Music In My Shoes
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Music In My Shoes
E74 We Are the World and the Story of 1416 N. La Brea
Join us on a journey through musical touchstones and cultural milestones, weaving together fascinating stories that connect the dots between film, music, and innovation.
• The 1985 film "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" featured Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt
• "We Are the World" by USA for Africa reached #1 on April 13, 1985, featuring an unprecedented lineup of 21 solo vocalists including Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, and Bob Dylan
• A&M Studios in Hollywood began as Charlie Chaplin Studios in 1917 before housing Hanna-Barbera cartoons, "Perry Mason" filming, and countless classic album recordings
• Ronnie Wood joined the Rolling Stones in April 1975
• Bush's album "Sixteen Stone" dominated alternative radio from 1994-1996 through their strategy of releasing songs to radio before making them available as singles
• Blondie drummer Clem Burke, who recently passed away, brought a Keith Moon-inspired style that defined classics like "Heart of Glass"
"Music in My Shoes" where music and memories intertwine.
Learn Something New or
Remember Something Old
Please like and follow the Music in my Shoes Facebook and Instagram pages and share the podcast with your friends on social media. Contact us at musicinmyshoes@gmail.com.
He's got the feeling in his toe-toe.
Speaker 2:He's got the feeling and it's out there growing. Hey everybody, this is Jim Boge, and you're listening to Music In my Shoes. That was Vic Thrill kicking off episode 74. As always, I'm thrilled to be here with you. Let's learn something new or remember something old. So, jimmy, april 12th 1985, this movie called Girls Just Want to have Fun came out.
Speaker 1:Have you ever seen it? No, I didn't even know there was a movie.
Speaker 2:I could tell immediately by your reaction. I know the song. It's funny that you bring it up. It's based on the song, but Cyndi Lauper did not want to be in the movie. They could not use her version of the song oh weird. And they had some other people that sang it. But it kind of was kind of quirky the way the song was sang. I think it was sung by a couple of different females. I don't even know who they were, but it sounded kind of like her. So I think it's almost tough to tell. I think you almost think it's like a remix or something.
Speaker 1:But anyway, that's probably what they wanted. They wanted people to think oh, that might be Cyndi Lauper.
Speaker 2:I did, I did and it wasn't. It wasn't, it wasn't at all. So it's a super cheesy film which I kind of think you already figured that part out by now. I did In theaters but it seemed to be on cable all the time back in the day, Like you would turn on cable and you know, odd times this would be on. It's got Sarah Jessica Parker, who was 19 during filming. Okay, that's how long ago this is? Yeah, helen Hunt, she's probably 21, or 22.
Speaker 1:Jonathan.
Speaker 2:Silverman. Most people know him from Weekend at Bernie's.
Speaker 1:He was 18.
Speaker 2:And it's really funny because his voice is definitely different when he's talking. And 13-year-old Shannon Daugherty is in this and it's crazy. And you know she's from Beverly Hills, 90210 and charmed. Sadly she passed away from cancer in July of 2024. And in the beginning of the movie, helen Hunt takes Sarah Jessica Parker to babysit with her after school.
Speaker 2:They get off of the bus and I remember they wanted to watch this TV show called Dance TV. The host was Richard Blade, the guy that's on you know, sirius XM and was on KROQ for a hundred years. You know one of the most known new wave DJs that probably Jimmy doesn't seem to know at all. I've never heard of him. That is awesome. I like your honesty, jimmy, but he's playing a character. I can't even remember what the character's name is, but he's the host of this TV show. But what cracks me up is that Helen Hunt is like they've got a 25 inch TV and that that's excitement. You know that today, like someone would be like 25 inch TV, like you want me to watch TV on a 25 inch TV.
Speaker 1:Right, it was a CRT tube, yeah it was.
Speaker 2:It was crazy. You know, it was just funny and I think that for me I got into the film a lot more. Now I'm calling it a film. I got into the movie a lot more when my kids were young because we got a VHS tape of it. You know it was on sale somewhere and they loved it and it would just be on over and over and over and I'm sure when your kids were younger they gravitated to certain movies or shows and you would just watch them over and over and so forth. But you know, I don't know, I kind of liked it as cheesy as it is, forty years ago it came out. As cheesy as it is, 40 years ago it came out, so the day after the movie comes out, that didn't do well in the theaters.
Speaker 1:It didn't.
