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On warm summer nights, the park across the street from my house is filled with people playing dribbling soccer balls, playing volleyball, or engaging in aggressive games of Spikeball. Nearly all of them will have music playing through Bluetooth speakers, usually from the Spotify Top 100. And if I’m honest, none of this music is any good. All I hear is mumbled lyrics tunelessly rendered (well, except for the overuse of Auto-Tune) and beats so quantized that they could be substituted for an atomic clock

Heard this on my way home tonight. Brought back memories. They just don't make music like this today. It's all crap today.

If you’ve ever wondered what connects Frank Zappa to Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach to The Beach Boys, the answer is Carol Kaye. The session legend tells the story behind her career and legendary bass recordingsIf plucking a ripe plum from a tree had a sound, it would resemble Carol Kaye’s signature tone – a tone that made her a ‘first-call’ bassist in the highly competitive studio session world. It wasn’t just that, though. Kaye is arguably the first bassist to exploit the instrument in a truly melodic fashion, a nod perhaps to her early days as a jazz guitar prodigy....

Long list with a lot of negative comments.

Everyone likes to blow off steam during their time off work – but Finland’s Prime Minister found herself in hot water this week for doing just that.Sanna Marin, 36, was forced to defend her position and her private life after a leaked video of her partying with some pals circulated on social media.In the video, which was originally published as numerous Instagram stories, Marin can be seen in white pants and black tank top singing and dancing along to Finnish pop music.According to local newspaper Iltalehti, various high-profile Finnish personalities were with her in the footage, including influencer Janita Autio,...

Grammy award winner Halsey has had her concert descend into utter chaos with flash flooding and tornado warnings barrelling down on her US gig. The ‘Bad At Love’ singer was scheduled to perform at Merriweather Post Pavilion, an outdoor venue in Columbia, Maryland, before unexpected torrential rain fell from the sky. The amphitheatre proceeded to flood with ankle-deep water, seeing concertgoers trudge through the murky depths. Videos posted online depicted utter chaos as the venue was inundated with water, and the concert was eventually called off for safety reasons. However, floodwaters weren't the only shocking thing all concertgoers got to...

ROUND 7 OF THE '50S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS II COMMENCES!ROUND 7 – THE FINAL Votes due: Sunday, March 6 @ 12:00 pm Eastern. 2 songs, 1 pair, 1 winner! Vote for your favorite. Any ties will be broken via Billboard annual ranking, then back to Round 1 ranking (seed), then Round 1 point total, then Round 1 vote count. See the pair in my next reply post. Format in survey: Poll seed – year - song title – act The survey is at 1950s survey Final My YouTube playlist is at 1950s playlist Final

ROUND 5 OF THE '50S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS II COMMENCES!ROUND 5 – THE GREAT 8 Votes due: Sunday, Feb 20 @ 12:00 pm Eastern. 8 songs, 4 pairs, 4 winners! Vote for your favorite in each pair listed. (You may abstain from any pairs, but please don't overdo it!) Any ties will be broken via Billboard annual ranking, then back to Round 1 ranking (seed), then Round 1 point total, then Round 1 vote count. Past Rounds: Rounds 1A and 1B: Rd 1A, Rd 1B Round 2: Rd 2 Round 3: Rd 3 Round 4: Rd 4

ROUND 4 OF THE '50S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS II COMMENCES! ROUND 4 – SWEET 16 Votes due: Sunday, Feb 13 @ 12:00 pm Eastern. 16 songs, 8 pairs, 8 winners! Vote for your favorite in each pair listed. (You may abstain from any pairs, but please don't overdo it!) Any ties will be broken via Billboard annual ranking, then back to Round 1 ranking (seed), then Round 1 point total, then Round 1 vote count. Past Rounds: Rounds 1A and 1B: 1A, 1B Round 2: 2 Round 3: 3

ROUND 3 OF THE '50S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS II COMMENCES! Votes due: Sunday, Feb 6 @ 12:00 pm Eastern. 32 songs, 16 pairs, 16 winners! Vote for your favorite in each pair listed. No reply, no vote. (You may abstain from any pairs but please don't overdo it!) Any ties will be broken via Billboard annual ranking, then back to Round 1 ranking (seed), then Round 1 point total, then Round 1 vote count. Format in survey: Poll seed – year - song title - act Rounds 1A and 1B: ToCT Rd 1A, ToCT Rd 1B Round 2: ToCT Rd...

