Throwback Jam of the Week: 12/26/22

 Throw on your Puffiest Shirt and head to Paisley Park as we take you back to the 80s! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!

Artist: Prince and the Revolution
Song: Purple Rain
Album: Purple Rain (1984)
Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: #2
Bonus Fun Fact: Following Prince's death in 2016 this song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart and peaked at #4! This song is ranked #18 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All-Time" list.

Throwback Jam of the Week: 11/21/22

 Throw on your Puffiest Shirt and Go Crazy as we take you back to the 80s! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!

Artist: Prince & The Revolution
Song: Let's Go Crazy
Album: Purple Rain (1984)
Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: #1
Bonus Fun Fact: This song was Prince's second #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was the opening track to the film Purple Rain!

Throwback Jam of the Week: 5/17/21

    Throw on your Jean Jacket and head to the DJ booth as we take you back to the 80's! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!!

Artist: Chaka Khan
Song: I Feel For You
Album: I Feel For You (1984)
Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: 3
Bonus Fun Fact: This song features rapping by "Furious Five" member Melle Mel. It also features samples from Stevie Wonder's song "Fingertips" and was originally written by Prince for his 1979 album titled "Prince".  This version won Prince a Grammy in 1985 for "Best R&B Song" as the writer of the song!

Throwback Jam of the Week: 5/10/21

   Throw on your Ruffled Shirt and head to Paisley Park as we take you back to the 80's! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!!

Artist: Prince & The Revolution
Song: Kiss
Album: Parade (1986)
Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: 1
Bonus Fun Fact: This song was originally written for funk band Mazarati, but Prince decided to make a few changes and finish the song himself. This song earned Prince a Grammy for "Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" and the video features Revolution guitarist Wendy Melvoin.

Going Home: Part 4

 A few weeks ago my family and I embarked on a journey back to my home state of New Jersey. The best part of the trip in my opinion was taking my kids to some of my favorite places to eat in the Garden State. Of course we stopped by Cliff's Dairy Maid on Route 10 in Ledgewood, NJ. I used to love their Smurf ice cream, but this time around I got some double peanut butter fudge and it was AMAZING! The kids loved it, but the lack of a bathroom posed a problem for my son. 

There are no 7-11's near where we live, so we had to make a stop at the 7-11 in Panther Valley so the kids could get a taste of mixing all the flavors together in 1 cup! Also, I had been craving some good pizza from people who know how to make pizza! It is hard to find a good slice where we currently reside, so I had to order a "Garbage Pizza" from Dominic's in Blairstown, NJ. It was topped with pepperoni, sausage, meat balls, onions, peppers and onions. In addition to that I had to get some hoagies to fulfill my cravings!

Speaking of cravings, I took the family to White Castle for lunch one day during our trip. My daughter loves onions, so I knew she would enjoy the little steamed burgers of goodness. After we ate, I had the kids pose like the Beastie Boys in front of the restaurant. We were filled and moved on to the next destination. 

I have a friend who works at the M&M Mars factory in Hackettstown, NJ and he tried to get us a tour, but failed in doing so. I still wanted to show the kids where some of their favorite candies come from, so we stopped by and walked around the campus for a minute while taking in the wonderful aroma of chocolate being made.

This next spot has nothing to do with food, but my son wanted to go to a Gamestop for some reason, so we hit up the one in Ledgewood, NJ. As we were walking out, I had to show them Santana's Hair Salon which is owned by WWE legend Tito Santana. The kids and wife were not as impressed by this as I thought they would be.

The last stop before heading home was a 3 hour layover in Minneapolis. Since we had a ton of time to kill, the kids grabbed some McDonald's for lunch and we walked around the airport. We saw this cool Snoopy statue and visited the Prince store. Sadly they did not have the one Prince album for sale that I was looking for...the BATMAN movie soundtrack. Overall we had an AMAZING time going back home to my old stomping grounds, but unfortunately all good things must eventually come to an end. As we left, I started feeling homesick, because as this old picture that has been hanging in my Mom's house for as long as I can remember says...

Records, Records Everywhere!!!

Recently the sounds of vinyl have been making a comeback. Supposedly the sound is better coming off one of these round miracles of recording science versus a compressed mp3. I'm not 100% sure about that, but what I am sure about is that listening to a record takes me back to the 80s when myself and my siblings would listen to my Dad's old rock n roll records on the family stereo or hearing the sounds of Madonna coming from my sisters room. The crackling sound of these rotating wonders really is a nostalgia trip for me. A few weeks ago our GM at work decided we needed to make more room in our audio recording booth and the old station collection of vinyl had to go! I was first in line to grab some free records and here is a sampling of what I discovered!

Breakin' Movie Soundtrack 

Released: 1984 Polygram Records

Notable Songs: Ain't Nobody by Rufus & Chaka Khan, Showdown by Ollie & Jerry

The Godfather Music From The Motion Picture

Released: 1972 Pickwick International

Notable Songs: Main Title (The Godfather Waltz) by The Italia Concert Orchestra

The Official Music of the XXIIIrd Olympiad Los Angeles 1984

Released:1984 CBS Inc.

Notable Songs: Street Thunder by Foreigner, Junku (Field Theme) by Herbie Hancock

Prince: Controversy

Released: 1981 Warner Brothers

Notable Songs: Controversy, Let's Work

Star Wars: Music Form The Sci-Fi Film Composed By John Williams

Released: 1977 Damil Record Sales

Notable Songs: Princess Leia's Theme & The Return Home by The London Philharmonic

Ray Parker Jr. - Christmas Time Is Here

Released: 1984 Arista

Oh man, listen to those sweet sounds! I am so happy I was able to grab these records up! Like I said this is just a sampling of what I found. There are about 20 other albums I got including everything from The Beach Boys to Shalamar. Also, my Mom still has my record collection from when I used to DJ back in collage. I need to go home some day and add them back into my vinyl collection. Now I just need to pick myself up a record player so me and the fam can jam out in style! I guess I now know what to ask Santa for this Christmas!

Throwback Jam of the Week: 2/15/18

Recently while doing some cleaning around the house, I uncovered a relic from my past. It was my Creative ZEN MP3 player!!! I used to carry this thing around everywhere I went back when I was in college. Not only so I could listen to some hot jams anytime I wanted to, but because I was a DJ during this period of my life and would use it at parties and other campus functions.

I still did use CDs and mini-discs while on the mic, but it was so handy to have over 1,000 songs at my fingertips with my trusty MP3 player at my side. This thing is filled with about 1,200 hip-hop, rap and R&B classics spanning from the Motown era to the early 2000s and I would like to share them with you in the hopes that they get you off your feet and bring back some sweet nostalgic memories! Without further ado, here is the first 20 Years Before 2000 Throwback Jam of the week...

Artist: Prince

Song: 1999

Album: 1999 (Released 1982)

Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: 12

Bonus Fun Fact: This song charted 4 different times over 3 decades!