Blog: My hmphs

I discovered the radio when I was 8 years old - 1977, for those of you wondering. Disco reigned at the time, and I tolerated the shrieks of the Bee Gees for a while, but my attention continued to be captured by fleeting glimpses of greatness: Pop singles by such unknown artists as Climax Blues Band, Alan O'Day and Robbie Dupree. They leaped to the top of the charts with one great musical idea, only to fall by the wayside for Joey Scarbury, Ambrosia and another wave of one-hit wonders. It was a cycle that continued into the 1980s. I [...]

Andrew Curry loves lite rock, and he's not ashamed to say it. What's lite rock, you ask? If you're older than 40, you'll remember the commercials that record distributor K-tel used to promote late into the evenings ("Mellow Gold! Only $19.99 plus shipping and handling!"). The songs were mostly obscured by the last dying vestiges of disco, the one-hit wonders full of melody that you barely recognize but can't for the life of you figure out who sang it. They are almost lost to us. But Curry loves it so much, he produced a [...]

A few months ago, I was driving down the road with my kids when Prince's "Kiss" came on the radio. After doing my best falsetto whimper while singing along ,I asked them if they knew who sang the song. "Michael Jackson!" they shouted in unison. I then pondered how to introduce elementary school students to the music of His Royal Badness. During the 1980s, Prince was the thinking man's Michael Jackson. While Jackson sold gajillions of albums worldwide, Prince quietly took hold of Generation X's psyche and became its mouthpiece. We [...]

Q: Thanks for taking the time to talk with me about you and your new album, Taylor. A: Oh, gosh, I'm just overwhelmed and humbled by this interview and the support of all my dear fans over my album Red (available in stores now and by promotions through Walgreens, Target ). Really. I'm just shocked. Floored. It means so much to me! Hugs! Q: Um, yeah. First question: it seems you've taken a decidedly pop turn with this album, especially with songs like "We are Never Ever Ever [...]

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300"] Photo: Kevin Winter/WireImage.com[/caption] It's taken one week for me to muster up the motivation to write about this year's Grammy Awards. And its memory has already faded so much, its bland entries and uninspired performances leaving me wondering, " This is the best in modern music?" Previous years showed some innovation, trying to tie today's rising stars to rock's past royalty. But the only example this year was a duet between Elton John and Ed Sheeran (who?). The show opened with [...]

My discovery of Mike Viola and the Candy Butchers and their unreleased demos is a story for the ages, one that involves hidden treasures, research and intrigue. First, the background. In 1996, the Candy Butchers had just released an EP, Live at La Bonbonniere , under Blue Thumb Records, and were putting the finishing touches on their debut self-titled album. Things were looking up for Mike Viola and Todd Foulsham. Then Blue Thumb Records went belly-up, and the band's debut LP was buried along with the label. Fast forward [...]

David Myhr's Soundshine is Hooks and Harmony's 2012 Album of the Year , and with good reason: it's a quintessential pop album containing a panoply of perfectly composed songs. It's full of memorable hooks, soaring melodies and chord progressions that would make Paul McCartney envious. Myhr, who hails from Sweden, has an impressive resume of pop music songwriting. He was one-half of the songwriting duo behind the power pop band the Merrymakers, and he also contributed music for the Japanese band Puffy AmiYumi. He knows how to write a melody, and he's teaching a new [...]

I was playing David Myhr's Soundshine in the office a few months ago and was about three-quarters of the way through the 12 upbeat tracks when a co-worker grunted, "Boy, he sure is chipper." Yes, David Myhr is happy, and why shouldn't he be? The former member of Sweden's power pop band the Merrymakers seems to have unlocked one of pop music songwriting's guarded secrets and has used it to craft 12 perfect pop songs that leave you, well, merry. "I have noted that happy songs funnily enough sometimes [...]

• davidmyhr - Soundshine teaser - "don't bore us get to the chorus" medley

Tired of hearing Cee-Lo's "This Christmas" every hour? Is Jack Johnson's version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" grating on your nerves yet? If so, look no further than Kelly Jones and her latest release, "Kissing Santa on Christmas Eve." Aside from the obligatory sleigh bells and xylophone to give it that holiday feel, this is first and foremost a pop song that just happens to mention Santa. But it's a damn good pop song; it's a return to Jones' 60s cheery bubblegum sound on 20082s SheBANG ! It only took one listen for the [...]

The Beach Boys 50-year history has been truly epic. It's filled with fame, drugs, emotional breakdowns, death, and flashes of brilliance offset by the cancer that is Mike Love. Their creative peak, 19662s Pet Sounds , rivaled the Beatles' best work, weaving remarkable harmonies around complex orchestral arrangements; at their lowest, without Brian Wilson, they were a washed-up cover band that reminded everyone that fast cars and surfing are fun! That's Why God Made the Radio  is the first studio album by the group in [...]