Speaker 2:No, did not do. Oh my goodness. The day after USA for Africa, we Are the World peaks at number one on Billboard, the Hot 100, april 13th 1985. So you have girls just want to have fun. That didn't do well. The next day, usa for Africa, we Are the World, that did have Cyndi Lauper singing in it does excellent, and it's the American musician's answer to Band-Aids.
Speaker 2:Do they Know it's Christmas? That was recorded in November, came out in November, was a hit in the UK not so much a hit over here and then quickly they put something together and it was on the radio nonstop. There were times where it seemed everybody was playing the song at the same time. Written by Michael Jackson, lionel Richie both of them wrote the song, co-produced by Quincy Jones and similar to Do they Know it's Christmas, quincy Jones and similar to Do they Know it's Christmas. It's a charity song designed to provide food and aid to Ethiopia, which was in an ongoing famine at that time. It had been going on for probably two, three years or so. On January 28th 1985, after the American Music Awards, all the musicians met at A&M Studios in Hollywood because it was close to where the American Music Awards were. American Music Awards used to be a big award show. I don't think it's really anything now, but it was a big show back then you know, 40 years ago.
Speaker 2:So kind of like we did with Do they Know it's Christmas? I'm going to read off the soloists that were on this song. Wrote them all down because I can never remember all this. So it's pretty impressive, starting with Lionel Richie, followed by Stevie Wonder, paul Simon, kenny Rogers, james Ingram, tina Turner, billy Joel, michael Jackson, diana Ross no surprise there that Diana Ross and Michael Jackson are right there together Dionne Warwick the name that I always struggle with, but I think I did a pretty good job that time Willie Nelson, al Jarreau Excellent Willie Nelson, al Jarreau, bruce Springsteen, kenny Loggins, steve Perry, daryl Hall, huey Lewis, cindy Lauper, kim Carnes, bob Dylan and Ray Charles and until I wrote the list down, I didn't realize there were that many people Like I've heard the song a million times because it was on the radio all the time where I was working At the time they piped in the music.
Speaker 2:Everybody listened to it and you know it was one of those work-friendly stations, you know, and it was on nonstop. And there's a lot of songs that I know the words to that I don't like that. I learned it from and I shouldn't say I don't like it. That might be going a little bit too far. It's not a song that at the time that I would listen to. You know it was not that kind of a pop guy. But quickly learned all the words and found myself that I would be somewhere. And you know, I just start saying the words and people are like how do you know all of them? But it was just on all the time.
Speaker 1:I was at the grocery store the other day and this Huey Lewis song called Stuck With you was playing. You know, and obviously they must have a loop of songs that they play at the grocery store, because there's like a 19 year old clerk guy, like you know, stocking some shelves and he knows every word to this Huey Lewis song. I'm like, okay, that's the same principle it is.
Speaker 2:It definitely is because there's no way he's going to know that, due to the fact that you don't hear that song on the radio anywhere today and I do like the song, I do like Huey Lewis, but in 2025, you're not really going to hear that a whole lot.
Speaker 1:At the grocery store.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just not. So the chorus included Harry Belafonte, who was actually the guy that started the whole thing. He had seen what had happened with Band-Aid and putting everything together and was like, hey, we need to put some, you know, of our own musicians together and do something. And it had Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac, sheila E Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats who started Band-Aid. He actually was part of the chorus. The Jackson brothers and sisters Michael Jackson invited his entire family to be part of the chorus Waylon Jennings, bette Midler, the Pointer Sisters and Smokey Robinson. And I'm kind of surprised, like Smokey Robinson didn't get to sing a part of it or Bette Midler, because they were you know, they were still big people, you know, back then in the day they were popular and, you know, cyndi Lauper got an opportunity. I'm surprised that Bette Midler didn't, or I'm surprised that Smokey Robinson didn't yeah so like the band-aid.
Speaker 2:Do they know it's Christmas song? Some took issue with the song's words.
Speaker 2:Coming from rich people that were never gonna experience what the people in Ethiopia were living, and you know, like I said about, do they know I'm gonna just shorten it to do they know? From now on, do they know? I think good came out of it. And you know, without that money raised by you know, all those people, all those rich people, musicians, a lot more people would have died and I think that in the end you know that's what it's about they saved some lives. They really did. I know they talk about it in the song, but they truly did.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I'm definitely on the side of do they know it's Christmas? The lyrics are not very good, but I take a little issue with them criticizing rich singers for talking about people starving because, like, who else is going to make a song about it? You have to be a star to have it heard. So obviously you're not in a famine yourself, but you're trying to do the right thing.
