Scribbler's "Get Out of My Brain!" Countdown of the Month (January 2017)

Imagine a song like Klymaxx's "I Miss You", Lillo Thomas' "Wanna Make Love (All Night Long)" or TWENTY ØNE PILØTS' "Heathens" being on your mind for five to ten minutes straight.  None of those songs might be your favorites, but it wouldn't be the end of the world either way because they didn't stay on your mind for long.  Now imagine the equivalent of hearing the same song stuck in your brain space for nearly nine hours straight.  If you tend to be on the depressed side of the game or you're not wrapped too tight, then you might look a little more at that nearby bottle of Bacardi 151 to drown your sorrows and/or even a revolver to put yourself out of your misery.  While the No. 1 song in this month's "Get Out of My Brain!" Countdown didn't quite put me in that mindset, I believe you all have a better idea of what I deal with from month to month.  With seven brand new culprits and three repeat offenders ranging from residual Christmas music to a few shameless plugs, let's kick off 2017 with some insanity and I don't mean Shaun T...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five Special Edition: A Tribute to Rod Temperton

Whenever Party City runs their annual Happy Halloween advertisements featuring "Thriller", the man responsible for the original musical arrangement and lyrics to one of pop's most iconic songs is Rod Temperton.  When I heard about him succumbing to a battle with cancer weeks before his 67th birthday, I was befuddled after I was singing Temperton's praises for his work with Quincy Jones on Michael Jackson's Off the Wall album a day before hearing of his death.  He was part of the reason why I was excited to get a copy of the Thriller album because the liner notes put me front and center with his genius.  Making his claim to fame as the keyboardist and songwriter for British R&B band Heatwave, Temperton's pen has part of hits like "Stomp!" by The Brothers Johnson, "Baby, Come to Me" by Patti Austin with James Ingram, "Yah Mo B There" by James Ingram featuring Michael McDonald, the Oscar-nominated "Miss Celie's Blues" from The Color Purple (co-written with Jones and Lionel Richie) and the original lyrics for "You Put a Move on My Heart" by Quincy Jones featuring Tamia (originally recorded by Mica Paris in 1993). The rest of his impressive resume includes work for Rufus, Bob James, Herbie Hancock, Klymaxx, Jeffrey Osborne, Aretha Franklin, The Manhattan Transfer, Siedah Garrett and Stephanie Mills.  So although 2016 continues to be the worst year ever, New Problem Tuesdays takes this opportunity to do what we've done all year long: celebrate the best from our fallen heroes.  If you knew nothing about "The Invisible Man" before, then get ready to sing along...

Scribbler's "Get Out of My Brain!" Countdown of the Month (October 2016)

Although I'm not someone who vehemently resists change, my subconscious somehow didn't get that memo.  Out of the ten songs from last month's countdown, five of them have returned for this month's list in their original form while another one has haunted me in an alternative form.  Out of those six songs, the beginning of this month's cycle began with a three-horse race between Ralph Tresvant, Silk and Sherrick for pole position, but if Simone Manuel's historic accomplishment taught us nothing, the initial leaders or favorites don't always win in the end.  (I know...hella dramatic.)  Of course, we always have to talk about the losers.  Mariah Carey's "Vision of Love" greeted me ferociously one morning as I reminisced about the summer of 1990, but she didn't make it past noon.  Even with Jermaine Jackson's "Two Ships" hitting me at two different points of the month, perhaps the waves from the passing ships didn't make enough of a splash in my mind.  "The Love I Lost" by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes harassed me at work for a day or two, but my brain may have lost love for it.  Finally, discussing Babyface's brilliance on the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack immediately brought Mary J. Blige's "Not Gon' Cry" to mind.  However, her awkward rendition of Bruce Springsteen's "American Skin (41 Shots)" to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in a promo for her upcoming series on Apple TV, The 411, may have quickly unseated one of my faves from the Queen of Hip Hop Soul from the rotation.  So enough of the rambling about nonentities and on with the cut makers...

Scribbler's "Get Out of My Brain!" Countdown of the Month (September 2016)

You never know how a month's worth of random songs being lodged in the corners of your mind will work.  Once the last batch of brain invaders left the scene of the crime, the first culprit looking to raid was "In My House" by the Mary Jane Girls.  Truth be told, I can't even tell you what made me think of that song recently because as much as I've always liked it, I don't think about it very often.  Hence, I had a feeling neither "In My House" would make the cut nor "Put It In Your Mouth" by Akinyele, "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" by Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack", "My Dad's Gone Crazy" by Eminem nor "The Lovers" by Alexander O'Neal.  Guy's "Goodbye Love" had three opportunities to make the list--twice on its own and once via sampling on Mary J. Blige's "Don't Go"--but still didn't make it despite a strong resurgence.  Of all people, Rihanna nearly made "Get Out of My Brain!" history with three entries including "Sex With Me" and "Needed Me", but you will soon see which one endured.  Now that the losers have been accounted for, let's talk about the winners...

