Saturday, May 25, 2013

Teddy Pendergrass

    Let's stick with music, since I don't want to talk about my birthday. I just wonder why nobody ever plays Teddy Pendergrass records anymore, either solo or with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. The oldies stations are all over Barry White, to such an extent I often feel like it's 1975 again. On the one hand, Barry's sound is a lot more mellow than Teddy's. And I guess they might think that people don't want to be reminded of paralysis and car accidents. Though there are plenty of people with sadder endings whose records still get played.
    The broader question is why aren't there classic soul stations? Where I live, people listen to something they call beach music. Originally, this was '60s R&B, especially Motown, the music that was played at the beach, primarily Myrtle Beach. Eventually it became an industry, and imitation '60s R&B was all over the radio. The local oldies station with the love affair with Barry White also plays tons of beach music; their non-oldies offerings are almost all country. (It's a pretty odd station.)
    I just think that a station playing only genuine R&B and soul from the '60s and '70s would do great. For one thing, black people had a postwar baby boom, too; there would be an excellent base. But more to the point, a vast array of black music from that time crossed over; hell, that's where this beach music stuff came from in the first place. And maybe I could hear me some Teddy Pendergrass!

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