Country Legend Lynn Anderson Dies At 67

Via the Tennessean:

Country singer Lynn Anderson, best known for her classic recording “(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden,” died Thursday night of a heart attack at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She had been hospitalized for pneumonia following a trip to Italy. She was 67 years old. In 1970, Ms. Anderson moved from California to Nashville, and signed with Columbia Records. In October of that year, she released what would become her signature song, and one of country music’s classics. The lilting “(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden,” penned by Joe South, became a worldwide hit with its immediately recognizable intro and catchy lyrics. In the U.S., it spent five weeks atop the country music charts and crossed over to the pop charts as well. The recording also netted Ms. Anderson a Best Female Country Vocal Performance Grammy Award, and in 1971, the Country Music Association named her Female Vocalist of the Year.

Rose Garden will always remind of my dad because he was a Marine Corps recruiter and they used the song in one of their enlistment campaigns near the end of the Vietnam War. Anderson wasn't the first (and was far from the last) artist to cover Rose Garden - I've always been partial to the Three Degrees' version, which predated Anderson's by a few years.

First Ladies of Disco - Show Some Love

Martha Wash, Linda Clifford, and Evelyn "Champaign" King.

(Via JMG reader Jonathan)

LAUNCHED: Sex Pistols Credit Cards

So this is an actual thing:

In one of the most unlikely tie-ups for a finance company, Virgin Money today launched a range of Sex Pistols themed credit cards. Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group founder, says the move celebrates the firm's music heritage given the Sex Pistols were one of the most iconic bands signed by Virgin Records, Branson's record label. The new cards feature infamous 'Never Mind the Bollocks' and 'Anarchy in the UK' artwork. The Sex Pistols signed for Virgin Records in 1977 and released controversial single 'God Save the Queen' during Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee celebrations under the label. In the mid to late seventies, Johnny Rotten (now John Lydon) and Sid Vicious were among the kings of punk. They split after just one studio album and Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose in 1979.

Perfect for your next holiday in the sun.

(Tipped by JMG reader Lynda)

Giorgio Moroder - Deja Vu (Megamix)

Via Stereogum:

Next month, the Italo-disco genius Giorgio Moroder will release Déjà Vu, his first album in many years, and he’s found an innovative way to tell us how the album will sound. In a new five-minute video, we hear short clips of every track on the album, set to an effects-heavy video of a couple dancing. It’s not an earthshaking music video or anything, but it’s enough to keep your attention while you absorb the music. And that music sounds good, like top-shelf cheesed-out dance-pop.

Faded Game Show Host Chuck Woolery Lies Again About Same-Sex Marriage

Former game show host Chuck Woolery makes his living these days with middle-of-the-night infomercials for the Willow Curve, which claims to cure a host of joint ailments with blinking lights. In yesterday's podcast to his followers in Teabagistan, Woolery repeats the ridiculous lie that churches will lose their tax-exempt status if they refuse to host same-sex marriages. It's worth noting again that the only reason anybody in the world even knows Chuck Woolery's name is because a gay man, Merv Griffin, gave him that Wheel Of Fortune gig in 1975.

(Via JMG reader Gustav)

You Sexy Thing: Errol Brown Dies At 71

Hot Chocolate vocalist Errol Brown, whose 1975 smash You Sexy Thing remains one of the most enduring hits of the disco era, died of liver cancer yesterday at his home in the Bahamas. His group landed 33 Top 40 hits in the UK, including three separate Top 10 appearances by You Sexy Thing in three different decades. Here in the US, Hot Chocolate took You Sexy Thing to #3 and scored Top 10 hits with Emma (1974) and (my favorite) Every 1's A Winner (1978). Just like I Will Survive, another disco classic, You Sexy Thing was first released as the B-side to different track. Hot Chocolate was a favorite of Princess Diana and they performed at her wedding reception. Condolences from the music world are pouring out on Twitter, including a message from Chic's Nile Rodgers.

IRELAND: The Three Degrees Perform Disco Classic When Will I See You Again

On the same Irish show that featured the same-sex marriage debate mentioned in the post below this one, last night The Three Degrees performed their 1974 Philly disco classic smash When Will I See You Again. Oh, the harmonies! The track peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent two week atop the UK's singles chart. The group's lineup has gone through many changes since it was first formed in 1963 and fifteen women have performed with them over those 52 years. Lead vocalist Valerie Holiday has been with the group since 1967 and Helen Scott (left) first joined in 1963, returning in 1976. Freddie Pool (right) joined in 2011.

RELATED: You really must check out the The Three Degrees' live 1975 cover of MacArthur Park. The wigs! The choreography! The orchestra! And OMG again, the harmonies.

