Month: February 2024

Classix Nouveaux?

New Music

English new wave band “Classix Nouveaux” enjoyed success in the 80’s in Europe, releasing three albums and eleven singles between 1979 and 1985. They even had a number 1 hit in Portugal, Never Again (The Days Time Erased).

40 years after their last album Secret was released in 1983, Classix Nouveaux have returned with a brand new album called Battle Cry. In the words of lead singer Sal Solo:

“The reason this project came about after 40 years is really because of the fans. About 10 years ago, some of the Classix fans were making Facebook pages but it didn’t really come to our attention until a couple of years back. We realised these people are really dedicated and decided to give them a kind of birthday present.“

The title track of the new Classix Nouveaux album Battle Cry is new this week on RadiJohan.

To Be with You

Flashback

This week in 1992 “Mr Big” started a three week run at number 1 on the US singles chart with To Be With You. The song would also top the charts in many other countries including New Zealand, Japan, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.

American hard rock band Mr. Big was formed in Los Angeles in 1988. To Be With you was the second single released from their second album, Lean Into It. Originally, To Be With You” had not been intended for release as a single. However, after the song started getting radio play out of the blue, they felt they had to release it. The rest is, as they say, history.

Rachel Returns

New Music

American singer-songwriter Rachel Platten studied classical piano from the age of 5 and then took up guitar in high school. “1,000 Ships,” a single from her first album, Be Here, peaked at number 23 on the US Billboard Adult Top 40 chart. Her real breakthrough came in 2015 when the single “Fight Song” charted in numerous countries and reached the top 10 in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland and topped the chart in the UK. The follow up, “Stand by You,” although not quite reaching the heights of its predecessor, was also successful. Since then Rachel Platten has released a handful of less successful singles, while her last album was released in 2017. We would argue her music deserves more exposure and success.

“Mercy” is Rachel’s latest single and provides serves as an appetizer for her forthcoming new album which is due for release in May. The song is deeply personal. In her own words:

“I wrote ‘Mercy’ alone in my studio in the middle of the night, during the darkest part of a very painful battle with my mental health. I ran to my piano and banged on the lower register and let out a guttural cry, ‘oooh mercy,’ I can’t take anymore, please stop this pain……. It came all at once, so fast that I had to try to catch the words as they spilled out of me.”

Rachel Platten’s “Mercy” is new this week on RadiJohan.

The Grace of a Dragonfly

New Music

British hard rock band “Lionheart” first appeared on RadiJohan in 2017 with their cover of Chris Deburgh’s Don’t Pay The Ferryman.

Formed in 1980 but failing to make any headway, the band split up in 1986. Thirty years later they resurfaced, appearing as part of a seven-act line up at the three-day Rockingham 2016 melodic/hard rock festival, held in Nottingham. Following that event, the band decided to continue working together.

Since then Lionheart have released three albums, Second Nature (2017), The Reality of Miracles (2020), and, this past week, The Grace of a Dragonfly (2024).

The latest Lionheart single tells the story of “Operation Dynamo” when, between 26th May and 4th June 1940, hundreds of thousands of allied soldiers were evacuated from Dunkirk with the aid of hundreds of “little ships” ranging from merchant fishing boats to yachts. 

“Little Ships” by Lionheart is new this week on RadiJohan.

RadiJohan Top 10 on 24 February 2024

Top 10
TWLWArtistTitle
10NewThe StrumbellasHolster
910Silent TigerAnother Destination
8NewNitsThe Tree
79FoghatI Don’t Appreciate You
6NewDi-RectMy Blood
53NitrateNeeds A Little Love
45Cassidy Paris Danger
34Dion ft. Danielle NicoleI Aim to Please
22Hugo’s VoyageA Friend Like You
11The Struts I Won’t Run

Watch this week’s Top 10 by clicking the play button below.

RadiJohan Top 10 on 17 February 2024

Top 10
TWLWArtistTitle
10NewSilent TigerAnother Destination
9NewFoghatI Don’t Appreciate You
85Liam Gallagher & John SquireJust Another Rainbow
76MagnumBlue Tango
61Moon SafariEmma, Come On
57Cassidy ParisDanger
410Dion ft. Danielle NicoleI Aim to Please
34NitrateNeeds A Little Love
23Hugo’s VoyageA Friend Like You
12The Struts I Won’t Run

Watch this week’s Top 10 by clicking the play button below.

The Strumbellas Hit RadiJohan with New Single “Holster”

New Music

Canadian rock band “The Strumbellas” released their new album “Part Time Believer” last week. The album includes previously released singles “Running out of Time” and “My Home is You”, as well as “Hold Me” which recently featured on RadiJohan.

Formed in 2008 and releasing their debut album, 2012’s “My Father and the Hunter,” the two-time JUNO award-winning alternative band have steadily released follow-ups, from 2013’s “We Still Move on Dance Floors” to 2016’s Platinum-certified “Hope,” which featured the 5x Platinum-certified single “Spirits,” and 2019’s Rattlesnake, which included Gold-certified single “Salvation”. “Part Time Believer” is the band’s fifth album.

The single “Holster” by The Strumbellas is new this week on RadiJohan.

The Dutch are Direct and DI-RECT are Dutch

New Music

DI-RECT are a rock band from The Hague (Den Haag) in the Netherlands. Formed by four teenagers in 1999 they have been particularly successful in their home country with all of their studio albums, except their first, making the top 10 on the Dutch album chart. Two of these, “All Systems Go” (2005) and “Daydreams in a Blackout” (2014) topped the chart. Many of their singles have also charted, with “She” (2003) and “A Good Thing” (2007), hitting number 2. However, the Top spot has thus far eluded the band.

In 2009 DI-RECT survived what is often the death knell for a band, a change of lead singer. Tim Akkerman left the band and the remaining band members searched for a new frontman in a nationally televised contest, “Wie is Di-rect” (Who is Di-rect). After eight episodes current lead singer Marcel Veenendaal was chosen to replace Tim.

DI-RECT’s latest single has just been released. “My Blood” is new this week on RadiJohan.

RadiJohan Top 10 on 10 February 2024

Top 10
TWLWArtistTitle
10NewDion ft. Danielle NicoleI Aim to Please
910Rolling StonesMess It Up
84D’Virgilio, Morse & JenningsTiny Little Fires
78Cassidy ParisDanger
67MagnumBlue Tango
59Liam Gallagher & John SquireJust Another Rainbow
45NitrateNeeds A Little Love
33Hugo’s VoyageA Friend Like You
22The Struts I Won’t Run
11Moon Safari Emma, Come On

Watch this week’s Top 10 by clicking the play button below.

The Tragic Loss of Del Shannon

Flashback

On the 8th of February 1990 American singer and songwriter Del Shannon died of self inflicted gunshot wounds. On the advice of his doctor, Shannon had begun taking the antidepressant Prozac on January 24. According to his widow, while testifying to the Food and Drug Administration in 1991 :

He was very much in charge of his business, but within days after he started taking Prozac I noticed a personality change in him. He developed severe insomnia, extreme fatigue, chills, racing heart, dry mouth, and upset stomach.” “Suicide was totally out of character for my husband. There was no note and no goodbye.”

Del Shannon scored the 1961 UK and US number 1 single “Runaway,” and many other Top 40 singles, including “The Wanderer.” In 1963 he became the first American to record a cover version of a song by the Beatles. His version of “From Me to You” charted in the US before The Beatles version did. Prior to his suicide he had been working with Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne and was rumoured to be replacing Roy Orbison in the Traveling Wilburys.

In 1999 Del Shannon was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.