United Sound Systems, Detroit

#142- original air-date, Apr. 12, 2014  

On this show we salute a real fountainhead of American popular music, namely legendary Detroit recording studio, United Sound Systems. No studio ever had a more monumental legacy than this place; on this show we cover a pretty wide gamut but only manage to scratch the surface. We hear from John Lee Hooker, The MC5, Charlie Parker, T-Bone Walker. George Clinton, The Gaylords, Aretha Franklin, (a band called) Death, on and on.. Another mini-documentary.

(#142)

Playlist Part 1:

JOHN LEE HOOKER- GONNA BOOGIE

JOHN LEE HOOKER- BOOGIE CHILLEN

JIMMY WORK- DON’T KNOCK, JUST COME ON IN

CHARLIE PARKER QUINTET- ANOTHER HAIRDO

T-BONE WALKER- MY BABY IS NOW ON MY MIND

GEORGE CLINTON- ATOMIC DOG

Segue #1

Playlist Part 2:

THE GAYLORDS- TELL ME YOU’RE MINE

THE MC5- LOOKING AT YOU

THE RATIONALS- RESPECT

MARV JOHNSON- YOU’VE GOT WHAT IT TAKES

JOHNNIE TAYLOR- DISCO LADY

Segue #2

Playlist Part 3:

ARETHA FRANKLIN- JIMMY LEE

DEATH- FREAKIN’ OUT

THE DRAMATICS- WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET

+++++

THE BOTTOMLESS PIT

I did a one-hour radio show on New York’s WFUV from 2011-18, every Saturday night (until it got switched to Sunday nights during late 2017). But the show originally started on WKZE in the Hudson Valley during 2005-6; then I brought it back at the station’s request during 2010. (RIP, station owner Will Stanley.)

I always loved doing the show and was proud of it. It was “a weekly roundup of items from my personal record collection”- a large percentage of the records that got played over the years were things that I had some kind of longstanding emotional connection with, but I also played lots of things that I happened to be discovering during the moment at hand. 

It’s nice to be able to say that nobody at either station ever said a negative word to me about what I was playing, or suggested what I should be playing, etc., so the show was pure self-expression for me. 

I eventually had to pull the plug on the whole thing for various reasons at the end of 2017, but thanks to a suggestion from webmaster Franklin Odel, I’ll be posting reruns of the show here on YouTube! Watch this space!..

MC