Speaker 2:I agree with you on that and they did the right thing. They actually with this song and I think that you know you talk about do they know? And the words with it. I think on this song, like they just kept thinking and thinking and thinking about it to try and get the words perfect if you can have perfect words but they put a lot of thought into it because of you know some of the lines from do they know. Lot of thought into it because of you know some of the lines from Do they Know. So, yes, rock and rollers for the most part, did not like the song, but people like me, we got to know the song. I still know all the words. I can sing it off the top of my head. I can.
Speaker 2:So there's a documentary titled the Greatest Night in Pop and it goes into a lot more depth about the song than what we can hear. I definitely recommend watching it if you can. It talks about how the idea came about and it shows that night getting everyone together and what went through the whole process and it's really cool. Uh, check it out if you can, jimmy. I mentioned the song was recorded at a&m studio in hollywood, california. It has a pretty cool history of its own. In 1917 okay, over 100 years ago, yep, okay Silent movie star Charlie Chaplin started construction of the Charlie Chaplin Studios and he sold the studio in 1953.
Speaker 2:He had filmed. Some ofves was filmed there. In 1957, hanna-barbera started renting offices and their cartoons, the Huckleberry Hound Show and Quick Draw McGraw Show Do you remember Quick Draw McGraw? Yeah, they were animated there. And then Hanna-Barbera moved in 1960 to a new location. Also in 1960, comedian Red Skelton bought the studio. He was filming his Red Skelton show there and he sells it in 1962 to CBS and they film Perry Mason starring Raymond Burr there until 1966. And then in late 1966, herb Albert and Jerry Moss of A&M Records buy the studio and they convert the swimming pool that was used by Charlie Chaplin and two sound stages to recording studios.
Speaker 2:So many albums recorded or mixed or mastered there that I'm not even going to go into it. But the Carpenters like all of their stuff was done there, a bunch of mastering for albums by Squeeze, I mean. There's just a ton of albums, a lot of history. A&m sold it in 1999 to the Jim Henson Company and that was run by his children. They had a statue of Kermit the Frog, dressed like Charlie Chaplin's famous character, the Tramp erected over the main gate. And in late 2024, dead Company guitarist, vocalist John Mayer yeah, I'm laughing because I can't believe this whole story is going this way. And film producer McG he did one of the Charlie's Angels like Full Throttle or something. He did some other things.
Speaker 1:They purchased Did he do? Girls Just Want to have Fun the movie.
Speaker 2:No, nobody knows who did that. They purchased the studio and I just think that's some pretty cool history. This land, this lot, this whole thing that starts with Charlie Chaplin starts building it in 1917. And you run through all of these different shows that you know and all these things that took place there. I love stuff like that. That's that makes me stay up at night and be like wow, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I can see it makes you stay up at night too, up all night wow, you look at it I've been sleeping in the car, so I just I'm still trying to wake up oh, you know you're a funny one.
Speaker 2:There's a charlie chaplin short film from 1918, title how Movies, and it shows in time lapse the building of the Chaplin Studios and the different functions of things that could be done there. You know, I don't really know how you make film, but it's so cool. It's like 13 minutes and you watch it. It's really short, but you wish it was much longer, because it starts with this piece of land that is like orange groves and the next thing you see them in time lapse, the buildings being built, and it's just really cool. It really is is it includes footage of the swimming pool that eventually was torn down and became part of A&M's recording studios. Okay, how about them oranges?
Speaker 1:Now, when you tear down a swimming pool, how does that like? You fill it in with dirt, or did they? I don't know.
Speaker 2:I believe so, okay yeah, they demolished it, demolished it. They demolished it.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to picture in my head if, like, oh, you can kind of go down into the studio and this used to be underwater or something. I'm just overthinking it.
Speaker 2:Mr Chaplin, tear down that pool. In December 1974, guitarist Mick Taylor left the Rolling Stones. Mick had replaced Brian Jones in mid-1969. Fifty years ago, on April 14, 1975, ronnie Wood replaces Taylor as Keith Richards' partner on guitar. Ronnie's first appearance on a Rolling Stone song was from a jam that became the 1974 song. It's Only Rock and Roll. He appeared on a few songs from the 76 album, black and Blue, but his first full-length studio album was 1978, some Girls, and monetarily he did not become a Rolling Stone until 1993. I believe it was. He was like a salaried employee and it wasn't until Bill Wyman left that then he had like a share of the Rolling Stones, which is, I mean, it's amazing that he would join to be kind of like a salaried employee and then do it for so long you know.
