Our next 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee is unquestionably a pop culture legend. Cher has been eligible for inclusion in the Hall since 1991 and yet, remarkably, was nominated for the first time this year.
That’s despite being the only solo artist in history to have #1 hits (on any Billboard chart) in each of the last seven decades. Only The Rolling Stones have matched that feat, and as Cher said, “it took four of them to be one of [her].”
When Cher was last featured on Throwback Weekends, it was for her #1 hit ‘Half-Breed,’ which topped the charts in October of 1973. The video for that song found her dressed in a bikini and a Native American headdres.
Given that history, I was a little nervous when I saw that her next release, which reached #1 the week of March 23, 1974, was titled ‘Dark Lady.’ Fortunately, though the no-longer-acceptable word “gypsy” does appear a few times in the song, it’s nowhere near as bad as I feared.
Per tradition, this week I’ll turn the blog over to a handful of Christmas songs, and take some time off from blogging to spend with my loved ones. I’m going with newly recorded songs this year as a change of pace.
Kicking things off is a track from Cher’s new Christmas album (titled, appropriately, Christmas).
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! See you in the New Year!
In the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 the week of October 6, 1973, is a throwback weekend selection that has not aged well. The song is ‘Half-Breed,’ Cher’s second of four career #1 hits, and it’s about as cringeworthy as its title suggests.
To be fair, the lyrics paint a sympathetic portrait of a woman with a white father and Cherokee mother, decrying the racism that mixed-race children face from both sides. But should a pop song about this topic have been written and performed by people without a drop of Native American blood?
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again was one of this summer’s unexpected hits, grossing more than $120 million at the domestic box office and another $270 million overseas.
My own reaction to the film was equally unexpected, and in fact as of this writing it still sits atop my 2018 list as my favorite movie of the year so far. I am counting down the days til the Oct. 8 streaming release like a kid in the walk-up to Christmas.
Meet Me In Montauk 