Hello again, everyone! I'm Erica Strange. As you might recall
from last year's preview, I'm the time traveling main
character on the Canadian television dramedy
Being Erica.
Welcome to the official debut of Strange Magic Being Erica
exclusively here on S-P-M-M Retrosonic Radio.
I'm excited to be moonlighting as the newest
member of The Shady Bunch DJ staff.
On Strange Magic Being Erica
I'll be bringing you the greatest
soft rock, new wave and pop
love songs of the 70s and 80s.
Sometimes I'll even take you
all the way back to the 60s.
In fact that's exactly what
I'll do later in today's show.
On Being Erica I change clothes a lot,
and I'll be doing the same here on
S-P-M-M, even though I'm doing
a radio show. Go figure!
Okay, let's get back to the music and
the magic. In the summer of 1980,
Olivia Newton-John's musical
fantasy film Xanadu bombed
at the box office... but the
soundtrack album went
double platinum in the
U.S. and was a hit
all over the world.
CLICK TO START THE VIDEO NOW!
Here now is one of the songs from Xanadu. Released as a single
just before the movie hit theaters, it shot up the chart and spent
four weeks at number one. Olivia Newton-John sings-- "Magic."
From the late summer of '79, a year before Xanadu, that was ELO -
Electric Light Orchestra - with their highest-charting hit in the U.S.
and second highest charting UK hit-- "Don't Bring Me Down."
By the way, the lyrics of that song are often misheard as
"Don't Bring Me Down, Bruce." ELO co-founder Jeff
Lynne insists he is actually shouting "grooss"...
a word he simply made up!
BOOTH ANNOUNCER:
It's another Erica Strange
(ECHO CHAMBER) DOUBLE PLAY-AY-AY-AY!
CLICK TO START
THE VIDEO NOW!
You got that right,
Don Pardo!
I'm double dippin' into the Electric Light Orchestra catalog
to bring you this groovy drum cover by German multi-
instrumentalist Sina Doering. Listen as Sina beats
the skins into submission on ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky!"
"Mr. Blue Sky" - ELO drum cover by Sina
(June 2019, orig. single Aug. 1978, highest
chart pos. #27 Cash Box/#35 Hot 100)
That was The Princess of Percussion, drum sensation Sina Doering,
with a great drum cover of my second featured ELO song
"Mr. Blue Sky," a top 30 hit in the summer of 1978.
CLICK TO START THE VIDEO NOW!
If you're just tuning in, I'm Erica Strange
and this is Strange Magic Being Erica,
and we're in the middle of a 7-in-a-row
block party on S-P-M-M. I'm your vehicle,
babe, I'll take you anywhere you wanna go.
Why don't we let The Cars take us back
to '78 with-- "My Best Friend's Girl"?
"My Best Friend's Girl" - The Cars
(Nov./Dec. 1978, highest chart pos. #35 Hot 100/#44 Cash Box)
Getting your motor running, those were The Cars with Ric Ocasek
on lead vocals doing "My Best Friend's Girl," the second single
from the Beantown band's self-titled debut album, and a song
from the soundtrack of the 1979 coming-of-age crime movie
Over the Edge. In the U.S. "Best Friend's Girl" peaked at the
low end of the top 40, but it was a much bigger hit in the
UK where it finished in the top 3 on the chart.
CLICK TO START THE VIDEO NOW!
Erica Strange keeping you company on
S-P-M-M. Know what, I really like these
guys - The Doobie Brothers - a group
that's been an important part of the
soundtrack of America for more
than 50 years. Formed in 1970
as a mainstream rock band
behind lead singer Tom Johnston,
the Doobies changed direction in
1975 when Johnston left and was
replaced by blue-eyed soul man
Michael McDonald. Here's the
updated sound of the McDonald
era, The Doobie Brothers with--
"It Keeps You Runnin'."
"It Keeps You Runnin'" - The Doobie Brothers
(Jan./Feb. 1977, highest chart pos. #37 Hot 100/#50 Cash Box)
From the early weeks of 1977, those were The Doobie Brothers with their
top 40 hit "It Keeps You Runnin'"... a single from their 1976 album
Takin' It to the Streets... the first to feature Michael McDonald
as lead singer. The song was used in the 1978 classic rock
movie FM and is also found in the soundtrack of the
Academy Award-winning 1994 film Forrest Gump.
