27 Days of Old School: #27 “The Sweetest Days” (by Vanessa Williams)

Posted on November 27, 2014 by Arleigh

“So we whisper a dream here in the darkness
Watching the stars til they’re gone
And when even the memories have all faded away
These days go on and on”

We’ve finally reached the end of 27 Days of Old School and I think it appropriate that I choose a heartwarming and life-affirming song from 1994 by the incomparable Vanessa Williams.

While Madonna courted controversy on the other side of the ledger was the classic beauty and soulful talent that was Vanessa Williams. She may not have had the mega-success that Madonna had in the music business, but she still left quite a mark on her own terms.

She’s been on top of the charts as an R&B and pop singer. She really hit her stride with her second full-length album which includes the memorable ballad “Save The Best For Last”. She would follow this ballad with “The Sweetest Days” which is also the name of her third album.

While she hasn’t been making music these past years she has branched out into becoming a successful actress both on the big and small screen and even doing some time on Broadway.

So, for those who feel down and out and who think the world is crashing down around and on them I recommend they sit down, relax and listen to this song. It might just help lift things up even if just a bit.

27 Days of Old School

27 Days of Old School: #26 “I’m Still In Love With You” (by New Edition)

Posted on November 26, 2014 by Arleigh

“‘Cause I know in my heart
That my life ends and starts with you”

It took almost til the end but we finally get some New Edition in here.

Yes, it’s hard to talk about old school music without mentioning the premiere boy band (though pretty much grown ass men by the time of this song) of the 1980’s right up to the start of the 90’s.

Whether it was their first album when they were actually teens to their follow-up when they replaced Bobby Brown with Johnny Gill right up to the time of this song when the band brought Bobby Brown back to make it a six-man group, the group has always been the go-to R&B group. For those younger generation who grew up on One Direction and earlier than that with Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync, this group was our version of that and they were real and spectacular.

“I’m Still In Love With You” was sort of their last major hit which came out in 1995. A year that I’ve arbitrarily picked as the end of the Golden Age of Old School music (hey, it’s my list so there). It’s an R&B pop ballad that’s classic New Edition.

They don’t make groups like this anymore.

27 Days of Old School: #24 “Here and Now” (by Luther Vandross)

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Arleigh

“One look in your eyes and there I see
Just what you mean to me”

Those opening lyrics are instantly recognizable to anyone who grew up during the late 80’s. Whether one was in junior high, high school, college or already settled down. It’s a song with not a single cynical bone in its making.

“Here and Now” was the song that introduced the velvet-voiced crooner Luther Vandross to the general public. He was already a favorite singer for those who followed the R&B and soul music scene, but for the rest of the world he was an unknown. After the release of “Here and Now” in 1989 he was not an unknown to the rest of the world.

It’s a song that’s become a staple at proms and formal dances. The song soon became at weddings and continues to this day.

27 Days of Old School: #23 Mama Said Knock You Out (by LL Cool J)

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Arleigh

“Just like Mohammad Ali, they called him Cassius
Watch me bash this “

This song came out in early 1991 and went through like wildfire through pretty much the final half of my senior. One must realize that LL Cool J was a major presence in the rap I listened to growing up during the 1980’s. But as wont kids then and now, we listened to what was big at that time and it was mostly gangsta rap that dominated booming systems in the late 80’s.

LL Cool J was beginning to fade into the background as N.W.A. and Ice Cube and the rest of the West Coast gangsta rap scene was ascending. Yet, it was foolish to count out LL who people should’ve learned by then as a survivor of the rap game and he came out hard and strong the single off of the album of the same name: “Mama Said Knock You Out”.

In anime, there’s a character trope called “gar”. It’s a term reserved for anime characters so manly that they eclipse all males for as far as the horizon. This song was just that. It made LL Cool J reach the level of “gar” and the accompanying video helped in making it so. It was a shot to the new rap youngbloods and old-standing rivals (song was literally taking shots at Kool Moe Dee). The song also shoots down critics who have been calling LL as washed-up and a has-been. He sure told them all in the hardest way possible.

So, coming in at #23 and starting the stretch run to #27 is LL Cool J coming in so “gar” with “Mama Said Knock You Out.”

27 Days of Old School: #22 “Here I Go Again” (by Whitesnake)

Posted on November 22, 2014 by Arleigh

“An’ I’ve made up my mind, I ain’t wasting no more time
but here I go again, here I go again.”

Previous entry to our 27 Days of Old School I mentioned something about how hard rock and metal music videos were mostly the realm of hair metal bands. Videos all about loud, over-the-top costumes and personalities. bands such as Motley Crue and Poison just to name a few. Other bands would mimic the long, over-teased and hairsprayed look which gave hair metal it’s name. Coming in at #22 is a rock band from England that took on the look of your typical hair metal band, but had some deep roots in old school blues rock.

“Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake is a great song of the 80’s and part of it was due to an even more awesome video which included a young Tawny Kitaen, white lingerie and the frontman’s Jaguar XJ. Yes, the car used in the video is David Coverdale’s own car. Kitaen would later marry David which just took the whole thing full circle.

