This comedy song by The Clovers warns against the perils of not one but two of pop music’s traditionally favourite pastimes – sex AND booze.

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Full disclosure: not being a jazz buff, I had never heard of Lou Donaldson who died this week at the ripe old age of 98. This is his masterpiece. (more…)

Leroy Van Dyke’s first job as a livestock auctioneer inspired the song that brought him to fame back in 1956.

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Moving on from yesterday’s Ray Charles post, but not completely… in the early ’50s he went down to New Orleans to work with Guitar Slim, and this was the result.

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Barrett Strong had the first hit for Tamla-Motown when he sang the original version of Money (That’s What I Want) in 1959.

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Beautiful song, beautiful voice, beautiful boy… Ricky Nelson was only 17 when he sang this back in 1958. (more…)

Jackie Wilson was one of the first R&B superstars back in the ’50s but his music had a second lease of life thanks to Van Morrison and Dexys Midnight Runners in the ’70s and ’80s.

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I discovered this rockabilly classic 20 years late when it was re-released on the dependably punk-adjacent Chiswick label in 1978. And it has quite the story behind it.

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RIP Duane Eddy (1938-2024)

Everyone knows the guitar riff that kicks off Duane Eddy’s first hit single Movin’ N’ Groovin’ from back in 1958 – though not necessarily from this record. 

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Little Richard was not just one of the formative figures in the birth of rock’n’roll but an influence on those to follow. Even if he did ‘borrow’ his own sound and look from a little known predecessor.

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