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Song of the Day #3,946: ‘Karma Police’ – Radiohead

Radiohead became eligible for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 and was nominated in 2018 before making the cut this year. The band’s inclusion so quickly was a no-brainer given their commercial and critical success, paired with the boundaries they’ve pushed in the industry.

In addition to their wide-ranging sonic experimentation, their 2007 album In Rainbows was the first by a big-name act to be offered under a “pay whatever you want” model (I’m ashamed to admit I paid nothing). That strategy was an early forerunner of the streaming age we’re living in now.

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Song of the Day #3,945: ‘Edge of Seventeen’ – Stevie Nicks

Our next 2019 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee is Stevie Nicks, who has been eligible as a solo performer since 2006. This was her first nomination. Nicks is already in the Hall of Fame as a member of Fleetwood Mac, who were inducted in 1998. Nicks is the first woman inducted into the Hall of Fame twice, a feat accomplished by 22 men.

As a solo artist, Nicks has released eight studio albums, four of which went platinum and two gold. Her most successful, commercially and critically, was her 1981 solo debut, Bella Donna.

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Song of the Day #3,944: ‘Nasty’ – Janet Jackson

When I first saw Janet Jackson’s name among this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees, I thought it was a stretch. Has she really accomplished enough for this kind of accolade?

A little research revealed how hopelessly ill-informed I was about Jackson’s legacy. Turns out she has a résumé every R&B performer would kill for. She has rewritten the record books for dance and R&B music — a genre I have never gotten into, which explains my ignorance in this matter.

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Song of the Day #3,943: ‘Night Game’ – Paul Simon

‘Night Game’ is an odd and borderline silly song from the otherwise great 1975 Paul Simon album Still Crazy After All These Years.

This track recounts a baseball game during which the pitcher drops dead at a pivotal moment. I guess it’s about the triviality of things like sports in the face of mortality, probably as a metaphor for a lot of other things. But the seriousness of the delivery and the dirgelike music just make it kind of funny.

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Song of the Day #3,942: ‘Return to Sender’ – Elvis Presley

‘Return to Sender’ is an Elvis Presley track from the 2002 compilation 30 No. 1 Hits. At least that’s where it lives in my music collection. It was originally released as a single in 1962 and performed in the film Girls! Girls! Girls!, a clip from which is embedded below.

The song made it to only #2 on the U.S. charts but spent three weeks at #1 in the U.K. Indeed, 11 of the #1 hits on the compilation reached that pinnacle only in the U.K.

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