1 overlap) and one named after the woman who is named after my hometown. Some you've heard here before, some you haven't. [...]

Taken from this lavvy wall This week Contrast Podcast ventures into the realm of mortal sin by inviting us all to wade waist-deep in a steaming, roiling pool of thick, viscous, musical... LUUUST!!! *Pant, pant, drool, quiver* Ahem. Er, I'd best make this very quick, lest it get messy. Download the podcast here and prepared to get all hot 'n' bothered. Just have a cold shower running on standby, and watch out for the two dirty old [...]
Oh, Livvie. Talk about misguided choices. Nearly an unstoppable pop juggernaut as the '80s dawned, thanks to hits from Xanadu and Physical , Olivia Newton-John stumbled a bit as the decade hit the halfway mark. First, her film reunion with John Travolta, Two Of A Kind suffered a commercial and critical drumming, but the soundtrack did middling business, with the increasingly New Wave-ish tone of the singles "Twist of Fate" and "Livin' In Desperate Times". While "Twist" hit the Top 5, "Livin'" reflected ONJ's diminished hit-making power, struggling to a [...]

First off, a video. This one features Mister Hopkinson's Computer live! I've had "his" version of "Where Is My Mind" near the top of my playlist for a while now. And here our computer friend performs with a live band for the first time. MP3: Mister Hopkinson's Computer, "Where Is My Mind" MP3: Mister Hopkinson's Computer with Audrey 3000, "Falling" (Theme from Twin Peaks) [...]
If I were to say to you, "we make holes in teeth! We make holes in teeth!", would you know what I was talking about?

The weekly Throwback Thursday usually hits on Thursday but with vacation and business travel my schedule has been a little crazy. So, now that I'm settled back at SVB world headquarters, I figured I'd bust out Throwback Thursday v.4 - and this time around we focus on 1980 Truth is, 1980 actually began in 1977/78. Corporate rock ruled. Disco was dead. The Clash, The Heads and punk kept us honest and hopeful. Prince was on his way to breaking out. Kurtis Blow (above) rocked us with "The Breaks," Rush scored a [...]