(VANITY) TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS II ('50S) - ROUND 2 ROUND 2 of the greatest hits of the '50s begins! DUE DATE: Sunday, Jan 30 @ 12:00 pm (Eastern) Round 2 is the start of the play-off tournament style. It starts with 32 pairs of the best 64 songs as chosen by YOU, from Rounds 1A and 1B. Round 1A and 1B: Round 1ARound 1B

TOURNAMENT FOR THE GREATEST SONG OF THE '50S! ROUND 1B – ‘50sThe baseline for the survey is the top 10 hits of each year of the '50s, as compiled by BILLBOARD. This is NOT based on personal preferences, biases, prejudices, or counter-culture fringe-element reactionism. Nor based on weekly charts.Round 1 involves ranking candidate songs in order of preference for each year. Part B, as before with A last week, will be 5 years’ worth of rankings, so hunker down again because that’s 50 songs to handle! (The remaining rounds are handled as play-offs, starting with 32 pairs of songs to...

FREEPERS, LET'S START THIS CONTEST FOR THE GREATEST SONG OF THE '50S! ROUND 1A – ‘50s The baseline for the survey is the top 10 hits of each year of the '50s, as compiled by BILLBOARD. This is NOT based on personal preferences, biases, prejudices, or counter-culture fringe-element reactionism. Nor based on weekly charts. Round 1 involves ranking candidate songs in order of preference for each year. Part A (as well as B next week) will be 5 years’ worth of rankings, so hunker down because that’s 50 songs to handle! (The remaining rounds are handled as play-offs, starting with...

GLENN MEDEIROS was a global star at 17 with debut hit Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You. In a new interview, he says he saw fellow singers trading sex for hit songs and being "pimped out" for drugs by the Mafia. But what happened to the 1980s pop icon? Look at him now as a high school headmaster.When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You...

ROUND 6 OF THE '50S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! The FINAL 4! Votes due: Sunday, June 7 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. (My birthday, FYI; don't disappoint me!) 4 songs, 2 pairs, 2 winners! Vote for your favorite in each pair listed. No reply, no vote. (NO abstentions this time! Must vote both contests - you can handle 2, cantcha?) Any ties will be broken with a run-off which will end the following Monday. Format: Billboard rank/seed - year - song title - act

ROUND 5 OF THE '50S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! The GREAT 8! Votes due: Sunday, May 31 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. 8 songs, 4 pairs, 4 winners! Vote for your favorite in each pair listed. No reply, no vote. (You may abstain from some pairs but please don't overdo it! No onesies, please, or anything less than half!) Any ties will be broken with a run-off which will end the following Monday. Format: Billboard rank/seed - year - song title - act

ROUND 4 OF THE '50S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! Votes due: Sunday, May 24 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. 16 songs, 8 pairs, 8 winners! Vote for your favorite in each pair listed. No reply, no vote. (You may abstain from some pairs but please don't overdo it! No onesies, please, or anything less than half!) Any ties will be broken with a run-off which will end the following Monday. Format: Billboard rank/seed - year - song title - act

ROUND 3 OF THE '50S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! Votes due: Sunday, May 17 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. 32 songs, 16 pairs, 16 winners! Vote for your favorite in each pair listed. No reply, no vote. (You may abstain from any pairs but please don't overdo it! No onesies, please.) Any ties will be broken with a run-off which will end the following Monday. Format: Billboard rank/seed - year - song title - act

ROUND 2 of the greatest hits of the '50s begins! Due date: Sunday, May 10 @6:00 pm (Eastern) This Round takes the top 6 songs of each year of the '50s per BILLBOARD, along with the best 4 #7s as voted in Round 1, and pairs them in play-off brackets. Round 1: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3838848/posts

OK, FREEPERS, LET'S START THIS CONTEST FOR THE GREATEST SONG OF THE '50S! The baseline for the contest is the top 7 hits of each year of the '50s, as compiled by BILLBOARD. This is NOT based on personal preferences, biases, prejudices, or counter-culture fringe-element reactionaries. Round 1 involves listing all 10 #7 candidate songs in order of preference. (The remaining rounds are handled as play-off brackets, starting with 32 pairs of songs to compare.) ROUND 1 We begin by using the #7 songs of each year, which we'll pare from 10 songs to 4 (to set up play-off brackets...