One of the few criticisms I've received about this blog that I'm too critical, too "negative." That was certainly true of the early days, when I issued a  Hmph of the Week  and never passed up the opportunity to make fun of KanYe West . But given the state of today's Top 40, I feel someone has to point out that the emperor has no clothes - or in the case of some of today's artists, that the performer has no clothes. But there are so many things to appreciate in music - things we rarely stop [...]

This week, I finished rating every one of my 4,000 mp3s - for the third time. Every time something happens to my computer - a new hard drive, restoring a backup, etc. - The finicky XML file that represents the information in my iTunes library has a brain fart and loses all the ratings information for my songs. (Why does this matter, you ask? It makes smart playlists that much more powerful. For instance, I can create a smart playlist of all R.E.M. songs that are rated 4 stars or higher. Or I can create a mix that [...]

Bob Dylan may have been a poet, a 60s troubadour who influenced rock music for the next three decades, but he sure couldn't sing. He also may have unknowingly inspired many bad singers to believe that they could do the same thing as long as they had three chords and the truth. I've covered some off-key artists before - people who just can't hold a tune to save their lives. But there are others who, despite singing every note on pitch and on the beat, can make cats wail, dogs howl and sheep bray uncontrollably. They possess the [...]

Every Wednesday for the past six weeks, Mike Viola has taken a guitar, powered up his laptop, and performed in front of an intimate audience of about 50 people online - most of whom are in the United States, but some who are watching from Canada, Europe and Japan. This is Live Music 2.0. The platform is StageIt , and musicians ranging from Jimmy Buffet to Sara Bareilles are using it to perform for their fans - and make some money. Run by Evan Lowenstein (of the 90s duo Evan and Jaron) , the company [...]

Photo credit: http://www.visitlawrenceville. com Friday night in suburban Atlanta. I'm on the lawn of the town square, and hundreds of families have brought their kids, bought food, and lugged blankets and chairs and bug spray to stake out their spot. All to see four Americans standing in a gazebo performing 45 year-old songs from a British rock band. I know that most of these people don't know any of the words to "Rocky Raccoon" or know that John Lennon wrote "Nowhere Man". But I also know that a Herman's Hermits tribute band wouldn't get [...]

If the 50s witnessed the dawn of rock n roll civilization, the 60s had to be the Golden Age, a time when artists broke out of the I-IV-V chord progression and started experimenting with different melodies, instruments and yes, drugs. Emerging on the heels of the Beatles and drawing on the dreamy harmonies of the Beach Boys was sunshine pop, a type of music that was a cheery escape from the violence and controversy of the late 60s. At times the songs bordered on sappy (The Free Design's " Kites Are Fun "! The Fifth Dimensions " Up [...]

Twenty-six years have passed since Susanna Hoffs and the Bangles ruled the Billboard chart. With hits such as the Prince-penned "Manic Monday" and the cult smash "Walk Like an Egyptian," the all-girl group was the perfect blend of grrl power, sex and pop music. Now Hoffs is 53, and even though she continues to make and perform music with the Bangles, she has ventured out into new territory. For her third solo album, Someday , she is doing things her way, releasing it without the muscle (and influence) of a large [...]

Poor George Michael has become an afterthought in pop music, an artifact from the 80s and 90s and a punchline to many jokes in a manner previously reserved for Michael Jackson, R. Kelly and Milli Vanilli. Besides the infamous rest stop incident , his career has not been taken as seriously as it should, given Wham's rather dated hits such as "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go", " Careless Whisper" and the sappy "Last Christmas." Michael must have thought so as well, for in 1990 he released Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 [...]

"Songs, songs, songs, they pour out of me," sings Mike Viola on  "Secret Radio," the opening cut from his new release Acousto De Perfecto . So much, in fact, that he's had to release this companion LP to last year's Electro De Perfecto   to catch the runoff. Unlike most B-sides and bonus material that artists throw at fans - songs that are mere afterthoughts or the result of some late-night binge - Viola's throwaways are pure gems, gifts "for people like you I've been singing to all along / [...]

Dear Paul, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to wish you a happy 70th birthday. I've been bad. Didn't even tweet about it, and how long does that take, 10 seconds? (Granted, you probably got about 2.7 million birthday wishes via Twitter. I think it was even a trending topic for a while in between Justin Bieber and Lebron James.) But really, how can you pontificate on such a long and distinguished life in 140 characters? That's only two characters for every year you've been alive. And now that I think about it, how can [...]