Back to more obscure stuff for the American-born audience, here is a guy who enjoyed a cult status when I was growing up. Aside from being a pretty good crooner – and he could move, too, – Adriano Celentano starred in several French and Italian movies that were tremendously popular…
Following up on a comment by my good friend Artyom, here is an offshoot of one of my favorite Euro-pop bands, Modern Talking. Dieter Bohlen, the blond “backup” of the duo, was actually the composer of all of their material. He also groomed and wrote songs for CC Catch, among…
Another one of my stand-alone favorites. I’m lukewarm about the movie, I’d be hard pressed to name another song by Bryan Adams that I know and like, but You know it’s true: Everything I do, I do it for you struck a chord with me the first time I heard…
As a professed fan of The Beatles, I am actually quite lukewarm towards anything that the Fab Four produced in their solo careers after their break-up. Lennon’s Imagine is probably the closest a song by a former Beatle comes to being a favorite of mine. My most vivid memory associated…
Another one of my long-standing favorites. Curiously, I never bothered with any other songs by Stevie Wonder. The only other of his works that I am even aware of is Ebony and Ivory by him and Paul McCartney. My most vivid memory associated with this melodic and evocative love ballad…
Back to our regular light programming, here is one of my all-time favorites. For some reason, the strongest recollections of this song put me inside my Dad’s old Pontiac, driving the length of Ocean Parkway and loudly singing along. I believe they come from the time when Natasha worked cash…
And now, returning to our regular programming, here is another of the discotheque favorites in my high-school DJ’ing time. Can’t think of any specific memories associated with Pet Shop Boys, besides their popularity (for a short period of time) and the search for a perfect translation of their band name…
Come Together does not break into my 30 Favorite Beatles’ songs, but it has the distinction of being the very first song by the group that I heard while being actively aware that I was listening to the Beatles. My uncle, who had a dual-deck tape recorder (a tremendous rarity…
Maybe not as popular as Modern Talking, German-based multinational pop trio Bad Boys Blue was a staple of our DJ playlists in mid-80’s. The two contemporary outfits are curiously forever linked in my mind. My very first own cassette tape was meant to contain The First Album by MT in…
I’ve already offered a glimpse of Modern Talking in the retrospection of my musical affinities (and also posted this clip in other people’s blogs). But it is high time that I paid my respects to the German duo directly. For some period of time in high school, I was a…
My first recollection of ABBA is linked with the song Happy New Year, likely because of that song having had a key part in some televised celebration that got etched in my memory. But this being a wrong season and all, I’ll put up the song that must have been…
I’ve been a bit preoccupied at work this week – moving on to a different role, frantically extricating myself from the responsibilities of the old one, thank you for asking! – to find time for a full-bodied post. I’m leaving you with another of those YouTube’d memories instead. My memory…
I’m not sure why I remember this song or what’s so great about it, but it was a famous European hit that got some playtime on the likes of Утренняя Почта (translated as The Morning Post, it was a Sunday staple of Soviet television). Which is why I remember it,…
When I answered the “favorite song” question in the Photobucket meme (see #9), I actually chose my number two song. I think it is called “the familiarity effect” in cognitive psychology – I listen to my CD compilation of favorite Beatles’ songs occasionally, while I don’t even have a CD…
Warning: Despite English narration, majority of the clips used in this post are in Russian. Three other European languages, besides English, are also present. I hope my English-language audience will still enjoy the music. My kid brother did me one better and created a meme of his own. While he…
This song was my introduction to Billy Joel, whose groundbreaking USSR tour in 1987 paved the road for many other Western acts. By the whim of some Soviet culture ministry functionary – or was it a random selection? – A Matter Of Trust has gotten the lion’s share of exposure…
Here is one of the less obscure favorites from my youth, which even reached #8 on the US charts in 1986. Having never been a fan of the “harder” rock genre, the entire attraction of this song to me is in the opening sequence. It has always sounded… stirring, I…
I had to go through a periodic upgrade of some of the out-of-the-box components on my website, and it all went suspiciously smoothly today. I can’t find any ill side-effects, but if anyone comes across one, I’d be much obliged if you let me know. Meantime, here is another one…
This song was hugely popular in Russia when it came out, for obvious propagandist reasons of exposing the truth about the mortal enemy. Ironically, the end of the Cold War and the thaw in the relationship between the USA and the USSR was right around the corner… I was surprised…
I remember when this video came out, how amazed we were with what then seemed a pinnacle of CGI wizardry. Compare it with what you see in an average movie these days, and it’s downright primitivist. It still evokes tons of memories, though, and the Knopfler fans among us can…