To acknowledge my 3,000th Song of the Day, I’m featuring the song that was at #1 on the Billboard charts back when I started the Song of the Day series on July 25, 2008.
Yes, Katy Perry had just released her breakthrough single eight years ago when I first posted a Smiths song called ‘I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish’ and wondered if I could keep it up for a week.
Katy Perry’s Prism hasn’t exactly lived up to the performance of its predecessor, Teenage Dream, but that isn’t really a fair comparison given the historic chart results of the latter.
‘Roar’ and ‘Dark Horse’ have certainly been juggernauts, but does anybody think ‘Birthday’ is destined for greatness?
And ‘Walking On Air,’ another single and today’s random SOTD, fell pretty flat.
You have to give Katy Perry credit for trying.
Whether or not you like her music, the woman sure works hard to entertain. In the video for her latest single, ‘Birthday,’ she convincingly disguises herself as an elderly stripper, a Jewish comedian, a clown, a grizzled animal trainer and a princess and crashes the birthday parties of unsuspecting victims.
I dedicated a week to Postmodern Jukebox back in November, shortly after I discovered them for the first time.
The band is the brainchild of Scott Bradlee, who plays the piano on all of their tracks. They re-imagine modern hits in various classic style, from doo-wop and ragtime to blues and jazz.
During the great “radio hits” debate of late 2013, I agreed to dedicate time each month this year to the songs topping the charts. That way I won’t be ignorant of some ubiquitous smash when populating my year-end list with deep album cuts by bands like Belle & Sebastian.
I’ll probably still leave those hits off my list, but at least I’ll do it consciously.
Meet Me In Montauk 