AccuRadio Song Of The Day-hellogoodbye

Artist:hellogoodbye

Song:Here (In Your Arms)

Album:Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! and More

The 2006 single Here (In Your Arms) was a top twenty hit and was the only chart single for the band hellogoodbye. Their music is pop with electronic elements. I would also say that they are a one man band and the rest of the band is disposable. Forrest Kline leads hellogoodbye. He's lead singer and writes all the songs. He attended high school in Huntington Beach, CA with Jesse Kurvink and they decided to start a band mostly to entertain their friends. After recording some songs on Kline's home computer, Kline decided to call the band hellogoodbye after a line from Screech on Saved by the Bell about how fast life moves. A band was assembled to play local clubs and they toured with the band Peachcake. After sending out demos, hellogoodbye signed with the indie label Drive-Thru Records and released a 2004 EP. They toured until they released the 2007 album Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!. The big surprise was when the single Here (In Your Arms) reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. Why was it a hit? I think in this case, Kline deserves much of the credit as he promoted the band on the internet and that got them a grass roots following that bombarded radio stations with requests. Normally, a band would need to be on a major label to chart that high. But Kline was a very good self promoter. The problem was Kline couldn't keep hellogoodbye together. By 2008, Kurvink was the only remaining original member and he left to return to school. I think the instability prevented hellogoodbye from getting a major label record deal. In 2008, Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! was re-released with bonus demos and a live DVD. This is available. hellogoodbye last released a new album in 2018 and a couple of singles since then. They are touring England in October and plan to tour Australia in 2027. Here's the video for Here (In Your Arms) by hellogoodbye. 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Chris Tomlin

Artist:Chris Tomlin

Song:Holy Forever

Album:Always

In the music business, if an artist is going to remain relevant for a long time, the artist has to keep an eye on musical trends and change things if necessary. Chris Tomlin has been a popular CCM singer songwriter since 2004. When his record sales started to decrease, he decided to incorporate Praise & Worship (P&W) into his music. And he's working with some of the popular P&W artists. This started when he led a tour called Worship Night in America in 2015. When the 2015 single Good Good Father topped the CCM charts, he knew he was going in the right direction. For the 2022 album Always, he went even farther in the P&W direction featuring appearances by Elevation Worship, Steffany Gretzinger of Bethel Music and Brandon Lake of Maverick City Music. Though veteran producer Ben Glover produced most of the album, Jonathan Smith produced a couple of songs including Holy Forever. He has worked with P&W artists like Elevation Worship. Tomlin wrote Holy Forever with Brian and Jenn Johnson of Bethel Music, veteran CCM songwriter Jason Ingram and Phil Wickham who is probably the most popular P&W artist right now. And you'll notice that Wickham appears in the video clip. So for me, it looks like Tomlin is aiming some of his songs at the P&W crowd. Of course Tomlin won't admit to this. But Holy Forever topped the Christian charts and that and the album were nominated for Grammys. Always is available on CD. His 2025 album The King Is Still the King was very similar. Jonathan Smith produced and Wickham and Ben Fielding of Hillsong made guest appearances. I don't think he will alienate his existing fanbase because he hasn't changed his music that much. But it is a significant shift though he will never admit it was done for commercial reasons. Here's Chris Tomlin featuring Phil Wickham performing Holy Forever live in Nashville.

 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Small Brown Bike

Artist:Small Brown Bike

Song:See You in Hell

Album:Dead Reckoning

Small Brown Bike is a post hardcore punk band who were active mostly from 1999-2004. They had modest success. Their music is not commercial. But there is an audience for this kind of music. Small Brown Bike is from the small town of Marshall, MI. They were formed in 1996 by Mike Reed on vocals and guitar, his brother Ben Reed on bass, Travis Dopp on guitar and Dan Jaquint on drums. They grew up together and one of the things they liked to do is work on their bicycles. So they called themselves Small Brown Bike. After self releasing a couple of singles and touring, the band signed with the indie label No Idea Records and released the 1999 album Our Own Wars. The band wrote and produced everything with the help of recording engineer Ed Rose at his Kansas City studio. Dopp left and was replaced by Scott Flaster. See You in Hell is from the 2002 album Dead Reckoning. This album is available as a digital download. After that album was released, Jaquint returned to school and was replaced by Jeff Gensterblum. Small Brown Bike released the 2003 album The River Bed on Lookout! Records. At this point, Small Brown Bike weren't getting anywhere so they split up in 2004. The thing that might have helped was if they had gotten positive reviews from the music press. But they got mixed reviews and the following they did have wasn't enough for them to make a living. The members went on to form other bands but nothing notable. After some 2007 benefit shows, Small Brown Bike reformed and released the 2011 album Fell & Found. When that went nowhere, Small Brown Bike split up for good. Travis Dopp died in 2023. Here's the video for See You in Hell by Small Brown Bike. 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Cynthia Erivo

