by

Song of the Day #5,603: ‘Nothing New (feat. Phoebe Bridgers) (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)’ – Taylor Swift

Nobody seems to have cracked the code behind the order of Taylor Swift’s ‘Taylor’s Version’ re-recordings (and Swifties being Swifties, many have tried). Swift started the project by releasing her second album, Fearless, skipping over her self-titled debut. And she followed that one with 2012’s Red, her fourth studio album.

Red is a fan favorite, and the album where Swift started shedding the “country” part of her signature country-pop sound. The album features a few songs that would have fit comfortably on Fearless, but it also contains three dance-pop tracks co-written with Swedish hitmakers Max Martin and Shellback.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #5,602: ‘Mr. Perfectly Fine (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)’ – Taylor Swift

Whatever else 2023 has been, both good and bad, it has undoubtedly been one thing: the Year of Taylor Swift.

Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour catapulted the singer-songwriter into a new echelon. She is quite simply the most popular and influential artist in the world today. I mean, who else could boost NFL ratings simply by attending her boyfriend’s games?

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #5,601: ‘I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)’ – Meat Loaf

The week of October 30, 1993, saw Mariah Carey hanging on to the top spot of Billboard’s Hot 100 with ‘Dreamlover.’ It was the last of eight weeks that song would spend atop the chart.

Right behind it was a song that would ascend to #1 the following week and spend five weeks there: Meat Loaf’s ‘I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That).’ This was Meat Loaf’s first-ever #1 hit, and his last. He died last year at age 74.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #5,600: ‘Islands in the Stream’ – Kenny Rogers & Kenny Rogers

Throwing back to the week of October 29, 1983, we find Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton topping the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Islands in the Stream.’ The duet spent two weeks at #1, and gave each of the country legends their second chart-topper on the Hot 100. (Bonus points to any commenter who can name the previous #1 for one or both artists).

‘Islands in the Stream’ was written by the Bee Gees as an R&B song but it got a pop country makeover when it landed with Rogers and Parton. The song was released on Rogers’ album Eyes That See in the Dark, on which every track was written by Barry Gibb (most with brother Maurice).

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #5,599: ‘Roll with the Changes’ – REO Speedwagon

My final horror sub-genre is a kind of movie that crosses all the other sub-genres I’ve covered — the Comedy Horror. These movies can be about monsters, demons, slashers, you name it… what sets them apart is that they are just as interested in laughs as scares.

Last year gave us two great examples in The Menu and Bodies Bodies Bodies, the former a darkly humorous psychological horror about a high-end chef whose disdain for his customers is revealed in increasingly murderous fashion, and the latter a Gen Z satire in which a group of friends are trapped inside during a hurricane with a possible killer among them.

Continue reading →