While Whitesnake and Coverdale made sure to take advantage of the hair metal look of the 80’s he definitely channeled Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant more than he did Vince Neil or Bret Michaels. And for that the world was and continues to be grateful.

27 Days of Old School: #21 “One” (by Metallica)

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Arleigh

“Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God, wake me”

Yeah, my taste in music see-sawed back and forth from one end of the spectrum to the other. Yesterday, I reminisced about one of the best R&B ballads from my time as a teenager in high school during the late 80’s. Today, I focus on one of the songs on metal end which remains (in my opinion) one of the best metal songs ever put out there.

“One” was the final single released from Metallica’s fourth album, …And Justice For All.

The song also had the distinction of being the first ever Metallica song which was accompanied by a music video shot for it. Metallica had avoided making music videos of their songs for years. Their success as a band never needed the assistance that MTV could provide. They saw it as a badge of honor that they’ve never made a music video, but that change in January 1989 when the single for “One” was released and a music video followed soon after.

A music video that combined elements from the 1971 anti-war film Johnny Got His Gun and the band playing inside a warehouse. It was an effective video that more than convinced many skeptics that when done properly a metal music video was possible. This wasn’t a video using garish colors, over-the-top imagery of hair metal music videos. It was a video that was just as heavy and through-provoking as the song it was made for.

27 Days of Old School: #20 “Whip Appeal” (by Babyface)

Posted on November 20, 2014 by Arleigh

“‘Cause you’ve got that whip appeal
So work it on me”

It would be impossible not to include one of the most popular old school ballads from my era.

“Whip Appeal” was the third single off of singer-producer Babyface’s second R&B album, Tender Lover. The single released in early 1990 just in time for the song to put it’s melodic hooks into everyone who heard it for the first time. I can confirm that this was a staple of all high school dances and proms from 1990 and onwards. It was one of the go-to ballads that would get couples and potential ones to get on the dance floor and just sway to the song.

Ballads like this are truly old school. When I say they don’t make them like this anymore there’s some truth in that. The lyrics themselves are quite risque, but definitely more subtle than what R&B artists nowadays put into their own form of ballads. There’s a classic soulful sound to the music that harkens back to the Motown sounds of the 60’s that have been lacking in most R&B today.

A song that’s 25 years old and yet still planting it’s soulful hooks into old and new listeners alike.

27 Days of Old School: #19 “You’ll See” (by Madonna)

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Arleigh

“I have truth on my side,
You only have deceit”

For #18 on the KTSL Old School charts I had Madonna’s “Take A Bow” and what better way to follow it up but with it’s sequel which arrived as a single for her 1995 compilation album, Something to Remember.

“You’ll See” is another ballad that brings to conclusion the story of the mistress (Madonna) from “Take A Bow” and the Spanish bullfighter (Emilio Muñoz) with the tables now turned as the former takes control of her life and moves on while the latter sees his mistakes though too late.

This song has a Spanish musical influence to it’s production from the use of a Spanish guitar that begins the track and returns throughout the length of the song. While “Take A Bow” strained Madonna’s vocal skills to their limits it is the opposite for “You’ll See” where the song’s composition works to take advantage of Madonna’s vocal range and not trying to go beyond what she’s capable of.

27 Days of Old School: #18 “Take A Bow” (by Madonna)

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Arleigh

“No more masquerade, you’re one lonely star”

Pushing the line of what constitutes old school for me would be when the 1990’s started to move into the mid-1990’s. I was still young enough to remember high school, but already a couple years from having graduated from it in 1994. One of the last few old school songs that made the cut for this list was the one song where I fully bought into Madonna as an artist and not just a great performer.

“Take A Bow” was a single off of her Bedtime Stories album and it couldn’t be more opposite from her previous work. For one thing, it was written by R&B producer extraordinaire Babyface.

The video for this song was a nice touch in using the bullring in Antequera, Spain as the set with Madonna channeling golden age glam. Definitely not the sort of look her fans have been used to for years before this album.

It works as a ballad and the video itself turned out to be a nice short film that help tell the story behind the lyrics.

27 Days of Old School: #17 “Take On Me” (by A-ha)

Posted on November 17, 2014 by Arleigh

“Say after me
It’s no better to be safe than sorry”

The 1980’s was a decade of excess in every sense of the word, but it was also the decade that gave birth to so many one-hit wonders. One such wonder was a song that I never failed not to like no matter that I grew older. Even now I would sing-along to this song whenever I come across it on-line or I find a mixtape of it.

“Take On Me” by the Norwegian synthpop band A-ha was a simple enough song, but when heard by way of it’s groundbreaking music video which combined live-action scenes with rotoscoped pencil sketching of the video it became an instant classic. The video was just like most music videos of the 1980’s in that it tried to wrap a story around the song though most of the time I had no idea what was going on.

Despite the video making little sense I still consider it a nostalgic favorite of mine from the days when MTV actually played music videos.