Divas, Djs, Buddy & Billboard

By and large, the Billboard dance chart and I frequently part company when it comes to top tunes, though there are some things on my turntables that also make it on that chart.

Hey, I'm a populist! Give the people what they want, I concur. But, also, I believe a dj's set should expose people to new music, to help shape tastes and mix things up. Contemporary chart music, underexposed club productions and disco classics can all live in harmony. I think it excites a crowd to hear the unexpected, the fresh, the new and exciting when they're out to dance. Nobody hits the dance floor if he or she is uninspired (unless pleasing a date; Buddy B knows all too well) or gagging on a Billboard hit for the umpteenth time. Throw in a little retro, embellish with some camp, include plenty of uplift in the melody and the messages, give good diva drama, et voila!

So let's begin with a peek at Billboard's top club hits. Billboard says it's "compiled from reports from a national sample of club DJs." But does anyone know who these dj's are exactly?  I'm just going to address the songs from the chart that I, as a dj, like and play. It will prove painlessly brief:

Despite Madonna's record drop in album sales of MDNA, her club-friendly "Girl Gone Wild" is sitting pretty in first place as "Give Me All Your Luvin'" drops, still comfortably entrenched in the 10th spot. That song already ascended to #1 two weeks ago and has made a meteoric rise and fall in just eight weeks.

Melanie Amaro's cover of "Respect" is at 3; Katy Perry's "Part of Me" is one of this week's Greatest Gainers at #6, followed by "Love on Top" by Beyonce, having already topped the chart.

The always welcome Debby Holiday's new one, "Never Give Up," floats like a butterfly to #16; Yoko Ono gets down to #18 with "She Gets Down on Her Knees." And, beyond that, I'm afraid, is where Billboard and I part company.

My divas, oh my divas! I do love my divas. They are almost everything to me in terms of putting across the emotional elements of a song that help make it be exciting. So against diva-wannabe drama in real life, I say save drama for the stage, movie, tv or the disco, where it belongs.

Unlikely, at this point, to make it onto Billboard's top 25 club songs, is Gladys Knight's return to dance floors with her cover of "I Who Have Nothing." This classic tune was composed by Carlo Donida with English lyrics written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, and originally recorded by Ben E. King in 1963. Sylvester previously did a disco version of it, and now it's Gladys whose distinctive voice helps make this newly exciting to club-goers. Best remix is by Tony Moran/Warren Rigg. And, truly, Nicki Minaj's pathetic "Starships" beat this on the US dance/club chart? Pshaw!

It was Tony Moran, also, who produced a number that is an instant club classic, in my estimation, though it didn't chart the way I thought it would. "Magic," a true diva thrill-ride sung by none other than Jennifer Holliday, was indeed club magic. Released at the beginning of the year, it was certainly a hit in the gay clubs. So who, exactly, are these Nielsen-family djs? That's what I'd like to know!

Of the latest crop of promos, I am enjoying the 2012 club mix of Rich B's "Revolution" featuring Marcella Puppini (of Puppini Sisters fame, and already discussed in a recent post). "Tonight" is the new dance offering from St Etienne, the original extended mix preferred. I love Sarah Cracknell's voice; it's somewhere between Kylie and Deborah Harry, floating beautifully above her band's dreamy instrumentals.

Again, it's the original extended mix to go with when it comes to the trancey "Sunshine in My Life" by FunkySober with true diva vocals by one Sharlene Hector. Beautifully dancetastic despite simplistic lyrics. (Not always a drawback when you just need to work it out on the disco floor.)

From the tv series, Smash, it's Katherine McPhee who's lifted to disco-diva status at last, just like she was lifted on the show during that number by chorus boys. The original tv episode's version was clearly meant as a club tune. Right now, I'm digging the original extended club mix. Let's hope for brilliant remixes and that this will be a Smash.

Every Carol Hahn song's worthy of a celebration. Her newest release is no exception. "If This Is Love" is a great, contemporary hi-NRG number. Talk about uplift in message and melody, this is brilliant! I like the Julian Marsh mix best, fyi.

"Dance Again," Jennifer Lopez' newest, is a guilty pleasure and sure to pleasure the Billboard crowd. Adam Lambert offers "Better Than I Know Myself," of which I'm loving the Mike Rizzo club mix best. And beloved club divas Toni Braxton and Suzanne Palmer are back, people! And that is good news indeed!

Mark Picchiotti is always brilliant and his re-working  of "I Heart You" by Ms Braxton is no exception. May he guide her to the top where she belongs, at least for the club crowd. Suzanne's soulful "Keep on Keepin' On" is a dance delight with a few good remixes on hand to enhance. Right now, I like Gustavo Scorpio's work the most.