Strange days have found us and, as promised, here I am all the way back in 1969
to introduce the classic folk-rock sound of Crosby, Stills & Nash - a supergroup
that put an indelible stamp on American music and culture. Also known as CSN,
the group was made up of American singer-songwriters David Crosby and
Stephen Stills plus Graham Nash from the UK. Canadian singer and
songwriter Neil Young also joined the act from time to time.
CLICK TO START THE VIDEO NOW!
Here's one of the group's best known compositions. Written by Stephen Stills,
the song refers to his former girlfriend, singer/songwriter Judy Collins.
Crosby, Stills & Nash sing-- "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes."
"Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" - Crosby, Stills & Nash
(Nov./Dec. 1969, highest chart pos. #15 Cash Box/#21 Hot 100)
You just heard the tight intricate
harmonies of CSN - Crosby, Stills
& Nash, one of the leading groups
of the late 1960s counterculture -
and "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," a song
that made the top 20 in the U.S. and
brushed the top 10 in Canada during
the Thanksgiving and Christmas
holiday season in 1969.
Gosh, Shady just drew his finger
across his throat, the signal for me
to "cut," and that means I need to
wrap up my first official show on
S-P-M-M. Before I forget, I want
to invite you to watch my series
Being Erica, streaming on Hulu
and on Amazon Prime Video.
CLICK TO START THE VIDEO NOW!
To play us off, here's a different version of my theme song "Strange Magic,"
this one from the 2015 animated jukebox musical fantasy movie of the
same name. Stay tuned. Coming up on the B side of news, my friend
Jerry Blavat, The Geator with the Heater, drops by to spin stacks
of wax on Geator Gold... and I'll be back soon with more great
songs from your youth on Strange Magic Being Erica. Now
watch and listen as stars Evan Rachel Wood and Alan
Cumming as characters Marianne and Bog King,
sing the title song "Strange Magic." This is
Erica Strange saying so long and take care!
"Strange Magic" - Evan Rachel Wood & Alan Cumming
(from OST of Jan. 2015 animated film Strange Magic)
As you can see, we're still playing detective, examining
clues and trying to figure out who did the dastardly deed -
Miss Scarlett, Colonel Mustard or Mrs. Peacock.
While we try to solve our case, let's play another round of Whodunit.
Remember the rules? We'll give you the titles of 7 hit records along
with some additional clues. See if you can tell us Whodunit - who
is the artist, group or band that recorded the song?
If you're ready to play, let's put the pedal to the metal and find out
if you're just a garden variety gumshoe... or a first class dick.
RECORD #1:
This soft rock band formed in Melbourne,
Australia, in the mid 70s. In the decade
that followed they placed ten singles in
the top 20 on the U.S. chart including
"Man On Your Mind" which reached
the top 15 in the spring of 1982.
WHODUNIT?
RECORD #2:
Also formed in the mid 70s, this Boston based new wave - power pop rock band
was led by Baltimore born singer, rhythm guitarist, and songwriter Ric Ocasek.
In the spring of '78 their debut single "Just What I Needed" cracked the top 30.
WHODUNIT?
RECORD #3:
Born in New York's Greenwich Village, this female blues and folk singer
is best known for one of the biggest songs of 1974, "Midnight at the Oasis,"
a soft rock single that made a run at the top 5 and spent 24 weeks on the chart.
WHODUNIT?
RECORD #4:
This five member Tex-Mex rock band from San Antonio fronted by
Doug Sahm gained the biggest hit of their career in the spring
of 1965 with "She's About A Mover," a single that made a
run at the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
WHODUNIT?
RECORD #5:
In the fall of 1987 this Philadelphia based dance-pop group fronted
by zesty lead zinger Jade Starling topped the Dance Club chart
with "Catch Me (I'm Falling)," a song from the soundtrack
of the Jon Cryer movie Hiding Out.
