NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Survivor formed in 1978 when the lead singer and guitarist of the band The Ides of March, Jim Peterick , joined with bassist and guitarist of a jazz-rock fusion band called Chase , Dennis Keith Johnson and Gary Smith, guitarist Frankie Sullivan, and c0-vocalist/keyboardist Dave Bickler. The Chicago-based band played local gigs including at a local pizzeria called My Pi and releasing their self-titled debut record on Atlantic Records in 1980. JUST A MAN AND HIS WILL TO SURVIVE. Survivor scored a minor hit on their second record, Premonition   with the song “ Poor Man’s Son .” The band had begun to hone their sound by replacing the jazz-based drummer and bassist, Johnson and Smith, relegating Peterick to backing vocals and focusing Bickler as the lead singer of the band. The band's 1981 hit may have faded into obscurity along with the band but for actor/writer/producer Sylvester Stallone approaching the band to write an anthemic disco-based rock song to be the theme of the actor&#

Bananarama formed in 1980 when childhood friends Sara Dallin and Keren Woodword moved from Bristol to London and met Siobhan Fahey . Dallin and Woodword lived in the WYCA and were out of money until Sex Pistols ’ drummer Paul Cook offered them a place to live above the band's old rehearsal room. Bananarama took their name from the Roxie Music song " Pyjamarama ." The trio were fans of the punk rock and post-punk scene in London and ultimately became a New Wave hit making machine lasting from 1982 with their breakthrough hit as a featured artist on Fun Boy Three 's " It Ain't What You Do" (It's How You Do It) to the early '90s. IT’S TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT. Bananarama   were on the pop side of New Wave along with some of their friends in the music industry  Wham! and Duran Duran . In 2020, the remaining members of Bananarama, Sara Dallin and Keren Woodword wrote a book about their experience throughout their almost fifty years of friendship a

Until June 's self-titled debut record is still available on streaming services. The band released the record in 2006 on the Christian record label Flicker Records , which was at that time distributed by Sony Music . Six years later, the band released their follow up, Young & Foolish on Madison Line Records . Then in 2014, the band ceased all activity, but never declared a break up. Currently, Young & Foolish is unavailable on streaming services. IF YOU FALL FROM ME, WOULD YOU LOSE CONTROL?  "Summer Lover" certainly isn't the first song about wanting more than a summer fling. Songs about falling in love while on vacation as you slip away from the friends or family you are there with only to be excited by someone new and interesting and unavailable in your current life situation make us sweat those tepid summer evenings away. The speaker of the song wants more than just a vacation, but there's also more to it. In this very short song, there's  a vagu

  Trapt 's breakthrough single " Headstrong " from their major label self-titled debut record had appeal to many musical genres. The song was massive, reaching number 1 on the rock and alternative charts, number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 4 on the mainstream top 40, or the pop radio chart. This was a unique time when a scream in a rock song didn't necessarily disqualify it from hitting pop radio. But the band was never able to repeat the success of their debut record.   I'VE BEEN FOOLED BY ALL THE ILLUSIONS IN MY HEAD. Trapt's followup record, Someone in Control was released in September 2005. The band’s debut album’s success helped their sophomore record debut at #14 on the Billboard 200 album charts. But lack of a major single and poor reviews plagued the album’s success. Two of the singles the band released chatted on rock radio. “ Stand Up ” even reached number three on mainstream rock. Today’s song, “ Waiting ,” though, only reached #20. A

Someone once compared releasing an album on a major label to giving birth. They say it takes about nine months. There’s the actual making of the album, which in most cases, takes longer than the making of a baby, with preproduction, songwriting, and recording. The process before and in the studio is only half to two-thirds of the process. Then there's the mixing, mastering, and promotion. But a lot of the process is waiting; waiting for the record label to pick the right day to release the record--to make sure Adele isn't going to release a record the same day. And the promotion--making sure that the singles are evenly spaced for maximum effect on radio--something that major labels have failed at in the mid-'00s as we've talked about Mae , Acceptance , Copeland , and others. MEET ME B EHIND THE MALL. Taylor Swift certainly had been bullied by the music industry for much of her career. But with a fanbase of avid music buyers--millions of buyers at that--Taylor's pre

In the summer of '99, I was 12 years old. I spent the first half of the summer with my dad, a truck driver, as he crossed the U.S. delivering camper chassis and steel. A lot of kids would get bored looking at the Interstate for hours, but I always loved the journey. I loved maps and geography, and I was getting a firsthand experience of seeing what America looked like. Of course there were some boring parts. But what was best about the miles of cornfields was that the radio stations lasted quite a while-- a lot longer than they lasted in the foothills of North Carolina. With my dad, I got to experience new (old) music that my mom didn't approve of at the time. On the road I first listened to  Led Zeppelin ,  Pink Floyd 's  Dark Side of the Moon ,  Steve Miller Band , George Thorogood & the Destroyers , America , and so many others I could fill a whole blog post listing. We also listened to new music-- Red Hot Chili Peppers , Goo Goo Dolls , and Sugar Ray .  IMPAIRED BY

After listening to the 2011 M83 record Hurry Up We're Dreaming several times the last few days, I started to think about how each of the songs on the record seem to illustrate scary images in a way that makes the listener feel in control of those scary things. Take for example today's song, " Midnight City. " The central image of the song is a car the speaker is waiting for in the middle of the night. The feeling of a dream can make this mysterious car a positive thing. But we all know that a dream can change in an instant, and that car could belong to a serial killer. Fortunately, M83 keeps the entire album on the positive side of mysterious. So, I wanted to curate a playlist about dreams, mostly positive and mysterious dreams. Enjoy!