Every year lots of new music that makes us happy, excited and loving comes out and 2010 was no different. With so much great music from all genres, it’s sometimes hard to know what to listen to first.
Quite an issue, but we’ve already thought about it! Enter our Best of 2010 Channel (in our Pop category): we’ve handpicked the most popular and played tracks across all genres and put them all there for your exclusive selection of the last year’s greatest and loudest music gems.
And what’s better than a video mashup to look back to twelve months of music memories?
Deciding between a trick and a treat can be nerve wrecking and time consuming. Listening to our Happy Halloween! Channel (find it in the Pop category) while making up your mind will make things a lot easier for you. Once you’ve decided, turn up the volume, invite your friends over and do a little dance in your shiny new (monster/ witch/ ghost/ Lady Gaga) costume.
Trouble deciding on an outfit? Let Billy Idol open your mind. We suggest leather.
Our Match Day Channelis guaranteed to make you feel like a winner, even when your team has just lost the semifinal on penalties to an underdog. So tune in and let your mind wander, get hyped up and imagine yourself scoring that decisive goal, saving a penalty or splitting the defense with a fifty yard throughball!
You will find our Match Day Channel under the Pop genre heading and you can expect to hear plenty of afrobeat, all things latin, hip-hop, pop, reggae and well, anything that is uplifting, intensive, summer party music with a sporty feel to them. We’ve selected all the usual suspects from Mas Que Nada by Sergio Mendes & Brasil ‘66 to Queen’s We Are the Champions and complimented them with the likes of Jump by Van Halen or Follow the Leader by Eric B. & Rakim. In other words, our Match Day Channel is a mix of all genres and styles but selected with that magic touch. Go check it out and let us surprise you!
Time to turn the stereo up to 11 and explore the history of Rock & Roll! Time for our Hall of Fame Channel!
Home to some of the artists and producers that have made the most commercial and artistic impact on the realm of Rock & Roll, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was created in 1983 to honor these artists and producers, the past musicians that influenced them and the eventual spreading of their influence to other realms of popular music. To date, there have been over 150 artists inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We know it can be intimidating to trace the history of this music to try to listen to it all, but now, there is a way to get it all in one place – our Hall of Fame Channel (available under the Rock category)!
Our music experts have compiled their favorite tracks by Hall of Fame inductees and put them all in one place for you to enjoy. Here you’ll find the heavy hitters of rock such such as Led Zeppelin, artists that introduced popular music to a wider audience such as Bill Haley and Chuck Berry, and even R&B legends such as Otis Redding and Clyde McPhatter. Consider it your one-stop station to get everything you need from the documented history of Rock & Roll.
Here’s a live version of one of the many great performers featured in our Hall of Fame Channel:
That today’s women can work side by side with their male cohorts, and of course rival them in singing, rapping and awesome guitar solos, is pretty much a given. The likes of Janet Jackson and Lady Gaga are proving to the music industry that women have more than what it takes to be global superstars.
Our Viva La Woman! Radio (in our Pop section) is a multi-genre adventure that focuses on women’s contribution to popular and groundbreaking music in the last five decades. Amongst those at the party are Paula Abdul, Nelly Furtado and Mary J. Blige. Naturally, there are massive hits (Heart of Glass, anyone?) and singalong faves (“It’s like raaaain on your wedding day!”). But we’ll also be tipping our hat – or giving shout-outs, whichever appropriate – to many fantastic female MCs, bands, vocalists and DJs who have made an impact on the way we listen to music. They’ve definitely set the bar that much higher for future musicians, female or otherwise.
On that note, let us end with a lovely sugar-studded gem from the past:
Recommended If You Like: Bangles walk like Egyptians, Madonna thinks you’re her lucky star, Deee-Lite’s got groove in the heart and Rihanna assures that you can stand under her umbrella, ella, ella.
Once upon a time, way back when there were a few degrees of innocence still involved in urban living, popular music was beautiful. It had lush orchestrations, big beautiful arrangements and tense vocal harmonies, all screamed and cried onto wax. This music turned out to be so timeless that most of us, old or young, still recognize the biggest stars of this period by their first names; Otis, Tina, Diana, Stevie… the list really could be endless.
Our Soulful Channel (in the R&B/ Hip-Hop section) offers a collection of all things soulful to both seasoned veterans and newcomers to the genre. It’s all there, from the gospel influenced early recordings of Garnet Mimms to the criminally under appreciated mixture of deep, funky yet mellow soul of Gloria Scott to the disco-funk of The Mary Jane Girls. Now this might sound scary to some, but what makes these songs timeless is that they are about feelings. To avoid further name dropping and other music-nerdy ways of simplifying things, have a look at one of the original Kings of Comedy, Steve Harvey getting the point across (things get interesting at around 1min. 10 secs.):
Recommended If You Like: some other-worldly vocals of Minnie Riperton on Adventures in Paradise, the sexual predator Betty Davis on her first self-titled album, the blues-soul and beautiful guitar playing of Little Beaver on Joey, the Roy Ayers influenced RAMP on Come into Knowledge or the blaxploitation sound of Willie Hutch on The Mack. It’s sometimes sweet, other times sweaty and often both at the same time. It’s oh so soulful. Now go on and get your superfreak on!
What’s better than a love song to express your feelings to a loved one (who already knows how you feel…or maybe not!), to think about that still-burning wound on your broken heart or to indulge a new and exciting infatuation full of great expectations?
Plus, here’s another exceptional goody for you: the never-romantic-enough Swedish musician Jens Lekman performing an intimate cover of A Little Lost by the outstanding Arthur Russell (find them in our Love, Love, Love Channel, too).
So open your heart, lose yourself in your most passionate dreams and get a crush on this explosion of shades and shapes of Love, Love, Love!
A year and a decade came to an end at the same time, which doesn’t happen too often. This means that it’s now time to salute the music that made the past year and, of course, the past decade memorable, from the monster-selling albums to the singles that ruled the charts, from the most iconic artists of our time to the newcomers who blew our minds (and ears)!
To celebrate accordingly, we picked hundreds of stand-out tracks for our two newest AUPEO! Channels, Best of 2009 and A Decade in Song: 2000-2009 (find them in the Pop section), to offer you the greatest songs of the last twelve months and the biggest hits of this millennium’s first decade!
The selection is based on our personal tastes and loves, well-known music blogs’ and magazines’ playlists as well as on officially published charts (because of this, if an album released during 2008 had a hit single topping the charts during 2009 you’ll find it in our station, since it means that it was deeply loved and listened to during the last year).
So join us as we relive the best melodies, ballads, beats, riffs, stars, one-hit wonders and best known icons of this unpredictable year and unforgettable decade!