May I add that dancing is not only fun, it unites? Peace and happiness to all! Haters are losers. Clubs are where the happy people go. Thanks to all my viewers around the world. Love to all! Shout outs to Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Singapore, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates and everyone else! It's one world. Love each other, love the music, dance, peace and out. It's all about the music.

Divas, Queens & Billboard

There are a select few popular, contemporary artists on the dance-music scene whom I abhor; Nicki Minaj first and foremost. I just don't get her! I watched Ms Minaj, from L.A., on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve and the bitch was not rockin' me at all! So, the very fact that she is sitting atop the Billboard Dance chart, at #1, with the cacophonic, David Guetta-produced "Turn Me On," turns me off. However, I do not believe there is any shortage of talent in the current disco-diva pool. Indeed, I think we are going through a disco renaissance in terms of proficiency and flair, be it in terms of divahood, production quality or remixer inventiveness and excitement!

Michael Musto commented this week, in The Village Voice (very accurately, I thought), regarding the theater: "We're in the middle of a musical-diva golden age thanks to Patti, Bernadette, Donna, Audra, Sutton, Jan, Kelli, Kristin, and Alice, but you still hear theater queens murmuring, 'There are no stars like the old days!'" Well, the same goes for dance music. Disco dinosaurs grumble but they don't go to clubs any more or immerse themselves in the current dance-music scene. I feel this is more of a misinformed attitude or belief that has no foundation in reality. A lot of the disco, hiNRG and house music stars of the 70s, 80s and 90s are still around. And many new artists do the dance floor proud. Go out and see what I mean. (Just try to choose a good dj.)

Gladys Knight is a divine and (dare I add?) much loved, vocalist who's not necessarily associated with disco, though she has, with the Pips, dabbled in the genre. This week, remixes of "I Who Have Nothing" came across my desk and, babies, Gladys blew my mind (on a midnight train to Bay Ridge)! I think this will get ample dance-floor play, especially via the mixes by Redtop and Tony Moran. Hot stuff coming through! And I understand you can download these mixes via iTunes.

Apparently, the rumors are true! Rolling Stone confirmed, just a few hours ago, after Britain's The Daily Star leaked it:

Adam Lambert is reportedly the new singer for Queen, replacing the American Idol winner's own late idol, Freddie Mercury. Lambert broke the news to the U.K.'s Daily Star.

"The intention is to pay tribute to Freddie and the band by singing some fucking great songs," he said. "It's to keep the music alive for the fans and give it an energy that Freddie would've been proud of." Queen previously toured with former Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers taking Mercury's place.

Speculation has been high since Lambert was joined by surviving Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor during his Idol finals appearance in 2009. In November, they performed together at the MTV EMAs in Belfast.

Lambert said he had no intention of replacing Mercury, who died in 1991. "That's impossible," he said. "The way I'm choosing to view it is that it's a great honor and one I'm in no way going to shirk." Lambert's second solo album, Trespassing, is due in March.

A representative for Hollywood Records tells Rolling Stone, "The Daily Star item only mentions that Adam may perform with Queen at Sonisphere. This is not confirmed. Nothing has been signed. However, if this were to happen, Queen would be returning to the setting of their final concert with Freddie Mercury, which took place in 1986."

Sounds promising! (Any thoughts on Lambert filling Mercury's platform boots? Feel free to comment here on this post.) At least, when it comes to Queen, we've got one dynamic queen substituting for another. And Lambert can hit all of Freddie's notes.

Now, to briefly run down what interests me on the latest Billboard dance chart:

"Shake It Out" by Florence + the Machine dropped from #4 to 8, so I think its chance to get to the #1 spot is unlikely. But it shook its way to 4 and that's shaking me up, too. "Drifting," by Plumb, drifts ever upward with its trancey mixes to the 10th spot, while Gaga's "Marry the Night" currently nestles at #9 in its gradual descent from #1.

The delicious "Waiting on You" (Ultra Nate & Michelle Williams) up to 11 from 12. (Love to see this groove make its way into the top ten by next week.) "If It Wasn't for Love," by diva deluxe Deborah Cox, hits the twelfth spot this week, descending from a lofty #1 as well.

Erasure's "Be with You" nicely risen from #17 to #14 this week, and Kelly Clarkson taking "Stronger" to the following 15th spot, upwardly mobile.

For the full top-25 Dance/Club chart on Billboard, please go to billboard.com.

Peace, love, happiness & disco to everyone all over the world!