Scribbler's "Get Out of My Brain!" Countdown of the Month (May 2016)

So in yet another attempt to expand my blog and include as many facets of myself as you can stand, I thought about how songs frequently get stuck in our heads for hours, days, weeks and even months.  There are some that we absolutely love, some that we are in like with and nails scratching on a chalkboard might pale in comparison to the rest.  Most times, they're renting out brain space because we associate them with a memory, a place or a person; other times, it's completely inexplicable.  Hence, I bring to you all a new monthly posting series: "Scribbler's 'Get Out of My Brain!' Countdown of the Month."  Now before we begin, two things.  First, I don't have an ASCAP or BMI representative in my head tracking every single spin in my own head, so these are totally metric-less estimations.  Second, y'all know that I can't kick off the inaugural post of a series like this without naming the songs that got bumped out like "Grateful" by Hezekiah Walker & LFC, "Hold On (Change Is Comin')" by Sounds of Blackness, "5 Steps" by Dru Hill (which almost came back into the countdown), "Truffle Butter" by Nicki Minaj and "Splackavellie" by Pressha (which some of y'all either don't remember, have never heard or haven't heard since it was out, so that would've need a nice throwback to '98).  It would've been nice to include those songs--all of which I fool with--but they didn't flood my brain as much as these ten little numbers...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: The Gifts of Prince, Part 2

If I may be so bold as to make the following statement, then this might be the "Rave & Favorite Five" that I hate to do the most.  Not because I take any issue with (now) the late, great Prince's illustrious catalog full of masterpieces.  It's only because outside of my all-time favorite three songs of his, I abhorred bumping out or excluding other faves like "Scandalous", "Insatiable", "The One", "Take Me With You", "Purple Rain", "Diamonds and Pearls", "International Lover", "Raspberry Beret" and "Little Red Corvette".  I mean, that was just ten songs right there and there are plenty more where that came from because Prince just made that much dope music.  Furthermore, it was even more difficult leaving off "Computer Blue"--a song that transforms around the 1:45 mark into one of the most awesome portions of music that I've ever heard and that has subconsciously inspired a significant amount of my style as a music producer.  Bloviating aside, it's called the "Rave & Favorite Five" for a reason and, thus, I continue with the second and final part of "The Gifts of Prince" that unveils the five gifts/works of art that he left with me--and perhaps many of you as well...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: R&B Bands, #2 Earth, Wind & Fire

Everybody has a top five list of something.  Sports cars...TV girlfriends...sitcoms...rom-coms...cartoon characters...sneakers...candy bars...you think of it and I guarantee that you have it.  Even if you have to sit around and think of it for hours on end like the madman that you are, you can come up with several lists nevertheless.  Because I am that obsessive madman-slash-nerd, I have been pondering for the past week as many top five lists as I possibly can and I'm nowhere near finished.  My formula is very simple: if I'm stuck on an island for at least the next five years and I'm only stuck with five particular people, artists, albums, songs, movies and the like, then these are the five that I choose pursuant to the subject.  Note that there will be times when I break down the technical quality less often than I will speak on how the subject of my affection makes me feel or transports me to a certain place and time.  Hence, I bring you my new weekly series, "Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five", and begin with my favorite R&B bands of all time.

In a time when it seems like people in the spotlight and even producers often prefer to be lone rangers, listening to a good band reminds me of the beautiful synergy that can occur between different personalities to make one sweet sound.  There are very few bands in the annals of music history who have made music at the elite level of harmonious fusion as Earth, Wind & Fire.  With legends like Miles Davis, Quincy Jones and Dionne Warwick hailing EWF as their favorite band of all time, it's hard to deny their spirited sound, vivid imagery and cultural influence.  Now, the most astute reader might have noticed their rank and thought two things: 1) why are you doing your No. 2 band before your bottom three and 2) if Earth, Wind & Fire is your No. 2, then who the heck can you possibly have as your No. 1?  First, considering that the late, great Maurice White passed away last Thursday at the age of 74 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease, I had to disrupt the order a bit.  Second, you'll have to wait until the March 10th edition of New Problem Tuesdays to find out who's the top dawg.  Anyways, with a catalog of music that spans over 40 years, there are so many great songs from which to choose, but it was fairly easy to do so.  Without further ado, let's see what songs make my cut...