A friend told me about the YouTube channel Todd in the Shadows, and I bookmarked it, meaning to get to it eventually. Todd does in-depth examinations of one hit wonders, and his videos tend to be on the longer side. I was kind of interested, but who has 23 minutes to hear about one song? Not me.
Then one day, I woke up feeling poorly and had to cancel my appointments. That left me with an ENTIRE DAY to do very little. I went poking through my drafts and up popped Todd. The first video below is the one that hooked me. Todd’s research Bobby McFerrin and Don’t Worry, Be Happy really brought the song to life, and his analysis of McFerrin’s music was really interesting.
So if you’re something of a music geek and love backstories, Todd in the Shadows is for you. You can watch all of Todd’s analyses on his YouTube channel and on Twitter.
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My OBT 
June 28, 2022 at 10:35 am
Having most of my formative years in the 80’s, I was quite familiar with Yellow (and all the others named in that video). I feel like he would have been well-served to check out ‘Art of Noise’ which is similar, but (like their name implies) push things even further. With sampling being the wacky new thing, a lot of music in this genre is about 1)turning everyday sounds into musical instruments, and 2)exploring the line between ‘music’ and ‘just plain noise’. Annnnd with all that, you all now have wway more of a peek into my ecletic music tastes than most ppl ever want 😛
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June 28, 2022 at 12:38 pm
You and I have the same eighties musical tastes! I actually met Dieter Meyer and most of the other eighties artists he has profiled. I love Art of Noise, especially their cover of Kiss with Tom Jones.
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June 28, 2022 at 12:46 pm
So cool! Yes, I like that version much more than Prince’s. You should give Radio Paradise a try. It’s been responsible for exposing me to more music that I like than pretty much anything else. ‘Eclectic’ 🙂 Not their actual tagline, but it could be ‘from Billie Holiday to Billie Eilish’
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June 29, 2022 at 9:14 pm
That’s pretty much my range, too! I’ll definitely give them a try. Thank you for the recommendation!
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June 28, 2022 at 10:42 am
It took me more time than this group normally takes, but enjoyable. Sort of a surprise, I actually remember most of these. Today, my music taste had made some major changes but it was fun going back and hearing the old stuff again. Hal
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June 28, 2022 at 12:39 pm
I still listen to the eighties new wave stuff, along with forties big band, classical, and most of the stuff from the sixties and seventies.
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June 28, 2022 at 11:10 am
I am definitely going to have to check these out when time allows. I often enjoy these behind-the-scenes glimpses into something creative. I actually think my husband will really enjoy these too so I am going to give him the link too. The Proclaimers were not a one hit wonder in Scotland, of course. My Gran actually knew them quite well so I met them a couple of times in my youth. Nice blokes.
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June 28, 2022 at 12:39 pm
I heard them live once at The Ritz in NYC. They brought the house down!
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