The PopCulteer
April 1, 2022

It’s that one day of the year where fake news and absurdity run wild! Well, at least it used to be. Now that seems to be the norm for a lot of people every day.  Anyway, Friday we offer up shiny new episodes of MIRRORBALL and Sydney’s Big Electric Cat.  The AIR is PopCult’s sister radio station. You can hear these shows on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player at the top right column of this blog.

At 2 PM, Mel Larch uncorks a new MIRRORBALL! The AIR’s showcase of classic Disco music presents a wild collection of classic Disco tracks that all have the word “Dance,” or some version of it, in their titles.  It’s an all-star line-up of classic Disco artists, with a little bit of a bitterseet twist.

This week Mel bends her rules just a bit so she can include three tunes from the Foo Fighters “DeeGees” project, which was released last year. This EP saw the band doing very faithful covers of some of The Bee Gees’ top Disco hits.

In light of the recent death of Foo Fighter’s drummer, Taylor Hawkins, Mel thought this would be a good time to remind people of this fun detour the worlds reigning rock band took into the world of Disco. It’s part of a full hour of Disco delights.

Check out the playlist…

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Foo Fighters/DeeGees “You Should Be Dancing”
Baccara “Sorry I’m A Lady”
Gene Chandler “Get Down”
Esther Phillips “What A Difference A Day Makes”
Johnnie Taylor “Disco Lady”
New York City “I’m Doin’ Fine Now”
The O’Jays “I Love Music”
Tina Charles “I Love To Love”
Foo Fighters/DeeGees “Night Fever”
The Drifters “There Goes My First Love”
The Nolans “I’m In The Mood For Dancing”
Gladys Knight & The Pips “Come Back and Finish What You Started”
Brainstorm “Lovin’ Is Really My Game”
MFSB “TSOP”
Dan Hartman “This Is It”
Curtis Mayfield “Move On Up”
Foo Fighters/DeeGees “Shadow Dancing”

You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays this Saturday at  9 PM (kicking off a mini-marathon), Sunday at 11 PM, Monday at 9 AM, and Tuesday at 1 PM  exclusively on The AIR.

At 3 PM, Sydney Fileen decided to throw us a curveball. On realizing that this episode of her show would debut on April Fool’s Day, she also decided to bend the rules and present two hours of the goofiest New Wave music ever, in a mixtape form. Sydney opens the show with Weird Al and Barnes & Barnes, and proceeds to present genuine New Wave novelties mixed with offbeat covers, and a few parodies, recreations and ringers in the mix.

It’s all in the spirit of fun, so check out this playlist…

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Weird Al Yankovic “Dare To Be Stupid”
Barnes & Barnes “Fish Heads”
The Vandals “National Brotherhood Week”
The Units “Bugboy”
Captain Sensible “Wot”
Cyndi Lauper “He’s So Unusual”
DEVO “Speed Racer”
Divine “You Think You’re A Man”
Tim Finn “I See Red”
Big Daddy “Once In A Lifetime”
Julie Brown “Homecoming Queen’s Got A Gun”
Big Daddy “Safety Dance”
Weird Al “You Make Me”
Neil “Hole In My Shoe”
Hazel O’Connor “EE-I-ADDIO”
Martini Ranch “How Does The Laboring Man…”
Mystery Music
Wall of Voodoo “Exercise”
Violent Femmes/The Dickeies “Eep Op Ork Ah Ah”
Lene Lovich “I Think We’re Alone Now”
Laibach “Sympathy For The Devil”
Little Nell “Beauty Queen”
Neil “Lentil Nightmare”
Nina Hagen Band “TV Glotzer”
Robert Fripp “You Burn Me Up”
The Stranglers “Old Codger”
Celia & The Mutations “Mean To Me”
The Bad Shepards “White Riot”
Big Daddy “Whip It”
The Dickies “If Stuart Could Talk”
Oingo Boing “Goodbye Goodbye”

Sydney’s Big Electric Cat is produced at Haversham Recording Institute in London, and can be heard every Friday at 3 PM, with replays Saturday afternoon, Monday at 7 AM, Tuesday at 8 PM, Wednesday at Noon and Thursday at 10 AM, exclusively on The AIR.

That’s what’s on The AIR Friday, and that is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back later Friday afternoon for a photo essay dedicated to a really impressive ToyLanta diorama. We’ll also have our regular weekend features and more ToyLanta coverage next week.