Speaker 1:I mean it's a pretty good gig, I guess.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but he didn't get paid. Like if they're not doing anything, he wasn't getting paid. You know, he just made nothing. But he said that at the time he started to get back into his artwork and start doing art and selling that and that was lucrative for him. So, some good game of it good game of it.
Speaker 2:So you can't mention Ronnie Wood without mentioning his work with Jeff Beck, rod Stewart, the Faces and all the classic songs that Rod Stewart had back in the day. You have Ronnie Wood on guitar and I think people forget that because they know him from joining the Rolling Stones and that's what they think of. He has so much good work before that.
Speaker 1:Did he play on the Rod Stewart solo stuff?
Speaker 2:He did he was actually a session musician on Rod Stewart's solo, but he was in the faces when they did work as the faces. Crazy, really crazy. I'll tell you what's crazy. Did you know that Post-it notes were made available in stores in the US in April 1980, 45 years ago? That was when it was widespread. They had tested Post-it notes in some markets beforehand, but for the you know regular consumer like us 45 years ago this month, you could get post-it notes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I kind of remember that surround when they started showing up, and did you ever hear the story of how the guy invented them?
Speaker 2:Why don't you tell us?
Speaker 1:Well, he was trying to invent a glue that would stick to things and then he ended up with this adhesive that came off really easily. And then he figured out oh wait a minute, maybe this is useful to be able to stick something and take it off and stick it somewhere else. It's not, like you know, any other kind of glue that was really around prior to that, and that's what they made the Post-it notes.
Speaker 2:And 45 years ago you could buy them in the store, and you can still buy them in the store today.
Speaker 1:I'm holding a pack in my hand right now.
Speaker 2:Post-it brand and that's the regular color. Is that pale yellow? Yeah, that's the normal. You can get it in something like 20-something different colors, but that is the normal. Speaking of normal or abnormal, whichever you choose, let's revisit some music from the past.
Speaker 2:All right, all right, katrina and the Waves Walking on Sunshine, released April 15th 1985, and peaked on Billboard Hot 100 June 22nd 1985. A super poppy overload of cheer is probably the best way that I could describe this song. You know they kept playing it on all types of radio. You know it just seemed like everybody kind of liked it because it was poppy, but the drums had this beat to it. And then you know the guitar and and you know it was just something that throughout the summer, the spring of 1985, it was all over the place. Jimmy, I don't know about you but I'm walking on sunshine whoa, and don't know about you but I'm walking on sunshine Whoa, and don't it feel good, wow, wow. Speaking of feeling good, let's go to 1994. November 1st 1994, bush releases 16 Stone.
Speaker 2:And when they released the album, first song was everything zen. But they didn't release it as a single where you could go buy it. They released it to radio and they oversaturated the radio market with it and then they released it. I want to say it was april of, I want to say it was April of 1995, where you could actually buy it as a single, but by then it had peaked at number two on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart on March 4th of 95. And it's just definitely a different strategy. Yeah, why'd they do that? Not only did they do it with that, the next single, little Things, they did the same thing. They released it in just the radios and here it was 99X. You know in Atlanta that I heard it on both of the songs and it wasn't until May of 95 that they released that as a physical single and that peaked at number four on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart. Come Down the third song was the third single reached number 30 on Billboard's Hot 100 in November of 1995.
Speaker 2:Glycerine I always used to say glycerin back in the day, even though he was saying glycerine. Yeah, I know, I don't know why I did, but I did but peaked at number 28 on Billboard Hot 100 in February 1996, and the last single from 16 Stone, machine Head, which is probably my favorite song on the album, peaked at number 43 on Billboard Hot 100 in May of 1996. Not bad for an album that was recorded in January 94, released in November 1994, and then just kind of dominated the radio into summer 1996. I mean it just had a really long lifespan, yeah, real long lifespan. And speaking of lifespans, my watch lifespan isn't that long but it is telling me it's Minute with Jimmy. It's time for Minute with Jimmy. Minute with Jimmy. Minute with Jimmy. It's time for Minute with Jimmy. Minute with Jimmy.
