#3 STOOGES DANCE WHAMMER JAMMER UPDATE#

Throughout the 80s, canuck songwriter/guitarist BRYAN ADAMS rolled out an impressive string of hooky, hard-nosed pop rockers only occasionally interrupted by laid back love songs bearing titles like STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART and HEAVEN.

#3 STOOGES DANCE WHAMMER JAMMER UPDATE#

ABDUL would by now be a mere footnote in musical annals, were it not for another more recent taste making boob-tube phenom.namely a certain GONG SHOW update that made her a superstar all over again. A couple of ballad biggies break up the hyper pace on GREATEST HITS, along with the clunky club cut MEGAMIX MEDLEY, which sinks under its own weight. STRAIGHT UP's jittery pop-and-lock groove, the callous diss of COLD HEARTED, and urban 'everything but the kitchen sink' stomper VIBEOLOGY were all slinky soundscapes slathered in synthetic soul. ABDUL's perky brand of dance pop couldn't mask a small voice, but ultra slick production and an irresistible beat, the savior of many a sound bite diva then and now, netted her an impressive six number one singles during the course of a three album career. With their gargantuan hooks and slick multi-tracked vocals, ABBA almost singlehandedly invented the need for Karaoke.but don't hate 'em for it.just nod your head and sigh, 'How Swede it is!'īlessed with a choreographer's eye and sultry good looks, perfect plastic pop princess PAULA ABDUL was a video juggernaut in the the MTV age. Lead songbirds Frida and Agnetha's sensual, pop-perfect pleas and Benny and Bjorn's frothy radio-ready compositions will have all but the most jaded listener humming and tapping along.guilt-free grin and vacant stare optional. Their underrated, sweetly rendered second single HONEY HONEY and the catchy DOES YOUR MOTHER KNOW certainly deserve a place alongside their exuberant DONNY OSMOND-like breakthrough WATERLOO, the lush FERNANDO and MONEY, MONEY, MONEY (something ABBA knows well enough to chirp about). Disclaimers aside, this would have been a richer strike if it included ALL their cotton candy charters, instead of most of 'em. Modern bubblegum's greatest and most successful practitioners gets the anthology treatment here presumably these all topped the charts SOMEWHERE in the world, since DANCING QUEEN was their only American number one. Tough guy front man BRIAN JOHNSON may lack SCOTT's leering howl and bawdy sense of humor, but proves a fine gravel-gargling caterwauler in his own right his bloozey, blood curdling screech on ROCK & ROLL AIN'T NOISE POLLUTION caps a platter so nearly perfect in its raw, unbridled energy and over the top execution, it's not a shocker that AC/DC never topped it. Rowdy radio faves SHOOT TO THRILL and BACK IN BLACK are merely two more of the heavy highlights, with the titillating anthem YOU SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG rivaled only by HIGHWAY TO HELL's title track for sheer sleaze-rock awesomeness. A jam packed juggernaut punctuated by axe mutilators MALCOM YOUNG's crunchy rhythmic riffs and big bro ANGUS' bad boy blasts of galvanized boogie, the ominous opener HELLS BELLS plays on an oft visited 'down under' theme.and we're not talkin' Australia, folks. The brain pounding platter by which all others are measured, this titanic follow up to departed belter BON SCOTT's cocky curtain call HIGHWAY TO HELL netted AC/DC the top selling rock album of all time, with around fifty million units moved.

Let's face it.they don't make swan songs like that any more. Unfortunately, Scott took that titanic title track too literally, succumbing to an alcohol-related demise immediately after. Finally, there's HIGHWAY TO HELL, that undisputed king daddy of all bad-ass anthems, which hooked fans for eternity after the first three notes. You also get the menacing creepy crawler NIGHT PROWLER, which oozes dirty blues and bodily fluids.and the 'too cool to waste as a mere album title' IF YOU WANT BLOOD, belched out as a real ball-burner. Their Mutt Lange-produced breakthrough boasts train-wreckin' tracks of thunderous lust such as GIRLS GOT RHYTHM and LOVE HUNGRY MAN.the stuff that made it safe to be a horny teenager in the late seventies. Between lead yowler Bon Scott's bubble-in-the-throat screech and lecherous asides, and 'schoolboy in disgrace' axe-ecutioner Angus Young's ball-pean-hammer-against-the-noggin notes, this fearsome fivesome made the competition sound about as dangerous as The Archies. TWO.Not bottom of the barrel, but nothin' to write home about either.ĭown Under's (and America's) answer to headbangin' salvation, AC/DC rocked harder, rolled louder, and attacked airwaves with more ferocity than anyone in the stratosphere.simultaneously injecting some much needed humor into heavy metal.

THREE.Better than average, still a good addition to any music fan's collection. FIVE 'WHATEVERS'.A party platter that matters.

3 stooges dance whammer jammer