“White Horse” is a bass line stripped to bare metal, a beat with bad intentions and a warning delivered so coolly it sounds like an invitation.
White Horse – Laid Back
youtu.be/1a9tzTlwyKk?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.social
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.social“White Horse” is a bass line stripped to bare metal, a beat with bad intentions and a warning delivered so coolly it sounds like an invitation.
White Horse – Laid Back
youtu.be/1a9tzTlwyKk?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.socialA perfect disco record doesn’t pretend heartbreak feels good. It simply refuses to let heartbreak ruin the evening. Yvonne Elliman sounds devastated, the band sounds unstoppable, and somehow both are exactly right.
If I Can’t Have You – Yvonne Elliman
youtu.be/kQr3-BPszTI?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.social“Good Times” sounds like pure celebration until you notice it’s dancing through economic misery. Chic put a tuxedo on denial, handed it the greatest bass line in the room, and made survival sound glamorous.
Good Times – Chic
youtu.be/51r5f5OdIY0?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.socialFreestyle’s greatest trick was making a questionable romantic decision sound like airtight logic. Trinere brings the evidence: drum machine, synthesizers, and enough conviction to overrule common sense.
How Can We Be Wrong – Trinere
youtu.be/aOSmm5y2ats?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.socialSome people call a friend when romance goes to hell. Indeep called the DJ, who apparently had better timing, better records, and no patience for wallowing.
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life – Indeep
youtu.be/J9irdWak-is?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.socialFreestyle never believed in subtlety. “Take It While It’s Hot” arrives with pounding drums, towering hair, and the emotional restraint of somebody calling you for the seventh time.
Take It While It’s Hot – Sweet Sensation
youtu.be/VJWYio8qhqA?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.socialPeter Brown supplied the invitation. Betty Wright showed up with enough soul to make declining it seem like a personal failure.
Dance With Me – Peter Brown ft. Betty Wright
youtu.be/-B0clOQtLHA?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.socialHeavy D turned “Now That We Found Love” into a hip-hop party in 1991. Third World had already filled the room with reggae, soul, and horns thirteen years earlier. Same invitation, different party.
Now That We Found Love – Third World
youtu.be/pinUhF0AXRk?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.social“Uptown Funk” raided forty years of funk, polished the loot, put on a pink blazer, and strutted away like the whole thing had been its idea.
Uptown Funk – Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars
youtu.be/OPf0YbXqDm0?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.socialIf you spent any time near a roller rink in the ’80s, the opening seconds of “When I Hear Music” can still make your knees bend and your questionable fashion choices return.
When I Hear Music – Debbie Deb
youtu.be/uUQEmXcu6q8?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.socialPrince wrote it. Stevie Wonder brought the harmonica. Melle Mel supplied the stutter heard around the world.
Then Chaka Khan walked in and made the whole damn thing hers.
I Feel for You – Chaka Khan
youtu.be/YW0sxgYAmLM?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.socialSome records have a bass line.
“Atomic Dog” has its own gravitational field. Once George Clinton hits the switch, loose objects, small children, and every ass in the room start moving.
Atomic Dog – George Clinton
youtu.be/WOOye9EB7Uo?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.socialSome records have a bass line.
“Atomic Dog” has its own gravitational field. Once George Clinton hits the switch, loose objects, small children, and every ass in the room start moving.
Atomic Dog – George Clinton
youtu.be/WOOye9EB7Uo?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.social“Come to Me” is what happened when disco put a four-on-the-floor beat under an absolutely unreasonable amount of yearning.
Come to Me – France Joli
youtu.be/5-eC_RS54Xg?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.socialSome songs take a minute to find the groove.
“Brick House” walks in already knowing it owns the damn room.
Brick House – Commodores
youtu.be/W__Naw1eQwY?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.socialSome songs make dance.
Then there’s “The Rubberband Man,” which sounds like the whole studio was having such a good time they forgot they were making a record. Fifty years later, that groove still won’t sit down.
The Rubberband Man – The Spinners
youtu.be/0J95f1kY0HU?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.socialPrince wrote it. Sheila E. made it dangerous.
“A Love Bizarre” still sounds like somebody turned the lights down, locked the door, and forgot there was ever supposed to be a radio edit.
youtu.be/jMJjfkwB_Io?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.socialSome songs age. Some songs strut into the room like they still own the place.
“Ain’t Nobody” is 43 years old and still sounds cooler than most of what came after it.
Rufus & Chaka Khan
youtu.be/vupV5UewxDI?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.social“Obsession” is what happens when new wave gets jealous, dramatic, and dangerously catchy.
Animotion somehow made romantic fixation sound like the best bad decision on the dance floor.
Obsession – Animotion
youtu.be/VVyO_baQI-4?...
@tomhicksmedia.bsky.socialDebbie Harry walked into a disco, dropped a rap about a man from Mars eating cars, and changed pop music without breaking a sweat.
Just another perfectly normal night in 1981.
Rapture - Blondie
youtu.be/Sp9An5OcdE4?...