WHODUNIT?
RECORD #6:
They are a brother and sister vocal duo from Trinidad. In the mid 60s
she made a name for herself in the UK releasing records as "Peanut."
In the fall of 1971 the singing sibs reached the top 20 in the U.S.
with a cover of "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep," a #1 hit in the
UK that year for the Scottish band Middle of the Road.
WHODUNIT?
RECORD #7:
Johann Hölzel, a singer and songwriter from Vienna, Austria, had an
international smash in 1986 with "Rock Me Amadeus," a tribute to
Austrian classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It became
the first German language song to peak at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts on both sides of the pond.
WHODUNIT?
SCROLL DOWN TO FIND OUT WHODUNIT!
RECORD #1:
In the spring of 1982 the song "Man On Your Mind" was a top 15
hit in America for the Aussie soft rock band known as
LITTLE RIVER BAND
"Man On Your Mind" - Little River Band
(May/June 1982, highest chart pos. #13 Cash Box/#14 Hot 100)
RECORD #2:
Big in Beantown and just about everywhere else, this new wave power pop band
was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018. In 1978 their debut
single "Just What I Needed," with bass player Benjamin Orr on lead vocals
in place of Ric Ocasek, went top 30 in the U.S. and top 5 in France.
The opening riff was derived from the late 60s nursery rhyme
pop hit "Yummy Yummy Yummy" by the Ohio Express.
By now you should know that this groovy band was
THE CARS
"Just What I Needed" - The Cars
(Aug./Sept. 1978, highest chart pos.
#24 Cash Box/#27 Hot 100/#4 France)
RECORD #3:
Her 1974 soft rock hit "Midnight At The Oasis," inspired by Rudolph Valentino
sheik movies, spent nearly half a year on the chart and was nominated for
Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the Grammys. She is
MARIA MULDAUR
"Midnight At The Oasis" - Maria Muldaur
(Apr./May 1974, highest chart pos. #4 Cash Box/#6 Hot 100)
RECORD #4:
Doug Sahm was only 58 in 1999 when he died in his sleep of a heart attack.
In the spring of 1965, Doug and his five member Tex-Mex rock band
scored their biggest hit with "She's About A Mover," a song
penned by Doug. The guys called themselves
SIR DOUGLAS QUINTET
"She's About A Mover" - Sir Douglas Quintet
(May 1965, highest chart pos. #13 Hot 100/#24 Cash Box)
RECORD #5:
In the fall of 1987, "Catch Me (I'm Falling)," a song from the movie
Hiding Out, shot to #1 on the Dance Club chart. It was recorded
by Jade Starling and her Philly dance-pop group called
Holy moly, if you correctly named all 7 artists, you're a super sleuth!
You will be inducted into the Music Detective Hall of Fame
and the Whodunit Record Book.
6 CORRECT
BOOM! No shame whatsoever. I spy a budding private eye. You put the
Mike Hammer down. Charlie Chan - U Da Man. Way to go, Columbo!
5 CORRECT
Nice try, Sherlock! You're a middling, mediocre Magnum, P.I.
Looks like Popeye Doyle could use a little oil. You're no
Dick Tracy and you sure as hell aren't Cagney & Lacey!
3 OR 4 CORRECT
What the hay, at least you gave it your best shot (and failed).
Nancy Drew sure ain't you! Philip Trent got up and went.
Adrian Monk got no spunk. Inspector Clouseau's
got a long way to go!
1 OR 2 CORRECT
No! Not good! Bad! Face it. You're a defective detective!
Boston Blackie? Not exactly! Bulldog Drummond's got fleas!
Philip Marlowe set the bar low!
0 (GOOSE EGG, NONE) CORRECT
TIMBER! You flunked the course! Sam Spade fell asleep in the shade.
Holy dumbed-down Barney Fife, Batman! Peter Gunn ain't got none.
Nero Wolfe's been outfoxed. Kojak? NO, Jack!
Shhhhhh! We need you to keep this on the down low because we're still
working our Murder Mystery, but you'll be happy to know that we'll be
back soon to play another exciting game of Whodunit? Stick around!