Buzzcocks Play Seth Meyers

The late 70s punk sensation Buzzcocks played Late Night With Seth Meyers on Monday, where they ripped through their 1978 hit Ever Fallen In Love. Buzzcocks frontman Pete Shelley came out as bisexual in 1981 and that year he went solo, releasing the dance smash Homosapien, which was banned by the BBC for "explicit references to gay sex." ("I'm a cruiser, you're a loser, me and you sir, homosapien too. Homo-superior, in my interior.") That was followed up with another dance hit, 1983's Telephone Operator. Both of those tracks were produced by Martin Rushent, who was riding high with the success of Human League's now-classic Dare. Pete Shelley rejoined Buzzcocks in 1989 and they continue to tour.

First Ladies Of Disco - Show Some Love

First Ladies Of Disco are Martha Wash, Linda Clifford, and Evelyn "Champagne" King. This is the remix of their first single, which I posted last month. Both versions are now available on iTunes.

Chic - I'll Be There

Via the Los Angeles Times:

More than 20 years after Chic's last album, the titans of disco and forefathers of today's dance music have a brand new single. Billed as Chic featuring Nile Rodgers, the new song "Ill Be There" is a revival of an old sound while still sounding completely contemporary. It's based on tracks Rodgers originally recorded with the group Sister Sledge and later revamped with the modern house music duo the Martinez Brothers. "The outtake became a new song called 'I'll Be There,' so named because when I discovered my band's co-founder Bernard Edwards' body a few hours after he'd passed away, I said, 'Now, I can be there for you in death, the way you were there for me in life,'" Rodgers wrote on his website. "Back in the day 'Nard always looked out for me. I was the reckless one. We had lots of fun and good times. So on the song's surface it's really happy. It's about the origin of CHIC, and how dance music changed our lives forever."

Chic has been nominated to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame nine times but have still not won inclusion.

Gay Rocker Andy Fraser Dies At Age 62

Openly gay and openly HIV+ bassist Andy Fraser has died at the age of 62. Fraser is best known as the author of his group Free's classic 1970 hit, All Right Now. Via the BBC:

The musician died on Monday and he had been fighting cancer and AIDS, according to an official statement regarding his death. The Riverside County coroner said the cause of death was not yet known and remains under investigation. The London-born musician became a founding member of the British group when he was just 15. He wrote most of the his material with Free lead singer Paul Rodgers, who went on to front bands Bad Company and The Firm. "A survivor of both cancer and AIDS, Andy was a strong social activist and defender of individual human rights," the statement read. "He leaves behind his daughters Hannah and Jasmine Fraser, and their mother Ri, his sister Gail, brothers Gavin and Alex, and many friends and associates in the industry."

All Right Now topped the charts in more than a dozen countries and peaked at #4 on Billboard's Hot 100. You might also know another famous Fraser composition, Robert Palmer's 1978 hit Every Kinda People, which has been covered by many artists.

In a 2005 interview, Fraser revealed what he considered to be his greatest achievement: "Coming to terms with being gay – not only personally, but publicly. Being able to share that with my daughters, which has enabled the most open, loving relationship imaginable. Family acceptance is important to everyone, and now having their incredible talents supporting, and working on my behalf really feels like a winner. Essentially being seen, and shown through their eyes, I couldn’t look any better."

Gene Gene Dies At Age 82

Via the Hollywood Reporter:

Gene Patton, the NBC stagehand in Burbank who stole the spotlight as Gene Gene the Dancing Machine on NBC’s wacky The Gong Show, died Monday, his family announced. He was 82. Patton died in Pasadena, according to a spokeswoman at the local Woods-Valentine Mortuary. He had suffered from diabetes. At a random moment during the game show, Barris would introduce Patton, and the curtain would part, bringing the shuffling stagehand with the painter’s cap onstage to the sounds of “Jumpin’ at the Woodside,” a jazz tune made popular by Count Basie. His dance sent everyone on the set — Barris, the judges, the cameramen, the audience — into an uncontrollable boogie.

We absolutely adored Gene Gene when I was in high school. And yes, we all did his dance.

Jury Orders Robin Thicke & Pharrell Williams To Pay $7.4M To Gaye Family

Via the Los Angeles Times:

A federal jury found Tuesday that the 2013 hit song "Blurred Lines" infringed on the Marvin Gaye chart-topper "Got to Give It Up," awarding nearly $7.4 million to Gaye's children. Jurors found against singer-songwriters Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke, but held harmless the record company and rapper T.I. The verdict capped a trial that lasted more than a week and focused on the similarities between the song and the legendary soul singer's 1977 hit. The jurors began deliberating Thursday afternoon. An attorney for the Gaye children, Richard Busch, said there were copied elements -- including the bass and keyboard line, the hook and a repeated theme -- in all but two bars of "Blurred Lines." Busch also repeatedly pointed to statements made by the credited writers of the song -- Thicke and Williams -- referencing the late Motown legend in interviews about their writing process. Thicke said in several interviews that he suggested to Williams that they write something like "Got to Give It Up," and Williams has said he was "trying to pretend" he was Gaye when he wrote it. Thicke, Williams and their attorneys brushed off the statements as casual remarks designed to sell a song -- and in Thicke's case, made under the influence while he was drunk and high.