Speaker 1:Minute with Jimmy. So you remember my story about Green Day, about hearing them for the first time on 99X, and I was driving up by Jimmy Carter Boulevard and I had to pull over to a phone booth and find out about it, who it was. That was 1994. Well, in 1995, april 95, I'm at the Mellow Mushroom, right next to where the studio used to be by Midtown High School on Monroe Drive, and my brother and I are having lunch there and we hear this song and it's Al's album 88 radio, the college radio here in Atlanta, that was playing it. I'm like who is this? My brother and I were like this is a great song. So I did the same thing. I went into Mellow Mushroom hey, can I borrow your phone and I called up album 88.
Speaker 1:It was a band called Guided by Voices and it was their new album. Alien Lanes came out April 95, 30 years ago. The song was called Motor Away and it's a fantastic song. But the album also has Game of Pricks. That's one of their most famous songs. My Valuable Hunting Knife they're Not Witches and Blimps Go 90. It has about 20 plus songs because their songs are really short. But it was great and my brother and I went to see Guided by Voices a few months later when they came to town, and we've been fans ever since.
Speaker 2:That is pretty cool. I like hearing things about bands that I don't know a whole lot about, especially when you go running and call up places to find out Was it difficult to call up? Like, did they answer right away?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know the college radio station is pretty easy to to get through to them. You know commercial radio a lot of times there's you get a busy signal At least you did when I was a kid. You know you'd have to call in. Oh, we need the you know fourth caller to call us up and it's always busy.
Speaker 1:You think they just had the phone off the hook, Probably yeah, I used to win stuff on the radio though as a kid, really I would call in all those things and our local video music channel called VMC, before we had MTV here, and win stuff all the time. I won tickets to Risky Business, the movie.
Speaker 2:I've seen that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a good movie. It was tickets to Risky Business, the movie I've seen that. Yeah, it's a good movie. It was kind of embarrassing though, because I think my friend and I were 13 and his mom took us, and it's kind of risque for a mom and some 13 year old boys to see together.
Speaker 2:Remember Jimmy Barron, formerly of 99X Radio, was in that movie for a quick scene, right In the window behind Tom Cruise. I think Tom Cruise was trying to get into a college or something. Yep, do you still listen to? Guided by Voices.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I still do and they're still really good live. They'll tour every year or two and come, come to like the variety playhouse in atlanta and they, they bring, they bring it and where are they from? They're from the midwest. I think they're maybe from ohio or something uh he, he sings almost like he's british, but he's, he's not I can speak like I'm british, even though I'm not. Oh, I'm sure you can, let's hear it. Come on, knight, I want to hear your English accent.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I was going to say you bloody bloke.
Speaker 1:All right, all right, we'll accept that.
Speaker 2:Oh, not very good, but hey, it is what it is. So a band we've spoken about several times on the podcast, clem Burke of Blondie, lost his battle with cancer on April 6, 2025. His drumming on One Way or Another, dreaming Atomic and the long version of Heart of Glass helped make the songs the classics. They are Inspired by both Keith Moon and Ringo Starr. He was the backbeat of Blondie and I got to be honest, jimmy, a bunch of those songs I really like because I like that Keith Moon style of drumming that definitely drew me into the songs and he definitely did some real good stuff with some good songs that, again, I think they wouldn't be what they are without him.
Speaker 1:Now weren't you saying in an earlier episode that Heart of no, it was Call Me, was not him on drums right?
Speaker 2:That is correct, it's all session players. Yes, but.
Speaker 1:Heart of Glass was.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm Heart of Glass was, and the long version. If you listen to it, the long version is just rocking. It is so good. At the end it's almost like a drum solo, but it's not a drum solo and that's what makes it cool, because it is a drum solo that doesn't sound like one. It's really, really cool and it's just fun On a song that you know is a disco-ishy type thing, but doing a rock Keith Moon ending to it. What more could you want? Yeah, I'm not sure what more you could want.
Speaker 1:I'm not at all sure.
Speaker 2:Well, I know I want more, but unfortunately that's the end of Episode 74 of Music in my Shoes. I'd like to thank Jimmy Guthrie, show producer and owner of Arcade 160 Studios located here in Atlanta, georgia, and Vic Thrill, for our podcast music. You can contact us at musicinmyshoes at gmailcom. Please like and follow the Music in my Shoes Facebook and Instagram pages. Please share the podcast with your friends on social media and, for those of you that already have, it is appreciated. This is Jim Boge and I hope you learned something new or remembered something old. We'll meet again on our next episode. Until then, live life and keep the music playing, thank you.
