By the early 80’s there was a backlash against disco, and dance music slipped from heavy rotation and back into the night clubs and independent recording studios it originally came from. One producer on the frontlines of this innovative electro / post disco scene was a Bronx born DJ and newly hired Emergency Records employee, Chris Barbosa.

Barbosa found influence from his Latin-American Roots as well as Afrika Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock.”  He teamed up with Ed Chisolm, engineer Mark Liggett, and local college student Brenda “Shannon” Greene. Together, they produced “Let the Music Play.”
Originally released on Emergency Records on October 19th 1983, “Let the Music Play” found its way to the top of the charts, into every nightclub, and helped launch the career of Shannon. It even found its way onto the Breakin' soundtrack…
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“Let the Music Play” was not only successful, but is considered the first “freestyle” song, a subgenre of dance music made famous by Stevie B, the Cover Girls and Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam. It’s also considered the first song to begin the “dance-pop” era, which is still loved today.

Before Tanya Donelly drew international acclaim with her band Belly in the early 90’s, she had already co-founded two of college radio’s darling groups in Throwing Muses and The Breeders.

“Not Too Soon” was recorded in 1990 and released on Throwing Muses’s fourth album, The Real Ramona in February of 1991.  It’s one of my all-time favorites from her earlier work, and maybe the song that gave her the courage to strike out on her own.
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When you were searching for a soundtrack to hand holding and hopeful love, “Not Too Soon” perfectly fit the bill; that is, if you weren't turned off by its dizzying delayed chorus and vocal acrobatics. Now it’s a song my earbuds adore when I need to ignore students and finish their grades.

Every once and a while you get your face kicked in, and you need to lift yourself up, dust off and get back in the ring. This song is the perfect soundtrack for those moments.

Recorded in October of 2017 and released in August of 2018 on their second album Joy as an Act of Resistance, “Never Fight a Man with a Perm” is much more than an ego preparing for war. Underneath Talbot’s militaristic barking and microphone spittle are self-reflective lyrics poking fun at toxic masculinity.
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“Never Fight a Man with a Perm” perfectly satirizes noxious aggression, and although you might not enjoy heavy, aggressive music, you have to tip your hat to some fun lyrics and this great shout out to street punk of old.   ​