Artist:Cynthia Erivo

Song:I'm Not That Girl

Album:Wicked: The Soundtrack

British actress Cynthia Erivo is already on her way to being one of the biggest stars on earth. The measuring stick used for this is EGOT meaning the performer has won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. Cynthia has won all but an Oscar. And she has several films coming soon. She was born Jan. 8, 1987 in London, England. Her parents are Nigerian immigrants. Her parents separated and her mom worked as a nurse to support Cynthia and her sister. She attended a Catholic girls school and started appearing on TV as a teen. She attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and graduated with a bachelor's degree in acting in 2010. Cynthia started out on TV. Then she started appearing in stage musicals. But the big one was as Celie Harris in the 2013 musical adaptation of The Color Purple. She also appeared in the 2015 Broadway production of The Color Purple and won a Best Actress Tony. Then the Color Purple cast won a Daytime Emmy for an appearance on The Today Show. I was just saying the other day that there are way too many Emmy awards. Then she started doing films. The big one was the 2019 film Harriet where she played abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Cynthia got Best Actress and Best Original Song Oscar nominations. Then she appeared in the 2020 HBO miniseries The Outsider. This was an adaptation of a Stephen King novel. And she started her own production company. Then she played Aretha Franklin in the third season of the National Geographic series Genius. She was nominated for an Emmy. And that brings us to Wicked. Of course both Wicked films were big hits and Cynthia was nominated for another Oscar. The soundtrack album is available as a budget CD. Defying Gravity was a top ten hit in England. So now she has to figure out what she will do next. She appeared in a couple of limited run stage shows. And she released the 2025 album I Forgive You on Verve Records. She recorded this during breaks in the Wicked filming schedule. Cynthia wrote and produced the album with keyboardist Will Wells. The main complaint I have heard about the album is it's too long at 60 minutes and it's not focused. She tries to do too many kinds of music. Well, she's not a musician so what do you expect? As I said at the top, Cynthia has several films in the works. The one that really stood out to me is The Road Home. I think it is currently filming in South Africa and no release date has been set. The film is produced by the French company STUDIOCANAL and directed by Dreamgirls director Bill Condon. The film is about the controversy in South Africa surrounding Paul Simon's 1980 album Graceland. Cynthia will play Miriam "Mama Africa" Makeba. John Legend will play Harry Belafonte. We'll see how that goes. Here's Cynthia Erivo performing I'm Not That Girl in the 2024 film Wicked. 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Living Colour

Artist:Living Colour

Song:Cult of Personality

Album:Super Hits

The 1988 single Cult of Personality was a top twenty hit. It was the biggest chart hit for the band Living Colour. It was probably a bigger hit than that as the album Vivid was certified 2XPlatinum. But some radio stations want to avoid controversial records and they wouldn't play it. Living Colour is still around mostly because Cult of Personality is WWE wrestler CM Punk's theme song. The original band split up in 1995. For the most part, Living Colour is a metal band. The main difference between them and other metal bands is they are black. There are other influences but mostly, they are metal. Band leader, guitarist and main songwriter Vernon Reid was born in England but he grew up in New York City and attended New York University. He started out with avant garde jazz drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson's band The Decoding Society from 1980-86. He formed Living Colour in 1984 using the British spelling of "colour". He called it Vernon Reid's Living Colour. He experimented with different musicians and different styles of music including jazz. In 1986, he brought in actor Corey Glover to sing lead, bassist Muzz Skillings and drummer Will Calhoun. They started working on their music performing regularly at the New York club CBGB's. After Reid auditioned for Mick Jagger's album Primitive Cool, Jagger went to see Living Colour at CBGB's and produced two demos. This got Living Colour a deal at Epic Records a lot quicker than if Jagger didn't help them. Living Colour's debut album Vivid was released in May 1988. Things started to pick up when MTV started playing the video for Cult of Personality. The single reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 but the album Vivid reached #6 on the Billboard 200 and was certified 2XPlatinum. So the success was because of MTV. The album was produced by Ed Stasium who had worked with The Ramones and Talking Heads. Reid wrote most of the album songs. But Cult of Personality was credited to the entire band. Of course Living Colour's success was a fluke. What if Jagger doesn't get them a record deal? What if MTV doesn't play the video? So their other two albums didn't do that well. Skillings was replaced by Doug Wimbish in 1992. After three albums, Living Colour split up in 1995. This budget comp covers their Epic albums. But you might want to consider buying the remastered version of Vivid. Living Colour first reunited in 2000. They record occasionally and continue to perform. Reid says they will release a new album next year. The main thing that keeps Living Colour relevant today is that WWE wrestler CM Punk (Phil Brooks) uses Cult of Personality as his theme song. He's been using it since his pre-WWE Ring of Honor days. So who pays for the use of Cult of Personality? Of course the WWE pays for it. This is why most WWE themes are produced in house these days. It's a whole lot cheaper but the music is mostly terrible. It's one of several things that WWE fans lament about these days. I stopped watching WWE after this year's Wrestlemania was so bad, I stopped watching cold turkey. And I've watched wrestling since I was a little kid watching with my grandfather. Day 2 was really bad. My favorite wrestlers Asuka and Kairi Sane have gone home to Japan. There are still a couple of wrestlers that I may watch like former MMA fighter Lola Vice and IYO SKY. But the current booking is so bad, I can't watch pro wrestling anymore. Here's the video for Cult of Personality by Living Colour.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Carl Carlton