Jurors were told that Blurred Lines earned more than $5M for both Thicke and Williams, $6M for the record company, and $8M for its publishers. Such details are rarely disclosed to the public. The single and its album reportedly cost $7M to record and market. Some industry observers believe that today's verdict will stifle the creative process of other musicians.

Mark Mothersbaugh Talks To Google Play

Stereogum recaps:

Mark Mothersbaugh was born legally blind. It wasn’t until he was in second grade that he was finally diagnosed with myopia and got his first pair of glasses. In a new animated video made for Google Play, the DEVO member narrates how his discovery of the world led him to want to become an artist. Then, he recounts the first time he saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show and how that made him want to become a musician, too. “We decided we weren’t observing evolution, we were observing de-evolution, and we decided to write music about that,” he explains the start of DEVO’s mission.

Besides his work in Devo, Mothersbaugh has written scores for dozens of movies, video games, and television shows, including the theme song for Pee-Wee's Playhouse.

Trial Concludes In Gaye Estate Vs Thicke

The children of the late Marvin Gaye are suing Robin Thicke for the profits of Blurred Lines, which has sold 15 million copies, earning $5M each for Thicke and its songwriter Pharrell Williams, who testified yesterday as the trial ended.

Williams said after the song was released, he saw similarities between "Blurred Lines" and Gaye's work but said that wasn't a conscious part of his creative process. Richard S. Busch, who represents the Gaye family, asked Williams whether he felt "Blurred Lines" captured the feel of the era in which Gaye recorded. "Feel," Williams responded. "Not infringed." The case opened last week and featured testimony from Thicke, who told jurors that he took a songwriting credit on "Blurred Lines" despite Pharrell doing most of the work. Thicke brought a bit of showmanship to a trial that has focused on minute details of chords and sheet music. He performed elements of "Blurred Lines" and hits by U2 and The Beatles to show how different songs can include similar-sounding musical elements. Williams did not perform any music during his more than hour of testimony, and complained that audio comparisons of "Blurred Lines" and "Got to Give It Up" had been created in a way that made them sound similar.

Criticized by some as an endorsement of sexual assault, Blurred Lines topped the charts in dozens of countries and spent twelve weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, making it the biggest hit of 2013. Gaye's single topped the pop, R&B, and disco charts in 1977.

Open Thread Thursday

What was the first record you ever bought? Mine is above.

First Ladies Of Disco - Show Some Love

Every gay man of a certain vintage is very familiar with these ladies. Via Eurweb:

In case you haven’t heard, Disco queens Evelyn “Champagne” King, Martha Wash and Linda Clifford have come together as the “First Ladies of Disco.” Look for the ladies to soon be out and about promoting their new single “Show Some Love” which is is set for its worldwide release on March 25 via Purple Rose Records. The First Ladies of Disco Show is inspired by author/speaker/host James Arena’s tribute book “First Ladies of Disco: 32 Stars Discuss the Era and Their Singing Careers,” a best seller in the United States, Canada and Europe. These legendary vocalists come together to bring you one of the most talked about shows in dance music history. This collective of fiery songs, dynamic vocal delivery and non-stop energy makes the First Ladies of DiscoTM Show not only a historic phenomenon, but a uniquely personal and one-of-a-kind experience.

So far their website shows two tour dates: Palm Springs (May 3rd) and Lincoln Center (July 3rd). The first single, interestingly, is straight-ahead pop rock. There will surely be remixes.

(Tipped by JMG reader Wayne)

Patty Hearst's Dog Wins At Westminster

Hearst's pooch won best of breed for the toy group and will compete in the finals tonight. The dog is named Rocket, not Tania as one might hope.

Billy Crystal Doesn't Want Gay Sex Scenes On Television Shoved In His Face

Via Entertainment Tonight:

Billy Crystal blazed trails in the 1970s by playing Jodie Dallas on Soap, the first openly gay character to regularly appear on a network television show. These days, however, the 66-year-old funnyman thinks that TV"s depiction of homosexuality has come a long way — perhaps even too far. Speaking to journalists at the TV Critics Association press tour on Sunday, Billy recalled the controversy of playing a gay man on television. "I did it in front of a live audience," recalls Billy of Soap, "and there were times where I would say to [the actor who played his boyfriend], 'Bob, “I love you,' and the audience would laugh nervously, because, you know, it’s a long time ago, that I’d feel this anger. I wanted to stop the tape and go, 'What is your problem?' Because it made you sort of very self-conscious about what we were trying to do then. And now it’s just, I see it and I just hope people don’t abuse it and shove it in our face — well, that sounds terrible — to the point of it just feels like an everyday kind of thing."

Jimmy Somerville - Travesty (Fan Video)

A Jimmy Somerville fan has compiled the below video to accompany his latest release. As a challenge to hardcore disco heads, let's see who can name all of the artists that appear. Some of them are extremely well-known, but there are a few fairly obscure acts too. I think I count 21 in total.

RELATED: The  single and 12" are available today on iTunes.