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The CHIRP Blog
Entries categorized as “Post Mix” 63 results
DJ M-Dash writesOasis: Rock N’ Roll’s Most Polarizing Great Band?
by Andy Frye
If you follow music at all, you have heard the news: Oasis are back together. With concert dates next summer scheduled in London, Cardiff, Dublin, and other locations, tickets across the pond are selling fast. Is there new material? Supposedly, there is an album in the works. In related news, Liam Gallagher says his brother Noel is no longer a "potato."
Why reform Oasis now? Some might say… It's all about the money. Either way, many of us who dug in hard to their first two albums a quarter-century ago are celebrating. To others, the band is still—to say the least—a little polarizing.
Looking back, what appears to irk people most about Oasis, at least in the U.S., is both about the music—and not about the music. Some of the dislike of the band is more about the two brothers' personalities. Or—at least back then in the '90s—the size of their footprint on music.
But with the more prominent bands from the 1990s it seems to come with the territory. Ask anyone on the street about one of the most popular acts of the decade—not Nirvana, but the Dave Matthews Band and you'll surely get different reactions. Some consider DMB not much different from smooth jazz (something about which we all have a pointed opinion.) There are strong opinions about Green Day, Alanis Morrissette, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Like them or not, each artist was an essential part of the late 20th-century musical ecosystem.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesChicago Sounds: Finom
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Chicago duo CHIRP Radio writesChicago Sounds: Serengeti
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At a time when Rap Music seems to be focused on just about everything except the music, one Chicago artist is very much keeping it real. CHIRP Radio writesChicago Sounds: Vinto Van Go
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By deftly mixing up flavors of psychedelic pop and '60s mod into a crunchy garage sound, DJ M-Dash writesMemory Lane: James Brown Says “Stay Away From Drugs!”
Some of us music lovers are old. Like, old enough to remember when the great James Brown went to prison. In late February 1991, the national news of his release was greeted by music lovers everywhere.
Despite what some Generation X members might tell you about our landmark record collections and our attendance at legendary small-club shows, none of us had seen James Brown perform. We only knew him as a mythical, god-like figure. Then, suddenly, one day in the early 1990s, James Brown records came out with fury.
Eight months after Brown’s parole, there was 20 All-Time Greatest Hits!—Polydor’s James Brown compilation album. The compilation went platinum and even graced the top 100 of Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in 1993. Everyone had it. (Really, everyone.)
Early promotional versions of the disc (plus other James Brown works) circulated the college radio circuit scene. And as a college DJ, I couldn’t resist playing his great songs—plus there were some fantastic extras, including Public Service Announcements Mr. Brown did, telling young people to keep away from crime.
Rumors circulated at the time that some of the PSAs were part of Soul Brother #1’s 1991 parole agreement, but in truth, some were recorded long before the time.
Anyhow, one of my favorites, the “Stay Away From Drugs" PSA, turned up not some years ago in video form. It’s worth a watch and is the perfect pick-me-up for a James Brown fan.