Artist:Carl Carlton

Song:She's a Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked)

Album:Everlasting: The Best of Carl Carlton

R&B singer Carl Carlton is best known for the 1974 top ten hit Everlasting Love. But you may not know that he scored a top five R&B hit with the 1981 single She's a Bad Mama Jama. What the two records have in common is that Carlton had terrible record company problems that killed his career. Despite that, he recorded two big hits though I would guess that many folks are familiar with She's a Bad Mama Jama, they may not know that Carlton recorded it. Of course the funny part is that both records are now owned by the same record company so you can get them on this comp. Carlton was an up and coming singer when he recorded for Back Beat Records in the late 60s. This label was owned by Don Robey who also owned Duke and Peacock. Carlton recorded an album for Back Beat. Then Robey sold everything to ABC Records in 1972. ABC picked up Carlton's contract and the 1974 single Everlasting Love reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Everlasting Love was a cover of Robert Knight's 1967 hit single. What Carlton was concerned about was royalties for his Back Beat album. Rather than go to court, ABC froze Carlton out until his contract expired. That wasn't going to be for a year and a half. Remember Carlton just had a big hit. So he couldn't get a record deal until singer songwriter Leon Haywood threw him a lifeline and got Carlton a record deal with 20th Century Records in 1981. The single She's a Bad Mama Jama reached #2 on the R&B Singles chart and #22 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also nominated for a Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male Grammy. Of course the song is memorable but I dunno if most folks know who recorded the song. Heywood produced the album, wrote She's a Bad Mama Jama and played keyboards on the album. So did George Duke and James Ingram and Ingram arranged the backup vocals. The problem was that 20th Century closed in 1982. And though Carlton recorded for RCA and Casablanca, his recording career was over in 1986. Both hits are owned by Universal so they are on this Hip-O Select comp. Carlton continued to perform live until he died on Dec. 12, 2025 at age 73. Here's Carl Carlton performing She's a Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked) on Solid Gold 1981. 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Natalie MacMaster

Artist:Natalie MacMaster

Song:Catharsis

Album:No Boundaries

Canadian fiddler Natalie MacMaster had chart success in Canada partially because of her looks. But mostly because the CRTC's Canadian Content (CanCon) regulations force broadcasters to play a percentage of CanCon. And they have to pay employees to keep track of it. Natalie was born June 13, 1972 in Troy, Nova Scotia on Cape Breton Island which has a long musical history. So she comes from a musical family including her uncle Buddy MacMaster. She took fiddle lessons with her cousin Ashley MacIsaac. She started performing at age nine. After self releasing a couple of albums, Natalie signed with Rounder Records in the US and Warner Bros. in Canada. Of course Rounder is a roots music label so they know how to sell this kind of music. But in Canada, Warners was counting on CanCon to get Natalie radio play and have her videos played on MuchMusic and CMT. Catharsis is from Natalie's 1997 album No Boundaries. It was her third album on Rounder/Warners. It was released as a single and as you can see, there's a video for the song paid for by VideoFACT which was funded by MuchMusic's parent company. The album was produced by recording engineer Chad Irschick meaning that Natalie produced it. Most of the songs including Catharsis are traditional. The musicians on that song are Ray Parker on keyboards, Michael Francis on guitar, Tom Szczesniak on bass and Brian Leonard on drums. Francis, Szczesniak and Leonard are all session musicians and they play on about half of the album. Guest vocalists include Runrig lead singer Bruce Guthro and Cookie Rankin from The Rankin Family. This album is available as a budget CD. Natalie has won two Juno awards and was named East Coast Music Association Artist of the Year several times. She is a member of the Order of Canada and was inducted into the Canadian Fiddle Hall of Honor in 2023. Natalie married fiddler Donnell Leahy of The Leahy Family in 2002 and they moved to Lakefield, ON which is near Peterborough. They have seven children and they record and tour together. They released a 2023 album on their own label distributed by Linus Entertainment. Here's the video for Catharsis by Natalie MacMaster.